Rome
Mr. Forgie
Room 126
Founding of Rome
 Legendary
date is April 21, 753 BCE
 Legend Romulus and Remus twins sons of
Mars founded the city after being
rescued from the Tiber river by a she-wolf
 For about 2.5 centuries the Etruscans ruled
the city
 As the Etruscans traded throughout the
Mediterranean more people immigrated
into Rome
Rome - Patricians
 509
BCE wealthy/powerful citizens drove
out the Etruscan kings and declared
Rome a republic
 They kept the class system from the
Etruscans and its class conflicts
 Only 7-10% of the population (wealthy)
were represented in the government
 These Patricians were free men with
hereditary, wealth or power
Rome-Plebeians




Plebeians were poor people without property
or hereditary ties
They lacked property so they could not serve
as officers in the military or in the government
Intermarriage was forbidden and they could
not serve in any religious office
Plebeians had been somewhat protected by
the Etruscan Kings – but that was gone
Class Conflict





The Struggle of the Orders broke out about 15
years after the republic was established
Lasted about 50 years (494-440 BCE)
Plebeians relied on their huge numbers to
gain some form of representation
They refused to serve as foot soldiers which
weakened Rome
In 451 BCE (10) Patricians codified some
current customs into the “Law of the Twelve
Tables”
Law of the Twelve Tables
 These
laws on Ivory actually hurt the
plebeians because of the severity of
punishment towards the poor.
 Debtors were often sold into slavery
 If you grazed your animals on land you
did not own you were hung
 Patricians slowly yielded under pressure
from the plebeians and changed many of
the laws
Tribunes
 Finally
the Patricians agreed to give the
plebeians some representation in the
Senate
 Two tribunes were elected by the
plebeians and they represented them in
the Senate
 They did have veto power so they were
somewhat effective
Senate
 Legislative
and Consultative body
 They elected a variety of low level
Magistrates to administer Rome
 Magistrates served for one year and then
automatically became Senators
 Senate decided policy but also
nominated two Consuls (Executives) to
govern all of the Roman Empire
Consuls





Consuls, Senators and Magistrates were
elected by the Comitia Centuriata (Leaders
of the Soldiers)
Once elected they served for one year
Initially only Patricians could be a consul
In 360 BCE the first Plebian Consul was
elected
Later in the Empire consuls will begin taking
power from the Senate/even appointing
some Senators
Early Military
 The
early empire ruled by armed force
 Patrician or Plebeian could be a military
leader – but you had to provide your own
arms – so usually only wealthy rose in the
ranks
 Units were divided into 100 men called
centuries, which were led by Centurions
 Centurions met to elect Senators,
important magistrates and consuls
Ruling
 All
ruling (magistrates and consuls) was
done in pairs
 This allowed for a checks and balance
and helped to avoid a return to the time
of the single Etruscan King
 Each consul had veto power over the
other
 In an emergency the Senate could
appoint a dictator to serve for 6 months
Military Power





At first they copied the Greek Phalanx but then
changed to small units with swords and javelins
They place young troops in front, more tested
veterans in the middle and skilled veterans in the
back
Early on it had no navy but it captured one from
Carthage and copied it – then conquered
Carthage
They also used catapults for battering city walls
They were patient and often used time to conquer
Expansion of the Republic
 Rome
established alliances with nearby
city-states and then challenged the
Etruscans
 After a 6 year siege (396BCE) Rome
capture Etruscan city of Veii
 Continues to expand with a setback of
being sacked by the Celtics in 264 BCE
 Rome was now a society geared towards
war and will expand for 140 years
Causes of the Punic Wars




Rome vs. Carthage
Carthage located 130 miles across the
Mediterranean
Carthage was a major port for the
Phoenicians and they controlled Northcentral coast of Africa and western
Mediterranean
Carthage had a main trade route to Spain
(Silver) and so they created ports and cities in
Sardinia and Sicily (and one on Italy) to
protect he route
Map of Rome/Carthage Area
First Punic War (Punici)
 Fighting
started in Sicily in 264 BCE and
lasted until 241 BCE
 Rome won and now controlled Sicily – five
years later they will take Sardinia and
Corsica
 This is the first time Rome has provinces
outside Italian Peninsula
Second Punic War





Spanish city of Saguntum wanted Carthage
out and asked Rome for help
The Romans attacked and defeated by
Hannibal (219 BCE) the war will last 20 years
Hannibal now went overland towards Rome
Took Troops/Elephants 1000 miles overland
including the Alps destroying northern Roman
territory and Rome's armies sent to stop him
Rome’s allies stayed loyal and Rome raised
more armies
Second Punic War






