Test 1 Key Terms Flashcards
Edward Gibbon
First modern historian of ancient rome; wrote 1776-1788, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire typical traditional historian who took his sources at face value and did not open his mind to interpretation.
Michel Foucault
French; wrote during the mid-20th century. Bentham’s Panopticon: Prison in the shape of a donut; in the center is a guard with a gun ready to shoot. Idea that the prison’s authority only holds until the first time it becomes apparent that there is no shooter.
Wrote histories in a new light. Studied people on the fringes of society; inmates, poor people, women and children.
Livy
59 BCE - 17 CE; Augustan Historian. wrote 142 books about the preceding 770 year history of Rome, only 35 of his books survive. Heavy bias toward all things Roman.
Plutarch
45-125 CE writing about the time period between the Civil wars, to the end of the Republic. ~30BCE. Wrote parallel lives; taking main greek and roman rulers/generals/leaders and compare them to each other. Alexander/Caesar, for example.
Suetonius
Friend of Augustus who wrote about the emperors. Wrote “12 Caesars” about the preceding 12 caesars before Trajan. very opinionated and critical of appearances.
Etruscans
prevalent from the 8th-5th centuries BCE. influenced Rome throughout nearly all aspects of culture (town planning, aqueducts, arch, gladiator, etc.) the Etruscans were divvied up into city-states around Tuscany in Norther Italy.
Aeneas
Hero of the Trojan war. Fought against the Greeks. he was the ideal man in Roman eyes, trusting in his family gods, he is a son of Aphrodite, founder of Rome, very important to Rome.
Pontiffs
Priests who were the official religious advisors for all of Rome and Roman officials. Oversaw all religious tiruals; even the senate had to ask the pontiffs if it was ok to do something on a holiday. made up of 3 patricians, but later on, by 15 patri and plebi. the head of this group was the Pontifex Maximus.
Augurs
religious officials, throughout the lifespan of Rome, whose main task was to interpret the will of the gods. read signs to figure out of political actions were to be permitted. used flights of birds, animal livers, the feeding of chickens, thunder and lightning, etc.
Lupercalia
Festival that happened in the ides of February; Priests would go to the spot on the Palatine hill and kill an animal, namely a sheep or dog, then they would smear the blood on men and they would take parts of the bloody hide and run around the Palatine, hitting women with the hide. Mostly during the roman republic, symbol of death and renewal; march was the Roman New Year.
Struggle of the Orders
early 4th cen BCE; plebians withdraw to a nearby hill. demanding their release from debt, redistribution of public lands, and political say.
created the office of the Tribune of the Plebs.
Twelve Tables
Bronze tablets displayed in the Roman Forum. patricians were forced to comply with this law code Passed into law by a Decemvirate of 10 plebs who were appointed in 451 and 450 BCE. laws discuss livestock disputes, property and inheritance, court proceeding rules for plebs, etc.
Samnite Wars
341 -291 BCE. War between the cities of the Region and the growing power of Rome. the city of Capua is taken, and Campania and Rome gather their forces together. Brought Greece and Rome closer together.
Lincio-Sextian Compromise
in 377 BCE, two Tribune of the Plbs Licinius and Sextius stirred up dissent, boycotted elections, and eventually settled the question of debts, and, among other things, one consul must be plebian. One family could hold one office at a time for ten years.
Corsus Honorum
New way to structure roman politics, Q- A - P - C.
there were 4 Q and 4 A, then 2 P and 2 C at a time. this set up a system of checks and balances for the senators. The law stated that you had to hold each of the preceding offices in order, to become a consul or senator.
