STUDY GUIDES
Boatwright pp 288-298
Out of what would Octavian's new regime emerge? What specific actions
did he take in this regard?
What happened at the first settlement?
What is the principate?
What is auctoritas and what can you begin to understand about Roman society
given its importance?
What happened at the second settlement?
What is maius imperium?
What is tribunicia potestas?
What is the pontifex maximus?
What does pater patriae mean?
To what culture did Romans turn for literary examples?
Keep track of authors mentioned in this section as they will reappear.
Know the names of potential successors to Augustus, as well as the females
to whom they are related.
Virgil, Aeneid, Book One
PLEASE NOTE: Mandelbaum's translation has a glossary in the back.
Who are Juno, Aeolus, Neptune, Jupiter, Aeneas, Dido, Ascanius/Iulus,
Ilia, Mars, Romulus?
What and where are Carthage and Alba Longa?
What does Aeneas carry with him to Italy?
From where does Aeneas come? What were the circumstances of his departure?
What is to be Aeneas' fate? the fate of his people?
What will happen to Julius Caesar?
Who is Aeneas' mother? How does her other son help out Aeneas?
How did Dido get to Carthage and why?
What is augury?
What is happening in the city of Carthage when Aeneas arrives? How does
Aeneas feel about this?
What does Aeneas see on the walls of the palace?
What was Dido doing when Aeneas arrived?
What did Aeneas look like when Dido saw him?
What is Aeneas' title?
How does worship occur?
Virgil, Aeneid, Book Two
What is happening in Troy when Aeneas departs?
What advice does his mother give him?
Who and what does Aeneas bring out of Troy? Who gets left behind?
Virgil, Aeneid, Books Three - Five
In Book Three Aeneas completes his tale, mostly of places where he and
his men tried to land but failed to find a permanent resting place (their
fated permanent home being elsewhere). In Book Four Dido gets the hots
for Aeneas and Juno tries to get Venus to allow them to marry but Venus
recognizes this as Juno's ploy to keep Aeneas from reaching Lavinian shores.
Aeneas cuts his losses and flees Carthage; Dido burns herself alive. In
Book Five they stop in Sicily and hold funeral games for Anchises; Juno
tries to cause more trouble and Venus begs Neptune to allow the ships
safe passage over seas, which he does.
Virgil, Aeneid, Book Six
Who does Aeneas visit first and what does she tell him to do?
For which God does she work?
What is the advice to Aeneas?
What people does Aeneas meet in the underworld and what are their responses
to the meeting?
How is Rome's "future" foretold in the underworld? What specific
details help you to understand the Romans' self perception and the specific
characteristics of the Augustan age?
By what gate does Aeneas leave the underworld? Significance?
Virgil, Aeneid, Books Seven - Eleven
In Book Seven Aeneas comes to Italy and meets King Latinus. Latinus' daughter
Lavinia's engagement to local ruler Turnus is broken so she can wed the
greater man: Aeneas. Juno and a Fury do what Furies do best and enrage
to blind madness Lavinia's mother and Turnus. Aeneas meets Evander and
his son Pallas, who support him in his war. Turnus foments war against
Aeneas and co. Turnus receives aid from Juturna, his sister and an immortal
nymph. Pallas is killed by Turnus. War rages on (The Aeneid can be seen
as a combination of the Odyssey's traveling adventures {in books 1-6}
and the Iliad's epic battles {in books 7-12}).
Virgil, Aeneid, Book Eight
What is depicted on the Shield of Aeneas? Implications?
Virgil, Aeneid, Book Twelve
In the wake of decades of civil war, what is the significance of Turnus'
madness?
How are gods involved in the battles?
What happened to Queen Amata, Lavinia's mother?
What request does Juno make of Jupiter? Why is it granted (think outside
the confines of the story)?
How does the epic poem end? Significance?
Boatwright pp 1-31
Know the geography of Italy, especially Po (= Padus), Appenines, Etruria,
Latium, Campania, Tiber, Arno (= Arnus), Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Magna
Graecia, Syracuse, Rome, all the seas on map 1.1. Be able to locate these
places on a blank
map of Italy.
