Augustus by Anthony Everitt - Interesting Book!

Started this book on the plane and am taking a lot of notes.  Since no one reads this, I'm just going to list my impressions thus far, up to Chapter 10 or page 110.  This book has made me realize that the transition of power between Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar was no walk in the park, nor did it happen over night.  It took years and wars and much blood was spilled.  Why do men do this?  One word:  Power.

1.)  Augustus was in the right place at the right time.  --> With the assassination of Julius Caesar, Augustus was poised, along with Mark Anthony, to take power.  There were other powerful players, but none closer to Caesar.  Mark Anthony had more military experience, but Augustus had more cunning.  He also had the backing of his family and an adversary in his mother, Atia, and step-father Philippus.  Although Philippus wavered, he supported Augustus in the end.

2.)  Augustus disliked to fight wars as a 'solider.'  -->  This point troubles me.  Though out history, Augustus Caesar had the reputation as a great leader.  I guess this didn't follow through on to the battle field.  He also had a great reputation for savagery, which I would assume, but was not aware.  Killing people after battle shows little respect or gravitas.  Anthony was even troubled, according to the book, to his treatment of Brutus's body after his death.  But like Machiavelli says in The Prince, power corrupts.

This leads on to ponder the question of Augustus's virtue; was it good?  It can be said that to achieve good by evil means is virtuous.  But isn't it better to achieve good by honorable or moral means?  I would like to think the latter.  History has given Augustus a powerful reputation.  By reading this book, it can be seen that Augustus calculatingly got to where he was and that Fortuna smiled down on him for some reason.

3.)  Republican/Optimates Rome was beyond corrupt.  But is purging the Old Guard Republicans a good thing to do.  Wasn't that just more of the same, but with the Populares?  Human life seemed to have a very small price to Augustus. Ordering killing came easily to him in his younger years.

4.)   Anthony's application of divinity to achieve power over the people.  Cleopatra styled herself as the daughter of Isis and Anthony that of Bacchus.  Anthony and Cleopatra just don't occur - there is a 3-4 year break between their first encounter and their future encounter.  Cleopatra has a child with Caesar, Caesarian, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene and Ptlomey Philadelphius.  Caesarian and Antyllus, Antnony's son from his first marriage to Fulvia are killed; where as the younger 3 are raised by Octavia in Rome.  Cleopatra Selene goes on to marry a King in Numedia, leaves Rome and takes her two brothers with her.  No more is ever heard of the them.  Caesarian and Antyllus are killed because they were considered men and a threat to Octavian.

Anthony defeated at the Battle of Actium.  Anthony's and Cleopatra's troops were stationed in Pelusium.  Gaius Cornellius Gallus, a poet, had command of Octavian's troops.  Agrippa masterminds the land and sea attacks on Anthony.  Alexandria falls to Octavian.  He does not loot the city, rather he learns from it.

Anthony thinks Cleopatra is dead and kills himself.  Cleopatra is not dead, but hidden in a temple.  She then kills herself, rather than be taken hostage by Octavian, illegibly with an asp.  This might not be so, as asps were large and had to smuggle into the temple in a smaller basket.  Somehow she poisoned herself, rather than be taken alive.  Done.

5. Roman Values cerca 40 BC -

• Fides - Trust
• Pietas - Dutiful respect toward the gods, homeland and parents/family
• Religio - "bind", bond between the gods and man as carried out by religious practice for preserving the "pax deorum", Peace of the Gods
• Cultus - Active observance and correct performance of ritual
• Disciplina - Education and training
• Gravitas - Dignified self-control 
• Constantia - Steadiness and perserverance
• Virtus - Ideal Roman Man, knows good from evil
• Dignitas - Reputation of worth
• Autoritas - Prestige and respect

6. Plague (typhoid fever) in Rome 24 -23 BC accompanied by the Tiber flooding and food shortages.

7.  Octavian and Tiberius both afraid of thunder and  lightening.  Wore laurel wreaths on their heads to ward it off.

8. Octavian dyslexic.  Interesting

9. Agrippa was a military genius and instrumental in all of Octavian's military victories moving from Republic to Empire.

10.  It took 17 years and many wars to transition from Republic to Empire.   It just didn't happen over night.  Caesar kill in 44 BC until the establishment of the Empire in 27 BC.

• 43 BC Caesarian War - Mutina
• 42 BC Caesarian War - Philippi
• 41 BC Caesarian War - Perusia/Fulvia's doing...
• 36 BC Caesarian War - Naulachus, Mylex
• 36 BC Parthian War - Phraaspa
• 31 BC Caesarian War - Battle of Actium - 3-4 more years go by until Octavian becomes Augustus Caesar and establishes the Empire.  "Restored Republic"

Tacitus called it "the death of liberty."  A dictatorship or autocracy was established.  The Senate still had power, it's just that Augustus controlled it all.

This was news to me as I thought the transition was immediate.  Octavian had to get rid of Lepidus and Mark Anthony.  Plus he had to have the Senate on his side.  All of this happened based on who Octavian had around him.  eg.  Agrippa.  Agrippa was a tactical military genius.  Octavian was a good administrator and manipulator.  All quite fascinating when Roman values are taken into account.

11. In the Empire, Augustus tries to bring back more traditional Roman values.  Lex Julia.  He exiles his daughter Julia and grand daughter Julia over time.  (There are also political considerations in their exiles which are discussed further in the book.)

12.  Augustus's success was based on who he had around him.  Agrippa in earlier years and a combination of Agrippa/Tiberius/Drusus in future.  Tiberius also lead many victorious campaigns for Augustus.  Augustus surrounded himself with the best and brightest.

Augustus also did much to try to continue the bloodline of the Julian clan.  He made Tiberius divorce Vipsania, Agrippa's daughter whom he loved, to marry Julia, Augustus's daughter from a previous marriage.  They had no children.  Drusus's wife, Antonia, Octavia's daughter, had 2 sons. Germanicus and Claudius.  

