Chapter 5b- Imperial Rome:
(9). Outline Octavian's role in
establishing the Empire's foundations.
(10). Examine Roman culture’s “high point”
during the late Republic and reign of Augustus.
(11). Discuss Roman Empire’s
administration, society, culture, and art & Literature during Pax Romana.
(12). Describe the rise of Christianity,
and the role of Jesus of Nazareth, Paul of tarsus, and martyrdom.
(13). Examine the political, military,
economic, and social origins of the Empire's Third Century Crisis.
(14). Analyze Diocletian's &
Constantine's response to empire's crisis.
(15). Describe and explain the factors
that contributed to Christianity's triumph during the late Empire.
(16). Examine Augustine's writings and
discuss their influence on early Christian doctrine.
(17). Analyze the problem for determining
the causes of the western Empire's decline.
(18). Examine Rome’s achievements and shortcomings as assessed in world
perspective.
v
Chapter 5b Overview:
Ø
Rise &
Fall of Rome’s Empire & Rise of Christianity:
§
With fall of Republic=> consolidation &
improvement
§
Key role adeptly played
by Octavian
·
Initiates beginning of
almost 200 yrs of relative peace
§
NTL- basic
problems remain to undermine Rome’s future
·
3rd Century Crisis signaled growing decline => fall
§
As Rome declined=> Christianity grew=> then triumphed
·
Established its
doctrine, power, & influence
Ø
Debate
explaining the Empire’s decline & fall continues:
§
Debate focuses on
western half of the Empire’s fall
§
Immoderate greatness & loss of spirit=> decay (Gibbon)
§
Possible parallel’s to
China’s “dynastic cycle”?
v
End of Republic & rise of Empire & Octavian Augustus:
Ø
Octavian’s victory=> $$$ & standing Army=>
political pwr
§
Now must decide how best
to exploit it politically to rule
·
While avoiding the
pitfalls & errors of Julius Caesar
Ø
Octavian’s New Plan - the Republic “restored”?
§
Convinced must re-invent
Republic => Empire
§
Must establish new
foundations radically different
§
Key question is how to do it and retain Senate support?
·
Maintain façade of Republic & hide absolute
power
Ø
Augustan
Principate:
§
Princeps => Imperator (what’s in a name?)
·
Solving the need for
change – (style over substance)
§
27 BC: offers to give up
power (really?)
·
Supporters dominate
Senate & beg he reconsider
·
Reluctantly accepts
title “princeps”
·
Accepts lifetime Tribune & Consul powers
·
Egypt remains his
personal property & domain => $$$
·
Retains command of
Armies in provinces (Map)
¨
Commands 12 of 26 legions w/proconsul powers
¨
(Senate governs other
provinces as before)
·
Senate bestows title of “Augustus”
§
Theory vs. reality:
·
Theory: Octavian’s rule => legit. constitutional power
·
Reality: => end of Republic & beginning of
Empire
§
Reign inaugurates almost
200 yrs of Pax Romana
·
Administration
greatly improved
¨
key changes in Rome
& throughout Provinces
¨
Merit of individual over
polit/family connections
¨
Installs rational,
efficient, stable government
¨
Peace & order
preserved
·
Army & Defense established with professionals
¨
Comprised standing Army
pros & auxiliaries
¨
Good pay & retirement benefits & land- Provinces
¨
Soldiers spread Roman
culture, language to natives
¨
Attract merchants => basis for start of
new towns
Ø
centers for Roman
civilization near frontiers
¨
w/time=> citizenship
spread to provinces=> defense
·
Religion & Morality restored & reinforced
¨
Octavian
restores formal Roman religion
Ø
Builds temples &
revives old cults
Ø
Banned recent new
foreign gods
¨
Emphasizes traditional
family values
Ø
Encourages early
marriage
Ø
Curbs adultery &
divorce
v
Civilization of late Republic & early Empire
Ø
The late
Republic:
§
Cicero: perfecting
Latin style & rhetoric => oratory
·
Treatises on Greek
philosophy, ethics, & politics
·
Adapted to Roman values
=> natural law
·
Emphasized law, custom,
& Roman tradition
§
Law: influenced by Greed philosophy - Stoics
·
Divine or natural law based on reason
¨
Universal & national
application
¨
Role of precedence =>
Roman legal code
·
Also contact with
foreign peoples & their laws
¨
Jus gentium viewed
same as jus naturale (Stoics)
¨
Cicero’s treatise: De
Legibus
§
Poetry=> toward the end of the Republic
·
Lucretius => epic poetry: De Rerum Natura
¨
Attempt to save society
from suspicion & fear
·
Catullus => personal
writing on joy & pain of love
§
Golden Age of Augustus (early Empire)
·
Poetry & History aligned with Octavian’s
goals
¨
Restore Rome’s tradition
& past glory
¨
Virgil => The Aeneid & Rome’s glorious origins
¨
Horace => Odes in
praise of Augustus & his Empire
¨
Ovid => out of step with his times – why?
