Rome: Society and Culture According to legend, Rome was founded by Romulus, the sons of Mars, the god of war Romulus killed his twin brother Remus to gain sole control of the empire Religion Roman religion was influenced by contact with Greeks and Etruscans The Romans adopted a pantheon of deities, six gods and six goddess, who directed the affairs of the world with their superhuman power Several planets in our solar system were named after Roman gods In addition to the twelve major gods and goddess, the Romans had a number of minor gods who lived in the spirit world. Spirits were everywhere, in fire, stone and trees. People made regular sacrifices and performed rituals to appease these supernatural beings Religious Beliefs and Practices/ Death and the Underworld Roman religion was influenced by Etruscaus and the Greeks Roman religion was based on rituals and traditions Romans honored the gods with festivals and rituals When a sacrifice was happening they had to speak the right words and perform the proper actions at the appropriate moment A festival was held every month except September and November During the festivals they would exchange places with slaves and the people exchanged gifts Roman priests were officials of the state and were elected by the people The Romans believed in omens, curses, spells and a form of astrology Romans practiced Divination - the act of interpreting the will of gods through signs and omens The Romans believed that they went to Hades when they died and the body had to be carried across the River Styx (like the Greeks) which separated this world from the world beyond When a Roman died, family members washed the body, anointed it with oil and dressed it in white before the body was laid on the funeral couch. Family and friends would then pay their last respects. Lamps were lit around the couch and a Cyprus tree was placed outside the house. The fire being extinguished in the hearth further symbolized the loss of a loved one. Poor people could not afford a funeral so they buried their dead at night without a ceremony People with money paid the undertaker to plan the ceremony When someone died, relatives made a sacrifice to the gods to purify the house Nine days after burial, a special sacrifice was made to the spirit of the dead person Christianity When Christianity began in the first century, the Romans dismissed it as a minor Jewish religious group that would have little effect on the rest of the world Originally, Christianity was based on Judaism, a monotheistic religion that taught that one true god governed all aspects of life This belief in a single, all powerful deity and a written code of beliefs was unique in the world at the time By 30 CE, Jesus Christ began teaching and the followers of Jesus believed that he as the Son of
God and their personal saviour who preached kindness, compassion for others, faith and forgiveness Christianity gradually built a strong church organization with a hierarchy of leaders Romans blamed Christians for disasters such as floods and famines Despite Roman laws which tolerated other forms of religion the Christians were persecuted and thousands were killed Those individuals who were killed were known as martyrs, people who were willing to die for their beliefs By 380 CE, Christianity became the official religion of Rome The Family The family was the foundation of society in ancient Rome Property was passed from father to son thus each couple wanted at least one male child Men could divorce their wives and remarry at will if no male heir was produced The head of the family held absolute authority over all other family members and household slaves When a Roman child was born, the father picked the infant up, this symbolized that the baby was his offspring, if the father did not pick the baby up, the infant had no rights to inheritance and could be left to die or to be adopted Eight or nine days after birth, a child received his or her first name and the parent would hang a bulla - a good luck charm - around the baby's neck to ward off evil spirits Marriageable age for males was 14 and 12 for females, they could marry for love or through arrangement Education Children started their primary education at the age of 6 or 7 Only wealthy people could afford to send their children to primary school The goal of education was to teach reading, writing and counting Daughters learned the same as the sons but did not go on to secondary schooling They remained at home and learned how to operate and maintain a household, Roman style Books were actually scrolls of papyrus paper Students used satchels to carry their pens, writing tablets and ink Pens were made from feathers Women in Rome Women played an active and important role in the family They were allowed to work outside the household but they were not allowed to vote Julia Mamaea was an Emperor at the age of 13 and brought twelve years of peace and stability to the Roman Empire Entertainment violence was a part of daily life for Romans as thus we should not be horrified by the types of entertainment they sought chariot racing and gladiatorial games were two of the most popular forms of entertainment
