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Western Civ. IE
Roman Expansion to
From Oligarchy to
From Principate to the
146 B.C.
Principate
“Fall” of Empire
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INTRODUCTION TO THE ROMANS
Today we begin a series of lectures on a new people -- the Romans. The Romans, as
you know, were from Italy. They were Indo-European but not Greek; they were
Latins who moved into Italy probably around 1000 B.C.
I want to begin by talking about Roman values, and I want to do that to impress upon you that, of all the ancient
peoples, when it comes to values, the Romans are in some ways quite like Americans.
To start with, the Romans had a value for which they had the word “pietas,” which we usually translate as piety. What
this word meant was that a good Roman must show respect and affection for: the gods, one's parents and elders, one's
children and friends, and one's country. The Romans, like Americans, were always concerned about these values; always
complaining that the younger generation did not share them with sufficient
intensity or had not learned them properly
A second value that the Romans really stressed and that Americans stress is
well is what the Romans called “gravitas,” which we would probably translate as
"gravity" but not the kind associated with the pull of the earth of objects. What it
represents is taking things seriously when it is appropriate to take things seriously.
Like for instance? Well, you are in college now, which means that most of you
are away from your parents. And what your parents expect, what I expect, and
what American society expects is for you to take college seriously. You are to study,
to do well, to put in the necessary work to succeed. That does not mean that you
should not have fun; it just means that you should have sufficient seriousness not to
let that fun interfere with the your college career. Another good example is that
Americans, like Romans, complain about people not working hard enough or not
working carefully enough. We are always angered by people who are insufficiently
concerned about us as customers or who do poor work. We complain about
shoddy workmanship because we expect whoever is doing the work to have
sufficient gravitas to do it well, to do it right, and to finish it when they say they
P a g e 1 o f 25
Roman bust showing a very stern looking
senator. The look is meant to illustrate
“gravitas.”
will. Another example of gravitas our expectation that you
will vote and vote with intelligence. We always hear
complaints about the percentage of people who come out to
vote. We expect better of people, that is, that they will
understand the seriousness of their obligations to their
nation.
Another important value among the Romans was what they
called “virtus”. Now this is the root of the word that we use, virtue,
but the meaning is a little different. Virtus comes from the word vir
that means man or manly. So virtus means essentially “manliness.”
It is those qualities that a man should have, and it includes all the
stuff that I’ve talked about so far, plus those qualities, like courage
and steadfastness, and willingness to sacrifice one’s self for the
good of one’s comrades – all of the qualities that are prized in
warfare.
Roman who demonstrably had all of these virtues over a period of time had another one as well. It was called “auctoritas.” We
might translate this as personal authority, or perhaps prestige. A
person with auctoritas would go far in the Roman Republic.
The Beginnings of Rome
Unlike Greece, Italy has few good natural harbors, so
that the inhabitants were never sailors in ancient times.
They were farmers. On the western side of the mountains,
several small rivers had brought down earth to create a
series of relatively open plains, where farming could be
carried out. Most Italians lived there. Almost in the middle
of the plains is the Tiber River. Rome was located on
several small hills overlooking it on the south side.
But neither the Latins or the other barbarians created
civilization for themselves. They learned about it from other
peoples. In South Italy, civilization was introduced by the
Greeks. After 750 B.C., they began to settle and to set up
city-states along the southern coast of Italy.
But in Latium and Central Italy, civilization was
introduced by another people called the Etruscans. The
Etruscans are very mysterious. We cannot read their
language, and no one knows where they came from. We do
know that by 800, they had begun to found city-states and
to create an advanced civilization in the northwestern part
of Italy, on the other side of the Tiber River from the
Latins. Because they were civilized and the Latins were not,
they were able to conquer and to rule some of the Latins for
a brief time. Around 575 B.C., one band of Etruscans
crossed the Tiber and took over the Latin village
overlooking the river. They organized the village into a citystate and introduced elements of civilization. They built
temples and fortifications, and they introduced the Etruscan
alphabet, which was modeled on the Greek alphabet. They
may also have given the villages a common name for the
first time. Some scholars think that the name Roma or
Rome is an Etruscan word, but this is not certain. Although
the Etruscans had given them civilization, the Latins at
Rome still resented being ruled by foreigners. In 509 B.C.,
they revolted and drove the Etruscans out.
Various peoples lived in Italy by 4000 B.C., but the
most numerous and important inhabitants did not arrive
until early in the Iron Age just after 1100 B.C. After 1100
B.C., a large number of barbarian tribes migrated into Italy
from the north. The tribes spoke many different languages,
but they all belonged to the Indo-European family of
languages. One of them was Latin, the language of the later
Romans.
The Latin-speaking tribes settled into the middle of this
open land west of the mountains. The region they occupied
was named for them. It was called Latium or Latin Plain.
Although they had the same language and customs, the
Latins were not politically united. They founded dozens of
independent villages scattered throughout Latium. Later,
when they became more civilized, villages located close to
each other combined to form 30 small city-states. One
group of villages that combined was located on the hills
south of the Tiber. Rome was one of these city-states.
P a g e 2 o f 25
After they became independent, the Romans set up a
new government of their own called the Republic. I now
want to consider what it was like. In early Roman history,
this government underwent several changes, but the most
important trend was toward greater equality for citizens. At
first, the Roman city-state was organized as an aristocracy,
similar in some ways to the earliest government in Athens.
Only members of certain noble families could hold the
major offices in the city. These persons were called
patricians. Other citizens could not hold office; they could
only vote in the assembly. They were called plebeians (the
majority). But gradually, during early Roman history, the
patricians lost their privileged position in government. All
citizens came to have the same political rights, at least in
theory.
As in all city-states, the final decisions on all important
matters were made by all adult male citizens sitting in
assembly. The Roman citizen-body was called the populus.
As in Greece, citizenship was hereditary, and in 509, the
populus was quite small. But as we shall see next time, the
Romans were very generous in giving citizenship to other
peoples. By 250, there were around 200,000 citizens,
which was four or five times as many as at Athens under
democracy. But the power of the populus was somewhat
limited. They could only vote yes or no on proposals
placed before them by the magistrates. The magistrates
were the elected officials of the state.
Roman Republican Government
"no," the century votes "yes." Got that? However, centuries
were formed on the basis of how much a man could
contribute to the army -- what kind of equipment he could
bring. And that means how much money someone had.
For example, the richest class provided 80 centuries of
infantry and 18 centuries of cavalry to the army. The
second class provided 40 centuries of infantry, and on
down the line. There were six classes, and the sixth -- the
poorest men in Rome -- pooled their resources and
provided one century. Now, what that means is that the
richest people had 98 votes on an issue, the next class 40
votes, and the poorest class one vote. Understand?
Executive authority rested in an office called consuls,
of which there were two. The Centuriate Assembly elected
the consuls annually, and the Roman calendar was
recorded by who was consul. Men could be elected more
than once. The consuls were the chief administrative
officers during peacetime and the army commanders
during wartime. When at war they could act
independently (originally each commanded two legions),
but at home they had to act together. They had to agree
on any action that they wanted to take.
The council of Rome was somewhat like the gerousia of
Sparta. It was the Senate. In fact, the word senatus means
"old men," just like the word gerousia. The Senate began in
the monarchy as a body of advisers to the king and
continued not only throughout the Republic but
throughout the Empire as well.
The Senate was made up of the great men of Rome
and was basically a self-perpetuating body. Its membership
was chosen by two officers called censors, who were
themselves members of the Senate. One could become a
senator only after holding a magistracy. Since all of the
members of the Senate had held offices, had led troops,
embodied the Roman values of virtus, pietas and gravitas,
Now, when I say a government is a republic, this the members had, of course auctoritas. And, of course the
means that it is not really a democracy, but that it is a whole body of the Senate had enormous auctoritas.
government that is a mixture of democracy, aristocracy
The Senate had right to advise the consuls, and it was
and monarchy. In Greek terms we would say that it has an
executive of some sort, like a basileus or an Archon, a the consuls who presented issues to the Centuriate
council of elders, and an assembly. And this system is, Assembly for action. The Senate regulated receipts and
disbursements from the treasury, which meant that they
essentially, the basis of all classical republics.
controlled the expenditure of funds. The Senate had the
So, in this early period, there were basically three authority to deal with all crimes requiring a public
political bodies in the Roman Republic: The Centuriate investigation, which included treason, conspiracy, and
Assembly was the Roman legislative assembly. It is made willful murder. And finally, later on, the Senate had the
up of citizens who were also the soldiers. But, the men power to deal with all affairs outside of Italy. That, as we
sitting in this assembly did not have an equal vote. They shall see, becomes really important over time.
voted by centuries -- that is in groups of 100 men,
although in the centuries each person had a vote. So, if 60
men in the century vote "yes" on an issue and 40 vote
At first Rome was a kingdom, but in 509 the
monarchy was ended in a revolution and a republic
established in its place. This is the beginning of the
famous Roman Republic, which lasts from this time to
about 27 B.C. when the Republic was replaced by the
Roman Empire.
P a g e 3 o f 25
The Struggle of the Orders
Roman Social Conventions
In its early days, the biggest problem Rome faced was a
conflict, called by historians the Struggle of the Orders.
Early Rome was very much like an early Greek polis. The
Romans developed a class of aristocrats called the
Patricians. Only the patricians had full political rights. They
made the laws, they could design the laws to preserve their
wealth and their power. As an example, one of the laws was
that, if a poor person owed money and could not pay off
his debt, he and his family could be sold into slavery. The
non-patricians were called plebeians. This is something of
an oversimplification. It is possible that the patricians were a
little like the Lacedaemonians, that is they were the
conquerors of the other peoples who became plebeians.
Whatever the case, very early on these two classes became
hereditary. Patricians had both political powers and special
religious functions. If you were born into a plebeian family
you would always be a plebeian, and a patrician family
would always be patrician.
