The Expansion and Territory of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire. Arguably the most powerful empire ever to exist. Though many things made the Romans such a strong and influential nation, the acquisition of, and subsequent occupation of territory can be thought of as one of the larger factors. The drive to conquer more territory and the ever-expanding sphere of influence that the Romans thereafter enjoyed, changed many things besides the physical make-up of the Empire.

At its maximum height of territorial control, the Roman Empire stretched from the forests of northern England to the far deserts at Egypt’s southern border, from the hills of Spain in the west to past the mighty Tigris in Mesopotamia in the east. With such a large and diverse landscape and people underneath their rule, it is only to be expected that the Romans would be affected by this expansion.

 

                                    (Figure 1. Greatest extent of the Roman Empire (Bennett))

A large implication of the addition of new lands and people groups was the effect on trade and the imperial markets throughout the Empire. One such implication was that by the first century A.D., prices in Rome and the rest of the Empire were strongly related (Geraghty 1044). Meaning that if there was a drought in the grain fields of Egypt, grain prices greatly rose in the rest of the Empire as well. There were also vast changes in the amount of commodities available for the Romans to use as more people groups were conquered. The amount of slaves, for example, in the Roman Empire (which were both tradable goods and mouths to feed) grew from approximately 500,000 in 200 B.C. to somewhere between 1.2 and 2 million by 1 B.C., making them almost 30% of the population in  Italy alone (Geraghty 1043). This caused a change in the market as many more slaves were available for purchase, causing prices to decline.

Conquering places like Egypt and parts of the Middle East also gave the Romans access to alternate trade routes. This in particular gave them access to the Indian Ocean, which allowed them to trade with places like China, India, and parts of Iran (Fitzpatrick 29-30). This allowed them to bring in goods both more cheaply and of a type not before seen. They also brought in a great amount of wealth, like gold and silver, which greatly affected the economy (Fitzpatrick 34).

Laws and government were affected by the expansion of territory as well. The system of laws adapted from spoken rules governed by priests and patriarchs, to a more civil system with judges and set rules (Spitzer 1226). An interesting aspect of laws was that the Romans quickly realized they could not force complete new rules on conquered people. So most “new Romans” were governed by a mix of local, provincial, and empire wide laws (Spitzer 1226).

The Roman Empire continued to grow until they were forced to make concessions and peace with their enemies, like the Persians and the Huns, because of internal conflict (Barnett 78). These concessions cost the Romans territory, and once it was lost, they seldom got it back. This was especially true in the Middle East versus the Persians, where after a failed invasion by Emperor Julian, they lost Mesopotamia, which they would never again claim (Barnett 77-78).

Some argue that the expansionistic type view the Romans held was barbaric, and used as a means to prey upon those who are weaker (Tuori 213-214). That the very nature of it was evil and cruel (Tuori 213-215). But without the continued adding of territory, bringing along with it new people, new ideas, and new resources, the Roman Empire would have, and eventually did, stagnate and fall apart. The Empire was built on the captured territory and it was one of the main reasons for the Romans long lasting success.

The transition of Rome as it conquered more territory from a small village to a powerful city-state to an empire that connected almost all of the civilized world was significant. But how that expansion affected the other aspects of the Romans’ lives is what holds the greatest significance.

 

Works Cited

Barnett, G. (2005). EMPEROR JULIAN'S Mesopotamian Invasion. Military History, 22(3),

50-78.

Bennett, J. Trajan: Optimus Princeps. 1997. Fig. 1.

Fitzpatrick, M. P. (2011). Provincializing Rome: The Indian Ocean Trade Network and Roman

Imperialism. Journal of World History, 22(1), 27-54.

Geraghty, R. M. (2007). The Impact of Globalization in the Roman Empire, 200 BC—AD 100.

Journal of Economic History, 67(4), 1036-1061.

Spitzer, H. (1980). Does Rome Have a Lesson for Us?. American Bar Association Journal,

            66(10), 1226.

Tuori, K. (2009). Alberico Gentili and the Criticism of Expansion in the Roman Empire. The

Invader's Remorse. Journal of the History of International Law, 11(2), 205-219.

Syrinx

               The term syrinx as used in modern times refers to the musical instrument that is more commonly known as the pan pipes or pan flute, but the story behind this instrument dates back thousands of years. Before the instrument was invented, Syrinx was the name of a chaste Arcadian naiad, or water nymph, who was the daughter of Ladon, the River God of Arcadia (Demerdash).

 

 Syrinx by William McMillan, 1925

               Her story begins when Pan, “the god of the pastoral and rural, of pastures and flocks, of shepherds and goatherds, and of wild mountainsides and valleys” (Silver) falls in love with her and, though she resists his advances, pursues her. To protect her vow of chastity, she runs from Mount Lycaeum to the bank of the River Ladon, where she prays to her sisters – the other water nymphs – to help her escape him, and they immediately transform her into a patch of water reeds. When Pan catches up and finds that she has disappeared and all that is left of her is the reeds, he lets out a sorrowful sigh; his breath travels through the reeds, creating a “plaintive melody” (Hakan) that he finds beautiful. Inspired, he cuts some of the reeds into various lengths, waxes them together, and creates an instrument which he calls syrinx, after his love. He became an expert in the playing of his instrument, “which he played in her honor, or to accompany the nymphs in their dancing” (Silver).

  

Modern Version of a Syrinx/Pan Pipes/Pan Flute

               As with any myth, there are different variations on the tale. One version of it ends not with her asking her sisters for help and being transformed, but with her being “consumed by the earth and from the place where she disappeared a patch of reeds grew” (Bane). Pan then finds the reeds and, in an enraged fit, tears them apart. His angry cries then flow through the reeds and create the music that entrances him, leading him to wax them together and create his new instrument.

