Sept. 23: The Hellenistic era and the rise of Rome
5. Sept. 23, 25 Rise of Rome
Tuesday: Julius Caesar,
Gallic War (web) (topics: Roman motives for conquest; method of warfare;
engineering)
Thursday: Kishlansky 20.
Juvenal's Satires (topic: differences between Greek and Roman attitudes
towards women)
Houses of Pompeii /
Herculaneum (hand-out)
Bulliet, Ch. 6
I. Hellenistic monarchies
In 20 years after A's death, these generals would fight for Alexander's empire.
In the end, none of them were able to get all of it
The empire ended up splitting into 3 big pieces.
(MAP)
Macedonia and Greece - Antigonids
Seleucid kingdom: Old Persian empire ( Mesopotamia, Iran, southern Asia Minor, Syria) Ptolemaic Egypt - Ptolemies
These Hellenistic kingdoms will dominate western history for several centuries
300 BC - to 150 BC (longer in case of Egypt)
The royal families remained Greek or Macedonian in language and ancestory - they didn't marry conquered peoples (unlike Alexander)
The highest officials and generals were Greeks/Macedonians -
Ordinary subjects were a mixture of Greek-speakers, and Egyptians, Syrians, Jews, Assyrians, so on - cosmopolitan world
Union of Near Eastern and Greek civilization
Hellenistic kingdoms were important because they united the
culture of the Greeks and the Near East.
If you wonder how Jews like the
apostle Paul came to write the New Testament in Greek - it's because of the
Hellenistic kingdoms.
Much that Near Eastern knowledge
we talked about beginning of semester - Mesopotamian mathematics, Egyptian
medicine - this got transmitted during the Hellenistic period
A. HOW ALEXANDER'S CONQUESTS
CHANGED NEAR EAST
- Greek language - koine - speads to most of Near East
even among the Jews
- Foundation of Greek cities (with picture of Ay Khanoum, Afghanistan)
Alexandria - main Greek city
founded, new center of intellectual activity
Located in Ptolemaic Egypt
Alexander had founded Alexandria
after he conquered Egypt
It was on western tip of Nile
Delta - so fertile hinterland and near port Pharos (Homeric)
MAP
It soon became one of the largest
cities in the world - with a population of hundreds of thousands.
Physical features of a Greek city:
agora, gymnasia, temples, theatre
But the Ptolemies allowed
multiethnic immigration - Macedonians, Greeks, Egyptians, Jews (perhaps 1/5
Jewish).
(Old Testament translated into
Greek here - at king's orders)
This city became center for scientific
advances - financed by Ptolemaic kings.
Museum
There scholars supported by
government stipends congregated
A library attached - with goal to
have copy of every book ever written I Greek - ultimately 700,000 papyrus rolls
Science
Alexandrian scholars made advances
in math, astronomy, medicine, and engineering
Some noteworthy achievements in
astronomy:
an accurate calculation of the
circumference of the earth (by Eratosthenes)
first proposal that the earth
revolves around the sun instead of other way around (Aristarchus of Samos)
Hippocratic Corpus:
key
center was island of Cos off coast of Asia Minor
Hippocrates
of Cos (460 - 377 B) was traditional
founder of Greek medicine
treatises
attributed to him collected only in early Hellenistic period
He
sought rational physical explanations for illness, instead of divine.
