L. B. T. Houghton, Matthew Nicholls - 30-Second Ancient Rome (2014)

30-SECOND
ANCIENT ROME
30-SECOND
ANCIENT ROME
The 50 most important achievements
of a timeless civilization, each
explained in half a minute
Editor
Matthew Nicholls
Contributors
Luke Houghton
Ailsa Hunt
Peter Kruschwitz
Dunstan Lowe
Annalisa Marzano
Matthew Nicholls
Susanne Turner
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Ivy Press
210 High Street, Lewes,
East Sussex BN7 2NS, U.K.
www.ivypress.co.uk
Copyright © The Ivy Press Limited 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this

publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage-and-retrieval
system, without written permission
from the copyright holder.
British Library Cataloguing-in-

Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this
book is available from the
British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-78240-131-5
This book was conceived,

designed, and produced by
Ivy Press
210 High Street, Lewes,
East Sussex BN7 2NS, U.K.
www.ivypress.co.uk
Creative Director Peter Bridgewater

Publisher Susan Kelly
Editorial Director Caroline Earle
Art Director Michael Whitehead
Project Editor Jamie Pumfrey
Designer Ginny Zeal
Illustrator Ivan Hissey
Glossaries Text Matthew Nicholls
Typeset in Section
Printed and bound in China
Colour origination by
Ivy Press Reprographics
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Distributed worldwide (except North America) by

Thames & Hudson Ltd., 181A High Holborn,
London WC1V 7QX, United Kingdom
52 Roman Life 112 Architecture, Monuments & Art
CONTENTS 54 GLOSSARY 114 GLOSSARY
56 Agriculture 116 Columnar Orders
58 Trade & Industry 118 The Colosseum & Circus Maximus
60 Coinage & Currency 120 Temples
62 Eating & Drinking 122 The Forum
64 Profile: Pliny the Younger 124 Profile: Livia Drusilla
66 Time & Calendar 126 Triumphal Arches
68 Entertainment & Sport 128 Mosaic
6 Introduction 70 Medicine 130 Statues & Portraits
132 Tombs
12 Land & State 72 Language & Literature
14 GLOSSARY 74 GLOSSARY 134 Buildings &Technology
16 Foundation 76 Latin 136 GLOSSARY
18 Site of Rome 78 Education & Literacy 138 Fortifications
20 Republican Government 80 Drama 140 Roman Artillery & Siege Weaponry
22 Profile: Julius Caesar 82 Rhetoric 142 Profile: Vitruvius
24 Imperial Government 84 Profile: Virgil 144 Housing
26 Empire & Expansion 86 Prose Writing 146 Baths & Hypocaust
28 The Roman Legion 88 Latin Lyric Poetry 148 Roads
30 The Roman Legionary 90 Inscriptions & Graffiti 150 Aqueducts & Sewers
152 Concrete & Vault
32 People & Society 92 Thought & Belief
34 GLOSSARY 94 GLOSSARY 154 Resources
36 Citizenship 96 The Roman Pantheon 156 Notes on Contributors
38 Slavery 98 Imported Gods 158 Index
40 Social Class & Status 100 Christianity 160 Acknowledgments
42 Profile: Augustus 102 Profile: Constantine
44 Men & Women 104 Imperial Cult
46 Sex 106 Astrology & Divination
48 Life in the Roman Provinces 108 Philosophy
50 Roman Law 110 Death & The Afterlife
INTRODUCTION
Matthew Nicholls
Traces of the huge Roman empire remain all over

Europe, from northern Britain to Syria and the coast of north Africa.
Anyone who walks the length of Hadrian’s Wall, for example, following
it for the 80 miles (130 km) or so from coast to coast through the
windswept countryside of northern England, is traveling through what
was once a far-flung Roman frontier. Yet even here, hundreds of miles
north of Rome’s Mediterranean heartland, there is much of Rome in
evidence. The Wall itself, and its string of neat, symmetrical forts, with
characteristic bathhouses and headquarters buildings, speak of the power
and organization of the Roman army, and its formidable architectural and
technological capacity—and also of Rome’s desire to impose itself on
new territory, by force if necessary. In and around these outposts, finds
of pottery, coins, clothing, altars, and even private letters show how the
soldiers and settlers brought with them ways of living, eating, trading,
worshipping, thinking, and writing that began to transform Britain—along
Marcus Tullius Cicero,
Roman statesman, with many other parts of Europe, north Africa and the Middle East—into a
philosopher, lawyer, Roman province, leaving a lasting legacy. Such small finds from this great
and scholar. military monument also remind us that historical events are made up from
Remembered as one thousands of smaller, private, stories.
of the greatest This picture is repeated at hundreds of sites, military and civilian,
orators and his writings
public and private, all over the empire. We also have a rich body of
are the epitome of
Roman Prose. surviving literature from Roman times, transmitted over the centuries
in copies of copies—so we can set Hadrian’s Wall in its context by
reading what ancient historical writers and poets said about Rome’s
conquest of Britain. From epic poetry to history, from speeches to
medical treatises to recipes, this rich body of literature allows scholars to
explore very different aspects of Rome’s long and colorful history—and
newly discovered texts are still turning up, in the dry sands of Egypt, in
carbonized books from Herculaneum, and in old libraries.
This study reveals a fascinating people. At times the Romans can
seem similar to us, with their concern for home comforts—central
6 g Introduction
The Roman empire
still imposes on to the
modern world with
Hadrian’s wall, the
defensive fortification
in northern England,
cutting its way across
the landscape nearly
2000 years since its
creation.
heating, proper water supplies, and drains—and their passion for urban
life, for good communications, for fine food and wine, for literature,
entertainment, and status. But they were also very different. Think of
slavery and gladiatorial combat, their world of gods and sacrifices and
worship of the living emperor. The grand statues and monuments that
filled their public spaces set the mold for many modern cities, but speak
of a triumphalism that has now fallen from fashion. In truth, the Romans
were both familiar and foreign, which makes the study of their lives
and times endlessly fascinating. The contributors to this book ably and
enthusiastically take on the challenge of bringing to vivid life the very best
and the worst of this ambitious, inventive, cultured, and at times brutal
and licentious episode in western history.
Introduction g 7
Public provinces
Imperial provinces
Client states
0 500 1000 miles
0 500 1000 1500 kilometers
753 bce Foundation fifth–third C bce Growth ca.133–44 bce Crisis of March 15th, 44 BCE
of Rome of Roman power the republic Death of Julius Caesar
Legendary foundation Roman power spread A period of unrest and Rome’s dictator felled by
date—but, according to across Italy through repeated civil war, as senators resentful of his
some modern archaeology, warfare and treaties. Rome’s republican dominance, triggering
not far off the mark. constitution struggled to further civil war.
contain imperial
264–146 bce Punic Wars expansion, individual
509 bce Formation A series of three draining political ambition, and 31 BCE –14 CE Reign of
of Roman republic wars against Carthage, inequality. Augustus
Expulsion of the last of Rome’s greatest rival; Rome’s first emperor.
Rome’s kings: a new final victory allowed Expansion and
republican constitution Rome’s Mediterranean 60–53 bce “First consolidation of empire;
delivered safeguards empire to expand. triumvirate” foundation of a
against excessive Political alliance of three long-lived system of
individual power. of Rome’s greatest one-man rule.
figures: Caesar, Pompey,
and Crassus.
8 g Introduction
An overview of Roman history
The history of ancient Rome lasted well over a thousand years, from
its legendary foundation on April 21st 753 BCE through to the fall of the
(western) Roman empire on September 4th 476 CE. Its empire covered
much of Europe and parts of north Africa and the Middle East. Its legacy
in almost every area of human activity remains to the present day.
This huge span of geography and history can be hard to navigate,
but the timeline here shows some major landmarks in Roman history and
provides a framework of reference for the rest of the book. Likewise the
map, which shows the empire at its greatest extent in the early second
century CE, locates Rome itself and charts the Mediterranean world in
which its influence eventually spread from the draughty outpost marked
by Hadrian’s Wall to the borders of modern Iraq.
31 BCE –68 CE Julio- 96–192 CE Adoptive/ 193–235 CE Severan 306–337 CE Rule of

Claudian dynasty of Antonine emperors Dynasty Constantine
emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, A dynasty of African Rome’s first Christian
Augustus, Tiberius, Antoninus Pius, Marcus emperors who came to emperor; founded
Caligula, Claudius, Aurelius, Lucius Verus, power after a period of Constantinople
and Nero. and Commodus were civil war. (Byzantium) as an
emperor by adoption, eastern capital.
rather than the
68–97 CE Flavian dynasty transmission of power 235–284 CE Third-century
Vespasian, Titus, and from father to a son: a crisis 476 CE End of western
Domitian. largely stable, prosperous Short-lived emperors, Roman empire
period. inflation, plague, Waves of invaders
invasion, discord, brought the western
98–117 CE Reign of Trajan and rebellion. empire to its knees but
Rome’s “best emperor;” the eastern empire of
under his rule, the empire Byzantium survived
reached its fullest 293–313 CE Tetrarchy until 1453.
geographical extent. Diocletian’s new system
of rule by four emperors,
which helped to put an
end to crisis.
Introduction g 9
How this book works
In university departments across the world, specialist classicists and
ancient historians cover very diverse aspects of Rome’s life and legacy,
studying language and literature, history, art and architecture, and
archaeology. The seven chapters of this book aim, very broadly, to explore
these key areas.
Compressing this richness into just 50, single-page, topics was
difficult, but my hope is that readers will find here both the familiar—
legions, gladiators, aqueducts, emperors—as well as new concepts, such
as rhetoric, divination, and the way Romans treated people in death as
well as in life, suggesting something of the fascinating wealth of material
that the archaeological and written records provide.
Each entry is, like Caesar’s Gaul, divided into three parts. The main
30-second history sets out the topic at hand. In a single sentence, the
3-second summary offers a quick synopsis, while a separate panel,
the 3-minute excavation, provides a further aspect or something to
ponder on. You can dip in and out of the chapters or read them through;
each one is prefaced by a glossary to help with unfamiliar terminology and
concepts. There are also profiles, one per chapter, of key individuals who,
in their time, proved highly influential on society at large, beginning with
Caesar himself.
The first chapter, Land & State, opens with the legendary foundation
of Rome, and charts its political development from kingdom to republic to
empire; it ends with a look at the famous legions that powered Rome’s
rise from city-state to global capital. People & Society explores aspects
of the way Roman society operated, from the status and interrelation
of citizens and slaves, men and women, to the framework of law and
governance that bound the empire together. Roman Life considers some
of the ways in which these people lived and worked; the fabric of the
ordinary and economic life is increasingly as much of interest to ancient
historians as the emperors and elite. The succeeding chapters, Language
& Literature and Thought & Belief, show us how Roman society spoke,
10 g Introduction
Augustus, the founder
of the Roman empire
and its first emperor.
Best known for the
huge expansion that
enlarged the empire,
but was successful in
reforming taxes,
developing road
networks and
rebuilding much of
the city of Rome.
thought, and wrote about itself. The final chapters, Architecture,

Monuments & Art and Buildings & Technology reveal the practical side of
Roman achievement, its temples, circuses, mosaics, bathhouses, and roads
whose monumental remains—like Hadrian’s Wall—cannot fail to captivate
and impress the traveler. All roads led to Rome, and we hope that this
book will also take you there, by a variety of different routes.
Introduction g 11
g
LAND & STATE
LAND & STATE
GLOSSARY
Aeneid An epic poem in 12 books cavalry See army terms

composed by Rome’s greatest poet, Virgil,
with the backing of Augustus. An instant cohort, century See army terms
classic, it tells of the wanderings of Aeneas,
a Trojan prince who flees the ruins of Troy to consul The top magistrate of the Roman
travel to Italy and found the Roman people. republic; each year two were elected, to keep
each other in check.
army terms The Roman army’s composition
and strength varied over time, but during Dacia An eastern Roman province in what is
much of the Roman empire it fielded a total now Romania, finally conquered by Trajan. An
of about 30 legions. Each legion consisted of important source of metal ore.
heavy infantry legionary soldiers and non-
citizen auxiliary troops who were levied from Gaul An area of Roman imperial rule covering
one of Rome’s allies and could use a variety present-day France, western Switzerland,
of weapons and tactics. There would also be northern Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and
a wing of mounted cavalry troops. Each legion western Germany. Its conquest was
contained a small cadre of senior officers and completed by Julius Caesar in the 50s BCE.
a number of tactical subdivisions: ten cohorts The region was divided into several Roman
(except the double-strength first cohort) provinces and remained within the empire
containing six centuries of 80 men each, until its dissolution centuries later.
commanded by centurions. At the lowest
level of command legionaries were organized gladius Double-edged, pointed sword carried
into eight-man tent parties each called a by legionaries; replaced in the later empire by
contubernium, commanded by a decanus. The the longer spatha.
whole system helped to foster comradeship
and a sense of unit and legion loyalty. Iberia The peninsula containing modern Spain
and Portugal was conquered by Rome during
auctoritas Unofficial power based on the Punic Wars and divided into the various
personality and ability to compel respect, provinces of Roman Hispania from 197 BCE.
rather than an official title or office. An
important basis of the first emperor
Augustus’s long reign.
14 g Land & State

imperator A title spontaneously bestowed Punic Wars A series of three bitter wars
by victorious Roman troops on their between Rome and Carthage (a powerful rival
commanding general; eventually became part state on the coast of North Africa), fought in
of the titulature of the Roman emperors. It the third to second centuries BCE, culminating
also refers to the imperium or formal power with the fall and sack of Carthage in 146 BCE.
possessed by a Roman magistrate.
princeps A Latin word that translates
Latium The region of central Italy where roughly as “first citizen.” A word to refer
Rome was founded; home of the Latins. to the emporer.
legionary See army terms principate Name for the system of one-man
rule established by Augustus, Rome’s first
Republic Work of fourth-century BCE Greek emperor or princeps.
philosophy by Plato, which discusses the idea
of justice and different forms of government. Saeptimontium A religious festival involving
Includes the idea of an ideal state governed Rome’s “seven” (septem) or possibly “fortified”
by philosopher-kings. (saepti) hills (montes)—although the selection
of hills does not include the seven usually
pilum (pl. pila) Iron-tipped wooden javelin; thought of as the most important.
each Roman legionary carried two pila to hurl
at the enemy in battle. Rubicon River A small river in northeast Italy.
Famous only for being the first-century BCE
plebeian order, plebs The non-patrician boundary of Italy: Julius Caesar committed an
citizenry of Rome. Initially excluded act of civil war when he crossed the river with
from power, they won equality and his army.
political representation by 287 BCE through
the “conflict of the orders,” a two-century scutum A legionary’s shield. Typically a
long struggle in which they threatened to curved rectangle with a central boss and
leave Rome altogether if their demands carrying handles.
were not met.
Glossary g 15
FOUNDATION
the 30-second history
Romulus and Remus were the
twin sons of the war-god Mars and a mortal
princess. Condemned (like the young Moses) by
3-SECOND SURVEY a jealous male relative to abandonment by the RELATED HISTORIES
Rome’s legendary river, the babies were saved by miraculous See also
foundation story is a myth, SITE OF ROME
interventions, suckled by a wolf, and rescued by
but one firmly embedded page 18
in Roman identity that
a kindly shepherd and his wife. Grown to
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
appears to echo aspects adulthood, they discovered their ancestry and page 20
of historical truth chose to found a new city. In a quarrel over its
supported by the VIRGIL
proper site, Romulus killed Remus and named page 84
archaeological record.
his city after himself, founding a dynasty of
kings that lasted until their overthrow
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION inaugurated the Republic. Many elements of this 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
AENEAS
Romans told various unsettling story pointed forward to aspects of Son of the Trojan lord Anchises
versions of this story. and the goddess Aphrodite. A
One traced Romulus’s
Roman history and identity—military toughness bit part in Homer’s Iliad, he is
(sons of Mars, nourished by a wolf) but also a center stage in the Roman epic
ancestry back farther to the Aeneid, where he travels to
Aeneas, a Trojan prince capacity for civil war and violence (the brothers’ Italy to found the Roman race
fleeing the sack of Troy, quarrel). Archaeology tells its own story. The site FAUSTULUS
who eventually reached Shepherd who, with his wife
the future site of Rome of Rome seems to have been inhabited at the Acca Larentia, found and
after toiling round the dawn of the Iron Age, around the tenth to ninth raised the abandoned twins
Mediterranean: this was centuries bce, a period in which Rome was a RHEA SILVIA
the subject of Virgil’s epic Daughter of King Numitor of
meeting place between growing powerblocks Alba Longa, an ancient city
poem, the Aeneid. Roman
in Etrutria, Latium, and Samnium. Evidence of near Rome, and mother of
historical imagination was Romulus and Remus
happy to accommodate ninth-century bce settlement on the Palatine
these myths alongside Hill resonates with the traditional belief that
the earliest strands of
Rome’s recorded history,
Romulus founded the city here in 753 bce. 30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
identifying sacred places in
the city where they were
The truth of Rome’s
thought to have occurred.
legends may not bear
scrutiny, but the city
takes its name from its
16 g Land & State most famous son.
SITE OF ROME
Rome is, famously, a city of seven
hills but which seven is open to interpretation;
there are actually well over a dozen. What is
3-SECOND SURVEY clear is that Rome owes much of its character RELATED HISTORIES
The hills and valleys of and fortune to its location. Important land See also
Rome, located at a crucial FOUNDATION
routes converge here and travelers between
transport crossroads, page 16
acquired legendary and
Etruria, Latium, and Campania could cross the
TRADE & INDUSTRY
historical associations and river Tiber at Tiber Island. The river is also page 58
shaped the city’s destiny. navigable down to the sea 18 miles (30 km)
THE FORUM
away at Ostia, making the site a crucial page 122
interchange for trade across and beyond Italy.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION AQUEDUCTS & SEWERS
A Roman city religious The city’s hills—spurs whose sides have been page 150
festival called the cut away by tributary streams flowing to the
“saeptimontium” may be river—offered security, fresh air in summer, and
an early reference to the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
seven hills (montes) of
building rock (a rather crumbly brown tufa); they
TARQUINIUS PRISCUS
Rome—but eight “hills” became the nucleus of early separate village 579 bce
participated in it, not communities. The intervening valley land Fifth of Rome’s legendary
kings, credited with overseeing
including the Capitoline, provided meeting and trading places which, the draining of the marshy
Aventine, Quirinal, or forum area with Rome’s Great
Viminal, four of the city’s when drained and paved, turned into Rome’s Sewer, the Cloaca Maxima
biggest. The seven-headed forum spaces. After Rome’s hilltop villages had
beast of the Book of joined together into a single city, the individual
Revelation may be another 30-SECOND TEXT
hills retained characters and traditions of their Matthew Nicholls
reference to the seven-
hilled city; and many cities own. The Capitoline, Rome’s religious stronghold,
around the world, from housed the great Temple of the “Capitoline
Durham and Torquay in Triad”; the Palatine remained a site for
England to Constantinople,
Moscow, Seattle, Kampala,
aristocratic villas, while the Aventine for a long Sited near the mouth
and Thiruvananthapuram time was associated with the plebeian order. of the Tiber, Rome was
in India have all claimed to
ideally placed for trade
share this characteristic
geography.
with its Mediterranean
neighbors and—by
virtue of its many
18 g Land & State hills—easily defended.
REPUBLICAN
GOVERNMENT
In the beginning Rome was ruled
by kings. By the sixth century bce the city’s
aristocracy was tiring of its Etruscan monarchs,
3-SECOND SURVEY who had developed a reputation for RELATED HISTORY
Rome’s republican authoritarian arrogance. In 509 bce an uprising See also
constitution allowed IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT
against Tarquinius Superbus replaced the
it to grow to superpower page 24
status, but faltered and
monarchy with a republican government, which
failed under pressure in developed into a complicated republican
the first century bce. constitution. For commentators like Polybius 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS
this was an interesting and powerful fusion of ca. 535–495 bce
different types of government: at the top was a Legendary seventh and final
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION king of Rome, whose
Rome’s republican pair of king-like chief magistrates—consuls—but overthrow resulted in the
establishment of the republic
government survived as their powers were tempered by having to share
long as it did by combining office and by holding it only for a year. There LUCRETIA
respect for precedent and ca. 510 bce
the law with a flexible
was also an oligarchic senate, comprised of men Roman matron whose rape by
response to new problems. from Rome’s leading families, and some Sextus, son of Tarquinius
Superbus, outraged Rome and
As city and empire grew, democratizing elements including elections led to the overthrow of the
new magistracies were monarchy
to magistracies and citizen assemblies with
created to deal with the POLYBIUS
administration. When legislative and warmaking powers. This
ca. 200–118 bce
Rome conquered provinces, constitution functioned for nearly five centuries, A Greek taken to Rome as an
ex-magistrates went to honored captive, where he
accommodating dissent such as the threatened wrote a history of the rise of
govern them. When the
secession of Rome’s plebeians, winning major the Roman state
lower orders threatened
revolt, they were granted wars, and presiding over a huge expansion of
special magistrates Roman territorial power. Eventually it grew 30-SECOND TEXT
(tribunes) to represent unstable: enriched and emboldened by the Matthew Nicholls
their interests. And in
times of crisis a dictator
booty of conquest, successful politician-generals
could be appointed for sought more power than Rome had been
a limited period. prepared to give to any one man, and popular Growing political
unrest was rife. Enter Julius Caesar. instability in the
republic set the stage
for Julius Caesar to
20 g Land & State usher in a new era.
100 bce 62 bce 58–51 bce
Born into aristocratic Praetor in Rome and then Conquest of Gaul; Caesar
Roman family, the Iulii governor in Spain—wins seeks to return to Rome
a military triumph but on his own terms
forfeits it to stand for
70s–60s bce election to consul, the
Climbs up the political highest-ranking 49 bce
ranks, aided by lavish magistrate Crosses Rubicon river, an
games funded by act of defiance leading to
borrowing (to be repaid civil war
by the plunder of 59 bce
conquest) Elected Consul.
Rules in alliance with 48 bce
Crassus and Pompey as Defeats Pompey (now an
“First Triumvirate” enemy) and chases him to
Egypt, where Pompey is
killed. Begins alliance
with Cleopatra
46 bce
Caesar, now
unchallenged, is loaded
with honors in Rome,
suggesting lasting
autocracy
March 15th, 44 bce

