Ancient Rome

I

Introduction

Ancient Rome, the homeland of Roman civilization, which, from its beginnings as a settlement of Latin peasants on the banks of the River Tiber around 1000 bc, grew to be the centre of the greatest empire of the ancient world. From about 500 to 300 bc, Roman ways quickly began to dominate the whole of Italy and the Mediterranean fringe and, from about 200 bc to the late 5th century ad, Rome controlled vast territories in Europe, Africa, and Asia. They shared a way of life that, while allowing a great many regional differences, gave to many peoples a common culture that was distinctively Roman.

The early origins of this way of life lay in the developing cultures of the Italian tribes: Etruscans, Campanians, and others developed alongside the early Romans, although their cultures came to be completely dominated by that of Rome. Many other factors, however, contributed to the Roman way of life. The influence of Greece was enormous, and many Greek styles, customs, and aspects of religion were adopted more or less consciously by the Romans; in time the Near East, as well as outlying parts of Europe, came to add its contributions to Roman life. The economic prosperity of Rome, coupled with military successes that led to the formation of the Roman Empire, created a fertile seedbed for the development of Roman culture and allowed the development of specialist artists, craftsmen, lawyers, and administrators as well as providing the financial resources to support what was, for many, a rich and diverse way of life.

Despite occasional major constitutional changes (see Kings of Rome; Roman Republic), Roman history shows a basic stability and continuity from its early days to the fall of the empire, and this slow pace of change was also important in establishing the character of the Roman way of life. Very strong regional differences persisted, in wealth, customs, and taste: the people of the empire in Greece, for example, appear at all times more sophisticated, and probably better off, than their more barbarous cousins in provinces of Gaul or Britain. All, however, lived in a world that was distinctly Roman.

II

Roman Society

From earliest times, Roman society was divided into two main groups: the upper-class patricians, and the plebeians, who made up the rest of the population. Patrician families were grouped into clans, probably reflecting the tribal structure of their early Latin ancestors; the best-known such clan, that of the Julians, was to produce the first Imperial dynasty. Access to the more important posts in the army, the judiciary, and the administration was usually confined to the patricians or to the equestrian class who constituted the lower ranks of the aristocracy; over time, these restrictions and distinctions were gradually eroded so that public affairs, which under the early Republic tended to be the preserve of the upper classes, became by the time of the empire increasingly influenced by talented and vigorous members of lower orders, as more and more opportunities were opened up to the plebeians. Patrician birth remained an important matter of family pride, but made increasingly little difference to a career. Another important distinction was abolished in ad 212, when the emperor Caracalla extended to all inhabitants of the empire Roman citizenship, previously a cherished privilege of the people of Rome: provincials now enjoyed equal rights with the inhabitants of Rome itself.

Around the patrician and equestrian households collected a class of people referred to as clientes; clients would seek an upper-class patron, in a position of wealth or power, whom they could solicit for favours in order to secure advancement. Typically, a client would approach the patron with a request for help in securing a public appointment, or a trading concession; the patron would exert influence to help with this, but would expect the favour to be repaid at some time. The practice of the system of clientage was an important aspect of Roman private and public life. Important men collected flocks of clients, even setting aside particular hours for their reception, and a great part of Roman public and commercial affairs was transacted within the framework of this system.

Upper-class Romans cherished a strong sense of public duty: whatever his private fortune (and they could be huge), a patrician was expected to serve the res publica (literally, “the public thing”) in a civil or military capacity (and frequently in both). The young son of the governing classes embarked on the cursus honorum, a career involving progressive responsibility in a number of administrative and judicial posts. For some, the ultimate goal was the governorship of a province though, in practice, promotion could depend as much on influence as on talent. Service in the law courts and Senate was always an honourable duty, and played an important part in the public lives of a class that usually managed at the same time to see to its investments and conduct commercial enterprises.

The freeborn plebeians enjoyed legal rights and privileges, initially safeguarded on their behalf (at least in principle) by the patricians and later by their own magistrate, the tribunus plebeiorum, elected by the plebeians. A large proportion of the people of the empire, however, had few legal rights at all, for the Roman economy and way of life was founded upon slavery. Slaves of every nationality could be found in every part of the empire: they provided the workforce in mines and quarries, on large farming estates, and in industrial factories and workshops. Many, also, were household or domestic slaves; depending upon the virtues of their owners, they could be treated with brutality or as trusted servants. The more fortunate slaves were able to buy, or be given, their freedom; they joined a class of liberti, or freedmen, who shared most of the rights of the freeborn citizen (though there was often considerable prejudice against them). The children of a freedman were equal with all freeborn citizens, whereas the offspring of a slave inherited his servitude. With the shift towards political absolutism under the empire, considerable restrictions over the rights of the free poor, and even of the artisan class, developed and particularly under the later Empire when, in order to maintain essential but unattractive trades, many occupations were by law made hereditary.

III

Towns, Cities, and Political Life

To the ancient Romans, civilized life was essentially the life of the cities. The importance of the countryside was always recognized, but usually in terms of a larder to supply the towns and cities, or as an occasional refuge from the pressures of urban life. It was in the cities, with their concentration of busy humanity, resources, and amenities, that the good life was to be lived; so great was the drift of population from the productive countryside to the often idle life of the town that the trend was to cause serious economic problems in the later Empire. Special privileges were for centuries enjoyed by the citizens of the city of Rome, who were entitled to the material benefit of the early Empire’s success in the form of free allocations of food, requisitioned from subject provinces. Eventually, however, the special status of Rome was reduced.