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Chapter VI - From Victory, Defeat
Roman Legion - 4,000 to 6,000 men, divided into 10 companies.


Chapter X - Fighting Neptune:  War Ships in Roman Empire
Trimere - 3 or 4 banks of oars.  Oars grouped together in 3's with one man per oar.  The ship was 150 feet long and would displace 230 tons of water.  Trimere could be capable of 7 -10 knots, but found it hard to cope with storms (wind) with square rigging.  There could also be brass battering rams on the prow.  The usual tact was to ram the side of the opposing ship.

Quinqueremes - One bank of oars with 5 men pulling each oar.

Great Adenture - India

http://travelpod.com/members/pamdoyle

Made it to New Delhi, India via London's Heathrow Airport.  Tomorrow, the Taj Mahal!

India is an assault on all the sense.  Modern mixed with the traditional from hundreds, if not thousands of years ago!  Holy Cow, yes literally; roaming the streets.  Kids that are professional beggars.

India was many things.  I can say that I come away a different person.  I made new friends that I hope to see again.  I made it through the trip!

Now for the journey home...  

Machiavelli by Miles Unger

Machiavelli by Miles Unger - He also wrote Il Magnifico about Lorenzo de Medici 

Niccolo Machiavelli 1469-1527  

Chapter 1:  Born into Poverty
Florence - pop 50,000
Florence of 15th century divided into 4 quarters-

1. San Giovanni
2. Santa Croce
3. Santa Maria
4. Santo Spirito

The four quarters were sub-divided into 4 gonfaloni forming the 16 traditional districts of Florence.  Gonfaloni or banners were heraldic devices under which ME Florentines marched into battle.  Gonfaloniere or banner men were leading officials of the town.  Florentine's refer to their neighborhood by name of the local church.
Popolani were prosperous merchants who slowly pushed aside the old feudal aristocracy as a ruling class in the 15th century.  Florence transformed itself into a vital republic, independent; dominated by merchants and bankers.  They grew prosperous on revived trade between east and west which picked up after the crusades.

1293 The Ordinances of Justice established a government that reflected a new order.  The right to vote and hold office based on membership in one of the cities merchant or professional guilds, not solely based on landed aristocracy as it had been in past.  Still the urban masses were excluded from political life.  The Medici's dominated the republican government of the time.

"It is hard to imagine the systematic study of politics originating anywhere else but Florence, where the average citizen expected to share in his own government and young boys were schooled in Cicero, Aristotle and Livy to prepare them for debates they would later hold in the Palazzo della Signoria."  Just like in ancient Rome.

The Family -
Bernardo Machiavelli m. Bartolomea Nelli - family originated in Val de Pesa, a wine making region in Chianti.  There is not a lot of information on Niccolo's mother available.  She could read as she made religious verse up for him so he could write.  She had 3 children.
1465 Primavera
1468 Margarita
1469 Niccolo

Family home near Ponte Vecchio, Chorte de Machiavelli - cousins lived near each other.  Opposite Machiavelli family home was Santa Felicita Parish where the Machiavelli family had a small chapel of San Gregorio.  Domenico Ghirlandaio's fresco's are located inside the church.

Santa Felicita Parish, Florence

Family farm Sant Andrea in Percussina, 10 miles south of Florence.  The Machiavelli's never wanted for food because of the farm.  It was able to produce food for the family.

Bernardo was intellectual, trained in law but never practiced.  The Machiavellis's lived on the margins of respectability, socially insecure as a result.  Bernardo was friends with Chancellor Bartolomeo Scala.  This shows that not holding office did not preclude him from having friends with high station in society/politics.  Bernardo gave his son a classical education in rhetoric.  [Livy, Plutrach and Thucydides]  Niccolo often felt the present fell short of the past.  

Other Notes:
Condottieri, Contractors who signed agreements with the state or principality that employed them as soldiers.  

Five States in Italy 15th century -

1. Papal States
2. Naples
3. Venice
4. Milan
5. Florence

Machiavelli was a secularist.
1492 Lorenzo de Medici dies
1478 Pazzi Conspiracy - Niccolo is 9 years old

Chapter 2 - A Sword Unsheathed
Savonarola came into Florence with a fire & brimstone message after years of civil war following Lorenzo's death.  Also tried a political agenda with "Treatise on the Constitution and Governing Florence," that had similar ideology to that of the Populani and Soderini's administration on a democratic system.  

1494 Charles VIII of France, 28 years old, encouraged to lay claim to the Kingdom of Naples against the Spanish King of Aragon by Ludovico [Il Moro] Sfroza.  Crossed the Alps following Hannibal's route. There is now a large foreign force on Italian soil.  Pope Alexander VI did not like the idea of French troops on Italian soil.  1495 Alexander forms the "Holy League," in which Florence did not participate.  

Charles VII of France

Piero deMedici, Lorenzo's son, now running the family.  Not as talented or friendly as his father.  1494 Piero leaves Florence.  He hands over fortresses in Sarazana & Pietrasanta to Charles III leaving Florence's northern border defenseless and to pay 200,000 florins.  Cosimo's son Cardinal Giovanni de Medici also goes into exile.  Ending 60 years of Medici influence in Florence.  1497 Piero de Medici tries to get back into Florence, but fails.  He dies soon after.

Piero de Medici, The Unfortunate

Late 1494 Charles VIII leaves Florence for Naples.  First months after his departure are chaotic in Florence.  
  - Ottimati (Optimates) return oligarchic nature of Medici power to aristocracy, only shared by a few people.
  - Populani (Populists) had a wider, more representative cross section of the population participating in government.  Piero Soderini's government in which Machiavelli served was a Populani administration.

Great Council modeled loosely on representative body which the Venice legislature/pool from which officers are chosen.  
  -  3,500 citizens - 1/3 serving a 6 month term
  - 40,000 - 50,000 pop of Florence in 15th cent.

