ROMAN CIVILIZATION

1
CHAPTER 4

• ROMAN CIVILIZATION

2
Roman Achievement

• The Roman achievement was a world empire that, at
  its best, was governed
• with efficiency
• enlightened concern for the governed.

3
Question

• How was this great empire created?
• It grew mostly by brutal conquest, followed by an
  effective system of administration and law.

4
Question

• In what did the excellence of Roman imperial
  government consist?
• It maintained law and order over about 100
  million people of widely diverse cultures,
  enabling them to reach a much higher level of
  material comfort and economic prosperity than
  they would otherwise have enjoyed.

5
Question

• If the Roman achievement was so significant, why
  did Rome decline and fall?

6
Question

• What did the Roman Empire fail to offer its
  people?
• That question is too complex to be answered
  simply, but this much may be said in its origins
  and even at its best, under the "five good
  emperors," the Empire was a despotic regime.

7
Fatal Flaw

• For all its integrity and enlightenment, it could
  not win loyalty and active support from its
  people.

8
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The different peoples that came into the Italian
  peninsula and their influence on Rome.
• The steps by which the ordinary people gained
  political rights and power.
• Specifically how and when Rome built its empire.

9
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The civil wars of the late Empire.
• The benefits of the Roman peace, the Pax Romana.
• The economic, social, political, and military
  factors that contributed to the decline of Roman
  power.