TIMELINE 2

The FROMM INSTITUTE

FROM ROMULUS to RUIN: A BRIEF HISTORY of the ROMAN REPUBLIC and the ROMAN EMPIRE Dr. Nikolaus Hohmann

Part 2: The ROMAN REPUBLIC

�1

The historical founding of Rome (753 BC)

The Etruscan Conquest of Rome (c. 650 BC)

-the ROMAN FORUM

-Etruscan influences : engineering, military organization, gladiator combat, fasces = capital and corporeal punishment -the expulsion of the Etruscan King Tarquinius Superbus (c. 509 BC) -the “Rape of Lucretia” -the Roman revolt led by Lucius Junius Brutus

-“Horatio at the Bridge” (Horatius Cocles)

The ROMAN REPUBLIC

The establishment of the ROMAN REPUBLIC (509 BC) republic = res publica (the affairs of the public)

Cincinnatus (c. 460 BC) -dictator > emergency monarch [king] : could “dictate” policy for 6 months

-Cincinnatus became to the Romans what Solon had become to the Greeks : -to resist the temptations of power and to put duty above personal interest

SPQR -Senatus Populusque Romanorum = the Senate and the Roman People

PATRICIANS -wealthy landowning aristocrats (organized in clans), they dominated the affairs of state, the military leadership, and law

-the SENATE > -the original council of advisors -then the assembly of the Patricians (eventually 600 seated members) that is, the organized, institutional power of the Patricians -the council’s “advice” became law -one of the longest-lasting institutions in Roman history

-the patronage system > PATRON and CLIENT (clientela)

PLEBEIANS -the common people (included many wealthy families)

-Assemblies (the organized power for the Plebeians) varied across the centuries; they included : -comitia curiata (the Curiate Assembly) -comitia centuriata (the Centuriate Assembly) -comitia populi tributa (Assembly of the People or Tribal Assembly) -concilium plebis (Plebeian Council)

�2

The ROMAN REPUBLIC (continued):

High magistrates of the Republic :

-CONSUL -usually 2 consuls at one time, each elected for a 1-year term -commanded the army, -conducted state business, -supervised the state’s financial affairs

-Quaestor -in charge of the public treasury; prosecuted criminals in public courts

-Praetor -usually 4 at one time; administered offices when consuls were away -supervised justice

-Censor -in charge of public morals, registration of citizens, public contracts

-TRIBUNE -elected to protect the Plebeians (the people) from the Senate

The “Roman virtues”

-gravitas -dignity / seriousness -pietas -duty in all relationships -virtu -nobility (civic honor and reputation) -separates the man from the human being

____________________________________________________________________________

ROMAN CONQUESTS

Gallic invasion of Italy and sacking of the city of Rome (c. 390 BC)

The Pyrrhic War (280 – 275 BC) -King Pyrrhus of Epirus

-“One more such victory and I am lost” = a PYRRHIC VICTORY (a victory so expensive, it brings defeat)

The PUNIC WARS (Rome vs Carthage)

-Punic = Phoenician -described by POLYBIUS, famous Greek historian (c. 200 – 118 BC) ]

1st Punic War (264 — 241 BC)

-deforestation in the Apennine Mountains

�3

2nd Punic War (218 – 202 BC)

-Hannibal (c. 247 – 183 BC)

-Marcus Cato (234 – 149 BC) and Scipio Cornelius (234 – 183 BC)

-Battle at Zama (202 BC)

-Carthaginian Peace : -Carthage gives up its navy -gives up its overseas possessions -pays huge indemnity -gives up its independent foreign policy

-Scipio Cornelius = Scipio Africanus Major

The Macedonian Wars (200 – 146 BC) -Rome begins to invade Greece in retribution for Greek support of Hannibal

3rd Punic War (149 – 146 BC) -Marcus Cato: “Carthage must be destroyed !” -Scipio Aemilianus (189 – 129 BC) = Scipio Africanus Minor

-POLYBIUS (c. 200 – 118 BC)

The Achaean War (146 BC)

�4

Rome’s Mission (its “Manifest Destiny”)

Horace (64 – 8 BC)

“Captive Greece captured her rough conqueror and introduced the arts into rustic Latium.”

