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{{Short description|Roman imperial state and civilization from 27 BC to 476/1453 AD}}{{Distinguish|Holy Roman Empire}}{{Other uses}}
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<!-- Please do not edit the lead. Raise a topic at Talk instead if you want to challenge the previous consensus -->
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Roman Empire
| common_name = Roman Empire
| native_name =
| status = Empire
| life_span = {{Line-height|1.3em|{{Nowrap|27 BC{{snd}}AD 395 {{Nobold|(unified)}}}}{{efn|Modern scholars often date the end of the "classical" or "unified" Roman Empire in AD 395.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morley |first=Neville |title=The Roman Empire: Roots of Imperialism |date=2010 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-2870-6}}; {{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed |edition=Revised |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-1015-0200-6 |page=13 |publisher=Penguin |author-link=Jared Diamond}}</ref> This is a modern convention, as the Empire continued to be seen as a single state even after the supposed "split" of 395, which was in fact one of many splits since 286.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sandberg |first=Kaj |date=2008 |title=The So-Called Division of the Roman Empire in AD 395: Notes on a Persistent Theme in Modern Historiography |url=https://journal.fi/arctos/article/view/85853 |journal=Arctos |volume=42 |pages=199–213 |issn=0570-734-X}}</ref>}}<br />{{Nowrap|AD 395{{snd}}476/480 {{Nobold|([[Western Roman Empire|Western]])}}}}<br />{{Nowrap|AD 395–1453}} {{Nobold|([[Byzantine Empire|Eastern]])}}}}
| p1 = Roman Republic
| s1 = Western Roman Empire
| s2 = Byzantine Empire{{!}}Eastern Roman Empire
| image_map = Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png
| image_map_caption = {{Legend|#b23938|Roman Empire in AD 117 at its greatest territorial extent, at the time of [[Trajan]]'s death}} {{Legend|#d28989|[[Vassal state]]s{{Sfnp|Bennett|1997}}{{Efn|Fig. 1. Regions east of the [[Euphrates]] were held only in the years 116–117.}}}}
| image_map2 = Animated map of the Roman territorial evolution from the rise of the city-state of Rome to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.gif
| map_caption2 = Roman territorial evolution from the rise of the city-state of Rome to the fall of the Western Roman Empire
| capital = {{Plainlist}}
* [[Rome]] {{nwr|(27 BC{{snd}}AD 476){{Efn|In 286, Emperor Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into two administrative units–[[Eastern Roman Empire|East]] and [[Western Roman Empire|West]]–an arrangement that periodically returned until the two halves were permanently divided in 395.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrKTEAAAQBAJ |title=Ancient Rome: The Definitive Visual History |date=2023 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-0-2416-3575-9 |page=276 |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622190835/https://books.google.com/books?id=QrKTEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> Although the halves were independent in practice, the Romans continued to consider the Roman Empire to be a single undivided state with two co-equal emperors until the fall of the western half in 476/480.<ref name=":1"/> Although emperors at times governed from other cities (notably [[Mediolanum]] and [[Ravenna]] in the West and [[Nicomedia]] in the East), Rome remained the ''[[de jure]]'' capital of the entire Roman Empire. In 330, Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]] made Constantinople a second and new capital of the empire ("Second Rome" or "New Rome").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Classen |first=Albrecht |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ez_edSWAQGAC |title=Handbook of Medieval Studies |date=2010 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-1102-1558-8 |chapter=The changing shape of Europe |quote=Constantine the Great transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to the newly-founded city of Constantinople |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115424/https://books.google.com/books?id=ez_edSWAQGAC |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Price |first1=Jonathan J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4lmEAAAQBAJ |title=Rome: An Empire of Many Nations |last2=Finkelberg |first2=Margalit |last3=Shahar |first3=Yuval |date=2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-0092-5622-3 |page=19 |quote=the capital of the Empire was transferred from Rome to Constantinople in the fourth century |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622191212/https://books.google.com/books?id=T4lmEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Erdkamp |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaM0AAAAQBAJ |title=The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-9629-0 |page=202 |quote=Constantine sounded the death knell for Rome as a vital political centre with the dedication of his new imperial capital at Constantinople}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bjornlie |first=M. Shane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VI3ebybOl0oC |title=Politics and Tradition Between Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople: A Study of Cassiodorus and the Variae, 527–554 |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1070-2840-1 |page=41 |quote=As a new capital, Constantinople provided a stage for imperial prestige that did not depend on association with the traditions of the senatorial establishment at Rome |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622191456/https://books.google.com/books?id=VI3ebybOl0oC |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Coffler |first=Gail H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_GoZpiIpAEC |title=Melville's Allusions to Religion: A Comprehensive Index and Glossary: A Comprehensive Index and Glossary |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-3130-7270-3 |page=181 |quote=It became Constantinople, capital of the entire Roman Empire |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622190856/https://books.google.com/books?id=v_GoZpiIpAEC |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Maxwell |first=Kathleen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0uoDQAAQBAJ |title=Between Constantinople and Rome: An Illuminated Byzantine Gospel Book (Paris gr. 54) and the Union of Churches |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-3519-5584-3 |chapter=Art and Diplomacy in Late Thirteenth-century Constantinople: Paris 54 and the Union of Churches |quote=Constantine the Great, the emperor who moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622193552/https://books.google.com/books?id=G0uoDQAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> For a time, mostly over the course of the later decades of the fourth century, Rome continued to hold greater symbolic status on account of its greater antiquity as imperial capital.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Grig |first1=Lucy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHlpAgAAQBAJ |title=Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity |last2=Kelly |first2=Gavin |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1999-2118-8 |page=237 |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115405/https://books.google.com/books?id=HHlpAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> From at least 361 onwards, senators belonging to the [[Byzantine senate|new senate]] in Constantinople enjoyed the same status and privileges as senators of the [[Roman Senate]], to which the new senate was largely identical.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loewenstein |first=K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uMRBwAAQBAJ |title=The Governance of ROME |date=2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-9-4010-2400-6 |page=443 |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622190858/https://books.google.com/books?id=7uMRBwAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> By 450, Constantinople was much grander in size and adornment than Rome and unquestionably senior in status.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTjUAwAAQBAJ |title=Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium |date=2009 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-3086-1 |page=31 |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622190857/https://books.google.com/books?id=UTjUAwAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>}}}}
* [[Constantinople]] {{nwr|(330–1453)}}<!--De jure capital of the entire empire (not just the east), see the note above-->{{Efn|In 1204, the crusaders of the [[Fourth Crusade]] captured Constantinople and established the [[Latin Empire]]. The city remained under foreign rule until 1261, when it was captured by the [[Empire of Nicaea]] (a Byzantine/Roman successor state). Nicaea is usually considered the "legitimate" continuation of the Roman Empire during the "interregnum" 1204–1261 (over its rivals in [[Empire of Trebizond|Trebizond]] and [[Empire of Thessalonica|Thessalonica]]) since it managed to retake Constantinople.{{Sfnp|Treadgold|1997|p=734}} Whether there was an interregnum at all is debatable given that the crusaders envisioned the Latin Empire to be the same empire as its predecessor (and not a new state).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Tricht |first=Filip Van |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlnPm2riK1UC&q=imperator+constantinopolitanus&pg=PA68 |title=The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium: The Empire of Constantinople (1204–1228) |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0042-0323-5 |pages=61–82 |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406180853/https://books.google.com/books?id=JlnPm2riK1UC&q=imperator%20constantinopolitanus&pg=PA68 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{Endplainlist}}
| common_languages = {{Plainlist}}
* Official:{{sfnm|Rochette|2023|1p=285|Goldhill|2024|2p=850}}
* ''[[De facto]]'': [[Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]]
* Other:
* [[Languages of the Roman Empire|Regional languages]]
{{Endplainlist}}
| religion = {{Indented plainlist}}
* [[Roman imperial cult|Imperial cult]]-driven [[Religion in ancient Rome|polytheism]] {{nwr|(until AD 380)}}
* [[Nicene Christianity]] {{nwr|([[State church of the Roman Empire|officially]] from AD 380)}}
{{Endplainlist}}
| government_type = [[Autocracy]]
| leader_title1 = [[Roman emperor#Titles|Emperor]]
| leader_name1 = ([[List of Roman emperors|List]])
| era = [[Classical era]] to [[Late Middle Ages]]<br />([[Timeline of Roman history|Timeline]])
| stat_year1 = 25 BC
| stat_area1 = 2750000
| stat_pop1 = 56,800,000
| stat_year2 = AD 117
| stat_area2 = 5000000
| stat_year3 = AD 390
| stat_area3 = 3400000
| currency = [[Sestertius]],{{Efn|Abbreviated "HS". Prices and values are usually expressed in sesterces.}} [[aureus]], [[Solidus (coin)|solidus]], [[Solidus (coin)|nomisma]]
| demonym = [[Roman people|Roman]]
| ref_area1 = <ref name="size">{{Cite journal |last=Taagepera |first=Rein |author-link=Rein Taagepera |date=1979 |title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D |journal=Social Science History |volume=3 |issue=3/4 |doi=10.2307/1170959 |page=125 |jstor=1170959 |issn=0145-5532}}</ref>
| ref_area2 = <ref name="size"/><ref name="East-West">{{Cite journal |last1=Turchin |first1=Peter |author-link=Peter Turchin |last2=Adams |first2=Jonathan M. |last3=Hall |first3=Thomas D. |date=2006 |title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires |url=http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf |journal=Journal of World-Systems Research |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=222 |access-date=5 February 2016 |archive-date=17 May 2016 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160517210851/http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="OxfordArea">{{Cite book|last1=Bang|first1=Peter Fibiger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mkLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|title=The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience|last2=Bayly|first2=C. A.|last3=Scheidel|first3=Walter|year=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-977311-4|pages=92–94|language=en}}</ref>
| ref_area3 = <ref name="size"/>
| ref_pop1 = <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Durand |first=John D. |date=1977 |title=Historical Estimates of World Population: An Evaluation |url=http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=psc_penn_papers |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=3 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/1971891 |pages=253–296 |jstor=1971891 |access-date=30 October 2018 |archive-date=16 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016190031/http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=psc_penn_papers |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
The '''Roman Empire''' ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The [[Roman people|Romans]] conquered most of this during the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], and it was ruled by emperors following [[Octavian]]'s <!-- Do not change link from Octavian to Augustus per [[WP:NOTBROKEN]]. His name was Octavian when he was made Roman Emperor. He renamed himself Augustus immediately afterwards. --> assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The [[Western Roman Empire|western empire]] collapsed in 476 AD, but the [[Byzantine Empire|eastern empire]] lasted until the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453.
By 100 BC, the [[city of Rome]] had expanded its rule from the [[Italian peninsula]] to most of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by [[List of Roman civil wars and revolts|civil wars and political conflicts]], which culminated in the [[Wars of Augustus|victory of Octavian]] over [[Mark Antony]] and [[Cleopatra]] at the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] in Egypt. In 27 BC, the [[Roman Senate]] granted Octavian overarching military power ({{lang|la|[[imperium]]}}) and the new title of ''[[Augustus (title)|Augustus]]'', marking his [[Constitutional reforms of Augustus|accession as the first Roman emperor]]. The vast Roman territories were organized into [[Senatorial province|senatorial]] provinces, governed by proconsuls who were appointed by lot annually, and [[Imperial province|imperial]] provinces, which belonged to the emperor but were governed by [[Legatus|legates]].
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]] ({{Literal translation|Roman Peace}}). Rome reached its [[Borders of the Roman Empire|greatest territorial extent]] under [[Trajan]] ({{Reign|98|117|era=AD}}), but a period of increasing trouble and decline began under [[Commodus]] ({{Reign|180|192}}). In the 3rd century, the Empire underwent a [[Crisis of the Third Century|49-year crisis]] that threatened its existence due to civil war, [[Plague of Cyprian|plagues]] and [[Migration Period|barbarian invasions]]. The [[Gallic Empire|Gallic]] and [[Palmyrene Empire|Palmyrene]] empires broke away from the state and a series of [[Barracks emperor|short-lived emperors]] led the Empire, which was later reunified under [[Aurelian]] ({{Reign|270|275}}). The civil wars ended with the victory of [[Diocletian]] ({{Reign|284|305}}), who set up two different imperial courts in the [[Greek East and Latin West]]. [[Constantine the Great]] ({{Reign|306|337}}), the first [[Constantine the Great and Christianity|Christian emperor]], moved the imperial seat from Rome to [[Names of Istanbul|Byzantium]] in 330, and renamed it [[Constantinople]]. The [[Migration Period]], involving [[Germanic–Roman contacts|large invasions by Germanic peoples]] and by the [[Huns]] of [[Attila]], led to the decline of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. With the [[Battle of Ravenna (476)|fall of Ravenna]] to the [[Heruli|Germanic Herulians]] and the [[deposition of Romulus Augustus]] in 476 by [[Odoacer]], the Western Empire finally collapsed. The [[Eastern Roman Empire|Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire]] survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until [[Fall of Constantinople|the city's fall]] in 1453.{{Efn|The Ottomans sometimes called their state the "Empire of [[Rûm]]" ({{Langx|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roy |first=Kaushik |title=Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750: Cavalry, Guns, Government and Ships |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-7809-3800-4 |series=Bloomsbury Studies in Military History |page=37 |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 Empire's extent and endurance, its institutions and culture had [[legacy of the Roman Empire|a lasting influence]] on the development of [[history of Latin|language]], [[religion in ancient Rome|religion]], [[Roman art|art]], [[Ancient Roman architecture|architecture]], [[Latin literature|literature]], [[Ancient Roman philosophy|philosophy]], [[Roman law|law]], and [[Roman magistrate|forms of government]] across its territories. [[Latin]] evolved into the [[Romance languages]] while [[History of Greek|Medieval Greek]] became the language of the East. The [[Edict of Thessalonica|Empire's adoption]] of [[Christianity as the Roman state religion|Christianity]] resulted in the formation of medieval [[Christendom]]. Roman and [[Ancient Greek art|Greek 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]], influencing [[Islamic architecture]]. The rediscovery of [[Science in classical antiquity|classical science]] and [[Ancient Roman technology|technology]] (which formed the basis for [[Science in the medieval Islamic world|Islamic science]]) in medieval Europe contributed to the [[Science in the Renaissance|Scientific Renaissance]] and [[Scientific Revolution]]. Many modern legal systems, such as the [[Napoleonic Code]], descend from Roman law. Rome's republican institutions have influenced the [[Maritime republics|Italian city-state republics]] of the medieval period, the early [[United States]], and modern democratic [[republic]]s.
==History==
{{Main|History of the Roman Empire}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Roman history}}
{{See also|Campaign history of the Roman military|Roman Kingdom}}
[[File:Roman Empire map.ogv|thumb|Animated overview of the Roman territorial history from the [[Roman Republic|Republic]] until the fall of its last remnant (the [[Byzantine Empire]]) in 1453]]
===Transition from Republic to Empire===
{{Further|Roman Republic}}
[[File:Augustus of Prima Porta (inv. 2290).jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Augustus of Prima Porta]]'']]
Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the [[Roman Republic]] in the 6th century BC, though not outside the [[Italian Peninsula]] until the 3rd century BC. Thus, it was an "empire" (a great power) long before it had an emperor.<ref>{{Harvp|Kelly|2007|pp=4ff}}; {{Harvp|Nicolet|1991|pp=1, 15}}; {{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=T. Corey |title=The Praetorship in the Roman Republic |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=605 |author-link=T. Corey Brennan}} {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=39–40}}.</ref> The Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of self-ruled towns (with varying degrees of independence from the [[Roman Senate|Senate]]) and provinces administered by military commanders. It was governed by annually elected [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]] ([[Roman consul]]s above all) in conjunction with the Senate.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=179}} The 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors.{{Sfnp|Nicolet|1991|pp=1, 15}}<ref name=Hekster/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lintott |first=Andrew |title=The Constitution of the Roman Republic |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=114 |author-link=Andrew Lintott}}; {{Cite book |last=Eder |first=W. |chapter=The Augustan Principate as Binding Link |date=1993 |title=Between Republic and Empire |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-5200-8447-0 |page=98}}</ref> The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of ''[[imperium]]'', meaning "command" (typically in a military sense).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=John |chapter=Fines provincial |date=2011 |title=Frontiers in the Roman World |publisher=Brill |page=10}}</ref> Occasionally, successful consuls or generals were given the honorary title ''[[imperator]]'' (commander); this is the origin of the word ''emperor'', since this title was always bestowed to the early emperors.{{Sfnp|Richardson|2011|pp=1–2}}{{efn|[[Augustus]] avoided any association with the ancient [[King of Rome|kings of Rome]]. Augustus had replaced his first name with ''Imperator'', a title regularly used by [[Julius Caesar]], thus becoming ''Imperator Caesar Augustus'', which further linked the title with his position. ''Imperator'' did not acquire the meaning of "ruler" until the late 1st century.<ref name="SimonHornblower">{{Cite book |last1=Hornblower |first1=Simon |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |last2=Spawforth |first2=Antony |last3=Eidinow |first3=Esther |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-1995-4556-8 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA728 728]–729 |chapter=Imperator |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3268 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3268}}</ref> Both ''[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]'' and ''[[Augustus (title)|Augustus]]'' evolved into formal titles, the former denoting the heir and the latter the monarch. In some languages, ''Caesar'' became the origin of the word "[[emperor]]", such as in German (''[[Kaiser]]'') and some Slavic languages (''[[Tsar]]'').}}
Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and [[Roman civil wars|civil wars]] from the late second century BC (see [[Crisis of the Roman Republic]]) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. In 44 BC [[Julius Caesar]] was briefly [[perpetual dictator]] before being [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|assassinated]] by a faction that opposed his concentration of power. This faction was driven from Rome and defeated at the [[Battle of Philippi]] in 42 BC by [[Mark Antony]] and Caesar's adopted son [[Augustus|Octavian]]. Antony and Octavian [[Second Triumvirate|divided the Roman world]] between them, but this did not last long. Octavian's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and [[Cleopatra]] at the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC. In 27 BC the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] gave him the title ''[[Augustus (title)|Augustus]]'' ("venerated") and made him ''[[princeps]]'' ("foremost") with [[proconsul]]ar ''[[imperium]]'', thus beginning the [[Principate]], the first epoch of Roman imperial history. Although the republic stood in name, Augustus had all meaningful authority.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Syme |first=Ronald |title=The Roman Revolution |date=1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=3–4 |author-link=Ronald Syme}}</ref> During his 40-year rule, a new constitutional order emerged so that, upon his death, [[Tiberius]] would succeed him as the new ''[[de facto]]'' monarch.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Eck |first1=Werner |title=The Age of Augustus |date=2007 |pages=148–158 |url=https://www.academia.edu/43436644 |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford: Blackwell Publishing |isbn=978-1-4051-5149-8 |last2=Takács |first2=Sarolta A. |author-link=Werner Eck |translator-last=Deborah Lucas Schneider}}</ref>
===''Pax Romana''===
{{Main|Pax Romana}}
{{Multiple image
| total_width = 500
| header = The so-called "[[Five Good Emperors]]" of 96–180 AD
| image1 = Bust of Emperor Nerva in lorica military cloak and paludamentum, Greek marble, 96 - 98 AD, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (19243236348).jpg
| caption1 = [[Nerva]] ({{R.|96|98}})
| image2 = Traianus Glyptothek Munich 72.jpg
| caption2 = [[Trajan]] ({{R.|98|117}})
| image3 = Bust Hadrian Musei Capitolini MC817.jpg
| caption3 = [[Hadrian]] ({{R.|117|138}})
| image4 = Antoninus Pius (Museo del Prado) 01.jpg
| caption4 = [[Antoninus Pius]] ({{R.|138|161}})
| image5 = (Toulouse) Buste cuirassé de Marc Aurèle agè - Musée Saint-Raymond Ra 61 b (cropped).jpg
| caption5 = [[Marcus Aurelius]] ({{R.|161|180}})
}}
The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded as the ''[[Pax Romana]]'' ("Roman Peace"). 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 and put down "mercilessly and swiftly".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boatwright |first=Mary T. |title=Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire |date=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=4 |author-link=Mary T. Boatwright}}</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 the Four Emperors]], from which [[Vespasian]] emerged as the victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief [[Flavian dynasty]], followed by the [[Nerva–Antonine dynasty]] which produced the "[[Five Good Emperors]]": [[Nerva]], [[Trajan]], [[Hadrian]], [[Antoninus Pius]], and [[Marcus Aurelius]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-10 |title=Five Good Emperors |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Good-Emperors |access-date=2024-08-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
===Transition from classical to late antiquity===
{{Main|Later Roman Empire|Fall of the Western Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Barbarian kingdoms|Byzantine Empire}}
[[File:Invasions of the Roman Empire 1.png|upright=1.35|thumb|The [[Migration Period|Barbarian invasions]] consisted of the movement of (mainly) ancient [[Germanic peoples]] into Roman territory. Historically, this event marked the transition between [[classical antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages]].]]
