Wikipedija

Uporabnik:ModriDirkac/Peskovnik: Razlika med redakcijama

Pregledujte zgodovino interaktivno
← Starejše urejanjeNovejše urejanje →
Izbrisana vsebina Dodana vsebina
VizualnoVikibesedilo
ModriDirkac (pogovor | prispevki)
7.597 urejanj
Brez povzetka urejanja
ModriDirkac (pogovor | prispevki)
7.597 urejanj
ustvarjeno s prevodom strani »Roman Empire«
Vrstica 1:
 
{{distinguish|Latin Empire|Holy Roman Empire}}
{{Infopolje Država|conventional_long_name=Roman Empire|currency=[[sestertius]],<ref group="n">Abbreviated "HS". Prices and values are usually expressed in sesterces; see [[#Currency and banking]] for currency denominations by period.</ref> [[aureus]], [[Solidus (coin)|solidus]], [[Solidus (coin)|nomisma]]|HDI=|GDP_PPP_year=|GDP_PPP=|area_rank=|area_km2=|demonym=|government_type=[[Elective monarchy|Semi-elective]], functionally [[absolute monarchy]]|common_name=Roman Empire|capital={{plainlist}}
{{other uses}}
* [[Rome]]<br />{{small|(''[[de facto]]'' and ''[[de jure]]'' from 27 BC to AD 286, only ''de jure'' from 286 to 476)}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
* [[Mediolanum]]<br />{{small|(286–402, [[Western Roman Empire|Western]])}}
{{good article}}
* [[Ravenna]]<br />{{small|(402–476, Western)}}
{{short description|Period of Imperial Rome following the Roman Republic (27 BC–AD 476)}}
* [[Nicomedia]]<br />{{small| (286–330, [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern]])}}
{{Use British English Oxford spelling|date=May 2020}}
* [[Constantinople]]<br />{{small|(330–1453, Eastern)}}<ref group="n">Between 1204 and 1261 there was an interregnum when the empire was divided into the [[Empire of Nicaea]], the [[Empire of Trebizond]] and the [[Despotate of Epirus]] – all contenders for rule of the empire. The Empire of Nicaea is considered{{by whom|date=January 2020}} the legitimate continuation of the Roman Empire because it managed to re-take Constantinople.</ref>|image_map=RomanEmpire 117.svg|symbol_type=Imperial [[Aquila (Roman)|aquila]]|image_coat=Better Imperial Aquila.png|image_flag=Vexilloid of the Roman Empire.svg|native_name={{unbulleted list |item3_style=font-size:80%;padding-top:0.15em;line-height:1.15em
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Roman Empire
| common_name = Roman Empire
| native_name = {{unbulleted list |item3_style=font-size:80%;padding-top:0.15em;line-height:1.15em
| {{native phrase|la|[[SPQR|Senatus Populusque Romanus]]}}
| {{native phrase|la|Imperium Romanum<ref group="n">Other ways of referring to the "Roman Empire" among the Romans and Greeks themselves included ''{{lang|la|Res publica Romana}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Imperium Romanorum}}'' (also in Greek: {{lang|grc|Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων}} –
Vrstica 15 ⟶ 11:
''{{lang|la|Res publica}}'' means Roman "commonwealth" <!--?: Usually,--> and can refer to both the Republican and the Imperial eras. ''{{lang|la|Imperium Romanum}}'' (or "{{lang|la|Romanorum}}") refers to the territorial extent of Roman authority. ''{{lang|la| Populus Romanus}}'' ("the Roman people") was/is often [[Metonym|used to indicate the Roman state]] in matters involving other nations. The term ''Romania'', initially a colloquial term for the empire's territory as well as a [[Collective noun|collective name]] for its inhabitants, appears in Greek and Latin sources from the 4th century onward and was eventually carried over to the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] (see R. L. Wolff, "Romania: The Latin Empire of Constantinople" in ''Speculum'' 23 (1948), pp. 1–34 and especially pp. 2–3).</ref>}}
| {{native phrase|grc|Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων|italics=off}}<br />{{smaller|{{nobold|{{transl|grc|Basileía Rhōmaíōn}}}}}}
}}|HDI_year=}}
}}
'''Rimsko cesarstvo''' ( {{Jezik-la|Imperium Romanum}}  [ɪmˈpɛri.ũː roːˈmaːnũː] ; Koinē Greek ) je bilo obdobje po [[Rimska republika|Republiki]] v [[Starorimska civilizacija|starem Rimu]] . Kot država je vključevala velika ozemlja okoli [[Sredozemsko morje|Sredozemskega morja]] v [[Evropa|Evropi]], [[Severna Afrika|severni Afriki]] in zahodni Aziji, ki so jim vladali cesarji . Od pristopa Cezarja Avgusta k [[Kriza tretjega stoletja|vojaški anarhiji 3. stoletja]] je bila [[Principat|glavnina]] z [[Rimska Italija|Italijo]] kot velemestom [[Rimska provinca|provinc]] in mestom [[Rim]] kot glavnim mestom (27. pr. N. Št.{{snd}}286 AD). Po vojaški krizi je cesarstvu vladalo [[Dominat|več cesarjev,]] ki so si delili oblast nad [[Zahodno Rimsko cesarstvo|zahodnim rimskim cesarstvom]] in nad [[Bizantinsko cesarstvo|vzhodnim rimskim cesarstvom]] (znanim tudi kot bizantinsko cesarstvo). Rim je ostal nominalno glavno mesto obeh delov do leta 476, ko so carske znake poslali v Carigrad, potem ko so Odoakarski barbari [[Odoaker|zavzeli]] Ravenno in pozneje [[Romul Avgust|odstavili Romula Avgustula]] . Sprejem krščanstva kot državne vere Rimskega imperija leta 380 AD in padec Zahodnega rimskega imperija pod germanske kralje običajno označuje konec [[Antika|klasične antike]] in začetek [[Srednji vek|srednjega veka]] . Ti dogodki, skupaj s postopno helenizacijo vzhodnega rimskega imperija, zato zgodovinarji ločujejo srednjeveško rimsko cesarstvo, ki je ostalo v vzhodnih provincah, kot [[bizantinsko cesarstvo]] .
| status = Empire
| life_span = {{line-height|1.3em|{{nowrap|27 BC – AD 476 {{small|{{nobold|(traditional dates)}}}}}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXI7AQAAIAAJ&q=Traditional+end+Roman+Empire+476 |title=The Roman Empire: Roots of Imperialism |isbn=978-0-7453-2870-6 |last1=Morley |first1=Neville |date=17 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYPXUHZCp3gC&q=conventional+date+476+AD+fall+Roman+Empire&pg=PA13 |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition |isbn=978-1-101-50200-6 |last1=Diamond |first1=Jared |date=4 January 2011}}</ref><br />{{nowrap|AD 395 – 476/480 {{small|{{nobold|([[Western Roman Empire|Western]])}}}}}}<br />{{nowrap|AD 395–1453}} {{small|{{nobold|([[Byzantine Empire|Eastern]])}}}}}}
| p1 = Roman Republic
| s1 = Western Roman Empire
| s2 = Byzantine Empire{{!}}Eastern Roman Empire
| image_flag = Vexilloid of the Roman Empire.svg
| flag_border = no
| flag_size = 100px
| flag_type = ''[[Vexillum]]''<br>with the imperial ''[[Aquila (Roman)|aquila]]''
| image_coat = Better Imperial Aquila.png
| coa_size = 100 px
| symbol_type = Imperial [[Aquila (Roman)|aquila]]
| image_map = RomanEmpire 117.svg
| image_map_caption = The Roman Empire in AD 117 at its greatest extent, at the time of [[Trajan]]'s death
| capital = {{plainlist}}
* [[Rome]]<br />{{small|(''[[de facto]]'' and ''[[de jure]]'' from 27 BC to AD 286, only ''de jure'' from 286 to 476)}}
* [[Mediolanum]]<br />{{small|(286–402, [[Western Roman Empire|Western]])}}
* [[Ravenna]]<br />{{small|(402–476, Western)}}
* [[Nicomedia]]<br />{{small| (286–330, [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern]])}}
* [[Constantinople]]<br />{{small|(330–1453, Eastern)}}<ref group="n">Between 1204 and 1261 there was an interregnum when the empire was divided into the [[Empire of Nicaea]], the [[Empire of Trebizond]] and the [[Despotate of Epirus]] – all contenders for rule of the empire. The Empire of Nicaea is considered{{by whom|date=January 2020}} the legitimate continuation of the Roman Empire because it managed to re-take Constantinople.</ref>
| common_languages = {{plainlist}}
* [[Latin]]<br />{{small|(official until AD 610)}}
* [[Greek language|Greek]]<br />{{small| (official after AD 610)}}
* [[Languages of the Roman Empire|Regional{{\}}local languages]]
| religion = {{plainlist}}
* [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]]-driven [[Religion in ancient Rome|polytheism]]<br /> {{small|(Before AD 274)}}
* Joined by the [[Henotheism|henotheistic]] solar cult of [[Sol Invictus]]<br />{{small|(Before AD 380)}}
* [[Nicene Christianity]]<br />{{small|([[State church of the Roman Empire|officially]], from 380)}}
| government_type = [[Elective monarchy|Semi-elective]], functionally [[absolute monarchy]]
| title_leader = [[Roman emperor#Titles and positions|Emperor]]
| year_leader1 = {{nowrap|27 BC – AD 14}}
| leader1 = [[Augustus]] {{smaller|(first)}}
| year_leader2 = 98–117
| leader2 = [[Trajan]]
| year_leader3 = 270–275
| leader3 = [[Aurelian]]
| year_leader4 = 284–305
| leader4 = [[Diocletian]]
| year_leader5 = 306–337
| leader5 = [[Constantine I]]
| year_leader6 = 379–395
| leader6 = [[Theodosius I]]<ref group="n">The final emperor to rule over all of the Roman Empire's territories before its conversion to a diarchy.</ref>
| year_leader7 = 474–480
| leader7 = [[Julius Nepos]]<ref group="n">Officially the final emperor of the Western empire.</ref> <!-- Romulus Augustus' reign was never confirmed by the imperial court in Constantinople, thus making him officially a usurper, only Julius Nepos' reign was officially legally confirmed until his death in 480. Many historians, wikipedia articles and others sources confirm this -->
| year_leader8 = 475–476
| leader8 = [[Romulus Augustus]]
| year_leader9 = 527–565
| leader9 = [[Justinian I]]
| year_leader10 = 610–641
| leader10 = [[Heraclius]]
| year_leader11 = 780–797
| leader11 = [[Constantine VI]]<ref group="n">Final ruler to be universally recognized as Roman Emperor, including by the surviving empire in the East, the Papacy, and by kingdoms in Western Europe.</ref>
| year_leader12 = 976–1025
| leader12 = [[Basil II]]
| year_leader13 = 1449–1453
| leader13 = [[Constantine XI Palaiologos|Constantine XI]]<!--(Please retain following for sake of legibility:)--><ref group="n">Last emperor of the Eastern (Byzantine) empire.</ref>
| legislature = [[Senate of the Roman Empire|Senate]]
| era = [[Classical era]] to [[Late Middle Ages]]
| date_pre = 32–30 BC
| event_pre = [[Final War of the Roman Republic|Final War of the<br />Roman Republic]]
| year_start = 30–2 BC
| event_start = [[Constitutional reforms of Augustus|Empire established]]
| date_event1 = 11 May 330
| event1 = [[Constantinople#306–337|Constantinople]]<br />becomes capital
| date_event2 = 17 Jan 395
| event2 = {{nowrap|[[Western Roman Empire#Further divisions|Final]] [[Greek East and Latin West|East-West]] divide}}
| date_event3 = 4 Sep 476
| event3 = [[Deposition of Romulus Augustus]]
| date_event4 = 25 Apr 480
| event4 = Murder of [[Julius Nepos]]
| date_event5 = 12 Apr 1204
| event5 = [[Fourth Crusade]]
| date_event6 = 25 Jul 1261
| event6 = Reconquest of Constantinople
| year_end = 1453
| date_end = 29 May
| event_end = [[Fall of Constantinople]]
| event_post = Fall of [[Empire of Trebizond|Trebizond]]
| date_post = 15 August 1461
| stat_year1 = 25 BC
| stat_area1 = 2750000
| stat_pop1 = 56,800,000
| stat_year2 = 117 AD
| stat_area2 = 5000000
| stat_pop2 =
| stat_year3 = AD 390
| stat_area3 = 4400000
| stat_pop3 =
| currency = [[sestertius]],<ref group="n">Abbreviated "HS". Prices and values are usually expressed in sesterces; see [[#Currency and banking]] for currency denominations by period.</ref> [[aureus]], [[Solidus (coin)|solidus]], [[Solidus (coin)|nomisma]]
| demonym =
| area_km2 =
| area_rank =
| GDP_PPP =
| GDP_PPP_year =
| HDI =
| HDI_year =
| today =
| ref_area1 = <ref name="size">{{cite journal |journal=Social Science History |title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D |first=Rein |last=Taagepera |volume=3 |issue=3/4 |year=1979 |page=125 |doi=10.2307/1170959 |jstor=1170959 |publisher=Duke University Press |author-link=Rein Taagepera}}</ref>
| ref_area2 = <ref name="size"/><ref name="East-West">{{cite journal |last1=Turchin |first1=Peter |last2=Adams |first2=Jonathan M. |last3=Hall |first3=Thomas D |title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires |journal=Journal of World-Systems Research |date=2006 |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=222 |url=http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf |access-date=6 February 2016 |issn=1076-156X}}</ref>
| ref_area3 = <ref name="size"/>
| ref_pop1 = <ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/1971891 |jstor=1971891 |title=Historical Estimates of World Population: An Evaluation |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=253–296 |year=1977 |last1=Durand |first1=John D. |url=http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=psc_penn_papers}}</ref>
}}
 
The '''Roman Empire''' ({{lang-la|Imperium Romanum}} {{IPA-la|ɪmˈpɛri.ũː roːˈmaːnũː|}}; {{lang-grc-x-koine|Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων|Basileía tōn Rhōmaíōn}}) was the post-[[Roman Republic|Republican]] period of [[ancient Rome]]. As a [[polity]] it included large territorial holdings around the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in [[Europe]], [[Northern Africa]], and [[Western Asia]] ruled by [[Roman emperor|emperors]]. From the [[constitutional reforms of Augustus|accession of Caesar Augustus]] to the [[Crisis of the Third Century|military anarchy of the 3rd century]], it was a [[principate]] with [[Roman Italy|Italy]] as [[metropole]] of the [[Roman province|provinces]] and the city of [[Rome]] as sole capital (27 BC{{snd}}AD 286). After the military crisis, the empire was ruled by [[dominate|multiple emperors]] who shared rule over the [[Western Roman Empire]] and over the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] (also known as the Byzantine Empire). Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until AD 476, when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople, following the capture of Ravenna by the barbarians of [[Odoacer]] and the subsequent deposition of [[Romulus Augustulus]]. The adoption of Christianity as the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] in AD 380 and the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] to [[barbarian kingdoms|Germanic kings]] conventionally marks the end of [[Classical antiquity]] and the beginning of the [[Middle Ages]]. Those events, along with the gradual [[hellenization of the Eastern Roman Empire]] is why historians distinguish the medieval Roman Empire that remained in the Eastern provinces as the [[Byzantine Empire]].
 
The predecessor state of the Roman Empire, the Roman Republic (which had replaced [[Roman Kingdom|Rome's monarchy]] in the 6th century BC) became severely destabilized in a series of [[Roman civil wars|civil wars]] and political conflicts. In the mid-1st century BC, [[Julius Caesar]] was appointed as perpetual [[Roman dictator|dictator]] and then [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|assassinated]] in 44 BC. Civil wars and [[proscription]]s continued, culminating in [[Final War of the Roman Republic|the victory]] of [[Octavian]], Caesar's adopted son, over [[Mark Antony]] and [[Cleopatra]] at the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC. The following year Octavian [[Roman Egypt|conquered]] [[Ptolemaic Egypt]], ending the [[Hellenistic period]] that had begun with the [[Wars of Alexander the Great|conquests]] of [[Alexander the Great]] of [[Macedon]] in the 4th century BC. Octavian's power then became unassailable, and in 27 BC the [[Roman Senate]] formally granted him [[imperium|overarching power]] and the new title [[Augustus (honorific)|''Augustus'']], effectively making him the first Roman emperor.
 
The [[History of the Roman Empire|first two centuries of the Empire]] saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the [[Pax Romana]] ("Roman Peace"). Rome reached its greatest [[Borders of the Roman Empire|territorial expanse]] during the reign of [[Trajan]] (AD 98–117). A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of [[Commodus]] (177–192). In the 3rd century the Empire underwent a crisis that threatened its existence, as the [[Gallic Empire]] and [[Palmyrene Empire]] broke away from the Roman state, and a series of [[Barracks emperor|short-lived emperors]], often from the legions, led the empire. The empire was reunified under [[Aurelian]] ({{reign | 270 | 275}}). In an effort to stabilize it, [[Diocletian]] set up two different imperial courts in the [[Greek East and Latin West]] in 286. [[State church of the Roman Empire|Christians rose to positions of power]] in the 4th century following the [[Edict of Milan]] of 313. Shortly after, the [[Migration Period]], involving large invasions by [[Germanic-Roman contacts|Germanic peoples]] and by the [[Huns]] of [[Attila]], led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire. With the [[fall of Ravenna]] to the [[Heruli|Germanic Herulians]] and the [[deposition of Romulus Augustus]] in AD 476 by Odoacer, the Western Roman Empire finally collapsed; the Eastern Roman Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] formally abolished it in AD 480. Nonetheless, some states in the territories of the former Western Roman Empire would later claim to have inherited the supreme power of the emperors of Rome, most notably the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The Eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium, until [[Fall of Constantinople|Constantinople fell]] to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] of Sultan [[Mehmed II]] in 1453.<ref group="n">The Ottomans sometimes called their state the "Empire of [[Rûm]]" ({{lang-ota|دولت علنإه روم|lit= Exalted State of Rome}}). In this sense, it could be argued that a "Roman" Empire survived until the early 20th century. See the following: {{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Kaushik |title=Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750: Cavalry, Guns, Government and Ships |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KyVnAwAAQBAJ |series=Bloomsbury Studies in Military History |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2014 |page=37 |isbn=978-1-78093-800-4 | access-date = 4 January 2020 |quote=After the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Osmanli Turks called their empire the Empire of Rum (Rome).}})</ref>
 
Due to the Roman Empire's vast extent and long endurance, the institutions and culture of Rome had a [[legacy of the Roman Empire|profound and lasting influence]] on the development of [[history of Latin|language]], [[religion in ancient Rome|religion]], [[Roman art|art]], [[Roman architecture|architecture]], [[Roman philosophy|philosophy]], [[Roman law|law]], and [[Roman magistrate|forms of government]] in the territory it governed, and far beyond. The [[Latin]] language of the Romans evolved into the [[Romance languages]] of the medieval and modern world, while [[History of Greek|Medieval Greek]] became the language of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Empire's [[history of Christianity|adoption of Christianity]] led to the formation of medieval [[Christendom]]. [[Ancient Greek art|Greek]] and [[Roman art]] had a profound impact on the [[Italian Renaissance]]. Rome's architectural tradition served as the basis for [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]], [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] and [[Neoclassical architecture]], and also had a strong influence on [[Islamic architecture]]. The corpus of Roman law has its descendants in many [[legal system]]s of the world today, such as the [[Napoleonic Code]], while Rome's republican institutions have left an [[classical tradition|enduring legacy]], influencing the [[Maritime republics|Italian city-state republics]] of the medieval period, as well as the early United States and other modern democratic republics.
 
==History==
{{main|History of the Roman Empire}}
{{see also|Campaign history of the Roman military|Roman Kingdom}}
 
===Transition from Republic to Empire===
{{main|Roman Republic}}
[[File:Statue-Augustus.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Augustus of Prima Porta]]''<br />(early 1st century AD)]]
Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, though it did not expand outside the Italian peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Then, it was an "empire" (i.e. a great power) long before it had an emperor.<ref>[[#Kelly|Kelly]], p. 4ff.</ref><ref name=n1>[[#Nicolet|Nicolet]], pp. 1, 15</ref><ref>Brennan, T. Corey (2000) ''The Praetorship in the Roman Republic''. Oxford University Press. p. 605.</ref><ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 39–40.</ref> The Roman Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of towns left to rule themselves (though with varying degrees of independence from the [[Roman Senate]]) and provinces administered by military commanders. It was ruled, not by [[emperor]]s, but by annually elected [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]] ([[Roman Consul]]s above all) in conjunction with the Senate.<ref name="Ando p. 179">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 179.</ref> For various reasons, the 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors.<ref name=n1/><ref name=Hekster/><ref>[[Andrew Lintott|Lintott, Andrew]] (1999) ''The Constitution of the Roman Republic''. Oxford University Press. p. 114</ref><ref>Eder, W. (1993) "The Augustan Principate as Binding Link," in ''Between Republic and Empire''. University of California Press. p. 98. {{ISBN|0-520-08447-0}}.</ref> The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of ''[[imperium]]'', which literally means "command" (though typically in a military sense).<ref>Richardson, John (2011) "''Fines provinciae''", in ''Frontiers in the Roman World''. Brill. p. 10.</ref> Occasionally, successful consuls were given the honorary title ''[[imperator]]'' (commander), and this is the origin of the word ''emperor'' (and ''empire'') since this title (among others) was always bestowed to the early emperors upon their accession.<ref>Richardson, John (2011) "''Fines provinciae''", in ''Frontiers in the Roman World''. Brill. pp. 1–2.</ref>
 
Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies and [[Roman civil wars|civil wars]] from the late second century BC onward, while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. This was the period of the [[Crisis of the Roman Republic]]. Towards the end of this era, in 44 BC, [[Julius Caesar]] was briefly perpetual [[Roman dictator|dictator]] before being [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|assassinated]]. The faction of his assassins was driven from Rome and defeated at the [[Battle of Philippi]] in 42 BC by an army led by [[Mark Antony]] and Caesar's adopted son [[Augustus|Octavian]]. Antony and Octavian's division of the Roman world between themselves did not last and Octavian's forces defeated those of [[Mark Antony]] and [[Cleopatra]] at the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC, ending the [[Final War of the Roman Republic]]. In 27 BC the [[Senate and People of Rome]] made Octavian ''[[princeps]]'' ("first citizen") with [[proconsul]]ar ''[[imperium]]'', thus beginning the [[Principate]] (the first epoch of Roman imperial history, usually dated from 27 BC to 284 AD), and gave him the name "[[Augustus (honorific)|Augustus]]" ("the venerated"). Though the old [[constitutional]] machinery remained in place, Augustus came to predominate it. Although the republic stood in name, contemporaries of Augustus knew it was just a veil and that Augustus had all meaningful authority in Rome.<ref>Syme, Ronald (1939) ''The Roman Revolution''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 3–4.</ref> Since his rule ended a century of civil wars and began an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity, he was so loved that he came to hold the power of a monarch ''[[de facto]]'' if not ''[[de jure]]''. During the years of his rule, a new constitutional order emerged (in part organically and in part by design), so that, upon his death, this new constitutional order operated as before when [[Tiberius]] was accepted as the new emperor.
 
===The Pax Romana===
{{main|Pax Romana}}
{{multiple image|total_width=600
|image1=Nerva Tivoli Massimo.jpg
|image2=Traianus Glyptothek Munich 72.jpg
|image3=Bust Hadrian Musei Capitolini MC817.jpg
|image4=Antoninus Pius (Museo del Prado) 01.jpg
|image5=Marcus Aurelius Metropolitan Museum.png
|footer=The so-called [[Five Good Emperors]] (from left to right): [[Nerva]], [[Trajan]], [[Hadrian]], [[Antoninus Pius]] and [[Marcus Aurelius]]
}}
The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded as the ''[[Pax Romana]]'' ("Roman Peace"). During this period, the cohesion of the empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent but put down "mercilessly and swiftly" when they occurred.<ref>Boatwright, Mary T. (2000) ''Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire''. Princeton University Press. p. 4.</ref> The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]] lasted for four more emperors—[[Tiberius]], [[Caligula]], [[Claudius]], and [[Nero]]—before it yielded in 69 AD to the strife-torn [[Year of Four Emperors]], from which [[Vespasian]] emerged as victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief [[Flavian dynasty]], to be followed by the [[Nerva–Antonine dynasty]] which produced the "[[Five Good Emperors]]": [[Nerva]], [[Trajan]], [[Hadrian]], [[Antoninus Pius]], and the philosophically-inclined [[Marcus Aurelius]].
 
===Fall in the West and survival in the East===
{{Main|Fall of the Western Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Barbarian kingdoms|Byzantine Empire}}
[[File:Invasions of the Roman Empire 1.png|300px|thumb|The [[Migration Period|Barbarian Invasions]] consisted of the movement of (mainly) ancient [[Germanic peoples]] into Roman territory. Even though northern invasions took place throughout the life of the Empire, this period officially began in the 4th century and lasted for many centuries, during which the western territory was under the dominion of foreign northern rulers, a notable one being [[Charlemagne]]. Historically, this event marked the transition between [[classical antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages]].]]
In the view of the Greek historian [[Dio Cassius]], a contemporary observer, the accession of the emperor [[Commodus]] in 180 AD marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron"<ref>Dio Cassius [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/72*.html#36 72.36.4], Loeb edition translated E. Cary</ref>—a famous comment which has led some historians, notably [[Edward Gibbon]], to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the [[Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire|decline of the Roman Empire]].<ref name="Commodus-Gibbon">{{citation |last=Gibbon |first=Edward | author-link = Edward Gibbon |title=The History of the Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire |year=1776 |chapter=The Decline And Fall in the West – Chapter 4 | chapter-url = https://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/chap4.htm}}.</ref><ref>[[#Goldsworthy2009|Goldsworthy 2009]], p. 50</ref>
 
In 212 AD, during the reign of [[Caracalla]], [[Roman citizenship]] was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. But despite this gesture of universality, the [[Severan dynasty]] was tumultuous—an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution—and, following its collapse, the Roman Empire was engulfed by the [[Crisis of the Third Century]], a period of [[invasion]]s, [[civil strife]], [[Economic collapse|economic disorder]], and [[Plague of Cyprian|plague]].<ref>Brown, P., The World of Late Antiquity, London 1971, p. 22.</ref> In defining [[periodization|historical epochs]], this crisis is sometimes viewed as marking the transition from [[Classical Antiquity]] to [[Late Antiquity]]. [[Aurelian]] (reigned 270–275) brought the empire back from the brink and stabilized it. [[Diocletian]] completed the work of fully restoring the empire, but declined the role of ''princeps'' and became the first emperor to be addressed regularly as ''domine'', "master" or "lord".<ref>[[#Goldsworthy2009|Goldsworthy 2009]], pp. 405–415.</ref> Diocletian's reign also brought the empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of [[early Christianity|Christianity]], the [[Diocletianic Persecution|"Great Persecution"]].
 
Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate [[emperor]], the [[Tetrarchy]].<ref>Potter, David. The Roman Empire at Bay. 296–98.</ref> Confident that he fixed the disorders that were plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, and the Tetrarchy soon collapsed. Order was eventually restored by [[Constantine the Great]], who became the first emperor to [[Constantine the Great and Christianity|convert to Christianity]], and who established [[Constantinople]] as the new capital of the eastern empire. During the decades of the [[Constantinian dynasty|Constantinian]] and [[Valentinian dynasty|Valentinian dynasties]], the empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. The reign of [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], who under the influence of his adviser [[Mardonius (philosopher)|Mardonius]] attempted to restore [[Religion in ancient Rome|Classical Roman]] and [[Hellenistic religion]], only briefly interrupted the succession of Christian emperors. [[Theodosius I]], the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 AD after making Christianity the [[State church of the Roman Empire|official religion]] of the empire.<ref>Starr, Chester G. (1974) ''A History of the Ancient World, Second Edition.'' Oxford University Press. pp. 670–678.</ref>
 
[[File:628px-Western and Eastern Roman Empires 476AD(3).PNG|thumb|upright=1.15|left|The Roman Empire by 476]]
 
The [[Western Roman Empire]] began to [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|disintegrate]] in the early 5th century as [[Migration Period|Germanic migrations and invasions]] overwhelmed the capacity of the empire to assimilate the migrants and fight off the invaders. The Romans were successful in fighting off all invaders, most famously [[Attila]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bury |first=John Bagnall |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/9*.html#4 |title=History of the Later Roman Empire |publisher=Dover Books |year=1923 |pages=295–297}}</ref> though the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bury |first=John Bagnall |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/9*.html#4 |title=History of the Later Roman Empire |publisher=Dover Books |year=1923 |pages=312–313}}</ref> [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|Most chronologies]] place the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when [[Romulus Augustulus]] was [[Deposition of Romulus Augustulus|forced to abdicate]] to the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] warlord [[Odoacer]].<ref name="Peter Lang AG">{{cite book |last1=Scholl |first1=Christian |title=Transcultural approaches to the concept of imperial rule in the Middle Ages |isbn=978-3-653-05232-9 |language=en |quote=" Odoacer, who dethroned the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, neither used the imperial insignia nor the colour purple, which was used by the emperor in Byzantium only." |jstor=j.ctv6zdbwx |year=2017 |publisher=Peter Lang AG}}</ref><ref name="The Fall of Rome">{{cite web |last1=Peter |first1=Heather |title=The Fall of Rome |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml |website=BBC |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="Gibbons">{{cite book |last1=Gibbon |first1=Edward |editor1-last=Widger |editor1-first=David |title=History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire |date=1776 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |via=Project Gutenberg |location=England |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Clink362HCH0005 |language=en |chapter-format=ebook |chapter=Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.—Part II. |quote="The patrician Orestes had married the daughter of Count Romulus, of Petovio in Noricum: the name of Augustus, notwithstanding the jealousy of power, was known at Aquileia as a familiar surname; and the appellations of the two great founders, of the city and of the monarchy, were thus strangely united in the last of their successors.", "The life of this inoffensive youth was spared by the generous clemency of Odoacer; who dismissed him, with his whole family, from the Imperial palace"}}</ref> By placing himself under the rule of the Eastern Emperor, rather than naming a puppet emperor of his own, Odoacer ended the Western Empire. He did this by sending the imperial regalia to the Eastern Emperor Zeno, in effect declaring Zeno sole emperor, and placing himself as his nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was now ruled by Odoacer alone.<ref name="Peter Lang AG"/><ref name="The Fall of Rome"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gibbon |first1=Edward |title=The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |date=1776 |publisher=Project Gutenberg |location=England |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Dlinknoteref-5511 |access-date=11 February 2020 |language=en |chapter=Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.—Part II. |quote="The republic (they repeat that name without a blush) might safely confide in the civil and military virtues of Odoacer; and they humbly request, that the emperor would invest him with the title of Patrician, and the administration of the diocese of Italy."", "His vanity was gratified by the title of sole emperor, and by the statues erected to his honor in the several quarters of Rome; "he entertained a friendly, though ambiguous, correspondence with the patrician Odoacer; and he gratefully accepted the Imperial ensigns"}}</ref> The Eastern Roman Empire, also called the [[Byzantine Empire]] by later historians, continued to exist until the reign of [[Constantine XI Palaiologos]]. The last Roman Emperor, he died in battle on 29 May 1453 against [[Mehmed the Conqueror|Mehmed II "the Conqueror"]] and his [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] forces in the final stages of the [[Fall of Constantinople|Siege of Constantinople]]. Mehmed II would himself also claim the title of [[Caesar (title)|caesar]] or ''Kayser-i Rum'' in an attempt to claim a connection to the Roman Empire.<ref>[http://www.theottomans.org/english/family/mehmet2.asp Mehmet II] by Korkut Ozgen. Theottomans.org. Retrieved 3 April 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cartwright |first1=Mark |title=1453: The Fall of Constantinople |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1180/1453-the-fall-of-constantinople/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |publisher=World History Encyclopedia Limited |access-date=11 February 2020 |date=23 January 2018}}</ref>
 
==Geography and demography==
{{main|Demography of the Roman Empire|Borders of the Roman Empire}}
{{Further|Classical demography}}
 
The Roman Empire was [[List of largest empires|one of the largest]] in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.<ref name=k3>[[#Kelly|Kelly]], p. 3.</ref> The Latin phrase ''imperium sine fine'' ("empire without end"<ref name=n29>[[#Nicolet|Nicolet]], p. 29</ref>) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In [[Vergil]]'s epic poem the ''[[Aeneid]],'' limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by their supreme deity [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]].<ref name=n29/><ref>Vergil, ''Aeneid'' 1.278</ref><ref>Mattingly, David J. (2011) ''Imperialism, Power, and Identity: Experiencing the Roman Empire''. Princeton University Press. p. 15</ref><ref>Moretti, G. (1993) "The Other World and the 'Antipodes': The Myth of Unknown Countries between Antiquity and the Renaissance," in ''The Classical Tradition and the Americas: European Images of the Americas''. Walter de Gruyter. p. 257</ref><ref name=Southern>{{cite book |author=Southern, Pat |ref=Southern |title=The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWiyzw91atgC |year=2001 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-23943-1 |pages=14–16}}</ref> This claim of universal dominion was renewed and perpetuated when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century.<ref group="n">[[Prudentius]] (348–413) in particular Christianizes the theme in his poetry, as noted by Marc Mastrangelo, ''The Roman Self in Late Antiquity: Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), pp. 73, 203. [[St. Augustine]], however, distinguished between the secular and eternal "Rome" in ''[[De Civitate Dei|The City of God]].'' See also [[J. Rufus Fears]], "The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.17.1 (1981), p. 136, on how Classical Roman ideology influenced Christian Imperial doctrine; Bang, Peter Fibiger (2011) "The King of Kings: Universal Hegemony, Imperial Power, and a New Comparative History of Rome," in ''The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives''. John Wiley & Sons; and the Greek concept of globalism ''([[ecumene|oikouménē]]).''</ref> In addition to annexing large regions in their quest for empire-building, the Romans were also very large sculptors of their environment who directly altered their geography. For instance, entire forests were cut down to provide enough wood resources for an expanding empire. In his book ''Critias,'' Plato described that deforestation: where there was once "an abundance of wood in the mountains," he could now only see "the mere skeleton of the land."<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Environment in World History |url=https://archive.org/details/environmentworld00mosl_888 |url-access=limited |last=Mosley |first=Stephen |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |page=[https://archive.org/details/environmentworld00mosl_888/page/n44 35]}}</ref>
 
In reality, [[Campaign history of the Roman military|Roman expansion]] was mostly accomplished under the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century AD, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. During the reign of [[Augustus]], a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the composition of the most comprehensive work on [[political geography]] that survives from antiquity, the ''[[Geographica|Geography]]'' of the [[Pontus (region)|Pontic]] Greek writer [[Strabo]].<ref>[[#Nicolet|Nicolet]], pp. 7–8.</ref> When Augustus died, the commemorative account of his achievements ''([[Res Gestae Divi Augusti|Res Gestae]])'' prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of peoples and [[Roman province|places within the Empire]].<ref>[[#Nicolet|Nicolet]], pp. 9, 16.</ref> Geography, the [[Roman census|census]], and the meticulous keeping of written records were central concerns of [[#Central government|Roman Imperial administration]].<ref>[[#Nicolet|Nicolet]], pp. 10–11.</ref>
[[File:The cities of the Roman world in the Imperial period.jpg|thumb|The cities of the Roman world in the Imperial Period. Data source: Hanson, J. W. (2016), Cities database, (OXREP databases). Version 1.0. ([http://oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk/databases/cities/ link]).]]
 
