2nd ed. – LWH- Huma 1301 – Chapter 5- Rome – text & exercises – VI - 2021
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ed. – LWH- Huma 1301 – Chapter 5- Rome – text & exercises – VI - 2021
Chapter 5 Roman Civilization & Byzantium Roman Civilization The great importance that the Roman Empire and its civilization has in the formation of the Western civilization, derives from establishing a civilization that lasted over six hundred years and reaching geographically from the Middle East to the Atlantic and from North Africa to Northern Europe. Rome was a builder of a great historical bridge between East and West, or the eastern Hellenistic, Egyptian and Mesopotamian worlds and Western Europe that in many places was still in the Iron Age. Roman history
Two famous Roman legends about Rome’s origin tell us the character and values of the ancient Romans. These legends are Romulus & Remus
, and the one found in Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid.
According to legend it all began two twin brothers Romulus and Remus who were the sons of the god of war Mars and a mortal woman Rhea Silva, daughter of king Numitor. Amulius he wicked brother of king Numitor usurped the throne overthrowing his brother and made his daughter Rhea Silvia a Vestal Virgin. As a virgin she could not marry and have legitimate heirs to the throne. To secure his rule against future claimants Numitor had Romulus and Remus placed in a basket asset adrift on the Tiber River in today’s central Italy. The infants were rescued by a female wolf which suckled them. Surviving in their natural environment the infants were then discovered by a shepherd couple and raised into manhood. Thus they were nourished by nature, the she-wolf, and by hard working good humans connected to the land, the shepherd couple. The sculpture of a standing she-wolf with two infants suckling beneath her became an ancient symbol of Rome. The twin brothers learned their true identity and following their Roman nature immediately killed Amulius and restored their grandfather Numitor to the throne. They set out to perform their
destiny to found the city of Rome on the seven hills by the Tiber River. The serious Romulus quarreled with the lighthearted Remus when the latter made fun of the wall Romulus constructed. In his self-righteous wrath Romulus murdered his twin brother. Then Romulus raised an army and having more men than women he set off to supplies his soldiers with wives by rapping Sabine women who were their neighbor. Romulus founded Rome in 753 B.C. and received the first constitution form the gods becoming its first king. The Aeneid is the epic poem about Rome’s legendary beginnings written by the poet Virgin (70 – 19 B.C.) written in 31 B.C. commissioned by Emperor Augustus. Virgil took his inspiration
from the Greeks. The tradition that Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey gave to Greek literature was admired by Virgil who desired to achieve that level of greatness, thus he patterned his poem on these epics to Rome the same kind of epic golden past the ancient Greeks had. Virgil’s epic hero is Aeneas of Greek origin. It begins with the fall of the city of Troy in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) during the long siege of the Greeks lead by Agamemnon. Aeneas and his loyal band of warriors escape the fall of Troy and set sail on the Mediterranean Sea toward the west to fulfill their destiny. The wonderings of Aeneas are based on the Odyssey. Aeneas and his warriors are stranded on the North African shore after a sea storm and then arrive to nearby Carthage well received by Queen Dido who falls in love with Aeneas. She wants Aeneas to stay and live with her but the stern duty in the nature of the hero renounced the honors and the love of the queen
and abandons Dido to fulfill his sacred mission of founding Rome. Queen dido represents the opposite of Aeneas by putting precedence of her desires and passions over duty. The despairing Dido hoping Aeneas will return to her at the last moment chooses suicide and Aeneas sails to Sicily and then to the Tiber River where he fought and defeats Turnus. War in Italy is based on the Iliad. The epic hero then marries Lavinia, the beautiful daughter of king Latinus, and faithful to his duty founds Rome first among cities and home of gods. Thus Virgil’s hero founds an empire and launches a whole new civilization. Aeneas represents stoic Roman hero who is middle aged with the wisdom that comes with maturity. In his sober austerity Aeneas coldly puts his passions aside to fulfill his destiny to found Rome. His will power to carry out his destiny is his greatest virtue. It is clear in this poem that human actions are dictated by external forces when the hero fulfills his destiny, a stoic doctrine that states that people must follow the natural world because they cannot violate natural laws, thus the cosmic determinism man is subjected to. Aeneas comes close to perfect freedom when he frees himself of all mundane desires, another stoic doctrine. The Roman hero achieves stoic virtue when he directs his will to the ends that coincide with nature, which in his case is to begin a great civilization. Following stoic philosophy Aeneas sees adhering to duty as the most noble of all human values. In Aeneas Romans found the best example of the superior qualities of the noble Roman that no other Roman individual in history and in fiction equaled. In his travels Aeneas mirrors Greek hero Odysseus in the Odyssey and in his struggle the Greek heroes of the Iliad Achilles and Hector. The Aeneid is literature but it is also propaganda for a great empire where society’s most important reality was the state and therefore the principal aim of literature was to stir patriotism. It represents the best of the Roman ideal.
These two Roman legends tell us important traits about the Romans and what they thought about themselves. The Romans were practical dedicated hard working, thrifty, loyal to family and state, combative, and faithful to their duty as Roman citizens, the noblest of all virtues. They had little interest theories or abstract ideas, and were practical incorporating what worked and served their needs. This no-nonsense people who were resolute and combative conquered the largest empire of antiquity and established one of the most influential civilizations in history. They viewed themselves as virtuous self-righteous and superior people who had the right to conquer and exploit other people because they had the military ability and superior culture to accomplish this. Thus violence was a means to their goals. Romulus and Remus were sons of the god of war, Romulus murdered his brother in self-righteous wrath then he took the Sabine lands and women, and Aeneas was a warrior who began the city-state that would grow to restore Trojan honor by conquering the Greeks. Aeneas was the ancestor of Romulus and Remus. These legends were the version of history that Roman children heard of their origins, and were a self-
fulfilling prophesies in that Romans believed that they were fated to be warriors destined to grandeur, glory and to rule the world. The Romans built a great civilization that had splendor, the
highest standard of living of its time and achieved great building projects on a grand scale that the Western world inherited with its laws and Latin language. But it achieved this at the cost of exploitation denigrating human value and the qualities of imagination and joy.
Roman morality and Roman law has a rural ethic by stressing the importance of nature and of living within one’s means. This also applied to Roman literary culture that revered its rustic past, and when Rome became prosperous with its conquests, many writers criticized the corrupting power of luxury and looked up to the home-spun values of Rome’s founders who were herdsmen
and farmers. A very important value was the sanctity of the family and its reputation. Divorce was unheard of until the late republican era, and still family values continued to be praised by
moralists and honored by its leaders. The Roman family was guided by the paterfamilias
, or father of the family which usually was reserved for the eldest male member of the entire family that could span to two or three generations. The paterfamilias exercised the legal power of life and death over his entire household which included family members, servants and slaves. To get marry you need the consent of this family head regardless of age. The Roman matron had a freer and more influential role in family life than the secluded Greek wives, and seen more in public with her husband and supervising the education of her sons and daughters. Rome’s origin. The Aeneas legend may have been based on the Etruscans
who were a people that settled in northern and central Italy around the ninth century B.C. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote the Etruscans originated from western Asia Minor, near Troy, and were advanced in culture. Modern historians agree with this view. They used letters derived from
the archaic Greek alphabet. Thus this legend may be based on actual historical facts. The Etruscan civilization ruled Rome during the sixth century B.C. Etruscan civilization had a
high standard of living and they originated the street plans for cities, the masonry arch, sophisticated sanitary and civil engineering, the triumphal processions and gladiatorial combat. Rome borrowed many concepts from the Etruscans making the cultural inheritance was very strong. But the Romans did not accept all aspects of Etruscan culture. The Etruscans were not austere people, they valued what was pleasurable in life and pursued it. Their elaborate tombs of the members of the upper class demonstrate that the Etruscan were very concerned about life after death because the tombs look like their luxurious homes with all the items that made life comfortable and pleasant, thus they believed in a continuing afterlife and they wanted to keep enjoying it. Their tomb paintings portray men and women drinking wine together in a relax atmosphere. In contrast the austere Romans were not concern with the afterlife and they frowned upon living life in the pursuit of pleasure. Romans did not give the same status to women as the Etruscan. Roman women would not socialize nor drink with men, and did not have the same rights and liberties as men. The battle of Lake Vadimon in 308 B.C. broke the Etruscan political and military control of central and northern Italy. Greek influence. Early in Rome’s history during the eight century B.C., the Romans came in contact with the Greek colonies in southern Italy known as Magna Graecia. The Greeks culture in many ways was more sophisticated thus Rome came under Greek influence. The Romans assimilated Greek architecture, sculpture, art, literature, theater, philosophy and mythology. They
looked up to the Greeks, but they were also suspicious of them. The Greek culture in many ways was the opposite of Roman values which creating a hostile attitude toward the Greeks. The Greeks were urbane, artistic, intellectual, sophisticated, individualistic, seeking the good life. Thus the sober, austere and warlike Romans that valued discipline, conformity, tradition, physical prowess, and duty to state and family looked down on their southern neighbors but recognized their cultural achievements. They had an ambivalent attitude toward the Greeks.
The Age of Kings, 753 – 509 B.C. During the Age of Kings some of the basic elements of the roman political, social and
economic structures were established. The small city-state was ruled by kings having a balance
system of government in which a council of landowners took part in selecting the ruler and the
entire people ratified its choice. This system came to an end when the Etruscans imposed their
kings upon Rome around 600 B.C. Later on this system of selecting rulers and voting for
acceptance became the model for government under the republic. The Romans saw the Etruscans
kings as tyrants and eventually they were able to free themselves from their rule.
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The Republic, 509 – 27 B.C.
Roman tradition has that the Republic began with the expulsion of the Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud in 509 B.C. Now that the Romans were free of foreign rule they created a different way to govern themselves following their practical nature. They did not want another monarchy so Rome was under an oligarchy, which is the government by the few who possess wealth and political power. The oligarchy became the basis of the new state. To be a member of the oligarchy required wealth, and in an agricultural economy land ownership was the source of wealth and political power. Thus the oligarchs, the land-owning aristocrats, established republic with full citizenship reserved only for their class. Oligarchs belong to the patrician
class. This upper class that ruled over Roman society took its name from the Latin word “pater” or father. They had the authority in Roman society like a father has in his family. The patricians constituted
10 percent of the population. The remaining 90 percent were the plebeians
from the Latin “plebs” or multitude. At this time a long lasting aspect of roman political and economic life takes
roots and that is class conflict. When the aristocrats established the republic by denying citizenship to the plebeians they safeguarded their power. This policy of exclusion laid the groundwork for centuries of class conflict that would be a factor in the fall of the republic. In contrast to the direct democracy of Athens, the republic was based on a system of representatives and separation of powers. In their pragmatic attitude, not being interested in political theories or abstract ideas about government the patricians made the necessary adjustments to meet their needs developing the republican institutions and practices. They were the class that could participate and hold office in government, and be officers in the military. The
plebeians could not hold office and marry into the patrician class. But making money was not forbidden to this class. With time some plebeians became wealthy and were able to have adjustments made to have some representation in government and eventually marry into the patrician class. The patricians did not want to be ruled by one man or a very small group, therefore one characteristic of the Republic is that during peace time political power is not in the hands of one person or group. It seeks to avoid concentration of power through the need of cooperation among the different bodies or institutions that govern. The Republic will have two heads of state with short terms and mutual veto power, and their legislative branch was made up of two legislative bodies that need to cooperate to pass laws. The executive heads of state were two consuls who govern with full power for one year and each had the power to veto over the other consul. They were commanders of the army. Consuls were chosen from members of the senate. Consuls appointed members of the patrician class to the Senate
made of three hundred members who had life terms. The Senate and the consuls submitted laws to the other legislative body the Centuriate Assembly
which had less power than the Senate but it passed the laws, and elected the consuls. This assembly was organized around military units known as “centuries”, and even if plebeians could be members in reality it was dominated by the rich patricians because military obligations were determined by a citizen’s wealth. Also the Centuriate Assembly elected two censors
among the exconsuls. The censors had
the function of determining who was eligible for military service and who had the moral quality to become a nominee for the Senate. Military service was important in Roman society because service to the state was considered a mark of a true Roman who was fit to serve in government. Therefore, the Republic had built into it a mechanism of check and balances in which to govern effectively the consuls had to agree or cooperate because their mutual veto power could neutralize their acts and policies; the senators needed the appointment of the consuls to become Senate members; the Senate and consuls needed the approval of the Centuriate Assemble to
make their legislation into law, and the consuls needed to be elected by this assembly as well as the censors; and those that wanted to serve in the military and become senators depended on being declared eligible by the censors. Thus all governing bodies and offices depended on their mutual cooperation, and no one individual or group had absolute power and could act on his own. Most offices were held by patricians having the monopoly on power. . ( insert a diagram of the republican government of Rome. I will send it as an attachment in another e-mail.)
The risk that having two heads of state with mutual veto power and both being commanders of the army could jeopardize the state incase that they disagreed or veto each other during times of war where the security and survival of the state was paramount, led Rome to make another practical adjustment to government which was the office of the dictator
. The word comes from the term to
dictate
, because this individual had the authority to dictate his decision and all had to obey his him. The dictator became the supreme commander of the army and received his authority constitutionally for a term of six month. The short term was to avoid being under the absolute rule of one individual for a long time and not allow that person to get used to such great power or extend his term for a long period. The plebeians
, who were excluded from government
, created a situation of abuse of power that became intolerable for this class and with their growing financial power were able to exert political influence to force the Senate to create the office of the Tribune
. The tribune was the protector of the people, the plebeians. This office was created by a strike. In 494 B.C. when Rome was threatened by invading forces the plebeians went on strike and refused to fight taking a position in the Aventine Hill. They created their magistrates called “tribunes of the people”. Then the patricians had to recognize this office. It changed radically the balance of power between the patricians and the plebeians. Ten tribunes were elected annually by the plebs alone. Their function was to protect the plebeians from the abuse of power at the hands of government officials, especially consuls. Tribunes had the power of intervening physically if need be to defend a plebeian who was wrongfully punished or oppressed. With time also the Assembly of the Tribes came to have power which allowed for plebeian participation in government. This new
assembly could be attended by patrician and plebeians. The tribune convened the Plebeian Assembly (only for plebs). At first its votes serve as a plebiscite that allowed for the Senate and consuls to measure the opinion of the majority of Roman citizens. By 287 B.C. the decisions of the Patrician and Plebeian Assemblies (both constituted the Assembly of Tribes) had force of law
binding all Roman society. Thus with the office of tribune and the popular assemblies the Roman
republic had evolved into “two heads”, those of the Senate composed of the rich patricians and those of the Roman people. Economics. The pragmatic Romans never resolved the issue of ownership of the land which held the key to Rome’s economic health and wealth of its citizens. There were landlords that owned large estates with cheap slave labor, and controlled large part of the agricultural market that left the small farmer struggling to stay in business. Competition from these large estates with lower cost due to labor from war-booty slaves, drought and pestilence forced many farmers with small acreage into debt, bankruptcy, and some ended as slaves to pay their debt. The large estates grew larger at expense of small farms. Reforms were made to change the law and end debt-slavery and
attempts to distribute the land, but many farmers still ended as urban poor who left the countryside to find work in the cities. This mass of poor country people could not find work in large estates because they could not compete with cheap slave labor and many neither found
work in the cities because there were plenty of slaves there to work. Thus these urban poor became part of the permanent welfare program, receiving free bread from the state. By the first century B.C. 80% of the population of Rome was either slave or living of the “panes et cirsens” or “bread and circuses”, free bread and entrance to the spectacles of the Coliseum. This failure of
lack of productive farms and urban jobs was a cause that contributed to the decline of the empire.
The welfare program was a failure because many Romans lost their ethics of hard work and the decadent and sadistic entertainments of the Roman games diminished their moral fiber. Military might & empire building.
