Transcript Chpt 5 Rome Republic to Principate

Rome
Republic to Principate
Romulus and Remus
Rhea was married to Mars, the Roman
god of war. Rhea had twin sons. She
loved her boys, but there were plots
afoot by other gods and goddesses to
harm her father, herself, her husband,
and her children. To protect the boys,
she set them adrift on the river, hoping
someone would find them.
Romulus and Remus were first found by a
she-wolf who fed them. Then a
shepherd and his wife adopted the
boys.
As the twins grew older, they decided they
did not want to take care of sheep.
They wanted to be kings. They
decided to build a city on the shores of
the Tiber. They both wanted to be the
only king. They quarreled. In a fit of
rage, Romulus picked up a rock, killed
his brother, and made himself king
Early Roman State
• Landownership = essential to economy
and therefore social status
• Council of Elders  senatorial class
• Overthrew the last of the 7 kings
Roman “Republic”
• 507-31BCE
• Governmental Structure
– Voting for all male citizens (although votes of wealthy
worth more)
– 2 Consuls (serve 1 year, war = glory)
– Senate
– Assemblies
– Tribunes (lower classes only, veto power)
• Roman Senate
– Self perpetuating body
– Serve for life
– Nepotism
Institutionalized Inequality
• Patricians versus plebeians
• Paterfamilias
• Patron/Client Relationships
– Patron (senator) provided loans, legal advice etc in
exchange for votes, military service or labour
• Women
– Permanently children
– No land rights
– Strong women emerge to influence politics
Administering the Empire
• Political, economic and legal rights
extended to conquered peoples
• In exchange, required for military service
• Periphery provinces allowed to self govern
without rights
– Governors sent to serve one year
– Collect taxes, prevent invasion
– Lacked experience, led to corruption
– Year long cycle led to a lack of continuity
How did Empire lead to decline?
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All land owning men required to perform military service (legions)
Protracted wars with Carthaginians (264-202BCE), Hellenistic Kingdoms
(200-146BCE) & Gaul (59-51BCE)
Soldiers absent from farms for long periods of time
Senatorial class (Patricians) makes huge profits from war but because of
patron/client relationship don’t need to fight themselves
Patricians buy up soldier’s farm from families left without financial support
as fathers/husbands fight
Patricians create “uber farms” – LATIFUNDIA
Latifundia want cash crops – vineyards or animals  shortage of wheat as
imports lead to price inflation
POW provide cheap slave labour for Latifundia
Soldiers return home to no farm and poverty. Slavery means no rural
employment either!
Move to cities  no work here either!
Angry plebeians!!
Legions in trouble too! Not enough landowning men, therefore not enough
people who can act as soldiers!!!
“New Men” start appealing to the plebeians ruined by the Latifundia.
Promise wealth and employment if serve them in the army
Legions now loyal to LEADER not the Republic
“New Men” like Sulla, Pompey, Mark Antony, Julius Caesar and Octavian
aim for individual power at the expense of the Republic.
Civil War = Octavian triumphs. Becomes Princep Augustus
Augustus & the creation of Principate
• Julius Caesar creates 1st dictatorship – Civil War
against Pompey, popularity with the plebeians
(land reform), deified
• Ides of March, 44BCE – Julius Cesar assass.
• 2nd Triumvirate – Octavian (Augustus) Mark
Antony & Lepidus peace until 37BCE
• Octavian & MA struggle for power – MA &
Cleopatra defeated at Battle of Actium
• Lepidus exiled
• Octavian purges Senate. Senate “voted” to give
Octavian power for 10 years. Swears allegiance
as Emperor. Tribune for life
• Augustus Caesar is born
Augustus Caesar
• 45 years of rule – 31BCE – 14CE
• Propaganda = “Republic restored”
• Equites = merchant/landowning middle class
 administration/civil service
• Empire  extend no further, consolidate
existing
• Cash payments for soldiers serving > 20
years, end the “new men” phenomenon
• Senatorial class given power in provinces
near Rome, therefore still believe have power
• Pax Romana
Roman Empire Post Augustus
• Emperor’s power publicized and strengthened
• Cult of Emperor worship
• Emperor = source of new laws, class of lawyers
emerges
• “Urban Empire” = urban admin. not urban pop.
Urban dwellers benefitted
– Slaves decrease (pax romana) tenant farmers
increase. Wealth based on land but
monopolized by urban landowners
• Technology  aqueducts
• Trade increases under PR,
safety & stability
• Romanization = more powerful than
military action
• Citizenship extended  first soldiers, then
as reward, by 212 all free men.
• R. army = defensive. Walls (GB), forts,
natural barriers used
Third Century Crisis
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235 – 284CE
20+ Emperors
Germanic invasions, Romans build walls
Economy
– Army drains treasury  taxes raised in
provinces  destroyed urban prosperity 
Emperors devalue coin  return to barter 
local elite responsible for unpaid taxes 
bankrupted  trade destroyed as PR ends 
people flee cities  return to “New Men”
Diocletian & Constantine save
Rome
• 284 – 305CE
• Rises through army
• Reforms
– Specifies price of goods
– Ends inflation
– Froze families in profession
– “Big Government” seen as oppressive
• Constantine seizes throne
Constantine
• Battle of Milvian = belief that Christian God
had granted him victory
– Edict of Milan = end persecution of Chris.
– Religiously tolerant
– Unites empire – C. on the rise  spiritual or
political?
• Moves capital from Rome to Byzantium
– B. renamed Constantinople
– Urban centre and Equites here better survived
3rd Century Crisis
– Closer to threatened borders in E. Europe
Rome the Christian Empire
• Council of Nicea
– 325CE
– Emperor involved in doctrinal issues
– Dispute over Jesus’ importance (Arians)
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Diocese
Urban phenomenon
392 – Pagan worship banned
Justinian Codes
– Codifies Roman laws; innocent until proven
guilty, burden of proof lies with accuser etc
Decline of Rome
• Eastern and Western Empires divide by
395
• Byzantine armies successful  Germanic
tribes attack West
• Rome falls to Visigoths 410
• 476 last Roman Emperor
• 530 Rome only spiritually important as
seat of the Pope
• Latin relegated to elite, locals turn to
dialects; Portuguese, Spanish, French,