Roma

CKM 2018-19 / Aziz Yardımlı


 

Roma





📹 What if the Roman Empire Reunited Today? (VİDEO)

📹 What if the Roman Empire Reunited Today? (LINK)

The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most influential civilizations that ever existed. But what if somehow in today's current global age, the Empire was recreated to its exact ancient borders? What would the country look like today in the 21st century, and how would it compare to other countries across the world? This video attempts to find out!

 



📹 History of Rome (1-2-3)

📹 History of Rome (Part 1), The Conquest of Italy (VİDEO)

📹 History of Rome (Part 1), The Conquest of Italy (LINK)

History of Rome 509-268 BC, Roman Republic, Roman-Etruscan Wars, Roman-Volscian Wars, Roman-Aequian Wars, Latin Wars, Gallic Wars, Samnite Wars, Roman-Tarentine War, Pyrrhic War.

 



📹 History of Rome (Part 2), The Conquest of the Mediterranean (VİDEO)

📹 History of Rome (Part 2), The Conquest of the Mediterranean (LINK)

History of Rome, part 2, the conquest of the Mediterranean, Roman history 268 - 27 BC, Roman Republic, Punic Wars, Macedonian Wars, Illyrian Wars, Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Gallic Wars, Roman-Seleucid Wars, Cimbrian War, Social War, Mithridatic Wars, Roman-Parthian Wars, Roman Civil Wars, the End of the Republic.

 



📹 History of Rome (Part 3), Roman Empire From Augustus to Constantine I (VİDEO)

📹 History of Rome (Part 3), Roman Empire From Augustus to Constantine I (LINK)

History of Rome, part 3, Roman Empire, Augustus, campaigns in Germania Roman-Parthian Wars, Claudian dynasty, Flavian dynasty, Antonine dynasty, Severan dynasty, Roman-Sassanid Wars, Crisis of the Third Century, Diocletian, Tetrarchy, Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy, Constantine I.

 



 



📹 Gladiator (MOVIE CLIP) (VİDEO)

📹 Gladiator

 




Geleneksel olarak: —

  • İÖ 753-509 — krallar tarafından yönetim;
  • İÖ 509-İÖ 27 — aristokratik bir senato tarafından Cumhuriyet yönetimi;
  • İÖ 27-İS 1453 — imparatorlar tarafından yönetim.

Dünya Tarihi ve Ereksellik

 
   

Ussal insan doğası verildiğinde, Dünya Tarihi homo sapiensin özsel belirlenimini edimselleştirme ve gerçek-ideal etik yaşam biçimini salt bir olanak olmanın ötesine, bir realiteye çevirme sürecidir. Homo sapiens doğal olarak tam gelişimi içinde doğar; tinsel olarak salt kendinde, ya da gizil, ya da potansiyeldir, ve doğal olanın ötesine geçmek, tinselliğini tam olarak açındırmak, ereğine dek gelişmek üzere türer. Gizil olan salt gizil olduğu için edimsel olmalıdır.

 

Tarih istencin, özgürlüğün işidir, ve tarihsel gelişimin ereği istenç kavramının tam açınımıdır. Bu ereksel süreç tin özgürlük bilincini kazanıncaya ve evrensel insan haklarını evrensel olarak ve eksiksiz olarak edimselleştirinceye dek tamamlanmaz. Ereğe erişinceye dek, tinin tüm sonlu şekillenmeleri geçici ve sonlu kültür evreler olarak daha öte gelişim önünde ortadan kalkarlar.

 

İdea kültür değildir. Değişimsiz, dingin, ilksiz-sonsuz erektir. Kültür sonlu bilinç yapımı olan bir geçicilik ve yiticilik, salt bir süreçtir. Erek süreci bir süreç yapan İdeadır.

 

🛑 POLİTİK EREK

Homo sapiens doğadan doğanın ötesi olmak üzere, tin olarak sonuna dek gelişmek üzere doğar ve ereği doğal ve tinsel dünyalarında salt kendi ile karşılaşmak, kendinin biricik ve sonsuz gerçeklik olarak bilincini kazanmaktır.

Erek bir gizilliğin kendini edimselleştirmesidir. İnsan durumunda, erek verili insan doğasının kendini edimselleştirmesi, ve tarihsel erek politik ideanın politik realite kazanmasıdır. Süreç zorunludur, çünkü gizillik salt edimselleşme uğruna gizilliktir. Etik potansiyel kendini hak, ahlak ve etik olarak edimselleştirmeye belirlenmiş istençtir. Politik istenç kendini evrensel insan haklarına, evrensel duyunç özgürlüğüne ve evrensel yasa egemenliğine şekillendirinceye dek özsel olarak bir değişim ve gelişim sürecidir.

Dünya Tarihi politik bir süreç olarak istencin işidir, ve istencin edimselleşmesi sonlu, tikel belirlenimler üretmek değil, bütün bir realiteye kendi özgür biçimini vermek, kendini eksiksiz olarak realite yapmaktır. İstenç bir ereği olduğu için istençtir ve İstencin ereği hak ideasını realite yapmak, bu realiteyi duyunç ile aklamak, ve böylece tüzel ve moral gizilliğin birliği olarak etik yaşamı kurmaktır. Tarihin ereği etik idealdir. Ancak özgür tin gelişime yeteneklidir, çünkü özgürlük istençtir. İstenç ancak kendini istediği zaman, ereğinde saltık olarak kendini bulduğu zaman özgürdür.


Nehir vadileri.
 
   

Uygarlık nehir vadilerinde doğdu. İndus vadisinde ve Sarı Nehir vadisinde doğan yalıtılmış uygarlıklar doğar doğmaz pıhtılaştılar, ve bu erken olgunlaşmaları Batı kültürleri tarafından bozuluncaya dek değişmeksizin yalnızca sürdüler.

Batı Asya Dünya Tarihinin oluş alanı, çünkü istenç, özgürlük ve eylem alanıdır. Mezopotamya ve Mısır uygarlıkları despotik Pers İmparatorluğunda politik doruğuna erişti, ve verimsiz ve gereksiz bir kültüre pıhtılaşan Pers tini özgür Helenik tin tarafından ortadan kaldırıldı. Güney Avrupa, Kuzey Afrika ve Batı Asya’da büyüyen Roma tini Helenik-Helenistik tinin bir dönüşümü idi. Roma tini Helenik olan, özgür ve erdemli olan herşeye hayranlık içinde büyüdü, uygarlığı ve gücü birleştirdi, ve Dünya Tarihini modern dönemin, özgür değişim ve gelişim döneminin başlangıçlarına dek büyüttü.

 



 

📹 Roman Forum (VIRTUAL) (VİDEO)

📹 Roman Forum (VIRTUAL) (LINK)

 



📹 Rome Reborn (VIRTUAL) (VİDEO)

📹 Rome Reborn (VIRTUAL) (LINK)

.Rome Reborn is an international initiative to use 3D digital technology to illustrate the urban development of the ancient city from the first settlements in the late Bronze Age (ca. 1000 BCE) to the depopulation of the city in the early Middle Ages (ca. 552 CE). Thus far, the Rome Reborn team has concentrated on modeling the city as it might have appeared in 320 CE when it reached the peak of its development with a population estimated to be ca. 1 million people occupying ca. 25 sq. km. of space inside the late-antique walls and using ca. 7,000 buildings.

 



SİTE İÇİ ARAMA       

 

Ön-Modern ve Modern; İmparatorluk ve Ulus-Devlet

 
   

Ön-modern dönem imparatorluklar tarafından tanımlanır. Modern dönem ulusların dönemidir.

 

İmparatorluk uyrukların istençsizliğinin anlatımı olan tekerkin özgürlüğü ve özenci ile belirlenir, ve evrensel özgürlük bilincinin doğmaya başlaması ile imparatorluk çözülme sürecine girer. Bu görgül tarihçiliğin sözde ‘bozulma’ ya da ‘yozlaşma’ terimi ile anladığı şeydir. Acı verici ya da hüzünlendirici olmak yerine, tam tersine böyle bozulmalar tinin kötü biçimlerini üzerinden atma ve daha yüksek biçimlere sıçrama olanaklarıdır. Bozulmamak, ortadan kalkmamak, kadim olmak tarihin anlamsızlaşması, ereğin askıya alınmasıdır. Tarihsel yalıtılma ve gelişime direnç imparatorluğun süredurumunun güvencesidir.

 

🛑 YAZGI VE İSTENÇ

İmparatorluk dönemi insanlık için yazgı dönemidir. Ulus dönemi istenç dönemidir. Ön-modern dönem evrensel insanlığın istençsizliği ile tanımlanır. Modern dönem özgürlük ile.

Ön-modern dönem değişimin askıya alındığı ve imparatorluğun tarihin sonunu getirdiği yanılsaması içindedir. Modern dönem varolan hiçbir tüzel, moral ve etik kurumu sağlam ve eksiksiz saymayan, hiç birini değişmeksizin bırakmayan sürekli ereksel akış dönemidir. İmparatorluk yalnızca Birin, yalnızca tekerkin özgürlüğüdür. Ulus-devlet genel istenç ya da evrensel özgürlüktür.

Gerçekten yeni olan, hiçbir zaman eskimeksizin her zaman modern olan telos olarak ideadır. Klasik tinin modern tin ile sürekliliği ussaldır, çünkü klasik olan her zaman modern olandır.

 



🛑 ROMA’NIN BÜYÜKLÜĞÜ

 
   

Büyüklüğü büyüklük bilir, ve Roma kendi büyüklüğünü biliyordu. Roma büyüklüğü Roma istenci, Roma özgürlüğü idi. Roma yurttaşları özgürlüklerinin anlatımından başka birşey olmayan tarihsel güçlerini ilkin kendileri ayrımsadılar ve nasıl içeride krallığı sildilerse, dışarıda da kralları birer birer tarihten kovdular. Tüm Akdeniz bir kentler ve kentliler ülkesi oldu. Roma’nın yalın yurtttaşı tarihin despotik tekerklerinin karşısında özgürlük İdeasının gücü olarak çıktı.

Roma yurttaşının erdemi Roma’da insan bayağılığını ve sıradanlığını yasakladı.

Roma’nın büyüklüğü Roma’nın büyük bireysellik ve kişiliklerinin de yaratıcısı oldu. Ancak özgür yurttaşlar büyüklüğü anlar, tanır, ve yaratırlar. Hiçbir değerleri ve onurları olmayan kölelerin insan büyüklüğünü anlayacak kategorileri de yoktur. Bu tarihsel talihsizler efendilerini de yalnızca değersizleştir ve onursuzlaştırırlar. Despotizm özgürlüğü tanımayışında insan küçüklüğünün toprağıdır. Bir Aydınlanma düşünürü olan ve demokrasiyi ve evrensel insan haklarını reddeden Edward Gibbon insan tarihinde hiçbir anlam ve değer bulamadı. Tarihi olmaması gereken bir yanlışlık saydı: “The history of empires is the history of human misery” (L). Çağdaş nihilizmi önceleyerek, insanın saçma, ve tarihin boşuna yaşanan bir saçmalık olduğunu bildirdi: “... history; which is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind” (L). Despotik Aydınlanma haçtaki gülü göremezdi.

 

 




Yasa ve Roma

 
   

Yasa İdeası ilk kez Sümer istencinde Realite oldu. Ve gelişme sürecine girdi.

 

Romulus ile başlayarak, oluş sürecinde olan Yasa Roma için varoluş ilkesi oldu. Roma güç idi çünkü istenç güçtür, ve Roma istenci evrensel istenç, yurttaşın istenci idi. Roma’nın egemeni Roma yurttaşı idi ve tarihin erken tekerkleri karşısında Cumhuriyet istenci direnilmez güç olarak sınırsızca ve engelsizce bütün bir Akdeniz dünyasına genişledi.

 

Sabin, Korintli ve Etrüsk krallar altında, Roma tarihi daha başından kent ve devlet olarak, yasa ve yurttaş olarak, özgürlük ve istenç olarak şekillendi. Civisin evrensel etik karakteri üzerine kurulan Roma’da istencin ve duyuncun üzerinde ve önünde hiçbir güç yoktu. Genç Dünya Tarihinin tikel tekerkleri evrensel yurttaşlık istenci karşısında silinmek zorunda idiler. Homo sapiens Helenik ve Helenistik uygarlıklarından sonra Roma’da da büyümeyi sürdürdü. Önce İtalyan kabileleri, sonra Kartaca, sonra Helenistik krallıklar olmak üzere Akdeniz’in tüm tekerkleri istençsiz halklarını Roma gücüne teslim ettiler, Pyrrhus’tan Hannibal’e, Antiokhüs’e, Kleopatra’ya tüm tekerkler tarih oldular.

 

🛑 İstenç ve Duyunç

İstenç güçtür, ve daha büyük istenç daha güçlü istenç değil, daha küresel istençtir. Ve istenç üzerinde daha büyük bir istenç olmayan güç olarak egemendir. İstenç, eğer istenç ise, eğer özgür ise, saltık tinsel güçtür, ve daha güçlü olanın altına düşen istenç gerçekte istenç değildir. Romaˆnın gücü istencinin evrenselliğinden doğdu.

Roma’da duyunç özgürlüğü inanç özgürlüğüne sınırlı değildi. Duyunç kendinde haklı ve haksız, doğru ve eğri, iyi ve kötü olanın yargıcıdır. Yasalar da haksız olabilir ve evrensel insan haklarına uymadıkları düzeye dek haksızdırlar. Bu nedenle duyunç özgürlüğü etik gelişimin saltık güdüsüdür. Duyunç özgürlüğünün olmadığı yerde etik değişim ve gelişim olanaklı değildir. Roma evrensel insan haklarının ya da evrensel insan eşitliğinin bilincinin doğduğu tarih bölgesidir.

Duyunç özgürlüğü inanç özgürlüğünden daha çoğunu, etik-politik normlar üzerine moral yargıda bulunma hakkını kapsar. Roma Cumhuriyet yasaları sonunda pleb-patrisyen ayrımını silen yurttaş meclisleri tarafından çıkarılımaya başladı. Romalılar için yasama bir duyunç sorunu idi, hiçbir zaman dinsel inanç sorunu değil. İmparatorluk döneminin ilk yüzyıllarından sonra senato yasama gücünü bütünüyle yitirdi ve imparatorun istenci yasama gücü oldu. Justinian Yasaları (Corpus Juris Civilis) Roma İmparatorluğunun yasa dizgesini yeniden toparladı ve güncelleştirdi ve daha sonra gelecek olan Arap, Selçuklu ve Osmanlı İmparatorlukları için modeli sağladı.


Jüpiter’in Tapınağının yıkıntıları, Baalbeck, Lübnan, 1873 sıralarında.

 
   

Köleliği ve eşitsizliği Roma icat etmedi. Ama Helenik bilgeliğin bile henüz çıkarsayamadığı evrensel özgürlük ve eşitlik düşüncesi ilk kez Roma’da insan bilincine yükseldi.

Özgürlük moral güçtür ve duyunç bir kez geliştikten sonra tersinmez, bozulmaz, ve yozlaşmaz bir etik karakter üretir. Duyunç, eğer duyunç ise, saltık tinsel güçtür, ve eğer bastırılabiliyor, köreltilebiliyor, silinebiliyorsa, gerçekte duyunç değildir.

Duyunç özgürlüğü inanç özgürlüğü değildir. Duyunç özgürlüğü inancı ussal gerçeklik inancına yükseltme özgürlüğüdür. İnanç bilgi değildir. Ama bilginin aklamasına saltık olarak gereksinir. Roma tini dünya tarihinde gerçek duyunç özgürlüğünün doğduğu kıpı oldu. İnsan ilk kez onda doğallığını bir yana bırakarak insan olarak, salt tinsel olarak en yüksek gerçeklik karakterini kazandı. Platon ve Aristoteles’in kent-devletlerinde ve felsefelerinde eksik olan etmen, evrensel insan doğası kavramı yine Platonistlerin kendileri tarafından Roma tininin özgürlüğü içerisinde formüle edildi. Duyunç özgürlüğü politik yapıların moral karakterinin olanağı ve güvencesidir. Ve duyunç hamlığını gidermenin aracı da duyunç özgürlüğünün kendisinden başkası değildir.

 



🛑 Y Ç

 
   

Roma yurttaşları etik karakterlerini erdemleri ile belirlerken, “her bir insan kendi talihinin mimarı” idi (Appius, “fabrum esse suae quemque fortune”). “Romalılar gök ne kadar yüksek ise o kadar yürekli idiler,” (Ennius, Annales, 470, “Fortes Romani sunt tanquam caelus profun dus”). Yürekli oldukları kadar da dürüst idiler ve “onları hiç kimse ne demir ne de altın ile yenebilirdi” (209: quem nemo ferro potuit superare nec auro). İnsana henüz kişiliğini kazandırmayan Doğu imparatorlukları ile karşıtlık içinde, Roma kişi üzerine kuruldu. Roma’nın büyüklüğü Romalı civisin özgürlüğü ile birdi, ve yurttaşın istenci egemenlik, yasa, Cumhuriyet demekti. Krallarını olduğu gibi daha sonra Cumhuriyet döneminde konsüllerini ve tüm magisterlerini de kendileri seçtiler ve en önemli kararlarını meclislerinde doğrudan doğruya kendileri verdiler. Roma yurttaşı Roma Cumhuriyeti ile bir idi. Ve bütün bir Akdeniz uygarlığını türdeş bir politik düzen altına getiren egemen güç Cumhuriyet idi. İmparatorluk politik yapısında Cumhuriyetin uzantısı olmanın çok az ötesine geçti.

