People
180-400: Events Places In Imperial Rome , Cura Annonae ("care of Annona") was the import and distribution of grain to the residents of the cities of Rome and, after its foundation, Constantinople . The term was used in honour of the goddess Annona . The city of Rome imported all the grain consumed by its population, estimated to number 1,000,000 by the 2nd century AD. This included recipients of
360-405: A priestly role . He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of
540-404: A "rousing style of public speaking that made him the greatest [Roman orator] between Cato the censor and Cicero ". Gaius also changed how speeches were delivered from the rostra . Formerly, when a speaker delivered a speech in the forum, he turned his face to the right in the direction of the curia , the senate house, and the comitium . Instead, Gaius would turn his face to the left, toward
720-582: A beam of more than a quarter of that. From the deck to the bottom of the cargo hold was 13 metres (43 ft). Casson accepts Lucan's measurements and calculates the ship's cargo capacity at 1200 to 1300 tonnes of grain. Rickman describes Lucian's figures as a possible exaggeration; Hopkins points out the financial losses represented by the foundering of such a ship in bad weather, heavy-laden with grain and too large to find safe mooring in most ports. The reported dimensions for grain ships are not verified by archaeological findings. Casson imaginatively reconstructed
900-443: A bounty, promising Gaius' head's weight in gold. Flaccus and his sons were killed, Gracchus was either killed or committed suicide after fleeing across the river Tiber. The claimant of the bounty removed the brain and substituted it with molten lead to increase the weight before claiming the reward. In the aftermath of Gaius' death, a judicial inquiry was established to try Gracchan supporters. Apparently, "many were executed after
1080-403: A brief investigation without the formalities of trial", with an extensive purge reportedly of thousands. Plutarch also reports that Gaius, Flaccus, and others' estates were confiscated, along with the dowry of his widow, Licinia; Plutarch, however, is likely wrong in this matter; it is more likely that only their houses were demolished, with their estates passing thence to their heirs. Opimius
1260-542: A city with their families and seek patronage there. According to Roman historical tradition, the Roman government intervened sporadically to obtain and distribute free or subsidized grain to Rome's more impoverished male citizens during shortages and famines. The terms of these early provisions are lost. A version of an earlier Lex Licinia was proposed by Gaius Gracchus , and approved by the Roman popular assembly in 123 BC, in
1440-511: A faction that opposed his concentration of power. This faction was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian divided the Roman world between them, but this did not last long. Octavian's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate gave him
1620-500: A few years later, a bill was carried in defiance of the senate establishing a colony at Narbonne. Only in 111 BC, some ten years later, was the Gracchan land commission disestablished by another lex agraria (sometimes called the lex Thoria but attribution is disputed ), not because of plutocratic influence, but because the job of distributing public lands was complete. All public land distributed or otherwise confirmed under
1800-425: A fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy. Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility. In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. Agriculture and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on
1980-640: A fine for a crime for which an humilior might receive a scourging . Execution, which was an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic, could be quick and relatively painless for honestiores , while humiliores might suffer the kinds of torturous death previously reserved for slaves, such as crucifixion and condemnation to the beasts . In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as honestiores , especially if they declined to fulfil religious responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created
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#17327662371642160-425: A freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom ( libertas ), including the right to vote. His former master became his patron ( patronus ): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other. A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play
2340-578: A high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by inscriptions throughout the Empire . The Latin word ordo (plural ordines ) is translated variously and inexactly into English as "class, order, rank". One purpose of the Roman census was to determine the ordo to which an individual belonged. Two of the highest ordines in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, cities or colonies were led by decurions , also known as curiales . "Senator"
2520-571: A higher social class. Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a "rule" that first started during the Punic Wars . Different emperors up until Justinian would attempt to require the use of Latin in various sections of the administration but there is no evidence that a linguistic imperialism existed during the early Empire. After all freeborn inhabitants were universally enfranchised in 212 , many Roman citizens would have lacked
2700-401: A household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others. Talented slaves might accumulate a large enough peculium to justify their freedom, or be manumitted for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law ( Lex Fufia Caninia ) limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will. Following
2880-472: A knowledge of Latin. The wide use of Koine Greek was what enabled the spread of Christianity and reflects its role as the lingua franca of the Mediterranean during the time of the Empire. Following Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century CE, there was a decline in the knowledge of Greek in the west. Spoken Latin later fragmented into the incipient romance languages in the 7th century CE following
3060-400: A major issue throughout Rome's history. Most commoner-citizens were also farmers, either as small landowners or as tenants. They could be conscripted to serve in the military, with minimal recompense, on campaigns that could last for years. In peacetime, the same commoner-soldiers relied on whatever crops they could raise on their own land, weather permitting, with very little capacity to produce
3240-459: A man as an equestrian. The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at Cádiz and Padua alone. Equestrians rose through a military career track ( tres militiae ) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration. The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders
3420-560: A married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery if he had sex with a prostitute or person of marginalized status. Childbearing was encouraged: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ius trium liberorum ). At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in Roman Italy were slaves, making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least
3600-428: A minimum annual requirement of 150,000 tonnes, assuming an annual consumption of 200 kilograms (440 lb) per capita by a total population estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000. Mattingly and Aldrete estimate the imported grain at 237,000 tonnes for 1,000,000 inhabitants, providing 2,326 calories daily per person from grain alone. The recipients of the grain dole were a small, low status but privileged group of citizens,
3780-679: A more conservative Lex Octavia . In the last years of the Republic, political conservatives and demagogues alike sought popular support against their political opponents by negotiating well-publicised state donations of grain. Cicero and Clodius are two notorious examples. Cicero gave free grain to the poor during a famine in Sicilly, and was celebrated for it; he was not opposed to grain subsidies and grain donations to save lives or bring down prices during times of need, but he believed that regular free grain issues could only encourage dependence and idleness at state expense. His "gift" actually reduced
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#17327662371643960-514: A pious hope for a return to a renewed sense of political harmony within the civic community... Care, thought, and expense were not spared in Opimius' efforts to bring acceptable closure to political strife and civil conflict. Many in Rome, however, did not share his religious pretensions: according to Plutarch, one night an inscription was carved that read "A work of mad discord produces a temple of Concord." The events of this year also spilled into
4140-484: A profit. Some of the grain collected as tax in kind was distributed to officials and soldiers and some was sold at market rates. In the 3rd century AD, the dole of grain was replaced by bread, probably during the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211 AD). Severus also began providing olive oil to residents of Rome, and later the Emperor Aurelian (270–275) ordered the distribution of wine and pork . From
4320-537: A proposed tribunician law to prohibit non-citizens from settling in Roman towns and evict those who had done so. He then was elected as quaestor and assigned to the Roman province of Sardinia to fight the rebels there under consul Lucius Aurelius Orestes . During a harsh winter, Gracchus was successful in procuring supplies from the Sardinians for the hard-pressed Roman troops. Orestes' command in Sardinia
4500-427: A sense of "Romanness". Roman society had multiple, overlapping social hierarchies . The civil war preceding Augustus caused upheaval, but did not effect an immediate redistribution of wealth and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid. Personal relationships— patronage , friendship ( amicitia ), family , marriage —continued to influence politics. By
4680-544: A series of trials, but most of his legislation was undisturbed. His brother was the reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus . Both, known together as the Gracchi brothers , were the sons of the Gracchus who was consul in 177 and 163 BC. Gaius Gracchus was born into a very well-connected political family. His father, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus , was a very successful politician of the 2nd century BC: he served in
4860-513: A slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the Aquilian Law . Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called conubium , but their unions were sometimes recognized. Technically, a slave could not own property, but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund ( peculium ) that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave. Within
5040-492: A small, usually domestic capacity. Much larger, more efficient rotary mills, powered by slaves, donkeys or horses, were funded and operated as business ventures. Those found at Ostia Antica and Rome are assumed to be typical of the Empire at large. By the 170's BC at the very latest, and probably for centuries before, professional bakeries were operating in the city of Rome. By 150 BC, bakers were organising themselves into trading associations and guilds. Both slave and free labour
5220-432: A surplus for trading. Roman staples were grains, especially wheat; olives and olive oil, grapes and wine; and cheese. In a good year, and with favourable weather, a grain harvest could yield around ten times what had been sown. Farms within Rome's vicinity were used to raise equally essential but more perishable crops. Although farmland taken from conquered enemies was legally ager publicus (publicly owned farmland), most
5400-436: A tradition of service or accountability at law"; these consequences did not become clear for a generation. Further legislation included some laws establishing new customs duties. At the elections of 123 BC, according to Plutarch, Gaius did not stand for election at all; rather, the tribes elected him spontaneously, with the election ratified by the presiding magistrate. Re-election might not have suited his plans – Gaius
5580-469: A typical grain-ship's voyage from Alexandria, Egypt to Rome. A grain ship leaving Alexandria, would first steer north east to Cyprus , then follow the south coast of Asia Minor (21st century Turkey) westwards, and proceed along the south shore of Crete , stopping as needed at one of several ports en route. From Crete the grain ship would strike out across the Mediterranean Sea westwards toward
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5760-545: Is an aspect of social mobility in the early Empire. Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later European nobility , a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands. Admission to the higher ordines brought distinction and privileges, but also responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services ( munera ). Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures. Decurions were so vital for
5940-492: Is usually credited with changing or completing the change from doles of grain or flour to bread, and for adding olive oil, salt, and pork to the products regularly distributed; these products had been distributed sporadically before that. Aurelian is also credited with increasing the weight of loaves but not their price, a measure that was undoubtedly popular with the Romans who were not receiving free bread and other products through
6120-475: The Dominate . The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible and deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually. The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen. After Nero,
6300-764: The Greek East and Latin West . Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337 ), the first Christian emperor , moved the imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium in 330, and renamed it Constantinople . The Migration Period , involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and by the Huns of Attila , led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire . With the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and
6480-586: The Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled the Mediterranean ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum —'our sea'. Trajan's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire. Borders ( fines ) were marked, and the frontiers ( limites ) patrolled. The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable. Hadrian's Wall , which separated
6660-482: The Republic , and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian 's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, Rome had expanded its rule to most of the Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by civil wars and political conflicts , which culminated in
6840-645: The Romance languages while Medieval Greek became the language of the East. The Empire's adoption of Christianity resulted in the formation of medieval Christendom . Roman and Greek art had a profound impact on the Italian Renaissance . Rome's architectural tradition served as the basis for Romanesque , Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture , influencing Islamic architecture . The rediscovery of classical science and technology (which formed
7020-596: The Servile Wars of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves. Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as prostitutes in ancient Rome were often slaves. The burgeoning trade in eunuchs in
7200-461: The annona remained a central feature of its unity and power: "the cessation of this state function in the fifth century was a major factor leading to economic fragmentation, as was the end of the grain requisition for the city of Rome". The population of the city of Rome peaked at possibly more than 1,000,000 people from the late 1st century to the 3rd century AD. It declined to 700,000–800,000 by 400: and to 400,000-500,000 by 452. O'Donnell estimates
7380-569: The deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 by Odoacer , the Western Empire finally collapsed. The Eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453. Due to the Empire's extent and endurance, its institutions and culture had a lasting influence on the development of language , religion , art , architecture , literature , philosophy , law , and forms of government across its territories. Latin evolved into
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7560-402: The equestrian class were free to openly carry on whatever respectable business they chose; senators, as major landowners, were supposely indifferent to personal profit or loss, but were the main source of investment. The elder Cato , senator and consul, seems to have been typical in using his most capable freedmen as agents, factors and merchants. In a fleet of 50 grain transports, he underwrote
7740-408: The grain dole or corn dole , a government program which gave out subsidized grain, then free grain, and later bread, to about 200,000 of Rome's adult male citizens. Rome's grain subsidies were originally ad hoc emergency measures taken to import cheap grain from trading partners and allies at times of scarcity, to help feed growing numbers of indebted and dispossessed citizen-farmers. By the end of
7920-512: The plebs frumentaria . Their 5 modii monthly allowance was "ample for two people but well below the minimum subsistence allowance for three". Those not qualifying for the dole, or those who had to supplement their dole to feed themselves and their families were forced to buy grain at inflated prices, find patronage, go into debt or go without. Augustus doubled the allowance for some of those already entitled, but this seems to have been an exceptional, ad hoc solution. The precise details of how grain
8100-652: The victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power ( imperium ) and the new title of Augustus , marking his accession as the first Roman emperor . The vast Roman territories were organized into senatorial provinces, governed by proconsuls who were appointed by lot annually, and imperial provinces, which belonged to
8280-513: The "vast numbers of the Roman people in old time are evidenced by the extensive Provinces from which their food supply was drawn...and the enormous multitude of mills, which could only have been made for use, not for ornament." The Vandals took control of Rome's north African provinces for around a century, starting c. 439, thus sequestering the greater source of the Western Empire's grain supply. They were reconquered in 533–34 by Justinian 's forces, but their grain exports were probably diverted for
