Ancient Rome1000 Years of World Domination

The Roman Empire

SSWH3 The student will examine the political, philosophical, and cultural interaction of Classical Mediterranean societies from 700 BCE to 400 CE. a. Compare the origins and structure of the Greek polis, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.

What was the Roman Empire?There were two periods of Roman

government.Roman Republic 509 BCE-30 BCERoman Empire 30 BCE-476 CE

What was the Roman Empire?Rome technically had an “empire” under the

Roman Republic.But the term “Roman Empire” refers to the

time period, beginning with Augustus, when Rome was ruled by emperors.

Roman RepublicRepublic = citizens

can choose (vote for) their leader.

Established 509 b.c.e.Only men with money

and property could vote.

Representative Democracy: The wealthy elected representatives to make laws for everyone.

Structure of the Republic

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• Patricians= landholding upper class

• Plebeians= farmers, merchants, artisans, traders

• Senate= governing body

• Consuls= two patricians

Patricians

Plebeians

PatriciansLand holding

upper class.The most

prosperous families in Rome.

The ruling class.The wealthy

citizens.Overthrew the

Etrucans and claimed Rome to be a Republic.

The Plebian Social classThe lower class.The common-folk.In between Patricians and

the slaves.The vast majority of society.Usually poor.Would sell themselves and

their children into slavery.Plebs were considered an

addition to the "real" roman life-styles by the citizens of Rome.

Gradually, the Romans began to expand their control…

…until they had conquered the entire Italian peninsula plus the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily

• As they expanded their control

• the Romans built an excellent network of roads

• Roads were initially built by and for the military

• but helped with trade and communication at large as the republic and then empire grew.

Infrastructure

InfrastructureTheir road system

is one of the Romans’ greatest achievements

Allowed easy military transport

Enabled trade and commerce

Helped unify expanding Roman territories

The Gracchus Brothers

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• The brothers worked to get the state to distribute the land to the poor farmers

• They also worked to get the state to buy grain to feed the poor

• Senate felt they were a threat to its power, and hired thugs to kill the brothers and their followers

-Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were patricians who were elected tribunes

Republic to Empire

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• Civil wars break out to decide who should hold power. The senate wanted to keep the status quo; political leaders wanted to weaken the senate and enact reforms

• Slave uprisings throughout the republic• Armies became loyal to their commanders because they gave them benefits such

as captured land

• Rivals of Rome

• Between 264-146 BCE the Romans fought three wars with Carthage, known as the Punic Wars.

Carthage

The Punic Wars

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• Carthage had an empire throughout the Mediterranean

• Rome fought Carthage in three wars from 264 B.C. to 146 B.C. (118 years!)

• By the Third Punic War, Rome had completely destroyed Carthage and gained all of Carthage’s territory

• …and went on to conquer the rest of the Mediterranean world.

• By 70 BC, Rome’s Mediterranean empire spread from Anatolia in the east to Spain in the west.

Rome wins!

• Triumvirate (Julius Caesar, Crassus, Pompey)• success in Gaul made JC very popular with the people of Rome • Pompey and Crassus don’t like the power that JC is retaining• 46 BC – JC returns to Rome and named dictator for life – senators (Marcus

Brutus and Gaius Cassius) plotted his assassination in 44 BC

1st Triumvirate

• 2nd Triumvirate – Octavian (JC’s nephew), Mark Antony & Lepidus • 43 BC took control of Rome and ruled for 10 years• Alliance ended in jealousy & violence• Octavian accepted title of Augustus (“exalted one”) and was sole ruler• Making Rome an Empire

2nd Triumvirate

Octavian Becomes AugustusOctavian was sole ruler of

Rome after his forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium

The Senate gave him the name “Augustus,” meaning “most high”

23 BCE – Octavian, now referred to as Augustus,

was made consul for life by the Senate

made “Princeps,” meaning “first citizen”

Origin of the word “prince”

Octavian Becomes AugustusAlso made “Imperator,”

meaning “successful general”/ Commander in Chief

Origin of the word “emperor”

Also made “Pontifex Maximus,” or “chief religious leader

Origin of the word “pontiff” (used to describe the pope today)

Also made a tribuneHe had the power to call

the Senate, veto the Senate’s laws, and make laws himself

Primus inter pares“First among equals” =

Emperor = most prestigious/important of Roman Senate

Augustus (and later emperors) tried to maintain the façade democracy instead of dictatorship

Illusion that each senator was equally important

Reality = Roman emperors ruled with little input from anyone else

• The period 27 BCE-180 AD (the last two maps) is known as the:

• Pax Romana = Roman Peace

• This was a time of great peace and prosperity for the Roman empire

• included 3 million square miles and population was 60-80 million, with 1 million in Rome

Pax Romana

Pax Romana• Romans thought they were the entire civilized world

• Rome enjoyed military dominance

• Trade increased, bringing a wealth of resources into Rome

• The arts flourished

Pax RomanaRome controlled the entire Mediterranean region and beyondComplete control = almost no warfare lasted nearly 200 yearsMore and more provincials were granted official Roman citizenship

Augustus: A Golden Age• Attempted to reform

public morals by promoting family life (largely unsuccessful).

• Began the practice of declaring emperors gods,

• and of picking their own successors.

• (He called Haley’s Comet the spirit of Caesar.)

Augustus: A Golden Age• Built and maintained the

empire’s infrastructure (e.g., roads).

• Encouraged the growth of business.

• Established fire and police departments for Rome.

• Established a strong money system.

