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ROME 3

Well, we left off last lecture with Octavian Augustus and

the creation of the Roman Empire. And now we are

going to talk about what life in that empire was like.

The first and most fundamental change you need to

understand is the shift from Republic to Empire. Rome’s

entire governing structure changes. Instead of truly free

elections where citizens vote on government officials, the

emperor controls everything. One person is in charge.

He appoints all government officials either directly or

indirectly and runs the government. The Senate

continues to exist but really has little power other than

advising the emperor.

And, the government itself has a lot more work to do.

Rome is an empire. An empire is the amalgamation or

unification of many countries into one big country—many

countries ruled by one government. (The government of

one country controls other countries.)

And, the Roman Empire was vast. In a time period

where there were no phones or jets or computers to keep

connected, the Roman Empire contained about 100

million people all speaking different languages (from

Greek to Egyptian to Gaelic to Latin), all living in different

countries, and all taking orders from Rome.

This is the fulfillment of that old Greek idea of

Oikoumene, a community of men, all linked through the

structure of the Roman Empire.

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So, what was life like for the Romans?

Expanding on the 12 Tables, the Romans developed an

extensive body of law that applied to everyone. They

came up with ideas like “innocent until proven guilty.”

And, their laws were lasting. As we’ll see later, even

when parts of Rome were conquered by Germanic

barbarians, people continued to live under Roman Law.

The barbarians adopted it as their own. As a result,

almost all European countries base their law on old

Roman law, and US law is in part based on it (The idea

“innocent until proven guilty” is a Roman one).

As I keep mentioning about Rome, the Army shaped

Roman life. Rome had a huge military. I’ve seen figures

ranging from 250,000 to a half a million troops. Whole

cities grew up around these Roman legions. And, these

legions conquered new provinces for Rome (like Britain),

built fortifications (like Hadrian’s Wall), and defended the

empire. Some men even served in exchange for

citizenship in the great empire of Rome.

In terms of trade and transportation, Rome was very

nearly modern. Most people within the empire were

small farmers (later tenant farmers) and these supported

the cities. To get people, soldiers, trade items from place

to place, Rome developed a paved highway system

linking the cities to other cities and to military outposts

and the countryside. Today there is still an expression

that “all roads lead to Rome.” Rome was so important, it

was the heart of this empire, and it was linked through

these paved roads to everywhere else in the world. That

mattered. Still, it took 10 weeks to cross the empire.

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The Via Appia (The Appian Way)—the road connecting

Rome to Capua. Notice that the road meant for cart and

foot traffic now bears the weight of cars.

Romans worked hard, but they continued to enjoy

entertainment. And, as I’ve stressed, they were a

violent, bloodthirsty people, amused by violence. Think

about this for a minute—this entire culture rests on the

shoulders of an enormous military. Most men have

served in that institution. They are desensitized to death

and violence.

So, they continued to enjoy things like gladiatorial

contests, the object of which was death. Can a lion kill a

bear? Can a tiger kill a rhinoceros? Can a man kill any

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of these? Can this man kill that one? Huge crowds

gathered to watch these events, the great spectator sport

of the day. And, if a man were brave enough, the crowd

might call for mercy. Or not. Something mesmerizing

about watching how well a man dies.

Romans also enjoyed brass knuckle fighting, boxing,

theater, mimes, jugglers, dancers, and chariot racing.

Always, practical, the Romans excelled at applied science

and engineering. They built huge buildings, sewage

systems, and aqueducts. Their engineers constructed

roads, bridges, amphitheaters, public buildings, and

water systems that are still in use today. They learned to

make and use concrete and to breed livestock. They

knew some things we can’t replicate today (like how to

cover the amphitheaters for shade).

And, Rome had more than its share of scholars. Galen (a

physician) collected the medical data of his day together

and explored the human body.

Ptolemy worked on astronomy, envisioning an earth-

centered universe (his idea prevailed until the 1600s).

Literature—The Greeks influenced the Romans. But, they

did have some original stuff. Probably the most

important Roman writers were Cicero (late Republic—

political works), Virgil (wrote the Aeneid, a sequel to the

Iliad), Horace (poet), Ovid (love poet—actually exiled by

Augustus for being too racy and living too fast of a life),

Tacitus (a historian).

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As far as daily life:

For the Upper Classes, life was pretty good. They

enjoyed country homes, public baths, banquets, leisure

time, and activities. They ate exotic foods. Some even

imported ice from the mountains for iced drinks. They

drank a lot! Many death records show a life of over-

indulgence. (Some report hemorrhages after consuming

great quantities of wine, others show alcohol-induced

accidents. My favorite Roman death record notes that the

individual’s cause of death was: “he was deceived by a

bull.”). And, they were gluttonous. They ate and drank

until they couldn’t eat or drink anymore and then they

tickled their throats with a feather so they could throw up

and do it again.

