Topics:From approx. 700 BCE to 300 CECivilization spreads further west: Rome & beyond

Questions:What distinguished the Roman Empire from the Roman Republic?What distinguished the Roman Empire from the Athenian Empire?What effect did the Roman Empire have on the Mediterranean basin, and on Europe?

Lecture 11:The Roman Empire

Trade Networks and Colonies

Minor wars over territory (early 6th c. BCE)(800-600 BCE)

The Etruscans and Rome’s Beginnings

(c. 525 BCE)

Rome develops into a city (c. 600 BCE)

The Roman Republic

Republican government After 509, executive power invested in two consuls on one-year termsSenate = advisory body (controls $$)Legislation passed by all male citizensPatricians dominate; plebs have a say

350-254 BCE - conquered Italy

Latinized Hellenism

By 201 BCE: Romans control western Mediterranean

Punic Wars

By 264 BCE: Rome = one of largest cities in Mediterranean

Need to import grain

264-241 & 218-202 BCE: Punic Wars vs. Carthage

The Celts

Bust of a god? (c. 150-50 BCE)

Large silver cauldron (c. 100 BCE)

Julius “Caesar”(100-44 BCE)

conquest of Gaul (58 BCE)appointed dictator (49 BCE)

declared divine (46 BCE)assassinated by 3 senators (44 BCE)

Cicero(106-43 BCE)

civic virtue vs.

dictatorshipRoman forum

Octavian “Augustus” Caesar(68 BCE- 14 CE)

Battle of Actium (31 BCE)end of triumviratecontrol of Egypt

Emperor after 27-23 BCE

Contradictions!First emperor + restorer of the RepublicPrinceps (First Citizen) + Pater patriae (Father of the country)Pontifex maximus (highest priest) + deified after deathProgressive reform cloaked as conservatism

Administrative, legal, military, and economic reformssupport the Roman Empire for 200 years

dictatorship as civic virtue

= “PAX ROMANA”

“Pax Romana”

Citizenship Roman law

West

ProsperityAgricultural productivityTrade networks

UrbanizationRoman culture

Literacy & lawPublic baths, amphitheaters, etc.

Complete Assimilation of Celts

LATIN

East

Peace

Wider trade networks

Idea of Rome

Administration

GREEK

Building an Empire

Aqueduct near Nimes (c. 20 BCE)

Roman bridge in Spain

Roman theater in Anatolia(Marcus Aurelius)

Wall painting of a major harbor

(1st c. CE)

Roads

MilitaryPublic buildings

CONCRETE