ROMAN CULTURE

GROUP MEMBERS:-
ROOPALI CHAUHAN
RAHUL CHANDAY
HARPREET SINGH
GAGANDEEP SINGH
 CULTURE OF ANCIENT ROME
 Ancient roman culture existed throughout the almost 1200 years history
of the civilization of ancient Rome.
 Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, its famed seven
hills, and its monumental structures such as the Flavian Amphitheatre
(now called the Coliseum), the Forum of Trojan, and the Pantheon
 The city also had several theaters, gymnasiums, and many taverns, baths,
and brothels.
 Throughout the territory under ancient Rome's control, residential 
architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas, and in the 
capital city of Rome, there were imperial residences on the elegant 
Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The vast majority of
the population lived in the city center, packed into lae (apartment blocks)
 The city of Rome was the largest megalopolis of that time, with a
population that may well have exceeded one million people
 estimates indicate that around 30 percent of population under the
jurisdiction of the ancient Rome lived in innumerable urban centers
 The most urbanized part of the empire was Italy, which had an estimated
rate of urbanization of 32%, the same rate of urbanization of England in
1800. Most Roman towns and cities had a forum and temples and same
type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome.
 Italian farms supplied vegetables and fruits, but fish and meat were 
luxuries. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centers and wine
 and oil were imported from Hispania, Gaul and Africa.
 There was a very large amount of commerce between the provinces of the
Roman Empire since its transportation technology was very efficient. The
average costs of transport and the technology were comparable with 18th
century Europe.
 Some records indicate that "as many as 42 people lived in one small farm
hut in Egypt , while six families owned a single olive tree . Such a rural
environment continued to induce migration of population to urban
centers until the early 2nd century, when the urban population stopped
growing and started to decline.
 Influence of Greek culture
 Starting in the middle of the second century BC, in every aspect of the
private culture of the upper classes, Greek culture was increasingly in
ascendancy, in spite of tirades against the "softening" effects of Hellenized
culture from the conservative moralists
 By the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household slaves taught the
Roman young (sometimes even the girls); chefs, decorators, secretaries,
doctors, and hairdressers—all came from the Greek East
 Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape gardening on the Palatine
or in the villas, or were imitated in Roman sculpture yards by Greek slaves.
 The Roman cuisine preserved in the cookery books ascribed to Apicius is
essentially Greek. Roman writers disdained Latin for a cultured Greek style
 EARLY ROME
 Politically, the history of ancient Rome is marked by three periods
 From 753-509 BC the city developed from a village to a city ruled by kings.
 From 509-27 BC the Romans expelled the kings and established the
Roman Republic
 From 27BC-AD 476 Rome flourished as the Roman Empire, stretching its
domination from England to North Africa and from the Atlantic Ocean to
Arabia
 THE SEVEN KINGS
AGE BETWEEN 753-509 BC
 The foundation of Rome dates back to 753 BC, when Romulus (a son of
the god Mars and a descendent of the Trojan prince Aeneas) killed his
twin Remus and became the first king of the city.
 Even if this is only a fascinating legend Rome is very proud of its mythic
origins. In fact, the symbol of the city is still the she-wolf, the mythic
animal that found and suckled the two abandoned twins.
 Second king
 The second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius (715-673 BC), was a Sabine
regarded as especially just and devoted to religion. 
One of the religious traditions that he instituted is the selection of vergins
to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta.
 THIRD KING
 Under the third king, Tullus Hostilius (672-641 BC) the Romans began to
expand with the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa.
 After he contracted the plague the Romans deposed him, thinking it was a
punishment for the neglect of the gods
 FOURTH KING
 Ancus marcius , who reigned from 640- 617
BC, founded the port of Ostia at the mouth of
the Tiber
 FIFTH KING
 The last thre kings of Rome were three Etruscan wealthy men. Lucius
Tarquinus Priscus (616-579 BC) was said to have drained the marshes
between the hills and paved an area destined to became the market place
(the future roman forum)
 SIXTH KING
 Servius Tullius (578-535BC) organized the Roman army into groups of 100
men called centuries and was said to have built a new wall around the city
 SEVENTH KING
 The seventh king, Lucius Tarquinus Suberbus was expelled in 510 BC after
his son cruelly raped Lucretia, a virtuous roman matron and wife of his
kinsman Collatius.
 With the deposition of the last Etruscan king ends not only the monarchy
as form of government, but also the great and deep influence that the
Etruscans have had since than on all the aspects of the early Roman life.
 ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE

 The Etruscans had a great cultural, political, and social influence on early

Rome. Culturally they transmitted to the Romans their intense religious
beliefs, their artistic accomplishments, and their sophistication. 
 They contributed to the development of the city and its countryside with
their skill at urban planning, engineering, and waterworks. 
 The Romans would also develop their professional tradition in metalwork.
But the cultural impact reflects itself also in the decoration style. For
centuries the Roman decorated the temples in the Etruscan style.
 Etruscans constituted also a link between Italy and Greece. Via Greeks,
Roman inherited a highly developed form of culture. For example they
incorporated the Olympian gods into their own array of deities
 From a political point of view Romans adopted the Etruscan kind of
government, hierarchically organized with a king on the top of society
assisted by the nobility.
 Another aspect of the social influence that the Etruscans initially had on
Roman life is mirrored in the free manner in which women were treated.
 Classical Rome
THE REPUBLICAN AGE (509 – 27 BC)
 Towards the end of the 6th century BC, Rome took a momentous step and
abolished her regal system, instituting a new political order, the Republic,
wherein the kings were replaced by a range of lesser magistrates, elected
annually by the whole male citizens body.
 The consuls chose an advisory council, the Senate, at first ad hoc, later
according to well-defined qualifications (of landed wealth, military and
political service)
 During this period Rome began to expand its dominion over her nearby
lands, progressively becoming, first, capital of Italy and, ultimately, of the
Mediterranean.
 Archeologically, the only visible feature of the Rome of the 5th- 4th
centuries BC are various parts of its city walls, rebuilt in massive fashion
around 378-350 probably on the line of the earlier 6th-century circuit.
 Only few relics of this once 11 kilometres long work of fortification
survive, spread on the seven hills, and are still visible in the nearby of the
Termini Station. 
 The main route south to the new territories, metalled as far as Capua
around 312 BC, was extended till Venosa in 291 and all the way down to
Tarrant in 272. Both the first aqueduct and the Via Appia were constructed
by the censor Appius Claudius. 
 The typical Roman citizen is a military and his interest is mainly devoted to
the utility of the works, rather then their beauty. It was thanks to the
broad conquest of the Mediterranean world, including Greece, the
Balkans, Asia Minor, North Africa, and most of the Aegean, that culture
and beautiful artistic products began to spread in the city.
 Especially Greece and Asia brought the best of contemporary Hellenistic
Greek culture and its practised exponents (philosophers, poets,
playwrights, doctors, teachers, mathematicians, astrologers, every kind of
specialist craftsmen) together with innumerable works of art: paintings,
tapestries, furniture and table ware, and statues in stone, bronze, fine
woods, ivory, and precious metals
 Public building in Rome down to the end of the 3rd century BC, when not
concerned with redoing the city walls, consisted mainly of temples,
erected in honour of the gods who were in charge to defend and protect
Romans in time of war or other trials. Almost all the Roman generals
began to exercise the right to erect a temple to honour their victories
 Things began to really move in the 2nd century BC, when alongside the
typical erection of temples, two new forms of monumental public building
made their appearance in the city, the porticus and its close relative the
basilica
 By the end of the 140s BC the first temple was being built completely of
white marble, imported all the way from Greece
 The greatest realisation of the Republican period is the Roman Forum, a
vast area at the foot of the Palatine that between the IV and I century BC
became the focus of the Roman public life.
 The forum was enriched by the erection of temples, tabernae, and
basilicas especially under the leadership of Julius Caesar
 During his brief ascendancy to total power in 48-44 BC, Caesar had great
ambitions for himself sand the city, including diverting the course of the
Tiber so that the flood plain to the north of the city (the Field of Mars)
could be developed as housing
 He set about major replanning and reconstruction in the Forum, building a
new basilica (the Julia), moving the Senate house and the speakers'
platform, and opening up a whole new Forum square to the north
 The Imperial Age (BC 27 – AD 476)
Augustus (BC 27 - AD 14)

