Republic to Empire (A vicious circle)

• Roman army = citizens
• Citizens ~~ Small Farmers

Step 1

• Rome expands
• Citizens on duty for LONG periods of time

Step 2

• Citizens are selling land to wealthy patricians (who also happen to be the generals of the army)

Step 3

• Wealthy folks buy slaves (more slaves lead to more wars) for estates (latifundia)
• Wealthy folks grow cash crops instead of food
• Small farmers/citizens move to urban slums

Step 4

• Rinse and repeat

Step 5

• Who is in the army?
  • Urban poor who owe loyalty to their commanders
  • Not the Roman Republic (not the entire state)
• Generals compete in civil wars
  • Example: Disliking other generals and going to war a lot

31 BCE:

• Octavian Caesar establishes a permanent dictatorship

The Roman Empire (31 BC - 476 AD)

• The structure of the empire
  • ~50-60 million people
  • 20% Urban

Pax Romana (Pax = Peace, Romana = Rome; Pax Romana = Peace Rome)

• Conquests largely completed by 100 AD
• Safety!
• Commerce!

Roman Strengths

• Engineering/Architecture!
  • Roads!!!
  • Arches!
  • Aqueducts!
• Often built by the army (primarily used for military usage anyway)
• NOT designed to increase productivity of labor
• Never bothered to think about mechanization (labor saving devices) because they had so many slaves on hand

Commerce

• Merchants enjoy relatively high social status
  • Imports (Imports a lot of food and supplies)
    • Grains
    • Pepper
    • Silk worm
  • Exports (Exports all of their artsy and merchandise)
    • Decorative Metal
    • Vase
    • Pots

Religion

• Emperors are worshipped as gods
• Classical pantheon explains human characteristics

Mystery Cults

• Extreme religious group
• Asian/Middle eastern ecstatic/mystical religions
• Isis
• Mithras
• Jesus
• Competition?