Rome & Christianity
Chapter 6
The Roman Republic
• Myth of Rome
– Founded by Romulus and Remus
• Twins abandoned and raised by shewolf
The Roman Republic
• Benefits of location
–
–
–
–
Hills
Tiber River
Peninsula
Alps
The Roman Republic
• Latins, Greeks,
and Etruscans
– Alphabet and
arch
The Roman Republic
• After being taken over and ruled by
a number of Etruscan kings, the
people of Rome wanted new
government
– Republic: power rests with the
citizens who have the right to vote for
their leaders
The Roman Republic
• Social classes
– Patricians:
wealthy
landowners with
most power
– Plebeians:
commoners
who made up
majority of
population
The Roman Republic
Patricians
• Inherited status
• Make laws
• Forced to write
the Twelve
Tables
– All free citizens
have right to
protection of law
Plebeians
• Right to vote
• Couldn’t hold
government
positions
• Tribunes:
assemblies of
plebeian
representatives
The Roman Republic
• By the 1st
century B.C.
The Roman Republic
• Two consuls
–
–
–
–
Like kings
Ran military
One-year term
Can veto each other
The Roman Republic
• Senate
– Originally
only had
patricians
– Made foreign
and domestic
policies
The Roman Republic
• Tribunes &
Assemblies
– Mostly
plebeians
– Made laws for
the common
people
The Roman Republic
• Dictator
– In times of
crisis
– In power for
only 6
months
The Roman Republic
• Roman army
– Responsible for much of Rome’s
success
• All landowners must serve
• Highly organized:
– Legions: largest military unit
The Roman Republic
• Page 157
– With a partner, answer questions #1
and 2 that go with the chart
“Comparing Republican
Governments”
The Roman Republic
• By 265 B.C. Rome had conquered
most of Italy
– Latins became full citizens
– Conquered people had all rights of
citizens except the vote
• Why do you think the Romans
gave full citizens to conquered
people living close to Rome?
The Roman Republic
• Rome’s only
enemy was
Carthage (pg.
159)
– Punic Wars (264146 B.C.):
• Rome vs.
Carthage
• Hannibal:
famous general
of Carthage led a
massive attack
through Spain to
Assignment
Read Ch.6.2 The Roman Empire
Complete the 6.2 Study Guide
The Roman Empire
• What are the benefits of having a
single ruler in power?
• What are the drawbacks?
The Roman Empire
• Problems in Roman Republic:
1. Rich/poor gap widened
– Poor totaled over half of population
2. Murders of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
– As tribunes, attempted to give more land to
the poor
– Civil war began
3. Power-hungry military leaders
– Recruited the poor by promising land
» Soldiers now felt allegiance to generals, not the
republic
The Roman Empire
• One military leader
takes control
– Julius Caesar, Crassus,
and Pompey
•
•
•
Triumvirate: group of three
rulers
Won men’s loyalty because
he also fought in war
Served one year as consul,
then governor of Gaul
The Roman Empire
•
Becoming dictator
– Success in Gaul gains
popular support
•
•
Pompey feared Caesar was
power-hungry, ordered him to
disband his army
Marched to Rome and the
senate declared him “dictator
for life”
The Roman Empire
•
Good absolutism?
– Had total power, but used it
to make reforms
•
•
•
•
•
Citizenship granted to
provinces
Expanded senate
Created jobs
Increased soldiers’ pay
Created regions where poor
could own property
The Roman Empire
•
Many feared Caesar’s
power and popularity
–
–
–
Marcus Brutus and
Gaius Cassius plotted
to kill him at the Senate
Assassinated on
March 15, 44 BC
The irony of his
murder? The senators
killed Julius Caesar in
order to preserve the
republic. Instead, it led
to the demise of the
republic!
The Roman Empire
•
Second Triumvirate:
– Lepidus, Octavian, Marc
Antony
•
Octavian forced Lepidus to
retire and defeated Marc
Antony/Cleopatra’s forces
– Declared “Augustus”: exalted
one
• Augustus Caesar
become Rome’s first
emperor!
