Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic era, huntingforaging bands of humans gradually migrated from their origin in East Africa
to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, adapting their technology and cultures
to new climate regions.
• Economic structures focused on small kinship groups of hunting foraging
bands that could make what they needed to survive. However, not all groups
were self-sufficient; they exchanged people, ideas, and goods.
 A. Hunter-Gathering
 1. Locations: East Africa to Eurasia – Australia – Americas
 2. Technologies / Cultures individual
 3. Kinship groups
 4. Exchange (people – ideas – goods) Cultural Diffusion
Broad Themes of the Paleolithic / Neolithic Period
• Hunter and gatherers gradually migrated around the world
adapting their technology and cultures to the new
• Interactions were limited to groups that were
geographically nearby but cultural diffusion did occur.
• Agriculture is the second great human process after
settlement of the globe. The Neolithic (New Stone Age) /
Agricultural Revolution started about 12,000 years ago.
• Agriculture brought new relationships between humans
and other living things. Humans actively changed nature,
instead of using what they found. They shaped the
landscape and selectively bred animals.
 1. Migration/Adaptation
 2. Cultural Diffusion
 3. Agriculture
 a. second great process
 b. new relationship changes nature
 c. bred animals
OPTIC: Tassili-n-Ajjer rock art is at least 9000 years old, Algerian section of
the Sahara desert.
Neolithic Revolution: The changeover
from food gathering in human history to
food producing and the resulting
transformation of human society and the
natural environment.
• Global Warming 16,000 – 10,000 B.C.E.
• Settling down occurred 12,000 – 4,000 B.C.E.
among some populations
• Population:
70,000 yrs. Ago: 10,000 humans
30,000 yrs. Ago: 500,000 humans
10,000 yrs. Ago: 6 million humans
5,000 yrs. Ago: 50 million humans
101 yrs. Ago: 250 million humans
1. Gathering to producing
2. Global Warming = Settling
a. 16,000- 12,000
3. Rapid population rise with agriculture
a. increase birth rates = catalytic cycle
Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural villages
emerged first in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Agriculture emerged at
different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile River Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa,
the Indus River Valley, the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea,
Mesoamerica, and the Andes.
 1. Eastern Mediterranean: Mesopotamia
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Tigris/ Euphrates
2. Egypt: Nile River
3. Sub-Saharan Africa: Niger River
4. India: Indus River
5. East Asia: Yellow/Huang He River
6. Southeast Asia: Papua New Guinea
7. Mesoamerica: swamplands
8. Andes: Intermountain zones
• Between 7,000 B.C.E. and 4,000 B.C.E. villages had grown into towns. These
aren’t quite cities, but they are foreshadowing what’s to come.
• Jericho on Jordan river – mud/brick houses
surrounded by a big wall
• Catal-Huyuk, in Turkey – joined houses
together so that people couldn’t invade them
•
Organized – start trading from other
towns, as far as Sinai for Turquoise (Jericho)
• Villages practiced relative gender equality
and a mix of matrilineal and patrilineal
social structures
• Chiefdoms develop: 6,000 B.C.E.: descent
from some ancestor. Tribute collected for
redistribution. Division of labor and
surpluses created.
1. Fertile Crescent: Mesopotamia (The Land between two
Rivers)
a. This was the first region to develop agriculture
around 11,000 B.C.E.
b. Catal-Huyuk: Southern Turkey: 7,000 B.C.E.
1. pueblo style architecture
c. Jericho: Jordan River: 7,000 B.C.E.
1. mud brick round houses
2. twelve foot walls
d. Both cities relied on agriculture and trade
1. gender equality
2. matrilineal/patrilineal
e. Chiefdoms 6,000 B.C.E.
1. ancestor connection
2. Tribute
3. Division of labor
4. Surpluses
Cultural Hearths: The areas where civilizations first began to radiate the
ideas, innovations, and ideologies that culturally transformed the world.