In the view of contemporary Greek historian [[Cassius Dio]], the accession of [[Commodus]] in 180 marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron",<ref>{{Citation |last=[[Dio Cassius]] |title=Roman History |edition=Loeb Classical Library edition, 1927 |translator-last=Cary |translator-first=E. |page=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/72*.html#36 72.36.4]}}</ref> a 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|Empire's decline]].<ref name="Commodus-Gibbon">{{Citation |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=The History of the Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire |date=1776 |chapter=The Decline And Fall in the West – Chapter 4 |chapter-url=https://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/chap4.htm |author-link=Edward Gibbon |access-date=27 June 2017 |archive-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824100850/http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/chap4.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Goldsworthy|2009|p=50}}
In 212, during the reign of [[Caracalla]], [[Roman citizenship]] was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The [[Severan dynasty]] was tumultuous; an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution and, following its collapse, the 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>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Peter |title=The World of Late Antiquity |date=1971 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn=978-0-1519-8885-3 |page=22 |author-link=Peter Brown (historian)}}</ref> In defining [[periodization|historical epochs]], this crisis sometimes marks the transition from [[Classical Antiquity|Classical]] to [[Late Antiquity]]. [[Aurelian]] ({{R.|270|275}}) stabilised the empire militarily and [[Diocletian]] reorganised and restored much of it in 285.{{Sfnp|Goldsworthy|2009|pp=405–415}} Diocletian's reign brought the empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of [[early Christianity|Christianity]], the "[[Diocletianic Persecution|Great Persecution]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Diocletian - Reorganization, Tetrarchy, Edict {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diocletian/Reorganization-of-the-empire |access-date=2024-08-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate [[Tetrarchy|tetrarch]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potter |first=David |title=The Roman Empire at Bay |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4151-0057-1 |pages=296–298 |author-link=David Stone Potter}}</ref> Confident that he fixed the disorder plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, but the Tetrarchy [[Civil wars of the Tetrarchy|collapsed shortly after]]. 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. [[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 after making Christianity the [[Christianity as the Roman state religion|state religion]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Starr |first=Chester G. |title=A History of the Ancient World |date=1974 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1950-1814-1 |edition=2nd |pages=670–678 |author-link=Chester G. Starr |orig-date=1965}}</ref>
[[File:628px-Western and Eastern Roman Empires 476AD(3).PNG|thumb|The Roman Empire by 476, noting western and eastern divisions]] [[File:The Roman Empire, AD 395.png|right|thumb|upright=1.15|The administrative divisions of the Roman Empire in 395 AD]]
===Fall in the West and survival in the East===
The [[Western Roman Empire]] began to [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|disintegrate]] in the early 5th century. The Romans fought 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 |date=1923 |publisher=Dover Books |pages=295–297 |author-link=J. B. Bury |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=13 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713102254/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/9%2A.html#4 |url-status=live}}</ref> but the empire had [[Migration Period|assimilated so many Germanic peoples]] of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself.{{Sfnp|Bury|1923|pp=312–313}} [[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 |last=Scholl |first=Christian |title=Transcultural approaches to the concept of imperial rule in the Middle Ages |date=2017 |publisher=Peter Lang AG |isbn=978-3-6530-5232-9 |language=en |quote=Odoacer, who dethroned the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, used neither the imperial insignia nor the colour purple; they were used exclusively by the emperor in Byzantium.}}</ref><ref name="The Fall of Rome">{{Cite web |last=Peter |first=Heather |author-link=Peter Heather |title=The Fall of Rome |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml |access-date=11 February 2020 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=28 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328030720/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gibbons">{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire |date=1776 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |editor-last=Widger |editor-first=David |language=en |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. |author-link=Edward Gibbon |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Clink362HCH0005 |chapter-format=ebook |via=Project Gutenberg |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830175141/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Clink362HCH0005 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone.<ref name="Peter Lang AG"/><ref name="The Fall of Rome"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |date=1776 |via=Project Gutenberg |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. |author-link=Edward Gibbon |access-date=11 February 2020 |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Dlinknoteref-5511 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830175141/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Dlinknoteref-5511 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Eastern Roman Empire, called the [[Byzantine Empire]] by later historians, continued until the reign of [[Constantine XI Palaiologos]], the last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against [[Mehmed II]] and his [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] forces during the [[Fall of Constantinople|siege of Constantinople]]. Mehmed II adopted the title of ''[[Kayser-i Rûm|caesar]]'' in an attempt to claim a connection to the former Empire.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ozgen |first=Korkut |title=Mehmet II |url=http://www.theottomans.org/english/family/mehmet2.asp |access-date=3 April 2007 |website=TheOttomans.org |archive-date=30 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430145544/http://www.theottomans.org/english/family/mehmet2.asp |url-status=live}}; {{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=23 January 2018 |title=1453: The Fall of Constantinople |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1180/1453-the-fall-of-constantinople |access-date=11 February 2020 |website=World History Encyclopedia |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412192442/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1180/1453-the-fall-of-constantinople/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Nicolle|2000|p=85}} His claim was soon recognized by the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], but not by European monarchs.
==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.{{Sfnp|Kelly|2007|p=3}} The Latin phrase ''imperium sine fine'' ("empire without end"{{Sfnp|Nicolet|1991|p=29}}) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]].<ref>{{Harvp|Nicolet|1991|p=29}}; {{Harvp|Virgil|p=1.278}}; {{Cite book |last=Mattingly |first=David J. |title=Imperialism, Power, and Identity: Experiencing the Roman Empire |date=2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=15 |author-link=David Mattingly (archaeologist)}}; {{Citation |last=Moretti |first=G |chapter=The Other World and the 'Antipodes': The Myth of Unknown Countries between Antiquity and the Renaissance |date=1993 |title=The Classical Tradition and the Americas: European Images of the Americas |editor-last=de Gruyter |editor-first=Walter |page=257}}; {{Cite book |last=Southern |first=Pat |title=The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine |date=2001 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4152-3943-1 |pages=14–16 |author-link=Pat Southern}}</ref> This claim of universal dominion was renewed when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century.{{Efn|[[Prudentius]] (348–413) in particular Christianizes the theme in his poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mastrangelo |first=Marc |title=The Roman Self in Late Antiquity: Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul |date=2008 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |pages=73, 203}}</ref> [[St. Augustine]], however, distinguished between the secular and eternal "Rome" in ''[[De Civitate Dei|The City of God]].'' See also {{Citation |last=Fears |first=J. Rufus |chapter=The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology |date=1981 |title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |volume=II |issue=17.1 |author-link=J. Rufus Fears |page=136}}, on how Classical Roman ideology influenced Christian Imperial doctrine, {{Citation |last=Bang |first=Peter Fibiger |chapter=The King of Kings: Universal Hegemony, Imperial Power, and a New Comparative History of Rome |date=2011 |title=The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}} and the Greek concept of globalism (''[[ecumene|oikouménē]]'').}} In addition to annexing large regions, the Romans directly altered their geography, for example [[Deforestation during the Roman period|cutting down entire forests]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mosley |first=Stephen |url=https://archive.org/details/environmentworld00mosl_888 |title=The Environment in World History |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |page=[https://archive.org/details/environmentworld00mosl_888/page/n44 35] |url-access=limited}}</ref>
[[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, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. Under [[Augustus]], a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the creation of the most comprehensive [[political geography]] that survives from antiquity, the ''[[Geographica|Geography]]'' of [[Strabo]].{{Sfnp|Nicolet|1991|pp=7, 8}} When Augustus died, the account of his achievements (''[[Res Gestae Divi Augusti|Res Gestae]]'') prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of the Empire.{{Sfnp|Nicolet|1991|pp=9, 16}} Geography alongside meticulous written records were central concerns of [[#Central government|Roman Imperial administration]].{{Sfnp|Nicolet|1991|pp=10, 11}}
[[File:Milecastle 39 on Hadrian's Wall.jpg|thumb|A segment of the ruins of [[Hadrian's Wall]] in northern England, overlooking [[Crag Lough]]]]
The Empire reached its largest expanse under [[Trajan]] ({{R.|98|117}}),{{Sfnp|Southern|2001|pp=14–16}} encompassing 5 million km<sup>2</sup>.<ref name="size"/><ref name="East-West"/> The traditional population estimate of {{Nowrap|55–60 million}} inhabitants{{Sfnp|Kelly|2007|p=1}} accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of the world's total population{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=184}} and made it the most populous unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldsmith |first=Raymond W. |date=2005 |title=An Estimate of the Size And Structure of the National Product of the Early Roman Empire |journal=Review of Income and Wealth |volume=30 |issue=3 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4991.1984.tb00552.x |pages=263–288}}</ref> Recent [[Classical demography#Demography of the Roman Empire|demographic studies]] have argued for a population peak from {{Nowrap|70 million}} to more than {{Nowrap|100 million}}.<ref name="Population and demography">{{Cite web |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |date=April 2006 |title=Population and demography |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/040604.pdf |website=Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics |page=9 |access-date=25 July 2009 |archive-date=13 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113015918/http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/040604.pdf |url-status=live}}; {{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 |doi=10.1017/S1047759400074134 |pages=301–324 |s2cid=165770409}}</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.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=721}}
As the historian [[Christopher Kelly (historian)|Christopher Kelly]] described it:
{{Blockquote|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]] ... referred to by its conquerors as ''[[Mare Nostrum|mare nostrum]]''—'our sea'.{{Sfnp|Kelly|2007|p=1}}}}
[[File:The cities of the Roman world in the Imperial period.jpg|thumb|Roman cities in the Imperial period<ref>{{cite journal |title=Urbanism and the division of labour in the Roman Empire |last1=Hanson |first1=J.W. |journal=Journal of the Royal Society, Interface |display-authors=etal |date=2017 |volume=14 |issue=136 |doi=10.1098/rsif.2017.0367 |pmid=29142013 |pmc=5721147}}</ref>]]
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.{{Sfnp|Southern|2001|pp=14–16}} The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable.<ref name="Hekster">{{Cite journal |last1=Hekster |first1=Olivier |last2=Kaizer |first2=Ted |date=16–19 April 2009 |title=Preface |publisher=Brill |journal=Frontiers in the Roman World: Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire |page=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>{{Cite book |title=Cambridge Illustrated History of the Roman World |date=2003 |publisher=Ivy Press |editor-last=Woolf |editor-first=Greg |page=340}}; {{Cite book |last=Opper |first=Thorsten |title=Hadrian: Empire and Conflict |date=2008 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=64}}; {{Cite book |last=Fields |first=Nic |title=Hadrian's Wall AD 122–410, which was, of course, at the bottom of Hadrian's garden |date=2003 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |page=35}}</ref>
==Languages==
{{Main|Languages of the Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Jireček Line}}
Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire,{{Efn|name=diglossia|It has been called a state of bilingualism but that's only true of the educated and so Bruno Rochette suggests it's more appropriate as a [[diglossia]] but concedes this still does not adequately explain it, as Greek was "high" against Latins "Super-high".{{Sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=123}} Latin experienced a period of spreading from the second century BCE, and especially in the western provinces, but not as much in the eastern provinces.<ref>{{Harvp|Rochette|2012|pp=562–563}}.</ref> In the east, Greek was always the dominant language, a left over influence from the [[Hellenistic period]] that predates the Empire.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=108}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408–450) |date=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-5209-4141-1 |page=279 |author-link=Fergus Millar}}; {{Harvp|Treadgold|1997|pp=5–7}}</ref>}} but the Empire was deliberately multilingual.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=117}} [[Andrew Wallace-Hadrill]] says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallace-Hadrill |first=Andrew |title=Rome's cultural revolution |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-5217-2160-8 |edition=Repr. with corr |___location=Cambridge |page=60}}</ref> At the start of the Empire, knowledge of Greek was useful to pass as educated nobility and knowledge of Latin was useful for a career in the military, government, or law.<ref>Rochette (1997, 2010, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2007), J. N. Adams (2003), Kearsley and Evans (2001), Binder (2000: 21–48), Rizakis (1995, 2008), Holford-Strevens (1993), Petersmann (1992), Dubuisson (1981, 1992a, 1992b), Millar (2006a: 84–93), Mullen (2011), Garcea (2019), Fournet (2019), Rapp (2019), Nocchi Macedo(2019), Pellizzari (2019), Rhoby (2019), Ghiretti (1996), García Domingo (1983), Zgusta (1980), Kaimio (1979a, 1979b), Hahn (1906), Mullen and James (2012), Stein (1915: 132–186) as cited in {{Cite book |last=Dickey |first=Eleanor |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781108888387/type/book |title=Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek: A Lexicon and Analysis |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1088-8838-7 |edition=1st |page=4 |doi=10.1017/9781108888387 |s2cid=258920619 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209190604/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/latin-loanwords-in-ancient-greek/F5D4E8C56689A2584BD68753B99CCDE9 |url-status=live}}</ref> Bilingual inscriptions indicate the everyday interpenetration of the two languages.<ref>{{Harvp|Rochette|2012|p=556}}; {{Harvp|Adams|2003|p=200}}.</ref>
Latin and Greek's mutual linguistic and cultural influence is a complex topic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feeney |first=Denis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQRuCwAAQBAJ |title=Beyond Greek: The Beginnings of Latin Literature |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-6744-9604-0 |language=en |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004101709/https://books.google.com/books?id=YQRuCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> Latin words incorporated into Greek were very common by the early imperial era, especially for military, administration, and trade and commerce matters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickey |first=Eleanor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNXBEAAAQBAJ |title=Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek: A Lexicon and Analysis |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1088-9734-1 |language=en |page=651 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004102009/https://books.google.com/books?id=uNXBEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Batstone |first=William W. |title=A Companion to the Roman Republic |chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470996980.ch25 |chapter=Literature |date=2006 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-0217-9 |editor-last=Rosenstein |editor-first=Nathan |edition=1 |pages=543–564 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470996980.ch25 |access-date=2023-08-17 |editor2-last=Morstein-Marx |editor2-first=Robert |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718183126/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470996980.ch25 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Freeman|2000|p=438}}
[[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>{{Cite book |last=[[Cicero]] |title=[[In Catilinam]] |edition=[[Rylands Papyri]] |volume=I 61 "[[recto]]" |page=2.15}}</ref>]]
There was never a legal requirement for Latin in the Empire, but it represented a certain status.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|2003|pp=188, 197}}; {{Harvnb|Freeman|2000|p=394}}; {{Harvnb|Rochette|2012|p=549}}</ref> High standards of Latin, ''[[Classical Latin|Latinitas]]'', started with the advent of Latin literature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloomer |first=W. Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PmACgAAQBAJ |title=Latinity and Literary Society at Rome |date=1997 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3390-2 |language=en |page=4 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004102055/https://books.google.com/books?id=7PmACgAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> Due to the flexible language policy of the Empire, a natural competition of language emerged that spurred ''Latinitas'', to defend Latin against the stronger cultural influence of Greek.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2018|p=122}} Over time Latin usage was used to project power and a higher social class.<ref>{{Cite book |last=La Bua |first=Giuseppe |title=Cicero and Roman education: the reception of the speeches and ancient scholarship |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1070-6858-2 |___location=Cambridge (GB) |pages=329ff}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Adams|2003|p=205}} Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a "rule" that first started during the [[Punic Wars]].{{Sfnm|Rochette|2023|1p=263, 268|Rochette|2018|2pp=114–115, 118}} Different emperors up until Justinian would attempt to require the use of Latin in various sections of the administration but there is no evidence that a linguistic imperialism existed during the early Empire.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2018}}
After all freeborn inhabitants were universally [[wikt:enfranchise|enfranchised]] in [[Constitutio Antoniniana|212]], many Roman citizens would have lacked a knowledge of Latin.{{Sfnp|Adams|2003|pp=185–186, 205}} The wide use of [[Koine Greek]] was what enabled the spread of Christianity and reflects its role as the [[lingua franca]] of the Mediterranean during the time of the Empire.{{Sfnp|Treadgold|1997|pp=5–7}} Following Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century CE, there was a decline in the knowledge of Greek in the west.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2018|pp=108–109}} Spoken Latin later fragmented into the incipient [[romance languages]] in the 7th century CE following the collapse of the Empire's west.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlton |first=Charles Merritt |date=1973 |title=A linguistic analysis of a collection of late Latin documents composed in Ravenna between A.D. 445–700 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783111636221 |doi=10.1515/9783111636221 |isbn=978-3-1116-3622-1 |quote="page 37. According to Pei & Gaeng (1976: 76–81), the decisive moment came with the Islamic conquest of North Africa and Iberia, which was followed by numerous raids on land and by sea. All this had the effect of disrupting connections between the western Romance-speaking regions. |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115400/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111636221/html |url-status=live}}</ref>
The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite obscure the continuity of other spoken languages within the Empire.<ref name=miles/> Latin, referred to in its spoken form as [[Vulgar Latin]], gradually replaced [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] and [[Italic languages]].<ref>{{Harvp|Rochette|2012|p=550}}; {{Cite book |last=Zimmer |first=Stefan |chapter=Indo-European |date=2006 |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-Clio |page=961}}</ref><ref name="curchin">{{Cite journal |last=Curchin |first=Leonard A. |date=1995 |title=Literacy in the Roman Provinces: Qualitative and Quantitative Data from Central Spain |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=116 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/295333 |pages=461–476 (464) |jstor=295333}}</ref> References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages, particularly in Egypt with [[Coptic language|Coptic]], 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 of laws and oaths.{{Sfnp|Rochette|2012|pp=558–559}} In [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]], Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century.<ref name="miles">{{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Richard |chapter=Communicating Culture, Identity, and Power |date=2000 |title=Experiencing Power: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-4152-1285-5 |pages=58–60}}</ref> In [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]], [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]] soldiers used their [[Palmyrene dialect|dialect of Aramaic]] for inscriptions, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military.{{Sfnp|Adams|2003|p=199}} The last reference to Gaulish was between 560 and 575.<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">{{Cite book |last=Hélix |first=Laurence |title=Histoire de la langue française |date=2011 |publisher=Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. |isbn=978-2-7298-6470-5 |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.}}</ref> The emergent [[Gallo-Romance languages]] would then be shaped by Gaulish.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guiter |first=Henri |chapter=Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania |date=1995 |title=Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii |publisher=Krakow |editor-last=Bochnakowa |editor-first=Anna |editor-last2=Widlak |editor-first2=Stanislan}}; {{Cite book |last=Roegiest |first=Eugeen |title=Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania |date=2006 |publisher=Acco |page=83}}; {{Cite book |last=Savignac |first=Jean-Paul |title=Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois |date=2004 |publisher=La Différence |page=26}}; {{Cite journal |last=Matasovic |first=Ranko |date=2007 |title=Insular Celtic as a Language Area |journal=Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies |page=106 |series=The Celtic Languages in Contact}}; {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=J. N. |title=The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600 |url=https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-5114-8297-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam/page/n300 279]–289 |chapter=V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511482977 |url-access=limited}}</ref> [[Proto-Basque language|Proto-Basque]] or [[Aquitanian language|Aquitanian]] evolved with Latin loan words to modern [[Basque language|Basque]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trask |first=R. L. |title=The history of Basque |date=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-4151-3116-2 |oclc=34514667}}</ref> The [[Thracian language]], as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia, are attested in Imperial-era inscriptions.{{Sfnp|Treadgold|1997|pp=5–7}}<ref name=miles/>
{{Multiple image
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| 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]]<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Bard |editor-first=Kathryn A. |editor-link=Kathryn A. Bard |title=Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1346-6525-9 |pages=252–254 |language=en}}; {{Cite book |last=Bard |first=Kathryn A. |author-link=Kathryn A. Bard |title=An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-4706-7336-2 |page=325 |language=en}}</ref>
}}
==Society==
{{Further|Ancient Roman society}}
[[File:Pompeii family feast painting Naples.jpg|thumb|A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from [[Pompeii]] (1st century AD)]]
The Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=12}} Public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as [[Forum (Roman)|forums]], [[List of Roman amphitheatres|amphitheatres]], [[Roman circus|racetracks]] and [[thermae|baths]]—helped foster a sense of "Romanness".{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=16}}
Roman society had multiple, overlapping [[Social class in ancient Rome|social hierarchies]].{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=9}} The civil war preceding Augustus caused upheaval,<ref name="Garnsey">{{Cite book |last1=Garnsey |first1=Peter |title=The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture |last2=Saller |first2=Richard |publisher=University of California Press |pages=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>{{Cite book |last=Noreña |first=Carlos F. |title=Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: Representation, Circulation, Power |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=7}}</ref> Personal relationships—[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]], friendship (''amicitia''), [[Family in ancient Rome|family]], [[Marriage in ancient Rome|marriage]]—continued to influence politics.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=4–5}} 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.{{Sfnp|Winterling|2009|pp=11, 21}}
The blurring of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased [[social mobility]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saller |first=Richard P. |title=Personal Patronage under the Early Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=123, 176, 183 |orig-date=1982}}; {{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Anne |title=Performance and Identity in the Classical World |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=164}}</ref> both upward and downward, to a greater extent than all other well-documented ancient societies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reinhold |first=Meyer |title=Studies in Classical History and Society |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=25ff, 42}}</ref> Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=18}} Social life, 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]]''): professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs,{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=17, 20}} performing troupes,{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|pp=81–82}} and [[burial society|burial societies]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Maureen |title=Spirits of the Dead: Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=45–46}}</ref>
