Book Review: Rome, and the Making of a World State
The book Rome and the Making of a World State by Josiah Osgood covers a period of time between 150 BC and 20 CE, a transformative period of Roman history that saw the fall of the Roman Republic and Empire. However, this book provides unique insights and histories not often covered in traditional media.
Instead of describing a period of much turmoil that occurred after one singular event, this book chalks up an image of a crumbling republic that fell ever more so with each and every breaking of archaic traditions—suggesting that the Republic was meant to fall to form the Roman Empire due to the incredibly restrictive laws and systems of the old Roman Republic. However, let’s provide some insight into the author, Dr. Josiah Osgood.
About the Author
Dr. Josiah Osgood is a professor at Georgetown University; he teaches everything from the late-Roman Republic to the early-Roman Empire. His education comes from Yale University, where he would acquire his bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. Throughout his career, he has also talked about Roman women and their struggle for rights and how history has been documented directly (historiography). He has also helped organize events about the fall of the Roman Republic within Italy and contributed many articles to "American Historical Review", "The Classical Journal" and "Transactions of the American Philological Society."
Things I learned from this book
The Book of Rome and the Making of a World State is a book filled with so many new insights into Roman history that I cannot fathom how to put them into this article. However, I’ll like to provide just a brief mention of these insights.
The weakening of older traditions beginning with the Third Punic War
The only thing that most can remember from the Third Punic War is how the Romans salted the ground so Carthage could never rise again (probably a myth; the Romans often used Carthage as a breadbasket). However, there is more to this moment than mere salting—the breaking of the oldest governmental traditions there are in the Roman Republic.
The leading general of this expedition to destroy the city of Carthage was Consul Scipio Aemilianus. The first person in Roman history to be elected consul for two years in a row, something prohibited by the ancient traditions of the Roman government, To show a direct quotation for this: "Defying the Senate, Roman voters demanded Aemilianus as consul for 147, even though he was technically ineligible (due to him being consul in the year previously), and then, he was selected by voters for the command in Africa (Carthage). (pg.17-18)”
This first instance of someone being elected as Consul twice in a row would prove to be very common and even a factor in the fall of the Republic (the constant elections of tyrants such as Sulla or Marius). However, you could also say this was a necessary breaking of the rules, as it also directly gave a stronger voice to the people of Rome, who often clashed with the aristocracy in terms of power within the Senate.
Of course, this is one striking example of people being elected twice in a role into a singular position; however, there are more obscure examples too. Another simple example I found interesting was the career of Quintus Marcius Rex, who had a second term as a Praetor to finish a vital aqueduct for the dehydrated city of Rome. In fact, this one instance even included the Senate ignoring religious warnings just so they could get the job done. Another form of breaking traditions!
2. Accidental Imperialism
As mentioned previously with Carthage, Rome used its new hegemonic powers to imperialize new territories. However, book would throw a massive curveball in this respect with the mention of imperialism being a tool used by the Roman Senate to keep the Roman Consuls in check. The Roman Consuls held immense power and could practically do whatever they wanted in a year’s span.
Thus, the Senate often sent them away to fight in wars—wars in Spain, for example—to distract them and allow the Senate to do whatever they wanted without their interference. This simple political maneuver makes a lot of sense, which is why so many Roman Consuls were always campaigning in the mountains of the Iberian Pennisula and accidently causing wars.
<- A Spanish freedom figher, Viriathus, against the Roman fighters during the Roman conquest of Iberia.
3. The influence of the Gracchi Brothers in Roman Politics
I often don’t think of the Gracchi Brothers as having much of a huge influence within Roman politics; the only thing that really set a precedent (according to me reading this book) was being the first political leaders to be assassinated by rivals. However, this book showed me an entirely different side of the influence of the Gracchi Brothers.
First, these Gracchi Brothers were champions of the common people, as evident by their position as Tribune of the Plebs (or representatives of the poorer masses). However, I never knew that their core mission to help the people was merely giving the legionnaires who served in a military campaign the land that these very legionnaires helped conquer—something that could both solve manpower shortages in the military and promote the development of newly conquered territories.
Secondly, the Gracchi Brothers practically began a full-on political division within the Senate: a side of Gracchi Brother worshippers and supporters of the people and a side that supported the aristocratic and conservative Senate. However, even then, this very book provides opposition to this modern-sounding political party system. In fact, the author presents two sides, which include the Champions of the People (the Senators who advocate for reforms that benefit the citizenry) and the Champions of the Senate (the Senators who defend traditional values and the power of the rich).
Of course, there are more political figures who had a much bigger impact on Roman history than originally thought, such as some random magistrates such as Saturnus.
Conclusion
The book "Rome and the Making of a World State" by Josiah Osgood is a gem among historical books. His perspective on the fall of the Roman Republic and the destruction of tradition is the most unique I’ve seen. With him showing a few details every now and then that show this slow crumbling of traditions. Even though there have only been three interesting details I’ve shown in this article, there are many other details in the book that one can find by directly getting the book for themselves. Josiah Osgood isn’t a very popular author yet; in fact, all he’s got is a mere Google Books page. He's an underrated historian. Thus, I found it important to share his brilliant book—not to mention, he also has tons of other books that cover a lot more specialized topics than this mere overview of the entire time period. Go and check out his work if you have free time.
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