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HIS 201 Ancient CIvilizations > Roots Chapter 12 > Flashcards

Roots Chapter 12 Flashcards

1
Q

Who were the two men responsible for bringing about a long period of peace and prosperity to Rome?

A

Julius Caesar and his grandnephew Octavian Augustus.

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2
Q

What was the title Octavian preferred to be called?

A

princeps (first citizen)

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3
Q

What was the title given to the new political system created by Caesar Augustus?

A

The Principate

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4
Q

What are the dates of the Principate?

A

27 B.C.–A.D. 337

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5
Q

What are the dates of the Julio-Claudian dynasty?

A

27 b.c.–a.d. 68

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6
Q

Who were the 5 emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty?

A 
27 b.c.–a.d. 14  Augustus 
14–37  Tiberius 
37–41  Caligula 
41–54  Claudius 
54–68  Nero
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7
Q

Who wrote Commentaries on the Gallic Wars?

A

Julius Caesar

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8
Q

Who was in the First Triumvirate?

A

Julius
Pompey, a disgruntled general
Crassus, an ambitious millionaire

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9
Q

Why did Julius Caesar form the triumvirate in the 60’s bce?

A

He needed allies since he was opposed and distrusted by the conservative Senate.
The alliance he formed was not official or legal–they were political bosses and succeeded in dominating the Roman state.

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10
Q

Caesar left his two allies back in Italy while he did what?

A

Caesar spent most of the following decade (58–50 b.c.) in Gaul, leading his army.
He was very successful and conquered what is now France and Belgium.
He established his reputation as one of history’s foremost military scientists.

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11
Q

Why was Caesar’s conquest of Gaul so important?

A

Caesar’s conquest of Gaul pushed Roman civilization far northward from the Mediterranean basin into the heartland of western Europe.
The long-range consequences of his conquest are huge.
Gaul was thoroughly Romanized.
The Roman influence survived the later barbarian invasions to give medieval and modern France a Romance tongue (i.e., a language that evolved from Latin).
It gave western Europe an enduring Graeco-Roman cultural heritage.

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12
Q

Who sided with the Senate against Julius Caesar and why?

A

Pompey
Pompey feared Caesar’s successful his military campaigns would threaten his own ambitions.
He and the Senate declared Caesar a public enemy.

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13
Q

Why did the Senate not like Julius Caesar?

A

Caesar pushed for land redistribution and other policies dear to the hearts of the poorer classes and the Senate did not like this.

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14
Q

What did Caesar do that was against the Roman constitution?

A

He lead his own loyal army across the provincial boundary of the Rubicon River near modern Ravenna into Italy. (Marched on his own country.)

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15
Q

What happened to Pompey?

A

(49–48 b.c.), he was defeated and fled to Egypt.

He was murdered there, leaving the Senate with no choice but to come to terms with Caesar.

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16
Q

What did Caesar do after he was victorious over Pompey?

A

He restored his senatorial opponents to their former positions and ordered the execution of Pompey’s murderer.
Caesar assumed the office of dictator and held it not for the traditional six months but year after year.
He forced the Senate to grant him the dictatorship for life.

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17
Q

Besides dictator, what other offices did Caesar take?

A

He assumed the key republican office of consul.

He took the title pontifex maximus (supreme pontiff), chief priest of the civic religion of Rome.

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18
Q

What was done to honor Julius Caesar?

A

In 44 b.c., a temple was dedicated to his genius (family spirit)
The month of July was named in his honor

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19
Q

What reforms did Julius Caesar make?

A

He introduced the new Julian calendar (based upon the solar year) that, with minor adjustments, is used by almost everyone today.
He organized numerous distant colonies that gave homes to many of Rome’s unemployed and stopped the state from having to support them.
He did much to reform and government in the provinces and to remove abuses from the republican administration.

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20
Q

Even though Julius Caesar’s reforms were good, why did the Senate still hate and fear him?

A

His reforms went too far and too fast for the Senate and they did not like him taking over the powers of a dictator.

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21
Q

What happened on the Ides of March (15 March), 44 b.c., ?

A

Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of senators.

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22
Q

Who led the senators who murdered Julius Caesar?

A

Brutus and Cassius

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23
Q

What did Julius Caesar’s assassins shout as they killed him?

A

“Tyranny is dead!”

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24
Q

Did removing Julius Caesar restore the republic?

A

No, it caused a period of civil unrest and anarchy.

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25
Q

What happened to Brutus and Cassius?

A

Mark Antony, Caesar’s trusted lieutenant, defeated Brutus and Cassius in battle, and they both committed suicide.

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26
Q

Who would emerge a leader after all the years of unrest after Julius Caesar was killed?

A

Octavian (later Augustus), Caesar’s grandnephew and adopted son– a young man of eighteen when Caesar died.

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27
Q

Why did Octavian succeed where Julius Caesar had failed?

A

Octavian completed the transformation of the Roman state from Republic to Empire.
But his reforms were more traditionalist in appearance than Caesar’s
He succeeded—where Caesar had failed—in soothing the Senate.
He reformed the Romans and made them accept it.

