Download Chapter 5 - Rome and the Rise of Christianity

Chapter 5 - Rome and the Rise of Christianity
SECTION 1
- Italy - Rome
- more land for farming
- support a large population
- located favorable for sea routed land
- built on seven hills - defend easily - good central location
- Indo-Europeans people moved into Italy from about 1500 -1000 BC
- called Latins - spoke Latin
- were herders and farmers
- After 800 BC, other people settled the area - Greeks and Etruscans
- Greeks
- settled in southern Italy then slowly migrated up the peninsula occupied eastern Sicily
- had much influence on the people
- alphabet, artistic and cultural models through their sculpture,
architecture and literature
- Etruscans
- most influenced the early development of Rome
- North of Rome in Etruria
- eventually they came to control Rome
- Romans adopted Etruscan dress and army organization
- 509 BC overthrew last Etruscan King and established a republic
- Roman Confederation
- Latins had full Roman citizenship
- remaining communities made allies
- made the conquered peoples feel they had a stake in Rome's success
Successful Strategies
1. good diplomats - Roman citizenship and allowing states to run their own
internal affairs
2. military – strategies
3. 3. Laws and politics - did not try to build an ideal government but instead
created political institutions
Roman Political Structure
- 2 orders: patricians and plebians
- patricians were wealthy landowners - Ruling class
- plebians were less wealthy landowners, small farmers, craftspeople and
merchants
office
- both men in groups were citizens but only patricians could be elected to
- Roman Republic
- chief executive officers
- consuls - 2 - chose every year - ran government - led army to battle
- praetors - charge of civil law
- Roman Senate
- select group of patricians who served for life
- at first only role was to advise government, by 3rd century BC it had the
force of law
- popular assembly for plebians only was create in 471 BC
- the council of the plebs
- officials - tribunes of the plebs
- power to protect plebeians
- 287 BC law passed granting all male Roman citizens
- Roman Law
- code of laws - 1st
- Twelve Tables 450 BC
- product of a simple farming society but inadequate for later
Roman needs
- Law of Nations
- establish standards of justice the applied to all people
- person innocent until proven guilty
- people accused of wrongdoing could defend self in front of judge
- judge had to weigh evidences before making a decision
- Roman Expansion
- - 1st Punic War
- Romes 1st war with Carthage in 264 BC - First Punic War
- Roman were nervous about Carthaginians in Sicily
- Both sides wished to control Sicily
- Romans needed a navy to have power over war
- Rome won in 241 BC
- Sicily 1st Roman province
- Hannibal - Carthaginian - struck back against Romans
- started Second Punic War
- The Second Punic War
- Hannibal moved east and crossed the Alps
- 216 BC Romans met his army head on
- lost 40,000 men but refused to surrender - gradually built army back
- Hannibel roamed Italy freely but didn't have men or equipment to attack
major cities
- Romans would with back cities taken by Hannibel and attack Carthage to
for Hannibel to retreat to his city
- 202 BC Romans won Spain - became province
- Romans now a dominate power in western Mediterranean
- Third Punic Wars
- durig struggle with Carthage Rome battled the Hellenistic states in the eastern
Mediterranean
- Macedonia, Greece and Pergamum now under Roman control
- 146 BC destroyed the city of Carthage - territory because Roman province called
Africa
SECTION 2
From Republic to Empire
Growing unrest
- small farmers were unhappy with wealthy large landowners because the
wealthy landowners were buying out small peasant owners
- 2 aristocrats tried to urge the council of the plebs to pass land-reform bills that
called for the gov’t to take back public land and give it to landless Romans
- they were killed by Senators who did not agree with their idea
- this incident opened the door to more instability and more violence
A New Role for the Army
-Roman general Marius became consul and began recruiting armies in new ways
- recruited volunteers who owned no property for their loyalty they would receive
land
- swore an oath of loyalty to general not state
-Lucius Cornelius Sulla next general to use new military system
-Civil war broke out when Sulla was going to be replaced by Marius for a war
-Sulla won – seized Rome – reign of terror
-He would restore power to Senate and eliminate most of the powers of the popular
assemblies
- he hoped to restore traditional Roman Republic governed by a powerful Senate
- his example of using an army to seize power would prove most attractive to
ambitious men
The First Triumvirate
-82 – 31 BC, Rome faces civil wars as individual competed for powers
- 3 men
-Crassus – richest man in Rome
-Pompey – returned from Spain as military hero
-Julius Caesar – also had military command in Spain
-Would form the First Triumvirate
- triumvirate – gov’t by 3 people with equal power
-Senate tells Caesar to lay down his command
-Refused to obey and gained military experience while serving in Gaul and a loyal
army
-Decided to enter Italy illegally crossing the Rubicon
-Caesar march started civil war between his and Pompey’s forces
-Pompey’s defeat left Caesar in complete control of the Roman gov’t
-Caesar made dictator in 45 BC
-Making reforms
-Gave land to poor
-Increased members of Senate – weakened power of Senate
-Granted citizenship to supporter
- Group of Senators would assassinate him – fearing he would continue his
dictatorship
The Second Triumvirate
-Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus
-After Caesars death on Octavian and Antony would divide Roman world
-Conflict would arise – Battle of Actium
-Octavian would be victorious
-His reign would be known as the Age of Augustus
The Beginning of the Roman Empire
- Octavian proclaimed the “restoration of the Republic” and gave some power back
to the Senate – he ultimately became the 1st Roman emperor
The Age of Augustus
-27 BC, Senate awarded Octavian the title Augustus – the revered one
-He was highly popular
-Civil wars had ended but he continued control of the army
-Given title imperator or commander in chief
-Had 28 legions or 150,000 men
-Only roman citizens could be legionnaries
-New system of governing provinces
-Emperor controlled certain provinces and appointed deputies to govern them
-Would die in 14 BC
-New emperors ruled Rome, this period until AD 180 is called the Early Empire