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Roman Culture
What did it mean for the various people of the time to be 'Roman' in the Roman Empire?
Is it actually possible to speak of a single unique Roman culture imposed or maintained through
imperial power?
How were culture, identity and power shaped in particular by social factors such as religion,
gender, the economy, and status in the various regions of the vast empire? Was there such a
society that had shared values?
Is it possible to recognize a pattern of learned and shared behavior among the people of the
Roman Empire?
Did you know?
Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal
language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages descend from a Latin parent, and many words based on Latin are found in
other modern languages such as English.
Roman Architecture
The Romans were famous for their advancement in architecture and engineering. Before the
Romans, the most commonly used building style was the post and lintel. This method of
building was limited by the weight it could carry and the span between the supports. Roman
Architecture changed and advanced by introducing new methods of architecture: Columns and
Arches. With these methods the Romans were able to construct bigger temples and buildings
than ever before.
The Romans used three types of columns throughout their long history. The first and most basic
type was called the Doric Style. Its plain features were not as attractive as its future forms, but
it served a great purpose: to hold up huge and heavy buildings. The Ionic Style, with its more
decorative base and top, was the next type to be used. It still had the same purpose as the Doric
style, but it further increased the “awe-power” of the building with which it was used. The
Cornithian Style was the “King of all Columns.” Its fine detail and size made the other two
styles look rather ordinary.
Arches were not only used for their immense support capabilities, but for their power to amaze
and glorify as well. The extension of the arch idea led to the development of domes. The largest
dome built for 18 centuries was the Pantheon. The idea of the arch was further extended in the
Middle Ages with the barrel vault and other types of vaults, which became the central theme of
the Romanesque and Gothic Cathedrals. Cement was used to supplement arch construction,
which again allowed the Romans to expand buildings. For example, the Coliseum used the arch
system, along with concrete, to build a four-story high stadium to seat over 50,000 spectators. In
addition, the Romans developed over 500 KM of aqueduct to bring fresh water into the capital
city. This, along with over 50,000 miles of roads, shows the size and strength of the Empire's
architecture.
Did you know?
Following the establishment
establishment of the Roman Republic in the 5th cent. B.C., Roman architects began to absorb and synthesize
influences from both the Etruscans and the Greeks, adapting earlier building types to their specialized urban needs.
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Roman Culture
I. Amphitheatres
There are more than 200 large and countless small amphitheatres, of which almost half are situated in
Italy.
Did you know?
The name amphitheatre means, "having seats on all sides". This word, however, does not occur before the Augustan era, and was
at first applied to the
the circus too.
II. Aqueducts
The great and highly advanced Roman waterway system known as the Aqueducts, are among the
greatest achievements in the ancient world. The running water, indoor plumbing and sewer system
carrying away disease from the population within the Empire wasn’t surpassed in capability until very
modern times. The Aqueducts, being the most visible and glorious piece of the ancient water system,
stand as a testament to Roman engineering. Some of these ancient structures are still in use today in
various capacities.
The aqueducts were built from a combination of stone, brick and the special volcanic cement
pozzuolana. While their visible remains leave a definite impression, the great bulk of the Roman
waterway system ran below ground. Channels bored through rock, or dug below the surface carried
water where it was convenient and possible. Of the approximately 260 miles in the aqueduct system,
only 30 miles consisted of the visible, mammoth arched structures. The aqueducts were built only to
carry
carry the flow of water in areas where digging, burrowing, or surface grades presented problems, such
as valleys. The entire system relied upon various gradients and the use of gravity to maintain a
continuous flow; and the engineering at the time was remarkable. Without the aqueducts it would’ve
been impossible to maintain the flow of water at the proper grades required.
When water reached Rome it flowed into enormous cisterns (castella) maintained on the highest
ground. These large reservoirs held the water supply for the city and were connected to a vast network
of lead pipes. Everything from public fountains, baths and private villas could tap into the network,
sometimes provided a fee was paid. The water system was as politically motivated as any other massive
public works project. Providing additional sources of incoming flow, feeding the baths or simply
providing water access to more of the populace could grant great prestige.
Maintenance of the water system was a continuous task, and the Romans assigned a Curator Aquarum
to oversee this undertaking. Paid laborers, slaves and the legions all had parts in building parts of the
water system. The Curator Aquarum maintained the aqueducts of Rome, while similar curators
oversaw those in the provinces. The legions however, when building new colonies or forts, were
responsible for providing their own water supply. Just as they were the great road builders of the
Empire, they most assuredly took part in the aqueduct construction of outlying areas.
aqueducts
ducts supplied the city of Rome and were built over a span of 500 years. The first, the
11 separate aque
Aqua Appia, was built in conjunction with the great southern road the Via Appia in 312 BC. Aqua
Novus stretched the farthest from the city, reaching approximately 59 miles away. At its largest extant,
nearly 200 cities within the empire were supplied buy aqueducts, far surpassing the capability of any
civilization before or after for nearly another 2 millenia. The last Roman aqueduct built was the Aqua
Alexandrina built in 226 AD. In the waning days of the western empire, invading Germanic tribes cut
the supply of water into Rome and only the Aqua Virgo, which ran completely underground, continued
to deliver water. During the middle ages, a couple of the lines were restored, but full access to running
water wasn’t re-established until the Renaissance. At the height of the ancient city’s population of
approximately 1,000,000 inhabitants, the water system was capable of delivering up to 1 cubic meter of
water per person in the city, more than what is commonly available in most cities today.