The Roman Empire
•
Pax Romana: 200-year period of peace
1. Stable government
•
Paid civil service
2. Stable economy
•
•
•
Agriculture- 90% of ppl worked in farming
Denarius- same coin throughout empire
Extensive network of roads
The Roman Road System
Augustus as emperor begins the Pax Romana from
25 BC – AD 180.
• “Roman Peace.” Rome had become the Mediterranean
and European superpower. It used this power to create
peace and prosperity throughout the region.
• There was no one to seriously challenge it and Rome
could keep people in line or put down rebellions.
• Also protected trade.
• No civil wars.
• There were still wars, mind you, but most of them were to expand
Rome’s boundaries or preserve them. Most action was on the
borders while the interior stayed safe.
• Agriculture was the most important industry in the
empire, with farming employing 90% of the people.
Entertainment and Bread and Circuses
• Wealth and Social Status made huge differences in how
people lived. RICH VS. POOR
• Much of Rome’s populace was poor and many
unemployed.
• This is a recipe for disaster if they’re not kept
occupied.
• Emperor’s, at state expense, would put on massive
entertainment events.
• Chariot races at the Circus Maximus.
• Gladiator battles at the Colosseum.
• Everybody also got grain rations- Rome becomes a
welfare state.
The Roman Empire
•
Roman values
•
Gravitas: Strength, loyalty, usefulness, power,
and discipline
Assignment
• Read Section 6.3 The Rise of
Christianity
• Complete the Ch.6.3 Study Guide
(vocab and questions)
Christianity
Development,
Teaching, and
Spread of the
Religion
Rise of Christianity
• This religion grew out of Jewish traditions.
– Jewish prophets predicted that a messiah, or
one anointed by Yahweh, would be sent to
deliver the Jews from foreign rule
• Jesus, founder of Christianity
Rise of Christianity
• Gospels: written by the followers of Jesus,
tell about the life of Jesus
Rise of Christianity
• Roman officials worried about Jesus’
popularity
– They considered him to be a rebel
• Jesus was sentenced to die by crucifixion
Teachings of Jesus
• Monotheism
– Believed in the Jewish God and the Ten
Commandments
• Placed less emphasis on law
– More emphasis on compassion, forgiveness,
and equality of all people
• Taught with parables: short stories with
simple moral lessons
Teachings of Jesus
• Bible: the holy book of Christianity
– Includes all prophets of Torah and most
books of the Torah
– Adds the New Testament, which includes the
Gospels and other books by Jesus’ followers
Spread of Christianity
• Compared with Judaism, Christianity
spread over far distances in a very short
time
• This was due to a few factors:
– Judaism is mostly an ethnic religion
– Missionaries and martyrs
– Appeal of Christianity
Spread of Christianity
• Followers of Jesus were called
“Christians”
– Christ= Savior= messiah
• Missionaries were able to spread Jesus’
teachings by taking advantage of a
peaceful time in the Roman empire, and
also good roads were available
Spread of Christianity
• Eventually, enough people were involved
in Christianity that the Roman empire
began to respond
• Christians were persecuted for not believing in the
Roman gods
• Many Christians became martyrs: people who
suffer or die for their beliefs
Spread of Christianity
• Widespread persecution continued until
313 AD
– Emperor Constantine ended persecution of
Christians with an Edict of
tolerance
– He converted on his deathbed
ASSIGNMENT
• Homework:
– Read Ch. 6.4/6.5
– Complete Section 4 and 5 worksheets
Ch.6.4 and 6.5
The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire
Rome and the Roots of Western
Civilization
Fall of the Roman Empire
•
How have people responded to difficult
economic times and political uncertainty?
•
•
•
•
Panic
Pessimism
Anxiety
Anger/blame
Contributing Factors to the Fall
of the Western Roman Empire
•
•
•
•
Economic Reasons
Military Reasons
Political Reasons
Social Reasons
Economic reasons
•
180 AD is the end to Pax Romana
1. Reached limit of expansion, lacked new
resources
2. Crushing taxes
3. Inflation: drop in value of money and rise
in prices
4. Poor harvests
• Overworked soil
• Warfare destroyed land
Fall of the Roman Empire
Can an empire become too big???
Military reasons
(One of the bigger reasons for
the split)
• Long borders
• As the empire expanded, so did its borders.
