ROME:     THE IMPERIAL REPUBLIC
     Geography, Politics, Morality, Religion

Mediterranean as geographical focus:
      classical world centers on Mediterranean
            = medius (in the middle) + terra (land)
            Mare nostrum = "our sea" "Roman lake"

versus        medieval Germanic, northern focus
                  by 15th C, Atlantic orientation (trade routes)

ROMAN FOUNDING LEGENDS:          Aeneas & Romulus
 
AENEAS OF TROY
            Virtue of PIETAS:                 
                       devotion to family, to gods and to Rome
            Aeneas:  mother is Venus,
                           father Anchises
                           son Ascanius
            VIRGIL’S AENEID, 1st century AD:
                             Latin epic poem, account of Aeneas journey

            Images of “the Trojan group”:  Aeneas, leading Ascanius, carrying
                     Anchises who carries the Palladium (household gods of Troy)
            Journey from Troy to Italy (via Carthage) to found Rome

8th C BC legendary origins of city Rome
Source:   LIVY 1st C historian of Roman Republic

ROMULUS & REMUS:
           descendants of Aeneas & Ascanius
           father is MARS, god of war

           mother Rhea Silvia: Vestal Virgin raped by Mars
           escaped drowning in Tiber, nursed by She-Wolf
           raised on Palatine Hill as shepherds
           Romulus kills Remus (fratricide)

MONARCHY: 

    Romulus as representative of Roman warrior and military virtues
                    first king, founder of city, army & Senate

    6^th C. End of Monarchy: due to rule of Tarquin Kings,
          Monarchy as corrupt, tyrannical
          Rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius 510 BC
                  *  see excerpt in Text, p. 171 *
         LUCRETIA as image of female virtue, chastity

6th C BC ROMAN REPUBLIC
REPUBLIC:
      theme of political virtue, limitation of power
       founder = Lucius Junius Brutus, leads revolt
       becomes one of two CONSULS: no more Kings in Rome
                      

SENATE: represents landowning aristocracy      
PATRICIANS vs PLEBIANS:
           basic social/political tension in Roman society 

SPQR:
      Senatus Populusque Romanus (Senate & People of Rome)

ROMAN SOCIETY: agrarian & military basis of Republic
   CITIZEN ARMY  (legionnaires)
   Roman legions -- citizens, unmarried, serve 20-25 yrs
      Cincinnatus: archetype of citizen farmer, call to military
    Auxiliaries: non-citizens; granted citizenship after 25 yrs
   Generals: drawn only from Senatorial aristocracy   
    Army functions:
       conquest, occupation, collect taxes, build roads, cities

SLAVERY and SLAVE LABOR
       result of conquests–
          large numbers of conquered people enslaved
          brutalizing treatment: eg gladiators
       cheap labor leads to economic changes:
           slave plantations
 SPARTACUS = leader of slave revolt in Italy 73-71 BC

MILITARY CONQUESTS       by 3rd C. BC Italy;
     by 2cd C. BC Punic wars: Carthage, Sicily, Spain
     Republic of Rome conquers as Empire
JULIUS CAESAR:  conquest of Gaul, Asia Minor, Egypt
                                brings the army into Rome
                                executed 44 BC by republican Senators
Empire:  end of the Republic:

OCTAVIAN AUGUSTUS: 31 BC - 14 AD:
              Caesar’s heir & great-nephew    
              takes new title of "princeps" ("first citizen")
              DYARCHY: rule of two
                            agrees to rule together with Senate
              effort to enforce morality, marriage

PAX ROMANA "Roman peace": 1-2cd centuries
              stress on beneficial results of military conquest

ROMAN LAW:
              administration of justice by uniform laws,
              both civil law (private disputes) & criminal law

Law and government as Roman specialties
Virgil’s Aeneid  Bk 6.851-853

Speech of Anchises to Aeneas in the underworld:

“Remember, Roman, to rule the peoples with your power –
            These shall be your skills – to combine peace with morality,
            To spare the conquered and to subdue the proud.”

ROMAN MORALITY & RELIGION:
              CULT OF FAMILY & OF STATE

     Roman moralism: virtus (manliness, vir = man)
                                    gravitas (seriousness)
                pietas: loyalty, devotion to ancestors, family, state (piety)
               Virgil's pius Aeneas as personification of Roman pietas

     Republican virtue: fulfillment of military/political duty
          under Empire, critics stress virtues of earlier Rome
          mores maiorem:  the customs of the ancestors
                                    
    Romanitas: quality of being Roman,
               embodying all Roman virtues (domestic, civic, military)
               quality uniting all Roman citizens, despite local identities

ROMAN RELIGION:  household versus temple     

 Domestic religion:

 Lares and Penates as household gods
            Lar: spirit of the ancestors  (plural = lares)
            Penates: spirits of abundance, prosperity
Roman civic religion:
           city as extended household with its own gods
             Vestal Virgins tend fire in Temple of Vesta

Temple gods:
          Capitoline Hill
          Temple of Jupiter, Optimus Maximus  (biggest & best)

ROMAN STATE RELIGION:      

            military security of state depends on public sacrifices

 PONTIFEX MAXIMUS = chief priest, elected, political office;
            public sacrifices to gods for military victory of Roman troops
            establishes the calendar for religious purposes
Imperial Roman religion: 
              polytheistic, always expandable, adding new gods

Roman Pantheon  = Temple to all the gods  (1st – 2cd C)