Download Rome Intro Notes

Ms. Bates December 2011
I. 753-500 BCE Roman (Etruscan) Monarchy
king
senate
assembly of clans (citizens)
12 tablets
similarities to U.S. law
II. 500-27 BCE Roman Republic
A. government structure
2 consuls/executives, 1 senate, 2 assemblies (citizens); all ruled together
12 tablets
benefits and drawbacks
emergency provision
B. Roman roads
format
Via Appia (Appian Way)
stepping stones
C. Arches versus post and lintel construction
keystone
D. 312 BCE onward – aqueducts
"to lead water"
angle
uses
14 CE – Pont du Gard
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E. Roman military
264-146 BCE – Three Punic Wars
Carthaginians
First Punic War 264-241 BCE ( 23 years)
corvus
outcome
Second Punic War 218-201 BCE ( 17 years)
Hannibal and Scipio
elephants
outcome
Third Punic War ("Scipio's Revenge") 149-146 BCE ( 3 years)
outcome for Carthage
outcome for Rome
Describe the Roman Republic after the Punic Wars:
F. 59-44 BCE – Julius Caesar’s reign as consul/caesar (king)
Julius's early achievements
"Veni, vidi, vici."
59 BCE
50 BCE
49 BCE
Crossing of the Rubicon
triumvarate (3 rulers) and General Pompey
Civil War
46 BCE
Pietas
Dignitas
Gravitas
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Julius Caesar's achievements
Ides of March (March 15th), 44 BCE
"Et tu, Bruté?"
nine months later
Julian Calendar
III. 27 BCE-381 CE Roman Empire
A. 27 BCE-14 CE – Caesar Augustus (Octavian) leads empire
meaning of name Caesar Augustus
Pax Romana (46 BCE-180 CE)
commissions Aeneid by Virgil
American manifest destiny
B. Achievements during the Pax Romana
60 CE – Circus Maximus
Juvenile: “People long for two things: bread and circus.”
79 CE – Flavian Ampitheater (a colosseum)
concrete
marble facade
valarium
columns
other colosseums (Nimes, Arles, London)
gladiators
munera
animals
Bath Houses
±120 CE – Pantheon ("all the gods")
oculus
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Roman Forum
basilica
Basilica Maxentius and Basilica Constantine
C. 200-300 CE Downward slide of the Roman Empire
Revolts and civil wars
Expanding borders
Economic policy
Tax policy
Decline in population
284 CE Constantine moves center of empire eastward from Rome to Nicomedia
(eastward); empire governed with two halves from this point on
D. 313 CE – Edict of Milan (Constantine embraces Christianity; freedom of religion)
Tertullian (200 CE): "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
P and X
330 CE – Constantine moves the empire’s eastern capital to Constantinople; Milan and
Ravenna are successively the capitols of the Western Empire
337 CE – Constantine declares Christianity the state religion
381 CE – Emperor Theodosius declares Christianity the sole religion
IV. "Fall" of the Western Empire and Rise of the Eastern Empire
A. 395 CE Emperor Theodosius dies and completely splits empire into East and West (gives to
two sons)
B. 400s CE in the Western Empire
“Fall” of West to “barbarians” (Vandals
from Africa, Ostrogoths from Italy, Angles
and Saxons from Britain, Visigoths from
Spain, Franks and Huns from Gaul and the
Rhineland)
Rise of Byzantine empire (Constantinople) in the east, which lasts another
thousand years
See map of Europe showing barbarian lands and Byzantium:
Yellow 2nd ed. CI pages 154-155 Maps 6.3 and 6.4 or Blue 4th ed. CI page 191
QUESTION: What holds western Europe together after the “fall” of the Western Roman
Empire?
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