 



🛑 Roma Etiği

Roma yasası Roma kültürel gururunun temeli oldu ve onu gelecek çağların gözünde de büyütmeyi sürdürdü. “Halkın gönenci en yüksek yasadır” (“Salus populi suprema lex”) diyordu Cicero. Ama Roma Yasası ilkel bir yasa idi ve henüz duyunç tarafından yargılanması, evrensel insan haklarına uyarlanması gerekiyordu. Uygar Akdeniz dünyası için Roma etiği yasa egemenliği, gönenç ve güvenlik iken, etik-öncesi, kentlilik-öncesi barbarlık dünyası için aynı Roma tini yalnızca imrenilen, haset edilen, öykünülen, ve hiçbir biçimde anlaşılamayan model olarak kaldı. Etnik kabile kültürlerinin göçebe yaşamları kentliliğin gerektirdiği kavramları üretemezdi. Germanik tin Roma’yı ancak yıkabildi ve 1000 yıl sürecek karanlık Feodal Çağları başlattı.

 
   

Bir populus līber, bir özgür halk olmasına karşın, tüm göreli yüksekliğine karşın, Roma etiği ereksel etik ideal karşısında geri bir aile, geri bir toplum ve geri bir devlet yapısı olarak kaldı. Etik yaşam hiçbir zaman tikel bir etik yaşam olmanın ötesine geçmedi. Roma etiği etiğin kendisinin gerçek yargıcı olan evrensel duyunç özgürlüğünün gerisinde idi ve gerçek moral aklamadan yoksundu. Nüfusun sınırlı bir bölümüne ait bir ayrıcalık olan yurttaşlık kimliği tikelliğinde insan doğası ile bağdaşma içinde değildi. Roma etiği gerçek bir model sunmak bir yana, etik gelişim sürecinde yalnızca ortadan kalkması zorunlu olan geçici bir aşama olduğunu gösterdi.

 



🛑 Roma ve Yurttaşlık

Senatus Populus que Romanus — Roma Senatosu ve Halkı. İÖ 80 ve İS 310'lar arasında kullanıldı.
 
   

Roma yurttaşı yasama, yargı, magisterlerin seçimi ve yönetsel kararlar belirlenmesine doğrudan katılan, kendini yöneten özgür kişi idi. Cumhuriyet döneminde savaş ve barış kararları yurttaşlar meclisi tarafından veriliyordu.

Roma tini daha başından yasa egemenliği üzerine kurulu ve etnik karaktere ilgisiz bir krallık olarak şekillendi. Romalılar krallarını seçim yoluyla belirliyorlardı, ve sonra onları kovdular ve bir daha monarşi yaşamamak için ant içtiler. Etnik türlülük içindeki etik-öncesi bireyleri biraraya getiren ve bir çobanlar, haydutlar, kaçaklar ve sığınmacılar grubunu dünya tarihinin en görkemli ve en güçlü imparatorluğunu yaratmaya götüren etmen yasa egemenliği olarak evrenselin soyut gücüdür. Bu idea tüm bireysel tikelliklerin egemenidir. Evrensel yasa etnik karakterleri siler, tikel özenci etkisizleştirir, ve tüzel türdeşlik yaratır. Ve İmparatorluk Romasında da nüfus hiçbir zaman yurttaşlık karakterini yitirmedi. Augustus ve sonraki egemenler Diocletian’a dek rex ya da dictator sanını reddettiler ve yalnızca ‘ilk yurttaş’ (princeps civitatis) olarak kabul edilmeyi istediler. Tekerklik güçlerine karşın, Cumhuriyet tinine bağlı kalmada direttiler. Ve ancak üçüncü yüzyıl kapanırken, ancak Diocletian’dan sonra dominus ve daha sonra basileus sanı üstlenildi. Roma Senatosu ortadan yitmedi ve 7’nci yüzyıla dek aşamalı olarak zayıflayan gücünü korumayı sürdürdü.

 



🛑 ROMA VE ETİK


Vibia Sabina, wife of Hadrian, 2nd century CE.
 
   

Roma’nın kurucuları Etrüskleri, Latinleri ve Sabinleri ve daha başka etnik grupları direnilmez bir istenç gücü altında birleştirdiler. “Yurttaş,” “yasa,” “egemenlik,” “güç,” “Cumhuriyet” — tümü de civisin özgürlüğünden türeyen ve onu anlatan bu kavramlar Roma tinini etnik, yerel, kültürel türlülüklerin üzerine, ancak ideale öykünmede ortaya çıkabilen o kentlilik ve türdeşlik düzlemine yükseltti. Etik, dürüstlük, güven, erdem — bu kavramlar Roma’nın etnik komşularında olmayan ve onun gücünü oluşturan asıl öğeler olarak Roma’yı tüm istençsiz dünyanın egemeni olmaya belirledi. Roma’yı güç bozmadı. “Güç yozlaştırır,” ve “saltık güç saltık olarak yozlaştırır” gibi henüz gelecekte bekleyen budalaca görüşler Roma’nın güç ile bir ve aynı şey olan istenci tarafından yüz yıllar önce çürütüldü. Roma güç idi, çünkü özgürlük, istenç, egemenlik idi. Güç olmayan istenç istenç değildir. Önemli olan gücün evrenselliğidir, çünkü gücün evrenselliği, herkesin eşit ölçüde güçlü olması gücün kendisini güçsüzlük yapan, güç ve zor ve şiddet etmenini insan ilişkilerinden sonsuza dek uzaklaştıran kavramdır. Herkesin güçlü olduğu yerde hiç kimse güçlü değildir. Pax Romana gücün evrenselliği, ya da yine aynı şey gücün güçsüzlüğü idi. Roma’yı bozan ve zayıflatan ve sonunda ortadan kalkmasını kaçınılmaz kılan etmen gücün evrenselliği değil, gücün yeterince evrensel olmaması, Roma’nın evrenselinin en sonunda tikel olması idi. Roma için civis evrensel değil ve civitas evrensel insanlık değildi. Cumhuriyet Roması yurttaşların Roması idi. Ama yurttaşlık hakkının kendisi salt bir ayrıcalık idi. Roma evrensel insanlık bilincinin doğuşunun eşiğinde duruyordu.

Bir olgu ve kurgu karışımı olan monarşik tarihi ile ilgili kaynaklara göre, Roma zorbalar tarafından kuruldu. Sonra özgürlüğü ile, istenci ile tanıştı. Buna göre, ilk devrimi zorbalığın kendisini ortadan kaldırmak oldu. Krallar sürüldü, insanın insana egemenliğine izin vermemek için ant içildi, ve tiranlıktan özgürlüğün ancak bir istençler çoğulluğunun egemenliği altında olanaklı olabileceği gibi saçma bir görüş kabul edildi. Yasa Egemenliği Roma tininin özü ve özetidir. Tikel önderliği yasakladılar, kendi kendilerinin önderleri oldular, ve patrisyen ve pleblerin Senatosu altında, her biri seçimle atanan konsüller ve tüm başka magisterler altında Cumhuriyet büyümeyi sürdürerek sonunda Akdeniz’in biricik gücü oldu. Ama egemenlik birdir, bir istençler çoğulluğu değil. Cumhuriyeti belirleyen istençler çoğulluğu Cumhuriyetin istençsizleşmesine ve sonunda bir iç savaşlar sürecine götürdü. Roma’nın bütünüyle dağılarak yitme riski ancak Julius Sezar’ın istenci altında önlenebildi.

 




Helenik Etik

 
   

Klasik tin İdeanın Realitesidir. Klasik Roma Helenik ideali öncülü olarak aldı, ona taptı, ve onu estetikte olduğu gibi etikte de büyüttü, politikayı yurttaşın küresel sorunu yaptı.

 

İlkin Helenik ilkede tinsellik sevinci içinde, neşesi içinde, ve hazzı içinde şekillenmeye başladı. Estetik, etik ve entellektüel insan belirlenimi ancak bir özgürlük dünyasında sınırsızca açınabilirdi. Helenik tin ilkin güzelliğe tapındı. İnsanın bedeninde olduğu gibi ruhunda da, etik-karakterinde de güzelliği yaratmaya girişti. Sonra düşüncenin kendisinin dünyanın özü olduğunu anladı.

 

Özgür bireylerin kendilerinin erdemleri törel sanat yapıtları oldular. Helenik bireyin üzerinde üstün bir güç olarak duran, ona ne yapması gerektiğini buyuran ve onun erdemini belirleyen yasa yoktur. Orada birey erdemini kendisi üretmek, etik belirlenimini kendi özgür duyuncundan türetmek zorundadır. Bu olgu, özgür olmanın bu ürkütücü güçlüğü bireyleri en büyük trajedilere olduğu gibi en soylu kahramanlıklara da götüren şeydir.

 

Bir imparatorluğa gelişmeyen Helenik tikellik ile karşıtlık içinde, Roma daha başından evrenselin gücünü temsil eder ve bireyselliği sert, katı evrensel istencin bir kıpısına indirerek aynı zamanda politik kişiliğe yükseltir. Roma Tininde yasa egemenliği aileyi ve toplumu kendine altgüdümlü kılan ve onların haklarını çiğneyen başat etik ilkedir.

 

🛑 ROMA ETİĞİ VE ETNİK KÜLTÜRLER

Roma tüm Krallık, Cumhuriyet ve İmparatorluk dönemleri boyunca aynı etik karakteri sergiler. Julius Sezar ve Octavius bile kendilerini bireyseli kendine altgüdümlü kılan aynı evrensel ilkenin gücü ve egemenliği altında gördüler. Roma’nın gücü ve görkemi en parlak bireysellikleri kendi içine soğuran, en büyük etnik türlülüğü türdeşleştiren evrensellik ilkesinin güç ve görkeminden doğdu.

Roma tini daha başından etnik kabile karakteri ile ilgisi olmayan bir krallık olarak şekillendi. Yerel Etrüskler, Latinler ve Sabinler onlara yabancı bir tinin gücü altında biraraya getirildiler ve sonunda bütünüyle assimile oldular. Cumhuriyet dönemi gücün bireyselleşmediği, sayısız güç odağına dağıldığı bir yükseliş ve serpiliş dönemi oldu. Bir istençler çoğulluğu istençsizlik demektir ve Cumhuriyetin sonunu getiren iç savaşların zeminidir. Roma İmparatorluğu imparatorun kendisinin tanrısallığında etnik tikelciliğin üstünde ve ötesinde idi. İnsanlık ilk kez Pax Romana altında evrensel etik yaşamın ne olduğunu öğrendi.

 



 
 
📹 Ancient Greece (LINK)

“Daha insansal iken Tanrılar,
Daha tanrısal idi İnsanlar.”
“Da die Götter menschlicher noch waren,
Waren Menschen göttlicher.”
 
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1788-1805)
 

🛑 HELENİK-ROMA TİNİ VE FEODAL ORTA-ÇAĞLAR AVRUPASI

Helenik tin Roma’nın kültür modeli idi. Estetik ideal, erdem, politika, ve felsefe — bu Klasik öğeler olmaksızın Roma tini kendisi olamazdı. Helenik estetik ve etik ideallere öykünerek, Roma kendini etik-karakter ve estetik-biçim ideali yaptı.

Ama barbar Germanik-Keltik Avrupa uygar Roma ile bir süreklilik kurmasını sağlayacak minimal bir gelişim düzeyinden yoksundu. Barbarlar Uygar kültürler karşısında kendilerini Vandallar olarak tanımlarlar. Avrupa’nın Orta Çağları denilen karanlık-feodal dönem Helen-Roma tininden ödünç almak bir yana, bin yıl boyunca yalnızca ona yabancılığını sergiledi. Batıda Klasik Roma’yı yerle bir eden Germanik-Keltik barbar Avrupa’nın yaratısı 1000 yıl süren bir karanlık-feodal yaşam biçimi, Katolik Kilisesinin büyük yalanı tarafından tanımlanan bir tinsel gerilik, sefillik, kötülük kültürü oldu. Avrupa’nın moral ve etik geriliği ancak modern dönemde, ancak Reformasyonun bir yan-ürünü olarak ortaya çıkan duyunç özgürlüğü ile iyileşmenin yoluna girdi.

 



🛑 KLASİKTEN MODERNE

Osmanlılar Roma’yı model aldılar ve büyüdükten sonra onu kulluk tinine uyarlamayı istediler. Germenler Roma’yı yok ederek başladılar ve onun yerini feodal-karanlık-Katolik bir kültür ile doldurdular.

Özgürlüğün bastırılması tarihin bastırılması idi. Dünya Tarihi çıkış yolunu yürek üzerindeki tüm dışsal dinsel yetkeyi silen ve kendisi duyunç özgürlüğüne teslim olmak zorunda kalan Reformasyon ile yarattı. Modern özgürlük tini Klasik özgürlük tininde tikel kalanın evrenselliğe yükselmesinin zeminini sağladı. Öyle görünür ki bu sürecin ikinci bir bin yıla daha gereksinimi vardır.

 



🛑 “KADİM” KÜLTÜRLER VE KLASİK TİN

Tarihin genç ve yeni etnik kültürleri Klasik ideal karşısında yalnızca yaşlı ve eskidir. Bu güncel kültürler etnik karakterlerinde ‘kadim’dir, ve ister yitip gitmiş isterse gözlerini tarihe yeni açmak üzere olsunlar, henüz varolmayan etiklerinde taş devrine ve estetiklerinde mağara duvarlarına daha yakındırlar. Oluş sürecinde olan modern dünya henüz büyük bir tarih-öncesi güç olarak sürmekte olan barbarlığın gözdağı altındadır.

 




   

📹 HISTORY IN 3D - ANCIENT ROME 320 AD - Walking around Colosseum_1 (VİDEO)

HISTORY IN 3D — ANCIENT ROME 320 AD —
Walking around Colosseum 1 (LINK)

Here is the 3rd video trailer, illustrating our project dedicated to reconstruction of the whole center of ancient Rome city as it was in 320 AD. Also this is the last trailer before the release of 3d walkthrough, where you will be able to enjoy this reconstruction by yourself using modern and innovative 3D technologies.

 



 
  • Roma Tarihinde homo sapiensin ilerleyen belirlenimi açısından özsel kazanım evrensel insan eşitliği kavramının doğmasıdır.
 

İnsanın “Tanrı ile birliği” motifi Sümerler ile birlikte doğar. Bütün bir Mezopotamya mitolojisinde insan Tanrı ile birdir ve Tanrı insanı kendi imgesinde yaratır. Sümer haklı olarak uygarlığın beşiği olarak kabul edilir, çünkü Dünya Tarihinde ilk kez başka hiçbir kültüre öykünemeyecek olan bu kültürde homo sapiens estetik, etik ve entellektüel varoluşunu yalnızca ve yalnızca insan doğasının özsel ideaları ile uyum içinde belirleme sürecini başlatır.

 

Kültürün erişmesi gereken erek doğal ve tinsel insanın estetik olarak ideal biçim olduğunun, etik olarak hakkının evrensel özgürlük yaşamı olduğunun, ve insan Usunun ideaların bir dizgesi olduğunun bilincidir. Bu erek kültürün idealleşmesi olarak uygarlıktır.

 

🛑 Klasik Tin ve Politikanın Etik Niteliği

  • Homo sapiensin Helenik tinde estetik ve entellektüel ideallere erişmesine karşın, bu tinde tüzel, moral ve etik idealin bilinci eksiktir
  • Ya da, Helenik tinde güzel sanatlar ve felsefe ideallerinin doğmasına karşın, evrensel insan eşitliğinin tanınmamasında etik ideal ancak sınırlı olarak reelleşir. Orada insanların yalnızca bir bölümü, yalnızca erkekler özgür ve eşittir.
  • Helenik politik istenç kadına ve köleye yurttaşlık hakkını tanınmaz.

 

  • Mezopotamya uygarlığı homo sapiensin estetik, etik ve entellektüel gelişiminin başlangıcını oluşturur ve despotik Pers kültüründe sonlanır.
  • Yahudi tini ‘etnik din’ kültürü ile dünya tini için tarihsel bir anomali yaratır. Estetik bir ilgisi yoktur; yücelik öğretisi ile insanı alçaltır, moral olarak insanı tikel bir tanrıya kölelik konumuna indirger ve entellektüel olarak yalnızca bir bozulma ve sapıncı temsil eder.

