The Empire Strikes Back

1. The Empire Strikes Back Imperial Ambitions of Athens, Rome, Britain & the USSyllabus & BlogProf. Michael ArnushScribner Seminar, London F10 www.skidmore.edu/classics/courses/2010fall/lssp-mfa

2. Types of state leadership & rule:hegemony vs. empire • hegemony (< hegemon, ἡγεμών), domestic leadership • empire (< imperium, Lat.), domestic/foreign leadership • direct: invasion • direct: colonization • indirect: rule through agency

3. Theories about the predatory state:the single-state model • Roving  stationary banditry resulting in the “state” (the Mafioso model) imposing taxes, defining property, encouraging productivity, investing in infrastructure • Infrastructure costs = potential deterrent to rival • Incumbents leverage current military technology and knowledge of geography • Incumbents leverage ethnic, nationalist and ideological loyalties

4. The single-state model:how can things go wrong? • Too-high taxes cause resentment; rival offers same infrastructure for lower costs • Rival brings advanced military technology and knowledge of geography • Rival assimilates culturally, assumes ethnic, nationalist and ideological loyalty previously owed incumbent • Incumbent’s dynastic ambitions excess force  potential overthrow

5. Theories about the predatory state:the multi-state model • Predatory states emerge as rivals, increasing territory at the expense of other states, incurring increasing costs and approaching a natural limit beyond which the state can no longer function • Limits on a state’s growth: • communications • transportation • military technology • economic productivity

6. Theories about the predatory state:the multi-state model • One potential outcome (as in Greece):multiple states co-existing, each with imperial aspirations beyond their capacities to implement

7. The multi-state model:how can things go wrong? • One state adopts a new military technology, or sees dramatic economic growth  advantage • One state exploits that advantage, creating hegemony or empire, but with added costs, esp. the costs of facilitating/protecting/taxing trade • States used expansion to increase influx of slaves = backbone of economy

8. How does hegemony  empire? • Recall: • hegemony = domestic leadership • empire = domestic & foreign leadership • Costs of empire greater but = fewer rivals, so empire preferable over hegemony • If costs of empire high, then preferable to use • indirect rule (agents) to • direct rule (invasion, colonization)

9. How did this work in Greece? • Phalanx: wall of bronze • Lack of distinctiveness  growth of navy • Trireme 466-431 BCE Athenian empire 431-404 BCE Peloponnesian War and defeat of Athens

10. How did this work in Rome? • Professional armyca. 100 BCE • officer corps, discipline • tactical experience • recruitment from an expanding empire • Professional bureaucracyca. 14 CE • maintain empire • expand when advantageous • keep the peace • Dilution of empire, armyand economy resulted in eventual collapse, 5th c. CE

11. Motives, mechanics, results, lifespan • Motives? • wealth; glory; self-defense; expansion of trade • Mechanics? • limited bureaucracy (rule from afar); law (standard of justice); market control (standard of trade) • danger: as empire expands so does bureaucracy resentment by locals previously empowered to act • Results? • peace and prosperity • “What have the Romans ever done for us?”: aqueducts, sanitation, roads, irrigation, medicine, education, health, wine, public baths, public order, peace …. (Monty Python’s Life of Brian) • Other goods: imperial post, lingua franca; specialization, urbanization; reduction of piracy and room for economic activity • Life span of empires? (Lal, Table 3, p. 37) • Economic prosperity? (Lal, Table 4, p. 38) • “until the expansion of the US and Russia in the mid-19th c., the Roman empire was the largest political, economic, and monetary unit in the Western world … ‘the largest Western economic unit for nearly two millennia’ “ (Lal, p. 39)

12. Conclusion: characteristics of empires • multicultural vs. homogenizingno change in indiv. mores create national identityRome, UK Athens, US • civil association vs. enterprise associationstate as custodian of laws, state uses law for legislationmaintainer of civil order of morality (“evil empires”)Athens, Rome, UK, US Rome, US

13. Conclusion: characteristics of empires • Why do empires succeed? • maintain goodwill by controllingprices/costs, create empire-wide laws and communication, offer a lingua franca, encourage broad participation, use indirect controlCREATE ORDER • Why do empires fail? • excessive taxes  tax resistance  fiscal crisis  social anarchy DISSOLUTION