===Legal status===
{{Main|Status in Roman legal system|Roman citizenship}}
According to the [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]], the essential distinction in the Roman "[[legal personality|law of persons]]" was that all humans were either free (''liberi'') or slaves (''servi'').<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=14}}; [[Gaius (jurist)|Gaius]], ''[[Institutes of Gaius|Institutiones]]'' 1.9 ''Digest'' 1.5.3.</ref> The legal status of free persons was 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 non-citizens. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, were ''[[peregrinus (Roman)|peregrini]]'', non-Romans.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–32}} In 212, the ''[[Constitutio Antoniniana]]'' extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. This legal egalitarianism required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that distinguished between citizens and non-citizens.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=177}}
====Women in Roman law====
{{Main|Women in ancient Rome}}
{{Multiple image
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| image2 = Bronze young girl reading CdM Paris.jpg
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| footer = '''Left:''' Fresco of an [[Auburn hair|auburn]] maiden reading a text, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]] (60–79 AD), [[Pompeii]], Italy<br />'''Right:''' Bronze statuette (1st century AD) of a young woman reading, based on a [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] original
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Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens, 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").{{Efn|The ''civis'' ("citizen") stands in explicit contrast to a ''[[Peregrinus (Roman)|peregrina]]'', a foreign or non-Roman woman<ref>{{Citation |last=Sherwin-White |first=A.N. |title=Roman Citizenship |date=1979 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=A. N. Sherwin-White |pages=211, 268}}; {{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–32, 457}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phang |first=Sara Elise |title=The Marriage of Roman Soldiers (13 B.C.–A.D. 235): Law and Family in the Imperial Army |date=2001 |publisher=Brill |page=2}}; {{Cite book |last=Southern |first=Pat |title=The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=144 |author-link=Pat Southern}}</ref>}} A Roman woman kept her own [[Roman naming conventions|family name]] (''nomen'') for life. Children most often took the father's name, with some exceptions.{{Sfnp|Rawson|1987|p=18}} Women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business.<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=461}}; {{Harvp|Boardman|2000|p=733}}.</ref> Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could hold considerable fortunes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodhull |first=Margaret L. |chapter=Matronly Patrons in the Early Roman Empire: The Case of Salvia Postuma |date=2004 |title=Women's Influence on Classical Civilization |publisher=Routledge |page=77}}</ref>
The archaic [[manus marriage|''manus'' marriage]] in which the woman was 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.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=19–20}} This arrangement was a factor in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed compared to many other cultures up to the modern period:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cantarella |first=Eva |title=Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity |date=1987 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |pages=140–141 |author-link=Eva Cantarella}}; {{Cite journal |last=Sullivan |first=J.P. |date=1979 |title=Martial's Sexual Attitudes |journal=Philologus |volume=123 |issue=1–2 |doi=10.1524/phil.1979.123.12.288 |page=296 |s2cid=163347317}}</ref> although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in daily life,{{Sfnp|Rawson|1987|p=15}} and her husband had no legal power over her.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=19–20, 22}} 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 being widowed or divorced.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Treggiari |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Treggiari |title=Roman Marriage: 'Iusti Coniuges' from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian |date=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-1981-4939-5 |pages=258–259, 500–502}}</ref> Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=David |title=Roman Law in Context |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=3.3}}; {{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|loc=Ch. IV}}; {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Yan |chapter=The Division of the Sexes in Roman Law |date=1991 |title=A History of Women from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=134}}</ref> A mother's right to own and dispose of property, including setting the terms of her will, gave her enormous influence over her sons into adulthood.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Severy |first=Beth |title=Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=1-1343-9183-8 |page=12}}</ref>
[[File:Wall painting - mistress and three maids - Herculaneum (insula orientalis II - palaestra - room III) - Napoli MAN 9022.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Dressing of a priestess or bride, Roman fresco from [[Herculaneum]], Italy (30–40 AD)]]
As part of the Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, [[Leges Iuliae|moral legislation]] attempted to regulate conduct as a means of promoting "[[family values]]". [[Marriage in ancient Rome#Adultery|Adultery]] was criminalized,{{Sfnp|Severy|2002|p=4}} and defined broadly as an illicit sex act (''[[stuprum]]'') between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. 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 or person of marginalized status.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGinn |first=Thomas A. J. |date=1991 |title=Concubinage and the Lex Iulia on Adultery |journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=121 |doi=10.2307/284457 |pages=335–375 (342) |jstor=284457}}; {{Cite book |last=Mussbaum |first=Martha C. |chapter=The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus, Platonist, Stoic, and Roman |date=2002 |title=The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=305 |author-link=Martha C. Nussbaum}}, noting that custom "allowed much latitude for personal negotiation and gradual social change"; {{Cite book |last=Fantham |first=Elaine |chapter=''Stuprum'': Public Attitudes and Penalties for Sexual Offences in Republican Rome |date=2011 |title=Roman Readings: Roman Response to Greek Literature from Plautus to Statius and Quintilian |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |page=124 |author-link=Elaine Fantham}}, citing [[Papinian]], ''De adulteriis'' I and [[Modestinus]], ''Liber Regularum'' I. {{Cite book |author-link=Eva Cantarella |first=Eva |last=Cantarella |title=Bisexuality in the Ancient World |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2002 |orig-date=1988 (Italian), 1992 |page=104}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|pp=34–35}}.</ref> Childbearing was encouraged: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ''[[ius trium liberorum]]'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grace |first=Angela |date=2015-08-28 |title=Fecunditas, Sterilitas, and the Politics of Reproduction at Rome |url=https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/11ea9842-ee50-4950-ab9f-0ec10232d16f |journal=York Space}}</ref>
====Slaves and the law====
{{Main|Slavery in ancient Rome}}
At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in [[Roman Italy]] were slaves,{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=12}} 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.{{Efn|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]]}}{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=12}} Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=15}} In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|Agriculture]] and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on the exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were 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 affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces.<ref>{{Harvp|Harris|1999|pp=62–75}}; {{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Timothy |date=2010 |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 |arxiv=0706.4406 |doi=10.1080/00438240120047618 |pages=27–43 |s2cid=162250553}}</ref> Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in the 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |title=Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=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".{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=7}} 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; a slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the [[Lex Aquilia|Aquilian Law]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGinn |first=Thomas A.J. |title=Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-1951-6132-7 |page=314}}; {{Cite book |last=Gardner |first=Jane F. |title=Women in Roman Law and Society |date=1991 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=119}}</ref> Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called ''[[Marriage in ancient Rome|conubium]]'', but their unions were sometimes recognized.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–33}} Technically, a slave could not own property,{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=21}} but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund (''peculium'') that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gamauf |first=Richard |date=2009 |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 |doi=10.1080/13507480902916837 |pages=331–346 |s2cid=145609520}}</ref> Within a household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|pp=2–3}} Talented slaves 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.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=10}}
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>{{Cite book |last=Fuhrmann |first=C. J. |title=Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1997-3784-0 |pages=21–41}}</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.{{Sfnp|McGinn|1998|pp=288ff}} The burgeoning trade in [[eunuch]]s in the late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Castration and circumcision|castration]] of a slave against his will "for lust or gain".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abusch |first=Ra'anan |chapter=Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire |date=2003 |title=The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite |publisher=Brandeis University Press |pages=77–78}}; {{Cite book |last=Schäfer |first=Peter |title=The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=150 |orig-date=1983}}</ref>
Roman slavery was not based on [[Race (human categorization)|race]].<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=15}}; {{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Stefan |title=Africa in Europe: Antiquity into the Age of Global Expansion |date=2009 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-1726-2 |volume=1 |page=41 |quote=Roman slavery was a nonracist and fluid system}}</ref> Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santosuosso |first=Antonio |title=Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire |date=2001 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-3523-X |pages=43–44 |author-link=Antonio Santosuosso}}</ref> with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noy |first=David |title=Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers |date=2000 |publisher=Duckworth with the Classical Press of Wales |isbn=978-0-7156-2952-9}}</ref> The average recorded age at death for the slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harper |first=James |date=1972 |title=Slaves and Freedmen in Imperial Rome |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=93 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/293259 |pages=341–342 |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 [[Greece in the Roman era|conquest of Greece]] brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. 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.{{Sfnp|Harris|1999}} ''[[Slavery in ancient Rome#Vernae|Vernae]]'', by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, 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 the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family.<ref>{{Harvp|Rawson|1987|pp=186–188, 190}}; {{Harvp|Bradley|1994|pp=34, 48–50}}</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; any future children of a freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom (''libertas''), including the right to vote.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic |date=2002 |publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=0-4720-8878-5 |pages=23, 209 |author-link=Fergus Millar |orig-date=1998}}</ref> His former master became his patron (''[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronus]]''): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mouritsen |first=Henrik |title=The Freedman in the Roman World |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=36}}</ref><ref name="berger">{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Adolf |chapter=libertus |date=1991 |title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law |publisher=American Philological Society |page=564 |orig-date=1953}}</ref> A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play a [[Augustales|priestly role]]. He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, 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/> The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence 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]].
===Census rank===
{{See also|Senate of the Roman Empire|Equestrian order|Decurion (administrative)}}
The Latin word ''ordo'' (plural ''ordines'') is translated variously and inexactly into English as "class, order, rank". One purpose of the [[Roman census]] was to determine the ''ordo'' to which an individual belonged.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lavan |first1=Myles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbNLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA191 |title=Roman and Local Citizenship in the Long Second Century CE |last2=Ando |first2=Clifford |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-757390-7 |language=en}}</ref> Two of the highest ''ordines'' in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, cities or colonies were led by [[decurion (administrative)|decurions]], also known as ''[[curiales]].''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Decurio {{!}} Military Officer, Legionary & Centurion {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/decurio |access-date=2024-08-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
[[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]]''.<ref>{{Harvp|Boardman|2000|pp=217–218}}; {{Cite book |last=Syme |first=Ronald |title=Provincial at Rome: and Rome and the Balkans 80 BC – AD 14 |date=1999 |publisher=University of Exeter Press |isbn=0-8598-9632-3 |pages=12–13 |author-link=Ronald Syme}}</ref> 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>{{Harvp|Boardman|2000|pp=215, 221–222}}; {{Harvp|Millar|2012|p=88|loc=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. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=88}}
In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from [[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.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|pp=218–219}} The first senator from the easternmost province, [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]], was admitted under Marcus Aurelius.{{Efn|That senator was Tiberius Claudius Gordianus{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=219}}}} By the [[Severan dynasty]] (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=MacMullen |first=Ramsay |date=1966 |title=Provincial Languages in the Roman Empire |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=87 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/292973 |pages=1–17 |jstor=292973}}</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'').{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=88}}
Senators were the traditional governing class who rose through the ''[[cursus honorum]]'', the political career track, but equestrians 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, but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire.{{Efn|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".{{Sfnp|Wiseman|1970|pp=78–79}}}} A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified a man as an equestrian.{{Sfnp|Wiseman|1970|pp=71–72, 76}} The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at [[Cádiz]] and [[Padua]] alone.{{Efn|Ancient Gades, in Roman Spain (now [[Cádiz]]), and Patavium, in the Celtic north of Italy (now [[Padua]]), were atypically wealthy cities, and having 500 equestrians in one city was unusual.<ref>[[Strabo]] 3.169, 5.213</ref>}}{{Sfnp|Wiseman|1970|pp=75–76, 78}} Equestrians rose through a military career track (''[[tres militiae]]'') to become highly placed [[prefect]]s and [[procurator (Roman)|procurators]] within the Imperial administration.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fear |first=Andrew |chapter=War and Society |date=2007 |title=The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Rome from the Late Republic to the Late Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5217-8274-6 |volume=2 |pages=214–215}}; {{Harvp|Bennett|1997|p=5}}.</ref>
The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders is an aspect of social mobility in the early 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>{{Harvp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=188}}; {{Harvp|Millar|2012|pp=87–88}}.</ref> Admission to the higher ''ordines'' brought distinction and privileges, but also responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services (''[[Munera (ancient Rome)|munera]]''). Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=96}} 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 to return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liebeschuetz |first=Wolfgang |chapter=The End of the Ancient City |date=2001 |title=The City in Late Antiquity |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=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").{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=90|loc=calls them "status-appellations"}} The appellation ''clarissimus'' (Greek ''lamprotatos'') was used to designate the ''[[Dignitas (Roman concept)|dignitas]]'' of certain senators and their immediate family, including women.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=91}} "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=90}}
====Unequal justice====
[[File:Tunisia-3363 - Amphitheatre Spectacle.jpg|thumb|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 humbler folk (''humiliores''). In general, ''honestiores'' were the members of the three higher "orders", along with certain military officers.<ref name="verb">{{Cite journal |last=Verboven |first=Koenraad |date=2007 |title=The Associative Order: Status and Ethos among Roman Businessmen in Late Republic and Early Empire |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/395187/file/6799583 |journal=Athenaeum |volume=95 |pages=870–872 |hdl=1854/LU-395187 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-date=3 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103090625/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/395187/file/6799583 |url-status=live}}; {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}.</ref> The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority affirmed, particularly within the justice system.<ref>{{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}; {{Cite book |last=Perkins |first=Judith |title=Early Christian and Judicial Bodies |date=2009 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=245–246}}; {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|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 for a crime for which an ''humilior'' might receive a [[scourging]].{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}
Execution, which was an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gaughan |first=Judy E. |title=Murder Was Not a Crime: Homicide and Power in the Roman Republic |date=2010 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-2927-2567-6 |page=91}}; {{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Gordon P. |title=A History of Exile in the Roman Republic |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-5218-4860-1 |page=8}}</ref> could be quick and relatively painless for ''honestiores'', while ''humiliores'' might suffer the kinds of torturous death previously reserved for slaves, such as [[crucifixion]] and [[damnatio ad bestias|condemnation to the beasts]].<ref name="fatal">{{Cite journal |last=Coleman |first=K. M. |date=2012 |title=Fatal Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=80 |doi=10.2307/300280 |pages=44–73 |jstor=300280 |s2cid=163071557}}</ref> In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as ''honestiores'', especially if they declined to fulfil religious responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created the conditions of [[Christian martyrs|martyrdom]].<ref>{{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}; {{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=O.F. |author-link=Olivia F. Robinson |title=Penal Practice and Penal Policy in Ancient Rome |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |page=108}}</ref>
==Government and military==
{{Main|Constitution of the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Jerash BW 12.JPG|thumbnail|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 state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government.{{Sfnp|Bohec|2000|p=8}} The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, agricultural fields, and religious sites.{{Sfnp|Bohec|2000|pp=14–15}} The Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to rule through force alone. [[Local government (ancient Roman)|Cooperation with local elites]] was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Moralia'' Moralia 813c and 814c; {{Harvp|Potter|2009|pp=181–182}}; {{Cite book |last=Luttwak |first=Edward |title=The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire |date=1979 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=0-8018-2158-4 |page=30 |author-link=Edward Luttwak |orig-date=1976}}</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 incentivized compliance.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=184}} Roman government was thus [[limited government|limited]], but efficient in its use of available resources.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=181}}
===Central government===
{{See also|Roman emperor|Senate of the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Antoninus Pius Hermitage.jpg|thumb|left|[[Antoninus Pius]] ({{R.|138|161}}) wearing a [[toga]] ([[Hermitage Museum]])|311x311px]]
The [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult of ancient Rome]] identified [[Roman emperor|emperors]] and some members of their families with [[Divine right of kings|divinely sanctioned]] authority (''[[auctoritas]]''). The rite of [[apotheosis]] (also called ''consecratio'') signified the deceased emperor's deification.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=William |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Apotheosis.html |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |date=1875 |publisher=John Murray |pages=105–106 |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=13 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713102925/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA%2A/Apotheosis.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of powers from several republican offices.{{Sfnp|Abbott|1901|p=354}} The emperor made himself the central religious authority as ''[[pontifex maximus]]'', and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders.{{Sfnp|Abbott|1901|p=345}} 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]].{{Sfnp|Abbott|1901|p=341}}
The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible and deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |chapter=Emperors at Work |date=2004 |title=Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-5520-0 |volume=2 |pages=3–22, especially 4, 20 |author-link=Fergus Millar}}</ref> The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|pp=195ff}} After Nero, the influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council (''consilium'') became subject to official appointment for greater [[Open government|transparency]].{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|pp=205–209}} 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''.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|pp=202–203, 205, 210}} The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=211}}
Access to the emperor 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 approval or displeasure as a group at [[#Spectacles|games]].{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=212}} By the 4th century, the Christian emperors became remote figureheads who issued general rulings, no longer responding to individual petitions.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=76}} Although the Senate could do little short of assassination and open rebellion to contravene the will of the emperor, it retained its symbolic political centrality.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=215}} The Senate legitimated the emperor's rule, and the emperor employed senators as legates (''[[legatus|legati]]''): generals, diplomats, and administrators.<ref>{{Harvp|Boardman|2000|p=721}}; {{Harvp|Winterling|2009|p=16}}.</ref>
The practical source of an emperor's power and authority was the military. The [[Legionary|legionaries]] were paid by the Imperial treasury, and swore an annual [[Sacramentum (oath)|oath of loyalty]] to the emperor.{{Sfnp|Goldsworthy|2003|p=80}} Most emperors chose a 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 without the allegiance of the [[Praetorian Guard]] and 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.{{Sfnp|Winterling|2009|p=16}}
===Military===
{{Main|Imperial Roman army|Late Roman army|Structural history of the Roman military}}
[[File:Palestra grande di pompei, affreschi di Moregine, terzo triclinio, IV stile, epoca neroniana, 07 vittoria con tripode.jpg|thumb|upright|Winged [[Victoria (mythology)|Victory]], ancient Roman fresco of the Neronian era from [[Pompeii]]]]
[[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]]
After the [[Punic Wars]], the Roman army comprised professional soldiers who volunteered for 20 years of active duty and five as reserves. The transition to a professional military began during the late Republic and was one of the many profound shifts away from republicanism, under which an army of [[conscripts|conscript citizens]] defended the homeland against a specific threat. 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".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tignor |first1=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti |title=Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: The History of the World |last2=Adelman |first2=Jeremy |date=2011 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-3939-3492-2 |edition=3rd |page=[https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti/page/n313 262] |display-authors=1 |url-access=limited}}</ref> By Imperial times, military service was a full-time career.{{Sfnp|Edmondson|1996|pp=111–112}} The pervasiveness of military garrisons throughout the Empire was a major influence in the process of [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanization]].{{Sfnp|Bohec|2000|p=9}}
The primary mission of the military of the early empire was to preserve the [[Pax Romana]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hekster |first=Olivier J. |chapter=Fighting for Rome: The Emperor as a Military Leader |date=2007 |title=Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC–AD 476) |publisher=Brill |page=96}}</ref> The three major divisions of the military were:
* the garrison at Rome, comprising the [[Praetorian Guard]], the ''[[cohortes urbanae]]'' 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]].
