In this week of the course, you will be studying history of ancient Rome.  By tradition
historians divide that history into three periods of time:  first, the development of the
Roman republic from 509 bce until the dictatorship of Julius Caesar in the late first
century bce; second, the expansion and subsequent destruction of the Roman Empire,
and there are various dates that can be used to date this end including the year 410;
and last, the continuance of Byzantine civilization until 1453.  

It is amazing to consider that the single city of Rome dominated first the Italian
peninsula, then the Mediterranean basin and then most of Western Europe and the
Near East for thousands of years.  If you assume 509, the expulsion of the last
Etruscan king, as the beginning of the Roman republic, and 1453, the fall of
Constantinople to the Turks, as the end of Roman history, you will see a span of almost
two thousand years of connected history.  That means that Rome had an enormous
influence on the shaping of Western civilization.  

Two important points to consider when thinking about Roman history.  First the Roman
republic, and the succeeding empire, was built upon conquest and expansion. 
Although many of the conquered societies eventually received citizenship rights, still
the conquest originally brought mostly slaves and tribute to Rome.  Because Rome was
built on conquest, the Roman economy tended to be an economy built on the use of
slaves in the production process.  When Roman expansion faltered and ended, Rome
lost its access to a ready supply of slaves, and that meant that the Roman economy
began to decline, especially in the fourth century, because Rome no longer had the
manpower to work the latifundia.  Another interesting point about Rome was that even
though Rome created an enormous empire, the city of Rome itself never became a
major international commercial center as, for example, Athens had.  Rome was always
an administrative, governmental and religious center but never a true commercial hub. 
(Romans were not fond of the sea.)

Another important point was the fact that the continuous conquest embarked upon by
the Republic and then the empire gave Roman society a marked military character. 
And in another respect that military character gave rise to a true vicious streak.  Rome
was built by warfare; Romans loved warfare; and Romans entertained themselves with
warfare.  The prime form of entertainment in ancient Rome became the gladiatorial
games, contests staged between slaves, prisoners-of- war, criminals, outcasts, fighting
hand-to-hand and to the death in large public arenas.  By the second century, these
games eventually lasted for weeks and involved thousands of participants fighting to
death in front of thousands of frantic fans watching them fight to their death.

The Roman impact on Western civilization was great especially in the areas of
architecture, engineering, construction, government, alphabet, language, law, etc.  The
Romans were great builders and left behind impressive examples of their work for
succeeding generations to copy.  The Roman road network was a marvel not
superseded until the construction of European railways in the late-nineteenth
century--You could travel from Paris to Rome faster in 100 than in 1700.  What was
probably most amazing about the Roman experience was the fact that Rome was able
to develop a governmental and legal structure to unite and rule vastly differing societies
within the boundaries of a single empire.