Hall of Great Council - Meeting place for the Great Council

Hall of the Great Council, Florence

The Studio - Florence's University

1494 Niccolo Machiavelli is 25 years old.  1494 Florence's population pays high taxes.

Charles VIII achieved unity in the 5 Italian city states, they all wanted him out.  In 1495 Charles VIII reversed all of his triumphs of the previous year by loosing to Alexander's "Holy League," at the Battle of Fornovo, south of Parma.  [1498 Charles VIII dies.]

1497 Alexander issues a papal bull excommunicating Savonarola from the church.  Initially, the pope does not bother with Savonarola, but when he gets into politics and/or foreign policy Alexander takes notice.  Compagnacci, gangs of youth roam the streets in a campaign of harassment and intimidation as they want 'old' Florence back with all the fun vices, not Savonarola's new fire and brimstone version. 1498 Savonorola taken into custody along with 2 of his lieutenants:  Fra Silvestri and Fra Domenico.  Savonorola is strappadoed and confesses to treason.  He is soon killed.

Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander VII

1498 Machiavelli is nominated to serve as Second Chancellor of the [Florentine] Republic as a civil servant.  A position he served for most of his career.  For this position he was paid 192 florins/year.  In his position as the Second Chancellor Machiavelli had 10 -15 notaries and/or secretaries.  These notaries and secretaries had a command of both Latin and contemporary Italian to drafts documents from/for superiors.  

Pazzi
Medici - Families NOT paid for their service, whereas Machiavelli was a paid civil servant.
Soderini

Chapter 3 - The Civil Servant
29 was the minimum age to vote in the Great Council in Florence.

First Chancellor was a largely ceremonial writing managerial encomiums to the wisdom and greatness of the republic.  Whereas, the Second Chancellor was a less prestigious position, mostly handling the correspondence of the state & some foreign affair duties shared with the First Chancellor's position.  Machiavelli was additionally appointed Secretary of the Ten of War and Peace, handling the correspondence of the republic's military forces.  

Elected positions came and went, but the salaried civil servants were the ones who kept the city going.  Furthermore, government decisions were not made for the good of the city, but for the good of the political party, Populani in this case.  [Sounds stunning like today's politics.]  Machiavelli truly cared for the republic which he served.  Success depended on adaptation to circumstances in Machiavelli's view, which is only too true.  

Political success was prerequisite for economic success for men in Florence.  Machiavelli worked horizontally along class lines and vertically among networks of patronage.  Machiavelli's two assistants were Biagio Buonaccorsi and Agostino Vespucci and they were also his friends.  (Agostino was cousins with Amerigo, who discovered South America.)   Florence's government was judged to be weak by Machiavelli since decisions were made for strengthening and security of the party, not for the common good of the republic.

Catarina Sforza was the wife of the ruler of Forli, Girolamo Riaro, whose uncle was Pope Sixtus IV.  She was also the illegitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and her uncle was Ludovico "Il Moro" Sfroza.  Forli was 50 miles NE of Florence.  Machiavelli was sent here to negotiate with Catarina for the hire of her troops to defend Florence.  He was unsuccessful.        

Catarina Sfroza of Forli

After Charles VIII dies in 1498, Louis XII, Charles's cousin, takes his place.  In 1499 Alexander issues a papal bull to invalidate Louis's first marriage, so he could marry Anne, Charles's wife.  France enters into an alliance with Florence.  Tommaso Soderini, Ambassador to France from Florence, agrees to provide 500 spear men, 4000 Swiss pike men, 2000 gascons and 24,0000 ducats/month for protection to France.  Machiavelli is sent to France to assist Tommaso.   

Chapter 4 - Sir Nihil
Cesare Borgia, or Duke Valentino, siezes Forli.  Catarina is put into jail in her own castle.  Pesaro and Rimini are taken at the same time.  Cesare threatens to take Bologna.  There is quarreling over Pisa.  Louis XII says Florence owes him 38,000 francs.  Pier Francesco Losinghi replaces Machiavelli in France later in 1500 as Machiavelli was away for almost a year.  In that time:
  - Primavera, Machiavelli's sister, dies of fever
  - Giovanni, her 13 year old son, has fever and recovers
  - Totto, Machiavelli's brother, asks the council for more money to support the family.  Machiavelli doesn't have enough money to live properly while at the French court.

1500 Treaty of Granada saves Florence from further bullying from Cesare.  
1501 Machiavelli marries Marietta Corsini.  She is in her late teens, whereas he is 32.  [Piero del Nero, Machiavelli's boss and First Chancelor, marries Marietta's sister.]  It was not a romantic match, but it was successful never the less.  It was a step up for Machiavelli.  

Cesare takes Piombino.  Pisa thinks about an alliance with Cesare.  Doesn't go further.  Cesare decisive; whereas Florence is often indecisive on political moves/agendas.  Urbino fell to Cesare.  Urbino is 70 miles east of Florence.  The noose tightens.

Quote:  "It was a delicate three [France, Florence & Cesare Borgia] way dance among partners who circled each other warily, daggers half drawn."  Cool!

Cesare Borgia, Duke Valentino

Chapter 5 - Exit the Dragon

This chapter goes into Cesare's various campaigns. I will limit the information presented here to the major milestone effecting Machiavelli.  Cesare's troops were defeated at the Battle of Fossombrone.

Florence votes to make Gonfaloniere a life time position like the Doge of Venice.  Piero Soderini is nominated to the position.  He is the brother of the Bishop of Volterra and had, thus far, a distinguished career as a diplomat.

Machiavelli's political philosophy began to develop as he watched Florence flounder during Cesare's 3 Romagna campaings.  Decisiveness was key.  Machiavelli had a preference for order over anarchy, even when maintained by cruelty, but had higher praise when its done without cruelty.  Great disasters were often the result of misplace kindness.  He also focused on the character of the ruler.  Cesare had a reputation for deception, rather than military strategy, which worked in his favor observed Machiavelli.

Machiavelli also believed in observation.  He observed many of the important historical events of the day as the Second Chancellor of Florence on his various assignments for the republic.  He also did not like a paid army.  He believed in an army of the citizenry.  They would better defend their homes.  Florentines were not use to this as they had been contracting forces for awhile.  Machiavelli started raising an army of locals in 1504.

"The worst thing about a weak republics is that they are irresolute, so that all of the choices they make, they are forced to make."  [Chapter 7]  The raising of an army of locals was viewed by the Ottimati  or Optimates as a threat to their power.  What if the mob took over?  Whereas, the Populani or Populists as Soderini's administration was leaning toward thought this the proper route in the war against Pisa.  Furthermore, it was cheaper than contracting a troops.  Gave the citizenry more buy-in in defending their homes according to Machiavelli thought. [Chapter 7]

I found it interesting that Rome was malarial in the summer time in the late 1400, early 1500s.  Malaria probably killed Pope Alexander VI and Cesare was sick with it.  Not food poisoning as suspected.  Alexander VI dies and the Orsini, who were not treated well during Alexander's papacy, took their revenge on Cesare.  Cesare & Borgia followers took refuge in Castel Sant Angelo after Alexander's death.  Cesare also had to recuperate.

Cardinal Francesco Todeschini becomes Pope Pius III and dies within a month.  Cardinal Guiliano della Rovere than gets elected Pope Julius II.  

Chapter 6 - Men of Low and Poor Standing
Machiavelli was involved in the day-to-day management of the military affairs of Florence.  He was not trained in military tactics.  War was going on with Pisa for some time.  Leonardo presented him with a plan to divert the flow of the Arno and cut Pisa off from the flow of the river.  Machiavelli got Soderini to sign off on the plan and they started to build a series of ditches and weirs to complete the project.  From the start the project was fought with problems and went over budget.  (Finances were always tight in Florence as the population was heavily taxed.)  There was a terrible storm that alleviated months of work and the project was finally scrapped.  [Brunelleschi tried something similar in Florence's war with Lucca 100 years earlier that also did not end well.  The Luccan solider's busted the dams and the water ended up flooding the Florentine solider's camp instead of Lucca.]

1504 Machiavelli was instrumental in Leonardo securing the commission of The Battle of Anghiari, which was a major victory for the Florentine's 60 years earlier.  Leonardo had a hard time completing this commission.  The city of Florence had to draw up 2 contracts with Leonardo to complete the commission.  The painting slide off the wall, like The Last Supper, due to how the oils were mixed into the water.  This caused the plaster to dry slowly and unevenly.  Eventually, this was painted over by Vassari.  [Vassari is know better for his literary work, Lives of the Artists:  Giotto, Massaccio, Lippi, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Titian.]


More interestingly, across the hall in the Signoria, that is where Leonardo was painting The Battle of Anghiari, Michelangelo [Buonarotti] was commissioned to paint The Battle of Cascina.  But he was summons to Rome to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Pope Julius II in 1501.

The short story of David by Michelangelo - 
Maestro Simone da Fiesole was given a block of Carrera marble 9 braccia, arms lengths tall, to carve a statue for Santa Maria del Fiore.  He messes up the sculpture and it is set aside.  Michelangelo takes the discarded block of marble and out comes David.  A figure to symbolize the republic, an underdog warrior, taking on and besting a more powerful adversary!

Chapter 7 - The Stars Align  [See Chapter 5 for discussion on Machiavelli raising local troops for Florence's army.]
Gonsalvo de Cordoba, ruler of Naples sent by the Spainish King Ferdinand, defeats the French army 30 miles north of Naples at the Gargliano River.  Piero de Medici dies in this battle.  He drowns retreating trying not to be captured by the Spainish.  Cardinal Giovanni de Medici now leads the family in exile from Florence.  

1507 Machiavelli goes to Germany to assist Francesco Vettori.  Vettori appointed ambassador to Maximillian I newly appointed Holy Roman Emperor.  Maximillian wanted 50,000 ducats tribute from Florence and Vettori couldn't talk him out of it.  In goes Machiavelli to negotiate.  Machiavelli offers 30,000 ducats and Maximilian settles for 40,000 ducats.  Machiavelli observes he has no money and no means to support himself and/or his court.  Machiavelli uses this to his advantage when negotiating.  He also observes the rough life of the German peasants versus that of Florentine's.  [The Swiss held with Machiavelli's belief in an army of the citizenry.  Swiss soldiers had an excellent reputation at the time.]  

1509 War with Pisa dragging on...  since 1494.  Machiavelli recruited 30,000 troops from the hills around Florence for the defense of the city.  He was not a skilled military tactician.  Training the troops wasn't his forte.  (He was a skilled negotiator.  The two didn't meet.  But when all is said and done, Soderini respects Machiavelli's opinion.)  The strategy against Pisa was to starve the people out of the city.  The military stripped the land around Pisa of their crops.  The Florentine military was stationed around Lucca.  Florence then enters Pisa victorious in the summer of 1509.  A hard, long fought victory that did not bring much to Florence or it's treasury. 

In his writings, Machiavelli starts to write about Fortuna, the capricious goddess who stands for unpredictability.  Later on he also writes of virtue.  I found this fascinating and found several interesting essays on the topic online.  

Chapter 8 - Reversal of Fortune
1500's City States of Italy - 
Republic of Venice - "Venice is lost in a single day the fruit of 800 years of painful toil."  The Prince
Dutchy of Milan
Republic of Genoa and Corsica
Marques of Mantua
Republic of Florence
Republic of Sienna
Papal States
Kingdom of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia

Donato Bramate creates the initial design for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  Raphael paints frescoes in Vatican chamber walls.

