The Romans - Part 2

In D. Brendan Nagle's book, The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History, he talks a great deal about the building of the Roman empire. This section needs much emphasis because of the years and talent that went in to building what would soon be the largest empire the world has ever seen; and not just in terms of size, but influence as well. As I have mentioned before, look around all of Europe and you can see lasting Roman influence. Then, take a trip across the Atlantic and land on the coast of Virginia. Without having to travel too far you will come across large plantations that have the influence of Roman architecture. Travel a little way north on the Potomac River and you will eventually come to one of the most powerful countries in the world's capital. Here with architects such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, you cannot pass a single federal building without seeing the Roman influence. Drive east up Constitution Avenue and you will see one of the largest buildings in the Washington, DC, the nation's Capitol Building. Housed in here is the Senate and House of Representatives. It wold be hard to disprove any direct influence of the Romans on the United State's government structure, especially when referring to the Senate. If you still doubt direct Roman influence, I have posted a picture of the Pantheon, located in Rome and built in the year 126 AD, and next to it posted a picture of Thomas Jefferson's monument, located in Washington, DC and built in the year 1937.

Back to the Roman empire.... Rome had a very challenging time getting started, mostly because of their location. Being located in central Italia and right on the Tiber river, can prove to be difficult when you are surrounded by many other peoples and cultures. It was the hard task of taking control of the Tiber river that Rome was able to not only survive, but thrive as a newly formed civilization. Also, with the help of local Latin cities, Rome was able to form close bonds with these neighboring cities and form inter-cultural relations. However, these bonds, however tight they were at the time, proved to not be of much help when Rome was sacked by the Celts at the Battle of Allia in 390 BC. After this devastating loss, Rome decided to recontruct their army. Orginially it was modeled after the Greek army, but Roman officials thought it better to model their army after their own civilization. According to Nagle, the Romans began to model their army similar to that of their culture, a Patrician-Plebeian style. Having these two classes work together proved to be very useful and successful in later years to come. With this new start of a new army Rome would soon become the empire and civilization it is remembered for today.

The Romans - Part 1

After some reading and research I have realized that it would be very hard to understand Spanish history, religious history, European history, or ultimately anything about history without having some background knowledge of the Roman Empire. While there were many civilizations that existed before the Roman empire, none had as great an influence on the world and European history as they. As I go through my book by Mark Williams, "The Story of Spain," I will also be writing about Roman history. The most developed parts of Spain came directly from the Romans and their influence can still be seen and felt today throughout Europe and the world. (Take a look around Washington, DC and notice how Thomas Jefferson made sure the newly formed United States had buildings that represented those of the Romans) I will start the story of Rome from the very beginning..... the famous twins, Romulus and Remus.

To get a brief introduction to the mythology of the twins, Romulus and Remus, I will rely on some excerpts from Wikipedia.

"Romulus (c. 771 BC–c. 717 BC) and Remus (c. 771 BC–c. 753 BC) are the traditional founders of Rome, appearing in Roman mythology as the twin sons of the priestess Rhea Silvia, and fathered by the god Mars. It is believed that Romulus served as the first king of Rome.

Romulus slew Remus over a dispute about which one of the two brothers had the support of the local deities to rule the new city and give it his name. The name they gave the city was Rome. Supposedly, Romulus had stood on one hill and Remus another, and a circle of birds flew over Romulus, signifying that he should be king. After founding Rome, Romulus not only created the Roman Legions and Roman Senate, but also added citizens to his new city by abducting the women of the neighboring Sabine tribes, which resulted in the mixture of the Sabines and Romans into one people. Romulus would become ancient Rome's greatest conqueror, adding large amounts of territory and people to the dominion of Rome."

It is largely agreed upon that the story of Romulus and Remus is a myth and nothing more. Similar to the story of Moses, Romulus and Remus were put into baskets and floated along the river as babies until they drifted unto shore and were rescued.

In February of 2008 USA Today published a story titled, "Does a cave prove Romulus and Remus or no myth"? (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2008-02-06-romulus-remus-lupercale_N.htm). Earlier in 2008 some Italian archaeologists believe they may have found the cave in which mythology tells a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the future founder(s) of Rome.

(See picture above)

At the time the Greeks, their main competitors in terms of technology and architecture, had concrete stories of their founding, which I will touch on later when I start a section about Greece. So it was very important to the Romans to have a story to tell about their founding, even if twins nursing from a she-wolf turned out to be all they could come up with.

Now, that I have touched on the mythological founding of Rome, I will talk about the concrete historical beginnings.

In the beginning, what we would later consider "Romans" consisted of a mirage of people. Starting from 800BC many Greeks began moving into the region of southern Italy, followed in 500BC by the Celts. From this there were two main groups: the Indo-European Speaking and the Non-Indo-European Speaking. Of the Indo-European Speaking came the Venetians around the Po Valley, the Oscans and Umbrians around the central highlands and east coast, and the Latins to the west. (Nagle, 253). Of the Non-Indo-European Speaking came the Etruscans, Messapians around the Alps, and the Ligurians from the northwest (Nagle 254).

History talks more about the Etruscans than any other of the previously mentioned groups, due to their advancements, and their greatly influential culture and government structure. Up until approximately 500BC the Etruscans were ruled by kings that had the same power as priests, judges, and political leaders. This Etruscan influence lasted through most of the Middle Ages with monarchs in countries such as Great Britain, France, and Spain. It is a shame that monarchs paid little attention to Etruscan history after 500BC, because it would have showed them that monarchs and appointed positions never seem to last. After 500BC the Etruscans began electing their leadership annually. This also had some negative affects by dividing the upper aristocrat class, and lower class, with no middle class in sight. It is strange that with only an upper and lower class women had so many freedoms. In fact, in the Etruscan culture after 500BC, women had more rights than they did in the "land of the free", America, almost three thousand years later.

The religious and cultural beliefs of the Etruscans also affected many in the region. One odd practice they had performed was called Disciplina Etrusca; this was considered the Art of Divination. (Yes, you have heard of this before in the movie series, Harry Potter). In the Art of Divination for the Etruscans they examined animal entrails. I have added a picture of a bronzed liver to show how they divided up the liver to determine certain things within their culture. Different parts of the liver represented varying things, but for the most part it reflected the state of their world at the moment the animal was killed. Odd that this aspect of their culture lasted for several decades and was even picked up by other societies.

Another important influence that the Etruscans left for the Romans was their burial grounds and temples. Their temples were made in the same likeness as that of the Egyptian pyramids, except smaller, and they were made with wood and Tera-cloth. What is so great about this is that their wooden temples have stood for just as long as the stone temples created by the Egyptians, and some are in better shape today than the pyramids.

Stay tuned for more information on the beginnings of Rome....

Books Used:

Williams, Mark R., The Story of Spain: The dramatic history of Europe's most fascinating country", Golden Era Books, 2004.

Nagle, Brendan D., The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History", 5th Edition, 2002.

Spain - Part 2

Mark R. Williams, "The Story of Spain: The dramatic history of Europe's most fascinating country", Chapter 2: The Romans Were Here....

The exact length of time that the Roman Empire existed for is still under debate, but you can estimate it lasted about 16 centuries. So, it is no surprise when I say the Romans were in Spain for approximately six centuries. The map to the left shows the extent of the Roman Empire at its height, and this area includes all of what is present day Spain, Andorra, and Portugal. The approximate dates for Roman Rule of the Iberian peninsula is estimated at 218BC to 409 AD.

Prior to the Romans entering and ultimately taking over the Iberian Peninsula, the area was not in accordance with the other areas occupied by the Romans. There were no aqueducts, large dividing walls to keep armies out, roads, or large bathes. Until the Romans arrived the Iberian peninsula consisted mainly of small peasant towns with no form of organization, and as the Romans would say Barbarian-type civilizations. These Barbarian-type civilizations would continue to give Rome problems even centuries after they had full control of the area.

Some of the roads set up by the Romans, for instance, "Via Herculea, a coastal road from the Pyrenees to Cadiz, and the Via Augusta running through the heart of the country," (Williams, 37) lasted as some of Spain's best roads until the 1920's. What the Romans built can still be marveled at in modern day Spanish cities such as Cadiz, and Seville. The two pictures below show what is left of the old Roman road Via Augusta.

