1. Rome

2. Geography

3. Early Roman Government
• King
• Advised by a Senate who had consultative powers only
• Documentary evidence re Roman government reflects that
there was a change in the form of government around 500
B.C.E.
• Replaced the King with two consuls
• Gave the Roman Senate control over public funds
• One consul could veto the other consul’s decrees
• In times of grave emergency the Senate could appoint a
dictator who would rule for 6 months.

4. War between Rome and latins
• Almost constant warfare as Romans fought with
surrounding groups and conquering them. Latin
Territories first, then Etruscan cities.
• Latin War: 340-338 B.C.E. A push by the Latin
people for independence from Rome.
• In 340 B.C.E. an embassy was sent to the Roman
Senate to ask for the formation of a single
republic between Rome and Latium with both
parties on the same level.
• Rome declared war on the Latins and conquered
them but instituted “Latin Rights”

5. “Latin Right”
• Intermediate Rights between full citizenship and
non-citizen status
• Commercium allowed Latins to own land in any of
the Latin cities and to make legally enforceable
contracts with their citizens.
• Connubium permitted them to make a lawful
marriage with a resident of any other Latin city.
• Ius migrationis gave people with Latin status the
capacity to acquire citizenship of another Latin
state simply by taking up permanent residence
there.

6. Roman Expansion Led to Political
Turmoil
• In the areas they conquered, the Romans demanded that former foes contribute soldiers to
the Roman army.
• Aristocracy = patricians = 10% of the population
• Plebeians = 90% who had no access to political power.
– Forced to serve in army, but no right to political office.
– Rights not identified and often judicial system was manipulated against them.
– Debt slavery: a debt slave could be sold by his creditor to an owner outside of Rome.
• 200 year struggle between Patricians and Plebeians is often called “Struggle of the Orders”
– Plebian revolt forced Patricians to create a new office “Tribune” who would represent
the rights of the plebeians.
– The Tribune had veto power over consuls.
– By 367 B.C.E. first plebian consul elected.
– 287 B.C.E. concilius plebeus would be binding on Roman government whether the
Senate approved them or not. Origin of the “plebescite”

7. Equestrian Class
• New Laws Prohibited Senators from engaging in
business to reduce corruption
• Roman Aristocrats left public service in the
Senate to pursue business
• Politics and business interests merged in old
families through marriage
• A few families won political office consistently
and were powerful, conservative force in Roman
Senate
• Orders: Patricians, Plebians, Equestrians

8. Roman Religion
• Ancestor Worship: primary duty to honor one’s ancestors by
his conduct and the greatest honor was to sacrifice oneself for
Rome.
• Roman Priests
– Guardians of sacred traditions.
– Prominent aristocrats rotated in and out of the priestly office while
also serving as leaders of the Roman state.
– Thus religion and politics were officially sanctioned as part of the
state.
• Roman polytheism: as long as the traditional gods were
honored, new gods could be added and worshipped as well

9. Mystery religions: Mithraism
• No known texts—mostly reliefs.
Practiced primarily by Roman
• 7 Levels
– Corax, Corux or Corvex (raven or
Soldiers. crow) beaker
– Nymphus, Nymphobus (male bride)
lamp, bell, veil, circlet/crown
– Miles (soldier) pouch, helmet, lance,
drum, belt, breast plate
– Miles (soldier) pouch, helmet, lance,
drum, belt, breast plate
– Perses (Persian)
– Heliodromus (sun-runner) torch,
– Pater (father)

10. Civic and Religious Values Combined
• Morality
• Patriotism
• Duty
• Masculine self-control
• Respect for authority and tradition
• Roman Virtues
– Bravery
– Honor
– self-discipline
– loyalty to country and family

11. Punic Wars
• By 265 B.C.E. Romans controlled most of the
Apennine Peninsula
• Was further expansion deliberate, necessary
or accidental?

