Roman Empire - history.

Roman Empire - history. I INTRODUCTION Roman Empire, political system established by Rome that lasted for nearly five centuries. Historians usually date the beginning of the Roman Empire from 27 BC when the Roman Senate gave Gaius Octavius the name Augustus and he became the undisputed emperor after years of bitter civil war. At its peak the empire included lands throughout the Mediterranean world. Rome had first expanded into other parts of Italy and neighboring territories during the Roman Republic (509-27 BC), but made wider conquests and solidified political control of these lands during the empire. The empire lasted until Germanic invasions, economic decline, and internal unrest in the 4th and 5th centuries AD ended Rome's ability to dominate such a huge territory. The Romans and their empire gave cultural and political shape to the subsequent history of Europe from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the present day. In 44 BC Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman leader who ruled the Roman Republic as a dictator, was assassinated. Rome descended into more than ten years of civil war and political upheaval. After Caesar's heir Gaius Octavius (also known as Octavian) defeated his last rivals, the Senate in 27 BC proclaimed him Augustus, meaning the exalted or holy one. In this way Augustus established the monarchy that became known as the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic, which had lasted nearly 500 years, was dead, never to be revived. The empire would endure for another 500 years until The emperor Augustus reigned from 27 BC to AD AD 476 (See Ancient Rome). 14 and ruled with absolute power. He reestablished political and social stability and launched two centuries of prosperity called the Roman Peace (Pax Romana). Under his rule the Roman state began its transformation into the greatest and most influential political institution in European history. During the first two centuries AD the empire flourished and added new territories, notably ancient Britain, Arabia, and Dacia (present-day Romania). People from the Roman provinces streamed to Rome, where they became soldiers, bureaucrats, senators, and even emperors. Rome developed into the social, economic, and cultural capital of the Mediterranean world. Despite the attention given to tyrannical and often vicious leaders like the emperors Caligula and Nero, most emperors ruled sensibly and competently until military and economic disasters brought on the political instability of the 3rd century AD. Gaius Julius Caesar One of the most influential political and military leaders in history, Gaius Julius Caesar helped establish the vast empire ruled by Rome. Caesar's triumph in a civil war in the 40s bc made him the absolute ruler of Rome, but political jealousies among his opponents led to his assassination in 44 bc. Scala/Art Resource, NY The Roman Empire encompassed a huge amount of territory, but also allowed people of many different cultures to retain their heritage into modern times. The empire helped to perpetuate the art, literature, and philosophy of the Greeks, the religious and ethical system of the Jews, the new religion of the Christians, Babylonian astronomy and astrology, and cultural elements from Persia, Egypt, and other eastern civilizations. The Romans supplied their own peculiar talents for government, law, and architecture and also spread their Latin language. In this way they created the Greco-Roman synthesis, the rich combination of cultural elements that for two millennia has shaped what we call the Western tradition. The Romans formed that synthesis during the longest continuous period of peaceful prosperity that the Mediterranean world has ever known. Even after a German invader in AD 476 deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor residing in Rome, emperors who called themselves "Roman" (although they are known historically as Byzantine) continued to rule in Constantinople until II AD 1453 (See Byzantine Empire). The impact of the Roman people endures until the present day. THE FOUNDATIONS OF EMPIRE Death of Julius Caesar The growing power of Julius Caesar, who assumed the title of dictator for life, threatened the prestige of many members of the Roman Senate. On March 15 in 44 bc a group of senators assassinated Caesar. His death emphasized the need for a new system of government that would help Rome to govern its farflung territories more effectively. Scala/Art Resource, NY After the founding of Rome in 753 BC, powerful kings ruled until, according to patriotic legend, the Romans expelled the last foreign monarch in 509 BC and established a more representative form of government known as the Roman Republic. In the five centuries the republic existed, Rome expanded from a small community on the hills beside the Tiber River into the major power of the Mediterranean world. After centuries of warfare the Romans conquered other peoples who lived in the surrounding regions and by 266 BC controlled the entire Italian Peninsula. The Romans then embarked on their conquest of the rest of the Mediterranean basin. First they defeated their great rival, Carthage, whose possessions, including Sicily, Spain, and North Africa, became Roman provinces. During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, Rome's military forces, known as legions, fought against kings and city-states in the eastern Mediterranean to bring Greece, Asia Minor (roughly modern Turkey), Syria, Judea, and Egypt under Roman control. In the west, Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, which included all of modern France, so that the Roman frontiers extended from the Sahara to the North Sea and