Download Pax Romana 27 B.C.E.– 500

CHAPTER 6
Pax Romana
Society, State, and Culture in Imperial Rome
27 B.C.E.– 500 C.E.
What We’ll Learn
Rome’s expansion brought the culture of the classical
world to the peoples of Europe. That expansion was
based on war, especially on the borders, but provided a
cultural bridge from the ancient world to the West.
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What was the role of slavery within the Roman
Empire? How did it change from the early republic?
The New Imperium
– “Prince” from princeps (first among equal citizens)
– “Emperor” from imperator (power of generals)
• Added maius imperium power over provincial governors
– Tribunician powers from those of tribunes
• Allowed to initiate or veto laws, immunity from arrest
• Fiction of restored Republic
• The emperor, the patricians and the plebeians were
free to participate in the political realm of the empire
The New Imperium
• Octavian (r. 27 B.C.E.-14 C.E.)
– “Augustus” (revered)
– Gaius was not a title given to Octavian by the Senate
Augustus
• New imperial government
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Large fortune
Army under his control
Praetorian Guard to control Italy and protect his person
Procurators manage provinces
Money to plebs, temples, aqueducts, entertainments
Drove out pirates
• Restored the peace
Emperors Good and Bad:
Augustus to the Severi
• Augustus’ successors in extended family, JuliaClaudian dynasty
– Augustus adopted Tiberius (r. 14-37 C.E.) as heir
– Successor - Caligula insane and murdered by Praetorian
Guard
– Scholar Claudius murdered by wife Agrippina (Mother
of Nero.)
– Nero blamed the fire in Rome on the Christians
– Nero committed suicide to avoid assassination
Emperors Good and Bad:
Augustus to the Severi (cont.)
• Five successful emperors (96-180 C.E.)
– Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius
– Power passed on through adoption of successors
– Marcus Aurelius replaced by his son Commodus
(r.180-192 C.E.)
• Commodus was a megalomaniac, assassinated
Inside the Imperial Monarchy
• Emperors replaced self-government
– Ruled with advice of bureaucrats, mostly from equestrian
class
• Law a central concern
– Jurisprudents (men who know the law)
• Became core of imperial bureaucracy
– Theories of law
• Civil law, law of nations, laws of nature
• Worship of ruler
– Deification: emperor became a god
• Ceremony of apotheosis
• All citizens swore loyalty
II. Upper Classes and Other
Classes
• Old Senatorial Order
– Faced decline
• Lost initiative in government
• Population dwindled
– Augustus tried to encourage elites having children
• Equestrians
– New opportunities
Wives, Mothers, and Children
• Women of honestior (more honorable) ranks of senator and
equestrian granted extraordinary freedom
– Free marriage gave woman more control of property
– Women with at least three legitimate children free of guardianship
– Companionate marriage--spouses as loving partners
• Divorce easy and common
Wives, Mothers, and Children
(cont.)
• Wives and mothers of emperors held fame and power
• Boys freer of patriarchy, still economically
dependent
• More boys than girls
– Exposure (abandoning children) common
• New laws to protect children
Freedmen and Slaves
• Although they constituted only 5 percent of
Rome’s population, freedmen were especially
visible because of its industry and zeal.
– Could be tortured to investigate suspected crimes
– Slaves sexually available to masters
Freedmen and Slaves
• Legislation increasingly protected slaves, but
slaves still suffered poor conditions
– Could be tortured to investigate suspected crimes
– Slaves sexually available to masters
The Poor
• Plebs (people or mob)
– Had right to vote, but no real political role
– Received daily gift of grain
• Insisted on entertainments
– Chariot races
» Colosseum
III. The Culture of Imperial Rome
• Buildings and Waterways
– Intensive building began with Pompey and Caesar
• Theaters and temples
– Baths, sewers and aqueducts
– Wealthy lived in town houses with enclosed central
courtyard (atrium)
– Public baths, the Forum and the Colosseum were open to
all members of Roman society
A City, an Empire, a World
• Early empire population about 1 million (includes 400,000 slaves)
• At zenith population of empire 50 million
• Cities of empire modeled themselves on Rome
– Added basilicas and baths, amphitheaters and forums
• Adopted Hellenistic trade patterns
– Most commerce seaborne
• Road-building aided land transportation
Roman Literature
in Florescence and Decay
• Learning by memorization and repetition
• Classic works of literature
– Greek literary revival
• Lucretius and Cicero important early Latin writers
• Golden or Augustan Age
– Poets Horace, Virgil, and historian Livy
– Almagest, by Ptolemy, codified ancient astronomical
knowledge.
• Decline
– The historian Tacitus declared lack of oratory (public speaking) led
to decline of literature
• Caused by lack of freedom
IV. Holding the Frontier
• Ambush in Teutoburg Forest (9 C.E.): Rome lost most of Germany
– Tiberius set northern borders at Rhine and Danube
– Claudius oversaw the conquest of Britain, the construction
of a lighthouse at the port of Ostia, and the creation of an
imperial bureaucracy.
• Hadrian’s adopted defensive position became permanent
Redefining the Army
• Under Hadrian
– Stationed at semi-permanent positions along frontiers
• Stability in North Africa
• Volatility along Rhine-Danube
– Hadrian built an enormous wall to mark the boundaries of
Rome in Britain
– Soldiers important for Romanization
• But army increasingly “barbarized”
– Fewer from Italy
Managing the Crisis
• Aurelian Walls around Rome 274 C.E. demonstrated
prudence of emperor, and collapse of order
– By 400 half a million men serving in army
• Forced increase of taxes
• Price and wage ceilings to control inflation
• Coinage devalued
• Decurions (elites of cities) fled responsibilities
• Emperors like Diocletian dominated more like eastern
monarchs
Constantine
• Constantine “the Great”
– Fought his way to power
– New capital of Constantinople on the Bosporus
– The first Roman emperor to become a
Christian was Constantine
– Ended persecutions of Christians
• Theodosius (r. 380-395) made Christianity the
official religion of Rome
Augustine’s The City of God
• Invasions in the west of Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals,
Huns and Franks
– Visigothic sack of Rome in 410
• Augustine (d. 430) wrote The City of God
– Pointed out inadequacies of Rome
• Saw it as a system of hoarding and spending wealth
• Enormous costs in human blood
• The coloni were the immediate ancestors
of the medieval European serfs.
Western Civilization
CHAPTER 7
Pagans, Jews, and Christians
Religions of the Mediterranean
500 B.C.E. – 500 C.E.
What We’ll Learn
The one God of the Jews, was adapted by the
followers of Jesus of Nazareth and connected by Paul
to the Unknown God of the Greco-Roman pantheon.
The new religion of Christianity helped form the West.
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What changes, if any, did the Romans make to the
gods whom they borrowed from the Greeks? How did
the Roman gods reflect their ideas about society?
I. Roman Gods
• The most prominent feature of Rome’s
• Six Vestal virgins tended sacred fire and hearth of city
(Vestal virgins who broke their vows were Buried
alive)
New Religious Impulses
– Religio was the Latin word for the bond
between humans and gods
The Jewish State Under Foreign
Overlords
– The cornerstone of Jewish life was law
The Revolts and Rabbinical Judaism
• Rebellion of 66-70 C.E. began against Nero
• Zealots (anti-Romans) The Jewish resistance at
Masada lasted for three years and chose suicide
in the end (73 C.E.)
III. Origins of Christianity
• Jesus of Nazareth (4 B.C.E. - c. 30 C.E.)
– Gospels (late 1st century C.E.) provide facts of life
• Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
– Followed in tradition of prophets of Israel
• Jew baptized by John, symbolizing renunciation of sin, began mission
- Jesus’ most famous cousin was John the Baptist.
Paul’s Mission
– Paul’s letters to the various Christian communities are
collectively known as the Epistles. The Epistles (letters),
key part of New Testament
The Early Church
• The Roman building that became the
fundamental unit of Christian architecture was
the basilica
The Triumph of Christianity
• Constantine’s Edict of Milan (313) legalized
Christianity
• Julian “the Apostate” (r. 361-363) tried to revive
paganism, but failed
• Justinian decreed that only baptized Christians
could be citizens of the empire.
• Church would survive the Empire
What We’ll Learn
Humans had traveled to nearly every part of the globe,
with many rich civilizations on every continent except
Australia and Antarctica. After the fall of Rome,
Europe remained a backwater, preserving what it
could of the Greco-Roman heritage.
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Why was the Byzantine Empire able to survive after
the fall of Rome?
I. The “Triumph of
Barbarism and Religion”
• The languages of Breton, Gaelic and
Welsh were influenced by the Celts.
Romanization, Invasion, and Rule
– The first serious defeat by the Romans at the
hands of the newcomer tribes was to the
Visigoths
– Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe led a rebellion
against the Romans
Germanic Kingdoms
• Later kingdoms of Lombards (Italy was
conquered by the Lombards in 568.)
