Unit 11: Ancient Rome
(6th century BCE - 5th century CE)
“A fool is one who admires other cities without visiting Rome.”
Francesco Petrarca, Italian Poet from the 14th century.
Ab urbe condita (from the foundation of the city)
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Like the Greeks, the Romans used mythology to explain what they did not know well. The origin of Rome has a mythological component: legend has it that, in the 8th century BC, a priestess had two children with the god Mars. The newborns were abandoned in a river and found by a wolf that nursed them. When the twins grew up, they wanted to found a city around the Tiber River, where they were abandoned as children. A dispute soon arose between the two brothers over who would be the king of Rome, and during the fight Romulus killed Remus. Thus, Romulus became the first king of Rome. By chance in history, the last emperor of Rome, in the 5th century AD, was also called Romulus.
1) The origins of Rome and its political evolution
Actually, Rome was founded in the 6th century BC by inhabitants of the Lazio region, in the center of the Italian Peninsula, on the banks of the Tiber river.
At first it was a small kingdom, less powerful than other kingdoms of the Italian Peninsula such as the Etruscans or the southern Greeks (Magna Graecia). During the 6th century BC the form of government was the monarchy, but the citizens of Rome grew tired of the despotic attitude of their kings, especially after the king's son raped a wealthy woman, Lucretia. The Romans then rebelled against their king, Tarquinus Superbus, and proclaimed a republic in 509 BC. This republic would last until the foundation of the Empire, in 28 BC.
2) The Republic of Rome (509-27 BC)
The citizens of Rome decided to adopt this political form because they did not want power to be concentrated in the hands of a single person, as happened in the monarchy.
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2.1) Society
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It was sharply divided according to purchasing and political power. In the early years, the Republic was divided into citizens and non-citizens.
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Citizens were:
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The patricians: wealthy men who held important positions in politics or in the army.
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The plebeians: common men who were engaged in agriculture, crafts or small trade. They could not participate in politics.
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Non-citizens were:
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All women, even those from wealthy families.
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Freed slaves: they could have their own businesses, but they were not allowed to participate in politics.
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Slaves.
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2.2) Politics
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At first, politics functioned as an oligarchy, since only the patricians had access to it. There are two aspects that we have to consider: the assemblies and the magistratures.
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The assemblies were the various meetings of a political nature. The main one was the Senate, where the most important issues, such as war or peace, were debated. Other assemblies were the Comitia Centuriata or the Comitia Tributa, which elected the magistrates.
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The magistratures were political institutions that were in charge of the government. Its holders were called magistrates. From most to least important, the magistrates were:
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​Consul: they controlled the army and made big decisions. There always had to be two, for one to watch the actions of the other.
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Praetor: They were in charge of the judicial system.
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Censors: they made the census of the population, so they established who had political rights and who did not. They also watched good manners.
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Curule Aediles: they were something similar to the mayors of the cities.
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Quaestors: they managed public money, they were a kind of tax inspectors.
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The political career in Rome was called Cursus Honorum.
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2.3) Secessio plebis
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The plebeians often complained to the patricians about the lack of political rights they suffered. One day, around the year 494 BC, they decided that they were not going to bear such humiliation any longer and told the patricians that they were leaving the city and settling on Monte Sacro. The plebeians were the ones who did the hard jobs: farmers, artisans, manufacturers, etc. so there was no one left to perform them.
The patricians had no choice but to accept the demands of the plebeians and thus a new magistrature was born, the Tribunate of the plebs. The person who held this position was the tribune of the plebs, and was in charge of making the needs and concerns of the commoners known to the Senate.
In addition, an assembly was created only for plebeians: the Concilium Plebis.
This fact is considered one of the first strikes in history, and was repeated every time the plebeians did not feel respected by the patricians.
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2.4) The expansion of Rome
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The expansion of Rome can be ordered in several phases:
1- 4th and 3rd centuries BC: Rome expanded on the Italian Peninsula, conquering all the peoples that inhabited it, including the Greeks from the south (Magna Graecia).
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2- 3rd and 2nd centuries BC: expansion continues over the western Mediterranean. In their effort to control this area, they clashed with Carthage, a strong people located in North Africa, where the country of Tunisia is located today. The most important of this period were precisely the wars between Rome and Carthage, known as the Punic Wars, between 264 and 146 BC.
In the end Rome won, but the second of these wars was especially harsh. The battlefield was located on the Iberian Peninsula, but the Carthaginian general Hannibal wanted to surprise the enemy by attacking Rome directly. To do this, he crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps with his army and his original war machines: elephants. In the Italian Peninsula he won several battles against the Romans and almost reached the gates of Rome. Then the Roman general Scipio 'the African' attacked the city of Carthage in North Africa. Hannibal had no choice but to return to defend his homeland. There, he faced Scipio in the battle of Zama (202 BC), where he was definitively defeated. Now Rome had no rival in the western Mediterranean.
