1. Class 12 February 15, 2016 Rise of the Roman Empire
Western Civ
Class 12
February 15, 2016
Rise of the Roman Empire

2. Timelines for Rome
753 BC: Legendary brothers Romulus and Remus establish Rome on seven hills
510 BC: Romans rise against the Etruscans and create the Republic of Rome
By 500 BC, other Italian peoples are living in city-states
In central Italy, the small city of Rome wins its independence from Etruscan domination and becoming one of these new-fangled city-republics.

3. Timelines for Rome
By the end of the fourth century BC, Romans expanding across central and southern Italy. Long, fierce wars ended in Sabine, Samnite, and Umbrian hill tribes, and Etruscan and Greek city-states, all falling under Roman domination.
 Rome did not treat defeated opponents as conquered peoples, but formed them into a confederation of allies under her leadership.
A network of roads and colonies underpinned Roman control of the peninsula.

4. Timelines for Rome
Rome’s Italian allies provided troops for the great wars Rome fought with Carthage in the third century ( BC and BC)

5. 218 BC: Hannibal crossed the Alps during the Second Punic War: he did NOT defeat Rome
Carthage and Rome had fought, repeatedly. Carthage lost the 1st war, and with it Sicily and most of it’s navy. They had previously conquered Spain and had a treaty to the Elbro River with Greece. So Hannibal went there, to “New Carthage” to conquer Greece by land. Over rivers, mountains, the Alps. With some Elephants along….

6. Timelines for Rome
58-51 BC: Julius Caesar defeats the Gauls and the Britons
47-44 BC: Julius Caesar is named dictator, only to be murdered by senators

7. Timelines for Rome 27 BC: Octavian becomes Augustus, the first emperor
1 AD: Birth of Christ and common era
79 AD: Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum
167 AD: Barbarians Invade the Empire’s northern and southern provinces
312 AD: Constantine declares Christianity Rome’s state religion.

8. The Roman Empire

9. Introduction to Roman Empire’s Contributions to Western Civilization
Retention of Greek High Culture
Literature, arts, education, science, philosophy, etc.
We get a LOT of what we know about/have from Greece, through Roman conservation.
The value of copying
And to some degree, adapting
There’s a lot of good to be learned by emulating the best forms.

10. Introduction to Roman Empire’s Contributions to Western Civilization
Imperial Empire
Egypt, Persian, Greek, Hellenistic as models
Refined into an enduring form
Imperial administration (the best up until then; then until the British).
Don’t kill or enslave those you conquer.
Leave order in place, then undermine it.
Collect the taxes.
Export the goodies home.
Give em peace, order, services.

11. Introduction to Roman Empire’s Contributions to Western Civilization
Engineering/architectural infrastructure
Roads, aqueducts, urban buildings and monuments of all sorts.
Important revisions to military strategy
Football
Ok Not football exactly But massive spectator sports/spectacles that literally overwhelmed the culture with entertainment lust.

12. Introduction to Roman Empire’s Contributions to Western Civilization
Public school system for education
Based on the rhetorical models from Greece
Latin as standard FORMAL code (initially, no good; eventually, the gold standard for diplomacy).
There were native people who spoke a common form
The formal code doesn’t become a vernacular.
History (deeply refined the practice of writing them)
Plastic art that boarders on the greatest: esp. Sculpture & Mosaics
Great Literature
Some lasting philosophical perspectives

13. Introduction to Roman Empire’s Contributions to Western Civilization
Politics
Briefly representative: Invents the Senate and balance of checks and balances from multiple “houses/levels”
Based on stated high ideals
After the Republic falls, mostly fake
Demonstrates how to build and run an empire
Law, especially the notion of “natural law” and the articulation of broad administrative codes that work for masses of people, including imperial conquests.
“The Good Man Speaking Well”
Wedding the value of broad liberal education with civic duty and articulate and influential communication

14. Introduction to Roman Empire’s Contributions to Western Civilization
Graphic demonstration of how corruption --political, moral, cultural -- can truly destroy an entire civilization, no matter how great.
Make way for the Christians. Not to over-simplify, but:
The Romans provide the Christians with a common enemy
It’s possible to “go forth and teach all nations” when there are good roads and travel to “the provinces” is not extraordinary.
Once you get there, the language, money, etc., are shared in common. One passport, one currency, a common “formal” language, joined to everyday Greek.
Spreading a common cultural element, like religion, is not out of the question, esp. once it is validated by the State.