Rome

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Rome
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Rome

• Like the Persian Empire, Rome took shape on the
  margins of the civilized world.
• Rome began as a small and poor city-state on the
  western side of Italy in the eighth century BCE,
  so weak, according to legend, that Romans were
  reduced to kidnapping neighboring women in order
  to reproduce.

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Rome

• Romes central location contributed to its
  success in unifying Italy and then all the lands
  ringing the Mediterranean.
• Italy was a crossroads in the Mediterranean and
  Rome was a crossroads within Italy.
• Rome is located at the midpoint of the Italian
  peninsula, about 15 miles from the western coast,
  where a north-south road intersected an east-west
  river route.

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Rome

• The Tiber River on the one side and a ring of
  seven hills on the other gave Rome natural
  protection.

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Rome

• Even though 75 of Italy is hilly, there is still
  ample arable land in the coastal plains and river
  valleys to sustain a larger population than
  Greece.

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Rome

• Agriculture was the essential economic activity
  in the early Roman state (and land was the basis
  of wealth), and no matter how urbanized Rome
  later became, Roman roots remained firmly fixed
  in the soil.
• From their pioneer forebears of a hostile land,
  Romans inherited respect for strength and
  discipline, for loyalty, industry, frugality, and
  tenacity.

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Rome

• These ancient values were formally recognized by
  the Romans as the mos maiorum (ways of the
  fathers), and always dominated their outlook.
• The Roman owed his loyalties to the gods, the
  state, and the family.
• Where the Greeks had cherished their
  individuality, the Roman had always subordinated
  his personality to greater forces.

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Rome

• Social status and political privilege were
  related to landownership.
• The vast majority of early Romans were
  self-sufficient independent farmers who owned
  small plots of land.
• A small number of families acquired large pieces
  of land. The heads of these wealthy families
  formed the Senate (from the Latin for old men).
  

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Rome

• The basic unit of Roman society was the family,
  made up of several generations of family members
  plus domestic slaves.
• The oldest living male, the paterfamilias
  (father of the family) exercised absolute
  authority over the members of his household.

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Rome

• The paterfamilias looked after the family's
  business affairs and property and could perform
  religious rites on the familys behalf.
• If his children angered him, he had the legal
  right to disown them, sell them into slavery, or
  even kill them. 
• Only the paterfamilias could own property
  whatever their age, until their father died, his
  sons only received an allowance to manage their
  own households.

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Rome

• Sons were important, because Romans put a lot of
  value on continuing the family name. If a father
  had no sons then he could adopt one often a
  nephew to make sure that the family line would
  not die out.
• When a child was born into the family, the
  paterfamilias had the right to decide whether to
  keep a newborn baby. After birth, the midwife
  placed the baby on the ground only if the
  paterfamilias picked it up was the baby formally
  accepted into the family. 

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Rome

• If the decision went the other way, the baby was
  exposed deliberately abandoned outside.
• This usually happened to deformed babies, or when
  the father did not think that the family could
  support another child. Babies were exposed in
  specific places and it was assumed that an
  abandoned baby would be picked up and then taken
  as a slave. 
• Around 25 of babies in the first century C.E.
  did not survive their first year and up to half
  of all children died before the age of 10. 

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• It wouldnt be difficult for the Romans to move
  from the concept of an authoritarian
  paterfamilias to that of an authoritarian state
  and ultimately an all-powerful emperor (called
  paterpatriae father of the country).

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Rome

• Roman women usually married in their early
  teenage years, while men waited until they were
  in their mid-twenties. As a result, the
  materfamilias (mother of the family) was usually
  much younger than her husband. 
• It was accepted that the materfamilias was in
  charge of managing the household. In the upper
  classes, she was also expected to assist her
  husbands career by behaving with modesty, grace
  and dignity. 

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Rome

• As was common in Roman society, while men had the
  formal power, women exerted influence behind the
  scenes.
• Nearly everything we know about Roman women
  pertains to those in the upper classes.
• Unable to own property or represent herself in
  legal proceedings, a woman had to depend on a
  male guardian to advocate for her interests.

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• In early Rome, a woman never ceased to be a child
  in the eyes of the law. She started out under
  the absolute authority of the paterfamilias.
• When she married, she came under the jurisdiction
  of the paterfamilias of her husbands family.

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• Despite the limitations put on them, Roman women
  seem to have been less constrained than their
  counterparts in the Greek world.
• Husband and wife mosaic from Pompeii.

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Rome

• While service to the state could lead to
  distinction, it was considered an extension of
  the obligation that Romans felt toward their
  families.
• The most admired characteristic of the Roman male
  was gravitas (dignity).
• Gravitas meant enduring strength rather than
  delicacy, power rather than agility, mass rather
  than beauty, utility rather than gracethese were
  the hallmarks of Rome.

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• Fact rather than imagination dominated its art
  and strength clothed in dignity was the Roman
  ideal.
• Swathed in his toga, a well-born Roman never gave
  the impression of being in a hurryhe always
  seemed to be on parade, always conscious of his
  audience.
• In homage to the past, he constantly reminded
  himself of the eminent forebears whom it was his
  duty to emulate in every waking action.

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Rome

• The private lives of Roman gentleman were
  strictly regulated by a code that defined
  acceptable conduct.
• While virtually all forms of business were closed
  to them, upper-class Romans found plenty of
  loopholes in this code by having degrading
  businesses run by slaves or hired agents
  lawyers, long prohibited from accepting fees for
  their services, never refused gifts from grateful
  clients.

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Rome

• To a Roman gentleman, the menial work of an
  unskilled laborer, a fishmonger, butcher, cook,
  sausage-maker, perfumer, dancer, or actor was
  unthinkable.
• The one exception was a manufacturer of bricks (a
  widely used Roman building material) because
  clay was a product of the earth, brick-making was
  considered a branch of respectable agriculture.

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Rome

• According to legend, there were seven kings
  between 753-509 BCE the first was Romulus the
  last was the tyrannical Tarquinius Superbus (or
  Tarquin the Proud) who ruled from 535-509 BCE.
• When his son Sextus raped his cousins wife
  (Lucretiawho killed herself from shame), the
  public outcry brought down the monarchy.

