Summary and Analysis of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome: Based on the Book by Mary Beard
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Summary and Analysis of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome: Based on the Book by Mary Beard
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Overview
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
This short summary and analysis of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard includes:
- Historical context
- Chapter-by-chapter summaries
- Detailed timeline of key events
- Profiles of the main characters
- Important quotes
- Fascinating trivia
- Glossary of terms
- Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
About SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard:
A sweeping history of the ancient capital of Italy, SPQR contains all of the excitement of Roman conquest and a fascinating view of everyday life in the days of Cicero, Mark Antony, and Julius Caesar. Renowned historian Mary Beard narrates the major battles, the betrayals, assassinations, and revolts, the remarkable reign of Augustus, and the delicate balance of maintaining peaceful relations across far-flung provinces.
With brilliant analysis and vivid historical detail, SPQR was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist.
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504044066 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Worth Books |
| Publication date: | 02/07/2017 |
| Series: | Smart Summaries |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 30 |
| Sales rank: | 470,224 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Summary and Analysis of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Based on the Book by Mary Beard
By Worth Books
OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4406-6
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Prologue: The History of Rome
In the prologue, Beard argues for the continued relevance of ancient Rome in contemporary Western society as the source of concepts such as liberty and citizenship, as well as imperialist conquest. She notes that historical scholarship is always in flux as new archaeological discoveries are made or reinterpreted. She explains why she chose to end SPQR in 212 CE with emperor Caracalla's declaration of citizenship for all empire inhabitants, as this was the moment that struck down the boundaries between Rome itself and its foreign colonies. She also states her aim to reexamine the way Rome is commonly thought of in the public imagination, for it was more than a violent and aggressively unselfconscious superpower.
Chapter One: Cicero's Finest Hour
Beard begins the narrative but with a fundamental incident that provides vital context for understanding Roman politics. It is the 63 BCE coup organized by Lucius Sergius Catiline to overthrow the government and abolish debt. Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero — hearing of the plot from an informer — came before the senate to argue for action in a series of speeches called Against Catiline that are still widely read today.
Though it is difficult to definitively pinpoint Catiline's exact motivations — most of the available source material on the coup was written by Cicero — it is known that Catiline was embittered by a loss to Cicero in the 64 and 63 BCE consul elections. Cicero's documents are generally the most abundant and reliable resource for Roman scholarship, though they tend to be colored by their author's vanity and inflated sense of self.
After Cicero spoke to the senate, Catiline's accomplices were arrested and executed without trial. Catiline was killed in a clash with Roman military. Five years later, Cicero's execution of the Catiline conspirators was deemed excessive and he was exiled to Greece. This incident mirrors treatment of individuals suspected of terrorism in the modern world who are regularly stripped of their basic civil rights and punished without sufficient evidence.
Beard points out that this traditional view of the incident fails to take into account the fact that, at the time of the attempted coup, income inequality was rampant, and those in debt could hardly afford to eat. Catiline and his followers had legitimate grievances. Cicero may have also exaggerated the severity of their plot to make himself appear heroic.
Need to Know: The Catiline conspiracy is a distinctively Roman story of the eloquent statesman versus the ambitious would-be usurper, featuring shady machinations, grand speeches, open rebellion, and, of course, executions.
Chapter Two: In the Beginning
The most well-known story of Rome's founding comes to us from the historian Titus Livius, or Livy. Twin brothers Romulus and Remus were born to a virgin priestess whose father ordered the boys to be drowned immediately after their birth. They survived, were adopted and suckled by a wolf, and went on to found Rome, after which Romulus promptly murdered his brother over a land dispute.
Romulus invited the dregs of Italian society to join his citizenry, the "runaway slaves, convicted criminals, exiles and refugees." This band of degenerates abducted a group of women from the neighboring Sabines and made them their wives. While Livy defended these actions (pointing out, for example, that the early Romans took only the unmarried women), historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus, also known as Sallust, criticized the incident for its brutality.
As for the fratricide, several historians, Cicero included, expunged it from their records of the foundation altogether. There is a second foundation myth featuring Aeneas from Homer's Iliad, and Roman historians tried to reconcile the two versions by making Romulus a distant relation of Aeneas.
The date of Rome's founding is also somewhat speculated. Archaeological evidence points to around 750–700 BCE, and the Romans themselves placed it at 753 BCE. In reality, the foundation was probably a gradual merging of several small towns in the area into one grand settlement, evidenced by the distinct names given to Rome's seven hills.
Need to Know: The stories of Romulus and Remus and the Rape of the Sabines (as this incident has come to be called) are central myths that represent major themes in Roman politics: assassination, Civil War, and imperialistic seizure. This suggests that the legends may have been invented later in Rome's history, with the benefit of hindsight.
