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Page 1: Historia de Roma ilustrada

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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Marshall CavendishReferenceNew York

Ancient RomeAN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Diego
Cuadro de texto
La Nueva Alejandría Digital
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Marshall Cavendish

Copyright © 2011 Marshall Cavendish Corporation

Published by Marshall Cavendish ReferenceAn imprint of Marshall Cavendish Corporation

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requestfor permission should be addressed to the Publisher, MarshallCavendish Corporation, 99 White Plains Road,Tarrytown, NY10591.Tel: (914) 332-8888, fax: (914) 332-1888.

Website: www.marshallcavendish.us

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataAncient Rome : an illustrated history.

p. cm.Includes index.

1. Rome--History. 2. Rome--Civilization. 3. Rome--Sociallife and customs.

DG78.A626 2010937--dc22

2010002925

Printed in Malaysia

14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5

MARSHALL CAVENDISH

Publisher: Paul BernabeoProject Editor: Brian KinseyProduction Manager: Mike Esposito

THE BROWN REFERENCE GROUP PLC

Managing Editor:Tim HarrisDesigner: Lynne LennonPicture Researcher: Laila Torsun Indexer:Ann BarrettDesign Manager: David PooleEditorial Director: Lindsey Lowe

This publication represents the opinionsand views of the authors based on person-al experience, knowledge, and research.The information in this book serves as ageneral guide only.The author and pub-lisher have used their best efforts inpreparing this book and disclaim liabilityrising directly and indirectly from the useand application of this book.

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PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITSFront Cover: iStockphoto: Studio Campo(background); Shutterstock: Ariy (main).Back Cover: iStockphoto: Studio Campo(background); Shutterstock: Ariy (main).Inside: AKG: 12, 14, 20, 50, 54, 57, 76, 79, 91,96, 106, 109, 114, 119, Herve Champollion 35,75, Keith Collie 92, Peter Connolly 63, 120,Gerard Degeorge 55, Jean-Paul Dumontier 103,Electa 46, 99,Tristan Lafrancis 23, Erich Lessing9, 28, 38, 39, 69, 94, 101, 107, 112, 115,Museum Kalkriese 74, Nimtallah 88, 108, 113,Pirozzi 10, 81, 83, 110, Rabatti-Domingie 27t,66, Jurgen Sorge 60; Corbis: 11, 33,AlantidePhototravel 41, Jonathan Blair 129, BursteinCollection 58, Gianni Dagli Orti 36,Araldo DeLuca 48, 52, 67, Chris Hellier 43, JohansenKaruse/Archivo Iconographic, SA 40,VanniArchive 53, Sandro Vannini 65, Roger Wood 45;Mary Evans Picture Library: 22t, 29, 47, 61,71, 89; Shutterstock: Ariy 3, KonstantinBaskakpv 131,Ant Clausen 162, Lou LouPhotos 132, Olga Skalkina 34,Valeria73 1,Dmitry Zamorin 5; Topham: 18, 82, 90,AAWorld Travel Library 16, 98, 111, 127,Alinari 7,15, 19, 31, 78, 87, 93, 104,ARPL 69, BritishLibrary/HIP 13, 25, 27b, 86, Museum ofLondon 117, Michael Rhodes 80, Roger-Viollet 22b, 37, 51, 62, 105, 121, 125, 130,World History Archive 85; Werner Forman:17, 122, 124, 133, British Museum 73, 95,Museo Nazionale Romano 77, 118, 123.

ISBN 978-0-7614-9956-5 (alk. paper)

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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CONTENTS

Foreword 4

Early Rome 6

Rome's Early Warsand Conquests 24

The Punic Wars 32

Revolution and Reform 44

The End of the Republic 56

The Age of Augustus 72

The Julio-ClaudianEmperors 84

Expanding the Empire 100

Daily Life in Rome 116

The Edges of theEmpire 126

The Decline of Rome 134

The Disintegration of theEmpire 148

Glossary 160

Major Historical Figures 163

Index 164

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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FOREWORD

T o begin a study of Roman history is to

begin the study of Western civilization,

and this introductory work provides a fine place

to start. In truth, all roads lead not only to

Rome, but from Rome. Upon Rome’s extensive

system of roads moved not just the building

blocks of society and commerce, but also an

invisible cargo of ideas that connected Roman

society and later the Christian Church, early

modern Europe, and all that followed.

Roman culture was syncretic from the

beginning. The early years of monarchy

(753–510 BCE) witnessed the amalgamation of

Etruscans, Oscans, Sabines, and other Italic peo-

ples. Bit by bit the Romans of the republican

period (510 BCE–27 BCE) extended their

imperium. By 270 BCE, Rome controlled the

entire Italian Peninsula.The expansions contin-

ued and established the foundation for an empire

that by 116 CE would encompass more than 6.5

million square miles (16.8 million sq. km) under

the emperor Trajan.At this time the empire cov-

ered the full perimeter of the Mediterranean

Sea, stretching north to Scotland, south to

Arabia, and east to Mesopotamia.

Few Westerners today, be they from the

Americas, Russia, or Europe, misinterpret the

meaning of the nouns “czar,” “kaiser,” or

“caesar,” the last being the Latin root of the first

two words, as well as the name of the man many

deem the most famous in history. Napoleon and

the Duke of Wellington both carried copies of

Caesar’s Commentaries on their campaigns, and

their engagement at the Battle of Waterloo in

1815 was compared to that of Scipio and

Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE.

Parallels such as these have been drawn regu-

larly over the centuries. George Washington has

been compared to Cincinnatus, and Theodore

Roosevelt has been compared to Tiberius

Gracchus. In an essay published in 1909,

Consuelo Vanderbilt, the Duchess of

Marlborough, likened the suffragist Christabel

Pankhurst to Hortensia, daughter of the famous

republican orator Hortensius. Hortensia fol-

lowed in her father’s footsteps and delivered

a speech to the members of the Second

Triumvirate in 42 BCE that succeeded in gain-

ing a reduction in taxes on wealthy women.

British statesmen such as Winston Churchill

and Harold Macmillan were steeped in Roman

history. Churchill said he had “devoured”

Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire as a young man. In 1995, U.S. Senator

Robert C. Byrd (who celebrated 50 years of

service in the Senate in 2009) published his

thoughts on the Roman senate’s actions dur-

ing the years of the republic. Nineteenth- and

twentieth-century historical and cultural studies

are couched in references to “America’s Rome”

and “Britain’s Greece,” and those ideas in turn

refer back to assumptions and conclusions

formed during the Renaissance and Middle

Ages concerning Roman civilization.

Popular culture has its own adaptations of

Roman history that are enjoyed the world over.

Visual interpretations are especially popular as

widespread interest in films such as William

4

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959), Federico Fellini’s

Satyricon (1969), and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator

(2000), as well as the HBO television series

Rome (2005–2007), attests. The comic book

series Astérix, concerning the adventures of a

proto-French hero who fights against Caesar’s

assaults on Gaul around 50 BCE, debuted more

than 50 years ago (in 1959), and the 34th volume

of Astérix was published in 2009.

In 12 chapters, Ancient Rome: An Illustrated

History takes the student through the basics:

Rome’s origins and its early period of monarchy,

the rise of the republic to the heights of its

empire, and its subsequent transformation from

pagan polytheism to Christianity.The volume is

illustrated with strategically placed maps, time

lines listing key dates and events, boxed sections

of text for elaboration, and color photographs

depicting various ancient artifacts as well as rel-

evant images from the Renaissance and more

recent times. Students will come away with spe-

cific knowledge that will help them understand

the roots of modern institutions such as the

current calendar, the development of spectator

sports, and the origin of the Romance lan-

guages. It is no exaggeration to say that the his-

tory of Rome has served for better or for worse

as a metaphor and reference point for world his-

tory.With that in mind, let us follow Augustine’s

famous imperatives: “Tolle et lege.”Take up this

book and read!

Michele RonnickMichele Ronnick is president of the Classical

Association of the Middle West and South and a pro-

fessor in the Department of Classical and Modern

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Wayne State

University, Detroit, MI.

Additional related information is available in the

11-volume History of the Ancient and Medieval

World, second edition, and the corresponding

online Ancient and Medieval World database at

www.marshallcavendishdigital.com.

5

FOREWORD

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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EARLY ROME

A ccording to legend, the city of Rome was ruled by sevenkings, before the last of the line,Tarquin the Proud, was

deposed. Rome then became a republic governed by a variety ofassemblies and elected officials.

The early history of Rome is shroudedin mystery.The origins of the city are thesubject of many myths, which havebecome inextricably interwoven withhistorical fact. Several of these storiespromoted the idea that the Trojans werethe ancestors of the Romans. Thesemyths were gathered together andembellished by the Roman poet Virgil(70–19 BCE) in his epic poem theAeneid. Other stories regarding thefounding of Rome by the twinsRomulus and Remus were relayed bythe later writers Livy (59 BCE–17 CE)and Plutarch (c. 46–120 CE).

The origins of RomeAccording to legend, the story of thefounding of Rome begins with the fallof another great ancient city, Troy. AfterTroy’s destruction, the Trojan heroAeneas escaped with a small group offollowers, eventually managing to reachthe coast of Italy, where he landed on theestuary of the Tiber River and made anew home. He married a local princess,and their son,Ascanius, founded the cityof Alba Longa on a site just southeast ofpresent-day Rome. Ascanius’s descen-dants reigned there for 14 generations,until the ruling king Numitor wasdethroned by his brother Amulius.

Amulius arranged for Numitor’sdaughter, Rea Silvia, to become one of

the Vestal Virgins (see box, page 9), thepriestesses who tended the sacred hearthof the goddess Vesta.They were all forbid-den to indulge in sexual intercourse.Nevertheless, Rea Silvia was seduced byMars, the god of war, and gave birth totwin boys in the sanctuary of Vesta.Whenthe children were discovered, Amuliusthrew Rea Silvia into a dungeon and hadthe infants put in a wicker basket and setadrift on the river. The basket becamecaught in the bulrushes, where the babieswere suckled by a she-wolf until theywere found by a shepherd. He took thetwins home, adopted them, and namedthem Romulus and Remus.

When the twins reached adulthood,they met up with the deposed KingNumitor and, through a series of coinci-dences, discovered their true origin.Romulus and Remus then initiated arevolution in Alba Longa, and Amuliuswas killed. Eager to found their own city,the brothers retreated with other pio-neers into the Tiber hills, around 12miles (19 km) to the northwest.

Before starting to build,Romulus andRemus decided to consult the augurs(priests who interpreted the wishes ofthe gods) to determine which brotherwould be king of the new city. However,when the augurs presented their conclu-sions, a fight broke out, and Romuluskilled his brother.

6

TIME LINE

c. 900 BCEEtruscan civilizationdevelops in central Italy.

753 BCETraditional dategiven for foundingof Rome byRomulus; eventalmost certainlymythical.

c. 625 BCELarge settlementforms betweenPalatine Hill and Capitoline Hill; graduallydevelops into city of Rome.

c. 510 BCERome becomesrepublic afteroverthrow of last king, Tarquinthe Proud; citynow ruled by two consuls,elected annually.

471 BCEConcilium plebistributum, assemblyof plebeian class, officially recognized.

366 BCESextius becomes first plebeianconsul.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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7

EARLY ROME

This bronze statue,

known as the

Capitoline Wolf, was

made by the

Etruscans in the

early fifth century

BCE.The suckling

infants, representing

the twins Romulus

and Remus, were

added around 2,000

years later.

So, according to tradition, Romulusbecame the first king of Rome, foundingthe city in 753 BCE. Legend also has itthat he marked out the city’s boundariesby plowing a furrow around the site,using a bronze plow pulled by a white oxand a white cow. In this way, he demar-cated the sacred precinct called thepomerium and the Palatine Hill.

The rape of the Sabine womenThe city of Rome prospered, but itspopulation consisted only of men. Toovercome this problem, Romulusattempted to persuade the neighboringSabines to allow some of their women tomarry Roman men.The Sabines refused,

however. Romulus was forced to devise acunning strategy. He invited all theSabines to attend a religious celebration.The Sabines eagerly accepted the invita-tion, bringing their families along toenjoy the festivities.At Romulus’s signal,every Roman seized and abducted aSabine woman.

This act led to a savage war, in whichthe Sabines tried to win back their kid-napped women. Eventually, however, theSabine women themselves pleaded forthe two sides to be reconciled, to stopthe bloodshed. The Romans and theSabines agreed to form a single state,which was jointly ruled by Romulus andthe Sabine leader,Titus Tatius. Romulus

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 9: Historia de Roma ilustrada

survived Tatius and ruled until 715 BCE,when, according to legend, he was takenup to heaven in a chariot driven by hisfather, Mars.

The early kings of RomeThe tale of Romulus and Remus isalmost certainly purely mythical, butfrom this point of the story onward,some historical facts may start to bemixed in with the fiction. After the disappearance of Romulus, NumaPompilius was elected king by the senate(a council of wise men). He was a priest-

ly king who established many of theRoman religious institutions. NumaPompilius was said to have been instruct-ed by a wood nymph with whom heheld regular conversations. His peacefulreign was in contrast to that of hissuccessor, the belligerent Tullus Hostilius,who ruled from 673 to 642 BCE and isthought to have destroyed Alba Longa.Tullus also founded the Curia Hostilia,an early meeting place of the senate.

Hostilius was succeeded in 641 BCEby the fourth king of Rome, AncusMarcius, who was a grandson of Numa

8

ANCIENT ROME

THE ROMAN WORLD

SICILY

SARDINIA

BALEARIC ISLANDS

CORSICA Rome

Ostia

Tibur

Alba Longa

SyracuseAgrigentum

EconomusBagradas

Zama

PanormusDrepana

Aegates Islands

Lilybaeum

MessanaMylae

Villanova

Tarquinii

Ariminum

Metaurus RiverLake Trasimene

Capua

Naples

Cumae

Malventum

Cannae

Carthage

Sabines

Samnites

Etruscans

Latin

s

Mediterranean Sea

Adriatic Sea

ALPS

Roman territory in 500 BCE

Major battle

KEY

Tiber

Rhon

e

Po

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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9

EARLY ROME

This mural from

the first century CE

depicts the wounded

hero Aeneas, whose

followers were

believed to be

the ancestors of

the Romans.

The Vestal Virgins were six priestesses whose main functionwas to keep alight the eternal flamethat burned in the public shrine ofthe goddess Vesta.Vesta was thegoddess who presided over hearthand home, and every Roman familymade offerings to her at mealtimes.Every city also had a public hearth,kept in a temple dedicated to Vesta.The fire in this hearth was neverallowed to go out; it was the symbolof the city’s spiritual heart.

The Vestal Virgins were taken from patrician families and had to be

between the ages of six and tenwhen they were selected.They eachserved for a total of 30 years—as anovice for the first 10 years, as aVestal Virgin proper for the next10 years, and then as a tutor to thenovices for the final 10 years.

The Vestal Virgins had to take a vowof chastity, and if this vow was broken, the punishment was severe;the offender was buried alive.However, if a Vestal Virgin survivedher 30-year term of service, shewas released from her duties and permitted to marry.

THE VESTAL VIRGINS

Pompilius.Ancus Marcius ruled until 616BCE and is famous for a bridge, the PonsSublicius, that he had built across theTiber River. A notable conqueror, heseized a number of Latin towns andmoved their inhabitants to Rome.

The Etruscan kingsThe first civilization on the ItalianPeninsula had been established by theEtruscans (see box, page 13) and wascentered on Etruria (roughly present-dayTuscany). According to tradition, the lastthree kings of Rome were Etruscans.Thefirst of these Etruscan kings was LuciusTarquinius Priscus. Legend has it that hewas the son of a Corinthian nobleman,Demaratus, who had immigrated to theEtruscan city of Tarquinii. TarquiniusPriscus, however, decided to move toRome with his wife Tanaquil. As theyapproached Rome, the story goes, ascreaming eagle swooped down andseized the cap from Tanaquil’s head.Tarquinius Priscus interpreted this as afavorable omen. Once established in

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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10

ANCIENT ROME

Rome, he quickly acquired a reputationas a notable citizen.

After the death of Ancus Marcius in 616 BCE, Tarquinius Priscus wascrowned king. Rome prospered underhis reign. During this time, he wasresponsible for the construction of anumber of public buildings. TarquiniusPriscus is also said to have initiated theRoman Games and to have constructeda drainage system in the city. Hisconquests of neighboring peo-ples added considerably to thepopulation.

Tarquinius Priscus diedin 575 BCE during a palacerevolt. He was replaced by a favorite of his wife Tanaquil—ServiusTullius. A man of ob-scure descent, Serviushad previously been the head of Tanaquil’shousehold and provedto be an able king.He created newclasses of citizensand built a new for-tified wall to protectthe city. Later genera-tions of Romans wereto honor him as theirfavorite king, and theybelieved they owed manyof their political institu-tions to him.

Servius was murdered in534 BCE by his son-in-law and successor, TarquiniusSuperbus (commonly known aseither Tarquin the Proud orTarquin the Younger).Tarquin, whowas either the son or grandson ofTarquinius Priscus, seized thethrone, murdered many support-ers of the previous king, and pro-ceeded to rule as a tyrant. Hesurrounded himself with a

personal guard, pronounced judgmentsat random, and ignored political institu-tions. Tarquin distracted the people withmilitary adventures and monumental con-struction projects.He is famous for havingbuilt a temple to Jupiter on the CapitolineHill and paving the major streets of thecity with blocks of granite. He is alsocredited with building the city’s first pub-lic sewers, including the great Cloaca

Maxima, which still function today.However, in spite of these

achievements, the people of Romewere not prepared to tolerate such anoppressive government. The crisiscame in 510 BCE when Tarquin’sson Sextus raped Lucretia, the wife ofhis own kinsman; Lucretia later

committed suicide. Tarquin’scrime provided a focus for dis-sent, which surfaced soon after-ward when a number of lead-ing aristocrats, led by LuciusJunius Brutus, another dis-tant relative of the king,rose up in revolt againstthe tyrant. Tarquin and hisfamily fled from the city,and although he later triedto reclaim the throne, all hisefforts failed. The peopleof Rome subsequentlyturned their backs onmonarchy as a systemof government; fromthat moment on,the Romans wouldalways abhor thebasic idea of king-ship—the wordsking and tyrantbecame virtuallysynonymous inLatin. Instead, thepower was placed inthe hands of the sen-

ate and a number ofelected officials.

This statue from the

17th century CE

depicts the Trojan

hero Aeneas

carrying his aged

father Anchises.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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11

LatiumThe semimythical account of the earlyyears of Rome left by poets such as Livyand Plutarch is not the only source ofinformation about Rome’s development.Archaeologists and linguists have beenable to piece together a parallel history ofRome that is more firmly based on his-torical fact. They have established thatthe plain lying between the Tiber Riverand the Apennine Hills was once popu-lated by people who called their landLatium, and themselves Latini, or Latins.

The Latins were probably descendedfrom a people who invaded Italy duringthe course of the second millenniumBCE. These people spoke an Indo-European language and held elaboratefuneral ceremonies, in which they cre-mated the bodies of their dead.The old-

est settlement associated with this culturethat has been excavated dates from the16th century BCE.

Shortly after 1000 BCE, other popu-lation groups appeared. In contrast totheir predecessors, they buried theirdead. It is possible that these groups wererelated to the Sabines of legend. Theywere also an Indo-European people whospoke a Latin dialect. It is evident that,between 900 and 600 BCE, many Latinsettlements existed, each with its ownfuneral customs.

Until the end of the seventh centuryBCE, Latium remained an underdevel-oped rural area.The Latins lived in smallhilltop villages, which may have beensurrounded by wooden palisades. Theirprimitive huts were made of twigs sealedwith pitch and had only two openings, a

This fresco from

the14th century

CE depicts the

execution of Rea

Silvia, the mother

of Romulus and

Remus.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 13: Historia de Roma ilustrada

door and a hole in the roof to let outsmoke. Urns shaped like these huts havebeen found holding cremation ashes.

From the late seventh century BCEonward, the area started to develop.Latium was in contact with some highlysophisticated cultures—the Etruscans tothe north, the Greek colonies to thesouth, and Carthage, whose sailorsregularly visited the coast. From the polit-ically dominant Etruscans, the Latinsacquired technical skills, artistic styles, andpolitical and religious practices. As thepoplulation of Latium grew, farmlandbecame scarce. To increase the area ofviable agricultural land, dams and water-works were built, some of which stillsurvive.The hill villages gradually evolvedinto oppida (small fortified city-states), and

the oppida formed themselves into federa-tions, which originally had only a reli-gious purpose but in the end becamepolitical as well.

The birth of RomeAround 625 BCE, political unity amongthe oppida-dwellers gave rise to a city thesize of Romulus’s pomerium in the valleybetween the Palatine Hill and theCapitoline Hill.The city, called Roma (aname of Etruscan origin), was initiallyruled by kings. The rex, or king, per-formed the function of supreme judge,high priest, and commander-in-chief ofthe army, and he led his army in person.The king was advised (on his request) bya council of elders known as the senate,which also chose his successor. The

12

ANCIENT ROME

This painting, by

French artist

Jacques-Louis David

(1748–1825 CE),

depicts the Sabine

women and their

children attempting

to intercede in the

battle between their

own soldiers and

their Roman

abductors.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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13

EARLY ROME

The Etruscans were a people who occupiedthe area of central Italy that is now Tuscany

from around 900 BCE. No one is quite surewhere they came from. One theory—theautochthonous theory—suggests that they werethe descendants of the earliest known populationof north and central Italy—the Villanovans.Another theory suggests that the Etruscans wereimmigrants who came from western Anatolia.The fifth-century-BCE Greek historian Herodotusmaintained that the Etruscans were descendedfrom the Tyrrhenians, who had come from theeast via Lydia, and this theory is borne out by thefact that many of the Etruscans’ characteristics,such as their religious customs, seem to haveeastern origins.

Wherever they came from, the Etruscansestablished a distinct culture that flourished from the beginning of the seventh century BCE.They had theirown unique language, but theirculture showed much Greekinfluence.They adopted manyGreek myths and legends, andbecause they imported manyGreek vases, their potterssoon began imitating Greekceramics. In the seventh century BCE, the Etruscansadopted the Greek alphabet.

Etruscan cities were carefully laid outand enclosed by a pomerium (sacredboundary). Later cities were laid out on a grid system.The templeoccupied a special area.The front ofthe temple had two rows ofcolumns—a feature of theso-called Tuscan style ofarchitecture. Houses werebuilt of sun-dried mud bricks

and were either simple rectangular two-storydwellings or based on a more sophisticateddesign that consisted of a set of rooms arrangedaround a central courtyard. Originally, each citywas ruled by a king, but in the fifth century BCE,the kings were replaced almost everywhere by governments of aristocrats.

Not a great deal is known about the Etruscanreligion. However, one aspect of it did involve aprocess of divination by studying the internalorgans of sacrificial animals.While the functionsof many of the Etruscan gods are not known,their deities often resembled the gods ofGreece and Rome; for example, their goddessMenerva was closely related to the Greek

goddess of wisdom,Athena, and her Romancounterpart, Minerva.

The Etruscans were traders andconducted much of their commerce by sea.

They exported materials such as ironore, which was mined on the

island of Elba, and craft itemsmade from bronze and gold. Inreturn, they imported exoticgoods from Africa and craftitems from mainland Greece.

The height of Etruscan powercame in the sixth and fifth centuries

BCE.Thereafter, their influence declined, andthey came under frequent attack from Greeks, Latins, Romans, and Gauls.After

Etruria was seized by the Romans, the Etruscanlanguage gradually disappeared. Eventually,

by the first century BCE, the Etruscans had beentotally absorbed into the Roman culture.

This bronze Etruscan statuette of a warrior

dates to between 420 and 400 BCE. Its style

is influenced by Greek sculpture.

THE ETRUSCANS

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 15: Historia de Roma ilustrada

senate’s nomination was accepted orrejected by acclamation in a public meet-ing or an army assembly. The populus(people) were also consulted in mattersof war and peace.

Before the Etruscan domination ofRome, the monarchy is thought to havebeen largely ceremonial. Under theEtruscans, it assumed greater importance,but by 509 BCE, the Romans had put an end to both Etruscan power and themonarchy itself.

Roman societyIn early Rome, there were two socialclasses, excluding slaves. These classeswere the patricii (patricians), who origi-nally were the only ones with politicalrights, and the other free Romans, theplebes (the masses, or plebeians).The ple-

beians were generally peasants and hadlittle political power.This class distinctionprobably originated during the time ofthe monarchy, but it gained far greaterpolitical significance after the last kingwas deposed.

In Rome at this time, the head of afamily wielded particular power. He wascalled the pater (father), and his authorityover his wife, children (whatever theirage), and slaves was initially absolute. ARoman pater had the right to kill his wifeor sell his child as a slave without break-ing the law. Fathers who were related andbore the same family name formed a gens(clan). In the beginning, the king ruledthe clans through the senate, which wascomposed of the fathers of prominentfamilies. It is likely that the fathers whosat on the council began to distinguishthemselves from the family heads whodid not.

The patricians comprised the populus(people), from which the army was orig-inally drawn.The king called out the pop-ulus as needed and then led the armyhimself, preceded by his guards (calledlictors) bearing the fasces. The fascessymbolized the king’s regal and latermagisterial authority and consisted ofcylindrical bundles of wooden rodswrapped around an ax and tied tightlytogether. The fasces symbolized unity aswell as power. Servius Tullius is usuallycredited with a major reform that per-mitted plebeians, who by that time couldhold property and wealth, to serve in thearmy. They were assigned to a rank inaccordance with their wealth.

Class struggleThe class struggle that characterized thepatrician–plebeian relationship was cen-tral to Roman social history and thedevelopment of government organiza-tions. Gradually, the social and politicalbarriers against the plebeians were erod-ed, but for a long time, the plebeians

14

ANCIENT ROME

According to legend,

Numa Pompilius

was the second king

of Rome. He is

depicted here in

a 16th-century-CE

woodcut.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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15

EARLY ROME

This 16th-century-

CE painting by

Perino del Vaga

depicts Tarquin the

Proud founding the

Temple of Jupiter on

the Capitoline Hill.

continued to exist as a separate and sub-ordinate class. Marriages between patri-cians and plebeians were not recognizedby law, and the children of such mar-riages lost their patrician status.

The patricians formed only a smallminority of the free population, howev-er. The fact that they managed to keeppower in their own hands for as long asthey did was largely due to an importantsocial institution called the clientela(client system). Under this system, it wascustomary for free but powerless citizensto bind themselves to a powerful man ofthe patrician class. These people were

called clientes and may originally havebeen tenants of the patrician, but as timewent on, this was not always the case.Thepatrones (patron) could demand obedi-ence and service from the clientes, but thebond of the clientela had mutual benefits.It was the patron’s duty to help theclientes in time of need, if they wereinvolved in a lawsuit, for example.

The early republicOnce the kings were driven out ofRome, the city became a republic, mean-ing a state governed by the people.In practice, however, the government

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 17: Historia de Roma ilustrada

largely lay in the hands of the patricians.A great deal of the power resided in thesenate. Just as it had previously electedthe king for life from the patrician class,the senate now chose two chief execu-tives to serve on an annual basis.Originally called praetors (leaders) andselected exclusively from among thepatricians, these executives were latergiven the title of consul.

To some extent, the praetors inherit-ed the power and pomp of the kings.They wore the royal purple on theirtogas and were preceded on ceremonialoccasions by the lictors and fasces.Theyled the army to war and wielded absolutepower over the citizens. However, as eachpraetor had the power of veto over deci-sions made by the other, neither had thekind of autocratic authority once held bythe king. Furthermore, their power waslimited by the fact that their term ofoffice ended after one year.

ANCIENT ROME

Among the most important gods worshipped by theRomans were the Lares, protective spirits who presidedover a number of different areas. For example, the Laresviales looked after people traveling by road, while the Lares permarini watched over seafarers. For mostRomans, however, the most important Lar was the Larfamiliaris, the family Lar.

The Lar familiaris was unusual in that he was seen as an individual figure when most Lares were worshipped aspairs of twins. He was worshipped in the home, often ata shrine that took the form of a miniature temple.TheLar familiaris was believed to live in the house itself,watching over successive generations. Lares were oftenrepresented by figurines of dancing youths.

THE LARES

Rome’s position on the Tiber River linked the city to the port

of Ostia, and the connection facilitated Rome’s development

as a city.

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17

EARLY ROME

The senate and other assembliesMuch of the real power in the republicresided in the senate. The members ofthis assembly were drawn from a fewleading patrician families. These patreswere lifetime members, and their senateseats passed to their heirs as an inheritedright. Under the monarchy, the mass ofthe plebeians were unrepresented in thegovernment, but in the days of therepublic, a second group of senators,drawn from the plebeians, was appoint-ed. These senators were called the con-scripti (enrolled), and the senators as awhole were called the patres et conscripti.Although the conscripti also held theoffice for life, they could not pass it on totheir descendants.

The early republic also inherited apopular assembly from the time of themonarchy. The comitia curiata was origi-nally made up of curiae (clubs) of war-riors. The number of curiae was fixed at30. Under the monarchy, the chief func-tion of the comitia curiata was to confirmthe election of a king. Over time, theassembly’s meetings became purely cere-monial, and by the time of the republic,its function had dwindled, so that just 30individuals, each representing a singlecuria, were required to invest the praetorsafter an election.

The comitia centuriataDuring the sixth century BCE, Romehad adopted the Greek mode of warfare,using a phalanx of heavily armed footsoldiers who fought in close formation,protected by large shields and usingthrusting spears. Armor was expensive,and service in the Roman army wasreserved for those who could afford topay for their own military equipment.For this reason, Servius Tullius had con-ducted a census to determine the prop-erty of every citizen. Wealth, measuredalmost exclusively in terms of land,became the sole criterion for enlistment.

Every year a legio (military conscriptionor draft) was drawn from those deemedable to afford military service. Eachgroup of 100 men was referred to as acenturia (century), and from these annualconscriptions, a new kind of popularassembly developed—the comitia centuria-ta. The comitia curiata gradually lost itsposition to this new assembly, whichconsisted of serving soldiers and veterans.

The comitia centuriata met on theCampus Martius (Field of Mars) outsidethe city’s pomerium.The assembly includ-ed 30 centuries of men called juniores(juniors), who were between the ages of17 and 46. Another 30 centuries werecomposed of seniores (seniors)—citizenswho were too old to fight but whoretained the right to vote. These 60

This shrine to

household gods was

found in the city

of Pompeii.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 19: Historia de Roma ilustrada

centuries of foot soldiers, together with18 centuries of cavalry (equites), formed apropertied class that excluded citizenswho were too poor to afford army serv-ice and were thus unable to vote.

By the end of the fifth century BCE,the number of Roman citizens hadincreased to such an extent that 40,rather than 30, centuries of juniors wereregularly recruited. The legion alsoexpanded to take in less heavily armedsoldiers, who did not need to have asmuch property to qualify for army serv-ice.The army was thus divided into twoseparate classes.

By the third century BCE, there weresix separate property classes in the comitiacenturiata. The first class consisted of 18centuries of equites and 80 centuries ofjuniors and seniors. The second, third,and fourth classes contained 20 centurieseach, while the fifth class consisted of 30centuries.There were also five additionalcenturies that were reserved for non-combatants, such as trumpeters andarmorers. In all, the army was composedof 193 centuries.

The comitia centuriata had the powerto decide whether Rome should go towar or not. It also elected magistrates,acted as a high court, and had some pow-ers to legislate. Despite the addition ofrepresentatives of the poorer sections ofsociety, the assembly was still dominatedby the wealthy. The method of votingwas not “one man, one vote”; it was bycenturies. The votes of the 18 cavalryunits were taken first, followed by thoseof the 80 first-class centuries.Voting halt-ed as soon as a majority had beenreached. If the first-class centuries votedas a bloc, then the centuries from thelower classes would not even get achance to vote.

The rise of the plebeiansThe plebeians never formed a homoge-neous group, either economically orculturally. There were poor plebeians,middle-class plebeians, and wealthy ple-beians. The ambitions of the poorestwere limited to owning a piece of landand to seeing the revocation of the strictdebt law that could have a debtor soldinto slavery. The richest plebeians, how-ever, had political ambitions.They want-ed a share of the power and the privilegesof the patricians. Many of the mostrespectable plebeians came from regionsthat had been conquered by Rome; thesemen had held prominent positions athome and wanted comparable status intheir new place of residence.

18

This urn in the

shape of a hut was

made by people of

the Villanovan

culture, who were

predecessors of the

Romans and lived in

central Italy.

ANCIENT ROME

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19

EARLY ROME

This bronze mirror

was made by the

Etruscans, who were

known as skilled

metalworkers.

Things came to a head in 494BCE, when there was a massexodus of plebeians fromRome. According to leg-end, they withdrew to anearby mountain, wherethey formed an assem-bly called the conciliumplebis (council of ple-beians) and threatenedto found a separatecity if the patriciansrefused to recognizetheir assembly and theofficials it chose. Theseofficials were called the tri-buni plebis (tribunes of the ple-beians). Eventually, the plebeianswere persuaded to return to Rome,and two tribunes of the plebeians wererecognized. These two tribunes becamespokesmen for the plebeian cause andcould intervene if a plebeian was in dan-ger of being punished unjustly.The trib-unes could also override the decisions ofthe magistrates by uttering the singleword veto (I forbid).

The number of tribunes of the ple-beians was gradually increased to 10.Theplebeians declared their tribunes to beinviolable, which meant that anyoneattempting to arrest or intimidate themcould be killed. Soon after the tribunesof the plebeians were officially sanc-tioned, an assembly of plebeians, calledthe concilium plebis tributum, started to beheld, and in 471 BCE, it also receivedofficial recognition.

Another important victory was wonby the plebeians in 445 BCE.The intro-duction of the Canuleian Law repealedthe prohibition on marriages betweenpatricians and plebeians and declaredintermarriage to be legal. This movemeant that rich plebeian families couldnow enter into alliances with patricians,a change that was bound to have long-term political consequences.

The comitia tributaBy the middle of the fifth

century BCE, a new popu-lar assembly had beenformed. This new bodywas the comitia tributa(assembly of the dis-tricts), which was setup on the model ofthe concilium plebis butwas an assembly of allclasses of citizens, ple-

beians and patriciansalike. Votes were taken

by tribes, or districts, justas they were taken by cen-

turies in the comitia curiata.However, no distinctions were

made among the districts, whilewithin each district, the principle of

“one man, one vote” was upheld.Over the years, Rome had grown too

big to be governed by just two chief offi-cials. For some time, the consuls hadbeen appointing assistants, calledquaestors, to handle some criminal cases.The quaestors were junior magistrates,and after 447 BCE, two were appointedannually by the comitia tributa. Soon after-wards, two additional quaestors were putin charge of public finances. From 421BCE, the office was open to plebeians aswell as patricians.

Another position to be established inthe fifth century BCE was that of theaedile (temple functionary).This positionwas another official magistracy to whichplebeians could be elected. There wereoriginally two aediles, who were con-nected with an important plebeian cultcenter—a temple on the Aventine Hilldedicated to Ceres, the goddess of agri-culture, and Liber and Libera, a pair offertility and cultivation deities.The aedileshad considerable economic power. Asstate officials, they were in charge of anumber of public works, the public foodsupply, and the markets.

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Page 21: Historia de Roma ilustrada

This wall painting

from an Etruscan

tomb depicts

servants and

musicians. It

dates to the first

half of the fifth

century BCE.

The number of magistracies thatcould be held by plebeians increasedsteadily over the years. However, themost important post—that of consul—remained in the hands of the patricians.

Legal protectionAn important milestone in the evolvingconstitution of ancient Rome was thesetting up in 451 BCE of a special com-mission of 10 learned men known as thedecemvirs (decemvirate or 10 men). Thismove followed prolonged agitation onthe part of the plebeians for the laws ofRome to be defined and written down,mainly to avoid arbitrary punishmentsbeing meted out by patrician magistrates.The task of the decemvirate was torecord all common law and to define the

penalties for breaking it. The resultingcompilation was known as the Laws ofthe Twelve Tables, because the laws wereengraved on 12 bronze tablets that wereplaced in the forum.

From that point on, the patricianmagistrates could no longer make legaldecisions at their own whim; they had tomake their judgments in accordancewith this formal standard. In theory, thetables granted equal rights to all free cit-izens, but in practice, the weak and vul-nerable still had to rely on powerfulpatrons for protection or legal redress.

The Licinian-Sextian LawsA further development in the struggle ofthe plebeians for political power was theintroduction of a new office, that of

20

ANCIENT ROME

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21

EARLY ROME

The Laws of the Twelve Tables were establishedin 451 BCE after plebeian agitation for a formalcode of law. A decemvirate, or committee of10, was given the task of setting down thecommon law of Rome in clear terms.The resulting legal code covered both public and private life and reflected the patriarchal natureof the society for which it was written.Thecode covered family law, property rights andinheritance, debt, funeral rites, legal processes,and offenses against the community.

As far as family law was concerned, the codeconfirmed the almost unlimited authority of thepater familias (father of the family). He had thepower of life and death over his wife, children,slaves, and plebeian clients, although he wasobliged to call a family council before making alife-and-death decision.The position of womenin society was completely subordinate to that ofmen.A woman was subject to her father beforemarriage and to her husband after marriage. If awoman became a widow, she was put in thecharge of a male relative.

Crimes against private property attractedsevere punishments.A person whose propertyhad been stolen had the right to put the thief to

death. Reflecting the importance of the foodsupply, agriculture was given special protection.Anyone who maliciously set fire to another’scrops could be burned alive.A debtor whocould not pay his debts was regarded as a criminal; his creditor could put him to death orsell him as a slave.

These laws reflected the society’s predominantinterest in possessions. Other provisions weremore enlightened. For example, one law stipulated that a marriage could be ended bymutual consent; if a wife absented herself fromthe marital bed for three nights and declaredherself unwilling to return, the marriage couldbe dissolved.Also stipulated in family law wasthe obligation of a father to give his sons (butnot his daughters) a good education.

The Twelve Tables contain little legislation withregard to politics. However, the code did allowcitizens to appeal to the popular assemblyabout decisions made against them in thecourts.These laws were never formallyabolished, and because they were written inLatin, they provided a foretaste of the use ofLatin as the language of the legal professionthroughout Europe.

