Monthly Archives: March 2024

Early Expansion of Rome

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Romulus and Remus with the shepherd and the wolf.

There are various tales about how Rome started and many of them are just legends. One of the most popular of these stories is about the twins Romulus and Remus. It is said that they fed off wolves and were raised by shepherds as children, and eventually founded the city.

From 753-509 BC, Rome was governed by Etruscans. They were from the nearby city of Etruria and influenced many of the later Roman customs. During this era, Rome was still ruled by a king, who exercised complete political, military, and religious authority. Tarquin the Proud was the last Etruscan king and his oppressive rule led to him being kicked out of Rome by the aristocrats. After this, no one person could rule Rome; instead it was governed by the Office of the Consul, which was held by two people known as consuls. 

In 458 BC, Cincinnatus, a former consul, was named dictator by the people (because it was a time of crisis), but resigned after he destroyed a warring tribe within 15 days, even though he could have remained dictator for six months. 

The Greek religion impacted the Romans greatly. Eventually, the Greek gods came to be identified with the Roman ones but with each deity taking on a different name. The Romans thought there was a set of universal laws that everyone should follow, and if you broke one of them, there would be harsh punishments. This was their reasoning for conquering neighboring nations: to civilize foreigners and unify them under one rule. 

Ancient Rome had two types of social classes: the plebeians and the patricians. The plebeians were deprived of political rights and were liable to enslavement for debts, whereas the patricians held all the power. To stop this, the plebeians seceded from Rome to try to force the patricians to give them more rights. This plan worked, and in 494 BC, new rules were added to Roman law, giving plebeians legal protection. By the late 5th century BC, the plebeians were allowed to hold political office, debt slavery was abolished, in 367 BC plebeians were allowed to run for consul, and in 342 BC a new law was added which stated that at least one of the consuls had to be a plebeian. Rome was one of the first true republican governments, with a senate and an assembly to vote on bills.

 By 146 BC, Rome completely dominated the Mediterranean world with their aggressive style of fighting. In 256 BC, Rome had united all of Italy under its rule and had extended citizenship to their Italian allies. They came into conflict with Carthage during the First Punic War (264-241 BC), and Carthage was forced to give up Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia after Rome was victorious in 238 BC. 

Battle of Cannae.

The Second Punic War (218-202 BC) was brought on by Carthage’s hostile expansion into Spain, over which Rome had influence. Commanded by General Hannibal, Carthage destroyed the Romans at the Battle of Cannae in 216, but Carthage still could not deal a decisive blow. Later, Rome invaded North Africa, forcing Hannibal to rush back to defend the homeland. At the Battle of Zama in 202, Hannibal was defeated by Roman General Scipio Africannas, and Rome won the war. During the Third Punic War (149-146 BC), Carthage was quickly defeated by Rome again. In 215 BC, Phillip V of Macedonia allied with Rome. However, Rome broke their agreement and in 205 launched the first Macedonian War, taking control of the Peloponnesian Peninsula.

After years of exhausting war, Rome had severe economic and social problems. Much of the farmland in Northern Italy had been destroyed by the fighting, causing food shortages. Consequently, many farmers sold their land to rich landowners (who used slave labor) and moved to the city. 

In 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus pursued land reform and tried to allow more people to be eligible to serve in the military. Tiberius often bypassed the Senate to pass bills, so the Senate refused to fund his land commission. Tiberius urged the resignation of Octavius, a tribune who was influenced by the Senate, and ran for re-election. At one of Tiberius’ political rallies, the Senate, angered that Tiberius had broken the tradition of the Senate being the main political power in Rome, rushed onto the stage and beat him to death. Tiberius’ brother Gaius Gracchus also ran for tribune. He was openly hostile towards the Senate (probably because they killed his brother), and was also assassinated. 

Assassination of Tiberius Gracchus.

From 91-88 BC, the Roman Social Wars took place, where a group called the Mithridates killed 80,000 Roman civilians who opposed them in Asian Minor. The Mithridates’ opponents, led by Sulla, took over Rome, but could not have his laws approved by the Senate because the Senate was pro-Mithridate. 

Grasping the Worldviews of Socrates and Plato

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Illustration showing Plato’s allegory of the cave.

