His 101 chapter 5 & chapter 6 the civilization and transformation of rome

Chapter 5 & Chapter 6
The Civilization and Transformation
of Ancient Rome

Early Roman Government
 Before 500 B.C.E.
 King
 Senate: consult only
 Documentary evidence: 500 B.C.E. change in government
 Replaced the King with two consuls
 Gave the Roman Senate control over public funds
 One consul could veto the other consul’s decrees
 In times of grave emergency the Senate could appoint a dictator who
would rule for 6 months.

War between Rome and Latins
 Almost constant warfare as Romans fought with surrounding groups and
conquering them. Latin Territories first, then Etruscan cities.
 Latin War: 340-338 B.C.E. A push by the Latin people for independence
from Rome.
 In 340 B.C.E. an embassy was sent to the Roman Senate to ask for the
formation of a single republic between Rome and Latium with both parties
on the same level.
 Rome declared war on the Latins and conquered them but instituted “Latin
Rights”

“Latin Right”
 Intermediate Rights between full citizenship and non-citizen
status
 Commercium allowed Latins to own land in any of the Latin
cities and to make legally enforceable contracts with their
citizens.
 Connubium permitted them to make a lawful marriage with a
resident of any other Latin city.
 Ius migrationis gave people with Latin status the capacity to
acquire citizenship of another Latin state simply by taking up
permanent residence there.

Roman Expansion & Political Turmoil
 In the areas they conquered, the Romans demanded that former foes contribute
soldiers to the Roman army.
 Aristocracy = patricians = 10% of the population
 Plebeians = 90% who had no access to political power.
 Forced to serve in army, but no right to political office.
 Rights not identified and often judicial system was manipulated against them.
 Debt slavery: a debt slave could be sold by his creditor to an owner outside of Rome.
 200 year struggle between Patricians and Plebeians is often called “Struggle of the
Orders”
 Plebian revolt forced Patricians to create a new office “Tribune” who would represent the
rights of the plebeians.
 The Tribune had veto power over consuls.
 By 367 B.C.E. first plebian consul elected.
 287 B.C.E. concilius plebeus would be binding on Roman government whether the Senate
approved them or not. Origin of the “plebescite”

Equestrian Class
 To reduce corruption, new Laws Prohibited Senators from
engaging in business
 Aristocrats left public service in the Senate to pursue
business
 Politics and business interests merged in old families
through marriage
 A few families won political office consistently and were
powerful, conservative force in Roman Senate
 Orders: Patricians, Plebians, Equestrians

Roman Religion
 Ancestor Worship: primary duty to honor one’s ancestors by his
conduct and the greatest honor was to sacrifice oneself for
Rome.
 Roman Priests
 Guardians of sacred traditions.
 Prominent aristocrats rotated in and out of the priestly office while also
serving as leaders of the Roman state.
 Thus religion and politics were officially sanctioned as part of the state.
 Roman polytheism: as long as the traditional gods were
honored, new gods could be added and worshipped as well

Mystery religions: Mithraism
 No known texts—mostly reliefs.
Practiced primarily by Roman Soldiers.
 7 Levels
 Corax, Corux or Corvex (raven or crow)
beaker
 Nymphus, Nymphobus (male bride)
lamp, bell, veil, circlet/crown
 Miles (soldier) pouch, helmet, lance,
drum, belt, breast plate
 Miles (soldier) pouch, helmet, lance,
drum, belt, breast plate
 Perses (Persian)
 Heliodromus (sun-runner) torch,
 Pater (father)

Civic and Religious Values Combined
 Mos maiorum– ―the custom of the ancestors‖
 Mos—morality
 Pietas—reverence for family traditions and for one’s father’s—living and dead
 Virgil’s Aeneid : Aeneas was pious because he carried his father to safety while
Troy burned. He was metaphorically a carrier of tradition—willing to shoulder the
burdens of his ancestors and carry them forever. Virgil’s epic poem unites family
religion and state.
 Patriaas Potestas: absolute authority of the father (pater) within his family
regardless of his social class
 Roman society was run by elders (Senators) and father figures (patricians) who
traced their ancestry back to Roman gods (Aeneas’ mother was Venus).