THE LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES

military tribune with consular power, in445 BCE. While the senate refused toallow a plebeian to act as consul, a ple-beian could be elected as a military trib-une. From 445 BCE onward, either twoconsuls or two military tribunes wereelected each year. This practice contin-ued until 367 BCE, when two tribunes,Licinius and Sextius, presented a bill tothe comitia tributa proposing that theannual consulship should be restored andthat one of the two consuls should beplebeian. The following year, Sextiusbecame the first plebeian consul.

The same year, another new officialappeared: the praetor.The praetor was aconsular deputy and was primarily con-cerned with the administration of justice,but he could also take command of anarmy. Like the consuls, the praetor waselected by the comitia centuriata, the oldmilitary assembly. For 20 years, the officeremained in the hands of the patricians,but in 337 BCE, the first plebeian waselected praetor.

In 356 BCE, a plebeian, MarciusRutilus, was appointed dictator.The roleof dictator had been established at the

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Page 23: Historia de Roma ilustrada

beginning of the fifth century BCE,when military emergencies made itimperative for one man to have absolutecontrol of the armed forces. It was acommand that lasted for six months only,and during that time, everyone was sub-ject to the authority of the dictator.

In 351 BCE, a plebeian was electedto the office of censor for the first time.This was a relatively new office, towhich two men were elected every fiveyears. The censors were responsible forconducting the census and registeringnew members of the senate. Censorscould also expel unworthy senators,making the office one of great signifi-cance and prestige.

The empowerment of the plebeiansbrought about a rapid change in thecomposition of the senate, which by theend of the fourth century BCE had

ANCIENT ROME

In this 18th-century-CE illustration, a Roman

lictor carries the fasces, an ax contained

within a bundle of sticks.

The Circus Maximus was used for chariot

races in the early republic.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 24: Historia de Roma ilustrada

23

EARLY ROME

The Curia in the

Forum Romanum

was the meeting

place of the

Roman senate.

become predominantly plebeian. Thisdevelopment improved the senate’s rela-tionship with the concilium plebis, whichwas still a purely plebeian assembly.Thisbody elected the tribunes of the peopleand passed resolutions that officiallyrelated only to the plebeians, but in prac-tice affected everyone.

End of the class struggleIn 287 BCE, a historic law was enacted.The lex Hortensia, named after the ple-beian dictator Hortensius, stipulated thata decree of the plebeian assembly shouldhave the same effect in law as a decree ofeither of the other two assemblies, thecomitia centuriata and the comitia tributa.This law was a major step in the classstruggle and greatly increased the powerof the richer plebeians. The poorer ple-beians also had cause for satisfaction,because over the course of the fourthcentury BCE, the cruel debt law hadbeen modified.A debtor could no longerbe sold as a slave, and land was now reg-ularly distributed among the less well-to-do Romans.

The beginning of the third centuryBCE saw a new elite emerging inRoman society—the nobiles (nobles).These people were a mixture of patri-cians and plebeians who had held thehighest office (the consulate), or whosefathers or forefathers had done so. Thisnew hereditary ruling class of nobilitas(nobility) controlled the senate and,thanks to their array of clients and theirown prestige, the popular assemblies aswell. Once accorded little administrativeauthority, the senators now dominatedgovernment in both domestic mattersand foreign affairs.

Senatorial power had increased withthe power of Rome, and the strugglebetween patricians and plebeians seemedto be over, but Rome was never tobecome a true democracy. While 287BCE saw the beginning of a period

of relatively harmonious cooperationamong the highest circles of Romansociety, the hardships of the poorest plebeians remained unaltered. Despitethe comparative peace on the ItalianPeninsula and unparalleled expansionabroad, the old class contest was toreemerge in the political arena as thearistocratic and populist parties foughtfor control.

See also:

Revolution and Reform (page 44) • Rome’sEarly Wars and Conquests (page 24)

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 25: Historia de Roma ilustrada

ROME’S EARLY WARSAND CONQUESTS

In the late seventh century BCE, Rome was just a smallsettlement; by the late third century BCE, Rome was a major

power that dominated almost all the Italian Peninsula. Success inbattle was the key to this dramatic transformation.

In the seventh and sixth centuries BCE,Rome was just one of many hundreds ofsmall towns and cities scattered over theItalian Peninsula. Rome lay betweenLatium and Etruria. At various timesduring the following years, Rome wouldeither be ruled by the Etruscans or alliedto the Latins.

Greek-Etruscan conflictIn the sixth century BCE, the majorpowers in Italy were the Etruscans, whowere settled in the north of the country,and the various Greek colonies estab-lished in the south. The Etruscans ruledthe territory between the valley of thePo River and Campania, while in thesouth their influence reached as far as theBay of Naples.

The Greeks in the southern ItalianPeninsula were constantly on a war foot-ing with the Etruscans. Around 535BCE, the Etruscans allied themselveswith the powerful Carthaginians in orderto dislodge the Greeks from Alalia, onthe island of Corsica. Some years later,the tide turned against the Etruscanswhen an attack on the Greek port ofCumae failed. Around 506 BCE, analliance of Latin cities, with the help ofCumae, defeated the Etruscans nearAricia, just south of Rome. The victorywas an important symbol of the erosionof Etruscan power.

Legendary heroesThe legendary defeat of the Etruscans atAricia was described by the first-century-BCE Greek historian Dionysius ofHalicarnassus. His account placed thedownfall of the Etruscans at roughly thesame time that the traditional account ofthe founding of Rome placed the over-throw of Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud.

Other legends give further accounts ofRoman resistance. One famous mythinvolved the Etruscan ruler Lars Porsena,who attempted to return the Tarquins topower in Rome. The Romans reputedlydemonstrated great courage in the warsthat followed. One hero, Horatius, single-handedly held back Porsena’s forces whilecomrades pulled down a strategic bridge.

Another story concerning Porsena isthat of Mucius Scaevola, who was cap-tured during an attempt to kill Porsena.When brought before Porsena, Muciusplaced his hand on live coals, to showthat he was oblivious to pain and that theRomans would continue to resist how-ever long the war endured. Porsena wasso impressed that he supposedly endedhis siege of the city.

Mucius Scaevola was just one of anumber of semimythical heroes whowere later seen as examples of theRoman characteristics of courage, self-lessness, and patriotism. These qualitieswere also displayed by the Horatii, three

24

TIME LINE

c. 506 BCEEtruscans defeatedby alliance of Latincities at Battleof Cumae.

c. 496 BCERomans defeatunited Latin armynear Lake Regillus;Rome subsequentlymakes alliance withLatin League.

c. 390 BCERoman armydefeated by Gallicforces at Battle of Allia River;Gauls go on to sack Rome.

358 BCERome becomes headof new Latin Leagueafter overcomingalliance of Latintowns in battle.

343 BCEFirst conflictbetween Romansand Samnitesbegins.

280 BCEGreek generalPyrrhus wins twoPyrrhic victoriesover Rome;finally defeatedeight years later.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 26: Historia de Roma ilustrada

25

heroes from an earlier period of Rome’shistory. The Horatii were triplets whowere said to have lived in the mid-seventh century BCE, when Rome wasat war with the neighboring town ofAlba Longa. It was agreed that the out-come of the war would be decided by afight between the Horatii and theCuriatii, another set of triplets from AlbaLonga.Two members of the Horatii were

quickly killed. The third pretended toflee and was chased by the Curiatii.However, because the Curiatii had beeninjured, they became spread out, allow-ing the surviving member of the Horatiito kill them one by one.When the vic-torious Horatius returned to Rome, hissister, who had been betrothed to one ofthe Curiatii, burst into tears on hearingof her lover’s death. Disgusted by her lack

This bronze helmet

was made by people

of the Villanovan

culture, who were

predecessors of the

Romans and lived

in central Italy.

ROME’S EARLY WARS AND CONQUESTS

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 27: Historia de Roma ilustrada

of patriotism, Horatius killed her on thespot. He was condemned to death for themurder, but pardoned when he appealedto the Roman people. In later centuries,the story of the Horatii was told tounderline the importance of selflessdevotion to the Roman state.

Alliance and invasionAt the beginning of the fifth centuryBCE, Rome’s ambitions to become thedominant city in Latium brought it intoconflict with members of the LatinLeague. Around 496 BCE, the Romans

defeated a Latin army in a battle nearLake Regillus. Shortly afterward, Romeand the league entered into an alliance in which the various towns and citiesagreed to contribute to an army formutual self-defense.

By the beginning of the fourth cen-tury BCE, Rome’s main source of dan-ger came from Celtic tribes who werestreaming westward from central Europe.Around 390 BCE, a horde of Gaulsswept through Etruria, and the city ofClusium asked Rome to come to its aid.Rome thought that the barbarians would

26

ANCIENT ROME

Rome owed much of its success to the strengthof its traditions, which lasted remarkably lateinto the imperial period and which combined tocreate a distinctly Roman identity.

Among the most important of these traditionswas the determination never to be ruled bykings. Even during the empire, the forms of old Roman government were preserved.The standards carried by Roman legions inimperial times did not carry the emperor’sname, but the letters SPQR, which stood fora phrase meaning “for the senate and peopleof Rome.” Posts that originated during therepublic, such as quaestor and consul, still had ameaning and a function hundreds of years later.Romans felt themselves part of a unique society,not subjects of a monarch.

Family life and family traditions were consideredto lie at the very heart of Roman life, and thenames of eminent families recur over the centuries in Roman history. It was veryimportant for a man to gain success in war orcivil life in order to add to the prestige of hisfamily.The family and the home also played acentral role in Roman religion.

Another key Roman characteristic was the way the city was implacable and unyieldingtoward its foes. Many enemies of Rome,particularly during the republic, beat theRomans in a battle, but few were able to defeatthem in a war.The great heroes of Roman tradition were those who embodied thisunyielding, granite-like attitude—men such asCato the Elder, whose oft-repeated mantra was“Carthage must be destroyed.”

Finally, the Roman system of governmentallowed ambitious men to succeed. During therepublic, the consular system, in which two consuls served in partnership for a year,encouraged each consul to do what he couldto make a success of his year in office.Thisarrangement often led to foolhardy mistakes,but it also contributed to great successes. Inspite of attempts by patricians and senators toprotect their position, the Roman system eventually allowed wider groups of people to participate in government and to achieve greatsuccess. Even during the empire, the net ofpower grew wider, as people from the provinceswere able to take on major posts and even tobecome emperor.

ROMAN CHARACTER

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27

ROME’S EARLY WARS AND CONQUESTS

This 16th-century-

CE sculpture depicts

the Etruscan king

Lars Porsena, the

subject of several

famous myths.

be easily destroyed, but at the Allia Rivernorth of Rome, a Latin-Roman armywas nearly annihilated.The defeat was socomplete that most Romans abandonedRome without further resistance.However, a few defenders took up aposition on the Capitoline Hill, which,with its temple and fortress, was the onlypart of Rome that could be defended.From that vantage point, the Romansprepared themselves for a siege andwatched as the Gauls burned the city tothe ground.

The defense of the Capitoline Hillgave rise to many legends. According toone story, the Gauls tried to take the hillgarrison by surprise, through a badlyguarded entrance. However, the sacredgeese in the temple warned the Romansof the attack with their honking. It is notclear whether the Capitoline Hill wasever taken.What is clear is that the Gaulswere more interested in booty than con-quest. They were eventually bought offwith a payment of 1,000 troy pounds(375 kg) of gold.

In the end, the Gauls settled only inthe northern Italian Peninsula, an areathat the Romans did not consider part ofthe Italian Peninsula proper.They calledit Gallia Cisalpina (Gaul on this side ofthe Alps) to distinguish it from GalliaTransalpina (Gaul across the Alps).

The defeat at the hands of the Gaulsseverely dented Rome’s prestige.To pro-tect themselves against future threat, theRomans reorganized their army andbuilt a defensive stone wall, 24 feet (7 m)tall, around their city. However, for sometime to come, it was not the Gauls theyhad to fear, but their neighbors in

Mucius Scaevola thrusts his hand onto red-

hot coals, impressing the Etruscan king Lars

Porsena with his courage. Mucius became a

hero to future Roman generations.This is a

detail from an illustration in a 15th-century-

CE copy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 29: Historia de Roma ilustrada

Latium.After the Celtic invasion, a num-ber of Latin cities rebelled against whatthey thought was a weaker Rome. Ittook decades of warfare for Rome torestore the supremacy that it had onceenjoyed. However, in 358 BCE, follow-ing the defeat of the cities of Tibur andPraeneste, a new treaty was signed thatestablished Rome as the head of a newLatin League, for a time at least

Wars against the SamnitesAlthough the Latins had few reasons tobe satisfied with Roman rule, tribalinterests had to be sacrificed whenLatium was threatened from outside.During a war with the Samnites, warlikemountain tribes from the southern

Apennines, the Latin cities supportedRome in repelling the invaders.

Rome came into conflict with theSamnites for the first time in 343 BCE.The rich city of Capua was being threat-ened by the Samnites and appealed toRome for protection. Rome sent a largearmy, which succeeded in driving theSamnites from Campania. Immediatelyafter the war, however, the Latin Leaguerebelled once more against its Romanmasters. The struggle continued for twoyears, but Rome, now allied with theSamnites, was ultimately successful insubduing the Latin resistance.

In 338 BCE, the Latin League wasabolished, and Rome finally became theundisputed ruler of central Italy.A num-ber of Latin cities became part of theRoman state, and in many cases, theircitizens were awarded Roman citizen-ship. Other cities retained their inde-pendence but were still allied to Rome.

The Samnites did not remain allies ofRome for very long. Hostilities wereresumed in 327 BCE and raged until 304BCE. In 321 BCE, the consuls initiatedan offensive campaign, marching an armyof 20,000 men into Samnite territory.At the Caudine Forks (a narrow valleybetween two mountains), they were sur-rounded by Samnite warriors and forcedto surrender after a few days of fighting.The captured consuls had to sign a peacetreaty, awarding several Roman posses-sions to the Samnites. Before the armywas allowed to retreat, it was subjected tothe humiliation of passing under theyoke—a low gateway of enemy lances.

When the consuls returned toRome, the treaty they had signed wasrejected by the senate, and the war con-tinued. Another consul was defeated bythe Samnites in 309 BCE, after whichthe Romans changed their tactics.Instead of going on the offensive, theydecided to await attack by the Samnites.This assault came in 305 BCE, when

28

ANCIENT ROME

These iron swords

and bronze helmets

were made by the

Celts and date to

the third century

BCE.A century

earlier, a Celtic army

had sacked Rome.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 30: Historia de Roma ilustrada

29

ROME’S EARLY WARS AND CONQUESTS

the Samnites invaded Campania. TheRomans proved victorious in the ensu-ing campaign, and a year later, they madepeace with the Samnites, puttingCampania under permanent Romancontrol. Even so, hostilities were resumedin 298 BCE, and it took the Romansuntil 290 to eliminate the last Samnitethreat in one final great war. Only theGreek colonies in the south of Italyremained independent of Rome.

Greek colonies and PyrrhusThe Greek colonies could have been for-midable enemies of Rome if they hadacted in unison or if they had receivedassistance from their mother city-states inGreece. However, by the time Rome haddefeated the Samnites, the mother citieshad long since severed contact with theircolonies in the Italian Peninsula.Therefore, the Greek colonies wereforced to hire mercenary generals (whousually came from Greece) to commandtheir armies.

Rome became involved with theGreek colonies when the Atheniancolony of Thurii sought its supportagainst the Lucanians. Soon, other Greekcities were asking for Rome’s protection.This alarmed Tarentum, which was therichest and most powerful Greek city onthe Italian Peninsula.

The inhabitants of Tarentum, whoconsidered the Romans to be barbariansand believed that they should not med-dle in Greek affairs, mobilized an armyand drove off the Roman forces that hadcome to the assistance of Thurii. TheTarentans then hired a Greek general tocommand their army. Their choice wasPyrrhus, king of Epirus, a kingdom onthe west coast of Greece.

Pyrrhus was an extremely ambitiouswarrior who dreamed of creating a largeempire for himself. He gladly went to theaid of Tarentum, taking with him a high-ly disciplined army of 25,000 men and20 elephants.When he arrived in Taren-tum, he set himself up as a dictator.

This 18th-century-

CE engraving

depicts four Samnite

warriors.The

Samnites came from

a mountainous

region in central

Italy and fought a

series of wars with

the Romans in the

fourth and third

centuries BCE.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 31: Historia de Roma ilustrada

He ordered the theaters and gymnasia tobe closed and forced the citizens to eatmilitary fare and engage in military exer-cises. These moves did not make himpopular. However, Pyrrhus did succeedin saving the Tarentans from Rome, for atime at least.

Pyrrhic victoriesThe Romans fought hard againstPyrrhus, yet he twice emerged victori-ous—at the Battle of Heraclea in 280BCE and at the Battle of Asculum in 279BCE.At both battles, the Romans put upfierce resistance, and the Greeks sufferedheavy losses. Pyrrhus is reputed to haveexclaimed, “One more victory like thatand I will be lost!” The battles ensuredthat Pyrrhus’s name would remainfamous; a victory that proves so costly asto be tantamount to a defeat is stillknown as a Pyrrhic victory.

At one point, when Rome was readyto make peace with Pyrrhus, a formercensor, Appius Claudius, paralyzed andblind, was brought into the senate in asedan chair. He told the assembly that hehad never reconciled himself to beingblind, but he would now prefer to bedeaf as well, so he might not hear theterms of the disgraceful treaty that Romewas about to conclude.The senate was soimpressed by his words that the treatytalks with Pyrrhus were called off.

After the heavy losses incurred in histwo victories, and his failure to secure apeace treaty with the Romans, Pyrrhuswithdrew his forces from southern Italyand transferred his attentions to Sicily.There, he scored great successes againstthe Carthaginians, who were the domi-nant power on the island. However, dur-ing Pyrrhus’s three-year absence fromItaly, the Romans drove the Tarentans

30

ANCIENT ROME

Rome’s successful conquests in the late fourthcentury and early third century BCE dependedto a large extent on its highly trained and highlydisciplined army. Early in the fourth centuryBCE, the army was radically reorganized,following the disastrous defeat by the Gauls atthe Battle of Allia in 390 BCE.

In the early fifth century BCE, the Roman legionhad consisted of 3,000 heavily armed foot soldiers. Over the course of the fourth centuryBCE, this was increased to 6,000 heavy infantrytroops and 2,400 light infantry. In 366 BCE, theannual draft was split between the two consuls,each commanding a legion of 4,200 men. Duringthe great war with the Samnites, this annualdraft was doubled to four legions, two for each consul, reflecting the growth in Rome’spopulation.The legion still comprised lines ofheavily and less heavily armed soldiers.

By the third century BCE, the armament hadbecome generally uniform. It consisted of abronze helmet, a scutum (large leather-coveredshield), two javelins, and a sword.Wealthier soldiers also had a metal cuirass, a piece ofarmor covering the back and the chest.Thesons of senators and of a growing number ofwealthy citizens who were not senators servedin the cavalry—200 to 300 men in each legion.

The Romans borrowed the organizing principleof the maniple from the Samnites, and thisresulted in greater flexibility on the battlefield.Under this system, the legion was divided intothree lines, with the youngest soldiers at thefront. Each line was not solid, but consisted ofmaniples (rectangular groups) of 120 soldierswith spaces between them. Soldiers from therear could come up through the gaps in thelines to present a solid front when necessary.

THE ROMAN ARMY

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31

ROME’S EARLY WARS AND CONQUESTS

This bust depicts the

Greek mercenary

general Pyrrhus, who

fought several

battles against

Roman forces in the

third century BCE.

See also:

Early Rome (page 6) • The Punic Wars (page 32)

into a corner. Pyrrhus returned to theItalian Peninsula to relieve the Tarentans,and in 275 BCE, his army met theRomans near Malventum.This time, hisdepleted forces were no match for theRomans. Pyrrhus’s normally indomitableelephants were routed by a hail of burn-ing arrows, turning the tide of battleinexorably against him. Acknowledgingthat his power in Italy was waning,Pyrrhus returned to Epirus. In 272 BCE,Tarentum was forced to recognizeRome’s superiority.

Rome triumphantBy 270 BCE, all of the Italian Peninsulasouth of the Po River was subject to

Rome. Rome had not always beensuccessful in battle in the precedingcenturies, but it always continued thestruggle, even after defeat on the battle-field. Roman armaments and tactics wereconstantly being improved and, to somedegree, would be adapted according tothe opponents faced by the army.

When the Romans conquered a city,they sometimes razed it and enslaved itscitizens. More often, however, the cityand its people would be incorporatedinto the Roman state. In this way, thenumber of Roman civilians and soldierssteadily increased, as did the number ofallies throughout the Italian Peninsula.Eventually, Rome reached a point whereits sheer numerical supremacy ensuredvictory in any war.

Most conquered cities and peopleson the Italian Peninsula retained localautonomy.When a state had been defeat-ed, those in power were generallyrequired to cede part of their territory toRome. That land was then dividedamong Roman citizens, rich and pooralike. Sometimes, Rome established amilitary colony of able-bodied men tokeep watch over a conquered region.

The Latins, the people most closelyallied to Rome, were treated the mostliberally. Latin men were even allowed tovote in the comitia tributa (assembly of thepeople) when they were in Rome. Otherpeoples, while they were not allowed toexercise any influence in the politicalsphere, nevertheless enjoyed many otherprivileges of Roman citizenship. Citiesthat had such rights were known asmunicipia (municipalities). The Romansdid not think of those people as theirsubjects; they were termed socii (allies)and were considered to be sharing theinterests of Rome.

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THE PUNIC WARS

For much of the third century BCE, Rome was engaged in atitanic battle for control of the western Mediterranean region.

Rome’s adversary was the city of Carthage.The struggles came tobe known as the Punic Wars.

After Rome defeated the Greek merce-nary general Pyrrhus in 275 BCE, theGreek colony of Tarentum was forced toacknowledge Roman sovereignty. Thevictory left Rome as one of the two greatpowers in the western Mediterranean.The other was Carthage, on the northcoast of Africa.

CarthageCarthage was founded by Phoeniciantraders around the late ninth centuryBCE. Sited on a peninsula in the Gulf ofTunis, the city soon became a dominantplayer in Mediterranean trade. However,Carthage was also a military power, andby the sixth century BCE, it controlledalmost the whole length of the northcoast of Africa, from the Atlantic to whatis now Libya, and had taken over theBalearic Islands, Malta, Sardinia, and partsof Sicily. By the fourth century BCE,Carthage had become a powerful com-mercial metropolis at the center of a vastweb of trading posts.

Rome was naturally suspicious of itspowerful neighbor, and in all the tradingtreaties between the two states, Romeinserted a clause that forbade Carthagefrom establishing any permanent baseson the Italian Peninsula. However, theCarthaginians’ control of the westernhalf of the nearby island of Sicily wouldprove to be the catalyst for war.

MessanaThe immediate cause of the Punic Warsbetween Rome and Carthage was appar-ently insignificant. The Sicilian city ofMessana, which held an important posi-tion on the narrow strait between Sicilyand Italy, had fallen into the hands of agroup of Italian mercenaries called theMamertines, who had turned it into apirates’ den. Their primary victims wereSicilian Greeks. In 264 BCE, King Hieroof Syracuse laid siege to Messana in anattempt to rid the island of the rene-gades. In response, the Mamertinesappealed to both Carthage and Romefor help.A Carthaginian fleet arrived andsucceeded in getting Hiero to standdown. However, rather than allyingthemselves with their saviors, theMamertines offered their allegiance toRome. With some reluctance, theRoman senate agreed to send an expedi-tionary force to relieve Messana of itsnow unwelcome guests, thereby initiat-ing the First Punic War, which raged forthe next 23 years.

The First Punic WarThe Carthaginians withdrew when theRoman force arrived, but Carthage latersent a larger army to regain Messana,enlisting Hiero’s support in its struggleagainst Rome. However, within a year,Hiero switched sides and threw in his lot

32

TIME LINE

264 BCESiege of Messana byKing Hiero ofSyracuse promptsFirst Punic War.

260 BCERome defeatsCarthage at Battleof Mylae.

241 BCEDestruction ofCarthaginian fleetat Battle of AegatesIslands brings First Punic War to close.

219 BCEHannibal’s siege ofSaguntum acts ascatalyst for SecondPunic War.

218 BCEHannibal crossesAlps and enters Italy with army of40,000 men.

216 BCEHannibal inflictsmassive defeat onRoman army atBattle of Cannae.

202 BCERoman victory atBattle of Zamamarks end ofSecond Punic War.

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33

THE PUNIC WARS

This brass

Carthaginian

breastplate dates to

around the third

century BCE, the

period when

Carthage was at

war with Rome.

with the Romans. With Hiero as theirally, the Romans advanced across Sicilyto lay siege to the Carthaginian city ofAgrigentum, which they took andsacked in 262 BCE.

Despite these successes, it becameclear to the Romans that they needed tobreak the Carthaginian’s power on theseas.The Romans had little in the way of

a fleet of their own, and it becameimperative that they build one to matchthat of Carthage.According to one story,the Romans enlisted Hiero’s help indesigning new warships. According toanother story, they used a wreckedCarthaginian galley as a model. Besidesbuilding a fleet of warships, the Romansalso trained their soldiers in boarding

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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34

ANCIENT ROME

While the Romans were engaged in conquering Italy and parts of the

Mediterranean, their interest in industry andcommerce lagged far behind their military skills.During the third and second centuries BCE, craftmanufacture remained in the hands of small,independent tradesmen.There was no Romancenter of industry to compare with the formerEtruscan city of Capua, which produced ceramics,bronzes, furniture, and perfume.

Rome imported far more than it exported.Large quantities of grain came from Sicily, and enormous amounts of silver arrived from minesin Spain. Slaves were in great demand to work onthe growing landholdings of the wealthy and toservice the increasingly luxurious houses of therich in Rome and other cities. In 218 BCE, theRoman senate passed a law forbidding senators toown ships. Because of this law, most of this seatrade was carried by ships owned by Greek andPhoenician merchants.

However, while the Romans were uninterested intrade, they were to become very active in money-lending and banking.This development was adirect result of the wars of conquest, which senta flood of gold and silver into the city.

Moneylending was a lucrative field of business.Although rates of interest were strictly controlledin Rome itself, Roman financiers could reap hugeprofits in the provinces by lending money toenable people to pay their taxes. Rates of interestcould be extremely high, sometimes 25 percentor more. Such practices made some citizensextremely wealthy, and with the spread of wealth,a system of banking developed.A rich Roman citizen could have an account with a banker,enabling the citizen to pay large debts with paper,such as a letter of credit.

This amphitheater is located at Ostia, the ancient

port of Rome. In the days of the republic, many

imported goods would have passed through Ostia.

COMMERCE IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE

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35

THE PUNIC WARS

These ruins are

located in the

Sicilian town of

Agrigentum. Known

as Akragas at the

time, the city was

sacked by both the

Romans and the

Carthaginians

during the Second

Punic War.

techniques. To do so, they used woodenboarding platforms with a spike at theend to hold the enemy ship in place.Such a boarding device was known as acorvus, the Latin word for “raven.”

Early battlesIn 260 BCE, the new Roman warships,numbering 140 and under the commandof the consul Duilius, met theCarthaginian fleet of 130 ships at Mylae,off the northern coast of Sicily.The war-ships of that time had a long projectingbeam, called a rostrum (beak), at the bow, which was used for ramming andsinking enemy ships. Ramming was theusual method of naval warfare; boardingan enemy ship was not consideredimportant, so when the Carthaginiansclosed in on the Roman vessels, they

were astonished to see the Romanslower boarding bridges to connect withtheir ships. Fully armed legionnaires thenswarmed across to the enemy ships andmassacred the Carthaginians in hand-to-hand combat.

Four years later, the Carthaginianswere defeated in another naval battle, atEcnomus, off the southern coast of Sicily.The Romans then decided to take anunprecedented gamble, sending an expe-ditionary force to Africa to attack thecity of Carthage itself. The ventureturned out to be a disastrous mistake.TheCarthaginian infantry had been reorgan-ized and trained by the Spartan merce-nary general Xanthippus, and in thespring of 255 BCE, he engaged theRoman invaders at Bagradas in northernAfrica. There, he inflicted a devastating

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Page 37: Historia de Roma ilustrada

defeat on the Romans. The few menwho survived the massacre were pickedup by the Roman fleet, which was thencaught in a heavy storm that sank three-quarters of the ships.

The scene of action then reverted toSicily. In 254 BCE, the Romans capturedPanormus (present-day Palermo) on thenorth coast of the island. However, theywere later harassed by the Carthaginiangeneral Hamilcar Barca, who arrived inSicily in 247 BCE and established a baseon Mount Eryx on the west coast. He

played a game of military hide-and-seekwith his opponents, conducting raidsagainst targets both in Sicily and alongthe Italian coast.

By 241 BCE, both Carthage andRome were close to exhaustion. In des-peration, the Roman citizens themselvespaid to outfit one final fleet. A fleet of200 ships set sail to close off Hamilcar’sSicilian bases in Drepana and Lilybaeum.The Carthaginians sent a fleet to relievetheir general and met the Roman shipsat the Aegates Islands, just off the coast

36

ANCIENT ROME

This 16th-century-

CE painting by

Jacopo Ripanda

depicts the Battle

of Mylae. In the

bottom right-hand

corner, Roman

soldiers can be

seen boarding an

enemy warship.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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37

THE PUNIC WARS

This Roman bust

of Hannibal was

made from marble

during the

Carthaginian

general’s own

lifetime.

near Drepana. After a fierce battle, theCarthaginian fleet was destroyed. Forcedto accept defeat, the Carthaginians facedpunitive conditions for peace.When theceasefire was signed, Hamilcar and theRoman consul in command in Sicilyagreed that Carthage would surrenderSicily, release all prisoners, and pay a totalof 2,200 gold talents to Rome over aperiod of 20 years.

Delegates then arrived from Romeand set even more stringent conditions.They demanded an additional 1,000talents, half to be paid immediately andthe rest over 10 years. Carthage had nooption but to agree. The debt causedenormous financial distress and meantthat the city could not afford to pay themercenary troops it had used in theSicilian campaign. When these sol-diers returned to Carthage, theyincited the city’s Libyan slaves torebel. Carthage called on Hamilcarto put down the insurrection, buthe was unable to subdue the rebelsuntil 238 BCE. Rome made gooduse of the three years of confusion by seizing the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.

Carthaginians in SpainCarthage made Hamilcar Barca the com-mander-in-chief of its army in 237 BCE,and with Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica lostto Rome, he made Spain the scene of hisoperations. Hamilcar spent the next nineyears subjugating the Celtic tribes on theIberian Peninsula and organizing theminto an army.

When Hamilcar died in 228 BCE, hisson-in-law Hasdrubal succeeded him.The new commander continued theIberian campaign with the assistance ofHamilcar’s 18-year-old son, Hannibal.Their conquests included mining regionsthat greatly contributed to theCarthaginian treasury. Together, thesegains in material wealth and manpower

went a long way toward restoringCarthage’s power. Seeing this, theRomans thought it advisable to stop thisexpansion in Spain before Carthagecompletely recovered from its defeat.Accordingly, in 226 BCE, the Romansforced Hasdrubal to sign a treaty agree-ing that his troops would not cross theEbro River in northern Spain.

Hasdrubal was killed by assassins in221 BCE, after which the 25-year-oldHannibal assumed command of thearmy. In the campaigns that followed,the young general proved to have one ofthe greatest military minds in history.

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Page 39: Historia de Roma ilustrada

New Roman provincesOne result of the First Punic War wasthat Rome now controlled territoriesbeyond the Italian Peninsula—Corsica,Sardinia, and part of Sicily.The Romanscalled these territories provincia (prov-inces), and they did not consider them tobe allies, but subjugated areas. Placedunder the rule of Roman civil servants,the provinces suffered the same condi-tions as they had under the Carthagin-ians. Every year, two new praetors (con-sular deputies) were appointed, one torule Sicily and the other to rule Sardiniaand Corsica, bringing the total numberof praetors to four.

After the First Punic War, the Romansused the term mare nostrum (meaning “our

sea”) for the waters around the ItalianPeninsula and their new islands. AsRome’s empire grew, so did the area of sea that they claimed. Eventually, thewhole Mediterranean would become themare nostrum.

The Second Punic WarWithin two years of taking command of the Carthaginian army in Spain,Hannibal annexed all the territorybetween the Tagus and Ebro rivers.Hannibal had inherited a deep hatred ofRome from his father, and he was intenton rebuilding the power and wealth ofCarthage, possibly with the idea of chal-lenging Rome at some point in thefuture. That opportunity came whenRome interfered in the affairs ofSaguntum, a city that lay south of theEbro River and was therefore in territo-ry that Hannibal considered to belong toCarthage. In the spring of 219 BCE, helaid siege to Saguntum, which appealedto Rome for help. The senate promisedassistance, but it never arrived, and thecity fell to Hannibal after eight months.Declaring Hannibal’s attack to be a vio-lation of the Ebro treaty, the Romansinsisted that Hannibal be surrendered tothem. When Carthage refused, theRomans declared war.

The Romans had seriously underesti-mated the revived strength of Carthage.During his time in Spain, Hannibal hadbuilt upon the foundations laid by hisfather and recruited and trained a formi-dable army, larger than any previouslyput in the field by the Carthaginians. Inresponse to this danger, the Romans sentout two forces, one to Carthage and oneto Spain to engage Hannibal. However,Hannibal had no intention of waiting forthe Romans to arrive. Instead, heplanned to attack them on their homeground. He assembled an army of some40,000 troops and cavalry and, usingbattle-trained elephants to carry supplies,

ANCIENT ROME

This bust depicts the

Roman general

Scipio Africanus,

who was largely

responsible for the

ultimate defeat of

Carthage in the

Second Punic War.

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39

THE PUNIC WARS

Hannibal’s greatest

victory over the

Romans came at

the Battle of

Cannae.This

illustration of

the battle comes

from a 15th-

century-CE

manuscript.

he set out from New Carthage (present-day Cartagena in southeastern Spain) andheaded for Rome by land. He crossedthe Pyrenees Mountains and the RhoneRiver and marched east along theMediterranean coast.

Hannibal in ItalyTo reach the Italian Peninsula, Hannibal’sarmy had to cross the Alps, a feat that hasbecome one of the most famous in mili-tary history.The march took 15 days.TheCarthaginians had to contend withsnowstorms and avalanches, as well asattacks from mountain tribes. Most ofthe elephants and some 15,000 men diedfrom cold or starvation. However, by thefall of 218 BCE, Hannibal and his armyhad reached the Po Valley, around 80miles (129 km) south of the Alps, andwere prepared to take on the forcesRome was assembling.

The first Roman general to confrontHannibal was the consul PubliusCornelius Scipio. Scipio had initiallybeen dispatched to Spain, but he hastilyreturned when news of Hannibal’s inva-sion reached him.The two generals metat the Ticinus River. Even though theywere considerably depleted, Hannibal’sforces had no difficulty in defeating theRomans. Scipio retreated to the base ofthe Apennine Mountains, where heawaited the arrival of another Romanforce, under Sempronius Longus, whichhad originally been assembled for anattack on Carthage.The combined armyattacked Hannibal at the Trebia River,but the Romans were encircled by theCarthaginians and lost two-thirds oftheir men. After this disastrous Romandefeat, the road to the south was open for Hannibal.

Defeat at Trasimene In the spring of 217 BCE, the Romansenate dispatched one consul with anarmy to Ariminum on the Adriatic coast,

while the other, Gaius Flaminius, wasposted at Arretium in Etruria.As soon ashe received news that Hannibal was onthe move in Etruria, Flaminius followedwith his army. Anxious to catch up withthe Carthaginians, Flaminius madeforced marches and neglected to sendout scouts to reconnoiter the surround-ing terrain. He was caught in a narrowpass near Lake Trasimene, whereHannibal’s forces suddenly surroundedFlaminius’s army and wiped it out.

In Rome, a nervous crowd waited fornews. At dusk, the praetor MarcusPomponius appeared before the senatebuilding. Without preamble, he simplysaid: “A great battle was fought and wewere completely defeated.” Although all

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 41: Historia de Roma ilustrada

Rome was in shock, there was no panic.Instead, the famous patrician QuintusFabius Maximus Verrucosus was appoint-ed dictator—the special office held onlyin time of dire emergency.

Contrary to expectations after thedefeat at Lake Trasimene, Hannibal didnot march on Rome. Instead, he passedon to southern Italy, where he unsuccess-fully attempted to persuade the southerncities to defect and ally themselves withhim. Hannibal was pursued by a Romanarmy led by the newly appointed dicta-tor, Fabius, who avoided any direct con-frontation.This policy was unpopular inRome and soon earned Fabius the nick-name cunctator (dawdler). Nevertheless,Fabius eventually inflicted some seriousdamage on Hannibal, and his presenceencouraged the southern Italian cities toremain loyal to Rome.

The Battle of CannaeHannibal spent the winter of 217–216BCE at Gerontium, moving his army toCannae on the Ofanto River in thespring.When Fabius’s six-month term asdictator was over, command of the

Roman army was given to two new con-suls, Gaius Terentius Varro and LuciusAemilius Paulus. In the summer, they ledtheir army of around 85,000 men towardHannibal’s encampment at Cannae.Hannibal, with his smaller army of55,000, prepared to fight on the plainbefore the city.

The engagement that followed was aclassic example of Hannibal’s militarygenius. Hannibal arranged his infantry ina convex shape, with his weakest troopsat the very center. When the Romansmade a frontal attack, the center fell backto lead the enemy into a trap. Hannibal’sveteran infantry, positioned on the flanks,advanced and turned inward to trap theRomans. At this point, Hannibal’s caval-ry, having defeated its Roman counter-part,wheeled around from the rear to cutoff any Roman retreat. The encircledRoman army was largely destroyed; itwas the most disastrous defeat Rome hadever suffered. Some 50,000 Roman andallied soldiers died, including the consulAemilius Paulus.Varro escaped with whatwas left of the army. Hannibal lost only6,000 men.

40

ANCIENT ROME

The Magnanimityof Scipio Africanusby Bernardino

Fungai depicts the

Roman general as a

Renaissance prince.