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• In 507 BCE, members of the Senate, led by Brutus
  the Liberator, deposed Tarquinius Superbus (he
  was sent into exile) and instituted a res
  publica, a public possession, or a republic.

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• The Roman Republic, which lasted from 507-31 BCE,
  was not a direct democracy.
• Even though all male citizens were eligible to
  attend various assemblies, the votes of the
  wealthy land-owning aristocrats (known as
  patricians) counted for more than the votes of
  the poorer citizens (known as plebeians).
• The word patrician comes from the Latin patres
  meaning fathers.

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Rome

• The plebeians were the vast majority of the
  populationworkers, merchants, and peasants.
• Although both groups had the right to vote, only
  patricians had the right to become leaders in
  Rome.
• So, all power was in the hands of the patricians.

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Rome

• Boys born into a patrician family would receive
  an extensive education, usually from a private
  tutor.
• This education would focus on the subjects a
  sophisticated noble would be expected to know, as
  well as some required for his future career.
• Poetry and literature, history and geography,
  some mythology and important languages like
  Greek would all be taught.

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Rome

• The Romans also considered lessons in public
  speaking and the law to be essential parts of a
  good education.
• Most young patrician men would go on to careers
  in politics and government, for which these two
  subjects were crucial.

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Rome

• The patrician class enjoyed many privileges its
  members were excused from the military duties
  expected of other citizens, and only patricians
  could become emperor.
• But being a patrician carried its own dangers
  patricians could find themselves becoming wrapped
  up in palace intrigue.
• If they ended up on the losing side, they could
  easily lose their home, their lands and even
  their lives.

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Rome

• Apart from the plots and politics, however,
  members of both royal and patrician families
  faced little work or real responsibility and were
  blessed with a relatively charmed life
  certainly compared to the other inhabitants of
  Rome at the time.

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Rome

• The transition from a monarchy to a republic
  seems to have been accomplished with relative
  ease.
• Even though Romans had rebelled against their
  kings, they continued to accept the idea of
  supreme authority, which they called imperium.
• But instead of giving the power to a king who
  held it for life, the Romans placed it in the
  hands of two consuls who held it for one year.

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• The imperium of the consuls was absolute, and
  they were advised by the patrician Senate.
• Either consul could block the acts of the other,
  but neither could institute a change in the laws
  without the others consent.
• A patrician in the 1st century BCE with busts of
  his ancestors.

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Rome

• The Senate played the dominant role in the
  politics of the Roman state, increasingly making
  policy and governing.
• Senators served for life, nominated their sons
  for public offices, and the Senate became a self
  perpetuating entity.
• Politically the history of the early Republic is
  the history of the struggle of the common people
  for a larger voice in their government and for
  social equality.

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• The inequalities in Roman society between
  patrician and plebian became so sharply defined,
  that they became separate communities.
• Plebeians couldnt marry into the patrician class
  and couldnt hold any important offices.
• Yet plebeians were citizens, served in the Army,
  paid taxes, and were every bit as Roman in
  outlook and tradition as the patricians.

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• The basic difference was religious status
  certain religious rituals could only be performed
  by patricians.
• Since these rituals were prerequisites for
  holding important offices, plebeians were
  effectively barred from advancement in the
  government, and therefore in society.
• This led to periodic unrest and conflict (known
  as the Conflict of the Orders) between 509-287
  BCE.

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Rome

• On a number of occasions, the plebeians refused
  to work or fight, and even physically withdrew
  from the city in order to pressure the elite to
  make political concessions.
• One result was the first publication of Roman
  laws, on twelve stone tablets (450 BCE), which
  gave the plebeians some legal protections from
  the abuses of judicial officials.

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Rome

• Another reform was the creation of a new
  officethe tribunewho represented plebeians in
  the public assemblies.
• The tribunes served for one year and had the
  power to block legislation from the Senate that
  was unfavorable to the lower classes by simply
  calling out Veto! (I forbid).

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• The person of a tribune was so respected, anyone
  of any class doing him violence was liable to
  punishment by death.
• Following the establishment of the tribunate, a
  series of laws gave plebeians the right to
  intermarry with patricians, the right to hold the
  office of the consul, and finally in 287 BCE the
  right to pass laws in the plebeian assembly
  without the consent of the Senate.

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Rome

• Romans took great pride in this political system,
  believing it gave them more freedom than most of
  their more autocratic neighbors.

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Rome

• Slavery was a defining element of Roman society.
  
• Every ancient society practiced slavery, but none
  to the scale of the Romans.

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Rome

• By the time of Christ, the Italian heartland of
  the Roman Empire had 2-3 million slaves, or about
  33-40 of the total population (in China and
  India it was maybe 1 of the population).
• Not until the modern slave societies of the
  plantation complex was slavery practiced again on
  such a large scale.

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Rome

• Even families of modest means frequently had 2-3
  slaves to do the chores...wealthy families might
  own hundreds.
• Owning slaves confirmed peoples positions as
  free, demonstrated their social status, and
  expressed their ability to exercise power.
• The vast majority of Roman slaves were prisoners
  of the many wars that came with expansion or the
  creation of the empire.

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Rome

• After the Third Punic War (146 BCE) and the
  destruction of Carthage, the Romans enslaved en
  masse over 55,000 people.
• Pirates also kidnapped thousands of people,
  selling them to Roman slave traders.
• Roman merchants were able to purchase slaves from
  the long-distance trading networks extending to
  the Black Sea, eastern Africa, and northwestern
  Europe.

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• The children of slave mothers were also regarded
  as slaves and these home-born slaves had more
  prestige because they were thought to be less
  trouble (since they had never known freedom).

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Rome

• Abandoned children could legally become the slave
  of anyone who rescued them.
• Roman slavery had nothing to do with race or
  ethnicity, so the slave markets had an enormous
  diversity of people.
• Like slave owners everywhere, the Romans thought
  their slaves were barbarians lazy, unreliable,
  immoral, etc. and came to think of certain
  peoples as slaves by nature (Asiatic Greeks,
  Syrians, and Jews).