Frustrated conspirators
stab Caesar to death at a
senate meeting
22 g Land & State

JULIUS CAESAR
Julius Caesar is one of the most and in 49 bce moved his army— by this time
famous names in history. The title “Caesar” permanently loyal to him as commander—
was held by centuries of Roman emperors after across the Rubicon river, thereby breaking an
him, and became synonymous with autocratic ancient prohibition on bringing troops into
power worldwide—the Russian “Tsar” and the Italy: an act that initiated civil war.
German “Kaiser” both derive from his name. Caesar emerged as victor after various
Caesar’s personal charm, brilliance, and adventures, including his dalliance with
shrewd self-presentation won him wide Cleopatra in Egypt, and was made “dictator
popular appeal, challenging the boundaries in perpetuity,” pursuing a varied program of
of the old republican constitution whose political reform.
overlapping and annually renewed magistracies Caesar’s divisive rule ended with his
were designed to keep individuals from assassination by a group of senators on the
attaining too much power. Ides of March 44 bce. Following a further civil
In his youth Caesar weathered stormy times, war, his legacy was secured by the triumph of
including foreign military campaigns, a civil war his great-nephew and heir Augustus, founder
between his patron Marius and the dictator of a long line of emperors.
Sulla, and being kidnapped by pirates (whom he The largely positive way in which later
later pursued and crucified). Military success in generations viewed Caesar was partly due to
Spain and clever politicking at home brought the influence of his written works. A writer and
him to the top magistracy, the consulship, orator of brilliance, Caesar left accounts of his
in 59 bce; with his colleagues Pompey and campaigns in Gaul, and of the subsequent civil
Crassus he pursued a populist brand of politics, war, which were intended to influence
which threatened elements of Rome’s contemporary opinion and, in all likelihood,
senatorial aristocracy. the judgment of posterity. His account of the
His conquest of Gaul during the 50s bce Gallic Wars is a favorite of classics students
allowed him to seek more personal power than today for its clear and lucid Latin and exciting
the republican state was prepared to give him: subject matter.
ordered to lay down his arms, Caesar refused
Matthew Nicholls
Julius Caesar g 23
IMPERIAL
GOVERNMENT
Out of the wreckage of the
Roman republic Julius Caesar, and then
Augustus, crafted a new system of rule by
3-SECOND SURVEY a single autocratic figure whom we call the RELATED HISTORY
Rule by a single emperor “emperor.” However, there was not (at least at See also
placed unprecedented and REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
first) any real constitutional position or single
enormous power, for good page 20
or ill, in the hands of a
title of “emperor.” Augustus actually ruled
single individual. through an accumulation of traditional
republican offices and powers under the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
CALIGULA
pretence of having restored the old state rather 12–41 ce
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
than supplanted it—and his successors followed Emperor (37–41 ce) epitomized
Mindful of Rome’s how the system could pass
ancient fear of monarchy, suit. In reality it was Augustus’s own personal enormous power into
unsuitable hands
Augustus assembled a auctoritas and his defeat of all rivals that
series of offices, powers, allowed him to rule practically unchallenged TRAJAN
and honors left over from 53–117 ce
the republican constitution
and pass on his power to a line of successors Emperor (98–117 ce), military
—consul, chief priest, claiming descent from him. By the time this leader, fair-minded politician,
prolific builder: hailed as the
imperator, and a complex Julio-Claudian dynasty died out with Nero, “best emporer.”
magisterial privilege called the imperial system was too embedded to be ELAGABALUS
“tribunician power.” This
ad hoc arrangement was removed, and carried on through successive 203–222 ce
Spectacularly incompetent and
handed to emperor after dynasties—Flavians, Antonines, Severans—until debauched emperor (218–222
emperor, but the ambiguity ce); even worse than Caligula
the overthrow of the last child-emperor,
of autocratic rule through
Romulus Augustulus, in 476 ce. Along the
republican powers left
room for challenge—the way there were various interruptions, from 30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
role of emperor could be assassinations, usurpations, and civil wars to
passed to a blood relative Diocletian’s attempt to divide the empire into
or adoptive heir, but also
could be challenged,
eastern and western halves, each ruled by a pair
usurped, or divided. of senior and junior emperors (the tetrarchy),
but no credible alternative to the rule of Though the western
emperors ever emerged. empire fell in the 5th C
CE, the eastern empire
lasted until the Fall of
24 g Land & State Constantinople in 1453.
EMPIRE &
EXPANSION
In a millennium of conquest
Rome grew from a cluster of hilltop villages to
be mistress of territory from Scotland to the
3-SECOND SURVEY Nile delta, Spain to Syria. Early legendary RELATED HISTORIES
“To spare the conquered, accounts suggest that as its power expanded See also
but to war down the LIFE IN THE ROMAN
Rome clashed with its Italic neighbors, the
proud”—this, according PROVINCES
to the poet Virgil, was
Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans, acquiring a local page 48
Rome’s divinely inspired supremacy partly through conquest and partly
imperial mission. through co-opting rivals by treaty and absorption.
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
By the end of the fifth century bce this process SCIPIO AFRICANUS
was largely complete and Rome’s broadening 236–183 bce
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Roman general who defeated
Roman commentators horizons brought her into conflict with regional Rome’s arch-enemy Hannibal,
were not above criticizing Italian powers and then Mediterranean rivals. ending the second Punic War
against Carthage
the spread of Roman The Carthaginians were defeated in the Punic
power. Writers like Tacitus JULIUS CAESAR
enjoyed comparing hardy,
Wars (third and second centuries bce). Parts of ca. 100–44 bce
martial, barbarian tribes on present-day Spain, Greece, and Turkey fell to Roman general and politician
who extended the bounds of
the frontier with the Roman arms and became tax-paying provinces. the Roman empire by
corruption and decadence Julius Caesar subdued Gaul in the mid-first conquering Gaul
of imperial Rome. Tacitus
gives inspiring (but century BCE. By then, the flow of plunder into CONSTANTINE THE GREAT
272–337 ce
fictional) anti-Roman Rome and the disruptive loyalties of her armies Rome’s first Christian emperor,
speeches to various were fracturing the republican state. The new who divided the empire into
barbarian chieftains, eastern and western halves
imperial government of Augustus and his
including British rebel
queen Boudicca and the successors resumed the pattern of conquest.
Scottish warlord Calgacus: The empire reached its farthest limits under 30-SECOND TEXT
the latter famously said Matthew Nicholls
Trajan (ruled 98–117 ce), and its borders
“to plunder, slaughter, and
robbery they give the false
hardened as the momentum of conquest fizzled
name of empire; and where out. By the fifth century ce invasion, Rome left its imprint
they make a desert, they insurrection, and civil war had weakened the on many aspects of
call it peace.” empire to the point of collapse. society, culture, and
architecture in its vast
territory in Europe,
26 g Land & State Asia, and Africa.
THE ROMAN LEGION
The army of the early Roman
state was composed of citizen-soldiers who had
sufficient wealth to provide their own armor,
3-SECOND SURVEY and to take time away from home to fight. As RELATED HISTORIES
The army’s structures Rome expanded it needed larger and more See also
evolved into a well-drilled THE ROMAN LEGIONARY
permanent armies, capable of sustaining long,
force of legions (28 under page 30
Augustus), composed of
distant campaigns. The reforms of the general
CITIZENSHIP
sub-units and assisted by and politician Marius in the late second century page 36
auxiliary forces. BCE improved pay and removed the wealth
qualification, creating a standing army that
could be a career choice for poor citizens. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION GAIUS MARIUS
The commanding officers This increased both the manpower and the 157–86 bce
of each legion—the legate experience of the legions, but also made Roman reforming general and
politician
and his prefects—tended them look to their individual commanders for
to be men of high social
status, often building a
reward—a factor partly responsible for Rome’s
political career. The first-century bce civil wars. By the first century 30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
centurions, though, ce the legion had matured into a unit of about
could be long-service 5,200 legionaries, divided into ten cohorts of
professionals promoted
from the ranks. From six centuries each. Legions swore loyalty to the
8-man tent-teams emperor and had numbers and names (a proud
(contubernia), through “regimental” history). Other types of troops—
80-man centuries, to
light infantry, cavalry, archers—were levied as
6-century cohorts, to
legions, the army’s “auxiliaries” from allied states and rewarded
structure built esprit de with Roman citizenship on discharge. Battlefield
corps. As the army tactics were complemented by high levels of
increasingly recruited
from overseas provinces,
discipline and training, backed by a military- Rome looked to the
its structure, cash pay, minded state able to engage in complex loyalty and discipline
discipline, gods, and Latin campaigns. The result was a formidable of the legions—its
language helped turn military establishment.
recruits into Romans.
chief military force—to
maintain control and
influence throughout
28 g Land & State the empire.
THE ROMAN
LEGIONARY
We all have a picture of the
“typical” well-equipped Roman legionary. In
reality the Roman army’s arms and tactics
3-SECOND SURVEY changed and adapted over almost a millennium RELATED HISTORIES
The arms and tactics of of activity across the ancient world. One See also
the Roman army’s core EMPIRE & EXPANSION
consistent factor that explains Roman success
soldiers developed over page 26
the centuries into its
is the insistence on good discipline and drill—
THE ROMAN LEGION
familiar form. Roman generals and writers recognized the page 28
importance of good order both in the peacetime
army and in battle. After Marius’s reforms,
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
legionary equipment and armor started to 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
“It is the gods’ will that … GAIUS MARIUS
Rome shall be the capital resemble a more “regular” pattern. Each man 157–86 bce
of the world; therefore carried an iron-tipped javelin (pila) to hurl before Roman reforming general and
let them cultivate the arts politician
closing on the enemy for combat with sword
of war”—Livy, writing TRAJAN
under Augustus, expressed
(gladius or spatha) and long rectangular or oval 53–117 ce
the common Roman shield (scutum). The latter could be locked Military commander and
philanthropic emperor who left
understanding that the together with neighboring soldiers in a legacy of enduring landmarks
success and identity of a defensive formation such as the famous
the state was divinely
ordained, and bound up “tortoise.” Legionary helmets evolved to offer
neck protection and cheek, brow, and ear 30-SECOND TEXT
in its prowess on the
Matthew Nicholls
battlefield. For Virgil, guards. Heavy chainmail was replaced by
Rome’s imperial destiny
segmented plate armor. Made of iron straps and
was “to spare the
conquered but to war hoops to cover torso and shoulders and held
down the proud.” The together with leather fittings, this combined
citizen-legionary was a protection and flexibility. Serving for up to
vital expression of this Military might made
national purpose, featuring
25 years, legionaries enjoyed relatively good Rome rich as well as
in much imperial art. pay and status and the prospect of a land powerful; maintaining
grant or cash bonus on discharge: emperors a standing army was
knew to keep them onside. key to the success and
endurance of its claim
to be capital of the
30 g Land & State ancient world.
g
PEOPLE & SOCIETY
PEOPLE & SOCIETY
GLOSSARY
citizens, cives Romani Roman citizenship eques (pl. equites) A social class of Roman
was a privileged status that afforded its “knights,” in origin the cavalry troops of
holder various rights and privileges including republican Rome and later the leading gentry
ius commercii (the right to enter into legal of Italy and the provinces. Less wealthy and
contracts and hold property) and ius conubii powerful than the political senatorial class,
(the right to marry a Roman citizen and to but influential in the military, commercial life,
pass on citizenship to children). The most and the courts. Emperors used the equites in
privileged group, citizens optimo iure, also a variety of administrative roles.
enjoyed ius suffragii (the right to vote in
Roman assemblies) and ius honorum (the right freedmen Roman slaves could aspire to
to hold political office). Women and freed winning their freedom through manumission
slaves had more limited citizen rights. (literally, “sending from the hand”), bestowed
by their master or left in their wills. A
censor, census A Roman magistrate (one of freedman—or woman—became a citizen,
a pair) elected for 18 months to maintain the but still owed certain obligations to his or
list (census) of Roman citizens. Their authority her former master, and was barred from
extended to supervising the moral conduct holding public office.
of citizens, revising the membership of the
senate, and letting public contracts. Under governor The official who ran a province of
the principate the emperors assumed the Roman empire—usually a former
responsibility for the censors’ functions. magistrate of the Roman state.
cursus honorum The career path of an Latins Inhabitants of Latium, the area of
ambitious Roman senator, ascending through central Italy where Rome was founded.
the various grades of magistracy (with their
minimum age requirements) to the consulship manumission See freedmen
and censorship.
epigraphic Term used to describe the

thousands of inscriptions placed on Roman
buildings and statues.
34 g People & Society

new men Novus homo or “new man” was a proscription The public outlawing of an
term used in the late republic for the first man individual and the confiscation of his property.
of a Roman family to reach the senate or Used by Sulla, Mark Antony, and Octavian (the
consulship, penetrating the closed world of future Augustus) to get rid of enemies and to
the nobility. Marius and Cicero are examples. raise money; widely feared and resented.
patrician A privileged aristocratic class of salutatio The formal morning ceremony in

Roman citizens who had a monopoly on which Roman citizen clients visited the house
political office and priesthoods in the early of their patron to greet him and perhaps
Roman republic. During the principate, the receive a favor or gift.
emperors bestowed hereditary patrician status
on their supporters. socii Rome’s allied communities: the peoples
and city-states in the Italian peninsula bound
paterfamilias, patria potestas The head of by formal agreement in treaties to provide men
a Roman family, with various degrees of legal and monies to Rome.
and moral authority (patria potestas) over
wife, children, clients, slaves, and freedmen. tribute of the plebs Magistrate charged with
defending the interests of the plebeians, and
plebeian The non-patrician citizenry of granted special powers and privileges to do so.
Rome. Initially excluded from power, they
won equality and political representation by Vestal Virgins The six priestesses of Vesta,
287 BCE through the “conflict of the orders,” the Roman goddess of the hearth-fire, who
a two-century long struggle in which they were charged with certain sacred duties and
threatened to leave Rome altogether if their forbidden marriage until their term of at least
demands were not met. 30 years’ service had ended.
principate Name for the system of one-man

rule established by Augustus, Rome’s first
emperor or princeps (a Latin word that
translates roughly as “first citizen”).
Glossary g 35
CITIZENSHIP
Roman citizens, the cives Romani,
were the men who ran Rome: citizens enjoyed
the right to vote and the right to stand for
3-SECOND SURVEY office, the right to sue another citizen and the RELATED HISTORIES
Roman citizen men enjoyed right to stand trial if accused of a crime— See also
certain rights: suffragium REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
although they were also obliged to pay tax and
—the right to vote; page 20
commercium—the right to
take up arms for their country. Yet it was their
IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT
enter into legal contracts; decision-making power—the opportunity to page 24
and conubium—the right choose Rome’s leaders and shape its future—
to marry. that carried most weight, for the political
system placed that power in the hands of the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
GAIUS VERRES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION people. Individuals voted as members of a tribe, 120–43 bce
The body of the citizen and their collective tribal vote was counted. Roman magistrate and
governor of Sicily, infamous
man was inviolable: by During the Republic, full enfranchisement was for exploiting his authority
law, a Roman citizen could
not be beaten or put to
restricted to men born to citizen parents within MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
death. In 70 bce, the orator a legal marriage; women, freed slaves, and 106–43 bce
Roman orator, statesman
Cicero accused Gaius members of local Latin-speaking tribes had and philosopher
Verres of extortion and
more limited rights. The year 90 bce, however,
embezzlement while he
was governor of Sicily—but marked the transformation of Roman citizen
membership: Rome’s Italian allies went to war 30-SECOND TEXT
much more damning was
Susanne Turner
that Verres had apparently to secure citizenship—and the vote—for
executed a man without
themselves. The so-called Social War ended in
trial despite the victim’s
very vocal claims that he 88 bce, when the Romans passed a law granting
was a Roman citizen. full citizenship to both Latins and allies.
However, by the turn of the century, Rome was
ruled by an emperor and, although citizens still
voted, it was with diminished influence. The privileges of
Citizenship had been fundamentally redefined. citizenship, which
carried political and
legal status, were
desired by Romans and
36 g People & Society barbarians alike.
SLAVERY
The Roman economy and way of
life depended on the unpaid labour of slaves.
Male and female slaves provided skilled and
3-SECOND SURVEY unskilled services, not just performing back- RELATED HISTORIES
Roman slaves were the breaking work in the fields and mines, but See also
workforce of Rome, CITIZENSHIP
tutoring children, balancing the books, and
but they had no legal page 36
personhood—they were
providing easy sources of sexual satisfaction.
SOCIAL CLASS & STATUS
defined not as individuals A rich Roman might own 500 slaves—and the page 40
with rights but as number in the imperial household probably
property, or chattels. MEN & WOMEN
exceeded 20,000, where a slave could reach page 44
heady heights of power and influence beyond
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION many free citizens. Slaves perhaps numbered
In 73 bce, a gang of slaves 25 percent of Rome’s population. Life as a slave 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
MARCUS LICINIUS CRASSUS
led by Spartacus escaped could be brutal: tens of thousands were worked 115–53 bce
from a gladiatorial school
in Capua. Soon their ranks
to death in mines and quarries. As items of Roman general and politician
who later entered into the
swelled with more escaped property, slaves had no rights and little voice of political partnership with
Pompey and Caesar
slaves. Spartacus proved their own. Many must have been treated no
himself an excellent better than animals, but others were surely POMPEY THE GREAT
tactician and led the 106–48 bce
legions of Crassus and considered one of the family. Some were lucky Enormously successful Roman
general who celebrated three
Pompey on a merry dance enough to buy or be granted their freedom. triumphs but was beheaded
around central Italy until Manumission brought citizen status, but freed during civil war
his army was finally
slaves never quite lost their servile origins. Full
defeated in 71 bce. Six
thousand captured citizen rights were denied to first-generation 30-SECOND TEXT
slaves were crucified along freedmen and patronage relationships ensured Susanne Turner
the Appian Way, but that owners continued to profit from them—the
Spartacus’s body was
never found.
business ventures of experienced freedmen
could be very successful, making ex-slaves For wealthy Romans,
number among some of the wealthiest Romans. the practice of slavery
was accepted as the
norm on which their
privileged lifestyle
38 g People & Society depended.
SOCIAL CLASS &
STATUS
The inhabitants of Ancient Rome
were not born equal. Being a slave is sometimes
described as a form of “social death” and even
3-SECOND SURVEY wealthy freedmen never shook off the stigma RELATED HISTORIES
Roman citizens were of their lowly origins. But not all citizens were of See also
traditionally divided into CITIZENSHIP
equal rank or influence: Roman society was
patricians and plebeians. page 36
While the plebs were more
hierarchical. Citizens were born either patrician
SLAVERY
numerous, political power or plebeian. Political and religious power was page 38
was concentrated in the entrusted primarily to the patricians, although
hands of the patricians. MEN & WOMEN
the position of the tribune of the plebs ensured page 44
that the latter had a political voice. The census
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION further divided the aristocratic class into
Marcus Tullius Cicero senatorial and equestrian orders by wealth: to 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
was a novus homo or GAIUS MARIUS
qualify as an eques a man had to prove he held 157–83 bce
“new man.” His family
was of the equestrian
property valued at 400,000 sesterces; to be a Roman general and new man,
famed for reforming the
order and no members senator he had to be worth 1,000,000. Roman army
of the senate numbered Movement between the orders, while not MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
among his ancestors: he
impossible, was difficult. Men who managed to 106–43 bce
had neither family name Roman orator, statesman,
nor connections to exploit progress from equestrian rank into the senate philosopher, and new man
to gain his first step on the were known as “new men.” Aristocratic and
cursus honorum. He was lesser men were, however, tied by relationships
no soldier, so he relied on 30-SECOND TEXT
of patronage. Each morning, clients flocked
his skill in the lawcourts. Susanne Turner
His command of words to the houses of their patrons, demonstrating
made him the first new their loyalty in a ritual called salutatio.
man in 80 years to become Patronage was mutually beneficial: clients
consul, in 63 bce.
gained financial and political support, patrons Class was rigidly
gained a network of loyal representatives. bound, legally enforced,
and reinforced by dress
code; the toga was
worn to denote the
power and social
40 g People & Society standing of citizens.
63 bce
Born Gaius Octavius
47 bce 31 bce
Appointed pontifex, or Victory over Antony at
priest the naval battle of
Actium, followed by the
conquest of Egypt
September 13th, 45 bce
Julius Caesar, by now
supreme at Rome, names 27 bce
Octavius as his heir Octavian “restores the
republic” by reinstating
the senate and
March 15th, 44 bce magistrates, and takes
Assassination of Caesar the title Augustus
43 bce 23 bce
Formation of second Second constitutional
triumvirate between settlement, organizing
Octavian, Antony, and Augustus’s power at
Lepidus Rome and in the
provinces
39 bce
Octavian marries Livia 18–17 bce
Drusilla Moral and social
legislation passed
30s bce
Victories against foreign 14 ce
and domestic enemies; Augustus dies in his
relationship with Antony late seventies; power
breaks down passes to his stepson
Tiberius, the second
emperor of Rome
42 g People & Society