Many
of his specific "discoveries" were incorrect:
Believed
that the body was kept healthy by the proper balance of four humors (blood,
phlegm, bile, black bile)
Women
who do not have enough sexual intercourse may suffer hysteria (movement
of the womb accompanied by mental disorders)
We
don't accept most of these ideas: but they will be part of western medical
thought throught the remainder of this course - well into the 17th century
CE:
Our
own language carries heritage:
(sanguine
- having surplus of the humor blood)
(bilious
- of bile)
phlegmatic
hysteria
Main
contribution of Hippocrates and his school, focus on physical causes and cures,
instead of supernatural (even though most Greeks of his time and later on, will
continue to take their sick to the temples and pray to the gods for a cure)
Herophilus anatomist in Alexandria
Sum up intellectual activity in Alexandria
B. How Greeks changed during the Hellenistic Age?
1. Divine kingship
Kings are in charge now - not independent city-states
These kings are increasingly worshipped as divine
War and politics of the polis - city-state - are no longer focus of most men's lives
2. Culture: Rise of individualism
Mainland Greece - esp. Athens - remained the center of drama and philosophy during the Hellenistic period
Comedies (Menander)
about star-crossed lovers - usually women and men, not boys and men
Not as political as comedies of classical Greece
Art
More realistic, instead of focusing just on ideal
EXAMPLES - OLD BEGGAR WOMEN;
PEASANT LABORER
New philosophies: individualism
Similarly, not as idealistic as classical philosophy
Plato had still though he could reform the world - construct the ideal state
New philosophers focused on individuals might be as happy as possible in an imperfect world
Epicureanism: 341-271 BC, worked in Athens
Adopted atomic theory of earlier philosophers - that universe composed of randomly moving atoms
This atomic theory left little room for gods
Epicurus thought gods existed (proof of dreams), but they didn't care about people or the world
Nothing to fear from gods (or hope from them)
Physical forces controlled everything here on earth.
And when mans atoms come apart - i.e. he dies - there is no afterlife (no soul as in Plato)
So the proper goal of life was to enjoy the here and now: the pursuit of pleasure
Now Epicurus didn't mean wild abandon - he thought most lasting happiness was untroubled state free from excessive pleasure or pain (like Stoics)
Engaging in politics was likely to involve you in too much pain or pleasure; falling headlong in love; drinking too much - these should all be taken in moderation
Philosophy for new age:
When people no longer had as much control over their lives as in classical city-states
individual happiness becomes most important thing
STATUS OF WOMEN CHANGED - FOR THE BETTER
Female intellectuals appear:
Epicurus admitted women into his philosophical circle
(His female lover = Leontion - wrote philosophical treatises herself)
Women become more visible in art and literature
In comedies - women are worthy romantic love object
Artists begin to paint and sculpt women more frequently
Marriage contracts begin to be used - to protect rights of bride
(for example, grooms contract not to bring a mistress into the house)
Women occasionally even play a role in government:
A few Ptolemaic queens of Egypt ruled in their own right
CLEOPATRA: Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, in 1st century BCE (last of the Ptolemies): killed her brother / husband and ruled by herself as “pharaoh;” became ally of Roman generals (in more ways than one) – had child by Julius Caesar; married Marc Antony, and lost Egypt to the Romans when she and Marc Antony were defeated by Octavian Augustus.
Why should status of women have risen?
Fighting and politics - male dominated activities - going into decline
Kings controlled both now
The "female" virtues - submissiveness, hard work, - valued more in age when Greeks were no longer free.
Also, whenever aristocratic power structures become predominant, aristocratic / royal women become more prominent
END OF HELLENISTIC PERIOD
Summary of important aspects:
Rise of Macedonia
Philip's military reforms
Alexander's conquest of the world
Effects:
Greeks lose their political freedom - democracy no longer existed
War and politics are no longer focus of most men's lives
Fruitful union of Greek and Near Eastern culture:
Alexandrian scientists and engineers highlighted
Drama and philosophy emphasize individual happiness
Art becomes more realistic - portraying poor people, old women, foreigners, as well as beautiful Greek boys
Women become more visible and influential
The Greeks, all things considered, become a little soft during the Hellenistic age
Ripe for conquest by a new warrior people of Italy - whom the Greeks had hardly noticed
Romans
PICTURE
II. ROMAN REPUBLIC
Legacy of Greeks vs. Romans
Debt to Greeks: democracy; philosophy; history; geometry; athletics; drama; sculpture
What do we - 20th century Americans - owe to the Romans?