What are the benefits and limitations of archaeological evidence? Consequences of this for our understanding of this question?
Skim "Italy before the City" (pp 6-7).
Skimming means you should know the general idea though you do not need
to know the specific details. A good method for skimming is to read the
title and read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
What is a Villanovan settlement?
How did Latial culture differ?
Contacts with which outside cultures had an impact on Iron Age Italy?
Who founded Carthage?
What was the political organization of a typical city-state?
Skim "Beginning of Writing," "Appearance of an Elite," Cities and Monumental Architecture" (pp 12-20).
What are hoplites? What is a phalanx?
What do the presence of weapons in the archaeological record suggest about
an army?
Which members of the community participated in warfare? in general? in
Rome?
Describe Roman social structure. What is a patron, client, gens?
What role did debt play in reinforcing social structure?
What were Rome's elites' attitudes toward commerce?
What role did gift giving play?
Skim "Greeks and Etruscans," "Greek cities of South Italy and Sicily (do note, however, the prominence of Syracuse and who ruled there), and "Etruscans" (Do read the last paragraph, though. How are Etruscans connected to the Roman monarchy?) (pp 25-31)
Organize your notes on book one of Livy along these lines:
What was the character of each king?
What did each king do?
While you are reading, keep in mind the first written assignment.
Boatwright pp 32-48
Know the names of the seven hills of Rome.
How do Boatwright et al.'s and Livy's stories differ from each other?
Why? What is the purpose of each of the two different stories?
When did a highly organized political community appear on the Palatine
hill?
How did the use of aquatic technology foster urban development and complex
society in Rome?
What are the Regia, Cura Hostilia? Forum Romanum? Forum Boarium? Temple
of Vesta? Jupiter Optimus Maximus?
Name Rome's seven kings in chronological order.
Who was the first Roman Historian?
Name all of the writers from whom we gain our knowledge of the early historiographical
tradition.
How reliable are the extant histories of early Rome?
What is the pomerium?
Who is the rex Sacrorum?
What was the role of the aristocracy in early Rome?
What is the populus Romanus?
What are the curiae?
What is the Roman census and who is credited with creating it?
What are the centuriae? What role do they play politically/ economically?
What are the Roman tribes?
What is the significance (or what are the consequences) of tribal and
centuriate organization to social and political power structures?
Skim pages 45-48.
2.1-33 (bottom of page 147)
Book two demonstrates the external and internal strife dealt with by the fledgling republic that endangered, and ultimately formed, Rome.
In large part the structure of republican government can be said to be founded on two incidences of Rome's past: the desire of the Romans to never again be ruled by a monarchy and the so called Struggle of the Orders between the plebeians and the patricians. As you read the books 2-5 of Livy, consider how the institutions of government reflect these two things. Keep in mind that these are not the only influences - remember Servius Tullus and the comitia centuriata and the pre-republican existence of the senate.
How much is Roman military expansion portrayed as defensive?
Who are the heroes of the early republic?
Note the evidence of the annalistic tradition in the recording of events
sequentially.
Boatwright pp 48-53
How abrupt was the shift from monarchy to republic?
Who replaced the kings?
How many consuls were there and how long was their term in office?
Who were the military tribunes and how long was their term in office?
Who was the dictator, how many, how long a term?
What were the reasons for designating a dictator?
Who was the magister equitum?
What were the three assemblies in early Rome?
What are the XII Tables? Who wrote them? What kind of a society do they
reflect?
What impact did choices of mountain dwellers have on those in the plains?
Know Sabines, Volsci and Aequi.
Who is Coriolanus?
Who is Cinicinnatus?
What were the reasons for the Struggle of the Orders?
What were the sources of strife present in Rome during the 5th and 4th
centuries?
What is a patrician? a plebeian?
How were patricians connected to religion?
What are auspices, interreges (s. interrex)?
What were the interests of the various plebeians?
What were the titles of plebeian officials?
Who is Ceres?
How did the plebeians meet to elect tribunes?
What were the second century roles of plebeian tribunes?
