Ms. Arendas



ROMAN PHASE of the Mediterranean SocietyFROM KINGDOM TO REPUBLICThough Rome began as a small, agricultural city-state, it soon developed into a monarchy, then a republic, and, eventually, the dominant Mediterranean power.The Etruscans and Rome (Theme: Migration)Colorful tales are told regarding the founding of Rome. The stories relate that the city was founded by descendants of Aeneas, the surviving Trojan prince: Brothers Romulus and Remus compete for the right to found the city; Romulus wins and builds his city on seven hills overlooking the Tiber River. More likely, the city was founded by Indo-European migrants who crossed the Alps c. 2000 B.C.E. attracted by the warm weather, pasturelands, and agricultural valleys. These invaders intermarried with the indigenous Neolithic farmers to form the basis of early Roman society.The next people to migrate across the Alps and onto the Italian peninsula were the Etruscans. Originally from Anatolia, the Etruscans quickly built cities across northern Italy, where they produced fine bronze, iron, gold, and silver products to trade throughout the western Mediterranean. The Etruscans built enduring roads and bridges and created the city of Rome, which prospered through trade. Challenges from the outside and a rising Roman aristocracy caused the overthrow of the last Etruscan king in 509 B.C.E.The Roman Republic and Its Constitution (Themes: Social Structure and Political Structures)The Romans avoided destructive class struggle by establishing a republican form of government which first provided a voice in government for the wealthy aristocrats known as the patricians, and soon included a voice for the common Roman citizens known as the plebeians.The government structure included two executives known as consuls; a Senate, dominated by the aristocrats; two assemblies, one for the patricians and one for the plebeians; and, eventually, the office of tribune which included up to ten men whose job it was to speak for the plebeians. The office of dictator was established to make executive decisions in times of crisis, but his time in office was limited to six months. This interwoven structure provided a stable government for almost five hundred years.The Expansion of the Republic (Theme: Demographics)The period from the fourth through the second centuries B.C.E. was a time of growth for the Roman republic. First, Rome consolidated its power in Italy, through military and political means. Their policy toward conquered peoples across the peninsula was to allow them to trade freely throughout the republic, to govern their own affairs so long as they remained militarily loyal to Rome, to intermarry with Romans, and sometimes to even gain Roman citizenship. Second, Rome established itself as the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, after victory in a series of bloody wars with Carthage, a former Phoenician colony in North Africa which was a major naval and trading empire. Finally, Roman domination of the Mediterranean was secured with the defeat of the Antigonids and the Seleucids in the east.FROM REPUBLIC TO EMPIREExpansion brought wealth, power, and problems to Rome. Unequal distribution of wealth and strained government capacity caused the end of the republic and the creation of an imperial government.Imperial Expansion and Domestic Problems (Themes: Social and Political Structures)Lands conquered by Rome often fell into the hands of wealthy families who established latifundia, enormous plantations which used the large land size and slave labor to produce products at a much cheaper cost than could the traditional, smaller Roman landowners. The wealthy families used this economic edge to push smaller landowners out of business and gobble up their lands as well. Many of these former small landowners were forced into the cities and sometimes even into slavery when they could not pay their bills. These squeezing phenomena caused social conflict and eventually civil war in Rome.Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were two brothers who tried to address this problem with a policy of land reform and redistribution. Obviously unpopular with the upper, wealthy, ruling classes, both men were assassinated before their redistribution plans could be realized. For the next one hundred years, dissatisfied Roman citizens sought leadership from politicians and generals who promised protection and justice. Gaius Marius sided with those who favored justice and land reform and Lucius Sulla promised to protect the conservative aristocratic classes and their property. Years of terror and civil war resulted as poor Romans joined the personal armies of ambitious generals. The rise of Julius Caesar brought brief years of peace but also the end of the republic, and it further foreshadowed the rise of imperial Rome.The Foundation of Empire (Theme: Political Structures)Julius used his talents as a shrewd general and his keen understanding of people to make himself master of the Roman state, if only for a brief while. Capitalizing on victories in Egypt, Greece, and Gaul, Caesar used that wealth to promote building and entertainment in Rome, which pleased and pacified many of his poor subjects. He also confiscated land from conservative opponents to redistribute among his army's veterans, he extended Roman citizenship to people in the conquered provinces. These actions brought him great public support, but thoroughly alienated and frightened Roman elite classes who plotted and carried out his assassination in the Forum in 44 B.C.E.Caesar's death led to thirteen years of civil war, which ultimately marked an end to any remnant of the republic and firmly established Octavian, Caesar's nephew and adopted heir, as leader of Rome. Granted the powerful title of Augustus, Octavian built a "monarchy disguised as a republic" where he personally controlled all important government functions including leading the military. His empire was strong and stable, but certainly not republican in any way.Continuing Expansion and integration of the Empire (Theme: Cultural and Intellectual Developments and Technology) The Pax Romana, initiated by Octavian and continuing for more than two hundred years after his death, was a period of domestic peace and foreign expansion for Rome. At its high point, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain, across all the shores of the Mediterranean, and into Mesopotamia and Egypt. In Europe especially, the growth of cities and urban culture was dramatic.The Romans accomplished this integration of their empire by building an extensive road system, using much of the technology they had first learned from the Etruscans. Wide, well-maintained, and safe roads facilitated trade and communications, which perpetuated the empire's power and wealth.The political stability of this era also produced and expansive and influential legal tradition. To bring order, stability, and rationality to their empire, the Romans developed a system, of law applied throughout the empire, which promoted such enduring ideas as innocent until proven guilty, the right of the accused to confront his accusers, and the principles of judicial review and judicial precedents. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN THE ROMAN MEDITERRANEANThe expansion of Roman rule and trade brought economic and social changes for people throughout the Mediterranean basin; this expansion was sustained through the use of slave labor and the confines of a patriarchal society.Trade and Urbanization (Themes: Trade, Technology, and Demographics) Commercial agriculture played a pivotal role in the economic integration and expansion of the Roman Empire. Because of well-built roads, security of travel, and a consistent and enforced system of laws, merchants could be assured of a steady supply of high-demand products and luxury goods. Commercial farmers could be assured of markets and dependable prices for their crops. Consumers, especially in Roman cities could be assured of an array of goods and services not available in the Mediterranean before the rise of the Roman Empire.Roman advances in engineering resulted in the construction of aqueducts, which brought huge amounts of fresh drinking water from the mountains into Roman cities. This dependable supply of water made urban life possible. The invention of concrete made huge public building projects possible and affordable. Sewage and plumbing systems, public baths, hippodromes, and arenas became part of every major Roman city. Though still financed by large-scale agriculture, Roman expansion meant the creation of growing urban society.Urban growth occurred in all parts of the empire. In the east, where there was an urban tradition, cities continued to expand. In the west, cities, founded and built for government and administrative purposes, stimulated and sustained economic growth and social development.Family and Society in Roman Times (Themes: Gender and Social Structures and Labor Systems) The concept of pater familias permeated Roman society. Under this patriarchal tradition, the eldest male ruled the household, deciding virtually all matters for family members, free servants, and slaves, even played significant roles in determining family finances and inheritance.Increasing wealth had significant effects on Roman society. The newly wealthy often flaunted their wealth with extravagant expenditures on palaces, gardens, and flamboyant parties. The increasing poor and slave populations were sometimes appeased with "bread and circuses," but other times took their complaints into the streets. Riots and rebellions were not uncommon in large roman cities especially if food prices fluctuated.Slavery was an essential component of the Roman Empire's economic success. By the second century C.E. more than one-third of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves. Slaves were under the strict authority of their masters who had the right to sell them, punish them, and even kill them. Some urban slaves had the potential to lead economically successful lives and perhaps even be rewarded with manumission, their freedom, after years of service. Rural slaves endured much harsher conditions as they labored on the latifundia. THE COSMOPOLITAN MEDITERRANEANCultural and religious traditions were also affected by the integration of the Mediterranean region during the Roman Empire. Roads and communication networks encouraged the spread of religious ideas beyond their original foundations throughout the empire; Christianity is one such example.Greek Philosophy and Religions of Salvation (Themes: Patterns of Interaction and Religious Developments) Like most neolithic peoples, the earliest Romans were polytheistic, worshipping gods associated with forces in nature and fertility. Through their interaction with the Etruscans and later the Greeks, the Romans added other gods to their pantheon and other practices to their traditional rites.From the Hellenistic Greeks, the later Romans drew on the teachings of the Stoics, especially the ones related to morals and ethics. In the first century B.C.E., Cicero focused especially on justice and public duty which helped to make Stoicism the most prominent moral philosophy in Rome.The Roman populace was increasingly interested in the religions of salvation prominent throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin in Hellenistic times. Merchants, soldiers, and government administrators encountered these ideas and carried them throughout the empire. Persian-based Mithraism and the Egyptian cult of Isis proved especially popular. Judaism and Early Christianity (Theme: Religious Developments)Though the Jewish kingdom of David and Solomon had survived under various imperial regimes, the Jews struggled whenever an imperial power sought to promote some state cult. Strict monotheists, the Jews refused to participate in state-sanctioned activities, no matter how minor or shallow the ceremony. The Jews considered such behavior to be blasphemy, and at times refused to pay taxes or obey any Roman laws that conflicted with their own. This opposition eventually led to open rebellion and war, resulting in the exile of Jews from their homeland in 70 C.E. under the Roman Emperor Titus.While some Jews openly fought the Romans, others sought through isolation or through a God-delivered spiritual leader. Christianity emerged in this context as some Jews sought to form a community around Jesus of Nazareth, a charismatic leader who taught peace; devotion to God and love for fellow human beings. The Romans, concerned about another Jewish uprising and fearful about Jesus' proclamation that the "kingdom of God is at hand," arrested and executed him in the early 30s C.E.Jesus' execution did not quell the crowds nor end the movement. After His death, his closest followers proclaimed that he had risen from the grave, that he was the "Son of God," and that belief in him offered eternal reward. These promises, plus the compilation of his teachings, began to spread Jesus' appeal far beyond the borders of Palestine; men like Paul of Tarsus spread the teachings using the infrastructure of the Roman Empire. Roman roads, trade, and communication systems once again encouraged the rapid spread of new ideas.With no central authority for the first two centuries, Christianity developed in the Roman Empire with a variety of divergent practices and theologies. Like their Jewish predecessors, many Christians refused to acknowledge Roman state cults and came into direct conflict with the Roman law; thus Roman persecution of Christians was not uncommon in the first two centuries of the modern era. Despite these threats, the egalitarian appeals of Christianity appealed to many Romans: urban poor, lower social classes, slaves, and especially women. By the third century C.E., Christianity was the most dynamic and influential faith in the Mediterranean. NAME:_________________________________________________What is the contribution of each of the following individuals to world history?RomulusGracchi BrothersJulius CaesarAugustus CaesarCiceroJesusState in your own words what each of the following terms means & why it is significant to a study of WHEtruscansRoman SenatePunic WarsTwelve TablesRoman RoadsColoseumPatriciansPlebiansCult of IsisEssenesStoicismMithraismJudaismChristianity / New Testament / Sermon on the Mount ................
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