Chapter Three: The Kings of Rome
Following Romulus, Rome was ruled by a series of kings, though Beard notes that they were, like their subjects, more primitive than the title suggests, stating that "chiefs" is perhaps more accurate. In addition to the written histories, evidence of a Roman monarchy was found on a pillar discovered in the Forum in 1899, with the inscription "RECEI" or, "to or for the king."
Accounts from nearby civilizations, such as the Etruscans, also entered the historical record at this time, and from them, we further learn that this era was not only marked by violence and upheaval, but also by innovation. One king, Servius Tullius, created a rudimentary version of the census; another, Numa Pompilius, instituted religious offices with terms like "pontiff" that are still in use today. He also formulated the twelve-month calendar.
Roman society was spiritual at this time, though it was a practice based on placating the gods, as opposed to deities providing any moral direction or instruction. The census was originally used as a wealth-based system for organizing voters and military battalions. Simply put, the rich were given better equipment for fighting, and their votes held more weight than those of ordinary citizens.
According to the emperor Claudius, and confirmed by historical paintings, this era was defined by an abundance of fighting among rival clans and dynasties in Rome and Etruria. The story of the rape of Lucretia, as told by Livy, represents the end of the era of kings. Sextus Tarquinius, son of the king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, became obsessed with Lucretia, his friend's wife. He blackmailed her into nonconsensual sex, after which she committed suicide. The people rose up in anger and ousted the Tarquin royal family from power. Two of Lucretia's main avengers became Rome's first consuls, ushering in the Republic, complete with voting rights and term limits. The concept of liberty, in the sense of breaking tyrannical bonds, is said to have been born at this moment.
Need to Know: It is uncertain to what extent these kings were invented by Livy and other historians to make sense of their past, but it is certain that later Romans knew these stories and were subsequently wary of those seeking absolute power.
Chapter Four: Rome's Great Leap Forward
Post-monarchy, in the years between 500 and 300 BCE, Rome was ruled by pairs of elected coconsuls who were advised by the senate. This is the beginning of Rome as a republic. It's unclear exactly what this transition looked like, though it was certainly a long and likely violent process, far from the tidy version that ancient historians provide. Military and political expansion continued.
Rome's population swelled to 60,000–90,000 citizens. The first major road and aqueduct were built. Beginning around 494 BCE, lower-class Romans (plebeians) began protesting their lack of rights and political representation. This period was called the Conflict of the Orders and it ushered in reforms allowing plebeians to become consuls, establishing tribunes to represent the interests of the people, and creating a series of laws inscribed on bronze tablets called the Twelve Tables. What we know of the Tables' content offers a look at Roman life, with statutes regulating everything from permissible child abandonment to property disputes.
Once again, the Romans offer a story of violence against women to symbolize this victory. In this case, a patrician called Appius Claudius, a member of the decemviri — a corrupt twelve-man governing body, is said to have attempted to abduct a plebeian woman. During the commotion, her father stabbed her to death rather than allow her to be defiled. The plebeians as a whole were supposedly enraged by this incident, resulting in a general call for justice and the ousting of the decemviri. It was ruled insufficient to merely have the consulship open to plebeians; from this point forward it was decreed that one of the two rulers must be a plebeian.
Despite an attack on Rome by the Gauls in 390 BCE, Roman expansion and colonization continued, more or less uninterrupted, across Italy, most notably through decisive victories in the Latin War and Samnite Wars. The conquered people were forced into Roman military service, perpetuating the cycle of conquest.
Need to Know: With Roman influence expanding via military victories, Roman identity became very diverse, as colonized people were made Roman subjects and given some legal rights in accordance with that status.
Chapter Five: A Wider World
The further expansion of the Roman Empire is documented by the historian Polybius. The Punic Wars occurred during this period, the first of which led to Rome acquiring the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. The Second Punic War featured General Hannibal's famed trek over the Alps with his elephants and his decisive victory in the Battle of Cannae.
The Romans' ultimate victory is largely attributed to the Fabian Strategy, named for the general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator. The strategy was a war of attrition; the Romans initiated small-scale attacks on the Carthaginians and waited for their supplies to run out. The conquered cities of the Punic Wars became Roman provinces. Citizens were permitted to maintain their own local customs, but they were under Roman rule and therefore required to pay taxes, serve in the Roman military, and so forth. The parameters of Roman identity at this time were shifting as soldiers and traders moved freely among the provinces, intermarrying and having children.
Roman literature also began to flourish at this time, thanks to the work of playwrights Livius Andronicus and Titus Maccius Plautus, the poet Ennius, and the histories of Polybius. Polybius came to Rome as a hostage from Greece after the defeat of King Perseus. His perspective is distinct because he was both a captive and a citizen, and he was able to compare and contrast Roman and Greek societies and governments.
