roman economy and society

8/6/2019 Roman Economy and Society

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Latifundia owners focused on producing forexport.

Commercial agriculture specialization

What did the different Mediterranean regions

concentrate on?


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Sea lanes connected ports throughout the Sea

The Roman Navy protected trade from pirates

Mare Nostrum, Our Sea

Tiber River also helped trade


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Money flowed to Rome

10,000 statues throughout the city, 700 pools,500 fountains, temples, baths, stadiums andaqueducts.

Provided work for thousands Led to migration


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Used to irrigate crops.Used to supply drinking water.Used to fill the numerous baths and fountains in the city.Emptied into the sewers, more sanitary


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CircusesOval tracks for Chariot Races

Gladiator Fights in the Colosseum (80 BCE)which seated 50,000 fans.

Gladiator


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New Rich Merchants, landowners Lived lives of luxury including foods (boiled ostrich,

parrot-tongue pie, tree fungus, jellyfish, eggs)

ImpoverishedUrban Masses

Provided Bread and circuses to keep them happy


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1/3 of the population

Worked on latifundia and in mines, rowers,house slaves and in factories

Harsh living conditions


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He was a trained gladiator and led an escape

He then led 70,000 slaves in the Third ServileWar (a major slave uprising) in 73 BCE

6,000 survivors of the revolt captured by the

legions of Crassus were crucified, lining theAppian Way from Rome to Capua


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Anatolian Slave with an education

He was able to become a Stoic philosopher

Studied with the Roman intellectuals


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Polytheistic

Jupiter Lord of the Heavens

Mars God of War

Often had household deities as well

Contact with others New religious ideas


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Romans followedGreek thought/philosophy

Stoicism was the popular one at the time

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) Most famous Roman stoic, established Roman Stoicism


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H

e was a philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist,and Roman constitutionalist

His speeches and writings are most influential Was a big believer in the Republic

Could speak/read Greek and Latin

Medieval philosophers were influenced by Cicero's writingson natural law and innate rights.

Cicero deeply influenced the culture of the Renaissance, heinspired the Founding Fathers of the United States and therevolutionaries of the French Revolution.

He has been referred to as "the most contemptible scoundrelin history" for upholding republican "democracy", while atthe same time denouncing land and class reforms.


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Jewish monotheism at odds with most ancientcultures (under many imperial regimes)

Refusal to recognize Emperors as gods Only recognized Yahweh as divine

Repeated Jewish rebellions in Palestine against

the Seleucid and then Romans


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Judaea was a Roman Province

4 different emperors in Rome in 69 CE

Titus Flavius led the final assault and siege of Jerusalem.

During the siege, a stockpiled supply of dry food wasintentionally burned; as a result many city dwellers andsoldiers died of starvation.

Titus eventually wiped out the last remnants of Jewishresistance.

Many of the rebels scattered or were sold into slavery


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Lived in Palestine and looked for saviors fromRoman rule

Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947

They congregated in communal life dedicated

to asceticism, voluntary poverty, dailyimmersion, and abstinence from worldlypleasures, including marriage.


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The Christians were looking for a savior too

Jesus of Nazareth (a Jewish teacher) was born in 4

BCE and had a reputation for wisdom andmiraculous powers (curing the ill)

He preached, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Romans saw this as a threat Crucified by Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate in

Jerusalem in the early 30s CE


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The Passion of the Christ


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First followers were all Jewish

Began looking for non-Jewish converts from all

over theHellenistic and Roman world

Paul of Tarsus (from Anatolia) attracted masses He promised a great future for those who observed the

faith

He traveled all over

Eventually was executed by the emperor


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No central church Bishops oversawindividual communities

Meant there were different interpretations

Variations on: Nature of resurrection, Role ofwomen, role of the church in worship

Eventually certain scripts became the fundamentalguides for Christianity


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Romans tried suppressing Christians as theysaw it as a threat

Spread throughout the Mediterranean and inRome

Appealed to lower classes and women

By the third century CE, it was the mostinfluential religion in the Mediterranean basin

roman economy and society

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