The End of the Roman Republic

      The Roman Republic, a bold experiment begun in 509 BCE, eventually collapsed. At the outset, when the Etruscan monarchy was overthrown, true democracy had seemed possible. This possibility seemed to be strengthened by the fact that Rome's dealings with its neighbours had been generally fair, if often harsh. Strong divisions between the landowning and commercial elites, and the army reforms of Marius led to factional strife with the people supporting particular army chiefs, like Sulla, Pompey, or Caesar. In the Rome of the first few centuries BCE, if you were poor and without personal means of livelihood, you either starved or were reduced to slavery, or worse.
      Under the Empire, things would get only slightly better for most Romans, who were tired of bloody civil wars. Augustus, the first emperor, consolidated his stranglehold on political and military power and claimed that he had restored the Republic. In reality, he was just the first in a long line of emperors that lasted until at least 476 CE. These emperors were in fact monarchs who relied on military power, moral authority, or perceived divine will to make their control of the known world legitimate. Whether or not Augustus and his successors were good emperors, their rule was absolute.

History Continues to Unfold

      Until fairly recently, much of the story of the Etruscan monarchy and the early Roman Republic supplied by the ancient historian Livy was more or less accepted as fact, or at least as a useful model given that there was no other. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that Livy's account is a less than reliable discussion of early Rome. There are no written records of any sort from earlier than the third century BC, and even the date of the founding of Rome - 753 BCE - is a product of the first-century BCE. Archaeology is the most important key to understanding the remote past, and it is now clear that Roman society is much older and more complex than Livy led us to believe. A current trend in scholarship is to concentrate less on wars and alliances and more on social history, on how the ancient Roman people lived.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

Roman Republican Art and Artchitecture

      Rome was born with no strong art tradition of its own. Roman art in the early years was heavily influenced by the Etruscans util Rome's expansion into the Greek-speaking areas of Sicily and southern Italy. This contact brought a huge rise in interest in Greek sculpture and many statues were imported to the capital. The Roman appetite for all forms of Greek art - architecture, sculpture, paintings, silver plate - increased even more with conquests in Greece itself, and particularly with the capture of Corinth in 146 BCE.
      Conquering generals could acquire art by plunder, but it had to be bought by theelite in Rome. In the second century BCE, to serve a booming market, there was not only a huge influx of all forms of art, but also the immigration of large numbers of Greek artists themselves. We know several artists by name: the Athenian painter Metrodoros, Demetrios the Alexandrian who painted maps, and the southern Italian sculptor Pasiteles. At the same time, in Athens and elsewhere, workshops were set up to create sculptures of mythological subjects based on earlier Greek models. These sculptural stories were imported by wealthy Romans and displayed in their gardens or reception areas (atria) of their homes.
      In architecture, more than in the other arts, there was a fusion of the Roman and Greek cultures. The Greek style of peripteral temple (columns all around) was fused with the Italic tradition of a front-facing temple on a high podium. But while the style and structure of building in Rome owe a great deal to Greece, it was the Romans alone who gave the world one profoundly significant architectural gift - concrete.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

Daily Life in The Republic

Beliefs

      During the 500 years since the fall of the Etruscan monarchy, the Roman people had developed superstitions, institutions, and modes of living. These practices and beliefs helped them, even in difficult times, to maintain a distinct identity and a cultural integrity. The Romans were among the most superstitious people the world had seen to that point. They essentially adopted the entire pantheon of Greek Olympian gods and created a remarkable synthesis of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan deities. In addition to the major gods, the Romans also believed in minor deities, werewolves, and all forms of magic. From the Etruscans, the Romans inherited the dark arts of laying curses, casting spells, and foretelling the future. Indeed, all public acts, including military operations and elections, were preceded by the taking of auspices (signs or omens from nature) to determine whether or not the gods approved. From their contacts with the East, the Romans also absorbed astrology and a belief in the signs of the zodiac.
     The official religions came under the supervision of the Pontifex Maximus and were administered by several different colleges of priests who were all members of the senatorial elite. Naturally, the Pontifex Maximus was a man of great political influence, one of the duties of which was to be in charge of the Roman calendar. This originally was simply an ordering of the months and days when the various deities were to be honoured.
      Do ut des - "I give so that you might give" - was an elementary principle in Roman religion. This means honouring and placating gods, or seeking their help in times of crisis, through animal sacrifice. A particular favourite was known as suovetaurilla, the simultaneous sacrifice of a pig, sheep, and ox.

Family Life and Morality

      The Roman Republic was based on the family unit, the building block of society. the head of the household, the male paterfamilias, originally held complete power over his wife, children, and slaves. This included the legal right to abuse or even to kill. He was endowed, above all, with potestas, legally recognized and absolute power. He also was expected to maintain a public appearance marked by gravitas (conservatism) and dignitas (dignified status), and usually, severitas (the ability not to shrink from harsh justice).
      Inheritance of property was the most important element in Republican life. The state consisted of families that were linked to each other in gentes (clans). Anything that endangered the integrity of the family was met with the harshest punishment.
      Since inheritance was through the male line, adoption as a regular feature of society. On occasion, younger men even adopted older men. Affection was personal; adoption was not. Men whose wives repeatedly gave birth to daughters (a state of affairs believed to be the woman's fault) could divorce and remarry at will. Julius Caesar, who had several wives, was obliged to adopt in his will the young Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus), the son of his niece Atia.
      Even though marriage was entered into as a duty rather than as an expression of love, often with neither partner having freedom of choice, marital harmony and the development of spousal affection was the norm for Roman couples. Children especially male children, were cared for well. Of course, as in any society where inheritance of property is paramount, the legitimacy of offspring was of equal concern. A newborn infant was not recognized by its father, it would be exposed, or abandoned, in a public place. A childless person could then take the infant for his or her own. Otherwise, the baby would be left to die.

Education

      Male and female children of elite Republican families were raised together until puberty, usually by a nurse and family tutor. From approximately age seven to 11, children learned to read and write Latin; some were even taught Greek. Then, from about age 12 to 15, both boys and girls were given a liberal education in language and literature; girls always received instruction at home, while boys could be aught in public. At age 16, boys normally went on to study rhetoric (logical and persuasive argument) at public lectures. During the Republic, students kept regular hours of instruction, had vacations, and did homework. We even know the names of some schoolteachers (grammatici), such as Orbilius, the harsh taskmaster of the famous poet Horace. At the onset of manhood, a youth was introduced to public life. He was formally led to the Forum Romanum dressed in the toga of manhood. After this ceremony, the youth was expected to pursue a career in the law courts or army.
      Young men were expected to serve the interests of state first and themselves last, in accordance with the interests of the dominant elite. These included the continuation of the clan, material and financial comfort, and the attainment of gloria. In such an exclusive system, children of the poor sectors of society received no education at all.
      In addition to language and literature, girls were instructed in the arts of singing and dancing, and in the crafts of spinning and weaving, thought to exemplify old Repubican virtues. Theses virtues are honoured on an old Republican gravestone that reads, "casa fuit; domum servavit; lanam fecit" (she was chaste; she kept the house; she worked the wool). This system of education ensured the stability of the social order in Rome by teaching the children of the upper classes about their privileges and responsibilities to the state.

The Role of Women

      Girls were usually educated in the home or sent to elementary school until they were married. Upon marriage, Roman women gained an independence that their earlier Greek sisters would have envied. Apart from the duty to bear children, marriage brought the ability to leave the house to go shopping, attend to business, and accompany one's husband to dinner. The normal age of marriage seems to have been about 15. There were two forms of marriage: the most ancient transferred the authority of the father to the husband. This marriage in manum (into the power) was conducted according to ancient rituals, of which the most common was a symbolic sale wherein the father sold the daughter to the bridegroom.
      The other form of marriage came to be the most popular by the end of the Republic. This was usus (cohabitation). A couple stated their intention to live together in a married state and as long as they lived together, they were married. Divorce was simple: all one partner had to do was send a messenger to the other telling him or her to take their belongings away. In this form of marriage, sine manu (without power), the woman remained legally subject to her father as long as he was alive.
      Continuing the family line was the main purpose of marriage. At about 15 years of age, a girl could expect a fairly rapid instruction to her responsibilities. Children as young as 12 suffered the risks of carrying babies in their immature bodies. Since male children were preferred, a woman could expect multiple pregnancies until she delivered a boy who was likely to survive. During the early Empire, families with three or more children were rewarded by the state.
      Women could own property and engage in business activities. Occasionally, they even sponsored public buildings and were important people in their own right. During the Republic and much of the history of the Roman Empire, though excluded from the male political sphere, women exercised great influence.

