We continued to take notes on Rome. Then we have to write a paragraph on Attila the Hun and say if we would rather have Atilla or Alexander the Great as our leader.
I would rather have Alexander the Great as a leader. I think that Alexander had good intentions. Although he killed many people, Attila also did. Alexander though, combined cultures so that the places he took over would have some of their culture in it.
- Geography-
- Rome was built on 7 rolling hills around the Tiber River near the center of the Italian peninsula.
- It is the midway point between the Alps and Italy’s southern tip.
- First Romans-
- From 1000 to 500 B.C. 3 groups inhabited the region and fought for control of it.
- They were the Latin, Greek, and Etruscans.
- Latins built the original settlement at Rome it was a cluster of wooden huts on top of 1 of the 7 hills.
- Greek Influence-
- Between 750 and 600 B.C. Greeks established colonies along the southern part of Italy and Sicily.
- The cities became very prosperous and commercially active.
- They brought all of Italy, including Rome into closer contact with Greek civilization.
- Etruscans-
- They were native to northern Italy.
- They were skilled metal workers and engineers.
- They were very influential in the development of Roman civilization.
- Romans adopted their alphabet.
- Also they adopted some of their architecture especially the arch.
- Republic-
- A form of gov. in which the power rests with the citizens who have the right to vote for their leaders.
- In Rome citizen ship with voting tights was granted only to free-born adult male landowners.
- Patricians and Plebeians-
- In the early republic, different groups of Romans struggled for power.
- Patricians- wealthy landowners who held most of the power.
- Plebeians- the common person, but could still vote, usually farmer and merchants.
- Patricians inherited their power and social status and claimed that they had the right to rule due to their ancestry.
- They barred the Plebeians from holding high offices in the gov.
- In time the leaders of Rome allowed the Plebeians to form their own assembly and elect their own representative to protect their rights from the Patrician officials they called their tribunes.
- Legislative branch-
- Rome-
- Senate- 300 males that owned land, most powerful of the legislative branch, served for life, advised consuls.
- Centuriate Assembly- soldiers, pick consuls, served for live.
- Tribal Assembly- ordinary people, made laws, served for live.
- Legal Code-
- Rome- 12 tables- list of rules that were the supreme law of the land in Rome.
- Everyone saw it.
- Romulus and Remus-
- Raised by Shepard.
- Founded city where wolf found them- called it Rome.
- Twin brothers.
- Romulus killed Remus because they couldn’t agree on a name.
- Executive Branch-
- Elected to serve
- Rome- 2 leaders- consuls- 2 years.
- Judicial Branch-
- Rome- 8 judges.
- 1 year.
- Chosen by Centuriate Assembly.
- Oversee civil and criminal courts- others govern provinces.
- Roman Army-
- Along with their gov. the Romans also took great pride in their military as well
- All men who owned land were required to serve in the army.
- Some of the high public office positions required 10 years of military service.
- Legions-
- Roman soldiers were organized into large military units called Legions.
- Legions were made up of 5,000 foot soldiers.
- A group of cavalry would support each legion
- The military org. and fighting skill of the Roman army were key factors in Rome’s rise to greatness.
- Expansion-
- By 4th century B.C. Romans dominated central Italy.
- They had defeated the Etruscans to the north and the Greek city states to the south.
- Treatment-
- Latins on the Tiber became full citizens.
- In territory farther from Rome, the conquered people were citizens as well but didn’t have voting power.
- The remaining people became “allies” of Rome.
- Punic Wars-
- Series of 3 wars.
- Rome vs. Carthage.
- 1st war was over control of Sicily.
- 2nd war- when Hannibal became general of Carthage and he wanted to avenge the 1st defeat, Hannibal attempted a sneak attack through the Alps to attack and capture Rome.
- 3rd war- Scipio attacked Carthage and Hannibal retreated and fought back at native city.
- Rome defeated Carthage all 3 times.
- Wars 1-2 Rome was on the defensive. Aggressor in the last war.
