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The bronze sculpture of the
Capitoline wolf and twins is one of the most famous symbols of
early Rome. The wolf (85 cm high) was believed until very
recently to be Etruscan work from the end of the sixth or early
fifth century BC. It was officially announced in July 2008 that
carbon dating and other tests now gave an indication of a
thirteenth-century AD date for the sculpture, with the
suggestion that it was cast somewhere in the valley of the river
Tiber. The figures of the boys were added in the fifteenth
century. (VRoma: Conservatori Museum, Rome: Barbara McManus)
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Ruins Support Myth of Rome's Founding
By Sarah Barden,
Associated Press
posted: 14 February 2005 02:21 pm ET
ROME (AP) -- Legend has it that Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus
and Remus, the twin sons of Mars, the god of war, who were suckled as
infants by a she-wolf in the woods.
Now, archaeologists believe they have found evidence that at least
part of that tale may be true: Traces of a royal palace discovered in
the Roman Forum have been dated to roughly the period of the eternal
city's legendary foundation.
Andrea Carandini, a professor of archaeology at Rome's Sapienza
University who has been conducting excavations at the Forum for more
than 20 years, said he made the discovery over the past month at the
spot where the Temple of Romulus stands today.
It is next to the Sanctuary of Vesta -- the Roman goddess of the
hearth -- just outside the Palatine walls, site of the earliest traces
of civilization in Rome.
Where previously archaeologists had only found huts dating to the 8th
century B.C., Carandini and his team unearthed traces of regal splendor:
A 3,700-square-foot palace, 1,130 square feet of which were covered and
the rest courtyard. There was a monumental entrance, and elaborate
furnishings and ceramics.
The walls were made of wood and clay, with a floor of wood shavings
and pressed turf. It was tests on the clay that allowed the
archaeologists to confirm the age of the find.
Carandini said the residence had "absolutely extraordinary
dimensions, dimensions not formerly known.''
"It could be nothing other than the royal palace,'' he said, adding
that during that period the average abode was about one-tenth the size.
Carandini also found a hut where vestal virgins are believed to have
lit a sacred flame.
Eugenio La Rocca, the superintendent for monuments for the city of
Rome, said Carandini's interpretation of the ruins appears to be
accurate.
"It seems to me that what is emerging from the excavation of
Carandini, who can be considered the highest authority in this field, is
a very coherent archaeological reading,'' La Rocca told the newspaper Il
Messaggero.
"Whoever created the legend did so with the knowledge that behind it
there was a historical foundation,'' he told the newspaper. "That
doesn't mean the story of Romulus and Remus necessarily happened that
way, but only that memory as it was handed down by the majority of the
Latin writers is much more than a hypothesis.''
In Rome's founding myth, the daughter of a king deposed by his
brother was forced to become a vestal virgin to prevent her from having
children. But Rhea Silvia became pregnant with sons of the god Mars.
When the infants were discovered, the princess was imprisoned and the
babies were set adrift in a basket on the Tiber River -- which today
winds its way through Rome.
The twins floated ashore safely and were suckled by a she-wolf until
they were rescued by a shepherd, who raised them.
When they learned the story of their past, they killed the usurper
Amulius, restored Rhea Silvia's father -- Numitor -- to the throne, and
set off to found a city on the site where they were taken care of by the
wolf.
The image of the two naked babies looking up to drink the milk of the
she-wolf became a recurrent theme in Roman art, and sculptures of the
scene are scattered around museums throughout the nation.
While there is little evidence of the historical existence of twins
called Romulus and Remus who founded Rome, the discovery of the palace
offers tantalizing indications the legend had roots in fact.
Carandini began his career as an art historian before becoming
involved in archaeological digs.
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Model of Rome from the time of Tarquinius to
the beginning of the republic. (VRoma: EUR, Rome: Ann Raia)
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Rome was founded by an agrarian Italic peoples living south of the Tiber river. They were a tribal people and the social logic of tribal organization dominated Roman society in both its early and late histories. The date of the founding of Rome is uncertain, but archaeologists date its founding to around 753 BC, although it probably existed as a small village long before then. As the Romans steadily developed their city, its government, and its culture, they imitated the neighboring civilization to the north, the Etruscans. The Etruscans, though, as they saw the power and influence of the Latin city to their south grow, would take over the government from these new, threatening people.
