Transcript Document

THE WORLD’S HISTORY
Fourth Edition
Chapter
6
Rome and the Barbarians
The Rise and
Dismemberment of Empire
750 b.c.e – 500 b.c.e.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Rome and the Barbarians
• At height, 2nd century C.E., Roman
Empire contained 70-100 million people in
an empire reaching 2,700 miles east to
west and 2,500 miles north to south
• Rome enforced Pax Romana across
empire
• Contemporaries praised it for promoting
peace and prosperity while critics claimed
Pax Romana was brute military conquest
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
From Hill Town to Republic
• The Founding of the Roman Republic
– Founded in 753 B.C.E. [in legend]
– Ruled for 250 years by Etrurians
[Etruscans]
– Republic created in 509 B.C.E. when
upper-class Romans drove Etruscans
out of city
– New republican government had two
consuls and a Senate using a system of
checks and balances
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
From Hill Town to Republic
• Conquest of Italy 396–264 B.C.E.
– Punic Wars
 Rivalry of Carthage
 First Punic War 264–241 B.C.E.; Roman
conquest of Sicily
 Second Punic War 219–202 B.C.E.
• The threat of Hannibal (247–183 B.C.E.)
 Third Punic War 149–146 B.C.E.;
destruction of Carthage
– Conquests in Europe and Near East
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Social World of the Late Republic
• Social War and extension of Roman
citizenship to Italians
• Patron/client relationship
– Protection/dependence as social glue
• Family
– Power of paterfamilias
– Position of women in Roman society
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Social World of the Late Republic
• Struggle of the Orders 494–440 B.C.E.
– Patrician v. plebeian
– Limitations on absolute power of the rich
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Social World of the Late Republic
• The late Republican struggle between nobles
and the poor (cont.)
– Extremes of wealth and poverty in Rome
– Great reform effort: the Gracchi (130s and
120s B.C.E.)
 New violence of Roman politics
 Support of poor as political strategy
 Noble/poor conflict paved way for end of
Republic
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Social World of the Late Republic
• “Bread and circuses”
• Slaves
– Very widespread slavery
– Three great slave revolts
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Military Might
• A. Militarism = central to Roman ideology
• Generals as politicians
– Marian reform of army: recruitment of
propertyless soldiers
– New dependence of soldiers on their generals
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Military Might
• First Triumvirate
– Rise of G. Julius Caesar
– Conquest of Gaul
– Caesar as dictator
• Octavian - Antony civil war for sole control
of Roman state
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
From Republic to Empire
• Establishment of the principate
– Octavian (Augustus Caesar) as sole ruler 30
B.C.E.–14 C.E.
 Rule of Augustus as “golden age”
– Augustus as imperator
– Further conquests
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
From Republic to Empire
• Economic life in the Empire
– Exploitation of subject peoples
– The problem of decadence
– Flourishing of trade and administrative
cities
– Luxury trade and its profits
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Roman Culture
• The deep influence of Greece
• Virgil and the rhetoric of greatness
• Stoicism
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Roman Culture
• Roman religion
– Greco-Roman polytheism
– Addition of a cult of deified emperors
 Addition of mystery religions
 Mithraism
 Cybele, Isis
– Tolerance of all religions that weren’t
harmful to the state
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Roman Culture
• Roman religion (cont.)
–Triumph of Christianity
Persecution
Constantine and the Peace of the
Church
Outlawing of polytheism 394 C.E.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Transformation of the Roman
Empire
• The problem of “barbarians”
– Celts
 Arrival in Europe c. 2000 B.C.E.
 Expansion/threat to Mediterranean c. 400
B.C.E. on
 Defeats by Romans
– Germans
 Many conflicts along long frontier
 Gradual settlement of Germanic tribes
within western Empire
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Transformation of the Roman
Empire
• The problem of “barbarians”
– Steppe peoples, especially Huns
 Huns upset balance of borders c. 370
C.E.
 Move of Goths into imperial territory to
escape Huns
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Transformation of the Roman
Empire
• Dismemberment of Empire
– Plague
– Third-century crisis: series of invasions
– Division into eastern and western empires
– Settlement of Germans within Empire as
“federates”
– 410 sack of Rome
– 476 abdication of last western emperor
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Transformation of the Roman
Empire
• Causes for the “fall”
– Military = too expensive for its economic
base
– No fixed system of imperial succession
– Germans
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Eastern Roman Empire
(Byzantine Empire)
• Survival of eastern empire
• Resurgence under Justinian I (r. 527–565
C.E.)
– Justinian Code
– Reconquest of much of the West
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Eastern Roman Empire
(Byzantine Empire)
• Religious Disputes
– Monophysites
– Iconoclasm
• Build-up of strong Byzantine bureaucracy
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Legacy of the Roman Empire
• Linguistic
• Legal
• Urban
• Transformation of Roman administration
by Christian church
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.