Aside from chariots and walking (the most common forms of transportation), Romans had other ways of getting around. Large carriages were pulled by animals and could hold several people. The problem? Iron wheels made so much noise that they were actually banned from entering city centers during the day.

The Romans were prodigious builders and expert civil engineers, and their thriving civilization produced advances in technology, culture and architecture that remained unequaled for centuries.

• Aqueducts.
• Concrete.
• Newspapers.
• Welfare.
• Bound Books.
• Roads and Highways.
• Roman Arches.
• The Julian Calendar.

Important architectural and engineering achievements of the Romans were the arch, the vault, and the dome. They also used concrete to create large buildings. The Romans developed the stadium and the triumphal arch. They were also great road, bridge, and aqueduct builders.

They developed materials and techniques that revolutionized bridge and aqueducts’ construction, perfected ancient weapons and developed new ones, while inventing machines that harnessed the power of water.

There are three important principles of Roman law. An accused person was presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Secondly, The accused was allowed to face the accuser and offer a defense against the charge. Lastly, guilt had to be established “clearer than daylight” using solid evidence.

The Twelve Tables are no longer extant: although they remained an important source through the Republic, they gradually became obsolete, eventually being only of historical interest. The original tablets may have been destroyed when the Gauls under Brennus burned Rome in 387 BC.

The earliest and most important legislation, or body of leges, was the Twelve Tables, enacted in 451–450 bce during the struggle of the plebeians for political equality. It represented an effort to obtain a written and public code that patrician magistrates could not alter at will against plebeian litigants.

The Twelve Tables were a law code written between 451 and 449 BCE as a patrician concession to get the plebeians to return to Rome. They were displayed in the Roman Forum for all to see. The Twelve Tables are historically significant because they made the patricians subject to the law.

What rights did the twelve tables address? – protected the rights of injuries, crimes, and equality. You just studied 11 terms!

What was the significance of the Twelve Tables? They became the basis for all Roman law and established the idea that all free citizens had a right to the protection of the law.

What was a characteristic of the legal system in the Twelve Tables? – Upper-class citizens were granted new rights. – Patricians were given more power than before. – Laws were applied equally to all Roman citizens.

what limits were there on the power of the Roman consuls? they could only serve for one year, the same person could not be elected for ten years, and one consul could always overrule the others decision.

The Twelve Tables of Law. Case Law: Principles based on particular disputes. Precedents: guidelines for future judgements.

Most historians believe that the Roman Empire ceased to exist as an entity when Germanic leader Odoacer defeated the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 AD to become the first King of Italy. The term ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ usually refers to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Perhaps the most immediate effect of Rome’s fall was the breakdown of commerce and trade. The miles of Roman roads were no longer maintained and the grand movement of goods that was coordinated and managed by the Romans fell apart.

The Roman Empire was ruled by one person called an emperor, and is therefore an example of a strong central government. Nevertheless, Rome’s citizens were relatively secure, and the government generally maintained law, order, and stability.

Rome became the most powerful state in the world by the first century BCE through a combination of military power, political flexibility, economic expansion, and more than a bit of good luck.

Autocracy