| A | B |
|---|
| republic | a form of government where the people choose their rulers |
| patricians | members of the oldest and richest families |
| plebeians | poorer Roman citizens |
| consuls | administrators and military leaders who were chosen yearly to run the Roman Republic |
| veto | say no to |
| tribunes | government officials who protected the rights of the plebeians |
| Twelve Tables | twelve bronze tablets in which the Roman laws were carved and were display in the forum |
| legions | a group of 5,000 soldiers, divided into smaller groups of 60 to 120 soldiers |
| legionaries | soldiers in a legion |
| Punic Wars | a series of three wars between Rome and the Phoenician colony of Carthage |
| corvus | a kind of movable bridge on a boat used for boarding other boats in combat |
| latifundias | large estates |
| publicans | tax collectors |
| booty | things taken from the enemy in war |
| dictator | absolute ruler |
| triumvirate | a group of three persons with equal power |
| Tarquin the Proud | the Etruscan ruler who was overthrown by the Romans in order to establish a republic |
| Hannibal Barca | a Carthaginian general in the second Punic War |
| Tiberius Gracchus | a tribune who wanted to limit the amount of land a person could own |
| Gaius Gracchus | a tribune, and brother of Tiberius, who reduced the price of wheat for the poor |
| Gaius Marius | a military hero who became consul, the first lower class Roman ever to be elected to such a high office |
| Lucius Cornelius Sulla | marched his armies on Rome and seized the city and made himself dictator |
| Marcus Licinius Crassus | a member of the first triumvirate |
| Gnaeus Pompeius | a member of the first triumvirate, who wanted Rome to be ruled by a republic made up of upper class senators |
| Julius Caesar | a member of the first triumvirate, who wanted Rome to be ruled by one man |
| Mark Antony | a member of the second triumvirate, who was Caesar's closest followers, a popular general, and took control of Rome's territories in the East |
| Octavian | a member of the second triumvirate, who was Caesar's grand-nephew, adopted son, and took control of Rome's territories in the West |
| Marcus Aemilius Lepidus | a member of the second triumvirate, who was one of Caesar's top officers and took control of Rome's territories in Africa |
| Carthage | a Phoenician colony in northern Africa |
| Sicily | a large island at the toe of the Italian "boot" |
| Gaul | present-day France |
| Corinth | a Greek city-state that refused Roman rule and revolted |