1509 Venice re-conquerors Padua.

Caesar - Which Bio to Read???

Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman or Caesar:  Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy

So good reads says Freeman, but do I get the book or the Kindle version - Too many choices...

Went for Augustus by Anthony Everitt instead.  I had it at home already.

Cheers!

3/19 Update - Got sidetracked with Alexander:  Ambiguity of Greatness by Guy Rogers, but I did find this really neat website that has a book titled A History of the Ancient World Volume II by M. Rostovtzeff (Author) & JD Duff (translator)  ISBN 0-8196-2163-3 pub. 1933 - link below

http://books.google.com/books?id=fdKjpIWd0WYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Rostovtzeff/Duff also wrote a book called Rome ISBN 0-195-0045-5 pub in 1960

The Inheritance of Rome (400-1000 AD) by Chris Wickham - Stick To It - It's Good!

I started this book this summer after reading several volumes of Roman history.  This book outlines what we call the Dark Ages - after the introduction of Christianity into the Roman Empire.  The book is divided into 4 Parts.
Part I -   The Roman Empire and its Break Up, 400-550 (Summer 13)
Part II -  The Post-Roman West, 550-750
Part III - The Empires of the East, 550-1000 (Winter 14)
Part IV - The Carolingian and Post-Carolingian West, 750-1000

Jan 26, 2013-  Today I'm in Delhi, India.  Went to Qutab Minar Archaeological Park and saw some amazing ruins.  One shot reminded me of the cover of the book, so I will share.  I know it's not Rome.  I know the date is off.  These arches are Indo-Islam and date from the 1200s, but still, how lovely and Romanesque.  Their influence is everywhere.  ATB/PFD!  PS- That's me below :)

Qutab Minar Archaeological Park, Delhi, India

This is the type of book you need to read in pieces as it is very intense and filled with information.  Sadly I did not take notes on Part I this summer, but I have it outlined in the book and hope to back fill the info here.  I am endeavoring to take my notes digitally on Part III.  I have notebooks filled with notes that have not made it to the blog.  Someday...  I have time on my hands!  (No, I'm not blogging from my parents basement.  I am the parent and the basement is a real mess!  I write from the kitchen table in my very uncomfortable chair/lol?)  .

What gets to me in this book in the cyclic nature of history.  Rome was emulated in the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium Empire from the 800s on.  The use of Greek and the continuation of the institutions used to govern the populace.  It never ceases to amaze:  man's glee for power and riches.  "Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely," Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince.   If we flash forward to the Renaissance we see the same themes and topics ever present.  The ruling families stay in power for 1 - 2 centuries.  Art for Arts sake etc...  The best thing coming out of all these wars and struggle for power is knowledge.  

On several occasions I have had discussions with friends on knowledge for knowledge's sake.  When we see history repeated over and over again.  You would think more people would come up with this conclusion.  I digress..  onto the text.
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Part I - The Roman Empire and It's Break Up, 400-500
Chapter 2 - The Weight of Empire
After 324 AD permanent capitals were set up in Rome and Constantinople, newly founded.  Eastern Roman Empire (ERE) spoke Greek and Western Roman Empire (WRE) spoke Latin.  Rome had a population of 500,000 in 400; but was no longer the administrative capital of the WRE.  The capital was Trier in northern Gaul and Ravenna in 402.  

Some Roman traditions continued & changed over time...

An affiliation of cities made up the Western Roman Empire.  Each had it's own council called a curia that was traditionally autonomous.  There were close to 1000 at the high point of the empire.  As time passed more functions were taken up the the central government, making cities less autonomous and more informal. 

• 30,000 gov officials in Roman Empire
• Inefficient record keeping
• Communication & [long] travel time between cities
• Gov funded Senate, Legal System, Army & Civil Administration of the Empire
• Introduction of a new political structure - The Church

But it was the network of political structure that held the remnants of the together.  The stability of the political offices themselves.  The Senate for example was an entity unto itself.  Senators had political privileges.  There were 3 grades of Senators.

1. Illustres - full members of the Senate
2. Nobilis - aristocratic Senators
3. Clarissimi - lowest Senatorial grade

Heredity was a key feature in the late Roman Empire.  No one was politically important in Rome without money behind them.  Money was needed for brides and political appointment.  Also, many successful generals ended up rich.  Soldiers ended up with land after their service.  

Education was still something for the aristocratic and wealthy.  Romans pulled from the Greek.  They tried to emulate them at the height of the Republic/Empire.  This theme is seen throughout history; into the Dark Ages - 800s [See C11] and into the Renaissance [The Swerve.]  Rhetoric was the basis of learning.  Roman law was still used to govern the land and it was uniform across the Empire.

• Theodosian Code - (429-438) - had imperial laws collected and written down
• Justinian* - revised and expanded the code twice
• 528-534
• 530-533 - Digest - Juristic literature of the 2nd and 3rd centuries excerpted & systematized
• *Justinian's laws survived as the law of Byzantium (C11) & separately revived in the West until the 12th century.

Roman Army - always the Empire's biggest expense.  500,000 soldiers mostly stationed on the Empire's boarders and the eastern frontier.  There were also detachments in every province acting as garrisons and police.  Half of the imperial budget went to feeding the army!  The logistics of army supply were the most important element that linked the provinces together.  Transportation lines.  The land tax was the primary revenue to support the army.  There were also factories to make the supplies the army needed to function.

Gladiatorial shows continued on into the late Roman Empire even though they were banned by Constantine in 326 AD.  They finally ended in the late 5th century.  It also is relevant to note the mass corruption of the Roman government in the Empire.  

The grain and olive oil dole maintained the urban poor.  Grain moved northward from Africa, Sicily and Egypt.  Olive oil came from Africa, the Aegean and Syria.  Supplies moved on ships.  Gaul, Rhineland and Britain formed a smaller network for moving food and goods.  Same with Spain.  Land sales were recorded and there was a land tax.  

