Rome

Republic to Principate

Romulus and RemusRhea was married to Mars, the Roman

god of war. Rhea had twin sons. She loved her boys, but there were plots afoot by other gods and goddesses to harm her father, herself, her husband, and her children. To protect the boys, she set them adrift on the river, hoping someone would find them.

Romulus and Remus were first found by a she-wolf who fed them. Then a shepherd and his wife adopted the boys.

As the twins grew older, they decided they did not want to take care of sheep. They wanted to be kings. They decided to build a city on the shores of the Tiber. They both wanted to be the only king. They quarreled. In a fit of rage, Romulus picked up a rock, killed his brother, and made himself king

Early Roman State• Landownership = essential to economy

and therefore social status

• Council of Elders senatorial class

• Overthrew the last of the 7 kings

Roman “Republic”• 507-31BCE• Governmental Structure

– Voting for all male citizens (although votes of wealthy worth more)

– 2 Consuls (serve 1 year, war = glory)– Senate– Assemblies– Tribunes (lower classes only, veto power)

• Roman Senate– Self perpetuating body– Serve for life– Nepotism

Institutionalized Inequality

• Patricians versus plebeians• Paterfamilias• Patron/Client Relationships

– Patron (senator) provided loans, legal advice etc in exchange for votes, military service or labour

• Women– Permanently children– No land rights– Strong women emerge to influence politics

Administering the Empire

• Political, economic and legal rights extended to conquered peoples

• In exchange, required for military service• Periphery provinces allowed to self govern

without rights– Governors sent to serve one year– Collect taxes, prevent invasion– Lacked experience, led to corruption– Year long cycle led to a lack of continuity

How did Empire lead to decline?• All land owning men required to perform military service (legions)• Protracted wars with Carthaginians (264-202BCE), Hellenistic Kingdoms (200-

146BCE) & Gaul (59-51BCE)• Soldiers absent from farms for long periods of time• Senatorial class (Patricians) makes huge profits from war but because of

patron/client relationship don’t need to fight themselves• Patricians buy up soldier’s farm from families left without financial support as

fathers/husbands fight• Patricians create “uber farms” – LATIFUNDIA• Latifundia want cash crops – vineyards or animals shortage of wheat as

imports lead to price inflation• POW provide cheap slave labour for Latifundia• Soldiers return home to no farm and poverty. Slavery means no rural employment

either!• Move to cities no work here either!• Angry plebeians!! • Legions in trouble too! Not enough landowning men, therefore not enough people

who can act as soldiers!!!• “New Men” start appealing to the plebeians ruined by the Latifundia. Promise

wealth and employment if serve them in the army• Legions now loyal to LEADER not the Republic• “New Men” like Sulla, Pompey, Mark Antony, Julius Caesar and Octavian aim for

individual power at the expense of the Republic.• Civil War = Octavian triumphs. Becomes Princep Augustus

Augustus & the creation of Principate• Julius Caesar creates 1st dictatorship – Civil War

against Pompey, popularity with the plebeians (land reform), deified

• Ides of March, 44BCE – Julius Cesar assass.• 2nd Triumvirate – Octavian (Augustus) Mark

Antony & Lepidus peace until 37BCE• Octavian & MA struggle for power – MA &

Cleopatra defeated at Battle of Actium• Lepidus exiled• Octavian purges Senate. Senate “voted” to give

Octavian power for 10 years. Swears allegiance as Emperor. Tribune for life

• Augustus Caesar is born

Augustus Caesar• 45 years of rule – 31BCE – 14CE• Propaganda = “Republic restored”• Equites = merchant/landowning middle class

administration/civil service• Empire extend no further, consolidate existing• Cash payments for soldiers serving > 20 years,

end the “new men” phenomenon• Senatorial class given power in provinces near

Rome, therefore still believe have power• Pax Romana

Roman Empire Post Augustus• Emperor’s power publicized and strengthened• Cult of Emperor worship• Emperor = source of new laws, class of lawyers

emerges• “Urban Empire” = urban admin. not urban pop.

Urban dwellers benefitted– Slaves decrease (pax romana) tenant farmers

increase. Wealth based on land but monopolized by urban landowners

• Technology aqueducts

• Trade increases under PR,safety & stability

• Romanization = more powerful than military action

• Citizenship extended first soldiers, then as reward, by 212 all free men.

• R. army = defensive. Walls (GB), forts, natural barriers used

Third Century Crisis• 235 – 284CE

• 20+ Emperors

• Germanic invasions, Romans build walls

• Economy– Army drains treasury taxes raised in

provinces destroyed urban prosperity Emperors devalue coin return to barter local elite responsible for unpaid taxes bankrupted trade destroyed as PR ends people flee cities return to “New Men”

Diocletian & Constantine save Rome

• 284 – 305CE

• Rises through army

• Reforms– Specifies price of goods– Ends inflation– Froze families in profession– “Big Government” seen as oppressive

• Constantine seizes throne

Constantine• Battle of Milvian = belief that Christian God

had granted him victory– Edict of Milan = end persecution of Chris.– Religiously tolerant– Unites empire – C. on the rise spiritual or

political?

• Moves capital from Rome to Byzantium– B. renamed Constantinople– Urban centre and Equites here better survived

3rd Century Crisis– Closer to threatened borders in E. Europe

Rome the Christian Empire• Council of Nicea

– 325CE– Emperor involved in doctrinal issues– Dispute over Jesus’ importance (Arians)

• Diocese

• Urban phenomenon

• 392 – Pagan worship banned

• Justinian Codes– Codifies Roman laws; innocent until proven

guilty, burden of proof lies with accuser etc

Decline of Rome• Eastern and Western Empires divide by 395• Byzantine armies successful Germanic

tribes attack West• Rome falls to Visigoths 410• 476 last Roman Emperor• 530 Rome only spiritually important as seat

of the Pope• Latin relegated to elite, locals turn to dialects;

Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian