Duiker & Spielvogel
Chapter 5: The First World Civilizations: Rome, China, and the Emergence of the Silk
Road.
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Silk Road linked the Roman and Han Empires
Roman legends of greatness: Horatius at the bridge: Roman farmers were under
attack by Etruscans, went behind city fortifications, a weak point was a wooden
bridge over the Tiber River…Horatius crossed the bridge and had his men burn
the bridge behind him, then he swam back to the other side under a hail of
arrows unscathed.
 Similarities b/w Rome and China= empires lasted for centuries, remarkable
success in establishing centralized control over their empires, and throughout
their empires they maintained their law and political institutions, their technical
skills, and their languages.
Location:
 Italian peninsula had good arable land & important trade route on Med. Sea
 Rome built on 7 hills, easy to defend
Early Rome:
 Legend of Romulus and Remus: twin brothers around 753BCE
 Influence of Greeks and Etruscans on Early Rome
Roman Republic:
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Livy: History of Early Republic- Rome engaged in almost continuous warfare for
about 100 years…emphasized tenacity, duty, courage, and discipline
 Example: Livy’s Cincinnatus Saves Rome: Chosen dictator in 457 BCE to defend
Rome against the Aequi…only dictator for 15 days
 Romans conquered the Latins and the Greeks…Greeks had a lot of influence on
Rome: olives, architecture, art
 Roman Confederation 338BCE: Latins=full citizenship, other groups could
eventually gain citizenship
 Established colonies w/ fortified towns in strategic locations connected by roads:
communication and transportation network
 Insisted on military service from allies
The Roman State
 Govt: 2 consuls chosen annually “right to command”-administered govt. and led
army into battle.
 Praetor 366BCE- in charge of civil law & execution of justice and “right to
command” when consuls were away
 Roman senate: 300 men served for life
 Centuriate Assembly: organized by classes based on wealth
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Struggle of orders: b/w the plebeians and patricians- result= Council of Plebs 471
BCE
Patricians= aristocratic governing class
Plebeians= majority of population, could vote, but couldn’t hold office
Tribunes= office to represent the plebeians
Eventually pats and plebs could intermarry- new aristocratic class
Roman Conquest in Mediterranean
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Punic Wars
Vs Carthage, a former Phoenician Colony, had amassed a large empire in western
Mediterranean
 264BCE to 241 BCE: 1st Punic War: Rome developed a navy (corvus), defeated
Carthage: Carthage had to pay a large indemnity and lost Sicily
 Carthage then moved into Spain and vowed revenge
 218-202BCE 2nd Punic War: Great Carthaginian general Hannibal…crossed the
Alps from Spain to Italy with 30-40,000 men and elephants…series of victories
against the Romans at Cannae…Romans, led by Scipio then attacked Carthage
and defeated them at Battle of Zama
 146BCE 3rd Punic War: Carthage was burned to the ground, inhabitants were sold
into slavery, sowed salt into the soil
 Cato “And I think Carthage must be destroyed”
 Eventually took over Macedonia and Greece
 3 Stages: Conquest of Italy, conflict w/ Carthage and expansion into western
Med., involvement w/ and domination of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the eastern
Med.
The Roman Army
 4th century BCE: Roman army consisted of 4 legions: 4-5,000 men each
 Most soldiers were farmers who enrolled for a year at a time
Decline and Fall of Roman Republic (133-31BCE)
Growing unrest and a New Role for the Roman Army
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2nd century BCE: senate was the effective governing body of the Roman
State…300 men, mostly landed aristocracy…senators for life
Disparity b/w rich and poor
Elite class called Nobiles (nobles)
Latifundia were large plantations using slave labor that forced small farmers out
of business. Many farmers moved to cities resulting in overcrowding. Also,
membership in the Roman army declined
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Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus worked for land-reform for small farmers, but both
were assassinated.
Marius: general that recruited army by offering land, army swore allegiance to
him= more power in the hands of individual generals
Sulla- used his army to seize power in Rome, purge, and strengthen the Senate
Jostling for power by a number of powerful individuals and civil wars generated
by these conflicts.
