Download From Classical to Contemporary

Establishing the Republic
HUM 2051: Civilization I
Fall 2012
Dr. Perdigao
October 15-17, 2012
Transference
Shared cultures—Roman names to Greek gods—but, more significantly, crosscultural contact
Zeus
Jupiter: father
Hera
Juno: queen
Athena
Minerva: wisdom
Aphrodite
Venus: love
Hades
Pluto: underworld
Hermes
Mercury: trade; messenger
Poseidon
Neptune: sea
Ares
Mars: war
Hephaestus
Vulcan: fire; blacksmith
Key Virtues
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Patria potestas (“father’s power”) in Roman family
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Virtue (virtus); dignity (dignitas); fame (fama), competition for political
power and privilege (Perry 120)
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Piety toward gods and family, friends, and state
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Mos maiorum (the way of the elders)
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Virtus (virtue): courage, strength, loyalty—but also moral purity
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Faithfulness (fides)
Modeling
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Hellenization—adoption of Greek culture (Perry 125) with Greeks coming
to Rome
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Contact with Greek culture—Formation of Roman culture—science,
philosophy, medicine, geography, history, poetry, drama, oratory (Perry
128)
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Plautus’ plays—modeled on Greeks’, with Greek characters, settings, style
of dress; Catullus as lyric poet; Lucretius, Roman Epicurean philosopher;
Cicero, orator
Contexts
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509 BCE: Expulsion of the Etruscan Monarch
450 BCE: Law of Twelve Tables
287: End of the Struggle of the Orders
264-241: First Punic War: Rome acquires provinces
218-201: Second Punic War: Hannibal is defeated
149-146: Third Punic War: destruction of Carthage
133-122: Land reforms by the Gracchi brothers (Tiberius and Gaius) who are
later murdered by the Senate
88-83: Conflict between Sulla and the forces of Marius; Sulla emerges as
dictator
79: After restoring rule by Senate, Sulla retires
73-71: Slave revolt by Spartacus
58-51: Caesar campaigns in Gaul
49-44: Caesar is dictator of Rome
31: Antony and Cleopatra are defeated at Actium by Octavian
(Perry 119)
Contexts
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27 BCE: Senate grants Octavian the title Augustus and he becomes the first
Roman emperor; start of the principate and the Pax Romana
14 AD: Death of Augustus; Tiberius gains the throne
66-70: Jewish revolt: Romans capture Jerusalem and destroy the second
temple
79: Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii and
Herculaneum
132-135: Hadrian crushes another Hebrew revolt
180: Marcus Aurelius dies; end of the Pax Romana
212: Roman citizenship is granted to virtually all free inhabitants of Roman
provinces
235-285: Military anarchy; Germanic incursions
285-305: Diocletian tries to deal with the crisis by creating a regimented
state
378: Battle of Adrianople: Visigoths defeat the Roman legions
406: Imperial borders collapse, and Germanic tribes move into the Empire
410: Rome is plundered by Visigoths
455: Rome is sacked by Vandals
476: End of the Roman Empire in the West
(Perry 142)
Changing of the Guard
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Foundation of the Republic to counter mythological beginnings (509 BCE),
begins with overthrow of Etruscan monarchy by landowning aristocrats
(patricians)
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Empire established in 27 BCE with Octavian (Augustus) as first Roman
emperor after 500 years of republican self-government (Perry 118)
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Rome established as Republic at end of sixth century BCE (509 BCE) with
landowning aristocrats (patricians) overthrowing Etruscan king
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Inheritances from Etruscans—road construction, sanitation, hydraulic
engineering (Perry 118)
Changing of the Guard
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Over 200 year class struggle, Romans created a constitutional system based
on civic needs rather than religious mystery and myth (Perry 121)
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Shift away from abstract thought of classical Greek philosophy, grounding
ideas of governance and government in the state
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Struggle of the Orders: conflict between patricians and commoners
(plebeians)
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Internal struggles occurring during period of Roman expansion of power
over Italian peninsula; class conflict does not result in civil war (Perry 121)
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Government based on consuls, Centuriate Assembly, popular assembly
controlled by nobility, and Senate; consults, from nobility, commanded
army, served as judges, initiated legislation; in times of crisis, ability to
nominate a dictator (119)
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Plebeians won right to own assembly, the Plebeian Assembly and later
Tribal Assembly (119-120)
Foundations
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Twelve Tables as first Roman code of laws established in 450 BCE (Perry
120), with some protection for plebeians against oppressive patrician
officials (120)
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287 BCE: Tribal Assembly gave full civil equality and legal protection to
plebeians although upper class remained in power (Perry 120); considered
to be end of plebeian-patrician struggle but Rome was still ruled by upper
class
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Three stages of expansion:
146 BCE: Rome was the dominant state in Mediterranean world: uniting
Italian peninsula helped Rome transform from a city-state to a great power
War with Carthage where Rome emerged as ruler of western
Mediterranean
Subjugation of Hellenistic states, brought contact with Greek civilizations
(Perry 122)
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Idea of cosmopolis founded in and by Rome emerged during this period
Roman Conquest(s)
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Carthage—North African city founded by Phoenicians in 800 BCE,
commercial center (Perry 124)
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Wars with Carthage: Punic Wars (264-121 BCE)
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Began with Rome’s fear that Carthage desired Sicilian city of Messana,
tried to combat threat (124)
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First Punic War 264-241 BCE, Rome was victorious: Carthage surrendered