For the Poorer Classes, life was much simpler with a lot

more work. Many lived on the dole (free or cheap grain

or porridge and wine).

Regardless of wealth, Romans were prone to violence and

excess.

And, living conditions made life sometimes short and

nasty. Plagues ravaged the cities (tuberculosis,

pneumonia, smallpox, diarrhea, malta fever, malaria,

measles).

Life Expectancy quite low. On average, a one year old

child would live to 35, a ten year old to 46, a twenty year

old to 50, a forty year old to 60. But only one newborn

in eight could expect to reach 40.

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I know this looks like just another scary baby head, but it

is a bust made for a sarcophagus. One of the most

touching exhibits at the Vatican is the Roman funerary

art. You might think that these terrible Romans wouldn’t

care if their kids died or whatever, but in this age before

photographs, Romans paid lots of money to have the

likenesses of their dead children made. One of the most

touching pieces I saw was a sarcophagus that had scenes

from the child’s life on it—birth, playing, growing, dying.

The parents never wanted to forget the child’s face or the

child’s life.

Slaves—still a wretched existence.

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Women—status up from the Republican era. They hired

wet nurses so that they weren’t solely responsible for

their children. Their husbands no longer had legal

authority over them (Roman women could sue for

divorce, although outside of the upper class, family life

seems to have been both monogamous and stable). And

they had greater control over their reproductive lives.

Abortion was controversial, but legal. They also knew

some methods of contraception including diaphragms,

and drinking a potion made of the silphium plant (this

plant is actually where we get our symbol the heart for

love—the leaves had a heart shape on them) to induce

spontaneous abortion early in a pregnancy. Christians

and Jews practiced coitus interruptus.

Kids were still educated to be good citizens and to

respect elders. Now, though, they tended to be taught

by nurses or tutors. Poor kids still learned from their

parents. Lots of memorizing.

Most Romans, all educated Romans, knew Greek, but

used Latin in everyday life. There are lingering effects of

this—the Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French,

Portuguese), the use of Latin by the Catholic Church.

Great fear of fire. Augustus created the first police and

fire departments in history. These didn’t work quite like

you might think, though. The police didn’t take robbers

or bullies to jail; they beat them up on the spot. And, the

fire department didn’t always provide a public service.

Sometimes they would show up and demand payment up

front. If someone couldn’t pay, they might offer to buy

the property for a very reduced price, leaving the owner

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with the choice of losing everything or not quite

everything. Maybe this is where the term “fire sale”

comes from.

Had to deal with chronic problems throughout the

imperial period: unemployment, low wages, not enough

dole.

Rome (the city) itself in the imperial period:

Rome was huge. It had a population of a million (won’t

be seen again until London in the 1700s). A

disproportionate number of people were poor,

unemployed, and on the dole. Unless you were rich, and

even then, city life could be hard, so much so that most

wealthy people also had a villa outside of town.

It was overcrowded. “One man jabs me with his elbow,

another whacks me with a pole; my legs are smeared

with mud and from all sides big feet step on me.”

It was loud. The streets were so crowded in the day that

wagons and carts had to run at night!

Rome was dirty. Graffiti was all over, public latrines

were around, but most people used buckets and then

threw the contents out into the street. This was such a

problem that the city of Rome had to employ poo-cleaner

uppers. Some 60 tons of human waste landed on the

streets of Rome every day. And where did it go when it

was cleaned up? The untreated sewage was dumped into

the Tiber River—also known as the place where people

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bathed, washed clothes, and sometimes drank. Very

unsanitary—diseases.

And, it wasn’t just human waste. Other trash cluttered

the streets. Break a pot? Throw it out the window. And

imagine the pedestrians on the street—apartments had

many stories—it was quite possible you’d be clunked on

the head by someone’s trash. One guy wrote: “If you

are walking to a dinner party in Rome, you had better

make out your will first. For every open window is a

source of potential disaster.”

And there again is the horn of a dilemma. The first floor

of apartments were often shops, bars, and eateries. The

higher the apartment, the cheaper it was. But while all

apartments could be washed away in any of a great

number of floods, the higher apartments were harder to

get out of in case of a fire. And all people had to lug in

water from the public fountains except the wealthy who

could afford to have it piped in. (But lead). The higher

the apartment, the harder to reach.

For the poorest, though, it didn’t matter. They lived on

the streets or in apartments that they rented by the day.

Having said all of this, the Romans were sort of clean

personally. Certainly no Mesopotamians. Public baths—

most people go daily. Bathe naked, so separation of the

sexes.

