Download Packet #5 The Roman Empire: Rise and Fall The Classical Era 600

Packet #5
The Roman Empire: Rise and Fall
The Classical Era 600 b.c.e.- 600 c.e.
Packet #5
This packet includes information on the following topics:
 Classical Rome
Rome:
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According to legend, a Trojan man named Aeneas fled from the
Trojan War when the Greeks invaded. He fled to the migrated to
Italy after a long journey. His descendants, Romulus and Remus,
were raised by a she-wolf (pictured) and in 753 B.C.E. Romulus
established himself as the first king of Rome.
The monarchy in the Italian peninsula, under the leadership of the Etruscans
(people who lived north of Rome in Etruria) lasted until about 509 B.C.E.
The monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government
established.
Enemies surrounded Rome.
Conquered their neighbors on the peninsula.
Political Organization:
 The chief executive officers of the Roman Republic were the consuls and
praetors. Two consuls, chosen annually, administered the government and
led the Roman army into battle. The praetors could fill in for the consuls or
lead the army into battle.
o Consuls were elected by an assembly dominated by members of an
elite class determined by birth known as patricians. The common
people are known as the plebeians.
 Class struggles were a long standing problem in Rome
 The Roman Senate came to hold an especially important position in the
Roman Republic.
o The senate or council of elders was as a select group of about three
hundred men who served for life. The senate could only advise the
elected officials (magistrates), but this advice of the senate was not
taken lightly and by the third century b.c.e. had virtually the force of
law.
o Twelve Tables: Roman law code. Served as the foundation fro a long
tradition of Roman law making. Written law was a strong Roman
tradition.
 Roman Expansion: With Italy under Roman control, Roman began to play a
major role in the affairs of the larger Mediterranean basin. Carthage was the
primary adversary of Rome (located in northern Africa). Rome and Carthage
engaged in a series of wars known as the Punic Wars. With the victory over
Carthage, Romans became the dominant power brokers in the western
Mediterranean region. They also gained possessions in North Africa and
Spain. They used the resources and goods in these territories to finance
imperial expansion.
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o From REPUBLIC to EMPIRE: Imperial expansion brought wealth and
power to Rome. Unequal distribution of wealth aggravated class
tensions and gave rise to conflict over political and social policies. A
growing empire became increasingly difficult to regulate and govern.
During the 1st century B.C.E. Roman civil and military leaders
gradually dismantled the republican constitution and imposed a
centralized imperial form of government on the city of Rome and its
empire.
Internal Conflict:
o During the first century B.C.E. Rome fell into civil war due to class
struggles. Some sought to redistribute the land to favor equality
amongst the people. The urban poor increasingly joined the personal
armies of ambitious generals who themselves posed threats to social
and political stability. In the midst of the chaos, Rome would abandon
its Republic tradition in favor of an imperial centralized government.
Foundation of an Empire: In the 50s an ambitious general named Julius
Caesar led a campaign to conquer Gaul (France). He conquered this land and
brought it into the Roman Empire. In 46 B.C.E. Caesar made himself dictator
of Rome- he centralized military and political function and brought them
under his control. He seized property from conservatives and redistributed it
to veterans and other supporters. He launched large scale building projects
in Rome as a way to provide employment for urban poor. He extended
Roman citizenship to peoples in the imperial provinces. He even appointed
Gauls to the Roman senate.
o Members of the elite considered him a tyrant. In 44 b.c.e. they
organized a plot to assassinate Caesar and restore the republic. Rome
plunged into civil conflict. Thirteen years later Augustus (Caesar’s
nephew) consolidated power. Augustus fashioned an imperial
government that guided Roman affairs for the next three centuries.
o Pax Romana: Roman Peace- Augustus’s reign inaugurated the era
known as the pax romana that persisted for two and a half centered. It
facilitated trade and communication throughout the region from
Mesopotamia to the Atlantic.
o Augustus’s government was a monarchy disguised as a republic.
During his long reign he stabilized a land racked by civil war and
enabled the institutions of empire to take root.
o By the second century C.E. Rome had expanded as far as Britain and
some of Mesopotamia.
o Roman Roads: the Romans integrated their empire by building
networks of transportation and communication. Roman engineers
were genius road builders. Romans also used the sea lanes in the
Mediterranean and Black Sea.
Economy:
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Good roads and the pax romana encouraged trade between the empire’s
regions.
 Commercial agriculture played an important role in the economic
specialization and integration of the empire.
 Specialized production of agricultural commodities and manufactured goods
set the state for vigorous trade over the Mediterranean Sea lanes.
 Cities benefitted handsomely from
Mediterranean integration and played
The Silk Road is a historical network of interlinking trade
a prominent role in promoting
routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that
economic and social change.
connected East, South, and Western Asia with the
Construction provided employment
Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts
for hundreds of thousands of workers.
of North and East Africa.