¨
Livy => glorifying Rome’s past in History of Rome
·
Architecture & sculpture of early empire
¨
Augustus as
patron => rebuilding Rome in style
¨
Greek classical style preserved & adapted
¨
Ara Pacis
(pix p.157)
v
Imperial Rome (14 -180 AD)
Ø
Rulers of the
Early Empire (Chronology
p. 155):
§
Augustus (27BC – 14 AD) => reign stands alone
§
Julio-Claudian Dynasty (14-69) =>
abandoned pretense
§
Flavian Dynasty (69-96) => Army’s role in succession
§
Five Good Emperors (96-180) => order & competent rule
Ø
Administration
§
Greater centralization
=> more efficiency & control
§
Loss of local autonomy
=> declining initiative & vitality
§
Trajan’s
expansion & aggressive foreign policy (Map)
§
Hadrian’s
contraction & rigid defense (Hadrian’s
Wall)
Ø
Culture of
Early Empire
§
The Silver Age => dramatic change in mood & tone?
·
Tacitus => Histories & Annals => denunciations
·
Juvenal => evils
of society & emperor misconduct
·
Most turned inward to
past & avoided sensitive topics
§
Architecture => effective use of concrete
·
posts &
portal, vaults & domes, arches & columns
·
Coliseum & the Pantheon, baths, bridges & aqueducts
§
Society => changes
in attitude in parallel w/poetry
·
Upper classes vie for
honor to serve (1st century)
¨
By 2nd
century => ardor to serve all but disappears
·
Masses: “Bread & circuses” => sense of
entitlement
·
$$$ declines while cost of Army &
Bureaucracy rises
¨
Taxes go up
to pay for above
¨
While population
declines to share the burden
§
Apartment living (pix p.
161)
·
Juvenal’s
description of the hazards of city living
·
Hot, cramped, and
dangerous (fire)
v
Rise of Christianity
Ø
Jesus of
Nazareth => beginning of world
religion
§
Mission: salvation of
humanity => Jesus Christos =>
§
Sermon on the Mount => moral code =>
·
Faithful abandon sin
& worldly concerns
§
Reaction of poor?
Reaction of Rome’s upper class?
Ø
Role of Paul
of Tarsus:
§
Transforming Jewish sect
into a world religion
·
From local Christian
community => world community
§
Spreading the “good
news” throughout the empire (Map)
·
Extensive missionary
activities
§
Appeal of Christianity
to non-Jews (adapting to change)
·
Personal God with universal appeal=> to all mankind
¨
In line with teachings
of Jesus
Ø
Organization
– evolution of the Church:
§
In beginning =>
simple rites of Baptism & the agape
·
Eucharist
ceremony of the Last Supper
·
Prayers, hymns, & Gospel readings
§
With time: presbyters & deacons => bishops
§
Apostolic Succession & rite of ordination
·
Leadership & control
of accepted doctrine
·
Prevent doctrinal &
sectarian offshoots
·
Established orthodox
opinion => expel heretics
Ø
Christian
Persecution:
§
Distrust by Pagans mobs
& Imperial Government
·
“Haters of Humanity” blamed for Rome’s decline
§
Persecution irregular –
but sometimes harsh:
·
Emperors Nero,
Decius, & Dicocletian
·
Result: Christian martyrs => inspiration
Ø
Catholicism:
§
Universal doctrine of
the Church
§
All other
interpretations considered heresy
§
Orthodox doctrine=> process lasting 2 centuries:
·
Old Testament, Gospels, Paul’s Epistles
·
Catholic creed & canon
·
Authority of the Bishops
·
The Sacraments of the Church
Ø
Rome as
center of the Church:
§
Bishop of Rome => the Pope
§
Justification &
rationale: Gospel of Mathew
v
Crisis of the Third Century
Ø
Barbarian
Invasions:
§
The Sassanids
of Iran => raid deep into Empire
§
The German tribes: the Goths & Gaul
§
Overextension of Rome’s
defenses
§
Rome’s response: the
role of Serverus the usurper
·
Increased Army’s wages
& spends beyond means
·
Barbarization of army => quality control degenerates
