EARLY ROMANS

1. EARLY ROMANS • Ancestors of Romans arrived in Italy around 1000 BC • Settled near ford in the Tiber River in central Italy • Italy already inhabited when they arrived • Italian tribes • Greeks in southern Italy • Etruscans in northern Italy

2. ETRUSCANS • Mysterious people with untranslated written language • Created small empire in northern Italy • Took over early Romans shortly after they arrived • City of Rome founded under Etruscan rule • Meeting place between Etruscan and Greek merchants • Romans borrowed aspects of their civilization from both • 509 BC – Rome overthrew Etruscan rule and absorbed former Etruscan territory • 500-400 BC Rome gradually conquers all of Italy

3. CARTHAGE Former Phoenician trading post Commercial city Had western Mediterranean empire Felt threatened by Rome’s rise to dominance in Italy

4. PUNIC WARS • Against Carthage • Three over a 120 year period (264-146 BC) • Demonstrated Roman perseverance and adaptability • Rome won all three • Carthage completely destroyed after Third Punic War • Rome takes over all former Carthaginian territory in Western Mediterranean

5. ROMAN EXPANSION • Rome increasingly draw into the affairs of the successor kingdoms of the East • Grows tired of trying to maintain a balance of power in the East and gradually conquers the region • Greece and Macedonia • Asia Minor • Mediterranean Middle East • Egypt (later) • By 100 BC, the basic outline of the Roman Empire is in place • Romans already refer to the Mediterranean Sea as “Mare Nostrum” (“our sea”)

6. ROMAN REPUBLIC • Not a democracy • Monopolized by nobility (patricians) and wealthy commoners (plebians) • Ordinary people excluded from meaningful political participation • Possessed elected officials • Top officials were consuls (2 elected each year) • Several citizen assemblies • Tribal Assembly (legislature) • Senate (powerful advisory assembly) • Devised to run a small city-state but not adequate for running an empire

7. ROMAN GENERALS/POLITICIANS • ROMAN REVOLUTION • 133-31 BC • Political violence • Street fights • Physical assaults • Murder • Social unrest • Appearance of a series of ambitious and ruthless military commanders • Used armies to impose themselves as dictators of Rome Pompey Magnus Gaius Marius LC Sulla Julius Caesar

8. BATTLE OF ACTIUM OCTAVIAN • 31 BC • Marked end of the Roman Revolution • Octavian defeats forces of Marc Antony and Cleopatra off the coast of Greece • Roman power survives intact but the price was high • Roman Republic ceased to exist Cleopatra Marc Antony

9. AUGUSTUS • First emperor • Created new government adequate to running world-wide empire • Retained republican institutions but robbed them of all power • Kept all power in his own hands • Kept sole control of army

10. ARMY Ties with emperor were personal Never attempted to institutionalize relationship Roman army only loyal to person of emperor—not state SUCCESSION Never set up clear cut system Choice of heir left to current emperor Might choose relative or friend Heir had to have support of army WEAKNESSES IN THE AUGUSTAN SYSTEM

11. ROMAN EMPIRE

12. ANTONINE DYNASTY(“FIVE GOOD EMPERORS”—AND A BAD ONE) Trajan Antoninus Pius Nerva Hadrian Marcus Aurelius Commodus

13. ROME AT THE TIME OF THE ANTONINE EMPERORS

14. INCREASING CHAOS • After 180 AD • Confusing series of short-term rulers • Many were generals who were put into power by their troops only to be shortly thereafter killed either by troops of rival general or their own fickle men • Standard-of-living dropped throughout empire • Countryside became depopulated • Farmers abandoned farms to avoid marauding legions and barbarians • Moved to Rome, thereby swelling the already huge number of poor living on government charity • Middle class declined due to crushing tax burden • Pressure on the northern border increased as German barbarians began to push south

15. DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE • DIOCLETIAN • Improved shaky prestige of emperor by changing it into semi-divine office • Created hereditary caste system • Regimented society in order to restore stability • Created new succession system • CONSTANTINE • Legalized Christianity • Divided empire in half • Built Constantinople • Halves drifted apart after his death, creating two separate political units: the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire and the Western (Roman) Empire

16. TWO EMPIRES

17. FALL OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE • Plagued by new civil wars and continued social and economic problems • Finished off by massive German barbarian invasions • Triggered by arrival of the Huns in Germany • Germans set up “kingdoms” on ruins of Western Empire • Finished by 565 AD

18. BARBARIAN KINGDOMS Angles and Saxons Franks Visigoths Ostrogoths Vandals

19. CONCLUSION I • IF ROME HAD BEEN HEALTHY, IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RESIST GERMAN INVASIONS • BUT ROME WAS NOT HEALTHY • FATALLY WEAKENED BY INTERNAL PROBLEMS • UNABLE TO PUT UP EFFECTIVE RESISTANCE TO GERMANS

20. CONCLUSION II • “FALL” OF ROME WAS NO BIG LOSS • WEST HAD BECOME IMPOVERISHED, REGIMENTED, REPRESSIVE, AND STERILE • NOTHING POSITIVE COULD HAVE COME FROM THIS MESS • SLATE NEEDED TO BE WIPED CLEAN FOR FURTHER PROGRESS • BY DESTROYING ROME, GERMANS OPENED DOOR FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT • BASED ON BEST OF ANCIENT LEGACY • ALSO BASED ON GERMAN COMPONENTS • GAVE BIRTH TO THE MIDDLE AGES