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History of Western Civilisation - Tuesday 7th Period: Lecture 5: The Founding of Rome
"Welcome to class. On the feast day of a Roman saint, we're going to do the unexpected... talk about Rome.
[[OOC: Lecture snaffled from Wiki and written up by![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aka_vala who after next week's lecture gets to retire as my lecture writer.]]
The founding of Rome: According to legend, Rome was founded by a pair of twins, Romulus and Remus, fathered by the god Mars with a supposed-to-stay-virgin priestess and thus abandoned in the wild to be nursed by a wolf. According to Virgil, Rome was founded by the hero Aeneas fleeing the destruction of Troy, after a quick stop off in Carthage for a fling with their queen which ended in a curse of bad blood between the cities forever.
According to archaeology, Rome was founded by the Etruscans, a group that lived all across Italy before the Italic peoples spread out from the central mountain ranges, moved in with the Etruscans, and eventually took over as the dominant group in the region. Not really "A Heroic Tale Of Our Most Glorious Beginnings", but true.
The Etruscans, like the later Romans, were heavily influenced by Greece, due to several long-standing Greek colonies in southern Italy. Around 650 BCE the Etruscans were running the show, dominating the Italic peoples in the central region and even making some attempt to take over those nice Greek colonies down south. According to Roman tradition, this was the time when the city was ruled by the "Seven Kings" -- starting with Romulus the Wolf-Boy -- some of whom at least were Etruscan, and most of whom probably mythical anyway.
About500 BCE the Etruscans started losing their battles with the southern Greek colonies and Etruria went into decline. The people in Rome promptly took advantage of this by rebelling and gaining independence from the Etruscans. They also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republic with a senate composed of the city nobles, popular assemblies composed of freeborn men, and annually elected magistrates.
The newly established Romans did a pretty good job keeping the upper hand mongst a whole bunch of neighboring groups over the years, until they were suddenly sacked and burned by invaders coming from Gaul in 387BCE. These invaders were finally fought off, but it put the Romans on the offensive and started them on a campaign of active military expansion that would continue for the better part of the next 800years.
According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509BC. However, it took a few centuries for Rome to become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire of Carthage, Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas empire for the first time.
Beginning in the 2nd century BC,Rome went through a significant population expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent ofmassive, slave-operated farms, flocked to the city in great numbers. In146 BC, the Romans razed the cities of Carthage and Corinth, adding North Africa and Greece to their empire and making Rome the most important city in the western world.
By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome was the capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean and -- at something over a million inhabitants -- the largest city in the world.
Then in 44 BCE the current war leader Julius Caesar was killed for fear he was going to declare himself a king -- which he definitely had no intention of doingand don't ask me why I'm so definite about that, but how many people have stood on the same stage as Julius Caesar and the Rolling Stones? In 31 BCE his successor Octavian (who preferred "Augustus" --Latin for "Majestic" -- and who wouldn't?) actually did make himself sole ruler of Rome and her possessions under the title "Imperator". And thus, for next class, we have our first Roman Emperor.
"I have your exams. I think that the additional study group did you good, those of you who attended it. Yougot the grade you assigned yourself, or an A if you did not can pick up your tests after class.
[[OOC:Hold for OCD threads. OCD threads up, go ahead]]
[[OOC: Lecture snaffled from Wiki and written up by
aka_vala who after next week's lecture gets to retire as my lecture writer.]]The founding of Rome: According to legend, Rome was founded by a pair of twins, Romulus and Remus, fathered by the god Mars with a supposed-to-stay-virgin priestess and thus abandoned in the wild to be nursed by a wolf. According to Virgil, Rome was founded by the hero Aeneas fleeing the destruction of Troy, after a quick stop off in Carthage for a fling with their queen which ended in a curse of bad blood between the cities forever.
According to archaeology, Rome was founded by the Etruscans, a group that lived all across Italy before the Italic peoples spread out from the central mountain ranges, moved in with the Etruscans, and eventually took over as the dominant group in the region. Not really "A Heroic Tale Of Our Most Glorious Beginnings", but true.
The Etruscans, like the later Romans, were heavily influenced by Greece, due to several long-standing Greek colonies in southern Italy. Around 650 BCE the Etruscans were running the show, dominating the Italic peoples in the central region and even making some attempt to take over those nice Greek colonies down south. According to Roman tradition, this was the time when the city was ruled by the "Seven Kings" -- starting with Romulus the Wolf-Boy -- some of whom at least were Etruscan, and most of whom probably mythical anyway.
About500 BCE the Etruscans started losing their battles with the southern Greek colonies and Etruria went into decline. The people in Rome promptly took advantage of this by rebelling and gaining independence from the Etruscans. They also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republic with a senate composed of the city nobles, popular assemblies composed of freeborn men, and annually elected magistrates.
The newly established Romans did a pretty good job keeping the upper hand mongst a whole bunch of neighboring groups over the years, until they were suddenly sacked and burned by invaders coming from Gaul in 387BCE. These invaders were finally fought off, but it put the Romans on the offensive and started them on a campaign of active military expansion that would continue for the better part of the next 800years.
According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509BC. However, it took a few centuries for Rome to become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire of Carthage, Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas empire for the first time.
Beginning in the 2nd century BC,Rome went through a significant population expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent ofmassive, slave-operated farms, flocked to the city in great numbers. In146 BC, the Romans razed the cities of Carthage and Corinth, adding North Africa and Greece to their empire and making Rome the most important city in the western world.
By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome was the capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean and -- at something over a million inhabitants -- the largest city in the world.
Then in 44 BCE the current war leader Julius Caesar was killed for fear he was going to declare himself a king -- which he definitely had no intention of doing
"I have your exams. I think that the additional study group did you good, those of you who attended it. You
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Ivanova limps up to his desk after class to get her exam. Needless to say, she is not looking forward to her result. That's what happens when she sleeps for four straight days before the exam.
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