Rome Quiz 1 (Weeks 1 and 2)

Literary evidence

Literary texts, letters, religious texts

Documentary evidence

Administrative records, legal documents, inscriptions

Archaeological evidence

architecture, numismatic, ceramics, small items, archaeobotanical, skeletal

Paleoscientific evidence

climate condition records, tree rings, sedimentation stratigraphies, glaciations, ice cores, climate drivers, ancient DNA

When was the Bronze Age?

12th c. BCE

How did the Bronze Age Collapse?

chain reaction of Sea People invasions, environmental stress, economic failure, and political instability that caused downfall of major powers

What were the major powers during the Bronze Age?

Mycenaean Greece, the Hittite Empire, and cities of the Eastern Mediterranea

Phoenician expansion (11th-6th c. BCE)?

AFTER BRONZE AGE COLLAPSES —> maritime city-states expanded across the Mediterranean founding trade colonies (Carthage) to secure metals and trade routes, spreading commerce and the Phoenician alphabet rather than building a conquest empire

Greek Colonization (800-550 BCE)

expanding from Greece, founded colonies around southern Italy, Sicily, the Black Sea, and parts of Asia Minor, spreading their culture and political systems

Phoenician Colonization (800-550 BCE)

expanding from the Levant, established trade networks and colonies across North Africa, Spain, and islands like Sardinia, with Carthage becoming their most powerful western settlement

When was Rome founded?

753 BCE

Fabius PIctor (270-200 BCE)

FIRST Roman historian: wrote in Greek and shaped the earliest written version of Rome’s origins and early wars, helping present Rome POSITIVELY to the wider Mediterranean world

Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE)

Early Roman historian; wrotes ORIGINS and was a conservative traditional Roman; pushed for destruction of CARTHAGE (Carthago delenda est)

The Aeneid by Virgil

central book for schooling; presents Rome as destined to rule the world because the founders of Rome (Romulus and Remus) are in Aeneas’ divine lineage

Livy

Subpar Roman Historian known for using legends and fragmented early histories; earliest and most reliable source

Why do the Roman historians focus on violence?

To show that Roman society has always been the way it was then in 1st c. BCE

When were the earliest Roman histories written?

1st century BCE.

Bronze Age Italy (2300 - before 9th c. BCE)

hilltop settlements and villages slowly urbanizing

Bronze Age after 9th c. BCE?

rapid increase in urbanization and expansion

Which locations of Italy began to urbanize first after 9th c. BCE?

coastal areas, NATURAL HARBORS

What kind of evidence helped study early Italy/Bronze Age?

Archaeological remains

What societal process emerged with early urbanization and state formation in Italy?

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

Why did warrior ethos appear simultaneously with urbanization?

More urbanization means denser cities and larger areas to protect

Why did Rome’s urban development different from the rest of western central Italy?

TIBER RIVER

What did the Tiber River and Rome’s location benefit?

Communication, commerce, geopolitical strategy, ETHNIC AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY

Political Structure and Diplomacy in Early Italy?

• slow state formation

• common infrastructure

• warring rules established

• negotiation and diplomacy with trade

Gens

Roman family lineage or name

Did emerging political structures dissolve in-state competition?

No, lineages completed with each other by building or expanding more than the other lineage

Horizontal Social Mobility

Horizontal mobility = change in position, but no change in social class or prestige; aristocrats could do anything if other aristocrats did the same

Elite Networks?

Elites abandoned treaties/alliances at any time and could move in out of political systems

Installing friendly rulers?

placing a leader in power in another region who supports your state’s interests; indirect control and influence

Season raiding?

very common; raid surrounding area and come back in time for harvest —> led to defensive foritifcations

Early First Millenium BCE Conditions of State-Level Influence?

• raiding other cities

• exacting tribute

• placing friendly rulers

What do we know about Early Rome (753-509 BCE)

Little because only oral history exists; a kingdom established by people of Etruscan/Italic descent as a compromise of settlement between neighboring tribes

Elective Monarchy

Roman Kingdom’s practice of electing kings

A Roman King’s Powers?

• term for life

• total authority over military and judicial matters (imperium)

• could not be brought to trial

How many kings existed in Roman Kingdom?

7

Who was the first king/founder of Rome?

Romulus

Romulus’ character?

committed a mass abduction of young women “The Rape of Sabine Women” and established the first Roman Senate

Early Roman Senate?

100 patricians; established a two-class system where plebeians could not serve

Military structure in the Roman Kingdom?

• directly related to the Senate

• like a part-time job

• limited by small aristocratic leadership

• consisted of formations similar to Greek hoplites and the Greek Phalanx

Servius Tullius’ reforms (6th King of Rome)

• grouped males by status, wealth, and age instead of aristocratic birth through a census which divided population into three classes

• instituted Comitia centuriata which increased influence of the rich and brought direct democracy

• EXPANDED military by linking political rights to military

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (last king of Rome)

• violent king who despised Senate and traditional Roman customs

• first to exploit military structure instituted by Servius Tullius

• made war against many Italic tribes and colonized several towns

What was the significance of King Tarquin’s overthrow and exile?

Dissolved the Kingdom and gave rise to the Republic

What was unique of Roman culture?

Inclusive and adopted other customs, absorbing other cultures

Pietas

duty, loyalty, religiosity

Factors dictating status?

• wealth

• citizenship status

• freedom

• sex

What were equities?

Rich PLEBEIANS