1. Chapter 6: Rome and the Barbarians
At height, 2nd century C.E., Roman Empire contained million people in an empire reaching 2,700 miles east to west and 2,500 miles north to south
Rome enforced Pax Romana across empire
Contemporaries praised it for promoting peace and prosperity while critics claimed Pax Romana was brute military conquest

2. From Hill Town to Empire
The Founding of the Roman Republic
Founded in 753 B.C.E. [in legend]
Ruled for 250 years by Etrurians [Etruscans]
Republic created in 509 B.C.E. when upper-class Romans drove Etruscans out of city
New republican government had two consuls and a Senate using a system of checks and balances

3. From Hill Town to Empire
The Conquest of Italy
Army established on Greek model of phalanx
Drove Etruscans out of central Italy, 396 B.C.E.
Controlled all Italy south of Po Valley, 264 B.C.E.
Offered opponents the choice of alliance or conquest
Republic was a society geared for war

4. From Hill Town to Empire
Conquest of Carthage and Western Mediterranean
Carthage controlled North Africa and was a rival to Rome in commerce
Rome and Carthage fought three Punic Wars from 264 to 146 B.C.E.
Wars included invasion of Rome by Hannibal using elephants
Romans destroyed Carthage and sold citizens into slavery at end of war

5. From Hill Town to Empire
Subsequent Expansion
Annexed Spain, 197 B.C.E.
Series of wars led to annexation of Gaul (France) by 49 B.C.E.
Moved into successor states of Alexander’s empire at invitation of the Greeks
Rome applied “new wisdom” of harsh treatment to conquered areas

6. From Hill Town to Empire
Institutions of Empire
Support of conquered people achieved by
Selective offers of full citizenship to non-Romans
Others could get partial citizenship, right to marry Roman citizens, and freedom from arbitrary arrest
Citizenship offer directed toward upper classes

7. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients
An ancient form of relationship where strong protected weak and received obedience and support in return
Patrons were patricians; clients were plebeians who helped pay patron expenses and showed submission by ritual visit to patron’s house
Relationship present in Republic and Empire

8. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients [cont.]
The Roman Family
Paterfamilias (father) had life and death control
Control of daughters did not pass to husbands
Women had no formal rights but some control in practice
Marriages were arranged
Restrictions did not apply to lower classes

9. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients
Class and Class Conflict
Existed despite patron-client relationship
Plebeians and patricians forbidden to intermarry under Etruscans
Plebeians not allowed to be army officers in early Republic
Etruscan king had protected plebeians from patricians; Republic meant loss of protection

10. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients
The Struggle of the Orders
Term applies to plebeians’ long struggle for rights
Boycotts of Rome provided leverage in struggle
Plebeians had no economic rights
First plebeian consul was 360 B.C.E.
Fruits of imperial expansion went to patricians
Plebeian soldiers would return home to find their land confiscated for debts

11. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients
Urban Splendor and Squalor
Rome was most extreme example of wealth and poverty
Newly wealthy patricians relocated to Rome and built stunning mansions
Poor flocked to Rome in search of work and food and lived in hovels

12. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients
Attempts at Reform
Tiberius Gracchus clubbed to death by Senate for his support of the poor (133 B.C.E.)
Gaius Gracchus (consul, 123 B.C.E.) redistributed land, subsidized grain sales, resettled some poor in lands won in Punic Wars (assassinated in 121 B.C.E.)
Tax farming proposal unpopular
Reforms fail but lay groundwork for later permanent reform

13. From Hill Town to Empire
Patrons and Clients
“Bread and Circuses”
New solution was to bribe poor in form of free daily bread ration
Also presented many free public entertainments to fill idle hours of the poor
Threat of revolt by poor continued throughout life of Roman Empire

14. From Hill Town to Empire
Slaves and Slave Revolts
Conquests led to agricultural and mineral wealth that required an enlarged labor force
Millions of slaves acquired in wars
Rebellions included Great Slave War ( B.C.E.) in Sicily and Spartacus-led gladiator revolt of B.C.E.

15. From Hill Town to Empire
Military Power
Roman armies were central to the state
Willing to innovate: Greek phalanx, small maneuverable units, cavalry, sophisticated warships, walled camps
Service in army made men free but involved lengthy enlistment: years under Augustus
Conquered people served in army

16. From Hill Town to Empire
Generals in Politics
Military experience basis of political power
Control by Senate and Assembly weakens
Julius Caesar a model of how military success leads to political power
Augustus Caesar (Octavian) completed process with creation of Empire with central power coupled with promotion of traditional family values

17. From Hill Town to Empire
The End of the Republic
Augustus created imperial monarchy
Military expansion continued into Switzerland, Britain, Mesopotamia
Gains consolidated by Trajan ( C.E.)
Citizenship for conquered peoples now limited
Created international law (jus gentium) to deal with diverse people of empire

18. From Hill Town to Empire
Economic Policies of the Empire
Romans worked with local elites in provinces
Cost of empire to subjects included taxes and military service
Prosperity caused some to worry they had lost the simple virtues of Republican life before the rise of military leadership, or even before the overthrow of the Etruscans

19. From Hill Town to Empire
Economic Policies of the Empire
Supplying Rome
Feeding Rome, a city of one million under Augustus, was major task
Empire moved a large variety of products by ship within empire
Trade included exotic animals and gladiators for public entertainment

20. From Hill Town to Empire
Economic Policies of the Empire
Building Cities
Empire was largely agricultural but managed by potent urban civilization
Built administrative cities around empire including ones that became core of London, Paris, and Lyons
Empire contained over 5,000 civic bodies (cities and towns)

21. From Hill Town to Empire
Economic Policies of the Empire
Luxury Trades
Included goods transported over great distances including Chinese silks
Payment for luxuries was in metal (gold/silver)
Overland routes also vital (“all roads lead to Rome”)
Upper classes publicly scorned but privately participated in commercial activity
End of Pax Romana sharply reduced luxury trade in the late 2nd century, C.E.