14. Four empires this semester Athens 479-404 BCE –Pericles, golden age of Athens empire from a distance – Parthenon Rome 50 BCE-150 CE –Julio-Claudian emperors, 2nd c. CE growth empire on the margins – Roman Britain (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11128297) Britain 1750-1820 – Neoclassicism empire at the center – Georgian Britain US 1945-2010 – Post-war boom, Cold War, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq empire closest to home – contemporary US

15. Athens: introduction/overview • Sources: • Herodotus’ Histories (esp. 499-479 BCE) • Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War (esp. 431-404 BCE) • Aeschylus’ Oresteia (Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides) • Pseudo-Aristotle’s Athenian Constitution • Inscriptions carved on stone – e.g., lists of tribute paid to Athens • Plutarch’sLives for a Roman audience

16. Athens: introduction/overview Major events • Creation of democracy 508 BCE • δημοκρατία, demokratia: “power of the people” • Persian Wars 499-479 BCE • Marathon 490 BCE • Salamis (“300”), Plataea 480-479 BCE • Results • Destruction of Athens • Spartan hegemony over Greek alliance • Athenian rebuilding through guile • Athens replaces Sparta as the hegemon

17. Athens: introduction/overview Major events: creation of Delian League, 477 BCE • purpose: revenge vs. Persia / protection vs. future attacks • relations: autonomy for Greeks; equal votes in assembly • hegemon: Athens had executive authority, treasurer • annual tribute (ships, men, money), paid to league treasury on Delos • participants: 280+ poleis at max., on coasts of the Aegean Sea

18. Topics to be addressed • nature of democracy & empire – mechanisms and meaning • actions of the DelianLeague & the Athenian empire • democratic reforms by & political career of Pericles • Athens’ population: citizens, men & women, slaves, metics • money, taxes, athletic competition, food, religion, colonization, war • results of empire • interstate relations • Persian influence • Pericles’ building program • Attic (i.e., Athenian) tragedy and comedy • revolution, resistance and reform • relationship between democracy and the rowers in the fleet • next time: Mon., 10am, British Museum, Parthenon gallery 18 • Lecture: building and marbles (read the articles on the controversy) • Group work: gallery 69, Greek daily life (bring & use Garland)

19. Useful websites (from Demand) • Acropolis plan • Parthenon: the frieze(click on English”) • Parthenon: architecture, sculpture, themes(click on English”) • Trireme: Trireme Trust & the Olympias • Greek theater • Workings of democracy: Demos

20. Ashmolean Museum (1683 & 1845) • Describe the outside of the museum. What are its chief architectural components? • Find one item from 5th c. BCE Athens and one from the Roman world between 50 BCE-150 CE, and • What if anything do these objects, and the museum, say about empire?

21. Ashmolean Museum

22. Ashmolean Museum“a place to honor history and educate the public”What did you learn about empire from the museum’s building & collection? • Building • Greek and Roman / Neoclassical (symmetrical center with wings; Ionic columns; pediment with relief sculpture; laurel victory wreaths; arches); multi-tonal stone consistent with Oxonian architecture; it is massive, geometric, spectacular, majestic, regal, imposing, ornate, heraldic, dramatic, political, and on a grand scale; it conveys simplicity, purity, splendor, awe, grandeur, and wealth • Objects • Greek: elegant pottery; replica statue of Zeus as religious, military and political symbol; importance of religious worship; mythology and morality; Egyptian influence; perfectly proportioned, idealized human forms; grave stelae conveying honor, civic duty and loss; shared cultural norms (Achilles & Ajax playing draughts); economic prosperity • Roman: Julio-Claudian “prince” with an air of dignity as unifier of an empire; simple yet stunning statue of an imperial woman; Cicero as orator & politician: powerful, firm & ambitious; senator as bureaucrat; strength and power; drapery; man holding scroll; plaque from Switzerland indicating empire’s reach; satyr’s mask: interest in drama and the luxury to commit time/resources to the arts