Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 B.C. to A.D. 300
Primary Sources | Art History | Links
Theme
The Romans managed to create the largest and longest-lasting empire around the Mediterranean.
Summaries
World Conquest in Self-Defense
The city-state began to conquer and acculturate its neighbors.
The Price of Power
As the Romans built an empire their republic fell apart.
The Absolutist Solution
The increasing power of emperors held the Roman Empire together.
The Roads to Knowledge
Graeco-Roman culture was regularized into a curriculum.
Keywords
World Conquest in Self-Defense
Roman Empire, Rome, Latin, republic, Senate, checks and balances, patricians, plebians, Celts or Gauls, legion, tribunes, romanization, forum, concrete, theory of natural law
The Price of Power
Carthage, Punic Wars (264-146 BC), Hannibal, proletariat, proscription, Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus (d. 133 BC)
The Absolutist Solution
Julius Caesar (r. 46-44 BC), Julian Calendar, Octavian or Augustus Cæsar (r. 31 BC-AD 14), Pax Romana (27 BC-AD 180), Principate (27 BC-AD 284), Praetorian Guard, bureaucracy, Germans or Goths, Diocletian, Dominate (284-ca. 650)
The Roads to Knowledge
Mithraism, the seven liberal arts
Review Questions
- How did Rome grow from a small city-state to a vast multicultural empire?
- How did Rome’s conquests end in a long civil war? In other words, how did imperial success lead to political failure?
- How did key rulers establish order within the Roman Empire?
- How did the Romans bring together the cultural heritage of classical antiquity?
Other Questions
- What were the various approaches which ancient civilizations had to government? You might consider the following questions: What rights and roles did the states in Egypt and Mesopotamia give to their leaders? What forms of self-rule did the Hebrews/Jews attempt? How did the Greeks provide alternate conceptions of politics? How did various political structures of the Romans reflect their expansion?
- How does the fall of the Roman Republic compare with the collapse of democracy in ancient Athens?
- Do the rise of Augustus’ Principate and Diocletian’s Dominate justify the usefulness of strong centralized government?