Rome began its history as a small city-state governed by kings that was competing with neighboring city-states for power and control of the region of central Italy. Since its beginnings Rome was unique in that it had an open door policy of assimilating foreigners into its city-state, which was the opposite of its neighbors who were distrustful of outsiders. Its founder, Romulus decided that Rome did not have enough population and therefore he decided to create an asylum,
a free zone for anyone, whether it be runaway slaves and criminals, brigands, pirates, who ever wanted to come and join to be part of this great idea that is Rome. Thus Rome had a very unique attitude, its openness to other people and ideas that were of use to their needs. To grow and become a stronger state, Rome became a safe haven for people who were desperate and were seeking a place to prosper and settle. This brought ambitious and ruthless individuals to populate this growing city-state. This aspect of Roman reality would influence the character of Roman people who were ambitious and inclined to use violence and ruthlessness to achieve their goals. This was a very important contributing factor, the use of violence, throughout the entire history of Rome. Since the story of Romulus and Remus, where Romulus murders Remus and becomes king of Rome, bloodshed became a means to produce a new Roman ruler. Civil war among the Romans is one of the defining features of the growth of the Roman state. Thus the tradition of the
murder of Romulus and Remus is one that reverberates or repeats itself throughout Roman history. The openness of Rome to foreigners and ideas imported from other cultures encouraged a free exchange of ideas, among them engineering theories imparted from other cultures, especially from the Etruscans. The Romans will be masters in adapting, improving and refining ideas and technologies to meet their needs, that will allow them to become a great empire with a high standard of living and achievement. Therefore, the Romans will make important contributions to Western civilization such as aqueducts, indoor plumbing, sewer systems, masonry arch, bridges and paved roads, still in use today. From 500 to 275 B.C. Rome gained control of the region of Latium in central Italy. It accomplished this in piecemeal fashion by means of a combination of diplomacy and war. Then it brought the rest of the Italian peninsula under its control. Initially the motivation for expansion
was to gain more farming land due to the small farms of many peasants that were not large enough to sustain a large family. Also defending their territory was a motive. In 493 B.C. Rome joined an alliance with it Latin neighbors forming the Latin League to defend themselves from the invasion of central tribes of Volsci, Aequi and the Sabines. Once they overcame this threat, Rome and its Latin allies turned on Etruria to the north. Some Etruscan cities came to peaceful terms while others were defeated to submission and annexed. In 340 BC. The city-state of Rome went to war against the Latin League and defeated it. By 290 B.C. Rome turned south and dominated the Samnites, thus controlling more territory. Now Rome was bordering with Magna Graecia, the Greek colonies in Southern Italy. Rome was conquering its neighbors through forced annexation, alliances and conferring the privilege of citizenship becoming absorbed in the
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Roman commonwealth. With this expansion the Latin language, customs and culture of the Romans was gradually spreading throughout Italy. Loyalty to Rome was demanded upon all these forms of conquest and assimilation. Thus Rome had a great supply of citizens and allies upon which to draw military manpower and enable Rome to make up its losses in battle and pursue its goals. This period of conquest and expansion forged the character of resilience and discipline of the
tough and unwavering Roman peasants and their leader, in whose work and struggles there was
no place for comfort and self indulgence. In 280 B.C. the Greek city-state of Tarentum fearing
Roman expansion into its territory call for military aid from Greece that came in their aid. By
275 B.C. Rome defeated the Greeks near Naples and gained control over all southern Italy. All
the Italian peninsula was Roman territory. Next was the conquest of the Mediterranean where Roma expands out of Italy. The Punic
Wars
with Carthage 264 – 146 B.C. set out Rome to conquer the World. Punic come from the
Latin word for Phoenician. The Phoenicians were from the Middle East, modern Lebanon, and
they founded the city of Carthage in North Africa around 800 B.C. The Carthage was a seafaring
trading empire that by 265 B.C. had become the wealthiest and culturally advanced city
controlling the trading routes of the western Mediterranean. Their trading ports were in France,
Spain, the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, and across North Africa. Sicily was a Carthaginian
province where a war broke out among two cities. Carthage took the side of one city and Rome
the other. This conflict escalated into a direct confrontation between Rome and Carthage for the
control of Sicily. Rome only had an army but to win it had to weaken Carthage control of the sea,
thus Rome had to build its first navy. Rome seized a Carthaginian ship that ran aground in Italy
and copied its design to build one hundred war ships with a new weapon a rotatable spiked
boarding bridge to allow its soldiers to board the takeover enemy ships. The Romans were
victorious at sea after losing more ships to lack of experience than in naval action. After more
than twenty years Rome had its victory over Carthage. To make up for losses of the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, in 238 B.C. the
Carthaginians expanded their empire into Spain. Rome did not want they adversary to keep on
expanding in Spain, and made an alliance with the city of Saguntum on the border of Carthage’s
expanding Spanish empire. When Saguntum became a threat to the Carthaginians towns,
Hannibal
the Carthaginian general took over the city. Now Rome had an excuse to go to war in
Spain and annex this wealthy territory. This sparked the second Punic War 218 – 201 B.C., the
greatest between these two rival empires. Hannibal was a very able military leader and took his
forces across Spain into France, then crossed the Alps into north Italy, a 1000 mile journey. With
his army and elephants Hannibal attacked Rome from the rear in its own backyard. Hannibal’s
determination and tactics defeated the larger Roman forces but did not take over the city of
Rome, thus not having a complete victory. Rome was desperate and under the leadership of
Scipio it attacked the vulnerable homeland of Hannibal, Carthage in North Africa. The leaders of
Carthage called upon Hannibal who had to leave Italy and defend the capital of his empire.
Scipio defeated Hannibal forces in Africa in the battle of Zama in 202 ending the war with
Rome’s victory. Carthage lost is overseas empire forever. The third and last Punic War 149 B.C. was motivated by greed for Carthage’s fertile soil and
abundant harvest. Cartage had recuperated from the second Punic War but in no way had it
means to be a threat to Rome. The senator, consul and censor Cato after returning from a fact-
finding mission to Carthage in 149, was able to convince the Senate that Carthage was a threat
again. The Romans put many pressures and abusive demands upon Carthage and their goal of
another war became a reality. This war resulted in the complete destruction and loot of the city in
146 B.C. Its male inhabitants were killed and its women and children sold into slavery. Salt was
spread over the ground so nothing would grow after. The same year another Roman army applied
the same treatment to the Greek City of Corinth. Greece was next to fall into Roman conquest.
Now the Roman Empire extended all across the Mediterranean. (insert map from R. Cleve’s textbook, pg. 274, # 10.7 )
The recent conquests of Rome brought great wealth from the war booty into the empire which
concentrated in the city of Rome. There was a massive injection of money into the capital, thus
Rome was flourishing. The city bulged with expenditure, imports and industry, new markets,
slaves, more aqueducts were constructed and large building projects sprang up. The new style
with the most cachet was the Greek style. Thus the wealthy élite made their luxurious villas with
foreign influence, and also its public buildings. Greece’s ancient civilization was what roman
aristocrats admired. Rome’s population was approaching one million, which made the city
crammed with people. There was an increase in the numbers of landless and jobless Romans.
Despites Rome’s new prosperity, its wealth was not distributed properly, thus not all sections of
society shared in its wealth. Reform was long overdue. Rome’s success and wealth as an empire produced its dangerous consequence. The wealthy
élite enriched by the empire’s conquests fell into the practice of conspicuous displays of
prosperity and success becoming the manifestation of a noble patrician’s prestige and political
standing. For example if an aristocrat who was in command of the army and was successful at
war returning to Rome with great honors and wealth, and made a public display of this would
incite other ambitious aristocrats to compete for prestige and political status with the wealth it
brought. Now the other aristocrats had to play catch-up or lose status. The only way to catch-up
and even outdo a successful opponent was to run for election and win an office such as a
praetorship which could allow to govern a province abroad and profit from it, or even better a
consulship which offered the opportunity to command armies and gain by conquest. The family’s
status would rise which was also a very important concern of Roman noblemen. Thus the prizes
that the empire offered increased tremendously and the political élites competed in intensifying
circles of rivalry that never ceased. By the 140s B.C. this common practice among the ambitious
patrician class of self-serving competing was corrupting the republic. The new luxuries
undermined the traditional Roman values of frugality, discipline, honesty, and respect for the law
that were the virtues that made the Romans a strong people and on which the republic was built
and depended. The ambitious aristocrats became ruthless to rise and profit to the point that vote-
buying and ballot box stuffing became common practice. Roman proconsuls and tax collectors
plundered the provinces they were in charge of to enrich Rome as well as themselves. Slaves
were treated harshly that provoked several slave uprisings, the most famous by the gladiator
Spartacus
in 73 – 71 B.C. which was finally put down by the army and 6000 rebels slaves were
crucified along the Appian Way, south of Rome. The new class of merchants, tax collectors,
moneylenders and government contractors created by the empire’s wealth were just as corrupt.
The common people living under conditions of poverty and in slums became cruel and lazy.
Thus the “curse” of Roman conquest and empire building brought a moral decline that later
would contribute to the republic and the empire’s decline.
The gap between rich and poor increased as the wealth was unevenly divided. In the pursuit
of status and wealth the Roman élite became blinder and heartless to the growing poverty in
Rome. The land ownership issue was at the center of this unstable inequality that threatened the
empire’s social justice and harmony among its classes. Service in the army was an obligation of
all Roman male citizens and most of the army was composed of smallholding farmers. As the
empire’s military campaigns of conquest became longer and further away from Italy in faraway
Spain, Greece and North Africa, these small farmers had to stay in military service far away from
their farms and some never returned. This left their families in danger of debt and starvation with
the farms falling into disuse and neglect. The small farmer could not compete with the large-
scale production by cheap slave labor of the large estates. Many were forced to abandon or sell
their farms, and this allowed for aristocrats to gain more land. When they came to Rome to find
sustenance they were forced to support the political interests these aristocrats to be able to earn a
living. Also the gap between political power of the patricians and plebeians widened when Rome
grew from a village to the large center of a vast empire with over 750,000 inhabitants by the
second century B.C. The popular or plebeian assemblies could not function in the same manner
before Rome became an empire due to their larger membership. Therefore they could not make
the swift decisions that the empire required. This increased the power of the senate and the
aristocratic proconsuls who administered the provinces. The end result was the loss of the little
power the plebeians had in government in which the patricians always had the upper hand. This
troubled situation led many to believe that if the élites became more selfish and greedy and the
frustrated poor a mob that would run a riot, it would lead the republic to tear itself apart. The senate became divided on the issue of land reform. There was the faction that saw land
reform a threat to their large estates and wanted to keep the status quo, and the opposing faction
that viewed the need for concord between the senate and the people. By 140 B.C. both factions
came face to face in conflict. Land reforms were introduced in the senate but the majority
rejected. Two patricians brothers from an old prestigious family will take the cause of the
landless poor. Tiberius Gracchus
in 133 B.C. became tribune. He believed the means to restore
the Roman values and the republic was to restore the small farmer. His plan was to reenact an old
law that limited the estates in public land rented out to any man to the amount of 300 acres and
distribute the rest of the land to landless farmers. He proposed a compensation to the rich
landowners for the excess land surrendered. The plebeians were with Tiberius. In 132 B.C.
Tiberius was murdered by a group of senators and their followers and clubbed 300 of Tiberius
followers to death. Other followers of the populist tribune were exiled or executed without trial.
The traditional reverence for law was giving way to unconstitutional acts and corruption. His
brother Gaius Gracchus
was elected tribune in 123 B.C. and he also took the cause of the
commoners and had the goal to enforce Tiberius’ agrarian law. Many came from Italy to Rome to
support Gaius. The senate ordered the Italian supporters to leave the city and wanted Gaius
murder. Consul Opimius even placed a reward of gold for Gaius head. The populist patrician was
murdered and three thousand of his followers were arrested and executed. This unresolved land
issue with the wide gap between the have and have not in Roman society ruin the integrity of the
state generating class warfare. The senate unknowingly lost the last opportunity to salvage the
republic and set the stage of one-man rule. The division between the aristocrats and the Populares who favored the poor will open the
way to three civil wars in Rome. The first of generals to seize power was Consul Gaius Marius
.
He came from a lower class, the equites (knights) and looked down upon the sophisticated
senators who lived in luxury. Marius was successful in his campaigns in North Africa and Celtic
tribes in Europe. His major change and improvement was converting the army from amateurs
loyal to Rome who farmed between campaigns and provided their military equipment to full-
time professional soldiers equipped by and loyal to its commander. Marius was not of high birth
and he acquired his consulship on his proven ability elected by the people not the Senate. The
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Senate had elected military commanders, but by 110s B.C. the populist faction in the Senate after
the murder of the Gracchus brother was able to pass anti-corruption laws the curbed the excesses
of senators and provincial governors, and allowed for the people to select military commanders.
Marius used the threat of armed force to overcome opposition in the Senate to the distribution of
land in North Africa to his troops, which had not been done before. He was elected consul for six
consecutive years (105 – 100 B.C.) that went against the law that prohibited consuls from
holding office for two consecutive terms. He never seized Rome and retired. In 88 B.C. King Mithridates led Greece and Asia Minor into rebellion against Rome’s
oppressive proconsuls and the existing corruption, killing 80,000 Italians in his territory. The
Senate chose Lucius Sulla
as commander of the forces to put down the revolt, but the comitia
tributa, one of Rome’s three popular assemblies, chose Marius who was popular among the
plebeian class. Sulla had served under Marius
but now was his rival. Sulla failed to find and kill
Marius who had fled to North Africa and left to the east to fight Mithridates’ rebellion. Marius
returns to Rome in Sulla’s absence, loots the city and murders some of his opponents including a
consul. Maruis dies of natural causes, and Sulla after defeating the rebellion in the east in 85
B.C. returns to Rome defeating Maruis’ army in a civil war that caused many deaths, including
many senators that reduced the Senate from 300 to 150 members. In 82 B.C. the Senate
appointed Sulla as dictator and he placed most of the government functions leaving the popular
assemblies and the tribunes powerless. Again the ongoing struggle for power between the
aristocrats and the people of Rome. Sulla then went on a purge of his enemies and to restore the Senate to a dominant position.
His troops killed 30,000 to 50,000 people, a great number that the Senate had to beg him to stop.
After serving as consul Sulla voluntarily retired to his rural estate and died in 78 B.C. Marius and
Sulla had the scruple of not making themselves permanent dictators and the republic survived.
The civil war accelerated the trend toward strong factions in the government and personal
ambition. In 70 B.C. Gnaeus Pompey
and
Marcus Crassus were elected consuls. Both had supported Sulla during his dictatorship, but now pursuing an opportunity to further their glory they changed
to the side of the populists. They won the favor of the common people by repealing most of Sulla’s laws, thus restoring power to the people from the aristocrats in the Senate. Pompey then was successful in campaigns against piracy at sea and in the east against another revolt from Mithridates and conquered southeast Asia Minor that included Judea and Syria. Pompey returned
to Rome in 62 B.C. and disbanded his army quickly thus losing his influence upon the Senate that refused to give the land he requested for his soldiers. In frustration Pompey formed the First
Triumvirate
in 60 B.C. when he made an alliance with Crassus, the second wealthiest man in Rome after Pompey the wealthiest Roman due to his eastern conquests, and Julius Caesar
. Pompey gave money and popular support that Caesar needed to be elected consul, and Caesar agreed to propose laws that conservative senators refused so his army veterans could receive farmlands and the ratification of Pompey’s treaties in the east. When Pompey’s land bill was defeated in the Senate, Caesar breaking with tradition took it directly to the popular assembly and had it approved. Caesar’s consulship demonstrated that at this moment the populists had the upper hand over the constitutionalist senators. Caesar
was a member of the oldest Roman aristocratic families. His family claimed to be descendants of the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas, founder of Rome, who was thought to be son of the goddess Venus. Thus Caesar was able to claim descent from the gods, which he took advantage of to have royal blood and status. A nephew of Marius, married to a daughter of
Marius’ allies, and sympathetic to the masses, he was not on Sulla’s favorable side and was nearly banished in his youth by Sulla. Through the triumvirate Caesar was elected consul in 59 B.C. He then set out conquer Gaul (today France, Belgium, southern Holland, Germany west of the Rhine River, and Switzerland), crossed into Britain, dominated a sector of Spain and Egypt where he had an affair with its queen Cleopatra and produced a son Caesarion. With his victory in Gaul Caesar wrote Commentaries on the Gallic War
which served to promote his popularity and became a masterpiece of the Latin language. In 53 B.C. Crassus was treacherously killed by the enemy when he attempted to conquer Parthia, in Persia east of the Euphrates River. Thus now
only Pompey and Caesar remained on the triumvirate. At home Caesar sided with the people and won their support. The plunder from his conquests
made him very wealthy, and he used his fortune to gain favor with the masses of Rome putting
on spectacular gladiatorial games and bribed Roman officials. Pompey and the Senate were
jealous of Caesar’s conquests and popularity. After Crassus’ death as well as Julia’s, Caesars
daughter who was married to Pompey, Caesar and Pompey began to drift apart. Riots in Rome
between populists and the conservative élite produced a chaotic situation, and Rome having no
police force left the conservative senators to align with the only powerful man in Rome, Pompey
to gain security and peace. The Senate thus granted Pompey sole consulship. This delighted
Pompey who always desired the acceptance of the senatorial establishment with the status and
prestige it gave him. Pompey brought order to Rome with his troops, and now was siding with
the conservative senators. ( insert photo from Shutterstock 2533080 / text: Julius Caesar Caesar’s conquest of Gaul brought more wealth for the empire. Now that he accomplished
his mission Caesar was ready to return to Rome and to his enemies in the Senate. Caesar knew
his power base was his army that was loyal to him because he had led them to victory and given
share of the spoils of war, the only wealth with their salaries that the Roman soldiers could
expect, and not farmland from the republic. Land grants for Pompey’s veterans were the
exception not the rule. Caesar managed with popular support to have a law passed extending his
command in Gaul. The conservative senator attacked Caesar who they considered a dangerous
and powerful man who was a threat to the republican power-sharing principal and could come to
Rome with his army and tell everyone, including Pompey what to do. Pompey thus announced
that Caesar should give up command the following year and sided with the Senate controlled by
the conservatives. Caesar feared that if he disbanded his army and presented himself to the
Senate, his political enemies could then prosecute him for his past actions. Therefore, Caesar
disregarded the tradition and order to present himself in Rome without his loyal army, his sole
protection against his enemies, and crossed the Rubicon River with his legions headed for Rome
in 49 B.C. This began another civil war.
