The Republic and Empire of Rome was one of the most formative civilizations in Western history. We'll explore the aspects of Roman civilization that have most influenced modern Western society. We'll examine the evolution of Rome's own political system, from a monarchy to a Republic to an Empire, and pay particular attention to the forces that drove this transition over the course of Rome's history. Roman civilization irrevocably shaped the political, social, and religious inheritance of all societies it came into contact with, and those heirs to Roman civilization helped to shape modern Western society itself.

1. Rome: from kingdom to republic
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.
• Villanovan culture, 1000-750 BCE
• Etruria and Campania
• Latial culture, 1000-750 BCE
• Latium
• Orientalizing Period, 725-580
• Archaic Period, 580-480
• Rome’s neighbors
• Etruscans
• Gauls
• Greeks
• Carthaginians
• Latins
• Sabines
• Samnites
• Umbrians
• Oscans

2. Left--Centaur statue, Vulci, c. 590 BCE, Museo Nazione di Villa Giulia, Rome;
center--fibula with orientalizing lions, from Regolini-Galassi Tomb, Cerveteri,
c. 650 BCE, Vatican Museums, Rome; right--Apollo, from roof of Portonaccio
Temple, Veii, c. 510 BCE, Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.

3. Rome: from kingdom to republic
Map of early Rome, from Wikipedia.
• Aeneas, prince of Troy
• Founding of Rome, c. 753 BCE
• Tiber River
• Capitoline, Palatine, Velian hills
• Forum Romanum and Forum
Boarium
• Servian Wall
• Associated with sixth king, Servius
Tullius, but possibly constructed as late
as c. 400 BCE

4. Rome: from kingdom to republic
Capitoline Wolf, c. 500-480 BCE, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome.
• Romulus and Remus
• The rape of the Sabine women
• The kingdom of Rome, 753-510
• Rex, reges
• Etruscan kings
• Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, r. 616-
579
• Servius Tullius, r. 578-535
• Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, r. 534-
510

5. The early Roman Republic
Statue of Vesta, c. 470 BCE, Villa Albani, Museo Torlonia, Rome.
• Founding of the Roman Republic,
510 BCE
• Sextus Tarquinius and the Rape of
Lucretia
• Republic (from res publica, public
realm)
• Religious offices
• Pontifex maximus/rex sacrorum
• Vestal Virgins

6. Political and military offices
• Centuries and Centuriate Assembly
• Proletarii
• Tribal Assembly
• Plebeian Assembly
• Senate (from Latin senex, old man)
• Princeps Senatus
• Military tribunes/Consuls
• Imperium
• Auspicium
• Pomerium
• Toga praetexta
• Fasces
• Plebeian tribunes
• Auxilium
• Intercessio
• Praetor
• Aedile
• Quaestor
• Censor
• Proconsul
• Dictator
• Magister equitum
• Cursus honorum
• Citizen soldiers

7. Fasces in modern imagery

8. Growing pains
• The Struggle of the Orders, 494-287 BCE
• Secession
• Plebeian tribune
• Auxilium and intercessio
• The Twelve Tables, c. 450
• Licinian-Sextian laws, 367
• Plebeian access to office of consul
• Plebeian access to office of dictator, 356
• Plebeian access to office of censor, 351
• Genucian law, 342
• One consul must be a plebeian
• Plebeian access to praetorship, 336
• Poetelian law, 326/313
• Abolition of imprisonment for debt
• Ogulnian law, 300
• Plebeian access to priesthood and office
of augur
• Valerian law, 300
• Plebeians given the right to appeal
capital crimes
• Hortensian law, 287
• Established the Plebeian Assembly
• Plebiscites

9. The Twelve Tables
From Ancient Rome Statutes, trans. Allan Chester Johnson.
• Table III. Thirty days shall be allowed by law for payment of confessed debt and for
settlement of matters adjudged in court. After this time the creditor shall have the right
of laying hand on the debtor. The creditor shall hale the debtor into court. Unless the
debtor discharges the debt adjudged or unless someone offers surety for him in court,
the creditor shall take the debtor with him. He shall bind him either with a thong or
with fetters of more than his weight… [After 60 days and three separate market
appearances the debtor] shall suffer capital punishment or shall be delivered for sale
abroad across the Tiber River.
• Table VII. If a patron defrauds a client he shall be accursed.
• Table VIII. If a person has sung or composed against another person a song such as was
causing slander or insult to another, he shall be clubbed to death.
• Table IX. For anyone whomsoever to be put to death without a trial and unconvicted… is
forbidden.

10. Roman social values• Gens or clan
• Praenomen, nomen (signifying gens), and
cognomen
• Gaius Julius Caesar; Publius Cornelius
Scipio Africanus
• Tribes and curiae (originally 3 tribes and 30
curiae)
• Reforms of Servius Tullius ordered Roman
society based on wealth and residence,
NOT kinship
• Patricians and plebeians
• Table XI. Supplementary laws: There shall
not be intermarriage between plebeians
and patricians.
• Patron-client system
• Patria potestas (power of the father)
• Paterfamilias (head of the family)
• Mos maiorum (ways of the ancestors)
• Slaves
• Debt slavery
• Manumission
• Table VII: A slave is ordered in a will to be a
free man under this condition: if he has given
10,000 asses to the heir. [if] the slave has been
alienated by the heir, …the slave by giving the
said money to the buyer shall enter into his
freedom.
• Table XII: If a slave shall have committed theft
or done damage…with his master’s
knowledge…the action for damages is in the
slave’s name.