Features of Civilization
- monumental architecture
- large population
- powerful state – able to wage war
- economic and social inequality
II. River Valley Civilizations
A. Features of Civilization
1. monumental architecture – large pop.
2. powerful state – able to wage war
3. economic and social inequality
B. Urban Revolution
1. cities
2. specialized industries
C. Social Classes and inequalities
1. Upper class: great wealth – no physical labor –
top positions in political, military, and religious life
2. Free commoners: artisans – low level officials – police –
servants, and farmers, their surplus used to support
upper class
3. Slaves: bottom – first generation = prisoners of war –
criminals - debtors
 Mesopotamia (land between rivers)
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Harsh heat, drought; unpredictable floods
Few natural resources; no wood
No natural defensive areas such as hills
Area open to invasion by nomads
 People in area must
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Provide permanent food supply
Regulate, provide permanent water supply
Provide defense against invaders
Acquire materials such as timber, minerals
 “Necessity is the mother of invention”
 Sumer in S. Iraq: first civilization (5000 bce)
 Create cuneiform, the first writing
 City-states ruled by priests and kings
 Wars over irrigated farmland
 Land-owning aristocracy dominate; most of the
population were farmers or slaves
 Polytheistic religion
tied to nature
 Cycle of Civilization
 Nomads come in and conquer sedentary people
 Conquerors assimilate local sedentary culture
 New civilization blends cultures, thrives for a while
 “New” civilization grows old, invaded by nomads
 Akkadian “First”
 First Empire
 Sargon conquered all of Sumer
 Babylonian “First”
 City at junction of Tigris-Euphrates
 Hammurabi’s Law Code
 Epic of Gilgamesh
 Society very different from Sumer
 Nile flooded regularly, predictably
 Provided rich soil, Easy soil to farm
 Civilization regulated flooding, surveying
 Location isolated
 Pharaoh was considered god-king
 Theocracy, almost absolute
 Built pyramid tombs for dead
 Egypt unified for most of history
 Queen Hatsheput
 Achievements
 Mathematics especially geometry; architecture
 Astronomy and medicine
 Hieroglyphics
 Developed in isolation
 Along lower Yellow River
 Rich loess soil
 Constantly flooding
 First Dynasties
 Control of flooding critical
 Xia Dynasty (Mythical?)
 God-like kings
 Taught irrigation, silkmaking
 Shang Dynasty
 Warlike kings, landed aristocracy; few priests
 Most people worked land as peasants
 Elaborate bronze workings; naturalistic art
 Originated during Shang
 Ideographic
 Writing denotes ideas
 First used on Oracle Bones
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Priests asked gods questions
Wrote questions on bones
Tossed into fire
Cracks read by priests (divination)
 Elitist technique = scholar-bureaucrats
 Extremely difficult to read
 Required well-educated class to use
 Only elite had time to learn
 Cuneiform, hieroglyphs had similar effects
 Chinese political idea
 Rulers exercise power given by heaven
 Rulers continue to rule if heaven pleased
 Heaven will take back mandate to rule
 Heaven will replace ruling dynasty
 Indicators of a Lost Mandate
 Wars, invasions, military disasters
 Over-taxation, disgruntled peasants
 Social, moral decline of elite classes
 Increased crime, banditry
 One ruling family replaces another
 The Dynasty Changes
 Due to the loss of the Mandate of Heaven
 Stages in Cycle
 New dynasty arises, takes control of China
 Strengthens rule, reestablishes prosperity, peace
 Weakens, becomes lazy, problems arise
 Invasions, revolts toss out reigning dynasty
 Shang replaces Xia, Zhou replaces Shang
 Arose around 2,500 BCE
 Main Cities
 Mohenjo Daro
 Harappa
 Hundreds of other settlements
 Independent city-states, strong government
 Extremely well-planned, coordinated cities
 Elaborate writing system (undeciphered)
 Religion
 Worshipped mother goddess
 Evidence of priestly class and temples
 Collapse
 Little evidence of warfare until end
 Devastated by environmental upheavals
 Destroyed by Indo-European (Aryan) nomads
 Cities abandoned
 Olmec around Gulf of Mexico, 1200bce
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Used rainfall for agriculture
Cities are centers of trade, religion
Priests and ruling class over others
Giant stone heads (as tall as 2 Mr. Storcks!)