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28
Q

in 31 BCE, who did Octavian defeat at Actium?

A

Marc Antony and Cleopatra.

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29
Q

Whose tomb did Octavian refuse to visit?

A

Alexander the Great.

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30
Q

What was the Pax Romana?

A

It means “Roman Peace”– two centuries of almost uninterrupted peace during which classical culture developed and spread to the outermost reaches of the Empire.

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31
Q

Caesar Augustus became a dictator but he kept some republican traditions such as….

A

He preserved the Senate and increased its respect.

He kept the elected republican magistracies (minor court officials).

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32
Q

How did Caesar Augustus control power?

A

He controlled the army.

He was granted the power of a tribune (he could introduce legislation and he could veto anything he didn’t approve of).

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33
Q

Why is February shorter than the other months?

A

Caesar Augustus had a month named after him (August). His month needed to have as many days as Caesar’s July so a day had to be taken away from February.

34
Q

How did Augustus avoid looking like a dictator?

A

Augustus had a modest public image–he lived simply, mixed with other citizens.
He commonly used the simple title princeps, which meant “first citizen,” suggesting he was the leading Roman, nothing more.
He showed respect for the Senate.
He respected Roman traditions.

35
Q

Augustus took control of the government but he made some reforms. What improvements did he make?

A

Augustus provided peace, security, and justice.
The administration of the provinces was more closely regulated.
Corruption and exploitation were reduced.
He developed an efficient imperial bureaucracy.
It became easier for an able person from one of the lesser orders to rise in government service.

36
Q

What kind of arts did well under Augustus?

A

Roman artists, poets, and architects combined Greek and Roman elements.

37
Q

Who were some Roman poets?

A

Horace
Ovid
Virgil

38
Q

What famous poem was about the voyage of an important figure in the Trojan War who was also the legendary founder of the line that eventually would found Rome?

A

Virgil’s Aeneid

39
Q

When did Caesar Augustus die?

A

Augustus died at the age of seventy-six in a.d. 14.

40
Q

Who were 2 bad rulers who came after Augustus?

A

Caligula and Nero

41
Q

Who were the 5 Good Emperors?

A 
Rome’s rulers between a.d. 96 and a.d. 180—
Nerva
 Trajan
 Hadrian
 Antoninus Pius
Marcus Aurelius
42
Q

What was the knottiest problem in the whole imperial system?

A

Who would become emperor when the former emperor died?

43
Q

How would a new emperor be chosen?

A

In theory, the Senate chose the princeps.
In fact the succession usually fell to a close relative of the previous emperor and was often arranged in advance by the emperor.
The previous emperor often adopted a younger man of outstanding ability as his son and successor.

44
Q

Which emperor made the mistake of choosing his own son as his successor?

A

Marcus Aurelius chose his son, the incompetent Commodus, as his heir.
With the disastrous reign of Commodus (a.d. 180–92), the age of enlightened imperial rule came to an end.

45
Q

What was Rome like after the reign of Commodus?

A

It was followed by a century of invasion, civil strife, assassinations, economic and administrative breakdowns, and cultural and religious change, which nearly destroyed, the Roman state.

46
Q

What happened to the size of the Roman Empire during the two centuries from the rise of Augustus (31 b.c.) to the death of Marcus Aurelius (a.d. 180)?

A

The Empire expanded gradually.
It surrounded the Mediterranean Sea.
It went north across present-day France and England.
It extended about 3,000 miles from east to west (a little less than the length of the United States)—from the Tigris-Euphrates Valley to the Atlantic.

47
Q

How many people do scholars believe lived in the Roman Empire at its height?

A

Around 50 million people, many in the eastern provinces.

48
Q

Who bordered the Roman Empire on the east?

A

To the east, Rome shared a boundary with the Parthian Empire, which gave way during the third century to a new and aggressive Persian dynasty.

49
Q

How were the frontiers of the empire defended?

A

There was an imperial army of some 300,000 to 500,000 men, organized on principles laid down by Augustus.

50
Q

Who served in the Roman army?

A

Infantry legions were made up of Roman citizens serving long-term enlistments.
Infantry and light cavalry were made up of non-Roman citizens who were granted citizenship at the end of their extended terms of service.

51
Q

Which part of the army served the emperor in Rome itself?

A

The privileged praetorian guard.

52
Q

What Roman engineering accomplishment helped make the empire strong?

A

Roads!
The system of roads linked the city of Rome with its most remote provinces.
They eased the flow of commerce as well as the movement of troops.
Paved with stones fitted closely together, and running in straight lines mile after mile, these roads remained in use many centuries after the Pax Romana was shattered.

53
Q

What was even more important than the roads for Roman commerce?

A

The Empire’s greatest commercial artery was the Mediterranean Sea.
It was completely surrounded by imperial territory and was call mare nostrum (our sea).
Roman fleets patrolled the Mediterranean and cleared it of pirates for the first time in antiquity so that peaceful shipping could move safely among the Empire’s many ports.

