Week 5 Flashcards
Collapse of the Roman Republic
-Reforms of Gaius Marius
-Generals, Conflicts, and Chaos
-Octavian (63 BC-14 CE)
-At the end of the second century BC, the Roman Republic entered a death spiral; after the raid expansion of the Republic around the Mediterranean, the Romans wound up with an empire that the Republican form of government was I’ll suited to rule
~Corruption was the watchword of the day, and to make matters worse, in the late second century the Roman suffered a series of military defeats and setback
*Result, the Republic decided that it was time to reform the army
While the Republic recruited soldiers from landowners, usually small framers, who were citizens of Rome and it’s allies, the destruction that resulted from the Second Punic War meant that pool of manpower had seriously declined and even disappeared in some places
-By the late second century BC, the Republic was having trouble actually getting enough men to serve when needed, and theri poor training was becoming increasingly problematic
~As a result, in the 107 BC the consul Gaius Marius decided to enact a number of reforms
First he decided to allow that landles poor to join the legions, which vastly increased the number of men who could serve
Second, instead of temporary armies calle up to serve for a short amount of time, Gaius turned them into permanent, professional institutions filled with soldiers who were rigorously trained, drilled and equipped in order to ensure their abilities to fight.
*Third, in order to reward these troops once they had retired, he offered them land where they could settle and farm
**These reforms helped to create the Roman Legions
**These new military forces allowed the Romans to consolidate their control over the Mediterranean
****Within a few decades, however, this became deeply problematic
**Legions were no longer loyal to the state but instead to the generals who paid and led them
**To keep them happy, generals needed to provide their troops with victories, loot, and land on which to retire
***This situation meant that, by the early first century CE, dissatisfied generals began to see their troops as a tool they could use to gain political power
**Why buy an election using bread and circuses when you could save time and money by taking power at the point of a sword?
**Plus, one could remove the political opposition’s heads at the same time
-Over the course of the first century, individuals like Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), and Julius Caesar used their troops to gain power, and they held on to power through intimidation, assassinations, and coups
~These individuals burnished their fame and supported their rule via foreign conquests
*Marius in North Africa and Italy
*Sulla and Pompey in Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean
*Caesar in Gaul (modern France)
**By 44 BC, Caesar was the last general standing, but his assassination by a group of senators who thought he was on the verge of becoming a monarch kicked off another round of civil wars and chaos
-Octavian, Caesar’s nephew and adopted son who was his heir, and mark Anthony, his friend and general, first defeated the assassin’s of Caesar and then fought one another for supremacy
-In 30 BC, Octavian emerged triumphant defeating Mark Anthony and conquered Ptolemaic Egypt, thus ending the Hellenistic Age and setting the Mediterranean and Western Europe on a Roman path
The Principate
-Power
~Consul
~Proconsul
~Tribune
-Propaganda
-When Octavian became the last man standing, he was standing on top of a heap of rubble
~Civil war and chaos meant that the Republic had not been operating effectively for a generation or more and Rome itself had become a starving, overpopulated cesspit ruled by partisan mobs
Octavian did have some advantages in attempting to remedy the situation
He controlled Egypt as his personal property, making him the wealthiest man in Rome, and he was in charge of the vast majority of the legions
He also had the benefit of watching what had happened to his uncle, and from Caesar’s assassination he realized that he could not simply seize power overnight
***Instead, he created a form of government that we know as the Principate
-From all outward appearances, the Republic seemed to be operating normally
~The Senate and Assemblies met on a regular basis to make official policy, and magistrates were elected every year
*However, behind the scenes, often with just a token disguise, Octavian was the man who ran Rome
**Almost as soon as he came to power, the Senate began to “offer” him positions
***He was elected as a consul; he was appointed proconsul of the majority of the provinces; he was given the power of a Tribune of the Plebs for life (meaning that he could call the Senate together, propose and unilaterally veto legislation, oversee elections, determine who could serve in the Senate, and his person was considered sacrosanct); he was appointed pontifex maximus (chief priest); and the Senate gave him the title Augustus, a name that implied almost god-like authority
**All these positions were “offered” by the Senate in recognition of his military victories and for the vast amount he spent from his personal fortune on improving roads, buildings, sewers, temples, and all other parts of the civil infrastructure of Rome
***In addition, he held some positions for short periods