Now, having said a little about Roman values and early
Roman history, I’d like to take the rest of the hour to talk a
little about what, for lack of a better word I’ll call roman
social conventions. These are relationships that created
networks that glued the roman social and political systems
together, and created what the Romans called res publica,
which means literally “that public thing,” or “the way of the
people.” Here I am going to talk about Roman’s relations
to each other, which seems rather simple, but as we will see,
is in fact somewhat complicated.
The plebeians rightly believed that they were oppressed,
and they organized to try to do something about that
oppression. In 471 B.C. they formed Plebeian Council to
represent the interests of the plebeians. This council chose
ten men called tribunes, whose job was to speak to the
patricians about matters that concerned the plebeians. The
Plebeian Council could also pass resolutions called
plebiscites.
Familia: The Roman family was made up of an
extended family that included all of the descendants of the
eldest male in the family. In the earliest period of the
republic, all of them farmed one tract of land to support
the family and, hopefully, harvest a large enough surplus to
trade. The eldest male was called the pater familias, and he
had enormous power over his descendants. First, in Roman
law, only the pater familias had any real rights over the wealth
and property within the family. Second, the pater familias had
the power of life and death over his descendants. He could
kill them, sell them into a sort of indentured servitude, or
exile them from the family at a whim. His powers were so
great that the most powerful Roman general of even a
consul had to obey their pater familias. He decided who his
sons and daughters would marry. He expected his sons to
give him every penny that they earned, then he would dole
out an allowance to them from the family coffers. Even if
his son were a consul or great general, or whatever. When a
child was born into the family, it was placed at the feet of
the pater familias. If he refused to accept it, the baby was
exposed. One historian notes that the psychological stress
on an adult male whose father lived often found himself in
an intolerable situation. He could not marry, buy property,
run for office, or do anything without his father’s consent.
From the formation of the Plebeian Council in 471 the
struggle of the orders is the story of how slowly but surely
the plebeians got more and more rights. The major steps
were (a) in 450 B.C. the Assembly codified Roman laws into
what became known as the Twelve Tables, which declared
that all free citizens of Rome had rights as well as duties.
Perhaps in that same year each tribune was given the power
to forbid any action that threatened a plebeian. (b) In 366
B.C. a plebeian was elected consul, and from then on it
became the custom for one consul to always be a plebeian.
Arguably, the second most important family member
(c) In 287 the Centuriate Assembly voted that plebiscites was the wife of the pater familias, the mater familias. She had
had the force of law, and that event is considered to be the some input about family matters because she had her
end of the Struggle of the Orders.
husband’s ear. But her importance is also attested by the fact
The office of tribune became very important. All the that in Roman law, a pater familias could sell his livestock, his
other offices were open to everyone by 250, but not this one. clothing, his children, but not his wife. Mater familiae often
Only plebeians could be tribunes, not patricians. Tribunes had a great deal of influence and even power in their own
also had an unusual power. All the tribunes had to agree right. We read of mothers disinheriting their sons, or cutting
before action could be taken by other magistrates. If only them off from the familia without a penny. In some cases
one tribune objected to what the consuls, and the other their sons were important men in Roman government, and
tribunes wanted to do, he could prevent it by saying veto, this would deliver a severe shock to the auctoritas of a rising
which means “I forbid it.”
political star.
P a g e 4 o f 25
At the death of the pater familias, the sons and their
families went out and formed their own familiae. The sons
then became pater familiae in their own right. And that is how
Roman families worked. Familial relationships were very
important. Because the extended family was ruled by a pater
familias, and because Romans had a very strong tradition of
close-knit families with supportive members, very extended
families called gens, like clans, tended to support each other
in social and political affairs. Family loyalty was always
important in the Republic.
Patrons and Clients: Another very important social
relationship that existed among the Romans was called
patrocenium. This hinged on an agreement between two
individuals to support each other and provide to each what
the other could provide. The agreement had two partners,
but the partnership was an unequal one. The inferior
partner was called the client. The superior was the patron.
The patron agreed to provide his client with favors that
would help him , like maybe give him some money to help
him through hard times, represent him in court, help him in
his political career. The client promised to visit his
patron every day, to go with the patron to important
events, to support his patron’s interests when he voted
in the assembly, and to follow the patron’s lead in all
matters. Patrocenium was generally a moral obligation
and not bound by law, but over time tradition made
patron-client relationships very firm, and even
hereditary.
Roman Expansion in Italy
In their early history, the Romans were almost
continually at war with the other states around them. I want
to consider why this was true. Conditions in Italy in the
Early Republic had made it almost impossible for Rome or
any other state to avoid war. There were literally hundreds
of small, independent states in Italy, all competing with one
another for power and resources. Most of these states
needed land, and they could only get it by taking it from
their neighbors. Because war was so common, the Romans
came to admire and to reward men who were good soldiers
and good generals. If a consul won a great battle, he and his
relatives would find it easier to win election to other offices
in the future. Even common soldiers earned great prestige
when they had fought in an important Roman victory. They
were also given land and a share in the spoils of war on
occasions. Thus, the Romans were always ready and even
eager to fight, if they were given any reason to do so by
some other state. And conditions were such that reasons
could usually be found.
Now, looking at this system as a relationship
between two people is one thing, but you should note
that these relationships spread across all of Roman
society. The client might himself, be a patron to others.
So he might meet with his clients early in the morning,
than stroll over to his own patron’s home thereafter.
One Roman poet noted that UNimportant men were
those who made visits but received no visitors.
Important patrons might have a line of clients waiting
at his door at dawn that stretched around a city block.
Clients lined up and were admitted to the presence of
their patron in an inflexible order of importance that
absolutely duplicated the social and political
organization of the Roman state. So, each morning
visit to an important patron represented a cross section
of Rome herself.
We should remember that the more clients had, the
greater the following a patron had, the greater his
prestige – his auctoritas – remember that word.
This map shows the diversity of states and cultures in Italy in the late 400s
B.C.
P a g e 5 o f 25
But the Romans did take care to insure that their love of
war would not lead them to fight another state without a
just cause. They believed that the gods controlled all human
affairs, and that the gods would not aid them in war unless
the gods felt that Rome was fighting for a just cause. To
insure the gods would always approve of their wars, the
Romans created a body of religious rules call the Fetial Law.
These rules got their name from a board of twenty priests
called fetiales, who were entrusted with interpreting the rules.
The rules described the conditions under which war could
be declared or treaties could be made. When the threat of
war arose, the fetiales would investigate and decide whether
Rome was justified in fighting. The recommendation of the
fetiales was not binding, but it was unusual for the Senate
and Assemblies to ignore their advice completely.
The Roman Military
Thus when Romans went to war, they were always sure
that they were in the right and that the gods would be on
their side. But, as I suggested, it was usually possible to find
some justification for war in almost every situation. Often
the work of the fetiales was only a formality.
Rome’s success in war largely depended on her army, so
I want to look briefly at what the Roman military system
was like. Down to 100 B.C., the Roman Army was a citizen
army made up of average Romans. Almost all Roman men
from age 17 to age 46 were drafted. The only men
exempted from service were a few very poor Romans who
did not own any farmland. This was because soldiers had to
buy their own armor and weapons. Poor men could not
afford to do this, so they could not be drafted. But in the
early Republic, very few Romans did not own land. Most of
them were farmers as we have seen.
As in Greece, the Romans fought mainly in the summer
months, when there was no work to be done on the farms.
Soldiers would be drafted in the spring, would fight through
the summer, and then be discharged to go back to their
farms during the winter when the crops were growing. This
was possible as long as the Romans were fighting in Italy
close to Rome. In later times, however, it became harder.
Thus, the Roman Army was an amateur army like those in
the Greek city-states. But because they were farmers, the
soldiers were very tough and very determined. And even as
amateurs, they had lots of experience. A Roman could be
required to serve a total of twenty summers in the army.
Many of Rome’s enemies had professional armies. They
were better trained, but they were not nearly as large.
Roman Soldiers in the Early Republic
consuls, who were also amateurs in a sense. They held
command for only one year. Because their experience as
generals was limited, Rome produced very few truly great
military leaders in her early history. But most of them were
relatively competent. Let us consider why. Members of
prominent Roman families all expected to be consuls some
day, so they tried to prepare in advance through a military
training program called the tirocinium militiae. Young men
would accompany relatives and family friends who were
serving as consul to see how it was done. In addition, they
got some experience in the lower ranks of the army. Besides
this, overall strategy and military planning were in the
hands of the Senate made up of lots of men with military
experience. It could partially offset the inexperience of the
consuls.
This army was eventually successful in extending
Roman military power until it covered the whole
Mediterranean. Roman expansion can be divided into three
basic stages, which I will discuss separately.
The first stage includes the Roman conquest of Italy. It
extends from the founding of the Republic in 509 B.C. to
272 B.C. As we have seen, Italy was filled with may different
One factor that helps explain the success of the Roman competing states at first. The peoples who lived in the
Army was that it usually had good leadership. In a way this plains, like the Latins and the Etruscans, were more
is surprising. At first, the armies were commanded by the advanced. They had city-states, as Rome did.
P a g e 6 o f 25
Those who lived in the Apennines Mountains were less
civilized. They usually had a loose, tribal organization of
some kind. Because of the constant warfare, some states had
to band together for common defense. It was natural for
Rome to ally with other Latin cities since they had a lot in
common. In 493 B.C. all the Latin cities, including Rome,
formed a military alliance called the Latin League. It was
aimed primarily at two groups of enemies. They were the
Etruscans to the north of the Tiber and the barbarian tribes
in the mountains around Latium. At first, Rome was merely
an equal partner with the other Latin cities. But gradually
the skill and the toughness of her armies allowed her to
become the leader of the alliance.
their conquest.
You should recall that Greek Empires, like that of
Athens were also organized as alliances. But the Roman
alliance was much different from those in the Greek world.