Sicily to Rome, Rome later seized Corsica and Sardinia, helped Rome to
become an empire
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Second Punic War 218-201 BCE
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Hannibal (247-183 BCE) commanded Carthaginian army; after Hannibal’s
win at Cannae, defeating largest army Rome sent out (60,000 soldiers),
Rome experienced its “worst days”; Senate ordered women and children to
stay indoors
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Hannibal, unable to attack fortified city, after returning to defend
homeland from Roman attack, eventually defeated by Scipio Africanas in
202 BCE in battle of Zama to end Second Punic War (Perry 124-126)
Roman Conquest(s)
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Second Punic War left Rome as greatest power in western Mediterranean
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Philip V of Macedonia had joined Hannibal; Rome started First
Macedonian War, won in 205 BCE (Perry 126)
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Roman imperialism: Third Punic War in 146 BCE to annihilate Carthage,
unnecessary display of power (Perry 126)
Developments
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After the threats from Carthage and Macedonia had receded, Cato the
Elder’s questioned “What was to become of Rome, when she should no
longer have any state to fear?” (qtd. in Perry 132)
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Internal conflicts; collapse of the Republic due to class tensions, poor
leadership, power-hungry demagogues, and civil war (132)
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Senate’s means of handling opposition: from the Gracchi brothers to
Caesar, political violence (134)
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Marius became consul in 107 BCE; his military policy helped lead to
decline and destruction of the Republic, turned to volunteers rather than
property holders (Perry 135)
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Senate gave command to Sulla; Marius’ supporters had order and
command restored to Marius
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Civil war over command
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Sulla in struggle with Mithridates
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After Marius’ death, Sulla became dictator; violence and terror in the
Republic (136)
Developments
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First Triumvirate formed in 60 BCE to take over control of Rome:
Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar (Perry 135)
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Caesar, politician, Pompey, general, Crassus, wealthy banker
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59 BCE: Caesar’s campaign in Gaul, established role as military leader
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Senate feared Caesar’s control over troops, power in Rome
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Dissolution of triumvirate; Crassus’ death in 53 BCE, split between
Pompey and Caesar, Pompey’s alignment with Seante
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Senate ordered Caesar to relinquish command but he instead marched on
Rome
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Caesar crossed the Rubicon River into Italy in 49 BCE, civil war in
Republic
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Senate appointed Caesar dictator for ten years
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Rule to create “order out of chaos” (137)
Developments
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Caesar lowered taxes; extended citizenship; created public works program
which provided employment and beautified the city, gave veterans and
members of the lower class land; reorganized town governments in Italy;
reformed the courts; planned to codify the law (Perry 137)
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Rome’s ruling class feared Caesar’s power and reacted when temporary
dictatorship became lifelong office (137)
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Threat to Republic and senatorial government in favor of monarchy
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General and orator Marcus Junius Brutus as conspirator in assassination of
Caesar on March 15, 44 AD (the “Ides of March”)
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From assassination, renewed civil war
The Next Chapter
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Mark Antony and Lepidus, Caesar’s lieutenants, joined Octavian, Caesar’s
great-nephew and adopted son, against Brutus and Cassius
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Struggle for power in Rome between Antony and Octavian
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Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra to emerge master of Rome and
then first Roman emperor (Perry 138)
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Move from republican institutions to dictatorship (Perry 136); expansion
and disintegration
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End of Roman Republic attributed not to foreign invasion but “internal
weaknesses”: “the personal ambitions of power seekers; the degeneration of
senatorial leadership and the transformation of political rivalry into
violence and terror, in which opponents were condemned to death and
their property confiscated; the formation of private armies, in which
soldiers gave their loyalty to their commander rather than to Rome; the
transformation of a self-reliant peasantry into an impoverished and
demoralized city rabble; and the deterioration of the ancient virtues that
had been the source of the state’s vitality” (138).
The Next Chapter
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Next era—Octavian—move to peace as Augustus (backdrop for Virgil’s
text) (27 BCE-14 AD)
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Octavian merged military monarchy with republican institutions, holding
“absolute power without abruptly breaking with his republican past” (142)
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Octavian as princeps (first citizen) and his rule the principate rather than
dictator as Caesar had done, although he still followed autocratic rule (142)
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Senate honored Octavian with semireligious and revered name Augustus:
“most revered one”
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End of Roman Republic and beginning of Roman Empire
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Termination of senatorial rule and aristocratic politics and emergence of
one-man rule (142)
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200 years of Pax Romana, Roman peace (145)