[[File:Hadrian's Wall and Highshield Crags - geograph.org.uk - 1410581.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A segment of the ruins of [[Hadrian's Wall]] in northern England, overlooking [[Crag Lough]]]]
The Empire reached its largest expanse under [[Trajan]] (reigned 98–117),<ref name=Southern/> encompassing an area of 5 million square kilometres.<ref name="size" /><ref name="East-West" /> The traditional population estimate of {{Nowrap|55–60 million}} inhabitants<ref name=k1>[[#Kelly|Kelly]], p. 1.</ref> accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of the world's total population<ref name="Hopkins p. 184">[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 184.</ref> and made it the largest population of any unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4991.1984.tb00552.x |title=An Estimate of the Size Anl Structure of the National Product of the Early Roman Empire |journal=Review of Income and Wealth |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=263–288 |year=2005 |last1=Goldsmith |first1=Raymond W.}}</ref> Recent [[Classical demography#Demography of the Roman Empire|demographic studies]] have argued for a population peak ranging from {{Nowrap|70 million}} to more than {{Nowrap|100 million}}.<ref name="Population and demography">Scheidel, Walter (April 2006) [http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/040604.pdf "Population and demography"] in ''Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics'', p. 9</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hanson |first1=J. W. |last2=Ortman |first2=S. G. |date=2017 |title=A systematic method for estimating the populations of Greek and Roman settlements |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=30 |pages=301–324 |doi=10.1017/S1047759400074134 |s2cid=165770409 |issn=1047-7594}}</ref> Each of the three largest cities in the Empire – Rome, [[Alexandria]], and [[Antioch]] – was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 721.</ref>
 
As the historian [[Christopher Kelly (historian)|Christopher Kelly]] has described it:
 
{{Quote|Then the empire stretched from [[Hadrian's Wall]] in drizzle-soaked [[northern England]] to the sun-baked banks of the [[Euphrates]] in Syria; from the great [[Rhine]]–[[Danube]] river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands of Europe from the [[Low Countries]] to the [[Black Sea]], to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of the [[Nile Valley]] in Egypt. The empire completely circled the [[Mediterranean]]&nbsp;... referred to by its conquerors as ''[[mare nostrum]]''—'our sea'.<ref name=k1/>}}
 
Trajan's successor [[Hadrian]] adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire. Borders ''(fines)'' were marked, and the frontiers ''([[Limes (Roman Empire)|limites]])'' patrolled.<ref name=Southern/> The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable.<ref name=Hekster>Hekster, Olivier and Kaizer, Ted (2011). Preface to ''Frontiers in the Roman World. Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Durhan, 16–19 April 2009)''. Brill. p. viii.</ref> Hadrian's Wall, which separated the Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present [[barbarian]] threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort.<ref>Woolf, Greg (ed.) (2003) ''Cambridge Illustrated History of the Roman World''. Cambridge: Ivy Press. p. 340</ref><ref>Opper, Thorsten (2008) ''Hadrian: Empire and Conflict''. Harvard University Press. p. 64</ref><ref>Fields, Nic (2003) ''Hadrian's Wall AD 122–410, which was, of course, at the bottom of Hadrian's garden.'' Osprey Publishing. p. 35.</ref>
 
==Languages==
{{Misleading|section|reason=Apparent deliberate re-write to suppress the position of Greek in Roman society|date=September 2016}}
 
{{Main|Languages of the Roman Empire}}
The language of the Romans was [[Latin]], which [[Virgil]] emphasizes as a source of Roman unity and [[mos maiorum|tradition]].<ref>Vergil, ''Aeneid'' 12.834 and 837</ref><ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 549, 563</ref><ref>[[#Adams|Adams]], p. 184.</ref> Until the time of [[Alexander Severus]] (reigned 222–235), the [[Birth registration in Ancient Rome|birth certificates]] and wills of Roman citizens had to be written in Latin.<ref>[[#Adams|Adams]], pp. 186–187.</ref> Latin was the language of the law courts in the West and of the military throughout the Empire,<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 554, 556.</ref> but was not imposed officially on peoples brought under Roman rule.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 549</ref><ref>Freeman, Charles (1999) ''The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World''. New York: Penguin. pp. 389–433.</ref> This [[language policy|policy]] contrasts with that of [[Alexander the Great]], who aimed to impose [[ancient Greek language|Greek]] throughout his empire as the official language.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 549, citing [[Plutarch]], ''Life of Alexander'' 47.6.</ref> As a consequence of Alexander's conquests, [[koine Greek]] had become the [[lingua franca|shared language]] around the eastern Mediterranean and into Asia Minor.<ref>[[Fergus Millar|Millar, Fergus]] (2006) ''A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius&nbsp;II (408–450)''. University of California Press. p. 279. {{ISBN|0-520-94141-1}}.</ref><ref name=tread>Treadgold, Warren (1997) ''A History of the Byzantine State and Society''. Stanford University Press. pp. 5–7. {{ISBN|0-8047-2630-2}}.</ref> The [[Jireček Line|"linguistic frontier"]] dividing the Latin West and the Greek East passed through the [[Balkan peninsula]].<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 553.</ref>
 
[[File:P.Ryl. I 61.tif|thumb|upright=1.4|left|A 5th-century [[papyrus]] showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by [[Cicero]]<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[In Catilinam]]'' 2.15, [[Rylands Papyri|P.Ryl.]] I 61 "[[recto]]".</ref>]]
Romans who received an elite education studied Greek as a [[literary language]], and most men of the governing classes could speak Greek.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 550–552.</ref> The [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Julio-Claudian]] emperors encouraged high standards of correct Latin ''(Latinitas)'', a linguistic movement identified in modern terms as [[Classical Latin]], and favoured Latin for conducting official business.<ref name="Rochette p. 552">[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 552.</ref> [[Claudius]] tried to limit the use of Greek, and on occasion revoked the citizenship of those who lacked Latin, but even in the Senate he drew on his own bilingualism in communicating with Greek-speaking ambassadors.<ref name="Rochette p. 552"/> [[Suetonius]] quotes him as referring to "our two languages".<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''Life of Claudius'' 42.</ref>
 
In the Eastern empire, laws and official documents were regularly translated into Greek from Latin.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 553–554.</ref> The everyday interpenetration of the two languages is indicated by bilingual inscriptions, which sometimes even switch back and forth between Greek and Latin.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 556</ref><ref>[[#Adams|Adams]], p. 200.</ref> After all freeborn inhabitants of the empire were universally [[wikt:enfranchise|enfranchised]] in 212 AD, a great number of Roman citizens would have lacked Latin, though Latin remained a marker of "Romanness."<ref>[[#Adams|Adams]], pp. 185–186, 205.</ref>
 
Among other reforms, the emperor [[Diocletian]] (reigned 284–305) sought to renew the authority of Latin, and the Greek expression ''hē kratousa dialektos'' attests to the continuing status of Latin as "the language of power."<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 560.</ref> In the early 6th century, the emperor [[Justinian]] engaged in a quixotic effort to reassert the status of Latin as the language of law, even though in his time Latin no longer held any currency as a living language in the East.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 562–563.</ref>
 
===Local languages and linguistic legacy===
[[File:Inscription Theatre Leptis Magna Libya.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Bilingual Latin-Punic inscription at the theatre in [[Leptis Magna]], [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] (present-day Libya)]]
References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages other than Greek and Latin, particularly in Egypt, where [[Coptic language|Coptic]] predominated, and in military settings along the Rhine and Danube. Roman [[jurist]]s also show a concern for local languages such as [[Punic language|Punic]], [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]], and [[Aramaic]] in assuring the correct understanding and application of laws and oaths.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 558–559.</ref> In the [[Africa (Roman province)|province of Africa]], Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions and for legends on coins during the time of [[Tiberius]] (1st century AD). Libyco-Berber and Punic inscriptions appear on public buildings into the 2nd century, some bilingual with Latin.<ref name=miles>Miles, Richard (2000) "Communicating Culture, Identity, and Power," in ''Experiencing Power: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire''. Routledge. pp. 58–60. {{ISBN|0-415-21285-5}}.</ref> In [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]], [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]] soldiers even used their [[Palmyrene dialect|dialect of Aramaic]] for inscriptions, in a striking exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military.<ref>[[#Adams|Adams]], p. 199.</ref>
 
The [[Babatha|Babatha Archive]] is a suggestive example of [[multilingualism]] in the Empire. These [[papyri]], named for a Jewish woman in the [[Arabia (Roman province)|province of Arabia]] and dating from 93 to 132 AD, mostly employ Aramaic, the local language, written in Greek characters with [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] and Latin influences; a petition to the [[Roman governor]], however, was written in Greek.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], pp. 553–555.</ref>
 
The dominance of Latin among the literate elite may obscure the continuity of spoken languages, since all cultures within the Roman Empire were predominantly oral.<ref name=miles/> In the West, Latin, referred to in its spoken form as [[Vulgar Latin]], gradually replaced [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] and [[Italic languages]] that were related to it by a shared [[Proto-Indo-European|Indo-European origin]]. Commonalities in syntax and vocabulary facilitated the adoption of Latin.<ref>[[#Rochette|Rochette]], p. 550</ref><ref>Stefan Zimmer, "Indo-European," in ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' (ABC-Clio, 2006), p. 961</ref><ref name=curchin>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/295333 |jstor=295333 |title=Literacy in the Roman Provinces: Qualitative and Quantitative Data from Central Spain |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=116 |issue=3 |pages=461–476 (464) |year=1995 |last1=Curchin |first1=Leonard A.}}</ref>
 
After the decentralization of political power in late antiquity, Latin developed locally into branches that became the [[Romance languages]], such as [[History of Spanish|Spanish]], [[History of the Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[History of French|French]], [[History of Italian|Italian]], [[History of Catalan|Catalan]] and [[History of Romanian|Romanian]], and a large number of minor languages and dialects. Today, more than 900 million people are native speakers worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sala |first1=Marius |last2=Posner |first2=Rebecca |title=Romance languages |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romance-languages |website=Britannica |publisher=Britannica |access-date=11 February 2020 |quote="By the beginning of the 21st century, some 920 million people claimed a Romance language as their mother tongue"}}</ref>
 
As an international language of learning and literature, Latin itself continued as an active medium of expression for diplomacy and for intellectual developments identified with [[Renaissance humanism]] up to the 17th century, and for [[legal Latin|law]] and the [[Church Latin|Roman Catholic Church]] to the present.<ref>Waquet, Françoise (2001) ''Latin, Or, The Empire of the Sign: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century''. Verso. pp. 1–2. {{ISBN|1-85984-402-2}}.</ref><ref>Jensen, Kristian (1996) "The Humanist Reform of Latin and Latin Teaching," in ''The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 63–64. {{ISBN|0-521-43624-9}}.</ref>
 
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=340
| align = right
| direction =horizontal
| header=
| image1 = Dendera Tempel Nordtor 09.jpg
| caption1 =
| image2 = Roman Emperor Domitian on the Northern gate of Dendera Temple, Egypt.jpg
| caption2 =
| footer="Gate of Domitian and [[Trajan]]" at the northern entrance of the [[Dendera Temple complex|Temple of Hathor]], and Roman Emperor [[Domitian]] as [[Pharaoh of Egypt]] on the same gate, together with [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]. [[Dendera]], [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bard |first1=Kathryn A. |title=Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-66525-9 |pages=252–254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AWSGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bard |first1=Kathryn A. |title=An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-67336-2 |page=325 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ovU1BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA325 |language=en}}</ref>
}}
Although Greek continued as the language of the Byzantine Empire, linguistic distribution in the East was more complex. A Greek-speaking majority lived in the [[Greek peninsula]] and [[Greek islands|islands]], western [[Anatolia]], major cities, and some coastal areas.<ref name=tread/> Like Greek and Latin, the [[Thracian language]] was of Indo-European origin, as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia attested by Imperial-era inscriptions.<ref name=tread/><ref name=miles/> [[Albanian language|Albanian]] is often seen as the descendant of [[Illyrian languages|Illyrian]], although this hypothesis has been challenged by some linguists, who maintain that it derives from [[Dacian language|Dacian]] or Thracian.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Fine, John V. A. |author2=Fine, John Van Antwerp |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C |year=1991 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-08149-3 |pages=10–11}}</ref> (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however, may have formed a subgroup or a Sprachbund; see [[Thraco-Illyrian]].) Various [[Afroasiatic languages]]—primarily Coptic in Egypt, and Aramaic in Syria and Mesopotamia—were never replaced by Greek. The international use of Greek, however, was one factor enabling the spread of Christianity, as indicated for example by the use of Greek for the [[Pauline epistles|Epistles of Paul]].<ref name=tread/>
 
Several references to Gaulish in late antiquity may indicate that it continued to be spoken. In the second century AD there was an explicit recognition of its usage in some legal manners,<ref>''Digest'' 31.1.11; Lambert, ''La langue gauloise,'' p. 10.</ref> soothsaying<ref name=Lambert10/> and pharmacology.<ref>Adams, ''Bilingualism and the Latin Language,'' p. 192.</ref> [[Sulpicius Severus]], writing in the 5th century AD in [[Gallia Aquitania]], noted bilingualism with Gaulish as the [[first language]].<ref name=Lambert10>Lambert, ''La langue gauloise,'' p. 10.</ref> The survival of the Galatian dialect in Anatolia akin to that spoken by the [[Treveri]] near Trier was attested by [[Jerome]] (331–420), who had first-hand knowledge.<ref>Jerome, commentary on the ''[[Letter to the Galatians]]''; Lambert, ''La langue gauloise,'' p. 10.</ref>
Much of [[historical linguistics]] scholarship postulates that Gaulish was indeed still spoken as late as the mid to late 6th century in France.<ref name="Helix">{{cite book |author=Laurence Hélix |title=Histoire de la langue française |isbn=978-2-7298-6470-5 |publisher=Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. |page=7 |quote=Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise. |year=2011}}</ref> Despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture, the Gaulish language is held to have survived and had coexisted with spoken Latin during the centuries of Roman rule of Gaul.<ref name=Helix/> The last reference to Galatian was made by [[Cyril of Scythopolis]], claiming that an evil spirit had possessed a monk and rendered him able to speak only in Galatian,<ref>εἰ δὲ πάνυ ἐβιάζετο, Γαλατιστὶ ἐφθέγγετο. 'If he was forced to, he spoke in Galatian' (Vita S. Euthymii 55; after Eugenio Luján, 'The Galatian Place Names in Ptolemy', in: Javier de Hoz, Eugenio R. Luján, Patrick Sims-Williams (eds.), New Approaches to Celtic Place-Names in Ptolemy's Geography, Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas 2005, 264).</ref> while the last reference to Gaulish in France was made by [[Gregory of Tours]] between 560 and 575, noting that a shrine in Auvergne which "is called Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue" was destroyed and burnt to the ground.<ref>''Hist. Franc.'', book I, 32 ''Veniens vero Arvernos, delubrum illud, quod Gallica lingua Vasso Galatæ vocant, incendit, diruit, atque subvertit.'' And coming to Clermont [to the [[Arverni]]] he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatæ in the Gallic tongue,</ref><ref name="Helix"/> After the long period of bilingualism, the emergent [[Gallo-Romance languages]] including French were shaped by Gaulish in a number of ways; in the case of French these include loanwords and [[calque]]s (including ''oui'',<ref name=Matas/> the word for "yes"),<ref name=Savignac/><ref name=Matas/> sound changes,<ref>Henri Guiter, "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania", in ''Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii'', eds., Anna Bochnakowa & Stanislan Widlak, Krakow, 1995.</ref><ref>Eugeen Roegiest, ''Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania'' (Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), 83.</ref> and influences in conjugation and word order.<ref name=Savignac>{{cite book |author=Savignac, Jean-Paul |year=2004 |page=26 |title=Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois |location=Paris |publisher=La Différence}}</ref><ref name=Matas>{{cite journal |author=Matasovic, Ranko |year=2007 |title=Insular Celtic as a Language Area |agency=The Celtic Languages in Contact |journal=Papers from the Workship within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies |page=106}}</ref><ref name=Adams>{{cite book |author=Adams, J. N. |date=2007 |title=The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600 |url=https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam |url-access=limited |chapter=Chapter V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul |pages=[https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam/page/n300 279]–289 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511482977 |isbn=978-0-511-48297-7}}</ref>
 
==Society==
{{Details|Ancient Roman society}}
[[File:Pompeii family feast painting Naples.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from [[Pompeii]] (1st century AD)]]
[[File:SEUSO lakomája.png|thumb|Spread of Seuso at Lacus Pelso (Lake Balaton)]]
 
The Roman Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "a rather astonishing cohesive capacity" to create a sense of shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples within its political system over a long span of time.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 12.</ref> The Roman attention to creating public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as [[Forum (Roman)|forums]], [[List of Roman amphitheatres|amphitheatres]], [[circus (building)|racetracks]] and [[thermae|baths]]—helped foster a sense of "Romanness".<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 16.</ref>
 
Roman society had multiple, overlapping social hierarchies that modern concepts of "class" in English may not represent accurately.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 9.</ref> The two decades of civil war from which Augustus rose to sole power left traditional society in Rome in a state of confusion and upheaval,<ref name=Garnsey>Garnsey, Peter and Saller, Richard (1987) ''The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture''. University of California Press. pp. 107–111.</ref> but did not effect an immediate [[redistribution of wealth]] and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid.<ref>Noreña, Carlos F. (2011) ''Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: Representation, Circulation, Power''. Cambridge University Press. p. 7.</ref> Personal relationships—[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]], friendship ''(amicitia)'', family, [[Marriage in ancient Rome|marriage]]—continued to influence the workings of politics and government, as they had in the Republic.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 4–5.</ref> By the time of [[Nero]], however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an [[equestrian order|equestrian]] who exercised greater power than a senator.<ref>[[#Winterling|Winterling]], pp. 11, 21.</ref>
 
The blurring or diffusion of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased [[social mobility]] under the Empire,<ref>Saller, Richard P. (1982, 2002) ''Personal Patronage under the Early Empire''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 123, 176, 183</ref><ref>Duncan, Anne (2006) ''Performance and Identity in the Classical World''. Cambridge University Press. p. 164.</ref> both upward and downward, to an extent that exceeded that of all other well-documented ancient societies.<ref>Reinhold, Meyer (2002) ''Studies in Classical History and Society''. Oxford University Press. p. 25ff. and 42.</ref> Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 18.</ref> Social life in the Empire, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited, was further fostered by a proliferation of [[associations in Ancient Rome|voluntary associations]] and [[confraternity|confraternities]] (''[[collegium|collegia]]'' and ''[[Sodales|sodalitates]]'') formed for various purposes: professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs,<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 17, 20.</ref> performing arts troupes,<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], pp. 81–82</ref> and [[burial society|burial societies]].<ref>Carroll, Maureen (2006) ''Spirits of the Dead: Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe''. Oxford University Press. pp. 45–46.</ref>
 
===Legal status===
{{Main|Status in Roman legal system|Roman citizenship}}
[[File:Egyptian - Mummy Portrait of a Man - Walters 323.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Citizen of [[Roman Egypt]] ([[Fayum mummy portrait]])]]
 
According to the [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]], the essential distinction in the Roman "[[legal personality|law of persons]]" was that all human beings were either free ''(liberi)'' or slaves ''(servi)''.<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], p. 14</ref><ref>[[Gaius (jurist)|Gaius]], ''Institutiones'' 1.9 = ''Digest'' 1.5.3.</ref> The legal status of free persons might be further defined by their citizenship. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ''[[ius Latinum]],'' "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by those who lacked citizenship. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, held status as ''[[peregrinus (Roman)|peregrini]]'', non-Romans.<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], pp. 31–32.</ref> In 212 AD, by means of the edict known as the ''[[Constitutio Antoniniana]]'', the emperor [[Caracalla]] extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. This legal egalitarianism would have required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that had distinguished between citizens and non-citizens.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 177.</ref>
 
====Women in Roman law====
{{Main|Women in ancient Rome}}
Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens throughout the Republic and Empire, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ''ex duobus civibus Romanis natos'' ("children born of two Roman citizens").<ref group="n">The ''civis'' ("citizen") stands in explicit contrast to a ''[[Peregrinus (Roman)|peregrina]]'', a foreign or non-Roman woman: [[A.N. Sherwin-White]] (1979) ''Roman Citizenship''. Oxford University Press. pp. 211 and 268; [[#Frier|Frier]], pp. 31–32, 457. In the form of legal marriage called ''conubium,'' the father's legal status determined the child's, but ''conubium'' required that both spouses be free citizens. A soldier, for instance, was banned from marrying while in service, but if he formed a long-term union with a local woman while stationed in the provinces, he could marry her legally after he was discharged, and any children they had would be considered the offspring of citizens—in effect granting the woman retroactive citizenship. The ban was in place from the time of Augustus until it was rescinded by [[Septimius Severus]] in 197 AD. See Sara Elise Phang, ''The Marriage of Roman Soldiers (13 B.C.–A.D. 235): Law and Family in the Imperial Army'' (Brill, 2001), p. 2, and Pat Southern, ''The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History'' (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 144.</ref> A Roman woman kept her own [[Roman naming conventions|family name]] ''(nomen)'' for life. Children most often took the father's name, but in the Imperial period sometimes made their mother's name part of theirs, or even used it instead.<ref>[[#Rawson1987|Rawson (1987)]], p. 18.</ref>
 
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Fanciulla intenta alla lettura (IV stile), I sec, da pompei, MANN 8946.JPG
| width1 = 178
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Bronze young girl reading CdM Paris.jpg
| width2 = 150
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = '''Left image:''' Roman fresco of a [[blond]] maiden reading a text, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]] (60–79 AD), [[Pompeii]], Italy <br />'''Right image:''' Bronze statuette (1st century AD) of a young woman reading, based on a [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] original
}}
The archaic form of [[manus marriage|''manus'' marriage]] in which the woman had been subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into the marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, but when her father died she became legally emancipated.<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], pp. 19–20.</ref> This arrangement was one of the factors in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed relative to those of many other ancient cultures and up to the modern period:<ref>[[Eva Cantarella]], ''Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), pp. 140–141</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Sullivan, J.P. |title=Martial's Sexual Attitudes |journal=Philologus |volume=123 |issue=1–2 |year=1979 |page=296 |doi=10.1524/phil.1979.123.12.288|s2cid=163347317 }}</ref> although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in her daily life,<ref>[[#Rawson1987|Rawson (1987)]], p. 15.</ref> and her husband had no legal power over her.<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], pp. 19–20, 22.</ref> Although it was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" ''(univira)'' who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to [[Marriage in ancient Rome#Divorce|divorce]], nor to speedy remarriage after the loss of a husband through death or divorce.<ref>Treggiari, Susan (1991) ''Roman Marriage: ''Iusti Coniuges'' from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian''. Oxford University Press. pp. 258–259, 500–502. {{ISBN|0-19-814939-5}}.</ref>
 
Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will.<ref>Johnston, David (1999) ''Roman Law in Context''. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 3.3</ref><ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], Ch. IV</ref><ref>Thomas, Yan (1991) "The Division of the Sexes in Roman Law," in ''A History of Women from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints''. Harvard University Press. p. 134.</ref> A Roman mother's right to own property and to dispose of it as she saw fit, including setting the terms of her own will, gave her enormous influence over her sons even when they were adults.<ref>Severy, Beth (2002) ''Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Empire''. Routledge. p. 12. {{ISBN|1-134-39183-8}}.</ref>
 
As part of the Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, [[Leges Iuliae|moral legislation]] attempted to regulate the conduct of men and women as a means of promoting "[[family values]]". [[Marriage in ancient Rome#Adultery|Adultery]], which had been a private family matter under the Republic, was criminalized,<ref>Severy, Beth (2002) ''Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Empire''. Routledge. p. 4. {{ISBN|1134391838}}.</ref> and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ''([[stuprum]])'' that occurred between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband.<ref group="n">That is, a [[double standard]] was in place: a married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery if he had sex with a prostitute, slave, or person of marginalized status. See {{cite journal |doi=10.2307/284457 |jstor=284457 |title=Concubinage and the Lex Iulia on Adultery |journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=121 |pages=335–375 (342) |year=1991 |last1=McGinn |first1=Thomas A. J.}}; [[Martha C. Nussbaum]] (2002) "The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus, Platonist, Stoic, and Roman," in ''The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome''. University of Chicago Press. p. 305, noting that custom "allowed much latitude for personal negotiation and gradual social change"; [[Elaine Fantham]], "''Stuprum'': Public Attitudes and Penalties for Sexual Offences in Republican Rome," in ''Roman Readings: Roman Response to Greek Literature from Plautus to Statius and Quintilian'' (Walter de Gruyter, 2011), p. 124, citing [[Papinian]], ''De adulteriis'' I and [[Modestinus]], ''Liber Regularum'' I. [[Eva Cantarella]], ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World'' (Yale University Press, 1992, 2002, originally published 1988 in Italian), p. 104; [[#Edwards|Edwards]], pp. 34–35.</ref> Childbearing was encouraged by the state: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ''[[ius trium liberorum]])''.
 