It was much more stable. Unlike Athens and other Greek
cities, the Romans treated their allies well. They did not
interfere with the government of allied states, and they
protected their interests in war. This was partly because
Rome sometimes needed the help of her allies, especially in
her early history. She was careful not to offend them.
Moreover, alliances were covered by Fetial Law. Rome was
afraid the gods would disapprove if she did not keep treaty
obligations. Rome also gave the peoples of many allied
states Roman citizenship. This again was something that
Athens and other Greek cities never did. In Athens all
citizens were supposed to have an equal chance to hold
office, but this was only possible if the number of citizens
was relatively small. But in Rome, a small number of
families tended to monopolize the major offices in the state.
They could give out citizenship without seriously
threatening their own position.
The second war was even worse. It started with the
invasion of Italy by the Carthaginian general Hannibal (d.
182). Hannibal was the greatest general since Alexander the
Great, and he won several major victories against the
Romans. Hannibal hoped that the Roman allies would
revolt and abandon her during crisis. But the Roman allies
remained loyal, providing more soldiers to aid the Romans,
and they finally won. When Carthage was no longer a
threat, the rest of the West became allies of the Romans.
War With Carthage
Once Italy had been consolidated behind her, the next
two stages of Roman expansion were much shorter. The
second stage was the triumph over the Western
Mediterranean. This stage was the hardest of all, for in it
the Romans faced their most formidable enemy, the city of
Carthage (264-201 B. C.). Carthage was one of the cities
which had been built on the north coast of Africa by the
Phoenicians. As a Phoenician city, Carthage was very active
in trade and commerce. By 264, Carthage had established a
lucrative commercial empire which included much of North
Roman expansion in Italy mainly consisted of adding Africa, part of Spain and part of Sicily.
The Romans fought two long costly wars with Carthage
more and more states to this alliance as her influence
spread. When she conquered other peoples, Rome usually (264-241 and 218-201). In the first war, most of the fighting
did take land from them. Sometimes she founded coloniae, took place on the sea around Sicily. The Romans were at a
new Roman settlements, on this land to watch out for her disadvantage because they had no navy. But they boldly
interests. But even conquered states usually became her moved to build several large fleets when they saw it
allies. Many others became allies voluntarily because Rome necessary. The Romans were always willing to do what had
could protect them when they were being threatened by to be done. The Roman loses were tremendous, but they
finally won from sheer perseverance.
someone else.
After that, the last stage of Roman expansion was
relatively easy. It involved Roman expansion into the
eastern Mediterranean (201-146 B.C.). Here the major
enemies were the kingdoms ruled by the successors of
Alexander the Great. Some states, avoided war with Rome,
and they were able to prevent annexation for a time. But by
146 B. C., Rome could take over any other power in the
East whenever she wanted. Yet, some escaped for a long
time.
Citizenship was valuable to the allies, not so much for
political reasons as because it allowed them to trade with
Romans on an equal basis and to intermarry with Roman
families. All Rome required of the Italian allies in return
was that they support her in war and provide troops to fight
with the Roman Army. Generally, it was a good bargain for
both sides. The allies got protection and fair treatment, and
the Romans got vast numbers of soldiers to assist them in
P a g e 7 o f 25
Hannibal on a
Carthaginian coin.
Roman Expansion
to 146 B.C.
In this lecture we will look at Roman expansion in the Mediterranean down to 146
B.C. Some of the information will be repeated from the last lecture in a bit more
depth in order to make new information a little better integrated.
Last time we looked at values, social processes and government at Rome and we saw that the Roman republic began
as a pure aristocracy, but by about 270 B.C. had evolved into at least a partial democracy. Another part of the story from
the early Republic on is Roman expansion. So today we will begin with some questions, and, by the end of the hour,
hopefully, answer some of them. So, How did Rome expand? Why? What motivated Romans to devote so much of their
time and energy to war?
What were the benefits of expansion? Romans, like other ancient peoples took spoils from their defeated enemies. In
the early period of Rome’s development the most important spoils that Romans took from their enemies was land. Rome
seldom had enough land to provide for all of her citizens. They were not seafarers, so they couldn’t solve the problems of
land shortage through colonization or trade like, say the Athenians. So, Roman settlements had to be in Italy, and that
meant that they had to take land away from some other state to achieve that goal. Roman politicians knew that they could
relieve population pressures at Rome by fighting to gain more land, so political leaders, who were also, you remember,
military leaders actively sought wars.
But economic motives weren’t the only ones. The causes of expansion were more complex than simply wars for land.
Conditions in Italy in the Early Republic made it almost impossible for Rome or any other state to avoid war. There were
literally hundreds of small, independent states in Italy, all competing with one another for limited resources. Most of these
states needed land, and they could only get it by taking it from their neighbors. So, war became a regular feature of
Roman life at a very early stage in its development. Roman virtues were warrior virtues that were appropriate to farmers
and warriors. In order to acquire those virtues, men needed to fight wars. Thus, one major benefit of expansion was glory!
If a consul won a great battle his prestige increased. He and his relatives would find it easier to win election to offices in
the future and would be given greater military
responsibilities. Even common soldiers earned great prestige when they had fought in an important Roman victory.
They received land and a share in the spoils of war. Thus, the Romans were always ready and even eager to fight, if they
were given any reason to do so by some other state. And conditions were such that reasons could usually be found.
P a g e 8 o f 25
Another important reason for Roman expansion is
also related to the frequency of warfare in the early period
of Rome’s development. Romans were used to viewing
their “next-door neighbors” as potential threats to the
security of the Republic. As Rome expanded in Italy, she
bumped into yet another quarrelsome neighbor that
wanted her land. Hence, the unwritten assumption of
Roman Foreign policy became “every neighbor is yet
another potential threat.”
These wars were fought against the city of Carthage,
an old Phoenician colony (Punic is another word for
Phoenician) on the northern coast of Africa. In 264
Carthage was a lot like Rome. It was powerful, controlled
a lot of territory, including Spain by the way, and wanted
more. The reason for the war was actually quite simple.
Rome and Carthage were the two big powers in the
central Mediterranean. It just seemed inevitable that these
two big powers would come to blows.
Rome’s earliest conquests can be neatly divided into
three parts -- the conquest of central Italy, the conquest of
northern Italy, and the conquest of southern Italy. We
begin with central Italy. From 500-400 Rome fought
primarily against hill tribes and nearby cities in Central
Italy. Basically they did so to protect themselves. These
tribes or these other cities raided Rome, and Roman
soldiers would go out and try to conquer them. And to
make sure that they would not be threatened again, Rome
would settle some of her own citizens among these people.
In other words, the Roman citizens would receive land,
settle down, and form communities of their own or
intermarry with the locals. What this means is that Roman
settlements are now farther away from Rome proper, and
they have to be protected as well – which means more
expansion.
In the first war, most of the fighting took place on the
sea around Sicily. The Romans were at a disadvantage
because they had no navy. But they created several large
fleets when they saw it was necessary. They borrowed ship
designs from their Italian Greek allies, and probably
employed them as rowers as well. They then modified
their ships to turn sea battles into land battles. Roman
loses were tremendous, but they finally won through sheer
perseverance.
In the 390s another threat appeared, this time from
the north. Tribes of Celts – called Gauls – began to raid
into Central Italy, and the Romans organized resistance
among the other Italian cities to these raids. By 350 BC
the Romans were able to defeat the Gauls and establish
their authority over northern Italy.
The chief feature of this Second Punic War was that
the Carthaginian army was commanded by another one of
those military geniuses of the ancient world, Hannibal.
Hannibal decided to take the war to the Romans.
Hannibal led his forces into Italy in 218 B.C. and
proceeded to beat the Romans in battle after battle. But
Hannibal could never accomplish two feats that were
essential to defeat Rome. He could never take the city
itself, and he could never get the other Italian cities to
abandon their Roman allies. Those policies we talked
about of giving lots of rights and independence to the
Italian cities really paid off in the Punic Wars.
Every time the Romans fought a battle with Hannibal
they lost. So they decided to harass his army as it marched
up and down Italy. In other words, they wore him out.
Then in 204 BC, a Roman army under a famous
commander by the name of Publius Cornelius Scipio
Africanus (he received that nickname after Zama) landed
in Africa to threaten Carthage itself. Hannibal was forced
to leave Italy and defend his home. At the Battle of Zama,
near Carthage, the Romans defeated him for the first time.
Hannibal fled to the Hellenistic kingdoms of the East and
Punic Wars
Carthage surrendered. Rome was now the chief power of
By 275 the Romans controlled all of Italy, and in 264 the central Mediterranean.
began the great wars that allowed Rome to become master
of the Mediterranean. The most important of these wars After Zama: Rome and the East
were called the Punic wars, which came in three parts.
After Zama, the king of Macedonia, Philip V,
The first lasted from 264 to 241 B.C., and the second from welcomed Hannibal to his court. Hannibal assured Philip
218 to 201 B.C. The third led to the destruction of that the Romans had expended so many men and
Carthage in 146 B.C.
resources defeating Carthage that Philip could pick up
some territory. On Hannibal’s advice, Philip began to put
pressure on the Greeks who complained to Rome.
In 282 B.C. the Romans received an appeal from some
of the old Greek cities in southern Italy to assist them in
resisting one of the lesser Hellenistic kingdoms, that of
Epirus. The Romans agreed to provide that assistance and
fought against the king, named Pyrrhus, until 275 when
they not only defeated that king but essentially brought all
of southern Italy under their influence. So, by 275 B.C.
the Romans controlled all of Italy.
P a g e 9 o f 25
The Romans put Scipio in charge. Scipio raised an
army, and, in what is called the Second Macedonian War,
200-196 B.C., he crushed Philip. The Punic Wars had not
in fact weakened Rome but given it a large, experienced
fighting force led by a truly able commanders. Remember
what I said about Hellenistic armies? After defeating Philip,
the Roman Senate made the Macedonians pay a large fine
and told the king to leave Rome’s friends in Greece alone.