11. Left—bust of a Roman patrician, Otricoli, c. 75 BCE, Museo
Torlonia, Rome; right—the Orator, early 1st century BCE,
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence.

12. Roman political and social values
Sarcophagus with reclining couple, from Cerveteri, c. 520 BCE, Museo Nazionale di Villa
Giulia, Rome.
• Male virtues
• Virtus (courage), pietas (devotion),
fides (loyalty), gravitas and
disciplina (self-control), simplicitas
(frugality), dignitas and auctoritas
(dignity and authority)
• Female virtues
• Fides (loyalty), pudicitia (chastity),
modestas (modesty), lanam fecit
(lit. she made wool, good
housekeeping)
• Livy’s (59 BC-17 AD) stories of
Lucretia, Horatia, Gaius Mucius
Scaevola, Cloelia, Horatius Cocles, and
Titus Manlius.

13. Roman political and social values
Sarcophagus of Roman matron with bust of husband, 100-110 CE, British Museum.
• Family and marriage
• Paterfamilias
• Cum manu (lit. with hand)
• Sine manu (lit. without hand)
• Divorce, “Tuas res tibi habeto” =
“Take your things”
• Guardianship and children

14. Roman political and social values
• Table IV:
• A notably deformed child shall be killed immediately.
• To a father… shall be given over a son the power of life and death.
• To repudiate his wife her husband shall order her… to have her own property for
herself, shall take the keys, shall expel her.
• A child born within ten months of the father’s death shall enter into the
inheritance…
• Table V. Inheritance and Guardianship
• …Women, even though they are of full age, because of their levity of mind shall be
under guardianship… except Vestal Virgins…
• If a man is raving mad, rightful authority over his person and chattels shall belong
to his agnates or his clansmen.

15. Roman culture during the Republic
Capitoline Triad: Juno, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and Minerva, Archaeological Museum of
Trier.
• Jupiter = Zeus
• Jupiter Optimus Maximus
• Juno = Hera
• Mars = Ares
• Minerva = Athena
• Venus = Aphrodite
• Apollo = Apollo
• Diana = Artemis
• Mercury = Hermes
• Ceres = Demeter
• Proserpina = Persephone
• Pluto, Dis Pater = Hades
• Neptune = Poseidon
• Vulcan = Hephaestus
• Vesta = Hestia
• Hercules = Heracles
• Janus
• Quirinus
• Lares and Penates

16. Left—Ceres, Museo Pio-Clementino Musei Vaticani, Vatican City, Rome, Italy; right—
“Diana of Versailles,” Roman copy of Greek original, c. 325 BCE, Musee du Louvre,
Paris, France.

17. Roman culture during the Republic
Augustus as pontifex maximus, 1st century BCE, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.
• Roman religion
• Pontifex maximus
• Pontifices
• Augeres
• Flamen Dialis
• Flamen Martialis
• Flamen Quirinalis
• Vestal Virgins
• Flaminica Dialis
• Sacerdos Cereris
• Paterfamilias

18. Roman culture during the Republic
• Cults and religious practices
• Cult of ancestors and house gods
• Cult of Fortuna (for women)
• Separate sub-cults for virgins (Virginalis), newly married women (Primigenia),
mature women (Muliebri), and prostitutes (Virilis)
• Feriae (holy days) and ludi (games)
• March 1, New Year’s, fire of Vesta rekindled
• Cerialia, April 12-19, in honor of Ceres
• Parilia, April 22, festival involving livestock and purification
• Saturnalia, December 17-23, in honor of the god Saturn (Chronos), an agricultural
god
• Agricultural crimes punished by sacrifice to Ceres
• Table VIII. If anyone pastures on or cuts by night another’s crops obtained by
cultivation the penalty for an adult shall be capital punishment and after having
been hung up, death as a sacrifice to Ceres…

19. Rome: Imperial Republic
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.
• Early conflicts
• The Oscans, 500-400
• Etruscan Veii, 396
• The Gauls and the Battle of Allia, 390
• War with the Latin League, 340-338
• Samnite Wars, 326-304 and 298-290
• War with Tarentum and Pyrrhus of Epirus, 280-272
• “Pyrrhic victory”

20. Plaque from the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus, 2nd century BCE, Campo Marzio, Rome, now in the
Louvre Museum, Paris. Top center shows a military commander; bottom right of center shows
ordinary soldiers.

21. The Punic Wars
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.
• Phoenicians and Carthage
• Punic from Poeni
• The First Punic War, 264-241
• Introduction of the corvus
• The Second Punic War, 218-201
• Hannibal Barca, d. 183/182
• Battle of Cannae, 216
• Publius Cornelius Scipio (aka Scipio Africanus), d. 183
• Battle of Zama, 202
• The Third Punic War, 149-146
• Numidia
• “Carthago delinda est”

22. Left—modern statue of Hannibal, by Sebastian Slodtz, 1704, in Louvre Museum,
Paris; right—silver coin bearing the likeness of Scipio Africanus, in the Royal
Collection of Coins, National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark.