republic - senate - citizenship (something that can be granted)
city planning - grid-pattern of Chicago roads;
sewers (manholes)
concrete - mixing ground stone with mortar to use in arches -
the arch (good for aqueducts and sewers)
Roman Catholic church
months - September (7th month); July (Julius Caesar); August (Augustus Caesar), so on
Roman new year's on January 1
Shape of our football stadiums - Roman amphitheatre
porches in back of our house
jurisprudence - law as a profession; separation of civil and criminal law
An influential people
Roman history divided into three broad chronological periods:
Roman Republic (509-31 BC)
Roman Empire (31 BC - 300 AD)
Late antiquity (ca. 300 AD - 600 AD)
TODAY: I'm going to talk about beginnings of the Roman Republic
I. Origins of Roman Republic
Rome was founded in 753 BC. (or so the Romans claimed)
It was at first a group of villages, later a city-state (like the Greek city-states except less literate).
There were all sorts of other ethnic groups in Italy at the time - Greeks in the south (esp. Sicily), Etruscans in the north, other Latins related to the Romans (but independent from them)
- Kings in Rome 753 - 509 BC
For its first several centuries, Rome was ruled by kings, often foreign kings.
The most important of these kings were Etruscan.
Etruscans were a mysterious people in n. Italy - possibly originally from Asia Minor.
Romans learned a lot of things from the Etruscans (McKay 137)
Etruscans gave them their (and our) alphabet (adapted from the Greek)
Gladiator games
auspices (a peculiar way of predicting outcome of wars or other major political decisions by examining the intestines of animals – evidence of importance of religion in Roman politics)
vault and arch
toga
Finally around 509 BC, the Romans expelled their Etruscan kings, and set up a republic - a "public thing" - i.e. rule by the public, instead of by monarchs.\
Constitution of the Republic
The Roman republic was not a direct democracy (like Athens)- but a representative government where wealthy Romans had more votes than poor ones.
Senate - most important organ of government
300 men, who owned a certain amount of property, and had held high office
Only advisory role in theory but in practice governed Rome
Two Assemblies - Comitia centuriata and (later) the concilium plebis (McKay 140)
Assembly elected magistrates, and approved legislation
All free adult male citizens belonged
But those with property had much more voting power - their candidates almost always won office
Two consuls elected annually by the Assembly: led army and enforced the law.
So representative government -
less democratic than Athens (where every citizen had an equal vote); closer to Sparta
Culture of early Republic
They were good farmers - but not great merchants or seafarers; their economy was underdeveloped
Traditional family structure: fathers had great authority over wives and children
Their architecture and art was simple
III. ROMAN MILITARY EXPANSION
The questions is how this smallish city-state managed to conquer most of the world as they knew it?
use of maniples – more flexibility in way arranged troops
Roman discipline: obedience to orders, death penalty for insubordination or desertion, constant training
systematic ferocity
Chronology of expansion:
First Rome conquered Italy 5th and 4th centuries
BC
Romans began to conquer their neighbors in Italy - slowly, in the course of the 5th and 4th centuries.
The Romans began to grant the conquered Italians partial citizen rights - gradually turning all Italians into Romans.
This extension of citizenship to conquered peoples was new
in western history -
Persians; Hellenistic monarchies had treated conquered peoples as inferiors
Romans were willing to make them Romans.
PUNIC WARS – brought Rome its first overseas provinces
It took the Punic Wars - wars with Carthage - to make Rome an overseas empire.
Carthaginians
Carthaginians had a trading empire based in North Africa
They were great merchants, and seafarers, and had conquered much of Sicily by the 3rd century BC.
Came into conflict with the Romans over control of Sicily and Spain
The Second Punic War (218-201 BC) is more important.
This war almost destroyed Rome, because of a
Carthaginian prince named Hannibal.
Hannibal had grown up in Spain, after the Carthaginian defeat during the First Punic War.