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Rome

• Slaves were considered property they had no
  rights and were subject to their owners' whims.

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Rome

• However, they had legal standing as witnesses in
  courtroom proceedings, and they could eventually
  gain freedom and citizenship.
• Masters often freed loyal slaves in gratitude for
  their faithful service, but slaves could also
  save money to purchase their freedom.

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• There was no serious criticism of slavery, even
  when Christianity became more important.
• Christian teaching held that slaves should be
  submissive to their masters with all fear, not
  only to the good and gentle, but also to the
  harsh.

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• St. Paul used the metaphor of slavery to describe
  the relationship of believers to God, saying they
  were slaves of Christ.

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• Even Saint Augustine described slavery as Gods
  punishment for sin.
• He regarded it as another necessary evil
  resulting from humanity's fall from divine grace.
  

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• So slavery was deeply embedded in the religious
  thinking and social outlook of the Romans.
• Slavery was especially entrenched in the Roman
  economy.
• No occupation was off-limits to slaves except
  military service, and there was no distinction
  between jobs that used slaves or free
  peoplefrequently they labored side by side.

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• In rural areas, slaves were most of the labor
  force that worked estates (whose products were
  exported like the later plantations of the
  Americas). Often they worked chained together.

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• In the cities, slaves often worked in their
  owners households, but also as skilled artisans,
  teachers, doctors, entertainers, and actors. (A
  slave trained in medicine was worth 50
  agricultural slaves).
• Especially prized were educated Greek slaves, who
  became the tutors for the children of Romes
  elite class.

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• Others maintained the temples and shrines and
  kept Romes water system running.
• Certain classes of slaves lived lives of absolute
  misery, especially those who worked in
  construction or those who were forced into the
  empires many mines and stone quarries where they
  labored under brutal conditions.
• Often fed a bare subsistence diet, they worked
  until they were too old or too sick, then they
  were abandoned.

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• A pound of Chinese silk was typically worth 12
  slaves.
• Some slaves, in the service of the Emperor, were
  trained in special schools to become gladiators.

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• Saturnalia was a traditional celebration like
  Christmas in which slaves and masters switched
  places. In this celebration, the master became
  the slave and performed all the tasks of the
  slave, and the slaves did the opposite.

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• Roman slaves, like slaves everywhere responded to
  enslavement in many ways.
• Most simply did what they had to survive but
  there were cases of prisoners of war committing
  mass suicide rather than become slaves.
• Slaves sometimes resorted to weapons of the
  weak, pretending illness, working poorly,
  putting curses on their masters.

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Rome

• Sometimes slaves escaped into the large crowds or
  to remote rural areas, prompting a growing
  business of catching runaways.
• Occasional murders of slave owners made masters
  conscious of the dangers they faced and prompted
  the Roman saying Every slave we own is an enemy
  we harbor.

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Rome

• Several times in Roman history there were slave
  led rebellions, the most famous happening in 73
  BCE. It was led by the slave gladiator
  Spartacus.

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• Spartacus initially led seventy slave-gladiators
  to freedomtheir success attracted a growing
  number of slaves.
• At the height of the rebellion, it is estimated
  there were 120,000 slaves in revolt.
• They set Italy ablaze for nearly three years,
  sometimes crucifying captured slave owners or
  making them fight to the death gladiator style.

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• Eventually the movement collapsed when the slaves
  encountered the superior Roman legions.
• Some 6,000 rebel slaves were nailed to crosses
  along the Apian Way from Rome to Capua, where the
  revolt had begun.

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• Nothing on the scale of the Spartacus rebellion
  occurred again in the Western world until the
  Haitian Revolution of the 1790s.
• But Haitian rebels wanted to create a new
  society, free of slavery altogether.
• None of Romes slave rebellions, including
  Spartacus, had any such plan or goal. They
  simply wanted to escape from slavery.
• As a result, aside from the perpetual fear of
  slave owners, the slave system in Rome was
  unaffected.

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Rome

• Slave owners were supposed to provide their
  slaves with the necessities of life (food,
  shelter, protection, etc).
• This often meant slaves had a more secure life
  than impoverished free people who had to fend for
  themselves, BUT the price of that security was
  absolute subjection to the will of the master.

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Rome

• Beatings, sexual abuse, and sale to another owner
  were constant possibilities.
• Having no legal rights, slaves couldnt legally
  marry, and if they accumulated money or
  possessions, it legally belonged to their
  masters, who could seize it at any time.

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Rome

• If a slave murdered his/her master, Roman law
  demanded the lives of all the victims slaves.
• When one Roman official was killed by a slave in
  61 CE, all 400 of his slaves were condemned to
  death.
• In Rome, like Greece, slavery was widespread.
  But in Rome, unlike Greece, freedom was
  accompanied with citizenship.

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Rome

• Slave labor was so widely used by both the Greeks
  and Romans that neither culture found much need
  for technological advances as labor-saving
  devices.
• As a result, the Mediterranean world fell behind
  the technological level of China and India in the
  areas of agriculture and manufacturing.

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• Even though Roman citizens were equal before the
  law, there were sharp social stratifications
  among them.
• A Romans education, marriage, military service,
  careereven the decorations on his
  clothesreflected his social status.
• By the First Century CE, three distinct divisions
  of society had developed among free Romans.

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• The upper class was made up of the hereditary
  office holders, the nobilesthe old patricians.
• Next were the equestriansor more properly,
  knightswho were mainly businessmen. They were
  involved in major commercial ventures, like
  finance or insurance.
• The plebeiansalong with the freedmen (liberated
  slaves who didnt have the full rights of
  citizenship) made up the largest part of the
  population. Shop keepers and artisans were here.

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Rome

• Marriage was usually arranged by parents with a
  keen eye for status and material advantages.
  Close friends often served as matchmakers.
• Once a match had been made, the betrothal was
  formalized in a ritual. The dowry was
  stipulated, and the bride-to-be, usually 14 or
  15, received gifts and a pledge of marriage from
  her fiance.
• Symbolic of the pledge was a metal ring worn on
  the third finger of her hand, from which a nerve
  was believed to lead directly to the heart.

