Maddox Chapter 6: The Roman Empire

Book Notes
Foreward
With the victories of Octavian, peace settled on the roman war.
Stability for the next two hundred years (although civil conflict still erupted spontaneously)
Romans thought they would be the capital of the world, but werent aware that the Han Empire was also flourishing
Hadrian
One of the emperors of the 2nd century BCE
Romes divine mission was clearly to rule nations and peoples.
Took responsibilities seriously
Build new fortifications like the Hadrian Wall
Believed that soldiers should always be kept in training
By the third century, however, Rome began to experience renewed civil war, economic chaos, and invasions.
In the meantime, Christianity grew

The Age of Augustus

Foreward
Octavian proclaimed the restoration of the Republic, but he understood that it could not be fully restored
Senate awarded him the title of Augustus, but he preferred the title princeps
Princeps - Chief citizen/1st among equals
Principate
The system of rule that Augustus established
Conveying the idea of a constitutional monarch as co-ruler with the senate
Only in appearance, the true power was weighted in favor of the princeps
The New Order
Govt. consisted of the princeps and an aristocratic senate
Augustus was a consul, thus had imperium
Augustus was highly popular
ended civil wars
control of the army
Roman peace
The Army
As a result of the civil wars, the army had increased in size and become more professional w/ legionaries who served longer

 Early emperors created a bureaucracy that trained an army

Played a social role
Romanization wherever the legions were stations.
colonies of veterans also romanized
Stating army of 28 legions
not large
150,000 men
Augustus also maintained a large contingent of auxiliary forces
130,000 men
Non-citizens, families received citizenship after their terms of service (24 years)
Praetorian guard
9,000 men
Guard the princeps
Imperator
title given to a military commander when victorious
Augustus preferred princeps
emperor
Roman Provinces and Frontiers
Foreword
Provincial Govt.
Certain provinces were allotted to the princeps, who assigned deputies known as legates to govern them.
From the senatorial class
Augustus had the power to overrule the senatorial governors and thus establish a unified imperial policy
Roman policy encouraged a substantial degree of self-government
Frontier Policy
client kingdoms
minimized military in the east so it could be used elsewhere
Augustus wanted to expand into Germany
The great catastrophe of 9 CE
Three Roman legions under Varus were massacred in the Teutoberg Forest by a coalition of German tribes led by Arminius, a German Tribal leader who served in the Roman auxiliary
forces.
Augustus blamed Varus
Augustus didnt want to expand into Central Europe
Rome learned that its power was limited
Augustan Society
Foreword
Society was characterized by a system of social stratification, inherited from the Republic, in which Roman citizens were divided into 3 basic classes
Senatorial
Equestrian
Lower
The Social Order

 Senatorial
Ruling class
filled the chief magistracies
military posts
governed the provinces
Property worth 1 million sesterces
Equestrian
Expanded under Augustus
given a share of power
Good standing citizens
property worth 400,000
Could hold military and govt. offices, but they were less important than the senatorial order
Might be rewarded at the end of career by a membership into senatorial order
Lower
Majority
Free grain and public spectacles to keep them from creating disturbances
could work their way into equestrian order
Augustss Reforms
Concerned about Romes social health
Civil strife had lessened religion.
Restored traditional priesthoods
Rebuilt many temples/shrines
Constructed new temples/shrines
Instituted a new religious cult
Claimed Julius Caesar was a god
permitted the building of a simple to Augustus and Roma
Moral Legislation
Augustus hoped to restore respectability to the upper classes and reverse the declining birthrate
feasts were limited
laws made adultery a criminal offense
exiled his daughter Julia
Hypocritical
Revised tax laws to penalize bachelors, widowers, and married people who had fewer than 3 kids
A Golden Age of Latin Literature
Foreword
The golden age
Virgil
Most distinguished poet
honored the emperor
The Aeneid
Rivaled the work of Homer

 Aeneas portrayed in terms that remind us the ideal Roman

virtues are duty, piety, and faithfulness

Horace
Satires
Observer of human weaknesses
Sexual immorality, greed, and job dissatisfaction
Epistles
He holds his ideals as a simple life, good friends, and his beloved countryside
Ovid
the last of the great poets
Liked to ridicule old Roman values
Amores
intended to entertain and shock
Metamorphoses
Chaos into order
most popular work
Art of Love
seduction of women
Augustus was not pleased.
Ovid was implicated in a sexual scandal with Julia (daughter of Augustus), and thus sent to a small town on the coast of the Black Sea and died in exile.
Livy
Most famous
History of Rome in terms of moral lessons.
Human character is the determining factor in history
not concerned about facts
Significance of the Augustan Age
Created a new order while placating the old one. And it was here to stay.

