It’s impossible to cover Roman history of 900 years in four hours of discussion and viewings. Instead we explored a highly selective set of issues that still seem important to historians today. These included Rome as the first mega-city of one million people: how it was supplied from the resources of its conquered territories and how its population lived. We looked at computer re-creations of the port of Ostia through which many of the goods arrived to feed and supply everyday needs. We compared the Republican government with the Empire that followed when dictators, styled as Emperors, captured the government of Rome.  We explored why  the Republic and the Empire both collapsed due to such pressures as the constant warfare on the borders; the pressures of large groups of ‘barbarians’ invading in order to find land to settle in; massive corruption in the governing classes, the drying up of the supply of slaves that were the ‘working class’ of the ancient world. 

​Rome grew too big to sustain effective control over its massive territories  as its armies shrank and became less loyal and it had no way of being able to use fast communications to manage its territories. Rome  was never a democracy but despite this, or maybe because of this, it survived for around 900 years, much of this time being a major power in the Mediterranean. 

​Meg Dillon

Our two meetings for this month explored some major trends in Ancient Greek culture, including some things we have borrowed from them.

My aim was to provide a balanced view of this culture as past historians have sometimes over-romanticized it. Its dark side included almost constant warfare between the city states and the Persians; the suppression of women and the horrible practice of female infanticide that was common. The ancient world, including the Greeks, was based on the economics of slavery, as men and women from defeated enemies were sold as slaves. Even Athens, the supposed shining light of democracy, had a limited but interesting political  model of government that only included adult male citizens.
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We concluded by investigating Athens culture and politics with a final look at what art historians have idolized, stunning pottery and a glorious development of realistic marble and bronze statues


Meg Dillon