Description
Ancient Civilization: Rome
FALL 2018
INSTRUCTOR: Christopher Simon
CLA010C
Week I: October 0105, 2018
Study Guide I:
Archaic Italy and the Origins of Rome
Geography
● Italy (Italia)
○ Peninsula, key feature
○ Halfway between Eastern and Western Europe
○ Access to cultures both East and West
● Rome (Roma)
○ Halfway between the Northern Alps
○ Below Pias River
○ South: Alkaline mts.
● Divisions of Italy: Don't forget about the age old question of Who implemented a conservative dress code for interns to eliminate distraction to help everyone focus on legislative matters?
1. Etruria
2. Campania
3. *Latium
a. Where Rome developed
● Tiber River
○ Defining river
○ Extremely important to the Romans cause of development
● Apennine Mts
○ Separates the Po Valley from the rest of Italy
○ Dominates the peninsula
● Tyrrhenian Sea
○ Part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy
○ Named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century B.C. with the Etruscans of Italy
● Magna Graecia and Sicily
○ Cultural influences of Italy
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○ Access to trade
○ “Sea monsters” location
○ Easier place to travel
○ South: Magna Graecia
○ Far South: Sicily
We also discuss several other topics like How to determine work function?
Don't forget about the age old question of What is the other name for factitious disorder?
If you want to learn more check out How we study genes and behavior?
People(s) and Cultures
● Etruscans
○ Spoke nonEuropean language
○ Purchased prestigious art
○ #1 competitor of Rome
■ Wealthier than Rome
■ More developed
● Greeks
○ Settled in Southern Italy and Sicily since the 8th century BC
○ Cultural influence for Italy
○ Required to speak Greek as well as one’s mother tongue in Rome ● Latins
○ An Italic tribe including the early inhabitants of the city of Rome ○ Tried to break treaty with Rome
○ Relationship with Rome steady deteriorated, resulting in many wars ● Aeneas If you want to learn more check out Who made christianity legal, and then it later became the official religion?
We also discuss several other topics like What is empirical probability?
○ A noble Trojan leading a force fleeing from the collapse of Troy ○ Mother: Venus
○ Father: Anchises
○ The first Latin King of both Livy and Dionysius
○ Ruled Latium
● Ascanius or Iulus
○ The son of Aeneas and Creusa
○ Founder of Alba Longa
■ Reigned there for 38 years (11791141 BC)
○ Changed name from Ascanius to Iulus (Julius)
● Silvius Postumus
○ The son of Aeneas and Lavinia
○ Reigned for 29 years (11411112 BC)
● ‘Alban King List’
○ A series of legendary kings of Latium, who ruled from Alba Longa ○ Filled the 400year gap between the settlement of Aeneas in Italy and the founding of the city Rome by Romulus
● Numitor and Amulius
○ The sons of Procas (Alba Longa King)
○ Amulius usurped the throne and reigned for 42 years (796754 BC) ■ Killed by his greatnephews, Romulus and Remus
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○ Numitor was disposed by Amulius
■ Succeeded Amulius a year before the foundation of Rome
● Rhea Silvia
○ The daughter of Numitor and the mother of Romulus and Remus
● Remus
○ The son of Rhea Silvia and Mars
○ Believed to have died at the hands of Romulus or his own followers ○
● T. Livius (aka. Livy)
○
● P. Ovidius Naso (aka Ovid)
○ From Sulomo (Italian town)
○ A celebrated love poet in Rome
○ Amores: addressed to a woman named Corinna
○ Heroides: voices of famous heroines of mythology
○ The Art of Love: quasitechnical manual
■ Conceived in two books addressed to men (about where and how to meet women, begin a love affair and make it last)
○ Cures for Love: addresses both sexes
○ Metamorphoses: encyclopedic epic poem on myths of transformation ○ Fasti: poetic elaboration of the festivals of the Roman calendar, month by month ○
Roman Kings
● Romulus (753716 BC)
○ Born in Alba Longa
■ Mother: Rhea Silvia
■ Father: Mars (Roman God of War)
■ Twin brother to Remus
○ Founder of Rome
○ Establishes the Senate
○ Credited with expanding Rome across Latium
○ Capture of the Sabine Women
○ Died mysteriously, honored, and deified in the cult of Quirinus
● Numa Pompilius (715674 BC)
○ Originally from Cures — i.e. Sabine
○ Credited with organizing priestly colleges and the early religious calendar ○ Constructed the Regia
● Tullius Hostilius (673642 BC)
○ A second ‘Romulus’ — i.e. warlike
○ Destroyed Alba Longa, merging the two cities, peoples and cultures ■ The duel of the Horatii and the Curiatii
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○ Constructed the ‘Curia Hostilia’, which was believed by Romans to be as the first Senate House
● Ancus Marcius (641617 BC)
○ Expanded Rome southward toward the Tyrrhenian Sea
○ Associated with the Roman port of Ostia
● L. Tarquinius Priscus (616579 BC)
○ Originally from Cures — i.e. Etruscan and Greek
■ From Tarquinii
○ Founded the Capitoline Triad (i.e. Jupiter, Juno, Minerva)
