The Roman Empire and Its Aftermath
Unit 12: The Roman Empire: Power and Production
The Appropriation of Nature and Transformations of Space
In the second century, the Roman Empire reached its greatest expansion. Rome controlled a large part of European territory and exercised its power through the construction of infrastructure works of great magnitude:
- Bridges, road networks, river ports, and maritime routes facilitated trade and travel.
- Sewers, culverts, and aqueducts improved the lives of its inhabitants.
- Military enclaves and walls secured borders.
These infrastructure projects created circuits of circulation and exchange, enabling not only the movement of products but also the flow of people and ideas.
The Villas
Villas were agricultural production units whose surplus was sold in cities. Olives and vines were cultivated in stony areas, while richer lands yielded wheat, barley, fruits, vegetables, and dye plants. The owner lived in a residence with his family, while the land was worked by free peasants, sharecroppers, and slaves. Villas also housed peasants and slaves, and contained pens, mills, and workshops for manufacturing and repairing tools.
The Contradictions of the Classical World
What is considered “classical”? It is that which is worthy of imitation, a model, as seen in the cultural creations of the Greeks and Romans. However, we must not forget that the classical world, often associated with a golden age, has a dark side. This includes relations of exploitation, brutal entertainment, marginalization, and violence. Petronius’s Satyricon, for example, depicts the practice of throwing slaves to the beasts in the amphitheater.
The Heart of the Empire
- Insula: Apartment buildings with several floors.
- Forum: Public square, used for elections and triumphal parades celebrating victorious generals returning from wars of conquest.
- Curia: Senate building.
A Universal Message: Christianity
Christianity emerged as a religion in Palestine. The message of Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed a universal God and brotherhood among all humans.
Unit 13: Europe After the Fall
In the late fourth century, some Asian nomadic horsemen invaded the borders of the empire, pushing Germanic tribes westward. Taking advantage of weakened border control, these tribes began to arrive in large groups and settle in Roman cities. In 476, a barbarian king deposed Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The Germanic peoples organized themselves into different political units known as the Germanic kingdoms. The eastern half of the empire, however, remained a unified political entity, which later became known as the Byzantine Empire. Two centuries after the fall of Rome, a new religion, Islam, began to spread its culture.
From Romans to Germans
The Germanic peoples, who had initially lived peacefully along the borders of the empire, gradually adopted Roman customs; in other words, they underwent Romanization. The Romans, in turn, were influenced by Germanic lifestyles and became somewhat Germanized. Some examples include:
- The adoption of hereditary monarchies.
- The creation of new legal systems.
- The use of both Latin and Germanic languages.
The Byzantine Empire
Constantinople was founded on the site of a Greek city called Byzantium. The city, later renamed Istanbul, was eventually conquered by the Turks.