the chariot races were held on an oval track, during a race chariots usually made seven laps around the 550m track there were as many as 24 races per day overcrowding in the stadiums was common and the seating often collapsed, the worst case reports the death of 13 000 people men and women sat together in the stadiums on cushioned seats the gladiatorial games took place in amphitheaters such as the Colosseum these games were held only on special occasions activities includes acrobatic events, wild beasts tearing each other apart, unarmed men forced to fight a lion or bear and small humorous skits with the sounding of a trumpet, the gladiators marched into the arena, stood before the emperor and saluted many gladiators were prisoners of war, criminals or slaves they were equipped with a net, a three pronged spear and a dagger, a small shield and a curved sword all gladiators swore to fight to the death victory brought great prestige to Roman gladiators - free men might be awarded large sums of money, slaves might have been granted their freedom Agriculture the Roman economy depended on agriculture the typical citizen was a peasant farmer tending to his own small plot of land by the second century BCE, many small farmers became renters or tenant farmers at the height of the Roman Empire, the large land owners were generally the wealthiest citizens most id the Empires land was still worked by free citizens almost all farmers grew wheat for the production of bread in addition to grain, Roman farmers grew olives and pressed them into olive oil farmers cultivated grapes for wine production the Romans developed a number of agricultural innovations, the improved plough, a hand mill and water mill Industry workshops were located in both the large estates and in the major towns of the empire they employed anywhere from a single craftsperson to over a hundred laborers workers earned just enough to buy food and clothing for their family workshops also employed slaves because they could be forced to work longer and harder then free citizens Merchants - the people who actually sold the goods made in the workshops - made more money than either the craftspeople or the farmers Roman craftspeople established clubs for those who shared a skill or trade Trade Ostia, Rome's chief port, was a busy trading center This city was located 24 km from the heart of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber River
Rome imported wheat, wine, olives and other products to supply its growing population Rome had an advantage in trade because of the location in the center of the Mediterranean world Well paved and well drained roads were build to ensure safe trade activities The Romans traded antiques, linen, cotton, hunting dogs, gold, silver, ivory, wild animals and slaves Literature Unlike the ancient Greeks, Rome did not produce great thinkers or philosophers It did produced a galaxy of prominent writers of Latin prose and verse as well as several notable historians The Romans admired no form of intellectual and artistic expression more than literature Architecture The Romans were known for their great monuments, temples, palaces, stadiums and victory arches The Royal temples were intended to house the statue of a god or goddess The Romans learned to use rows of columns and rectangular forms from the Greeks They improved on the arch and developed the dome They developed a method of concrete, making buildings more economical and stronger The Colosseum is one of the most distinctive and imposing monuments ever built Paintings and Sculptures Romans concentrated on heads and faces rather then the body Statues decorated homes, gardens and public buildings Sculptures were influenced by Greeks and Hellenistic styles Statues celebrated Roman victories of influence and power The mosaic became a very popular Roman art form Roman Roads "All roads lead to Rome" workers dug a trench a metro or so deep and filled it with large stones tightly wedged together sometimes the Romans built the foundations by piling earth up in mounds and laying stones on top when the Saxons invaded Roman Britain, they saw these aggers rising above the surrounding fields, later became know as "Highways" above the city center the workers raised the roads in the center so that the water would drain off quickly into the ditches dug alongside the roads the most famous Roman road was the Via Appia, or Appian Way, which stretched over 200 km, linking Rome to Capua Aqueducts developed by Romans to transport water they were stone channels built above the ground and supported on arches or bridges
they provided a vital water supply to many towns and cities throughout the Roman Empire in Rome alone, more than 640 km of these channels brought water to the city aqueducts carried water from a source gradually downhill to where it was needed Romans covered the channels to avoid contamination and overflow from rainstorms Workers had to build some sections high above the valley floors or tunnel through hills Romans constructed wells and reservoirs in their cities to store the water transported by the aqueducts Poor citizens fetched their water from these wells, while wealthy citizens had the water piped directly to their homes and paid a tax according to the size of the pipe leading to the house Some of these aqueducts are still used today Medicine Roman Republic doctors relied on herbs, amulets and prayer Most citizens accepted these methods and showed little interest in medical science Romans began to examine new methods of treating illness after contact with the Greeks Julius Caesar valued Greek doctors and recognized their work officially by granting them Roman Citizenship Doctors administered to soldiers in military hospitals and to gladiators in arenas Men damaged in violent sporting events or in battle quickly learned to mend fractures, and to amputate limbs Roman doctors began to dissect apes in the hopes of learning more about humans Time Romans likely got their first calendar from the Greeks Priests kept watch for the new moon in order to record the cycles and changing months According to tradition, Numa Pompilius, reformed the calendar so that special religious holidays could be named by date and observed by all The reformed calendar had 12 months In 45BCE, Julius Caesar imposed another new calendar on Rome The Julian calendar had a standard year of 365 days, with an extra day added in February every fourth year, it also has 12 months