Chapter 4
The Roman Legacy
4.1 Ancient Rome
Goals
Identify developments in early civilizations of ancient Rome.
Discuss the Etruscans’ significant influence on ancient Roman culture.
The vast extent of ancient Roman history—more than twelve hundred years—can be
conveniently divided into three chief periods: the Monarchy (753 B.C.E.–510 B.C.E.);
the Republic (509 B.C.E.–31 B.C.E.); and the Empire (31 B.C.E.–C.E. 476).
The city of Rome was founded in the mid-8th century, around the time the Greeks were
setting up colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. Rome’s first inhabitants were Latins, an
Italian people native to central Italy, after whom the Roman language is named.
Traditional accounts of the city’s origins claimed that its first rulers were a series of
seven kings. The first four were Latin, but in 616 B.C.E., Rome fell under Etruscan
control.
The Etruscans had settled in the region of central Italy to the north of Rome, although
their origins are uncertain; they may have migrated to Italy from western Asia. Etruscan
art was strongly influenced by Greek and Orientalizing styles. Although many Etruscan
inscriptions can be deciphered, no Etruscan literature has been discovered. For the
century during which they ruled Rome, the Etruscans expanded its trade contacts and
introduced important technological innovations. In 510 B.C.E. the Romans drove out the
last Etruscan king.
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4.2 Republican Rome (509–31 B.C.E.)
Goals
Identify developments in early civilizations of ancient Rome.
Discuss characteristics of the Roman political system.
Discuss the Etruscans’ significant influence on ancient Roman culture.
In 509 B.C.E., the Roman Republic was declared. The political system of the new state
evolved from the need to achieve a balance of political power between the two classes of
citizens: the aristocratic patricians and the people, or plebeians. There gradually
developed two political institutions, the Senate and the assembly of the people, and
eventually plebeians won the right to run for election to virtually all offices of state. The
growth of internal political stability was accompanied by the spread of Roman power
throughout Italy. Among those to fall under Roman domination were the Etruscans, their
former rulers. Little in the way of art or literature has survived from this early period, and
most of what was produced seems to have been inspired by Etruscan or, more generally,
Greek models.
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4.3 Imperial Rome (31 B.C.E.–C.E. 476)
Goals
Identify developments in early civilizations of ancient Rome.
Discuss Roman colonization.
Discuss the Greeks’ significant influence on ancient Roman culture.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman art.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman literature.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman philosophy.
In 264 B.C.E., there began a series of wars (the Punic wars) between Rome and her chief
rival in the western Mediterranean, Carthage. By 201 B.C.E., the Romans had proved
victorious, and Roman colonies were established in Spain and North Africa. Throughout
the following century, Roman power spread eastward. In 146 B.C.E., Greece was
absorbed into the Roman Empire, and the Hellenistic kingdom of Pergamum was
bequeathed to Rome by its last king, Attalus III, on his death in 133 B.C.E. The 2nd
Century B.C.E. also saw the beginnings of the development of an independent Roman
culture, although Greek influence remained strong. Many Roman plays were based on
Greek originals; Greek music became popular at Rome; and the two chief schools of
Greek philosophy, Stoicism and Epicureanism, began to attract Roman adherents.
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4.4 The End of the Roman Empire
Goals
Discuss civil strife affecting Roman government.
Discuss Julius Caesar’s role in Roman government.
Discuss Octavius’s rise to prominence.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman art.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman literature.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman architecture.
Discuss civil strife affecting Roman government.
With such vast territorial expansion, strains began to appear in Roman political and social
life. The growth of a middle class, the equites [link to glossary], disturbed the old
equilibrium, and the last century of the Republic (133 B.C.E. to 31 B.C.E.) was beset by
continual crisis. A succession of powerful figures—Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar—
struggled to assume control of the state. The last of these proved victorious in 48 B.C.E.
only to be assassinated four years later. Amid bitter fighting between Mark Antony,
Caesar’s lieutenant, and Octavius, the late dictator’s nephew and heir, the republic
collapsed.
The political confusion of the Republic’s last century was accompanied by important
cultural developments. Among the major literary figures of the age were the Epicurean
poet Lucretius, the lyric poet Catullus, and the orator and politician Cicero. Caesar
himself combined his political and military career with the writing of accounts of his
campaigns. In the visual arts, realistic portrait sculpture became common, while the
invention of concrete was to have enormous consequences both for Roman building and
for the history of all later architecture in the West.
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4.5 The Augustan Age
Goals
Discuss Octavius’ role in Roman government.
Recognize development in ancient Roman art.
Recognize development in ancient Roman literature.
Understand the significant role of Aeneas.
In 31 B.C.E., Octavius defeated the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra to emerge
as sole ruler of the Roman world; in 27 B.C.E., under the name Augustus, he became its
first emperor. The Augustan Age marked the high point of Roman art and literature, and
many of its finest achievements were produced to celebrate the Augustan revolution.
Vergil was commissioned to write a Roman national epic: The result was the Aeneid.
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4.6 Life, Art, and Literature in the Early Empire
Goals
Discuss characteristics of the Roman political system.
Identify characteristics of provincial daily life in the Empire provided by excavations at
Pompeii.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman literature.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman architecture.
From the time of Augustus until C.E. 476, the Empire was ruled by a series of emperors
who were increasingly dependent on an elaborate state bureaucracy. The Empire
continued to expand until the reign of Hadrian (C.E. 117-138), who fixed its borders to
achieve stability abroad. Some idea of the character of provincial daily life in the Empire
can be gained from the excavations at Pompeii and the other cities around the Bay of
Naples, which were destroyed by an eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in C.E. 79. Writers
of the early Empire include the historian Tacitus and the satirist Juvenal. Among the most
impressive works of architecture of the period is the Pantheon, designed by Hadrian
himself, which makes bold use of concrete.
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4.7 The Roman Empire in Decline
Goals
Discuss characteristics of the Roman political system.
Discuss Constantinople’s importance.
Recognize developments in ancient Roman art.
Discuss consequences of barbarian invasions.
The 3rd century was marked by continual struggles for imperial power. A brief peace was
imposed in the reign of Aurelian (C.E. 270-275), but it proved temporary. Only the
emperor Diocletian (C.E. 284-305) managed to restore order by massive administrative
and economic reform. After Diocletian’s retirement to his palace at Split, one of his
successors, Constantine (C.E. 307-337), transferred the imperial capital from Rome to the
new city of Constantinople in C.E. 330, and the western part of the Empire began its final
decline. During this last period Roman art became less realistic as classical forms and
styles were abandoned in favor of simpler, more massive effects. Finally Rome itself was
shaken by barbarian assaults, and the last western emperor was forced to abdicate in C.E.
476.
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