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| The Persian Empire was one of the most mysterious civilizations in the ancient world. Persia became an empire under the Cyrus the Great, who created a policy of religious and cultural tolerance that became the hallmark of Persian rule. Engineering feats include an innovative system of water management; a cross-continent paved roadway stretching 1500 miles; a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea; and the creation of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Mausoleum of Maussollos. The rivalry between Persia and Athens led to a 30-year war known as the Persian Wars, the outcome of which helped create the world we live in today. |
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| Carthage, a remarkable city-state that dominated the Mediterranean for over 600 years, harnessed their extensive resources to develop some of the ancient world's most groundbreaking technology. For generations, Carthage defined power, strength and ingenuity, but by the third century B.C., the empire's existence was threatened by another emerging superpower, Rome. However, when the Romans engineered their empire, they were only following the lead of the Carthaginians. From the city's grand harbor to the rise of one of history's greatest generals, Hannibal Barca, we will examine the architecture and infrastructure that enabled the rise and fall of the Carthaginian Empire. |
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| In 438 BC the Parthenon was completed. This masterpiece is the crowning achievement for the Greek people. Without Alexander the Great, it is possible Greece's Golden Era would have been just a footnote in history. Tens of thousands would die during Alexander's relentless attacks on Persia and Egypt, yet, his armies carried Greek life, culture and values far abroad and this empire became known as the "Hellenistic" world. Greece's amazing engineering achievements and ideas are still with us today. |
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| Western Civilization has been influenced by many cultures, but it was born in Ancient Greece. The Ancient Greeks laid a foundation that has supported nearly 3000 years of European history. Philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates, Olympian gods, the beginnings of democracy and great conquering armies can be attributed to the Ancient Greeks. This strong and charismatic people strategically harnessed the materials and people around them to create the most advanced technological feats the world had ever seen. From The Tunnel of Samos: a mile-long aqueduct dug through a large mountain of solid limestone, to Agamemnon's Tomb, to The Parthenon, we will examine the architecture and infrastructure engineered by the Greek Empire. Peter Weller hosts. |
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| Twenty-five hundred years before the reign of Julius Caesar, the ancient Egyptians were deftly harnessing the power of engineering on an unprecedented scale. Egyptian temples, fortresses, pyramids and palaces forever redefined the limits of architectural possibility. They also served as a warning to all of Egypt's enemies-that the world's most advanced civilization could accomplish anything. This two-hour special uses cinematic recreations and cutting-edge CGI to profile the greatest engineering achievements of ancient Egypt, and the pharaohs and architects who were behind them. Includes Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Senusret's Nubian Superfortresses, Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple at Dier el-Bahari, Akhenaten's city at Amarna, and the temples of Ramesses the Great at Abu Simbel. |
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| what allowed Augustus to secure his hold over the institutions of Rome and established one man rule of the vast Roman Empire |
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| he neutralized the senate, gained control of the army, and promoted the arts and religion as allies in his quest for total control |
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The Senate was already weakening by the time Augustus came to power. Civil wars had sapped its political strength, though it still retained a great deal of prestige. Augustus realized that the appearance of a functional Senate was critical in keeping law and order and in legitimizing his power in the eyes of the people and so instituted policies that gave this impression, while maintaining its actual political impotence, subject to his control. The Senate was stripped of its power in foreign affairs, military policy and financial duties. He also added more regulation regarding who could be a senator, creating an order of property qualified members and their sons, including reducing the number of Senators to 600. Other symbolic measures were to forbid the wearing of the laticlave by the sons of knights, as this was to be reserved for Senators and their sons. These measures succeeded in keeping the Senate prestigious, but not politically strong enough to challenge the emperor.Augustus realized that to retain control of the Empire, he had to retain control of the army. Having distinguished himself on the battlefield in the days of the Second Triumvirate he had the bonus of being already revered by most in the army. Add to this that all soldiers swore the sacramentum to him alone and that he chose the legions’ legates and the provincial governors, he all but guaranteed himself the loyalty of the army. The authority he exercised made him the over-general, if you will, all battles being fought for him and in his name, thus all victories were his. In addition he made provision for his veterans by way of a pension.