- Key players- Hannibal (Carthage), Scipio (Rome), Cincinnatus (Rome).
- Lasting Effects-
- Showed the civilizations in the Mediterranean that Rome was a dominant force.
- By 70 B.C. Rome had conquered a lot of land around the Mediterranean cost.
- Roman Republic-
- Shortly after their victories in the Punic Wars the quick and rapid expansion began to hurt the empire.
- The land was going to large estate and the small farmers were not making any money and were out of jobs.
- One of the reasons leading to a civil war.
- Julius Caesar-
- Another civil war broke out after his death.
- Avengers of Caesar-
- Octavian, Mark Anthony, Lepidus avenged Caesar and became the 2nd triumvirate.
- Even jealousy here, Octavian forced Lepidus to retire his power.
- Mark Antony fell in love with Cleopatra and followed her to Egypt.
- Leaving Octavian to be the sole leader.
- Augustus-
- The term given to Octavian meaning “exalted one.”
- Rome was at the peak of its power and at peace throughout Augustus’s Rule and even to 180 A.D.
- Pax Romana-“Roman Peace.”
- Roman Life
- Hannibal crossing the Alps-
- One of the greatest military achievements of ancient warfare.
- Happened during the 2nd Punic War.
- Hannibal crossing the Alps was known to be one of the major achievements of the 2nd Punic War.
- Took 16 days.
- Many of their elephants didn’t survive the journey.
- Crossed the Alps-
- He thought that it would give him a better chance against the Romans if he came down with all of his war elephants.
- The wars were fought over pure hatred by one side against the other.
- Roman Trade-
- Very vital to the Roman Empire.
- Most common trade items-
- Beef, corn, glassware, iron, lead, leather, marble, olive oil, perfumes, purple dye, silk, silver, spices, timer, tin, and wine.
- Main trading partners- Spain, France, the Middle East, and North Africa.
- Made trade very simple by only using 1 form of currency.
- Used Tiber River, Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea for a trading route.
- Manufacturing of goods increased in the empire’s cities and many opportunities for commerce existed. Rome became one of the empire’s greatest commercial centers.
- 2 way trade routes extended to other commercial centers in lands as far away as Egypt, Germany, and China.
- The empire’s location around the Mediterranean Sea helped make all this commercial activity possible.
- Roman Ag-
- Used crop rotation.
- Sometimes had to import food because of mountains.
- After conquering Egypt, able to imports lots of wheat.
- Most of crops raised on large estates call latifundias.
- Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations.
- The main crop was wheat and bread was present during almost every meal.
- Majority of work done on the farm was by slaves and servants.
- Farms created main source of income for Romans.
- Certain types of food were given out to the public for free- corn, wheat.
- Since Roman Empire stretched through a lot of land, there were different climates to allow a mixture of crops produced.
- Romans had 4 systems of farm management-
- Work done by owner and family.
- Tenant farming and share cropping forced labor- slaves.
- Other arrangements in which farm owner lent farm out.
- Slavery-
- Ancient Rome depended on slaves.
- Most slaves were foreign and unlike most places it didn’t depend on race.
- Not uncommon for desperate Romans to sell their children into slavery.
- When freed they could work the same jobs as the Plebeians.
- Debt slavery was common where a person could work off a debt by becoming a slave for a certain periods of time depending on the debt.
- Some slaves were forced to become gladiators.
- Saturnalia- a Christmas for the slaves in which the slaves and masters switched places.
- During this celebration the master preformed all the tasks a slave would.
- It was a way that masters would show appreciation and respect for slaves.
- Manual labor, domestic services.
- Could be highly educated and skilled works as teachers and physicians.
- Slaves task include working on farms- produced the food and materials the cities depended on.
- Businesses- managed shops for store owners in charge of shop keeping, lending of money, and selling of merchandise.
- Public buildings- worked on aqueduct systems, built roads, bridges, and arenas.
- Gladiator-
- Gladiator games were fought between an armed man and a criminal, wild animal, or another soldier.
- They were fought in the Coliseum in front of large audiences.