Because of their legal status as citizens and the degree to which they could become emancipated, women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business,<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], p. 461</ref><ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 733.</ref> including shipping, manufacturing, and lending money. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could acquire and dispose of considerable fortunes; for instance, the [[Arch of the Sergii]] was funded by Salvia Postuma, a female member of the family honoured, and the largest building in the forum at [[Pompeii]] was funded by [[Eumachia]], a priestess of [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]].<ref>Woodhull, Margaret L. (2004) "Matronly Patrons in the Early Roman Empire: The Case of Salvia Postuma," in ''Women's Influence on Classical Civilization''. Routledge. p. 77.</ref>
 
====Slaves and the law====
{{Main|Slavery in ancient Rome}}
 
At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]] were slaves,<ref>[[#Bradley|Bradley]], p. 12.</ref> making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least a fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy.<ref>The others are [[Slavery in ancient Greece|ancient Athens]], and in the modern era [[Slavery in Brazil|Brazil]], the [[Slavery in the British and French Caribbean|Caribbean]], and the [[Slavery in the United States|United States]]; [[#Bradley|Bradley]], p. 12.</ref> Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility.<ref>[[#Bradley|Bradley]], p. 15.</ref> In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants, in addition to the majority of slaves who provided trained or unskilled labour in households or workplaces. [[Roman agriculture|Agriculture]] and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on the exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves made up on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in [[Roman Egypt]] but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries would have affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces.<ref name=harris>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/300734 |jstor=300734 |title=Demography, Geography and the Sources of Roman Slaves |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=89 |pages=62–75 |year=1999 |last1=Harris |first1=W. V.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00438240120047618 |title=Believing the ancients: Quantitative and qualitative dimensions of slavery and the slave trade in later prehistoric Eurasia |journal=World Archaeology |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=27–43 |year=2010 |last1=Taylor |first1=Timothy |jstor=827887 |arxiv=0706.4406|s2cid=162250553 }}</ref> Although the institution of slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until the 5th century. Slavery ceased gradually in the 6th and 7th centuries along with the decline of urban centres in the West and the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy that had created the demand for it.<ref>Harper, Kyle (2011) ''Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 10–16.</ref>
 
[[File:Sarcofago avvocato Valerius Petrnianus-optimized.jpg|thumb|Slave holding writing tablets for his master ([[relief]] from a 4th-century sarcophagus)]]
Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate".<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], p. 7.</ref> Under Roman law, slaves were considered property and had no [[Person (law)|legal personhood]]. They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Master-slave relations|sexual exploitation]], torture, and [[summary execution]]. A slave could not as a matter of law be raped since rape could be committed only against people who were free; a slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the [[Lex Aquilia|Aquilian Law]].<ref>McGinn, Thomas A.J. (1998) ''Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome''. Oxford University Press. p. 314. {{ISBN|0-19-516132-7}}.</ref><ref>Gardner, Jane F. (1991) ''Women in Roman Law and Society''. Indiana University Press. p. 119.</ref> Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called ''[[Marriage in ancient Rome|conubium]]'', but their unions were sometimes recognized, and if both were freed they could marry.<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], pp. 31, 33.</ref> Following the [[Servile Wars]] of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves.<ref>Fuhrmann, C. J. (2012) ''Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order''. Oxford University Press. pp. 21–41. {{ISBN|0-19-973784-3}}.</ref>
 
Technically, a slave could not own property,<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], p. 21.</ref> but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual account or fund ''(peculium)'' that he could use as if it were his own. The terms of this account varied depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave: a slave with an aptitude for business could be given considerable leeway to generate profit and might be allowed to bequeath the ''peculium'' he managed to other slaves of his household.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/13507480902916837 |title=Slaves doing business: The role of Roman law in the economy of a Roman household |journal=European Review of History |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=331–346 |year=2009 |last1=Gamauf |first1=Richard|s2cid=145609520 }}</ref> Within a household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave in effect acting as the master of other slaves.<ref>[[#Bradley|Bradley]], pp. 2–3.</ref>
 
Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitutes in ancient Rome]] were often slaves.<ref>McGinn, Thomas A.J. (1998) ''Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome''. Oxford University Press. p. 288ff. {{ISBN|0195161327}}.</ref> The burgeoning trade in [[eunuch]] slaves in the late 1st century AD prompted legislation that prohibited the [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Castration and circumcision|castration]] of a slave against his will "for lust or gain."<ref>Abusch, Ra'anan (2003) "Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire," in ''The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite''. Brandeis University Press. pp. 77–78</ref><ref>Schäfer, Peter (1983, 2003) ''The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World''. Routledge. p. 150.</ref>
 
Roman slavery was not based on [[Race (human classification)|race]].<ref>[[#Frier|Frier]], p. 15</ref><ref>Goodwin, Stefan (2009). ''Africa in Europe: Antiquity into the Age of Global Expansion''. Lexington Books. Vol. 1, p. 41, {{ISBN|0739117262}}, noting that "Roman slavery was a nonracist and fluid system".</ref> Slaves were drawn from all over Europe and the Mediterranean, including Gaul, Hispania, Germany, Britannia, the Balkans, Greece... Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians,<ref name=Santosuosso/> with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) born outside of Italy estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Those from outside of Europe were predominantly of Greek descent, while the Jewish ones never fully assimilated into Roman society, remaining an identifiable minority. These slaves (especially the foreigners) had higher mortality rates and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noy |first1=David |title=Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers |date=2000 |publisher=Duckworth with the Classical Press of Wales |isbn=9780715629529}}</ref> The average recorded age at death for the slaves of the city of Rome was extraordinarily low: seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harper |first1=James |title=Slaves and Freedmen in Imperial Rome |date=1972 |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=341–342 |doi=10.2307/293259 |jstor=293259}}</ref>
 
During the period of Republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the [[Roman Greece|conquest of Greece]] brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves into Rome. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by [[Cilician pirates|pirates]]. [[Child abandonment|Infant abandonment]] and self-enslavement among the poor were other sources.<ref name=harris/> ''Vernae'', by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the urban household or on a country estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his ''vernae'' faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of his ''familia'', the family household, and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family.<ref>[[#Rawson1987|Rawson (1987)]], pp. 186–188, 190</ref><ref>[[#Bradley|Bradley]], pp. 34, 48–50.</ref>
 
Talented slaves with a knack for business might accumulate a large enough ''peculium'' to justify their freedom, or be [[manumission|manumitted]] for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law ''([[Lex Fufia Caninia]])'' limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will.<ref>[[#Bradley|Bradley]], p. 10.</ref>
 
====Freedmen====
[[File:DM Tiberius Claudius Chryseros.jpg|thumb|[[Urn#Cremation urns|Cinerary urn]] for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter]]
Rome differed from [[Greek city-states]] in allowing freed slaves to become citizens. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership, but active political freedom ''(libertas)'', including the right to vote.<ref>[[Fergus Millar|Millar, Fergus]] (1998, 2002) ''The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic''. University of Michigan. pp. 23, 209. {{ISBN|0-472-08878-5}}.</ref> A slave who had acquired ''libertas'' was a ''libertus'' ("freed person," [[grammatical gender|feminine]] ''liberta'') in relation to his former master, who then became his patron ''([[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronus]])'': the two parties continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other. As a social class generally, freed slaves were ''libertini'', though later writers used the terms ''libertus'' and ''libertinus'' interchangeably.<ref>Mouritsen, Henrik (2011) ''The Freedman in the Roman World''. Cambridge University Press. p. 36</ref><ref name=berger>Berger, Adolf (1953, 1991). ''libertus'' in ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''. American Philological Society. p. 564.</ref>
 
A ''libertinus'' was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but he could play a [[Augustales|priestly role]] in the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|cult of the emperor]]. He could not marry a woman from a family of senatorial rank, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that [[Hadrian]] limited their participation by law.<ref name=berger/> Any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship.
 
The rise of successful freedmen—through either political influence in imperial service or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of a high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by [[:Commons:Category:Liberti and libertae in Ancient Roman inscriptions|inscriptions throughout the Empire]], and by their ownership of some of the most lavish houses at [[Pompeii]], such as the [[House of the Vettii]]. The excesses of ''[[nouveau riche]]'' freedmen were satirized in the character of [[Trimalchio]] in the ''[[Satyricon]]'' by [[Petronius]], who wrote in the time of Nero. Such individuals, while exceptional, are indicative of the upward [[social mobility]] possible in the Empire.
 
===Census rank===
{{See also|Senate of the Roman Empire|Equestrian order|Decurion (administrative)}}
The Latin word ''ordo'' (plural ''ordines'') refers to a social distinction that is translated variously into English as "class, order, rank," none of which is exact. One purpose of the [[Roman census]] was to determine the ''ordo'' to which an individual belonged. The two highest ''ordines'' in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, the [[decurion (administrative)|decurions]], also known as ''[[curiales]]'' (Greek ''bouleutai''), were the top governing ''ordo'' of an individual city.
 
[[File:0 Sarcophage d'Acilia - Pal. Massimo alle Terme.JPG|thumb|left|Fragment of a sarcophagus depicting [[Gordian III]] and senators (3rd century)]]
"Senator" was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an [[Executive magistrates of the Roman Empire|executive magistrate]]. A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million ''[[sestertii]],'' as determined by the [[Roman census|census]].<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], pp. 217–218</ref><ref>Syme, Ronald (1999) ''Provincial at Rome: and Rome and the Balkans 80 BC – AD 14''. University of Exeter Press. pp. 12–13. {{ISBN|0-85989-632-3}}.</ref> Nero made large gifts of money to a number of senators from old families who had become too impoverished to qualify. Not all men who qualified for the ''ordo senatorius'' chose to take a Senate seat, which required [[Domicile (law)|legal domicile]] at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in the 600-member body by appointment.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], pp. 215, 221–222</ref><ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 88. The standard complement of 600 was flexible; twenty [[quaestor]]s, for instance, held office each year and were thus admitted to the Senate regardless of whether there were "open" seats.</ref> A senator's son belonged to the ''ordo senatorius'', but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate itself. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards: he was prohibited, for instance, from marrying a freedwoman or fighting in the arena.<ref name="Millar, Empire and City, p. 88">[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 88.</ref>
 
In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from Rome and other parts of [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]], with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], pp. 218–219.</ref> The first senator from the most eastern province, [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]], was admitted under Marcus Aurelius.<ref>His name was Tiberius Claudius Gordianus; [[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 219.</ref> By the time of the [[Severan dynasty]] (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/292973 |jstor=292973 |title=Provincial Languages in the Roman Empire |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |year=1966 |last1=MacMullen |first1=Ramsay}}</ref> During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland ''(patria)''.<ref name="Millar, Empire and City, p. 88"/>
 
Senators had an aura of prestige and were the traditional governing class who rose through the ''[[cursus honorum]]'', the political career track, but equestrians of the Empire often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, ''equites'' or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors (the "public horse"), but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire.<ref group="n">The relation of the equestrian order to the "public horse" and Roman cavalry parades and demonstrations (such as the ''[[Lusus Troiae]]'') is complex, but those who participated in the latter seem, for instance, to have been the ''equites'' who were accorded the high-status (and quite limited) seating at the theatre by the ''[[Lex Roscia theatralis]]''. Senators could not possess the "public horse." See [[#Wiseman|Wiseman]], pp. 78–79.</ref> A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified a man as an equestrian.<ref>[[#Wiseman|Wiseman]], pp. 71–72, 76</ref> The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at [[Cadiz]] and [[Padua]] alone.<ref group="n">Ancient Gades, in Roman Spain, and Patavium, in the Celtic north of Italy, were atypically wealthy cities, and having 500 equestrians in one city was unusual. [[Strabo]] 3.169, 5.213</ref><ref>[[#Wiseman|Wiseman]], pp. 75–76, 78.</ref> Equestrians rose through a military career track ''([[tres militiae]])'' to become highly placed [[prefect]]s and [[procurator (Roman)|procurators]] within the Imperial administration.<ref>Fear, Andrew (2007) "War and Society," in ''The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Rome from the Late Republic to the Late Empire''. Cambridge University Press, vol. 2. pp. 214–215. {{ISBN|0-521-78274-0}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Bennett, Julian |title=Trajan: Optimus Princeps : a Life and Times |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qk_tofvS8EsC |year=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-16524-2 |page=5}}</ref>
 
The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders is an aspect of social mobility in the first three centuries of the Empire. Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later [[European nobility]], a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands.<ref name=":4">[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 188</ref><ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], pp. 87–88.</ref> Admission to the higher ''ordines'' brought distinction and privileges, but also a number of responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services ''(munera)'', rather than on tax revenues, which primarily supported the military. Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures.<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 96.</ref> Decurions were so vital for the functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became depleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged by the central government to give up their seats and return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life.<ref>Liebeschuetz, Wolfgang (2001) "The End of the Ancient City," in ''The City in Late Antiquity''. Taylor & Francis. pp. 26–27.</ref>
 
In the later Empire, the ''[[Dignitas (Roman concept)|dignitas]]'' ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as ''[[vir illustris]]'', "illustrious man".<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 90, calls them "status-appellations."</ref> The appellation ''clarissimus'' (Greek ''lamprotatos'') was used to designate the ''dignitas'' of certain senators and their immediate family, including women.<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 91.</ref> "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated. Those in Imperial service were ranked by pay grade (''sexagenarius'', 60,000 sesterces per annum; ''centenarius,'' 100,000; ''ducenarius'', 200,000). The title ''eminentissimus'', "most eminent" (Greek ''exochôtatos'') was reserved for equestrians who had been [[Praetorian prefect]]s. The higher equestrian officials in general were ''perfectissimi'', "most distinguished" (Greek ''diasêmotatoi''), the lower merely ''egregii'', "outstanding" (Greek ''kratistos'').<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 90.</ref>
 
====Unequal justice====
[[File:Museum of Sousse - Mosaics 2 detail.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Condemned man attacked by a leopard in the arena (3rd-century mosaic from Tunisia)]]
As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours ''(honestiores)'' and those who were humbler folk ''(humiliores)''. In general, ''honestiores'' were the members of the three higher "orders," along with certain military officers.<ref name=verb>{{cite journal |author=Verboven, Koenraad |title=The Associative Order: Status and Ethos among Roman Businessmen in Late Republic and Early Empire |journal=Athenaeum |volume=95 |year=2007 |pages=870–72 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/395187/file/6799583 |hdl=1854/LU-395187}}</ref><ref name=p153/> The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority over other citizens affirmed, particularly within the justice system.<ref name=p153/><ref>Perkins, Judith (2009) ''Early Christian and Judicial Bodies''. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 245–246</ref><ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 475.</ref> Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" ''(dignitas)'' of the defendant: an ''honestior'' could pay a fine when convicted of a crime for which an ''humilior'' might receive a [[scourging]].<ref name=p153/>
 
Execution, which had been an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic even in a capital case,<ref>Gaughan, Judy E. (2010) ''Murder Was Not a Crime: Homicide and Power in the Roman Republic''. University of Texas Press. p. 91. {{ISBN|0-292-72567-1}}.</ref><ref>Kelly, Gordon P. (2006) ''A History of Exile in the Roman Republic''. Cambridge University Press. p. 8. {{ISBN|0-521-84860-1}}.</ref> could be quick and relatively painless for the Imperial citizen considered "more honourable", while those deemed inferior might suffer the kinds of torture and prolonged death previously reserved for slaves, such as [[crucifixion]] and [[damnatio ad bestias|condemnation to the beasts]] as a [[#Recreation and spectacles|spectacle in the arena]].<ref name=fatal>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/300280 |jstor=300280 |title=Fatal Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=80 |pages=44–73 |year=2012 |last1=Coleman |first1=K. M.}}</ref> In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as ''honestiores'', especially if they declined to fulfill the religious aspects of their civic responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created the conditions of [[Christian martyrs|martyrdom]].<ref name=p153>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 153–154</ref><ref>Robinson, O.F. (2007) ''Penal Practice and Penal Policy in Ancient Rome''. Routledge. p. 108.</ref>
 
==Government and military==
{{Main|Constitution of the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Augusto come giove, 00-50 dc circa.JPG|thumb|upright|Reconstructed statue of Augustus as [[Jove]], holding scepter and orb (first half of 1st century AD).<ref>The imperial cult in Roman Britain-Google docs</ref> The [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult of ancient Rome]] identified [[Roman emperor|emperors]] and some members of their families with the [[Divine right of kings|divinely sanctioned]] authority (''[[auctoritas]]'') of the [[Roman State]]. The rite of [[apotheosis]] (also called ''consecratio'') signified the deceased emperor's deification and acknowledged his role as father of the people similar to the concept of a [[pater familias]]' soul or [[manes]] being honoured by his sons.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=William |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |date=1875 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |pages=105–106 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Apotheosis.html |access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref>]]
 
[[File:Jerash BW 12.JPG|thumbnail|upright=1.2|Forum of Gerasa ([[Jerash]] in present-day [[Jordan]]), with columns marking a covered walkway ''([[stoa]])'' for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking]]
 
The three major elements of the Imperial Roman state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government.<ref>[[#Bohec|Bohec]], p. 8.</ref> The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the military mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens (after 212 AD, all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire), the agricultural fields that fed them, and religious sites.<ref>[[#Bohec|Bohec]], pp. 14–15.</ref> Without modern instruments of either mass communication or mass destruction, the Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to impose their rule through force alone. [[Local government (ancient Roman)|Cooperation with local power elites]] was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions by supporting one faction over another: in the view of [[Plutarch]], "it was discord between factions within cities that led to the loss of self-governance".<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Moralia'' Moralia 813c and 814c</ref><ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 181–182</ref><ref>[[Edward Luttwak|Luttwak, Edward]] (1976/1979) ''The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire'', [[Johns Hopkins University Press]]. p. 30. {{ISBN|0-8018-2158-4}}.</ref>
 
Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence were an incentive to remain in good standing with Rome.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 184.</ref> Roman government was thus [[limited government|limited]], but efficient in its use of the resources available to it.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 181.</ref>
 
===Central government===
{{See also|Roman emperor|Senate of the Roman Empire}}
 
The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of certain powers from several republican offices, including the inviolability of the [[Plebeian Tribune|tribunes of the people]] and the authority of the [[Roman Censors|censors]] to manipulate the hierarchy of Roman society.<ref name="Abbott, 354">[[#Abbott|Abbott]], p. 354</ref> The emperor also made himself the central religious authority as [[Pontifex Maximus]], and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders.<ref name="Abbott, 345">[[#Abbott|Abbott]], p. 345</ref> While these functions were clearly defined during the [[Principate]], the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in the [[Dominate]].<ref name="Abbott, 341">[[#Abbott|Abbott]], p. 341</ref>
 
[[File:Antoninus Pius Hermitage.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Antoninus Pius]] (reigned 138–161), wearing a [[toga]] ''([[Hermitage Museum]])'']]
 
The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible to individuals from all walks of life and to deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually.<ref>[[Fergus Millar|Millar, Fergus]] (2004) "Emperors at Work," in ''Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire''. University of North Carolina Press. Vol. 2. {{ISBN|0-8078-5520-0}}. pp. 3–22, especially pp. 4 and 20.</ref> The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 195ff.</ref> After Nero, the unofficial influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council ''(consilium)'' became subject to official appointment for the sake of greater [[Open government|transparency]].<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], pp. 205–209.</ref> Though the Senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the [[Antonine dynasty]], equestrians played an increasingly important role in the ''consilium.''<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], pp. 202–203, 205, 210.</ref> The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. [[Plotina]] exercised influence on both her husband Trajan and his successor Hadrian. Her influence was advertised by having her letters on official matters published, as a sign that the emperor was reasonable in his exercise of authority and listened to his people.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 211.</ref>
 
Access to the emperor by others might be gained at the daily reception ''(salutatio)'', a development of the traditional homage a client paid to his patron; public banquets hosted at the palace; and religious ceremonies. The common people who lacked this access could manifest their general approval or displeasure as a group at the games held in large venues.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 212.</ref> By the 4th century, as urban centres decayed, the Christian emperors became remote figureheads who issued general rulings, no longer responding to individual petitions.<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 76.</ref>
 
Although the Senate could do little short of assassination and open rebellion to contravene the will of the emperor, it survived the Augustan restoration and the turbulent Year of Four Emperors to retain its symbolic political centrality during the Principate.<ref name=":0">[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 215.</ref> The Senate legitimated the emperor's rule, and the emperor needed the experience of senators as legates ''([[legatus|legati]])'' to serve as generals, diplomats, and administrators.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="auto1">[[#Winterling|Winterling]], p. 16.</ref> A successful career required competence as an administrator and remaining in favour with the emperor, or over time perhaps multiple emperors.<ref name=":4"/>
 
The practical source of an emperor's power and authority was the military. The legionaries were paid by the Imperial treasury, and swore an annual military oath of loyalty to the emperor ''([[Sacramentum (oath)|sacramentum]])''.<ref>[[#Goldsworthy2003|Goldsworthy 2003]], p. 80.</ref> The death of an emperor led to a crucial period of uncertainty and crisis. Most emperors indicated their choice of successor, usually a close family member or [[Adoption in ancient Rome|adopted]] heir. The new emperor had to seek a swift acknowledgement of his status and authority to stabilize the political landscape. No emperor could hope to survive, much less to reign, without the allegiance and loyalty of the [[Praetorian Guard]] and of the legions. To secure their loyalty, several emperors paid the ''[[donativum]]'', a monetary reward. In theory, the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor, but did so mindful of acclamation by the army or Praetorians.<ref name="auto1"/>
 
===Military===
[[File:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|upright=1.35|The Roman empire under [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117–138) showing the location of the Roman legions deployed in 125 AD]]
{{Main|Imperial Roman army|Structural history of the Roman military}}
After the [[Punic Wars]], the Imperial Roman army was composed of professional soldiers who volunteered for 20 years of active duty and five as reserves. The transition to a professional military had begun during the late Republic and was one of the many profound shifts away from republicanism, under which an army of [[conscripts]] had exercised their responsibilities as citizens in defending the homeland in a campaign against a specific threat. For Imperial Rome, the military was a full-time career in itself.<ref>[[#Edmondson|Edmondson]], pp. 111–112.</ref> The Romans expanded their war machine by "organizing the communities that they conquered in Italy into a system that generated huge reservoirs of manpower for their army... Their main demand of all defeated enemies was they provide men for the Roman army every year."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: The History of the World |url=https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti |url-access=limited |last1=Tignor |first1=Robert |last2=Adelman |first2=Jeremy |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=2011 |edition=3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti/page/n313 262]|display-authors=1}}</ref>
 
The primary mission of the Roman military of the early empire was to preserve the [[Pax Romana]].<ref>Hekster, Olivier J. (2007) "Fighting for Rome: The Emperor as a Military Leader," in ''Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC–AD 476)''. Brill. p. 96.</ref> The three major divisions of the military were:
* the garrison at Rome, which includes both the [[Praetorian Guard|Praetorians]] and the ''[[vigiles]]'' who functioned as police and firefighters;
* the provincial army, comprising the [[Roman legions]] and the auxiliaries provided by the provinces ''([[auxilia]]'');
* the [[Roman navy|navy]].
 
The pervasiveness of military garrisons throughout the Empire was a major influence in the process of cultural exchange and [[cultural assimilation|assimilation]] known as "[[Romanization (cultural)|Romanization]]," particularly in regard to politics, the economy, and religion.<ref>[[#Bohec|Bohec]], p. 9.</ref> Knowledge of the Roman military comes from a wide range of sources: Greek and Roman literary texts; coins with military themes; [[papyri]] preserving military documents; monuments such as [[Trajan's Column]] and [[triumphal arch]]es, which feature artistic depictions of both fighting men and military machines; the archeology of military burials, battle sites, and camps; and inscriptions, including [[Roman military diploma|military diplomas]], epitaphs, and dedications.<ref>[[#Bohec|Bohec]], pp. 10–14.</ref>
 
Through his military reforms, which included consolidating or disbanding units of questionable loyalty, Augustus changed and regularized the legion, down to the [[hobnail]] pattern on the soles of army boots. A legion was organized into ten [[Cohort (military unit)|cohorts]], each of which comprised six [[centuria|centuries]], with a century further made up of ten squads ''([[contubernium|contubernia]])''; the exact size of the Imperial legion, which is most likely to have been determined by [[military logistics|logistics]], has been estimated to range from 4,800 to 5,280.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=4436338 |title=The Size and Organization of the Roman Imperial Legion |author=Roth, J. |journal=Historia |volume=43 |issue=3 |year=1994 |pages=346–362}}</ref>
 
[[File:042 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XLII.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Relief panel from [[Trajan's Column]] in Rome, showing the building of a fort and the reception of a [[Dacia]]n embassy]]
 
In 9 AD, Germanic tribes wiped out three full legions in the [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]]. This disastrous event reduced the number of legions to 25. The total of the legions would later be increased again and for the next 300 years always be a little above or below 30.<ref>[[#Goldsworthy2003|Goldsworthy 2003]], p. 183.</ref> The army had about 300,000 soldiers in the 1st century, and under 400,000 in the 2nd, "significantly smaller" than the collective armed forces of the territories it conquered. No more than 2% of adult males living in the Empire served in the Imperial army.<ref name="auto2">[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 196.</ref>
 
Augustus also created the [[Praetorian Guard]]: nine cohorts, ostensibly to maintain the public peace, which were garrisoned in Italy. Better paid than the legionaries, the Praetorians served only sixteen years.<ref>''Rome and Her Enemies'' published by Osprey, 2005, part 3: ''Early Empire 27BC–AD235'', Ch. 9: ''The Romans'', section: ''Remuneration'', p. 183; {{ISBN|978-1-84603-336-0}}</ref>
 
The ''[[Auxiliaries (Roman military)|auxilia]]'' were recruited from among the non-citizens. Organized in smaller units of roughly cohort strength, they were paid less than the legionaries, and after 25 years of service were rewarded with [[Roman citizenship]], also extended to their sons. According to [[Tacitus]]<ref>[[Tacitus]] ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annales]]'' IV.5</ref> there were roughly as many auxiliaries as there were legionaries. The ''auxilia'' thus amounted to around 125,000 men, implying approximately 250 auxiliary regiments.<ref>[[#Goldsworthy2003|Goldsworthy 2003]], p. 51.</ref> The Roman cavalry of the earliest Empire were primarily from Celtic, Hispanic or Germanic areas. Several aspects of training and equipment, such as the four-horned saddle, derived from the Celts, as noted by [[Arrian]] and indicated by archeology.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/526559 |jstor=526559 |title=A Reconstruction of a Roman Saddle |journal=Britannia |volume=17 |pages=353–355 |year=1986 |last1=Connolly |first1=Peter}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/526629 |jstor=526629 |title=The Roman Cavalry Saddle |journal=Britannia |volume=22 |pages=33–50 |year=1991 |last1=Connolly |first1=Peter |last2=Van Driel-Murray |first2=Carol}}</ref>
 
The [[Roman navy]] (Latin: ''classis,'' "fleet") not only aided in the supply and transport of the legions but also helped in the protection of the [[Limes (Roman Empire)|frontiers]] along the rivers [[Rhine]] and [[Danube]]. Another of its duties was the protection of the crucial maritime trade routes against the threat of pirates. It patrolled the whole of the Mediterranean, parts of the [[Atlantic|North Atlantic]] coasts, and the [[Black Sea]]. Nevertheless, the army was considered the senior and more prestigious branch.<ref>[[#Goldsworthy2003|Goldsworthy 2003]], p. 114.</ref>
 
===Provincial government===
[[File:The new old amphitheater in Pula Istria (19629095974).jpg|thumb|The [[Pula Arena]] in Croatia is one of the largest and most intact of the remaining [[Roman amphitheatre]]s.]]
An annexed territory became a province in a three-step process: making a register of cities, taking a census of the population, and surveying the land.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 183.</ref> Further government recordkeeping included births and deaths, real estate transactions, taxes, and juridical proceedings.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 177–179. Most government records that are preserved come from Roman Egypt, where the climate preserved the papyri.</ref> In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the central government sent out around 160 officials each year to govern outside Italy.<ref name="Ando p. 179"/> Among these officials were the "[[Roman governor]]s", as they are called in English: either [[executive magistrates of the Roman Empire|magistrates elected at Rome]] who in the name of the [[SPQR|Roman people]] governed [[senatorial province]]s; or governors, usually of equestrian rank, who held their ''imperium'' on behalf of the emperor in [[imperial province|provinces excluded from senatorial control]], most notably [[Roman Egypt]].<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 179. The exclusion of Egypt from the senatorial provinces dates to the rise of Octavian before he became Augustus: Egypt had been the stronghold of his last opposition, [[Mark Antony]] and his ally [[Cleopatra]].</ref> A governor had to make himself accessible to the people he governed, but he could delegate various duties.<ref name="Ando p. 180">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 180.</ref> His staff, however, was minimal: his official attendants ''([[apparitor]]es)'', including [[lictor]]s, heralds, messengers, [[scriba (ancient Rome)|scribes]], and bodyguards; [[legatus|legates]], both civil and military, usually of equestrian rank; and friends, ranging in age and experience, who accompanied him unofficially.<ref name="Ando p. 180"/>
 
Other officials were appointed as supervisors of government finances.<ref name="Ando p. 179"/> Separating fiscal responsibility from justice and administration was a reform of the Imperial era. Under the Republic, provincial governors and [[Farm (revenue leasing)|tax farmers]] could exploit local populations for personal gain more freely.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 179, 187.</ref> Equestrian [[Procurator (Roman)|procurators]], whose authority was originally "extra-judicial and extra-constitutional," managed both state-owned property and the vast personal property of the emperor ''([[privatus|res privata]])''.<ref name="Ando p. 180"/> Because Roman government officials were few in number, a provincial who needed help with a legal dispute or criminal case might seek out any Roman perceived to have some official capacity, such as a procurator or a military officer, including [[centurion]]s down to the lowly ''[[stationarius (Roman military)|stationarii]]'' or military police.<ref name="Ando p. 180"/><ref>Fuhrmann, C. J. (2012) ''Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order''. Oxford University Press. pp. 197, 214, 224. {{ISBN|0-19-973784-3}}.</ref>
 
===Roman law===
{{Main|Roman law}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Giovane con rotolo.JPG
| width1 = 150
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = MANNapoli 120620 a Fresco young man with rolls from Pompeii Italy.jpg
| width2 = 150
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = [[Roman portraiture]] [[fresco]]s from [[Pompeii]], 1st century AD, depicting two different men wearing [[laurel wreath]]s, one holding the ''[[rotulus]]'' ([[blond]]ish figure, left), the other a ''[[History of scrolls|volumen]]'' ([[Brown hair|brunet]] figure, right), both made of [[papyrus]]
}}
Roman courts held [[original jurisdiction]] over cases involving Roman citizens throughout the empire, but there were too few judicial functionaries to impose Roman law uniformly in the provinces. Most parts of the Eastern empire already had well-established law codes and juridical procedures.<ref name=Garnsey/> In general, it was Roman policy to respect the ''mos regionis'' ("regional tradition" or "law of the land") and to regard local laws as a source of legal precedent and social stability.<ref name=Garnsey/><ref name=":2">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 184–185.</ref> The compatibility of Roman and local law was thought to reflect an underlying ''[[ius gentium]]'', the "law of nations" or [[international law]] regarded as common and customary among all human communities.<ref>Bozeman, Adda B. (2010) ''Politics and Culture in International History from the Ancient Near East to the Opening of the Modern Age''. Transaction Publishers. 2nd ed.. pp. 208–20</ref> If the particulars of provincial law conflicted with Roman law or custom, Roman courts heard [[Appellate court|appeals]], and the emperor held final authority to render a decision.<ref name=Garnsey/><ref name=":2"/><ref>This practice was established in the Republic; see for instance the case of [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus#Contrebian water rights|Contrebian water rights]] heard by G. Valerius Flaccus as governor of [[Hispania]] in the 90s–80s BC.</ref>
 
In the West, law had been administered on a highly localized or tribal basis, and [[private property rights]] may have been a novelty of the Roman era, particularly among [[Celts|Celtic peoples]]. Roman law facilitated the acquisition of wealth by a pro-Roman elite who found their new privileges as citizens to be advantageous.<ref name=Garnsey/> The extension of universal citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire in 212 required the uniform application of Roman law, replacing the local law codes that had applied to non-citizens. Diocletian's efforts to stabilize the Empire after the [[Crisis of the Third Century]] included two major compilations of law in four years, the ''[[Codex Gregorianus]]'' and the ''[[Codex Hermogenianus]]'', to guide provincial administrators in setting consistent legal standards.<ref>[[Elizabeth DePalma Digeser|Digeser, Elizabeth DePalma]] (2000) ''The Making of a Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome''. Cornell University Press. p. 53.</ref>
 
The pervasive exercise of Roman law throughout Western Europe led to its enormous influence on the Western legal tradition, reflected by the continued use of [[List of legal Latin terms|Latin legal terminology]] in modern law.
 