The painting dates

to around the

beginning of the

16th century CE.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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41

THE PUNIC WARS

The tomb of

Archimedes is found

in Syracuse, Sicily.

The Greek inventor’s

war machines

helped defend the

city against

Roman attack.

Even after this catastrophe, Romewould not capitulate, refusing even toreceive Hannibal’s messengers.The prog-nosis was dire, however. In addition toRome’s unprecedented loss of men,another problem for the Romans wasthat the southern cities were now defect-ing to Hannibal. Rome raised newlegions and prepared for further resist-ance. However, Hannibal himself was inneed of reinforcements, which Carthagefailed to send. Instead of marching onRome, he tried, and failed, to takeNaples. He then retired to Capua, Italy’ssecond largest city, which opened itsgates to him. Hannibal wintered there,while more cities defected to him.

Fighting on three frontsAfter the Battle of Cannae, the Romansadopted the skirmishing tactics that hadpreviously been used by Fabius, limitingthemselves to small battles and expedi-tions to punish deserting allies.They stillruled the sea, and this dominance madeit difficult for Carthage to send rein-forcements to Hannibal.

The war continued on three fronts.On the Italian Peninsula, deserting allieswere gradually resubjugated by theRomans. In 212 BCE, Hannibal won theimportant seaboard city of Tarentum, butthe following year, he lost Capua, whichthe Romans starved into submission.Thisloss cost Hannibal the support of many ofhis other Italian allies.

On Sicily, Syracuse had been an allyof Rome under King Hiero, but after hedied in 215 BCE, Syracuse sided withCarthage. A Roman expeditionary forcelaid siege to Syracuse in 213 BCE butwas temporarily rebuffed, partly by theingenious war machines invented by theGreek mathematician Archimedes, a citi-zen of Syracuse. The city finally fell to the Romans in 212 BCE throughtreachery, and in the ensuing looting byRoman soldiers,Archimedes was killed.

On the third front, in Spain, theCarthaginian army was now command-ed by Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal (notto be confused with his brother-in-lawof the same name). A Roman expedi-tionary force under the brothers Publius

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Page 43: Historia de Roma ilustrada

Cornelius and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipioharassed Hasdrubal and gained the alle-giance of tribes north of the Ebro River.In 211 BCE, the brothers crossed theEbro and took Saguntum. However, theywere compelled to divide their dwin-dling forces.As a result, the Romans weredefeated in two separate battles, and bothScipios were killed.

Carthage loses SpainIn 210 BCE, Rome sent another army toSpain, this time commanded by the sonand namesake of Publius CorneliusScipio. This 25-year-old, later to beknown as Scipio Africanus, had served innorthern Italy against Hannibal and hadheld the office of aedile (magistrate), eventhough theoretically he had been tooyoung to do so. He was granted his com-mand by the comitia centuriata (militaryassembly), which also bestowed on himthe rank of proconsul. This honor gavehim the same authority as a consul.Theassembly’s confidence in the youngScipio was not misplaced; he was toprove himself one of the greatest gener-als of the ancient world.

After landing in Spain, Scipio quick-ly restored the morale of the defeatedtroops, leading them to one victory afteranother. In 209 BCE, he led a surpriseattack and took New Carthage, whereHasdrubal had his headquarters, arsenals,and main base of supplies.The followingyear, Scipio defeated Hasdrubal at theBattle of Baecula, but the Carthaginianmanaged to retreat with most of his armyintact. Hasdrubal decided to abandonSpain and try to reach his brotherHannibal in Italy. Scipio allowed him toleave, rather than risk a dangerous pursuitthrough the Alps.

A new Carthaginian army was thenassembled in Spain, and in 206 BCE, thisnew force faced Scipio and his army atthe Battle of Ilipa near Seville.Thanks tothe tactical brilliance of Scipio, the

Carthaginian forces were enveloped andutterly destroyed. By the end of the year,Carthage had surrendered Spain toRome for good.

Hasdrubal crosses the Alps Hasdrubal succeeded in marching over-land to Italy and, in 207 BCE, crossed theAlps to reach the northern ItalianPeninsula. Augmenting his army withtroops supplied by Gauls and Ligurians,he proceeded south, intending to meetup with Hannibal and mount a jointattack on Rome. However, he was sur-prised at the Metaurus River by aRoman force under the command of theconsul Gaius Claudius Nero. In the ensu-ing battle, Hasdrubal’s army was annihi-lated, and he himself was killed. TheRomans announced Hasdrubal’s defeatby beheading him and tossing his headinto his brother Hannibal’s camp.

War in AfricaScipio returned to Rome in 205 BCEand was elected consul. He then per-suaded the senate to allow him to takethe war to Africa and punish theCarthaginians on their home ground.First, he took his army to Sicily and spenta year training it in the battle tactics(based on Hannibal’s own methods) thathad won him success at the battles ofBaecula and Ilipa.Then, in 204 BCE, helanded on African soil, where he was metwith fierce resistance. However, in thespring, he made a surprise night attackon the enemy’s camps, setting fire tothem and putting the troops to thesword. The Carthaginians reassembledtheir forces, only to be completelydestroyed by Scipio at the Battle of theGreat Plains that same summer.

In a last-ditch attempt to retrieve thesituation, Hannibal was recalled fromItaly. In 202 BCE, Hannibal visitedScipio in his tent to discuss a number ofpeace proposals. Scipio would not accept

42

ANCIENT ROME

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43

THE PUNIC WARS

This undated

modern painting

depicts Scipio’s

victory procession

after the Battle of

Zama in 202 BCE.

See also:

Rome’s Early Wars and Conquests (page 24)

them, and Hannibal decided to riskeverything in a final battle.The two sidesmet in October at the Battle of Zama.Hannibal’s new recruits fled, and hisveterans were cut down by the cavalryof the Romans’ African ally, Masinissa.The Carthaginian army was almosttotally destroyed, but Hannibal was oneof the few survivors. Scipio’s victory atZama brought the Second Punic War toan end and earned him the title Africanusthe Elder.

The death of HannibalUnder the peace treaty signed betweenCarthage and Rome in 201 BCE,Carthage was required to yield Spain toRome, dismantle its fleet, and pay thesum of 10,000 gold talents over 50 years.Carthage was forbidden to wage waroutside Africa, and only with Rome’spermission within Africa.

Hannibal returned to Carthage,where he took up a political role,

amending the constitution and reform-ing its government and financial system.He became unpopular with some aristo-crats, who accused him of plotting withAntioch III of Syria to make war onRome. Fearful of Rome’s retribution,Hannibal fled to Antioch’s court atEphesus in 195 BCE and advised theking on war with Rome.

When Antioch was defeated atMagnesia in 190 BCE, Rome demandedthat he surrender Hannibal. Fearing forhis life, Hannibal fled once more, eventu-ally taking refuge with Prusias II, king ofBithynia in Anatolia. The king couldbarely control the pirates on his shores,much less protect Hannibal from theRomans, who again demanded his sur-render.Around 183 BCE, rather than fallinto Roman hands, Hannibal took poi-son and ended his own life.

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REVOLUTION ANDREFORM

In the second and early first centuries BCE, Rome continued togain new territory. At the same time, there was social upheaval

at home. Class conflict eventually led to one aristocrat, LuciusCornelius Sulla, marching on Rome at the head of an army.

Rome’s victory over Carthage in 201BCE made Rome the preeminent powerin the western Mediterranean region.However, although the Italian Peninsulahad suffered greatly during the course ofthe Second Punic War, Rome continuedwith its military exploits.The ruling elitewanted to punish the Macedonian king,Philip V, for his alliance with theCarthaginian general Hannibal. In 200BCE, in response to requests for help fromPergamum and Rhodes, a Roman armywas sent into Greece. The expeditionmarked the start of the short-lived SecondMacedonian War (see box, page 46).Thewar came to an end in 197 BCE, whenthe Romans inflicted a decisive defeat onPhilip at the Battle of Cynoscephalae.Thisvictory ensured that Rome dominatedthe eastern Mediterranean region as wellas the western.

Roman armies moved swiftly fromone conflict to another. They nextmarched against Antioch III, the king ofSyria, defeating him at the Battle ofMagnesia in 190 BCE. The once greatSeleucid Empire was forced into anignominious peace, ceding all its hold-ings in Anatolia and Europe to Rome.

The latifundiaWhile these developments were happen-ing abroad, a social revolution was takingplace at home. Much of the land that had

been seized during the Punic Wars fellinto the hands of the wealthy in the formof vast land holdings called latifundia(large estates). These estates were runeither as mixed farms producing grain,wine, and olives, or as ranch-type opera-tions supporting large herds of sheep andcattle. Both types were generally workedby slaves rather than free men, anarrangement that had several advantagesfrom the owners’ point of view. Slavesworked long hours, could not be calledaway to do military service, and did nothave to be paid wages.These large estatessqueezed out the small peasant farmers,many of whom sold out to the largelandowners and then either hired them-selves out as day laborers, if they couldfind work, or migrated to Rome foremployment there.

Corruption in this new society wasrife, particularly in the field of tax collec-tion. Civil servants in the provinces soldregional concessions for tax collection athigh prices. Wealthy noblemen thenformed large consortiums to purchasesuch concessions. They then leased outtheir licenses to publicani (tax collectors),who paid up front and then recouped

44

TIME LINE

197 BCERoman victory at Battle ofCynoscephalae ends SecondMacedonian War.

146 BCECarthage falls toRoman force underScipio Aemilianus.

133 BCETiberius Gracchuselected tribune;murdered laterthat year.

123 BCEGaius Gracchuselected tribune;uses office to force social change.

108 BCEGaius Marius electedconsul; goes on tohold office further six times.

88 BCELucius CorneliusSulla marches onRome at head of army and drives opponentsfrom city.

82 BCESulla declareshimself dictator. This mosaic from the second century CE

depicts horses being used to thresh wheat.

Large estates such as that depicted here

were known as latifundia.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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ANCIENT ROME

THE MACEDONIAN WARS

46

During the Second Punic War, Hannibalformed an alliance with King Philip V of

Macedon.The move incensed the Romans, whodispatched a fleet under the general ValeriusLaevinus to the Adriatic in 214 BCE. Over thecourse of the next nine years, there were a number of skirmishes between Roman andMacedonian forces, but no large-scale, conclusivebattles. In 205 BCE, the Romans made peace withPhilip.This largely uneventful struggle is known asthe First Macedonian War.

After the Second Punic War ended in 201 BCE,the senate felt that not enough had been doneto punish Philip for his alliance with Hannibal.The senate was also alarmed by the fact that Philip was seeking to extend his influence in the Aegean and had attacked severalGreek city-states inthe area. In 200 BCE,a Roman force ofaround 30,000men was sent toApollonia in Illyria,north of Macedon.In 197 BCE, theRomans confrontedPhilip’s forces atthe Battle ofCynoscephalae.Philip was defeated,and under the termsof the peace treaty,he was forced togive up all of his possessions outside ofMacedon and pay amassive sum of money toRome.As a result of this treaty,Rome now dominated almost theentire Mediterranean region.

The Third Macedonian War broke out whenPerseus, the ambitious son and successor of PhilipV, incensed the Roman senate by entering intotreaties with neighboring city-states. In 171 BCE,Rome declared war on Perseus, and initially,Perseus achieved some successes in his engagements with the Roman army. However,in 168 BCE, he suffered an ignominious defeat atthe Battle of Pydna.As at Cynoscephalae, theMacedonian army, using its traditional phalanx formation, proved to be no match for the Romantroops with their more flexible tactics. Perseuswas taken prisoner and escorted in chains backto Rome, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. His country was divided into

four republics, all of which had to pay annual tribute to their

Roman conquerors.

In 152 BCE, a pretender tothe throne of Macedonia,

called Andriscus,attempted to restorethe monarchy and unitethe four republics inan alliance againstRome.A Roman army under QuintusCaecilius Metellus was sent to put down

the rebellion and hadno difficulty in expelling

the pretender.As a result,Macedonia was finally madea province of Rome in 148 BCE.

This sculpture from the first

century CE depicts Philip V

of Macedon, a former ally

of the Carthaginian general

Hannibal.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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47

REVOLUTION AND REFORM

In this 18th-century-

CE illustration,

the tribune Gaius

Gracchus addresses

the popular

assembly.

their outlay by collecting the taxes.Everyone but the tax payer made a sig-nificant profit.

Attempts at reformMany people spoke out against the cor-ruption, demanding a return to theRoman tradition of integrity. The mostfamous voice belonged to MarcusPorcius Cato (234–149 BCE), alsoknown as Cato the Elder. Cato was aprosperous gentleman farmer who hadonce been awarded a triumph for hismilitary service in Spain. He had alsoserved as quaestor (junior magistrate) in204 BCE, as aedile (temple functionary)in 199 BCE, as praetor (consular deputy)in 198 BCE, and as consul in 195 BCE.When serving as censor in 184 BCE, hesuspended any senator he considered tobe immoral or unworthy of office.Opposed to Greek influence on Rome,Cato believed that most of the city’sproblems could be solved by a return toancient Roman traditions.

In 157 BCE, Cato was sent to Africato mediate in a conflict between theCarthaginians and the Numidians. Hecame back convinced that Carthage wasan even worse threat to Rome thanGreece. Until his death in 149 BCE, heclosed every speech with the wordsdelenda est Carthago (meaning “Carthagemust be destroyed”). His considerableinfluence helped to bring about theThird Punic War (see box, page 49),which achieved just that aim.

Other agitation for reform camefrom a group of senators who were polit-ical enemies of Cato. This faction was led by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus(168–133 BCE).Tiberius Gracchus had adistinguished military record. He foughtin the Third Punic War and was said tohave been the first Roman soldier toscale the wall of Carthage in the battlethat destroyed the city in 146 BCE.During the Spanish Wars of 154 to 133

BCE, when the native tribes sought tofree themselves from Roman oppression,Tiberius served as quaestor to theRoman army in Spain. In 137 BCE, hesaved 20,000 defeated Roman troopsfrom slaughter by negotiating with thevictorious city of Numantia.

On his return to Rome,Tiberius sawthat Roman society was polarizedbetween a small group of very rich aris-tocrats, many of whom were corrupt,and a mass of landless peasants. Muchpublic land had been illegally appropriat-ed by large landowners after the SecondPunic War, leaving many rural areas moreor less depopulated of peasants. Theseareas could only be repopulated by offer-ing the peasants land, which would entailrecovering and redistributing land thathad formerly been public property.Withthis program in mind,Tiberius presentedhimself as a candidate for the post oftribune of the people.

Tiberius was elected in 133 BCE andimmediately presented a land reform bill

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Page 49: Historia de Roma ilustrada

directly to the concilium plebis, by-passing the senate.The aristocratic sena-tors, led by Tiberius’s cousin ScipioAfricanus the Younger, not only saw thisas a threat to their landholdings, but alsoto their political power—normally, suchbills were discussed by the senate beforethey were presented to the conciliumplebis. The senators persuaded anothertribune, Marcus Octavius, to veto thebill. Not deterred by this, Tiberius con-vinced the assembly to remove thetroublesome tribune from office. Thisaction was unprecedented, but Tiberiusdefended it by arguing that it was as

necessary as the driving out of kings—the interests of the people took prece-dence over the immunity of the tribune.After this initial setback, the assemblyvoted through the land reform bill with-out further difficulty.

A commission set up to implementthe reform consisted of Tiberius, hisbrother Gaius, and his father-in-lawAppius Claudius Pulcher. However, theirwork was sabotaged at every step by thesenate. Tiberius proposed using fundsfrom the recently acquired province ofAsia to help the newly settled peasantsbuy stock. However, this idea enraged

48

ANCIENT ROME

This relief sculpture

depicts a Roman

shopkeeper.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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49

REVOLUTION AND REFORM

Although the wealth and power ofCarthage were badly damaged by theSecond Punic War, which ended in201 BCE, the city gradually began toregain its status in the half-centurythat followed. However, it sufferedconstant harassment from itsneighbor, Numidia, which made aseries of incursions into Carthaginianterritory.When Carthage took stepsto raise an army to defend itsborders (in direct breach of itspeace treaty with Rome), the senateacted swiftly. It dispatched a largecombined land and sea force, underboth consuls, to deal with Carthageonce and for all.The city wasbesieged, but it proved difficult totake. One of the new consuls electedin 147 BCE was Scipio Aemilianus,the adopted grandson of ScipioAfricanus the Elder, who had

defeated Carthage at Zama in202 BCE.The young Scipio wasgiven the task of bringing Carthageto its knees.

In 146 BCE, Scipio managed tobreach the outer wall of the city.The Carthaginian garrison, althoughweakened by hunger, put up strongresistance, and it took a week ofhand-to-hand fighting through thestreets to reach the citadel, wherethe remaining 50,000 citizens werehuddled. Scipio took them all prisoner (later selling them intoslavery) and set fire to the buildings,letting them burn to the ground.He cursed the ruins, pouring salt onthem, and forbade reoccupation ofthe site for 25 years.The territoryof Carthage became the newRoman province of Africa.

THE THIRD PUNIC WAR

the senate, which considered the govern-ment of the provinces to be its own pre-rogative. When his term of officeexpired, Tiberius stood for reelection,anxious to see through his reforms.Thisact was another unprecedented move,and for Tiberius, it proved a step too far.In the heated arguments that followedhis announcement, several senators,together with their armed slaves andclients, surrounded Tiberius and beathim to death. His body was thrown intothe Tiber River. Some 300 of Tiberius’sfollowers met a similar fate.

Following Tiberius’s death in 133BCE, the Roman senate divided intotwo factions. The progressive populares(advocates of the people) wanted to con-tinue the reforms of Tiberius, while theoptimates (aristocrats) wanted the senate

to retain all power.The land reform lawwas left in place, but little was done toimplement it.

Gaius Sempronius GracchusTiberius’s younger brother GaiusGracchus (c. 153–121 BCE) was an evenmore fervent reformer than Tiberius. Hewas elected tribune of the people in 123BCE. His many proposals had one objec-tive, that of weakening the power of theoptimates. Gaius first attacked the jurysystem under which provincial governorswere tried on charges of corruption.These juries usually consisted of sena-tors. Gaius introduced a bill that gave thisresponsibility to the equites, members ofthe business class.

Gaius then turned his attention to thepoor of Rome. He established the lex

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Page 51: Historia de Roma ilustrada

frumentaria (grain law), which providedfor the distribution of grain to the citi-zens at a fixed price, subsidized by thestate. He also pursued an active policy torelocate the rootless people of Rome’sstreets to new colonies, including oneamid the ruins of Carthage. In contrast tohis brother, Gaius was reelected tribunewithout difficulty in 122 BCE.

During his second term of office,Gaius introduced a bill that would grantfull civil rights to the Italian allies. Thismove was not popular with his fellowRomans, however.The bill was defeated,and Gaius was not elected for a thirdterm.The senate then canceled the colo-nization of Carthage, claiming that thecity was eternally cursed.

Without the protection of office,Gaius was vulnerable to attack. In a riotthat followed a demonstration organized

by Gaius, a servant of one of the consulswas killed.The death gave the optimates apretext to have the senate declare a stateof emergency. The consul LuciusOpimius assembled a vigilante patrol thatattacked Gaius and his guards on theAventine Hill, where they had takenrefuge. Determined not to fall into thehands of his enemies, Gaius ordered hisown slave to stab him to death. Some3,000 of Gaius’s followers were subse-quently indicted and executed.

For the moment, the senate had tri-umphed, but it was a hollow victory.Rome desperately needed a new consti-tution. While the old form of govern-ment had been adequate for running acity, it was hopelessly unsuitable now thatRome had become a regional power.

Expanding the empireWhile attempts at reform were takingplace at home, Rome’s armies were con-tinuing to gain territory abroad. Afterannexing Macedonia, Rome acquiredterritory in Anatolia. In 133 BCE, theking of Pergamum died and left his king-dom to Rome in his will. The regionbecame the province of Asia.

After driving the Carthaginians outof Spain in 206 BCE, the Romans haddivided the Iberian Peninsula into twoprovinces. However, mismanagement bythe provincial governors led to years ofrebellion. Not surprisingly, governmentalservice in Spain was not popular amongRoman citizens. One of the centersof resistance to Rome was the smallnorthern city of Numantia, the chiefstronghold of the Celtiberians (Celtsliving on the Iberian Peninsula).Numantia held out against the Romansfor nine years. Eventually, the Romangeneral Scipio Aemilianus successfullyblockaded the city, which was thendriven by hunger to surrender in 133BCE. Scipio destroyed the city and soldthe survivors into slavery.

50

This 19th-century-

CE lithograph

depicts the Roman

general Scipio

Aemilianus watching

the destruction

of Carthage.

ANCIENT ROME

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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Threat from the northIn 105 BCE, Rome came under thethreat of two Germanic tribes, theCimbrians and Teutons, who were on the move in Gaul, threatening the bor-ders of Italy.A consular army sent to stopthem was completely destroyed. It wasfeared that the tribes were heading forRome. Then, to everyone’s surprise, thetribes changed tack and marched towardSpain, giving Rome a respite.

In 104 BCE, the people electedMarius consul for a second time, hopinghe would save them from the maraudingnortherners. He immediately formed anew army and marched into southernGaul. In 102 BCE, Marius encountered

Trouble in AfricaToward the end of the second centuryBCE, Rome became involved in a civil war in Numidia, a kingdom in northernAfrica (part of present-day Algeria).During the course of the struggle, anumber of Italian merchants were massa-cred by troops belonging to Jugurtha,one of the rival claimants to the throne.In 111 BCE, a Roman army was sent toNumidia to punish Jugurtha. However,the campaign dragged on for two years.

In 109 BCE, the consul CaeciliusMetellus was put in charge of the armyin Africa. He restored order and disci-pline among the troops and began acampaign to defeat and capture Jugurtha.However, Jugurtha’s greater knowledgeof the local terrain allowed him to stayout of Roman hands.

Metellus had a capable deputy inGaius Marius (157–86 BCE), an equeswho had risen to the position of senator.Marius was ambitious and begged leaveof his commanding officer in order toreturn to Rome and seek election asconsul. He was successful in obtainingthe office in 108 BCE.The comitia tributa(assembly of the people) then appointedhim commander-in-chief in Africa—an appointment hitherto made only bythe senate.

Marius returned to Africa with a levyof raw recruits, which he proceeded totrain to a high standard. He continuedthe war against Jugurtha, capturing thetreasury and inflicting considerable losseson Jugurtha’s forces. However, Mariusstill could not capture Jugurtha.

Eventually, the questor LuciusCornelius Sulla (138–78 BCE) enteredinto negotiations with Bocchus I, king ofMauretania, who was Jugurtha’s father-in-law. In 106 BCE, Bocchus was per-suaded to hand the Numidian king overto the Roman army. This act ended thewar; Jugurtha was taken to Rome, wherehe was executed.

51

REVOLUTION AND REFORM

This bust depicts the

Roman general and

statesman Gaius

Marius, who is best

known for the

reforms he made to

the Roman army.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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52

ANCIENT ROME

For his campaigns in Numidia and the north,Gaius Marius raised an army from a class that

had not previously been eligible for military service.The property qualification was abolished,enabling members of the proletariat to volunteerfor service, which they did in large numbers. Forthe poorer class of citizen, army service offeredmany attractions.There was a regular pay packet(although the cost of equipment was deductedfrom it), and on demobilization, the soldier waspromised a parcel of land.

Marius subjected his new recruits to rigoroustraining, but however hard he drove them, hisdown-to-earth approach ensured that he retainedhis popularity. Every soldier was equipped with asword and a javelin and was drilled to becomehighly proficient in single hand-to-hand combat.Marius made the troops carry their own heavy

equipment, so they were not dependent on a baggage train, and raised their power ofendurance by setting them arduous tasks such as digging canals.

Many of Marius’s recruits became professionalsoldiers, which changed the character of the armyfrom that of a temporary militia assembled fora specific campaign to that of a regular standingarmy. Soldiers now had great feelings of loyaltyto their comrades-in-arms, to their legion, andto their commanding officer. One effect of thischange was that since the soldiers’ strongestbond of loyalty was to their commander, he hadthe potential to use them against the state.

This detail from the victory column of Marcus

Aurelius depicts Roman soldiers. Marius’s changes had

long-term implications for the Roman army.

THE NEW ROMAN ARMY

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53

REVOLUTION AND REFORM

The tombs of the

kings of the ancient

region of Pontus are

located in this

mountainside in

northeastern Turkey.

The actions of one

king of Pontus,

Mithridates VI, led

to war with Rome.

the Teutons at Aquae Sextiae, where heencircled and totally destroyed them.Thefollowing year, he defeated the Cimbriansat Vercellae on the northern ItalianPeninsula, thereby putting an end to thethreat from the north.

The social warOnce back in Rome, Marius threw him-self into domestic politics, associatinghimself with the people’s party. Its lead-ers had become increasingly radical, andin 100 BCE, Marius, as consul, wasforced to suppress riots, which consider-ably dented his popularity.

The Italian cities, meanwhile, wereagitating to be granted full Roman citi-

zenship. Their contribution of men tothe Roman army in recent conflicts hadbeen considerable, and they were nolonger willing to be considered subordi-nate allies. In 91 BCE, their cause wastaken up by the tribune Marcus LiviusDrusus. However, the position was sounpopular in Rome that it resulted in hisassassination. When the Italian alliesheard the news, they rose in revolt.

The Italian rebels formed a confed-eracy, founded their own capital atCorfinium (which they renamed Italia),and created a senate and magistrates likethose in Rome.The rebels also raised anarmy, which, because many of its soldiershad been trained by Marius, was more

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 55: Historia de Roma ilustrada

than a match for the Roman army.After two years of fighting, the Romansfinally ended the rebellion by grantingfull civil rights to the citizens of everycity that surrendered.

Sulla and civil warLucius Cornelius Sulla had distinguishedhimself by his leadership in the social warand was rewarded with the consulship in88 BCE.That same year, Mithridates VI,the ambitious king of Pontus in the east,came into conflict with Rome. His

armies entered the province of Asia,where they were received as liberators bythe populace, who had been exploited

financially for almost 40 years.With theencouragement of Mithridates, thepeople of Asia turned on theiroppressors and massacred some80,000 Italian residents.

In Rome, the senate gave Sullacommand of the forces preparing to

go east to confront Mithridates, eventhough Marius had been hoping forthe appointment. Marius was not pop-

ular with the senate, but he had plentyof support from the equites and the popu-

lar party, including the tribune PubliusSulpicius. Sulpicius persuaded the popu-lar assembly to reverse the senate’s deci-sion and invest Marius with Sulla’s com-mand in Asia.The result was civil war.

Marching on Rome In 88 BCE, Sulla journeyed to southernItaly and met up with the legions thatwere preparing for the campaign in Asia.In spite of the assembly’s decision, thelegions accepted Sulla as their leader.Sulla then took several of the legions andmarched on Rome, an unprecedentedstep. He occupied the city and drove outMarius and many of Marius’s supporters.The senate was once more firmly in con-trol, and Sulla was confirmed in his com-mand. He immediately departed forPontus in the east.

Not long after Sulla left for Pontus,members of the people’s party raised anew army in Etruria. Led by Marius andthe consul Cinna, this army took Rome.Marius was reelected consul. The occu-pation rapidly degenerated into a blood-bath; many members of the aristocracywere murdered by Marius’s troops.Eventually, some semblance of order andjustice was restored by Cinna. Marius,beginning to show signs of madness,died early in 86 BCE. Cinna became avirtual dictator.

54

ANCIENT ROME

This bust, made

around 50 BCE,

depicts the Roman

dictator Lucius

Cornelius Sulla.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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55

REVOLUTION AND REFORM

The Temple of

Hercules Victor was

built in the Forum

Boarium, Rome,

around 120 BCE.

See also:

The End of the Republic (page 56)

Even though he had been outlawed byhis political opponents back home, Sullacontinued the war against Mithridates inthe east. After much hard fighting,Mithridates was forced to capitulate, andSulla was free to confront his opponentsin Rome.

Sulla triumphant In 83 BCE, Sulla landed in Brindisiumand marched once again on Rome. Hisforces were augmented by disaffectedaristocrats who flocked to his standard. In82 BCE, after a year of heavy fighting,Sulla occupied Rome, appointing him-self dictator. A reign of terror followed.Sulla instituted a purge of his politicalopponents, condemning them to deathor banishment. He also published pro-scription lists; anyone whose nameappeared on them lost all his possessionsand could be killed at any time.

Sulla then reorganized the govern-ment. He reformed the constitution,attempting to restore the traditionalpower of the senate and aristocracy, ofwhich he himself was a member. Forexample, he decreed that tribunesshould no longer be allowed to intro-duce bills to the assembly or to serve inother political positions after their termof office had finished.

When he had sufficiently strength-ened the power of his class, Sulla with-drew from the political stage. In 79 BCE,he resigned his dictatorship and retired toan estate in Campania. He died the fol-lowing year. However, the attempts atsocial change that had begun with theGracchi brothers and continued withMarius were not yet over.

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THE END OF THEREPUBLIC

In the late first century BCE, the Roman republic was torn apartby a series of civil wars. A number of ambitious men fought for

power.The ascent of one of them—Julius Caesar—ushered in a newera of Roman history.

The first century BCE was to see the endof the Roman republic. First Pompey(106–48 BCE) and then Julius Caesar(100–44 BCE) gathered authority intheir own hands as power graduallypassed from the senate and the Romanpeople to an absolute ruler. Noted fortheir military as well as their politicalability, Pompey and Caesar brought thewhole of the Mediterranean regionunder Roman rule.

The aftermath of Sulla’s reignIn the early first century BCE, theRoman political system had been trans-formed by the actions of LuciusCornelius Sulla, who had marched onRome and set himself up as dictator.Once he had gained power, Sulla had setabout strengthening the role of the aris-tocrats and the senate and weakeningthat of both the equites (the business class)and the common people.

Sulla died in retirement in 78 BCE,leaving Rome to recover from 10 yearsof civil war and atrocities. Most Romancitizens wanted peace and a time forrecovery, but Rome was threatened onseveral fronts.The most serious challengecame from the general and politicianQuintus Sertorius. Sertorius had refusedto join Sulla’s invasion of Italy in 82BCE, making instead for Spain. Claimingthat he was a representative of the gov-

ernment in Rome, Sertorius set up a“counter senate” of prominent Romancitizens.An honest and fair administrator,he won local support across the IberianPeninsula. Three Roman armies weresent out to unseat him, but, with the helpof a locally recruited army, Sertorius wasable to defeat them in quick succession.

In late 77 BCE, the senate sent a largearmy out to Spain to bring downSertorius once and for all. The army’scommander was 29-year-old GnaeusPompeius, better known as Pompey, whohad been an ally of Sulla during the civilwar. Pompey set out with plenty ofyouthful optimism, confident that hewould soon accomplish his task, especial-ly because there was already a Romanarmy in Spain under the command ofthe general Metellus Pius. However,much to his embarrassment, it tookPompey five years to achieve the senate’saim. Only when Sertorius was assassinat-ed by his own men in 72 BCE wasPompey able to bring the war to a suc-cessful conclusion.

The military might of Rome wasbeing stretched over several theaters ofwar. In 75 BCE, another major war hadbegun in Bithynia in Anatolia, whereKing Mithridates VI of Pontus had againchallenged the power of Rome.Mithridates had already waged waragainst Rome twice and now rose up

56

TIME LINE

71 BCECrassus crushesslave revolt led by Spartacus.

63 BCEJulius Caesar elected pontifexmaximus.

53 BCECrassus murderedafter defeat atBattle of Carrhae.

49 BCECaesar crossesRubicon River and marches on Rome at head of army.

48 BCEPompey assassinatedin Egypt.

44 BCECaesar assassinatedin senate on ides of March.

42 BCEMark Antony andOctavian defeatBrutus and Cassius at Battle of Philippi.

30 BCEMark Antony andCleopatra commitsuicide.

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THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

This 19th-century-

CE painting by Karl

von Piloty depicts

the murder of

Julius Caesar in

the senate.

again. The senate responded by sendingthe consul Lucius Lucullus to commandthe Roman forces in that war. In theMediterranean, meanwhile, pirates werepreying on merchant ships, making tradehazardous if not impossible. The praetorMarcus Antonius (the father of the manknown as Mark Antony) was given com-mand of a naval force with a mission torid the seas of piracy.

SpartacusWith the Roman army engaged on mul-tiple fronts, an unprecedented event inItaly took on major importance.A groupof gladiators at the Capua barracks, ledby a slave named Spartacus, escaped andincited other slaves to join the rebellion.Thousands of renegade slaves formed anarmy so powerful that it was able to goon a rampage throughout Italy for two

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years, beating off the armies of two con-suls. The rebellion was eventually haltedby an army of some 40,000 men com-manded by Marcus Licinius Crassus.Spartacus and his troops were finallydefeated at a battle in Lucania in 71 BCE.Spartacus died in the fighting, and 6,000of the rebel slaves were crucified alongthe road that led from Capua to Rome.

Pompey and CrassusIn 70 BCE, the rivals Crassus andPompey both returned to Rome as con-quering heroes, and both demanded tobe made consul. In the event, Crassus andPompey agreed to act together, and both

were elected. The pair then repealedmuch of the legislation introduced bySulla. The senate monopoly on thecourts was abolished; in future, criminaljuries were to consist of both senatorsand wealthy nonsenators. The power ofthe tribunes and censors was restored,and two elected censors at last madegood the promise to grant Roman citi-zenship to the Italian population. Bothcensors were supporters of Pompey, andthe move greatly enhanced Pompey’spopularity.

At the end of his term of office in 69BCE, Pompey refused to take the gover-norship of a province, which would havebeen the normal practice. Massive piracycontinued to paralyze trade in theMediterranean, and so little grain wasreaching Rome that the population wasthreatened with starvation. In 67 BCE,Pompey was given a special command todeal with the situation. Taking over from Marcus Antonius, Pompey assumed command of a fleet of 500 ships andswept the pirates northeast to Cilicia injust 89 days. There, he offered them achoice—either give up piracy or fight tothe death. Those who opted for civilianlife were allowed to colonize abandonedcities along the coast.

His pursuit of the pirates broughtPompey into the vicinity of Lucullus,who had succeeded in drivingMithridates into Armenia. However, farfrom being a popular general, Lucullushad alienated both his own troops andRoman merchants with his rigorousenforcement of discipline and honesttrading practices. Lucullus was also out offavor in Rome, and in 66 BCE, he wasforced to cede his authority to Pompey.Pompey now had supreme command inthe east, and he promptly put it to use bydefeating Mithridates, taking his capital,and slaughtering most of his army.Mithridates himself escaped but latertook his own life.

58

ANCIENT ROME

This sculpture of the

head of Pompey

the Great was

made during the

general’s lifetime.

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THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

Pompey spent the next few yearsconsolidating Rome’s position in theeast. Several new provinces were created,including Syria and Cilicia. Beyondthem, a string of client states protectedthe eastern frontiers of the empire. In 63BCE, the independent Jewish state sur-rounding the city of Jerusalem was con-quered and transformed into a vassal stateunder a client king. As victor, Pompeytreated the Jews with sensitivity. It is saidthat when he entered the great temple inJerusalem,he penetrated only as far as theJewish high priests would go, althoughhe did peer through a curtain to see the “Holy of Holies.” In 62 BCE, his

tasks accomplished, Pompey returned to Rome in glory.

The influence of CiceroBack in Rome, Pompey faced a new andpowerful rival—Marcus Tullius Cicero(106–43 BCE). Cicero, a brilliant lawyerand orator, had risen to fame in 70 BCEwhen he won the case against Verres, thecorrupt governor of Sicily. Verres hadruled in so exploitative a manner that hissubjects had filed a complaint againsthim with the senate. Verres stood trialconfident in the belief that any juryestablished under Sulla could be bribedand that his class and his wealth would

EXTENT OF ROMAN TERRITORY AT END OF RULE OF CAESAR

Rome

Mediterranean Sea

Black Sea

RedSea

PYRENEES

Capua

Massilia

Thessalonica

Alexandria

Syracuse

Luca

BITHYNIA

CILICIA

ARMENIA

SPAIN

EGYPT

SICILY

CORSICA

LUCANIASARDINIA

SYRIA

JUDAEA

ILLYRIA

CISALPINE GAUL

TRANSALPINE

GAUL

Carrhae

Thapsus

Munda

Mutina

Philippi

Actium Pharsalus

Roman territoryin 44 BCE

Major battle

KEY

Jerusalem

Tarsus

ETRURIA

CarthageUtica

Bononia

Adriatic Sea

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Page 61: Historia de Roma ilustrada

ensure his acquittal.Times had changed,however, and much of Sulla’s legislationhad been repealed and criminal justicehad been restored. Cicero, playing to the anti-Sullan political mood of the day, presented overwhelming evidenceagainst Verres in an eloquent speech.Despite the mainly senatorial constitu-tion of the court,Verres was convicted.However, corruption was still rife, bothin Rome and in the provinces.

By 63 BCE, the year Cicero wasmade consul, the situation was ripe forrevolution. On assuming office, Cicerosaw that the foundation of the Romanrepublic was so shaky that it could bedestroyed by the actions of a single com-mander with a strong private army. Allover the Italian Peninsula, debt and discontent were rampant, and familiesdispossessed by Sulla wanted restitution.

In the autumn of 63 BCE, a conspir-acy to overturn the government inRome was hatched by Lucius SergiusCatilina, also known as Catiline, who had

failed to bribe his way into a consulship.Cicero denounced the plot before thesenate and demanded the death penaltyfor Catiline and his prominent followers.However, a young senator called GaiusJulius Caesar argued against summaryexecution. In seeking clemency for theconspirators, Caesar came to prominencefor the first time.

As the debate went on, Catiline fledto Etruria, only to be killed in battle.Marcus Porcius Cato took the opportu-nity to turn the senate in Cicero’s favor,and the remaining conspirators wereexecuted the same day.

Cicero recognized that Rome des-perately needed a period of peace andreconciliation between opposing classes.He contended that the only way to pre-serve the state was through a concordiaordinum (harmony between the classes).More specifically, he sought concordbetween the two most privileged groupsof Roman society—the traditional aris-tocracy and the business class.