That done, Scipio and his army returned to Rome.
Hannibal escaped and ran away to the Seleucid
Kingdom. Once there, Hannibal convinced the Seleucid
king, Antiochus III, that, "Hey, the Antigonids are weak,
and the Romans have to be tuckered out by now, so why not
take a shot of expanding Seleucid interests and possessions
in Greece." So, in 192 B.C. Antiochus began to move into
Greece. The Romans asked Scipio to go to work again, and,
as you can guess, he defeated the Seleucid army (The Syrian
War, 192-189BC). The Seleucids were fined, told to behave,
and the Romans went home. At this point, with nowhere
left to run, Hannibal committed suicide.
So, between 204 and 188 B.C., Rome became the big
power in the Mediterranean basin. Now, I should mention
that the Romans didn’t annex any of these defeated states yet,
they just charged them big fines and told them to behave.
The extent of Roman Expansion up to now outside of Italy
had been the acquisition of Spain from Carthage, and that’s
about it. Rome was not the great empire that she would
become, but, Rome had changed as a result of all of these
wars, and not necessarily for the better. These changes can be
viewed in a couple of ways, but all of them led to a very
different Rome, both in terms of her government and her
foreign policies. So, let’s look at the changes in Roman
economics and government first.
farmers who farmed in the winter and fought in the summer.
This was easy since the wars took place close to home. But
when the Romans begin fighting far away in, say, in Spain, or
Greece, or Africa, many soldiers were forced to stay away
from their farms for years at a time. When the men went to
war their farms went untended and ultimately had to be sold.
Wealthy Romans bought these farms and combined
them into larger estates called latifundia. Unlike early Roman
farms, the latifundia were mainly intended to produce a cash
crop that could be sold for profit. Major products were cattle,
wine and olive oil. Latifundia were operated by slaves, and the
owner might only visit them once or twice a year. He looked
on it has an investment. The slaves who worked on these
estates were non-Romans who had been taken prisoner by
the Romans in war.
These changes caused serious disruptions to Roman
society. Those farmers who were forced to sell their land had
to move to the cities, and the urban population rose rapidly in
Italy after 200. In the cities work was scarce for free Romans
as slaves did most of the unskilled labor. There were not
enough jobs available so the unemployed either had to beg or
steal to make ends meet. Therefore, urban poverty and crime
became a serious problem. While a growing number of
Roman citizens got poorer, other Romans became extremely
wealthy.
The winners in this new economy had varied
backgrounds. Most senators made money, but there were also
others who became rich as well. These men were wealthy
enough to afford to serve in the army as cavalry, so they
were called equestrians. Wealthy Romans lived in
unprecedented luxury: they had expensive houses and
clothes, many slaves. They could afford to provide better
education for their children. They often sent their sons to
study in Greece. In short, the lives of wealthy Roman
Social and Economic Changes at Rome
leaders became increasingly distinguished from the lives of
Remember that the early Romans had a simple
poor Roman citizens.
agricultural economy; most Romans were small farmers who
grew enough food to provide for the needs of the immediate Political Changes
family. As a result of the Roman conquests this traditional
These social and economic difficulties were aggravated
system was replaced by a far more advanced economy.
by political problems. After 200 B.C., a few better-known
To begin with, the Roman conquests made it possible for and better-organized families increasingly monopolized the
Rome and Italy to develop extensive trade. Roman contact important Roman offices. They fell into the class of wealthy
with the East created a demand for luxury goods that Roman Senators called nobiles, which means notable or well
Romans had not known about before. Romans be paid for known persons. These families dominated the Senate, which
these goods with money which had been brought into Rome made the government less responsive to the new social and
economic problems. The Senate had no real interest in the
by conquest.
Also, by 200 B.C. it was becoming harder and harder for problems of the poor and no desire to share power with the
small farmers to make a living. There were several reasons for equestrians who wanted a greater role in government.
this, but the most important grew out of Roman expansion
and warfare. In the early period, most Roman soldiers were
P a g e 10 o f 25
Moreover, the nobiles interfered with the administration of conquered lands outside Italy. These lands were divided up
into administrative districts called provinces, and each province was entrusted to a Roman general known as a proconsul.
The Senate appointed men to hold these posts.
The Senate was supposed to supervise these men, but for various reasons it failed to do so. As generals, these
proconsuls had wide military powers equivalent to those of consuls in Rome itself. Proconsuls collected taxes, administered
justice, and led the Army in their province. Since the proconsuls were themselves nobiles, the Senate was reluctant to keep
too close a watch over them. The governors were often guilty of very serious abuses. They collected more taxes than they
were entitled to and skimmed the excess profits into their own purses (togas do not have pockets). They extorted the people
of their province. They provoked frontier wars and build up large armies under their personal command.
Corruption grew in the Empire, as did a callousness about foreign expansion and diplomacy that Romans had not
shown in the past. This can be illustrated by two events that both took place in 146 B.C. The first was in Greece. Roman
leaders pushed the Greeks until, in desperation, Southern Greece revolted against Roman influence. Instead of resorting
to diplomacy in what was a fairly minor difference, the Roman consul Lucius Mummius invaded and destroyed the city of
Corinth. He had no real reason to do so except to loot the city and send the booty back to Rome. That same year Rome
declared war on Carthage without much more provocation except that it still existed. The great city of Carthage was
defeated, destroyed so that “not one stone was left standing on another,” and Roman soldiers sowed the ground with salt so
that nothing would grow there. Truly, by 146 B.C. Rome WAS the 400-pound gorilla on the Mediterranean block, and it
was out of control.
P a g e 11 o f 25
From Oligarchy to
Principate
Today I want to look at the difficult transition in Roman politics that took place
from roughly where we left of last time down to the establishment of the Roman
Empire under Augustus.
From 146 to 133 BC, all of the problems we talked about grew steadily worse. Then after 133, a series of internal
struggles broke out which gradually undermined the whole structure of the Roman state. The conflict was ignited by the
action of two brothers named Tiberius Gracchus (d 133) and Gaius Gracchus (d.121), who tried to remedy the problems
which had arisen. These two men came from a very distinguished Senatorial family, But there were still anxious to solve
the problems which had arisen at Rome in the previous century.
The Gracchi
The chance came in 133 BC when Tiberius Gracchus was elected to the office of Tribune of the People. This office
had originally been set up to protect the interests of the lower classes, and Tribunes had the right to propose laws for the
benefit of poorer Romans. Tiberius decided to use this power to relieve unemployment. He proposed to divide parts of the
Roman public land in Italy to provide farms to unemployed Roman citizens. This had been done in the past without
problems; but by 133 BC, many Senators had rented the public land from the government for their own use, and they did
not want to give it up. The law met with great resistance from the Senate, so Tiberius used his power as tribune to take the
measures directly to the Roman assembly where laws passed. When Tiberius Gracchus tried to run for reelection as
Tribune, some senators and their supporters rioted and killed him.
After the death of Tiberius, there was peace in the city until 123 BC, when his brother Gaius became Tribune. Gaius
Gracchus introduced many new reform measures which were intended to appeal to a much wider group of Roman
citizens. He proposed more new land for the unemployed, but he also wanted to give political privileges to the equestrians.
Some of the proposals passed and some did not. This time, the Senate was much more cautious. They took no immediate
action. Gaius held the tribuneship for two years. After he had left office in 121, the Senate repealed all of his reforms.
When the Senate met to repeal the reforms a riot broke out. The Senate accused Gaius of treason and used the army to
kill him and many of his supporters. This action shows the true colors of the Senate; they were willing to use any means to
defeat reform and maintain their own dominance over the state.
The Senate’s flagrant use of the army to support their monopoly of power created a precedent that, at first, protected
the nobiles, but ultimately would bring about their downfall, and nearly tear Rome to pieces.
P a g e 12 o f 25
Gaius Marius
as a whole.
It was not long before men appeared who were able to
destroy the Senate's power over the army. The first was
named Gaius Marius (d. 87 BC). Marius was not really a
reformer, but he was unpopular with the Senate because he
did not come from a distinguished noble family. Normally,
he would not have had a chance to reach high office, but he
was able to get enough support from the equestrians to win
the office of Consul in 107 B.C. In that year, Rome was
challenged by a war against a Numidian people in North
Africa near Carthage. Marius was a brilliant field
commander, and was elected to defeat Rome’s enemies in
Africa. Once in office, Marius made important changes in
the way the soldiers were recruited for military service.
Previously soldiers had been drafted from among the
Romans who owned land or other property. But by 107, the
number of Roman farmers had declined, leaving few
citizens available for military service. So Marius decided to
seek volunteer soldiers from among the unemployed. He
promised to work for bonuses of land and money for the
soldiers after they had finished their service. In this way, he
got many men to volunteer. These promises helped him as
well. In order to make good on his promises he would need
support from the assembly. So the soldiers supported him in
politics, in order to receive their bonuses. Thus Marius was
able to be elected to the consulship five times (104 -100) .
Because the men who made up the Roman army under
Marius looked to him rather than to the Senate for their
support, this new Roman army was more loyal to Marius,
their leader, than they were to the Roman state. From this
time on, Roman armies were often more loyal to their
generals than they were to the Senate or to the Roman state
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix
Marius made the army a force in politics which it had not
been before. It was not long before someone got the idea of
using that force to threaten the government itself. That man was
Cornelius Sulla (d. 78 B.C.). Sulla was a Roman from a good
family who supported the nobiles in politics. In 88 BC he was
made general (a proconsul) to lead a large army to a war in Asia.
But after he departed from the city with his troops, the Marian
faction was able to remove him from his command. But Sulla
still had a large army behind him, so he asked them to help him
seize control of the government — and they did. Sulla marched
his army into the city of Rome. He retook the government,
killed his enemies, then he went East and fought his war.
