Western Civilization Ch 6

I. From Republic to Empire, 44 b.c.e.-14 c.e.— B. The Creation of the Principate, 27 b.c.e.-14 c.e.

1. After his victory, Octavian distributed land to his army veterans and established Roman colonies in the provinces, declaring the republic restored in 27 b.c.e. 2. Recognizing Octavian's power, the Senate granted him extraordinary powers and the honorary title Augustus, meaning "divinely favored." 3. Augustus shrewdly brought peace to Rome by maintaining a facade of republican continuity, even as he made changes to the political system that made him the sole ruler of Rome. 4. Instead of referring to himself as a king, Augustus took the title of princeps, meaning "first man" (among equals), and his new system of government was called the principate. 5. Augustus left republican institutions intact: the Senate met, the assemblies gathered, consuls and tribunes were elected, and Augustus himself lived and dressed like a republican citizen of old. 6. But in actuality, Augustus possessed sole authority by controlling the army and treasury. 7. He turned the army into a professional force, increased its loyalty to him, and stationed permanent troops, the praetorian guard, in Rome for the first time. 8. Augustus cultivated his image as a stern but caring "father of his country" in slogans and images on coins and with splendid building projects that honored his victory and the new era of peace. 9. The huge Forum of Augustus, dedicated in 2 b.c.e., contained sculptures of Roman heroes and provided public space for religious rituals and ceremonies. Augustus's forum stressed his justifications for his rule: peace and security restored through military power, the foundation of a new age, devotion to the gods who protected Rome, respect for tradition, and generosity in spending money on public purposes. 10. The profound changes brought about by his reign and his ability to promote himself worked within the boundaries of Roman traditions, bringing stability and order to Rome.

I. From Republic to Empire, 44 b.c.e.-14 c.e.- A. Civil War, 44-27 b.c.e.

1. After the assassination of Caesar, Caesar's nephew Octavian, rallied the support of Caesar's troops with promises of a share in the dead general's wealth and marched on Rome to force the Senate to declare him consul. 2. Octavian's main rival for power was Caesar's friend Mark Antony. For a while, Octavian and Antony put aside their differences, and along with a third general named Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to eliminate Caesar's assassins and their supporters using proscription. 3. Eventually, however, Antony and Octavian forced Lepidus into retirement and then turned on each other. 4. To marshal support, Octavian skillfully used the Romans' fear of foreigners by claiming that Antony planned to make his lover, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII, their ruler. 5. At the naval battle of Actium in 31 b.c.e., Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra's forces; Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they committed suicide together rather than be taken captive.

III. The Emergence of Christianity in the Early Roman Empire— B. Growth of a New Religion

1. Christianity faced several obstacles — most notably ignorance of and disdain for their "superstition," and opposition from Roman officials, who viewed Christians' refusal to participate in the imperial cult as disloyal, even treasonous. 2. Most Romans felt that tolerating this new faith would offend the gods, and so Christians became targets to blame for public disasters, such as the fire in Rome during Nero's reign in 64 c.e. 3. Christians were sometimes punished so cruelly that some Romans became sympathetic to them. 4. The heroism of martyrs who died for their beliefs inspired believers to persevere, and Tertullian called their blood "the seed of the Church." 5. Christians had to resolve differences in beliefs and create an organization to settle questions about how they should live. 6. The appointment of bishops to direct conduct and to differentiate between true doctrine (orthodoxy) and false doctrine (heresy) aroused some controversy, but it was the early church's most important institutional development. 7. Bishops were held to be part of an apostolic succession; that is, Jesus's apostles appointed successors who received from them the powers they had been granted by Jesus, and the line of succession led down to the bishops. 8. Women in the church were shut out of the leadership. 9. By choosing lives of celibacy, however, some women rejected the traditional roles of wives and mothers and achieved a measure of independence and authority.

