Western Civilization I, HIS 101
Romans

http://www.unc.edu/awmc/downloads/#theList

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Rome is located near the center of Italy.  Italy is a large peninsula in the shape of a boot.  At its toe is a large island called Sicily.  Primitive agricultural settlements were in existence in Italy by 5000 B.C.  Bronze Age cultures developed by 2000 B.C. and iron was introduced around 1000 B.C.

The Romans set the founding of their city-state at 753 B.C. and modern historians agree that a small settlement may well have existed at that date.  At this time, the eighth century before the Common Era, the Greeks were colonizing Southern Italy and Sicily and a people known as the Etruscans developed their civilization between the Arno and Tiber rivers.  Greeks and Etruscans were culturally more advanced than the Romans at this time.

Periods of Roman History

Early Roman Republic:   509 - 264 B.C.

A Republic is any governmental system which is not governed by a monarch or some other hereditary ruler.  A republic entails some form of election of the rulers and thus opens the door towards democracy.  But republics and democracies are not identical.

During the early period of the Republic, there were two main movements:

Roman Government

Roman Magistrates (City Officials):

    Consuls, two:  Highest political authority having the imperium.

    Praetors:  Judges having the imperium.

    Censors maintain citizenship rolls, keeping the census, and maintaining public morality, censorship.

    Questors:  In charge of public finance, the treasury.

    Aediles:  In charge of public works, roads and aquaducts (water supply).

    Tribunes:  elected by the Plebean Assembly in order to protect the interests of the plebean order against arbitrary decisions by Rome's magistrates, all of whom originally belonged to the patrician class.  Tribunes were sacrosanct.  Anyone harming a tribune could be instantly put to death.  This gave tribunes security to do their job.

Popular Assemblies

    Assembly of the Centuries

    Assembly of the Tribes

    Assembly of the Plebeans elects the Tribunes

The Roman Senate.  Ex consuls automatically became members of the Roman Senate.  The Senate was an advisory body, but its advise was almost always taken.  They were the real power center during the Roman Republican period and remained important even under the Empire.

Imperial Republic:  264 - 133 B.C.

Having gained control of the Italian peninsula in a series of essentially defensive wars, the Romans now become openly aggressive.  The Republic acquires a taste for empire, that is conquering more and more people and bringing them under your domination and exploitation.

The term "empire" has two related meaning.  It can refer to a state which is ruled by an emperor, a king of kings.  The Roman Imperial Republic or the Athenian Empire were not ruled by a single person.  But they were empires in the second sense of the term that is when one city-state or one kingdom has conquered many other city-states or other kingdoms.  The Roman Empire was largely an empire of many city-states all of whom were ruled by the city-state of Rome.

Imperialism is when a people and their rulers actively seek to conquer and subordinate other peoples, cities, and kingdoms.  After 264, the Romans are becoming imperialistic.  They wage aggressive wars of conquest for the profits and glory they bring to Rome.

In a series of aggressive wars, the Romans come to dominate the Western Mediterrinean and then, after 201 B.C., they begin the process of conquering the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Wars Between Rome and Carthage
for Control of the Western Mediterranean

Carthage was a mercantile city located in what is today Tunesia in North Africa.  It was originally founded by the Phoenecians (modern day Lebanon).  By 264 B.C., Rome and Carthage had become rivals for the domination of the Western Mediterranean.

First Punic War:  264 - 241.  Rome gains control of Sicily, which becomes Rome's first overseas province.  Carthage suffers a setback but remains a powerful state.  After the war, Carthage builds up a new trading empire centered on Spain.  Roman envy leads to the next war.

Second Punic War:  218 - 201 B.C.  Carthage takes the initiative and its great general Hannibal leads an army, including war elephants, over the Alps, Brenner Pass, into Italy.  For ten years, Hannibal ravages the Italian countryside.  Rome is repeatedly defeated.  Most serious defeat is the battle of Cannae in 216, which is still studied at war colleges throughout the world.  But despite his victories, Hannibal is unable to bring the war to a successful conclusion.  Unable to defeat Hannibal, the Romans decide to contain him and counterattack against Spain and Carthage.  The Roman General Scipio Africanus defeats the Carthaginians in Spain, crosses over into North Africa, and threatens Carthage itself.  The Carthaginians recall their most famous general to lead the defense of their city.  Scipio defeats Hannibal at the battle of Zama in 202.  Carthage surrenders to the Romans in 201 B.C.  Rome has won a decisive victory over Carthage.  Rome has become the dominant power in the Western Mediterranean.   Carthage is allowed to remain as a small, weak city-state without a navy or an empire.