 

  • Hem Katolik hem de Ortodoks Hıristiyanlık pantheondaki tanrıların ve tanrıçaların yerine papa ve kardinallerden, patrik ve piskoposlardan oluşan bir dinadamları sınıfını geçirdi.
  • Dinadamları sınıfı bütün bir kültürde moral düşüklüğün nedenidir, çünkü bu ‘ahlak’ yetkeleri insanlarda duyunç özgürlüğünü ve dolayısıyla duyunç gelişimini engellerler.

 

  • Hıristiyanlık ve İmparatorluk birlikte gitmez, çünkü birincisi evrensel insan eşitliğini tanırken, tekerk tüm hakkın kaynağı olarak saltık istenç olduğuna inanır.

 

  • Roma Batısında ve Doğusunda moral ve etik bozulma sonucunda zayıfladı.
  • İmparatorluk Batıda Germanik barbarlar tarafından bir yıkıntıya çevrilirken, Doğuda büyük bir tarihin küçük bir artığı olarak Selçuklu ve Osmanlı Türkleri tarafından ortadan kaldırıldı.

 



🛑 Germanik Tin ve Katolik Kilise

  Germanik tin Roma tinini barbarlığa indirger ve bütününde Karanlık Orta Çağları başlatırken, dinsel olarak bu karanlık tine ait olan Roma Katolik Kilisesini şekillendirir. Bu kurumsal din Avrupa’yı bir korku, nefret ve yokedicilik kültürüne boğarken, insan ilişkilerinde en aşağılık ve korkunç biçimleri sergiler — haçlı seferleri, kitle kıyımları, engizisyon ve pogromlar. Reformasyon ancak kültür sonsuz insan aşağılanması biçimini aldığı zaman bütünüyle bilinçsiz bir başkaldırı olarak ortaya çıkar. Reformasyon önderlerinin (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli) kendileri boşinançlar içinde tükenmiş insanlar olmalarına karşın, Roma Katolik Kilisesinin dünyasal yetkesinden bağımsızlık istenci duyunç özgürlüğünün kazanılması ve tarihte ilk kez gerçek evrensel bireyselliğin doğması sonucunu getirir.
 

Tanrı kavramı sonsuz estetik, etik ve entellektüel ideaların birliğini anlatır. Bu nedenle insan bilincinde Tanrı kavramının kendisi ancak bu ideaların edimselliği ile orantılı olarak açınır.

Doğal bilinç için güzellik tanrısaldır, sevgi tanrısaldır, ve bilgi tanrısaldır. Bu üç saltık öğe bu bilinçte güzel sanat, din ve felsefeye karşılık düşer. Aynı zamanda, duyu, duygu ve düşünceye karşılık düşer.

Din birincil olarak bir inanç sorunudur, bilgi sorunu değil. Ve inanç bir duygu sorunudur. Bu nedenle din duyu ve düşünce ya da güzel sanatlar ve felsefe arasında duran bir konumu ilgilendirir. İnancın var olana inanç olması gerekmesi olgusu inancı bilgi ya da düşünce ile bağlar ve inancın gerçekliği düşüncenin gerekliğine koşullu olur.

İnanç insanın kendi kendisine, kendi bilgisine, kendi usuna inancıdır. Bu nedenledir ki inancın gerçekliği ve değeri entellektüel gelişim ile koşulludur. Bilgisiz insanın inancı boşinançtır.

İnancın duygu ile ilgili olması onu doğrudan doğruya sevgi ile bağlar ve bu nedenledir ki “Tanrı sevgidir” denir. İsa’nın önemi bu bağıntıya anlatım vermesinde yatar. Duygunun gerçek biçimi sevgidir (Eros).

 





 

 

  Roman Empire

🗺 Roma from 264 BC (first Punic War) to 180 AD (Marcus Aurelius)

Roma from 264 BC (first Punic War) to 180 AD (Marcus Aurelius)
🔎

 



Population of the Empire

Population of the Empire

It has been estimated that the population of Roman Europe (including Britain and the Balkan provinces) was in the order of approximately 67-70 million at the end of the second century CE, falling to around 27–30 million by the early eighth century, rising again by 1300 to some 73 million, with a particularly noticeable rise about 1200 CE.

Asia Minor: Major routes, 7th-12th centuries.
🔎

 
   

All the evidence suggests a similar curve in the near eastern and – in the later centuries – Islamic world, and these accord with the minor climatic changes described above. The catastrophic slump of the mid-fourteenth century, which saw the population of Europe drop to somewhere in the region of 45 million, was made good within a century. While these figures are necessarily crude approximations, in view of the nature of the available sources and the problems of their interpretation, and while one can point to a number of exceptions, quite apart from a differential rate of change from east to west, and including important regional and local variations, they seem now generally agreed, at least in their broad outlines.

The most recent estimates for the late Roman and Byzantine areas propose a population for the empire’s eastern provinces, of some 19-20 million just before the middle of the sixth century (before the plague of the 540s), with a further 7 million in the west; of 17 million in the early seventh century, with a reduction to about 7 million by the middle of the eighth century, and a gradual rise to about 10 million in the mid-ninth century, 12 million by the time of Basil II, falling again to about 10 million (after the loss of central Anatolia to the Turks) in the mid-twelfth century, 9 million in the early thirteenth century, 5 million by about 1280 and a consistent downward trend thereafter as the empire’s territorial extent was reduced. Slightly higher figures for the tenth to twelfth centuries have also been proposed, with a population of some 18 million in the 1020s, for example. All can be challenged on various grounds, but they provide some very crude totals in respect of the amount of agrarian produce consumed and available for, for example, the support of armies or similar transient population groups.



The Palgrave Atlas of Byzantine history (2005), p. 11.

The cities of the Roman world in the Imperial Period.

Data source: Hanson, J. W. (2016), Cities database, (OXREP databases). Version 1.0. (link).

 




📹 Rome — Eternal City

📹 Ancient Rome in 20 minutes (VİDEO)

Ancient Rome in 20 minutes (LINK)

Caesar, The Colosseum, Republic, Nero, geese, plebeians, legions — everything that you once knew, but forgot — in a crash course video by Arzamas.

Narrated by Brian Cox.

"Ancient Rome in 20 minutes" is a Russian version of a Russian video by Arzamas.

 








  Virgil, Aeneid

Virgil, Aeneid

Virgil (70-19 BC) (W)

 
   

Publius Vergilius Maro (traditional dates October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil  in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He wrote three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.

Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome’s greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome since the time of its composition. Modeled after Homer’s  Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and reach Italy, where his descendants Romulus and Remus were to found the city of Rome. Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably Dante's Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory.



Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia by Jean-Baptiste Wicar, Art Institute of Chicago.



Kauffmann, Angelica Maria Anna Catharina. 1741-1807
Virgil reading the “Aeneid” to Augustus and Octavia (Germany, 1788)
The subject is taken from Ancient Roman history legend described by the 5th-century Latin writer Macrobius. The painting depicts the moment when Octavia, the sister of the Emperor Augustus, loses consciousness as she listens to Virgil’s verses, which reminded her of the early death of her son Marcellus. (LINK)



Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland — “The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas.” (LINK)



“Aeneas and Achates appearing to Dido,” Antoine Coypel II (oil painting). (LINK)



“Venus Preventing Her Son Aeneas From Killing Helen of Troy,” by Luca Ferrari.



“Dido and Aeneas” — Nicolas Verkolye (The Netherlands, 1673-1746).



“Aeneas tells Dido about the fall of Troy,” by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.



Aeneid (W)


Map of Aeneas's journey.


The Aeneid (LatinAeneis) is Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.


The suicide of Queen Dido (book 4), sculpture by Claude-Augustin Cayot [fr] (1667–1722).
 
   

The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the Iliad. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas's wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Rome and his description as a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous pietas, and fashioned the Aeneid into a compelling founding myth or national epic that tied Rome to the legends of Troy, explained the Punic Wars, glorified traditional Roman virtues, and legitimized the Julio-Claudian dynasty as descendants of the founders, heroes, and gods of Rome and Troy.

The Aeneid is widely regarded as Virgil's masterpiece and one of the greatest works of Latin literature.


Reception

Critics of the Aeneid focus on a variety of issues. The tone of the poem as a whole is a particular matter of debate; some see the poem as ultimately pessimistic and politically subversive to the Augustan regime, while others view it as a celebration of the new imperial dynasty. Virgil makes use of the symbolism of the Augustan regime, and some scholars see strong associations between Augustus and Aeneas, the one as founder and the other as re-founder of Rome. A strong teleology, or drive towards a climax, has been detected in the poem. The Aeneid is full of prophecies about the future of Rome, the deeds of Augustus, his ancestors, and famous Romans, and the Carthaginian Wars; the shield of Aeneas even depicts Augustus' victory at Actium in 31 BC. A further focus of study is the character of Aeneas. As the protagonist of the poem, Aeneas seems to constantly waver between his emotions and commitment to his prophetic duty to found Rome; critics note the breakdown of Aeneas's emotional control in the last sections of the poem where the "pious" and "righteous" Aeneas mercilessly slaughters the Latin warrior Turnus.

The Aeneid appears to have been a great success. Virgil is said to have recited Books 2, 4 and 6 to Augustus;the mention of her son, Marcellus, in book 6 apparently caused Augustus' sister Octavia to faint. The poem was unfinished when Virgil died in 19 BC.



Virgil’s death and editing

According to tradition, Virgil traveled to Greece around 19 BC to revise the Aeneid. After meeting Augustus in Athens and deciding to return home, Virgil caught a fever while visiting a town near Megara. Virgil crossed to Italy by ship, weakened with disease, and died in Brundisium harbour on 21 September 19 BC, leaving a wish that the manuscript of the Aeneid was to be burned. Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors, Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca, to disregard that wish, instead ordering the Aeneid to be published with as few editorial changes as possible. As a result, the existing text of the Aeneid may contain faults which Virgil was planning to correct before publication. However, the only obvious imperfections are a few lines of verse that are metrically unfinished (i.e., not a complete line of dactylic hexameter). Other alleged "imperfections" are subject to scholarly debate.


History

The Aeneid was written in a time of major political and social change in Rome, with the fall of the Republic and the Final War of the Roman Republic having torn through society and many Romans' faith in the "Greatness of Rome" severely faltering. However, the new emperor, Augustus Caesar, began to institute a new era of prosperity and peace, specifically through the re-introduction of traditional Roman moral values. The Aeneid was seen as reflecting this aim, by depicting the heroic Aeneas as a man devoted and loyal to his country and its prominence, rather than his own personal gains. In addition, the Aeneid gives mythic legitimization to the rule of Julius Caesar and, by extension, to his adopted son Augustus, by immortalizing the tradition that renamed Aeneas's son, Ascanius (called Ilus from Ilium, meaning Troy), Iulus, thus making him an ancestor of the gens Julia, the family of Julius Caesar, and many other great imperial descendants as part of the prophecy given to him in the Underworld. (The meter shows that the name "Iulus" is pronounced as 3 syllables, not as "Julus".)



Pietas

The Roman ideal of pietas ("piety, dutiful respect"), which can be loosely translated from the Latin as a selfless sense of duty toward one's filial, religious, and societal obligations, was a crux of ancient Roman morality. Throughout the Aeneid, Aeneas serves as the embodiment of pietas, with the phrase "pious Aeneas" occurring 20 times throughout the poem, thereby fulfilling his capacity as the father of the Roman people. For instance, in Book 2 Aeneas describes how he carried his father Anchises from the burning city of Troy: "No help/ Or hope of help existed./ So I resigned myself, picked up my father,/ And turned my face toward the mountain range." Furthermore, Aeneas ventures into the underworld, thereby fulfilling Anchises' wishes. His father's gratitude is presented in the text by the following lines: "Have you at last come, has that loyalty/ Your father counted on conquered the journey?

However, Aeneas's pietas extends beyond his devotion to his father: we also see several examples of his religious fervour. Aeneas is consistently subservient to the gods, even in actions opposed to his own desires, as he responds to one such divine command, "I sail to Italy not of my own free will."

In addition to his religious and familial pietas, Aeneas also displays fervent patriotism and devotion to his people, particularly in a military capacity. For instance, as he and his followers leave Troy, Aeneas swears that he will "take up/ The combat once again. We shall not all/ Die this day unavenged."

Aeneas is a symbol of pietas in all of its forms, serving as a moral paragon to whom a Roman should aspire.

 




📹 Why should you read Virgil’s Aeneid? / Mark Robinson (VİDEO)

📹 Why should you read Virgil’s Aeneid? / Mark Robinson (LINK)

In 19 BC, the Roman poet Virgil suffered heatstroke and died on his journey back to Italy. On his deathbed, he thought about the manuscript he had been working on for over ten years, an epic poem called the "Aeneid." Unsatisfied with the final edit, he asked his friends to burn it. But they refused, and soon after Virgil’s death, Augustus ordered it to be published. Why? Mark Robinson explains.

 



📹 The Aeneid, by Virgil (VİDEO)

📹 The Aeneid, by Virgil (LINK)

 



📹 Classics Summarized — The Aeneid (VİDEO)

📹 Classics Summarized — The Aeneid (LINK)

 








   
Ancient Rome

  Senatus Populus que Romanus





🕑 ROMA
  Timeline of Roman history (753 BC - AD 1453)

📜 Timeline of Roman history (753 BC - AD 1453)

8th and 7th centuries BC

2nd millennium BC
Year Date Event
1200 BC Proto-Villanovan culture appears in Italy. This is possibly the introduction of Italic peoples into the peninsula.

8th and 7th centuries BC
Year Date Event
753 BC 21 April Rome was founded. According to Roman legend, Romulus was the founder and first king of Rome, establishing the Roman Kingdom.
715 BC Numa Pompilius became the second King of Rome.
673 BC Tullus Hostilius became the third King of Rome.
667 BC Byzantium was founded by Megarian colonists.
642 BC Tullus Hostilius died.
The Curiate Assembly, one of the legislative assemblies of the Roman Kingdom, elected Ancus Marcius King of Rome.
617 BC Ancus Marcius died.
616 BC The Curiate Assembly elected Lucius Tarquinius Priscus King of Rome.

 



6th century BC

6th century BC
Year Date Event
579 BC Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was killed in a riot instigated by the sons of Ancus Marcius.
575 BC The Senate accepted the regent Servius Tullius as king of Rome.
535 BC Servius Tullius was murdered by his daughter Tullia Minor and her husband Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, who declared himself King of Rome on the steps of the Curia Hostilia.
509 BC The patrician Lucretia was raped by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus's son Sextus Tarquinius.
Overthrow of the Roman monarchy: Following Lucretia's suicide, Lucius Junius Brutus called the Curiate Assembly, one of the legislative assemblies of the Roman Kingdom. The latter agreed to the overthrow and expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and to a provisional constitution under which two consuls acted as a joint executive and a Curiate Assembly held legislative power, and swore never again to let a king rule Rome. It further elected Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Lucretia's husband, as consuls.
Battle of Silva Arsia: Tarquinian and Veientine forces loyal to Lucius Tarquinius Superbus were defeated in the Silva Arsia by a Roman army. Lucius Junius Brutus was killed. Publius Valerius Publicola, returning to Rome with the spoils of war, was awarded the first Roman Triumph on March 1.
The consul Publius Valerius Publicola promulgated a number of liberal reforms, including opening the office of consul to all Roman citizens and placing the treasury under the administration of appointed quaestors.
13 September The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus was ceremonially dedicated to the Capitoline Triad.
508 BC Roman–Etruscan Wars: A Clusian army failed to conquer Rome.
501 BC In the face of a potential Sabine invasion, the Senate passed a senatus consultum authorizing the consuls to appoint a dictator, a magistrate who held absolute power during a national emergency. The dictator would in turn appoint the Magister equitum, the commander of the cavalry. The consuls Titus Lartius and Postumus Cominius Auruncus selected the former as dictator.

 



5th century BC

5th century BC
Year Date Event
496 BC Battle of Lake Regillus: Latin League invasion near modern Frascati which sought to reinstall Lucius Tarquinius Superbus.
494 BC First secessio plebis:

Lucius Sicinius Vellutus, the plebs abandoned Rome for the nearby Monte Sacro.

