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Ancient Rome
Rome
Similarities to other ancient civilizations?
 What made it unique?
 Pros and cons of republic vs. empire?
 Where do we see traces of it in modern
West?

Archaic Rome
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The Origins of Rome
 In Latium
 Tiber River
 Foundation myth:
Romulus and Remus
Archaic Rome
She-wolf (ca. 500 BC),
Capitoline Museum, Rome
Archaic Rome
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The Kings (ca. 625-509 BC)
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Original rulers of Rome (supposedly 7)
Wielded imperium
Advised by Senate
Archaic Rome
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The Roman Family
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Patrician Carrying Two
Portrait Heads (1st cent. AD)
PATERFAMILIAS
Women
 Subject to male authority
 Named after father’s
clan
Children
 Lots needed!
 Legitimized by
paterfamilias
Archaic Rome

Questions?
The Roman Republic

The Roman Republic (ca. 500-27 BC)
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Established after overthrow of kings
REPUBLIC (res publica)
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Goal: limit arbitrary authority of one person
Government authority to be shared equally among Roman
aristocrats
The Roman Republic

Republican
Government
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The Senate
CONSULS
The Senate
DICTATOR
The Roman Republic
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Roman Expansion
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Formidable army (“iron
legions”)
By 133 BC Italy and
Greek East conquered
Built roads
Established colonies
The Roman Republic

Greek Impact on Roman Culture
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Expansion  exposure to Greek civilization
Many Romans fascinated by Greece
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Enamored with Greek culture
Greek tutors!
Plundered Greek art
Greek and Italian synthesis  Greco-Roman culture
The Roman Republic
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Cicero (106-43 BC)
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Exemplar of cultured
Greco-Roman man
Lawyer, politician
Studied oratory,
philosophy in Greek East
Latin conduit of Greek
thought
Famous for his orations
The Roman Republic

The Punic Wars
(264-146 BC)
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Mediterranean powers:
Rome, Carthage
Carthaginian Empire was
great naval power
Roman and Carthaginian
animosity  three wars
End result: destruction of
Carthage
The Roman Republic

First Punic War
(264-241 BC)
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Over Sicily
Rome built a fleet
Rome was ultimate
victor
Outcome
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Carthage no longer
maritime superpower
Rome gained Sicily,
more later
The Roman Republic
Corvus
The Roman Republic

Second Punic War
(218-201 BC)
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Carthage recovered,
expanded empire in
Spain  war!
HANNIBAL invaded Italy
(218 BC) via Alps,
advanced to south
Rome conquered Spain
(206 BC), won in Africa
(202 BC)

Outcome: Carthage lost
empire outside Africa
The Roman Republic

Questions?
The Roman Republic

Crisis in the Republic
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Power struggles,
disregard for
republican ideals
100+ years of warfare
Slave War in Italy
(73-71 BC)
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70,000 + slaves revolted,
led by SPARTACUS
Defeated 4 legions
Ultimately crushed  6,000
slaves crucified
The Roman Republic

Julius Caesar
(100-44 BC)
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Roman general, politician
Extremely ambitious!
Growing power  threat to
Senate, politicians
Caesar invaded Italy (50
BC), gained control
Hunted enemies down in
Greece, Africa
The Roman Republic

The Fall of Caesar
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Returned to Rome in triumph  more power!
Senate granted Caesar title “dictator for life” (Feb., 44 BC)
Assassinated by 60 senators (March 15, 44 BC)
The Roman Republic

The Collapse of the Republic
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Civil War: Caesarians vs. “Liberators”
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Leading Caesarians: Mark Antony and Octavian
Defeated “Liberators” at Philippi (42 BC)
Civil War: Antony vs. Octavian
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Octavian controlled Latin West; Antony, Greek East
Turned on each other, suspicious of each other
The Roman Republic

Cleopatra VII (r. 51-30 BC)
 Hellenistic queen of Egypt
 Wore “two faces”
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Hellenistic monarch to
Greeks and Romans
Divine, pharaonic queen to
Egyptians
Encounters with Romans
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Met Julius Caesar  lovers
She and Antony  lovers,
allies
The Roman Republic
The Roman Republic

Civil War: Antony and
Cleopatra vs. Octavian
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Octavian victorious at
Battle of Actium, Greece
(September, 31 BC)
Antony, Cleopatra
committed suicide
Octavian now master of
Roman world
Battle of Actium
The Roman Republic

Questions?
The Roman Empire

Augustus Caesar
(r. 29 BC – AD 14)
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Called “Augustus”
Task: tactfully rebuild Rome
First Roman emperor
Ruled as constitutional
monarch
Rome
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Augustan Reforms
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Centralized
administration
Efficient government for
provinces
Crusade against
immorality
Restored neglected
religious cults, repaired
temples
The Roman Empire
Remains of Temple of Julius Caesar, Roman Forum
The Roman Empire

The Pax Romana and Culture
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PAX ROMANA: period of internal peace, stability,
culture, prosperity
“Golden Age” of Latin Literature
 Augustus was a patron of the arts
 Virgil’s AENEID
 Ovid’s Art of Love  banishment!
The Roman Empire
Pont du Gard (1st cent. AD), Nîmes, France
The Roman Empire
Garden Room, Villa Livia (Late 1st cent. BC)
The Roman Empire
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Augustus Caesar
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“I found Rome a city of
brick and left it a city of
marble!”
No heirs
Rule  stepson Tiberius
The Roman Empire
The Roman Empire

Colosseum (AD 80)
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Largest amphitheater in
Roman world
50,000+ spectators
Beneath: waiting rooms,
cages for beasts,
equipment
Mock naval battles!
Main entertainment:
gladiators
The Roman Empire
The Roman Empire
1989-1996
The Roman Empire
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The Second Century
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Roman Empire at its zenith
Constant frontier warfare
“Good emperors”
The Roman Empire
The Roman Empire
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Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161-180)
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“Enlightened”
Devoted to Stoic
philosophy, wrote about
it in Meditations
Peaceful, but had to
continue military
conflicts
The Roman Empire
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Third-Century
Anarchy (235-285)
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Assassinations, civil
wars  many
emperors
Continued frontier war
 empire stretched too
thin
Other disasters
Capture of Valerian (r. 253-260) by Persians
The Roman Empire

Diocletian (r. 284-305)
 Ended crisis
 Reforms: tetrarchy,
increased size of
military
 Emperor now absolute
monarch, lord

Reforms  200 more
years for Roman Empire
The Roman Empire

Questions?
Rome
Similarities to other ancient civilizations?
 What made it unique?
 Pros and cons of republic vs. empire?
 Where do we see traces of it in modern
West?
