1. Republic to Principate
Rome
Republic to Principate

2. Romulus and Remus
Rhea was married to Mars, the Roman god of war. Rhea had twin sons. She loved her boys, but there were plots afoot by other gods and goddesses to harm her father, herself, her husband, and her children. To protect the boys, she set them adrift on the river, hoping someone would find them.
Romulus and Remus were first found by a she-wolf who fed them. Then a shepherd and his wife adopted the boys.
As the twins grew older, they decided they did not want to take care of sheep. They wanted to be kings. They decided to build a city on the shores of the Tiber. They both wanted to be the only king. They quarreled. In a fit of rage, Romulus picked up a rock, killed his brother, and made himself king

3. Early Roman State
Landownership = essential to economy and therefore social status
Council of Elders  senatorial class
Overthrew the last of the 7 kings

4. Roman “Republic” 507-31BCE Governmental Structure Roman Senate
Voting for all male citizens (although votes of wealthy worth more)
2 Consuls (serve 1 year, war = glory)
Senate
Assemblies
Tribunes (lower classes only, veto power)
Roman Senate
Self perpetuating body
Serve for life
Nepotism

5. Institutionalized Inequality
Patricians versus plebeians
Paterfamilias
Patron/Client Relationships
Patron (senator) provided loans, legal advice etc in exchange for votes, military service or labour
Women
Permanently children
No land rights
Strong women emerge to influence politics

6. Administering the Empire
Political, economic and legal rights extended to conquered peoples
In exchange, required for military service
Periphery provinces allowed to self govern without rights
Governors sent to serve one year
Collect taxes, prevent invasion
Lacked experience, led to corruption
Year long cycle led to a lack of continuity

7. How did Empire lead to decline?
All land owning men required to perform military service (legions)
Protracted wars with Carthaginians ( BCE), Hellenistic Kingdoms ( BCE) & Gaul (59-51BCE)
Soldiers absent from farms for long periods of time
Senatorial class (Patricians) makes huge profits from war but because of patron/client relationship don’t need to fight themselves
Patricians buy up soldier’s farm from families left without financial support as fathers/husbands fight
Patricians create “uber farms” – LATIFUNDIA
Latifundia want cash crops – vineyards or animals  shortage of wheat as imports lead to price inflation
POW provide cheap slave labour for Latifundia
Soldiers return home to no farm and poverty. Slavery means no rural employment either!
Move to cities  no work here either!
Angry plebeians!!
Legions in trouble too! Not enough landowning men, therefore not enough people who can act as soldiers!!!
“New Men” start appealing to the plebeians ruined by the Latifundia. Promise wealth and employment if serve them in the army
Legions now loyal to LEADER not the Republic
“New Men” like Sulla, Pompey, Mark Antony, Julius Caesar and Octavian aim for individual power at the expense of the Republic.
Civil War = Octavian triumphs. Becomes Princep Augustus

8. Augustus & the creation of Principate
Julius Caesar creates 1st dictatorship – Civil War against Pompey, popularity with the plebeians (land reform), deified
Ides of March, 44BCE – Julius Cesar assass.
2nd Triumvirate – Octavian (Augustus) Mark Antony & Lepidus peace until 37BCE
Octavian & MA struggle for power – MA & Cleopatra defeated at Battle of Actium
Lepidus exiled
Octavian purges Senate. Senate “voted” to give Octavian power for 10 years. Swears allegiance as Emperor. Tribune for life
Augustus Caesar is born

9. Augustus Caesar 45 years of rule – 31BCE – 14CE
Propaganda = “Republic restored”
Equites = merchant/landowning middle class  administration/civil service
Empire  extend no further, consolidate existing
Cash payments for soldiers serving > 20 years, end the “new men” phenomenon
Senatorial class given power in provinces near Rome, therefore still believe have power
Pax Romana

10. Roman Empire Post Augustus
Emperor’s power publicized and strengthened
Cult of Emperor worship
Emperor = source of new laws, class of lawyers emerges
“Urban Empire” = urban admin. not urban pop. Urban dwellers benefitted
Slaves decrease (pax romana) tenant farmers increase. Wealth based on land but monopolized by urban landowners
Technology  aqueducts

11. Trade increases under PR, safety & stability
Romanization = more powerful than military action
Citizenship extended  first soldiers, then as reward, by 212 all free men.
R. army = defensive. Walls (GB), forts, natural barriers used

12. Third Century Crisis 235 – 284CE 20+ Emperors
Germanic invasions, Romans build walls
Economy
Army drains treasury  taxes raised in provinces  destroyed urban prosperity  Emperors devalue coin  return to barter  local elite responsible for unpaid taxes  bankrupted  trade destroyed as PR ends  people flee cities  return to “New Men”

13. Diocletian & Constantine save Rome
284 – 305CE
Rises through army
Reforms
Specifies price of goods
Ends inflation
Froze families in profession
“Big Government” seen as oppressive
Constantine seizes throne

15. Constantine
Battle of Milvian = belief that Christian God had granted him victory
Edict of Milan = end persecution of Chris.
Religiously tolerant
Unites empire – C. on the rise  spiritual or political?
Moves capital from Rome to Byzantium
B. renamed Constantinople
Urban centre and Equites here better survived 3rd Century Crisis
Closer to threatened borders in E. Europe

16. Rome the Christian Empire
Council of Nicea
325CE
Emperor involved in doctrinal issues
Dispute over Jesus’ importance (Arians)
Diocese
Urban phenomenon
392 – Pagan worship banned
Justinian Codes
Codifies Roman laws; innocent until proven guilty, burden of proof lies with accuser etc

17. Decline of Rome Eastern and Western Empires divide by 395
Byzantine armies successful  Germanic tribes attack West
Rome falls to Visigoths 410
476 last Roman Emperor
530 Rome only spiritually important as seat of the Pope
Latin relegated to elite, locals turn to dialects; Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian