Introduction
Society dug up and studied the bones of ancient Rome for wisdom, but these bones come from a foreign cultural organ. As a result, these societies did not always interpret them correctly. Whether they know it or not, today's students can fall into the same mistake. Unfortunately, we tend to assume that historical worlds are either incomprehensible, too distant to care about, or identical with our own.
Rome in the distant past is more foreign than we think. Distance distorts cultural values, but time distorts them even more. Reading about Rome without clues feels like putting together a human skeleton with instructions delivered via telegram. This article will tell you about some of the foreign concepts of ancient Rome. Some of these ideas belong to the republic and others belong to the Roman Empire. Everyone plays a role in the very substance of daily life under Roman rule.
The Church lives in the state
The relationship of European history to religion has been. . . best at best. Dioceses, religious communities, theocracies, crusades, inquisitions, etc. set the sovereignty of the state against the spiritual. Religious conditions in Europe have been hierarchical. Political bodies exist separately from the church or under the church - for example, Christianity's allegiance to the pope and the Holy See transcends nationality. The Church sat on earthly affairs and wanted to hand over its poems to governments.
Later, this "two worlds" idea gives rise to our current separation between church and state. In the words of Jesus, the modern world says "[give] to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what is God's."
Roman law and practice were not strictly hierarchical in that way; religion was a function of the state. In fact, senators, consuls and other officials would simultaneously perform priestly rituals and offices would provide religious duties.
Consul
Consider the position of consul, the highest political position under the Roman Republic. Two ruled at all times, and they were elected annually. The most famous consulates (or infamous, depending on your opinion) belonged to Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. Among their significant commander-in-chief roles and legal powers, consuls sacrificed before battle, dedicated temples, and performed the sacred task of marking the age of the republic.
The latter practice is particularly peculiar. According to historian Livy, consuls would nail nails to the walls of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (a title of an aspect of the god that translates to "Greatest, Highest Jupiter") to represent the passage of years since the founding of the republic. This was dedicated to Minerva, the goddess of numbers (among other things).
There is perhaps no better example of the synthesis between Rome and its religions than the doors of Janus, the two-sided god of beginning and end. The set of double doors to the temple of God represented the status of Rome abroad:open, Rome was at war; closed, it was at peace. A sacred icon represented the spirit of the state.
It is also the best example of Rome's relationship with the rest of the world. The doors of Janus were only closed twice in a thousand years.
syncretism
Students and popular culture often mischaracterize the ancient Greek and Roman pantheons, giving the impression that their gods and goddesses are in some way identical, that Zeus and Jupiter are essentially the same god with different names. In truth, this is the result of something called syncretism.
Rome assimilated regions such as the British Isles into the empire, and it assimilated belief systems as well. Some of the reasons behind these assimilations may be personal, as in the case of Cybele and women's increasing infertility, or an instrument of dominance. The mixture of Roman and Greek pantheons is an example of the latter.
These data show a big difference between Rome's treatment of religion and our own. The spiritual did not live apart from daily life and appeared in surprising ways.
History as character building
Carry with me.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman historian who lived from 56 AD. to 120 AD He is one of the most entertaining and influential of Roman historians for him cynicism and blissful word portraits of emperors.
In Agriculture , Tacitus tells of his exploits father-in-law, famous general and governor of Great Britain. At one point, he gives a speech with three paragraphs for Calgacus, chief and part of the opposition to Roman intervention.
To a skeptic seeking empirical truth, this belief begs. Not only did Tacitus allegedly find a word-for-word transcription of a speech in a foreign dialect, but the transcription came from the enemy . Coincidentally, Calgacus appears to be a classically educated speaker.
This is because "truth", as we usually understand it, was never the goal.
The reasons for deviating from the facts vary. Sometimes they are for comments on modern issues or the underlying themes of the work. Sometimes they are poetic - Livy's writings on the founding of Rome extend across the border between performance art and oral history. They were usually educational. Privileged boys who read works like Tacitus' were expected to become statesmen. Agricola's speeches served as tools for practicing diction or for constructing one's own speech.
In order to read Roman history correctly, these possibilities must be explained. It is not enough to either swallow the writings of historians whole or spit them out. You need to examine them for character building, oral value and general wisdom. The Romans read history to them, not just for accuracy.
sophisticated
When it comes to amenities, the biggest differences between Rome's culture and spring are in birth and medicine. Even then, they solved many problems that would take Europeans centuries. Bath and running water? A common luxury due to aqueducts and reservoirs that carried water down. Information gathering? They had regular censuses and access to a large bureaucracy that stretched across the Mediterranean. Contraception? They cultivated a plant called silfium, which was so effective that they cultivated it without existence. In fact, the birth rate dropped so low (due to silicon or possible lead additives, it's hard to say) that Augustus charged a tax on bachelors and childless marriages. Holidays? The island of Capri and the city of Baia were Las Vegas in its day. Housing? They had apartments called island .
Even the ravages of time and mortality encounter exaggeration. Infant mortality, essentially zero when calculating life expectancy, weighs on popular life expectancy assessments. Adjusted figures show that a child who turned five would turn 60.
Sophistication:Lessons
This is not meant to glamorize the past - slavery, for example, was ubiquitous - but it removes our pretensions. We share the same struggles with our ancestors. Yes, technology is transforming the characteristics of society, but the past has many different approaches to the universal human condition. Some of these approaches are even worth a look.
Many notions of history envision, at their simplest level, a rising line, a collection of improvements. Gutenberg made a printing press, so his reading skills must have improved. The Industrial Revolution introduced mass machining, so goods must have been better.