8460-506: The 19th century. The city of Rome grew rapidly in the centuries of the Roman Republic and Empire , reaching a population approaching 1,000,000 in the 2nd century AD. The wars of the early Republic led directly to the expansion of Roman territory, the acquisition of arable land, and land hunger for Rome's least powerful, impoverished citizens. Landholding was the material basis of male Roman citizenship, and land distribution remained
8640-450: The 3rd century, the Empire underwent a 49-year crisis that threatened its existence due to civil war, plagues and barbarian invasions . The Gallic and Palmyrene empires broke away from the state and a series of short-lived emperors led the Empire, which was later reunified under Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ). The civil wars ended with the victory of Diocletian ( r. 284–305 ), who set up two different imperial courts in
8820-621: The 600-member body by appointment. A senator's son belonged to the ordo senatorius , but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards. In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from Italy , with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian. The first senator from
9000-400: The 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy. Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate". Slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood . They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, sexual exploitation , torture, and summary execution . A slave could not as a matter of law be raped;
9180-683: The 6th century for Rome, but far less grain was shipped compared to earlier periods; in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, it lasted as late as the 7th century, in reduced form. The population of the city of Rome declined precipitously during the last years of the Western Roman Empire. Thereafter, no city in Europe would assemble the transportation network required to feed 1,000,000 inhabitants until
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#17327662371649360-489: The Annona as a "briberous and corrupting attempt of the Roman emperors to cover up the fact that they were selfish and incompetent tyrants." Augustus disapproved even the idea of a grain dole, on moral grounds, but he, and every emperor after him, took the responsibility and credit for ensuring the supply to citizens who qualified for it. The Emperor Tiberius created the locally elected priestly office of Augustalis to serve
9540-578: The Apostle in 62 AD illustrates the dangers of the voyage from Egypt to Rome. Paul boarded a Rome-bound grain ship in Asia Minor. The ship was large, with 276 people aboard, counting both crew and passengers. The voyage was late in the sailing season, after the Day of Atonement (which is usually in early October) and the winds were adverse. Following the usual route along the south shore of Crete, Paul's ship
9720-457: The Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, moral legislation attempted to regulate conduct as a means of promoting " family values ". Adultery was criminalized, and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ( stuprum ) between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. That is, a double standard was in place:
9900-524: The Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century , a period of invasions , civil strife , economic disorder , and plague . In defining historical epochs , this crisis sometimes marks the transition from Classical to Late Antiquity . Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ) stabilised the empire militarily and Diocletian reorganised and restored much of it in 285. Diocletian's reign brought
10080-420: The Gracchan land reform laws was confirmed and fully privatised. By this point, practically the only remaining ager publicus was common pastureland or land under long-term leases, land which could not be distributed. Gaius Gracchus' subsidised grain law also survived past this death. It was repealed only in the last decade of the century, by a Marcus Octavius who was tribune some time between 122 and 104, but
10260-560: The Imperial Era, a regular and predictable supply of subsidised grain, the grain dole, and sumptuous public games such as gladiator contests and chariot racing earned the obedience of potentially restive lower-class urban citizens, providing what the poet Juvenal sarcastically summed up as " bread and circuses ". Sufficient imports of grain to meet the basic requirements of cities relied on dependable surpluses elsewhere, and minimal grain-hoarding by speculators. The logistics of moving
10440-668: The Italian allies was politically impossible as it would have "wrought serious damage to their interests" – led Gaius and his allies to pursue both Italian and foreign colonisation programmes. An ally of Gaius Gracchus, Gaius Rubrius, as part of the Gracchan programme, successfully carried a law to establish a colony at Carthage. One of the other tribunes in this year, Marcus Livius Drusus , countered Gaius and Rubrius' programme by proposing twelve colonies of three thousand needy families each, with allotments of land free from rent. Drusus' proposals passed also, but "came to nothing"; regardless,
10620-599: The Italians may have also given them full citizenship rights; but, although Fannius was an ally of Gracchus, he opposed the second bill. Drusus countered Gaius' Italian citizenship bill with a much less extensive bill to exempt them from scourging , which passed. Fannius, for his part, was able to mobilise opposition to extending citizenship by convincing the people that extending citizenship would require them to share their privileges. A fragment of Fannius' speech survives: I suppose you imagine that, if you give citizenship to
10800-507: The Latins, you will still have a place in the assembly in which you are standing, and will participate in the games and festivals. Don't you realise that they will swamp everything? The issue persisted through the end of the year to the consular elections, when Fannius promulgated an edict expelling Italians from Rome, which was opposed by an edict of Gaius' which allegedly promised tribunician protection for any Italians who remained (but was, in
10980-494: The Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status which made it domina provinciarum ("ruler of the provinces"), and – especially in relation to the first centuries of imperial stability – rectrix mundi ("governor of the world") and omnium terrarum parens ("parent of all lands"). The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). The cohesion of
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#173276623716411160-559: The Middle East. The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ("empire without end" ) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In Virgil 's Aeneid , limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by Jupiter . This claim of universal dominion was renewed when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century. In addition to annexing large regions, the Romans directly altered their geography, for example cutting down entire forests . Roman expansion
11340-469: The Republic, grain subsidies and doles had become permanent, uniquely Roman institutions. The grain dole was reluctantly adopted by Augustus and later emperors as a free monthly issue to those who qualified to receive it. In 22 AD, Augustus' successor Tiberius publicly acknowledged the Cura Annonae as a personal and imperial duty, which if neglected would cause "the utter ruin of the state". During
11520-454: The Rhine and Danube. Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic , Gaulish , and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding of laws and oaths. In Africa , Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century. In Syria , Palmyrene soldiers used their dialect of Aramaic for inscriptions, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of
11700-526: The Roman army under Scipio Aemilianus during the final campaign in the Numantine War in 133 BC. He may have held the military tribunate during his service there. During his elder brother Tiberius' tribunate, he started his political career with election as a commissioner in the Gracchan land commission to distribute public land to poor families. In 126 BC, he supported Marcus Fulvius Flaccus ' political programme. While in Rome, he opposed
11880-448: The Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present barbarian threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort. Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire, but the Empire was deliberately multilingual. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood". At the start of the Empire, knowledge of Greek was useful to pass as educated nobility and knowledge of Latin
12060-459: The Senate on Pompey's behalf considerably exaggerated the threat of piracy to Rome's grain supply. Issues of land ownership, land distribution, debt, and the grain supply were essential elements in the popularist politics of the late Republic. The consolidation of Roman agricultural lands in the hands of a wealthy few had pushed landless Romans into the city, where they found poverty rather than employment. The aristocratic Gracchi brothers opposed