471 BC After a law allowing organization of the plebs tribe, the Plebeian Council was reorganized by tribes rather than curiae.
459 BC Under popular pressure, the Senate increased the tribunes of the plebs from two to ten.
458 BC During the first dictatorship of Cincinnatus, the Aequians staged an offensive, breaking a truce. Cincinnatus defeated the Aquians at the Battle of Mount Algidus and after a triumph, returned to his farm after sixteen days.[1]
449 BC Resolutions of the Plebeian Council were given the full force of law subject to Senate veto.
The second of two decemviri, specially-elected ten man commissions, issued the last of the Twelve Tables, the fundamental laws of the Republic.
447 BC The Tribal Assembly was established, and granted the right to elect quaestors.
445 BC Lex Canuleia: Marriage between patricians and plebeians was legalized.
443 BC The offices of the Tribuni militum consulari potestate were established. A collegium of three patrician or plebeian tribunes, one each from specific Roman tribes (the Titienses, the Ramnenses, and the Luceres), would hold the power of the consuls from year to year, subject to the Senate.
The office of the censor, a patrician magistrate responsible for conducting the census in years without a consul, was established.
439 BC Cincinnatus was called upon to accept a second dictatorship by the patricians to prevent Spurius Maelius from seizing power; the patricians suspected Spurius of using wheat to purchase the support of the plebeians, to set himself up as a king. Gaius Servilius Ahala was appointed magister equitum in order to stop Maelius; following an attack by Maelius, Ahala slew him. Cincinnatus again resigned his dictatorship and returned to his farm after 21 days.[2]
435 BC Fidenae, an important trade post on the Tiber, was captured from the Veii.[3]
408 BC The Tribuni militum consulari potestate held office.

 



4th century BC

4th century BC
Year Date Event
396 BC Battle of Veii: Roman forces led by the dictator Marcus Furius Camillus conquered Veii.
Roman soldiers first earned a salary ("salary" from Latin for "salt").
394 BC The consuls held office.
391 BC The Tribuni militum consulari potestate held office.
390 BC 18 July Battle of the Allia: The Senones routed a Roman force at the confluence of the rivers Allia and Tiber.
The Senones sacked Rome.
367 BC The consuls held office.
366 BC Lucius Sextius was elected the first plebeian consul.
The office of Praetor, which took the judiciary responsibilities of the consul and could be held only by a patrician, was established.
351 BC The first plebeian dictator was elected.
The first plebeian censor was elected.
343 BC Samnite Wars: Rome marched against the Samnites, probably after an appeal from the Campanians.
Battle of Mount Gaurus: A Samnite force was routed by a Roman army near Mount Barbaro.
342 BC The Leges Genuciae were passed, banning a person from holding two offices at the same time, or during any ten-year period; charging interest on loans was also banned.
341 BC Samnite Wars: The Senate agreed a peace, following an appeal by the Samnite to a previous treaty of friendship.
340 BC Latin War: The Latin League invaded Samnium.
339 BC A law was passed which required the election of at least one plebeian censor every five years.
338 BC Latin War: Rome defeated the Latin League armies.
337 BC The first plebeian Praetor was elected.
328 BC Samnite Wars: Rome declared war on the Samnites after their failure to prevent their subjects raiding Fregellae.
321 BC Battle of the Caudine Forks: After being trapped in a mountain pass near Caudium without a water supply, Roman forces were allowed to retreat by a Samnite army.
315 BC Battle of Lautulae: A decisive Samnite victory near Terracina split Roman territory in two.
311 BC Samnite Wars: The Etruscans laid siege to Sutri.
310 BC Battle of Lake Vadimo (310 BC): Rome inflicted a substantial military defeat on the Etruscans at Lake Vadimo.
308 BC Samnite Wars: The Umbri, Picentes and Marsi joined the Samnites against Rome.
306 BC The Hernici declared their independence from Rome.
305 BC Battle of Bovianum: A Roman force destroyed the majority of the Samnite army.
304 BC Rome conquered the Aequi.
Samnite Wars: The treaty of friendship between the Romans and Samnites was restored.

 



3rd century BC

3rd century BC
Year Date Event
300 BC The Lex Ogulnia was passed, allowing plebeians to become priests.
298 BC Samnite Wars: Rome declared war on the Samnites after an appeal by the Lucani.
Samnite Wars: Rome captured the Samnite cities of Bojano and Castel di Sangro.
297 BC Battle of Tifernum: A Roman army defeated a numerically superior Samnite force at Città di Castello.
295 BC Battle of Sentinum: A Roman army decisively defeated a numerically superior force of Samnites, Etruscans, Umbri and Senones in coalition at Sentinum. The consul Publius Decius Mus (consul 312 BC)was killed.
294 BC Samnite Wars: Roman and Samnite forces battled at Lucera.
293 BC Battle of Aquilonia: A Roman army destroyed the majority of Samnite forces, probably in modern Agnone.
A census counted about 270,000 residents of Rome.
291 BC Samnite Wars: Rome conquered and colonized the Samnite city of Venosa.
290 BC Samnite Wars: The last effective Samnite resistance was eliminated.
287 BC Conflict of the Orders: A secessio plebis took place.
Conflict of the Orders: The Lex Hortensia was passed, made resolutions of the Plebeian Council (plebiscites) binding on all Romans, they formally only applied to plebeians.[4]
283 BC Battle of Lake Vadimo (283 BC): A Roman army defeated a combined force of Etruscans, Boii and Senones near Lake Vadimo.
281 BC Taranto appealed to Epirus for aid against Rome.
280 BC Pyrrhic War: An Epirote army of some 25,000 landed at Taranto.
July Battle of Heraclea: A Greek coalition force led by the Epirote king Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated a Roman army after their deployment of war elephants at Heraclea Lucania.
279 BC Battle of Asculum: A Greek force led by the Epirote king Pyrrhus defeated a Roman army at modern Ascoli Satriano, despite suffering heavy losses.
275 BC Battle of Beneventum (275 BC): Roman and Epirote armies met in a bloody battle at Benevento.
272 BC Pyrrhic War: Pyrrhus withdrew with his army to Epirus.
Pyrrhic War: Taranto surrendered to Rome.
267 BC The number of quaestors was raised from four to ten.
264 BC Battle of Messana: A Roman force defeated a Carthaginian and Siracusani garrison at Messina.
242 BC The office of the praetor qui inter peregrinos ius dicit, a Praetor with jurisdiction over foreigners, was created.
241 BC First Punic War: Sicily was organized as the province of Sicilia.
238 BC Mercenary War: Carthage surrendered its claims on Sardinia and Corsica to Rome.
229 BC Illyrian Wars: Rome invaded the territory of the Ardiaei.
228 BC Illyrian Wars: The Ardiaei surrendered some territory, including strategically significant ports, to Rome, ending the war.
225 BC Battle of Telamon: A Roman army decisively defeated a Gallic invasion near modern Talamone. The consul Gaius Atilius Regulus was killed.
219 BC Illyrian Wars: Rome invaded Hvar.
218 BC Second Punic War: A Carthaginian army departed Cartagena.
Illyrian Wars: Demetrius of Pharos fled to Macedonia.
216 BC 2 August Battle of Cannae: The Carthaginian general Hannibal decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman force at Cannae.
214 BC First Macedonian War: A Macedonian fleet captured Oricum.
Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BC): Rome laid siege to Syracuse.
212 BC Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BC): Roman forces breached the inner citadel of Syracuse and slaughtered its inhabitants.
205 BC First Macedonian War: Rome and Macedonia signed the Treaty of Phoenice, according to which Macedonia renounced its alliance with Carthage in exchange for Roman recognition of its gains in Illyria.
204 BC Second Punic War: The consul Scipio Africanus landed an invasion fleet at Utica.
202 BC 19 October Battle of Zama: A Roman army decisively defeated Carthage, probably near modern Sakiet Sidi Youssef.
201 BC Second Punic War: Carthage accepted Roman conditions for peace, including disarmament, a war indemnity of ten thousand talents, and the cession of Iberia, ending the war.

 



2nd century BC

2nd century BC
Year Date Event
200 BC Second Macedonian War: A Roman fleet arrived in Illyria to relieve a Macedonian siege of Abydos.
197 BC The provinces of Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior were organized.
The number of quaestors was increased to twelve.
The number of Praetors was increased to six.
196 BC Second Macedonian War: Macedonia surrendered its conquests in Greece and agreed to pay a war indemnity, ending the war.
192 BC Roman–Seleucid War: The Seleucid Empire invaded Greece.
188 BC Roman–Seleucid War: The Seleucid Empire signed the Treaty of Apamea, under which it surrendered all territory west of the Taurus Mountains to the Roman clients Rhodes and Pergamon and agreed to disarm its navy and pay a war indemnity of fifteen thousand talents of silver to Rome.
180 BC The Lex Villia annalis, which established minimum ages for high office and required a minimum of two years in private life between offices, was passed.
172 BC Third Macedonian War: Rome declared war on Macedonia.
167 BC Third Macedonian War: The Macedonian king Perseus of Macedon was captured. Macedonia was divided into four districts subject to Rome.
155 BC Lusitanian War: The Lusitanians of Hispania Ulterior rebelled against Rome.
150 BC Fourth Macedonian War: An Andriscus rebelled against Rome, claiming to be Perseus's son and the rightful king of Macedonia.
149 BC Third Punic War: Rome declared war on Carthage.
The Lex Calpurnia was passed, establishing a Praetor-led court to hear appeals against extortionate taxes levied by governors in the provinces.
148 BC Fourth Macedonian War: Andriscus was surrendered to Rome to be executed.
146 BC Third Punic War: Roman forces breached the city of Carthage, burned it, and enslaved its surviving inhabitants.
Battle of Corinth (146 BC): Roman forces decisively defeated the armies of the Achaean League at Corinth.
The province of Macedonia was organized.
The province of Africa was organized on captured Carthaginian territory.
139 BC Lusitanian War: The Lusitanian leader Viriatus was assassinated by his three ambassadors to Rome Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus.
Lex Gabinia tabellaria: required a secret ballot in elections of all magistrates.
133 BC The Tribune of the Plebs Tiberius Gracchus was beaten to death by a mob of senators led by the Pontifex Maximus Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (consul 138 BC).
121 BC The province of Gallia Narbonensis was organized.
The first Senatus consultum ultimum was passed, granting the consul Lucius Opimius emergency powers to defeat the partisans of Gaius Gracchus.
112 BC Jugurthine War: Rome declared war on Numidia.
107 BC Gaius Marius was elected consul.
Marius instituted the Marian reforms of the military, among them the establishment of a standing army and the recruitment of non-property owners.
106 BC Marius was reelected consul.
Jugurthine War: The Numidian king Jugurtha was imprisoned in the Mamertine Prison.
105 BC 6 October Battle of Arausio: A coalition of the Cimbri and Teutons inflicted a serious defeat on the Roman army at modern Orange. Some hundred thousand Roman soldiers were killed.
104 BC Marius was elected consul for the first of three years in a row.
102 BC Battle of Aquae Sextiae: Rome decisively defeated the forces of the Teutons and Ambrones and killed some ninety thousand soldiers and civilians.
101 BC Battle of Vercellae: An invasion of Italy by the Cimbri was decisively defeated by a numerically inferior Roman force. Some hundred thousand Cimbri soldiers and civilians were killed along with their king Boiorix.

 



1st century BC

1st century BC
Year Date Event
100 BC Marius was elected consul.
10 December Assassins hired by Marius's political allies Lucius Appuleius Saturninus and Gaius Servilius Glaucia beat to death Gaius Memmius, a candidate for the consulship.
91 BC Social War (91–88 BC): The Roman clients in Italy the Marsi, the Paeligni, the Vestini, the Marrucini, the Picentes, the Frentani, the Hirpini, the Iapyges, Pompeii, Venosa, Lucania and Samnium rebelled against Rome.
88 BC Sulla's first civil war: The consul Sulla led an army of his partisans across the pomerium into Rome.
Social War (91–88 BC): The war ended.
87 BC First Mithridatic War: Roman forces landed at Epirus.
85 BC First Mithridatic War: A peace was agreed between Rome and Pontus under which the latter returned to its prewar borders.
83 BC Sulla's second civil war: Sulla landed with an army at Brindisi.
Second Mithridatic War: The Roman general Lucius Licinius Murena invaded Pontus.
82 BC Sulla's second civil war: Sulla was declared dictator.
81 BC Second Mithridatic War: Murena withdrew from Pontus.
Sulla resigns dictatorship after enacting numerous reforms in the same year.
80 BC Final consulship of Sulla, he leaves Rome once the year is over.
Sertorian War: Quintus Sertorius landed on the Iberian Peninsula in support of a Lusitanian rebellion.
73 BC Third Mithridatic War: Pontus invaded Bithynia.
Third Servile War: Some seventy gladiators, slaves of Lentulus Batiatus in Capua, made a violent escape.
72 BC Sertorian War: Marcus Perpenna Vento, by now the leader of the Romans in revolt in Iberia, was executed by the general Pompey.
71 BC Third Servile War: The slaves in rebellion were decisively defeated by Roman forces near Petelia. Their leader Spartacus was killed.
66 BC The last of the Cilician pirates were wiped out by Pompey.
63 BC Third Mithridatic War: Defeated, the Pontic king Mithridates VI of Pontus ordered his friend and bodyguard to kill him.
Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC): Pompey conquered Jerusalem and entered the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple.
Cicero was elected consul.
Second Catilinarian conspiracy: A conspiracy led by the senator Catiline to overthrow the Republic was exposed before the Senate. The five conspirators present were summarily executed in the Mamertine Prison.
60 BC Pompey joined a political alliance, the so-called First Triumvirate, with the consul Julius Caesar and the censor Marcus Licinius Crassus.
59 BC Consulship of Julius Caesar.
58 BC Gallic Wars: Roman forces barred the westward migration of the Helvetii across the Rhône.
53 BC 6 May Battle of Carrhae: A Parthian army decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman invasion force near Harran. Crassus was killed.
50 BC Gallic Wars: The last Gaulish rebels were defeated.
49 BC 10 January Caesar's Civil War: Julius Caesar illegally crossed the Rubicon into Italy with his army.
48 BC 4 January Caesar's Civil War: Caesar landed at Durrës in pursuit of Pompey and his partisans the optimates.
46 BC November Caesar left Africa for Iberia in pursuit of Pompey's sons Gnaeus Pompeius and Sextus Pompey.
44 BC 15 March Assassination of Julius Caesar: Caesar was assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey by a conspiracy of senators.
43 BC 27 November The Lex Titia was passed, granting the Second Triumvirate of Octavius (later known as Augustus), Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the power to make and annul laws and appoint magistrates.
42 BC Liberators' civil war: Augustus and Antony led some thirty legions to northern Greece in pursuit of Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
23 October Liberators' civil war: Brutus committed suicide after being defeated in battle.
33 BC Antony's Parthian War: A campaign led by Antony against the Parthian Empire ended in failure.
The Second Triumvirate expired.
31 BC 2 September Battle of Actium: Forces loyal to Augustus defeated Antony and his lover Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, in a naval battle near Actium.
30 BC 1 August Final War of the Roman Republic: Antony's forces defected to Augustus. He committed suicide.
30 August Cleopatra committed suicide, probably in Roman custody and by snakebite.
The province of Egypt was organized. Augustus took the title pharaoh.
29 BC Moesia was annexed to Rome.
Cantabrian Wars: Rome deployed some eighty thousand soldiers against the Cantabri in Iberia.
27 BC 16 January The Senate granted Augustus the titles augustus, majestic, and princeps, first.
25 BC Augustus indicated his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Julio-Claudian dynasty) as his chosen successor by marrying him to his only daughter Julia the Elder.
The Roman client Amyntas of Galatia died. Augustus organized his territory as the province of Galatia.
24 BC Augustus' campaigns against the Cantabrians in Hispania Tarraconensis, the Cantabrian Wars, ended.
23 BC Coinage reform of Augustus: Augustus centralized the minting of and reformed the composition and value of the Roman currency.
Marcellus died.
21 BC Augustus married Julia to his general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.
19 BC Cantabrian Wars: The last major combat operations ended. The Cantabri and Astures were pacified.
17 BC Augustus adopted the sons of Agrippa and Julia, his grandsons Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, as his own sons.
16 BC Raetia and Noricum were conquered and annexed to Rome.
12 BC Germanic Wars: Roman forces crossed the Rhine into Germania.
Agrippa died of fever.
11 BC Augustus married Julia to his general and stepson Tiberius.
9 BC The Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus died from injuries sustained falling from a horse.
Pannonia was annexed and incorporated into Illyricum.
6 BC Augustus offered Tiberius tribunician power and imperium over the eastern half of the Empire. Tiberius refused, announcing his retirement to Rhodes.
2 BC Augustus was acclaimed Pater Patriae, father of the country, by the Senate.[5]
Augustus convicted Julia of adultery and treason, annulled her marriage to Tiberius, and exiled her with her mother Scribonia to Ventotene.

