Religion 2 and Costs of Empire

2/29/12   Religious  Officials:  poli4cal  elite   4  colleges  of  priests:   • 16  pon$fices  (pon$fex,  sg.)   – Oversee  religious  ritual  and  law   – Led  by  Pon$fex  Maximus   • 6  Vestal  Virgins   • 16  Augurs  (bird-­‐watchers)   • 15  Quindecemvirs   – 15  men  to  conduct  sacrifices,  consult  Sibylline   Books,  &  supervise  foreign  religious  cults  at  Rome   (eg.  Magna  Mater,  Isis)   Conclusions:   • Ritual  over  belief   • Poli4ciza4on  and  Manipula4on:     – epilepsy  (assembly  disease)   – Bribery  of  augurs   • BUT:  Roman  religion  worked  for  them   – Remember  the  sacred  chickens   • Mix  of  conserva4sm  and  innova4on      =  typically  Roman   Minucius  Felix  (Chris4an  historian:  c.250  AD)   “Throughout  the  whole  far-­‐flung  empire,  in  provinces,   in  towns,  we  see  that  each  local  group  of  people  has   its  own  religious  rituals  and  worships  local  gods… The  Romans,  however,  worship  all  the  gods  in  the   world.  Their  power  and  authority  have  occupied  the   farthest  limits  of  the  whole  world,  and  extended   their  empire  beyond  the  paths  of  the  sun  and  the   borders  of  the  very  ocean...  And  a^er  they  have   captured  a  town,  when  brutality  in  victory  might  be   expected,  the  Romans  pay  honor  to  the  deity  of  the   conquered  people.    They  invite  to  Rome  gods  from   all  over  the  world,  and  they  make  them  their   own....    And  thus,  while  the  Romans  were  adop;ng   the  religious  rites  of  all  na;ons,  they  also  won  for   themselves  an  empire.”     1   2/29/12   Effects  of  Empire   • Con1nuous  warfare:     – fewer  ci4zen  farmers,  more  slaves   • Provinces  and  Administra4ve  Challenges   • Business  Men:  A  New  Social  Class?     • Corrup1on  in  provincial  administra4on   • Influx  of  wealth  and  refined  culture  from   Greek  East   PROVINCES: (Prorogation: proconsul, propraetor) Con4nuous  Warfare   • Series  of  changes  in  3rd  century  to  countryside:   – Italian  farms  laid  to  waste  by  Hannibal   – Longer  military  campaigns/deployments   – Influx  of  slaves  (POWs)  =  alterna4ve  labor   =  huge  farming  estates  buy  out  small-­‐scale   farmers   i.e.:    soldiers  figh4ng  for  their  own  displacement   • Roman  farmer  no  longer  equals  Roman  soldier   Governing  a  Province   • Proroga1on:    proconsul,  propraetor    -­‐  A^er  term  ends,  an  ex-­‐consul  or  praetor  gets   prolonged  power  to  govern  a  province    -­‐Keep  peace  &  ensure  smooth  flow  of  $  to  Rome   • How  to  collect  taxes?   -­‐private  collec4on  agencies  buy  from  Rome   the  right  to  collect  taxes  in  provinces   -­‐Tax-­‐Farming:  publicani   2   2/29/12   Rise  of  New  Upper-­‐Middle  Class   Equites  (sg.  eques)  =  knights;    (equus  =  horse)   Rich,  but  not  “noble”   $  not  from  land  but  commerce  &  business   Senators  can’t  own  large  ships  (not  supposed   to  be  involved  in  commerce):  218  BC      But  Equites  step  right  in…   • Nego$atores  <  nego$um  <  o$um   • money-­‐lenders/  usurers    (in  prov.,  up  to  48%!)   • publicani   • • • •  Corrup4on   • No  generalized  plan  of  extor4on,  but  individual   governors  &  publicani  do  abuse  power   • In  2nd  century:  permanent  court  set  up  for  cases  of   extor4on   – quaes$o  de  rebus  repetundis   – judged  by  senators  only  (not  assembly)   • But  legal  prosecu4on  now  becomes  poli4cal  weapon!   – Poli4ciza4on  of  the  law-­‐courts   • Gaius  Verres,  gov.  of  Sicily  70’s  BC  (said  need  3  years   to  make  3  fortunes):     – One  to  pay  off  debts  from  poli4cal  career   – One  to  re4re  in  comfort   – One  to  bribe  jury  when  he  was  accused  of  extor4on…   Take-­‐Home  Messages  re:  Equites   1) Another  economic  mo4ve  for  imperialism   -­‐-­‐war  is  good  for  business   2) Rise  of  wealthy  class  at  Rome  whose  status   derives  from  non-­‐tradi4onal  sources  of  wealth   and  pres4ge.   3) Originally,  equites  =  wealthy  enough  to  ride  a   horse  into  baqle.    NOW  by  2nd  cent.  =  owns  at   least  400,000  sesterces  but  not  “noble”   =  Wealth  divorced  from  tradi4onal  military  and   poli4cal  serng   Ambivalent  Artude  toward  Empire:   • Vergil’s  Aeneid:      “Others  will  cast  more  tenderly  in  bronze   their  breathing  figures,  I  can  well  believe,   and  bring  more  lifelike  portraits  out  of   marble,  argue  more  eloquently,  use  the   pointer  to  trace  the  paths  of  heaven   accurately,  and  accurately  foretell  the  rising   stars.    Roman,  remember  by  your  strength   to  rule  Earth’s  peoples  -­‐-­‐  for  your  arts  are  to   be  these:  To  pacify,  to  impose  the  rule  of   law,  To  spare  the  conquered,  baqle  down   the  proud.”   3   2/29/12   • Sallust  has  enemy  king  say:                                                             “From  the  very  beg.  they  have  possessed  nothing   but  what  they  have  stolen:  their  homes,  their   wives,  their  lands,  their  empire.    Once  vagabonds   without  fatherland  or  parents,  created  to  be  the   scourge  of  the  whole  world,  no  laws,  human  or   divine,  prevent  them  from  seizing  and  destroying   allies  and  friends,  those  near  them  and  far  off,   the  weak  and  the  mighty,  and  from  considering   every  gov’t  not  subject  to  them  as  their   enemies.”     • Tacitus  has  a  Bri4sh  chief  say:                                             “To  robbery,  slaughter,  plunder,  they  give  the   lying  name  of  empire;  they  make  a  wilderness   and  call  it  peace.”     4