When did the city of Veii fall and to what culture did it belong?
What happened to the people and the land of Veii?
When did the Gauls sack Rome? Who are the Gauls and where did they live?
Who is Camillus?
Know "The City and its Institutions in the fourth century."
Know pages 60-65 as well as you can. What were the offices, assemblies,
etc.
Where and how and why was official business conducted?
What part did the Struggle of the Orders have in the creation of Roman
government?
What role did warfare play in defining political and religious life?
What is the difference between a soldier and a citizen?
How were wars conducted?
What did a military victory mean for future success?
Know the dates of the 1st Samnite War and the Latin War.
What were the consequences of the Latin War?
What is a municipium?
What are municipia sine suffragio?
What degree of independence and autonomy did these municipia have?
What happened to confiscated land?
What are colonies?
How did post-victory political choices allow Rome to make even greater
conquests?
Read only the 1st and last paragraph of "Samnite Wars" (pp 84-86). Know dates.
You should be able to locate the core of the Roman state at the end of
the fourth century on a map of Italy.
How did the Romans use internal affairs in Etruscan cities to help their
conquest of Etruria?
How did the Romans use the internal affairs of Greek cities in southern
Italy to their military and political advantage?
Note in particular the events at Tarentum and who became involved in them.
What is the name of the period in Greek history after the conquests of
Alexander the Great and before the complete Roman domination of the Mediterranean?
What is the quality of Hellenistic Kingship?
Who is Pyrrhus?
What did Pyrrhus do in Italy? in Sicily?
In what year did Tarentum become a Roman ally?
How might do Boatwright et al. explain the pattern of regular
warfare in Rome?
Who is Polybius? When did he live? What did he
write?
Who are the nobiles? How did they differ from the original leadership
of Rome?
Who are novi homines? What does the existence of this term and
of these people suggest to you about the openness, or lack thereof, to
positions of power in Rome?
What impact did the increasingly hierarchical organization of offices
have on the plebeian tribunate?
What was the role of the auctoritas of the senate?
Can you see some long-term results of the Struggle of the Orders on pages
98-99?
What are laus, gloria, virtus, and dignitas?
How do they help you to understand Roman society, government, military
expansion, and the physical structure of the city of Rome?
Who are Scipio Africanus and Quintus Caecilius Metellus?
What are the elements of a triumph, reasons for it, and impact of it?
What are the ludi and what purpose do they serve?
What role does religion play in the creation of the city of Rome?
What are the praenomen, the nomen and the cognomen
and how do they represent the importance of lineage in Roman society?
What are imagines and how do they help establish and reconfirm
a family's place in the Roman world?
Why are gladiatorial games connected with funerals?
What do the presence of imagines of a wife's ancestors in the atrium
of a house suggest about the importance of women to the family?
Where is Carthage? Who founded it? When did it come into being?
What territory did Carthage control?
What were the causes of the First Punic War? When did it occur?
How did the First Punic War result in the creation of a Roman navy?
Who is Regulus?
Who are the Numidians (Note that soon we will meet Numantians in Spain;
try not to confuse the two.)?
What new territory did Rome control as a result of the First Punic War?
Who are the publicani?
What often motivates the minting of silver coinage?
What were the causes of the Second Punic War? When did it occur? Who
is Publius Cornelius Scipio?
Where is Saguntum?
Who is Hannibal?
What mountain range did Hannibal cross to get from Spain to Italy?
Who was Quintus Fabius Maximus and what was his knickname?
How significant was the Battle of Cannae?
What role did religious ritual play during this turbulent time?
What does privatus cum imperio mean and who possessed it during
the Second Punic War? Does this tell you anything about Roman pragmatism
and Roman nepotism?
What were the terms of the treaty that ended the Second Punic War?
Ancient Texts on "The War with Carthage"
Herodotus is a 5th century Greek writing in Athens and could not care
less about the still minor little village of Rome. What is the date of
these events?
Hellene = Greek
Who is victorious? Gelo the Greek tyrnat of Sicily or Hamilcar, the Carthaginian
king?