23. War with the Hellenistic east
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.
• The Macedonian Wars
• Pergamum
• The Aetolian League
• War with Macedon, 215-205; 200-196;
171-168
• The Syrian War, 192-188
• Seleucid advances into Asia Minor
• Divided Asia Minor between Pergamum,
Rome, and Rhodes
• Destruction of Corinth, 146
• The Achaean League

24. War in the late Republic
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.
• Spain, 155-133, 80-73, 55-52
• Southern Gaul, 113-101
• Numidia, 112-105
• Pontus, 90-85, 74-63
• In 63, Pontus, Cilicia, and Syria were
made into the province of Asia
• Nearby kingdoms of Cappadocia and
Armenia became client kingdoms
• Judea, made into a client kingdom in 63 BCE-6
CE
• Northern Gaul and Britain, 58-51
• Parthia (modern Iraq), 53, 39-8, 36
• Egypt, 31-30

25. Cultural Change in Rome
Image of Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, in Spartacus (1960).
• The rewards of conquest
• Land
• Municipia
• Coloniae
• Provinciae
• Centuriation
• Plunder (gold, silver, etc.)
• Sulla’s plundering of Delphi, 87
• Slaves
• Sicilian slave revolts, 135-132 and
104-100
• Spartacus slave revolt, 74-72

26. Roman slaves in collars. Relief from Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey), 200 CE, in Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford.

27. Centuriation of the Po Valley (left) and Awlad al’Abid, Tunisia (right)
(a centuria is square with sides 700 meters in length)

28. Cultural change in Rome
Reconstruction of a Roman villa, built in the 1st century CE, now the Open-Air Museum at Hechingen-
Stein, Germany.
• From traditional values to imperial
values
• Mystery cults
• Luxus (luxury, wealth)
• Latifundiae
• Large farms that grew cash crops,
relied on slave labor
• The end of the small farmer
• Only citizens could serve in the
military; citizens soldiers had to own
property
• The emergence of the proconsul

29. Cultural change in Rome
Magna Mater/Cybele, 50 CE, Getty Museum, Malibu, California.
• Religious change
• Elusinian mysteries
• Cult of Isis and Serapis
• Cult of Mithras
• Magna Mater
• Philosophy
• Stoicism

30. Left—Capitoline Isis, 138-117 BCE. Marble, Capitoline Museum, Rome; center—Persephone and
Pluto as Isis and Serapis, Archaeological Museum, Heraklion, Crete; right—Statue of Mithras slaying a
bull, 1st century CE. Marble, British Museum, London.

31. The Consequences of Imperialism
• The key political issues of the late Republic
• What to do about landless citizens and military veterans
• What to do about allies who want citizenship
• Optimates and populares
• Emergence of the equites as a political force

32. The Consequences of Imperialism
Cenotaph of the Gracchi brothers, by Eugene Guillaume, 19th century, Musee d’Orsay.
• Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, 163-133
• Land reform bill
• Kingdom of Pergamum as public land
• Sought second consecutive tribuneship, but
assassinated
• Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, 154-121
• Sempronian laws, 123
• Land reform and founding of colonies
• Grain at half price for poor Romans
• Equites in juries for corruption trials
• Equites as contractors for tax collection
• In 122, tackled the citizenship issue
• Sought third consecutive tribuneship, lost;
committed suicide

33. The Career of Gaius Marius
Marius triumphal chariot denarius, c. 100 BCE, British Museum, London.
• Gaius Marius, c. 157-86
• Consul in 107, Numidian campaign (until 105)
• Recruited landless men
• Settled veterans on conquered lands
• Consul in 104, campaigned in southern Gaul
(until 101)
• Recruited landless men
• Settled veterans on conquered lands
• Given the right to grant citizenship to
allied vets
• Consul in 103, 102, 101, 100
• Sought consulship illegally in 88
• Consul in 86

34. The Career of Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Sulla denarius, 55-54 BCE, Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
• Lucius Cornelius Sulla, c. 137-78
• Campaigned with Marius in Numidia (107-5)
and Gaul (104-1)
• The Social War, 91-87
• The events of 88
• Sulla elected consul, given a campaign in
Pontus
• Marius illegally granted Pontus campaign
• Sulla seized Rome and had Marius
declared a “public enemy”
• Violation of the pomerium
• Sulla returned to Pontus campaign (87-
85)

35. The Career of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, part 2
Bust of Sulla, 50-40 BCE, Glyptothek, Munich.
• Sulla’s effort to restore Rome
• Returned to Italy in 83, appointed dictator 82-
81
• Proscriptions
• Restored senate and some political laws
• Gave allies citizenship in 35 tribes
• Settled 80,000 vets on conquered lands
• Made office of tribune a political dead-
end
• Abolished grain distribution and removed
equites from juries
• Consul in 80
• Retired in 79

36. Sulla’s associates
Marble bust of Pompey, 30-50 CE (copy of bust from 50 BCE), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek,
Copenhagen.
• Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, 106-48
• Fought in the Social War, 90
• Allied with Sulla, 83
• Earned the title the “Young Butcher” while
fighting for Sulla, 82-81
• Consul in 70, but too young for the office
• Campaign in Pontus, 66-63
• Marcus Licinius Crassus, 115-53
• Allied with Sulla, 83
• Praetor in 73
• Won the final battle against Spartacus, had
6000 slaves crucified
• Consul in 70
• Censor in 65