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• There were three forms of a marriage service, two
  of which made the wife legal chattel of her
  spousebut that didnt keep a wife from
  exercising profound influence (even control) over
  her husband.
• The most formal form of marriage was called a
  confarreatio (used only by patricians) was a
  formal contract and a womans person and property
  were surrendered to her husband.

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Rome

• For women who wanted more freedom, a less rigid
  form of marriage (called coemptio) the groom
  symbolically bought the bride from herself.
• In the usus (similar to a modern common-law
  arrangement) the couple lived as husband and wife
  without any religious ceremony. After a year
  they were considered legally married. If the
  woman owned property she could retain the rights
  to it if she didnt sleep with her husband and in
  her their home for 3 nights every year.

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Rome

• Weddingsespecially the confarreatiowere very
  ceremonial. The date was selected with great
  care many days of the year, including all of
  March and May and half of June were considered
  unlucky.
• On her wedding day, the bride wore a special
  tunic fastened about the waist by a woolen girdle
  tied in a Hercules knot, which only the groom
  could untie. Over this she wore a saffron cloak
  and a veil of flaming orange. Her elaborately
  arranged hair was topped by a crown of flowers.

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• The wedding was conducted by two priests. The
  couple sat side by side on stools covered with a
  single sheepskin, and shared a sacred wheat cake
  while holding hands (as a sign of union) as the
  marriage contract was read.
• After the ceremony, the bridal party proceeded to
  the home of the groom, accompanied by flutists
  and boys who threw nuts to children (nuts
  symbolized fertility).

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Rome

• At their new home, the bride was carried over the
  threshold (but not by the groom)if she stumbled
  it was considered a bad omen!
• The groom presented his bride with a lighted
  torch and a filled vessel, the symbols of fire
  and water, essential for maintaining the Roman
  home.
• The bride lit the hearth fire, then tossed the
  torch to the bridal company, which scrambled for
  it as a lucky memento, a custom which survives
  today.

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Rome

• In addition to the ties of family and class, all
  Romans except slaves were bound in another
  relationship that has no modern counterpart.
• This was the patron-client association, which
  required large numbers of Romans above the
  plebeian class to assume an obligation for the
  well-being of certain of their inferiors.
• Clients sought the help and protection of
  patrons, men of wealth and influence.

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• A senator might have dozens or even hundreds of
  clients to whom he provided legal advice and
  representation, physical protection, or loans of
  money or food in tough times.
• In return, the client was expected to follow his
  patron into battle, support him in the political
  arena, work on his land, and most importantly,
  openly show loyalty and respect whenever the two
  met.

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Rome

• Every morning between 7-9 AM, the streets of Rome
  were filled with throngs of clients awaiting
  their patrons so they could accompany them to the
  Forum for the days business.

79
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• The client never addressed his patron by name (a
  major faux paux) and called him dominusmaster.
• A slip in etiquette might cost the client dearly
  in terms of what hed receive from the patron.
• This relationship always provided a vain man with
  a retinue to follow him through the streets.

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• Despite Romes glorious architecture, only the
  richest citizens enjoyed the good life most
  lived in dangerous, cramped and smelly housing.
• Sitting next to the grandeur of imperial Rome,
  however, would have been the tiny, rickety homes
  of normal people, whose lives were far less
  fabulous.

81
Rome

• Most citizens living in Rome and other cities
  were housed in "insulae."
• These were small, street-front shops and
  workshops, whose owners lived above and behind
  the working area.
• Several insulae would surround an open courtyard
  and would, together, form one city block.

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• The insulaecrowded and cramped living.

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• The insulae were usually badly built and few had
  any running water, sanitation or heating.
• Constructed from wood and brick, they were
  dangerously vulnerable to fire or collapse.

84
Rome

• Wealthier Romans including those who lived in
  the countryside lived in a domus.
• They lived in beautiful houses often on the
  hills outside Rome, away from the noise and the
  smell.

85
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• Usually theirs was a single-storey house built
  around an unroofed courtyard, or atrium.
• The atrium acted as the reception and living
  area, while the house around it contained the
  kitchen, lavatory, bedrooms and triclinium
  (formal dining room).
• The rooms and furnishings reflected the wealth of
  the family and, for some, would be incredibly
  luxurious.

86
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• The wealthiest Romans might have a private bath
  or library, while others kept two homes one
  in/near the city, the other in the clean air and
  quiet surroundings of the countryside.

87
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• Wealthy Romans might have several dining rooms so
  they could entertain more guests or they might
  eat outside in warm weather.
• Tables were often U shapedthe servants or
  slaves would serve the food from the empty fourth
  side of the table.
• Diners would then eat the food with their fingers
  or, if necessary, with a small knife.

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• Diners would lie on their sides leaning on
  their left elbows facing the table.

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• Wealthy families would usually have three
  courses. The appetizers, or gustatio, would
  include eggs, shellfish, or vegetables.
• The entrees, called prima mensa, would usually be
  cooked vegetables and meat.
• The dessert, or mensa secunda, would be sweet
  dishes, such as fruit or pastry.

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• Plebian meals were centered around corn or wheat
  (grain), oil, and wine.
• Cereals were the staple food, originally in the
  form of husked wheat being made into porridge,
  but later wheat was made into bread. 
• Bread was the single most often eaten food in
  Ancient Rome, and was sometimes sweetened with
  honey or cheese and eaten along with sausage,
  domestic fowl, game, eggs, cheese, fish, or
  shellfish.

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Rome

• Romans loved wine, but they drank it watered
  down, spiced, and heated. 
• Undiluted wine was considered to be barbaric, and
  wine concentrate diluted with water was also
  common.
• Pasca was probably popular among the lower
  classes.  It was a drink made from watering
  down acetum, low quality wine similar to
  vinegar.  Beer and mead were most commonly drunk
  in the northern provinces.  Milk, typically from
  sheep or goats, was considered to be barbaric and
  was therefore reserved for making cheese or
  medicines.

