University
of Waterloo
Classical
Studies 252/History 252
Ancient
Roman History
Lecture
# II
Content
for Test #1
Lecturer
: D. E. A. Hutter
Important:
1.
These notes are
for D. E. A. Hutter’s section only.
2.
These notes give
only an outline of the lectures, and important names and terms. Students are
expected to take detailed notes during the lectures.
3. Text Readings: pages 29 – 77.
CLAS 252/HIST 252
LECTURE # II
- The Monarchy -
- The Early
Republic -
- Social Structure -
BREAK
- The Struggle of the Orders –
- Republican Government –
- Republican Ideals -
THE
MONARCHY (753 - 510 BC)
Prince Aeneas of Troy
(lesser branch of Tojan royalty)
Anchises + Venus = Aeneas
Ascanius
1180 BC flee Troy
Laurentum
King Latinus
Alba Longa : Chief city on
Latian Plain
Romulus & Remus
(legendary founders of Rome)
King Numitor (13 generations
after Ascanius)
King Amulius usurps throne
“She wolf”
753 BC Rome founded (April
21, 8:05 AM!)
“Pomoerium” (sacred
boundary)
-no
weapons or military power allowed within (in theory)
-good defensive position
Significance:
Rape of Sabine Women
“Roman” = Etruscan + Latins
+ Sabines
Rome sees Etruscans as 3rd
cousins
Etruscan Government of Rome:
Traditionally, 7 (mystic #)
kings of Rome
1)
Romulus (“little
man of Rome”)
2)
Numa (a Sabine
& mother a nymph!)
-founder
of Roman religion
3)
Tullus Hostilius
(a warrior)
4)
Ancus Marcius
(warrior and built bridge over the Tiber)
5)
Tarquinius
Priscus (“the old”) 616-579 BC
-elected
king from another Etruscan town
-Roman
religion becomes anthropomorphic
-temple
builder
6)
Servius Tullius
(578-535 BC)
-Etruscan
-attributed
with building a wall around Rome (wrong!)
-reorganize/classify
Roman citizens and army by wealth/property
7)
Tarquinius
Superbus (“the proud/arrogant”) 535-510 BC
-cruel,
evil, sadistic & tyrannical
-Roman hatred of
kings begins here
“Rex” (King)
-Judge, Priest, Army Commander
Patres (Senate)
-100 advisors, elected for life
-no legislative power
Curiate Assembly (10 kin
blocks x 3 tribes = 30 curiae)
-men capable and able to bear arms
-elect king
-pass laws as put to them
-confer “Imperium” (right to command)
Lictors (2 attendants of
Kings, and later magistrates)
Fasces (bundles of rods and
axes, carried by Lictors)
Triumph (victory parade)
Patricians (social upper
class order) 10 – 20%
-members
part of Senate
Plebeians or plebs (social
lower class orders) 80 – 90%
gentes (singular: gens)
(clans)
given name + clan name + family name
ie Gaius
Julius Caesar
centuries (units of 100 men)
-each
tribe provided one century of men, 10 cavalry, and 1000 supporting light
infantry
-individual
and heroic warfare style
Servius Tullius(578 – 535
BC):
-political
reforms
-wall
around Rome
-city
grid planning
-class
system by wealth
census
-c.
575-510 BC Etruscan Kings rule Rome
-advance Rome
-population increases from 10,000 to 100,000
-area increases from 58 sq miles to 350 sq miles
-more
wealth and troops available
-redivide
and expand tribes to create more citizens to fill the army
-reorganize as hoplites vs heroic individuals
-60 centuries of 60 men each = 3600 men
“Legion” is 3600 men
Centuriate Assembly (vote by
century)
5 propertied classes plus
equestrians (cavalry)
18 cavalry centuries
80 first class centuries
90 other centuries for
poorer classes (2nd-4th class are property owners, 5th
class has minimal wealth)
Equestrians provide cavalry
1st-3rd
class provide Heavy Infantry
4th-5th
provide Light Infantry
Ostia (port on the mouth of
the Tiber)
-14 miles from Rome at mouth of Tiber
Tarquinius Superbus
Sextus
Lucretia
Brutus
THE
EARLY REPUBLIC (509 - 264 BC)
509 BC expulsion of Etruscan
Kings
Romans
date this as 244 a.u.c.(ab urbe condita =
“from the foundation of the city”) 244 + 509 = 753 BC
Rome now most powerful Latin
state and strongest community in Latium
“res publica” (commonwealth,
republic, “affairs of the people”)
508 BC Battle of Janiculum Bridge
-Horatius
legend
-“Father
Tiber, I piously invoke you….to receive these arms and this soldier into your
waters”.