               Perhaps the most altered and gruesome variation of this myth is the one that is “thought to have been invented during the Hellenistic period” (Larson). In this version, Pan not only desires Syrinx for her beauty, but also envies her musical skill. In his obsession with her, he “sent a madness upon the herdsmen, who tore her to pieces” (Larson). Once she had been killed, the “Earth received her broken limbs, which even after burial continued to make songs” (Larson). She does not transform into reeds, but instead turns into a pine tree and “sings her sad fate when the wind blows through her branches” (Larson).

       

 Pan and Syrinx by Jean-Francois de Troy, 1720s

This unfortunate tale has given way to not only the creation of pan’s musical instrument, but it has also helped to name aspects of the medical world. From tools to diseases, the story of Pan and Syrinx inspired words like syringe – “the word Syrinx, from Greek, means ‘shepherd’s pipe’; Syringa of syrinx, from Greek, mean ‘tube, hole, channel, shepherd’s pipe’ (Hakan) – and hypertrichosis, which is a disease that results in an abnormal amount of hair growth all over the body. The word originates from the Greek language (the Greek word Trix means hair in English), but the disease itself can be seen in Pan, who is halfway covered in hair and has horns, hooves, and a tail like that of a goat. Many ancient Grecian myths have left their marks on modern tools and terms, and the myth of Syrinx is no exception. 

Women in Ancient Rome

Since Ancient Roman women were defined by the men in their lives, they were valued mainly as daughters, wives, and mothers. In Rome, women were not allowed to be active in politics, so not much information survives about them because they were not really written about, and they were not taught how to write, so they could not tell their own stories. While the nature of Roman culture allowed for a relatively generous amount of freedom for its women, some scholars suggest that a sense of fear toward women of the time existed. Within the core of Latin, those phenomena that are violent or uncontrollable are associated with feminine nouns. Notably, both the volatile natura (nature) and fortuna (fortune; luck), over which the Romans had absolutely no control in their age are solidly gendered as “woman” (Mosier-Dubinsky 2013). Dubinsky believes that this may show us something of the conceptions of women during this time period in a way that “the force and influence they [women] wielded was unpredictable, and must still be respected” (Mosier-Dubinsky 2013). Looking into the roles of women in marriage, education, and work, gives an idea of how the ideal woman lived in Ancient Rome.

Marriage

Marriage was one of the main focuses in the life of a Roman woman because the ideal woman was said to hold many wifely virtues such as being able to weave, cook, and perform other domestic tasks of that nature.  When getting married, the woman did not have much say in choosing her spouse. Rather, the marriage was an interest of the family more that the individual, and father would choose a suitable man for his daughter. The woman could only object to her father’s choice if it was “immoral” (Mosier-Dubinsky 2013). When getting married, the bride had the choice of marrying “cum manu” (under the control of her husband) or “sine manu” (remaining under the control of her father). Being a good wife was so highly valued that when Emperor Augustus’s daughter Julia could not perform wifely duties such as spinning and weaving and she took on a series of lovers, he “denounced her in public and banished her for the rest of her life” (Devilliar Donegan Enterprises 2006). This act showed the Roman people just how important it was for a woman to perform her role as a wife well.

Augustus banishing his daughter Julia for not upholding

her role in society and having wifely virtues.

Education

Roman historians provide evidence that women, on average, were exposed to both formal and indirect education during this era (Mosier-Dubinsky 2013). Even plebian girls were educated to a certain level. However, there was never educational equality for the sexes in Rome because the men were always better educated. This is seen through the belief that women should be educated enough to be an effective teacher for their children, yet not so educated that they injure the pride of the males in their households. Therefore, a woman was often educated enough to where she could fulfill her role as householder and mother. General working knowledge for daily life, including the math necessary for household sums, would have been necessary, as well as a the ability to be somewhat conversant in the philosophical issues of the day.

Childbirth

A woman’s main job as a wife was bearing healthy children, especially boys, for her family. According to Doctor Don Todman, childbirth in Roman society was “associated with a high risk to both the fetus and the mother, with substantial infant and maternal mortality” (Todman 2007). During this time, childbirth was still a confusing process to the people so they used many folklore practices that were not very effective. These practices and unsanitary conditions led to the high mortality rates during birth. Some scholars suggest that parents remained unattached emotionally to their children when they were young because the mortality rate was so high, but anthropological evidence shows that the mothers went through real grieving any time they lost their children (Todman 2007).

The aspects of childbirth, education, and marriage were the major parts of a woman’s life in Ancient Rome. Through the cycle of being a daughter to a wife to a mother, it was important for the Roman woman to remain under the control of the males in her life. The women of Rome may have had more freedoms than women before them, but they still remained very limited compared to today’s view of the modern woman.

Bibliography

Devilliar Donegan Enterprises. (2006). The Roman Empire: Women. Retrieved March 01, 2014, from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/women.html

Donaldson, J. (1907). Woman; her position and influence in ancient Greece and Rome, and among the early Christian. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

Mosier-Dubinsky, Joy (2013). Women in Ancient Rome. JCCC Honors Journal, 4 (2).

Scheidel, W. (1995). The Most Silent Women of Greece and Rome: Rural Labour and Women's Life in the Ancient World (I). Greece & Rome , 42 (2), 202-217.

Todman, D. (2007). Childbirth in ancient Rome: From traditional folklore to obstetrics. Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 47(2), 82-85. doi:10.1111/j.1479-828X.2007.00691.x

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