37. Career of Gaius Julius Caesar
Caesar as imperator, c. 100 CE, Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Senatorio, Rome.
• Gaius Julius Caesar, 100-44
• The First Triumvirate formed in 60
• Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey
• Consul in 59
• Campaigned in Gaul and Britain, 58-51
• First Triumvirate convened again in 56
• Caesar promised support for Pompey
and Crassus as consuls in 55
• Pompey received campaign in Spain
• Crassus received campaign in Asia, killed
at Carrhae, 53

38. The Career of Gaius Julius Caesar
Denarius of Caesar, minted 46/45 BCE. Obverse shows head of Venus, lituus of pontifex maximus;
reverse shows tropaeum, a captured Gaul, and mourning Gallia. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
• Caesar’s later career
• Relationship with Pompey started to sour, 54
onward; Pompey sided with the senate against
Caesar by 51
• Crossing the Rubicon River, 49
• Pompey fled Rome
• Battle of Pharsalus (Thessaly), 48
• Pompey fled to Egypt, was killed by Cleopatra
VII
• Dictator in 49, 47, 46 (granted for 10 years), 44
(took title for life)
• Consul in 48, 46, 45, 44
• Relationship with Cleopatra VII, d. 30
• Assassinated on the Ides of March, 15 March 44

39. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Left—a silver tetradrachm with Antony and Cleopatra, 36-34 BCE; right—a bronze coin of
Cleopatra and Caesarion, 35 BCE, photos by Barbara McManus, Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
• Assassination of Caesar, Ides of March 44
• Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), 82-30
• Consul in 44 along with Caesar
• Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, 89/88-12
• Caesar’s magister militum
• Octavian, 63 BCE-14 CE
• Cleopatra VII, 69-30
• The Second Triumvirate, 43
• Battle of Philippi, 42
• Marriage of Antony and Octavia, sister of Octavian, 40-
32
• Battle of Actium, 31
• Attack on Alexandria, 30
• Suicide of Antony and Cleopatra VII

40. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Augustus as pontifex maximus, 1st century BCE, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.
• The First Settlement, 30-23
• Consular power annually, 30-23
• Purge of the senate in 29
• “Restored” power to the senate in 27
• Senate named him Augustus, “divinely
favored”
• Princeps and auctoritas
• The Second Settlement, 23 BCE-14 CE
• Held proconsular and tribunician power
only
• Held unofficial imperium
• Second purge of the senate, 18
• Named Pater Patriae in 2 BCE
• Pontifex maximus, 12 BCE-14 CE

41. Augustan aureus, 19-18 BCE. Obverse—Augustus with laurel wreath, image from
The Metropolitan Musem, New York; reverse—Winged goddess Victory, with SPQR
(Senatus Populusque Romanorum), image from the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

42. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century BCE, Vatican Museums.
• Control of the army
• Direct control of all legions
• Oath of loyalty to Augustus
• Volunteer force after 13 BCE
• Expansion of the state
• New provinces
• Boundaries now the Rhine,
Danube, and Euphrates
• Urban projects
• Public buildings
• Grain supply in Rome
• “Urban cohorts”
• Public entertainment
• Social and religious reforms
• Lex Julia
• Rewards for marriage
and childbearing
• Limits on manumission
of slaves
• Reinforcement of
traditional cults
• Literary propaganda
• Vergils’ Aeneid
• Livy’s History of Rome
• Horace’s Odes

43. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Tiberius, 1st century CE, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Three keys to ruling the empire
• Good relations with the military
• Good relations with the senate
• Good relations with the people of Rome
• Julio-Claudian dynasty
• Tiberius, r. 14-37
• Praetorian Guard
• Praetorian Prefect
• Capri 26-37

44. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Caligula, 1st century CE, Louvre, Paris, France.
• Gaius (Caligula), r. 37-41
• “Bootsie”
• Co-emperor Tiberius Gemellus, d.
38

45. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Claudius, 1st century CE, National Museum, Naples, Italy.
• Claudius, r. 41-54
• Valeria Messalina, d. 48
• Children Octavia and Britannicus
• Agrippina the Younger, d. 59
• Mother of Nero
• Campaigns
• Britain, 43
• Mauretania, 43
• Thrace, 46
• Germany 47

46. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Nero, 1st century CE, Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Nuovo, Rome.
• Nero, r. 54-68
• Married to Claudius’ daughter Octavia,
53/4-62
• The great fire, 64
• The Golden House
• Persecution of Christians, 65-67
• Revolts
• Britain, 60
• Judaea, 66
• Gaul, 67
• In 68, Senate declares him a public
enemy; Nero commits suicide

47. Left—an aureus with Nero and Agrippina the Younger, 54, National Archaeological
Museum, Naples; right—an aureus with Nero (obverse) and Jupiter (reverse), 65,
Bergen Museum, Bergen, Norway.

48. Nero’s Golden House. Left—illustration of Rome from the air, from
www.theromanforum.com; right—layout of the Golden House, from web.mit.edu.

49. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Vespasian, 70-80 CE, British Museum, London.
• Flavian dynasty, 69-96
• Vespasian, 69-79
• The Colosseum
• Titus, 79-81
• Domitian, 81-96
• Donative to the Praetorian Guard

50. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Statue of Trajan as a general, c. 120 CE, Louvre, Paris.
• The five “good emperors”
• Nerva, 96-98
• Alimenta
• Trajan, 98-117
• Dacian Wars 101-102 and 105-106
• Second Jewish Revolt, 115-117

51. Left—aureus issued by Nerva, c. 97 CE, Classical Numismatic Group; right top—
aureus of Nerva, minted 97 CE, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome; right bottom—
sesterces of Nerva, minted 97 CE, Bergen Museum, Norway.

