Transcript Rome (From City-State to Empire)

Rome: City-State to Empire
SSWH3:a-d.
Time and Geography
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POLITICAL
Roman Foundations
• Etruscans
– From small city states in north, central Italy
– Strongly influenced Roman religious beliefs, art and architecture
– Gradually disappeared from history
• Greeks - the one alien group Romans thought superior
• Carthage - most powerful force in western
Mediterranean
Etruscans had a
unique style of art
Republican Government
• Senate made up of patricians
• General Assembly made up of
plebeians
• Two consuls:
Patricians
– Censors
– Tribunes
• Equal voting rights
• Equal access to government
for all
Plebeians
Republican Government
• Rome’s conquest of
Italy
– Rome ruled most of
central Italy by 340
– Encouraged subject
populations to become
integrated with Rome
Republican Government
• Punic Wars
– First Punic War – Rome embarked on imperial expansion
– Second Punic War – Rome defeated Carthage at Battle of
Zama; controlled western Mediterranean
Republican Government
• Conquest of East
– Some Senate opposition
– Built outstanding military machine
– Pro-consuls created as permanent commander/governors
Late Republic
• Late Republic’s Crisis
– Strains were beginning to show
– Poverty stricken farmers
(proletariat) flocked to cities
– Marius and Sulla
• The Triumvirates
– Julius Caesar and First Triumvirate
– Octavian and Second Triumvirate
– Octavian’s final victory at Actium
Julius Caesar
The Augustan Age
• Augustus’ reforms
– “Retain the form, change the substance”
– Octavian accepted title of “Augustus” (“Revered One”), preferred
to be called “Princeps” (“First Citizen”)
• Imperial government policies
– Kept republican institutions intact
– Recognized problem of impoverished citizens
– Tried to institute moral reforms, ended the
love of luxury
– Tried to revive faith in old gods and state cult
– Reformed imperial protection, administration
– Other military reforms
– Praetorian Guard only armed force in Italy
Augustus Caesar
The Augustan Age
• Peace and Prosperity
– Pax Romana – greatest
of his achievements
– Many benefits for people
in this period
Augustus Caesar achieved peace throughout the
Roman Empire
The Augustan Age
• Succession Problem
– One important problem he could not solve
– Successors depended on military support more than
heredity to get into office
One of
Augustus’
successors
The Augustan Age
• Imperial Unification
– Imperial government became increasingly centralized
– Municipia – Roman towns, administrative units
– Government became open to non-Italians
Roman Culture
• Law
– Probably most valued Roman gift to later society
– Basic principles: precedent, equity, interpretation
– Ius gentium: law for relations between citizens,
non-Romans
• Arts
– Literature
– Pictorial and plastic arts
Marcus Aurelius,
emperor and stoic
philosopher
• Patterns of Belief
– Leaned toward the pragmatic, here-and-now
– Religious convictions centered on duty to
state and family hearth
– Educated Romans affirmed Stoicism
ECONOMIC
Economy
• Considerable boom in trade and
manufacturing
• Livelihood changed little
• Slave and Freedom
– Increasing number of slaves
– Often more educated
– Better skilled than their masters
– Roman slavery was harsher than before
– Increasing amount of voluntary slavery
SOCIAL
Society
• Gender relations
–
–
–
–
Patria potestas – authority of father over family
Women regarded as property
Marriages arranged, divorce common
Women worked in most trades
• Children and education
– Patrician male child was important,
well-educated
– Females gradually got increased
freedom
Discussion Questions
1. During the years of the Republic and early
Empire, Rome expanded from a relatively
insignificant group of people living in central
Italy, to make the Mediterranean into a “Roman
Lake”. What modern nations enlarged their
territory the same way, in stages and usually
through a series of wars? Choose one of them
and compare their expansion to the Roman
story.
Discussion Questions
2. Emperor Augustus tried to solve social and
moral problems by instituting his own reforms.
Consider how he handled the problem of the
homeless – how did his solution differ from
modern attempts to resolve this problem? Are
there any similarities? What about his concern
about the love of luxury and the modern
paradigm of consumerism and materialism?
What similarities? What differences?