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Rome

• Fish and oysters were especially popular meat,
  particularly pork, was in high demand as well. 
• Elsewhere in Rome, delicacies, such as snails or
  dormice, were specially bred. 
• A variety of cakes, pastries, and tarts were
  baked commercially and at home, often sweetened
  with honey. 

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• Vegetables, such as cabbage, parsnips, lettuce,
  asparagus, onion, garlic, radishes, lentils,
  beans, and beets were imported. 
• Fruits and nuts were also available to the
  consumer, as was a variety of strongly flavored
  sauces, spices, and herbs, which became very
  popular in Roman cuisine. 

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• Romans generally ate one large meal daily. 
• Breakfast, if taken, was a light meal at best,
  often nothing more than a piece of bread. 
• This was followed by the main meal of dinner at
  midday, and a small supper in the evening. 
• Later, dinner was eaten as a large meal in the
  evening, replacing supper and adding a light
  lunch, or prandium.

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• For the poor, meals consisted of porridge or
  bread with meat and vegetables, if available. 
• For the poor, tableware probably consisted of
  coarse pottery, but for those willing to spend
  the money, tableware could be purchased in fine
  pottery, glass, bronze, silver, gold, and pewter.
• Bronze, silver, and bone spoons existed for eggs
  and liquids.  These spoons had pointed handles
  that could be used to extract shellfish and
  snails from their shells.

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• Roman Beliefs

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• Much of the culture of the Romans was adopted
  from the Greeks.
• The Greek alphabet, which was adopted from the
  Phoenicians, was passed onto the Romans, who
  modified the letters and transmitted their
  alphabet throughout the various parts of their
  empire.

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• Many aspects of Greek rational thought, including
  the works of Aristotle and the philosophical
  school of Stoicism, became part of Roman life.
• Stoicism taught that men should use their powers
  of reason to lead virtuous lives and to assist
  others.

99
Rome

• Early Romans believed in invisible, shapeless
  forces known as numia.
• The Romans tried to maintain a pax deorum (peace
  of the gods), a covenant between the gods and
  the Roman state.
• Priests (from the aristocracy) performed rituals
  and sacrifices to win the gods favor and in
  return, the gods were expected to bring success
  to the undertakings of the Roman state.

100
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• When the Romans came in contact with the Greeks
  living in southern Italy, they adopted the Greek
  gods and their myths.

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Rome

• Zeus Jupiter
• Hera Juno
• Poseidon Neptune
• Athena Minerva
• Dionysus Bacchus
• Ares Mars
• Artemis Diana
• Hades Pluto
• Hephaestus Vulcan
• Hermes Mercury

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• By contrast to the earlier Greeks, the Romans
  were not preoccupied with speculative morality.
  The Romans would examine a problem, determine
  what needed to be done, did it, and moved onto
  the next task. They were very pragmatic.
• Romans tended to be very conservative and
  justified resistance to change by believing that
  the old ways had been the best ways.

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• A Roman gentleman saw himself as a paragon of
  sober propriety, and he looked down upon the more
  artistic and less inhibited Greeks as frivolous
  and feckless.
• A Roman gentleman strove for dignity and always
  tried to create the impression of a reserved
  spectator he would not play a musical
  instrument, get sweaty in a gymnasium, or write
  philosophy.

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• Like the American pioneers, an early Roman farmer
  was prepared to leave his plow and family to
  fight his enemies.
• Officially accepted Roman history insisted that
  the Romans were invincible. According to Roman
  history (of themselves), winning was as natural
  as water running downhill.
• The occasional loss was explained as some divine
  chastisement for some transgression or as a
  lesson to be more alert and disciplined.

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• The Romans often told the legend of Cincinnatus,
  who according to the Roman historian Livy merits
  the attention of those who despise all human
  qualities in comparison with riches, and think
  there is no room for great honors or for worth
  but amidst a profusion of wealth.
• During an invasion in 458 BCE, a delegation of
  Roman officials went to tell Cincinnatus that he
  had been given dictatorial powers in order to
  repel the invaders.

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• Cincinnatus, working his modest farm, accepted
  command of the Roman forces for six months.
• In just 16 days he had defeated the invaders,
  surrendered his dictatorship, and went back to
  his plow.

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• The expansion of the Roman Republic (not the
  Empire) reached its peak in the 2nd century BCE.
• Some believe expansion was fueled by greed and
  the aggressiveness of a people with a fondness of
  war.
• Others think it was the two consul system (they
  had one year in officeand they couldnt be
  reappointedto gain glory).

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• All male (plebeian) citizens who owned a
  specified amount of land were subject to military
  service.
• The Roman soldier resembled the Greek hoplite,
  but Roman tactics were more flexible, with small
  units that could operate independently.

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• The Roman military machine

110
Rome

• The Roman writer Vegetius famously said He who
  desires peace should prepare for war.
• The Romans became experts in siege warfare.
• A Roman assault tower.

111
Rome

• Romans seemed to be bred for warfare and to some
  contemporaries, it seemed as if their weapons
  were permanently attached to them.
• A Roman ballista could throw flaming objects
  2,000 ft.

112
Rome

• Starting in the 490s BCE, Roman control of its
  Latin neighbors in central Italy began, and
  within a few hundred years, Rome controlled
  almost all of Italy.
• As the Romans moved into the southern foot of
  Italy, they came into conflict with the Greek
  colonies that had long been established there.
• Answering the appeal of their Greek cousins for
  aid, the mighty king of Epirus, Pyrrhus, arrived
  with thousands of soldiers (280-275 BCE).

113
Rome

• Even though the Greeks soundly defeated the
  Romans in battle twice, the Greeks lost so many
  men king Pyrrhus famously said Another such
  victory and I am lost, giving rise to the
  expression Pyrrhic victory for battles that are
  too costly.

114
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• The Romans succeeded in defeating Pyrrhus the
  third time and he sailed home, leaving Rome
  master of the whole Italian peninsula.
• This victory over Pyrrhus gave Rome the status of
  a first-class powerwhich brought it into
  conflict with Carthage (an ally of Rome against
  Pyrrhus), the mistress of the Western
  Mediterranean.
• Rome considered every other power a threat and
  would spend the next several centuries trying to
  neutralize them.