493 BC Latin League founded
-Rome
almost equal in size and strength to all the other Latin states combined
-religious,
economic and political alliance
“Divide and Rule”
486 BC alliance with the
Italic Hernici south of Latium
480-396 BC war with the
Etruscans of Veii
-across Tiber from Rome
-General Marcu Furius Camillus captures city
-re-organizes
army(move from solid phalanx block to more flexible three line formation:
hastati, principes and triarii, screened by skirmishers)
-all sold into slavery
-town destroyed
-doubles Roman land (ager Romanus)
After Veii’s fall, Etruscan
town of Satrium (25 miles from Rome) and the town of Nepete become Latin
colonies of Rome
-extend Roman influence into southern Etruria
474 BC Hieron I of Syracuse
defeats Etruscans off Cumae
458 BC Cincinnatus Legend
-Roman army trapped by Aequi
-5 horsemen escape
-Senate offer 6-month Dictatorship
-busy plowing 4-acre farm
-accept and destroy Aequi in 16 days
-return to plow
Patricians (aristocracy, upper social order)
-10-20% of the population
-descendants of the advisors of the Etruscan Kings
-become Senators
-control
all major offices and priesthoods
-a private club
-wealth through land ownership
-old money marries new money
-only
12 patrician families left by the end of the Republic
Senate (governing body of Republican Rome)
-also
called “Patres” (”fathers”)
-must
be a patrician worth at least 1 million sesterces
Plebeians (plebs) (commoners, lower social order)
-80-90% of the population
-citizens of non-noble lineage
-lesser land-owners to urban poor
-some wealthier than Patricians
Equites/Equestrians
-Plebeians
-cavalry,
business class
-worth
at least 400,000 sesterces
gentes (gens) (clans)
-your pedigree for office
-few Patrician families
-many rich Plebeian families
-all jealous of each other
Freedmen
Slaves (“servus”)
-manpower, wealth, status symbol
-no name, state or family
-usually well cared for
-outnumber citizens of Rome
-Julius
Caesar alone created more than 1 million slaves in Gaul between 58-51 BC
Patricians vs Plebeians
-many
laws and customs favored the Patricians at the expense of the Plebeians
494 BC 1st
Secession (strike) of the Plebs at the Mons Sacer (Hill of Curses)
-army holds a “sit-down” strike
-elects
own Tribunes of the Plebs as officers to lead them
-1st Plebiscite
471 BC Plebeian Council
(later merged into the Tribal Council)
-elect Tribunes, Aediles and Quaestors
450 BC Publication of the XII Tables
-Rome’s first written law code
-still
bans marriage between Patricians and Plebeians
445 BC Canuleian law
-marriage between the Orders permitted
367 BC Licinian-Sextian laws
-One Consul must be a Plebeian
-Plebeians can now enter the Senate
-Ownership
of public land (Ager Publicus) restricted to 300 acres
-half
of Sibylline Prophetic Book Keepers to be Plebeians
-Praetorship
created the next year (and eventually opened up to Plebeians)
300 BC Ogulnian Law
-half
the Board of Public Priests to be Plebeian Augurs and Pontiffs
-very significant breakthrough
287 BC Hortensian Law
-Resolution
of the Plebeian Council (plebiscite) now binding on the entire community with
the full force of law (“Lex”), as in lex Canuleia or lex Hortensia)
-Struggle
of the Orders is over
-Temple
of Concordia built in the Forum
New Roman aristocracy =
ancient Patrician families + new, wealthy, office-holding Plebeian families
-collectively called the
“Nobiles” (“Known Ones”) or Senatorials
S.P.Q.R. (SENATUS POPULUSQUE
ROMANUS)
“The Senate of the
People of Rome”
Senate (aristocratic, 300
> 600 members)
- major legislation
-
foreign policy
- senatus consultum (decree of the Senate)
Popular Assemblies
(1)
Curiate (30
curias)
-approve
adoptions, wills, sacred matters
-bestow
power on senior magistrates
(2) Centuriate (193 centuries): based on
wealth and military potential
-80
votes for rich aristocrats
-18
votes for Equestrians
-rest
for lesser propertied and poorer citizens
-no
vote for the Proletariat
-rich
can always outvote the poor
-elect
senior magistrates (Consuls, Censors and Praetors)
-declare
war
-capital
appeals court
(3)
Tribal (20 > 35 tribes): -4 in Rome and 31 in country
-
elect lower magistrates(10 Tribunes, 4 Quaestors and 4 Aediles)
-all
socio-economic classes together
-legislation
by plebiscite
-non-capital
appeals court
Magistrates:
cursus
honorum (the course/path of honour)
-Senatorial
career path
-begins
at age 30
-cannot
run for a new office for 2 years
-cannot
repeat an office for 10 years
Quaestor
(4) - financial, incl. provincial treasurer
Praetor
(8) – in charge of public law courts
Aediles
(4) - in charge of streets, markets, festivals, public works
-an
optional step
Tribune
(10) - represent plebs
-sacrosanctity
-veto
-another optional step
Consul
(2) - chief magistrate and General
-many
ex-Consuls rewarded with a seat in the Senate
Proconsul,
Propraetor (magistrate serving in
province, whose power is extended an extra year)
Censor
(2, every 5 years) - census, morals
Dictator
(1) - only in emergency (6 months max.)
Lictors
- carry fasces
REPUBLICAN
IDEALS
mos maiorum (ancestral
customs)
gravitas (seriousness)
pietas (respect for
authority to the gods, state and family)
religio (being “bound” to
the gods)
virtus (manliness, courage)
fides (loyalty,
faithfulness, honesty, integrity)
simplicitas (plain
lifestyle)
clementia (calculated mercy)
frugalitas (frugality)