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The early Roman government was a monarchy, but it was founded on a tribal logic. The monarch was given absolute power over the people; the Romans called this power imperium . However, the monarch's relationship to the people was seen as similar or identical to the power a father had over his household; in other words, the Roman monarchy was strictly patriarchal. The relationship between a patriarch and his family is a relationship of mutual obligations, and this is how the Romans understood the monarchy. In early Roman society, however, the father exercised incredible authority over the family. The father could sell his children into slavery (or could kill them if he could justify it). This arbitrary power was limited: before a father sold or killed his children, he was required to consult with the family and with the public. While the father was not allowed to kill or sell his wife, he was allowed to divorce her; this was allowed, however, only in the most extreme circumstances. In addition, the father served as the priest of the family. In many ways, the Roman monarch followed this model of power: absolute but limited by the people, their welfare, and tradition. The monarch served as a legislator, as the head of the military, as the head of the judiciary, and as a chief priest to the people. His authority, however, was limited and controlled by a constitution which he was powerless to change.
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The monarch ruled alongside a Senate and an assembly. The Senate was a council of elders, a weak oligarchy, that was composed of the heads of various clan groups. These elders were originally clan leaders (and this function probably didn't change), so the Senate in its earliest form was a kind of clan confederacy. The Senate had the power to approve or veto the appointment of the king, so no individual could ascend the throne without the approval of the clan leaders. The Senate also judged the legislation and actions of the king to make sure that they accorded both with the constitution and with traditional custom; while the Senate seems to have ratified just about everything the king decided, they still exercised an important check on monarchical power. In this respect, the early Roman Senate served largely the same function that the Supreme Court serves in the United States.
The assembly consisted of all male citizens of Rome; citizenship was granted only to individuals who could demonstrate that both parents were native Romans. The assembly's principle function was to grant imperium to the monarch ratified by the Senate; there was, therefore, a limited democracy in the Roman kingdom: the clan leaders approved the candidate for king and the entire male population of Rome handed the king absolute rule. The assembly was organized into thirty groups based on kinship lines; each group got a single vote, so there were a grand total of thirty votes in the assembly. Each group would base its vote on the majority decision of the group. So while the citizens had a certain amount of say in the government in the assembly, that influence was greatly diminished by its diffusion in the group vote.
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As Rome grew in power and influence, wealth began to accumulate in the hands of a few people. While we know little of the social structure of the very early Romans, by a very early period in the city's history, society was divided up into two groups: the patricians and the plebeians. The patricians were the wealthiest members of society; they controlled most of the wealth, trade, power, and the military. Only patricians could serve as clan leaders; therefore, only patricians were allowed to sit on the Senate or hold any appointed or elected offices. The plebeians were the majority of the population; they were mainly small farmers, hard laborers, and craftspeople. They worked mainly for the patricians, although some small farmers worked their own lands rather than the lands of the wealthy. The plebeians did have a small voice in government, though: the assembly was the governmental body that represented their interests, although the institution of the group vote severely watered down individual voices.
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During the monarchy, Rome greatly expanded its control over surrounding territories. The monarchy itself had been established with the express purpose of providing stability and security; the conquest of surrounding territories were undertaken with the same goals in mind. It doesn't seem that the Romans were particularly greedy for land or wealth; their conquests seem largely motivated by anxieties over the threat to their security posed by the surrounding populations. As their territorial power grew, however, they attracted the notice of the powerful Etruscans to the north who, in the middle of the sixth century BC, took over the government of Rome. From the middle of the sixth century, the Roman monarchs became Etruscan, and the Romans bitterly resented it. Finally, when an Etruscan prince of the Etruscan family that ruled Rome, the Tarquins, raped the wife of a patrician, the Romans rose up in revolt and threw the Tarquins out of power in 509 BC. While the rape of Lucretia and the overthrow of the Tarquins by Junius Brutus may be fictional (then again, it may not), the expulsion of the Etruscan monarchs began the decline in Etruscan power and civilization.
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Claudius Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy
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In Roman tradition, the king ruled only because of the consent of the people and in conformity with tradition and the constitution; the Tarquins had broken that tradition. Rather than reinstall a Latin monarch, however, the Romans dismantled the institution of the monarchy entirely. The age of the Roman Republic, an age that would see the greatest expansion of Roman power and numerous wars, had been opened.
Richard Hooker
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Rome's Lost City
Ancient Baiae was a
luxurious-some said decadent-resort for wealthy
Romans who came to soak in its warm mineral springs.