III. The Emergence of Christianity in the Early Roman Empire— C. Competing Religious Beliefs

1. Christianity shared beliefs with polytheistic cults and philosophies that provided comfort and guidance to people trying to survive the harshness of ancient life. 2. Polytheism, sometimes called paganism, never constituted a unified religion and permitted people to worship and seek the favor of many divinities rather than just one. 3. The popular cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis offered a personal religious experience that demanded a moral way of life. 4. Images of Isis often appeared in art as a mother nursing her son, and her followers believed Isis promised them the chance for life after death. 5. The mystery cult of Mithras also enjoyed great popularity throughout the empire, although little information about it has survived to this day. 6. Stoic philosophy guided the lives of many Romans; Stoics believed in a life of self-discipline and duty. 7. Plotinus's (c. 205-270 c.e.) philosophy of Neoplatonism, so named because it developed out of Plato's philosophy, influenced many Christians; it promoted the rejection of physical life in order to focus on spiritual purity and union with God.

III. The Emergence of Christianity in the Early Roman Empire- A. Jesus and His Teachings

1. Discontented with foreign rule, many Jews of the time adopted apocalyptic ideas, believing that a Messiah would come to Earth and reward the righteous while punishing the wicked. 2. Originating as a sect within Judaism based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, Christianity grew into a new religion whose followers proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah. 3. The teachings of Jesus, written down by others in what would become the New Testament Gospels, stressed God's love for humanity and the need for humans to love one another and taught that God's kingdom in heaven was open to all believers regardless of social status or apparent sinfulness. 4. The Roman governor saw the public ministry of Jesus as a threat to peace and had him crucified in Jerusalem in 30 c.e. His followers continued to spread his teachings. 5. Paul of Tarsus, a former persecutor of Christians, converted after a vision and helped establish Christianity as separate from Judaism by allowing converts to dispense with Jewish rites and dietary laws. 6. Paul traveled throughout the Mediterranean world, preaching the divinity of Jesus and salvation through faith. Paul stressed ethical behavior, sexual morality, and rejection of polytheism (the worship of more than one god). 7. Although Paul believed that only men should teach the new religion, early Christians were less patriarchal; for example, a businesswoman named Lydia founded the congregation in Philippi in Greece. 8. Jesus's disciples gravitated to towns and cities to preach, and they established many small urban congregations. 9. In 66 c.e., a disastrous Jewish revolt was crushed by the future emperor Titus, who destroyed the Jerusalem temple and sold most of the city's population into slavery. 10. The loss of the Jewish ritual center deepened the divide between Judaism and Christianity

I. From Republic to Empire, 44 b.c.e.-14 c.e.— D. Changes in Education, Literature, and Art in in Augustus's Rome

1. During Augustus's rule, education continued in its traditional forms, but oratory, literature, and sculpture were now used for legitimizing and supporting the new principate. 2. Oratory, the art of public speaking, was a skill still limited to the wealthy and ceased to be important for open debates or criticism of policy decisions; instead, it was used to argue legal cases and to lavish praise on the emperor. 3. Because Latin literature flourished during the reign of Augustus, modern critics have identified the era as a Golden Age. 4. During this period, Virgil wrote his epic poem The Aeneid, which celebrates Augustus while gently offering a critique about the price paid in freedom for such success. 5. The poet Ovid (43 b.c.e.-17 c.e.), whose Art of Love and Love Affairs mocked the emperor's moral legislation, was tolerated by Augustus; but in 8 b.c.e., when Ovid became embroiled in a scandal with Augustus's daughter, the emperor banished him from Rome. 6. Sculpture, too, reflected the emperor's deliberate presentation of himself as serene and dignified and was closer to the idealized style of the classical period than to the realistic Hellenistic style of portraits popular during the republic.

