1. From Romulus to Romulus
The Rise and Fall of Rome

2. Romulus and Remus

3. Founding of Rome
The earliest known civilization on the Italian peninsula was the Etruscan.
The Etruscan civilization flourished c BC.
The Etruscans probably came from the Balkan area between the Black sea and the Caspian sea.
They displaced an early culture known as the "Latins" which were still neolithic.
According the legend the 1st kings were the twins Romulus and Remus who were raised by a she-wolf.
By 600 BC the Etruscan civilization was at its height.
Seven Kings
Tarquinius Superbus deposed
Republic founded 509 BCE

4. The Pre-Roman World

5. Rome Expands

6. Rome Expands

7. Many-Front War

8. Rome Expands

9. The Republic Crumbles
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus try but fail to implement social reforms (land reform) BCE
Social War 91–88 BCE: Rest of Italy tries to secede from Rome
Civil War BCE, followed by purge by Lucius Sulla
Catilina BCE: Failed coup
First Triumvirate BCE: Caesar, Pompey, Crassus

10. Julius Caesar Born 100 BCE Consul 60 BCE
First Triumvirate BCE: Caesar, Pompey, Crassus
Conquest of Gaul BCE
Attempted invasion of Britain 55 BCE
50 BCE: Caesar-Pompey alliance breaks up
50-45 BCE: Civil War; Caesar wins
44 BCE: Assassinated

11. Rome Expands

12. Empire! Civil War Octavian declared Emperor 27 BCE as Caesar Augustus
Antony against Brutus and Cassius
Antony and Octavian against Brutus and Cassius
Octavian against Antony and Cleopatra
Octavian declared Emperor 27 BCE as Caesar Augustus
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero
69 CE: Year of the Four Emperors

13. Rome Expands

14. Rome Expands

15. Rome Expands

16. Roman Science and Technology
Little theoretical science or innovation (Lucretius-atoms)
Encyclopedists (Pliny)
Architectural virtuosity
City planning--water, lead pipes, sewage, fire protection
Bridges and aqueducts
Law and administration

17. Roman Science and Technology
Concrete (if a society can only introduce one invention, it could do no better than this.)
Codex form of books
Water mills (late in Empire)

18. Near Collapse 235-284 20-25 emperors and many claimants
Internal dissension weakens frontiers
Dacia (modern Romania) lost
Empire fractures into three parts
Economic stagnation and hyperinflation
Two tough general-emperors, Claudius Gothicus and Aurelian, stabilized Empire
Diocletian ( ) created autocracy, reformed military, bought another two centuries for the Empire

19. Final Decline Constantine the Great (306-337) Theodosius I (379-395)
Legalized Christianity 313
Theodosius I ( )
The last ruler of the whole empire
Made Christianity official 391
Empire divided East-West 395
Eastern Invasions
Romulus Augustulus deposed 476
Eastern half endures as Byzantine Empire to 1453

20. Roman Empire Splits, 395 A.D.

21. Fall of Rome

22. Fall of Rome

23. Fall of Rome

24. Did Anyone Try to Stop It?
Majorianus
“The successor of Avitus presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honor of the human species.” (Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Ch. 36)

25. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1782
Edward Gibbon suggested four reasons for fall of Rome:
“Immoderate greatness”--growth of bureaucracy and military
Wealth and luxury
Barbarian invasions (cause or symptom?)
Spread of Christianity

26. Persecution of Christians
Rome was generally tolerant of other religions
Tended to incorporate other religions
Tolerated Jews, who refused assimilation
Roman religion was utilitarian
Means of maintaining unity and order (pietas)
Securing favor for Rome
Christianity threatened both aims
Blamed for decline of Rome

27. Persecution of Christians
Other Issues
Secrecy bred suspicion
Organized among lower classes
Competition with other sects
Some early Christians were extremists
Freedom of conscience was not on anyone’s radar until about 1700

28. Persecution of Christians
Sometimes scapegoats for disaster (Nero)
Most persecutions local and spotty
Imperial persecutions tended to happen under two types of emperor
Conscientious (Domitian, Diocletian, Julian)
Oppressive (Nero)
Mediocre emperors were apathetic or too busy surviving

29. Reality Check: Rome was a stagnant, corrupt, brutal and petty society
Two suggested antidotes to the romantic view of Rome:
Robert Graves' I, Claudius
H.G. Wells Outline of History
Not once did the local populace ever rise up to oppose the barbarian invaders.

30. A Bit of Perspective