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| The Roman Empire | ||
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| The Collapse of the Roman Empire | ||
Roman
Empire
She-Wolf of the Capitoline
Covering the
ancient world through the age of technology, this illustrated lecture series by
Eugene Weber presents a tapestry of political and social events woven with many
strands — religion, industry, agriculture, demography, government, economics,
and art. A visual feast of over 2,700 images from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art portrays key events that shaped the development of Western thought,
culture, and tradition. Below is a list
of media presentations by Dr. Weber; each one is approximately thirty-minutes
(30) in length. These are being offered
to the student as a supplement to other sources presented in this section. The student needs to provide “log-on” information
to get access to the presentations; there is no cost to the student. Review
Units:
The Rise of Rome
Through
its army, Rome built an empire that shaped the West.
The Roman Empire
Rome's
civil engineering contributed as much to the empire as did its weapons.
Early Christianity
Christianity
spread despite contempt and persecution from Rome.
The Rise of the Church
The
old heresy became the Roman Empire's official religion under the Emperor
Constantine.
The Decline of Rome
While
enemies slashed at Rome's borders, civil war and economic collapse destroyed
the empire from within.
The Fall of Rome
Despite
the success of emperors such as Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, Rome fell victim
to barbarian invasions
The Etruscans:
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · What cultural
legacies did the Etruscans
and Greeks contribute to Roman Culture? · What was the
nature of the social classes: Equestrian, Patrician, and Plebean? · What social
and political purposes did the process of adoption play in
Roman society? |
Somewhere between 900 and 800 BC, mysterious peoples called the
Etruscans
settled the Italian peninsula. We don't know where the Etruscans came from,
but archaeologists suspect that they came from the eastern Mediterranean,
possibly Asia Minor. We will, however, never really know where they came from
or why they colonized Italy. We do know that when they came to Italy, they
brought civilization and urbanization with them.
They founded their civilizations in northeastern Italy between the Apennine
mountain range and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Their civilization stretched from the
Arno River in the north to the Tiber River towards the center of the Italian
peninsula; it was on the Tiber river that a small village of Latins, the village
that would become Rome, sat. So the Romans, who were only villagers during
the rise of the Etruscan civilization, were in close contact with the Etruscans,
their language, their ideas, their religion, and their civilization; the Etruscans
were the single most important influence on Roman
culture in its transition to civilization.
[1]
|
Professor Page’s Study
Questions: · What was the nature
of the conflict between the Patricians and Plebeans during the Early
Republic? · How was this
conflict resolved? |
The Roman Republic:
After the overthrow of the
Tarquin monarchy by Junius Brutus in 509 BC, Rome does not revert back to
a monarchy for the rest of its history. The era of the great expansion of
Roman power and civilization is the era
of the Roman Republic, in which its Senate rules Rome and its
assembly, which were institutions, formed at the beginning of the monarchy.
The history of the Republic is a history of continuous warfare; all of the
historical stories, which the Romans will use as stories of Roman virtue and
values, date from this tumultuous period of defense and invasion.
[2]
|
Professor Page’s Study
Questions: · What was the primary
reason for hostilities between the Carthaginians and the Romans? · What were the political results of
the 1st Punic War that ultimately resulted in the 2nd
Punic War? · What were the primary motivations
of the Carthaginian General Hannibal to pursue aggressions against the
Romans? · What were the causes
of the 3rd Punic War? What
were the results? |
The greatest naval
power of the Mediterranean in the third century BC was the North African city
of Carthage near modern day Tunis While the Romans were steadily increasing their
control over the Italian peninsula, the Carthaginians were
extending their empire over most of North Africa.
By the time that Rome controlled the entire
Italian peninsula, Carthage already controlled the North African coast from
western Libya to the Strait of Gibraltar, and ruled over most of southern
Spain—and the island of Corsica and Sardinia in Europe as well. Carthage was a
formidable power; it controlled almost all the commercial trade in the
Mediterranean, had subjected vast numbers of people all whom sent soldiers and
supplies, and amassed tremendous wealth from gold and silver mines in Spain.[3]
The First
Punic War broke out in 264 BC; it was concentrated entirely on
the island of Sicily. Rome besieged many of the Carthaginian cities on Sicily,
and when Carthage attempted to raise the siege with its navy, the Romans utterly
destroyed that navy. For the first time since the rise of the Carthaginian
Empire, they had lost power over the seaways. The war ended with no
particular side winning over the other.
[4]
The Second
Punic War, fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic from
218-202 BC, was the final major Carthaginian military opposition to Rome's
dominance in the Mediterranean.