Did you know?
The first thing the Romans did upon entering a new region, after winning the war that gained them their new territory, was
construct roads, bridges and water supply. That was the quickest way to "Romanize" the new areas.
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Roman Culture
III. The Colosseum
The Colosseum, (the Flavian Amphitheatre) is one of Rome's most famous buildings and enduring
Emperor
mperor Vespasian
monuments to the culture of the ancient Romans. Construction was initiated by the E
around 72 AD. His son Titus reigned over its completion and the official opening ceremonies, about 8
years later, in 80 AD. It was built near the site of Nero’s Domus Aurea “Golden House”. This is
significant in that his successor, Vespasian wanted to erase the memory of Nero’s extravagant reign
from the minds of Romans. It got its popular name, the Colosseum, because of Nero’s colossus (120 ft.
high) statue of himself, which was nearby.
The huge theater was originally built encompassing four floors. The first three had arched entrances,
while the fourth floor utilized rectangular doorways. The floors each measured between 10,5-13,9
meters (32-42 feet) in height. The total height of the construction was approximately 48 meters (144
feet). The arena measured 79 x 45 meters (237-135 feet), and consisted of wood and sand. (The word
"arena" is derived from the Latin arena, which means, "sand.") Nets along the sides protected the
audience. The Colosseum had a total spectator capacity of 45,000
45,000--55,000
55,000. The Amphitheater is built of
travertine outside, and of tufa and brick in the interior. The main pedestals were built of marble blocks
weighing 5 metric tons (11,000 pounds.) Initially the huge marble blocks were held together by metalpins. However, the pins were soon carried off by thieves, and had to be replaced by mortar. The total
amount of marble needed for the construction measured approximately 100,000 cubic meters. It was
carried by 200 ox-pulled carts, which supplied a sufficient flow of needed materials.
There were no less than 76 numbered entrances and 4 additional entrances reserved for the Emperor,
other VIP’s and the gladiators. The Colosseum was designed for easy crowd dispersal; the entire
audience could exit the building in five minutes
minutes. The interior was divided into three parts: the arena,
the podium, and the cavea. Now more than two-thirds of the original building has been removed and
the rows of the seats in the cavea are missing. It is very similar to other amphitheaters except this one
is much bigger.
The audience, upon entering, climbed sloping ramps to their seats, according to gender and social class.
Obviously, the higher one’s social status, the better their seating arrangement would be. For example,
women (excepting spouses and perhaps imperial family) and the poor stood or sat on wooden benches in
the fourth tier. For inclement or very hot weather conditions, an enormous, colored awning (velarium)
could be stretched overhead to protect the crowd.
A wooden floor covered subterranean
subterranean chambers where the gladiators and animals were kept waiting to
perform. There is some debate over the idea that the Colosseum was occasionally flooded for mock naval
battles. There were canals in place that could have been used for this purpose but the brick used in
construction was not the same type of material that they normally used in water resistant materials.
The Colosseum was the Empire’s primary stage for gladiatorial combat for nearly 4 centuries. In a
show of Rome's wealth and extravagance, during the opening ceremonies in 80 AD, 100 days of the
games were held.
Did you know?
A secret passage was recently uncovered under the Roman Coliseum, elaborately decorated with mosaics and plaster carvings,
that was built to let Emperor Commodus (180(180-192) run away from angry mobs
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Roman Culture
IV. Housing
The principal parts of a Roman house were the Vestibulum, Ostium, Atrium, Alae, Tablínum, Fauces,
and Peristylium. The Vestibulum (modern Vestibule) was a court surrounded by the house on three
sides, and open on the fourth to the street. The Ostium corresponded in general to the modern front
hallway. From it a door opened into the atrium, which was a large room with an opening in the center
of its roof, through which the rainwater was carried into a cistern placed in the floor under the opening.
To the right and left of the atrium were side rooms called the alae (just like the Cavalry Alae units were
used on the flanks), and the tablinum was a balcony attached to it. The passages from the atrium to the
interior of the house were called fauces. The Peristylium, towards which these passages ran, was an
open court surrounded by columns, decorated with flowers and shrubs. It was somewhat larger than the
atrium.
The floors were covered with stone, marble, or mosaics. The walls were lined with marble slabs, or
frescoed, while the ceilings were either bare, exposing the beams, or, in the finer houses, covered with
ivory, gold, and frescoes.
