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8.26.19
Huge empire
Enticed countries to join by showing off their culture

Colosseum and Circus (horse racing arena) are the largest places of interest for Roman society

Roman arenas were filled based on class (more important, better seat)
Roman games are very expensive to put on
Gladiators are slaves (there are exceptions)
Gladiators are armed with entertainment in mind (give fighters different weapons)
Gladiatorial combat doesn’t always end in death

Roman entertainment is still big business

Modern culture is still fascinated with roman society and entertainment
Gladiator, the 300, hunger games, spartacus, etc.

Roman culture emphasized the idea that entertainment should always get better (more fighters,
different kinds of fights, crazy shit)

8.28.19
● Roman history goes from 753 bce to at least 540 ce
● The founding of the city/Romulus and Remus
○ The city of Troy was destroyed and refugees went to central Italy
○ The Trojans settled in central italy(not rome yet)
■ They are ruled by kings
○ The brothers set to be kings were very competitive.
■ One brother made the other’s daughter a priestess, forcing her into
celibacy
● The daughter gets pregnant because Mars raped her
○ She gives birth to Romulus and Remus, who are thrown into a river
■ A she-wolf saves them
○ When they are teenagers they learn that they are the rightful kings
■ They decide to found a city, and ask the gods who should be king
● Roman gods communicated via birds
■ They decided to stand on opposite hills and competitively watch birds
● Remus sees 6 birds, and then Romulus sees 12 birds
○ Romulus built a wall, Remus jumps over it, and then Rom brutally kills him,
becoming the first king of rome
● Assassination of Julius Caesar
○ 6th Century: a suicide causes a revolution: monarchy replaced by republic
■ Son of the king of rome decides he can rape someone
● She was unhappy about it, told her family, and then killed herself
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● There is a revolution and the republic is founded
○ Roman republic fundamentals:
■ State to be run by elected officials and the senate
■ No one person gets to be in charge of everyone
● All executive power is shared and there are strict term limits( 1
year)
■ Members of the social elite compete for military, religious, and political
offices
○ Roman empire has massive expansion because of the new government
○ The Roman elite want to have more power
■ Specifically Gaius Julius Caesar
● His main strategy is saying that rome is in a crisis and saying he is
the only one who can fix it.
● Accomplished military leader
● Claims to be a descendant of the gods
● Was taken by pirates
○ He wrote poems and speeches that he read to them, and if
they didn’t admire his work, he would call them to their
faces illiterate savages
○ Would often laughingly threaten to have the mall hanged
○ They were much taken with this and attributed his freedom
of speech to a kind of simplicity
● The pirates are captured
○ He went and asked to have the prisoners
○ He crucified the pirates.
● Caesar is assassinated by members of the Senate
■ Gaius Octavius (Octavian)
● Caesar’s nephew became emperor and renamed himself
Augustus
○ The first proper emperor (by decree of the Senate)
● The building of the Colosseum
○ New Dynasty (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian)
■ They get money and resources from winning a war
○ The Flavian emperors decide to build a giant amphitheater (the Colosseum)
■ They decide to put on 100 straight days of gladiatorial combat
● Entertainment almost brings down the Emperor Justinian
○ Constantinople is the center of the Byzantine empire
■ The horse-racing track is the major entertainment center
● Chariot racing was a huge sport
■ Justinian I
● He is emperor of the Byzantine empire, and a huge chariot racing
fan
○ Tries to execute fans of the other chariot racing team
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■ Government is very unstable because of this, half
the city is burnt down, almost loses his empire
● Monarchy > republic > empire
● The romans will listen to force, being powerful allows you to do almost anything you want
● Roman rulers try to have complex interplays between their personal ambitions and
political structures

Where our evidence comes from 9/14:

● Primary sources: anything generated by an ancient civilization even if the writer was
writing well after the events described and was relying on research rather than personal
experience (e.g., Livy on Horatius Cocles is a primary source)
○ This includes translations of other primary sources
○
● Secondary source: a modern interpretation of ancient sources. (e.g., a scholarly analysis
of the Horatius Cocles story.
○