Rome recaptured cities and launched a new
attack in Spain
Hannibal marched south unable to take the city of
Rome
After winning several victories in Spain 211-206 BCE
Rome’s General Scipio invades Africa
Hannibal heads home to Carthage to stop him
Scipio will defeat Hannibal at the Battle of Zama
(202 BCE) and Carthage became a dependency
of Rome
Scipio is renamed Scipio Africanus for his victory
New Wisdom
 Policy
of Brute Force
 The City of Capua (Region of Campania)
tried to rebel against Rome (allied with
Hannibal)
 Rome executes 70 of their Senators,
imprisons 300 aristocrats and sold many of
their citizens into slavery
Third Punic War



In 149 BCE Rome will respond with New
Wisdom against Carthage when Carthage
attacks An African ally King Masinissa of
Numidia
This is the Third Punic war and lasts until 146
BCE
Rome will completely destroy Carthage – sow
salt into the ground and then annex all of
Carthage into the Roman Province of Africa
Rome Expands
 After
the second Punic War Rome attacks
the Gaul's in Northern Italy and annexes
their territory
 It annexes Spain (province)in 197 BCE but
treats them so bad they continually revolt
 Rome completely destroys Spain in 133
BCE
 They then attack Gaul in France and by
121 BCE they annex that area
Expansion – Eastern
Mediterranean
 After
Alexander died his Kingdom was
divided into 3 regional kingdoms
 Two of the Kingdoms (Macedonia and
Syria) controlled by the Seleucid dynasty
threatened to attack the third – Egypt
(Ptolemaic family)
 To take advantage of this turmoil other
Greek states asked Rome to intervene
and free them from Macedon
Expansion (200 BCE)
 King
Phillip V rejects Rome's threats and
Rome attacks and defeats him
 Rome declares those city-states free but
they really rule them
 Rome then warns Antiochus III of Syria to
stay out of Egypt and Europe – he ignores
the warning and they take all his land and
push him into Syria – making him pay
indemnities
Expansion




168 BCE the son of King Phillip V– Perseus tries to
attack Egypt again and Rome defeats him ending
the Macedonian monarchy
Greek city-state of Corinth tried to be too
independent – even attacked some of Rome’s
convoys
Rome uses “new wisdom” and razed the city, sold
them into slavery and took their art to Rome
King of Pergamum (part of Asia Minor)
bequeathed all of his land to Rome in 133 BCE
Expansion
 Pompey
the Great will add Syria, most of
Asia Minor and Jerusalem about 63 BCE
 He will all a Jewish King to rule Judea as a
client-monarch
 Pompey will use this type of indirect rule
by local potentates throughout the east
 Pompey will found about 40 cities to
create a Roman political influence
Political Rule



Rome offered economic and social support
to those it conquered.
It would also offer them various levels of
Roman citizenship (Italian Peninsula) to
induce residents to support and join its armies
In 91 BCE Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger
was elected Tribune and wanted to give all
Italian allies full citizenship – Senate rejects
idea and Drusus is assassinated and War of
the Allies begins (Social War)
Social War
 After
two years of fighting Rome offers full
citizenship to those who remained loyal
and those who stopped fighting
 Citizenship began to be used as an
inducement to loyalty
 In annexed land aristocrats were offered
partial citizenship
Social Structure





Patron-Client relationship = Strong men offered
protection for the weak and the weak offered
obedient and services
Patricians offered services to Plebeians (usually
legal) the plebian would then pay patrons fines
and fees and money for a daughters dowries
A client would present himself periodically to the
patron and the patron would give the client a gift
This relationship was codified and a Patron who
defrauded the client would be executed
This type of relationship was also characterized by
Rome's imperial control over conquered provinces
Roman Family
 Father
of the family (paterfamilias)had the
right of life and death over family
members
 He controlled occupations, who they
married and economics possessions and
maintained control even after a
daughters marriage
 Not a tyrant they were worried about
child's well-being
Women








Women’s role was subordinate to men
Free from father after his death
Marriage was arranged
Motherhood was the most important thing
Freeborn women were free from legal control of
by father/husband/guardian after bearing three
children
Women should be faithful to “one man”
Women committing adultery could be executed –
drinking wine could also be punished
Most of these rules applied only to the upper-class
Class Conflict





Imperialism resulted in the rich becoming richer
Small farmers who served in the army often
returned home to find their farms sold for debt –
they then lived impoverished in a city
The City of Rome reached 1 million by 1st century
(CE) and class divisions were very great
Wealthy houses had bathrooms, were spacious
and comfortable
Poor lived in unheated houses – no water – dirty –
and overcrowded – typhus and fire killed many
Reforms for the Poor





