Western Civilization HIST 103

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Western CivilizationHIST 103

• The Rise of Rome

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Roman Values

• Roman values provided the foundation of their
  social and religious institutions. Romans
  believed their values had been handed down from
  ancient times and called them mos maiorum, or
  "the way of the ancestors." Moral values of
  uprightness, faithfulness, and respect defined
  how a person interacted with others. Those who
  conducted themselves properly by keeping their
  obligations, showing proper respect to the gods
  and their elders, and exercising self-control
  earned status. Men earned status through election
  to high public office and public recognition of
  their contributions to the common good, while
  women earned status through the bearing of
  legitimate, morally sound children. Hierarchy
  also defined Roman society it was believed that
  those of high birth held higher status, and
  Romans expected their elites to live up to the
  demands of Roman values. Over time, however,
  wealth rather than birth and high morals came to
  convey social status.

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Patron-Client System

• Romans institutionalized the hierarchy that
  defined their society in the patron-client
  system, an interlocking network of personal
  relationships that obligated people to one
  another morally and legally. A patron, a man of
  superior status and usually of high birth,
  provided his clients with "benefits" such as
  legal or political support, gifts, or loans. In
  return, clients repaid their patrons by owing
  "duties," which could include working for votes
  in their patron's campaigns for public office and
  lending their patrons money to support public
  works or dowries. Patrons expected clients to
  accompany them to the forum (the city center) on
  a daily basis having a large circle of clients
  and a crowded household was a sign of social
  success. These mutual obligations were passed on
  to succeeding generations, epitomizing the Roman
  view that social stability was achieved through
  faithful maintenance of patron-client
  relationships.

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The Roman Family

• The Roman family formed the bedrock institution
  of Roman society because it taught values and
  determined the ownership of property. Men and
  women shared the duty of teaching values to their
  children, but the tradition of patria potestas
  ("power of the father") gave a father ownership,
  if he cared to exercise it, of all property
  accumulated by children or slaves as long as he
  lived. Fathers also held legal power of life and
  death over their household, a right rarely
  exercised, except perhaps in instances of infant
  exposure. Roman men depended on the consensus of
  their family and friends-their "council"-in
  important decisions. The power of fathers did not
  give husbands legal power over their wives,
  however, since the wife remained under her
  father's patria potestas until he died, whereupon
  she was free of such control. Most upper-class
  women managed to maintain a relative degree of
  independence through their status as child
  bearers and teachers of moral values to their
  children. Women also contributed to the family
  financially, with some owning businesses and many
  poorer women producing and selling small goods.

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Religious Beliefs

• As in education, Roman religion followed Greek
  patterns, with many of the Roman gods
  corresponding to Greek divinities. Roman gods
  were believed to be the protectors of the city's
  physical safety in times of war, as well as the
  preservers of the city's agricultural prosperity.
  Other cults had special guardian powers for
  example, the shrine of Vesta housed the eternal
  flame symbolizing the permanence of the Roman
  state. Religious beliefs were also closely
  associated with the family. Romans also partook
  in many religious rituals and public celebrations
  meant to promote the health and stability of the
  community. Although Romans associated religion
  with national security and prosperity more than
  with individual morality, some of their gods
  personified moral qualities such as piety and
  virtue. The most important official, the pontifex
  maximus (high priest), served as the head of
  state religion and the ultimate authority on
  religious matters affecting government. Citizens
  who publicly and blatantly disrespected religious
  traditions often met with severe punishment.

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The Monarchy

• Although little direct evidence exists about the
  founding of Rome, legend reports that the state
  was ruled by a series of kings. These kings
  created the Senate, an enduring body of advisers
  from the city's leading men, and laid the
  foundations for Rome's growth by assimilating
  outsiders and granting citizenship to freed
  slaves. During the first 250 years of monarchy,
  Rome underwent tremendous expansion of both
  population and territory, gaining control of the
  area just south of the city called Latium, some
  three hundred square miles of land that could
  support a population of thirty to forty thousand.
  Contact with other cultures neighboring Latium
  greatly affected Roman culture the Greeks, who
  had early on established settlements in southern
  Italy, were particularly influential. Certain
  cross-cultural influences also came from the
  Etruscans, an independent people living in the
  hills and plains to the north of Rome the Romans
  adopted several Etruscan religious practices and
  learned their alphabet, which the Etruscans had
  learned from the Greeks. The Greeks and the
  Etruscans were the sources of many Roman cultural
  traditions and ideas Romans used what appealed
  to them and made revisions to fit their local
  circumstances.