60

ANCIENT ROME

This modern statue

depicting the slave

rebel Spartacus

is located in

Sandanski, Bulgaria,

which is believed

to be the birthplace

of Spartacus.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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61

THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

In this 19th-century-

CE fresco by Cesare

Maccari, Cicero

denounces the

traitor Catiline in

the senate.

When Pompey returned in triumphfrom the east in 62 BCE, the senate gavehim a great procession. The senate thenasked Pompey to disband his army, as thelaw required of all victorious command-ers who might pose a threat to therepublic. Much to the senate’s relief, hedid so. In spite of his compliance, thesenate continued to regard Pompey as aserious rival to their own power andfailed to ratify the terms he had negoti-ated in the east or to give land to histroops. Pompey was learning for the sec-ond time that his true allies were not thesenators, but the plebeians of the people’sparty. After all he had done for therepublic, Pompey was reduced to the roleof a defenseless private citizen.

Julius CaesarJulius Caesar was born into a patricianfamily and always claimed that he wasdescended from Aeneas, one of the leg-endary founders of Rome. After servingin various military campaigns as a youngman, Caesar returned to Rome in 63BCE. He then managed to get himselfelected to the position of pontifex max-imus—the head of the state religion.Thiselection was a significant political step.Once regarded as the holder of all sacredknowledge, the pontifex maximus had atone time been responsible for theadministration of the jus divinum—thedivine law by which all Rome was gov-erned. By Caesar’s time, the position wasmaintained by a cynical aristocracy pri-marily for popular effect. However, it stillcarried great political importance andallowed Caesar to dispense virtuallyunlimited patronage to ensure his power.

Caesar’s rise continued when he wasmade praetor in 62 BCE. However, debtwas a considerable problem; among otherpeople, Caesar owed a large amount ofmoney to Marcus Crassus, who was oneof the richest men in Rome. WhenCaesar was made governor of southern

Spain a year later, his other creditors onlylet him go after Crassus personally guar-anteed the debts. In Spain, however,Caesar did well, amassing riches from theinhabitants in typical Roman fashion. Hereturned to Rome in 60 BCE more thanable to clear all his financial obligations.

Caesar wanted the consulship, but helacked the power to gain it on his own.His political opponents in the senatewere reluctant to grant him a triumphalprocession. They did not want him gar-nering the publicity and popularity thata citywide celebration would bring him.Caesar agreed to forego the triumph,choosing instead to run for office. Hewas duly elected consul, with the assis-tance of his old friend Crassus.

The first triumvirateAs consul, Caesar put together an unlike-ly alliance. Needing the money andinfluence of Crassus and the soldiers’vote that Pompey could still bring in,Caesar managed to unite Crassus andPompey in his support.The marriage of

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Page 63: Historia de Roma ilustrada

Pompey to Caesar’s daughter Julia rein-forced the contract. This alliance was apowerful one, especially in view ofCaesar’s penchant for ignoring any lawshe found inconvenient. However, he didensure that the senate at last ratifiedPompey’s agreements in the east. Caesaralso introduced a bill that would givePompey’s troops grants of land. Whenthis bill was obstructed by both thesenate and the popular assembly, Caesarused some of Pompey’s veterans to pushthrough the legislation by force of arms.It soon became clear that the triumvi-rate, not the senate, ruled Rome.

By 58 BCE, Caesar had arranged aspecial command for himself, the gover-norship of the provinces of Illyria,Cisalpine Gaul, and Transalpine Gaul.Taking an army with him, Caesar depart-ed for the north.

The Gallic WarsTransalpine Gaul, lying between themountain ranges of the Pyrenees and the

Alps, was already a highly Romanizedprovince. However, many tribes in

the region were at loggerheads,and they sought Caesar’s sup-

port in their struggles.He andhis legions were only toowilling to help, subjugatingpeoples all the way to theRhine River.

By the time Caesarhad established theRhine as the northernborder of the republic, ithad become clear to the

squabbling Gauls thatthey had invited an

unwelcome and hungryguest into their midst.

However, Caesar only consol-idated his victories over the

Gauls with considerable difficulty.Rebellions in the province were fre-

quent, and the need to subdue them wasalmost constant.

Soon, the authorities in Rome beganto receive reports, many from Caesarhimself, about a war that was winningnew territory. Gradually, Pompey andCrassus grew concerned about Caesar’ssuccess and his rapidly growing power.The senate shared their concern.

However, Caesar still had an advocatein Rome. The former aristocrat PubliusClodius Pulcher, a fanatical member ofthe popular party, had assumed the roleof a plebeian, replacing his aristocraticname Claudius with the less pretentiousClodius.A fiery public speaker, he used aprivate army to intimidate those whowere not impressed by his words alone.After he was elected tribune in 59 BCE,he set out to settle Caesar’s scores withCicero. The issue raised the followingyear was an old one—the summary exe-cution of the Catiline conspirators in 63

62

ANCIENT ROME

This Roman coin

bears the profile

of Julius Caesar.

The appearance

of Caesar’s likeness

on coins led to

accusations that

he wanted to make

himself king.

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THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

BCE. Accusing Cicero of acting uncon-stitutionally, Clodius drove the lawyerinto exile.

Clodius’s ascendancy did not last. In57 BCE, he made the mistake of turningon Pompey, subjecting him to virtualhouse arrest. Pompey retaliated, sum-moning help from his former troops.Clodius sank swiftly from power, unableto prevent Pompey from arranging forCicero’s return.

The Luca agreementRelations among the three members ofthe triumvirate were steadily deteriorat-ing. In 56 BCE, Caesar made a secret tripto Luca, on the Italian Peninsula, wherehe met his two partners to renegotiatetheir alliance.

In 55 BCE, while Pompey andCrassus were sharing the consulship,details of the secret agreement came tolight. Caesar was to stay in Gaul foranother five years, and on his return, he

In this 20th-century-

CE illustration, the

armies of Julius

Caesar cross the

Rubicon River on

their way to Rome.

would be guaranteed another consulshipand continued army command. Pompeywas made commander of Spain butwould stay in Rome to carry out hisconsular duties, delegating his authorityin Spain to others. Crassus was madegovernor of the new province of Syriaand equipped with a large army to bringthe Parthians there under control. Hewould continue to be nominal joint con-sul with Pompey.

The senate was forced to submit tothe arrangement. Even the traditionalistCicero acquiesced, to the point of under-taking to be the spokesman of thealliance. Disillusioned by the failure of the old oligarchy (with its adherence tothe rule of law and its system of patrician-dominated government), Cicero tookrefuge in writing and produced works onphilosophy and rhetoric, including Derepublica and De oratore. However, he wasto remain true to Pompey throughoutthe forthcoming struggles.

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Page 65: Historia de Roma ilustrada

The collapse of the triumvirateIn 55 BCE, Crassus took his army toSyria, hoping for a military victory thatwould give him a level of prestige similarto that of Caesar and Pompey. In 53BCE, Crassus crossed the EuphratesRiver with 40,000 infantry. However, atthe Battle of Carrhae, this force wasannihilated by a 10,000-strong Parthianarmy comprised almost entirely of caval-ry. Crassus escaped with a few other sur-vivors and subsequently attempted tonegotiate with the Parthians. Theyagreed to a meeting, but when Crassusarrived at the appointed place, theParthians murdered him by pouringmolten gold down his throat, an ironicreference to his great wealth.

Now, only Caesar and Pompey wereleft of the original triumvirate, and theties between them had been weakenedwhen Pompey’s wife Julia died in 54BCE. Caesar’s complete conquest ofGaul had given him prestige and wealthalmost equal to those of Pompey, and heused them, as Pompey did not, to influ-ence friends and buy support.

Anarchy in RomeBy the end of 53 BCE, chaos reigned inRome. Gangs, particularly the thugs loyalto Clodius, terrorized the city.The gov-ernment seemed unable to stop the vio-lence. Only Milo, a supporter of the opti-mates with his own client army, opposedClodius. Early in 52 BCE, Milo’s menkilled Clodius in a battle along the ViaAppia. Clodius’s men then went on arampage and burned down public build-ings in the forum. Because of the rioting,it was impossible to hold elections forthe post of praetor.The senate declared astate of emergency and appointedPompey sole consul, with a special briefto restore order.

Pompey introduced severe lawsagainst civil disorder and used the newlaws to convict Milo and other insur-

gents. Rather than be seen as a would-bedictator, Pompey arranged for QuintusMetellus Scipio, his new father-in-law,to share the consulship with him.

Crossing the RubiconCaesar, isolated in Gaul, had two enemiesin Rome—Pompey and the senate. Overthe course of the next two years, Caesarbargained for his political future and per-sonal safety. During that time, Pompeyinstigated a number of legal moves thatwould lessen Caesar’s power when hereturned to Rome. In 49 BCE, Pompeyfinally voiced his opposition to Caesaropenly, and the senate declared Caesar tobe an outlaw.

At that point, Caesar was stationedwith his army on the banks of theRubicon, the river separating CisalpineGaul from Italy. Reviewing the situation,Caesar decided to seize the initiative. Hecrossed the Rubicon and took his armyon a fast march to Rome, with the inten-tion of taking power. To this day, theexpression “crossing the Rubicon”means taking an irrevocable step.

As city after city fell to Caesar,Pompey fled, first from Rome and thenfrom Italy. He planned to contain Caesarin Italy, but Caesar had other ideas. Inanother lightning move, Caesar capturedSpain and then Massilia from Pompey’sgenerals. On his return to Rome, Caesarwas elected consul.

Meanwhile, Pompey had consolidat-ed his forces at Thessalonica in Greece.In 48 BCE, Caesar pursued him there.The two armies met at the Battle ofPharsalus, where Caesar’s veteran troopsdefeated Pompey’s larger army. Pompeyfled from the field and found refuge, sohe thought, in Egypt. However, as soonas he arrived, he met an ignoble death atthe hands of an assassin who wanted toingratiate himself with Caesar. WhenCaesar followed Pompey to Alexandria,the Egyptians offered him Pompey’s head

64

ANCIENT ROME

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65

THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemaic dynasty inEgypt, was descended from the Macedonian

general Ptolemy, who had been appointed governor of Egypt by Alexander the Great.AfterAlexander’s death, Ptolemy took control of thecountry himself, eventually making himself king ofEgypt in 305 BCE. For the 200 years beforeCleopatra’s birth, Egypt had been allied withRome. However, as Rome’s power increased, thepower of the Ptolemies crumbled, until theEgyptians were forced to pay tribute to Rome topreserve their sovereignty.

Cleopatra was born in 69 BCE. She inherited thekingdom on the death of her father, KingPtolemy XII Auletes, in 51 BCE. Cleopatrawas 18 years old at the time and ruledjointly with her 12-year-old brother,Ptolemy XIII. She was a charismaticand highly intelligent woman (shecould speak nine languages), and shedreamed of making Egypt great again.

Cleopatra’s autocratic rule alarmedPtolemy and his supporters, and by 48 BCE, the two siblings wereinvolved in a struggle for control of the country,Cleopatra fled from Alexandria.Later that year, Ptolemybecame involved in the internalpolitics of Rome when Pompeyarrived in Alexandria seekingrefuge. Ptolemy had Pompeykilled, believing that the gesturewould win him favor withCaesar, a belief that proved tobe a great mistake.

When Julius Caesar arrived inEgypt a few days later, he wasgreatly angered by Ptolemy’s act.

Meanwhile, Cleopatra had also devised a cunning plan to win over Caesar. Concealedin a rolled-up carpet, she had herself smuggledthrough enemy lines and delivered to Caesar inthe palace.The ruse worked, and the pair soonbecame lovers.

In the subsequent battle for control of Egypt,Caesar became allied with Cleopatra, and the pairquickly overcame the opposition of Ptolemy, whowas killed in 47 BCE. Later that year, Cleopatragave birth to a son, Caesarion.When Caesarreturned to Rome, he took Cleopatra with him.They set up house together, living in great luxury.

However, their liaison was cut short whenCaesar was assassinated in 44 BCE.

Cleopatra, fearing that her life was indanger, hurriedly returned to Egypt.

Cleopatra still hoped to restoreEgypt’s fortunes, even though thecountry was on the brink ofeconomic collapse. In 41 BCE,

Mark Antony invited her to Tarsusin Anatolia for a politicalsummit. Like Caesarbefore him,Antony

soon began a sexual as well as a political relationship with theEgyptian queen.The pairlater married, and Antony

moved to Alexandria.After being defeated bythe forces of Octavian,the couple committed suicide within a few daysof each other in 30 BCE.

This sculpture of Cleopatra

dates to the first century

BCE, when she ruled Egypt.

CLEOPATRA

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Page 67: Historia de Roma ilustrada

on a platter. Caesar was so upset at thesight that he had to avert his eyes.

Caesar in AfricaIn Alexandria, the young Ptolemy XIIIwas in dispute with Cleopatra, his sister,over the succession. Caesar started anaffair with Cleopatra, and when he sup-ported her claims against Ptolemy, theking’s forces surrounded the palace,imprisoning Caesar. Caesar, narrowlyescaping an assassination plot, installedCleopatra on the throne and defendedher position against her younger brother.In the fighting that followed, Ptolemywas killed. Cleopatra, meanwhile, gavebirth to a son, named Caesarion.

Caesar’s battles were not yet over.Under the command of Metellus Scipio,troops that were loyal to Pompey held on to the province of Africa. In 46 BCE, Caesar landed eight legions on the African coast and confronted thePompeian forces at Thapsus. In the ensu-ing battle, the Pompeian troops were notonly defeated but routed, and most oftheir generals were killed. Marcus PorciusCato, Caesar’s old adversary in the senate,was governor of Utica, just north ofCarthage, and rather than fall intoCaesar’s hands, Cato committed suicide.

Caesar as dictatorIn 45 BCE, Caesar returned to Rome asabsolute ruler of the republic. A compli-ant senate appointed him both consuland dictator.This move gave him virtual-ly limitless authority, although his real power depended on his legions.In contrast to Sulla, Caesar carried outalmost no reprisals against his defeatedenemies. Troops from Pompey’s armieswere given the option of serving underCaesar, while former political adver-saries were given appointments in hisadministration.

After the years of civil war, precededby years of incompetent or corruptadministration, Rome was badly in needof a firm, capable hand to restore goodgovernance to the republic. It turned outthat Caesar would have less that a year toachieve this. However, he did institute anumber of reforms that dramaticallychanged the way Rome and its provinceswere administered.

Rome was a severely overcrowdedcity, and one of Caesar’s first acts was toplan a reconstruction that embraced newpublic buildings and swept away cityslums. Caesar cut back on the handoutsof free grain to the poor, on the groundsthat the handouts were being misused,and arranged for tens of thousands ofpoor citizens to be resettled in overseas

66

ANCIENT ROME

This bust depicts the

Roman nobleman

Marcus Junius

Brutus, one of the

assassins of Caesar.

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THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

Cleopatra andOctavian by the

17th-century-CE

Italian painter

Il Guercino depicts

the Egyptian queen

kneeling before the

Roman general.

colonies. Caesar drew up standard regu-lations for the administration of themunicipalities (the self-governed units inRoman territory) and granted Romancitizenship to many previously disenfran-chised groups. Above all, he establishedmany new overseas settlements (peopledby his veteran legionnaires) that were allrecognized as official Roman colonies.This move changed the nature of theprovinces from being merely militaryconquests to being outposts of theRoman Empire.

Caesar’s leniencyAt the end of the civil war, people hadexpected a large-scale cancellation ofdebts and a redistribution of property.Caesar did confiscate the holdings ofsome enemies, but he pardoned mostenemies and left them in possession of

their property. He wanted to be a popu-lar leader, remembered for leniencyrather than persecution. Caesar insistedthat the statue of Pompey be put back inthe senate building after some of his ownoverzealous followers had pulled itdown. He made it clear that he feltPompey had been a worthy opponent.Caesar also expressed public regret that aman like Cato had taken his own liferather than accept his pardon.

In 45 BCE, Caesar was forced to takehis legions abroad once more, this timeto Spain to quell a rebellion organized byPompey’s sons, Gnaeus and SextusPompeius.The forces met at the Battle ofMunda. The battle was hard fought, butCaesar was ultimately victorious. ThePompeians were slaughtered. Gnaeus waskilled in the fighting, while Sextus wasforced to flee.

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In Rome, the senate heaped honorsupon Caesar. His portrait was put oncoins, and many statues of him wereerected throughout the city.The increas-ingly autocratic nature of Caesar’s rulemade his political opponents uneasy.Many feared that he aimed to make him-self king—an idea detested in the repub-lic.At the Lupercalia festival in Februaryof 44 BCE, Caesar’s lieutenant MarkAntony offered him a golden coronet,the ancient symbol of a king’s power. Itwas obvious from the audience’s reactionthat this was a very unpopular move.Caesar refused to accept the crown, lead-ing to speculation about whether thewhole scene had been staged to make hisrejection of kingship clear or whether he

would have accepted the coronet if hehad been acclaimed by the public.

The ides of MarchIn March, May, July, and December,under Caesar’s new calendar (see box,page 70), the 15th day was called theides. The ides of March of 44 BCEproved to be a turning point in history.Opposition to Caesar’s power had solidi-fied into a conspiracy of some 60 men,led by Brutus and Cassius, both of whomhad fought on Pompey’s side and beenpardoned by Caesar. In spite of warningsfrom a soothsayer to “beware the ides ofMarch,” Caesar, unprotected by anybodyguard, attended the senate house onthe 15th and was stabbed to death. As

68

ANCIENT ROME

This second-century-

CE mosaic depicts

two gladiators

fighting. Gladiatorial

contests were a

popular form of

entertainment in the

first century BCE.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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69

THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

The suicide of the

Egyptian queen

Cleopatra has been

a popular subject

for artists.This

17th-century-CE

painting is by

Guido Cagnacci.

the body of Caesar lay at the foot ofPompey’s statue, the senate panicked.Theplotters themselves fled in disorder, wan-dering around the city with bloodstainedclothes and daggers.

Caesar had named Mark Antony ashis executor, and Antony used the posi-tion to gain popular support. At thefuneral, Antony read out Caesar’s willbefore an immense crowd assembled infront of the senate.The dictator had lefthis gardens to the state and a moderateamount of money (300 sesterces) toevery citizen. When they heard this, thecrowd went wild. Antony also publiclynamed those responsible for the murderand brandished Caesar’s bloodstainedtoga to whip up the crowd still further.The result of Antony’s speech was thatpopular sentiment swung fiercely againstthe conspirators, who found themselvesin mortal danger.

OctavianCaesar’s sudden death created a powervacuum in Rome. However, the personwho took greatest advantage of this situ-ation was not Mark Antony, butOctavian, Caesar’s great-nephew andadopted son and heir. Not yet 20,Octavian proved a formidable politicaloperator. He commanded loyalty fromCaesar’s old party, some members ofwhich defected from Antony to him.Octavian also found support in thesenate, in particular from Cicero, whodelivered a series of orations againstAntony, representing him as an enemy ofancient Roman freedoms.

In a compromise agreement, the con-spirators Cassius and Brutus were par-doned by the senate. However, they werenot safe in Rome, and by 43 BCE, theyhad fled to the eastern provinces, wherethey set about raising armies. Back in

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 71: Historia de Roma ilustrada

Rome, the senate turned against Antony,who was now at the head of an army inCisalpine Gaul. The senate declaredAntony’s occupation of the area to beillegal and dispatched Octavian, togetherwith the consuls Aulus Hirtius and VibiusPansa, to Mutina, where Antony wasdefeated. Antony then withdrew hisforces to Transalpine Gaul, where hesucceeded in attracting the provincialgovernors to his cause.

The two elderly consuls both died atthe Battle of Mutina, leaving Octavian insole command of the army. Increasinglyout of favor with the senate, Octavianmarched on Rome to demand theconsulship by force. Once he had beenappointed consul, Octavian annulled thepardons that had given to the conspira-tors. Because Brutus and Cassius were incommand of large armies, this daringmove was tantamount to a declarationof war.

To strengthen his own hand, Octa-vian made overtures to Antony and methim and Lepidus (a commander of sevenlegions that had served under Caesar) fora peace conference at Bononia.The threeagreed to form the second triumvirate—

the triumviri rei publicae constituendae (theboard of three to settle the constitution).In effect, this was a military dictatorship.

The second triumvirateAntony sealed the compact by marryingOctavian’s sister, Octavia. The new tri-umvirate then set about issuing banish-ment lists, as Sulla had done. This moveallowed them to seize a victim’s propertyand put him to death. Hundreds ofsenators and thousands of equites weremassacred. One of the early victims wasCicero, now an old man of 63, who wasdenounced by Antony.

In 42 BCE, the armies of Antony andOctavian met those of Brutus andCassius at the Battle of Philippi anddefeated them. Both Cassius and Brutuscommitted suicide rather than fall intotheir enemies’ hands.The Roman worldwas then divided among the members ofthe triumvirate. Octavian received thewest, Antony received the east, andLepidus received Africa. Their onlyremaining adversary was Pompey’s sonSextus. He was now based in Sicily andhad command of a powerful fleet, whichhe used to blockade supplies of goods

70

ANCIENT ROME

One of Julius Caesar’s most enduring legacieswas the calendar revision made during histerm of office as pontifex maximus. In the orig-inal Roman calendar, a year consisted of 355days, with an extra month added every otheryear. Caesar was advised by the Alexandrianscholar Sosigenes that the length of the yearshould theoretically be 365.25 days. Caesarthen introduced a new calendar where yearsconsisted of 365 days, with an extra day (the29th of February) added every four years tomake up the difference.The end of Februarywas chosen for the extra day because the

Romans originally celebrated the new year onthe first day of March.

This Julian calendar survived intact until the16th century CE, when it was replaced by theGregorian calendar.The reason for the changewas that Sosigenes had slightly miscalculatedthe length of the year; he was off by 11 minutes and 14 seconds.This error caused the dates of the seasons to change.The problem was rectified by declaring that no century year should be a leap year unless it is divisible by 400.

THE JULIAN CALENDAR

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71

THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

destined for Rome, reducing the city toa state of near starvation.

In 36 BCE, Octavian defeated Sextusin a sea battle off Sicily. Lepidus made anabortive attempt to claim Sicily for him-self, but when his troops deserted him,he was left powerless. Octavian strippedLepidus of his membership in the triumvi-rate and his rule of Africa and banishedhim to a town on the Italian Peninsula.Only two members of the triumvirateremained—Octavian and Antony.

Antony and CleopatraAfter a campaign in Parthia, Antonyreturned to Alexandria and resumed hisrelationship with Cleopatra, which hadstarted in 41 BCE. Cleopatra was ambi-tious and hoped that her son by JuliusCaesar would one day rule Rome. Shepersuaded Antony to marry her (eventhough he was still married to Octavia),and he set up his base of operations inthe Egyptian port of Alexandria.

In Rome, Octavian used Antony’sactions as the basis for a propaganda cam-paign against him. Although Antonymade counterclaims against Octavian,public opinion, especially among theRoman upper class, was on Octavian’sside. In 33 BCE, the triumvirate was offi-cially terminated. The following year,rumors that Antony planned to makeCleopatra the queen of Rome furtherhardened opinion against him. Octavianwas made consul, and the senate declaredwar on Egypt.

As both sides prepared for conflict,Antony and Cleopatra equipped a fleet ofmore than 500 ships, which they sailedacross the Mediterranean and into theAdriatic Sea. In 31 BCE, they wereengaged in battle by the Roman fleet,commanded by Agrippa, at Actium on thewest coast of Greece.The encounter was atotal humiliation for Antony. Shortly afterthe start of the battle, Cleopatra left therest of the fleet in her flagship and was

followed by Antony. Believing thatAntony had simply run away, the rest ofthe fleet—and his land army—capitulat-ed without a fight.

Octavian’s pursuit was interrupted bya mutiny that necessitated a return toItaly, but he did finally reach Alexandriain 30 BCE.With no army left to defendhim,Antony took his own life. Cleopatrafollowed suit a few days later.To put anend to any further claims from thePtolemaic dynasty, Octavian killedCaesarion and the eldest of Antony’s sonsby Cleopatra. Octavian then made Egypta Roman province. Having vanquishedall opposition, Octavian returned toRome in triumph.

See also:

The Age of Augustus (page 72) • Revolutionand Reform (page 44)

This bust depicts the

Roman general

Mark Antony, a

member of the

second triumvirate.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS

After the civil wars that had ravaged the republic in the mid-firstcentury BCE, Rome enjoyed a prolonged period of relative

peace.The man responsible for overseeing this era was CaesarAugustus, the first Roman emperor.

After the deaths of Antony and Cleopatrain 30 BCE, Octavian (63 BCE–14 CE)was left as the most powerful man in theRoman world. He remained so for thenext 44 years. The form of governmenthe established in the new RomanEmpire was called the principate, and itremained essentially unchanged for 200years. During the period of his rule,Octavian became known as AugustusCaesar, a title bestowed upon him by thesenate (see box, page 74).

Even though Augustus effectivelycontrolled Rome, he was careful to keepin place old Roman institutions such asthe senate and the consulship.This movewas partially a pragmatic one; if he haddismantled these political bodies andpositions, he would have opened himselfto accusations that he was seeking king-ship. However, there is also evidence thatAugustus genuinely believed in many ofthe principles upon which the Romanrepublic was founded. Nevertheless, heknew that fundamental changes wereneeded if the Roman Empire was tofunction smoothly.

During his rule, Augustus broughtpeace to the lands conquered by hispredecessors. He embarked on an ambi-tious building program in Rome, andunder his rule, literature and the artsflourished. Roman political and adminis-trative systems spread throughout the

empire, thereby consolidating Rome’scentral authority. Meanwhile, theRoman Empire continued to expandthrough military means as the subjuga-tion of Spain was completed and newregions were brought under Romancontrol in Germany and the Balkans.

A new RomeThe Rome that Augustus returned to in29 BCE badly needed the restoration oflaw and order, as well as a stable govern-ment that would override the turmoilcaused by aristocratic intrigue and per-sonal ambition. Augustus had more thanenough military power to enforce order,but he preferred to legitimize his powerby using the traditional forms of govern-ment. One way in which he did so wasby holding the consulship. Augustus wasreelected consul on his return from theeast and was reelected year after yearuntil 23 BCE, when he declined to runfor the office.

Augustus was also awarded variousspecial powers during the course of hisrule. In 27 BCE, Augustus voluntarilyrelinquished the extraordinary powers hehad assumed during the civil war againstAntony and returned them to the senateand the people. However, in return, hewas awarded various special titles. Mostimportantly, Augustus was given a 10-year tenure of the provinces of Gaul,

72

TIME LINE

30 BCEDeaths of MarkAntony andCleopatra usher in new period of peace.

27 BCEOctavian voluntarilyrelinquishes manypowers; senateawards himhonorary titleAugustus.

23 BCEOctavian gives upposition of consulheld since 31 BCE;receives power oftribune.

12 BCEAugustus’s chosensuccessor, Agrippa,dies, forcingAugustus to turn to son-in-law Tiberius instead.

9 CEGermanic tribesunder Arminiusinflict heavy defeatupon Romans inTeutoburg Forest.

14 CEAugustus dies;Tiberius becomesemperor.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS

This bronze head,

depicting the

emperor Augustus,

dates to around

25 BCE and was

found in Sudan.

Archaeologists

believe the figure

was stolen during

a raid on Roman

Egypt.

73

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 75: Historia de Roma ilustrada

In 27 BCE, Octavian was awardedtwo new titles by the senate.Thefirst,Augustus, was the name bywhich he became universally known.The word is difficult to translate,but it is derived from the Latinword augere, meaning “to increase.”The title indicated Augustus’sauthority over the rest of theRoman population.

Augustus’s full title was AugustusCaesar.Augustus and his successorsput great emphasis on their descentfrom Julius Caesar, and the namelived on in medieval Europe andinto the 20th century.The Germantitle Kaiser and the Russian Czarboth derive from the Roman name.

The second title bestowed uponAugustus by the senate in 27 BCEwas princeps, meaning “first citizen.”Augustus preferred this titlebecause it offered a connotation of legitimacy. Under this title,Augustuspresented himself as the first servant of the empire, in keepingwith the long-standing Roman tradition of public service.Augustuswas not the first prominent politicalfigure to have been awarded thistitle—Caesar’s old enemy Pompeyhad also been princeps.

Augustus liked the trappings of civilian authority. During his time as princeps, he held a number of traditional civilian offices. However,in contrast to previous holders,Augustus often held several offices simultaneously and without the traditional time limits.

OCTAVIAN’S TITLES

Spain, and Syria. It was in these threeregions that Augustus’s troops werebased, so this move legitimized his mili-tary power. Later, Augustus was alsogiven tribunal power for life.This honorallowed him to convene the senate, pro-pose motions before it, and veto deci-sions made by either the senate or thepopular assembly. Augustus was alsogiven a number of powers traditionallyassociated with the position of censor;those powers included the rights to con-duct a census and to control the compo-sition of the senate. No senator servedwithout Augustus’s approval.

The senateDespite the restrictions on its power,Augustus was anxious to maintain thesenate because he saw it as the embodi-ment of Roman tradition. He workedhard to maintain cordial relations withthe body and to preserve the illusion ofconsultation with it. In aneffort to rid the sen-ate of those heconsidered

74

ANCIENT ROME

This coin bearing

the profile of

Augustus was found

in Germany at the

site of the Battle of

Teutoburg Forest.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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75

THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS

Alexandria, the ruins

of which are shown

here, was the main

port of the Roman

province of Egypt.

Egypt was annexed

during the reign

of Augustus.

unworthy,Augustus cut its numbers fromaround 1,000 to around 600. To bringthe senate numbers back up to strength,he promoted a number of members ofthe equestrian class, who had previouslybeen barred from holding senatorialoffice. Augustus also established a mini-mum annual income requirement (onemillion sesterces) for becoming a senator,reasoning that if the senate’s new mem-bers were no longer required to be ofadequate rank at birth, at least theywould be of adequate means.

The senate was given new tasks. Itwas charged with the day-to-day run-ning of both Rome and the rest of theItalian Peninsula, as well as severalprovinces of limited strategic impor-

tance. The latter were generally referredto as the public provinces.The governorsof these provinces were selected by lotfrom among the senators, who wererequired to serve a one-year term with-out any military backup.

The imperial provincesAugustus retained personal control of allnon-public provinces, which were calledthe imperial provinces. He alone appoint-ed their governors, who served as longas he pleased rather than for a set timeperiod.These provinces might have a gar-rison. Sometimes, equites who were notmembers of the senate were appointed tothe governorship of imperial provinces.For example, the equestrian Pontius Pilate

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 77: Historia de Roma ilustrada

was the governor of the province ofJudaea at the time of the crucifixion ofJesus Christ.

The most important imperialprovince commanded by an eques-trian governor was Egypt, with itsvast Ptolemaic treasure and itsgrain supply. So valuable was Egyptthat troops were stationed therewhen no other equestrian governorwas allowed to have legions.

Following the example of JuliusCaesar, Augustus established manycolonies throughout his empire.Thesecolonies were populated by veteran sol-diers. In these settlements, every citizenwas a Roman citizen, and the forms ofcivil government were modeled on thoseof Rome. This vast network of more than 100 colonies helped to spreadRoman culture to the farthest reaches ofthe empire.

Another type of provincial settlementwas the civitas. Civitates were self-governing, autonomous com-munities consisting entirely ofnon-Roman citizens. Theyexisted under the protectionof the provincial governor, and paidtaxes to Rome. As they became increas-ingly Latinized, their status might bechanged to that of municipia (municipaltown). In the municipia, townspeoplewho assumed public office might beaccorded Roman citizenship. All theprovinces paid tribute to Rome. This

money was spent on military protection,the expanding civil service, and theextensive public works that were increas-ingly being initiated by Augustus.

The new RomeDespite its great number of inhabi-tants, Rome still had the look of anold walled oppidum (fortifiedtown) grown beyond its bound-

aries.The city was crowded anddirty, and many of its publicbuildings were in a state ofdisrepair. The forum, thecenter of Roman publiclife, was much too small.Augustus set about givingRome the outward splendorhe felt it deserved.“I found acity of stone, and I will leavebehind a city of marble,” heboasted. He proved good tohis word.

Augustus ordered marbletemples to be built in thecenter of the city, andhe replaced the old forumwith a new one nearby.Augustus also built improved

access roads to the city andhad the Tiber River dredged

in an attempt to stop its annu-al flooding.

Augustus made movesto protect the peopleof Rome against famine.

In the past, aforeign enemyneeded only tocontrol the sea

to be able to starveRome. As a preventive meas-

ure, Augustus established an administra-tion to control the grain supply and organ-ized annual imports from Egypt. He alsomade distributions of grain to themasses, a move that increased hispersonal popularity.

76

ANCIENT ROME

This marble statue of Augustus dates to the

first century CE. It is a copy of an earlier

statue that was made during his lifetime.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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77

THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS

Urban safety in RomeIn the slums of Rome, the inhabitantsfrequently fell victim to maraudinggangs, who found plenty of places tohide in the noisome alleyways.The finaldays of the republic had also seen seriousrioting. Augustus attempted to addresssome of these problems by forming apolice force, which consisted of fourcohorts of special troops under a leadercalled the praefectus urbi (prefect of thecity), who became one of the mostpowerful men in Rome. This force oftrained riot police appears to have beenrelatively effective.

In addition to the police force,Augustus appointed 7,000 night watch-men, whose job was to look out for firesor any cases of crime after dark. Thenight watchmen were led by a praefectusvigilum (prefect of the watchers). Whileneither of these initiatives made thestreets of Rome completely free of dan-ger, there was a distinct improvement inurban safety.

Traditional family valuesAugustus also set about restoring tradi-tional family values. To counteract whathe saw as the lax morality of the citizen-

This fresco

decorates the

wall of a villa

that once belonged

to Augustus’s

wife Livia.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 79: Historia de Roma ilustrada

ry, he introduced chastity laws. Illicitlovers faced banishment, property confis-cation, and a ban on any future marriage.Because he considered the ideal family toconsist of a father, mother, and as manychildren as possible, Augustus establisheda law called the lex iulia. This law con-ferred privileges on married coupleswith children and imposed civil restric-tions on single people and the childless.Other laws made marriage easier (even ifthe parents of the bride and bridegroomobjected) and divorce harder. Thesemeasures were intended to provideRome with a population of moral,responsible citizens. However, the lawshad limited effect.

Augustus, who did not consider him-self subject to his own laws on marriage

and divorce, was married three times. Hisfirst wife was Clodia Pulchra, the step-daughter of Mark Antony.Augustus mar-ried Clodia in order to cement his orig-inal political alliance with Antony butdivorced her in 40 BCE. Augustus thenmarried Scribonia, a woman who wasolder than himself. She had previouslybeen the wife of two consuls and had achild by each of them. In 38 BCE,Augustus divorced Scribonia for Livia,the wife of the elderly Tiberius ClaudiusNero, who was persuaded to agree to

a divorce.Augustus brought up his daughter

Julia (by Scribonia) and his grand-daughter of the same name verystrictly, requiring daily reports ontheir progress and behavior.However, once they had grownup and were beyond hiscontrol, their promiscuousescapades scandalized Rome.

Augustus eventually banishedthem from the city.

LiteratureIn this new era of peace and prosperity,Roman literature blossomed as neverbefore. It became the fashion for writersto give public readings from their worksin progress, a practice that greatlyincreased their potential reading public.Under the patronage of both Augustusand his friend Maecenas, several Romanwriters came to the fore. These men,who were to claim lasting places in worldliterature, included the heroic poet Virgil(see box, page 80), the witty culturalpundit Horace, and the historian Livy.

One writer who fell out of favor withAugustus was the poet Ovid. He special-ized in lighthearted verses, some of whichmade comments on contemporary socie-ty. He also recounted many of the Greekmyths in verse form. However, Ovidoffended Augustus by publishing eroticpoetry and by becoming involved in a

78

ANCIENT ROME

This bust depicts

Julia, the daughter

of Augustus. Julia

scandalized

Rome with her

promiscuous

behavior.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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79

THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS

The Roman poet

Horace, depicted

here in a 16th-

century-CE fresco,

was just one of a

number of writers

to flourish

under Augustus.

scandal with Julia, the emperor’s daugh-ter. Augustus banished Ovid to Tomi onthe Black Sea, where Ovid’s poetic imag-ination continued to flourish in exile. Hewrote flattering verses to Augustus in thehope of being recalled to his belovedRome. However, these efforts were to noavail; Ovid died in Tomi in 17 CE.

ReligionDuring the years of civil war, theRomans’ interest in the state religion hadwaned.Augustus now sought to revive it.He replaced the crumbling temples thathad fallen into disuse and erected thegreat rectangular Pantheon as a temple toall the gods. He met personally with thepriests of all the Roman colleges toencourage them to restore the religiousrituals. In 17 BCE, Augustus revived thefestival of the ludi saeculares (seculargames), turning it into an occasion to givethanks for deliverance from a dangerouspast and to welcome a new era of peace.For three days, sporting events by dayalternated with feasts and torchlit proces-sions by night, all intended to signal therestoration of Rome’s greatness.The poetHorace composed a celebratory hymnthat was sung before a new shrine toApollo on the Palatine Hill, and thenAugustus made a sacrifice to the gods.

Augustus himself later began to beworshipped as a god. In the eastern cities,it was not uncommon to deify rulers, so itwas no surprise that cults arose to worshipAugustus. He did nothing to stop thepractice, because it only served to rein-force his authority. Soon, he was beingworshipped in many towns on the ItalianPeninsula. Special colleges were set up forthis purpose.Their priests were generallyfreed slaves who made a career of thisworshipping. While the custom was notformally introduced in Rome, Augustusdid build a shrine to his guardian spirit inevery neighborhood. However, he wasnot formally deified until after his death.

The pax Augusta The personal loyalty of the army wasvital to Augustus. Each year, on the firstday of January, every soldier swore anoath of allegiance to him. BecauseAugustus bore the name of the deifiedJulius Caesar, the support pledged to himcarried the weight of a religious vow.

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ANCIENT ROME

Like many of his contemporaries,the poet Virgil (70–19 BCE) modeled his first literary works onthose of earlier Greek writers.One early collection of pastoralpoems, the Eclogues, were influencedby Theocritus.Virgil’s Georgics, whichpurported to be a practical guide tofarming and husbandry, was actuallya song of praise to nature and thecharms of rural life.