Punic Wars
 By 265 B.C.E. Romans controlled most of the Apennine Peninsula
 Was further expansion deliberate, necessary or accidental?

Punic Threat
 Carthage expands into Messina, an important port in Sicily near
the mainland

Carthage
 Phoenician, Numidian and Libyian peoples,
 Major city was Carthage (in modern day Tunisia)
 Carthage relied heavily, though not exclusively, on foreign mercenaries—Celts
and Iberians
 Light Cavalry: a significant part of it was composed of Numidian contingents and
North African elephant corps
 The riders were armed with a spike and hammer to kill the elephants in case they
charged toward their own army.
 The navy offered a stable profession and financial security for its sailors
 Carthaginian merchants
 By land across the Sahara
 And by sea throughout the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic to the tin-rich
islands of Britain and to West Africa.

How Rome Won
 Captured Phoenician ship and copied its design
 Created a corvus device for boarding ships

First Punic War
 23 year war
 Carthage ceded Sicily to Rome
 Carthage paid large indemnity (money to pay for
the war)
 Many Romans killed.
 Conservative Senators: Rome should have invaded
Carthage rather than agree to a peace treaty

2nd Punic War
 218 B.C.E. Rome declared war on
Carthage
 Considered expansion by Carthage into
Iberian Peninsula (Spain) as a
commercial and military threat
 2nd Punic War lasted 16 years

Hannibal’s Invasion of Apennine Peninsula

Hannibal’s Invasion
 involved the mobilization of 60,000 to 100,000 troops
 Training a war-elephant corps
 all of which had to be provisioned along the way
 Crossed the Alps
 2nd Punic War was a world war in the sense that it involved about three-
quarters of the population of the entire Punic-Greco-Roman world and few
people living in the Mediterranean were able to escape it.
 Virtually every family in Rome lost at least one member

Battle of Cannae
 Estimates: 50,000-70,000 Romans were killed or captured
 Among the dead
 the Roman Consul Lucius Aurelius Paulus,
 29 out of 48 military tribunes
 80 Senators (about 30% of the Senate)
 one of the bloodiest battles in all of human history (in terms of
the number of lives lost within a single day)

Inexplicable Decisions In History Hall of Fame
 Hannibal recalled to Carthage without marching on
Rome
 scarcity of supplies, money, manpower?
 political components?
 Did Carthage think Rome would sue for peace?
 Rome kept on fighting
 201 B.C.E. Publius Cornelius Scipio invaded North Africa and
defeated Hannibal at Zama

Results of 2nd Punic War
 Carthage required to abandon all its possessions except city of Carthage
 war indemnity 3X that of the 1st Punic War
Estimate: 20,000 talents of silver(one talent= 71 pounds) over 50 years
 In the 50 years between the 2nd and 3rd Punic wars:
 Rome invaded and conquered
former Macedonian empire
Palestine
Hispania

3rd Punic War
 By 151 B.C.E. Carthage repaid its war debt to Rome
 Carthage thought treaty was cancelled
 Rome decided on War
 needed grain and area around Carthage was fertile
 Romans did not forget their losses at Battle of Cannae
 149 B.C.E. war with Carthage again
 Demanded that Carthage hand over all weapons and move 10 miles inland
 Siege of Carthage:
 approximately 50,000 people died of starvation
 Six day battle
 Rome made all inhabitants slaves and burned Carthage for 17 days

Consequences of Punic Wars
 Millions of slaves from Carthaginian and Macedonian territories
 Most slaves were agricultural workers
Most economical use: work as hard as possible feed as little as possible, when one dies buy another
very cheap because market was glutted
 Extensive slave population:
 enabled large estates owned by wealthy aristocracy to force small farmers to sell their land
because they could not compete with the large agribusinesses
 Plantation style economy
 Former farmers became urban population of Rome
 Under-employment of free labor: slaves could do it more
cheaply
 Created a permanent urban under-class and political instability
 Rome failed to develop an industrial base that would
have created jobs and opportunity for former farmers