 In 27 BC the Roman senate gave Caesar's nephew and heir, Octavius, the
title 'Augustus' (reverend) that became the customary form of address for
all later emperors
 Augustus matched his new position with a wide-ranging programme of
reforms in the army, and reorganizing the taxation and administration of
the provinces.
 Under the Emperor Augustus, the Roman Empire has doubled its size and
reinforced its boundaries
 The old city within its 4th-century walls had been divided into fourteen
new regions, eight within the old walls and six outside them
 Each region had its own magistrate, who was in charge of the new building
regulations, the distribution of the public ration, and the organisation of
seven fire brigades.
 Augustus regulated all the public works as much as the cultural life. In art
and in architecture, no less then in the writing of history, poetry, and
drama, it emerged an Augustan 'court' style.
 The term "forum" originates from the Greek word "agora", an open space
for the market. In Rome the Forum became the centre of every activity:
religious, politic, economic, celebratory, and poetic
 Tiberius to Claudius

 Augustus had done so much that his successors Tiberius, Caligula, and 

Claudius had a relatively easy time. They all contributed to extend the
boundaries of the empire and also to embellish the city of Rome.
 . They repaired the odd public buildings and undertook further work on
the Tiber, Rome's lifeline to the sea
 Under Tiberius the Praetorians moved to a large fort, the Castra Praetoria,
later incorporated to reinforce the city's defences
 Caligola and Claudius brought about the construction of two new
aqueducts (the Claudia and the New Anio), but otherwise they
concentrated their attention on the imperial palaces and other residences.
 Unfortunately many fires, a phenomenon that occurred very frequently,
have destroyed lots of their constructions
 Famous constructions
Nero (54 - 69 AD)

 Nero is famous mostly for his cruelty, especially evident in occasion of the
great fire of AD 64, the martyrdom of Peter (67 AD), and the persecution
of the early Christians
 The Great Fire, lasted nine days and razing to the ground three regions of
the city, though a disaster gave the unprecedented chance to rebuild
whole quarters on completely different lines.
 Nero, well known for his lavish tendency and excesses, was quick to seize
the opportunity.
 To prevent the dangers of the fires, streets were to be made wider, with
large open squares, buildings were to be of limited height and use as little
wood as possible and to be protected by outer walls of Alban and Gamine
stone (hard peppering stuff), and imperial funds paid for porticoes along
the facades of the new apartment blocks. 
 Vespasianus (69 - 79 AD)

 Vespasianus was a general of simple origins who, after his successful

campaigns in Judaea, acquired the status that brought him to imperial
power
 Vespasianus and his sons, known as the Flavians, restored the stability in
the Empire and continued the urban programme of renewal inaugurated
by Nero.
 Vespasian celebrated his victory in Judaea with three great monuments in
the republican manner: the Temple of Peace, the Amphitheatre
(Colosseum), and a rebuilding of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline. 
 Titus (79 - 81 AD)

 The most important architectural legacy of the short reign of Titus is the 
Arch of Titus, erected in 81-2 AD at the point where the road leading up
from theColosseum valley met the Via Sacra
 The inscription on the east face is original and reads 'The Senate and
People of Rome, to Divus Titus, son of Divus Vespasian, Vespasian
Augustus', to celebrate the victorious campaigns of the Emperor in
Jerusalem and his early death. 
 That is why his deified figure appears, riding heavenwards on the back of
the eagle, in the centre coffer of the coffering on the underside of the
archway
 The scene on the south side shows the procession as it approached the
Triumphal Gate at the beginning of the route. 
 The scene on the north side is dominated by Titus riding in his chariot
drawn by four horses, with the goddess Roma holding on to the bridle of
the leading horse. Much of the arch, originally constructed entirely of
Pentelic marble, has been restored in travertine.
 Domitianus (81 – 96 AD)

