Rome 

 Know: Gaul, Rome, Carthage, Spain, Britannia

How did geography impact Rome?

  • The Alps closed off the entrance to the peninsula, making Rome a relatively non-invaded area from the North

The Founding Of Rome

Flight of Aeneas, Trojans went to Italy, two twins born (Romulus and Remus). An evil uncle abandoned them, but a she-wolf found them and raised them. Romulus founded Rome, Remus wanted to call Rome Reme after his name.

  • The real origins are Indo-Europeans crossing the Alps. They were originally shepherds who specialized in bronze metallurgy.

Etruscans: Italians that moved to Anatolia.

  • From 800-500 BCE, they dominated the peninsula in thriving cities. In 509 BCE, Brutus conquered the last of the Etruscans.

Kingdom of Rome: The earliest instance: a monarchy.

  • Many trades routes, all converging in Rome, of course.

The Roman Republic:

Establishment - Republican constitution in place.

  • Consuls/patrician/plebeian system. Patricians clashed with commoners (Plebeians).

The Government

  • Patricians the rich guys
  • Plebeians the EVERYONE ELSE
  • Magistrate: High ranking patricians/aristocrats.
    • Praetors: Speakers
  • Consul -- Highest position in government (2 of them)
    • One can be elevated to dictator
    • Elected from the Senate -- 300 patricians who were the law makers of Rome
  • Senators: for life, elected by Consuls
  • Assembly: Plebeians, they CHOSE the consuls
    • Elect 10 Tribunes, president of Plebeians
    • Passed laws
    • Law of the 12 tables: Civil matters, crime and punishment, relationships between citizens and family members
    • Both plebeians and patricians were bound to it, giving more openness
    • Innocent until proven guilty

Expansion of the republic

  • Rome conquers Italy: Etruscans north, Greeks in the south. Used army legions
    • Absorbed Etruscan IRON INDUSTRY, established military colonies and had a generous policy towards the conquered
  • Rome goes westward: Carthage
  • Romans capture Greece + Hellenistic civilizations in Egypt
  • Romans capture Gaul and Britannia. (Caesar famous for Gaul)

PUNIC WARS

Why: Carthage (a long-standing, powerful empire founded by Lebanese traitors) was expanding, Rome is also expanding, so they clashed.

  • Romans found Carthaginians barbaric for their practice of human sacrifice in times of hardship, though it may have just been a propaganda façade.

The strength of Carthaginians: NAVAL 🚢

The strength of Romans: LAND 🐴

FIRST WAR: Rome defeats Carthage @ Sicily

  • Since Romans were disadvantaged from land fighting, they found an abandoned Carthaginian ship and copied it so they could have the same level of technology.
  • After 23 years of fighting, Romans win Sicily
  • Very humiliating for Carthage -- a small kid named Hannibal is watching and he’s really angry and vengeful

SECOND WAR: Hannibal’s Revenge

  • Decided to cross the Alps instead of going the usual way. Hannibal’s troops are professional soldiers, but 1/3 of his soldiers were dead by they reached the Alps. He also brought elephants, lol
  • Hannibal: Strategic genius
    • Romans were political generals, not military geniuses. So they didn’t stand a chance against Hannibal.
    • Hannibal tormented Italy for 17 years.
  • Hannibal is defeated by Scipio at the Battle of Zanna, the Romans go into Carthage and he has to return.
  • Gains: North Africa and Spain

THIRD WAR: Bye carthage

  • A political ploy. The Romans HATED Carthage by this point.
    • Cato famously said “Carthage must be destroyed”.
  • Romans pillaged Carthage
    • Annexed Greece and Macedonia
  • Carthage is burned to the ground, the ground is salted so nothing can grow back, and citizens are killed and put into slavery.

Consequences of the Punic Wars:

  • Military victory - More slaves
  • Trade+Land gains, and Carthage is destroyed
  • Aristocracy is increased. The rich get richer
    • Farmers lost their jobs b/c rich landowners created latifundia, use of slave labor. Farmers went to cities, no jobs there. “Roman mob”

LATE REPUBLIC

TIBERIUS AND GAIUS GRACCHI: More land reform and good stuff for the Plebeians [commoners]. They are murdered 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️

MARIUS AND SULLA : The killer dudes. They were military commanders and had a small army which they used to “jockey” for political power.

  • Marius spearheaded a civil war in 100 BCE and Sulla started a really nasty conservative government without reform. No chances to succeed here - the Roman empire had been leaning towards reforms for a long time now.
  • This was later fixed by Julius Caesar. (Foundations of the empire!)

POMPEY AND CRASSUS: Shared control over the empire. Crassus puts down a slave revolt started by Spartacus.

  • In the 1ST TRIUMVIRATE, Caesar joins them and they triple-own Rome. Pretty good setup.
    • Caesar is assigned to Gaul, and spends 10 years conquering them. He’s a popular guy and the people back home like him
    • Crassus DIES!!! Pompey is jealous and makes him give up his army, and caesar is like no and starts warring with him across something called the Rubicon
    • Caesar destroys Pompey @ Pharsalus
      • Caesar is murdered on the Ides of March by Brutus, Cassius, and other senators. “Save Roman democracy and freedom” Lol

MARK ANTONY, LEPIDUS, AND OCTAVIAN (Caesar’s adopted son) - The 2ND TRIUMVIRATE

  • Hunt down the caesar antis. They were mad
    • Defeated them all at Phillipi
  • Unfortunately, Mark Antony and Octavian start ==beefing== for reasons that I am not required to know for this test, and Octavian beats Mark and Cleopatra at Actium and they go commit suicide oops
  • In 27 BCE, Octavian becomes Caesar Augustus and starts the Roman Empire!!!!!!