As Caesar marched to Rome Pompey and most of the Senate fled the city. Pompey went to the
east. Caesar defeated Pompey’s forces in Spain and then went east to defeat Pompey. In the battle
of Pharsalus, Greece in 48 B.C. the outnumbered Caesar defeated Pompey forces. Pompey fled
to Egypt. Upon arriving to Alexandria, Egypt, the Egyptian officials thinking they would be
better off pleasing Caesar, treacherously assassinated Pompey and sent his head to Caesar. When
Caesar saw it he wept at the dishonorable death of great Roman and ordered the assassins put to
death. He then stayed in Egypt, met Cleopatra, and brought Egypt with its large supply of grain
into the Roman domain. By 45 B.C. Caesar had triumphed in Italy, Spain, Gaul (France), Greece,
Syria, North Africa and Egypt.
Between 49 and 44 B.C. Caesar was voted four consulships and four dictatorships. He set to
honor his promises to the people by passing legislation to granting land to veterans and urban
poor in Italy and colonies abroad fulfilling the Gracchi brother’s goal. He cancelled all interests
on debts originating during the civil war inflationary period, reduced Rome’s debt with better
administration, put down street gangs, rebuilt the city, reduced unemployment to more than half
with public works program and decreed one third of laborers in the large estates be free men, and
removed corrupt officials and senators. Caesar rejected the title and crown of a king. But his
enemies saw in him a threat to their interest and his social class, and as an autocrat when in
February of 44 B.C. Caesar became dictator in perpetuity. Therefore Caesar became Rome’s first
emperor
. Instead of sharing power and relating with the new senatorial élite working toward
complete reform of the republic, Caesar pursued his patrician dignity, his honor and power than
the liberty of the citizens. In march of that year a group of senators, about sixty, came up to
Caesar to make petition and while having a conversation one of them pulled his dagger and
stabbed the dictator and the rest followed suit. Caesar died of twenty three wounds. The motive
for his murder ranged from jealousy to patriotic concerns over constitutional violations, and the
resentment of corrupt officials Caesar had interfered with their greed. The people who supported
Caesar considered him a martyr. The conspiring senators thought they had restored the republic,
in reality it was dead. The Empire, 27 B.C. – 476 A.D.
Augustus.
Gaius Octavian
was Caesar’s adopted grandnephew and heir. When Caesar was
murdered he was eighteen years old. Although young, Octavian reacted like a veteran politician.
He formed a Second Triumvirate with Mark Anthony and Lepidus, and reignited civil war in 43
B.C. when he pursued power and to revenge his adoptive father’s assassination. Octavian began
to call himself Caesar to attach his adoptive father’s fame to his person in the eyes of the roman
people. He joined Mark Anthony and went to war against Caesar’s assassins defeating them and
driving Brutus and Cassius to suicide. Even though Mark Anthony was a large and well built
man with experience serving with Caesar during his military campaigns, the more fragile and
younger appearance of Octavian disguised his ruthless mind and cold-bloodedness by which he
took violent measures against his rivals and enemies. Octavian is considered Rome’s first
emperor, but was actually the second after Caesar. Thus the term “Roman Empire” is often used
to refer to the period from Octavian in 27 B.C. to 476 A.D., even if most of conquered territory
was accomplished under republic. Constitutional government ended with Caesar, and under
Octavian, or Augustus as he is better known, the Roman republic was transformed into an
autocracy or one man rule, the emperor. This was the greatest revolution in all of Rome’s history.
To achieve this goal Octavian used many means. Sometimes force, other times the law, but he
preferred the use of persuasion which he mastered to the point that the Roman people and
senators willingly gave up their freedoms under the republic and handed them to Octavian. ( insert photo of Caesar Augustus fron Shutterstock: ID: 24555340
The Second Triumvirate ruled the Roman Empire as dictator. The three heads divided the
empire among themselves. Octavian ruling the western empire, thus having all of Italy with
Rome, Mark Anthony had the eastern empire with the important province of Egypt, and Lepidus
had North Africa. To secure an alliance between Octavian and Mark Anthony, the latter married
Octavian’s sister Octavia. In 36 B.C. Octavian forced Lepidus out of the triumvirate when
Lepidus tried to take Sicily from Octavian and most of his troops deserted him for Octavian.
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Mark Anthony fell in love with Cleopatra and both planned to take over the empire using
Caesar’s son, Ptolemy XV as heir to Caesar and thus rule of the empire. Mark Anthony lived a
lavish lifestyle with Cleopatra in Egypt and had sons with her. When he divorced Octavia who
was respected by the Roman people and his will was publicly revealed by Octavian, the shrew
politician was able to convince the Roman people that Mark Anthony was not loyal to Rome and
wage a war against his rival. The will declared his sons by Cleopatra his heirs, gave control of
three Roman territories to Cleopatra, and if he died in Rome to have his body sent to Cleopatra in
Egypt. Octavian was clever to use the outrage of Roman society to the possibility of being ruled
by men who were half Roman, and declared war only on Cleopatra, claiming that Mark Anthony
was under the Egyptian queen’s spell. After defeating the combined forces of Cleopatra and
Mark Anthony in the naval battle of A
ctium of the coast of Greece in 31 B.C., Octavian
trapped Mark Anthony in Egypt where before his defeat and thinking Cleopatra had committed
suicide he stabbed himself through the stomach, but lived to die in Cleopatra’s arms. After her
capture by Octavian, Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 B.C. using a poisonous snake smuggled
in a basket of figs. She chose this means because she conducted many experiments on
condemned prisoners that convinced her it was the least painful way to die. This demonstrates
how the life of slaves and prisoners in antiquity had little value to those that ruled who had the
power of life and death over other men. Octavian killed Caesarion, Caesar and Cleopatra’s young
son due to the possibility of claiming to be the heir of Caesar which made him a dangerous rival. Octavian returned to Rome victorious having great wealth provided by the breadbasket of
Egypt. Octavian immediately proceeded to gain the loyalty of the people of Rome and the
Roman Army. He spent this wealth by giving generous cash awards to his soldiers, and money to
every Roman citizen. He secured Egypt’s granary which became Rome’s reliable source of grain.
He brought the end of civil war and offered peace and order after a century of chaos and violence
under the Roman republic. Now Octavian held all the power but he lacked legitimacy. To
overcome this weakness became the most important goal in his life. To achieve legitimacy He
prudently maintained the appearance of restoring the republic. He was clever to dress his power
in the clothes of the old republican offices. Understanding the lesson of Caesar’s assassination and aware of the distrust and hatred of the
noble Romans towards monarchy and an all powerful individual who dominated the state,
Octavian avoided to exercise supreme power in an explicit manner and disguised it. When he
met the Senate Octavian renounced all his powers and territories he conquered handing them to
the Senate and Roman people. The Senate fearful of continual civil wars and of Octavian’s
power responded by granting Octavian consulship which is what he wanted. On the surface the
republic seemed restored with power in the hands of the Senate and assemblies of the Roman
people. The Senate granted Octavian the provinces of Gaul, Syria, Egypt, and Cyprus for ten
years. These military important provinces were governed by Octavian where most of the legions
were located. Octavian had command armies, a major source of power, and these wealthy
territories. He also managed to acquire the power of a tribune and become the defender of the
people’s interest in the entire empire. This political move Secured unrivalled popularity with the
people. Octavian gained complete power and political legitimacy with a resonant title in 19 B.C. He
created the name “Augustus” that translates to sacred or revered but not calling himself a god in
a direct manner. Accepting from the Senate the title of Augustus
, the “revered one”, and
princeps civitatis or first citizen title which was granted to elder statesmen during the republic,
the people thought of him as someone worthy of a special respect and somehow holy or
religious. He was careful to avoid being named emperor or any title suggesting he was a
monarch. Augustus kept the republic’s tradition of letting senators speak in a specific order to
appear that everyone had a voice in government. But in reality Augustus wish prevailed and their
opinions were merely role-playing the appearance of the old republic. An advisory body of
consuls and senators was made that met in his imperial palace and not the Senate. Important
information was kept from the Senate, so most senators did not know how the empire was really
functioning. Augustus nominated the consuls and tribunes to be elected, and the list of candidates
for office to be voted were all his yes-men senators that would not go against him. He transferred
the judicial and legislative functions of the popular assemblies and courts to the Senate. As
Augustus controlled the appointment to the Senate and the senators were fearful of the army
under his control, they rubber stamped his will. An example of Augustus power was when young
senator Egnatius Rufus became very popular and refused to withdraw his name for the list of
candidates for consulship, he was tried for conspiracy and executed. Therefore, Roman citizen’s
vote had no real power. To give stability to his regime Augustus reformed the army. This
reformation gave stability to future emperors. He managed to nationalize the Roman army taking
out of politics. No longer were generals recruiting armies and gaining their loyalty by offering
spoils of war and land. The loyalty was attached to the Roman state. Citizens were offered a
professional military career with its benefits and promotions. The army became the empire’s
greatest expense, over half the entire annual budget. From 27 B.C. to 14 A.D. Augustus achieved many accomplishments for the empire. First of
all was peace and prosperity in an unprecedented way. He began the Pax Romana or “Roman
peace” that lasted until the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 180 A.D. For the first time in its
history the Roman Empire enjoyed peace and a stable order for over two centuries. People were
safe at home and when they traveled by land or sea. Increase trade produced prosperity and it
was increased by establishing an efficient monetary system. Efficient administration
was another major accomplishment. Augustus appointed honest and
efficient governors to the provinces. The policy of these provincial governors was to respect
local customs and allowing for provincial autonomy and local self-government. This pluralistic
and pragmatic policy allowed Rome to influence and govern all its provinces holding together a
vast empire composed of many ethnic groups each with their own customs and religions. Rome
was very wise with this flexible policy of not imposing its religion and culture on conquered
people, but allowing them to keep their traditional ways of life as long as they were loyal to
Rome, paid taxes and served in the military. It kept rebellions to a minimum and avoided an
inefficient centralized bureaucracy. Only the province of Judea due to its monotheistic religion
which only allowed for the worship of one true God and would not accept the emperor as gods,
did not have a peaceful relation with the Roman Empire that ruled this province and had a
rebellious attitude. The populations of all other provinces aspired to become Roman citizens and
enjoy the benefits and higher standard of living that the empire offered. Augustus established
periodic census to keep tract of changes in wealth and population and was thus able to shift tax
burden from the poorest provinces to the more wealthy ones. He also reduced the number of
taxes collected by the private tax collectors. A civil service bases on merit was created and had a
veteran’s pension fund for the military. He rebuilt Rome constructing another forum, created the
first police and fire departments, and sponsored army construction of public works projects such
as roads and bridges throughout the empire. Therefore, Augustus can be ranked as one of the
most skillful and energetic administrators Rome had in all its history. He not only conquered
territories for Rome but administered them properly, a feat that not all great conquerors like
Alexander the Great achieved after devoting most of their energies and resources to conquest.
The bureaucratic machinery he put in place continued to function under good, mediocre and
incompetent emperors. Augustus lived according to Roman morality. He lived a Roman traditional frugal life in his
modest house, ate frugal, and wearing simple clothes made by his female relatives. He banished
from Rome the poet Ovid for his lascivious poems and a scandal involving his promiscuous
daughter Julia, which he also exiled for her adultery. To avoid decline of Roman traditional
values and depopulation, He passed laws rewarding having legitimate children and penalizing
adultery, bachelorhood and childlessness. For example punishment of sex offenses could be in
severe cases included loss of property and exile. Men still were permitted adulterous sex only
with slaves or prostitutes, but respectable citizen women could not have sex outside marriage.
Augustus patronized poets, among the most famous Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) who wrote
the epic poem the Aeneid to celebrate the victory at Actium and stir patriotism, the second
greatest poet Horace ( Quintus Horatius Flaccus), and the historian Livy ( Titus Livius). Augustus left Rome a tremendous legacy to Rome. His very capable administration and
popularity was essential to Roman Society’s acceptance of the imperial system of government.
Imperial rule paved the way for despotic emperors such as Caligula and Nero. His political
stability and enduring peace saved the Greco-Roman civilization from a complete downfall due
to a continuation of civil wars, just as the Greek city-states declined caused by their exhaustion
produced by continuous rivalry and wars until taken over by the Macedonians. By restoring
peace, prosperity and order Augustus saved an exhausted and demoralized civilization permitting
it to endure over four more centuries that allowed for the development and spreading this
civilization into new territories along with the spread of Christianity to all parts of the Roman
Empire which was a major influence upon Western civilization. Augustus’s Successors. Augustus created the Julio-Claudians dynasty
( 27 B.C. – 68 A.D.)that
ruled the solid political institutions he left to Rome. Members of the Julian and Claudian clans
provided the next emperors of Rome. Tiberius and Claudius were able rulers and administrators,
Caligula and Nero were weak and frivolous. This dynasty schemed against one another to gain
and hold power. In this struggle for power and their immoral way of life involves among others
ills, murder, forced suicide, adultery, bigamy, incest and sexual promiscuity. Despite these
decadent emperors the empire prospered due to the governmental legacy of Augustus. The last
emperor of this dynasty, Nero, who attained power through the scheme of her mother who
murdered her husband emperor Claudius, was inept as a ruler. His excesses and faulty rule led to
military rebellion and his suicide. Four men fought for the position of emperor and roman armies
marched to Rome to make their commanders emperor. The commander Vespasian came out of
this civil war as the victor
Vespasian
began the Flavians dynasty
(69 – 96 A.D.) and designated his sons Titus and
Domitian to become his successors. This act turned the principate ( from princeps or first citizen,
is the position of emperor from the combination of his power as consul and tribune ) begun under
the Julio-Claudians into a monarchy. Vespasian increased the power of the emperor and did not
solve the problem of the army involved in politics. He was responsible for putting down the
Jewish revolts in Judea, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple that was
plundered, and the enslavement of Jewish survivors which were forced to work on his grand
project the Coliseum in Rome. The empire expanded its conquests of new territories under this
dynasty that ended with the stabbing the hated and cruel Domitian.
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The Antonine dynasty
succeeded the Flavians with the era of the “five good Emperors”,
Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius (96 – 180 A.D.). The Roman
Empire during this “golden age” of the good emperors had firmly established a monarchy with
definite rights, powers and prerogatives. The emperor was an absolute monarch
. These emperors
were not despotic and ran the empire efficiently with the aid of professional bureaucrats. Later
rulers use the power built by these emperors in a despotic manner. The Roman army changed
from the times of Augustus. From a mobile force it became a garrison force living in forts along
the empire’s borders. Under the five good emperors the army was a source of stability and
Romanizing agent. The vast empire and the large army required to defend it effectively no longer
could it be all recruited from Italy. Gradually the officers came from Italy and the Romanized
provinces, but increasingly the legionaries were recruited from the provinces near the borders.
Even though the Roman soldier was an element that brought Roman culture to the provinces of
the frontier, exposing the local population to Roman traditions, habits and way of thinking, by
the third century A.D. the increasing number of soldiers that were not from Italy and its Roman
culture produced an army indifferent to Rome and its traditions. This would later turn to be a
cause of Rome’s decline as an empire because it created a military weak point in defending the
empire’s vast frontier from Barbarian invaders in the third and fourth centuries A.D. These were the last years of the Pax Romana that began under Augustus. The empire
prospered during these years of peace and stability under these five fair rulers. Roman culture
spread through city life, Rome being an urban culture, and the Roman army. The melding of
culture can be clearly seen in the Romance languages that derived from Latin blending with
native languages that resulted in the makings of Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and
Romanian and other minor tongues that are spoken in Europe today. The extensive network of
roads and secure sea-lanes throughout the entire empire connected all regions and allowed for
extensive trade as well as human travel and migration. Northern, central and eastern Europe
became connected with the cultural and economic life of the Mediterranean world. Rome became
the grand capital with its large population of 500,000 to 750,000, its aqueduct and sewage
system, the center of entertainment with its coliseum and gladiatorial contests and more popular
chariot racing. The emperors continuing republican practices provided free bread, and later wine
and oil, to the citizenry of Rome avoiding bread riots and shortages. To non citizens grain was
provided at low prices. The emperor and even some very wealthy citizens entertained the roman
populace at great expense. The most popular were gladiators and chariot races. This free grain
and entertainment is referred to as “bread and circus” which became a means to gain popularity
with the masses and appease them. . The Pax Romana and its “golden age” came to an end with the death of Emperor Marcus
Aurelius in 180 A.D. The success of the five god emperors was due in part that the first four
designated capable young men as their successors, rather than their sons or close relatives.
Marcus Aurelius did not continue this practice and made his son Commodus emperor.
Commodus was a vicious and incompetent individual. He indulged in his perversities, had open
contempt for the Senate and was brutally despotic that he was strangled to death in 192 A.D. As
the empire did not have clear law and tradition of succession the situation worsened as the
generals of the empires legions claimed the thrown and went into civil war to again power. The
provincial general Septimius Severus
(193 – 211 A.D.) came out victorious from this struggle
for power. From this point on the provincial armies could meddle in imperial politics at will.