115
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• Between 264 and 146 BCE, Rome fought three
  protracted and bloody wars against Carthage (the
  Punic Wars) eventually winning and becoming the
  undisputed naval and land power in the western
  Mediterranean. This brought Romes first
  overseas territories Sicily, Sardinia, and
  Spain.
• The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus
  (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian",
  referencing their Phoenician ancestry.

116
Rome

• In 264 B.C., Rome decided to intervene in a
  dispute on the western coast of the island of
  Sicily (then a Carthaginian province) involving
  an attack by soldiers from the city of Syracuse
  against the city of Messina.
• While Carthage supported Syracuse, Rome supported
  Messina, and the struggle soon exploded into a
  direct conflict between the two powers, with
  control of Sicily at stake.

117
Rome

• Over the course of nearly 20 years, Rome rebuilt
  its entire fleet in order to confront Carthages
  powerful navy.
• Though its invasion of North Africa that same
  year ended in defeat, Rome refused to give up,
  and in 241 B.C. the Roman fleet was able to win a
  decisive victory against the Carthaginians at
  sea, breaking their legendary naval superiority.
  At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily became
  Romes first overseas province.

118
Rome

• Fighting in the Punic Wars.

119
Rome

• In the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) Rome took
  over control of both Corsica and Sardinia as
  well, but Carthage was able to establish a new
  base of influence in Spain beginning in 237 BCE,
  under the leadership of the powerful general
  Hamilcar Barca.
• Hamilcar Barca, who died in 229 B.C., made his
  younger son Hannibal swear a blood oath against
  Rome when he was just a young boy.

120
Rome

• In 221 BCE, Hannibal took command of Carthaginian
  forces in Spain.
• Hannibal and his troopsincluding as many as
  90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and a number of
  elephantsmarch from Spain across the Alps and
  into Italy, where they scored a string of
  victories over Roman troops at Ticinus, Trebia
  and Trasimene. 

121
Rome

• Hannibals daring invasion of Rome reached its
  height at Cannae in 216 BCE, where he used his
  superior cavalry to surround a Roman army twice
  the size of his own and inflict massive
  casualties.
• In 203 BCE, Hannibals forces were forced to
  abandon the struggle in Italy in order to defend
  North Africa, and the following year Scipios
  army routed the Carthaginians at Zama (modern
  Tunisia).

122
Rome

• Hannibals losses in the Second Punic War
  effectively put an end to Carthages empire in
  the western Mediterranean, leaving Rome in
  control of Spain and allowing Carthage to retain
  only its territory in North Africa.
• Carthage was also forced to give up its fleet and
  pay a large indemnity to Rome in silver.

123
Rome

• Rome was so brutal in victory (146 BCE), legend
  has it that the Romans burned Carthage to the
  ground, then salted the earth to keep anything
  from ever growing there.
• All the inhabitants were either killed or sold
  into slavery.

124
Rome

• After the Punic Wars, Rome focused on the eastern
  Mediterranean and conquered Greece, Egypt, and
  Mesopotamia.
• The conquest of the Celtic peoples of Gaul by
  Romes most brilliant general, Gaius Julius
  Caesar, between 59-51 BCE led to Romes first
  territorial expansion in Europes heartland.

125
Rome

• Romes success in creating a vast empire
  eventually destroyed its republican system of
  government.
• Many peasant farmers, away from home for long
  periods serving in the military (they were the
  backbone of the Roman legions), had their farms
  repossessed by the wealthy who created large
  estates. These estates found it more profitable
  to graze animals or make wine instead of grow
  wheat (the staple food of Rome).

126
Rome

• Rome became dependent on imported grain.
• Cheap slave labor (prisoners of war) made it hard
  for peasants who lost their farms to find work in
  the countryside.
• When they moved to Rome (or other cities), there
  wasnt work there either and they existed in dire
  poverty.
• The growing urban masses, idle and prone to riot,
  created chaos for the republic.

127
Rome

• During festivals, huge crowds would converge on
  Romes great amphitheater and many circuses to
  attend a day of games.
• In the Coliseum, up to 50,000 people would watch
  gladiators fight wild beasts or other gladiators.
• In the even larger Circus Maximus, 250,000
  gathered to cheer daredevil charioteers as they
  raced around a perilously tight track.

128
Rome

• These spectacles were usually staged by the
  government, and their chief purpose was to divert
  the menacing Roman hordes of Roman unemployed,
  who at times numbered more than 150,000.
• It was said that these Romans were interested in
  only two things free bread from the government,
  and circuses.
• Though Roman intellectuals were shocked by the
  carnage, the poor found the spectacles an outlet
  for frustrations that might be directed against
  the state.

129
Rome

• A consequence of fewer peasant farmers was fewer
  men for military service.
• Some army leaders achieved political prominence
  by accepting poor, property-less men into the
  legions.
• These men were promised farms upon retirement
  from the military.
• Men like Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, Mark
  Antony, and Octavian commanded armies more loyal
  to them than to the state.

130
Rome

• This led to several bloody civil wars between
  military factions.
• Probably the most famous was Julius Caesars take
  over of Rome and proclaiming a Triumvirate (rule
  of three) in 60 BCE.

131
Rome

• The Triumvirate was Caesar, Crassus (for his
  wealth) and Pompey, a rival general who had
  commanded actions against Mediterranean pirates
  and conquered Eastern provinces.
• To make his pact with Pompey more binding, Caesar
  had his daughter Julia marry Pompey.
• Even though there was friction between the three
  men, they were not openly hostile towards each
  other.

132
Rome

• Caesars conquest of Gaul (Gallic Wars 58-51 BCE)
  and being the first Roman general to cross the
  Rhine River gave him enormous popularity and
  power.
• But Caesars daughter Julia died in 54 BCE which
  removed the link between Caesar and Pompey the
  animosity between them became more pronounced.
• Then Crassus died in battle in 53 BCE, and the
  balance of power was in serious trouble.

