the world’s history - wikispaces · pdf filecopyright ©2010, ©2006 by pearson...

Chapter

Fourth Edition

THE WORLD’S HISTORY

Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

The World’s History, Fourth Edition

Howard Spodek

Rome and the Barbarians

The Rise and

Dismemberment of Empire

6




Howard Spodek

Rome and the Barbarians

• At height, 2nd century C.E., Roman

Empire contained 70-100 million people in

an empire reaching 2,700 miles east to

west and 2,500 miles north to south

• Rome enforced Pax Romana across

empire

• Contemporaries praised it for promoting

peace and prosperity while critics claimed

Pax Romana was brute military conquest




Howard Spodek

From Hill Town to Republic

• The Founding of the Roman Republic

– Founded in 753 B.C.E. [in legend]

– Ruled for 250 years by Etrurians [Etruscans]

– Republic created in 509 B.C.E. when upper-

class Romans drove Etruscans out of city

– New republican government had two consuls

and a Senate using a system of checks and

balances




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

From Hill Town to Republic

• Conquest of Italy 396–264 B.C.E.

– Punic Wars

Rivalry of Carthage

First Punic War 264–241 B.C.E.; Roman conquest

of Sicily

Second Punic War 219–202 B.C.E.

• The threat of Hannibal (247–183 B.C.E.)

Third Punic War 149–146 B.C.E.; destruction of

Carthage

– Conquests in Europe and Near East




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

Social World of the Late Republic

• Social War and extension of Roman

citizenship to Italians

• Patron/client relationship

– Protection/dependence as social glue

• Family

– Power of paterfamilias

– Position of women in Roman society




Howard Spodek


• Struggle of the Orders 494–440 B.C.E.

– Patrician v. plebeian

– Limitations on absolute power of the rich




Howard Spodek


• The late Republican struggle between

nobles and the poor (cont.)

– Extremes of wealth and poverty in Rome

– Great reform effort: the Gracchi (130s and

120s B.C.E.)

New violence of Roman politics

Support of poor as political strategy

Noble/poor conflict paved way for end of Republic




Howard Spodek


• “Bread and circuses”

• Slaves

– Very widespread slavery

– Three great slave revolts




Howard Spodek

Military Might

• A. Militarism = central to Roman ideology

• Generals as politicians

– Marian reform of army: recruitment of

propertyless soldiers

– New dependence of soldiers on their generals




Howard Spodek

Military Might

• First Triumvirate

– Rise of G. Julius Caesar

– Conquest of Gaul

– Caesar as dictator

• Octavian - Antony civil war for sole control

of Roman state




Howard Spodek

From Republic to Empire

• Establishment of the principate

– Octavian (Augustus Caesar) as sole ruler 30

B.C.E.–14 C.E.

Rule of Augustus as “golden age”

– Augustus as imperator

– Further conquests




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

From Republic to Empire

• Economic life in the Empire

– Exploitation of subject peoples

– The problem of decadence

– Flourishing of trade and administrative cities

– Luxury trade and its profits




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

Roman Culture

• The deep influence of Greece

• Virgil and the rhetoric of greatness

• Stoicism




Howard Spodek

Roman Culture

• Roman religion

– Greco-Roman polytheism

– Addition of a cult of deified emperors

Addition of mystery religions

Mithraism

Cybele, Isis

– Tolerance of all religions that weren’t harmful

to the state




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

Roman Culture

• Roman religion (cont.)

– Triumph of Christianity

Persecution

Constantine and the Peace of the Church

Outlawing of polytheism 394 C.E.




Howard Spodek

Transformation of the Roman

Empire

• The problem of “barbarians”

– Celts

Arrival in Europe c. 2000 B.C.E.

Expansion/threat to Mediterranean c. 400 B.C.E.

on

Defeats by Romans

– Germans

Many conflicts along long frontier

Gradual settlement of Germanic tribes within

western Empire




Howard Spodek


Empire

• The problem of “barbarians”

– Steppe peoples, especially Huns

Huns upset balance of borders c. 370 C.E.

Move of Goths into imperial territory to escape

Huns




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek


Empire

• Dismemberment of Empire

– Plague

– Third-century crisis: series of invasions

– Division into eastern and western empires

– Settlement of Germans within Empire as

“federates”

– 410 sack of Rome

– 476 abdication of last western emperor




Howard Spodek


Empire

• Causes for the “fall”

– Military = too expensive for its economic base

– No fixed system of imperial succession

– Germans




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

Eastern Roman Empire

(Byzantine Empire)

• Survival of eastern empire

• Resurgence under Justinian I (r. 527–565

C.E.)

– Justinian Code

– Reconquest of much of the West




Howard Spodek

Eastern Roman Empire

(Byzantine Empire)

• Religious Disputes

– Monophysites

– Iconoclasm

• Build-up of strong Byzantine bureaucracy




Howard Spodek




Howard Spodek

Legacy of the Roman Empire

• Linguistic

• Legal

• Urban

• Transformation of Roman administration

by Christian church

the world’s history - wikispaces · pdf filecopyright ©2010, ©2006 by pearson...

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