Severus and other successors ruled as military dictators
eliminating the rights of the Senate
aggravating the problem. During this period until 235 A.D. Rome was under a military monarchy
that was autocratic and that gave all free men in the empire roman citizenship. As law yielded to
the sword, any ambitious general could try his luck in fighting to attain the Roman throne. This
led to an endemic period of civil
wars from 235 – 284 A.D.
where there were twenty-six
emperors in forty-nine years known as the “barracks emperors” coming out of the army and only
one managed to avoid a violent death. The political chaos and civil wars were the worst Rome
since its rise to world power and a cause of its final decline. The political institutions of the
empire, its bureaucracy and ordinary lower officials protected by loyal soldiers were the only
means that the empire avoided internal collapse. The beginnings of barbarian invasions that took
advantage of the gaps on the frontier left by the armies that went to fight the civil wars became a
major threat to the empire. In 251 A.D. the Goths broke through the border of the Danube River
and defeated emperor Decius in battle and sacked Athens. Other Germanic tribes followed suit in
different regions of Europe. In the east the Persians captured Emperor Valerian in battle in 260
A.D., enslaved and humiliated having to kneel as a footstool so King Saphur would step on his
back to mount his horse. Valerian died in captivity and his body was stuffed and placed in a
Persian temple as a warning to roman ambassadors. The empire lost several European provinces
when they succeeded and queen Zenobia from Syria took control of Roman provinces in the east.
Emperor Aurelian (270 – 275 A.D.) was able to recover these lost provinces in the east, repel the
invading Germanic tribes and restore the seceded provinces in Europe. He began a great building
project of massive walls to protect Rome. The Roman Empire was at its all time low and
vulnerable, therefore it was logical that the Roman culture of the third century A.D. was
characterized by pervasive anxiety. Even the busts of the emperors of this period show the
expression of worry with furrowed brow typical in portraits of this period. Diocletian
(284 – 305 A.D.) was the next emperor to rise and put an end to this chaotic
period. He began to repair the damage done by civil wars which consumed most of his efforts but
was not completely successful in this task. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus or Diocletian
was a low born soldier from a provincial family who rose through the ranks of the army. He
spent most of his time at the frontier which made him aware of the urgent need of the empire to
reform if it were to continue in existence. His reforms improved and placed the army under
central control. He made reforms to improve the economy by revaluing the coins, stopping
inflation and passed laws to ensure collection of taxes, thus establishing a regular budget to run
the empire. To improve imperial administration Diocletian reorganized the provinces into smaller
regions under new administration. Diocletian’s major reform that he is famous in history was to recognize that the empire had
become too large for one man to mange it, therefore on March 1, 293 he created a college of four
emperor to rule the Roman Empire. This new system of rule in known as the Tetarchy or rule by
four emperors. Under this system there were two senior emperors with the title of Augustus, with
Diocletian ruling the eastern half of the empire and Maximian the western half. Each Augustus
appointed a junior colleague with the title of Caesar. Thus Galerius joined Diocletian in the east
and Flavius Valerius Constantius, father of the future Emperor Constantine, aided Maximian in
the west. Diocletian was the senior partner and the final authority. These four emperors resided in
different cities across the Roman world ensuring that the presence of the emperor of Rome was
established in many different areas at the same time. The Roman Senate lost what little power it
had left. The emperors were in complete control. Under Diocletian the emperor became a dominus or lord, claiming he was the “elect of god”
ruling due to divine favor. Diocletian was called Jovius after the god Jupiter, and Maximian
called Herculius after Hercules son of a god and mortal woman, indicating the quasi-divine basis
of their authority. The foundations of this new regime were traditionally pagan. Diocletian’s
reforms were enormous. He was successful in restoring the empire that was expiring, but his
reforms were not able to eliminate the defects and inefficiencies of Roman government.
Diocletian’s reorganization transformed the empire by “orientalizing” it in way that lasted many
centuries. First he geographically orientalized the empire by ruling it from the east were the
center its administration was placed because wealth and vitality of the empire was concentrated
in this region. Most of his rule was exercised from the city of Nicomedia in Asia Minor or
Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), not from Rome. Diocletian’s division of the empire into two
parts became permanent. Later Constantine and other emperors attempted to unsuccessfully to
keep the empire together. By the fourth century A.D. the east and west drifted apart and the
western section fell in the fifth century A.D. Second, Diocletian wanting to avoid what he viewed
as the inevitable result of his predecessors once in power, the lack of sufficient respect, he
adopted the title and court ceremonies of an Oriental monarch. Coming forward as an
undisguised autocrat that were feared and worshiped, taking on the title of “Dominus” or lord, he
hoped to hold on to power with more security. Thus abandoning Augustus’s policy of appearing
to be a constitutional ruler. He wore a crown, purple silk robe and his subjects had to lie facing
down, as in submission or adoration, in an audience with him. Third an increasing reliance and
growth of the imperial bureaucracy. Diocletian’s reforms created a need for many new officials.
The new bureaucracy kept the empire running but open to corruption and graft, requiring more
manpower and expense at a time when the empire was in short supply. The autocratic regime of Diocletian stifled the cultivation of individual freedom in the arts.
Sculpture shows a lack of spontaneity. Roman portrait statuary went from striking naturalism and
individuality became impassive and somewhat stiff. Human faces lacked emotions and were
symmetrical. In architecture the style became colossal and pompous. A good example were the
baths constructed in Rome covering thirty acres, the largest to that date in 303 A.D.
Diocletian became infamous for his suppression of a new religion on the rise, Christianity.
Christianity was seen by the Roman authorities as a threat to the Roman way of life and its
security. The Romans believed that there was an unwritten contract between the Roman gods
who protected the empire in return for worship. This was highly valued by traditional pagan
Roman society as it was believed that stability of the empire depended on this relation. The
Romans viewed Christianity as an organized religion that only worshiped one god exclusively.
The religious community’s monotheism excluded all pagan gods of worship and thus constituted
a dangerous threat to the divine pagan blessing of the Roman state, especially in times of crisis
when security was at stake. Roman authorities thought that in time of crisis strong repression of
this destabilizing monotheistic religion was necessary. -+
The first persecution of Christians throughout empire was under Emperor Decius who ordered
a universal sacrifice in his honor to assure the divine protection of the gods against the Goths
threatened the northern borders in 250 A.D. The citizens who participated in these pagan
sacrifices received certificates as proof of participation. Christians who refused where tortured
and executed as punishment. This persecution ended but the conflict continued among Christians
and Roman authorities. Under Diocletian’s regime of the four emperors pagan traditions and
respect of mythological gods were a major part of Diocletian’s reforms and renewal of his
empire. The conflict rose up again in 299 A.D. when Diocletian was informed that some pagan
priests were unable to get omens from the gods they were inquiring and blamed it on Christian
soldiers who had made the sign of the cross. Diocletian ordered a purge of the army and passed
an edict to all the empire ordering churches to be destroyed, scriptures burned and to take away
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offices held by Christians to root out Christianity. Christians were subject to torture and
execution, and those who had gained their freedom were to be made slaves again. Diocletian
ended the persecutions in 305 because they had no popular support and confirmed how well
Christianity had spread throughout the empire. Diocletian was the first and only Roman emperor to abdicate voluntarily. He decided to retire
to his palace by the sea, managing to get Maximian to also retire. Their two Caesars succeeded
them in a peaceful manner. He thought that after his authoritarian reform was done he could
enjoy the rest of his life without worries. But after his retirement the Tetarchy began to decline
because rivalry for power among the emperors continued. Diocletian hoped his Tetarchy would
deter the use of force to attain power by establishing a clear and orderly means of succession that
did not work in the long run. His successors fought to attain power which began another cycle of
civil wars until the rise of Emperor Constantine. When the formers Caesars, Constantinus and Galerius became the new emperors after
Diocletian and Maximian’s retirement, Constantine was very disappointed when he was not
appointed as one of the new Caesars in 305 A.D. The same disappointment was experienced by
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius, son of Maximian, when he was over passed in favor of
Flavius Valerius Severus elected to be the new Caesar in the west. Tension among the east and
the west came up with the new successors. Constantinus in the west feared that his son
Constantine could become a political hostage of Galerius, and made a request to Galerius to
allow his son to join him as he campaigned to put Gaul and Britain again under Roman control.
This was not to the likening of Galerius who knew that Constantine at his court was a means to
have the upper hand over Constantinus. Galerius for the sake of harmony acceded to the
demands but began planning Constantine’s demise and instructed Severus to intercept and
murder Constantine. Constantine had deep suspicions of the plot and took flight from Galerius to
join his father in the west, maiming the horses of the imperial service along the way to avoid
being persecuted by potential assassins. He reached his father in Gaul and joined him in his
campaign, where he gained great popularity with the army in Britain. He saw how his father paid
lip-service to the edict of Diocletian against the Christians and protected them from the brutality
practiced in the east. The reason for Constantinus’ tolerant policy toward Christianity was for the
political reason that persecuting its followers would not help him govern Western Europe.
Constantinus dies in 306 in England, and before his death appoints his son as Augustus of the
West without consulting his fellow emperors. Constantinus’s army declared loyalty to the
popular Constantine. Now the Tetrarchy was ruined and in crisis. Galerius had to accept this reality, thus he recognized Constantine as a junior Caesar and
demoted him by promoting Severus to Augustus in the west. The four emperors were in a “cold
war” with each other competing for more power and after six years a civil war broke out. First
Severus was eliminated when he was captured and executed in 307 A.D. by Maxentius who took
over Italy, the Italian islands and North Africa, and Maximian who came out of retirement. For
political advantage Constantine had made an alliance with Maxentius marring his sister Faustina.
Maximian in a attempt to gain imperial power of the west for himself turned against Constantine
and separated from his son. This act forced Constantine to go to war with Maximian, defeating
him, and Maximian hanged himself. Now Maxentius wanted revenge for his father’s death
declaring war on his brother –in-law Constantine. In 311 Galerius dies due to an incurable
decease after executing the doctors who were not able to cure him, and in his last days repents
from his policy of persecuting Christians with his last edict ending the persecutions. With his
death the Tetrarchy also dies. The final clash between Maxentius and Constantine at the battle of
Milvian Bridge would decide the future fate of the empire and change the fate of the world. Maxentius was a pagan, and even if he did not persecute the Christians he had banished three
bishops from Rome and did not restore the property taken from them during Diocletian’s
persecutions. On the other hand Constantine at this point a pagan was much more tolerant. Under
his rule churches were not destroyed and the right of Christians to worship was restored. Thus
high-ranking Christians had a favorable attitude toward Constantine and travelled with him. They
wanted to influence him in favoring Christianity. Maxentius in Rome counted on an army of
100,000, that greatly outnumbered Constantine’s. Constantine knew this fact but believed his
army was superior with the advantage of being veterans of the wars in Gaul and Britain. He had
entered Italy through the Alps and defeated the armies Maxentius sent against him and now came
close to Rome. Maxentius was surrounded by pagan priests. The day before the final battle Maxentius was
fearful and lacked confidence in his victory, so he asked the priests to read the omens from
Rome’s pagan gods. The priests then cut open a young animal to put their hands into the body
and feel the intestines. The augury pointed to the enemy of Rome would be defeated. Those next
to Maxentius insisted that Constantine was the enemy of Rome, and Maxentius agreed.
According to Eusebius in his writings Life of Constantine, just before the battle Constantine had
a vision at midday. He saw a shinning cross in the sky with the inscription “by this sign, you will
conquer”. Seeking an explanation of his vision Constantine went to the priests who travelled
with him. They told him it was the sign of God who had divinely chosen him to defeat the pagan
Maxentius. Constantine became convinced this was true and ordered all his soldiers to mark their
shields with a Christian symbol in white paint following instructions he had from a dream. This
was a gamble because even though some of his soldiers were Christian, the majority were not,
and having to confront a large enemy in number under the sign and protection of a new God
could have a demoralizing effect. On October 28, 312 both army met at the outskirts of Rome on the plain in before the Milvian
Bridge over the Tiber River. Maxentius planned to do battle in the plain. If he was not victorious
than his secondary plan was to retreat across the Milvian Bridge back to Rome and make it his
stronghold. To keep his enemy forces from crossing over part of the bridge was destroyed and
replaced by a floating bridge that once his army crossed over the bridge the engineers were to
unfasten the bolts that would leave the floating structure to float down the river. The battle began
and Constantine defeated Maxentius forces which then returned to the bridge to cross over the
Tiber. The army was so large the bridge could not support the weight of the stampeding
survivors. The engineers released the fastenings too soon and the whole structure collapsed. The
panic was great and many fell into the river drowning or were crushed to death in the narrow
original bridge. Many bodies littered the banks of the Tiber among them was the body of
Maxentius. The rise of Christianity. Constantine’s victory gave him complete rule over the western empire under the protection of
the Christian God. A converted Constantine emerged that would take steps to make a great
change upon the entire Empire by decreeing the freedom to worship any God, therefore, no
longer could Christians be persecuted for their beliefs and practices. Now he had to bring the
new religion into Roman politics, into the eastern empire and to the pagan majority of the
population in this vast empire.
When Constantine entered the city of Rome he was walking through a political tightrope
between Christianity and traditional pagan Romans with their main representative the Roman
senators. The pagan Romans distrusted this new religion and its followers which they considered
out of the mainstream renouncing slavery and Roman entertainments, believing in a heaven after
death, embracing a humble and ascetic lifestyle that was considered pleasureless, and upholding
to sexual chastity as a virtue. Christians were expecting Constantine who owed his victory to the
Christian God to recognize this reality and favor their cause. It would be difficult to please both
sides. Following traditional Roman custom of celebrating military victories with a procession,
Constantine surprised the Roman with military standards baring the symbol of Christ, and after
taking the symbols of an emperor he refused to perform the traditional sacrifices to Jupiter for his
victory. Constantine knew he had to play a delicate political balance keeping both sides content
and trusting him as their new sovereign. To gain support of Rome he declared that the authority
and responsibility of the Senate would be restored by giving them active hand in his government.
Those who had collaborated with Maxentius were excused with no action taken against them.
The senators returned Constantine trust in them by declaring sole emperor in the west. (
insert photo from Shutterstock 15425959 / text: Statue of Emperor
Constantine)
While in Rome Constantine began to promote his Christian followers to official posts of court
advisers. Thus Christians began to gain influence in his government. The balancing act of both
groups was done in a successful manner and the emperor left Rome reconciled and consolidated
his position in the western half of the empire. Now he wanted to bring peace and unity to the
eastern half. The eastern emperor Maximinus Daia was informed of Constantine’s status as new
emperor of the west and warned him to stop persecuting Christians. Then he had his eighteen
year old sister Constantia, also a Christian marry for political reasons marry a pagan in his late
forties Valerius Lincinianus Licinius. The purpose of this wedding was to make an alliance with
Licinius for him to rule the east and Constantine the west. To protect Christians and keep harmony within his domains Constantine insisted on a policy of
toleration of all religions in the empire. It placed all religions of the empire on an equal standing.
This was a radical new policy for pagan Romans. The result was the Edict of Milan
of 313 A.D.
This was the first document in the world to recognize freedom of religion. It ended the
persecutions of Christians, decreed the restoration of all property confiscated from the church,
legalized churches, forbade business and servile work on Sundays which was a holyday for
Christians and pagan, and abolished crucifixion as punishment. Emperor Daia made the first move of aggression invading Licinius’ territories in Asia Mino.
Thus war began. In 313 Licinius defeated Daia’s larger forces. Daia fled and to avoid the
humiliation he took poison as a way out. Licinius settled in Nicomedia, the imperial capital of
the east and ordered a purge by murdering all sympathizers, advisers and family members of
Daia, as well as the family members of the former tetrarchs Diocletian, Severus and Galerius. Constantine inherited as emperor the title of pontifex maximus or high priest of the Roman
gods, a tradition since Augustus. As a Christian he refused to participate in pagan sacrifices, but
publically kept a neutral position before pagans and Chrisitians. He began to give Christians a
much favored place in the administration of the empire and privileges exempting them from civic
public duties and Christians of high rank from taxes. Bishops were given administrative
functions in all parts of the empire. Constantine gave generously from the treasury to build
churches throughout the empire. He left several basilicas standing in Rome today, making the
basilica a model for Christian churches. Constantine authority extended to acting as arbiter of
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disputes inside the church. Disunity in the church went against unity of the empire and this
Constantine would not tolerate. But the majority of the Roman world was still pagan thus the
emperor had to continue to play both sides in public. His reforms favorable to Christians gained
many supporters within the domains of Lucinius where most of the Christian of the empire
resided. This gave Constantine a base of support in the east. Both emperors had sons from their wives Constantia and Fausta, creating two new changes of
legitimacy. This brought the question to their minds of who would the empire belong.
Constantine’s goal was control of the entire empire. One emperor was Christian the other pagan.