12. First Punic War
• 264 B.C.E. Punic Wars begin

13. Punic Threat
• Carthage expands into Messina, an important port in Sicily
near the mainland

14. Carthage
• Phoenician, Numidian and Libyian peoples,
• Major city was Carthage (in modern day Tunisia)
• Carthage relied heavily, though not exclusively, on foreign mercenaries—
Celts and Iberians
• Light Cavalry: a significant part of it was composed of Numidian
contingents and North African elephant corps
– The riders of these elephants were armed with a spike and hammer to kill the
elephants in case they charged toward their own army.
• The navy offered a stable profession and financial security for its sailors
• The trade of Carthaginian merchantmen was by land across the Sahara
• And by sea throughout the Mediterranean and far into the Atlantic to the
tin-rich islands of Britain and to West Africa.

15. How Rome Won
• Captured Phoenician ship and copied its design
• Created a corvus device for boarding ships

16. Spoils of War
• 23 year war
– Carthage ceded Sicily to Rome
– Carthage paid large indemnity (money to pay for
the war)
• Many Romans killed.
– Conservative Senators: Rome should have
invaded Carthage rather than agree to a peace
treaty

17. 2nd Punic War
• 218 B.C.E. Rome declared war on Carthage
– Considered expansion by Carthage into Iberian
Peninsula (Spain) as a commercial and military
threat
• 2nd Punic War lasted 16 years

18. Hannibal

19. Hannibal’s Invasion of Apennine
Peninsula

20. Hannibal’s Invasion
• involved the mobilization of 60,000 to 100,000 troops
• Training a war-elephant corps
• all of which had to be provisioned along the way
• Crossed the Alps
• 2nd Punic War was a world war in the sense that it involved about three-
quarters of the population of the entire Punic-Greco-Roman world and
few people living in the Mediterranean were able to escape it.
• Virtually every family in Rome lost at least one member

21. Battle of Cannae: 215 B.C.E.

22. Battle of Cannae
• Estimates: 50,000-70,000 Romans were killed
or captured
• Among the dead
– the Roman Consul Lucius Aurelius Paulus,
– 29 out of 48 military tribunes
– 80 Senators (about 30% of the Senate)
• one of the bloodiest battles in all of human
history (in terms of the number of lives lost
within a single day)

23. Inexplicable Decisions In History Hall of
Fame
• Hannibal recalled to Carthage without
marching on Rome
– scarcity of supplies, money, manpower?
– political components?
– Did Carthage think Rome would sue for peace?
• Rome kept on fighting
– 201 B.C.E. Publius Cornelius Scipio invaded North
Africa and defeated Hannibal at Zama

24. Results of 2nd Punic War
• Carthage required to abandon all its possessions
except city of Carthage
– war indemnity 3X that of the 1st Punic War
• Estimate: 20,000 talents of silver(one talent= 71 pounds)
over 50 years
• In the 50 years between the 2nd and 3rd Punic
wars:
– Rome invaded and conquered
• former Macedonian empire
• Palestine
• Hispania

25. 3rd Punic War
• By 151 B.C.E. Carthage repaid its war debt to Rome
• Carthage thought treaty was cancelled
• Rome decided on War
– needed grain and area around Carthage was fertile
– Romans did not forget their losses at Battle of Cannae
• 149 B.C.E. war with Carthage again
– Demanded that Carthage hand over all weapons and move 10 miles inland
• Siege of Carthage:
– approximately 50,000 people died of starvation
– Six day battle
• Rome made all inhabitants slaves and burned Carthage for 17 days

26. Carthage in Ruins

27. Consequences of Punic Wars
• Millions of slaves from Carthaginian and Macedonian
territories
– Most slaves were agricultural workers
• Most economical use: work as hard as possible feed as little as
possible, when one dies buy another very cheap because market was
glutted
• Extensive slave population:
– enabled large estates owned by wealthy aristocracy to force
small farmers to sell their land because they could not compete
with the large agribusinesses
– Plantation style economy
• Former farmers became urban population of Rome
– Under-employment of free labor: slaves could do it more cheaply
– Created a permanent urban under-class and political instability
• Rome failed to develop an industrial base that would have created jobs
and opportunity for former farmers