Polybius 3.107-118
Who is Lucius Aemilius Paullus and why is he selected to help lead the
legions at the Battle of Cannae?
How do you think Polybius knows what was said by commanders on both sides
at the Battle of Cannae, given the fact that no electronic recording devices
were available? If he does not know what was said, what purpose do the
speeches serve in his Histories?
What role does religion play in Rome at this time?
Who were Hannibals allies?
How did the victory at Cannae help the Carthaginians?
How does Polybius account for the Romans' ultimate victory in the war?
Polybius 9.22-26
What do you think the character of Hannibal was? Is it relevant for studying
history? Why or why not? What might explain the different attitudes toward
him?
Expansion in the Mediterranean
Plutarch, Life of Cato
Why does Cato believe, "Carthago delenda est" ("Carthage
must be destroyed")?
What is Publius Scipio Nasica's objection to the destruction of Carthage?
Polybius (A Greek captive in Rome and a friend of the Scipio family)
What does an unconditional surrender to Rome look like? Why did the Carthaginians
choose this path?
Why did the Romans demand hostages?
What did the Roman consuls demand of the Carthaginians in the city and
why?
What happened to the Italians living in Carthage?
What were the Greeks thinking about the Romans and why?
Make note of Masinissa's death.
Who was Hasdrubal? How does he want to deal with Rome, or how is he forced
to?
What do you make of the story of Hasdrubal's wife?
Can you tell that Polybius feels favorably toward Scipio?
What happens to Carthage?
and on Corinth
Why does Polybius say he mourns the destruction of Greece more than Carthage?
Polybius is a Greek from Achaea. Achaea was the chief city in an independent
Hellenistic league of Greek city-states, occassionally at war with its
neighbors and with the Macedonian kings.
Polybius goes back in time to the Persian invasion (under Xerxes) of the
early 5th century through (Hellenistic) Macedonian domination.
What was the relationship between the Achaeans and the Romans?
What is the role of the senate in military affairs?
Why did the Achaeans think they could get what they wanted from the Romans?
How did Critolaus anger the Romans?
Who is Popilius Laenas and how is he received?
Were all the Achaeans and Corinthians of the same mind about Rome?
Lacedaemonians = Spartans.
What were the responses of the various Greek cities when the Romans came
with troops?
Skim book 39. 7-17 until you get to Philopoemen and then read the remainder
of the text.
How do Polybius' activities in Greece after the destruction of Corinth
demonstrate the usefulness of hostages in war and diplomacy?
Be prepared to describe the balances of the Roman "constitution" from Polybius' point of view and see if you can anticipate why I will argue that what the Romans really have is an oligarchy or aristocracy (depending on your point of view).
What is a senatus consultum?
Who are the principes?
What were the rights and responsibilities of the senate and by what power
did it execute those rights and responsibilities?
What were the limitations on veto power of magistrates?
What might be some consequences of the fact that religious reasons for
postponing public business could not stop the public business of a tribune
of the plebs?
What was the extent of authority of the presiding officer of an assembly?
Who could preside over which assemblies?
What were the limts of senatorial authority?
What is the cursus honorum?
What are quaestiones? the quaestiones perpetuae?
What impact did the Second Punic War have on the political structure of
Italy?
Describe the "Bacchanalian conspiracy" (p. 142).
How important was Roman citizenship?
What were the distinctions between Romans and Latins?
How was Roman arrogance a factor in the treatment of Italy's residents?
What is tributum and how did it separate Romans and non-Romans
after 167?
How was the kind of wealth one possessed important?
How might a governor of a Roman province return to Rome wealthier than
he was when he departed? Who else might gain wealth?
How did wealth change the appearance of Italian cities?
What evidence is there of the ambivalence of Roman attitudes toward Greece?
These demographic and economic developments are going to help explain
several important events in Friday's assignment, so consider them carefully.
What impact did military developments have on the demography and economy
of Rome and Italy?
What was the impact of slavery?
Where did the first slave wars begin? What was the occupation of most
of the slaves involved?
What does the career of Scipio Aemlianus suggest about the relationship
among individual magistrates, the senate and the people of Rome?