 




1st century

1st century
Year Date Event
AD 2 20 August Lucius Caesar died of a sudden illness.
Augustus allowed Tiberius to return to Rome as a private citizen.
AD 4 21 February Gaius Caesar died in Lycia from wounds suffered in battle.
Augustus adopted Tiberius as his son and granted him tribunician power.
AD 6 Augustus deposed Herod Archelaus, ethnarch in Samaria, Judea and Idumea, and organized the province of Judea on his territories.
Bellum Batonianum: The Daesitiates, an Illyrian people, rose up against Roman authority in Illyricum.
AD 9 Bellum Batonianum: The Daesitiate chieftain Bato (Daesitiate chieftain) surrendered to Roman forces.
September Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: A coalition of Germanic forces ambushed and destroyed three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest. Publius Quinctilius Varus, the commander of Roman forces in Germania, committed suicide.
AD 10 Tiberius assumed command of Roman forces in Germania.
Illyricum was divided into the provinces of Pannonia and Dalmatia.
AD 13 Tiberius was granted power equal to Augustus as co-princeps.
AD 14 19 August Augustus died.
Germanicus, son of Nero Claudius Drusus and adoptive son of Tiberius, was appointed commander of Roman forces in Germania.
Germanicus and Tiberius's natural son Drusus Julius Caesar were sent to suppress mutinies in Germania and Pannonia, respectively.
AD 15 Lucius Seius Strabo was appointed governor of Egypt. His son Sejanus remained as the sole prefect of the Praetorian Guard.
AD 16 Battle of the Weser River: A Roman army led by Germanicus decisively defeated a Germanic force on the Weser.
AD 17 Archelaus of Cappadocia, king in Cappadocia and a Roman client, died. Tiberius annexed his territory, organizing it as the province of Cappadocia.
Antiochus III of Commagene, king of Commagene and a Roman client, died. Tiberius annexed his territory to the province of Syria.
AD 18 Tiberius granted Germanicus imperium over the eastern half of the Empire.
AD 19 10 October Germanicus died in Antioch, possibly after being poisoned on Tiberius's orders.
AD 22 Tiberius granted Drusus Julius Caesar tribunician power, marking him as his choice as successor.
AD 23 14 September Drusus Julius Caesar died, possibly after being poisoned by Sejanus or his wife Livilla.
AD 26 Tiberius retired to Capri, leaving Sejanus in control of Rome through his office.
AD 28 The Frisii hanged their Roman tax collectors and expelled the governor.
AD 29 Livia, Augustus's widow and Tiberius's mother, died.
AD 31 18 October Sejanus was executed on Tiberius's orders.
Tiberius invited Germanicus's son Caligula to join him on Capri.
AD 37 16 March Tiberius died. His will left his offices jointly to Caligula and Drusus Julius Caesar's son, his grandson Tiberius Gemellus.
AD 38 Tiberius Gemellus was murdered on Caligula's orders.
AD 40 Ptolemy of Mauretania, king of Mauretania and a Roman client, was murdered on Caligula's orders during a state visit to Rome. His slave Aedemon rose in revolt against Roman rule.
AD 41 The general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was appointed to suppress the rebellion in Mauretania.
24 January Caligula was assassinated by the centurion Cassius Chaerea.
The Praetorian Guard acclaimed Nero Claudius Drusus's son Claudius princeps.
Claudius restored the Judean monarchy under king Herod Agrippa.
AD 42 The territory of the former Mauretania was organized into the provinces of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana.
AD 43 Roman conquest of Britain: The senator Aulus Plautius led four legions into Great Britain in support of king Verica of the Atrebates.
Claudius annexed Lycia into the Empire as a province.
AD 46 The Odrysian king Rhoemetalces III, a Roman client, was killed by anti-Roman insurgents.
Odrysia was incorporated into the Empire as the province of Thracia.
AD 48 Claudius's wife Messalina was executed for conspiracy.
Claudius appointed Herod Agrippa's son Herod Agrippa II king of Judea.
AD 49 Claudius married his niece, Germanicus's daughter Agrippina the Younger.
AD 50 Claudius adopted Agrippina's son Nero as his own son.
AD 54 13 October Claudius died after being poisoned by Agrippina. Nero succeeded him as princeps.
AD 55 11 February Claudius's young natural son Britannicus died, probably by poison.
AD 58 Roman–Parthian War of 58–63: Roman forces attacked Armenia in support of their preferred king Tigranes VI of Armenia against the Parthian candidate Tiridates I of Armenia.
AD 59 23 March Agrippina died, probably murdered by her son Nero.
AD 60 Boudica, a queen of the Iceni, was appointed to lead a revolt of the Iceni and the Trinovantes against Rome.
AD 61 Battle of Watling Street: Some eighty thousand soldiers and civilians among the Iceni and Trinovantes were killed, probably in the modern West Midlands, ending Boudica's revolt.
AD 63 Roman–Parthian War of 58–63: The Roman and Parthian Empires agreed that Tiridates and his descendants would remain kings of Armenia as Roman clients, ending the war.
AD 64 18 July Great Fire of Rome: A fire began which would cause massive property damage and loss of life over six days in Rome.
Nero began construction of his large and extravagant villa the Domus Aurea.
AD 65 19 April Pisonian conspiracy: Nero was informed of a broad conspiracy to assassinate him and appoint the senator Gaius Calpurnius Piso leader of Rome.
AD 66 First Jewish–Roman War: The Jewish population of Judea revolted against Roman rule.
AD 68 9 June Nero, then in hiding in the villa of the freedman Phaon (freedman), was notified that the Senate had declared him an enemy of the state and ordered him brought to the Forum to be publicly beaten to death. He ordered his secretary Epaphroditos to kill him.
The Senate accepted Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, as ruler of Rome.
Zealot Temple Siege: The forces of Ananus ben Ananus, the Jewish former High Priest of Israel, laid siege to the Zealots in the Second Temple.
AD 69 15 January The Praetorian Guard assassinated Galba and acclaimed Otho ruler of Rome.
16 April Following his defeat by Vitellius, the commander of the Roman army on the lower Rhine, near modern Calvatone, and to prevent further civil war, Otho committed suicide.
Revolt of the Batavi: Gaius Julius Civilis, commander of the Batavi auxiliaries in the Rhine legions, turned against Rome.
December The Senate recognized Vespasian, the commander of Roman forces in Egypt and Judea, as ruler of Rome.
22 December Vitellius was executed in Rome by troops loyal to Vespasian.
AD 70 Revolt of the Batavi: Following a series of battlefield reversals, Civilis accepted peace terms from the Roman general Quintus Petillius Cerialis.
September Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE): The Roman general Titus breached the walls of Jerusalem, sacked the city and destroyed the Second Temple.
AD 71 Roman conquest of Britain: Roman forces entered modern Scotland.
AD 73 16 April Siege of Masada: Roman forces breached the walls of Masada, a mountain fortress held by the Jewish extremist sect the Sicarii.
AD 77 Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed consul and governor of Britain.
AD 79 23 June Vespasian died. He was succeeded by his son Titus.
24 August Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79: Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
AD 80 Rome was partially destroyed by fire.
March The Colosseum was completed.
AD 81 13 September Titus died of fever. He was succeeded by his younger brother Domitian.
AD 85 Agricola was recalled to Rome.
AD 86 Domitian's Dacian War: The Dacian king Decebalus invaded Moesia.
AD 88 Domitian's Dacian War: Decebalus agreed to return all Roman prisoners of war and accept his status as a Roman client in exchange for an annual subsidy of eight million sestertii, ending the war.
AD 89 1 January Lucius Antonius Saturninus, governor of Germania Superior, revolted against Domitian's rule.
Saturninus was executed.
AD 96 18 September Domitian was assassinated by members of the royal household.
Nerva was declared ruler of Rome by the Senate.
AD 97 Nerva adopted the general and former consul Trajan as his son.
AD 98 27 January Nerva died. Trajan succeeded him.

 



2nd century

2nd century
Year Date Event
101 First Dacian War: Rome invaded Dacia.
September Second Battle of Tapae: Dacian forces retreated from contact with the Romans at Tapae.
102 First Dacian War: The Dacian king Decebalus reaffirmed his loyalty to Rome, ending the war.
105 Second Dacian War: Trajan responded to the resumption of raids on Roman settlements in Moesia by invading Dacia.
106 Battle of Sarmisegetusa: Roman forces breached the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa Regia. The Dacian king Decebalus escaped to the east.
The Nabatean king Rabbel II Soter died.
22 March Nabatea was annexed to the Roman empire as the province of Arabia Petraea.
Second Dacian War: The Dacian king Decebalus committed suicide in his fortification at Ranisstorum to avoid capture.
107 The province of Dacia was organized.
112 Trajan's Forum was inaugurated.
113 Roman–Parthian Wars: Trajan launched an expedition against Parthia.
Trajan's Column was erected in Trajan's Forum to commemorate the victory over Dacia.
114 Trajan deposed the Armenian king Parthamasiris of Armenia, a Roman client, and organized the province of Armenia on his territory.
115 Kitos War: The Jews in Cyrene rose up against Roman authority.
116 The provinces of Mesopotamia and Assyria were organized on territory conquered from Parthia.
Trajan captured the Parthian capital Ctesiphon and deposed its shah Osroes I in favor of his son Parthamaspates of Parthia.
117 Kitos War: Roman forces captured the rebel stronghold of Lod and executed many of its inhabitants.
8 August Trajan died.
10 August The Senate accepted the general Hadrian as ruler of Rome, following the appearance of documents indicating he had been adopted by Trajan.
Osroes I deposed his son Parthamaspates of Parthia and replaced him as shah of Parthia.
118 Hadrian withdrew from the territories of Armenia, Assyria and Mesopotamia, allowing the return of their respective client monarchies.
119 A rebellion took place in Britain.
122 The construction of Hadrian's Wall at the northern border of Britain began.
123 Hadrian arrived in Mauretania to suppress a local revolt.
124 Hadrian travelled to Greece.
126 Hadrian returned to Rome.
The rebuilt Pantheon was dedicated to Agrippa, its original builder.
132 Bar Kokhba revolt: Simon bar Kokhba, believed by his followers to be the Messiah, launched a revolt against Roman authority in Judea.
135 Bar Kokhba revolt: The revolt ended at a cost of tens of thousands of Roman soldiers and some six hundred thousand Jewish rebels and civilians, including bar Kokhba, killed. Judea and Syria were combined into the single province of Syria Palaestina.
136 Hadrian adopted Lucius Aelius as his son and successor.
138 1 January Lucius Aelius died.
25 February Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius as his son and successor and granted him tribunician power and imperium, on the condition that he in turn adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his sons.
10 July Hadrian died, probably from heart failure.
11 July Antoninus succeeded Hadrian.
141 Roman conquest of Britain: Roman forces invaded modern Scotland under the command of the British governor Quintus Lollius Urbicus.
142 The construction of the Antonine Wall at the northern border of Britain began.
161 7 March Antoninus died. He was succeeded by Marcus and Lucius Verus.
Roman–Parthian War of 161–166: The Parthian Empire deposed the Armenian king Sohaemus of Armenia, a Roman client, and installed Bakur.
165 Antonine Plague: A pandemic, probably of smallpox or measles, began which would kill some five million people throughout the Roman Empire.
166 Roman–Parthian War of 161–166: Roman forces sacked the Parthian capital Ctesiphon.
169 Lucius Verus died of disease, leaving Marcus the sole ruler of Rome.
Marcomannic Wars: A coalition of Germanic tribes led by the Marcomanni invaded the Roman Empire across the Danube.
175 Marcomannic Wars: Rome and the Iazyges signed a treaty under which the latter agreed to return Roman prisoners of war and supply troops to the Auxilia, ending the war.
177 Marcus named his natural son Commodus co-ruler with himself.
180 17 March Marcus died.
Antonine Plague: The pandemic ended.
184 The Antonine Wall was abandoned by Roman forces.
192 31 December Commodus was strangled to death.
193 1 January The Praetorian Guard acclaimed the consul Pertinax ruler of Rome at the Castra Praetoria.
28 March Pertinax was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard.
The Praetorian Guard acclaimed the former consul Didius Julianus, who had provided the highest bid, ruler of Rome.
9 April Pescennius Niger, the legatus Augusti pro praetore of Syria Palaestina, was proclaimed ruler of Rome by his legions.
14 April The Legio XIV Gemina acclaimed its commander Septimius Severus ruler of Rome at Carnuntum.
May The Senate recognized Septimius Severus as ruler of Rome and sentenced Julianus to death.
194 Battle of Issus (194): Niger's forces were decisively defeated by the armies of Septimius Severus at Issus.
196 Clodius Albinus, the commander of Roman troops in Britain and Iberia, took the title Imperator Caesar Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Augustus.
197 19 February Battle of Lugdunum: Septimius Severus and Albinus met in battle at Lugdunum.
Albinus committed suicide or was killed.
Roman–Parthian Wars: Septimius Severus sacked the Parthian capital Ctesiphon.
198 Septimius Severus appointed his eldest natural son Caracalla co-ruler with himself.

 



3rd century

3rd century
Year Date Event
208 Roman invasion of Caledonia 208–210: Septimius Severus invaded modern Scotland.
209 Septimius Severus named his youngest natural son Publius Septimius Geta co-ruler with himself and Caracalla.
211 4 February Septimius Severus died.
Roman invasion of Caledonia 208–210: Caracalla ended the campaign.
26 December Geta was murdered in his mother's arms by members of the Praetorian Guard loyal to Caracalla.
217 8 April Caracalla was assassinated by a member of his bodyguard.
The Praetorian Guard acclaimed their prefect Macrinus ruler of Rome.
218 8 June Macrinus was captured and executed by an army loyal to Elagabalus, supposedly the illegitimate son of Caracalla.
222 11 March Elagabalus was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, which installed his young cousin Severus Alexander as ruler of Rome.
230 Roman–Persian Wars: The Sasanian shah Ardashir I invaded Mesopotamia and Syria.
232 Roman–Persian Wars: Alexander repelled the Sasanian invasion.
235 19 March Alexander was killed in a mutiny of the Legio XXII Primigenia at Mainz.
20 March The army elected Maximinus Thrax, commander of the Legio IV Italica, ruler of Rome.
238 22 March Gordian I, governor of Africa, accepted the rule of Rome at the urging of rebels in his province. He appointed his son Gordian II to rule jointly with him.
2 April The Senate accepted Gordian I and Gordian II as rulers of Rome.
Battle of Carthage (238): Forces loyal to Gordian I and Gordian II were defeated by the army of Capelianus, the governor of Numidia, who claimed fealty to Maximinus. Gordian II was killed. Gordian I committed suicide.
22 April The Senate elected two senators, Pupienus and Balbinus, as joint rulers of the Empire.
Facing popular opposition to Pupienus and Balbinus, the Senate gave Gordian I's young grandson Gordian III the title Caesar.
May Maximinus was murdered with his son during a mutiny of the Legio II Parthica at Aquileia.
29 July Pupienus and Balbinus were tortured and murdered by the Praetorian Guard in their barracks.
243 Battle of Resaena: Roman forces defeated the Sasanian Empire at Resaena.
244 Battle of Misiche: The Sasanian Empire decisively defeated a Roman force at Misiche, near modern Fallujah. Gordian III was killed, probably by a fellow Roman. He was succeeded by Philip the Arab, the prefect of the Praetorian Guard, who was forced to cede Mesopotamia and Armenia to the Sasanian Empire.
249 Philip was killed at Verona in battle with Decius, commander of Roman forces in Pannonia and Moesia.
251 Decius appointed his natural son Herennius Etruscus co-ruler of Rome jointly with himself.
Battle of Abritus: Roman forces were dealt a bloody defeat by the Goths near modern Razgrad. Decius and Herennius were killed.
The armies of the Danube region acclaimed their commander Trebonianus Gallus ruler of Rome.
The Senate recognized Decius's son Hostilian as ruler of Rome. Gallus adopted Hostilian as his son.
Plague of Cyprian: Hostilian died, probably of plague.
Gallus appointed his natural son Volusianus co-ruler jointly with himself.
253 Battle of Barbalissos: A Sasanian force destroyed a Roman army at Barbalissos.
August Gallus and Volusianus were killed in a mutiny at Terni. The army acclaimed Aemilianus, governor of Pannonia and Moesia, ruler of Rome.
Aemilianus was killed by his own soldiers in the face of the army of the general Valerian (emperor).
22 October Valerian gave his son Gallienus the title Caesar.
256 The Sasanian Empire conquered and sacked Antioch.
257 Valerian reconquered Antioch.
258 The Goths invaded Asia Minor.
260 Death of Dacian king Regalianus that became Roman emperor for a brief period.
260 Valerian was taken prisoner by the Sasanian Empire during truce negotiations.
September The general Postumus was declared ruler of Rome in the Gallic Empire.
264 Valerian died in captivity.
267 Odaenathus, the king of Palmyra and a Roman client, was assassinated. His widow Zenobia took power as regent for their son Vaballathus.
268 Gallienus was murdered by his soldiers during a siege of Pontirolo Nuovo.
September The general Claudius Gothicus was declared ruler of Rome by his soldiers.
269 Postumus was killed by his soldiers, who in turn acclaimed one of their own, Marcus Aurelius Marius, emperor of the Gallic Empire.
Marius was murdered by Victorinus, formerly prefect of Postumus's Praetorian Guard, who replaced him as emperor of the Gallic Empire.
Zenobia conquered Egypt.
Battle of Naissus: Roman forces decisively defeated the Goths at modern Niš, stalling an invasion of the Balkans.
270 January Claudius Gothicus died. He was succeeded by his brother Quintillus.
April Quintillus died at Aquileia.
September Aurelian became ruler of Rome.
271 Battle of Fano: A Roman force defeated the Juthungi on the Metauro.
Victorinus was murdered by an officer he had cuckolded.
Tetricus I, praeses of Gallia Aquitania was acclaimed emperor of the Gallic Empire. He appointed his natural son Tetricus II to rule jointly with him.
272 Zenobia was arrested en route to refuge in the Sasanian Empire.
273 Palmyra rebelled against Roman authority and was destroyed.
274 Battle of Châlons (274): Aurelian defeated the forces of Tetricus I and Tetricus II at modern Châlons-en-Champagne.
275 September Aurelian was murdered by the Praetorian Guard.
25 September The Senate elected Tacitus (emperor) ruler of Rome.
276 June Tacitus died.
Marcus Aurelius Probus, commander of Roman forces in the east and Tacitus's half-brother, was acclaimed ruler of Rome by his troops.
Florianus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard and commander of Roman forces in the west, was acclaimed ruler of Rome by his troops.
September Florianus was assassinated near Tarsus by his troops following a defeat at the hands of Probus.
279 Probus launched a campaign against the Vandals in Illyricum.
282 The Praetorian Guard elected their prefect Carus ruler of Rome.
Probus was assassinated.
Carus gave his sons Carinus and Numerian the title Caesar.
283 Carus died.
284 Numerian died.
20 November Roman forces in the east elected the consul Diocletian their ruler and proclaimed him augustus.
285 July Battle of the Margus: Forces loyal to Diocletian defeated Carinus in battle on the Morava. Carinus was killed.
July Diocletian gave Maximian the title Caesar.
286 Carausian Revolt: The naval commander Carausius declared himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul.
2 April Diocletian proclaimed Maximian augustus of the west, ruling himself as augustus of the east.
293 Diocletian established the Tetrarchy, appointing Constantius Chlorus to hold the office of Caesar under Maximian in the west and Galerius to hold the title under himself in the east.
Carausian Revolt: Constantius Chlorus conquered Carausius's Gallic territories.
Carausius was murdered by his finance minister Allectus, who replaced him as emperor in Britain.
296 Carausian Revolt: Allectus was defeated in battle and killed at Calleva Atrebatum.