● Etruria: very dense and civilized tribe found by the roman founders. (didn’t write stuff
down much, they were super rich tho).
○ Lived north and east of Rome
○ Spoke Etruscan
○ Early and extensive cultural contact with Rome
○ Hugely influential on the romans in the spheres of religion and art
■ They had a very scientific approach to religion (looking at the organs of
animal sacrifices to see if the gods were happy or nah).
■ Made a bunch of art (sculptures, sarcophaguses, pots and shit).
○ Conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BCE
● Livy:
○ Lived from 59 BCE - 17 CE
○ Roman historian
○ Work(“From the founding of the City”) in 142 books, over 100 of which are lost
○ What people like livy do is called “historiography,”
○ Livy’s Horatius Cocles
■ Rome attacked by the enemy
■ Lots of weak places in the defense
■ Horatius holds off the enemy, inspires others, scares the enemy with his
courage
■ Horatius prays to the river god Tiber and successfully escapes from the
collapsing bridge
■ City honors horatius with a statue etc.
■ Is a story that is supposed to give a foundation for what roman soldiers
are supposed to be
● Romans loved inscribing things
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○ Who commissioned it?
○ What is it about
○ When was it written
○ Where was it written
○ Why was it written
○ On what was it written
○ In what language was it written
● The Parthians were the main enemy for the romans (modern day iranian)

Themes to look at:

Who’s in charge?
How do those in charge assert their power and/or status?

Religion:
● Jupiter is king of the gods
○ Juno is his wife, mars is ares, and minerva is athena
■ Ares is the father of Romulus and Remus
● Processions to the gods happen the day before gladiatorial combat
● Atheism is a modern phenomena
● Priesthoods were important political offices
Citizenship
● Each city gave out its own citizenship
○ The romans gave roman citizens insane advantages over non-citizens
■ The main form of identification was saying “I am a Roman citizen”
● Romans focused heavily on the past (battles, esteemed ancestors, etc.)

Cicero(104-43 BCE)
● Roman politician, orator, philosopher, lawyer
○ Consul in 63 BCE
○ Prosecutor for Caius verres
○ Cicero defends Archias
■ Accused of falsely claiming to be a roman citizen because the documents
seemed off
■ The Romans believe that good people are unlikely to commit a crime, so
Cicero says that if he isn’t a citizen, he should be given honorary
citizenship, and that he would never lie about his citizenship
■ Name as proof of citizenship:
● Roman males have 3 names, personal name, clan name, family
name
○ If you are becoming a roman citizen, you get your clan
name from whoever is sponsoring you for citizenship, and
you choose your family name
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● This actually works in this case, good job cicero
■ Records as proof of citizenship
● Archias’s records are incomplete at best
● There is a census every 4-5 years
○ Everyone goes back to where they became a roman
citizen
■ They ask how much money you made, which
determines voting rights, military service, and taxes
○ This is complicated because the soldiers can’t go to
census
○ Archias isn’t in the records because of his military service
■ Cicero says that archias wouldn’t lie, and that many
good romans will vouch for him
○ He had the poster-political career
■ Questor (accountant for empire), Aedile (is responsible for public
buildings), praetor(judge), Augur(can see the gods talking through the
birds), Consul (president-ish)

The Roman Republic

● Polybius was a greek historian who wrote 40 books
○ Main goal: explain to greeks why the romans are destined to rule the world
● Doesn’t fit into any regular categories of government (democracy, monarchy, and
aristocracy), and is a little like all of them
● Consuls:
○ Romes presidencyish
○ Two elected annually by the people
○ Presides over the senate
○ Requires you to serve other offices before becoming consul, as well as filling
citizenship requirements and a minimum age requirement
● Senate:
○ Created by Romulus
○ Once you hold office once, you are a senator for life
○ Manages to survive in some form through all of Rome’s kinds of government
● The People:
○ Were supposed to hold the most power over any form of government
○ Their power slowly erodes and gets taken over by the senate
Roman Slavery
● Anyone could be enslaved
● How does one become a slave:
○ Captured in war
○ Captured by pirates and sold
○ Born into slavery
○ Gave up freedom because of debt problem
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● Kinds of slaves:
○ Household (including tutors)
○ Farm slaves
○ Other manual labor
○ Gladiators
○ 25-40% of the roman population is enslaved
● Manumission(freeing of the slaves)
○ regulated by law
○ freed saves became freedmen
■ They can become disgustingly rich once freed
○ former master becomes sponsor of the freed person
○ freed slaves didn't get full rights

