Why Did Rome: The Decline Of Rome

The story of Rome begins with not Rome but the parent nation of Rome, the Etruscan kingdom. The Etruscans were in central western Italy and became a leading power in Italy in the 6th century who conquered territory down the western coast of Italy and eventually expanded up the Po river to the north. It is also notable that the Etruscans entered into conflict with the Greeks and allied with Carthage Rome 's future rival. The Etruscans kingdom did decline as the Celts began invading and settling along the Po river, this allowed a rebellion in the south of the kingdom to be successful, the rebellion of the Latin League. The Latin League centered at where the river Tiber met the Mediterranean sea, and they were a loose confederation of cities …show more content…
The Greeks had began colonies in southern Italy and had expanded as far as Neapolis, present day Naples. Rome also fought against the Samites who had settled near the the Po river. Rome spent 23 years in these wars and became master of all Italy south of the Po river. Romes growth soon lead it into conflict with Carthage who was a power based in northern Africa. Carthage was an offshoot of the Phoenician empire, in short the Phoenicians were an empire from Lebanon who competed with the Greeks over colonies, but the Phoenician homeland was conquered. Carthage was originally a Phoenician colony that simply continued along as their own country after the Phoenician homeland was conquered. Carthage and Rome came into conflict over the island of Sicily which lay between the two powers. The ensuring wars became known as the Punic wars, they lasted from 264 to 146 B.C. The wars began as a dispute between two cities on Sicily, one was allied with Rome and the other with Carthage and this turned the once friends into bitter enemies. Rome did have one problem though, they were a land based empire against a naval empire. Rome came up with an unconventional but effective solution, they put soldiers on boats and boarded enemy ships instead of sinking them out right as was common at the time. Rome then won the first war and became both an overland and oversea empire as it gained its first …show more content…
When the Etruscans withdrew from Rome they were replaced by two elected consuls who were mostly generals who protected Rome from its enemies and lead it to war, in times of trouble a dictator would be temporarily elected but for only 6 months. Another major part of the Roman government was the Senate that had existed as advisors to the Etruscans, but in the republic the senate wielded enormous power in the republic due to the combined power of its members over domestic Rome; the senate was made mainly of businessmen and other popular figures in Rome. In addition to the consuls and the senate Rome had two popular assemblies the centuriate assembly who dealt with international issues, and the tribunal assembly who dealt with domestic