Virgil (70 – 19 BC)

“Others, I can well believe, will more delicately beat the bronze into breathing likenesses, or carve living faces out of marble, or plead cases better, or plot with their rod the motions of the sky and name the rising of the constellations. But your arts it will be, Roman, remember, to guide the peoples with your authority, to impose your ways of peace, to spare the conquered, and to subdue the proud with war.”

�5

ROME : The LATE REPUBLIC and its COLLAPSE (145 - 31 BC)

“A city for sale and soon to perish, if it finds a buyer.” [ Sallust (c. 86 – 35 BC) ]

The acquisition of Pergamon (133 BC)

The Gracchus brothers -Tiberius ( + 133 BC) -Gaius ( + 121 BC)

The “Social War” (90 – 89 BC) -the Roman Senate grants citizenship to all free men living in ‘Italy’

The Civil War: Marius vs. Sulla -Marius ( + 86 BC) -Sulla ( + 78 BC)

JULIUS CAESAR (c. 102 – 44 BC)

POMPEY (Cneius Pompeius Magnus / c. 106 – 48 BC)

The Spartacus uprising (73 – 71 BC) -General CRASSUS -the Appian Way

The invasion of the Seleucid lands by Pompey -conquest and reorganization of Palestine (63 BC)

The Catiline conspiracy vs. CICERO (63 BC)

Julius Caesar becomes Pontifex Maximus (63 BC) -Sosigenes of Alexandria

The First TRIUMVIRATE (59 – 49 BC) : Caesar & Pompey & Crassus

-Caesar and the Romans invade GAUL (59 BC > ) -divide et impera (divide and conquer) -defeat of Vercingetorix

-Ptolemy XII, the Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, is overthrown and flees to Rome -he allies with Pompey and is restored to the throne in Egypt by Pompey

-death of Crassus in Pontus (53 BC)

-Pompey vs. Caesar -supporters of Julius Caesar vs opponents of Julius Caesar -Marcus BRUTUS -CICERO -Marcus Antonius (MARK ANTONY) -Pius Scipio -Gaius CASSIUS -CATO the YOUNGER famous for his integrity and loyalty to Republic

�6

-Caesar invades Italy and Rome (49 BC) -alea iacta est (the die is cast) -“crossing the Rubicon” [an irrevocable decision has been made] -Pompey and the Senate flee from Rome

Caesar invades Egypt (48 BC) -the assassination of Pompey

-alliance with CLEOPATRA VII (c. 69 BC / r. 51 – 30 BC) -co-ruler of Egypt with PTOLEMY XIII (c. 63 / r. 51 – 47 BC) -the advisor Ponthius

-death of the advisor Ponthius and of Ptolemy XIII -re-installment of Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt in Alexandria

-Cleopatra marries Ptolemy XIV (c. 59 / r. 47 – 44 BC) -birth of CAESARION (c. 47 – 30 BC)

Caesar conquers Pontus (48 BC) -veni vidi vinci (“I came, I saw, I conquered”)

Caesar proclaims himself “dictator for life” (44 BC) -the “Ides of March” (March 15, 44 BC)

__________________________________________________________________________

READINGS :

1177 BC - The Year Civilization Collapsed, by Eric H. Cline (2015)________

Polybius The Histories (or: The Rise of the Roman Empire)Julius Caesar The Gallic Wars (or: The Conquest of Gaul)Plutarch Lives (or: Fall of the Roman Republic)Livy The Early History of Rome

Lays of Ancient Rome, by Thomas Babington Lord Macaulay (1842)(includes Horatius at the Bridge)

SPQR, by Mary Beard (2015)The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic,

by Robert L. O’Connell (2011)Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard Miles (2012)Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic, by Tom Holland (2005)____________________________________________________________________________

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at nhohmann@sfcm.edu

�7