Western Civilization HIST 103

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Western CivilizationHIST 103

• The Roman Empire

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From Republic to Principate, 44-27 B.C.,

• After the death of Caesar, civil war broke out
  between Rome's powerful military generals, most
  notably between Mark Antony and Octavian,
  Caesar's grandnephew and heir. Rallying the
  support of Caesar's troops, Octavian marched on
  Rome and forced the Senate to declare him consul.
  Octavian, Antony, and a third general named
  Lepidus formed a coalition, called the Second
  Triumvirate, to eliminate Caesar's assassins and
  their supporters using the brutal policy of
  proscription. Eventually, however, Antony and
  Octavian forced Lepidus into retirement and then
  turned on each other. To marshal support,
  Octavian skillfully used the Roman's fear of
  foreigners by claiming that Antony planned to
  make his lover, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII,
  their ruler. During the naval battle of Actium in
  31 B.C., Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra's
  forces Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where
  they committed suicide together rather than be
  taken captive.

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Augustus's "Restoration," 27 B.C.-A.D. 14

• After his victory, Octavian distributed land to
  his army veterans and established Roman colonies
  in the provinces, declaring the republic restored
  in 27 B.C. Recognizing Octavian's power, the
  Senate granted him the honorary title Augustus,
  meaning "divinely favored." Augustus shrewdly
  consolidated his power and brought peace to Rome
  by maintaining the façade of republican
  government. His new system of government was
  called the principate after the title princeps,
  meaning "first man" Augustus cleverly
  manipulated vocabulary such as this to convey the
  idea that he held no more power than any other
  leader. In actuality, Augustus possessed sole
  authority because he controlled the army and
  treasury.

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Augustus's "Restoration," 27 B.C.-A.D. 14

• He transformed the army into a paid professional
  force, increasing its loyalty to him, and
  stationed permanent troops, the praetorian
  cohorts, in Rome for the first time. Augustus
  conveyed his image as a stern but caring "father
  of his country" to the people of Rome in slogans
  and images on coins and with huge building
  projects that honored his victory and the new era
  of peace. The huge Forum of Augustus, which
  contained sculptures of Roman heroes and provided
  public space for religious rituals and
  ceremonies, was dedicated in 2 B.C. The
  revolutionary changes brought about by his reign
  and his ability to promote himself worked within
  the boundaries of Roman traditions, bringing
  stability and order to Rome.

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Life in Augustan Rome

• Life in Rome under Augustus's rule, as in all
  ancient cities, was marked by overcrowding, poor
  sanitation, and dangerous conditions. Most urban
  residents lived in cramped apartment houses
  called insulae that were poorly built and often
  in danger of collapse, a condition that prompted
  Augustus to pass a law limiting new buildings to
  a height of seventy feet. Public sanitation was a
  major problem because no system for the sanitary
  disposal of waste existed. Everyone used the
  public baths to stay clean, but this custom also
  facilitated the spread of communicable diseases.
  Augustus addressed some problems by creating a
  public fire department and police force. As
  Rome's foremost patron, he also used his own
  fortune to pay for imported grain to feed
  thousands of poor citizens.
• Because some members of the upper classes spent
  more money on luxuries and careers than on
  families, Augustus passed laws encouraging large
  families. Nonetheless, over the coming centuries,
  many of the prestigious old families died out.

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Life in Augustan Rome

• Roman slaves worked in varying conditions,
  ranging from grim work in the fields or mines to
  household work in the homes of the wealthy.
  Slaves could sometimes earn their own money and
  purchase their freedom or even their own slaves.
  Because Roman policy granted citizenship to freed
  slaves, some could hope to increase their fortune
  and move up the social scale. Public
  entertainment, headed by violent gladiatorial
  shows where men put on extravagant displays of
  violent hand-to-hand combat, became extremely
  popular during the principate. These productions
  became a way for emperors to display their wealth
  and power onlookers could also take advantage of
  the gatherings to voice their wishes to the
  emperor in attendance.

