Founding of Rome transcript

on this slide you see the ranges of dates for the three historical periods of rome uh the second one the republic doesn't really have an official ending date that's why the asterisk is there the actual end of the republic probably came when julius caesar was made dictator for life in the middle of the first century bce when augustus caesar came to the throne as rome's first emperor in 27 bce he did not eliminate the senate he kept it intact as a sign that the people were that the people still mattered however the emperors had dictatorial powers from that time on so the senate was more for show than anything in this side by side comparison of the historical periods of the greeks and romans what do you notice about them perhaps first you'll notice that the time periods are almost simultaneous when the greeks were in their archaic or early period the romans were establishing their famous city which was ruled by kings until the end of the 6th century bce during the counterpart of the greek classical period the romans had their famous republic by the time the greeks were absorbed into the roman empire by the 2nd century bce the romans still had another 500 years of their civilization to come yet i think it's interesting to see the period side by side like this because often we see history is linear for example we think the greeks came first and then went away and then the romans emerged but that's clearly not the case they were basically simultaneous cultures next look at the names historians have given to the various periods are the terms archaic classical and hellenistic similar to monarchy republic and empire obviously not the last three are names for the types of government the romans had at various times in their history but our archaic classical and hellenistic names that refer to governments no then what are they they're cultural descriptors for example the word archaic means early so during that time the greeks were laying the foundations for their later culture the hellenistic period was a time when greek influence was spreading beyond the boundaries of the greek world the word hellenistic comes from the verb to hellenize which means to spread greek culture so again these words are cultural descriptors the roman periods are named for the types of government they had during each time and they're appropriately named for the type of government they had during each period definitely influenced the culture the purpose of this presentation is to prove this point as you can see from this map of the roman empire by the second century ce the romans ruled all of the territories surrounding the mediterranean sea the romans actually called that sea mare nostrum meaning our sea some even called it the roman lake the roman empire stretched as far north as britain as far south as north africa as far west as the atlantic and as far east as ancient mesopotamia or modern iraq building and maintaining such a vast empire would require many resources in the form of soldiers and money indeed by the time the empire grew to its greatest extent it began to fall the romans could not continue to provide the large numbers of soldiers needed to protect the far-reaching borders of their empire so they had to use barbarians or foreigners to help guard their borders in the farthest regions these barbarians were basically paid mercenaries and mercenaries are not very loyal some of these same barbarians eventually turned on rome and conquered it at the same time a new religion called christianity was continuing to grow and spread its message of a heavenly kingdom in the next world this view contrasted sharply with the romans emphasis on the physical here and now for indeed the romans pretty much ruled the physical here and now this contrast in world views would eventually contribute to the breakdown of the fabric of roman society and therefore the roman empire the end came in 476 ce when the last roman emperor in the west named romulus augustulus was deposed by the conquering ostrogoths and sent into exile where he later died but the eastern part of the old roman empire with its capital city of constantinople known as istanbul today went on for another thousand years before it was conquered by the ottomans in 1453 the eastern empire eventually came to be known as the byzantine empire when you look at this image of the model of the city of rome as the city appeared during emperor constantine's time what building or monument is the most recognizable to you most likely it's the coliseum did you know that coliseum is not is is not the type of building it it was it's actually its proper name much like amway arena is the name of the venue in downtown orlando um the type of building this was or is it's still there today is actually an amphitheater it got that name from the colossal meaning huge colossal statue of emperor nero and there it is in this picture that used to stand next to the building of course today we use the word coliseum to describe a similar type of building we also use the word arena which in the roman world meant sand derived from the latin arena which was a fine smooth sand used to absorb blood in roman amphitheaters a lot like kitty litter i guess isn't it strange how our words are passed down to us the amphitheaters of the roman world including this most famous one the coliseum are where gladiator fights were held along with fights between humans and animals and even mock naval battles do you see the aqueduct in the picture near the coliseum that aqueduct here it is right here delivered water carried water from an underground cistern and that water was used to flood the floor of the coliseum the next most recognizable structure is this one over here this large oval that's called the circus maximus and this is where chariot races were held the coliseum could hold between 50 and 000 people whereas the circus maximus could hold around 250 000 people which i believe is comparable to our modern day daytona speedway for centuries it has been maintained that thousands of christians were put to death in the roman coliseum but now historians believe it was in the circus not the coliseum where christians were put to death in large numbers this actually makes sense because of the romans wanted to set an example of a specific group of people in order to send a warning to others who might go against the gods of rome wouldn't they want to do that in front of the largest audience