The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic BCE

Republic or Empire? “We are in a wilderness without a single footstep to guide us.” - James Madison, 1789 CE - expansion - slavery - political factions

The Grandeur that Was Rome - language - civil law - religion

No one is so intellectually sluggish as not to want to understand how the Romans – in less than fifty-three years – conquered, and how they now govern, practically the whole inhabited world… - Polybius, BCE I. On the banks of the Tiber: Origins

The Hero(ine) and History Aeneas and Dido The Aeneid - Virgil, 19 BCE Punic Wars Julio-Claudian Dynasty Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Romulus and Remus

Birth of the Republic The Rape of Lucretia Livy 509 BCE, Tarquinio deposed 509 BCE, Tarquinio deposed

A. Etruscan culture 1. Hydraulic society 2. divination / fate - Augurs - Pulcher and the chickens divination - Augurs - Pulcher and the chickens divination

B. Latium (Latin) 1. Seven Hills 753 BCE 2. Paterfamilias - name: common, gens, birth Gaius Julius Caesar Marcus Porcius Cato

C. Class compromise 1. Law of 12 Tables 451 BCE - patricians v. plebians “plebiscite”

D. Consuls and Conquest 1. Political machinery - cursus honorum - - cursus honorum - Two Consuls served 1 year terms “Praetor” – “ military leader” military 305 BCE became a separate office and leaders then titled “CONSUL.”

2. Regional power - 2. Regional power - Roman-Italic Wars – Latins & Etruscans - Roman-Gaulish War – Celtic (Gaul) invasion - Samnite Wars 343 – 290 – Umbria - Pyrrhic War – Greek (Pyrrhus)

Paradox of Republican Rome Expand to survive… expand and die

II. The Punic Wars BCE Defining moment - Livy “eternal Rome” Rome becomes an empire, and loses its republic

B. First Punic War 264 – 241 B.C.E. 1. Roman expansion beyond Italy Fight between Syracuse and Messina

2. Naval power - Battle of Drepana 249 BCE Corvus (assault bridge)

3. Republic or Empire? - General Verres BCE - Republican institutions inadequate

C. Second Punic War BCE 1. Delenda est Carthago Cato the Elder

2. Italian campaigns BCE - Battle of Cannae 216 BCE 70 K? Hannibal Barca

3. Romans victorious in Sicily (212) and Africa (202) - death of Archimedes - Battle of Zama Scipio Africanus

D. Third Punic War BCE 1. Classical conquests

Legacy of the Punic Wars - empire gained, but at tremendous cost - opportunists disrupt republican machinery - strains on the paterfamilias

III. Agrarian Republic Cultural Life after the Punic Wars

A. Paterfamilias in peril 1. Spokesman of republican virtue Cato the Elder BCE Cato the Elder BCE

2. Latifundia system - loss of land / citizenship - colonial economy - slave labor v. free labor

B. Infirmitas Sexus 1. Republican mothers - divorce

C. Rebellious sons 1. Paternal power 2. Adoption an option

D. Slavery 1. Household to gang slavery - economic disparity

2. Spartacus’ revolt BCE 3. Origins of dictatorship - Crassus, Pompey, Julius Caesar “I’m Spartacus” “I’m Spartacus”

E. Equestrians 1. New money - officers, merchants, aristocrats of the empire 2. by-passed old orders - Gaius Gracchus

F. Religion 1. Civic religion - Vestal Virgins 2. Familial gods, spirits - ancestor worship

3. New gods 4. Religion as dissent Cult of Bacchus Republic / Empire not bound by common religion

IV. Fall of the Republic

Persecution of Bacchus cult revealed deeper problems - growing class disparity; slavery - traditional male status in decline - no unifying public religion - Patricians hostile to any reform - “bread and circuses” - Patricians hostile to any reform - “bread and circuses”

A. Divided republic 1. Gracchus Brothers Tribunes Tiberius land reform d. 133 Gaius expand citizenship d. 121 Undermined system → mob rule optimates v. populares

B. “Special” Commanders 1. Marius BCE - Numidian War 112 BCE - army v. republic - expanded citizenship populares

2. Social Wars 91 BCE Sulla BCE Return to oligarchy Cicero BCE Stoicism – duty to one’s role divine providence

C. The “New” Men in power 1. First Triumvirate 59 BC - Pompey, Crassus

2. Julius Caesar d. 44 BCE - Gallic conquests - “man of the people” - King? “Crossing the Rubicon”

3. The Egyptian “Witch” - Ptolemies - Ides of March, 44 BCE

4. Second Triumvirate 42 BCE - Octavian, Marc Antony, Lepidus - Battle of Actium 31 BCE

D. The End of the Republic Octavian changes name to Caesar Augustus “Invisible Monarchy” Senate remains, but republic is lost

VI. Rome in the Augustan Age

Why an Emperor? 1. [Rhetorical] defense of Republican virtues 2. Reform / civic peace 3. The Pax Romana 31 BCE CE

A. Invisible monarchy 1. What’s in a name? - Consul, Augustus 27 BCE, Governor - Imperium Maius, imperator - princeps civitatus

2. Reform the Senate 3. Build Equestrian class

B. Army reform 1. Addition by subtraction - 60 to 28 legions - dispersal - Praetorian Guard - Praetorian Guard

2. The Legionnaires - standing army / navy - long tours - chance for promotion - veterans benefits 3. The Auxiliaries - chance for citizenship Army was a crucial instrument in spreading influence

C. Urbanization (sort of) 1. Rural West, urban East - soldiers’ colonies - road network 2. Little Romes - fusion of cultures - loyal patricians - bureaucracy

D. Moral Regeneration 1. The “family values” Emperor - tax breaks for kids - stiff penalties for adultery, the unmarried 2. Pontifex maximus - cult of the Emperor