===Taxation===
Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5% of the Empire's [[Roman gross domestic product|gross product]].<ref name="m183">[[Roman Empire#Morris|Morris]], p. 183.</ref> The typical tax rate paid by individuals ranged from 2 to 5%.<ref name="Ando p. 187">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 187.</ref> The tax code was "bewildering" in its complicated system of [[direct taxation|direct]] and [[indirect taxes]], some paid in cash and some [[barter|in kind]]. Taxes might be specific to a province, or kinds of properties such as [[fishery|fisheries]] or [[salt evaporation pond]]s; they might be in effect for a limited time.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 185–187.</ref> Tax collection was justified by the need to maintain the military,<ref name="Hopkins p. 184"/><ref name=":1">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 185</ref> and taxpayers sometimes got a refund if the army captured a surplus of booty.<ref name=":1"/> In-kind taxes were accepted from less-[[monetization|monetized]] areas, particularly those who could supply grain or goods to army camps.<ref name="administration188">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 188.</ref>
 
[[File:Nile river02 pushkin.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Personification of the River Nile and his children, from the [[Serapeum|Temple of Serapis and Isis]] in Rome (1st century AD)]]
The primary source of direct tax revenue was individuals, who paid a [[Tax per head|poll tax]] and a tax on their land, construed as a tax on its produce or productive capacity.<ref name="Ando p. 187"/> Supplemental forms could be filed by those eligible for certain exemptions; for example, Egyptian farmers could register fields as fallow and tax-exempt depending on flood patterns of the [[Nile]].<ref name="Ando p. 186">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 186.</ref> Tax obligations were determined by the census, which required each head of household to appear before the presiding official and provide a headcount of his household, as well as an accounting of property he owned that was suitable for agriculture or habitation.<ref name="Ando p. 186"/>
 
A major source of indirect-tax revenue was the ''portoria'', customs and tolls on imports and exports, including among provinces.<ref name="Ando p. 187"/> Special taxes were levied on the slave trade. Towards the end of his reign, Augustus instituted a 4% tax on the sale of slaves,<ref>[[Cassius Dio]] 55.31.4.</ref> which Nero shifted from the purchaser to the dealers, who responded by raising their prices.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annales'' 13.31.2.</ref> An owner who manumitted a slave paid a "freedom tax", calculated at 5% of value.<ref>This was the ''vicesima libertatis,'' "the twentieth for freedom"; [[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 187.</ref>
 
An [[inheritance tax]] of 5% was assessed when Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone but members of their immediate family. Revenues from the estate tax and from a 1% sales tax on auctions went towards the veterans' pension fund ''([[aerarium militare]])''.<ref name="Ando p. 187"/>
 
Low taxes helped the Roman aristocracy increase their wealth, which equalled or exceeded the revenues of the central government. An emperor sometimes replenished his treasury by confiscating the estates of the "super-rich", but in the later period, the [[tax resistance|resistance]] of the wealthy to paying taxes was one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Empire.<ref name="Hopkins p. 184"/>
 
==Economy==
{{Main|Roman economy}}
[[File:Green glass Roman cup unearthed at Eastern Han tomb, Guixian, China.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|A green [[Roman glass]] cup unearthed from an [[Eastern Han Dynasty]] (25–220 AD) tomb in [[Guangxi]], [[southern China]]; the earliest Roman glassware found in China was discovered in a [[Western Han]] tomb in [[Guangzhou]], dated to the early 1st century BC, and ostensibly came [[Sino-Roman relations|via the maritime route]] through the [[South China Sea]]<ref name=an>{{cite book |last=An |first=Jiayao |chapter=When Glass Was Treasured in China |editor1-last=Juliano |editor1-first=Annette L. |editor2-last=Lerner |editor2-first=Judith A. |title=Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road |year=2002 |publisher=Brepols Publishers |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-52178-7 |pages=83–84}}</ref>]]
 
[[Moses I. Finley|Moses Finley]] was the chief proponent of the primitivist view that the Roman economy was "underdeveloped and underachieving," characterized by [[subsistence agriculture]]; urban centres that consumed more than they produced in terms of trade and industry; low-status artisans; slowly developing technology; and a "lack of economic rationality."<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 283.</ref> Current views are more complex. Territorial conquests permitted a large-scale reorganization of [[land use]] that resulted in agricultural surplus and specialization, particularly in north Africa.<ref name="Mattingly p. 285">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 285.</ref> Some cities were known for particular industries or commercial activities, and the scale of building in urban areas indicates a significant construction industry.<ref name="Mattingly p. 285"/> Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that suggest elements of [[economic rationalism]],<ref name="Mattingly p. 286">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 286.</ref> and the Empire was highly monetized.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 292.</ref> Although the means of communication and transport were limited in antiquity, transportation in the 1st and 2nd centuries expanded greatly, and trade routes connected regional economies.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 285–286, 296ff.</ref> The [[Economics of the Roman army|supply contracts for the army]], which pervaded every part of the Empire, drew on local suppliers near the base ''([[castrum]])'', throughout the province, and across provincial borders.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 296.</ref> The Empire is perhaps best thought of as a network of regional economies, based on a form of "political capitalism" in which the state monitored and regulated commerce to assure its own revenues.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 286, 295.</ref> Economic growth, though not comparable to modern economies, was greater than that of most other societies prior to [[Industrial Revolution|industrialization]].<ref name="Mattingly p. 286"/>
 
Socially, economic dynamism opened up one of the avenues of social mobility in the Roman Empire. Social advancement was thus not dependent solely on birth, [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]], good luck, or even extraordinary ability. Although aristocratic values permeated traditional elite society, a strong tendency towards [[plutocracy]] is indicated by the wealth requirements for [[#Census rank|census rank]]. Prestige could be obtained through investing one's wealth in ways that advertised it appropriately: grand country estates or townhouses, durable luxury items such as [[#Decorative arts|jewels and silverware]], [[#Recreation and spectacles|public entertainments]], funerary monuments for family members or coworkers, and [[votum|religious dedications]] such as altars. Guilds ''([[collegium|collegia]])'' and corporations ''(corpora)'' provided support for individuals to succeed through networking, sharing sound business practices, and a willingness to work.<ref name=verb/>
 
===Currency and banking===
<!--Linked from infobox above-->
{{see also|Roman currency|Roman finance}}
 
The early Empire was monetized to a near-universal extent, in the sense of using money as a way to express [[price]]s and [[debt]]s.<ref name=Kessler>Kessler, David and Temin, Peter (2010) "Money and Prices in the Early Roman Empire," in ''The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans''. Oxford University Press.</ref> The ''[[sestertius]]'' (plural ''sestertii,'' English "sesterces", symbolized as ''HS'') was the basic unit of reckoning value into the 4th century,<ref name=Harl>{{cite book |author=Harl, Kenneth W. |pages=125–135 |title=Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yPDL0EykeAC |date=19 June 1996 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5291-6}}</ref> though the silver ''[[denarius]]'', worth four sesterces, was used also for accounting beginning in the [[Severan dynasty]].<ref>[[#Bowman|Bowman]], p. 333.</ref> The smallest coin commonly circulated was the bronze ''[[as (Roman coin)|as]]'' (plural ''asses''), one-fourth ''sestertius''.<ref>Colin Wells, ''The Roman Empire'' (Harvard University Press, 1984, 1992), p. 8.</ref> [[Bullion]] and [[ingot]]s seem not to have counted as ''pecunia'', "money," and were used only on the frontiers for transacting business or buying property. Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries counted coins, rather than weighing them—an indication that the coin was valued on its face, not for its metal content. This tendency towards [[fiat money]] led eventually to the [[debasement]] of Roman coinage, with consequences in the later Empire.<ref name=harris2>[[William V. Harris|Harris, W. V.]] (2010) "The Nature of Roman Money," in ''The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-958671-3}}.</ref> The standardization of money throughout the Empire promoted trade and [[market integration]].<ref name=Kessler/> The high amount of metal coinage in circulation increased the [[money supply]] for trading or saving.<ref>Scheidel, Walter (2009) "The Monetary Systems of the Han and Roman Empires", in: Scheidel, Walter, ed. ''Rome and China. Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-533690-0}}, pp. 137–207 (205).</ref>
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Currency denominations<ref>{{cite web |title=Roman Coins, Republic And Empire |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/coin/Roman-coins-republic-and-empire |website=Britannica |publisher=Britannica |access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref>
|-
! 211 BC
! 14 AD
! 286-296 AD
|-
| Denarius = 10 asses
| Aureus = 25 denarii
| Aurei = 60 per pound of gold
|-
| Sesterce = 5 asses
| Denarii = 16 asses
| Silver coins (contemporary name unknown) = 96 to a pound of silver
|-
| Sestertius = 2.5 asses
| Sesterces = 4 asses
| Bronze coins (contemporary name unknown) = value unknown
|-
| Asses = 1
| Asses = 1
|
|}
 
Rome had no [[central bank]], and regulation of the banking system was minimal. Banks of classical antiquity typically kept [[fractional reserve banking|less in reserves]] than the full total of customers' deposits. A typical bank had fairly limited [[Financial capital|capital]], and often only one principal, though a bank might have as many as six to fifteen principals. [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] assumes that anyone involved in commerce needs access to [[Credit (finance)|credit]].<ref name=harris2/>
 
[[File:Solidus Constantine II-heraclea RIC vII 101.jpg|thumb|left|''Solidus'' issued under [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]], and on the reverse [[Victoria (mythology)|Victoria]], one of the last deities to appear on Roman coins, gradually transforming into an [[Angel#Christianity|angel]] under Christian rule<ref>Fears, J. Rufus (1981) "The Theology of Victory at Rome: Approaches and Problem," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.17.2, pp. 752 and 824, and in the same volume, "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," p. 908.</ref>]]
A professional [[Deposit account|deposit]] banker (''argentarius,'' ''coactor argentarius'', or later ''nummularius'') received and held deposits for a fixed or indefinite term, and lent money to third parties. The senatorial elite were involved heavily in private lending, both as creditors and borrowers, making loans from their personal fortunes on the basis of social connections.<ref name=harris2/><ref>Andreau, Jean (1999) ''Banking and Business in the Roman World''. Cambridge University Press. p. 2.</ref> The holder of a debt could use it as a means of payment by transferring it to another party, without cash changing hands. Although it has sometimes been thought that ancient Rome lacked [[negotiable instrument|"paper" or documentary transactions]], the system of banks throughout the Empire also permitted the exchange of very large sums without the physical transfer of coins, in part because of the risks of moving large amounts of cash, particularly by sea. Only one serious credit shortage is known to have occurred in the early Empire, a credit crisis in 33 AD that put a number of senators at risk; the central government rescued the market through a loan of 100 million ''HS'' made by the emperor Tiberius to the banks ''(mensae)''.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annales'' 6.17.3.</ref> Generally, available capital exceeded the amount needed by borrowers.<ref name=harris2/> The central government itself did not borrow money, and without [[public debt]] had to fund [[Government budget balance|deficits]] from cash reserves.<ref>Duncan-Jones, Richard (1994) ''Money and Government in the Roman Empire''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–4.</ref>
 
Emperors of the [[Antonine dynasty|Antonine]] and Severan dynasties overall debased the currency, particularly the denarius, under the pressures of meeting military payrolls.<ref name=Harl/> Sudden inflation during the reign of [[Commodus]] damaged the credit market.<ref name=harris2/> In the mid-200s, the supply of [[Bullion coin|specie]] contracted sharply.<ref name=Harl/> Conditions during the [[Crisis of the Third Century]]—such as reductions in long-distance trade, disruption of mining operations, and the physical transfer of gold coinage outside the empire by invading enemies—greatly diminished the money supply and the banking sector by the year 300.<ref name=Harl/><ref name=harris2/> Although Roman coinage had long been fiat money or [[fiduciary currency]], general economic anxieties came to a head under [[Aurelian]], and bankers lost confidence in coins legitimately issued by the central government. Despite [[Diocletian]]'s introduction of the gold ''[[solidus (coin)|solidus]]'' and monetary reforms, the credit market of the Empire never recovered its former robustness.<ref name=harris2/>
 
===Mining and metallurgy===
{{Main|Roman metallurgy}}
{{See also|Mining in Roman Britain}}
[[File:Panorámica de Las Médulas.jpg|thumb|Landscape resulting from the ''[[ruina montium]]'' mining technique at [[Las Médulas]], [[Spain]], one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire]]
The main mining regions of the Empire were the Iberian Peninsula (gold, silver, copper, tin, lead); Gaul (gold, silver, iron); Britain (mainly iron, lead, tin), the [[Danubian provinces]] (gold, iron); [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]] and [[Thracia|Thrace]] (gold, silver); and Asia Minor (gold, silver, iron, tin). Intensive large-scale mining—of alluvial deposits, and by means of [[open-cast mining]] and [[underground mining]]—took place from the reign of Augustus up to the early 3rd century AD, when the instability of the Empire disrupted production. The gold mines of [[Dacia]], for instance, were no longer available for Roman exploitation after the province was surrendered in 271. Mining seems to have resumed to some extent during the 4th century.<ref>[[#Bowersock|Bowersock]], p. 579.</ref>
 
[[Hydraulic mining]], which Pliny referred to as ''[[ruina montium]]'' ("ruin of the mountains"), allowed [[base metal|base]] and [[precious metal]]s to be extracted on a proto-industrial scale.<ref name=wilson>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/3184857 |jstor=3184857 |title=Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=92 |pages=1–32 |year=2002 |last1=Wilson |first1=Andrew|s2cid=154629776 }}</ref> The total annual iron output is estimated at 82,500&nbsp;[[tonnes]].<ref>Craddock, Paul T. (2008): "Mining and Metallurgy", in: [[John Peter Oleson|Oleson, John Peter]] (ed.): ''The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-518731-1}}, p. 108</ref><ref>Sim, David; Ridge, Isabel (2002) ''Iron for the Eagles. The Iron Industry of Roman Britain'', Tempus, Stroud, Gloucestershire, {{ISBN|0-7524-1900-5}}. p. 23</ref><ref>Healy, John F. (1978) ''Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World'', Thames and Hudson, London, {{ISBN|0-500-40035-0}}. p. 196. Assumes a productive capacity of c. 1.5&nbsp;kg per capita.</ref> Copper was produced at an annual rate of 15,000&nbsp;t,<ref name=wilson/><ref name=hong>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.272.5259.246 |title=History of Ancient Copper Smelting Pollution During Roman and Medieval Times Recorded in Greenland Ice |journal=Science |volume=272 |issue=5259 |pages=246 |year=1996 |last1=Hong |first1=S. |last2=Candelone |first2=J.-P. |last3=Patterson |first3=C. C. |last4=Boutron |first4=C. F. |bibcode=1996Sci...272..246H|s2cid=176767223 }}</ref> and lead at 80,000&nbsp;t,<ref name=wilson/><ref name=hong2>{{cite journal |pmid=17797222 |year=1994 |last1=Hong |first1=S |title=Greenland ice evidence of hemispheric lead pollution two millennia ago by greek and roman civilizations |journal=Science |volume=265 |issue=5180 |pages=1841–3 |last2=Candelone |first2=J. P. |last3=Patterson |first3=C. C. |last4=Boutron |first4=C. F. |doi=10.1126/science.265.5180.1841 |url=http://www.precaution.org/lib/greenland_ice_evidence_of_ancient_lead_pollution.19940923.pdf |bibcode=1994Sci...265.1841H|s2cid=45080402 }}</ref><ref name=tay>{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S104775940000742X |title=The Graeco-Roman economy in the super long-run: Lead, copper, and shipwrecks |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |volume=18 |pages=361–372 |year=2015 |last1=De Callataÿ |first1=François|s2cid=232346123 }}</ref> both production levels unmatched until the [[Industrial Revolution]];<ref name=hong/><ref name=hong2/><ref name=tay/><ref name=Settle>{{cite journal |pmid=6986654 |year=1980 |last1=Settle |first1=D. M. |title=Lead in albacore: Guide to lead pollution in Americans |journal=Science |volume=207 |issue=4436 |pages=1167–76 |last2=Patterson |first2=C. C. |doi=10.1126/science.6986654 |bibcode=1980Sci...207.1167S}}</ref> Hispania alone had a 40% share in world lead production.<ref name=hong2/> The high lead output was a by-product of extensive silver mining which reached 200&nbsp;t per annum. At its peak around the mid-2nd century AD, the Roman silver stock is estimated at 10,000&nbsp;t, five to ten times larger than the combined silver mass of [[Early Middle Ages|medieval Europe]] and the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Caliphate]] around 800&nbsp;AD.<ref name=tay/><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1972.tb02173.x |title=Silver Stocks and Losses in Ancient and Medieval Times |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=205–235 (tables 2, 6) |year=1972 |last1=Patterson |first1=C. C. |jstor=2593904}}</ref> As an indication of the scale of Roman metal production, lead pollution in the [[Greenland ice sheet]] quadrupled over its prehistoric levels during the Imperial era and dropped again thereafter.<ref>[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 197.</ref>
 
===Transportation and communication===
{{See also|Cursus publicus}}
[[Image:TabulaPeutingeriana Roma.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Tabula Peutingeriana]] ([[Latin]] for "The Peutinger Map") an ''[[Itinerarium]]'', often assumed to be based on the Roman ''cursus publicus'', the network of state-maintained roads.]]
The Roman Empire completely encircled the Mediterranean, which they called "our sea" ''([[mare nostrum]])''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Greene, Kevin |title=The Archaeology of the Roman Economy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7SUh_3lcP4C |year=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-07401-9 |page=17}}</ref> Roman sailing vessels navigated the Mediterranean as well as the major rivers of the Empire, including the [[Guadalquivir]], [[Ebro]], [[Rhône]], Rhine, [[Tiber]] and Nile.<ref name="auto3">[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 713.</ref> Transport by water was preferred where possible, and moving commodities by land was more difficult.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 714.</ref> Vehicles, wheels, and ships indicate the existence of a great number of skilled woodworkers.<ref>Ulrich, Roger Bradley (2007). [https://archive.org/details/RomanWoodworking ''Roman Woodworking'']. Yale University Press. pp. 1–2. {{ISBN|0300103417}}.</ref>
 
Land transport utilized the advanced system of [[Roman roads]], which were called "''viae''". These roads were primarily built for military purposes,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Traffic and Congestion in the Roman Empire |last=Van Tilburg |first=Cornelis |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |page=33}}</ref> but also served commercial ends. The in-kind taxes paid by communities included the provision of personnel, animals, or vehicles for the ''cursus publicus'', the state mail and transport service established by Augustus.<ref name="administration188"/> Relay stations were located along the roads every seven to twelve [[Roman mile]]s, and tended to grow into a village or trading post.<ref name="StambaughThe">[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], p. 253.</ref> A ''[[mansio]]'' (plural ''mansiones'') was a privately run service station franchised by the imperial bureaucracy for the ''cursus publicus''. The support staff at such a facility included muleteers, secretaries, blacksmiths, cartwrights, a veterinarian, and a few military police and couriers. The distance between ''mansiones'' was determined by how far a wagon could travel in a day.<ref name="StambaughThe" /> Mules were the animal most often used for pulling carts, travelling about 4&nbsp;mph.<ref>[[Ray Laurence]], "Land Transport in Roman Italy: Costs, Practice and the Economy," in ''Trade, Traders and the Ancient City'' (Routledge, 1998), p. 129.</ref> As an example of the pace of communication, it took a messenger a minimum of nine days to travel to Rome from [[Mainz#Roman Mogontiacum|Mainz]] in the province of [[Germania Superior]], even on a matter of urgency.<ref>[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 187.</ref> In addition to the ''mansiones'', some taverns offered accommodations as well as [[#Food and dining|food and drink]]; one recorded tab for a stay showed charges for wine, bread, mule feed, and the [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|services of a prostitute]].<ref>[[#Holleran|Holleran]], p. 142.</ref>
 
===Trade and commodities===
{{See also|Roman commerce|Indo-Roman trade and relations|Sino-Roman relations}}
 
[[File:Periplous of the Erythraean Sea.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|A map of the [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]], a [[Greco-Roman]] [[Periplus]]]]
 
Roman provinces traded among themselves, but trade extended outside the frontiers to regions [[Romano-Chinese relations|as far away as China]] and [[Gupta Empire|India]].<ref name="auto3"/> The main [[commodity]] was grain.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 710.</ref> Chinese trade was mostly conducted overland through middle men along the [[Silk Road]]; Indian trade, however, also occurred by sea from [[Roman Egypt|Egyptian]] ports on the [[Red Sea]]. Along these trade paths, the horse, upon which Roman expansion and commerce depended, was one of the main channels through which disease spread.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Animals, Disease and Human Society: Human-animal Relations and the Rise of Veterinary Medicine |last=Swabe |first=Joanna |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |page=80}}</ref> Also in transit for trade were olive oil, various foodstuffs, ''[[garum]]'' ([[fish sauce]]), slaves, ore and manufactured metal objects, fibres and textiles, timber, [[ancient Roman pottery|pottery]], [[Roman glass|glassware]], marble, [[papyrus]], spices and ''[[materia medica]]'', ivory, pearls, and gemstones.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], pp. 717–729.</ref>
 
Though most provinces were capable of producing wine, [[Ancient Rome and wine|regional varietals]] were desirable and wine was a central item of trade. Shortages of ''[[vin ordinaire]]'' were rare.<ref>[[#Bowman|Bowman]], p. 404</ref><ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 719.</ref> The major suppliers for the city of Rome were the west coast of Italy, southern Gaul, the [[Hispania Tarraconensis|Tarraconensis region]] of Hispania, and [[Creta et Cyrenaica|Crete]]. Alexandria, the second-largest city, imported wine from [[Latakia|Laodicea in Syria]] and the Aegean.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 720.</ref> At the retail level, taverns or specialty wine shops ''(vinaria)'' sold wine by the jug for carryout and by the drink on premises, with price ranges reflecting quality.<ref>[[#Holleran|Holleran]], pp. 146–147.</ref>
 
===Labour and occupations===
[[File:Pompeii - Fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus 1 - MAN.jpg|thumb|right|Workers at a cloth-processing shop, in a painting from the ''[[fullonica]]'' of Veranius Hypsaeus in Pompeii]]
Inscriptions record 268 different occupations in the city of Rome, and 85 in Pompeii.<ref name="auto2"/> Professional associations or trade guilds ''(collegia)'' are attested for a wide range of occupations, including fishermen ''(piscatores)'', salt merchants ''(salinatores)'', olive oil dealers ''(olivarii)'', [[#Performing arts|entertainers]] ''(scaenici)'', cattle dealers ''(pecuarii)'', goldsmiths ''(aurifices)'', teamsters ''(asinarii'' or ''muliones)'', and stonecutters ''(lapidarii)''. These are sometimes quite specialized: one ''collegium'' at Rome was strictly limited to craftsmen who worked in ivory and [[citrus wood]].<ref name=verb/>
 
Work performed by slaves falls into five general categories: domestic, with epitaphs recording at least 55 different household jobs; [[Slavery in ancient Rome#Servus publicus|imperial or public service]]; urban crafts and services; agriculture; and mining. Convicts provided much of the labour in the mines or quarries, where conditions were notoriously brutal.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 323.</ref> In practice, there was little division of labour between slave and free,<ref name=Garnsey/> and most workers were illiterate and without special skills.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1162/002219504773512525 |jstor=3656762 |title=The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=513–538 |year=2004 |last1=Temin |first1=Peter|s2cid=33380115 }}</ref> The greatest number of common labourers were employed in agriculture: in the Italian system of industrial farming ''([[latifundia]])'', these may have been mostly slaves, but throughout the Empire, slave farm labour was probably less important than other forms of dependent labour by people who were technically not enslaved.<ref name=Garnsey/>
 
Textile and clothing production was a major source of employment. Both textiles and finished garments were traded among the peoples of the Empire, whose products were often named for them or a particular town, rather like a [[fashion design|fashion "label"]].<ref>[[#Jones|Jones]], pp. 184–185.</ref> Better ready-to-wear was exported by businessmen (''negotiatores'' or ''mercatores'') who were often well-to-do residents of the production centres.<ref name="JonesThe">[[#Jones|Jones]], p. 192.</ref> Finished garments might be retailed by their sales agents, who travelled to potential customers, or by ''vestiarii,'' clothing dealers who were mostly freedmen; or they might be peddled by itinerant merchants.<ref name="JonesThe" /> In Egypt, textile producers could run prosperous small businesses employing apprentices, free workers earning wages, and slaves.<ref>[[#Jones|Jones]], pp. 188–189.</ref> The [[fulling|fullers]] (''[[fullonica|fullones]]'') and dye workers (''coloratores'') had their own guilds.<ref>[[#Jones|Jones]], pp. 190–191.</ref> ''Centonarii'' were guild workers who specialized in textile production and the recycling of old clothes into [[patchwork|pieced goods]].<ref group="n">[[#Vout|Vout]], p. 212. The college of ''centonarii'' is an elusive topic in scholarship, since they are also widely attested as urban firefighters; see [[Jinyu Liu]] (2009) ''Collegia Centonariorum: The Guilds of Textile Dealers in the Roman West''. Brill. Liu sees them as "primarily tradesmen and/or manufacturers engaged in the production and distribution of low- or medium-quality woolen textiles and clothing, including felt and its products."</ref>
 
[[File:Cacera Centcelles panoràmica.jpg|thumb|upright=3|center|Roman hunters during the preparations, set-up of traps, and in-action hunting near [[Tarraco]]]]
 
===GDP and income distribution===
{{Details|Roman economy#Gross domestic product}}
[[Economic history|Economic historians]] vary in their calculations of the gross domestic product of the Roman economy during the Principate.<ref>[[Walter Scheidel|Scheidel, Walter]]; [[Ian Morris (historian)|Morris, Ian]]; Saller, Richard, eds. (2007): ''The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-78053-7}}</ref> In the sample years of 14, 100, and 150 AD, estimates of per capita GDP range from 166 to 380 ''[[Sestertius|HS]]''. The GDP per capita of [[Italia (Roman Empire)|Italy]] is estimated as 40<ref name="Lo Cascio, Malanima 2009, 391–401">{{cite journal |last1=Lo Cascio |first1=Elio |last2=Malanima |first2=Paolo |year=2009 |title=GDP in Pre-Modern Agrarian Economies (1–1820 AD). A Revision of the Estimates |journal=Rivista di Storia Economica |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=391–420 (391–401) |url=http://econpapers.repec.org/article/muljrkmxm/doi_3a10.1410_2f30919_3ay_3a2009_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a391-420.htm}}</ref> to 66%<ref>[[Angus Maddison|Maddison, Angus]] (2007) ''Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD. Essays in Macro-Economic History'', Oxford University Press. pp. 47–51. {{ISBN|978-0-19-922721-1}}.</ref> higher than in the rest of the Empire, due to tax transfers from the provinces and the concentration of elite income in the heartland. In regard to Italy, "there can be little doubt that the lower classes of Pompeii, Herculaneum and other provincial towns of the Roman Empire enjoyed a high standard of living not equaled again in Western Europe until the 19th century AD".<ref>Stephen L. Dyson, Community and Society in Roman Italy, 1992, p. 177, {{ISBN|0-8018-4175-5}} quoting J.E. Packer, "Middle and Lower Class Housing in Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Preliminary Survey," In Neue Forschung in Pompeji, pp. 133–42.</ref>
 
In the [[Walter Scheidel|Scheidel]]–Friesen economic model, the total annual income generated by the Empire is placed at nearly 20&nbsp;billion ''HS'', with about 5% extracted by central and local government. Households in the top 1.5% of [[income distribution]] captured about 20% of income. Another 20% went to about 10% of the population who can be characterized as a non-elite middle. The remaining "vast majority" produced more than half of the total income, but lived near [[subsistence]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.3815/007543509789745223 |jstor=40599740 |url=https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/010901.pdf |title=The Size of the Economy and the Distribution of Income in the Roman Empire |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=99 |pages=61–91 |year=2010 |last1=Scheidel |first1=Walter |last2=Friesen |first2=Steven J.|s2cid=202968244 }}</ref> The elite were 1.2–1.7% and the middling "who enjoyed modest, comfortable levels of existence but not extreme wealth amounted to 6–12% (...) while the vast majority lived around subsistence".<ref>Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, 275–425, 2011, pp. 55–56 quoting Scheidel and Friesen, {{ISBN|978-0-521-19861-5}}.</ref>
 
==Architecture and engineering==
{{Main|Ancient Roman architecture|Roman engineering|Roman technology}}
[[File:Amphi-Rome.PNG|thumb|right|upright=1.6|Amphitheatres of the Roman Empire]]
[[File:Colosseum in Rome, Italy - April 2007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Construction on the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the [[Colosseum]] (Italy), began during the reign of Vespasian.]]
The chief Roman contributions to architecture were the [[arch]], [[Vault (architecture)|vault]] and the [[dome]]. Even after more than 2,000 years some Roman structures still stand, due in part to sophisticated methods of making cements and [[Roman concrete|concrete]].<ref>MacDonald, W. L. (1982) ''The Architecture of the Roman Empire''. Yale University Press, New Haven, fig. 131B</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lechtman |first1=H. N. |last2=Hobbs |first2=L. W. |title=Roman Concrete and the Roman Architectural Revolution |journal=Ceramics and Civilization |volume=3 |year=1987 |pages=81–128}}</ref> [[Roman roads]] are considered the most advanced roads built until the early 19th century. The system of roadways facilitated military policing, communications, and trade. The roads were resistant to floods and other environmental hazards. Even after the collapse of the central government, some roads remained usable for more than a thousand years.
 
[[Roman bridges]] were among the first large and lasting bridges, built from stone with the arch as the basic structure. Most utilized concrete as well. The largest Roman bridge was [[Trajan's bridge]] over the lower Danube, constructed by [[Apollodorus of Damascus]], which remained for over a millennium the longest bridge to have been built both in terms of overall span and length.<ref>''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9008022/Apollodorus-Of-Damascus Apollodorus of Damascus], "''Greek engineer and architect who worked primarily for the Roman emperor Trajan.''"<br />{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/368462 |jstor=301558 |title=The Unity and Diversity of the Mediterranean World |journal=Osiris |volume=2 |pages=406–463 (430) |year=1936 |last1=Sarton |first1=George|s2cid=143379839 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Apollodorus of Damascus and Trajan's Column: From Tradition to Project |author1=Calcani, Giuliana |author2=Abdulkarim, Maamoun |publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |year=2003 |isbn=978-88-8265-233-3 |page=11 |quote=...&nbsp;focusing on the brilliant architect Apollodorus of Damascus. This famous Syrian personage represents&nbsp;...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM 2008 |author1=Hong-Sen Yan |author2=Marco Ceccarelli |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4020-9484-2 |page=86 |quote=He had Syrian origins coming from Damascus}}</ref>
 
The Romans built many [[List of Roman dams and reservoirs|dams and reservoirs]] for water collection, such as the [[Subiaco Dams]], two of which fed the [[Anio Novus]], one of the largest aqueducts of Rome.<ref name=Smith1/><ref name=Smith2/><ref name=Schnitter /> They built 72 dams just on the [[Iberian peninsula]], and many more are known across the Empire, some still in use. Several [[earthen dam]]s are known from [[Roman Britain]], including a well-preserved example from [[Longovicium]] ([[Lanchester, County Durham|Lanchester]]).
 