[[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]]
Through his military reforms, which included consolidating or disbanding units of questionable loyalty, Augustus regularized the legion. 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 (Roman army unit)|contubernia]]''); the exact size of the Imperial legion, which was likely determined by [[military logistics|logistics]], has been estimated to range from 4,800 to 5,280.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roth |first=J. |date=1994 |title=The Size and Organization of the Roman Imperial Legion |journal=Historia |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=346–362}}</ref> After Germanic tribes wiped out three legions in the [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]] in 9 AD, the number of legions was increased from 25 to around 30.{{Sfnp|Goldsworthy|2003|p=183}} 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 conquered territories. No more than 2% of adult males living in the Empire served in the Imperial army.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=196}} 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>{{Cite book |last=Penrose |first=Jane |quote=Section 3: ''Early Empire 27 BC–AD 235'' |date=2005 |title=Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War |publisher=Bloomsbury US |isbn=978-1-8417-6932-5 |page=183 |chapter=9: ''The Romans''}}</ref>
The ''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—thus, around 125,000 men, implying approximately 250 auxiliary regiments.{{Sfnp|Goldsworthy|2003|p=51}} The [[Roman cavalry]] of the earliest Empire were primarily from Celtic, Hispanic or Germanic areas. Several aspects of training and equipment derived from the Celts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Connolly |first=Peter |date=1986 |title=A Reconstruction of a Roman Saddle |journal=Britannia |volume=17 |doi=10.2307/526559 |pages=353–355 |jstor=526559 |s2cid=164155025}}; {{Cite journal |last1=Connolly |first1=Peter |last2=Van Driel-Murray |first2=Carol |date=1991 |title=The Roman Cavalry Saddle |journal=Britannia |volume=22 |doi=10.2307/526629 |pages=33–50 |jstor=526629 |s2cid=161535316}}</ref>
The [[Roman navy]] not only aided in the supply and transport of the legions but also in the protection of the [[Limes (Roman Empire)|frontiers]] along the rivers [[Rhine]] and [[Danube]]. Another duty was protecting maritime trade against pirates. It patrolled the Mediterranean, parts of the [[Atlantic|North Atlantic]] coasts, and the [[Black Sea]]. Nevertheless, the army was considered the senior and more prestigious branch.{{Sfnp|Goldsworthy|2003|p=114}}
===Provincial government===
An annexed territory became a [[Roman province]] in three steps: making a register of cities, taking a census, and surveying the land.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=183}} Further government recordkeeping included births and deaths, real estate transactions, taxes, and juridical proceedings.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=177–179|loc=Most government records that are preserved come from Roman Egypt, where the climate preserved the papyri.}} In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the central government sent out around 160 officials annually to govern outside Italy.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=179}} Among these officials were the [[Roman governor]]s: [[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]]s, most notably [[Roman Egypt]].{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=179|loc=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]].}} A governor had to make himself accessible to the people he governed, but he could delegate various duties.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=180}} 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 who accompanied him unofficially.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=180}}
Other officials were appointed as supervisors of government finances.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=179}} Separating fiscal responsibility from justice and administration was a reform of the Imperial era, to avoid provincial governors and [[Farm (revenue leasing)|tax farmers]] exploiting local populations for personal gain.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=179, 187}} Equestrian [[Procurator (Roman)|procurators]], whose authority was originally "extra-judicial and extra-constitutional", managed both state-owned property and the personal property of the emperor (''[[privatus|res privata]]'').{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=180}} Because Roman government officials were few, a provincial who needed help with a legal dispute or criminal case might seek out any Roman perceived to have some official capacity.<ref>{{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=180}}; {{Harvp|Fuhrmann|2012|pp=197, 214, 224}}</ref>
In the High Empire, Italy was legally distinguished from the provinces, and along with some favored provincial communities, enjoyed immunity from the [[Tributum soli|property tax]] and [[Tributum capitis|poll tax]]. However, under the Emperor [[Diocletian]], Italy lost these privileges and was subdivided into [[Roman diocese|provinces]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooley |first=Alison |chapter=Italy during the High Empire, from the Flavians to Diocletian |date=2016 |title=A Companion to Roman Italy |editor-last=Cooley |editor-first=Alison|publisher=Blackwell |pages=130–131|isbn=978-1444339260}}</ref>
===Law===
{{Main|Roman law}}
{{Multiple image
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| 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/> Generally, 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/>{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=184–185}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bozeman |first=Adda B. |title=Politics and Culture in International History from the Ancient Near East to the Opening of the Modern Age |date=2010 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |edition=2nd |pages=208–220}}</ref> If provincial law conflicted with Roman law or custom, Roman courts heard [[Appellate court|appeals]], and the emperor held final decision-making authority.<ref name=Garnsey/>{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=184–185}}{{Efn|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.}}
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]]. Roman law facilitated the acquisition of wealth by a pro-Roman elite.<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 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>{{Cite book |author=[[Elizabeth DePalma Digeser|Digeser, Elizabeth DePalma]] |date=2000 |title=The Making of a Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=53}}</ref>
The pervasiveness of Roman law throughout Western Europe enormously influenced the Western legal tradition, reflected by continued use of [[List of Latin legal terms|Latin legal terminology]] in modern law.
===Taxation===
{{Further|Taxation in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Foro_romano_tempio_Saturno_09feb08_01.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Temple of Saturn]], a religious monument that housed the treasury in ancient Rome]]
Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5% of its [[Roman gross domestic product|gross product]].{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=183}} The typical tax rate for individuals ranged from 2 to 5%.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}} 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]]; they might be temporary.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=185–187}} Tax collection was justified by the need to maintain the military,<ref>{{Harvp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=184}}; {{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=185}}.</ref> and taxpayers sometimes got a refund if the army captured a surplus of booty.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=185}} In-kind taxes were accepted from less-[[monetization|monetized]] areas, particularly those who could supply grain or goods to army camps.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=188}}
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.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}} Tax obligations were determined by the census: each head of household provided a headcount of his household, as well as an accounting of his property.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=186}} A major source of indirect-tax revenue was the ''portoria'', customs and tolls on trade, including among provinces.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}} 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.{{Efn|This was the ''vicesima libertatis'', "the twentieth for freedom"{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}}}} An [[inheritance tax]] of 5% was assessed when Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone outside their immediate family. Revenues from the estate tax and from an auction tax went towards the veterans' pension fund (''[[aerarium militare]]'').{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|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.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=184}}
==Economy==
{{Main|Roman economy}}
[[File:Green glass Roman cup unearthed at Eastern Han tomb, Guixian, China.jpg|thumb|right|A green [[Roman glass]] cup unearthed from an [[Eastern Han dynasty]] (25–220 AD) tomb in [[Guangxi]], China]]
The Empire is best thought of as a network of regional economies, based on a form of "political capitalism" in which the state regulated commerce to assure its own revenues.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=286, 295}} Economic growth, though not comparable to modern economies, was greater than that of most other societies prior to [[Industrial Revolution|industrialization]].{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=286}} Territorial conquests permitted a large-scale reorganization of [[land use]] that resulted in agricultural surplus and specialization, particularly in north Africa.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=285}} Some cities were known for particular industries. The scale of urban building indicates a significant construction industry.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=285}} Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that suggest elements of [[economic rationalism]],{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=285}} and the Empire was highly monetized.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=292}} 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.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=285–286, 296ff}} The [[Economics of the Roman army|supply contracts for the army]] drew on local suppliers near the base (''[[castrum]]''), throughout the province, and across provincial borders.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=296}}
[[Economic history|Economic historians]] vary in their calculations of the gross domestic product during the Principate.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5217-8053-7 |editor-last=Scheidel |editor-first=Walter |editor-link=Walter Scheidel |editor-last2=Morris |editor-first2=Ian |editor-link2=Ian Morris (historian) |editor-last3=Saller |editor-first3=Richard}}</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 |author-link=Elio Lo Cascio |last2=Malanima |first2=Paolo |author-link2=Paolo Malanima |date=2009 |title=GDP in Pre-Modern Agrarian Economies (1–1820 AD). A Revision of the Estimates |url=http://econpapers.repec.org/article/muljrkmxm/doi_3a10.1410_2f30919_3ay_3a2009_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a391-420.htm |journal=Rivista di Storia Economica |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=391–420 (391–401) |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-date=16 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116145520/http://econpapers.repec.org/article/muljrkmxm/doi_3a10.1410_2f30919_3ay_3a2009_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a391-420.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> to 66%<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maddison |first=Angus |title=Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD. Essays in Macro-Economic History |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1992-2721-1 |pages=47–51 |author-link=Angus Maddison}}</ref> higher than in the rest of the Empire, due to tax transfers from the provinces and the concentration of elite income.
Economic dynamism resulted in social mobility. Although aristocratic values permeated traditional elite society, wealth requirements for [[#Census rank|rank]] indicate a strong tendency towards [[plutocracy]]. Prestige could be obtained through investing one's wealth in grand estates or townhouses, luxury items, [[#Spectacles|public entertainments]], funerary monuments, and [[votum|religious dedications]]. Guilds (''[[collegium|collegia]]'') and corporations (''corpora'') provided support for individuals to succeed through networking.<ref name=verb/> "There can be little doubt that the lower classes of ... provincial towns of the Roman Empire enjoyed a high [[standard of living]] not equaled again in Western Europe until the 19th century".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dyson |first=Stephen L. |title=Community and Society in Roman Italy |date=1992 |isbn=0-8018-4175-5 |page=177 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press}} quoting {{Cite book |first=J.E. |last=Packer |title=Middle and Lower Class Housing in Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Preliminary Survey," In Neue Forschung in Pompeji |pages=133–142}}</ref> Households in the top 1.5% of [[income distribution]] captured about 20% of income. The "vast majority" produced more than half of the total income, but lived near [[subsistence]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Scheidel |first1=Walter |author-link=Walter Scheidel |last2=Friesen |first2=Steven J. |date=2010 |title=The Size of the Economy and the Distribution of Income in the Roman Empire |url=https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/010901.pdf |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=99 |doi=10.3815/007543509789745223 |pages=61–91 |s2cid=202968244 |access-date=12 January 2017 |archive-date=13 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113015925/https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/010901.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Currency and banking===
<!--Linked from infobox above-->
{{See also|Roman currency|Roman finance}}
[[File:HADRIANUS RIC II 938-789065.jpg|thumb|''Sestertius'' issued under [[Hadrian]] circa AD 134–138]]
[[File:Solidus Constantine II-heraclea RIC vII 101.jpg|thumb|''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>{{Cite book |last=Fears |first=J. Rufus |chapter=The Theology of Victory at Rome: Approaches and Problem |date=1981 |title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |volume=II.17.2 |pages=752, 824 |author-link=J. Rufus Fears}}, {{Cite book |last=Fears |first=J. Rufus |date=1981 |chapter=The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology |title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |author-link=J. Rufus Fears |volume=II.17.2 |page=908}}</ref>]]
The early Empire was monetized to a near-universal extent, using money as a way to express [[price]]s and [[debt]]s.<ref name="Kessler">{{Cite book |last1=Kessler |first1=David |chapter=Money and Prices in the Early Roman Empire |last2=Temin |first2=Peter |date=2010 |title=The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The ''[[sestertius]]'' (English "sesterces", symbolized as ''HS'') was the basic unit of reckoning value into the 4th century,<ref name="Harl">{{Cite book |last=Harl |first=Kenneth W. |title=Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 |date=19 June 1996 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5291-6 |pages=125–135}}</ref> though the silver ''[[denarius]]'', worth four sesterces, was also used beginning in the [[Severan dynasty]].{{Sfnp|Bowman|Garnsey|Cameron|2005|p=333}} The smallest coin commonly circulated was the bronze ''[[as (Roman coin)|as]]'', one-tenth ''denarius''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=Colin |title=The Roman Empire |date=1984 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=8}}</ref> [[Bullion]] and [[ingot]]s seem not to have counted as ''pecunia'' ("money") and were used only on the frontiers. Romans in the first and second centuries counted coins, rather than weighing them—an indication that the coin was valued on its face. This tendency towards [[fiat money]] led to the [[debasement]] of Roman coinage in the later Empire.{{Sfnp|Harris|2010}} 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>{{Cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |chapter=The Monetary Systems of the Han and Roman Empires |date=2009 |title=Rome and China. Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1953-3690-0 |editor-last=Scheidel |editor-first=Walter |pages=137–207 (205)}}</ref>
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. [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] assumes that anyone involved in [[Roman commerce]] needs access to [[Credit (finance)|credit]].{{Sfnp|Harris|2010}} A professional [[Deposit account|deposit]] banker 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.<ref>{{Harvp|Harris|2010}}; {{Cite book |last=Andreau |first=Jean |title=Banking and Business in the Roman World |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=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|documentary transactions]], the system of banks throughout the Empire permitted the exchange of large sums without physically transferring coins, in part because of the risks of moving large amounts of cash. Only one serious credit shortage is known to have occurred in the early Empire, in 33 AD;<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annales'' 6.17.3.</ref> generally, available capital exceeded the amount needed by borrowers.{{Sfnp|Harris|2010}} The central government itself did not borrow money, and without [[public debt]] had to fund [[Government budget balance|deficits]] from cash reserves.{{Sfnp|Duncan-Jones|1994|pp=3–4}}
Emperors of the [[Antonine dynasty|Antonine]] and [[Severan dynasty|Severan]] dynasties debased the currency, particularly the ''denarius'', under the pressures of meeting military payrolls.<ref name=Harl/> Sudden inflation under [[Commodus]] damaged the credit market.{{Sfnp|Harris|2010}} 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.<ref name=Harl/>{{Sfnp|Harris|2010}} 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. Despite [[Diocletian]]'s introduction of the gold ''[[solidus (coin)|solidus]]'' and monetary reforms, the credit market of the Empire never recovered its former robustness.{{Sfnp|Harris|2010}}
===Mining and metallurgy===
{{Main|Mining in ancient Rome|Roman metallurgy}}
[[File:Panorámica de Las Médulas.jpg|thumb|Landscape resulting from the {{Lang|la|[[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 (silver, copper, lead, iron and gold);<ref name=":1" /> Gaul (gold, silver, iron);<ref name="sanchez">{{Cite journal |last1=Silva-Sánchez |first1=Noemí |last2=Armada |first2=Xose-Lois |date=2023-03-07 |title=Environmental Impact of Roman Mining and Metallurgy and Its Correlation with the Archaeological Evidence: A European Perspective |journal=Environmental Archaeology |language=en |page=15 |doi=10.1080/14614103.2023.2181295 |issn=1461-4103 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Britain (mainly iron, lead, tin),<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Edmondson |first=J. C. |date=1989 |title=Mining in the Later Roman Empire and beyond: Continuity or Disruption? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/301182 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=79 |pages=84–102 |doi=10.2307/301182 |issn=0075-4358 |jstor=301182 |s2cid=161980467|url-access=subscription }}</ref> the [[Danubian provinces]] (gold, iron);<ref>{{cite book |url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3066254/3/Hirt%20Warwick%20Publ.%20III%20%28revised%29.pdf |chapter=Gold and Silver Mining in the Roman Empire |first=Alfred M. |last=Hirt |title=Debasement. Manipulation of Coin Standards in Pre-Modern Monetary Systems |editor-first=Kevin |editor-last=Butcher |publisher=Oxbow books |___location=Oxford Philadelphia |pages=111–124 |date=2020 |isbn=9781789253986}}</ref> [[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, when the instability of the Empire disrupted production.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
[[Hydraulic mining]] allowed [[base metal|base]] and [[precious metal]]s to be extracted on a proto-industrial scale.<ref name="wilson">{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Andrew |date=2002 |title=Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=92 |doi=10.2307/3184857 |pages=1–32 |jstor=3184857 |s2cid=154629776}}</ref> The total annual iron output is estimated at 82,500 [[tonnes]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Craddock |first=Paul T. |chapter=Mining and Metallurgy |date=2008 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1951-8731-1 |editor-last=Oleson |editor-first=John Peter |editor-link=John Peter Oleson |page=108}}; {{Cite book |last1=Sim |first1=David |title=Iron for the Eagles. The Iron Industry of Roman Britain |last2=Ridge |first2=Isabel |date=2002 |publisher=Tempus |isbn=0-7524-1900-5 |page=23}}; {{Cite book |last=Healy |first=John F. |title=Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World |date=1978 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |isbn=0-5004-0035-0 |page=196}} Assumes a productive capacity of {{Circa|1.5 kg}} per capita.</ref> Copper and lead production levels were unmatched until the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name="hong">{{Cite journal |last1=Hong |first1=S. |last2=Candelone |first2=J.-P. |last3=Patterson |first3=C. C. |last4=Boutron |first4=C. F. |date=1996 |title=History of Ancient Copper Smelting Pollution During Roman and Medieval Times Recorded in Greenland Ice |journal=Science |volume=272 |issue=5259 |doi=10.1126/science.272.5259.246 |page=246 |bibcode=1996Sci...272..246H |s2cid=176767223}}</ref><ref name="hong2">{{Cite journal |last1=Hong |first1=S |last2=Candelone |first2=J. P. |last3=Patterson |first3=C. C. |last4=Boutron |first4=C. F. |date=1994 |title=Greenland ice evidence of hemispheric lead pollution two millennia ago by greek and roman civilizations |url=http://www.precaution.org/lib/greenland_ice_evidence_of_ancient_lead_pollution.19940923.pdf |journal=Science |volume=265 |issue=5180 |doi=10.1126/science.265.5180.1841 |pmid=17797222 |pages=1841–1843 |bibcode=1994Sci...265.1841H |s2cid=45080402 |access-date=12 January 2017 |archive-date=29 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429105450/http://www.precaution.org/lib/greenland_ice_evidence_of_ancient_lead_pollution.19940923.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="tay">{{Cite journal |last=De Callataÿ |first=François |date=2015 |title=The Graeco-Roman economy in the super long-run: Lead, copper, and shipwrecks |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |volume=18 |doi=10.1017/S104775940000742X |pages=361–372 |s2cid=232346123}}</ref><ref name="Settle">{{Cite journal |last1=Settle |first1=D. M. |last2=Patterson |first2=C. C. |date=1980 |title=Lead in albacore: Guide to lead pollution in Americans |journal=Science |volume=207 |issue=4436 |doi=10.1126/science.6986654 |pmid=6986654 |pages=1167–1176 |bibcode=1980Sci...207.1167S}}</ref> At its peak around the mid-2nd century, the Roman silver stock is estimated at 10,000 t, five to ten times larger than the combined silver mass of [[Early Middle Ages|medieval Europe]] and the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Caliphate]] around 800 AD.<ref name=tay/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Patterson |first=C. C. |date=1972 |title=Silver Stocks and Losses in Ancient and Medieval Times |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=25 |issue=2 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1972.tb02173.x |pages=205–235 (tables 2, 6)}}</ref> As an indication of the scale of Roman metal production, lead pollution in the [[Greenland ice sheet]] quadrupled over prehistoric levels during the Imperial era and dropped thereafter.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=197}}
===Transportation and communication===
{{Further|Cursus publicus}}
[[File:TabulaPeutingeriana Roma.jpg|thumb|The [[Tabula Peutingeriana]] ([[Latin]] for "The Peutinger Map") an ''[[Itinerarium]]'', often assumed to be based on the Roman ''cursus publicus'']]
The Empire completely encircled the Mediterranean, which they called "our sea" (''[[Mare Nostrum]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Kevin |title=The Archaeology of the Roman Economy |date=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-7401-9 |page=17}}</ref> Roman sailing vessels navigated the Mediterranean as well as major rivers.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=721}} Transport by water was preferred where possible, as moving commodities by land was more difficult.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=714}} Vehicles, wheels, and ships indicate the existence of a great number of skilled woodworkers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ulrich |first=Roger Bradley |url=https://archive.org/details/RomanWoodworking |title=Roman Woodworking |date=2007 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3001-0341-0 |pages=1–2}}</ref>