During the 2nd century BC, Rome also conquered territories in the eastern Mediterranean. In 146 BC the battle of Corinth took place, by which Rome seized Greece. That same year, a Roman senator named Cato the Elder who had visited Carthage alerted the Senate about the ability of the Carthaginians to recover and stated that "Carthago delenda est!" (Carthage must be destroyed!). Rome again sent its army to Carthage and, without provocation, burned and razed the city. Carthage disappeared forever.
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3- (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD): Expansion through the Eastern Mediterranean and total control of this area.
In 27 BC, Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, so the Republic was replaced by the Empire. In 106 AD, Emperor Trajan conquers the Dacia region. To celebrate, he built his famous column in Rome. When Trajan dies, in 117 AD, Rome has achieved the greatest expansion in its history.
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2.5) The end of the Republic.
During the first century BC there are several power crises in the Republic. Generals who conquer land for Rome gain more authority than the senators themselves, but these generals also clashed with each other, sparking bloody civil wars. To save the Republic, in 60 BC, three powerful generals decided to form a three-person government, to make decisions together instead of fighting each other. The first triumvirate had been born, made up of Pompey, Crassus and Julius Caesar. But the confrontations didn't end either, because each of them tried to conquer more land and acquire more prestige to prevail over the other two. Crassus was killed fighting the Parthian Empire (in the Middle East), and Caesar, prestigious after conquering the Gauls, and Pompey engaged in a civil war that ended when Pompey sought refuge in Egypt and the Egyptians themselves murdered him to please Caesar. Then, Caesar became dictator of the Republic, but since the senators did not want power to be held by a single person, they assassinated him in 44 BC.
After the death of Julius Caesar, the Second Triumvirate was formed, with Lepidus, Mark Antony and Octavius, but tensions between the triumvirs returned. Lepidus withdrew from politics, while Octavius's sister was betrothed to Mark Antony as a gesture to seal peace. It didn't help. Mark Antony fell in love with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and set out to join his troops with hers to defeat the Parthian Empire, the one that defeated, years before, the triumvir Crassus. The Roman and Egyptian troops were defeated by the Parthians and, in Rome, Octavius ​​accused Mark Antony of treason and wanting to sell Rome to Egypt. Octavius, with the support of the Roman Senate, attacked and defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. After this, without any rival, Octavius ​​conquered Egypt for Rome and had himself crowned Emperor Augustus in 27 BC. For this reason, from this date, he began to be known as Augustus, and not so much as Octavius. The Republic ended and the empire began, with Augustus as the first emperor.
The Roman Senate
The Cursus Honorum
The Secessio Plebis
3. The Roman Empire (27 BC - 476 AD)
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The Roman Empire began when the last leader of the Republic, Octavius, was proclaimed 'Augustus' (The Magnificent) in 27 BC by a Senate he ruled. This period is divided into two parts. The Early Empire (1st and 2nd centuries AD) and the Late Empire (late 3rd to 5th century AD).
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3.1 The Early Empire (1st and 2nd centuries)
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In principle, Rome had renounced that a ruler had all the power, that's why the monarchy ended and that's why Caesar was assassinated, but Augustus was a wizard of political marketing: he managed to get the Senate to give him all the military, political and religious power, plus immunity for his person.
During his reign Hispania was pacified after 200 years of war (19 BC) and a long period of peace known as the Pax Romana was established. To celebrate this fact, Augustus ordered the construction of the Ara Pacis (the altar of peace).
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During the following decades, the Empire expanded and the Romanization process settled, that is, the conquered territories adopted Roman culture: Latin as a language, Roman law as law, Roman gods as religion, architecture, clothing, and customs, etc
In AD 117, Emperor Trajan, who had conquered Dacia shortly before, died. This was the maximum expansion of the Roman Empire.
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3.2 The Late Empire (3rd to 5th centuries)
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3.2.1 The 3rd century crisis
In the third century, Rome lived a great political and economic crisis. Some of the reasons were:
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The northern Germanic peoples (so-called Barbarians) began their raids on the northern border of the Empire.
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There were constant internal struggles for power. Throughout this century, there were 28 emperors, most of whom rose to power through corruption, conspiracy, or assassination. In addition, many other generals proclaimed themselves emperors on their own, with the sole support of their troops. It was the case that there were years in which there were up to four generals who proclaimed themselves emperors simultaneously. Civil Wars were commonplace.
