Chapter
5
Roman Civilization
Outline
  1. Introduction
    1. Rome as bridge between Mediterranean and ancient Near East
    2. A distinctive civilization
    3. The "mission" of the Romans
  2. Early Italy and the Roman Monarchy
    1. Geographical influences
      1. Rich enough to be attractive
      2. Difficult to defend
    2. The Etruscans
      1. Non-Indo-Europeans
      2. Etruscan confederacy
      3. The Etruscan legacy
        1. The arch and vault
      4. Greek settlements and influences
        1. Greeks arrive as early as eighth century B.C.E.
        2. Greek alphabet
        3. The pantheon of the gods
    3. The rise of Rome
      1. Indo-Europeans entered Italy between 2000 and 1000 B.C.E.
      2. The Tiber River
      3. The "Latin Right"
      4. Early government
      5. The Rape of Lucretia
      6. The Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud is overthrown (510 B.C.E.)
  3. The Early Republic
    1. Constant warfare
    2. Accommodating conquered populations
      1. Did not impose heavy burdens on conquered peoples
      2. Conquered peoples had to contribute soldiers to the Roman army
      3. Extending the "Latin Right"
    3. The government of the early Republic
      1. Slow political evolution
      2. Substituted two consuls for the king
        1. Consuls had full executive and judicial authority
        2. Each consul could veto the other
      3. Senate had control over public funds
    4. Patricians and plebeians
      1. Patrician wealth, power, and influence
      2. Plebeian grievances
      3. The Plebeian Rebellion
        1. The tribunes
        2. Establishment of laws
        3. The concilium plebis
      4. Slow shift to an aristocracy of wealth rather than birth
      5. The equestrians
        1. Men who had wealth and influence but chose business over politics
    5. Culture, religion, and morality
      1. Limited education—fathers taught sons (sports, practical arts, military virtue)
      2. Chief occupations—war and agriculture
      3. Religion
        1. Roman gods—Greek gods
        2. Reverence of ancestors
        3. Household gods
        4. Religion tied up with political life
        5. The Roman priesthood
          1. Served as priests and politicians
      4. Roman morality: patriotism, duty, masculine self-control, respect for authority
      5. Primary duty to Rome and to family
  4. The Fateful Wars with Carthage
    1. The Punic Wars
      1. The First Punic War (264–241 B.C.E.)
        1. Roman fear of Carthaginian expansion
        2. Carthage cedes Sicily to Rome
      2. The Second Punic War (218–202 B.C.E.)
        1. Carthaginian expansion in Spain
        2. Rome declares war
        3. Hannibal (247–182 B.C.E.)
        4. The victory of Scipio Africanus
        5. Carthage abandons all territory save Carthage
      3. The Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.E.)
        1. "Carthage must be destroyed"
        2. Romans massacre Carthaginians
    2. Territorial expansion
      1. Increase in Roman territory (Sicily, North Africa, and Spain)
      2. Policy of westward expansion
      3. Greece and Macedon become Roman provinces (146 B.C.E.)
  5. Society and Culture in the Late Republic
    1. Transformations
      1. New wealth poured into Rome
      2. Increasing social and economic inequality
      3. Small farmers left the land for the cities
    2. Economic and social changes
      1. Slavery
        1. Increase in slave population
        2. Using slaves as agricultural laborers
      2. No transition to industrialism
      3. No incentive for technological initiative
      4. Equestrians made contact with Eastern markets
        1. Operated mines, built roads, collected taxes, principal moneylenders
    3. Family life and the status of women
      1. New rules for divorce
      2. Wives gained greater legal independence
      3. Upper-class Romans adopted Greek customs
    4. Epicureanism and Stoicism
      1. Lucretius (98–55 B.C.E.)
        1. On the Nature of Things
        2. Removing the fear of the supernatural
        3. Matter is a combination of atoms
        4. "Peace and a pure heart"
      2. Stoicism
        1. Introduced around 140 B.C.E.
        2. Cicero (106–43 B.C.E.)
          1. "Father of Roman eloquence"
