This is the History of the World Podcast with Podcast, with me, Chris Hasler.

And you're listening to volume 3, The Classical World.

Episode 41 From Republic to Empire. Oh, historians love to categorize Roman history into three phases.

Firstly, the Roman kingdom, then the Roman Republic, and then the Roman Empire. The reality is that Rome evolved over time

and went through many different phases and the three categories really only refer to the ruling elite.

During the years of the kingdom and the empire there was a head statesman. In the time in the middle the republic years Rome was controlled by

the decisions of a group of senators. The Roman Senate always existed though, even though they only served to

regulate the monarch or the emperor during the times of the kingdom and the

empire.

The years of the Roman kingdom were written about retrospectively which has led

many historians to wonder exactly how true the story of the Seven Kings of Rome is.

If it is not strictly true, it is believed that a settlement at Rome existed there from before the earliest traditional

date for the Roman kingdom, 753 B.C.

We can say with confidence that the Roman independent state was in existence for over a millennium in time.

This fact alone is considerable and makes the fact that Rome had to move with the times

much more palatable than instinct may dictate.

One of the biggest challenges that Rome faced while they were expanding was how to treat the people of the lands that they annexed.

During the years of the Republic, you had to be born to Roman citizens to be a Roman citizen.

So if your origin was from outside Rome, such as one of the italic tribes of the Italian Peninsula,

then you were not entitled to the same rights as a Roman citizen,

despite being born in Roman territory.

However, there are two interesting factors here to consider.

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