Week 7 Overview and Assignment / Ch. 6
Welcome to the Roman Empire
(Chapter 6)
44 b.c.e. to 284 c.e.
The Ruins of the Roman Empire, Rome, Italy, 2009
It's good to have you here.
Chapter 6 Objectives for the Study of the Roman Empire
After reading and studying this chapter, students should be able to:
- Explain how Augustus created the Principate while upholding traditional Roman values.
- Describe daily life in Rome’s Golden Age.
- Discuss the rise of Christianity.
- Analyze the causes and effects of the
third-century crisis.
Please read your textbook this week so that you are able to answer these key questions. If you can't answer them after "finishing" the chapter, you have a critical piece of information about your reading comprehension level. Re-read often or read more slowly, actively. (To learn how to improve your reading comprehension, please go to our First Week Module and click on the section "How to Read a History Textbook Chapter." Then apply what you've learned.)
The Creation of the Roman Empire, 44 b.c.e. to 284 c.e.
The birthing pains of the Roman Empire were long and bloody and as with many civil wars, the results pleased few. At first. With the rise to power of Caesar Augustus by 27 b.c.e., Rome entered a period of almost 200 years of internal peace. But no one knew that when Augustus took power of course, announcing the Principate, disbanding a good part of his army, and initiating many public work projects, such as the Forum of Augustus (2 b.c.e.). The textbook lingers over what daily life must have been for the average Roman. Public sanitation, always poor by our standards in the ancient world, was a problem; slaves became commonplace and some were artisans, supervisors, and educators; gladiatorial shows were the HBO of the common man.
However, challenges remained for the Roman Empire. The challenges of unifying a multi-ethnic empire and struggles over morality troubled the Romans during the Pax Romana -- a period from 96 c.e. to 180 c.e. Remarkably, this was the greatest period of Roman prosperity, and it relied on defense by a local military, service by provinicial elites, and reliable tax collection. Rome's forty provinces were run by efficient administrators (decurions), the roads were maintained, and new cities and towns helped spread the Roman way of life. If I could go back in time, this is the period I would like to visit.
One proof of the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, was a literary blossoming. Vergil, the Homer of the Romans, wrote the national Epic, The Aeneid and Tacitus wrote a biting narrative of the Julio-Claudians' ruthlessness. Juvenal, a poet, skewered pretentious urban Romans and culinary fads, like frog legs and garum, a sort of all-purpose ketchup for the Romans.
But the seeds of Rome's downfall were taking root. Christians had been persecuted since Augustus's time, and the 'Jesus Cult' (as the Romans called those who followed Jesus) slowly but systemically grew. Another problem was a pesky province to the east of Rome, Judea, where Jews spoke against their Roman overlords and refused to bend the knee to the Empire. By 70 c.e., attempting to quash the Jewish rebellion, Roman centurions sacked Jerusalem and, momentously, destroyed the Temple -- the heart of Jewish religion and community. The Jewish Diaspora had begun. At about this time, Christians and Jews sharply broke from each other. The books of the New Testament would soon be written.
In the third century B.C.E., economic and political problems shook the empire to its very foundations as the military gained in power. Two great rulers, Diocletian and Constantine, struggled to hold the empire together with innovative reforms. Finally, the birth of a new religion transformed Roman society and culture. Romans initially ignored and even persecuted Christians, but eventually the empire itself embraced Christianity.
Some Common Misconceptions About the History We'll Be Exploring
The most common misconceptions for this chapter center on Roman and Christian relations. Christianity was not illegal, and anti-Christian persecution was not a frequent occurrence. More misconceptions arise over the early history of Christianity. Source material for this era is incomplete, and original copies of the texts of the Christian bible are not extant. Some historians often try to read Christian documents anachronistically. Christianity has a long history, and ideas and practices common to Christians now were not necessarily known in the Roman era. Many often forget that early Christians did not have access to the Christian bible, as it was not assembled in the form known now until much later. You may have a hard time seeing how similar Christianity was to other Roman religions. While the differences are there, early Christianity had much in common with mystery cults as well as Greek philosophy.
Read
Carefully read in our textbook all of Chapter 6 in the Sherman text -- on the Roman Empire.
Discuss
Go to the Discussion Forum for this week and contribute to this week's Discussion assignment.
Remember: each week and for each discussion topic, at minimum, three posts are required -- 1 Initial Post and 2 Response Posts. That's the minimum. If you wish to post more, please do. Your grade will probably improve if you do. Your initial posts, as always, are due before Thursday is over.
The Quiz
please take the Chapter-6 Quiz for this week. It's in this week-7 module. Earlier quiz questions may be in it.
Test Your Knowledge: The Midterm Assignment
The Midterm Assignment has been posted. It can be found on the Homepage on the Coming Up list (the lower right of the page) and on the Home Page under the Essential Links. You can also click HERE to access it. When viewing the assignment, check the due date and know that you can enter, leave, and return to the assignment as often as you like before the assignment is due
Important Information
As ever, the deadline for all of your work (except your initial Discussion post) is
Sunday, before 11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Note this well.