Rome itself was the model for all cities. Under the Republican constitution, power was vested in two elected consuls (though their appointment was later to become a prerogative of the emperor). While they remained in the city, they had enormous civil power, all other magistrates except the plebeian tribunes being under their control. In practice, the consuls became increasingly preoccupied with the direction of interminable foreign wars. The internal affairs of Rome, including the provision of police and fire brigade, the supervision of markets, aqueducts, and drains, and the administration of the courts, were controlled by a complex hierarchy of magistrates, including praetors, quaestors, censors, and aediles. The most venerable body in the constitution of Rome was the Senate, an assembly of citizens that, though without the power to make new laws, was responsible for foreign affairs, the public revenue, and the administration of the state religion.

Roman towns were planned, usually around a central forum, or market place; the straight streets were laid out in a grid pattern of right angles, within which private and public buildings were mingled. Urban housing ran the full gamut from luxury to squalor, the town houses of the rich representing great comfort and, often, considerable artistic taste. The best-known, and best-preserved, examples are at Pompeii in the Bay of Naples, where the typical upper-class house consisted of many rooms, usually arranged around an atrium, a hall or court that was open to the sky. Internal walls were decorated with colourful frescos and mosaic pavements decorated the floors of important rooms. Some houses had private bath-suites attached to them; these and some other rooms were heated by the underfloor hypocaust system. Gardens tended to be formal, with beds and hedges geometrically arranged, and much use was made of statuary and other ornament (see History of Gardening).

Lower in society, housing was much meaner, but less is known of the dwellings of the poor than of the grand residences of the rich. Much of a Roman town was occupied by small shops and workshops, with the family living on the premises (often at the rear of the shop): these houses were simple, and probably possessed few amenities. Many Roman townspeople (and probably most of the poorest classes), however, lived in tenements in large blocks that were built and owned as investments by speculative landlords. Life in these apartments was often squalid and overcrowded; buildings were often unsafe, and fire a constant hazard.

The glories of the Roman towns were their public buildings, which were built with funds raised from taxation, or obtained through subscription or, often, erected as the gifts of particularly prominent or wealthy citizens. Often monumental in scale, many of these buildings survive in every part of the empire and are still impressive 2,000 years after being built. The Forum (market place) in Rome, surrounded by the Seven Hills, was the heart of the city, being the centre of government, religion, commerce, and civic life. Among the buildings and monuments that it contained were the Senate House and Comitium (where assemblies were held), statues, altars, arches, and other monuments, including Trajan’s Column. This nucleus was bordered by shops. Beyond stood other public buildings, among them the Colosseum, the Pantheon, public baths (the most notable of which are the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian), triumphal arches, and other monuments to Roman military prowess.

So important were the civic amenities of town life that newly founded towns in territories recently conquered were quickly supplied with temples, baths, theatres, and fora (market places) to encourage the rapid adoption of Roman life. A reasonably prosperous town would be embellished with statues, fountains, and memorials. Major important public buildings would include temples and shrines (dedicated to a variety of local cults as well as to the gods of the official Roman pantheon); aqueducts and bathhouses; a theatre and amphitheatre; and the official courtrooms and council chambers along the sides of the forum. Libraries, colleges, and schools were found in many towns: the emperor Augustus established a great university in Bibracte (in central Gaul) to overshadow a traditional native seat of learning and to act as a focus for the Romanization of this newly acquired region.

Not all Roman towns were of the same status. Rome was the centre of the world, towards which all Romans looked (though in time it was to become less important than Constantinople). Below this was a series of coloniae (colonies): these cities had in early times a special status, for all of their inhabitants were Roman citizens. During the period of the rapid expansion of the Roman world, coloniae were conceived as small copies of Rome itself. Other towns and cities were provincial or regional capitals, or simply part of the extensive network of market towns, or municipiae. All were governed by councils elected from the local population.

IV

Life in the Countryside

The concentrated population of the towns relied for its food on the farms and estates of the countryside. The vast territories of Rome encompassed every type of land and climate, and agricultural practice was adapted according to local conditions and traditions. The most important Roman introduction in the countryside was the villa estate, a highly efficient unit of production that usually practised mixed agriculture but could, in some areas, be entirely devoted to the specialist production of a single commodity such as oil or wine. Large areas of countryside were organized around villa estates, often run by the labour of slaves, and often owned as investments by absentee landlords.

The villa represented the Roman countryside at its most organized, and in some areas left little room for other types of settlement. Elsewhere, however, villas were scarce, and the countryside was populated by the small settlements and farmsteads of the local, Romanized, people. Some land was reorganized on a grand scale: the draining of the marshes of eastern England, and their conversion into very productive farmland, was an operation on such a scale that it appears to have been organized by government. In places, the life of the peasants was relatively unchanged by the fact of Roman rule, as they continued to cultivate their fields and keep their flocks much in the manner of their ancestors. New markets and better communications, however, allowed many peasants to enjoy much greater prosperity than in earlier periods. On the other hand, taxes had to be paid, and the country people had to support a growing urban population as well as a huge army and an increasingly large bureaucracy.