II. Politics and Society in the Early Roman Empire— B. Life in the Roman Golden Age, 96-180 c.e.

1. During the Golden Age of the five good emperors, peace and prosperity in Rome depended on defense by a local military, service by provincial elites in local administration and tax collection, common laws enforced throughout the empire, and a healthy population reproducing itself. 2. Theoretically, Rome's military goal remained expansion during this time, but military activity actually focused on defense and maintaining order. 3. Roman legions stationed in the provinces maintained peace, which allowed long-distance trade to operate smoothly. 4. Noncitizens who served in the army picked up many Roman customs and earned citizenship upon discharge. 5. Because maintenance of the army and its loyalty depended on providing regular pay and bonuses to the soldiers, the lack of new conquests posed a revenue problem. 6. Senatorial and equestrian governors (decurions) with small staffs ran the provinces, which eventually numbered about forty. 7. Taxes on agricultural land in the provinces provided most of the funds for government and army operations. 8. If there was a shortfall in taxes, the decurions had to make up the difference from their own pockets. 9. Life in the provinces comprised widely diverse languages, customs, and religions. 10. Roman rulers largely tolerated these differences as long as peace and social order were maintained. 11. New communities grew up around the settlements of army veterans, which spread Roman laws, customs, and the Latin language across western Europe. 12. In the East, where Greek and Near Eastern cultures had flourished for thousands of years, Romanization (the spread of Roman law and culture in the provinces) had less of an impact, but the Roman system of government was widely accepted. 13. The continued vitality of Greek culture and language contributed to a flourishing of literature, including works by Lucian (c. 117-180 c.e.), who composed satirical dialogues, and Plutarch (c. 50-120 c.e.), who wrote paired biographies of Greek and Roman men. 14. Tacitus (c. 56-120 c.e.) composed a biting narrative of the Julio-Claudians' ruthlessness, while the poet Juvenal (c. 65-130 c.e.) skewered pretentious Romans and grasping provincials. 15. Apuleius (c. 125-170 c.e.) entertained readers with his lusty novel, The Golden Ass. 16. Roman society remained strictly hierarchical and made legal distinctions between the orders: those outside the small circle of "better people" were subject to harsher penalties than elites for the same crimes. 17. Concerns about marriage and reproduction filled Roman society. A healthy population was a concern, as medical practices of the time could do little to promote healthy births and reduce infant mortality. 18. Childbearing became an important social duty to the Romans, so both public and private sources worked to encourage childbearing and to support or even adopt orphaned children.

IV. From Stability to Crisis in the Third Century c.e. A. Threats to the Northern and Eastern Frontiers of the Early Roman Empire

1. Emperors had fended off invaders since the first century, but the invading multiethnic bands from northern Europe that crossed the Danube and Rhine Rivers to raid Roman territory during the reign of Marcus Aurelius had developed military discipline through frequent fighting with the Roman armies and were therefore increasingly dangerous. 2. In addition, a resurgent Persian threat under the Sasanid kings forced the emperors to move troops to the east at the expense of defending the north. 3. Emperors hired skilled Germanic warriors as auxiliary soldiers for the Roman army and settled them on the edges of the empire as buffers against other invaders. 4. The huge amount of supplies needed to maintain an army engaged in constant fighting on the frontiers seriously strained the imperial treasury, and as successful conquests dwindled, the army that had once enriched Rome became the empire's chief expense. 5. In addition, inflation had driven up prices and was exacerbated when some emperors devalued coinage by putting less silver in each coin, a vain attempt to cut costs that set the stage for the full financial collapse of the empire.

I. From Republic to Empire, 44 b.c.e.-14 c.e.— C. Daily Life in the Rome of Augustus

1. Life in Rome under Augustus's rule, as in all ancient cities, was marked by overcrowding, poor sanitation, and dangerous conditions. 2. Most urban residents lived in cramped apartment houses called islands that were poorly built and often in danger of collapse. 3. Public sanitation was a major problem because no system for the sanitary disposal of waste existed. 4. Everyone used the public baths to stay clean, but this custom also facilitated the spread of communicable diseases. 5. Augustus addressed some problems by creating a public fire department and police force. 6. As Rome's foremost patron, he also used his own fortune to pay for imported grain to feed thousands of poor citizens. 7. Because some members of the upper classes spent more money on luxuries and careers than on raising families, Augustus passed laws encouraging large families. 8. Nonetheless, over the coming centuries, many of the old elite families died out. 9. Roman slaves worked in a variety of conditions, ranging from grim work in the fields or mines to household work in the homes of the wealthy. 10. Slaves could sometimes earn their own money and purchase their freedom or even their own slaves. 11. Because Rome granted citizenship to freed slaves, some could hope to increase their fortune and move up the social scale. 12. Public entertainment, headed by violent gladiatorial shows where men (and sometimes women) put on extravagant displays of violent hand-to-hand combat, became extremely popular during the principate. 13. These productions became a way for emperors to display their wealth and power; onlookers could also take advantage of the gatherings to voice their wishes to the emperor in attendance.

IV. From Stability to Crisis in the Third Century c.e.— B. Uncontrolled Spending, Natural Disasters, and Political Crisis, 193-284 c.e.

