The Breakdown of the Roman Republic: From Oligarchy to Empire

by Christopher S. Mackay

• ISBN13: 9780521518192
• ISBN10: 0521518199
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-08-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this book, Christopher Mackay recounts the last century of the Roman Republic in a readable, narrative treatment. Within this narrative he analyzes 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 lead to the demise of the Roman Republic.

Table of Contents

1. Historical background; 2. Tribunate of Ti. Gracchus; 3. Tribunates of C. Gracchus; 4. Numidia, senatorial failures and the rise of C. Marius; 5. Ascendancy of C. Marius; 6. The Italian allies, M. Livius Drusus, and the social war; 7. Sulla, Marius and civil war; 8. Roman territorial expansion before the first Mithridatic war; 9. First Mithridatic war; 10. Sulla's victory in civil war; 11. Sulla's settlement; 12. The 70s B.C.: attacks on the Sullan Regime and the rise of Pompey; 13. Third Mithridatic War, war with the pirates, and the 60s B.C.: Rome in the absence of Pompey; 14. The ascendancy of Pompey; 15. Consulship of Cicero; 16. Consulship of C. Caesar; 17. Caesar in Gaul; 18. Last decade of the free republic; 19. Civil war and Caesar's victory; 20. Caesar's domination and assassination; 21. Turmoil after the ides of March; 22. Struggle of the warlords; 23. Final showdown.