His father - so it goes - had made him swear eternal hatred towards the Romans.
When the Romans began to meddle in Spain, Hannibal decided to take war to Italy itself.
He crossed from Spain over the Pyrenees and then over the Alps, with elephants.
40,000 men; 37 elephants
He lost almost half of his army, and 2/3rds of the elephants, but he nevertheless occupied Italy for 15 years.
The Romans lost battle after battle to Hannibal (who used a style of warfare much like the Greek hoplites)
Worst Roman defeat was at Cannae - 216 BC - 40,000 Romans killed.
Two things allowed the Romans to win in the end:
- Simple refusal by them or their Italian allies to surrender
- attacking the Carthaginian home base in North Africa (204 BC)
Hannibal left Italy and was defeated in North Africa by Scipio
The ferocity of Roman attacks on the Carthaginians is worth noting
- attack on New Carthage in Spain - Roman troops had orders to kill everyone - women, children, even the dogs.
Roman dismembered corpses
Romans won the 2nd Punic war
But Hannibal had made them terrified that another foreign power would occupy Italy
From that point on, Romans were set on overcoming anyone who could possibly be a threat to them (shift from a defensive to offensive foreign policy)
Conquest of rest of Mediterranean
The century and a half after the 2nd Punic War was the period of Rome’s greatest expansion.
Romans had another war with Carthage, and also fought the Hellenistic Greeks
Greeks
Wars with the Greeks started because the Hellenistic kings in Greece had helped Hannibal.
To get back at the kings, the Romans declared the Greek city-states "free" - i.e. free of Macedonia - and intervened to put this into effect.
When Greek cities don't show proper gratitude, the Romans conquer them.
146 BC was the most dramatic year -
Romans destroyed two ancient cities - Corinth and Carthage - in the same year
, killing or enslaving their populations, ripping down the buildings, and declaring the land unfit for habitation.
(modern legend is that they sowed Carthaginian land with salt to prevent it from being ever farmed again - but this is false; no ancient source says this)
.
By the end of the 1st century BC, all the territory which rings the Mediterranean sea was Roman -
and as we'll talk about next week, the Romans gradually turned the people they had conquered into Romans.
HOW DID CONQUERING AN EMPIRE CHANGE THE ROMANS?
- Influx of wealth and slaves
Taxes and booty from conquered provinces flow into Italy.
After conquering so much of the Mediterranean world, 100's of thousands of foreign slaves were imported into Italy (Most Roman slaves were acquired through war; Enslavement was a victor’s right in war)
to be used both for domestic service and as field hands on Roman plantations..
This created two significant changes in composition of Roman society:
- First, slave plantations began to replace the small farmers who had been the backbone of Roman society (and army)
- Among the rich slave-owning Romans, women become more liberated – slaves begin to do most of the domestic work
- Enormous expansion of the citizen body
both because of slave manumission (Romans were unusual in making their slaves Roman citizens when they freed them; much of the Roman citizen body eventually had slave origin) and extension of citizenship to conquered populations in Italy and the provinces
no long practical for all Roman
citizens to go to Rome to vote in Assemblies; Empire had grown to large for
political system
- Romans adopt Greek (Hellenistic) culture
The Romans conquered the Greeks - but the Greeks ended up influencing Roman culture far more than Roman culture influenced Greek.
In the 3rd and 2nd centuries, Greek intellectuals (and in 2nd and 1st c slaves) poured into Rome.
The Romans adopted Greek literary genres (drama, epic poetry, history), Greek philosophy (Stoicism, Epicureanism), Greek art, Greek social life (like public baths, gyms, theatres), even Greek food and sexual practices (homosexual romance became acceptable in upper class circes).
Even the shape of Roman houses became more Greek
addition of Greek peristyle.
A few conservative Romans tried to resist the Hellenizing trend - but they failed.
A truly "Graeco-Roman" culture was formed.