Instability 146-30 B.C.E.
 Slave uprisings
 134 B.C.E. 70,000 slaves revolt in Sicily
 104 B.C.E. 2nd slave uprising in Sicily
 73-71 B.C.E. Spartacus Rebellion
Trained to be a gladiator: certain death
Escaped to Mount Vesuvius with a host of fugitive slaves
Overran much of Southern Italy
6,000 slaves captured during the final battle were crucified
along the road between Capua and Rome (150 miles)

Barbarian Threats to Roman Power
 Who is a “barbarian”
 Greeks:
“anyone who does not speak Greek as their native language”
“anyone who is not Greek”
 Romans:
 “Barbarian” = anyone who did not live within the Roman empire and had no manners
 Modern
 ???
 Throughout history the term “Barbarian” generally implies a person who
lives outside of the boundaries of a particular territory/kingdom
 The Other who is “not like us”

Dynamic Roman Frontier
 Hispania: Iberian Peninsula and Western France
 Cimbrians: Jutland Peninsula (modern Denmark)
 Britannia and Caledonia (Scotland)
 Central Europe (East of Iberia)
 Celts
 Teutonnes/Germans
 Gaul
 Goths

Germania
 Ancient Anthropological study of the German tribes
 Tacitus did not do fieldwork
 Based on the memories of Roman soldiers returning from
various wars
 Used this study to criticize Rome also

Julius Caesar
July 13, 100 B.C.E. – March 15, 30 B.C.E.

Marius, Sulla & Caesar
 Marius:
 a general in Roman Army
elected as Consul by Plebian party (composed mostly of soldiers)
reelected six times from 107 B.C.E. to 86 B.C.E.
 eliminated the property qualification required to be a Roman soldier
Provided opportunity for urban poor to gain political access through the military
 Sulla :
 appointed dictator in 86 B.C.E. by the Senate
 curtailed the power of the Tribunes (Plebian leaders)
 assassinated any Senator who opposed him
 Julius Caesar
 Marius’s nephew
 took his legions to the frontier to fight the Barbarians
political power and enrichment
Hero of soldiers
Demonized by Senators

The Triumvirate
 Pompey: General who conquered Syria and Palestine
 Julius Caesar: fought the Barbarians in Gaul and Britannia
 Crassus: richest man in Rome, defeated Spartacus in the Battle of Siler River

Breaking of the Triumvirate
 52 B.C.E. : mob riots in Rome
 Senate feared Caesar’s popularity among the Plebian
class
 Convinced Pompey to declare Caesar who was in Gaul
―an enemy of the state‖
 49 B.C.E. Caesar marched on Rome and Pompey fled to
Syria
 Pompey defeated at Battle of Pharsalus in Greece and
murdered by Caesar’s supporters

Caesar becomes Emperor
 Affair with Cleopatra left her pregnant with Caesar’s
son
 Invaded Anatolia and victory was so swift that he
declared “Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)”
 46 B.C.E. Senate named Caesar dictator for 10 years
 44 B.C.E. named dictator for life
 Authority to make war and peace

Beware the Ides of March
 Caesar assassinated: March 15 “The Ides of
March”
 Conspiracy of Senators who wanted to return to
Republic (power in hands of Aristocracy)
included former supporter Brutus
Brutus committed suicide following his defeat by Octavian
(Caesar’s nephew) at the Battle of Philippi.
Marc Antony committed suicide after being defeated by
Octavian at the Battle of Actium

The Principate 27 B.C.E. – 187 C.E.

Caesar Augustus
(63-B.C.E. – 14 C.E.)
 Adopted by Julius Caesar at age 18 as his heir
 Joined with Marc Antony and Lepidus to secure his succession
 Defeated all competitors to become Emperor

Pax Romana
 Octavian returned from his victory at Actium and
declared peace was restored
 Granted titles of Imperator (victorious general) and
Augustus (worthy of honor) by the Senate
 Octavian preferred title princeps (first citizen)
 PAX ROMANA: Relative peace i.e. no major wars

Octavian Reforms
 New coinage
 Introduced public services
 Reorganized the army
 Allowed cities and provinces rights of self-government