Land transport utilized the advanced system of [[Roman roads]], called "''viae''". These roads were primarily built for military purposes,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Tilburg |first=Cornelis |title=Traffic and Congestion in the Roman Empire |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |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.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=188}} Relay stations were located along the roads every seven to twelve [[Roman mile]]s, and tended to grow into villages or trading posts.{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|p=253}} A ''[[mansio]]'' (plural ''mansiones'') was a privately run service station franchised by the imperial bureaucracy for the ''cursus publicus''. The distance between ''mansiones'' was determined by how far a wagon could travel in a day.{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|p=253}} Carts were usually pulled by mules, travelling about 4 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>
===Trade and commodities===
{{See also|Roman commerce|Indo-Roman trade relations|Sino-Roman relations}}
Roman provinces traded among themselves, but trade extended outside the frontiers to regions as far away as [[Ancient China|China]] and [[Gupta Empire|India]].{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=713}} Chinese trade was mostly conducted overland through middle men along the [[Silk Road]]; Indian trade also occurred by sea from [[Roman Egypt|Egyptian]] ports. The main [[commodity]] was grain.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=710}} Also traded were olive oil, 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.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|pp=717–729}} Though most provinces could produce wine, [[Ancient Rome and wine|regional varietals]] were desirable and wine was a central trade good.<ref>{{Harvp|Bowman|Garnsey|Cameron|2005|p=404}}; {{Harvp|Boardman|2000|p=719}}.</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 Rome and 85 in Pompeii.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=196}} Professional associations or trade guilds (''collegia'') are attested for a wide range of occupations, some quite specialized.<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#Public and imperial slaves|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.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=323}} 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 |last=Temin |first=Peter |date=2004 |title=The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=34 |issue=4 |doi=10.1162/002219504773512525 |pages=513–538 |s2cid=33380115}}</ref> The greatest number of common labourers were employed in agriculture: in Italian industrial farming (''[[latifundia]]''), these may have been mostly slaves, but elsewhere slave farm labour was probably less important.<ref name=Garnsey/>
Textile and clothing production was a major source of employment. Both textiles and finished garments were traded and products were often named for peoples or towns, like a [[fashion brand|fashion "label"]].{{Sfnp|Jones|1960|pp=184–185}} Better ready-to-wear was exported by local businessmen (''negotiatores'' or ''mercatores'').{{Sfnp|Jones|1960|p=192}} Finished garments might be retailed by their sales agents, by ''vestiarii'' (clothing dealers), or peddled by itinerant merchants.{{Sfnp|Jones|1960|p=192}} The [[fulling|fullers]] (''[[fullonica|fullones]]'') and dye workers (''coloratores'') had their own guilds.{{Sfnp|Jones|1960|pp=190–191}} ''Centonarii'' were guild workers who specialized in textile production and the recycling of old clothes into [[patchwork|pieced goods]].{{Efn|The college of ''centonarii'' is an elusive topic in scholarship, since they are also widely attested as urban firefighters.{{Sfnp|Vout|2009|p=212}}<ref name="Liu">{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Jinyu |title=Collegia Centonariorum: The Guilds of Textile Dealers in the Roman West |date=2009 |publisher=Brill |author-link=Jinyu Liu}}</ref> Historian [[Jinyu 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 name=Liu/>}}
[[File:Cacera Centcelles panoràmica.jpg|thumb|upright=3|center|Recreation of a deer hunt inspired by hunting scenes represented in Roman art]]
==Architecture and engineering==
{{Main|Ancient Roman architecture|Roman engineering|Roman technology}}
[[File:Colosseum in Rome, Italy - April 2007.jpg|thumb|The Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the [[Colosseum]]]]
The chief [[Ancient Roman architecture|Roman contributions to architecture]] were the [[arch]], [[Vault (architecture)|vault]], and [[dome]]. Some Roman structures still stand today, due in part to sophisticated methods of making cements and [[Roman concrete|concrete]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacDonald |first=William L. |title=The Architecture of the Roman Empire |date=1982 |publisher=Yale University Press |at=fig. 131B |author-link=William L. MacDonald}}; {{Cite journal |last1=Lechtman |first1=H. N. |last2=Hobbs |first2=L. W. |date=1987 |title=Roman Concrete and the Roman Architectural Revolution |journal=Ceramics and Civilization |volume=3 |pages=81–128}}</ref> [[Roman temple]]s developed [[Etruscan architecture|Etruscan]] and Greek forms, with some distinctive elements. [[Roman roads]] are considered the most advanced built until the early 19th century.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}
[[Roman bridges]] were among the first large and lasting bridges, built from stone (and in most cases concrete) with the arch as the basic structure. 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9008022/Apollodorus-Of-Damascus |title=Apollodorus of Damascus |website=Britannica |date=13 February 2024 |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-date=21 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521213321/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9008022/Apollodorus-Of-Damascus |url-status=live}}; {{Cite journal |last=Sarton |first=George |date=1936 |title=The Unity and Diversity of the Mediterranean World |journal=Osiris |volume=2 |doi=10.1086/368462 |pages=406–463 (430) |s2cid=143379839}}; {{Cite book |last1=Calcani |first1=Giuliana |title=Apollodorus of Damascus and Trajan's Column: From Tradition to Project |last2=Abdulkarim |first2=Maamoun |date=2003 |publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |isbn=978-8-8826-5233-3 |page=11}}; {{Cite book |last1=Yan |first1=Hong-Sen |title=International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM 2008 |last2=Ceccarelli |first2=Marco |date=2009 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=978-1-4020-9484-2 |page=86}}</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>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Norman |date=1970 |title=The Roman Dams of Subiaco |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=11 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/3102810 |pages=58–68 |jstor=3102810 |s2cid=111915102}}; {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Norman |title=A History of Dams |date=1971 |publisher=Peter Davies |isbn=978-0-4321-5090-0 |page=26}}; {{Cite journal |last=Schnitter |first=Niklaus |date=1978 |title=Römische Talsperren |journal=Antike Welt |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=25–32 (28)}}</ref>
[[File:Pont du Gard BLS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Pont du Gard]] aqueduct, which crosses the river [[Gardon]] in southern France, is on [[UNESCO]]'s list of [[World Heritage Site]]s.]]
The Romans constructed numerous [[Roman aqueduct|aqueducts]]. ''[[De aquaeductu]]'', a treatise by [[Frontinus]], who served as [[Curator Aquarum|water commissioner]], reflects the administrative importance placed on the water supply. Masonry channels carried water along a precise [[grade (slope)|gradient]], using [[gravity]] alone. It was then collected in tanks and fed through pipes to public fountains, baths, [[Sanitation in ancient Rome|toilets]], or industrial sites.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandler |first=Fiona |title=The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of the Roman World |date=2001 |publisher=Usborne Publishing |page=80}}</ref> The main aqueducts in Rome were the [[Aqua Claudia]] and the [[Aqua Marcia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forman |first=Joan |title=The Romans |date=1975 |publisher=Macdonald Educational |page=34}}</ref> The complex system built to supply Constantinople had its most distant supply drawn from over 120 km away along a route of more than 336 km.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crow |first=J. |chapter=Earth, walls and water in Late Antique Constantinople |date=2007 |title=Technology in Transition AD 300–650 |publisher=Brill |editor-last=Lavan |editor-first=L. |editor-last2=Zanini |editor-first2=E. |editor-last3=Sarantis |editor-first3=A.}}</ref> Roman aqueducts were built to remarkably fine [[Engineering tolerance|tolerance]], and to a technological standard not equalled until modern times.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Kevin |title=The Archaeology of the Roman Economy |date=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5200-7401-9 |page=39}}</ref> The Romans also used aqueducts in their extensive mining operations across the empire.{{Sfnp|Jones|Bird|2012|pp=59–74}}
[[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]]: the crank and connecting rod system, [[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), and [[Gear train|gearing]] (in water mills and clocks).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ritti |first1=Tullia |last2=Grewe |first2=Klaus |last3=Kessener |first3=Paul |date=2007 |title=A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |volume=20 |doi=10.1017/S1047759400005341 |pages=138–163 (156, fn. 74) |s2cid=161937987}}</ref>
==Daily life==
{{Main|Culture of 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===
The city was viewed as fostering civilization by being "properly designed, ordered, and adorned".{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=192}} Augustus undertook a vast building programme in Rome, supported public displays of art that expressed 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">{{Cite book |last=Rehak |first=Paul |title=Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius |date=2006 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |pages=4–8}}</ref> A focus of Augustan monumental architecture was the [[Campus Martius]], an open area outside the city centre: the Altar of Augustan Peace ({{Lang|la|[[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 was among the most attractive places in Rome to visit.<ref name=rehak/>
City planning and urban lifestyles was influenced by the Greeks early on,{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|pp=23ff, 244}} and in the Eastern Empire, Roman rule shaped the development of cities that already had a strong Hellenistic character. Cities such as [[Ancient Athens|Athens]], [[Aphrodisias]], [[Ephesus]] and [[Gerasa]] tailored city planning and architecture to imperial ideals, while expressing their individual identity and regional preeminence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raja |first=Rubina |title=Urban Development and Regional Identity in the Eastern Roman Provinces 50 BC–AD 250 |date=2012 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |pages=215–218 |author-link=Rubina Raja}}; {{Cite book |last=Sperber |first=Daniel |title=The City in Roman Palestine |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> In areas 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 preexisting walled settlements known as ''[[oppidum|oppida]]''.{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|pp=252, 253}}<ref name="brenda">{{Cite book |last=Longfellow |first=Brenda |title=Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5211-9493-8 |pages=1–2}}</ref>{{Efn|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 defence, but they may not have been inhabited by concentrated populations year-round.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=D.W. |title=The Archaeology of Celtic Art |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1342-6464-3 |pages=211–212}}; {{Cite book |last=Collis |first=John |chapter='Celtic' Oppida |date=2000 |title=A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures |publisher=Danske Videnskabernes Selskab |pages=229–238}}; {{Cite book |title=Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=61 |orig-date=1995}}</ref>}} Urbanization in Roman Africa expanded on Greek and Punic coastal cities.{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|p=253}}
[[File:Baños Romanos, Bath, Inglaterra, 2014-08-12, DD 39-41 HDR.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 ({{Lang|la|[[Colonia (Roman)|coloniae]]}}, ''[[municipium|municipia]]'', ''[[civitas|civitates]]'' or in Greek terms ''[[polis|poleis]]'') was a primary cohesive force during the Pax Romana.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=76}} Romans of the 1st and 2nd centuries were encouraged to "inculcate the habits of peacetime".<ref>{{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=192}}; {{Harvp|Virgil|p=6.852}}</ref> As the classicist [[Clifford Ando]] 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.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=185–186}}}}
[[File:Ostia-Toilets.JPG|thumb|Public toilets (''latrinae'') from [[Ostia Antica]]]]
In the city of Rome, most people lived in multistory apartment buildings (''[[Insula (building)|insulae]]'') that were often squalid firetraps. Public facilities—such as baths (''[[thermae]]''), toilets with running water (''latrinae''), 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.{{Sfnp|Jones|2003}}
The public baths served hygienic, social and cultural functions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Harry B. |title=Water Distribution in Ancient Rome |date=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |pages=9–10}}</ref> Bathing was the focus of daily socializing.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=366}} Roman baths were distinguished by a series of rooms that offered communal bathing in three temperatures, with amenities that might include an [[palaestra|exercise room]], [[sudatorium|sauna]], [[Exfoliation (cosmetology)|exfoliation]] spa, [[sphaeristerium|ball court]], or outdoor swimming pool. Baths had [[hypocaust]] heating: the floors were suspended over hot-air channels.<ref name="fagan">{{Cite journal |last=Fagan |first=Garrett G. |date=2001 |title=The Genesis of the Roman Public Bath: Recent Approaches and Future Directions |url=http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/aaresearch-2012/in-extremis-file/Roman-Baths-origin.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=105 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/507363 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224182626/http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/aaresearch-2012/in-extremis-file/Roman-Baths-origin.pdf |archive-date=24 February 2021 |access-date=12 January 2017 |pages=403–426 |jstor=507363 |s2cid=31943417}}</ref> Public baths were 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 only for hygiene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ward |first=Roy Bowen |date=1992 |title=Women in Roman Baths |journal=Harvard Theological Review |volume=85 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000028820 |pages=125–147 |s2cid=161983440}}</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]]'') 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.{{Sfnp|Clarke|1991|pp=1–2}} Although some neighbourhoods show a higher concentration of such houses, they were not segregated enclaves. The ''domus'' was meant to be visible and accessible. The atrium served as a reception hall in which the ''[[paterfamilias]]'' (head of household) met with [[Patronage in ancient Rome|clients]] every morning.<ref name=rehak/> It was a centre of family religious rites, containing a [[lararium|shrine]] and [[Roman funerals and burial#Funerary art|images of family ancestors]].{{Sfnp|Clarke|1991|pp=11–12}} The houses were located on busy public roads, and ground-level spaces were often rented out as shops (''[[taberna]]e'').{{Sfnp|Clarke|1991|p=2}} In addition to a kitchen garden—windowboxes might substitute in the ''insulae''—townhouses typically enclosed a [[peristyle]] garden.<ref>{{Harvp|Stambaugh|1988|pp=144, 147}}; {{Harvp|Clarke|1991|pp=12, 17, 22ff}}</ref>
The villa by contrast was an escape from the city, and in literature represents a lifestyle that balances intellectual and artistic interests (''[[otium]]'') with an appreciation of nature and agriculture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gazda |first=Elaine K. |chapter=Introduction |date=1991 |title=Roman Art in the Private Sphere: Architecture and Décor of the Domus, Villa, and Insula |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-4721-0196-X |page=9}}</ref> Ideally a villa commanded a view or vista, carefully framed by the architectural design.{{Sfnp|Clarke|1991|p=19}}
Augustus' programme of urban renewal, and the growth of Rome's population to as many as one million, was accompanied by nostalgia for rural life. Poetry idealized the lives of farmers and shepherds. Interior decorating often featured painted gardens, fountains, landscapes, vegetative ornament,{{Sfnp|Clarke|1991|p=19}} and animals, rendered accurately enough to be identified by species.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jashemski |first1=Wilhelmina Feemster |title=The Natural History of Pompeii |last2=Meyer |first2=Frederick G. |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-0054-9}}</ref> On a more practical level, the central government took an active interest in supporting [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|agriculture]].{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}} Producing food was the priority of land use.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=679}} Larger farms (''[[latifundium|latifundia]]'') achieved an [[economy of scale]] that sustained urban life.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}} 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.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|pp=195–196}}
[[File:Sale bread MAN Napoli Inv9071 n01.jpg|thumb|upright|Bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting]]
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{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}} (about 200,000–250,000 adult males in Rome).{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191|loc=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}} The dole cost at least 15% of state revenues,{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}} but improved living conditions among the lower classes,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiseman |first=T. P. |author-link=T. P. Wiseman |date=2012 |title=The Census in the First Century B.C |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=59 |issue=1/2 |doi=10.2307/299848 |pages=59–75 |jstor=299848 |s2cid=163672978}}</ref> and subsidized the rich by allowing workers to spend more of their earnings on the wine and olive oil produced on estates.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}} The grain dole also had symbolic value: it affirmed the emperor's position as universal benefactor, and the right of citizens to share in "the fruits of conquest".{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}} 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>{{Cite book |last=Keane |first=Catherine |title=Figuring Genre in Roman Satire |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=36}}; {{Cite book |last=Köhne |first=Eckhart |chapter=Bread and Circuses: The Politics of Entertainment |date=2000 |title=Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome |publisher=University of California Press |page=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>{{Cite book |last=Juvenal |title=Satire |pages=10.77–81}}</ref>}}
===Health and disease===
{{Further|Disease in Imperial Rome|Antonine plague|Plague of Cyprian}}
[[Epidemics]] were common in the ancient world, and occasional [[pandemic]]s in the Empire killed millions. The Roman population was unhealthy. About 20 percent—a large percentage by ancient standards—lived in cities, Rome being the largest. The cities were a "demographic sink": the death rate exceeded the birth rate and constant immigration was necessary to maintain the population. Average lifespan is estimated at the mid-twenties, and perhaps more than half of children died before reaching adulthood. Dense urban populations and [[Sanitation in ancient Rome|poor sanitation]] contributed to disease. Land and sea connections facilitated and sped the transfer of infectious diseases across the empire's territories. The rich were not immune; only two of emperor Marcus Aurelius's fourteen children are known to have reached adulthood.<ref name="Harper">{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |title=The Fate of Rome |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6911-6683-4 |pages=10, 30–31, 67–91}}</ref>
The importance of a good diet to health was recognized by medical writers such as [[Galen]] (2nd century). Views on nutrition were influenced by beliefs like [[humoral theory]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Mark |title=Galen on Food and Diet |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |pages=7, 11}}</ref> A good indicator of nutrition and disease burden is average height: the average Roman was shorter in stature than the population of pre-Roman Italian societies and medieval Europe.<ref>{{Harvp|Harper|2017|pp=75–79}}; {{Cite journal |last1=Koepke |first1=Nikola |last2=Baten |first2=Joerg |date=1 April 2005 |title=The biological standard of living in Europe during the last two millennia |journal=European Review of Economic History |volume=9 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S1361491604001388 |hdl-access=free |pages=61–95 |hdl=10419/47594}}</ref>
===Food and dining===
{{Main|Food and dining in the Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Ancient Roman cuisine|Ancient Rome and wine}}
[[File:Still life Tor Marancia Vatican.jpg|thumb|[[Still life]] on a 2nd-century [[Roman mosaic]]]]
Most apartments in Rome lacked kitchens, though a charcoal [[brazier]] could be used for rudimentary cookery.<ref>{{Harvp|Stambaugh|1988|pp=144, 178}}; {{Cite book |last=Hinds |first=Kathryn |title=Everyday Life in the Roman Empire |date=2010 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |page=90}}</ref> Prepared food was sold at pubs and bars, inns, and food stalls (''[[taberna]]e'', ''cauponae'', ''[[popina]]e'', ''[[thermopolium|thermopolia]]'').{{Sfnp|Holleran|2012|p=136ff}} [[Carryout]] and restaurants were for the lower classes; [[fine dining]] appeared only at dinner parties in wealthy homes with a [[chef]] (''archimagirus'') and kitchen staff,{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=299}} or banquets hosted by social clubs (''[[collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faas |first=Patrick |title=Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome |date=2005 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=29 |orig-date=1994}}</ref>
Most Romans consumed at least 70% of their daily [[calorie]]s in the form of cereals and [[legumes]].{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=681}} ''[[Puls (food)|Puls]]'' (pottage) was considered the food of the Romans,<ref>{{Citation |last=[[Pliny the Elder]] |title=Natural History |page=19.83–84}}; {{Cite book |last=Gowers |first=Emily |title=The Loaded Table: Representation of Food in Roman Literature |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=17 |orig-date=1993}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=198}}.</ref> and could be elaborated to produce dishes similar to [[polenta]] or [[risotto]].{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|p=144}} Urban populations and the military preferred bread.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=681}} 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>{{Harvp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}}; {{Harvp|Stambaugh|1988|p=146}}; {{Harvp|Holleran|2012|p=134}}.</ref>
Roman literature focuses on the dining habits of the upper classes,{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=354}} for whom the evening meal (''[[cena]]'') had important social functions.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=356}} Guests were entertained in a finely decorated dining room (''[[triclinium]]'') furnished with couches. By the late Republic, women dined, reclined, and drank wine along with men.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roller |first=Matthew B. |title=Dining Posture in Ancient Rome |date=2006 |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=96ff}}</ref> The poet Martial describes a dinner, beginning with the ''gustatio'' ("tasting" or "appetizer") salad. The main course was [[goat meat|kid]], beans, greens, a chicken, and leftover ham, followed by a dessert of fruit and wine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alcock |first=Joan P. |title=Food in the Ancient World |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=184}}</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 imported from the far reaches of empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Suetonius]] |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Vitellius*.html#13.2 |title=Life of Vitellius |page=13.2}}; {{Harvp|Gowers|2003|p=20}}.</ref> A book-length collection of Roman recipes is attributed to [[Apicius]], a name for several figures in antiquity that became synonymous with "[[gourmet]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Cathy K. |chapter=Remembrance of Meals Past: Cooking by Apicius' Book |title=Food and the Memory: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooker |pages=125ff}}</ref>