[[File:Pont du Gard BLS.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Pont du Gard]] aqueduct, which crosses the [[Gardon River]] in southern France, is on [[UNESCO]]'s list of [[World Heritage Site]]s.]]
The Romans constructed numerous [[Roman aqueduct|aqueducts]]. A surviving treatise by [[Frontinus]], who served as ''curator aquarum'' (water commissioner) under Nerva, reflects the administrative importance placed on ensuring the water supply. Masonry channels carried water from distant springs and reservoirs along a precise [[grade (slope)|gradient]], using [[gravity]] alone. After the water passed through the aqueduct, it was collected in tanks and fed through pipes to public fountains, baths, [[Sanitation in ancient Rome|toilets]], or industrial sites.<ref>Chandler, Fiona (2001) ''The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of the Roman World''. Usborne Publishing. p. 80.</ref> The main aqueducts in the city of Rome were the [[Aqua Claudia]] and the [[Aqua Marcia]].<ref>Forman, Joan (1975) ''The Romans'', Macdonald Educational Ltd. p. 34.</ref> The complex system built to supply Constantinople had its most distant supply drawn from over 120&nbsp;km away along a sinuous route of more than 336&nbsp;km.<ref>Crow, J. (2007) "Earth, walls and water in Late Antique Constantinople" in ''Technology in Transition AD 300–650'' in ed. L.Lavan, E.Zanini & A. Sarantis Brill, Leiden</ref> Roman aqueducts were built to remarkably fine [[Engineering tolerance|tolerance]], and to a technological standard that was not to be equalled until modern times.<ref>{{cite book |author=Greene, Kevin |title=The Archaeology of the Roman Economy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7SUh_3lcP4C |year=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-07401-9 |page=39}}</ref> The Romans also made use of aqueducts in their extensive mining operations across the empire, at sites such as [[Las Medulas]] and [[Dolaucothi]] in [[South Wales]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/298927 |jstor=298927 |title=Roman Gold-Mining in North-West Spain, II: Workings on the Rio Duerna |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=62 |pages=59–74 |year=2012 |last1=Jones |first1=R. F. J. |last2=Bird |first2=D. G.}}</ref>
 
[[Insulated glazing]] (or "double glazing") was used in the construction of [[thermae|public baths]]. Elite housing in cooler climates might have [[hypocaust]]s, a form of central heating. The Romans were the first culture to assemble all essential components of the much later [[steam engine]], when [[Hero of Alexandria|Hero]] built the [[aeolipile]]. With the crank and connecting rod system, all elements for constructing a steam engine (invented in 1712)—[[Hero of Alexandria|Hero]]'s [[aeolipile]] (generating steam power), the [[Pneumatic cylinder|cylinder]] and [[piston]] (in metal force pumps), non-return [[valves]] (in water pumps), [[Gear train|gearing]] (in water mills and clocks)—were known in Roman times.<ref name=ritti/>
 
==Daily life==
{{Main|Culture of ancient Rome|Agriculture in ancient Rome}}
 
[[File:Altrömische Wandmalerei in der Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, Wandmalerei-Detail nach Bühnenmanie, Boscoreale, Campaia.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Cityscape]] from the [[Villa Boscoreale]] (60s AD)]]
 
===City and country===
In the ancient world, a city was viewed as a place that fostered civilization by being "properly designed, ordered, and adorned."<ref name="auto4">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 192.</ref> Augustus undertook a vast building programme in Rome, supported public displays of art that expressed the new imperial ideology, and [[14 regions of Augustan Rome|reorganized the city]] into neighbourhoods ''([[vicus|vici]])'' administered at the local level with police and firefighting services.<ref name=rehak>Rehak, Paul (2006) ''Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius''. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 4–8.</ref> A focus of Augustan monumental architecture was the [[Campus Martius]], an open area outside the city centre that in early times had been devoted to equestrian sports and physical training for youth. The Altar of Augustan Peace ''([[Ara Pacis Augustae]])'' was located there, as was [[Obelisk of Montecitorio|an obelisk]] imported from Egypt that formed the pointer ''([[gnomon]])'' of a [[Solarium Augusti|horologium]]. With its public gardens, the Campus became one of the most attractive places in the city to visit.<ref name=rehak/>
 
City planning and urban lifestyles had been influenced by the Greeks from an early period,<ref>[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], p. 23ff. and 244</ref> and in the eastern Empire, Roman rule accelerated and shaped the local development of cities that already had a strong Hellenistic character. Cities such as [[Ancient Athens|Athens]], [[Aphrodisias]], [[Ephesus]] and [[Gerasa]] altered some aspects of city planning and architecture to conform to imperial ideals, while also expressing their individual identity and regional preeminence.<ref>[[Rubina Raja|Raja, Rubina]] (2012) ''Urban Development and Regional Identity in the Eastern Roman Provinces 50 BC–AD 250''. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 215–218</ref><ref>Sperber, Daniel (1998) ''The City in Roman Palestine''. Oxford University Press.</ref> In the areas of the western Empire inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples, Rome encouraged the development of urban centres with stone temples, forums, monumental fountains, and amphitheatres, often on or near the sites of the preexisting walled settlements known as ''[[oppidum|oppida]]''.<ref>[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], pp. 252–253</ref><ref name=brenda>Longfellow, Brenda (2011) ''Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–2. {{ISBN|0521194938}}</ref><ref group="n">Julius Caesar first applied the Latin word ''oppidum'' to this type of settlement, and even called [[Avaricum]] ([[Bourges]], France), a center of the [[Bituriges Cubi|Bituriges]], an ''urbs'', "city." Archaeology indicates that ''oppida'' were centers of religion, trade (including import/export), and industrial production, walled for the purposes of defense, but they may not have been inhabited by concentrated populations year-round: see Harding, D.W. (2007) ''The Archaeology of Celtic Art''. Routledge. pp. 211–212. {{ISBN|113426464X}}; Collis, John (2000) "'Celtic' Oppida," in ''A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures''. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. pp. 229–238; ''Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems''. Cambridge University Press, 1995, 1999, p. 61.</ref> Urbanization in Roman Africa expanded on Greek and Punic cities along the coast.<ref name="StambaughThe"/>
 
[[File:The Great Bath in Bath (UK).jpg|thumb|left|[[Roman Baths (Bath)|Aquae Sulis]] in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], England: architectural features above the level of the pillar bases are a later reconstruction.]]
The network of cities throughout the Empire (''[[Colonia (Roman)|coloniae]]'', ''[[municipium|municipia]]'', ''[[civitas|civitates]]'' or in Greek terms ''[[polis|poleis]]'') was a primary cohesive force during the Pax Romana.<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 79.</ref> Romans of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD were encouraged by imperial propaganda to "inculcate the habits of peacetime".<ref name="auto4"/><ref>Vergil, ''Aeneid'' 6.852</ref> As the classicist [[Clifford Ando]] has noted:
 
<blockquote>Most of the cultural [[wikt:appurtenance|appurtenances]] popularly associated with imperial culture—[[Religion in ancient Rome|public cult]] and its [[ludi|games]] and [[epulones|civic banquets]], competitions for artists, speakers, and athletes, as well as the funding of the great majority of public buildings and public display of art—were financed by private individuals, whose expenditures in this regard helped to justify their economic power and legal and provincial privileges.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 185–186.</ref></blockquote>
 
Even the [[Christian polemic]]ist [[Tertullian]] declared that the world of the late 2nd century was more orderly and well-cultivated than in earlier times: "Everywhere there are houses, everywhere people, everywhere the ''[[res publica]]'', the commonwealth, everywhere life."<ref>[[Tertullian]], ''De anima'' 30.3 ''(ubique domus, ubique populus, ubique respublica, ubique uita)'', as cited and framed in [[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 185.</ref> The decline of cities and civic life in the 4th century, when the wealthy classes were unable or disinclined to support public works, was one sign of the Empire's imminent dissolution.<ref>[[#Millar|Millar]], p. 76ff.</ref>
 
[[File:Ostia-Toilets.JPG|thumb|Public toilets ''(latrinae)'' from [[Ostia Antica]]]]
In the city of Rome, most people lived in multistory apartment buildings ''([[insulae]])'' that were often squalid firetraps. Public facilities—such as baths ''([[thermae]])'', toilets that were flushed with running water ''(latrinae)'', conveniently located basins or elaborate fountains ''([[nymphaeum|nymphea]])'' delivering fresh water,<ref name=brenda/> and large-scale entertainments such as [[chariot races]] and [[gladiator|gladiator combat]]—were aimed primarily at the common people who lived in the ''insulae''.<ref>Jones, Mark Wilson (2000) ''Principles of Roman Architecture.'' New Haven: Yale University Press.</ref> Similar facilities were constructed in cities throughout the Empire, and some of the best-preserved Roman structures are in Spain, southern France, and northern Africa.
 
The public baths served hygienic, social and cultural functions.<ref>Evans, Harry B. (1994) ''Water Distribution in Ancient Rome'', University of Michigan Press. pp. 9–10.</ref> Bathing was the focus of daily socializing in the late afternoon before dinner.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 366.</ref> Roman baths were distinguished by a series of rooms that offered communal bathing in three temperatures, with varying amenities that might include an [[palaestra|exercise and weight-training room]], [[sudatorium|sauna]], [[Exfoliation (cosmetology)|exfoliation]] spa (where oils were massaged into the skin and scraped from the body with a [[strigil]]), [[sphaeristerium|ball court]], or outdoor swimming pool. Baths had [[hypocaust]] heating: the floors were suspended over hot-air channels that circulated warmth.<ref name=fagan>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/507363 |jstor=507363 |title=The Genesis of the Roman Public Bath: Recent Approaches and Future Directions |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=105 |issue=3 |pages=403–426 |year=2001 |last1=Fagan |first1=Garrett G. |url=http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/aaresearch-2012/in-extremis-file/Roman-Baths-origin.pdf}}</ref> Mixed nude bathing was not unusual in the early Empire, though some baths may have offered separate facilities or hours for men and women. Public baths were a part of urban culture [[List of Roman public baths|throughout the provinces]], but in the late 4th century, individual tubs began to replace communal bathing. Christians were advised to go to the baths for health and cleanliness, not pleasure, but to avoid the games ''([[ludi]])'', which were part of [[Roman festivals|religious festivals]] they considered "pagan". Tertullian says that otherwise Christians not only availed themselves of the baths, but participated fully in commerce and society.<ref>{{cite journal |volume=85 |issue=2 |year=1992 |pages=125–147 |title=Women in Roman Baths |last=Ward |first=Roy Bowen |journal=Harvard Theological Review |doi=10.1017/S0017816000028820 |jstor=1509900}}</ref>
 
[[File:Ricostruzione del giardino della casa dei vetii di pompei (mostra al giardino di boboli, 2007) 01.JPG|thumb|left|Reconstructed peristyle garden based on the [[House of the Vettii]]]]
Rich families from Rome usually had two or more houses, a townhouse ''([[domus]],'' plural ''domūs)'' and at least one luxury home ''([[Roman villa|villa]])'' outside the city. The ''domus'' was a privately owned single-family house, and might be furnished with a private bath ''(balneum)'',<ref name=fagan/> but it was not a place to retreat from public life.<ref>[[#Clarke|Clarke]], pp. 1–2.</ref> Although some neighbourhoods of Rome show a higher concentration of well-to-do houses, the rich did not live in segregated enclaves. Their houses were meant to be visible and accessible. The atrium served as a reception hall in which the ''[[paterfamilias]]'' (head of household) met with clients every morning, from wealthy friends to poorer dependents who received charity.<ref name=rehak/> It was also a centre of family religious rites, containing a [[lararium|shrine]] and the [[Roman funerals and burial#Funerary art|images of family ancestors]].<ref>[[#Clarke|Clarke]], pp. 11–12.</ref> The houses were located on busy public roads, and ground-level spaces facing the street were often rented out as shops ''([[taberna]]e)''.<ref>[[#Clarke|Clarke]], p. 2.</ref> In addition to a kitchen garden—windowboxes might substitute in the ''insulae''—townhouses typically enclosed a [[peristyle]] garden that brought a tract of nature, made orderly, within walls.<ref>[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], pp. 144, 147</ref><ref>[[#Clarke|Clarke]], pp. 12, 17, 22ff.</ref>
 
[[File:Pannello di pittura parietale da area vesuviana, miho museum, shiga 02.jpg|thumb|upright|Birds and fountain within a garden setting, with ''[[oscilla]]'' (hanging masks)<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/RESv48n1ms20167679 |title=Roman ''Oscilla'': An Assessment |journal=Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics |volume=48 |issue=48 |pages=83–105 |jstor=20167679 |year=2005 |last1=Taylor |first1=Rabun|s2cid=193568609 }}</ref> above, in a painting from Pompeii]]
The villa by contrast was an escape from the bustle of the city, and in literature represents a lifestyle that balances the civilized pursuit of intellectual and artistic interests ''([[otium]])'' with an appreciation of nature and the agricultural cycle.<ref>Gazda, Elaine K. (1991) "Introduction", in ''Roman Art in the Private Sphere: Architecture and Décor of the Domus, Villa, and Insula''. University of Michigan Press. p. 9. {{ISBN|047210196X}}.</ref> Ideally a villa commanded a view or vista, carefully framed by the architectural design.<ref name="Clarke, p. 19">[[#Clarke|Clarke]], p. 19.</ref> It might be located on a working estate, or in a "resort town" situated on the seacoast, such as [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]].
 
The programme of urban renewal under Augustus, and the growth of Rome's population to as many as 1 million people, was accompanied by a nostalgia for rural life expressed in the arts. Poetry praised the idealized lives of farmers and shepherds. The interiors of houses were often decorated with painted gardens, fountains, landscapes, vegetative ornament,<ref name="Clarke, p. 19"/> and animals, especially birds and marine life, rendered accurately enough that modern scholars can sometimes identify them by species.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jashemski, Wilhelmina Feemster |author2=Meyer, Frederick G. |title=The Natural History of Pompeii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xfjyTqqR7IC |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80054-9}}</ref> The Augustan poet [[Horace]] gently satirized the dichotomy of urban and rural values in his fable of [[The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse|the city mouse and the country mouse]], which has often been retold as a children's story.<ref>Horace, ''Satire'' 2.6</ref><ref>Holzberg, Niklas (2002) ''The Ancient Fable: An Introduction''. Indiana University Press. p. 35</ref><ref>Bovie, Smith Palmer (2002) Introduction to ''Horace. Satires and Epistles''. University of Chicago Press. pp. 92–93.</ref>
 
On a more practical level, the central government took an active interest in supporting [[Roman agriculture|agriculture]].<ref name=m191>[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 191.</ref> Producing food was the top priority of land use.<ref>[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 679.</ref> Larger farms ''([[latifundium|latifundia]])'' achieved an [[economy of scale]] that sustained urban life and its more specialized division of labour.<ref name=m191/> Small farmers benefited from the development of local markets in towns and trade centres. Agricultural techniques such as [[crop rotation]] and [[selective breeding]] were disseminated throughout the Empire, and new crops were introduced from one province to another, such as peas and cabbage to Britain.<ref>[[#Morris|Morris]], pp. 195–196.</ref>
 
Maintaining an affordable food supply to the city of Rome had become a major political issue in the late Republic, when the state began to provide a grain dole ([[Cura Annonae]]) to citizens who registered for it.<ref name=m191/> About 200,000–250,000 adult males in Rome received the dole, amounting to about 33&nbsp;kg. per month, for a per annum total of about 100,000 tons of wheat primarily from [[Sicilia (Roman province)|Sicily]], north Africa, and Egypt.<ref>[[#Morris|Morris]], p. 191, reckoning that the surplus of wheat from the province of Egypt alone could meet and exceed the needs of the city of Rome and the provincial armies.</ref> The dole cost at least 15% of state revenues,<ref name=m191/> but improved living conditions and family life among the lower classes,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/299848 |jstor=299848 |title=The Census in the First Century B.C |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=59 |issue=1/2 |pages=59–75 |year=2012 |last1=Wiseman |first1=T. P.}}</ref> and subsidized the rich by allowing workers to spend more of their earnings on the wine and olive oil produced on the estates of the landowning class.<ref name=m191/>
 
[[File:Pompei - House of Julia Felix - 2 - MAN.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting]]
The grain dole also had symbolic value: it affirmed both the emperor's position as universal benefactor, and the right of all citizens to share in "the fruits of conquest".<ref name=m191/> The ''annona'', public facilities, and spectacular entertainments mitigated the otherwise dreary living conditions of lower-class Romans, and kept social unrest in check. The satirist [[Juvenal]], however, saw "[[bread and circuses]]" ''(panem et circenses)'' as emblematic of the loss of republican political liberty:<ref>Keane, Catherine (2006) ''Figuring Genre in Roman Satire''. Oxford University Press. p. 36</ref><ref>Köhne, Eckhart (2000) "Bread and Circuses: The Politics of Entertainment," in ''Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome''. University of California Press. p. 8.</ref>
 
<blockquote>The public has long since cast off its cares: the people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses.<ref>Juvenal, ''Satire'' 10.77–81.</ref></blockquote>
 
===Food and dining===
{{Main|Food and dining in the Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Grain supply to the city of Rome|Ancient Rome and wine}}
Most apartments in Rome lacked kitchens, though a charcoal [[brazier]] could be used for rudimentary cookery.<ref>[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], pp. 144, 178</ref><ref>Hinds, Kathryn (2010) ''Everyday Life in the Roman Empire''. Marshall Cavendish. p. 90.</ref> Prepared food was sold at pubs and bars, inns, and food stalls ''([[taberna]]e, cauponae, [[popina]]e, [[thermopolium|thermopolia]])''.<ref>[[#Holleran|Holleran]], p. 136ff.</ref> [[Carryout]] and restaurant dining were for the lower classes; [[fine dining]] could be sought only at private dinner parties in {{nowrap|well-to-do}} houses with a [[chef]] ''(archimagirus)'' and trained kitchen staff,<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 299.</ref> or at banquets hosted by social clubs ''([[collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]])''.<ref>Faas, Patrick (1994, 2005) ''Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome''. University of Chicago Press. p. 29.</ref>
 
Most people would have consumed at least 70% of their daily [[calorie]]s in the form of cereals and [[legumes]].<ref name="Garnsey p. 681">[[#Boardman|Boardman]], p. 681.</ref> ''Puls'' ([[pottage]]) was considered the aboriginal food of the Romans.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''Natural History'' 19.83–84; Emily Gowers, ''The Loaded Table: Representation of Food in Roman Literature'' (Oxford University Press, 1993, 2003), p. 17</ref><ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 198.</ref> The basic grain pottage could be elaborated with chopped vegetables, bits of meat, cheese, or herbs to produce dishes similar to [[polenta]] or [[risotto]].<ref>[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], p. 144.</ref>
 
[[File:Ostia antica-13.jpg|thumb|An Ostian ''taberna'' for eating and drinking; the faded painting over the counter pictured eggs, olives, fruit and radishes.<ref>[[#Holleran|Holleran]], pp. 136–137.</ref>]]
Urban populations and the military preferred to consume their grain in the form of bread.<ref name="Garnsey p. 681"/> Mills and commercial ovens were usually combined in a bakery complex.<ref>[[#Holleran|Holleran]], pp. 134–135.</ref> By the reign of [[Aurelian]], the state had begun to distribute the ''annona'' as a daily ration of bread baked in state factories, and added [[olive oil]], wine, and pork to the dole.<ref name=m191/><ref>[[#Stambaugh|Stambaugh]], p. 146</ref><ref>[[#Holleran|Holleran]], p. 134.</ref>
 
The importance of a good diet to health was recognized by medical writers such as [[Galen]] (2nd century AD), whose treatises included one ''On Barley Soup''. Views on nutrition were influenced by schools of thought such as [[humoral theory]].<ref>Grant, Mark (2000) ''Galen on Food and Diet''. Routledge. pp. 7, 11.</ref>
 
Roman literature focuses on the dining habits of the upper classes,<ref name=":3">[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 354.</ref> for whom the evening meal ''([[cena]])'' had important social functions.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 356.</ref> Guests were entertained in a finely decorated dining room ''([[triclinium]])'', often with a view of the peristyle garden. Diners lounged on couches, leaning on the left elbow. By the late Republic, if not earlier, women dined, reclined, and drank wine along with men.<ref>Roller, Matthew B. (2006) ''Dining Posture in Ancient Rome''. Princeton University Press. p. 96ff.</ref>
 
The most famous description of a Roman meal is probably [[Cena Trimalchionis|Trimalchio's dinner party]] in the ''Satyricon'', a fictional extravaganza that bears little resemblance to reality even among the most wealthy.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 359.</ref> The poet Martial describes serving a more plausible dinner, beginning with the ''gustatio'' ("tasting" or "appetizer"), which was a salad composed of [[Malvaceae|mallow leaves]], lettuce, chopped leeks, [[mentha|mint]], [[arugula]], [[mackerel]] garnished with [[rue]], sliced eggs, and marinated sow udder. The main course was succulent cuts of [[goat meat|kid]], beans, greens, a chicken, and leftover ham, followed by a dessert of fresh fruit and vintage wine.<ref>Alcock, Joan P. (2006) ''Food in the Ancient World''. Greenwood Press. p. 184.</ref> The Latin expression for a full-course dinner was ''ab ovo usque mala'', "from the egg to the apples," equivalent to the English "[[from soup to nuts]]."<ref>Donahue, John (2004) ''The Roman Community at Table during the Principate''. University of Michigan Press. p. 9.</ref>
 
[[File:Still life Tor Marancia Vatican.jpg|thumb|left|[[Still life]] on a 2nd-century [[Roman mosaic]]]]
A book-length collection of Roman recipes is attributed to [[Apicius]], a name for several figures in antiquity that became synonymous with "[[gourmet]]."<ref>Cathy K. Kaufman, "Remembrance of Meals Past: Cooking by Apicius' Book," in ''Food and the Memory: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooker'' p. 125ff.</ref> Roman "[[foodie]]s" indulged in [[wild game]], [[fowl]] such as [[peacock]] and [[flamingo]], large fish ([[mullet (fish)|mullet]] was especially prized), and [[shellfish]]. Luxury ingredients were brought by the fleet from the far reaches of empire, from the [[Parthia]]n frontier to the [[Straits of Gibraltar]].<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''Life of Vitellius'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Vitellius*.html#13.2 13.2]; Gowers, ''The Loaded Table,'' p. 20.</ref>
 
Refined cuisine could be moralized as a sign of either civilized progress or decadent decline.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 201.</ref> The early Imperial historian [[Tacitus]] contrasted the indulgent luxuries of the Roman table in his day with the simplicity of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] diet of fresh wild meat, foraged fruit, and cheese, unadulterated by imported seasonings and elaborate sauces.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Germania'' 23; Gowers, ''The Loaded Table,'' p. 18.</ref> Most often, because of the importance of landowning in Roman culture, produce—cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit—was considered a more civilized form of food than meat. The [[Mediterranean diet|Mediterranean staples]] of [[Sacramental bread|bread]], [[Sacramental wine|wine]], and [[chrism|oil]] were [[sanctification|sacralized]] by Roman Christianity, while Germanic meat consumption became a mark of [[Germanic paganism|paganism]],<ref name=Montanari/> as it might be the product of [[animal sacrifice]].
 
Some philosophers and Christians resisted the demands of the body and the pleasures of food, and adopted [[fasting]] as an ideal.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 365–366.</ref> Food became simpler in general as urban life in the West diminished, trade routes were disrupted,<ref name=Montanari/> and the rich retreated to the more limited self-sufficiency of their country estates. As an urban lifestyle came to be associated with decadence, the Church formally discouraged [[gluttony]],<ref>[[#Bowersock|Bowersock]], p. 455</ref> and hunting and [[pastoralism]] were seen as simple, virtuous ways of life.<ref name=Montanari>{{cite book |ref=Flandrin |author1=Flandrin, Jean Louis |author2=Montanari, Massimo |title=Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnwnXzTRA44C |year=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-11154-6 |pages=165–167}}</ref>
 
{{anchor|spectacle}} <!-- [[Public spectacle]] redirects here -->
 
===Recreation and spectacles===
{{See also|Ludi|Chariot racing|Gladiator}}
[[File:Pompeii - Battle at the Amphitheatre - MAN.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Wall painting depicting a sports riot at the amphitheatre of Pompeii, which led to the banning of gladiator combat in the town<ref>Franklin, James L. Jr. (2001) ''Pompeis Difficile Est: Studies in the Political Life of Imperial Pompeii''. University of Michigan Press. p. 137</ref><ref>Laurence, Ray (2007) ''Roman Pompeii: Space and Society''. Routledge. p. 173; recounted by Tacitus, ''Annals'' 14.17.</ref>]]
 
When [[Juvenal]] complained that the Roman people had exchanged their political liberty for "bread and circuses", he was referring to the state-provided grain dole and the ''circenses'', events held in the entertainment venue called a ''[[circus (building)|circus]]'' in Latin. The largest such venue in Rome was the [[Circus Maximus]], the setting of [[horse racing|horse races]], [[chariot races]], the equestrian [[Lusus Troiae|Troy Game]], staged beast hunts ''([[venatio]]nes)'', athletic contests, [[gladiator|gladiator combat]], and [[historical re-enactment]]s. From earliest times, several [[Roman festivals|religious festivals]] had featured games ''([[ludi]])'', primarily horse and chariot races ''(ludi circenses)''.<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, ''Religions of Rome: A History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 66.</ref> Although their entertainment value tended to overshadow ritual significance, the races remained part of archaic religious observances that pertained to agriculture, [[initiation ritual|initiation]], and the cycle of birth and death.<ref group="n">Such as the [[Consualia]] and the [[October Horse]] sacrifice: [[#Humphrey|Humphrey]], pp. 544, 558; Auguste Bouché-Leclercq, ''Manuel des Institutions Romaines'' (Hachette, 1886), p. 549; "Purificazione," in ''Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum'' (''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'', 2004), p. 83.</ref>
 
Under Augustus, public entertainments were presented on 77 days of the year; by the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the number of days had expanded to 135.<ref>[[#Dyson|Dyson]], p. 240.</ref> Circus games were preceded by an elaborate parade ''([[pompa circensis]])'' that ended at the venue.<ref>Versnel, H.S. (1971) ''Triumphus: An Inquiry into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph''. Brill. pp. 96–97.</ref> Competitive events were held also in smaller venues such as the [[Roman amphitheater|amphitheatre]], which became the characteristic Roman spectacle venue, and stadium. Greek-style athletics included [[Stadion (running race)|footraces]], [[Ancient Greek boxing|boxing]], [[Greek wrestling|wrestling]], and the [[Pankration|pancratium]].<ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 242.</ref> Aquatic displays, such as the mock sea battle ''([[naumachia]])'' and a form of "water ballet", were presented in engineered pools.<ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], pp. 235–236.</ref> State-supported [[#Performing arts|theatrical events]] ''([[ludi scaenici]])'' took place on temple steps or in grand stone theatres, or in the smaller enclosed theatre called an ''[[Odeon (building)|odeum]]''.<ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], pp. 223–224.</ref>
 
[[File:Winner of a Roman chariot race.jpg|thumb|left|A victor in his [[quadriga|four-horse chariot]]]]
Circuses were the largest structure regularly built in the Roman world,<ref name="auto5">[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 303.</ref> though the Greeks had their own architectural traditions for the similarly purposed [[hippodrome]]. The [[Flavian Amphitheatre]], better known as the Colosseum, became the regular arena for blood sports in Rome after it opened in 80 AD.<ref name=h1/> The circus races continued to be held more frequently.<ref>[[#Edmondson|Edmondson]], p. 112.</ref> The Circus Maximus could seat around 150,000 spectators, and the Colosseum about 50,000 with standing room for about 10,000 more.<ref>[[#Dyson|Dyson]], pp. 237, 239.</ref> Many [[list of Roman amphitheatres|Roman amphitheatres]], [[Circus (building)#List of Roman circuses|circuses]] and [[Roman theatre (structure)|theatres]] built in cities outside Italy are visible as ruins today.<ref name=h1>[[#Humphrey|Humphrey]], pp. 1–3.</ref> The local ruling elite were responsible for sponsoring spectacles and arena events, which both enhanced their status and drained their resources.<ref name=fatal/>
 
The physical arrangement of the amphitheatre represented the order of Roman society: the emperor presiding in his opulent box; senators and equestrians watching from the advantageous seats reserved for them; women seated at a remove from the action; slaves given the worst places, and everybody else packed in-between.<ref>[[#Edmondson|Edmondson]], pp. 73–74, 106</ref><ref>[[#Auguet|Auguet]], p. 54</ref><ref>McClelland, John (2007) ''Body and Mind: Sport in Europe from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance''. Routledge. p. 67.</ref> The crowd could call for an outcome by booing or cheering, but the emperor had the final say. Spectacles could quickly become sites of social and political protest, and emperors sometimes had to deploy force to put down crowd unrest, most notoriously at the [[Nika riots]] in the year 532, when troops under [[Justinian I|Justinian]] slaughtered thousands.<ref name=d238/><ref name="auto6">[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 85</ref><ref>[[#Humphrey|Humphrey]], p. 461</ref><ref>McClelland, John (2007) ''Body and Mind: Sport in Europe from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance''. Routledge. p. 61.</ref>
 
[[File:Bestiarii.jpg|thumb|The [[Zliten mosaic]], from a dining room in present-day Libya, depicts a series of arena scenes: from top, musicians playing a [[Roman tuba|Roman ''tuba'']], a [[hydraulis|water pipe organ]] and two [[cornu (horn)|horns]]; six pairs of gladiators with two referees; four [[bestiarii|beast fighters]]; and three convicts [[damnatio ad bestias|condemned to the beasts]]<ref>[[Thomas Ernst Josef Wiedemann|Thomas Wiedemann]], ''Emperors and Gladiators'' (Routledge, 1992, 1995), p. 15.</ref>]]
The chariot teams were known by the colours they wore, with the Blues and Greens the most popular. Fan loyalty was fierce and at times erupted into [[sports riots]].<ref name="auto6"/><ref>[[#Humphrey|Humphrey]], pp. 459, 461, 512, 630–631</ref><ref>[[#Dyson|Dyson]], p. 237</ref> Racing was perilous, but charioteers were among the most celebrated and well-compensated athletes.<ref>[[#Dyson|Dyson]], p. 238.</ref> One star of the sport was [[Gaius Appuleius Diocles|Diocles]], from [[Lusitania]] (present-day Portugal), who raced chariots for 24 years and had career earnings of 35 million sesterces.<ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 296</ref><ref name=d238>[[#Dyson|Dyson]], pp. 238–239.</ref> Horses had their fans too, and were commemorated in art and inscriptions, sometimes by name.<ref>[[#Humphrey|Humphrey]], p. 238</ref><ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 299.</ref> The design of Roman circuses was developed to assure that no team had an unfair advantage and to minimize collisions (''naufragia,'' "shipwrecks"),<ref>[[#Humphrey|Humphrey]], pp. 18–21</ref><ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 84.</ref> which were nonetheless frequent and spectacularly satisfying to the crowd.<ref>[[#Auguet|Auguet]], pp. 131–132</ref><ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 237.</ref> The races retained a magical aura through their early association with [[chthonic]] rituals: circus images were considered protective or lucky, [[curse tablet]]s have been found buried at the site of racetracks, and charioteers were often suspected of sorcery.<ref name=d238/><ref>[[#Auguet|Auguet]], p. 144</ref><ref>Dickie, Matthew (2001) ''Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World''. Routledge. pp. 282–287</ref><ref>Eva D'Ambra, "Racing with Death: Circus Sarcophagi and the Commemoration of Children in Roman Italy" in ''Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy'' (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2007), pp. 348–349</ref><ref>[[#Rupke|Rüpke]], p. 289.</ref> Chariot racing continued into the Byzantine period under imperial sponsorship, but the decline of cities in the 6th and 7th centuries led to its eventual demise.<ref name="auto5"/>
 
The Romans thought gladiator contests had originated with [[Funeral games (antiquity)|funeral games]] and [[Sacrifice in ancient Roman religion|sacrifices]] in which select captive warriors were forced to fight to expiate the deaths of noble Romans. Some of the earliest [[List of Roman gladiator types|styles of gladiator fighting]] had ethnic designations such as "[[Thraex|Thracian]]" or "Gallic".<ref name=":3"/><ref name="auto7">[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 59</ref><ref name="auto8">[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 305.</ref> The staged combats were considered ''munera'', "services, offerings, benefactions", initially distinct from the festival games ''(ludi)''.<ref name="auto7"/><ref name="auto8"/>
 
Throughout his 40-year reign, Augustus presented eight gladiator shows in which a total of 10,000 men fought, as well as 26 staged beast hunts that resulted in the deaths of 3,500 animals.<ref>Cassio Dio 54.2.2; ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' 22.1, 3</ref><ref name=":5">[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 49</ref><ref>[[#Edmondson|Edmondson]], p. 70.</ref> To mark the opening of the Colosseum, the emperor [[Titus]] presented [[Inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre|100 days of arena events]], with 3,000 gladiators competing on a single day.<ref name=h1/><ref>Cassius Dio 66.25</ref><ref name="auto9">[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 55</ref> Roman fascination with gladiators is indicated by how widely they are depicted on mosaics, wall paintings, lamps, and even graffiti drawings.<ref name=":5"/>
 
Gladiators were trained combatants who might be slaves, convicts, or free volunteers.<ref>[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 50.</ref> Death was not a necessary or even desirable outcome in matches between these highly skilled fighters, whose training represented a costly and time-consuming investment.<ref name="auto9"/><ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 307</ref><ref>McClelland, ''Body and Mind,'' p. 66, citing also [[Marcus Junkelmann]].</ref> By contrast, ''noxii'' were convicts sentenced to the arena with little or no training, often unarmed, and with no expectation of survival. Physical suffering and humiliation were considered appropriate [[retributive justice]] for the crimes they had committed.<ref name=fatal/> These executions were sometimes staged or ritualized as re-enactments of [[Greek mythology|myths]], and amphitheatres were equipped with elaborate [[stagecraft|stage machinery]] to create special effects.<ref name=fatal/><ref>Suetonius, ''Nero'' 12.2</ref><ref>[[#Edmondson|Edmondson]], p. 73.</ref> Tertullian considered deaths in the arena to be nothing more than a dressed-up form of [[human sacrifice]].<ref>Tertullian, ''De spectaculis'' 12</ref><ref>[[#Edwards|Edwards]], pp. 59–60</ref><ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 224.</ref>
 