from Spain to the Near East. Early Roman Conquests Roman conquests began in Italy and then spread to other parts of the Mediterranean world. Roman general and statesman Titus Quinctius Flamininus, shown here, marched against the forces of Philip V of Macedonia. Flamininus was victorious at the battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 bc and deprived Philip of his possessions in Greece, leaving Macedonia intact. The Greek states then came under the protection of Rome. Corbis This remarkable military achievement transformed the Romans themselves. Roman imperialism introduced extremes of wealth and poverty that sharpened social and economic conflict within the Roman state. The flood of military plunder and captured slaves dramatically changed the countryside as small farms gave way to large plantations, and landless peasants migrated to Rome and other cities. Immense wealth inflamed the ambitions of Roman nobles who struggled for personal domination rather than collective rule. The historian Sallust expressed the view of later Romans who believed that the wealth of empire corrupted the once noble Roman people. Nearly a century of intermittent civil war, which extended from the rule of the Gracchi, beginning about 133 BC, to the death of Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, threatened to destroy the unity and prosperity of Rome itself (See also Gracchus, Gaius Sempronius and Gracchus, Tiberius Sempronius). In 49 BC Caesar, who had held many of the highest political offices in Rome, marched into Italy to challenge the leaders of the republic. After defeating his enemies, he ruled as dictator until his murder on the Ides of March (March 15 by the Roman calendar) in 44 BC. Caesar's assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, hoped to restore the republic, but it was no longer possible. Neither the urban masses nor the military would allow the old aristocracy to regain control. Rome needed a strong hand to administer the state and control the army, since the old system of government was unsuitable to rule an empire of 50 million subjects. If Rome wanted to maintain its dominance, the government needed to create new administrative and military institutions. Caesar planned to transform the Roman state, but his few years in power were insufficient. His followers included his longtime military deputy, Mark Antony, and his great-nephew (and adopted son), Octavian. They first defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, a city of ancient Macedonia, in 42 BC before turning on each other. By 30 BC Octavian was the unchallenged successor to Caesar and the master of Rome. Three years later the Senate proclaimed him Augustus, the supreme ruler. III THE EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS Roman Emperor Augustus Augustus, the first Roman emperor, brought peace, order, and prosperity to Rome after the civil wars that followed the assassination of Roman leader Julius Caesar. Caesar had adopted the young Octavian, later known as Augustus, as his heir. After a victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, Augustus had absolute power over the entire Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus was characterized by political and social stability. It was also a period of great cultural and artistic activity. Emilio F. Simion/Agenzia LUISA RICCIARINI--MILANO Octavian's victory over Antony made him master of Rome, but it did not resolve the conflicts that had destroyed the Roman Republic. His most pressing tasks included demobilizing the huge armies, safeguarding their future loyalty, and ensuring the safety of the European frontiers that Rome had neglected during long civil wars in the east. He also needed to make the Italians an integral part of Roman social, cultural and political life. Rome had conquered people of various cultural and linguistic backgrounds who inhabited the Italian Peninsula and had only granted citizenship sparingly, causing some bitter feelings. Augustus worked to reduce class hostility and civil unrest in the capital and established an administrative apparatus to govern the empire. To accomplish these changes, he devised a new form of monarchy. His first step was to repair the bitter wounds of civil war. On January 13 of 27 BC, Octavian, in his own words, "transferred the Republic from my own power to the authority of the Senate and the Roman people." This action showed shrewd political planning, as Augustus used it purely for public show. The Senate awarded him the name of Augustus, and mobs demanded that he retain power. Augustus carefully retained the titles of traditional offices to disguise his absolute power. He kept only the offices of consul and proconsul and claimed that he held no more power than his colleagues. Some Romans complained that the loss of liberty was too great a price to pay for peace, but most recognized that under the so-called liberty of the Roman Republic, a few hundred men had divided the spoils of empire while the workers and the provincials suffered. The majority of Romans welcomed the peace and stability of the Augustan Age. A Government Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a general and adviser to Augustus when he became emperor. Agrippa commanded the navy that helped defeat the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 bc. As one of Augustus's most trusted allies and advisers, he was appointed consul three times and married the emperor's daughter. Hulton Deutsch Augustus did not derive his power from any single office, but from the authority of his name and his victory. In fact, he carefully pieced together a patchwork of powers that allowed him to be an absolute ruler and yet avoid