Virgil’s greatest work, however, wasthe epic poem the Aeneid, whichmade him famous both in his owntime and throughout posterity.

Emulating Homer’s epic tales, theIliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid tellsthe story of Aeneas, a survivor fromthe Trojan War, who makes his wayto Italy and eventually founds Rome.The Aeneid glorified the history ofRome, and the feelings of civic pridethat it inspired meant that it encapsulated the optimistic spirit ofthe Augustan age.

The poem was unfinished on Virgil’sdeath, and the poet’s dying wish wasfor it to be burned. However,Augustus himself intervened andordered the poem to be saved.

VIRGIL

This statue depicts

Ovid, one of the

greatest of all

Roman poets. He

fell out of favor

with Augustus and

was banished

from Rome.

To allay fears of a military dictator-ship, Augustus had partially demobilizedhis army after the Battle of Actium in 30BCE, reducing the number of legionsfrom 60 to 28. It now constituted a permanent standing army of around300,000 men.Augustus also maintained amarine corps on the imperial fleet andhad his own personal bodyguard, calledthe praetorian cohorts.

Within each legion, the officers wereall Roman citizens. The top ranks (thelegates and tribunes) were either senatorsor equites. Below them were the centuri-ons, who were typically Roman citizensfrom municipal towns.

The army played an important part inthe consolidation of the empire, quiteapart from any military conquests. ManyRoman encampments were created tomaintain a military presence in an area.These settlements replicated the Romanlifestyle, and they frequently developedinto permanent societies of their own.Over the centuries, some of them grewinto major European cities.

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81

In this 16th-century-

CE painting by

Federico Barocci,

Aeneas carries his

father Anchises from

the burning city of

Troy.The poet Virgil’s

account of the story

of Aeneas was

written during the

reign of Augustus.

Although it was illegal for a soldier tomarry, many of them fathered childrenwho were subsequently granted Romancitizenship.Retiring soldiers often settledin the region where they had beenassigned.Augustus encouraged this trend,granting the retired soldiers free land toform new colonies.

New territoryUnder Augustus, the Roman Empireacquired new territory very slowly. InSpain, it took years of fighting to subduethe last recalcitrant tribes. When victorywas finally achieved, several new colonieswere established. The present-day cityof Saragossa (originally called CaesarAugusta) emerged from one of them.

In the east, meanwhile, Augustus’sgenerals ensured the security of Roman

possessions in Syria and Anatolia.However, civil war in Armenia threat-ened the stability of the region. Both theRomans and the Parthians fanned theflames of this war by supporting differentpretenders to the throne. The situationdragged on for years; at one time, aRoman candidate secured the throne,and at another time, a Parthian candidatedid. Augustus made the pragmatic deci-sion not to engage in a potentially costlymilitary confrontation. In 20 BCE,Augustus’s stepson and future successor,Tiberius, negotiated a peace treaty withthe Parthians.

In the Balkans, Roman power spreadas far as the Danube River. Roman military successes in this region eventual-ly yielded three new provinces, Moesia,Pannonia and Dalmatia.

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At the same time that new provinceswere being acquired in the Balkans,Roman influence was being extended inpresent-day Germany. In 11 BCE, thegeneral Nero Claudius Drusus confront-ed German tribes who had been con-ducting raids into northern Gaul anddefeated them at the Battle of the LupiaRiver. Over the course of the next twoyears, he managed to extend Romancontrol as far east as the Elbe River.However, Roman dominance of theGerman peoples who lived between theRhine and the Elbe was superficial anddid not last.

Toward the end of his reign,Augustusappointed a new provincial governor,Varus, to the Rhine region. The harsh-ness of Varus’s rule prompted a revolt.The German tribes united under ayoung chieftain named Arminius, whohad been a soldier in the Roman army.

In 9 CE, Arminius lured Varus and histhree legions into an area of forests andmarshes, where traditional Roman mili-tary tactics would not work. TheGerman chieftain was then able to over-come the Roman armies and almostcompletely annihilate them.

The Battle of Teutoburg Forest wasone of the biggest disasters in Romanmilitary history.When the news reachedRome,Augustus is reputed to have cried:“Varus,Varus, give me back my legions!”Later attempts to reestablish Romancontrol east of the Rhine proved unsuc-cessful, and the river became the north-ern boundary of the Roman Empire inmainland Europe.

The successionAugustus ruled Rome for more than 40years, and during that time, the empireenjoyed an unparalleled period of pros-

82

ANCIENT ROME

The Ara PacisAugustae was

created in 13 BCE

to celebrate the

return of Augustus

to Rome after

campaigns in Gaul

and Spain.

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THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS

This relief from the

Ara Pacis Augustaedepicts a procession

of senators.

perity and relative peace. However, inone vital area, Augustus had not beensuccessful. In spite of three marriages, hefailed to produce a son. As his healthdeteriorated, it became imperative thathe should nominate his successor.Augustus’s first choice, in 13 BCE, wasAgrippa, his son-in-law and former class-mate. However, within a year of hisappointment,Agrippa died.

Augustus’s next choice was his step-son Tiberius, who had been one ofAugustus’s most talented and successfulgenerals. In 12 BCE, Augustus forcedTiberius to divorce his beloved wife,Vipsania, and marry Agrippa’s widow,Julia. Resentful at this interference in hispersonal life, Tiberius retreated to theisland of Rhodes, where he lived for thenext seven years in isolated retirement.This experience seems to have nurturedfeelings of mistrust and pessimism thatwould return in later life.

Augustus then favored Agrippa’s twoeldest sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, forthe succession, but by 4 BCE, both weredead.Augustus had no choice but to turnback to Tiberius. Later that year,Tiberiuswas recalled from Rhodes to be official-ly adopted by Augustus.

In the following years, Tiberius wasappointed to various political positions,and in 13 CE, he was given powersequal to Augustus. Later that year,Augustus left his will at the House ofthe Vestals in Rome, together with anaccount of his life’s work called ResGestae Divi Augusti (The Achievementsof the Divine Augustus). WhenAugustus died in August of 14 CE,Tiberius became emperor without anyopposition.

See also:

The End of the Republic (page 56) • TheJulio-Claudian Emperors (page 84)

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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THE JULIO-CLAUDIANEMPERORS

Augustus’s successors enlarged the empire to its greatest extentand secured its borders.They centralized the collection of taxes

and all other administration in the hands of the imperial authoritylocated in the city of Rome.

After Augustus died in 14 CE, the senatedeclared him a god, a traditional Romanway of honoring dead leaders. In hisplace,Augustus had nominated his adop-ted son Tiberius, who had originallybeen his stepson.

The Roman constitution did not in-clude a right of succession to the throne,but Augustus’s personal prestige ensuredthat Tiberius would receive the supportof the senate. For some years, Tiberiushad been the emperor’s co-ruler, gainingexperience of imperial leadership tomake his succession more secure.

The concept of succession became atradition, but the throne was not simplypassed from father to son—as becamecommon in later monarchies. During hislifetime, each emperor sought a suitablecandidate—usually a member of theimperial family—whom he then adopt-ed as his son. Tiberius adopted a great-grandson of Augustus, Gaius (calledCaligula), but Caligula nominated hisuncle, Claudius I. Claudius was succeed-ed by his stepson Nero, who was also adescendant of Augustus by marriage.These four related successors, togetherwith Augustus, comprise what is calledthe Julio-Claudian dynasty.

The absence of a law that establishedwhich of an emperor’s relatives had theright to succession could be disastrous.Any ambitious person with enough

influence could aspire to be emperor,with or without the support of the pub-lic.As a result, few members of the impe-rial family died a natural death. Everyemperor lived in constant fear of con-spiracies hatched among the counselors,favorites, and administrators who sur-rounded him. The atmosphere at courtwas full of suspicion and intrigue.Whilea career as a public servant offeredunprecedented opportunity, it also pre-sented unprecedented danger.

TiberiusTiberius came to power in 14 CE at age56, having lived most of his life in theshadow of Augustus. His personal life wasunrewarding, and he could be moodyand difficult. However, he proved to be ameticulous administrator of the imperialtreasury. He cut back on public expensesto such an extent that he lost much support among Rome’s citizens, whohad expected spectacular celebrationsand generous grain handouts from theirnew emperor.

Tiberius also had a poor reputationamong contemporary historians such asTacitus, who described Tiberius as anunapproachable ruler who despised hissubjects. Modern historians tend to bemore positive, pointing out that thebureaucracy of the empire ran smoothlyunder Tiberius. Like Augustus, Tiberius

84

TIME LINE

14 CETiberius comes topower whenAugustus dies.

26 CETiberius goes intoexile on island of Capri.

37 CETiberius dies;great-nephewCaligula becomesemperor.

41 CECaligula stabbed to death;succeeded by Claudius.

43 CEClaudius annexesBritain, leadingcampaign personally.

54 CEClaudius diessuddenly, possibly as result ofpoisoning;Nero becomesemperor.

64 CEMajor fire in Rome.

68 CENero commitssuicide with aidof slave.

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85

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

This contemporary,

life-size marble bust

is a portrait of

Nero, probably the

most notorious

emperor of the

Julio-Claudian

dynasty.

did not strain the imperial resources try-ing to extend the empire.Therefore, onlythose in his immediate vicinity had tofear the emperor’s paranoia.

The dangers of powerIt was under Tiberius that the dangers ofplacing absolute power in the hands ofone man became increasingly clear. Theemperor did not delegate responsibilityto his advisers, but neither did he have

the ability to administer the empirealone.Worse, his great power and

his intolerance meant that fewpeople were brave enough togive him advice or offer anhonest opinion about hisactions. According to onestory, when Tiberius madehis first appearance in thesenate as princeps, a fool-

hardy senator asked him,“Caesar, which portion ofpower do you want to reserve

for yourself?”When Tiberius wasclearly irritated, the alarmed sen-ator hurriedly added: “I say this

because we cannot go on withoutthe unity of leadership and power in

your hands.”

A trusted allyTiberius was said to trust only one man inthe empire: Sejanus, the leader of thePraetorian Guard. This body of elitesoldiers served as the imperial bodyguard.Its men were stationed around the palacein Rome and at other strategic locationsthroughout the Italian Peninsula. Only

a trusted confidant of the emperorwas appointed to be commander ofthe guard.

It soon became obvious toeveryone except the emperor that

Sejanus wanted to exploit the emperor’strust to have himself designated as theimperial successor. He acquired influ-ence over Tiberius and implicated theemperor’s relatives in plots so that, one byone, Tiberius eliminated his relatives oncharges of treason. Sejanus’s influencecontinued to grow, and in 26 CE, theaging Tiberius retreated to the island ofCapri, leaving imperial control in thehands of the prefect of Rome.

Sejanus remained near Rome withmost of the guard. He functioned as acaretaker and protector for Tiberius,censoring the news received by the

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emperor.The senate could only watch asSejanus misused the power that Tiberiusincreasingly delegated to him.Eventually,a number of senators protested toTiberius, letting it be known that theywould oppose him if Sejanus was notremoved.The commander panicked andmade hasty plans for a coup, which wasperhaps what his opponents had wanted.When Tiberius heard of the plot, heacted promptly, sending word to the sen-ate demanding Sejanus’s execution. Thesoldier and his supporters were put todeath for treason in 31 CE.

A paranoid emperorSenators who hoped the elimination ofSejanus would improve matters were dis-appointed. Betrayal by his closest confi-dant only intensified Tiberius’s paranoia.Suspicious of everyone, he began toshow signs of mental illness. Heremained on Capri, conducting imperialbusiness by letter. Meanwhile, rumorscirculated in Rome that the emperor wasspending his time in orgies or enjoyingcruel entertainments.

Other rumors said that Tiberius hadarranged for the murder of his nephewand heir apparent, Germanicus. The sonof Tiberius’s brother Drusus, who haddied on campaign in Germany, Ger-manicus was a man of great personalcharm who had led several successfulmilitary campaigns. However, Tiberiushated and mistrusted him. When Ger-manicus died in the east after a short ill-ness, it was generally suspected that Piso,the governor of Syria, had poisoned himat Tiberius’s instigation.

Tiberius’s continued self-imposedexile on Capri was a source of muchuncertainty and suspicion in Rome.Senators who had been discredited bySejanus found that the emperor’s trust inthem was not restored. New plots andconspiracies abounded, and Tiberiusreceived plenty of information about

them from delatores (informers). In a judi-cial system without public prosecutors,it was left to private citizens to makeaccusations in court. If someone wereconvicted of treason, his estate was con-fiscated and one quarter of its value wasawarded to the man who had denouncedhim. Consequently, an entire professionof delatores arose in Rome. Once aninformer had accused someone, thatindividual had little chance of clearing

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ANCIENT ROME

This marble portrait

of Tiberius was

carved in 4 CE to

celebrate the future

emperor’s adoption

by Augustus.

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THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

Tiberius spent the

last decade of his

life in exile on the

island of Capri,

which is located in

the Bay of Naples.

During that time,

he built a succession

of luxurious villas

on the island to

support his self-

indulgent lifestyle.

his name. His friends would not dare tohelp him, and indeed, they often en-dorsed the condemnation to save theirown lives.The last few years of Tiberius’slife were a reign of terror, and it was witha feeling of relief that Rome learned ofhis death in 37 CE at the age of 77. Hewas not deified as Caesar and Augustushad been before him.

“Little Boots”At his death,Tiberius left two adult heirs:his grandson Tiberius Gemellus and hisgreat-nephew Gaius, whom he had ad-opted as a son. The senate immediatelyrecognized the latter as the successor,although little was known about him.Asthe son of the popular Germanicus,however, it was reported that the soldiersadored him.As a child, Gaius had accom-panied his father on campaign and hadworn miniature uniforms. This act had

given rise to his nickname, Caligula,meaning “Little Boots.”

Caligula was only 25 when hebecame emperor in 37 CE, and the firstfew months of his reign came as a breathof fresh air to the hard-pressed Romancitizenry. The delatores were persecuted,political prisoners were given an am-nesty, and the new princeps distinguishedhimself by his great generosity in layingon spectacular entertainments to amusethe populace. However, seven monthsinto his reign Caligula became ill, andwhen he recovered, he seemed to haveundergone a change of personality. Hisbehavior became capricious and cruel; itwas rumored that he had gone mad.

The treason trials resumed, and in 38CE, Caligula arranged for the executionsof his cousin Tiberius Gemellus andMacro, the prefect of the PraetorianGuard who had virtually put Caligula on

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the throne. Caligula squandered theresources that Tiberius had so carefullyhoarded.To replace them, Caligula con-fiscated the estates of wealthy Romancitizens. He humiliated members of thesenate and was even said to have madehis horse a consul, although modern his-torians tend to discount the story.

Caligula had himself deified while hewas still alive and had altars to himselfput up all over the empire.He built a linkfrom his palace on the Palatine Hill inRome to the temples on the Capitoline,so that, he said, he could communicatemore easily with the god Jupiter.

An unpredictable emperorThis divine mania threatened a seriousconflict with the Jews in Judaea. Majorrebellion was only averted by the localgovernor’s decision to keep ignoring theemperor’s order that Caligula be wor-shipped in the temple in Jerusalem.

The ordinary people of Rome, too,suffered under Caligula. On one occa-sion, when he was displeased with thecrowd watching games in the stadium,the emperor had the games stopped, thesunshades removed, and the exits sealedoff by soldiers. For the whole day, he leftthousands of spectators sitting in theburning sun without food or drink. Evenlife could depend on the emperor’swhim. He is reported to have said to oneof his courtesans, “What a lovely neck!One word from me and it will fly off.”

Caligula’s unpredictable behavior ex-tended to his treatment of the army. In40 CE, he marched into Gaul, plunder-ing the countryside.He then gathered histroops in battle array on the beaches ofNormandy, as if they were about to besent to invade Britain. However, when

88

ANCIENT ROME

This statue of Caligula was carved in the first

century CE. Excavations at Caligula’s palace

in Rome have confirmed ancient reports that

the building was linked to a temple.

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THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

Caligula issued his order, it was to gatherseashells! Afterward, Caligula boasted thathe had conquered the ocean.

After four years of such imperialbehavior, even the Praetorian Guard hadhad enough. In January of 41 CE, thetribune of the Praetorian Guard, withseveral others, stabbed Caligula to deathin the palace grounds. The conspiratorshoped to restore the republic, but otherPraetorians intervened.

An unusual successionWhile soldiers were looting the palace,they saw a pair of feet behind a curtain.They pulled the cloth away and foundClaudius, the terrified uncle of the mur-dered emperor. Claudius feared that hewas going to die too, but the soldiers recognized him as the brother of theirformer general, Germanicus.

Believing that their own futuresdepended on who held the principate,

they carried Claudius away to an innercourtyard, where they received him offi-cially as the new emperor. Relieved tohave his life spared, Claudius promisedthem all a generous bounty for their per-sonal allegiance.

Claudius IClaudius, the grandson of Livia (third wifeof Augustus) and a nephew of Tiberius,was born in 10 BCE. He had physicalinfirmities and a stammer.These disabili-ties led him to avoid public notice anddevote himself to scholarship (see box,page 92). Despite these drawbacks and hisage (he was older than 50 at the time ofhis accession), Claudius proved to be aneffective, but controversial, emperor.

The new emperor reorganized theadministration of the government, par-ticularly in regard to financial affairs. Ashad been the custom since the time ofAugustus, Claudius managed the empire

Caligula is

assassinated by the

Praetorian Guard in

this illustration from

an 18th-century-CE

edition of TheHistory of the Jewish People,

written by Josephus

Flavius around

30 years after

the killing.

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from his own household and employedslaves and freedmen as his secretaries andas heads of various departments. Severalof these men became very powerful, suchas Narcissus, his chief secretary, andPallas, his chief accountant. Free slavessuch as these often abused their posi-tions, however, becoming insolent andgreedy. Rome’s nobles resented the factthat they had nowhere near as muchpower as these upstarts.

Claudius and the senateClaudius himself showed great respectfor the aristocracy and the senate,according that body much the same role

as had been outlined for it by Augustus.A strong advocate of the liberal grantingof Roman citizenship to imperial sub-jects in conquered territories, Claudiusalso appointed people from the provincesto the senate. He gave them whateverrank he chose, instead of having themascend through the ranks. To avoidoffense, Claudius raised many existingsenators to patrician status. However, thesenate was not happy when in 47 CE heappointed himself to the hithertodefunct office of censor. The positiongave him the power to add senators atwhim—and to execute them at whim,on trumped up charges of conspiracy orviolating state security.

In the provinces, Claudius followed apolicy of Romanization, or assimilatingother peoples into the empire. This acttended to reduce the importance of theItalian Peninsula in the senate, a fact thatdid not add to his popularity there. Onthe peninsula itself, however, Claudiusimproved government administrationwithin the municipal towns, drainedmarshes, and built numerous roads andports. He was responsible for the greatharbor at Ostia, just south of Rome atthe mouth of the Tiber River, and herestored several major aqueducts thatbrought water to Rome.

Expanding the empireClaudius believed in expanding theempire if possible, and he did incorporatethree new client kingdoms: Mauretaniain 42 CE, Lycia in 43 CE, and Thrace in46 CE. However, his greatest overseasaccomplishment was the annexation ofBritain in 43 CE. Claudius himself ledthe campaign, to make up for his previ-ous lack of military achievement, and itwas spectacularly successful.After landingin Kent and defeating the local chieftainCaractacus, the Roman army capturedhis capital, Camulodunum (present-dayColchester), and established a Roman

90

ANCIENT ROME

Claudius was a

scholarly and

effective emperor

who was

nevertheless highly

unpopular with his

subjects.

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THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

colony there. Within a year, Claudiusreturned to Rome, where he was given atriumphal victory procession. His gener-als remained in Britain to complete thesubjugation of the island.

Messalina and AgrippinaIn spite of his achievements, Claudiuswas widely unpopular. His wives werepartly responsible. He was married fourtimes, his last two wives being Messalinaand Agrippina. Messalina was, accordingto contemporaries, an unfaithful wife.Young and beautiful, she was said to bediscontented with her handicapped prin-ceps and would call on young aristocratsfrom all over the city to spend the nightwith her, punishing with death any who

refused. Eventually, she began an affairwith Gaius Silius. One night in 48 CE,the two of them held a wild party whenthey believed that Claudius was out ofthe city. However, Claudius surprisedthem in the middle of the orgy andfound his wife dancing clad only in aleopard skin. Claudius had her lockedaway for the remainder of the night.Thenext morning, he seemed ready to par-don her, but before he could do so,Narcissus arranged for her executiontogether with Silius.

Claudius married again the followingyear. His new wife, the beautiful butdevious Agrippina, was Caligula’s sister,the great-granddaughter of Augustus,and Claudius’s own niece. She was also

The Apotheosis ofClaudius is a cameo

made of sardonyx

set in an enameled

gold frame. It shows

the emperor being

taken to heaven by

an eagle and marks

his deification after

his death in 54 CE.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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the ex-wife of Domitius Ahenobarbus,by whom she had had a son in 37 CE.This son was now 11 years old, and it wasAgrippina’s ambition to make him prin-ceps and then rule through him.Two peo-ple stood in the way: Claudius himselfand his son Britannicus (named forClaudius’s conquest of Britain). In 50CE, Agrippina used her influence withClaudius to get him to adopt her son,who then took the name Nero. Fouryears later, in 54 CE, Claudius died sud-denly. Rumors claimed that Agrippinahad poisoned him with a plate of mush-rooms. Afranius Burrus, the commanderof the Praetorian Guard, was already un-der Agrippina’s protection, and hedeclared Nero to be the new princeps.

NeroIn 54 CE, when Nero was declared prin-ceps, he was just 16 years old and tooyoung to rule. Effective power passed tohis regents: the elderly Stoic philosopherSeneca and the commander of the

92

ANCIENT ROME

Because of his disabilities, Claudius was largely ignoredby the imperial family during his early years, and he liveda quiet and scholarly life.While Claudius was still ayoung man, the historian Livy encouraged him to studyhistory. Livy’s advice resulted in an enormous output;Claudius wrote 20 books on Etruscan history and 8on Carthaginian history, all in Greek. Claudius alsoproduced a pamphlet in defense of the republicanorator Cicero, which sparked an interest in contempo-rary Roman history. Claudius went on to describe thereign of Augustus in 41 books. In addition to his histori-cal works, Claudius produced an autobiography and apamphlet on gambling with dice, a pastime of which hewas very fond. He made a historical study of the Romanalphabet and even introduced three new characters toit—although they later fell out of use. Highly intelligent,Claudius also taught himself the basics of architecture,which makes it somewhat surprising that he undertookrelatively little building work in Rome when he laterbecame emperor.The quality of Claudius’s writings isunknown; none of his literary works survived.

CLAUDIUS THE SCHOLAR

After his conquest of

Britain, Claudius

built baths at Aquae

Sulis (now Bath),

using natural hot

springs that were

already renowned

for their curative

powers.The

emperor’s baths

were based on a

scaled-down version

of the great baths

in Rome.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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93

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

Agrippina originally

had considerable

influence over her

son while she acted

as regent, but she

later quarreled with

him, mainly over

his affair with

Poppaea Sabina.

Praetorian Guard, Burrus. Burrus andSeneca ruled in an autocratic manner,permitting little if any dissent, but theempire prospered under them.They hadinherited a well-ordered empire fromClaudius, who had reorganized imperialfinances so that taxes from all the prov-inces were controlled centrally in Rome.(One of the earliest acts of Nero’s reignwas to deify Claudius.) The state cofferswere well filled, and all over the empire,new colonies were being founded, whichbrought in new revenue.

The young princeps had littlechoice but to allow his men-tors to have their own way.In any case, he was lessinterested in politics andmore in the arts; hethought of himself pri-marily as a poet andsinger. Nero’s mother,Agrippina, found the sit-uation deeply frustrating. Shewanted to rule herself, throughNero, but that was not possiblewithout her son’s support.

However, within five years, Nerohad turned into a monster. He was tomurder, eventually, his stepbrother, hismother, his first and second wives, andhis tutor, plus many others.

Murders and marriagesAgrippina fought to keep her influenceover her son. According to a story relat-ed by the historian Tacitus, Agrippinawent so far as to try to seduce Nero during an orgy. Seneca, witnessing herbehavior, hastily sent in a beautiful freed-woman called Acte to divert Nero’sattention. Realizing that she was losingher influence over her son, Agrippinabegan to favor Britannicus, Nero’syounger stepbrother. Nero promptly hadhim poisoned.

By 59 CE, Nero had decided to getrid of his interfering mother. He invited

her to one of his country houses, sup-posedly for a reconciliation. The housewas on a lake, so he sent a boat to trans-port her.The boat was rigged to fall apartin the middle of the lake so thatAgrippina would drown.When she man-aged to swim ashore, Nero abandonedsubtlety. He ordered a company of thePraetorian Guards to stab his mother todeath. Burrus circulated a rumor thatAgrippina had conspired against Nero,and Seneca wrote a statement for Neroto read to the senate to justify her death.

The young emperor rapidly devel-oped into a vicious and pleasure-seekingdespot. His behavior was encouraged byhis mistress Poppaea Sabina, the wife of

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ANCIENT ROME

Although the Romans had largely adopted theGreek mythology and pantheon of gods, they

continued to hold on to their own ideas aboutthe afterlife.They believed that besides the soul(or anima, literally meaning “breath” or “wind”)something else remained after death, namely theumbra (or shadow).These shadows of the deadmade up the large swarms of manes (a wordalways used in the plural).The manes were ableto assist their families by appearing to them indreams and revelations to offer advice, but manescould also turn against them.Those who offendedthe manes, by trying to control them with magicpotions, for example, would end up having to dealwith evil, rather than benign, spirits.

The shadows departed this world into theunderworld though cracks in the earth.There,they were transported by the ferryman Charonacross the Styx River (the river of the dead)in a boat to the other side, where they weresubjected to the decision of two infallible judges.

The condemned ones were thrown into Tartarus,the lowest region of the underworld, to suffereternal punishment. One such punishment inmythology was meted out to Tantalus, who wasforced to stand in water up to his neck while abranch bearing delicious fruit dangled in front ofhis face.When he wanted to take a drink, thewater level would drop out of reach, and whenhe tried to eat some fruit, the branch would beblown away by the wind.

The saved ones, however, were allowed to enterthe Elysian Fields, with their blossoming valleysand multicolored light.The poet Ovid claimedthat the blessed replicated their earthly ways oflife there, while the poet Virgil told of the shad-ows of blessed ones who found entertainmentthere by singing and holding chariot races.

This 16th-century-CE painting by the Flemish artist

Joachim Patinier depicts Charon ferrying the dead

across the Styx River.

ROMANS AND LIFE AFTER DEATH

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This gold coin from

around 55 CE

depicts Nero and his

mother,Agrippina.

95

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

the senator Marcus Salvio Otho (wholater was to be briefly emperor), andNero’s friend Tigellinus, one of thePraetorian Guards. In 62 CE, Nerodivorced and murdered his first wife,Octavia, who was a daughter of Claudius.He then married the divorced Poppaea,but in 65 CE, in a wild fit of temper, hekicked her to death. He then married therecently widowed Statilia Messalina(whose husband was also thought to havedied at the hands of the emperor).

The “artist”Burrus died in 62 CE, and Seneca, fearingfor his own safety, retired from Nero’scourt. Nero’s attention then focused onTigellinus, who replaced Burrus as head of the Praetorian Guard. Tigellinus’sflattery convinced Nero that the emperor

was indeed a talented singer and poet.Nero even went so far as to appear onstage in public.Naturally, the audience was

obliged to applaud him enthusiastically.From a modern perspective, it is

impossible to know whether ornot Nero actually had any talent.According to historians of thetime, including Tacitus, theemperor made a fool ofhimself. His performances,they said, brought disgraceupon his family and thewhole of the Roman aris-tocracy. In 66 CE, Neroundertook an extendedtour of Greece, participat-ing in all the local festivals.At each festival, he was,naturally enough, awarded

the prize. The emperor alsoentered the chariot race at the

Olympic Games at Delphi. Hedrove a chariot so wide that no

other competitor could get on thetrack with him.As a result, he was award-ed the victor’s crown of laurel leaves.

The fire of RomeIn 64 CE, a fire broke out in Rome. Suchfires were a regular occurrence in thehuge city, with its maze of narrow streetslined with timber buildings, but the fireswere usually put out before much dam-age was done.This time, however, the firetook hold, and a wall of flame and smokeswept through the alleyways for days,destroying the homes of the poor andclaiming thousands of lives. Most of thecity was destroyed.

A rumor began that Nero himselfstarted the fire, even though he had beenin Antium, which was 35 miles (56 km)from Rome.Another version of the storyclaimed that Nero stood on a hill,watched the flames devour the city, andsang a song he had written about the fallof Troy.This account was the origin of the

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Page 97: Historia de Roma ilustrada

modern story that the emperor played thefiddle while Rome burned.

Nero, in return, put the blame for thefire on Rome’s Christians (see box, page98). He initiated a full-scale persecutionof thousands of Christians, many ofwhom were gruesomely put to deathduring the games in the amphitheater.Others were covered in pitch and used as human torches during the emperor’sparties. Such cruelty made many peoplesympathetic to the Christians, and therumor that Nero himself started the firerefused to die.

After the fire, Nero decided torebuild Rome and make it more magnif-icent than ever. The city was laid outwith wider streets on a regular grid pat-tern. Strict building regulations ensuredthat all structures were built solidly offireproof materials. Nero reserved for

himself a large tract of land in the easternpart of the city and began to build a newpalace, called the Golden House. Thissumptuous residence, with colonnades,parks, and lakes, was decorated with mag-nificent frescoes, which later influencedthe work of Renaissance artists. Thepalace was never finished, however, due toNero’s chronic shortage of money.

Rebellion in BritainThe citizens of the provinces deeplyresented the corruption and cruelty ofNero’s administrators, and this wasparticularly true in Britain. In 60 CE, theresentment flared into open rebellion, ledby Boudicca, queen of the Iceni tribein what is now southeastern England.The insurgents took the Roman settle-ments of Camulodunum (present-dayColchester),Verulamium (St.Albans), and

96

ANCIENT ROME

In this 17th-century-

CE engraving,

Christians are put

to death as part of

Nero’s persecution

following the fire

in Rome.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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97

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

The Venetian

Renaissance artist

Luca Giordano

painted The Deathof Seneca in 1680

CE.According to the

historian Tacitus,

Seneca died slowly

after cutting his

wrists.

Londinium (London) and razed them.According to Roman sources, the rebelsmassacred the settlements’ inhabitants,although some modern archaeologistsdispute the claim. It was a year beforeRoman legions regained control, puttingBoudicca to death and taking reprisalsagainst the Iceni.

Rebellion at homeIn Rome, Nero’s poor administrationand the growing insecurity he provokedamong senators fostered a mood ofrebellion. Forty-one prominent Romanshatched a plot to make Gaius CalpurniusPiso emperor, but Nero was warned ofthe conspiracy by loyal slaves. In 65 CE,Piso and his fellow conspirators werecondemned to death. Preferring to taketheir own lives rather than face the exe-cutioners, 18 of the condemned men slittheir own wrists. Among them wasNero’s former tutor, Seneca.Another onewas the general Corbulo, who had been

waging for four years a successful mili-tary campaign in Anatolia (modernTurkey) to establish Armenia as a bufferstate against Parthia.

Rebellion across the empireRoman brutality fomented a Jewish rev-olution in Judaea in 66 CE. An initialrising in Jerusalem was followed bydisorder spreading throughout the coun-try. Nero sent Titus Flavius Vespasianus(who eventually became the emperorVespasian) to end the revolt. Completinga bloody campaign in which he sup-pressed the rebels village by village,Ves-pasian began a siege of Jerusalem.

Before the situation in Judaea couldbe resolved, two provincial governorsrebelled in the west: Julius Vindex inGaul and Sulpicius Galba in Spain. In 68CE, Roman legions on the banks of theRhine River slaughtered the Gauls inVindex’s army and forced him to com-mit suicide.The victorious Roman gen-

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ANCIENT ROME

By the time Nero came to power, anew religious sect had appeared inRome.The sect had originated inPalestine, where its members worshipped a single god, rather thanthe multiplicity of Roman deities.The people were known asChristians, after the founder of thesect, Jesus Christ, who had been putto death during the reign ofTiberius. It was said that theChristians expected the imminentreturn of Christ to punish a worldthat they believed was full of sin.

Many Romans paid little attention toChristianity. It was just one of anumber of eastern sects in Rome,some of which had attracted muchcontroversy.There were rumors, forexample, that Christian worshipincluded witchcraft and cannibalism.

Many early Christians in Rome werecitizens, who enjoyed the protection

of the law.When Paul the Apostlewas flogged, for example, and claimed his rights as a citizen, thecity council apologized; it was notpermitted to flog a Roman.However, noncitizens could be subject to arbitrary martial law.Theprovincial governor could condemnthem to death, as Pontius Pilate didwith Jesus.

Paul was arrested and sent to Romefor execution around 62 CE.According to tradition, he wasbeheaded with a sword, which washis right as a Roman citizen.Theapostle Peter was also martyredduring the reign of Nero. Becausehe was not a citizen, however, Peterwas crucified, which was morepainful. Despite the deaths of theseleaders, the sect was not destroyed.Various sources indicate thatChristianity became one of themost successful sects in Rome.

THE CHRISTIANS IN ROME

This 19th-century-

CE sculpture depicts

the British queen

Boudicca, who led a

rebellion against the

Romans in the first

century CE.

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This bronze

gladiator’s helmet

was found at

Pompeii and

dates to the first

century CE.

99

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN EMPERORS

eral claimed that he was acting on behalfof the senate rather than Nero. Mean-while, Galba and his legions advancedtoward Rome unopposed.

The senate condemned Nero todeath, and on June 9, 68 CE, having lostthe allegiance of the Praetorian Guard,Nero fled the city. A slave helped himstab himself in the throat. The dyingemperor was said to have remarked,“What a great artist dies with me!”

Nero’s reputationNero’s death brought an inglorious endto the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Declareddamnatio memoriae (damned in memory)by the senate, Nero and his reign wereobliterated from the official record. Later,under the emperor Domitian, eveninscriptions on buildings that referred toNero were erased.

Nero’s historical reputation, however,has undergone something of a rehabilita-tion. Historians who lived during hisreign and in its aftermath agreed withthe senators and condemned Nero’styranny. Modern historians, on the otherhand, point out that the emperor actual-ly seems to have been quite popular withordinary Romans.

It may be that what Rome’s leadingcitizens regarded as tyranny was seen bycommoners in a more favorable light—perhaps as an effective means of civiccontrol. While there is no doubt thatNero was highly unpopular in theprovinces, which he exploited to thebenefit of Rome, the average Romanseems to have had more positive feelingsabout Nero’s time as princeps.

The tyrannical behavior of Nero hadrarely affected the inhabitants of thealleyways of Rome.Those Romans mayhave approved—if they noticed—thatpowerful and corrupt men were beingdisposed of by the hundreds. What wasmore, Nero had spent vast sums—morethan any other princeps—on panem et

circenses (bread and circuses), the tradi-tional entertainments that the emperorsused to keep the masses happy.

Such generosity seems to have beeneffective. Contemporary records relatethat, when the news of Nero’s death washeard, all Rome mourned and store-keepers closed their stores. For yearsafterward, fresh flowers were placed onthe burial mound that the freedwomanActe erected for her imperial lover.

See also:

The Age of Augustus (page 72) • Daily Life inRome (page 116) • Expanding the Empire(page 100)

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EXPANDING THEEMPIRE

The emperors who came after Nero brought the empire to itsgreatest extent through a combination of military organization

and smart political maneuvers. Even at its most powerful, however,Rome contained signs of its eventual destruction.

After the death of Nero in 68 CE, thesenate declared Sulpicius Galba princeps.He was a member of a distinguishedpatrician family and a former governor ofSpain, and as such, he was welcomed bythe senators as their new emperor.However, Galba’s appointment marked asignificant departure from the principleof hereditary succession.The new emper-or had no connection with the Julio-Claudian dynasty. If he could becomeemperor (and at the age of 73), then intheory, any member of the aristocracyhad a right to the imperial throne.

Galba and OthoGalba faced a potentially dangerous situ-ation. Law and order broke down inRome, and for the first time in a centu-ry, there was fighting in the streets, withfrequent murders and robberies. Nerohad virtually emptied the treasury, andthe harsh economies Galba introducedmade him highly unpopular.Worse still,the legions in the provinces were at warwith one another, each supporting itsown candidate for princeps.The legions inthe north, which had been instrumentalin engineering Nero’s downfall, wereparticularly bitter. It seemed that theirefforts had brought to power someonewith whom they had no connection.

In January of 69 CE, shortly afterbeing recognized as princeps,Galba learned

that the northern legions were in revolt.Under Aulus Vitellius, the commander ofLower Germany, they were preparing tomarch on Rome. Galba appointed ayoung, inexperienced patrician namedPiso Licinianus to fight the rebellion—and to be his successor. The emperor’sdecision alienated Marcus Salvius Otho(the first husband of Poppaea Sabinaand a confidant of Galba), who hadhoped to succeed Galba. Otho, who was a prominent banker, bribed thePraetorian Guard to murder the newemperor in the street.

The senate recognized Otho as em-peror.His reign lasted only three months,however.The empire was still in turmoil.The German legions were still advancingon Rome with Vitellius at their head.Otho assembled a hastily formed armyand, together with the Praetorian Guard,faced the Vitellian forces at Cremona innorthern Italy. Otho’s army was defeated,and Otho committed suicide.

VitelliusVitellius and his Rhineland army enteredRome in April of 69 CE. The senateconfirmed Vitellius as emperor, but thisprinceps lasted only slightly longer thanhis predecessors: eight months.The prob-lems that confronted his predecessors hadnot gone away; indeed, the problems hadbecome worse. The treasury’s coffers

100

TIME LINE

68 CENero dies;Sulpicius Galbabecomes emperor.

69 CEGalba murdered;succeeded by Otho.Otho reigns forthree months;replaced by Vitellius.Vitellius killed;replaced byVespasian beforeyear’s end.

