From Romulus to
Romulus
The Rise and Fall of
Rome
Romulus and Remus
Legendary Rome
• Aeneas and Trojan Refugees settle in Italy
(Vergil’s Aeneid; wholly fictional)
• Romulus founds Rome 753 BCE
– Another legend
– Romulus probably named for Rome
– “Rome” may come from a word for “river”
• Seven Kings
• Tarquinius Superbus deposed
• Republic founded 509 BCE
The Pre-Roman World
War With Carthage
• 264-241 BCE: Rome wins control of Sicily
• 238 BCE Rome takes advantage of revolt
in Carthage to seize Sardinia
• 218-201 BCE: Hannibal invades Italy, but
Carthage loses Spain and N. Africa to
Rome
• 149-146 BCE: Alarmed by Carthage’s
recovery, Rome launches a final war to
destroy Carthage
Rome Expands
Rome Expands
Many-Front War
Rome Expands
The Republic Crumbles
• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus try but fail to
implement social reforms (land reform)130-122
BCE
• Social War 91–88 BCE: Rest of Italy tries to
secede from Rome
• Civil War 87-81 BCE, followed by purge by
Lucius Sulla
• Catilina 63-62 BCE: Failed coup
• First Triumvirate 60-53 BCE: Caesar, Pompey,
Crassus
Julius Caesar
• Born 100 BCE
• Consul 60 BCE
• First Triumvirate 60-53 BCE: Caesar, Pompey,
Crassus
• Conquest of Gaul 58-49 BCE
• Attempted invasion of Britain 55 BCE
• 50 BCE: Caesar-Pompey alliance breaks up
• 50-45 BCE: Civil War; Caesar wins
• 44 BCE: Assassinated
Rome Expands
Empire!
• Civil War
– Antony against Brutus and Cassius
– Antony and Octavian against Brutus and
Cassius
– Octavian against Antony and Cleopatra
• Octavian declared Emperor 27 BCE as
Caesar Augustus
• Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero
• 69 CE: Year of the Four Emperors
Rome Expands
Rome Expands
Rome Expands
The Empire at its Peak
• Flavian Dynasty
– Vespasian (69–79)
– Titus (79–81)
– Domitian (81–96)
• Five Good Emperors
– Nerva (96-98)
– Trajan (98-117)
– Hadrian (117-138)
– Antoninus Pius (138-161)
– Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
Roman Science and
Technology
 Little theoretical science or innovation
(Lucretius-atoms)
 Encyclopedists (Pliny)
 Architectural virtuosity
 City planning--water, lead pipes,
sewage, fire protection
 Bridges and aqueducts
 Law and administration
Roman Science and
Technology
 Concrete (if a society can only introduce
one invention, it could do no better than
this.)
 Codex form of books
 Water mills (late in Empire)
Near Collapse 235-284
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20-25 emperors and many claimants
Internal dissension weakens frontiers
Dacia (modern Romania) lost
Empire fractures into three parts 258-275
Economic stagnation and hyperinflation
Two tough general-emperors, Claudius Gothicus
and Aurelian, stabilized Empire
• Diocletian (284-305) created autocracy,
reformed military, bought another two centuries
for the Empire
Final Decline
• Constantine the Great (306-337)
– Legalized Christianity 313
• Theodosius I (379-395)
– The last ruler of the whole empire
– Made Christianity official 391
– Empire divided East-West 395
• Eastern Invasions
• Romulus Augustulus deposed 476
• Eastern half endures as Byzantine Empire to 1453
Roman Empire Splits, 395 A.D.
Fall of Rome
Fall of Rome
Fall of Rome
Did Anyone Try to Stop
It?
• Majorianus 457-461
• “The successor of Avitus presents the
welcome discovery of a great and heroic
character, such as sometimes arise, in a
degenerate age, to vindicate the honor of
the human species.” (Gibbon, Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire, Ch. 36)
Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire, 1782
Edward Gibbon suggested four reasons for
fall of Rome:
• “Immoderate greatness”--growth of
bureaucracy and military
• Wealth and luxury
• Barbarian invasions (cause or symptom?)
• Spread of Christianity
Persecution of Christians
• Rome was generally tolerant of other
religions
– Tended to incorporate other religions
– Tolerated Jews, who refused assimilation
• Roman religion was utilitarian
– Means of maintaining unity and order (pietas)
– Securing favor for Rome
• Christianity threatened both aims
– Blamed for decline of Rome
Persecution of Christians
• Other Issues
– Secrecy bred suspicion
– Organized among lower classes
– Competition with other sects
– Some early Christians were extremists
• Freedom of conscience was not on
anyone’s radar until about 1700
Persecution of Christians
• Sometimes scapegoats for disaster (Nero)
• Most persecutions local and spotty
• Imperial persecutions tended to happen
under two types of emperor
– Conscientious (Domitian, Diocletian, Julian)
– Oppressive (Nero)
– Mediocre emperors were apathetic or too
busy surviving
An Alternate View of the
Fall of Rome
Americans often idealize ancient Rome
 We are impressed by its monuments.
 It's the first ancient state in the Western world
that looks like a modern nation-state on the
scale of the U.S.
 Latin was used as the intellectual language of
Europe until recent times
 Many "religious" films about the life of Christ
are actually films about Rome with a pious
veneer.
Reality Check: Rome
was a stagnant,
corrupt, brutal and
petty society
 Two suggested antidotes to the
romantic view of Rome:
 Robert Graves' I, Claudius
 H.G. Wells Outline of History
 Not once did the local populace ever
rise up to oppose the barbarian
invaders.
Two Empires Face a
Fateful Choice
• The U.S., Northwest Ordinance - 1787
– Provided for division of new territories into
additional States
– Admission of new States incorporated into
Constitution
– Hence no distinction whatever between original
States and later States.
• Rome - 201 BCE
– Rome acquires Spain from Carthage
– Rome decides to exploit the new territories as
source of tax revenue and slaves.
Results of Rome’s ChoiCe
• Non-stop guerrilla war in Spain for over 300
years
• Rome abandons its traditional citizen army for
a permanent standing army
• Conscripted soldiers frequently became
dispossessed while serving in Spain
(Destroyed the middle class)
• Rome's erratic but real progress toward
equality reverses. Power and wealth reconcentrate in the hands of the upper class
• Soldiers become dependent on generals for
welfare and equipment
Conclusion:
Like a baby born with AIDS,
the Roman Empire was
infected at birth with the
disease that eventually
killed it.
A Bit of Perspective