■ Religious connection with colonies across the Mediterranean
■ Laid foundations of temple for Jupiter
○ Imported Etruscan Arts into Rome
■ ‘Circus Maximus’
○ Reigned for almost 40 years
○ Added 100 Senates
○ Wife — Tanaquil
○ War vs the Latins and the Sabines
○ Murdered by Ancus Marcius sons’
● Servius Tullius (578535 BC)
○ Son of a slave; foreigner
■ Servant, but raised as royal in the palace
○ Latin; the last Latin King
○ Assumed the kingship after the murder of Tarquinius Priscus
■ Helped Tarquinius wife — Tanaquil — keep the death of Tarquinius
Priscus
○ Constructed the Aventine Temple of Diana
○ Established the Census
■ The distinction between classes
○ Secured treaty between Latins and Rome
○ ‘Servian’ Wall and other fortifications
○ Established the Comitia Curiata
○ Reorganized the Roman Army
○ Makes Rome a complete city
○ Marries daughters to Tarquinius sons
■ Tarquinius Superbus
○ Murdered by daughter (ran over)
The Regal Period comes to an end….
Tarquin Dynasty (Etruscan Origin) begins….
● Tarquinius Superbus (534509 BC)
○ Etruscan
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○ Often depicted by ancient historians in the manner of Greek tyrant (‘absolute ruler’)
○ Secured treaty between Rome and Gabii
○ Final Roman king because….
■ Of the rape of Lucretia
■ Overthrown by the noble men of Rome
Terms, Concepts, and Themes
● Bronze Ages
○ A historical period characterized by the use of bronze, and in some areas proto writing, and other early features of urban civilization
● Iron Age
○ The Roman Iron Age (1400 BC) is a part of the Iron Age
○ The name comes from the hold that the Roman Empire had begun to exert on the Germanic tribes of Northern Europe
● Archaic Period
○ Development
■ Aeneas fled Troy to go to Italy where he founded the city Alba Longa, establishing a monarchy
■ This monarchy continued until Romulus and Remus were born
■ Romulus and Remus would become the founders of Rome; Remus dies thus making Romulus the first king of Rome
● Regal Period
○ Lasted from 753509 BC
○ The time during in which kings (beginning with Romulus) ruled over Rome ○ An ancient era, mired legends, only bits and pieces of which are considered factual
○ It was in the Regal Period that the Romans forged their identity
● Culture
○ Archaeological definition
■ A recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human
society
○ Limitations
■ Culture can variously conceive
● Archaeological evidence
○ Types
■ Environmental
■ Material
■ Documentary
■ Oral
○ Uses
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■ Environmental: allows reconstructing the landscape and climate of the past
■ Material: artifacts made by people such as pottery, buildings and coins ■ Documentary: Palace records, tomb inscriptions, legal texts that can get an insight into other aspects of the past
■ Oral: people who currently live in a particular landscape who provide valuable verbal information
○ Limitations
■ Environmental: the realization that past environmental may have been different; seemingly small variations between now and then can result in significant differences
■ Material: understanding how assemblages or sites were formed, and what happened to the assemblages or site later on
■ Documentary: the nature of records and the problems in their
interpretation
■ Oral: much information can be a part of myths and legends
○ Examples
■ Environmental: the end of the Neolithic period, the climate on Crete was warmer and wetter than it is today
■ Material: similarly traces of textiles and baskets survive only in
exceptional circumstances, such as the dry conditions of Egypt (the Tomb of Tutankhamun)
■ Documentary: in the GraecoRoman epoch on Crete writing was used for a variety of public purposes: to record laws and public decrees, to dedicate objects and buildings; to commemorate individuals on their tombstones
■ Oral: in Sphakia there was many fragments of ancient ceramic beehives founded; consulting a number of people both in Sphakia and outside it,
helped them learn a lot
● Citystate
○ A city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state
● Aristocratic/Elite Families
○ Development
■ A social class that a particular society considers its highest order
■ The status came from belonging to a military caste
■ Arose in the Middle Ages
○ Importance
■ A system in which those who are considered somehow superior to other people have the ruling authority (rule by the best)
■ The idea that not everyone is fit to rule and that aristocrats should be the decisionmakers
● Necropolis:
○ A cemetery, especially a large one belonging to an ancient city
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● Monumental Architecture
○ Literacy
■ Fresco from the Esquiline Necropolis
■ Temple of Mater Matuta
● Originally constructed in the Forum Boarium (ca. 580 B.C.) but
restored multiple times
■ The Lapis Niger
● Depiction (writing)
■ Didrachm (ca. 269 B.C.)