 Chavin off coast of Peru, 900bce
 Two major regions:
mountains and coast
 Trade routes running
through mountains
 CONTRAST: Neither are river valleys
 First heritages
 Passed thru children
 Writing systems inherited
 Intellectual systems, art copied
 Religious, philosophical systems copied
 Useful inventions rarely forgotten, easily spread
 River valley civilizations decline by 1000BCE
 All subject to nomadic invasions
 Indo-Europeans and Semites were strongest
 Geographical centers shifted (all except China)
 Political Structures often not continued
 Phoenician Sailors in Lebanon
 City-states traded across Mediterranean
 Invented 22-letter alphabet
 Asia Minor
 Hittites introduced Iron
 Lydians introduced coinage to area
 Hebrews in Palestine
 Large Semitic migration in area
 There is only one God speaking through prophets, priests
 God made a covenant with the Jews, his Chosen people
 Ethical monotheism
 Conduct determines salvation
 Man is not eternally damned if he follows God’s rules, repents
 Pastoralism
 Domestication of animals
 Way of life based on herding
 Often on fringes
 Bordered settled areas
 Seen as savages
 Interaction vs. conflict
 Nomads traded, coexisted with settled areas
 Nomads warred on, conquered settled areas
 Often protected merchants, allowed trade
 Prior to 1500 BCE little major threat
 Chariot Peoples (Central Asian Indo-Europeans)
 Domesticated horse, invented chariot, iron weapons
 Pushed into SW Asia, S. Asia, E. Asia, Europe
 Responsible for spread of ideas, trade
Greeks, Persians, Guptas, Mauryans, The Han, The Qin,
Romans
 8000 BCE – 600 BCE = ANCIENT
 600 BCE – 600 CE = CLASSICAL
 Ancient: 2000 BCE – 1100 BCE
 Minoans
 Mycenaeans
 Classical Greeks will inherit language, gods, technology,
trade routes, early political and social structure from their
two predecessors.
 Cosmopolitan Mediterranean at this time
 Greek Dark Age: 1100 BCE – 800 BCE
 Iliad/Odyssey composed by Homer in this period
 Invasion of Troy
 Phoenicians begin to reconnect Greece with the rest of the
Mediterranean
 Result: Greece trades again ~800 BCE
 Result: Greeks borrow the Phoenician alphabet & make their own
 Oral tradition kept Greek culture alive
 Imagine keeping the Odyssey or Iliad alive through memory
and speech…disgusting, right?
 Polis (pl. poleis) – city-state. Autonomous. Geography!
 Colonization – Black Sea, Southern Italy, Sicily, Anatolia,
Aegean Islands, North Africa, Southern France
 Economically motivated
 Took fire from hearth of home city to hearth @ colony
 Greeks = Hellenes. Non-Greeks = Barbaroi
 Councils of nobles = pol. dominant, owned lots o’ land
 Peasants/debt slaves worked land
 Small middle class of merchants, craftsmen
 Religion – anthropomorphic gods. Athena, Zeus, etc.
 Humanism – celebration of the individual
 Greece slowly moving from monarchy/oligarchy to
democracy
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The formation of Greek cultural traditions
 From the 8th century, drew inspirations from Mesopotamia and Egypt
 About 800 B.C.E., adapted the Phoenicians' alphabet to their own language
 The Greek cultural feature: a philosophy based on human reason, rationality
Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.)
 Athenian philosopher, determined to understand humans
 Encouraged reflection on ethics and morality
 Integrity was more important than wealth and fame
 "The unexamined life is not worth living"
 Critical scrutiny to traditional ethical teachings
 Condemned to death for corrupting Athenian youths
Plato (430-347 B.C.E.)