12240-449: The account of his achievements ( Res Gestae ) prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of the Empire. Geography alongside meticulous written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration . The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan ( r. 98–117 ), encompassing 5 million km . The traditional population estimate of 55–60 million inhabitants accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of
12420-582: The agrarian activities of Gaius". Mommsen asserted that he revitalised the commission by transferring to it jurisdiction over land disputes from the consuls, but of this there is no explicit evidence. The new law did clarify which land could be redistributed, however, and after his first year as tribune there are boundary stones ( cippi ) showing that he was successful in redistributing land around Apulia. He also probably carried laws authorising new Roman colonies at Scolacium and Tarentum. His novel policy of establishing colonies outside of Italy made him "apparently
12600-463: The arrival of the first fleets of grain ships after harvest was an eagerly awaited annual event. From Ostia to Rome. On arrival in the port of Ostia, Rome's port at the mouth of the Tiber , the grain was off-loaded from its transport ship and loaded onto barges which were hauled up the river by animal or man power to the city of Rome, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) upriver. On arrival in Rome,
12780-607: The basis for Islamic science ) in medieval Europe contributed to the Scientific Renaissance and Scientific Revolution . Many modern legal systems, such as the Napoleonic Code , descend from Roman law. Rome's republican institutions have influenced the Italian city-state republics of the medieval period, the early United States , and modern democratic republics . Rome had begun expanding shortly after
12960-631: The benefit of the Eastern Roman Empire . The Western Cura Annonae may have lasted into the 6th century; there is no evidence for its official termination, or its continuation. The Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great visited Rome in 500 and promised food to its inhabitants. In 537, the Byzantine General Belisarius and his army withstood a siege of Rome by the Ostrogoths, who blocked the aqueduct that drove
13140-398: The city of Rome from the provinces of Sicily and Sardinia . In the second century BC, Gaius Gracchus settled 6,000 colonists to exploit the fertile lands of newly conquered Carthage , giving each about 25 hectares (62 acres) to grow grain. Carthage thus became a major contributor to the annona . In the first century BC, the three major sources of Roman wheat were Sardinia, Sicily, and
13320-402: The city – perhaps sanctioned by the senate – to supervise the foundation of the colony at Carthage, which supposedly was plagued with bad omens. The citizenship bills' failure, however, revealed his waning popularity, and he was defeated when he stood for re-election to a third consecutive tribunate. In the new year, some of Gaius' and his allies' legislative programme came under attack. One of
13500-429: The city's milling operations." The recipients of subsidised bread paid the baker a small fee for milling and baking; the grain itself was still free. The change from a grain supply to a flour supply would have carried with it a host of problems, some of which can only be guessed at. Flour is much more perishable than grain, and it would therefore have required more frequent distribution. The Emperor Aurelian (270–275 AD)
13680-784: The city's watermills. Belisarius replaced the loss with ship mills , set up on the River Tiber . Constantinople's grain supply was greatly reduced by the loss of Egypt , first temporarily to the Sasanian Empire during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 , and then permanently to the Rashidun Caliphate in the Muslim conquest of Egypt and much of the Levant . The Emperor Heraclius ( r. 610–641 )
13860-418: The collapse of the Empire's west. The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite obscure the continuity of other spoken languages within the Empire. Latin, referred to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin , gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages . References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages, particularly in Egypt with Coptic , and in military settings along
14040-482: The conditions of martyrdom . The three major elements of the Imperial state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government. The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, agricultural fields, and religious sites. The Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to rule through force alone. Cooperation with local elites
14220-527: The consulships for 177 and 163 BC, and was elected censor in 169. He also had celebrated two triumphs during the 170s, one for the victorious establishment of a twenty-year-long peace in Spain. His mother was Cornelia , daughter of Scipio Africanus , a noble woman who was a major influence on the Gracchi. As a widow, after the elder Gracchus' death, she refused the marriage proposal of Ptolemy VIII ,
14400-466: The cult of the deceased and deified Augustus; many Augustales were respected professionals, involved in grain production, transportation and distribution. The Emperor Nerva introduced a food-and-upkeep allowance ( Alimenta ) to benefit Italian children and orphans, and the Emperor Trajan may have introduced the post of curator alimentorum to administer it, a post much sought by members of
14580-539: The deceased emperor's deification. The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of powers from several republican offices. The emperor made himself the central religious authority as pontifex maximus , and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders. While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate , the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in
14760-501: The descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron", a comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon , to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the Empire's decline . In 212, during the reign of Caracalla , Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The Severan dynasty was tumultuous; an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution and, following its collapse,
14940-458: The direction of the Forum proper, effectively turning his back on the Senate. In his first year, as one of the tribunes for 123 BC, he proposed two initial measures: (1) a bill to prohibit any magistrate deposed by the people from standing again for office and (2) a law to reaffirm appeal to the people in capital cases which made transgressing magistrates liable for prosecution. The first bill
15120-432: The dole. In the 4th century AD, Rome had 290 granaries and warehouses and 254 bakeries, regulated and monitored by the state and given privileges to ensure their cooperation. In the early Republican era , the acquisition of grain in emergencies was a task of the consuls on behalf of the Senate, and was fulfilled on several occasions in time to avert grain famine. In an apocryphal episode of Livy's history of Rome, cheap corn
15300-546: The dominance of the senatorial landed aristocracy in a series of confrontations, culminating in the temporarily successful passage of a radical program of land reform, the Lex Agraria Sempronia . The senate and their supporters resisted reform with extreme violence, which included the murder of the Gracchi brothers and their supporters. At some point soon after, the Sempronian law was cancelled or replaced by
15480-565: The early 300's BC, executive responsibility for these duties passed to the aediles . The annona was personified as a goddess , and the grain dole for the city of Rome was distributed from the aedile's headquarters at or near the Temple of Ceres . In the late republic, Pompey was granted an emergency Cura Annonae , which proved an important source of influence and power in his dealings with Mediterranean pirates and his subsequent career; some modern scholarship suggests that Cicero's speeches to
15660-472: The easternmost province, Cappadocia , was admitted under Marcus Aurelius. By the Severan dynasty (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate. During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland ( patria ). Senators were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum ,
15840-471: The electoral comitia to influence provincial assignments improperly. In general, his reforms were addressing major issues in administration. At the same time, he was a "proud aristocrat" and left the senate in charge of directing policy and its execution by magistrates, under more stringent checks by the people and anti-corruption laws. The ultimate result of his laws, however, was to set up the equestrian publicani as "a new exploiting class, not restrained by
16020-457: The emperor but were governed by legates . The first two centuries of the Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana ( lit. ' Roman Peace ' ). Rome reached its greatest territorial extent under Trajan ( r. 98–117 AD ), but a period of increasing trouble and decline began under Commodus ( r. 180–192 ). In
