Transcript Slide 1

Introduction
• Rome as bridge between Mediterranean
and ancient Near East
• A distinctive civilization
The Roman Rule in the West: A
Balance Sheet
• Roman achievements
– A long-lasting empire
– Created systems of communication, trade,
and travel
– The Roman economy
– The Roman political system
– Extended the franchise to outsiders
The Early Republic
• Constant warfare
• Accommodated conquered populations
– Did not impose heavy burdens on conquered
peoples
– Conquered peoples had to contribute soldiers
to the Roman army
– Extended the “Latin Right”
The Early Republic
• Culture, religion, and morality
– Limited education—fathers taught sons (sports,
practical arts, military virtue)
– Chief occupations—war and agriculture
– Religion
• Roman gods—Greek gods
• Reverence of ancestors
• Household gods
– Roman morality—patriotism, duty, masculine selfcontrol, respect for authority
– Primary duty to Rome and to family
The Fateful Wars with Carthage
• The Punic Wars
– The First Punic War (264–241 B.C.E.)
• Roman fear of Carthaginian expansion
• Carthage cedes Sicily to Rome
– The Second Punic War (218–202 B.C.E.)
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Carthaginian expansion in Spain
Rome declares war
Hannibal (247–182 B.C.E.)
The victory of Scipio Africanus
Carthage abandons all territory except the city of
Carthage
– The Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.E.)
• “Carthage must be destroyed”
• Romans massacre Carthaginians
• Territorial expansion followed -– Increase in Roman territory (Sicily, North
Africa, and Spain)
– Policy of westward expansion
– Greece and Macedon become Roman
provinces (146 B.C.E.)
Society and Culture in the Late Republic
• Transformations
– New wealth poured into Rome
– Increasing social and economic inequality
– Small farmers left the land for the cities
Society and Culture in the Late
Republic
• Economic and social changes
– Slavery
• Increase in slave population
• Used slaves as agricultural laborers
– No transition to industrialism
– No incentive for technological initiative
– Equestrians made contact with Eastern
markets
• Operated mines, built roads, collected taxes,
became principal moneylenders
Slaves tend the hair of their mistress
Society and Culture in the Late
Republic
• Epicureanism and Stoicism
– Lucretius (98–55 B.C.E.)
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On the Nature of Things
Removing the fear of the supernatural
Matter is a combination of atoms
“Peace and a pure heart”
– Stoicism
• Introduced around 140 B.C.E.
• Cicero (106–43 B.C.E.)
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“Father of Roman eloquence”
Tranquility of the mind is the highest good
Indifference to pain and sorrow
Bringing the best of Greek philosophy to Rome
The Social Struggles of the Late
Republic (146–30 B.C.E.)
• Disorder, war, assassinations, and
insurrections
• Spartacus slave uprising (73–71 B.C.E.)
The Social Struggles of the Late
Republic (146–30 B.C.E.)
• Julius Caesar (c. 100–44 B.C.E.)
– Destroyed the forces of Pompey at Pharselus
(48 B.C.E.)
– Cleopatra and Egypt
– Dictator for ten years, then declared himself
dictator for life (46 B.C.E.)
– Death of Caesar—Ides of March (44 B.C.E.)
– Treated the republic with contempt
– The Julian calendar
The Principate or Early Empire
(27 B.C.E.–180 C.E.)
• The Augustan system of government
– Achievements
• New coinage system
• Public services
• Defender of traditional values
– Augustus to Trajan
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Continued expansion
Holds northern border at the Rhine and Danube
The Roman Peace (Pax Romana)
The Five Good Emperors
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Nerva (96–98 C.E.)
Trajan (98–117 C.E.)
Hadrian (117–138 C.E.)
Antoninus Pius (138–171 C.E.)
Marcus Aurelius (171–180 C.E.)
The Principate or Early Empire
(27 B.C.E.–180 C.E.)
• Romanization and assimilation
– Pax Romana was not universal
• Roman massacres in Britain and Judea
– Assimilated the residents of conquered
territories
– The spread of Roman cultural forms
(amphitheaters, baths, paved roads)
– Rights of citizenship
– Borders and frontiers
Culture and Life in the Period of
the Principate
• Literature
– The Golden Age—extolling the virtues of
Rome
• Virgil (70–19 B.C.E.)—the Ecologues and the
Aeneid
• Horace (65–8 B.C.E.)—the Odes
• Livy (59 B.C.E.–17 C.E.)—History of Rome
• Ovid (43 B.C.E.–17 C.E.)—the Metamorphoses
– The Silver Age—self-conscious artifice
• Petronius and Apuleius
• Juvenal (c. 60–140 C.E.)—the Satires
• Tacitus (c. 55–117 C.E.)—Germania and Annals
Culture and Life in the Period of the
Principate
• Art and architecture
– Art imported from conquered territories
– The wealthy wanted art for their homes; as
the demand increased, the Romans relied
on copies
– Grand public architecture to delicate wall
paintings
– The Pantheon and the Colosseum
– Engineering feats
• Roads and bridges
• Aqueducts
• Sewage systems
Urban Water Supplies
• First of 11 aqueducts supplying water to
Rome constructed by 300 BC
• 144 BC aqueduct “Marcia,” a high-level
supply 58 miles long and 195 feet above
the Tiber
• Use of water treatment techniques,
especially use of lime as a coagulant
Culture and Life in the Period of
the Principate
• New religions
– Greater interest in religions of salvation
– Christianity and Judaism
– Mithraism
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Zoroaster
A religion of carefully guarded secrets
Limited to men
Sol invictus was the favored god of the Roman army
Sunday was the most sacred day of the week
December 25 was the most sacred day of the year
– Emperor worship
Culture and Life in the Period of
the Principate
• The economy of Italy during the Principate
– Manufacturing increased
– Mass production of pottery, textiles, metal,
and glassware
– Signs of strain
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Upper class luxury
Diminishing number of slaves
Labor shortages on the latifundia
Unfavorable balance of trade
Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776-1788) – 5 Attributes marked Rome at its end:
• A mounting love of show and luxury
• A widening gap between the rich and the
poor
• An obsession with sex
• Freakishness in the arts, masquerading as
originality
• An increased desire to live off the state