Modern scholars have found the pleasure Romans took in the "theatre of life and death"<ref>McDonald, Marianne and Walton, J. Michael (2007) Introduction to ''The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre''. Cambridge University Press. p. 8.</ref> to be one of the more difficult aspects of their civilization to understand and explain.<ref>Kyle, Donald G. (1998) ''Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome''. Routledge. p. 81</ref><ref>[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 63.</ref> [[Pliny the Younger|The younger Pliny]] rationalized gladiator spectacles as good for the people, a way "to inspire them to face honourable wounds and despise death, by exhibiting love of glory and desire for victory even in the bodies of slaves and criminals".<ref>Pliny, ''Panegyric'' 33.1</ref><ref>[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 52.</ref> Some Romans such as [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] were critical of the brutal spectacles, but found virtue in the courage and dignity of the defeated fighter rather than in victory<ref>[[#Edwards|Edwards]], pp. 66–67, 72.</ref>—an attitude that finds its fullest expression with the [[Christian martyr|Christians martyred]] in the arena. Even [[acts of the martyrs|martyr literature]], however, offers "detailed, indeed luxuriant, descriptions of bodily suffering",<ref>[[#Edwards|Edwards]], p. 212.</ref> and became a popular genre at times indistinguishable from fiction.<ref>Bowersock, G.W. (1995) ''Martyrdom and Rome''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–26</ref><ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], p. 79</ref><ref>Huber-Rebenich, Gerlinde (1999) "Hagiographic Fiction as Entertainment," in ''Latin Fiction: The Latin Novel in Context''. Routledge. pp. 158–178</ref><ref>Llewelyn, S.R. and Nobbs, A.M. (2002) "The Earliest Dated Reference to Sunday in the Papyri," in ''New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity''. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 109</ref><ref>Hildebrandt, Henrik (2006) "Early Christianity in Roman Pannonia—Fact or Fiction?" in ''Studia Patristica: Papers Presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies Held in Oxford 2003''. Peeters. pp. 59–64</ref><ref>[[#Ando|Ando]], p. 382.</ref>
 
====Personal training and play====
[[File:Children games Louvre Ma99.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Boys and girls playing ball games (2nd-century relief from the [[Louvre]])]]
In the plural, ''ludi'' almost always refers to the large-scale spectator games. The singular ''[[Ludus (ancient Rome)|ludus]]'', "play, game, sport, training," had a wide range of meanings such as "word play," "theatrical performance," "board game," "primary school," and even "gladiator training school" (as in ''[[Ludus Magnus]]'', the largest such training camp at Rome).<ref>''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprint), pp. 1048–1049</ref><ref>[[#Habinek2005|Habinek (2005)]], pp. 5, 143.</ref>
 
Activities for children and young people included [[Hoop rolling#Ancient Rome and Byzantium|hoop rolling]] and [[knucklebones]] (''astragali'' or "jacks"). The [[ancient Roman sarcophagi|sarcophagi]] of children often show them playing games. Girls had [[doll]]s, typically 15–16&nbsp;cm tall with jointed limbs, made of materials such as wood, [[terracotta]], and especially [[Ivory carving|bone and ivory]].<ref>[[#Rawson2003|Rawson (2003)]], p. 128.</ref> Ball games include [[Trigon (game)|trigon]], which required dexterity, and [[harpastum]], a rougher sport.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/282704 |jstor=282704 |title=Some Passages concerning Ball-Games |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=37 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jstor-282704/page/n1 121]–134 |year=1906 |last1=McDaniel |first1=Walton Brooks |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-282704}}</ref> Pets appear often on children's memorials and in literature, including birds, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, rabbits and geese.<ref>[[#Rawson2003|Rawson (2003)]], pp. 129–130.</ref>
 
[[File:Casale Bikini modified.jpg|thumb|left|So-called "bikini girls" mosaic from the [[Villa del Casale]], [[Roman Sicily]], 4th century]]
After adolescence, most physical training for males was of a military nature. The [[Campus Martius]] originally was an exercise field where young men developed the skills of horsemanship and warfare. Hunting was also considered an appropriate pastime. According to [[Plutarch]], conservative Romans disapproved of Greek-style athletics that promoted a fine body for its own sake, and condemned [[Quinquennial Neronia|Nero's efforts to encourage gymnastic games]] in the Greek manner.<ref>Eyben, Emiel (1977) ''Restless Youth in Ancient Rome''. Routledge, pp. 79–82, 110.</ref>
 
Some women trained as gymnasts and dancers, and a rare few as [[gladiatrix|female gladiators]]. The famous "bikini girls" mosaic shows young women engaging in apparatus routines that might be compared to [[rhythmic gymnastics]].<ref group="n">Scholars are divided in their relative emphasis on the athletic and dance elements of these exercises: {{cite journal |author=Lee, H. |title=Athletics and the Bikini Girls from Piazza Armerina |journal=Stadion |volume=10 |year=1984 |pages=45–75}} sees them as gymnasts, while M. Torelli, "Piazza Armerina: Note di iconologia", in ''La Villa romana del Casale di Piazza Armerina,'' edited by G. Rizza (Catania, 1988), p. 152, thinks they are dancers at the games.</ref><ref>Dunbabin, Katherine M.D. (1999) ''Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World''. Cambridge University Press. p. 133. {{ISBN|0-521-00230-3}}.</ref> Women, in general, were encouraged to maintain their health through activities such as playing ball, swimming, walking, reading aloud (as a breathing exercise), riding in vehicles, and travel.<ref>Hanson, Ann Ellis (1991) "The Restructuring of Female Physiology at Rome," in ''Les écoles médicales à Rome''. Université de Nantes. pp. 260, 264, particularly citing the ''Gynecology'' of [[Soranus of Ephesus|Soranus]].</ref>
 
[[File:Roman Game of 12 Lines Board - Aphrodisias.jpg|thumb|Stone game board from [[Aphrodisias]]: boards could also be made of wood, with deluxe versions in costly materials such as ivory; game pieces or counters were bone, glass, or polished stone, and might be coloured or have markings or images<ref name=games>{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0017383500003119 |jstor=640979 |title=Roman Board Games. II |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=76–82 |year=2009 |last1=Austin |first1=R. G.}}</ref>]]
People of all ages played [[board game]]s pitting two players against each other, including ''[[ludus latrunculorum|latrunculi]]'' ("Raiders"), a game of strategy in which opponents coordinated the movements and capture of multiple game pieces, and ''[[Ludus duodecim scriptorum|XII scripta]]'' ("Twelve Marks"), involving [[dice]] and arranging pieces on a grid of letters or words.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1934 |jstor=641231 |title=Roman Board Games. I |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=24–34 |last1=Austin |first1=R. G. |doi=10.1017/s0017383500002941}}</ref> A game referred to as ''alea'' (dice) or ''tabula'' (the board), to which the emperor [[Claudius]] was notoriously addicted, may have been similar to [[backgammon]], using a dice-cup ''(pyrgus)''.<ref name=games/> Playing with [[dice]] as a form of gambling was disapproved of, but was a popular pastime during the December festival of the [[Saturnalia]] with its carnival, norms-overturned atmosphere.
 
===Clothing===
{{Main|Clothing in ancient Rome}}
In a status-conscious society like that of the Romans, clothing and personal adornment gave immediate visual clues about the etiquette of interacting with the wearer.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 230.</ref> Wearing the correct clothing was supposed to reflect a society in good order.<ref name=coon>Coon, Lynda L. (1997) ''Sacred Fictions: Holy Women and Hagiography in Late Antiquity''. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 57–58.</ref> The [[toga]] was the distinctive national garment of the Roman male citizen, but it was heavy and impractical, worn mainly for conducting political business and religious rites, and for going to court.<ref name="auto10">[[#Vout|Vout]], p. 216</ref><ref name=bieber>{{cite journal |author=Bieber, Margarete |title=Roman Men in Greek Himation ''(Romani Palliati)'' a Contribution to the History of Copying |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=103 |issue=3 |year=1959 |pages=374–417 |jstor=985474}}</ref> The clothing Romans wore ordinarily was dark or colourful, and the most common male attire seen daily throughout the provinces would have been tunics, cloaks, and in some regions [[braccae|trousers]].<ref>[[#Vout|Vout]], p. 218.</ref> The study of how Romans dressed in daily life is complicated by a lack of direct evidence, since portraiture may show the subject in clothing with symbolic value, and surviving textiles from the period are rare.<ref name=bieber/><ref>[[#Vout|Vout]], pp. 204–220, especially pp. 206, 211</ref><ref>Métraux, Guy P.R. (2008) "Prudery and ''Chic'' in Late Antique Clothing," in ''Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture''. University of Toronto Press. p. 286.</ref>
 
[[File:Roman fresco Villa dei Misteri Pompeii 004.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Women from the wall painting at the [[Villa of the Mysteries]], Pompeii]]
The basic garment for all Romans, regardless of gender or wealth, was the simple sleeved [[tunic]]. The length differed by wearer: a man's reached mid-calf, but a soldier's was somewhat shorter; a woman's fell to her feet, and a child's to its knees.<ref name="Ref-1">[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 231.</ref> The tunics of poor people and labouring slaves were made from coarse wool in natural, dull shades, with the length determined by the type of work they did. Finer tunics were made of lightweight wool or linen. A man who belonged to the senatorial or equestrian order wore a tunic with two purple stripes ''(clavi)'' woven vertically into the fabric: the wider the stripe, the higher the wearer's status.<ref name="Ref-1"/> Other garments could be layered over the tunic.
 
The Imperial toga was a "vast expanse" of semi-circular white wool that could not be put on and draped correctly without assistance.<ref name="auto10"/> In his work on oratory, [[Quintilian]] describes in detail how the public speaker ought to orchestrate his gestures in relation to his toga.<ref name=coon/><ref name=bieber/><ref>Quintilian, ''Institutio Oratoria'' 11.3.137–149</ref> In art, the toga is shown with the long end dipping between the feet, a deep curved fold in front, and a bulbous flap at the midsection.<ref name=bieber/> The drapery became more intricate and structured over time, with the cloth forming a tight roll across the chest in later periods.<ref>Métraux, Guy P.R. (2008) "Prudery and ''Chic'' in Late Antique Clothing," in ''Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture''. University of Toronto Press. pp. 282–283.</ref> The ''toga praetexta'', with a [[Tyrian purple|purple or purplish-red]] stripe representing inviolability, was worn by children who had not come of age, [[Executive magistrates of the Roman Empire|curule magistrates]], and state priests. Only the emperor could wear an all-purple toga ''(toga picta)''.<ref>Cleland, Liza (2007) ''Greek and Roman Dress from A to Z''. Routledge. p. 194.</ref>
 
{{multiple image
| width = 100
| footer = [[Claudius]] wearing an early Imperial toga (see a later, more structured toga [[#Central government|above]]), and the pallium as worn by a priest of [[Serapis]],<ref>Modern copy of a 2nd-century original, from the [[Louvre]].</ref> sometimes identified as the emperor [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]]
| image1 =Togato con tesa dell'imperatore claudio, inv. 2221.JPG
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 =
| alt2 =
| caption2 = <small>''Toga (at left)<br />and pallium''</small>
}}
In the 2nd century, emperors and men of status are often portrayed wearing the [[pallium]], an originally Greek mantle ''([[himation]])'' folded tightly around the body. Women are also portrayed in the pallium. [[Tertullian]] considered the pallium an appropriate garment both for Christians, in contrast to the toga, and for educated people, since it was associated with philosophers.<ref name=coon/><ref name=bieber/><ref>[[Tertullian]], ''De Pallio'' 5.2</ref> By the 4th century, the toga had been more or less replaced by the pallium as a garment that embodied social unity.<ref>[[#Vout|Vout]], p. 217.</ref>
 
Roman clothing styles changed over time, though not as rapidly as fashions today.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 232.</ref> In the [[Dominate]], clothing worn by both soldiers and government bureaucrats became highly decorated, with woven or embroidered stripes ''(clavi)'' and circular roundels ''(orbiculi)'' applied to tunics and cloaks. These decorative elements consisted of geometrical patterns, stylized plant motifs, and in more elaborate examples, human or animal figures.<ref>D'Amato, Raffaele (2005) ''Roman Military Clothing (3) AD&nbsp;400 to 640''. Osprey. pp. 7–9. {{ISBN|184176843X}}.</ref> The use of silk increased, and courtiers of the later Empire wore elaborate silk robes. The militarization of Roman society, and the waning of cultural life based on urban ideals, affected habits of dress: heavy military-style belts were worn by bureaucrats as well as soldiers, and the toga was abandoned.<ref>Wickham, Chris (2009) ''The Inheritance of Rome''. Penguin Books. p. 106. {{ISBN|978-0-670-02098-0}}</ref>
 
==Arts==
{{Main|Roman art}}
[[File:Zeffiro-e-clori---pompeii.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|''The Wedding of [[Zephyrus]] and [[Chloris]]'' (54–68 AD, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]]) within painted architectural panels from the Casa del Naviglio]]
People visiting or living in Rome or the cities throughout the Empire would have seen art in a range of [[Style (aesthetics)|styles]] and [[List of artistic media|media]] on a daily basis. [[Public art|Public or official art]]—including [[Roman sculpture|sculpture]], monuments such as [[List of Roman victory columns|victory columns]] or [[triumphal arch]]es, and the iconography on [[Roman currency|coins]]—is often analysed for its historical significance or as an expression of imperial ideology.<ref>[[#Kousser|Kousser]], p. 1</ref><ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 75–76.</ref> At Imperial public baths, a person of humble means could view wall paintings, [[Roman mosaic|mosaics]], statues, and [[Interior architecture|interior decoration]] often of high quality.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 82–83.</ref> In the private sphere, objects made for [[votum|religious dedications]], [[Roman funerals and burial|funerary commemoration]], domestic use, and commerce can show varying degrees of esthetic quality and artistic skill.<ref>Gazda, Elaine K. (1991) "Introduction", in ''Roman Art in the Private Sphere: Architecture and Décor of the Domus, Villa, and Insula''. University of Michigan Press. pp. 1–3. {{ISBN|047210196X}}.</ref> A wealthy person might advertise his appreciation of culture through painting, sculpture, and [[decorative arts]] at his home—though some efforts strike modern viewers and some ancient connoisseurs as strenuous rather than tasteful.<ref>[[Paul Zanker]], ''Pompeii: Public and Private Life,'' translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider (Harvard University Press, 1998, originally published 1995 in German), p. 189.</ref> [[ancient Greek art|Greek art]] had a profound influence on the Roman tradition, and some of the most famous examples of Greek statues are known only from Roman Imperial versions and the occasional description in a Greek or Latin literary source.<ref>[[#Kousser|Kousser]], pp. 4–5, 8.</ref>
 
Despite the high value placed on works of art, even famous artists were of low social status among the Greeks and Romans, who regarded artists, artisans, and craftsmen alike as manual labourers. At the same time, the level of skill required to produce quality work was recognized, and even considered a divine gift.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], pp. 312–313.</ref>
 
===Portraiture===
{{Main|Roman portraiture}}
{{multiple image
| width = 125
| footer = Two portraits circa 130 AD: the empress [[Vibia Sabina]] (left); and the ''[[Antinous Mondragone]]'', one of the [[:Commons: Category:Antinous|abundant likenesses]] of Hadrian's famously beautiful male companion [[Antinous]]
| image1 =Busto de Vibia Sabina (M. Prado) 01.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Antinous Mandragone profil.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
}}
 
Portraiture, which survives mainly in the medium of sculpture, was the most copious form of imperial art. Portraits during the Augustan period utilize youthful and [[classicism|classical proportions]], evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Toynbee |first=J. M. C. |date=December 1971 |title=Roman Art |journal=The Classical Review |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=439–442 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X00221331 |jstor=708631}}</ref> Republican portraits had been characterized by a "warts and all" [[verism]], but as early as the 2nd century BC, the Greek convention of [[heroic nudity]] was adopted sometimes for portraying conquering generals.<ref>Zanker, Paul (1988) ''The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus''. University of Michigan Press. p. 5ff.</ref> Imperial portrait sculptures may model the head as mature, even craggy, atop a nude or seminude body that is smooth and youthful with perfect musculature; a portrait head might even be added to a body created for another purpose.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 451.</ref> Clothed in the toga or military regalia, the body communicates rank or sphere of activity, not the characteristics of the individual.<ref>Fejfer, Jane (2008) ''Roman Portraits in Context''. Walter de Gruyter. p. 10.</ref>
 
Women of the emperor's family were often depicted dressed as goddesses or divine personifications such as [[Pax (mythology)|Pax]] ("Peace"). Portraiture in painting is represented primarily by the [[Fayum mummy portrait]]s, which evoke Egyptian and Roman traditions of commemorating the dead with the realistic painting techniques of the Empire. Marble portrait sculpture would have been painted, and while traces of paint have only rarely survived the centuries, the Fayum portraits indicate why ancient literary sources marvelled at how lifelike artistic representations could be.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 453.</ref>
 
[[File:Drunken satyr MAN Napoli Inv5628 n01.jpg|thumb|left|The bronze ''Drunken Satyr'', excavated at Herculaneum and exhibited in the 18th century, inspired an interest among later sculptors in similar "carefree" subjects.<ref>Mattusch, Carol C. (2005) ''The Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum: Life and Afterlife of a Sculpture Collection''. Getty Publications. p. 322.</ref>]]
 
===Sculpture===
{{Main|Roman sculpture}}
 
Examples of Roman sculpture survive abundantly, though often in damaged or fragmentary condition, including freestanding statues and statuettes in marble, bronze and [[Ancient Roman pottery#Terracotta figurines|terracotta]], and [[relief]]s from public buildings, temples, and monuments such as the [[Ara Pacis]], [[Trajan's Column]], and the [[Arch of Titus]]. Niches in amphitheatres such as the Colosseum were originally filled with statues,<ref>[[#Kousser|Kousser]], p. 13</ref><ref>Strong, Donald (1976, 1988) ''Roman Art''. Yale University Press. 2nd ed., p. 11.</ref> and no [[Roman gardens|formal garden]] was complete without statuary.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], pp. 274–275.</ref>
 
Temples housed the cult images of deities, often by famed sculptors.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 242.</ref> The religiosity of the Romans encouraged the production of decorated altars, small representations of deities for the household shrine or votive offerings, and other pieces for dedicating at temples. Divine and mythological figures were also given secular, humorous, and even obscene depictions. {{Citation needed|date=May 2015}}
[[File:Grande Ludovisi Altemps Inv8574.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|On the [[Ludovisi sarcophagus]], an example of the battle scenes favoured during the [[Crisis of the Third Century]], the "writhing and highly emotive" Romans and [[Goths]] fill the surface in a packed, anti-[[classicism|classical composition]]<ref>Kleiner, Fred S. (2007) ''A History of Roman Art''. Wadsworth. p. 272.</ref>]]
 
====Sarcophagi====
{{Main|Ancient Roman sarcophagi}}
Elaborately carved marble and limestone [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]] are characteristic of the 2nd to the 4th centuries<ref>[[Zahra Newby|Newby, Zahra]] (2011) "Myth and Death: Roman Mythological Sarcophagi," in ''A Companion to Greek Mythology''. Blackwell. p. 301.</ref> with at least 10,000 examples surviving.<ref>[[#Elsner|Elsner]], p. 1.</ref> Although [[classical mythology|mythological scenes]] have been most widely studied,<ref>[[#Elsner|Elsner]], p. 12.</ref> sarcophagus relief has been called the "richest single source of Roman iconography,"<ref>[[#Elsner|Elsner]], p. 14.</ref> and may also depict the deceased's occupation or life course, military scenes, and other subject matter. The same workshops produced sarcophagi with Jewish or Christian imagery.<ref>[[#Elsner|Elsner]], pp. 1, 9.</ref>
 
[[File:Primavera di Stabiae.jpg|thumb|upright=.5|left|The ''Primavera of [[Stabiae]]'', perhaps the goddess [[Flora (mythology)|Flora]]]]
 
===Painting===
Much of what is known of Roman painting is based on the interior decoration of private homes, particularly as preserved at [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]] by the [[Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79|eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD]]. In addition to decorative borders and panels with geometric or vegetative motifs, wall painting depicts scenes from mythology and the theatre, landscapes and gardens, [[#Recreation and spectacles|recreation and spectacles]], work and everyday life, and [[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum|frank pornography]]. Birds, animals, and marine life are often depicted with careful attention to realistic detail.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015|reason=Roman Painting in Pompeii}}
 
A unique source for Jewish [[figurative art|figurative painting]] under the Empire is the [[Dura-Europos synagogue]], dubbed "the Pompeii of the Syrian Desert,"<ref group="n">By [[Michael Rostovtzeff]], as noted by Robin M. Jensen (1999) "The Dura-Europos Synagogue, Early-Christian Art and Religious Life in Dura Europos," in ''Jews, Christians and Polytheists in the Ancient Synagogue: Cultural Interaction during the Greco-Roman Period''. Routledge. p. 154.</ref> buried and preserved in the mid-3rd century after the city was destroyed by Persians.<ref>Hachlili, Rachel (1998) ''Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Diaspora''. Brill. p. 96ff.</ref><ref>Schreckenberg, Heinz and Schubert, Kurt (1991) ''Jewish Historiography and Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity''. Fortress Press. p. 171ff.</ref>
 
===Mosaic===
{{Main|Roman mosaic}}
[[File:Neptune Roman mosaic Bardo Museum Tunis.jpg|thumb|''[[Neptune (mythology)|The Triumph of Neptune]]'' floor mosaic from [[Africa Proconsularis]] (present-day Tunisia), celebrating agricultural success with allegories of the Seasons, vegetation, workers and animals viewable from multiple perspectives in the room (latter 2nd century)<ref name="Mosaic p. 463">[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 463.</ref>]]
[[Mosaic]]s are among the most enduring of Roman [[decorative arts]], and are found on the surfaces of floors and other architectural features such as walls, vaulted ceilings, and columns. The most common form is the [[opus tessellatum|tessellated mosaic]], formed from uniform pieces ''([[tessera]]e)'' of materials such as stone and glass.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 459.</ref> Mosaics were usually crafted on site, but sometimes assembled and shipped as ready-made panels. A mosaic workshop was led by the master artist ''(pictor)'' who worked with two grades of assistants.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], pp. 459–460.</ref>
 
[[Figurative art|Figurative]] mosaics share many themes with painting, and in some cases portray subject matter in almost identical [[Composition (visual arts)|compositions]]. Although geometric patterns and mythological scenes occur throughout the Empire, regional preferences also find expression. In North Africa, a particularly rich source of mosaics, homeowners often chose scenes of life on their estates, hunting, agriculture, and local wildlife.<ref name="Mosaic p. 463"/> Plentiful and major examples of Roman mosaics come also from present-day Turkey, Italy, southern France, Spain, and Portugal. More than 300 [[Antioch mosaics]] from the 3rd century are known.<ref>{{cite web |title=Antioch and the Bath of Apolausis - History of the excavations |url=https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/excavations-antioch/ |website=J. Paul Getty Museum |access-date=16 June 2020}}</ref>
 
''[[Opus sectile]]'' is a related technique in which flat stone, usually coloured marble, is cut precisely into shapes from which geometric or figurative patterns are formed. This more difficult technique was highly prized and became especially popular for luxury surfaces in the 4th century, an abundant example of which is the [[Basilica of Junius Bassus]].<ref>Dunbabin, Katherine M.D. (1999) ''Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World''. Cambridge University Press. p. 254ff. {{ISBN|0-521-00230-3}}.</ref>
 
===Decorative arts===
{{See also|Ancient Roman pottery|Roman glass}}
[[Decorative arts]] for luxury consumers included fine pottery, silver and bronze vessels and implements, and glassware. The manufacture of pottery in a wide range of quality was important to trade and employment, as were the glass and metalworking industries. Imports stimulated new regional centres of production. Southern Gaul became a leading producer of the finer red-gloss pottery ''([[terra sigillata]])'' that was a major item of trade in 1st-century Europe.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 202.</ref> [[Glassblowing]] was regarded by the Romans as originating in Syria in the 1st century BC, and by the 3rd century, Egypt and the [[Rhineland]] had become noted for fine glass.<ref>Butcher, Kevin (2003) ''Roman Syria and the Near East''. Getty Publications. p. 201ff. {{ISBN|0-89236-715-6}}.</ref><ref>[[#Bowman|Bowman]], p. 421.</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="120">
File:Skyphos Boscoreale Louvre Bj2367.jpg|Silver [[skyphos|cup]], from the [[Boscoreale Treasure]] (early 1st century AD)
File:Céramique sigillée Metz 100109 2.jpg|Finely decorated Gallo-Roman ''[[terra sigillata]]'' bowl
File:Boucles d'oreilles 3ème siècle Musée de Laon 030208.jpg|Gold earrings with gemstones, 3rd century
File:Roman diatretglas.jpg|Glass [[cage cup]] from the Rhineland, 4th century
</gallery>
 
===Performing arts===
{{Main|Theatre of ancient Rome|Music of ancient Rome}}
 
In Roman tradition, borrowed from the Greeks, literary theatre was performed by all-male troupes that used face masks with exaggerated facial expressions that allowed audiences to "see" how a character was feeling. Such masks were occasionally also specific to a particular role, and an actor could then play multiple roles merely by switching masks. Female roles were played by men in [[Drag (clothing)|drag]] (''[[travesti (theatre)|travesti]]''). Roman literary theatre tradition is particularly well represented in [[#Literature|Latin literature]] by the tragedies of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]. The circumstances under which Seneca's tragedies were performed are however unclear; scholarly conjectures range from minimally staged readings to full production pageants. More popular than literary theatre was the genre-defying ''mimus'' theatre, which featured scripted scenarios with free improvization, risqué language and jokes, sex scenes, action sequences, and political satire, along with dance numbers, juggling, acrobatics, tightrope walking, striptease, and [[dancing bear]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/4350348 |jstor=4350348 |title=Mime: The Missing Link in Roman Literary History |journal=The Classical World |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=153–163 |year=1989 |last1=Fantham |first1=R. Elaine}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/1192603 |jstor=1192603 |title=Mime Problems: Cicero ''Ad fam''. 7.1 and Martial 9.38 |journal=Phoenix |volume=56 |issue=3/4 |pages=315–329 |year=2002 |last1=Slater |first1=William J.}}</ref><ref>[[#Potter1999|Potter (1999)]], p. 257.</ref> Unlike literary theatre, ''mimus'' was played without masks, and encouraged stylistic realism in acting. Female roles were performed by women, not by men.<ref>[[Gian Biagio Conte]] (1994) ''Latin Literature: A History''. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 128.</ref> ''Mimus'' was related to the genre called ''pantomimus'', an early form of [[story ballet]] that contained no spoken dialogue. ''Pantomimus'' combined expressive dancing, instrumental music and a sung [[libretto]], often mythological, that could be either tragic or comic.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/294916 |jstor=294916 |title=Pantomimists at Pompeii: Actius Anicetus and His Troupe |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=95–107 |year=1987 |last1=Franklin |first1=James L.}}</ref><ref>Starks, John H. Jr. (2008) "Pantomime Actresses in Latin Inscriptions," in ''New Directions in Ancient Pantomime''. Oxford University Press. pp. 95, 14ff.</ref>
 
[[File:Choregos actors MAN Napoli Inv9986.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|All-male theatrical troupe preparing for a masked performance, on a mosaic from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]]]]
Although sometimes regarded as foreign elements in Roman culture, music and dance had existed in Rome from earliest times.<ref name="auto11">[[#Naerebout|Naerebout]], p. 146.</ref> Music was customary at funerals, and the ''tibia'' (Greek ''[[aulos]]''), a woodwind instrument, was played at sacrifices to ward off ill influences.<ref name=klar>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00438243.1981.9979806 |jstor=124243 |title=The archaeology of musical instruments in Germany during the Roman period |journal=World Archaeology |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=313–320 |year=2010 |last1=Ginsberg‐Klar |first1=Maria E.}}</ref> Song ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#carmen|carmen]])'' was an integral part of almost every social occasion. The ''[[Carmen Saeculare|Secular Ode]]'' of [[Horace]], commissioned by Augustus, was performed publicly in 17 BC by a mixed children's choir. Music was thought to reflect the orderliness of the cosmos, and was associated particularly with mathematics and knowledge.<ref>[[#Habinek2005|Habinek (2005)]], p. 90ff.</ref>
 
Various woodwinds and [[brass instrument|"brass" instruments]] were played, as were [[stringed instruments]] such as the ''[[cithara]]'', and percussion.<ref name=klar/> The ''[[Cornu (horn)|cornu]]'', a long tubular metal wind instrument that curved around the musician's body, was used for military signals and on parade.<ref name=klar/> These instruments are found in parts of the Empire where they did not originate and indicate that music was among the aspects of Roman culture that spread throughout the provinces. Instruments are widely depicted in Roman art.<ref>{{cite book |title=Musicians and Musical Instruments in Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaics of the Land of Israel: Sources, Precursors and Significance |publisher=Tel Aviv University |author=Sonia Mucznik}}</ref>
 
The hydraulic pipe organ ''([[hydraulis]])'' was "one of the most significant technical and musical achievements of antiquity", and accompanied gladiator games and events in the amphitheatre, as well as stage performances. It was among the instruments that the emperor Nero played.<ref name=klar/>
 
Although certain forms of dance were disapproved of at times as non-Roman or unmanly, dancing was embedded in religious rituals of archaic Rome, such as those of the dancing armed [[Salii|Salian priests]] and of the [[Arval Brothers]], priesthoods which underwent a revival during the Principate.<ref>[[#Naerebout|Naerebout]], p. 146ff.</ref> Ecstatic dancing was a feature of the international [[mystery religions]], particularly the cult of [[Cybele]] as practiced by her eunuch priests the [[Galli]]<ref>[[#Naerebout|Naerebout]], pp. 154, 157.</ref> and of [[Isis]]. In the secular realm, dancing girls from [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]] and [[Cádiz|Cadiz]] were extremely popular.<ref>[[#Naerebout|Naerebout]], pp. 156–157.</ref>
 
Like [[gladiator]]s, entertainers were ''[[infamia|infames]]'' in the eyes of the law, little better than slaves even if they were technically free. "Stars", however, could enjoy considerable wealth and celebrity, and mingled socially and often sexually with the upper classes, including emperors.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the ''cinaedus'' and the Roman Law against Love between Men |jstor=3704392 |author=Richlin, Amy |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=3 |issue=4 |year=1993 |pages=539–540}}</ref> Performers supported each other by forming guilds, and several memorials for members of the theatre community survive.<ref>Csapo, Eric and Slater, William J. (1994) ''The Context of Ancient Drama''. University of Michigan Press. p. 377.</ref> Theatre and dance were often condemned by [[Christian polemic]]ists in the later Empire,<ref name="auto11"/> and Christians who integrated dance traditions and music into their worship practices were regarded by the [[Church Fathers]] as shockingly "pagan."<ref>[[Ramsay MacMullen|MacMullen, Ramsay]] (1984) ''Christianizing the Roman Empire: (A. D. 100–400)''. Yale University Press. pp. 74–75, 84.</ref> [[St. Augustine]] is supposed to have said that bringing clowns, actors, and dancers into a house was like inviting in a gang of [[unclean spirit]]s.<ref>As quoted by [[Alcuin]], ''Epistula'' 175 ''(Nescit homo, qui histriones et mimos et saltatores introduct in domum suam, quam magna eos immundorum sequitur turba spiritum)''</ref><ref>Hen, Yitzhak (1995) ''Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, AD 481–751''. Brill. p. 230.</ref>
 
==Literacy, books, and education==
{{Missing information|the use of papyrus or parchment scrolls, which were very common before the invention of the codex|date=April 2017}}
{{Main|Education in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Meister des Porträts des Paquius Proculus 001.jpg|thumb|Pride in literacy was displayed in portraiture through emblems of reading and writing, as in this example of a couple from Pompeii ([[Portrait of Paquius Proculo]]).]]
 