All this would lead to rivalry and war of religions. Lucinius had reasons to have envy and resentment towards Constantine. He thought that part
of the empire ruled by Constantine belonged to him. He was jealous of Constantine’s popularity
in his territories which placed him in second place. Finally Licinius suspected that Constantine’s
politics was putting obstacles to his newborn son to inherit the throne. He decided to put an end
to his alliance and began to plot Constantine’s assassination. Licinius needs allies in his plan and
finds them in the Roman Senate. He can accuse Constantine of breaking the Edict of Milan by
favoring Christians over pagans, and when Constantine trespassed his territory in 315 he had
another pretext against his rival. By 316 many pagan senators in Rome were dissatisfied with
Constantine favoring Christianity and the inner circle made up of Christians. They thought that
under Constantine to rise in his regime you had to be a Christian. It would not be difficult to get
accomplices to the assassination plot. Bassianus, a senator married to Constantine’s half-sister
Anastasia, got involved in the plot and agreed to murder his brother-in-law. Licinius wife’s,
Constantina
learned
of
the
plot
against
his
brother
and
through
Christian channels of communication was able to inform him of the plot. The night of the
assassination attempt was made, Constantine was expecting it and Bassianus was executed
instead. Lucinius angry with his failed plot had Constantine’s statues and busts in his capital
smashed. This constituted a declaration of war. The two emperors fought in 316 with none of them having a complete victory. Thus a new
alliance was made and Constantine declared that his two sons and Licinius son were considered
Caesars and future emperors. In reality there was no true peace in the heart of the two rivals.
Religion became the issue that started the war again. From 317 to 321 Licinius allowed toleration of Christianity. While Constantine with his
speeches demonstrated his Christian fervor and vision for the empire from divine inspiration,
there was evidence of the beginning of the slow eradication of pagan cults in the west with the
closing of some pagan temples. Christianity kept on the rise with gifts of property to churches,
charities to the peer and needy, high profile of bishops and their increased judicial authority, and
the legalization of the church. This allowed for the church to become local centers of power and
organization in the western empire. The chi-rho, the mark of Christ, appeared on objects that
belonged to the wealthy class. This meant that religious conversion had its advantage in this new
regime. The upper classes became self-confident that this prosperity will continue as long as
Constantine received protection from God, and not from the old pagan divinities. During an
Easter speech in the early 320’s Constantine declared that god was responsible for his success,
and therefore, his obligation was to persuade his subjects to worship God, reform the wicked and
liberate the persecuted. At this point Constantine made clear in public his position that he favored
Christianity, and the pluralistic policy of pagan and Christian religions being considered equal
was gradually being eradicated.
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Lucinius became paranoid o Christians in his own domains. He was suspect of the loyalty of
his court officials to his person. He began to interrogate them. Then he imposed tests on his
servants like Auxentius a legal clerk. Liciniuis asked Auxentius to come to a fountain in his
palace and cut a cluster of grapes from a vine and offer it to the statue of Dionysus or leave his
court for ever. The Christian servant chose to leave the pagan emperor. He later became a
bishop. Things got worse and Licinius then forced everyone in his government to sacrifice to
pagans gods or lose their job. Then the same demand with the army. Later on he imposed it upon
civilians, and in 323 he forced the bishops to make sacrifice to pagan gods. Those who refused
were punished, and tax exemptions of the clergy were eliminated. Councils and assemblies of
bishops were forbidden to keep them from organizing any kind of resistance or protest. These
acts were resuming the persecutions of Christianity with the closing of churches, punishment of
faithful Christians, and even murder of Christian clergy. Christians urged Constantine to defend
their brothers in faith. This would become a war of liberating the oppressed. Constantine made
the first move and both emperors renewed the war. Lucinius had his priests read the omens which promised his victory. Then he made sacrifices
to pagan gods with his commanders and made a speech to his troops exclaiming how they were
defending their ancestral gods that would lead them to victory. Both armies confronted each
other in 324. Constantine had the chi-rho, Christ’s sign, to be carried by a special guard in front
of his forces. Licinius ordered his men not to get close nor gaze at this sign. When Constantine’s
forces came under attack many fell but not the standard bearers of the chi-rho. This gave a surge
of confident in victory with God’s help through Constantine’s ranks. Constantine came out
decisively victorious in this battle of Chrysopolis and Licinius lost most of his army. Licinius ran
off to his palace at Nicomedia and though of saving his honor through suicide, the traditional
Roman way out. His wife Constantina convinced him to surrender to Constantine and then
managed to reach her brother at his headquarters. Begging him to forgive her husband as a
Christian. The victorious emperor conceded. Lucinius had to declare Constantine lord and master
and beg for forgiveness. Constantine asked Lucinius to convert. Then the defeated emperor and
his family were sent off to retirement in peace. But Constantine knew that Licinius had not really
changed and to avoid future threats under the charge of treasonable correspondence with the
enemies of the empire had him and his son executed a year later in Greece, while Constantina
survived and lived out her life in her brother’s court. Constantine as sole emperor of the Roman world restored the persecuted Christians and
provided them with the same privileges Christians enjoyed in the west. Constantine urged his
subjects to convert to Christianity and his edicts state how the Christian God was supreme, being
behind all his successes and brought an end to persecutions. Some traditional pagan temple were
closed and sacrifices were forbidden making clear that Christianity was the official favored
religion of the Roman Empire. But there were no mass conversions of pagans and paganism
would only die slowly. The process of fazing out paganism commenced. Constantine found the church in the east divided with the heresy of Arianism. A priest called
Arius held that Christ, God the son was created by God the father, thus Christ was not eternal
and could not be called God. The church for Constantine was a unifying institution for and the
emperor would not tolerate divisions in his empire. In 335 he called upon all bishops for the first
universal council of the church. The Council of Nicaea
, which he attended in an active manner.
The council, with Constantine’s rejected Arius’ theological arguments. Most bishops supported
the decision of the council keeping the unity within the church. When Arius and two of his
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followers refused approval Constantine exiled them. This treatment of the dissenters as heretics
was the first time temporal authority took action in religious matters. Constantine helped make Jerusalem a holy site for Christians and Jews, and founded
Constantinople (modern day Istanbul in Turkey) in 330 which became another imperial center
where he spent his last seven years of his life. Toward the end of his life was baptized and did not
ware the robes of imperial purple the emperors wore and wore only white worn by Christians.
During his last days he recalled several persons who he had exiled unjustly and his last words
were a prayer of praise and thanks to God. This demonstrates the sincerity of his beliefs in his
faith when he died in May of 337.
Constantine was succeeded by his three sons who had agreed to share power. Not long after
their father’s death they began to argue and even rivalry for power was the result that undid the
work of unity of the empire achieved by Constantine. Constantine’s victories and regime made a
very important impact upon western civilization because it established Christianity as one of the
major religions of the empire and paganism began to die out slowly. This accomplishment
changed the course of western history. Christianity will become the state religion of the Roman
Empire and the majority of the Roman world will convert to its faith. It will change the outlook
and morality of the ancient world and begin a new one based upon Christian world view, morals
and values. When the Roman Empire fell in the west the church will be the only standing
institution to guide Western Europe’s civilization, and an important institution influencing the
culture of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium. Therefore, the tremendous influence the
church was able to give the world through history was in part able to accomplish it with the
contributions of Constantine. The Greek Church and the Roman (Catholic) Church both give this
Christian emperor the title of “Great” in virtue for what he did for Christianity and the world.
The Greek Church honors him as a saint, and the Roman Church does not see him a model
Christian ruler, but as a great one that Christianity is indebted. Christianity continued to thrive under the imperial molds that Constantine established.
Constantius was Constantine’s son who had the longest reign 337 – 361 A.D. and govern the
whole empire during the last ten years of his life. He did with his power all possible to abolish
paganism and propagate Christianity. For example he prohibited all pagan sacrifices under
penalty of death in 353, and ordered all pagan temples to be closed or converted to other uses. It
did not have desired effect and made some pagans adhere more to their old ways. He was
inconsistent in this anti pagan policy by allowing Christianity’s intellectual adversaries to teach
in
Europe’s
institutions
of
higher
learning.
These were the sophists, Neo-Platonic philosophers and pagan rhetoricians. These enemies of
Christianity became rivals the faith and seduced the successor of Constantius, Julian who left
Christianity and embraced Neo-Platonic school of philosophers, and during his reign a short
pagan reaction took place. All Roman emperors after Constantine where Christian except for Julian the Apostate who
tried to turn back to paganism in 360 to 363. In a general massacre of the younger line of
Constantine’s family, the Flavian, Julian had been spared due to his very young age. The memory
of the murder of his father and brothers caused Julian to hate Christianity, the faith professed by
those responsible for the death of his family. Baptized and raised as a Christian, Julian accepted
the anti Christian philosophy of his teacher Mardonios. When he became emperor in 360 he
began to promote paganism and persecute Christianity. He stimulated a literary war against
Christianity in which he took an active part, tried to establish a universal pagan church based on
the Christian model, and to give infuse life into paganism with the morality and missionary zeal
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of Christianity. But Julian failed in this attempt to go back to the old ways. Paganism simply had
lost its appeal for the masses, and found his converts in those who were looking for imperial
favors by abandoning Christianity. Julian’s animosity toward Christianity was such that he tried
to refute the prophecy of Christ (Matt. 24:2) by rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem, but he also
failed in this endeavor. Julian died in 363 from a wound during a skirmish with the Persian
Army, and as he fell from his horse he is said to have exclaimed, “Thou hast conquered, O
Galilean”. Under Julian’s successor, Jovian (363 – 364) Christianity was reestablished as the
religion of all the empire. In 364 a new dynasty was founded under Valentinian I and the same
policy toward Christianity was maintained. Valentinian I decided to divide the empire again
between east and west, each half with its own emperor. Emperors that followed took energetic
steps to suppress paganism. Under Theodosius the Great (379 – 395) who managed to for the
last time to unite all the empire under his rule, all pagan sacrifices were forbidden and all pagan
temples closed. Christianity was declared to be the faith of the empire, and no other would be
tolerated. In 423 A.D. Emperor Theodosius II declared there were almost no pagans left in
domains. Emperor Justinian the great (527 – 565 A.D.) took all civil rights from the unbaptized
and closed the last strong hold of paganism, the philosophical schools in Athens in 529. The last
remains of paganism survived in the remote countryside for another century. The last pagans
were converted in the islands of Sardinia and Corsica by the efforts of Pope Gregory the Great
(590 – 604 A.D.). Therefore by the seventh century A.D. paganism was completely fazed out
in
the territories of the ancient Roman Empire. The Fall of Rome.
The Roman Empire in the west fell for many causes. Most were internal causes that gradually
weakened the empire. The ultimate cause that will bring its complete down fall was external. It
came from the frontiers where Germanic tribes know as barbarians
were invading the empire
across it extensive borders. The origin of the crisis produced by the barbarian invasions had their origins in the Huns, a
nomadic people who came from the Eurasian steppes, from Mongolia to eastern borders of
Europe. The Huns pushed the Goths in 376 A.D. from their fertile lands northwest of the Black
Sea toward the south into the border of the Roman Empire along the western end of the Danube
River. The northern border was not well guarded because the bulk of the Roman army was on the
eastern frontier. The pressure of 200,000 Goths made the emperor give permission for one of the
Gothic tribes to cross the Danube and settle inside the borders of the empire. The roman abused
these Goths and their reaction was to rebel against Roman authority. This brought about a war
between the Gothic tribes and the Roman army between 377 to 382 which resulted in the major
battle of Hadrianople, where the Roman army lost over 13,000 troops including thirty five
military tribunes, its major general and Emperor Valens. It was the greatest defeat the Romans
had suffered since Hannibal in the battle of Cannae during the second Punic war. The idea of
Roman invincibility was broken sending a shock wave across the empire. In 282 emperor
Theodosius I had to make peace with the Goths making a treaty that allowed the Goths to settle
in the Balkans. These Goths then came under the leader ship of Alaric, who had crossed the
Danube into Roman territory as a boy in 376. Alaric demanded long term recognition of his
people, to be treated on equal terms with the Romans, and a food subsidy, to keep part of the
agricultural produce of their region. In 406 to 407 new barbarian invasions took place. The Vandals, Alans and Suevi crossed the
Rhine River in modern Germany sacking and creating havoc through Gaul and crossing the
Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. This was the second major breach in the Roman frontier.
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An ambitious and unscrupulous senator Olympius ended the policy of accommodating the
Goth into the empire and persecutions against the Goths began which ignited a war with the
Goths under Alaric. In 408 Alaric invaded Italy. Alaric put Rome under siege and Rome paid a
great sum of its wealth to have Alaric end the siege. The Roman emperor did not accede to the
demands of Alaric that wanted an agreement to settle permanently in Roman provinces, annual
payment in gold and annual supply of grain, and a senior generalship in the Roman army which
would secure his influence in the emperor’s court and thus be able to defend the interests of the
Goths. Therefore, Alaric for the third time marched on Rome and entered it by force in 410. They
plundered the ancient city but as a Christian Alaric respected the basilicas, churches and
treasures of Christians. The Gothic invasion culminating in the sack of Rome, the invasion of
other Germanic people in the west and the inability of the western emperor to solve the crisis
was a death blow to the Western Roman Empire. The loss of territories to the barbarians meant a
loss of income for the empire that had less money to build their army. The provincial landowning
elites who collected the taxes for the empire in their regions in exchange for protection from the
Roman army were dissatisfied with the emperor for not protecting their property. These local
elites thought if it were safer to live under a Gothic or Vandal king why bother to support the
Roman empire that could not protect them. These wealthy Romans owned eighty per cent of the
land and their disaffection with the empire would be another factor contributing to its downfall. In 440 The Huns under the leadership of Attila the Hun began to invade and sack the eastern
and western empire. Attila was the scourge of the Roman Empire until his death on his bed
choked to death by a nosebleed. By 468 The Vandals controlled North Africa and the empire lost
one of its richest source of grain. Only the revenues from Italy and Sicily remained. With few
resources there was not enough money to pay for an army strong enough to impose itself over
the barbarians that swamped and settled he western empire. The balance of power now lay
clearly with the multitude of barbarians, the Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Franks of Gaul and
Suevi. A reality that the western emperor had to acknowledge and thus he had to make military
alliance a barbarian king. Treaties then were made with the Goths and Vandals recognizing them
as legitimate possessors of their territories and partners to govern the west. The different Roman
territories in the west broke out of central control held in Italy.
In 476 A.D. the military and financial resources of the central government in Italy were so
weak that the government could not maintain itself, less any invader. Romans and barbarians
were fusing together and their differences as people were dissolving with time. Odovacar was a
very successful general in the Roman Army who was of barbarian origins from the Germanic
tribe of Sciri in the middle of the fifth century A.D. He was able to built up a loyal power base of
landowners and soldiers in Italy. He settled his Roman soldiers, who were Germanic
mercenaries, paying them with land in Italy. Odovacar became the effective ruler of Italy that he
was able to depose the teenage emperor Romulus Augustus who had no effective power. When
Odovacar took over the throne instead of proclaiming himself emperor he proclaimed himself a
king. Thus Rome was now ruled by a Germanic King who saw no need for the traditional
symbols of the Roman emperor, thus he sent the vestments, diadem and cloak to the eastern
emperor Zeno. Zeno acknowledged that Odovacar has the undisputed power. The Western
Roman Empire came to an end in 476, while the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium continued
in existence until it was take over by the Moslem Turks in 1453 A.D. _______________________________
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Rome’s
most important contributions to Western civilization
were law, Greek culture
, engineering
and Romanesque languages
.
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Law -
The greatest and most original contribution of the Roman mind was its legal system. Roman law was based on human nature and not on theory. It focused on facts, how men relate in real life,
rather than on abstract notions of what should be the rules of how men relate in society. As Cicero
stated, law in founded “not on theory but on nature”. Rome used its international experience as a vast empire to develop a body of law based upon consistent human behavior in different environments. Thus it created the legal principles, based on human nature that surpassed nationality, cultures and time, and are still employed today in the West. Roman law created a notion of justice founded on such ideals as fairness for both, citizens and subjects, as well as the presumption of innocence in criminal cases. In other words the accused is innocent until proven guilty. These became the guiding principles of Western legal tradition. A central facet of Roman law came out of stoicism. It consisted of the idea of natural law, that is, a higher justice than that made by human beings. In other words, the belief that in nature there are principle of what is right
and just that are not create by man nor can man change because all humans are born with it, it is part of human nature. It could be conceived that God created this law and endowed it upon humans. Therefore, a good and just system of law must come to understand this natural law and apply it. This doctrine of natural law is the basis of the American Declaration of Independence. The belief that all men have the right to life, liberty and happiness (property rights) as a natural right of man or human nature, and that no individual or government has the right to violate is a basic principle of law and government of the United States and many other Western nations.
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Roman law evolved over many centuries and began in 450 A.D. with the first written code, the Twelve Tables. These tables represented a plebeian victory over the dominance of the patrician by recognizing basic rights of civil life such as personal and property rights, and moral behavior. Class divisions affected the way the law was applied because dispensing of justice always favored the rich in Roman society. By the second and third centuries A.D. the law was codified and its principle extended to cover all the citizens of the empire. Roman law is the basis of the legal Continental System of Europe that makes up today the civil law of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. Also it is the basis of civil law of Latin America that derived its law from Spain and Portugal. It also influenced German law. .