22. From Hill Town to Empire
Cultural Policies of the Empire
Greco-Roman Culture
Incorporated Greek ideas and language through conquest and spread them across empire
Greek was the language of high culture; Latin was the language of administration
Sense of Roman triumph a key element of Roman sense of self and others

23. From Hill Town to Empire
Cultural Policies of the Empire
Stoicism
From Zeno, a Greek philosopher (c. 300 C.E.)
World is rational, well-ordered system
People should accept events without joy or grief
Treat all people with decency as brothers and sisters
Stoics sought more humane treatment of slaves
Height of influence under Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r C.E.)

24. From Hill Town to Empire
Cultural Policies of the Empire
Religion in the Empire
Accepted religious diversity and divinity of emperor
Mithraism and cult of Cybele attracted women
Monotheism of Judaism led to Jewish revolts and Roman suppression
Christianity seen as atheistic (Christians rejected divinity of emperor) and treasonous (refused to participate in public religious festivals)

25. From Hill Town to Empire
Cultural Policies of the Empire
Christianity Triumphant
Christians gained by time of Marcus Aurelius
Stoic idea of orderly world and concern for social welfare paralleled Christian ideals
Initially attracted poor and women
Acceptance in Edict of Milan (313 C.E.) culminates in Christianity being named official religion of empire in 394 C.E. when polytheistic cults are banned

26. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
Invaders at the Gates
Celts sacked Rome in 390 B.C.E.; fomented revolt in 61 C.E. led by Boudicca, a woman
Goths (Germanic) on northern border from 50 B.C.E. move west into Empire (under pressure from Huns) and form states within empire
Huns pressure late Empire, topple dynasty in China and invade India

27. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
Decline/Dismemberment of Roman Empire
Roman vulnerability to invasion increased by plague that killed one-quarter of Roman population ( C.E.)
Marcus Aurelius recognized invaders could be assimilated
Some invaders took citizenship, others wanted plunder, others wanted to set up separate states

28. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
Decline/Dismemberment of Empire [cont.]
Crisis of the 3rd Century
Repeated invasions along Danube and Rhine rivers
Invasion of Italy thwarted in C.E.
Loss of territory beyond Danube
Persian revolts unsuccessfully threaten Roman control of the east

29. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
Decline/Dismemberment of Empire [cont.]
The Fragmentation of Authority
Warfare required decentralization of power to regional capitals, including use of Constantinople as home to a second, eastern center of Roman power
Valentinian (r C.E.) last emperor able to defeat invaders
Administration moved to Milan and Ravenna [c. 400 C.E.]
Vandals and Huns extended power into west
Control of west into barbarian hands

30. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
Causes of the Decline and Fall
Structural problems
Class conflict continued
Cost of armies drained treasury
People more impoverished over time
Yeoman-farmer class, backbone of the Republic, was ruined although wealthy still prospered
Support of idea of empire faded

31. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
Causes of Decline and Fall [cont.]
Quality of emperors declined
Couldn’t defeat enemies or assimilate them
Christianity critical of pursuit of earthly power
Climate change and epidemics
Traditional list includes overextension, military and financial exhaustion, leadership failure, new values systems, infiltration of outsiders, new states that rejected Roman leadership

32. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
The Empire in the East
Focus on Constantinople, the “New Rome”
Combined Greek culture, Roman law, and Christian faith
Constantinople, later called Byzantium, lasts to 1453 C.E.

33. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
The Empire in the East [cont.]
Resurgence under Justinian
Constantinople impervious to Germanic attacks
Justinian recaptured lost portions of western empire [r C.E.]
Created legal codes known as Justinian Code
Suppressed Monophysite understanding of Christianity, the basis for ongoing religious conflict in the east and amenability to Islam

34. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
The Empire in the East [cont.]
Religious struggles
Armies of Islam launch invasions after 632 C.E.
Divisive iconoclastic controversy: is there a place for icons within Christian religion and practice?
Ability to resist invaders declines
Byzantine emperor asks Pope [western Christian leader] for help
Result is start of the Crusades

35. Barbarians and Fall of Roman Empire
The Empire in the East [cont.]
A Millennium of Byzantine Strength
Ruling classes not as separated from rest of people as in Rome
Less geographical overextension
Longstanding urban tradition

36. The Legacy of the Roman Empire
What Difference Does It Make?
Language was basis of many European languages and survived in liturgy to 20th century
Law a basis of and inspiration for modern law
Roman towns survive to present day
Roman Catholic church was organized along Roman imperial lines
Remains a model for modern empires