Estimates of the average [[literacy rate]] in the Empire range from 5 to 30% or higher, depending in part on the definition of "literacy".<ref name=":6">[[#Harris|Harris]], p. 5</ref><ref>[[#Johnson2009|Johnson (2009)]], pp. 3–4</ref><ref name=kraus>{{cite journal |jstor=4433101 |author=Kraus, T.J. |title=(Il)literacy in Non-Literary Papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt: Further Aspects of the Educational Ideal in Ancient Literary Sources and Modern Times |journal=Mnemosyne |volume=53 |issue=3 |year=2000 |pages=322–342 (325–327) |doi=10.1163/156852500510633}}</ref><ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 89, 97–98.</ref> The Roman obsession with documents and public inscriptions indicates the high value placed on the written word.<ref>Mattern, Susan P. (1999) ''Rome and the Enemy: Imperial Strategy in the Principate''. University of California Press. p. 197</ref><ref name=morgan>Morgan, Teresa (1998) ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–2</ref><ref>[[#Johnson2009|Johnson (2009)]], p. 46ff.</ref><ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 97.</ref><ref>[[Clifford Ando]] poses the question as "what good would 'posted edicts' do in a world of low literacy?' in [[#Ando|Ando]], p. 101 (see also p. 87 on "the government's obsessive documentation").</ref> The Imperial bureaucracy was so dependent on writing that the [[Babylonian Talmud]] declared "if all seas were ink, all reeds were pen, all skies parchment, and all men scribes, they would be unable to set down the full scope of the Roman government's concerns."<ref>[[#Ando|Ando]], pp. 86–87.</ref> Laws and edicts were posted in writing as well as read out. Illiterate Roman subjects would have someone such as a government scribe ''([[scriba (ancient Rome)|scriba]])'' read or write their official documents for them.<ref name=kraus/><ref>[[#Ando|Ando]], p. 101</ref> Public art and religious ceremonies were ways to communicate imperial ideology regardless of ability to read.<ref>[[#Ando|Ando]], pp. 152, 210.</ref> The Romans had an extensive [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#libri pontificales|priestly archive]], and inscriptions appear throughout the Empire in connection with statues and small [[votum|votives]] dedicated by ordinary people to divinities, as well as on [[defixio|binding tablets]] and other "[[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|magic spells]]", with hundreds of examples collected in the [[Greek Magical Papyri]].<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Beard, Mary]] (1991) "Ancient Literacy and the Written Word in Roman Religion," in ''Literacy in the Roman World''. University of Michigan Press. p. 59ff</ref><ref>Dickie, Matthew (2001) ''Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World''. Routledge. pp. 94–95, 181–182, and 196</ref><ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 555</ref><ref>[[#Harris|Harris]], pp. 29, 218–219.</ref> The military produced a vast amount of written reports and service records,<ref>Phang, Sara Elise (2011) "Military Documents, Languages, and Literacy," in ''A Companion to the Roman Army''. Blackwell. pp. 286–301.</ref> and literacy in the army was "strikingly high".<ref>Mattern, ''Rome and the Enemy,'' p. 197, citing [[#Harris|Harris]], pp. 253–255.</ref> Urban graffiti, which include literary quotations, and low-quality inscriptions with misspellings and [[solecism]]s indicate casual literacy among non-elites.<ref>[[#Harris|Harris]], pp. 9, 48, 215, 248, 258–269</ref><ref>[[#Johnson2009|Johnson (2009)]], pp. 47, 54, 290ff.</ref><ref group="n">Political slogans and obscenities are widely preserved as graffiti in Pompeii: Antonio Varone, ''Erotica Pompeiana: Love Inscriptions on the Walls of Pompeii'' ("L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 2002). Soldiers sometimes inscribed [[sling bullet]]s with aggressive messages: Phang, "Military Documents, Languages, and Literacy," p. 300.</ref><ref name=curchin/> In addition, [[numeracy]] was necessary for any form of commerce.<ref name=morgan/><ref>Mattern, ''Rome and the Enemy,'' p. 197</ref> Slaves were numerate and literate in significant numbers, and some were highly educated.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], pp. 19–20.</ref>
 
Books were expensive, since each copy had to be written out individually on a roll of papyrus ''(volumen)'' by scribes who had apprenticed to the trade.<ref name=j17>[[#Johnson2010|Johnson (2010)]], pp. 17–18.</ref> The [[codex]]—a book with pages bound to a spine—was still a novelty in the time of the poet [[Martial]] (1st century AD),<ref>Martial, ''Epigrams'' 1.2 and 14.184–92, as cited by [[#Johnson2010|Johnson (2010)]], p. 17</ref><ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 83–84.</ref> but by the end of the 3rd century was replacing the ''volumen''<ref name=j17/><ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 84–85.</ref> and was the regular form for books with Christian content.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], p. 84.</ref> Commercial production of books had been established by the late Republic,<ref name=m253>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], p. 253.</ref> and by the 1st century AD certain neighbourhoods of Rome were known for their bookshops ''(tabernae librariae)'', which were found also in Western provincial cities such as [[Lugdunum]] (present-day Lyon, France).<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], p. 71</ref><ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], p. 253, citing on the book trade in the provinces Pliny the Younger, ''Epistulae'' 9.11.2; Martial, ''Epigrams'' 7.88; Horace, ''Carmina'' 2.20.13f. and ''Ars Poetica'' 345; Ovid, ''Tristia'' 4.9.21 and 4.10.128; Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'' 35.2.11; Sidonius, ''Epistulae'' 9.7.1.</ref> The quality of editing varied wildly, and some ancient authors complain about error-ridden copies,<ref name=m253/><ref>Strabo 13.1.54, 50.13.419; Martial, ''Epigrams'' 2.8; [[Lucian]], ''Adversus Indoctum'' 1</ref> as well as [[plagiarism]] or [[literary forgery|forgery]], since there was no [[copyright law]].<ref name=m253/> A skilled slave copyist ''(servus litteratus)'' could be valued as highly as 100,000 [[Sestertius|sesterces]].<ref>According to [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Epistulae'' 27.6f.</ref><ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], p. 254.</ref>
 
[[File:Wachstafel rem.jpg|thumb|left|Reconstruction of a [[Wax tablet|writing tablet]]: the ''stylus'' was used to inscribe letters into the wax surface for drafts, casual letterwriting, and schoolwork, while texts meant to be permanent were copied onto papyrus.]]
Collectors amassed personal libraries,<ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], pp. 252–264.</ref> such as that of the [[Herculaneum papyri|Villa of the Papyri]] in Herculaneum, and a fine library was part of the cultivated leisure ''([[otium]])'' associated with the villa lifestyle.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 67–68.</ref> Significant collections might attract "in-house" scholars; [[Lucian]] mocked mercenary Greek intellectuals who attached themselves to [[wikt:philistine|philistine]] Roman patrons.<ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], pp. 257, 260.</ref> An individual benefactor might endow a community with a library: [[Pliny the Younger]] gave the city of [[Comum]] a library valued at 1 million sesterces, along with another 100,000 to maintain it.<ref>Pliny, ''Epistulae'' 1.8.2; ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 5.5262 (= ''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae|ILS]]'' 2927)</ref><ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], p. 255.</ref> Imperial libraries housed in state buildings were open to users as a privilege on a limited basis, and represented a [[literary canon]] from which disreputable writers could be excluded.<ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], 261–262</ref><ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], p. 70.</ref> Books considered subversive might be publicly burned,<ref>Tacitus, ''Agricola'' 2.1 and ''Annales'' 4.35 and 14.50; [[Pliny the Younger]], ''Epistulae'' 7.19.6; Suetonius, ''Augustus'' 31, ''Tiberius'' 61.3, and ''Caligula'' 16</ref> and [[Domitian]] crucified copyists for reproducing works deemed treasonous.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''Domitian'' 10; Quintilian, ''Institutio Oratoria'' 9.2.65</ref><ref>[[#Marshall|Marshall]], p. 263.</ref>
 
Literary texts were often shared aloud at meals or with reading groups.<ref>[[#Johnson2009|Johnson (2009)]], pp. 114ff, 186ff.</ref><ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 372.</ref> Scholars such as [[Pliny the Elder]] engaged in "[[Human multitasking|multitasking]]" by having works read aloud to them while they dined, bathed or travelled, times during which they might also dictate drafts or notes to their secretaries.<ref>[[#Johnson2010|Johnson (2010)]] p. 14.</ref> The multivolume ''Attic Nights'' of [[Aulus Gellius]] is an extended exploration of how Romans constructed their literary culture.<ref>[[#Johnson2009|Johnson (2009)]], p. 320ff.</ref> The reading public expanded from the 1st through the 3rd century, and while those who read for pleasure remained a minority, they were no longer confined to a sophisticated ruling elite, reflecting the social fluidity of the Empire as a whole and giving rise to "consumer literature" meant for entertainment.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 68–69, 78–79.</ref> Illustrated books, including erotica, were popular, but are poorly represented by extant fragments.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 81–82.</ref>
 
===Primary education===
[[File:Roman school.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A teacher with two students, as a third arrives with his ''loculus,'' a writing case that would contain pens, ink pot, and a sponge to correct errors<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 95.</ref>]]
Traditional Roman education was moral and practical. Stories about great men and women, or cautionary tales about individual failures, were meant to instil Roman values ''([[mos maiorum|mores maiorum]])''. Parents and family members were expected to act as role models, and parents who worked for a living passed their skills on to their children, who might also enter apprenticeships for more advanced training in crafts or trades.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 84–85.</ref> Formal education was available only to children from families who could pay for it, and the lack of state intervention in access to education contributed to the low rate of literacy.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], p. 108</ref><ref name="p89">[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 89.</ref>
 
Young children were attended by a ''[[Education in ancient Greece|pedagogus]],'' or less frequently a female ''pedagoga'', usually a Greek slave or former slave.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], pp. 113–116.</ref> The pedagogue kept the child safe, taught self-discipline and public behaviour, attended class and helped with tutoring.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 90, 92</ref> The emperor [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]] recalled his pedagogue [[Mardonius (philosopher)|Mardonius]], a [[Goths|Gothic]] [[eunuch]] slave who reared him from the age of 7 to 15, with affection and gratitude. Usually, however, pedagogues received little respect.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], pp. 116–121.</ref>
 
Primary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic might take place at home for privileged children whose parents hired or bought a teacher.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 87–89.</ref> Others attended a school that was "public," though not state-supported, organized by an individual schoolmaster ''([[ludi magister|ludimagister]])'' who accepted fees from multiple parents.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], p. 122.</ref> ''Vernae'' (homeborn slave children) might share in-home or public schooling.<ref name=p90>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 90.</ref> Schools became more numerous during the Empire and increased the opportunities for children to acquire an education.<ref name="p89"/> School could be held regularly in a rented space, or in any available public niche, even outdoors. Boys and girls received primary education generally from ages 7 to 12, but classes were not segregated by grade or age.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], pp. 107–108, 132.</ref> For the socially ambitious, bilingual education in Greek as well as Latin was a must.<ref name="p89"/>
 
[[Quintilian]] provides the most extensive theory of primary education in Latin literature. According to Quintilian, each child has in-born ''ingenium,'' a talent for learning or linguistic intelligence that is ready to be cultivated and sharpened, as evidenced by the young child's ability to memorize and imitate. The child incapable of learning was rare. To Quintilian, ''ingenium'' represented a potential best realized in the social setting of school, and he argued against homeschooling. He also recognized the importance of play in child development,<ref group="n">Bloomer, W. Martin (2011) ''The School of Rome: Latin Studies and the Origins of Liberal Education'' (University of California Press, 2011), pp. 93–99; Morgan, ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds,'' p. 250. Quintilian uses the metaphor ''acuere ingenium,'' "to sharpen talent," as well as agricultural metaphors.</ref> and disapproved of [[corporal punishment]] because it discouraged love of learning—in contrast to the practice in most Roman primary schools of routinely striking children with a cane ''(ferula)'' or birch rod for being slow or disruptive.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 93–94.</ref>
 
===Secondary education===
[[File:Plato's Academy mosaic from Pompeii.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Mosaic from Pompeii depicting the [[Academy of Plato]]]]
At the age of 14, upperclass males made their [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Rites of passage|rite of passage]] into adulthood, and began to learn leadership roles in political, religious, and military life through mentoring from a senior member of their family or a family friend.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 88, 106</ref> Higher education was provided by ''[[wikt:grammaticus|grammatici]]'' or ''[[rhetor]]es''.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], p. 109.</ref> The ''grammaticus'' or "grammarian" taught mainly Greek and Latin literature, with history, geography, philosophy or mathematics treated as [[explication]]s of the text.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], p. 132.</ref> With the rise of Augustus, contemporary Latin authors such as Vergil and Livy also became part of the curriculum.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], pp. 439, 442.</ref> The ''rhetor'' was a teacher of oratory or public speaking. The art of speaking ''(ars dicendi)'' was highly prized as a marker of social and intellectual superiority, and ''eloquentia'' ("speaking ability, eloquence") was considered the "glue" of a civilized society.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 102–103, 105.</ref> Rhetoric was not so much a body of knowledge (though it required a command of references to the [[literary canon]]<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 104–105.</ref>) as it was a mode of expression and decorum that distinguished those who held social power.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], pp. 103, 106.</ref> The ancient model of rhetorical training—"restraint, coolness under pressure, modesty, and good humour"<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 110.</ref>—endured into the 18th century as a Western educational ideal.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 107.</ref>
 
In Latin, ''illiteratus'' (Greek ''agrammatos'') could mean both "unable to read and write" and "lacking in cultural awareness or sophistication."<ref name=":6"/> Higher education promoted career advancement, particularly for an equestrian in Imperial service: "eloquence and learning were considered marks of a well-bred man and worthy of reward".<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/299555 |jstor=299555 |title=Promotion and Patronage in Equestrian Careers |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=70 |pages=44–63 |year=2012 |last1=Saller |first1=R. P.}}</ref> The poet Horace, for instance, was given a top-notch education by his father, a prosperous former slave.<ref>Armstron, David (2010) "The Biographical and Social Foundations of Horace's Poetic Voice," in ''A Companion to Horace''. Blackwell. p. 11</ref><ref>Lyne, R.O.A.M. (1995) ''Horace: Beyond the Public Poetry''. Yale University Press. pp. 2–3</ref><ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 94.</ref>
 
Urban elites throughout the Empire shared a literary culture embued with Greek educational ideals ''([[paideia]])''.<ref>[[#Potter2009|Potter (2009)]], p. 598.</ref> Hellenistic cities sponsored schools of higher learning as an expression of cultural achievement.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], pp. 109–110.</ref> Young men from Rome who wished to pursue the highest levels of education often went abroad to study rhetoric and philosophy, mostly to one of several Greek schools in Athens. The curriculum in the East was more likely to include music and physical training along with literacy and numeracy.<ref>[[#Peachin|Peachin]], p. 88.</ref> On the Hellenistic model, Vespasian [[endowed chair]]s of grammar, Latin and Greek rhetoric, and philosophy at Rome, and gave teachers special exemptions from taxes and legal penalties, though primary schoolmasters did not receive these benefits. Quintilian held the first chair of grammar.<ref>[[#Laes|Laes]], p. 110</ref><ref name="auto12">[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 19.</ref> In the eastern empire, [[Berytus]] (present-day [[Beirut]]) was unusual in offering a Latin education, and became famous for its [[Law School of Beirut|school of Roman law]].<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 18.</ref> The cultural movement known as the [[Second Sophistic]] (1st–3rd century AD) promoted the assimilation of Greek and Roman social, educational, and esthetic values, and the Greek proclivities for which Nero had been criticized were regarded from the time of [[Hadrian]] onward as integral to Imperial culture.<ref>The wide-ranging 21st-century scholarship on the Second Sophistic includes ''Being Greek under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire'', edited by [[Simon Goldhill]] (Cambridge University Press, 2001); ''Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic,'' edited by Barbara E. Borg (De Gruyter, 2004); and Tim Whitmarsh, ''The Second Sophistic'' (Oxford University Press, 2005).</ref>
 
===Educated women===
[[File:Herkulaneischer Meister 002.jpg|thumb|Portrait of a literary woman from Pompeii (ca. 50 AD)]]
Literate women ranged from cultured aristocrats to girls trained to be [[calligrapher]]s and [[scribe]]s.<ref name=h122>[[Thomas Habinek|Habinek, Thomas N.]] (1998) ''The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome''. Princeton University Press. pp. 122–123</ref><ref>[[#Rawson2003|Rawson (2003)]], p. 80.</ref> The "girlfriends" addressed in Augustan love poetry, although fictional, represent an ideal that a desirable woman should be educated, well-versed in the arts, and independent to a frustrating degree.<ref>James, Sharon L. (2003) ''Learned Girls and Male Persuasion: Gender and Reading in Roman Love Elegy''. University of California Press. pp. 21–25</ref><ref>Johnson, W.R. "Propertius," pp. 42–43, and Sharon L. James, "Elegy and New Comedy," p. 262, both in ''A Companion to Roman Love Elegy''. Blackwell, 2012.</ref> Education seems to have been standard for daughters of the senatorial and equestrian orders during the Empire.<ref name=p90/> A highly educated wife was an asset for the socially ambitious household, but one that Martial regards as an unnecessary luxury.<ref name=h122/>
 
The woman who achieved the greatest prominence in the ancient world for her learning was [[Hypatia of Alexandria]], who educated young men in mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy, and advised the Roman [[prefect of Egypt]] on politics. Her influence put her into conflict with the [[bishop of Alexandria]], [[Cyril of Alexandria|Cyril]], who may have been implicated in her violent death in 415 at the hands of a Christian mob.<ref>[[#Gagarin|Gagarin]], p. 20.</ref>
 
===Shape of literacy===
Literacy began to decline, perhaps dramatically, during the socio-political [[Crisis of the Third Century]].<ref>[[#Harris|Harris]], p. 3.</ref> After the Christianization of the Roman Empire the Christians and [[Church Fathers]] adopted and used Latin and Greek pagan literature, philosophy and natural science with a vengeance to biblical
interpretation.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057418 |last=Numbers |first=Ronald |title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion |page=18 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-03327-6}}</ref>
 
[[Edward Grant]] writes that:
 
<blockquote>With the total triumph of Christianity at the end of the fourth century, the Church might have reacted against Greek pagan learning in general, and Greek philosophy in particular, finding much in the latter that was unacceptable or perhaps even offensive. They might have launched a major effort to suppress pagan learning as a danger to the Church and its doctrines.
But they did not. Why not?
Perhaps it was in the slow dissemination of Christianity. After four centuries as members of a distinct religion, Christians had learned to live with Greek secular learning and to utilize it for their own benefit. Their education was heavily infiltrated by Latin and Greek pagan literature and philosophy... Although Christians found certain aspects of pagan culture and learning unacceptable, they did not view them as a cancer to be cut out of the Christian body.<ref>Grant, Edvard. (1996) "The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. Page 4.</ref></blockquote>
 
Julian, the only emperor after the conversion of Constantine to reject Christianity, banned Christians from teaching the Classical curriculum, on the grounds that they might corrupt the minds of youth.<ref name="auto12"/>
 
While the book roll had emphasized the continuity of the text, the codex format encouraged a "piecemeal" approach to reading by means of citation, fragmented interpretation, and the extraction of maxims.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 87–89.</ref>
 
In the 5th and 6th centuries, due to the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|gradual decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire]], reading became rarer even for those within the Church hierarchy.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], p. 86.</ref> However, in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], also known as [[Byzantine Empire]], reading continued throughout the Middle Ages as reading was of primary importance as an instrument of the Byzantine civilization.<ref>[[#Cavallo|Cavallo]], pp. 15-16.</ref>
 
==Literature==
{{Main|Latin literature}}
{{See also|Roman historiography|Church Fathers|Latin poetry}}
[[File:Ovidiu03.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue in [[Constanța]], Romania (the ancient colony Tomis), commemorating [[Exile of Ovid|Ovid's exile]]]]
In the traditional [[literary canon]], [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|literature under Augustus]], along with that of the late Republic, has been viewed as the "Golden Age" of Latin literature, embodying the [[classicism|classical ideals]] of "unity of the whole, the proportion of the parts, and the careful articulation of an apparently seamless composition."<ref>[[#Roberts|Roberts]], p. 3.</ref> The three most influential Classical Latin poets—[[Vergil]], [[Horace]], and [[Ovid]]—belong to this period. Vergil wrote the ''[[Aeneid]]'', creating a national epic for Rome in the manner of the [[Homeric epics]] of Greece. Horace perfected the use of [[Greek lyric]] [[Metre (poetry)|metres]] in Latin verse. Ovid's erotic poetry was enormously popular, but ran afoul of the Augustan moral programme; it was one of the ostensible causes for which the emperor exiled him to Tomis (present-day [[Constanța]], Romania), where he remained to the end of his life. Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' was a continuous poem of fifteen books weaving together [[Greco-Roman mythology]] from the [[Greek mythology#Cosmogony and cosmology|creation of the universe]] to the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|deification of Julius Caesar]]. Ovid's versions of [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]] became one of the primary sources of later [[classical mythology]], and his work was so influential in the [[medieval literature|Middle Ages]] that the 12th and 13th centuries have been called the "Age of Ovid."<ref>''Aetas Ovidiana''; Charles McNelis, "Ovidian Strategies in Early Imperial Literature," in ''A Companion to Ovid'' (Blackwell, 2007), p. 397.</ref>
 
The principal Latin prose author of the Augustan age is the [[Roman historiography|historian]] [[Livy]], whose account of [[founding of Rome|Rome's founding]] and early history became the most familiar version in modern-era literature. [[Vitruvius]]'s book ''[[De Architectura]]'', the only complete work on architecture to survive from antiquity, also belongs to this period.
 
Latin writers were immersed in the [[ancient Greek literature|Greek literary tradition]], and adapted its forms and much of its content, but Romans regarded satire as a genre in which they surpassed the Greeks. Horace wrote verse satires before fashioning himself as an Augustan court poet, and the early Principate also produced the satirists [[Persius]] and [[Juvenal]]. The [[satires of Juvenal|poetry of Juvenal]] offers a lively curmudgeon's perspective on urban society.
 
The period from the mid-1st century through the mid-2nd century has conventionally been called the "[[Silver age|Silver Age]]" of Latin literature. Under Nero, disillusioned writers reacted to Augustanism.<ref>[[#Roberts|Roberts]], p. 8.</ref> The three leading writers—[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] the philosopher, dramatist, and tutor of Nero; [[Lucan]], his nephew, who turned [[Caesar's civil war]] into [[Pharsalia|an epic poem]]; and the novelist [[Petronius]] ''([[Satyricon]])''—all committed suicide after incurring the emperor's displeasure. Seneca and Lucan were from Hispania, as was the later [[epigram]]matist and keen social observer [[Martial]], who expressed his pride in his [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] heritage.<ref name=curchin/> Martial and the epic poet [[Statius]], whose poetry collection ''[[Silvae]]'' had a far-reaching influence on [[Renaissance literature]],<ref>van Dam, Harm-Jan (2008) "Wandering Woods Again: From Poliziano to Grotius," in ''The Poetry of Statius''. Brill. p. 45ff.</ref> wrote during the reign of [[Domitian]].
 
The so-called "Silver Age" produced several distinguished writers, including the encyclopedist [[Pliny the Elder]]; his nephew, known as [[Pliny the Younger]]; and the historian [[Tacitus]]. The ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' of the elder Pliny, who died during disaster relief efforts in the wake of the eruption of [[Vesuvius]], is a vast collection on flora and fauna, gems and minerals, climate, medicine, freaks of nature, works of art, and [[antiquarian]] lore. Tacitus's reputation as a literary artist matches or exceeds his value as a historian;<ref>Jonathan Master, "The ''Histories''," in ''A Companion to Tacitus'' (Blackwell, 2012), p. 88.</ref> his stylistic experimentation produced "one of the most powerful of Latin prose styles."<ref>Sage, Michael M. (1990) "Tacitus' Historical Works: A Survey and Appraisal," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.33.2, p. 853.</ref> ''[[The Twelve Caesars]]'' by his contemporary [[Suetonius]] is one of the primary sources for imperial biography.
 
Among Imperial historians who wrote in Greek are [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], the Jewish historian [[Josephus]], and the senator [[Cassius Dio]]. Other major Greek authors of the Empire include the biographer and antiquarian [[Plutarch]], the geographer [[Strabo]], and the rhetorician and satirist [[Lucian]]. Popular [[Ancient Greek novel|Greek romance novels]] were part of the development of long-form fiction works, represented in Latin by the ''Satyricon'' of Petronius and ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' of [[Apuleius]].
 
From the 2nd to the 4th centuries, the Christian authors who would become the Latin [[Church Fathers]] were in active dialogue with the [[Classical tradition]], within which they had been educated. [[Tertullian]], a convert to Christianity from [[Africa province|Roman Africa]], was the contemporary of Apuleius and one of the earliest prose authors to establish a distinctly Christian voice. After the [[conversion of Constantine]], Latin literature is dominated by the Christian perspective.<ref>[[#Albrecht|Albrecht]], p. 1294.</ref> When the orator [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]] argued for the preservation of [[Religion in ancient Rome|Rome's religious traditions]], he was effectively opposed by [[Ambrose]], the [[bishop of Milan]] and future [[saint]]—a debate preserved by their missives.<ref>[[#Albrecht|Albrecht]], p. 1443.</ref>
 
[[File:Lipsanoteca di Brescia.jpg|thumb|[[Brescia Casket]], an ivory box with Biblical imagery (late 4th century)]]
In the late 4th century, [[Jerome]] produced the Latin translation of the Bible that became authoritative as the [[Vulgate]]. [[Augustine]], another of the Church Fathers from the province of Africa, has been called "one of the most influential writers of western culture", and his ''[[Confessions (St. Augustine)|Confessions]]'' is sometimes considered the first autobiography of Western literature. In ''[[The City of God against the Pagans]],'' Augustine builds a vision of an eternal, spiritual Rome, a new ''[[#Geography|imperium sine fine]]'' that will outlast the collapsing Empire.
 
In contrast to the unity of Classical Latin, the literary esthetic of late antiquity has a [[Tessellation|tessellated]] quality that has been compared to the mosaics characteristic of the period.<ref name=r70>[[#Roberts|Roberts]], p. 70.</ref> A continuing interest in the religious traditions of Rome prior to Christian dominion is found into the 5th century, with the ''Saturnalia'' of [[Macrobius]] and ''The Marriage of Philology and Mercury'' of [[Martianus Capella]]. Prominent Latin poets of late antiquity include [[Ausonius]], [[Prudentius]], [[Claudian]], and [[Sidonius Apollinaris]]. Ausonius (d. ca. 394), the [[Bordeaux|Bordelaise]] tutor of the emperor [[Gratian]], was at least nominally a Christian, though, throughout his occasionally obscene mixed-genre poems, he retains a literary interest in the Greco-Roman gods and even [[druid]]ism. The imperial [[panegyric|panegyrist]] Claudian (d. 404) was a ''[[vir illustris]]'' who appears never to have [[conversion to Christianity|converted]]. Prudentius (d. ca. 413), born in [[Hispania Tarraconensis]] and a fervent Christian, was thoroughly versed in the poets of the Classical tradition,<ref>[[#Albrecht|Albrecht]], p. 1359ff.</ref> and transforms their vision of poetry as a monument of immortality into an expression of the poet's quest for eternal life culminating in Christian salvation.<ref>"Not since Vergil had there been a Roman poet so effective at establishing a master narrative for his people": Marc Mastrangelo, ''The Roman Self in Late Antiquity: Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), p. 3.</ref> Sidonius (d. 486), a native of [[Lugdunum]], was a Roman senator and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont|bishop of Clermont]] who cultivated a traditional villa lifestyle as he watched the Western empire succumb to barbarian incursions. His poetry and collected letters offer a unique view of life in late Roman Gaul from the perspective of a man who "survived the end of his world".<ref name=r70/><ref>[[#Bowersock|Bowersock]], p. 694</ref>
 
==Religion==
[[File:RMW - Opfernder Togatus.jpg|thumb|A Roman priest, his [[capite velato|head ritually covered]] with a fold of his toga, extends a [[patera]] in a gesture of libation (2nd–3rd century)]]
{{Main|Religion in ancient Rome|Imperial cult (ancient Rome)}}
{{See also|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Early Christianity|Religious persecution in the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Siege and destruction of Jerusalem (f. 155v) Cropped.jpg|thumb|The Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem, from a Western religious manuscript, c.1504]]
Religion in the Roman Empire encompassed the practices and beliefs the Romans regarded as their own, as well as the many [[Cultus deorum|cults]] imported to Rome or practiced by peoples throughout the provinces. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety ''([[pietas]])'' in maintaining good relations with the gods ''([[pax deorum]])''. The archaic religion believed to have been handed down from the earliest [[kings of Rome]] was the foundation of the ''[[mos maiorum]]'', "the way of the ancestors" or "tradition", viewed as central to Roman identity. There was no principle analogous to "[[separation of church and state]]". The priesthoods of the state religion were filled from the same social pool of men who held public office, and in the Imperial era, the [[Pontifex Maximus]] was the emperor.
 
Roman religion was practical and contractual, based on the principle of ''[[do ut des]]'', "I give that you might give." Religion depended on knowledge and the [[orthopraxy|correct practice]] of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma, although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine and its relation to human affairs. For ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life.<ref name=r4>[[#Rupke|Rüpke]], p. 4.</ref> Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and [[libation]]s to the family's domestic deities were offered. Neighbourhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. [[Apuleius]] (2nd century) described the everyday quality of religion in observing how people who passed a cult place might make a vow or a fruit offering, or merely sit for a while.<ref>[[Apuleius]], ''Florides'' 1.1</ref><ref>[[#Rupke|Rüpke]], p. 279.</ref> The [[Roman calendar]] was structured around religious observances. In the Imperial era, as many as 135 days of the year were devoted to [[Roman festivals|religious festivals]] and games (''[[ludi]])''.<ref>Matthew Bunson, ''A Dictionary of the Roman Empire'' (Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 246.</ref> Women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities.
 
In the wake of the [[Collapse of the Roman Republic|Republic's collapse]], state religion had adapted to support the new regime of the emperors. As the first Roman emperor, Augustus justified the novelty of one-man rule with a vast programme of religious revivalism and reform. [[Vota pro salute rei publicae|Public vows]] formerly made for the security of the republic now were directed at the wellbeing of the emperor. So-called "emperor worship" expanded on a grand scale the traditional Roman [[Roman funerals and burial|veneration of the ancestral dead]] and of the ''[[Genius (mythology)|Genius]]'', the divine [[tutelary deity|tutelary]] of every individual. Upon death, an emperor could be made a state divinity (''[[divus]]'') by vote of the Senate. [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]], influenced by [[Hellenistic ruler cult]], became one of the major ways Rome advertised its presence in the provinces and cultivated shared cultural identity and loyalty throughout the Empire. Cultural precedent in the Eastern provinces facilitated a rapid dissemination of Imperial cult, extending as far as the Augustan military settlement at [[Najran]], in present-day [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>The ''[[caesareum]]'' at Najaran was possibly known later as the "Kaaba of Najran": جواد علي, المفصل في تاريخ العرب قبل الإسلام (Jawad Ali, ''Al-Mufassal fi Tarikh Al-'Arab Qabl Al-Islam''; "Commentary on the History of the Arabs Before Islam"), Baghdad, 1955–1983; P. Harland, "Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia", originally published in ''Ancient History Bulletin / Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'' 17 (2003) 91–103.</ref> Rejection of the state religion became tantamount to treason against the emperor. This was the context for Rome's conflict with [[Early Christianity|Christianity]], which Romans variously regarded as a form of atheism and novel ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#superstitio|superstitio]]''.
 