After the war in the East was over, Sulla had to return to
Rome and fight another civil war to regain control of the state
again. He defeated his enemies, and made himself dictator for
two years. During that period he made many new laws to
strengthen the power of the Senate in the government. None of
these laws lasted for a very long time, but Sulla was important in
other ways. He was the first general to turn his army against the
government and Rome. Whereas Marius had merely asked his
troops to vote for him, Sulla showed that a general might use his
support from the Army in a military way – to seize the reins of
power illegally.
In the years between 200 and 79 B.C., the Roman
republican government of magistrates, Assembly and Senate
rapidly declined and moved toward final destruction. The
Senate had to take a large part of the blame for this
development. They were much too arrogant and selfish to solve
any of the social and economic problems confronting Rome.
Indeed, the Senate opposed reform of any kind with great
tenacity. We have seen that the Roman constitution was
organized in a way which made reform possible. It was possible,
for instance, for the Gracchi brothers to secure reform without
the help, and even against the opposition of the Senate. But
change was difficult, because the powerful and prestigious Senate
opposed change. For primarily self-serving reasons the Senate
was willing to resort to illegal means to stop any reform. The
result was that no one was particularly concerned with legality
anymore. Both reformers and conservatives began to think that
any means could and should be employed to gain their ends.
Violence became more and more a feature of Roman politics.
The most ominous development was the growth of the army as
a force in politics with goals and interests of its own. After Sulla's
time, any successful general became a potential threat to the
Roman state. And that is exactly what would happen.
P a g e 13 o f 25
Gnaius Pompeius Magnus
We might say that, after Sulla it was only a matter of time before a general would come along with enough support
among the Roman armies to make himself the dominant figure in the Roman state.
The first really powerful military leader after Sulla was a man named Pompey the Great (d.48 B.C.). He had been a
subordinate of Sulla. In the 70's and 60's Pompey was Consul once, and he also held several important governorships in
the provinces. The Senate did not like him very much, however, because he didn’t come from a noble family. But Pompey
was very popular with a lower classes, and in his military commands he was able to win the support of a large number of
soldiers.
At several points before 60 BC, he might have seized control of the government but he really did not wish to do that.
Pompey always hoped that he could win the support and approval of the Senators, so he refused to take the final step
toward dictatorship. Unfortunately for Pompey, the Senators always refused to cooperate with him because of his
ambition, and they were also jealous of his military successes.
The First Triumvirate
In 60 B.C., Pompey wanted the Senate to pass a large land grant to give to Pompey’s army. The Senate balked. In
order to get his grant, Pompey needed to get a Consul elected who would help him. To achieve his ends Pompey created a
political alliance that historians call the First Triumvirate. First, he needed a lot of money, so he brought in the richest man
in Rome, Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus was rich, but he wanted something, as well. Crassus had never commanded
troops. He wanted a great military victory and a Triumph. Next they needed a Consul. For this position, Pompey chose
Gaius Julius Caesar. Caesar came from a very distinguished Roman Patrician family – the Julian family, but the Julii had
fallen on hard times and no member of that family had been Consul for several generations. Caesar wanted a consulship.
Between them, they all got what they wanted (more or less). Caesar got his consulship in 59 B.C. He got Pompey his grant,
and even got a command for Crassus, who went off to war with Parthia and was defeated and killed in 53 B.C.
M. Licinius Crassus
Cn. Pompeius Magnus
The 1st Triumvirate
Quid pro quo
Wants bonuses for his
troops, and favors for his
equestrian clients.
G. Julius Caesar
Caesar wants to restore his
family to glory of the past, to gain
greatness himself. As consul,
helps Pompey and Crassus. In
return gets assigned to
Proconsulship of Gaul.
P a g e 14 o f 25
Richest Roman. Wants
favors for equestrian
clients and glory. He has
been consul, but never
won a triumph.
Julius Caesar
In return for this service to the Triumvirate, Caesar
received the proconsulship of Roman Gaul in southern
France. He served their nine years from 58 to 50 B.C.
Caesar's career in Gaul shows the dangers inherent in a lack
of control which the Romans had over their governors.
Caesar provoked a series of wars with the barbarian
tribes on the borders of his province, and he eventually took
over all of France up to the borders of the Rhine River. In
the process he was able to build up a huge army that was
fiercely loyal to him. So great did his power become that
Pompey and the Senate were forced to ally with one another
against Caesar. In 49 BC, the Senate tried to remove Caesar
from his governorship. He refused to step down, in fact he
took his army and marched on Rome. This began a civil
war that continued from 49 to 45 BC. In the war, Pompey
was killed along with many leaders of the Senate. By 45,
Caesar was master of the entire Roman state.
Octavian stayed in Rome. Despite having married Octavia,
Octavian’s sister, in 40 , Antony openly lived in Alexandria
with Cleopatra VII of Egypt and they had children
together. A master of propaganda, Octavian turned public
opinion against his colleague. Octavian illegally gained
Antony’s will in July 32 BC and read it aloud; it promised
large legacies to Antony’s children by Cleopatra and
instructed that his body be shipped to Alexandria for burial.
Rome was outraged, and the Senate declared war.
Octavian’s forces decisively defeated Antony’s and
Cleopatra’s at Actium in Greece in September 31 BC and
chased them to Egypt in 30 BC. Both Antony and
Cleopatra committed suicide in Alexandria, and Octavian
personally took control of Egypt and Alexandria. With the
complete defeat of Antony, Octavian was left sole master of
the Roman world. Octavian would become the first Roman
Emperor – Augustus Caesar.
What Augustus Created
Caesar had himself made dictator for life and he
probably would make Rome a monarchy with himself as
king. He was certainly a position to do so, for most of his
opponents were dead, and he had the support of the army.
But before he could proceed very far, he was assassinated, in
44 BC, by a small group of nobiles whose lives he had spared
after the war.
Augustus Caesar was the most important man in
Roman history. He maintained control of the Roman State
for the rest of his life. He was dominant from 30 B.C. to
A.D. 14. During that 43 years he reorganized the Roman
government to give permanent control to one man. He was
the first Roman emperor. Augustus used military power to
have himself put in charge of the old city-state government
By 30 BC, one man had emerged as dominant. He was of Rome. He gained control by combining many powers of
the nephew of Caesar the was known as Octavian or the old magistrates, consuls and tribunes into the largely
informal and unofficial role of first citizen.
Caesar Augustus.
The Second Triumvirate
With Caesar dead, the various other leaders struggled
to regain the place which he had held. There were two
more civil wars between 44 and 30 BC.
The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to
the official political alliance of Octavian, Marcus Aemilius
Lepidus, and Marcus Antonius formed on 26 November 43
BC. There were two 5-year terms, covering the period 43
BC – 33 BC.
Unlike the somewhat more famous “First Triumvirate,”
the Second Triumvirate was an official (if extraconstitutional) organization, whose overwhelming power in
the Roman state was given full legal sanction that outranked
all other magistrates, including the consuls. The most
important members of this new arrangement wer Julius
Caesar’s nephew (and adopted son and heir) Octavian, and
Caesar’s closest friend and general Marc Antony. Octavian
was able to out maneuver Antony. The latter was sent to
Egypt to consolidate Roman control of the East, while
In many years, he served as one of the consuls himself;
and he got the Senate and Assembly to give him the power
of a Consul even in years when he did not actually hold the
office. There continued the to be regular consuls as well.
But because consuls had to agree, he was able to prevent the
actions of the other consuls whenever he wanted. He was
also given the power of the censor, which enabled him to
control who would be Romans citizen and who would sit in
the Senate.
He was also given the power of a Tribune of the People
as well. He could use his tribunician power to block any
undesirable action of the Senate. Moreover, all Roman
leaders had to swear an oath that they would not harm a
Tribune in any way. In all of these offices Augustus did not
rule alone. Besides him, there were regular consuls, tribunes,
censors etc. But his prestige and his military support
enabled him to control who would be elected to serve in
office with him. Moreover, since he held all of these jobs of
once, he had more auctoritas than any other Roman. In
theory, he was elected to all of these offices, although the
election was, in reality, only a formality.
P a g e 15 o f 25
These measures gave Augustus control over the
government in Rome and Italy. But it was also necessary for
him to have charge of the areas under Roman rule outside
of Italy. This was especially important since control of the
provinces also brought with it control of the army. During
the period before 30 BC, the proconsuls or governors of the
provinces had increasingly become the main Roman
generals. There was little fighting to be done in Italy, and
the consuls had to stay there and run the central
government. But on the fringes of Roman territory, war was
more likely; so that the proconsuls did more and more of
the fighting. This was dangerous because it permitted the
governor like Julius Caesar to gather an army to overthrow
the government in Rome.
Augustus knew that he would have to control the
governors if his own position in the state were to remain
secure. He had a brilliant idea of how to do this.
Traditionally the Senate had chosen the governors. But
Augustus had the Senate divide the provinces into two
groups. In the older provinces which were less likely to
encounter trouble, he allowed the Senate to appoint
Proconsuls as it always had an. Since he had the power of
Consul, he could occasionally check on those proconsuls;
but he did not have to supervise them closely all the time.
They would not have occasion to fight very often, so they
were no threat to him.
came from him.
This arrangement worked well for two reasons. It gave
Augustus a military power to dominate the government and
secured him against military threats. It also enabled him to
insure that the administration of the provinces would be fair
and efficient.
A Desirable Fiction
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Augustus'
reorganization of the Roman state into an imperial
government is that it was generally accepted by the Romans
as a desirable arrangement. One reason for this is that
Augustus did not abolish any of the older offices or organs
of government. He allowed them to continue, but only
under his close personal supervision. It was important that
they should continue because the Romans placed a very
high value on the honor which derived from holding offices
and from sitting in the Senate.