52. Left—Trajan’s column, dedicated in 113 CE to celebrate the Dacian Wars, Rome;
right—cast of an image from Trajan’s column of Dacian women and children brought
before Trajan, Museum of Roman Civilization, Rome.

53. Left—aureus minted during Trajan’s reign and celebrating the alimenta, c. 105 CE,
Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Right—aureus issued after Trajan’s death, depicting
Trajan and his wife Plotina, c. 120 CE, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

54. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Hadrian, c. 130 CE, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
• The five “good emperors”
• Hadrian, 117-138
• Hadrian’s Wall (n. Britain)
• Third Jewish Revolt, 132-135
• Antoninus Pius, 138-161
• Antonine Wall (n. Britain)

55. Left—map of Roman Britain, from Nora Chadwick, The Celts; right—Hadrian’s Wall,
northern England.

56. Vindolanda fort, south of Hadrian’s Wall, in use from c. 85-380 CE.

57. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, c. 170 CE, National Archaeological Museum, Istanbul.
• The five “good emperors”
• Marcus Aurelius, 161-180
• Lucius Verus as co-emperor, 161-169
• Parthian War, 161-166
• Egyptian Revolt, 175
• Commodus as co-emperor, 176-180

58. The Golden Age of the Roman Empire
• Romanization
• Latin
• Roman deities
• Roman coinage
• Roman dress
• Public buildings
• Roman luxury goods
• Olive oil, wine, tableware, glassware
• Pax Romana

59. Map of the Roman Empire at its height, c. 120 CE, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of
the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.

60. Map of trade in the Roman Empire, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West,
Volume 1, 3rd edition

61. Map of Roman cities, from Ralph Linnaeus Pounds, The Development of Education in
Western Culture, 1969.

62. Roads of the Roman Empire. Left map from persweb.Wabash.edu; right map from
Wikipedia.

63. Left—Via Appia in Rome; right—the remains of a Roman road between Manchester
and Yorkshire, in Britain.

64. Google image of known Roman aqueducts, from The Atlas Project of Roman
Aqueducts, http://www.romaq.org/the-project/map.html

65. Aqueduct Julia, Rome, built c. 33 BCE.

66. Pont du Gard, Nimes, France, built c. 16 BCE.

67. Aqueduct Segovia, Spain, built 1st century CE.

68. Left—baths of Aquae Sulis, Bath, England, 1st century CE; right—baths at Hamat
Gader, Israel, 2nd century CE.

69. Amphitheater in Verona, Italy, built circa 30 CE.

70. The Colosseum, Rome, finished c. 80 CE.

71. Amphitheater in Tarragona, Spain, built in 2nd century CE.

72. The Roman Empire at its height
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition

73. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Bust of Commodus as Hercules, Capitoline Museum, Rome.
• The end of the Golden Age
• Praetorian Guard and Praetorian
Prefects
• Commodus, r. 180-192
• Colonus Commodiana
• Pertinax, r. January-March 193
• Didius Julianus, r. March-June 193

74. Left—brass coin of Commodus, depicting a donative to the citizens of Rome, 192 CE,
Pergamon Museum, Berlin; right top—aureus of Pertinax, 193 CE; right bottom—
aureus of Didius Julianus, depicting his wife Manlia, 193 CE. Right side coins from
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

75. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Bust of Septimius Severus, Capitoline Museum, Rome.
• Severan dynasty, 193-235
• Septimius Severus r. 193-211
• Caracalla r. 211-217
• Geta, r. 211-212
• Constitutio Antoniniana, 212
• Macrinus, r. 217-218
• Elagabalus r. 218-222
• Cult of Elah-Gabal made into
primary Roman cult
• Severus Alexander r. 222-235

76. Left—portrait of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, and sons, c. 200 CE, Staatliche
Museen, Berlin; right—aureus of Septimius Severus and sons Caracalla (l) and Geta
(r), 202 CE, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna.

77. Left—aureus of Caracalla, depicting his visit to a shrine of Aesculapius, 215 CE, Altes
Musem, Berlin; right—bronze coin of Caracalla, with facing image of Geta scraped
off, c. 208 CE, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna.

78. Left—aureus of Macrinus, depicting him in a triumphal chariot, 218 CE, Bode
Museum, Berlin; right—bronze coin of Elagabalus, depicting symbols of the imperial
cult, 218-222 CE, British Museum.

79. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Bust of Philip the Arab, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
• The Third Century Crisis, 235-284
• The age of the “barracks emperors”
• Maximinus, r. 235-238
• General under Severus
Alexander
• Philip the Arab, r. 244-249
• Praetorian Prefect
• Decius, r. 249-251
• General under Philip the Arab
• Valerian, r. 253-260
• Commander of Rhine legions
• Aurelian, r. 270-275
• Made Sol Invictus the primary
cult of Rome

80. Left—aureus of Postumus, depicting him with Vestal Virgins at the temple of Vesta,
minted in Germany c. 263 CE, Bode Museum, Berlin; right—brass coin of Philip the
Arab, depicting Fides as a goddess with imperial and military symbols in hand, c. 246
CE, Altes Museum, Berlin.

81. Relief of Sasanian King Shapur I receiving the submission of Emperors Philip the Arab
(kneeling) and Valerian (standing), c. 260 CE, at Naqsh-I Rustam, Iran.

82. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Chart from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.
• A troubled empire
• Debasing of coinage
• Inflation and high prices
• Scarcity of goods and slave labor
• Plague
• Invasions
• Revolts
• Abandonment of farm land
• Fears of divine wrath due to
decreasing popularity of
traditional cults
• Persecution of Christians

83. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Stone inlay depicting Jesus, 3rd century.
• The province of Judaea
• Sadducees
• Pharisees
• Essenes
• Jesus of Nazareth, d. circa 33
• Messiah, from Hebrew Maschiach
• Christ, from Greek Christos
• St. Peter, d. circa 60
• First bishop of Rome
• Matthew 16: 18, “It is upon this rock that
I will build my church.”
• St. Paul, d. circa 66
• The vision near Damascus

84. Left—a mosaic of St. Paul, 3rd century; right--map from Coffin and Stacey, Western
Civilization, Volume I, 14th edition.

85. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Statue of Mithras slaying a bull, 1st century CE, British Museum, London.
• Traditional Roman religion
• Jupiter Optimus Maximus
• Cult of emperors
• Lares and Penates
• Cult of Fortuna
• Mystery religions in Rome
• Cult of Isis and Serapis
• Cult of Eleusis
• Cult of Mithras
• Jews exempted from Roman religious
practice by Caesar Augustus because
of their long history and religious
tradition
• Christians NOT exempted because
they were viewed as a new sect

86. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
• Persecution
• Christians rejected all Roman religious practice
• Roman officials believed Christians practiced cannibalism
• Matthew 26: 26-28, “Take, eat, this is my body… Drink, all of you, of this; for this is my
blood…
• Christians insisted all other beliefs, Roman or otherwise, were false
• Martyrdom
• Pliny the Elder to Trajan: “I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they
confessed I repeated the question twice again, adding threats at the same time; when, if they
still persevered, I ordered them to be immediately punished: for I was persuaded whatever
the nature of their opinions might be, a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy certainly
deserved correction…”
• Martyrdom of Saints Felicitas and Perpetua, Carthage, 203
• Christianity’s survival underground
• Orthodoxy established by 200
• Catholicus, from Greek katholikos (universal)
• St. Peter as chief disciple
• Men as leaders of the church
• Bishops, priests, deacons

87. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Left top—bust of Diocletian, Archaeological Museum, Istanbul; left bottom—bust of
Maximian, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden; right—the Tetrarchs, St. Mark’s Square,
Venice.
• Diocletian, r. 284-305 (d. 311)
• Beginning of the Dominate
• From dominus, “master”
• The Tetrarchy, 293-306
• Diocletian, Augustus of the east in
Nicomedia
• Galerius, Caesar of the east in
Thessalonika
• Maximian, Augustus of the west in Milan
• Constantius I Chlorus, Caesar of the west
in Trier

88. Map of the Tetrarchy
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1, 3rd edition.

89. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Brass medallion of Diocletian, c. 294 CE, Bode Museum, Berlin.
• Economic reforms
• New tax census
• Italy now required to contribute to
taxation
• Reform of coinage, 290s
• Minting of a new aureus and an
argenteus, but bronze coins still most
common
• Edict on Maximum Prices, 301
• Administrative reforms
• Division of the 50 provinces into 100+
• Praesides
• No military power

90. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Relief of Mithras slaying the bull, late 3rd century, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.
• Military reforms
• Recruitment and sons forced to
replace fathers
• Duces and comites
• Religious reforms
• Reaffirmation of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus and Hercules cults
• Persecution of Christians
• The “Great Persecution,” 303-306

91. Exterior of Baths of Diocletian, Rome.

92. Left—reconstruction of Diocletian’s palace at Split, Croatia, by Ernest Hébrard, 1912;
right—peristyle square, Wikipedia Commons.

93. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Left—bust of Galerius, Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius, Serbia; right—copy of a
bust of Constantius I Chlorus, Pushkin Museum, Moscow (based on original in Antik
Sammlung, Berlin).
• Diocletian and Maximian step down in
305
• Galerius, Augustus of the east, 305-
311
• Maximin Daia, Caesar of the east
• Constantius I Chlorus, Augustus of the
west, 305-306
• Severus, Caesar of the West
• Waiting in the wings…
• Licinius
• Constantine son of Constantius Chlorus
• Maxentius son of Maximian

94. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
• Civil war, 306-313
• Constantine raised up by his father’s forces in July 306
• Maxentius raised up by the people of Rome and the Praetorian Guard in
October 306
• Severus failed to reclaim Rome, was captured and forced to commit suicide in
307
• Licinius proclaimed Augustus in the west by Galerius, 308
• Maximin Daia proclaimed Augustus by his forces, 310
• Constantine openly proclaiming himself Augustus, 310
• Death of Galerius, 311; Licinius and Maximin Daia immediately fight over the
eastern territory, agree on the Bosphorus as a border
• Constantine’s defeat of Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge, 312
• Constantine and Licinius ally against Maximin Daia, 313
• Edict of Milan issued at same time
• Maximin Daia forced into hiding in Cilicia, died late in 313

95. Left top—follis of Severus, Classical Numismatic Group; left bottom—aureus of
Licinius, Bode Museum, Berlin; right—copy of a bust of Maximinus Daia, Pushkin
Museum, Moscow (original in Cairo Museum).

