Rome

Rome - Transcript

Rome

The Pre Roman World

Early history
Legendary founding 753 B C Controlled all Italy 268 B C Punic Wars with Carthage 264 241 218201 149 146 B C Hannibal 218 B C Following third Punic war annexed Carthaginian territory N Africa Spain

Rome Expands
Conquered
Greece 2nd Cent B C Gaul 56 49 B C Egypt 30 B C Britain 43 A D

Empire begins 29 B C

Rome Expands

Roman Science and Technology
Little theoretical science or innovation Lucretius atoms Encyclopedists Pliny Architectural virtuosity City planning water lead pipes sewage fire protection Bridges and aqueducts Law and administration

Roman Science and Technology
Concrete if a society can only introduce one invention it could do no better than this Codex form of books Water mills late in Empire

Fall of Rome

Summary of Events
First invasions 3rd century A D Christianity legal early 4th century state religion late 4th cent Empire split 4th century Eastern half endures as Byzantine Empire to 1453 Last emperor by then only a puppet deposed 476 A D One late Emperor Majorian 457 461 attempted to reverse trends but failed

Roman Empire Splits 395 A D

Fall of Rome

Fall of Rome

Fall of Rome

Possible Hypotheses for the collapse of Rome
Lack of innovation Best indicator the total lack of interest in geography Slavery The attitude that any services could be bought and therefore Romans need not bother with practical matters Religious cultism and mysticism Lead poisoning not from lead pipe but from lead based ceramic glazes

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1782
Edward Gibbon suggested four reasons for fall of Rome Immoderate greatness growth of bureaucracy and military Wealth and luxury Barbarian invasions cause or symptom Spread of Christianity

Gibbon s errors
Too rosy a view of 2nd century A D conditions Cultural biases against Byzantines and monasticism Pushed notion of decline too far Despite his errors Gibbon s work has endured as few works of history have

An Alternate View of the Fall of Rome
Americans often idealize ancient Rome We are impressed by its monuments It s the first ancient state that looks like a modern nation state on the scale of the U S Latin was used as the intellectual language of Europe until recent times Many religious films about the life of Christ are actually films about Rome with a pious veneer

Reality Check Rome was a stagnant corrupt brutal and petty society
Two suggested antidotes to the romantic view of Rome
Robert Graves I Claudius H G Wells Outline of History

Not once did the local populace ever rise up to oppose the barbarian invaders

Rome and the early U S Two Choices

The U S 1787
Governed by a weak federation under the Articles of Confederation Its one great act under this government was the Northwest Ordinance
Provided for division of new territories into additional States Admission of new States incorporated into Constitution Hence no distinction whatever between original States and later States

Rome 200 B C
Rome acquires Spain from Carthage after the Second Punic War Same question as faced by the Early U S what to do with the new lands Rome decides to exploit the new territories as source of revenue and slaves

Results of Rome s Choice
Non stop guerrilla war in Spain for over 300 years Rome abandons its traditional citizen army for a permanent standing army Conscripted soldiers frequently became dispossessed while serving in Spain Rome s erratic but real progress toward equality reverses Power and wealth re concentrate in the hands of the upper class

For next 170 years Rome experiences increasing civil unrest ever bloodier conflicts and civil wars a military coup by Julius Caesar then dictatorship under the Emperors

Conclusion
Like a baby born with AIDS the Roman Empire was infected at birth with the disease that eventually killed it