Culture of ancient Rome
Generalities on Roman culture
Historical context
The culture of Ancient Rome was one which developed over the thousand year existence of Ancient Rome.
Rome's cultural roots and growth
This culture existed across both the Roman Republic and Roman Empire which, at peak, covered an area from Cumbria and Morocco to the Euphrates. The culture was one largely inherited from the Ancient Greeks.
Rome's cultural legacy
The significance is perhaps reflected in its endurance and influence, such as is seen with the works of Virgil and Ovid. ]], but was also handed down to its predecessor states. Latin, the language of the culture, remains used in religion, science and law. Christianity, its later religion, retains a billion followers and may not have come to exist in its present form without its institutional promotion by Roman authorities.
Aspects of the Roman culture
Roman Society
People & family in Rome
- Adoption in Rome
- Personal naming conventions
- Roman people
Political life & Public Institutions in Rome
Almost at all times since its emergence as a power to reckon with, Rome was both a republic (it legally remained so after it was de facto crowned with an emperor who never was declared a monarch, even though he would even be deified) and an empire (about half of its conquests date before the establishment of the principate).
The Roman representative Res publica
The authoritative imperium
- Roman Emperors
- Principate
- Dominate
- Colonies
- Military history
- [[Roman military structure|Military *Pax romana
- Roman provinces
Roman law is one of Rome's most remarkable contibutions to European culture. While many other important features of ancient culture were originally invented by the Greeks and merely (first) copied and (later) transmitted to posterity by the Romans, the development of a sophisticated legal system and of a legal science is a characteristically Roman achievement.
The history of Roman law spans almost a thousand years from the law of the twelve tables (449 BC) to Justinian's codes (around 530). The twelve tables still reflect a relatively primitive and certainly pre-scientific legal system. However, from the 2nd century BC, the Romans began to apply the methods and categories of Greek philosophy to legal problems (which the Greeks themselves had never thought of). A legal profession began to emerge and the production of scholarly treatises on Roman law started.
Roman legal science reached its peak in the first two centuries AD when the economic and political condtions of the principate were favorable to the scholarly activity of Roman jurists. However, by the middle of the 3rd century this classical age of Roman law ame to an abrupt (and not fully) explainable end. The following centuries saw a general decline of Roman legal culture, which was not stopped by the efforts of emperor Justinian to revive classical Roman law in the 6th century.
Justinian did manage, however, to preserve a great part of the literary legacy of the classical jurists by incorporating their writings in his codes. The Digest, which is the most imoprtant part of the codification and was puiblished in 533 is a gigantic collection of fragments from classical text books and commentaries. While it was unknown in western Europe in the early middle ages, it was re-discoverd around 1070 in Italy. From that time onward, Roman law and especially the teachings of the classical lawyers preserved in the Digest became the basis of continental European law. It has been said quite rightly, that the Digest is one of the most influential books in European history.
Religion in Rome
- Pagan Religions in Rome
- Christianity in Rome
- Roman festivals
Artistic & intellectual life in Rome
Material culture of Rome
Architecture & facilities
Main article: Roman architecture
- Amphitheatre
- Aqueduct
- Arch
- Basilica
- Colosseum
- Pantheon
- Roman baths: Thermae
- Roman road
- Roman villa
Roman Economy
Sports & Entertainment in Rome
Other Issues of Roman daily life
- Calendar
- Latin language
- List of Latin proverbs
- Properties
- Roman arithmetic
- Roman clothing
- Roman eating and drinking
- Roman measures and weights
- Roman travelling
- Roman school
- Salutes
- Roman Celebrations
Foreign cultural relations
- Romans and Greeks
- Romans and Etruscans
- Sino-Roman relations
- Romans and the Barbarians
- Rome and its Oriental neighbours
Places of special interest
- Ara Pacis
- Baiae - spa town and hedonistic holiday resort
- Pompeii
- Ostia
- Hadrian's Wall
- Roman place names
- Latin names of European cities