Summary of Simon Baker's Ancient Rome

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The Romans developed a story about how their city was first founded, which traced its origins back to a remote past beyond even the age of Romulus and Remus. The Romans wanted to connect with the more ancient civilization of the Greeks, and so they adopted a Trojan Aeneas as their founder.
#2 The Roman Empire was founded on the rural virtues of the Roman peasant, which clashed with the reality of the city. The Romans were not individuals, but a highly organized community striving together.
#3 The Romans expanded into Italy in 753 BC, and by 510 BC, Rome was ruled by kings, the last three of whom were Etruscan. The first, according to legend, was Romulus, and his story is in keeping with the rootless, belligerent theme of his ancient ancestor Aeneas.
#4 The Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC, after the Etruscan kings were overthrown. The Romans called the kings’ executive authority imperium, which was their right to give orders to ordinary people and expect those orders to be obeyed.

Sujets

• Ancient
• Rome
• Ancient history
• Roma (serie de televisión)

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669379393
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Simon Baker's Ancient Rome
Contents Insights from Chapter 1
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Romans developed a story about how their city was first founded, which traced its origins back to a remote past beyond even the age of Romulus and Remus. The Romans wanted to connect with the more ancient civilization of the Greeks, and so they adopted a Trojan Aeneas as their founder.

#2

The Roman Empire was founded on the rural virtues of the Roman peasant, which clashed with the reality of the city. The Romans were not individuals, but a highly organized community striving together.

#3

The Romans expanded into Italy in 753 BC, and by 510 BC, Rome was ruled by kings, the last three of whom were Etruscan. The first, according to legend, was Romulus, and his story is in keeping with the rootless, belligerent theme of his ancient ancestor Aeneas.

#4

The Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC, after the Etruscan kings were overthrown. The Romans called the kings’ executive authority imperium, which was their right to give orders to ordinary people and expect those orders to be obeyed.

#5

The Roman Republic was a system of government that was formed after the expulsion of the last Etruscan king. It was a system of two annually elected office holders called consuls who held power for a year.

#6

The Roman Republic was a government of two consuls and a Senate. The Senate was a debating chamber and the collective voice of the political elite, but it was not made up of representatives of Roman citizens.

#7

The Roman Republic was formed when the three elements of the Roman system worked together: the aristocratic Senate, the popular assemblies, and the consuls. However, who was eligible for these offices and how they were voted on was a source of great controversy.

#8

The Roman Republic was ruled by a aristocracy of the old Roman clans, who claimed that they were the best suited to decide political office because of their unique knowledge of the gods. The plebeians, who were the non-aristocrats from the rest of the Roman people, vehemently disagreed.

#9

The plebs’ secession from the Roman Republic in 494 BC led to the formation of a state within a state, the tribunes of the people. The new office would become crucial to the history of the republic, as it would radically change the balance of power between the political élite of the Senate and the people.

#10

The Roman Republic was a democracy in which the people had power, but the Senate, led by the aristocratic and moneyed political élite, had control. The Roman people and the Senate were partners in a system that allowed Rome to expand its territory.

#11

Between 500 and 275 BC, the Roman republic brought first Latium and then the rest of the Italian peninsula under its control. The Romans would look for instances to justify taking action in self-defense, and their religious ceremonies legitimized their aggression.

#12

The Roman Empire was built on the back of the war machine that was the Roman peasant-soldier. The Romans were able to conquer their enemies because they were loyal to Rome, and they were able to provide endless amounts of soldiers because of it.

#13

The Romans were able to defeat Pyrrhus, the ambitious Greek king, at Beneventum near Naples in 275 BC. The Romans then expelled Pyrrhus’s invading army and were able to consolidate their grasp over southern Italy.

#14

The funeral of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a hero of the Roman republic, took place in 154 BC. The procession was led by the family members who represented his ancestors’ achievements, and the mourners wore wax masks that resembled the dead man.

#15

The young Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was instilled with the desire to endure hardship and even death to earn a eulogy similar to that given his father. He would later take the side of the poor against his family and the aristocracy.

#16

The Romans’ mastery of the Mediterranean was so complete that by 167 BC, the Senate was able to abolish direct taxation in Italy, replacing it with the riches that the republic received in revenue from its provinces abroad.