 A zealous disciple of Socrates
 The theory of Forms or Ideas
 His Republic expressed the ideal of philosophical kings
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
 Plato's disciple, but distrusted theory of Forms or Ideas
 Devised rules of logic, scientific method, father of western science
 His Nicomedian Ethics became later basis in Christianity
Legacy of Greek philosophy
 Intellectual authorities for European philosophers until 17th century
 Intellectual inspiration for Christian and Islamic theologians.
 Provided a powerful intellectual framework for future generations
 Athens & Sparta = politically dominant poleis
 Sparta:
 professional army, people existed to support Sparta
 Isolated mostly, few political alliances
 Women: raise strong children, voices welcomed in public debate
 Athens:
 4 classes of people, classes 1-3 = participated politically, class 4 = no political
participation. Really, only about 15% of people participated.
 Classes separated by amount of wealth/land holdings
 Pericles later will alter system to let lower classes hold office
 Strong navy – secured trade routes, used to hold down Delian League members
 Women: produce children, stay at home, no political rights
 Hoplite – Greek footsoldier. Fought in phalanx.
 Persia comes into the picture
 Ionian Greek rebellion @ Mitelene. Persia squashes it.
 Athens had supported Ionian Greeks. Persia goes after Athens.
 Darius’ Invasion
 The battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.E.
 Greeks led by Spartans and Athens battled Persia to a draw
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Xerxes Invasion
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To fight Persians, Athenians build a wall of wood, or a navy
Xerxes seized, burned Athens
Athenian navy destroys Persian in the battle of Salamis, 480 B.C.E.
Persian army retreated back to Anatolia, 479 B.C.E.
 Peloponnesian War (431 ~ 404 BCE): everyone hates Athens.
 Athens = greedy, tyrannical towards Delian League.
 Rebuilt by Pericles
 Sparta, Delian League, money from Persia go to war w/Athens.
 Fighting rampant, even goes as far west as Sicily.
 Sparta wins, even w/lesser navy than Athens.
 Plague in Athens helped, too.
 Spartan rule was no better than Athenian rule.
 Political unrest in Greece continued.
 Spartan hegemony soon replaced by Theban hegemony.
 Meanwhile, in Macedonia…
 King Philip II (359-336 BCE) – great military leader/strategist
 Father of Alexander the Great
 Longer spears, cavalry, catapults
 Defeats southern Greece, tries to launch attack vs. Persia
 However, is assassinated before he can see it through.
 Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE)
 Avenges Persian attacks on Greece, conquers the known world.
 Conquered an empire that expanded from Greece, to Egypt, the
Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Persia, and even into India.
 How do you manage a beast this big?
 Put loyal Greek officials in charge of conquered poleis.
 Later, this changed to Persian officials, much resented by Greek soldiers.
 Saw himself as the rightful heir to the Persian throne
 Began dressing in Persian clothing, adhering to Persian culture
 Again, this is VERY unpopular with his Greek friends and fellow soldiers
 Dies at the age of 32.
 Other than the military conquests, why is he important?
 Later kings, Caesars will develop an “Alexander complex”
 Julius Caesar is known to have cried on his 32nd birthday because his
achievements were nothing like Alexander’s.
 Tomb/body of Alexander – relic site long ago, unknown whereabouts
now.
 Greek Hellenistic age ends after Rome finally subjugates Greece.
 From modern Iran, largest empire to this date in history
 Took over Neo-Assyrian empire
 Medes: Persians who challenged Neo-Assyrian rule
 Empire: Greece to India, as far north as Caucasus Mntns, as far
south as North Africa
 Cyrus I: Founder – conquers Anatolia/Babylonia.
 Lets Jews in OT go home. (end of Babylonian Captivity)
 Darius I: Organizer & Lawgiver Divides empire into 23 satrapies
(satrap = governor related to royal family)
 satrap: collect taxes, oversee territory, lots of autonomy further from the
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capital
Conquered Indus
Decentralized system. Conquered lived according to own traditions.
Est. new capital @ Persepolis
Zoroastrianism – Heaven/Hell, 1 supreme god, reward/punishment,
“messiah.” Monotheistic polytheism – Ahura Mazda – supreme deity, over
lesser deities.
Standardized coins, big empire, roads, stability brought forth good trade
 Pre-classical India
 Indus->Aryans, or Harappan Age-> Vedic Age
 Varna: 4 social classes (castes)
 Priests/scholars (Brahmin), warriors/govt officials (Kshatriya),
merchants/artisans (Vaishya), peasants/workers (Shudra)
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 5th class: untouchables, given demeaning jobs
Rigid social hierarchy threatened by 8th Cent
BCE
 Brahmins – most powerful class
 Jainism – nonviolence, self-denial, value of all living things
 Buddhism – Siddhartha (Kshatriya)
 Four noble truths: life is suffering, suffering comes from desire, suffering
will end if desire ends, way to end desire is the Eightfold path.
 Reach nirvana at the end cycle of reincarnation
 Will spread to much of India, Asia after 483 BCE
 Mahayanas – worshipped Buddha as a god & bodhisattvas (enlightened men and
women who gave up nirvana to help lead others). Central/Western Asia.
 Theravadas – no Buddha images, no worship of Buddha. Basics. SE Asia.
 Buddhism’s popularity forces Vedic religion to evolve to Hinduism
 Brahmins – still powerful, but gave people more personal connection to
gods.
 Hinduism borrowed much from Buddhism, even drove it from its land of
origin.
 Outside pre-Mauryan intrusions: Persians – 520 BCE(Indus satrapy),
Alexander – 327 BCE (left local rulers to their own)
 Political unification – tough in India
 Geography, rigid social hierarchy, diverse languages, customs, varied
economies, castes
 324-184 BCE – Mauryan Empire – all of India except southern tip
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Founded by Chandragupta Maurya – Arthrashastra (political handbook)
Coinage, govt controlled mines, large army, ¼ of peasant crops paid to king
Spoils system – gave positions to allies/relatives
Ashoka – most famous Mauryan. Est. new capital at Pataliputra
 Brutal in warfare, extends Mauryan empire to its height
 Reflects on brutality, gives it up for nonviolence & tolerance of Buddhism (260)
 Moral codes inscribed on pillars throughout empire
 Roads/maritime trade routes made India a hub for trade from SE/Central Asia/China
w/Mediterranean, Middle East, even the Philippines
 Collapsed due to outside invaders, high cost of empire/maintaining borders
 Gupta Empire (320-550 CE) – Golden Age of Hinduism
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Leaders controlled agriculture/mining like Mauryans
Subjects donated labor for big projects
Trade/industry brought wealth to shudras/vaishyas
More decentralized than Mauryans
 Local leaders were autonomous
 But, could keep some profits from trade
 Gave them incentive to stay loyal to Guptas
 Big army helped keep order, but wasn’t enough
 Invented concept of ‘0’ (zero).
 Invented “Arabic” numerals
 Collapsed after Huns attacked in 550 CE. Result: fragmentation
 Women in Classical India: role changed w/economic changes
 Increased trade->urban middle class->value on property-> women
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couldn’t own property
Expected, like under Confucianism, to obey male family members
Sati –throwing one’s self on your husband’s funeral pyre
Buddhism/Jainism – gave women a little more freedom than
Hinduism
Upper class women could be educated
 End of Zhou: Warring States Period
 Political fragmentation, feudalism, warlords!
 Qin (350-206 BCE) – led by Shi Huangdi defeat Zhou
 China’s first empire – unification!
 Legalism – strict rule, little care for subjects
 Totalitarianism – state/leader is the end of all things. Controls
political life, economics, military, religion, etc.
