The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (2 page)

This book helps you to conquer Rome by dividing Roman history, culture, and legacy into five parts. Although the parts follow a rough chronological order, they overlap a bit as they refer back and forth.

Part 1, “All Roads Lead to Rome,”
gives you necessary background for studying the Romans by laying out major periods of history and setting the stage in the Mediterranean for Rome's rise. It also provides thumbnail answers to some “frequently asked questions” and directs you to more information elsewhere in the book.

Part 2, “Rome Wasn't Built in a Day: The Roman Republic (509–27
B
.
C
.
E
.),”
takes you through the rise of Rome in the fifth century
B
.
C
.
E
. to the end of the Roman Republic in 27
B
.
C
.
E
. It helps you to understand how Rome was successful in conquering Italy and the Mediterranean, and why the Republic fell apart. In addition, you meet some of Rome's great personalities and writers and follow Latin literature from its lowest beginnings to its highest achievements.

Part 3, “Empire Without End: Roman Imperial History,”
begins with the Principate of Augustus and takes you to the fall of the western Empire. This section helps you understand how the Roman Empire developed, how it nearly came apart several times, and how emperors ruled this vast conglomeration of cities, regions, tribes, and kingdoms.

Part 4, “Roman Imperial Life and Culture,”
takes you back over the period of the Empire from a cultural and literary perspective. It also covers the rise of Christianity and the subject of Roman games and spectacles.

Part 5, “Where Did the Romans Go?”
provides an overview of the Romans' legacy. In the east, we'll follow Roman history through Byzantium to both the Renaissance and Imperial Russia. In the west, we'll watch the papacy and Frankish kings reinvent the “old” Rome with an empire that continues to influence Europe today. This part also shows you some of the ways in which Rome influenced thinkers from the Renaissance to the formation of the American State.

You'll find lots of additional information and insight in the sidebars that appear throughout the chapters. These provide examples for, clarifications of, and definitions of things that you read in the main text. Here's what they mean:

 
Lend Me Your Ears!
The Romans had a lot to say about themselves. This sidebar allows you to read them in their own (translated) words.

 
When in Rome
This sidebar provides definitions, examples, and explanations for jargon, Latin terms, and Roman ways of doing things.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
It's amazing where the Romans crop up. These sidebars contain surprising instances of Roman influence on our world.

 
Veto!
This sidebar provides cautions and context to common generalizations, misused terms, and other misunderstandings.

 
Roamin' the Romans
The Romans left ruins, remains, and hard-scape wherever they went. This sidebar points out where travelers can find Roman remains in various countries.

No one accomplishes anything of scope without the help and support of many untold individuals. The same is true of this book, so allow me to make a few of those who brought it about known to you. This book was the suggestion of my friend and colleague, Don Ryan, who gave invaluable advice and direction in its process. My heartfelt thanks go as well to my editors Randy Ladenheim-Gil and Mike Thomas, who patiently navigated this project with me through some rough waters and provided valuable direction. I am especially grateful to Professor Rochelle Snee, my friend, mentor, and colleague, who knows more about the ancient world than Homer himself could have kept straight. I have relied on and respected her comprehensive expertise since my student days; she did heroic work to help me bring you a book that is both comprehensive
and
accurate. Finally, I cannot adequately acknowledge the debt of love and gratitude that I owe my wife, Susan, whose encouragement, direction, and insight not only made this book a reality, but whose love, patience, and assistance more than proves Virgil's declaration:
amor omnia vicit. et nos cedamus amori.
April 29, 2001

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Pearson Education, Inc., cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs and verse translations are by the author.

People have been fascinated by Rome and the Romans from the founding of the city to the last credits of the movie
Gladiator
. But just what do you mean by those terms “Rome” and “Romans”? Before answering, take a look through the following chapters: You'll get some background for understanding Rome from a variety of viewpoints in history and culture.

Does your approach to the Romans need to be a bit like
veni, vidi, vici
(Julius Caesar's “I came, I saw, I conquered”)? This part has quick overviews of Roman history and literature and quick responses to frequently asked questions, such as who the gladiators were and why Rome “fell.”

Chapter 1
 
Dead Culture, Dead Language, Dead Emperors: Why Bother?

• Why learn about Rome and the Romans?
  
• Where Rome stands in history and culture
  
• The meaning of “Rome”
  
• Roman history and literature in broad terms
  

Whether you love them or hate them, there's no getting around the Romans.

No other civilization has left such an imprint on the laws, lives, borders, religion, literature, politics, art, architecture, and popular imagination of the west. This is not to deny the influence of other cultures. But Rome established a framework of ideals, infrastructure, politics, military tactics, economics, communications, and education that girded together the west from Roman times to the present. In either metaphorical or concrete terms, much of what has traveled from point A to point B in the west has done so along a Roman road.

It's easy to romanticize or demonize ancient cultures. The more you know, however, the more complicated easy judgments become. While the Romans were insightful, ambitious, pragmatic, and influential, they could also be cruel, rigid, bloodthirsty, stifling, overly garish, and still a bit drab. I'll try to present a balanced picture in this book.

Here are some terms and abbreviations you'll need to get started:

• B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .:
  Before the common era. The time period represented by the abbreviation
  B
  .
  C
  ., which stands for Before Christ.
  
• C
  .
  E
  .:
  Of the common era. Indicates the same time as the abbreviation
  A
  .
  D
  ., which stands for the Latin
  anno domini nostri jesu christi
  (the year of our lord, Jesus Christ). In this book, if you see a date without a designation of
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  . or
  C
  .
  E
  ., assume it's
  C
  .
  E
  .
  
• ca:
  From the Latin
  circa,
  “about.” This term is used for approximate dates. For example, ca
  C
  .
  E
  . 49 means “sometime around the year 49 of the common era.”