Third Punic War:  149 - 146 B.C.  This was a mopping up operations.  The Romans did not want to be reminded that Carthage had once been their equal and had almost defeated them.  Cato the Elder kept demanding:  "Carthago delenda est."  So they did.

Wars Between Rome and the Hellenistic Kingdoms
of the Eastern Mediterranean
Antigonids of Macedonia
Seleucids of Syria

Even while the wars agains Carthage were still raging, the Romans were already beginning their next quest:  the domination of the Eastern Mediterranean.  Between 215 B.C. and 146 B.C., the Romans fought four wars against Macedonia and several against Syria.  Greece and Macedonia were added to the Roman Empire.  

Late Republic:  133 - 27 B.C.

The very successes of Rome during the period of the Imperial Republic produced the circumstances which led to the collapse of the republican form of government and its replacement by a thinly disguised military dictatorship.

Tiberius Gracchus is elected Tribune of the People in 133 B.C.  He ran on a program of land reform, hoping to restore the Plebean class of small farmers to its former prominence.  The plebean order was dying out from attrition in war.  They were the backbone of the Roman armies.  But the further away they fought, the less they could tend to their farms.  These farms were sold by their widows to the patrician order, who were, in effect, the officers of Rome's military.
    Tiberius wanted to limit the size of the large latifundia estates, which were developing.  Tiberius was a republican who wanted to make Rome into a real Democratic Republic.

Gaius Gracchus, younger brother of Tiberius, was elected Tribune of the People in 123 B.C. on a similar platform.  Reelected in 122; lost in 121 and was murdered in the ensuing riot.
    He favored land reform, free grain distribution for the poor, public works projects, and the extension of citizenship rights to Rome's allies.  The latter idea was unpopular to most Romans who cherished their privileges as Roman citizens and did not want to share them.
    Gaius death marks the end of restoring the vitality of the Roman Republic through a strengthening of the plebeans.  The plebean family farm could not be saved.

Marius, born ~157 - 86 B.C.
    Self-made man, came from the equestrian order.
    Elected Consul seven times:  107; 104 - 100; 86 B.C.
    Transformed the traditional citizen army into a professional mercenary army.
    Waived traditional property requirements for enlistment, but this means that the army had to be paid.  Traditional Senate did not like this innovation.  Marius' army gave loyalty to their general, not to the Roman Republic. This laid the basis for the later  military dictatorship.
    Marius defeated Jugurtha, King of Numidia.
    Marius ousted invading Tutoni and Cimbri tribes from Italy.
    Marius fought against Mithridates VI of Pontus.

Sulla, born ~138 - 78 B.C.
    Questor under Marius in 105 had captured Jugurtha.
    Had command of Roman armies during the Social War from 90 - 89 B.C.
    Roman citizenship extended to most of Rome's Italian allies.
    Consul in 88 B.C.
    Conflict between Marius and Sulla from 88 to 86 B.C. when Marius died.
    Completed war against Mithridates VI.
    Sulla returned to Rome and took it by force in 82 B.C.
    Sulla issued a Proscription List against his enemies, the populares, and had them killed.  Senate granted him the title of Dictator and legalized the murders.  Sulla rewrote Roman laws to vest power in the traditional Senatorial class.
    Sulla was a conservative, an optimate.  Populares and Optimates become the terms used to describe the political divisions of Rome in place of the older terms describing the class distinctions between  plebeans and patricians. 
    Consul again in 80 B.C.  Retired after his term believing he had restored the republic.  Died shortly thereafter.
    After Sulla's death, the Senate went back to its ways of corruption, greed, bought political offices, and ineptitude.  Sulla's solution of saving the Republic by restoring the old patrician class to unquestioned power had failed as badly as the Gracchi brothers' effort to restore the plebeans.  The way out of the crisis of government was in the direction of military dictatorship.  The next group of strong men leads to the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and the establishment of the principate by Octavian/Augustus.

Pompey the Great, born 106 -48 B.C.
    Important general during the Social Wars in Italy from 90 - 89 B.C.

FIRST TRIUMVIRATE from 60 - 53 B.C.
    Personal alliance between Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar.
    Julius Caesar had married his daughter Julia to Pompey.  After Julia's death, this alliance broke down and led to civil war from 49 to 48 B.C.