 Slavery abolished to create free labor/taxable citizens/military
conscripts
 Standard coinage, laws, 1000’s of miles of road, canals, walls
 Helped secure & consolidate power @ home & vs. outsiders
 Also held noble sons hostage, destroyed noble castles
 Had 460 Confucian scholars buried alive for opposing the Qin.
 Iron technology. Used in warfare, agriculture.
 After Shi Huangdi dies, people revolt vs. oppressive Qins
 Qin royal afterlife: Terracotta soldiers protected Shi Huangdi’s
tomb. All individual faces.
 Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE)
 Located by eastern river valleys
 Tax system: based on crops
 Men donated 1 month of labor to build infrastructure & 2
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years military service
Confucianism – clear hierarchy, ppl saw themselves having a
role in the family/society
Expansionist: conquered modern Vietnam & Korea
Emperor: Son of Heaven. Just like the Zhou.
Local leaders: taxed, organized labor, defended empire
Government meritocracy: young men went to universities in
order to get gov’t positions. Really, only the wealthy had
time/money to send sons to university. They then became part
of a massive bureaucracy.
 Result: Peasants, alienated by high-ranking Confucianism, turn to
Daoism, which was principally opposed to Confucianism.
 Women under the Han: subjugated
 Ban Zhao – Admonitions for Women
 Achievements of Han: crossbow, cavalry, horse collar, road
system, watermill, paper, silk & the silk road!
 Fall of Han: empire was too costly. Too much frontier, too
much corruption in government, too few troops left to
garrison, too many regional warlords, & peasant rebellions.
 Expansionist expeditions wasted gov’t coffers, defense money
spent fighting outside nomads
 Wide gulf between rich and poor.
 Land possessed by few people, unlike early Han.
 China fragments once again after the Han
FROM KINGDOM TO
REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE
 The Etruscans
 Probably migrated from Anatolia
 Dominated Italy from the 8th to 5th centuries B.C.E.
 City-states were constantly at war
 Similar in own way to Greek society
 Arch, religion, alphabet, early traditions given to Rome
 Declined, attacked by Gaul and defeated by Greek fleets
 Romulus and Remus
 Legend: twins rescued by a she-wolf
 Founded Rome in 753 B.C.E.
 Indo-European migrants settled in Italy from 2000 B.C.E.
 Came from Latins, a tribe of the Italics
 The kingdom of Rome
 A small kingdom on the Tiber River, ruled by monarchies
 Easy access to the Mediterranean, trade routes led to Rome
 Agriculture, warfare were typical
 Society dominated by aristocracy called patricians
Establishment of the Republic
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Rome nobility deposed the last Etruscan king in 509 B.C.E.
Republican constitution
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Included two consuls: civil and military
Consuls elected by an assembly dominated by the patricians
The Senate advised the consuls and ratified major decisions
Senate and consuls represented the interests of the patricians
Conflicts between patricians and plebeians
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Plebeians' threat to secede from Rome
Patricians granted plebeians the tribunes
Tribunes' power to intervene and veto decisions
Tribunes dominated Roman politics, early 3rd century B.C.E.
In times of crisis, ruled by short-term dictatorship
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Elected for six month term
Given unlimited power
Monarchical
Aristocratic
Democratic
2 Consuls and
Magistrates
Senate
(Senators)
Assembly of Tribes
(10 Tribunes)
Directed government
Control army
Acted as judges
Could issue edicts
Acted as chief priest
Controlled state
budget
Could pass laws
Approved/rejected
laws; Decided on War
Tribune could veto
actions of magistrate
Acted as final court
Basis of power:
possess imperium,
the right to rule
need for leadership
Basis of power:
members were richest
men in Rome.
Basis of power:
provided most of the
soldiers
Limits on power:
one year term
each could veto
Limits on power:
could not control
army; needed
majority as soldiers.
