Читать книгу World History For Dummies - Peter Haugen - Страница 87

Plebeian, which refers to a lowly person, is a word you may still run across. In Rome, the plebeian belonged to the second-lowest of four social classes. The lowest was the slave, who had no rights. Plebeians were a little better off, in that they were free, but beyond that, they had no clout. Next in the hierarchy were the equestrians, or riders. Equestrians were rich people — rich men, actually — of a class that rode horses when they were called to fight for Rome. They weren’t rich enough to have much power, though. For real power, you had to be among the patricians, or nobles. Patrician is a word that still gets used, too. Now, as back then, it’s applied to people of wealthy families who are accustomed to having authority.

Carthage and Rome fought three Punic Wars from 264–146 BC. (Punic comes from Punicus, a Latin word for Phoenician.) Carthage should have quit while it was ahead. In the first of these wars, Rome won the island of Sicily, its first overseas province. In the second Punic War, Carthage lost the rest of its far-flung territories and became a dependent ally of Rome. The alliance was never sweet, and then it really soured: The third Punic War began, and Rome destroyed Carthage.

To the east, Rome fought the Hellenistic kingdoms, Greek-influenced nations carved out of Alexander’s empire. Romans took Macedon, Greece, Asia Minor, and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, eventually including Judah, founded by the Jewish leader Judas the Maccabee in 168 BC. In 63 BC, the Romans made Jerusalem the capital of Roman Judea.

The empire pushed north into Gaul, to the Rhine and the Danube rivers, growing so big that administering the vast territory became too difficult for the republic, which had an unwieldy, often-contentious government. Turmoil created the opportunity for a military genius to step forward.