rome Flashcards
what were the two social classes in rome
plebeians: commoners, farmers, merchants, artisans
patricians: men who owned large amount of land
rigid class structure, difficult to move from plebeian to patrician
women and slaves viewed seperately
what is civic virtue
the value of putting the common welfare of the people as a whole above ones individual desires
what was the senate in the roman republic
a group of 300 patrician magistrates voted in by the assembly that served for life
proposed bills to assembly, collected taxes, managed money, foreign policy, advised consul
what was the tribune in the roman republic
a group of 10 plebeians voted in by the assembly that served one year terms
had power to veto, represented plebeian class, protected plebeian rights
what was the judicial branch in the roman republic
the praetors
eight patricians voted in by the assembly that served one year terms
oversaw court, used 12 tables, carried out laws
what were all the parts of the executive branch
consuls - main head
aediles - managed specific branches
quaestors - managed finances and administrative manners, also served as judges
what groups were classified as magistrates
consuls, praetors, aediles, quaestors
aediles and up could be voted into senate
what is a republic and why did the romans chose it
a republic is where supreme power is held by elected representatives, e.g. potus
roman founders thought it was successful because it gave citizens power, let them vote for their interests, and required representatives to work toward the common welfare
what is civic virtue and why is it important to a republic
civic virtue is the idea of having both the people and the representatives work towards the overall common welfare
it is essential to a republic as the people and representatives must act / vote towards the common welfare to allow the republic to function properly
who was cincinnatus and how does he show civic virtue
rome was surrounded by an enemy army so the government asked cincinnatus, a skilled yet humble military leader, to become a dictator
he became a dictator and lead the roman army to defeat the enemy army
however afterwards he relinquished his position as dictator, demonstrating civic virtue by putting the common welfare over his desire for power and fame
what were some weaknesses of the early roman republic
much of the power in the government was held by the patricians and laws were not written down, making the judicial system inaccessible for many people
how did the people of rome fix the weaknesses of the roman republic?
the plebeians seceded and ended up getting their demands met
one of the consuls had to be a plebeian and the tribune was created
additionally laws were written down in the twelve tables
what was slavery like in the roman republic
made up a third of roman population and was mostly made up by prisoners of war, people stuck in debt, and people born into or sold off, no specific race
some enslaved people were educated and more like assistants, living more lavish lives and handling family finances
others were more like artisans, running city shops like bakeries where they made income for enslavers
large majority did traditional more cruel hard work
what were the gods of roman religion
roman religion was polytheistic and also pluralist, adopting gods from other culture
the main ring of gods was adapted from the ancient greek gods
the founders of rome were considered gods and later roman emperors were thought to be related to them, becoming gods as well
adopted gods from greek, egyptian, persian, and etruscan cultures
what is quid por quo in roman religion
latin for something for something
nuncapatio was the gods doing humans favors
solutio was the humans doing something in return
what was private worship like in roman religion
very ritualistic, everything had to be exact
was based on how well you did rituals, not moral character
home prayers, food offerings, special meals, sacrifices
usually to smaller spirits for material gain
what was public worship like in roman religion
large public temples
two colleges/groups of priests, augures interpreted signs from gods, collegium pontificum assisted emperor with religious activites
rex sacrorum and regina sacrorum performed sacrifices for state
temples and public worship were more for the benefit of the state and rome as a whole
what do pagan, monotheistic, and polytheistic mean
pagan - person who worships many gods
monotheistic - religion with one god
polytheistic - religion with more than one god
what is the history of the jews and the romans and what made jews different
jews existed at a time were many other people were polytheistic while they were monotheistic
judas maccabeus defeated king antiochus iv of syria to create jewish state, then created peaceful alliance with come
about 100 years later roman general pompey conquered jewish state and dishonored them
mark antony made the jewish state a client kingdom, meaning it had its own ruler but would depend on rome
assigned herod as king but was very much disliked, leading to rebellion after his death led by zealots
titus stormed jerusalem in response and destroyed the second temple, some jews escaped to masada fortress but were eventually reached and commited suicide
jews would not have a state until modern israel in 1948 but scattered throughout rome and studied texts under rabbis in synagogues
what is the history and traditions of the jews before romans
they believed god made the earth and the heavens in 6 days and rested on the 7th, so they follow the same pattern by resting on saturday, the sabbath
moses received the ten commandments from god, laying out important laws
the main holy text is the torah, made up of five books including genesis (creation) and exodus (moses, 10 commandments)
founded by abraham, god revealed himself to him and made a covenant, protection to abraham and ancestors but must follow path of god