Limits on power:
Could not suggest laws;
often paid as clients by
the elite
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The Legion gave Rome incredible power
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Roman military formation of 5,000 men
Extremely organized; all officers well trained
Shields, swords (two edged) were revolutionary
Subunits could operate on own without central commands
 Consolidated position in Italy BY 4th centuries B.C.E.
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Conflict with Italics and Greeks in S. Italy
New Roman colonies founded – with Roman rights
Created alliances with Italics – given Latin rights
Expanded Roman territory to include choice lands
Makes local aristocrats Roman citizens, allow to retain their lands
 The Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.E.)
 Battled descendants of Phoenicians for control of Sicily, Spain
 Built navy to challenge Carthage
 Defeated Carthaginians and conquered Africa
 Conflicts with Antigonids and Seleucids,
 Five major wars
 Created alliances as with Italy, colonies of Roman settlers
 Rome became a preeminent power in the Mediterranean
Hannibal’s Elephants
Hannibal
Scipio
Africanus
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Social Tension
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During war could not plant or harvest, debts increased
Forced to sell land to patricians, move to city as day laborers
Poor often sold into slavery
Increased slavery more profitable than hiring Roman poor
Migration of poor to cities produced lawlessness
The Gracchi brothers
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Long wars ruined most small farmers
Tiberius Gracchus represented interests of Rome's lower classes
Served as a tribune, passed a law that set limits for landholding
Assassinated in 132 B.C.E.
The younger brother, Gaius Gracchus, continued the reform
Was branded as a outlaw, killed by mercenaries
Republican government could no longer maintain power balance
Marius and Sulla
Gaius Marius recruited a private army from landless residents
Conservative aristocratic class supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Both raised troops illegally under Roman law
Civil War
Marius seized Rome in 87 B.C.E.
Sulla seized Rome in 83 B.C.E. after Marius died, 5 years of terror
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Julius Caesar
Marius's nephew
Favored liberal policies and social reform
Gained fame by sponsoring public spectacles
Conquered Gaul, became more popular
First Civil War
Seized Rome in 49 B.C.E.
Claimed the title "dictator for life," 46 B.C.E.
Social reforms and centralized control
Assassinated in 44 B.C.E.
Second Civil War to Avenge Caesar’s murders
Augustus
Octavian, nephew of Caesar, brought civil conflict to an end
The Senate bestowed upon him the title Augustus, 27 B.C.E.
Augustus's administration
A monarchy disguised as a republic
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Preserved traditional republican forms of government
Took all the power into his own hands
Created a new standing army under his control
The imperial institutions began to take root
Roman expansion had effects in Gaul, Germany, Britain, Spain
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Romans sought access to resources
Built legionary camps to defend; Roman officials ran provinces
Provincial elite began to build estates and control resources
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Came from two sources: Roman colonists, local ethnic elites
Elites became largely Romanized
Cities emerged, roads built, common currency, laws
Allowed locals to retain customs, traditions if paid their taxes
The pax romana
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Meant "Roman peace," lasted for two and half centuries
Facilitated trade and communication
World linked from Mesopotamia to Atlantic Ocean
Roman roads
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Roman engineers as outstanding road builders
Roads and postal system linked all parts of the empire
Roman law
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Tradition: Twelve Tables enacted in 450 B.C.E.