133
Rome

• Power was now in the hands of two men who openly
  opposed each other.
• Caesar, as the proconsul of Gaul, was adding to
  his popularity and political stature through
  military victories north of the Alps.
• Pompey was consolidating his power in Rome.
• In 49 BCE Pompey persuaded the Senate to order
  Caesar to disband his army.

134
Rome

• Caesar ignored the Senates order and in open
  violation of the law, he and his army crossed the
  river Rubicon, the southern limit of his military
  command.
• It was clear he meant to march on Rome and face
  Pompey.

135
Rome

• Pompey and his army and most of the Senate had
  fled to Greece where he planned to mount a
  campaign against Caesar.
• Caesar struck first and routed Pompeys army in
  Greece. Again Pompey fled, this time to Egypt,
  with Caesar in pursuit.

136
Rome

• But as Pompey stepped from his ship in Egypt he
  was stabbed to death by an agent of the boy-king
  Ptolemy. This gained Ptolemy nothing for when
  Caesar arrived, he was immediately beguiled by
  Ptolemys beautiful young sister, Cleopatra.

137
Rome

• Soon installed as Caesars mistress, Cleopatra
  dominated Egypt after her brothers death in
  battle against the Romans.

138
Rome

• By 46 BCE Caesar won the civil war and returned
  to Rome as its sole ruler.
• To secure his position, he needed an heir. With
  no son of his own, he adopted his 17 year old
  great-nephew Octavian (63 BCE-14 CE).
• Caesar used his power wellhe pardoned old
  enemies, he created a stronger, more efficient
  administrative system, he undertook extensive
  colonization projects, he provided work for the
  poor, and tightened laws against crime.

139
Rome

• He planned a highway across Italy and gave Rome
  (and Western civilization) the Julian calendar.
• He even had laws made against such ostentatious
  behavior as wearing pearls in public and building
  mausoleums.
• But less than two years later Caesar was
  assassinated by senators (on the Ides of March,
  44 BCE).

140
Rome
141
Rome

• Marc(us) Anton(ius)y was Caesars close friend
  and famously said, according to Shakespeare
  (Julius Caesar Act III, scene II) Friends,
  Romans, countrymen, lend me your ear as Antony
  was trying to promote the virtues of Caesar while
  leading the Roman mob against Brutus.

142
Rome

• Caesars heirs were the 19 year old Octavian (his
  legal heir) and Marc Antony, his co-consul.
• The Senate supported Octavian (because they
  thought they could manipulate him) but the men
  created an alliance, forming the Second
  Triumvirate along with one of Caesars top
  lieutenants, Lepidus.
• Antony commanded the East, Octavian the West, and
  Lepidus Africa (and all three shared the Italian
  homeland).

143
Rome

• The first order of business was to destroy the
  men that killed Caesar. Then they destroyed their
  personal enemies, real and imagined.
• In 36 BCE Octavius ousted Lepidus, took over
  Africa, and laid claim to all of Italy.
• Marc Antony was completely captivated by
  Cleopatra, rejected his legal wife (Octavius
  sister), and then married Cleopatra.
• The two men were now completely alienated.

144
Rome

• In 32 BCE Octavius produced a document that he
  claimed was Antonys will and read it to the
  Senateit bequeathed all of Romes Eastern
  territories to Cleopatra.
• The angry Senate promptly gave Octavius
  permission to annul Antonys powers and declare
  war on Cleopatra.
• The next year, at the Battle of Actium (Egypt),
  the Roman fleet defeated the Egyptians.

145
Rome

• Antony and Cleopatra fled back to Egypt where, in
  despair, they committed suicide.

146
Rome

• Actium ended the civil war that had plagued Rome
  for over a century but it also ended the
  Republic.
• When he returned to Rome, Octavius went to the
  Senate, announced that the Republic had been
  restored, then in a show of humility, offered to
  resign.
• The Senate proclaimed him princeps (first
  citizen) and Augustus (revered one).

147
Rome

• Because of his many names, it is common to call
  him Octavian (events 63-44 BCE) Octavius (events
  44-27 BCE) and Augustus after 27 BCE.
• Romes dominions had grown too vast to be managed
  by anything but a strong central
  authorityAugustus was to provide that authority.

148
Rome

• Augustus never called himself king or emperor.
• So the period following the Republic became known
  as the Roman Principate.

149
Rome

• Augustus was able to cleverly manipulate the
  Senate so that they had no real power.
• In his 45 year rule, he overhauled the
  government, the military, and the economy,
  creating a system that lasted another 250 years
  without major changes.
• When he died, no one even remembered the
  Republic.

150
Rome

• One of Augustus many accomplishments was the
  creation of a new civil service administration
  that managed the huge empire with efficiency and
  honesty.
• The civil servants were known as equites, a class
  of Italian merchants and landowners, not
  patricians (they were second in wealth to the
  patricians, so they were respected and powerful).
• The army was reduced and became one of
  professional soldiers, not farmers. The navy was
  reorganized to effectively combat pirates.

151
Rome

• These professional soldiers became an engineering
  force that built paved roads and public works all
  over the empire.

152
Rome

• The Romans were pioneers in the use of arches,
  which allowed the even distribution of great
  weight without thick supporting walls.
• They also pioneered the use of concretea mixture
  of limestone powder, sand, and waterthat could
  be poured into molds...this allowed the Romans to
  create their domed interior/exterior spaces.

153
Rome

• They were also the first to create vaulted, domed
  structures.

154
Rome

• The reforms of Augustus ushered in the Pax Romana
  (Roman peace), the 200 year period (31 BCE-180
  CE) of peace and prosperity when the empire
  reached its largest extent and Roman strength was
  generally unchallenged.

155
Rome

• After the Pax Romana ended (c 180 CE), Rome
  settled into a decline that eventually ended in
  its conquest in 476 CE.
• Even though Augustus never regarded succession as
  hereditary, when he died he was so popular, four
  members of his family succeeded to the position
  of emperor even though these men had serious
  personal and political shortcomings (Tiberius,
  Caligula, Claudius, Nero).

