Post on 10-Jun-2020
Topics:From approx. 700 BCE to 300 CECivilization spreads further west: Rome & beyond
Questions:What distinguished the Roman Empire from the Roman Republic?What distinguished the Roman Empire from the Athenian Empire?What effect did the Roman Empire have on the Mediterranean basin, and on Europe?
Lecture 11:The Roman Empire
Trade Networks and Colonies
Minor wars over territory (early 6th c. BCE)(800-600 BCE)
The Etruscans and Rome’s Beginnings
(c. 525 BCE)
Rome develops into a city (c. 600 BCE)
The Roman Republic
Republican government After 509, executive power invested in two consuls on one-year termsSenate = advisory body (controls $$)Legislation passed by all male citizensPatricians dominate; plebs have a say
350-254 BCE - conquered Italy
Latinized Hellenism
By 201 BCE: Romans control western Mediterranean
Punic Wars
By 264 BCE: Rome = one of largest cities in Mediterranean
Need to import grain
264-241 & 218-202 BCE: Punic Wars vs. Carthage
The Celts
Bust of a god? (c. 150-50 BCE)
Large silver cauldron (c. 100 BCE)
Julius “Caesar”(100-44 BCE)
conquest of Gaul (58 BCE)appointed dictator (49 BCE)
declared divine (46 BCE)assassinated by 3 senators (44 BCE)
Cicero(106-43 BCE)
civic virtue vs.
dictatorshipRoman forum
Octavian “Augustus” Caesar(68 BCE- 14 CE)
Battle of Actium (31 BCE)end of triumviratecontrol of Egypt
Emperor after 27-23 BCE
Contradictions!First emperor + restorer of the RepublicPrinceps (First Citizen) + Pater patriae (Father of the country)Pontifex maximus (highest priest) + deified after deathProgressive reform cloaked as conservatism
Administrative, legal, military, and economic reformssupport the Roman Empire for 200 years
dictatorship as civic virtue
= “PAX ROMANA”
“Pax Romana”
Citizenship Roman law
West
ProsperityAgricultural productivityTrade networks
UrbanizationRoman culture
Literacy & lawPublic baths, amphitheaters, etc.
Complete Assimilation of Celts
LATIN
East
Peace
Wider trade networks
Idea of Rome
Administration
GREEK
Building an Empire
Aqueduct near Nimes (c. 20 BCE)
Roman bridge in Spain
Roman theater in Anatolia(Marcus Aurelius)
Wall painting of a major harbor
(1st c. CE)
Roads
MilitaryPublic buildings
CONCRETE