The Early Empire (14 - 180)

Foreword
Augustus successor is his stepson, Tiberius
no serious opposition
Began the Julio-Claudian dynasty
The next four ruler were either relation to his won family or to that of his wife, Livia
The Julio-Claudians (14-68)
General Info
More and more of the responsibility that Augustus had given to the senate tended to be taken over by the emperors
Augustus

 Tiberius
Competent general and an able administrator who tried initial to involve the senate in govt.
Caligula
Grandnephew of Tiberius
Tyrannical behavior and extremely erratic
Wanted to be hailed as a god and neglected affairs of state while indulging his passions
Officers of the praetorian guard assassinated him
Claudius
Mistreated by family because of a physical disability
intelligent
Instituted an imperial bureaucracy
let freedmen be chiefs of bureaucratic departments
further undermined the authority of the senators
Nero
Sixteen when he first came to power
interested more in the art
neglect affairs of state, especially military
Freely eliminated people he wanted out of the way, including his own mother
Downfall
Early reign had been quite successful, but he grew tired of his duties.
Seneca, the philosopher and childhood tutor of Nero, eventually resigned in disgust of heros
interests, which caused his rule to deteriorate.
Senatorial class was annoyed by his singing and acting in public
Conspiracy by Roman legions
Galba, governor of one of the Spanish provinces, rose in revolt and secured the principate for himself.
Nero, abandoned by his guards, chose to commit suicide.
But Galba was not readily accepted by the other provincial armies
Civil Wars, until Vespasian
The year of the four emperors
Praetorian guard
Interfered with the rulers but did so in a manner that did not bode well for future stability
The Flavians (69 - 96)
General Info
It was no longer necessary to be descended from an ancient aristocratic family to be emperor
-Tacitus
Becoming an absolute monarch
Vespasian
Established himself as sole ruler
Family from the equestrian order
no compunctions whatever about established the principle of dynastic succession for the principate
Titus

 Domitian
Dropped the term princeps and began to use the title imperator or emperor freely
The Five Good Emperors (96 - 180)
General Info
Pax Romana
Roman peace
These rulers treated the ruling classes with respect, cooperated with the senate, ended arbitrary executions, maintained peace in the empire, and supported domestic policies generally beneficial to the
empire
Still absolute monarchs though
By chance, Nerva and his next three successors had no sons
The powers of the emperor continued to expand at the expense of the senate
Nerva
Chosen by the Senate
Trajan
acceptable to the army
First emperor born outside Italy
Assisted poor parents in raising and educating their children
So more people could enter the military
Broke Augustuss policy of defensive imperialism
Hadrian
Built the pantheon
Inspected the provinces and restored the military forces
Antoninus Pius
Most beneficent
Stayed in rome
made even greater use of the senate
Marcus Aurelius
Viewed as a philosopher-king
Highly influenced by Stoicism
Wrote Meditations
Ideal of Stoic duty as a religious concept
The Roman Empire at Its Height: Frontiers and Provinces
Foreword
Rome covered 3.5 million square miles
Had 50 million people
Caracalla
Gave Roman citizenship to every free inhabitant of the empire
Limits to Romanization
Local languages
Roman Frontiers
emperors wanted to remain within the natural frontiers of their empire

 except Claudiuss annexation of Britain

Successors of Trajan recognized that the empire was overextended and pursued a policy of retrenchment
Hadrian went of the defensive in his frontier policy
reinforced the fortifications along a line connecting two rivers
Built a defensive wall 80 miles long
Rome is vulnerable
The Army and Romanization
Roman army is the primary instrument for defense
Italians reluctant to serve
Cities and Romanization
Local city officials had to act as Roman agents
Carried out govt. functions like taxes
Made upper class romanized
Roman senate was being recruited from wealthy provincial equestrian families
Roman Law and Romanization
Jurists classified and compiled legal principles
natural rights
not in practice
Prosperity in the Early Empire
Internal peace resulted in unprecedented levels of trade
Importation of Grain/ luxury items
a steady drain of gold and silver
Roads
built chiefly for military purposes, but also for trade
Agriculture remained the chief occupation of most people and the underlying basis of Roman prosperity. While the large landed estates, the latifundia, still dominated agriculture, small peasant farms
persisted, particularly in Etruria and the Po valley.
The lands of some latifundia were worked by free tenant farmers called coloni. The coolness was essentially a sharecropper who paid rent in labor, produce, or sometimes cash