 Domitianus commissioned Rabirius, one of the few Roman architects we

know by name, to erect his own residence, the Domitian's palace, built
between 81 and 92 AD.
 The main body is composed around two peristyle courtyards
 The entrance on the west side (in line with the old front door of the House
of 'Livia', Augustus' wife) leads first into an octagonal vestibule, with an
extraordinary sequence of curvilinear waiting rooms on either side
 Then comes the first court, once enclosed on all four sides by a portico of
the fluted columns of Numidian yellow marble, whose fragments are
scattered here and there.
 The open area of the court was almost entirely occupied by a pool as big
as a lake, with a large octagonal island in the middle, where fountains
played water down steps and channels
 Everything was once veneered in marble. Domitianus also commissioned
the erection of a big Stadium, designed for athletic contests in the nude
Greek fashion
 In the meanwhile, concrete architecture became increasingly ambitious in
scale and decoration.
Nerva (96 – 98 AD)
Hadrian (117 – 138 AD)
Trajan (98 – 117 AD)
Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 AD)
Caracalla (211 – 217 AD)
Aurelianus (270 – 275 AD)
Diocletianus (284 – 305 AD)
 Social structure
 Slavery and slaves were part of the social order. The slaves were mostly
prisoners of war. There were slave markets where they could be bought
and sold.
 Roman law was not consistent about the status of slaves, except that they
were considered like any other moveable property. Many slaves were
freed by the masters for fine services rendered; some slaves could save
money to buy their freedom.
 During the time of the Roman Republic (founded in 509 BC) 
Roman citizens were allowed to vote. These included patricians and 
plebeians. Women, slaves, and children were not allowed to vote.
 There were two assemblies, the assembly of centuries (comitia centuriata)
and the assembly of tribes (comitia tributa), which were made up of all
the citizens of Rome
 In the comitia centuriata the Romans were divided according to age,
wealth and residence
 The citizens in each tribe were divided into five classes based on property
and then each group was subdivided into two centuries by age. All in all,
there were 373 centuries. Like the assembly of tribes, each century had
one vote
 The Comitia Centuriata elected the praetors (judicial magistrates), the 
censors, and the consuls.
 The comitia tributa comprised thirty-five tribes from Rome and the
country. Each tribe had a single vote. The Comitia Tributa elected the 
Quaestors (financial magistrates) and the patrician Curule Aedile
 Customs and daily life

 Life in the ancient Roman cities revolved around the Forum, the 

central business district, where most of the Romans would go for 
marketing, shopping, trading, banking, and for participating in festivities
and ceremonies
 . Before sunrise, children would go to schools or tutoring them at home
would commence. Elders would dress, take a breakfast by 11 o'clock, have
a nap and in the afternoon or evening would generally go to the Forum
 Going to a public bath at least once daily was a habit with most Roman 
citizens. There were separate baths for men and women.
 The main difference was that the women's baths were smaller than the
men's, and did not have a frigidarium (cold room) or a palaestra (exercise
area).
 Different types of outdoor and indoor entertainment, free of cost, were
available in ancient Rome. Depending on the nature of the events, they
were scheduled during daytime, afternoons, evenings, or late nights
 Huge crowds gathered at the Colosseum to watch events like gladiators,
combats between men, or fights between men and wild animals. The 
Circus Maximus was used for chariot racing.
  In ancient Rome, the cloth and the dress

Clothing
distinguished one class of people from the
other class
 The tunic worn by plebeians (common
people) like shepherds and slaves was made
from coarse and dark material
 the tunic worn by patricians was of linen or
white wool. A magistrate would wear
thetunica augusticlavi; senators wore tunics
with purple stripes (clavi), called tunica
laticlavi. Military tunics were shorter than the
ones worn by civilians.
 Men typically wore a toga, and women a stola
 The woman's stola was a dress worn over a
tunic, and was usually brightly colored.
A fibula (or brooch) would be used as
ornamentation or to hold the stola in place.
A palla, or shawl, was often worn with
the stola.
 Education
 Schooling in a more formal sense was begun around 200 BC. Education
began at the age of around six, and in the next six to seven years, boys and
girls were expected to learn the basics of reading,writing and counting
 By the age of twelve, they would be learning Latin, Greek, grammar and 
literature, followed by training for public speaking
 Oratory was an art to be practiced and learnt and good orators
commanded respect; to become an effective orator was one of the
objectives of education and learning
 Poor children could not afford education. In some cases, services of gifted
slaves were utilized for imparting education.
 Language

 The native language of the Romans was Latin, an Italic language. An 

inflectional and synthetic language, Latin relies little on word order,
conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems
 Its alphabet, the Latin alphabet, is based on the Old Italic alphabet, which
is in turn derived from the Greek alphabet
 Literature

 Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek

authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics
telling the early military history of Rome
 . As the republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy,
history, and tragedy
 Catullus and the associated group of neoteric poets produced poetry
following the Alexandrian model, which experimented with poetic forms
challenging tradition
 Catullus was also the first Roman poet to produce love poetry, seemingly
autobiographical, which depicts an affair with a woman called Lesbia.
 Under the reign of the Emperor Augustus, Horace continued the tradition
of shorter poems, with his Odes and Epodes. Martial, writing under the
EmperorDomitian, was a famed author of epigrams, poems which were
often abusive and censured public figures.
 Music
 Music was a major part of everyday life in ancient Rome. Many private and
public events were accompanied by music, ranging from nightly dining to
military parades and manoeuvres.
 In a discussion of any ancient music, however, non-specialists and even
many musicians have to be reminded that much of what makes our
modern music familiar to us is the result of developments only within the
last 1000 years; thus, our ideas of melody, scales, harmony, and even the
instruments we use would not be familiar to Romans who made and
listened to music many centuries earlier
 Architecture
 In the initial stages, the ancient Roman architecture reflected elements of
architectural styles of the Etruscans and the Greeks.
 Over a period of time, the style was modified in tune with their urban
requirements, and the civil engineering and building construction
tecnology became developed and refined.
 The Roman concretehas remained a riddle, and even after more than two
thousand years some of ancient Roman structures still stand
magnificently, like the Pantheon (with one of the largest single span
domes in the world) located in the business district of today’s Rome.
 The architectural style of the capital city of ancient Rome was emulated by
other urban centers under Roman control and influence,[2] like the 
Verona Arena, Verona, Italy; Arch of Hadrian, Athens,Greece; 
Temple of Hadrian, Ephesos, Turkey; a Theatre at Orange, France; and at
several other locations
 .[3] Roman cities were well planned, efficiently managed and neatly
maintained. Palaces, private dwellings and villas, were elaborately
designed and town planning was comprehensive with provisions for
different activities by the urban resident population, and for countless
migratory population of travelers, traders and visitors passing through
their cities.
 Sports and entertainment

 The ancient city of Rome had a place called the Campus, a sort of drill
ground for Roman soldiers
 In the campus, the youth assembled to play and exercise, which included 
jumping, wrestling, boxing and racing. Riding, throwing, and swimming
 were also preferred physical activities. In the countryside, pastimes also
included fishing and hunting. Females did not participate in these
activities
 . Ball playing was a popular sport and ancient Romans had several 
ball games, which included Handball (Expulsim Ludere), field hockey,
catch, and some form of Soccer.
 Religion

 Roman religious beliefs date back to the founding of Rome, around 800
BC, but the Roman religion commonly associated with the Roman Republic
 and the Roman Empire did not start forming until around 500 BC when
Romans came in contact with Greek culture and adopted many of the
Greek’s religious beliefs including the representation of Greek gods in the
form of humans
 Private and personal worship was an important aspect of religious
practices of ancient Rome. In a sense, each household in ancient Rome
was a temple to the gods. Each household had an altar (lararium), at
which the family members would offer prayers, perform rites, and interact
with the household gods.
 Many of the gods that Romans worshiped came from the 
Proto-Indo-European pantheon, others were based on Greek gods. The
three central deities were Jupiter (who was the god of rain, thunder, and
lightning, of Proto-Indo-European origin), Mars (the god of warfare),
called Ares by the Greeks, and Quirinus (who watched over the senate
house), one of the truly Roman gods who was associated with the Sabines
and with the founder of Rome, Romulus.
Is Ancient Rome the same as modern Rome?

 Modern Rome is located on the same site as the ancient City of Rome,
however it is much larger. Many of the ancient Roman building and
structures are preserved in their original form to this day (e.g. the
Colosseum) others have been modified over the years (e.g. The Vatican)
but retain a knowledge and tradition related to the original structures.
  Guidebooks are readily available with acetate overlays to show how Rome
looked in the past and the present and how progressive modifications
were made to structures. 
 Culturally the City is still cosmopolitan with commercial, industrial and
cultural representatives from all over the world. Its contribution can be
seen in many fashion, food and artistic trends in world culture