the hatred Caesar aroused as dictator. In Latin, the name Augustus implies both political authority and religious respect. The Romans had for some time called Octavian imperator, a title once awarded to victorious generals that soon became associated with the ruler and thus led to the English word emperor. In 27 BC he was first called princeps (leading man of the state), which later became the official title of the Roman emperors. His imperium, or military authority, extended throughout the empire and was greater than the power of any other governor or general. Augustus, in reality, held as much power as any absolute dictator, but wisely disguised it with traditional names so that the other Roman officials, and particularly senators, would still feel pride in their positions. The Senate was not an elected body; it drew its membership from the Roman aristocratic classes, primarily former magistrates who had served in important administrative posts. To be a senator was a matter of status, not a formal job. Under the republic, the Senate held great authority as the institution that preserved Roman knowledge and tradition and became the dominant force in religion, public policy, and foreign affairs. Senators jealously guarded the power and the wealth that resulted from their role in Roman government. Augustus resigned the consulship in 23 BC as a gesture to satisfy senators who were anxious to receive consular honors themselves. He rarely held that title again. Augustus instead assumed the powers of a tribune, the republican official who represented the people and had the power to propose or veto legislation. The Romans heaped other honors upon him, including the office of censor, which enabled him to control the membership of the Senate. They also made him pontifex maximus, the head of the state religion, and finally pater patriae or "father of the country." These offices and titles gave Augustus no real additional power, for he already controlled every aspect of religious, civil, and military life. Augustus's main task was to create and staff new administrative structures for the empire. During the republic, the government had ruled the provinces ineffectively. Provincial governorships were seen as opportunities for enrichment or as stepping-stones to higher office. Augustus was determined to improve imperial administration by making senators managers rather than politicians. He focused primarily on the talents of the individual senators who became policy advisors, provincial governors, military commanders, and senior administrators. An advisory council of senators set the legislative agenda and made recommendations to the emperor. This system allowed him to work with many senators whom he might later select for high office. Augustus worked to reinvigorate the senatorial order, whose membership had declined as a result of political persecutions and civil war. Like any politician, he turned first to supporters who had proved their loyalty. During the civil wars, the Italians were his most devoted followers, and he generously included them in the new regime. Gaius Maecenas, who was descended from an Etruscan noble family, became the emperor's closest domestic advisor, and the general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who was also of Italian descent, married the emperor's daughter, Julia. Augustus even brought talented but landless Italians into the Senate by giving them the land or money necessary to meet the minimum property qualification for senators, which was 1 million sesterces (small silver coins used by the Romans). Roman Theater in Aosta The Roman emperor Augustus founded the city of Aosta during the 1st century bc near the junction of natural transportation routes from Italy through the mountains to France and Switzerland. The city has many remnants of Roman architecture, including wall segments from this theater. Ron Goor/Bruce Coleman, Inc. An empire of 50 million people needed more administrators than the Senate could provide. Augustus turned to the equestrian order--those citizens with a high level of property or wealth (over 400,000 sesterces)--and asked them to perform a wide range of administrative tasks. The members of the order, known as equites, filled financial positions in Rome and abroad. They even acted as governors in some smaller provinces such as Judea, where the equestrian Pontius Pilate ruled. The highest equestrian offices commanded so much power that Augustus preferred not to entrust them to ambitious senators. These posts included the prefect, or commander, of the grain supply, the prefect of Egypt, and the praetorian prefect, who controlled troops in Rome and Italy. In addition to establishing a basic administrative structure, Augustus also had to monitor the everyday issues of taxation and local services. As a result of the civil war, the state treasury was empty. Augustus, after his conquest of Egypt, had personally received the accumulated treasure of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her predecessors as well as a vast ongoing income from Egyptian production, trade, and taxes. He contributed large amounts of this income to the treasury, which he carefully recorded in his public memoirs. He also replaced the corrupt private tax collectors with state employees and managed to balance Rome's budget. For the first time, he established public police and fire protection for Rome and kept close control over grain distribution and the water supply. People in the provinces outside of Rome welcomed the new regime of Augustus with enthusiasm. Augustus planned to integrate the Italians into all aspects of Roman life. When he came to power, the people of Italy remained a mixture of different