CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p. ; Packet p. B.B ROME’S EXPANSION BRINGS PROBLEMS The Republic Becomes and Empire I

CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p. ; Packet p. B.B

ROME’S EXPANSION BRINGS PROBLEMSThe Republic Becomes and Empire

I. Gap between Rich and Poor A. 1/3 of Rome’s population were slaves following it’s conquests in the Punic Wars and other conflicts

B. Small farmers lands were often devastated by the wars and they could not compete with the Rich landowners (Patricians) who had ample slave labor to work and produce large profitable crops each year on their Latifundia – huge estates. They were gained through military conquests.

C. Few jobs available for the land-less and unskilled workers in urban areas led to cities with high numbers of unemployed trouble-makers or, “urban discontent” Even returning soldiers had little to return to – no “veteran’s benefits”

D. The wealthy Romans were corrupted by money and luxury and ignored the plight of the poor.

CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p.146; Packet p. 6


II. Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus

Proud sons of one of Rome’s most noble families – Gaius – few menin Roman history had the unforeseen historical impact as the two brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Caesar’s career is unthinkable without them; and the first Emperor, Caesar Augustus built upon what the Gracchi began.What did they do? Everything! Who did it effect? Everyone! What did it cost the two of them? Their lives.

“They were for giving citizenship to all Italians, extending it almost to the Alps, distributing the public domain, limiting the holdings of each citizen to five hundred acres, as had once been provided by law, establishing new customs duties, filling the provinces with new colonies, transferring the judicial powers from the senate to the equites, and began the practice of distributing grain to the people. They left nothing undisturbed, nothing untouched, nothing unmolested, nothing, in short, as it had been.”

Velleius Paterculus History of Rome, II, vi. 3-6

CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p.146-7; Packet p. 6


II. Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus

A. Proposed Reforms (Changes): - limiting the size of the rich estates (latifundia) - redistributing lands to the poor - A Welfare system : distributing grain to the poor.

B. Both were killed in moments of riot or political intrigue / assassination

C. CIVIL WAR

POLITICAL DYNASTIESIn the United States and Rome

The Gaius family of Rome is sometimes compared to the Kennedy’s of the United States – an aristocratic family with long ties to politics, with platforms that championed the rights of the poor and disenfranchised, and who, too, saw its share of tragedy – the assassinations of both John F. and Robert Kennedy. The outpouring of public sympathy for the Kennedy family was similar too for the Gaius family – and may explain the longevity of that “dynasty.” For it produced even more stars in the likes of Gaius Julius Caesar.PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.



III. The Army situation: A. Rise of politically powerful military leaders

- They recruited soldiers from among the land-less, discontented poor, promising them land.

Consequently,

B. These soldiers scattered throughout Rome’s expanding conquered territory were more loyal to their commander… than they were to the Republic government back in Rome the capital!

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.



III. The Army situation: C. CIVIL WAR, 88 – 82 B.C. fought between Gaius Marius (defending the lower classes / poor / of all Italia) and Lucius Sulla (defending the Senate and the elite patrician class)

" The long smoldering fires of an Italian war were now fanned into flame . . . all Italy took up arms against the Romans…the fortunes of the Italians was as cruel as their cause was just; for they were seeking citizenship in a State whose power they were being asked to defend by their arms…“

Velleius Paterculus, History , II, XV.


“Sulla was a man to whom, up to the conclusion of his victory in the Civil War, sufficient praise can hardly be given, and for whom, after his victory, no condemnation can be adequate.” (II, XVII).

Once completely in charge of Rome, Sulla proceeded to butcher all his political opponents on a scale unmatched in Roman history. Plutarch describes the terror in which Sulla was held by the Rome government itself. The city was filled with murders and a young senator at one point asked Sulla when they could expect an end to the murders: "We are not asking you" he said "to pardon those whom you have decided to kill; all we ask is that you should free from suspense those whom you have decided not to kill." The next day Sulla posted lists of the condemned in the Roman Forum, of those to be killed and/or those who property would revert to the state. Informers were everywhere. Thousands perished. Informers were paid bounties for turning in the "disloyal"; instantly, untold numbers of innocent Romans were denounced and their property confiscated to the state and sold for a song to supporters of the current regime. A young Gaius Julius Caesar who had fought on the side of his uncle Gaius Marius barely escaped the list of names. In the next and succeeding generations, the inscrutable, remarkable, bloody man Sulla became the model of a Roman tyrant. When Caesar was commencing on his own struggle for absolute power in 49 B.C., Caesar quite specifically stated that he did not propose to emulate the notorious Sulla, settling instead on a policy of mercy and reconciliation.


JULIUS CAESAR100 - 44 B.C.

“When could they ever say, that talk’d of Rome, that her wide walks encompass’d but one man?”