16200-481: The empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent and put down "mercilessly and swiftly". The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors— Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , and Nero —before it yielded in 69 AD to
16380-462: The empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity , the " Great Persecution ". Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate tetrarch . Confident that he fixed the disorder plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, but the Tetrarchy collapsed shortly after . Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great , who became
16560-506: The empire. This legal egalitarianism required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that distinguished between citizens and non-citizens. Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos ("children born of two Roman citizens"). A Roman woman kept her own family name ( nomen ) for life. Children most often took
16740-565: The end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, although the decline in the population of the city of Rome reduced the overall quantities required. A regular grain supply for Rome depended on good harvests elsewhere, an efficient system of transport, storage and distribution, and honest investors willing to underwrite the risks in return for a share. The Prefect of the Imperial annona had an office and grain stores in Ostia , Portus , purpose-built by Claudius and enlarged by Trajan, and almost certainly
16920-559: The end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring Zeno sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos ,
17100-514: The end of winter. There were obvious advantages in stockpiling several years worth of harvest to create very large grain surpluses and keep prices low; the Historia Augusta, claims that Severus left "7 years worth of grain tribute" to the Roman people. The same strategy was used to very different effect by civilian corn-factors who hoarded grain to simulate shortages and raise grain prices on the open market. The provision of grain to Rome
17280-542: The equestrians. This law, however, "merely reallocated influence from one section of the elite to another" and "did not 'democratise' [the repetundae court], merely hand[ing] control to non-senatorial members of the elite". This law also substantially changed Roman criminal procedure by allowing the allies to prosecute (both directly and through an intermediary) ex-magistrates for corruption. The difficulty of finding enough land in Italy for resettlement – as taking land from
17460-493: The event unfulfilled). He also proposed a bill to have the centuries (the Roman voting blocs) vote in a random order rather than in traditional order in which the richest centuries voted first. This would not have changed the overweighting of the rich in the Roman comitia , but would have ensured "the chances of those who drew their support from the poorer citizens would not be prejudiced". There is, however, no evidence that this bill passed. During his second tribunate, he left
17640-504: The exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces. Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in
17820-569: The face of extreme opposition from politically conservative landowners. Eventually, adult male Roman citizens (over approximately 14 years of age) with an income or property under a certain value were entitled to buy 33 kilograms (73 lb) grain per month at a below-market price of five modii . The qualifying income threshold is not known, but according to Caesar's municipal legislation of 44 BC, landlords of tenement blocks helped compile lists of persons who might qualify to receive grain; two aediles Cereales , civic-religious officials who served
18000-457: The father's name, with some exceptions. Women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could hold considerable fortunes. The archaic manus marriage in which the woman was subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into
18180-576: The first emperor to convert to Christianity , and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. Julian , who under the influence of his adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion , only briefly interrupted
18360-480: The first to realise that the amount of land in Italy was insufficient to provide for all inhabitants of the peninsula". The legislative programme also included a law, the lex militaris , to provide soldiers' clothing from the public treasury and prohibit conscription of men below the age of seventeen. While the conscription age limit had already previously been law, "it is commonly said that Gracchus [included] this provision because [of] recent cases of persons below
18540-470: The founding of the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC, though not outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Thus, it was an "empire" (a great power) long before it had an emperor. The Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of self-ruled towns (with varying degrees of independence from the Senate ) and provinces administered by military commanders. It
18720-442: The free supply, as did all emperors after him. The number of beneficiaries remained more or less stable until near the end of the Western Roman Empire . In the early Roman Empire, the requirements of the grain dole are thought to account for 15–33% of Rome's imported grain. A large part of the city's supply was obtained through the free market. Prices in the city were invariably higher than elsewhere, and merchants could count on making
18900-456: The functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became depleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged to return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life. In the later Empire, the dignitas ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as vir illustris ("illustrious man"). The appellation clarissimus (Greek lamprotatos )
19080-414: The grain by sea to Rome required the state's commission of many hundreds of privately owned merchant ships, some very large, and a system for collecting and distributing the grain at its destination. Most of Rome's grain supply was grown, imported, stored and traded as a profitable commodity, funded by speculators and hoarders, using loans, not state subsidies. Some provinces were almost entirely given over to
19260-402: The grain goddess Ceres , patron goddess of the plebs, were made responsible for its distribution. Initially, about 40,000 adult males were eligible. In 58 BC, Clodius gave an estimated 320,000 citizens free issue of grain. This was reduced to 150,000 by Julius Caesar and increased to 200,000 by Augustus Caesar , who disapproved of a permanent grain dole but took personal responsibility for
19440-735: The grain trade. In the later centuries of the Roman Republic, the majority of those receiving a grain dole had it ground and baked at one of Rome's many small flour mills-cum-bakeries or cookhouses. These were found in every district of the city; most Romans lived in apartment blocks where the fire-risk was high, and cooking fires were forbidden by their landlords. Only the better off could grind their grain and bake their bread at home. Small hand-operated mills ( querns ) had been used to grind grain since Neolithic times. More efficient hand-driven rotary "hopper mills" were developed in 5th century BC Greece, and presumably spread to Rome shortly. Most had
19620-775: The grain was stored in large warehouses, called horrea , until needed. Most horrea from the 1st century AD onwards were state-owned. Hundreds or even thousands of ships were required to transport grain to Rome. Some had a capacity of 50,000 modii (350 tonnes) or more. Ships of much larger capacity are suggested in Lucian and the Acts of the Apostles but like most ancient estimations, are likely exaggerations. Grain transport at sea presented special problems. The grain had to be thoroughly dried to retard germination, and reduce spoilage by pests such as grain weevils, beetles, mildew and molds. It
19800-692: The historian Christopher Kelly described it: Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine – Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea , to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of
19980-522: The historian Josephus was claiming that Africa fed Rome for eight months of the year and Egypt only four. Although that statement may ignore grain from Sicily, and overestimate the importance of Africa, there is little doubt among historians that Africa and Egypt were the most important sources of grain for Rome. Bread was by far the most important single commodity in the Roman diet. Rickman estimates that Rome needed 40 million modii (272,000 tonnes) of grain per year to feed its population. Erdkamp estimates
20160-439: The honorary title imperator (commander); this is the origin of the word emperor , since this title was always bestowed to the early emperors. Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and civil wars from the late second century BC (see Crisis of the Roman Republic ) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated by
20340-560: The influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council ( consilium ) became subject to official appointment for greater transparency . Though the Senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty , equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium . The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. Gaius Gracchus Gaius Sempronius Gracchus ( c. 154 BC – 121 BC)
