The Breakdown of the Roman Republic

by Mackay, Christopher S.

• ISBN13: 9781107657021
• ISBN10: 1107657024
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-18
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

In this book, Christopher Mackay recounts the last century of the Roman Republic in a readable, narrative treatment. Within this narrative he analyses the breakdown of the traditional Republican form of government as a result of the administrative and political crises brought about by the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean basin in the Middle Republic. He also shows how the many reforms instituted by Augustus, which effectively created the new imperial form of government, were a reaction to the failings of the Republic. Illustrated with an extensive collection of coin images that document the changes in contemporary political ideology, this volume also focuses on the political significance of the key personalities, including Marius, Sulla, and Caesar, who played a large role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic.

Table of Contents

Historical background

Tribunate of Ti. Gracchus

Tribunates of C. Gracchus

Numidia, senatorial failures and the rise of C. Marius

Ascendancy of C. Marius

The Italian allies, M. Livius Drusus, and the social war

Sulla, Marius and civil war

Roman territorial expansion before the first Mithridatic war

First Mithridatic war

Sulla's victory in civil war

Sulla's settlement

The 70s B.C.: attacks on the Sullan Regime and the rise of Pompey

Third Mithridatic War, war with the pirates, and the 60s B.C.: Rome in the absence of Pompey

The ascendancy of Pompey

Consulship of Cicero

Consulship of C. Caesar

Caesar in Gaul

Last decade of the free republic

Civil war and Caesar's victory

Caesar's domination and assassination

Turmoil after the ides of March

Struggle of the warlords

Final showdown

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