Republican and Imperial Rome

The Ancient Etruscans (800-500
BC)

Royal Rome (753-510 BC)
• The Myth of Romulus
• Etruscan Rule (6th century BC)
• The Power of Imperium
• Senate-Elected King + Elite Senate + Curial
Assembly of Citizens
• Family is Base Unit
• Client-Patron Relationships
• Patrician (Noble) and Plebian (Commoner)

The Roman Republic (510 BC -
?)
• Ending is Gradual
• Overthrow of Tarquinius Superbus--510 BC

Roman Republican Government
• Twin Consuls with Military Imperium; limited Domestic Imperium
– Emergencies: Dictator (6 months)
• Quaestors, Proconsul, Praetors, Censors
• Senate controls foreign and domestic affairs
• Centuriate Assembly divided by wealth levels

Struggle of the Orders (5th-3rd
Centuries BC)
• Plebians vs. Patricians
• 10 Tribunes of the Plebians--Power of Veto
• 367 BC--One Consul seat open to Plebians
• 287 BC--Plebian assembly now could bind all Romans with laws without Senate
• Shift from Patrician to Nobiles rule

Conquest of Italy
• 493 BC--Latin League
• 390 BC--Gauls Sack Rome
• Latin War (343-338 BC)
• Rome Generous to Subjects
• Southern Italy (4th-3rd century BC)
• King Pyrrhus of Epirus and Pyrric Victory

Carthage

Carthage
• Phoenician Colony, 814 BC
• Dominates West by 5th century BC
• Oligarchic Republic: 2 Suffets, Oligarchic
Council, Popular Assembly
• Mercenaries, not citizen soldiers

The Punic Wars
• First Punic War: 264-241 BC--Fought for
Sicily
• Second Punic War (218-202 BC)
– Hannibal
– Invasion of Italy
–
Cannae: 216 BC, 40,000 defeat 80,000
– Publius Cornelius Scipio
– Battle of
Zama : 202 BC

Conquests of Rome
• The Province System
– Tax-Farming
• Philip V--197 BC
• Antiochus III, Magnesia--189 BC
• Corinth sacked: 146 BC
• Carthago est Delenda!!!!: 146 BC

Greek Influence
• Hellenistic Slaves Bring Greek Culture
• Merger of Greek and Roman Pantheon
• Cybele and Dionysius/Bacchus
• Education--Rise of the ‘Classical
Education’
– Training in Roman Virtues
– Training in Greek Thought ( Humanitas )

Imperialism and Social Unrest
• Rise of the Latifundia / Decline of the Small
Farmers Undercuts Military / Social /
Political Order
• Tiberius Gracchus (168-133 BC)
• The Populares vs. Optimates
• Gaius Gracchus (159-121 BC)

Marius vs. Sulla
• Gaius Marius (157-86 BC) and Luius
Cornelius Sulla (137-78 BC) vs. Jugurtha
– Marius opens army to all citizens to volunteer for long terms
• The Social War (90-88 BC)
• Marius vs. Sulla
• Sulla shows anyone with an army can now rule

Marcus Licinius Crassus (115-53
BC)

Gnaeus Pompey (106-48 BC)

Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC)

Caesar’s Rise
• Consul and Governor of Gaul (59 BC-50
BC)
–
Commentaries of the Gallic War
• Crassus dies at Carrhae vs. Parthians (53
BC)
• The Rubicon and War (49-45 BC)
• Caesar Takes Power...but what will he do with it?