before giving them up for other offices (decided to refuse the consulship for long periods late in his life and only accepted consulships when he thought it necessary)
**It was thought this veneer of the Republic that Octavian disguised the fact that he was the first Emperor of the Roman Empire
***People certainly recognized that Octavian was in charge despite the facade of Republic government, but it was vastly preferable to the chaos and disorder that had preceded his reign
**Octavian was quite adept at assuming the fears of people who thought he was getting too powerful
**He did so by allowing other people to become consuls or letting the Senate run provinces where legionary armies we’re stationed
**He was a superb propagandist who filled Rome and other cities with statues and other images that reminded people who they owed for the roads, sewers, bread, and law and order that they enjoyed
The Pax Romana
-The Julio-Claudian Dynasty
-Five Good Emperor’s
-Perhaps the most powerful sign of the stability of the system that Octavian constructed is the face that is survived after his death in 14 CE
~His successors, known as the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, were not ideal rulers
Tiberius eventually retired to an island off the coast of southern Italy and ruled via letters instructing his agents who should be arrested or killed
Caligula seems to have tired of ruling from behind the scenes and attempted to seize power outright, for which he was portrayed as a madman by Roman historians
*Nero was a tortured artist who had no interest in ruling and whose incompetent eventually resulted in a year of civil war
**Indeed, Octavian’s only competent successor was Claudius who only ruled for thirteen years before being murdered
**Despite this the Principate survived and Rome prospered during the first and second century CE
****This is the time that we know today as the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace
-The Pax Romana really reached it’s heights during the early second century CE and the region of the Five Good Emperors
Nerva
*Trajan
*Hadrian
*Antoninus Pius
*Marcus Aurelius
**Who ruled from 96-180 CE
**This is the time period when Rome reached it’s height geographically, culturally, and intellectually speaking
****Often these men are known as the Five Good Emperors because of their military victories, prosperous economies, and the general peace and order that characterized their reigns
****This does not mean that there were no problems
-Rapant economic inequality, disease, and military threats along the borders certainly existed, but the power of the Roman state meant that the borders were secure, the majority of the people were fed, the economy stayed stable
~After the death of Marcus Aurelius, though, the Empire began to decline
Poor governance, increased military threats, a declining economy, civil wars, and other factors led to a decline in government authority
**Over the course of the third century, Roman government and society experience a series of crises that almost tore it apart, but it managed to recover at the end of the century due to the reform of Emperors Diocletian and Constantine
**Under their firm rule, they managed to end the civil wars a d reestablish imperial authority, thus ensuring that Rome survived for another hundred years or more
Romanization
-Cities and Roads
-When the Romans invade and occupied regions, they did not attempt to disturb local structure and traditions
~Instead, they left local laws and religions to operate as they had before the Roman occupation
This helped preserve the peace, and it allowed the Romans to focus on collections taxes and maintaining order
However, during the Pax Romana, Roman culture, traditions, literature, architecture, and language spread throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe
*This process is known as Romanization
-Three we’re a number of factors that helped encourage this, but to focus on two main factors
*Urbanization
*The Army
-Rome was an urban society
~Government, taxation, commerce, and culture were focused on cities, and thus wherever Romans went, they expanded or founded cities in order to govern their territory
*These cities became hubs for Roman culture that were linked by an ever-expanding road network
**While many of these cities were initially developed by the central government, typically is was the local elites who actually spent the money to develop and beautify their surroundings
***They typically financed the building of temples baths, amphitheaters, libraries, and other structures that would help turn their local city into a mini version of Rome itself
**The local elites inspired to do so by Octavian
***In order to glorify himself and prove the legitimacy of his rule, he built temples and other structures across the city of Rome and around the Empire
**Building buildings in the same way that Octavian had done was a way for locals to show their public virtue and loyalty tot he state, and they got to put their names of these structures to ensure that they and their ancestors would be remembered
*******Of course, Emperors financed major civic infrastructure projects and many of the buildings in Rome itself, but it was really due to the efforts of local elites that Roman culture and traditions began to spread out into the countryside
-Many of the best preserved Roman structures are not it Italy itself but are rather out in what we’re provinces