We saw earlier that the honors for military victory and
office holding were one factor in promoting Roman
expansion. The honor of being consuls, being a governor,
or being a Senator was still available – but only for those
who supported Augustus. He could control who was
selected for offices in Rome or in the provinces. As censor
Augustus could decide who would be in the Senate.
Moreover, Augustus used this control to get the support of
In the newer provinces where the possibility of war was men who would cooperate with him.
more likely, Augustus himself was made proconsul. He was
Members of the traditional families had to accept this
governor in more than half of the Roman provinces. He arrangement if they were to be allowed to advance in
was allowed to appoint assistants called legates to go out politics. Augustus also helped to broaden the base of the
and rule the provinces for him. the slight gains were government by supporting men for offices they would have
responsible to him and he could remove him from office any been excluded from during the Republic. He allowed some
time he wished. They could not fight without his equestrians to gain high positions in government. He also
authorization.
promoted men from other parts of Italy who had only
Through this device, Augustus was able to keep control recently received Roman citizenship.
over the army. After the Civil War was over, he reduced the
size of the Roman army from around 700,000 men to
350,000. Then he divided the army into small groups of
from 5,000 to 30,000 men. Most of the forces were assigned
to the provinces where he was governor. There were only a
few soldiers stationed in Italy to guard Rome and to insure Augustus shown in the garb of a
that Augustus would not be challenged there. No one of his Roman priest.
legates had enough men to threaten Rome seriously, and
they could not increase the size of their armies without the
emperor's approval. If a large army was needed to fight in
any one place, Augustus would either take command of it
himself, or he would turn it over to a reliable person like a
close friend or relative. Moreover he was recognized as the
commander all of the soldiers, and they were required to
take an oath of loyalty to him. Their pay and bonuses all
P a g e 16 o f 25
Augustus did not create a democracy at Rome, but he did spread offices and honors more widely among wealthy
Roman families. In fact, he created and organized a powerful political machine with himself as the boss at the center of
Roman political patronage. But Augustus did not flaunt his great power openly. He tried to preserve the appearance of the
older form of government – the fiction that the old Republic still lived and functioned. His power was made to appear
legal. He received all of his offices from the Senate and Assembly. All future rulers had to receive their power to same way.
In theory, emperors were elected; they were not hereditary monarchs. In practice, of course, the election was a formality. A
smart ruler could see that a brother or son was elected to succeed him. In addition, Augustus did not assume the trappings
of a king or dictator. He did not wear special clothes, or crowns, nor did he have special titles. Our word “emperor” comes
from one of his titles – “imperator.” But this title might be held by any Roman general. His most important title was that of
princeps, and it was very modest. This was the title that Augustus liked best. This title had been traditionally granted to the
most distinguished member of the Senate, and it simply meant first citizen. Modern historians like to call the government
of Augustus, the principate.
Thus, with the period of Augustus, the Roman government ceased to be a city-state government or republic and
became an imperial government run by one man. Given our own ideas about democracy, we tend to see the appearance of
absolute government by one man as a bad thing. But we should not let ourselves be misguided by modern prejudices. In
practice the Roman government had never really been very democratic. It had been dominated by a few highly placed
distinguished Roman families. In a city-state government nothing else was possible. Most persons under Roman rule really
enjoyed only civil rights, and those civil rights were not seriously eroded of the founding of the principate. Moreover the
dominant Roman families the were affected by the establishment of the empire had long since shown that they were not
capable of providing efficient government for their empire.
I handed over my power to the dominion of the Senate and Roman people. And for this merit I was called Augustus and the
doors of my temple were publicly clothed with laurel and a civic
crown was fixed over my door and a gold shield placed in the
Julian senate-house, and the inscription of that shield testified to
the virtue, mercy, justice, and piety, for which the senate and Roman people gave it to me. After that time, I exceeded all in influence, but I had no greater power than the others who were colleagues with me in each magistracy.
Res Gestae of Augustus Caesar
P a g e 17 o f 25
From Principate to
Dominate
In an earlier lecture, I described the reorganization of Roman
government by the first of the Roman Emperors Caesar Augustus. One sign of the success of his constitution is that it did not
require any major changes for over three hundred years (30
B.C.-A.D. 284).
The height of the empire came from 30 B.C. to A.D. 180. So, we will briefly look
at this period first. The rulers in this period fall into three groups.
The first group was the Julio-Claudian family of emperors (30 B.C.-A.D. 68). They
consisted of Augustus and men related to him. As we saw, Augustus’s system was accepted
partly because he disguised his enormous power. He kept all the old Republican political
institutions and theoretically shared decisions with them. He used persuasion, influence, and
patronage, instead of force, to get senators and other government leaders to support him. The
wiser Julio-Claudians all relied on these methods, but two rulers of the family employed force
openly to make others obey them. They were Caligula (37-41) and Nero (54-68).
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus, most commonly
known as Caligula, was the
third Roman Emperor and a
member of the Julio-Claudian
dynasty, ruling from 37 to 41
A.D. Known for his extreme
extravagance, eccentricity,
depravity and cruelty, he is
remembered as a despot. He
was assassinated in AD 41 by
several of his own guards.
Both men were very unstable, and they became
bloodthirsty tyrants. They carried out purges of
senators and other political leaders. This proved to be
an extremely dangerous course of action. Members of
the Roman upper class would support a ruler only as
long as they felt safe from his power. They would not
remain loyal indefinitely to a man who used his power
against them. There was no legal way to remove an
unpopular emperor, but he could die. And that’s what
happened to Caligula and Nero (left). Both were
assassinated. When Caligula was assassinated, his
uncle was made emperor by the Praetorian Guards. In the case of Nero, several of his
legates eventually revolted against him in 68. His death brought the Julio-Claudian family of
emperors to an end.
P a g e 18 o f 25
With Nero removed, it was clear that one of his legates
would have to be the new emperor. But several generals
wanted the job, and they fought a civil war for nearly a year
with each other over the throne. In that time, four different
men were able to seize control of the government at one
point or another. Thus, the year 69 A.D. is called the Year
of the Four Emperors. Finally, one general did succeed in
ending the civil war and making himself the unchallenged
emperor again. The new ruler’s name was Vespasian
(69-79).
over all the tribes there as far as the Rhine River. Augustus
largely completed Roman expansion by conquering the
barbarians who lived south of the Danube River in Eastern
Europe.
Fortunately, this time civil war was averted, and the last
group of rulers came to power peacefully. They are usually
called the “Good” Emperors (96-180). They do not have a
family name because they were not related to each other at
all. None of the Good Emperors had any close relations to
pass the throne to, so before each of them died, he picked a
popular general to adopt as his successor. These emperors
were very capable men who ruled wisely and effectively.
Under them, the Empire enjoyed the greatest prosperity in
its history.
cities were no longer independent. They were supervised by
the imperial governor of their province. The barbarians
previously had no cities or advanced institutions, but they
took over this form of organization very quickly. Gaul had
come to be divided into 64 civitates by the death of Augustus.
The Rhine and Danube gave the Empire a visible natural
line running almost continuously all across Europe to mark
the imperial border clearly in the north. That was a very
useful arrangement. Once the line was reached, later
emperors rarely expanded beyond it. Ironically, under the
Empire, imperial expansion largely stopped. The main
The second group of emperors consisted of Vespasian exception to that policy was Britain. The emperor Claudius
and his relations. They were the family of the Flavians (41-51) did invade it during his reign.
(69-96). They were generally intelligent men, and at first,
As they were conquered, the barbarians began to acquire
they were careful not to exercise their power unwisely or to a more advanced, civilized Roman way of life. To begin with,
excess. This changed with the last Flavian ruler, Domitian they started to organize and live in what Romans called
(81-96). Gradually, over the course of his reign, he became civitates, city-states. In the Empire, city-states still existed and
more and more arbitrary and ruthless. As he grew more functioned as they had in earlier times. Each had its own
despotic, he also became more unpopular. Finally, he too magistrates, council, and assembly to govern its territory as it
was assassinated, ending the Flavian family.
did before the Roman takeover. The only change was that the
I hope that two general points will be clear from this
sketch. First, Romans would not tolerate a bad ruler forever.
Second, the only way to get rid of a tyrant was through
violence of some kind. Now I want to consider some larger
historical trends that took place roughly during the period
that I have just sketched.
Romanization of Europe
The greatest contribution of the Roman Empire to
European history was the spreading of civilization to many
lands in Europe, which previously had no advanced
institutions or culture. Let me start with that. Prior to the
Empire, civilization in Europe was largely confined to
numerous small city-states that were scattered around the
coast of the Mediterranean. Except in Italy and Greece,
areas further inland were inhabited by various uncivilized
barbarian peoples. In her wars with Carthage and the
Greeks, Rome brought all the city-states under her control,
and in the Late Republic, her armies began to conquer
barbarian tribes in the interior of Europe as well. You may
recall that when Julius Caesar was proconsul in Gaul, he took
With more advanced political organization came other
improvements. The cities themselves grew rapidly, and they
began to create more developed economies based partly on
industry and trade. The city governments also established
schools to provide their citizens with a Roman education.
Within two centuries, all the subjects of the Empire
abandoned their earlier customs and came to dress, act, and
talk like Romans. Latin replaced older languages almost
everywhere. The only exception was the Greek lands of the
eastern Mediterranean. Greeks did keep their own language
and culture. But they were so similar to the Romans anyway
that this did not make much difference.
The spread of civilization was linked to the second major
trend of the Early Empire. This trend was the assimilation of
imperial subjects into the Roman political system. I need to
explain what I mean.
At the start of the Empire, all Italians were Roman
citizens, but there were few citizens outside of the Empire.
And, of course, citizens held all the positions in imperial
government. Inhabitants of the provinces, lands outside Italy,
were all subjects of Rome. They served in the governments of
their own city-states, but they could not hold Roman offices
like senator, proconsul, or legate. During the early Empire,
more and more subjects were brought into the Roman
political system.