20520-608: The island of Malta , the objective being Syracuse, Sicily and the Straits of Messina . After passing through the Straits, large grain ships would dock at the port of Puteoli, near Naples , or after port improvements about 60 AD, at Portus near Rome. From Puteoli the cargo of the large ships would be off-loaded onto smaller ships and taken to Ostia. Smaller ships coming from North Africa or Egypt could proceed directly to Ostia for unloading. The voyage of Paul . The experience of Paul
20700-589: The king of Egypt, preferring to devote her life to the upbringing of her sons. Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius' elder brother, had through his marriage aligned the family with the Claudii Pulchri, despite his maternal connections to the Cornelii Scipiones, as the two families had a historic rivalry. It can be supposed, however, that both the Gracchi brothers would have come into contact with powerful members of both families. Gaius Gracchus served in
20880-417: The land reform measures: It may be that Gaius Gracchus, aware in hindsight of the problems which had arisen when the commission had wanted to take ager publicus away from the allies, tried to represent Tiberius' intentions as designed to benefit Italy in general, instead of the Roman citizens only. The first bill, to give citizenship to the Latins, was vetoed by Drusus, and the second bill on Latin rights for
21060-470: The larger grain ships traversing the Egypt to Rome route likely only completed one round trip per year. Several round trips per year could be accomplished from North Africa or Sicily. Grain from Egypt. The harvest season for grain in ancient Egypt was from April to early June. The annual Nile flood began in June and thus harvest had to be finished before the river's waters covered the land. The grain in Egypt
21240-521: The last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against Mehmed II and his Ottoman forces during the siege of Constantinople . Mehmed II adopted the title of caesar in an attempt to claim a connection to the former Empire. His claim was soon recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople , but not by most European monarchs. The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and
21420-540: The late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the castration of a slave against his will "for lust or gain". Roman slavery was not based on race . Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians, with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions. The average recorded age at death for
21600-413: The late 2nd or early 3rd centuries, most of the grain consumed in the city of Rome was ground using water-power. A famine caused by corrupt grain distributors, and resultant riots in 190 AD, persuaded the government under Emperor Septimius Severus to convert the distribution of grain to a distribution of flour. The Janiculum's watermills "were intended to centralize, regularize, and perhaps even deprivatize
21780-544: The late second century, under the rule of the Severan dynasty, food provision for Rome's military came under the rubric Annonae militaris , a form of requisition that might be met through coin or payment in kind, preferably as trade surpluses but otherwise "siphoned off more or less forcefully" from local civilian economies; the needs of the military had always been prioritised over the needs of civilians. The doles of bread, olive oil, wine, and pork apparently continued until near
21960-486: The marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, but when her father died she became legally emancipated. This arrangement was a factor in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed compared to many other cultures up to the modern period: although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in daily life, and her husband had no legal power over her. Although it
22140-416: The members of the three higher "orders", along with certain military officers. The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority affirmed, particularly within the justice system. Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" ( dignitas ) of the defendant: an honestior could pay
22320-730: The military. The last reference to Gaulish was between 560 and 575. The emergent Gallo-Romance languages would then be shaped by Gaulish. Proto-Basque or Aquitanian evolved with Latin loan words to modern Basque . The Thracian language , as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia, are attested in Imperial-era inscriptions. The Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples. Public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as forums , amphitheatres , racetracks and baths —helped foster
22500-476: The minimum age being conscripted"; but this is rejected as implausible. The law more likely simply restated the conditions of military service. This was followed by a law to establish farming tithes in Asia, "which in effect handed [the people of the province] over to the large corporations of tax farmers", to shore up support among the equestrians . A further bill to incorporate either 300 or 600 equestrians into
22680-469: The most brutal reprisals". The use of force itself, furthermore, set a precedent "suggest[ing] violence as the logical and more effective alternative to political engagement, negotiation, and compromise". Gaius' legislation, however, mostly survived, revealing again that "it was no longer a specific issue that mattered so much as the urgent necessity to triumph over rivals". While the African colonies law
22860-568: The next year. When Opimius gave up his consulship, he was prosecuted by Publius Decius – one of the plebeian tribunes for 120 BC – on charges of violating the lex Sempronia which Gaius had passed that prohibited the execution of Roman citizens without appeal to the people. Opimius, however, was able to successfully defend himself by pointing to the senatus consultum ultimum and claiming that his opponents did not deserve treatment akin to that of Roman citizens; his successful defence enabled such senatorial decrees to be used as "carte blanche for
23040-530: The north African region, centered on the ancient city of Carthage, in present-day Tunisia . Sailing time one-way from Sicily to Rome's port of Ostia Antica was about four days. From Carthage sailing time was about nine days. With the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire and the direct rule of the Emperor Augustus (27 BC – AD 14), Egypt became Rome's main source of grain. By the 70s,
23220-491: The number entitled to free grain. Clodius' grain law increased the number of beneficiaries to include every male citizen, approximately 320,000, regardless of status or wealth. This proved an unsustainable extravagance. The system was vulnerable at any point in the chain of supply, whether through mere gossip, or accurate, dishonest or ill-informed reports by competitors, merchants or agents. News of slave revolts in Sicily pushed
23400-440: The passage led to establishment of a series of three-man boards to manage the various colonisation programmes. Supposedly, these proposals from Livius Drusus were brought at the prompting of the senate, which sought to find someone else to rival Gracchus' popularity. Gaius also proposed, in probably two citizenship bills, giving citizenship to the Latins and Latin rights to Italian allies. Gaius' rationale may have been related to
23580-412: The political career track, but equestrians often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors, but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire. A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified
23760-507: The poor were other sources. Vernae , by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his vernae faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens; any future children of
23940-473: The population at 100,000 in 500, declining still further in the Middle Ages . Twine (1992) estimates it at 30,000 in the 5th-6th century. A reduced population and smaller army could be supported, more or less, by local farms. The many watermills, storehouses, bakeries, and port and transportation facilities associated with the annona were no longer needed. In the early 6th century, Cassiodorus wrote that
24120-401: The ports of Ostia (near Rome) and Puteoli (near Naples) to Alexandria in Egypt might be as brief as 14 days, with the wind behind. Like almost all non-military ships, large grain transports were propelled by sail, not oars. Returning to Rome would take much longer as the winds were adverse and ships had to tack a course, hugging coastlines when possible. "The voyage...from Alexandria to Rome
24300-475: The price itself was "probably a little below the price fetched by wheat immediately after the harvest". His elder brother's lex agraria had been successful: Gracchan boundary stones are found all over southern Italy, and suggest distribution of some 1.3 million jugera (or 3,268 square kilometres) of land, accommodating somewhere between 70 and 130 thousand settlers. The contents of Gaius' further land reform are less clear: "the sources are rather vague about
