HIST 205 final Flashcards
(36 cards)
citizenship
NEED TO CHECK ROMAN OR GREEK CITIZENSHIP
- began with divisions between patricians and plebeians in the early republic (5th-4th BCE)
- over time expanded to include conquered peoples and freed slaves
- citizenship to colonies helped sustain dominance
- citizenship also led to hellenisation and mixing of cultures e.g. greek
hellenisation in the Seleucid empire and Ptolemaic kingdoms
- as a result of the successor wars in the end of the 380s BCE Alexander’s companions divide up his kingdom bringing greek influences across the empire, this marked the beginning of the hellenistic period
- bilingualism flourished e.g. the rosetta stone that included greek and egyptian hieroglyphics
- law based on language, incentive for learning two, decreased segregation
- greeks entered government, presented themselves as traditional leaders
- greeks married egyptians
- customs merged creating new gods like Sarapis
- did cause tensions that could turn into revolts e.g. the Maccabean revolt of the Jews against the Seleucid government
helots
- permanent public slaves randomly assigned to different jobs around the city
- this allowed the Spartans to focus on military training
- subjugation through terror (example of the young boys training?)
- in the battle of leuctra the thebans incited revolt amongst the helots, without their help Spartan power collapses in 370 BCE
herodotus on egyptian religion
princeps
- first taken by Augustus in 27 BCE after he has the back and forth with the senate saying he could never possible be emperor after he won the civil war
- symbolised facade of restored republic but really marked the beginning of the roman empire
- the principate was an autocratic regime
- legitimised autocratic power under the guise of tradition
the ptolemaic dynasty
- Ptolemy, a trusted general of Alexander, got control over Egypt from the late 4th century BCE after his death
- it was the longest and last dynasty of Egypt
- dynastic succession secured through incest
- it ended with Cleopatra VII’s death in 30 BCE
- ruled Egypt blending Greek and Egyptian traditions
- ruler cults and dynastic practices (like sibling marriage) strengthened their legitimacy
themes?
roman freedpeople
- romans free slaves more than any other mediterranean people
- once you were free your old master sort of acted as you patron, tended to be quite close
- gained partial citizenship rights like property ownership but still had restricted political participation
- it was seen as an incentive to be loyal to your master
- dehumanising regardless of position as seen in dionysius, a slave of cicero, who ran away
- freedpeople given more power under Claudius due to fear of senators (kind of bureaucracy)
- they could become incredibly wealthy e.g. dioclees the charioteer
ruler cults
- started with the Antigonids in Athens
- the deification of rulers
- a big part of the hellenistic rulers/empires
- Alexander himself was deified (oracle told him he was the son of zeus) and it was also an aspect of the ptolemies policy
the battle of cannae
- 216 BCE in the second punic war between rome and carthage
- one of Rome’s greatest defeats, caused some of their allies to defect
- Hannibal destroyed a roman army of around 40-60,000 soldiers
- shows miraculous recovery highlighting strengths of rome including their large citizen base, many loyal allies suggesting that many of them must have felt Roman
- Hannibal didn’t use this victory to attack rome which eventually cost him the war
the battle of leuctra
- 371 BCE between Thebes allied with Athens and Sparta
- Thebes incite revolt amongst the helots to defeat them, marking the end of their military dominance and hegemony in Greece
- Spartan power faded because they were too luxurious? population decline because of citizen requirements?
catiline’s conspiracy
check conference notes
cleisthenes reforms
- 508-507 BCE
- laid the foundation for Athenian democracy and ended tyranny
- he reorganised the population into ten tribes based on geography
- established local demes to encourage civic participation within the wider polis democracy
- created a council of 500 citizens to propose laws showing empowerment of ctiziens in government
constantine’s conversion
- converted after a vision and a dream before the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 CE
- legalised Christianity with the edict of Milan but not eh official religion of the empire
- founded Constantinople as the new capital
- religion no longer persecuted but not necessarily widespread
- christian disputes settled in the 325 AD council of Nicaea
- sets precedent for future emperors, after him there is only one who is not christian
the fall of the western roman empire
the foundation of cyrene
- Battus is told by orcale of delphi to found city in libya
- things go wrong for the population but everytime they go to the oracle for advice all she tells them is to found a city in libya
- first set up platea but it is not on the mainland so they go back
- significance?
the outbreak of the second macedonian war
- the war was from 200-197 BCE
- it began with rome intervening against Philip V of Macedon to protect Greek allies
- markes the growing power of Rome as Greece’s power declined
- idk it’s not in my notes…
the second persian war
- xerxes, son of darius, goes back to war with the greeks to avenge his father
- the persians outnumbered the greeks
- it saw a time of great unity between the greeks through the hellenic league led by sparta including about a third of all poleis
- greeks fighting for their freedom hence strength whereas Xerxes’ men were ‘slaves’?
- battle of thermopylae loss
- battle of salamis win, decisive victory
the sicilian expedition
- 415-413 BCE
- disastrous Athenian campaign during the Peloponnesian war
- ended the peace of nicias
- honestly I couldn’t really tell you
- mostly about expanding Athenian empire, people wanted war because they got paid for it
- it restarts the peloponnesian war after the leader, Alcibiades, is charged in Athens whilst he is away and instead of coming back defects to Sparta
the spartacus revolt
- 73-71 BCE
- major slave uprising in the roman republic led by the gladiator spartacus
- around 70,000 slaves and non-slaves rebelled
- they were finally crushed by Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey
- taught them not to have too many slaves concentrated
- but wasn’t a move to end slavery, the slaves rebelling even took slaves of their own
the third century crisis
- roughly from 235-284 CE
- saw over 50 emperors in 50 years mostly all died violently, whoever had the strongest military took power
- constant frontier invasions from outside tribes (germanic tribes, the sasanians)
- complete economic collapse with inflation
- ongoing civil wars when emperors tried to take power
- breakaway empires e.g. the gallic empire showing fragmentation of roman control
- blamed christians so increased persecution
- brought to an end by Diocletian and the tetrarchy but showed a growing divide between western and eastern empire
alexander the great
- lived 356-323 BCE
- king of Macedon who created one the largest empires in history
- stretched from Greece to India, stops at the Ganges
- his death marks the beginning of the hellenistic period
agrippina the younger
- 15-59 AD
- shows the power of imperial women
- one of caligula’s sisters, benefits of a vestal virgin without being one
- mother of the emperor nero
- seduced her own uncle and became empress next to claudius
- honestly i’m missing information so don’t choose this one
aspasia
- 470-410 BCE
- a metic (resident foreigner) in Athens known for her relationship with Pericles after he divorced his wife
- celebrated for her intelligence and influence in political and intellectual circles
- advised Pericles and hosted philosophical discussions
- all of this in a time when Athenian women weren’t supposed to get involved in politics at all and shouldn’t voice public opinions, very strict, traditional roles
cleopatra VII
- 69-30 BCE
- the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt
- sought to preserve Egypt’s independence during Roman expansion
- had relationships with both Mark Anthony and Caesar
- had a son with Caesar (caesarian) that Octavius (Augustus) was jealous of as being his ‘real’ son
- defeated by Octavian at the battle of actium marked the end of the hellenistic period and the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman empire