P a g e 19 o f 25
The Roman Empire at the
Time of the Emperor
Hadrian (ca. 140 A.D.)
Subjects did provide military units for the Roman army.
The units were called auxilia (helpers). Subjects who served
in the auxilia were made Roman citizens when they were
discharged from the army. Emperors also gave citizenship to
entire civitates, most commonly to those that had fully
adopted Roman civilization. The extension of citizenship
was finally completed in 212 by an imperial decree called
the Antonine Constitution. It granted citizenship to all free
persons in the Empire who did not have it already.
Growth of the Power of Emperor
The last major trend in the Early Empire was a steady
growth in the power of the emperor. Of course, Augustus
had extensive power. But outside the army, he exercised
most of his power indirectly by influencing the Senate and
other institutions held over from the Republic. In the
provinces, he ruled through governors, and even they had
limited authority in civil matters. The local civitates handled
most of the day-to-day business of the government for the
As citizenship spread to new areas, upper-class families Empire.
from those areas began to enter Roman government. The
Yet, over time, later emperors took a more direct role in
makeup of the Senate provides a handy illustration of this.
ruling. Some simply did not want to work with the Senate
By the reign of Vespasian in the 70s, 17 percent of Roman
and Republican officials like proconsuls, but that is not the
senators came from the provinces. By 180, this figure had
whole story. Local governments in the Empire often sought
grown to 44 percent, almost half. Most remarkably, even the
financial aid or other favors from the central, imperial
office of emperor itself reflects this trend. The Juliogovernment in Rome. Instead of going through the
Claudian family belonged to the traditional Roman nobility
governor and the Senate, they usually asked the emperor
of the Republic. Later rulers did not. The Flavians were an
directly for what they wanted since he had the power and
Italian family that received citizenship only in the Late
resources grant their requests personally.
Republic. Four of the five Good Emperors were from
To handle such requests, the emperors had to create
provinces – three were from Spain and one from Gaul. So
more
and more new officials to help them to deal with local
write down that as time passed, all of the peoples of the
Empire not only came to act like Romans, but they problems and also, inevitably, to exercise greater control
over local administration. At Rome, they hired secretaries
essentially became Romans.
and clerks to receive and send out letters and to assist in
P a g e 20 o f 25
keeping records. By 100, they had begun to dispatch officials to the provinces to take over duties previously discharged by governors
or city-states. The new officials differed from older Republican officials like proconsuls in that the emperor appointed them himself.
They were what we would call civil servants, or maybe bureaucrats. Thus, the Empire came to have a large bureaucracy controlled
by the ruler, which took over the powers of the older political institutions.
Growing Political Problems
Down to 180, the Roman Empire fared reasonably well, but then from 180 to 284, it ran into grave problems. I can only note
them very briefly. The major flaw in the imperial constitution was the underlying power of the armies. In theory, the emperor was
elected, but in practice, his position ultimately depended on military support. If the armies opposed an emperor, he would inevitably
fall. Then the armies would have to agree to accept the new ruler. If they could not agree, then a civil war would be needed to settle
the issue. This is what happened in 69.
The century between 180 and 284 revealed the seriousness of this flaw. It can be divided roughly in half. The first half from
180-235 produced several rulers who were not able to keep the loyalty of the armies. There were frequent assassinations and a
couple of civil wars over the throne. During these conflicts, the armies became more aware of their power and more inclined to use
it indiscriminately. Discipline declined. Then from 235 to 284, civil war raged almost continuously. During this fifty-five year period,
there were more than twenty emperors at one time or another in different parts of the Empire. With the Romans fighting one
another, foreign invasions increased, and in this period, the Empire came close to being destroyed altogether. the real power in
Rome was the Praetorian Guard, the police force of the city of Rome. These soldier often sold the office of emperor to the highest
bidder, so the emperors of the period fro 235-284 are often called the “Barracks Emperors.”
Fortunately, by the time of the civil wars, two hundred years of cultural and political integration had laid the basis for the
survival of Rome despite internal unrest and anarchy. By the 200s, everyone in the Empire was Roman and wanted to see the
imperial system continue. And in 284, as we will see soon, a new emperor emerged out of this mess that restored the stability of the
Empire.
The External Problems
As the fabric of the Roman Empire began to unravel internally, external threats on the frontiers of the Empire contributed to
further crises. The most important external threat was posed by a people called the Germans. The Germans are Indo-Europeans
who apparently appeared in the area of the Baltic Sea around 1500 B.C. They began to migrate to the south in the late Bronze Age,
and they reached the Rhine River, which actually is in today’s Germany, around 200 BC. The Romans had had dealings with the
Germans from the time that Julius Caesar annexed Gaul into the Empire in the 50s B.C. Most of these dealings had been less than
friendly. As we will see, the Germans were a bellicose people, like the Romans, and most relations between the two in this early
period usually involved a fair amount of blood and body parts getting strewn about the landscape.
Several German tribes spread down the Danube River and
reached the Black Sea around 200 AD. So, Germanic peoples
slowly but surely become the neighbors of the Roman Empire
to the north. The basic social unit of the Germans was the clan
of some 10 to 20 families, and, for military and some other
purposes, a bunch of these clans would join together to form
tribes. This society was dominated by men who were the
hunters and the fighters. All other physical labor – farming,
cooking, etc. – was left to women or slaves, but usually the
women. When the men were not hunting or fighting, they
usually were drinking, eating and arguing. The main system of
government was based on loyalty to a war leader called a konig.
These leaders also served as a judge to settle disputes among the
men. The konig had a group of very close retainers, called a
comitatus who swore absolute loyalty to him. It was a custom
among the Germans that the chief could not be outshone in
bravery by his retainers and his retainers could not be outshone
in bravery by the chief. This made a hell of a group of fighters.
Germanic warriors engaging in the popular pastime of ambushing and
killing Roman soldiers.
P a g e 21 o f 25
The Germans did not launch a major assault on the
Roman Empire at any particular time. They drifted down
along the northern border of the Empire, and they would
raid into the Empire and suffer attacks by the Roman
army in retaliation for these raids. The first Germans
actually entered the Roman Empire as slaves, where they
were highly prized for their good looks. But the raids
continually increased, and after 200 A.D. they became
increasingly threatening. In fact, the Romans in the 3rd
and 4th centuries even adopted the policy of settling some
German tribes along the northern border to protect the
Empire from other German tribes. And, since they did
that, some Germans became Christians. In fact, the
Germans generally adopted many aspects of Roman
civilization; they did not really represent a competing
civilization. The oldest example of writing that we have in
German, for example, is a translation of scripture verses
done in Latin script around 350 AD by a Romanized
German named Ulfila.
The Parthians
the Germans were not the only ones. On the eastern
frontier of the Empire the Parthian Empire grew stronger,
and ultimately developed into a very powerful state. Again,
the Parthians weren’t new to the Romans. They had
fought them on several occasions, and lost to them several
times. In 53 B.C., Marcus Licinius Crassus (remember
him? First Triumvirate, richest man in Rome?) Decided to
fight the Parthians to show that he was as good a general
as Caesar. He wasn’t! Marc Anthony fought a war with
Parthia in 36 B.C. and barely escaped with his life and
army intact. So, Parthia had been a threat for quite some
time as well. Well, anyway, in 224 A.D. the Parthian
Empire was shaken up, and a new ruling family, the
Sassans, took over. They began to reform the Empire, and
began, once more to expand their territories and as a
consequence to threaten Roman cities in the East.
The Parthians never really threatened to bring down
the Roman Empire, but they were always a nuisance and,
as time went on, they forced the Romans to send ever
greater resources to that border that might have been used
to fight the Germans.
Internal Crises
Empire began to suffer economic difficulties. The
principal reason seems to have been a loss of population
brought on by a recurrent series of plagues that hit the
Empire. But there were other problems as well. We know
that the birthrate declined over much of the Empire in the
mid-200s as well, and agricultural production declined.
The truth is that we know the symptoms, but we don’t
really know all of the causes.
As the population declined, the demands on the
population began to grow. What I mean is that after 200
A.D. the German and the Parthian threats demanded ever
greater resources in terms of manpower and money to
deal with them. But those demands were made in a time of
population decline, which meant that there were fewer
men to be drafted and fewer taxpayers to supply the
resources.
But no one at that time could really appreciate the
connections among all of these problems. So, the army
simply demanded more and more men, not realizing that
taking large numbers of men out of the work force would
diminish the resources to pay for the army. And the tax
collectors, under ever greater pressure to collect more
taxes -- to pay the army and its support system -- could not
fully appreciate that raising taxes also cut into productivity
-- and, of course, took more men away from their
communities, which also tended to further reduce the
birthrate.
Well, as you can imagine, these conditions created a
downward spiral economically and ultimately socially. In
need of men and money, the military recruiters and the
tax collectors would come around more often than they
used to, and the people would begin to run away when
they heard they were coming. That meant that when they
came around, there would be fewer people from which to
draw men and taxes, so the recruiters and tax collectors
would have to increase their quotas on the people that
stayed. That meant that more people would flee -- and so
it went. Military recruiters and tax collectors would be
driven away from villages or landed estates and sometimes
would be expelled from cities as well. In fact, along the
borders Roman citizens would sometimes welcome
German tribes and invite them to settle down with them so
that the Germans would protect them from the Roman
military recruiters and tax collectors. You get the picture.
These external problems might not have caused as
much difficulty for the empire were it not for serious
In addition to the economic and demographic
internal problems.
problems, the roman empire began to suffer serious
The first of these, and probably the most important, political problems.
was really economic. For reasons that are still not
absolutely clear, in the late 2nd century A.D., the Roman
P a g e 22 o f 25
Failure of Leadership
As we discussed when we talked about the
establishment of the Roman Empire, even though the old
Republican institutions were kept, power ultimately wound
up in the hands of one man, and that was the emperor. As
long as the emperors were reasonably competent, this
political system could work.