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A tile walkway at the baths of Caracalla. Bath complexes

in the Roman Empire had warm, cold, and hot baths, art

work, changing rooms, often places for prostitution. They

were more like recreational centers—and they were

lavish. Also, like so much that the Romans did, these

baths contained lots of symbolism. This walkway, for

example contains stones from all over the empire—the

Romans as they walked it literally were walking on the

world.

Last thing—constant reminders of empire—coins “the

roads have been rebuilt.” Put out as propaganda by

emperors.

Now I’m going to take a little digression and talk about

something that developed within the context of the

Roman Empire—CHRISTIANITY.

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I’ve talked only briefly to this point about Roman religion,

mentioning that they were polytheistic and that they had

adopted the old Greek gods and goddesses.

Through time, it became customary for Romans to

worship their emperor as a god.

But, there were people within the empire who were

excused from having to worship the emperor because

they were monotheistic.

>>Can you think of who any of these groups might be?

Our old friends the Jews. Most Jews in the Roman

Empire were living in Judea, which had become a Roman

Province in 6AD.

And the Jews then, as now, had a tradition of expecting a

MESSIAH, a savior.

Through time, this idea got sort of mingled with another

idea of the Jews, Rabbis. Jews may have been taken

over by the Romans, but they didn’t like it and in many

instances they rebelled against the Romans. So,

ultimately, the Jews were suppressed and banned from

Jerusalem, and scholars, Rabbis, took over leading the

religion. (not new—diaspora before).

Christianity rose from this. Some Jews merged the idea

of wandering teacher or rabbi with the idea of a messiah

and there was Jesus.

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So, Christianity developed as a sect of Judaism. But, it

established what members saw as a new order. God

wanted a relationship with men. Jesus was the link

between men and God. And God would forgive men if

they asked him.

Well, Romans were very afraid of this new religious sect.

Christians refused to worship the emperor, they preached

the end of the world (which Romans interpreted as the

end of Rome), and they talked about Jesus as lord. And,

worse, they refused to accommodate other sects. They

were intolerant. (Romans were very tolerant of most

religions—a person could worship most anything and any

way they chose. But, one could not say that they had the

corner on the salvation market without arousing

suspicion and anger.)

Also, Christianity was totally unfamiliar to Romans. Not

only was it Jewish in nature (starting with the old Jewish

law, the 10 commandments), but it had no hierarchy—

only individuals of equal rank. This was very un-Roman

to the Romans who loved order and wanted to know

everyone’s place in relation to everyone else. And, it was

not a religion of those who mattered. It was a religion

that called to and appealed to the meek and lowly

(Romans were proud, liked status). The Lord’s Supper

suggested cannibalism.

So for many, many years, Christians were persecuted.

Some were thrown to wild animals in gladiatorial events.

They were imprisoned. (Fish symbol that you see on cars

today was developed so that Christians would know each

other, but others would not know them. It allowed

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Christians to recognize other Christians and Christian

meeting places without risking discovery and

persecution.)(But, while some emperors persecuted

Christians really vigorously—like Marcus Aurelius and

Diocletian—most emperors punished Christians only if

they became a threat to good order or Roman rule).

But, despite persecution and despite being very un-

Roman, Christianity spread.

Why?

Well, there were a few reasons why Christianity didn’t

just die out.

1. Martyrs (someone who dies for what they believe

in)—belief is attractive.

2. As conditions grew worse in the Roman Empire, the

meek and lowly category grew. Christianity

promised heavenly rewards. People needed security

and it also promised that. (Poor, slave, women)

(and a lot more have nots than haves).

3. As Roman citizens converted to Christianity, it

became more Roman, more organized (hierarchy—

successors of the apostles—Patriarchs, Bishops,

Priests…) Not just a religion of individuals of equal

rank anymore. And it used the Latin language

(continued to do so until mid-20 th century). (Later a

Pope). Also more acceptable culturally—Paul (place

of women). Male-dominated v. Gnostics. Pick and

choose gospels.

4. Emperor Constantine stopped persecuting Christians

and by 337 AD converted himself. Story is he saw a

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cross in the sky and heard “By this sign you will

conquer” just before winning a battle. Some records

say really his mother nagged him into it. Constantine

also tried to make Christianity more uniform and

organized. He had Christians hold the Council of

Nicaea to pick which gospels to include and which

doctrines to adhere to. (When you look at your New

Testament gospels, they were chosen at this

meeting). It didn’t work as well as he had hoped.

The Christians really couldn’t agree and so there

ended up being different sects anyway (some groups

walked out on the council altogether) like the

Gnostics who give women a higher place in religion

and accept gospels like the Gospel of Mary

Magdalene.

5. Eventually after Constantine, Christianity became

THE official religion of the empire and pagans were

persecuted.

After the Roman Empire collapsed in the West, in Europe,

Christianity, a Roman institution, not only survived, but

became one of the chief organizing forces of Europe.