Principle: innocent until proven guilty
Judges enjoyed great discretion
 Commercial agriculture
 Owners of latifundia focused on production for export
 Commercial agriculture led to economic specialization, integration
 Slavery preferred over labor saving devices and paid labor
 Mediterranean trade
 Sea-lanes linked ports of the Mediterranean
 Roman navy kept the seas largely free of pirates
 The Mediterranean became a Roman lake
 The city of Rome
 Wealth of the city fueled its urban development
 Statues, pools, fountains, arches, temples, stadiums
 First use of concrete as construction material
 Rome attracted numerous immigrants
 City attractions
 Public baths, swimming pools, gymnasia
 Enormous circuses, stadiums, and amphitheaters
 Other Cities
 Most large cities were in Eastern part of empire
 Eastern cities largely dominated by Greeks
 Cities include Alexandria, Antioch, Athens, Pergammum, Thessalonika
The pater familias
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Roman family: all household members living together
Pater familias or "father of the family" ruled
Women wielded influence within their families
Many women supervised family business, estates
Wealth and social change
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Rich classes built palatial houses, lavish banquets
Cultivators, urban masses lived at subsistence level
Poor classes became a serious problem in Rome and other cities
No urban policy developed, only "bread and circuses“
Merchants tolerated but not given much social recognition
Slavery
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Slaves - 1/3 of Roman population
Chained together in teams, worked on latifundia
Spartacus's uprising in 73 B.C.E.
Working conditions for city slaves were better
Epictetus, an Anatolian slave, became a prominent Stoic philosopher
Urban slaves could hope for manumission
The gladiator or a slave trained to fight in the arena was popular
 Veritas and Gravitas
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Honesty and Seriousness
Symbolized Roman cultural values
 Roman Polytheism
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Early deities: Jupiter, Mars, Ceres, Janus, Vesta
Newly adapted deities: Juno, Minerva
Borrowed, co-opted foreign deities into pantheon
Religion was agricultural, state oriented, important to family
Very little emotional attachment to gods
 Greek influence represented by Philosophy
 Stoicism appealed to Roman intellectuals
 Cicero (106-43 B.C.E.) established Stoicism in Rome
 Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively
 Religions of salvation and Cults
 Flourished in Rome and the Mediterranean basin
 Roman roads served as highways for religious spread
 Mithraism
 Mithras, a god of sun and light in Zoroastrian mythology
 Roman soldiers adapted it, associated it with military value
 Moral teaching of Mithraism, only for men
 Goddess Cybele and goddess Isis were also popular
 The Jews and the empire
 Jews considered state cults to be blasphemy
 Romans ruled through Jewish elites, tolerant of Judaism
 Constant rivalry between Pharisees, Sadducces, Zealots
 Roman Jewish provinces ruled by client kings such as Herod
 The Essenes
 A new sect of Judaism, founded in Palestine during the 1st century B.C.E.
 Strict moral code, baptism, and ritual community meals
 Jesus of Nazareth
 Charismatic Jewish teacher, taught devotion to God, love for human beings
 The teaching "the kingdom of God is at hand" alarmed the Romans
 Crucifixion in early 30s C.E.; Became "Christ," or "the anointed one"
 New Testament and the Old Testament became the holy book of Christianity
 Paul of Tarsus
 A Jew from Anatolia, zealously preached his faith beyond Jewish communities
 Was Roman citizen by birth in a Greek city; from Pharisee family
 Paul who spread the faith in Mediterranean through missions
 Was finally executed by Roman officials
 66 – 70 CE
 The Jewish War (66-70 C.E.) Roman forces defeated the Jewish rebels
 Jews expelled Christians from the temple (from Judaism)
 Roman repression
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Peter and Paul both executed in Rome by Nero in 67 CE
Romans followed very tolerant policy: pay taxes, do not revolt
Christians refused to worship emperor, state gods = treason
Romans worried that Christians were anti-social
Some emperors persecuted Christians to increase patriotism
 Christianity grew rapidly in the empire
 Strong appeal to lower classes, urban population, and women
 Accorded honor and dignity to lower standing individuals
 Provided a sense of spiritual freedom
 Taught the spiritual equality of the sexes
 Promised future glory for true believers
 All converts were equal
 Most influential faith in Mediterranean by the 3rd century C.E
 Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece heavily Christian including many aristocrats
 Influence in west limited to cities, especially Africa
 Armenia, Ethiopia, Egypt were first truly Christian countries
 Rome became traditional head of church but not only leader
 Primus inter pares = first among equals
 Petrine Doctrine = Peter the first pope and head of the Church