Rome staggers to Empire
Strength through Compromise | More Concessions and Written Law – the Twelve Tables | Strength after Defeat by the Gauls | Rome Wins Domination of Italy and Defends itself against the Hellenistic East | the First Punic War and a New Spirit for Empire | Punic War II (Hannibal's War) | The Punic Wars change Rome |Rome's Hegemonic Arrogance | Rome Destroys Carthage and Conquers from Hispania to Greece
Strength through Compromise/..
I
n the mid-700s BCE, Latin speaking Indo-Europeans are believed to have migrated southward across the Alps to the warmer climate and rich lands on the Italian peninsula. By then an Etruscan civilization dominated the penisula's northwest, and an in the 500s an Estruscan king was ruling Rome, a city populated by Latins who farmed and raised animals, a city divided between aristocrats (people wealthy in land, the major source of wealth production) and commoners. In 509 BCE a group of Roman nobles drove the Etruscan king, Tarquin, from power. Without a king, Rome had become a republic. Power passed to a council of aristocrats called the senate.
In separating themselves from Etruscan rule, Romans lost trade with the Etruscans and with Greek colonies in southern Italy. What little there had been in imports ended. Rome's merchants and craftsmen suffered, and Rome experienced economic depression and grain
Etruscan
Etruscans, their Food, Burials and the Etruscan Civilizatio
The Etruscans: Mysterious People
http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy2/E64ContentFiles/AncientHistory/EtruscanCivilization.htm
Etruscan Civilization
Etruscan Civilization, culture created and developed on the Italian Peninsula by the ancient people of Etruria during the 1st millennium BC . At the time of its greatest power, between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, Etruria probably embraced all Italy from the Alps to the Tiber River. Its name is the Latin version of the Greek name Tyrrhenia or Tyrsenia; the ancient Romans called the people of the country Etrusci or Tusci, from which is derived the name of the modern Italian region of Tuscany.
Greek historian Herodotus maintained that the Etruscans came from Lydia, an ancient country in western Asia Minor. The Roman historian Livy and the Greek historian Polybius agreed with Herodotus, as did the Roman poets Publius Papinius Statius and Tiberius Catius Silius Italicus. A dissenting opinion was registered by another ancient Greek historian of the Augustan period, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who held that the Etruscans were an indigenous Italian race.
Etruscans were an Oriental or Middle Eastern people. The conclusion of most archaeologists, therefore, is that the Etruscans did emigrate from a region in Asia Minor, if not precisely from Lydia, as Herodotus supposed. The original homeland of the Etruscans was probably somewhere between Syria and the Hellespont (Dardanelles)
From very early times Etruscan society was dominated by a firmly entrenched aristocracy that exercised strict control over the political, military, economic, and religious aspects of the peoples' lives. By the 6th century BC several city-states, including Tarquinii and Veii, dominated their respective geographic regions and dispatched colonists to adjacent areas. Some of their leaders, including the semilegendary Etruscan kings of Rome such as the Tarquins—Lucius Priscus and Lucius Superbus—may have achieved their positions because they were accomplished warriors. They continually aligned their independent cities with one another for economic and political gain. Warrior-kings also forged economic ties through marriage
Romans, Greeks, and Carthaginians might also unite against the Etruscans. By the 5th century BC, Etruscan power was challenged and severely curtailed. The navy from the city of Syracuse soundly defeated an allied Etruscan fleet in a sea battle off the coast of Cumae in 474 BC. In an effort to regain the seas, an Etruscan federation aligned itself with Athens in the ill-fated assault on Syracuse in 413 BC. After a siege of some ten years, the city of Veii was defeated (396 BC) by Rome in its struggle to control the overland routes north. This victory marked the beginning of Rome's gradual conquest of Etruria, which was not completed until 283 BC
The 3rd century BC was a particularly dark period for the Etruscans, as the Romans, having subdued most of the central and southern peninsula of Italy, turned their major attention northward. In turn, the Etruscan cities of Caere, Tarquinia, and Vulci were forced to pay tribute and to cede some of their territories to Rome. Dissension among the aristocracy and insurrections by the lower classes followed, resulting in the total collapse of the social structure of cities such as Volsinii. Realizing their plight, several Etruscan cities then entered into alliances with Rome.