Amphitheaters (Rome and Tunisia)
-Amphitheaters are one of the most prominent structures built in Roman cities
~Games were certainly an important element of Roman culture and public life, but it’s important to note that some of our more common conceptions of gladiatorial combat are incorrect
Death in the arena was not particularly common, at least for gladiators themselves
Gladiators were trained athletes and were expected to return the investment that had been out into the via their training, food, and lodging
*Indeed, even the common image of an emperor or crowds giving a “thumbs down” to execute a gladiator who had failed to put on a good show is the product of nineteenth-century imagination
**Regardless, one might be familiar with the Coliseum in Rome , which was built in the 70s CE by the Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus
**However, some of the best surviving amphitheaters are in North Africa, such as the Amphitheatre of El Jem, which was built in the early 200s CE
Baths (Rome and Bath, England)
-Bathing was also an important daily social ritual in Rome
~People would go to the public baths in order to relax, socialize, and conduct business, they often contained public libraries where people could go to read and study, and were decorated with statues and public art
*The baths were marvels of engineering and included separate hot and cold areas
**Some of the largest were built in Rome by emperor’s in the 200s and early 300s CE in order to curry the favor of the unwashed masses
-The Bath of Caracalla, are some of the largest in Rome, but they are not particularly well preserved, despite their massive size
~The frescos and other artworks that once decorated this enormous structure have been destroyed, but the art in the public baths at Pompeii are fairly well preserved due to the eruption of Vesuvius
*Quite a few frescos and other artworks have survived at Pompeii, and the excavation remains of the Suburban Baths show that the walls were decorated with a variety of erotic artwork, the meaning of which is hotly diluted
**Some have suggested that they are intended to be advertisements for prostitutes who worked in the baths, which is possible since prostitution and brothels we’re quite common in Roman cities, while other have suggested that they were intended to be remainders to help people remember where they had strokes their clothing
-Some of the best surviving baths, however, are actually in England, particularly in Bath
~The Romans exploited natural hot springs of the area and thus avoided having to build complicated hearing systems
Colonnades and Temples (Palmyra)
-Up until recently outside of Pompeii, some of the best surviving Roman cities were in the Middle East, particularly Syria
~Many Roman cities while have had main avenues lined with columns leading to the center
At Palmyra, in modern Syria, a large portion of the colonnade survived and led to a well-preserved temple complex that stood at in the city
**In addition many of the other structures at Palmyra were extremely well preserved; it’s theater, is almost completely intact
**However, many of the temples, tombs, triumphal arches, and other structures have been destroyed in recent years as the city was occupied by ISIL
The Army and Romanization
-Citizenship
-Marriage
-Colonies
-Beyond Rome
-The point here is that these cities, and the amenities and culture they provided, helped to spread Roman influence out into the farthest regions of their empire
~People would go to these locations and walk away inspired by the wealth and glory of the Empire
*The army played a similar role in spreading Roman culture to the provinces
-During the Pax Romana, people from across the Empire joinder the army because, at the end of their service, they would become Roman citizen
~This was advantages because it gave them the right to serve in local governments, protected them from being enslaved, and offered a variety of other rights and privileges
*They served across the Empire, traveling from their homelands to the center of power in Rome, and to the Middle East and beyond
**When they returned home, they brought with them the desire to remake their local towns and temples in the image of the cities they had seen while in the army and they brought new religious, customs, and traditions with them as well
-The Roman citizens who served in the army also helped to spread Roman culture
~When they served, they too traveled out to the borders of the Empire, bringing their religion, language, and traditions with them, and when they arrived out in the middle of nowhere they built structures and institutions that would give them the comforts of home
When they served at Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, they demanded that baths be built and that food and wine from the Mediterranean be shipped in to make their lives more comfortable
**While they were not supposed to marry while in the army, these soldiers certainly formed relationships with local women, and marriages certainly did occur
**When they retired, many went to live in colonies in the provinces where they took Roman culture and traditions with them
**In these colonies, Roman culture and traditions blended with local culture in a massive melting pot that resulted in Romanization
-A Roman fort in Vindolanda along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England
