Rome 08: The Social and Political Changes

In the past few lectures, we have discussed the ways in which Rome expanded. We saw them first attack their neighbors and expand their empire across Italy. Next, we saw them turn their attention to Sicily resulting in the First Punic War. The First Punic War forced Rome to rapidly and effectively produce a navy capable of defeating the chief naval power of the Mediterranean, Carthage. With a navy and the control of important islands, Rome began to expand into the western and then eastern portions of the Mediterranean through the Second and Second Punic Wars and the Macedonian Wars. At the end of these lectures, I tried to briefly discuss some of the radical changes these wars and this expansion wrought. I would like to expand on these ideas during this lecture.