28. Instability 146-30 B.C.E.
• Slave uprisings
– 134 B.C.E. 70,000 slaves revolt in Sicily
– 104 B.C.E. 2nd slave uprising in Sicily
– 73-71 B.C.E. Spartacus Rebellion
• Trained to be a gladiator: certain death
• Escaped to Mount Vesuvius with a host of fugitive slaves
• Overran much of Southern Italy
• 6,000 slaves captured during the final battle were crucified
along the road between Capua and Rome (150 miles)

29. Barbarian Threats to Roman Power
• Who is a “barbarian”
– Greeks: a barbarian is “anyone who is not Greek”
• Romans:
• “Barbarian” = anyone who did not live within the Roman empire and
had no manners
• “Barbar”: a Sanskrit word than means “dirty one” generally referring to a
person who uses the same hand to eat as they use to wipe themselves
after going to the bathroom
• Throughout history the term “Barbarian” generally implies a person who
lives outside of the boundaries of a particular territory/kingdom
– The Other who is “not like us”

30. Dynamic Roman Frontier
• Hispania: Iberian Peninsula and Western France
• Cimbrians: Jutland Peninsula (modern Denmark)
• Britannia and Caledonia (Scotland)
• Central Europe (East of Iberia)
– Celts
– Teutonnes/Germans
– Gaul
– Goths

31. Notable Roman Historians
• Plutarch: 46 C.E. – 120 C.E.
• Julius Caesar: 100 B.C.E. -30 B.C.E.
• Strabo: ??-24 C.E.
• Tacitus: 56 C.E. – 117 C.E.

32. Tacitus

33. Germania
• Ancient Anthropological study of the German
tribes
• Tacitus did not do fieldwork
• Based on the memories of Roman soldiers
returning from various wars
• Used this study to criticize Rome also

34. Strabo’s Map of Europe

35. Julius Caesar
July 13, 100 B.C.E. – March 15, 30 B.C.E.

36. Marius, Sulla & Caesar
• Marius:
– a general in Roman Army
• elected as Consul by Plebian party (composed mostly of soldiers)
• reelected six times from 107 B.C.E. to 86 B.C.E.
– eliminated the property qualification required to be a Roman soldier
• Provided opportunity for urban poor to gain political access through the military
• Sulla :
– appointed dictator in 86 B.C.E. by the Senate
– curtailed the power of the Tribunes (Plebian leaders)
– assassinated any Senator who opposed him
• Julius Caesar
– Marius’s nephew
– took his legions to the frontier to fight the Barbarians
• political power and enrichment
• Hero of soldiers
• Demonized by Senators

37. The Triumvirate
• Pompey: General who conquered Syria and
Palestine
• Julius Caesar: fought the Barbarians in Gaul
and Britannia
• Crassus: richest man in Rome, defeated
Spartacus in the Battle of Siler River

38. Pompey, Caesar, Crassus

39. Breaking of the Triumvirate
• 52 B.C.E. : mob riots in Rome
– Senate feared Caesar’s popularity among the
Plebian class
– Convinced Pompey to declare Caesar who was in
Gaul “an enemy of the state”
• 49 B.C.E. Caesar marched on Rome and
Pompey fled to Syria
– Pompey defeated at Battle of Pharsalus in Greece
and murdered by Caesar’s supporters

40. Caesar becomes Emperor
• Affair with Cleopatra left her pregnant with Caesar’s son
• Invaded Anatolia and victory was so swift that he declared
“Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)”
• 46 B.C.E. Senate named Caesar dictator for 10 years
– 44 B.C.E. named dictator for life
– Authority to make war and peace

41. Beware the Ides of March
• Caesar assassinated on March 15 “The Ides of
March”
– Conspiracy of Senators who wanted to return to
Republic (power in hands of Aristocracy)
• included former supporter Brutus (some argue Marc
Antony)
• Brutus committed suicide following his defeat by
Octavian (Caesar’s nephew) at the Battle of Philippi.
• Marc Antony committed suicide after being defeated by
Octavian at the Battle of Actium

