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Roman Empire
The Romans
• The start of the new millennium C.E. was
dominated by the spread of the Roman Empire
in Europe
• The Romans gained power as the Greeks lost
theirs
• Legend holds that Romulus and Remus, two
brothers raised by a she-wolf, fought and
Romulus killed his brother and founded Rome.
• The original Roman settlers were called Latins
The Age of the Kings
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First Romans were hardworking farmers
Paternalistic communities with strong family ties
They were polytheistic
Etruscans, more advanced that the Romans,
easily conquered them
• The Romans learned how to build roads, bridges,
and more advanced weapons from them
• After 250 years of captivity the Romans rebelled
against Tarquin the Proud and reclaimed the
peninsula
The Roman Republic
• First attempt at government was an aristocracy
• Power held by wealthy land owners who were called
patricians, only they could be consuls or senators
• Plebeians, framers and workers, given little say
• There were two consuls of equal power who could veto
each other, and a senate to pass laws and orchestrate
foreign affairs
• Eventually the plebeians were allowed to elect tribunes
or representative bodies
• The basic rights of the citizens were eventually written
down on the Twelve Tables
Foreign Involvement
• Romans drove out the Gauls and conquered the Greek
southern colonies
• But expansion brought the Romans into contact with the
Carthaginians – North African traders
• 3 Punic Wars fought over expansion
• 1st war – fighting in Sicily and Mediterranean sea
• 2nd war- Hannibal used elephants and devastated the
Romans but ran out of supplies and was forced to return
to Carthage to save the city
• At the Battle of Zama the Romans soundly defeated the
Carthaginians and destroyed Carthage
Economic Success
• Equites, a new class of merchants developed
• Estates called latifundia, much like plantations,
they required a large capital investment and
manpower (slaves)
• The latifundia came to dominate grain
production – the smaller farmers could not
compete
• Disposed smaller farmers were forced to move
into the cities to find work
Social Reforms
• Tiberius Gracchus wanted to give land back to the
peasants by limiting the size of a farm to 320 acres
• H was elected tribune but couldn’t pass his reform
• Tried to run for a second term but he and followers
were assassinated
• This set the precedent that violence was acceptable in
the political world
• Gaius, his brother, and the Land Commission guided
the land distribution
• Gaius and his supporters were also killed
The End of the Republic
• Gaius Marius defeated Jugurtha and saved Rome from the
Germanic tribes
• Abolished property requirement for Roman Army and remodeled
army and gave land to soldiers who retired
• A civil war erupted and Cornelius Sulla captured Rome and
eliminated all opposition before turning control back over to the
senate
• Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar fought for power.
• Formed the First Triumvirate
• Crassus was killed in battle and then Caesar marched on Rome
and defeated Pompey
• Caesar made himself dictator and then dictator for life
• Assassinated by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius
• Marc Antony, Marcus Lepidus, and Gaius Octavian sought power
• At the battle of Antium Octavian destroyed the armies of Antony
and Cleopatra and took sole command of Rome
The Age of Augustus
• Augustus received the title of imperator or emperor
• Created a large standing army and praetorian guard
to protect the emperor
• Expanded empire east to the Balkans and into
Germany
• Named his own successor, Tiberius, and started the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
• Emperor Nero abused his powers the most and
committed suicide when legions revolted
The Five Good Emperors
• Known as Pax Romana – period of peace and
prosperity
• Empire included 70 million people
• Roads spread law, language, and culture
• First emperor Nerva created smooth transition
from one emperor to the next by saying that the
emperor would name his successor and then
adopt him as a son so that the most qualified
person would be the next ruler
• Nerva named Trajan as his successor
Hadrian
• Consolidated Roman possessions
• Fortified frontier and built Hadrian’s wall in
northern England
• Sympathetic towards Jews until they revolted due
to the construction of a temple built for Jupiter
• Then he began to persecute them
Marcus Aurelius
• Last of the Five Good Emperors
• Protected Romans from the invading Parthians
• Ruled during the plague
Bread and Circuses
• Entertainment acted as a release of Social
pressure
• Government sponsored grain distribution to the
poor to keep them from rebelling
• Circus Maximus – chariot races
• Colosseum – gladiators and animal fights
Roman Life
• Influenced by the Greeks – the Romans always
envied the Greeks and the influence the Greeks
had on the world, but they were never able to
imitate it
• Children of the wealthy sent to Greece for
education, or educated by Greek slaves
Literature, Art, and Architecture
• Valued public speaking – the greatest orator was Cicero
• Virgil wrote the Aeneid, which was viewed equal to the
Homeric takes
• Livy wrote The History of Rome
• Statues carved like Greeks, with and emphasis on
realism
• Frescoes popular among the rich
• Romans developed the Arch as opposed to the
supporting column utilized by the Greeks
• Romans also developed concrete which allowed for the
construction of huge structures like the Colosseum
• Built roads and aqueducts to supply cities with water
Roman Law
• Twelve Tables and the Code of Hammurabi made
available for all to see
• Universal law based on reason
• Influential for centuries
The Family
• Patriarchal society
• Little interest in women
• Fathers arranged daughters marriages, legal age
for marriage was 12
Slaves
• Greek slaves were highly sought after because of
their education
• Slaves auctioned in market place
• Some were able to purchase their freedom, but
most led miserable lives
• Harsh laws were used to punish runaway slaves
• Largest revolt was by Spartacus and his 100,000
slave followers
Eventually Spartacus and 6,000 slaves were
crucified
Christianity
• Romans were polytheists, but tolerant of many other
religions
• Some Roman soldiers joined the cult of Mithraism,
which was associated with the virtues of military life
• Others joined the cult of Isis, which promised an eternal
life happier than the one on earth
• Jesus of Nazareth came as the Messiah of the Jews,
however he did not advocate violence, and the Jews were
expecting Him to come as a military leader
• Pontius Pilate sentenced Him by crucifixion
• The resurrection became the foundation of Christian
Theology
Persecution
• Peter founded the Church in Rome, and Paul's
letters spread the message to the gentiles
• At the beginning the Romans were tolerant of
Christianity until they began to see it as a threat
to the empire
• Nero blamed Christians from setting Rome on
fire
• In 313 C.E. Constantine issued the Edict of
Milan, which said that Christianity was to be
tolerated
• Theodosius made Christianity the official religion
of the Empire
The Fall of Rome
• Diocletian became emperor and divided the empire into
the east and the west, which were to be governed
separately
• Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople
• The Teutonic tribes were attracted to the Roman Empire
because of the fertile land
Romans fought them off, but later let some into the
empire to help fight against other invaders
• Attila and the Huns attacked but were defeated by a
large Roman/Germanic army
• In 476 C.E. Germanic tribes attacked and eventually
sacked Rome
The Fall of Rome
• However the eastern Roman empire, or the Byzantine
Empire, last almost 1000 years longer
• In 1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks
• The Roman grew too large to be governed, much like the
Han Empire in China
• The fall of the Roman Empire is attributed to the
influence of Christianity, economic problems, foreign
invasion, and weak administration.
• Most importantly the empire had grown too large to
defend