AUGUSTUS
Augustus was Rome’s first Augustus justified this position to his

emperor. He inherited the wreckage of the subjects partly through his cultural patronage,
republican state and against the odds crafted it sponsoring a generation of poets, including
into a lasting imperial system centered on his Horace and Virgil, and erecting splendid public
own person. Though his methods were buildings across Rome (leading him to boast
frequently harsh, by putting an end to civil war that he had “found Rome a city of brick and
he ushered in an era of peace that he (and left it a city of marble”). He was also
others) presented as a golden age for Rome. successful in war, doubling the size of the
Born Gaius Octavius, “Augustus” (meaning, empire and fostering a sense of Rome’s divinely
loosely, “revered,” or “sacred”) was the title he ordained dominion.
took in 27 BCE. He impressed his great-uncle Augustus presented himself as a fatherlike
Julius Caesar and was adopted as his heir. figure, and his own family as a model for the
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE, the proper conduct expected of Romans through
17-year-old moved quickly to assume the his social legislation on marriage and
leadership of the pro-Caesar faction. An uneasy childbearing. Though this caused problems—
coalition with Caesar’s old partner Marc Augustus had to exile his own daughter and
Antony disintegrated into civil war, which granddaughter for their adultery— it allowed
ended with the death of Antony and Cleopatra him to lay the foundations of a dynastic
in 30 BCE and the Roman conquest of Egypt. system. His own long life, and the inevitable
Now undisputed ruler of Rome, Augustus chicanery of palace politics, saw several choices
sought to accommodate his own personal of successor come and go before he had to
authority within the remains of the republican settle on his morose stepson Tiberius, but his
constitution, to provide a semblance of system of individual imperial rule survived for
reassuring continuity. In reality his continually three centuries. Like Julius Caesar, he was
renewed tenure of the highest offices, and deified after his death by successors reliant on
complete control of appointments to the his legacy for their legitimacy.
senate and other posts, gave him
unprecedented power. Matthew Nicholls
Augustus g 43
MEN & WOMEN
The traditional history of Rome
is, in so many ways, a history of men. Roman
men ruled the roost, at home and away. In the
3-SECOND SURVEY public arena, it was men who went to war, RELATED HISTORIES
Power, political who held office and priesthoods, who ruled as See also
and domestic, was CITIZENSHIP
emperors—and who wrote history. At home, the
concentrated in the page 36
hands of men, but
(male) head was the paterfamilias, who held
SEX
women maintained a patria potestas—the power to make life and page 46
sometimes surprising death choices for his household, as well as more
degree of freedom. pedestrian choices about family finances and
worshipping ancestral gods. Children, male and 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
AUGUSTUS
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION female, stayed under the patria potestas of the 63 bce—14 ce
Divorce was not paterfamilias for his lifetime even after they First Roman emperor, whose
moral legislation made the
uncommon in the Roman married. By the early empire, women remained private lives of citizens a
world, but emperor concern of the state
Augustus tried to crack
under their father’s patria potestas and
down on husband/ husbands had no legal control over them; JULIA THE ELDER
39 bce–14 ce
wife swapping and marriage was, in a sense, a source of Augustus’s only daughter,
bachelordom, aimed at empowerment and wives enjoyed a certain died in exile on a tiny island
ensuring the senatorial
class committed to degree of freedom. Women could own and
marriage and reproduced. inherit property, write wills, and run businesses. 30-SECOND TEXT
He passed laws rewarding But they were never full citizens; they had no Susanne Turner
the birth of multiple
vote and could not stand for office. Only the
children and penalizing
young men who failed to Vestal Virgins gained a degree of autonomy and
marry. He even made official visibility, committed from childhood to a
adultery punishable by life of celibacy and ritual service by their
banishment—and
unfortunately, in 2 bce,
patrician families. For most women, in all walks
was forced to exile his own of life, opportunities remained defined by men. Ancient Rome was a
daughter for this crime. patriarchal society—
the role and status of
women were defined
by those of their
44 g People & Society fathers or husbands.
SEX
Sex seems to have been rife in
the Roman world: emperors had multiple
partners (of both sexes), poets turned their
3-SECOND SURVEY mistresses into muses, house-owners decorated RELATED HISTORIES
Sex may have been more their walls with erotic images (including, memorably, See also
visible in the Roman world, CITIZENSHIP
the god Priapus weighing his own impressive
but it was no less subject page 36
to norms and controls than
member—in an entrance hall!); even the streets
SOCIAL CLASS & STATUS
it is today. were lined with disembodied penises. But it page 40
wasn’t all orgies, wife-swapping, and sexual
MEN & WOMEN
abandon: such stories are doubtless more page 44
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
fantasy than reality. Pudor (shame, modesty)
Roman writers reserved
particular opprobrium for was enshrined in law and the censors could—
a type of man they called and did—expel senators for sexual misdemeanor. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
MESSALINA
a cinaedus—a man with The real pressure to uphold sexual standards ca. 22–48 ce
excess sexuality, unable
to control himself—who
was placed on women, who were expected to Third wife of Claudius and a
notorious nymphomaniac
might take a passive sexual exhibit proper pudicitia (modesty, chastity) at
ELAGABALUS
role with other men, but all times. Pudicitia must often have been easier 205–222 ce
also couldn’t be trusted for elite women to embody than for their social Juvenile emperor (218–222 ce),
with other men’s wives. known more for his sexual
Cinaedi liked sex a little inferiors; a prostitute or slave who found herself depravity than his reign
too much and so failed sexually available to her master likely found it
at being a proper Roman near impossible to control her sexual boundaries;
man—and their lack of 30-SECOND TEXT
sexual roles—for both men and women—were
self-control showed in an Susanne Turner
effeminate gait, voice, codified according to social status. But a word
and facial features. of warning: Roman sexualities don’t map exactly
onto ours. Romans had no words to express the
identities “hetero-“ or “homosexual” and seem Erotica is well-
to have been more concerned with sexual represented in ancient
acts—who took active and passive roles—than Roman literature and
sexual identities. art but in reality sexual
conduct was bound up
with power, status,
46 g People & Society and social norms.
LIFE IN THE
ROMAN PROVINCES
The geographically extensive and
demographically diverse Roman empire was
ruled by the emperor and his provincial
3-SECOND SURVEY governors, or by pliable “client kings,” and peace RELATED HISTORIES
Life in the provinces kept by the legions, but in reality these forces See also
of the Roman empire varied IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT
were spread thin, often concentrated at trouble
dramatically according to page 24
time and place; Rome’s
points, and impeded by the slow pace of
EMPIRE & EXPANSION
influence was sometimes communications. Much of the Roman empire page 26
overwhelming, and knew Rome as a relatively distant presence,
sometimes subtle. TRADE & INDUSTRY
coming into contact with Roman power through page 58
law, taxation, census, and coinage (as Christ’s
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION “render unto Caesar” remark shows). Roman
Though our evidence is influence could be felt in the countryside, as 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
AELIUS ARISTIDES
incomplete and differs by large villa estates and productive farming 117–181 ce
period and locale, it is hard
to escape the conclusion
methods fed distant Roman markets, but it was Greek showpiece orator who
lavishes praise on imperial Rome
that the “pax Romana” particularly in the towns and cities of the empire
BOUDICCA
enabled an enormous where distinctive architectural forms suggested 61 ce
upsurge in productivity and Roman ways of living: fora, bathhouses, theaters, Iconic queen of the Iceni tribe
trade, and accordingly in who rose in doomed revolt,
fine architecture and the and amphitheaters set in straight grids of abused by Roman colonists
amenities of civilized living, streets. The extent to which we can call this PLINY THE YOUNGER
in the provinces. Regions “Romanization” is still hotly debated, however; 61–112 ce
like Gaul or Britain that Roman governor of Bithynia-
Rome rarely rode roughshod over local cultures, Pontus province (109–111); his
initially resisted Roman
invasion produced over tending more to co-opt and reward willing letters tell of provincial life
time some of the richest indigenous factions. The successful elites—the

expressions of Roman men who wrote our literary and epigraphic
provincial life, but it is 30-SECOND TEXT
difficult to know how
sources—responded with enthusiasm, leading Matthew Nicholls
far into society these the adoption of Roman styles of living, but with
benefits of the Roman many rich local variations; resistance and
peace extended. discontent are naturally harder to find in the Architectural remains
surviving evidence. may skew our view
that the provinces were
48 g People & Society fully “Romanized.”
ROMAN LAW
The rule of law was a vital part
of the spread and legacy of Roman power.
Essential for articulating the activities of
3-SECOND SURVEY government and for mediating social and RELATED HISTORIES
Though not as visible commercial relationships, Rome’s formidable See also
as an aqueduct or an REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
legal tradition provided a common framework in
amphitheater, Roman page 20
law was as essential to
an increasingly large and disparate empire. Rome
IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT
the fabric and longevity had been governed by written laws since the page 24
of the empire. earliest times: the Lapis Niger (“black stone”)
found in the Roman forum contains a sacred
law code from as early as the sixth century bce. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION ULPIAN
“Justice is the constant As the state transformed into a republic and 170–228 ce
and perpetual will to acquired its first overseas territories, its need Roman jurist who advised
emperors of the early third
render to every man his for clear and consistent laws, and magistrates, century ce
due”: so wrote Ulpian.
Such learned jurists, often
increased; the arrival of the emperors added JUSTINIAN I
advisers to the emperors, another layer. From the “Twelve Tables” of ca. 482–565 ce
Byzantine Roman emperor
established law as a ca. 450 bce to Justinian’s sixth-century ce legal (527–565 ce)
profession through writing
codification, Rome built up a thousand years of
and teaching, and in doing
so helped embed it deeply civil, magisterial, and imperial law. Political
power in the Roman state was often won 30-SECOND TEXT
into Roman society. The
Matthew Nicholls
influence of Roman law through excellence as a courtroom lawyer; the
lived on in the eastern
jobs of many Roman politicians, among them
Byzantine empire and the
nation-states of provincial governors, included deciding cases as
Europe—and, moreover, magistrates. In the late republic and empire,
continues to do so in the Law and the principle
learned “jurists” assisted the emperor and his
Roman law courses taken of justice are among
by many students today.
magistrates with legal opinions, edicts, and Rome’s greatest
commentaries, analyzing and modifying the achievements, which
ever-growing body of laws to ensure universality served the republic and
and consistency. empire, and continued
into European legal
systems of the Middle
50 g People & Society Ages and beyond.
g
ROMAN LIFE
ROMAN LIFE
GLOSSARY
de Agri cultura The oldest surviving work Dacia An eastern Roman province in what is
of Latin prose, a treatise on agriculture by now Romania, finally conquered by Trajan. An
Cato the Elder. Written in ca. 160 BCE, it sets important source of metal ore.
out how to make money from a slave-run,
villa estate. denarius (pl. denarii) The most important
silver denomination of Roman coinage: a basic
amphitheater A purpose-built elliptical unit of currency.
arena for gladiatorial combat and other
entertainment events. Not to be confused dietetics The careful prescription of diet and
with theater. lifestyle to restore or preserve health.
amphora A large pottery vessel used for garum A fish sauce loved by the Romans,
transporting wine, oil, and other goods. made from salted, fermented fish intestines.
Amphorae are a vital source of evidence for An important commodity manufactured and
ancient trading patterns. traded throughout the empire, adding an
intense salty savor to dishes (the nearest
annona A handout of grain to citizens living seasoning equivalent today is perhaps a Thai
in Rome, initially subsidized and then free—a fish sauce). By-products, such as the pungent
vital part of the “bread and circuses” handed paste allec, were also used as condiments.
out by emperors.
Gaul An area of Roman imperial rule covering
“bread and circuses” Panem et circenses, present-day France, western Switzerland,
a cynical phrase coined by second-century CE northern Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and
satirist Juvenal to signify the emperors’ western Germany. Its conquest was
generosity toward the urban population of completed by Julius Caesar in the 50s BCE.
Rome through the provision of cheap food The region was divided into several Roman
and free entertainment. provinces and remained within the empire
until its final dissolution centuries later.
consul The top magistrate of the Roman
republic; each year two were elected, to keep governor The official who ran a province
each other in check. of the Roman empire—usually the position
was held by a former magistrate of the
Roman state, such as a consul.
54 g Roman Life
Iberia The peninsula containing modern Spain sestertius (pl. sestertii) A common base-
and Portugal was conquered by Rome during metal Roman coin, worth a quarter of a silver
the Punic Wars and divided into the various denarius (roughly a day’s wage) or 1 percent
provinces of Roman Hispania from 197 BCE. of a gold aureus.
obelisk A tall, tapering, four-sided monument tetrarchy The modern name for the college
carved by the ancient Egyptians out of of four emperors introduced by Diocletian in
granite; many were brought to Rome as 293 CE (one senior “Augustus” and one junior
impressive trophies of conquest. “Caesar” in each half of the empire, which was
divided into east and west).
oleoculture The cultivation of olives to press
for oil. theater A semicircular building with stage
and seating, for plays and pantomimes. Not
orthogonal Grid-like—a typical Roman way to be confused with amphitheater.
of dividing up land for fields or city streets.
tribune of the plebs An elected official of
panegyric A formal, setpiece speech the Roman state, traditionally charged with
containing praise. protecting the interests of the common
people (plebeians).
pantomime A highly popular Roman form
of theater entertainment, involving words, De Medicina An eight-book Latin treatise
gestures, song, and dance. on medicine, originally part of a larger
encyclopedia written in the first century CE
Punic Wars A series of three bitter wars by Aulus Cornelius Celsus.
between Rome and Carthage (a powerful rival
state on the coast of North Africa), fought in viticulture The cultivation of grape vines
the third and second centuries BCE, culminating for wine.
with the fall and sack of Carthage in 146 BCE.
Glossary g 55
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture played a fundamental
role in the Roman world. In both the republic
and empire alike, social standing and political
3-SECOND SURVEY organization were based on landed wealth and RELATED HISTORIES
When Rome destroyed many members of the elite took a direct interest See also
Carthage in 146 bce Mago’s REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
in how best to manage their estates and which
agricultural treatise was page 20
the only expression of
crops to grow; some even wrote treatises on
CITIZENSHIP
Carthaginian culture that agriculture. The main cash crops were grain, page 36
the Roman senate deemed grapes, and olives (the “Mediterranean triad”).
worth saving. SOCIAL CLASS & STATUS
A larger portion of Italy was brought under page 40
cultivation in Roman times than in later ages
TRADE & INDUSTRY
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION and in regions such as Puglia modern-day olive page 58
Many parts of the trees may be the descendants of trees planted
Roman countryside were by the Romans. Elsewhere in the empire Roman
intensively settled and 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
farmed. Farms and villas
settlers brought with them intensive viticulture
LUCIUS QUINCTIUS
dotted the landscape and oleoculture; within a few generations, these CINCINNATUS
and the Roman field regions (for example Gaul and Hispania) were 519–430 bce
system, characterized by Statesman and figure of
exporting their wine and oil widely. Engineering early Rome; he was plowing
orthogonal grids creating his modest plot when called
regular plots, still survives projects, including extensive irrigation works, upon to defend Rome as
in the modern landscape in brought inhospitable regions, such as large military dictator
some regions. Whereas portions of pre-desert North Africa, under MARCUS PORCIUS CATO
in the Republican period 234–149 bce
cultivation. It is often assumed that antiquity
Italy exported wine—an Statesman and author of the
amphora of wine would be was characterized by technological stagnation, earliest Latin treatise on
agriculture (de Agri cultura),
traded for a slave among but archaeological research has shown that which survives in its entirety
Celtic tribes—later, large innovations relating to irrigation, including
quantities of grain, wine,
and oil were imported into
the Archimedean screw, and to agricultural
30-SECOND TEXT
Rome to sustain her one processing (grain and water-powered mills and Annalisa Marzano
million inhabitants. wine and oil presses) were introduced to many
parts of the Roman empire. Under the Romans,
farming practice shifted
from substistence to
56 g Roman Life demand-led production.
TRADE & INDUSTRY
Trade played an important role
in the Roman world; many extraction and
manufacturing activities, from quarrying, mining,
3-SECOND SURVEY pottery, and glass-making to food-processing RELATED HISTORIES
Throughout the Roman and textiles, were connected with trade. Roman See also
world standardization and SLAVERY
towns had shops and workshops: sometimes
division of labor improved page 38
both production and
entire streets specialized in the manufacture and
AGRICULTURE
distribution in many sale of specific items. Pottery and salted fish are page 56
sectors. interesting examples of large-scale production
COINAGE & CURRENCY
and trade. From the first century bce, Arretine page 60
tableware (from ancient Arezzo, Tuscany) was
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Long-distance trade very popular in the Roman world, with branch
contributed to state workshops established outside of Italy. At La 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
revenues because of a DOMITIAN
Graufesenque (France), collaboration among 51–96 ce
25 percent custom tax
across the empire’s
workshops allowed for impressive results; the Emperor (81–96 ce) who
passed legislation to reduce
frontiers and a 5 percent 24-acre (10-ha) settlement had 50 kilns and the number of vineyards in the
provinces, possibly to favor
tax across provincial some 200 workers, producing one million items the export of Italian wine
boundaries. Such per season. The production of the fish sauces
trade levies could add AULUS UMBRICIUS SCAURUS
considerably to the state (garum, allec) used as seasoning in Roman fl. 60s/70s ce
cuisine took place at many coastal sites, often Pompeian businessman
coffers, given that, running a successful
according to Strabo, every on a large scale. Fish-salting factories with garum-manufacturing business
year 120 ships sailed to in Pompeii, whose products
batteries of masonry salting vats were present were widely exported
India from the Red Sea
and surviving documentary in southern Spain, North Africa, Sicily,
sources show that Normandy, and around the Black Sea. Their
enormously valuable 30-SECOND TEXT
produce, packed in amphorae, was exported Annalisa Marzano
cargoes, each worth
millions of sesterces,
throughout the empire as far as Hadrian’s Wall
could be carried. in the north and the Garamantian settlements in
the Saharan south (modern Libya). Archaeological finds
indicate that goods
were traded across
huge distances in the
58 g Roman Life empire and beyond.
COINAGE &
CURRENCY
Until the early third century bce
Rome made official payments using uncoined
masses of bronze (aes rude) and cast bronze
3-SECOND SURVEY ingots (aes signatum). When Rome started RELATED HISTORY
The Latin word for to mint coins it took as model the coinage of See also
bronze, aes, was the TRADE & INDUSTRY
the nearby Greek city of Neapolis (Naples) and
colloquial word for page 58
money, showing that
used its mint. By 211 bce Rome had its own mint
bronze always remained and coined silver denarii, which for centuries
important within the remained the most important denomination 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
Roman monetary system. IUNO MONETA
of the Roman monetary system, and smaller Goddess; the Roman mint in
bronze denominations. Later, Augustus her temple gives us the words
“money” and “mint”
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION introduced a gold coin (aureus), whose value
CARACALLA
Besides being a means was linked to the denarius. However, the Greek 188–217 ce
for commercial exchanges, world kept its monetary system based on the Emperor who devalued
Roman coins, with their the denarius strongly and
images and legends, played
silver drachm rather than the denarius and introduced the antoninianus,
with the nominal value of
an important role in provincial mints continued to issue their own two denarii
spreading messages to the bronze coins for local circulation; every major
DIOCLETIAN
people: publicizing military city had money exchangers able to convert 244–311 ce
victories, imperial building Emperor, creator of the
projects, or popularizing different currencies. During the third century ce tetrarchy, who reformed the
the image of the ruling the weight and metal content of Roman coins monetary system, introducing
two new coins, the silver
emperor. Julius Caesar was diminished sharply, until Constantine reformed argenteus and the bronze follis
the first to use his own
the monetary system by introducing the gold
portrait on coins instead
of that of one of his solidus. The quality and metal content of early
30-SECOND TEXT
ancestors, as had imperial aurei and denarii meant they were Annalisa Marzano
previously been customary. widely appreciated as means of exchange:
hoards of Roman coins have been found in
India, fruit of the long-distance trade that
brought to the Mediterranean spices and pearls. Several Roman military
conquests were driven
by the need to control
key sources of ore
60 g Roman Life required for coinage.
EATING & DRINKING
Romans took three meals a day,
but the nature of these varied depending on an
individual’s wealth. Eating and drinking marked
3-SECOND SURVEY religious ceremonies and public distributions of RELATED HISTORIES
While eating and food paid for by prominent citizens. Rome even See also
drinking in ancient Rome SOCIAL CLASS & STATUS
had its state-sponsored system of distribution
conjure an image of lavish page 40
banquets and orgies, many
of grain (annona). Eating, whether at private or
AGRICULTURE
city-dwellers did not have public banquets, had an important social page 56
the means to cook at home. function; such dinners could be extended and
TRADE & INDUSTRY
elaborate affairs, serving “all the products of page 58
land and sea, rivers and air.” The wealthier the
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Imperial Rome’s food person the more he tried to impress by serving
supply was politically guests a large selection of costly and rare foods 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
L. LICINIUS LUCULLUS
crucial (hungry people or by having everyday foods prepared in unusual 1st century bce
tend to revolt). From
the time of the republic,
ways. Banquets were also the occasion to Roman general famous for his
lavish banquets from whose
politicians had instituted reinforce social hierarchy by serving different- name derives the English
adjective Lucullan
monthly distribution of quality foods and wines according to the guests’
grain (annona), in order to social standing. Ordinary Romans, however, NERO
win votes; as such, the 37–68 ce
distributions never went relied on taverns and street vendors for cooked Roman emperor who passed
legislation restricting inns and
to the poorest people. food, since many urban dwellings were without taverns to sell only boiled
Later, wine and salted pork kitchens. Staples were olive oil, wine, and vegetables
were added. The state also
cereals consumed either as bread or porridge,
subsidized the shipment
of olive oil from abroad supplemented by pulses, vegetables, cheese, 30-SECOND TEXT
as testified by Monte eggs, and, occasionally, meat and fish, although Annalisa Marzano
Testaccio, an artificial hill in coastal settlements options were greater:
in Rome 110 feet (33 m) The wealthy Roman’s
high, made entirely from
excavations at Herculaneum, a city destroyed diet can be inferred
discarded oil amphorae. (like Pompeii) by Vesuvius in 79 ce, revealed that from archaeology, art,
inhabitants enjoyed various forms of seafood. and a cookbook
believed have been
written by Caelius
Apicus in the third or
62 g Roman Life fourth century CE.
ca. 61 ce 91 ce
Born Gaius Caecilius Cilo Serves as tribune of the
in Comum (modern plebians
Como), northern Italy
93 ce
79 ce Serves as praetor
Witnesses eruption of
Vesuvius; takes the name
Gaius Plinius Caecilius 100 ce
Secundus through Consul from September
adoption in his uncle’s to October; delivers
will panegyric on the emperor
Trajan
88/89 ce
Serves as quaestor on the 110 ce
emperor’s staff Appointed governor of
the province of Bithynia-
Pontus by the emperor
Trajan
1471
First printed edition of
Pliny’s letters published
in Venice
c. 1500
Fra Giovanni Giocondo
discovers a manuscript
containing the tenth
book of Pliny’s letters
(correspondence with
Trajan) in Paris
64 g Roman Life
PLINY THE YOUNGER
The physical remains of Roman Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the towns
civilization can tell us a great deal about of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 ce. Pliny
everyday life in ancient Rome, but they are not himself was an eyewitness to this catastrophe,
our only record of how people lived; sometimes in which his uncle, the writer Pliny the Elder,
their testimony can be supplemented by died, and in two letters to the historian
information contained in literary sources of Tacitus he gives a dramatic description of the
the period. Particularly valuable in this respect different phases of the eruption and of the
are the letters of Pliny the Younger, whose panic as those caught in the disaster attempted
correspondence sheds fascinating light on life to escape the suffocating cloud of volcanic
in Rome and its provinces at the turn of the ash. We also learn much about Pliny’s
second century ce. Born during the reign of properties, about the site and layout of his
Nero, Pliny studied with the famous orator villas, and about the legal cases in which he
Quintilian and progressed through the was involved; and there are touching
conventional stages of an aristocratic Roman declarations of affection from the author to
political career, becoming consul in 100 ce. his absent wife.
He was later appointed governor of Bithynia- For all their value as a source for political and
Pontus by the emperor Trajan, and the final social history, Pliny’s letters are by no means a
book of his letters contains Pliny’s purely objective record of their author’s life
correspondence with the emperor on and times; the letters were written for
administrative matters concerning his province, publication, and the writer is concerned to
including consultation on the appropriate project an image of himself as a conscientious
methods for dealing with a troublesome new administrator, a cultured and versatile man of
sect—the Christians. letters, and a devoted and sympathetic friend.
In addition to many details of Roman life, This carefully orchestrated self-presentation is
business, and manners at the time (including also valuable to the historian, however, since it
chariot racing, literary recitation, and the provides important evidence for the attitudes,
treatment of slaves), Pliny’s letters preserve values, and expectations prevalent among the
the fullest account we have of the eruption of senatorial class at this time.
Luke Houghton
Pliny the Younger g 65