cultures. Many southern Italians still used Greek, people in the mountain areas spoke different Italic languages, and the Etruscan language had only recently died out. The economic growth that followed the long period of civil war enriched the towns and drew Italy together, but Augustus truly unified ancient Italy culturally, politically, and economically. Under his rule the provinces fared better than they had under the corrupt governors and greedy tax collectors of the republic. In the east, Augustus initially followed the republican tradition of allowing the rulers of conquered peoples, often called subject kings, to remain in power and to administer their own territories. This policy allowed Rome to send her legions elsewhere. Eventually, however, local squabbles over royal succession led the emperors to turn kingdoms like Judea, Armenia, and Galatia into Roman provinces. In those areas the former royal estates then became the emperor's personal property, while the province as a whole was regarded as territory of the Roman state. The emperor governed the provinces that had a large military presence--western Asia, Africa, and Gaul --through his deputies. Egypt became the most reliable source of food for Italy because it was so agriculturally productive. As a result, the Roman emperors kept Egypt as personal property, governed by a prefect, and the Egyptians worshiped the emperors as successors to their own great kings, the pharaohs. See also Thematic Essay: Roman Political and Social Thought. B Moral Reform and Religious Renewal Ceremony of the Cult of Isis During the reign of Augustus (63 bc to ad 14), various religious cults, including the cult of Isis, an ancient Egyptian goddess, were popular. This mural of a cult ritual was discovered in Herculaneum, an ancient Italian city buried in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Augustus tried to stop what he considered Rome's moral decline by encouraging traditional religious practices and stamping out exotic cults. Scala/Art Resource, NY The Romans believed that political corruption in the late republic was connected to moral decline. Immoral sexual behavior and the pursuit of political advancement led members of the upper classes to avoid marriage, divorce more frequently, and have fewer traditional relationships. As result, the Roman population, already greatly diminished by the civil wars, experienced a noticeable decline in the birth rate. In response Augustus added an important moral dimension to his political program. He passed legislation to encourage marriage and childbearing. The unmarried and the childless suffered political and financial penalties while those with three or more children received special privileges. Augustus also made adultery a criminal offense, sending his own daughter, Julia, into exile for having illicit sexual affairs. The emperor made other efforts to be identified with the traditional Roman values typical of a conservative agrarian society with strong family networks. The Romans were hardworking and frugal, self-reliant and cautious, serious about their responsibilities and steadfast in the face of adversity. The stress on family responsibility was evident in the idea of pietas, the belief that all Romans owed loyalty to family authority and to the gods of Rome. The emperor's Italian supporters outside of the senatorial elite were devoted to traditional religion as well as conventional morality, so Augustus revived neglected ceremonies and restored 82 temples that had fallen into ruins. In commemoration of his victory at Philippi over Caesar's murderers, Augustus built a new temple to the war god, Mars, and gave him the additional title of "the Avenger." Augustus also held splendid celebrations to mark the anniversary of the founding of Rome. C Economy The Augustan Age sparked a major economic revival. The emperor directly controlled coinage, taxation, and his own enormous estates, but otherwise allowed the economy to operate freely, with demand dictating prices and profits. Above all it was the end of civil war that encouraged economic growth. Roman armies could control piracy and allow maritime trade across the Mediterranean as never before. C1 Agriculture Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii Many wealthy Romans invested in land, which they used for agriculture as well as recreation. Often the owners lived in the city and hired an overseer to manage their estates. Many also had lavish homes or villas which included beautiful works of art like this fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries outside of Pompeii, Italy. Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York Farming was the basis of the Roman economy. Republican senators traditionally invested their wealth in Italian land, but the imperial peace also encouraged them to invest abroad. The Romans began to cultivate more land when they brought Mediterranean plants and more sophisticated farming methods farther north into Gaul, the Rhine River valley, and the Balkan Peninsula. Vineyards spread throughout Gaul, and olive groves were planted in North Africa. The Romans learned new techniques for farming in wet climates that allowed them to open new lands for agriculture in northern Gaul and Britain, where increasing demands for timber transformed native forests into agricultural estates. Landowners lived in the cities or, in the case of the truly wealthy, in Rome itself. A foreman managed each estate separately. Some individual estates, called villas, were huge operations. One villa, the Boscatrecase, which was located near the Italian city of Pompeii, had 100,000 jugs of wine in storage. Large estates in the provinces had lower labor costs, which