Refined cuisine could be moralized as a sign of either civilized progress or decadent decline.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=201}} Most often, because of the importance of landowning in Roman culture, produce—cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit—were considered more civilized foods 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>{{Cite book |last1=Flandrin |first1=Jean Louis |title=Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present |last2=Montanari |first2=Massimo |date=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-2311-1154-6 |pages=165–167 |author-link2=Massimo Montanari}}</ref> Some philosophers and Christians resisted the demands of the body and the pleasures of food, and adopted [[fasting]] as an ideal.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=365–366}} Food became simpler in general as urban life in the West diminished and trade routes were disrupted;{{Sfnp|Flandrin|Montanari|1999|pp=165–167}} the Church formally discouraged [[gluttony]],{{Sfnp|Bowersock|Brown|Grabar|1999|p=455}} and hunting and [[pastoralism]] were seen as simple and virtuous.{{Sfnp|Flandrin|Montanari|1999|pp=165–167}}
{{Anchor|spectacle}}<!-- [[Public spectacle]] redirects here -->
===Spectacles===
{{See also|Ludi|Chariot racing|Recitationes}}
[[File:Winner of a Roman chariot race.jpg|thumb|left|A victor in his [[quadriga|four-horse chariot]]]]
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]]''. 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>{{Cite book |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |title=Religions of Rome: A History |last2=North |first2=J.A. |last3=Price |first3=S.R.F. |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=66 |author-link=Mary Beard (classicist)}}</ref> The races retained religious significance in connection with agriculture, [[initiation ritual|initiation]], and the cycle of birth and death.{{Efn|Such as the [[Consualia]] and the [[October Horse]] sacrifice.<ref>{{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=544, 558}}; {{Cite book |last=Bouché-Leclercq |first=Auguste |title=Manuel des Institutions Romaines |date=1886 |publisher=Hachette |page=549}}; {{Cite book |chapter=Purificazione |date=2004 |title=Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum |publisher=[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]] |page=83}}</ref>}}
Under Augustus, public entertainments were presented on 77 days of the year; by the reign of Marcus Aurelius, this had expanded to 135.{{Sfnp|Dyson|2010|p=240}} Circus games were preceded by an elaborate parade (''[[pompa circensis]]'') that ended at the venue.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Versnel |first=H.S. |title=Triumphus: An Inquiry into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph |date=1971 |publisher=Brill |pages=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]].{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=242}} Aquatic displays, such as the mock sea battle (''[[naumachia]]'') and a form of "water ballet", were presented in engineered pools.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|pp=235–236}} 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)|odeon]]''.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|pp=223–224}}
Circuses were the largest structure regularly built in the Roman world.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=303}} The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the [[Colosseum]], became the regular arena for blood sports in Rome.{{Sfnp|Humphrey|1986|pp=1–3}} 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.{{Sfnp|Humphrey|1986|pp=1–3}} 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 in his opulent box; senators and equestrians in reserved advantageous seats; women seated at a remove from the action; slaves given the worst places, and everybody else in-between.<ref>{{Harvp|Edmondson|1996|pp=73–74, 106}}; {{Harvp|Auguet|2012|p=54}}; {{Cite book |last=McClelland |first=John |title=Body and Mind: Sport in Europe from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |page=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 532.<ref>{{Harvp|Dyson|2010|pp=238–239}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=85}}; {{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|p=461}}; {{Harvp|McClelland|2007|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; gladiators; [[bestiarii|beast fighters]]; and convicts [[damnatio ad bestias|condemned to the beasts]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiedemann |first=Thomas |title=Emperors and Gladiators |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |page=15 |author-link=Thomas Ernst Josef Wiedemann |orig-date=1992}}</ref>]]
The chariot teams were known by the colours they wore, with the two main teams being [[Blues and Greens in the Byzantine Empire|the Blues and the Greens]]. Fan loyalty was fierce and at times erupted into [[sports riots]].<ref>{{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=85}}; {{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=459, 461, 512, 630–631}}; {{Harvp|Dyson|2010|p=237}}.</ref> Racing was perilous, but charioteers were among the most celebrated and well-compensated athletes.{{Sfnp|Dyson|2010|p=238}} Circuses were designed to ensure that no team had an unfair advantage and to minimize collisions (''naufragia''),<ref>{{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=18–21}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=84}}.</ref> which were nonetheless frequent and satisfying to the crowd.<ref>{{Harvp|Auguet|2012|pp=131–132}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|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>{{Harvp|Dyson|2010|pp=238–239}}; {{Harvp|Auguet|2012|p=144}}; {{Cite book |last=Dickie |first=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |date=2001 |publisher=Routledge |pages=282–287}}; {{Cite book |last=D'Ambra |first=Eva |chapter=Racing with Death: Circus Sarcophagi and the Commemoration of Children in Roman Italy |date=2007 |title=Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy |publisher=American School of Classical Studies at Athens |pages=348–349}}; {{Harvp|Rüpke|2007|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.{{Sfnp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=303}}
The Romans thought gladiator contests had originated with [[Funeral games (antiquity)|funeral games]] and [[Sacrifice in ancient Roman religion|sacrifices]]. Some of the earliest [[List of Roman gladiator types|styles of gladiator fighting]] had ethnic designations such as "[[Thraex|Thracian]]" or "Gallic".<ref>{{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=354}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=59}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=305}}</ref> The staged combats were considered {{Lang|la|munera}}, "services, offerings, benefactions", initially distinct from the festival games (''ludi'').<ref>{{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=59}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=305}}</ref> To mark the opening of the Colosseum, [[Titus]] presented [[Inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre|100 days of arena events]], with 3,000 gladiators competing on a single day.<ref>{{Harvp|Humphrey|1986|pp=1–3}}; Cassius Dio 66.25; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=55}}.</ref> Roman fascination with gladiators is indicated by how widely they are depicted on mosaics, wall paintings, lamps, and in graffiti.{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|p=49}} Gladiators were trained combatants who might be slaves, convicts, or free volunteers.{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|p=50}} Death was not a necessary or even desirable outcome in matches between these highly skilled fighters, whose training was costly and time-consuming.<ref>{{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=55}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=307}}; {{Harvp|McClelland|2007|p=66|loc=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]].<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>{{Cite book |last=[[Suetonius]] |title=Nero |page=12.2}}; {{Harvp|Edmondson|1996|p=73}}.</ref>
Modern scholars have found the pleasure Romans took in the "theatre of life and death"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Marianne |title=Introduction to ''The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre'' |last2=Walton |first2=J. Michael |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=8}}</ref> difficult to understand.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kyle |first=Donald G. |title=Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Routledge |page=81}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|p=63}}.</ref> [[Pliny the Younger]] rationalized gladiator spectacles as good for the people, "to inspire them to face honourable wounds and despise death, by exhibiting love of glory and desire for victory".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pliny |title=Panegyric |page=33.1}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|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{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|pp=66–67, 72}}—an attitude that finds its fullest expression with the [[Christian martyr|Christians martyred]] in the arena. Tertullian considered deaths in the arena to be nothing more than a dressed-up form of [[human sacrifice]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Tertullian]] |title=De spectaculis |page=12}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|pp=59–60}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=224}}</ref> Even [[acts of the martyrs|martyr literature]], however, offers "detailed, indeed luxuriant, descriptions of bodily suffering",{{Sfnp|Edwards|2007|p=212}} and became a popular genre at times indistinguishable from fiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowersock |first=G.W. |title=Martyrdom and Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=25–26 |author-link=Glen Bowersock}}; {{Harvp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|p=79}}; {{Cite book |last=Huber-Rebenich |first=Gerlinde |chapter=Hagiographic Fiction as Entertainment |date=1999 |title=Latin Fiction: The Latin Novel in Context |publisher=Routledge |pages=158–178 |author-link=Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich}}; {{Cite book |last1=Llewelyn |first1=S.R. |chapter=The Earliest Dated Reference to Sunday in the Papyri |last2=Nobbs |first2=A.M. |date=2002 |title=New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |page=109}}; {{Cite book |last=Hildebrandt |first=Henrik |chapter=Early Christianity in Roman Pannonia – Fact or Fiction? |date=2006 |title=Studia Patristica: Papers Presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies Held in Oxford 2003 |publisher=Peeters |pages=59–64}}; {{Harvp|Ando|2000|p=382}}.</ref>
===Recreation===
[[File:Casale Bikini modified.jpg|thumb|So-called "Bikini Girls" mosaic from the [[Villa del Casale]], [[Roman Sicily]], 4th century]]
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]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |title=Oxford Latin Dictionary |date=1985 |publisher=Clarendon Press |edition=reprint |pages=1048–1049 |orig-date=1982}}; {{Harvp|Habinek|2005|pp=5, 143}}</ref> Activities for children and young people in the Empire included [[Hoop rolling#Ancient Rome and Byzantium|hoop rolling]] and [[knucklebones]] (''astragali'' or "jacks"). Girls had [[doll]]s made of wood, [[terracotta]], and especially [[Ivory carving|bone and ivory]].{{Sfnp|Rawson|2003|p=128}} Ball games include [[Trigon (game)|trigon]] and [[harpastum]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McDaniel |first=Walton Brooks |date=1906 |title=Some Passages concerning Ball-Games |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=37 |doi=10.2307/282704 |pages=121–134 |jstor=282704}}</ref> People of all ages played [[board game]]s, including ''[[ludus latrunculorum|latrunculi]]'' ("Raiders") and ''[[Ludus duodecim scriptorum|XII scripta]]'' ("Twelve Marks").<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Austin |first=R. G. |date=1934 |title=Roman Board Games. I |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=4 |issue=10 |doi=10.1017/s0017383500002941 |pages=24–34 |s2cid=162861940}}</ref> A game referred to as ''alea'' (dice) or ''tabula'' (the board) may have been similar to [[backgammon]].<ref name="games">{{Cite journal |last=Austin |first=R. G. |date=2009 |title=Roman Board Games. II |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=4 |issue=11 |doi=10.1017/S0017383500003119 |pages=76–82 |s2cid=248520932}}</ref> [[Dice|Dicing]] as a form of gambling was disapproved of, but was a popular pastime during the festival of the [[Saturnalia]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Moritz |first=Ludwig Alfred |title=dicing |date=2015 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2149 |access-date=2024-08-04 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2149 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
After adolescence, most physical training for males was of a military nature. The [[Campus Martius]] originally was an exercise field where young men learned 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 Greek-style athletic games]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eyben |first=Emiel |title=Restless Youth in Ancient Rome |date=1977 |publisher=Routledge |pages=79–82, 110}}</ref> Some women trained as gymnasts and dancers, and a rare few as [[Gladiatrix|female gladiators]]. The "Bikini Girls" mosaic shows young women engaging in routines comparable to [[rhythmic gymnastics]].{{Efn|Scholars are divided in their relative emphasis on the athletic and dance elements of these exercises: {{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=H. |date=1984 |title=Athletics and the Bikini Girls from Piazza Armerina |journal=Stadion |volume=10 |pages=45–75}} sees them as gymnasts, while Torelli thinks they are dancers at the games.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Torelli |first=M. |chapter=Piazza Armerina: Note di iconologia |date=1988 |title=La Villa romana del Casale di Piazza Armerina |publisher=Catania |editor-last=Rizza |editor-first=G. |page=152}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunbabin |first=Katherine |title=Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-5210-0230-3 |page=133}}</ref> Women were encouraged to maintain health through activities such as playing ball, swimming, walking, or reading aloud (as a breathing exercise).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanson |first=Ann Ellis |chapter=The Restructuring of Female Physiology at Rome |date=1991 |title=Les écoles médicales à Rome |publisher=Université de Nantes |pages=260, 264}}, particularly citing the ''Gynecology'' of [[Soranus of Ephesus|Soranus]]</ref>
===Clothing===
{{Main|Clothing in ancient Rome}}
{{Further|Roman hairstyles|Roman jewelry|Cosmetics in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Statua togata, dalla palestra di foruli (civitatomassa), età claudia.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Togate statue in the [[Museo Archeologico Nazionale d'Abruzzo]]]]
In a status-conscious society like that of the Romans, clothing and personal adornment indicated the etiquette of interacting with the wearer.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=230}} Wearing the correct clothing reflected a society in good order.<ref name="coon">{{Cite book |last=Coon |first=Lynda L. |title=Sacred Fictions: Holy Women and Hagiography in Late Antiquity |date=1997 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |pages=57–58}}</ref> There is little direct evidence of how Romans dressed in daily life, since portraiture may show the subject in clothing with symbolic value, and surviving textiles are rare.<ref name=bieber/><ref>{{Harvp|Vout|2009|pp=204–220, especially 206, 211}}; {{Cite book |last=Métraux |first=Guy P.R. |chapter=Prudery and ''Chic'' in Late Antique Clothing |date=2008 |title=Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture |publisher=University of Toronto Press |page=286}}</ref>
The [[toga]] was the distinctive national garment of the male citizen, but it was heavy and impractical, worn mainly for conducting political or court business and religious rites.{{Sfnp|Vout|2009|p=216}}<ref name="bieber">{{Cite journal |last=Bieber |first=Margarete |date=1959 |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 |pages=374–417}}</ref> It was a "vast expanse" of semi-circular white wool that could not be put on and draped correctly without assistance.{{Sfnp|Vout|2009|p=216}} The drapery became more intricate and structured over time.{{Sfnp|Métraux|2008|pp=282–283}} 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>{{Cite book |last=Cleland |first=Liza |title=Greek and Roman Dress from A to Z |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |page=194}}</ref>
Ordinary clothing was dark or colourful. The basic garment for all Romans, regardless of gender or wealth, was the simple sleeved [[tunic]], with length differing by wearer.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=231}} The tunics of poor people and labouring slaves were made from coarse wool in natural, dull shades; finer tunics were made of lightweight wool or linen. A man of the senatorial or equestrian order wore a tunic with two purple stripes (''clavi'') woven vertically: the wider the stripe, the higher the wearer's status.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=231}} Other garments could be layered over the tunic. Common male attire also included cloaks, and in some regions, [[braccae|trousers]].{{Sfnp|Vout|2009|p=218}} In the 2nd century, emperors and elite men are often portrayed wearing the [[Pallium (Roman cloak)|pallium]], an originally Greek mantle; 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.<ref name=coon/><ref name=bieber/><ref>[[Tertullian]], ''De Pallio'' 5.2</ref>
Roman clothing styles changed over time.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=232}} In the [[Dominate]], clothing worn by both soldiers and bureaucrats became highly decorated with geometrical patterns, stylized plant motifs, and in more elaborate examples, human or animal figures.<ref>{{Cite book |last=D'Amato |first=Raffaele |title=Roman Military Clothing (3): AD 400–640 |date=2005 |publisher=Osprey |isbn=1-8417-6843-X |pages=7–9}}</ref> Courtiers of the later Empire wore elaborate silk robes. The militarization of Roman society, and the waning of urban life, affected fashion: heavy military-style belts were worn by bureaucrats as well as soldiers, and the toga was abandoned,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wickham |first=Chris |title=The Inheritance of Rome |date=2009 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-6700-2098-0 |page=106}}</ref> replaced by the pallium as a garment embodying social unity.{{Sfnp|Vout|2009|p=217}}
==Arts==
{{Main|Roman art|Art collection in ancient Rome}}
[[ancient Greek art|Greek art]] had a profound influence on Roman art.{{Sfnp|Kousser|2008|pp=4–5, 8}} [[Public 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 historical or ideological significance.<ref>{{Harvp|Kousser|2008|p=1}}; {{Harvp|Potter|2009|pp=75–76}}.</ref> In the private sphere, artistic objects were made for [[votum|religious dedications]], [[Roman funerals and burial|funerary commemoration]], domestic use, and commerce.{{Sfnp|Gazda|1991|pp=1–3}} The wealthy advertised their appreciation of culture through artwork and [[decorative arts]] in their homes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zanker |first=Paul |title=Pompeii: Public and Private Life |date=1998 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=189 |translator-last=Schneider |translator-first=Deborah Lucas |author-link=Paul Zanker |orig-date=1995}}</ref> Despite the value placed on art, even famous artists were of low social status, partly as they worked with their hands.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|pp=312–313}}
===Portraiture===
{{Main|Roman portraiture}}
{{Multiple image
| width = 125
| footer = Two portraits {{Circa|130 AD}}: the empress [[Vibia Sabina]] (left); and the ''[[Antinous Mondragone]]''
| image1 = Busto de Vibia Sabina (M. Prado) 01.jpg
| image2 = Antinous Mandragone profil.jpg
}}
Portraiture, which survives mainly in sculpture, was the most copious form of imperial art. Portraits during the Augustan period utilize [[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 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X00221331 |pages=439–442 |s2cid=163488573}}</ref> Republican portraits were characterized by [[verism]], but as early as the 2nd century BC, Greek [[heroic nudity]] was adopted for conquering generals.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zanker |first=Paul |title=The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus |date=1988 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |pages=5ff}}</ref> Imperial portrait sculptures may model a mature head atop a youthful nude or semi-nude body with perfect musculature.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=451}} Clothed in the toga or military regalia, the body communicates rank or role, not individual characteristics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fejfer |first=Jane |title=Roman Portraits in Context |date=2008 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |page=10}}</ref>
Portraiture in painting is represented primarily by the [[Fayum mummy portrait]]s, which evoke Egyptian and Roman traditions of commemorating the dead with realistic painting. Marble portrait sculpture were painted, but traces have rarely survived.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=453}}
===Sculpture and sarcophagi===
{{Main|Roman sculpture|Ancient Roman sarcophagi}}
[[File:10 2023 - Palazzo Altemps, Roma, Lazio, 00186, Italia - Sarcofago Grande Ludovisi (Grande Ludovisi sarcophagus) - Arte Romana - Photo Paolo Villa FO232047 ombre gimp bis.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|On the [[Ludovisi sarcophagus]]]]
Examples of Roman sculpture survive abundantly, though often in damaged or fragmentary condition, including freestanding statuary in marble, bronze and [[Ancient Roman pottery#Terracotta figurines|terracotta]], and [[relief]]s from public buildings and monuments. Niches in amphitheatres were originally filled with statues,{{Sfnp|Kousser|2008|p=13}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strong |first=Donald |title=Roman Art |date=1988 |publisher=Yale University Press |edition=2nd |page=11 |orig-date=1976}}</ref> as were [[Roman gardens|formal garden]]s.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|pp=274–275}} Temples housed cult images of deities, often by famed sculptors.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=242}}
Elaborately carved marble and limestone [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]] are characteristic of the 2nd to 4th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newby |first=Zahra |chapter=Myth and Death: Roman Mythological Sarcophagi |date=2011 |title=A Companion to Greek Mythology |publisher=Blackwell |page=301 |author-link=Zahra Newby}}</ref> Sarcophagus relief has been called the "richest single source of Roman iconography",{{Sfnp|Elsner|Huskinson|2011|p=14}} depicting [[classical mythology|mythological scenes]]{{Sfnp|Elsner|Huskinson|2011|p=12}} or Jewish/Christian imagery{{Sfnp|Elsner|Huskinson|2011|p=1, 9}} as well as the deceased's life.
{{Clear}}
===Painting===
{{Main|Painting in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Zeffiro-e-clori---pompeii.jpg|thumb|''The Wedding of [[Zephyrus]] and [[Chloris]]'' (54–68 AD, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]]) within painted architectural panels from the Casa del Naviglio]]
Initial Roman painting drew from [[Etruscan art#Wall-painting|Etruscan]] and [[Ancient Greek art#Painting|Greek]] models and techniques. Examples of Roman paintings can be found in [[List of ancient monuments in Rome#Palaces|palaces]], [[List of ancient monuments in Rome#Cemeteries|catacombs]] and [[Roman villa|villas]]. Much of what is known of Roman painting is from the interior decoration of private homes, particularly as preserved by the [[Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79|eruption of Vesuvius]]. In addition to decorative borders and panels with geometric or vegetative motifs, wall painting depicts scenes from mythology and theatre, landscapes and gardens, [[#Spectacles|spectacles]], everyday life, and [[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum|erotic art]].
