Lecture 6: Rome Flashcards
Formation?
Twins, Romulus kills Remus. Baptised in blood and betrayal!
Describe the civilisation?
Xenophobic. Multicultural, but still distrustful.
Great engineering, technology. Both warfare and city planning.
Law and order, strict rule. Crucified thousands in a day, but cruelty is worth the cost of order.
->law system influences ours!
Grew to be largest, most advanced of its time
->Mediterranean sea was their lake
Roman Engineering?
Main uses for:
1) City building
2) administration
3) warfare
They loved gadgets and trinkets.
Hero of Alexandria?
- Unlike Archimetes, made trinkets, no war.
- > vending machine, for water
- > steam machine, though entertainment not for power
- lived in Roman Alexandria
- Pneumatics, Hydraulics
- FIRST EXPERIMENTER
- > ancient atoms
- > air can be compressed (SO VOID SPACE BETWEEN)
- > heat expands
Roman Water?
They loved it, but only Sprint Water.
- > even if 30+ miles away
- > every city had water, aquaduct system
- > public washrooms, baths
- > they knew about water wheel, but slaves instead…
Distribution:
- > water arrives at large distribution centre
- > lead pipes straight to house
- > pay for your pipe size
Roads
Built wherever they went for army
->straight line
Natural Philosophy in Rome?
Just popularized Greek translations
- > entertainment, not way of life like Plato
- > mostly summaries
- > encyclopedias, Pliny’s “Historia Naturalis”
NS was entertainment, status, cool story bro
- > have time to read
- > discuss with friends
Fall of Rome, N. P. ?
By fall, few originals left
- > split into Latin West and Greek East
- > people not bilingual
- > Latin West likely turned greek works to palimpsests,
- > no Greek originals in Europe
Then the Dark ages, no influence from Greece
->though there was actually work being done…
Post-Roman Latin West & Religion?
Roads allow multiculture, idea spreading
Christianity?
->heresy, worships man who defied them
->Constantine made it official
COMMIT TO MONOTHEISM
Religious commitment to Abrahamic Religion accelerated literature, science
Saint Benedict of Nursia
- Deeply devoted Christian
- > lived in caves
- people saw dedication, wanted to follow
- FATHER OF CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM
- > wrote “Regular
- > i.e. way to devote self to God
- > how to live life, most monestaries follow him
Wrote THE REGULARIS
- > how to be spiritual
- > how to admistrate a monestary
ORA ET LABORA - PRAY AND WORK
- > 8 hours pray, work, sleep
- > work includes charity and READING
- > creates new level of culture in the Middle Ages
Central ideas to the Latin West?
Studius Ethos?
- > how to mesh natural world & NP?
- > is pagan knowledge… knowledge?
- > find truth even if it hurts
- > heartfelt dedication to the truth
Monotheism = order, Logos