Therefore, taxation underpinned the imperial unity itself.  The book talks about the breaking of the Rome-Carthage tax spine when the Vandals invaded Northern Africa in 439.

Peasants - There were free and un-free peasants; but their lives were very similar.  They made up to 90% of the population at this time.  There were peasant land owners.  There were more peasant land owners in the East that the West.  One difference between the peasants of the East and West was that peasants in the East more peasants lived in villages.  Land owners and tenants lived side by side.  Many large estates were named.

Tribal communities still existed in some areas of the empire. Tribes had entered into alliances to protect themselves.

Patron-Client relationship still existed in the late Roman Empire.  Everyone needed a patron at every level to be successful.  Old families rarely held their prominence for more than a century or two.  Anyone who wasn't Roman was considered a barbarian.

Chapter 3 - Culture and Belief in the Christian Roman World
Family structure and roles did not change much from the late Roman Empire.  Charity to the poor increased due to the Christian Church.  Marriages were still arranged by the family, the parents to ensure property rights.  Husbands were a decade older than their wives.  Women were legally subject to fathers or husbands.  Widows could not be legal guardian of children.  Women did have inheritance rights, equally with their brothers.  Husbands fronted for their wife in public affairs.  Women had [full] legal rights in the later Roman Empire.  Women ran the home.  

The Roman Empire was not fully Christian in 400.  Many Roman traditions were falling by the wayside, but pagan tradition still continued mostly in Rome by the aristocracy.  Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Africa were also still pagan.  There was a substantial Jewish population in Palestine.  The aristocracy still continued to be secular minded.  Pagan festivals continued until the 5th century.  Than it went extinct.  Christians were dominant by the late 5th century.  Christianity had absorbed pagan tradition.  eg.  processions and "Christmas (itself, ironically, the direct replacement of a pagan festival, the Winter Solstice.)"  

There was a stress placed on Sunday as a day of rest by the church.  Churches were built over temple sites.  "Traditional public religion had been focused on the ceremonial building around the forum it the center of the city, but churches for Christian worship were often on the edges of town, or outside, in cemetery areas."  No church was built in Rome, Forum area until 526.  

Paganism and Christianity operated on different levels.  Paganism paying more attention to public ritual and Christianity paying more attention to belief.  Boundaries need between secular and sacred.  Between good and bad.  The belief in demons and angels.  Demons lived among pagan shrines and deserted tombs and Angels were considered holy.  Many peasants saw Christianity as a path to freedom.  They were not free in life, but would be free in the after life.  Uneducated rationale.

Pagan traditions were assimilated into Christian pageantry. Many towns and cities held processions to commemorate pagan ritual or to commemorate a martyr or saints remembrance.

There was a shift in what was considered sacred.  In the Roman Empire, dead people were treated as dangerous.  No adult could be buried in the city walls or inhabited areas.  Cemeteries were beyond the city walls.  In Christianity, martyrs and saints were considered differently, as people to venerate.  Clergy and then ordinary people wanted to be buried closer to the church.  In the late 5th or 6th century this started happening; first clergy than ordinary people.  By the 7th century, cemeteries by the church were common.  

"Shifts in cult practices and religious culture went together with three innovations brought by Christianity to the Roman world:

1. The church as an institution - power grab 
2. The political import of correct belief - power grab
3. new social spaces for religious rigorists and ascetics 

Complex Church Structure -

• Pope
• Bishops had two levels:

1. Metropolitan Bishops - Archbishops
2. Intermediate Bishops

• Clerics
• Monks - most monks were not educated

The church was the major land holder by the 500s & considered the patron in the town.  The institutional structure of the church did not depend on the Empire and was separately/independently funded, that meant it survived the fragmentation or Fall of the [Western Roman] Empire.  Constantine united the Roman Empire with Christianity in 378.

Donatist - "accepted no African bishop consecrated by Caecilian, they created their own rival hierarchy.  There were 270 Donatist bishops by 335.  Schism or heresy limited to Africa and lasted about 100 years."  It did not disturb the Roman Empire, but they were persecuted.

Pelagianism - "most lasting effect of this division was Augustine's development of his theory of predestination to salvation through God's grace.

Arianism - First among doctrinal disputes which trouble the Christians after Constantine recognized the church in 313.  An Eastern attempt to rationalize the Nicean Creed by stripping of it mystery with the relation of Christ to God. 

Nestorianism - Emphasizes the disunion between the human and devine natures of Jesus.  Nestor was a Patriarch in Constantinople during the time of Justinian and Theodora.  

Justinian & Theodora

Bubonic Plague - 750 - There was an outbreak of plague during Justinian's rule.  Justinian contracted the plague and survived.  First recorded instance of bubonic plague, arriving from Egypt.  Killing 40% of population at the time. 

Hand of Plague Victim - Not too pretty

Ecumenical Councils-

1. Nicean Council -325 [Constantine]
• Nicean Creed - Christ, human and capable of suffering, was seen as divine as well 
2. Constantinople Council - 391 [Theodosis I] - Nicean Creed adopted as orthodox
3. Ephesos Council -431 
4. Chalcedon Council - 451
5. Constantinople Council - 553 [Justinian m. Theodora/powerful woman]
• Monothelitism - a teaching on how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus.  Know as the Christological doctrine.  Formally emerged in Armenia & Syria in 629

The divisions in Christianity mobilized more people and got the word on the religion out to the peasantry in 5th century.  

Education still based on rhetoric as it was in the Roman Empire.

