The Beginning of a Mediterranean Empire

Summary Of The Chapter

Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel Gargola, and Richard J.A. Talbert, all recognized historians of the ancient world, have joined together to create a narrative of Roman history that begins with that tiny village and ends when Constantine adopts Christianity as the empire's new religion. (Kuriyama: 71)

With the Roman Republic facing a tremendous amount of change it became necessary to keep power under control and Roman values unforgotten. The Roman Republic remained strong because a small number of influential families dominated political life and took pains to limit the amount of power any one man or extended political family may attain (Levant:138). These families established political networks and set up a patron-client system. The patron-client system provided help for the lower status citizens. A patron (individual of superior status) would bind a man, the client (individual of lower status) to him in anticipation of future support. This system was used with in every level of society. For example, a patron who lends money to his client may have a patron above him who helps him. In this way complex webs of personal interdependency influenced the entire Roman social system and when several patron-client groups joined forces, they became significant political fractions under the leadership of one patron. With the Romans sticking together and all working as one it kept the empire stable for quite sometime.

In the Mediterranean, the Roman empire eventually broke into two halves. While its western half was taken over by 'barbarian' successor states (from about 400 CE onwards), a quintessentially Roman state survived in the East for another millennium (though much diminished from the 630s CE onwards). In China, a similar division occurred soon after the end of the Han dynasty (following the short interlude of the Three Kingdoms from ...