96. Crisis and Decline in the Empire
Remains of statue of Constantine, 315-330, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome.
• Constantine, son of Constantius I Chlorus, r. 312-
324/337
• Disbanding of Praetorian Guard
• Creation of the diocese (12 and later 15) and vicarius
• Praetorian Prefects stripped of military authority
• Now in charge of provisioning the army
• Creation of comitatensus and magister militum
• Creation of a new gold coin, the solidus
• Defeat of Licinius, Augustus of the east, in 324
• Council of Nicaea, 325
• Founding of Constantinople in 330
• Campaigns against the Goths and Sasanian Persians,
332-337

97. Left top—copper nummus of Constantine I, depicting his mother Helena, 324/5,
Metropolitan Museum of Art; left bottom—solidus of Constantine I, depicting
Empress Fausta, 324-5, Metropolitan Museum of Art; right— “silvered” nummus of
Constantine I, depicting Fausta and sons, 324/5, Yale Art Gallery.

98. Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine, early 4th century, Rome.

99. Arch of Constantine, Rome, built shortly after the battle of Milvian Bridge.

100. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
• The imperial succession according to Constantine I
• Constantine I as Maximus Augustus
• Sons Crispus and Constantine II both designated as Augustus in 317
• Crispus executed by Constantine I in 326 for adultery with Empress Fausta
(also executed)
• Younger sons Constantius II and Constans designated as Caesars in 324 and
333
• In 337,
• Constantine II became Augustus of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, 337-340
• Constantius II became Augustus of the east, 337-361
• Constans became Augustus of Italy, Africa, and the Balkans, 337-350
• Two nephews intended as co-rulers, but assassinated by Constantius in 337
• In 340, Constantine II and Constans fought over Italy; Constantine II killed in
battle

101. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
• Renewed civil war, 350-354
• Constans (Italy, Africa, Balkans, Spain, Gaul, Britain) deposed and executed in
350 by his troops in Gaul, who were led by Magnentius
• Multiple men claimed the imperial title, but only Magnentius survived in the
west, r. 350-353
• Magnentius eventually defeated by Constantius II and forced into suicide
• Constantius II appointed a cousin, Julian, as Caesar in the west in 355
• Julian succeeded as sole Augustus, 361-363
• Julian the Apostate

102. Left top—gold medallion of Constantius II, c. 350-360, depicts his war against the
Persians, British Museum; left bottom—statue of Constantine II on the Cordonata,
Rome; right top—bust of Constans, Louvre Museum, Paris; right bottom—solidus of
Magnentius, Bode Museum, Berlin.

103. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
The Colossus of Barletta (Valentinian I), Puglia, Italy.
• Julian, r. 361-363
• Jovian, r. 363-364
• An officer in the imperial guard
(protectores)
• Valentinian I, r. 364-375
• Western Augustus
• Conflict with Germanic, British, North
African, Sarmatian, and Quadi tribes
• New gold standard, “Obryzum” (OB)
• Valens, r. 364-378
• Eastern Augustus
• Conflict with the Goths and Persians
• Battle of Adrianople, 378

104. Solidus of Valentinian I, minted in Trier, depicting the brothers as ruling together,
with Victory behind them. Wildwinds Coins.

105. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Left—solidus of Gratian, Wildwinds Coins; right—solidus of Theodosius I, Valkhofmuseum, Nijmegen.
• Gratian, r. 367/375-383
• Nephew of and co-emperor with Valentinian I,
stationed in Trier
• Valentinian II, r. 375/383-392
• Brother of and co-emperor with Gratian, stationed in
Milan
• Theodosius I, r. 379-395
• Military commander appointed by Gratian to rule in
the east
• Conflict with the Goths and Persians
• Magnus Maximus, 383-388
• Fought and killed Gratian in 383; demanded
recognition as Augustus of the West
• Captured and executed by Theodosius in 388
• Arbogast, regent in the West, 390-392
• Seized power from Valentinian II, raised up a usurper
• Defeated and killed by Theodosius in 392

106. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Left—bust of Arcadius, Archaeological Museum, Istanbul; right—bust of Honorius,
Capitoline Museum, Rome.
• Theodosius I, r. 379-395
• Arcadius, r. 383/395-408
• Appointed as co-emperor of the East, 383
• Governed through his Praetorian Prefect
• Honorius, r. 393/395-423
• Appointed as co-emperor of the West, 393
• Governed through Stilicho, magister
militum and regent of the West, 394-408
• Moved the imperial court from Milan to
Ravenna in 402
• Lost Britain and Gaul to a usurper in 406
• Stilicho executed in 408
• Rome sacked by Visigoths in 410

107. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Solidus of Theodosius II, 441-444, depicting Empress Aelia Eudocia, Altes Museum,
Berlin.
• Theodosius II, r. 408-450
• Augustus of the East
• The Theodosian Code, 438
• The Theodosian Wall
• Succeeded by Marcian, his son-in-
law and a retired general
• Valentinian III, r. 423-455
• Nephew of Theodosius II,
appointed Augustus of the West
• Aetius, regent of the West, 423-
454
• Fought Huns, Franks, and
Visigoths
• Assassinated by Valentinian in
454

