Transcript The Romans and Empire

Ancient Rome
Republic & Empire
The Romans and Empire
• All aspects of Roman civilization
influenced by its imperial ambitions: its
ambition to rule over a large part of the
world
Romans were borrowers
• From the Etruscans (Northwest) they
borrowed: urban planning, chariot racing,
the toga, the arch
• From the Greeks (South) they borrowed:
pantheon of gods and goddesses, literary
principles, classical style
Roman Republic
• 509 (overthrow of Etruscans)-30 B.C.E.
(Augustus)
• The “Republic” refers to the time when
Rome develops a government res publica
(“of the people”)
Republic: Government
• Popular Assembly= plebeians
• Senate=patricians, at first the only
lawmakers, but then plebeians make laws
too beginning in 287 B.C.E.
• Magistrates=consuls (2 of them)
Punic Wars: Rome vs.
Phoenicians
• 147 B.C.E. Destruction of Carthage
• Roman extends power all over the western
Mediterranean: thus the Roman Republic
had control over an empire
Turner, Dido Building Carthage, 1815
Hannibal
Roman possessions, 86 BCE
Julius Caesar
• 46 B.C.E. Gaius Julius Caesar, an army
commander, establishes dictatorship
• His famous account of his conquests of
Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt: “Veni, vidi,
vici”
• Julian calendar: 365 days
• 44 B.C.E assassinated by senators led by
Marcus Junius Brutus
Octavian
• Power struggles follow Julius Caesar’s
death: Mark Anthony vs. Octavian
(Anthony’s grandnephew and adopted son)
• 43 B.C.E.: Senate grants Octavian power to
rule for life
Octavian: a guy with many
names
• He called himself princeps (“first citizen”)
• The Senate called him Augustus (“the
Revered One”)
• As Rome’s top army general, he was
imperator (emperor)
Roman Empire
• 30 B.C.E – 476 C.E.
• “Empire” refers to the time when Rome is
ruled by the emperor, rather than having a
government res publica
30 B.C.E. – 180 C.E. Pax
Romana
• The Roman Peace: stability and commerce
• The “Good Emperors” (96-180 C.E.):
Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius,
Marcus Aurelius
– So stable that we don’t have much history from
parts of this era
Marcus Aurelius, 160-80 CE
• A Stoic philosopher
• Author of Meditations
(in Greek)
• Fought against
Germanic uprising
• Last of the 5 “Good
Emperors”
From Meditations
• “approach each action as though it were
your last”
• “we are all fellow-citizens and share a
common citizenship, and . . . the world is a
single city”
• “A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason
to rule all—that is myself”
Commodus, 180-192
• 5th son of Marcus Aurelius
• Brought end to “Good
Emperors”
• A tyrant who played at
gladiatorial combat
• Murdered while bathing
by an athlete who
conspired with
Commodus’s mistress
The Romans were efficient
conquerors
• See Josephus, p. 133
– Description of Roman army camp: see
Gladiator
Roman army camp (small), 1-2nd cent.
CE
Rome & China
• Traded indirectly through Silk Road
• 97 CE, China sent ambassador to Rome; he
reached Mesopotamia but was informed that
the journey to Rome would take 2 more
years; so he returned home
• 166 CE, Marcus Aurelius sent envoys
directly to China
The Romans were efficient
administrators
• when Rome conquered a territory, they
permitted the local customs and even local
government system to continue
• they took from the territories: taxes,
soldiers, slaves
• they gave to the territories: Latin language,
Roman law, infrastructure (roads, bridges,
aqueducts), and citizenship
Roman Law
• Latin jus: “law; justice”
• Roman law vs. Greek law
– Greek law: developed from the Greek citizen’s
relationship to the polis
– Roman law: developed from the practical need
to administer a world-state
3 Kind of Roman Law
• Jus civile (law of the land): applied to
Roman citizens only
• Just gentium (law of the people): applied to
all people under Roman rule: international,
attuned to diverse cultures and traditions
• Jus naturale (law of nature): universal
principles underlying the law of the people
Romans were practical thinkers
• Romans absorbed Hellenic and Hellenistic
philosophy
• Stoicism was particularly popular because it
suited the cosmopolitan spirit of the Empire
Some tenets of Stoicism
• Providence/Divine Reason governs world
• reason over emotion
• accepting one’s fate, one’s duty
• belief in equality of all people—a universal vision
Stoicism: examples
• Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind (ca. 40
C.E.)
– Correct estimate of self, choosing tasks
accordingly; wise choice of companions;
avoiding excessive wealth
• Cicero, On Duty (44 B.C.E.)
--self-possession, Aristotelian Mean
Roman literature reflected
imperial culture
• Virgil’s Aeneid (20 B.C.E)
– A literary (rather than oral) epic
– Aeneas, our hero, journeys from Troy to Italy
– Trojans conquer Latium and establish Roman
state
– Stoic philosophy reflected in Aeneid: see
reading (p. 140-41).
Claude, Aeneas’ Farewell to Dido in
Carthage, 1676
Satire
• Horace
• Juvenal
– Horation vs. Juvenalian satire
Roman art is realistic
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Mosaic
Trompe l’oeil (“fool the eye”)
Still life
Empirical perspective
Romans were practical builders
• Methods: Arch, Vault, Dome
• Material: Concrete; marble veneer
• Structures:
– Practical: Aqueducts, Bridges, Roads
– Pleasure: Colosseum, Baths (the largest
structures in ancient Rome were for pleasure:
pleasure was practical for social control)
Roman Forum
Pantheon, c.118-125 CE
Pantheon
• Combines concrete construction with Greek
style
• Vitruvian proportion: distance from floor to
apex of dome = diameter of rotunda
M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIUM FECIT
Marcus Agrippa son of Lucius built this
while consul for the third time
“Hadrian rebuilt it on the site of Marcus
Agrippa’s original temple after it burned
twice.”
3 orders of Greek columns
Pompeii
Daily Life in Ancient Rome, 79 CE
Roman couple, Pompeii
Forum, Pompeii
Frescoes, Pompeii
Thermopolium (shop), Pompeii
House of the Vettii, Pompeii
Rites of Dionysus, Pompeii
Alexander the Great, Pompeii