Preservation
• The Goths were Arian Christians, as
opposed to Catholics
II. Byzantium:
The Enduring Empire
• Justinian (r. 527-565)
– Head of the church and government - Justinian announced
that the emperor was empowered to lead the Christian
Church
– Pilgrimage sites like Santa Sophia - The largest domed
church of the age, the Santa (Hagia) Sophia, was
located in Constantinople
Iconoclastic Controversy
• Iconoclasm— “smashing of images,” belief
that icons were sinful
III. Islam: From Arabian Desert
to World Stage
• Followers of the religion founded by Muhammad
are called Muslims
Arabic Expansion under the Caliphs
• By the ninth century, the largest city outside of
China was Baghdad
Islamic Civilization
• The first major enterprise of Islamic
architecture was the Dome of the Rock
American Migrations and
Civilizations
• The Oldest Amerindian society was the Olmecs
– Followed by Mayans
Western Civilization
Part Three
The West Takes Form
Medieval Society, Politics, Economy, and Culture (500-1500)
CHAPTER 9
Workers, Warriors, and Kings
Politics and Society in the Middle Ages
800 - 1500
What We’ll Learn
Nobles and kings held social and political power in
medieval Europe. They provided defense and
government for the West. But the workers, mostly
serfs bound to the land, provided the material wealth
on which the lords depended.
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What was feudalism? How did it develop?
I. Workers
• Three social groups, laid foundations of
Europe
– Serf and peasants
– Warriors as nobles
– Kings
Northern Agriculture
• The earliest and most fundamental achievements of the
Middle Ages were those in Farming
Nobles and Land
– Nobles held the land– the major source of wealth
– A Nobleman receiving land became a Vassal
– The interlocking arrangements of lords, serfs, and
vassals was called Feudalism
Crusaders
• Fought in name of Jesus
• First Crusade called by Pope Urban II 1095
• The first Crusade was triggered by the fall of
Jerusalem Captured Jerusalem 1099
• The last vestige of the Papal States is known
today as the Vatican City
France: The Patient Capetians
• Battlefield successes, Dynastic succession and
Ruthlessness towards the church enabled the French
empire to grow at such a rapid rate.
England: The Heritage of Conquest
King Alfred the Great
(r.871-899) educated,
established unity and helped
to create English as a
written language.
New dynasty:
William the Conqueror of
Normandy conquered England
1066 winning the Battle of
Hastings.
England: The Heritage of Conquest
– In 1215, English barons forced King
John to sign the Magna Carta, which
balanced royal and noble power
The European Core and Periphery
The first ruler of Russia
to regularly call himself
Tsar was Ivan IV
The last Muslim stronghold in
Iberia was Granada
Western Civilization
CHAPTER 10
The Spiritual Sword
Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages
500 - 1500
What We’ll Learn
There was a profound Christian contribution to
Western Civilization. The values taught by the
Church’s leaders summoned people to be conscious of
their standards of thought and behavior.
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Describe the events that led to the Babylonian
Captivity.
The world's most prevalent monotheistic
religions are Islam, Judaism and
Christianity.
Convents
Martyrdom
• Relics - material remains of the saints
Below are the mummified remains of St. Catherine
Illumination
–Copy and illustrate manuscripts
(illuminations)
Illuminations - was the
major form of artistic
expression in early
medieval Europe
Monastic Reform and
Transformation
• Monastic wealth nourished corruption
• Romanesque - The first major architectural
style of the Middle Ages.
Romanesque
Intolerance after 1000
• Schism between Western and Eastern Church in 1054
• At the height of the Great Schism there were three
popes.
Reform and Confrontation
• Authority to be centered in Rome (The period of papal
residency in Avignon is called the Babylonian Captivity)
• Pope Boniface’s Unam Sanctam declared the
supremacy of the Pope over secular leaders
Extraordinary Christians
• The process of being made a Christian saint is
called canonization.
Heresy and Unorthodoxy (cont.)
• John Wyclif (c. 1330-1384) in England
– Followers called Lollards
Heterodox women
– Women drawn to heterodoxy (views that differ from
official ones)
– Joan of Arc (c. 1412-1431)
• Armed as man - inspired French to defeat English
in Hundred Years War
• Joan of Arc helped to have Charles VII crowned
– Captured, condemned as a heretic
IV. The Mind’s Road to God
• Peter Abelard (1079-1142)
– Challenged notion of truth with critical thinking
» Affair with educated female student,
Héloïse
Gothic Architecture
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