156
Rome

• Why was the first century so turbulent? The first
  answer is simple hereditary rule.
• For most of this period, emperors were not chosen
  on the basis of their ability or honesty, but
  simply because they were born in the right
  family.
• Emperors had no elections or term limits, no
  early retirement or pension plans. It was a job
  for life, so if an emperor was mad, bad or
  dangerous, the only solution was to cut that life
  short. Everybody knew it, so paranoia ruled.

157
Rome

• Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero

158
Rome

• Before Augustus died (14 CE), he had chosen his
  stepson Tiberius to be his successor.
• Tiberius hated Augustus because the emperor
  forced him to divorce his beloved wife, and marry
  his daughter Julia (they didnt like each other).
• Tiberius only became the heir after Julias two
  sons died (so he knew he wasnt the preferred
  choice of Augustus).

159
Rome

• Tiberius quickly ruined much of the prestige
  Augustus had accumulated.
• Morose, suspicious, unpopular, and almost 55 at
  the time of his succession, he quickly gained a
  reputation as a depraved and brutal ruler who
  disposed of anyone he so much as suspected of
  treachery.

160
Rome

• The Roman historian Suetonius wrote Not a day
  passed without an execution, not even days that
  were sacred and holy...some were executed with
  their childrenthe word of no informer was
  doubted.
• Tiberius nephew was the fabled General
  Germanicus, who was sent by his uncle to quell
  mutinous armies in the north and bring peace to
  the Eastern provinces.

161
Rome

• Germanicus did both extremely well and was called
  a hero. Tiberius was said to be extremely
  jealous of his nephews hard won popularity and
  had him poisoned (19 CE).

162
Rome

• Warning that Germanicus family was plotting
  against the emperor, Tiberius most trusted
  advisor, Sejanus (known as the cheat) exiled
  the dead heros widow before killing her two
  elder sons.
• Only the youngest, Caligula, was spared.
• Tiberius knew of this atrocity and chose to do
  nothing.

163
Rome

• Tiberius ruled for 23 years, spending the last 11
  far from Rome (and his enemies) on the island of
  Capri.
• While on Capri, Sejanus controlled the government
  in Tiberius name while Tiberius scandalized
  Roman society with his astrology and drunken
  debauchery.
• Almost completely cut off from Rome, Sejanus was
  the only one allowed to visit Tiberius on Capri.

164
Rome

• The people were so glad of his death, Suetonius
  wrote of Tiberius, that at the first news of it
  some ran about shouting Tiberius to the Tiber
  while others prayed to Mother Earthto allow the
  dead man no abode except among the damned.
• Tiberius was succeeded by his grandnephew
  Caligula (sometimes known as Gaius 37-41 CE).

165
Rome

• Caligula was not a family name, he was named
  after a soldiers footwear known as a caligae.
  When he went on military campaigns with his
  father (legendary General Germanicus), the boy
  wore miniature versions of a soldiers footwear.
• Germanicus troops nicknamed the boy Caligula
  which means Little Boots or Booties.
• Caligula hated the name and wanted to be called
  Gaius.

166
Rome

• At first, Caligula was hailed as a popular hero
  for he pardoned political offenders, banished
  informers, brought back people exiled by
  Tiberius, reduced taxes, sponsored lavish games,
  and burned the records of the treason trials of
  Sejanus.
• But seven months into his reign, he fell gravely
  ill (some think epilepsy). He eventually
  recovered but was very different.

167
Rome

• He soon carried the powers of the princeps beyond
  all bounds.
• Dressed in silk robes and covered in jewels,
  Caligula pretended he was a god.
• He forced senators to grovel and kiss his feet
  and seduced their wives at dinner parties.
• He restored the hated treason trials of Tiberius,
  executing both rivals and close allies, including
  the head of the Praetorian Guard, his personal
  protection squad.

168
Rome

• He had two large pleasure barges built on Lake
  Nemi complete with marble décor, mosaic floors,
  statues, and lead plumbing bearing the
  inscription Property of Gaius Caesar Augustus
  Germanicus.

169
Rome

• He proposed that his horse Incitatus be elected
  consul he outfitted his horse for office by
  giving it a marble stall, a jewel studded collar,
  purple blankets, and servants that fed the animal
  oats mixed with gold flakes.

170
Rome

• In 40 CE, he led an army north into Gaul, robbing
  its inhabitants before marching to the shore to
  invade Britain.
• Just as the army was about to launch its attack,
  he ordered them to stop and gather seashells. He
  called these the spoils of the conquered ocean.
• Wanting to be revered as a god, he ordered his
  statue to be placed in the Temple at Jerusalem.

171
Rome

• When the treasury was bankrupted by his
  extravagance, he blackmailed patricians to
  bequeath their wealth to the state (on pain of
  death and confiscation of their property).
• His cruelty bordered on madness and outraged all
  of Rome, including members of his palace troops,
  the Praetorian Guard.

172
Rome

• In 41 CE (four months after returning from Gaul)
  a group of advisors and officers assassinated
  Caligula and hastily buried the body, leaving
  Rome without an emperor or a successor (he was
  only 30 and hadnt named one yet).
• So there would be no reprisals, they killed his
  wife and daughter too.
• While the Senate debated the problem, the
  Praetorian Guard decided to pick their own
  emperor.

173
Rome

• Roaming through the palace, members of the guard
  found Claudius, the 50 year-old uncle of Caligula
  (and grandson of Augustus), cowering behind a
  curtain, and promptly made him emperor.

174
Rome

• Partially paralyzed and ungainly, some thought
  him to be a fool (mentally challenged).

175
Rome

• Left disfigured by a serious illness when he was
  very young, Claudius was also clumsy and coarse
  and was the butt of his familys jokes. When he
  dozed after dinner, guests pelted him with food
  and put slippers on his hands so that hed rub
  his eyes with his shoes when he woke up.
• As a boy, his grandfather Augustus acknowledged
  he had brains but was ashamed to have Claudius
  sit with him in public.

176
Rome

• During his 13 year reign (41-54 CE), Claudius was
  known for working hard, often starting his work
  day after midnight.
• He expanded and reformed the civil service while
  making it more efficient and he granted new
  powers to the imperial governors abroad.
• He made m