Roman Culture and Society in the Early Empire

Foreword
Intellectuals found ways to accommodate the autocratic rule of emperors while Roman architects created massive buildings befitting an empire. Gladiatorial games and slavery increased dramatically in the
Early Empire, while upper-class women acquired greater independence
The Silver Age of Latin Literature
Foreword
The popularity of rhetorical training encouraged the use of clever literary expressions, often at the expense of original and meaningful content
Seneca
A good example of above
strongly attached to the philosophy of Stoicism
living according to nature

 accepting events as part of divine plan

Love for all humanity
Helped run the govt. during the first five years of Neros reign, but withdrew from politics after Nero took a more active role in govt.
Charged w/ a conspiracy against Nero and committed suicide at Neros command
Inconsistent
preached simplicity, but amazed a fortune
tried to be clever
Tacitus
Greatest historian of silver age
wrote Annals and the Histories
History from Tiberius through he assassination of Domitian
History had a moral purpose
member of senatorial class
disgusted with the abuses of power
Juvenal
Latin Author
imitated the great Latin writers of earlier ages
best poet of silver age
He attacked the affectations of Roman women, the abuse of slaves, the excesses of emperors, the eastern and Greek immigrants, his own poverty, and the inequities of Roman society
But no basic critique
Art in the Early Empire
Much work was done by Greek artists
Architecture
imitated Greek styles
Made use of colonnades, rectangular structures, and post-and-lintel constructions
Curvilinear forms: the arch, vault, and dome
Concrete
Public baths
Caracalla
Amphitheaters
The Colosseum
Imperial Rome
One million people
An enormous gulf existed between rich and poor.
While the rich had comfortable villas, the poor lived in apartment blocks called insulae.
prone to collapse and in danger of fire
Conflagration of 64
Public buildings
Rome was also a great parasite
emperors provided food
did not cut it

entertainment
Festivals
Circus Maximus
Dramatic performances
Gladiatorial shows
The Gladiatorial Shows
amphitheaters
The colosseum
Flavian
most popular
50,000 spectators
Disaster in Southern Italy
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Pompeii lost
The Art of Medicine
Paterfamilias would prepare remedies to cure illnesses
Doctors
Many were Greek slaves
public doctors first attached to the army
Eventually led to public hospitals
Slaves and Their Masters
number of slaves increased dramatically
Caused unemployment among free people.
Defensive imperial policies led to a decline in the supply of slaves from foreign conquest
also manumission
The Upper-Class Roman Family
Paterfamilias authority was further undermined
no longer had absolute authority over his children
couldnt sell his children into slavery/kill them
Husbands absolute authority over his wife also disappeared
only a formality
Upper-class women
considerable freedom and independence
right to own, inherit, and dispose of property
infanticide
Women stopped having babies
also used abortion or contraception
coitus interuptus

Transformation of the Roman World: Crises int he Third Century

 Foreword
A number of natural catastrophes struck rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelias, the last of the five good emperors.
Floods of the Tiber
Famine
Plague brought back by the army
Considerable loss of population and a shortage of military manpower
Political and Military Woes
Commodus
Marcus Aureliuss son
a poor choice
assassination led to a brief renewal of civil war until Septimus Severus used his legions to take power
Septimius Severus
Used legions to seize power
ended civil wars
make the soldiers rich led to severan rulers
Severan rulers
created a military monarchy
army expanded, soldiers pay was increased, and military officers were appointed to govt. positions
military leaders aspired to become emperors
monarchy degenerated into military anarchy
Chaos of continual civil war
next fifty years
bribing
in 5 decades there were 22 emperors, only two did not meet a violent end
Series of invasions
Sessanid Persians made inroads into Roman Territory
captured Roman emperor Valerian.
Death in captivity, unprecedented
Germanic tribes
Goths
Moved into Greece and Asia Minor
Franks
Gaul and Spain
Aurelian
restored boundaries
abandoned the Danubuian province of Dacia
Reconquered Gaul
Built a defensive wall
restorer of the world
Civil war/Invasions led to provinces breaking away from the empire

 Postumus
Gained support of Britain/Spain, but was killed by his own soldiers
Zenobia
Control over Egypt and much of Asia Minor
Aurelian defeated her in Syria
Economic and Social Crisis
Population declined drastically
By as much as 1/3
affected military recruiting and the economy
Goods used instead of money
Army consisted of Barbarians unattached to the empire

Transformation of the Roman World: The Rise of Christianity

Foreword
The advent of Christianity marks a fundamental break with the dominant values of the Greco-Roman world
The Religious World of the Roman Empire
Mystery religions
offered secret teachings that supposedly brought special benefits
higher world of reality
Elaborate rituals
life after death
Cybele or the Great Mother
Egyptian Isis
Widespread
appealed especially to women
Mithraism
most important mystery cult
chief agent of Ahuramazda, the supreme god of light; identified in rome as the sun god
Men only; especially favored by soldiers
initiation ceremony in which devotees were baptized in the blood of a sacrificed bull
Sunday, and Dec 25
The Jewish Background
Christianity emerged out of Judaism
Roman involvement with the Jews
Judaea had been made a province and placed under the direction of a Roman procurator.
Divisions among Jews themselves continued unrest
Sadducees
Favored a rigid adherence to Hebrew law
Rejected the possibility of mortality
Favored cooperation with the Romans

