From Romulus to Romulus

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From Romulus to Romulus

• The Rise and Fall of Rome

2
Romulus and Remus
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Legendary Rome

• Aeneas and Trojan Refugees settle in Italy
• Romulus founds Rome 753 BCE
• Seven Kings
• Tarquinius Superbus deposed
• Republic founded 509 BCE

4
The Pre-Roman World
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War With Carthage

• 264-241 BCE Rome wins control of Sicily
• 238 BCE Rome takes advantage of revolt in
  Carthage to seize Sardinia
• 218-201 BCE Hannibal invades Italy, but Carthage
  loses Spain and N. Africa to Rome
• 149-146 BCE Alarmed by Carthages recovery, Rome
  launches a final war to destroy Carthage

6
Rome Expands
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Rome Expands
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Many-Front War
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Rome Expands
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The Republic Crumbles

• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus try but fail to
  implement social reforms 130-122 BCE
• Social War 9188 BCE Rest of Italy tries to
  secede from Rome
• Civil War 87-81 BCE, followed by purge by Lucius
  Sulla
• Catilina 63-62 BCE Failed coup
• First Triumvirate 60-53 BCE Caesar, Pompey,
  Crassus

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Julius Caesar

• Born 100 BCE
• Consul 60 BCE
• First Triumvirate 60-53 BCE Caesar, Pompey,
  Crassus
• Conquest of Gaul 58-49 BCE
• Attempted invasion of Britain 55 BCE
• 50 BCE Caesar-Pompey alliance breaks up
• 50-45 BCE Civil War Caesar wins
• 44 BCE Assassinated

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Rome Expands
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Empire!

• Civil War
• Antony against Brutus and Cassius
• Antony and Octavian against Brutus and Cassius
• Octavian against Antony and Cleopatra
• Octavian declared Emperor 27 BCE as Caesar
  Augustus
• Tiberius, Nero, Caligula, Claudius
• 68-69 CE Year of the Four Emperors

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Rome Expands
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Rome Expands
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Rome Expands
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The Empire at its Peak

• Flavian Dynasty
• Vespasian (6979)
• Titus (7981)
• Domitian (8196)
• Five Good Emperors
• Nerva (96-98)
• Trajan (98-117)
• Hadrian (117-138)
• Antoninus Pius (138-161)
• Marcus Aurelius (161-180)

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Near Collapse 235-284

• 20-25 emperors and many claimants
• Internal dissension weakens frontiers
• Dacia (modern Romania) lost
• Empire fractures into three parts 258-275
• Economic stagnation and hyperinflation
• Two tough general-emperors, Claudius Gothicus and
  Aurelian, stabilized Empire
• Diocletian (284-305) created autocracy, reformed
  military, bought another two centuries for the
  Empire

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Final Decline

• Constantine the Great (306-337)
• Legalized Christianity 313
• Theodosius I (379-395)
• The last ruler of the whole empire
• Made Christianity official 391
• Empire divided East-West 395
• Eastern Invasions
• Romulus Augustulus deposed 476
• Eastern half endures as Byzantine Empire to 1453

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Roman Empire Splits, 395 A.D.
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Fall of Rome
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Fall of Rome
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Fall of Rome
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Did Anyone Try to Stop It?

• Majorianus 457-461
• The successor of Avitus presents the welcome
  discovery of a great and heroic character, such
  as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to
  vindicate the honor of the human species.
  (Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
  Ch. 36)

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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

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Two Empires Face a Fateful Choice

• The U.S., Northwest Ordinance - 1787
• 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 - 201 BCE
• Rome acquires Spain from Carthage
• Rome decides to exploit the new territories as
  source of tax revenue and slaves.

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Results of Romes 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 (Destroyed
  the middle class)
• Rome's erratic but real progress toward equality
  reverses. Power and wealth re-concentrate in the
  hands of the upper class
• Soldiers become dependent on generals for welfare
  and equipment

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A Bit of Perspective