Crassus, born 115 - 55 B.C.
    Crassus was considered the richest man in Rome.  Aspired for military glory.  
    Crassus put down the Spartacus slave revolt on Sicily in 72 B.C.
    Crassus and Pompey were consuls in 70 B.C. and again in 55 B.C.
    Crassus gained command over an army to invade the Parthian Empire.  He his killed in battle and several Roman standards (flags) are lost to the Parthians.  This was a great humiliation to Rome.   

Julius Caesar, born 100 to March 15, 44 B.C.
    Was appointed governor of Gaul
    Conquered the remainder of Gaul between 58 - 51 B.C.
    Crossed the Rubicon in 49 B.C. and takes Italy.
    Senate declares him Dictator for the year 49 B.C. and again for 48 B.C.
    Civil War between Caesar and Pompey in 48 - 47
    Caesar defeats Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in August 48 B.C.
    Pompey flees to Egypt where he is murdered in 48 B.C.
    Caesar follows to Egypt.  He becomes involved in the politics of the Ptolemies.  In an Egyptian ceremony, he marries Cleopatra, while still married to his Roman wife,  and makes her Queen.  She bears him a son named Caesarion. 
    Caesar declared dictator for ten years in 46 B.C. 
    Further civil wars against Pompey's sons end by 45 B.C.
    Caesar made dictator for life in 44 B.C.
    Caesar held the consulship in 48 and from 46 to 44 B.C.
    Caesar is murdered by Cassius and Brutus on the Senate steps on the Ides of March (March 15, 44).  What were Caesar's plans?  Was he a great Roman or a great dictator.  Were his murderers craven cowards or brave patriots?  If Cassius and Brutus sought to save the Republic, they failed.  A new crop of military men and a new round of civil wars ensued.

SECOND TRIUMVIRATE from 43 to 36 B.C.
    Personal alliance between Mark , Octavian and Lepidus.
    The primary purpose of this alliance was to avenge the death of Julius Caesar on the Senators who supported  Cassius and Brutus.    This was achieved by the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C. where Mark Antony defeated the two conspirators and their armies.
    After Philippi, the triumvirs divided the Roman Empire among themselves.
They shared the administration of Italy.  Mark Antony took the East including Egypt;  Lepidus got North Africa; and Octavian took Spain and Gaul.
    The alliance broke down when Mark Antony married Cleopatra in 37 B.C.  Mark Antony was also married to Octavia, the sister of Octavian.
    Lepidus was easily removed from North Africa by Octavian.  Thereafter Civil war broke out between Mark Antony and Octavian.    Octavian won the power struggle at the naval Battle of Actium in September 31 B.C.  Mark Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide in Egypt.  

Mark Antony, born ~83 - 31 B.C.
    Caesar's right hand.  Fought with him at Pharsalus in 49 B.C.
    Was consul with Caesar in 44 B.C.
    In 43 B.C., he unleashed a proscription against suspected conspirators during which Cicero was killed.
    Primarily responsible for the military victory over Cassius and Brutus at the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C.
    Mark Antony forms an alliance with Cleopatra VII of Egypt in 41 B.C.  She becomes his wife in 37 B.C..  They loose to Octavian at the naval battle of Actium in 31 B.C. Commit suicide.

Lepidus, elderly Senator.  Ousted from North Africa by Octavian in 36 B.C.  Dies peacefully in bed, rare for Romans, in 13 B.C.

Octavian, born 63 B.C. to 14 A.D.
    He was the grandnephew of Caesar.  Caesar designated him has his heir in his political testament.  This gave him tremendous prestige.  He had Caesar's son, Caesarion, murdered.
    Slowly outmaneuvered Lepidus and  Mark Antony.  By 31 B.C., Octavian was master of the Roman World.
    In 27 B.C., in a carefully stage-managed show, he surrendered his powers to the Senate and received them all back from the Senate.  He created the political system called the Principate.  Octavian assumed the name of Augustus and became the first emperor of Rome.

Principate:  27 B.C. - 180 A.D.

Julio-Claudian Emperors

                        Augustus 27 B.C. - 14 A.D.

                        Tiberius 14 - 37

                        Caligula (Gaius) 37 - 41

                        Claudius  41 - 54

                        Nero 54 - 68

            Flavian Emperors

                        Vespasian 69 - 79

                        Titus 79 - 81

                        Domitian 81 - 96

            Good Emperors

                        Nerva 96 - 98

                        Trajan 98 - 117

                        Hadrian 117 - 138

                        Antoninus Pius 138 - 161

                        Marcus Aurelius 161 - 180

Third Century Decline:  180 A.D. - 284 A.D.