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Making Monarchy Permanent, A.D. 14-180

• To avoid the struggles over power that marked the
  late republic, Augustus established a tradition
  for succession by choosing and training an heir,
  with the Senate's blessing. Augustus's family
  dynasty, remaining in power until A.D. 68, became
  known as the Julio-Claudians. Lacking a son of
  his own, Augustus adopted the military general
  Tiberius (42 B.C.-A.D. 37) who, although a
  reluctant ruler, possessed the respect and
  support of the army. Tiberius (r. 14-37)
  maintained the facade of republican government
  during his rule. His last years, however, were
  spent away from Rome, opening the door for abuses
  by subordinates he also failed to prepare a
  suitable heir. As his successor, Tiberius chose
  Augustus's great-grandson Gaius (r. 37-41), also
  known as Caligula. Cruel and violent, Caligula
  overspent the treasury on personal whims and
  often engaged in outrageous behavior. His abuses
  led to his assassination in 41.

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Making Monarchy Permanent, A.D. 14-180

• With the support of the praetorian guard,
  Claudius (r. 41-54) became the next appointed
  emperor. Claudius established important
  precedents by enrolling men from the provinces in
  the Senate and employing free slaves as
  administratorssuch actions helped to keep the
  peace in Rome's far-flung territories and
  guaranteed loyalty in the government.

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Life in the Golden Age, A.D. 96-180

• During the prosperous Golden Age of the five good
  emperors, Rome's primary military goal remained
  expansion, even though, in practice, military
  activity focused on defense and maintaining
  order. Roman legions were stationed in the
  provinces to maintain peace, which also allowed
  long-distance trade to operate smoothly.
  Noncitizens who served in the army picked up many
  Roman customs and earned citizenship upon
  discharge. Because maintenance of the army and
  its loyalty depended on providing regular pay and
  bonuses to the soldiers, the lack of new
  conquests posed a revenue problem. Most locally
  collected taxes stayed in the provinces for
  expenditure. Senatorial and equestrian governors
  with small staffs ran the provinces, which
  eventually numbered about forty. In Rome, the
  emperor employed a substantial palace staff,
  while equestrian officials called prefects
  managed the city itself. Taxes on agricultural
  land in the provinces, collected by local elite
  officials called decurions (later curiales),
  provided the main source of funding for
  government and army operations. If there was a
  shortfall in taxes, these officials had to make
  up the difference from their own pockets.

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Life in the Golden Age, A.D. 96-180

• Life in the provinces was widely diverse, with
  many languages, customs, and religions. Roman
  rulers largely tolerated these differences as
  long as peace and social order were maintained.
  New communities grew up around the settlements of
  army veterans in this way, Roman laws, customs,
  and the Latin language began to take hold. This
  process, called Romanization, generally improved
  the standard of living through peaceful
  conditions, better roads and bridges, and
  increased trade. In the east, where Greek and
  Near Eastern cultures had flourished for
  thousands of years, Romanization had less of an
  impact, but the Roman system of government was
  widely accepted.

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Life in the Golden Age, A.D. 96-180

• Roman society remained strictly hierarchical,
  with formal distinctions between the orders
  those outside the small circle of elites were
  subject to harsher penalties for crimes solely
  because of their lower status. Maintenance of a
  healthy population was a concern medical
  practices of the time could do little to promote
  healthy births and reduce infant mortality.
  Childbearing became an important social duty to
  the Romans, with both public and private sources
  promoting healthy reproduction.