gradually undermined traditional Italian agriculture. As a result, Rome imported wheat from Egypt and Africa, wine from Gaul, and oil from Spain and Africa. C2 Industry Roman industry did not include mass production, and small workshops manufactured pottery, metalwork, and glass. A successful brickmaker might have owned dozens of workshops rather than one large factory. Manufacturers dispersed or decentralized their production because it was expensive to transport goods. Bricks for construction were made at the building site, or terra-cotta figurines were fashioned at the temple where they were sold. Unlike independent artisans who had their own shops, wage laborers were treated with contempt in the ancient world and worked alongside slaves. The eastern Mediterranean was initially the manufacturing center of the Roman world, but under the empire, Gaul also experienced great industrial growth. A number of factors combined to encourage manufacturing in Gaul, including the availability of ample raw materials, the Celtic tradition of exquisite metalworking, good river transportation, and the enormous market created by the military along the northern borders of the empire. The Roman soldiers needed weapons, pottery, boots, clothing, and building materials, and they bought them from local craftspeople. C3 Trade Roman Ship Most Roman ships designed for commerce or war featured distinctive square sails. Long banks of oars propelled the ships swiftly through the water. Warships often had additional protective coverings to shield the crew from fire and missiles. © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Land was the safest investment for the wealthy, but trade was the only legal way to acquire a fortune quickly. Transport by sea was far cheaper than by land, but every voyage faced both financial risks and opportunities. Shipwrecks occurred frequently during this period, and now provide archaeologists with abundant information about Roman shipping routes and cargoes. The Romans shipped food and rare raw materials like colored marble throughout the Mediterranean, along with Egyptian papyrus reeds for paper, purple dye from Syria, glass from Palestine, and Spanish ironwork. The frontiers of the empire did not hinder trade. German peddlers crossed the borders in both directions, bringing amber from the Baltic and exchanging it for Roman artifacts. However, few Romans actually took part in foreign commerce. They did not trade directly with Arabia, Africa, India, and China, but received incense, ivory, pepper, and silk from these countries through intermediaries. Asian caravans crossed the steppe to China, and Parthians controlled the caravan route to India. From the 1st century AD, Egyptian sailors from Alexandria learned how to use the monsoon, a wind that changed direction with the seasons, to enable them to make frequent trips to India. A guidebook from ancient times for captains sailing through the Red Sea still survives. C4 Coinage and Taxes Merchants throughout the empire and as far away as India used Roman coins, but the monetary system primarily served as a way for the emperors to pay their troops, because the soldiers expected cash. When an emperor had insufficient income, he was forced to raise taxes, seize property, or, as a final measure, melt down existing coins and mint new ones that weighed less or contained smaller amounts of precious metals. Silver coins were a basic medium of exchange during the empire, and one of the major Roman coins, a denarius (plural, denarii), equaled four of the smaller silver coins called sesterces. During the reign of Augustus, a silver denarius weighed 5.7 gm (.20 oz) and was 99 percent pure. By AD 193 it had dropped to 4.3 gm (.15 oz) and was only 70 percent pure. The deficit spending of later emperors nearly halved the silver value of the coinage. The Roman Empire taxed the people under its control, and the taxes fell most heavily on conquered peoples in the empire. Roman citizens did not have to pay the individual or head tax required of each subject of the empire, and the empire exempted Italian land from tribute. However Roman citizens did have to pay the 5 percent inheritance tax, a 1 percent sales tax, a customs or import duty, and a tax on freed slaves. Local magistrates, imperial officials, and professional tax collectors were all employed to gather taxes, and the imperial census became an important tool to identify potential taxpayers. Total taxes amounted to about 10 percent of the empire's gross national product. That percentage of tax may seem low by modern standards, but the imperial government provided minimal services. For provincials who could barely make a living, paying 10 percent of their income to the government was a considerable burden. D The Roman Military Roman Soldiers Rome's success in holding together the empire was owed to its armies. One of the best-trained, most successful armies in history, the legionaries were disciplined and well armed. A large shield and short sword were standard equipment. The shield could provide a defense against almost any weapon. The sword, used for stabbing and slashing, was less cumbersome than a longer weapon. Metal helmets and body armor were a second line of defense against blows that made it past the shield. Hulton Deutsch Once Augustus had defeated Mark Antony, he began to reduce the empire's remaining military forces from 60 legions to 28. He then had to provide over 100,000 men with land, which was the traditional form of pension. Augustus knew that earlier seizures of land had led to insurrections, so he used the spoils of his successful Egyptian campaign against Antony and Cleopatra to purchase property for some soldiers. He sett...