Chapter 4 - Crisis and Continuity 400 - 550

Constantine legalizes Christianity in the Roman Empire 313
Patriarch of Constantinople established 381
Vandals arrive in Northern Africa 429
Geiseric - Huneric's father - brought Vandals from Spain to Numidia, Carthage in 439 and Rome in 455 - "The Sack of Rome"  
Huneric most successful king
Carthage-Rome tax spine ended
Population of Rome began to drop over the next century by 80%
Rome faced a fiscal crisis to fund the army
Ravenna, not Rome, was the center of the Western Roman Empire with a traditional Roman administration
425 Economic revival continues into 500s
End of the Roman Empire 476 w/the over throw of the last emperor, Romulus Agustulus

500s-
West -  Vandal Africa, VisiGoth Spain, South-West Gaul, Burgundian South-East Gaul, Frankish Northern Gaul & Ostrogoth Italy 

• Northern Gaul was the most militarized part of the region and is the best documented part of the RE in the 500s
• Goths were military figures and Arian, not Catholic (see above)

Fiscal structures weaker
Fewer economic inter-relationships

• Artisanal production became less professionalized and more localized

Breakdown of central government

• Simplified fiscal, judicial and administrative systems
• early medieval property law had Roman roots/parallels

East moving away from the west

• Provincialization was a consequence and cause of the breakdown  

"Tax was no longer the basis for the state.  For kings as well as armies, landowning was the major source of wealth from now on.  This was a crucial change.  Tax-raising states are much richer than most land based ones, for property taxes are generally collected from many more people than pay rent to a ruler from his public land."

The Byzantine empire and Arab caliphate still maintained the Roman tradition of taxation.

Part III - The Empires of the East, 550-1000
Chapter 11 - Byzantine Survival, 550-850
Personal Impression:  I learned a lot reading this chapter.  I am fascenated with Rome, but reading Roman history has made me wonder about the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium Empire that it developed into.  The Western Roman Empire fell 200 years later than the Eastern Roman Empire.  It has that mystique that makes you wonder why the Persian weren't more aggressive.  There are many movies that make you want to time travel back in time and be a Princess like Eirene.  (Yup, I'm a girl. And no son, I promise not to ever depose and blind you.  Yes Princessa, You Rock!!!)  Digression again...  To the text!  

Byzantium Empire

Istanbul was Constantinople (They Might Be Giants) back in 550.  Hagia Sophia, the great church of that city and the Hippodrome was in front of the palace, a location for public acts.  Public displays of art are still available in the Constantinople, the center of the Western Roman Empire.  Statues representing as memory, to what the empire was.  Roman traditions had morphed, changed over time.  The city was more culturally homogeneous.  Less conquest did this and the decrease in size of the empire. 

 Hagia Sophia Church, Constantinople

Break down and split of the two sides of the empire between 609 - 642; east versus west.  Still over time, the west lost strategic areas, parts of the empire to war from various opposing forces.  "The Arabs took Syria in 636, Palestine in 638, and Egypt in 639-42."  [Remember Egypt was the Roman bread basket.  Providing grain/food to the populace.]  The book goes onto state the "empire lost 2/3's of it's land and 3/4's of it's wealth in 610."  Ouch!  The population of Constantinople declined as a result; from 500,000 to 40,000 to 70,000 in the 600s as a result.  "The paired down state survived the Arab conquest."

The empire relied on sea traffic to integrate its economy.  In the Byzantium empire the same was true.  The army was stronger than the navy it states.  The author does not talk much about the navy.  He goes on to state that the army was still ran in the Roman mode.  Locally recruited soldiers paid by the state.  The army had to defend the empire against the Arabs who were ever present.  Like the Roman empire of old, many soldiers became land owners -- if they lived [Evil laugh...  Muuhaha!]

The church was closely associated with the state.  The emperor chose the patriarch and the patriarch could easily be replaced if he fell out of favor with the emperor.  There were still processions on church holidays.  (Does this smack of pagan festivals???  Just sayin')  The author goes into a big discussion of Iconology and Orthodoxy.  Interesting.  I didn't know these two disciplines had there roots in the 600-800s.  I think I would have attacked the topic differently, through the political climate of the times via the various emperors.  

Fact that didn't fit into a paragraph:  The government was run by 6 or 7 major departments.  The most influential being the genikon, which controlled the land tax monies.

Eirene - You go girl!  Anyho, she ruled with her newly appointed patriarch Tarasios, 785.  She organized a coup against her son in 797 where she deposed (and blinded) him.  She made herself empress after that and lasted 5 years.  Nikephoros I (802 - 811), her senior financial administrator, deposed her.  Nikephoros was a good administrator and stabilized the government via reforms. 

Empress Eirene

West Africans Arabs invaded Sicily in 827 and began a conquest that would remove the island from the Byzantium empire by the early 10 century.  Crete fell to Spanish Arab pirates in 828 opening the Aegean Sea to raiding again.

Relative prosperity existed in the 800s allowed for the development of education in religion and classical literature.  Schools ran and educated the wealthy in the 800s.  They went back to read the Greek scholars; just like in the Roman empire.  (Cyclic historical reference - eg. Renaissance)

Chapter 12 - The Crystallization of the Arab Political Power, 630-750
*Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - takes place in France and Jerusalem in the late 1100s during the 2nd crusade - It just reminded me of this chapter and Orlando Bloom is super cute in this film ;)

The division between Sunni and Shi'a Islam goes straight back tot 656.  

• 656 Uthman ibn 'Affan, Commander of Believers and Deputy of God - Calip - killed in his home in the capital of Medina
• Syrian army vs. 'Ali Iraqi army to Siffin on the Euphrates in 657
• 'Ali's concession led to the Kharijites, [Shi'a Islam] leaving the Iraqi army 

Arab history hard to document prior to 750 (or 690)

1. Political - Caliphate built on Roman & Sassanian Persian foundations - preserved imperial Roman society longer than anywhere else in the post-Roman world up to 750
2. Economic - Caliphate richer and more powerful than any other post Roman society
3. Social - Arabs broke the Byzantium Empire [Eastern Roman Empire] in half

Muhammad 570 - 632

Jewish before starting to have revelations from Allah

Part of the Quraysh tribe - Future caliphs from this tribe

Had to flee to Medina from Mecca, his home town.  This marks the beginning of Islam in 622

Mecca - spiritual center of Islam

Medina - political center of Islam

Sassanian empire collapses 628

Arabs + 15 years Sassanian empire and half of Eastern Roman empire taken & the Arabs kept the territories together for 3 centuries

Rome-Persia war - Rome defeated 636 at Yarmuk River  (Syria & Palestine - Roman provinces open to conquest.)