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Jesus of Nazareth and the Spread of His Teachings

• Originating as a heretical sect within Judaism,
  Christianity grew into a new religion based on
  the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Discontented
  with foreign rule, many Jews adopted apocalyptic
  ideas, believing that a Messiah would come to
  earth and reward the righteous while punishing
  the wicked. The ministry of Jesus, written down
  by others in what would become the New Testament
  Gospels, stressed God's love for humanity and the
  need for humans to love one another, and taught
  that God's kingdom in heaven was open to all
  believers regardless of social status or apparent
  sinfulness. The sensation created by Jesus'
  numerous healings and exorcisms attracted the
  attention of Jewish authorities. The Roman
  governor saw the public ministry of Jesus as a
  threat to peace and had him crucified in
  Jerusalem in 30. His followers continued to
  spread his teachings. One follower, Paul of
  Tarsus, a former Jew, helped establish
  Christianity as a new religion separate from
  Judaism he traveled throughout the Mediterranean
  world preaching the divinity of Jesus and
  promoting ethical behavior and the rejection of
  sexual immorality and polytheism (the worship of
  more than one god).

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Jesus of Nazareth and the Spread of His Teachings

• The teachings of Jesus' followers helped
  establish small congregations of Christians in
  urban areas. This splintering of the Jewish faith
  was only one part of the turmoil affecting the
  Jewish community. In 66, hatred of Roman rule
  prompted a disastrous Jewish revolt, which the
  emperor Titus ended by destroying the Jerusalem
  temple and selling most of the city's population
  into slavery. Followers of Jesus came to regard
  the New Testamenttwenty-seven Christian writings
  put together around 200as their scripture, along
  with the Jewish Bible, which they called the Old
  Testament. Although Paul believed that only men
  should teach the new religion, early Christianity
  was diverse enough that the first head of a
  congregation named in the New Testament was a
  woman.

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Growth of a New Religion

• In its struggle to become an established
  religion, Christianity faced several
  obstaclesmost notably disdain and opposition
  from Roman officials, who were suspicious of the
  Christians' refusal to participate in the
  imperial cult. Most Romans felt that tolerating
  this new faith would offend the traditional Roman
  gods, and so Christians became targets for blame
  during public disasters, such as the fire in Rome
  during Nero's reign in 64. Roman officials used
  the belief that Christians created disturbances
  to justify punishing them for their
  "superstition." However, they were sometimes
  punished so cruelly that some Romans became
  sympathetic to them. Writers such as Tertullian
  and Justin defended Christianity's moral code and
  stories, proclaiming it not superstition but a
  true philosophy. The heroism of martyrs, who
  became witnesses for their faith by dying for
  their beliefs, inspired believers and formed what
  Tertullian called "the seed of the Church."

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Growth of a New Religion

• Christians had to resolve issues of disunity and
  create an organizational structure to settle
  questions about how they should live. The
  appointment of bishops to determine conduct and
  differentiate between true belief (orthodoxy) and
  false belief (heresy) aroused some controversy,
  but it still became the most important
  institutional development of the early church.
  Bishops received their positions through the
  principle later called apostolic succession,
  which states that Jesus' apostles appointed the
  first bishops, thus passing on to them the powers
  they had been granted by Jesus. The role of women
  in the church also became an important issue, as
  they came to be shut out of leadership roles. By
  choosing lives of celibacy, however, some women
  rejected the traditional roles of wives and
  mothers and achieved a measure of independence
  and authority.

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Parallel Belief Systems

• Christianity mirrored many of the beliefs of
  polytheistic cults and philosophies that provided
  comfort and guidance to people trying to survive
  the harshness of ancient life. Polytheistic
  cults, which never constituted a unified
  religion, worshiped and sought the favor of all
  divinities rather than just one. The popular cult
  of the Egyptian goddess Isis offered a personal
  religious experience that demanded a moral way of
  life. Images of Isis often appeared in art as a
  mother nursing her son, and her followers
  believed Isis promised them the chance for life
  after death. Stoic philosophy, derived from the
  writings of the Greek Zeno (335-263 B.C.), guided
  the lives of many Romans Stoics believed in a
  single creative force that guided the universe
  and promoted a life of self-discipline and strict
  personal ethics. Plotinus's (c. 205-270)
  philosophy of Neoplatonism, so named because it
  developed out of Plato's philosophy, also
  influenced many Christians, because it promoted
  the rejection of physical life in order to focus
  on spiritual purity and union with God.