===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){{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=463}}]]
[[Mosaic]]s are among the most enduring of Roman [[decorative arts]], and are found on floors and other architectural features. The most common is the [[opus tessellatum|tessellated mosaic]], formed from uniform pieces ''([[tessera]]e)'' of materials such as stone and glass.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=459}} ''[[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 became especially popular for luxury surfaces in the 4th century (e.g. the [[Basilica of Junius Bassus]]).{{Sfnp|Dunbabin|1999|pp=254ff}}
[[Figurative art|Figurative]] mosaics share many themes with painting, and in some cases use almost identical [[Composition (visual arts)|compositions]]. Geometric patterns and mythological scenes occur throughout the Empire. In North Africa, a particularly rich source of mosaics, homeowners often chose scenes of life on their estates, hunting, agriculture, and local wildlife.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=463}} Plentiful and major examples of Roman mosaics come also from present-day Turkey (particularly the ([[Antioch mosaics]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 March 2016 |title=Antioch and the Bath of Apolausis – History of the excavations |url=https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/excavations-antioch |access-date=16 June 2020 |website=J. Paul Getty Museum |archive-date=18 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318165702/http://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/excavations-antioch/ |url-status=live}}</ref>), Italy, southern France, Spain, and Portugal.
===Decorative arts===
{{Further|Ancient Roman pottery|Roman glass}}
[[Decorative arts]] for luxury consumers included fine pottery, silver and bronze vessels and implements, and glassware. Pottery manufacturing was economically important, 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 trade good in 1st-century Europe.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=202}} [[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>{{Cite book |last=Butcher |first=Kevin |title=Roman Syria and the Near East |date=2003 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=0-8923-6715-6 |pages=201ff}}; {{Harvp|Bowman|Garnsey|Cameron|2005|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:Munich Cup Diatretum 22102016 1.jpg|Glass [[cage cup]] from the Rhineland, 4th century
</gallery>
===Performing arts===
{{Main|Theatre of ancient Rome|Music of ancient Rome}}
[[File:Choregos actors MAN Napoli Inv9986.jpg|thumb|All-male theatrical troupe preparing for a masked performance, on a mosaic from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]]]]
In Roman tradition, borrowed from the Greeks, literary theatre was performed by all-male troupes that used face masks with exaggerated facial expressions to portray emotion. Female roles were played by men in [[Drag (clothing)|drag]] (''[[travesti (theatre)|travesti]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plautus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-sPZ5YisvMC&pg=PA20 |title=Rome and the Mysterious Orient: Three Plays by Plautus |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93822-9 |pages=20}}</ref> Roman literary theatre tradition is represented in [[#Literature|Latin literature]] by the tragedies of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], for example.
More popular than literary theatre was the genre-defying ''mimus'' theatre, which featured scripted scenarios with free improvisation, risqué language and sex scenes, action sequences, and political satire, along with dance, juggling, acrobatics, tightrope walking, striptease, and [[dancing bear]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fantham |first=R. Elaine |date=1989 |title=Mime: The Missing Link in Roman Literary History |journal=The Classical World |volume=82 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/4350348 |pages=153–163 |jstor=4350348}}; {{Cite journal |last=Slater |first=William J. |date=2002 |title=Mime Problems: Cicero ''Ad fam''. 7.1 and Martial 9.38 |journal=Phoenix |volume=56 |issue=3/4 |doi=10.2307/1192603 |pages=315–329 |jstor=1192603}}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=257}}</ref> Unlike literary theatre, ''mimus'' was played without masks, and encouraged stylistic realism. Female roles were performed by women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Conte |first=Gian Biagio |title=Latin Literature: A History |date=1994 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |page=128 |author-link=Gian Biagio Conte}}</ref> ''Mimus'' was related to ''[[Pantomime#Ancient Rome|pantomimus]]'', an early form of [[story ballet]] that contained no spoken dialogue but rather a sung [[libretto]], often mythological, either tragic or comic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Franklin |first=James L. |date=1987 |title=Pantomimists at Pompeii: Actius Anicetus and His Troupe |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=108 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/294916 |pages=95–107 |jstor=294916}}; {{Cite book |last=Starks |first=John H. Jr. |chapter=Pantomime Actresses in Latin Inscriptions |date=2008 |title=New Directions in Ancient Pantomime |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=95, 14ff}}</ref>
[[File:Scena_di_commedia,_musici_ambulanti,_da_villa_di_cecerone_a_pompei,_9985,_03.JPG|thumb|left|Trio of musicians playing an ''[[aulos]]'', ''cymbala'', and ''[[Tympanum (hand drum)|tympanum]]'' (mosaic from [[Pompeii]])]]
Although sometimes regarded as foreign, [[Music of ancient Rome|music]] and dance existed in Rome from earliest times.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|p=146}} Music was customary at funerals, and the ''[[aulos|tibia]]'', a woodwind instrument, was played at sacrifices.<ref name="klar">{{Cite journal |last=Ginsberg-Klar |first=Maria E. |date=2010 |title=The archaeology of musical instruments in Germany during the Roman period |journal=World Archaeology |volume=12 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1981.9979806 |pages=313–320}}</ref> Song ''([[Carmen (verse)|carmen]])'' was integral to almost every social occasion. Music was thought to reflect the orderliness of the cosmos.{{Sfnp|Habinek|2005|pp=90ff}} 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, was used for military signals and on parade.<ref name=klar/> These instruments spread throughout the provinces and are widely depicted in Roman art.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sonia Mucznik |title=Musicians and Musical Instruments in Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaics of the Land of Israel: Sources, Precursors and Significance |publisher=Tel Aviv University}}</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.<ref name=klar/> Although certain dances were seen at times as non-Roman or unmanly, dancing was embedded in religious rituals of archaic Rome.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|pp=146ff}} Ecstatic dancing was a feature of the [[mystery religions]], particularly the cults of [[Cybele]]{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|pp=154, 157}} and [[Isis]]. In the secular realm, dancing girls from [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]] and [[Cádiz|Cadiz]] were extremely popular.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|pp=156–157}}
Like [[gladiator]]s, entertainers were legally ''[[infamia|infames]]'', technically free but little better than slaves. "Stars", however, could enjoy considerable wealth and celebrity, and mingled socially and often sexually with the elite.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Richlin |first=Amy |author-link=Amy Richlin |date=1993 |title=Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the ''cinaedus'' and the Roman Law against Love between Men |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=539–540}}</ref> Performers supported each other by forming guilds, and several memorials for theatre members survive.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Csapo |first1=Eric |title=The Context of Ancient Drama |last2=Slater |first2=William J. |date=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |page=377}}</ref> Theatre and dance were often condemned by [[Christian polemic]]ists in the later Empire.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|p=146}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacMullen |first=Ramsay |title=Christianizing the Roman Empire: (A. D. 100–400) |date=1984 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=74–75, 84 |author-link=Ramsay MacMullen}}</ref>
==Literacy, books, and education==
[[File:Meister des Porträts des Paquius Proculus 001.jpg|thumb|Pride in literacy was displayed through emblems of reading and writing, as in this portrait of [[Portrait of Terentius Neo|Terentius Neo and his wife]] (''c.'' 20 AD).]]
Estimates of the average [[literacy rate]] range from 5 to over 30%.<ref>{{Harvp|Harris|1989|p=5}}; {{Harvp|Johnson|Parker|2009|pp=3–4}}</ref><ref name="kraus">{{Cite journal |last=Kraus |first=T.J. |date=2000 |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 |doi=10.1163/156852500510633 |pages=322–342 (325–327)}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=89, 97–98}} The Roman obsession with documents and inscriptions indicates the value placed on the written word.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mattern |first=Susan P. |title=Rome and the Enemy: Imperial Strategy in the Principate |date=1999 |publisher=University of California Press |page=197}}</ref><ref name="morgan">{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Teresa |title=Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=1–2}}; {{Harvp|Johnson|Parker|2009|p=46ff}}; {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|p=97}}.</ref>{{Efn|[[Clifford Ando]] posed the question as "what good would 'posted edicts' do in a world of low literacy?'.{{Sfnp|Ando|2000|p=101|loc=see also p. 87 on "the government's obsessive documentation"}}}} Laws and edicts were posted as well as read out. Illiterate Roman subjects could have a government scribe (''[[scriba (ancient Rome)|scriba]]'') read or write their official documents for them.<ref name=kraus/>{{Sfnp|Ando|2000|p=101}} The military produced extensive written records.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phang |first=Sara Elise |chapter=Military Documents, Languages, and Literacy |date=2011 |title=A Companion to the Roman Army |publisher=Blackwell |pages=286–301}}</ref> 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".{{Sfnp|Ando|2000|pp=86–87}}
[[Numeracy]] was necessary for commerce.<ref name=morgan/>{{Sfnp|Mattern|1999|p=197}} Slaves were numerate and literate in significant numbers; some were highly educated.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|pp=19–20}} Graffiti and low-quality inscriptions with misspellings and [[solecism]]s indicate casual literacy among non-elites.<ref>{{Harvp|Harris|1989|pp=9, 48, 215, 248, 26, 248, 258–269}}; {{Harvp|Johnson|Parker|2009|pp=47, 54, 290ff}}</ref>{{Efn|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 name=curchin/>
The Romans had an extensive [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#libri pontificales|priestly archive]], and inscriptions appear throughout the Empire in connection with [[votum|votives]] dedicated by ordinary people, as well as "[[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|magic spells]]" (e.g. the [[Greek Magical Papyri]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beard |first=Mary |chapter=Ancient Literacy and the Written Word in Roman Religion |date=1991 |title=Literacy in the Roman World |publisher=University of Michigan Press |pages=59ff |author-link=Mary Beard (classicist)}}; {{Cite book |last=Dickie |first=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |date=2001 |publisher=Routledge |pages=94–95, 181–182, 196}}; {{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=555}}; {{Harvp|Harris|1989|pp=29, 218–219}}</ref>
Books were expensive, since each copy had to be written out on a papyrus roll (''volumen'') by scribes.{{Sfnp|Johnson|2010|pp=17–18}} The [[codex]]—pages bound to a spine—was still a novelty in the 1st century,<ref>{{Harvp|Johnson|2010|p=17|loc=citing Martial, ''Epigrams'', 1.2, 14.184–92}}; {{Harvp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|pp=83–84}}</ref> but by the end of the 3rd century was replacing the ''volumen''.<ref>{{Harvp|Johnson|2010|pp=17–18}}; {{Harvp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|pp=84–85}}</ref> Commercial book production was established by the late Republic,{{Sfnp|Marshall|1976|p=253}} and by the 1st century certain neighbourhoods of Rome and Western provincial cities were known for their bookshops.<ref>{{Harvp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|p=71}}; {{Harvp|Marshall|1976|p=253|loc=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,<ref>{{Harvp|Marshall|1976|p=253}}; Strabo 13.1.54, 50.13.419; {{Cite book |last=Martial |title=Epigrams |page=2.8}}; [[Lucian]], ''Adversus Indoctum'' 1</ref> and [[plagiarism]] or [[literary forgery|forgery]] were common, since there was no [[copyright law]].{{Sfnp|Marshall|1976|p=253}}
[[File:Table with was and stylus Roman times.jpg|thumb|left|Reconstruction of a [[Wax tablet|wax writing tablet]]]]
Collectors amassed personal libraries,{{Sfnp|Marshall|1976|pp=252–264}} and a fine library was part of the cultivated leisure (''[[otium]]'') associated with the villa lifestyle.{{Sfnp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|pp=67–68}} Significant collections might attract "in-house" scholars,{{Sfnp|Marshall|1976|pp=257–260}} and an individual benefactor might endow a community with a library (as [[Pliny the Younger]] did in [[Comum]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Pliny the Elder]] |title=Epistulae |page=1.8.2}}; ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 5.5262 (= ''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae|ILS]]'' 2927); {{Harvp|Marshall|1976|p=265}}.</ref> Imperial libraries were open to users on a limited basis, and represented a [[literary canon]].<ref>{{Harvp|Marshall|1976|pp=261–262}}; {{Harvp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|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>{{Cite book |last=[[Suetonius]] |title=Domitian |page=10}}; {{Cite book |author=[[Quintilian]] |title=Institutio Oratoria |page=9.2.65}}; {{Harvp|Marshall|1976|p=263}}.</ref>
Literary texts were often shared aloud at meals or with reading groups.<ref>{{Harvp|Johnson|Parker|2009|pp=114ff, 186ff}}; {{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=372}}.</ref> Public readings (''[[recitationes]]'') expanded from the 1st through the 3rd century, giving rise to "consumer literature" for entertainment.{{Sfnp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|pp=68–69, 78–79}} Illustrated books, including erotica, were popular, but are poorly represented by extant fragments.{{Sfnp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|pp=81–82}}
Literacy began to decline during the [[Crisis of the Third Century]].{{Sfnp|Harris|1989|p=3}} The emperor Julian banned Christians from teaching the classical curriculum,{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=19}} but the [[Church Fathers]] and other Christians adopted Latin and Greek literature, philosophy and science in biblical interpretation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Numbers |first=Ronald |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0-6740-5741-8 |title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion |date=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-6740-3327-6 |page=18 |access-date=30 August 2022 |archive-date=30 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830113508/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0-6740-5741-8 |url-status=live}}</ref> As the Western Roman Empire declined, reading became rarer even for those within the Church hierarchy,{{Sfnp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|p=86}} although it continued in the [[Byzantine Empire]].{{Sfnp|Cavallo|Chartier|1999|pp=15–16}}
===Education===
{{Main|Education in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Roman school.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A teacher with two students, as a third arrives with his ''loculus'', a writing case{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=95}}]]
Traditional Roman education was moral and practical. Stories were meant to instil Roman values (''[[mos maiorum|mores maiorum]]''). Parents were expected to act as role models, and working parents passed their skills to their children, who might also enter apprenticeships.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=84–85}} Young children were attended by a [[Paedagogus (occupation)|pedagogue]], usually a Greek slave or former slave,{{Sfnp|Laes|2011|pp=113–116}} who kept the child safe, taught self-discipline and public behaviour, attended class and helped with tutoring.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=90, 92}}
Formal education was available only to families who could pay for it; lack of state support contributed to low literacy.<ref>{{Harvp|Laes|2011|p=108}}; {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|p=89}}.</ref> Primary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic might take place at home if parents hired or bought a teacher.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=87–89}} Other children attended "public" schools organized by a schoolmaster (''[[ludi magister|ludimagister]]'') paid by parents.{{Sfnp|Laes|2011|p=122}} ''Vernae'' (homeborn slave children) might share in-home or public schooling.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=90}} Boys and girls received primary education generally from ages 7 to 12, but classes were not segregated by grade or age.{{Sfnp|Laes|2011|pp=107–108, 132}} Most schools employed [[corporal punishment]].{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=93–94}} For the socially ambitious, education in Greek as well as Latin was necessary.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=89}} Schools became more numerous during the Empire, increasing educational opportunities.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=89}}
[[File:MANNapoli 124545 plato's academy mosaic (cropped).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 through mentoring from a senior family member or family friend.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=88, 106}} Higher education was provided by ''[[Grammarian (Greco-Roman)|grammatici]]'' or ''[[rhetor]]es''.{{Sfnp|Laes|2011|p=109}} The ''grammaticus'' or "grammarian" taught mainly Greek and Latin literature, with history, geography, philosophy or mathematics treated as explications of the text.{{Sfnp|Laes|2011|p=132}} With the rise of Augustus, contemporary Latin authors such as Virgil and Livy also became part of the curriculum.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=439, 442}} The ''rhetor'' was a teacher of oratory or public speaking. The art of speaking (''ars dicendi'') was highly prized, and ''eloquentia'' ("speaking ability, eloquence") was considered the "glue" of civilized society.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=102–103, 105}} Rhetoric was not so much a body of knowledge (though it required a command of the [[literary canon]]{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=104–105}}) as it was a mode of expression that distinguished those who held social power.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=103, 106}} The ancient model of rhetorical training—"restraint, coolness under pressure, modesty, and good humour"{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=110}}—endured into the 18th century as a Western educational ideal.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=107}}
In Latin, ''illiteratus'' could mean both "unable to read and write" and "lacking in cultural awareness or sophistication".{{Sfnp|Harris|1989|p=5}} Higher education promoted career advancement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saller |first=R. P. |date=2012 |title=Promotion and Patronage in Equestrian Careers |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=70 |doi=10.2307/299555 |pages=44–63 |jstor=299555 |s2cid=163530509}}</ref> Urban elites throughout the Empire shared a literary culture imbued with Greek educational ideals (''[[paideia]]'').{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=598}} Hellenistic cities sponsored schools of higher learning to express cultural achievement.{{Sfnp|Laes|2011|pp=109–110}} Young Roman men often went abroad to study rhetoric and philosophy, mostly to Athens. The curriculum in the East was more likely to include music and physical training.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=88}} On the Hellenistic model, Vespasian [[endowed chair]]s of grammar, Latin and Greek rhetoric, and philosophy at Rome, and gave secondary teachers special exemptions from taxes and legal penalties.<ref>{{Harvp|Laes|2011|p=110}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|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]].{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=18}} The cultural movement known as the [[Second Sophistic]] (1st–3rd century AD) promoted the assimilation of Greek and Roman social, educational, and esthetic values.<ref>The wide-ranging 21st-century scholarship on the Second Sophistic includes {{Cite book |last=Goldhill |first=Simon |title=Being Greek under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-link=Simon Goldhill}}; {{Cite book |title=Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic |editor-first=Barbara E. |editor-last=Borg |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2004}}; {{Cite book |first=Tim |last=Whitmarsh |title=The Second Sophistic |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005}}</ref>
Literate women ranged from cultured aristocrats to girls trained to be [[calligrapher]]s and [[scribe]]s.<ref name="h122">{{Cite book |last=Habinek |first=Thomas N. |title=The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=122–123 |author-link=Thomas Habinek}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Rawson|2003|p=80}} The ideal woman in Augustan love poetry was educated and well-versed in the arts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Sharon L. |title=Learned Girls and Male Persuasion: Gender and Reading in Roman Love Elegy |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=21–25}}; {{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=W.R. |chapter=Propertius |date=2012 |title=A Companion to Roman Love Elegy |publisher=Blackwell |pages=42–43}}; {{Cite book |first=Sharon L. |last=James |chapter=Elegy and New Comedy |page=262 |title=A Companion to Roman Love Elegy |publisher=Blackwell |date=2012}}</ref> Education seems to have been standard for daughters of the senatorial and equestrian orders.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=90}} An educated wife was an asset for the socially ambitious household.<ref name=h122/>
=== Literature ===
{{Main|Latin literature}}
{{See also|Latin poetry}}
[[File:Ovidiu03.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue in [[Constanța]], Romania (the ancient colony Tomis), commemorating [[Exile of Ovid|Ovid's exile]]]]
[[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Literature under Augustus]], along with that of the Republic, has been viewed as the "Golden Age" of Latin literature, embodying [[classicism|classical ideals]].{{Sfnp|Roberts|1989|p=3}} The three most influential Classical Latin poets—[[Virgil]], [[Horace]], and [[Ovid]]—belong to this period. Virgil's ''[[Aeneid]]'' was a national epic 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 Augustan morality, contributing to his exile. Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' wove together [[Greco-Roman mythology]]; his versions of [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]] became a primary source of later [[classical mythology]], and his work was hugely influential on [[medieval literature]].<ref>''Aetas Ovidiana''; {{Cite book |first=Charles |last=McNelis |chapter=Ovidian Strategies in Early Imperial Literature |title=A Companion to Ovid |publisher=Blackwell |date=2007 |page=397}}</ref> The early [[Principate]] produced [[Satire|satirists]] such as [[Persius]] and [[Juvenal]].