~In the 1979s archaeologists discovered a large number of wooden tablets that preserved the writings on the inhabitants of the fort from the first and second centuries CE
*These are a truly amazing collection of documents that describe the daily life and interests of the soldiers, their wives, and other individuals
**Some relate to trade, such as shipments of grain and other goods
-This process of Romanization extended beyond the political borders of the Empire
~The Romans tended to see the people living beyond their borders, particularly in Northern Europe, as uncivilized barbarians, but the enormous cultural and economic power of Rome menat that the people beyond their borders were profoundly influenced by Rome
The farmers and warriors of Northern Europe traded with Roman cities and soldiers living along the borders and served as auxiliaries in the Roman armies
**They admire and envied the glory and power of Rome, and often attempted to model Roman culture in their homelands
**The process of Romanization took longer because of the lack of a direct Roman presence, but in the 200s and 300s CE, even the areas beyond the borders of Rome gradually became increasingly Romanized
Resistance
-The Great Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE)
-Three was certainly resistance to Romanization by a wide variety of people who resented Roman rule
~Most important point of resistance was the Great Jewish Revolt
Judea had become an independent kingdom in the Hellenistic period, but under Octavian, the Romans annexed Judea and turned it into a province
**Initially there were few issues; keeping with their normal policies, the Roman did not attempt to enforce Roman law or traditions but simply kept peace and order in the region
**However, over the course of the first century CE, tensions slowly grew
**While Jewish elites benefited from the Roman presence, and enjoyed the cultural and intellectual ideas by Rome, those at the lower levels of society did not always see the benefits of high taxes and began to regard the Jewish elites as collaborators with an alien conquerer
*****As such, they turned to scribes and other authorities at the local level who advocated resistance to Roman rule
-In 66 CE, these tensions erupted when, in response to protests, the Roman governor ordered troops to break into the Temple in Jerusalem to collect funds
~In response, rebels rose up across Judea, seized Jerusalem, as well as the other main cities of the region and defeated a legion sent to put down the rebellion
In the end , led by the future Emperor’s Vespasian and Titus, the rebellion was put down through a massive display of force that included leveling Jerusalem after a lengthy siege, and enslaving perhaps two million people and sending them across the Mediterranean
**Two more rebellions resulted in lengthy guerilla wars that caused the Romans to simply depopulate Judea through the enslavement and shipping of the Jews across the Mediterranean
**In order to prevent the Jews from attempting to create an independent state I the region, the renamed the province Palestine to erase the memory of Judea from the region
**It is this resistance to Rome that resulted in the Jewish Diaspora that we can still see the legacy of today
Determining the Will of the Gods
-Augurs
~Birds/ Animals
-Haruspices
~Organs
-The gods communicated with the Roman in a wide variety of ways, and it was the responsibility or priests and other professionals to decipher what exactly they were trying to say
~For Romans, two of the most important were augurs and haruspices
Augury involved the study of the flight of birds, the movement of other animals, and other natural signs in order to determine the will of the gods
**Birds were undoubtedly the most important signifiers of the natural world
**The direction of the flight, and type of birds, could indicate either positive or negative things
***Similarly, Augurs were men who kept flocks of birds that they would feed and then determine what the future held from their actions
Haruspices determined the future and will of the gods through the examination of the organs of sheep and other creatures, a practice that they picked up from the Etruscans
**The liver of Piacenza, which is a three dimensional model liver covered with Etruscan inscriptions for use when examining livers
**They created digrams and descriptions of various organs in order to determine how to understand the various lumps, spots, and discoloration that appeared on the livers and other organs of sheep and other animals
-One the will of the gods and the future was known, priests performed rituals and sacrificed animals in order to determine what needed to be done
Religion and the State
-State Religion
-Emperir Worship
~Octavian
-There was really no distraction between religion and the state in Rome
~Religious positions were a part of the career path of politicians, and honoring the gods was a key element of a politician’s duties
For patricians and Plebeians alike, honoring the gods was a way to ensure that the state remained peaceful and successful, and participating in public ceremonies was one of the primary ways one could show loyalty to the state
During the Pax Romana, this was extended to honoring the spirit of Emperors as gods, or what we know today as Emperor Worship