79 CEVespasian dies;succeeded by Titus. Eruption of Mount Vesuvius buriestown of Pompeii.

98 CETrajan becomesemperor; under his rule, RomanEmpire reachesgreatest extent.

134 CEJewish rebellion put down afterthree years offighting.

180 CEMarcus Aurelius dies; Commodusinherits empire.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

This marble statue of the emperor Hadrian

was carved in the second century CE to

celebrate his victories over the barbarians.

were completely exhausted. Unable topay his troops their victory bonus,Vitellius lost all control of his army. Tomake matters worse, Vitellius also cameunder threat from another pretender tothe principate.

It was not only the legions on theRhine who had wanted to see one oftheir own become princeps. The legionsin Judaea had the same idea.There,Ves-pasian commanded a huge army that hadbeen assembled in Jerusalem to suppressthe great Jewish rebellion of 66 CE.Those soldiers nominated Vespasian asprinceps, and he quickly gained supportthroughout the region and from thelegions along the Danube. In Decemberof 69 CE,Vespasian’s army met Vitellius’sRhineland troops at the Battle ofBedriacum, in the northern ItalianPeninsula, and defeated them. Vitelliuswas lynched by the victors.

VespasianAfter the defeat of Vitellius, the senategave Vespasian the title the legions haddemanded for him. The first of theFlavian emperors, Titus Flavius Vespasi-anus was not a descendant of the oldRoman aristocracy. Born in a smallItalian town, he did not even come fromRome, and his family had only recentlybeen promoted to the senatorial order.Yet this “outsider” took control of theempire with a firm hand.

Vespasian’s rule was authoritarian, butby retaining strict control of the army, hesucceeded in bringing much neededpeace to the battle-bruised empire. Hequickly eliminated all political oppo-nents, banishing them from the capital.He revived and occupied the position ofcensor, packing the senate with hissupporters and greatly increasing the

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number of senators drawn from theprovinces. Although he allowed the sen-ate little real power, he appointed a largenumber of senators to administrativepositions. During his reign, a new aris-tocracy, based on government service,became influential.

Vespasian was the first emperor totackle successfully the financial and orga-nizational chaos left by Nero. Vespasiansolved Rome’s financial problems by cut-ting back drastically on state spendingand by increasing taxes. He imposed apoll tax on Jews and even taxed the con-tents of public urinals, which leather-workers used to tan their hides.When adelegation went to the emperor to askhim to lift the tax, Vespasian held up acoin in front of their noses and asked,“Does this stink?”

In spite of his cutbacks,Vespasian wasalso careful to build something thatwould please and entertain Rome’s citi-zens. On the site of Nero’s GoldenHouse,Vespasian began building a hugeamphitheater, later known as theColosseum, where contests with wildanimals, gladiator fights, and mock navalbattles could be staged.

However, serious problems remainedin the provinces.The Danube lands werebeing raided by Saratian tribesmen, butVespasian’s generals were able to restoreorder there relatively quickly. Along theRhine in Lower Germany, the troublewas more serious.The fiercely independ-ent Batavian tribe had previously formedan alliance with the Romans and sup-plied auxiliary troops to the Romanarmy. Now, the Batavian tribesmen felt

102

ANCIENT ROME

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT

SARDINIA

CORSICA

SICILY

Alexandria

Mediterranean Sea

Black Sea

PYRENEES

ALPS

Rome

Jerusalem

Byzantium

Pompeii

Carthage

Vindobona

BedriacumCISALPINE

GAUL

SYRIA

JUDAEA

BRITAIN

ARMENIA

SPAIN

UPPERGERMANY

LOWERGERMANY

EGYPT

ARABIA

RAETIA

DALMATIA

DACIA

ASIA

TRANSALPINE

GAUL

Roman Empirein 117 CE

Major battle

KEY

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EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

increasingly embittered at the authoritar-ian way in which they believed theywere being treated. In the chaotic year of69 CE, they rebelled, under the leader-ship of Julius Civilis, a German withRoman citizenship. The rebellionlasted for a year before a settlementwas negotiated.

In 70 CE, Vespasian’s elderson, Titus, took Jerusalem forhis father, finally ending thelong war in Judaea. Titus thenkilled most of the city’s inhabi-tants and destroyed the temple,except for one part of theWestern Wall. Known today asthe Wailing Wall, it is one of themost holy places of Judaism.

Vespasian’s rule lasted for tenyears, during which time he carefullygroomed Titus to succeed him. Whenthe emperor sensed that his death wasnear, he is alleged to have said,“Oh dear,I think I’m turning into a god.” Titussucceeded his father without problemand promptly had him deified.

TitusTitus, who was 39 years old on his acces-sion, had intelligence, good looks, and apleasant personality, but he lived for onlytwo years after becoming emperor. Hisshort reign was dominated by two catas-trophes: the eruption of the volcanoMount Vesuvius in 79 CE, which buriedthe towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, andStabiae (see box, page 104), and a majorfire in Rome. After both disasters, Titusmade considerable efforts to help thesurvivors, including making donationsfrom his own funds.

Titus also completed the greatamphitheater begun by his father andcelebrated its opening with games thatlasted for more than three months. Hisgenerosity and just government madeTitus a popular princeps, and he was dei-fied after his sudden death at age 41.

Titus was succeeded by his brotherDomitian, who may have had a hand inthe death and whose name was tobecome synonymous with terror.

DomitianThe last of the Flavian emperors, Do-mitian was the second son of Vespasianand had never been designated as heirapparent. Nevertheless, after the death ofTitus, Domitian was hailed as the newemperor by the Praetorian Guard andthen ratified by the senate. Domitian hadnever before held a position of influencebecause his father and elder brother bothbelieved that his ambition made himdangerous. Suddenly, Domitian hadcomplete power, and he used it to insti-gate a reign of terror.

Treating the senate with contempt,Domitian manipulated it to a greaterextent than any previous emperor had.

This coin was

minted during the

short reign of

Sulpicius Galba, who

died in 69 CE, only a

year after gaining

the imperial throne.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 105: Historia de Roma ilustrada

He also insisted that the senators payhim the respect he felt he merited,and he meted out severe punishmentfor any insult, real or imagined.Domitian maintained his control overthe senate by appointing senators of hisown choice and, later, by executingany of whom he disapproved.In 85 CE, Domitian ap-pointed himself censusperpetuus (perpetualcensor) and repeat-edly managed toget himself electedconsul, the civilianhead of government.While he was willingto alienate the senate,however, Domitian wasalso shrewd enough to

make sure that he kept the allegiance ofthe army.

Domitian’s administration was highlyefficient. To administer the provinces,he sent competent, incorruptible menchosen from the senate or the equites.Theprovinces thrived under his authoritarian

rule. Believing that his positiondepended on the goodwill

of the masses, he made sureto entertain them withspectacular events, includ-ing numerous games inthe amphitheater andtwo triumphal processions

through the center of

104

ANCIENT ROME

In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius, the volcano nearNaples that had been dormant for centuries,suddenly erupted, burying the nearby towns ofPompeii and Herculaneum under 13 feet (4 m)of lava and hot ash.The event was described indetail by the Roman writer Pliny the Younger, inan account of the death of his uncle, Pliny theElder, who was the commander of a navalsquadron at the time of the eruption.

“Even though the mountain smoked ominouslyfor a time, the inhabitants of the little towns onthe slopes were barely concerned,” he wrote.“They were pretty sure that the volcano wasextinct.... One afternoon Pliny [the Elder] sawfrom his ship how the top of the mountain, as itwere, exploded. Large gas clouds rose up fromthe crater. In Pompeii, it rained pieces of stone,the earth trembled and a large stream of lavastarted to crawl slowly down the mountain.Pliny went ashore to observe the phenomenonclose up, but lost his life in doing so.”

The report of Pliny the Younger goes on todescribe how panic broke out when thepeople realized too late what was happeningand tried to find safe shelter. In the space of afew days, the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum,and Stabiae disappeared from the face of theearth, covered in lava and ash, together withmany of their inhabitants.

It was not until 1748 CE that Pompeii was discovered again. Under the lava, ash, and mud,archaeologists found an entire city, with streets,shops, houses, a forum, several temples, and alarge amphitheater. On a more macabre note, itwas found that the volcanic debris had formedperfect molds around the bodies of the terrifiedtownspeople.Archaeologists were able to pourplaster into these molds to create perfectreplicas of the long-dead people, evenreproducing the look of horror on their faces.The excavated Pompeii provides a wealth ofinformation about daily life in a Roman city.

POMPEII

Otho’s reign lasted only three

months, from January 15 to

April 16, 69 CE.

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105

EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

This fresco from

Pompeii shows the

goddess Venus

fishing.The ruined

city is a main source

of information

about Roman

painting.

Rome to honor his army’s success againsttribes in the northeast.

Troubled divinityFrom the beginning of his reign, Do-mitian insisted that he was divine andthat people should address him as domi-nus et deus (lord and god). However, hedid not at first feel the need to demon-strate the godlike control over human lifethat he later exhibited. That changed in89 CE, when Saturninus, the Romancommander on the Rhine, initiated arebellion by declaring himself princeps.The emperor swiftly crushed the revoltin a bloodbath.

After the uprising, Domitian trustedno one. He kept delatores (informers)busy looking for conspiracies, and in thesenatorial order, nobody’s life was safe.Anyone voicing opposition to theemperor was summarily executed. Do-mitian himself became paranoid, fearingattack even in the safety of his ownpalace. It was said that he put up mirrorsin every room so he could always seewho was behind him.

Even the emperor’s mirrors could notprotect him, however. In 96 CE, hebecame the victim of the conspiracy hehad always feared. Domitian’s wife paid aslave to assassinate him, and the emperorwas stabbed to death while he was study-ing a report on a plot to kill him. Afterhis death, the relieved senate declaredhim damnatio memoriae (damned in mem-ory), and his reign was struck from therecord. His name was also removed fromall public buildings.

Military accomplishmentsDomitian’s military accomplishmentswere unquestionable. Under his rule, theborders of the empire had been strength-ened and, in some cases, extended. Hehad also continued the military reformsinitiated by Vespasian.To avoid a repeat ofthe events of 69 CE, when the Batavian

tribe had rebelled in Lower Germany,Vespasian had begun a policy of station-ing native auxiliary forces far from theirhomelands, usually under the commandof a Roman officer.Auxiliary forces wereincreasingly assigned roles similar tothose once performed by the regularlegions, working in small, highly mobiledetachments. The legions themselves,which were based in permanent camps,had grown less mobile. Domitian contin-ued these policies and used nativedetachments to good effect in Britain,along the Rhine and Danube rivers, andon the eastern frontier.

Under three successive governorsbetween 71 and 84 CE, Rome’s frontiersin the half-conquered land of Britainwere pushed out into what are now

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106

ANCIENT ROME

Wales, northern England, and parts ofScotland. Domitian garrisoned threelegions in the extended province.

In 74 CE, Vespasian had taken overterritory between the Rhine and theDanube. Domitian built extensive fortifi-cations along the new border. He alsoturned the military regions of Upper andLower Germany into regular provinces.

In 85 and 86 CE, the powerfulDacian king Decebalus crossed theDanube, invading Roman territory fromthe north. Domitian’s legions halted theadvance of Decebalus in 88 CE, but thenext year, needing his troops to putdown Saturninus’s rebellion, Domitianbroke off the conflict and negotiated atreaty under which he paid an annual feeto Decebalus, who in return undertookto protect the lower Danube from bar-barian attack.

In the east, Domitian completed thedevelopment of miliary roads begun byVespasian in Anatolia. Domitian also keptJudaea under control by settling perma-nent legions in the area and reinforcedthe Roman military presence along theEuphrates River by establishing legion-ary camps at major crossing points.

NervaAfter the assassination of Domitian in 96CE, the senate was quick to nominateone of its own as princeps. The elderlysenator Marcus Cocceius Nerva becamethe first in a sequence of five rulers whowere called the Antonine emperors, aftertheir most outstanding representative,Antoninus Pius.

Nerva was a good administratorwhose attempts to solve social problemsmade him popular with the citizens andsenators. However, the army remainedloyal to Domitian and insisted that anyconspirators implicated in his assassina-tion be executed. Eager to placate thearmy, and lacking any military prestigehimself, Nerva quickly adopted a soldier,

rather than a member of his own family,as his heir apparent.

Nerva nominated the Spanish officerMarcus Ulpius Trajanus (Trajan), whocommanded the troops in Upper Ger-many.The action initiated a tradition thatthe emperor adopt a successor on thebasis of ability rather than family ties.Thenew custom was to provide Rome withwhat history has termed the “goodemperors” for the next century, duringwhich the principate flourished.

TrajanIn 98 CE, only three months after nom-inating Trajan as his successor, Nervadied. He was accorded the deificationnow traditional for a fair and reasonableemperor.Trajan was serving in Germanywhen he became emperor and clearlyconsidered that his nomination by thesenate was little more than a formality, asindeed proved to be the case.Trajan sawno need to return to Rome until the

This first-century-CE

coin shows the

emperor Domitian,

during whose reign

it was struck.After

his death, Domitian

was declared

damnatiomemoriae, and no

further memorials

were created.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

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107

EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

military ambition was to extend thefrontiers of the empire, and he was bril-liantly successful.

One of Trajan’s greatest militaryachievements was on the Danube. TheDacians had established a powerful em-pire in the Carpathian region underDecebalus. Trajan resented the annualpayments Rome made to the Daciansunder the terms of Domitian’s treaty, inreturn for their policing efforts againstthe aggressive Sarmatian tribes. Conflictbetween Rome and the Dacians flaredagain in 102–103 CE. In a second hard-fought war in 105–106 CE,Trajan’sforces built a massive stonebridge to provide a cross-ing point over the Dan-ube. Roman legionsentered the Daciancapital, and the defeat-ed Decebalus took hisown life. All Dacianswho refused to surren-der were hunted downand killed.Trajan’s victorywas one of the most dev-astating campaigns in thehistory of Rome; it des-troyed the Dacians asan ethnic group.

This first-

century-CE bust

shows Trajan, who,

in 117 CE, brought

the Roman Empire to

its greatest extent.

following year, when he had completedhis mission. His decision was an indica-tion of the importance he attached to hisimmediate task, his commitment to theprovinces, and the fact that he was notimpressed by constitutional tradition

Trajan was careful, however, to retainthe goodwill of the senate. As a provin-cial Spaniard, he was popular with theincreasingly numerous provincial sena-tors. Meanwhile, his modest demeanorand lack of self-importance also endearedhim to the aristocratic senators. Trajan’spersonality did much to allay the fear ofterror and conspiracy that had permeat-ed Domitian’s court, and he was recog-nized throughout Rome as an outstand-ing ruler with high moral values. Once,when handing a sword to the command-er of the Praetorian Guard, he is report-ed to have said, “Use it against me if Ineglect my duty, but use it to defend meif I perform my duty well.”

Trajan’s governmentIn spite of his modesty, Trajan could beautocratic. He intervened in the affairs ofthe senate whenever he felt it necessary,ruling with a group of advisers aboutwhom little is known. He aimed to pro-mote public well-being, and he providedgladiatorial games to entertain Rome’scitizens. He also sponsored public works,such as new buildings in Rome andimprovements to harbors and roadsthroughout Italy.The emperor’s financialexperts, the curatores, helped municipaltowns and, indeed, two provinces thathad gotten into financial difficulties. Healso made low-cost loans available tofarmers and used the interest to fund achildren’s charity.

Trajan the soldierThroughout his life, Trajan remained primarily a soldier. He spent seven of hisnineteen years as emperor in militarycamps and died in an army tent. His

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108

ANCIENT ROME

Trajan’s Arch, built

in 114 CE by the

senate in honor of

the emperor, still

stands in Benevento

in central Italy.The

relief carvings on

the arch show

scenes from the

emperor’s life and

military campaigns.

To commemorate his victory, Trajanerected a huge stone column in the newforum he had just completed in Rome.The column was decorated with reliefsshowing scenes from the campaign. Inthe conquered province, the develop-ment of a new dialect influenced byLatin was a powerful sign of the obliter-ation of Dacia.The new language was tobecome, in time, Romanian.

Trajan continued his conquests, an-nexing the kingdom of Arabia and thebuffer state of Armenia and invadingParthia in 114 CE. By 116 CE, he had

conquered Mesopotamia and saileddown the Tigris River to the PersianGulf. His campaigns had brought theempire to what would be its greatestextent. However, fighting broke out asJews, Parthians, and other conqueredpeoples rose in rebellion.Before he couldquell these insurrections, Trajan died oncampaign in Syria in 117 CE. After hisdeath, he was routinely deified.

HadrianTrajan died without nominating an heir.However, his widow claimed that on his

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109

EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

Caption text to fit

Ever since the Romans had annexed Judaea in 6CE, they had found the Jews a difficult people tocomprehend.They worshipped only one god, ofwhom they were not allowed to make any statues, and they fanatically refused to worshipthe Roman emperor as a god. For much of thetime, the Romans dealt leniently with the Jewsand did not interfere with their religion.

The Jews were divided into two main groups.The Sadducees came from the upper classes anddid not take their religion too seriously.Theother main group consisted of the Pharisees,who practiced an orthodox form of Judaism andwere firmly opposed to Roman rule and influence.The Pharisees were not, however,interested in violent action, unlike the Zealots,who took up arms against the occupying power.

Things came to a head in 66 CE, when theinhabitants of Jerusalem, inflamed by Romanoppression, rose in revolt and massacred the

small Roman garrison.The rebellion spread likewildfire throughout Judaea.Vespasian, at thattime one of Nero’s generals, was dispatched toput an end to the uprising. Before he could doso, political events at home intervened.Theinsurrection was finally ended by Vespasian’s sonTitus in 70 CE, when he besieged the city ofJerusalem and reduced it to ruins. Most of theinhabitants were massacred, and those who survived were enslaved.

Some 60 years later, in 131 CE, the Jewsrebelled again.This revolt was caused by theemperor Hadrian’s misguided attempt to assimilate the Jews into Roman culture.The Jewstook up arms under Bar Kochba, and the ensuing war lasted for three years.The Romanseventually put down the insurrection with greatferocity.When order was finally restored, thesurvivors were scattered throughout theempire. Judaea lost its name and was henceforthcalled Syria Palestina.

THE JEWISH REBELLIONS

This detail from the

reliefs on Trajan’s

Column shows

Roman soldiers

being attacked by

Dacians in 106 CE.

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110

deathbed he had adopted Publius AeliusHadrianus, his closest male relative andthe governor of Syria. Mainly on thestrength of this claim, Trajan’s soldiersnominated Hadrian, another nonaristo-cratic Spaniard, as the new emperor.Hadrian informed the senate of thisdecision but did not seek to have hisnomination endorsed. His lack of con-cern about the senate was an indicationof how weak it had become.

Hadrian was a civilian rather than asoldier and is best remembered as an

Trajan’s Column rises

100 feet (30.5 m)

above the ruins of

Trajan’s Forum in

Rome.The column

features a spiral

band of reliefs

illustrating scenes

from the emperor’s

campaign against

the Dacians.

excellent administrator. He abandonedhis predecessor’s aggressive territorialpolicies and renounced the regions that Trajan had recently conquered in the east. Instead of attempting toexpand the empire, Hadrian implement-ed a policy of protecting its existing frontiers, which made for a more peace-ful regime.

Hadrian set up strong fortifications todefend the borders of the empire. Themost famous example was Hadrian’s Wallin Britain. The tall stone wall, much ofwhich still stands, ran along the top of amound protected by a ditch and incor-porated forts at regular intervals.The wallstretched right across northern Britainand cut off the Picts of Scotland fromRoman territory to the south. Hadrianbuilt a similar fortified border betweenGermany and Raetia.

The only heavy fighting duringHadrian’s reign came in Judaea. Whenthe emperor founded a Roman colonyin Jerusalem in 131 CE, the outragedJews rebelled under their leader BarKochba. A war followed that lasted until134 CE (see box, page 109).

Service under HadrianTo ensure the empire was adequatelygarrisoned, Hadrian kept his legions andauxiliaries at full strength. He recruitedlocal troops, in contrast to Vespasian’spractice of moving auxiliaries away fromtheir homelands. The distinction be-tween auxiliary and legionnaire becameblurred, as auxiliaries were increasinglyassimilated into the legions. The armyalso became less influenced by class.Officers were sometimes appointed fromthe equites class rather than, as before,only from the senatorial class. To keepthe army in a state of readiness, Hadriantoured the empire to inspect the legionsand introduced new field exercises toimprove maneuvers. He visited all theprovinces and virtually every city, often

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EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

making suggestions about how thingsmight be improved.

Hadrian also employed many equitesin the imperial administration. He abol-ished the requirement that they performmilitary service, making it possible forthem to follow civilian careers as bureau-crats. Equites began to replace freedmenin posts in the imperial household andeven appeared on the emperor’s advisorycouncil.This encroachment on functionstraditionally reserved for members of thesenatorial class, coupled with the fact thatHadrian gave the senate no say in theaffairs of state, was deeply resented by thesenate and cost him much support.

Hadrian’s private lifeIn his private life, Hadrian dabbled inastrology and wrote poetry; his practiceof not shaving made beards a new fash-ion in Rome. He had an enormous villabuilt for himself at Tivoli, just outsideRome, which broke all the architecturalrules of the time. On his travels, he be-came enamored of a young man named

Antinous. Together they took a tripdown the Nile, where the youth felloverboard and drowned. The grief-stricken emperor had Antinous deifiedand, as a memorial, founded a city inEgypt named Antinoupolis.

Hadrian suffered from dark moods inhis later years, plagued by ill health andfrustrated by his search for a suitable heir.Having executed his young grandson in136 CE, on suspicion of being involvedin a plot, Hadrian had no other male rel-ative. He had adopted Lucius CeoniusCommodus, a man in his 30s with aprofligate lifestyle, but Ceonius died soonafter. Hadrian, close to death himself,adopted the senator Titus Aelius An-toninus in 138 CE. At the same time,Hadrian stipulated that Antoninus inturn adopt the 18-year-old MarcusAurelius (nephew of Antoninus’s wife)and Lucius Verus (son of Ceonius).

Antoninus PiusAntoninus was 51 years old when hesucceeded. One of Hadrian’s reasons for

Hadrian’s Wall

stretched 73 miles

(117.5 km) across

northern Britain,

with forts at regular

intervals for the

Roman garrisons.

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112

ANCIENT ROME

nominating him was the expectation thatthe senator would soon die, leaving thethrone open for Marcus Aurelius. In fact,Antoninus lived another 23 years. Hepersuaded the senate (with some difficul-ty) to deify Hadrian, and his efforts aresaid to have earned him the nameAntoninus Pius (Antoninus the Pious).

Antoninus’s peaceful reign was dis-turbed only by occasional border raids.The emperor’s only exercises in territo-rial expansion were to advance theempire’s frontiers in Britain (where theAntonine Wall marked the new bound-ary), Dacia, and the Rhineland. For most

of his reign, Antoninus remained inRome, unlike Hadrian. Also unlike hispredecessor, Antoninus maintained goodrelations with the senate. In 148 CE,he ordered spectacular celebrations tomark the 900th anniversary of the tradi-tional founding of Rome.

Antoninus was deified by the Senateon his death in 161 CE. Marcus Aureliuswrote of him: “My predecessor andadoptive father, Antoninus Pius, was amodel of simplicity and perseverance, ofdisdain for hollow words, of diligenceand resolve. He … respected the rights of all. I learned from him … to servehumankind unselfishly.”

Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius was just past 40 whenhe inherited the empire, and he set outto follow his predecessor’s example byserving it unselfishly.Although he aimedto rule benignly over a peaceful people,he was forced to spend much of his timeon campaign repelling various borderincursions. The unhappy but dutifulemperor, who was a follower of Stoicphilosophy, asked himself in hisMeditations: “Are you satisfied, havingdone what nature demands of you, as ifthe eye would expect payment for look-ing and the foot a wage for walking?”

One of Aurelius’s first acts as emperorwas to make Lucius Verus co-emperor.When the Parthians grew more threat-ening in the east,Aurelius sent Verus withan army under the command of theSyrian Avidius Cassius to deal with thesituation. Cassius, with little help fromVerus, secured the imperial borders andclient kingdoms in the east by 166 CE.

When the army returned to Rome,however, it brought the plague with it.The disease then raged uncheckedthroughout the empire for years. Theepidemic greatly sapped Roman morale.Among other signs of a growing weak-ness at the heart of the empire were

This statue of

Antoninus Pius,

created in the

second century CE,

shows the emperor

making a gesture of

allocution, as if he

were making a

formal speech.

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113

EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

In this carving

created around

180 CE in Rome,

defeated barbarians

beg for mercy from

the emperor Marcus

Aurelius.

recurring incursions by migratingGermanic peoples along the frontiersand even into northern Italy.

Aurelius and Verus managed to fightoff the Germans, but in 169 CE, Verusdied, possibly of a stroke, leaving Aurelius

to finish the campaign. It took Aureliussix more years to push the invaders backacross the Danube and restore peace tothe region. In 175 CE, Cassius heard arumor that Aurelius had died. Cassiusdeclared himself emperor in the east.The

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ANCIENT ROME

rumor of Aurelius’s death was mistaken,but the rebellion Cassius had begun last-ed for two years, until he was murderedby his own troops.

While Aurelius’s attention was fo-cused on the east, Germanic peoplesonce more threatened the Danubeborder. Returning to central Europe,Aurelius barely had time to resecure theborder before he died in Vindobona(present-day Vienna) in 180 CE. Theempire was left to Aurelius’s 19-year-oldson, Commodus.

Government in the provincesDuring the first two centuries CE, theRoman Empire enjoyed an unprece-dented period of prosperity and peace.Large areas in the west and north wereeconomically developed for the first time,and Roman roads and ports—andRoman garrisons and warships—ensuredthat trading could take place safely fromone end of the Mediterranean to theother.

This large empire was administered by provincial governors, assisted by a ret-inue of officials.The tasks of the governorsincluded the collection of taxes, the main-

tenance of law and order, and theadministration of justice. In this

last capacity, the governorsvisited all the cities in their

provinces to act as judgesin trials.A governor waspaid a salary, but therewere various legiti-

mate ways in whichhe could supple-

ment his income. Ifhe had been com-

mander of an army, forexample, he had the right

to confer Roman citizen-ship—a valuable commodity

that was often for sale.

Provincial lifeMany of the provincial cities had muni-cipal status, which allowed them virtualself rule. These cities were ruled by atown council of magistrates, elected bythe people. The magistrates received nopayment for their services. On the con-trary, they were expected to give a hugepublic banquet when they were nomi-nated and to provide charity to the pop-ulation out of their own pockets.Consequently, they tended to be mem-bers of a wealthy aristocracy.

Throughout the provinces, Romanlanguage (Latin) and culture became the

This marble bust

is a contemporary

portrait of Marcus

Aurelius.

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115

EXPANDING THE EMPIRE

A Germanic warrior

blows a lur horn

during a battle

against the Romans.

This detail comes

from the

sarcophagus of the

emperor Hostilian,

who died in 251 CE.

norm.The army played a significant rolein the process of Romanizing theempire. Legions were stationed in per-manent encampments throughout theprovinces to maintain order. The 6,000or so men who made up each legionlived with their families in simple huts,either inside or near to the camp. Aftercompleting a term of 16 years, all legion-naires were entitled to a bounty in theform of either a sum of money or a farm.Many chose the farm and became per-manent citizens of the province in whichthey had served.A large number of themalso married local women and startedfamilies, becoming assimilated intoprovincial society.

The legions’ camps soon grew intotowns, which in turn became centerswhere farmers and traders from the sur-rounding area could come to trade theirgoods. Legionnaires also contributed tothe development of a region by buildingroads and bridges, digging canals, anddraining marshes, activities introduced bythe emperors to keep the army occupiedduring times of peace. Such examples ofthe Roman lifestyle appealed to manypeople and encouraged immigration intothe Roman provinces.

See also:

The Edges of the Empire (page 126) • TheJulio-Claudian Emperors (page 84)

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DAILY LIFE IN ROME

For the poorer citizens, life in ancient Rome could be extremelybrutal.To distract the poor from their hardships, Rome’s rulers

organized lavish entertainments. Among the most popularentertainments were gladiatorial contests and chariot races.

Life in ancient Rome was a lot harsherfor some sectors of society than for oth-ers.There is no doubt that rich Romanslived a life of luxury in well-built, airyhouses that were heated in winter andcool in summer. Rich Romans enter-tained their friends at dinner parties andsoirees and were waited on by slaves.Many rich Romans also had villas in thecountryside, so they could escape fromthe heat of summer.

It was a different story for the city’spoorer inhabitants.They were crammedinto the working-class residential areas,the narrow, noisome streets which werelined with ramshackle apartment build-ings put up by speculators. It was herethat the ordinary Roman had his small,dark apartment, separated from hisneighbors by the flimsiest of walls. It wasnot unusual for a building to collapse,and because the Romans used earthen-ware stoves for cooking and heating andoil lamps for light, fires were a commonoccurrence. When a fire broke out, thefire brigade (founded by the emperorAugustus) was mobilized, but becausewater had to be carried by bucket fromthe Tiber River, it was often impossibleto extinguish the fire completely. Instead,the fire would simply be contained untilit burned itself out.

In the earliest days of the empire,around a million citizens crowded the

narrow streets of Rome by day, whichmade getting around difficult. Thewealthy Romans, carried in sedan chairs,forced their way through the throng.The worst chaos was on the famousArgiletum, where Romans congregatedto do their daily shopping. Locatedbetween the forum and the Tiber River,there was a large and thriving tradingdistrict. All kinds of goods, brought byriver from the harbor town of Ostia,were bought and sold. Artisans andcraftsmen had their own district, whereshoemakers, wool merchants, barbers,smiths, flaxworkers, and others workedside by side. Those people who wereengaged in the same trade joined togeth-er in a collegium (see box, page 118), anearly form of a trade guild.

Bread and circusesThe teeming mass of people constituteda potential hotbed of disaffection anddisorder, and to appease them, theauthorities laid on plenty of entertain-ment. The poet Juvenal (c. 55–140 CE)said that all that the Roman populacewanted was panem et circenses (bread andcircuses). For generations, the Romanemperors gave them both. Even in thetime of the republic, officials tried to winpopularity with grain handouts, enor-mous spectacles, and huge public sport-ing events.

116

TIME LINE

c. 600 BCEFirst horse racestake place at CircusMaximus.

246 BCEFirst recordedgladiatorial contestsheld at funeral ofBrutus Pera.

217 BCELudi magnifirst held.

60 BCEPublius ClodiusPulcher introducesfree grain supply for urban poor.

55 BCERome’s firstpermanent stonetheater built onorders of Pompey.

80 CEColosseumcompleted duringreign of Titus.

216 CEBaths of Caracallaopen in Rome.

325 CEEmperorConstantine I bansgladiatorialcontests; theycontinue illegally.

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The practice of making distributionsof grain was made necessary by the factthat the urban poor had very little regu-lar work, owing to the limited opportu-nities open to them in commerce andindustry.The custom took various formsover the centuries. In the second centu-ry BCE, the tribune Gaius Gracchusarranged for grain to be sold at fixed lowprices. In 60 BCE, Publius ClodiusPulcher organized a system of free hand-outs.This practice was continued by theemperors as a way of pacifying theirpoorest subjects.

The grim life of the poor in Romecould also be enlivened by public specta-cles, and the typical Roman year offeredample opportunities for celebration.Some of the festivities dated as far backas the time of the kings and were men-tioned in the calendar of the legendaryKing Numa Pompilius. Other festivitieshad been instituted by the people toappease the gods in difficult times.

The popular ludi magni (big games)dated from the year 217 BCE, when the Carthaginian leader Hannibal hadthreatened Rome’s existence. Games

This Roman dice set

is made out of bone.

Gambling with

dice was a popular

pastime in

ancient Rome.

DAILY LIFE IN ROME

117

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honoring Caesar and Augustus wereinstituted by their successors, and in the era of the emperors, new celebrationswere added continually. In the secondand third centuries CE, the Roman yearincluded almost as many holidays asworking days.

Each district had its own guardianspirit, and its altar was the focal point ofthe annual festivities organized by thelocal residents in its honor.These festivalsgrew so out of hand that the state had tocreate rules to regulate them. The gov-ernment also had to establish rules forthe festivities organized by the collegia ofthe various trades.When these festivitiesfell too close together, they could causemayhem. On the ninth of June, forexample, the collegium of millers and bak-ers held its celebrations, while on thethirteenth, the collegium of musicians heldits equivalent. In both festivities, thedrunken participants wandered throughthe streets creating havoc.

118

ANCIENT ROME

The collegium was an early form oftrade guild that functioned primarilyas a social club. However, collegiaalso provided other services fortheir members. For example,records found in Lavinium showthat one of the main objects of theBrotherhood of Diana and Antinouswas to ensure that its membersreceived a decent burial.

Each member of the brotherhoodpaid a joining fee of 20 gold piecesand an amphora of good wine.Thereafter, he paid an annual subscription of 3 gold pieces. Inreturn, the brotherhood provided afuneral for 60 gold pieces.

The brotherhood appointed a newchairman every five years. His dutieswere not onerous. He had to supervise the affairs of the club andorganize a meeting of the memberssix times a year. Every two months,the members met up to attend adrunken feast.

Some brotherhoods also becameinvolved in local politics. Graffiti ona wall in the city of Pompeii reads,“We don’t want any Egyptianjudges.” This message may referto a brotherhood devoted to theEgyptian goddess Isis, some ofwhose members had put themselvesforward for the city council.

COLLEGIAThis relief from

a sarcophagus

depicts a shoemaker

at work.

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DAILY LIFE IN ROME

This mosaic from

the second century

CE depicts a

gladiator killing a

panther. Fights

between humans

and animals

were common in

Roman arenas.

The blood gamesOf all the public spectacles, the bloodgames were the most popular. Therewere three main types of combat: man toman, in which gladiators fought eachother; man to animal, in which wildanimals were brought out to fightgladiators; and animal to animal.All these games were held in anamphitheater, in which the audi-ence sat in tiered rows around anarena, where the action took place.

Gladiatorial combat had a reli-gious background. The Etruscanpeople, who lived on the ItalianPeninsula before the Romans, hadorganized fights to the deathbetween prisoners of war at the funer-als of prominent men.The victims wereintended as human sacrifices to the dead.

When the Romans adopted thispractice around the third century BCE,the fights developed into a bloody spec-tator sport, a new and extremely popularform of mass entertainment. Schoolswere founded to train the gladiators, andthe games organizers could “order” par-ticular gladiators from these schools forspecial performances. Originally, thecombatants were prisoners of war, con-victed criminals, or slaves rented or soldto the schools. Some of the gladiatorswere volunteers who were seekingexcitement and adventure or the riches asuccessful combatant could gain, despitethe fact that most gladiators met a grislydeath in the arena.

The audiences enjoyed these exhibi-tions, eagerly discussing the performanc-es of the combatants and placing bets ontheir favorites. To add to the spectacle,the gladiators were often dressed in strik-ing costumes, perhaps in an expensivesuit of armor or as Neptune with a netand trident. At the end of the fight, thevictor would sometimes keep his oppo-nent pinned to the ground while theaudience decided the loser’s fate, indicat-

ing whether they wanted him to live ordie by motioning with their thumbs. It isbelieved that if the crowd turned theirthumbs down, the defeated man wouldbe spared. However, if the audienceturned their thumbs up, it was an indica-tion that he should die. The victorreceived tumultuous applause and wasrewarded with a cash prize. Occasionally,after a series of wins, a gladiator mightbe set free, to live on his earnings for therest of his life or become a trainer ofother gladiators.

The average Roman saw nothingwrong with gladiatorial combat andwould even take his children to watchthe games, believing that it was a goodthing for children to be confronted withviolence at an early age. Only a fewintellectuals were repelled by these exhi-bitions, because they found them boringor thought them bad for the soul.Nobody pitied the gladiators themselves,much less the animals.

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The games gradually grew bigger andmore ambitious. Sometimes, whole bat-tles were staged—even mock naval bat-tles in a flooded arena or on an artificiallake. These mock naval battles and thegames involving exotic animals were themost expensive to stage.

Games involving animals took manydifferent forms. There were fightsbetween odd combinations of animals—for example, between a bear and a rhi-noceros, or a wild ox and a lion. Therewere also hunts, where trained huntersdowned wild animals with arrows andspears. Animals were also pitted againsthumans. Some convicted criminals were

given wooden sticks to defend them-selves. Others were presented to starvedbeasts of prey completely unarmed, oreven tied to a pole.The latter was oftenthe fate of Christians condemned todeath by the Roman authorities.

Chariot racesAnother popular sport was chariot rac-ing. Every city had its own racetrack, orcircus. The Circus Maximus, lyingbetween the Palatine and Aventine hillsin Rome, was used from around 600BCE to the sixth century CE and wasfamous throughout the empire. At theheight of its popularity, in the secondcentury CE, the Circus Maximus couldaccommodate 250,000 spectators. Thearena was 1,850 feet (564 m) long and280 feet (85 m) wide and was entirelysurrounded by three tiers of seats, exceptfor a stall at one end for horses and char-iots. A low wall, called the spina (spine),ran down the center of the arena, andracing horses and chariots ran around it.

The chariot races were traditionally areligious spectacle, dedicated to the gods.Each race day in Rome started with asolemn procession, in which statues ofthe gods were carried around the race-track, while the official who had organ-ized the event dressed up as Jupiter. Eachrace, in which four or more chariotstook part, consisted of seven laps. Asmany as 24 races could be held in a day.Each driver wore the colors of the circusschool or party to which his horsesbelonged. These colors were originallygreen, blue, red, and white, but under thelater emperors, only green and blue wereused. The audience was divided intogroups of supporters for each color. Eventhe emperor picked a team.

The chariots were usually pulled byfour horses.The driver, who was gener-ally a young freedman, was strapped tohis horses, and if he fell, he had to cut thestraps if he was to survive. The chariots

120

This armor belonged

to a type of

gladiator known

as a secutor.The

secutor usually

fought against a

retiarius, who was

armed with a trident

and a net.

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121

DAILY LIFE IN ROME

often crashed into each other, andinjuries and fatal accidents were com-mon. The drivers hung amulets aroundtheir necks and on their horses for luckand used incantations to summondemons against their opponents. Theemperor was always present at the races,to receive the cheers of the crowd and toshow that he enjoyed the same sport ashis people.