 



4th century

4th century
Year Date Event
301 Diocletian issued the Edict on Maximum Prices, reforming the currency and setting price ceilings on a number of goods.
303 24 February Diocletianic Persecution: Diocletian issued his first edict against Christians, calling for the destruction of Christian holy books and places of worship and stripping Christians of their government positions and political rights.
305 1 May Diocletian and Maximian abdicated. Constantius and Galerius were elevated to augusti in the west and east. Galerius appointed Flavius Valerius Severus Caesar in the west and Maximinus II Caesar in the east.
306 25 July Constantius died at Eboracum. By his dying wish, his troops acclaimed his son Constantine the Great augustus.
Galerius recognized Flavius Valerius Severus as augustus in the west and granted Constantine the Great the lesser title of Caesar, which he accepted.
Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: Rioters in Rome acclaimed Maximian's son Maxentius ruler of Rome. He took the title princeps invictus, undefeated prince.
Maxentius invited Maximian to reclaim the title augustus.
307 Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: Flavius Valerius Severus surrendered to Maximian at Ravenna.
Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: Galerius laid siege to Rome. Many of his soldiers defected to Maxentius and he was forced to flee.
308 Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: After a failed coup against his son Maxentius, Maximian was forced to flee to Constantine's court.
11 November Maximian resigned as augustus. Galerius appointed Licinius augustus of the west and confirmed his recognition of Constantine the Great as Caesar of the west.
310 July Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: Maximian was forced to commit suicide following a failed coup against Constantine the Great.
311 May Galerius died. Licinius and Maximinus agreed to divide the eastern Empire between themselves.
Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: Constantine the Great concluded an alliance with Licinius, offering his half-sister Flavia Julia Constantia to him in marriage.
Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: Maximinus entered a secret alliance with Maxentius.
3 December Diocletian died, possibly from suicide.
312 28 October Battle of the Milvian Bridge: Constantine the Great had a vision of the cross appearing over the sun at the Ponte Milvio with the words "in this sign, conquer." His forces defeated and killed Maxentius.
313 February Constantine the Great and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, providing for restitution to Christians injured during the persecutions.
March Licinius married Constantia.
30 April Battle of Tzirallum: Licinius defeated a vastly numerically superior force loyal to Maximinus at modern Çorlu. Maximinus fled to Nicomedia.
August Maximinus died at Tarsus.
314 8 October Battle of Cibalae: Constantine the Great dealt a bloody defeat to Licinius's forces at modern Vinkovci.
317 Battle of Mardia: After a bloody battle, probably at modern Harmanli, Licinius retreated from contact with Constantine the Great.
1 March Licinius recognized Constantine the Great as his superior, ceded all his territories outside of Thrace, and agreed to depose and execute Valerius Valens, whom he had raised to augustus.
324 3 July Battle of Adrianople (324): Licinius suffered a bloody defeat at the hands of Constantine the Great on the Maritsa.
18 September Battle of Chrysopolis: Constantine the Great dealt a decisive defeat to the remnants of Licinius's army. Licinius surrendered.
325 20 May First Council of Nicaea: An ecumenical council called by Constantine the Great at Nicaea opened which would establish the Nicene Creed, asserting Jesus to be equal to and of the same substance as God the Father.
Licinius was executed.
326 Constantine the Great ordered the death of his oldest son Crispus.
330 11 May Constantine the Great moved his capital to Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople, city of Constantine.
332 Constantine the Great campaigned against the Goths.
334 Constantine the Great campaigned against the Sarmatians.
337 Roman–Persian Wars: The Sasanian shah Shapur II invaded Armenia and Mesopotamia.
22 May Constantine the Great died.
9 September Constantine the Great's three sons declared themselves augusti and divided their father's empire into three parts, with Constantine II (emperor) receiving Britain, Iberia, Gaul and Illyria, Constantius IIAsia, Syria Palaestina and Egypt, and Constans Italy and Africa. The young Constans was placed under Constantine II's guardianship.
338 Constantine II campaigned against the Alemanni.
Constantine II granted Illyria to his brother Constans.
340 Constantine II invaded Italy. He was ambushed and slain at Aquileia by Constans, who inherited his territory.
341 Constans and Constantius II issued a ban against pagan sacrifice.
344 Siege of Singara: Sasanian forces failed to capture the Roman fortress of Singara.
350 18 January Magnentius, commander of the Jovians and Herculians, was acclaimed ruler of Rome by his legions.
Constans was killed in Elne by followers of Magnentius.
3 June Constantius Chlorus's grandson Nepotianus entered Rome with a band of gladiators and there declared himself imperator.
30 June Marcellinus (magister officiorum), one of Magnentius's generals, entered Rome and executed Nepotianus.
351 15 March Constantius II granted his cousin Constantius Gallus the title Caesar.
28 September Battle of Mursa Major: Constantius II defeated Magnentius in a bloody battle in the valley of the Drava.
353 Battle of Mons Seleucus: Constantius II dealt Magnentius a decisive defeat at modern La Bâtie-Montsaléon. Magnentius committed suicide.
354 Gallus was put to death.
355 6 November Constantius II declared Julian (emperor) Caesar and granted him command in Gaul.
357 Battle of Strasbourg: Julian defeated a vastly superior Alemanni force near Argentoratum, solidifying Roman control west of the Rhine.
360 February The Petulantes, ordered east from Paris in preparation for a war with the Sasanian Empire, instead mutinied and proclaimed Julian augustus.
361 3 November Constantius II named Julian as his successor before dying of fever.
363 5 March Julian's Persian War: Roman forces embarked from Antioch on a punitive expedition against the Sasanian Empire.
26 June Battle of Samarra: Sasanian forces harassed a Roman army in retreat at Samarra from a failed siege of their capital Ctesiphon. Julian was killed.
27 June Julian's army declared one of their generals, Jovian (emperor), augustus.
July Julian's Persian War: Jovian agreed to cede the five provinces east of the Tigris to the Sasanian Empire, ending the war.
364 17 February Jovian died.
26 February The army acclaimed the general Valentinian I the Great augustus.
28 March Valentinian the Great appointed his younger brother Valens augustus with rule over the eastern Empire, and continued as augustus in the west.
375 17 November Valentinian the Great died of a stroke. His son Gratian, then junior augustus in the west, succeeded him as senior augustus.
22 November The army acclaimed Valentinian the Great's young son Valentinian II augustus of the west.
376 Fleeing Hunnic aggression, the Goths, under the leadership of the Thervingi chieftain Fritigern, crossed the Danube and entered the eastern Empire as political refugees.
Gothic War (376–382): Following the deaths of several Roman soldiers during civil unrest in Thrace, the officer Lupicinus (Roman) arrested Fritigern and the Greuthungi chieftain Alatheus.
378 9 August Battle of Adrianople: A combined Gothic-Alanic force decisively defeated the Roman army near Edirne. Valens was killed.
379 19 January Gratian named the general Theodosius I the Great augustus in the east.
380 27 February Theodosius the Great issued the Edict of Thessalonica, making Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
382 3 October Gothic War (376–382): The Goths were made foederati of Rome and granted land and autonomy in Thrace, ending the war.
383 25 August Gratian was delivered by mutineers to the Magister equitum Andragathius and executed.
392 15 May Valentinian II was found hanged in his residence. He may have been murdered by his guardian, the Frankish general Arbogast (general).
22 August Arbogast declared Eugenius augustus and ruler in the west.
393 23 January Theodosius the Great appointed his younger son Honorius (emperor) augustus in the west.
394 6 September Battle of the Frigidus: Forces loyal to Theodosius the Great defeated and killed Arbogast and Eugenius, probably near the Vipava.
395 17 January Theodosius the Great died. His elder son Arcadius succeeded him as augustus in the eastern Byzantine Empire. The young Honorius became sole augustus in the Western Roman Empire under the regency of Magister militum Stilicho.
398 Gildonic War: Gildo, comes of Africa, was killed following a failed rebellion against the Western Roman Empire.

 



5th century

5th century
Year Date Event
402 The capital of the Western Roman Empire was moved to Ravenna.
406 31 December Crossing of the Rhine: A coalition of foreign tribes including the Vandals, Alans and Suebi invaded the Western Roman Empire across the Rhine.
408 1 May Arcadius died.
410 24 August Sack of Rome (410): Rome was sacked by the Visigoths under their king Alaric I.
End of Roman rule in Britain: The last Roman forces left Britain.
421 8 February Honorius appointed his brother-in-law and Magister militum Constantius III co-ruler of the Western Roman Empire with himself.
2 September Constantius III died.
423 15 August Honorius died.
The Western Roman patrician Castinus declared the primicerius Joannes augustus.
424 23 October The Byzantine augustus Theodosius II the Younger, the Calligrapher named the young Valentinian III, his cousin and Constantius III's son, Caesar with rule over the west. His mother Galla Placidia was appointed regent.
425 Joannes was executed in Aquileia.
447 Battle of the Utus: The Huns under Attila defeated a Byzantine army in a bloody battle near the Vit.
450 28 July Theodosius the Younger died in a riding accident.
452 Attila abandoned his invasion of Italy following a meeting at the Mincio with the pope Pope Leo I.
455 16 March Valentinian III was assassinated on orders of the senator Petronius Maximus.
17 March The Senate acclaimed Maximus augustus of the Western Roman Empire.
31 May Maximus was killed by a mob as he attempted to flee Rome in the face of a Vandal advance.
2 June Sack of Rome (455): The Vandals entered and began to sack Rome.
9 July The Magister militum Avitus was pronounced augustus of the Western Roman Empire at Toulouse by the Visigothic king Theodoric II.
456 17 October Avitus was forced to flee Rome following a military coup by the general Ricimer and the domesticus Majorian.
457 Avitus died.
27 January The Byzantine augustus Marcian died.
28 February The Byzantine augustus Leo I the Thracian appointed Majorian Magister militum in the west.
1 April The army acclaimed Majorian augustus of the Western Roman Empire.
461 7 August Majorian was killed after torture near the Staffora on Ricimer's orders.
19 November The Senate elected Libius Severus from among their number as augustus of the Western Roman Empire.
465 15 August Severus died.
467 12 April Leo the Thracian elevated the comes Anthemius to Caesar with rule over the Western Roman Empire.
468 Battle of Cap Bon (468): The Vandal Kingdom destroyed a combined Western Roman and Byzantine invasion fleet at Cap Bon.
472 11 July Anthemius was killed in flight following Ricimer's conquest of Rome. Maximus's son Olybrius was acclaimed augustus of the Western Roman Empire.
18 August Ricimer died.
Ricimer's nephew Gundobad succeeded him as Magister militum and took the title Patrician.
Olybrius died.
473 3 March The Germanic elements of the army elected the domesticus Glycerius augustus of the Western Roman Empire.
Gundobad relinquished his Western Roman titles to succeed his father as king of Burgundy.
474 Leo the Thracian appointed Julius Nepos, his nephew and governor of Dalmatia, ruler of the Western Roman Empire in opposition to Glycerius.
18 January Leo the Thracian died. He was succeeded by his grandson Leo II (emperor).
9 February Zeno (emperor) became co-augustus of the Byzantine Empire with his young son Leo II.
July Nepos deposed Glycerius.
17 November Leo II died, possibly after being poisoned by his mother Ariadne (empress).
475 January Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople for his homeland Isauria in the face of a popular revolt.
9 January Basiliscus, brother of Leo the Thracian's widow Verina, was acclaimed augustus of the Byzantine Empire by the Byzantine Senate.
Nepos appointed Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus) Magister militum and commander-in-chief of the Western Roman military.
28 August Orestes took control of the Western Roman capital Ravenna, forcing Nepos to flee to Dalmatia.
31 October Orestes declared his young son Romulus Augustulus augustus of the Western Roman Empire.
476 August Zeno recaptured Constantinople and accepted Basiliscus's surrender.
23 August Germanic foederati under the command of the general Odoacer renounced Western Roman authority and declared Odoacer their king.
28 August Odoacer captured and executed Orestes at Piacenza.
4 September Odoacer conquered the Western Roman capital Ravenna, forced Romulus to abdicate and declared himself king of Italy.
The Senate sent Zeno the imperial regalia of the Western Roman Empire.
480 25 April Nepos was murdered in his residence in Split.
491 9 April Zeno died.

 



6th century

6th century
Year Date Event
518 9 July Augustus Anastasius I Dicorus died.
527 1 April Augustus Justin I appointed his older son Justinian I the Great co-augustus with himself.
1 August Justin I died.
529 7 April The Codex Justinianus, which attempted to consolidate and reconcile contradictions in Roman law, was promulgated.
532 Justinian the Great ordered the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
533 21 June Vandalic War: A Byzantine force under the general Belisarius departed for the Vandal Kingdom.
13 September Battle of Ad Decimum: A Byzantine army defeated a Vandal force near Carthage.
15 December Battle of Tricamarum: The Byzantines defeated a Vandal army and forced their king Gelimer into flight.
534 March Vandalic War: Gelimer surrendered to Belisarius and accepted his offer of a peaceful retirement in Galatia, ending the war. The territory of the Vandal Kingdom was reorganized as the praetorian prefecture of Africa.
535 Gothic War (535–554): Byzantine forces crossing from Africa invaded Sicily, then an Ostrogothic possession.
536 December Gothic War (535–554): Byzantium took Rome with little Ostrogothic resistance.
537 27 December The Hagia Sophia was completed.
552 July Battle of Taginae: A Byzantine army dealt a decisive defeat to the Ostrogoths at Gualdo Tadino. The Ostrogoth king Totila was killed.
553 Battle of Mons Lactarius: An Ostrogothic force was ambushed and destroyed at Monti Lattari on its way to relieve a Byzantine siege of Cumae. The Ostrogoth king Teia was killed.
565 March Belisarius died.
14 November Justinian the Great died.
568 The Lombards invaded Italy.
573 The general Narses died.
574 Augustus Justin II began to suffer from fits of insanity.
578 5 October Justin II died.
582 14 August Augustus Tiberius II Constantine died.

 



7th century

7th century
Year Date Event
602 Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628: The Sasanian Empire declared war on Byzantium.
607 1 August Augustus Phocas dedicated the Column of Phocas in the Roman Forum.
626 June Siege of Constantinople (626): Sasanian and Avar forces laid siege to Constantinople.
634 April Muslim conquest of the Levant: A Rashidun army departed Medina for the Levant.
640 January Muslim conquest of Egypt: A Rashidun force laid siege to Pelusium.
The legions of the East Roman army were reorganized into themes.
641 8 November Siege of Alexandria (641): Byzantine authorities in the Egyptian capital Alexandria surrendered to the besieging Rashidun army.
663 Basileus Constans II visited Rome.
698 Battle of Carthage (698): An Umayyad siege and blockade of Carthage forced the retreat of Byzantine forces. The city was conquered and destroyed.