Roman Culture, Greek culture
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Romans held fast to their traditional rustic cultural origins but when they came into contact and conquered the Hellenistic world it launched Rome into the heights of ancient civilization. Even though Rome conquered Greece, Greek civilization ended conquering Rome when Greek cultural forms, literature, arts, architecture, philosophy and its mythology were imported into Rome. The Romans adopted Greek style architecture, art, sculpture, and preserved and transmitted Greek humanism. The Romans coined the term humanities
to refer to the artistic, literary, and philosophical activities that the Greeks considered basic to any form of civilized life. The humanities were a Greek invention and it was their belief that the study and practice of the humanities is stimulating to the sold and the mind. These great accomplishments in the arts and intellectual fields were preserved and transmitted by the Romans, and this was one of the greatest contributions of the Roman world to the Western civilization. Later on the Christian church will do the same during the Middle Ages. -
Engineering
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The Romans were the great engineers of the ancient Europe. They had a very pragmatic attitude to construction. Their strength did not lie in the creative and artistic aspect, where the Greeks were the masters of architecture, but in their engineering skills put to use in building useful and functional public projects such as aqueducts, sewage systems, fountains, indoor plumbing, irrigation systems, central heated buildings, amphitheaters, bridges, paved roads, large heated public baths, running toilets, military hospitals with hygienic facilities, fortifications, domes, palaces, basilicas, etc. This ability made Roman cities the most advanced of their time and
Romans could boast that they were cleaner than other people. Their pragmatic attitude can be clearly perceived when the Romans who conquered Egypt exclaimed, “how can one compare Rome’s aqueducts and bridges with Egypt’s pyramids”! Both Egyptian and Roman were great works of engineering, but which one was more useful for society, the Egyptian or the Roman? -
Early in Rome’s history the Romans learned many lessons from the Etruscans, among them the very important masonry arch. After encountering the Greeks in Magna Graecia, they built Rome along Greek lines. Romans being a very pragmatic people borrowed many ideas from other
people and used them to meet their needs, improved them, and employing them on a grand scale. The improvement of mortar by adding a volcanic ash that made it solid and durable without breaking apart, allowed the Romans to build large projects. The concrete and brick did not have a visual appeal so they covered it with slabs of expensive and polished marble and granite from Italy and Greece. From the Greek model the Romans build their chief architectural forms, the Roman temple with its post-beam-triangle construction. The Greek column was also extensively employed with preference given to the Corinthian style over the Doric and Ionic. -
The most important innovation was the rounded arch
an Etruscan contribution. The Mesopotamians may have invented it, the Greek knew about it, and the Etruscans used it in their drainage systems. The Romans experimented with it and developed it to be used in many different kinds of construction. The arch’s basic round form is created using wedged-shaped stones called voussoirs. These voussoirs are then placed forming a semi-circle and at its center a keystone locks the arch in place. Wood beams were used to keep the voussoirs in place until the keystone was place and the arch was complete, and then the wooden beams were taken off. The stones in the form of an arch would stand by the pressure exerted from both ends of the arch. The installed arch is very strong, diverting the weight of the upper walls both outward and downward onto other supports. -
(
insert photo from shutterstock: ID: 20085316 , Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain. The
Romans used the rounded arch in many of their constructions. This aqueduct is a good example of how water was brought from the mountains to the city of Segovia.
)
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Employing the rounded arch the Romans invented the
vaults, a ceiling made from arches. The
barrel vault
is constructed by building a series of contiguous arches, It receives its name because
it looks like a barrel divided lengthwise. By intersecting two barrel vaults at right angles a groined
, or cross vault
is produced. A original Roman invention was the dome
made by rotating an ache in a full circle, 360 degrees. The Romans used the mathematical ratio 1:2 between the height of an arch and the width of its base to construct the safest arch. Arches were used in the construction of aqueducts, bridges, and buildings. The Romans used the rectilinear temple from the Greeks, and they invented the round temple with their masterpiece the
Pantheon
, a sanctuary dedicated to their deities. The Pantheon has three sections, the porch or portico with its columns,
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the drum housing the sanctuary, and the dome set on top of the drum. It combined a religious with
a secular image. The dome symbolized both heaven of the deities and the vastness of the Roman Empire. It was well decorated in its interior with recessed panel on the dome. It had a hole of thirty feet in diameter, the oculus or eye, at the top of the dome that allowed sunlight and elements to enter. It is the oldest standing dome structure in the world, and the domes in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and St. Paul’s cathedral in London are modeled on the Pantheon’s. -
( insert photos from Shutterstock: ID: 7228015, Sample of Roman rounded vault in Israel. / ID: 1408923 , Exterior of Pantheon, Rome. / Interior of Pantheon with oculus. -
At the center of Rome was the forum
, which was the business and government center functioning like the agora of Greek city-states. In was made up of a complex of public buildings, temples, sacred sites, and monuments. The forum became the symbol of Roman power and civilization where the Senate and Pontifex Maximus were located. The main Roman cities in each
province had forums. The triumphal arch
was another symbol of the empire that originated in the second century B.C. The Romans used both the single and the triple arches to celebrate military victories and built them across the empire. These arches had inscribed the dedication to its victorious heroes and reliefs of victorious emperors and army. Emperors had amphitheaters
built as monuments to themselves and as gifts for the citizens. It was a means to gain popularity and political support. The most famous was the
Colosseum
in Rome. In these amphitheaters is where the gladiatorial combats and other blood sports, as well as bloody execution of prisoners took place for the sadistic entertainment of the masses becoming the cornerstone of popular culture in the empire. They were intended to amuse vast crowds, thus Romans invented mass entertainment. Ludi
or Roman games were held in the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus (famous for its chariot races). Ludi, from which we get the word “ludicrous”, were five types of extravaganzas produced for very large arena, which consisted of Chariot races, wild animal hunts,
mythological pantomimes, naval battles and gladiatorial combats. These ludi were not concerned with beauty or style. Galdiatorial contests were of Etruscan origin that began as part of the funeral services of high ranking members of society. The colosseum was formed by stacking three tiers of rounded arches on top of one another. The arena was made of wood and covered with sand. Water lanes demonstrate that the arena could be flooded for mock naval battles. Then the hypogeum was constructed under the arena and can be seen today. Hypogeum was a series of underground tunnels under the Colosseum where slaves and animals were kept ready to fight for the gladitorial games. The animals and slaves would be let up through trapdoors under the sand covered arena at any time during a fight. This amphitheater had retractable overhead awnings to provide shade to the spectators. It represented the sordid reality of Roman civilization. -
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( Insert photos from Shutterstock: ID: 21675820 The Roman Forum, with the arch of Titus and the Colosseum at the far end. / ID: 3138068 Arch of Constantine at the Forum with the Colesseum in the background. / 16622992 / the Colesseum), Rome
. )
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The Romans had 50,000 miles network of paved roads
connected Rome with all parts of the empire. Thus “all roads lead to Rome” was not an inaccurate saying. The roads were built as
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military highways for the defense of the empire. It carried an efficient postal service. With highway patrols, a stable every 10 miles and inn every 30 miles, and guide-books travel became easier, faster and safer than any other time until the nineteenth century. Some of these ancient roads like the Via Apia still exist to this date. Water is indispensible for city life. Rome and other large cities had a very large population for its time that required a large amount of water every day. An elaborate network of aqueducts
, sluices and syphons ran by gravity from the water source in nearby hills to the city’s reservoirs and fountains. There were underground and elevated aqueducts, and some are still in use today! -
( insert photo from Shutterstock: ID: 2110273
Roman paved road at Pompei, Italy.)
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Latin
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Latin was the language of the Romans. When the Roman Empire fell the different regions of the empire that spoke Latin became isolated and with the centuries that followed the Latin spoken
by the population developed into the Romance languages spoken today in Europe and the Americas ( Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese & Romanian). The English language borrowed many words with a Latin origin. This was due the Normans, who were French and won over Britain after the battle of Hastings in 1066. The Normans ruled England and they spoke French, so French became the language of the new ruling class. As time passed on the Normans mixed with the local Anglo population and English became the only language in England but many words from French passed to the English language. This is the reason why there are many words in Spanish and French that are similar in English, known as cognates. Roman Art
Sculpture. Roman sculpture reflected the taste of artists and patrons and their class interests. The patrician class leaned toward the Greek style, and the plebeian toward the local art, known as Italo-Roman. Roman portrait sculpture went through three different phases. The first from third to the first century B.C. was influenced by death masks made for the family gallery as part of ancestor worship. This style is reflected in the bust of Lucius Junius Brutus that has a stern look that represents the austerity of early Romans. During the Late Republic 133 – 31 B.C., sculpture is realistic. The artists make the portrait just as the person looks in real life, with his wrinkles, warts and aged. It is not the idealistic sculpture of classical Greece. The third phase came under Augustus. Imperial portraiture reverted to the idealism of Hellenic Greece which displaced the realistic art of the late Republic. After Augustus, his successor used sculpture as a symbol of imperial power becoming more propagandistic. The move to symbolic idealism demonstrates the need of later emperors to have a visible means to fill the diversified masses with wonder and reverence toward their persons.
Painting. The most popular type of painting that has survived are murals
or wall paintings. It was a highly decorative and brightly colored art. They developed fresco painting as the most lasting and practical technique. In frescos paints are mixed and worked into a freshly plastered wall, that later dry into the wall, and the painting is almost indestructible. The subjects of their paintings included landscapes, architectural vistas, religious scenes, Greek and Roman myths, and genre scene. Mosaics. During the third century B.C. the Romans learned to make mosaics from the Greeks. Mosaics are pictures made by imbedding small colored stones of pieces of glass into stucco or cement. They can be found on floors as well as walls and ceilings. The most popular subjects
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were landscapes, still life, Greek and Roman myths, scenes from the circus and amphitheater, philosophers and orators. (Insert photos from Shutterstock: Roman mural Image ID: 5778289 / Roman mosaic Image ID: 3299245 )
Influence of the late Greco-Roman culture in the West
During the late Roman Empire the Roman civilization created a synthesis of Christian and
Greco-Roman values, which became its legacy to the Early Medieval West. Christian
intellectuals valued Greco-Roman thought for the support it lent to the spiritual values that were
now considered primary. Late Roman art and architecture also blended the two traditions.
This late Roman synthesis of Christian and Greco-Roman values was supremely
embodied in the Christian church. From the fall of Rome until the 1800s, the church’s culture
was nearly synonymous with the wider culture; to be Western was to be Christian. Church
leaders were now the patrons of culture all through the Middle Ages and continued in the modern
era. They commanded artists to create only religious works, using a symbolic, impressionistic
style; they commissioned architects to build churches in the form of Roman basilicas adapted to
religious needs and baptisteries based on round, or polygonal, designs; they asked composers to
write music for the church liturgy; they authorized scholars to harmonize faith with Greco-
Roman thought; and they ordered sacred books to be decorated, script illumination, by gifted
artist-clergy. Thus the late Classical World was the womb from which would emerge the next
generations of Western institutions as well as Western humanities.
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Roman religion.- The Romans for most of their history were pagan. During the early Republic roman had a polytheistic religion of household gods and spirits from nature that were natural for simple agrarian people. This traditional religion remained for the farmers. Urban Romans were not satisfied with an agrarian religion and copied Greek models. They incorporated Greek gods and Greek mythology. Thus Roman mythology was based on the Greek mythology and Roman only made minor changes and changed the names of Greek gods for Roman names such as Aphrodite become the Roman Venus, Athena becomes Minerva, and Poseidon becomes Neptune, etc. -
Emperor were given godly status, thus considered a living god. Emperor worship became
the official religion of the empire, which confirmed the famous writer Seneca’s observation: “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful”. Emperor worship was a way to promote patriotism. After Caesar Augustus (Octavian) the Senate deified most emperors. -
This official religion served the state but did very little for the spiritual needs of the common people. The empire having many diverse cultures resulted in a variety of religions imported to satisfy those needs. Isis and Cybele
were religions imported from Egypt and Asia Minor respectively. Isis a female goddess appealed to Roman women because she was giver of health, beauty, wisdom, and love and needed priestess in her cult. Cybele another goddess appear in Rome since the Second Punic War with Hannibal. In her mythology she castrated the youth Attis who unfaithful to her after she raised from the dead. Followers of
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religion castrated themselves during their rites and orgies, and Roman authorities had to make periodic attempts to regulate mayhem. -
Mystries religions and Mithraism were imported from Greece and Persia respectively. Eleusinian mysteries and Dionysian rites became popular but the vows of silence of both sects were effective enough that little is known about them. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, Eleusinian mysteries were held to be the ones of greatest importance. These myths and mysteries, begun in the Mycenean period (c. 1600 B.C.) and lasting two thousand years, were a major festival during the Hellenic era, later spreading to Rome.
The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret, as initiation was believed to unite the worshipper with the gods and included promises of divine power and rewards in the afterlife. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents (drugs). Some modern scholars think that these Mysteries were intended to elevate man above the human sphere into the divine and to assure his redemption by making him a god and so conferring immortality upon him
.
As Christianity gained in popularity in the 4th and 5th centuries, Eleusis' prestige began to fade. Emperor Julian the Apostate was the last emperor to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries by decree in 392 AD. The last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 AD, when Alaric, King of the Goths, invaded accompanied by Christians bringing Arian Christianity and desecrating the old sacred sites
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Mithraism was a mystery religion which became popular among the military in the Roman Empire, from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The Roman religion was a development of a Zoroastrian cult
of Mithra
. Mithraism was an initiatory order, passed from initiate to initiate, like the Eleusinian Mysteries. It was not based on a body of scripture, and hence very little written documentary evidence survives. Religious practice was centered on the mithraeum (Latin, from Greek mithraion), either an adapted natural cave or cavern or an artificial building imitating a cavern. The members of a mithraeum were divided into seven ranks. All members were expected to progress through the first four ranks, while only a few would go on to the three higher ranks. The first four ranks represent spiritual progress. In every Mithraic temple, the place of honor was occupied by a tauroctony, a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull which was associated with spring. Mithras is depicted as an energetic young man. Mithras grasps the bull so as to force it into submission, with his knee on its back and one hand forcing back its head while he stabs it in the neck with a short sword. A serpent and a dog seem to drink from the bull's open wound which is sometimes depicted as spilling grain rather than blood, and a scorpion (usually interpreted as a sign for autumn) attacks the bull's testicles, sapping the bull's strength. It has been
proposed by some scholars that, rather than being derived from Iranian animal sacrifice scene with Iranian precedents, the tauroctony is a symbolic representation of the constellations. Thus the bull is interpreted as representing the constellation Taurus, the snake the constellation Hydra, the dog Canis Major or Minor. Speculation of the relationship of early Christianity with Mithraism has traditionally been based on the polemical testimonies of the second century church
fathers, such as Justin's accusations that the Mithraists were diabolically imitating the Christians. This led to a image of rivalry between the two religions that some scholars have. Not much is
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known about the decline of the religion. The edict of Emperor Theodosius I in 394 made paganism illegal and Christianity the official state religion. Official recognition of Mithras in the army stopped at this time, but there is no information on what other effect the edict had on Mithraism. Mithraism may have survived in certain remote places into the fifth century.
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Decline of the Roman Empire
: There are various reason for the decline of the biggest empire up to that date that lasted over 600 years. First are the internal causes:
Political – 1. Lack of clear law of succession.
Once an emperor died or was deposed there were not a well establish law or tradition of succession. Violence and use of force had been a traditional way to power since Rome’s early history. The legend of Romulus and Remus serves as
an example, with the murder of Remus by his brother Romulus. This lack of peaceful transition of
power resulted in civil wars, with a vicious cycle from 235 – 284 AD among the Roman generals fighting to take over the throne. The Roman legions supported any general who offered the greatest benefits to the military for their loyalty. This created a problem of increasing national debt due to military expenses. 2.
Lack of constitutional means for reform
, which lead to civil wars, as a means to overthrow unpopular regimes.
3. Rome did not involve enough people in the work of government
. The oligarchic Patrician class ruled government. The majority of the Romans were merely subjects who did not participate in government. Hence, the masses were indifferent and even hostile to the government, especially towards its oppressive taxes. Rome lost the loyalty of its population when it needed it most during
time of crisis. There was also the disinclination to take public office in other cities because public officers had to pay city taxes to the government, and with increasing rural poverty no one wanted to be bankrupt by holding office. Rome established certain quota for the city to pay in taxes. The governing official had the responsibility to collect this established amount, and if the officer was not able to collect the allocated amount he would have to make it up from his personal income or wealth. Therefore, Rome discourage its most able and educated citizens from taking office which hindered the empire by not having the most capable governing its provinces and cities. Economic causes - 1. Slave system and man power shortages
. Cities depended on food surpluses from the rural areas. Military conquest had been a major source of slave labor. With conquests halting, less slaves were available and slave labor was not very productive. The economy began to run out of “human fuel”. Thus the countryside produced less food. There was no interest in technology to increase food production because landlords were interested in owning
slaves. With the end of foreign conquest, its decline of slavery, more people were needed to stay on the farms, and barbarian invasions increased the need to recruit more manpower for the military. But less men were available to serve in the military, which weaken the Roman security of its empire.
2.
Plagues-
periodical plagues reduced one third of the population. A decrease in population meant a decrease of labor and military manpower, which hindered the economy and the strength of the Roman army.
3. Demoralization- the difficult economic and social condition in the empire discouraged increase
in families, so there was a lower birthrate. All these brought about a condition of insufficient manpower to work the land causing food shortages and to defend the empire from foreign invaders.