Such alliances linked many Etruscan cities with Rome in such a way that Roman laws often had an impact on the Etruscan people. Attempts to rebel against Roman rule, at one point in alliance with the Umbrians and the Gauls, were defeated. The ties between Rome and Etruria were strengthened in the 1st century BC, when the Etruscans accepted the offer of Roman citizenship. Their newly gained status was soon eroded, however, when they supported the losing side in the Roman civil wars (88-86 BC; 83 BC). The victor, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, took extreme vengeance, razing cities, seizing land, and imposing restrictions on Etruscan civil rights.
The brutality of Sulla so devastated the Etruscans that their subsequent attempts at revolt were inconsequential. Over a century later, Augustus sent new colonists to Etruria. These people worked with, not against, the Etruscans, and succeeded in accelerating the Romanization of the region.
Because the origins of the Etruscans are moot, one can only suggest that the warrior heads of aristocratic families conquered those areas that were eventually to become independent Etruscan cities, each ruled over by its own king. As a result, the Etruscans never achieved a true national unity, although individual cities sent out colonies to neighboring regions and often entered into diplomatic alliances not only with each other but also with foreign states. It is apparent from the course of the history of the region that each Etruscan city responded to crises in terms that were deemed beneficial for its own survival without regard for the interests of its neighbors.
The characteristic form of governmental organization in Etruria was the confederacy of cities. At one time there appear to have been three separate Etruscan confederacies—the northern, the southern, and the central—each made up of 12 cities. The only confederacy of historical significance was the central confederacy, a loose political and religious organization that convened annually at the shrine of the deity Voltumna, overlooking Lacus Volsiniensis (now Lake Bolsena) in Latium. Its accomplishments were meager, however, as it was probably preoccupied with religious rather than political matters.
The Etruscans, at the height of their power, possessed imposing military strength, although it was probably not coordinated among the city-states. The infantry appears to have been the mainstay of the force. Principal weapons were the spear and the battle-ax, the latter being sometimes used for throwing as well as for striking. The bow and the javelin were also used; arrows and javelins are frequently found in excavated Etruscan tombs. Helmets and shields of various designs were adapted from those of the Greeks and of the tribes inhabiting the Eastern Alps. Swords were apparently rare and highly prized. It is considered likely that the cavalry formed an important part of the Etruscan army; chariots have been discovered in every large sepulcher. The navy was remarkably powerful and virtually dominated the Mediterranean for almost two centuries
The Etruscans were influenced by the many traders from the eastern Mediterranean who came to the Italian Peninsula. Evidence indicates that the Phoenicians were the first to arrive, probably in the 8th century BC. They were in search of raw materials, such as unworked metals and perhaps wood and leather, which they exchanged for the finished products of the Middle East. In time Greek merchants, established at Pithekoussai, began to challenge Phoenician mercantile supremacy. By 625 BC vases manufactured in Corinth filled the Etruscan markets. In the late 6th and 5th centuries BC Attic vases eclipsed Corinth ware, and these, including acknowledged masterpieces of Greek vase painting, were probably exchanged for Etruscan utensils in bronze, which the Athenians were thought to prize.
In the 6th century BC the Etruscan mercantile network included exchanges of early Iron Age goods with princes of Gaul (France) and the peoples of Tartessos and Ampurias, near Barcelona, in Spain. Many of the wars fought, and alliances forged, by the Etruscan cities after the 5th century BC were driven by economic forces.
After the Roman conquest of Etruria the Etruscan language fell into disuse. Writing in the 1st century BC, the Greek historian Dionysius called the language unlike any other, thus noting a difficulty that has since hindered attempts to translate its surviving fragments. Although knowledge of the Etruscan language is still very limited, scholars have identified it as not related to the Indo-European family of languages. Linguists have made some progress in deciphering the inscriptions on tombs, which represent most of the extant examples of Etruscan writing.