*The Romans had long honored the spirits of their ancestors, and as they conquered the Hellenistic East, they began to absorb the ideas of divine kingship
**When Octavian became the sole ruler of Rome, he elevated Julius Caesar to the position of godhood, and while people in the Eastern portions of his empire honored him as a god in the same way as they honored their previous ruler, it was not something that spread widely in the West
**After Octavian’s death his successor, Tiberius, and the Senate elevated him as well, and temples to him spread throughout the Empire
-Cameo of Octavian’s death from the mid first century CE, is shown him wearing a clock which was a symbol associated with the divine power of Zeus and Athena (Jupiter and Minerva in Roman tradition)
~Serves as a reminder to the viewer of his divine authority
*Octavian’s successors advocated for their godhood to various extents, but most were content at being elevated after their deaths, and some, like the more practical Vespasian, treated it with a great deal of skepticism (Vespasian’s last words were, “Oh dear, I think I’m becoming a god).
-The more autocratically minded Caligula and Domitian both seem to have pushed the Imperial Cult as a way of showing their dislike of operating from behind the scenes in the way that Octavian had
~Regardless, rituals honoring the emperor were a way for the general population to show their loyalty to the state
*While we often see Emperor Worship and the state religion of Rome and other classical societies as being merely empty rituals, it is clear that many people believed in the presence of the gods and the necessity of honoring the divine Emperors as society
**Preforming rituals was necessary in order to ensure the peace and security of the state
Relationship to Foreign Gods
-Cybele (The Great Mother)
-The Jews
-They acknowledged that the gods of other people were legitimate, and they were often willing to accept new gods into Rome, if they thought that it would benefit the state in a substantial way
~In the Second Punic War, as the Roman were losing, they decided to accept the worship of Cybele, the Great Mother, and a goddess associated with one of Rome’s allies in Anatolia
*The goddess had been worshiped for centuries in Anatolia, but when it was suggested that bringing her worship into Rome would benefit the state the Romans entered negotiations to obtain a sacred stone associated with her worship
**The stone was brought to Rome where it was installed in a temple and her cult expanded in Rome
The Romans were also willing to extend religious right to people whose gods they deemed worthy or respect
****Even thought the Jews practiced a variety of beliefs that the Romans found off, they were willing to extend them the benefit of the doubt, since their beliefs were of great antiquity and it was possible that their God was worthy of respect
**As a result, they excused them from honoring the Emperor in exchange for peace and order
****Once the Jews rebelled, the Romans had no problem eliminating them
Mystery Religions
-Individual Attention
-“Mysteries”
-Isis
-Traditional household and state religion did not necessarily offer a personal connection to the divine or reassured that one’s afterlife would be happy
~Instead, human souls went to a version of Hades, the Greek underworld
*While there were different locations where ones soul could reside, Greek and Roman literature presents it as an unappealing eternal existence
Hellenistic philosophies such as Epicureanism and Stoicism provided alternative explanations for some, but for many atomism and/or the Stoic vision of the divine force were even less comforting and did not offer the promise that there was someone or something out there in the universe who cares about them as individuals
-Mystery Religions, a variety of traditions that began in classical Greece and became extremely popular in the Hellenistic Age, filled this gap
~There were a wide variety of Mystery Religions with a wide array of beliefs that are not easily summarized
Mystery Religions are “mysteries” because the exact rites and rituals that were expected of individuals were kept secret
**Partitioners were not supposed to tell outsiders exactly what went on, which makes actually talking about them today somewhat difficult since there are not that many sources that give detailed information
**Usually they seem to have asked partitioners to follow some sort of moral or ethical guidelines, and in return they promised that the gods who was being worshiped would look out for individuals worshipers, both in this world ans in the next, where devout individuals would exist in the divine presence for an eternity
**Realistically there was no overarching organization that connected all the temples associated with various gods
**Isis was an Egyptian deity who merged with Aphrodite and other Mediterranean goddess and became the center of a prominent Mystery Religion
***If one went to Rome to Athens, there would probably be a community of believers associated with Isis in both cities
-Just because one was a member of the temple in Rome did not mean one would automatically get into the temples in Athens, and the exact teachings would vary depending on the location
~As a result, they are often referred to as cults rather than religions
Cult of Mithras
-Zoroastrianism?