Ø
Economic
Problems:
§
Costs & expenses
rise => debased coinage=> inflation
§
Taxes raised => less
citizens to share burden
·
In kind payments &
confiscations increase
·
Demand for services once
gladly volunteered
§
External threats focus
military attention to frontiers
·
Internal threats: crime
& piracy rise => roads unsafe
¨
Commerce & trade
declines => less $$$
§
Vitality & spirit of
once proud Romans deteriorate
Ø
The “new”
Social Order:
§
Senate & traditional
ruling class ruined – emperors & no $
§
Former ranks taken over by military elite =>
military caste
·
Citizens start to wear
uniforms to show status
§
Serverus
establishes: honestiores & humiliores
classes
§
Division=> lack of mobility=> rigidity
& no initiative
Ø
Civil
Disorder:
§
Role of Claudius II Gothicus & Aurelian
·
Respite in disorder
& barbarian threat
§
Good combat emperors
follow:
·
Defensive wall built
around Rome
·
Mobile Calvary of elite
mercenaries
¨
Loyal only to emperor
(not Rome)
§
Rome now protected by
foreign mercenaries
v
The Late Empire
Ø
Fourth
Century Reorganization:
§
Diocletian=> knowing your limits of control
·
Division of the Empire:
Four Prefectures (Map)
¨
The Tetrachy: 2 Augustus &
2 Caesars
Ø
Purpose?
§
Constantine => struggle for power & return to 1 emperor
·
Moving seat of power
eastward & abandoning Rome
Ø
Byzantium on
the Bosporus– strategic position (Map)
·
Remote Dominus & Hellenistic rule of the East
¨
Autocratic absolute rule
§
Administration
& Finance:
·
Separation of the
bureaucracy from the military
¨
Less chance of military
coup – Spies & secret police
·
Cost of 400K army,
bureaucracy, & emperors court=>$
·
Diocletian’s attempt
to halt inflation: Law of Maximum
§
Reaction of
Populous:
·
Flee oppressive Regime
=> escape to Barbarians!
·
Nobles & rich withdraw
to landed estates – called?
¨
City dwellers & poor
drawn to these Nobles
Ø
Seek jobs & physical
& economic protection
§
Division of
Empire:
·
Threat from Germans
& Visigoths (pressure of Huns)
¨
Realization that Empire
must to split to defend
¨
Valentinian (West) & Valens (East)
·
Empire becomes more
separated with time
¨
East’s culture becomes
more Greek & West=> Latin
Ø
Gradually becomes center
of vibrant culture
¨
East also better
protected & economically better off
Ø
But Valens killed in battle with Goths
in Thrace
·
Efforts by Theodosius to reunify empire fails by
395
¨
West becomes even more
vulnerable to barbarians
Ø
Becomes more rural =>
villas become basic unit
Ø
Coloni give
their services to local magnates
¨
Cities lose much of
population & $$$ vitality
·
As Eastern half rises
=> Western half declines
¨
Church assumes ruling
role of cities (Rome)
v
Triumph
of Christianity
Ø
Christianity’s
appeal more evident by 4th & 5th centuries:
§
People seek powerful
& personal deities for safety
§
Christianity offered
universality beyond pagan beliefs
§
Overtime grew to be the
official religion of the Empire
Ø
Imperial
Persecution:
§
First the Church had to
survive the persecution mentioned:
·
Emperors Nero,
Decius, & Dicocletian
·
Result: Christian martyrs => inspiration =>
converts
§
Galius
reverses position & issues edit of toleration
§
Key break was victory of
Constantine=> transformation
·
From then on Christianity identified as favored
religion
§
394 Theodosius forbade pagan cults & abolished calendar
·
result: opportunist
conversions increased=> dilution
§
West: weak emperors
allowed Church to fill vacuum
·
390 Ambrose excommunicates Theodosius
=> penance
¨
Key precedent &
symbol of Church’s grower power
Ø Arianism & Council of Nicaea