The theaterDuring the days of the empire, theatersexisted right alongside the circuses andthe amphitheaters. Theaters could alsoaccommodate large numbers of people,

Roman cities were dirty, dusty, and hot, so, like theirGreek equivalents, the Roman authorities built publicbaths for their citizens.The baths soon developed into community centers, where people met socially, bathed,swam, had massages, or performed gymnastic exercises.There were even opportunities for study, because therewas often a well-stocked library in the bath complex.

The baths found at Pompeii, which date from around 75BCE, included the extensive dressing rooms and thecold, warm, and hot baths that were typical of that era.Far more magnificent were the huge, marble-lined and vaulted Baths of Caracalla, completed in Rome in216 CE.They could accommodate 1,600 bathers and provided swimming pools, exercise facilities, lounges,and lecture halls.

THE BATHS

This fresco depicts a chariot race. Chariot

races were popular forms of entertainment

from the early days of the republic onward.

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DAILY LIFE IN ROME

This detail from an

actor’s sarcophagus

depicts two

tragic masks.

but the masses were more interested inthe delights of the arena than those of thestage. While Greek theaters had beenbuilt into hillsides, Roman theaters werefreestanding. The earliest examples weretemporary wooden structures; anythingmore permanent was considered unnec-essarily extravagant.

The first permanent Roman theaterwas built in 55 BCE on the orders ofPompey. To justify the expense of thetheater’s construction, Pompey erected atemple in the theater and dedicated it to his patron goddess, Venus Victrix.Pompey filled his theater and its gardenswith artifacts looted from Greece, creat-ing a monument both to Roman mightand to his own achievements.

There was little original Romanwriting for the theater. Audiences weremore interested in the traditional pieces

with which they were familiar.Theatricalperformances consisted of endlessrepeats, which the public watched inorder to compare the talents of theactors.To add interest, directors increasedthe role of the chorus, and the sungtext—the canticum—began to overshad-ow the rest of the play. Eventually, thespoken text was abandoned altogether infavor of mime, and the leading actor per-formed the play without words, to theaccompaniment of music and the can-ticum. It was from these origins that operaand ballet later developed.

Another popular form of theater wasthe tragedy, particularly that of the first-century-CE playwright and Stoicphilosopher Seneca.The characters in hisplays tended to have introspective naturesand to exhibit Stoic fatalism (see box,page 125). His tragedies were written inverse, and the plots were adapted fromGreek legends. The plays were revivedduring the Renaissance and influencedlater European drama.

The Baths of Caracalla, among the largest

and most spectacular baths in the Roman

Empire, were completed in 216 CE.

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PoetryThe rich and educated Romans spentmuch of their free time attending recitalsof poetry and prose. According to Plinythe Younger, such events could beextremely boring. He recorded that theyear 97 CE “brought us a fine crop ofpoets. During the month of April we hada reading by one or other poet almostevery day. Most of the invited guests stayin the foyer, chatting, and only go intoward the end, hoping against hope thatthe author has finished.”

Poetry competitions were held occa-sionally in Rome and in other cities.The panel of judges usually consisted of

priests—not perhaps the best experts toassess poetry. Little is known about any prize-winning poets, but Florus, a poetwho published several small works in thetime of Hadrian, was once refused aprize.The audience revered him most ofall, he recorded, but the emperor did notwant to reward Florus because he wasnot a pure Roman.

EducationEducation was generally reserved for thesons of upper-class families. Some sonswere sent to school, although Romanschools, often run by discharged soldierstrying to make a living, were not very

124

ANCIENT ROME

Wealthy Romans

lived in great luxury.

This villa at Pompeii

once belonged to a

successful merchant.

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125

DAILY LIFE IN ROME

This Roman fresco depicts a musician

playing a cithara, a musical instrument

similar to a lyre.

impressive. There were few books, andthose were very expensive, so mostlearning was done by rote. Apart fromthe basic skills of reading and writing, lit-tle else was taught.

Wealthy families often engaged aneducated slave who was familiar with literature and philosophy to teach theirsons. Such teachers were known as ped-agogues.

The writings of Virgil, Lucan, andHorace were important texts for pupilsin the emperor Vespasian’s day, whileGreek masters would place great empha-sis on Homer and Menander.The studyof these great writers was usually as far aseducation went. However, some olderpupils might go on to a school of rheto-ric, where they would be taught the artof public speaking, together with somehistory, which would be useful in politi-cal debate.

Stoicism was the most influential school of philosophy in Rome during the first and secondcenturies CE. It played a crucial role in thedevelopment of the concept of natural law thatunderlay all Roman legal theory.

The school of Stoicism was founded by theGreek philosopher Zeno of Citium, who lived inthe fourth and third centuries BCE.The Stoicswere primarily concerned with the study ofethics.They believed that to live in accordancewith nature or reason is to live in accordancewith the divine order of the universe.Because everything that happens is the result ofdivine will or, in any case, is outside one’s control, a person should calmly accept whatever

fate brings, free of all emotions such as passionor grief, or even joy.This calm acceptance constitutes wisdom, one of the four virtues of Stoicism, along with courage, justice,and temperance.

It was perhaps the cosmopolitan nature ofStoicism that made it attractive to the Romans,given their vast empire. Because all beings areseen as manifestations of a single universalspirit, they should live in a state of equality.Race and rank are merely external differencesthat should be of no importance in genuinesocial relationships.Among the most importantRoman Stoics were the statesman Cato theYounger and the emperor Marcus Aurelius.

STOICISM

See also:

The Edges of the Empire (page 126) •Revolution and Reform (page 44)

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Hadrian’s Wall, built in northern Britain

around 122 CE to keep the Picts out of the

southern region controlled by the Romans,

marked the physical frontier of the empire.

THE EDGES OF THEEMPIRE

By the early second century CE, the Roman Empire covered theentire Mediterranean world.While some of the peoples who

lived outside the boundaries of this area were enemies of Rome,others were valued trading partners.

The Roman Empire reached its greatestextent during the reign of the emperorTrajan, who ruled between 98 and 117CE. By the time of Trajan’s death, theempire stretched from the borders ofScotland in the northwest to the upperNile in the southeast.While the Romansruled confidently over the territoriesthey had conquered and annexed, theyknew comparatively little about theregions beyond their borders. The littleinformation that did reach the Romanssuggested that this hinterland was a hos-tile and threatening place.The tribes thatinhabited the areas around the edges ofthe empire often harassed the Romanfrontier, which had to be permanentlygarrisoned to keep out the enemy.

EuropeAlthough a small number of importantprovinces were added in the years thatfollowed, the broad extent of the RomanEmpire had been established by the timeof the death of the emperor Augustus in14 CE. Augustus had suggested that hissuccessors should not attempt to extendthe empire further, and the emperors ofthe first century CE generally followedthis advice. In Europe, the Rhine andDanube rivers were regarded as naturalboundaries, and the Romans rarely triedto conquer the areas beyond them. Mostemperors did not want the financial bur-

den of an expensive military campaign;they were also not keen to allow theirgenerals to gain personal glory from such conquests.

Generally, the Romans had only scantknowledge of the tribes of northernEurope beyond the Roman frontier. Oneexception to this rule was the Romanhistorian Tacitus (c. 56–120 CE).Tacitusthought highly of the Germanic tribesand believed they exhibited some of theancient Roman virtues, such as simplici-ty of lifestyle, personal fidelity, and greatbravery. According to Tacitus, theGermans were as yet unspoiled by thedecadence of the civilized world.

Tacitus’s view of German life was farremoved from reality, however. Mostgroups lived in great poverty and wereconstantly involved in local wars. Theyelected a leader or king only in times ofgreat emergency, when a warrior waslifted on a shield in a meeting of freemen.The power of these leaders depend-ed largely on their success in battle.Those who led their people into the richborder territories of the Romans seem tohave acquired enormous prestige, even-tually making their kingships hereditary.

126

TIME LINE

190 BCESeleucid emperorAntiochus IIIdefeated by Romanforce at Magnesia ad Sipylum.

146 BCECarthage destroyedby Roman army;Carthaginianterritory becomesRoman province of Africa.

63 BCEPompey the Greatextends easternfrontier by annexing Syria.

30 BCEAugustus annexesEgypt.

9 CERoman armydestroyed at Battleof Teutoburg Forest;defeat brings end to Romaninvolvement innorthern Germany.

117 CERoman Empirereaches greatestextent under Trajan.

c. 122 CEConstruction ofHadrian’s Wallbegins in northern Britain.

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The Germanic tribes of central-northern Europe were migrants and haddisplaced the Celts who had inhabitedthe territory previously. The Celts werespread all over western Europe, includingGaul and the northern Roman provinceof Britain. Here, in the extreme north, ina region called Caledonia (present-dayScotland) lived a warlike people knownto the Romans as the Picts. Around 122CE, the emperor Hadrian built a fortifiedwall across the country to keep the Pictsout. However, the Romans never com-

pletely managed to stop the Picts fromraiding south of the wall.

The eastern borderOn its eastern border, the RomanEmpire rarely extended beyond theEuphrates River into Mesopotamia. Onthe other side of the river lay the territo-ry of the Parthians. Divided into small,patriarchal groups, the Parthians hadlived for centuries in what is now north-eastern Iran.They lived peacefully underthe Persian and the early Seleucid kings

128

ANCIENT ROME

SAHARA DESERT

ANATOLIA

Picts

Celts

Celts

Germanic Peoples

Parthians

Nubians

Berbers

EGYPT

ARABIA

AFRICA

THRACEPANNONIA

DACIA

SYRIA

SPAIN

GAUL

BRITAIN

Mediterranean Sea

RedSea

Black Sea

CtesiphonPalmyraCarthage

Leptis Magna

Byzantium

Meroë

Rome

Antioch

Lugdunum Mediolanum

Eburacum

Alexandria

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND NEIGHBORING PEOPLES

Roman Empire atheight of its powerin 117 CE

Major battle

KEY

Adrianople

Carrhae

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129

THE EDGES OF THE EMPIRE

These pyramids are

located at Meroë,

the ancient capital

of Nubia, a kingdom

that lay to the south

of Egypt.

(see box, page 130) until around 250BCE, when a neighboring people, theBactrians, rebelled against their Seleucidoverlords. Soon afterward, the Parthianking Arsaces succeeded in gaining in-dependence from the Seleucids andextending his territory to the southwest.

Over the next 200 years, theParthians profited from the weakening ofthe Seleucid Empire by increasing theirown power. Eventually, the Parthianscontrolled all of ancient Persia andMesopotamia. In 63 BCE, when Pompeythe Great created the Roman provinceof Syria out of the remnants of theSeleucid Empire, the Parthians becameRome’s neighbors and rivals. Theyremained so for the next 300 years.

Between 114 and 117 CE, the Romanemperor Trajan mounted a huge expedi-tion to the east and succeeded in con-quering the whole of Mesopotamia. Inthe process,he destroyed the Parthian cap-ital Ctesiphon. Trajan died before hecould consolidate his gains, however, andhis successor, the emperor Hadrian, gave

up Mesopotamia and made peace withthe Parthians.Toward the end of the sec-ond century CE, the Parthians sufferedanother heavy defeat at the hands of theRomans, when the emperor SeptimiusSeverus annexed the north of Meso-potamia to the Roman Empire, againreducing Ctesiphon to ruins.

The Parthians never really recoveredfrom these blows, largely due to the weakpolitical organization of their empire. Inspirit, they had always remained anomadic people and did not feel per-manently rooted in the lands ofMesopotamia and Persia. Around 230CE, their empire finally collapsed whenPersians from the south rebelled againstParthian rule. The Parthian dynasty wasreplaced by a new family of Persianrulers, called the Sassanid dynasty. Intenton restoring the old Persian Empire, theSassanids continued the centuries-oldwar against Rome with renewed energy,but the decades of strife that followedonly led to the chronic weakening ofboth empires.

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Egypt and NubiaWhen Augustus defeated the Egyptianqueen Cleopatra at the Battle of Actiumin 31 BCE, he moved swiftly to annexthe whole of Egypt as a Romanprovince. By doing so, he inherited theEgyptians’ rivalry with the Nubians, awarlike desert people who inhabited partof what is present-day Sudan. TheNubians had been intermittent enemiesof the Egyptians for centuries. ByAugustus’s time, they had become formi-dable opponents. The Nubian Empire,centered around the city of Meroë,shared many cultural elements with thatof the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. At thetime of the Roman annexation, theNubian queen was constantly harassingthe Egyptian border, sending warriorbands to raid southern Egypt.

Because Rome depended on grainsupplies from Egypt, Augustus sent anexpeditionary force to defeat theNubians. The legions penetrated Nubiaalmost as far as Meroë.The Romans setup a garrison in the region to maintain

130

ANCIENT ROME

The Seleucid dynasty was founded in the late fourthcentury CE by Seleucus I, a former general in the armyof Alexander the Great. By the time of his death in 281BCE, Seleucus had succeeded in conquering Anatolia,Babylonia,Assyria, Parthia, Bactria, and a number ofother areas of Asia that had formerly been part of theMacedonian Empire. However, over the next half century, the dynasty suffered from constant disputesover the succession, which weakened the empire tosuch an extent that it lost eastern Iran and the greaterpart of Anatolia. In 223 BCE, a new, energetic king,Antiochus III, came to the throne. He made determinedefforts to recover control of the provinces in the eastand to expand his territory in the west. However, whenhe came up against the power of Rome, he was drivenback and defeated in 190 BCE.

Antiochus was succeeded by Seleucus IV, who inheritedan empire that stretched from east of the Persian Gulfto Syria and Phoenicia in the west. By 140 BCE,however, the whole region east of Syria had fallen to the Parthians. Pompey’s annexation of Syria in 63 BCEbrought the Seleucid Empire to an end.

THE SELEUCIDS

These ruins stand

in the city of

Ctesiphon, the

capital of the

Parthian Empire.

This palace was

built between the

third century CE

and the sixth

century CE by

successors of

the Parthians.

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131

THE EDGES OF THE EMPIRE

The Nile River,

shown here, flows

through Egypt.The

province of Egypt

marked the

southeast

boundary of the

Roman Empire.

For centuries, the wealthy merchant cities of southern Arabiaoccupied a pivotal position betweenthe east and the west.The cities’inhabitants owed their prosperity tothe trade in Indian spices and theirown desert products, such asincense. Particularly prosperous wasthe city of Aden. Merchants fromEgypt and Syria, with whom it traded, called the area around thecity “Happy Arabia” because of itsextensive irrigation works thatallowed it to grow crops in a region that was otherwise covered in desert.

Eventually, in the second centuryBCE, the Egyptians discovered thesecret of the Arabs’ maritime trade

with India.The monsoon winds blewacross the Indian Ocean in onedirection for six months of the yearand in the reverse direction for theother six months. Ships could takeadvantage of the change of winddirection and sail back and forthacross the vast ocean. Once thissecret was out, the inhabitants ofsouthern Arabia lost their monopolyon Indian trade. Southern Arabiaretained its importance only as asupplier of incense, which wastransported north by caravan viathe old trading center of Mecca.AsArabia declined, the irrigation works around Aden fell into disuse.By the Middle Ages, the area was little different from the rest of thebarren peninsula.

THE RICHES OF ARABIA

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control over this southernmost outpostof the empire. Nevertheless, Romaninfluence in Nubia remained minimal.

Arabia and AfricaAt the same time that he mountedthe expedition against the Nubians,Augustus sent an army into Arabia. Thecampaign was a disaster, however. Asix-month march through the desertclaimed many lives, and the survivors hadto turn back before they could achievetheir goals.

On the coast of northern Africa, theRomans had conquered and destroyedCarthage in the second century BCE.The lands of the Carthaginian Empirehad subsequently been annexed as theRoman province of Africa. Romanpower never extended far into the hin-terland, however. Like the Carthaginians

ANCIENT ROME

During the time of the Roman republic, the foederati(designated allies) were tribes who were bound bytreaty to the Romans yet did not form official Romancolonies.They were allowed to maintain their own institutions and legal and state systems, but they had to supply soldiers for the Roman army on demand.

In the third century CE, the empire was riddled withinternal strife, and numerous tribes living on the borders exploited the situation by invading the Romanprovinces.Although the invaders were often drivenback, the victories were never conclusive. Eventually, theRomans decided to allow the invading tribes to settle inthe empire, on the condition that they accepted Romanauthority and provided troops to augment the army.This move brought peace to the borders, and the newsettlers acted as buffers against future attacks.

FOEDERATI

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133

THE EDGES OF THE EMPIRE

before them, the Romans were satisfiedwith the fertile regions on the Africancoast. The Sahara Desert, just south of the coastal rim, was a formidable barrierthat effectively put a stop to any furtherexpansion.

The Romans maintained good rela-tions with the nomadic Berber peoplewho inhabited the region of present-dayMorocco and Algeria. Until the thirdcentury CE, when unrest spreadthroughout the empire, there was little todisturb the peaceful life of the Romansliving in the rich coastal areas of north-ern Africa. The many ruins of Romanvillas and cities in the region are a testa-ment to its prosperity.

AsiaFor several centuries, India was separatedfrom the Roman Empire by the land ofthe Parthians. Egypt, however, engaged inmaritime trade with India from the latesecond century BCE onward, and onceEgypt became a Roman province in 30BCE, trade between Rome and Indiagrew. Many Roman coins have beenfound on the coasts of India, suggestingthat trading contacts were frequent. Indiaoffered spices such as cinnamon and nut-meg, plus pearls, ivory, textiles, and exoticanimals. These goods were traded forAlexandrian glass, bronze kitchenware,and minted gold and silver coins. Importsfrom India were always luxury items,which were eagerly sought after bywealthy, upper-class Roman citizens.

All that the Romans knew aboutChina was that it lay far to the east andproduced silk.Toward the end of the sec-ond century BCE, the Chinese hadestablished an overland trading route thatwould carry their silk to the west, where

it found ready buyers. A stream of mer-chants with pack animals moved steadilyfrom China to the foot of the PamirMountains, where their goods weretransferred to the hands of Persian andSyrian merchants, who continued thejourney to the west.This was the famousSilk Road, which remained the only reg-ular link between China and the westuntil the Middle Ages.

These Roman ruins stand in the Tunisian city

of Dougga. Like much of northern Africa,

Dougga was occupied by the Romans in the

second century BCE.

This statue was

found in the

wreckage of a

Roman ship that

had sunk off the

coast of Tunisia.The

ship contained a

number of works of

art that were being

transported to

Roman villas in

northern Africa.See also:

The Age of Augustus (page 72) • The Declineof Rome (page 134) • The Disintegration of the Empire (page 148) • Expanding theEmpire (page 100) • The Julio-ClaudianEmperors (page 84)

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THE DECLINE OF ROME

The rise of the emperor Commodus to the throne in 180 CEushered in an unstable period of Roman history.The following

century saw a succession of short-reigning emperors, many ofwhom had to contend with rival claimants.

By the late second century CE, crackshad begun to appear in the RomanEmpire. Commerce and industry were indecline, bringing urban decay and politi-cal chaos. Agriculture, too, was deteri-orating, leading to poverty and unrest in the once-flourishing provinces. Re-newed invasions, civil war, and eco-nomic ruin would all be factors in theeventual collapse of the empire.

Many of these problems were rootedin the era of the Antonine emperors,although that period itself had seemed tobe one of great prosperity. For nearly 100years, each emperor had nominated anon-relative as his successor.This systemhad generally proved to be successful.The years of good government ended,however, when Marcus Aurelius nomi-nated his young son, Commodus, to be emperor.

CommodusCommodus was nominally made co-emperor at age 16. He inherited theempire three and a half years later in 180CE. Marcus Aurelius’s intention hadbeen to train Commodus for the posi-tion, but the young man seems to havepaid little attention to his lessons. Instead,he was interested only in seeking his ownpleasure. Once Commodus inherited thecrown, he became extremely paranoid;he lived in constant fear for his life and

summarily executed anyone he suspectedof plotting against him. He handed outthe work of the empire to a collection ofhis favorites, leaving himself free to enjoythe delights of Rome.

Commodus ignored his father’s for-eign policy, including plans to expandthe empire into central Europe. Thefrontiers held only because of the capableadministration of the provincial gover-nors and the settlement arrangementsthat Aurelius had made with the tribeson the Danube.

The emperor’s particular hobby wasgladiatorial combat. Commodus loved towatch it and, even more, to take part init. He would perform in the amphithe-ater dressed as Hercules, shooting orclubbing to death wild animals. He madethe senate officially recognize him as agod as a reward for these achievements.Such behavior earned him many ene-mies among the upper classes, and hisdisastrous rule was brought to an endprematurely in 192 CE, when conspira-tors bribed his regular wrestling partnerto strangle him. On Commodus’s death,the senate declared him damnatio memori-ae, meaning that his reign was expungedfrom official records.

134

TIME LINE

180 CECommodus becomesemperor on death of father,Marcus Aurelius.

197 CESeptimius Severusultimately provesvictorious after“sale” of title ofemperor leads tocivil war.

211 CESeverus dies oncampaign inBritain; hisson Caracallasucceeds him.

235 CESeverus Alexanderkilled in riot;Severan dynastyends.

251 CEGoths cross Danubeand defeat Decius.

259 CELegions in Gaulelect MarcusPostumus emperor;Gallic Empireestablished.

272 CEAurelian defeatsQueen Zenobia’sPalmyran forces andreclaims easternprovinces.

This mosaic depicting a gladiator was

found in Torre Nueva, a town in the Roman

province of Hispania (present-day Spain).

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Page 137: Historia de Roma ilustrada

The empire for saleThe assassins of Commodus put forwardthe 66-year-old Helvius Pertinax, theprefect of Rome, as a candidate foremperor, and he was accepted by thesenate. Pertinax made a good start to hisreign when he attempted to restore thefinancial stability of the state by curb-ing expenditure. He had no personalwealth, however, and he incurred thewrath of the Praetorian Guard becauseof his inability to pay them the tributethat was customary on an emperor’saccession. They murdered him in193 CE.

Titus Flavius Sulpicianus,Pertinax’s father-in-law and awealthy senator, then offeredthe Praetorians 20,000 ses-terces each for the throne.His colleague, the aging buteven more wealthy DidiusJulianus, outbid him, offeringeach Praetorian 25,000 sester-ces.The soldiers accepted the offerand escorted Julianus to the senate,which could do nothing but confirmhis nomination. The principate hadbecome a commodity to be bought and sold.

The rise of SeverusWhen news of the “sale” of the princi-pate reached the provinces, three power-ful armies challenged the authority ofJulianus, beginning the civil war of 193CE.The army nearest to Rome was thatsituated on the Danube River, and itdeclared its commander, SeptimiusSeverus, emperor in May. Severus enteredRome without opposition. The senateaccepted him and, at the same time, con-demned Julianus to death.

In Syria, the legate Pescennius Nigerhad been nominated as emperor by histroops, while in Britain, Clodius Albinuswas nominated by his. In an attempt toneutralize part of the opposition, Severus

gave Albinus the title of Caesar, whichwas now used to designate the heirapparent to the throne.This move madeAlbinus an ally, temporarily, at least.Then, in a brilliant campaign, Severusmarched on Niger, dislodging him fromhis new conquests near the Black Seaand finally defeating and killing him in194 CE.

Two years later, Albinus proclaimedhimself Augustus, a title that implied ashare in imperial power.He proceeded toinvade Gaul, where he met the army ofSeverus at Lugdunum (present-day Lyon,France) in 197 CE. In a hard-fought

136

ANCIENT ROME

Pescennius Niger,

depicted here in a

bust, was nominated

as emperor by his

Syrian troops.

However, he was

defeated by his rival

Septimius Severus.

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137

THE DECLINE OF ROME

The Severan Arch

was built in the

Libyan town of

Leptis Magna

around 203 CE

in honor of the

emperor Septimius

Severus, who was

born in the town.

battle, Severus proved victorious.Albinuswas killed, leaving Severus as the undis-puted emperor.

First of the SeveriSeverus’s reign ushered in the short-liveddynasty of the Severi. The Severanemperors imposed what has been calleda military monarchy on the RomanEmpire. The emperor dominated boththe army and the senate and dictated allnew legislation. Severus himself had beenborn into an aristocratic provincial fami-ly in the city of Leptis Magna, nearTripoli in northern Africa, and had heldboth political offices and military com-mand. In 180 CE, he had married Julia

Domna, whose father was ruler of theSyrian city of Emesa and high priest inthe temple of Baal (see box, page 140).Julia was to exert great influence on herhusband and even rule the empire whilehe was at war.

Severus sought to exploit the popu-larity of the Antonine emperors bydeclaring himself the adopted son ofMarcus Aurelius. He also named his eld-est son, later to be known as Caracalla,Marcus Aurelius. However, the policiesSeverus pursued were quite differentfrom those of his popular predecessors.His focus was provincial rather than aris-tocratic, and he never forgot that heowed his position to the army of the

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Danube. Severus established a new socialorder dominated by equestrians (mem-bers of the mercantile middle class) andopened both military and civilian careersto the lower classes. As for his faithfulDanube army, he placed his elite officersin charge of the Praetorian Guard andenrolled three new legions under eques-trian command. He also added thou-sand-soldier auxiliary units to both theinfantry and the cavalry.

The Severan revolution extendedthroughout the administration. Severusreduced the privileges of the peoples ofthe Italian Peninsula and increased thoseof easterners and Africans, recruiting thelatter to government posts for the firsttime. Severus had a keen interest in the

processes of the law, and he appointed afamous jurist, Papinian, as Praetorianprefect and commissioned him to sys-temize the law, a move that gave Severusthe opportunity to involve his office inthe administration of justice.

Severus at warSeverus proved himself an energeticcampaigner in foreign affairs. In the east,the Parthians had supported Niger in thecivil war, and after defeating his rivalclaimant, Severus invaded Mesopotamia.However, he was soon called away todeal with Albinus in the west and had to conclude a hasty peace with theParthians. In the summer of 197 CE,Severus returned to the east to punish

138

Work on the Baths

of Caracalla was

begun during the

reign of Septimius

Severus but finished

during the reign of

his son, whose name

they bear.

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THE DECLINE OF ROME

In this undated

modern illustration,

the emperor

Elagabalus leads a

dance in celebration

of the sun god Baal.

the Parthian king, who had attacked theRoman frontier. Severus defeated theParthians and annexed Mesopotamia as anew province. On his return to Rome,Severus built a triumphal arch in theForum Romanum to glorify his successagainst the Parthians.

Severus’s other main campaign tookplace in Britain, where tribes fromScotland had penetrated as far south asEboracum (present-day York). Althoughthe governor had succeeded in bribingthem to return north of Hadrian’s Wall,Severus embarked on a punitive expedi-tion in 208 CE. While extensive repairswere carried out to the wall, which hadbeen badly damaged during the Picts’invasion, Severus and his sons conductedraids on the aggressive northerners.Although they failed to bring theinvaders to battle, the Roman show ofstrength seems to have had an effect;there were no more incursions for almosta hundred years. Severus fell ill duringthis campaign and died at Eburacum in211 CE.

CaracallaSeverus had intended that his two sons,then in their early twenties, should rulejointly on his death. However, thisarrangement did not suit the elder son,Caracalla. Within a year of his father’sdeath, Caracalla had arranged for hisyounger brother, Geta, to be assassinated.Geta died in the arms of their mother,Julia Domna.

Caracalla considered himself to be agod and believed that his father hadascended to the sun on his death.Caracalla’s reign was characterized byextravagance, debauchery, and cruelty.However, he continued the egalitariansocial policies and judicial and legislativechanges begun by his father. In 212 CE,Caracalla conferred Roman citizenshipon all free inhabitants of the empire, sothat, for the first time, everyone in the

empire had equal status. Because certaintaxes were paid only by Romans, thismove may have been partially motivatedby financial considerations.

Caracalla spent freely. He increasedthe pay of the ordinary soldiers, in spiteof a shrinking treasury, and embarked onan extensive building program, includingcompleting the great public baths begunby his father. These baths became knownas the Baths of Caracalla.To help coverthe costs of all the projects, Caracallaincreased the taxes on senators and dou-bled inheritance tax and emancipationtax (the tax paid by manumitted or freedslaves). He also debased the coinage byintroducing a new silver coin, theantoninianus, which had a face value of

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ANCIENT ROME

Baal was a very ancient fertility god, worshippedby the Canaanites and Phoenicians as early as3000 BCE. He was originally believed to be astorm god who brought the rain that was essential for growing crops. Many temples werededicated to Baal. A number of rituals werecarried out to placate him, and some of themmay have involved human sacrifice.

However, the word baal simply meant “lord.”Consequently, many other gods in eastern religions came to be called Baal, which explainswhy the sun god worshipped in Syria in the sec-ond century CE was also referred to as Baal.

This sun god, whose name was El-Gabal, was considered to be the lord of the universe. Hewas often depicted standing beside an eagle, thesymbol of divine authority. In Syria, the center ofthe sun cult was located in the holy city ofEmesa, where the emperor Severus’s wife, JuliaDomna, had been born to the high priest of El-Gabal.When her grand-nephew becameemperor, he took the name Elagabalus (son ofEl-Gabal). He later shocked the Romans withhis adherence to the rites of the sun god,reportedly dressing up as the high priest of thegod and leading orgiastic processions throughthe streets of Rome.

BAAL

two denarii, although it weighed consid-erably less than one denarius.

Adopting Alexander the Great as hismodel,Caracalla began an ambitious cam-paign in the east. However, in 217 CE,while his army was on the march inMesopotamia, Caracalla was murdered bya group of officers led by the Praetorianprefect Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

MacrinusUnaware of Macrinus’s complicity in thedeath of their commander, Caracalla’ssoldiers hailed him as emperor.The sen-ate reluctantly confirmed this appoint-ment. Macrinus was a member of theequestrian order, and was the first equesto be made emperor. In his short reign,Macrinus succeeded in completingCaracalla’s objective of bringing thewhole of Mesopotamia under Romanrule. However, he only managed to do soby paying the Parthians substantial sumsof money to give up their claims. In a bidto increase his popularity with theRoman people, Macrinus reduced themilitary budget and canceled the taxeshis predecessor had implemented.

In Syria, a plot was launched to putthe grand-nephew of Julia Domna (thelate widow of Severus) on the throne.This young man, only 14 years old at thetime, was called Bassianus, and he was achief priest of Baal, the local sun god.The legions in Syria acclaimed him asemperor (having been liberally bribed to do so). The armies of the two rivalclaimants met in battle near Antioch in218 CE. The forces of Macrinus weredefeated. The emperor himself fled andwas later killed.

An exotic rulerThe new emperor, Bassianus, had beenbrought up in a temple to the Syrian sungod, Baal. He was therefore known as El-a-Gabal, the son of Baal, a name thatthe Romans changed to Elagabalus.Presented to the senate as the illegitimateson of Caracalla, he also took the nameMarcus Aurelius Antoninus.

Elagabalus quickly made himselfextremely unpopular with the Romanpopulace because of his extravagance andoutrageous behavior. He appeared in thepalace dressed as the high priest of Baal

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141

THE DECLINE OF ROME

This relief, found in

the Syrian city of

Palmyra, depicts an

assortment of

Syrian deities.

and made it clear that he hoped toimpose the worship of Baal on the wholeempire. Elagabalus built a temple dedi-cated to his god in Rome and spentenormous sums of money on religiousceremonies and sacrifices to Baal. Manyof Elagabalus’s acts seemed sacrilegiousto the Romans. For example, when heordered an ancient statue of the virgingoddess Vesta to be dragged to the tem-ple of Baal, there was a huge outcry

Elagabalus also outraged Rome withhis sexual behavior. He engaged in open-ly homosexual relationships (in particu-lar, one with his charioteer Hierocles),and stories of his orgies spread through-out the city.Animosity toward Elagabalusintensified. After four years, the Romanshad had enough. The Praetorian Guardmurdered him and threw his body in theTiber. His cousin, Severus Alexander, wasinstalled in his place.

Severus AlexanderSeverus Alexander came to the throne in222 CE, when he was only 14 years old.He was the son of Julia Mamaea, theniece of Julia Domna. Alexander had avery different character from that of hisimmediate predecessor. Alexander wasserious and docile, and he had a highregard for the office of emperor. Heruled with the help of his mother, andfor much of the first decade of his reign,the empire enjoyed a period of internalpeace.The consilium principis (the emper-or’s imperial council, on which lawyersand senators sat) was reorganized andregained its former influence, therebyreinforcing the civilian element of gov-ernment at the expense of the military.

However, the peaceful times did notlast. Around 230 CE, trouble broke out in the east, where the Persians (who had overrun and defeated the Parthians)

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attacked Mesopotamia in an attempt towin back some of their long-lost territo-ries. Although poorly suited to the roleof warrior, the emperor saw it as his dutyto go into battle.After a defensive war inthe east, the princeps traveled to theRhine, where there were also threats ofinvasion.There, in 235 CE, during a riotamong the troops in Moguntiacum(present-day Mainz), Alexander waskilled. His death brought the Severandynasty to an end.

MaximinusThe riot in which Alexander was killedhad been instigated by Maximinus, anuneducated provincial soldier fromThrace. Maximinus was immediately

proclaimed emperor by his troops, andhis short reign ushered in half a century

of disastrous civil anarchy, during whichtime no fewer that 26 emperors

were appointed.Although illiterate, Max-

iminus was an experienced andcompetent soldier. He wasbarely recognized as princepsin the empire when, almostimmediately, he had tocrush two rebellions.When Germans attackedthe Rhine border, hequickly restored orderthere with a victory in235 CE. In the provincesalong the Danube River,trouble was fomented bythe Goths, a Germanic

people from the coast of theBaltic. These tribes dared to

challenge the might of theRoman Empire, plundering

Greece and pillaging ships in theBlack Sea. Here again, Maximinus

eventually managed to reassert thesupremacy of Rome.

Despite these successes, Maximinushad not endeared himself to the senate.Asimple soldier, he had no time for aneducated elite and did not care whoknew it. In 238 CE, a group of disgrun-tled landowners in northern Africajoined with the senate in a rebellionagainst the emperor.The insurgents pro-claimed Gordian I, the proconsul ofAfrica, as the new emperor; he, in turn,nominated his son, Gordian II, as his suc-cessor. However, within weeks, bothGordians were dead, killed in a conflictwith Capelianus, a Numidian governorloyal to Maximinus. Maximinus thenmarched on Rome, but he was killed byhis own army before he could set foot inthe city. The response of the senate wasto place Gordian III (the grandson ofGordian I) on the throne.

142

ANCIENT ROME

This brooch contains

a coin depicting the

emperor Philip I,

otherwise known as

Philip the Arabian.

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THE DECLINE OF ROME

This painting by

the Flemish artist

Peter Paul Rubens

(1577–1640 CE)

depicts the Roman

emperor Decius

dying at the Battle

of Abrittus.

The soldier emperorsOnly 13 years old when he becameemperor, Gordian III held power for fiveyears, during which time the Persiansinvaded Mesopotamia and Syria, reach-ing as far as Antioch. On campaignagainst the Persians, Gordian was mur-dered in 244 CE by Philip the Arabian,an Arab who had made a career in theRoman army. Philip made peace withthe Persians by ceding part of the empireto them and paying a cash tribute. Healso secured victories over the Germantribes in 246 CE and the Carpi in Daciathe following year. His fabulous victorycelebrations in Rome coincided with thecity’s one thousandth anniversary. TheRoman people wanted to believe that aperiod of peace and prosperity hadbegun. However, events proved that thiswas not to be the case.

Another pretender, an officer calledDecius, who commanded the troops inDacia, invaded Italy and fought Philip ata battle near Verona in 249 CE. Philip

and his young son were killed, andDecius entered Rome in triumph.As thenew princeps, Decius attempted to eradi-cate the eastern religions that had infil-trated the empire, including the imperialresidence. These religions includedChristianity, and Decius seized all churchproperty and demanded a declaration ofloyalty from his subjects, compellingthem to make sacrifices to the gods ofstate in front of official witnesses. ManyChristians refused to comply and diedfor their convictions.

Decius’s attack was a heavy blow forthe Christian community. Since the timeof Marcus Aurelius’s rule in the late sec-ond century CE, Christians had general-ly been left in peace. Some had won con-verts in the highest Roman circles. Now,many of these new believers renouncedtheir faith rather than die as martyrs.

When, in his bid for the principate,Decius left Dacia, the region around itbecame vulnerable to attack. In 251 CE,a tribe known as the Goths crossed the

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THE DECLINE OF ROME

Danube and invaded Roman territory.Decius hurried back to Dacia to con-front them. However, he walked into anambush. Decius was killed, and his armywas totally destroyed.

Father and sonAfter a series of short-lived emperors,two Roman senators, father and son,began to reign jointly in 253 CE. Thefather, Valerian, had great personalintegrity, but his qualities were notenough to restore the might of Rome.The anarchy of the previous few yearshad resulted in a crumbling border, andthe forces stationed there could nolonger repel the onslaughts of the sur-rounding tribes.While his son Gallienusattempted to hold the line on the Rhine,the Danube, and in Spain,Valerian con-fronted the Persian king Shapur I in theeast. In 258 CE,Valerian was taken pris-oner by the Persians. He died in captivi-ty two years later—an unprecedentedhumiliation for a Roman princeps.

Gallienus was left to rule on his own.He faced formidable difficulties and didnot have sufficient forces to deal withthem.The borders of the empire neededconstant defense, and rival kingdomswere set up in Gaul and in Palmyra (seebox, page 146). To ensure that his armyoperated at maximum efficiency, he onlyappointed equites to positions of highmilitary command, a move that antago-nized the senate.

Gallienus was an educated man andhad a particular interest in Greek culture.He was an adherent to the ancient Greekcult of Demeter. However, he was toler-ant of all sects and halted the persecutionof Christians. These acts made himextremely unpopular among the tradi-tionalists of the Roman elite.

After a number of campaign victorieson the Rhine and the Danube, Gallienusfound his resources stretched too thin tocombat the governments in Gaul andPalmyra. When he returned to Italy toconfront one of his generals, Aureolus,who was attempting to usurp the throne,Gallienus was murdered by his own offi-cers in Mediolanum in 268 CE.

