REPUBLICAN ROME

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Founding of Rome

• legend: Aeneas, a Trojan son of the goddess Venus, fled from Troy at the end of the Trojan War, and founded province of LATIUM
• archaeology: this area occupied by Villanovans, c. 1000, then ruled by kings from at least 700 to 509 B.C.; last kings at least were an Etruscan family, the Tarquins
  
• legend: Romulus and Remus, sons of the god Mars, founded city of ROME on 21 April, 753 B.C.
• archaeology: Rome probably founded around 600 B.C.; expels Etruscan kings in 509 and becomes a separate Republic; sited on 7 hills

Republican Rome, 509-31 B.C.

• lasts from the expulsion of the kings to the Battle of Actium
• increasing spread of Roman language and culture through conquest, colonization, and a superb system of roads and communications
• acquisition of much wealth led to disputes between patricians (upper class) and plebeians (lower class), culminating in 100 year civil war, 5th-4th cy.. B.C.
• "republic" is from Latin res publica, literally 'public thing/realm'
• some dates
  • 390: sack of Rome by Celts (Gauls)
  • 350-275 B.C.: unification of Italy
  • 264-201 B.C.: Punic Wars (against Hannibal of Carthage in Africa)
  • 146 B.C.: conquest of Greece
  • 133 B.C.: revolution led by Tiberius Gracchus
  • 44 B.C.: assassination of Julius Caesar
  • 31 B.C.: Battle of Actium
• acquisition of empire led in 2nd cy. to cultural flowering: first historical and poetic writing, building boom, new deities from abroad (Great Mother [=Cybele] introduced in 205 B.C., artistic influence from Greece, increased number of freedmen (slaves freed by owners) from abroad, rise of lower classes (Nagle p. 323-324)
• rise of plebeians leads to revolt of Tiberius Gracchus (133 B.C.), tribune of the plebs
  • too few recruits for army (rich landowners crowded out peasant farmers, and some plebeians reluctant to fight for gaining empire, as opposed to defending the state)
  • Gracchus proposed system of land grants (Nagle p. 327-328)
  • Gracchus killed when he tried to get re-elected, because program so controversial
  • his brother Gaius Gracchus met same fate in 121 B.C. after similar sequence of events
• series of wrangles for power among leaders at home, against the backdrop of their conquests abroad
  • Social War in the 80s B.C.: Marius vs. Sulla (Asia)
  • Pompey (Italy, Spain; then Aegean pirates; then Asia), Julius Caesar (Gaul) and Crassus (Syria) in 60s and 50s
    • at first they back each other; Pompey marries Caesar's daughter, Pompey and Crassus help Caesar become consul
    • their relations disintegrate and lead to civil war, 49-45 B.C.
    • Caesar's assassination in 44 B.C.leads to more civil war
  • Octavian (Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir) (Italy, west) vs. Antony (east)
    • Antony hooks up with the Macedonian Cleopatra, queen of Egypt
    • Octavian beats Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in Greece, 31 B.C.
    • Octavian becomes the emperor Augustus, 27 B.C.

Government

• assembly of magistrates, first consisting of army officers
  • judicial, legislative, elective authority; eventually 193 units
• senate, first consisting of clan heads, later 300 ex-magistrates
  • could ratify assembly resolutions
  • informal advisory role (auctoritas, authority) at first
    • later in practice took control of the state--esp. war, foreign policy
• praetors: one, later two, magistrates preside over the assembly; model for electing 2 consuls as leaders
  • came to be exclusive privilege
• tribunes: elected to represent plebeians (against the patrician consuls)
• king of sacrifices (rex sacrorum): purely religious role (cf. Athens)
• law code: the twelve tables
  • covers public and private laws of all kinds
  • standardized laws and penalties apply to all alike: victory for plebeians

Family and society

• social classes rigidly defined and separated: see Nagle p. 295-296 and 302; part of the Roman passion for order and classification; qualifications were money and good morals
  • equestrian order, from which senators drawn
• family and clan very important
  • paterfamilias (father of the family; oldest living male) has great power
    • can execute children, decree who they shall marriage, allow divorce
    • religious head of family also, connecting ancestors' spirits to the living
    • also had to consult family council before important decision
  • slaves, freedmen and their families also part of a family's responsibility
  • wealthy patrons assisted clients and their families with legal protection, money
• wealthy men became priests, judges, political leaders, generals
  • honor and dignity essential to maintaining the system

Religion

• whole pantheon of gods, eventually equated with Greek gods
  • main deities: Jupiter (= Greek Zeus), Juno (Hera), Mars (Ares), Minerva (Athena)
  • case of Venus (Aphrodite) an exceptional example of Greek influence
  • most myths have to do with gods, not heroes

Portrait sculpture

• verism (showing individual traits accurately)&emdash;partly Etruscan influence, partly custom of keeping death mask images of ancestors in each family's house
  • anonymous portraits
  • portraits of Pompey, Cicero, Julius Caesar
  • family portraits in tombs
• combination of the ideal and the particular
• Greek influence came in later, when Romans conquered Greece in 146 B.C.
  • the combination of Hellenistic Greek with native Roman style is called Greco-Roman: Greek idealism combined with Roman interest in individuals--portraits
  • looting and copying of Greek statues for Roman clients
    • 285 bronze and 30 marble statues brought from Corinth to Rome in 146 B.C.

Architecture (see Stokstad for construction p. 236, arch and dome etc. p. 228-229)

• Etruscan influence strong at first: Archaic temple of Jupiter Capitoline (on the Capitoline Hill)
  • Etruscan features: tripartite plan with columns in front only; brick/rubble foundations, wood and mudbrick superstructure, built by Etruscan king, designed by Etruscan architect, decorated w/ statues by Etruscan sculptor
  • non-Etruscan feature: more columns than usual Etruscan custom
• Temple of Portunus (?) in Rome, c. 100 B.C.
  • old features: axial plan, with emphasis on front of temple (Etruscan); no surrounding colonnade; temple stands on high podium
  • new features: Ionic style--Ionic columns, frieze, dentals (Greek); engaged (attached) half-columns along outside of cella walls; local stone (tufa) used instead of terra cotta
• Sanctuary of Fortuna at Palestrina (Praeneste), c. 100 B.C.
  • incorporates many new features that will become typical in Rome
    • concrete; arch; barrel vault--all make it possible to span large spaces
    • play of straight vs. curved lines, columns vs. arcades
    • multi-unit, multi-level architecture--very complicated
    • concrete vaults lined with fist-sized stones (opus incertum)