Gladiators get to rome

● The first Roman gladiators were at funeral games in the 3rd century bce
○ Noone is sure who the romans got this idea from, just that they stole it from
someone
● The Romans were obsessed with egypt
● Roman rules for success:
○ Use the cultures you conquered
■ Resources, manpower, technological discoveries, etc.
○ Don’t mess with local governments/culture unless necessary
○ If perceived necessary, crush and Romanize
Julius goes to Gaul
● Done in a very ruthless genocidal manner
● Conquers the area and completely crushes all opposition, destroyed cities and such
● After doing that he marches his army on Rome and starts a civil war (very epic caesar,
thank you)
Grumpy Cato
● Thought that only original Romans should have rights
○ Wanted to get rid of luxury goods
○ Very traditionalist
● He died before carthage was destroyed :(
○ After his death Rome got p big(all of italy, greece, sicily, carthage, spain-ish)
THE CITY OF ROME:
● Basilica, an all-purpose civic building that also holds the courts.
○ The romans didn’t have separate court buildings since the only rule about the
courtroom was that it has to be able to see the temple.
● The forum is full of monuments and such
RANDOM SHIT:
● Fish sauce is the most important Roman good
○ Very expensive
● Romans had a lot of pets (dogs, cats, etc.)
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○ They sometimes have graves
● The Romans liked to show off how much of a mess their parties would make
● The only significant priesthood for women was being a priestess of Vesta for a 30 year
term, and you lived in the forum of rome.
○ Kept the sacred fire of Rome safe
○ Lived in the house of the Vestal Virigns next to the temple in the Roman forum
● The Romans weren’t great at naval warfare
● Roman satire takes on the persona of a staunch roman traditionalist

MIDTERM REVIEW:
https://quizlet.com/230438977/clas-1140-cu-boulder-exam-1-flash-cards/

Who were the Romans:

● Technologically advanced
● Very literate
● A very organized power structure
● Very strong attachment to citizenship
● Very rich and powerful
● Had a very rapid expansion from Rome, which spread the Roman Empire to Gaul,
Brittania, Greece, Carthage, basically the whole mediterranian

Spartacus
● Slave boy who freed a bunch of slaves and then did war stuff
● This is important because spartacus and the slave revolt were massive counter-culture
movements and showed that Roman society might not be all its chalked up to be
Parthia
● Rome’s main rival whose empire is based out of Iran (rome’s big enemy to the east)
● This is important because the Romans go to war with the Parthians multiple times, so
having a distaste for them is culturally important so the Roman government can maintain
support of the war
Augustus (figure out wtf this dude did specifically)
● The nephew of Julius, became the first emperor of Rome
● He is relevant to the study of Roman culture because Augustus coming to power
changed the Roman government, and therefore the Roman way of life due to the
changes he made to society.
Constantinople
● The capital of modern turkey, which was conquered by the Roman emperor Constantine
● This is important because it became a large cultural center for the Roman empire after
the addition of Byzantium to the Roman empire. It also showed the Romans’ policy on
assimilation of foreign cultures.
Amphitheater
● A circular theater in which mass entertainment for Roman people would happen.
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● Especially gladiatorial fighting
Ancestral Custom
● Was an important way to please the gods by respecting your ancestors, and it reaffirms
Roman tradition

BIG THEMES:
How do I express my identity? What makes romans different from foreigners/slaves?
●
How does the roman empire hold together?
●
What are romans nervous about? What threatens their civ?
● Parthian invasion, slave revolts, rise in corruption

FIGURES OF ROME:

● Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus(Pompey the Great)