PAX ROMANA and the Roman Empire

The height of the empire is Augustus and his kid Tiberius.

  • Some of the emperors are bad, like Nero and Caligula. For the last 74 years, though, there’s good emperors: Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius.

Law: Made the empire STABLE

  • All classes can have a job in government
  • Uniform rule of law
  • Guaranteed safe travel on Roman roads
    • Common coinage
  • Praetorian Guard - Police of Rome

One BIG flaw: Line of succession. Augustus didn’t make a uniform line of succession for when he died, ultimately being a factor in the fall of Rome.

Paterfamilia: The man had all the power over everything, could sell kids into slavery, pick who married who, etc etc. Women had lesser status and their “purpose” was to produce children. Wealthy women, however, often had a lot of independence, role in choosing who the children married, etc… most stayed at home, though.

Slaves: Were very common in the Roman Empire. Almost all families had slaves, but generally, they took good care of them. Slaves were attained through Roman conquest and indebted people. City slaves were vastly better off that country slaves, since country slaves lived on cruel latifundia. In the city, you had social interaction between slaves, so you didn’t want to treat your slaves badly in case they badmouthed you. Therefore, city slaves had a higher chance of freedom, and they were usually free by age 30 either way. Some slaves were gladiators.

Language: The language spoken was Latin, but no one was forced to speak Latin. So Romanization spread naturally - it was the language “of the future”, how you communicate through trade, etc etc

Roman Army

  • You get one year to prove yourself. How to prove? Killing and conquest 👹
  • Roman armour was influenced by the Greeks.
  • The army was divided into LEGIONS
    • How to be in a legion?
    • Roman citizen (loyalty)
    • Stay in the army for 25 years
    • 5’3 inches tall + physically fit
    • Why do you want to be in the army?
    • Path to power, and economic benefits for the whole fam

Training:

  • 18-20 years old: You train really hard.
  • You practice marching, maneuvers, etc
  • March for 5 hours a day, and make a trench and make camp (as practice)

The Roman Army had TWO parts

  • BORDER TROOPS
    • Kept the borders protected
    • At height of empire, border protection was really good
    • Over time, it got worse.
    • Hadrian’s Wall
  • FIELD ARMIES
    • Over time, reliance increased of field armies
    • Easy to send out
    • Dealt with crises as they happened (not preemptive)

After a while, SOLDIER-FARMERS began to dominate the population of border troops. Why is this bad? Landowners were losing their laborers, and the Romans even started to recruit BARBARIANS (Loyalty issues!) All these weakened the empire.

ART WRITING AND ARCHITECTURE

  • Pantheon: World’s biggest dome. Trajan wanted to leave a mark.
  • Colosseum: Entertainment facility for everyone in Rome.
  • Aqueducts: Architectural marvel. Made Rome “clean” by bringing water to fountains, public bathhouses, and private homes.
  • Arches: A facet of Roman culture taken from the Etruscans. “Roman Arch”
  • Romans painted people really realistically. Wrinkles were a sign of respect and a life well lived with many successes.
    • Virgil, Ovid, Juvenal, Tacitus, Livy

CHRISTIANITY

  • Life of Jesus -- appealed to the poor and unfortunate. Paul made it more inclusive, he was a very fortunate man but was still spreading the word.
  • Christians were persecuted, especially by Nero, who blamed Christians for the fire.
  • CONSTANTINE: Edict of Milan made Christianity legal.
  • THEODOSIUS: Made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

DECLINE AND FALL

  1. After Pax Romana ends, there are many issues.

   

  1. Political turmoil
  2. High taxes
  3. Indentured servitude
    1. 50 years of military turmoil: No succession line. That’s not good.

   

  1. DIOCLETAN tries to fix the empire by splitting it into two parts. He controlled the rich East, and a co-emperor that he commanded controlled the poorer West. He fixed prices to slow economic decay. The split persisted.
  2. CONSTANTINE built a new empire @ BYZANTIUM called Constantinople. Reforms temporarily slow the decline of empire.
    1. WESTERN empire goes into a long downward fall.

   

  1. BARBARIAN INVASIONS: Germanic tribes called the Visigoths, Romans in the west relied on mercenaries as soldiers. After Visigoths beat Romans at Adrianople, then they can just do whatever they want and some of them ransack cities.
  2. SOCIAL CAUSES: Loss of Roman values, patriotism. Rich become richer, etc etc. Some blame Christianity.
  3. POLITICAL CAUSES: Corrupt, oppressive leaders. Diocletan is to blame for disorganization.
  4. ECONOMIC CAUSES: Really really high taxes that the rich didn’t have to pay. Reliance on slave labor meant no innovation, nothing new was being created. People died from plague, starvation, and war.
    1. 476 AD: Germanic general dethrones the last Roman emperor in the West. However, Christianity persists the civilization (in the East, still strong).