Acta Diurna: Vol. 1, #3

Acta Diurna: Vol. 1, #3

Acta Diurna
Volume 1 Number 3
dies Mercurii ante diem VII Idus Aprilis MMDCCLXIX ab urbe condita (Wednesday April the 20th 2016)

Historical Committee to the Rescue!
by The Republic of Novo Senatus et Populusque Romanus
The Roman administration is now working on assembling a committee of scholars from all over the empire to create a long needed Historiarum Romanarum, finally all the accounts will be separated into facts and myths. Among the members of this committee is our honoured Legatus Teruko.
The disambiguation this committee will bring forth shall help our glorious empire better understand our current situation, and most importantly, it shall allow us to learn from our past mistakes so that we may avoid repeating them today.

The Republic of Rome?
by The Commonwealth of New Aglore
During 509 B.C, Early Rome was governed by kings, but after only seven of them had ruled, the Romans took power over their own city and ruled themselves.
They then instead had a council known as the 'senate' which ruled over them. From this point on one speaks of the 'Roman Republic'.
The word 'Republic' itself comes from the Latin (the language of the Romans) words 'res publica' which mean 'public matters' or 'matters of state'.
The senate under the kings had only been there to advise the king. Now the senate appointed a consul, who ruled Rome like a king, but only for one year. - This was a wise idea, as like that, the consul ruled carefully and not as a tyrant, for he knew that otherwise he could be punished by the next consul, once his year was up. But during 27 BC, Rome itself was reclassified as an Empire and it lives up to its title until now!

The Roman Classes
by The Commonwealth of New Aglore
Ancient Rome knew four classes of people. This division was very important to the Romans.
The lowest class were the slaves. They were owned by other people. They had no rights at all.
The next class were the plebeians. They were free people. But they had little say at all.
The second highest class were the equestrians (sometimes they are called the 'knights'). Their name means the 'riders', as they were given a horse to ride if they were called to fight for Rome. To be an equestrian you had to be rich.
The highest class were the nobles of Rome. They were called 'patricians'. All the real power in Rome lay with them, some cultural Romans today during modern times still believe in this classification of people.

The Carthaginian War
By The Commonwealth of New Aglore
The greatest challenge the Roman Republic faced was that of the Carthaginians. Carthage was a very powerful city in North Africa which, much like Rome, controlled its own empire. The fight between the two sides was a long one and took place on land and on sea.
The most famous incident came when the great Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the mountain chain of the Alps to the north of Italy with all his troops, including his war-elephants, and invaded Italy!
Though Rome in the end won and Carthage was completely destroyed in the year 146 BC, Ave Romae!

Latin Student Problem of the Week