The Power of Rome

The legend of Romulus and Remus tells us that Romulus was the first king of Rome. Other stories about ancient Rome say that he was the first of seven kings of Rome. These kings fought with other tribes of people who lived in Italy.

The most important Italian tribe was called the Etruscans. The Etruscans lived north of Rome, in the hills and mountains of Italy. They liked music and art, and painted pictures that we can still see today. The Etruscans also grew crops, made weapons and jewelry out of metal, and sailed back and forth between Greece and Italy, trading with the Greeks. On these trips, the Etruscans learned how to use the Greek alphabet and worship the Greek gods.

The Roman kings fought with the Etruscans. But they also traded with them, and learned from them. The Etruscans taught the Romans how to dress like Greeks. They told the Romans about the Greek gods. The Romans learned about painting and music from the Etruscans as well. And they borrowed the customs of the Etruscan kings, who wore special robes called togas, with purple borders. The purple showed everyone how important the king was.

The Etruscan kings also carried a bundle of rods with an axe blade in it, as a symbol of royal power. The rods showed that the king had the power to punish anyone who did wrong. The axe blade showed that he could execute people who did very evil things. The Romans liked this symbol of power, which was called the fasces. Soon Roman kings, like Etruscan kings, wore special purple-bordered togas and carried fasces. Do you have an old dime? Look on the back of it and you will see a picture of the fasces.

American courtrooms and government offices sometimes copy this Roman symbol, even today. They have a fasces in them to show that the judges have the power to punish criminals.

The fasces showed how powerful the king was. But after seven kings, the people of Rome decided that the king had too much power. They didn’t like living in a monarchy—a country where the king was in charge. Instead, they wanted Rome to be a place where the people could help make the laws and choose the leaders.

Do you remember the Greek city that wanted the people to help make laws and choose leaders? The city of Athens was a democracy, where the people voted on their laws and leaders. But Rome didn’t become a democracy like Athens, though. In Athens, all the men who weren’t slaves could vote about laws and leaders. But in Rome, only rich and powerful men called patricians were allowed to have a say in the government. Two of these patricians were appointed by the other patricians to be the leaders of the city. They were called consuls. The Romans thought that having two leaders, instead of one king, would keep any one man from getting too much power. The two consuls were supposed to keep an eye on each other! Neither one could do exactly what he pleased.