Western Civilization: A Very Brief Overview from the Romans to the Counter-Reformation

With Augustus Caesar began the two centuries of the Pax Romana. During this time all of Rome became a collection of states rather than conquered provinces. The only threats that ever came were from the unorganized barbarian tribes who's conquest brought nothing to the Empire. (Mahoney, 2001)

     Rome's vast empire lasted for an amazing one thousand-year reign. Half of it referred to as the republic, and the other as the empire. However, after its fall in 5oo-a.d. Rome has still remained in existence through its strong culture, architecture, literature, and even religion (Spielvogel 175). Even after its disappearance as a nation Rome left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. Its ideals and traditions have been immolated, and adopted for over two thousand years. Whether, it is through its language of Latin, its influence of religion, or its amazing architectural ability Rome has influenced almost every culture following its demise. The heritage of Rome has

The Pax Romana was characterized by political stability, an increase of commerce, as well as cultural diffusion. Augustus was the emperor during this period, he got rid of the declining Senate and introduced the Principate; allowing an effective bureaucratic government to be introduced to Rome. Overtime Rome also granted the conquered populations the opportunity to become citizens. With the help of Rome’s technical innovations like roads, concretes, and arches the amount of trade that went on increased drastically. With military posts on these roads people felt safe traveling to other regions to trade. Because of this Rome’s culture and religion was able to diffuse, especially to the west. All these things were able to create a period of prosperity in Rome.

As well as the Roman Army and the Roman roads, the Pax Romana was another factor that led to the empire’s great success. Pax Romana, Latin for “Roman Peace”, was the peace established by the Romans in their empire, where the inhabitants benefitted from the law and order that was enforced by the Romans, and no more land was to be conquered. The Pax Romana was one of the most stable periods of the empire. This brought relative civilisation across the empire and kept the peasants happy, which was essential to keeping the empire under control.

Between approximately 509 BCE and the third century CE the Roman empire continually expanded and became one of the largest in history. While this expansion was due to many reasons, not the least of which was greed, to a great extent it was made possible because of Rome's overwhelming military and its combination of a democratic and republic government. (Lee) (Ferril)

For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman

Some policies and institutions of the Roman Republic were useful to help them succeed in conquering first Italy and then the Mediterranean world. Before of the institution of the republic, the romans were a monarchy since their beginning and they were basically a pastoral people. Rome suffer several changes and improvements under the control of the Etruscan kings. The Etruscan were civilization settled north of Rome in Etruria, and they once had control over almost all the Italic peninsula. The Etruscans influences in Rome were profound, they transformed Rome from a pastoral community to a city (91). The Etruscan built the street and roads that help the development of temples, markets, shops, streets, and houses. They basically brought urbanization to Rome. It is fairly to say that the Rome republic was a fusion between the elements of the Etruscan civilization and the Rome elements. The combination of the different political institutions and policies made the Romans succeed in their conquest territories.

The longest lasting peace of culture from the romans was there laws. There first laws had to do with the rights of every roman citizens. There law was supposed to be fair to people poor and wealthy. Under the law you were innocent unless proven guilty. The united states use this same idea. There where Greek and roman philosophers who had a big role in the western civilization. Anaximander, he talked about nature. He figured out the size and distance of the sun from the earth just having a small error. He also came up with the idea of evolution.

Even in the century before the official replacement of the Roman republic by the empire, Rome expanded immensely as a result of the Punic wars. Rome fought the Punic Wars between 264 and 146 BCE against the nearby trade empire Carthage over the nearby island of Sicily, a

By 200 BC, Rome was quickly becoming one of the world’s greatest empires with their excellent military conquering territory from modern day Scotland to Spain. After the Punic Wars and the defeat of Carthage, Rome had full control of the Mediterranean region, establishing colonies in North Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. Julius Caesar became Rome’s first emperor using his military influence. Under his reign, Rome shifted from a republic to an empire under the rule of an emperor and the military. Rome steadily increased in stability, power, and wealth, reaching Pax Romana (the time of Roman peace) under Emperor Augustus Caesar. Rome was forced to discover, as many other

Rome built on aristocratic landlords expanding out from city-states. Rome relied on slavery for their economic base in which a third of the population were slaves. Rome invented concrete and engineered things like aqueducts that brought water to parts of the city. Mechanisms for political integration in the roman empire were based on bureaucracy that was less complex than the Han dynasty and relied on local elites and middle class to control provinces that were less centralized. There was a greater emphasis on law codes and a common legal system. Monuments and triumphal processions played up the glory, stability, and civilization of the empire and its rulers which was considered an idealistic ideology. Rome also had a cult organized by deceased emperors from the past. They would use colonies to foster unity and integration throughout its empire by the means of colonies that were considered military outposts that were not intended for the use of population integration. Latin was encouraged to be learned throughout Rome, but it never took over the Greek language in the East since post

In 753 B.C.E the most dynamic city known to the world, Rome was established by their first king, Romulus. They’ve conquered through countries to broaden their culture, architecture and literature. Throughout this, Rome became perceived to the Greek influenced. After exceeding greater than 500 years, the Roman Empire survived from 27BC-476AD. The causes of the decline of Rome have been consistently been a subject of discussion and debate. The Roman military has performed an astonishing contribution towards the success and destruction of the Roman Empire. Its significance towards the Ancient Rome led this nation conquering multiple countries such as England, Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Africa and the middle east. Throughout this conquer, the Roman Empire became adequate to obtain more power and become recognized by historians as a remarkably efficient combat.

Romans helped build temples, public squares, proper houses, and their national toga was suddenly being seen everywhere. "In their innocent they called this 'civilization', when in fact it was a part of their enslavement" (Tacitus, 15). By carrying over their social norms to other nations, Rome continued to expand in an eased manner, as suggested by Agricola during his reign. Romans were overruling nations that were unnecessary for them to.

Pax Romana is Latin for Roman peace. The Pax Romana lasted approaching two centuries beginning toward the end of the BC period and extending almost halfway into the second century AD. For the Roman Empire, this was a period of peace and saw little military action or expansion. Caesar Augustus, previously known as Julius Caesar commenced the Pax Romana after Rome was no longer considered a republic and the civil wars within Rome ceased. Yet another event that marks the commencement of Pax Romana was the defeat of Marc Antony by Octavian Augustus at the famous battle of Actium. The Pax Romana, like any form of social change, was not immediate, but a feat that was accomplished over time. While there may have been peace in Rome, battles continued in the Alps and areas that are now known as Spain. There were many benefits to the Pax Romana and the paper puts focus on those, which are economic. The paper also references Plutarch, a prominent figure during this period, indicating a relationship between the Pax Romana and social mobility.

The rise of imperialism and the expansion of the Roman Republic throughout the Mediterranean played a major role in the history of Rome. Many of Rome's key points in its history date back to 272 B.C.E., while Rome had plans for the conquest of the Mediterranean. This date is very significant as it displays Rome and it's victory over Carthage in the Punic Wars, thus gaining more success towards their plan. This victory was very significant as it fueled the major improvements economically and idealistically to the republic. The victory also had its downsides, as rapid growth came to the empire, the inability to successfully control the masses through a solid government system had led to major problems within society. The society itself for