The Modern Scholar

C-O-L-O-S-S-E-U-M. So we'll go back to the beginning when Romulus, the first king, ruled Rome. We'll talk about how the Romans changed in some ways a lot over the years and other ways didn't change at all. I'll tell you two things that are definitely true. One is that everything has changed since then. Everything is different. And the second thing is nothing's really changed and nothing's really different. And we'll see whether or not you agree with that statement by the time we're done. We're going to have 14 lectures together. The first four I'm going to focus on the Romans in Italy. And at this point I have to make a distinction because Rome and Roman is kind of a tricky term. It can be the physical city of Rome. It can be a person living there. It can be a person dominated by people living there. It can be somebody living near there. It can be a political term. Rome, Roman is a little bit tricky. But Italy, Italian is geographical. So when I say Italy, I'm talking about the peninsula. As far as I know, all sensible people refer to it as a boot. And we will periodically talk about the instep of the boot or the heel or the toe. Or that Sicily is the football that the boot is kicking. And there I think you've got a pretty good mental image. And I'll refer you to the north or the south of the boot since we're not looking at a map. But we've got a picture of one in our mind. And if you've ever been to an Italian restaurant, I feel confident at some time you have seen a picture of the Italian boot. So first four lectures, we're going to talk about the boot. Lectures five through eight, we'll talk about the Romans abroad, when the Romans are out of the boot, extra-bootal, if you prefer, interacting with other people. And with the Romans, interaction usually meant fighting with them, being dominated by them, being ruled by them, paying money to them. It's not their fault. They were very successful. So lectures five through eight, the Romans abroad. Lectures nine through 12, we are back in the city Rome. And as will often be the case, we're talking about more violence, civil war, dynastic intrigue, lots of plotting and assassination. It's not really a coincidence that so many of the truly colorful figures from Roman history will be appearing then. Finally, toward the end, lectures 13 and 14, I'm talking about the empire proper. And in Roman history, empire is a technical term. It refers to the time after Augustus. They were so successful, the Romans were, that we tend to think of the Roman Empire as always having been there. But in fact, it's really the post-Augustan time when the Romans go back to one-man rule. It's the only way they can see out of their various problems. And in a way, it also brings us very nicely back full circle. Roman history begins formally with a period of kings. The Romans are going to run the kings out of town and become obsessed with the idea that kings are bad. Now you can be forgiven if you don't see a whole lot of difference between being an emperor and being a king, but to the Romans, it was all the difference in the world. They destroy the rule of kings in 510. They never look back. So when they are an empire, they are ruled by an emperor, even though, as in the beginning, they needed one man at the helm to control the Romanship of state. Most people are interested in Roman history from their own perspective. There's an awful lot about the Western world that either comes directly from the Romans, either as transmitters or innovators themselves, or for some reason is connected with them. And so we look at the world from our own perspective, and we realize that we use the Romans' calendar, the Julian calendar revised by Julius Caesar. We speak languages in the West that for the most part are Romance, meaning that they come from the Roman language. And it's too bad, because it's much more fun to have a Romance or Romantic language have to do with love. But in fact, it has to do with the Romans. And while they might think that they themselves have a lot to do with love, because the city name Roma, spelled backwards, is amor, the Latin word for love, they might see that connection but we don't quite so much. So speaking Romance languages shows our debt to the Romans.