The Roman Political System, Essay Example

How did the expansion of the Roman Republic from 340 B.C.E to 146 B.C.E. dramatically alter the nature of the Roman political system?

Rome began forming alliances in the year 493 BC; this was due to their fear of neighboring countries. Later on, Rome expanded and took control over much of the Italian peninsula. Rome formed confederacy with places outside Rome, and their people were granted citizenship; however, not with full rights. Rome’s expand gave them the ability to take over other nations, and by 264 BC Rome was no longer an ancient city. Italy was greatly under the powerful rule of Rome.

This gave Rome the need to take over other countries lying around its border. This lead to the first and second Punic War and Rome had even acquired Spain by 206 BC. After the Punic wars came the eastern wars where the Macedonians were said to be jealous of Rome; this resulted in Macedonia coming into Roman rule and becoming a province of Rome in 146 BC. This gave Rome a high influence of Greek culture.

All the land and the nations Rome had under rule had made Romans haughty, and their leaders started governing provinces in different ways. The senate was ruled with absolute authority and Rome was plaguing with corruption. There were people being exploited by taxes, and rulers and governors were just hungry for more. Natives of Rome were held helpless and Roman businesses took advantage of them.

This was a big change from the past ways of ruling when the Roman society was based on family relationships. The Republic consisted of clans and those families seated at the top held power. It was the expansion of the Republic and Rome’s rule over other nations which made their focus shy away from how their own people were being treated.