          2. Tranquility of the mind is the highest good
          3. Indifference to pain and sorrow
          4. Bringing the best of Greek philosophy to Rome
    5. Religion
      1. Spread of Eastern mystery cults
      2. A more emotional religion
  6. The Social Struggles of the Late Republic (146–30 B.C.E.)
    1. Disorder, war, assassinations, and insurrections
    2. Spartacus slave uprising (73–71 B.C.E.)
    3. Tiberius Graachus (168–133 B.C.E.)
      1. Proposed land grants to landless
      2. The murder of Tiberius
    4. Gaius Graachus (159–123 B.C.E.)
      1. Enacted laws for the less-privileged
      2. Stabilized price of grain in Rome
      3. Suggested full citizenship to Italian allies
      4. The murder of Gaius
    5. The aristocratic reaction
      1. Marius (157–86 B.C.E.)
        1. Elected consul in 107 B.C.E., re-elected six times
        2. Abolished property qualification for the army
        3. Army became more loyal to commanders than to the Republic
      2. Sulla (138–78 B.C.E.)
        1. Appointed dictator (82 B.C.E.)
        2. Exterminated his opponents
        3. Extended the power of the Senate
    6. Pompey (106–48 B.C.E.)
      1. Elected consul by the Senate (52 B.C.E.)
    7. Julius Caesar (c. 100–44 B.C.E.)
      1. Destroys the forces of Pompey at Pharselus (48 B.C.E.)
      2. Cleopatra and Egypt
      3. Dictator for ten years, then declares himself dictator for life (46 B.C.E.)
      4. Death of Caesar—Ides of March (44 B.C.E.)
      5. Treated the republic with contempt
      6. The Julian calendar
  7. The Principate or Early Empire (27 B.C.E.–180 C.E.)
    1. Octavian (63 B.C.E.–14 C.E.)
      1. Joined forces with Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus
      2. Murder of Cicero
      3. Crushing the republican opposition
      4. The Battle of Actium (31 B.C.E.)
    2. The Augustan system of government
      1. Senate votes Octavian as emperor—calls him Augustus ("worthy of honor")
      2. Augustus rules as princeps ("first citizen")
      3. Republican institutions intact, but power resides with Augustus
      4. Controls the army, determines all government policy
      5. Achievements
        1. New coinage system
        2. Public services
        3. Defender of traditional values
      6. Augustus to Trajan
        1. Continued expansion
        2. Holds northern border at the Rhine and Danube
        3. The Roman Peace (Pax Romana)
        4. The "Five Good Emperors"
          1. Nerva (96–98 C.E.)
          2. Trajan (98–117 C.E.)
          3. Hadrian (117–138 C.E.)
          4. Antoninus Pious (138–171 C.E.)
          5. Marcus Aurelius (171–180 C.E.)
    3. Romanization and assimilation
      1. Pax Romana was not universal
        1. Roman massacres in Britain and Judea
      2. Assimilating the residents of conquered territories
      3. The spread of Roman cultural forms (amphitheaters, baths, paved roads)
      4. Rights of citizenship
      5. Borders and frontiers
  8. Culture and Life in the Period of the Principate
    1. Exponents of Stoicism
      1. Seneca (4 B.C.E.–65 C.E.) and Epictetus (c. 60–120 C.E.)
        1. True happiness can be found by surrendering to the benevolent order of the cosmos
        2. Preached the ideal of virtue for virtue's sake
        3. Urged obedience to conscience
        4. The cosmos was divine—ruled by Providence
      2. Marcus Aurelius (121–180 C.E.)
        1. More fatalistic, less hopeful
        2. People should live nobly
        3. Resign yourself to suffering and pain with dignity
    2. Literature
      1. The Golden Age—extolling the virtues of Rome
        1. Virgil (70–19 B.C.E.)—the Ecologues and the Aeneid
        2. Horace (65–8 B.C.E.)—the Odes
        3. Livy (59 B.C.E.–17 C.E.)—History of Rome
        4. Ovid (43 B.C.E.–17 C.E.)—the Metamorphoses
      2. The Silver Age—self-conscious artifice
        1. Petronius and Apuleius
        2. Juvenal (c. 55–140 C.E.)—the Satires
        3. Tacitus (c. 55–120 C.E.)— Germania and Annals
    3. Art and architecture
      1. Art imported from conquered territories
      2. The wealthy wanted art for their homes—as the demand increased, the Romans relied on copies
      3. Grand public architecture to delicate wall paintings
      4. The Pantheon and the Colosseum
      5. Engineering feats
        1. Roads and bridges
        2. Aqueducts
        3. Sewage systems
    4. Aristocratic women under the Principate
      1. Important roles played by upper-class women
      2. The very wealthy
        1. Could own property
        2. Invest in commercial ventures
        3. Could not hold public office
        4. Could act as priestesses and civic patrons
    5. New religions
      1. Greater interest in religions of salvation
      2. Christianity and Judaism
      3. Mithraism
        1. Zoroaster
        2. A religion of carefully guarded secrets
        3. Limited to men
        4. Sol invictus was the favored god of the Roman army
        5. Sunday wsa the most sacred day of the week
        6. December 25 was the most sacred day of the year
      4. Emperor worship
    6. Roman law
      1. Product of the Principate
      2. Augustus appoints eminent jurists to deliver opinions on certain legal issues
      3. Three branches
        1. Civil law—the law of Rome and its citizens (both written and unwritten)
        2. Law of the peoples—early international law
        3. Natural law—a product of nature and of philosophy
    7. The economy of Italy during the Principate
      1. Manufacturing increased
      2. Mass production of pottery, textiles, metal, and glassware
      3. Signs of strain
        1. Upper class luxury
        2. Diminishing number of slaves
        3. Labor shortages on the latifundia
        4. Unfavorable balance of trade
  9. The Crisis of the Third Century (180–284 C.E.)
    1. Commodus (161–192 C.E.)
      1. Strangled by his wrestling coach
    2. The Severan dynasty
      1. Septimius Severus (145–211 C.E.)
        1. Controlled the army
        2. Eliminated the rights of the Senate
        3. Ruled as a military dictator
        4. Cheapened Roman citizenship
      2. The "barracks emperors"
        1. Twenty-six emperors between 235 and 284 C.E.
    3. The height of the third-century crisis
      1. Political chaos and civil wars
      2. Interruption of agriculture and trade
      3. Nearly confiscatory taxation of civilians
      4. Advance of Rome's external enemies: Germans, Persians, and Goths
  10. The Roman Rule in the West: A Balance Sheet
    1. Explaining the decline and fall of Rome
    2. Political failures
      1. Lack of a clear law of succession
      2. Civil war
      3. Lack of constitutional means for reform
      4. Violence
    3. Economic crisis
      1. Slavery and manpower shortage
      2. Wealth concentrated in the hands of few families
      3. Undermining of civic ideals
    4. Roman achievements
      1. A long-lasting empire
      2. Created systems of communication, trade, and travel
      3. The Roman economy
      4. The Roman political system
      5. Extending the franchise to outsiders
  11. Conclusion
    1. A standard of comparison: ancient and modern
    2. Architecture
    3. Roman law
    4. Sculpture
    5. The transmission of Greek civilization to the West
    6. The cultural inheritance
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