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To alleviate the economic crisis, taxes were raised in the city of Rome, so many people left the city and went to live on their farms in the countryside, especially the wealthy.
At the end of the 3rd century, the Emperor Diocletian managed to stabilize the Empire, although the invasions of the Barbarians continued and also some civil wars.
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3.2.2 The 4th century, the rise of Crhistianity and the division of the Empire
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Already in the fourth century, the presence of Christianity was so great throughout the Empire that the Emperor Constantine decided to legalize it through the Edict of Milan (313 AD).
Until then, Christians met to celebrate their rites in secret, in underground caves called catacombs. From then on, Christianity acquired more and more relevance and power, to the point that, in 380 AD, Emperor Theodosius, by the Edict of Thessalonica, proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of Rome, prohibiting polytheism and heretical currents.
On the other hand, Theodosius considered that the Empire was too big to be governed by a single person and decided to divide it into two parts: the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. To his son Honorius he bequeathed the Western Empire and to his other son, Acadio, he left the Eastern Empire.
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3.2.3 The end of the Western Roman Empire.
Since the 3rd century there had been intermittent incursions by peoples from northern Europe on the limits of the Roman Empire, some of these peoples were the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Suevi, the Alans, the Franks, the Angles or the Saxons. The pressure from these peoples was so great that the Roman army could not cope with all of them. For this reason, the emperors came to ask for military help from some peoples, such as the Visigoths, in exchange for giving them land within the Roman Empire.
Finally, King Odoacer, of the Heruli tribe, entered Rome and dethroned the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus in AD 476. The Western Roman Empire had fallen.
However, the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, held out for another thousand years.
Ara Pacis. Augustus built this altar to conmemorate the peace in Hispania in 19 BC, after 200 years of war.
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In red, the region of Dacia, conquered by Trajan. This was the biggest expansion of the Roman Empire
Diocletian, Roman emperor between 284-305
4. Economy
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The bases of the economy were agriculture (where almost all the workers were slaves) and trade.
In agriculture, the Romans introduced very important innovations for the future, such as new types of plow, crop rotation or fallow.
The lands were owned by the patricians, who lived in country villas. The lands were around these towns and were worked by slaves and some plebeians too.
If you remember, we have studied how the crisis of the 3rd century affected life in cities, where taxes were raised a lot. Due to this, many patricians decided to leave Rome and other cities and settle in their villas.
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Regarding trade, it must be taken into account that Rome came to possess the entire Mediterranean coast, thus controlling all trade through this sea, buying and selling raw materials and all kinds of products, which provided great benefits.
In addition, they built a large number of roads, which boosted trade even more. They also used the great trade routes, such as the Silk Route to China, or the Spice Route to India.
The most common commercial products were: minerals (gold, silver, iron, copper...), food (wheat, oil, zinc, fish), fabrics (wool, silk) and other materials such as ceramics, leather, wood or amber, in addition to the very lucrative slave trade.
5. Religion
Religion was an important element in Roman culture, as it created a sense of unity, belonging and community, and worship was promoted by the state.
The Romans adopted the Greek gods with slight variations, as we can see in the following table. They also adopted the Greek type of temple.
6. Art
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6.1 Architecture
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Roman architecture was clearly influenced by the Greek: they adopted the model of the Greek temple, the Greek orders and the Greek theater, but with certain differences. The Roman contributions are:
-The compound order (mixture of Ionic and Corinthian)
-The podium as the base of the temple
-The extensive use of the semicircular arch.
-The construction of basilicas, public baths (thermae) and amphitheatres.
-The use of the opus cementicum (Roman concrete).
-Huge domes
-Memorials of victories: independent columns, triumphal arches.
-Aqueducts for transporting water.
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6.2 Sculpture
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Roman sculpture is characterized by its realism. Many busts do not try to hide physical features such as baldness, wrinkles or old age, contrary to what the Greeks did, who always tried to represent beautiful bodies. However, sometimes they idealized the statues of their emperors, resembling them to the gods, but even on these occasions, the face was represented in a realistic way, as can be seen in the portrait of Emperor Claudius as Jupiter.
Another type of portrait was the equestrian, in which the sitter was mounted on a horse.
There were also reliefs, such as the ones found in the Ara Pacis or the Trajan Column.
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6.3 Painting and mosaic
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The Romans already knew perspective and their painting is realistic and has volume and depth, with a detailed study of light and shadow. In addition, the paintings and mosaics were polychrome and dealt with a wide variety of themes.
It was built to commemorate Constantine's victory over the rival emperor Maxentius.
Ancient Rome history: Monarhy, republic, empire. Religion and art.
'Filling the blanks' acitivity about Roman Empire facts.