The play, “Julius Caesar,” I, ii ~ William Shakespeare



IV. JULIUS CAESAR A military hero from his campaign in Gaul, he joins forces with Crassus and Pompey creating the

A. Triumvirate – a group of three rulers. B. He serves as consul with Pompey. C. Appoints himself governor of Gaul.


CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p. 147; Packet p. 7

IV. JULIUS CAESARA military hero from his campaign in Gaul, he joins forces with Crassus and Pompey creating the A. Triumvirate – a group of three rulers.

While Julius Caesar waged war in Gaul attempting to subdue the many tribes, Pompey busied himself in Rome with the construction of the mammoth complex later known as Pompey's Theater on the Campus Martius- not only the first permanent theater ever built in Rome, but an eye-popping complex of lavish porticoes, shops, and multi-service buildings.

Pompey was also busy with his new wife. At 53 he

had married Julius Caesar’s on daughter, Julia (23).

Meanwhile, back in Rome…

B. Pompey rises to power in Rome and fears Caesar’s rising popularity 1. The Senate orders Caesar to disband his Legions and return home from Gaul




B. Pompey (and Senate) fear Caesar’s rising popularity 1. Caesar is to disband his Legions and come home 2. “Crossing the Rubicon” with his army

"Let the dice fly high!" he said (quoting a half-line of his favorite Greek poet, Menander), as he crossed the Rubicon…the great gamble could now begin; for he was starting a civil war and, according to the view occasionally expressed in his own works, 'Luck is the greatest power in all things and especially in war.'





Caesar defeats Pompey’s armies in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt

Pompey intended to fight Caesar in Asia, an area of the Roman world in which he had strong connections and many client-kings. Unfortunately, in the scramble to evacuate Rome, neither Pompey nor the Senators thought to take charge of Rome's treasury, stored under the Temple. Caesar arrives and impounds the treasury for his use.

Pompey flees


CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p. 147; Packet p. 7



Caesar defeats Pompey’s armies in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt

Pompey flees


46 B.C. Caesar returns to Rome and is appointed dictator.

Bronze statue of Caesartoday in the Roman forum.



Cleopatra in Egypt becomes his AllyAfter he supports her side in a feud with her young brother Ptolemy for the throne.



IV. JULIUS CAESAR In 44 B.C. is named dictator for life.

F. His REFORMS: - grants broader citizenship to even conquered peoples - expands the size of the Senate to 300 men - helped the poor with jobs, creating government work

programs and building projects - the dole (welfare) - started colonies - increased pay for the legions - the Julian calendar



February, 44 B.C. The young Mark Antony – a distant relation of Caesar’s and a star general in his own right – is said to have offered Caesar a make-shift “crown” one day in the Senate.

Caesar refused it, but doubts remained that he had personally arranged for the public offer simply to feel out the reaction the crowd.Other historians think he staged the incident simply to destroy the rumors that he desired kingship.

As Napoleon noted succinctly, "If Caesar wanted to be king, he would have got his army to acclaim him as such."

Still, doubts in Rome lingered.

Mark Antony



March 44 B.C. - Two tribunes were seen pulling down crowns that had been placed on Caesar’s statues around the city. They were dismissed from office.

By dismissing them, Caesar attacked the protected position of Tribune of the plebs, the very point for which he claimed he fought in beginning the Civil War.

ASSASSINATION PLOT:

Marcus Brutus was felt out to remove the tyrant; Cassius joined; the conspirators grew, including Caesar’s most trusted subordinate and friend, Decimus Brutus.Brutus.

Marcus Brutus stated that he “loved Julius Caesar, but I

loved Rome more.”



G. The Assassination Plot : Marcus Brutus & Gaius Cassius

The Ides of March (March 15), 44 B.C. Julius Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate Chamber.

IV. JULIUS CAESAR


“Et tu Brute?” "When he saw that he was beset on every side by drawn daggers, he muffled his head in his robe, and at the same time drew down its lap to his feet with his left hand, in order to fall more decently, with the lower part of his body also covered. And in this wise he was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke, though some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said in Greek, 'You too, my child?'"

~ Suetonius Life , LXXXII

What does this artist’s rendition of Caesar’s assassination say about the incident?Who wears the traditional white of the “good guys” and who wears black?

In your view, who is “good” and who is “bad in this event?Or should this event be described in such “black and white” terms?


Caesar is alleged to have said in the year before his murder,

"It is more important for Rome than for myself that I should survive. I have long been sated with power and glory; but, should anything happen to me, Rome will enjoy no peace.

A new Civil War will break out under far worse conditions than the last."

~ Suetonius

His words were prophetic.


Documents

CH 6: Rome – Section 2, “Rome’s Expansion Brings Change” Textbook p. ; Packet p. B.B ROME’S EXPANSION BRINGS PROBLEMS The Republic Becomes and Empire I