The Idea That Was Rome

I. The Origins of Rome

A. Relevance of Roman History to the Past and Present West

1. Greeks v. Romans: inclusiveness

2. Western “template”

language, government, law, religion

3. Republic or Empire?

B. Early Roman Civilization

1. Greek colonization

2. Carthage and Phoenician colonies

C. Etruscan Civilization

1. From Asia Minor, 2000s-1500 BCE

a. De-centralized tribes

b. Eastern gods, mythology

2. 800s BCE - confederation

3. Etruscan life

a. sharp class division

b. hydraulic, urban society

c. high status of women

D. Latium (Latin) Civilization

1. 700 BCE - Alban League

2. Basic family unit - “paterfamilia”

patricians, plebians

3. Senate

4. Mythology

Cincinnatus, Horatio Cocles, Lucretia

Romulus and Remus

farmers, soldiers, and virtue

E. Etruscan Rome

1. 600s = Etruscans conquer central Italy

a. land-use technology

b. military service/property ownership

c. class stratification

2. Last Etruscan King - Tarquinio

3. Republic, unified Italy

II. The Roman Republic, 509-79? BCE

• Paradox of Republican Rome

Values espoused not values maintained by ruling Senate

A. Republic and class compromise

1 . Law of 12 Tables (450 BCE)

2. Conquest of Italian peninsula

B. The Punic Wars, 265 - 146 BCE

1. Nearly defeated Rome

Livy, The Punic Wars

Hannibal Barca

2. Long-term implications of Punic Wars would put great stress on republican Rome

III. Culture in Republican Rome

A. Empire of Farmers and Soldiers

1. Spokesman of republican virtue

Cato the Elder

1. Women

2. Sons

3. Slaves

Fear of Slave Revolt

73 BC - Spartacus leads slave revolt; 70,000

Required 3 Roman armies to defeat him

Led to “hysteria” among free Romans

Crassus v. Pompey: origins of dictatorship

C. the Equestrian Class

1. Growing power through non-traditional means

“new men” - officers, merchants, aristocrats of the empire

D. Senate instransigience

1. The Gracchus brothers (see Plutarch)

2. Public display

E. Religion

1. No specific caste of priests

2. Each family had its own gods, spirits

- ancestor worship

3. Romans adopted other gods, ie the Greeks

4. State intolerant of non-sanctioned religions

Cult of Isis, Bacchus

Persecution of the Cult of Bacchus was endemic of larger problems

- growing class disparity; slavery

- traditional male status in decline

- no unifying public religion

- Patricians hostile to any reform

EAMUS CATULI!

IV. Fall of the Republic

A. Crisis of Government, ca. 100 BC

1. The Social Wars

- Livius Drusus, expansion of citizenship

2. Losing grip on Empire

3. First Roman dictatorship, 83-79 BC

a. Sulla

b. made army loyal to

commander

B. Last-ditch effort to save the Republic

1. Cicero = “stoicism”

2. Restore republican

virtues and accountability

C. Republic descends into Civil Wars, 79-44 BC

1. Pompey, conquered Spain

2. Crassus, crushed Spartacan revolt

3. Julius Caesar, conquest of Gaul

59 BC, the First Triumvirate

4. Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, 49 BC

5. Assassination of Julius Caesar, March 15, 44 BC

6. Renewed War: Octavian v. Marc Antony

Cleopatra?

7. Octavian defeats Marc Antony at Battle of Actium, 31 BC

Octavian changes name to Caesar Augustus

Rules empire as an Emperor

Senate remains, but republic is lost

V. Rome in the Augustan Age

The Pax Romana, 31 BC - 192 AD (CE)

A. Why did Imperial system work in replacing the Republic?

1. Augustus worked within construct of law

2. Emperors could choose successors

Augustus, Tiberius: 23 BC - 37 AD

five “good Emperors”: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian,

Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius: 96-180 AD

cooperated with the Senate; reformers

***System Augustus set up could survive “bad emperors”

Caligula, Claudius, Nero

3. Reform the Senate

4. Build Equestrian class

5. Army reform

6. “Rounded off” the boundaries of the Empire

Height of Empire, 116 A.D.

B. Culture of Imperial Rome

1. Augustus hoped to re-instill “republican virtues”

2. Reward soldiers with land

3. Assist urban poor of Rome with food, public works

C. “corruption” of republican virtue

1. In Imperial system, women obtain greater influence

- marriage, court intrigue, cults, divorce, eulogies

2. “bad” emperors hated for extravagance

Claudius gets a foot rub

3. The longer Rome was ruled by an Emperor, the less possible it was to return to republic

- Marcus Aurelius

Roman historians of the Imperial Era longed for the old republic, but strains of empire made that impossible