 



8th century

8th century
Year Date Event
717 Siege of Constantinople (717–718): The Umayyad Caliphate besieges the city of Constantinople.
718 15 August Siege of Constantinople (717–718): The Ummayad Caliphate lifts the siege of Constantinople due to Famine, Disease and an unusually hard winter.
730 Basileus Leo III the Isaurian promulgated an edict forbidding the veneration of religious images, beginning the first Byzantine Iconoclasm.
787 23 October Second Council of Nicaea: An ecumenical council in Nicaea ended which endorsed the veneration of images, ending the first Byzantine Iconoclasm.

 



9th century

9th century
Year Date Event
813 June A group of soldiers broke into the Church of the Holy Apostles and pleaded with the body of the iconoclast basileus Constantine V to restore the Empire, marking the beginning of the second Byzantine Iconoclasm.
843 The Byzantine regent Theodora (wife of Theophilos) restored the veneration of religious images, ending the second Byzantine Iconoclasm.
867 24 September Basileus Michael III was assassinated by his co-basileus Basil I, who became sole ruler of the Empire.

 



10th century

10th century
Year Date Event
976 10 January Basileus John I Tzimiskes died. His co-basileus and nephew Basil II became sole ruler of the Empire.

 



11th century

11th century
Year Date Event
1002 Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria: Byzantine forces invaded Bulgaria.
1014 29 July Battle of Kleidion: Basil dealt a decisive and bloody defeat to Bulgarian forces in the Belasica near Klyuch.
1018 Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria: The Bulgarian boyars accepted the establishment of the theme of Bulgaria on the territory of the former Empire, with significant autonomy for themselves.
1025 15 December Basil died.
1054 16 July East–West Schism: The papal legate Humbert of Silva Candida laid on the altar of Hagia Sophia a document proclaiming the excommunication of Michael I Cerularius, the patriarch of Constantinople.
1071 15 April Siege of Bari: Italo-Norman forces captured Bari, capital of the katepanikion of Italy.
26 August Battle of Manzikert: The Byzantine Empire was decisively defeated by a Seljuk force near Malazgirt. The basileus Romanos IV Diogenes was captured.
1081 1 April Nikephoros III Botaneiates was deposed and replaced as basileus by Alexios I Komnenos.
1091 29 April Battle of Levounion: The Byzantine army dealt a bloody defeat to a Pecheneg invasion force.
1097 19 June Siege of Nicaea: The Rum occupants of Nicaea surrendered to Byzantine and First Crusader forces.
1098 Following the conquest of Antioch, the First Crusader leader Bohemond I of Antioch declared himself prince of Antioch.

 



12th century

12th century
Year Date Event
1122 Battle of Beroia: A Byzantine army wiped out the Pechenegs at Stara Zagora.
1167 8 July Battle of Sirmium: Byzantium decisively defeated a Hungarian force at Sirmium.
1176 17 September Battle of Myriokephalon: A Byzantine invasion force was ambushed and forced to retreat through a mountain pass by Rum near Lake Beyşehir.
1180 24 September Basileus Manuel I Komnenos died.
1185 26 October Uprising of Asen and Peter: A tax revolt began in Paristrion which would result in the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

 



13th century

13th century
Year Date Event
1204 13 April Siege of Constantinople (1204): Fourth Crusaders breached and sacked Constantinople, deposed the basileus Alexios V Doukas and established the Latin Empire under their leader Baldwin I, Latin Emperor as Latin Emperor. Theodore I Laskaris was acclaimed basileus but forced to flee with his court to establish the Empire of Nicaea at Nicaea.
April Alexios I of Trebizond, a grandson of the former basileus Andronikos I Komnenos, declared himself ruler of Trebizond.
1205 Michael I Komnenos Doukas, a descendant of Alexios I Komnenos, established himself as despot of Epirus.
1261 25 July The Nicaean ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos conquered Constantinople .
15 August Michael was crowned basileus in Constantinople along with his infant son Andronikos II Palaiologos.

 



14th century

14th century
Year Date Event
1326 Byzantine–Ottoman Wars: The Ottoman Empire conquered Bursa.
1331 Byzantine–Ottoman Wars: The Ottoman Empire captured Nicaea.
1341 26 October Byzantine civil war of 1341–47: The regent John VI Kantakouzenos was declared basileus by his supporters in opposition to the young John V Palaiologos.
1347 8 February Byzantine civil war of 1341–47: John VI concluded an arrangement under which he would rule as senior basileus alongside John V for ten years.

 



15th century

15th century
Year Date Event
1453 29 May Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman forces entered Constantinople. Basileus Constantine XI Palaiologos was killed.

 




References

References
  1. Forsythe, Gary (2015). A Companion to Livy. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 313–329.
  2. ^ Forsythe, Gary (2015). A Companion to Livy. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 313–329.
  3. ^ Grant, Michael (1993). The History of Rome. Faber & Faber. p. 42.
  4. ^ "Oxford Reference - Answers with Authority". www.oxfordreference.com. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
  5. ^ Eck, Werner; translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider; new material by Sarolta A. Takács. (2003) The Age of Augustus. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (hardcover, ISBN 0-631-22957-4; paperback, ISBN 0-631-22958-2).

 



 








  Plebs and Patriciens

Plebs

Plebs (W)

The plebs were, in ancient Rome, the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census. The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, though it may be that they began as a limited political movement in opposition to the elite (patricians) which became more widely applied.

In Latin the word plebs is a singular collective noun, and its genitive is plebis.

The origin of the separation into orders is unclear, and it is disputed when the Romans were divided under the early kings into patricians and plebeians, or whether the clientes (or dependents) of the patricians formed a third group. Certain gentes ("clans") were patrician, as identified by the nomen (family name), but a gens might have both patrician and plebeian branches that shared a nomen but were distinguished by a cognomen, as was the case with the gens Claudia.

The 19th-century historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr held that plebeians began to appear at Rome during the reign of Ancus Marcius and were possibly foreigners settling in Rome as naturalized citizens. In any case, at the outset of the Roman Republic, the patricians had a near monopoly on political and social institutions. Plebeians were excluded from magistracies and religious colleges, and they were not permitted to know the laws by which they were governed. Plebeians served in the army, but rarely became military leaders.


The Secession of the People to the Mons Sacer, engraving by B. Barloccini, 1849.
 
   

Dissatisfaction with the status quo occasionally mounted to the point that the plebeians engaged in a sort of general strike, a secessio plebis, during which they would withdraw from Rome, leaving the patricians to themselves. From 494 to 287 BC, five such actions during the so-called "Conflict of the Orders" resulted in the establishment of plebeian offices (the tribunes and plebeian aediles), the publication of the laws (the Law of the Twelve Tables), the establishment of the right of plebeian–patrician intermarriage (by the passage of the Lex Canuleia), the opening of the highest offices of government and some state priesthoods to the plebeians and passage of legislation (the Lex Hortensia) that made resolutions passed by the assembly of plebeians, the concilium plebis, binding on all citizens.

 

Plebeian Council (W)

The Concilium Plebis (English: Plebeian Council or Plebeian Assembly) was the principal assembly of the ancient Roman Republic. It functioned as a legislative assembly, through which the plebeians (commoners) could pass laws, elect magistrates, and try judicial cases. The Plebeian Council was originally organized on the basis of the Curia. Thus, it was originally a "Plebeian Curiate Assembly". The Plebeian Council usually met in the well of the comitium and could only be convoked by the Tribune of the Plebs. The assembly elected the Tribunes of the Plebs and the plebeian aediles, and only the plebeians were allowed to vote.

Tribune of the Plebs (W)

Tribunus plebis, rendered in English as tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune, was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and magistrates.

These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the Concilium Plebis (people's assembly); to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power was to veto the actions of the consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was prohibited by law. In imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to the emperor as a matter of course, and the office itself lost its independence and most of its functions. During the day the tribunes used to sit on the tribune benches on the Forum Romanum.

 



Patrician (ancient Rome)

Patrician (ancient Rome) (W)

The patricians (from Latin: patricius) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 BC), and by the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance.

After the Western Empire fell, it remained a high honorary title in the Byzantine Empire. Medieval patrician classes were once again formally defined groups of leading burgess families in many medieval Italian republics, such as Venice and Genoa, and subsequently "patrician" became a vague term used for aristocrats and the higher bourgeoisie in many countries.

Origin

According to Livy, the first 100 men appointed as senators by Romulus were referred to as “fathers” (Latin “patres”),and the descendants of those men became the patrician class. According to other opinions, the patricians (patricii) were those who could point to fathers, i.e. those who were members of the clans (gentes) whose members originally comprised the whole citizen body. The patricians were distinct from the plebeians because they had wider political influence, at least in the times of the early Republic. As the middle and late Republic saw this influence gradually stripped, plebeians were granted equal or even greater rights (as only plebeians could serve as the Tribune of the Plebs) on a range of areas, and quotas of officials, including one of the two consulships, were exclusively reserved for plebeians. Although being a patrician remained prestigious, it was of minimal practical importance. Excepting some religious offices devoid of political power, plebeians were able to stand for all the offices that patricians could, and plebeians of the senatorial class were no less wealthy than patricians at the height of the republic.

 








  Twelve Tables

Twelve Tables

Twelve Tables (W)


Twelve Tables Engraving. Roman civilians examining the Twelve Tables after they were first implemented.
 
   

The Law of the Twelve Tables (Latin: Leges Duodecim Tabularum or Duodecim Tabulae) was the legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Tables consolidated earlier traditions into an enduring set of laws.

Displayed in the Forum, "The Twelve Tables" stated the rights and duties of the Roman citizen. Their formulation was the result of considerable agitation by the plebeian class, who had hitherto been excluded from the higher benefits of the Republic.

The law had previously been unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper-class priests, the pontifices. Something of the regard with which later Romans came to view the Twelve Tables is captured in the remark of Cicero (106-43 BC) that the “Twelve Tables ... seems to me, assuredly to surpass the libraries of all the philosophers, both in weight of authority, and in plenitude of utility.” Cicero scarcely exaggerated; the Twelve Tables formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years.

The Twelve Tables are sufficiently comprehensive that their substance has been described as a 'code', although modern scholars consider this characterization exaggerated. The Tables were a sequence of definitions of various private rights and procedures. They generally took for granted such things as the institutions of the family and various rituals for formal transactions. The provisions were often highly specific and diverse.


Drafting and development, 450-449 BC

The Twelve Tables of Roman society were said by the Romans to have come about as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians. After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, the Republic was governed by a hierarchy of magistrates. Initially, only patricians were eligible to become magistrates and this, among other plebeian complaints, was a source of discontent for plebeians. In the context of this unequal status, plebeians would take action to secure concessions for themselves using the threat of secession. They would threaten to leave the city with the consequence that it would grind to a halt, as the plebeians were Rome's labor force. Tradition held that one of the most important concessions won in this class struggle was the establishment of the Twelve Tables, establishing basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens in relation to each other. The drafting of the Twelve Tables may have been fomented by a desire for self-regulation by the patricians, or for other reasons.

Around 450 BC, the first decemviri (decemvirate, board of "Ten Men") were appointed to draw up the first ten tables. According to Livy, they sent an embassy to Greece to study the legislative system of Athens, known as the Solonian Constitution, but also to find out about the legislation of other Greek cities. Some scholars dispute the veracity of any claim that the Romans imitated the Greeks in this respect or suggest that they visited the Greek cities of Southern Italy, and did not travel all the way to Greece. In 450 BC, the second decemviri started to work on the last two tables.

The first decemvirate completed the first ten codes in 450 BC. Here is how Livy describes their creation,

“... every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable.” (cf. Liv. III.34)

In 449 BC, the second decemvirate completed the last two codes, and after a secessio plebis to force the Senate to consider them, the Law of the Twelve Tables was formally promulgated. According to Livy (AUC 3.57.10) the Twelve Tables were inscribed on bronze (Pomponius (Dig. 1 tit. 2 s2 §4) alone says on ivory), and posted publicly, so all Romans could read and know them.

Some of the provisions are procedural to ensure fairness among all Romans in the courts, while other established legal terms dictating the legality of capital crimes, intentional homicide, treason, perjury, judicial corruption, and writing slanderous poems. The Romans valued keeping peace in the city and the Twelve Tables were a mechanism of establishing and continuing peace and equality.


Laws of the Twelve Tables
TABLE 1 Procedure: for courts and trials
TABLE 2 Trials continued & Theft
TABLE 3 Debt
TABLE 4 Rights of fathers (pater familias) over the family
TABLE 5 Legal guardianship and inheritance laws
TABLE 6 Acquisition and possession
TABLE 7 Land rights & crimes
TABLE 8 Torts and delicts (Laws of injury)
TABLE 9 Public law
TABLE 10 Sacred law
TABLE 11 Supplement I
TABLE 12 Supplement II

Influence and significance

The Twelve Tables are often cited as the foundation for ancient Roman law. Although faced with many issues, the Twelve Tables provided a premature understanding of some key concepts such as justice, equality, and punishment. While these ideas were not fully understood, the Twelve Tables play a significant role in the basis of the early American legal system. Political theorists, such as James Madison have highlighted the importance of the Twelve Tables in crafting the United States Bill of Rights. The idea of property was also perpetuated in the Twelve Tables, including the different forms of money, land, and slaves.

Although legal reform occurred soon after the implementation of the Twelve Tables, these ancient laws provided social protection and civil rights for both the patricians and plebeians. At this time, there was extreme tension between the privileged class and the common people resulting in the need for some form of social order. While the existing laws had major flaws that were in need of reform, the Twelve Tables eased the civil tension and violence between the plebeians and patricians.

The influence of the Twelve Tables is still evident in the modern day. For example, the Twelve Tables are tied into the notion of Jus Commune, which translates as "common law", but is commonly referred to as "civil law" in English-speaking countries. Some countries including South Africa and San Marino still base their current legal system on aspects of jus commune. In addition, law school students throughout the world are still required to study the Twelve Tables as well as other facets of Roman Law in order to better understand the current legal system in place.

 









  Roma Tini ve Din

 

 
Livia, wife of Augustus, mother of Emperor Tiberius, Roman statue (marble), 1st century AD, (Musei Vaticani, Vatican City).

 
 

 

  • Hıristiyan ve Müslüman dünyalarda moral doğrular ve etik yaşam biçimi dinsel inak tarafından verilidir ve insana yalnızca onu yorumlamak düşer.
  • Helenik ve Romanik kültürlerde mitolojik dinin moral ve etik bağlamı yoktur ve etik yaşam problemini çözmek bütünüyle özgür bireyin kendi duyuncuna düşer.
  • Helen ve Roma kültürlerinde etik karakter erdem problemi olarak bireyin kendisi tarafından çözülür.

 

  • İlk kez Roma Dünyasında insanın salt insan olarak sonsuz değerinin bilinci doğdu (neo-Platonizm ve İznik Konseyi yoluyla).
  • Yahudilik ne monoteistiktir (çünkü Yehova ‘başka’ tanrılar arasında biridir, ne evrenseldir (çünkü etniktir ve bir kabileye sınırlıdır), ne de duyunç özgürlüğünü tanır (bir dinadamları sınıfı moral normları belirler ve denetler).
  • Üçlülük ilkesi insanı ve insanlığı tanrısal değere yükseltir.
  • Her bir insanın bu saltık değeri insanlığı evrensel eşitlik bilincine doğru güdüler, ve insanın özsel olarak Logos (Us) olması ya da Tanrı ile Birliği düşüncesi ona saltık özgürlük bilincini kazandırır.
  • İstençsiz kitleler Katolik ve Ortodoks Hıristiyanlık başlıkları altında ve sonu gelmeyen teolojik çekişmeler ortasında mitolojik inançlarına bağlı kalmayı sürdürdüler.
  • Katolik ve Ortodoks Hıristiyanlık biçimleri kurumsal-pagan niteliklerinden ötürü kültürde moral ve etik bozulmaya yol açtılar.

 

  • Roma Dünyası bir evrensel gelişim süreci olan Modern Dünyanın öncülüdür ve aradaki tüm zaman insanlığın tüzel, moral ve törel büyümesi için, evrensel hak, duyunç özgürlüğü ve politik eşitlik bilincine doğru eğitimi için gereken zamandır.

📹 Roman Religious Traditions (VİDEO)

📹 Roman Religious Traditions (LINK)

In this video, I lay out the ways in which Roman traditional religion and the various "oriental" and "mystery" cults which were prevalent during the Roman Empire contributed some elements to Christianity.

 



📹 Vestal Virgins (VİDEO)

Vestal Virgins (LINK)

The House of the Vestal Virgins served as the base for this mysterious and ancient cult of priestesses. How were they chosen? How did they live? How long did their cult survive? Watch the video to find out!

 



📹 Who were the Vestal Virgins, and what was their job? / Peta Greenfield (VİDEO)

Who were the Vestal Virgins, and what was their job? / Peta Greenfield (LINK)

In ancient Rome, Vestal Virgins were tasked with keeping vigil over the flame of Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth. The flame represented two things: the continuation of Rome as a power in the world and the continuing virginity of Vesta’s priestesses. But what was life really like for these Vestal Virgins? Peta Greenfield goes back in time to find out.