TIME & CALENDAR
The Roman year (which began in
March until 153 bce, when January became the
first month) was governed by calendars marking
3-SECOND SURVEY days suitable and unsuitable for public business, RELATED HISTORIES
The Roman calendar religious festivals, and other events. There was See also
set the official and EMPIRE & EXPANSION
also an eight-day weekly cycle, marked A to H in
religious framework of page 26
the twelve-month year
inscribed public calendars. Over the years, this
LIFE IN THE ROMAN
which, until it was replaced civic calendar got badly out of step with the PROVINCES
by the Julian calendar, natural solar year. Julius Caesar remedied this by page 48
was 355 days long. making the year 46 bce 445 days long and then AGRICULTURE
imposing the Julian calendar, which was based page 56
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION on sound astronomical calculation and is still

Caesar’s Julian calendar used by the Orthodox churches. The Romans,
drew on mathematical and 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
like the Greeks, dated events by magistrates’ JULIUS CAESAR
astronomical expertise
from the Greek world,
years of office, in their case the consuls. An ca. 100–44 bce
Roman general, dictator of
which in turn learned from absolute numerical date could also be given in Rome, and creator of the Julian
calendar
Egyptian and Babylonian years from the foundation of the city of Rome,
models. His successor, traditionally held to be 753 bce. For telling the
Augustus, demonstrated
this broad learning by time, night and day were each divided into 12 30-SECOND TEXT
laying out a huge public equal hours. Since daylight varies by date and Matthew Nicholls
sundial in Rome, using an latitude, hours were not the same length from
Egyptian obelisk as its
season to season or in different places, but this
pointer. Here Roman
fascination with eastern did not greatly matter—a relative measure of
astronomy combined with time was good enough for most practical
the suggestion that To reinforce the idea
purposes, and sundials were reliable timepieces
Augustus’s rule was that Augustus’s rule
ordained by the cycle of
in the sunny Mediterranean. was supported by the
the heavens. heavenly cycle, the
months of Quintilis
and Sextilis were
changed to “July” and
“August” (derived from
66 g Roman Life Julius and Augustus.)
ENTERTAINMENT
& SPORT
Gladiatorial combat in the
Colosseum is one of the defining images of
ancient Rome. Romans certainly loved large
3-SECOND SURVEY public entertainments, though not all involved RELATED HISTORIES
Cities throughout the the spilling of blood. Games of all sorts evolved See also
Roman empire hosted CITIZENSHIP
gradually from entertainments put on by
public entertainments page 36
on a grand scale, from
candidates for political office (and, in the case
SLAVERY
pantomime to gladiatorial of gladiatorial games, ritual funeral combats) page 38
combat and public into enormously elaborate and expensive
executions. THE COLOSSEUM & CIRCUS
displays of largesse whose success could make MAXIMUS
or break an emperor’s reputation. All manner page 118
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION of theater shows—tragedy, comedy, mimes,

Public spectacles, as dances, recitals—took place in semi-circular
they evolved in complexity theaters, constructed first of wood and later PRISCUS & VERUS
and scale, came to be fl. first century CE
reflections of the whole
of stone. Athletic contests, adopted from the
First gladiators to fight in
Roman world in miniature. Greek world, included boxing, wrestling, and the Colosseum
The splendid architecture, the Roman favorite, chariot-racing—any open GAIUS APPIUS DIOCLES
links to the politics of ground would do, but a purpose-built circus ca. 130–210 ce
“bread and circuses,” Roman Spaniard who amassed
rules governing who was displayed a city’s wealth and sophistication. an incredible fortune as a
allowed to sit where, and Combat spectacles, in public squares and then in successful chariot racer
punishment of criminals, special elliptical amphitheaters, were particularly
all made a day at the
popular in Italy and the western empire and 30-SECOND TEXT
games an experience
that would remind the included gladiatorial combat between distinctive Matthew Nicholls
spectator of his place in types of fighter. Trained and armed at
the Roman world even as considerable expense, successful gladiators
it entertained him. Combat was only one
could amass fame and fortune, while by some event in the arena of
accounts one chariot racer, Diocles, was the death; beast hunts and
highest-paid sportsman in human history. criminal executions,
sometimes through the
enforced enactment of
mythical tales, were
68 g Roman Life other entertainments.
MEDICINE
Ancient medicine was part of a
wide variety of therapeutic options, ranging
from rational, proto-scientific treatment by
3-SECOND SURVEY doctors, and practical assistance from surgeons RELATED HISTORIES
Roman doctors built on the and midwives, through to amulets, spells, and See also
different schools of Greek SEX
folk remedies. Much of this leaves little trace;
medical knowledge, using page 46
diet, drugs, and surgery.
our understanding of ancient medicine depends
EATING & DRINKING
on archaeological finds and surviving literary page 62
records. As in so many fields, Rome took much
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION of its medical learning from Greece; the
There was no universal
scientific method of Aristotle and the body of 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
training for doctors, or [AULUS] CORNELIUS CELSUS
recognized system of work ascribed to the Greek doctor Hippocrates, fl. first century ce
qualifications. Rival with its four bodily ‘humors’ (blood, phlegm, Author of a key medical history
De Medicina
schools of thought and yellow and black bile), were especially
competed for reputation GALEN OF PERGAMUM
and business, and doctors
influential. Roman doctors learned from this ca. 130–210 ce
had an intellectual tradition and added to it. Celsus wrote on the Greek physician and surgeon
who brought the practices of
grounding in what we division of medicine into lifestyle (“dietetics”), Hippocrates and others to
would regard as non- pharmacology, and surgery. Galen, a Greek who Rome
medical disciplines. Galen
started off as a gladiator came to Rome as physician to the emperors, left
physician (a good training an enormous body of writings (of which some 30-SECOND TEXT
in practical anatomy and three million words survive) on anatomy, medical Matthew Nicholls
surgery); he excelled as a
methods, physiology, and pharmacology, which
doctor and researcher,
dissecting animals and was enormously influential throughout the
often proceeding by history of western medicine. Archaeological
experiment and logic. Though ancient
finds fill out the picture. Portable medical kits
However, he was also doctors had some
trained in rhetoric and
containing bronze surgical instruments, ranging scientific knowledge
philosophy and wrote from simple scalpels to forceps, drills, catheters, and therapeutic
several works on language, and specula, suggest a high degree of skill. ability, prayer,
grammar, and literature. There were no anaesthetics. sacrifice, and offerings
to the gods remained
important for those
70 g Roman Life hoping for a cure.
g
LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
GLOSSARY
annals Bare yearly records of civic and Etruscan(s) A neighboring civilization to

priestly bodies at Rome, that evolved over Rome, from whom the Romans took many
time into more complete historical accounts. cultural, civic, and religious practices.
book Books in the Roman world were usually grammaticus A professional teacher of
scrolls made of glued sheets of paper-like language, grammar, and literature to Roman
papyrus (the stem of an Egyptian marsh boys of the upper classes in the early stages
plant), wound round a central boss. The text of their education.
was written in ink in columns running down
the short length of the scroll, which the lyric A genre of first Greek and then Latin
reader would unroll. Books in the sewn-leaf poetry; composed in a variety of meters, lyric
“codex” format that we use today were not poems dwell on personal subjects such as love
unknown in the Roman world, but tended to and loss.
be used for note-taking or as novelties, only
taking off with the spread of the Bible. One Metamorphoses Ovid’s popular 15-book
Roman-style book might hold about 1,500 poem about transformations in Roman
lines of writing, enough for a single Greek play and Greek mythology, covering more than
or a couple of books of Homer or Virgil. 200 stories.
controversia A rhetorical exercise in which meter The repeating pattern of long and
a student argued one or both sides in an short syllables that gives different genres of
imaginary legal case. Latin poetry their particular style and sound.
cursive script An everyday form of Natural History Huge Latin encyclopedia

handwriting in the Roman world, often found written by the Elder Pliny in the 70s CE. It
in graffiti and on wax tablets. covers many fields of knowledge, from art
to zoology to technology.
epic A genre of ancient poetry, telling of
heroic deeds in long works composed of lines Odes Four-book collection of lyric poems on
in a distinctive poetic meter. Rome, life, and love by Horace, a poet active
under the first emperor Augustus.
74 g Language & Literature

paedagogus A slave “governor” who The Twelve Tables An important set of
supervised the children of a rich household, written statutes from the early republic
beginning their basic literacy teaching. (mid-fifth century BCE), ending the patricians’
legal monopoly and starting the development
rhetor A teacher of rhetoric to Roman boys of Roman law.
around the age of 15 years and older.
theater A semicircular building with stage
Sibylline Oracles A collection of prophecies and seating, for plays and pantomimes.
in Greek verse supposedly spoken by a Sibyl
(prophetess) and collected by the last king toga The official dress of a Roman citizen,
of Rome. Preserved (and renewed) through worn by courtroom orators and those on
the ages, these oracles were consulted at other forms of civic business: made from a
times of national crisis. length of woollen cloth wound around the
body in a particular way.
suasoria A rhetorical exercise in which a
student made a speech of advice to a vernacular The everyday language of
historical or mythical/literary figure. common speech.
sententiae (sing. sententia) A sententia wax tablets Wooden writing tablets inlaid
was the final judgment in a civil trial; the word with wax and tied together into pairs or
in its plural form, sententiae, also came to bundles were a popular, erasable writing
mean a brief and pithy quotable saying. surface for low-status lists, letters, contracts,
and exercises. More prestigious literary writing
Satyrica A picaresque, novel-like work of was done on scrolls of paper-like papyrus.
fiction by first-century CE author Petronius;
describes the (mis)adventures of the hero
Encolpius including his terrible evening at
dinner with boorish millionaire Trimalchio.
Glossary g 75
LATIN
The language most commonly
associated with the Romans and the Roman
Empire is Latin. It was, however, only one of
3-SECOND SURVEY many in the Roman empire, used alongside RELATED HISTORIES
Latin, one of many many other vernacular languages and dialects, See also
languages originally EDUCATION & LITERACY
often in bi- or even multilingual settings. Latin
spoken in mainland Italy, page 78
became one of the most
is an Indo-European language, belonging to the
RHETORIC
widespread languages in Latino-Faliscan branch of the Italic languages. page 82
the world and sired the The very term “Latin” refers to the Latini, the
Romance languages. INSCRIPTIONS & GRAFFITI
inhabitants of Latium, the area around Rome. page 90
Following the Roman expansion, Latin became
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION the most common language of the Italian
Despite a broad, peninsula (and eventually of the western 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS
well-evidenced tradition, hemisphere of the Roman world). Whereas 283–200 bce
our knowledge of the
minutiae of the Latin
Latin, as it was written during the “classical age” The first named author to
write in Latin and the alleged
language is patchy. There of the first century bce, remained in common, founding father of Roman
drama
is also no reliable evidence if fossilized, use for high literature and official
for spoken as opposed to communication, documentary evidence from VARRO
written Latin at large 116–27 bce
(including its sound), or all over the empire (private letters, graffiti, or Roman historian of the Latin
language
for how the two were other, non-official, inscriptions) show just how
different from one far the linguistic reality moved on. This MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
another. The surviving 106–43 bce
development gave rise to the Romance Exponent, like Julius Caesar,
remains of Latin give a
distorted image; languages, via spoken, or “vulgar” Latin, as its of ideal classical Latin
discoveries of new legitimate offspring. Latin has long remained

texts excite not only the common language in academia, and, in an
ancient historians 30-SECOND TEXT
but historians of the
unbroken tradition throughout the Middle Ages Peter Kruschwitz
Latin language. and the Early modern period, continues to play a
role in the Roman Catholic church. Latin text still holds
primacy of place in
academia, medicine,
taxonomy, law, and
76 g Language & Literature the church liturgy.
EDUCATION
& LITERACY
Roman education was primarily
domestic, never regional or national. Under
ongoing Greek influence, direct paternal
3-SECOND SURVEY supervision gradually incorporated professional RELATED HISTORY
Roman education, teachers. Although a modified Greek alphabet See also
especially literacy, was the RHETORIC
was adopted in the seventh century bce, for
gateway to political or page 82
military rank but involved
three centuries critical texts—priestly annals,
ongoing expense, thereby “The Twelve Tables” (law code), and the
reinforcing social and “Sibylline Oracles”—remained sacred and 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
economic distinctions. CATO THE ELDER
state-owned. Colonial and military expansion 234–149 bce
from the third century bce made writing Conservative statesman and
agricultural writer
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION logistically important, and scholarship began to
Most writing was done on define status. Private Greek tutors appeared: HORACE
65–8 bce
a beeswax tablet using a the paedagogus taught character and basic Poet of the Augustan period
pointed stylus; the
flattened end erased
literacy, then the grammaticus literature and
mistakes. Learning was grammar; the rhetor taught declamation. Latin
30-SECOND TEXT
by memorization, corporal literature flourished as (bilingual) elite literacy Dunstan Lowe
punishment routine.
spread. Documentation became the empire’s
Horace thanks his father
for moving him to Rome lifeblood, particularly from the late republic
to learn from a respected onward: legions and provinces were managed
grammaticus, Orbilius, through bulletins, financial records, and
whom he calls “thrasher”
censuses; Cato’s manual for landowners
(plagosus). Recent Roman education
calculations put peak assumes literacy among supervisor slaves;
began around the age
literacy below 30 percent soldiers used memoranda; senatorial decrees
in Italy, 10 percent in of seven. Female pupils
were publicly displayed in Rome; tombstones
Western provinces; for ceased education aged
women, much lower. But
and monuments bore inscriptions; painted signs 12, males in their late
given the prevalence of and graffiti covered every town. Schooling was teens, sometimes
written texts, functional rare, but the best-preserved evidence (from capping their
“reading” was probably
Egypt) shows an expectation that anyone could education by visits
the norm.
find relatives or acquaintances to write for them. to world-famous
lecturers, especially
78 g Language & Literature in Athens.
DRAMA
Impressive ruins of Roman
theater buildings have been discovered
throughout the Roman empire. The city of
3-SECOND SURVEY Rome itself, however, did not get to enjoy a RELATED HISTORIES
The Greeks may have permanent theater building until the opening of See also
invented drama, but the PROSE WRITING
the Theater of Pompey in the first century bce.
Romans perfected it: page 86
dramatic suspense, double
This late arrival shows the tension between the
POETRY
plots, and tragic pathos are Roman nobility’s desire to impress the people page 88
all Roman innovations. with lavish (if makeshift) structures, and the
Romans’ appreciation of the political nature of
dramatic performances. Amassing vast numbers 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION PLAUTUS
Drama is a Greek word, of the populace at a festival and then 254–184 bce
meaning “action.” The surrendering control to a playwright and a Roman comic playwright
Romans called their troupe of performers is a dangerous move. TERENCE
plays fabulae, meaning 195–159 bce
“stories.” Several English
Rome’s great comedians, Plautus and Terence,
Roman comic playwright, who
words are related to represent members of the lower classes, and fundamentally influenced later
playwrights, including
Roman theatrical terms, their plays challenged Rome’s aristocratic, Shakespeare and Molière
which in turn originated male-dominated society. Plautus’s slapstick
in neighboring cultures. SENECA
This includes “person” humor and Terence’s invention of comedic 4 bce–65 ce
(persona, the character suspense and the obligatory double-plot Roman Stoic philosopher,
statesman, adviser to the
of a play, most likely of transformed European drama. Tragedy, too, had young Emperor Nero, and
Etruscan origin), “scene” tragic playwright
its place on the Roman stage. However, Rome’s
(scaena, the stage,
originally from Greek most famous tragedian, Nero’s teacher Seneca,
skene, “tent,” a place may not have seen any of his plays performed in 30-SECOND TEXT
for the actors to change one of the grandiose theaters; perhaps they Peter Kruschwitz
their costumes), and
“histrionic” (histrio, the
were too complex to stage or too subversive in
actor, originally from nature. Of course, there was also lighthearted Theater was part of
Etruscan ister). entertainment: mimes offered the equivalent of Roman life. Plays were
modern-day stand-up performances. staged during many of
the 200 religious
festivals celebrated
80 g Language & Literature annually.
RHETORIC
Rhetoric, a Greek word and
concept, became essential intellectual training
for the Roman elite. The rhetor was a technician
3-SECOND SURVEY who used formal exercises to display his skill and RELATED HISTORIES
During the Republic, to train pupils. This style of education first See also
well-composed and EDUCATION & LITERACY
emerged in the fifth century bce, when
well-performed speeches page 78
decided the nation’s fate.
renowned Greek debaters such as Gorgias and
PROSE WRITING
However, after the Antiphon used logic and semantics as tools of page 86
emperors absorbed the persuasion. Aspects of performance, including
Senate’s authority, rhetoric gestures and intonation, were also carefully
was mainly valued as
an artform. scrutinized. Romans valued public speaking too; 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
APULEIUS
during the third and second centuries bce, they 125–180 ce
imported rhetoricians among other Greek cultural Popular orator and writer of
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION Latin prose
prizes. Two styles of practice speech that were
Ancient Roman discussions MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
of declamation stress
already evolving became standard at Rome. The 106–43 ce
the importance of body suasoria, resembling philosophical or political Roman orator, politician,
theorist, and greatest
language. Orators (unlike debates, offers advice to a mythical or historical exponent of rhetoric in Latin
actors) were of high social
character. Should Agamemnon sacrifice his
standing, and avoided TACITUS
gestures or tones of voice daughter? Should Cicero burn his writings to save 56–117 bce
considered uncontrolled his life? The more challenging controversia is a Senator and historian who
wrote a study on oratory
or effeminate. Facial role-playing speech, tackling a complex case
expressions and hand
involving imaginary laws. For example, a law
movements were essential
for emphasis, and some requires female rape victims to choose between 30-SECOND TEXT
Dunstan Lowe
spoke more vigorously marrying the attacker without dowry, or
than others, but few raised executing him. Someone rapes two girls, and the
their arms much beyond
shoulder height, or mimed.
victims choose differently. Should he be married
or executed? Such rigorous exercises and Sculptures represent
techniques, including sententiae—quotable, speechmakers with
proverb-like maxims—influenced how elite upraised palm or
authors and poets wrote. pointing finger,and
always in the toga of
82 g Language & Literature the dignified stateman.
70 bce 19 bce 1513
Born, reputedly in Andes, Dies at Brundisium Gavin Douglas completes
a village near Mantua (modern Brindisi), Scots translation of the
according to the ancient Aeneid (published 1553)
biographies, leaving
c. 37 bce instructions for the
Completes Eclogues, incomplete Aeneid to be 1697
a collection of ten burned; buried at Naples Publication of John
pastoral poems Dryden’s influential
English translation of
4th century ce the Aeneid
c. 36–29 bce Earliest surviving
Composes Georgics, a manuscript of Virgil’s
four-book didactic poem poetry
on Roman farming
1427
c. 29–19 bce Italian poet Maffeo Vegio
Works on the Aeneid, adds a 13th book to the
which is left unfinished Aeneid, which is printed
at the poet’s death with Virgil’s text in many
early editions
1469
First printed edition of
Virgil’s works
84 g Language & Literature

VIRGIL
Publius Vergilius Maro (known in imperial conquest, however; the poem also
English as Virgil or Vergil) lived during the displays the human and personal cost of
period of the civil wars at Rome, and witnessed empire, including Aeneas’ desertion of his
the rise to power of Julius Caesar’s great- lover, Dido (queen of Rome’s historic enemy
nephew Octavian, who became the emperor Carthage), in pursuit of his divinely ordained
Augustus. Although Virgil’s earlier works were mission. Although the ghost of Aeneas’ father
to prove influential (Eclogues played an Anchises memorably defines the Roman
important part in the development of the vocation as being “to spare the conquered, and
European tradition of pastoral poetry and to crush the proud in war,” the Aeneid ends
Georgics show the continuing influence of abruptly with Aeneas’ impassioned slaughter
Greek poetic models and, in their dedication to of his defeated enemy, Turnus.
Octavian’s cultural courtier Maecenas, Virgil’s Highlights include Aeneas’ account of the fall
absorption into the circle of writers around the of Troy in Book 2, which contains the original
future emperor), his fame rests primarily on the warning against “Greeks bearing gifts” (applied
epic Aeneid, which had a profound and lasting here to the Trojan horse, in which Greek
impact on Western art and literature. warriors lie concealed); the tragedy of Dido and
Designed as a Roman counterpart to the Aeneas in Book 4, famously adopted as the
Greek heroic epics of Homer, the Iliad and the subject for operas by Purcell and Berlioz; and
Odyssey (the subjects of which are combined in Aeneas’s visit to the underworld in Book 6,
the Aeneid’s opening words “arms and the which was to provide inspiration for Dante’s
man”), this 12-book narrative poem brings the Inferno (where Virgil himself appears as the
most exalted literary genre of the ancient later poet’s guide) and the early scenes of
world into the realm of Roman history and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Recognized
politics. Prophetic passages throughout the immediately as the supreme national epic of
poem look ahead from the mythological Rome, the Aeneid spawned an extensive
narrative of the Trojan Aeneas, legendary tradition of Roman epic poetry, most notably
founder of the Roman race, to more Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Lucan’s Civil War, and
contemporary events, anticipating the victories Statius’s Thebaid, all of which (especially the
of Aeneas’ supposed descendant Augustus. mythological stories of the Metamorphoses)
Virgil’s celebration of the glorious destiny of enjoyed enormous popularity among later
Rome is not merely a triumphalist salute to readers, writers, and artists.
Matthew Nicholls
Virgil g 85
PROSE WRITING
Because the Latin language is
precise and concrete, Roman prose writing
became an effective and often stylish medium
3-SECOND SURVEY for communicating information and arguments. RELATED HISTORY
Roman prose writing Whereas Roman poetry leaned heavily on Greek See also
arose from two impulses: RHETORIC
models and evolved partly through translations,
commemoration and page 82
persuasive speech.
prose writing had homegrown origins. As literacy
Rhetorical style influenced spread, persuasive speechmaking—essential in
the artistry of all narrative the senate or courtroom, and central to elite 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
forms including history, MARCUS TUILLIUS CICERO
education—lent its rhythmic patterns and 106–43 bce
letters, and novels.
rhetorical flourishes to other forms of writing. Orator, statesman, and
philosopher
History evolved from brief civic “annals” (yearly
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION records), but also commemorations of personal PLINY THE ELDER
23–79 ce
The Romans used prose achievement: generals’ bulletins, memoirs, and Scholar and prolific author
for texts requiring rapid
dictation: in length both
praise-speeches at funerals. Histories became
Livy’s history and Cicero’s nuanced narratives, producing emotional
30-SECOND TEXT
collected letters far exceed responses and enlivened with speeches. Dunstan Lowe
most epics. Composing
Biographies were a close relation, famously
history was relatively
respectable as politics, Suetonius’s twelve lives of emperors. Novels in
wars, and great individuals antiquity were a small, humble genre; in Latin,
were deemed morally only Petronius’s Satyrica and Apuleius’s
educational subjects.
Metamorphoses survive, more scurrilous than
Philosophical works and
studies of practical utility the melodramatic Greek romances. Technical
were also valuable. While treatises, in which verbal artistry was less
no literary critic admits evident, imposed system on industries and
appreciation of humorous Cicero was—and is—
and obscene prose such as
sciences: Vitruvius’s On Architecture and widely considered the
the novels or Seneca’s especially Pliny the Elder’s encyclopedic Natural best Latin prose
satire on Claudius, there History remained valuable reference works into stylist: his speeches,
was evidently a readership.
the Middle Ages and Renaissance. philosophical works,
and even private
letters were published
86 g Language & Literature and savored.
LATIN LYRIC POETRY
Roads, bridges, aqueducts, and
sewers provide ample evidence of the Romans’
practical side, but they were also capable of
3-SECOND SURVEY intense sensuality and even—although this RELATED HISTORIES
The lyric poetry of Catullus is denied in some older scholarship—of See also
and Horace has inspired PROSE WRITING
passionate romanticism. This is apparent not
countless Latin lovers (and page 86
others) to “seize the day”
only in the fabulous mythological scenes of
DEATH & THE AFTERLIFE
in the centuries since it Roman domestic wall-painting, but also in the page 110
was composed. influential body of Latin lyric poetry, represented
chiefly by Catullus and Horace. The love
poems of Catullus, addressed to his capricious, 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS
Roman lyric poetry irresistible and unfaithful mistress Lesbia (the ca. 84–c. 54 bce
has enjoyed lasting name evokes the Greek lyric poetess Sappho of Youthful poet of passion
popularity. In English and invective
Lesbos), range in tone from delicacy to pathos
poetry, engagement with HORACE
Catullus can be seen in the
to abusive obscenity; among the most famous 65–8 bce
works of Andrew Marvell, are the poet’s lament for his girlfriend’s dead Author of Odes, Satires and
other poetry
Thomas Campion, and sparrow, and the so-called “kiss” poems, in
Robert Herrick. Sir Ronald
which Catullus reminds Lesbia of the shortness
Storrs’s Ad Pyrrham (1959)
collects 144 translations of life as a spur to enjoy love while they still 30-SECOND TEXT
(from a total of 451 known can. This hedonistic philosophy was later Luke Houghton
to the compiler) of a single encapsulated by the greatest Roman lyric poet,
Horatian ode, including a
Horace, in the words carpe diem (“seize the
famous version by John
Milton. More recently, day”), which have served ever since as a motto
Horace’s best-known tag for those seeking to make the most of the
carpe diem has appeared in present. In addition to their erotic content,
films such as Dead Poets
Society and Clueless.
Horace’s Odes include political poems, drinking Lyric poetry was
songs, and meditations on the passing of time originally intended
and the immortality of poetry. to have musical
accompaniment;
the longer poems may
have been crafted for
88 g Language & Literature choral performance.
INSCRIPTIONS
& GRAFFITI
Were the Romans able to read?
Scholars tend to pessimism in their view on
literacy levels in the Roman Empire. Whatever
3-SECOND SURVEY the case may be, many Romans were able to RELATED HISTORIES
Inscriptions are expensive, write, producing lasting literature and everyday See also
so it is essential to keep LATIN
private documents such as letters and contracts.
the message short and page 76
pithy. Thus the Greek
The Roman world was also profoundly inscribed,
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES
term for “inscription” from its earliest times to the end of antiquity. page 126
epitomizes this concept: Inscriptions adorned built structures and
the epigram. monuments such as the Pantheon, the famous
triumphal arches of Rome, statue bases, altars, 30-SECOND TEXT
Peter Kruschwitz
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION and milestones. Laws and decrees of the Senate
Roman handwriting were engraved in bronze and put on public
(“cursive script”), as found display, and metal was the material of choice
in the graffiti, wax tablets,
and such, is notoriously
for military diplomas—the Romans’ passports.
hard to read for the Inscriptions on tombstones and funerary
uninitiated. Roman monuments helped Romans to remember
monumental lettering, and celebrate their ancestors’ lives and
however, has enjoyed
lasting success due to the achievements. The writing was on the wall,
ease with which it is read. literally, in the case of graffiti or painted
This particularly true for advertisements for political campaigns or
the famous capitalis
games. It was on the floor, too (in mosaics),
quadrata (“squared
upper-case”), developed and on rooftops. There was also a darker side.
during the reign of Inscribed curses, sometimes wrapped around
Augustus, and the actuaria a chicken bone, were buried in the ground,
(“swift’), a monumental Roman square or
font that resembles the
so that spells could unfold their magic. inscriptional capitals
strokes of a paint brush. Monumental or private, of lasting value or were the lettering of
for quick consumption, writing in the public choice for inscribing
sphere was everywhere in the Roman world. key Roman monuments,
including the Arch of
Titus, Trajan's Column,
90 g Language & Literature and the Pantheon.
g
THOUGHT & BELIEF
THOUGHT & BELIEF
GLOSSARY
atheism Belief in no gods. monotheism Belief in and worship of a single

god to the exclusion of any other.
cult Literally the “care” offered to a deity
through ritual, sacrifice, and worship. mystery cult A particular sort of Roman
religion that involved initiating worshipers
deities The numberless gods that thronged into secret “mysteries,” which promised to
the Roman world, from the great Olympian reveal secrets of the cosmos—sometimes
pantheon to the humble spirits of household through terrifying ceremonies evoking death
shrines and crossroads. and rebirth. As these cults thrived in an
atmosphere of mysterious secrecy, details of
divi filius Title meaning “son of the deified what exactly happened in their ceremonies
one” taken by the emperor Augustus in are scarce.
reference to his deified adoptive father Julius
Caesar and used by several later emperors. numen The “expressed will” of a divinity or
emperor—not itself a god, but a divine power
Epicureanism A branch of Greek philosophy of action. Worshiping the numen or genius
following the teaching of Epicurus (fourth– (divine nature) of a living emperor was a
third centuries BCE), who taught that the delicate way for Romans to step round the
proper goal of philosophy was to secure a awkward implications of ruler cult—though as
happy life. time went on those scruples diminished, and
were never strongly felt in parts of the
lectisternium A banquet held to propitiate empire.
the gods, whose images were placed about
on dining couches. On Divination A two-book philosophical
work of 44 BCE by Cicero, discussing the
henotheism Belief in and worship of a single interpretation of dreams, oracles, omens,
god, while accepting that a number of other and other signs.
deities may exist.
polytheism Belief in and worship of a
hippodrome The Greek term for a circus, an multiplicity of gods.
arena for chariot racing.
94 g Thought & Belief

principate Name for the system of one-man syncretism The blending together of
rule established by Augustus, Rome’s first different (for example, Roman and native) gods
emperor or princeps (a Latin word that who were felt to share characteristics—as is
translates roughly as “first citizen”). the case of Sulis-Minerva at Bath, England. An
important element of religious integration.
Republic Work of fourth century BCE Greek
philosophy by Plato, which discussed the idea Stoicism A branch of Greek philosophy
of justice and different forms of government; (originally taught by Zeno, ca. 334–262 BCE,
includes the idea of an ideal state governed a philosopher in Athens, in a “stoa” or
by philosopher-kings. colonnade). Zeno’s austere ethical teachings
stress the importance of virtue and self-
ruler cult The Romans took from the Greeks discipline.
the idea of offering sacrifice and divine
honors to humans, including living rulers. The tetrarchy The modern name for the college
practice took off under the emperors; while of four emperors introduced by Diocletian in
“good” emperors avoided divine honors in 293 CE (one senior “Augustus” and one junior
Rome itself, encouraging sacrifice only to their “Caesar” in each half of the empire, which was
numen or genius, they were often worshiped divided into east and west).
openly in the provinces and indeed by
everyone after their death and deification. temple A type of building sacred to a god
or gods and used as a venue for cult and
sacrifice The very widespread ancient sacrifice.
practice of making an offering to a god, often
in the hope of a favor in return. The most
expensive sacrifices, such as bulls, were a
dramatic statement of piety and wealth and
could lead to a feast of the butchered meat.
At the other end of the scale were humble
offerings of cakes or flowers to lesser deities.
Glossary g 95
THE ROMAN
PANTHEON
Pantheon is a Greek word
meaning “all the gods,” often understood
to refer to the Greek deities known as the
3-SECOND SURVEY Olympian 12. The Roman pantheon may RELATED HISTORIES
The Roman pantheon be thought of as a Roman “version” of these 12; See also
embraced not only famous IMPORTED GODS
the Roman goddess Venus, for example, stands
deities like Jupiter and page 98
Venus, but far shadier
in for the Greek Aphrodite. Certainly these 12 are
IMPERIAL CULT
characters too, like singled out as a group when Livy describes a page 104
Sterculius, god of manure. lectisternium—a ritual feast set out before
statues of the gods—performed for them in 217
bce. The gods shared couches in male-female 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION LIVY
Popular particularly among pairs: Jupiter and Juno, Neptune and Minerva, 59 bce–17 ce
philosophers, another Mars and Venus, Apollo and Diana, Vulcan and Historian who wrote a history
of Rome running from its
approach to the Roman Vesta, Mercury and Ceres. The term Roman foundation to the present day
pantheon was to insist
on the existence of one
pantheon also means “all the Roman gods,” an AUGUSTUS
supreme god (perhaps unimaginably large number. Deified emperors 63 BCE–14 ce
Rome’s first emperor who
called Jupiter), but also to swelled out the ranks, as did “foreign” gods established the Roman
acknowledge the existence adopted by the Romans. Roman polytheists also principate in 31 bce
of other subordinate
deities (perhaps called invoked a huge variety of gods specific to a
demons or emanations). particular situation: take Spes, a goddess 30-SECOND TEXT
This kind of belief is often embodying Hope, or Lucina, goddess of Ailsa Hunt
labelled henotheism, a
childbirth, or even Sterculius, god of manure.
Greek word meaning belief
in one god, as distinct from The Pantheon is also the name of a famous
monotheism, a Greek word Roman temple, built during Augustus’s rule and
meaning belief in only The Romans took
probably intended to honor “all the gods;” the
one god. the Greek term to
vagueness of its name allowed for the idea that refer collectively to
Augustus deserved a place among these gods, their principal deities,
while proclaiming nothing definite. headed by Jupiter;
the temple known by
that name may have
been dedicated to
96 g Thought & Belief “all the gods.”
IMPORTED GODS
The Roman world is so full of
gods “that you might as easily bump into a god
as a man”: so jokes Quartilla, a character in a
3-SECOND SURVEY Roman novel. And it is easy to see where RELATED HISTORIES
Roman polytheists openly Quartilla is coming from. For the Romans— See also
adopted the new gods EMPIRE & EXPANSION
unlike many conquering nations—did not try to
they discovered as their page 26
empire expanded—the
stamp out foreign cults and gods but tended to
THE ROMAN PANTHEON
more the better. embrace them as their own, even if they were page 96
noticeably “un-Roman.” Mithras, an imported
CHRISTIANITY
Eastern god, featured in marble reliefs boasting page 100
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
a pointy Phrygian (today “Turkish”) hat. Cybele
Embracing foreign gods
as their own might make was another prominent imported goddess
Roman polytheists look whose tambourine-heavy processions led by 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
OVID
surprisingly religiously castrated priests were a shock to many Roman 43 bce—ca. 18 ce
tolerant, but being open
to new gods was also
observers. Other gods entered Roman culture Roman poet whose works were
highly influential as a source
understood to benefit the through the process of syncretism, the blending of classical mythology
state. It was sometimes of a foreign and a Roman deity. Sulis Minerva, APOLLONIUS OF TYANA
argued that the reason the worshiped at Bath, England, combines the Celtic fl. first century ce
Romans ruled the ancient Orator and philosopher from
world was because they god Sul with the Roman Minerva. Hermanubis, Roman province of
Cappadoccia, Asia Minor
alone worshiped all another syncretic god, was surely more
gods. Cybele herself was challenging to Roman imagination: he had the TITUS FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
imported from modern-day 37–100 ce
torso of the messenger god Hermes, but the Romano-Jewish scholar,
Turkey in 204 bce after
consultation of a religious head of the Egyptian jackal-headed god Anubis. historian, and hagiographer
text suggested that this Roman welcome of new gods had few limits:
might help Rome against but those gods whose worshipers were
its political rival Carthage. 30-SECOND TEXT
themselves intolerant of other gods, like the Ailsa Hunt
Jews and Christians, could be met with hostility. The Roman ability to
accept different gods
as forms of the same
thing helped bring
cohesion to a huge and
98 g Thought & Belief diverse empire.
CHRISTIANITY
What was it that led Christians in
the Roman empire to the gory fate of being
thrown into the arena to be fed to hungry lions?
3-SECOND SURVEY As a minority religious group, which at first RELATED HISTORIES
At first a ridiculed minority, worshiped in private houses, not churches, See also
Christians could scarcely CONSTANTINE
Christians were vulnerable to the spread of
have imagined in their early page 102
days that, three centuries
terrible rumors: the communion meal, the ritual
on, a Christian would rule eating of Christ’s “body” and “blood” was, for page 110
the Roman world. example, interpreted as cannibalism. More
TOMBS
surprisingly, perhaps, Christians were often seen page 132
as atheists: by insisting on worshiping one god
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Naturally enough, Roman alone, Christians were dangerous disparagers of
pagans at first thought of the gods who could bring divine anger on the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
PAUL (ORIGINALLY SAUL)
Christianity as a Jewish state. Yet the religion was obviously deeply fl. 1st century ce
sect. Romans had long
been hostile to Judaism—
attractive to many: by 312 ce a Christian Jew who converted to
Christianity and
partly owing to Jewish emperor, Constantine, ruled the Roman world became a missionary who
preached throughout the
insistence on worshiping and Christianity had spread like wildfire. The Mediterranean world
one god—and transferred Christian promise of a resurrected afterlife was
their prejudices about
Judaism to Christianity. surely important: images on the walls of
30-SECOND TEXT
For example, Roman Christian tombs in Rome are thought to Ailsa Hunt
pagans used to accuse represent this promise, such as Jonah being
Jews of worshiping a
rescued from the belly of a whale. Christianity
donkey in the temple in
Jerusalem, an accusation perhaps also appealed ideologically to
repeated in a striking “downtrodden” groups in Rome, like slaves and
Roman graffito that shows women: a famous passage from a letter by Paul
a Christian worshiping a
crucified donkey.
controversially denies any difference between Christians commonly
slaves and free, or between men and women. attracted hostility in
the Roman world and
feeding them to the
lions was (at times)
considered to be a
100 g Thought & Belief form of entertainment.
c. 272 ce 324 ce 330 ce
Born, the son of Flavius Victorious at the Battle Officially founded
Valerius Constantius and of Chrysopolis in Bithynia Constantinople as the
Helena (modern-day Turkey), new capital of the Roman
defeating Licinius, who empire
had become his final
306 ce imperial rival
On his father’s death, May 22nd, 337 ce
acclaimed emperor by the Died from illness and was
army at York 325 ce buried in the Church of
Called the First Council the Holy Apostles in
of Nicaea Constantinople
312 ce
Victorious at the Battle
of the Milvian Bridge in
northern Rome, defeating
his rival Maxentius who
drowned in the river
Tiber
313 ce
Published, along with his
then ally and colleague
Licinius, the Edict of
Milan proclaiming
religious tolerance across
the empire
102 g Thought & Belief

CONSTANTINE
Just outside York Minster stands “purity” of Constantine’s Christian faith is very
an imposing bronze statue of a man seated on much debated. Throughout his reign imagery of
a throne. It is not, as you might expect, an the sun god Apollo—a favoured god in
illustrious archbishop. This is Constantine the Constantine’s pre-Christian days—continued to
Great. He has earned this prominent spot appear, but now combined with Christian
because it was in the Roman town of Eboracum iconography. Was Constantine worshiping
(today York, England) that Constantine was Christ alone, or a combination of the two?
acclaimed as emperor in 306 ce. It is a fitting Constantine came to power within a
spot, too, because Constantine is famous tetrarchy. Yet through a series of protracted
above all for becoming the first Christian civil wars eliminating his co-rulers, by 324 ce
emperor of Rome. His conversion moment is Constantine was sole ruler of the Roman world.
said to have been a vision he witnessed the The strength of his personal ambition and
night before a decisive battle in 312 ce. Looking vision for the empire are particularly visible in
up to the sun, Constantine saw a cross shining his building projects: famously he founded a
above it, and written in Greek the words “by new city, on the site of Byzantium in modern-
this sign conquer.” day Turkey, which he boldly named “New
From this beginning Constantine went on to Rome.” The name, however, never caught on,
shape the early Christian church. The Edict of and soon the city was called Constantinople
Milan, a political agreement he secured only a (later Istanbul): a hippodrome that seated more
year later, ensured religious tolerance across than 80,000 spectators and a lavish imperial
the empire, a blessing for the long-persecuted palace proclaimed Constantine’s power.
Christians. Constantine also ordered the Moreover, despite his provocative “New
building of Jerusalem’s famous Church of the Rome,” the old Rome was hardly ignored.
Holy Sepulchre and called the First Council of Visitors today marvel at the Arch of
Nicaea, which established a statement of Constantine, while the famous St. Peter’s
Christian belief still used today (the Nicene Basilica occupies the site of a church
Creed). Indeed, Constantine is even revered as Constantine founded.
a saint in Orthodox Christianity. Yet the
Ailsa Hunt
Constantine g 103
IMPERIAL CULT
When a comet streaked across
the sky at the funeral games for Julius Caesar in
44 bce many took this as definitive proof that
3-SECOND SURVEY the dead dictator had become a god. Nor was it RELATED HISTORIES
The Roman emperor long before Augustus, Caesar’s adopted son and See also
enjoyed a position of JULIUS CAESAR
first emperor of Rome, began to style himself
unique power; the imperial page 22
cult helped to express
“son of a god” (divi filius) on his coinage.
IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT
what made him so Augustus’ subjects were keen to express their page 24
different and somehow political allegiance to the new emperor and his
“more than mortal.” COINAGE & CURRENCY
unique political position, and one way to do this page 60
was to use religious language and actions to
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION present him as divine in some way; here the
We might think that the ruler cult offered to Greek kings in the previous 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
JULIUS CAESAR
ability to see and touch an two centuries provided a useful model. Yet there 100–44 bce
emperor would convince
most he was hardly a god.
was still much hesitancy about the nature of Politician and dictator of Rome
Yet Romans placed positive Augustus’s divine status. The inhabitants of AUGUSTUS
emphasis on the emperor Narbo in modern day France set up an altar to 63 BCE–14 ce
Established the Roman
being a “present god.” the “divine spirit” (numen) of Augustus, rather principate and became Rome’s
Arguably it made more first emperor
sense to entreat an than directly to the emperor himself. After
“immediate” god like Augustus, however, such caution was mostly NERO
37–68 ce
Augustus, rather than a thrown to the wind, as more and more members Fifth emperor of Rome,
distant one like Apollo. remembered mostly for his
of the imperial family received sacrifice or insanity and brutality
Yet things probably felt
different for the emperors worship on more and more occasions. When,
themselves: Vespasian for example, Nero’s wife Poppaea gave birth,
supposedly joked on his priests sacrificed in thanksgiving for the safe 30-SECOND TEXT
deathbed “Oh no, I think Ailsa Hunt
I’m becoming a god!”
delivery; when the baby died aged four months,
the infant was deified and received her own Imperial cult gained
priest and temple. emperors political and
religious loyalty and
was a vital unifying
factor in the large,
104 g Thought & Belief diverse empire.
ASTROLOGY
& DIVINATION
For many people today, astrology
takes up no more space in their lives than the
horoscope in the average newspaper. But in
3-SECOND SURVEY the Roman world, astrology was popular in all RELATED HISTORIES
Messages from the gods strata of society. Emperor Tiberius was See also
were everywhere in the FOUNDATION
famous—indeed infamous—for his reliance on
Roman world, be it in the page 16
distant stars, or the entrails
his court astrologer Thrasyllus. At the other
SITE OF ROME
of a sacrificed sheep. end of the scale, astrological signs were also page 18
important for ordinary Romans involved in the
INSCRIPTIONS & GRAFFITI
hugely popular mystery cult of the god Mithras; page 90
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
the ram Aries, for example, is mentioned in
Not everyone was
convinced by the arts of graffiti from a shrine to Mithras in Rome.
astrology and divination. Similarly, divination was an everyday practice 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
CICERO
Roman admiral Claudius central to Roman politics. It involved reading 106–43 bce
Pulcher threw his sacred
chickens overboard when
divine messages in, for example, the behavior Roman orator, politician, and
author of philosophical works
they failed to accept of birds or the appearance of the entrails of
TIBERIUS
offered sacrificial grain, sacrificed animals. State priests were employed 42 bce–37 ce
saying “If they won’t eat, to “test out” the will of the gods by such means Rome’s second emperor (ruled
let them drink”—then lost 14–37 ce)
the battle. In his dialog before politicians undertook proposed courses
On Divination Cicero of action. A famous mythological example has
mocks those who want to Romulus and Remus as the first Romans to 30-SECOND TEXT
read divine messages into Ailsa Hunt
make a political decision in this way. Fighting
the behavior of all animals.
“Should I,” he jokes, “think over the hill on which they would found Rome,
that the state is in great Romulus and Remus decided to observe the
danger if mice gnaw my Reading the signs was a
birds from their chosen hills. Romulus saw 12
copy of Plato’s Republic? Roman preoccupation,
After all, gnawing is the
vultures, Remus only 6: this meant Romulus’ and interpretation of
main business of mice.” decision was final. divine messages was
the official task of
augurs to tell whether
a political or military
course of action was
106 g Thought & Belief approved by the gods.
PHILOSOPHY
Stoicism and Epicureanism were
giants among the many philosophical theories
popular in the Roman world. In a society that
3-SECOND SURVEY relied heavily on the distinction between slave RELATED HISTORIES
For the Romans, and free, Stoics controversially claimed that we See also
philosophy taught you SLAVERY
are all slaves to our emotions. Developing
about the nature of the page 38
universe, how to spend
self-control to overcome destructive emotions
your time in it, and how and achieve peace of mind, particularly when page 110
to take your leave. facing death, was central to Stoic ethics.
Moralizing anecdotes about “noble” suicides
were popular, like that of the gladiator who, 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION LUCRETIUS
Roman philosophy was having no other option, calmly choked himself fl. first century bce
heavily indebted to to death on a toilet sponge. Yet Stoicism wasn’t Epicurean philosopher who
wrote the epic poem “On the
Greek philosophy. The only about a way of life. Stoics also taught Nature of the Universe”
Epicureans, for example,
were named after their
about the nature of the world which, they EPICURUS
Greek founder Epicurus argued, was pervaded by the divine as man is by 341–270 bce
Greek philosopher and founder
whom Lucretius paints as a his soul. Epicureans differed in this regard: for of the school of Epicureanism.
semi-divine figure in his them, the world was composed of atoms and Enquired into how to lead a
great poem “On the Nature good life, existing free from
of the Universe.” In this void. Their ethical teaching was that pleasure is pain and enjoying the fruits of
human society.
poem Lucretius also the highest good, but this did not mean, as their
bemoans the fact that the rivals claimed, continual indulgence in bodily
“poverty” of the Latin
pleasures. Lucretius, for example, taught that 30-SECOND TEXT
language does not allow
Ailsa Hunt
him to express Greek sex was best if engaged in unemotionally. This
philosophical concepts was because Epicureans believed the way to
easily and fully. achieve pleasure was to become free from
emotion and fear, especially fear of death and—
more controversially—fear of the gods. Greek philosophical
doctrines adopted and
adapted by Roman
authors became the
basis of much Western
108 g Thought & Belief philosophy.
DEATH &
THE AFTERLIFE
On several Roman tombstones
are inscribed the letters “NF F NS NC.” They
represent an abbreviation of a Latin tag
3-SECOND SURVEY meaning “I didn’t exist, I existed, I don’t exist, RELATED HISTORIES
Depending on personal I don’t care.” These joky tombstones must have See also
beliefs, death in ancient LATIN LYRIC POETRY
been favorites of philosophers like Lucretius
Rome either was, or page 88
wasn’t, the be-all and
who also insisted that death is nothing to us.
INSCRIPTIONS & GRAFFITI
end-all. Indeed, Lucretius himself is famous for the page 90
“symmetry argument,” similar to that of the
TOMBS
tombstones, namely if not being alive before we page 132
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
were born didn’t bother us, why should we
If the nature of the
afterlife was uncertain, worry about our non-existence post mortem?
many Roman poets hoped Most people, however, were clearly more 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
to secure for themselves LUCRETIUS
concerned about the afterlife: thousands of fl. first century bce
literary immortality.
Horace boasted that in
Roman tombstone inscriptions are addressed to Philosopher who wrote the
epic poem “On the Nature of
writing his poems he had the “gods of the underworld.” In the Aeneid the Universe”
raised a monument more Virgil paints a famous picture of this underworld VIRGIL
lasting than bronze and so
with sinners being tortured—Sisyphus, for 70–19 bce
he would never completely Poet who wrote three major
die. Ovid also ends his example, pushing his rock up the hill—while works: the Eclogues, the
Georgics, and the Aeneid
Metamorphoses with a blessed souls enjoy themselves in Elysium. The
boast that his poems will afterlife also seems to have been a particular
always be read, leading up
concern of mystery cults into which ancient 30-SECOND TEXT
to the final triumphant
word of his great poem, Romans were initiated, but because these cults Ailsa Hunt
which translates as were meant to be mysterious, the evidence is
“I will live!” sparse. Some of this evidence leaves tantalizing
For Romans of all
traces of people’s beliefs, such as one social strata, relief
inscription that reveals an initiate of the Isis cult carvings and Roman
asking underworld gods to refresh his dead wife square capitals
with “cold water.” provided the means to
commemorate
deceased family
110 g Thought & Belief members and friends.
g
ARCHITECTURE, MONUMENTS & ART
ARCHITECTURE, MONUMENTS & ART
GLOSSARY
basilica Aisled halls, often found in the column A vertical load-bearing pillar: the basic
forum of a Roman town, using for banking, unit of classical architecture, developed into
law courts, and other civic business. different orders.
“bread and circuses” panem et circenses— Composite order A Roman variation of the
a shorthand for the emperors’ generosity Corinthian order, combining its foliage with
toward the urban population of Rome the scrolling volutes of the Ionic.
through the provision of cheap food and
free entertainment. concrete One of the great Roman
contributions to architecture: a versatile,
capital The topmost element of a column, robust material that can be molded into any
between the shaft and the lower element shape and even made to set underwater.
(architrave) of the entablature. The easiest
way to tell Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders Corinthian order A columnar order whose
apart is to look at their capitals. elaborate capitals, with (massed) tiers of
carved acanthus foliage, are easy to spot.
catacombs Extensive galleries of underground Favored by Roman architects for its
tombs cut into the rocks around Rome from elaboration and richness.
the second century CE, often by Christian and
Jewish communities. Doric order A columnar order consisting of
massive fluted columns terminating in a plain
cella The inner chamber of a Roman temple, capital, with the frieze of the entablature
in which the statue of the god or goddess divided between metope panels and a
might be housed. grooved decoration called triglyphs.
columbaria Literally “dovecots,” burial entablature The horizontal superstructure

chambers whose walls were lined with niches running above the column capitals in a
for the burial urns of the cremated poor and Classical building. Each order specified a form
middling inhabitants of Rome. of decoration for the surfaces of this element.
114 g Architecture, Monuments & Art

fresco Wall decoration painted directly onto piers Masonry supports carrying the
wet plaster. Roman houses often featured weight of a vaulted roof (more massive
frescos of mythological scenes, or than columns).
architectural perspectives.
podium The platform on which a temple or
Ionic order An architectural order whose other structure might stand, raising it up from
columns are more slender in proportion to ground level.
their height than the Doric, with curving
scrolled volutes at the corners of their capitals. tesserae The tiny cubes of stone or glass
that were laid in patterns to make up a mosaic.
On Architecture Ten-book Latin treatise on
architecture by Augustan architect Vitruvius. Triumphatores A triumphator was a
Covers theory, materials, means of victorious Roman general who had earned the
construction, the disposition of public and right to an elaborate victory parade through
private buildings, and military technology. Rome called a “triumph”—the ultimate
celebration of military and political success.
manes The Roman spirits of the dead; manes
could mean something like the “soul” or templum Technically not a “temple” building
“shade” of the departed. but a space inaugurated by a sacred ritual, in
which a shrine might be located.
mausoleum An elaborate monumental tomb
for an individual or dynasty. Named after the Tuscan order A plain, simple columnar order,
tomb of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus not unlike the Doric.
(modern Bodrum in Turkey), one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. veristic A style of Roman portrait sculpture
that emphasized “warts and all” realism,
orders Architectural styles consisting of favoring signs of aging to imply authority.
columns plus their capitals and entablatures.
The choice of order—usually Doric, Ionic, or
Corinthian—entailed a set of rules of form and
proportion and set the “rhythm” or overall
style of a building.
Glossary g 115
COLUMNAR ORDERS
Greek temples, such as the
Parthenon in Athens, base their whole visual
language on the proportions and ornament of
3-SECOND SURVEY the different columnar “orders” (the column and RELATED HISTORIES
Roman architects its associated superstructure or “entablature”). See also
borrowed the columnar THE COLOSSEUM & CIRCUS
Roman architects appreciated this heritage and
orders of the Greeks, but MAXIMUS
adapted them to their own
the rules that governed the use of each order: page 118
aesthetic ends, devising the sturdy, masculine Doric; the slender, TEMPLES
new forms like the Tuscan feminine Ionic (Vitruvius writes that its scrolled page 120
and Composite orders. capitals were like a lady’s “graceful curling hair”); TRIUMPHAL ARCHES
the more elaborate Corinthian, with its carved page 126
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION acanthus-leaf foliage. The Corinthian order and

Roman architects its near-relative, the Composite, particularly
used decorative tiers of 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
appealed to the Roman love of detail. It APOLLODORUS OF DAMASCUS
columns on all manner
of structures—fountain
additionally had the advantage of being totally fl. second century ce
Greek engineer and Trajan’s
houses, gateways, and symmetrical and as a result useful for all sorts of chief architect
especially theater stage structures. Roman architects therefore made
backdrops. The Colosseum
heavy use of these orders, but gradually took
is a fine example: here 30-SECOND TEXT
the “engaged” half the column a long way from its roots. Whereas Matthew Nicholls
columns are mere surface in Greek architecture the column was a
decoration, without structural element, transmitting the weight of a
structural purpose, and a
building’s roof into its foundations, in Roman
different order (Tuscan,
Ionic, or Corinthian) is used architecture, massive concrete piers and vaults
on each of the three often carried the weight, meaning columns or
arcaded stories. In many Use of the column as
columnar elements could be deployed as
buildings the use of light a decorative, almost
and shade, colorful
decorative details—in ever more elaborate baroque feature,
marbles, and novel effects arrays—without actually holding anything up. although disliked by
like spiral fluting added
Vitruvius and other
further visual effect.
purists, meant that
Roman architecture
had a distinctive
116 g Architecture, Monuments & Art visual identity.
THE COLOSSEUM
& CIRCUS MAXIMUS
Purpose-built structures for
entertainment show how seriously Roman
leaders took the “bread and circuses” task of
3-SECOND SURVEY keeping their city populations happy. Rome’s RELATED HISTORIES
Elaborate, purpose-built buildings for gladiatorial combat (the Colosseum) See also
stadiums for gladiatorial ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
and chariot-racing (the Circus Maximus) were,
combat and chariot-racing page 68
show how emperors
appropriately, the largest and finest in the
cultivated the popularity world. The Colosseum was not Rome’s first
of the games in Rome. amphitheater, but once it was built in the 70s ce 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
CALIGULA
it became an instant classic; it is still an emblem 12–41 ce
of the city. Its oval arena overlays complex Emperor (ruled 37–41 CE)
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION notoriously devoted to chariot
The name “Colosseum” basements holding combatants, animals, and racing, apparently to the point
of trying at one time to make
comes from a huge statue props for the arena; above ground its tiers of his horse a consul
(or “Colossus”) of the seats reflected Rome’s social structure—the
emperor Nero, remodeled
into the sun god after his
more important you were, the closer to the
action you sat. Built by the military-minded 30-SECOND TEXT
downfall, which eventually
Matthew Nicholls
lent its name to the huge emperor, Vespasian, in what had been the
stadium—officially the private grounds of Nero’s hated palace, this
Flavian Amphitheater—
nearby. Imperial poets 50,000+ seater stadium was a careful, populist
dutifully praised the gesture, signaling the new dynasty’s common
generosity of games-giving touch and vigorous Roman tastes. The nearby
emperors, but the racier
Circus Maximus fills a long, narrow valley
love-poet Ovid said that
the Circus, with its between the Palatine and Aventine hills.
tight-packed seating, was Horse- and chariot-racing were held here from
a good place to pick up Rome’s two largest
the earliest times; by the second century ce the
girls. Both buildings were venues for staging
imitated across the empire
Circus had been successively rebuilt to hold up public spectacles and
by towns eager to boost to a quarter of a million spectators, reflecting entertainment were
their reputations. the huge popularity of the races (and gambling) central to the leisure
that took place there. of the populace, and
became the model for
similar structures
118 g Architecture, Monuments & Art throughout the empire.
TEMPLES
Religion permeated the public
and private spaces of the Roman world. Homes,
workplaces, and crossroads contained shrines
3-SECOND SURVEY and altars, while adherents of some cults (like RELATED HISTORIES
Temples provided that of Mithras) met in enclosed, secretive See also
magnificent, conspicuous COLUMNAR ORDERS
chambers. The principal gods, however, required
public buildings for the page 116
worship of Rome’s
more substantial, public premises. The Latin
THE FORUM
protecting gods. word templum actually means a consecrated page 122
space: anywhere the senate met, for example,
CONCRETE & VAULT
had to be a templum. In general, though, the page 152
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
English word “temple” refers to public buildings
Roman architects
could experiment with erected for the honor and worship of the gods.
traditional temple forms. These, with many variations over time and 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
The Pantheon in Rome, HADRIAN
space, conform to a recognizable architectural 117–138 ce
sacred to all the gods, is
a fine example: from the
pattern. The Romans adopted the Greek Emperor who oversaw the
building of the Pantheon
front, this resembles a template of a rectangular building with a porch,
NUMA POMPILIUS
conventional temple with an inner chamber or cella, and a roof supported d. 673 bce
a columnar porch. But in
by rows of stone columns. From their Etruscan Legendary second king of
place of the rectangular Rome (ruled 715–673 bce) to
cella is an enormous round neighbors they took the idea of placing the whom Romans attributed
much of the city’s ancient
space, still one of the temple on a high podium, approached by a tall religious lore
largest concrete domes flight of steps, often with a sacrificial altar at
in the world: one ancient
the front, and much of the priestly ritual that
writer said that it
resembled the vault of made use of this dramatic architecture. Such 30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
the heavens. Like several sacred buildings gave Roman towns their
temples, it has been architectural character: within Rome itself the
preserved by conversion
into a church.
Forum contained several temples, while from The temple was the
the adjacent Capitoline Hill the great temple of focal point of religious
Jupiter Optimus Maximus overlooked the city. worship until the late
fourth century CE and is
one of the most iconic
examples of classical
120 g Architecture, Monuments & Art architecture.
THE FORUM
In its earliest phase, Rome was
a cluster of hilltop villages. Their inhabitants
needed a central place to meet and transact
3-SECOND SURVEY business, and to bury their dead, and chose the RELATED HISTORIES
The forum was the center marshy area enclosed between four of the hills. See also
of a Roman city, housing FOUNDATION
As Rome expanded, this area was drained and
many of its chief temples page 16
and civic buildings.
paved in the seventh century BCE and started to
TEMPLES
acquire its first monuments, temples, and public page 120
buildings. Thus it became the Forum, the city’s
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION center of commercial, civic, political, and
Roman towns from Britain
religious life. As Rome’s size, wealth, and sense 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
to Africa had a forum at AUGUSTUS
their heart. The relatively of itself as a capital city grew, shops and houses 63 bce–14 ce
well-preserved later layers were gradually cleared to make way for grander Rome’s first emperor, who
refurbished the main Forum,
of Rome’s Forum make it public buildings. Contact with the magnificent completed Caesar’s “imperial
hard to perceive its Foum,” and added another
developmental history.
royal cities of the Greek east resulted in the
Studying the fora of construction from the second century bce of
provincial towns, which Greek-style “basilicas,” colonnaded halls flanking 30-SECOND TEXT
were often modeled the long sides of the Forum for banking, law Matthew Nicholls
on that of Rome, helps us
to interpret how Rome’s courts, and public business. The transition from
Forum was understood republic to empire saw another transformation.
and imitated. Over time Julius Caesar began changes completed by his
ambitious provincial
heir, the first emperor Augustus: their grandiose
towns, including Pompeii
followed Rome’s lead, rebuilding schemes posed as respectful
closing their fora to traffic, restoration, but in reality transformed the Forum
removing messy into a monumental precinct that honored the
commercial activities, and
filling the space with
new dynasty and cemented its place at the Rome’s Forum was the
imperial monuments, heart of every type of activity conducted there. communal hub of the
statues, and arches.
city, where business,
commerce, religious
activities, and the
administration of
122 g Architecture, Monuments & Art justice was carried out.
58 bce 39 bce 31 bce 19–20 ce
Born Livia Drusilla Divorced her husband, Battle of Actium— Livia possibly involved in
though pregnant, in Octavian becomes sole the murky events around
order to marry Octavian ruler of Roman world the death of Germanicus
43–2 bce (the future Augustus), and the trial and suicide
Married to Tiberius which would eventually of governor Piso: another
Claudius Nero, her cousin secure her future as the 23 bce attempt to remove a
first empress of Rome Death of Augustus’s heir potential rival?
Marcellus
November 16th, 42 bce
Birth of her first son, the 38 bce 20 ce
future emperor Tiberius Birth of her second son, 2 ce Tiberius grants Livia a
Nero Claudius Drusus Death of Augustus’s heir series of honors. Her
Lucius Caesar continued attempts to
influence his rule opened
a serious rift between
them
4 ce
Death of Augustus’s heir
Gaius Caesar
26 ce
Tiberius abandoned
Rome, allegedly to avoid
9 ce
Livia’s influence
Potential heir Agrippa
Posthumus exiled
29 ce
Dies. Tiberius forbids her
14 ce
deification
Death of Augustus and
Agrippa Posthumus;
accession of Tiberius
as emperor. Will of 42 ce
Augustus grants Livia the Deified by her grandson
honorific title of Augusta the emperor Claudius. He
bestows the name Diva
Augusta on her
16 ce
Becomes first woman to
have her portrait appear
on provincial coins

LIVIA DRUSILLA
Ancient Rome was a man’s Livia was not Augustus’s first wife, and he
world: all offices of state were for men and wasn’t her first husband. When Augustus
elected only by the male citizen body; women married her she was already pregnant and had
remained under the nominal control of their to arrange a hurried divorce. She and Augustus
father or husband, and women’s work was had no children together, leaving his daughter
traditionally confined to the household. and her two sons to establish the family line—a
When Rome’s old republican constitution fell situation that worked very imperfectly and
apart, replaced by a single emperor, there was went through endless changes, exiles, deaths,
therefore no established public role for the marriages, and divorces (darkly attributed to
women of the imperial house. Subject to her malign agency by later writers) before her
intense scrutiny, vested with a degree of son Tiberius eventually became emperor, to no
informal power through access to and influence one’s particular joy except hers, in 14 CE.
over the emperor, and above all necessary to Although Livia could be ruthless in
produce the heirs vital to dynastic rule, the role dispatching family members who fell short or
of empress had to be developed more or less got in the way of her aims (one grandson called
from scratch. her “Ulysses in petticoats”), her steadfast
It was Augustus’s wife Livia—as wife, presence at Augustus’s side, her intelligence,
mother, grandmother, great- and great-great- tact, and steely determination, made her a
grandmother to Rome’s first five emperors— formidable partner in his labors, while her
who created the model for later imperial unimpeachable public conduct allowed him to
women. By establishing a role for imperial present his family as a moral and social model
women she also created a public role for for the Roman world.
women within the state and society more As the Julio-Claudian dynasty of emperors
broadly: the statues of hundreds of female continued to unfold over the decades she
patrons and benefactors in Roman towns was seen as its revered ancestress, accorded
across the empire all owe something to unprecedented honors in her lifetime and
Livia, both in their appearance and in their eventually deified in 42 CE more than a decade
very existence as public statements of after her death in 29 CE—after falling out with
female power. Tiberius—as “the divine Augusta.”
Matthew Nicholls
Livia Drusilla g 125

