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)