But in 180 AD a rather vicious and incompetent man
became emperor, a guy named Commodus [anybody seen
Gladiator?]. He was the son of one of the truly great
emperors, Marcus Aurelius, which is why he became
emperor. Commodus gets a lot of bad press from a lot of
different interests in the Empire. He persecuted Christians,
so they wrote pretty bad things about him. He liked to play
gladiator, dressed like Hercules and even announced that he
was an incarnation of Hercules – a god. His eccentricities
made the Senatorial class despise him, so they talked a lot of
trash about him as well. It would be nice to say that various
groups in the Empire didn’t like him because of their own
biases, but, the truth seems to be that Commodus REALLY
was just no damn good.
steady hand at the helm. He spent scads of money on
circuses, horse races, parties, and so forth that should have
been spent to defend the borders. He was basically content
to let the empire fall apart as long as he could pass a good
time. Senators accused him of being excessively focused on
his own pleasures (how very UNROMAN). Christians
accused him of being excessively cruel, especially to
Christians. He was probably not much more libidinous than
many Romans, and no more cruel than most. But we can
fairly accuse him of being really stupid, and really selfcentered, which is a pretty bad combination in a leader in
what can only be described as bad times.
Anyway, Commodus was assassinated (strangled by his
wrestling coach, and, no; it wasn’t an accident!) in 192,
which began about a century of political disasters. This
period is called the era of the Barracks Emperors, because
emperors were chosen and dumped at the whim of the
army. In fact, on several occasions the army auctioned the
principate off to the highest bidder and split the money up
among themselves. Between 235 and 284, a period of 49
years – the Empire had 20 different emperors.
Now, the important thing to remember is that this chaos
His addiction to the games left him little time to
at the top is happening when the economic decline is in full
administrate over the empire at a time when it needed a
swing. Nobody was exercising any administrative control
over provincial government, tax collection, military
conscription, food production, trade, and other stuff.
Additionally, the constant struggles over who would be
emperor made it very difficult for the army to concentrate
its attention on fighting off the Germans and the Parthians.
Diocletian Saves the Day
But the Roman Empire was not dead yet. it still had
vast resources, and strong traditions. what it needed was
someone who could pull it all together again. and it looked
in 284 as if it had found just such a person. this person was
the emperor Diocletian. he revived the empire, at least for a
while.
When Diocletian became emperor in 284, he
determined that the Empire was declining primarily
because of its internal and not its external problems. So, he
set out to shore up the crumbling internal system and the
first thing he did was give himself the power to do it. He got
rid of the last remnants of the Republic and gave himself a
new title of Dominus, which meant lord, or perhaps more
appropriately “master” – specifically the master of a slave.
Whereas Augustus had stressed the fiction that he was
merely the first among equals (princeps), Diocletian based his
rule on absolute power and the mystery of his person.
Commodus in his Hercules outfit.
P a g e 23 o f 25
He was almost never seen in public. When he did appear he wore
magnificent clothing and jewelry to emphasize his wealth and
power. He met with and took advice from a select group of advisors called the companions. The very few who actually gained
audience with the Dominus were forbidden to look him in the eye,
and had to kiss the hem of his garment when they entered or left
the ruler’s presence. His home was called the Sacred Palace, and
he was said to be divinely appointed to rule. There was still a Senate in Rome and another was created in Byzantium, but their
powers were nil; both essentially served as town councils. Diocletian, with an enormous bureaucracy was the sole ruler of the
empire.
Then he set to work reforming the army. He divided the
army into two branches, one to guard the frontiers against
the Parthians and the Germans (400,000 foot soldiers) and
the other to form a mobile force that would go to wherever
it was needed the most (200,000 horse soldiers). He also
restored discipline and training to make certain that this
army performed well.
But he also knew that this army would need resources
and that meant the collection of regular and dependable
taxes. And here he introduced something we find
interesting. In the old days, the Empire conducted a census
every 15 years to determine tax levies. Diocletian increased
that to every five years. But to make certain that this income
would be forthcoming, he tried to freeze
social and economic life as it was at that
time.
He declared that farmers could not
sell their land and move, and, if they
did, their neighbors would be
responsible for paying their taxes. He
decreed that civil servants could not
quit, and, if they died, their children
had to take their places. He decreed that
businessmen could not shut down or
open new businesses and could not leave
the cities. He essentially issued laws that
would keep everyone doing exactly the
same thing forever.
And to make certain that people
would stay where they were, he
promised horrible punishments to
anyone who disobeyed. He ordered the
confiscation of property, maiming of
limbs, gouging out of eyes, and
branding of faces. But what this tells you
is not that all of this working but just the
opposite.
After Diocletian
Diocletian abdicated in 305 ad, but, before he did so,
he tried to solve Rome's political problem at the top as well.
He was not tied to the city of Rome. In fact, in the 20 years
he was emperor, he visited Rome only once; the rest of the
time he stayed on the move trying to make certain
everything was going well. To solve Rome's political
problems, he established a system of four emperors, one for
the west, one for the east, and one to assist each of the
others. He thought this way the succession, which had been
so terrible, would be resolved. It was not, of course, because
right after Diocletian stepped down, the four emperors
fought among themselves for power. The winner of this first
fight for power was Constantine, and he is really important
for three reasons. He continued the revival of Rome that
Diocletian began. (ruled from 311 to 337 AD). He moved
the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to his own
city called Constantinople. Constantine also made Christian
worship legal. Once scholars believed that Constantine had
converted to Christianity, but whether this is the case is in
dispute. We do know that he held several councils among
Christian groups and helped them out, and he raised his
children to be Christians, and that after Constantine, all of
the Eastern Roman Emperors, but one, were Christians. So,
maybe it really doesn’t matter so much whether he was one
or not.
P a g e 24 o f 25
The “Fall” of the Roman Empire
Despite the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, the
revival did not hold up. after Constantine the decline set in
again, and this time it got worse and worse.
A few events will give you an idea of the time frame and
the causes. About 350 AD the Germans began to move into
the Empire in serious numbers, and now they were coming
in not as settlers but as warriors. In 378 AD a tribe called
the Visigoths destroyed a Roman army and killed the
Emperor Valens at a battle called Adrianople and from then
on the Romans just could not keep the Germans at bay.
In 410 a German general who was actually serving in
the Roman army turned on Rome itself and sacked the city.
This was the first time that Rome had been conquered in
ten centuries. Finally, in 476 AD a German chief named
Odoacer conquered Rome and expelled the Emperor
Romulus Augustulus (a boy), and that is considered by
historians the fall of the Roman Empire. It was even
considered at the time the fall of the Roman Empire.
However, I want you to put in your notes that 476 AD is the
fall of the Roman Empire in the West. Not in the East. In
the East it continues for another 1000 years.
populations that they controlled were Romans, so German
kings did all they could to be Roman as well. They
converted to Christianity, the employed Roman civil
servants and advisors, they maintained as best they could
Roman institutions like assemblies and gladiatorial contests
— they did all that they could to maintain a certain degree
of romanitas in their kingdoms. Perhaps the greatest of
these Roman kings came long after the fall of Rome. He
was a Frank named Charles, who travelled to the city of
Rome in 800 A.D. and had himself crowned Roman
Emperor of the West by the Pope. To Charlemagne, and
most Medieval kings, the Roman Emperors had the kind of
power that they could only dream of, and dream they did.
In the Western Europe of the Middle Ages most people
longed for the order and security of the Roman Empire,
and the two major innovations in Government and
economics reflect that a great deal. The economic
institution called manorialism that preserved some degree of
prosperity and economic security in Western Europe grew
out of the great manor systems of the late empire that grew
out of Diocletian’s requirement that farmers stay on the
land.
The political system that dominated the Middle Ages in
Now, if you remember, at the beginning of this lecture I one form or another was called feudalism. Its roots may be
said that I hoped that when you walked out today you might found both in the German idea of the comitatus and in the
suspect that “fall” was a bit too harsh for what happened to Roman patron/client system of patrocinium.
the Roman Empire. I want to address this comment for the
Finally, the Christian Church also preserved much that
rest of the hour.
was Roman. The language of the Church was Latin, so the
First, I’ll mention the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman educated language of the West remained Latin up to the
Empire, founded by Constantine when he moved the capital 17th century. Many of the positions of the Church, much of
of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople. Historians the style of the Church rites, were borrowed from Roman
call it the Byzantine Empire, but the people who lived there pagan religion. For instance, one of the titles of the Pope is
never called it anything but the Roman Empire. This pontifex maximus (great bridge builder), the title of the
empire continued to exist, and to preserve both Roman and supreme pagan priest in pagan Rome.
Hellenistic Greek traditions until 1453. The language of the
So, much that was Roman, and, indeed much that was
Empire was Greek, but the legal language was Latin, and
classical survived the fall of the city of Rome itself, and in
Byzantine Emperors preserved the Roman civil law. In fact
one form or another passed from the Classical Age, through
in the mid-500s the Emperor Justinian had the Roman Law
the Middle Ages, and even down to us today. If you doubt
codified more completely than any other Romans ever had,
that, take a look at the architecture of the older buildings on
and most of what we know about Roman law (which is a
this campus, compare the Louisiana Civil code to the Codes
lot) we owe to Justinian. Justinian also closed down all of the
of Justinian [story of Roman Law class], and perhaps, go
pagan schools of philosophy because they competed with
watch Gladiator, than attend a college football game.
Christianity, but he and other emperors collected and stored
pagan literature (both Greek and Latin) for posterity. So,
long after the fall of Rome, there were still people who
considered themselves Roman, and some ways still acted
Roman, in the East.
n the West after 476, increasingly different German
tribes carved little kingdoms out for themselves. But the
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