TRIUMPHAL ARCHES
The triumphal arch is a
distinctively Roman structure, with no
functional purpose except commemoration
3-SECOND SURVEY or the marking of a particular place. Their RELATED HISTORIES
Set in prominent and associations with military victory and imperial See also
significant locations and THE FORUM
power, and their suitability as platforms for
built on an impressive page 122
scale, triumphal arches
sculpture and relief carving, made arches
STATUES
commemorated Roman popular among Rome’s rulers and in later page 130
victories with elaborate ages—Marble Arch in London and the Arc de
architectural swagger. TOMBS
Triomphe in Paris are based on the Roman arch. page 132
Triumphal arches stood over the Triumphal Way
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
in Rome, a processional route through the city
The Arch of Constantine that was taken by generals whose victory 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
TITUS
in Rome, adjacent to the fulfilled the strict criteria for the award of this 39–81 ce
Colosseum, is a particularly
most exalted of honors. Triumphatores—after Military commander (later
important one. It bent the emperor) commemorated by the
rules from the outset, as it Augustus, always emperors and their families— Arch of Titus
was erected in 315 ce to who wanted a permanent record of their SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
mark Constantine’s victory moment of glory could erect an archway over 145–211 ce
in a civil war, rather than First African Roman Emperor,
over a foreign enemy. Its
the road, decorated with records of their victory commemorated by Rome’s
second surviving triumphal arch
decoration, largely of fine and linking them with their illustrious
panels removed from earlier predecessors. Gradually, such arches came to be CONSTANTINE
imperial monuments, is 272–337 ce
part of the wider repertoire of commemorative The first Christian emperor; his
supplemented by far less
skillful contemporary
architecture, and were used to mark the start is the most recent of Rome’s
surviving triumphal arches
sculpture. Is this a hasty and end of major roads and bridges, places of
bodge-job, the beginning religious significance, and boundaries. Covered
of the end of “realistic”
with relief carvings of battles, deifications, gods, 30-SECOND TEXT
classical art, or the dawn of Matthew Nicholls
a new medieval aesthetic? and victory processions, and topped with statues,
they confidently projected imperial power.
What better way to
mark military triumph
than with a victory arch
126 g Architecture, Monuments & Art built to span a road?
MOSAIC
The Romans took the idea of
mosaics—like so many other forms of art—from
the Greeks, who, since at least the fifth century
3-SECOND SURVEY bce, had been laying mosaics of pebbles and RELATED HISTORY
Mosaics, made of stone or then of specially cut cubes (tesserae) of colored See also
glass laid in patterns and BATHS & HYPOCAUST
marble or stone. Rome’s highly developed towns
pictures, were a common page 146
floor covering in the
and buildings, its appetite for fashionable
Roman world and could decoration, and the pan-Mediterranean extent
also be used to embellish of its trading networks saw mosaic developed 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
walls and ceilings. SOSUS OF PERGAMUM
to new heights of sophistication and luxury. At fl. second century bce
its simplest, mosaic was a hardwearing, Greek mosaicist named by Pliny
the Elder, famous for his
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION relatively cheap floor covering. Made from realistic, painterly works
Although most mosaic was thousands of tesserae, it could cover a large
a mass-produced and not room in a geometric pattern that would
particularly prestigious 30-SECOND TEXT
floor covering, at the high
withstand heavy usage and was impermeable to Matthew Nicholls
end of the market it could water—ideal, then, for the thousands of
be used to create real bathhouses in Roman towns and cities. Various
works of art. Famous
forms of mosaic were in fashion at different
examples include painterly
images of doves drinking times and places; in imperial Rome and Italy
from a fountain or an black-and-white geometric patterns were
illusionistic “unswept common, whereas many provincial workshops,
floor” for dining rooms,
particularly those of north Africa, developed a
showing the remains of a
rich banquet. taste for spectacular colored mosaics containing
pictures of gods, people, gladiators, chariot
races, abundant fruit and vegetables, and much
Painstakingly created
else. Mosaic—especially using colored glass, mosaics use tesserae
with shells and other additions—could also be to build up realistic
used to decorate walls, fountain grottoes, and effects of color and
even ceilings in Roman villas and gardens. shadow—some floor
mosaics have been
found to contain over
128 g Architecture, Monuments & Art a million tiny pieces.
STATUES &
PORTRAITS
The Romans were deeply
interested in commemorating both the living
and the dead. The erection of a portrait statue
3-SECOND SURVEY in a suitable place—for example, a forum for RELATED HISTORIES
Realistic-looking statues a local politician or emperor, a library for an See also
abounded in the Roman TOMBS
author—was one of Roman society’s highest
world, filling public streets page 132
and buildings, private
expressions of honor and success. Over time,
homes, and gardens. many Roman towns acquired a population of
marble and bronze figures to supplement their 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
PRAXITELES
human inhabitants, creating a canon of local fl. fourth century bce
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
and imperial worthies for the ambitious to join. The most famous sculptor of
Not all statues were the Greek world, seen as highly
portraits of named This Roman passion for portraiture probably collectable by later Romans
individuals. Rich Romans developed out of the custom of keeping funeral ASINIUS POLLIO
aspired to collect statues images of illustrious ancestors in aristocratic ca. 75 bce–4 ce
of deities and mythological Roman politician, man of
figures by Greek “old
houses, and parading them at family funerals letters, and the first to make
masters,” or at least to show a long and successful lineage. A his statue collection public
decent copies; most Greek tendency to invest certain characteristics of PLINY THE ELDER
bronze sculpture is known appearance with moral qualities meant that 23–79 ce
to us only through Roman Roman encyclopedist whose
copies and versions. There portraits could express ideological ideas, as well work forms the basis for much
of our knowledge of statues
were statues for all tastes as simply looking “realistic” (which the best ones
and budgets, from bigger- certainly did). The choice of whether to look old
than-lifesize down to small
and wrinkled (like many “veristic” portraits of 30-SECOND TEXT
garden ornaments, but
for many people the only republican statesmen) or eternally youthful (like Matthew Nicholls
sculpted image they would Augustus), clean-shaven (like early emperors) or

commission would be the bearded (like second-century ce emperor
portrait bust on their tomb.
Hadrian), nude or dressed in military, civilian, or Contact with skilled
priestly garb contributed to a visually encoded marble and bronze
system of messages and morals. workers of the
Greek world played
a part in developing
the Roman passion
130 g Architecture, Monuments & Art for realistic statuary.
TOMBS
The sides of roads into Roman
towns were densely crowded with tombs, as
burial was not permitted within city limits. As in
3-SECOND SURVEY much of Roman life, status and wealth were on RELATED HISTORIES
A final resting place display: prominent sites by busy thoroughfares, See also
was important, and INSCRIPTIONS & GRAFFITI
large, eye-catching tombs, and inscriptions
could provide a last—and page 90
lasting—opportunity to
(vital evidence for ancient historians) detailing
show off with a suitable illustrious careers, were all features of the page 110
proclamation of status grandest tombs, imitated down the social
and wealth. scale as resources permitted. Rich carving and
arresting designs like pyramids or towers 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
AUGUSTUS
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION proliferated in the late republic, as leading 63 bce–14 ce
The world of the dead was families jockeyed for position. The aim was to Rome’s first emperor
not immune to fashion or commemorate the deceased and to give their
politics. Some elements of
burial remained consistent,
spirits (the manes) a dwelling place, often in a
30-SECOND TEXT
such as inscriptions giving family group, with access to ritual offerings of Matthew Nicholls
name, family relationships, food and drink. Some commemoration of the
and rank or profession. life of the deceased also seems to have been
Others changed: Rome
shifted from inhumation an aim: many tombs depict the inhabitant’s
to cremation early on, and profession or trade. Not everyone could afford
back again in the second to such luxury in death. The poor, and even some
third centuries ce. Changes
slaves, banded together in burial clubs to
could be abrupt—Augustus’s
enormous mausoleum finance columbaria (“pigeon-hole” tombs), and
put an end to elaborate later on Christians and Jews excavated the vast Rome’s cemeteries
funeral architecture, warrens of the catacombs: a dignified final contain the mortal
forcing elite families to remains of both rich
avoid charges of
resting place was tremendously important for
all Romans, though individual beliefs about the and poor, but the
competing with the
tombs of the wealthy
emperor by using existence and nature of the afterlife varied widely.
simpler designs. could be conspicuously
immoderate, many
with elaborate
architectural forms
and inscriptions.
g
BUILDINGS & TECHNOLOGY
BUILDINGS & TECHNOLOGY
GLOSSARY
army terms The Roman army’s composition circumvallation A fortification built around a
and strength varied over time, but during besieged town to increase the besieging
much of the Roman empire it fielded a total army’s stranglehold.
of about 30 legions. Each legion consisted of
heavy infantry legionary soldiers and non- Cloaca Maxima The main sewer of Rome,
citizen auxiliary troops. There would also be a built in the sixth century BCE to drain the
wing of mounted cavalry. Each legion marshes land of the Forum area into the
contained a number of tactical subdivisions: Tiber River.
ten cohorts (except the double-strength first
cohort) containing six centuries of 80 men concrete One of the great Roman
each, commanded by centurions. At the contributions to architecture: a versatile,
lowest level of command legionaries were robust material that can be molded into any
organized into eight-man tent parties called shape and even made to set underwater.
contubernium, commanded by a decanus. The
whole system helped to foster comradeship cursus publicus Rome’s official system of
and a sense of unit and legion loyalty. messengers and couriers, created by the first
emperor Augustus to speed links between the
atrium The quadrangular reception hallway provinces and the capital. Supported by way
that articulated the front part of a Roman stations along Rome’s network of excellent
town house, with rooms opening off it and a roads, a really important message could travel
rainwater pool in the center. at up to 50 miles (80 km) per day.
ballista, carroballista A torsion-powered hydraulic gradient The optimum slope of an

artillery weapon that could hurl an iron-tipped aqueduct, calculated by Roman engineers to
bolt or stone projectile over hundreds of deliver water from a mountain source to a
yards. Could be used as a siege weapon along city, without it flowing too quickly or slowly
with battering rams and siege towers. A along the way. Often surveyed over distance
carroballista was a cart-mounted version. in difficult terrain with astonishing precision.
caldarium One of the hottest rooms in a

Roman bathhouse, heated by hypocausts and
wall ducts.
136 g Buildings & Technology

hypocaust A system of heating, using hot air siphon A device to make water in an
from a furnace flowing between pillars that aqueduct flow uphill: by channeling water
supported a suspended concrete floor, and under pressure in lead pipes, Roman engineers
through ceramic box tiles set into the walls. could let it flow down one side of a valley and
Typically the hypocaust was used in run up the other to return to the proper
bathhouses and richer private homes. hydraulic gradient.
insula (pl. insulae) A multistory apartment thermae A Roman bathhouse; usually refers
block that was the most common type of to the largest imperial bath complexes in
dwelling in ancient Rome. First-floor shops Rome. These were truly enormous complexes,
and restaurants opened onto the street, with with facilities for bathing, strolling, athletics,
apartments above. and more.
palaestra An enclosed courtyard, typically tubuli Hollow box tiles set into the walls of
part of a gymnasium or bathhouse, used for heated rooms to draw hot furnace air.
wrestling and other forms of physical exercise.
vault An arched ceiling or roof. Roman vaults
pumice A very lightweight volcanic stone. were built of concrete; shapes ranged from
simple semicircular barrel vaults up to complex
pozzolana A volcanic ash used by Romans in intersecting designs.
the manufacture of concrete, mixed with lime.
villa A Roman word for house that could be
siege engines As well as ballista and applied to buildings ranging from relatively
carroballista, Roman army engineers could modest town houses up to the great,
construct tall towers, circumvallation walls, luxurious country estates of the rich.
and make use of battering rams to overcome
enemy defenses.
Glossary g 137
FORTIFICATIONS
The Roman army’s fortifications,
near-identical across the empire, show that it
had—like many successful armies—a taste for
3-SECOND SURVEY habit and regularity. The classic Roman fort of RELATED HISTORIES
From Scotland to Africa the first and second centuries ce was the See also
to Syria, the Roman THE ROMAN LEGION
so-called “playing card” type, a rectangle with
army’s well-built, regular page 28
fortresses marked the
rounded corners whose ditches and ramparts
THE ROMAN LEGIONARY
presence of the legions. enclosed a neat grid of streets. In these the page 30
various elements of the military would find their
BATHS & HYPOCAUST
proper places—a headquarters in the center, a page 146
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
hospital, stores and workshops, and barrack
In the early empire, Roman
forts—temporary earth blocks for the various units of infantry and
and timber structures or cavalry. Ovens and latrine pits would serve the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
PSEUDO-HYGINUS
more permanent stone daily needs of the soldiers and, in long-term probably third century ce
ones—were often bases
of operation for mobile,
forts, a bathhouse would provide cleanliness Name conventionally given
to the author of a detailed
aggressive armies. From and relaxation. The proper layout of these description of life in the
Roman military camp,
the third century ce, as the camps developed into a military science, De Munitionibus Castrorum.
empire’s frontiers became documented by writers like Pseudo-Hyginus.
more fixed and its internal
politics more turbulent,
Later Roman forts displayed greater defensive
30-SECOND TEXT
forts acquired more capabilities, as the empire’s enemies became a Matthew Nicholls
elaborate defensive serious threat. Once Rome’s expansion slowed
measures such as
down, her frontiers started to harden, and
projecting towers with
artillery platforms. The long linear fortifications like Hadrian’s Wall
last great achievement demarcated Roman territory (though their exact
of Roman defensive function—military obstacle or customs barrier—
architecture was the
massive Theodosian land
is disputed). Cities, including Rome itself, also Territorial defenses, be
walls of Constantinople, acquired imposing wall circuits from the late they temporary camps
which served the city up third century ce, though these, in the end, could or permanent fortresses,
to its fall in 1453 ce. not keep the barbarians out. almost always used a
geometric arrangement
of ditches, a rampart,
138 g Buildings & Technology and a palisade.
ROMAN ARTILLERY
& SIEGE WEAPONRY
The Roman army made good use
of artillery and siege engines. These had been
developed by the engineers of rival Greek
3-SECOND SURVEY kingdoms from the fourth century bce onward, RELATED HISTORIES
Rome’s military engineers and were adopted by the rising power of See also
developed sophisticated THE ROMAN LEGIONARY
Rome around the middle of the third century
siege and artillery page 30
BCE. Torsion-powered artillery pieces could
weapons, and wrote FORTIFICATIONS
technical treatises to launch projectiles—simple rocks or flaming page 138
ensure their proper use. missiles—with considerable range, power, and
accuracy. By the imperial period Rome’s legions
were using compact, mobile bolt-throwing 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION TITUS
The energy stored by ballistae for infantry support in the field (55 per 39–81 ce
twisted rope or animal legion, according to the military writer Vegetius), Military commander
(later emperor) who
sinew could be harnessed and heavy-duty stone-hurling catapults for successfully captured
to propel a missile at high Jerusalem and son and heir
speed. By mounting twin
protracted siege operations. Such sieges of emperor Vespasian
torsion mechanisms on involved impressive military engineering.
JOSEPHUS
an iron frame, with long The Roman army under Titus laying siege to ca. 37–100 ce
arms connected to a Jewish aristocrat and leader of
Jerusalem to suppress a Jewish revolt in 70 ce, the 60s ce uprising who went
bowstring winched back
into position, Roman for example, built siege towers to give protected over to the Romans, prophesied
the rise of future emperor, the
engineers created the fighting access to defensive city walls, and general Vespasian, and went
terrifying ballista. This into honorable exile in Rome,
catapults and battering rams to break them where he wrote histories of
weapon could strike from a the war and the Jewish people
down. At the last rebel stronghold of Masada
long distance, demoralizing
enemy troops before they the tenth legion built a circumvallation wall
had a chance to engage. around the sheer clifftop location of the citadel 30-SECOND TEXT
Standardized, easily and then a 375-ft (115-m) siege ramp to bring Matthew Nicholls
replaced components and a
portable design added
the engines of war up to the rebel defences: the
typical touches of Roman writer Josephus records that the remaining
efficiency. inhabitants committed mass suicide rather than Precise and deadly,
face capture by Roman soldiers. Roman mechanized
weaponry represented
the finest technology
140 g Buildings & Technology of the ancient world.
Seventh–sixth Third–second c. 80 bce
centuries bce centuries bce Vitruvius born; one
Greek temple Rival kingdoms of the tradition claims Verona
architecture develops Hellenistic world develop as his birthplace
into its familiar form: splendid civic, royal, and
massive rectangular religious architecture
buildings with rows of much admired and 49–5 bce
columns in wood, then imitated at Rome. Greek Vitruvius serves Julius
stone. architects write Caesar as a military
theoretical treatises engineer in the
campaigns of Rome’s
civil war
86 bce
Rome sacks Athens;
Greek art, sculpture, and 31 bce
knowledge pour into the The future emperor
Roman world Augustus brings civil
wars to an end
20s bce
Vitruvius writes De
Architectura, addressing
Augustus as his patron
15th century ce
De Architectura
rediscovered, and studied
by successive generations
of artists and architects
c. 1490
Leonardo da Vinci draws
his famous “Vitruvian
man” figure, drawing on
Vitruvius’s theories of
the basis of architecture
in human proportions
142 g Buildings & Technology

VITRUVIUS
Vitruvius was a military engineer and geometry, and, in book ten, the design of
under Julius Caesar, and a practising architect. military and civilian machines, including
Little is known of his life or career (even his catapults and cranes.
full name is lost to us), but his book De De Architectura’s original drawings were lost
Architectura (“On Architecture”) survives, as the work was copied and recopied through
drawing on both his own experience and on the Middle Ages and beyond. This limitation,
earlier Greek technical treatises. It was written and the difficulty of interpreting Vitruvius’s
in an era when Vitruvius’s patron, the first complicated text without them, did not stop
emperor, Augustus, was transforming the city his work becoming something of a bible for
of Rome “from brick to marble,” and enlisting Renaissance architects and thinkers, who
the help of loyalist aristocrats. followed Vitruvius’s insistence on “solidity,
According to Vitruvius, an architect needed usefulness, and beauty” and regular
to be be competent in a wide variety of fields, proportions on a human scale.
so his seminal work also helps to preserve Later, as archaeologists began to investigate
insights into mathematics, philosophy, and the remains of actual Roman buildings, it was
science, largely drawn from Greek models that possible to see where Vitruvius’s opinion
are otherwise lost to us—he seems to have reflected, or departed from, real fashions and
sought to make the practice and appreciation tastes in Roman architecture. He is aware of
of architecture intellectually respectable for a some “modern” developments—concrete,
Roman readership steeped in Greek culture, elaborate theater architecture and architectural
rather than to write a practical handbook for fresco painting—and tends to mistrust or
use on a building site. disapprove of them. Contemporary and later
Vitruvius’s work, divided into ten books, Roman builders paid little heed, however,
covers the training and intellectual formation embracing ever more elaborate forms that
of the architect, the laying-out of towns, would have appalled Vitruvius. His work is best
building materials, various categories of seen, then, as a product of a particular mind
building (religious, domestic, and civic), and time rather than a comprehensive impartial
decoration, water supply, mathematics survey of Roman architectural practice.
Matthew Nicholls
Vitruvius g 143
HOUSING
Housing in the Roman world, as
today, addressed people’s practical need for
shelter and also offered a venue for social
3-SECOND SURVEY display and the expression of individual taste. RELATED HISTORIES
From gracious villas to Roman aristocrats enjoyed town houses on the See also
cramped top-floor flats, LIFE IN THE ROMAN
prestigious Palatine Hill and near the Forum, as
Roman housing reflected PROVINCES
the variety of life—rich and
well as country estates that combined luxury page 48
poor—across the empire. accommodation and gardens with productive MOSAIC & FRESCO
farmland. The smaller properties of less well-to- page 128
do Romans are naturally less prominent in the
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
literary record. The first really good evidence
Our understanding of life 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
in the “typical” Roman comes from Pompeii, where the basic villa style LUCULLUS
house is clouded by several of house, with rooms radiating from a central 118–57 bce
factors. The Roman empire Politician and consul renowned
atrium or hallway, sometimes with a walled for his luxury villas and for the
spanned a huge range of fabled Gardens of Lucullus
space and time, with
garden beyond, covers a huge range of size,
varying levels of wealth. prestige, and luxury. Small houses imitate the TRIMALCHIO
1st-century ce
The surviving literary features of larger ones, which in turn look to Fictional character in
record is that of authors
the genuinely luxurious aristocratic villas of the Petronius’s Satyrica, a
(mostly rich Romans) millionaire freedman whose
whose texts largely focus nearby Bay of Naples. Where owners had the house is derided as the
epitome of bad taste
on their own houses, money, luxury touches like mosaic and fresco,
ignoring living conditions often portraying mythological or literary themes,
among the poor or those
evoked the world of art and culture. In larger, 30-SECOND TEXT
outside Rome. Finally,
archaeological remains in more densely populated cities like Rome itself, Matthew Nicholls
Pompeii, Ostia, and landlords built upward, creating multistory brick