Latin Language and Literature

Language
      The Romans spoke Latin, the language of their neighbours to the south, in modern-day Lazio. As the Romans became dominant, the other local languages of the Italian Peninsula, such as Etruscan, soon died out. Only the Greek cities in southern Italy retained much of their own language. From the early years of the Republic, we have only a very few small scraps of Latin, usually on gravestones or other inscriptions. The Latin of those early centuries seems to have been rough and unsophisticated.
      The favourite writing materials were papyrus, made from an Egyptian reed plant that grew in the Nile Delta swamplands, and later, parchment, the skin of goat or sheep (membrana). Papyrus was sold either in long rolls of 20 sheets that were sun-dried then glued together, or as individual sheets. For less formal writing, such as messages, wax tablets (tabelli) were used. The writer would scratch a message on the wax with a sharpened writing implement called a stylus. Once the message had been received and read, the recipient would scrape the wax smooth and write a return message.
      For writing on papyrus or parchment, pens dipped in ink were used. The ens could be made of copper ally, though often they were simply sharpened reeds or goose quills. The ink was made from several substances such as soot, resin, and the excretions of squid or cuttlefish. Care had to be taken not to dilute the ink too much, which would make it too faint to read. Writing errors could easily be erased with a clean, wet sponge.

Literature
      In Republican literature, Ennius (239-169 BCE) stands out for his attempt to provide a year-by-year account of Rome's developing power. This account, the Annales, was in verse because in the earlier stages of the development of a literature, when there is a heavier reliance on memory than the written record, verse (which is easier to remember than prose) was more commonly used.
      There are many people, mostly men, known to us by name through large or small fragments of their work. From the period before 133 BCE, two writers of comedy are known to us: Titus Maccius Plautus (?-184 BCE) - more commonly known as Plautus - and Publius Terentius Afer (195-159 BCE) - more commonly known as Terence. We are fortunate to have many complete plays by them. Peopled by stock characters such as love-sick youths, cunning slaves, prostitutes, and grasping old men, these plays have had an enormous influence on the development of Western drama, including the works of Shakespeare. Since plays were not considered good for public morality, there was no permanent theatre in Rome until Pompey the Great had his stone theatre built in 55 BCE.
      In the first century BCE, literacy in Latin and Greek became common among the elite. All sorts of people committed their thoughts to writing, such as the philosopher Lucretius (T. Lucretius Carus, 94-55 BCE), who wrote On the Nature of Things, an epic poem describing his theories on existence and ethical behaviour.
      Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BCE), one of the most famous Romans, was a prolific philosopher, writer, consul, and staunch defender of the Republic. As an orator, Cicero defended notable Romans and prosecuted others in the courts. As a defender of the idea of constitutional government, Cicero was bitterly opposed to Marc Antony, whom he attacked in his published speeches, the Philippics. Eventually, in 43 BCE, he was killed by Marc Antony for his outspokenness.
      Known to both Cicero and Julius Caesar was the poet Catullus (Gaius Valerius Catullus, ca. 84-47 BCE). Catullus was known for his lampooning and abusive attacks, and although some of his poetry would be considered obscene even today, on the whole, it is entertaining and skillfully created. For exmaple:

I hate and I love

well, who do I, you probably ask

I don't know, but I know it's happening

and it hurts. 

      Latin, for the next thousand years and more, was first and foremost the language of the Roman government and he legal system. After the Empire had transformed into a number of successor kingdoms in the mid-sixth century CE, Latin continued to spread and was confirmed as the international language of the Christian church, of education, and of scholarship (e.g., Issac Newton's Principia Mathematica, 1687). Latin still has a strong presence in the language of medicine and law, and is still taught and studied in most universities of the Western world.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

The Decline of The Roman Republic

Military Reform and the Rise of Roman Generals

      The formation of the Roman citizen army can be attributed to Gaius Marius (ca. 155-86 BCE) in 100 BCE. Throughout all of previous Roman history, soldiers had been farmers who tilled their fields, sowed their grain, and then went off to war when necessary. The campaigning season ended in the fall, always in tim for the soldiers to return home to gather their harvest.
      Seasonal campaigning had become a problem by Marius's time. Now, there were not as many citizen soldiers who owned land left in Rome. Grain, therefore, was becoming scarcer. The scarcer the grain, the more essential it was for the soldiers who did own land to return to their fields in the fall. At the same time, there were now many landless people normally resident in the city and these people had less reason to return home in the fall.

      Marius realized the size of the problem and created a standing army. A standing army is a permanent force, not one recruited only to meet a particular need. Marius also gave his soldiers a fixed term of service - 16 years in the ranks and four years as a veteranus (reserve soldier) - with the possibility of being called up if needed. After his term of service, the soldier retired with a pension, a gratuity (fixed sum of money), or a plot of land - and he was now allowed to marry.

      The new conditions of service, inlcluding regular pay, the provision of food, and clothing allowances, were only part of the more seeping rearrangments that now affected "Marius's Mules," as the men were called. (This name came about because each man had to carry a standard, minimum amount of equipment when on the march.) Soldiers now served in re-formed legions and, with a new aquila (the eagle insignia), began to develop a fierce pride in belonging to a particular unit.

      The legion was now a heavy infantry unit of about 6000 men, broken into smaller subdivisions called cohorts. There were ten cohorts to a legion with the first and most experienced cohort having a double complement of soldiers. Each cohort had approximately 480 men. These units were further divided into six smaller and more manageable units called centuries with 80 men to a century; each century reported to a centurion, the equivalent of a sergeant. The ultimate division was the contubernium of eight men sharing one tent. There were ten contubernia to a century and two centuries to a maniple. 

      The result of these complicated arrangements was that a recruit would begin his service in the most junior century of the most junior cohort of a legion. As he gained experience, the soldier could work his way through the ranks to the primus pilus, the centurion commanding the first century of the first cohort. Another advantage of this arrangement was that the legion, with its smaller divisions, was easily deployed. The major drawback of the military hierarchy was that ordinary soldiers looked to their generals rater than to the state for security and pensions. By the first century BCE, these were "Sulla's legions" or "Marius's legions," not Rome's legions. 

From Pompey to Caesar

      By now, Romans understood that any men backed by either a powerful army or a band of ruthless, armed thugs could usurp the constitutional government. In quick succession, three men - Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, 106-48 BCE), Crassus (Marcus Licinius Crassus, 115-53 BCE), and Julius Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar, 100-44 BCE) - came to power. These men were all military adventurers who cared nothing for the Republican constitution by which they had prospered. According to their own private arrangement, they split the government of Rome among themselves in 60 BCE and formed the First Triumvirate, the Rule of the Three Men. 

      Caesar had the armies of Northern Italy. He set about gaining military glory by subjugating the entire population of what is now southern Germany, France, Switzerland, and parts of Austria. Crassus first did his part in Italy by crushing the bloody slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 bCE. Six thousand of this ex-gladiator's followers were crucified in a line flanking the Via Appia. Crassus then went off to campaign in Persia (modern-day Iran) against the Parthians. Pompey was already covered in glory from his vanquishing of the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea (67 BCE). 

      Still, no private arrangement could outlive ambition. Crassus was defeated by the Parthians at Carrhae and killed in 53 BCE. Pompey, having become the fervent guardian of senatorial privilege, came to oppose Caesar and agreed with a senatorial demand in 50 BCE that Caesar disband his army. Caesar realized that disbanding his army would leave him defenseless and would amount to suicide. He committed an illegal act, and in January 49 BCE crossed the stream known as the Rubicon with his army and therefore entered Italian territory. Pompey hurried to the defense of the constitutional, senatorial government but was beaten back on all fronts. He was forced to retreat to Alexandria in Egypt, where his army was defeated and he was decapitated.

      in 46 BCE, Julius Caesar, the last surviving member of the Triumvirate, had himself appointed dictator for ten years.  In 45 BCE, the appointment was extended to life. In the same year, he became Pontifex Maximus (Chief Priest) and assumed virtually all responsibility for decision making. Caesar was now behaving more like a king than a guardian of the Republic. He was even offered a golden crown by a young supporter named Marc Antony (Marcus Antonius, 93-30 BCE). Caesar's glory was short-lived. On 15 March 44 BCE, a day known as the Ides of March, several self-proclaimed defenders of liberty - Brutus, Cassius, and other senate conspirators - converged on the dictator in Pompey's theater and stabbed him to death. 

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

Republican Law and Legislation

      Rome was among the very few societies in the ancient world to develop laws that were codified (officially written down) and analyzed in detail by professional jurists. The history of Roman law begins very early in the Republic, with the Twelve Tables in 450 BCE (which consisted of only a few sentences), and reaches its maturity with the legislation of the Emperor Justinian in 528-534 CE, the Corpus Juris Civilis, with over a million words! Latin was the language of law throughout the Roman world, even in the Greek-speaking east. The judicial history of the Republic can be divided into two periods: a relatively primitive period ending in the third century BCe, and the later Republican period when a legal profession evolved, beginning around 200 BCE and ending with the victory of Augustus in 31 CE. Similarly, historians of Roman law identify two major legal divisions, not originally distinguishable: civil law and criminal law. To a great degree, Roman criminal law, in which the community acted for the sake of the public interest, sprung from an original tradition of the taking of private revenge. Theft, for example, was originally a private matter for civil action and only much later became the subject of criminal prosecution. Also, whereas in our society the law does not distinguish between the status of the individuals (rich or poor, male or female), a fundamental aspect of Roman law made that distinction. For example, there was not only a distinction between free people and slaves, there were also categories of free people, who were treated differently according to their status.

The Twelve Tables

      According to tradition, pressure by the ordinary people led to the appointment of a board of ten men with consular power in 451 BCE, established for the writing down of statutes. This was to break the monopolization of the law by the patricians and priestly elite. Ten tables were compiled, with two added the following year. The tables originally included a law banning marriage between patricians and plebeians, but it was quickly struck down in 445 BCE. Most of the contents of the Twelve Tables, not formally abolished until the sixth century CE, were related to civil matters. Essentially, the Twelve Tables formed a list of basic legal procedures and appropriate punishments.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

External Forces: The Punic Wars, 264-146 BCE

      There were three fateful clashes between Rome and the Carthaginians , called the Punic Wars (the word "Punic" is derived from the Latin word meaning Phoenician). Undoubtedly, the most dangerous time for Rome after the defeat of the invading Gauls, was the Second Punic War (218-202 BCE). The Carthaginian military leader at this time was Hanibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, who had done much to help restore Carthage after its first defeat by the Romans in the First Punic War (264-241 BCE). Hannibal now ruled the Iberian Peninsula as if it were his private kingdom.
      In 218 BCE, Hannibal left Spain and led a land-based attack on the Romans by crossing the Alps, a feat still marveled at today. Hannibal started from Spain with 35 000-40 000 troops and 37 elephants; by the time he arrived in northern Italy, only about 26 000 soldiers and one elephant had survived the crossing. It is likely that Hannibal's military skill was poor and that the Alpine barrier was much more formidable than he had been led to believe. For all Hannibal's losses, however, he engaged in four great battles over the next two years. These battles were astounding for the number of Roman losses. On 2 August 216 BCE, for example, at Cannae in southern Italy, over over 50 000 soldiers from a Roman army of 86 000 were annihilated in one day.
      Hannibal managed to conquer most of the Italian Pennisula. Fourteen years later, through patient guerilla warfare, the Romans eventually came at the battle of Zama (202 BCE) in Tunisia, North Africa, under the leadership of the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory, Scipio was given the honorary title Scipio Africanus. The Roman state had learned that it now had the potential to be the pre-eminent power in the Mediterranean world, and not merely a powerful city in the Italian Peninsula.
      For their defeat at Zama, the Carthaginians paid a heavy toll to Rome: they were obliged to pay huge war reparations, forfeit their commercial empire, and dismantle their once powerful navy. Within 50 years, however, the Carthaginians were again on the rise, and when a neighboring kingdom in North Africa became fearful, it appealed to Rome for help.
      Rome then waged war against Carthage for the last time. Remembering their incredible losses at Cannae and elsewhere, the Romans utterly destroyed the city of Carthage. thanks to a historian named Polybius, who was present at the destruction of Carthage, we have a record of the words spoken by the commanding Roman general, Publius Scipio Aemilianus, grandson of Scipio Africanus: "We have made a desert and called it peace."

Eastern Expansion and Its Consequences

      The Greek world in the eastern Mediterranean also experienced the power of the Republic's armies. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, there were squabbles among the inheritors of his empire: the kingdoms of Antigonus (Greece and Macedonia), Seleucus (Asia Minor), and Ptolemy (Egypt and eastern Libya). Added to this explosive mixture were the pirates in the Adriatic Sea. All of this put Roman trading and maritime commerce at risk.
     The Romans had no particular desire to become embroiled in the politics of the Greek world. The state had its hands full with Carthage. Nevertheless, matters came to a head when a senatorial deputation that arrived in Corinth in 147 BCE was treated badly, and Rome oculd not tolerate the insults of the Greeks. In 146 BCE, an attack was mounted against Corinth - the city was razed and plundered. Romans would later equate the destruction of that wealthy city and the theft of its reasures in fine art and opulent furnishings with the beginning of decadence and a love of luxury in their own city.

Expansion and Colonization in Italy

      As an important step in the Romanization of the Italian Peninsula, and a model for the subsequent domination of the rest of Europe, coloniae (colonies) were created in strategic places where there was no existing population. These colonies were composed of full Roman citizens who could be counted on to support the interests of the Roman regime. As often as not, the inhabitants of the colonies were recently discharged soldiers or members of the urban poor who had exchanged their impoverished occupation for a tract of land and the benefits of a rural existence. After the construction of the first paved road leading out of Rome, the Via Appia (Appian Way), colonies were planted throughout the Italian Peninsula south of the Po River during the third century BCE. Examples were Cosa in the northwest and Venusium (modern Venosa) in the wild interior of southern Italy, a colony that became an important Roman presence during the conquest of southern Italy and the subsequent opposition to Hannibal in 216 BCE.

Conflict at Home: Dissatisfaction in the Republic 

      There was a widening gulf between the landowning rich and the urban poor, who had no means to support themselves. A reformer named Tiberius Gracchus, elected tribune of the people in 133 BCE, thought he know how to solve the problems of the urban poor. Earlier, much of the public land had been seized quite illegally by richer members of the Roman populace, so Tiberius set about redistributing land. A Land Commission was set up to distribute ten hectare plots.
      Tiberius Gracchus, however, overstepped his authority. He announced that he would seek re-election as tribune which was unheard of. His action instigated a riot by the angry, landowning senators in Rome. Some 300 people were killed, among them Tiberius himself. Nevertheless, the Land Commission continued to function and about 80 000 people from the city were resettled.
      Tiberius's brother, Gaius Gracchus, was elected tribune in 123 BCE. He too was a zealous reformer and believed he had the answer to the problems of the conflicting interests of the population. First, to satisfy the urban poor, he instituted free, monthly supply of grain. Second, in an attempt to meet the needs of the landless poor and not offend the Senate, he proposed new colonies at Capua, Taranto, and Punic Wars and so were available for resettlement. Lastly, he proposed a package of moderate compromises to give some rights to the non-Roman population. All Roman citizens were offended by this either on moral or religious grounds, or because they feared the loss of their privileges. given the almost unanimous opposition, Gaius Gracchus made no progress with his proposals and succeeded only in incurring the wrath of the public. He was declared a public enemy in 121 BCE, and along with 3000 of his supporters, was attacked by a mob and killed.
      The attempts made by the Gracchus brothers to bring greater political harmony to the Roman state had come to nothing. Eventually, over the course of the next hundreds years, the state's inability to bridge the gulf between rich and poor and to come to grips with the Republic's new-found wealth and increasing commercialism led to its downfall.

Citizenship in Italy 

      In the aftermath of the failed attempts at reform, the free population of the Italian, non-Roman communities (which were located throughout the peninsula, especially to the south of the Po River) felt increasingly isolated from decisions affecting their welfare. Eventually, their resentment of Rome came to a boil. It was not that the Italians, as they called themselves, wanted to replace Rome but rather what they wanted was a share of the privileges that came with Roman citizenship.
      The privileges of citizenship were significant. For example, a full Roman citizen was protected in Roman civil law from the arbitrary exercise of power by a Roman magistrate. A child born to a Roman citizen was also a Roman citizen if the father had the legal right (conubium) to marry the mother. Roman citizens enjoyed a favourable tax status and, with expansion overseas, were exempted from paying tribute in Italy. Finally, and high on the list of privileges, was the fact that any slave freed by a full Roman citizen was himself automatically a Roman citizen, although always dependent by law on his benefactor.
      A bitter Social War broke out in 90 BCE. The Romans retained the upper hand and suppressed the uprising of the non-Roman Italians in 89 BCE. At the same time, they made several concessions. Later, after Julius Caesar's invasion of Italy south of the Rubicon in 49 BCE, the whole Italian Peninsula would gain full Roman citizenship and, under the Emperor Caracalla in 212 CE, all free males within the Empire were granted citizenship. By that time, however, provincial Roman citizens had lost their tax exemptions.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

The Roman Republic

      The Roman Republic (Res Publica, public matter) was a result of the people's discontent with the tyrannical, domineering attitudes of the Etruscan kings. However, up to 27 BCE< much of the subsequent internal history of the state of Rome can be traced by following the relationship that existed between an overbearing, landowning aristocracy, known as the patricians, and the often landless poor, the plebeians.
      The Roman Republic was known to its citizens as the Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome). As the name implies, there was a constant tension between the senatorial aristocracy and the people. Nowhere was this tension and the state's efforts to accommodate it more evident than in the system of government that developed as Rome achieved political maturity.

Assemblies

      The Roman Republican government was composed of several assemblies from which magistrates were drawn. Before the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud in 509 BCe, the kings of Rome had been advised and supported by a council made up of the men who controlled the most land. This body was known as the Senate and continued to be important throughout the history of the Roman Republic.
      The Comitia Centuriata (Assembly of Centuries) was an important assembly of male citizens segregated into five electoral classes according to wealth. The wealthiest landowners were the first to vote and the proletarii (those who owned no land), were the last. The Comitia Centuriata passed laws presented to it by the annually elected senior magistrates. This assembly also included the Comitia Curiata, another assembly of the 30 divisions of citizens from the three clans: the Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities. The main function of the Comitia Curiata seems to have been to attend the inauguration of the king during the period of Etruscan rule. During the Roman period, it confirmed a magistrate's right to exercise the authority already granted to him by the Comitia Centuriata.
      The Comitia Tributa (Assembly of Tribes) was an assembly that consisted of all the enfranchised people (those who had a right to vote) in the city who belonged to tribes, at least nominally. This assembly could pas laws on behalf of all the people including the aristocrats who owned land and the mass of ordinary folk.
      Finally, the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Tribal Council) was a tribal assembly much like the Comitia Tributa with the exception that aristocrats could not be members. It passed plebiscita (plebiscites), votes that had the force of law.

Magistrates

      After Tarquin's removal, two men from the Senate were elected by the members of the Comitia Centuriata to become consuls, the chief magistrates of the Roman state. Consuls were elected annually; with the other lesser magistrates (discussed below), one colleague could veto (Latin for "I forbid") the decisions of the other, thereby acting as a check against abuse of power.
       In addition to the regular, annual cursus honorum - the magistracies held consecutively - there was the extraordinary position of dictator. A dictator was appointed by the consuls for a specified period, originally six months. Such appointments were made in times of crisis, especially during wars.
      Also elected annually by the Comitia Centuriata were the praetors. After the consuls, these officers were the next most powerful men in the state. Originally, there was only one, a patrician responsible for the administration of justice in Rome itself. After a short while, however, another was added whose primary responsibility became relations between Roman citizens and non-Romans. As Rome conquered foreign territories, more praetors were added. The number of praetors was increased to four in 227 BCE upon the conquest of Sicily and Sardinia, and then to six in 197 BCe, when Rome acquired Spain. Eventually, the power of the patricians was eroded to the point where the number of praetors grew so large that the position was no longer something special, and even plebeians won the right to stand for election.
      The position of censor was established in the mid-fourth century BCE. Two censors were elected by the Comitia Centuriata to hold office together for five years. As former consuls, the major task facing these men was to draw up revised lists of citizens (the census). As Rome became more powerful, Roman citizenship became more attractive. The modern meaning of censor is derived from a secondary responsibility of the Roman officials, which was to oversee public morality.
      Next down the ladder of elected officials in the Roman Republic were the Curulian aediles who were elected by the Comitia Tributa. Originally, there were two such officials. Later, their number was increased and they became responsible for such things as the maintenance of roads in the city, public executions, water, and official standards of measure.
      The last of the originally patrician officers were the quaestors. They were elected annually by the Comitia Tributa and were charged with administering financial matters, always considered a rather sordid business. At first, there were two quaestors, but as the area of Roman influence expanded, more positions were added.

The People and Their Representatives

     For all the continuing attempts to control tensions and curb individual abuse of power, the division of patricians and plebeians remained a division between rich and poor, between those with power and influence and those without. Early in the fifth century (494 BCE), in an attempt to correct that imbalance, the Concilium Plebis ( Plebeian Tribal Council) was established and membership was restricted to non-senatorial males. Two plebeian tribunes, who were given sacred immunity (like that of foreign diplomats today), were elected annually by the Concilium Plebis. The plebeian tribunes had the authority to veto decisions made by the consuls. Gradually, the number of plebeian tribunes was increased to ten. in time, they came to be very powerful interpreters of the people's wishes. This became especially true later in the fifth century BCE when decisions made by the Concilium Plebis no longer needed the Senate's approval.

Growth and Maturity of the Republic

      For the next 400 years, the Roman Republic underwent great expansion and faced extreme danger. First, the Gauls (a Celtic people of Europe north of the Alps), crossed the mountains into Italy, forced to do so by an increasing population. Their leader Brennus is remembered at the Brenner Pass, one of the most important road and rail links today between Italy and the rest of Europe. Although Rome was besieged and sacked by the Gauls in 390 BCE, the city recovered and struck back. The Gauls were defeated and dispersed. This action marked Rome's first major expansion to the far north of the Italian Peninsula, a move that had more to do with responding to external military pressure than with economic need.
      By the second century BCE, Sicily was fast becoming Rome's breadbasket, supplying the many thousands of tonnes of grain required annually to feed the city's inhabitants. approximately half of the grain was handed out to the people by the state, while the other half remained in the hands of entrepreneurs (negotiatores). There was also a constant and ever increasing need for cooking oil; southern Spain eventually became an important source of that essential commodity. This inevitably led to clashes with the Carthaginians, who were at that time the greatest maritime power in the western Mediterranean.
      The Carthaginians were quite different from the Romans. In times of crisis, their gods demanded the sacrifice of infant sons. the Carthaginians came originally from Phoenecia (what is now Lebanon) and settled in North Africa. Above all, they were traders. Throughout much of their conflict with the Romans, from 264 BCE until the time of the final destruction of Carthage in 146 BCE, they maintained a commercial empire and effectively had control over Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal_.
      At the same time that Rome was in conflict with Carthage, it was also expanding its dominion into the eastern Mediterranean, taking control of eastern Greek cities. In Italy, spurred on in part by a constant growing need for wine, produce, leather, and woolen goods, the Romans had already subdued many rival city-states and tribes, created towns that would support their interests, and encouraged other towns to prosper. Finally, and importantly, the great increase in military activity led to a massive increase in the trade in arms and armour.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

The Etruscans: Forerunners of the Romans

      Before Rome developed into a great urban community on the banks of the Tiber River, a sophisticated people inhabited north-central Italy. These the Etruscans, who controlled territory roughly from the Po River to Cumae on the northern edge of the bay of Naples. To the northeast, the power of the Etruscan civilization, though not its influence, was limited by the Apennine Mountains. Even though the Etruscan language has never been convincingly deciphered, enough is known about these people to form a relatively clear picture of how they contributed to the rise of Rome and to distinctive aspects of Roman culture.
      Much of what we known about the Etruscans comes from their burial customs. The Etruscans buried their dead in tombs hollowed out of the ground or under great mounds or earth called tumuli. Usually, the interiors of these tombs were made to resemble the houses of the living. The life of the Etruscans is reflected in the relief sculptures cut into the rock walls of the chambers and in the frescoes showing banquets, gladiatorial combat, chariot races, and other everyday activities.
      The Etruscans were probably native to Italy and descended from earlier peoples. They were skilled artisans and accomplished traders. Only two other civilizations were competing in the Mediterranean world at the height of the Etruscan culture: the Greek city-states, especially the colonies of Sicily and Magna Craecia (southern Italy from Taranto up the west coast as far as Naples), and the Carthaginians in Tunisia (north Africa). Various complex arrangements kept Greek traders dominant in the south, while in the north, the Etruscan and Carthaginian fleets cooperated to their mutual advantage.

The Etruscan Monarchy: Kings of Rome, 753-509 BCE

      According to the history Livy (Titus Livius, 59 BCE-12 CE), there were seven kings of Rome. The first was Romulus (753-715 BCE), who was allegedly the son of Mas, the god of war, and a priestess named Rhea Silvia. The founding myth tells us that the death of Romulus and his twin brother Remus was ordered by their cruel uncle Amulius, who wanted them thrown into the Tiber River. Thanks to some kind servants, the basket containing the twins eventually came to shore near an area known as the Palatine, later recognized as one of the Seven Hills of Rome, and future residence of the emperors (Palatine comes from the word for palace). There, the twin boys were nurtured by a female wolf (or she-wolf) until they were discovered and raised by a shepherd. Various versions of this myth relate that once the boys attained manhood there was a bitter dispute between them over who had the authority to found the city. Romulus was favoured to be the founder and when Remus challenged Romulus, Remus was killed. So Rome, a city destined for greatness, had its origins in bloodshed.
      In time, the Etruscans expanded their power southward and took control over the Romans. The first Eturscan king of Rome was L. Tarquinius Priscus (616-579 BCE), who cleared the site for the great temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (Jupiter Best and Greatest) on another of Rome's seven hills, the Capitoline. In later years, one of the features of civilized living in any Roman town was the central focus provided by its capitolium, the temple dedicated to Jupiter, the Father of the Golds. Tarquinius Priscus is also reputed to have built the cloaca maxima (great sewer), whose outflow into the Tiber can still be seen today draining the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills. The second Etruscan king was Servius Tullius (579-534 BCE), said to have continued the program of urban renewal begun by his predecessor.
      The last Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was expelled by a popular rebellion in 509 BCE. In fact, the rebellion had been sparked because the king's son Sextus raped a virtuous aristocratic woman named Lucretia, who subsequently committed suicide. Wit the removal of the last king, the way was clear for Rome to form a democratic republic. The Etruscans, on the other hand, could not resist the pressure of the increasingly dominant Romans. Eventually, after the Romans capture of Veii in 396 BCE, the military power of the Etruscans collapsed. Those who lived near the city of Rome were absorbed into the new Republic, while those resident in cities a little further away saw their influence (if not their personal status) greatly diminish.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

Geography: The Italian Peninsula

      The Italian Peninsula lies in the geographic centre of the Mediterranean basin, surrounded on three sides by what the Romans called Mare Nostrum, "Our Sea." The land is separated from the rest of Europe by the Alps, a rugged mountain chain that provides the people of northern Italy with a formidable protective barrier. The peninsula is approximately 1000 km long and 200 km wide and is itself divided along most of its length by Apennine Mountains. This diagonal barrier, no higher than about 3000 m, to this day remains difficult to penetrate, and in Roman times, served to make internal communication difficult.
       Although the Romans preferred to travel by boat, there were few rivers that were easily navigable for most of their length. The most important were to Po River, which for many centuries acted as a border between the civilized inhabitants of Italy and their wilder neighbours to the north, and the Tiber River in central Italy. The story of Rome is the story of the growth, expansion, and influence of a small settlement in the Tiber River Valley, about 20 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea.
      Although there were few good harbours and the Romans were unadventurous sailors, coastal trade was brisk. To the southeast were the ports of Brindisi and Taranto. To the northeast were the two ports of Genoa and La Spezia. the later Roman navies were stationed in the bay of Naples south of Rome and in the north on the estuary of the Po, at Ravenna. An artificial, commercial port was built at Ostia at the mouth of the tiber to supply the city of Rome. The word "port," in fact, comes from the Roman name for this place, Portus.
      While the Italian Peninsula was generally fertile along the narrow coastal plains and in river valleys, an expanding urban population led to an increased reliance on grain imported from Sicily and Egypt. From the height of the Roman Empire to its ultimate collapse in the sixth century CE, the urban population of Rome was dependent on foreign imports.
     The climate of the peninsula is relatively mild. In winter and summer, temperatures along the coasts are moderated by the proximity of the seas, although greater extremes of cold and heat are felt farther inland. In the summer months, the heat is intensified by a dry, southerly breeze that rolls away the clouds to allow the sun's uninterrupted glare. In winter, from October to March, the win'd direction is reversed, bringing cold fronts in from the European continent and making the seas unsuitable for sailing. The relatively mild climate, general agricultural prosperity, seclusion from the rest of Europe, and central position in the Mediterranean world, were all important factors in the rise of Rome.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

The Greatness Of The Greeks

      Why were the Greeks able to accomplish so much during the Classical Age? The answer to this question is not such a mystery. The system of farming, with slaves and tenants doing the work, and the mercantile interests of many Greeks, produced both wealth and leisure time. This in turn gave freedom and time to many individuals for other areas of human interest - literature, philosophy, music, and art. As a consequence, a very large portion of the male population of Greece had the freedom and encouragement to exercise their natural talents and curiosity. Imagine what might have been accomplished had all Greeks - men and women, slaves, and foreigners  been given the same opportunities!
      It is hard to imagine Western civilization without its foundations in ancient Greece:
-Thought: When it came time to build on the accomplishment of other cultures, the Greeks used careful, rational thought, to which they added their natural curiosity. This used of logical thinking may partly be credited to the political system. In small city-states, power derived from being persuasive in public argument, and persuasiveness depends in part on rational, logical thought.
-Language: Thousands of words used in English and other European languages are derived from ancient Greek, for example: technology, history, evangelist, cyberspace, titan, euthanasia, genetics, photography, economy, and microscope.
-Politics: The study of government was first begun by Plato and Aristotle. The very word "politics" is derived from ancient Greek, from polis, the word for a Greek city-state. Many of the words we use to describe our various political systems also come from Greek words: democracy, monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, and so on. The concept of democracy too its first breath in ancient Greece, albeit in a somewhat different, more limited form compared to what we know today.
-Philosophy: It has been said that all later philosophy is merely footnotes to Plato. This is an exaggeration, of course, but it points clearly to the importance of Plato and other Greek philosophers. Not only did these thinkers give rise to the field of philosophy as we know it, but they also introduced many of the philosophical questions that have occupied human minds since.
-Art and Architecture: Beginning in the fifteenth century CE in Europe, both sculptors and painters were strongly influenced by Classical art. Using Greek art as a model, problems in creating the human figure were solved, and techniques in foreshortening, light and colour and perspective were employed just as the ancient Greeks had done. In architecture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a strong revival of Classical art called Neo-classicism. The architectural styles of government buildings, banks, art museums, train stations, and stately mansions imitated those of Classical Greece.
-Myth and Literature: Besides the myths and literature of the ancient Greeks that we still read today, there are a great many allusions to Greek myth and literature in our modern world. Sports teams are called Trojans, Spartans, or Argonauts; adventurous travels are called odyssesy; and the space program that landed the first human on the moon was called Apollo.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

Greek Culture

Philosophy

      Before the time of Socrates, Greek philosophy was often only concerned with scientific inquiry, such as the nature and origin of the universe. Thales of Miletus may have been influenced Babylonian wise men when he predicted an eclipse around 585 BCE, or turned his thoughts to the problem of the beginnings of life. Another question addressed by early Greek thinkers concerned what we can really know fro certain, when all the information about our world comes to us through our senses, which can be deceived. One noteworthy idea to come from this inquiry was the theory that all matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles called atoms. Greeks of course never realized just how tiny atoms really are.
      The foundations of Greek society were shaken by philosophers questioning traditional beliefs. Men called sophists sold their services as teachers for wealthy youths, training them in public speaking (rhetoric) ad logic. One such sophist, Protagoras of Abdera, tried to throw out all the previous standards of judging what is right and wrong good and bad, ugly and beautiful. He argued that people are the measure of all things -meaning that human beings themselves set all such standards for judgement. Into this climate of distrust of wise men, there appeared a greater genius - Socrates.
      "Ugly in body, but magnetic in mind; convivial and erotic, yet Spartan in habits and of enormous physical endurance," is one scholar's description of Socrates. This true "lover of wisdom" left behind nothing in writing, but through Plato, his disciple, we learn that Socrates believed it was duty of every person to care for one's inner being (soul), that is, the moral and intellectual personality, in order to make it as good as possible. His method of inquiry, which came to be called the Socratic method, was to ask people simple questions about their beliefs, then to probe deeper and deeper into their assumptions, often making them look foolish as they recognized their errors. Socrates' impact on later philosophy has been profound, but his own day he was often ridiculed. In the end, he was tried and forced to commit suicide by his own city.

That was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, the man who of all men of his time whom we have known was, we may say, the best -yes, and what is more, the wisest and the most just.

Plato The Phaedo 118

      The most famous of Socrates' followers was Plato. Plato set up his own school, called the Academy, beside the Academus gymnasium just outside Athens. Here, he taught philosophy to advanced students. Plato wrote many works, called Dialogues, with Socrates as the main character. In these he sought to explain concepts such as love, beauty, justice, and what he called "the Good." The concept of the Good had a strong impact on later Christian thinking since it was similar to the Christian idea of God. 

      Aristotle was a student at Plato's Academy. After Plato's death, Aristotle started his own school, the Lyceum, where he organized his students to carry out research in many fields of scientific learning. Aristotle himself made many important advances in biology, zoology, astronomy, meteorology, psychology, political science, ethics, and rhetoric. He also made great contributions to philosophy. He opposed some of Plato's ideas about the nature of true knowledge, and the relationship between the world of the intellect and the world of the senses. Besides these schools there were dozens of others, including those of the Cynics, the Stoics, and the Epicureans, some of which especially influenced the Romans. 

Art and Architecture

      If you look at examples of Egyptian painting, you will see that they are really coloured drawings. A figure is drawn and then colours are added, like in a colouring book. Greek artists were the first to learn how to show three dimensions on a flat surface by using different shades of colour to give the illusion of depth. They also used techniques such as forshortening (making near objects look bigger than distance onces) so as to produce images that looked real. Unfortunately, most Greek paintings are lost, but we can read stories about how painters painted grapes that looked so real that birds tried to eat them. Greek painters aimed at producing not only real-looking pictures, but also ideal images. These images reflected a Greek concept of the ideal, or most beautiful, human form-youth, harmonious proportions, and calm expression. When the Greeks depicted the gods, they showed them as ideal human figures, though often larger than life.
     The same was true of sculptors. The Greeks concentrated on creating statues of nude young men, and over time observed each detail and proportion of the body. Scuptors wanted to make the statues appear natural but also conforming to certain rules about how an ideal figure should look. This concentration on detail and proportion resulted in statues that were almost lifelike. In the Classical period, the sculptors, like the painters, usually portrayed men and women in their ideal sate-in the prime of life, in the most beautiful or handsome pose.
      In the Hellenistic period, Greek architecture was refined by elaborating on existing styles rather than by using new methods or materials. More public money was devoted to non-religious buildings such as theatres, stadiums, gymnasiums, and stoas (long colonnaded buildings, often with stores and public facilities, like ancient shopping malls). Private architecture also began to develop as rich individuals decided to use buildings to display their wealth, most notably in the construction of tombs. The most famous such tomb was built at Halicarnassus around 353 BCE by King Mausolus (from which we get the word "mausoleum") and his sister Queen Artemisia. Because of the novelty of the design, and the fame of the artists who decorated the building with sculpture, this building was later named one of the wonders of the ancient world. By the time of Alexander the Great, the Greeks had learned how to build arches and vaults out of stone, but it was the Romans who really took advantage of these new devices for spanning open spaces in their architecture.
   

Medicine

      Greek medical facilities, the equivalent of our hospitals, were located at sanctuaries of the healing god Asclepius. Compared to the worship of the other gods, worship of Asclepius began very late in Greece, around 500 BCE. The Asclepian sanctuaries were usually located well away from the noise and dust of the city, near a source of clean, cool spring water.
      The oldest Asclepian sanctuary was at Epidaurus, and from there the cult spread to Corinth, Athens, Curene in Libya, the island of Cos, and many other places. At these sanctuaries, Greek doctors learned their skills in the use of potions, ointments, healthy diets and exercise, and surgery. A device to remove barbed arrows (like the one that went into the eye of Philip the Great) was one of the Greek surgical inventions. The usual cure for disease was to sleep in a special hall at a sanctuary and wait for a dream about the god to work a cure. This was probably combined with proper medical practices.
      The most famous Greek Physician was Hippocrates whose oath about caring for the sick is still repeated by newly graduated doctors even today. Hyppocrates worked at the Asclepian sanctuary at Cos at the same time that Socrates lived in Athens. Hippocrates was the first to study how parts of the body work in relation to the body as a whole.
      There was a great deal of superstition and religion mixed with the practice of ancient medicine, but cleanliness, healthy food, rest, and a number of good, naturally occurring drugs helped the healing process. There are many records of cures left at sanctuaries; some are unbelievable, bordering on miraculous, but a good portion of the inscriptions, and the hundreds of clay body parts dedicated in thanks to the god, suggest good success.

Sexuality

      While some societies have abhorred, ridiculed, or even attacked homosexuality, that was not the case among the Greeks. On the contrary, it was quite a conspicuous part of Greek life. The Greeks were ready to respond favorably to the open expression of homosexual desire whether in words and behaviors, or in literature and the visual arts. Many vase paintings, for example, depict homosexual courtship and love. for the most part, these represent relationships between older men and youths. This was particularly common in aristocratic circles. Homosexuality is also a common theme in Greek poetry, and Plato treats it on a philosophical level when he discusses the concepts of ideal beauty and love.
      The finest unit of warriors in the Theban army, during its period of dominance in the fourth century BCE, was called the Sacred Band. The Sacred Band was made up entirely of pairs of homosexual lovers. It was believed, and indeed proved correct, that a warrior would fight more fiercely if standing in battle beside his beloved. At the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, when Philip the Great of Macedon crushed the Greek army opposing his rule over mainland Greece, the entire Sacred Band of Thebes died fighting.
      Female homosexuality was much less common but can be found in poetry of Sappho (ca. 600 BCE), a woman poet who ran a finishing school for aristocratic girls on the island of Lesbos. Her poetry was regarded as among the finest of her age. A common theme was her love for certain of her students. It is because of the poetry of Sappho that the island of Lesbos gave its name of female homosexuality (lesbianism).

Science and Technology

      Greek mathematics reached very advanced levels, especially by the Hellenistic Age. Best known are the works by Pythagoras and Euclid in geometry, but algebra and even trigonometry were also well developed. In the field of science, biology progressed particularly well, especially through the efforts of Aristotle. The Greeks did not know the scientific method, and while they observed natural phenomena carefully, they were not at all good at carrying out accurate experiments to test their theories.
      The Greeks did develop a number of more complicated devices based on simple machines such as the pulley, the lever, and the plane. Clock-like mechanisms with complex gears, perhaps to measure astronomical data, have been found, as have large siege machines for hurling various projectiles against an enemy. The famous mathematician and inventor Archimedes, who lived in the third century BCE on the island of Syracuse, which is still used today to draw water up out of streams to irrigate fields.

The Role of Women

      The subject of women's roles in Greek society has received a great deal of attention in recent years. It is a topic that depends on very sparse evidence, since most of the archaeological and historical writings were produced by Greek men. Governments were run by men, temples were built by men, writers and artists were men almost exclusively. An exemption was Sappho, of course, who was famous for her beautiful lyric verses.
      In Athens, women of citizen families led very sheltered lives. They closely oversaw the running of their own households, but rarely ventured out in public, even to shop. Their skills in the production of textiles were admired, but cloth was woven just to fill household needs, not for commercial purposes.
      In religion, women had a significant public part to play. In Athens, more than 40 priesthoods were held by women, and some festivals and rituals were led only by women, such as the Thesmophoria festival of Demeter, goddess of fertility and agriculture. Another example of a festival dominated by women occurred at the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, located about 30 km outside Athens on the east coast of Attica. Here Artemis was worshipped as the goddess of childbirth, and especially of happy deliveries. She was linked to the bear (though the reason why is no longer known( so her young worshippers, unmarried girls, dressed as "little bears" (arctoi) in the rites performed in her honours. This was a rite of initiation that preceded puberty and was meant to guarantee a fertile marriage and safe childbirth. Childbearing was probably the single most important aspect of a Greek woman's life.
      A woman in Greek society fulfilled her role in life almost entirely as a wife and mother hidden in the home. She was, however, free to visit neighbors and participate in religious festivals, marriages, and funerals. Occasionally, women played a part in public life, as wife or mother of a ruler, but otherwise they id not participate in political life, either to hold office or even to vote. Women in most city-states could not even own property, and had to have a male guardian in legal matters. One exception to this was in Sparta. Though a Spartiate woman was still required to have a guardian, usually the woman's father before she married, and her husband afterward, she could own property. Women received their share of the family estate in the form of a dowry when they married, and this returned with them to their family in the even of divorce or widowhood.
      Some ancient authors leave the impression that Greek men were nervously fearful of women and that they regarded the female character as unpredictable and mysterious. Other authors regarded women with a more liberal attitude. Herodotus described their influence in many historical events. It was mostly through the imagination of Greek men that women made a contribution to the literature and art of this civilization. The Athenian playwrights gave women important and sometimes powerful roles in their dramas.
      Sometime not long after 400 BCE, attitudes toward women and their role in society began to change. For example, statues of nude women first appeared at this time. Women were also allowed to participate in important athletic competitions (though the Olympics were never opened to them) and they began to acquire a stronger role in public life. Women like Cleopatra, ruler of Hellenistic Egypt, were still an exception, however, in terms of political power.

Greek Religion

      The Greeks had many special days when they celebrated and honoured the gods, days that occurred at irregular intervals (remember, there was no such thing as a weekend). But Greeks did not wait for a holy day to pay their respects to their deities. There were altars, shrines, temples, and statues of the gods everywhere in towns and in the countryside. If a person felt the need for help in a certain aspect of life, they might give a small gift and say a little prayer at the appropriate god's shrine. There were gods of birth, death, and the Underworld; gods for women, the weather, and wine; gods of war, peace. victory, and healing; in short, there were gods for all aspects and stages of life. There were also more important gods, most of whom were thought to reside on Mt. Olympus. It was to these gods that the Greeks built their beautiful temples and sanctuaries.
       All the gods were thought to have human forms and characters. This is an important idea to understand, since it explains the Greek attitude toward the gods. People honoured the gods with festivals, and offered sacrifices of honey-cakes, terracotta figurines, or sacrificed animals. In exchange, they expected the gods' blessings, or at least to avoid the gods' punishments.

Myths and Legends

      In order to explain the many rites and cults, stories were told about significant eventsin the lives of the differnet gods. These stories, which we now retad as myths, were firly believed by most Greeks. Myths had the wieght of tradition behind them, and the support of great poets like Homer and Hesiod. Man stories, creations of fertile imaginations, arose as late as the sixth century BCE. They then became fixed and written down, less easy to change or embelish.
      There were also several cycles of stories, waht we might call legends, surrounding great heroes of the past and the foes they fought: Herakles, Jason and the Argonauts, Perseus and the Gorgon, Theseus and the Minotaur, and great warriors such as Ajax, Achilles, and Hector. These heroes accompolished superhuman deeds, often with the direct help of the gods who were their patrons and sometimes even their parents. Such legends helped times even their parents. Such legends helped explain the tradition of a glorious past, the remains of which could still be seen in placs like Mycenae, Tiryns, and Knossos. The belief in the greatness of these heroes and their connection with the gods was so strong that many cities had hero shrines where people could worship a local hero and ask forhelp in their lives.

Temples, Oracles, and Curses

      Temples were built as houses for the gods. The richer the city, the greater the temples. Temples were symbols of the wealthy and power of the community and of its protecting patron deity. Temples themselves, however, were not places of worship. virtually all rituals took place around altars outside the temples. In fact, in most sanctuaries there was only an altar and no temple at all.
      The Greeks believed strongly that the gods communicated with them; this might take place through the songs of birds, the rustling of leaves, then entrails of animals, or the voice of a special person like a prophet. The sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi became famous because the oracle (prophet) there was regarded as reliable. Apollo spoke answers to inquiries through his priestess, an old woman called the Pythia.
      It was also possible for people to address their concerns to the gods. The normal way was through prayers accompanied by fits, but in popular black magic and sorcery, it was also possible to cast spells and put curses on people. A curse on an enemy might be invoked by scratching the enemy's name and the desired curse on a sheet of lead, often scrambling up the letters, then folding up the sheet and driving bronze nail through it. This could then be buried in a grave or in a sanctuary to the goddess Persephone, who dwelt in the Underworld for three months of the year.

Festivals

      Most festivals included a procession of priests, worshippers, sacred objects, and animals for sacrifice. The more popular festivals had competitions in poetry, music, dance, and athletics, with valuable prizes for the winners. The Olympic Games, held at Olympia, in the Peloponnese, were part of a five-day festival in honour of Zeus. Athletic contests were held on the second and fourth days of this festival as well as on the afternoon of the third day. The first, third, and fifth days were otherwise given over to processions, sacrifices, and prayers to Zeus. No music or poetry contest interfered with he athletic games here, and although the reward at winner usually gave its winners prizes equal to tens of thousands of dollars.

Religion and Political Life

      The Greeks were generally quite tolerant of the religious beliefs of others, probably because Greek religion did not have rigid rules. So, for example, the sophists in fifth-century Athens could discuss their serious doubts about the existence or knowability of the gods. The Greeks could also be deadly serious about religion, especially at times when they thought their city was being threatened or the gods were angry with them. In 414 BCE, in the dark days of the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath, a number of wealthy were tried and executed on the charge of impiety. Protagoras the sophist is said to have fled Athens after being convicted on a charge of atheism in 411 BCE. Socrates was executed (by drinking poison) in 399 BCE on twin charges of corrupting the youth of Athens and introducing new gods. The concept of separation of church and state was unknown in the ancient Greek world, so the temples, and cults were readily supported with public money. Since political leaders were often also religious leaders, threats to religion might also be regarded as threats to the state.

Trade and Coinage

      In Greece, trade over any great distance or in any bulk product was carried out by ship since overland travel by pack animal was difficult and expensive. It seems probable that Phoenician ships first visited Greek shores during the Dark Ages fro trading purposes. These encounters may have encouraged Greeks to make voyages in their own ships, perhaps built especially for the purpose, though more likely used for fishing or island raiding. As underwater archaeological expeditions have revealed, these ships were small, able to accommodate a crew of four or five and a capacity of several tonnes.
      Profits from a successful voyage could be substantial, as much as two or three times the cost of the cargo. However, these voyages were not without risks, from storms and pirates, as well as the great cost of hiring a ship to carry the cargo. A normal venture began when a merchant borrowed money from a banker at a rate of 25 to 60 percent for the term of the voyage. The money would be used to purchase a cargo. The merchant would then make a contract with a shipowner for space on his ship to carry the cargo, for example, copper ingots from Cyprus, back to Piraeus (the main port for Athens). The shipowner presumably would have a contract with another merchant to carry a cargo outbound from Athens, for example, olive oil and fine pottery, to Cyprus. The first merchant would accompany the ship in order to make the best deal possible for the copper. In Piraeus, he then had to find a buyer for his cargo, pay the shipowner, and pay his banker with the necessary interest. If demand for copper were high, as in wartime when armour was needed, the merchant could make a considerable profit.
      The most common trade goods shipped to and from Greece included:
- grain from south Asia, Sicily, or Egypt in exchange for Greek olive oil and wine
- luxury goods like glass, alabaster, perfumes, and ivory from Phoenicia and Egypt in exchange for Greek silver or white marble
- timber and pitch for shipbuilding from the North Aegean in exchange for Greek olive oil and finished goods like pottery, furniture, jewelry, or textiles
      Clearly, Greek merchants and sailors traveled to every corner of the Mediterranean and far inland from its ports in order to find trade opportunities and satisfy their natural curiosity about the world. These traders, together with Greek mercenaries, were no doubt the major force for spreading Greek culture abroad before the time of Alexander. These same traders, on their return to their homeland, brought back the natural resources, goods, and most importantly, the ideas that they acquired in distant places. Many foreigners in turn came to visit and live in Greece, either freely as traders or as ambassadors, or in captivity as slaves.
      For centuries, trade depended on a system of bartering where traders made deals to exchange so much of one product for so much of another - there was no money involved because money did not exist yet. Tow hundred kilograms of salt might be traded for 150 kg of grain, and so on. Days might be spend arguing over amounts and types of compensation. Eventually, traders recognized that small amounts of precious metals might be conveniently accepted almost anywhere in exchange for most products used in daily life. Precious metals like copper, bronze, silver, electrum (an alloy of silver and gold), and even pure gold, could be carried in small chunks, weighed by the traders and used as a form of exchange.
      Chunks of different sizes always had to be weighed against different standards, which was awkward, and there were widely varying standards of purity for metals, or percentages of metals in alloys. To bring some uniformity to this process, beginning in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, the chunks of precious metal were stamped with a symbol indicating there weight and purity. The stamps of certain traders came to be trusted more than others. Eventually, the uncertainty of this state of affairs was revolved when governments began stamping their own metal chunks, and so put the reputation of the state or monarch behind the quality of the metal and its standard of weight. This was the first coinage of the Western world.
      The first mints, dating to the seventh century BCE, were in Lydia and the East Greek states, but coinage quickly spread to the trading cities of Athens, Corinth, Aegina, and Chalcis in the western Aegean. Silver became the most commonly used metal. By the time of the Athenian Empire in the fifth century BCE, the so-called owls of Athens - coins with an owl on on e side and the head of Athena on the other - became the most common coinage in the Mediterranean area.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.

The Hellenistic Age

      The death of Alexander in 323 BCE marks the end of an era. It separates what historians call the Classical Age (480-323 BCE) from the Hellenistic Age (323-31 BCE). Greek culture began to travel from its home in the Aegean and, through conquest, became the common culture of all countries in the Near East. Teachers, soldiers, craftsmen, artists, writers, and merchants flooded out of Greece into the newly conquered lands to take advantage of the many opportunities for fame and fortune in the near East. Greek culture was so attractive that it significantly influenced every local society it met, especially the better-educated, urban populations of the Near East. Even when the Romans in turn conquered this area, Greek culture and language remained the common unifies until the coming of the Arabs, and much later, the Turks. Alexander founded more than 70 new cities, many of them named Alexandria. In these, and in the older cities of the Near East, we find typical Greek buildings: gymnasiums, theaters, stadiums, market buildings (the stoa), libraries, and temples. Everywhere, Greek became the language of the educated class, and Greek art and literature were appreciated as models of perfection to be imitated.
      Alexander's empire was divided into three kingdoms. One of Alexander's generals, Seleucus, took over the Asiatic part of his empire and established the Seleucid dynasty in the African portion of the Ptolemaic dynasty in the African portion of Alexander's empire (Egypt and eastern Lydia), the last ruler of the European portion, including Greece and Macedonia, and founded the Antigonid dynasty. Smaller kingdoms like Pergamon and Rhodes became involved in the feuds between the Hellenistic kingdoms. the results of these conflicts are part of the history of Rome, since Rome eventually conquered Pergamon and Rhodes and made them part of its empire by 31 BCE. Macedonia itself was humiliated and made a Roman province by 148 BCE.
      In the midst of this turbulent new era, most Greeks could find some degree of stability in the continuing role of the polis, their city. Most city-states maintained independence in their internal affairs, so the councils and assemblies continued to meet, local laws were passed, taxes were collected, and elections were held to fill the traditional offices. Democracy was the normal method of government on this level, but it was expensive to run a democracy. Gradually, wealthier citizens increased their power and the average citizen lost interest in participating in government by neighbours. One means by which the small powers like Macedonia and Pergamon was to form leagues. Two in particular, the Aetolian and the Achaean Leagues, expanded their membership beyond the regions of Central Greece and the Northern Peloponnese. Citizens of each league, or their representatives in the case of the Achaean League, met in large assemblies twice a year and decided matters of foreign policy and the military. In the end, however, none of the leagues could math the power of Rome.
     

Citizens, Slaves, and Foreigners

      Demetrius of Phaleron was appointed governor of Athens in 317 BCE. Shortly afterward, he took a census and learned that there were 21 000 citizens (counting men only) in the city, 10 000 metics (resident foreigners), and 400 000 slaves (including those who worked in the mines). Even if the number of slaves is exaggerated, the ratio of slaves to free men was unusually high.This was partly because of the number of people captured during the wars of Alexander and his successors, and partly because slave dealers were rescuing abandoned newborn babies. Athens was not a typical Greek city, but it does give us some idea of the rights that different classes of people had.
          Only men could be citizens, a legacy of their role in ancient warfare and law making. Women could not vote, hold office, or own property, but had protection within the family structure. Metics were obliged to pay taxes and contribute in other ways to the city, but like women, could not vote, hold offices, or own land. Slaves had no rights. Some were fortunate enough to gain their freedom from generous owners. To abuse, assault, or even kill a slave was not a crime, though it may have been frowned upon. for most slaves life must have been miserable. We learn from the plays of Menander, however, that slaves did find ways to co-exist with their masters. In the difficult conditions of the ancient world where the survival of the individual, the family, and the community was regularly threatened, the rights of the individual depended strictly on his or her importance to the community.

Writing: ECHOES from the past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

The History of the Imagination: Myths and Legends

      Legends often provide interesting clues in the detective work of piecing together history. Not wholly invented, legends usually grow around a real person who is larger than life, a hero like Alexander the Great. Since the hero is already braver, stronger, or somehow greater than average, legends tend to highlight these qualities. Though legends show plenty of imagination, at the heart, there is always some historic truth.
      Several legends are attached to the life of Alexander:

• On the day of Alexander's birth, several extraordinary events occurred: there was a solar eclipse; the temple of Artemis at Ephesus caught fire; and an eagle, the bird of Zeus, sat on the roof of the building where Alexander was born. These were all taken to be signs of Alexander's future greatness.
• Also on the day of Alexander's birth, his father, King Philip, was told of two other happy events: one of his generals had won a great victory, and one of his horses won a race at the Olympic Games.
• While in the midst of his conquest of Persia, Alexander stopped at a place called Gordian. He was shown a famous wagon roped to a yoke pole by a mysterious knot. None of the ends of the rope were visible. Alexander was told that whoever was able to unravel the knot would conquer the world. At first Alexander was puzzled, but then he drew out his sword, cut through the knot, and fulfilled the prophecy his own way!
• While visiting Corinth, Alexander learned that the philosopher Diogenes was nearby. On his visit, Alexander was constantly surrounded by crowds of well-wishers, yet Diogenes did not seek him out like the others. So Alexander stood over him and asked if there was anything he would like Alexander to do. Diogenes replied, "Stand a little out of my sun." Impressed by this attitude, Alexander said: "Verily, if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."

Writing: ECHOES from the Past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

The Road to Persia: Alexander The Great

      As a result of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, with Persian support, tried to dominate the other Greek city-states as Athens had done. In reaction to this, new alliances were made against Sparta. Corinth, for example, joined with its old rival Athens to prevent Spartan interference. For a brief time (371-361 BCE), Thebes, another city-state, defeated the Spartans and assumed Greek leadership. It was able to achieve this because of changes in military tactics, including the use of a very deep formation of men (called a phalanx) who used longer than normal spears to punch holes through enemy lines. Theban dominance ended with the death of its best general, Epaminondas. The careful balance of power between the leading Greek city-states was soon to be upset by a new force from the north, the kingdom of Macedonia.

Philip of Macedon

      The broad plains and hill country of the North Aegean were home to a people considered backward cousins of the Greeks. The Macedonians spoke a Greek dialect, but they were farmers and shepherds, not craftspeople and traders. They were behind their southern cousins in wealth and culture. In the fourth century BCE, several kings rose to unite the Macedonians and bring them success in battle against their enemy neighbours. The key figure in this success was Philip the Great. As a hostage in Thebes fro three years, he had learned the new battle tactics of the Thebans. He create a professional army with a strong cavalry and more flexible units on the battlefield. As a result, Philip was able not only to unite his country, but also to defeat the southern Greeks at the Battle of Chaeronaea in 338 BCE. For the first time, all mainland Greeks were joined together under the rule of a single leader. It is likely that this ruthless, ambitious monarch planned to turn the combined Greek forces against their old enemy, Persia, but before he could launch such an expedition, he was assassinated by one of his own officers at a wedding celebration.
      I one of the most exciting discoveries in Greek archaeology this century, a royal burial chamber was excavated at Vergina in nothern Greece. The outside facade had a painting of a lion hunt with figures identified as Philip the Great and a young Alexander. Inside the vaulted chamber were found silver drinking cups, bronze armour, and a heavy gold box containing a beautiful golden wreath of oak leaves. Wrapped in a purple and gold cloth were the burnt bones of a man whom many believe was Philip the Great himself. Many others now think this tomb actually belonged to Philip's son, Philip III Arrhidaeus, the half brother of Alexander.

Alexander the Great

      After Philip's death, rule fell to his 20-year old son Alexander. He was a student of Aristotle and one of the most successful military leaders the world has known. he took his father's experienced, professional army, his own genius for finding the weaknesses of his enemies, and Philip's ambitious plans for conquest, and in 334 BCE set out against the Persians. He never returned to Europe. Intentionally or not, he conquered the entire Near East as far as India, in a grueling, decade-long campaign.
      How could such a young man with a relatively small army of 35 000 foot soldiers defeat the Persian Empire? The Macedonian army now represented the ultimate in improved Greek warfare. The Macedonians were led by seasoned commanders and all were devoted to Alexander. The Persian army, though much larger, was made up of many different subject peoples. Darius, the Persian king, was a despot the Persian foot soldiers, the rest of the Persian troops lost their eagerness to fight. The battle of Gaugamela on 1 October 331 BCE, was the final blow against the Persians, whose land and wealthy fell into Alexander's hands. Even this, however, did not satisfy Alexander. He forced his weary army eastward against several great kingdoms, reaching all the way to the Indus River valley before turning back, disappointed that he had not reached the eastern ocean.
      Alexander had dreamed of conquering the entire world as far as the Indian Ocean, but finally faced the fact that he now had to govern what he had won. Though as a boy, Alexander had been tutored by Aristotle, as an adult, his ideas about how to make a better empire otu of all these foreign peoples were probably his own. He tried to make Greek culture and language a kind of common, uniting force. At the same time, he respected the customs and laws of the peoples he had conquered and encouraged their leaders to help him rule the various parts of his empire. This was a wise decision on Alexander's part, since each nationality had its own culture and might have rebelled if forced to adopt Greek customs completely.
      Perhaps Alexander's great experiment would have worked, but he died of an illness just short of his thirty-third birthday. The empire that he fought so hard to create soon split apart as each of his best generals grabbed a large piece of its territory for himself.

Writing: ECHOES from the Past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd. 

The Classical Moment

Literature

      Fifth-century BCE Athens was the focal point of the brief age of brilliance sometimes referred to as the Classical Moment. With Pericles as leader and people like the playwright Sophocles and the sculptor Pheidias expressing Greek ideals in artistic forms, Athenian society reached a cultural peak. It was a period of optimism, when the Greeks believed that their world could be made better, and that troubles they faced could be overcome. In Antigone, Sophocles wrote this hymn to humankind:

There are many wonders, but none more wondrous than man
Across the white-caped sea in the storms of winter this creature makes his way on through the billowing waves. And earth, the oldest of the gods, the undecaying and unwearied one, he wears away with constant ploughing, back and forth, year after year, turning the soil with horses he has bred ...
Language, thought swift as the wind, and the patterns of city life he has taught himself, and escape from the shafts of storms, and the shelter -- piercing frosts of clear days. He can cope with everything, never unprepared whatever the future brings. Only from death does he fail to contrive escape. Even for diseases thought hopeless he has figured out cures. Clever, with ingenuity and skill beyond imagining, He veers now toward evil, not toward good ...

Antigone 1.322-368

      Other playwrights, such as Aeschylus and Euripides, hoped to improved their world by examining serious issues like the basis of justice, and the status of women in Greek society. The comic playwright Aristophanes also aimed to change his world -- by making fun of ti. In Lysistrata, he turns the world upside down by having Greek women go on strike -- they refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands in order to force the men to end their destructive war: 

When the War begin, like the prudent, dutiful wives that we are, we tolerated you men, and endured your actions in silence. (Small wonder--you wouldn't let us say boo.) You were not precisely the answer to a matron's prayer--we knew you too well, and found out more. Too many times, as we sat in the hosue, we'd hear that you'd done it again--manhandled another affair of state with your usual staggering incompetence. Then, we'd ask you, brightly, "How was the Assembly today, dear? Anything in the minutes about PEace?" And my husband would give his stock reply.
"What's that to you? Shut up!" And I did...
But this time was really too much:...
We women met in immediate convention and passed a unanimous resolution: To work in concert for safety and Peace in Greece. We have valuable advice to impart, and if you can possibly deign to emulate our silence, and take your turn as audience, we'll rectify you--we'll straighten you out and set you right. 

Aristophanes Lysistrata 1.507-528

Architecture

      The most celebrated of all Greek buildings ever constructed is the Parthenon, built in Periclean Athens as a showpiece of Athenian wealth and power. It dominated all of Athens from its perch high on the Acropolis. Designed by Pheidias and the architect Ictinus, this temple to Athena is a marvel of skill and beauty, inspired in part by the Greek victories over the Persians.

       The construction of the Parthenon would not have been possible without masonry and sculpture techniques Greeks had learned 200 years earlier in Egypt. Each block of this huge temple was carved with incredible accuracy, using only hand tools.

       It is the Parthenon's sculpture, however, that is its most striking feature. Though some remains in Athens, most of the sculpture fro around the temple is now kept in the British Museum in London. The figures show the ideal forms of human beauty, serenely calm and unaffected by the momentary events of the world around them. Represented in the sculpture are mythological battles such as the Battle of the Gods and the Giants. The Birth of Athena, the goddess to whom the temple is dedicated is also portrayed. The Greeks chose not to represent the real battle with the Persians because they believed that such pride (hubris) in their own victory would surely be punished by the gods. 

       Housed in the great cella (centre room) of the Parthenon was a towering statue of the warrior goddess Athena, made by the artist Pheidias. It was over 12 m high and made of ivory and gold plates set on a wooden frame. a reflecting pool sat in front of it. Once can only imagine the awe that it inspired. Such magnificent works of art were not cheap and it was the revenue from Athens's Empire, a forced federation, that paid for much of this beauty. 

Writing: ECHOES from the Past published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.