The Gracchi brothers Tiberius and Gaius tried
to protect the interests of the plebeians.
Tiberius wanted to give lands to returning
soldiers so numerous Senators and their clients
clubbed him to death in 133 BCE
Despite the murder redistribution of land did
take place
In 123 BCE Gaius was elected tribune and
lands from the Punic wars was distributed
He also gave bread doles to the poor
Social Reforms






Gaius was not sensitive to non-Italian poor
He allowed Roman knights to collect taxes from
farmers in conquered areas
This allowed them to collect what they were
suppose to for Rome and even more for
themselves
He often auctioned off these tax collector
positions
He and his fellow tribune was also assassinated in
121 BCE and 3000 of his supporters were executed
However the foundation for the end of the empire
was laid (Challenge to the Senate)
Dealing with class conflicts






To keep the poor content Rome began the
“bread and circuses”
They gave up to 200,000 poor/former soldiers a
dole of bread each day
They also provided public religious activities,
theater and gladiatorial contests of great cruelty
Public arenas could hold about half of Rome’s
population
Hundreds of people and up to 5000 animals could
be killed in a single day
Free food and gory spectacle kept the
unemployed compliant
Slavery in Rome






Rome needed slaves for farming and to work
mineral mines
They filled the need through conquest
Nine years of war conquering Gaul – Julius
Caesar had made 500,000 Gaul's slaves
25% of farm labor was slaves
About 400,000 of 1 million population of the
city of Rome was slaves
On Roman proverb stated “Every slave we
own is an enemy we harbor”
Slavery
 Several
revolts/wars occur
 Sicily “Great slave war” 70,000 slaves
revolt (134-131 BCE)
 Sicily again 104-100 BCE
 Spartacus Revolt (Gladiator) 73-71 BCE
 Many revolts occurred when a foreign
army invaded
End of the Republic
 General
Gaius Marius campaigned to
become consul in 107 BC (served 7 times)
 He recruited troops that did not own
property and would be loyal to him
 He gave soldiers land in foreign areas
 Now the Armies were dependent on him
and not the state
 But there was another General named
Sulla that also had power
Civil War





Rome needed to fight King of Pontus and
decides to send Sulla
Marius wants the glory and transfers the
assignment to himself
Sulla gets mad and attacks Rome (83-82)
Sulla takes control of Rome and declares
Marius an outlaw and then heads to Greece
Marius not to be outdone joined with another
General and seizes control of Rome
Civil War
 Sulla-after
beating the King in Greece he
returns to Rome takes control and
declares himself dictator – keeps control
for 2 years and then steps down
 Twenty years later Julius Caesar, Pompey
and Crassus form a triumvirate (alliance of
three)
 The three competed until Caesars takes
control from the other two
Julius Caesar






Born about 100 BCE Caesar had been married to
Cornelia, because she was the daughter of Cinna
who was Sulla’s enemy
Caesar refused and fled to the Greek Islands and
studied philosophy – he returns years later after he
was pardoned
Elected magistrate of public games 65 BC he
often spent his own money
Elected Chief Priest in 65 BCE
Elected Consul in 59 BCE
Used strong arm tactics to intimidate the Senate
and the other Consul
Caesar as a General
 After
consul (58 BCE) he would take a
military force into Gaul
 After nine years he has conquered all of
Gaul – crossed the Rhine to threaten the
Germanic tribes – invaded Britain twice
 Returns to Rome rules under triumvirate –
until Crassus dies
 Pompey dies Pompey dies in Egypt
Caesar Dies
 Caesar
rules alone until killed in 44 BCE
 Had formed Julian Calendar
 Extends citizenship
 Reorganizes City Government
 Caesar selected his sisters grandson to
replace him – Gaius Octavian (63-14CE)
 Later called Octavian
 He avenged Caesars death – killed 300
Senators
Octavian







To avert Civil War Octavian had his sister marry Mark
Anthony
In 36 BC Anthony divorces Octavia and marries
Cleopatra – but he jointly rules Egypt with her –
against the law
Octavian will defeat Anthony/Cleopatra at Actium
Annexes all of Egypt and keeps treasury for himself
By 27 BCE a grateful Senate gives him the title of
Augustus (Sacred or Venerable)
He will rule Rome as emperor for 56 years until he dies
in 14 CE he was Princep (First Citizen)
This is the Golden Age of Rome – Art – Roads Literature
Under Augustus (Pax Romano)








Rome became more conservative
Marriage became more equal for the wives
Military became a profession
Roman Empire expands
Annexes Bavaria and Switzerland
Military took control of the government
Failed to conquer central Germany but failed
Built many outposts and cities connected by
50,000 miles of 1st class roads and 200,000
miles of lesser roads
Expansion continued
 40
CE Rome conquers Wales and England
and it becomes Britain
 Emperor Trajan takes Romania
 Hadrian consolidates the Empire –
withdraws from Mesopotamia and builds
a wall in Britain
Economic Trade
 Imperial
rule and markets developed and
created profit in the provinces
 Romans levied taxes and tributes and
recruited soldiers from conquered lands
 Settled their soldiers on foreign lands
 Exploited their political power on
provinces
 Many Romans thought the empire had
lost its soul
Sustaining Rome