elsewhere, excellent as apartment blocks known as insulae. With shops
they are, reveal little about From the private
density of occupation or
and restaurants at street level, and reasonably retreats of emperors,
quality of life. gracious apartments on the second floor, the like Hadrian’s island
upper stories of these buildings were notorious study, to the cramped
for cheap, cramped accommodation. top-floor rooms of the
poor, Roman housing
varied enormously with
144 g Buildings & Technology wealth and location.
BATHS &
HYPOCAUST
Bathing was a central part of
Roman urban life. While cities like Rome
contained hundreds of small private bathhouses,
3-SECOND SURVEY it was in the enormous public thermae, built RELATED HISTORIES
“A healthy mind in a by successive emperors, that bathhouse See also
healthy body”—the great ROADS
architecture reached its zenith. Several Roman
Roman bathhouses helped page 148
cleanse city-dwellers in
technologies underpinned these bathhouses.
AQUEDUCT & SEWER
spectacular, art-filled The development of vaulted concrete page 150
spaces. architecture made huge, soaring spaces possible
CONCRETE & VAULT
(and avoided the use of roofing timbers, which page 152
would have rotted in the steamy environment).
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
The core activity of a Aqueducts delivered copious water to feed
Roman bathhouse was, as baths, pools, and fountains. Roman transport 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
SERGIUS ORATA
in a modern Turkish bath, systems enabled the delivery of huge quantities First century bce
getting clean through
sweating in rooms of
of decorative marble from across the empire Architect in the Roman
republic who specialized in
escalating temperature and the regular provision of fuel for heating, luxury hydraulic engineering:
he invented artificial pools for
before dousing or plunging made possible by the development of raising oysters and also heated
in cold water. Around this “hypocaust” systems that circulated furnace- swimming baths.
pleasurable and (probably)
health-giving activity the heated air under floors suspended on piles of
great imperial bathhouses brick or tile. Later, special hollow bricks (tubuli) 30-SECOND TEXT
built whole landscapes of were built into the walls of hot rooms (caldaria), Matthew Nicholls
leisure: gardens, open-air
to diffuse the heat to the wall surfaces as well.
palaestrae (courtyards),
athletics facilities, statue Such systems were common in public
galleries, libraries, and bathhouses, where furnaces also heated water
public halls. These palatial in large lead boilers to allow suites of baths
complexes, occupying
entire city districts, aimed
at different temperatures, and in the richest
to provide the common private houses. Developed from the
Roman with all the luxury
Greek gymnasium, the
amenities of an aristocrat’s
private villa.
Roman bath added the
pleasure of copious
running, heated water
146 g Buildings & Technology and luxury decoration.
ROADS
All roads lead to Rome. The
power of the city and its emperors over the
distant provinces of the empire, and the vitality
3-SECOND SURVEY of the economy, depended on being able to RELATED HISTORIES
Roman roads were move people, goods, and information swiftly See also
highways not just for the LIFE IN THE ROMAN
and safely. Straight, direct routes were
army, but also for ideas, PROVINCES
laws, and culture, helping
preferred: these sped the passage of soldiers page 48
to spread Roman ways of in a military emergency, and (like aqueducts) TRADE & INDUSTRY
life into the provinces. signaled Roman domination over natural and page 58
human geography. The Romans surveyed the AQUEDUCTS & SEWERS
routes of these straight roads with considerable page 150
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Roman determination to skill, calculating lines between points out of
stick to a direct route could sight of one other and aware of the constraints
lead to spectacular feats of 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
of the landscape and geology. Once a route was APPIUS CLAUDIUS CAECUS
engineering—mountain
routes, such as those in
chosen, roads were built to a tried and tested 340–273 bce
Roman magistrate responsible,
the Alps, could require formula. A trench was dug along the line of the in 312 bce, for first section of
the Via Appia, one of Rome’s
cuttings of up to 60ft road, and filled with compacted coarse gravel. earliest highways
(18 m), and retaining
Finer gravel then polygonal blocks of
walls and terraces of TRAJAN
similar height. The hardwearing basalt formed the road surface, 53–117 ce
Romans took pride in such which had a camber for drainage and curbs, Emperor (ruled 98–117 ce)
responsible for huge road
achievements: imposing milestones, and in towns pavements and construction projects including
arches were often built as the Via Nova Traiana in the
stepping stones. Cuttings, embankments, Middle East
monumental start and end
points to these roads. The bridges, viaducts, and even tunnels could be
inscription on the arch at built, along with drains and ditches. Roman
Rimini praises the emperor 30-SECOND TEXT
roads were intended to take two vehicles Matthew Nicholls
Augustus for “the
numerous roads of Italy
abreast, and were provided with passing places,
sustained by his planning way stations—even a network of imperial A formidable road-
and authority.” messengers to carry official dispatches. building program
endowed the empire
with a communications
network unsurpassed
148 g Buildings & Technology until modern times.
AQUEDUCTS
& SEWERS
Flowing water was a hallmark of
the Roman city. When urban population demands
grew too large to be satisfied by local supplies
3-SECOND SURVEY from rivers, cisterns, and wells, aqueducts were RELATED HISTORIES
What have the built to transport water over great distances. See also
Romans ever done for us? BATHS & HYPOCAUST
Their rows of arches spanning the landscape
Abundant water and an page 146
underground network of
remain a visual symbol of Roman engineering
drains make a powerful expertise. Rome acquired its first, impressive
case for the civilizing force 10-mile (16-km) long aqueduct as early as 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
of the Roman empire. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS
312 bce. Over the centuries the city gained 616–579 bce
several more aqueducts, bringing water from Legendary fifth king of Rome
under whose reign work was
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION distant mountain springs and running mostly carried out on the Cloaca
Maxima, Rome’s “Giant Sewer”
Were Roman aqueducts underground, then on arcades in the approaches
useful tools of urban to Rome to keep the water at a useful height
expansion and public
health, or wasteful vanity
above ground level. Water ran from distribution 30-SECOND TEXT
projects designed to towers in pressurized lead pipes to public and Matthew Nicholls
embellish their cities with private buildings (affluent citizens could pay for
frivolous luxuries like a domestic supply; innumerable street fountains
fountains and bathhouses?
Both positions have been served the poor). Used water had to be
argued, but modern removed: the Romans built drains to flush waste
research is increasingly out of the city, beginning with the seventh-
viewing the channels,
century bce Cloaca Maxima to drain the Forum.
arcades, cisterns,
settlement tanks, Networks of covered drains carrying waste
stopcocks, water pipe below street level made some Roman cities
networks, and siphons comparatively pleasant and hygienic—although
built by the Romans
as important and
ambitious politicians sometimes had to be urged
sophisticated landmarks to prioritize their construction over more Aqueducts—together
in the history of urban conspicuous monuments. with running water,
civilization.
indoor plumbing, and
sewer systems—stand
as enduring testament
150 g Buildings & Technology to Roman engineering.
CONCRETE & VAULT
The development of concrete
was one of the most important Roman
contributions to architecture, allowing vastly
3-SECOND SURVEY more rapid and economical construction and RELATED HISTORIES
Cheap, flexible, and new types of building. Early Roman concrete See also
capable of being laid in THE COLOSSEUM & CIRCUS
consisted of fist-sized pieces of stone
massive foundations and MAXIMUS
walls, and in graceful
(“aggregate”) set into a cement mortar, mixed page 118
vaulted shapes, concrete with pozzolana, volcanic sandy ash that added BATHS & HYPOCAUST
transformed Roman strength and consistency. Roman builders used page 146
architecture and concrete extensively from the third century bce,
construction methods.
experimenting with different facing materials
until by the first century ce they were regularly APOLLODORUS OF DAMASCUS
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION using bricks, made in their millions in brickyards fl. early second century ce
Concrete can support Engineer and architect from
outside Rome. Their efficient building system Greek-speaking Syria,
heavier loads and span responsible for many of the
wider gaps than the stone
maximized the use of unskilled and semiskilled finest buildings of Roman
architecture of the Greeks, labor—transporting materials, making bricks, emperor Trajan, and master
of concrete construction and
allowing freestanding mixing and laying concrete—allowing the the vault
buildings of enormous size Romans to build huge, virtually indestructible
and complexity. Architects
grew increasingly bold with concrete buildings in record time: just six years
30-SECOND TEXT
their dome designs, using or so in the case of the Baths of Caracalla. The Matthew Nicholls
pumice stone as aggregate concrete vault—laid over wooden centering that
to lighten the structure at
was removed once the concrete has cured—is a
the top, and imitating the
ribbed curves of gourds. distinctively Roman architectural device. From
Even emperor Hadrian may simple early domes to the huge spans of the
have had a go, if we can Pantheon and imperial bathhouses, and
believe the story that his
court architect told him
elaborate umbrella- and pumpkin-shaped vaults, The Romans’ ability to
dismissively to “go away such vaults added an architecture of curved, make concrete led to
and draw [his] pumpkins.” interior volumes to the massive rectilinear, different architectural
external forms inherited from the Greeks. forms—huge harbors,
wide-span bridges,
and soaring vaulted
152 g Buildings & Technology ceilings.
RESOURCES
BOOKS
Ancient Literacies: The The Oxford History of the Classical World

Culture of Reading in Greece and Rome John Boardman, Jasper Griffin and
William A. Johnson and Holt N. Parker Oswyn Murray
(Oxford University Press, 2009) (Oxford University Press, 1986)
Augustus: Image and Substance Roman Declamation

Barbara Levick Michael Winterbottom
(Longman/Pearson, 2010) (Bristol Classical Press, 1998)
The Cambridge Companion to Roman Eloquence: Rhetoric in Society and

Ancient Rhetoric Literature
Eric Gunderson William J. Dominik
(Cambridge University Press, 2009) (Routledge, 1997)
Classics: A Very Short Introduction Roman Historiography: An Introduction to its

Mary Beard and John Henderson Basic Aspects and Development Andreas
(Oxford University Press, 2000) Mehl and Hans-Friedrich Mueller
(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2011)
Latin Fiction: The Latin Novel in Context
Heinz Hofmann Roman Imperial Architecture
(Routledge, 1999) J.B. Ward-Perkins
(Yale University Press, 1994)
The Legacy of Rome: A New Appraisal
Richard Jenkyns Roman Villas in Central Italy
(Oxford University Press, 1992) Annalisa Marzano
(Brill, 2007)
Literate Education in the Hellenistic and
Roman Worlds Rome. An Oxford Archaeological Guide
Teresa Morgan Amanda Claridge
(Cambridge University Press, 1998) (Oxford University Press, 2010)
154 g Resources
ARTICLES WEB SITES
Houghton, L. (2013) Ovid, remedia amoris 95: Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents
uerba dat omnis amor. Classical Quarterly, 63 www.csad.ox.ac.uk
(1). pp. 447–449
Project website about the ancient marble
Hunt, A. (2012) Keeping the memory alive: the map of Rome
physical continuity of the ficus Ruminalis in www.formaurbis.stanford.edu
Bommas, M., Harrisson, J. & Roy, P. (eds.)
Memory and Urban Religion in the Ancient Harbour City of Ancient Rome
World (London) pp. 111–128 www.ostia-antica.org
Kruschwitz, P., Campbell, V., and Nicholls, M. Range of ancient texts in the original
(2012) Menedemerumenus: tracing the routes languages and translations, and searchable
of Pompeian graffiti writers. Tyche, 27. versions of several older reference works
pp. 93–111 www.penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/
Roman/home
Lowe, D. Always Already Ancient: Ruins in
the Virtual World in Kretschmer, M., Thorsen, Online resource covering history, literature
T.S., & Wahlgren, S., (eds.), Virtual Worlds of and culture of the Greco-Roman world
Classics: A Guide (Tapir: 2012) pp. 53–90 www.perseus.tufts.edu
Marzano, A. (2013) Agricultural production in Large collection of images of Pompeii

the hinterland of Rome: wine and olive oil. In www.pompeiiinpictures.com
Bowman, A.K. and Wilson, A.I. (eds.) The
Roman agricultural economy: organisation, Website about Matthew Nicholls’ digital
investment and production. Oxford University modelling project
Press, Oxford, pp. 85–106 www.reading.ac.uk/classics/research/
Virtual-Rome.aspx
Nicholls, M. Galen and libraries in the Peri
Alupias, Journal of Roman Studies. 101. Roman Aqueducts
pp. 123–142 www.romanaqueducts.info
Resources g 155
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
EDITOR
Dr Matthew Nicholls studied at Oxford Ailsa Hunt is the Isaac Newton Research
University and is a senior lecturer in Fellow in Classics at Fitzwilliam College,
Classics at the University of Reading, where Cambridge. Her primary research interests
he specializes in books, libraries, cities, are in Roman religion. Ailsa also edits the
and monuments of the Roman world. He annual magazine Tellus.
directs Reading’s MA City of Rome course
and is also producing a digital model of the Peter Kruschwitz is Professor of Classics at
entire ancient city. the University of Reading. He is one of the
leading experts in Latin linguistics, Roman
Luke Houghton has taught Latin, Greek, and metre, Latin verse inscriptions (the so-called
Classics at the Universities of Glasgow and Carmina Latina Epigraphica), Roman comedy
Cambridge and at University College London, (most notably Plautus and Terence), and the
and has held visiting fellowships at the British wall inscriptions of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
School at Rome and the Warburg Institute in Previously, Peter was a member of the
London. He has published articles, notes, and research staff of the Corpus Inscriptionum
reviews on Roman poetry and its reception Latinarum at the Berlin-Brandenburgische
in later art and literature (principally in the Akademie der Wissenschaften, before
late Middle Ages and early Renaissance), and obtaining a prestigious two-year Emmy
has edited books on the poet Horace and on Noether scholarship of the Deutsche
Renaissance Latin poetry. Forschungsgemeinschaft. He is a former
Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford,
and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
156 g Notes on Contributors

Dunstan Lowe is a Lecturer in Latin Literature Susanne Turner is Curator of the Museum of
at the University of Kent. He has published on Classical Archaeology at Cambridge. She has
various topics in Roman culture and a special interest in classical sculpture and
literature, especially Virgil, Ovid, and other its viewers—male and female, rich and poor,
poets of the Augustan period. He is also ancient and modern.
interested in how contemporary popular
culture responds to classical antiquity,
especially in newer media such as
video games, and was co-editor (with Kim
Shahabudin) of the book Classics for All: Re-
Presenting Antiquity in Mass Cultural Media
(Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).
Annalisa Marzano is Professor of Ancient

History in the Classics Department at the
University of Reading, a Fellow of the Society
of Antiquaries of London, and a Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society. Her research focuses
on Roman social and economic history and on
Roman archaeology. She took part in many
archaeological projects investigating Etruscan,
Greek, and Romans sites in Italy, Libya, and
Egypt. She is the author of two monographs,
Roman Villas in Central Italy (Brill, 2007) and
Harvesting the Sea: The Exploitation of Marine
Resources in the Roman Mediterranean (OUP,
2013). She directs the University of Reading
MA in Ancient Maritime Trade.
Notes on Contributors g 157

INDEX
A C Cicero, Marcus Tullius 40, 76, F

Aeneas 14, 16, 85 Caesar, Julius 82, 86, 94, 106 Fish 58
Aeneid, The 14, 85, 110 adoptive father of Circus Maximus 118 Freedmen 34, 38, 40
Amphitheaters 48, 54, 68, Augustus 94 Citizens and citizenship 28,
118 general, dictator 20, 34, 36 G
Apuleius 82, 86 22–23, 26 Claudius 124 Gaius Marius 28, 30, 40
Aqueducts 146, 150 Julian calendar 66 Cleopatra 23 Galen of Pergamum 70
Aristotle 70 murder, Ides of March 8 Cloaca Maxima (sewer) 18, Gallic Wars, The 23
Army see Legions and rebuilds Rome 122 136, 150 Gaul 14, 23, 26, 54
legionaries triumvirate, with Pompey Colosseum, Rome 68, 116, 118 Gladiators and gladiatorial
Augustus and Crassus 8 Constantine 9, 26, 60, 102–3, combat 68, 118
Claudian imperial Vitruvius 142–43 126 Gladius 14, 30
dynasty 9 Caligula 9, 24 Constantinople 9, 24, 102,
Conqueror 26 Calgacas, Scottish warlord 26 138 H
Descended from Capitoline hill 18, 120 Consul 14, 20 Hadrian and Hadrian’s Wall
Aeneas 85 Caracalla 9, 60 Crime and criminals 68 6, 9, 58, 120, 138, 152
Divi filius 94, 104 Carthage and Carthaginians Cybele 98 Herculaneum 62
First emperor 42–43, 95 8, 26, 55, 56, 85, 98 Hippocrates 70
founded cursus publicus Cato the Elder 54, 78 D Homosexuality 46
messenger and courier Catullus 88 Dacia 14 Horace 43, 74, 78, 88, 110
service 136 Cavalry 14, 28 Dante 85
Gold coin 60 Celsus, Aulus Cornelius 70 Dido, queen of Carthage 85 I
Aventine hill 18, 118 Chariot-racing 65, 68, 118 Diocletian 9, 24, 60 Iberia 14, 55
Christians and Christianity Doctors 70 Ides of March 23
B Catacombs 114, 132 Domitian 9, 58
Bathhouses 48, 136–37, Conversion of J
146, 152 Constantine 103 E Jerusalem 103, 140
Baths of Caracalla 152 Edict of Milan proclaims Eboracum (York) 103 Josephus 140
Berlioz, Hector 85 religious tolerance Epicurus and Epicureanism Julian calendar 66
Boudicca 26, 48 102-103 94, 108 Juvenal 54
“bread and circuses” 54, 68, Nicaean creed 103 Eques, equites 34, 40
114, 118 Paul, St 100 Etruscans 74, 120
Byzantium see Persecution 100
Constantinople Pliny the Younger 65
158 g Index
L P S V
Latium 15, 16, 76 Palatine hill 16, 18, 118, 144 Saeptimontium festival 15, 18 Vespasian 9, 104, 118, 140
Law and legal system 50, Pantheon, the (building in Saul see Christians and Viminal hill 18
75, 78 Rome) 90, 96, 120, 152 Christianity Vestal Virgins 35, 44
Legions and legionaries 14, Patricians 35, 40, 75 Scipio Africanus 26 Vesuvius 62, 64, 65
28, 30, 132, 138, 140 Paul, St see Christians and Scutum 15, 30 Via Appia 148
Livy 30, 96 Christianity Senate and senator 20, 40 Virgil 14, 26, 30, 43, 84–5, 110
Lucretia 20 Pax Romana 48 Seneca 80 Vitruvius 86, 115, 116, 142–43
Lucretius 108, 110 Petronius 75, 86, 144 Slaves and slavery 38, 40, 46,
Physicians see doctors 65, 108
M Plautus 80 Spartacus 38 W
Milton, John 85, 88 Plebeians 20, 35, 40, 64 Social War 36 Wine and vineyards 58, 62
Mithras cult 98, 106, 120 Pliny the Elder 74, 86, 128, Stoicism 95, 108 Women 44, 46, 125
Mystery cults 94, 106, 110 130 Sulis Minerva 95, 98
Pliny the Younger 48, 64–65
N Pilum (javelin) 15, 30 T
Naples 60, 144 Polybius 20 Tacitus 26, 65, 82
Nero 9, 62, 65, 80, 104, 118 Pompeii 62, 144 Tarquinius Priscus 18, 150
Numen 94, 104 Pompey 8 Tarquinius Superbus 20
Pottery 58 Terence 80
O Priapus 46 Theaters 48, 55, 68, 80,
Oratory 82 Prostitutes 46 116, 143
Orders, architectural 114–115, Punic Wars 8, 15, 26, 55 Tiber 18, 102, 136
116 Purcell, Henry 85 Tiberius 9, 106, 124
Orgies and sexual freedom Titus 140
46 Q Toga 40, 75
Ostia 18 Quintilian 65 Trajan 9, 24, 26, 30, 54, 64,
Ovid 74, 85, 98, 110, 118 Quirinal hill 18 116, 148, 152
Tribune of the plebs 55, 64
R Troy 85
Republic 8, 20, 24, 50 Tuscany 58
Republic, The (Plato) 15, 106 Tribune 20
Roads 148
Romulus and Remus 16, 106 U
Rubicon River 15, 23 Ulpian 50
Index g 159
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PICTURE CREDITS Remi Jouan: 79.

The publisher would like to thank the following Matthias Kabel: 31R.
individuals and organizations for their kind Jaakko Luttinen: 119.
permission to reproduce the images in this book. Marie-Lan Nguyen: 97, 102, 111, 131.
Every effort has been made to acknowledge the Matthew Nicholls: 81, 133.
pictures; however, we apologize if there are any Till Niermann: 25, 42, 83.
unintentional omissions. Pascal Radigue: 39B.
Wolfgang Sauber: 64.
All images from Shutterstock, Inc./www.shutterstock.com David Shankbone: 139.
and Clipart Images/www.clipart.com unless stated. Ulysses K. Vestal: 81.
Walters Art Museum: 101B.
Borghese Collection: 124. Wikipedia/Basilio: 27C; Bertramz: 27B; Carlomorino:
Corbis/Araldo de Luca: 89TL. 105B; Godot13: 141; Pippo-b: 133; Sailko: 21L, 63, 83,
Alberto Fernandez Fernandez: 45C. 105C; Shakko: 21R, 79; WKnight94: 77; Zanner: 29.
Flickr/Iessi: 45.
A Hunter Wright: 84.
160 g Acknowledgments

L. B. T. Houghton, Matthew Nicholls - 30-Second Ancient Rome (2014)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

L. B. T. Houghton, Matthew Nicholls - 30-Second Ancient Rome (2014)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

L. B. T. Houghton, Matthew Nicholls - 30-Second Ancient Rome (2014)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

30-SECOND

Copyright © The Ivy Press Limited 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this

British Library Cataloguing-in-

This book was conceived,

Creative Director Peter Bridgewater

Printed and bound in China

Distributed worldwide (except North America) by

Traces of the huge Roman empire remain all over

0 500 1000 miles

0 500 1000 1500 kilometers

31 BCE –68 CE Julio- 96–192 CE Adoptive/ 193–235 CE Severan 306–337 CE Rule of

thought, and wrote about itself. The final chapters, Architecture,

Aeneid An epic poem in 12 books cavalry See army terms

14 g Land & State

March 15th, 44 bce

22 g Land & State

epigraphic Term used to describe the

34 g People & Society

patrician A privileged aristocratic class of salutatio The formal morning ceremony in

principate Name for the system of one-man

42 g People & Society

Augustus was Rome’s first Augustus justified this position to his

time some of the richest indigenous factions. The successful elites—the

Pliny the Younger g 65

3-MINUTE EXCAVATION on sound astronomical calculation and is still

3-MINUTE EXCAVATION of theater shows—tragedy, comedy, mimes,

annals Bare yearly records of civic and Etruscan(s) A neighboring civilization to

cursive script An everyday form of Natural History Huge Latin encyclopedia

74 g Language & Literature

discoveries of new legitimate offspring. Latin has long remained

84 g Language & Literature

atheism Belief in no gods. monotheism Belief in and worship of a single

94 g Thought & Belief

102 g Thought & Belief

columbaria Literally “dovecots,” burial entablature The horizontal superstructure

114 g Architecture, Monuments & Art

3-MINUTE EXCAVATION acanthus-leaf foliage. The Corinthian order and

124 g Architecture, Monuments & Art

Livia Drusilla g 125

sculpted image they would Augustus), clean-shaven (like early emperors) or

ballista, carroballista A torsion-powered hydraulic gradient The optimum slope of an

caldarium One of the hottest rooms in a

136 g Buildings & Technology

142 g Buildings & Technology

Pompeii, Ostia, and landlords built upward, creating multistory brick

Ancient Literacies: The The Oxford History of the Classical World

Augustus: Image and Substance Roman Declamation

The Cambridge Companion to Roman Eloquence: Rhetoric in Society and

Classics: A Very Short Introduction Roman Historiography: An Introduction to its

Marzano, A. (2013) Agricultural production in Large collection of images of Pompeii

156 g Notes on Contributors

Annalisa Marzano is Professor of Ancient

Notes on Contributors g 157

A C Cicero, Marcus Tullius 40, 76, F

PICTURE CREDITS Remi Jouan: 79.

You might also like