Rome was the culmination of ancient civilization

1
INTRODUCTION

• Rome was the culmination of ancient civilization
• It consolidated and improved the entire heritage
  of the ancient world
• Everything great that the ancient civilizations
  had achieved reached their peak of their
  development under the Romans
• On the other hand, all that was negative about
  ancient civilization also reached its highest
  state of development with the Romans
• Slavery, inequality, political violence,
  technological backwardness, and moral ambiguity
• The entire development of ancient civilization
  reached its peak with Rome
• With its collapse in the 5th century AD, a new
  civilization (partly based on the remnants of
  Roman civilization) would gradually develop in
  its place

2
PROBLEMS WITH SOURCES I

• Titus Livius (Livy) wrote entire book on the
  prehistory of the Latin people
• Written 500 years after the fact
• Used work of annalists as main source of
  information
• Annalists were individuals who recorded past
  events in chronological order
• But the earliest known annalists lived and worked
  around 220 BC
• Hundreds of years after the events they listed

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PROBLEMS WITH SOURCES II

• Other sources were writings by Greeks and
  Etruscans
• Information was only incidental and fragmentary
  since Rome was not their primary interest
• Written documents by early Romans themselves were
  also probably used
• Writing was not used by Romans before 500 BC
• Rome was also sacked by Gauls in 390 BC and most
  public records were destroyed
• Some private documents could be found in archives
  of the great families
• But family pride often resulted in the production
  of exaggerated or false documents regarding their
  past achievements

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A WORD OF CAUTION

• Ancient historians like Livy had a big problem
• His state had become the most powerful in ancient
  world and it had to have a history
• Mythology and legend had already moved in the
  fill the gap
• But dependable and continuous information about
  the Romans was scarce for the period before 390
  BC
• 800 years had to be accounted for but historians
  like Livy did the best they could
• But the scarcity and unreliabliity of documents,
  records, stories, and lists they found meant they
  could not be accepted at face value
• Modern methodologies have been used the
  information provided by Livy
• But yawning gaps still persist and intelligent
  speculation must often substitute for data-based
  analysis

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EARLY ITALY

• Indo-European immigrants merged with Neolithic
  original people in Italy over thousands of years
• Resulted in appearance of different Italian
  tribes scattered throughout the peninsula
• Ligurians in the north, Venetians along northeast
  coast, Latins on the west coast, Sabellian tribes
  in south and center, and Samnites in the
  mountains of the east

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GREEKS IN ITALY

• Set up colonies in southern Italy and Sicily at
  end of the Dark Age
• Oldest Greek colony was Cumae
• Other colonies were Syracuse, Sybaris, Croton,
  and Tarentum
• Each was an independent city-state
• Main economic activity was agriculture
• Constantly squabbled among themselves but all
  also supported highly developed arts and crafts,
  literature and philosophy
• Greek cultural activity radiated throughout the
  Italian peninsula

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ETRUSCANS

• Inhabited Etruria
• Enigmatic people
• 12 cities were independent and individualistic
• Often disagreed with each other
• Had of religious cohesion
• Believed their was a powerful and inseparable
  relationship between heaven, earth, and hell
• Vital organs of sacrificed animals could reveal
  the imprint of both past and future events
• Interpreting organs of animals became a ritual
  for Etruscans and it would be adopted and highly
  valued by the Romans

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ETRUSCAN INNOVATIONS

• Cities originally ruled by kings
• But monarchs replaced by annually elected
  magistrates in 600s BC
• Most important was zilath
• Model for Roman republican office of consul
• Other legacies
• Purple-bordered robe worn by consuls and
  triumphant generals
• Throne
• Lictors
• Fasces (bundle of rods around an axe)
• Concept of imperium

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ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE

• The Etruscan nation was a collection of
  individual cities primarily interested in
  trade-generated commercial wealth
• At the height of Etruscan influence during the
  700-600s BC, their culture and influence extended
  north of Etruria into Po Valley and southward
  into Campagna
• Cities in these regions were conquered by roving
  freebooters and populated by surplus people from
  the cities in Etruria
• Rome was taken over in this manner during this
  time

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ETRUSCAN DECLINE

• Etruscan power began to decline in the 400s BC
• Lost cities in Campagna to Samnites
• Gauls captured cities in the Po Valley
• Attempt by Gauls to capture Etruria itself
  weakened economy and hastened decline
• Drifted into insignificance, the victims of
  economic deterioration, increasing social unrest,
  and, after 300 BC, Roman aggression

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ETRUSCAN LEGACY

• Etruscans taught Romans quite a bit
• To surround their officials with pomp and symbols
  of power and numerous special prerogatives and
  duties
• Art of surveying and carefully designing street
  patterns
• Architecture
• Knack for capturing the particular and unique in
  art
• Even some names
• Family names like Tullius and names of many gods
• Practice of augury

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EARLY ROMANS

• Descended from an Italian tribe known as the
  Latins
• Their territory, Latium, was bordered by Tiber
  River on the north, the sea on the west,
  foothills of the Apennine Mountains on east and
  south
• Not particularly desirable territory
• Coastal area was malarial swamp, subject to
  periodic flooding
• Drier backcountry experienced severe volcanic
  activity until 800 BC

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LATIN ORGANIZATION

• Early Latins were herdsmen who practiced
  agriculture on the side
• Organized themselves into clans, each with its
  own little bit of territory
• Within each territory was a town or village,
  usually located on the top of a hill
• Each town originally had its own chieftain but
  many later discarded their kings in favor of an
  annually-elected dictator