Augustus also saw the value in religion to advance his quest for power. Though himself religious, and in fact a restorer of many of the traditional religious rites, he was not opposed to exploiting it for political gain. To at once restore the priesthoods and elevate himself, he took on the titles of all the notable ones. He was also not above associating his reforms with their similar religious counterpart. In all this, he paved the way for the imperial cult. He claimed to be the son of a deity, his adoptive father Julius Caesar had been deified, and building on Hellenistic influences only helped to proliferate the concept of the imperial cult.
He also rebuilt much of Rome, always gave command of large armies to relatives, maintained proconsular powers in all of the provinces that contained legions. |
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| Discuss the development of Roman religious and family values and how they were impacted by the introduction of Greek culture and philosophy into Roman society after 200 BC. |
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| Family and religious life was very important to the Roman. Marriage was primarily an institution which had as its purpose the continuing of the family line, the passing on of moral characteristics and the honoring of the ancestors. The family was ruled by the paterfamilias, the oldest living male of the family, who headed the household and had absolute authority of everyone in it, including that of life and death. The household would include the paterfamilias’ sons and their wives and children. The sons of the paterfamilias’ sons would marry, but it was rarely for love. Marriages were typically arranged affairs and a loving relationship was believed best to be cultivated over time afterward. The wife was subordinate to the husband. The husband had control over his own family only, not all members of the household, which was the right reserved for the paterfamilias. Divorce, adultery and other practices that damaged the family were looked down upon, as was infertility. However, as Helleniztion of the culture increased, the family unit began to deteriorate. Divorce became more acceptable and marriages without children became increasingly more common and acceptable.In addition to the worship of ancestors in the home, Roman religion was varied. In the early days of the Republic it owed much of its tradition to Etruscan mythology. The gods of this mythology were not personified like those of the Greeks and there worship involved many ceremonies and sacrifices. After the conquest of Greece, as Rome became more Hellenized, the Greek gods began to be integrated into Roman religion, not in a direct sense, but in syncretization to Roman gods. For example, the Roman ruler of the gods Jupiter is associated with the Greek ruler of gods, Zeus. |
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| Describe and discuss the factors that lead to the Roman Revolution of 133-31 BC. |
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The Roman Revolution of 133-31 BC was the beginning of the end for the Republic. Economic problems had been plaguing the Republic for years due to the almost constant war-making and conquests that had taken place in prior centuries. The Republics borders were burgeoning, but at what cost? At that time peasants had made up most of the foot soldiers in the Roman army. As the wars continued to rage and they were kept from their homes, those homes and farms would often fall into the hands of others, usually the wealthy. Upon returning from battle, they would find themselves landless and without work. The economic landscape was becoming increasingly unbalanced and without a thrifty peasantry from which to form an army, the Republic was in danger of weakening what had been one of its greatest strengths, the army. Reforms were needed.In 133 Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune and though he did not fit the profile of a revolutionary, having come from a very wealthy and prestigious family, he would set in motion reforms that would foster jubilation among the poorer classes, and anger among the wealthy. He proposed land reforms that would put a cap on the amount of public land a person or family could possess. The superfluous land would than be parceled and distributed to the lower classes. Since many Senators were the ones who now possessed these disputed public lands, Tiberius knew that his measure would have difficulty getting voted through the Senate, so he took it directly to the people. The Senate tried to get Marcus Octavius, a fellow tribune with Tiberius, to block its passage, but Tiberius had him deposed. Tiberius then angered the Senate even more when he ran for the tribune for a second consecutive time, breaking the annual tradition. This act coupled with the fact that the three-man commission to administer the land reforms consisted of Tiberius, his brother Gaius, and his father-in-law lead the Senate to call a meeting to discuss Tiberius’ attempt for a second tribune run. At the meeting factions for and against Tiberius broke into a fist fight. Soon the anti-Tiberius faction, lead by Publius Scipio Nasica, marched to where Tiberius was and killed him and 300 of his followers
