by Dr. Kazi » Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:06 am
Ikeno, I don't know whether you got that from Wiki or not, but it is a completely innacurate description of Rome's history.
After the overthrow of Tarquin the Proud in 509 BC (many think that the reign of him and his father indicates that Rome was in fact dominated by Etruria at this time), the Romans established the Republic, which would last well into the first century BC. During the Republic, power in Rome was held by the aristocratic members of the Senatorial class, who competed with one another for election to the office of Consul. (There were two Consuls.) In this way Rome resembled an oligarchy, and Senate nominated canidates for these offices, but the power of election rested with the people. Begining with the Consul Marius around 100 BC, who saved Rome from a tremendous incursion of barbarian tribes, generals began to exert increasing power, because the lower classes were allowed to serve in the army, and held their loyalty to their generals, who could provide them with land and rewards after a successful campaign, rather than the traditional middle class army, which held its loyalty to Rome itself. This began a century long cycle of civil wars, which were finally brought to an end by Octavius, adopted nephew of Julius Caesar, and his General Agrippa, who smashed Mark Antony. Octavius did not make the mistake of siezing great ammounts of power, or behaving arrogantly, as his predecessors (especially Julius) had. He patiently gathered an increasing number of constitutional powers to himself, until the people themselves demanded that he rule. Octavian, now Augustus, was Imperator in all but name. The Republic ended in 27 BC (I think), one of the years that Augustus recieved a bunch of his powers.
So, yeah, you sort of overlooked the entire history of the Roman Republic, including such historically interesting footnotes as the First Second and Third Punic wars, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Rome's path from Italian village to Mediterranean power, and its conquest of the three Kingdoms remaining of Alexander's Empire. What you describe is kind of what happened on and off during the Imperial period.