Ancient Rome

Geography• Italy is a peninsula that

looks like a boot– spot had mild climate,

good farmland• Rome is centrally

located– Built city on seven hills

that could be defended– Alps, Apennines

mountains protected Rome, but didn't isolate it

• Mediterranean surrounds the peninsula– lay next to Tiber River– Roman ships could sail

to other lands• Fertile plains in the

North (under the Alps) and in the West– Population growth– Early farmers had small

plots of land for wheat, barley

Early Myths• According to legend, Romulus

founded Rome in 753 B.C.• Legend begins after Aeneas—

Trojan War hero—settles in Italy his twins Romulus and Remus—wanted to found city– twins fought over cityʼs

position; Romulus killed Remus

– Romulus traced Romeʼs boundaries around Palatine Hill (centermost of the seven)

Roman Beginnings

• Latin ancestors migrated to Italy by 800 BC

• Shared peninsula with the Greeks and Etruscans

• Roman’s drive out hated Etruscan king in 509 BC

• Set up a republic- officials chosen by the people

Government• The Senate

– 300 members were patricians, members of the landholding upper class

– Senators served for life – Consuls elected by senators, supervised

government and commanded armies, served for one year

• 12 Tables– Plebeians (farmers, merchants, traders)

become angry, laws weren't posted– 450 BC, Laws of Rome inscribed on 12

tablets in the marketplace – Plebeians elect officials, Tribunes, could

veto laws

Expansion in Italy

• 270 BC Rome occupied all of Italy• Masters of War

– Success due to diplomacy and well disciplined army– Mixed army’s rewards with harsh punishments

• Conquered Lands– Treated defeated enemies with justice, made them

acknowledge Roman leadership– Built network of all weather military roads to link

distant provinces to Rome

Rivalry with Carthage

• Carthage, a city-state on the northeast of Africa

• Between 264 BC & 146 BC Rome fights against Carthage in Punic Wars

• First Punic War- Rome defeated Carthage, forcing it to surrender Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia.

• Second Punic War- Hannibal embarks across the Alps– Surprised Romans, expected

invasion from the South– Hannibal moves across Italy for

15 years wining battle after battle– Rome eventually attacks

Carthage, gains all of Carthage land except Africa

• Third Punic War– Carthage kept peace, Rome still

saw them as rival– Rome attacks and completely

destroyed the 700 year old city

Ruler’s of the Mediterranean World• Roman’s confront

Hellenistic rulers, who divided empire of Alexander the Great– Macedonia, Greece,

and parts of Asia fall under Roman rule

• By 133 BC, Roman power extended from Spain to Egypt

Effects of Expansion

• Generals, officials, and traders get rich from loot and taxes

• New class of wealthy Romans emerged• People become poor and angry• New reformers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

attempt reform– Call to distribute land to poor farmers

• Senate is angered at the brothers reforms, have them killed

• Rome plunged into a series of civil wars for 100 years

• Julius Caesar, after nine years of fighting, brings Gaul under Roman control

• Pompey, jealous of Caesar's power orders him to disband his army

Crossing the Rubicon

• Caesar defies Pompey and leads army across Rubicon River, toward Rome

• Civil war erupts, Caesar crushes Pompey• “Veni, vidi, vici”- I came, I saw, I conquered• Caesar becomes absolute ruler of Rome

– Keeps Senate and other features of the Republic

Caesar’s Reform• Between 48BC and 44BC,

Caesar pushed through reforms to deal with Rome’s problems– Launched a program of public

works giving jobs to the poor– Gave public land to the poor– Granted Roman citizenship to

more people– Organized Rome into provinces

• To enact these reforms he packed the Senate with his followers

• Most lasting reform was the introduction of a new calendar based on Egyptian knowledge– “Julian Calendar” was used

for over 1,600 years, with minor changes still the calendar we use today

The Ideas of March• Caesar’s enemies worried that he

planned to make himself king of Rome– To save the republic, they plotted

against him• According to legend, in 44BC a

fortune teller warned Caesar to “beware of the Ides of March”– (March 15)

• Caesar’s enemies stabbed him to death in the Senate building

• The death of Julius Caesar plunged Rome into a new round of civil wars

• Mark Antony, Caesar’s chief general and Octavian, Caesar’s grandnephew, joined forces to hunt down the murders– The two men soon turned on each other and a bitter power

struggle began– In 31BC, Octavian finally defeated Antony and his powerful ally

Queen Cleopatra of Egypt• The Senate proclaimed Octavian Augustus, or Exalted One

and declared him princeps, or first citizen – Careful not to call himself a king, the Romans hated the title

since the Estruscan times• Augustus exercised absolute power and named his

successor, just as a King would• Ruled from 31BC to 14AD

– The 500 year old republic came to an end– The Roman Empire had emerged

Imperial Rome• Augustus created a stable government

– Left the senate in place– Created an efficient well trained civil

service, which enforced the laws– High level jobs were open to men of

talent, regardless of class– Cities pledged allegiance to Rome

because they were allowed to self-govern, to an extent

– Made tax system fair by ordering a census, or population count

– Set up a postal service and issued new coins to make trade easier

• Put the jobless to work building roads and temples and sent others to farm the land

• The government functioned well for 200 years, but Romans didn’t accept the idea of power automatically passing from father to son– The death of an emperor

often led to intrigue and violence

• Bad Emperors and Good Emperors– Caligula

• Insane, appointed his favorite horse as consul– Nero

• Viciously persecuted Christians and was even blamed for setting a great fire that destroyed much of Rome

– Between 96AD and 180, the Empire benefited from the rule of a series of “good emperors”

• Hadrian- Codified Roman law, making it the same for all provinces

• Marcus Aurelius, read philosophy and came to close to Plato’s idea of a philosophy king

The Roman Peace• The 200 year span that began with Augustus and

ended with Marcus Aurelius is known as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace– Roman rule brought peace, order, unity, prosperity– Empire steatched from Euphrates in the East the

Britain in the West, similar to the continental U.S.

