SERVILIA:  One of the reasons the common citizens of Rome could play such a big part in this story was because there were so many of them.  In the hundred years before Caesar, the population of Rome had exploded, reaching one million inhabitants.

RALPH:  This made Rome the largest city the world had ever seen, and no other city in the world would get as big as ancient Rome for the next thousand years. Even the London area, at the time Shakespeare’s play was first performed, had only 200,000 people.

SERVILIA:  This incredible rise in Rome’s population was due to a massive migration of farmers from the Italian countryside into the urban centers.  Why were so many people coming to the city? For some of the same reasons that put populations on the move today: low-cost imports and the availability of cheap labor.

RALPH:  Like all pre-industrial societies, the economy of the Roman Republic was primarily agricultural. And since bread accounted for 80% of the average Roman’s diet, the mainstay of the economy was the single-family wheat farm.

SERVILIA:  But when Rome’s military power brought law and order to the Mediterranean, trade flourished and low-cost grain began flooding into Italy from the fertile Nile river valley of Egypt.  Soon the city of Rome was importing 600 tons of wheat per day, three quarters of its need for wheat.

RALPH:  The Italian farmers who couldn’t compete with the cheap imports went into debt and then had to sell their farms to wealthy businessmen. Then the businessmen would convert these small family farms into large plantations that could be worked by the slaves who were being sent to Italy from all over the Roman empire.

SERVILIA:  Julius Caesar himself, during the nine years he spent conquering the region that is now France, sent one million men and women back to Italy as slaves.

RALPH:  Because of this huge influx of farmers and their families into the city of Rome, the government had to work harder to keep the common citizens happy.  With such a large population, there would be no way to control them if they decided to revolt.

SERVILIA:  In addition to ensuring basic services, such as reliable water and food supplies, the government organized enormous entertainment events. The chariot races that were held at the Circus Maximus could seat over 150,000 people.

RALPH:  And politicians were learning that being popular with the people could be a significant source of power.  When Pompey organized the games that would inaugurate his public building complex, they featured 500 lions, 400 panthers, 18 elephants, and, for the first time ever in Rome, a rhinoceros.  

SERVILIA:  Early on in Julius Caesar’s own political career, he was elected to be one of the Roman aediles.  The job of an aedile was to keep the people happy by making sure the city was running smoothly and by organizing public games.  

RALPH:  When he had the job as aedile, Julius Caesar made a name for himself among the plebeians by staging gladiator games with an unprecedented 320 pairs of fighters.  He was quickly learning that keeping the common citizens happy in the largest city the world had ever seen would lead to personal power in politics.