The population or Rome surged and
Extending 4,000 miles (6,437 km), the Silk Road gets its
the city’s economy experienced rapid
name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade, which was
growth. Shopkeepers, artisans,
carried out along its length, and began during the Han
merchants, and bankers proliferated
Dynasty(206 BC – 220 AD). (Wikipedia)
in the imperial capital.
 The early centuries C.E. also saw the
beginning of the Silk Road that linked the Roman Empire with Han China in
the east. It mostly transported luxury goods for the elites.
Culture:
 Paterfamilias: Roman law vested immense authority in male heads of
families. The Roman family consisted of an entire household, including
slaves, free servants, and close relatives who lived together. The eldest male
ruled the household as paterfamilias (father of the family). Law gave him the
authority to arrange marriages and determine work or duties children would
perform. He had rights to sell them into slavery or execute them (yikes).
o Women usually supervised domestic affairs in Roman households.
 Wealth: Private wealth of merchants, landowners, and construction
contractors rivaled the old nobility for prominence.
o Poverty became a considerable problem in Rome. The urban masses
sometimes rioted to express their dissatisfaction and seek improved
conditions.
 Slavery: Roman society made extensive use of slave labor. Possibly a third of
the population. Female slaves worked as domestic servants.
 Religion: Roads and communication networks favored the spread of new
popular religions. Most important of these over time was Christianity, which
originated as a small and persecuted Jewish sect. Within three centuries,
however Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire
and the predominant faith of the Mediterranean basin.
o In the early days of Rome many Romans recognized many gods and
goddesses, who they believed intervened directly in human affairs.
They often adopted the deities of other peoples. From the Etruscans,
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for example, they learned of Juno, a goddess associated with women
and marriage.
o Christianity: Christians formed their community around Jesus of
Nazareth- a charismatic Jewish teacher whom they recognized as
their savior. Jesus alarmed the Romans because he taught that the
“kingdom of God is at hand.” In an effort to forestall a new round of
rebellion, Roman administrators executed Jesus by fixing him to a
cross in the early 30s C.E.
 Jesus’ crucifixion did not put an end to his movement. His close
followers strongly felt his presence and proclaimed his
resurrection from death.
 The principle figure in the spread of Christianity beyond
Judaism was Paul of Tarsus, a Jew from Anatolia who
preached the faith. He traveled widely in search of
converts and made journeys through Greece, Anatolia,
Syria, and Palestine. He was eventually executed.
 Roman imperial authorities launched sporadic
campaigns of persecution designed to eliminate
Christianity as a threat to the empire. The faith
appealed to the lower classes, urban populations, and
women.
 Christianity grew slowly in the first century, took root
in the second, and by the third had spread widely.
 Constantine: the first Christian emperor. In 313 Constantine
issued the Edict of Milan, officially tolerating the existence o
Christianity. Under Theodosius the Great it was made the
official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century C.E.
The fall of Rome
 Apart from internal problems, the Roman Empire
faced several formidable military threats.
 Invasions, civil wars, and the plague came close to
causing an economic collapse in the Roman
Empire in the third century.
 The size of the Roman Empire was problematic in
terms of rule. The empire simply became
unmanageable.
o Created the Tetrarchy in which power was
divided among four individuals to administer the empire (pictured)
 Diocletian: reigned 284-305. Divided the empire in half. Created 2
administrative districts.
o Constantine—ordered the construction of a new capital city,
Constantinople, overlooking the Bosporus which was a strait linking
the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.
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The map shows the Western and Eastern
Roman Empire:
Threats to the Roman Empire:
 The Huns in the 4th century under the
invader leader Attila attacked people
living in the borders of the Roman
Empire.
 Attila forced groups of people to find
refuge in the Roman Empire. The
Visigoths stormed and sacked Rome in 410 CE.
 By the middle of the fifth century the western part of the Roman empire was
in shambles. In 476 imperial authority came to an end when the Germanic
general Odovacar deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last of the Roman
emperors in the western half of the empire. The nomadic peoples built
successful successor states in regions formerly subject to Rome. Visigoths,
Vandals, Lombards took over Italy.
The Eastern Empire would last until 1453…more on the east when we talk about
the Byzantine Empire in the next unit…
SOCIAL
ECONOMIC
POLITICAL
Roman
Empire
ENVIRONMENTAL
Packet
#5
Vocabulary
consuls
Patricians
Plebeians
Senate
Twelve Tables
Carthage
Punic Wars
Julius Caesar
Augustus
Pax Romana
Paterfamilias
Silk Road
Paul of Tarsus
Definition
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Christianity
Edict of Milan
Theodosius
the Great
Tetrarchy
Diocletian
Constantine
Constantinople
Attila
Visigoths