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Lack of Civil ideals – 1. Few citizens were willing to work for the public good, or defend Roman
ideals.
The reasons were many. People throughout the empire did not share the same ideals. Senatorial and republican traditions were obsolete. It could not restore order and peace and property, nor substitute the rule of the emperor as in Republican Rome. The Roman state no longer stood for the beneficial peace (Pax Romana) but fell on repeatedly in civil wars, and oppressive taxation. Regional differences in a very large empire, social classes with the rich and the very poor, and lack of public education were barriers to a unifying public spirit. Finally, disinterest and no trust of the empire and its leaders, politics, and ideals. Concern for the immediate needs and interests and not for the empire as a whole putting the focus on regionalism vs. the welfare of the entire empire. 2.
The division by emperor Constantine
of the empire into east and west
, resulting in the western Roman Empire with its capital in Rome, and the eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) with Constantinople as its capital. 3.
Immorality of Roman society and court.
There was a loss of moral fiber in the Roman society that became accustomed to free “bread and circus” with grain handout by the government and the famous sadistic entertainment of the Roman games in the coliseums. Loss of the traditional discipline and austerity of the Roman character and their main virtue of duty to state and family. Many scandals due to immoral lives of some emperors and members of the court that involved orgies, conspiracies, homosexuality, corruption, etc. A good example of a scandalous immoral emperor was Caligula.
As a young child Caligula was taken to the court of Emperor Tiberius after the emperor executed his older brother due to his
paranoia. Caligula’s life was spared due to his young age. Tiberius lifestyle was notorious for its immorality and orgies, not the best place of a impressionable teenage boy to grow. Caligula never
complained and did not express any resentment about the treatment his family received. The lifestyle of Tiberius seem to suit him and Caligula spoke well of the emperor gaining his sympathy. Caligula binged on food and drink, and sexual pleasures. His taste for sadism is indicated when he enjoyed to observe the emperor’s enemies being tortured. After Tiberius’ death Caligula became emperor in 37 A.D. To celebrate this event and become popular with the people he had a three month season of sumptuous shows and games where 160,000 animals were killed for the entertainment of the masses. Six months into his reign he fell ill coming close to death. The frantic activity and his need for non-stop stimulation seem to have burned him out with exhaustion. Maybe his epileptic condition took a sever turn to the worse. He disappears from the public for a while and then returns a changed person. Out of grief and devotion for the emperor extravagant gestures were made by Romans of high
social status such as the nobleman Atanius Secundus who said publicly that he would go happily to the gladiatorial arena if his emperor would be spared, and another nobleman Publius Afranius Potius remarked that he would gladly give up his own life to save Caligula’s. When Caligula returned from his illness he had undergone a dramatic transformation in his personality. Caligula decided to hold them to their promises. Secundus was forced to fight as a gladiator and survive, but Potius was put to death to keep his promise. Then he forced a number of close advisers to commit suicide such as his cousin and father-in-law, due to his paranoia thinking plots were made
against his life. He remarried Livia Orestilla after taking her away when she was to be wedded to another man. Then he divorced her, but as she was still her property according to him and when he
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suspected she was seeing the man she was going to wed, Caligula sent her in exile. He married another woman and after six months divorced her due to infertility. His three sisters became publicly his concubines. Drusilla was his favorite who divorced two husbands on Caligula’s orders. When she died Caligula was very heart broken giving her title of Augusta, the empress, and had her declared a god by order of the Senate. During banquets Caligula would flirt with his sisters and ended making love in front of everyone, even telling the woman who was his wife at that moment to join in. These banquets became a terrible ordeal for its guests who dared not attend because if they chose not to they might offend the emperor who have them torture, put to death or confiscate the family estate on made up charges. Caligula treated the noble women like cattle, inspecting them and making comments about their looks. Then he would chose a wife and take her to an adjoining room where he enjoyed her and then came back to give his judgment on her sexual performance, while wife and husband endured this humiliation. Caligula spent lavishly on all sorts of luxuries he had a caprice with. Within a year his extravagances cost the state 2,700,000,000 sesterces that Tiberius had collected. To raise funds to keep up his expenses Caligula invented new arbitrary taxes and tariffs, and invented criminal cases against the rich which required large payment of fines. He became very attached to favorite
horse Incitatus that he had a stable made of marble, with a stable of ebony, had a jewel-encrusted collar wearing blankets of imperial purple, and would send soldiers to enforce strict silence in the streets so his horse’s sleep would not be disturbed. Caligula had hope of appointing Incitatus to the office of consul. His cruelty was such that he ordered executions to be made not by one stroke
but by small wounds giving the victim an agonizing death. To entertain him, prisoners were tortured or executed while he had lunch. Some victims were executed by having wild animals set upon them. Finally Caligula demanded to be treated as a god. By this time there was a grow opposition as
many detested his actions and many did not feel secure with his paranoia. There several plots that failed to eliminate him. In 41 A.D. a tribune of the Praetorian Guard Cassius Chaera and two senators with others involved planned an attempt during the Palatine Games. They knew Caligula
would have to pass through a narrow passage to leave the stage for lunch and his bodyguard could not be next to him. This happened as expected and Chaera was able to get close to stabbed Caligula while his accomplices came up and stabbed the emperor again. The bodyguards rushed in killing some of the conspirators and innocent bystanders too. At the same time a separate group
of conspirators set to the imperial palace to kill the imperial family with the intent destroying the Julio-Claudian dynasty and restore the Republic. But the Praetorian Guard loyal to the family hid and protected Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, who survived and became the next emperor. 4
. Disorder and degeneracy.-
What made Rome great and allowed it to become a large nation from its beginnings as a small city-state was the qualities of the Roman nobility with their patriotic spirit, devotion to duty and family, and the hardness and tenacity of its citizen-soldier-
farmer. But the conquest of the Mediterranean after the Punic Wars (Carthage) and dominion of Greece (Corinth) flooded Rome with riches and slaves that changed the moral nation into a predatory state that lived by war and plunder. The noble officers turned into military adventurer; citizen farmer soldiers into professionals, and at retirement with the inclusion of the poor masses, into the vast urban proletariat that survived on government handouts and bribes of politicians and kept content with “bread and circuses”.
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External causes
: These came by the gradual invasion of Barbarian tribes from northern central Europe into the territories of the vast Roman Empire that could no longer be defended until they were able to takeover, settle and rule over the Western Roman Empire with Rome as its capital. After Rome was sacked in 410 and 455 AD it was ruled by the first non Roman king in 476 AD, the date taken to be the end of the Roman Empire in the West. The Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium will last until 1453 when the Islamic Turks conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. ___________________________________________________________________ THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE & BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION, 476-1453
The end of centralized rule in Rome’s western lands in 476 A.D. had little effect on
Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium. During its one-thousand-year existence since
the fall of Rome, the empire took its Roman heritage and became an autocratic, static entity in a
world of great upheaval and movement of populations. The changing boundaries of the
Byzantine world tell the story of an empire under continual siege. Byzantium’s borders reached
their farthest western limits in the sixth century and then contracted over the next eight hundred
years. The empire lost territory to the Arabs in the east and to the Bulgars and other groups in the
west. Finally, no longer able to defend even the city of Constantinople itself, the empire fell to
the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Even though Byzantium was struck by rapid and sometimes catastrophic disasters, its
great wealth and economic resources allowed the state to survive. The rulers tightly controlled
their subjects’ economic affairs, a policy that placed state interest above individual gains. A
stimulating urban life developed, centered in Constantinople the capital of the empire and the
most important city. Beyond Constantinople, the countryside was dotted by aristocrats and
worked by coloni
, or serfs. Byzantium’s economy was based on agriculture, the basic source of
wealth.
Although the frontiers of the empire changed over the centuries, its heartland in Greece
and Asia Minor remained basically stable. In its heartland, a relatively uniform culture evolved
that differed markedly from late Rome and the Medieval West. The Byzantine world gave up its
pagan and Latin roots to become a Christian, Greek civilization. The Orthodox Church, led by
the patriarch of Constantinople, emerged as a powerful force, but without the independence from
secular rulers enjoyed by the Western church and the pope. Greek became the language of
church, state, and scholarship, Just as Latin served those functions in the West. But, like late
Rome and unlike the Medieval West, Byzantium remained characterized by ethnic and racial
diversity; new peoples, such as Serbs and the Bulgarians, helped to ensure this diversity as they
were slowly assimilated into the Byzantine way of life.
HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Throughout its history, the Byzantine Empire’s fortunes fluctuated depending on its
relations with its hostile neighbors. From 476 to 641, the Byzantine emperors made a valiant but
ultimately futile effort to recover the lost western provinces and revive the empire. Emperor
Justinian the Great 527-565 A.D. conquered several of the Germanic kingdoms that had arisen in
the former Western Empire and extended the empire’s borders to encompass Italy, southern
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Spain, and North Africa. Justinian’s wars exhausted the state treasury, however, leaving his
successors unable to maintain the empire.
Between 641 and 867, the second period by Byzantine history, a series of weak rulers lost
all the western lands that Justinian had recovered. The emperors were also forced to yield much
of Asia Minor to their Arab foes, and in 687 a Bulgarian kingdom was carved out of Byzantine
territory in the Balkans. To repel these enemy assaults, Byzantine became more militarized. In
the provinces, generals were given vast military and civil powers, and they began to replace the
aristocrats as landowners. A style of feudalism, vast estates protected by private armies slowly
arose.
With the reign of Basil I 867-886 , a new dynasty of capable Macedonian rulers led by
Byzantine into the Golden Age from 876-1081. These rulers again expanded the borders of the
empire and restored the state to economic health. Orthodox missionaries eventually tied the
peoples of Eastern Europe to the religion and civilization of Byzantine, and in the late tenth
century they introduced Christianity to Russia. As a result, after the fall of Constantinople in
1453, the Russian state claimed to be the spiritual and cultural heir to Byzantine civilization.
In 1081 general, Alexius Comnenus 1081-1118, seized the throne, and thus began a new
period, characterized by increasing pressure from the West from 1081-1261.
The Comneni rulers tried vainly to win allies, but they were surrounded by enemies-
Normans, Seljuk, Turks, Hungarians, Serbs, Bulgarians, and, after 1095, the European Crusaders
on their way to the Holy Land. In 1204 the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade conquered
Constantinople and took over the remaining lands. The empire appeared to be finished except for
some scattered holdings in Asia Minor. But in 1261 Michael Palaeologus 1261-1282 regained
Constantinople and breathed some new life into the feeble empire.
The Palaeologian dynasty ruled over the Byzantine world during the fifth and last phrase
of its history from 1261-1453, but eventually it was forced to recognize that the empire was only
a diminished Greek state. From 1302 onward, the Ottoman Turks built an empire on the ruins of
the Byzantine Empire. By 1330 this new state absorbed Asia Minor, and by 1390 Serbia and
Bulgaria were Turkish provinces. In1453 the Turks took Constantinople, ravaging the city for
three days, searching for booty and destroying priceless art treasures. The fall of Constantinople
ended the last living vestige of ancient Rome.
BYZANTINE CULTURE
From Rome, Byzantine inherited a legacy of unresolved conflicts between Christian and
Classical ideals. In the wider Byzantine culture, this conflict was revealed in the division
between secular forms of expression, which showed a playful or humorous side of Byzantine
life, and religious forms, which were always deeply serious. However, Byzantine culture,
whether secular or religious, tended to stress Classical values of serenity, dignity, and restraint.
This timeless and even majestic quality was cultivated, perhaps, in compensation for the
besieged circumstances the Byzantine state had to endure from its internal weaknesses and
external and external enemies. The Orthodox Religion
While the bishop of Rome (the pope) was the head of the
Christian church in the West, the bishop (or patriarch) of Constantinople became the spiritual and
doctrinal head of the Eastern (Orthodox) Church in Byzantine. The Church in the West and the
East drifted apart since the removal of Rome as the capital of the empire to Constantinople by
Emperor Constantine the Great until they became completely separated in 1054. This separation
is known as the Greek or
Eastern Schism
. Long before this fateful schism there had been
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misunderstanding and jealousy between East and West. The drift begins with the bishop Eusebius
of Nicomedia and his followers in opposition to the Council of Nicaea. This party was behind the
organization and establishment of the autonomy of the Byzantine bishops. The Greek Church
from its beginnings was in conflict with Christian tradition concerning the divinity of Christ, and
in best terms with imperial despotism. This alliance with imperial despotism became known has
Caesaro-Papism
. This Caesaro-Papism became the main cause of the schism in the eleventh
century (and in the sixteenth century during the Reformation). The Roman Empire had the pagan
tradition that the emperor is supreme in temporal as well as spiritual matters. That means to get
involve in religion, and when the empire converted to Christianity this concept did not disappear.
Many emperors wanting to interfere and dictate in doctrinal matters fell into heresies that
originated from the East. These emperors who were Arian, Iconoclast and other doctrines found
the Pope in Rome very irritating to their pride. They wanted a church submissive to their
ambitions and passions. They preferred a church where they could be its head, and not the Pope,
where they could nominate the bishops who would depend on them. They were looking for
councils they could manipulate at their will. They wanted to be the “Pontifex Maximus” just as
in pagan times, in other words Caesaro-Papism. The ambition and servility of most bishops in
Constantinople prepared the triumph of this imperial despotism in religious matters. Nearly all
these bishops owed their positions to the emperor. If the emperors were strong willed the bishops
were completely at their mercy, and religion was at stake. These bishops were at first just simple
bishops under the Metropolitan of Heraclea. Then assistant bishops were placed under these
bishops and through council of Constantinople in 381 and council of Chalcedon in 451 they
became Patriarchs (ecclesiastical heads).that had authority over a large number of bishops. The
East came to be under the Patriarchs of Constantinople, in spite the protest of Rome. The Pope in
Rome was to distanced to be able to have an influence upon the East. The difference between
East and West kept on increasing as the Eastern Church went into a state of stagnation and rigid
adherence to the forms and traditions of the past, thus became suspicious of the West that made
moves forward. The conflict came when the Eastern church tried to impose her traditions on the
East. A great schism began in 726 when the despotic and heretic Emperor Leo III the Isaurian
launched the Iconoclast heresy or controversy that lasted until 843. Iconoclasts were the image
or icon destroyers. Leo III issued an imperial decree forbidding idolatry, and ordered the
destruction of all images of Christ, saints and prophets. Siding with the iconoclastic emperors
were bishops, the army, and the civil services; opposed were the monks. In the West, the papacy
refused to join the iconoclastic frenzy. This radical position may have been influenced by Islam
and Judaism that consider images a form of idolatry prohibited by God. Representations of all
sorts were destroyed, including mosaics in Hagia Sophia. Entire works of art in Byzantium were
lost forever, thus the world lost a very important artistic legacy, and only very few works of this
era were able to survive because they were out of the reach of the image breakers in Byzantine
Italy and Mont Sinai. Many people including monks and priests who tried to protect these images
were blinded, mutilated, tortured and even executed. The cause of the conflict was due to politics
than religious issues, and was mainly a conflict between church and state. The monastic
movement had achieved great wealth and power as well as respect from the people, which the
emperors resented. Monasteries were paying very little or no taxes, a diverting revenue from the
state. Thus the monasteries as the main repositories of sacred images were attacked, confiscated,
raised to the ground, and their monks martyred. Pope Gregory II condemned Leo III, and the
emperor threatened to destroy the image of St. Peter at Rome and imprison the Pope. A fleet was
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sent to “Rome to accomplish the threat but the Italian and Lombards prevented this aggression.
By 780 Empress Irene set herself to restore the veneration of images and bring back the peace. A
general council was convoked, the Seventh Ecumenical at Nicaea that had Papal legates. The
issue of veneration of images was defined by the church declaring that the figure of the cross and
holy images are to be retained . The images are not to become objects of adoration in the proper
sense, which can only be given to God alone, but are useful because they raise the mind of the
faithful to the objects that the images represents. It is right to honor these images because the
honor is really given to God and His saints that the images are intended to remind the faithful. A
very important event because the belief that images were legitimate in the eyes of God and not
against His will resulted in a great religious art production and legacy of the West. During the
Middle Ages the church was the main promoter of the arts, and had the iconoclast views
prevailed then the advancement of art in the West would have been greatly hampered. The heresy
came to an end with Empress Theodora who in 843 brought images back in triumph to the
Church of St. Sophia and the traditional faith was reestablished in the East. (insert photo from shutterstock: ID: 22539874 Icon of Christ, Hagia Sophia,
Instanbul, Turkey.)
Another important event that separated East from West was the coronation of Charlemagne
in 800 by the Pope. Charlemagne was the king of the Franks, a Germanic people that in
Byzantium were considered barbarians. To the Eastern mind that Rome would come under the
yoke of barbarians was an issue that national pride would not tolerate. Rome, the ancient capital
of the empire should be under Romans, not the Franks, and the Pope was blamed for this
unpardonable act. The rivalry among East and West turned into hatred which embittered and
complicated the relationship. The Eastern emperors retaliated by taking away provinces from the
jurisdiction of Rome to Patriarchate of Constantinople. Due to abuses of power in the corrupt court of Byzantium the patriarch of Constantinople St. Ignatius in 857 was imprisoned and a layman called Photius installed as patriarch which brought the Photius schism.