● Hercules
● Shewolf and Twins
■ Etruscan Bronze Mirror from Bolsena (ca. 4th century B.C.)
● Hellenistic Culture
○ Refers to the spread of Greek culture that had begun after the conquest of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC
○ Rome didn’t immediately transform everything into a kind of LatinRoman culture; instead worked with the Greek idiom
Events
● Fall of Troy
○ Death of Priam
■ Caused the collapse of Troy
○ Aeneas is told to flee Troy by his mother Venus
○ Aeneas then travels to Carthage
○ Aeneas arrives in Italy
■ Italy is already occupied by “Aborigines”
● Ruled by King Latinus
● Occupied Latinum
○ Aeneas meets King Latinus
■ Gave his name to the new state of the Latins to be ruled from Laurentum by Aeneas
■ King Latinus gave his daughter — Lavinia — to marry Aeneas
● Founding of Rome
○ Romulus and Remus story:
Numitor grandfather of Romulus and Remus had been disposed by ‒ ‒ Amulius
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Amulius younger brother of Numitor forced ‒ ‒ Rhea Silvia‒ daughter of Numitor to become one of the Vestal Virgins (a vow of chastity) to ‒
prevent her from having claimants to the throne
Rhea got impregnated by the Roman war God ‐Mars‐ giving birth the twin boys ‐Romulus and Remus
Amulius ordered for the twins to be drowned in the Tiber River, but
instead they were placed in a trough that floated down the river, resting at the site of future Rome
A shewolf —who was sacred to Mars— suckled ad fed them until they were founded by the herdsman Faustulus and his wife Acca Larentia
Romulus and Remus grew and eventually killed Amulius, restoring the throne to their grandfather
Romulus and Remus leave Alba Longa and return to where they grew up, resulting in a competition between Romulus and Remus
o The competition between Romulus and Remus
The God’s choice
Remus sees six birds on the Aventine Hill
Romulus see twelve birds on the Palatine Hill
Remus is murdered
Some believed by Romulus and others by his own
followers
o There was a reconstruction of the socalled “Hut of Romulus’ on the Palatine Hill 8
o Romulus’s Rome was established in *753 B.C
● Abduction of the Sabine Women
○ The population of Rome increased immediately, but there was a shortage of women in the new settlement
○ As a result, it seemed that Rome’s greatness was destined to last only for a generation, as these pioneers would not have children to carry on their legacy ○ Initially, the Romans sought to form alliances with and requested the right of marriage from their neighbors; however, the mission failed, as Rome’s neighbors were not bothered with entertaining their request
■ Some were afraid that Rome’s growing power would become a threat to them and their descendants
○ Romulus decided to take more drastic actions in order to secure the future of his city
○ Romulus, during the celebration of the Consualia, abducted the Sabine, who attended, and forced them into marriages with his Roman soldiers
● The Rape of Lucretia
○ Sextus Tarquinius invited his friends for supper and drinks at his home and among these guests was Tarquinius Collatinus, his distant kinsmen
○ The men started discussing their wives and Collatinus declared that no one was worthier than his wife, Lucretia
○ Collatinus invited them to his house and see for themselves what his wife was doing at home
○ They visited each of their wives and saw them getting ready for a night out, while they found Lucretia, with her servants, working on her spinning in the middle of her house
■ It was then that Sextus was said to have been seduced both by Lucretia’s beauty and virtue
○ A few days later, Sextus returned to Collantinus house and Collantinus was away at Andrea. Lucretia received him and granted him hospitality
○ Sextus waited for everyone to fall asleep before taking his sword and going into Lucretia’s bedroom; placing his sword against her waking her
○ After begging, threatening and exhausting every method of seducing Lucretia, Sextus finally said, “when I have killed you, I will put next to you the body of a nude slave. Everyone will say that you were killed during a dishonorable act of adultery.”
○ With this final threat, Sextus succeeded; after he raped Lucretia, he left Dates
● 753 BC
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○ The date that Romulus founded and established Rome
● 509 BC
○ The beginning of the Roman Republic
Procas
Amuliu
s Numito
r
Rhea
Silvia
Romulu
s Remus
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