108. Left—bust of Theodosius II, Louvre Museum, Paris; right—the
Theodosian Wall in modern Istanbul.

109. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
West East
Theodosius I, r. 394-395
Honorius, r. 395-423 Arcadius, r. 395-408
Constantius III, 421 Theodosius II, r. 408-450
John, r. 423-425
Valentinian III, r. 425-455 Marcian r. 450-457
Petronius Maximus, r. 455
Avitus, r. 455-456
Marjorian, r. 457-461 Leo I, r. 457-474
Libius Severus, r. 461-465
Anthemius, r. 467-472
Olybrius, r. 472
Glycerius, r. 473
Julius Nepos, r. 473-475 Leo II (r. 10 months) and Zeno, r. 474-491
Romulus Augustulus, r. 475-476
Odoacer, regent of the West, 476-489
Theodoric, “king of the Romans,” 489-526

110. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Buckle of Visigothic make, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
• Romans and Germans
• Tacitus, The Germania, c. 100 CE
• Auxilia and foederati
• Germans as regents and
generals
• Visigoths
• Battle of Adrianople, 378
• Alaric, d. 411
• Sack of Rome, 410
• Settlement in southern Gaul,
418-507, and Spain, 507-711
• Arian but converted to
Catholicism c. 600
• Visigothic law codified in 642/3

111. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Skull of a Hun, from Peter Heather’s The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of
Rome and the Barbarians.
• Crossing of the Rhine and Danube
Rivers, 406
• Vandals, Alans, and Sueves
crossed the Rhine into Gaul and
Spain; Ostrogoths crossed the
Danube into Italy
• Vandals
• Settlement in Spain, 407-429, and
North Africa, 429-535
• Sack of Rome in 455
• North Africa retaken by eastern
Roman troops in 535
• Huns
• Attila, d. 453

112. Germanic migrations into Rome
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume I, 3rd edition.

113. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Taplow buckle, found in Kent, but with Frankish styling, 7th century, British Museum.
• Franks in Gaul
• Allies of Aetius against the Huns, c.
450
• Childeric, d. 481
• Clovis, r. 481-511
• Consul and Augustus, 507
• Salic law code
• Converted directly to
Catholicism
• Established the Merovingian
dynasty, 481-751

114. Frankish fibulae (brooches), late 6th to early 7th centuries, from The Anglo-Saxons,
edited by James Campbell.

115. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Map from Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England.
• Angles, Saxons, etc. in Britain
• Romano-Britons told to fend for
themselves, 409-410
• Angle and Saxon auxilii already
serving in Roman forces in Britain,
late 300s
• Migration begins c. 420 continues
into 500s
• King Arthur???
• Æthelbert of Kent the first to
convert to Catholicism, c. 597
• Æthelbert’s Kentish law code, c.
600

116. Left—reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo mound 1 burial. Right—photo of the
remains of the ship burial c. 1939. Images from Wikipedia.

117. Left—shoulder clasps from Mound 1, Sutton Hoo; right—the Sutton Hoo helmet,
from The Anglo-Saxons, edited by James Campbell.

118. Mound 17, Sutton Hoo burial site, East Anglia, late 6th early 7th century, from The
Anglo-Saxons, edited by James Campbell.

119. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Tomb of Theodoric, Ravenna, Italy.
• Ostrogoths in Italy
• Theodoric, r. 489-526
• Boethius (d. 524/5) and
Cassiodorus (d. 585)
• Athalaric, r. 526-534
• Amalasuintha, r. 534-535
• Justinian’s war in Italy, 535-561
• Lombards in Italy
• Lombard invasions begin in 560s
• Rothari’s Edict, 643
• Conversion to Catholicism in 671

120. The former Roman Empire, circa 500 CE
Map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume I, 3rd edition.

121. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
The Justinian mosaic, San Vitale, Ravenna.
• The Eastern Roman Empire, 476-610
• Zeno, r. 474-491
• Anastasius, r. 491-518
• Justin I, r. 518-527
• Justinian I, r. 527-565
• Corpus Juris Civilis, 533/534
• Wars of reconquest
• North Africa, 533-534
• Italy, 535-561
• Spain, 552-565
• Hagia Sophia
• The Byzantine Empire, 610-1453

122. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.

123. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
German gold pendant with Roman styling, 5th to 6th century, British Museum.
• Survival of Roman culture in the West
• Latin
• Concepts of kingship
• Hereditary kingship
• Kings as makers of law
• Clovis as Consul and Augustus
• Christianity
• Roman law
• Classical learning
• Preservation of Roman and some
Greek texts in monasteries
• Material culture

124. Left—late Roman heavy cavalry helmet; right—the Sutton Hoo helmet, East Anglia c.
600.

125. Left—adoration of the Magi, Vatican, Rome, 3rd century;
right—relief of Adoration of the Magi, San Martino, Cividale del Friuli, Italy, c. 745.

126. The Franks Casket. This panel depicts Wayland the Smith (left) and the adoration of
the Magi (right), 8th century, British Museum.

127. The End of Rome and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
Left—Gold bust of Charlemagne, Treasury of Aachen Cathedral, 14th century; right—
“Charlemagne and his noble servants,” by Louis and Charles Rochet, 1886, Notre Dame
Cathedral, Paris.
• The survival of Roman culture in
the West
• Charlemagne, r. 768-814
• Emperor, 800-814
• Imperial title held by Carolingians
until 888; held by Ottonians and
other Germanic dynasties from 962-
1806
• The Corpus Juris Civilis
• Rediscovered in Italy in the 12th
century; studied at medieval
universities, becoming the basis for
much modern European law