Ancient Rome

Republic & Empire

The Romans and Empire

• All aspects of Roman civilization influenced by its imperial ambitions: its ambition to rule over a large part of the world

Romans were borrowers

• From the Etruscans (Northwest) they borrowed: urban planning, chariot racing, the toga, the arch

• From the Greeks (South) they borrowed: pantheon of gods and goddesses, literary principles, classical style

Roman Republic

• 509 (overthrow of Etruscans)-30 B.C.E. (Augustus)

• The “Republic” refers to the time when Rome develops a government res publica (“of the people”)

Republic: Government

• Popular Assembly= plebeians

• Senate=patricians, at first the only lawmakers, but then plebeians make laws too beginning in 287 B.C.E.

• Magistrates=consuls (2 of them)

Punic Wars: Rome vs. Phoenicians

• 147 B.C.E. Destruction of Carthage

• Roman extends power all over the western Mediterranean: thus the Roman Republic had control over an empire

Turner, Dido Building Carthage, 1815

Hannibal

Roman possessions, 86 BCE

Julius Caesar

• 46 B.C.E. Gaius Julius Caesar, an army commander, establishes dictatorship

• His famous account of his conquests of Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt: “Veni, vidi, vici”

• Julian calendar: 365 days• 44 B.C.E assassinated by senators led by

Marcus Junius Brutus

Octavian

• Power struggles follow Julius Caesar’s death: Mark Anthony vs. Octavian (Anthony’s grandnephew and adopted son)

• 43 B.C.E.: Senate grants Octavian power to rule for life

Octavian: a guy with many names

• He called himself princeps (“first citizen”)

• The Senate called him Augustus (“the Revered One”)

• As Rome’s top army general, he was imperator (emperor)

Roman Empire

• 30 B.C.E – 476 C.E.

• “Empire” refers to the time when Rome is ruled by the emperor, rather than having a government res publica

30 B.C.E. – 180 C.E. Pax Romana

• The Roman Peace: stability and commerce

• The “Good Emperors” (96-180 C.E.): Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius– So stable that we don’t have much history from

parts of this era

Marcus Aurelius, 160-80 CE

• A Stoic philosopher• Author of Meditations

(in Greek)• Fought against

Germanic uprising• Last of the 5 “Good

Emperors”

From Meditations

• “approach each action as though it were your last”

• “we are all fellow-citizens and share a common citizenship, and . . . the world is a single city”

• “A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all—that is myself”

Commodus, 180-192

• 5th son of Marcus Aurelius

• Brought end to “Good Emperors”

• A tyrant who played at gladiatorial combat

• Murdered while bathing by an athlete who conspired with Commodus’s mistress

The Romans were efficient conquerors

• See Josephus, p. 133

– Description of Roman army camp: see Gladiator

Roman army camp (small), 1-2nd cent. CE

Rome & China

• Traded indirectly through Silk Road

• 97 CE, China sent ambassador to Rome; he reached Mesopotamia but was informed that the journey to Rome would take 2 more years; so he returned home

• 166 CE, Marcus Aurelius sent envoys directly to China

The Romans were efficient administrators

• when Rome conquered a territory, they permitted the local customs and even local government system to continue

• they took from the territories: taxes, soldiers, slaves

• they gave to the territories: Latin language, Roman law, infrastructure (roads, bridges, aqueducts), and citizenship

Roman Law

• Latin jus: “law; justice”

• Roman law vs. Greek law– Greek law: developed from the Greek citizen’s

relationship to the polis– Roman law: developed from the practical need

to administer a world-state

3 Kind of Roman Law

• Jus civile (law of the land): applied to Roman citizens only

• Just gentium (law of the people): applied to all people under Roman rule: international, attuned to diverse cultures and traditions

• Jus naturale (law of nature): universal principles underlying the law of the people

Romans were practical thinkers

• Romans absorbed Hellenic and Hellenistic philosophy

 

• Stoicism was particularly popular because it suited the cosmopolitan spirit of the Empire

Some tenets of Stoicism

• Providence/Divine Reason governs world

• reason over emotion

 • accepting one’s fate, one’s duty

• belief in equality of all people—a universal vision

Stoicism: examples

• Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind (ca. 40 C.E.) – Correct estimate of self, choosing tasks

accordingly; wise choice of companions; avoiding excessive wealth

• Cicero, On Duty (44 B.C.E.)

--self-possession, Aristotelian Mean

Roman literature reflected imperial culture

• Virgil’s Aeneid (20 B.C.E)– A literary (rather than oral) epic– Aeneas, our hero, journeys from Troy to Italy– Trojans conquer Latium and establish Roman

state– Stoic philosophy reflected in Aeneid: see

reading (p. 140-41).

Claude, Aeneas’ Farewell to Dido in Carthage, 1676

Satire

• Horace

• Juvenal– Horation vs. Juvenalian satire

Roman art is realistic

• Mosaic

• Trompe l’oeil (“fool the eye”)

• Still life

• Empirical perspective

Romans were practical builders

• Methods: Arch, Vault, Dome

• Material: Concrete; marble veneer

• Structures: – Practical: Aqueducts, Bridges, Roads– Pleasure: Colosseum, Baths (the largest

structures in ancient Rome were for pleasure: pleasure was practical for social control)

Roman Forum

Pantheon, c.118-125 CE

Pantheon

• Combines concrete construction with Greek style

• Vitruvian proportion: distance from floor to apex of dome = diameter of rotunda

M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIUM FECIT

Marcus Agrippa son of Lucius built this

while consul for the third time

“Hadrian rebuilt it on the site of Marcus Agrippa’s original temple after it burned

twice.”

3 orders of Greek columns

Pompeii

Daily Life in Ancient Rome, 79 CE

Roman couple, Pompeii

Forum, Pompeii

Frescoes, Pompeii

Thermopolium (shop), Pompeii

House of the Vettii, Pompeii

Rites of Dionysus, Pompeii

Alexander the Great, Pompeii