24480-477: The price of grain to unaffordable levels in Rome. Lowering grain prices became an important agenda for the radical popularist Saturninus , who was voted to the office of plebeian tribune an unusual three times, before his murder by political enemies. Juvenal (60-140 AD) refers to Rome's Imperial provision of subsidised entertainments and subsidised or free bread to the masses as panem et circenses ( bread and circuses ). In much modern literature this represents
24660-474: The production of grain for consumption in Roman cities. The most important sources of bread grain, mostly durum wheat , were Roman Egypt , North Africa (21st century Libya , Tunisia , Algeria , and Morocco ), and Sicily . When the Vandals took over most of these provinces (c. 439), the Western Roman Empire lost the greater part of its grain supply. Some form of Cura Annonae may have persisted as late as
24840-412: The purchase and cost of a single ship and its grain complement. Any profit, or loss, was shared by all fifty investors. The economies of some provinces were almost entirely dependent on grain exports, paying tribute or taxes in kind, rather than coin. Rome had a particular interest in the social and political stability of such provinces, and their protection. By the late 200s BC, grain was being shipped to
25020-490: The same facilities in the ports of supply, such as Alexandria . The trading mechanisms employed were already in place during the Republican era, when agents, merchants and wealthy freedmen negotiated with members of Rome's senatorial and equestrian classes to fund grain imports, and find favour with the Roman masses. The risks were high but so were the rewards. As a slightly lesser but highly capable form of Roman nobility,
25200-482: The senate moved the senatus consultum ultimum and urged Opimius to attack Gracchus and his allies. In response, Gracchus and Flaccus armed their followers and seized the temple of Diana on the Aventine hill. Opimius called out the militia, along with some Cretan mercenary archers, and ordered the two to submit themselves to the judgement of the senate. Then, Opimius marched into the Aventine with his forces, offering
25380-456: The senate was probably ineffectual. He also proposed a law, the lex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus , for the senate to assign consular provinces before elections to the consulship. He also made such senatorial assignments immune from tribunician veto; Ernst Badian notes "this law shows how far he was from being a 'democrat ' ". The purpose of the lex de provinciis consularibus was to prevent sitting consuls from using their positions in
25560-412: The senatorial elite prior their consulship . The last known holder of the post, Titus Flavius Postumius Quietus , was city prefect in 271. The alimenta may have been ended by the Emperor Aurelian , possibly in order to increase its scope - he is known to have been a zealous, benevolent reformist. The operation of the annona civilis became more complex over time. The role of the state in distributing
25740-528: The slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females). During the period of republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by pirates . Infant abandonment and self-enslavement among
25920-529: The strife-torn Year of the Four Emperors , from which Vespasian emerged as the victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty , followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the " Five Good Emperors ": Nerva , Trajan , Hadrian , Antoninus Pius , and Marcus Aurelius . In the view of contemporary Greek historian Cassius Dio , the accession of Commodus in 180 marked
26100-461: The succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the state religion . The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila , but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. Most chronologies place
26280-562: The time of Nero , however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an equestrian who exercised greater power than a senator. The blurring of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility , both upward and downward, to a greater extent than all other well-documented ancient societies. Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them. Social life, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited,
26460-466: The title Augustus ("venerated") and made him princeps ("foremost") with proconsular imperium , thus beginning the Principate , the first epoch of Roman imperial history. Although the republic stood in name, Augustus had all meaningful authority. During his 40-year rule, a new constitutional order emerged so that, upon his death, Tiberius would succeed him as the new de facto monarch. As Roman provinces were being established throughout
26640-410: The tribunes for 121 BC, Minucius Rufus, wished to repeal the lex Rubria authorising the construction of the colony at Carthage. When an attendant jeered at Gracchus and his entourage during a sacrifice and was stabbed to death with styluses, the consul Lucius Opimius summoned a meeting of the senate, which Gracchus and his ally – Marcus Fulvius Flaccus – did not attend. At the senate meeting,
26820-403: The winter, when the risks of shipwreck were highest. In the early Empire, especially under Claudius, ship owners and the grain trade came increasingly under Imperial control, identified with the emperor in person. He offered a range of privileges, including grants of citizenship and exemption from import and harbour duties, to ship-owners willing to contract vessels of at least 10,000 modi into
27000-411: The world's total population and made it the most populous unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century. Recent demographic studies have argued for a population peak from 70 million to more than 100 million . Each of the three largest cities in the Empire – Rome, Alexandria , and Antioch – was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century. As
27180-421: Was a continuous fight against foul winds." Lionel Casson estimated that average time for the voyage was nearly 70 days. Casson estimates that the outward-bound freighters "raced down from Ostia or Puteoli to Alexandria with the wind on their heels in ten days to two weeks" and the voyage back laden with grain "...took at least a month and on occasion two or more." Given the time needed for loading and unloading,
27360-413: Was a major shipping and administrative task. It was "cheaper to ship grain from one end of the Mediterranean to the other" than "to cart it by land some 75 miles [120 kilometers]." Kesler and Temin calculate that Rome's grain supply in the early Empire required a total of 2,000 to 3,000 merchant voyages annually, with each vessel carrying an average of 70,000 kg, sometimes much more. Sailing times from
27540-442: Was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" ( univira ) who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to divorce , nor to speedy remarriage after being widowed or divorced. Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will. A mother's right to own and dispose of property, including setting the terms of her will, gave her enormous influence over her sons into adulthood. As part of
27720-666: Was a reformist Roman politician and soldier who lived during the 2nd century BC. He is most famous for his tribunate for the years 123 and 122 BC, in which he proposed a wide set of laws, including laws to establish colonies outside of Italy, engage in further land reform, reform the judicial system and system for provincial assignments, and create a subsidised grain supply for Rome. The year after his tribunate, his political enemies used political unrest – which he and his political allies had caused – as an excuse to declare martial law and march on his supporters, leading to his death. After his death, his political allies were purged in
27900-673: Was apparently acquired by Rome as a tax on farmers. The grain was moved mostly by barge on the various distributaries of the Nile River to Lake Mareotis bordering the southern part of the city of Alexandria. There it was inspected for quality and, when accepted, transported by canal to the port of Alexandria , the Great Harbor, where it was loaded onto ships for Rome. Grain from North Africa. Twenty-nine Mediterranean ports, excluding those in Egypt, have been identified as possible grain exporters from North Africa to Rome. The largest
28080-454: Was blown off course and wrecked on the island of Malta. He spent the winter on Malta, then proceeded onward to Puteoli and Rome. Ship owners. The ships involved in the grain trade were privately owned. The Roman Imperial government provided subsidies and tax exclusions to encourage shipbuilding for the grain trade and took the risk of shipping on itself by providing a form of insurance to ship owners who delivered grain all year round, including
28260-438: Was distributed in 439 BC by an ordinary but wealthy corn merchant named Spurius Maelius . The Senate interpreted this as a bid for kingship, and put him to death for it. Livy describes the "extraordinary appointment of a grain commissioner" in 440 BC, whose duties were to secure grain from abroad, and whom he describes as a praefectus annonae , but the title, function and office were only formalised much later, under Augustus. From
28440-410: Was employed to knead dough, supervise animal-driven kneading machines, and fuel and fire the ovens; the cost of bread included the cost of harvesting, transporting and preparing the very large quantities of wood-fuel used to bring the oven to temperature and keep it there; huge "beehive" ovens of 3 to 5 meters diameter were used in commercial baking, baking the bread in just a few minutes. Bread production