After
the end of the First Punic War in 241 BC, Carthage decided to concentrate on
controlling Spain to gain direct control over its mineral resources and to
mount an army of the inhabitants to go against the Roman legions. This policy
was started by the great leadership of Hamilcar Barca and continued under his
son, Hannibal.
In the
Second Punic War, with his masterful war tactics, Hannibal wreaked havoc all
over Italy under harsh conditions. No Roman commander was able to successfully
match his army even though they mounted more numerous and experienced armies.
In the end, Roman perseverance was the key, though. Carthage failed to supply
Hannibal with needed reinforcements and Rome began to attack Carthage forcing
Hannibal to return and defend it. With a smaller but experienced army, the
Roman commander Scipio was able to defeat Hannibal and conquer Carthage, ending
the war. Carthage was then stripped of much of its power and was never again
a formidable opponent to Rome.
[5]
In
the years intervening, Rome undertook the conquest of the Hellenistic
empires to the east. In the west, Rome brutally subjugated the
Iberian people who had
been so vital to Roman success in the second Punic War. However, they were
especially angry with the Carthaginians who had almost destroyed them.
The
great statesman of Rome, Cato, is reported by the historians as
ending all his speeches, no matter what their subject, with the statement,
"I also think that Carthage should be destroyed." Carthage had,
through the first half of the second century BC, recovered much of its prosperity
through its commercial activities, although it had not gained back much power.
The Romans, deeply suspicious of a reviving Carthage, demanded that the Carthaginians
abandon their city and move inland into North Africa. The Carthaginians, who
were a commercial people that depended on sea trade, refused. The
Roman Senate declared war, and Rome attacked the city itself. After
a siege, the Romans stormed the town and the army went from house to house
slaughtering the inhabitants in what is perhaps the greatest systematic execution
of non-combatants before World War II. Carthaginians who weren't killed were
sold into slavery. The harbor and the city were demolished, and all the surrounding
countryside was sown with salt in order to render it uninhabitable.
[6]
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: ·
What were the principal social, economic, political
causes for the end of the Roman Republic? |
The End of the Republic
(133-31 B. C.E.)
Rome had begun as a small city-state.
It's constitution, its government, its social structure, and its moral values
were those of a small, mainly agrarian state. All of these, the constitution,
government, social structure, and values, adapted well to the governing of
Italy. The Empire, however, which Rome had stumbled into by accident, provoked
a profound crisis in Roman society, government, and morals.
The
wealthy, who had grown wealthier because of the spoils of war, bought up the
farmlands so that by the middle of the second century, large plantations owned
by fabulously wealthy landowners dominated Roman agriculture. This was only the
tip of the iceberg, though. The Punic Wars and the Macedonian Wars flooded Rome
and Roman territories with new slaves. Rome had had slave labor before then,
but the second century saw a major shift in the Roman economy from a laborer
economy to a slave economy.[7]
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · What was the Catiline Conspiracy
and its impact on the early
career of Julius Caesar? · What was the
nature of the First
Triumphant? How and why was it
formed? |
The First Triumphant: Pompey-Crassus-Caesar:
A new political order was emerging:
ambitious generals, such as Pompey and Crassus, allied themselves with the
tribunes and the disaffected assembly against the Senate and patricians.
Pompey gained the imperium
over the entire Mediterranean region in 67 BC for three years, and this imperium
was extended several more years so he could prosecute a war in Asia Minor.
By the end of this period, Pompey had become the single most popular leader
in Rome. Crassus, however, was frightened of Pompey and, since he was unpopular
in both the assembly and the Senate, he allied himself with popular leaders,
the most popular of which was a brilliant general, Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44
BC). Julius was from an old, noble family, and had served as a brilliant military
leader in Spain and in Gaul.
When he returned from Spain, he demanded a triumph, that
is, a victory parade, through Rome. Denied this triumph by the Senate (who
feared his popularity with the masses), Julius convinced Pompey and Crassus
to reconcile and the First
Triumvirate was established. This triumvirate ("three men")
was the beginning of the end of the Republic, for this alliance between these
three politicians, two of whom were generals, had as its end the control of
the Roman government for the political advantage of the three men
[8]
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · What caused
the relationship of Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey to disintegrate? · What were the
main reasons for Caesar’s success in the Gallic Wars? |
Julius
Caesar: Gallic Wars
The Triumvirate reform program was enacted
and Caesar got himself appointed governor of Illycrium and Gaul.
The way to power in Rome was through military conquest; this gave the general
a loyal army, wealth (from the conquered), and popularity and prestige at
home. So the governorship of Illycrium and Gaul allowed Caesar to become the
general and conqueror he so desperately desired to become.