54
Q

How did the idea of being a “Roman” change?

A

Citizenship was extended to more and more people in the provinces until finally, in a.d. 212, every free inhabitant of the Empire received citizenship.
Roman culture was gradually extended to the provinces where the inhabitants adopted Roman ideas and institutions.

55
Q

Which Roman emperor actually came from Spain?

A

Trajan

56
Q

What was an important development in governing the provinces?

A

Cities–they grew throughout the empire and they were where the government was centered.

57
Q

What was the problem with the cities?

A

The Roman cities were administrative and military centers.
Trade was not as important for them.
They had to be supported by the surrounding area or Rome itself.
During the first two centuries of the Empire, the economy was prosperous enough to support them, but later it was not.
In time, the cities would decline, and with them the whole political structure of the Roman West.

58
Q

What were the latifundia?

A

TThey were large farms which were owned by the wealthy and tilled by slaves or half-free peasants. (Became more common than the small farms.)

59
Q

In agriculture, what was the Mediterranean triad?

A

grain, grapes, and olives–traditional crops grown in this region

60
Q

What were the two staples of the Roman diet?

A

wine

bread

61
Q

How was agriculture divided up between the regions of the Roman Empire?

A

Olives were grown in the old center of the empire because they needed hot dry conditions.
Grain could be grown almost anywhere in the empire but Rome got most of its grain from Egypt and North Africa.

62
Q

Who liked butter better than olive oil?

A

The Germans–but butter would not keep in the hot areas of the empire so olive oil was used instead.

63
Q

In the early Empire, slaves were an important part of the economy, providing labor on farms. What happened to slavery?

A

As the empire expanded but also became more peaceful, the supply of slaves from conquered countries went way down.

64
Q

Who were the coloni?

A

They were sharecroppers–landlords leased portions of their estates to them. They became more and more like agricultural slaves.

65
Q

What percentage of the Roman Empire were slaves or poor laborers?

A

80-90 per cent

66
Q

In what ways was the Roman Empire not so peaceful even during the Pax Romana?

A

Germanic tribes kept trying to attack and sometimes crossed Rome’s frontiers .
Deep within the Empire, towns and countryside had a lot of local violence.
The provinces of the Roman Principate were drastically underpoliced and undergoverned.

67
Q

What was life like for women in the Roman Empire?

A

Roman women, even the wealthiest, were barred from political office, although some women did hold important political and religious offices in cities and towns outside of Rome itself.
Women were expected to stay home and obey their husbands.
During the imperial era, as in the late Republic, many Roman wives owned property, and most of them traveled freely within their cities.
In the Empire’s later centuries, women acquired considerable independence with respect to marriage, divorce, and property ownership, and many upper-class women were well educated

68
Q

Who was the master of the Roman family?

A

The Father!

69
Q

What happened to unwanted children?

A

They were abandoned.

70
Q

Which emperor was popular because he canceled all debt still owed to the imperial government?

A

Hadrian

71
Q

Who wrote Parallel Lives, biographies of famous Romans and Greeks?

A

Plutarch (c. a.d. 46–120)

72
Q

Who wrote Lives of the Caesars, a treasure chest of court scandal?

A

Suetonius

73
Q

What historian wrote studies of the early Empire plus an important study of the Germanic peoples, called Germania?

A

Tacitus (c. a.d. 56–118)

74
Q

What town was buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD?

A

Pompeii

75
Q

What Hellenistic city continued to be important during the Roman Principate? It was the home of Jewish and early Christian theologians as well as scientists.

A

Alexandria

76
Q

Who developed a model of the universe and wrote a geography of the ancient world?

A

Ptolemy of Alexandria, who died about a.d. 180

77
Q

What medical scientist from Hellenistic Pergamum, produced a series of works on biology and medicine that dominated these fields for more than a thousand years?

A

Galen (a.d. 131–201)

78
Q

Who wrote Meditations, a moving expression of the Stoic philosophy?

A

Marcus Aurelius, the last of the “five good emperors,”

79
Q

Whose book The Jewish War described the Jewish Revolt against Rome from 66 to 73 ad and the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem?

A

Josephus, a Roman citizen who wrote in Greek

80
Q

Of all the achievements of the Roman Empire, which is , perhaps the most far reaching—certainly the most distinctively Roman?

A

Imperial Law

81
Q

What was the ius gentium, or “law of nations?

A

As the Romans became acquainted with more and more peoples, each with its unique set of laws and customs, they gradually replaced their old laws with a body of fundamental principles drawn from the laws of all people. They slowly transformed the Roman code into a legal system suitable to a vast, diverse empire.

82
Q

What was ius naturale (law of nature)?

A

It is the Greek concept of natural law, based on the belief that, in a divinely ordered world, there are certain universal norms of human behavior that all people tend to follow, regardless of their own customs and traditions. It influenced Roman law.

HIS 201 Ancient CIvilizations (7 decks)

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