28620-406: Was forced to end subsidies of imported Egyptian grain after the capture of Alexandria, Egypt's major port, by "King of kings" ( shahanshah ) Khosrow II in 621. Imperial Rome The Roman Empire was the era of Roman civilisation lasting from 27 BC to 476 AD. Rome ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Romans conquered most of this during
28800-475: Was further defined by their citizenship. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ius Latinum , "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by non-citizens. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, were peregrini , non-Romans. In 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of
28980-466: Was further fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities ( collegia and sodalitates ): professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs, performing troupes, and burial societies . According to the jurist Gaius , the essential distinction in the Roman " law of persons " was that all humans were either free ( liberi ) or slaves ( servi ). The legal status of free persons
29160-405: Was governed by annually elected magistrates ( Roman consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate. The 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors. The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of imperium , meaning "command" (typically in a military sense). Occasionally, successful consuls or generals were given
29340-469: Was increasingly mechanised. Water-driven mills were first utilized in the 1st century BC. Their development required a large investment in infrastructure, especially of aqueducts . The Aqua Traiana , inaugurated in 109, brought water some 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the Janiculum Hill from springs near Lake Bracciano . Its water not only turned the mills but was clean enough for drinking. By
29520-416: Was later accused of aiding in an Italian revolt at Fregellae that had occurred in 125 BC, but was successful in rebutting the charges; well known to the people, he stood for election as tribune and won. Gaius was elected as one of the tribunes of the plebs for 123 BC. He embarked on an aggressive legislative programme immediately, aiming very broadly to appeal to many interest groups along with
29700-399: Was marketed in Rome are a "major puzzle". The shipping lanes that connected Rome with its centers of grain supply had strategic importance. Whoever controlled the grain supply had a measure of control over the city of Rome, which depended on timely arrivals of imported grain, outsourced to civilian merchants and their fleets. In most years, Rome's state grain stores were severely depleted by
29880-495: Was mostly accomplished under the Republic , though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. Under Augustus , a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the creation of the most comprehensive political geography that survives from antiquity, the Geography of Strabo . When Augustus died,
30060-671: Was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions. Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence incentivized compliance. Roman government was thus limited , but efficient in its use of available resources. The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with divinely sanctioned authority ( auctoritas ). The rite of apotheosis (also called consecratio ) signified
30240-464: Was needed in Africa to supervise construction of a colony at Carthage – but he was returned to the tribunate with friends: Marcus Fulvius Flaccus would be one of this tribunician colleagues and Gaius Fannius would be consul. Either after re-election to a second tribunate or during the second tribunate itself, he passed a law to transfer the jury pool in corruption courts ( quaestio de repetundis ) to
30420-416: Was never a legal requirement for Latin in the Empire, but it represented a certain status. High standards of Latin, Latinitas , started with the advent of Latin literature. Due to the flexible language policy of the Empire, a natural competition of language emerged that spurred Latinitas , to defend Latin against the stronger cultural influence of Greek. Over time Latin usage was used to project power and
30600-532: Was not complete and Orestes wanted to win his triumph. Gracchus, regardless, quit Sardinia and returned to the city early, without the permission of his commander. After his return, he was also interrogated by the censors on why he had quit his post: in response, he pleaded that he had already served longer than most, that he had a right to return after one year, and that his good character and services were more than sufficient: in effect, he "pleaded his right to be released as justification for releasing himself". He
30780-422: Was not entirely unreflective of his actions. Following the strife, [Opimius] performed a ritual purification of the city ( lustrum ) that acknowledged the pollution caused by the shedding of blood inside the community’s sacred boundary. He then built an imposing new temple of the goddess Concord (Concordia) at the northwest end of the Forum adjacent to the senate house. The honoring of this deity clearly represented
30960-426: Was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an executive magistrate . A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million sestertii . Not all men who qualified for the ordo senatorius chose to take a Senate seat, which required legal domicile at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in
31140-569: Was probably Carthage. Given the lack of navigable rivers in the region, grain had to be transported to these ports by road, suggesting that because of the cost of land transport, the grain was grown in close proximity to the ports. Road transport was slow and costly, using four-wheeled carts drawn by four oxen. Each cart carried 350 kilograms (770 lb) to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb). Grain from ancient Cyraenica (Libya) may have been important because an early harvest there could supply Rome before other grain-producing regions had been harvested. In Rome,
31320-401: Was prorogued for a second time, extending it to the point where Gaius wanted to leave to continue his career. Plutarch reports, probably based on Gracchus' own statements, that the reason for his commander's prorogation was because the senate wanted to keep him away from Rome, an allegation which is "patently absurd": the reason for the prorogation was almost certainly because Orestes' campaign
31500-486: Was repealed, a new agrarian law continued distribution of territories around Carthage to the poor, and colonial schemes in Italy survived with minor changes. The matter of citizenship for the Italians, however, was not reintroduced for some thirty years. As a whole, "the aristocracy's reaction resembled that of a general dealing with a mutiny, who accedes to most of the demands but executes the ringleaders to preserve discipline". Overseas colonial projects also did not end: just
31680-418: Was swallowed up by the wealthy and powerful, who found that grapes and wine were more profitable commodities than grain. In lean years, subsistence farmers might have no option other than borrowing from their patrons or landlords. Some of them accumulated levels of debt that proved impossible to pay off and were forced to sell their farms or surrender their tenancies and either work for the new owner or move to
31860-488: Was transported in sacks, from start to finish, not carried loose in the holds of ships. It had to be well secured, and dry; unstable cargoes could lead to capsizing in rough weather; wet grain rapidly germinated, expanded, and could split a ship open. Lucian , c. 150 AD, describes a very large grain ship taking shelter in the port of Piraeus , Greece . Lucian writes that the Isis was 55 metres (180 ft) in length and had
32040-447: Was used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family, including women. "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated. As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours ( honestiores ) and humbler folk ( humiliores ). In general, honestiores were
32220-476: Was useful for a career in the military, government, or law. Bilingual inscriptions indicate the everyday interpenetration of the two languages. Latin and Greek's mutual linguistic and cultural influence is a complex topic. Latin words incorporated into Greek were very common by the early imperial era, especially for military, administration, and trade and commerce matters. Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture. There
32400-538: Was withdrawn at the request of his mother, Cornelia. Courts with capital punishment, not set up by the people, were now declared illegal ex post facto , which saw the former consul for 132 BC, Publius Popillius Laenas , driven into exile. He then proposed a grain law establishing a maximum price of six and a third asses for a modius (about 8.7 litres), of grain and re-enacted Tiberius' law on agricultural land redistribution. The subsidised grain would be bought when prices were low and stored in public granaries;
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