1. The reign of Septimius Severus (r. 193-211 c.e.) fatally drained the treasury, while his sons' murderous rivalry and reckless spending destroyed the government's stability. 2. Because inflation had devalued the soldiers' wages, Severus spent large sums of money to improve their conditions, which further increased inflation. 3. Severus's son Caracalla (r. 211-217 c.e.), who came to the throne after he murdered his brother, also increased the soldiers' pay and funded lavish building projects, putting enormous pressure on provincial officials to collect the necessary taxes. 4. Caracalla tried to expand the tax base by granting Roman citizenship to every free person in imperial territory, and thereby increasing the number of citizens who paid taxes, but this policy failed to solve the budget crisis. 5. His death opened a half-century of civil war that, compounded by natural disasters, fragmented the principate. 6. Near anarchy ensued as leaders of client armies struggled with one another to become emperor, and the dire economic situation took a tremendous toll on the population, which began to decline. 7. Foreign enemies benefited from the chaos as the frontier areas became vulnerable to raids, and bands of robbers became common in the border regions. 8. Rome's lowest point came in 260 c.e. when the Persian king Shapur I defeated and captured the Roman emperor Valerian (r. 253-260 c.e.). 9. To polytheists, the troubles seemed to be connected to the presence of the Christians, who became the victims of organized and violent persecutions. 10. These persecutions failed to stop the crisis, however, and a new form of authoritarian leadership emerged to restore the fragmented principate.

II. Politics and Society in the Early Roman Empire- A. The Perpetuation of the Principate after Augustus, 14-180 c.e.

1. To avoid a struggle over power when he died, Augustus established a pattern for succession by choosing and training an heir with the Senate's blessing. 2. This strategy succeeded and kept rule in his family, the Julio-Claudians, establishing the tradition that family dynasties ruled the "restored republic" of imperial Rome. 3. Lacking a son of his own, Augustus adopted the general Tiberius (42 b.c.e.-37 c.e.) who possessed the respect and loyalty of the army. 4. Like Augustus, Tiberius (r. 14-37 c.e.) maintained the facade of republican government during his rule. 5. His last years, however, were spent away from Rome, opening the door for abuses by subordinates; he also failed to prepare a suitable heir. 6. As his successor, Tiberius chose Augustus's great-grandson Gaius (r. 37-41 c.e.), also known as Caligula. 7. Cruel and violent, Caligula overspent the treasury on personal whims and often engaged in outrageous behavior. 8. His abuses led to his assassination in 41 c.e. 9. With the support of the praetorian guard, Claudius (r. 41-54 c.e.) became the next appointed emperor. 10. Claudius established important precedents by enrolling men from the provinces in the Senate and employing freed slaves as administrators — his actions helped to keep the peace in Rome's far-flung territories and guaranteed loyalty within the government. 11. Nero (r. 54-68 c.e.), Claudius's sixteen-year-old successor, spent outrageous sums on extravagant public festivals and building projects. 12. Nero's generals put down the revolt in Britain led by the woman commander Boudica in 60 c.e. and fought the Jewish rebels who tried to throw off Roman rule in Judaea in 66 c.e., but he himself had no military career. 13. In 68 c.e., rebellious commanders overthrew his regime, and Nero committed suicide. 14. Nero's death sparked a civil war in 69 c.e. during which four generals competed for power. Vespasian (r. 69-79 c.e.) won. 15. By forcing the Senate to recognize his authority and encouraging emperor worship in the provinces, Vespasian established his family, the Flavians, as the new dynasty. 16. His successors, Titus (r. 79-81 c.e.) and Domitian (r. 81-96 c.e.), further restored imperial prestige and engaged in campaigns on the frontiers. 17. Titus captured Jerusalem in 70 c.e. and finished Rome's Colosseum, a state-of-the-art amphitheater for public entertainment. 18. After Titus's death, his brother Domitian took over. Domitian balanced the budget and led the army north against the growing threat from aggressive tribes, but his arrogance bred resentment in the Senate, leading to his murder in 96 c.e. 19. Fortunately for Rome, the next five emperors — Nerva (r. 96-98 c.e.), Trajan (r. 98-117 c.e.), Hadrian (r. 117-138 c.e.), Antoninus Pius (r. 138-161 c.e.), and Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180 c.e.) — succeeded each other peacefully, and though often engaged in wars in the provinces, these five "good emperors" reigned for nearly one hundred years without civil war.