[[File:HMB - Muri statuette group - Ensemble.jpg|thumb|left|[[Muri statuette group|Statuettes representing Roman and Gallic deities]], for personal devotion at private shrines]]
The Romans are known for the [[List of Roman deities|great number of deities]] they honoured, a capacity that earned the mockery of early Christian polemicists.<ref group="n">For an overview of the representation of Roman religion in early Christian authors, see R.P.C. Hanson, "The Christian Attitude to Pagan Religions up to the Time of Constantine the Great," and Carlos A. Contreras, "Christian Views of Paganism," in ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.23.1 (1980) 871–1022.</ref> As the Romans extended their dominance throughout the Mediterranean world, their policy, in general, was to absorb the deities and cults of other peoples rather than try to eradicate them.<ref group="n">"This mentality," notes John T. Koch, "lay at the core of the genius of cultural assimilation which made the Roman Empire possible"; entry on "Interpretatio romana," in ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' (ABC-Clio, 2006), p. 974.</ref> One way that Rome promoted stability among diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage, building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the side-by-side worship of local and Roman deities, including dedications made by Romans to local gods.<ref name=r4/><ref>Isaac, Benjamin H. (2004) ''The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity''. Princeton University Press. p. 449</ref><ref>Frend, W.H.C. (1967) ''Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus''. Doubleday. p. 106</ref><ref>Huskinson, Janet (2000) ''Experiencing Rome: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire''. Routledge. p. 261. See, for instance, the altar dedicated by a Roman citizen and depicting a sacrifice conducted in the Roman manner for the Germanic goddess [[Vagdavercustis]] in the 2nd century AD.</ref> By the height of the Empire, numerous cults of pseudo-foreign gods (Roman reinventions of foreign gods) were cultivated at Rome and in the [[Roman provinces|provinces]], among them cults of [[Cybele]], [[Isis]], [[Epona]], and of solar gods such as [[Mithras]] and [[Sol Invictus]], found as far north as [[Roman Britain]]. Because Romans had never been obligated to cultivate one god or one cult only, [[religious tolerance]] was not an issue in the sense that it is for competing [[monotheism|monotheistic]] systems.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/367003 |jstor=269977 |title=The Disadvantages of Monotheism for a Universal State |journal=Classical Philology |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=285–297 |year=1986 |last1=Momigliano |first1=Arnaldo|s2cid=161203730 }}</ref>
[[File:Statuetta indiana di Lakshmi, avorio, da pompei, 1-50 dc ca., 149425, 02.JPG|thumb|upright=0.5|The [[Pompeii Lakshmi]], an ivory statuette from the [[Indian subcontinent]] found in the ruins of [[Pompeii]]]]
 
[[Mystery religions]], which offered initiates salvation in the afterlife, were a matter of personal choice for an individual, practiced in addition to carrying on one's [[sacra gentilicia|family rites]] and participating in public religion. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of "[[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|magic]]", conspiracy (''coniuratio''), and subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity. In Gaul, the power of the [[druid]]s was checked, first by forbidding Roman citizens to belong to the order, and then by banning druidism altogether. At the same time, however, Celtic traditions were reinterpreted (''[[interpretatio romana]]'') within the context of Imperial theology, and a new [[Gallo-Roman religion]] coalesced, with its capital at the [[Sanctuary of the Three Gauls]] in [[Lugdunum]] (present-day Lyon, France). The sanctuary established precedent for Western cult as a form of Roman-provincial identity.<ref>Fishwick, Duncan (1991). ''The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire'', Vol. 1, Brill. pp. 97–149. {{ISBN|90-04-07179-2}}.</ref>
 
[[File:Stele Licinia Amias Terme 67646.jpg|thumb|left|This funerary stele from the 3rd century is among the [[early Christian inscriptions|earliest Christian inscriptions]], written in both Greek and Latin: the abbreviation ''D.M.'' at the top refers to the [[Manes|Di Manes]], the traditional Roman spirits of the dead, but accompanies [[Ichthys|Christian fish symbolism]].]]
 
[[File:Arch of Titus Menorah.png|thumb|right|Relief from the [[Arch of Titus]] in Rome depicting a [[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]] and other spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem carried in [[Roman triumph]].]]
 
The monotheistic rigour of [[Judaism]] posed difficulties for Roman policy that led at times to compromise and the granting of special exemptions. Tertullian noted that the Jewish religion, unlike that of the Christians, was considered a ''[[religio licita]]'', "legitimate religion." [[Jewish–Roman wars|Wars between the Romans and the Jews]] occurred when conflict, political as well as religious, became intractable. When [[Caligula]] wanted to place a golden statue of his deified self in the [[Second Temple|Temple in Jerusalem]], the potential sacrilege and likely war were prevented only by his timely death.<ref>Ben-Sasson, H.H. (1976) ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press. pp. 254–256. {{ISBN|0-674-39731-2}}</ref> The [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|Siege of Jerusalem]] in 70 AD led to the sacking of the temple and the dispersal of Jewish political power (see [[Jewish diaspora]]).
 
Christianity emerged in [[Iudaea Province|Roman Judea]] as a [[Jewish Christianity|Jewish religious sect]] in the 1st century AD. The religion gradually spread out of [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]], initially establishing major bases in first [[Antioch]], then [[Alexandria]], and over time throughout the Empire as well as beyond. Imperially authorized persecutions were limited and sporadic, with martyrdoms occurring most often under the authority of local officials.<ref>[[#Bowman|Bowman]], p. 616</ref><ref>Frend, W.H.C. (2006) "Persecutions: Genesis and Legacy," ''Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine''. Cambridge University Press. Vol. 1, p. 510. {{ISBN|0-521-81239-9}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/299693 |jstor=299693 |title=Legislation against the Christians |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=58 |issue=1–2 |pages=32–50 |year=2012 |last1=Barnes |first1=T. D.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Sainte-Croix, G.E.M de |title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted? |journal=Past & Present |volume=26 |year=1963 |pages=6–38 |doi=10.1093/past/26.1.6}}</ref><ref>Musurillo, Herbert (1972) ''The Acts of the Christian Martyrs''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. lviii–lxii</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/jts/III.2.199 |title=The Early Persecutions and Roman Law Again |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=199–213 |year=1952 |last1=Sherwin-White |first1=A. N. |jstor=23952852}}</ref>
 
The first persecution by an emperor occurred under Nero, and was confined to the city of Rome. [[Tacitus]] reports that after the [[Great Fire of Rome]] in AD&nbsp;64, some among the population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the Christians.<ref name="annals-xv-44">Tacitus, ''Annals'' [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 15#44|XV.44]]</ref> After Nero, a major persecution occurred under the emperor [[Domitian]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Eusebius of Caesarea |author-link=Eusebius of Caesarea |title=Church History |year=425}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Smallwood |first=E.M. |title='Domitian's attitude towards the Jews and Judaism |journal=Classical Philology |volume=51 |pages=1–13 |year=1956 |doi=10.1086/363978|s2cid=161356789 }}</ref> and a [[Persecution in Lyon|persecution in 177]] took place at Lugdunum, the Gallo-Roman religious capital. A surviving letter from [[Pliny the Younger]], governor of [[Bithynia]], to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions of Christians.<ref>Pliny, [http://www.mesacc.edu/~tomshoemaker/handouts/pliny.html Epistle to Trajan on the Christians]</ref> The [[Decian persecution]] of 246–251 was a serious threat to the Church, but ultimately strengthened Christian defiance.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/past/16.1.10 |title=The Failure of the Persecutions in the Roman Empire |journal=Past and Present |volume=16 |issue=16 |pages=10–30 |year=1959 |last1=Frend |first1=W. H. C. |jstor=650151}}</ref> [[Diocletian]] undertook what was to be the [[Diocletianic Persecution|most severe persecution of Christians]], lasting from 303 to 311.
 
In the early 4th century, [[Constantine I]] became the first emperor to [[Christian conversion|convert to Christianity]]. During the rest of the fourth century, Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. The emperor [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]], under the influence of his adviser [[Mardonius (philosopher)|Mardonius]] made a short-lived attempt to revive traditional and [[Hellenistic religion]] and to affirm the special status of Judaism, but in 380 ([[Edict of Thessalonica]]), under [[Theodosius I]] Christianity became the official [[state church of the Roman Empire]], to the exclusion of all others. From the 2nd century onward, the [[Church Fathers]] had begun to condemn the diverse religions practiced throughout the Empire collectively as "pagan."<ref>[[#Bowersock|Bowersock]], p. 625</ref> Pleas for religious tolerance from traditionalists such as the senator [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]] (d. 402) were rejected by the efforts of [[Pope Damasus I]] and [[Ambrose]] – Roman administrator turned bishop of Milan (374-397); Christian monotheism became a feature of Imperial domination. [[Christian heresy|Christian heretics]] as well as non-Christians were subject to exclusion from public life or persecution, but Rome's original religious hierarchy and many aspects of its ritual influenced Christian forms,<ref>[[#Rupke|Rüpke]], pp. 406–426</ref><ref>On vocabulary, see Schilling, Robert (1992) "The Decline and Survival of Roman Religion", ''Roman and European Mythologies''. University of Chicago Press. p. 110.</ref> and many pre-Christian beliefs and practices survived in Christian festivals and local traditions.
 
==Political legacy==
{{main|Legacy of the Roman Empire}}
 
Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire's successors after the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. The [[Holy Roman Empire]], an attempt to resurrect the Empire in the West, was established in 800 when [[Pope Leo&nbsp;III]] crowned [[Franks|Frankish]] King [[Charlemagne]] as [[Roman Emperor]] on Christmas Day, though the empire and the imperial office did not become formalized for some decades. After the fall of [[Constantinople]], the [[Muscovy|Russian Tsardom]], as inheritor of the Byzantine Empire's [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] tradition, counted itself the [[Third Rome]] (Constantinople having been the second). These concepts are known as [[Translatio imperii]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Empire of Ancient Rome |first=Michael |last=Burgan |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |pages=113–114 |isbn=978-1-4381-2659-3}}</ref>
 
When the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], who based their state on the Byzantine model, took Constantinople in 1453, [[Mehmed&nbsp;II]] established his capital there and claimed to sit on the throne of the Roman Empire.<ref>{{cite book |title=Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, 1300–1815 |author1=Noble, Thomas F. X. |author2=Strauss, Barry |author3=Osheim, Duane J. |author4=Neuschel, Kristen B. |author5=Accampo, Elinor Ann |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2010 |page=352 |isbn=978-1-4240-6959-0}}</ref> He even went so far as to launch an invasion of Italy with the purpose of re-uniting the Empire and invited European artists to his capital, including [[Gentile Bellini]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe |url=https://archive.org/details/ottomanempireear0000goff|url-access=registration |author=Goffman, Daniel |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ottomanempireear0000goff/page/107 107]}}</ref>
 
In the medieval West, "Roman" came to mean the church and the Pope of Rome. The Greek form [[Romaioi]] remained attached to the Greek-speaking Christian population of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] and is still used by [[Greeks]] in addition to their common appellation.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, History of Europe, The Romans, 2008, O.Ed.</ref>
 
The Roman Empire's territorial legacy of controlling the Italian peninsula would influence [[Italian nationalism]] and the [[Italian unification|unification of Italy]] (''[[Risorgimento]]'') in 1861.<ref>{{cite book |title=Italian Unification, 1820–71 |author=Collier, Martin |publisher=Heinemann |year=2003 |page=22 |isbn=978-0-435-32754-5}}</ref> Further Roman imperialism was claimed by fascist ideology, particularly by the [[Italian Empire]] and [[Nazi Germany]].
 
{{multiple image
| width = 150
| footer = The [[Virginia State Capitol]] ''(left)'', built in the late 1700s, was modelled after the [[Maison Carrée]], a Gallo-Roman temple built around 16 BC under Augustus.
| image1 = Richmond Virginia Capitol.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Maison Carrée (Nîmes).JPG
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
}}
In the [[politics of the United States|United States]], the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|founders]] were educated in the [[classical tradition]],<ref>Briggs, Ward (2010) "United States," in ''A Companion to the Classical Tradition''. Blackwell. p. 279ff.</ref> and used classical models for [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.|landmarks and buildings in Washington, D.C.]], to avoid the [[feudalism|feudal]] and religious connotations of European architecture such as castles and cathedrals.<ref name=Meinig>Meinig, D.W. (1986) ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Atlantic America, 1492–1800''. Yale University Press. Vol. 1. pp. 432–435. {{ISBN|0-300-03882-8}}.</ref><ref name=vale>Vale, Lawrence J. (1992) ''Architecture, Power, and National Identity''. Yale University Press. pp. 11, 66–67</ref><ref>Mallgrave, Harry Francis (2005) ''Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673–1968''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 144–145</ref><ref name=korn>Kornwall, James D. (2011) ''Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America''. Johns Hopkins University Press, vol. 3. pp. 1246, 1405–1408. {{ISBN|0-8018-5986-7}}.</ref><ref>[[#Wood|Wood]], pp. 73–74</ref><ref>Onuf, Peter S. and Cole, Nicholas P. introduction to ''Thomas Jefferson, the Classical World, and Early America''. University of Virginia Press. p. 5</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Dietler, Michael |title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILbXV8SV9e8C |year=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-26551-6}}</ref> In forming their theory of the [[mixed constitution]], the founders looked to [[Athenian democracy]] and [[Roman republic]]anism for models, but regarded the Roman emperor as a figure of tyranny.<ref>Briggs, W. (2010) "United States," in ''A Companion to the Classical Tradition''. Blackwell. pp. 282–286</ref><ref>[[#Wood|Wood]], pp. 60, 66, 73–74, 239.</ref>
 
== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome|History|Asia}}
* [[Daqin]] ("Great [[Qin dynasty|Qin]]"), the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire; see also [[Sino-Roman relations]]
* [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire]]
* [[Imperial Italy (fascist)|Imperial Italy]]
* [[List of Roman dynasties]]
 
== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group="n"}}
 
== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist |25em|refs=
 
<ref name=ritti>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1017/S1047759400005341 |last1=Ritti |first1=Tullia |last2=Grewe |first2=Klaus |last3=Kessener |first3=Paul |title=A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |pages=138–163 (156, fn. 74) |volume=20 |year=2007|s2cid=161937987 }}</ref>
 
<ref name=Santosuosso>[[Antonio Santosuosso|Santosuosso, Antonio]] (2001) ''Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire'', Westview Press. pp. 43–44. {{ISBN|0-8133-3523-X}}.</ref>
<ref name=Schnitter>{{Cite journal |last=Schnitter |first=Niklaus |title=Römische Talsperren |journal=Antike Welt |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=25–32 (28) |year=1978}}</ref>
<ref name=Smith1>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Norman |title=The Roman Dams of Subiaco |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=58–68 |year=1970 |doi=10.2307/3102810 |jstor=3102810}}</ref>
<ref name=Smith2>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Norman |title=A History of Dams |place=London |publisher=Peter Davies |year=1971 |page=26 |isbn=978-0-432-15090-0}}</ref>
}}
 
===Cited sources===
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |ref=Abbott |author=Abbott, Frank Frost |year=1901 |title=A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions |publisher=Elibron Classics |isbn=978-0-543-92749-1 |author-link=Frank Frost Abbott}}
* {{cite journal |ref=Adams |doi=10.1093/cq/53.1.184 |jstor=3556490 |title='Romanitas' and the Latin Language |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=184–205 |year=2003 |last1=Adams |first1=J. N.}}
* {{cite book |ref=Albrecht |author=Albrecht, Michael von |title=A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius : with Special Regard to Its Influence on World Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrYatgm2MWoC |year=1997 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10709-0 |volume=2}}
* {{cite book |ref=Ando |author=Ando, Clifford |title=Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXqIG1NIU2IC |date=2000 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22067-6}}
* {{cite book |ref=Auguet |author=Auguet, Roland |title=Cruelty and Civilization: The Roman Games |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A-3BfuPqIeUC |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-09343-3}}
* {{cite book |ref=Boardman |editor=Boardman, John |title=The Cambridge Ancient History: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pPxAAAAMAAJ |year=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=Vol. 11 |isbn=978-0-521-26335-1}}
* {{cite book |ref=Bohec |author=Bohec, Yann Le |title=The Imperial Roman Army |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2hBqYtZWNEC |date=2000 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-22295-2}}
* {{cite book |author1=Bowersock, Glen Warren |author2=Brown, Peter |author3=Grabar, Oleg |title=Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World |url=https://archive.org/details/lateantiquitygui00bowe|url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/lateantiquitygui00bowe/page/625 625] |year=1999 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-51173-6 |ref=Bowersock}}
* {{cite book |ref=Bowman |editor1=Bowman, Alan |editor2=Garnsey, Peter |editor3=Cameron, Averil |title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193–337 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNSyT_PuYVMC |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-30199-2}}
* {{cite book |ref=Bradley |author=Bradley, Keith |title=Slavery and Society at Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xu3rkG9dVY8C |date=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-37887-1}}
* {{cite book |ref=Cavallo |author1=Cavallo, Guglielmo |author2=Chartier, Roger |title=A History of Reading in the West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=doywQgAACAAJ |year=1999 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=978-0-7456-1936-1}}
* {{cite book |ref=Clarke |author=Clarke, John R. |title=The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250: Ritual, Space, and Decoration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Q7qcegqaRYC |year=1991 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08429-2}}
* {{cite book |ref=Dyson |author=Dyson, Stephen L. |title=Rome: A Living Portrait of an Ancient City |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfN5dd5wbWgC |date=2010 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-0101-0}}
* {{cite book |ref=Edmondson |author=Edmondson, J.C. |chapter=Dynamic Arenas: Gladiatorial Presentations in the City of Rome and the Construction of Roman Society during the Early Empire |title=Roman Theater and Society |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1996}}
* {{cite book |ref=Edwards |author=Edwards, Catharine |title=Death in Ancient Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ioq6GmIyLQIC |year=2007 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-11208-5}}
* {{cite book |ref=Elsner |author1=Elsner, Jaś |author2=Huskinson, Janet |title=Life, Death and Representation: Some New Work on Roman Sarcophagi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pQjrqo62-IwC |year=2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-020213-7}}
* {{cite book |ref=Frier |author1=Frier, Bruce W. |author2=McGinn, Thomas A. |title=A Casebook on Roman Family Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jg8wp9crNhkC |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-516185-4}}
* {{cite book |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj69DAEACAAJ |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517072-6 |editor=Gagarin, Michael |ref=Gagarin}}
* {{cite book |ref=Goldsworthy2003 |title=The Complete Roman Army |first=Adrian |last=Goldsworthy |isbn=978-0-500-05124-5 |year=2003 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London}}
* {{cite book |ref=Goldsworthy2009 |last=Goldsworthy |first=Adrian Keith |title=How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower |url=https://archive.org/details/howromefelldeath0000gold|url-access=registration |quote=Commodus Gibbon. |year=2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-300-13719-4}}
* {{cite book |ref=Habinek2005 |author=Habinek, Thomas N. |title=The World of Roman Song: From Ritualized Speech to Social Order |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Em_XpAvaT9oC |date=2005 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8105-3}}
* {{cite book |ref=Harris |author=Harris, W. V. |title=Ancient Literacy |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-674-03381-8}}
* {{cite book |ref=Holleran |author=Holleran, Claire |title=Shopping in Ancient Rome: The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oO7NwmbyxwAC |date=2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-969821-9}}
* {{cite book |ref=Humphrey |author=Humphrey, John H. |title=Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=couetXBQO9AC |year=1986 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04921-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Huzar |first=Eleanor Goltz |title=Mark Antony: a Biography |year=1978|location=Minneapolis |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-0863-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/markantonybiogra00huza_0|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |ref=Johnson2009 |author1=Johnson, William A |author2=Parker, Holt N |title=Ancient Literacies: The Culture of Reading in Greece and Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SrTUcYJTMewC |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-971286-1}}
* {{cite book |ref=Johnson2010 |author=Johnson, William A. |title=Readers and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire: A Study of Elite Communities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45eXJSpxdn4C |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972105-4}}
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1960.tb02114.x |title=The Cloth Industry Under the Roman Empire |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=183–192 |year=1960 |last1=Jones |first1=A. H. M. |ref=Jones| doi-broken-date=14 January 2021 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0289.1960.tb02114.x |jstor=2591177}}
* {{cite book |ref=Kelly |author=Kelly, Christopher |title=The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-280391-7}}
* {{cite book |ref=Kousser |author=Kousser, Rachel Meredith |title=Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mea2-zywyYAC |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87782-4}}
* {{cite book |ref=Laes |author=Laes, Christian |title=Children in the Roman Empire: Outsiders Within |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxo5kMPLoagC |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89746-4}}
* {{cite journal |ref=Marshall |doi=10.2307/1087296 |jstor=1087296 |title=Library Resources and Creative Writing at Rome |journal=Phoenix |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=252–264 |year=1976 |last1=Marshall |first1=Anthony J.}}
* {{cite journal |ref=Millar |doi=10.2307/300073 |jstor=300073 |title=Empire and City, Augustus to Julian: Obligations, Excuses and Status |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=73 |pages=76–96 |year=2012 |last1=Millar |first1=Fergus}}
* {{cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Theodore |title=The provinces of the Roman empire from Caesar to Diocletian |translator=William P. Dickson |editor=William P. Dickson |year=2005|orig-year=1909 |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |publisher=University of Michigan Library |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/abq2762.0001.001/332?page=root;size=100;view=image}}
* {{cite book |author1=Morris, Ian |author2=Scheidel, Walter |title=The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vnkts2rOJUC |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-970761-4 |ref=Morris}}
* {{cite book |ref=Naerebout |author=Naerebout, Frederick G. |chapter=Dance in the Roman Empire and Its Discontents |title=Ritual Dynamics and Religious Change in the Roman Empire |publisher=Proceedings of the Eighth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Heidelberg, 5–7 July 2007), Brill |year=2009}}
* {{cite book |ref=Nicolet |author=Nicolet, Claude |title=Space, Geography, and Politics in the Early Roman Empire |url=https://archive.org/details/spacegeographypo00nico|url-access=registration |year=1991 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-10096-5}}
* {{cite book |ref=Peachin |editor=Peachin, Michael |title=The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDSI1V12ueIC |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518800-4}}
* {{cite book |ref=Potter1999 |author1=Potter, David Stone |author2=Mattingly, D. J. |title=Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPjqJWakX7IC |year=1999 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-08568-2}}
* {{cite book |ref=Potter2009 |editor=Potter, David S. |title=A Companion to the Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4ZmqsyC5kEC |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-9918-6}}
* {{cite book |ref=Rochette |doi=10.1002/9781444343397.ch30 |chapter=Language Policies in the Roman Republic and Empire |title=A Companion to the Latin Language |pages=549–563 |year=2012 |last1=Rochette |first1=Bruno |isbn=978-1-4443-4339-7}}
* {{cite book |ref=Rawson1987 |author=Rawson, Beryl |title=The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85Gdul_43DEC |year=1987 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-9460-4}}
* {{cite book |ref=Rawson2003 |author=Rawson, Beryl |title=Children and Childhood in Roman Italy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ah9XwjhyM8gC |date=2003 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-151423-4}}
* {{cite book |ref=Roberts |author=Roberts, Michael John |title=The jeweled style: poetry and poetics in late antiquity |url=https://archive.org/details/jeweledstylepoet00robe|url-access=registration |year=1989 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-2265-2}}
* {{cite book |ref=Rupke |author=Rüpke, Jörg |title=A Companion to Roman Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1357R8OscQC |date=2007 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-470-76645-3}}
* {{cite book |ref=Stambaugh |author=Stambaugh, John E. |title=The Ancient Roman City |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0mZufizhH0C |date=1988 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-3692-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Richard, D. |title=Near Eastern Royalty and Rome, 100-30 BC |year=1990|location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-2682-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDU5DwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite journal |ref=Vout |doi=10.1093/gr/43.2.204 |jstor=643096 |title=The Myth of the Toga: Understanding the History of Roman Dress |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=204–220 |year=2009 |last1=Vout |first1=Caroline}}
* {{cite book |ref=Winterling |author=Winterling, Aloys |title=Politics and Society in Imperial Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_35eZH6_vT8C |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-7969-0}}
* {{cite journal |ref=Wiseman |author=Wiseman, T.P. |title=The Definition of ''Eques Romanus'' |journal=Historia |volume=19 |issue=1 |year=1970 |pages=67–83}}
* {{cite book |ref=Wood |author=Wood, Gordon S. |title=The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjSmze-mQVIC |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-101-51514-3}}
{{refend}}
 
Država predhodnica Rimskega imperija, Rimska republika (ki je v 6. stoletju pred našim štetjem [[Rimsko kraljestvo|nadomestila rimsko monarhijo]] ), se je v vrsti državljanskih vojn in političnih spopadov močno destabilizirala. Sredi 1. stoletja pred našim štetjem je bil [[Gaj Julij Cezar|Julij Cezar]] imenovan za večnega diktatorja in nato umorjen leta 44 pr. Državljanske vojne in [[Proskripcija|nesoglasja so se]] nadaljevali, vrhunec pa [[Vojna Antonija in Oktavijana|je bil zmaga]] [[Gaj Avgust Oktavijan|Oktavijana]], Cezarjevega posvojenega sina, nad [[Mark Antonij|Markom Antonijem]] in [[Kleopatra VII.|Kleopatro]] v [[Bitka pri Akciju|bitki pri Actiumu]] leta 31 pr. Naslednje leto je Oktavijan [[Egipt (rimska provinca)|osvojil]] [[Ptolemajsko kraljestvo|Ptolemajski Egipt]], s čimer se je končalo [[Helenistično obdobje|helenistično obdobje,]] ki se je začelo z osvajanjem [[Aleksander Veliki|Aleksandra Velikega]] [[Makedonija (kraljestvo)|Makedonskega]] v 4. stoletju pr. Moč Oktavijana je nato postala nedotakljiva in leta 27 pred našim štetjem mu je [[rimski senat]] formalno podelil veliko moč in nov naslov <nowiki><i id="mwZw">Avgust</i></nowiki>, s čimer je postal prvi rimski cesar.
==External links==
{{Sister project links|voy=Roman Empire}}
{{Library resources box |onlinebooks=yes}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/romans Romans for Children], a BBC website on ancient Rome for children at primary-school level.
* [https://darmc.harvard.edu/ The Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations]
* [http://tacitus.nu/historical-atlas/rome.htm Historical Atlas] showing the expansion of the Roman Empire.
* [http://roman-empire.net/ Roman-Empire.net], learning resources and re-enactments
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11745/ The Historical Theater in the Year 400 AD, in Which Both Romans and Barbarians Resided Side by Side in the Eastern Part of the Roman Empire]
 
V [[Zgodovina Rimskega cesarstva|prvih dveh stoletjih cesarstva se je]] začelo obdobje stabilnosti in razcveta brez primere, znano kot [[Pax Romana]] ("rimski mir"). Rim je dosegel svoje največje ozemeljsko prostranstvo med [[Trajan|Trajanovo]] vladavino (AD 98–117). Obdobje povečuje težave in upad začel z vladavino [[Komod|Commodus]] (177-192). V 3. stoletju je cesarstvo doživelo krizo, ki je ogrozila njegov obstoj, saj sta se [[Galski imperij|Galsko cesarstvo]] in [[Palmirsko cesarstvo|Palmirensko cesarstvo odcepila]] od rimske države, vrsto kratkotrajnih cesarjev, pogosto vojakov iz legij, pa je vodilo cesarstvo. Carstvo je bilo ponovno združeno pod [[Avrelijan|Avrelijanom]] ( r . 270–275 ). V prizadevanju za njegovo stabilizacijo je [[Dioklecijan]] leta 286 ustanovil dva različna cesarska središča na grškem vzhodu in latinskem zahodu. Kristjani so se na vplivne položaje povzpeli v 4. stoletju, po [[Milanski edikt|Milanskem ediktu iz]] leta 313. Kmalu zatem je [[Preseljevanje ljudstev|selitveno obdobje]], ki je vključevalo velike invazije germanskih ljudstev in [[Huni|Hunov]] pod vodstvom [[Atila|Atile]], pripeljalo do propada Zahodnega rimskega cesarstva. Z padcem Ravene pod [[Heruli|germanske Herulije]] in z Odoakrovo odstavitvijo Romula Avgusta leta 476, je zahodno rimsko cesarstvo dokončno propadlo; vzhodno rimski cesar [[Zenon (bizantinski cesar)|Zeno ga je]] formalno odpravil leta 480 po Kr. Kljub temu bodo nekatere države na ozemljih nekdanjega zahodnega rimskega cesarstva kasneje trdile, da so podedovale vrhovno oblast rimskih cesarjev, predvsem [[Sveto rimsko cesarstvo]] . Vzhodno rimsko cesarstvo je preživelo še eno tisočletje, dokler Konstantinopel leta 1453. ni padel pod [[Osmansko cesarstvo|Turke]] sultana [[Mehmed II. Osvajalec|Mehmeda II]]
{{Ancient Rome topics |autocollapse}}
{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Roman history by territory}}
{{Territories with limited Roman Empire occupation & presence}}
{{Empires}}
{{Former monarchies Italian peninsula}}
{{Ancient Syria and Mesopotamia}}
{{History of Europe}}
}}
{{authority control}}
 
Zaradi velikega obsega in dolgotrajnosti Rimskega imperija so rimske institucije in kultura močno in trajno vplivale na razvoj jezika, religije, [[Rimska umetnost|umetnosti]], [[Rimska arhitektura|arhitekture]], filozofije, [[Rimsko pravo|prava]] in [[Magistrat|oblik vladanja]] na ozemlju, ki ga je obsegalo, in daleč stran. [[Latinščina|Latinski]] jezik Rimljanov se je razvil v [[Romanski jeziki|romanske jezike]] srednjeveškega in modernega sveta, medtem ko je srednjeveška grščina postala jezik vzhodnega rimskega imperija. Sprejetje krščanstva v imperiju je privedlo do oblikovanja srednjeveškega krščanstva . [[Starogrška umetnost|Grška]] in [[rimska umetnost]] sta močno vplivali na [[Italijanska renesansa|italijansko renesanso]] . Rimska arhitekturna tradicija je služila kot osnova za [[Romanska arhitektura|romansko]], [[Renesančna arhitektura|renesančno]] in neoklasično arhitekturo, močno pa je vplivala tudi na islamsko arhitekturo . Rimsko pravo ima potomce v mnogih današnjih pravnih sistemih, na primer v [[Code civil|Napoleonovem zakoniku]], medtem ko so rimske republiške institucije pustile trajno zapuščino, ki je vplivala na [[Pomorske republike|italijanske republike mest in]] držav v srednjeveškem obdobju, pa tudi ZDA in druge moderne demokratične republike.
[[Category:Roman Empire| ]]
<nowiki>
[[Category:Ancient Italian history]]
[[Kategorija:Zahodna kultura]]
[[Category:Italian states]]
[[Kategorija:Zgodovina Sredozemlja]]
[[Category:Former countries in Asia]]
[[Kategorija:Ukinitve v 470. letih]]
[[Category:Countries in ancient Africa]]
[[Kategorija:Ukinitve leta 476]]
[[Category:Superpowers]]
[[Kategorija:Ustanovitve leta 27 pr. n. št.]]
[[Category:20s BC establishments in the Roman Empire|*]]
[[Kategorija:Bivše države v Aziji]]
[[Category:27 BC establishments]]
[[Kategorija:Bivše države na Apeninskem polotoku]]
[[Category:1st-century BC establishments in Italy]]
[[Kategorija:Rimsko cesarstvo]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 1st century BC]]
[[Kategorija:CS1: dolga volume vrednost]]</nowiki>
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 5th century]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1453]]
[[Category:476 disestablishments]]
[[Category:470s disestablishments]]
[[Category:5th-century disestablishments in Italy]]
[[Category:History of the Mediterranean]]
[[Category:Former empires in Europe]]
[[Category:Western culture]]
Pridobljeno iz »https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uporabnik:ModriDirkac/Peskovnik«