The Murder of Caesar, Ides of
March, 44 BC

Second Triumvirate
• Octavian (63 BC-14 AD)
• Marcus Antonius (83-30 BC)
• Lepidus (dies 13 BC)
• Actium -- 31 BC
• Octavian becomes Princeps Augustus (First
Citizen Augustus)

The Augustan Principate
• Monarch in Republican Clothing -- The
Princeps
• Controls 20 of 26 legions directly
• Reform and Public Works
• Vigiles -- Fire Fighters / Police
• Professional Military of 300,000
• Restoration of Religion and Morality

Rome in 1 AD (Augustus)

Ciceronian Culture / Late
Republic
• Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)
– Trusted in Law, Custom, and Tradition
– An Aristocracy of Virtue (his dream)
• Idea of Law of Peoples and Law of Nations
• Poetry:
– Lucretius (99-55 BC) -- Scientific Poetry
– Catallus (84-54 BC) -- Personal Life

Augustan Culture: Golden Age of Literature
•
Virgil (70-19 BC) and the Aenid
•
Horace (65-8 BC) and his Odes
•
Ovid (43 BC-18 AD) and the
Metamorphoses
•
Livy (59 BC - 17 AD) and the History of
Rome
• Architecture and Sculpture

Imperial Peace and Prosperity
(14 AD to 180 AD)
•
The Relatives of Augustus (14-68 AD)
•
The Year of 4 Emperors (68 AD)
•
The Flavian Dynasty (69-96 AD)
•
The Five Good Emperors (96-180 AD)
•
Commodus (180-192 AD) and Trouble to
Come

Rome in 100 AD

Imperial Government
• Self-Governing Towns Run by Local Elites
• Territorial Peak:
Dacia in 106 AD
• Hadrian’s Wall
• Silver Age of Roman Literature
• Massive Building Projects
• Second Century AD problems

The Roman Insula

The Roman Domus

Rise of Christianity: Jesus and
Judaism
• Jesus of Nazareth (?-?, though definitely late 1st century BC to 1st century AD)
•
The Four Schools of Judaism
–
The Essenes: Preparing for Apocalypse
–
The Revolutionaries: FREEDOM!!!!!!
–
The Sadducees: Old School Religion
– The Pharisees: Compassion > Sacrifice

Jesus and Paul
• Jesus’ 1-3 year mission
– The End is Coming
– Act Righteously on Earth
– Repent and Be Forgiven
• Paul (Saul) of Tarsis
– Former Persecutor
– The Apostle to the Gentiles
– Faith Will Save

Early Christian Practice
• Baptism
• Agape / Love Feast
• Prophesy and Interpretation
• Independent Congregations / Fealty to
Apostles in Jerusalem and Founders
• By 2nd Century AC, each city had a Bishop
• Bishops met in Councils

The Council of Jamnia
• 90 AD
• Pharisees respond to fall of Jerusalem
• Closing of Jewish Canon
• Throwing out of the Apocrypha

Catholicism and Orthodoxy
• Romans Persecuted Christians
• No Definitive Bible or Creed
– Many Alternate Texts
• Rise of Catholic / Orthodox tradition
• Rise of the Bishop of Rome
• The Gnostics
–
The Gospel of Thomas

The Crisis of the Third Century
AD
• The Severan Dynasty (193-235 AD)
• Increased Militarization / Army Most Loyal to Generals, Not State
• Economic Problems
• Militarization of Society
• Civil Disorder: 14 Emperors in 235-268 AD

Imperial Recovery: 4th Century
AD
• Diocletian (284-305 AD) and the Tetrarchy
• Constantine (306-337)
• Dominus title
• Legalization of Christianity

Imperial Decline
• Finance Problems
• Huns Push West
• Adrianople (378 AD)
• Deurbanization in West
• Honorius (395-423 AD)

Rome in 400 AD

The Huns
• 410 AD -- Visigoths Sack Rome; Britain
Abandoned
• Atilla the Hun (440s-450s AD)
– Chalons-Sur-Marne 454 AD
• Vandals Sack Rome -- 455 AD
• Romulus Augustus, the Last Emperor--476
AD

Christian Triumph
• 313 AD--Edict of Milan
• 394 AD--Paganism is Outlawed
• Arius of Alexander (280-336 AD)
• Council of Nicea (325 AD)
• Council of Hippo (393 AD) and Saint
Jerome and the Vulgate (400 AD)

Late Imperial Culture
• Preservation of Classical Culture
• Christianity vs. Paganism
• Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430
AD)
•
Confessions (397-8)
•
The City of God (410 AD)