Persian defeated at Qadisyya - 637 in what would become Iraq

South of Turkish moutains - 640

Egypt 639 - 642

Iraq & Egypt - power houses of the caliphate

Iran - 640

Arab armies reached Iran-Afghanistan border

Tax system Roman & Sassanian based & it supported the Arab army

Islamization/Arabizaiton - Muslims paid lower taxes

Societies & Cities remained similar until the 8th century - 700s

Greek used less often

Syria was the core province of the Umayyad government

Tax Revolt in Egypt 726

Umayyad fall 812-813 - biggest critique of Umayyad was that they were Arab, not Muslim.  Also, the Syrian army split and they lost their military supremacy.

First Civil War 656 - 661

Second Civil War 680 - 692

Third Civil War 744-746

Arab army in Africa 640s

Southern parts of Byzantium Empire 640s & 670s

Berber tribes 690s

Carthage 698

Burhara & Samarkand 706-712

Arabs occupied central Asia and parts of north-west India

Siege of Constantinople 717-718 

Long Arab conquest of Sicily

Chapter 13:  Byzantium Revival, 850-1000

Book of Ceremonies 913-920 & 945-959 - Ceremonies were constantly changing and in flux

800s - Secular and Ecclesiastic figures were educated - still based on rhetoric of the Romans.  What goes around, comes around; just like in the Renaissance

Network of offices and titles.  To be powerful you had to have land, money and education.  The Byzantines stove to emulate the classical Roman way of life.  Bible and Church of great import.

Slavic was the prevelant language in the Bulgar society.  Development of Cyrillic alphabet developed in Preslav in the late 9th cent. 

Bogomilism - dualists and believed the world had been created by devils.  This allowed them to create a social critique of the growing social difference in Bulgar society.  [Balkans]  Influenced Cathar heresy in western Europe in 12th-13th centuries.  

Great Famine of 927-928

Chapter 14:  From Abbasid Bagdad to Umayyad Cordoba, 750-1000

Abbasid Caliphate -

Abbasid Calaphate

Fatimid Caliphate -

Fatimid Caliphate

Spain as a Abbsid Calipal Province -
Berbers in Spain - 711
Converted to Islam in 710s
Berbers & Arab diversity - in settlements & way of life eg. Spain  (Muslim armies raided into France for another decade w/out much success.)  Spain on the edge of the Arab frontier.

Major cities under Visigoths & Arabs - Cordoba, Sevilla, Merida, Toledo & Zaragoza (considered small in size by others of the same time in the Med.)  Almeria - port city for trade in Med.

Spain as a Caliphal Province 

Spain - Caliphal province - decentralized - fragmentary tax system - military/political fragmentation - regionally diverse - bad communications - Muslim conquest caused society to move in separate directions - Spain a part of Western Roman Empire and Arab political environment

Christians and Jews continued to be influential in Al-Andalus culture, but political leaders were mostly Muslim now.  Cordoba had a strong Christian community.

Abd al-Rahman III 912 - 961 started three generations of strong central power in Spain, the strongest known in Spain between the Roman and the 13th century.  Within 2 years he established control over the Gaudalquivir Valley, between Cordoba & Sevilla; Badajoz in 930 and Toledo in 932.  Incorporated the Lords into his army and established a tax-based political system.  Military service remained very similar.  Also, in the 900s the ceremonial nature of the ruler developed fully.

Sack of Cordoba 1023

Cordoba - View of Cathedral

Chapter 15 - The State and the Economy:  Eastern Mediterranean Exchange Networks, 600-1000
Tradesmen in Constantinople had a robust guild system to abide by.
Bread was no longer free as it was in the Roman Empire as the Persians had take over Egypt, the bread basket.  Constantinople got their grain from the Agean and southern Black Sea possessions.  The city was smaller now.  

WRE, "which was a strong and centralized state and which moved large quantities of good around on it's own behalf.  Exchange in the post-Roman kingdoms depended for it's intensity on the wealth of landowners:  aristocrats, churches and kings."  The peasantry was exploited by the rich land owners.  The richer the land owner the greater the exploitation.

Life in the the Byzantium West changed.  They adopted a localized tax structure that funded a localized military used for defense after the Persian invasions of the 600s.  Transportation routes start to break down.  They don't re-emerge until the crusades.  There was a crisis in urbanism.  Building did not continue readily after 650 in major cities.  Coins are not unearthed in archaeological digs from 660 to 710.  Economic fragmentation.

The city structure from that of the Roman empire changed too.  Roman temples fell out of favor and were converted to other uses.  Tree lined streets were replaced merchant shops.  Things started to pick up again in the 800s in the Byzantium empire.  There is a demographic expansion after 1000.  Agrarian base expands.  

Syria did not see the crisis in the 600s the rest of the WRE.  Center of Umayyad caliphate, saw building in the capital of Damascus.  Whereas Abbasid taxes went directly to Iraq.  Caliphs were wealthy men themselves.  Arabs had more respect for merchants than did the Roman empire.  [Iraq faltered in the 10th century.

Egypt had great stability.  The richest Roman province with the most complex economy.  This continued until the 14th century.  Stability was due to the flooding of the Nile River and the production of grain.  Agricultural economy was carried out through a series of subordinate villages that supplied tax money to the capital.  The leaders of these villages would collect the tax money and forward to the capital.