Augustus: A Golden Age• Extended citizenship to

more and more provincials.

• Said he “found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”

• Jesus, the founder of Christianity, was born in the Roman province of Judea during the reign of Augustus.

Roman Emperors after AugustusGreat variety in the

quality of emperors who succeeded Augustus

The office of emperor was initially designed to be hereditary

Confusion as to which family member would inherit the throne

Some emperors = cutthroats, insane, or both

The military eventurally had an enormous role in selecting the emperor

Tiberius (14-37 CE)

Stepson of AugustusAbolished the

AssemblyCapable general who

extended the frontier in the north

Strengthened the empire

Appeared to dislike ruling

gradually retired to the island of Capri

Caligula (37 CE-41 CE)

Son of famed military leader Germanicus

the nephew and adopted son of Tiberius

Earned his name “Caligula,” (“little boots,”) by the Roman army as a child (he was dressed like a soldier)

Two years of good, effective rule

Then a severe illness

Caligula (37 CE-41 CE)

followed by two years of horrible rule

Paranoid about members of family and perceived enemies

Exiled some, killed some, and forced others to commit suicide

Assassinated in 41 CE by members of the Praetorian Guard

Claudius (41-54 CE)Brought southern Britannia

(what later became Great Britain) under Roman control

Opened the Senate up to provincials

Became emperor because he was the last adult male of his family (brother of Germanicus and uncle of Caligula)

Conducted a census of the empire in 48 CE

5,984,072 Roman citizens

Nero (54-68 CE)

Considered a tyrantCame to power after

his mother allegedly poisoned his predecessor, Claudius

Murdered his mother, his stepbrother, and two of his wives

Also killed his teacher, the famous philosopher Seneca

Nero (54-68 CE)

Fire in Rome (64 CE)Accused of setting the fire, and of fiddling while the city burned

Blamed the fire on the new religious group known as “Christians”

Forced to commit suicide

Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE)

Brief period of civil war after the death of Emperor Nero

Four emperors ruled in quick successionGalbaOthoVitelliusVespasian

Illustrated the problems of imperial succession

Vespasian (69-79 CE)

Built the Colosseum in Rome

Place where gladiatorial combats were held

Succeeded by son Titus, then son Domitian

Vespasian (69-79 CE)First Jewish Revolt (66-70

CE)Destruction of the Temple in

Jerusalem, in the Roman province of Judea

Carried out by Vespasian’s son, Titus

This was the Second Temple (516 BCE-70 CE)

First Temple (built by King Solomon ca. 960 BCE)

had been destroyed in 586 BCE when the Babylonians conquered the Jews

embarked on what became known as the Babylonian Captivity

Trajan (98-117 CE)

Born into a non-patrician family in what is now Spain

Massive public works program in RomeTrajan’s Column,

Trajan’s Forum, Trajan’s Market

Oversaw the expansion of the empire to its greatest extent

Considered to have been a great emperor

Hadrian (117-138 CE)Strengthened the

empire’s defensesHadrian’s Wall

separated Roman territory in Britannia from the Picts (in what is roughly now Scotland)

Put down the Second Jewish Revolt (Bar Kokhba Revolt), 132-136 CE

Bar Kokhba RevoltAlso known as the

Second Jewish-Roman War

Led by Simon Bar Kokhba, a man many believed to be the messiah

Jews forced to leave Jerusalem after defeat

Many historians date this as the official start of the Jewish Diaspora

Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE)Stoic philosopher

Wrote book Meditations

Succeeded by his son, Commodus (180-192 CE)The characters in the

Russell Crowe film “Gladiator” are very loosely based on Marcus Aurelius and Commodus

His death = the end of the Pax Romana (27 BCE-180 CE)

Diocletian (284-305 CE)

Rome had a century of chaos following the death of Marcus Aurelius

The “Crisis of the Third Century”

Diocletian was the first emperor in 100 years to properly restore order and end the violence

Absolute ruler who ended all personal liberties

Diocletian (284-305 CE)

Increased the bureaucracy for more effective administration

Divided the empire into two administrative realms (east and west) in 285 CE

This was the first step in the creation of what would become two separate empires

Roman (Western) EmpireByzantine (Eastern)

Empire

The Two EmpiresEmperor Diocletian

believed that dividing the empire for administrative purposes would strengthen the empire

He was wrongOnce Constantine set

up Constantinople as a capital city, the east/west split deepened

The Two EmpiresWestern (Roman) Empire Ended officially in 476

CE when the last emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed by a barbarian, Odoacer

Eastern (Byzantine) Empire Lasted until 1453 when the empire was conquered by the Ottoman Turks

Constantine (312-337 CE)Moved the capital from

Rome to ByzantiumRenamed the city

ConstantinopleToday the city is Istanbul

(in modern Turkey)Constantine and

ChristianityHis mother, Helena, had

converted to ChristianityEdict of Milan (313 CE)Christianity legalized

(religious toleration)Converted to Christianity

on his deathbed

Justinian (527-565 CE)Powerful emperor of the

Eastern (Byzantine) empireheadquartered at

ConstantinopleMarried Theodora, an

intelligent courtesan (stripper)

Managed to reunite the Eastern and Western empires for a time, but this did not last

Rewrote Roman law (Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Justinian Code)

Still the basis for civil law in several countries

Justinian (527-565 CE)Plague of Justinian

(541-542 CE)Bubonic plague

severely hurt the Byzantine empire

Emperor Justinian became sick, but recovered

Recovery for the Byzantine empire took hundreds of years