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FOUNDING OF ROME

• In the mid-700s, a Latin clan established a new
  settlement on the Palatine Hill
• One of several hills that overlooked a bend in
  the Tiber River
• Roman legend attributed the founding of this
  village to Romulus and Remus
• Twin grandsons of the king of Alba Longa
• Orphaned when young and raised by a wolf
• Later adopted by a shepherd who grazed his sheep
  on Palatine Hill
• Later remembered it as adults and selected it as
  site of settlement

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EARLY SETTLEMENTS

• Good strategic and economic reasons for selection
  of site
• Defensible, well-watered, accessible to the
  Italian interior, and it commanded only feasible
  bridgehead across the lower Tiber River
• Also astride a number of natural routes to other
  parts of Italy
• Within a few years, new settlers created villages
  on other nearby hills
• Mostly Latin settlements but two were Sabine
• Land that was ultimately become the Forum was
  used as a common cemetery by the villages

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SEPTIMONTIUM

• In 600s BC, the seven villages on the hills of
  Rome formed a loose-knit league for either mutual
  protection or cooperation in exploiting
  pastureland
• Called the Septimontium
• Each village still retained its own chieftain
• Ruled with the advice of the heads of all
  familites in the village
• Powers limited by tradition
• If he proposed anything new, it had to be
  approved by an assembly of all men of military
  age before it became law

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RELIGION

• Religious practices based on worship of spiritual
  forces that controlled natural phenomenon
• Did not go in much at this time for idolatry
• Their gods at this time did not have concrete
  form
• It was the job of the king to maintain the health
  and prosperity of his people by appeasing these
  spirits

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ETRUSCAN TAKEOVER

• Latium attracted the Etruscans because control of
  region would give them a direct overland route
  between Etruria and the cities of Campagna
• Etruscan overlords took control of the
  Septimontium in the mid-500s BC
• Domination began with the appearance of
  adventurers with small contingents of supporters
• Gained chieftainship of villages through their
  superiority in arms and the glamour of their
  advanced culture
• Rome would be controlled for the next 100 years
  by Etruscan adventurers
• Tarquin the Elder, Tarquin the Proud, Servius
  Tullius, and Lars Porsenna

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CREATION OF RUMAN

• Etruscan overlords also took the scattered
  villages of the Septimontium and made them into a
  little city
• Named it Ruman (city of the river)
• Surrounded it with fortifications and drained the
  marsh which ultimately became the Forum
• Enhanced political and economic stature of the
  place and its population grew rapidly with an
  influx of artisans and merchants from other
  places in Italy

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EARLY POLITICAL LIFE

• Latins grouped clans into curiae (geographic
  districts)
• Septimontium grouped three tribes into 30 curiae
• Etruscans divided city into four tribes and 30
  curiae
• Etruscans also introduced more formal methods of
  combat
• Replaced old haphazard Latin style by organizing
  all residents of Rome for military service
• Based on their ability to arm themselves instead
  of their family or clan connections
• Would also ultimately provide foundation for
  Centuriate Assembly later

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CURIATE ASSEMBLY

• During Etruscan period, Romans had Curiate
  Assembly
• Each of the 30 curiae had one vote in this
  assembly
• Determined by majority vote within each curiae
• Function was to give advice to the king, ratify
  his proposals, and witness certain religious
  rituals
• Would be retained by Roman Republic where its
  main function would be to bestow imperium (the
  right to act on behalf of the state) on political
  leaders

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GROWTH

• Commercial and manufacturing activity increased
  dramatically in Rome during Etruscan period
• Public games (horse and chariot racing)
  introduced in area that would become site of
  Circus Maximus
• Forum was made habitable by contruction of
  drainage system
• Later became famous Cloaca Maxima
• Foreign artists and large numbers of immigrant
  craftsmen and merchants moved to city
• Most settled in Viscus Tuscus commercial district

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PATRICIAN RESENTMENT

• New commercial immigrants found it difficult to
  assimilate with the old Latin families
• Who based their wealth on ownership of land and
  who had in the old days served as advisors to
  Latin kings
• Etruscans set up special guilds for immigrants,
  allowed them to serve in army, and employed them
  on public works projects
• As a result, they identified their loyalty,
  safety, and well-being with Etruscan kings
• Not with Latin landowning elite (patricians)
• Patricians resented the Etruscans for giving
  newcomers so much attention and aid

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EXPULSION OF THE ETRUSCANS

• According to Roman legend, the last Etruscan
  ruler, Tarquin the Proud, was expelled in 509 BC
  because of his arrogance and acts of immorality
• The precise date is probably inaccurate
• But other evidence indicates that it happened
  around that time

Tarquin the Proud
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PATRICIANS WIN

• Main beneficiaries of the overthrow of Etruscan
  rule were the patricians
• Most likely scenario was that patricians took
  advantage of military reverse suffered by Tarquin
  the Proud
• Overthrew him and expelled his supporters from
  city
• Then established system of government based
  partly on Latin traditions and partly on the
  emergence of new conditions
• Designed to support and perpetuate their superior
  position in Roman society
• Would lead to creation of Roman Republic

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Conquest of Italy took over 100 years and Rome
suffered some serious setbacks in the process
Rome would then move on and gradually take over
all the other people of Italy
Long, slow, difficult process and Roman success
was by no means guaranteed
But through hard work, perserverence, and luck,
Rome did it