Appearance versus Reality
 Senate had no power
 Augustus controlled the army
 Reforms of traditional civic values were superficial
 Rebuilt temples
 Prohibited Romans from worshipping foreign gods
 Fined citizens who failed to marry
 Required widows to marry within 2 years
 Punished adultery (by women)
 Made divorce more difficult
Augustus himself had many affairs
His daughter Julia had so many affairs that he was forced to banish her
 Aristocrats still controlled large farming estates
 Underemployment remained a serious problem
 No industrial development

Pax Romana
 Lasted from 28 B.C.E. to 180 C.E.
 Few powerful external enemies
 Mediterranean Sea controlled by one military power: Rome
 Land frontiers/borders– Scotland to Persia
 Exceptions to peace were rebellions by Britannia and Hebrews.
 Assimilation of residents along the frontier into the common cultural and
political life of Rome

Aristocratic Women
 Owned property
 Invested in commercial ventures
 Made public contributions to particular causes
 Priestesses & civic patrons
 NO public office
 Nominally under authority of nearest male relative (perpetual minority)
 Educated to be accomplished wives and mothers
 Certain sexual freedom

Plebian Women
 Little is known
 Early marriage
 Husband’s helpers
 Engaged in shop keeping
 Motherhood 3-4 children
 Life expectancy 34 years

Roman Law
 Civil Law: applied to Roman citizens
 Law of the Peoples: applied to everyone and supplemented
civil law
 Natural Law: founded on Stoic philosophy
 Natural order of nature
 Embodied justice and right
 All men are entitled to it
 Conceptual but not applied

Religions
 Roman gods
 Local gods
 Judaism
 Christianity
 Mystic Religions

Christianity
 Jesus was a historical figure
 Tacitus & Pliny the Younger
 Mention Jesus, confirm he was crucified by Pontius Pilate, identify Christians as a religious
sect (they don’t like them)
 Josephus
 Jewish historian
 Wrote a Roman friendly history of the Jews
Mentions Jesus, John the Baptist and James
Mentions Paul and the early church
A confession that Jesus was the Christ in Josephus’s history is believed to have been added by the
Church

Christian Beliefs in the 1st Century
 Based on Gospels: Matthew, Mark, & Luke
 John is believed to have been written as much as two decades after the other three
 Considerable disagreement among scholars as to dates of writing
 Paul’s Letters to early churches
 Some believe written before the gospels—some after
 Paul and Peter killed during Nero persecution of Christians around 64 C.E. according to
Eusebeius
 If Paul is the author of these letters then they must have been written before 64 C.E.

Jesus and Second Temple Judaism
 Dead Sea Scrolls
 1947 Bedouin boy discovers Jewish religious texts hidden in a cave near
Qumran
 Not available to scholars until very recently

Hebrew Monotheism
 The belief that a single god is the creator and ruler of all things
 Yahweh is transcendent: exists outside of time, nature, place and Kingship
 Ethical monotheism: obligations owed by all human beings toward their
creator, independent of place or political identity
 Yahweh created man in His image
 Yahweh is exclusively a god of righteousness
 Evil comes from man not Yahweh
 Micah 6:8 Yahweh requires man to live justly, love mercy and walk humbly

Christian Monotheism
 Adopted basic principles of Hebrew ethical monotheism
 Rejected most ritual practices of Judaism for Gentile believers
 Salvation offered to everyone without Jewish ritual observance
 based on faith in Jesus
 Practiced sacrament “means of grace” of Holy Baptism
 Practiced sacrament of Holy Communion
 Sects developed and arguments arose over teachings of Jesus and Paul

Roman Issues with Christianity
 Feared destabilization
 Christianity recognized no other gods (Romans
allowed other gods but expected people to show
respect to theirs)
 Christians refused to worship the emperor as a god
 Despite growth of Christianity no more than 5 – 10%
of people in Roman Empire were Christians

Crisis of the 3rd Century
 Nero and Caligula (poor emperors) succeeded by
capable emperors who ruled until 180 C.E.
 After 182 C.E.
 Provincial armies engaged in civil war and victors
ruled as military dictators
 From 235-284 C.E. 26 “barracks Emperors” ruled
Rome