The Illyrian emperorsAfter the assassination of Gallienus, thearmy appointed an Illyrian, Claudius II,as their emperor.Almost immediately, hehad to face a serious invasion by theGoths, who were determined to occupythe Balkan Peninsula. In a brilliant cam-paign, Claudius inflicted a savage defeaton the invading tribes, putting an end tothe Gothic menace for the next 100years. However, his reign was cut shortwhen he died of the plague in 270 CE.

Claudius was succeeded by severalmore Illyrian emperors, all of whomtried energetically to restore stability tothe empire. The first of them wasAurelian, who ruled from 270 to 275CE. Aurelian did much to arrest thedecline that the empire had experiencedin the previous 40 years.

In 259 CE, the legions in Gaul appointed their commander, Marcus Postumus, as princeps. Recognizedin Gaul, and later in Spain and Britain, Postumus set upin present-day Trier what might be called a “governmentin exile,” complete with a senate and annually electedconsuls. He issued his own coins and maintained hisown Praetorian Guard. His vast rival empire remainedstable for eight years, during which time he defendedthe Rhine border against incursions by the Germanictribes. Eventually, Postumus was killed by his own soldiers. He was replaced by Tetricus, the governor ofAquitania.Tetricus was defeated by the emperorAurelian in 274 CE, bringing the rebel state to an end.

THE RIVAL STATE OF GAUL

This rock relief depicts the Persian king

Shapur I on horseback. Shapur took the

Roman emperor Valerian prisoner.

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146

ANCIENT ROME

After around 260 CE, the prosperous desertcity of Palmyra in Syria became increasingly

powerful under the rule of Odaenathus, theRoman governor appointed by Gallienus to maintain law and order and keep the Persians atbay.The people of Syria organized their ownguerrilla bands to assist Odaenathus, who ultimately defeated the Persians near Carrhae.

Odaenathus began to call himself the king ofPalmyra. However, he never attempted to takeover as emperor, nominally recognizing theauthority in Rome. He proved to be a gifted ruler,and Gallienus could do nothing but offer hisapproval, first with the title Imperator and laterwith Inspector of all the East.

When Odaenathus was murdered around 268CE, his widow, Zenobia, immediately took control.She bestowed all of Odaenathus’s titles on herinfant son,Vaballathus, and set up an independenteastern monarchy in the Persian style.At that

time, the emperors in Rome were fully occupiedrepelling barbarian invasions in Europe, soZenobia embarked on a campaign to expandher kingdom. In 269 CE, she invaded Egypt,deposed and killed the Roman prefect governingthe country, and had herself declared queen.Zenobia then conquered Anatolia, Syria, Palestine,and Lebanon.

Once the Roman emperor Aurelian had success-fully dealt with his rivals in Europe, he turned hisattentions to the east.Aurelian recovered Rome’sformer provinces with relative ease and defeatedZenobia in battle at Immae and Emesa. She waslater captured and taken to Rome as a captive.Aurelian showed mercy on the former queen and spared her life. Zenobia later married aRoman senator.

This relief from Palmyra depicts Queen Zenobia, who

helped to establish the Palmyrene Empire in the late

third century CE.

PALMYRA

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147

THE DECLINE OF ROME

Aurelian had been a cavalry officer inthe army of Gallienus, and his reign wasmarked by a number of important mili-tary successes. He successfully drove theVandals from Pannonia and the Juthungifrom the Danube region. Aurelian thenhad to defend northern Italy itself. Atribe called the Alemanni crossed the PoRiver, but Aurelian defeated them deci-sively. Because their attack had threat-ened Rome itself, Aurelian began theconstruction of a great protective wallaround the city in 271 CE.

Aurelian pragmatically abandonedDacia as being too difficult to defend.However, in the east, he was moreaggressive. In 272 CE, he embarked on acampaign to recapture the lands lost toQueen Zenobia of Palmyra. He wasimmediately successful, as city after citysurrendered to his forces. Aurelian thenwent on to Gaul, where he restoredRoman rule in 274 CE.

On the domestic front, the economywas threatened with collapse, the resultof Gallienus issuing virtually worthlesscoins. Aurelian called in much of thedebased coinage and issued new coinage,reintroducing the antoninianus. Thismove did not altogether stem inflation,so to pacify the populace, he instituted adaily issue of bread, plus regular distribu-tions of salt, oil, and pork.

Aurelian was outstandingly successfulin restoring Roman authority through-out the empire, yet he, too, was eventual-ly murdered by a group of officers. Hewas followed by a series of six competentgenerals over a nine-year period; all ofthem continued to purge the empire ofinvaders and revolutionaries.

See also:

The Disintegration of the Empire (page 148) •The Edges of the Empire (page 126) •Expanding the Empire (page 100)

The Aurelian Wall

was built to

protect Rome from

barbarian invasion.

It was completed

in 275 CE.

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This relief showing Roman legionnaires at

work dates to the reign of Trajan in the early

second century CE, when the empire was at

the height of its power.

THE DISINTEGRATIONOF THE EMPIRE

In the third and fourth centuries CE, the Roman Empire wasrarely united or stable. For much of the period, rival claimants

fought each other for the throne. At the same time, the Germanictribes of northern Europe constantly threatened the empire.

The third century CE saw the RomanEmpire in crisis. Its economy was inruins, its social order was disintegrating,and its army was too small to eitherpolice the enormous empire or protectits borders from foreign aggression.

The problems with the army weremanifold. It was not only too small, butalso too static. Garrisons set up to protectthe provinces or the frontiers rapidlybecame permanent towns, and many newrecruits came from the local area. Farfrom Rome, the soldiers felt they owedallegiance only to their own legion andgeneral, rather than to the emperor. Someunits of the army consisted of tribal mer-cenaries, sometimes under their ownchieftain. Such units were not amenableto traditional army discipline and resistedthe rigorous training that characterizedthe army of old. Insubordination was rife,leading to frequent revolts and occasion-ally assassination of the commanders.

The army was also expensive tomaintain. Military pay had beenincreased under Caracalla, and troopbonuses were often paid following asuccessful campaign. To augment thesoldiers’ pay, some generals allowed thelegionnaires to plunder—even in theprovinces. During the third century CE,the general population was victimized asfrequently by Roman soldiers as byinvading barbarians.

The state of the economyAs the empire grew ever more expensiveto administer, successive emperorsattempted to address the problem bydebasing the coinage. They graduallydecreased the proportion of gold, silver,and copper in the coins, which resultedin a decrease in their actual value. Pricessoared, and rampant inflation broughtpoverty and misery to many of the citi-zens. In addition, the emperors levied thehighest taxes in history.

The economic crisis hit trade hard.Artisans were unable to sell their prod-ucts, and people had no money to buyimported goods. Increasingly, theprovinces had to rely on their ownresources. As the coinage became evermore worthless, barter became popular,and many taxes were paid in kind. Thisdevelopment made things difficult for taxcollectors, who were personally responsi-ble for delivering the correct amount oftax to the government. Many collectorstried to evade their commitment by dis-appearing into rural isolation.

Epidemics also contributed to theempire’s general decline. Outbreaks ofdisease regularly wreaked havoc on the

148

TIME LINE

275 CEEmperor Aureliandies; replaced byTacitus.

284 CEDiocletian seizespower; later dividesempire into foursections foradministrativepurposes.

303 CEDiocletian publishesanti-Christianedict; widespreadpersecution ensues.

312 CEConstantinebecomes westernemperor; convertsto Christianityaround this time.

337 CEDeath ofConstantineprompts civil war.

378 CEGoths defeat Valensat Battle ofAdrianople.

394 CETheodosius reuniteswestern and easternempires.

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population, decimating it and reducingthe supply of labor needed to work theland and repair roads and aqueducts.Thenumber of slaves also declined, becausethe army no longer engaged in profitablewars that brought tens of thousands ofprisoners to the slave markets.

To make the most from their land,landowners turned to different waysof farming. Instead of using slavesto work an entire estate, ownersleased parcels of land to farmingfamilies. These tenant farmersagreed to surrender a fixed shareof all their income to thelandowners. This arrangement,while it provided lower profitsthan before, did at least guaran-tee the landowners a regularincome, which was important at atime when it was difficult to find a market for wine, oil, and other estate products.

The arrangement was also beneficialto the tenant farmers (or coloni, as theywere called), providing some measureof protection in unsettled times.Occasionally, a small landowning farmerwould even offer his acreage to a wealthylandowner in return for a contract as atenant farmer. As the system becameincreasingly widespread, landownersattempted to tie their coloni to the land.In the fourth century CE, the emperorswould force successive generations ofcoloni to stay on the estates, making themlittle better than serfs.

The last Illyrian emperorsAfter Emperor Aurelian died in 275 CE,the senate appointed an elderly senatorcalled Tacitus to be his successor.Tacitusresigned (or was killed) in less than a yearand was followed by the Illyrian generalProbus. Probus successfully fought off aGallic invasion and then turned hisattention to economic reform. Heemployed the army on various public

works programs, brought in barbarians tosettle the provinces, and encouraged thecultivation of abandoned farms. Thesemeasures did not make him popular withthe army, and he was assassinated by sol-diers in 282 CE.

The army replaced Probus withAurelius Carus, a general who sharedpower with his two sons, Numerian andCarinus. Carus and Numerian were bothassassinated two years later while oncampaign in Persia.

After the death of Numerian in 284CE, yet another Illyrian, called Diocles,seized power.The son of a farmer, he hadrisen through the ranks to become apopular general in the army of Carus.When Numerian was murdered by Aper(his father-in-law), Diocles promptlykilled Aper and was himself proclaimed

150

ANCIENT ROME

The emperor

Aurelian, depicted

on this coin, helped

temporarily halt

the decline of the

Roman Empire.

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151

THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE EMPIRE

This marble head,

created in 299 CE,

depicts Diocletian,

who succeeded

in stabilizing

the empire.

emperor by the troops. Changing hisname to Diocletian, the newemperor subsequently defeatedand killed Carinus.

Diocletian’s hold onpower was precarious.Persians threatened theempire in the east,while Germanic tribesharassed the north.Theloyalty of Gaul was in question because of the bacaudae (armies ofescaped coloni renegingon their obligations) anddisplaced farmers ruined bywar and exploitation. Toreestablish Roman authority inthese areas, Diocletian neededto send in experienced com-manders. However, he was awarethat, in the past, victorious gener-als had often seized power, as hehimself had done. In order to bypassthis problem, he decided to sharepower with his generals.

The tetrarchyDiocletian established a new form ofgovernment, a four-way sharing ofimperial power called the tetrarchy. Hefirst invited the general Maximian toshare power, giving Maximian the titlesCaesar (in 285 CE) and Augustus (in 286CE).Then, in 293 CE, Diocletian select-ed two more generals and gave themeach the title Caesar. He adopted one ofthem, Galerius, as his son, while Max-imian adopted the other, Constantius.These generals were all Illyrians andwere related to Diocletian either by mar-riage or adoption.

Each “emperor” was given a sectionof the empire to control, although noformal territorial division was made.Diocletian took the eastern part of theempire, consisting of Thrace, Egypt, andAsia, while Maximian had the Italian

Peninsula and Africa. Galerius ruled theDanubian provinces, while the westernprovinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britainwent to Constantius. Each emperor hadhis own capital city in his region; none of them resided in Rome. Diocletianretained overall supervision of theempire and the authority to legislate andappoint consuls.

The system effectively restored stabil-ity to the threatened areas and improvedprovincial government. Provincial armieswere increased in size, particularly inthe border areas, and landowners were

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Page 153: Historia de Roma ilustrada

western parts of the empire, paved theway for its eventual division.

On the domestic front, Diocletianinstituted price controls on food andother necessities and established maxi-mum wages for workers.These measureswent some way toward curbing the rag-ing inflation. He improved administrativeefficiency in the provinces by appointingequites rather than senators as the admin-istrators.These appointees were responsi-ble for all aspects of civilian administra-tion, including police and legal mattersand, above all, taxation.

The changes that were implement-ed by Diocletian resulted in enor-mous increases in the costs of run-ning the state, and these costs hadto be met by the populace via

increased taxes. To ensure that thetaxes were paid, Diocletian organ-ized the empire as a coercive state,enforcing universal cooperation inits maintenance. To preserve thestatus quo, he insisted that anyonepracticing an important profes-sion was compelled to continue itfor life and that a son was to fol-low in his father’s footsteps. Thecoloni, the tenant farmers whopreviously had some right tomobility, were henceforth tied to the land. These measures mayhave gone some way toward sta-bilizing society, but they camewith a price. For many Romancitizens, freedom was now severe-ly limited.

Diocletian was an autocrat, andhe believed that he received his

authority from the gods, withwhom he would take hisplace after his death. How-ever, Diocletian also wantedto be considered a godwhile he was still living, andhe invoked Roman religious

tradition to support the idea.

152

ANCIENT ROME

The four members

of Diocletian’s

tetrarchy are

depicted in this

fourth-century-CE

sculpture.

required to contribute either money orrecruits to the army. Diocletian alsoestablished a tactical army under hisdirect control. The tetrarchy effectivelyended the supremacy of Rome and theItalian Peninsula and, by establishing sep-arate centers of power in the eastern and

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153

THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE EMPIRE

By the second century CE, Christianity wasspreading throughout the eastern part of

the Roman Empire, and Christian communitiesknown as ecclesia (assemblies) were wellestablished in Greece. Initially, the membersof these communities were united only bytheir common faith, and there was no centralauthority either within the individual groups orover the church as a whole. In time, however, theadministration of a community fell to one of itselders, who came to be called the episcopus(supervisor), the Greek word from which theword bishop is derived.A hierarchy of priestsand lower clergy, variously termed deacons orpresbyters, formed under the bishop.

By the third century CE, Christianity had spreadto the west, and the bishop of Rome had particular influence. Rome was the city of theapostle Peter, the man Christ had said would be

the rock on which he would build his church.Regarded as Peter’s heir, each succeeding bishopof Rome was seen as the natural leader of thechurch and would be approached to arbitrate inany communal disputes.

However, the bishop of Rome had little overallauthority.The church was actually a federation ofseparate communities operating on an individualbasis.They cooperated to the extent of givingsupport in time of need, exchanging literature,and providing lodging for members of other communities.This very lack of a centralized structure appears to have been an advantage during times of persecution, because the churchcould not be put out of action simply by seizing afew of its leaders.

The church grew steadily throughout the thirdcentury CE, and the Christians soon formed oneof the largest religious groups in the empire.Solidarity, based on their faith, mutual support,and respect for their leaders, was their strength.Although they were often persecuted, they couldescape death if they renounced their faith at thelast moment. Perhaps many did so, but those whoremained steadfast and died were honored asmartyrs by the community, and it was believedthat their souls went straight to heaven.

In the later part of the third century CE, theempire entered a period of prolonged crisis,when rival claimants fought for the imperialcrown and inflation threatened to destroy theeconomy.Yet it was precisely in these disturbedtimes that the church gained even more converts.It seems that the promise of a better life in thehereafter and an eternal reward for the righteousappealed to many people.

This vault was used for Christian worship in the early

fifth century CE. By that point, the Christian faith had

spread throughout much of the Roman Empire.

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY

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Page 155: Historia de Roma ilustrada

Linking himself with Jupiter, Diocletiandemanded to be known as Jovius and tobe regarded as a holy person.This moveput him in conflict with the Christians,who refused to take part in emperorworship. Incensed by the attitude of theChristians and alarmed by the increasingnumber of them in the army and inhis court, Diocletian became determinedto put an end to Christianity once andfor all.

The final, and fiercest, persecutionsof Christians began in 303 CE, primarilyin the east, where Diocletian himselfreigned alongside Galerius. Diocletianordered the destruction of churches andbanned Christians from assembling toworship. Many Christians were killed, butregardless of how many martyrs died, thenew faith was too firmly established to be extinguished. By the time Diocletian

abdicated in 305 CE, the ferocity of thepersecutions had diminished.

The successionAfter Diocletian had reigned for 20years, he abdicated and forced Maximianto do the same. The two Caesars,Galerius and Constantius, becameAugusti, and two new Caesars, Severusand Maximinus Daia, were appointed.Together, the four made up the secondtetrarchy. In this way, Diocletian attempt-ed to replace the hereditary principlewith a system of appointing successors.Within a year, however, the system hadbroken down.When Constantius died in306 CE at Eboracum (present-day York)in Britain, the armies of Gaul and Britainignored the rules of the tetrarchy andproclaimed his son Constantine asAugustus. When he heard the news,

154

ANCIENT ROME

This 16th-century-

CE painting depicts

the flagellation of

the martyr Saint

Sebastian, who was

killed during the

reign of Diocletian.

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155

THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE EMPIRE

Maximian’s son Maxentius promptly hadhimself declared Augustus in Rome,ignoring both Galerius and Severus.Thus,in 307 CE, seven men were claiming to beAugustus (including another pretender inAfrica). Civil war followed, but by 311CE, several of the claimants had died bynatural causes or been assassinated, leavingConstantine and Maxentius in the westand Licinius (who had been declaredAugustus by Galerius) and Maximus Daiain the east.

Constantine, who was militarily thestrongest among them, invaded Italy anddefeated Maxentius near Rome in 312CE. Maxentius drowned while trying toescape. During the campaign, Con-stantine claimed to have had a vision of the cross, and he later converted to Christianity. After his defeat ofMaxentius, Constantine joined forceswith Licinius. In 313 CE, they won overthe Christians in the east by issuingthe Edict of Milan, which guaranteedthe Christians freedom of worship.Maximinus Daia was defeated byLicinius and died the same year.

Constantine emerged from the con-test as the victor in the west, whileLicinius ruled in the east. For a time,there was an uneasy truce between thetwo emperors, but in 324 CE, the ten-sions between them erupted into war.Licinius was forced to surrender, and heand his son were both executed.

ConstantineNow the uncontested ruler of theRoman Empire, Constantine establisheda new administrative headquarters on the site of Byzantium and called it Constantinople. Situated on theBosporus, a strait that links the Black Seato the Mediterranean Sea, this smalltown occupied a strategic positionbetween the Euphrates and Danuberivers and between the continents ofEurope and Asia. It was therefore animportant post on the overland trad-ing routes between east and west, and itwas destined to become a major city(present-day Istanbul).

Constantine, who had converted toChristianity sometime around 312 CE,

Diocletian,

depicted on

this coin, is

perhaps most

famous for his

persecution of

Christians.

This gold coin

depicts the emperor

Constantine, who

reunited the

empire in

324 CE.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.

Page 157: Historia de Roma ilustrada

now declared it to be the official religionof the Roman state.The traditional wor-ship of the pagan gods was discouraged;their temples were ransacked and theirtreasure, together with that of Licinius,was used to benefit the state.To stabilizethe currency, Constantine had a newgold coin minted, the solidus, which wasto become the basic currency of theByzantine Empire.

Constantine continued many of thereforms initiated by Diocletian, particu-larly that of separating civilian powerfrom military power. He maintained theseparate forces of border guards (limi-tanei) and tactical troops (comitatenses),and he expanded the authority of thePraetorian prefects, establishing fourgreat prefectures: the east, the ItalianPeninsula, Gaul, and Illyricum.

Constantine’s government was expen-sive.Among other measures, he organizeda distribution of grain to the poor, whichmade him popular with that segment of

the population but not with the taxpay-ers who had to fund the scheme. Theburden fell most heavily on poor farmersand landholders and resulted in wide-spread anger among taxpayers and cor-ruption among tax collectors.

Constantine’s sonsConstantine’s death in 337 CE was fol-lowed by civil war, as his three sons bat-tled for power. Eventually, in 353 CE, theonly surviving son united the empireunder his rule as Constantius II. Duringthe eight years of his reign, the easternborder was under almost constant attackby the Persians, while on the Rhine and the Danube, marauding tribes madefrequent raids. Constantius himself wasonly a mediocre general. However, hisnephew Julian, whom he appointedCaesar and commander of the Romanarmy in Gaul, soon proved to be a bril-liant military leader. Julian campaignedso successfully in Gaul that his troops

ANCIENT ROME

Work on the fourth-

century-CE Basilica

of Maxentius and

Constantine began

during the reign of

the former emperor

and was finished

during the reign of

the latter.

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157

THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE EMPIRE

The ruins of this

temple stand in

present-day Algeria.

Northern Africa was

part of the Roman

Empire from the

second century BCE

until the early fifth

century CE, when it

fell to the Vandals.

declared him emperor in 361 CE. Civilwar was averted when Constantius diedin November of that year.

Julian and JovianAlthough he reigned for less than twoyears, Julian proved to be an extremelycapable administrator. He took steps tocurb the extravagance of his court,reduced the power of the secret police,and introduced a stable copper coinage.He renounced Christianity (earninghimself the title Julian the Apostate) andreinstated the pagan religion, hoping torestore the traditional values of ancientRome. Julian was killed fighting againstthe forces of the Persian Sassanid Empirein Mesopotamia in June of 363 CE.

Julian was replaced by Jovian, whowas put in place by the army and lastedfor only eight months. A moderateChristian, he attempted to restore reli-gious tolerance to the empire. He suc-ceeded in negotiating a peace with thePersian king Shapur II by ceding a con-siderable amount of territory, includingthe city of Nisibis and the whole ofArmenia. Jovian died as the result of anaccident in February of 364 CE.With hisdeath, the empire was once again divid-ed into east and west.

Valentinian and ValensValentinian I, a capable officer andanother moderate Christian, was chosenby the army to be emperor in the west.

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Page 159: Historia de Roma ilustrada

The army insisted that he share power,so he appointed his less capable brotherValens as co-regent in the east.Valentinianproved to be an energetic defender of theempire. With the help of his generalTheodosius the Elder, he fought a num-ber of successful border campaigns inGaul and Pannonia and put down insur-rections in Britain and Africa. On thedomestic front, he took steps to protectthe poor, to maintain a strong administra-tive and tax collection system, and toencourage religious tolerance.Valentiniandied suddenly in 375 CE in a freakmanner; he burst a blood vessel in hisbrain while shouting at an ambassadorfrom the Quadi tribe.

After the death of Valentinian, his 16-year-old son Gratian became emperor in the west, sharing his rule with his

4-year-old brother Valentinian II. Gratianwas a devout Christian and attempted toerase all traces of the ancient Roman

religion from the empire.In the east,Valens was less suc-

cessful in defending his borders,which were continually raidedby barbarian tribes, includingthe Visigoths from Dacia.TheVisigoths, being harassed bythe Huns, were driven southover the border and intoRoman territory in 375CE. Valens welcomedthem, thinking that theycould colonize depopulat-ed land and supply recruitsfor his army. However,

Roman officials began tomistreat the new arrivals, and

in 376 CE, the Visigothsrebelled.Valens was forced to go

to war.The next two years saw a number

of inconclusive battles. Finally, in 378CE, Valens confronted an army ofGothic warriors outside Adrianople inThrace. Earlier in the year, Gratian haddriven back the Alemanni and the Gothsfrom the border on the Danube. Valenshad been advised to wait for the armiesof his fellow emperor to join him beforehe confronted the Goths. He ignored theadvice. In the ensuing battle, the Gothiccavalry inflicted a humbling defeat onthe Roman forces.Valens himself died incombat. The Battle of Adrianople was amajor turning point in the history of theRoman Empire; the Goths now hadcontrol of the Balkan Peninsula.

Gratian and Theodosius After Valens’s death, Gratian declaredTheodosius emperor in the east in 379CE. Theodosius was the son of Valen-tinian I’s famous general Theodosius theElder, who had been executed in a purgeof Valentinian’s supporters. Following in

158

ANCIENT ROME

This coin bears the

profile of Magnus

Maximus.The

commander of

Roman forces in

Gaul and Britain,

Maximus was

proclaimed emperor

in 383 CE.

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159

THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE EMPIRE

This coin, issued

in 390 CE, bears

the image of

Theodosius I, the

last emperor to

rule over a united

Roman Empire.

his father’s footsteps,Theodosius was alsoan outstanding army general and wasdestined to emerge victorious from avery turbulent time. In 382 CE, he madepeace with the Goths, giving thempermission to live within the empireunder their own laws and leaders. He didso only on condition that they served inhis army.

In 383 CE, Magnus Maximus, thecommander of the army in Gaul andBritain, was proclaimed emperor by histroops. He subdued Gaul and killedGratian at Lyon. At first,Theodosius wasdisposed to recognize Maximus becausethey were both Spaniards and orthodoxChristians. However, when Maximusinvaded Italy,Theodosius met him in bat-tle and killed him in 388 CE.

Valentinian II and EugeniusSince 375 CE, Gratian had nominal-ly shared the western throne withhis brother Valentinian II.Theoretically,Valentinian ruledover Italy, Africa, and part ofIllyricum, but because hewas only four years oldwhen he became emperor,power in the early yearsreally rested with hismother, Justina. In 387CE, when Maximusinvaded Italy, Valentiniansought refuge with Theo-dosius, and after Maximuswas killed, Theodosiusreinstated Valentinian as the emperor of the west.However, Valentinian died in392 CE, either by assassinationor suicide. He was succeeded byEugenius, who began to reestablishthe worship of the old gods of Rome.This policy brought him into conflictwith the Christian Theodosius.

Theodosius and Eugenius foughteach other at the Battle of Frigidus River

in 394 CE. Theodosius was victorious,making him emperor of both east andwest. He was the last man to rule over aunified Roman Empire, but he died onlyfour months later, in January of 395 CE.The empire was then divided betweenhis two sons.The western empire was tocollapse in the fifth century CE, whilethe eastern empire would survive foranother thousand years.

See also:

Daily Life in Rome (page 116) • The Declineof Rome (page 134) • The Edges of theEmpire (page 126) • Expanding the Empire(page 100)

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160

aedilis government officials in theRoman republic; equivalent tomagistrate. Aediles oversaw publicorder, the market, water, grainsupplies, and games. Initially, theywere officers at the temple of Dianain the Latin League.

Aeneas mythical hero who escapedthe ruins of Troy and settled in Italy.His story is the subject of Virgil’s epicpoem the Aeneid.

Alba Longa city in southern Latium;considered the mother city of Rome;according to legend, freed by Romulusand Remus from a usurper; destroyedaround 650 BCE.

Amulius mythical usurper of his older brother, Numitor, as king of Alba Longa; separated his niece,Rea Silvia, from her twin children,Romulus and Remus.

Anatolia another name for Asia Minor (part of modern Turkey).

Apennines range of hills andmountains that forms the spineof the Italian Peninsula.

Aquae Sextiae Roman city in Gaul;modern Aix-en-Provence, France.

Ariminum town on Adriatic coast ofItaly; site of modern city of Rimini.

Arretium ancient town in westerncentral Italy; now the city of Arezzo.

Ascanius mythical son of Aeneas;according to legend, the founder ofAlba Longa, a city near Rome.

Balearic Islands group of islands inthe western Mediterranean Sea.Thelargest are today known as Mallorca,Minorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.

Brutus, Lucius Junius legendary figure who expelled Tarquin the Proud from Rome and founded arepublic.

Campania region of southern Italybetween the modern cities of Naplesand Salerno.

Cannae town in southeastern Italy;site of the worst defeat in Romanhistory. Hannibal surrounded a Roman army there and destroyed it in 216 BCE.

Capua major Greek colony in southern Italy; first Greek colonyto side with Hannibal in theSecond Punic War.

Carthage city in northern Africa onthe shores of the Mediterranean Sea;now a suburb of Tunis.

censor office in the Roman republicto which two ex-consuls were electedfor five-year terms.They estimatedthe number of citizens for purposesof categorization, taxation, and military service, and they judged moral behavior.

Ceres Roman goddess of agriculture.

Cimbrians people who invadedsouthern France and Spain around 111 BCE; defeated by Gaius Mariusin 101 BCE.

Cloaca Maxima the first public sewer in Rome; completed in the third century BCE.

consul one of two co-leaders ofrepublican Rome. Each consul servedonly one year in office at a time.

Dacia area of the CarpathianMountains and Transylvania, in presentnorth-central and western Romania.

dictator magistrate appointed bythe Roman senate; given unlimitedauthority in matters of state and warfor six months.

Epirus ancient kingdom that occupiedthe coastal region of northwesternGreece and southern Albania.

Etruscans ancient people of centralItaly whose civilization emergedaround 900 BCE, before the foundingof Rome.

fasces symbol of the Romanmagistrates’ legal authority; axhead projecting from a bundle ofwooden sticks tied together witha red strap.

Horatius legendary Roman hero who singlehandedly defended abridge in Rome against the forcesof Lars Porsenna and the entireEtruscan army.

Lar (plural: Lares) Roman familydeity; originally were gods of thefields.

Latin League ethnic religiousfederation of Latin cities on theItalian Peninsula; fought against theEtruscans in the sixth century BCE;abolished in 338 BCE, following rebellion against Roman domination.

Latium region of the Italian Peninsulabetween the Tiber River and theApennine Hills; the home of the original Latin people.

lictor attendant who waited onRoman magistrates and carried theceremonial fasces.

Lupercalia (wolves’ feasts) Romanfestival named for the wolves’ skinsworn by the participating priests.

GLOSSARY

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GLOSSARY

Macedonian Wars four conflicts(214–205 BCE, 200–197 BCE,171–168 BCE, 149–148 BCE)between the Roman republic andthe kingdom of Macedonia.

Mamertines mercenaries fromCampania who fought on behalfof Syracuse but then deserted the city-state and seized Messana(modern Messina, Sicily) around288 BCE; later joined forces with theCarthaginians, thereby precipitatingthe First Punic War.

mare nostrum literally,“our sea”;Roman name for the MediterraneanSea.

Mars Roman god of war; father ofRomulus and Remus.

Messana modern Messina, Sicily;site of an ancient Greek colony.

Mucius Scaevola legendary Romanhero who is said to have saved thecity from an attack by the forces ofLars Porsenna.

Muses in Greek—and later inRoman—mythology, nine sistergoddesses (daughters of Zeus) whoinspired human artistic creativity:Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history),Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music),Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia(sacred poetry),Terpsichore (dancing),Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy).

Numantia Celtiberian strongholduntil 133 BCE, when it fell to theforces of the Roman general ScipioAemilianus; near modern town ofSoria, Spain.

Numidia region of northern Africa;roughly equivalent to the area of modern Algeria.

Numitor legendary king of AlbaLonga; grandfather of Romulus andRemus; deposed by his younger brother,Amulius.

optimates conservative senatorial aristocracy during the later Romanrepublic (c. 133–27 BCE).

Ostia ancient town at the mouth ofthe Tiber River; port of Rome.

Parthians Persian horsemen whogained their independence fromthe Seleucids around 240 BCE andsettled in northern Persia; conqueredextensive territory east of the SeleucidEmpire; later fought the Romans.

patrician in Rome, an aristocrat;often a member of the ruling class.

phalanx battle array used by theancient Greeks and Macedonians,consisting of a number of rows ofheavily armed infantry soldiers.Thebans later introduced the diagonal phalanx, which had more rows on one side.

Phoenicia area of the easternMediterranean roughly correspondingto modern Lebanon.

plebeian any citizen of Rome whowas not a patrician (aristocrat);member of the lower classes.

populares patrician political groupin the late Roman republic that drewsupport from the masses against theruling oligarchy.

Porsenna, Lars legendary sixth-century-BCE Etruscan king whobesieged Rome in an unsuccessfulattempt to restore a monarchy inthe city.

praetors political leaders of theRoman republic; later became known as consuls.

Punic War, First (264–241 BCE)war between Rome and Carthagefor supremacy in the westernMediterranean. Rome adoptedseafaring armies to defeat theCarthaginian power at sea. By

introducing grappling, they defeatedthe Carthaginians. Carthage thenceded Sicily to Rome.

Punic War, Second (218–201 BCE)war between Rome and Carthage(under Hannibal) for supremacy inthe western Mediterranean.

Punic War,Third (149–146 BCE)war between Rome and Carthagefor supremacy in the Mediterranean.The Romans destroyed Carthage in146 BCE.

quaestor Roman official whooriginally assisted consuls in criminaljustice; eventually, financial manager.The office was often the starting pointof a political career.

Rea Silvia legendary daughter ofNumitor, king of Alba Longa; becamea Vestal Virgin; mother of Romulus andRemus.

res publica (public things) republic;Roman state (c. 510–27 BCE)governed by two annually elected consuls. Citizens exercised influencethrough popular assemblies andthe senate.

Rhodes largest of the Dodecanese, agroup of islands in the Aegean Sea offthe eastern coast of mainland Greece.

Romulus and Remus legendary twin sons of the war god Mars.Separated at birth from their mother,Rea Silvia, they were suckled in infancy by a she-wolf.They laterco-founded the city of Rome.Romulus then killed Remus andbecame the first king of Rome.

Rubicon small stream separating Gaulfrom the central Roman republic.When Julius Caesar crossed it in 49BCE—in defiance of a law that for-bade provincial generals from leavingthe territories to which they wereassigned—he precipitated a three-yearcivil war.

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ANCIENT ROME

Sabines ancient people who lived inmountains to the east of the TiberRiver.According to legend, theirwomen were carried off by the men of Rome.

Seleucid Empire empire that,between 312 and 64 BCE, extendedfrom Thrace on the edge of the BlackSea to the western border of India. Itwas formed by Seleucus I Nicatorfrom the remnants of Alexander theGreat’s realm.

senate college of magistrates; thehighest authority in the Romanrepublic.

SPQR initials, written on thestandards of Roman legions,representing a Latin phrase that means “for the senate and people of Rome.”

Stoicism school of philosophyfounded by Zeno of Citium inAthens in the third century BCE.At its core was the belief that peopleshould do what is required of themby nature and accept their lot.

Syracuse Corinthian colony on Sicily; flourished culturally andcommercially in the fifth century BCE and dominated the other Siciliancolonies. Syracuse resisted Atheniansiege and defeated Athens with thehelp of Sparta (414–413 BCE).

talent unit of weight and money usedby Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, andRomans. Its exact value varied fromplace to place; in Attica, one talentweighed around 57 pounds (25.8 kg).

Tiber second longest river in Italyafter the Po.

Titus Tatius legendary king ofthe Sabines who combined his realm with Rome and ruled withRomulus.

tribune in the ancient Romanrepublic, a political representativeof the plebeians.

tribus (district) division whereRoman citizens were registered on the basis of landholdings and assessedtaxes called tributum.

Troy ancient city of northwesternAnatolia (part of modern Turkey);reputed destruction by Greek forcesformed the basis of Homer’s epicpoem the Iliad.

Vestal Virgins six priestesses whoinhabited the temple of the goddessVesta.

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Agrippa (c. 63–12 BCE) deputyof the Roman emperor Augustus;defeated Mark Antony at the Battleof Actium in 31 BCE.

Antony, Mark (83–30 BCE) Romangeneral under Julius Caesar and latertriumvir (43–30 BCE); became loverof Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, andwas defeated with her by Octavian(the future emperor Augustus) inthe last of the civil wars that destroyedthe Roman republic.

Archimedes (c. 287–212 BCE)Greek mathematician and inventorkilled during the sacking of Syracuseby the Romans.

Augustus (63 BCE–14 CE) original-ly named Octavian; first emperor ofRome; ruled from 27 BCE until hisdeath.

Caesar, Julius (100–44 BCE) Romangeneral who conquered Gaul (58–50BCE) and triumphed in the civil warof 49–45 BCE; dictator of Rome(46–44 BCE); assassinated by politicalopponents.

Caligula Roman emperor from 37 to41 CE; succeeded by Claudius I.

Cassius, Gaius one of the assassins ofJulius Caesar in 44 BCE.

Catiline (c. 108–62 BCE) Romanaristocrat who tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the republic in 63 BCE.

Cato the Elder (234–149 BCE)leading Roman politician who led therepublic into war against Carthage.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106–43BCE) Roman statesman and author.On the death of Julius Caesar, he tookthe side of Brutus.

Cleopatra queen of Egypt from51 to 30 BCE; ruled successivelywith her two brothers, Ptolemy XIII(51–47 BCE) and Ptolemy XIV(47–44 BCE), and then with herson Ptolemy XV (44–30 BCE).A mistress of both Julius Caesar andMark Antony, she and the lattercommitted suicide together aftertheir defeat by Octavian (the futureRoman emperor Augustus).

Crassus, Marcus Licinius (c. 115–53BCE) Roman politician who formedthe first triumvirate with Julius Caesarand Pompey.After Crassus’s death, theother two members became enemiesand precipitated a civil war (49–45BCE).

Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, Quintus(died 203 BCE) Roman commanderwhose delaying tactics during theSecond Punic War bought time forRome to prepare to confront theCarthaginian army of Hannibal.

Hadrian Roman emperor who ruledfrom 117 to 138 CE, succeeding hisuncle,Trajan. His rule was a period ofconsolidation of the vast empire.

Hamilcar Barca (c. 270–228 BCE)Carthaginian general who made peacewith the Romans at the end of theFirst Punic War; father of Hannibal.

Hannibal (247–183 BCE)Carthaginian general who famouslyled an army with elephants over theAlps from Spain to Rome.

Jugurtha king of Numidia from 118to 105 BCE; fought against Rome for control of his realm in northernAfrica.

Mithridates king of Pontus (in northern Anatolia) from 120 to 63BCE; led an uprising against Rome

in Anatolia and Greece in 88 BCE;defeated by Sulla in 84 BCE.

Nero Roman emperor from 54 to68 CE; committed suicide. His ruleis best known for its immoralityand violence.

Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE) Roman poet; author of Metamorphoses;banished from Rome by the emperorAugustus.

Pliny the Younger (c. 61–113 CE)author of nine books of letters on awide range of contemporary issues.

Plutarch (c. 46–120 CE) Greekbiographer who wrote Parallel Lives,in which leading Greeks and Romansare discussed in pairs.

Pompey (106–48 BCE) Romanstatesman and general; a triumvir(61–54 BCE); first an associate andlater an enemy of Julius Caesar.

Spartacus (died 71 BCE) gladiatorwho deserted from the Roman army and led a slave rebellion (73–71 BCE).

Sulla, Lucius Cornelius (138–78BCE) Roman dictator who tried tostrengthen the republic after its firstcivil war (88–82 BCE).

Tarquin the Proud traditionally theseventh and last king of Rome; ruledfrom 534 to 510 BCE.

Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman poet;author of the Aeneid, an epic of thefoundation of Rome by fugitives from the sacking of Troy.

Xanthippus third-century-BCESpartan mercenary general who fought for Carthage in the First PunicWar.

MAJOR HISTORICAL FIGURES

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.