Rome was challenged also by their fellow Latin neighbors. While under Etruscan rule, Rome had been the greatest power among the Latins, and Rome had been resented by the other Latins. In the year 496 these Latins warred against Rome over disputed lands and to free themselves from Rome's hegemony. Rome won the Battle of Lake Regillusis, and with victory Rome's leaders put vanity aside and abandoned their claim of hegemony in Latium. They saw advantage in peace and cooperation with their fellow Latins, one advantage being trade and another being an strength through an alliance. In 493, Rome joined an alliance with its Latin neighbors as an equal.
The alliance treaty held that business contracts between people from different states within the alliance were to be bound by law. And the treaty held that in wars against outsiders, alliance members were to share in commanding armies and in the spoils of war. The alliance strengthened Rome in the wars that soon followed. The Etruscans began an attempt to impose again their rule on the Romans and other Latins. And there were periodic wars across decades against mountain people in central Italy who were increasing in population and attempting to expand.
Rome's aristocrats were horsemen, and cavalry was their basic fighting unit. Wars gave them prestige and helped them to maintain their claim of leadership over the other Romans. But a development in the art of war was denying the aristocrats their exclusive right to prestige. The Greeks, Etruscans and now the Romans were using heavily armed infantrymen – men who were commoners. The increased importance of the common man in combat had encouraged democracy in Athens, and now it was increasing the self-confidence of Rome's commoner-soldiers, who were also small farmers.
Economic distress exacerbated conflict between aristocrats (patricians) and commoners (plebeians). Involved in this conflict was the rise of debt slavery. When a small farmer was seized for non-payment of his debts, other commoners, mainly farmer-soldiers, might attempt to rescue him by force.
Rome's farmer-soldiers and farmer-veterans demanded a bigger share in the distribution of lands, and they demanded the abolition of veterans' debts. They advocated the creation of an assembly that spoke for their interests and the interests of all common people. They wanted common people to be able to elect men to preside over this assembly and to keep watch on the Senate and to have the power to veto Senate proposals. And they wanted a commoner elected as one of the Senate's two chief executives – its two consuls. The consuls served as commanders-in-chief of the military, and this included the power to have soldiers executed for lack of discipline. The consuls also decided who would be promoted to positions of authority within the Senate and who could declare an emergency, giving themselves rule for six months. There were two consuls so as not to give too much power to one man, as with the kind of monarch they had recently overthrown. Each consul was able to veto a decision by the other.
A strike by plebeians was followed by patricians acknowledging that it was no longer as it had been in the days when aristocrats alone were the warriors. The patricians were willing to compromise. Although the Senate did not give the plebeians exactly what they wanted, it did create military tribunes, commoners or aristocrats to be elected by both small farmers and by aristocrats. The farmer-soldiers were encouraged by this increase in their participation in government. It gave them more of a sense that in war they were fighting for their own interests. This enhanced their morale and strengthened Rome as a military power.
By 450, commoner tribunes were serving as military commanders in place of a consul – the Senate wanting perhaps to take advantage of men with extraordinary military talent. Also by 450, the number
A military assembly (Comitia Centuriata) was created, consisting of both commoners and aristocrats. This assembly was presided over by the consuls. It met to consider the names of aristocrats who would be candidates for the positions of consul, to elect the consuls, to enact legislation, to listen to appeals of those convicted of capital crimes, and to decide whether Rome should go to war.
Bureaucracy was extended. To relieve the consuls of the duty of taking the census, the office of censor was created. There were to be two censors. The census was needed for the collection of taxes and in organizing military duties. The censors learned of the extent of a man's property so that men who could afford it would be obliged to equip themselves with the better and more complete armor of the hoplite warrior. Or, if the census determined that someone could afford the required horse and equipment, he was liable for service as a cavalryman. And commoner cavalrymen were recognized by the Senate as a new class, called the Equites.
To the executive branch of government (the consuls) and the legislative branch (the Senate) a third branch of government was created: the judiciary. This had been urged by the commoners, who wanted laws to apply to them and aristocrats equally. An officer of the law, called thePraetor, was put in charge of the judiciary. He was to be elected annually by the military assembly, and it was hoped that he would exercise judgments independent from politics. But jury duty was to remain exclusively for aristocrats. Only aristocrats had sufficient leisure time for such service, and it was believed that as jurors they would strive to maintain their reputations as men of honor by judging on the evidence presented them.