The Romans not only left the mark on Spain in the way of architecture, but also religion. That famous story of the emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea, present day Iznik, Turkey) applies to Spain as well as every other territory of Rome at the time. The Romans tried to impress their religion upon the people of the Iberian peninsula, however they were already grounded firmly in their belief of Christianity. Please do not confuse this with modern day Catholicism, at the time Catholicism did not exist in the way we view it today. This is a period before the time of Constantine. Later around 325AD Constantine would not only say Christianity was okay, but made the newly found Catholicism the main religion of all of Rome's territory. It is important to note that Christianity was a growing religion on the Iberian peninsula that after nearly two centuries of growth would cause turmoil for the Roman empire. It is at this time that Constantine held the First Council of Nicaea (yes, there was more than one meeting). At this meeting the two feuding sides agreed upon the divinity of Jesus and created what we know today as the Catholic Church. Please be aware that Jesus' divinity was not created out of thin air, one side already believed he was divine while the other half of the room did not. To put it bluntly, the louder larger side won, and today Jesus is known as divine by all sides of Christianity. (I will post more on the Romans, Constantine, and the Council of Nicaea as this blog continues. It would be difficult to talk about any type of ancient or current history without mentioning the Romans and the Catholic Church, as they greatly affected every countries history and religion).

Stay tunned for Chapter 3....

Spain - Part 1

Mark R. Williams, "The Story of Spain: The dramatic history of Europe's most fascinating country", Chapter 1: In the Beginning Was Iberia....


I plan to start my reading with, "The Story of Spain, The dramatic history of Europe's most fascinating country," by Mark R. Williams. So far, Williams appears to be a terrific author. If you are not familiar with Spain and its history this book is a great place to start. The book begins by explaining the simplest things such as, Iberia is considered the entire Peninsula, which is current day Andorra, Spain, and Portugal. While many people already know this, it does not hurt to re-state facts such as these, and for those who are unfamiliar with Iberia it is a great starting point. I will go through each section chapter giving off notes, this way if you don't have the time to read the novel you can still gain some valuable insight into Spain's history and culture. As a note, I do recommend this book to anyone, I got it off of Amazon for very cheap maybe $5-$10.

Introduction:

Iberia is the area which occupies common day Spain (85%), Portugal, and Andorra which make up the remaining 15%; however, Andorra is a very small country (please see map above).Spain is the 3rd largest country in Europe next to Russia and France.

A good quote I liked, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" ~ George Santayana

Chapter 1:

Iberia has many archeological treasures such as, the Altamira Caves in which 15,000 year old paintings of Bulls and various animals were discovered. In addition, Gran Dolina has hominid fossil remains that date over 800,000 years old. Not to far away there are also fossil remains that date as old as 300,000 years old.

Spain's name has been altered a few times across the ages... Spania -> Hispania (during Roman rule) -> Espana (present day).

Cadiz, Spain was founded around 1100BC by the Phoenicians, who we later derived our alphabet from. Cadiz was a fishing capital and brought many foreigners by means of trade. These foreigners included Celts, Greeks, Tartessians, and Phoenicians. The Greeks came in larger numbers around 600 BC primarily for trading.

Later Carthaginians came to rule most of the Mediterranean coasts from Algarve to Valencia. In William's opinion, the best thing they ever did was bring the Romans into Spain to help fight off Hannibal.

Chapter 2 discusses Romans being present in Iberia. Stay tuned....

Objective of Blog

There are two main reasons why I am starting this blog. First, I love studying history, particularly ancient and European history, and the two usually seem to go hand-in-hand. Second, I recently graduated college and felt that every thing I learned I could have taught myself and saved $80k. Now that I am a graduate I have no intention to stop learning; however, I also have no intention of paying another $80k+ to obtain a masters. If everything I learned in undergrad could have been self-taught, why not everything I could potentially learn in graduate school?

This blog is going to be an activate record of what I am reading and learning. Eventually, it would be nice if others who have similar interest in any type of history or politics would chime in, and discuss what they are also learning. Conversations are generally much more informative then sitting behind a desk for an hour three times a week to hear someone blurt out bits of knowledge that they have no ability to relay to others. I think it would be nice to have somewhere to go where there can be a conversation about history and politics in an informative and factual way. I look forward to what anyone has to say and hope you enjoy what I am reading/learning as much as I do.