The Idea of Europe and Rome 20/07/2007 12:07:00

what is western civilization? • the term Europe comes from ancient Greece • during the roman empire they carried it out to it’s present course • civilization comes from the term civitas (of the citizens) • original idea from where we draw western civilization from comes from Mesopotamia between Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern day Iraq) • the people living in this area maintain a complex system of agriculture, canals for aggregation and built cities to concentrate labor • they collaborated for survival without having to move from one place to another • with Mesopotamia we have a first example of code of law • the ancient Greeks had a similar system o more a collection of villages surrounded by a wall that were administered o the Greeks cities (city-states) as they fight one another and grow larger armies  the farmers started to being drafted o you have an open forum to debate the choices of the leaders. A counsel o ancient Greek city states had very large slave pop.  Most often capture through conquest  In 5th century BC. Athens had a pop. Of 350k.  Only about 17% were citizens  about 1/4 were slaves o basic idea of heritage, culture, philosophy • western civilization takes its most descendent from ancient Rome o it began as a collection of villages on the tigres river o by 27 BC it occupied most of the known world  the world known to them o Rome was able to expand through its highly disciplined army  borrowed ideas of citizenship from Greece

 shared governing power o two elected counsels to rule o the senate was only allowed to the elite (access to it) o the system of the roman republic allowed for people, individuals in the republic to acquire great political following and was not really able to stem a lot of infighting and strife  after a series of civil wars a man named Augustus became the single ruler of roman  Caesar tried to do this, but was assassinated  Augustus was able to do this because he was a skilled politician  gave the senate a sense that they were governing when they really weren’t  the PAX ROMANUS  the era of the roman empire we usually think of today  the roman government was highly organized  extensive codes of law  system of taxation  the roman empire as a whole rewarded people that did not rock the boat  local rulers enjoyed a great deal of power as long as they inferred to the emperor  they also had slaves • acquired from conquests • bought from sellers • people with great deal of debt and could not pay them off they would become slaves • some slaves could buy their way out (almost never happened)  the Romans practiced many gods • Augustus started a religious cult around the emperor himself o you could pray to the emperor as a god

by 300 AD the empire had gotten so large that an emperor named gaoclitian decided to divide the empire into two administrative spheres  eastern and western roman empire • it became two separate empires  the roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the 4th century AD (312 AD)  until then Christianity was banned  he begins to give bishops state authority  Constantine was fine with other religions • his predecessors did not and persecuted those NOT Christians  Christians grow from 5 to 30 million people • Part of it was the missionaries • the amount of money given to the governing bishops to built schools, and churches • and soldiers persecuting non-believers  Rome did not last forever  The roman empire ceases to exists because the barbarians were able to overthrow the roman empire and establish their own rule  the roman empire technically lasted for much longer, however, they had to real power over the land • it was a gradual decline o the legacies of ancient Rome  the father was the head of the household  maintained financial control of the land until it was passed on to his son  the roman system of law continued to be influential well into the middle ages  the existence of a distinct ruling class based on land ownership is the predecessor to mid-evil aristocracy  left behind an extensive infrastructure  Christianity 

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dominant religion in the European continent hierarchy of church remained intact clergy were one of the only people able to read and write and helped govern after the collapse of the roman empire • it became a unifying force • people might speak different languages but if they were Christians they could live together

20/07/2007 12:07:00

20/07/2007 12:07:00