To avoid arbitrary decisions concerning the law, plebeians demanded that laws be put into writing, and this resulted in the creation of what became known as the Twelve Tables, laws written on twelve bronze tablets. These laws were to be open to legislative change, to embody both precedence and experience. Up to this time Roman laws had been unwritten and connected with religious lore, with aristocrats believing that only they had sufficent understanding of the mysteries of religious lore.
Punishments for breaking the laws expressed in the Twelve Tables were harsh, conforming to strong commitments to virtue. Anyone convicted of slander was to be clubbed to death; a thief was to be flogged, unless he was a slave, in which case he was to be executed by being thrown off Tarpeian Rock on that small rise called Capitoline Hill; someone convicted of defrauding a client was to be executed; perjury was a capital crime; death was the punishment for a judge who accepted a bribe or for anybody who connived with the enemy or delivered a Roman citizen to an enemy. The death sentence, however, may have been rarely carried out. In place of executing someone, the Romans might demolish his house and allow him to go into permanent exile. But for an offense against the gods, the Romans, an intensely religious people, showed little mercy. Vestal Virgins, whose job it was to maintain the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta, were usually buried alive if convicted of being unchaste.
Roman law recognized the supreme authority of the father within his family. A father could sell his son or daughter into slavery. He could have a rebellious son put to death or, as the Romans put it, sacrificed to the gods. A daughter was her father's property, sold in marriage to whomever he pleased. He could also tell his son whom to marry and when to divorce. Roman law also reflected a Roman harshness toward physical weakness: the dreadfully deformed were quickly put to death shortly after birth, and parents could kill their infant if at least five neighbors consented.
One of the earliest adjustments to the new written laws came in 442 when a tribune introduced legislation against what had been a standing prohibition against marriage between commoners and aristocrats. Aristocrats had been concerned about the purity of their blood – a superstition as old as Egypt's pharaohs 2,000 or so years before, who married their sons and daughters to each other to prevent blood contamination. Speaking before the Senate against this legislation a consul described it as a rebellion against the laws of heaven. He accused the tribune of scheming to obscure or confuse family rank, leaving nothing "pure and uncontaminated." The tribune spoke of the humble origins of the aristocracy's ancestors and claimed that their nobility was not a right of birth or blood but a co-optation. How much this argument convinced the senators is difficult to determine. But in one respect the law against marriage between commoners and aristocrats was impacted by a practical matter: commoner families headed by vigorous entrepreneurs had accumulated wealth, and aristocrats from poorer families had an interest in marrying into these more wealthy families. After much arguing the law was repealed.
The alliance treaty held that business contracts between people from different states within the alliance were to be bound by law. And the treaty held that in wars against outsiders, alliance members were to share in commanding armies and in the spoils of war. The alliance strengthened Rome in the wars that soon followed. The Etruscans began an attempt to impose again their rule on the Romans and other Latins. And there were periodic wars across decades against mountain people in central Italy who were increasing in population and attempting to expand.
Rome's aristocrats were horsemen, and cavalry was their basic fighting unit. Wars gave them prestige and helped them to maintain their claim of leadership over the other Romans. But a development in the art of war was denying the aristocrats their exclusive right to prestige. The Greeks, Etruscans and now the Romans were using heavily armed infantrymen – men who were commoners. The increased importance of the common man in combat had encouraged democracy in Athens, and now it was increasing the self-confidence of Rome's commoner-soldiers, who were also small farmers.
Economic distress exacerbated conflict between aristocrats (patricians) and commoners (plebeians). Involved in this conflict was the rise of debt slavery. When a small farmer was seized for non-payment of his debts, other commoners, mainly farmer-soldiers, might attempt to rescue him by force.
Rome's farmer-soldiers and farmer-veterans demanded a bigger share in the distribution of lands, and they demanded the abolition of veterans' debts. They advocated the creation of an assembly that spoke for their interests and the interests of all common people. They wanted common people to be able to elect men to preside over this assembly and to keep watch on the Senate and to have the power to veto Senate proposals. And they wanted a commoner elected as one of the Senate's two chief executives – its two consuls. The consuls served as commanders-in-chief of the military, and this included the power to have soldiers executed for lack of discipline. The consuls also decided who would be promoted to positions of authority within the Senate and who could declare an emergency, giving themselves rule for six months. There were two consuls so as not to give too much power to one man, as with the kind of monarch they had recently overthrown. Each consul was able to veto a decision by the other.
A strike by plebeians was followed by patricians acknowledging that it was no longer as it had been in the days when aristocrats alone were the warriors. The patricians were willing to compromise. Although the Senate did not give the plebeians exactly what they wanted, it did create military tribunes, commoners or aristocrats to be elected by both small farmers and by aristocrats. The farmer-soldiers were encouraged by this increase in their participation in government. It gave them more of a sense that in war they were fighting for their own interests. This enhanced their morale and strengthened Rome as a military power.
Concessions and Written Law
Having won concessions from the aristocrats, commoners wanted more. They went on strike again, this time demanding freedom from arbitrary punishment and other abuses. The strike stopped work on farms and in shops, and to appease the commoners the Senate gave tribunes the power to veto any laws passed by the Senate.
Although officially limited to vetoing laws, the tribunes began initiating legislation. A law in 471 created an assembly of commoners, theComitia Plebis, presided over by tribunes, creating a greater connection between commoners and tribunes. And tribunes were to share authority with the consuls on the field of battle.By 450, commoner tribunes were serving as military commanders in place of a consul – the Senate wanting perhaps to take advantage of men with extraordinary military talent. Also by 450, the number
A military assembly (Comitia Centuriata) was created, consisting of both commoners and aristocrats. This assembly was presided over by the consuls. It met to consider the names of aristocrats who would be candidates for the positions of consul, to elect the consuls, to enact legislation, to listen to appeals of those convicted of capital crimes, and to decide whether Rome should go to war.
Bureaucracy was extended. To relieve the consuls of the duty of taking the census, the office of censor was created. There were to be two censors. The census was needed for the collection of taxes and in organizing military duties. The censors learned of the extent of a man's property so that men who could afford it would be obliged to equip themselves with the better and more complete armor of the hoplite warrior. Or, if the census determined that someone could afford the required horse and equipment, he was liable for service as a cavalryman. And commoner cavalrymen were recognized by the Senate as a new class, called the Equites.
To the executive branch of government (the consuls) and the legislative branch (the Senate) a third branch of government was created: the judiciary. This had been urged by the commoners, who wanted laws to apply to them and aristocrats equally. An officer of the law, called thePraetor, was put in charge of the judiciary. He was to be elected annually by the military assembly, and it was hoped that he would exercise judgments independent from politics. But jury duty was to remain exclusively for aristocrats. Only aristocrats had sufficient leisure time for such service, and it was believed that as jurors they would strive to maintain their reputations as men of honor by judging on the evidence presented them.
To avoid arbitrary decisions concerning the law, plebeians demanded that laws be put into writing, and this resulted in the creation of what became known as the Twelve Tables, laws written on twelve bronze tablets. These laws were to be open to legislative change, to embody both precedence and experience. Up to this time Roman laws had been unwritten and connected with religious lore, with aristocrats believing that only they had sufficent understanding of the mysteries of religious lore.
Punishments for breaking the laws expressed in the Twelve Tables were harsh, conforming to strong commitments to virtue. Anyone convicted of slander was to be clubbed to death; a thief was to be flogged, unless he was a slave, in which case he was to be executed by being thrown off Tarpeian Rock on that small rise called Capitoline Hill; someone convicted of defrauding a client was to be executed; perjury was a capital crime; death was the punishment for a judge who accepted a bribe or for anybody who connived with the enemy or delivered a Roman citizen to an enemy. The death sentence, however, may have been rarely carried out. In place of executing someone, the Romans might demolish his house and allow him to go into permanent exile. But for an offense against the gods, the Romans, an intensely religious people, showed little mercy. Vestal Virgins, whose job it was to maintain the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta, were usually buried alive if convicted of being unchaste.
Roman law recognized the supreme authority of the father within his family. A father could sell his son or daughter into slavery. He could have a rebellious son put to death or, as the Romans put it, sacrificed to the gods. A daughter was her father's property, sold in marriage to whomever he pleased. He could also tell his son whom to marry and when to divorce. Roman law also reflected a Roman harshness toward physical weakness: the dreadfully deformed were quickly put to death shortly after birth, and parents could kill their infant if at least five neighbors consented.
One of the earliest adjustments to the new written laws came in 442 when a tribune introduced legislation against what had been a standing prohibition against marriage between commoners and aristocrats. Aristocrats had been concerned about the purity of their blood – a superstition as old as Egypt's pharaohs 2,000 or so years before, who married their sons and daughters to each other to prevent blood contamination. Speaking before the Senate against this legislation a consul described it as a rebellion against the laws of heaven. He accused the tribune of scheming to obscure or confuse family rank, leaving nothing "pure and uncontaminated." The tribune spoke of the humble origins of the aristocracy's ancestors and claimed that their nobility was not a right of birth or blood but a co-optation. How much this argument convinced the senators is difficult to determine. But in one respect the law against marriage between commoners and aristocrats was impacted by a practical matter: commoner families headed by vigorous entrepreneurs had accumulated wealth, and aristocrats from poorer families had an interest in marrying into these more wealthy families. After much arguing the law was repealed.
Strength after Defeat by the Gauls
By the end of the 400s BCE, the city of Rome occupied an area about 32 by 48 kilometers. Around this time, several tribes of Celts – whom the Romans called Gauls – ventured southward from their homeland to the Po River Valley in northern Italy. They threatened the Etruscan city of Clusium, about a hundred miles north of Rome. Clusium requested help from Rome, and Rome sent three commissioners to investigate. One commissioner asked the Gauls why they thought they could take lands that belonged to others. The Gauls replied that the people of Clusium had more land than they needed and that "all things belong to the brave."
he Roman commissioners joined the Etruscans in a skirmish to defend Clusium, and one of the commissioners killed a Gallic chieftain. In 390 BCE, the Gauls headed for Rome to seek revenge. The Gauls outnumbered Rome's defenders two to one, and the Gauls shattered Rome's spear carrying phalanx formations. Many of Rome's defenders fled across the Tiber River to the nearby city of Veii, and some fled to the countryside. Other soldiers rushed into the city to its citadel, as non-combatants were fleeing the city through the same gates. These gates remained open, and the Gauls poured into the city, where they slaughtered old men, women and children and looted and burned. They attempted an uphill attack on the citadel but failed to dislodge the soldiers there.
For seven months the Gauls remained and fought around Rome. Then they gave up and returned north, leaving Rome in ruins. The Romans rebuilt and gathered lessons from their military defeat. They adopted new weaponry, dropping the spear in favor of a two-foot long sword. They adopted helmets, breastplates and a shield with iron edges. They reorganized their army, putting in the front rank of their battle line not the wealthy soldiers as before but the youngest and strongest.
From the year 367 through the following eighty years, the Senate approved a variety of reforms, including laws that allowed commoners to become consuls, praetors, or quaestors – the latter being money managers connected to various aspects of government or military campaigns. Bills were passed that, for the sake of greater equality, limited the size of lands that were distributed by the state. Debt payment was reformed. And in 326 a law was passed that protected the personal freedom of commoners by outlawing the practice of debtors being made serfs to their creditors.
War in Italy erupted again on the plains of Campania, near Neapolis (Naples). Samnite warrior-herdsmen from nearby hills had begun using grasslands for their animals – lands that people of Campania had fenced. The people of Campania sought help from Rome. Roman envoys went to leaders among the hill people for discussions and were rudely treated. War between Rome and the Samnites followed – the First Samnite War. The war lasted two years, ending in 345 with Rome triumphant and the Samnites willing to make peace.
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