analyze reflect connect essay 1

The greatest era of the Roman Empire was the so-called Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, a two-hundred-year period (27 B.C.E.-180 C.E.) of relative stability and prosperity. Over that era, Rome maintained the largest multicultural empire and free-trade zone of the ancient world. The capital city itself boasted a population of over a million, larger than any city again until the Industrial Revolution. The Empire imprinted Roman ideas, institutions, and engineering prowess throughout the lands under its control.

At the time, many were impressed and lauded the Empire in expressions of over-the-top patriotism, extolling the many blessings they believed Roman civilization and governance had brought. (These voices, not surprisingly, were often given much official encouragement.) Others, however, were much more critical, lamenting the human costs of Rome’s achievement—vast slavery, extraordinary inequality, moral decay, materialism, and corruption among them. In other words, just as in our own day, different people, depending on their differing positions and perspectives, interpreted the times differently.

A divergence of views is reflected in the excerpts of two documents (attached below), one from a well-known Greek orator of the age (Aelius Aristedes), the other a part of the work of a contemporary historian (Tacitus), famous for his moral criticism of imperial Rome. Based on your reading of these documents and other information gained from your textbook, address the following:

(1) Analyze/reflect: What were the positive effects of the Roman Empire, and what were the negative effects of the Empire? On balance, was the Empire more of a positive or negative force? (Consider thinking about these questions through the eyes of different people in different positions in Roman society.)

(2) Connect: What might an Aelius Aristides and Tacitus of our own day argue about the state of our own powerful nation/empire? Are there any parallels?

 

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