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The Early Roman Republic

• The social elite's fear of a tyrannical monarchy
  motivated the creation of the Roman republic, as
  described in Livy's legend of the rape of
  Lucretia. When this Roman matron was raped by the
  son of King Tarquin the Proud and subsequently
  committed suicide, her relatives and friends
  drove the monarch out in 509 B.C. They then
  installed a republic to prevent rule by one man
  or family. Bitter turmoil between the elite
  families (the patricians) and the rest of the
  population (the plebeians) marked the first two
  hundred years of the republic social and
  economic frustrations prompted the plebeians to
  seek improvements to their situation, during a
  period of strife known as the struggle of the
  orders. The plebeians, who formed the foundation
  of the Roman army, finally won their demands when
  they refused military service. As a result, the
  Twelve Tables, an important law code that
  established Roman legal customs and became a
  symbol of the Roman commitment to justice for all
  citizens, were enacted between 451 and 449 B.C.To
  combat patrician dominance, the plebeians
  demanded the formation of a special panel of
  elected officials, called tribunes, who looked
  out for their interests.

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Expansion in Italy

• During the fifth through third centuries B.C.,
  the Romans fought wars in Italy until they became
  the premier power on the peninsula. In the third
  and second centuries, they also warred far from
  home to become the leading power in the
  Mediterranean. Believing that the gods supported
  their efforts, the Romans conducted brutal wars
  of conquest that they regarded as defensive,
  sometimes enslaving defeated peoples and forcing
  them to give up large parcels of land. Still, the
  Romans granted many others citizenship and made
  many alliances. No taxes were imposed on
  conquered Italians, but all conquered peoples had
  to render military aid in future wars. Allies
  then received a share of the booty thus, Rome
  cleverly turned former enemies into partners. The
  Romans built roads and established colonies of
  citizens throughout the peninsula to establish
  their authority. Latin began to replace other
  languages in Italy, and the roads built to
  connect the Roman colonies helped create a more
  unified culture. The wealth brought in from
  expansion attracted many people to Rome to take
  advantage of its amenities, such as aqueducts
  that provided fresh, running water to the city,
  and construction projects that created employment
  opportunities. Rich patricians and plebeians who
  took advantage of the surrounding lands to
  acquire great wealth had now merged to form one
  elite class.

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Wars with Carthage

• After the Gauls sacked Rome in 387 B.C., the
  Romans' fear of foreign invasions intensified,
  and they began to see the expanding empire of
  Carthage to the east as a potential threat.
  Carthage's trade routes and prosperous
  agricultural lands made it an enticing prize, and
  thus it did not take much for hostilities to
  erupt. The three ensuing wars, called the Punic
  Wars, proved the Romans' willingness to sacrifice
  lives, expend huge sums, and draw on the Italian
  population for reserves in order to fight as long
  as necessary to win. When the Romans first met
  the Carthaginian forces over the island of
  Sicily, they spent vast sums to build their first
  navy. Victory in this First Punic War encouraged
  the Romans to establish their first province in
  Sicily, a foreign territory ruled and taxed by
  Roman officials, and to seize the nearby islands
  of Sardinia and Corsica. Feeling confident, the
  Romans issued an ultimatum to Carthage against
  future expansion, prompting the great
  Carthaginian general Hannibal to march war
  elephants from Spain across the Alps and into
  Italy. Despite Hannibal's alliance with the
  Macedonian king Philip V, the Romans prevailed in
  the Second Punic War and invaded the Carthaginian
  homeland in North Africa. Victorious once again,
  the Roman Senate imposed harsh fines and
  penalties on Carthage, including their
  relinquishing of territory in Spain. When the
  Carthaginians retaliated against their neighbor,
  the Numidian king Masinissa, a Roman ally, the
  Romans crushed them for the third and final time.
  With this victory, Roman dominance extended to
  include Spain, North Africa, Macedonia, Greece,
  and parts of Asia Minor.

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Stresses on City

• The wars of expansion of the third and second
  centuries B.C. caused great stresses on small
  rural farmers by disrupting traditional forms of
  agricultural life. Farmers were the backbone of
  the Roman economy, as well as the primary source
  for soldiers. Unfortunately, the Punic Wars, and
  numerous military interventions in Macedonia and
  Greece, were characterized by prolonged campaigns
  abroad, which took farmers away from their fields
  and families. While farmers were away fighting
  and dying, their families and hired hands often
  faced starvation. Many farmers fell into debt and
  were forced to sell their land and look for
  menial work in Rome. This influx of desperate
  people heightened tension in the city, and by the
  second century B.C., Rome had to import grain to
  feed its swollen urban population. By contrast,
  Rome's elite reaped substantial rewards from the
  wars and used their gains to enrich their
  families and fund large public building projects.
  By absorbing small, bankrupt farms and illegally
  seizing public land in defeated territories, rich
  landowners formed latifundia, giant estates
  worked by captive slaves and free laborers

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The Gracchi and Factional Politics

• When Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus tried to use
  their power as tribunes to help the farmers, some
  members of the elite, placing their personal
  interests ahead of traditional communal values,
  resorted to murder. The upper-class Gracchi (the
  plural of "Gracchus") brothers had based their
  political careers on advocating that the rich
  make concessions to aid the poor and thereby help
  strengthen the state. When opponents blocked the
  reforms of Tiberius, he overrode the Senate by
  having the Plebeian Assembly pass laws that would
  redistribute public land to landless Romans and
  finance agrarian reform. Then, when Tiberius went
  against Roman tradition and ran for reelection as
  tribune, his senatorial opponents clubbed him and
  several of his followers to death. After his
  death, his brother Gaius became tribune and
  continued pushing for controversial reforms that
  subsidized grain prices and funded jobs through
  public works projects.