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · Why were the Optimates in opposition to
Julius Caesar? · What is the
importance of the river Rubicon and Caesar’s conflict with Pompey? · What was the
fate of Pompey? · What were the
political factors the lead to the assassination of Caesar? |
The Civil Wars:
In a series of fairly brilliant
campaigns, Julius added a considerable amount of territory to the Roman Empire
in northern France, Belgium, and even southern Great Britain, subjugating the
Celts in all these territories. When he had finished his conquests, however,
the Triumvirate had dissolved. Crassus had died in a war against the Parrhians
in the Middle East, and Pompey had turned against Julius and had roused the
Senate against him.
The Senate declared Julius an enemy
of the state and demanded that he hand over his generalship and province.
Julius, however, decided on a different course of action. His troops were
fiercely loyal to him; so in 49 BC, Caesar ordered his troops to cross the
Rubicon River, which separated his province from Italy, thus committing a
grave crime against the state. The Civil
War started the minute the first of his legions had finished crossing
the Rubicon.
Pompey fled to Egypt, where his
own horrible fate awaited him.
Respected as the conqueror of the east, Pompey certainly felt
comfortable heading into Egypt. While waiting off-shore to receive word from
the boy-king, Ptolemy XIV, Pompey was betrayed and assassinated.
Stabbed in the back and decapitated, his body was burned on the shore and his
head was brought to the king in order to present as a gift to Caesar. Caesar,
despite realizing Pompey’s death made him the master of Rome, was overcome with
grief. Turning away from the slave who presented Pompey’s head, Caesar burst
into tears at the sight of his rival, former friend, and son-in-law.
When Caesar arrived with just 4,000 men, or just under one full legion, he
immediately took over the palace and presumed to secure his authority. He had
two goals while in Egypt, secure grain and repayment of Egyptian debts, and
also to settle the matter of who should rule the country: Cleopatra or Ptolemy. Caesar privately
requested a meeting with Cleopatra in order to take stock of her before making
a decision.
Cleopatra was slipped into some bed coverings and presented to Caesar as a
gift. Though little is known of the actual meeting, it’s quite clear that
the young queen made an enormous impression on Caesar. She was elegant and
charismatic, but most of all, she had power and money, and Caesar supposed
she was susceptible to manipulation. Caesar, at 52 years old and 35 years
her elder, easily withstood her seduction attempts, and seduced her. He would
place Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt and use her as the key to controlling
the vast wealth of Egypt.
[9]
Caesar returned to Italy in September, 45 BC, and among his first tasks was
to file his will, naming Octavian as his solo heir. While away, the Senate had
already begun bestowing honors on Caesar. Even though Caesar had not proscribed
his enemies, instead pardoned nearly every one of them, there seemed to be
little open resistance to Caesar, at least publicly.
At the onset of 44 BC, the honors given upon Caesar continued and the
subsequent rift between him and the aristocrats deepened. He had been named
Dictator Perpetuus, making him dictator for the remainder of his life . This
title even began to show up on coinage bearing Caesar’s likeness, placing him
above all others in Rome. Some among the population even began to refer to him
as ‘Rex’ (Latin king), but Caesar refused to accept the title. But the
seeds of conspiracy were beginning to grow within the Senate.
Caesar summoned the Senate to meet in the Theatrum Pompeium (built by Pompey)
on the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BC. A few days before, a
soothsayer had said to Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March." As the
Senate convened, Caesar was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of senators
who called themselves the Liberators (Liberatores); the Liberators
justified their action on the grounds that they committed tyrannicide, not
murder, and were preserving the Republic from Caesar's alleged monarchical
ambitions. Among the assassins who locked themselves in the Temple of Jupiter
were Gaius Trebonius, Decimus Junius Brutus, Marcus Junius Brutus, and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Caesar had personally
pardoned most of his murderers or personally advanced their careers. Caesar
sustained 23 (as much as 35 by some accounts) stab wounds, which ranged from
superficial to mortal, and ironically fell at the feet of a statue of his
best friend and greatest rival, Pompey
the Great. Pompey had recently been deified by the Senate, some accounts
report that Caesar prayed to Pompey as he lay dying.
[10]
The
Roman Empire at 44 BC
at the death of Caesar
The Roman
Empire in AD 116
The Empire at its largest extent
The Roman
Empire in AD 192
The Empire at the death of Commodus
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: ·
What were the reasons for the fall of the
Roman Empire according to Edward Gibbon and Henri Pirenne? |
The Collapse of
the Roman Empire:
The
Roman Empire in AD 476
The 'Fall of the Roman Empire'