But history defies the rough ideas. Prohibition of non-religious texts limited literacy. Early machine work was worn out and consequently higher quality goods were replaced. The wiser approach requires specificity and caution. Each period has different challenges and wonders, and it is better to leave the fable of progress when reality is so much more structured.
The King's Tyranny
Rome's imperial history gains greater interest and notoriety for the public imagination than its Republican years. It can then be startling to learn that the character of Roman ideology is strongly anti-authoritarian. No matter how much time you focus on, the tug-of-war between lust for power and an aversion to almighty rulers is a strong factor.
This section will describe the culmination of that struggle:the shift from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
The Last King
The last Roman king was Tarquin the arrogant. His fatal mistake? The rape of a noblewoman named Lucretia. The revolt that followed this cruel act marked the end of the monarchy and the beginning of res publica , the "public thing" that we now recognize as the "republic." From Tarquin onwards, a fear of monarchy dominated the minds of every senator. Any man who rises too high can cause thrones to return.
And some tried. Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, a general, took the dictator's emergency position with armed force around 82 BCE. He would prove to be an invaluable example for Julius Caesar who would seize the same position with his own army.
Julius Caesar
That background is crucial to understanding the famous death of Julius Caesar, the rise of his adopted son Augustus and the emperors who ruled afterwards.
HBO Roma has its shortcomings, but the portrayal of Caesar and the concerns surrounding him are both accurate and gripping. Solla's dictatorship was a recent memory, having taken place forty years earlier. Caesar conquered Gaul and cultivated an almost cult-like status. He generously gave the prey to the plebeians (ordinary) and his soldiers, which gave him an almost fanatical devotion. He seemed ready to become a dictator like Sulla.
Peasants vs. the Aristocracy
Caesar's generosity was rooted in a hundred-year-old class struggle between the upper and lower classes. There were two informally drawn camps: Popular ("Favors the population") and Ottimati ("The Best Men"). The former gave the people authority and the latter preferred to keep nobles in power. Despite belonging to one of the oldest and most prominent families, Caesar cast his lot with Popular .
This does not mean that Caesar and the "men of the people" had everyone's best interests at heart or believed in democracy. Some Popular undoubtedly wanted to raise the lower class, but others saw a tactical advantage in emptying the mob. Regardless of possible ulterior motives, Popular vs Ottimati divide divided the republic in two and came to a climax.
Caesar's death
In the end, Caesar won a war, installed himself as dictator for life, and was stabbed by senators 27 times shortly thereafter. Roman hatred of tyrants trumped the senators' self-preserving instincts. The rage over his death created countless songs and stories.
But this small part of his life illustrates a greater truth about Rome. The desire and fear of one central power drove much of Roman political philosophy. Wherever you look in Roman history, it's true. It is an important topic for anyone who wants to understand the nature of Rome.
Foundation and Empire
To put an end to that story, let's explore the formation of the empire from this point of view. How did a people who were so intent on rejecting authorities end up embracing them?
Augustus Caesar created an empire, but never officially bore the title of emperor. In fact, in the two or decades of his life, he did not have the titles "Augustus" or "Caesar" either. In the beginning, he was just "Gaius Octavius" (in English:Octavian). The assassination attempt on his uncle Julius Caesar catapulted him to fame.
His fight to quarrel with a republic broken by class struggles is an epic in itself, but we can focus on the broad battles. He masterfully decorated Rome's metamorphosis into an empire - a chapter that would map the course of the next 500 years.
Gaius Octavius Caesar
For personal reasons that are still somewhat unclear, he was Caesar's only heir. He inherited the money, the influence and, most importantly, the racial loyalty of veterans of Caesar's wars.
However, he did not inherit Julius' fault. Instead of establishing himself as a dictator for life, he constructed a propaganda campaign to circumvent the problem. Octavian insisted that he was not his adopted father, whom he would restore the republic. But he was also a grieving son. He wanted to avenge his father's death, a reason that everyone could understand.
Fortunately, it just so happened that his father's killers were the most troublesome and stubborn senators. After some effort he cleaned the house and united a republic tired of constant warfare and earned the title "Augustus" and the princes ("The first man"). He boasts that he closed the doors of Janus for the second time in registered memory.
August
Augustus set about making a puppet senate free from discord. He was not a dictator in name , but he exercised the control of a dictator. He was careful to avoid the words "king" and "dictator", given what happened to Julius. Throughout his life, he maintained the facade of a working republic. The monument and its obituary, is called Res Gestae ("Deeds Done"), emphasizes the credit he declined, as well as his achievements.
The facade crumbled after his death. His successors could not find the balance between power and the illusion of democracy. Undoubtedly, no ruler has ever succeeded in this regard as well as he.
This is how an empire emerged from the ashes of a republic.
Painted statues
This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Please refer to my own Article for more context.
Summary
All of these events and images may sound familiar to many, but teachers often bury their lessons in an avalanche of terms, dates, and names. As a result, it can all feel like a bunch of dead ideas stacked like three. We can not imagine people living in these rigid concepts.
People once saw Caesar's death as the death of hope - a despair the Americans felt when they witnessed the Kennedy assassination. Once, as they do in Times Square, people gathered around a venerable consul who drove nails into the temple walls and marked another year for res publica .
Instead of fixing on dates, names and places, it would be better to draw a thread - a thought, a fancy - and see how it unfolds.
It will prepare you to read about Rome, about the Romans and about the wonders you can see there.