king david united jewish tribes, his son solomon made the first jewish temple in jerusalem
this temple would later be destroyed by the king of babylon, later king cyrus of persia let the jews back into the area and rebuilt their temple
had rules on diet called kosher diet
what are diaspora and temple jews
diaspora jews stayed abroad after the babylonians destroyed the first temples and were less strict
temple jews moved back to jerusalem after king cyrus rebuilt the temple
who were sulla, tiberius gracchus, julius caesar, pompey, mark antony, and octavian/augustus
sulla was a military leader who requested land to his soldiers as a reward, when denied he put up bounties for his political enemies leading to civil war
tiberius gracchus was a member of the tribune who wanted to increase taxes, limit land for rich, give grains to poor, and redistribute land, patrician senate beat him to death with chairs but would later have his reform enacted
caesar believed power could be achieved by being popular and having a strong military, he was a cruel military officer in gaul, convinced his army to lay siege to rome causing civil war, married cleopatra in egypt, threw banquet in rome and was voted temporary dictator, was later voted dictator for life but was quickly killed after, made into a god by outraged poor, power struggle
pompey was chosen by the senate to fight off caesar’s civil war but was quickly defeated by caesar, fled to egypt but was killed
mark antony was caesars close friend, convinced to not become a dictator if he succeeded by cicero’s sacrifice, fought octavian
octavian was the grand nephew of caesar, defeated antony, gave money to army and grain to poor, made aqueducts, staged large gladiatorial games, received status as dictator for life, changed name to augustus for the sacred one and become first roman emperor
what were the three punic wars
in the first punic war, both carthage and rome wanted control of sicily, rome won with a more advanced navy and took control of trade routes and sicily, sardinia, and corsica
25 years later, hannibal invaded italy, rome faced large casualities but eventually won with scipio africanus’ leadership, rome took parts of spain and north africa, lots of farmland was destroyed, carthage paid rome moeny for damages
roman senator cato demanded carthage to be completely destroyed, saw signs of recovery and got into war when carthaginians denied to abandon carthage, scipio aemilianus or scipio africanus the yougner, grandson of scipio africanus, destroyed carthage, enslaving 50000 carthaginians, gained lots of african farmland
how did the punic wars impact social classes
in the first punic war, plebeian farmers gained more overall farmland, plebeian soldier had their farmland stolen by patrician during war, patricians could get new goods from trade routes
in second punic war, farmers had farmland destroyed but also gained more, soldiers were robbed again, patricians got a large cut of money paid by carthage
in the third punic war, farmers had new farmland but more competitions for grain lowering prices, farmers under patricians lost jobs, soldiers were robbed again, patricians had a lot of slave labor to replace plebeians who had to be paid
plebeian soldiers became unloyal to the republic, as they believed the patrician senators did not serve their needs (civic virtue), creating military factions and leading to civil war
what were some roman values
dignitas - dignity, entitlement to respect
mas maiorum - sticking to tradition
virtus - valor, masculinity, excellence, courage, masculine traits
auctorius - authority in roman society
how did rabbinic judaism come to be
after the second temple was destroyed, the jews did not have a place to worship, since it was originally only allowed at the temple where priests would conduct sacrifices
yohanan ben zakkai escaped capture from romans and led group of jews
together they studied jewish texts and discussed how to interpret them and use them morally and ethically
they became rabbis, teachers, and taught inside synagogues
conducted prayers together to connect to gods
reformed holidays to celebrate at home (e.g. seder)
used good action as a replacement for sacrifice
everybody would read and interpret the torah, not just the priests
how did christianity come to be
after rome conquered judea, many jews were hoping for somebody (a messiah) to come up and reunite the jews like king david
jesus of nazareth was born around 4 bc and began criticizing jews who had a fondness for the upper class and emphasized moral character over ritual
he emphasized love the lord your god with all your heart and mind and then love your neighbor as much as yourself
he also claimed that the world would end soon and that good people would live eternally with god while bad people would be punished
he was later crucified by the romans and his followers said that he returned after death
later on paul, who converted to christianity, spread christianity throughout the pax romana
what are some books in the bible
the old testament (the jewish bible)
the new testament (jesus’ life, early christianity, letters to later churches)
gospels (jesus’ life)
who was pliny and what precedent did he set for christians
pliny was a magistrate in rome
a town complained about christians not buying from the temple but pliny did not find anything bad about them when he investigated
however he executed some of them by making them perform sacrifice and killing them if they refused
this set the precedent of treating christians as a different group than jews leading to their persecution
jews were exempt from sacrifice because of how ancient their religion was, but christianity was far newer and seen as a superstition leading to their persecution
how did eastern rome fall
the eastern roman empire fell as a result of barbarians. after much expansion and assimilation many people were adopted into the roman empire, including germanic warriors into the military.