42. Marc Antony and Brutus

43. The Principate 27 B.C.E. – 187 C.E.

44. Caesar Augustus
(63-B.C.E. – 14 C.E.)
• Adopted by Julius Caesar at age 18 as his heir
– Joined with Marc Antony and Lepidus to secure
his succession
– Defeated all competitors to become Emperor

45. Pax Romana
• Octavian returned from his victory at Actium
and declared peace was restored
– Granted titles of Imperator (victorious general)
and Augustus (worthy of honor) by the Senate
– Octavian preferred title princeps (first citizen)
– PAX ROMANA: Relative peace i.e. no major wars

46. Octavian Reforms
• New coinage
• Introduced public services
• Reorganized the army
• Allowed cities and provinces rights of self-
government

47. Appearance versus Reality
• Senate had no power
• Augustus controlled the army
• Reforms of traditional civic values were superficial
– Rebuilt temples
– Prohibited Romans from worshipping foreign gods
– Fined citizens who failed to marry
– Required widows to marry within 2 years
– Punished adultery (by women)
– Made divorce more difficult
– Augustus himself had many affairs
– His daughter Julia had so many affairs that he was forced to banish her
• Aristocrats still controlled large farming estates
• Underemployment remained a serious problem
• No industrial development

48. Pax Romana
• Lasted from 28 B.C.E. to 180 C.E.
• Few powerful external enemies
• Mediterranean Sea controlled by one military
power: Rome
• Land frontiers/borders– Scotland to Persia
• Exceptions to peace were rebellions by Britannia
and Hebrews.
• Assimilation of residents along the frontier into
the common cultural and political life of Rome

49. Aristocratic Women
• Owned property
• Invested in commercial ventures
• Made public contributions to particular causes
• Priestesses & civic patrons
• NO public office
• Nominally under authority of nearest male
relative (perpetual minority)
• Educated to be accomplished wives and mothers
• Certain sexual freedom

50. Plebian Women
• Little is known
• Early marriage
• Husband’s helpers
• Engaged in shop keeping
• Motherhood 3-4 children
• Life expectancy 34 years

51. Roman Law
• Civil Law: applied to Roman citizens
• Law of the Peoples: applied to everyone and
supplemented civil law
• Natural Law: founded on Stoic philosophy
– Natural order of nature
– Embodied justice and right
– All men are entitled to it
– Conceptual but not applied

52. Religions
• Roman gods
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Mystic Religions

53. Christianity
• Jesus was a historical figure
• Tacitus & Pliny the Younger
– Mention Jesus, confirm he was crucified by Pontius
Pilate, identify Christians as a religious sect (they don’t
like them)
• Josephus
– Jewish historian
– Wrote a Roman friendly history of the Jews
• Mentions Jesus, John the Baptist and James
• Mentions Paul and the early church
• A confession that Jesus was the Christ in Josephus’s history is
believed to have been added by the Church

54. Christian Beliefs in the 1st Century
• Based on Gospels: Matthew, Mark, & Luke
– John is believed to have been written as much as two
decades after the other three
• Considerable disagreement among scholars as to
dates of writing
• Paul’s Letters to early churches
– Some believe written before the gospels—some after
– Paul and Peter killed during Nero persecution of
Christians around 64 C.E. according to Eusebeius
– If Paul is the author of these letters then they must
have been written before 64 C.E.