• Maintaining those borders against enemies became
a massive and expensive endeavor.
• Military spending took a significant chunk of the
treasury and took money away from many public
projects.
• Use of Mercenaries
• Rome also began hiring mercenaries. These guys
worked for cash, not loyalty, and could be highly
unreliable. They were also loyal to their general,
and not to the idea of “Rome”.
Political Reasons
• Political office seen as a burden, not a
reward
• Military interference in politics
• Civil war and unrest (at one point, there
were 50 emperors in the space of 25 yrs!)
• Division of the empire between East and
West
• Moving of the capital to Byzantium
Social Reasons
•
•
•
•
•
Decline in interest in public affairs
Low confidence in the empire
Disloyalty, lack of patriotism, corruption
Contrast between rich and poor
Decline in population due to disease and
food shortage
• Immorality
Attempts to fix the empire
Emperor Diocletian’s reforms: • Severely limited
•
•
•
•
personal freedoms
Doubled size of
Roman army
Set fixed prices on
goods to control
inflation
Claimed descent
from Roman gods
Split the empire in
two
– Greek East
– Latin West
The empire is eventually and officially divided into two
halves: the western and eastern Roman empires.
This leads to an economic and cultural divide
More attempts to fix the
empire
•
Emperor Constantine’s Reforms
– Re-united East and West
– Moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium
•
•
•
Why this city? (pg. 175)
Renamed Constantinople
Shifted power of empire to East
Fall of the Roman Empire
•
Fall of the West
– Germanic invasions
•
•
Attila the Hun
“barbarians” sacked Rome in 410 and 476 AD
– Romulus Augustulus was the last emperor
of Rome
The “Official End of the
Western Roman Empire”?
476 AD
Fall of the Roman Empire
•
East becomes the Byzantine Empire and
thrives for another 1000 years!
Ch.6.5
Rome and the
Roots of Western
Civilization
Objectives
• Know and understand the contributions Rome made to
Western culture.
• Artistic
• Legal
• Architectural
• Language
• Technology/engineering
• Write these down! You can count on an
essay regarding these points!!!
Classical civilization
• Greco-Roman culture or the mix of Greek,
Hellenistic, and Roman influences.
• Bear in mind that the Roman Empire spanned a
wide expanse of territory and incorporated a
number of cultures. Just as Roman culture
influences them, they influence Rome and a
whole new mix comes out.
• Your understanding of the term “classical” is
key to your understanding the Renaissance!
Fine arts
• Greek sculpture emphasized the ideal human form.
Roman sculpture presented more realistic
representations of people. The Romans were
practically-minded, after all.
From This…
To This
• Bas-relief
• Type of sculpture with figures that project from a
flat background. Often used to tell stories.
Bas-relief of a
play
Trajan’s
Column
Mosaics
• Very intricate
and made by
many small
tiles.
Close-up of a mosaic.
Pompeii
August 24,
AD 79
What Rome gave us… (continued)
• Language
• Latin became the basis for the
Spanish, Portuguese, Italian,
Romanian, and French languages –
the Romance languages.
• Started off as just bad Latin, but then
established themselves as separate languages.
• Architecture
• Many important buildings, like government
buildings, use neo-Classical architecture. Like say,
the U.S. Capitol Building.
The
columns,
the dome,
the arches.
The Romans were also big on the arch.
• It’s an extremely efficient weight-bearing
structure.
• You see them a lot in their aqueducts, for
example.
Aqueducts
The aqueducts were used to supply Rome with
water and were engineering marvels.
• They supplied Rome with nearly 300 million
gallons of water a day. That’s for a population of
just 1 million. That makes for about 300 gallons
of water per day per person.
• The Pantheon- dedicated to all the gods of the
empire (not to confused with the Parthenon of Athens)
• The roads and road system were also engineering
marvels, but we’ve already talked about them.
• Law
• Big contribution, mainly the rights of
individuals.
• Rights under the law.
• Innocent until proven guilty.
• Burden of proof on accuser.
• Punishment for actions.
• The legal system also became basis of most
Western countries’ legal systems.
Would you be able to write an
essay explaining Rome’s
influence on Western
Civilization?
I hope so…