Well here we are back again for chapter 6, and we're going to be talking about Rome in the revolutionary 1st century BCE. The 1st century BCE was a landmark period in the Roman Republic which saw the republic in turmoil., and eventually ending, due to the rivalries among powerful individual leaders and factions within Rome. By this period, Rome was the major force in the entire Mediterranean world. But there was trouble throughout Italy as non-citizens sought the same kinds of rights and privileges that Roman citizens held. A conflict within Rome itself between rich and poor, military leaders far afield, city leaders, charismatic individuals, all of these conflicts played a part. Well, I've gone into it a bit more in my textbook, but to be sure, the 1st century BCE in politics was extremely complicated in Rome. For example, Julius Caesar was considered a supporter of the lower classes, the popularis, the lower group. But he was from one of Rome's most renowned upper class families. So he was by birth and wealth one of what we would call the Optimates, or the chosen ones, the prominent ones. Cicero, the statesman, lawyer, and the writer, was lower class. But he became one of Rome's major leaders in the upper class. And so he reached Optimates status. So you see, it's not all just cut and dry. For sure, powerful individuals developed enormous followings though,among their particular groups. And this just led to open hostility and warfare within Rome itself. And this spread across the Mediterranean. An alliance of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, fueled by Crassus and funded by him, he was the wealthiest man in Rome in 59 BCE, failed to last. And it ended with Caesar in the field, being threatened with removal from office by Pompey, who was the leader in Rome at the time. Well, this led Caesar to cross the Rubicon River, in northern Italy. Leaving Pompey with no option but to flee Rome and to try and wage a war with Caesar that ran all the way across the Mediterranean. Eventually, Pompey, Caesar's great rival, was sabotaged, and he was assassinated, he was killed in Alexandria, Egypt. Caesar too was eventually assassinated in 44 BCE, after going too far with his newfound power, claiming to be dictator in perpetuo, perpetually. Caesar dallied with an Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, even having a son with her and bringing her to Rome as his mistress, when he already had a faithful wife, named Calpurnia. After Caesar's death, it appeared that Mark Antony would become the new darling of the Roman people. A tough general, with years of service to his state, he, amazingly, also dallied with Cleopatra and had offspring with her as well, three. Cleopatra has been celebrated in plays and movies for decades now and just what her special hold was over these Roman dynamos isn't know to this day. She was more than a sexual partner. She spoke many languages,and was a cunning political manipulator. But she was forced to commit suicide, as did Antony. Once again, in Alexandria and Egypt, when the Roman people decided they'd had enough, and the Romans just united under this new leader Octavian. He was very effective at rallying Rome and spreading propaganda. Octavian is better known today under the title that the Senate conferred upon him in 27 BC, he's known as Augustus, the revered one. Well during this age of individualism and the rise of such powerful figures as Lucius Cornelius Sulla in the early part of the first century BC, the dictator of Rome from 82-79 BC. Pompey the Great, whom we've mentioned, and Julius Caesar, and wealthy Crassus, and Antony, and Octavian, and a host of other nabobs. These were all big, big leaders of the early and middle and later 1st century BC, and they forced significant and dynamic changes in Rome. And also, this resulted in significant changes in Roman art and architecture. In architecture during the 2nd century BCE, and into the 1st century BCE, the Romans developed works that began to establish their own identity. Instead of having the rich marbles of the Greeks, they had to rely on concrete arches and vaults, primarily. Oh, they were able to import marbles and other stones as veneers for their buildings, but they really didn't have an abundance of superb native materials. And they began to build up structures relatively quickly using the concrete, the arches, and the vaults. They also improve the flexibility of the kinds of structures that they were creating. And they were able to use them for a wide variety of purposes. The concrete could be mixed up from lyme and sand and fitted with a stone aggregate that was strong and could even set up if poured under water. Sand from the area of Pozzuoli, near Pompeii, south of Rome, was especially valued. In walls, the Romans learned to replace simple rubble or cut stone masonry with the Opus Incertum masonry, described in my earlier lecture, Lecture 5. Around 80 BCE this masonry facing was replaced with more regular wall facing of cubilia, or cut pyramidal stones that were laid out in diagonal rows and known as opus reticulatum. In the 1st century AD, this opus reticulatum continued to be used, but often in conjunction with actual bricks, which became popular from the 30s CE. In vaulting, the Romans developed a number of different possibilities, which were all framed out with wooden forms and then poured by gangs of laborers specially organized into guilds, and also using slaves and lower class workers. They used barrel vaults which could cover a corridor. If the barrel vault went up a staircase, it was called a ramping vault. And if it's went around in a circle, it was what we call an annular vault. Specially built up vaults known as pavilion vaults were able to span single rooms effectively. As the Romans developed their own ritual identity and displayed it through architecture, theater temples of considerable size developed as sanctuaries. One of these combinations of theater and temple was at a place called Praeneste, Southeast of Villa. It was a pilgrimage center, where you would go if you wanted to pay homage to the goddess Fortuna Primigenia, the goddess patron of your first born child. In fact instead of babbling about it here, why don't we just go there right now and have a look?