55. Jesus and Second Temple Judaism
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• 1947 Bedouin boy discovers Jewish religious
texts hidden in a cave near Qumran
• Not available to scholars until very recently

57. Hebrew Monotheism
• The belief that a single god is the creator and ruler of
all things
• Yahweh is transcendent: exists outside of time, nature,
place and Kingship
• Ethical monotheism: obligations owed by all human
beings toward their creator, independent of place or
political identity
– Yahweh created man in His image
– Yahweh is exclusively a god of righteousness
– Evil comes from man not Yahweh
– Micah 6:8 Yahweh requires man to live justly, love mercy
and walk humbly

58. Christian Monotheism
• Adopted basic principles of Hebrew ethical
monotheism
• Rejected most ritual practices of Judaism for
Gentile believers
• Salvation offered to everyone without Jewish
ritual observance
– based on faith in Jesus
– Practiced sacrament “means of grace” of Holy Baptism
– Practiced sacrament of Holy Communion
• Sects developed and arguments arose over
teachings of Jesus and Paul

59. Roman Issues with Christianity
• Feared destabilization
• Christianity recognized no other gods (Romans
allowed other gods but expected people to
show respect to theirs)
• Christians refused to worship the emperor as
a god
• Despite growth of Christianity no more than 5
– 10% of people in Roman Empire were
Christians

60. Crisis of the 3rd Century
• Nero and Caligula (poor emperors) succeeded
by capable emperors who ruled until 180 C.E.
• After 182 C.E.
– Provincial armies engaged in civil war and victors
ruled as military dictators
– From 235-284 C.E. 26 “barracks Emperors ruled
Rome

61. Elements of the Crisis
• Civil War
• Economic woes
– War ravaged agriculture
– Inflation
– Taxation
• Plague
– Galen a Greek Physician
– diarrhea, fever, inflamed throat with dry pustules appearing on the
9th day of illness
– Modern historians conclude smallpox
• Decimated population, economic crisis and ravages of civil war lead Roman
armies to pull back from previous frontiers

62. Rome in Decline
• Rome recovered by 289 C.E. but never
returned to its former glory
• Roman rule continues for another 200 years in
the West
• Roman rule continues for another 1,000 years
in the East

65. Some Causes of Decline argued by
historians today
• Barbarian attacks
• No clear law of succession
• Lack of constitutional means for reform
• Allowed too much power to military
• Slave system and failure to develop industrial economy
– led to unstable economy
– required dependence on taxes
– Required tribute from conquered lands
• Declining population due to disease, civil war, constant foreign warfare
• Aristocrats contributed very little to economy and relied on legislated
privileges that exempted them from taxes
• Local elite could not keep up with demands undermining urban basis of
classical Roman civic ideals
• Lack of interest in preserving Rome by its citizens

66. Diocletian

67. Diocletian
• Ruled from 284-305 C.E.
– Autocrat
– Dominus (Lord)
• Formal rules off succession
– Split empire into East & West: 2 augusti
– 2 Caesars
– Known as the Tetrarch
• Moved capital from Rome to Nicomedia (in
Turkey).
– Diocletian ruled from Nicomedia
– Senate remained in Rome

69. Constantine

70. Constantine
• Ruled from 312-337
• Built a new capitol in the East: Constantinople
• Abandoned Tetrarch in favor of dynasty
• Eastern Empire
– Richer
– More populous
– More central to imperial policy
• Western Empire
– Poorer
– Peripheral
– Not well defended
• Legalized Christianity within Roman Empire

71. Popular Version of Constantine’s
Conversion
• Saw a Christian symbol while preparing to
battle the “Barbarians” at Malian Bridge
• Voice said, “In this sign, conquer”
• Constantine ordered men to paint the symbol
on their shields
• He won
– Constructed churches
– Did not prohibit pagan worship
– Christianity became favored religion

72. Maxentius
Western Roman Emperor. Defended Rome
against various revolts.
-Engaged in 5 year war with Constantine
over who controlled the Western Roman
Empire.
-Army in the Eastern Empire declared
Constantine, the son of the previous emperor
Constantius to be Augustus.
-Army in Western Empire favored Maxentius,
the son of Constantius’s predecessor,
Maximian as emperor.
Constantine had Maximian executed.

73. Historical Accounts of Constantine’s
Conversion
• Lactantius: North African Latin historian who tutored
Constantine’s son:
– The night before the Battle of Milvian Bridge against
Maxentius (Western Roman Emperor) Constantine
dreamed of being ordered to place a heavenly divine
symbol upon his soldiers’ shields.
• Eusebius of Caesarea (4th century Christian Bishop who
wrote a history of the early church)
– Well before the battle, Constantine looked up at the sun
and saw a cross of light above it and the words “In this
sign, conquer.”
– The next night Christ came to Constantine in a dream and
told him to use the sign against his enemies.