- Many of the people who fought the criminals and wild animals risked their social standing and their lives for the glory.
- They had costumes and scenery which had to be put up as well.
- Thumbs up means save the gladiators that was down and thumbs down means let him die.
- Order of events at the gladiator games-
- Animal hunts- they had a scene and the Emperor would use a bow from his box seat and shoot them.
- The Bestiarii- these were gladiators trained to fight tigers and lions.
- Criminals were sentenced to fight wild beast at the games but without any skills, weapons, or armor.
- Emperors-
- Tiberius- adopted son of Augustus.
- 22 years and 6 months.
- Possibly assassinated by Caligula.
- He was a cruel tyrant who put men to death upon mere suspicion.
- Caligula-
- Great nephew of Tiberius.
- 3 years and 10 months.
- Assassinated in conspiracy involving senator and Praetorian guards.
- He was insane and once threatened to have his horse made consul.
- Another time he raised a great army and marched it hundreds of mils and then commanded the soldiers to gather the shells on the beach and carry them back to Rome.
- Claudius I-
- Nephew of Tiberius and uncle of Caligula.
- 13 years and 9 months.
- Probably poisoned by his wife Agrippina.
- He was a weak and foolish emperor who allowed the cruelest acts to be committed in his name, then forgot them, and invited the persons to dinner whom he had just put to death.
- Nero-
- 13 years and 8 months.
- Stepson and adopted son of Claudius.
- He was a monster of vanity and cruelty.
- He was suspected of setting fire to the city and allowing more than 2/3 of it to burn up in order that he might rebuild it finer than it had been before.
- Christianity-
- Religion has always played a large role in Roman society.
- However, the polytheistic system was very impersonal.
- As the empire grew so did he the new religion called Christianity.
- Jesus of Nazareth-
- Viewed as the Messiah or savior by Christians.
- Born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea.
- Baptized by John the Baptist.
- He took up carpentry.
- At age 30, he then took up ministry.
- For the next 3 years, he preached, taught, did good works, and reportedly performed miracles.
- History of Jesus-
- Historical record of the time mention very little about Jesus.
- Main source of info about his main teaching are Gospels.
- These gospels were written by his disciples or pupils called apostles.
- Jesus’ Death-
- Jesus was growing in popularity and this concerned Roman and Jewish leaders.
- A governor of Rome named Pontius Pilate accused Jesus of defying the authority of Rome.
- He then was crucified on a wooden cross.
- Spreading Christianity-
- After Jesus’ death the followers of Jesus continued to spread his ideas.
- Despite the large amount of political and religious opposition the new religion of Christianity began to spread.
- Paul-
- A man who really influenced the spreading of Christianity.
- Was once a Jew, and against Christianity.
- He was able to do many of his speeches and travel throughout the Roman Empire because it was during Pax Romana.
- Charts-
- Christian-
- Believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
- Acceptance of Gentiles and Jews alike.
- Jewish-
- Believe that Jews are the chosen people.
- Adherence to Jewish law.
- Both-
- Believe in 1 God.
- Believe in the 10 Commandments.
- Order-
- Pope.
- Bishops.
- Priest.
- People.
- Persecution of Christians-
- The main reason was that they refused to worship Roman gods.
- As Pax Romana began to crumble, persecution of the Christians increased.
- Thousands were crucified, burned, or killed by wild animals in the circus arenas.
- Other Christians and even some non-Christians regarded persecuted Christians as martyrs.
- Martyrs- people willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a belief or cause.
- Popularity-
- Became a world religion for multiple reasons-
- Embraced all people.
- Gave hope to the powerless.
- Appealed to those who were repelled by the extravagances of imperial Rome.
- Offered personal relationship with a loving God.
- Promised eternal life after death.
- Constantine accepting Christianity-
- Constantine was fighting over the leadership of Rome.
- He then prayed to the Christian God and saw a cross.
- He then ordered the artisans to paint the Christian symbol on the shields.
- He was successful in battle so began to accept Christianity.
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