possible in this satellite image of the modern city of rome you see to the left the vatican the seat of the pope and there's saint peter's basilica right there and also of course the the tiber river snaking through the city do you see all the different hills in yellow there are seven of them these hills are where the city of rome was founded you don't really see those hills today because the modern elevation has risen so much but back in ancient times you would have definitely seen those those seven hills the founding of the city of rome was the most important event in the collective consciousness of ancient romans and therefore that number seven had legendary significance for them the number seven even appears many times in the roman epic the aeneid which is about the founding of rome by the descendants of the patriarch of the roman people aeneas more on him later just like with the greeks with their erete and kalakagathia there were core values that apply to all roman aspects of life although there are a number of them such as dignitas dignity gravitas which means seriousness etc the two we'll work with are the terms romanitas and pietas and for these i'll read right off of the slide romanitas was not a word used by the romans in ancient times but it's used by modern writers to express the value that was embedded in roman culture that could be described as enforced nationalism it meant a great many things but in short it meant what it was to be roman that is romaness every roman had to put rome first at himself ahead of family and friends ahead of everything from the events held in the coliseum to the purpose for honoring and respecting the gods it was all for the greater good of rome pietas is the roman attitude of dutiful respects respect towards the gods homeland parents and family a good roman who demonstrated pietas honored the parents especially the father or patria familias the emperor and the gods indeed roman religion which consisted of showing fear and respect to the gods and to the emperor himself who was also seen as a god was considered not just religious duty but one's civic duty as well it was important to honor the gods so that the romans would continue to be victorious in battle and in growing their empire there's no better aspect of roman culture that illustrates the values of romanitas and pietas than the legend of the founding of rome this legend is actually a creation story just like the story of genesis in the judeo-christian bible it explains how rome came to be according to the legend that would have been known by every roman the ancient ancestor or patriarch of the romans was a trojan named aeneas at the urging of his mother venus aeneas fled troy as it was falling to the greeks and he and his comrades sailed to italy where he established a bloodline that would produce the future rulers of the world the romans remember the trojan war if it actually happened would have been sometime in the 13th century bce but the city of rome wasn't established until centuries later in the 8th century so aeneas didn't found the city he just got the bloodline to italy it was centuries later that his descendants romulus and remus would build the city this legend is the basis of the roman epic the aeneid written by the roman poet virgil virgil borrowed greatly from the epic tradition of homer and the odyssey just like odysseus aeneas is on a journey home or in this case to a new home and like odysseus he has many obstacles that he must overcome before he can reach his destination for example he's delayed in his journey by a woman he lands on the island of the giant cyclops he must deal with the cilla and kryptus and he when he gets to italy he too must fight just as odysseus as odysseus had to when he got home to ithaca to establish himself in his rightful place aeneas story illustrates the values of romanitas and pietas in many ways ramanitas essentially means all for rome this means duty and sacrifice for the greater good of rome virgil's epic is titled the aeneid for its main character aeneas just as homer's odyssey is named for its main character however unlike the odyssey which is about the man odysseus and his desire to get home to his beloved wife penelope the aeneid isn't really about aeneas it's about rome it's about the sacrifices aeneas makes for the the good of the future rome we now move from the 13th century bce to the 8th century when the city of rome would be established by descendants of aeneas romulus and remus according to legend the mother of the twin boys was reya silvia a vestal virgin a festival virgin is a young maiden who takes a vow of chastity in honor of the goddess the roman goddess of hearth and home vesta if a vestal virgin broke her vow the punishment was to be buried alive so imagine how her guardian her uncle reacted when one day rhea sylvia announced to him that she was pregnant however she claimed that she was still a virgin in the true sense of the word she claimed that the god mars had impregnated her her uncle apparently didn't believe her though because he threw her in prison and after her sons were born he abandoned them on the banks of the tiber river to die they didn't die though as they were nursed by a she-wolf a female wolf and eventually found by a shepherd who took the boys home and raised them as his own when they when the twins grew up they vowed to build a city on the banks of the tiber river where they had been abandoned to die but the twins fought over who would rule the city and romulus killed remus and went on to name the city for himself it's hard to take this story literally however there are definitely some elements in the story that reflect actual truth about roman culture the god mars for example is the roman god of war doesn't it make sense that the father of the founders of rome is the god of war since war would play such a large part in rome's future also the idea of someone killing their own brother definitely makes sense for the future romans often killed friends and family members for the greater good think of julius caesar being assassinated by his friend brutus also wolves are fierce pack animals so female wolf is appropriate is the animal that nurses the twin boys because it was believed that the boys took in the attribute the attributes of the wolf through the mother's milk and therefore that makes it a very appropriate part of the legend next please view the presentation titled roman history and culture