-Hunt
-Banquet
-One of the most influential of these Mystery Religion was the Cult of Mithras
~Scholars are unsure if where Mithras came from but he may have been an Eastern deity, perhaps with Zoroastrianism, but as he entered into Rome he changed dramatically
*Mithras was a hunter, warrior dirty who, according to tradition, hunted a bull into a cave where he sacrificed the bull and created a banquet that he then shared with the sun
-A image that the sun and moon are above him, and one can see the dog, scorpion, and snake (described as zodiac symbols) attacking the bull
-Cultic sites associated with Mithras often contain images of this sacrifice, and they are typically located underground, apparently in imitation of the cave
~There worshipers would feast together and theoretically, reenact the sacrifice
*Mithras was very popular with the army, he seems to have been brought back from the East by the army, at least in part because the cult seems to have asked individuals to actually go out and do good works in the world
Christianity
-Jesus (circa 4BC-30CE)
-The Gospels (good news)
~Messiah (Christos)
~Break with Judaism
*Life
*Trinity
-In the 50s and 60s CE, a group of men and women in the Eastern Mediterranean began to argue that their teachers, Jesus, who had been executed by the Roman state, had filled the majority of the Jewish prophecies concerning the messiah, a leader descended from the line of King David who would one day arrive to either spiritually or temporally lead the Jewish people
~They preached that he would soon return to Earth, what we know as the Second Coming, and he would judge all living and dead beings
*These stories and accounts evolved and developed, and in the late first century, they were written down in what we know today as the Gospels, a term which means “good news”
**Today of course we usually identify four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
These works may have been written sometime in the late first century CE, but no full copy of them survived from before the early-mid- 300s century
****These works tell us about the life and death of Jesus, but because of their status as scripture, most historians are reluctant to take them as 100 percent factually correct
**There are some Roman and Jewish historians who mention Jesus and early Christians in passing (Josephus, Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger), but these individuals typically wrote in the very late first century or early second century, and so the Gospels wind up being our best, if somewhat imperfect source
****This means that there are many unanswered questions about the life of Jesus, and some historians have gone so far as to question his basic historicity
-These early followers of Jesus were primarily a part of the Jewish community, but there were elements of these early stories that broke with traditional Jewish beliefs
~In particular, the miraculous nature of Jesus’ birth, the miracles that he preformed during his life, and the account of his resurrection and ascension into Heaven we’re all new
In addition, these early Christians began to articulate the doctrine of the Trinity - that the single God was composed of three distinct parts, God the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit
**The exact relationship between the three parts and the exact nature of Jesus’divinity or humanity are matters of debate
**These elements helped to separate early followers of Jesus from the main body of the Jewish community
-By the 60s CE, the community of believers in the city of Antioch seem to have separated to the point where they were the first to be referred to as Christians