Elements of the Crisis
 Civil War
 Economic woes
 War ravaged agriculture
 Inflation
 Taxation
 Plague
 Galen a Greek Physician
diarrhea, fever, inflamed throat with dry pustules appearing on the 9th day of
illness
Modern historians conclude smallpox
 Decimated population, economic crisis and ravages of civil war lead Roman armies to
pull back from previous frontiers

Rome in Decline
 Rome recovered by 289 C.E. but never returned to its former glory
 Roman rule continues for another 200 years in the West
 Roman rule continues for another 1,000 years in the East

Causes of decline argued by historians today
 Barbarian attacks
 No clear law of succession
 Lack of constitutional means for reform
 Allowed too much power to military
 Slave system and failure to develop industrial economy
 led to unstable economy
 required dependence on taxes
 Required tribute from conquered lands
 Declining population due to disease, civil war, constant foreign warfare
 Aristocrats contributed very little to economy and relied on legislated privileges that exempted
them from taxes
 Local elite could not keep up with demands undermining urban basis of classical Roman civic
ideals
 Lack of interest in preserving Rome by its citizens

Diocletian
 Ruled from 284-305 C.E.
 Autocrat
 Dominus (Lord)
 Formal rules off succession
 Split empire into East & West: 2 augusti
 2 Caesars
 Known as the Tetrarch
 Moved capital from Rome to Nicomedia (in Turkey).
 Diocletian ruled from Nicomedia
 Senate remained in Rome

From Diocletian to Constantine
 Neoplatonism
 Plotinus, a Hellenistic philosopher from Egypt (204-270 C.E.)
Everything has its source in a single supreme being
Material world is the residue of the divine from which all
spirituality has been drained
Human beings = matter and emanations of the divine
(souls)
Highest goal of life: attain spiritual reunion with God
through acts of self-denial

Constantine
 Ruled from 312-337
 Built a new capitol in the East: Constantinople
 Abandoned Tetrarch in favor of dynasty
 Eastern Empire
 Richer
 More populous
 More central to imperial policy
 Western Empire
 Poorer
 Peripheral
 Not well defended
 Legalized Christianity within Roman Empire

Popular Version of Constantine’s Conversion
 Saw a Christian symbol while preparing to battle the “Barbarians” at Malian
Bridge
 Voice said, “In this sign, conquer”
 Constantine ordered men to paint the symbol on their shields
 He won
 Constructed churches
 Did not prohibit pagan worship
 Christianity became favored religion

Historical Accounts of Constantine’s Conversion
 Lactantius: North African Latin historian who tutored Constantine’s son:
 The night before the Battle of Milvian Bridge against Maxentius (Western Roman Emperor)
Constantine dreamed of being ordered to place a heavenly divine symbol upon his
soldiers’ shields.
 Eusebius of Caesarea (4th century Christian Bishop who wrote a history of
the early church)
 Well before the battle, Constantine looked up at the sun and saw a cross of light above it
and the words “In this sign, conquer.”
 The next night Christ came to Constantine in a dream and told him to use the sign against
his enemies.

Maxentius
Western Roman Emperor. Defended Rome
against various revolts.
-Engaged in 5 year war with Constantine
over who controlled the Western Roman
Empire.
-Army in the Eastern Empire declared
Constantine, the son of the previous emperor
Constantius to be Augustus.
-Army in Western Empire favored Maxentius,
the son of Constantius’s predecessor,
Maximian as emperor.
Constantine had Maximian executed.

Constantine’s Symbol: Chi Rho

Chi Rho
 Formed by imposing the 1st two capital letters of the Greek word for Christ X
and P
 Not technically a cross, symbol invokes the crucifixion and the title “Christ”
 Symbol was often used by ancient Greeks as a symbol for “good fortune”
 Chi Rho became Constantine’s Labarum (military standard of the Roman
Army)
 What is the effect of this on Christianity as a religion?