Photius was a worldly, crafty, ambitious and unscrupulous individual that acted with arrogance. When the emperor was not able to convince the Pope to acknowledge Photius as the lawful patriarch, Photius went into a rage and proudly addressed the patriarchs and
bishops in the East to claim spiritual superiority of the Papacy, and to declare it intolerable because the imperial crown of the West was placed by the Pope on Charlemagne a Frank barbarian. He accused the Latin church of heresy and for its usages and discipline, such as enforcing the celibacy of the clergy. His hatred finally led him to excommunicate the whole Latin world and Pope. When the eastern decadent emperor Michael the Drunkard was murdered in 867, the next Emperor Basil sent Photius to prison and reinstated St. Ignatius. The Eighth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 869 condemned Photius and restored union under the authority of the Apostolic See ( authority and jurisdiction of bishops (or Pope) founded by one or
more of the Apostles).Photius ascendedthe patriarchal throne in 877 and acknowledged the Roman Primacy to obtain his approval by the Pope. In 886 Emperor Leo the Philospher took him
off from office and sent him to a monastery in Armenia. Union among the church continued with the rivalries of East and West until Patriarch Michael Cerularius
began the dissention again. He criticized the West for its practices and closed the Latin churches in Constantinople. The emperor who wanted peace with the West asked Pope St. Leo IX so send legates to Constantinople to come to peaceful terms. Cerularius refused to receive the three legates. Mutual misunderstanding was a main cause of the schism in the church, and each side being ill-informed an understanding was not possible. The Papal
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Legate Cardinal Humbert
laid a document containing the excommunication of Cerularius in the
church of St. Sophia before the clergy and people and left the city in July 1054.
This document was not well-founded demonstrating misunderstandings. The Pope died in April of 1054 and would not have approved of the excommunication because He had sent Humbert to heal the schism and not to aggravate matter with excommunication of the Patriarch. Cerularius response was excommunicating his rivals. This finalized the schism that has not healed between East and West. Many differences exist between the two Christian churches. They disagreed over the issue of
whether the pope or a patriarch should lead the church; they also differed in language ,Latin in
the West, Greek in the East, religious practices such as Roman Catholic priests were celibate
while Orthodox priests could marry, and fine points of religious doctrine. Law As a major contribution of Western culture, Byzantium’s greatest accomplishment was
the codification of the Roman law made under the emperor Justinian in the sixth century. The
Justinian Code
, which summarized a thousand years of Roman legal developments, not only
laid the foundation of Byzantine law but also later furnished the starting point for the revival of
Roman law in the West. This law code preserved such legal principles as requiring court
proceedings to settle disputes, protecting the individual against unreasonable demands of society,
and setting limits to the legitimate power of the sovereign. Through the Justinian Code, these
Roman ideals permeated Byzantine society and served as a restraint on the autocratic emperors.
When the West revived the study of the Roman law in the Middle Ages, these principles were
adopted by the infant European states. Today, in virtually all the Western states, these principles
continue to be honored. Architecture and Mosaics
Architecture was the great achievement of the Byzantine world. Byzantine architecture
was committed to glorifying the state and the emperors and to spreading the Christian message.
Most of the byzantine palaces and state buildings either were destroyed in the fifteenth century
or have since fallen into ruins, but many churches still survive and attest to the lost grandeur of
this civilization.
By the seventh century, the Byzantine style
had been born, a style that drew from Greek,
Roman, and oriental sources. The Greco-Roman tradition supplied the basic elements of
Byzantine architecture: columns, arches, vaults, and domes, oriental taste contributed a love of
rich ornamentation and riotous color. Christianity fused these ingredients, provided wealthy
patrons, and suggested subjects for the interior decorations. The Greek cross,
which has arms of
equal length, came to be the preferred floor plan for later Byzantine churches. Despite their borrowings, the Byzantines made on significant innovation that became
fundamental in their architecture: They invented pendentives
, supports in the shape of inverted
concave triangles, that allowed a dome to be suspended over a square base. As a result of this
invention, the domed building soon became synonymous with the Byzantine style, notably in
churches, like the Hagia Sophia.
The Byzantine obsession with the dome probably stemmed from its central role in the
magnificent church Hagia Sophia, or Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople. The dome had been
employed in early Christian architecture and in important Roman temples such as the Pantheon.
Erected by Justinian, Hagia Sophia was intended to awe the worshiper with the twin majesties of
God and the emperor. The central dome measure more than 101 feet in diameter and rested on
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four pendentives that channel the weight to four huge pillars. Half-domes cover the east and
west ends of the aisles.
In the vast interior, the architect’s goal was not to produce a unified effect but rather to
create an illusion of celestial light. Glittering walls covered with polychrome marbles and
brilliant mosaics, which have since disappeared or been covered with whitewash, suggested
shimmering cloth to early viewers and contributed to the breathtaking effect of this magnificent
church. Mosaic making had experienced a lively flowering in late Rome, and in Byzantium it
became a major form of artistic expression. Unlike the Roman mosaics, which were made of
stone and laid in floor, the Byzantine mosaics were usually of glass and set into the walls. Of the
Byzantine mosaics, the most beautiful and the most perfectly preserved are those in the churches
of Ravenna, Italy. (
Insert photos from shutterstock: Hagia Sphia – exterior Image ID: 17243386 / Interior of Hagia Sophia Image ID: 2333522 / Interior of St. Mark basilica Image ID: 2373292 St. Mark Basilica in Venice, Italy with its Romanesque and Gothic elements, its Greek cross plan, multiple domes and glittering mosaics make it a Byzantine masterpiece.
During the Iconoclastic Controversy, the emperors destroyed virtually all figurative
religious art that was under their control. After the conclusion of the controversy, a formalized
repertory of church decoration evolved that characterized Byzantine art for the rest of its history.
The aim of this religious art was strictly theological. For instance, Christ Pantocrator (Ruler of
All) dominated each church’s dome. In these portraits, Christ was presented as the emperor of
the universe and the judge of the world. In that respect, Byzantine art came to picture him with a
stern and forceful countenance, in contrast to Western portrayals, which increasingly focused on
his suffering.
Art
Byzantine art developed out of the art of the Roman Empire
, which was itself profoundly influenced by ancient Greek art. Byzantine art never lost sight of this classical heritage. The art produced during the Byzantine Empire, although marked by periodic revivals of a classical aesthetic, was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its “abstract,” or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a more symbolic approach. Religious art was not, however, limited to the monumental decoration of church interiors. One of the most important genres of Byzantine art was the icon, an image of Christ, the Virgin, or a saint, used as an object of veneration in Orthodox churches and private homes alike. Icons were more religious than aesthetic in nature: especially after the end of iconoclasm, they were understood to manifest the unique “presence” of the figure depicted by means of a “likeness” to that figure maintained through carefully maintained canons of representation. The illumination of manuscripts was another major genre of Byzantine art. The most commonly illustrated texts were religious, both scripture itself, particularly the Psalms, and devotional or theological texts. Secular texts were also illuminated.
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Byzantine style spread to other nations because the Byzantine cultural heritage had been widely diffused, carried by the spread of Orthodox Christianity, to Bulgaria, Serbia , Rumania and, most importantly, to Russia, which became the center of the Orthodox world following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, and even to far west as Sicily and Venice in Italy. Even under Ottoman rule, Byzantine traditions in icon-painting and other small-scale arts survived, especially in the Venetian-ruled Crete and Rhodes, where a "post-Byzantine" style under increasing Western influence survived for a further two centuries, producing El Greco and other significant artists of the sixteenth century. It strongly influenced some of the western art of the Middle Ages. The influence of Byzantine art in Western Europe, particularly Italy was seen in ecclesiastical architecture, through the development of the Romanesque style in the 10th century and 11th centuries.
In conclusion, the Byzantine civilization after the fall of Constantinople left a profound
legacy to the West, some of which is still alive today. In Eastern Europe, the Orthodox Church
continues to influence the Slavic population. Western law owes a great debt to the Code of
Justinian, which became the standard legal text studied in medieval universities. Elements of
Byzantine art appeared in Renaissance art in Italy, and the Italian cities of Venice, Genoa, and
Pisa became major cultural centers in the fifteen century because of the wealth they had
accumulated from Byzantine trade.
Byzantine also served conserving functions for the West. The Byzantine Empire acted as
a buffer against the Arabs in the seventh century and against the Seljuk Turks in the twelfth
century. Byzantine scholars preserved ancient Greek texts, many of which were carried to Italy,
England, and elsewhere in the mid-fifteenth century. When these works were reintroduced into
the West, they intensified the cultural revival already under way during the Renaissance.
_________________________________________________________________ See diagram of Roman Republic below: III – 24- 2009 - S. Moffett
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________________________________________ The exercises of chapter 5:
Roman civilization and Byzantium.
1.
The two legendary founders of Rome were Romulus
and Remus and Aeneas
.
2.
How the Republic functioned in order that enough safeguards or check and balances protected the liberties of its citizens from tyrants and abuse of power? The republic was based on a system of representatives and separation of power. They had a group of people that needed to cooperate and make the decisions together. It wasn’t just one person.
3.
What were the roles of the consuls and tribunes? Two consults elected by senate their duty was to keep the peace, prepare the army and send laws to the Centuriated Assembly, they had this power for one year and also each person had the power to veto actions of other consults. Tribunes were protectors of people they would make sure their rights were protected when mistreated wrongfully.
4.
What was the problem that the Romans never resolved and that held the key to Rome’s social and economic health, and wealth of its citizens? It was a major weakness of Roman state and society.
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They never get to resolve the possession of land which held the Rome’s economic health and wealth of its citizens.
5.
How did the Punic Wars change Rome? Their conquests of the Roman Empire brought a ton of wealth. They got new markets, more slaves, imports, and construction grew.
6.
The goal of the Gracchus brothers was to bring back an old law that would pay for the rich for excess land and give it to the people that wouldn’t have any land. They wanted to bring back the small farmer to help the poor.
7.
The first civil war among the Romans with the unresolved conflict of interest due to the unequal distribution of the agricultural land as an underling cause was between the leader of the populates and ex-consul Gaius Marius
and the leader of the optimates Lucius Sulla
. This civil was increased the trend toward Strong Factions in government and personal ambitions of members of the ruling class. 8.
How did Julius Caesar come to complete power and declare himself dictator for life? He used his wealth to gain favor with the masses of Rome, he gave to the people gladiator fights and bribed the Roman Empire.
9.
How did Octavian come to complete power? If Octavian gained complete power, why did he not proclaim himself dictator or emperor of the Romans? He gained power by killing Caesar’s killers, once in power he got senators to give
up their rights and then he shared all he had with the citizens, and he had soldiers that ended the civil war. 10.
What kind of ruler was Octavian (Augustus)? He was manipulative and persuasive, he didn’t declare himself a dictator or emperor and allowed senators to continue the tradition of them having a voice.
11.
By the time the Antonine dynasty came to rule Rome, the Roman emperor had become a monarchy which took a place in the era of ‘five good emperors”.
12.
Emperor Diocletian’s major reform was a new system of rule in known as the Major Reform from Emperor Diocletian was a new system of rule known as Tetrarchy which was ruled by four emperors.
13.
Why did the Roman authorities persecute Christianity? They believed Christianity was wrong for worshipping only one God and excluding all others and would lead to chaos.
14.
Explain why the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity and the proclamation that Christianity was the religion of the roman State by Emperor Theodosius I such important events that changed entirely the course of History in the West.
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To start, Constantine showed Christianity religion to new people and taught them that it could be a heaven after life, chastity seems like a virtue, he also knew he had to keep both parties happy (political and Christians) so he gave power to the senate to make decisions. 15.
What happen during the Council of Nicaea?
Constantine exiled Aruis and two of his followers, he was not going to tolerate divisions of his empire. He rejected Arius’ theological arguments. 16.
The ultimate external cause that finally bring the complete downfall of the Western Roman Empire were the invasion of the barbarians
. 17.
Greco-Roman philosophy is based upon the philosophical tradition of the Greek philosophy.
18.
The five philosophical schools that became famous in the Roman World were Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism, Neo-Platonism, and Cynics. 19.
The stoics believed that god was logos or reason (rational order) throughout the universe, and this logos constitutes the rational order or meaning of the cosmos and it is ordered by god. This rational order also known as The Law of Nature was god’s material presence in the universe. God determined Fate
, so fate imposed a certain Determinism that men could not escape from, and humanity had freedom only within the
acceptance of this reality.
20.
Explain briefly how the Stoic philosophy or view of life helped Rome to create a vast empire comprising many people of different cultures and ethnicities.
It was founded in accepting all situations no matter race or social barriers. It wanted to rule a civilized world and each person was a part of God. Their attitude was a major contribution in this.
21.
Explain briefly why Epicurean philosophy went against the Roman ideal of virtue, but still had great appeal with Roman society.
By promoting happiness and removing life’s pains and fears. They believed that religion was causing anxiety and causing people to perform evil. So, they banned
religion and said that the soul perishes with the body at death.
22.
In the Late Roman Empire Roman philosophers developed a new idea, that after death instead of entering Heaven as yourself, the individual became one with God or a divine force, and this philosophical movement became known as Neo-Platonism
. They believed that the soul must retrace its steps back to the One or god where it originated from, which is achieved through the practice of virtue
which tries to be like the One, and leads up to the One or god.
23.
What concept of Roman law made its legal principle permanently enduring and appealing to many national laws to the present date? It was based on human nature and not on theory. They focused it on facts ad how they relate in life rather than how they should.
24.
Briefly explain a central concept of Roman law that came out of Stoicism, the idea of natural law.
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It’s the belief that all men have the right to live, liberty and happiness as a natural right of men.
25.
The Romans learned many of their engineering techniques that they mastered and improved on a grand scale, such as the rounded arch, from a people in northern Italy the Etruscan contribution
. 26.
28. The causes for the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire were internal and external. Among the internal causes that are divided into political, economic and lack of civil ideals, lets considered the demoralization with lower birthrate or demographics which translated into a decrease in man power for labor and military service, hindering the economy and strength of the Roman army; the population of the entire Empire did not share the same ideals and the state with its civil wars, rising military expenses and public debt, and oppressive taxation brought the people’s distrust of the government and its ability to serve the common good of Roman society, which resulted in that few citizens were willing to work for the public good and defend Roman ideals; corruption in government and immorality of Roman society with its free “bread and circus”; and finally the degeneracy of traditional Roman values of hard work and duty to state and family that allow Rome to become a disciplined people that built a large empire. The external cause was the invasion of the barbarians when the Empire was too weak internally to withstand influx of new people and their more primitive culture. – Lets
consider the present Western world, mainly Europe and the United States, and think about
society’s decline of family values, high divorce rate, abortion on demand, drugs and materialism on the rise, prevailing violence and sex in the entertainment industry, increasing higher age of the average population and drastic drop in the birth rates that have become a reality in these Western nations in the last half century. Think about the present national debt of Western European and America and their cycles of economic recessions. The fact that in Western Europe there is an increasing number of non- European immigration with different cultural, ethnic and religious identities, that has settled permanently without adapting to a considerable extent to Western culture and religious identity; in the long run will these new, young and with a higher birth rate immigrants be able to integrate harmoniously and strengthen their Western hosts countries? Think of the present immigration issues in the U.S.A. Given that the USA has become and still is a major world power (some considered it an economic & military “empire” due to worldwide investments, loans and trade, and military alliances and bases), and that Western European nations still are a major economic and military power; and both these industrialized giants (especially western Europe) are declining demographically to the point that to have sufficient work force there is a great amount of immigration from third world countries, and in Europe from nonwestern nations and cultures; are there any similarities with the decline of the Roman Empire? Looking at all these facts, trends and questions that have risen, in your opinion
are the developed Western nations today making the same mistakes that took Rome into its downfall in the
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long run; are these Western nations at risk of heading toward their decline; and if you think this is the case can our Western society change this course of events, and what would have to be done to change this course? Or are these just problems that come and go and are resolved in the end? Explain
in detail your opinion stating why you come to your conclusion whether you agree or not with these statements. I believe this is to happen to the United States. We realize we have a lot of problems and debt, but we still find methods to overcome them and keep people in line with laws that have been placed in place. Our military is the most powerful in the world, compared to the Romans, who experienced a reduction in their force, making them feeble. They were unable to achieve due to their religious convictions. The United States has a wide variety of religions, and people are free to choose which god they worship. To this day, as a nation, we are still fighting racism and religion. We all know it's always been there, but I believe that now, more than ever, we can see so many cases of racism, and when it comes to religion, we have a lot of arguing about which one is better and why the other isn’t. Feel we are seeing a similar chain of events to the Roman decline, but I do not 29. The Roman Empire had the pagan tradition that the emperor is supreme in temporal as well as spiritual matters, and in Byzantium, the practice of emperors who tried to have a submissive church imposing an imperial despotism in religious matters is known as _____________________________ .
30.__________________ were the image or icon destroyers that destroyed great number of religious byzantine art. 31. The most salient feature of this Byzantine aesthetic art with a more symbolic approach, was its____________________________________, that did not represent reality as closely as possible.
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