8.3: The Roman Republic

8.3.1: The Establishment of the Roman Republic

Learning Objective

Explain why and how Rome transitioned from a
monarchy to a republic

Key Points

• The Roman
  monarchy was overthrown around 509 BCE, during a political revolution that
  resulted in the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome.
• Despite waging a
  number of successful campaigns against Rome’s neighbors, securing Rome’s
  position as head of the Latin cities, and engaging in a series of public works,
  Tarquinius was a very unpopular king, due to his violence and abuses of power.
• When word spread
  that Tarquinius’s son raped Lucretia, the wife of the governor of Collatia, an uprising
  occurred in which a number of prominent patricians argued for a change in
  government.
• A general
  election was held during a legal assembly, and participants voted in favor of
  the establishment of a Roman republic.
• Subsequently, all Tarquins were exiled from Rome and an interrex and two
  consuls were established to lead the new republic.

Key Terms

interrex

Literally, this translates to mean a ruler that
presides over the period between the rule of two separate kings; or, in other
words, a short-term regent.

plebeians

A
general body of free Roman citizens who were part of the lower strata of
society.

patricians

A
group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

The Roman monarchy was
overthrown around 509 BCE, during a political revolution that resulted in the
expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. Subsequently,
the Roman Republic was established.

Background 

Tarquinius was the son of
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome’s Seven Kings period. Tarquinius was married to Tullia Minor, the daughter of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome’s Seven
Kings period. Around 535 BCE, Tarquinius and his wife, Tullia
Minor, arranged for the murder of his father-in-law. Tarquinius became king
following Servius Tullius’s death.

Tarquinius waged a number of
successful campaigns against Rome’s neighbors, including the Volsci, Gabii, and
the Rutuli. He also secured Rome’s position as head of the Latin cities, and
engaged in a series of public works, such as the completion of the Temple of
Jupiter Optimus Maximus. However, Tarquinius remained an unpopular king for a
number of reasons. He refused to bury his predecessor and executed a number of
leading senators whom he suspected remained loyal to Servius. Following these
actions, he refused to replace the senators he executed and refused to consult the
Senate in matters of government going forward, thus diminishing the size and
influence of the Senate greatly. He also went on to judge capital criminal
cases without the advice of his counselors, stoking fear among his political
opponents that they would be unfairly targeted.

The Rape of Lucretia and An
Uprising

Tarquin and Lucretia

Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia (1571).

Titian’s painting shows Tarquinius attacking Lucretia, who is naked in her bed. Tarquinius clutches Lucretia’s right arm with his left hand while wielding a dagger in his right hand.

During Tarquinius’s war with
the Rutuli, his son, Sextus Tarquinius, was sent on a military errand to
Collatia, where he was received with great hospitality at the governor’s
mansion. The governor’s wife, Lucretia, hosted Sextus while the governor was
away at war. During the night, Sextus entered her bedroom and raped her. The next
day, Lucretia traveled to her father, Spurius Lucretius, a distinguished
prefect in Rome, and, before witnesses, informed him of what had happened.
Because her father was a chief magistrate of Rome, her pleas for justice and
vengeance could not be ignored. At the end of her pleas, she stabbed
herself in the heart with a dagger, ultimately dying in her own father’s arms.
The scene struck those who had witnessed it with such horror that they
collectively vowed to publicly defend their liberty against the outrages of
such tyrants.

Lucius Junius Brutus, a
leading citizen and the grandson of Rome’s fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus, publicly
opened a debate on the form of government that Rome should have in place of the
existing monarchy. A number of patricians attended the debate, in which Brutus
proposed the banishment of the Tarquins from all territories of Rome, and the
appointment of an interrex to nominate new magistrates and to oversee an
election of ratification. It was decided that a republican form of government
should temporarily replace the monarchy, with two consuls replacing the king
and executing the will of a patrician senate. Spurius Lucretius was elected
interrex, and he proposed Brutus, and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, a leading
citizen who was also related to Tarquinius Priscus, as the first two consuls.
His choice was ratified by the comitia
curiata, an organization of patrician families who primarily ratified
decrees of the king.

In order to rally the
plebeians to their cause, all were summoned to a legal assembly in the forum, and Lucretia’s body was paraded through the streets. Brutus gave a speech and a
general election was held. The results were in favor of a republic. Brutus left
Lucretius in command of the city as interrex, and pursued the king in Ardea
where he had been positioned with his army on campaign. Tarquinius, however,
who had heard of developments in Rome, fled the camp before Brutus arrived, and
the army received Brutus favorably, expelling the king’s sons from their
encampment. Tarquinius was subsequently refused entry into Rome and lived as an
exile with his family.

The Establishment of the
Republic

Brutus and Lucretia

The statue shows Brutus holding the knife and swearing the oath, with Lucretia.

Although there is no
scholarly agreement as to whether or not it actually took place, Plutarch and
Appian both claim that Brutus’s first act as consul was to initiate an oath for
the people, swearing never again to allow a king to rule Rome. What is known
for certain is that he replenished the Senate to its original number of 300
senators, recruiting men from among the equestrian class. The new consuls
also created a separate office, called the rex sacrorum, to carry out and oversee
religious duties, a task that had previously fallen to the king. 

The two consuls continued to be elected annually by Roman citizens and
advised by the senate. Both consuls were elected for one-year terms and could
veto each other’s actions. Initially, they were endowed with all the powers of
kings past, though over time these were broken down further by the addition of
magistrates to the governmental system. The first magistrate added was the praetor,
an office that assumed judicial authority from the consuls. After the praetor,
the censor was established, who assumed the power to conduct the Roman census.

8.3.2: Structure of the Republic

Learning Objective

Describe the political structure of the Roman Republic

Key Points

• The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down, mainly through precedent. The constitution was largely unwritten and uncodified, and evolved over time.
• Roman citizenship was a
  vital prerequisite to possessing many important legal rights.

  The Senate passed decrees that were called senatus consulta, ostensibly “advice” from the senate to a magistrate. The focus of the Roman Senate was usually foreign policy.

• There were two types of legislative assemblies. The first was the comitia (“committees”), which were assemblies of all Roman citizens. The second was the concilia (“councils”), which were assemblies of specific groups of citizens.
• The comitia centuriata was the assembly of the centuries (soldiers), and they elected magistrates who had imperium powers (consuls and praetors). The comitia tributa, or assembly of the tribes (the citizens of Rome), was presided over by a consul and composed of 35 tribes. They elected quaestors, curule aediles, and military tribunes.
• Dictators were sometimes elected during times of military emergency, during which the constitutional government would be disbanded.

Key Terms

patricians

A
group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

plebeian

A general body of free Roman citizens who were part of the lower strata of society.

Roman Senate

A political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. It was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors.

The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down, mainly through precedent. The constitution was largely unwritten and uncodified, and evolved over time. Rather than creating a government that was primarily a democracy (as was ancient Athens), an aristocracy (as was ancient Sparta), or a monarchy (as was Rome before, and in many respects after, the Republic), the Roman constitution mixed these three elements
of governance into their overall political system. The democratic element took the form of legislative assemblies; the aristocratic element took the form of the Senate; and the monarchical element took the form of the many term-limited consuls.

The Roman SPQR Banner

“SPQR” (senatus populusque romanus) was the Roman motto, which stood for “the Senate and people of Rome”. 

The Roman Senate

The Senate’s ultimate authority derived from the esteem and prestige of the senators, and was based on both precedent and custom. The Senate passed decrees, which were called senatus consulta, ostensibly “advice” handed down from the senate to a magistrate. In practice, the magistrates usually followed the senatus consulta. The focus of the Roman Senate was usually foreign policy. However, the power of the Senate expanded over time as the power of the legislative assemblies declined, and eventually the Senate took a greater role in civil law-making. Senators were usually appointed by Roman censors, but during times of military emergency, such as the civil wars of the 1^st century BCE, this practice became less prevalent, and the Roman dictator, triumvir, or the Senate itself would select its members.

Curia Iulia – The Roman Senate House

The Curia Julia in the Roman Forum, the seat of the imperial Senate.

Legislative Assemblies

Roman citizenship was a vital prerequisite to possessing many important legal rights, such as the rights to trial and appeal, marriage, suffrage, to hold office, to enter binding contracts, and to enjoy special tax exemptions. An adult male citizen with full legal and political rights was called optimo jure. The optimo jure elected assemblies, and the assemblies elected magistrates, enacted legislation, presided over trials in capital cases, declared war and peace, and forged or dissolved treaties. There were two types of legislative assemblies. The first was the comitia (“committees”), which were assemblies of all optimo jure. The second was the concilia (“councils”), which were assemblies of specific groups of optimo jure.

Citizens on these assemblies were organized further on the basis of
curiae
(familial groupings), centuries
(for
military purposes), and tribes (for civil purposes), and each would each gather into their own assemblies.
The
Curiate Assembly served only a symbolic purpose in the late Republic, though
the assembly was used to ratify the powers of newly elected magistrates by
passing laws known as leges curiatae. The comitia centuriata was the assembly of the centuries (soldiers). The president of the comitia centuriata was usually a consul, and the comitia centuriata would elect magistrates who had imperium powers (consuls and praetors). It also elected censors. Only the comitia centuriata could declare war and ratify the results of a census. It also served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases.

The assembly of the tribes, the comitia tributa, was presided over by a consul, and was composed of 35 tribes. The tribes were not ethnic or kinship groups, but rather geographical subdivisions. While it did not pass many laws, the comitia tributa did elect quaestors, curule aediles, and military tribunes. The Plebeian Council was identical to the assembly of the tribes, but excluded the patricians. They elected their own officers, plebeian tribunes, and plebeian aediles. Usually a plebeian tribune would preside over the assembly. This assembly passed most laws, and could also act as a court of appeal.

Since
the tribunes were considered to be the embodiment of the plebeians, they were
sacrosanct. Their sacrosanctness was enforced by a pledge, taken by the plebeians,
to kill any person who harmed or interfered with a tribune during his term of
office. As such, it was considered a capital offense to harm a tribune, to
disregard his veto, or to interfere with his actions. In times of military
emergency, a dictator would be appointed for a term of six months. The
constitutional government would be dissolved, and the dictator would be the
absolute master of the state. When the dictator’s term ended, constitutional
government would be restored.

Executive Magistrates

Magistrates were the
elected officials of the Roman republic. Each magistrate was vested with a
degree of power, and the dictator, when there was one, had the highest level of
power. Below the dictator was the censor (when they existed), and the consuls, the
highest ranking ordinary magistrates. Two were elected every year and wielded
supreme power in both civil and military powers. The ranking among both consuls
flipped every month, with one outranking the other.

Below the consuls were
the praetors, who administered civil law, presided over the courts, and
commanded provincial armies. Censors conducted the Roman census, during which
time they could appoint people to the Senate. Curule aediles were officers
elected to conduct domestic affairs in Rome, who were vested with powers over
the markets, public games, and shows. Finally, at the bottom of magistrate
rankings were the quaestors, who usually assisted the consuls in Rome and the
governors in the provinces with financial tasks. Plebeian tribunes and plebeian
aediles were considered representatives of the people, and acted as a popular
check over the Senate through use of their veto powers, thus safeguarding the
civil liberties of all Roman citizens.

Each magistrate could
only veto an action that was taken by an equal or lower ranked magistrate. The
most significant constitutional power a magistrate could hold was that of imperium
or command, which was held only by consuls and praetors. This gave the
magistrate in question the constitutional authority to issue commands, military
or otherwise. 

Election to a magisterial
office resulted in automatic membership in the Senate for life, unless
impeached. Once a magistrate’s annual term in office expired, he had to wait at
least ten years before serving in that office again. Occasionally, however, a
magistrate would have his command powers extended through prorogation, which effectively
allowed him to retain the powers of his office as a promagistrate.

8.3.3: Roman Society Under the Republic

Learning Objective

Describe the relationship between the government
and the people in the time of the Roman Republic

Key Points

• A number of
  developments affected the relationship between Rome’s republican government and
  society, particularly in regard to how that relationship differed among
  patricians and plebeians.
• In 494 BCE, plebeian
  soldiers refused to march against a wartime enemy, in order to demand the right
  to elect their own officials.
• The passage of
  Lex Trebonia forbade the co-opting of colleagues to fill vacant positions on
  tribunes in order to sway voting in favor of patrician blocs over plebeians. 
• Throughout the
  4th century BCE, a series of reforms were passed that required all laws
  passed by the plebeian council to have the full force of law over the entire
  population. This gave the plebeian tribunes a positive political impact over the
  entire population for the first time in Roman history.
• In 445 BCE, the
  plebeians demanded the right to stand for election as consul. Ultimately, a
  compromise was reached in which consular command authority was granted to a
  select number of military tribunes.
• The Licinio-Sextian
  law was passed in 367 BCE; it addressed the economic plight of the plebeians
  and prevented the election of further patrician magistrates.
• In the decades following the passage of the Licinio-Sextian law, further legislation was enacted that granted
  political equality to the plebeians. Nonetheless, it remained difficult for a
  plebeian from an unknown family to enter the Senate, due to the rise of a new
  patricio-plebeian aristocracy that was less interested in the plight of the
  average plebeian.

Key Terms

plebeian

A general body of free Roman citizens who were
part of the lower strata of society.

patricians

A group of ruling class families in ancient
Rome.

In the first few centuries
of the Roman Republic, a number of developments affected the relationship
between the government and the Roman people, particularly in regard to how that
relationship differed across the separate strata of society.

The Patrician Era (509-367
BCE)

The last king of Rome,
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown in 509 BCE. One of the biggest
changes that occurred as a result was the establishment of two chief
magistrates, called consuls, who were elected by the citizens of Rome for an
annual term. This stood in stark contrast to the previous system, in which a
king was elected by senators, for life. Built in to the consul system were
checks on authority, since each consul could provide balance to the decisions
made by his colleague. Their limited terms of office also opened them up to the
possibility of prosecution in the event of abuses of power. However, when
consuls exercised their political powers in tandem, the magnitude and influence
they wielded was hardly different from that of the old kings.

In 494 BCE, Rome was at war
with two neighboring tribes, and plebeian soldiers refused to march against the
enemy, instead seceding to the Aventine Hill. There, the plebeian soldiers took
advantage of the situation to demand the right to elect their own officials. The
patricians assented to their demands, and the plebeian soldiers returned to
battle. The new offices that were created as a result came to be known as “plebeian
tribunes,” and they were to be assisted by “plebeian aediles.” 

In the early years of the
republic, plebeians were not permitted to hold magisterial office. Tribunes and
aediles were technically not magistrates, since they were only elected by fellow
plebeians, as opposed to the unified population of plebeians and patricians.
Although plebeian tribunes regularly attempted to block legislation they
considered unfavorable, patricians could still override their veto with the
support of one or more other tribunes. Tension over this imbalance of power led
to the passage of Lex Trebonia, which forbade the co-opting of colleagues to
fill vacant positions on tribunes in order to sway voting in favor of one or
another bloc. Throughout the 4th century BCE, a series of reforms were
passed that required all laws passed by the plebeian council to have equal force over the entire population, regardless of status as patrician or
plebeian. This gave the plebeian tribunes a positive political impact over the
entire population for the first time in Roman history.

Gaius Gracchus

This 18th century drawing shows Gaius Gracchus, tribune of the people, presiding over the plebeian council.

In 445 BCE, the plebeians
demanded the right to stand for election as consul. The Roman Senate initially refused
them this right, but ultimately a compromise was reached in which consular command
authority was granted to a select number of military tribunes, who, in turn, were
elected by the centuriate assembly with veto power being retained by the
senate. 

Around 400 BCE, during a
series of wars that were fought against neighboring tribes, the plebeians
demanded concessions for the disenfranchisement they experienced as
foot soldiers fighting for spoils of war that they were never to see. As a result,
the Licinio-Sextian law was eventually passed in 367 BCE, which addressed the
economic plight of the plebeians and prevented the election of further
patrician magistrates.

The Conflict of the Orders
Ends (367-287 BCE)

In the decades following the passage of the Licinio-Sextian law, further legislation was
enacted that granted political equality to the plebeians. Nonetheless, it
remained difficult for a plebeian from an unknown family to enter the Senate.
In fact, the very presence of a long-standing nobility, and the Roman population’s
deep respect for it, made it very difficult for individuals from unknown
families to be elected to high office. Additionally, elections could be
expensive, neither senators nor magistrates were paid for their services, and
the Senate usually did not reimburse magistrates for expenses incurred during
their official duties, providing many barriers to the entry of high political
office by the non-affluent. 

Ultimately, a new
patricio-plebeian aristocracy emerged and replaced the old patrician nobility.
Whereas the old patrician nobility existed simply on the basis of being able to
run for office, the new aristocracy existed on the basis of affluence. Although
a small number of plebeians had achieved the same standing as the patrician
families of the past, new plebeian aristocrats were less interested in the
plight of the average plebeian than were the old patrician aristocrats. For a time,
the plebeian plight was mitigated, due higher employment, income, and patriotism
that was wrought by a series of wars in which Rome was engaged; these things eliminated the
threat of plebeian unrest. But by 287 BCE, the economic conditions of the
plebeians deteriorated as a result of widespread indebtedness, and the
plebeians sought relief. Roman senators, most of whom were also creditors, refused
to give in to the plebeians’ demands, resulting in the first plebeian secession
to Janiculum Hill.

In order to end the plebeian secession, a dictator, Quintus Hortensius,
was appointed. Hortensius, who was himself a plebeian, passed a law known as
the “Hortensian Law.” This law ended the requirement that an auctoritas patrum
be passed before a bill could be considered by either the plebeian council or
the tribal assembly, thus removing the final patrician senatorial check on the
plebeian council. The requirement was not changed, however, in the centuriate
assembly. This provided a loophole through which the patrician senate could still deter
plebeian legislative influence.

8.3.4: Art and Literature in the Roman Republic

Learning Objective

Recognize the wide extent of art and literature created during the Roman Republic

Key Points

• Roman literature was, from its very inception, influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics that tell the early military history of Rome. However, authors diversified their genres as the Republic expanded.
• Cicero is one of the most famous Republican authors, and his letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history.
• Romans
  typically produced historical sculptures in relief, as opposed to Greek
  free-standing sculpture. Small sculptures were considered luxury items, while moulded
  relief decoration in pottery vessels and small figurines were produced in great
  quantities for a wider section of the population.
• The most well-known surviving
  examples of Roman painting consist of the wall paintings from Pompeii and
  Herculaneum that were preserved in the aftermath of the fatal eruption of Mount
  Vesuvius in 79 CE.
• Veristic portraiture
  is a hallmark of Roman art during the Republic, though its use began to diminish during the 1st century BCE as civil wars threatened the empire and individual strong men began amassing more power.

Key Terms

veristic portraiture

A hyper-realistic portrayal of the subject’s facial characteristics; a common style of portraiture in the early to mid-Republic.

Cicero

A Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist.

Literature

Roman literature was, from its very inception,  heavily
influenced by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are historical epics telling the early military history of Rome, similar to the Greek epic narratives of Homer,
Herodotus, and Thucydides. Virgil, though generally considered to be an Augustan poet, represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry.

His Aeneid tells the story of the flight of Aeneas from Troy, and his settlement of the city that would become Rome.
As the Republic expanded, authors began to
produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy.

Lucretius, in his De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. The genre of satire was also common in Rome, and satires were written by, among others, Juvenal and Persius. 

The Age of Cicero

Bust of Cicero

A mid-first century CE bust of Cicero, in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Cicero has traditionally been considered the master of Latin prose. The writing he produced from approximately 80 BCE until his death in 43 BCE, exceeds that of any Latin author whose work survives, in terms of quantity and variety of genre and subject matter. It also possesses unsurpassed stylistic excellence. Cicero’s many works can be divided into four groups: letters, rhetorical treatises, philosophical works, and orations. His letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history, and offers a vivid picture of public and private life among the Roman governing class. Cicero’s works on oratory are our most valuable Latin sources for ancient theories on education and rhetoric. His philosophical works were the basis of moral philosophy during the Middle Ages, and his speeches inspired many European political leaders, as well as the founders of the United States.

Art

Early Roman art was
greatly influenced by the art of Greece and the neighboring Etruscans, who were
also greatly influenced by Greek art via trade. As the Roman Republic conquered
Greek territory, expanding its imperial domain throughout the Hellenistic world,
official and patrician sculpture grew out of the Hellenistic style that many Romans
encountered during their campaigns, making it difficult to distinguish truly
Roman elements from elements of Greek style. This was especially true since much of what
survives of Greek sculpture are actually copies made of Greek originals by
Romans. By the 2nd century BCE, most sculptors working within Rome were
Greek, many of whom were enslaved following military conquests, and whose names
were rarely recorded with the work they created. Vast numbers of Greek statues
were also imported to Rome as a result of conquest as well as trade.

Rather than create
free-standing works depicting heroic exploits from history or mythology, as the
Greeks had, the Romans produced historical works in relief. Small sculptures
were considered luxury items and were frequently the object of client-patron
relationships. The silver Warren Cup and glass Lycurgus cup are examples of the
high quality works that were produced during this period. For a wider section
of the population, moulded relief decoration in pottery vessels and small figurines
were produced in great quantities, and were often of great quality.

In the 3rd century BCE, Greek art taken during wars became popular, and many Roman homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists.

Of the vast body of
Roman painting that once existed, only a few examples survive to the
modern-age. The most well-known surviving examples of Roman painting are the wall paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum, that were preserved in the
aftermath of the fatal eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. A large number of
paintings also survived in the catacombs of Rome, dating from the 3rd century CE to 400, prior to the Christian age, demonstrating a continuation of
the domestic decorative tradition for use in humble burial chambers.Wall
painting was not considered high art in either Greece or Rome. Sculpture and
panel painting, usually consisting of tempera or encaustic painting on wooden
panels, were considered more prestigious art forms.

A large number of Fayum
mummy portraits, bust portraits on wood added to the outside of mummies by the
Romanized middle class, exist in Roman Egypt. Although these are in some ways
distinctively local, they are also broadly representative of the Roman style of
painted portraits.

Roman portraiture during the Republic is identified by its considerable realism, known as veristic portraiture. Verism refers to a hyper-realistic portrayal of the subject’s facial characteristics. The style originated from Hellenistic Greece; however, its use in Republican Rome and survival throughout much of the Republic is due to Roman values, customs, and political life. As with other forms of Roman art, Roman portraiture borrowed certain details from Greek art, but adapted these to their own needs. Veristic images often show their male subject with receding hairlines, deep winkles, and even with warts. While the face of the portrait was often shown with incredible detail and likeness, the body of the subject would be idealized, and did not seem to correspond to the age shown in the face .

Bust of an Old Man

Veristic portraiture of an Old Man. Verism refers to a hyper-realistic portrayal of the subject’s facial characteristics.

Portrait
sculpture during the period utilized youthful and classical proportions,
evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. Advancements were also
made in relief sculptures, often depicting Roman victories. The Romans,
however, completely lacked a tradition of figurative vase-painting comparable
to that of the ancient Greeks, which the Etruscans had also emulated.

The Late Republic

The use of veristic portraiture began to diminish during the Late Republic in the 1st century BCE. During this time, civil wars threatened the empire and individual men began to gain more power. The portraits of Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar, two political rivals who were also the most powerful generals in the Republic, began to change the style of portraits and their use. The portraits of Pompey the Great were neither fully idealized, nor were they created in the same veristic style of Republican senators. Pompey borrowed a specific parting and curl of his hair from Alexander the Great, linking Pompey visually to Alexander’s likeness, and triggering his audience to associate him with Alexander’s characteristics and qualities.

Bust of Pompey the Great

The portraits of Pompey the Great were neither fully idealized, nor were they created in the same veristic style of Republican senators. This bust clearly shows the specific parting and curl of his hair that would have likened him to Alexander the Great.

8.3.5: Republican Wars and Conquest

Learning Objective

Describe the key results and effects of major Republican wars

Key Points

• Early Roman Republican wars were wars of both expansion and defense, aimed at protecting Rome from neighboring cities and nations, and establishing its territory within the region.
• The Samnite Wars were fought against the Etruscans and effectively finished off all vestiges of Etruscan power by 282 BCE.
• By the middle of the 3rd century and the end of the Pyrrhic War, Rome had effectively dominated the Italian peninsula and won an international military reputation.
• Over the course of the three Punic Wars, Rome completely defeated Hannibal and razed Carthage to the ground, thereby acquiring all of Carthage’s North African and Spanish territories.
• After four Macedonian Wars, Rome had established its first permanent foothold in the Greek world, and divided the Macedonian Kingdom into four client republics.

Key Terms

Punic Wars

A series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, from 264 BCE to 146 BCE, that resulted in the complete destruction of Carthage.

Pyrrhus

Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. Later he became king of Epirus (r. 306-302, 297-272 BCE) and Macedon (r. 288-284, 273-272 BCE). He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from which the term “Pyrrhic victory” was coined.

Roman Conquest of the Italian Peninsula

This map shows the expansion of Roman territory through the various wars fought during the Republican period.

The map shows the territory of Rome and her allies between 500 BCE and 272 BCE. It shows that in 500 the territory only included the city of Rome and its immediate surroundings, including Ostia and Veii. In 338, after the Latin war, the territory expanded a bit to the north and east. It also expanded more considerably to the south, encompassing Antium, Terracina, and Capua. In 298, at the start of the 3rd Samninte war, the territory expanded south to include Napolis and also expanded east in an upside U shape to include Marsi, Aequiculi, Vestini, Marrcini, Fretani, and the cities of Arpi, Luceria, and Asculum on the east coast. In 290, at the end of the 3rd Samnite war, the territory expanded to include the central interior of present-day Italy. In 272, at the end of the Pyrrhic war, the territory expanded to include all of present-day southern Italy. In 264, at the start of the 1st Punic war, the territory expanded to include large portions of present-day northern Italy, as far north as Pisae and Ariminium. Finally, at the start of the 2nd Punic war, the territory expanded farther north, in addition to covering Corsica, Sardini, and most of Siciliy.

Early Republic

Early Campaigns (458-396 BCE)

The first Roman Republican wars were wars of both expansion and defense, aimed at protecting Rome from neighboring cities and nations, as well as establishing its territory in the region. Initially, Rome’s immediate neighbors were either Latin towns and villages or tribal Sabines from the Apennine hills beyond. One by one, Rome defeated both the persistent Sabines and the nearby Etruscan and Latin cities. By the end of this period, Rome had effectively secured its position against all immediate threats.

Expansion into Italy and the Samnite Wars (343-282 BCE)

The First Samnite War, of 343 BCE-341 BCE, was a relatively short affair. The Romans beat the Samnites in two battles, but were forced to withdraw from the war before they could pursue the conflict further, due to the revolt of several of their Latin allies in the Latin War. The Second Samnite War, from 327 BCE-304 BCE, was much longer and more serious for both the Romans and Samnites, but by 304 BCE the Romans had effectively annexed the greater part of the Samnite territory and founded several colonies therein. Seven years after their defeat, with Roman dominance of the area seemingly assured, the Samnites rose again and defeated a Roman army in 298 BCE, to open the Third Samnite War. With this success in hand, they managed to bring together a coalition of several of Rome’s enemies, but by 282 BCE, Rome finished off the last vestiges of Etruscan power in the region.

Pyrrhic War (280-275 BCE)

By the beginning of the 3rd century BCE, Rome had established itself as a major power on the Italian Peninsula, but had not yet come into conflict with the dominant military powers in the Mediterranean Basin at the time: the Carthage and Greek kingdoms. When a diplomatic dispute between Rome and a Greek colony erupted into a naval confrontation, the Greek colony appealed for military aid to Pyrrhus, ruler of the northwestern Greek kingdom of Epirus. Motivated by a personal desire for military accomplishment, Pyrrhus landed a Greek army of approximately 25,000 men on Italian soil in 280 BCE. Despite early victories, Pyrrhus found his position in Italy untenable. Rome steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyrrhus as long as his army remained in Italy. Facing unacceptably heavy losses with each encounter with the Roman army, Pyrrhus withdrew from the peninsula (thus giving rise to the term “pyrrhic victory”). 

In 275 BCE, Pyrrhus again met the Roman army at the Battle of Beneventum. While Beneventum’s outcome was indecisive, it led to Pyrrhus’s
complete withdrawal from Italy, due to the decimation of his army
following years of foreign campaigns, and the diminishing likelihood of further
material gains. These conflicts with Pyrrhus would have a positive effect on Rome. Rome had shown it was capable of pitting its armies successfully against the dominant military powers of the Mediterranean, and that the Greek kingdoms were incapable of defending their colonies in Italy and abroad. Rome quickly moved into southern Italia, subjugating and dividing the Greek colonies. By the middle of the 3^rd century, Rome effectively dominated the Italian peninsula, and had won an international military reputation.

Mid-Republic

Punic Wars

The First Punic War began in 264 BCE, when
Rome
and Carthage became interested in using settlements within Sicily to solve their own internal conflicts. The war saw land battles in Sicily early on, but focus soon shifted to naval battles around Sicily and Africa. Before the First Punic War, there was essentially no Roman navy. The new war in Sicily against Carthage, a great naval power, forced Rome to quickly build a fleet and train sailors. Though the first few naval battles of the First Punic War were catastrophic disasters for Rome, Rome was eventually able to beat the Carthaginians and leave them without a fleet or sufficient funds to raise another. For a maritime power, the loss of Carthage’s access to the Mediterranean stung financially and psychologically, leading the Carthaginians to sue for peace.

Continuing distrust led to the renewal of hostilities in the Second Punic War, when, in 218 BCE, Carthaginian commander Hannibal attacked a Spanish town with diplomatic ties to Rome. Hannibal then crossed the Italian Alps to invade Italy. Hannibal’s successes in Italy began immediately, but his brother, Hasdrubal, was defeated after he crossed the Alps on the Metaurus River. Unable to defeat Hannibal on Italian soil, the Romans boldly sent an army to Africa under Scipio Africanus, with the intention of threatening the Carthaginian capital. As a result, Hannibal was recalled to Africa, and defeated at the Battle of Zama.

Carthage never managed to recover after the Second Punic War, and the Third Punic War that followed was, in reality, a simple punitive mission to raze the city of Carthage to the ground. Carthage was almost defenseless, and when besieged offered immediate surrender, conceding to a string of outrageous Roman demands. The Romans refused the surrender and the city was stormed and completely destroyed after a short siege. Ultimately, all of Carthage’s North African and Spanish territories were acquired by Rome.

Hannibal’s Famous Crossing of the Alps

Depiction of Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps during the Second Punic War.

Macedon and Greece

Rome’s preoccupation with its war in Carthage provided an opportunity for Philip V of the kingdom of Macedonia, located in the northern part of the Greek peninsula, to attempt to extend his power westward. Over the next several decades, Rome clashed with Macedon to protect their Greek allies throughout the First, Second, and Third Macedonian Wars. By 168 BCE, the Macedonians had been thoroughly defeated, and Rome divided the Macedonian Kingdom into four client republics. After a Fourth Macedonian War, and nearly a century of constant crisis management in Greece (which almost always was a result of internal instability when Rome pulled out), Rome decided to divide Macedonia into two new Roman provinces, Achaea and Epirus.

8.3.6: Crises of the Republic

Learning Objective

Explain how crises in the 1st century BCE further destabilized the Roman Republic

Key Points

• Though the causes and attributes of individual
  crises varied throughout the decades, an underlying theme of conflict between
  the aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.
• The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, introduced a number of populist agrarian and land reforms in the 130s and 120s BCE that were heavily opposed by the patrician Senate. Both brothers were murdered by mob violence after political stalemates.
• Political instability continued, as populist Marius and optimate Sulla engaged in a series of conflicts that culminated in Sulla seizing power and marching to Asia Minor against the decrees of the Senate, and Marius seizing power in a coup back at Rome.
• The Catilinarian Conspiracy discredited the populist party,
  in turn repairing the image of the Senate, which had come to be seen as weak
  and not worthy of such violent attack.
• Under the terms of the First Triumvirate, Pompey’s
  arrangements would be ratified and Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BCE; he subsequently served as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised
  the consulship later.
• The triumvirate crumbled in the wake of growing political
  violence and Crassus and Caesar’s daughter’s death.
• A resolution was passed by the Senate that declared that if Caesar
  did not lay down his arms by July 49 BCE, he would be considered an enemy of
  the Republic. Meanwhile, Pompey was granted dictatorial powers over the
  Republic.
• On January 10, 49 BCE, Caesar
  crossed the Rubicon and marched towards Rome. Pompey, the consuls, and the
  Senate all abandoned Rome for Greece, and Caesar entered the city unopposed.

Key Terms

Gracchi Brothers

Brothers Tiberius and Gaius, Roman plebeian nobiles who both served as tribunes in the late 2nd century BCE. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians.

plebeian

A general body of free Roman citizens who were
part of the lower strata of society.

patrician

A group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

The Crises of the Roman Republic refers to an extended period of political instability and social unrest that culminated in the demise of the Roman Republic, and the advent of the Roman Empire from about 134 BCE-44 BCE. The exact dates of this period of crisis are unclear or are in dispute from scholar to scholar. Though the causes and attributes of individual crises varied throughout the decades,
an underlying theme of conflict between the
aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.

Optimates were a traditionalist majority of the late Roman
Republic. They wished to limit the power of the popular assemblies and the
Tribune of the Plebeians, and to extend the power of the Senate, which was
viewed as more dedicated to the interests of the aristocrats. In particular,
they were concerned with the rise of individual generals, who, backed by the
tribunate, the assemblies, and their own soldiers, could shift power from the
Senate and aristocracy. Many members of this faction were so-classified because
they used the backing of the aristocracy and the Senate to achieve personal
goals, not necessarily because they favored the aristocracy over the lower
classes. Similarly, the populists did not necessarily champion the lower
classes, but often used their support to achieve personal goals.

Following a period of
great military successes and economic failures of the early Republican period,
many plebeian calls for reform among the classes had been quieted. However, many
new slaves were being imported from abroad, causing an unemployment crisis
among the lower classes. A flood of unemployed citizens entered Rome, giving
rise to populist ideas throughout the city.

The Gracchi Brothers

Tiberius Gracchus took office as a tribune of the plebeians in late 134 BCE. At the time, Roman society was a highly stratified class system with tensions bubbling below the surface. This system consisted of noble families of the senatorial rank (patricians), the knight or equestrian class, citizens (grouped into two or three classes
of self-governing allies of Rome: landowners; and plebs, or tenant
freemen, depending on the time period), non-citizens who lived outside of southwestern Italy, and at the bottom, slaves. The government owned large tracts of farm land that it had gained through invasion or escheat. This land was rented out to either large landowners whose slaves tilled the land, or small tenant farmers
who occupied the property on the basis of a sub-lease. Beginning in 133 BCE, Tiberius tried to redress the grievances of displaced small tenant farmers. He bypassed the Roman Senate, and passed a law limiting the amount of land belonging to the state that any individual could farm, which resulted in the dissolution of large plantations maintained by rich landowners on public land. 

A political back-and-forth ensued in the Senate as the other tribune, Octavius, blocked Tiberius’s initiatives, and the Senate denied funds needed for land reform. When Tiberius sought re-election to his one-year term (an unprecedented action), the oligarchic nobles responded by murdering Tiberius, and mass riots broke out in the city in reaction to the assassination. About nine years later, Tiberius Gracchus’s younger brother, Gaius, passed more radical reforms in favor of the poorer plebeians. Once again, the situation ended in violence and murder as Gaius fled Rome and was either murdered by oligarchs or committed suicide. The deaths of the Gracchi brothers marked the beginning of a late Republic trend in which tensions and conflicts erupted in violence.

Gaius Gracchus Addressing the People

Silvestre David Mirys’ rendition of the the tribune, Gaius Gracchus, addressing the people of Rome.

Marius and Sulla

The next major reformer of the time was Gaius Marius, who like the Gracchi, was a populist who championed the lower classes. He was a general who abolished the property requirement for becoming a soldier, which allowed the poor to enlist in large numbers. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed as Marius’s quaestor (supervisor of the financial affairs of the state) in 107 BCE, and later competed with Marius for supreme power. Over the next few decades, he and Marius engaged in a series of conflicts that culminated in Sulla seizing power and marching to Asia Minor against the decrees of the Senate. Marius launched a coup in Sulla’s absence, putting to death some of his enemies and instituting a populist regime, but died soon after.

Bust of Sulla

The bust of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, an optimate who marched against Rome and installed himself as dictator in 82-81 BCE.

Pompey, Crassus, and the Catilinarian Conspiracy

In 77 BCE, two of Sulla’s former lieutenants, Gnaeus Pompeius
Magnus (“Pompey the Great”) and Marcus Licinius Crassus, had left Rome to put
down uprisings and found the populist party, attacking Sulla’s constitution upon
their return. In an attempt to forge an agreement with the populist party, both
lieutenants promised to dismantle components of Sulla’s constitution that the
populists found disagreeable, in return for being elected consul. The two were
elected in 70 BCE and held true to their word. Four years later, in 66 BCE, a
movement to use peaceful means to address the plights of the various classes
arose; however, after several failures in achieving their goals, the movement,
headed by Lucius Sergius Catilina and based in Faesulae, a hotbed of agrarian
agitation, decided to march to Rome and instigate an uprising. Marcus Tullius
Cicero, the consul at the time, intercepted messages regarding recruitment and
plans, leading the Senate to authorize the assassination of many Catilinarian
conspirators in Rome, an action that was seen as stemming from dubious
authority. This effectively disrupted the conspiracy and discredited the
populist party, in turn repairing the image of the Senate, which had come to be
seen as weak and not worthy of such violent attack.

First Triumvirate

In 62 BCE, Pompey returned from campaigning in Asia to find
that the Senate, elated by its successes against the Catiline conspirators,
was unwilling to ratify any of Pompey’s arrangements, leaving Pompey
powerless. Julius Caesar returned from his governorship in Spain a year later
and, along with Crassus, established a private agreement with Pompey known as
the First Triumvirate. Under the terms of this agreement, Pompey’s arrangements
would be ratified and Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BCE, subsequently
serving as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised the consulship
later.

When Caesar became consul, he saw the passage of Pompey’s
arrangements through the Senate, at times using violent means to ensure their
passage. Caesar also facilitated the election of patrician Publius Clodius
Pulcher to the tribunate in 58 BCE, and Clodius sidelined Caesar’s senatorial
opponents, Cato and Cicero. Clodius eventually formed armed gangs that
terrorized Rome and began to attack Pompey’s followers, who formed
counter-gangs in response, marking the end of the political alliance between
Pompey and Caeser. Though the triumvirate was briefly renewed in the face of
political opposition for the consulship from Domitius Ahenobarbus, Crassus’s
death during an expedition against the Kingdom of Parthia, and the death of
Pompey’s wife, Julia, who was also Caesar’s daughter, severed any remaining
bonds between Pompey and Caesar.

Beginning in the
summer of 54 BCE, a wave of political corruption and violence swept Rome,
reaching a climax in January 52 BCE, when Clodius was murdered in a gang war.
Caesar presented an ultimatum to the Senate on January 1, 49 BCE, which was
ultimately rejected. Subsequently, a resolution was passed that declared that if
Caesar did not lay down his arms by July, he would be considered an enemy of
the Republic. The senators adopted Pompey as their champion, and on January 7,
Pompey was granted dictatorial powers over the Republic by the Senate. Pompey’s
army, however, was composed mainly of untested conscripts, and on January 10,
Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his more experienced forces in defiance of
Roman laws, and marched towards Rome. Pompey, the consuls, and the Senate all
abandoned Rome for Greece, in the face of Caeser’s rapidly advancing forces, and
Caesar entered the city unopposed.

8.4: The Roman Empire

8.4.1: Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a late Republic statesman and general who waged civil war against the Roman Senate, defeating many patrician conservatives before he declared himself dictator.

Learning Objective

Explain the rise of Julius Caesar and his various successes

Key Points

• In 60 BCE, Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) formed a political alliance, known as the First Triumvirate, that was to dominate Roman politics for several years, though their populist tactics were opposed by the conservative Senate.
• Caesar enjoyed great success as commander in the Gallic Wars. Upon conclusion of the wars, he refused to return to Rome as ordered by the Senate, and instead, crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE with a legion, entering Roman territory under arms.
• Caesar fought in a civil war against his old colleague, Pompey, who had aligned himself with conservative interests in the Senate. Caesar quickly defeated his rival and many other Senate conservatives who had previously opposed him.
• With most of his enemies gone, Caesar installed himself as dictator in perpetuity. As dictator, he instituted a series of reforms and, most notably, created the Julian calendar.
• Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE by his remaining enemies in the Senate, throwing Rome into another period of chaos and civil war.

Key Terms

dictator

During Caesar’s time, in the late Roman Republic, ruler for life. In the early Republic, by contrast, a dictator was a general appointed by the Senate, who served temporarily during a national emergency.

Julius Caesar

A Roman general, statesman, consul, and author, who
played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman
Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

Pompey

A military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, who represented the Roman Senate in a civil war against Julius Caesar.

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, consul, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. In 60 BCE, Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) formed a political alliance, known as the First Triumvirate, that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Caesar made the initial overtures that
led to the informal alliance. An acclaimed military commander who had also
served in a variety of political offices, Caesar sought election as consul in 59 BCE, along with two other candidates. The election was particularly
contentious, with corruption occurring on all sides. Caesar won, as well as conservative Marcus Bibulus, but saw that he could further his political
influence with Crassus and Pompey.

Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative ruling class within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger and Cicero. Meanwhile, Caesar’s victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BCE, extended Rome’s territory to the English Channel and the Rhine River. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

These achievements granted Caesar unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of his colleague, Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BCE. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused and marked his defiance in 49 BCE by crossing the Rubicon (shallow river in northern Italy) with a legion.
In doing so, he deliberately broke the law on
imperium and engaged in an open act of insurrection and treason.

Civil War ensued, with Pompey representing the Roman Senate forces against Caesar, but Caesar quickly defeated Pompey in 48 BCE, and dispatched Pompey’s supporters in the following year. During this time, many staunch Senate conservatives, such as Cato the Younger, were either killed or committed suicide, thereby greatly decreasing the number of optimates in Rome.

Caesar as Dictator

Bust of Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, consul, and notable author of Latin prose.

After assuming control of the government upon the defeat of his enemies in 45 BCE, Caesar began a program of social and governmental reforms that included the creation of the Julian calendar. He centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic and eventually proclaimed himself “dictator in perpetuity.”  It is important to note that Caesar did not declare himself rex (king), but instead, claimed the title of dictator. Contrary to the negative connotations that the modern use of the word evokes, the Roman dictator was appointed by the Senate during times of emergency as a unilateral decision-maker who could act more quickly than the usual bureaucratic processes that the Republican government would allow. Upon bringing the Roman state out of trouble, the dictator would then resign and restore power back to the Senate. Thus, Caesar’s declaration ostensibly remained within the Republican framework of power, though the huge amounts of power he had gathered for himself in practice set him up similar to a monarch.

Caesar used his powers to fill the Senate with his own partisans. He also increased the number of magistrates who were elected each year, which created a large pool of experienced magistrates and allowed Caesar to reward his supporters. He used his powers to appoint many new senators, which eventually raised the Senate’s membership to 900. All the appointments were of his own partisans, which robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige and made the Senate increasingly subservient to him. To minimize the risk that another general might attempt to challenge him, Caesar passed a law that subjected governors to term limits. All of these changes watered down the power of the Senate, which infuriated those used to aristocratic privilege. Such anger proved to be fuel for Caesar’s eventual assassination.

Despite the defeat of most of his conservative enemies, however, underlying political conflicts had not been resolved. On the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BCE, Caesar was
scheduled
to appear at a session of the Senate, and a group of senators led by Marcus
Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus conspired to assassinate him. Though
some of his assassins may have had ulterior personal vendettas against Caesar,
Brutus is said to have acted out of concern for the Republic in the face of
what he considered to be a monarchical tyrant. Mark Antony, one of Caesar’s
generals and administrator of Italy during Caesar’s campaigns abroad, learned
such a plan existed the night before, and attempted to intercept Caesar, but the
plotters anticipated this and arranged to meet him outside the site of the
session and detain him him there. Caesar was stabbed 23 times and lay dead on
the ground for some time before officials removed his body.

A new series of civil wars broke out following Caesar’s assassination, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never restored. Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power, and the era of the Roman Empire began.

8.4.2: Founding of the Roman Empire

Augustus rose to power after Julius Caesar’s assassination, through a series of political and military maneuvers, eventually establishing himself as the first emperor of Rome.

Learning Objective

Explain the key features of Augustus’s reign and the reasons for its successes

Key Points

• Following the assassination of his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Caesar’s will named Octavian as his adopted son and heir when Octavian was only 19 years old.
• By ingratiating himself with his father’s legions, Octavian was able to fulfill the military demands of the Roman Senate. He quickly gained both power and prestige and formed the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus in 43 BCE.
• By 31 BCE, Octavian had emerged as the sole ruler of Rome, upon the political and military defeat of the two other triumvirs.

Key Terms

Mark Antony

Julius Caesar’s right hand man, and a member of the Second Triumvirate. He was eventually defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.

Augustus

The founder of the Roman Empire, known as Octavian during his early years and during his rise to power.

Augustus is regarded by many scholars as the founder and first emperor of the Roman Empire. He ruled from 27 BCE until his death in 14 CE.

Rise to Power

Augustus was born Gaius Octavius, and in his early years was known as Octavian. He was from an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian Octavii family. Following the assassination of his maternal great-uncle, Julius Caesar, in 44 BCE, Caesar’s will named Octavian as his adopted son and heir when Octavian was only 19 years old. The young Octavian quickly took advantage of the situation and ingratiated himself with both the Roman people and his adoptive father’s legions, thereby elevating his status and importance within Rome. Octavian found Mark Antony, Julius Caesar’s
former colleague and the current consul of Rome,
in an uneasy truce with Caesar’s assassins, who had been granted general amnesty
for their part in the plot. Nonetheless, Antony eventually succeeded in driving
most of them out of Rome, using Caesar’s eulogy as an opportunity to mount
public opinion against the assassins.

Mark Antony began amassing political support, and
Octavian set about rivaling it. Eventually, many Caesarian sympathizers began to
view Octavian as the lesser evil of the two. Octavian allied himself with
optimate factions, despite their opposition to Caesar when he was alive. The
optimate orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, began attacking Antony in a series of
speeches, portraying him as a threat to the republican order of Rome. As public
opinion against him mounted, Antony fled to Cisalpine Gaul at the end of his
consular year.

Octavian further established himself both politically and militarily in the following months. He was declared a senator and granted the power of military command, imperium, in 43 BCE, and was further able to leverage his successes to obtain the vacant consulships left by the two defeated consuls of that year. 

Octavian eventually reached an uneasy truce with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus in October 43 BCE, and together, the three formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory against Brutus at Phillipi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. Relations within the Triumvirate were strained as the various members sought greater political power. Civil war between Antony and Octavian was averted in 40 BCE, when Antony married Octavian’s sister, Octavia Minor. Despite his marriage, Antony continued a love affair with Cleopatra, the former lover of Caesar and queen of Egypt, further straining political ties to Rome. Octavian used Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra to his own advantage, portraying Antony as less committed to Rome. With Lepidus expelled in 36 BCE, the Triumvirate finally disintegrated in the year 33. Finally, disagreements between Octavian and Antony erupted into civil war in the year 31 BCE. 

The Roman Senate, at Octavian’s direction, declared war on Cleopatra’s regime in Egypt  and proclaimed Antony a traitor. Antony was defeated by Octavian at the naval Battle of Actium the same year. Defeated, Antony fled with Cleopatra to Alexandria where they both committed suicide. With Antony dead, Octavian was left as the undisputed master of the Roman world. Octavian would assume the title Augustus, and reign as the first Roman Emperor.

Augustus of Prima Porta

The statue of Augustus of Prima Porta is perhaps one of the best known images of the Emperor Augustus. It portrays the emperor as perpetually youthful, and depicts many of the key propaganda messages that Augustus put forth during his time as emperor.

8.4.3: The Pax Romana

The Pax Romana, which began under Augustus, was a 200-year period of peace in which Rome experienced minimal expansion by military forces.

Learning Objective

Describe the key reasons for and characteristics of the Pax Romana

Key Points

• The Pax Romana was established under Augustus, and for that reason it is sometimes referred to as the Pax Augusta.
• Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times to signify the onset of peace: in 29 BCE, 25 BCE, and 13 BCE, likely in conjunction with the Ara Pacis ceremony.
• The Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but as the rare situation that existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Thus, Augustus had to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of warfare was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired when fighting a risky war.
• The Ara Pacis is a prime example of the propaganda Augustus employed to promote the Pax Romana, and depicts images of Roman gods and the city of Rome personified amidst wealth and prosperity.

Key Terms

Pax Romana

The long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Also sometimes known as the Pax Augusta.

Ara Pacis Augustae

The Altar of Augustan Peace, a sacrificial altar that displays imagery of the peace and prosperity Augustus achieved during the Pax Romana.

Augustus’s Constitutional Reforms

After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the
outward facade of the free Republic with governmental power vested in the Roman
Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. In reality,
however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military
dictator. By law, Augustus held powers granted to him for life by the Senate,
including supreme military command and those of tribune and censor. It took several
years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican
state could be led under his sole rule.

Augustus passed a series of laws between the years 30 and 2 BCE that
transformed the constitution of the Roman Republic into the constitution of the
Roman Empire. During this time, Augustus reformed the Roman system of taxation,
developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a
standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and
fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

First Settlement

During the First Settlement, Augustus modified the Roman
political system to make it more palatable to the senatorial classes, eschewing
the open authoritarianism exhibited by Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. In 28
BCE, in a calculated move, Augustus eradicated the emergency powers he held as
dictator and returned all powers and provinces to the Senate and the Roman
people. Members of the Senate were unhappy with this prospect, and in order to
appease them, Augustus agreed to a ten-year extension of responsibilities over
disorderly provinces. As a result of this, Augustus retained imperium over the provinces where the
majority of Rome’s soldiers were stationed. Augustus also rejected
monarchical titles, instead calling himself princeps civitatis (“First Citizen”). The
resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first
phase of the Roman Empire.

At this time, Augustus was given honorifics that made his
full name Imperator Caesar divi filius
Augustus. Imperator stressed
military power and victory and emphasized his role as commander-in-chief. Divi filius roughly translates to “son
of the divine,” enhancing his legitimacy as ruler without deifying him completely.
The use of Caesar provided a link
between himself and Julius Caesar, who was still very popular among lower
classes. Finally, the name Augustus raised associations to Rome’s illustrious
and majestic traditions, without creating heavy authoritarian overtones.

By the end of the first settlement, Augustus was in an ideal
political position. Although he no longer held dictatorial powers, he had
created an identity of such influence that authority followed naturally.

Second Settlement

In the wake of Augustus’s poor health, a second settlement
was announced in 23 BCE. During this time, Augustus outwardly appeared to rein
in his constitutional powers, but really continued to extend his dominion
throughout the Empire. Augustus renounced his ten-year consulship, but in
return, secured the following concessions for himself.

• A seat on the consuls’s platform at the front of the Curia

• The right to speak first in a Senate meeting, or ius primae relationis

• The right to summon a meeting of the Senate, which was a
  useful tool for policy making

• Care of Rome’s grain supply, or cura annonae, which gave him sweeping patronage powers over the plebs

Augustus was also granted the role of tribunicia potestas, which enabled him to act as the guardian of
the citizens of Rome. This position came with a number of benefits, including
the right to propose laws to the Senate whenever he wanted, veto power of laws,
and the ability to grant amnesty to any citizen accused of a crime. Though the
role of tribunicia potestas effectively
gave Augustus legislative supremacy, it also had many positive connotations
hearkening back to the Republic, making Augustus’s position less offensive to
the aristocracy. Beyond Rome, Augustus was granted maius imperium, meaning greater (proconsular) power. This position
enabled him to effectively override the orders of any other provincial governor
in the Roman Empire, in addition to governing his own provinces and armies.

Augustus and the Pax Romana

The Pax Romana (Latin for “Roman peace”) was a long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military forces experienced by the Roman Empire in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries CE. Since
this
period was initiated during

Augustus’s reign, it is sometimes called Pax Augusta. Its span was approximately 206 years (27 BCE to 180 CE).

The Pax Romana started after Augustus, then Octavian, met and defeated Mark Antony in the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. Augustus created a junta of the greatest military magnates and gave himself the titular honor. By binding together these leading magnates into a single title, he eliminated the prospect of civil war. The Pax Romana was not immediate, despite the end of the civil war, because fighting continued in Hispania and in the Alps.
Despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire’s frontiers
and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession, the Roman world was
largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries. Augustus
dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum,
and Raetia, expanded possessions in Africa as well as into Germania, and
completed the conquest of Hispania. Beyond Rome’s frontiers, he secured the
Empire with a buffer region of client states, and made peace with the
troublesome Parthian Empire through diplomacy.

Augustus closed the Gates of Janus (the set of gates to the Temple of Janus, which was closed in times of peace and opened in times of war) three times. The first time was in 29 BCE and the second in 25 BCE. The third closure is undocumented, but scholars have persuasively dated the event to 13 BCE during the Ara Pacis ceremony, which was held after Augustus and Agrippa jointly returned from pacifying the provinces.

Augustus faced some trouble making peace an acceptable mode of life for the Romans, who had been at war with one power or another continuously for 200 years prior to this period. The Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but the rare situation that existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Augustus’s challenge was to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of war was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired from fighting. Augustus succeeded by means of skillful propaganda. Subsequent emperors followed his lead, sometimes producing lavish ceremonies to close the Gates of Janus, issuing coins with Pax on the reverse, and patronizing literature extolling the benefits of the Pax Romana.

The Ara Pacis Augustae

The Ara Pacis Augustae, or Altar of Augustan Peace, is one of the best examples of Augustan artistic propaganda and the prime symbol of the new Pax Romana. It was commissioned by the Senate in 13 BCE to honor the peace and bounty established by Augustus following his return from Spain and Gaul.
The theme of peace is seen most notably in the east
and west walls of the Ara Pacis, each of which had two panels, although only
small fragments remain for one panel on each side. On the east side sits an
unidentified goddess presumed by scholars to be Tellus, Venus, or Peace within
an allegorical scene of prosperity and fertility. Twins sit on her lap along
with a cornucopia of fruits. Personifications of the wind and sea surround her,
each riding on a bird or a sea monster. Beneath the women rests a bull and
lamb, both sacrificial animals, and flowering plants fill the empty space. The
nearly incomplete second eastern panel appears to depict a female warrior,
possibly Roma, amid the spoils of conquest.

The Tellus Mater Panel of the Ara Pacis

The eastern wall of the Ara Pacis, which depicts the Tellus Mater surrounded by symbols of fertility and prosperity.

Augustus died in 14 CE at the age of 75. He
may have died from natural causes, although unconfirmed rumors swirled that
his wife Livia poisoned him. His adopted son (also stepson and former
son-in-law), Tiberius, succeeded him to the throne.

8.4.4: The Julio-Claudian Emperors

The Julio-Claudian emperors expanded the
boundaries of the Roman Empire and engaged in ambitious construction projects. However, they were met with mixed public reception due to their unique ruling methods.

Learning Objective

Describe the reigns of the emperors who followed
Augustus

Key Points

• Tiberius was the
  second emperor of the Roman Empire, and was considered one of Rome’s greatest
  generals. 
• Tiberius
  conquered Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania. His
  conquests laid the foundations for the northern frontier.
• When Tiberius
  died on March 16, 37 CE, his estate and titles were left to Caligula and
  Tiberius’s grandson, Gemellus. However, Caligula’s first act as Princeps was to
  to void Tiberius’s will and have Gemellus executed.
• Although
  Caligula is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months
  of his reign, sources portray him as a cruel and sadistic tyrant, immediately
  thereafter.
• In 38 CE,
  Caligula focused his attention on political and public reform; however, by 39
  CE, a financial crisis had emerged as a result of Caligula’s use of political
  payments, which had overextended the state’s treasury. Despite financial
  difficulties, Caligula began a number of construction projects during this
  time.
• In 41 CE,
  Caligula was assassinated as part of a conspiracy by officers of the Paretorian
  Guard, senators, and courtiers.
• Claudius, the
  fourth emperor of the Roman Empire, was the first Roman Emperor to be born
  outside of Italy.
• Despite his lack
  of experience, Claudius was an able and efficient administrator, as well as an
  ambitious builder. He constructed many roads, aqueducts, and canals across the
  Empire.
• Claudius’s appointment as emperor by the Praetorian Guard damaged his reputation. This was amplified when Claudius became the first
  emperor to resort to bribery as a means to secure army loyalty. Claudius also
  rewarded the Praetorian Guard that had named him emperor with 15,000 sesterces.

Key Terms

Julio-Claudian dynasty

The first five Roman emperors who ruled the
Roman Empire, including Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

Praetorian Guard

A force of bodyguards used by the Roman
emperors. They also served as secret police, and participated in wars.

Tiberius

Tiberius was the second
emperor of the Roman Empire and reigned from 14 to 37 CE. The previous emperor,
Augustus, was his stepfather; this officially made him a Julian. However, his
biological father was Tiberius Claudius Nero, making him a Claudian by birth.
Subsequent emperors would continue the blended dynasty of both families for the
next 30 years, leading historians to name it the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.
Tiberius is also the grand-uncle of Caligula, his successor, the paternal uncle
of Claudius, and the great-grand uncle of Nero.

Tiberius is considered one
of Rome’s greatest generals. During his reign, he conquered Pannonia, Dalmatia,
Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania. His conquests laid the foundations
for the northern frontier. However, he was known by contemporaries to be dark,
reclusive, and somber—a ruler who never really wanted to be emperor. The tone
was set early in his reign when the Senate convened to validate his position as
Princeps. During the proceedings, Tiberius attempted to play the part of the
reluctant public servant, but came across as derisive and obstructive. His
direct orders appeared vague, inspiring more debate than action and leaving the
Senate to act on its own. After the death of Tiberius’s son in 23 CE, the
emperor became even more reclusive, leaving the administration largely in the
hands of his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefects.

Tiberius

Tiberius, Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne

Bust of Tiberius

Caligula

When Tiberius died on March
16, 37 CE, his estate and titles were left to Caligula and Tiberius’s grandson,
Gemellus, with the intention that they would rule as joint heirs. However,
Caligula’s first act as Princeps was to to void Tiberius’s will and have
Gemellus executed. When Tiberius died, he had not been well liked. Caligula, on
the other hand, was almost universally heralded upon his assumption of the
throne. There are few surviving sources on Caligula’s reign. Caligula’s first
acts as emperor were generous in spirit, but political in nature. He granted
bonuses to the military, including the Praetorian Guard, city troops, and the
army outside of Italy. He destroyed Tiberius’s treason papers and declared that
treason trials would no longer continue as a practice, even going so far as to
recall those who had already been sent into exile for treason. He also helped
those who had been adversely affected by the imperial tax system, banished
certain sexual deviants, and put on large public spectacles, such as
gladiatorial games, for the common people. 

Although he is described as
a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months of his reign, sources
portray him as a cruel and sadistic tyrant immediately thereafter. The
transitional point seems to center around an illness Caligula experienced in
October of 37 CE. It is unclear whether the incident was merely an illness, or
if Caligula had been poisoned. Either way, following the incident, the young
emperor began dealing with what he considered to be serious threats, by killing
or exiling those who were close to him. During the remainder of his reign, he worked
to increase the personal power of the emperor during his short reign, and
devoted much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious
dwellings for himself. 

In 38 CE, Caligula focused
his attention on political and public reform. He published the accounts of
public funds, which had not been done under Tiberius’s reign, provided aid to
those who lost property in fires, and abolished certain taxes. He also allowed
new members into the equestrian and senatorial orders. Perhaps most
significantly, he restored the practice of democratic elections, which
delighted much of the public but was a cause for concern among the aristocracy.

By 39 CE, a financial crisis
had emerged as a result of Caligula’s use of political payments, which had
overextended the state’s treasury. In order to to restock the treasury,
Caligula began falsely accusing, fining, and even killing individuals in order
to seize their estates. He also asked the public to lend the state money, and
raised taxes on lawsuits, weddings, and prostitution, as well as auctioning the
lives of gladiators at shows. Wills that left items to Tiberius were also
reinterpreted as having left said items to Caligula. Centurions who had
acquired property by plunder were also forced to turn over their spoils to the
state, and highway commissioners were accused of incompetence and embezzlement
and forced to repay money that they might not have taken in the first place. Around
the same time, a brief famine occurred, possibly as a result of the financial
crisis, though its causes remain unclear. 

Despite financial
difficulties, Caligula began a number of construction projects during this
time. He initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome, Awua Claudia and
Anio Novus, which were considered contemporary engineering marvels. In 39 CE,
he ordered the construction of a temporary floating bridge between the resort
of Baiae and the port of Puteoli, which rivaled the bridge Persian king Xerxes
had constructed across the Hellespont. Caligula had two large ships constructed
for himself that were among the largest constructed in the ancient world. The larger of the two was essentially an elaborate floating palace with marble floors
and plumbing. He also improved the harbors at Rhegium and Sicily, which allowed
for increased grain imports from Egypt, possibly in response to the famine Rome
experienced. 

During his reign, the Empire
annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania as a province. Mauretania had previously been
a client kingdom ruled by Ptolemy of Mauretania. Details on how and why
Mauretania was ultimately annexed remain unclear. Ptolemy was had been invited
to Rome by Caligula and suddenly executed in what was seemingly a personal
political move, rather than a calculated response to military of economic needs.
However, Roman possession of Mauretania ultimately proved to be a boon to the
territory, as the subsequent rebellion of Tacfarinas demonstrated how exposed the
African Proconsularis was on its western borders. There also was a northern
campaign to Britannia that was aborted during Caligula’s reign, though there is not a
cohesive narrative of the event.

In 39 CE, relations between
Caligula and the Senate deteriorated. Caligula ordered a new set of treason
investigations and trials, replacing the consul and putting a number of senators
to death. Many other senators were reportedly treated in a degrading fashion and
humiliated by Caligula. In 41 CE, Caligula was assassinated as part of a
conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. The
conspirators used the assassination as an opportunity to re-institute the
Republic, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

Caligula

Emperor Caligula, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

Bust of Caligula

Claudius

Claudius, the fourth emperor
of the Roman Empire, was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside of Italy.
He was afflicted with a limp and slight deafness, which caused his family to
ostracize him and exclude him from public office until he shared the consulship
with his nephew, Caligula, in 37 CE. Due to Claudius’s afflictions, it is likely
he was spared from the many purges of Tiberius and Caligula’s reigns. As a
result, Claudius was declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula’s
assassination, due to his position as the last man in the Julio-Claudian line. 

Despite his lack of
experience, Claudius was an able and efficient administrator, as well as an
ambitious builder; he constructed many roads, aqueducts, and canals across the
Empire. His reign also saw the beginning of the conquest of Britain.
Additionally, Claudius presided over many public trials, and issued up to 20
edicts a day. However, in spite of his capable rule, Claudius continued to be viewed
as vulnerable by the Roman nobility throughout his reign, forcing Claudius to
constantly defend his position. He did so by emphasizing his place within the
Julio-Claudian family, dropping the cognomen, Nero, from his name, and replacing
it with Caesar.

Nonetheless, his appointment as emperor by the Praetorian Guard caused
damage to his reputation, and this was amplified when Claudius became the first
emperor to resort to bribery as a means to secure army loyalty. Claudius also
rewarded the Praetorian Guard that had named him emperor with 15,000 sesterces.

Claudius

Bust of Emperor Claudius.

8.4.5: The Last Julio-Claudian Emperors

Nero’s consolidation of personal power led to rebellion,
civil war, and a year-long period of upheaval, during which four separate
emperors ruled Rome.

Learning Objective

Explain how Nero and other factors contributed
to the fall of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Key Points

• Nero reigned as
  Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 CE, and was the last emperor in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.
• Very early in
  Nero’s rule, problems arose, due to his mother, Agrippina the Younger’s competition for influence with Nero’s two main advisers, Seneca and Burrus.
• Nero minimized
  the influence of all of his advisers and effectively eliminating all rivals to his
  throne. He also slowly removed power from the Senate, despite having promised
  to grant them with powers equivalent to those they had under republican rule.
• In March 68,
  Gaius Gulius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero’s
  tax policies and called upon the support of Servius Sulpicius Galba, the
  governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, who not only joined the rebellion, but also
  declared himself emperor in opposition to Nero. Galba would become the first
  emperor in what was known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
• Vespasian was the fourth and final emperor to rule in the year 69 CE, and
  established the stable Flavian Dynasty, that was to succeed the
  Julio-Claudians.

Key Terms

Praetorian Guard

A force of bodyguards used by the Roman
emperors. They also served as secret police and participated in wars.

Julio-Claudian
dynasty

The first five Roman emperors who ruled the
Roman Empire, including Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

Flavian dynasty

A Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman
Empire from 69 to 96 CE, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian and his two sons,
Titus and Domitian.

Nero

Nero reigned as Roman
Emperor from 54 to 68 CE, and was the last emperor in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Nero focused on diplomacy, trade, and enhancing the cultural life of
the Empire during his rule. He ordered theaters to be built and promoted
athletic games. However, according to Tacitus, a historian writing one
generation after Nero’s rule, Nero was viewed by many Romans as compulsive and
corrupt. Suetonius, another historian writing a generation after Nero’s rule,
claims that Nero began the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE, in order to clear land
for a palatial complex he was planning. 

Nero

A marble bust of Nero, at the Antiquarium of the Palatine.

Early Rule

When Claudius died in 54,
Nero was established as the new emperor. According to some ancient historians,
Agrippina the Younger, Nero’s mother, poisoned Claudius in order to make Nero
the youngest Roman emperor (at the age of 17). Very early in Nero’s rule,
problems arose due to Agrippina’s competition for influence with Nero’s two
main advisers, Seneca and Burrus. For example, in the year 54, Agrippina caused
a scandal by attempting to sit with Nero while he met with the Armenian envoy,
an unheard of act, since women were not permitted to be in the same room as men
while official business was being conducted. The next year, Agrippina attempted
to intervene on behalf of Nero’s wife, Octavia, with whom Nero was dissatisfied
and cheating on with a former slave. With the help of his adviser, Seneca, Nero
managed to resist his mother’s interference yet again.

Sensing his resistance to
her influence, Agrippina began pushing for Britannicus, Nero’s stepbrother, to
become emperor. Britannicus was still shy of 14 years old, and legally still a
minor, but because he was the son of the previous emperor, Claudius, by blood,
Agrippina held hope that he would be accepted as the true heir to the throne.
Her efforts were thwarted, however, when Britannicus mysteriously died one day
short of becoming a legal adult. Many ancient historians claim that Britannicus
was poisoned by his stepbrother, Nero. Shortly thereafter, Agrippina was ordered
out of the imperial residence.

Consolidation of Power

Over time, Nero began
minimizing the influence of all advisers and effectively eliminating all rivals
to his throne. Even Seneca and Burrus were accused of conspiring against, and
embezzling from the emperor; they were eventually acquitted, reducing their
roles from careful management of the government to mere moderation of Nero’s
actions on the throne. In 58 CE, Nero became romantically involved with Poppaea
Sabina, the wife of his friend and future emperor, Otho. Because divorcing his
current wife and marrying Poppaea did not seem politically feasible with his
mother still alive, Nero ordered Agrippina’s murder the following year.

Nero’s consolidation of
power included a slow usurpation of authority from the Senate. Although he had
promised the Senate powers equivalent to those it had under republican rule,
over the course of the first decade of Nero’s rule, the Senate was divested of all
its authority, which led directly to the Pisonian Conspiracy of 65. Gaius
Calpurnius Piso, a Roman statesman, organized the conspiracy against Nero with
the help of Subrius Flavus, a tribune, and Sulpicius Asper, a centurion of the
Praetorian Guard, in order to restore the Republic and wrest power from the
emperor. However, the conspiracy failed when it was discovered by a freedman, who reported the details to Nero’s secretary. This led to the execution of all
conspirators. Seneca was also ordered to commit suicide after he admitted to
having prior knowledge of the plot.

Vindex and Galba’s Revolt

In March 68, Gaius Gulius
Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero’s tax
policies and called upon the support of Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor
of Hispania Tarraconensis, who not only joined the rebellion, but also declared
himself emperor in opposition to Nero. Two months later, Vindex’s forces were
defeated at the Battle of Vesontio, and Vindex committed suicide. The legions
that defeated Vindex then attempted to proclaim their own commander, Verginius,
as emperor, but Verginius refused to act against Nero. Meanwhile, public
support for Galba grew despite his being officially declared a public enemy. In
response, Nero began to flee Rome only to turn back when the army officers that
were with him refused to obey his commands. When Nero returned, he received
word that the Senate had declared him a public enemy and intended to beat him
to death—although in actuality, the Senate remained open to mediating an end to
the conflict, and many senators felt a sense of loyalty to Nero, even if only
on account of him being the last of the Julio-Claudian line. However, Nero was
unaware of this and convinced his private secretary to help him take his own
life. 

Year of the Four Emperors

The suicide of Emperor Nero
was followed by a brief period of civil war. Then, between June 68 and December
69, four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. 

Galba was recognized as
emperor following Nero’s suicide, but he did not remain popular for long. On
his march to Rome, he either destroyed or took enormous fines from towns that
did not accept him immediately. Once in Rome, Galba made many of Nero’s reforms
redundant, including ones that benefited important people within Roman
society. Galba executed many senators and equites without trial, in a paranoid
attempt to consolidate his power, which unsettled many, including the
Praetorian Guard. Finally, the legions of Germania Inferior refused to swear
allegiance and obedience to Galba, instead proclaiming the governor Vitellius
as emperor. 

This caused Galba to panic
and name Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus, a young senator, as his successor.
This upset many people, but especially Marcus Salvius Otho, who had coveted
after the title for himself. Otho bribed the Praetorian Guard to support him
and embarked upon a coup d’etat, during which Galba was killed by the
Praetorians. Otho was recognized as emperor by the Senate the same day and was
expected by many to be a fair ruler. Unfortunately, soon thereafter, Vitellius
declared himself Imperator in Germania, and dispatched half his army to march on
Italy.

Otho attempted to broker a
peace, but Vitellius was uninterested, especially because his legions were some
of the finest in the empire, which gave him a great advantage over Otho.
Indeed, Otho was eventually defeated at the Battle of Bedriacum, and rather
than flee and attempt a counterattack, Otho committed suicide. He had been emperor
for little more than three months. Vitellius was recognized as emperor by the
Senate. Very quickly thereafter, he proceeded to bankrupt the imperial treasury
by throwing a series of feasts, banquets, and triumphal parades. He tortured
and executed money lenders who demanded payment and killed any citizens who
named him as their heir. He also lured many political rivals to his palace in
order to assassinate them.

Meanwhile, many of the legions in the African province of Egypt, and the
Middle East provinces of Iudaea and Syria, including the governor of Syria,
acclaimed Vespasian as their emperor. A force marched from the Middle East to
Rome, and Vespasian traveled to Alexandria, where he was officially named
Emperor. From there, Vespasian invaded Italy and won a crushing victory over
Vitellius’s army at the Second Battle of Bedriacum. Vitellius was found by
Vespasian’s men at the imperial palace and put to death. The Senate
acknowledged Vespasian as emperor the next day, marking the beginning of the
Flavian Dynasty, which was to succeed the Julio-Claudian line. Vespasian
remained emperor for the rest of his natural life.

Vespasian

A plaster cast of Vespasian in the Pushkin Museum, after an original held in the Louvre.  

8.5: The Flavian Dynasty

8.5.1: The Flavian Dynasty

The Flavian Dynasty, which began under the rule of Vespasian during the Year of the Four Emperors, is known for several significant historic, economic, and military events.

Learning Objective

Analyze how Vespasian consolidated control over the empire

Key Points

• Vespasian, a general for the Roman army, founded the Flavian Dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years.
• While Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide and plunged Rome into a year of civil war, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. 
• After Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69 CE.
• The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, emperor on July 1, 69 CE.
• In his bid for imperial power, Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus, a general in Pannonia, leaving his son, Titus, to command the besieging forces at Jerusalem; Primus and Mucianus led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt. 
• On December 20, 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day, Vespasian was declared Emperor by the Senate.
• Little information survives about the government during Vespasian’s ten-year rule; he reformed the financial system at Rome after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully, and initiated several ambitious construction projects.

Key Terms

Colosseum

Also known as the Flavian Amphitheater, an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, built of concrete and sand. The largest amphitheater ever built, used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.

Year of the Four Emperors

A year in the history of the Roman Empire, 69 CE, in which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.

Praetorian Guard

A force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors, who also served as secret police and participated in wars.

Overview

The Flavian Dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 69 CE and 96 CE, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian (69-79 CE), and his two sons Titus (79-81 CE) and Domitian (81-96 CE). The Flavians rose to power during the civil war of 69, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. After Galba and Otho died in quick succession, Vitellius became emperor in mid 69 CE. His claim to the throne was quickly challenged by legions stationed in the Eastern provinces, who declared their commander, Vespasian, emperor in his place. The Second Battle of Bedriacum tilted the balance decisively in favor of the Flavian forces, who entered Rome on December 20. The following day, the Roman Senate officially declared Vespasian emperor of the Roman Empire, thus commencing the Flavian Dynasty. Although the dynasty proved to be short-lived, several significant historic, economic, and military events took place during their reign.

The Flavians initiated economic and cultural reforms. Under Vespasian, new taxes were devised to restore the Empire’s finances, while Domitian revalued the Roman coinage by increasing its silver content. A massive building program was enacted to celebrate the ascent of the Flavian Dynasty, leaving multiple enduring landmarks in the city of Rome, the most spectacular of which was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum.

Rise to Power

On June 9, 68 CE, amidst growing opposition of the Senate and the army, Nero committed suicide, and with him the Julio-Claudian Dynasty came to an end. Chaos ensued, leading to a year of brutal civil war, known as the Year of the Four Emperors, during which the four most influential generals in the Roman Empire—Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian—successively vied for imperial power. News of Nero’s death reached Vespasian as he was preparing to besiege the city of Jerusalem. Almost simultaneously the Senate had declared Galba, then governor of Hispania Tarraconensis (modern Spain), as Emperor of Rome. Rather than continue his campaign, Vespasian decided to await further orders and send Titus to greet the new Emperor. Before reaching Italy however, Titus learned that Galba had been murdered and replaced by Otho, the governor of Lusitania (modern Portugal). At the same time, Vitellius and his armies in Germania had risen in revolt, and prepared to march on Rome, intent on overthrowing Otho. Not wanting to risk being taken hostage by one side or the other, Titus abandoned the journey to Rome and rejoined his father in Judaea.

Roman Empire in 69 CE

The Roman Empire during the Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE). Purple areas indicate provinces loyal to Vespasian and Gaius Licinius Mucianus. Green areas indicate provinces loyal to Vitellius.

The map shows that Dalmatia (one of four historical regions of Croatia), Pannonia (an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterinumus westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia), Moesia (an ancient region and later Roman province situatioed in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River), Aegyptus (the Roman province of Egypt), Iudaea (an area that incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, and extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel), and Syria were loyal to Vespasian.

Otho and Vitellius realized the potential threat posed by the Flavian faction. With four legions at his disposal, Vespasian commanded a strength of nearly 80,000 soldiers. His position in Judaea further granted him the advantage of being nearest to the vital province of Egypt, which controlled the grain supply to Rome. His brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus II, as city prefect, commanded the entire city garrison of Rome. Tensions among the Flavian troops ran high, but as long as Galba and Otho remained in power, Vespasian refused to take action. When Otho was defeated by Vitellius at the First Battle of Bedriacum however, the armies in Judaea and Egypt took matters into their own hands, and declared Vespasian emperor on July 1, 69. Vespasian accepted, and entered an alliance with Gaius Licinius Mucianus, the governor of Syria, against Vitellius. A strong force drawn from the Judaean and Syrian legions marched on Rome under the command of Mucianus, while Vespasian himself travelled to Alexandria, leaving Titus in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion.

Meanwhile in Rome, Domitian was placed under house arrest by Vitellius, as a safeguard against future Flavian aggression. Support for the old emperor was waning however, as more legions throughout the empire pledged their allegiance to Vespasian. On October 24, 69, the forces of Vitellius and Vespasian clashed at the Second Battle of Bedriacum, which ended in a crushing defeat for the armies of Vitellius. In despair, he attempted to negotiate a surrender. Terms of peace, including a voluntary abdication, were agreed upon with Titus Flavius Sabinus II, but the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard—the imperial bodyguard—considered such a resignation disgraceful, and prevented Vitellius from carrying out the treaty. After several skirmishes between the factions, eventually Vitellius was killed and on December 21, the Senate proclaimed Vespasian emperor of the Roman Empire.

Although the war had officially ended, a state of anarchy and lawlessness pervaded in the first days following the demise of Vitellius. In early 70 AD, order was properly restored by Mucianus, who headed an interim government with Domitian as the representative of the Flavian family in the Senate. Upon receiving the tidings of his rival’s defeat and death at Alexandria, the new Emperor at once forwarded supplies of urgently needed grain to Rome, along with an edict or a declaration of policy, in which he gave assurance of an entire reversal of the laws of Nero, especially those relating to treason. However, in early 70, Vespasian was still in Egypt, continuing to consolidate support from the Egyptians before departing. By the end of the year, he finally returned to Rome, and was properly installed as Emperor.

Vespasian’s Rule

Little factual information survives about Vespasian’s government during the ten years he was Emperor. Vespasian spent his first year as a ruler in Egypt, during which the administration of the empire was given to Mucianus, aided by Vespasian’s son, Domitian. Modern historians believe that Vespasian remained there, in order to consolidate support from the Egyptians. In mid-70, Vespasian first came to Rome and immediately embarked on a widespread propaganda campaign to consolidate his power and promote the new dynasty. His reign is best known for financial reforms following the demise of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, such as the institution of the tax on urinals, and the numerous military campaigns fought during the 70s. The most significant of these was the First Jewish-Roman War, which ended in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Titus. In addition, Vespasian faced several uprisings in Egypt, Gaul, and Germania, and reportedly survived several conspiracies against him. Vespasian helped rebuild Rome after the civil war, adding a temple of peace, and beginning construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum.

Many modern historians note the increased amount of propaganda that appeared during Vespasian’s reign. Stories of a supernatural emperor, who was destined to rule, circulated in the empire. Nearly one-third of all coins minted in Rome under Vespasian celebrated military victory or peace. The word vindex was removed from coins so as not to remind the public of rebellious Vindex. Construction projects bore inscriptions praising Vespasian and condemning previous emperors. A temple of peace was constructed in the forum as well. Vespasian approved histories written under his reign, ensuring biases against him were removed.

Vespasian also gave financial rewards to writers. The ancient historians who lived through the period, such as Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder, speak suspiciously well of Vespasian, while condemning the emperors who came before him. Tacitus admits that his status was elevated by Vespasian, Josephus identifies Vespasian as a patron and savior, and Pliny dedicated his Natural Histories to Vespasian’s son, Titus.

Those who spoke against Vespasian were punished. A number of stoic philosophers were accused of corrupting students with inappropriate teachings and were expelled from Rome. Helvidius Priscus, a pro-republic philosopher, was executed for his teachings.

Vespasian died of natural causes on June 23, 79, and was immediately succeeded by his eldest son, Titus.

Bust of Vespasian

Vespasian founded the Flavian Dynasty, which ruled the Empire for twenty-seven years.

A statue bust of Vespasian.

8.5.2: Military Achievements of the Flavians

The Flavian Dynasty’s military witnessed the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, and substantial conquests in Great Britain under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola between 77 and 83 CE.

Learning Objective

Describe some of the military achievements and challenges of the Flavian emperors

Key Points

• The most significant military campaign undertaken during the Flavian period was the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE by Titus; it was a response to a failed Jewish rebellion in 66.
• Contemporary estimates claimed that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish.
• Substantial conquests were made in Great Britain under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, between 77 and 83.
• The military campaigns undertaken during Domitian’s reign were usually defensive in nature, as the Emperor rejected the idea of expansionist warfare, and the few battles were mainly fought with Germanic tribes, especially the Dacians. 

Key Terms

Limes Germanicus

A line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes, from the years 83 to about 260 CE.

Torah

The central text of the religious Judaic tradition, often referring specifically to the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh.

the Forum

A a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome, originally a large marketplace.

Overview

The Flavian Dynasty’s military witnessed the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, following the failed Jewish rebellion of 66. Substantial conquests were made in Great Britain under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola between 77 and 83, while Domitian was unable to procure a decisive victory against King Decebalus in the war against the Dacians. In addition, the Empire strengthened its border defenses by expanding the fortifications along the Limes Germanicus.

Siege of Jerusalem

The most significant military campaign undertaken during the Flavian period was the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 by Titus. The destruction of the city was the culmination of the Roman campaign in Judaea following the Jewish uprising of 66. The Second Temple was completely demolished, after which Titus’s soldiers proclaimed him imperator, an honorific meaning “commander,” in honor of the victory. Jerusalem was sacked and much of the population killed or dispersed. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish. 97,000 were captured and enslaved, including Simon Bar Giora and John of Gischala. Many fled to areas around the Mediterranean. 

Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, as there is “no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God.” Upon his return to Rome in 71, Titus was awarded a triumph. Accompanied by Vespasian and Domitian, he rode into the city, enthusiastically saluted by the Roman populace, and preceded by a lavish parade containing treasures and captives from the war. Josephus describes a procession with large amounts of gold and silver carried along the route, followed by elaborate re-enactments of the war, Jewish prisoners, and finally the treasures taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah and the Torah. Leaders of the resistance were executed in the Forum, after which the procession closed with religious sacrifices at the Temple of Jupiter. The triumphal Arch of Titus, which stands at one entrance to the Forum, memorializes the victory of Titus.

Siege of Jerusalem

This relief from the Arch of Titus depicts Roman soldiers carrying treasures from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah. The city was besieged and destroyed by Titus in 70 CE.

A stone relief showing Roman soldiers carrying treasure from the sack of Jerusalem, including a menorah.

Conquest of Britain

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia, or modern day Scotland, between 77 and 84 AD. In 82, Agricola crossed an unidentified body of water and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. He fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalled that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with a single legion and a few auxiliaries. He had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped he might use as the excuse for conquest. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe that the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory or punitive expedition to Ireland. The following year, Agricola raised a fleet and pushed beyond the Forth into Caledonia. To aid the advance, an expansive legionary fortress was constructed at Inchtuthil. In the summer of 84, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Although the Romans inflicted heavy losses on the Calidonians, two-thirds of their army managed to escape and hide in the Scottish marshes and Highlands, ultimately preventing Agricola from bringing the entire British island under his control.

Other Military Activity

The military campaigns undertaken during Domitian’s reign were usually defensive in nature, as the Emperor rejected the idea of expansionist warfare. His most significant military contribution was the development of the Limes Germanicus, which encompassed a vast network of roads, forts, and watchtowers constructed along the Rhine river to defend the Empire from the unsubdued Germanic tribes. Nevertheless, several important wars were fought in Gaul, against the Chatti, and across the Danube frontier against the Suebi, the Sarmatians, and the Dacians. Led by King Decebalus, the Dacians invaded the province of Moesia around 84 or 85, wreaking considerable havoc and killing the Moesian governor Oppius Sabinus. Domitian immediately launched a counteroffensive, which resulted in the destruction of a legion during an ill-fated expedition into Dacia. Their commander, Cornelius Fuscus, was killed, and the battle standard of the Praetorian Guard lost.

In 87, the Romans invaded Dacia once more, this time under command of Tettius Julianus, and finally managed to defeat Decebalus late in 88, at the same site where Fuscus had previously been killed. An attack on Dacia’s capital was cancelled, however, when a crisis arose on the German frontier. This forced Domitian to sign a peace treaty with Decebalus that was severely criticized by contemporary authors. For the remainder of Domitian’s reign, Dacia remained a relatively peaceful client kingdom, but Decebalus used the Roman money to fortify his defenses, and continued to defy Rome. It was not until the reign of Trajan, in 106, that a decisive victory against Decebalus was procured. Again, the Roman army sustained heavy losses, but Trajan succeeded in capturing Sarmizegetusa and, importantly, annexed the gold and silver mines of Dacia.

8.5.3: Eruptions of Vesuvius and Pompeii

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history, with several Roman settlements obliterated and buried, and thereby preserved, under ash.

Learning Objective

Describe the events surrounding the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Key Points

• The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, during the reign of Emperor Titus, was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. 
• Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.
• Mount Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of volcanic gas, stones, and ash to a height of 21 miles, ejecting molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima bombing.
• Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, the most well known of which are Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• The preserved remains of about 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the overall death toll is still unknown.

Key Terms

Pliny the Younger

A lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome who witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

pyroclastic surge

A fluidized mass of turbulent gas and rock fragments, ejected during some volcanic eruptions.

Pompeii

An ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Overview

Although his administration was marked by a relative absence of major military or political conflicts, Titus faced a number of major disasters during his brief reign. On August 24, 79 CE, barely two months after his accession, Mount Vesuvius erupted, resulting in the almost complete destruction of life and property in the cities and resort communities around the Bay of Naples. The cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried under meters of stone and lava, killing thousands of citizens. Titus appointed two ex-consuls to organize and coordinate the relief effort, while personally donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims of the volcano. Additionally, he visited Pompeii once after the eruption and again the following year. 

The city was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire, frozen at the moment it was buried on August 24, 79. The Forum, the baths, many houses, and some out-of-town villas, like the Villa of the Mysteries, remain surprisingly well preserved. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On-going excavations reveal new insights into the Roman history and culture.

The Eruption

Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days. The morning of the first day, August 24, was perceived as normal by the only eyewitness to leave a surviving document, Pliny the Younger, who at that point was staying at Misenum, on the other side of the Bay of Naples, about 19 miles from the volcano, which may have prevented him from noticing the early signs of the eruption. He was not to have any opportunity, during the next two days, to talk to people who had witnessed the eruption from Pompeii or Herculaneum (indeed he never mentions Pompeii in his letter), so he would not have noticed early, smaller fissures and releases of ash and smoke on the mountain, if such had occurred earlier in the morning. 

Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius violently exploded, throwing up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall, blanketing the area. Rescues and escapes occurred during this time. At some time in the night or early the next day, August 25, pyroclastic flows in the close vicinity of the volcano began. Lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires. People as far away as Misenum fled for their lives. The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating all population remaining there and altering the landscape, including the coastline. These were accompanied by additional light tremors and a mild tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere, through which the sun shone weakly.

Pliny the Younger wrote an account of the eruption:

Broad sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius; their light and brightness were the more vivid for the darkness of the night… it was daylight now elsewhere in the world, but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night.

Casualties

In Pompeii, the eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599, and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

Pompeii’s “Garden of the Fugitives”

Plaster casts of victims still in situ; many casts are in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Image of the preserved remains of people killed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, lying on the ground.

By 2003, around 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100. The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980). The percentage these numbers represent of the total dead, or the percentage of the dead to the total number at risk, remain completely unknown.

Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings. These are thought to have been killed mainly by roof collapses, with the smaller number of victims found outside buildings probably killed by falling roof slates, or by larger rocks thrown out by the volcano. This differs from modern experience, since over the last four hundred years only around 4% of victims have been killed by ash falls during explosive eruptions. The remaining 62% of remains found at Pompeii were in the pyroclastic surge deposits, and thus were probably killed by them. It was initially believed that due to the state of the bodies found at Pompeii, and the outline of clothes on the bodies, it was unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause. But in 2010, studies indicated that during the fourth pyroclastic surge–the first surge to reach Pompeii–temperatures reached 572 °F. Volcanologist Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo, who led the study, noted that “[The temperature was] enough to kill hundreds of people in a fraction of a second.” In reference as to why the bodies were frozen in suspended action, he said, “The contorted postures are not the effects of a long agony, but of the cadaveric spasm, a consequence of heat shock on corpses.”

Ring Lady

The skeletal remains of a young woman killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The skeleton, unearthed from the ruins of Herculaneum in 1982, was named the “Ring Lady” because of the emerald and ruby rings found on the woman’s left hand. Two gold bracelets and gold earrings were also found by the woman’s side.

An image of a skeleton in ash preserved after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

8.5.4: Flavian Architecture

Under the Flavian Dynasty, a massive building program was undertaken, leaving multiple enduring landmarks in the city of Rome, the most spectacular of which was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum.

Learning Objective

Identify some of the key structures erected by the Flavian emperors

Key Points

• Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Flavian Dynasty was their massive building program, which not only erected new buildings to celebrate their successes, but also renovated buildings, statues, and monuments throughout Rome.
• The most spectacular of these buildings was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum, built from the spoils of the Siege of Jerusalem.
• The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.
• The bulk of the Flavian construction projects was carried out during the reign of Domitian, who spent lavishly to restore and embellish the city of Rome.

Key Terms

Apollo

One of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities, variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more.

Flavian Amphitheatre

Better known as the Colosseum, an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy; used for gladiatorial games, among other activities.

Overview

The Flavian Dynasty is perhaps best known for its vast construction program on the city of Rome, intended to restore the capital from the damage it had suffered during the Great Fire of 64, and the civil war of 69. Vespasian added the temple of Peace and the temple to the deified Claudius. In 75, a colossal statue of Apollo, begun under Nero as a statue of himself, was finished on Vespasian’s orders, and he also dedicated a stage of the theater of Marcellus. Construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, presently better known as the Colosseum (probably after the nearby statue), was begun in 70 CE under Vespasian, and finally completed in 80 under Titus. In addition to providing spectacular entertainments to the Roman populace, the building was also conceived as a gigantic triumphal monument to commemorate the military achievements of the Flavians during the Jewish wars. Adjacent to the amphitheater, within the precinct of Nero’s Golden House, Titus also ordered the construction of a new public bath-house, which was to bear his name. Construction of this building was hastily finished to coincide with the completion of the Flavian Amphitheater.

The bulk of the Flavian construction projects was carried out during the reign of Domitian, who spent lavishly to restore and embellish the city of Rome. Much more than a renovation project however, Domitian’s building program was intended to be the crowning achievement of an Empire-wide cultural renaissance. Around 50 structures were erected, restored, or completed, a number second only to the amount erected under Augustus. Among the most important new structures were an odeum, a stadium, and an expansive palace on the Palatine Hill, known as the Flavian Palace, which was designed by Domitian’s master architect, Rabirius. The most important building Domitian restored was the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, which was said to have been covered with a gilded roof. Among those he completed were the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, the Arch of Titus, and the Colosseum, to which he added a fourth level and finished the interior seating area.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum is an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheater ever built. The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in 72 CE, and was completed in 80 CE under his successor and heir, Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (81-96).

The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, with an average audience of some 65,000; it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles (for only a short time, as the hypogeum was soon filled in with mechanisms to support the other activities), animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.

Construction was funded by the opulent spoils taken from the Jewish Temple after the Great Jewish Revolt in 70 CE led to the Siege of Jerusalem. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, “the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheater to be erected from his general’s share of the booty.” Along with the spoils, estimated 100,000 Jewish prisoners were brought back to Rome after the war, and many contributed to the massive workforce needed for construction. The slaves undertook manual labor, such as working in the quarries at Tivoli where the travertine was quarried, along with lifting and transporting the quarried stones 20 miles from Tivoli to Rome. Along with this free source of unskilled labor, teams of professional Roman builders, engineers, artists, painters and decorators undertook the more specialized tasks necessary for building the Colosseum.

The Flavian Amphitheater

The most enduring landmark of the Flavian Dynasty was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum. Its construction was begun by Vespasian, and ultimately finished by Titus and Domitian, financed from the spoils of the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple.

A photo of the Colosseum as it stands today, lit up at dusk.

8.5.5: Fall of the Flavian Emperors

Domitian, the last of the Flavian emperors, was a ruthless autocrat who had many enemies, some of whom eventually assassinated him, giving rise to the long-lived Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Learning Objective

Analyze the factors that led to the fall of the Flavian Dynasty

Key Points

• Flavian rule came to an end on September 18, 96, when Domitian was assassinated and was succeeded by the longtime Flavian supporter and advisor Marcus Cocceius Nerva, who founded the long-lived Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.
• Domitian’s government exhibited totalitarian characteristics, which caused disapproval of the Roman Senate, among others.
• He dealt with several revolts during his rule, the last one being a successful assassination.
• The Senate rejoiced at the death of Domitian, and immediately following Nerva’s accession as Emperor, passed damnatio memoriae on his memory: his coins and statues were melted, his arches were torn down, and his name was erased from all public records.

Key Terms

Marcus Cocceius Nerva

Succeeded Domitian as emperor the same day as his assassination. Founded the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Roman Senate

A political institution in ancient Rome, and one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, established in the first days of the city. By the time of the Roman Empire,it had lost much of its political power as well as its prestige.

damnatio memoriae

Latin for “condemnation of memory,” a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate on traitors or others who brought discredit to the Roman State; the intent was to erase the malefactor from history, a task somewhat easier in ancient times, when documentation was limited.

Flavian rule came to an end on September 18, 96, when Domitian was assassinated. He was succeeded by the longtime Flavian supporter and advisor, Marcus Cocceius Nerva, who founded the long-lived Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Opposition to Domitian

Domitian’s government exhibited totalitarian characteristics; he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals. As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate.

Since the fall of the Republic, the authority of the Roman Senate had largely eroded under the quasi-monarchical system of government established by Augustus, known as the Principate. The Principate allowed the existence of a de facto dictatorial regime, while maintaining the formal framework of the Roman Republic. Most Emperors upheld the public facade of democracy, and in return the Senate implicitly acknowledged the Emperor’s status as a de facto monarch.

Some rulers handled this arrangement with less subtlety than others. Domitian was not so subtle. From the outset of his reign, he stressed the reality of his autocracy. He disliked aristocrats and had no fear of showing it, withdrawing every decision-making power from the Senate, and instead relying on a small set of friends and equestrians to control the important offices of state.

The dislike was mutual. After Domitian’s assassination, the senators of Rome rushed to the Senate house, where they immediately passed a motion condemning his memory to oblivion. Under the rulers of the Nervan-Antonian Dynasty, senatorial authors published histories that elaborated on the view of Domitian as a tyrant. Modern revisionists have instead characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat, whose cultural, economic, and political program provided the foundation of the peaceful 2nd century.

Assassination

Domitian dealt with several revolts during his rule, the last of which was a successful plot to assassinate him. Domitian was assassinated on September 18, 96, in a palace conspiracy organized by court officials. A highly detailed account of the plot and the assassination is provided by Suetonius, who alleges that Domitian’s chamberlain, Parthenius, was the chief instigator behind the conspiracy, citing the recent execution of Domitian’s secretary, Epaphroditus, as the primary motive. The murder itself was carried out by a freedman of Parthenius, named Maximus, and a steward of Domitian’s niece Flavia Domitilla, named Stephanus.

The precise involvement of the Praetorian Guard is less clear. At the time, the Guard was commanded by Titus Flavius Norbanus and Titus Petronius Secundus, and the latter was almost certainly aware of the plot. Cassius Dio, writing nearly a hundred years after the assassination, includes Domitia Longina among the conspirators, but in light of her attested devotion to Domitian—even years after her husband had died—her involvement in the plot seems highly unlikely.

Dio further suggests that the assassination was improvised, while Suetonius implies a well-organized conspiracy. For some days before the attack took place, Stephanus feigned an injury so as to be able to conceal a dagger beneath his bandages. On the day of the assassination, the doors to the servants’ quarters were locked while Domitian’s personal weapon of last resort, a sword he concealed beneath his pillow, had been removed in advance.

Domitian and Stephanus wrestled on the ground for some time, until the Emperor was finally overpowered and fatally stabbed by the conspirators; Stephanus was stabbed by Domitian during the struggle and died shortly afterward. Around noon, Domitian, just one month short of his 45th birthday, was dead. His body was carried away on a common bier, and unceremoniously cremated by his nurse Phyllis, who later mingled the ashes with those of his niece Julia, at the Flavian temple.

The End of the Flavian Dynasty

The same day as Domitian’s death, the Senate proclaimed Marcus Cocceius Nerva to be emperor. Despite his political experience, this was a remarkable choice. Nerva was old and childless, and had spent much of his career out of the public light, prompting both ancient and modern authors to speculate on his involvement in Domitian’s assassination.

According to Cassius Dio, the conspirators approached Nerva as a potential successor prior to the assassination, suggesting that he was at least aware of the plot. He does not appear in Suetonius’ version of the events, but this may be understandable, since his works were published under Nerva’s direct descendants, Trajan and Hadrian. To suggest the dynasty owed its accession to murder would have been less than sensitive.

On the other hand, Nerva lacked widespread support in the Empire, and as a known Flavian loyalist, his track record would not have recommended him to the conspirators. The precise facts have been obscured by history, but modern historians believe Nerva was proclaimed emperor solely on the initiative of the Senate, within hours after the news of the assassination broke. The decision may have been hasty so as to avoid civil war, but neither appears to have been involved in the conspiracy.

The Senate nonetheless rejoiced at the death of Domitian, and immediately following Nerva’s accession as Emperor, passed damnatio memoriae on his memory: his coins and statues were melted, his arches were torn down, and his name was erased from all public records. Domitian and, over a century later, Publius Septimius Geta, were the only emperors known to have officially received a damnatio memoriae, though others may have received de facto ones. In many instances, existing portraits of Domitian, such as those found on the Cancelleria Reliefs, were simply recarved to fit the likeness of Nerva, which allowed quick production of new images and recycling of previous material. Yet the order of the Senate was only partially executed in Rome, and wholly disregarded in most of the provinces outside Italy.

Although Nerva’s brief reign was marred by financial difficulties and his inability to assert his authority over the Roman army (who were still loyal to Domitian), his greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Domitian

Domitian as Emperor (Vatican Museums), possibly recut from a statue of Nero.

An image of a full-body statue of Domitian holding up his right hand with a scroll.

8.6: Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

8.6.1: The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

The Golden Age of Rome was a period of prosperity that fell under the “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius.

Learning Objective

Describe the characteristics of the Golden Age and the achievements of the Five Good Emperors

Key Points

• The first five of the six successions within the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty were notable in that the reigning emperor adopted the candidate of his choice to be his successor, rather than choosing a biological heir.
• Although much of his life remains obscure, Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient historians. Nerva’s greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.
• Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, and led the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.
• Hadrian was known to be a humanist and a philhellene, renowned for his building projects and commitment to his military lifestyle.
• Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, enjoyed not only military successes during his reign, but also authored a defining Stoic tome on equanimity in the midst of conflict.

Key Terms

Marcus Aurelius

Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE, as well as a notable Stoic philosopher.

Hadrian

Roman Emperor from 117 to 138 CE. Known for his grand building projects and his philhellenism.

Trajan

Roman emperor from 98 CE until 117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate as optimus princeps, and known for his bold expansion of Roman borders.

Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty was a dynasty of seven Roman Emperors who ruled over the Roman Empire during a period of prosperity from 96 CE to 192 CE. These emperors are Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus.

The first five of the six successions within this dynasty were notable in that the reigning emperor adopted the candidate of his choice to be his successor. Under Roman law, an adoption established a bond legally as strong as that of kinship. As such, the second through sixth Nerva-Antonine emperors are also called Adoptive Emperors.

The importance of official adoption in Roman society has often been considered as a conscious repudiation of the principle of dynastic inheritance, and has been deemed as one of the factors of the period’s prosperity. However, this was not a new practice. It was common for patrician families to adopt, and Roman emperors had adopted heirs in the past; Emperor Augustus had adopted Tiberius, and Emperor Claudius had adopted Nero. Julius Caesar, dictator perpetuo and considered to be instrumental in the transition from Republic to Empire, adopted Gaius Octavius, who would become Augustus, Rome’s first emperor. Moreover, there was a family connection, as Trajan adopted his first cousin once removed and great-nephew by marriage, Hadrian. Hadrian made his half-nephew by marriage, and heir Antoninus Pius, adopt both Hadrian’s second cousin three times removed, and half-great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius, also Antoninus’ nephew by marriage, and the son of his original planned successor, Lucius Verus. The naming by Marcus Aurelius of his son, Commodus, was considered to be an unfortunate choice and the beginning of the Empire’s decline.

With Commodus’ murder in 192, the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty came to an end; it was followed by a period of turbulence, known as the Year of the Five Emperors.

The Five Good Emperors

The rulers commonly known as the “Five Good Emperors” were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. The term was coined by the political philosopher, Niccolò Machiavelli, in 1503:

From the study of this history we may also learn how a good government is to be established; for while all the emperors who succeeded to the throne by birth, except Titus, were bad, all were good who succeeded by adoption, as in the case of the five from Nerva to Marcus. But as soon as the empire fell once more to the heirs by birth, its ruin recommenced. Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, and Marcus had no need of praetorian cohorts, or of countless legions to guard them, but were defended by their own good lives, the good-will of their subjects, and the attachment of the Senate.

An alternative hypothesis posits that adoptive succession is thought to have arisen because of a lack of biological heirs. All but the last of the adoptive emperors had no legitimate biological sons to succeed them. They were thus obliged to pick a successor somewhere else; as soon as the Emperor could look towards a biological son to succeed him, adoptive succession was set aside. Nonetheless, this period was a time of peace and prosperity. 

Nerva

In 96 CE, Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy involving members of the Praetorian Guard and several of his freedmen. On the same day, Nerva was declared emperor by the Roman Senate. This occasion marked the first time the Senate elected a Roman Emperor.

Nerva’s brief reign was marred by financial difficulties and his inability to assert his authority over the Roman army. A revolt by the Praetorian Guard in October 97 essentially forced him to adopt an heir. After some deliberation, Nerva chose Trajan, a young and popular general, as his successor. After barely fifteen months in office, Nerva died of natural causes in 98, and upon his death, he was succeeded and deified by Trajan. Although much of his life remains obscure, Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient historians. Nerva’s greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Trajan

Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 CE until his death in 117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate as optimus princeps (“the best ruler”), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, and led the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, and oversaw extensive public building programs and implemented social welfare policies.

Bust of Trajan

Bust of the Emperor Trajan, who ruled from 98-117 CE.

Hadrian

Hadrian was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138 CE. Known for his grand building projects, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. He is also known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. During his reign, Hadrian traveled to nearly every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the empire, and created a popular cult in the name of his Greek lover, Antinous. He spent extensive amounts of his time with the military; he usually wore military attire and even dined and slept amongst the soldiers.

Bust of Hadrian

Bust of the Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117-138 CE.

Marcus Aurelius

Hadrian was succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who was subsequently succeeded by Marcus Aurelius, who was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus’ death in 169. He was the last of the Five Good Emperors and was a practitioner of Stoicism. His untitled writing, commonly known as the Meditations, is the most significant source of our modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy.

Marcus Aurelius was an effective military commander, and Rome enjoyed various military successes against outsiders who were beginning to threaten the Empire. During his reign, the Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East: Aurelius’ general, Avidius Cassius, sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. In central Europe, Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, although the threat of the Germanic tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the empire. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. 

His Meditations, written in Greek while he was on a campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, which describes how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.

Bust of Marcus Aurelius

Bust of Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from 161 to 180 CE.

8.6.2: Military Successes of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty saw the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent.

Learning Objective

Examine the military efforts of the Nerva-Antonine emperors

Key Points

• The second emperor in the dynasty, Trajan, is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, through the Dacian Wars.
• The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked the beginning of a period of sustained growth and relative peace in Rome.
• Despite his own great reputation as a military administrator, Hadrian’s reign was marked by a general lack of documented major military conflicts, apart from the Second Roman–Jewish War, and instead is marked by pacifist tendencies.
• The peace policy was strengthened by the erection of permanent fortifications along the empire’s borders, the most famous of these being the massive Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain.

Key Terms

Dacian Wars

Two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor Trajan’s rule.

Hadrian’s Wall

A defensive fortification in the Roman province of Britannia, begun in 122 CE during the reign of the emperor Hadrian.

Several of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty emperors were known for their notable military successes.

Trajan and the Dacian Wars

After Nerva’s short rule, his adoptive heir, Trajan, a popular military leader, ruled as emperor from 98-117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate as optimus princeps (“the best ruler”), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.

The Dacian Wars (101-102, 105-106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor Trajan’s rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian Roman Province of Moesia, and also by the increasing need for resources in the economy of the Roman Empire.

Dacia, an area north of Macedon and Greece, and east of the Danube, had been on the Roman agenda since before the days of Caesar, when they defeated a Roman army at the Battle of Histria. In 85 CE, the Dacians swarmed over the Danube and pillaged Moesia, and initially defeated the army that Emperor Domitian sent against them. The Romans were defeated in the Battle of Tapae in 88, and a truce was established.

Emperor Trajan recommenced hostilities against Dacia and, following an uncertain number of battles, defeated the Dacian King Decebalus in the Second Battle of Tapae in 101. With Trajan’s troops pressing towards the Dacian capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia, Decebalus once more sought truce terms. Decebalus rebuilt his power over the following years and attacked Roman garrisons again in 105. In response, Trajan again marched into Dacia, besieging the Dacian capital in the Siege of Sarmizegetusa, and razing it. With Dacia quelled, Trajan subsequently invaded the Parthian empire to the east, his conquests expanding the Roman Empire to its greatest extent. Rome’s borders in the east were indirectly governed through a system of client states for some time, leading to less direct campaigning than in the west in this period.

The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked a triumph for Rome and its armies. Trajan announced 123 days of celebrations throughout the Empire. Dacia’s rich gold mines were secured, and it is estimated that Dacia then contributed 700 million Denarii per annum to the Roman economy, providing finance for Rome’s future campaigns, and assisting with the rapid expansion of Roman towns throughout Europe.

The two wars were notable victories in Rome’s extensive expansionist campaigns, gaining Trajan the people’s admiration and support. The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked the beginning of a period of sustained growth and relative peace in Rome. Trajan began extensive building projects and became an honorable civil leader, improving Rome’s civic infrastructure, thereby paving the way for internal growth and reinforcement of the empire as a whole.

Dacian Wars

Fiery battle scene between the Roman and Dacian armies.

A stone relief of a battle scene between Romans and Dacians, depicting several men with shields battling and several men dead on the right hand side.

Hadrian and Hadrian’s Wall

Despite his own great reputation as a military administrator, Hadrian’s reign was marked by a general lack of documented major military conflicts, apart from the Second Roman-Jewish War. Hadrian had already surrendered Trajan’s conquests in Mesopotamia, considering them to be indefensible. In the East, Hadrian contented himself with retaining suzerainty over Osroene, which was ruled by the client king, Parthamaspates, once client king of Parthia under Trajan.

Hadrian’s abandonment of an aggressive policy was something the Senate and its historians never forgave: the fourth century historian, Aurelius Victor, charged him with being jealous of Trajan’s exploits and deliberately trying to downplay their worthiness. It is more probable that Hadrian simply considered that the financial strain to be incurred through keeping a policy of conquests was something the Roman Empire could not afford. Proof of this is the disappearance during his reigns of two entire legions. Also, the acknowledgement of the indefensible character of the Mesopotamian conquests had perhaps already been made by Trajan himself, who had disengaged from them at the time of his death.

The peace policy was strengthened by the erection of permanent fortifications along the empire’s borders. The most famous of these is the massive Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain, built on stone and doubled on its rear by a ditch (Vallum Hadriani), which marked the boundary between a strictly military zone and the province. The Danube and Rhine borders were strengthened with a series of mostly wooden fortifications, forts, outposts, and watchtowers, the latter specifically improving communications and local area security.

To maintain morale and prevent the troops from becoming restive, Hadrian established intensive drill routines, and personally inspected the armies. Although his coins showed military images almost as often as peaceful ones, Hadrian’s policy was peace through strength, even threat, with an emphasis on discipline, which was the subject of two monetary series.

Hadrian’s Wall

Sections of Hadrian’s Wall remain along the route, though much of it has been dismantled over the years, in order to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.

A photo of a remaining portion of Hadrian’s Wall, a stone wall about 5 feet high winding along pasturelands.

8.6.3: Art and Culture Under the Nerva-Antonines

Emperor Hadrian, among other Nerva-Antonine emperors, patronized the arts, held public festivals, and influenced the culture of Rome and beyond.

Learning Objective

Describe trends in art and culture under the Nerva-Antonines

Key Points

• Trajan was known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, as well as hosting major public festivals in the Colosseum.
• Emperor Hadrian had a major influence on Roman culture through his love of Greek culture.
• He patronized the arts, building and rebuilding important and influential structures, such as Hadrian’s Villa. He also introduced Greek styles into public use, such as wearing a beard instead of being clean-shaven.
• As a cultural Hellenophile, Hadrian was familiar with the work of the philosophers Epictetus, Heliodorus, and Favorinus, and used their ideas to improve social welfare in Rome.

Key Terms

philhellenism

Used to describe both non-Greeks, such as Romans, who were fond of Greek culture, and Greeks who patriotically upheld their culture.

Hadrian’s Villa

A large Roman archaeological complex at Tivoli, Italy, built by Emperor Hadrian and based on Greek architectural styles.

Several of the Nerva-Antonine emperors are known for their support of the arts and culture of Rome.

Trajan

Trajan was known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean world. During a period of peace after the Dacian wars, he initiated a three-month gladiatorial festival in the great Colosseum in Rome (the precise date is unknown). Combining chariot racing, beast fights, and close-quarters gladiatorial bloodshed, this gory spectacle reputedly left 11,000 dead (mostly slaves and criminals, not to mention the thousands of wild animals killed alongside them), and attracted a total of five million spectators over the course of the festival. The care bestowed by Trajan on the managing of such public spectacles led the orator Fronto to state approvingly that Trajan had paid equal attention to entertainments as well as to serious issues. Fronto concluded that “neglect of serious matters can cause greater damage, but neglect of amusements greater discontent.”

Hadrian

Hadrian has been described—

first in an ancient anonymous source and later echoed by Ronald Syme, among others—as the most versatile of all the Roman emperors. He also liked to demonstrate knowledge of all intellectual and artistic fields. Above all, Hadrian patronized the arts. Hadrian’s Villa at Tibur was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape, albeit lost in large part to the despoliation of the ruins by the Cardinal d’Este, who had much of the marble removed to build Villa d’Este. In Rome, the Pantheon, originally built by Agrippa but destroyed by fire in 80, was rebuilt under Hadrian in the domed form it retains to this day. It is among the best-preserved of Rome’s ancient buildings, and was highly influential to many of the great architects of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Hadrian’s Villa

The ruins of Hadrian’s Villa in their present state.

A photo of Hadrian’s Villa, which includes a half-dome amphitheater and pathways around a reflecting pool.

Another of Hadrian’s contributions to popular Roman culture was the beard, which symbolised his philhellenism; Dio of Prusa had equated the generalized using of the beard with Hellenic ethos. Since the time of Scipio Africanus, it had been fashionable among the Romans to be clean-shaven. Also, all Roman emperors before Hadrian, except for Nero (also a great admirer of Greek culture), were clean shaven. Most of the emperors after Hadrian would be portrayed with beards. Their beards, however, were not worn out of an appreciation for Greek culture, but because the beard had, thanks to Hadrian, become fashionable. This new fashion lasted until the reign of Constantine the Great and was revived again by Phocas at the start of the 7th century. Notwithstanding his philhellenism, however, in all other everyday life matters, Hadrian behaved as a Roman civic traditionalist, who demanded the use of the toga by senators and knights in public, and strict separation between the sexes in the public baths and theaters.

Hadrian wrote poetry in both Latin and Greek; one of the few surviving examples is a Latin poem he reportedly composed on his deathbed . Some of his Greek productions found their way into the Palatine Anthology.

As a cultural Hellenophile, Hadrian was familiar with the work of the philosophers Epictetus, Heliodorus, and Favorinus. At home he attended to social needs. Hadrian mitigated slavery; masters were forbidden from killing their slaves unless allowed by a court to punish them for a grave offense. Masters were forbidden to sell slaves to a gladiator trainer or to a procurer, except as justified punishment. Hadrian also had the legal code humanized and forbade torture of free defendants and witnesses, legislating against the common practice of condemning free persons in order to have them tortured as a means of gathering information on their supposed activities and accomplices. He also abolished ergastula—private prisons for slaves in which kidnapped free men could also be kept.

8.7: Christianity and the Late Roman Empire

8.7.1: Crises of the Roman Empire

The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.

Learning Objective

Describe the problems afflicting the Roman Empire during the third century

Key Points

• The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235 CE, when emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops after defeat by Germanic tribes.
• In the years following the emperor’s death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire, and neglected their duties of defending the empire from invasion. As a result, various provinces became victims of frequent raids.
• By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire, including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia, and Hispania; the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire proper.
• One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome’s extensive internal trade network under the Pax Romana.
• The continuing problems of the Empire would be radically addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century, and in the East for over a millennium.

Key Terms

Pax Romana

The long period of relative peacefulness and minimal expansion by the Roman military force that was experienced by the Roman Empire after the end of the Final War of the Roman Republic, and before the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century.

coloni

A tenant farmer from the late Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages; sharecroppers.

Crisis of the Third Century

A period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.

Overview

The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, (235-284 CE) was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. The Crisis began with the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander by his own troops in 235, initiating a 50-year period in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman army generals, who assumed imperial power over all or part of the Empire. Twenty-six men were officially accepted by the Roman Senate as emperor during this period, and thus became legitimate emperors.

By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire, including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia, and (briefly) Hispania; the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire proper, between them. Later, Aurelian (270-275) reunited the empire; the Crisis ended with the ascension and reforms of Diocletian in 284.

The Crisis resulted in such profound changes in the Empire’s institutions, society, economic life, and, eventually, religion, that it is increasingly seen by most historians as defining the transition between the historical periods of classical antiquity and late antiquity.

The Roman Empire in 271 CE

The divided Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century.

A map of the divided Roman Empire in 271 CE, showing the Gallic Empire in the North-Western Europe, Roman Empire in Italy, Middle East, and Iberia, and Palmyrine Empire in the far East.

History of the Crisis

The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235 CE, when Emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, while the emperor was focused primarily on the dangers from the Sassanid Persian Empire. Leading his troops personally, Alexander Severus resorted to diplomacy and paying tribute, in an attempt to pacify the Germanic chieftains quickly. According to Herodian, this cost him the respect of his troops, who may have felt they should be punishing the tribes who were intruding on Rome’s territory.

In the years following the emperor’s death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire and neglected their duties of defending the empire from invasion. Provincials became victims of frequent raids along the length of the Rhine and Danube rivers, by such foreign tribes as the Carpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni, and attacks from Sassanids in the east. Climate changes and a rise in sea levels ruined the agriculture of what is now the Low Countries, forcing tribes to migrate. Additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale death, and possibly weakened the ability of the Empire to defend itself.

After the loss of Valerian in 260, the Roman Empire was beset by usurpers, who broke it up into three competing states. The Roman provinces of Gaul, Britain, and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire. After the death of Odaenathus in 267, the eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine, and Aegyptus became independent as the Palmyrene Empire, leaving the remaining Italian-centered Roman Empire proper in the middle.

An invasion by a vast host of Goths was defeated at the Battle of Naissus in 268 or 269. This victory was significant as the turning point of the crisis, when a series of tough, energetic soldier-emperors took power. Victories by Emperor Claudius II Gothicus over the next two years drove back the Alamanni and recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire. When Claudius died in 270 of the plague, Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire.

Aurelian reigned (270-275) through the worst of the crisis, defeating the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Palmyrenes, the Persians, and then the remainder of the Gallic Empire. By late 274, the Roman Empire was reunited into a single entity, and the frontier troops were back in place. More than a century would pass before Rome again lost military ascendancy over its external enemies. However, dozens of formerly thriving cities, especially in the Western Empire, had been ruined, their populations dispersed and, with the breakdown of the economic system, could not be rebuilt. Major cities and towns, even Rome itself, had not needed fortifications for many centuries; many then surrounded themselves with thick walls.

Finally, although Aurelian had played a significant role in restoring the Empire’s borders from external threat, more fundamental problems remained. In particular, the right of succession had never been clearly defined in the Roman Empire, leading to continuous civil wars as competing factions in the military, Senate, and other parties put forward their favored candidate for emperor. Another issue was the sheer size of the Empire, which made it difficult for a single autocratic ruler to effectively manage multiple threats at the same time. These continuing problems would be radically addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century, and in the East for over a millennium.

Impact

One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome’s extensive internal trade network. Ever since the Pax Romana, starting with Augustus, the Empire’s economy had depended in large part on trade between Mediterranean ports and across the extensive road systems to the Empire’s interior. Merchants could travel from one end of the Empire to the other in relative safety within a few weeks, moving agricultural goods produced in the provinces to the cities, and manufactured goods produced by the great cities of the East to the more rural provinces.

With the onset of the Crisis of the Third Century, however, this vast internal trade network broke down. The widespread civil unrest made it no longer safe for merchants to travel as they once had, and the financial crisis that struck made exchange very difficult with the debased currency. This produced profound changes that, in many ways, foreshadowed the very decentralized economic character of the coming Middle Ages.

Large landowners, no longer able to successfully export their crops over long distances, began producing food for subsistence and local barter. Rather than import manufactured goods from the Empire’s great urban areas, they began to manufacture many goods locally, often on their own estates, thus beginning the self-sufficient “house economy” that would become commonplace in later centuries, reaching its final form in the Middle Ages’ manorialism. The common free people of the Roman cities, meanwhile, began to move out into the countryside in search of food and better protection.

Made desperate by economic necessity, many of these former city dwellers, as well as many small farmers, were forced to give up hard-earned, basic civil rights in order to receive protection from large land-holders. In doing so, they became a half-free class of Roman citizen known as coloni. They were tied to the land, and in later Imperial law their status was made hereditary. This provided an early model for serfdom, the origins of medieval feudal society and of the medieval peasantry.

8.7.2: Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

Facing the pressures of civil war, plague, invasion, and economic depression, Diocletian was able to stabilize the Roman Empire for another hundred years through economic reform and the establishment of the Tetrarchy.

Learning Objective

Describe the change in attitudes towards Christians and their statuses within the Roman Empire

Key Points

• Diocletian secured the empire’s borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He separated and enlarged the empire’s civil and military services, and reorganized the empire’s provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire.
• Diocletian also restructured the Roman government by establishing the Tetrarchy, a system of rule in which four men shared rule over the massive Roman Empire. The empire was effectively divided in two, with an Augustus and a subordinate Caesar in each half.
• Diocletian established administrative capitals for each of the Tetrarchs, which were located closer to the empire’s borders. Though Rome retained its unique Prefect of the City, it was no longer the administrative capital.
• By 313, therefore, there remained only two emperors: Constantine in the west and Licinius in the east. The tetrarchic system was at an end, although it took until 324 for Constantine to finally defeat Licinius, reunite the two halves of the Roman Empire, and declare himself sole Augustus.

Key Terms

tetrarchy

A form of government in which power is divided between four individuals. In ancient Rome, a system of government instituted by Diocletian that split power between two rulers in the east, and two rulers in the west.

Diocletian

Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE. Established the tetrarchy and instituted economic and tax reforms to stabilize the Roman Empire.

Diocletian and the Stabilization of the Roman Empire

Diocletian was Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. Diocletian’s reign stabilized the empire, and marked the end of the Crisis of the Third Century. He appointed fellow officer, Maximian, as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian delegated further in 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as caesars, junior co-emperors. Under this “tetrarchy,” or “rule of four,” each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian further secured the empire’s borders and purged it of all threats to his power. 

He separated and enlarged the empire’s civil and military services and reorganized the empire’s provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire. He established new administrative centers in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Antioch, and Trier, closer to the empire’s frontiers than the traditional capital at Rome had been. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the empire’s masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies and architecture. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction projects increased the state’s expenditures and necessitated a comprehensive tax reform. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, and levied at generally higher rates.

Illustration depicting Diocletian’s Palace (original appearance)

Reconstruction of Diocletian’s Palace in its original appearance, upon completion in 305 CE (viewed from the south-west).

While it is referred to as a “palace” because of its intended use as the retirement residence of Diocletian, the term can be misleading as the structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress: about half of it was for Diocletian’s personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison.

The Tetrarchy

The first phase of Diocletian’s government restructuring, sometimes referred to as the diarchy (“rule of two”), involved the designation of the general Maximian as co-emperor—first as Caesar (junior emperor) in 285, then Augustus in 286. This reorganization allowed Diocletian to take care of matters in the eastern regions of the empire, while Maximian similarly took charge of the western regions, thereby halving the administrative work required to oversee an empire as large as Rome’s. In 293, feeling more focus was needed on both civic and military problems, Diocletian, with Maximian’s consent, expanded the imperial college by appointing two Caesars (one responsible to each Augustus)—Galerius and Constantius Chlorus.

In 305, the senior emperors jointly abdicated and retired, allowing Constantius and Galerius to be elevated in rank to Augusti. They in turn appointed two new Caesars—Severus II in the west under Constantius, and Maximinus in the east under Galerius—thereby creating the second tetrarchy.

The four tetrarchs based themselves not at Rome but in other cities closer to the frontiers, mainly intended as headquarters for the defense of the empire against bordering rivals. Although Rome ceased to be an operational capital, it continued to be the nominal capital of the entire Roman Empire, not reduced to the status of a province, but under its own, unique Prefect of the City (praefectus urbis).

Zones of Influence in the Roman Tetrarchy

This map shows the four zones of influence under Diocletian’s tetrarchy.

The first zone is the District of Constantius as Caesar, which included Britanniae, Viennensis, and Galliae. Its capital was Trier. The second zone is the District of Maximian as Augustus, which included Hispania, Africa, and Italia. Its capital was Milan. The third zone is the District of Galerius as Caesar, which included Pannoniae, Moesiae, and Thracia. Its capital was Sirmium. The fourth zone is the District of Diocletian as Augustus, which included Asiana, Pontica, and Oriens. Its capital was Nicomedia.

In terms of regional jurisdiction, there was no precise division between the four tetrarchs, and this period did not see the Roman state actually split up into four distinct sub-empires. Each emperor had his zone of influence within the Roman Empire, but this influence mainly applied to the theater of war. The tetrarch was himself often in the field, while delegating most of the administration to the hierarchic bureaucracy headed by his respective Praetorian Prefect. The Praetorian Prefect was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire, originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the emperor’s chief aides.

Demise of the Tetrarchy

When, in 305, the 20-year term of Diocletian and Maximian ended, both abdicated. Their Caesares, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, were both raised to the rank of Augustus, and two new Caesares were appointed: Maximinus (Caesar to Galerius) and Flavius Valerius Severus (Caesar to Constantius). These four formed the second tetrarchy.

However, the system broke down very quickly thereafter. When Constantius died in 306, Galerius promoted Severus to Augustus while Constantine, Constantius’ son, was proclaimed Augustus by his father’s troops. At the same time, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, who also resented being left out of the new arrangements, defeated Severus before forcing him to abdicate and then arranging his murder in 307. Maxentius and Maximian both then declared themselves Augusti. By 308, there were therefore no fewer than four claimants to the rank of Augustus (Galerius, Constantine, Maximian and Maxentius), and only one to that of Caesar (Maximinus).

In 308, Galerius, together with the retired emperor Diocletian and the supposedly retired Maximian, called an imperial “conference” at Carnuntum on the River Danube. The council agreed that Licinius would become Augustus in the West, with Constantine as his Caesar. In the East, Galerius remained Augustus, and Maximinus remained his Caesar. Maximian was to retire, and Maxentius was declared an usurper. This agreement proved disastrous: by 308 Maxentius had become de facto ruler of Italy and Africa even without any imperial rank, and neither Constantine nor Maximinus—who had both been Caesares since 306 and 305, respectively—were prepared to tolerate the promotion of the Augustus Licinius as their superior.

After an abortive attempt to placate both Constantine and Maximinus with the meaningless title filius Augusti (“son of the Augustus,” essentially an alternative title for Caesar), they both had to be recognized as Augusti in 309. However, four full Augusti all at odds with each other did not bode well for the tetrarchic system.

Between 309 and 313, most of the claimants to the imperial office died or were killed in various civil wars. Constantine forced Maximian’s suicide in 310. Galerius died naturally in 311. Maxentius was defeated by Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, and subsequently killed. Maximinus committed suicide at Tarsus in 313, after being defeated in battle by Licinius.

By 313, therefore, there remained only two emperors: Constantine in the west and Licinius in the east. The tetrarchic system was at an end, although it took until 324 for Constantine to finally defeat Licinius, reunite the two halves of the Roman Empire, and declare himself sole Augustus.

8.7.3: The Rise of Christianity

Though the early Christians were persecuted under some emperors, such as Nero and Diocletian, the religion continued to thrive and grow, eventually becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine.

Learning Objective

Describe the challenges Christians faced in the Roman Empire

Key Points

• Christians suffered from sporadic and localized persecutions over a period of two and a half centuries, as their refusal to participate in Imperial Cult of Rome was considered an act of treason, and was thus punishable by execution.
• The Diocletianic, or Great Persecution, was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, which lasted from 302-311 CE. Galerius issued an edict of toleration in 311, which granted Christians the right to practice their religion, but did not restore any taken property back to them.
• The Edict of Milan in 313 made the empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship; it neither made the traditional religions illegal nor made Christianity the state religion.

Key Terms

the Great Persecution

The last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Edict of Milan

An agreement in 313 CE by Constantine and Licinius to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire.

Persecution of Early Christians

Christianity posed a serious threat to the traditional Romans. The idea of monotheism was considered offensive against the polytheistic Roman pantheon, and came into further conflict with the Imperial Cult, in which emperors and some members of their families were worshipped as divine. As such, Christianity was considered criminal and was punished harshly.

The first recorded official persecution of Christians on behalf of the Roman Empire was in 64 CE, when, as reported by the Roman historian Tacitus, Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome. According to Church tradition, it was during the reign of Nero that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. However, modern historians debate whether the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva’s modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in 96, from which point practicing Jews paid the tax and Christians did not.

The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, which lasted from 302-311 CE. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and ordered all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (a policy known as universal sacrifice). The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—it was weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and Licinius’s Edict of Milan (313) has traditionally marked the end of the persecution.

During the Great Persecution, Diocletian ordered Christian buildings and the homes of Christians torn down, and their sacred books collected and burned during the Great Persecution. Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned, starved, and condemned to gladiatorial contests to amuse spectators. The Great Persecution officially ended in April of 311, when Galerius, senior emperor of the Tetrarchy, issued an edict of toleration which granted Christians the right to practice their religion, though it did not restore any property to them. Constantine, Caesar in the western empire, and Licinius, Caesar in the east, also were signatories to the edict of toleration. It has been speculated that Galerius’ reversal of his long-standing policy of Christian persecution has been attributable to one or both of these co-Caesars.

The Rise of Christianity

The Diocletianic persecution was ultimately unsuccessful. As one modern historian has put it, it was simply “too little and too late.” Christians were never purged systematically in any part of the empire, and Christian evasion continually undermined the edicts’ enforcement. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, the majority of the empire’s Christians avoided punishment. Some bribed their way to freedom or fled. In the end, the persecution failed to check the rise of the church. By 324, Constantine was sole ruler of the empire, and Christianity had become his favored religion.

By 324, Constantine, the Christian convert, ruled the entire empire alone. Christianity became the greatest beneficiary of imperial largesse. The persecutors had been routed. As the historian J. Liebeschuetz has written: “The final result of the Great Persecution provided a testimonial to the truth of Christianity, which it could have won in no other way.” After Constantine, the Christianization of the Roman empire would continue apace. Under Theodosius I (r. 378-395), Christianity became the state religion. By the 5th century, Christianity was the empire’s predominant faith, and filled the same role paganism had at the end of the 3rd century. Because of the persecution, however, a number of Christian communities were riven between those who had complied with imperial authorities (traditores) and those who had refused. In Africa, the Donatists, who protested the election of the alleged traditor, Caecilian, to the bishopric of Carthage, continued to resist the authority of the central church until after 411. The Melitians in Egypt left the Egyptian Church similarly divided.

The Edict of Milan

In 313, Constantine and Licinius announced in the Edict of Milan “that it was proper that the Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of religion which to each of them appeared best,” thereby granting tolerance to all religions, including Christianity. The Edict of Milan went a step further than the earlier Edict of Toleration by Galerius in 311, and returned confiscated Church property. This edict made the empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship; it neither made the traditional religions illegal, nor made Christianity the state religion (as did the later Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE). The Edict of Milan did, however, raise the stock of Christianity within the empire, and it reaffirmed the importance of religious worship to the welfare of the state.

8.7.4: Constantine

Constantine the Great was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 CE; he adopted Christianity and declared it the religion of the Roman Empire.

Learning Objective

Evaluate Constantine’s rise to power and relationship with Christianity

Key Points

• The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire, both for founding Byzantium in the east, as well as his adoption of Christianity as a state religion.
• As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the empire.
• Constantine experienced a dramatic event in 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which Constantine claimed the emperorship in the west and converted to Christianity. 
• According to some sources, on the evening of October 27, with the armies preparing for battle, Constantine had a vision of a cross, which led him to fight under the protection of the Christian god.
• The accession of Constantine was a turning point for early Christianity; after his victory, Constantine took over the role of patron of the Christian faith.

Key Terms

Battle of the Milvian Bridge

A battle that took place between the Roman Emperors, Constantine I and Maxentius, on October 28, 312, and is often seen as the beginning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.

Edict of Milan

The February 313 CE agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire, thereby ending years of persecution.

Chi-Rho

One of the earliest forms of christogram, which is used by some Christians, and was used by the Roman emperor, Constantine I (r. 306-337), as part of a military standard.

Constantine the Great was a Roman Emperor from 306-337 CE. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman army officer, and his consort, Helena. His father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 CE. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian and Galerius. In 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia (modern Great Britain). Acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum (modern-day York) after his father’s death in 306 CE, Constantine emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against the emperors Maxentius and Licinius, to become sole ruler of both west and east by 324 CE.

As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the empire. The government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation. It would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. As the first Roman emperor to claim conversion to Christianity, Constantine played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which decreed tolerance for Christianity in the empire. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was professed by Christians. In military matters, the Roman army was reorganized to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths, and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century.

Constantine’s reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. One of his major political legacies, aside from moving the capital of the empire to Constantinople, was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletian’s tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession.

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge

Eusebius of Caesarea, and other Christian sources, record that Constantine experienced a dramatic event in 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which Constantine claimed the emperorship in the west, and converted to Christianity. The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors, Constantine I and Maxentius, on October 28, 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle, and his body was later taken from the river and decapitated.

According to chroniclers, such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine looked up to the sun before the battle and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα (“in this sign, conquer!”), often rendered in a Latin version, “in hoc signo vinces.” Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with a Christian symbol (the Chi-Rho), and thereafter they were victorious. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine’s success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism, so there is no scholarly consensus on the events’ relation to Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.

Constantine

Missorium depicting Constantine’s son Constantius II, accompanied by a guardsman with the Chi Rho monogram depicted on his shield.

An image of Constantine atop a horse in battle gear with his son and an attendant beside him, one holding his shield with Chi-Rho symbol on it.

Following the battle, Constantine ignored the altars to the gods prepared on the Capitoline, and did not carry out the customary sacrifices to celebrate a general’s victorious entry into Rome, instead heading directly to the imperial palace. Most influential people in the empire, however, especially high military officials, had not been converted to Christianity, and still participated in the traditional religions of Rome; Constantine’s rule exhibited at least a willingness to appease these factions. The Roman coins minted up to eight years after the battle still bore the images of Roman gods. The monuments he first commissioned, such as the Arch of Constantine, contained no reference to Christianity.

Constantine and Christianity

While the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great reigned (306-337 CE), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantine’s reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have argued about which form of Early Christianity he subscribed to. There is no consensus among scholars as to whether he adopted his mother Helena’s Christianity in his youth, or (as claimed by Eusebius of Caesarea) encouraged her to convert to the faith himself. Some scholars question the extent to which he should be considered a Christian emperor: “Constantine saw himself as an ’emperor of the Christian people.’ If this made him a Christian is the subject of debate,” although he allegedly received a baptism shortly before his death.

Constantine’s decision to cease the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was a turning point for early Christianity, sometimes referred to as the Triumph of the Church, the Peace of the Church, or the Constantinian Shift. In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, decriminalizing Christian worship. The emperor became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church, and the notion of orthodoxy, Christendom, ecumenical councils, and the state church of the Roman Empire, declared by edict in 380. He is revered as a saint and isapostolos in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church for his example as a “Christian monarch.”

8.7.5: The Shift East

Constantine built a new imperial residence in Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself; the city eventually became the capital of the empire for over one thousand years.

Learning Objective

Explain why Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople, and the consequences that had for the empire as a whole

Key Points

• After defeating Maxentius and his rebellion, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy, in particular Licinius.
• Eventually, Constantine defeated Licinius, making him the sole emperor of the empire, thereby ending the tetrarchy.
• Licinius’ defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the east, and it was proposed that a new eastern capital should represent the integration of the east into the Roman Empire as a whole; Constantine chose Byzantium.
• The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on May 11, 330, and renamed Constantinople.
• The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder, and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition.

Key Terms

Byzantium

An ancient Greek colony on the site that later became Constantinople, and eventually Istanbul.

Byzantine Empire

Also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when the empire’s capital city was Constantinople.

The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new imperial residence at Byzantium, and renamed the city Constantinople after himself (the laudatory epithet of “New Rome” came later, and was never an official title). It would later become the capital of the empire for over one thousand years; for this reason the later Eastern Empire would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire.

Background: War With Licinius

After defeating Maxentius, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine’s half-sister, Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan, officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the Empire. In the year 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313, and began to oppress Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian office-holders. 

This dubious arrangement eventually became a challenge to Constantine in the west, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Goth mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the labarum Chi-Rho, and both sides saw the battle in religious terms. Outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine’s army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Bosphorus and appointed Martius Martinianus, the commander of his bodyguard, as Caesar, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont, and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on September 18, 324. Licinius and Martinianus surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia, respectively, but in 325, Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged. Licinius’s son (the son of Constantine’s half-sister) was also killed. Thus, Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

Foundation of Constantinople

Licinius’ defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the east, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new eastern capital should represent the integration of the east into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the eastern Roman Empire. Among the various locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have toyed earlier with Serdica (present-day Sofia), as he was reported saying that “Serdica is my Rome.” Sirmium and Thessalonica were also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium, which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism, during the preceding century, by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. 

The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on May 11, 330, and renamed Constantinopolis (“Constantine’s City” or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross, the Rod of Moses, and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city. The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism. Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of a temple to Aphrodite. Generations later there was the story that a divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the ‘old’ Rome as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana, the “New Rome of Constantinople.” Constantinople was a superb base from which to guard the Danube River, and it was reasonably close to the eastern frontiers. Constantine also began the building of the great fortified walls, which were expanded and rebuilt in subsequent ages.

Constantinopolis Coin

Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople.

Image of coins from the founding of Constantinople. On the front is a soldier’s head with a helmet. On the back is an angel in battle gear.

Legacy

Historian J.B. Bury asserts that “the foundation of Constantinople […] inaugurated a permanent division between the Eastern and Western, the Greek and the Latin, halves of the empire—a division to which events had already pointed—and affected decisively the whole subsequent history of Europe.”

The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder, and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it had become a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a “new Constantine.” Ten emperors, including the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, carried the name. Monumental Constantinian forms were used at the court of Charlemagne to suggest that he was Constantine’s successor and equal. Constantine acquired a mythic role as a warrior against “heathens.”

8.7.6: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the period of decline during which the empire disintegrated and split into numerous successor states.

Learning Objective

Analyze, broadly, the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire

Key Points

• Throughout the 5th century, the empire’s territories in western Europe and northwestern Africa, including Italy, fell to various invading or indigenous peoples, in what is sometimes called the Migration Period.
• By the late 3rd century, the city of Rome no longer served as an effective capital for the emperor, and various cities were used as new administrative capitals. Successive emperors, starting with Constantine, privileged the eastern city of Byzantium, which he had entirely rebuilt after a siege.
• In 476, after being refused lands in Italy, Odacer and his Germanic mercenaries took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, and deposed Western Emperor Romulus Augustus. The whole of Italy was quickly conquered, and Odoacer’s rule became recognized in the Eastern Empire.
• Four broad schools of thought exist on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: decay owing to general malaise, monocausal decay, catastrophic collapse, and transformation.

Key Terms

Migration Period

Also known as the period of the Barbarian Invasions, it was a period of intensified human migration in Europe from about 400 to 800 CE, during the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages.

Odoacer

A soldier, who came to power in the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline during which the empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control; modern historians mention factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the emperor, the religious changes of the period, and the efficiency of the civil administration. Increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse. The reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the historiography of the ancient world, and they inform much modern discourse on state failure.

By 476 CE, when Odoacer deposed Emperor Romulus, the Western Roman Empire wielded negligible military, political, or financial power and had no effective control over the scattered western domains that could still be described as Roman. Invading “barbarians” had established their own polities on most of the area of the Western Empire. While its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again.

It is important to note, however, that the so-called fall of the Roman Empire specifically refers to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, since the Eastern Roman Empire, or what became known as the Byzantine Empire, whose capital was founded by Constantine, remained for another 1,000 years. Theodosius was the last emperor who ruled over the whole empire. After his death in 395, he gave the two halves of the empire to his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the east, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the west, with his capital in Milan, and later Ravenna.

Rome in the 5th Century CE

Throughout the 5th century, the empire’s territories in western Europe and northwestern Africa, including Italy, fell to various invading or indigenous peoples in what is sometimes called the Migration Period, also known as the Barbarian Invasions, from the Roman and South European perspective. The first migrations of peoples were made by Germanic tribes, such as the Goths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Lombards, Suebi, Frisii, Jutes and Franks; they were later pushed westwards by the Huns, Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars.

Although the eastern half still survived with borders essentially intact for several centuries (until the Muslim conquests), the Empire as a whole had initiated major cultural and political transformations since the Crisis of the Third Century, with the shift towards a more openly autocratic and ritualized form of government, the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and a general rejection of the traditions and values of Classical Antiquity.

The reasons for the decline of the Empire are still debated today, and are likely multiple. Historians infer that the population appears to have diminished in many provinces (especially western Europe), judging from the diminishing size of fortifications built to protect the cities from barbarian incursions from the 3rd century on. Some historians even have suggested that parts of the periphery were no longer inhabited, because these fortifications were restricted to the center of the city only. By the late 3rd century, the city of Rome no longer served as an effective capital for the emperor, and various cities were used as new administrative capitals. Successive emperors, starting with Constantine, privileged the eastern city of Byzantium, which he had entirely rebuilt after a siege. Later renamed Constantinople, and protected by formidable walls in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, it was to become the largest and most powerful city of Christian Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Since the Crisis of the Third Century, the empire was intermittently ruled by more than one emperor at once (usually two), presiding over different regions.

The Latin-speaking west, under dreadful demographic crisis, and the wealthier Greek-speaking east, also began to diverge politically and culturally. Although this was a gradual process, still incomplete when Italy came under the rule of barbarian chieftains in the last quarter of the 5th century, it deepened further afterward, and had lasting consequences for the medieval history of Europe.

In 476, after being refused lands in Italy, Orestes’ Germanic mercenaries, under the leadership of the chieftain Odoacer, captured and executed Orestes and took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, deposing Western Emperor Romulus Augustus. The whole of Italy was quickly conquered, and Odoacer’s rule became recognized in the Eastern Empire. Meanwhile, much of the rest of the Western provinces were conquered by waves of Germanic invasions, most of them being disconnected politically from the east altogether, and continuing a slow decline. Although Roman political authority in the west was lost, Roman culture would last in most parts of the former western provinces into the 6th century and beyond.

Romulus Augustus Resigns the Crown

Charlotte Mary Yonge’s 1880 artist rendition of Romulus Augustus resigning the crown to Odoacer.

Theories on the Decline and Fall

The various theories and explanations for the fall of the Roman Empire in the west may be very broadly classified into four schools of thought (although the classification is not without overlap):

• Decay owing to general malaise
• Monocausal decay
• Catastrophic collapse
• Transformation

The tradition positing general malaise goes back to the historian, Edward Gibbon, who argued that the edifice of the Roman Empire had been built on unsound foundations from the beginning. According to Gibbon, the fall was—in the final analysis—inevitable. On the other hand, Gibbon had assigned a major portion of the responsibility for the decay to the influence of Christianity, and is often, though perhaps unjustly, seen as the founding father of the school of monocausal explanation. On the other hand, the school of catastrophic collapse holds that the fall of the empire had not been a pre-determined event and need not be taken for granted. Rather, it was due to the combined effect of a number of adverse processes, many of them set in motion by the Migration Period, that together applied too much stress to the empire’s basically sound structure. Finally, the transformation school challenges the whole notion of the ‘fall’ of the empire, asking instead to distinguish between the fall into disuse of a particular political dispensation, anyway unworkable towards its end; and the fate of the Roman civilization that under-girded the empire. According to this school, drawing its basic premise from the Pirenne thesis, the Roman world underwent a gradual (though often violent) series of transformations, morphing into the medieval world. The historians belonging to this school often prefer to speak of Late Antiquity, instead of the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Ostrogothic Kingdom

The Ostrogothic Kingdom, which rose from the ruins of the Western Roman Empire.

The map shows that, at its zenith, the Ostrogothic kingdom stretched from modern France in the west to modern Serbia in the southeast.

7.3: The Persian Wars

7.3.1: The Persian Wars

Learning Objective

Explain the consequences of the Persian Wars.

Key Points

• The Persian Wars began in 499 BCE, when Greeks in the Persian-controlled territory rose in the Ionian Revolt. 
• Athens, and other Greek cities, sent aid, but were quickly forced to back down after defeat in 494 BCE.
• Subsequently, the Persians suffered many defeats at the hands of the Greeks, led by the Athenians. 
• Silver mining contributed to the funding of a massive Greek army that was able to rebuke Persian assaults and eventually defeat the Persians entirely.
• The end of the Persian Wars led to the rise of Athens as the leader of the Delian League.

Key Terms

Persian Wars

A series of conflicts, from 499-449 BCE, between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world.

hoplites

A citizen-soldier of one of the ancient Greek city-states, armed primarily with spears and a shield.

The Persian Wars (499-449 BCE) were fought between the Achaemenid Empire and the Hellenic world during the Greek classical period. The conflict saw the rise of Athens, and led to its Golden Age.

Origins of the Conflict

Greeks
of the classical period believed, and historians generally agree, that in the
aftermath of the fall of Mycenaean civilization, many Greek tribes emigrated
and settled in Asia Minor. These settlers were from three tribal groups: the
Aeolians, Dorians, and Ionians. The Ionians settled along the coasts of Lydia
and Caria, and founded 12 towns that remained politically separate from one
another, although they did recognize a shared cultural heritage. This formed
the basis for an exclusive Ionian “cultural league.” The Lydians of western
Asia Minor conquered the cities of Ionia, which put the region at conflict with
the Median Empire, the precursor to the Achaemenid Empire of the Persian Wars, and a power that the Lydians opposed.

In
553 through 550 BCE, the Persian prince Cyrus led a successful revolt against
the last Median king Astyages, and founded the Achaemenid Empire. Seeing an
opportunity in the upheaval, the famous Lydian king Croesus asked the oracle at
Delphi whether he should attack the Persians in order to extend his realm.
According to Herodotus, he received the ambiguous answer that “if Croesus was
to cross the Halys [River] he would destroy a great empire.” Croesus chose to
attack, and in the process he destroyed his own empire, with Lydia falling to
Prince Cyrus. The Ionians sought to maintain autonomy under the Persians as
they had under the Lydians, and resisted the Persians militarily for some time. However, due to their unwillingness to rise against the Lydians during previous
conflicts, they were not granted special terms. Finding the Ionians difficult
to rule, the Persians installed tyrants in every city, as a means of control.

Achaemenid Empire Map

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent.

At its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire included all of the territory of modern-day Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, all significant population centers of Ancient Egypt as far west as eastern Libya, Thrace-Macedonia and Paeonia, the Black Sea coastal regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, all of Armenia, Georgia (incl. Abkhazia), Azerbaijan, parts of the North Caucasus, and much of Central Asia; encompassing around 5.5 million square kilometers, making it one of the largest empires in history. With some population estimates of 50 million in 480 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire at its peak was one of the empires with the highest share of the global population.

The Ionian Revolt

In 499 BCE, Greeks in the region rose up against Persian rule in the Ionian Revolt.
At the heart of the rebellion lay a deep dissatisfaction
with the tyrants who were appointed by the Persians to rule the local Greek
communities. Specifically, the riot was incited by the Milesian tyrant
Aristagoras, who in the wake of a failed expedition to conquer Naxos, utilized
Greek unrest against Persian king Darius the Great to his own political
purposes.

Athens and other Greek cities sent aid, but were quickly forced to back down after defeat in 494 BCE, at the Battle of Lade. As a result, Asia Minor returned to Persian control.
Nonetheless, the Ionian Revolt remains
significant as the first major conflict between Greece and the Persian Empire, as well as the first phase of the Persian Wars. Darius vowed to exact revenge
against Athens, and developed a plan to conquer all Greeks in an attempt to
secure the stability of his empire.

First Persian Invasion of Greece

In 492 BCE, the Persian general, Mardonius, led a campaign through Thrace and Macedonia.
During this campaign, Mardonius re-subjugated Thrace and forced Macedonia
to become a fully submissive client of the Persian Empire, whereas before they
had maintained a broad degree of autonomy.

While victorious, he was wounded and forced to retreat back into Asia Minor. Additionally, he lost his 1200-ship naval fleet to a storm off the coast of Mount Athos.
Darius sent ambassadors to all Greek cities to demand full submission in
light of the recent Persian victory, and all cities submitted, with the
exceptions of Athens and Sparta, both of which executed their respective
ambassadors. These actions signaled Athens’ continued defiance and brought
Sparta into the conflict. 

In 490 BCE, approximately 100,000 Persians landed in Attica intending to conquer Athens, but were defeated at the Battle of Marathon by a Greek army of 9,000 Athenian hoplites and 1,000 Plateans, led by the Athenian general, Miltiades. The Persian fleet continued to sail to Athens but, seeing it garrisoned, decided not to attempt an assault.
The Battle of Marathon was a watershed moment in the Persian Wars, in
that it demonstrated to the Greeks that the Persians could be defeated. It also
demonstrated the superiority of the more heavily armed Greek hoplites.

Greek-Persian duel

Depiction of a Greek hoplite and a Persian warrior fighting each other on an ancient kylix.

Interbellum (490-480 BCE)

After the failure of the first Persian invasion, Darius
raised a large army with the intent of invading Greece again. However, in 486
BCE, Darius’s Egyptian subjects revolted, postponing any advancement against
Greece. During preparations to march on Egypt, Darius died and his son, Xerxes
I, inherited the throne. Xerxes quickly crushed the Egyptians and resumed
preparations to invade Greece. 

Second Invasion of
Greece

In 480 BCE, Xerxes sent a much more powerful force of 300,000 soldiers by land, with 1,207 ships in support, across a double pontoon bridge over the Hellespont. This army took Thrace before descending on Thessaly and Boetia, whilst the Persian navy skirted the coast and resupplied the ground troops. The Greek fleet, meanwhile, dashed to block Cape Artemision. After being delayed by Leonidas I, the Spartan king of the Agiad Dynasty, at the Battle of Thermopylae (a battle made famous due to the sheer imbalance of forces, with 300 Spartans facing the entire Persian Army), Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under the command of Themistocles, defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis.

In 483 BCE, during the period of peace between the two Persian invasions, a vein of silver ore had been discovered in the Laurion (a small mountain range near Athens), and the ore that was mined there paid for the construction of 200 warships to combat Aeginetan piracy. A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanias, defeated the Persian army at Plataea. Meanwhile, the allied Greek navy won a decisive victory at the Battle of
Mycale, destroying the Persian fleet, crippling Xerxe’s sea power, and marking
the ascendency of the Greek fleet. Following the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale, the Persians began withdrawing from Greece and never attempted an invasion again.

Greek Counterattack

The
Battle
of Mycale was in many ways a turning point, after which the Greeks went on the
offensive against the Persian fleet. The Athenian fleet turned to chasing the Persians from the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BCE, the fleet then proceeded to capture Byzantium. In the course of doing so, Athens enrolled all the island states, and some mainland states, into an alliance called the Delian League—

so named because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos,
whose
purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire, prepare for future
invasions, and organize a means of dividing the spoils of war. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation afterwards.
The
Spartans believed that the war’s purpose had already been reached through the
liberation of mainland Greece and the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Historians
also speculate that Sparta was unconvinced of the ability of the Delian League
to secure long-term security for Asian Greeks. The Spartan withdrawal from the
League allowed Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power within the Hellenic world.

7.3.2: Effects of the Persian Wars

Learning Objective

Understand the effect the Persian Wars had on the balance of power throughout the classical world

Key Points

• After the second Persian invasion of Greece was
  halted, Sparta withdrew from the Delian League and reformed the Peloponnesian
  League with its original allies.
• Many Greek city-states had been alienated from
  Sparta following the violent actions of Spartan leader Pausanias during the
  siege of Byzantium. 
• Following Sparta’s departure from the Delian
  League, Athens was able to use the resources of the League to its own ends,
  which led it into conflict with less powerful members of the League.
• The Persian Empire adopted a divide-and-rule
  strategy in relation to the Greek city-states in the wake of the Persian Wars,
  stoking already simmering conflicts, including the rivalry between Athens and
  Sparta, to protect the Persian Empire against further Greek attacks.

Key Terms

Peloponnesian League

An alliance formed around Sparta in the Peloponnesus, from the 6^th to 4t^h centuries BCE.

Delian League

An association
of Greek city-states under the leadership of Athens, the purpose of which was to continue
fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victories at the end of the Second
Persian invasion of Greece.

hegemony

The
political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over
others.

Aftermath of the Persian Wars

As a result of the allied Greek success, a large contingent
of the Persian fleet was destroyed and all Persian garrisons were expelled from
Europe, marking an end of Persia’s advance westward into the continent. The
cities of Ionia were also liberated from Persian control. Despite their
successes, however, the spoils of war caused greater inner conflict within the
Hellenic world. The violent actions of Spartan leader Pausanias at the siege of
Byzantium, for instance, alienated many of the Greek states from Sparta, and led
to a shift in the military command of the Delian League from Sparta to Athens. This set the stage for Sparta’s eventual withdrawal from the Delian League.

Two Leagues

Following the two Persian invasions of Greece, and during
the Greek counterattacks that commenced after the Battles of Plataea and
Mycale, Athens enrolled all island and some mainland city-states into an
alliance, called the Delian League, the purpose of which was to pursue conflict
with the Persian Empire, prepare for future invasions, and organize a means of
dividing the spoils of war. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the
war, withdrew from the Delian League early on, believing that the war’s initial
purpose had been met with the liberation of mainland Greece and the Greek
cities of Asia Minor. Historians also speculate that Sparta decided to leave the
League for pragmatic reasons, remaining unconvinced that it was possible to
secure long-term security for Greeks residing in Asia Minor, and as a result of
their unease with Athenian efforts to increase their power. Once Sparta
withdrew from the Delian League after the Persian Wars, it reformed the
Peloponnesian League, which had originally been formed in the 6^th
century and provided the blueprint for what was now the Delian League. The
Spartan withdrawal from the League had the effect, however, of allowing Athens
to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power, unrivaled throughout the
Hellenic world. In fact, shortly after the League’s inception, Athens began to
use the League’s navy for its own purposes, which frequently led it into
conflict with other, less powerful League members.

Map of the Athenian Empire c. 431 BCE

The Delian League was the basis for the Athenian Empire, shown here on the brink of the Peloponnesian War (c. 431 BCE).

Delian League Rebellions

A series of rebellions occurred between Athens and the
smaller city-states that were members of the League. For example, Naxos was the
first member of the League to attempt to secede, in approximately 471 BCE. It
was later defeated and forced to tear down its defensive city walls, surrender
its fleet, and lost voting privileges in the League. Thasos, another League
member, also defected when, in 465 BCE, Athens founded the colony of Amphipolis
on the Strymon River, which threatened Thasos’ interests in the mines of Mt
Pangaion. Thasos allied with Persia and petitioned Sparta for assistance, but
Sparta was unable to help because it was facing the largest helot revolution in
its history. Nonetheless, relations between Athens and Sparta were soured by
the situation. After a three-year long siege, Thasos was recaptured and forced
back into the Delian League, though it also lost its defensive walls and fleet,
its mines were turned over to Athens, and the city-state was forced to pay
yearly tribute and fines. According to Thucydides, the siege of Thasos marked
the transformation of the League from an alliance into a hegemony.

Persia

Following their defeats at the hands of the
Greeks, and plagued by internal rebellions that hindered their ability to fight
foreign enemies, the Persians adopted a policy of divide-and-rule. Beginning in
449 BCE, the Persians attempted to aggravate the growing tensions between Athens
and Sparta, and would even bribe politicians to achieve these aims. Their
strategy was to keep the Greeks distracted with in-fighting, so as to stop the
tide of counterattacks reaching the Persian Empire. Their strategy was largely
successful, and there was no open conflict between the Greeks and Persia until
396 BCE, when the Spartan king Agesilaus briefly invaded Asia Minor.

7.4: Athens

7.4.1: Athens

Athens attained its Golden Age under Pericles in the 5^th century BCE, and flourished culturally as the hegemonic power of the Hellenic world.

Learning Objective

Understand the factors contributing to the rise and fall of Athens

Key Points

• Cleisthenes overthrew the dictator Hippias in 511/510 BCE in order to establish democracy at Athens.
• Athens entered its Golden Age in the 5^th century BCE, when it abandoned the pretense of parity and relocated the treasury of the Delian League from Delos to Athens. This money funded the building of the Athenian Acropolis, put half the Athenian population on the public payroll, and allowed Athens to build and maintain the dominant naval power in the Greek world.
• With the empire’s funds, military dominance, and its political fortunes as guided by statesman and orator Pericles, Athens produced some of the most influential and enduring cultural artifacts of the Western tradition.
• Tensions within the Delian League brought about the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), during which Athens was defeated by its rival, Sparta. Athens lost further power when the armies of Philip II defeated an alliance of Greek city-states.

Key Terms

Acropolis

A settlement, especially a citadel, built upon an area of elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides, chosen for purposes of defense. Often the nuclei of large cities of classical antiquity.

Pericles

A prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator, and general of Athens during its Golden Age, in the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.

Delian League

Founded in 478 BCE, an association of Greek city-states under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to fight the Persian Empire during the Greco-Persian Wars.

The Rise of Athens (508-448 BCE)

In 514 BCE, the dictator Hippias established stability and prosperity with his rule of Athens, but remained very unpopular as a ruler. With the help of an army from Sparta in 511/510 BCE, he was overthrown by Cleisthenes, a radical politician of aristocratic background who established democracy in Athens.

Prior to the rise of Athens, Sparta, a city-state with a militaristic culture, considered itself the leader of the Greeks, and enforced an hegemony. In 499 BCE, Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who were rebelling against the Persian Empire during the Ionian Revolt. This provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which were repelled under the leadership of the soldier-statesmen Miltiades and Themistocles, during the Persian Wars. In the decades that followed, the Athenians, with the help of the Spartans and other allied Greek city-states, managed to rout the Persians. These victories enabled Athens to bring most of the Aegean, and many other parts of Greece, together in the Delian League, creating an Athenian-dominated alliance from which Sparta and its allies withdrew.

Greek-Persian Duel

The artwork shows a Greek hoplite and Persian warrior fighting each other.

Athenian Hegemony and the Age of Pericles

The 5^th century BCE was a period of Athenian political hegemony, economic growth, and cultural flourishing that is sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of Athens. The latter part of this time period is often called The Age of Pericles. After peace was made with Persia in the 5^th century BCE, what started as an alliance of independent city-states became an Athenian empire. Athens moved to abandon the pretense of parity among its allies, and relocated the Delian League treasury from Delos to Athens, where it funded the building of the Athenian Acropolis, put half its population on the public payroll, and maintained the dominant naval power in the Greek world. With the empire’s funds, military dominance, and its political fortunes as guided by statesman and orator Pericles, Athens produced some of the most influential and enduring cultural artifacts of Western tradition, during what became known as the Golden Age of Athenian democracy, or the Age of Pericles. The playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides all lived and worked in Athens during this time, as did historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the physician Hippocrates, and the philosopher Socrates. 

Caryatid Statues

The caryatid statues of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis.

This image shows six caryatids. A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head.

Pericles was
arguably the most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator, and
general of Athens during its Golden Age.

One of his most popular reforms while in power was to allow thetes (Athenians without wealth) to occupy public office. Another success of his administration was the creation of the misthophoria, a special salary for the citizens that attended the courts as jurors. As Athens’ ruler, he helped the city to prosper with a resplendent culture and democratic institutions.

5^th century Athenian
Political Institutions

The administration of
the Athenian state was managed by a group of people referred to as magistrates, who were submitted to rigorous public control and chosen by lot. Only two
magistrates were directly elected by the Popular Assembly: strategos (or generals), and magistrates of finance. All magistrates
served for a year or less, with the exception of Pericles, who was elected year
after year to public office. At the end of their service, magistrates were required
to give an account of their administration and use of public finances.

The most elite posts in
the Athenian political system belonged to archons. In ages past, they served as
heads of the Athenian state, but in the Age of Pericles they lost much of their
influence and power, though they still presided over tribunals. The Assembly of
the People was the first organ of democracy in Athens. In theory, it was
composed of all the citizens of Athens. However, it is estimated that the
maximum number of participants it witnessed was 6,000. The Assembly met in
front of the Acropolis and decided on laws and decrees. Once the Assembly gave
its decision in a certain matter, the issue was raised to the Council, or Boule, to provide definitive approval.

The Council consisted of
500 members, 50 from each tribe, and functioned as an extension of the
Assembly. Council members were chosen by lot in a similar manner to magistrates
and supervised the work of the magistrates in addition to other legal projects
and administrative details. They also oversaw the city-state’s external
affairs.

Athenian Defeat and Conquest By Macedon

Originally intended as an association of Greek city-states to continue the fight against the Persians, the Delian League soon turned into a vehicle for Athens’s own imperial ambitions and empire-building. The resulting tensions brought about the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), in which Athens was defeated by its rival, Sparta. By the mid-4^th century BCE, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In 338 BCE, the armies of Philip II of Macedon defeated an alliance of some of the Greek city-states, including Athens and Thebes, at the Battle of Chaeronea, effectively ending Athenian independence.

7.4.2: Athenian Society

Classical Athenian society was structured as a democratic
patriarchy that strived towards egalitarian ideals.

Learning Objective

Understand the structures of Athenian society in the classical period

Key Points

• The citizens of Athens decided matters of state
  in the Assembly of the People, the principle organ of Athen’s democracy.
• The Athenian democracy provided a number of
  governmental resources to its population in order to encourage participation in the
  democratic process.
• Many governmental posts in classical Athens were
  chosen by lot, in an attempt to discourage corruption and patronage.
• The Athenian elite lived relatively modestly, and
  wealth and land were not concentrated in the hands of the few, but rather
  distributed fairly evenly across the upper classes.
• Thetes occupied the lowest rung of Athenian
  society, but were granted the right to hold public office during the reforms of
  Ephialtes and Pericles.
• Athenian society was a patriarchy; men held
  all rights and advantages, such as access to education and power.
• Athenian women were dedicated to the care and
  upkeep of the family home.

Key Terms

thetes

The
lowest social class of citizens in ancient Athens.

Assembly of the People

The
democratic congregation of classical Athens, which, in theory, brought together
all citizens to decide upon proposed laws and decrees.

Structure of the Athenian Government

In the Assembly of the People, Athenian citizens decided
matters of state. In theory, it was composed of all the citizens of Athens; however, it is estimated that the maximum number of participants it included
was 6,000. Since many citizens were incapable of exercising political rights, due to their poverty or ignorance, a number of governmental resources existed
to encourage inclusivity. For example, the Athenian democracy provided the
following to its population:

• Concession of salaries to public functionaries

• Help finding work for the poor

• Land grants for dispossessed villagers

• Public assistance for war widows, invalids,
  orphans, and indigents

In order to discourage corruption and patronage, most public
offices that did not require specialized expertise were appointed by lot rather
than by election. Offices were also rotated so that members could serve in all
capacities in turn, in order to ensure that political functions were instituted
as smoothly as possible regardless of each individual official’s capacity.

When the Assembly of the People reached decisions on laws and
decrees, the issue was raised to a body called the Council, or Boule, to provide definitive approval.
The Council consisted of 500 members, 50 from each tribe, and functioned as an
extension of the Assembly. Council members, who were chosen by lot, supervised
the work of other government officials, legal projects, and other
administrative details. They also oversaw the city-state’s external affairs.

The Acropolis

View of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

Athenians in the Age of Pericles

The Athenian elite lived modestly and without great luxuries
compared to the elites of other ancient societies. Wealth and land ownership
was not typically concentrated in the hands of a few people. In fact, 71-73% of
the citizen population owned 60-65% of the land. By contrast, thetes occupied the lowest social class
of citizens in Athens. Thetes worked
for wages or had less than 200 medimnoi
as yearly income. Many held crucial roles in the Athenian navy as rowers, due to
the preference of many ancient navies to rely on free men to row their galleys.
During the reforms of Ephialtes and Pericles around 460-450 BCE, thetes were granted the right to hold
public office.

Boys were educated at home until the age of seven, at which
time they began formal schooling. Subjects included reading, writing,
mathematics, and music, as well as physical education classes that were intended
to prepare students for future military service. At the age of 18, service in
the army was compulsory.

Athenian women were dedicated to the care and
upkeep of the family home. Athenian society was a patriarchy; men held all
rights and advantages, such as access to education and power. Nonetheless, some
women, known as hetaeras, did receive
an education with the specific purpose of entertaining men, similar to the
Japanese geisha tradition. Hetaeras were considered higher in status than other women, but lower in status than
men. One famous example of a hetaera is Pericles’ mistress, Aspasia of Miletus,
who is said to have debated with prominent writers and thinkers, including
Socrates.

7.5: Culture in Classical Greece

7.5.1: Classical Greek Philosophy

The three most famous Classical Greek philosophers are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Learning Objective

Understand the main philosophical beliefs of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

Key Points

• Socrates is best known for having pursued a probing question-and-answer style of examination on a number of topics, usually attempting to arrive at a defensible and attractive definition of a virtue.
• In 399 BCE, Socrates was charged for his philosophical inquiries, convicted, and sentenced to death.
• Plato was a student of Socrates, and is the author of numerous dialogues and letters, as well as one of the primary sources available to modern scholars on Socrates’ life.
• In his defining work, The Republic, Plato reaches the conclusion that a utopian city is likely impossible because philosophers would refuse to rule and the people would refuse to compel them to do so.
• Aristotle was a student of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great, and founder of the Lyceum and Peripatetic School of philosophy in Athens. He wrote on a number of subjects, including logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, rhetoric, politics, and botany.

Key Terms

allegory of the cave

A paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible, and the visible world is the least knowable and obscure. Plato has Socrates describe a gathering of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall upon which shadows are projected. The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality.

Aristotle

The student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great, and founder of the Lyceum. A Greek philosopher who wrote on a number of topics, including logic, ethics, and metaphysics.

aporia

In philosophy, a paradox or state of puzzlement; in rhetoric, a useful expression of doubt.

Socrates

A classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. Known for a question-answer style of examination.

Plato

The student of Socrates and author of The Republic. A philosopher and mathematician in classical Greece.

Classical Greece saw a flourishing of philosophers, especially in Athens during its Golden Age. Of these philosophers, the most famous are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Socrates

Socrates

Bust of Socrates, currently in the Louvre.

Socrates, born in Athens in the 5th century BCE, marks a watershed in ancient Greek philosophy. Athens was a center of learning, with sophists and philosophers traveling from across Greece to teach rhetoric, astronomy, cosmology, geometry, and the like. The great statesman Pericles was closely associated with these new teachings, however, and his political opponents struck at him by taking advantage of a conservative reaction against the philosophers. It became a crime to investigate issues above the heavens or below the earth because they were considered impious. While other philosophers, such as Anaxagoras, were forced to flee Athens, Socrates was the only documented individual charged under this law, convicted, and sentenced to death in 399 BCE. In the version of his defense speech presented by Plato, he claims that the envy others experience on account of his being a philosopher is what will lead to his conviction.

Many conversations involving Socrates (as recounted by Plato and Xenophon) end without having reached a firm conclusion, a style known as aporia. Socrates is said to have pursued this probing question-and-answer style of examination on a number of topics, usually attempting to arrive at a defensible and attractive definition of a virtue. While Socrates’ recorded conversations rarely provide a definitive answer to the question under examination, several maxims or paradoxes for which he has become known recur. Socrates taught that no one desires what is bad, and so if anyone does something that truly is bad, it must be unwillingly or out of ignorance; consequently, all virtue is knowledge. He frequently remarks on his own ignorance (claiming that he does not know what courage is, for example). Plato presents Socrates as distinguishing himself from the common run of mankind by the fact that, while they know nothing noble and good, they do not know that they do not know, whereas Socrates knows and acknowledges that he knows nothing noble and good.

Socrates was morally, intellectually, and politically at odds with many of his fellow Athenians. When he was on trial, he used his method of elenchos, a dialectic method of inquiry that resembles
the scientific method, to demonstrate to the jurors that their moral values are wrong-headed. He tells them they are concerned with their families, careers, and political responsibilities when they ought to be worried about the “welfare of their souls.” Socrates’ assertion that the gods had singled him out as a divine emissary seemed to provoke irritation, if not outright ridicule. Socrates also questioned the Sophistic doctrine that arete (virtue) can be taught. He liked to observe that successful fathers (such as the prominent military general Pericles) did not produce sons of their own quality. Socrates argued that moral excellence was more a matter of divine bequest than parental nurture.

Plato

Plato

A copy of Plato’s portrait bust by Silanion.

Plato was an Athenian of the generation after Socrates. Ancient tradition ascribes 36 dialogues and 13 letters to him, although of these only 24 of the dialogues are now universally recognized as authentic. Most modern scholars believe that at least 28 dialogues, and two of the letters, were in fact written by Plato, although all of the 36 dialogues have some defenders. Plato’s dialogues feature Socrates, although not always as the leader of the conversation. Along with Xenophon, Plato is the primary source of information about Socrates’ life and beliefs, and it is not always easy to distinguish between the two. 

Much of what is known about Plato’s doctrines is derived from what Aristotle reports about them, and many of Plato’s political doctrines are derived from Aristotle’s works, The Republic, the Laws, and the Statesman. The Republic contains the suggestion that there will not be justice in cities unless they are ruled by philosopher kings; those responsible for enforcing the laws are compelled to hold their women, children, and property in common; and the individual is taught to pursue the common good through noble lies. The Republic determines that such a city is likely impossible, however, and generally assumes that philosophers would refuse to rule if the citizenry asked them to, and moreover, the citizenry would refuse to compel philosophers to rule in the first place.

“Platonism” is a term coined by scholars to refer to the intellectual consequences of denying, as Plato’s Socrates often does, the reality of the material world. In several dialogues, most notably The Republic, Socrates inverts the common man’s intuition about what is knowable and what is real. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. Socrates’s idea that reality is unavailable to those who use their senses is what puts him at odds with the common man and with common sense. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is blind, and this idea is most famously captured in his allegory of the cave, a paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible and that the visible world is the least knowable and most obscure.
In the allegory,
Socrates describes a gathering of people who have lived chained to the wall of
a cave facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from
the fire burning behind them, and the people begin to name and describe the
shadows, which are the closest images they have to reality. Socrates then
explains that a philosopher is like a prisoner released from that cave who
comes to understand the shadows on the wall are not reality.

Aristotle

Aristotle

Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippus, c. 330 BCE. The alabaster mantle is modern.

Aristotle moved to Athens from his native Stageira in 367 BCE, and began to study philosophy, and perhaps even rhetoric, under Isocrates. He eventually enrolled at Plato’s Academy. He left Athens approximately twenty years later to study botany and zoology, became a tutor of Alexander the Great, and ultimately returned to Athens a decade later to establish his own school, the Lyceum.
He is the founder of the Peripatetic School of philosophy, which aims to
glean facts from experiences and explore the “why” in all things. In other
words, he advocates learning by induction.

At least 29 of Aristotle’s treatises have survived, known as the corpus Aristotelicum, and address a variety of subjects including logic, physics, optics, metaphysics, ethics, rhetoric, politics, poetry, botany, and zoology. Aristotle is often portrayed as disagreeing with his teacher, Plato. He criticizes the regimes described in Plato’s Republic and Laws, and refers to the theory of forms as “empty words and poetic metaphors.”  He preferred utilizing empirical observation and practical concerns in his works.
Aristotle did not consider virtue to be simple knowledge as Plato did,
but founded in one’s nature, habit, and reason. Virtue was gained by acting in
accordance with nature and moderation.

7.5.2: Classical Greek Poetry and History

Homer, one of the greatest Greek poets, significantly influenced
classical Greek historians as their field turned increasingly towards scientific
evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect.

Learning Objective

Explain how epic poetry influenced the development of classical Greek historical texts

Key Points

• The formative influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece.
• The Iliad, sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium, is set during the Trojan War and recounts the battles and events surrounding a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.
• Herodotus is referred to as “The Father of History,” and is
  the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition in order to
  treat historical subjects as a method of investigation arranged into a
  historiographic narrative.
• Thucydides, who had been trained in rhetoric, provided a
  model of historical prose-writing based more firmly in factual progression of a
  narrative, whereas Herodotus, due to frequent digressions and asides, appeared
  to minimize his authorial control.
• Thucydides is sometimes known as the father of “scientific
  history,” or an early precursor to 20^th century scientific
  positivism, because of his strict adherence to evidence-gathering and analysis
  of historical cause and effect without reference to divine intervention.
• Despite its heavy
  political slant, scholars cite strong literary and philosophical influences in
  Thucydides’ work.

Key Terms

Homer

A Greek poet of the 7^th or 8^th century BCE; author of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

dactylic hexameter

A form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. Traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek and Latin, and consequently considered to be the grand style of classical poetry.

Homer

In the Western classical tradition, Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.
Whether and when Homer lived is unknown. The ancient Greek author Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BCE, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12^th century BCE. Most modern researchers place Homer in the 7^th or 8^th centuries BCE.

Homer

Idealized portrayal of Homer dating to the Hellenistic period; located at the British Museum.

The formative influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the “Teacher of Greece.”  Homer’s works, some 50% of which are speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds.

The Iliad

The Iliad (sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium) is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter. Set during the Trojan War (the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states), it tells of the battles and events surrounding a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege. The epic narrative describes events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles’ looming death and the sack of Troy. The events are prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly, so that when the story reaches an end, the poem has told a more or less complete tale of the Trojan War.

Nineteenth
century excavations at Hisarlik provided scholars with historical evidence for
the events of the Trojan War, as told by Homer in the Iliad. Additionally, linguistic studies into oral epic traditions
in nearby civilizations, and the deciphering of Linear B in the 1950s, provided
further evidence that the Homeric poems could have been derived from oral
transmissions of long-form tales about a war that actually took place. The
likely historicity of the Iliad as a
piece of literature, however, must be balanced against the creative license
that would have been taken over years of transmission, as well as the alteration of historical fact to conform with tribal preferences and provide entertainment
value to its intended audiences.

Herodotus

Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in
Halicarnassus (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the 5^th century BCE. He
was a contemporary of Socrates. He is referred to as “The Father of History” and is the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition in order
to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation arranged into a
historiographic narrative. His only known work is a history on the origins of
the Greco-Persian Wars, entitled, The
Histories. Herodotus states that he only reports that which was told to
him, and some of his stories are fanciful and/or inaccurate; however, the
majority of his information appears to be accurate.

Athenian tragic poets and storytellers appear to
have provided heavy inspiration for Herodotus, as did Homer. Herodotus appears
to have drawn on an Ionian tradition of storytelling, collecting and
interpreting oral histories he happened upon during his travels in much the
same way that oral poetry formed the basis for much of Homer’s works. While
these oral histories often contained folk-tale motifs and fed into a central
moral, they also related verifiable facts relating to geography, anthropology,
and history. For this reason, Herodotus drew criticism from his contemporaries,
being touted as a mere storyteller and even a falsifier of information. In
contrast to this type of approach, Thucydides, who had been trained in
rhetoric, provided a model of historical prose-writing based more firmly in
factual progression of a narrative, whereas Herodotus, due to frequent
digressions and asides, appeared to minimize his authorial control.

Thucydides

Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general.
His History of the Peloponnesian War
recounts the 5^th century BCE war between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides
is sometimes known as the father of “scientific history,” or an early precursor
to 20^th century scientific positivism, because of his strict
adherence to evidence-gathering and analysis of historical cause and effect
without reference to divine intervention. He is also considered the father of
political realism, which is a school of thought within the realm of political
science that views the political behavior of individuals and the relations
between states to be governed by self-interest and fear. More generally,
Thucydides’ texts show concern with understanding why individuals react the way
they do during such crises as plague, massacres, and civil war.

Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides did not view his
historical accounts as a source of moral lessons, but rather as a factual
reporting of contemporary political and military events. Thucydides viewed life
in political terms rather than moral terms, and viewed history in political terms. Thucydides also tended to omit, or at least downplay, geographic and
ethnographic aspects of events from his work, whereas Herodotus recorded all
information as part of the narrative. Thucydides’ accounts are
generally held to be more unambiguous and reliable than those of Herodotus. However, unlike his predecessor, Thucydides does not reveal his sources. Curiously,
although subsequent Greek historians, such as Plutarch, held up Thucydides’
writings as a model for scholars of their field, many of them continued to view
history as a source of moral lessons, as did Herodotus.

Despite its heavy
political slant, scholars cite strong literary and philosophical influences in
Thucydides’ work. In particular, the History
of the Peloponnesian War echoes the narrative tradition of Homer, and draws
heavily from epic poetry and tragedy to construct what is essentially a
positivistic account of world events. Additionally, it brings to the forefront themes
of justice and suffering in a similar manner to the philosophical texts of
Aristotle and Plato.

7.5.3: Classical Greek Theater

Classical Greek theater, whether tragic or comic, has
had great influence on modern literature and drama.

Learning Objective

Describe the common themes found in classical Greek plays 

Key Points

• The city-state of Athens was the center of
  cultural power during this period, and held a drama festival in honor of the god
  Dionysus, called the Dionysia.
• Two dramatic genres to emerge from this era of
  Greek theater were tragedy and comedy, both of which rose to prominence around
  500-490 BCE.
• Greek tragedy is an extension of the ancient
  rites carried out in honor of Dionysus; it heavily influenced the theater of ancient
  Rome and the Renaissance.
• Tragic plots were often based upon myths from
  the oral traditions of archaic epics, and took the form of narratives presented
  by actors.
• Aeschylus was the first tragedian to codify the
  basic rules of tragic drama, and is considered by many to be the “father of
  tragedy.”
• Athenian comedy is divided into three periods:
  Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy.

Key Terms

chorus

In
the context of Greek theatre, a homogeneous, non-individualized group of
performers who comment, with a collective voice, on dramatic action.

deus ex machina

A plot
device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved
by the unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or
object.

monody

In
the context of ancient Greek theater and literature, lyric poetry sung by a
single performer rather than by a chorus.

The theatrical culture of ancient Greece flourished from
approximately 700 BCE onward. The city-state of Athens was the center of
cultural power during this period and held a drama festival in honor of the god
Dionysus, called the Dionysia. This festival was exported to many of Athen’s
numerous colonies to promote a common cultural identity across the empire. Two dramatic
genres to emerge from this era of Greek theater were tragedy and comedy, both
of which rose to prominence around 500-490 BCE.

Greek Tragedy

Sometimes referred to as Attic tragedy, Greek tragedy is an
extension of the ancient rites carried out in honor of Dionysus, and it heavily
influenced the theater of ancient Rome and the Renaissance. Tragic plots were
often based upon myths from the oral traditions of archaic epics, and took the
form of narratives presented by actors. Tragedies typically began with a
prologue, in which one or more characters introduce the plot and explain the
background to the ensuing story. The prologue is then followed by paraodos, after which the story unfolds
through three or more episodes. The episodes are interspersed by stasima, or choral interludes that
explain or comment on the situation that is developing. The tragedy then ends
with an exodus, which concludes the
story.

Aeschylus and the Codification of Tragic Drama

Aeschylus was the first tragedian to codify the basic rules
of tragic drama. He is often described as the father of tragedy. He is credited
with inventing the trilogy, a series of three tragedies that tell one long
story. Trilogies were often performed in sequence over the course of a day,
from sunrise to sunset. At the end of the last play, a satyr play was staged to
revive the spirits of the public after they had witnessed the heavy events of
the tragedy that had preceded it. 

Marble bust of Aeschylus

Marble bust of Aeschylus

According to Aristotle, Aeschylus also expanded the number
of actors in theater to allow for the dramatization of conflict on stage.
Previously, it was standard for only one character to be present and interact
with the homogeneous chorus, which commented in unison on the dramatic action
unfolding on stage. Aeschylus’s works show an evolution and enrichment in
dialogue, contrasts, and theatrical effects over time, due to the rich
competition that existed among playwrights of this era. Unfortunately, his
plays, and those of Sophocles and Euripides, are the only works of classical
Greek literature to have survived mostly intact, so there are not many rival
texts to examine his works against.

The Reforms of Sophocles

Cast of Sophocles’ bust in the Pushkin Museum

Sophocles

Sophocles was one such rival who triumphed against the
famous and previously unchallenged Aeschylus. Sophocles introduced a third
actor to staged tragedies, increased the chorus to 15 members, broke the cycle
of trilogies (making possible the production of independent dramas), and introduced
the concept of scenery to theater. Compared to the works of Aeschylus, choruses
in Sophocles’ plays did less explanatory work, shifting the focus to deeper
character development and staged conflict. The events that took place were often left unexplained or unjustified, forcing the audience to reflect upon the
human condition.

The Realism of Euripides

Euripides differs from Aeschylus and Sophocles in his search
for technical experimentation and increased focus on feelings as a mechanism to
elaborate the unfolding of tragic events. In Euripides’ tragedies, there are
three experimental aspects that reoccur. The first is the transition of the
prologue to a monologue performed by an actor informing spectators of a story’s
background. The second is the introduction of deus ex machina, or a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable
problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the unexpected intervention of
some new event, character, ability, or object. Finally, the use of a chorus was
minimized in favor of a monody sung by the characters.

Statue of Euripides

Statue of Euripides

Another novelty introduced by Euripidean drama is the
realism with which characters’ psychological dynamics are portrayed. Unlike in
Aeschylus or Sophocles’ works, heroes in Euripides’ plays were portrayed as
insecure characters troubled by internal conflict rather than simply resolute.
Female protagonists were also used to portray tormented sensitivity and
irrational impulses that collided with the world of reason.

Greek Comedy

As Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, comedy is defined by the representation of laughable
people, and involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain
or disaster. Athenian comedy is divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle
Comedy, and New Comedy. The Old Comedy period is largely represented by the 11
surviving plays of Aristophanes, whereas much of the work of the Middle Comedy
period has been lost. New Comedy is known primarily by the substantial papyrus
fragments of Menander. In general, the divisions between these periods is
largely arbitrary, and ancient Greek comedy almost certainly developed
constantly over the years.

Old Comedy and Aristophanes

Aristophanes, the most important Old Comic dramatist, wrote
plays that abounded with political satire, as well as sexual and scatological
innuendo. He lampooned the most important personalities and institutions of his
day, including Socrates in The Clouds.
His works are characterized as definitive to the genre of comedy even today.

Middle Comedy

Although the line between Old and Middle Comedy is not
clearly marked chronologically, there are some important thematic differences between
the two. For instance, the role of the chorus in Middle Comedy was
largely diminished to the point where it had no influence on the plot.
Additionally, public characters were no longer impersonated or personified
onstage, and objects of ridicule tended to be more general rather than
personal, and in many instances, literary rather than political. For some time,
mythological burlesque was popular among Middle Comic poets. Stock characters
also were employed during this period. In-depth assessment and critique of the
styling of Middle Comedy is difficult, given the lack of complete bodies of
work. However, given the revival of this style in Sicily and Magna Graecia, it
appears that the works of this period did have considerable widespread
literary and social impact.

New Comedy

The style of New Comedy is comparable to what is
contemporarily referred to as situation comedy or comedy of manners. The
playwrights of Greek New Comedy built upon the devices, characters, and
situations their predecessors had developed. Prologues to shape the audience’s
understanding of events, messengers’ speeches to announce offstage action, and ex machina endings were all well
established tropes that were used in New Comedies. Satire and farce occupied
less importance in the works of this time, and mythological themes and subjects
were replaced by everyday concerns. Gods and goddesses were, at best,
personified abstractions rather than actual characters, and no miracles or
metamorphoses occurred. For the first time, love became a principal element in
this type of theater. 

Three playwrights are well known from this period: Menander,
Philemon, and Diphilus. Menander was the most successful of the New Comedians.
Menander’s comedies focused on the fears and foibles of the ordinary man, as
opposed to satirical accounts of political and public life, which perhaps lent
to his comparative success within the genre. His comedies are the first to
demonstrate the five-act structure later to become common in modern plays. Philemon’s
comedies dwell on philosophical issues, whereas Diphilus was noted for his use
of farcical violence.

7.5.4: Classical Greek Architecture

Classical Greek architecture can be divided into
three separate styles: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order, and the Corinthian
Order.

Learning Objective

Describe the distinguishing characteristics of Classical Greek Architecture

Key Points

• Classical Greek
  architecture is best represented by substantially intact ruins of temples and
  open-air theaters.
• The
  architectural style of classical Greece can be divided into three separate
  orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order, and the Corinthian Order. All three
  styles have had a profound impact on Western architecture of later periods.
• While the three
  orders of Greek architecture are most easily recognizable by their capitals,
  the orders also governed the form, proportions, details, and relationships of
  the columns, entablature, pediment, and stylobate.
• The Parthenon is considered the most important
  surviving building of classical Greece, and the zenith of Doric Order
  architecture.

Key Terms

capitals

In architecture, a capital forms the topmost
member of a column.

entablature

An entablature is the superstructure of moldings
and bands that lay horizontally above columns and rest on capitals.

pediment

A pediment is an element in classical,
neoclassical, and baroque architecture that is placed above the horizontal
structure of an entablature, and is typically supported by columns.

stylobate

In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate is
the top step of a stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are
placed. In other words, the stylobate comprises the temple flooring.

Classical Greek architecture
is highly formalized in structure and decoration, and is best known for its
temples, many of which are found throughout the region as substantially intact
ruins. Each classical Greek temple appears to have been conceived as a
sculptural entity within the landscape, and is usually raised on higher ground
so that its proportions and the effects of light on its surface can be viewed
from multiple angles. Open-air theaters are also an important type of building
that survives throughout the Hellenic world, with the earliest dating from
approximately 525-480 BCE. 

Greek architectural style
can be divided into three separate orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order,
and the Corinthian Order. These styles have had a profound impact on Western
architecture of later periods. In particular, the architecture of ancient Rome
grew out of Greek architecture. Revivals of Classicism have also brought about renewed
interest in the architectural styles of ancient Greece. While the three orders
of Greek architecture are most easily recognizable by their capitals, the
orders also governed the form, proportions, details, and relationships of the
columns, entablature, pediment, and stylobate. Orders were applied to the whole
range of buildings and monuments.

The Doric Order

The Doric Order developed on mainland Greece and spread to
Italy. It is most easily recognized by its capital, which appears as a circular
cushion placed on top of a column onto which a lintel rests. In early examples
of the Doric Order, the cushion is splayed and flat, but over time, it became more
refined, deeper, and with a greater curve.

Doric columns almost always feature fluting down the
length of the column, numbering up to 20 flutes. The flutes meet at sharp edges, called
arrises. Doric columns typically have no bases, with the exception of a few
examples dating from the Hellenistic period. Columns of an early Doric temple, such as the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse, could have a column height to an entablature ratio of 2:1, and a column height to a base diameter ratio of only
4:1. Later, a column height to a diameter ratio of 6:1 became more usual, and there is a column height to an entablature ratio at the Parthenon oapproximately 3:1.

Doric entablatures consist of three parts: the architrave,
the frieze, and the cornice. The architrave is composed of stone lintels that
span the space between columns. On top of this rests the frieze, one of the
major areas of sculptural decoration. The frieze is divided into triglyps and
metopes. The triglyphs have three vertical grooves, similar to columnar
fluting, and below them are guttae, small strips that appear to connect the
triglyps to the architrave below. The triglyps are located above the center of
each capital and the center of each lintel.

Pediments in the Doric style were decorated with figures in
relief in early examples; however, by the time the sculptures on the Parthenon
were created, many pediment decorations were freestanding.

The Parthenon

The Parthenon is considered the most important surviving
building of classical Greece and the zenith of Doric Order architecture. It is
a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis dedicated to the patron goddess of
Athens, Athena. Construction began on the Parthenon in 447 BCE, when the
Athenian Empire was at its peak. Construction was completed in 438 BCE, but
decoration of the building continued until 432 BCE. Although most architectural
elements of the Parthenon belong to the Doric Order, a continuous sculptured
frieze in low relief that sits above the architrave belongs to the Ionic style.

The Parthenon

The Parthenon under restoration in 2008.

The Ionic Order

The Ionic Order coexisted with the Doric Order and was
favored by Greek cities in Ionia, Asia Minor, and the Aegean Islands. It did
not evolve into a clearly defined style until the mid-5^th century
BCE. Early Ionic temples in Asia Minor were particularly ambitious in scale.

The Ionic Order is most easily identified by its voluted
capital. The cushion placed on top of the column is similarly shaped to that of
the Doric Order, but is decorated with a stylized ornament and surmounted by a
horizontal band that scrolls under to either side.

Ionic Order columns are fluted with narrow, shallow flutes
that do not meet at a sharp edge, but have a flat band between them. The usual
number of flutes is 24, but there can be as many as 44. The architrave is
not always decorated, but more often it rises in three outwardly-stepped
bands. The frieze runs in a continuous band and is separated from other members
by rows of small projecting blocks. 

The Ionic Order is lighter in appearance than the Doric
Order, with columns that have a 9:1 ratio, and the diameter and the whole
entablature appears much narrower and less heavy than those of the Doric.
Decorations were distributed with some variation, and Ionic entablatures often
featured formalized bands of motifs. The external frieze often contained a
continuous band of figurative sculpture of ornament, though this was not always
the case. Caryatids—draped female figures used as supporting members to the
entablature—were also a feature of the Ionic Order.

The Erechteum on the Acropolis of Athens, Greece

Corner capital in the Ionic style with a diagonal volute, showing also details of the fluting separated by fillets.

The Corinthian Order

The Corinthian Order grew directly from the Ionic in the
mid-5^th century BCE, and was initially of a very similar style and
proportion, with the only distinguishing factor being its more ornate capitals.
The capitals of the Corinthian Order were much deeper than those of the Doric
and Ionic Orders. They were shaped like a bell-shaped mixing bowl and
ornamented with a double row of acanthus leaves above which rose splayed, voluted
tendrils. The ratio of column height to diameter of the Corinthian
Order is generally 10:1, with the capital taking up more than a tenth of the
height. The ratio of capital height to diameter is generally about 1:16:1.

Initially the Corinthian Order was used
internally in such sites as the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae. By the
late 300s, features of the Corinthian Order began to be used externally at
sites such as the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates and the Temple of Zeus
Olympia, both in Athens. During the Hellenistic period, Corinthian columns were
sometimes built without fluting. The Corinthian Order became popular among
the Romans, who added a number of refinements and decorative details.

7.5.5: Scientific Advancements in the Classical Period

The Hellenistic Period witnessed significant scientific advancements, due to the mixing of Greek and Asian culture and royal patronage.

Learning Objective

Describe the various scientific advancements made during the Hellenistic period

Key Points

• Great seats of learning rose during the Hellenistic Period, including those at Alexandria and Antioch.
• Scientific inquiries were often sponsored by royal patrons.
• The
  discoveries of several Greek mathematicians, including Pythagoras and Euclid,
  are still used in mathematical teaching today. Important developments include the
  basic rules of geometry, the idea of a formal mathematical proof, and
  discoveries in number theory, mathematical analysis, and applied mathematics.
• The
  Greeks also developed the field of astronomy, which they treated as a branch of
  mathematics to a highly sophisticated level.
• Hippocrates was a physician
  of the classical period, and is considered one of the most outstanding figures
  in the history of medicine. Most notably, he founded the Hippocratic school of
  medicine, which revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece by establishing it as
  a discipline distinct from other fields, and making medicine a profession.

Key Terms

Hellenistic period

The period of ancient Greek and Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.

Alexandria

An important seat of learning within the Hellenistic civilization and the capital of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Egypt for almost 1,000 years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 CE.

Hellenistic Culture

Hellenistic culture produced seats of learning in Alexandria, Egypt and Antioch, Syria, along with Greek-speaking populations across several monarchies. Hellenistic science differed from Greek science in at least two ways. First, it benefited from the cross-fertilization of Greek ideas with those that had developed in the larger Hellenistic world. Secondly, to some extent, it was supported by royal patrons in the kingdoms founded by Alexander’s successors. 

Especially important to Hellenistic science was the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which became a major center of scientific research in the 3^rd century BCE. Two institutions established there during the reigns of Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 323-283 BCE) and Ptolemy II Philadelphus (reigned 281-246 BCE) were the Library and the Museum. Unlike Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, these institutions were officially supported by the Ptolemies, although the extent of patronage could be precarious, depending on the policies of the current ruler.

The Great Library of Alexandria

The Great Library of Alexandria, O. Von Corven. 19^th century.

Mathematics and
Astronomy

The discoveries of
several Greek mathematicians, including Pythagoras and Euclid, are still used
in mathematical teaching today. Important developments include the basic rules
of geometry, the idea of a formal mathematical proof, and discoveries in number
theory, mathematical analysis, and applied mathematics. Ancient Greek
mathematicians also came close to establishing integral calculus.

The Greeks also
developed the field of astronomy, which they treated as a branch of
mathematics, to a highly sophisticated level. The first geometrical,
three-dimensional models to explain the apparent motion of the planets was developed
in the 4^th century BCE, by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus of
Cyzicus. Their younger contemporary, Heraclides Ponticus, proposed that the Earth
rotates around its axis. In the 3^rd century BCE, Aristarchus of
Samos was the first to suggest a heliocentric system. In the 2^nd
century BCE, Hipparchus of Nicea made a number of contributions, including the
first measurement of precession and the compilation of the first star catalog, in which he proposed the modern system of apparent magnitudes.

The Antikythera
mechanism, a device for calculating the movements of the planets, was the first
ancestor of the astronomical computer. It dates from about 80 BCE, and was
discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera. The
device became famous for its use of a differential gear, which was previously
believed to have been invented in the 16^th century, as well as the
miniaturization and complexity of its parts, which has been compared to that of
clocks produced in the 18^th century. 

The Medical Field

The ancient Greeks also
made important discoveries in the medical field. Hippocrates was a physician of
the classical period, and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in
the history of medicine. He is sometimes even referred to as the “father of
medicine.” Most notably, he founded the Hippocratic school of medicine, which
revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece by establishing it as a discipline
distinct from other fields, and making medicine a profession.

Other notable Hellenistic scientists and their achievements include:

• Herophilos (335-280 BCE), who was the first to base medical conclusions on dissection of the human body and to describe the nervous system
• Archimedes (c. 287-212 BCE), a geometer, physicist, and engineer who laid the foundations of hydrostatics and statics, and explained the principle of the lever
• Eratosthenes (c. 276 BCE-195/194 BCE), who measured the distance between the Sun and the Earth, as well as the size of the Earth

7.6: The Peloponnesian War

7.6.1: Introduction to the Peloponnesian War

The
Peloponnesian War provided a dramatic end to the 5^th century BCE, shattering
religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and
destroying whole cities.

Learning Objective

Describe the events of the Peloponnesian War

Key Points

• The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) was fought
  between Athens and its empire, known as the Delian League, and the
  Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta.
• During this conflict, Greek warfare evolved from
  an originally limited and formalized form of conflict, to all-out struggles
  between city-states, with large-scale atrocities.
• During the first phase, known as the Archidamian
  War, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica while Athens took advantage
  of its naval supremacy to raid the Peloponnese coast.
• Initially Athens’ strategy, as guided by
  Pericles, was to avoid open battle with the more numerous and better trained
  Spartan hoplites, and to instead rely on Athens’ superior naval fleet.
• In the aftermath of a devastating plague,
  Athenians turned against Pericles’s defensive strategy in favor of a more
  aggressive one that would bring war directly to Sparta and its allies.
• The Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BCE,
  and concluded the first phase of the war. The treaty was undermined, however, by
  continued fighting and calls for revolt throughout the Peloponnese.
• The destruction of Athens’ fleet at Aegospotami during
  the Decelean War effectively ended the Peloponnesian War. Athens surrendered a
  year later in 404 BCE.

Key Terms

hoplites

Hoplites
were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed
with spears and shields.

helot

Helots
were a subjugated population group that formed the main population of Laconia
and Messenia, the territories controlled by Sparta.

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) was fought between
Athens and its empire, known as the Delian League, and the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. During this conflict, Greek warfare evolved from an originally
limited and formalized form of conflict, to all-out struggles between
city-states, complete with large-scale atrocities. The Peloponnesian War
provided a dramatic end to the 5^th century BCE, shattering religious and
cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and destroying whole
cities. Historians have traditionally divided the war into several different phases.

The Archidamian War

During the first phase, known as the Archidamian War, Sparta
launched repeated invasions of Attica while Athens took advantage of its naval
supremacy to raid the Peloponnese coast. Sparta and its allies, with the
exception of Corinth, were almost exclusively land-based powers, whereas the Athens empire, though based on a peninsula, had developed impressive naval power. As a result, the two powers were relatively unable to
fight decisive battles.The Spartan strategy during the Archidamian War was to
invade the land surrounding Athens, depriving Athenians of the productive land
around their city. However, Athens maintained access to the sea and did not
suffer much from this strategy, though many citizens of Attica abandoned their
farms and moved inside the long walls connecting Athens to port Piraeus.

The Walls Protecting Athens

The walls protecting Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

The walls protecting the city and the port during the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE stretched from Athens to Piraeus on the sea. The northern wall is labelled “North Long Wall” and the southern wall is labelled the “South Long Wall.”

Initially Athens’ strategy, as guided by Pericles, was to
avoid open battle with the more numerous, and better trained Spartan hoplites, and to instead rely on Athens’ superior fleet. As a result, Athens’ fleet went
on the offensive, winning a victory at Naupactus. Their victory was short-lived,
however, because in 430 BCE, an outbreak of plague hit Athens, ravaging the
densely packed city and wiping out over 30,000 citizens, sailors, and soldiers,
which amounted to roughly one-third to two-thirds of the Athenian population. As a
result, Athenian manpower was drastically reduced, and due to widespread fears
of plague, foreign mercenaries refused to hire themselves out to Athens. Sparta
also abandoned its invasion of Attica during this time, unwilling to risk
contact with their diseased enemy.

Pericles and his sons perished as a result of plague, and in
the aftermath, Athenians turned against Pericles’s defensive strategy in favor
of a more aggressive one that would bring war directly to Sparta and its
allies. Initially this strategy met with some success as Athens pursued naval
raids throughout the Peloponnese. Their successes allowed them to fortify posts
throughout the Peloponnese. One such post was near Pylos, on a tiny island
called Sphacteria. It began attracting helot runaways from Sparta, which in
turn raised Spartan fears that Athenian activities throughout the Peloponnese
would incite a mass helot revolt. As a result, the Spartans were driven into
action. During the ensuing conflicts, 300 to 400 Spartans were taken hostage,
providing Athens with a bargaining chip.

In return, the Spartans raised an army of allies and helots
and marched the length of Greece to the Athenian colony of Amphipolis, which
controlled several nearby silver mines. These mines were particularly important
because they provided much of the money that financed the Athenian war effort.
The capture of this colony provided Sparta a bargaining chip as well, and the
two rival city-states agreed to sign a truce, exchanging the Spartan hostages
for Amphipolis and its silver mines.

Peace of Nicias

The Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BCE, concluding the
first phase of the war. Due to the loss of war hawks in both city-states during
the previous conflict, the peace endured for approximately six years. The
treaty was undermined, however, by continued fighting and calls for revolt
throughout the Peloponnese. Although the Spartans refrained from such actions
themselves, their allies remained vocal, particularly Argos. The Athenians
supported the Argives and encouraged them to form a coalition of democratic
states within the Peloponnese and separate from Sparta. Early Spartan attempts to
thwart such a coalition ultimately failed, and the Argives, their allies, and a
small Athenian force moved to seize the city of Tegea, near Sparta.

The Battle of Mantinea was the largest land battle fought
within Greece during the Peloponnesian War. The Argive allied coalition
initially utilized the sheer strength of their combined forces to score early
successes, but failed to capitalize on them, providing the elite Spartan forces
opportunities to defeat the coalition and save their city from a strategic
defeat. The Argive democratic alliance was broken up, and most members were
reincorporated into Sparta’s Peloponnesian League, reestablishing Spartan
hegemony throughout the region.

The Sicilian Expedition

During the 17^th year of war, Athens received news
that one of their distant allies in Sicily was under attack from Syracuse. The
people of Syracuse were ethnically Dorian like the Spartans, and Sicily and
their allies, the Athenians, were ethnically Ionian. In 415 BCE, Athens
dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily. The
Athenian force consisted of more than 100 ships, approximately 5,000
infantry, and lightly armored troops. However, their cavalry was limited to about
30 horses, which proved to be no match for the large and highly trained
Syracusan cavalry. 

Meanwhile, the Syracusans petitioned Sparta for assistance in
the matter, and Sparta sent their general, Gylippus, to Sicily with reinforcements.
Subsequent Athenian attacks failed and Athens’ entire force was destroyed by
413 BCE.

The Second War

This ushered in the final phase of the war, known as the
Decelean War, or the Ionian War. By this time, Sparta was receiving support from
Persia, and Sparta bolstered rebellions in Athens’ Aegean Sea and Ionian subject
states, in order to undermine Athens empire. This eventually led to the erosion
of Athens’ naval supremacy. The Lacedaemonians were no longer content with
simply sending aid to Sicily as a means of supporting their ally. Instead, their
focus shifted to an offensive strategy against Athens. As a result, Decelea, a
town near Athens, was fortified in order to prevent the Athenians from making
use of their land year-round, and to thwart overland shipments of supplies. Nearby
silver mines were also disrupted, with Spartan hoplites freeing as many as
20,000 Athenian slaves in the vicinity. Due to this disruption in finance,
Athens was forced to demand increased tribute from its subject allies, further
increasing tension and the threat of rebellion throughout the Athenian empire.

Members of the Peloponnesian League continued to
send reinforcements to Syracuse in hopes of driving off the Athenians, but
instead, Athens sent another 100 ships and 5,000 troops to Sicily. Gylippus’s
forces, combined with those of the Syracusans, defeated the Athenians on land. The
destruction of Athens’ fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war, and
Athens surrendered a year later in 404 BCE. Corinth and Thebes demanded that
Athens be destroyed and all its citizens enslaved, but Sparta refused to
destroy a city that had done good service at a time of great danger to Greece,
and took Athens into their own alliance system.

7.6.2: Effects of the Peloponnesian War

Following the Peloponnesian War, Athens underwent a period
of harsh oligarchic governance and Sparta enjoyed a brief hegemonic period.

Learning Objective

Understand the effects of the Peloponnesian War on the Greek city-states

Key Points

• The Peloponnesian War ended in victory for
  Sparta and its allies, but signaled the demise of Athenian naval and political
  hegemony throughout the Mediterranean.
• Democracy in Athens was briefly overthrown in
  411 BCE as a result of its poor handling of the Peloponnesian War. Lysander,
  the Spartan admiral who commanded the Spartan fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE, helped
  to organize the Thirty Tyrants as Athens’ government for the 13 months they
  maintained power.
• Lysander established many pro-Spartan
  governments throughout the Aegean, where the ruling classes were more loyal to
  him than to Sparta as a whole. Eventually Spartan kings, Agis and Pausanias, abolished
  these Aegean decarchies, curbing Lysander’s political influence.
• Agesilaus II was one of two Spartan kings during
  the period of Spartan hegemony, and is remembered for his multiple campaigns in
  the eastern Aegean and Persian territories.
• Agesilaus’s loss at the Battle of Leuctra
  effectively ended Spartan hegemony throughout the region.

Key Terms

hegemony

The
political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over
others.

harmosts

A Spartan
term for a military governor.

oligarchy

A form
of power structure in which a small group of people hold all power and
influence in a state.

The Peloponnesian War ended in victory for Sparta and its
allies, and led directly to the rising naval power of Sparta. However, it
marked the demise of Athenian naval and political hegemony throughout the Mediterranean.
The destruction from the Peloponnesian War weakened and divided the Greeks for
years to come, eventually allowing the Macedonians an opportunity to conquer
them in the mid-4^th century BCE.

Athens

Democracy in Athens was briefly overthrown in 411 BCE as a
result of its poor handling of the Peloponnesian War. Citizens reacted against
Athens’ defeat, blaming democratic politicians, such as Cleon and Cleophon. The
Spartan army encouraged revolt, installing a pro-Spartan oligarchy within
Athens, called the Thirty Tyrants, in 404 BCE. Lysander, the Spartan admiral who
commanded the Spartan fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE, helped to organize the
Thirty Tyrants as a government for the 13 months they maintained power. 

During the Thirty Tyrants’ rule, five percent of the
Athenian population was killed, private property was confiscated, and
democratic supporters were exiled. The Thirty appointed a council of 500 to
serve the judicial functions that had formerly belonged to all citizens. Despite
all this, not all Athenian men had their rights removed. In fact, 3,000 such men
were chosen by the Thirty to share in the government of Athens. These men were
permitted to carry weapons, entitled to jury trial, and allowed to reside with
the city limits. This list of men was constantly being revised, and selection
was most likely a reflection of loyalty to the regime, with the majority of
Athenians not supporting the Thirty Tyrants’ rule. 

Nonetheless, the Thirty’s regime was not met with much overt
opposition for the majority of their rule, as a result of the harsh penalties
placed on dissenters. Eventually, the level of violence and brutality carried
out by the Thirty in Athens led to increased opposition, stemming primarily
from a rebel group of exiles led by Thrasybulus, a former trierarch in the
Athenian navy. The increased opposition culminated in a revolution that
ultimately overthrew the Thirty’s regime. In the aftermath, Athens gave amnesty
to the 3,000 men who were given special treatment under the regime, with the
exception of those who comprised the governing Thirty and their associated
governmental officials. Athens struggled to recover from the upheaval caused by
the Thirty Tyrants in the years that followed.

Sparta

As a result of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, which had
primarily been a continental culture, became a naval power. At its peak, Sparta
overpowered many key Greek states, including the elite Athenian navy. By the
end of the 5^th century BCE, Sparta’s successes against the Athenian Empire
and ability to invade Persian provinces in Anatolia ushered in a period of
Spartan hegemony. This hegemonic period was to be short-lived, however.

Lysander

After the end of the Peloponnesian War, Lysander established
many pro-Spartan governments throughout the Aegean. Most of the ruling systems
set up by Lysander were ten-man oligarchies, called decarchies, in which
harmosts, Spartan military governors, were the heads of the government. Because
Lysander appointed from within the ruling classes of these governments, the
men were more loyal to Lysander than Sparta, making these Aegean outposts
similar to a private empire.

Lysander and Spartan king Agis were in agreement with Corinth
and Thebes that Athens should be totally destroyed in the aftermath of the
Peloponnesian War, but they were opposed by a more moderate faction, headed by
Pausanias. Eventually, Pausanias’ moderate faction gained the upper hand and
Athens was spared, though its defensive walls and port fortifications at Piraeus
were demolished. Lysander also managed to require Athens to recall its exiles,
causing political instability within the city-state, of which Lysander took
advantage to establish the oligarchy that came to be known as the Thirty
Tyrants. Because Lysander was also directly involved in the selection of the Thirty,
these men were loyal to him over Sparta, causing King Agis and King Pausanias
to agree to the abolishment of his Aegean decarchies, and eventually the
restoration of democracy in Athens, which quickly curbed Lysander’s political
influence.

Lysander

A 16th century engraving  of Lysander

Agesilaus and His Campaigns

Agesilaus II was one of two Spartan kings during the period
of Spartan hegemony. Lysander was one of Agesilaus’s biggest supporters, and was even a mentor. During his kingship, Agesilaus embarked on a number of military
campaigns in the eastern Aegean and Persian territories. During these
campaigns, the Spartans under Agesilaus’s command met with numerous rebelling
Greek poleis, including the Thebans. The Thebans, Argives, Corinthians, and Athenians
had rebelled during the Corinthian War from 395-386 BCE, and the Persians
aided the Thebans, Corinthians, and Athenians against the Spartans. 

During the winter of 379/378 BCE, a group of
Theban exiles snuck into Thebes and succeeded in liberating it, despite
resistance from a 1,500-strong Spartan garrison. This led to a number of Spartan
expeditions against Thebes, known as The Boeotian War. The Greek city-states
eventually attempted to broker peace, but Theban diplomat Epaminondas angered
Agesilaus by arguing for the freedom of non-Spartan citizens within Laconia. As
a result, Agesilaus excluded the Thebans from the treaty, and the Battle of
Leuctra broke out in 371 BCE; the Spartans eventually lost. Sparta’s
international political influence precipitated quickly after their defeat.

7.7: Macedonian Conquest

7.7.1: The Rise of the Macedon

Philip II’s conquests during the Third Sacred
War cemented his power, as well as the influence of Macedon, throughout the Hellenic
world.

Learning Objective

Describe Philip II’s achievements and how he built up Macedon

Key Points

• The military skills
  Philip II learned while in Thebes, coupled with his expansionist vision of
  Macedonian greatness, brought him early successes when he ascended to the throne
  in 359 BCE.
• Philip earned
  immense prestige, and secured Macedon’s position in the Hellenic world during
  his involvement in the Third Sacred War, which began in Greece in 356 BCE.
• War with Athens
  would arise intermittently for the duration of Philip’s campaigns, due to
  conflicts over land, and/or with allies.
• In 337 BCE,
  Philip created and led the League of Corinth, a federation of Greek states that
  aimed to invade the Persian Empire. 
• In 336 BCE,
  Philip was assassinated during the earliest stages of the League of Corinth’s Persian
  venture.
• Many Macedonian institutions and demonstrations
  of power mirrored established Achaemenid conventions.

Key Term

sarissas

A long spear or pike about 13-20 feet in length, used in ancient Greek and Hellenistic warfare, that was initially introduced by
Philip II of Macedon.

Macedon rose from a small
kingdom on the periphery of classical Greek affairs, to a dominant player in the
Hellenic world and beyond, within the span of 25 years between 359 and 336 BCE.
Macedon’s rise is largely attributable to the policies during Philip II’s rule.

Background

In the aftermath of the
Peloponnesian War, Sparta rose as a hegemonic power in classical Greece.
Sparta’s dominance was challenged by many Greek city-states who had
traditionally been independent during the Corinthian War of 395-387 BCE. Sparta
prevailed in the conflict, but only because Persia intervened on their behalf,
demonstrating the fragility with which Sparta held its power over the other
Greek city-states. In the next decade, the Thebans revolted against Sparta,
successfully liberating their city-state, and later defeating the Spartans at
the Battle of Leuctra (371 BCE). Theban general Epaminondas then led an
invasion of the Peloponnesus in 370 BCE, invaded Messenia, and liberated the
helots, permanently crippling Sparta. 

These series of events
allowed the Thebans to replace Spartan hegemonic power with their own. For the
next nine years, Epaminondas and Theban general Pelopidas further extended
Theban power and influence via a series of campaigns throughout Greece,
bringing almost every city-state in Greece into the conflict. These years of
war ultimately left Greece war-weary and depleted, and during Epaminondas’s
fourth invasion of the Peloponnesus in 362 BCE, Epaminondas was killed at the
Battle of Mantinea. Although Thebes emerged victorious, their losses were
heavy, and the Thebans returned to a defensive policy, allowing Athens to
reclaim its position at the center of the Greek political system for the first
time since the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians’ second confederacy would be
Macedon’s main rivals for control of the lands of the north Aegean.

Philip II’s Accession

Philip II of Macedon

Bust of Philip II.

While Philip was young, he
was held hostage in Thebes, and received a military and diplomatic education
from Epaminondas. By 364 BCE, Philip returned to Macedon, and the skills he
learned while in Thebes, coupled with his expansionist vision of Macedonian
greatness, brought him early successes when he ascended to the throne in 359
BCE. When he assumed the throne, the eastern regions of Macedonia had been
sacked and invaded by the Paionians, and the Thracians and the Athenians had
landed a contingent on the coast at Methoni. Philip pushed the Paionians and
Thracians back, promising them tributes, and defeated the 3,000 Athenian hoplites
at Methoni. In the interim between conflicts, Philip focused on strengthening
his army and his overall position domestically, introducing the phalanx
infantry corps and arming them with long spears, called sarissas.

A Macedonian Phalanx

Depiction of a Macedonian phalanx armed with sarissas.

In 358 BCE, Philip marched
against the Illyrians, establishing his authority inland as far as Lake Ohrid.
Subsequently, he agreed to lease the gold mines of Mount Pangaion to the
Athenians in exchange for the return of the city of Pydna to Macedon. Ultimately,
after conquering Amphipolis in 357 BCE, he reneged on his agreement, which led
to war with Athens. During that conflict, Philip conquered Potidaea, but ceded
it to the Chalkidian League of Olynthus, with which he was allied. A year
later, he also conquered Crenides and changed its name to Philippi, using the
gold from the mines there to finance subsequent campaigns. 

Third Sacred War

Philip earned immense
prestige and secured Macedon’s position in the Hellenic world during his
involvement in the Third Sacred War, which began in Greece in 356 BCE. Early in
the war, Philip defeated the Thessalians at the Battle of Crocus Field,
allowing him to acquire Pherae and Magnesia, which was the location of an
important harbor, Pagasae. He did not attempt to advance further into central
Greece, however, because the Athenians occupied Thermopylae. Although there
were no open hostilities between the Athenians and Macedonians at the time,
tensions had arisen as a result of Philip’s recent land and resource acquisitions.
Instead, Philip focused on subjugating the Balkan hill-country in the west and
north, and attacking Greek coastal cities, many of which Philip maintained
friendly relations with, until he had conquered their surrounding territories. Nonetheless,
war with Athens would arise intermittently for the duration of Philip’s
campaigns, due to conflicts over land and/or with allies.

Persian Influences

For many Macedonian rulers, the Achaemenid Empire in Persia
was a major sociopolitical influence, and Philip II was no exception. Many
institutions and demonstrations of his power mirrored established Achaemenid
conventions. For example, Philip established a Royal Secretary and Archive, as
well as the institution of Royal Pages, which would mount the king on his horse
in a manner very similar to the way in which Persian kings were mounted. He
also aimed to make his power both political and religious in nature, utilizing
a special throne stylized after those of the Achaemenid court, to demonstrate
his elevated rank. Achaemenid administrative practices were also utilized in
Macedonia rule of conquered lands, such as Thrace in 342-334 BCE.

In 337 BCE, Philip created and led the League of Corinth. Members of the
league agreed not to engage in conflict with one another unless their aim was
to suppress revolution. Another stated aim of the league was to invade the
Persian Empire. Ironically, in 336 BCE, Philip was assassinated during the
earliest stages of the Persian venture, during the marriage of his daughter
Cleopatra to Alexander I of Epirus.

7.7.2: Alexander the Great

In a little over 30 years, Alexander the Great created one of the largest empires in the ancient world, using his military and tactical genius.

Learning Objective

Examine Alexander the Great’s successes and failures

Key Points

• Alexander the Great spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa. By the age of 30, he created an empire that stretched from Greece to Egypt, and into present-day Pakistan.
• Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and experienced army, both of which contributed to his successes. 
• Alexander’s legacy includes the cultural diffusion his engendered conquests, and the rise of Hellenistic culture as a result of his military campaigns.
• Alexander’s impressive record was largely due to his smart use of terrain, phalanx and cavalry tactics, bold and adaptive strategy, and the fierce loyalty of his troops.

Key Terms

Philip II

A king of the Greek kingdom of Macedon from 359 BCE until his assassination in 336 BCE. He was the father of Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great

Formally Alexander III of Macedon, a Macedonian king who was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history’s most successful commanders.

phalanx

A rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons.

Following the decline of the Greek city-states, the Greek kingdom of Macedon rose to power under Philip II. Alexander III, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was born to Philip II in Pella in 356 BCE, and succeeded his father to the throne at the age of 20. He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, and by the age of 30, had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, which stretched from Greece to Egypt and into present-day Pakistan. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history’s most successful commanders.

Alexander the Great

Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era, now at the British Museum.

During his youth, Alexander was tutored by the philosopher Aristotle, until the age of 16. When he succeeded his father to the throne in 336 BCE, after Philip was assassinated, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He had been awarded the generalship of Greece, and used this authority to launch his father’s military expansion plans. In 334 BCE, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire, ruled Asia Minor, and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He overthrew the Persian King Darius III, and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.

Seeking to reach the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea,” he invaded India in 326 BCE, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE, the city he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander’s surviving generals and heirs. Alexander’s legacy includes the cultural diffusion his engendered conquests. He founded some 20 cities that bore his name, the most notable being Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander’s settlement of Greek colonists, and the spread of Greek culture in the east, resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and myth of Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics.

Military Generalship

Alexander earned the honorific epithet “the Great” due to his unparalleled success as a military commander. He never lost a battle, despite typically being outnumbered. His impressive record was largely due to his smart use of terrain, phalanx and cavalry tactics, bold strategy, and the fierce loyalty of his troops. The Macedonian phalanx, armed with the sarissa, a spear up to 20 feet long, had been developed and perfected by Alexander’s father, Philip II. Alexander used its speed and maneuverability to great effect against larger, but more disparate, Persian forces. Alexander also recognized the potential for disunity among his diverse army, due to the various languages, cultures, and preferred weapons individual soldiers wielded. He overcame the possibility of unrest among his troops by being personally involved in battles, as was common among Macedonian kings.

In his first battle in Asia, at Granicus, Alexander used only a small part of his forces—

perhaps 13,000 infantry, with 5,000 cavalry—against a much larger Persian force of 40,000. Alexander placed the phalanx at the center, and cavalry and archers on the wings, so that his line matched the length of the Persian cavalry line. By contrast, the Persian infantry was stationed behind its cavalry. Alexander’s military positioning ensured that his troops would not be outflanked; further, his phalanx, armed with long pikes, had a considerable advantage over the Persians’ scimitars and javelins. Macedonian losses were negligible compared to those of the Persians. 

At Issus in 333 BCE, his first confrontation with Darius, he used the same deployment, and again the central phalanx pushed through. Alexander personally led the charge in the center and routed the opposing army. At the decisive encounter with Alexander at Gaugamela, Darius equipped his chariots with scythes on the wheels to break up the phalanx and equipped his cavalry with pikes. Alexander in turn arranged a double phalanx, with the center advancing at an angle, which parted when the chariots bore down and reformed once they had passed. The advance proved successful and broke Darius’s center, and Darius was forced to retreat once again. 

When faced with opponents who used unfamiliar fighting techniques, such as in Central Asia and India, Alexander adapted his forces to his opponents’ style. For example, in Bactria and Sogdiana, Alexander successfully used his javelin throwers and archers to prevent outflanking movements, while massing his cavalry at the center. In India, confronted by Porus’s elephant corps, the Macedonians opened their ranks to envelop the elephants, and used their sarissas to strike upwards and dislodge the elephants’ handlers.

7.7.3: Alexander’s Empire

Alexander the Great’s legacy was the dissemination of Greek culture throughout Asia.

Learning Objective

Describe the legacy Alexander left within his conquered territories

Key Points

• Alexander’s campaigns greatly increased contacts and trade between the East and West, and vast areas to the east were significantly exposed to Greek civilization and influence. Successor states remained dominant for the next 300 years during the Hellenistic period.
• Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some 20 cities that bore his name, and these cities became centers of culture and diversity. The most famous of these cities is Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Alexandria.
• Hellenization refers to the spread of Greek language, culture, and population into the former Persian empire after Alexander’s conquest.
• Alexander’s death was sudden and his empire disintegrated into a 40-year period of war and chaos in 321 BCE. The Hellenistic world eventually settled into four stable power blocks: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and Macedon.

Key Term

Hellenization

The spread of Greek language, culture, and population into the former Persian empire after Alexander’s conquests.

Alexander’s legacy extended beyond his military conquests. His campaigns greatly increased contacts and trade between the East and West, and vast areas to the east were exposed to Greek civilization and influence. Some of the cities he founded became major cultural centers, and many survived into the 21^st century. His chroniclers recorded valuable information about the areas through which he marched, while the Greeks themselves attained a sense of belonging to a world beyond the Mediterranean.

Hellenistic Kingdoms

Alexander’s most immediate legacy was the introduction of Macedonian rule to huge swathes of Asia. Many of the areas he conquered remained in Macedonian hands or under Greek influence for the next 200 to 300 years. The successor states that emerged were, at least initially, dominant forces, and this 300 year period is often referred to as the Hellenistic period.

Alexander’s name in hieroglyphics

Name of Alexander the Great in Egyptian hieroglyphs (written from right to left), c. 330 BCE, Egypt; Louvre Museum.

The eastern borders of Alexander’s empire began to collapse during his lifetime. However, the power vacuum he left in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent directly gave rise to one of the most powerful Indian dynasties in history. Taking advantage of this, Chandragupta Maurya (referred to in Greek sources as Sandrokottos), of relatively humble origin, took control of the Punjab, and with that power base proceeded to conquer the Nanda Empire.

Hellenization

The term
“Hellenization” was coined to denote the spread of Greek language,
culture, and population into the former Persian empire after Alexander’s
conquest. Alexander deliberately pursued Hellenization policies in the
communities he conquered. While his intentions may have simply been to
disseminate Greek culture, it is more likely that his policies were pragmatic
in nature and intended to aid in the rule of his enormous empire via cultural
homogenization. Alexander’s Hellenization policies can also be viewed as a
result of his probable megalomania. Later his successors explicitly rejected these
policies. Nevertheless, Hellenization occurred throughout the region,
accompanied by a distinct and opposite “Orientalization” of the successor
states.

The core of
Hellenistic culture was essentially Athenian. The close association of men from
across Greece in Alexander’s army directly led to the emergence of the largely
Attic-based koine (or
“common”) Greek dialect. Koine spread
throughout the Hellenistic world, becoming the lingua
franca of
Hellenistic lands, and eventually the ancestor of modern Greek. Furthermore,
town planning, education, local government, and art during the Hellenistic
periods were all based on classical Greek ideals, evolving into distinct new
forms commonly grouped as Hellenistic.

The Founding of Cities

Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some 20 cities that bore his name, most of them east of the Tigris River. The first, and greatest, was Alexandria in Egypt, which would become one of the leading Mediterranean cities. The cities’ locations reflected trade routes, as well as defensive positions. At first, the cities must have been inhospitable, and little more than defensive garrisons. Following Alexander’s death, many Greeks who had settled there tried to return to Greece. However, a century or so after Alexander’s death, many of these cities were thriving with elaborate public buildings and substantial populations that included both Greek and local peoples.

Alexander’s cities were
most likely intended to be administrative headquarters for his empire,
primarily settled by Greeks, many of whom would have served in Alexander’s
military campaigns. The purpose of these administrative centers was to control the
newly conquered subject populations. Alexander attempted to create a unified
ruling class in conquered territories like Persia, often using marriage ties to
intermingle the conquered with conquerors. He also adopted elements of the Persian
court culture, adopting his own version of their royal robes, and imitating some
court ceremonies. Many Macedonians resented these policies, believing
hybridization of Greek and foreign cultures to be irreverent. 

Alexander’s attempts at
unification also extended to his army. He placed Persian soldiers, some of who
had been trained in the Macedonian style, within Macedonian ranks, solving
chronic manpower problems.

Division of the Empire

Alexander’s death was so sudden that when reports of his death reached Greece, they were not immediately believed. Alexander had no obvious or legitimate heir because his son, Alexander IV, was born after Alexander’s death. According to Diodorus, an ancient Greek historian, Alexander’s companions asked him on his deathbed to whom he bequeathed his kingdom. His laconic reply was, tôi kratistôi (“to the strongest”). Another, more plausible, story claims that Alexander passed his signet ring to Perdiccas, a bodyguard and leader of the companion cavalry, thereby nominating him as his official successor.

Perdiccas initially did not claim power, instead suggesting that Alexander’s unborn baby would be king, if male. He also offered himself, Craterus, Leonnatus, and Antipater, as guardians of Alexander’s unborn child. However, the infantry rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded from the discussion. Instead, they supported Alexander’s half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus, as Alexander’s successor. Eventually the two sides reconciled, and after the birth of Alexander IV, Perdiccas and Philip III were appointed joint kings, albeit in name only. 

Dissension and rivalry soon afflicted the Macedonians. After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BCE, Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40 years of war between “The Successors” (Diadochi) ensued, before the Hellenistic world settled into four stable power blocks: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and Macedon. In the process, both Alexander IV and Philip III were murdered.

7.7.4: The Legacy of Alexander the Great

Four stable power blocks emerged following the
death of Alexander the Great: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid
Empire, the Attalid Dynasty of the Kingdom of Pergamon, and Macedon.

Learning Objective

Evaluate Alexander the Great’s legacy as carried
out by his successors

Key Points

• After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BCE,
  Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40 years of war between “The
  Successors” (Diadochi) ensued
  before the Hellenistic world settled into four stable power blocks: the
  Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire, the Kingdom of Pergamon in
  Asia Minor, and Macedon.
• The Ptolemaic Kingdom was ruled by the Ptolemaic
  dynasty, starting with Ptolemy I Soter’s accession to the throne following the
  death of Alexander the Great. The dynasty survived until the death of Cleopatra
  VII in 30 BCE, at which point Egypt was conquered by the Romans.
• Although the Ptolemaic Kingdom observed the Egyptian
  religion and customs, Greek inhabitants were treated as a privileged minority.
• The Seleucid Empire was a major center of
  Hellenistic culture where Greek customs prevailed and the Greek political elite
  dominated, though mostly in urban areas.
• The Attalid kingdom of Pergamon began as a rump
  state, but was expanded by subsequent rulers. 
• The Attalids were some of the most loyal
  supporters of Rome in the Hellenistic world and were known for their generous and
  intelligent rule.
• The Macedonian regime
  is the only successor state to Alexander the Great’s empire that maintained
  archaic perceptions of kingship, and elided the adoption of Hellenistic
  monarchical customs.

Key Terms

satrap

A governor of a province in the Hellenistic
empire. The word is also used metaphorically to refer to leaders who are
heavily influenced by larger superpowers or hegemonies, and regionally act as a surrogate
for those larger players.

proskynesis

A traditional Persian act of bowing or prostrating oneself before a
person of higher social rank.

Background

Alexander’s death was so sudden that when reports of his
death reached Greece, they were not immediately believed. Alexander had no
obvious or legitimate heir because his son, Alexander IV, was born after
Alexander’s death. According to Diodorus, an ancient Greek historian,
Alexander’s companions asked him on his deathbed to whom he bequeathed his
kingdom. His laconic reply was tôi kratistôi (“to the
strongest”). Another, more plausible, story claims that Alexander passed
his signet ring to Perdiccas, a bodyguard and leader of the companion cavalry, thereby
nominating him as his official successor.

Perdiccas initially did not claim power, instead suggesting
that Alexander’s unborn baby would be king, if male. He also offered himself,
Craterus, Leonnatus, and Antipater, as guardians of Alexander’s unborn child.
However, the infantry rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded
from the discussion. Instead, they supported Alexander’s half-brother, Philip
Arrhidaeus, as Alexander’s successor. Eventually the two sides reconciled, and
after the birth of Alexander IV, Perdiccas and Philip III were appointed joint
kings, albeit in name only. 

Dissension and rivalry soon afflicted the
Macedonians. After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BCE, Macedonian unity
collapsed, and 40 years of war between “The Successors” (Diadochi) ensued before the
Hellenistic world settled into four stable power blocks: the Ptolemaic Kingdom
of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia
Minor, and Macedon. In the process, both Alexander IV and Philip III were
murdered.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom
based in Egypt, and ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty, starting with Ptolemy I Soter’s
accession to the throne following the death of Alexander the Great. The
Ptolemaic dynasty survived until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE, at which
point Egypt was conquered by the Romans. Ptolemy was appointed as satrap of
Egypt in 323 BCE, by Perdiccas during the succession crisis that erupted
following Alexander the Great. From that time, Ptolemy ruled Egypt nominally in
the name of joint kings Philip III and Alexander IV. As Alexander the Great’s
empire disintegrated, however, Ptolemy established himself as a ruler in his
own right. In 321 BCE, Ptolemy defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas.
During the Wars of the Diadochi (322-301 BCE), Ptolemy further consolidated his
position within Egypt and the region by taking the title of King.

Ptolemy I Soter

Bust of Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt (305-282 BCE) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The identification is based upon coin effigies.

Early in the Ptolemaic dyansty, Egyptian religion
and customs were observed, and magnificent new temples were built in the style
of the old pharaohs. During the reign of Ptolemies II and III, thousands of
Macedonian veterans were rewarded with farm land grants, and settled in colonies
and garrisons throughout the country. Within a century, Greek influence had
spread throughout the country and intermarriage produced a large Greco-Egyptian
educated class. Despite this, the Greeks remained a privileged minority in Ptolemaic
Egypt. Greek individuals lived under Greek law, received a Greek education,
were tried in Greek courts, and were citizens of Greek cities, rather than
Egyptian cities.

The Seleucid Empire

Seleucid Empire

Seleucid Empire at its greatest extent, 281 BCE.

The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic state ruled
by the Seleucid Dynasty, which existed from 312 BCE-63 BCE. It was founded
by Seleucus I Nicator following the dissolution of Alexander the Great’s
empire. Following Ptolemy’s successes in the Wars of the Diadochi, Seleucus,
then a senior officer in the Macedonian Royal Army, received Babylonia. From
there, he expanded his dominion to include much of Alexander’s near eastern
territories. At the height of its power, the Seleucid Empire encompassed central
Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan,
and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan. Seleucus himself traveled as far as
India in his campaigns. Seleucid expansion into Anatolia and Greece was halted,
however, after decisive defeats at the hands of the Roman army. 

The Seleucid Empire was a major center of
Hellenistic culture, where Greek customs prevailed and the Greek political elite
dominated, though mostly in urban areas. Existing Greek populations within the
empire were supplemented with Greek immigrants.

The Kingdom of Pergamon

Asia Minor, 188 BCE

The Kingdom of Pergamon (colored olive), shown at its greatest extent in 188 BCE.

The ancient Greek city of Pergamon was taken by
Lysimachus, King of Thrace, in 301 BCE, a short-lived possession that ended
when the kingdom of Thrace collapsed. It became the capital of a new kingdom of
Pergamon, which Philetaerus founded in 281 BCE, thus beginning the rule of the
Attalid Dynasty. The Attalid kingdom began as a rump state, but was expanded by
subsequent rulers. The Attalids themselves were some of the most loyal
supporters of Rome in the Hellenistic world. Under Attalus I (r. 241-197 BCE),
the Attalids allied with Rome against Philip V of Macedon, during the first and
second Macedonian Wars. They allied with Rome again under Eumenes II (r. 197-158
BCE) against Perseus of Macedon, during the Third Macedonian War. Additionally,
in exchange for their support against the Seleucids, the Attalids were given
all former Seleucid domains in Asia Minor.

The Attalids were known for their intelligent and
generous rule. Many historical documents from the era demonstrate that the
Attalids supported the growth of towns by sending in skilled artisans and remitting
taxes. They also allowed Greek cities to maintain nominal independence and sent
gifts to Greek cultural sites, such as Delphi, Delos, and Athens, and even remodeled the Acropolis of Pergamon after the Acropolis in Athens. When Attalus III (r. 138-133
BCE) died without an heir, he bequeathed his entire kingdom to Rome to prevent civil
war.

Macedon

The Kingdom of Macedon at the death of Philip II (336 BCE)

Macedon, or Macedonia, was the dominant state of
Hellenistic Greece. In the partition of Alexander’s empire among the Diadochi,
Macedon fell to the Antipatrid Dynasty, which was headed by Antipater and his
son, Cassander. Following Cassander’s death in 297 BCE, Macedon slid into a long
period of civil strife. Antigonus II (r. 277-239 BCE) successfully restored
order and prosperity in the region, and established a stable monarchy under the
Antigonid Dynasty, though he lost control of many Greek city-states in the process.

Notably, the Macedonian regime is the only
successor state to Alexander the Great’s empire that maintained archaic
perceptions of kingship, and elided the adoption of Hellenistic monarchical
customs. The Macedonian king was never deified in the same way that kings of the
Ptolemaic and Seleucid Dynasties had been. Additionally, the custom of proskynesis,
a traditional Persian act of bowing or prostrating oneself before a person of
higher social rank, was never adopted. Instead, Macedonian subjects addressed
their kings in a far more casual manner, and kings still consulted with their
aristocracy in the process of making decisions.

During the reigns of
Philip V (r. 221-179 BCE) and his son Perseus (r. 179-168 BCE), Macedon clashed
with the rising Roman republic. During the 2^nd and 1^st centuries BCE, Macedon
fought a series of wars against Rome. Two decisive defeats in 197 and 168 BCE
resulted in the deposition of the Antigonid Dynasty, and the dismantling of the
kingdom of Macedon.

6.3: Religion in the Indian Subcontinent

6.3.1: The Rise of Hinduism

Learning Objective

Explain the evolution of hinduism

Key Points

• The Vedic religion was influenced
  by local cultures and traditions adopted by Indo-Aryans as
  they spread throughout India. Vedic ritualism heavily influenced the rise of
  Hinduism, which rose to prominence after c. 400 BCE.
• The Vedas—

  the oldest texts of
  the Hindu religion—describe deities,
  mythology, and instructions for religious rituals.

• The Upanishads are
  a collection of Vedic texts particularly important to Hinduism that
  contain revealed truths concerning the nature of ultimate reality, and
  describing the character and form of human salvation.

• During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Hindu Vijayanagar Empire served as a barrier against Muslim invasion, fostering a reconstruction of Hindu life and administration.
  The Hindu Maratha Confederacy rose to power in the 18th century and eventually overthrew Muslim rule in India.

Key Terms

moksha

The character and
form of human salvation, as described in the Upanishads.

Sramana

Meaning “seeker,” Sramana refers to several Indian religious movements that existed alongside the Vedic religion, the historical predecessor of modern Hinduism.

brahman

The nature of ultimate reality, as described in the Upanishads.

Upanishads

A collection of Vedic texts that contain the earliest emergence of some of the central religious concepts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Hinduism
is considered one of the oldest religions in the world. Western scholars regard
Hinduism as a synthesis, or fusion, of various Indian cultures and traditions,
with diverse roots and no stated founder. This synthesis is believed to
have developed after Vedic times, between 500 BCE and 300 CE. However, Vedic ritualism, a composite of Indo-Aryan and Harappan culture,
contributed to the deities and traditions of Hinduism. The Indo-Aryan Vedas
remain the oldest scriptures of the Hindu religion, which has grown culturally
and geographically through modern times to become one of the world’s four major
religions. 

The Vedas

Vedas,
meaning “knowledge,” were written in Vedic Sanskrit between 1500 and
500 BCE in the northwestern region of the Indian Subcontinent. There are four
Indo-Aryan Vedas: the Rig Veda contains hymns about mythology; the Sama Veda
consists mainly of hymns about religious rituals; the Yajur Veda contains
instructions for religious rituals; and the Atharva Veda consists of spells
against enemies, sorcerers and diseases. (Depending on the source consulted,
these are spelled, for example, either Sama Veda or Samaveda.) The Rig Veda is
the largest and considered the most important of the collection, containing
1,028 hymns divided into ten books, called mandalas.

The
Aryan pantheon of gods is described in great detail in the Rig Veda. However,
the religious practices and deities are not uniformly consistent in these
sacred texts, probably because the Aryans themselves were not a homogenous
group. While spreading through the Indian subcontinent, it is probable their
initial religious beliefs and practices were shaped by the absorption of local
religious traditions.

According
to the hymns of the Rig Veda, the most important deities were Agni, the god of
Fire, and the intermediary between the gods and humans; Indra, the god of Heavens and
War, protector of the Aryans against their enemies; Surya, the Sun god; Vayu,
the god of Wind; and Prthivi, the goddess of Earth.

Modern Hindu representation of Agni, god of fire

The Rig Veda describes the varied deities of Vedic religion. These gods persisted as Vedic religion was assimilated into Hinduism.

Agni, god of fire, is shown riding a ram.

The
Upanishads

The
Upanishads are a collection of Vedic texts that contain the earliest emergence
of some of the central religious concepts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Also known as Vedanta,
“the end of the Veda,” the collection is one of the sacred texts of
Hinduism thought to contain revealed truths concerning the nature of ultimate
reality, or brahman, and describing the character and form of human salvation, called
moksha. The Upanishads are found in the conclusion of the commentaries on the Vedas, and have been passed down by oral
tradition.

Hindu Synthesis

Sramana,
meaning “seeker,” refers to several Indian religious movements, including Buddhism
and Jainism, that existed alongside the Vedic religion—the historical
predecessor of modern Hinduism. The Sramana traditions drove the so-called Hindu
synthesis after the Vedic period that spread to southern Indian and parts of
Southeast Asia. As it spread, this new Hinduism assimilated popular non-Vedic
gods and other traditions from local cultures, and integrated societal
divisions, called the caste system. It is also thought to
have included both Buddhist and Sramana influences.

Splinter and Rise of Hinduism

During
the reign of the Gupta Empire (between 320-550 CE), which included the period
known as the Golden Age of India, the first known stone and cave temples
dedicated to Hindu deities were built. After the Gupta period, central power disintegrated
and religion became regionalized to an extent, with variants arising within Hinduism
and competing with each other, as well as sects of Buddhism and Jainism. Over
time, Buddhism declined but some of its practices were integrated into
Hinduism, with large Hindu temples being built in South and Southeast Asia.

The Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in Delhi, the world’s largest Hindu temple

Hinduism evolved as a combination of various cultures and traditions, including Vedic religion and the Upanishads.

The
Hindu religion maintained its presence and continued to grow despite a long period
of Muslim rule in India, from 1200-1750 CE, during which Hindus endured violence
as Islam grew to become what is now the second largest religion in India,
behind Hinduism. Akbar I, emperor of the ruling Mughal Dynasty in India from
1556-1605 CE, ended official persecution of non-Muslims and recognized Hinduism,
protected Hindu temples, and abolished discriminatory taxes against Hindus.

Hindu Prominence

During
the 14th and 15th centuries, the Hindu Vijayanagar Empire had arisen and served
as a barrier against invasion by Muslim rulers to the north, fostering a
reconstruction of Hindu life and administration. Vidyaranya, a minister and
mentor to three generations of kings in the Vijayanagar Empire beginning around
1336, helped spread the historical and cultural influence of Shankara—an Indian
philosopher of the 8th century CE credited with unifying and establishing the
main currents of thought in Hinduism.

The
Hindu Maratha Confederacy rose to power in the 18th century and eventually
overthrew Muslim rule in India. In the 19th century, the Indian subcontinent became
a western colony during the period of the British Raj (the name of the British
ruling government) beginning in 1858.

Through
the period of the Raj, until its end in 1947, there was a Hindu resurgence, known
as the Bengali Renaissance, in the Bengal region of India. It included a
cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement. Indology, an academic study
of Indian culture, was also established in the 19th century, and spread
knowledge of Vedic philosophy and literature and promoted western interest in
Hinduism.

In
the 20th century, Hinduism gained prominence as a political force and source of
national identity in India. According to the 2011 census, Hindus account for
almost 80% of India’s population of 1.21 billion people, with 960
million practitioners. Other nations with large Hindu populations include Nepal, with 23 million followers, and Bangladesh, with 15 million. Hinduism counts over
1 billion adherents across the globe, or approximately 15% of the world’s
population.

Singapore Diwali Decorations

Diwali decorations in Little India are part of an annual Hindu celebration in Singapore, where there are over 260,000 Hindus.

6.3.2: The Sramana Movement

Learning Objective

Understand the Sramana movement

Key Points

• Sramana was an ancient Indian
  religious movement with origins in the Vedic religion. However, it took a divergent
  path, rejecting Vedic Hindu ritualism and the authority of the Brahmins—the
  traditional priests of the Hindu religion.
• Sramanas were those who practiced an ascetic, or
  strict and self-denying, lifestyle in pursuit of spiritual liberation. They are commonly known as monks.
• The Sramana movement gave rise to Jainism and Buddhism.

Key Terms

Sramana

An ancient Indian religious movement that began as an offshoot of the Vedic religion and focused on ascetic lifestyle and principles.

Brahmin

A member of a caste in Vedic Hinduism, consisting of priests and teachers who are held as intermediaries between deities and followers, and who are considered the protectors of the sacred learning found in the Vedas.

Sramanas

Sramana followers who renounced married and domestic life, and adopted an ascetic path. The Sramanas rejected the authority of the Brahmins.

Vedic Religion

The historical predecessor of modern Hinduism. The Vedas are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu religion.

ascetic

A person who practices severe self-discipline and abstention from worldly pleasures as a way of seeking spiritual enlightenment and freedom.

Sramana
was an ancient Indian religious movement that began as an offshoot of the Vedic
religion and gave rise to other similar but varying movements, including
Buddhism and Jainism. Sramana, meaning “seeker,” was a tradition that began around
800-600 BCE when new philosophical groups, who believed in a more austere path to spiritual
freedom, rejected the authority of the Brahmins (the priests of Vedic Hinduism). Modern Hinduism can be regarded as a
combination of Vedic and Sramana traditions; it is substantially influenced
by both.

Vedic Roots

The
Vedic Religion was the historical predecessor of modern Hinduism. The
Vedic Period refers to the time period from approximately 1750-500 BCE, during
which Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, bringing with them specific
religious traditions. Most history of this period is derived from the Vedas, the
oldest scriptures in the Hindu religion. Vedas, meaning “knowledge,”
were composed by the Aryans in Vedic Sanskrit between 1500 and 500 BCE, in the northwestern
region the Indian subcontinent.

There
are four Indo-Aryan Vedas: the Rig Veda contains hymns about their mythology;
the Sama Veda consists mainly of hymns about religious rituals; the Yajur Veda
contains instructions for religious rituals; and the Atharva Veda consists of
spells against enemies, sorcerers, and diseases. (Depending on the source
consulted, these are spelled, for example, either Rig Veda or Rigveda.)

Sramana Origins

Several
Sramana movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century
BCE. Sramana existed in parallel to,
but separate from, Vedic Hinduism. The dominant Vedic ritualism contrasted with
the beliefs of the Sramanas followers who renounced married and domestic life
and adopted an ascetic path, one of severe self-discipline and abstention from
all indulgence, in order to achieve spiritual liberation. The Sramanas rejected the
authority of the Brahmins, who were considered the protectors of the sacred
learning found in the Vedas.

Emaciated Fasting Buddha

Buddha practiced severe asceticism before his enlightenment and recommended a non-ascetic middle way.

Brahmin
is a caste, or social group, in Vedic Hinduism consisting of priests and
teachers who are held as intermediaries between deities and followers. Brahmins
are traditionally responsible for religious rituals in temples, and for reciting
hymns and prayers during rite of passage rituals, such as weddings. 

In
India, Sramana originally referred to any ascetic, recluse, or religious
practitioner who renounced secular life and society in order to focus solely on finding religious
truth. Sramana evolved in India over two phases: the Paccekabuddha, the tradition of the individual ascetic, the “lone
Buddha” who leaves the world behind; and the Savaka, the phase of disciples, or
those who gather together as a community, such as a sect of monks.

Sramana Traditions

A “tradition” is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society, with symbolic
meaning or special significance. Sramana traditions drew upon established Brahmin concepts to
formulate their own doctrines.

The
Sramana traditions subscribe to diverse philosophies,  and at times significantly disagree
with each other, as well as with orthodox Hinduism and its six schools of Hindu philosophy.
The differences range from a belief that every individual has a soul, to the
assertion that there is no soul. In terms of lifestyle, Sramana traditions include
a wide range of beliefs that can vary, from vegetarianism to meat eating, and from family
life to extreme asceticism denying all worldly pleasures.

The
varied Sramana movements arose in the same circles of ancient India that led to
the development of Yogic practices, which include the Hindu philosophy of
following a course of physical and mental discipline in order to attain liberation from
the material world, and a union between the self and a supreme being or principle.

The
Sramana traditions drove the so-called Hindu synthesis after the Vedic period, which spread to southern Indian and parts of Southeast Asia. As it spread, this
new Hinduism assimilated popular non-Vedic gods and other traditions from local
cultures, as well as the integrated societal divisions, called the caste system.

Sramaṇa traditions later gave rise to Yoga, Jainism, Buddhism, and
some schools of Hinduism. They also led to popular concepts in all major Indian religions, such as saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death, and moksha, liberation from that cycle.

Jain Monk in Meditation

An image of a Jain monk, one of the practitioners of the varied Sramana traditions.

6.3.3: Buddhism

Learning Objective

Understand the development of Buddhism as a major world religion

Key Points

• Sramanas were those who practiced an
  ascetic, or strict and self-denying, lifestyle in pursuit of spiritual liberation. They are commonly known as monks.
• The Sramana movement gave rise to Buddhism,
  a non-theistic religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and
  practices, and arose when Siddhartha Gautama began following Sramana traditions
  in the 5th century BCE.
• Following his “Enlightenment,” Siddhartha became known as Buddha, or “Awakened One.” He began teaching a
  Middle Way to spiritual Nirvana, a release from all earthly burdens.
• Buddhism has spread to become one
  of the world’s great religions, with an estimated 488 million followers.

Key Terms

Noble Eightfold Path

The eight concepts taught by Buddha as the means to achieving Nirvana.

Siddhartha Gautama

An aristocratic young man who gave up worldly comforts to follow Sramana, then attained Enlightenment and became known as the Buddha, teaching a Middle Way toward spiritual Nirvana.

Nirvana

A sublime state
that marks the release from the cycle of rebirths, known in the Sramana tradition as samsara.

Sramana

An offshoot of the Vedic religion that promoted an ascetic lifestyle; Sramana gave rise to Buddhism and other similar traditions.

Buddhism
arose between 500-300 BCE, when Siddhartha Gautama, a young man from an
aristocratic family, left behind his worldly comforts to
seek spiritual enlightenment. He became a teacher commonly known as the Buddha,
meaning “the awakened one,” and Buddhism spread to become a non-theistic
religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices
largely based on his teachings.

Sramana Origins

Buddhism
is based on an ancient Indian religious philosophy called Sramana, which began
as an offshoot of the Vedic religion. Several Sramana movements are known to
have existed in India before the 6th century BCE. Sramana existed in parallel to, but separate
from, Vedic Hinduism, which followed the teachings and rituals found in the
Vedas, the most ancient texts of the Vedic religion. Sramana, meaning “seeker,” was a tradition that began when new philosophical groups who believed in a more
austere path to spiritual freedom rejected the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmins,
the priests of Vedic Hinduism, around 800-600 BCE.

Sramana
promoted spiritual concepts that became popular in all major Indian religions,
such as saṃsāra, the cycle of
birth and death, and moksha, liberation from that cycle. The
Sramanas renounced married and domestic life, and adopted an ascetic path—

one
of severe self-discipline and abstention from all indulgence—in order to achieve
spiritual liberation. Sramaṇa traditions (or its religious and moral practices) later gave rise to varying schools of
Hinduism, as well as Yoga, Jainism, and Buddhism.

Origins of
Buddhism

Early
texts suggest Siddhartha Gautama was born into the Shakya Clan, a community on
the eastern edge of the Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. His father
was an elected chieftain, or oligarch, of the small republic. Gautama is thought
to have been born in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of
Kapilvastu, which may have been in Nepal or India. Most scholars agree that he
taught and founded a monastic order during the reign of the Magadha Empire. In
addition to the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha’s lifetime coincided with the flourishing
of influential Sramana schools of thought, including Jainism.

Buddhist
teachings explain that Siddhartha was a young man from a respected family, who
renounced his family and left his father’s palace at age 29 in search of truth and
enlightenment through Sramana. Siddhartha began this quest through a period of
starvation and, according to legend, grew so thin he could feel his hands if he
placed one on his back and the other on his stomach. This explains statues that
depict Buddha as thin and withered, rather than the better known depiction of him
seated with a large belly.

Emaciated Fasting Buddha

This statue in Chiang Mai, Thailand, depicts the Buddha practicing severe asceticism before his Enlightenment.

Buddha lived as a Sramana ascetic for approximately six years until he had an “awakening”
in a place called Bodh Gaya, in the Gaya district of the modern Indian state of
Bihar. Sitting under what became known as the Bodhi Tree, Siddhartha discovered
what Buddhists call the Noble Eightfold Path, and attained Buddhatva, or
Enlightenment, which is said to be a state of being completely free of lust
(raga), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha).

Siddhartha,
thereafter known as Buddha, or “awakened one,” was recognized by his followers,
called Buddhists, as an enlightened teacher. He taught what he called the
Middle Way or Middle Path, the character of the Noble Eightfold Path. This includes
eight concepts to be sought after: right view, right resolve, right speech,
right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right
samadhi (the state of intense concentration brought on through meditation).

His
insights were intended to help sentient beings end their suffering through the
elimination of ignorance and craving. This could be achieved through understanding the noble path, which
is the way to achieve the sublime state of Nirvana. The literal meaning of
Nirvana in the Sanskrit language is “blowing out” or “quenching,” and is the
ultimate spiritual goal of Buddhism. It marks the release from the cycle of
rebirths, known in the Sramana tradition as samsara.

Another
important Buddhist concept is Bodhisattva, a Sanskrit word for anyone who has been
motivated by great compassion and a wish to attain buddhahood for the benefit
of all sentient beings—those who have a conscious awareness of the self but are
in contrast with buddhahood. Sentient beings are characteristically not yet
enlightened and are thus confined to the death, rebirth and dukkha (suffering) found in the cycle of samsara. Bodhisattvas, therefore, are those who
have set themselves on the path toward enlightenment and hope to benefit others
through their journey. Depictions of the bodhisattva path are a popular subject
in Buddhist art.

Bodhisattva

Clay sculpture of a bodhisattva, Afghanistan, 7th century.

Rise of Buddhism

Buddha
is thought to have died around 483 BCE, after 45 years of travel and teaching.
Buddhists believe he passed into a state of Nirvana. Small communities of
monks and nuns, known as bhikkus, sprung up along the routes Buddha traveled. Buddhism was overshadowed by the more dominant Hindu religion, but this began to change
in the 3rd century BCE; this was when one of the Indian subcontinent’s great
rulers, Ashoka I of the Maurya Empire, renounced wars, despite having waged war
to build his own kingdom. In a major break from others rulers of the time, he converted
to Buddhism.

Ashoka
promoted the religion’s expansion by deploying monks to spread Buddha’s
teaching. This began a wave of conversion throughout India as well as in surrounding
nations, such as Nepal, Tibet, and Burma, but also further afield in Asia, including in China and Japan. Over time Buddhism grew, as greater numbers of people
became aware of its teachings, including those in western nations, eventually
becoming one of the major religions practiced around the world.

Today, Buddhism is practiced by an estimated 488 million people. China
is the nation with the largest number of Buddhists, approximately 244 million
followers, or more than 18% of its total population. Other countries that have
a large number of Buddhists among their populations include Myanmar with 48.4
million, Japan with 45.8 million, Sri Lanka with 14.2 million, Cambodia with
13.7 million, South Korea with 11 million, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Taiwan,
and Nepal. The United States is home to an estimated 1.2 million Buddhists, or
1.2% of the American population.

6.3.4: Jainism

Learning Objective

Understand the origins and principles of Jainism

Key Points

• Sramanas were those who practiced an
  ascetic, or strict and self-denying, lifestyle in pursuit of spiritual liberation. They are commonly known as monks.
• The Sramana movement gave rise to Jainism, which is considered an
  independent, pre-Buddhist religion with possible roots in the Indus Valley
  Civilization.
• The predominance of karma is one of the key features of Jainism. Karma is the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous lives; it determines his or her fate in future existences.

Key Terms

Jainism

An Indian
religion that prescribes a path of non-violence toward all living beings, and
emphasizes spiritual independence and equality between all forms of life.

ascetic

A person who
practices severe self-discipline and abstention from worldly pleasures in order to attain a higher level of spirituality.

karma

The principle of
causality in which intent and actions of an individual influence the future of
that person; this is a key concept in Jainism, as well as in Hinduism and
Buddhism.

saṃsāra

The repeating
cycle of birth, life, and death (reincarnation) within Jainism, Hinduism, and
Buddhism.

Jainism,
one of the world’s major religions, is believed to have roots in the Indus
Valley Civilization, and follows aspects of the Sramana traditions of
asceticism—self-denial and control in order to achieve a higher level of
spirituality. Although Jainism is considered pre-Buddhist, the two religions
have a link through a focus on karma—the concept that good deeds in one life
will lead to a better existence in the next life. The ultimate aim of Jainism
is to achieve liberation of the soul.

Sramana Origins

Jainism
is based on an ancient Indian religious philosophy called Sramana, which began
as an offshoot of the Vedic religion. Several Sramana movements are known to
have existed in India before the 6th century BCE. Sramana existed in parallel to, but separate
from, Vedic Hinduism, which followed the teachings and rituals found in the
Vedas, the most ancient texts of the Vedic religion. Sramana, meaning “seeker,” was a tradition that began around 800-600 BCE, when new philosophical groups, who believed in a more
austere path to spiritual freedom, rejected the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmins (the priests of Vedic Hinduism).

Sramana
promoted spiritual concepts that became popular in all major Indian religions,
such as saṃsāra, the cycle of
birth and death, and moksha, liberation from that cycle. The
Sramanas renounced married and domestic life and adopted an ascetic path (one
of severe self-discipline and abstention from all indulgence) in order to achieve
spiritual liberation. Sramaṇa traditions (or religious and moral practices) later gave rise to varying schools of
Hinduism, as well as Yoga, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Origins of
Jainism

Jainism
is considered an independent, pre-Buddhist religion that began c. 700 BCE, although its origins are
disputed. Some scholars claim Jainism has its roots in the Indus Valley
Civilization, reflecting native spirituality prior to the Indo-Aryan migration
into India.

Various seals from Indus Valley Civilizations
bear resemblance to Rishabha, the first Jain as the visual representation of
Vishnu. Many relics depict Jain symbols, including standing nude male figures,
images with serpent-heads, and the bull symbol of Vrshabadeva. However, other
scholars believe the Sramana traditions were separate and contemporaneous with
Indo-Aryan religious practices of the historical Vedic religion.

An Elaborate Mirpur Jain Temple Wall

The Jain Temple in Mirpur, India, was built c. 800 CE.

Jainism Beliefs

The
distinguishing features of Jain philosophy are its belief in the independent
existence of soul and matter; the denial of a creative and omnipotent God, combined with a belief in an eternal universe; and a strong
emphasis on non-violence, morality, and ethics. The word Jain derives from the
Sanskrit word jina, meaning conqueror, and the ultimate aim of Jain life is to
achieve liberation of the soul.

The predominance
of karma is one of the key features of
Jainism. Karma is the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous lives that
determine his or her fate in future existences. A Sanskrit word, karma means action,
word, or deed. Its focus is on the spiritual principle of cause and effect, with
individual actions influencing individual effects. Good intent and good deeds
contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and deeds
produce bad karma and future suffering. Karma is a concept associated with
rebirth, or the idea that death is the beginning of a new existence. This idea also
appears in other Asian religions, including Buddhism.

The
motto of Jainism is Parasparopagraho Jivanam, meaning “the function of souls is
to help one another.” This is associated with the idea of good deeds, and is incorporated
into the main principles of Jainism: ahimsa, non-violence; anekantavada,
non-absolutism; and aparigraha, non-possessiveness or non-attachment. Followers
take five main vows that include ahimsa and aparigraha, as well as satya, not
lying; asteya, not stealing; and brahmacharya, chastity. Jain monks and nuns
adhere to these vows absolutely, placing Jainism squarely in the ascetic and
self-discipline traditions of Sramana.

Jain Monk

An image of a Jain monk meditating over religious texts.

Jainism Followers

The
majority of Jains live in India, which counts between 4 and 6 million
followers. Some of the largest Jain communities outside India are in the United
States, which has more than 79,000 followers; Kenya, which has nearly 69,000
adherents; the United Kingdom, which counts nearly 17,000 followers; and Canada,
with approximately 12,000 followers. Other countries with notable Jain
populations include Tanzania, Nepal, Uganda, Burma, Malaysia, South Africa,
Fiji, Australia, and Japan.

Contemporary
Jainism is divided into two major schools, or sects, called Digambara and
Svetambara. The Svetambara, meaning “white clad,” describes its ascetic
adherents’ practice of wearing white clothes, while the monks of the “sky clad” Digambara do not wear clothing at all, a practice upon which they disagree.

The most important religious festival of Jainism is Mahavir Jayanti,
which celebrates the birth of Mahavira—the 24th and last Tirthankara, or
teaching god. Other important festivals include Diwali, marking the Nirvana, or
liberation, of Mahavira’s soul; and the holy event of Paryushana, also known as
Das Lakshana, which is a period of between eight and ten days in August or
September of fasting, prayer, and meditation.

Paryushana Celebrations

Followers of Jainism celebrate Paryushana at the Jain Center of America in New York City.

6.4: The Persian Empire

6.4.1: The Achaemenid Empire

Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire became the first global empire.

Learning Objective

Discuss the Achaemenid as the first global empire

Key Points

• Around 550 BCE, Cyrus
  the Great (Cyrus
  II) conquered the Median
  Empire and
  started the expansion of the Achaemenid Empire, assimilating the neighboring
  Lydian and Neo-Babylonian empires.
• Cyrus the Great was succeeded by
  his son Cambryses II in 530 BCE and then the usurper Gaumata, and finally by Darius
  the Great in
  522 BCE.
• By the time of Darius the Great
  and his son, Xerxes, the Achaemenid Empire had expanded to include Mesopotamia,
  Egypt, Anatolia, the Southern Caucasus, Macedonia, the western Indus basin, as well as parts of Central Asia, northern Arabia and northern Libya.
• At its height around 475 BCE, the
  Achaemenid Empire ruled over 44% of the world’s population, the highest figure
  for any empire in history.

Key Terms

Median Empire

One of the four
major powers of the ancient Near East (with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt), until it was conquered by Cyrus the Great in 550 BCE.

Pasargadae

The capital of
the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great.

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of
Persia, also known as Cyrus the Great, created the largest empire the world had
seen.

Darius the Great

The third king of
the Persian Achaemenid Empire, who ruled at its peak from c. 522-486 BCE.

The
Achaemenid Empire, c. 550-330 BCE, or First Persian Empire,
was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great, in Western and Central
Asia. The dynasty drew its name from Achaemenes, who, from 705-675 BCE, ruled
Persis, which was land bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the
Persian Gulf. It was the first centralized nation-state, and during expansion in
approximately 550-500 BCE, it became the first global empire and eventually ruled
over significant portions of the ancient world.

Empire Beginnings

By
the 7th century BCE, a group of ancient Iranian people had established the
Median Empire, a vassal state under the Assyrian Empire that later tried to gain its
independence in the 8th century BCE. After Assyria fell in 605 BCE, Cyaxares,
king of the Medes, extended his rule west across Iran.

Around 550 BCE, Cyrus II of Persia, who became known as Cyrus the Great,
rose in rebellion against the Median Empire, eventually conquering the Medes to
create the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus utilized
his tactical genius, as well as his understanding of the socio-political
conditions governing his territories, to eventually assimilate the neighboring
Lydian and Neo-Babylonian empires into the new Persian Empire.

Relief of Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of Persia,
better known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.
Under his rule, the empire assimilated all the civilized states of the ancient
Near East, and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central
Asia and the Caucasus.

Achaemenid
Expansion

The
empire was ruled by a series of monarchs who joined its disparate tribes by
constructing a complex network of roads. The unified form of the empire came in
the form of a central administration around the city of Pasargadae, which was erected by Cyrus
c. 550 BCE. After his death in 530 BCE, Cyrus was succeeded by his son
Cambyses II, who conquered Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica in 525 BCE; he died
in 522 BCE during a revolt.

During
the king’s long absence during his expansion campaign, a Zoarastrian priest, named Guamata, staged a coup by impersonating Cambryses II’s
younger brother, Bardiya, and seized the throne. Yet in 522 BCE, Darius I, also
known as Darius the Great, overthrew Gaumata and solidified control of the
territories of the Achaemenid Empire, beginning what would be a historic
consolidation of lands.

Achaemenid Empire in the time of Darius and Xerxes

At its height, the
Achaemenid Empire ruled over 44% of the world’s population, the highest figure
for any empire in history.

The empire covered lands that included portions of modern-day Abkhazia, Agfhanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Oman, Nagorno-Karabakh, Northern Cyprus, Pakistan, Palestien, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudia Arabia, South Ossetia, Sudan, Syria,Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Between
c. 500-400 BCE, Darius the Great and his son, Xerxe I, ruled the Persian Plateau
and all of the territories formerly held by the Assyrian Empire, including
Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Cyprus. It eventually came
to control Egypt, as well. This expansion continued even further afield with
Anatolia and the Armenian Plateau, much of the Southern Caucasus, Macedonia,
parts of Greece and Thrace, Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea, the Oxus and
Jaxartes areas, the Hindu Kush and the western Indus basin, and
parts of northern Arabia and northern Libya.

This
unprecedented area of control under a single ruler stretched from the Indus
Valley in the east to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of
Greece. At its height, the Achaemenid Empire ruled over 44% of the world’s
population, the highest such figure for any empire in history.

6.4.2: Government and Trade in the Achaemenid Empire

Emperors Cyrus II and Darius I created a centralized government
and extensive trade network in the Achaemenid Empire.

Learning Objective

Discuss how the central government provided cultural and economic reform

Key Points

• Cyrus
  the Great maintained
  control over a vast empire by installing regional governors, called satraps, to
  rule individual provinces.

• When Darius
  the Great ascended
  the throne in 522 BCE, he organized a new uniform monetary system and
  established Aramaic as
  the official language of the empire.

• Trade infrastructure facilitated
  the exchange of commodities in the far reaches of the empire, including the Royal
  Road, standardized language, and a postal service.
• Tariffs on trade from the
  territories were one of the empire’s main sources of revenue, in addition to agriculture and tribute.

Key Terms

Cyrus Cylinder

An ancient clay artifact that has been called the oldest-known charter of human rights.

Behistun
Inscription

An inscription carved in a cliff face of Mount Behistrun in Iran; it provided a key to deciphering cuneiform script.

satrap

The governor of a province in the ancient Median and Achaemenid (Persian) Empires.

satrapy

The territory under the rule of a satrap.

The
Achaemenid Empire reached enormous size under the leadership of Cyrus II of
Persia (576-530 BCE), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, who created a multi-state
empire. Called Cyrus the Elder by the Greeks, he founded an empire initially
comprising all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East and eventually
most of Southwest and Central Asia and the Caucus region, stretching from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River. Control of this large territory involved a
centralized government, territorial monarchs who served as proxy rulers for the
emperor, and an extensive system of commerce and trade.

Government
Organization

Cyrus,
whose rule lasted between 29 and 31 years, until his death in battle in 530 BCE, controlled the vast Achaemenid Empire through the use of regional
monarchs, called satrap, who each oversaw a territory called
a satrapy. The
basic rule of governance was based upon the loyalty and obedience of the satrapy to the central power, the king,
and compliance with tax laws. Cyrus also connected the various regions of the
empire through an innovative postal system that made use of an extensive
roadway and relay stations.

Cyrus
the Great was recognized for achievements in human rights and politics, having
influenced both Eastern and Western Civilization. The ancient Babylonians
called him “The Liberator,” while the modern nation of Iran calls Cyrus its “father.”

Cyrus
Cylinder

The
Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay artifact, now broken into several fragments, that
has been called the oldest-known charter of universal human rights and a symbol
of his humanitarian rule.

The
cylinder dates from the 6th century BCE, and was discovered in the ruins of
Babylon in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, in 1879. In addition to describing the
genealogy of Cyrus, the declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script on the
cylinder is considered by many Biblical scholars to be evidence of Cyrus’s policy
of repatriation of the Jewish people following their captivity in Babylon.

The
historical nature of the cylinder has been debated, with some scholars arguing
that Cyrus did not make a specific decree, but rather that the cylinder
articulated his general policy allowing exiles to return to their homelands and
rebuild their temples.

In fact, the policies of Cyrus with respect to treatment
of minority religions were well documented in Babylonian texts, as well as in Jewish sources. Cyrus was known to have an overall attitude of religious
tolerance throughout the empire, although it has been debated whether this was
by his own implementation or a continuation of Babylonian and Assyrian
policies.

Darius Improvements

When
Darius I (550-486 BCE), also known as Darius the Great, ascended the throne of
the Achaemenid Empire in 522 BCE, he established Aramaic as the official
language and devised a codification of laws for Egypt. Darius also sponsored work
on construction projects throughout the empire, focusing on improvement of the cities
of Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Babylon, and
various municipalities in Egypt.

When
Darius moved his capital from Pasargadae to Persepolis, he revolutionized the
economy by placing it on a silver and gold coinage and introducing a regulated
and sustainable tax system. This structure precisely tailored the taxes of each satrapy
based on its projected productivity and economic potential. For example,
Babylon was assessed for the highest amount of silver taxes, while Egypt owed grain
in addition to silver taxes.

Persian reliefs in the city of Persepolis

Darius the Great moved the capital of the Achaemenid Empire to Persepolis c. 522 BCE. He initiated several major architectural projects, including the construction of a palace and a treasure house.

Behistun
Inscription

Sometime
after his coronation, Darius ordered an inscription to be carved on a limestone cliff
of Mount Behistun in modern Iran. The Behistun Inscription, the text of which
Darius wrote, came to have great linguistic significance as a crucial clue in
deciphering cuneiform script.

The
inscription begins by tracing the ancestry of Darius, followed by a description
of a sequence of events following the deaths of the previous two Achaemenid
emperors, Cyrus the Great and Cyrus’s son, Cambyses II, in which Darius fought
19 battles in one year to put down numerous rebellions throughout the Persian
lands.

The inscription,
which is approximately 15 meters high and 25 meters wide, includes three
versions of the text in three different cuneiform languages: Old Persian,
Elamite and Babylonian, which was a version of Akkadian. Researchers were able
to compare the scripts and use it to help decipher ancient languages, in this
way making the Behistun Inscription as valuable to cuneiform as the Rosetta
Stone is to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Behistun Inscription

A section of the Behistun Inscription on a limestone cliff of Mount Behistun in western Iran, which became a key in deciphering cuneiform script.

Commerce
and Trade

Under
the Achaemenids, trade was extensive and there was an efficient infrastructure
that facilitated the exchange of commodities in the far reaches of the empire.
Tariffs on trade were one of the empire’s main sources of revenue, in addition to agriculture and tribute.

The satrapies were linked by a 2,500-kilometer
highway, the most impressive stretch of which was the Royal Road, from Susa to
Sardis. The relays of mounted couriers could reach the most remote areas in 15
days. Despite the relative local independence afforded by the satrapy system, royal inspectors regularly
toured the empire and reported on local conditions using this route.

Achaemenid golden bowl with lion imagery

Trade in the Achaemenid Empire was extensive. Infrastructure, including the Royal Road, standardized language, and a postal service facilitated the exchange of commodities in the far reaches of the empire.

Military

Cyrus
the Great created an organized army to enforce national authority, despite the ethno-cultural
diversity among the subject nations, the empire’s enormous geographic size, and
the constant struggle for power by regional competitors.

This
professional army included the Immortals unit, comprising 10,000 highly trained
heavy infantry. Under Darius the Great, Persia would become the first empire to
inaugurate and deploy an imperial navy, with personnel that included Phoenicians,
Egyptians, Cypriots, and Greeks.

6.4.3: Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion, had a major influence on the culture and religion of all other monotheistic religions in the region.

Learning Objective

Explain Zoroastrianism and its impact on Persian culture

Key Points

• Zoroastrianism is ascribed to the teachings of Zoroaster, an Iranian prophet, who worshiped Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its Supreme Being.
• Leading characteristics, such as messianism, heaven and hell, and free will are said to have influenced other religious systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam.
• Zoroastrianism served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires from c. 600 BCE to 650 CE, but saw a steep decline after the Muslim conquest of Persia.
• The religion states that active participation in life through good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

Key Terms

eschatological

A part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, often referred to as the “end times.”

Sassanids

The last Iranian empire before the rise of Islam.

Gnosticism

A modern term categorizing a collection of ancient religions whose adherents shunned the material world—

which they viewed as created by the demiurge—and embraced the spiritual world.

messianism

The belief in a messiah, who acts as a savior, redeemer or liberator of a group of people.

Overview and Theology

Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions. It ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), and exalted their deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its Supreme Being. Leading characteristics, such as messianism, heaven and hell, and free will are said to have influenced other religious systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam. With possible roots dating back to the second millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the 5th-century BCE. It served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires from around 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards, following the Muslim conquest of Persia. Recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and Iran.

The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, which includes the writings of Zoroaster, known as the Gathas and the Yasna. The Gathas are enigmatic poems that define the religion’s precepts, while the Yasna is the scripture. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is: Ahura, The Lord Creator, and Mazda, Supremely Wise. He proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, and because of cause and effect are also responsible for the consequences of their choices. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit. Post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu.

In Zoroastrianism, water (apo, aban) and fire (atar, azar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, water and fire are respectively the second and last primordial elements to have been created, and scripture considers fire to have its origin in the waters. Both water and fire are considered life-sustaining, and both water and fire are represented within the precinct of a fire temple. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire (which can be considered evident in any source of light), and the culminating rite of the principle act of worship constitutes a “strengthening of the waters.” Fire is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom is gained, and water is considered the source of that wisdom.

The religion states that active participation in life through good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay. This active participation is a central element in Zoroaster’s concept of free will, and Zoroastrianism rejects all forms of monasticism. Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail over the evil Angra Mainyu or Ahriman, at which point the universe will undergo a cosmic renovation and time will end. In the final renovation, all of creation—even the souls of the dead that were initially banished to “darkness”—will be reunited in Ahura Mazda, returning to life in the undead form. At the end of time, a savior-figure (a Saoshyant) will bring about a final renovation of the world (frashokereti), in which the dead will be revived.

Zoroastrian Priest

Painted clay and alabaster head of a Zoroastrian priest wearing a distinctive Bactrian-style headdress, Takhti-Sangin, Tajikistan, Greco-Bactrian kingdom, 3rd-2nd century BCE.

A sculpture of the head of a Zoroastrian priest wearing a white headdress.

History

The roots of Zoroastrianism are thought to have emerged from a common prehistoric Indo-Iranian religious system dating back to the early 2nd millennium BCE. The prophet Zoroaster himself, though traditionally dated to the 6th century BCE, is thought by many modern historians to have been a reformer of the polytheistic Iranian religion who lived in the 10th century BCE. Zoroastrianism as a religion was not firmly established until several centuries later. Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the mid-5th century BCE. Herodotus’ The Histories (completed c. 440 BCE) includes a description of Greater Iranian society with what may be recognizably Zoroastrian features, including exposure of the dead.

The Histories is a primary source of information on the early period of the Achaemenid era (648-330 BCE), in particular with respect to the role of the Magi. According to Herodotus i.101, the Magi were the sixth tribe of the Medians (until the unification of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great, all Iranians were referred to as “Mede” or “Mada” by the peoples of the Ancient World). The Magi appear to have been the priestly caste of the Mesopotamian-influenced branch of Zoroastrianism today known as Zurvanism, and they wielded considerable influence at the courts of the Median emperors.

Darius I, and later Achaemenid emperors, acknowledged their devotion to Ahura Mazda in inscriptions (as attested to several times in the Behistun inscription), and appear to have continued the model of coexistence with other religions. Whether Darius was a follower of Zoroaster has not been conclusively established, since devotion to Ahura Mazda was (at the time) not necessarily an indication of an adherence to Zoroaster’s teaching. A number of the Zoroastrian texts that today are part of the greater compendium of the Avesta have been attributed to that period.

The religion would be professed many centuries following the demise of the Achaemenids in mainland Persia and the core regions of the former Achaemenid Empire—

most notably Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus. In the Cappadocian kingdom (whose territory was formerly an Achaemenid possession), Persian colonists who were cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper continued to practice the Zoroastrianism of their forefathers. There, Strabo, observing in the first century BCE, records that these “fire kindlers” possessed many “holy places of the Persian Gods,” as well as fire temples. Strabo furthermore relates, that they were “noteworthy enclosures; and in their midst there is an altar, on which there is a large quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning.” Throughout, and after, the Hellenistic periods in the aforementioned regions, the religion would be strongly revived.

As late as the Parthian period, a form of Zoroastrianism was without a doubt the dominant religion in the Armenian lands. The Sassanids aggressively promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism, often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion. During the period of their centuries long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sassanids made attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes. It was also prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus (especially modern-day Azerbaijan).

6.5: The Maurya Empire

6.5.1: Rise of the Maurya Empire

Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in 322 BCE when he conquered the kingdom of Magadha and the northwestern Macedonian satrapies.

Learning Objective

Understand the history and significance of the Maurya Empire

Key Points

• The Maurya Empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and rapidly expanded his power westward across central and western India in order to take advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal by Alexander the Great’s armies. 
• According to legend, the teacher Chanakya convinced his disciple, Chandragupta Maurya, to conquer the the kingdom of Magadha (the Nanda Empire) when he was insulted by its king Dhana Nanda.
• Chandragupta Maurya expanded the Maurya Empire north and west as he conquered the Macedonian Satrapies and won the Seleucid-Mauryan war.
• In its time, the Maurya Empire was one of the largest empires of the world.

Key Terms

Takshashila

An early city in modern-day Pakistan that was believed to be one of the earliest global settings of learning and culture. It is now modern-day Taxila.

Chanakya

Maurya’s teacher and loyal advisor during the foundation and expansion of the Maurya Empire.

Nanda Empire

The kingdom led by Dhana Nanda; it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 BCE.

Chandragupta Maurya

The founder of the Maurya Empire; he lived from 340-298 BCE.

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in ancient India, ruled by the Maurya dynasty from 322-185 BCE. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (modern Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh) in the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent, the empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (modern Patna). The empire was the largest to have ever existed in the Indian subcontinent, spanning over 5 million square kilometres at its zenith under Ashoka.

The Empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty, and rapidly expanded his power,with Chanakya’s help, westward across central and western India. His expansion took advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great’s armies. By 316 BCE, the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander. Chandragupta then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I, a Macedonian general from Alexander’s army, and gained additional territory west of the Indus River.

In its time, the Maurya Empire was one of the largest empires of the world. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, to the east into Assam, to the west into Balochistan (southwest Pakistan and southeast Iran) and into the Hindu Kush mountains of what is now Afghanistan. The Empire was expanded into India’s central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded a small portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga (modern Odisha), until it was conquered by Ashoka. It declined for about 50 years after Ashoka’s rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Shunga Dynasty in Magadha.

Conquest of Magadha and foundation of the Maurya Empire (c. 321 BCE)

According to several legends, Chanakya traveled to Magadha, a kingdom that was large and militarily powerful and feared by its neighbors, but was insulted by its king Dhana Nanda, of the Nanda Dynasty. Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire.

The Nanda Empire originated from the region of Magadha in ancient India during the 4th century BCE, and lasted until between 345-321 BCE. At its greatest extent, the empire ruled by the Nanda Dynasty extended from Bengal in the east, to the Punjab region in the west, and as far south as the Vindhya Range. The rulers of this dynasty were famed for the great wealth that they accumulated.

Chanakya encouraged the young Chandragupta Maurya and his army to take over the throne of Magadha. Using his intelligence network, Chandragupta gathered many young men from across Magadha and other provinces, who were upset over the corrupt and oppressive rule of King Dhana, as well as the resources necessary for his army to fight a long series of battles. These men included the former general of Taxila, accomplished students of Chanakya, the representative of King Porus of Kakayee, his son Malayketu, and the rulers of small states.

Maurya devised a strategy to invade Pataliputra, the capital of the Nanda Empire. A battle was announced and the Magadhan army was drawn from the city to a distant battlefield in order to engage Maurya’s forces. Meanwhile, Maurya’s general and spies bribed the Nanda’s corrupt general, and created an atmosphere of civil war in the kingdom, which culminated in the death of the heir to the throne.

Upon the civil unrest in the kingdom, Nanda resigned and disappeared into exile. Chanakya contacted the prime minister, Rakshasa, and convinced him that his loyalty was to Magadha, not to the Nanda Dynasty, and that he should remain in office. Chanakya reiterated that choosing to resist would start a war that would severely affect Magadha and destroy the city. Rakshasa accepted Chanakya’s reasoning, and Chandragupta Maurya was legitimately installed as the new King of Magadha in 321 BCE, at the age of 21. Rakshasa became Chandragupta’s chief advisor, and Chanakya assumed the position of an elder statesman.

Statue of Chandragupta Maurya at the Birla Mandir Hindu temple, Delhi

Chandragupta Maurya conquered the kingdom of Magadha to found the Maurya Empire in 231 BCE, at the age of 21.

Northwest Expansion

With his new seat of power in Magadha, Chandragupta Maurya defeated the remaining Macedonian satraps, and consolidated his reign of the new Maurya Empire. He rapidly expanded his power westward across central and western India, taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great’s Greek armies. By 320 BCE, the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India. Chandragupta Maurya would become the first emperor to unify India into one state, creating one of the world’s largest empires in its time, and the largest ever in the Indian subcontinent.

The Maurya Empire c. 320 BCE

The Maurya Empire when it was first founded by Chandragupta Maurya c. 320 BCE, after conquering the Nanda Empire when he was only about 20 years old.

The empire covered Northern India, as well as portions of modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and China.

6.5.2: Expansion of the Maurya Empire

After winning the Seleucid-Mauryan war, the Maurya Empire expanded into the southern Indian subcontinent under the rule of Ashoka the Great.

Learning Objective

Understand the expansion of the Maurya Empire

Key Points

• The Seleucid Empire tried and failed to reconquer the northwestern part of the Maurya Empire during the Seleucid-Mauryan war, from 305-303 BCE.
• As part of the peace offering, the Maurya Empire gained five territories in exchange for 500 war elephants.
• Several Greeks remained at the Mauryan court as ambassadors to the Hellenistic world.
• Chandragupta Maurya was succeed by his son, Bindusara, in 298 BCE, and then by Bindusara’s son, Ashoka the Great, in 272 BCE.
• Under Ashoka the Great, the Maurya Empire expanded into the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.
• Ashoka erected the Edicts of Ashoka, which state his policies and accomplishments, and which were written in both Greek and Sanskrit.

Key Terms

satrapies

The governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid (Persian) Empires, and several of their successors, such as the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.

Edicts of Ashoka

Stone edicts that depicted the policies and accomplishments of Ashoka the Great, and were written in both Greek and Sanskrit.

Ashoka the Great

Lived 304-232 BCE. As the king of the Maurya Empire, he conquered the Indian subcontinent.

Seleucus

The king of the Seleucid Empire who tried to reconquer northwestern Indian, but lost the Selecucid-Mauryan War.

The Seleucid-Mauryan War

In 305 BCE, Emperor Chandragupta Maurya led a series of campaigns to retake the satrapies left behind by Alexander the Great when he returned westward. Seleucus I fought to defend these territories, but both sides made peace in 303 BCE.

Seleucus, one of Alexander’s generals, received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander’s near eastern territories. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the year used as the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. He ruled not only Babylonia, but the entire enormous eastern part of Alexander’s empire. The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture. In the areas where a Greek-Macedonian political elite dominated (mostly urban), it maintained the preeminence of Greek customs.

In 305 BCE, Seleucus I tried to reconquer the northwestern parts of India in order to claim them for the growing Seleucid Empire. Little is known of the campaign in which Chandragupta fought with Seleucus over the Indus Valley and the region of Gandhara—

a very wealthy kingdom that had submitted decades earlier to Alexander the Great.

Seleucus lost the Seleucid-Mauryan War, and the two rulers reconciled with a peace treaty. The Greeks offered a Macedonian princess for marriage to Chandragupta, and several territories, including the satrapies of Paropamisade (modern-day Kamboja and Gandhara), Arachosia (modern-day Kandhahar), and Gedrosia (modern-day Balochistan). In return, Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role in Seleucus’ victory against western Hellenistic kings at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE.

The Maurya Empire c. 305 BCE

Chandragupta extended the borders of the Maurya Empire toward Seleucid Persia, after defeating Seleucus c. 305 BCE.

The empire expanded farther west to modern-day Afghanistan.

In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched two Greek ambassadors, Megasthenes and, later, Deimakos, to the Mauryan court at Pataliputra. Later, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court. Thus, continuing ties between the Hellenistic world and the Mauryan Empire.

Expansion Under Bindusara

Chandragupta Maurya ruled from 322 BCE until his voluntary retirement and abdication, in favor of his son, Bindusara, in 298 BCE. Bindusara (320-272 BCE) was the son of Maurya and his queen, Durdhara. During his reign, Bindusara expanded the Maurya Empire southward, with Chanakya as his advisor. He brought 16 states under the Maurya Empire and thus conquered almost all of the Indian peninsula. Bindusara ignored the friendly Dravidian kingdoms of the Cholas, ruled by King Ilamcetcenni, the Pandyas, and Cheras. Apart from these southern states, Kalinga (modern-day Odisha) was the only kingdom in India independent from Bindusara’s empire.

The Maurya Empire c. 290 BCE

Bindausara (ruler 298-272 BCE) extended the borders of the empire southward into the Deccan Plateau c. 290 BCE.

The empire grew farther South so that it covered most of modern-day India.

Ashoka the Great

Bindusara died in 272 BCE, and was succeeded by his son, Ashoka the Great (304-232 BCE). As a young prince, Ashoka (r. 272-232 BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in Ujjain and Taxila. As monarch, he was ambitious and aggressive, reasserting the Empire’s superiority in southern and western India. But it was his conquest of Kalinga (262-261 BCE) that proved to be the pivotal event of his life. Although Ashoka’s army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of royal soldiers and civilian units, an estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over 10,000 of Ashoka’s own men. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely affected by the destruction and fallout of war. When he personally witnessed the devastation, Ashoka began feeling remorse. Although the annexation of Kalinga was completed, Ashoka embraced the teachings of Buddhism, and renounced war and violence. He sent out missionaries to travel around Asia and spread Buddhism to other countries.

Extent of the Maurya Empire at its height in 265 BCE

Ashoka the Great extended into Kalinga during the Kalinga War c. 265 BCE, and established superiority over the southern kingdoms.

The empire grew to cover all of modern-day India.

As ruler, Ashoka implemented principles of ahimsa (the principle of “to not injure”) by banning hunting and violent sports activities, and ending indentured and forced labor (many thousands of people in war-ravaged Kalinga had been forced into hard labor and servitude). While he maintained a large and powerful army to keep the peace, Ashoka expanded friendly relations with states across Asia and Europe, and sponsored Buddhist missions. He undertook a massive public works building campaign across the country. Among these works were the construction of stupas, or Buddhist religious structures, containing relics. One notable stupas created during the reign of Ashoka was The Great Stupa, which stands in Sanchi, India. Over 40 years of peace, harmony, and prosperity made Ashoka one of the most successful and famous monarchs in Indian history. He remains an idealized figure of inspiration in modern India.

The Edicts of Ashoka

Perhaps one of the greatest-known accomplishments of Ashoka was his creation of his edicts, which were erected between 269 BCE and 232 BCE. The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from as far west as Afghanistan, and as far south as Andhra (Nellore District), Ashoka’s edicts state his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two of them were written in Greek, and one in both Greek and Aramaic. Ashoka’s edicts refer to the Greeks, Kambojas, and Gandharas as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire. They also attest to Ashoka’s envoys’ travels to the Greek rulers in the west as far as the Mediterranean. Ashoka’s edicts also mentioned social and cultural attributes of his empire, emphasizing Buddhism, though not condemning other religions. For this, the Edicts of Ashoka are known as an early document that promoted religious tolerance.

An Edict of Asoka

Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by king Asoka, from Kandahar. Kabul Museum

6.5.3: Centralization in the Maurya Empire

The Mauryan Empire encouraged economic prosperity through political
stability and a unified central government.

Learning Objective

Describe the significance of the political stability offered by the Mauryan Empire

Key Points

• The Mauryan Empire was divided
  into four provinces, each governed by the Kumara,
  who served as the king’s representative.
• Emperor Ashoka maintained a
  massive standing
  army to
  protect the Mauryan Empire and instill stability and peace across West and
  South Asia.
• Chandragupta
  Maurya, Ashoka’s
  grandfather, had established a single currency
  across India, a network of regional governors and administrators, and a civil
  service to provide justice and security for merchants, farmers and traders that
  continued throughout the Mauryan Dynasty.
• The Mauryan international network
  of trade extended to the Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms
  in West Asia and into Southeast Asia.

Key Terms

Arthashastra

An ancient Indian treatise on government, statecraft, military, and economy.

Khyber Pass

A strategically important trade stop on the modern boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

standing army

A permanent army composed of full-time soldiers that is not disbanded during times of peace.

Kumara

A royal prince who oversaw the Mauryan provinces on behalf of the emperor.

Employing
a carefully organized bureaucratic system, the Maurya Empire was able to
maintain security and political unity across large parts of western and southern
Asia. This included a common economic system supporting stable agriculture in
its vast landholdings, as well as successful trade and commerce. Through this
centralized authority, which included a powerful military, the rulers of the
empire bound together the previously fractured regions of the Indian Subcontinent.

Unification
and Military

Chandragupta
Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, ruled from 324-297 BCE, before voluntarily abdicating in favor of his son, Bindusara, who ruled
from 297 BCE until his death in 272 BCE. This led to a war of succession in which Bindusara’s
son, Ashoka, defeated his brother, Susima, and rose to the throne in 268 BCE, eventually
becoming the greatest ruler of the Maurya Dynasty.

Before
the Mauryan Empire, the Indian subcontinent was fragmented into hundreds of
kingdoms. These were ruled by powerful regional chieftains with small armies that
engaged in internecine warfare. The Mauryan Army eliminated regional chieftains,
private armies, and even gangs of bandits, who sought to impose their own
supremacy in small areas.

The Mauryan
Army, the largest standing military force of its time, supported the expansion
and defense of the empire. According to scholars, the empire wielded 600,000
infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war elephants, while a vast espionage system
collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes. Although
Emperor Ashoka renounced offensive warfare and expansionism, he maintained this
standing army to protect the empire from external threats and maintain
stability and peace across Western and Southern Asia.

Administration

The Mauryan
Empire was divided into four provinces, with the imperial capital at
Pataliputra, near the Ganges River in the modern state of Bihar in India. The Edicts of Ashoka, a collection of inscriptions
made during Ashoka’s reign from 268-232 BCE, give the names of the Maurya
Empire’s four provincial capitals: Tosali in the east, Ujjain in the west,
Suvarnagiri in the south, and Taxila in the north.

The
organizational structure began at the imperial level with the emperor and his
Mantriparishad, or Council of Ministers. The head of the provincial
administration was the Kumara, or royal prince, who governed the provinces as the
king’s representative, with the assistance of Mahamatyas, who were essentially regional
prime ministers. Through this sophisticated system of bureaucracy, the empire governed
all aspects of government at every level, from municipal hygiene to
international trade.

Maurya Empire at its greatest extent (dark orange), including vassal kingdoms (light orange), 265 BCE

The Maurya Empire provided political stability with a unified central government, which in turn encouraged economic prosperity.

The map shows the empire covering all of modern-day India, as well as portions of modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, and China.

Centralization
and Taxation

Chandragupta
Maurya, the father of the dynasty, established a single currency across India,
a network of regional governors and administrators, and a civil service to
provide justice and security for merchants, farmers, and traders.

Through
the disciplined central authority of the Mauryan Empire, farmers were freed of
tax and crop collection burdens from regional kings. Instead, they paid a
nationally administered system of taxation that was strict but fair. The system
operated under the principles of the Arthashastra,
an ancient Indian treatise on economic policy, statecraft, and military
strategy. Written in Sanskrit and adhering to Hindu philosophies, the Arthashastra includes books on the
nature of government, law, civil and criminal courts, ethics, and economic
topics, including markets and trade, agriculture, mineralogy, mining and metals,
forestry, and others.

Although
regimental in revenue collection, the Mauryan Empire funded numerous public
works projects to enhance productivity. Like his father and grandfather, Ashoka
sponsored the construction of thousands of roads, waterways, canals, rest houses,
hospitals, and other types of infrastructure.

Under
continued Mauryan rule, political unity and military security encouraged a
common economic system, increased agricultural productivity, and enhanced widespread
trade and commerce for the first time in West and South Asia.

Coins of the Maurya Empire

Chandragupta Maurya established a single currency across India, including these silver punch mark coins with symbols of wheel and elephant, 3rd century BCE

Trade and
Commerce

The Maurya
Empire’s political unity and internal peace encouraged the expansion of trade
in India. Under the Indo-Greek friendship treaty during Ashoka’s reign, the
Mauryan international network of trade saw great expansion.

The Khyber Pass, on the modern boundary of
Pakistan and Afghanistan, became a strategically important point of trade and interaction
with the outside world. Greek states and Hellenic kingdoms in West Asia became
trading partners. Trade also extended through the Malay Peninsula into
Southeast Asia. India’s exports included silk, textiles, spices, and exotic
foods. The outside world gained new scientific knowledge and
technology through expanded trade with the Mauryan Empire.

6.5.4: Ashoka’s Conversion

Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest.

Learning Objective

Discuss the effects of Ashoka the Great’s conversion to Buddhism

Key Points

• While the early part of Ashoka’s reign was apparently quite bloodthirsty, he became a follower of the Buddha’s teachings after his conquest of Kalinga.
• According to a contemporary text, the Edicts of Ashoka, Ashoka converted to  Buddhism because he “felt remorse on account of the conquest of Kalinga because, during the subjugation of a previously unconquered country, slaughter, death, and taking away captive of the people necessarily occur.”
• In one source, his conversion is presented as a gradual process coming from intense personal anguish, rather than spurred by a specific event.
• As a Buddhist emperor, Ashoka believed that Buddhism is beneficial for all human beings, as well as animals and plants, so he built a number of stupas. He also well spread Buddhism to neighboring kingdoms.

Key Terms

Edicts of Ashoka

A collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire during his reign, from 269 BCE to 232 BCE.

Dharma

Cosmic law and order, behaviors that are considered to be in accord with the order that makes life and the universe possible, including duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues, and ‘‘right way of living.” Also specifically signifies the teachings of the Buddha.

Background: Conquest of Kalinga

While the early part of Ashoka’s reign was apparently quite bloodthirsty, he became a follower of the Buddha’s teachings after his conquest of Kalinga on the east coast of India in the present-day states of Odisha and North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary democracy, it was quite an exception in ancient Bharata where there existed the concept of Rajdharma. Rajdharma means the duty of the rulers, which was intrinsically entwined with the concept of bravery and dharma. The Kalinga War happened eight years after his coronation. From Ashoka’s 13th inscription, we come to know that the battle was a massive one and caused the deaths of more than 100,000 soldiers and many civilians who rose up in defence; over 150,000 were deported. When he was walking through the grounds of Kalinga after his conquest, rejoicing in his victory, he was moved by the number of bodies strewn there and the wails of the bereaved.

Conversion to Buddhism

Edict 13 on the Edicts of Ashoka Rock Inscriptions reflect the great remorse the king felt after observing the destruction of Kalinga:

His Majesty felt remorse on account of the conquest of Kalinga because, during the subjugation of a previously unconquered country, slaughter, death, and taking away captive of the people necessarily occur, whereas His Majesty feels profound sorrow and regret.

The edict goes on to address the even greater degree of sorrow and regret resulting from Ashoka’s understanding that the friends and families of deceased would suffer greatly too.

Legend says that one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. The lethal war with Kalinga transformed the vengeful Emperor Ashoka into a stable and peaceful emperor, and he became a patron of Buddhism. According to the prominent Indologist, A. L. Basham, Ashoka’s personal religion became Buddhism, if not before, then certainly after the Kalinga War. However, according to Basham, the Dharma officially propagated by Ashoka was not Buddhism at all. Nevertheless, his patronage led to the expansion of Buddhism in the Mauryan empire and other kingdoms during his rule, and worldwide from about 250 BCE.

After the Kalinga War and Ashoka’s conversion, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of peace and security. Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Chandragupta Maurya’s embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka’s embrace of Buddhism has been said to have been the foundation of the reign of social and political peace and non-violence across all of India.

Buddhist Kingship

One of the more enduring legacies of Ashoka Maurya was the model that he provided for the relationship between Buddhism and the state. Throughout Theravada Southeastern Asia, the model of rulership embodied by Ashoka replaced the notion of divine kingship that had previously dominated (in the Angkor kingdom, for instance). Under this model of “Buddhist kingship,” the king sought to legitimize his rule, not through descent from a divine source, but by supporting and earning the approval of the Buddhist sangha. Following Ashoka’s example, kings established monasteries, funded the construction of stupas, and supported the ordination of monks in their kingdom. Many rulers also took an active role in resolving disputes over the status and regulation of the sangha, as Ashoka had by calling a conclave to settle a number of contentious issues during his reign. This development ultimately led to a close association in many Southeast Asian countries between the monarchy and the religious hierarchy, an association that can still be seen today in the state-supported Buddhism of Thailand, and the traditional role of the Thai king as both a religious and secular leader. Ashoka also said that his courtiers always governed the people in a moral manner.

As a Buddhist emperor, Ashoka believed that Buddhism is beneficial for all human beings, as well as animals and plants, so he built a number of stupas, Sangharama, viharas, chaitya, and residences for Buddhist monks all over South Asia and Central Asia. According to the Ashokavadana, he ordered the construction of 84,000 stupas to house the Buddhas relics. In the Aryamanjusrimulakalpa, Ashoka takes offerings to each of these stupas, traveling in a chariot adorned with precious metals. He gave donations to viharas and mathas. He sent his only daughter, Sanghamitra, and son, Mahindra, to spread Buddhism in Sri Lanka (then known as Tamraparni).

Stupa

Great Stupa (3rd century BC), Sanchi, India. Ashoka ordered the construction of 84,000 stupas to house the Buddhas relics.

An image of a stupa built by Ashoka, a large dome building with images etched in the sides.

Debate About Ashoka’s Conversion and Rule

The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his Edicts. Building on traditional accounts, early scholars regarded Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist monarch who underwent a conversion to Buddhism and was actively engaged in sponsoring and supporting the Buddhist monastic institution. Some scholars have tended to question this assessment. The only source of information not attributable to Buddhist sources are the Ashokan Edicts, and these do not explicitly state that Ashoka was a Buddhist. In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism. His edicts addressed to the population at large (there are some addressed specifically to Buddhists, which is not the case for the other religions) generally focus on moral themes that members of all the religions would accept.

However, the edicts alone strongly indicate that he was a Buddhist. In one edict he belittles rituals, and he banned Vedic animal sacrifices; these strongly suggest that he at least did not look to the Vedic tradition for guidance. Furthermore, many edicts are expressed to Buddhists alone; in one, Ashoka declares himself to be an “upasaka,” and in another he demonstrates a close familiarity with Buddhist texts. He erected rock pillars at Buddhist holy sites, but did not do so for the sites of other religions. He also used the word “dhamma” to refer to qualities of the heart that underlie moral action; this was an exclusively Buddhist use of the word. Finally, he promoted ideals that correspond to the first three steps of the Buddha’s graduated discourse.

Interestingly, the Ashokavadana, presents an alternate view of the familiar Ashoka. In this source, his conversion has nothing to do with the Kalinga War or his descent from the Maurya dynasty. Instead, Ashoka’s reason for adopting non-violence appears much more personal. The Ashokavadana shows that the main source of Ashoka’s conversion, and the acts of welfare that followed, are rooted instead in intense personal anguish, from a wellspring inside himself rather than spurred by a specific event. It thereby illuminates Ashoka as more humanly ambitious and passionate, with both greatness and flaws. This Ashoka is very different from the “shadowy do-gooder” of later Pali chronicles.

6.5.5: Decline of the Maurya Empire

The Sunga Dynasty usurped the Maurya Dynasty, and parts of the
empire were incorporated into the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

Learning Objective

Describe the factors that contributed to the decline of the Maurya Empire

Key Points

• Ashoka
  the Great’s rule was followed by 50 years of weak kings who did
  not retain strong central authority. This eventually led to the dissolution of
  the Maurya Empire.
• General Pusyamitra Sunga staged
  a coup against
  the Maurya Dynasty in 185 BCE. As a result, he ascended the throne and founded the Sunga Dynasty.
• In 180 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian
  King Demetrius conquered the northwestern Indian territories and founded the
  Indo-Greek Kingdom.
• Buddhism lost
  favor when the Sunga Dynasty gained power, but remained dominant in the
  Ind0-Greek Kingdom.

Key Terms

Khyber Pass

A mountain pass
connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan; it has been an important trade route
between Central Asia and South Asia, and a strategic military location.

Demetrius

The
Greco-Bactrian king who established the Indo-Greek kingdom when he conquered
parts of northwestern India, around 180 BCE.

Sunga

The dynasty founded by the general Pusyamitra Sunga after he staged a coup against the Maurya dynasty in 185 BCE.

Buddhism

A religion encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha.

A
50-year succession of weak kings followed the reign of Ashoka the Great, the
Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who died in 232 BCE.
As Ashoka’s highly centralized government lost power, the Maurya Empire lost
control over its territories. The different cultures and economies began to
break apart, although the kings maintained Buddhism as the state religion.

Sunga Coup
and Rule

Brihadratha,
the last ruler of the Maurya Dynasty, was assassinated in 185 BCE. The
commander-in-chief of his guard, Brahmin General Pusyamitra Sunga, killed Brihadratha
during a military parade and ascended the throne. He established the Sunga Dynasty,
which prospered from approximately 187 to 78 BCE. Pusyamitra was succeeded
after 36 years by his son, Agnimitra, beginning the dynasty of ten Sunga rulers
overall. They conducted wars with both foreign and indigenous powers, including
the Kalinga, the Satavahana Dynasty, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Sungas were
succeeded by the Kanva Dynasty around 73 BCE.

Sunga rulers helped establish the tradition of royal sponsorship of education
and the arts at a time when some of the most important developments in Hindu
thought were taking place. The Mathura art style took hold during this time,
and many small terracotta images, larger stone sculptures, and architectural
monuments from the Sunga period are still in existence.

Sunga Royal Family, c. 150 BCE

Art and learning prospered under Sunga patronage, as seen in this terracotta tablet of the Sunga Royal family.

Sunga and
Buddhism

The
Sungas favored Hinduism over Buddhism. Buddhist sources, such as the Ashokavadana, an Indian
Sanskrit text describing the birth and reign of Ashoka the Great, mention that
Pusyamitra was hostile towards Buddhists and allegedly persecuted members of
the Buddhist faith. A large number of Buddhist monasteries, called viharas,
were allegedly converted to Hindu temples in such places as Nalanda, Bodhgaya,
Sarnath, or Mathura. Some historians argue, however, that Buddhist accounts of Sunga
persecution are largely exaggerated.

Sunga Empire, c. 185 BCE

The Sunga Dynasty was established following a coup by General Pusyamitra Sunga, marking the end of the Maurya Empire.

The map shows that the Shunga Empire covered portions of modern-day northeast India, as well as portions of modern-day Bangladesh and Nepal.

Indo-Greek
Kingdom

In
the east, the fall of the Mauryas left the Khyber Pass unguarded, and a wave of foreign
invasion followed. The Greco-Bactrian king, Demetrius, capitalized on the break-up and
conquered southern Afghanistan and parts of northwestern India around 180 BCE,
forming the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks maintained territorial holdings
for about a century in the Trans-Indus Region, in what is now Pakistan and parts of central India.

Demetrius, who lived from 175 to 140 BCE, founded the city of Sirkap,
combining Greek and Indian influences without signs of segregation between the
two cultures. The Greek expansion into Indian territory may have been intended
to protect Greek populations in India, as well as to protect the Buddhist faith
from the alleged religious persecutions of the Sungas.

Seated Buddha statue showing Greek influences

Buddhism was favored in the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Many statues of Buddha from this period display Greek stylistic elements including Greek clothing.

Demetrius
was succeeded by Menander, who conquered the largest territory and was one of
the most successful Indo-Greek kings. His coins that have been discovered are
the most numerous and widespread of all the Indo-Greek kings. According to
Buddhist literature, Menander converted to Buddhism and is sometimes described
as the Milinda Panha. He helped Buddhism flourish and established the new
capital of Sagala.

Coin depicting Menander I

Described in both Greek and Indian accounts, Menander I became the most important of the Indo-Greek rulers. He converted to Buddhism and expanded the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

In
Indian literature, the Indo-Greeks are described as “Yavanas” in
Sanskrit, or “Yonas” in Pali, which are both thought to be
transliterations of “Ionians.” The Buddhist scripture, Majjhima Nikaya, explains that in
contrast with the numerous Indian castes, there were only two classes of
people in Indo-Greek culture: the Aryas, translated as the masters; and Dasas,
the servants.

Indo-Greek
Fall

Throughout the first century BCE, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost
ground to the Indians in the East, and the Scythians, the Yuezhi, and the Parthians in the
West. About 20 Indo-Greek kings are known during this period, including last
known Indo-Greek ruler, Strato II, who ruled in the Punjab region until around
55 BCE.

6.6: The Kushan Empire

6.6.1: Expansion and Decline of the Kushan Empire

The Kushan Empire expanded from Greco-Bactrian lands
into China and India, until its collapse in 375 CE.

Learning Objective

Explain the importance of the Kushan Empire

Key Points

• The Yuezhi invaded
  the Greco-Bactrian
  kingdom around
  135 BCE, displacing the Greek dynasties. The
  Kushans, a Yuezhi branch,
  spread south into the region traditionally known as
  Gandhara, and then expanded across the northern parts of the Indian
  subcontinent. 
• Around 152 CE, the emperor Kanishka sent his armies north to capture
  territories in present-day western China, and south into modern central India. A
  direct road from the Kushan Empire and China, as well as the security offered by the
  Kushan Empire, facilitated trade with the Roman Empire, Sassanid Persia,
  Aksumite Empire, and Han China.

• The Kushans were influenced by
  the Hellenistic kingdoms, and maintained a wide variety of faiths, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

• Kushan control fragmented into
  semi-independent kingdoms as the Sassanians attacked from the west and the
  Guptas attacked from the east, collapsing the Kushan Empire around 375 CE.

Key Terms

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

The easternmost
part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia
from 250-125 BCE. The Greco-Bactrians expanded into northern India and established
the Indo-Greek Kingdom in 180 BCE, which lasted until around 10 CE.

The Kushans

One of five branches of the Yuezhi, who invaded Bactria in 135 BCE, and spread southeast to form the Kushan Empire around 30 CE.

Yuezhi

An ancient Indo-European people who originally settled in the grasslands of the eastern Tarim Basin, part of modern China.

Zoroastrianism

One of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran approximately 3,500 years ago.

Indo-Sassanids

A branch of the
Sassanid Persians, who established their rule in the northwestern Indian
subcontinent during the third and fourth centuries, at the expense of the
declining Kushans.

Kanishka

Buddhist emperor who expanded the Kushan Empire east into the middle of the Indian subcontinent, and north into China.

The
Kushan Empire in South Asia originally formed in the early 1st century CE, in the territories of ancient Bactria, around the Oxus River in Central
Asia. The Kushans spread from the Kabul River Valley to defeat other Central
Asian tribes. These conquests included parts of the northern central Iranian
Plateau, once ruled by the Parthian Empire—

a major political and cultural power
in ancient Iran and Iraq. The Kushans reached their peak under Emperor Kanishka
(127-151 CE), a Buddhist whose realm stretched from China to northern and
eastern India and parts of Pakistan.

Kushan Origins
(30-375 CE)

The
Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European
nomadic people. The Yuezhi lived in the grasslands
of eastern Central Asia’s Tarim Basin, in modern-day Xinjiang, China (possibly
speaking varieties of Indo-European languages), until they were driven west by
the Xiongnu in 176-160 BCE.

The
Yuezhi reached the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, located in northern Afghanistan and
Uzbekistan, around 135 BCE, and displaced the Greek dynasties that resettled to
the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush and the Indus basin, in present-day
Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Kushans spread out from Bactria to defeat other
Central Asian tribes.

Kushan Expansion

As they wrested territories from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans
expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara, establishing
the twin capitals Kapisa and Pushklavati, near modern-day Kabul and Peshawar,
respectively. During the 1st and early 2nd centuries CE, the Kushans expanded
across the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Around 152 CE, Emperor
Kanishka, a Buddhist, sent his armies north of the Karakoram Mountains to
capture additional territories, and subsequently opened a direct road from
Gandhara to China that remained under Kushan control for more than a century.

Diplomacy
and Trade

At
the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended
to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, into
northern India. They had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sassanid
Persia, Aksumite Empire, and Han China. The Kushan Empire linked the seagoing
trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road, via the Indus Valley, while
providing security that encouraged travel across the Khunjerab Pass and
facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.

Culture
and Religion

Although
philosophy, art, and science developed within its borders, the only textual
record we have of the Kushan Empire’s history comes from inscriptions and
accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese. The Kushans are believed to
have been predominantly practitioners of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s
oldest monotheistic religions founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran
approximately 3,500 years ago. Yet, the Kushans also adopted aspects of Buddhist
culture and, like the Egyptians, absorbed remnants of the Greek culture of the
Hellenistic kingdoms. Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and possibly Saivism, a sect of Hinduism.

Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, 3rd century CE

The Kushans were influenced by the Hellenistic kingdoms and maintained a wide variety of faiths, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

Kushan Decline

After
the death of Emperor Vasudeva I in 225, the Kushan Empire split into western
and eastern halves. The western Kushans in Afghanistan were soon conquered by
the Persian Sassanid Empire. In 248 CE, they were defeated again by Persians,
who deposed the western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals—

cities or
kingdoms that forfeited foreign policy independence, in exchange for full
autonomy and, in some cases, formal tribute—known as the Indo-Sassanids, or Kushanshas.

The eastern
Kushan kingdom was based in the Punjab. Around 270 CE, their territories on the
Gangetic Plain became independent under local dynasties, such as the Yaudheyas.
In the mid-4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under its
leader, Samudragupta. The last of the Kushan and Sassanian kingdoms were eventually
overwhelmed by the Hepthalites, another Indo-European people from the north.

6.7: The Gupta Empire

6.7.1: Rise of the Gupta Empire

From 320-550 CE, the Gupta Empire assimilated neighboring kingdoms, through
conquest or political alliances.

Learning Objective

Explain the factors that contributed to the rise of the Gupta Empire

Key Points

• Sri Gupta founded the Gupta
  Empire c. 240-280 CE, and was succeeded by his son, Ghatotkacha, c. 280-319 CE, followed
  by Ghatotkacha’s son, Chandragupta, c. 319-335 CE.
• After Chandragupta married
  princess Kumaradevi from the kingdom of Magadha, he conquered or assimilated
  the nearby kingdoms and assumed the imperial title of Maharajadhiraja, meaning “King of Kings.”
• Chandragupta’s son, Samudragupta,
  assumed the throne in 335 CE, and conquered several neighboring kingdoms; eventually, the Gupta Empire extended across the entire Indian subcontinent.
• Samudragupta was succeeded by his
  son, Chandragupta
  II, who continued to expand the Gupta Empire through
  conquest and political alliances.

Key Terms

Maharajadhiraja

A Sanskrit title
for “Prince of Princes” or “King of Kings,” several
degrees higher than the title Maharaja, which means “Great King.”

Ashwamedha

A Vedic ritual
horse sacrifice; Samudragupta commemorated his territorial conquests with one
of these rituals.

The
Gupta Empire, founded by Maharaja Sri Gupta, was an ancient Indian realm that covered much of the Indian Subcontinent from approximately 320-550 CE. Gupta rule, while solidified by territorial expansion through
war, began a period of peace and prosperity marked by advancements in science,
technology, engineering, art, dialectics, literature, logic, mathematics,
astronomy, religion, and philosophy.

Gupta
Empire Origins

The
Gupta Empire was believed to be a dynasty of the Vaishya caste, the third of
the four Hindu castes representing merchants and farmers. Founded by Sri Gupta
c. 240-280 CE, there are contradictory theories regarding the original homeland
of the Guptas. Historians believe Sri Gupta and his son may have been Kushan vassals, or
rulers who swore allegiance to the Kushan Empire. Sri Gupta’s son and successor, Ghatotkacha, ruled
from c. 280-319 CE, while his son, Chandragupta, ascended the throne around 319
and ruled until 335 CE.

Chandragupta married princess Kumaradevi from the Kingdom of Magadha,
which was one of the Mahajanapadas (or great countries) of ancient India during
the 4th century CE. With a dowry and political alliance from the marriage,
Chandragupta conquered or assimilated the kingdoms of Magadha, Prayaga, and
Saketa. By 321 CE, he established a realm stretching along the Ganges River to
Prayag, the modern-day city of Allahabad, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Hindus believe the god Brahma offered his first sacrifice after creating the
world at Prayag.

Queen Kumaradevi and King Chandragupta I

A coin from the period of
Indian Emperor Samudragupta, 335-380 CE, depicting his parents, King Chandragupta
and Queen Kumaradevi.

Gupta
Empire Expansion

Samudragupta
succeeded his father, Chandragupta I, in 335 CE, and ruled for about 45 years.
He conquered the kingdoms of Ahichchhatra and Padmavati early in his reign,
then attacked neighboring tribes, including the Malwas, Yaudheyas, Arjunayanas, Maduras,
and Abhiras. By his death in 380 CE, Samudragupta had incorporated over 20
kingdoms into his realm, and extended the Gupta Empire from the Himalayas to the
Narmada River in central India, and from the Brahmaputra River that cuts through
four modern Asian nations to the Yamuna—

the longest tributary of the Ganges
River in northern India.

To
celebrate his conquest, Samudragupta performed the royal Vedic ritual of Ashwamedha, or horse sacrifice. Special
coins were minted to commemorate the Ashvamedha, and the king took the title of
Maharajadhiraja (or “King of Kings”) even higher than the traditional
ruler’s title of Maharaja.

According
to the Gupta records, Samudragupta nominated his son, Prince Chandragupta II,
born of Queen Dattadevi, as his successor. However, his eldest son, Ramagupta,
may have been his immediate successor until he was dethroned by Chandragupta II
in 380 CE.

Gupta Empire, 320-600 CE

The Gupta Empire expanded through conquest and political alliances until 395 CE, when it extended across the entire Indian subcontinent.

The map shows that the empire covered all of northern Indian as well as a strip of land on the southeastern coast of India.

Gupta
Empire of Chandragupta II

After
gaining power, Chandragupta II expanded the Gupta Empire through conquest and
political marriages until the end of his reign in 413 CE. By 395 CE, his
control over India extended coast-to-coast. At the high point of his rule, Chandragupta
II established a second capital at Ujjain, the largest city in the modern state
of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Ujjain, on the eastern bank of the Kshipra
River, remained an important political, commercial, and cultural hub through the
early 19th century.

Vikramaditya
is the name of an emperor of ancient Indian legend, characterized as the ideal
king known for generosity, courage, and as a patron of scholars. A number of
historians believe that some of these legends are based on Chandragupta II, who
is thought to have adopted the title of Vikramaditya.

In
the legends, Vikramaditya is said to have thwarted an invasion by the Saka, a
group of eastern Iranian nomadic tribes, also known as Scythians, and gained the
title of Sakari, or Enemy of the Saka. Chandragupta II conquered the western
Indian region of Malwa after defeating the Western Kshatrapas, a branch of the
Sakas, as well as expelling the Kushana Empire from the northern Indian
city state Mathura. These victories were likely transposed onto the legendary character
of Vikramaditya. 

Chandragupta
II issued gold coin types introduced by his father, Samudragupta, but also
introduced several new types of coins, differentiated by the designs on the
face of each coin line, such as the Archer or the Tiger-Slayer. He was also the
first Gupta king to issue silver coins.

One
of the most curious structures in Delhi, India (an iron pillar dating back to
the 4th century CE) bears an inscription stating that it was erected as a
flagstaff in honor of the Hindu god Vishnu, and in memory of Chandragupta II.
The pillar, made of 98% wrought iron, is considered a highlight of ancient
Indian achievements in metallurgy; it has stood more than 1,600 years
without rusting or decomposing.

Iron Pillar of Delhi

The Iron Pillar of Delhi, India, erected by Chandragupta II to honor the Hindu god Vishnu, in the 4th century CE.

Despite
the expansion of the Gupta Empire through war, there were numerous examples of
cultural sophistication during the Gupta era, with architecture, sculptures and
paintings surviving as reminders of the creativity of the time. Under Gupta
rule, a number of notable scholars thrived, including Kalidasa, considered the
greatest poet and dramatist of the Sanskrit language; Aryabhata, the first of
the Indian mathematician-astronomers who worked on the approximation for Pi; Vishnu Sharma, thought to be the author
of the Panchatantra fables, one of
the most widely-translated, non-religious books in history; and the Hindu
philosopher Vatsyayana, author of the Kama
Sutra.

The
period of Gupta rule, especially the reign of Chandragupta II, is still remembered
as the Golden Age of India.

6.7.2: The Golden Age of India

The prosperity of the Gupta Empire produced a golden age of
cultural and scientific advancements.

Learning Objective

Understand the significance of the Golden Age of India

Key Points

• Prosperity in the Gupta
  Empire initiated a period known as the Golden Age of India, marked by extensive
  inventions and discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art, dialectic,
  literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion, and philosophy.
• Chandragupta
  II promoted
  the synthesis of science, art, philosophy, and religion, in part because his
  court contained the Navartna, or the Nine
  Jewels, a group of nine scholars who produced advancements in many academic
  fields.
• Chinese traveler Fa
  Xian visited
  India from 399-405 CE, during the reign of Emperor Chandragupta II. He recorded
  all of his observations in a journal that was later published.

Key Terms

Navartna

Also called the
Nine Jewels; a group of nine scholars in the court of Chandragupta II
who contributed many advancements in their academic fields.

Fa Xian

A Chinese
traveler who recorded detailed observations about his experience in the Gupta
Empire in his journal. It was later published.

Chandragupta II

His reign, from
375-415 CE, promoted the synthesis of science, art, philosophy, and religion
during the Golden Age of India.

Golden Age of India

A period at the height of the Gupta Empire, marked by extensive inventions and
discoveries that contributed to
Hindu culture, in subjects such as science, technology, engineering, art, dialectic, literature,
logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion, and philosophy.

ayurvedic

A form of alternative medicine established in India.

The
prosperity created under the leadership of the Gupta Empire, which
covered much of the Indian subcontinent from approximately 320-550 CE, enabled the wide pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors.
This period became known as the Golden Age of India because it was marked by
extensive inventions and discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art,
dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion, and philosophy. These discoveries crystallized elements of what is generally considered Hindu culture.

Science,
Literature, and Art

Although
Chandragupta I and his son, Samudragupta, were prominent rulers, the reign of
Chandragupta II included the greatest promotion of science, art, philosophy,
and religion by the government. Chandragupta’s court was even more influential than
those that came before or after because it contained the Navaratnas, or the Nine
Jewels, a group of nine scholars who produced advancements in many academic
fields.

These
scholars included Aryabhata, who is believed to have envisioned the concept of
zero, as well as working on the approximation for the long-form number Pi. Aryabhata is also believed to be the
first of the Indian mathematician-astronomers who postulated the theory that the
Earth moves round the Sun and is not flat, but instead is round and rotates
on its own axis. He also may have discovered that the moon and planets shine due to reflected sunlight.

Varahamihira
was an astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician, whose main work is a treatise
on mathematical astronomy. Sushruta, a famed Indian physician of the Gupta
period, wrote the Samhita, a Sanskrit text on all of the
major concepts of ayurvedic medicine, with innovative chapters
on surgery. Other scholars of the Golden Age helped create the first Indian
numeral systems with a base of ten. The game of chess also likely originated during
this period, where its early form, Chaturanga,
contained game pieces for infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots, each of which would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, rook, and bishop, respectively.

Krishna and Radha playing Chaturanga

Scholars during the reign
of Chandragupta II contributed many scientific advancements in the fields of
astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.

Kalidasa,
considered the greatest poet and dramatist of the Sanskrit language, also belonged
primarily to this period. He wrote plays, such as Shakuntala, which is said to have inspired the famed German writer
and statesman, Johann von Goethe, centuries later. Kalidasa also became
renowned for his study of the shringara, or romantic, element of
literature. The Indian scholar and Hindu philosopher Vatsyayana, authored the Kama Sutra, which became a standard work
on human sexual behavior, while Vishnu Sharma was thought to be the author of
the Panchatantra fables, one of the
most widely-translated, non-religious books in history.

The cultural creativity of the Golden Age of India produced magnificent
architecture, including palaces and temples, as well as sculptures and paintings
of the highest quality. The walls of Buddhist shrines and monasteries were decorated
with colorful frescoes, a type of wall paintings. These showed scenes from the
life of the Buddha, the ascetic and philosopher, who lived in the eastern part
of the Indian subcontinent sometime between 6th and 4th centuries, on
whose teachings the Buddhist religion is based. Some shrines were cut out of
the cliffs, and although dark, they were also decorated with sculptures and
paintings.

The Dashavatara Temple

The Golden Age of India
produced many temples, decorated with various sculptures and paintings, such as
the Dashavatara Temple, also known as the Vishnu Temple, in central India.

Influence
on East and Southeast Asia

The
Gupta Dynasty promoted Hinduism, but supported Buddhist and Jain
cultures as well. Gupta Buddhist art influenced East and Southeast Asia as
trade between regions increased. The Gupta Empire became an important cultural
center and influenced nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, and
Southeast Asia. Classical forms of Indian music and dance, created under the
Guptas, are still practiced all over Asia today.

Fa
Xian was one of the first Chinese travelers to visit India during the reign of
Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II. He started his journey from China in 399 CE, and reached
India in 405 CE. He recorded all of his observations in a journal that was
eventually published.

During his stay in India, until c. 411 CE, Fa Xian went on a pilgrimage to
Mathura, Kanauj, Kapilavastu, Kushinagar, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Kashi, and
Rajgriha. His writings express pleasure in the mildness of the administrations
in these places.

6.7.3: Decline of the Gupta Empire

After many years of dominance, the Gupta Empire collapsed in 550
CE, due to invasions and weak leadership of successive rulers.

Learning Objective

Understand the decline of the Gupta Empire

Key Points

• The Gupta Empire flourished under
  Chandragupta II, but began to falter under his son, Kumaragupta, and grandson,
  Skandagupta.

• The Huna People, also known as
  Huns, invaded Gupta territory and caused significant damage to the empire.

• The Gupta Empire ended in 550 CE, when it disintegrated into regional kingdoms after a series of weak rulers and
  invasions from the east, west, and north.

Key Terms

Huna

A Central Asian Xionite tribe that consisted of four hordes that repeatedly invaded Gupta territory, and helped cause the downfall of the Gupta Empire.

Skandagupta

Son of Kumaragupta I; the emperor of the Gupta Dynasty from c. 455-467 CE.

Kumaragupta I

Son of Chandragupta II; the emperor of the Gupta Dynasty from c. 415-455 CE.

Chandragupta II

The emperor of the Gupta Dynasty of ancient India from c. 380-415 CE.

The Gupta Empire flourished, in military
and territorial conquests as well as cultural and scholastic advancements, during
the reign of Emperor Chandragupta II. Yet the succeeding rulers, beginning with
Kumaragupta I and then Skandagupta, oversaw the eventual end of the Gupta
Empire through military defeats, devalued money and withering leadership.

Kumaragupta

In
415 CE, Chandragupta II was succeeded by his second son, Kumaragupta I, who
ruled successfully until 455 CE. The late years of his reign, however, faced
difficulties. The Pushyamitras, a tribe of central India, rose up in rebellion
against Kumaragupta, while Gupta territories were invaded by the Western Huna people, also known as White Huns. 

Kumaragupta
defeated both groups and celebrated his victory by performing the royal Vedic
ritual of Ashwamedha, or
horse sacrifice, which had previously been performed by his grandfather,
Emperor Samudragupta, to celebrate his own great military victories.

Coin of Kumaragupta I

A silver coin from the reign of Gupta Emperor Kumaragupta I, c. 415-455 CE.

As
his grandfather and father did before him, Kumaragupta also issued news coins
to mark his reign. They were stamped with images of his namesake god, Lord Kumara,
regarded by Hindus as Regent of Earth.

Skandagupta

Upon Kumaragupta’s
death in 455 CE, his son, Skandagupta, assumed the throne and
ruled until c. 467 CE. He is considered the last of the great Gupta rulers
prior to the collapse of the empire.

Skandagupta,
who was celebrated as a great warrior for his victorious clashes with the Huns
during his father’s reign, defeated several rebellions and external threats
from the Huna people, notably an invasion in 455 CE. Although victorious, the
expenses of the wars against the Hunas drained the empire’s resources. The
value of the coinage issued under Skandagupta becoming severely reduced.

Coin of Skandagupta

A coin emblazoned with the image of Gupta Dynasty Emperor Skandagupta, who ruled c. 455-467 CE.

The Huna and Gupta’s Demise

The
Huna were a Central Asian Xionite tribe that consisted of four hordes: Northern
Huna, also known as the Black Huns; Southern Huna, the Red Huns; Eastern Huna,
the Celestial Huns; and the White Huns, the Western Huna. The White Huns, those
who invaded the Gupta Empire during the reign of Kumaragupta, were also known
as the Hephthalites, and caused great damage to the failing Gupta Empire. Skandagupta
died in 467 CE, and was followed onto the throne by his half-brother, Purugupta,
who ruled from 467-473 CE.

Thereafter
came a succession of weak kings, beginning with Kumaragupta II from 473-476 CE, followed by Budhagupta, the son of Purugupta. The Hephthalites broke through the Gupta
military defenses in the northwest in the 480s, during the reign of Budhagupta,
and by 500 CE much of the empire in northwest was overrun by the Huna.

The empire
thereafter disintegrated into numerous regional kingdoms, ruled by chieftains. A
minor line of the Gupta Clan continued to rule Magadha, one of the 16 Indian
Mahajanapadas, or “Great Countries,” but the Gupta Empire fell by 550
CE.