1st Council of Nicaea (325) & New Contours of 4th
Century Christianity
 Basic doctrinal disputes resolved
 Arius vs. Athanasius
Controversy over the Trinity: What was the relationship of Jesus to God?
Council of Nicaea adopted Athanasius ‘ view
 Clearly defined hierarchy of the Church
Patriarchs
Bishops
Primacy of Bishop of Rome: Pope
 Women excluded from authority
 Contrary to practices of Jesus and the early church
 Make Christianity complement Roman tradition
 Neoplatonism—liberate the soul from tyranny of bodily desires
Sex and eating were associated with women
 Spread of Monasticism

Western Christian Thought
 Saint Jerome (340-420)
 Translated Bible into Latin (vulgate)
 Argued that classical learning was important for Christians
 Saint Ambrose (340-397)
 Archbishop of Milan
 Argued that Emperor not above the Church
 Admired Cicero but said highest virtue is reverence for God

Saint Augustine
 Bishop of Hippo in North Africa
 How could humans be so profoundly sinful when they were created by
an all-powerful God whose nature is entirely good?
 Augustine’s answer: all evils are result of the innate human propensity
to place our own desires above God’s
 No one has the grace necessary for salvation
 Grace is God’s gift: given in greater portion to some
 Wrote City of God in response to those who blamed Christians for fall of
Rome

Barbarians at the Gates
 Huns
 Nomadic tribes from east of the Volga River
 Origins and language are subject of debate
 Mounted archers
 Atila the Hun
Repeatedly attacked Eastern Roman Empire forcing Theodosius to pay tribute
The barbarian territory of the Huns, (in Thrace, became so great that more than a hundred cities
were captured and Constantinople almost came into danger and most men fled from it. ... And
there were so many murders and blood-lettings that the dead could not be numbered. Ay, for
they took captive the churches and monasteries and slew the monks and maidens in great
numbers. (Callinicus, in Life of Saint Hypatius)

Illustration from Nuremburg
Chronicle
Statue of Unknown Origin
c. 1800-1900

Germanic Invasions
 Germans were settled agriculturalists and sophisticated metalworkers
 Traded with Romans
 Settled inside the empire
 Adopted Arian Christianity
 Goths settled along Danube
 378 Goths revolted
 Theodosius accommodated Goth demands for food and land
 Alaric invaded Rome in 410
 476 last Roman Emperor toppled by army of Germans, Huns and
Roman soldiers

Sack of Rome by the Visigoths, J.N. Sylvestri, 1890
Alaric

Causes of Collapse of Western Roman Empire
 Military failure
 Economic failure
 Division of Empire
 Invader Kingdoms collected taxes but did not pay them to Rome
 People moved out

Survival of Roman Institutions
 Roman cities survived in Gaul and Spain
 Roman agricultural patterns remained
 Roman aristocrats dominated civic life
 Roman law
 Roman authority in the Christian Church
 Respect for authority and traditions of the ancestors (apostles and early Church fathers)
 Authority of the Pater in home, society and government

Justinian I (482-565)
 Byzantine Emperor
 Codified Roman Law
 Planned to re-conquer Western Roman Empire
 Problems
 Enormous cost
 Insufficient manpower
 Distracted attention from dangers in the east

Era of Late Antiquity
 Assimilation of Roman culture by Barbarians
 Migrations caused frontiers of empire to be indistinguishable from interiors
of Western Empire
 Learned culture of Greek and Roman world extended to larger numbers of people
 Increasingly Christian character of Roman world
 Fusion of Christian culture and late Roman governance
 Still centered around Mediterranean Sea

Similarities & Differences between Rome, Great
Britain and the U.S.
 Similarities on a macro level
 Great Britain and Rome: Conquest, colonization and the Civilizing Mission
 Great Britain, U.S. and Rome: superpowers, stability and peace
 Rome, U.S. and Great Britain: power of the legislature, written laws and separation of powers
 Evolution from agrarianism to complex system of foreign and domestic markets, unemployment,
disparities in wealth
 Differences
 Rome never developed an industrialized economy
 Never pretended to be representative of all citizens
 Equality, individual rights were unheard of
 Rome depended on slavery to a degree unmatched in the modern world
 Religious and political life were inseperable

Legacy of Rome
 Architecture
 Legal codes
 Romance languages
 Roman Catholic Church and the Roman state (Pope=Pontifex Maximus)
 Rome as Mediator between ancient civilizations of Near East, Mediterranean
basin and Europe

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