The main rooms were lighted from above; the side rooms received their light from these, and not
through windows looking into the street. The windows of rooms in upper stories were not supplied with
glass until the time of the Empire. They were merely openings in the wall, covered with latticework. To
heat a room, portable stoves were generally used, in which charcoal was burned. There were no
chimneys, and the smoke passed out through the windows or the openings in the roofs. However, the
wealthiest Romans used heated water supplies from natural springs or through the sewer system.
The rooms of the wealthy were furnished with great splendor. The walls were frescoed with scenes from
Greek mythology, landscapes, etc. In the vestibules were fine sculptures, costly marble walls, and doors
ornamented with gold, silver, and rare shells. There were expensive rugs from the East, and, in fact,
everything that could be obtained likely to add to the attractiveness of the room.
Candles were used in early times, but later the wealthy used lamps, which were made of terra cotta or
bronze. They were mostly oval, flat on the top, often with figures in relief. In them were one or more
round holes to admit the wick. They either rested on tables, or were suspended by chains from the
ceiling.
The common classes lived in apartment like buildings called
called the insula. These buildings were situated
to cover an entire city block, with residential homes in the interior and commercial shops, restaurants,
markets or various organized clubs around the street sides.
Did you know?
Frescoes were a historical painting technique in which pigment was applied to wet plaster.
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Roman Culture
V. Roads
The engineers of ancient Rome built an unparalleled network of roads in the ancient world. Nearly
47,000 square miles (76,000 sq. km) of roads spanned the Roman Empire, spreading its legions, culture
and immense influence throughout the known world. The old saying “all roads lead to Rome," simply
couldn’t have been truer. Rome was the hub of commerce, trade, politics, culture and military might in
the Mediterranean, and the grand achievement of her road network all led directly to the city and back
out to her many territories.
Despite the grand spectacle that the road network really was, the original functionality of Roman roads
exploitation.
was mainly designed for military exploitati
on. Starting with local roads, Rome was connected first to
Latium, Ostia and surrounding areas. By the mid 4th century BC, as they pushed south, with longer
highways developed to give the legion an advantage over Rome’s adversaries. The Via Appia, built
between was the first, and most famous, of these. Begun in 312 BC by Appius Claudius Caecus, it ran
southwest out of Rome, to Capua, then to Tarentum and later was pushed across to Brundusium
(Brindisi) on the Adriatic eventually stretching all the way to the Straits of Messina.
Like most major Roman fortifications and public works, Roman roads were primarily built by the
legions themselves, as they stretched the frontiers. Engineers were regular members of the Roman
army and their expertise in roads, forts and bridge building was an invaluable asset unmatched by any
other culture for 2 millenia. Estimating the cost of road building varies dramatically depending on the
era and terrain, but there is no question regarding the cost effectiveness. As the empire ex
expanded
panded the
cost responsibility for building and maintaining the roads were borne by local populations and tribes
rather than by the Roman treasury itself.
As the Roman legates pushed the frontiers outward legions in tow, they were expected to provide road
construction out of their own resources. However, with complete authority in any given jurisdiction,
those resources turned out to be that collected from locals, in coin, raw materials and additional labor.
Essentially for 7 centuries, Roman road building continued and was well maintained, until economic
decline and external pressure began to give way. By the fall of the west in 476 AD, the condition of the
roadways paralleled the circumstances of the empire, and many roads would fall into disuse, disrepair
and ruin throughout the medieval age.
Outside of the speed and accessibility provided to the Roman legions, the roads also provided an
opportunity for trade, travel and communication unknown to the rest of the world. While travel of any
considerable length was limited to the extremely wealthy, theoretically one could travel from Spain to
Greece without ever stepping off a road. While having obvious advantages for trade, once again, the
roads were never a primary source of commerce. Most trade and transportation
transportation occurring on the
roadways was limited to short routes, as sea traffic was by far the more attractive alternative. Road
routes allowed the convenience of moving goods from the source, directly to a nearby port, or legionary
supplies by sea could be moved their final distance by road. The heaviest traveled roads were those
connecting inland towns to nearby ports in the provinces and from ports, such as Ostia, to Rome in
Italy.
A sort of ancient pony express was also developed along with a vast network of postal way stations
along the road routes. Both horse driven carts and ridden horses were used for fast delivery of
correspondence to distant places. For the first time in history, it was possible to receive a letter in
Rome, from as far away as northern Gaul, in as little as a few days. While military couriers were a
considerably more common occurrence, dispatching letters between commanders, the Senate, the
Emperor or various installations, the civilian mail service was a booming business as well.
Did you
you know?
Roman roads were so effective that in the later empire they actually became a liability because invading forces could travel along
them just as quickly as the Roman armies.
than
an being nailed. It is thought that they were used to
Hipposandals (Roman horseshoes) were tied to the horses' feet, rather th
protect injured feet, rather than be used constantly, as experiments have shown that they come off at more than walking pace.
They may also have been used for cattle.
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