Beard argues that some of Rome's expansion at this time was not due to an insatiable lust for military dominance, but a response to requests for aid from allies of small neighboring cities who couldn't stand up to bigger, wealthier powers like the Greeks.
Need to Know: Roman expansion continued, largely due to the Punic Wars. Polybius, a native Greek, wrote with admiration of the unique Roman political system founded upon a balance of power between the people and their elected officials.
Chapter Six: New Politics
While Rome reached a pinnacle of artistic and cultural achievements in the mid-second and first centuries BCE, there were eruptions of violence as well. Carthage and Corinth were both destroyed in 146 BCE, marking the peak of Roman military might, but events were about to take an ugly turn back at home.
In 133 BCE, tribune Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was beaten to death by a mob after arguing for reform legislation benefiting the poor, notably by redistributing land owned by the noble class back to poor farmers. Gracchus's younger brother, Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, acting as tribune in 123–122 BCE, continued his elder brother's legacy by instituting legislation for subsidized grain rations, and attempting to further redistribute land. Gaius Gracchus was also murdered, at the hands of followers of the consul Lucius Opimius. This kicked off a period of domestic unrest that included the executions of 3,000 Gracchus supporters, Spartacus's slave revolt, and the Catiline conspiracy.
A conflict between Rome and several allies, known as the Social War, also broke out at this time. It was essentially a rebellion abroad regarding lack of political rights. It is unclear to historians if the allies were trying to become fully Roman, or leave the Republic entirely. Like it or not, the result was the former: They were given full citizenship and voting rights.
Of the Spartacus slave revolt, Beard suggests that it is most likely that those involved were merely seeking their own freedom, rather than being motivated by loftier goals of freedom for all.
Another prominent event of this era was the siege of Pompeii in 89 BCE, led by the General Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who had originally fought against Rome in the Social War. In 82 BCE, Sulla strong-armed his way into a dictatorship rule over Rome and vastly restricted the legislative powers of elected officials.
Out of this chaos, the "Gang of Three" (a.k.a. the First Triumvirate) — Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Licinius Crassus — began to pool their political resources.
Need to Know: Upheaval at home and abroad resulted in a power vacuum. Sulla took advantage first, followed by Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar.
Chapter Seven: From Empire to Emperors
Mary Beard touches on issues concerning the effective government of Rome's provinces as described in a court case involving corruption charges against the governor of Sicily. The matter was prosecuted and Cicero won. In addition to making Cicero famous, the case also established a precedent for handling mismanagement in the provinces. Cicero went on to become a governor of Cilicia.
Pompey began his career as a general, fighting King Mithradates, who had perpetrated a spree of violence in Roman territories across the Mediterranean. In 70 BCE, he became consul and, in 60 BCE, Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus began working together to achieve their various political aims.
Crassus was later killed in battle, but Caesar was elected consul and continued his successful military career, earning public support with his victories in Gaul. There were dissenters, however, that decried Caesar's savagery; Pliny the Elder referred to his conquests as "a crime against humanity." When Caesar returned home in 49 BCE, he faced a power clash with Pompey and his followers. Pompey fled to Egypt and was killed there in 48 BCE. When Caesar came through Egypt on a victory march, he met Cleopatra.
Caesar was made "dictator for life" in 44 BCE. As his power increased, so did the number of his enemies. The Romans remembered their history of "kings" and were anxious to relive it.
Need to Know: Romans saw the appeal of a strong leader, but they also knew the consequences of autocracy. It was a delicate balance to maintain, hence the twin Roman traditions of civil war and assassination.
Chapter Eight: The Home Front
Here the overarching narrative is paused to outline what is known about the particulars of Roman life during this time, largely through the lens of Cicero's letters. For example, we know that families of brides paid the dowries because Cicero wrote of his daughter's. Marriage was a contract between individuals, with little involvement from the state, and divorce was common. Women were largely seen as breeders and "adornments," though they were permitted to own property.
While marriage was compulsory, most women were given a say in choosing their husbands, although this was not always the case. It was common for unwanted babies to be "exposed," meaning they were abandoned on the trash heap, and for the children that were wanted, there was a very high mortality rate due to disease.
There were one to two million slaves in Italy at this time. Cicero, a wealthy man by all standards, probably had about two hundred. Their experiences were probably as varied as those of their owners: some were like members of the family, and some were savagely beaten.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Contents
Context,Overview,
Summary,
Timeline,
Cast of Characters,
Direct Quotes and Analysis,
Trivia,
What's That Word?,
Critical Response,
About Mary Beard,
For Your Information,
Bibliography,
Copyright,