The mid-1st through mid-2nd century has conventionally been called the "[[Classical Latin#Authors of the Silver Age|Silver Age]]" of Latin literature. The three leading writers—[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], [[Lucan]], and [[Petronius]]—committed suicide after incurring [[Nero]]'s displeasure. [[Epigram]]matist and social observer [[Martial]] and the epic poet [[Statius]], whose poetry collection ''[[Silvae]]'' influenced [[Renaissance literature]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=van Dam |first=Harm-Jan |chapter=Wandering Woods Again: From Poliziano to Grotius |date=2008 |title=The Poetry of Statius |publisher=Brill |pages=45ff}}</ref> wrote during the reign of [[Domitian]]. Other authors of the Silver Age included [[Pliny the Elder]], author of the encyclopedic ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]''; his nephew, [[Pliny the Younger]]; and the historian [[Tacitus]].
The principal Latin prose author of the [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan age]] is the [[Roman historiography|historian]] [[Livy]], whose account of [[founding of Rome|Rome's founding]] became the most familiar version in modern-era literature. ''[[The Twelve Caesars]]'' by [[Suetonius]] is a primary source for imperial biography. Among Imperial historians who wrote in Greek are [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], [[Josephus]], and [[Cassius Dio]]. Other major Greek authors of the Empire include the biographer [[Plutarch]], the geographer [[Strabo]], and the rhetorician and satirist [[Lucian]].
From the 2nd to the 4th centuries, Christian authors were in active dialogue with the [[classical tradition]]. [[Tertullian]] was one of the earliest prose authors with a distinctly Christian voice. After the [[conversion of Constantine]], Latin literature is dominated by the Christian perspective.{{Sfnp|Albrecht|1997|p=1294}} In the late 4th century, [[Jerome]] produced the Latin translation of the Bible that became authoritative as the [[Vulgate]]. Around that same time, [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] wrote ''[[The City of God against the Pagans]]'', considered "a masterpiece of Western culture".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The City of God {{!}} Summary, Significance, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-City-of-God |access-date=2024-08-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
In contrast to the unity of Classical Latin, the literary esthetic of late antiquity has a [[Tessellation|tessellated]] quality.{{Sfnp|Roberts|1989|p=70}} 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]]. Latin poets of late antiquity include [[Ausonius]], [[Prudentius]], [[Claudian]], and [[Sidonius Apollinaris]].
==Religion==
{{Main|Religion in ancient Rome}}
{{Further|Roman imperial cult|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Early Christianity}}
{{See also|Religious persecution in the Roman Empire|Historiography of the Christianization of the Roman Empire}}
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| image1 = RMW - Opfernder Togatus.jpg
| caption1 = 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)
| image2 = Bas relief from Arch of Marcus Aurelius showing sacrifice.jpg
| caption2 = The emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
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The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success to their collective piety (''[[pietas]]'') and good relations with the gods (''[[pax deorum]]''). The archaic religion believed to have come from the earliest [[kings of Rome]] was the foundation of the ''[[mos maiorum]]'', "the way of the ancestors", central to Roman identity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eiland |first=Murray |title=Picturing Roman Belief Systems: The iconography of coins in the Republic and Empire |date=2023 |publisher=British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Limited |isbn=978-1-4073-6071-3 |page=22 |doi=10.30861/9781407360713}}</ref>
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. For ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life.{{Sfnp|Rüpke|2007|p=4}} Each home had a household shrine to offer prayers and [[libation]]s to the family's domestic deities. Neighbourhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. The [[Roman calendar]] was structured around religious observances; as many as 135 days were devoted to [[Roman festivals|religious festivals]] and games (''[[ludi]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |title=A Dictionary of the Roman Empire |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=246}}</ref>
In the wake of the [[Collapse of the Roman Republic|Republic's collapse]], state religion adapted to support the new regime. Augustus justified one-man rule with a vast programme of religious revivalism and reform. [[Vota pro salute rei publicae|Public vows]] now were directed at the wellbeing of the emperor. So-called "emperor worship" expanded on a grand scale the traditional [[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. The [[Roman 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. Cultural precedent in the Eastern provinces facilitated a rapid dissemination of Imperial cult, extending as far as [[Najran]], in present-day [[Saudi Arabia]].{{Efn|The ''[[caesareum]]'' at Najaran was possibly known later as the "Kaaba of Najran"<ref>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; {{Cite book |last=Harland |first=P. |chapter=Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia |date=2003 |title=(originally published in) Ancient History Bulletin / Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte) |volume=17 |pages=91–103}}</ref>}} Rejection of the state religion became tantamount to treason.
The Romans are known for the [[List of Roman deities|great number of deities]] they honoured. As the Romans extended their territories, their general policy was to promote stability among diverse peoples by absorbing local deities and cults rather than eradicating them,{{Efn|"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.}} building temples that framed local theology within 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>{{Harvp|Rüpke|2007|p=4}}; {{Cite book |last=Isaac |first=Benjamin H. |title=The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity |date=2004 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=449}}; {{Cite book |last=Frend |first=W.H.C. |title=Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus |date=1967 |publisher=Doubleday |page=106}}; {{Cite book |last=Huskinson |first=Janet |title=Experiencing Rome: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |page=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 [[interpretatio romana|syncretic or reinterpreted gods]] were cultivated, 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 cult only, [[religious tolerance]] was not an issue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Momigliano |first=Arnaldo |date=1986 |title=The Disadvantages of Monotheism for a Universal State |journal=Classical Philology |volume=81 |issue=4 |doi=10.1086/367003 |pages=285–297 |s2cid=161203730}}</ref>
[[Mystery religions]], which offered initiates salvation in the afterlife, were a matter of personal choice, practiced in addition to one's [[sacra gentilicia|family rites]] and public religion. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, which conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of "[[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|magic]]", conspiracy (''coniuratio''), and subversive activity. Thus, sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists. 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. However, Celtic traditions were reinterpreted within the context of Imperial theology, and a new [[Gallo-Roman religion]] coalesced; its capital at the [[Sanctuary of the Three Gauls]] established precedent for Western cult as a form of Roman-provincial identity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fishwick |first=Duncan |title=The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire |date=1991 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9-0040-7179-2 |volume=1 |pages=97–149}}</ref> The monotheistic rigour of [[Judaism]] posed difficulties for Roman policy that led at times to compromise and granting of special exemptions. Tertullian noted that Judaism, unlike Christianity, was considered a ''[[religio licita]]'', "legitimate religion". The [[Jewish–Roman wars]] resulted from political as well as religious conflicts; the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|siege of Jerusalem]] in 70 AD led to the sacking of the [[Second Temple]] and the dispersal of Jewish political power (see [[Jewish diaspora]]).
[[File:Stele Licinia Amias Terme 67646.jpg|thumb|upright|A 3rd-century funerary stele is among the [[early Christian inscriptions|earliest Christian inscriptions]], written in both Greek and Latin.]]
Christianity emerged in [[Judaea (Roman province)|Roman Judaea]] as a [[Jewish Christian|Jewish religious sect]] in the 1st century and gradually [[Spread of Christianity|spread]] out of [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] throughout the Empire and beyond. Imperially authorized persecutions were limited and sporadic, with martyrdoms occurring most often under the authority of local officials.<ref>{{Harvp|Bowman|Garnsey|Cameron|2005|p=616}}; {{Cite book |last=Frend |first=W.H.C. |chapter=Persecutions: Genesis and Legacy |date=2006 |title=Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-5218-1239-9 |volume=1 |page=510}}; {{Cite journal |last=Barnes |first=T. D. |date=2012 |title=Legislation against the Christians |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=58 |issue=1–2 |doi=10.2307/299693 |pages=32–50 |jstor=299693 |s2cid=161858491}}; {{Cite journal |last=Sainte-Croix, G.E.M de |date=1963 |title=Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted? |journal=Past & Present |issue=26 |doi=10.1093/past/26.1.6 |pages=6–38}}; {{Cite book |last=Musurillo |first=Herbert |title=The Acts of the Christian Martyrs |date=1972 |publisher=Clarendon Press |pages=lviii–lxii}}; {{Cite journal |last=Sherwin-White |first=A. N. |author-link=A.N. Sherwin-White |date=1952 |title=The Early Persecutions and Roman Law Again |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |volume=3 |issue=2 |doi=10.1093/jts/III.2.199 |pages=199–213}}</ref> [[Tacitus]] reports that after the [[Great Fire of Rome]] in AD 64, the emperor attempted to deflect blame from himself onto the Christians.<ref name="annals-xv-44">{{Cite book |last=Tacitus |title=Annals |page=[[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 15#44|XV.44]]}}</ref> A major persecution occurred under the emperor [[Domitian]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eusebius of Caesarea |title=Church History |date=425 |author-link=Eusebius of Caesarea}}; {{Cite journal |last=Smallwood |first=E.M. |date=1956 |title='Domitian's attitude towards the Jews and Judaism |journal=Classical Philology |volume=51 |doi=10.1086/363978 |pages=1–13 |s2cid=161356789}}</ref> and a [[Persecution in Lyon|persecution in 177]] took place at Lugdunum, the Gallo-Roman religious capital. A letter from [[Pliny the Younger]], governor of [[Bithynia]], describes his persecution and executions of Christians.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pliny |title=Epistle to Trajan on the Christians |url=http://www.mesacc.edu/~tomshoemaker/handouts/pliny.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811045206/http://www.mesacc.edu/~tomshoemaker/handouts/pliny.html |archive-date=11 August 2011}}</ref> The [[Decian persecution]] of 246–251 seriously threatened the [[Christian Church]], but ultimately strengthened Christian defiance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frend |first=W. H. C. |date=1959 |title=The Failure of the Persecutions in the Roman Empire |journal=Past and Present |issue=16 |doi=10.1093/past/16.1.10 |pages=10–30}}</ref> [[Diocletian]] undertook the [[Diocletianic Persecution|most severe persecution of Christians]], from 303 to 311.<ref name=":0" />
From the 2nd century onward, the [[Church Fathers]] condemned the diverse religions practiced throughout the Empire as "pagan".{{Sfnp|Bowersock|Brown|Grabar|1999|p=625}} In the early 4th century, [[Constantine I]] became the first emperor to [[convert to Christianity]]. He supported the Church financially and made laws that favored it, but the new religion was already successful, having moved from less than 50,000 to over a million adherents between 150 and 250.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harnett |first=Benjamin |date=2017 |title=The Diffusion of the Codex |journal=Classical Antiquity |volume=36 |issue=2 |doi=10.1525/ca.2017.36.2.183 |pages=200, 217}}</ref> Constantine and his successors banned public sacrifice while tolerating other traditional practices. Constantine never engaged in a [[purge]],<ref name="Leithart">{{Cite book |last=Leithart |first=Peter J. |title=Defending Constantine The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom |date=2010 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-2722-0 |page=304}}</ref> there were no "pagan martyrs" during his reign,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Peter |title=The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200–1000 |date=2003 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |isbn=978-0-6312-2137-1 |edition=2nd |page=74 |author-link=Peter Brown (historian)}}; {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Glen L. |title=A Tall Order: Writing the Social History of the Ancient World – Essays in honor of William V. Harris |date=2005 |publisher=K.G. Saur |isbn=978-3-5987-7828-5 |editor-last=Jean-Jacques Aubert |page=87,93 |chapter=Constantius II and the First Removal of the Altar of Victory |doi=10.1515/9783110931419 |editor-last2=Zsuzsanna Varhelyi}}</ref> and people who had not converted to Christianity remained in important positions at court.<ref name="Leithart"/>{{Rp|302}} [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]] attempted to revive traditional public sacrifice and [[Hellenistic religion]], but met Christian resistance and lack of popular support.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=David |title=Cambridge Ancient History |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-last=Cameron |editor-first=Averil |editor-link=Averil Cameron |volume=13 |page=68 |chapter=2, Julian |editor-last2=Garnsey |editor-first2=Peter |editor-link2=Peter Garnsey}}</ref>
[[File:Pantheon Rom 1 cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in Rome, a [[Roman temple]] originally built under [[Augustus]], later converted into a [[Church architecture|Catholic church]] in the 7th century<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacDonald |first=William L. |url=https://archive.org/details/pantheondesignme0000macd |title=The Pantheon: Design, Meaning, and Progeny |date=1976 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-6740-1019-1 |author-link=William L. MacDonald |url-access=registration}}</ref>]]
Christians of the 4th century believed the conversion of Constantine showed that Christianity had triumphed over paganism (in Heaven) and little further action besides such rhetoric was necessary.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Brown (historian) |date=1993 |title=The Problem of Christianization |url=http://publications.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/82p089.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=84 |page=90 |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303104208/http://publications.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/82p089.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Thus, their focus shifted towards [[heresy in Christianity|heresy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salzman |first=Michele Renee |date=1993 |title=The Evidence for the Conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in Book 16 of the 'Theodosian Code |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=362–378}}</ref><ref name="Brown 1998">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Peter |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |title-link=iarchive:iB Ca/013 |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5213-0200-5 |editor-last=Cameron |editor-first=Averil |editor-link=Averil Cameron |volume=XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337–425 |pages=634, 640, 651 |chapter=Christianization and religious conflict |author-link=Peter Brown (historian) |editor-last2=Garnsey |editor-first2=Peter |editor-link2=Peter Garnsey}}</ref> According to [[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter Brown]], "In most areas, polytheists were not molested, and apart from a few ugly incidents of local violence, Jewish communities also enjoyed a century of stable, even privileged, existence".<ref name="Brown 1998"/>{{Rp|641–643}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Demarsin |first=Koen |title=The Archaeology of Late Antique 'Paganism' |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9-0041-9237-9 |editor-last=Lavan |editor-first=Luke |edition=volume 7; illustrated |page=liv–lv |chapter='Paganism' in Late Antiquity: Thematic studies Introduction |editor-last2=Mulryan |editor-first2=Michael}}</ref> There were anti-pagan laws, but they were not generally enforced; through the 6th century, centers of paganism existed in Athens, Gaza, Alexandria, and elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Constantelos |first=Demetrios J. |date=1964 |title=Paganism and the State in the Age of Justinian |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25017472 |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=372–380 |jstor=25017472 |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531174806/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25017472 |url-status=live}}</ref>
According to recent Jewish scholarship, toleration of the Jews was maintained under Christian emperors.{{Sfnp|Brewer|2005|p=127}} This did not extend to [[Christian heresy|heretics]]:{{Sfnp|Brewer|2005|p=127}} [[Theodosius I]] made multiple laws and acted against alternate forms of Christianity,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sáry |first=Pál |title=Perpauca Terrena Blande Honori dedicata pocta Petrovi Blahovi K Nedožitým 80. Narodeninám |date=2019 |publisher=Trnavská univerzity |isbn=978-8-0568-0313-4 |editor-last=Vojtech Vladár |page=73 |chapter=Remarks on the Edict of Thessalonica of 380}}; {{Cite journal |last=Brewer |first=Catherine |date=2005 |title=The Status of the Jews in Roman Legislation: The Reign of Justinian 527-565 Ce |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41443760 |journal=European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=127–139 |jstor=41443760 |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528194215/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41443760 |url-status=live}}</ref> and heretics were persecuted and killed by both the government and the church throughout Late Antiquity. Non-Christians were not persecuted until the 6th century. Rome's original religious hierarchy and ritual influenced Christian forms,{{Sfnp|Rüpke|2007|pp=406–426}}<ref>On vocabulary, see {{Cite book |last=Schilling |first=Robert |chapter=The Decline and Survival of Roman Religion |date=1992 |title=Roman and European Mythologies |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=110}}</ref> and many pre-Christian practices survived in Christian festivals and local traditions.
==Legacy==
{{Main|Legacy of the Roman Empire}}
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| footer = The [[Virginia State Capitol]] ''(left)'', completed in 1788, was modelled after the [[Maison Carrée]] ''(right)'', in [[Nîmes]], France, a [[Roman temple|Gallo-Roman temple]] built around 16 BC under Augustus.
}}
Several states claimed to be the [[Succession of the Roman Empire|Roman Empire's successor]]. The [[Holy Roman Empire]] was established in 800 when [[Pope Leo III]] crowned [[Charlemagne]] as [[Roman emperor]]. The [[Tsardom of Russia|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), in accordance with the concept of [[translatio imperii]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgan |first=Michael |title=Empire of Ancient Rome |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-2659-3 |pages=113–114}}</ref> The last Eastern Roman titular, [[Andreas Palaiologos]], sold the title of Emperor of Constantinople to [[Charles VIII of France]]; upon Charles' death, Palaiologos reclaimed the title and on his death granted it to [[Ferdinand and Isabella]] and their successors, who never used it. When the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], who based their state on the Byzantine model, took Constantinople in 1453, [[Mehmed II]] established his capital there and claimed to sit on the throne of the Roman Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Thomas F. X. |title=Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, 1300–1815 |last2=Strauss |first2=Barry |last3=Osheim |first3=Duane J. |last4=Neuschel |first4=Kristen B. |last5=Accampo |first5=Elinor Ann |date=2010 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-4240-6959-0 |page=352}}</ref> He even launched an [[Ottoman invasion of Otranto|invasion of Otranto]] with the purpose of re-uniting the Empire, which was aborted by his death. In the medieval West, "Roman" came to mean the church and the Catholic Pope. The Greek form [[Romaioi]] remained attached to the Greek-speaking Christian population of the Byzantine Empire and is still used by [[Greeks]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopædia Britannica, History of Europe, The Romans |date=2008}}</ref>
The Roman Empire's control of the Italian Peninsula influenced [[Italian nationalism]] and the [[unification of Italy]] (''[[Risorgimento]]'') in 1861.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Collier |first=Martin |title=Italian Unification, 1820–71 |date=2003 |publisher=Heinemann |isbn=978-0-4353-2754-5 |page=22}}</ref>
In the United States, the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|founders]] were educated in the [[classical tradition]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Ward |chapter=United States |date=2010 |title=A Companion to the Classical Tradition |publisher=Blackwell |pages=279ff |author-link=Ward W. Briggs}}</ref> and used classical models for [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.|landmarks in Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="Meinig">{{Cite book |last=Meinig |first=D.W. |title=The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Atlantic America, 1492–1800 |date=1986 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-3000-3882-8 |volume=1 |pages=432–435}}</ref><ref name="vale">{{Cite book |last=Vale |first=Lawrence J. |title=Architecture, Power, and National Identity |date=1992 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=11, 66–67}}</ref><ref name="korn">{{Cite book |last=Kornwall |first=James D. |title=Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America |date=2011 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5986-1 |volume=3 |pages=1246, 1405–1408}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mallgrave |first=Harry Francis |title=Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673–1968 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=144–145}}; {{Harvp|Wood|2011|pp=73–74}}; {{Cite book |last1=Onuf |first1=Peter S. |chapter=Introduction |last2=Cole |first2=Nicholas P. |title=Thomas Jefferson, the Classical World, and Early America |publisher=University of Virginia Press |page=5}}; {{Cite book |last=Dietler |first=Michael |title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-5202-6551-6}}</ref> The founders saw [[Athenian democracy]] and [[Roman republic]]anism as models for the [[mixed constitution]], but regarded the emperor as a figure of tyranny.<ref>{{Harvp|Briggs|2010|pp=282–286}}; {{Harvp|Wood|2011|pp=60, 66, 73–74, 239}}</ref>
== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome|History|Europe}}
* [[Outline of ancient Rome]]
* [[List of political systems in France]]
* [[List of Roman dynasties]]
* [[Daqin]] ("Great [[Qin dynasty|Qin]]"), the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire; see also [[Sino-Roman relations]]
* [[Imperial Italy (fascist)|Imperial Italy]]
* [[Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty]]
* [[Gallo-Roman site of Sanxay]]
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}
=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Abbott |first=Frank Frost |title=A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions |date=1901 |publisher=Elibron Classics |isbn=978-0-5439-2749-1 |author-link=Frank Frost Abbott}}
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{{Refend}}
==External links==
{{Sister project links|voy=Roman Empire}}
{{Library resources box |onlinebooks=yes}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ktd1m BBC: What the Romans Did for Us]
* [https://www.topworldimages.com/images_of_Roman-Archaeological-Sites.html Roman Archaeological Sites]
* [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]
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