Socrates and Plato are probably the two most prominent philosophers to ever live. It would be impossible to review all of their teachings in one essay, so I will cover one aspect of each philosopher’s career. Specifically, Socrates’ disagreement with the Sophists and Plato’s allegory of the cave. 

Socrates was intrigued by matters of morality and interpersonal relationships. Since Socrates had no writings of his own, most of what we know about his teachings come from his student, Plato. Socrates was strongly opposed to the Sophists, mostly because they taught subjective truth: the idea that what was true for one person could be untrue or false to another. Socrates argued that truth was objective and no matter what someone believed or didn’t believe that doesn’t change the reality of truth or falsity of that belief. While debating with Sophists, Socrates rightly argued that it was against their own teachings to tell opponents that their beliefs were untrue or wrong because they did not believe in objective truth, and therefore contradicted the foundation of their argument. Because of his teachings and his disagreements with the Sophists, who held more mainstream views at the time, Socrates was sentenced to death for charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. He was convicted by a jury and executed by drinking poison. 

After Socrates’ death, Plato succeeded him. Plato argued that everything has non-essential traits, but people are still able to determine that a thing is part of a certain group. He used the example that a triangle is still a triangle whether it’s scalene, isosceles, equilateral, whether it’s written in red or black pen, whether it’s thick or thin. Everyone will still be able to identify a triangle since all triangles share common characteristics. For example, they all add to 180 degrees. Plato also taught that even if all triangles disappeared, the idea and truths of triangularity would still exist. He thought this same logic could be applied to concepts like justice and goodness, believing these were not man-made invented concepts, but rather are unchanged standards that existed before us and will exist after.  

Most of Plato’s beliefs are summed up in what he called “the allegory of the cave.” In this parable, prisoners are chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. They are only able to see a wall in front of them. Behind them there is a fire burning and a bridge on which puppeteers walk and cast shadows on the wall. The prisoners would be unable to see the puppets, or real objects, that passed behind them, but would only be seeing the shadows and echoes cast by the real objects. Plato asserted that these prisoners would certainly mistake the appearance of the shadows as reality. They would have no idea the shadows they perceived as reality were really just shadows cast by real objects behind them. Plato’s point is that people may acquire concepts of physical objects, but those concepts are not on the same level as the things we perceive. 

Although Plato and Socrates lived thousands of years ago, their teachings are still relevant today. These philosophers held many views and beliefs. However, Socrates’ arguments against the Sophists and Plato’s allegory of the cave are critical to grasping their worldviews and our reality today.

Alexander the Great and Hellenistic Culture

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Alexander the Great in battle.

Alexander the Great was one of the most successful emperors in the history of the world. Like his father King Philip II of Macedon, Alexander was a formidable military leader. Philip II developed Macedon’s military immensely and wanted to conquer the Greeks and Persians even had wide success defeating every Greek city-state except Sparta.

Unlike other emperors of vast empires at the time, Philip and later Alexander saw themselves as liberators instead of conquerors. This was somewhat true, as Philip lowered taxes in Greece but made it mandatory to send soldiers to help bolster his army. Although he was a well-liked and respected emperor, Philip was assassinated by one of his own men so Alexander took over the throne. 

Alexander was a highly intelligent man, partly because he was tutored by Aristotle the philosopher. Once he became emperor, Alexander consolidated power, dealing with his rivals in Macedon and re-conquering rebellious Greek city-states. Despite not being ethnically Greek, Alexander’s goal was to spread Hellenistic culture. This was Greek-like culture but different from Hellenic culture which was classical Greek culture and its traditions that the Greeks themselves actually practiced. 

Alexander started expanding his empire, taking Asia minor, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Egypt, the Persian Empire, and parts of India. After subduing these vast swaths of land, he built cities and implanted Hellenistic culture wherever he went. Alexander was not known as a brutal conqueror and showed his military intelligence by using brilliant engineering tactics. In 331 BC, after obliterating Persia, he looted the empire so thoroughly that all of their riches were brought back to Macedonia. Dying in 323 BC, he is remembered as one of the most effective military leaders to have ever lived. 

Alexander’s death brought a struggle between his generals in deciding who would succeed him as emperor. Ultimately, this led to the downfall of Alexander’s once mighty empire, as it was split up between his generals. The Hellenistic period lasted from the death of Alexander the Great to the death of Cleopatra (325 – 30 BC). Philosophy, arts, and medicine flourished during this period.