74. Constantine’s Symbol: Chi Rho

75. Chi Rho
• Formed by imposing the 1st two capital letters
of the Greek word for Christ X and P
• Not technically a cross, symbol invokes the
crucifixion and the title “Christ”
• Symbol was often used by ancient Greeks as a
symbol for “good fortune”
• Chi Rho became Labarum

76. Constantine’s Labarum

77. New Contours of 4th Century
Christianity
• Basic doctrinal disputes resolved
– Aryanism vs. Athanasians Trinity
– Council of Nicea
– Clearly defined hierarchy
• Patriarchs
• Bishops
• Primacy of Bishop of Rome: Pope
• Spread of Monasticism

78. Western Christian Thought
• Saint Jerome (340-420)
– Translated Bible into Latin (vulgate)
– Argued that classical learning was important for
Christians
• Saint Ambrose (340-397)
– Archbishop of Milan
– Argued that Emperor not above the Church
– Admired Cicero but said highest virtue is
reverence for God

79. Saint Augustine
• Bishop of Hippo in North Africa
– How could humans be so profoundly sinful when they
were created by an all-powerful God whose nature is
entirely good?
– Augustine’s answer: all evils are result of the innate
human propensity to place our own desires above
God’s
– No one has the grace necessary for salvation
– Grace is God’s gift: given in greater portion to some
• Wrote City of God in response to those who
blamed Christians for fall of Rome

81. Barbarians at the Gates
• Huns
– Nomadic tribes from east of the Volga River
– Origins and language are subject of debate
– Mounted archers
– Atila the Hun
• Repeatedly attacked Eastern Roman Empire forcing Theodosius to
pay tribute
• The barbarian territory of the Huns, (in Thrace, became so great
that more than a hundred cities were captured and Constantinople
almost came into danger and most men fled from it. ... And there
were so many murders and blood-lettings that the dead could not
be numbered. Ay, for they took captive the churches and
monasteries and slew the monks and maidens in great numbers.
(Callinicus, in Life of Saint Hypatius)
• Died in

82. Borders of Thrace

83. Illustration from Nuremburg
Chronicle
Statue of Unknown Origin
c. 1800-1900

85. Germanic Invasions
• Germans were settled agriculturalists and sophisticated
metalworkers
– Traded with Romans
– Settled inside the empire
– Adopted Arian Christianity
• Goths settled along Danube
• 378 Goths revolted
• Theodosius accommodated Goth demands for food and land
• Alaric invaded Rome in 410
• 476 last Roman Emperor toppled by army of Germans, Huns
and Roman soldiers

86. Alaric
Sack of Rome by the Visigoths, J.N. Sylvestri, 1890

87. Causes of Collapse of Western Roman
Empire
• Military failure
• Economic failure
• Division of Empire
• Invader Kingdoms collected taxes but did not
pay them to Rome
• People moved out

88. Roman Institutions
• Roman cities survived in Gaul and Spain
• Roman agricultural patterns remained
• Roman aristocrats dominated civic life
• Roman law
• Roman authority in the Christian Church

89. Justinian
• Planned to re-conquer Western Roman
Empire
– Enormous cost
– Insufficient manpower
– Distracted attention from dangers in the east
• Codified Roman Law

90. Late Antiquity
• Assimilation of Roman culture by Barbarians
• Migrations caused frontiers of empire to be
indistinguishable from interiors of Western
Empire
– Learned culture of Greek and Roman world extended
to larger numbers of people
– Increasingly Christian character of Roman world
• Fusion of Christian culture and late Roman
governance
– Still centered around Mediterranean Sea

91. Contours of the Roman Empire Between 285
and 475

92. http://www.unrv.com/empire/timeline-5th-
century.php