#17

The First Punic War began in 264 BC when Rome was called to help resolve a small dispute on the island of Sicily, a Carthaginian province. The war escalated as Rome realized it needed to drive Carthage out of Sicily altogether.

#18

The first war between Rome and Carthage was resolved when the Romans struck a peace treaty with Carthage, and the Romans took advantage of Carthage’s weakness to expand their empire. The Romans then took advantage of the three wealthy islands for their own enrichment.

#19

The Second Punic War was fought between Rome and Carthage from 218 to 201 BC. It was the greatest of the wars between the two empires, and it was fought in Italy. Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, invaded Italy and marched on Rome.

#20

The Romans were able to draw on a seemingly endless supply of high-quality manpower to reverse Hannibal’s achievement. They allowed Hannibal free rein in the south of Italy to try to raise a coalition of new forces, and meanwhile defeated the Carthaginians in Spain.

#21

After the Second Punic War, Rome was able to expand its territory and gain new provinces. The strategy used to expand into the east was different from that used in the west, as the Senate took a more subtle approach than Scipio did in the west.

#22

The eastern Mediterranean was made up of a number of kingdoms that were known as the successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great. In 171 BC, Rome declared war on one of these kingdoms, Macedonia, because the king, Philip V, had gained influence and support among the Greek city-states.

#23

The Aemilii Paulli were among the most successful families in Rome’s conquest of the Mediterranean. They were famous for their exploits in the wars against the Gauls and the Macedonians, and for the numbers of enemies they had killed. But was their success really justifiable.

#24

The Third Punic War was controversial from the start. The Romans were afraid that Carthage would become too powerful, and so they went to war against them. The Carthaginians were untrustworthy, degenerate, and effeminate child-sacrificers, according to the Romans.

#25

The Romans claimed that the Carthaginians had built up their fleet beyond the legal limits set by the treaty of the Second Punic War. However, the archaeological and historical evidence for the development of these ancient weapons of mass destruction is inconclusive.

#26

The Roman people and the Senate had turned to a young aristocrat named Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus to resolve the miserable, grinding stalemate in Carthage. He brought discipline back to the army and adopted a new strategy for the war. He ordered the Roman campaigns in the interior to be abandoned, and all units were to focus on taking the city first by siege, then by assault.

#27

Tiberius and Aemilianus were cousins, and they both served as consuls in the war against Carthage. Tiberius was there to learn the art of war, but he also wanted to get his foot on the political ladder known as the cursus honorum.

#28

The Battle of Carthage was the culmination of the war with Carthage. It was about liberty and justice winning out over tyranny. It was about decent Roman values surpassing the treachery and deceitfulness of the Carthaginians.

#29

The sack of Carthage was a major victory for the Romans, but Aemilianus was not happy with the outcome. He took Polybius into his confidence and explained how he was feeling. He even quoted some lines from the Iliad.

#30

The sack of Carthage was the final straw for Aemilianus, who thought that Rome would meet the same fate as Troy and its king, Priam. The ancient city of Carthage had been the center of an empire that had lasted seven hundred years. It had ruled over so many lands, islands, and seas, and was once as rich in arms and fleets as the mightiest empires.

#31

Aemilianus was the general who led the Roman troops to Carthage, and he was also the cousin of Tiberius. He was awarded the Mural Crown for being the first Roman soldier over the walls of Carthage.

#32

Tiberius was awarded the Mural Crown at Carthage, and his triumph was celebrated in Rome. He was now a hero, and his mother would have encouraged him to participate in the dinner parties and social gatherings hosted by the élite.

#33

Rome was a city of extremes and contradictions during Tiberius’s time. While the city was thriving and rich, not all sections of the population shared in its wealth. The poor lived in horrible conditions, and the noise from carts, wagons, litters, and horses was constant.

#34

The Roman Republic was beginning to tear itself apart due to the growing gap between the rich and the poor. The more the élite vied for office and prestige, the more they became blind to the growing poverty in Rome.

#35

The Roman system of citizen-soldiers worked well because it allowed the men to return to their farms at regular intervals. However, with the conquest of the Mediterranean, the Roman armies found themselves serving for long periods of time in Spain, Africa, or the east.