these germanic warriors were only loyal to money and their commanders, not the empire, leading to civil war which would lead to the city of rome falling in 476 ad
the germanic warriors were also able to take advantage of the problems in rome at the time similar to what happened at the fall of the republic (large class division, civil war, military disloyalty, lack of support for poor). most importantly lack of civic virtue, ppl didn’t want to go in the government and help other people. + more instability due to moving of capitol east.
what was the byzantine empire and how was it a continuation of the roman empire
the byzantine empire was located towards the east and had its capital at constantinople (previously byzantium). roman emperor constantine moved the captial of rome to constantinople previously.
the byzantine empire follow many roman traditions (e.g. war with political rivals [persians for byzantines], one absolute emperor, sports spectacles [chariot races], followed roman law [result of justinian’s codification and the digest]).
however the byzantine had its differences such as religion (emperor over patriarch rather than emperor and pope dispute, roman catholic vs eastern orthodox), language (greek vs latin), architecture (more simple vs extravagant)
what ways did christianity spread during rome
there was great inequality between roman social classes and between immigrants and residents, making christianity more appealing
due to large scale immigration, many immigrants came looking for a community in rome. christianity offered a close knit community to them closer than the one offered by pagan religions
roman gods were made in the image of the patricians, not the more common plebeians. however, the bible stated that everybody was made in the image of god himself. additionally jesus, the son of god himself, was humble and a peasant. this made christianity more appealing as well
finally, as a result of the jewish diaspora, the jewish bible/old testament was translated into different languages. and many of these communities turned to christianity as a new form of religious hope. in combination this brought more people into christianity
what did diocletian do
diocletian divided the empire into a tetrarchy. he split the empire into an east and west half with their own emperor and co emperor (4 rulers -> tetrarchy)
he then persecuted christians as he saw them as a threat to roman unity and did not want the gods to lose favor of them. however he failed as many christians were a part of the government due to their high literacy rates (bible) and their services to the community.
what did constantine do
constantine reunited the empire after diocletian stepped down which led to civil war.
constantine restored the autocracy and moved the capital to constantinople. constantinople was farther away from barbarians, closer to the silk road, and on a peninsula (easier to defend). however it also removed stability from the eastern half allowing it to fall.
he also began to support christianity. he had a vision that told him christianity would help him gain control of the empire and when did gain control he openly supported christianity. rebuilt Jerusalem for christians, attempt to standardize (through purge of other branches), funds for bible copies and raised salaries for bishops
who was paul
paul was a jew who converted to christianity and began spreading it throughout the roman empire. he wrote parts of the new testament that gave advice to churches.
additionally he preached that everybody could become christian, including non-jewish ppl (gentiles)
he was particularly successful in spreading christianity because of the peace and infrastructure offered by the pax romana.
christianity was particularly enticing to women, as it condemned infanticide, divorce, incest, and polygamy. this led to many wives converting their husbands to christianity too.