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Gaius Marius and Client Armies

• A new kind of leader emerged in response to the
  disarray of the elite and the constant military
  threats equestrian men who relied on fame,
  fortune, and the ability to lead a loyal army of
  clients to win their way to the consulship. The
  first of these so-called new men was Gaius Marius
  (c. 157-86 B.C.), who capitalized on his military
  achievements to win an unprecedented six terms to
  the consulship. His celebrated feats won him
  Rome's highest military honor, a triumph, which
  was a huge public celebration for the general in
  the streets of Rome. Despite his success, Marius
  was opposed by the optimates faction of the
  elite, which saw him as an outsider and a threat
  because most of his support came from the common
  people. Marius's military reforms, which allowed
  men who owned virtually nothing the opportunity
  to better their lot by serving in the military,
  created an army more loyal to its general than to
  the state. Thus, soldiers began to behave like an
  army of clients, loyal to the personal ambitions
  of their patron, the commander. As other
  commanders after Marius used client armies to
  advance their political careers, the
  disintegration of the republic accelerated.

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Civil War

• In the early first century B.C., uprisings broke
  out in Italy because Roman allies lacked a voice
  in decisions concerning foreign and domestic
  policies that affected them. When Rome rejected
  the allies' demands for citizenship, a
  four-year-long "Social War" took place. Although
  the Roman army won the bloody war against the
  confederacy of Italian allies, the Romans still
  granted the rebels' demands for citizenship,
  allowing all freeborn peoples of Italy south of
  the Po River to travel to Rome to vote in the
  assemblies. The military success of the Roman
  general Lucius Cornelius Sulla in the Social War
  won him election as consul in 88 B.C
• The Senate appointed him dictator (a supposedly
  temporary office given in times of emergency), an
  office that he held indefinitely and used to
  reorganize the government in the interest of the
  optimates. His bloody career underlined the
  changes in Roman society war was now aimed to
  acquire profits rather than defend the community
  the patron-client system led poor soldiers to
  feel more loyalty to their commanders than to
  their republic and the desire to achieve
  personal prestige and wealth overshadowed
  concerns for public service.

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Downfall of the Republic

• After the reign of Sulla, great military generals
  pursuing their own advancement came to dominate
  the final years of the republic. The young Gnaeus
  Pompey (106-48 B.C.) gathered a private army to
  fight for Sulla and achieved such success that he
  earned a triumph without having held a single
  public office. In 60 B.C., Pompey continued his
  success by putting down a rebellion in Spain and
  seizing the glory in the defeat of the massive
  slave rebellion led by Spartacus. After winning
  election to the consulship, he gained massive
  popularity by eliminating pirates in the
  Mediterranean, who had been threatening the
  supply of imported grain, and by expanding Rome's
  power in the east by seizing Jerusalem. Pompey
  endangered his position, however, by ignoring the
  tradition of consulting the Senate on setting
  policies for conquered territories. Pompey's
  enemies in Rome tried to strengthen their
  position against him by proclaiming concern for
  the desperate living conditions of the urban
  poor. Pompey responded by forming an informal
  alliance called the First Triumvirate with two
  previous political rivalsCrassus and Julius
  Caesaran alliance that proved highly beneficial
  to all three men. The alliance between Pompey and
  Caesar was cemented by the marriage of Caesar's
  daughter, Julia, to Pompey.

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Downfall of the Republic

• One year after allying with Pompey, Caesar won
  election as a consul and began to build a client
  army in Gaul. His military prowess and success at
  plundering central and northern Gaul won him
  great loyalty from his soldiers and instilled
  great dread in his political enemies in Rome.
  Following the deaths of Crassus in battle and
  Caesar's daughter in childbirth, the triumvirate
  ended, and the two remaining sides dissolved into
  war. Caesar led his army against Rome after
  Pompey was appointed sole consul. Popular support
  for Caesar forced Pompey and most senators to
  flee Rome After defeating the final holdouts
  from the civil war, Caesar took over as sole
  ruler of the Roman empire, appointing himself
  dictator in 48 B.C. He established policies that
  endeared him to most of the common people but
  outraged the optimates, who saw him as a traitor.
  A band of Senators conspired against him, leading
  to Caesar's bloody murder on March 15, 44 B.C.
  Although his murderers saw themselves as
• "liberators," the damage to the traditional
  political
• systems of the republic was irreparable, and the
  
• Roman values that placed the good of the
• community above those of ambitious individuals
• were never restored.