• Legions maintained roads and had fleets to chase pirates from the seas

• People traveled along Silk Road spreading ideas and exchanging goods

• Ideas from Greece and Palestine would have a large impact on the western world

Family and Religion• Family was the basic unit

of Roman society– Under Roman law, the head

of the household, usually the father, had absolute power in the family

– Enforced strict discipline and demanded total respect for his authority

– Wife was not allowed to interject

• Role of Women– Women gained more

freedom during the late republic/early empire

– Played a larger role in society than Greek women

• Went to the public baths• Dined out• Ran businesses • Most women worked at

home and raised their family

Education and Religion• Education

– Girls and boys both learned to read and write, all classes of people

– The wealthy hired private tutors, often Greek slaves, learned Rhetoric

• Religion– Roman Gods and Goddesses resembled those of the

Greeks– Roman calendar was full of feasts and other

celebrations and festivals to honor the gods

Bread and Circuses• Circus Maximus, was Rome’s largest

racecourse• Fans bet on teams and Chariot drivers • Gladiator contests, slaves that were trained to

fight, battled one another in the arena– Could often fight for their freedom or be booed to

death• Events were a way to control the city’s restless

mobs– Government provided free grain to feed the poor

The Rise of Christianity• The Jews in Rome

– Palestine was conquered by Rome in 63 BC• Romans allowed them to practice their religion

– In 70 CE, a revolt led the Romans to destroy their temple. (Now the Wailing Wall)

– Many Jews fought for independence• They hoped for a messiah

– A second revolt in 135 led the Romans to kick the Jews out of Palestine• Diaspora- The scattering of Jewish people from their homeland in Palestine

Christianity

Church

Pope head of church

Accept Jewish teaching (Ten

Commandments, prophets)

Forgiveness/ generosity

Afterlife: Heaven- for good life Hell- for sinful life

Bible (Old and New Testaments)

and Gospels

Jesus is son of God (messiah),

Monotheistic

• Early Christianity– spread by Jesus’ followers,

apostles and evangelists such as Paul of Tarsus

– Quickly spread throughout Asia Minor, Greece and even Rome

– Early Roman Emperors persecuted Christians

– Edict of Milan in 313 legalized Christianity

– Becomes the official religion of Rome by 380

The Long Decline, End of Pax Romana• Problems in Rome 200’s CE

– Unstable government- many emperors after 180, were assassinated

– High Taxes- taxes were needed for the military but forced poor farmers to quit their jobs and collect welfare instead.

– Weak Military- faced barbarians attacks and lacked discipline

– Bread and Circuses- Emperors gave people free food and entertainment to hide the problems of the empire

• Efforts to Reform– Diocletian 284- 305

• split the empire into East West and North South section to make it easier to rule

• strengthened image of emperor with robes and jewels to gain respect

• controlled prices and made people keep their jobs to stop people from collecting welfare

– Constantine 306- 337• reorganized the army and enhanced training• legalized Christianity (Edict of Milan)• made a new capital in the wealthy

eastern empire at Constantinople

– Their efforts only helped

delay the end of the empire.

Causes for the Fall of the Roman EmpirePolitical Economic

Social Military

Causes for the Fall of the Roman EmpirePolitical•authoritarian government: no longer looked out for the people•corruption made the government look bad•many emperors were not qualified

Economic

Social Military

Causes for the Fall of the Roman EmpirePolitical•authoritarian government: no longer looked out for the people•corruption made the government look bad•many emperors were not qualified

Economic•heavy taxes- to pay for welfare/ military expenses•slaves labor- unemployment and lack of new inventions•few rich and many poor

Social Military

Causes for the Fall of the Roman EmpirePolitical•authoritarian government: no longer looked out for the people•corruption made the government look bad•many emperors were not qualified

Economic•heavy taxes- to pay for welfare/ military expenses•slaves labor- unemployment and lack of new inventions•few rich and many poor

Social•lazy due to welfare and wealth•Loss of values such as patriotism and discipline•did not want to protect a corrupt gov’t•not producing quality leaders•Christianity- preached forgiveness

Military

Causes for the Fall of the Roman EmpirePolitical•authoritarian government: no longer looked out for the people•corruption made the government look bad•many emperors were not qualified

Economic•heavy taxes- to pay for welfare/ military expenses•slaves labor- unemployment and lack of new inventions•few rich and many poor

Social•lazy due to welfare and wealth•Loss of values such as patriotism and discipline•did not want to protect a corrupt gov’t•not producing quality leaders•Christianity- preached forgiveness

Military•used German mercenaries that were not loyal and undisciplined•legions were not as well trained as before•barbarian invasions

In 476, the invasion of the Visigoths led by Odoacer brought an end to the Western Roman Empire. The Western Emperor, Romulus Augustulus was overthrown, but the Eastern Empire continued with its capital at Constantinople.

Roman AccomplishmentsArchitecture and Engineering•Borrowed columns from Greeks•Built domes and arches•Invented aqueducts, is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. - Built roads and bridges throughout harbor

Art and Literature•Copied Greek sculpture except used realism•Virgil- poet wrote Aeneid about the founding of Rome•Ovid- wrote Metamorphoses about Greek and Roman god

Law•Largest centralized government in ancient world•US borrowed many Roman laws 1) all people are equal 2) innocent until proven guilty 3)decisions in court should be based on fairness

Science•Galen- doctor who dissected animals to learn about anatomy•Ptolemy- astronomer that suggested that collected knowledge from other cultures to make encyclopedias