The Collapse of the Republic
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60BCE: First Triumvirate: Julius Caesar, Crassus, Pompey
 Crassus was the richest man in Rome and had led a successful
military command against the Spartacus slave rebellion
 Crassus dies, Caesar’s forces vs. Pompey’s forces after J.Caesar “Crossed the
Rubicon” J.Caesar won
 47BCE J. Caesar= dictator 44 BCE Dictator for life
 Land reforms, increased senate to 900 members, new calendar, citizenship
 March 15th 44BCE “ides of march” Caesar was assassinated
 2nd Triumvirate: Octavian, Marc Antony, Lepidus
 Battle of Actium, Octavian won and Marc Antony and Cleopatra committed
suicide
 END of REPUBLIC
The Age of Augustus 31BCE-14CE
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Augustus- 1st Emperor
o Stable frontiers
Social stratification
o Senatorial
o Equestrian
o Lower classes
 Free grain and public spectacles to keep them distracted
The Early Empire (14-180CE)
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Augustus-to Stepson Tiberius (Julio-Claudian Dynasty)
Emperors took more power
Nero(54-68): murdered mother “played fiddle while Rome burned”
Committed suicide “What an artist the world is losing in me!”
The Five Good Emperors (96-180)
 Pax Romana (Roman peace)
 Trajan 98-117- alimentary program (state funds to assist poor parents in raising
and educating their children)
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Trajan and Hadrian: Building projects
Large Empire= difficult to defend
Cities were important for the spread of Roman culture, law and the Latin
language
Development of towns and cities- based upon agricultural surpluses of the
countryside
Frontiers and the Provinces
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Defensive imperialism
Height in 2nd century CE, the Roman Empire was one of the greatest states the
world had seen
Prosperity in the Early Empire
 Internal peace: unprecedented levels of trade
 Economic expansion in both the Roman and Chinese empires helped foster the
growth of trade
 Roads: military, facilitated trade
 Most important: Silk Road
 Latifundia remained, tilled by slaves mostly
 Continued divide between rich and poor
Culture and Society in the Roman world
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conflict over Greek Culture- pervasive, but controversial
Roman Literature
 Cattilus “best lyric poet”- letters to Lesbia
 Cicero- great prose writer and oratory
 Virgil: The Aeneid- moral Rome was on a divine mission to rule the world:
Aeneas, a hero of Troy, survives and settles in Latium- establishing a link
between Roman civilization and Greek history…Virgil believed ruling was Rome’s
gift.
 Horace: Satires- “follies and vices of his age”
 Ovid: Amores: The Art of Love
 Livy: History of Rome- human character was the determining factor in history
 Seneca- Stoicism
 Tacitus: Annals & Historia & Germania= history had moral purpose
Roman Art
 realistic sculptures and architecture projects (roads, aqueducts)
Roman Law
o 450BCE Twelve Tables: 1st code of laws
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 influenced by Stoicism
 Innocent until proven otherwise
 People could defend themselves before a judge
Roman Family
o Led by paterfamilias (dominant male)
o Divorce eventually allowed and became extensive
o Legal min age for girls to marry was 12 but 14 was common
o Roman women eventually gained more freedom
o By second century BCE: power of paterfamilias declined, could no longer
sell his children into slavery or have them put to death.
Slaves and Their Masters
 Roman conquest of Med. Brought drastic change in use of slaves- large #’s of
foreign slaves were brought back to Italy
o Cato the Elder “cheaper to work slaves to death, and then replace them
than to treat them favorably.”
o Murder of master by slave could mean the execution of all other
household slaves
o Greek slaves in high demand
 73BCE Spartacus Rebellion: Led by a Thracian slave- managed to defeat several
Roman armies before he was finally trapped and killed in southern Italy-6,000 of
his followers were crucified along the Appian Way
Imperial Rome
 Rome was largest city, close to one million by time of Augustus (only Chang’an
could compare)
o Gap b/w living conditions for rich and poor
o Gladiatorial Games- fought to the death
o Trajan- spectacles are necessary for the “contentment of the masses”
Disaster in Southern Italy
 Eruption of Mt Vesuvius on August 24, 79CE
Crisis and the Late Empire
 What reforms did Diocletian and Constantine institute, and to what extent were
the reforms successful?
Crisis in the Third Century
 Series of civil wars and upheaval
 22 emperors, only 2 did not die a violent death
 Invasions, civil wars and plague, close to causing an economic collapse…decline
in trade…monetary system collapsing
The Late Roman Empire
 2 strong emperors: Diocletian and Constantine
The Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine
 Extended imperial control
 Edicts forcing people to remain in their vocations…make them hereditary
 Diocletian “divides” empire into administrative units
 Constantine: capital at Byzantium: Constantinople “New Rome”
Decline and Fall of Roman Empire
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235-284: Roman Empire in continuous Civil War
o 50 years: 22 Emperors!
