1. Ancient Rome

2. Rome Similarities to other ancient civilizations? What made it unique?
Where do we see traces of it in modern West?

3. Archaic Rome The Origins of Rome In Latium Tiber River
Foundation myth: Romulus and Remus

4. Capitoline Museum, Rome
Archaic Rome
She-wolf (ca. 500 BC),
Capitoline Museum, Rome

5. Archaic Rome The Kings (ca. 625-509 BC)
Original rulers of Rome (supposedly 7)
Wielded imperium
Advised by Senate

6. Patrician Carrying Two Portrait Heads (1st cent. AD)
Archaic Rome
The Roman Family
PATERFAMILIAS
Oldest living male
Nearly unlimited authority
Women
Subject to male authority
Named after father’s clan
Children
Lots needed!
Legitimized by paterfamilias
Patrician Carrying Two Portrait Heads (1st cent. AD)

7. Archaic Rome and Culture
Questions?

8. The Roman Republic The Roman Republic (ca. 500-27 BC)
Established after overthrow of kings
REPUBLIC (res publica)
Goal: limit arbitrary authority of one person
Government authority to be shared equally among Roman aristocrats

9. The Roman Republic Republican Government CONSULS The Senate DICTATOR
Executive authority
Term: 1 year
The Senate
Supervised foreign affairs, treasury
Lifelong terms
DICTATOR
Appointed during emergencies
Wielded supreme executive authority
Term: 6 months
The Senate

10. The Roman Republic Roman Expansion Formidable army (“iron legions”)
By 133 BC Italy and Greek East conquered
Built roads
Established colonies

11. The Roman Republic Greek Impact on Roman Culture
Expansion  exposure to Greek civilization
Many Romans fascinated by Greece
Enamored with Greek culture
Greek tutors!
Plundered Greek art
Greek and Italian synthesis  Greco-Roman culture

12. The Roman Republic Cicero (106-43 BC)
Exemplar of cultured Greco-Roman man
Lawyer, politician
Studied oratory, philosophy in Greek East
Latin conduit of Greek thought
Famous for his orations

13. The Roman Republic The Punic Wars (264-146 BC)
Mediterranean powers: Rome, Carthage
Carthaginian Empire was great naval power
Roman and Carthaginian animosity  three wars
End result: destruction of Carthage

14. The Roman Republic First Punic War (264-241 BC) Over Sicily
Rome built a fleet
Rome was ultimate victor, due to trouble in Carthaginian government
Outcome
Carthage no longer maritime superpower
Rome gained Sicily, more later

15. The Roman Republic
Corvus

16. The Roman Republic Second Punic War (218-201 BC)
Carthage recovered, expanded empire in Spain  war!
HANNIBAL invaded Italy (218 BC) via Alps, advanced to south
Rome conquered Spain (206 BC), won in Africa (202 BC)
Outcome: Carthage lost empire outside Africa

17. The Roman Republic
Questions?

18. The Roman Republic Crisis in the Republic
Power struggles, disregard for republican ideals
100+ years of warfare
Slave War in Italy (73-71 BC)
70,000 + slaves revolted, led by SPARTACUS
Defeated 4 legions
Ultimately crushed  6,000 slaves crucified

19. The Roman Republic Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general, politician
Extremely ambitious!
Growing power  threat to Senate, politicians
Caesar invaded Italy (50 BC), gained control
Hunted enemies down in Greece, Africa

20. The Roman Republic The Fall of Caesar
Returned to Rome in triumph  more power!
Senate granted Caesar title “dictator for life” (Feb., 44 BC)
Assassinated by 60 senators (March 15, 44 BC)

21. The Roman Republic The Collapse of the Republic
Civil War: Caesarians vs. “Liberators”
Leading Caesarians: Mark Antony and Octavian
Defeated “Liberators” at Philippi (42 BC)
Civil War: Antony vs. Octavian
Octavian controlled Latin West; Antony, Greek East
Turned on each other, suspicious of each other

22. The Roman Republic Cleopatra VII (r. 51-30 BC)
Hellenistic queen of Egypt
Wore “two faces”
Hellenistic monarch to Greeks and Romans
Divine, pharaonic queen to Egyptians
Encounters with Romans
Met Julius Caesar  lovers
She and Antony  lovers, allies

23. The Roman Republic

24. The Roman Republic Civil War: Antony and Cleopatra vs. Octavian
Octavian victorious at Battle of Actium, Greece (September, 31 BC)
Antony, Cleopatra committed suicide
Octavian now master of Roman world
Battle of Actium

25. The Roman Republic
Questions?

26. The Roman Empire Augustus Caesar (r. 29 BC – AD 14) Called “Augustus”
Task: tactfully rebuild Rome
First Roman emperor
Ruled as constitutional monarch

27. Rome Augustan Reforms Centralized administration
Efficient government for provinces
Crusade against immorality
Encouraged marriage  childbearing
Discouraged promiscuity, adultery
Religion
Restored neglected cults, priesthoods
Repaired temples

28. The Roman Empire
Remains of Temple of Julius Caesar, Roman Forum

29. The Roman Empire The Pax Romana and Culture
PAX ROMANA: period of internal peace, stability, culture, prosperity
“Golden Age” of Latin Literature
Augustus was a patron of the arts
Virgil’s AENEID
Ovid’s Art of Love  banishment!

30. The Roman Empire
Pont du Gard (1st cent. AD), Nîmes, France

31. The Roman Empire
Garden Room, Villa Livia (Late 1st cent. BC)

32. The Roman Empire Augustus Caesar
“I found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble!”
No heirs
Rule  stepson Tiberius

33. The Roman Empire

34. The Roman Empire Colosseum (AD 80) Largest amphitheater in Roman world
50,000+ spectators
Beneath: waiting rooms, cages for beasts, equipment
Mock naval battles!
Main entertainment: gladiators

35. The Roman Empire

36. The Roman Empire

37. The Roman Empire The Second Century Roman Empire at its zenith
Constant frontier warfare
“Good emperors”

38. The Roman Empire

39. The Roman Empire Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180) “Enlightened”
Devoted to Stoic philosophy, wrote about it in Meditations
Peaceful, but had to continue military conflicts

40. The Roman Empire Third-Century Anarchy (235-285)
Assassinations, civil wars  many emperors
Continued frontier war  empire stretched too thin
Other disasters
Capture of Valerian (r ) by Persians

41. The Roman Empire Diocletian (r. 284-305) Ended crisis
Reforms: tetrarchy, increased size of military
Emperor now absolute monarch, lord
Reforms  200 more years for Roman Empire

42. The Roman Empire
Questions?

43. Rome Similarities to other ancient civilizations? What made it unique?
Where do we see traces of it in modern West?