○ 106-48 BCE
○ Statesman and general
○ Gets credit for defeating Spartacus
○ Frees the Mediterranean from pirates
○ Starts a civil war with Julius Caesar
■ Caesar wins and Pompey flees to egypt
○ Builds the first permanent Roman amphitheater
● Cicero
○ The first person to hold office in a family is a “new man”, one of which was cicero
○ The senate tends to keep anyone but conservative males from becoming a
candidate for consul
○ Does very good speeches
ROMAN POLITICS:
● The senate can keep people from running for consul
● Bribery is technically illegal
○ Voters are usually the ones being bribed into voting for someone
■ As long as you don’t overdo it, its probably fine
● On election day everyone who’s voting goes to the forum in rome and they split
into centuries (voting groups)
○ Voting system is extremely biased towards the upper class
Provincial system:
● Meant sphere of influence
● In a physical sense, a state of the roman empire
● Most run by a governor in cooperation with local authorities
○ Issue an edict explaining what you’ll do
○ Represent rome and roman interests
○ Keep the peace
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○ Max sure the tax collectors do their stuff
○ You get absolute power in your province
○ Things that aren’t your job:
■ Looks after the interest of non-citizens in your province
■ Exploit the resources of your province to benefit you financially
Gladiators:
● Sources for gladiators
○ Gladiators were “recruited” as PoWs
○ Slaves
○ convicts
○ volunteers
● The romans stole the idea for gladiators from the greeks or etruscans
● Gladiator volunteers lost their citizenship, and agreed to be branded, fettered, flogged,
and killed with an iron weapon
● Very physically imposing
● Romans thought of a gladiator as someone with no self control

Death penalties:
● direct(citizens):
○ Strangulation
● Directe death penalties (aggravated)
○ Burning
○ Crucifixion
○ Thrown to the beasts
● Indirect
○ To the mines
○ To public works
○ To the games
Caligula:
● Generally pretty lame
● First emperor to get assassinated
● Turned his enemies into spectacles
● Was a horrific person
○ Caligula thought he was a god
● Built a sea bridge out of boats
● Disfigured everyone with nice hair
○ Killed and tortured a gladiator “just because” and cus he was rated higher /10
● Finds new ways to brutally kill people
○ Branded people
○ Forced labor
○ Thrown to the beasts
○ Sawed apart
○ Put people in cages like animals
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○ Forced parents to attend their son’s executions
● Basically had no remorse for anything
● Incatatus incident:
○ Incitatus is a chariot racing horse
■ Caligula’s favorite horse
○ This horse lived lavish cus caligula liked him
■ Hella rights and shit, but its literally a horse bro
■ Caligula wanted the horse to be consul
Gaius Seutonius Tranquillus
● He was a biographer of the emperors
● Wants to write biographies for all the emperors
The flavians:
● Nero kills himself
○ Lots of impersonators
● Lots of people trying to be emperor after Nero
○ Bunch of generals butt heads, Vespasian wins
■ First flavian emperor did a big jew war and owned them
○ Titus wins next
■ Killed by his brother (builds cool stuff tho thanks domitian thats epic)
○ Domitian figured the coliseum out
■ Likes being addressed as “dominus”
■ Murdered and subjected to damnatio memoriae by the senate
● (erased from memory)
Jewish war:
● The first war with major spoils for the roman
○ They stole a buncha cool looking stuff and suddenly had a lot of money
■ Spoils split into two parts:
● Praedae: spoils that the victorious general can do what he wants
with it
● Manubiae: spoils that the general has to use for public good
○ Such as a coliseum, pompey’s theater, temples, etc.

Why did gladiator fights end?

● The Martyrdom of perpetua happened in carthage, and it happened while the Roman
empire was very unstable (27 emperors in 74 years)
● Religious crises (especially the rise of christianity
● Lots of economic problems (the maximum prices edict being ignored), mass inflation
○ Every new emperor instantly mints new coins, this drives inflation through the
roof
● Military problems
● Growing loss of importance of the western part of the empire
Constantine the Great
● Did a bunch of cool guy stuff
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● Moved the capital from rome to istanbul
○ The western half of the empire began to crumble
■ There are a lot of child emperors in the west at this point
● Honorius banned all gladiatorial fights and gladiatorial schools in
399 CE
○ 5 years later there are gladiatorial games that take place in
rome
○ People basically stopped listening to the empire, especially
the emperor, whos just some kid
● Why ban the games?
○ Moral reasons
○ Economic reasons
■ Too expensive bruh tf
○ Religious reasons
■ Christian empire requires different kinds of entertainment
○ Shifting tastes of the population
■ The people want chariot races