 Invasions: Persians and Germanic Tribes
 Military dependent upon mercenary soldiers and not as loyal
 Diocletian 284-305: Divided empire into 4 administrative units
 Constantine 306-337 new capital city in Byzantium (Constantinople)
o Basic jobs hereditary
Fall of Western Roman Empire
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2nd ½ 4th Century- Huns (Xiongnu)-to- Eastern Europe-Visigoths to south and
west
410 Visigoths attached Rome
476: Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus deposed- series of Germanic
kingdoms
Factors
o Christianity’s emphasis on spiritual kingdom
o Traditional Roman values declined
o Lead poisoning
o Plague
o Rome hindered technologically by slavery
o Didn’t achieve a working political system
o Key Factor: INVASION in West
Transformation of the Roman World: The Development of Christianity
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The Development of Christianity
o Greco-Roman gods ( Juno, Minerva, Mars, Jupiter)
o Polytheistic- tolerant of other religions
o Jewish background
 Divided Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots
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Jewish revolt 66-70CE crushed by Romans and Jewish temple in
Jerusalem destroyed (Western Wall remained)
The Rise of Christianity
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Jesus of Nazareth (6BCE-29CE)
Reassured fellow Jews- did not plan to undermine their traditional religion: fulfill
the prophesies
Jesus was crucified
Belief in Jesus’ resurrection became an important tenet of Christian doctrine
Important figure: Paul of Tarsus
o Jewish Roman citizen- preached to Jews and Gentiles
o Founded Christian communities throughout Asia Minor
o Accept Jesus as savior, they could be saved
Early Christians suspicious b/c of their secret meetings
o Accused of cannibalism
o Christians refused to participate in the worship of the state gods &
imperial cult= act of treason= death
Nero- fire in Rome- Christians scapegoated- used as human torches
Christian church created a well-defined hierarchical structure in which bishops
and clergy were salaried officers separate from the laity, or regular church
members
Christianity- promise of salvation- initiation w/ baptism
New roles for Woman in Christianity
Constantine (306-337) 1st Christian Emperor
o Edict of Milan- tolerated the existence of Xty
Theodosius 378-395
o Christianity made official religion of Roman Empire
The Glorious Han Empire (202BCE-221CE)
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The Glorious Han Dynasty (202BCE- 221CE)
o Closely identified w/ the advance of Chinese civilization
o Founder= Liu Bang- Han Gaozu “Exalted Emperor of Han”
o Abandoned Legalism- Confucianism became the official ideology
Confucianism and the State
o Local govt and triplicate system kept
o Govt. officials selected on basis of merit
 Although still wealthy b/c needed education
o Han wasn’t able to curb the power of the wealthy clans- major factor in
the final collapse of the dynasty
Society and Economy in the Han Empire
o Free peasantry paying taxes directly to the state- limit wealth and power
of great noble families and increase the states’ revenues
 Land was limited- many forced to be tenants
o Land routes (Silk Road) and sea routes
o Paper invented, rudder (ships sailed into wind)
o Expansion of empire Han Wudi (successfully assimilated regions south of
Yangtze including Red River into Vietnam)
o Jade Burial Suit (for very wealthy)
 The Decline and Fall of the Han
o 9 CE Wang Mang- representative for the peasants seized power, called
Xin (New) Dynasty
o 23CE Wang killed in a coup d’etat (had alienated wealthy)
o Cao Cao seized power early 3rdc. CE, immortalized in Chinese epic The
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
o China entered into period of almost constant anarchy and internal
division, compounded by invasions of northern tribal peoples
 Next dynasty beginning 7thc. CE- 400 years later
 Daily Life in Ancient China
o Family= basic economic and social unit in society
o Child labor essential
o Filial piety and “five relationships”- patriarchy
o Five Relationships: 1. Father to son, 2. Husband to wife, 3. Older brother
to younger brother, 4. King to subject, 5. Friend to Friend
o Family= basic economic unit- basic social unit for education, religious
observances, and training in ethical principles
 The Humble Estate: Women in Ancient China
o Female subservience- key element in social system
o Character for man: strength and rice field
o Character for woman: person in posture of deference and respect- wife is
symbolized as a woman w/ a broom, peace is a woman under a roof.
o Book of Songs: “A woman w/ a long tongue is a flight of steps leading to
calamity.”
A Comparison of Rome and China
 2 empires dominated the world, with little direct contact between them
 Both lasted for centuries, successful in establishing centralized control, roads,
relied on provincial officials to effectively rule, both primarily
agricultural…invasions by nomads
 Family was central…many free peasants in both areas were eventually converted
to tenant farmers
 Differences: merchants more highly regarded in Rome (parasites according to
Confucianism)…Chinese imperial authority was far more stable…