Its coast was lined with enormous palaces and
villas, sumptuous gardens, casinos, swimming pools
and three massive domed bathhouses. One of those
baths, the Temple of Mercury in Baiae, is the oldest
unsupported concrete dome in Italy. It was built
toward the end of the first century B.C. You can
still go into it today-in fact, many people call it
the "Temple of Echo" because of its extraordinary
acoustics.
The
Holy Roman Empire
courtesy of http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history
Holy Roman Empire, a realm in medieval and early
modern times that consisted primarily of Germany and
that part of Italy governed by the German ruler. The
empire, which lasted from 962 to 1806, was in theory a
revival of the Western Roman Empire—the political
counterpart of the Roman Catholic Church.
 Holy
Roman Empire. This map shows the Holy Roman empire at
its height. During the 1000's, the Holy Roman Empire
extended from the North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
The emperor generally dominated the various states
and principalities that made up the German nation (which
included present-day Austria, the Czech Republic, part
of Poland, Luxembourg, and other bordering areas) as
well as northern Italy. The emperor was chosen by
electors representing certain states and dioceses, but
the position tended to become hereditary, as the
electors usually selected the ruler's natural heir. He
customarily was crowned emperor by the pope in Rome.
 Holy
Roman Empire flag. The Holy Roman Empire flag flew in
what is now Germany from the 1200's until 1806. It
features a large bird on a yellow background.
The emperor's power depended largely on his personal
and family inheritances, and on alliances. Charles V,
for example, when elected emperor in 1519, was also king
of Spain and his domain included the Netherlands,
Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spanish America. His son,
Philip, was the husband of the ruling queen of England
(Mary I). Charles gave Austria to his brother Ferdinand,
who was also king of Bohemia and of Hungary and
succeeded him as emperor. Spain, however, went to his
son, who became Philip II of Spain.
History
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 475
A.D., the Lombard tribe in northern Italy frequently
encroached on lands held by the pope. In 753–54 Pope
Stephen II traveled to Germany to appeal for help from
Pepin the Short, king of the Franks. Pepin subdued the
Lombards and declared the pope ruler of all church
property holdings in Italy.
The Lombards, however, continued to be a threat to
the popes. Pepin's son, Charlemagne, made a number of
expeditions to Italy to protect papal interests. In 800,
in Rome, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Roman emperor.
This event is often considered the origin of the Holy
Roman Empire. However, Charlemagne's empire was divided
among three of his grandsons by the Treaty of Verdun
(843) and soon broke into numerous feudal states that
resisted the authority of the monarchs. Charlemagne's
descendants enjoyed the honorary title of emperor, but
had little or no empire to go with it.
In Italy, meanwhile, Roman nobles had usurped the
political authority of the papacy. In 954 Pope John XII
appealed to the German king, Otto (I) the Great, for
aid. Otto invaded Italy in 962 and was crowned Roman
emperor by the pope. (The word “Holy” was added in the
12th century.)
For the next 850 years the title of (Holy) Roman
emperor was held by German sovereigns. The empire
consisted of Germany and, at first, of northern Italy as
far south as Rome. During one period it included the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Italians, however,
fiercely resented German rule and revolted frequently.
After the middle of the 13th century, Germany made
little effort to govern Italy.
 Holy
Roman Empire in 1250. This map shows the territory of
the Holy Roman Empire in 1250. The empire extended from
the North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from Eastern
France to Poland. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a
personal possession of the emperor, was geographically
separated from the empire by the Papal States.
In 1356 Charles IV issued the Golden Bull, which
formally established the principle of an elective
monarchy for the empire. This document specified that
the emperor be elected by the archbishops of Mainz,
Trier, and Cologne, and the rulers of Saxony, Bohemia,
Brandenburg, and the Palatinate.
After the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War
(1618–48) the German states were sharply divided by
religious and political differences and the influence of
the emperor declined. In the 18th century the French
writer Voltaire remarked that the Holy Roman Empire was
“neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” The emperor
ruled Austria and was still king of Hungary, but
elsewhere his title had more shadow than substance. In
1806 Napoleon I forced the dissolution of the empire,
its ruler becoming merely the emperor of Austria.
The Roman Empire ruled over the Mediterranean basin
and beyond, exporting the Roman language, culture and
technological innovations as they went.
Different Perspectives on the fall of Rome |