 









  📹 Video

📹 The History of Rome (Every Year) (VİDEO)

The History of Rome (Every Year) (LINK)

The city of Rome originated as a village of the Latini in the 8th century BC. It was initially ruled by kings, but the Roman Republic was established in 509 BC. During the 5th century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium, and eventually the entire Italian peninsula by the 3rd century BC.

 



📹 The History of the Romans / Every Year (VİDEO)

The History of the Romans / Every Year (LINK)

See the entire history and progression of Roman civilization from the city-state Kingdom all the way to the last Byzantine successor state.

 



📹 History of Rome and the Roman Empire / The Map as History (VİDEO)

History of Rome and the Roman Empire / The Map as History (LINK)

This animated map describes the history of the city of Rome. It is one of the videos in our series "Rome and its Empire" and is provided as a demo to let you discover our concept.

 



📹 Roman social and political structures / Khan Academy (VİDEO)

Roman social and political structures / Khan Academy (LINK)

Patricians and plebeians; Roman citizens and Senate and consuls: the political and social structures of ancient Rome.

 



📹 The Aeneid, by Virgil (VİDEO)

📹 The Aeneid, by Virgil (LINK)

.

 








  Roman Historiography

Roman historiography

Roman historiography (W)


Allegory on writing history by Jacob de Wit (1754). An almost naked Truth keeps an eye on the writer of history. Pallas Athena (Wisdom) on left gives advice. (W)


Roman historiography is indebted to the Greeks, who invented the form. The Romans had great models to base their works upon, such as Herodotus (c. 484-425 BC) and Thucydides (c. 460-395 BC). Roman historiographical forms are different from the Greek ones however, and voice very Roman concerns. Unlike the Greeks, Roman historiography did not start out with an oral historical tradition. The Roman style of history was based on the way that the Annals of the Pontifex Maximus, or the Annales Maximi, were recorded. The Annales Maximi include a wide array of information, including religious documents, names of consuls, deaths of priests, and various disasters throughout history. Also part of the Annales Maximi are the White Tablets, or the "Tabulae Albatae", which consist of information on the origin of the republic.

Major extant historians

CAESEAR (100-44 BC)

 
   

The De Bello Gallico is Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars. As the Wars were raging on, Caesar fell victim to a great deal of criticisms from Rome. De Bello Gallico is a response to these criticisms, and a way for Caesar to justify these wars. His argument is that the Gallic Wars were both just and pious, and that he and his army attacked Gaul in self-defense. The Helvetians were forming a massive migration straight through the provinces. When a group of neighboring allies came to Caesar himself asking for help against these invading Helvetians, that was all the justification Caesar needed to gather his army. By creating an account that portrays himself as a superb military hero, Caesar was able to clear all doubts in Rome about his abilities as a leader.

Although Caesar used this account for his own gain, it is not to say that the De Bello Gallico is at all unreliable. The victories that Caesar has written about did, in fact, occur. Smaller details, however, may have been altered, and the word choice makes the reader more sympathetic to Caesar's cause. De Bello Gallico is an excellent example of the ways in which retellings of actual events can be spun to a person's advantage. For this reason, De Bello Gallico is often looked at as a commentary, rather than a piece of actual historiography.


LIVY (59 BC-17 AD)

 
   

Titus Livius, commonly known as Livy, was a Roman historian best known for his work entitled Ab Urbe Condita, which is a history of Rome "from the founding of the city". He was born in Patavium, which is modern day Padua, in 59 BC and he died there in 17 AD. Others referred to his writing as having "patavinitas". Little is known about his life, but based on an epitaph found in Padua, he had a wife and two sons. We also know that he was on good terms with Augustus and he also encouraged Claudius to write history.

Ab Urbe Condita covered Roman history from its founding, commonly accepted as 753 BC, to 9 BC. It consisted of 142 books, though only books 1-10 and 21-45 survive in whole, although summaries of the other books and a few other fragments exist. The books were referred to as "decades" because Livy organized his material into groups of ten books. The decades were further split in pentads:

  • Books 1–5 cover from the founding to 390 BC.
  • Books 6–10 cover 390–293 BC.
  • Though we do not have books 11–20, evidence suggests that books 11–15 discussed Pyrrhus and books 16–20 dealt with the First Punic War.
  • Books 21–30 cover the Second Punic War:
  • The wars against Philip V in Greece are discussed in books 31–35.
  • The wars against Antiochus III in the east in books 36–40.
  • The Third Macedonian War is dealt with in books 40–45.
  • Books 45–121 are missing.
  • Books 121–142 deal with the events from 42 through 9 BC.


The purpose of writing Ab Urbe Condita was twofold: the first was to memorialize history and the second was to challenge his generation to rise to that same level. He was preoccupied with morality, using history as a moral essay. He connects a nation's success with its high level of morality, and conversely a nation's failure with its moral decline. Livy believed that there had been a moral decline in Rome, and he lacked the confidence that Augustus could reverse it. Though he shared Augustus' ideals, he was not a "spokesman for the regime". He believed that Augustus was necessary, but only as a short term measure.

According to Quintillian, Livy wrote lactea ubertas, or "with milky richness". He used language to embellish his material, including the use of both poetical and archaic words. He included many anachronisms in his work, such as tribunes having power that they did not have until much later. Livy also used rhetorical elaborations, such as attributing speeches to characters whose speeches could not possibly be known. Though he was not thought of as a first-rate historian, his work was so extensive that other histories were abandoned for Livy. It is unfortunate that these other histories were abandoned, especially since much of Livy's work is now gone, leaving holes in our knowledge of Roman history.


SALLUST (86-35 BC)

 
   

C. Sallustius Crispus, more commonly known as Sallust, was a Roman historian of the 1st century BC, born c. 86 BC in the Sabine community of Amiternum. There is some evidence that Sallust's family belonged to a local aristocracy, but we do know that he did not belong to Rome's ruling class. Thus he embarked on a political career as a "novus homo", serving as a military tribune in the 60s BC, quaestor from 55 to 54 BC, and tribune of the plebs in 52 BC. Sallust was expelled from the senate in 50 BC on moral grounds, but quickly revived his career by attaching himself to Julius Caesar. He served as quaestor again in 48 BC, as praetor in 46 BC, and governed the new province in the former Numidian territory until 44 BC. Sallust's political career ended upon his return to Rome and Caesar's assassination in 44 BC.

We possess in full two of the historical works that have been convincingly ascribed to Sallust, the monographs, Bellum Catilinae and Bellum Jugurthinum. We have only fragments of the third work, the Historiae. There is less agreement about the authorship of some other works that have, at times, been attributed to him. In Bellum Catilinae, Sallust outlines the conspiracy of Catiline, a brash and ambitious patrician who tried to seize power in Rome in 63 BC. In his other monograph, Sallust used the Jugurthine War as a backdrop for his examination of the development of party struggles in Rome in the 1st century BC. The Historiae describe in general the history of the years 78-67 BC.

Although Sallust's purposes in writing have been debated over the years, it seems logical to classify him as a senatorial historian who adopted the attitude of a censor. The historical details outlined in his monographs serve as paradigms for Sallust. In Bellum Catilinae, Sallust uses the figure of Catiline as a symbol of the corrupt Roman nobility. Indeed, much of what Sallust writes in this work does not even concern Catiline. The content of Bellum Jugurthinum also suggests that Sallust was more interested in character studies (e.g. Marius) than the details of the war itself. With respect to writing style, the main influences on Sallust's work were Thucydides and Cato the Elder. Evidence of the former's influence includes emphasis on politics, use of archaisms, character analysis, and selective omission of details. The use of such devices as asyndeton, anaphora, and chiasmus reflect preference for the old-fashioned Latin style of Cato to the Ciceronian periodic structure of his own era.

Whether Sallust is considered a reliable source or not, he is largely responsible for our current image of Rome in the late republic. He doubtlessly incorporates elements of exaggeration in his works and has at times been described as more of an artist or politician than historian. But our understanding of the moral and ethical realities of Rome in the 1st century BC would be much weaker if Sallust's works did not survive.



TACITUS (56-120 AD)

 
   
Tacitus was born c. 56 AD in, most likely, either Cisalpine or Narbonese Gaul. Upon arriving in Rome, which would have happened by 75, he quickly began to lay down the tracks for his political career. By 88, he was made praetor under Domitian, and he was also a member of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis. From 89 to 93, Tacitus was away from Rome with his newly married wife, the daughter of the general Agricola. 97 saw Tacitus being named the consul suffectus under Nerva. It is likely that Tacitus held a proconsulship in Asia. His death is datable to c. 118.

There is much scholarly debate concerning the order of publication of Tacitus' works; traditional dates are given here.

  • 98 – Agricola (De vita Iulii Agricolae). This was a laudation of the author's father-in-law, the aforementioned general Cn. Iulius Agricola. More than a biography, however, can be garnered from the Agricola: Tacitus includes sharp words and poignant phrases aimed at the emperor Domitian.
  • 98 – Germania (De origine et situ Germanorum). "belongs to a literary genre, describing the country, peoples and customs of a race" (Cooley 2007).
  • c. 101/102– Dialogus (Dialogus de oratoribus). This is a commentary on the state of oratory as Tacitus sees it.
  • c. 109 – Histories. This work spanned the end of the reign of Nero to the death of Domitian. Unfortunately, the only extant books of this 12–14 volume work are 1–4 and a quarter of book 5.
  • Unknown – Annales (Ab excessu divi Augusti). This is Tacitus' largest and final work. Some scholars also regard this as his most impressive work. The date of publication and whether it was completed at all are unknown. The Annales covered the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Like the Histories, parts of the Annales are lost: most of book 5, books 7–10, part of book 11, and everything after the middle of 16. Tacitus' familiar invective is also present in this work.

Tacitus' style is very much like that of Sallust. Short, sharp phrases cut right to the point, and Tacitus makes no bones about conveying his point. His claim that he writes history "sine ira et studio" ("without anger and partiality") (Annales I.1) is not exactly one that is true. Many of his passages ooze with hatred towards the emperors. Despite this seemingly obvious partisan style of writing, much of what is said can go under the radar, which is as Tacitus wanted things to be. His skill as an orator, which was praised by his good friend Pliny, no doubt contributes to his supreme mastery of the Latin language. Not one to mince words, Tacitus does not waste time with a history of Rome ab urbe condita. Rather, he gives a brief synopsis of the key points before he begins a lengthier summary of the reign of Augustus. From there, he launches into his scathing account of history from where Livy would have left off.



SUETONIUS (69-122 AD)

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (Suetonius) is most famous for his biographies of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian emperors and other notable historical figures. He was born around 69 to an equestrian family. Living during the times of the Emperor Trajan and having a connection to Pliny the Younger, Suetonius was able to begin a rise in rank in the imperial administration. In c. 102, he was appointed to a military tribune position in Britain, which he did not actually accept. He was, though, among the staff for Pliny's command in Bithynia. During the late period of Trajan's rule and under Hadrian, he held various positions, until he was discharged. He had a close proximity to the government as well as access to the imperial archives, which can be seen in his historical biographies.

Suetonius wrote a large number of biographies on important literary figures of the past (De Viris Illustribus). Included in the collection were notable poets, grammarians, orators, historians, and philosophers. This collection, like his other works, was not organized chronologically. Not all of it has survived to the present day, but there are a number of references in other sources to attribute fragments to this collection.

His most famous work, though, is the De Vita Caesarum. This collection of twelve biographies tells the lives of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian Emperors, spanning from Julius Caesar to Domitian. Other than an introduction genealogy and a short summary of the subject's youth and death, the biographies do not follow a chronological pattern. Rather than chronicling events as they happened in time, Suetonius presents them thematically. This style allowed him to compare the achievements and downfalls of each emperor using various examples of imperial responsibilities, such as building projects and public entertainment. However, it makes dating aspects of each emperor's life and the events of the early Roman Empire difficult. It also completely removes the ability to extrapolate a causal sequence from the works. Suetonius's purpose was not a historical recount of events, though, but rather an evaluation of the emperors themselves.

Suetonius's style is simple; he often quotes directly from sources that were used, and artistic organization and language does not seem to exist. He addresses points directly, without flowery or misleading language, and quotes from his sources often. However, he is often criticized that he was more interested in the interesting stories about the emperors and not about the actual occurrences of their reigns. The style, with which he writes, primarily stems from his overarching purpose, to catalogue the lives of his subjects. He was not writing an annalistic history, nor was he even trying to create a narrative. His goal was the evaluation of the emperors, portraying the events and actions of the person while they were in office. He focuses on the fulfillment of duties, criticizing those that did not live up to expectations, and praising bad emperors for times when they did fulfill their duties.

There are a variety of other lost or incomplete works by Suetonius, many of which describe areas of culture and society, like the Roman Year or the names of seas. However, what we know about these is only through references outside the works themselves.

 


Other notable historians

  • Polybius (c. 208–116 BC) was a prominent Greek who figured strongly in the Achaean League. Upon being captured by the Romans and transported to Rome, Polybius took it upon himself to record the history of Rome in order to explain Roman tradition to his fellow Greeks. He wanted to convince them to accept the domination of Rome as a universal truth. His main work, Histories, is extant despite its being fragmented.
  • Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian of the 1st century BC. His main body of work was the Bibliotheca, which consisted of forty books and was intended to be a universal history from mythological times to the 1st century BC. He employed a very simple and straightforward style of writing, and relied heavily on written accounts for his information, most of which are now lost. Often criticized for a lack of originality and deemed a "scissors and paste" historian, Diodorus endeavored to present a comprehensive human history in a convenient and readable form.
  • Dionysius of Halicarnassus (fl. c. 8 BC.) was a Greek historian and critic living in Rome. His major work was Roman Antiquities, a history of Rome from its mythical beginnings until the first Punic war, consisting of 20 books. Generally he is considered to be a less reliable source than most of the other historians, but he does fill in the gaps in Livy's accounts. Other works include: On Imitation, On Dinarchus, On Thucidides, and On the Arrangement of Words.
  • Pliny the Elder, uncle of Pliny the Younger, wrote in the 1st century AD. He was an officer in the Roman military who died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. His known works include Naturalis Historia, which is a collection of books on natural history, Bella Germanica, a 21 book history of the German wars which occurred during his lifetime, and a 31 book history of Julio-Claudian Rome.
  • Titus Flavius Josephus (born 39 AD) was a Jewish historian and apologist. His works include The Jewish War (75 to 79), Jewish Antiquities (93), The Life (95) and Against Apion (Publication date unknown). He was influenced by Thucydides and Polybius and was endorsed by the Emperor Titus. Though many critics thought that he was a traitor to his people, his writings show that he was a zealous defender of the Jewish faith and culture.
  • Appianus of Alexandria (c. 95–165) wrote in Greek his Romaiken istorian [Roman History], about half of which survives. This work is best known for its coverage of the Civil Wars of the late Republic (in his Books XIII to XVII). Appian addresses here the period roughly from 133 to 35 BC, i.e., from the reforms of Tiberius Gracchus to the death of Sextus Pompey.
  • Dio Cassius was a distinguished Greek senator. After establishing his political career, Dio Cassius began to write various literary works. His most famous and recognized work is called the Roman History, which consists of 80 books. This work is dominated by the change from a Roman republic to a monarchy of emperors, which Dio Cassius believed was the only way Rome could have a stable government. Today, the only surviving portion of the Roman History is the part from 69 BC to 46 AD.
  • In his 31 book history, sometimes translated as The Roman History or The Roman Empire, Ammianus Marcellinus described the time from the reign of Nerva to the Battle of Adrianople, though the first thirteen books are lost. Bringing into the remaining books his own personal experiences in military services, his writing had a unique descriptive quality, of the geography, the events, and even the character of the actors. There is an active debate about whether the intent of the history was a continuation of Tacitus.
  • The Scriptores Historiae Augustae is a compilation of biographies of the Roman emperors from 117 to 284. Though claimed to be written by several different authors, contemporary research has shown that it may have only been written by one writer. This one author may have had good reason to disguise his identity, since much of the information in the Scriptores has also been found to be very unreliable.
  • Zosimus was a pagan historian who wrote at c. 500 AD a history of Rome to 410 in six books. Although he couldn't be compared with Ammianus Marcellinus, his work is important for the events after 378.
  • Velleius Paterculus was a Roman historian who lived from around 19 BC to after 30 AD. He wrote Historiae Romanae, which is a summary of Roman history from the founding of the city to 30 AD. Though almost all of his work is now missing, it is still a valuable source on the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. He "represents the adulatory type of history condemned by Tacitus, who ignores Velleius, as do all ancient authorities".

 

 











İdea Yayınevi Site Haritası | İdea Yayınevi Tüm Yayınlar
© Aziz Yardımlı 2018-2019 | aziz@ideayayinevi.com