The city required huge amounts of grainEgypt, Sicily , North Africa and Spain
Leather-France, Pottery-Rhineland, WoolEngland
To administer military/administrative cities
needed – London, Paris, Barcelona etc
People of wealth wanted luxury items –
required the trade routes to be secure-this
was added during the Pax Romana or Roman
Peace (27 BC to 180 AD)
Stoicism
 Philosophy
borrowed from Greeks (est by
Zeno)
 World is rational, well ordered and
coherent system
 Accept without joy or sadness everything
that happens
Religion in Imperial Rome




Officially Rome celebrated a religion
centralized on the person of emperor-god
Augustus had rebuilt temples and
encouraged worship of ancestral godsJupiter, Juno and Minerva
Augustus was deified and animal sacrifices
were made to him
For the most part as long as a person
venerated the emperor and backed the
state diverse religious practices were allowed
Mystery Religions



Rituals of initiation that defied rational
understanding-orgies, baptisms, dramtic
rituals
Mithraism was one such religion- worshiped
the Persian sun god Mithras as a mediator
between god and man – popular with the
military
Rome would not tolerate sects that
challenged authority of the empire i.e.
Judaism
Rome and the Jews





Jews were monotheistic and worshipping multiple
gods, especially the emperor evoked strong
opposition to Rome
Revolt in Judea was always simmering
Starting in 63 BCE fighting between Jews and
Romans (and Jew v. Jew) broke out frequently
There were 3 major revolts after which Rome
destroyed Jerusalem (70 AD)– the principal
temple- ended Judea as a state and exiled the
Jews
This is the Jewish Diaspora
Rome and early Christians





Jesus of Nazareth (4BCE-30 CE)-Christ or
Messiah
Emerged from Judaism
Clashed with Romans because of
Monotheism
Romans rejected for three centuries because
it rejected divinity of the emperor/Kingdom of
Heaven distinct from the Roman Empire
Roman Governor – Pontius Pilate will crucify
Jesus
Beginning of Acceptance




By the time of Marcus Aurelius' and despite
persecutions – Christianity will begin to be
accepted
Stoicism helped acceptance-orderly world
and concern for social welfare
In addition, Christianity added faith in God to
intervene and help, miracles and hope
It was attractive for the poor but later wealthy
will be attracted by its organization and
message
Constantine and Licinius




313 – Edict of Milan – made Christianity a valid
faith
After 324 when Constantine ruled alone he
recognized Christianity as a religion that had
brought miracles to the empire and gave it
official recognition and the religion spread
freely
330 Constantine inaugurates a new Rome in
Constantinople (discuss later)
Government support of polytheistic cults were
terminated in 394
Dismemberment of the Empire




Celtic groups, Goths and Huns (with others)
had rebelled for centuries
Third century invaders began penetrating the
borders- Goths went into the Balkans and Asia
Minor
Franks attacked into Gaul, Spain and North
Africa
Emperor Gallienus manages to preserve the
Italian empire and his successor Aurelian
protected Rome’s western and northern
borders
Fragmentation of Authority




Continued warfare forced the
decentralization of power from the capital to
provinces
Power left the Senate and went to Generals
Emperor Diocletian (284-305) believed that
pomp and majesty would save everything –
battles and splendor bankrupt the empire
and brought misery
In 330 Constantine moves builds another
capital east – so now there is an east and
west capital
Barbarians




Valentinian (364-375) was the last emperor to
successfully drive back the barbarians
Attacks by the Goths, Franks and other
barbarians resulted in allowing them to settle
within the empire if they provided fighting
men
Attila attacks in 451 and leaves only after
Pope Leo I intervenes
In 476 the German general Odoacer
deposed the last (western) emperor and
became the first barbarian king of Italy
Causes of Fall
 Internal
Conflict – elite and masses
 Sustainment of military caused over
taxation
 No viable succession of quality emperors
 Population of became heavily Germanic
and whole units were not Roman
 Loyalty to General and not Rome
 Christianity offered an alternative to the
Roman Empire
Eastern Empire 330-1453







Greek Language – Roman Law – Christian
Faith
Manages to survive attacks
Has a resurgence under Justinian (Creates
Justinian Code)
Makes administrative and military districts
(Themes)
Confronts Islam – Arab armies
Iconoclasts controversy 726 helps split
church/political foundations
Succumbs to Turks in 1453