            Commodus 180 - 192

            Brief Civil War

            Severan Dynasty was a Military Monarchy  193 - 235

                        Septimius Severus 193 - 211

                        Caracalla 211 - 217

            Military Anarchy 235 - 284

                        22 emperors in these 49 years

                                    Decius 249 - 251

                                    Valerian 253 - 260

                                                captured by Persians and died in captivity.

                                    Aurelian 270 - 274

                                                restored some degree of order; gave up Dacia

Autocracy:  284 A.D. - 395 A.D.

            Diocletian 284 - 305

            Constantine 306 - 337

            Julian 360 - 363

            Valens 364 - 378

            Theodosius "The Great" 378 - 395

Western Roman Empire:  395 A.D. - 476 A.D.

            476 Odoacer deposes last Roman Emperor of the West Romulus Augustulus

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire:  395 A.D.  - 1453 A.D.

            Justinian 527 - 565 and his wife Theodora

                        Corpus Juris Civilis 529 - 533  

                        Completion of Hagia Sophia 537  

                        Justinian's famous generals are Belisarius (~505 - 565)

                        Reconquest of Italy 535 - 554  

                        Destruction of Vandal Kingdom in North Africa (533 - 534)

                        Partial Conquest of Visigothic Kingdom in Spain

                        Overextended the Eastern Roman Empire

        Heraclius (ruled 610 - 641)

                        Fought against the Persian Empire and the Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars

        Forces of Islam conquer Palestine and Syria (641); Alexandria in Egypt (642); besiege Constantinople between 673 and 677.

        Iconoclastic Controversy 726 - 843

        Ottoman Turks finally conquer Byzantium with the use of cannons in 1453 C.E.

Roman Religion

The Roman religion was practical.  In its earliest forms, the religion appears to have been animistic.  The world was full of spirits or noumena.  These spirits were neither good nor bad; they were indifferent to humans, amoral, and could be either.  With proper ritual, these noumena could be appeased.  It was like a contract:  do this for me and I'll do that for you.   Some of the most important noumena were Vesta, the spirit which guarded the hearth fire; Lares, which guarded the house and its boundaries; Penates, the spirit of the larder.  The head of the household, the paterfamilias, performed the various rituals to keep these spirts friendly.  These household gods were also the gods of Rome.  The Vestal Virgins, for example, tended the eternal flame of Rome.  The Etruscans brought more complex ritual to the Romans.  Divination and augury became important.  Several colleges of priests and priestesses formed, headed by the pontifex maximus.   Under the influence of the Greeks, these spirits took human form and were anthropomorphized. 

Animism was a central feature of early Roman religion

Noumena or Numen

Early triad of Gods was

            Mars

            Jupiter

            Quirinus

                        worshiped at open-air altars on the hill called Quirinal

After Etruscan influence a new triad of Gods was established

            Jupiter Optimus Maximus (similar to Zeus) became the chief god of Rome

            Juno (like Hera)

            Minerva, goddess of craftsmen

Other Gods are mainly taken from the Greek

            Greek Hermes became the Roman Mercury

                        Demeter                                 Ceres

                        Apollo                                    

                        Asclepius

            186 B.C. Romans outlaw orgiastic cult of Bacchus (Dionysus)        

Exact performance of ritual, not morals, mattered in Roman religion

State Religion

            College of Priests or Pontiffs (originally 3 later 16)

            Pontiffs were in charge of the jus divinum

            College of Augurs  who interpreted the signs (auspices) or warnings that the Gods gave to man.  Before every important act of state, a magistrate with imperium took the auspices to make sure the gods approved.  Auspices were taken by observing the flights of birds, lightning, and the behavior of certain animals.

Families had their Household Cults

            Janus, the spirit of the doorway

            Vesta, goddess of the hearth

            Penates, the spirits of the storehouse

The paterfamilias was responsible for proper performance of these rituals. 

            Purification was very important.  

Romans were concerned about public morality: 

The Mos maiorum  were the customs and traditions of their ancestors.

Highest virtue was pietas, the dutiful execution of one's obligations to one's fellow citizens, to the gods, and to the state.  

Electronic Resources

http://acad.depauw.edu/romarch/index.html
Resource on Roman History

Encyclopaedia Brittanica Online http://search.eb.com/

A free, user-created, and not copyright protected encyclopedia is:  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

On origins of Rome and the Etruscan Kings  see: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Kingdom

On the Etruscan Civilization see:  http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_civilization

On the history of the Roman Republic see:  http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic

On the history of the Roman Empire see:  http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire

For various links dealing with Roman culture see:  http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_culture

For information on Pompeii see:  
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii