LAND & STATE
Aeneid An epic poem in 12 books composed by Rome’s greatest poet, Virgil, with the backing of Augustus. An instant classic, it tells of the wanderings of Aeneas, a Trojan prince who flees the ruins of Troy to travel to Italy and found the Roman people.
army terms The Roman army’s composition and strength varied over time, but during much of the Roman empire it fielded a total of about 30 legions. Each legion consisted of heavy infantry legionary soldiers and non-citizen auxiliary troops who were levied from one of Rome’s allies and could use a variety of weapons and tactics. There would also be a wing of mounted cavalry troops. Each legion contained a small cadre of senior officers and a number of tactical subdivisions: ten cohorts (except the double-strength first cohort) containing six centuries of 80 men each, commanded by centurions. At the lowest level of command legionaries were organized into eight-man tent parties each called a contubernium, commanded by a decanus. The whole system helped to foster comradeship and a sense of unit and legion loyalty.
auctoritas Unofficial power based on personality and ability to compel respect, rather than an official title or office. An important basis of the first emperor Augustus’s long reign.
cavalry See army terms
cohort, century See army terms
consul The top magistrate of the Roman republic; each year two were elected, to keep each other in check.
Dacia An eastern Roman province in what is now Romania, finally conquered by Trajan. An important source of metal ore.
Gaul An area of Roman imperial rule covering present-day France, western Switzerland, northern Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Its conquest was completed by Julius Caesar in the 50s BCE. The region was divided into several Roman provinces and remained within the empire until its dissolution centuries later.
gladius Double-edged, pointed sword carried by legionaries; replaced in the later empire by the longer spatha.
Iberia The peninsula containing modern Spain and Portugal was conquered by Rome during the Punic Wars and divided into the various provinces of Roman Hispania from 197 BCE.
imperator A title spontaneously bestowed by victorious Roman troops on their commanding general; eventually became part of the titulature of the Roman emperors. It also refers to the imperium or formal power possessed by a Roman magistrate.
Latium The region of central Italy where Rome was founded; home of the Latins.
legionary See army terms
Republic Work of fourth-century BCE Greek philosophy by Plato, which discusses the idea of justice and different forms of government. Includes the idea of an ideal state governed by philosopher-kings.
pilum (pl. pila) Iron-tipped wooden javelin; each Roman legionary carried two pila to hurl at the enemy in battle.
plebeian order, plebs The non-patrician citizenry of Rome. Initially excluded from power, they won equality and political representation by 287 BCE through the “conflict of the orders,” a two-century long struggle in which they threatened to leave Rome altogether if their demands were not met.
Punic Wars A series of three bitter wars between Rome and Carthage (a powerful rival state on the coast of North Africa), fought in the third to second centuries BCE, culminating with the fall and sack of Carthage in 146 BCE.
princeps A Latin word that translates roughly as “first citizen.” A word to refer to the emporer.
principate Name for the system of one-man rule established by Augustus, Rome’s first emperor or princeps.
Saeptimontium A religious festival involving Rome’s “seven” (septem) or possibly “fortified” (saepti) hills (montes)—although the selection of hills does not include the seven usually thought of as the most important.
Rubicon River A small river in northeast Italy. Famous only for being the first-century BCE boundary of Italy: Julius Caesar committed an act of civil war when he crossed the river with his army.
scutum A legionary’s shield. Typically a curved rectangle with a central boss and carrying handles.
the 30-second history
Romulus and Remus were the twin sons of the war-god Mars and a mortal princess. Condemned (like the young Moses) by a jealous male relative to abandonment by the river, the babies were saved by miraculous interventions, suckled by a wolf, and rescued by a kindly shepherd and his wife. Grown to adulthood, they discovered their ancestry and chose to found a new city. In a quarrel over its proper site, Romulus killed Remus and named his city after himself, founding a dynasty of kings that lasted until their overthrow inaugurated the Republic. Many elements of this unsettling story pointed forward to aspects of Roman history and identity—military toughness (sons of Mars, nourished by a wolf) but also a capacity for civil war and violence (the brothers’ quarrel). Archaeology tells its own story. The site of Rome seems to have been inhabited at the dawn of the Iron Age, around the tenth to ninth centuries BCE, a period in which Rome was a meeting place between growing powerblocks in Etrutria, Latium, and Samnium. Evidence of ninth-century BCE settlement on the Palatine Hill resonates with the traditional belief that Romulus founded the city here in 753 BCE.
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Rome’s legendary foundation story is a myth, but one firmly embedded in Roman identity that appears to echo aspects of historical truth supported by the archaeological record.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Romans told various versions of this story. One traced Romulus’s ancestry back farther to Aeneas, a Trojan prince fleeing the sack of Troy, who eventually reached the future site of Rome after toiling round the Mediterranean: this was the subject of Virgil’s epic poem, the Aeneid. Roman historical imagination was happy to accommodate these myths alongside the earliest strands of Rome’s recorded history, identifying sacred places in the city where they were thought to have occurred.
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3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
AENEAS
Son of the Trojan lord Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. A bit part in Homer’s Iliad, he is center stage in the Roman epic the Aeneid, where he travels to Italy to found the Roman race
FAUSTULUS
Shepherd who, with his wife Acca Larentia, found and raised the abandoned twins
RHEA SILVIA
Daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa, an ancient city near Rome, and mother of Romulus and Remus
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Matthew Nicholls
The truth of Rome’s legends may not bear scrutiny, but the city takes its name from its most famous son.
the 30-second history
Rome is, famously, a city of seven hills but which seven is open to interpretation; there are actually well over a dozen. What is clear is that Rome owes much of its character and fortune to its location. Important land routes converge here and travelers between Etruria, Latium, and Campania could cross the river Tiber at Tiber Island. The river is also navigable down to the sea 18 miles (30 km) away at Ostia, making the site a crucial interchange for trade across and beyond Italy. The city’s hills—spurs whose sides have been cut away by tributary streams flowing to the river—offered security, fresh air in summer, and building rock (a rather crumbly brown tufa); they became the nucleus of early separate village communities. The intervening valley land provided meeting and trading places which, when drained and paved, turned into Rome’s forum spaces. After Rome’s hilltop villages had joined together into a single city, the individual hills retained characters and traditions of their own. The Capitoline, Rome’s religious stronghold, housed the great Temple of the “Capitoline Triad”; the Palatine remained a site for aristocratic villas, while the Aventine for a long time was associated with the plebeian order.
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The hills and valleys of Rome, located at a crucial transport crossroads, acquired legendary and historical associations and shaped the city’s destiny.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
A Roman city religious festival called the “saeptimontium” may be an early reference to the seven hills (montes) of Rome—but eight “hills” participated in it, not including the Capitoline, Aventine, Quirinal, or Viminal, four of the city’s biggest. The seven-headed beast of the Book of Revelation may be another reference to the seven-hilled city; and many cities around the world, from Durham and Torquay in England to Constantinople, Moscow, Seattle, Kampala, and Thiruvananthapuram in India have all claimed to share this characteristic geography.
RELATED HISTORIES
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579 BCE
Fifth of Rome’s legendary kings, credited with overseeing the draining of the marshy forum area with Rome’s Great Sewer, the Cloaca Maxima
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Matthew Nicholls
Sited near the mouth of the Tiber, Rome was ideally placed for trade with its Mediterranean neighbors and—by virtue of its many hills—easily defended.
the 30-second history
In the beginning Rome was ruled by kings. By the sixth century BCE the city’s aristocracy was tiring of its Etruscan monarchs, who had developed a reputation for authoritarian arrogance. In 509 BCE an uprising against Tarquinius Superbus replaced the monarchy with a republican government, which developed into a complicated republican constitution. For commentators like Polybius this was an interesting and powerful fusion of different types of government: at the top was a pair of king-like chief magistrates—consuls—but their powers were tempered by having to share office and by holding it only for a year. There was also an oligarchic senate, comprised of men from Rome’s leading families, and some democratizing elements including elections to magistracies and citizen assemblies with legislative and warmaking powers. This constitution functioned for nearly five centuries, accommodating dissent such as the threatened secession of Rome’s plebeians, winning major wars, and presiding over a huge expansion of Roman territorial power. Eventually it grew unstable: enriched and emboldened by the booty of conquest, successful politician-generals sought more power than Rome had been prepared to give to any one man, and popular unrest was rife. Enter Julius Caesar.
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Rome’s republican constitution allowed it to grow to superpower status, but faltered and failed under pressure in the first century BCE.
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Rome’s republican government survived as long as it did by combining respect for precedent and the law with a flexible response to new problems. As city and empire grew, new magistracies were created to deal with the administration. When Rome conquered provinces, ex-magistrates went to govern them. When the lower orders threatened revolt, they were granted special magistrates (tribunes) to represent their interests. And in times of crisis a dictator could be appointed for a limited period.
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TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS
ca. 535–495 BCE
Legendary seventh and final king of Rome, whose overthrow resulted in the establishment of the republic
ca. 510 BCE
Roman matron whose rape by Sextus, son of Tarquinius Superbus, outraged Rome and led to the overthrow of the monarchy
POLYBIUS
ca. 200–118 BCE
A Greek taken to Rome as an honored captive, where he wrote a history of the rise of the Roman state
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Matthew Nicholls
Growing political instability in the republic set the stage for Julius Caesar to usher in a new era.
Julius Caesar is one of the most famous names in history. The title “Caesar” was held by centuries of Roman emperors after him, and became synonymous with autocratic power worldwide—the Russian “Tsar” and the German “Kaiser” both derive from his name.
Caesar’s personal charm, brilliance, and shrewd self-presentation won him wide popular appeal, challenging the boundaries of the old republican constitution whose overlapping and annually renewed magistracies were designed to keep individuals from attaining too much power.
In his youth Caesar weathered stormy times, including foreign military campaigns, a civil war between his patron Marius and the dictator Sulla, and being kidnapped by pirates (whom he later pursued and crucified). Military success in Spain and clever politicking at home brought him to the top magistracy, the consulship, in 59 BCE; with his colleagues Pompey and Crassus he pursued a populist brand of politics, which threatened elements of Rome’s senatorial aristocracy.
His conquest of Gaul during the 50s BCE allowed him to seek more personal power than the republican state was prepared to give him: ordered to lay down his arms, Caesar refused and in 49 BCE moved his army—by this time permanently loyal to him as commander—across the Rubicon river, thereby breaking an ancient prohibition on bringing troops into Italy: an act that initiated civil war.
Caesar emerged as victor after various adventures, including his dalliance with Cleopatra in Egypt, and was made “dictator in perpetuity,” pursuing a varied program of political reform.
Caesar’s divisive rule ended with his assassination by a group of senators on the Ides of March 44 BCE. Following a further civil war, his legacy was secured by the triumph of his great-nephew and heir Augustus, founder of a long line of emperors.
The largely positive way in which later generations viewed Caesar was partly due to the influence of his written works. A writer and orator of brilliance, Caesar left accounts of his campaigns in Gaul, and of the subsequent civil war, which were intended to influence contemporary opinion and, in all likelihood, the judgment of posterity. His account of the Gallic Wars is a favorite of classics students today for its clear and lucid Latin and exciting subject matter.
Matthew Nicholls
Born into aristocratic Roman family, the Iulii
70s–60s BCE
Climbs up the political ranks, aided by lavish games funded by borrowing (to be repaid by the plunder of conquest)
62 BCE
Praetor in Rome and then governor in Spain—wins a military triumph but forfeits it to stand for election to consul, the highest-ranking magistrate
59 BCE
Elected Consul. Rules in alliance with Crassus and Pompey as “First Triumvirate”
58–51 BCE
Conquest of Gaul; Caesar seeks to return to Rome on his own terms
49 BCE
Crosses Rubicon river, an act of defiance leading to civil war
48 BCE
Defeats Pompey (now an enemy) and chases him to Egypt, where Pompey is killed. Begins alliance with Cleopatra
46 BCE
Caesar, now unchallenged, is loaded with honors in Rome, suggesting lasting autocracy
March 15th, 44 BCE
Frustrated conspirators stab Caesar to death at a senate meeting
the 30-second history
Out of the wreckage of the Roman republic Julius Caesar, and then Augustus, crafted a new system of rule by a single autocratic figure whom we call the “emperor.” However, there was not (at least at first) any real constitutional position or single title of “emperor.” Augustus actually ruled through an accumulation of traditional republican offices and powers under the pretence of having restored the old state rather than supplanted it—and his successors followed suit. In reality it was Augustus’s own personal auctoritas and his defeat of all rivals that allowed him to rule practically unchallenged and pass on his power to a line of successors claiming descent from him. By the time this Julio-Claudian dynasty died out with Nero, the imperial system was too embedded to be removed, and carried on through successive dynasties—Flavians, Antonines, Severans—until the overthrow of the last child-emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in 476 CE. Along the way there were various interruptions, from assassinations, usurpations, and civil wars to Diocletian’s attempt to divide the empire into eastern and western halves, each ruled by a pair of senior and junior emperors (the tetrarchy), but no credible alternative to the rule of emperors ever emerged.
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Rule by a single emperor placed unprecedented and enormous power, for good or ill, in the hands of a single individual.
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Mindful of Rome’s ancient fear of monarchy, Augustus assembled a series of offices, powers, and honors left over from the republican constitution—consul, chief priest, imperator, and a complex magisterial privilege called “tribunician power.” This ad hoc arrangement was handed to emperor after emperor, but the ambiguity of autocratic rule through republican powers left room for challenge—the role of emperor could be passed to a blood relative or adoptive heir, but also could be challenged, usurped, or divided.
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12–41 CE
Emperor (37–41 CE) epitomized how the system could pass enormous power into unsuitable hands
53–117 CE
Emperor (98–117 CE), military leader, fair-minded politician, prolific builder: hailed as the “best emporer.”
ELAGABALUS
203–222 CE
Spectacularly incompetent and debauched emperor (218–222 CE); even worse than Caligula
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Matthew Nicholls
Though the western empire fell in the 5th C CE, the eastern empire lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
the 30-second history
In a millennium of conquest Rome grew from a cluster of hilltop villages to be mistress of territory from Scotland to the Nile delta, Spain to Syria. Early legendary accounts suggest that as its power expanded Rome clashed with its Italic neighbors, the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans, acquiring a local supremacy partly through conquest and partly through co-opting rivals by treaty and absorption. By the end of the fifth century BCE this process was largely complete and Rome’s broadening horizons brought her into conflict with regional Italian powers and then Mediterranean rivals. The Carthaginians were defeated in the Punic Wars (third and second centuries BCE). Parts of present-day Spain, Greece, and Turkey fell to Roman arms and became tax-paying provinces. Julius Caesar subdued Gaul in the mid-first century BCE. By then, the flow of plunder into Rome and the disruptive loyalties of her armies were fracturing the republican state. The new imperial government of Augustus and his successors resumed the pattern of conquest. The empire reached its farthest limits under Trajan (ruled 98–117 CE), and its borders hardened as the momentum of conquest fizzled out. By the fifth century CE invasion, insurrection, and civil war had weakened the empire to the point of collapse.
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“To spare the conquered, but to war down the proud”—this, according to the poet Virgil, was Rome’s divinely inspired imperial mission.
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Roman commentators were not above criticizing the spread of Roman power. Writers like Tacitus enjoyed comparing hardy, martial, barbarian tribes on the frontier with the corruption and decadence of imperial Rome. Tacitus gives inspiring (but fictional) anti-Roman speeches to various barbarian chieftains, including British rebel queen Boudicca and the Scottish warlord Calgacus: the latter famously said “to plunder, slaughter, and robbery they give the false name of empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.”