The death of the Gracchi introduced violence into the Roman political process that would eventually lead to the fall of the Republic |
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| Discuss the causes, conduct and results of the Second Punic War. |
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The Second Punic War officially began with Hannibal’s sacking of the city of Saguntum. The city was far south of what even Rome declared as its northern most border, in Hispania, but was under the protection of Rome. This was probably due to the fact that the area was rich in silver. Rome had sent an envoy to Hannibal warning him to leave the city alone. Hannibal was insulted by this Roman meddling in his sphere of influence. Add to this that the Romans and Carthaginians had been at war no more than twenty-three years before this and that, according to legend, Hannibal had pledged to his farther, Hamilcar Barca, an undying hatred for Rome and the tensions were clearly high between the two sides. Hannibal attacked Saguntum in 218, but it wasn’t until about a year later that Rome finally responded demanding Hannibal’s surrender. He refused.His first move was the now famous trek across the Alps, with his war elephants, to invade Italy on their doorstep in hopes of fracturing Rome’s allies away from her. Hannibal lost many of his men and most of his elephants on the journey, but still won tremendous victories in Italy, most notably at Cannae where his army killed over 50,000 Romans while losing only 6,000 of his own men. Despite this and other major victories, Hannibal lacked the men and equipment to force surrender from Rome itself and the war dragged on for sixteen years.While doing well in Italy, Carthage was having more difficulty in other theaters. Rome had expanded the war into Hispania which prevented Hasdrubal Barca, Hannibal’s brother, from sending reinforcements. Eventually, Hasdrubal was forced to retreat into Italy and was finally killed in battle. Fighting also went on in Sicily where the Romans held sway with relative little difficulty.
After forcing Hasdrubal out of Hispania, a Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio, better known as Scipio Africanus, took the fight to Carthage. He invaded the African coast which forced Hannibal, still unable to decisively defeat Rome or splinter her allies, to return home. Scipio and Hannibal faced off in the Battle of Zama where Hannibal was defeated.
The war ended Carthage as a significant threat to Rome. It had military limits imposed on it and when it did try to raise an army fifty years later to defend itself from Numidian encroachments on its land, Rome once again crushed it. The results were quite the opposite for the victor. Rome would become the undisputed ruler of the Mediterranean and would continue to grow in power. |
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| Discuss the development of the Roman Army from its early days as a citizen militia to the professional armies of the 1st century BC. |
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The Roman army at its peak was one of the most powerful military forces the world has ever known. Though it was always a cornerstone of the Roman way of life and political culture, it was not static in its makeup or constitution. It changed with the times, just as Rome itself underwent changes. Before the Republic the legio were conscripted and the Greek phalanx was the preferred method of battle. From the earliest days of the Republic, the army was made up only of Roman citizens who could afford to purchase their own equipment, much like the hoplites of Greece. Servius Tullius instituted a census in the 5th Century and the people of Rome were divided into classes during that time period, according to wealth, and it stands to reason that the army was divided into corresponding “classes” also. The wealthiest had the best equipment, armor, shields, spears, and so forth, while the lowest class might be armed with only a sling. Serving was an honor and a duty and the wealthiest often served the most as they had the most to lose if Rome were to be conquered. Enlistments were usually shorter than they would be in the late Republic. An army would be raised for a campaign, and then released to go back home for the growing season. As the wars of the Republic began to expand and the borders began to widen, longer enlistments were required and men would sometimes be in service for twenty years or more.At the end of the second century BC, Gaius Marius would institute reforms that would transform the army into a large standing professional army. There were many poor and unemployed citizens who likely had served in the army before, only to return home from a years long campaign to find their land had been usurped. The Marian reforms looked to make this group into a standing professional army whose equipment could be provided by the state. In addition, all Italian provinces were granted full citizenship, which created a larger pool of men from which to create a large standing army, as well as a larger tax base to help finance it.
As a result of the Marian reforms the new legionaries looked to their commanders for loot and retirement benefits and their loyalty was to the commander not to the state |
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