 Pharisees
Adhered strictly to Jewish ritual and, although they wanted Judaea to be free from Roman control, did not advocate violent means to achieve this goal
Essenes
A Jewish sect that lived in religious community near the Dead Sea.
Dead Sea Scrolls
revealed that they awaited a Messiah who would save Israel from oppression
Zealots
Militant extremists who advocated violent overthrow of Roman rule.
A Jewish revolt was crushed by the Romans four years after it started
Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, Roman power was supreme
The Origins of Christianity
Foreword
Jesus of Nazareth
Palestinian Jew
Grew up in Galilee
important center of the militant Zealots
Presented the ethical concepts
Humility, charity, and brotherly love
Disappointed the radicals
To the Roman authorities, he was a potential revolutionary who might transform Jewish expectations of a messianic kingdom into a revolt.
Procurator Pontius Pilate order his crucifixion
The importance of Paul
Peter
founded the christian church at rome
Pual of Tarsus
Most important figure in early Christianity
reached out to non-Jews and transformed Christianity from a Jewish sect into a broader religious movement
Thought women should be subjects to men
The Spread of Christianity
At first, it spreader slowly
Gospels, or good news concerning Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would be passed on by personal memories
would form the core of the New Testament
Destruction of Jerusalem
First center of Christianity
Left individual churches with considerable independence
Early Christian Communities
Met in private homes in the evening
shared a common meal called an agape or love feast to celebrate what became known as the sacrament of the Eucharist or Lords Supper.
Communities were loosely organized at first
both men and women played significant roles
Later, officials known as bishops came to exercise considerable authority over the presbyters (board of elders)

 Based their superior position on apostolic succession - they were successors to Jesuss original twelve apostles.
Only men
Most communities were following the views of Paul that Christian women should be subject to Christian men
The Structure of Rome aided the growth of Christianity
Roads spread Gospel
The Changing Roman View of Christianity
Romans were tolerant except when they threatened public order or morals
Viewed Christians as harmful to the order of the state
based on misperceptions
They thought the Lords Supper was a ritualistic murder of children
They held their meetings in secret and connected to other Christian groups in distant areas
the govt. viewed them as potentially dangerous to the state
Christians were overly exclusive
no public festivals
no participation in the worship of state gods and the imperial cult
atheism
treason
Persecution
Began during the reign of Nero
he blamed the Christians for the fire that destroyed much of rome
Christian Martyrs
Martyrs were willing the accept death for their faith
The Growth of Christianity
Foreword
Persecutions served to strengthen Christianity by causing it to shed the loose structure of the fist century and more toward a centralized organization of its various church communities
Bishops
chosen by community
Assumed more power
leader
Presbyters emerging as clergy subject to his authority
by 3rd century, they were nominated by the clergy, simply approved by the congregation, then official ordained into office
Churches had a hierarchal structure
Christianity and Greco-Roman culture
Christians expressed considerable hostility toward the pagan culture of the Classical world
Neoplatonism
Platonic thought
One could use reason to perceive the link between the invisible spiritual world and the visible material world
Ended up preserving the Greco-Roman culture
The Appeal of Christianity
Grew slowly in the 1st century, took root in the 2nd, and had spread widely by the 3rd
Promise of salivation

 Gave life purpose beyond material things

Not entirely unfamiliar
just another mystery religion
Universal appeal
A personal relationship with God
Human need to belong
Attractive to all classes
Spiritual equality for all
Women and Early Christianity
By the 2nd century men had gained control of church organization and subjected women to secondary roles
Paul thought women should be subject to men
Persecution
Two emperors responded to the organization of Christian charges with systematic persecutions
Decius
Blamed the Christians for the disasters in the terrible third century
As the administrative organization of the church grew, it appeared to Decius even more like a state within a state
undermined the empire
1st systematic persecution
All citizens were required to offer sacrifices to the Roman Gods
Local officers failed to cooperate
His reign wasnt long
Diocletian
4th century, it was already too late

Key Terms
Augustus

Praetorian guards

Hadrian

Roman architecture

Vespasian Flavian emperors

Marcus
Aurelius

Five good emperors

Tacitus

Gladiatorial shows

Senecca

Mithraism

Varus

Early Christianity

Virgil

Gospels

Livy

Princeps

Paul of
Tarsus

Imperator

Roman
Senate

Roman provincial and frontier policy under Augustus

Book Questions

How was Augustus able to consolidate his power after becoming princeps?
What were the major themes of Roman Golden and Silver Age literature?
What place did the lower classes occupy in Imperial Roman society?
What were some of the reasons for the success of Early Christianity?
What is the Eucharist and what purpose does it serve for Christians?