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236–183 BCE
Roman general who defeated Rome’s arch-enemy Hannibal, ending the second Punic War against Carthage
JULIUS CAESAR
ca. 100–44 BCE
Roman general and politician who extended the bounds of the Roman empire by conquering Gaul
272–337 CE
Rome’s first Christian emperor, who divided the empire into eastern and western halves
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Matthew Nicholls
Rome left its imprint on many aspects of society, culture, and architecture in its vast territory in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
the 30-second history
The army of the early Roman state was composed of citizen-soldiers who had sufficient wealth to provide their own armor, and to take time away from home to fight. As Rome expanded it needed larger and more permanent armies, capable of sustaining long, distant campaigns. The reforms of the general and politician Marius in the late second century BCE improved pay and removed the wealth qualification, creating a standing army that could be a career choice for poor citizens. This increased both the manpower and the experience of the legions, but also made them look to their individual commanders for reward—a factor partly responsible for Rome’s first-century BCE civil wars. By the first century CE the legion had matured into a unit of about 5,200 legionaries, divided into ten cohorts of six centuries each. Legions swore loyalty to the emperor and had numbers and names (a proud “regimental” history). Other types of troops—light infantry, cavalry, archers—were levied as “auxiliaries” from allied states and rewarded with Roman citizenship on discharge. Battlefield tactics were complemented by high levels of discipline and training, backed by a military-minded state able to engage in complex campaigns. The result was a formidable military establishment.
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The army’s structures evolved into a well-drilled force of legions (28 under Augustus), composed of sub-units and assisted by auxiliary forces.
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The commanding officers of each legion—the legate and his prefects—tended to be men of high social status, often building a political career. The centurions, though, could be long-service professionals promoted from the ranks. From 8-man tent-teams (contubernia), through 80-man centuries, to 6-century cohorts, to legions, the army’s structure built esprit de corps. As the army increasingly recruited from overseas provinces, its structure, cash pay, discipline, gods, and Latin language helped turn recruits into Romans.
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3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
157–86 BCE
Roman reforming general and politician
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Matthew Nicholls
Rome looked to the loyalty and discipline of the legions—its chief military force—to maintain control and influence throughout the empire.
the 30-second history
We all have a picture of the “typical” well-equipped Roman legionary. In reality the Roman army’s arms and tactics changed and adapted over almost a millennium of activity across the ancient world. One consistent factor that explains Roman success is the insistence on good discipline and drill—Roman generals and writers recognized the importance of good order both in the peacetime army and in battle. After Marius’s reforms, legionary equipment and armor started to resemble a more “regular” pattern. Each man carried an iron-tipped javelin (pila) to hurl before closing on the enemy for combat with sword (gladius or spatha) and long rectangular or oval shield (scutum). The latter could be locked together with neighboring soldiers in a defensive formation such as the famous “tortoise.” Legionary helmets evolved to offer neck protection and cheek, brow, and ear guards. Heavy chainmail was replaced by segmented plate armor. Made of iron straps and hoops to cover torso and shoulders and held together with leather fittings, this combined protection and flexibility. Serving for up to 25 years, legionaries enjoyed relatively good pay and status and the prospect of a land grant or cash bonus on discharge: emperors knew to keep them onside.
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The arms and tactics of the Roman army’s core soldiers developed over the centuries into its familiar form.
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“It is the gods’ will that … Rome shall be the capital of the world; therefore let them cultivate the arts of war”—Livy, writing under Augustus, expressed the common Roman understanding that the success and identity of the state was divinely ordained, and bound up in its prowess on the battlefield. For Virgil, Rome’s imperial destiny was “to spare the conquered but to war down the proud.” The citizen-legionary was a vital expression of this national purpose, featuring in much imperial art.
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157–86 BCE
Roman reforming general and politician
53–117 CE
Military commander and philanthropic emperor who left a legacy of enduring landmarks
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Matthew Nicholls
Military might made Rome rich as well as powerful; maintaining a standing army was key to the success and endurance of its claim to be capital of the ancient world.
