I.

Introduction

Ancient Rome, the homeland of Roman civilization, which, from its beginnings as a settlement of Latin peasants on the banks of the River Tiber around 1000 bc, grew to be the centre of the greatest empire of the ancient world. From about 500 to 300 bc, Roman ways quickly began to dominate the whole of Italy and the Mediterranean fringe and, from about 200 bc to the late 5th century ad, Rome controlled vast territories in Europe, Africa, and Asia. They shared a way of life that, while allowing a great many regional differences, gave to many peoples a common culture that was distinctively Roman.

The early origins of this way of life lay in the developing cultures of the Italian tribes: Etruscans, Campanians, and others developed alongside the early Romans, although their cultures came to be completely dominated by that of Rome. Many other factors, however, contributed to the Roman way of life. The influence of Greece was enormous, and many Greek styles, customs, and aspects of religion were adopted more or less consciously by the Romans; in time the Near East, as well as outlying parts of Europe, came to add its contributions to Roman life. The economic prosperity of Rome, coupled with military successes that led to the formation of the Roman Empire, created a fertile seedbed for the development of Roman culture and allowed the development of specialist artists, craftsmen, lawyers, and administrators as well as providing the financial resources to support what was, for many, a rich and diverse way of life.

Despite occasional major constitutional changes (see Kings of Rome; Roman Republic), Roman history shows a basic stability and continuity from its early days to the fall of the empire, and this slow pace of change was also important in establishing the character of the Roman way of life. Very strong regional differences persisted, in wealth, customs, and taste: the people of the empire in Greece, for example, appear at all times more sophisticated, and probably better off, than their more barbarous cousins in provinces of Gaul or Britain. All, however, lived in a world that was distinctly Roman.

II.

Roman Society

From earliest times, Roman society was divided into two main groups: the upper-class patricians, and the plebeians, who made up the rest of the population. Patrician families were grouped into clans, probably reflecting the tribal structure of their early Latin ancestors; the best-known such clan, that of the Julians, was to produce the first Imperial dynasty. Access to the more important posts in the army, the judiciary, and the administration was usually confined to the patricians or to the equestrian class who constituted the lower ranks of the aristocracy; over time, these restrictions and distinctions were gradually eroded so that public affairs, which under the early Republic tended to be the preserve of the upper classes, became by the time of the empire increasingly influenced by talented and vigorous members of lower orders, as more and more opportunities were opened up to the plebeians. Patrician birth remained an important matter of family pride, but made increasingly little difference to a career. Another important distinction was abolished in ad 212, when the emperor Caracalla extended to all inhabitants of the empire Roman citizenship, previously a cherished privilege of the people of Rome: provincials now enjoyed equal rights with the inhabitants of Rome itself.

Around the patrician and equestrian households collected a class of people referred to as clientes; clients would seek an upper-class patron, in a position of wealth or power, whom they could solicit for favours in order to secure advancement. Typically, a client would approach the patron with a request for help in securing a public appointment, or a trading concession; the patron would exert influence to help with this, but would expect the favour to be repaid at some time. The practice of the system of clientage was an important aspect of Roman private and public life. Important men collected flocks of clients, even setting aside particular hours for their reception, and a great part of Roman public and commercial affairs was transacted within the framework of this system.

Upper-class Romans cherished a strong sense of public duty: whatever his private fortune (and they could be huge), a patrician was expected to serve the res publica (literally, “the public thing”) in a civil or military capacity (and frequently in both). The young son of the governing classes embarked on the cursus honorum, a career involving progressive responsibility in a number of administrative and judicial posts. For some, the ultimate goal was the governorship of a province though, in practice, promotion could depend as much on influence as on talent. Service in the law courts and Senate was always an honourable duty, and played an important part in the public lives of a class that usually managed at the same time to see to its investments and conduct commercial enterprises.

The freeborn plebeians enjoyed legal rights and privileges, initially safeguarded on their behalf (at least in principle) by the patricians and later by their own magistrate, the tribunus plebeiorum, elected by the plebeians. A large proportion of the people of the empire, however, had few legal rights at all, for the Roman economy and way of life was founded upon slavery. Slaves of every nationality could be found in every part of the empire: they provided the workforce in mines and quarries, on large farming estates, and in industrial factories and workshops. Many, also, were household or domestic slaves; depending upon the virtues of their owners, they could be treated with brutality or as trusted servants. The more fortunate slaves were able to buy, or be given, their freedom; they joined a class of liberti, or freedmen, who shared most of the rights of the freeborn citizen (though there was often considerable prejudice against them). The children of a freedman were equal with all freeborn citizens, whereas the offspring of a slave inherited his servitude. With the shift towards political absolutism under the empire, considerable restrictions over the rights of the free poor, and even of the artisan class, developed and particularly under the later Empire when, in order to maintain essential but unattractive trades, many occupations were by law made hereditary.

III.

Towns, Cities, and Political Life

To the ancient Romans, civilized life was essentially the life of the cities. The importance of the countryside was always recognized, but usually in terms of a larder to supply the towns and cities, or as an occasional refuge from the pressures of urban life. It was in the cities, with their concentration of busy humanity, resources, and amenities, that the good life was to be lived; so great was the drift of population from the productive countryside to the often idle life of the town that the trend was to cause serious economic problems in the later Empire. Special privileges were for centuries enjoyed by the citizens of the city of Rome, who were entitled to the material benefit of the early Empire’s success in the form of free allocations of food, requisitioned from subject provinces. Eventually, however, the special status of Rome was reduced.

Rome itself was the model for all cities. Under the Republican constitution, power was vested in two elected consuls (though their appointment was later to become a prerogative of the emperor). While they remained in the city, they had enormous civil power, all other magistrates except the plebeian tribunes being under their control. In practice, the consuls became increasingly preoccupied with the direction of interminable foreign wars. The internal affairs of Rome, including the provision of police and fire brigade, the supervision of markets, aqueducts, and drains, and the administration of the courts, were controlled by a complex hierarchy of magistrates, including praetors, quaestors, censors, and aediles. The most venerable body in the constitution of Rome was the Senate, an assembly of citizens that, though without the power to make new laws, was responsible for foreign affairs, the public revenue, and the administration of the state religion.

Roman towns were planned, usually around a central forum, or market place; the straight streets were laid out in a grid pattern of right angles, within which private and public buildings were mingled. Urban housing ran the full gamut from luxury to squalor, the town houses of the rich representing great comfort and, often, considerable artistic taste. The best-known, and best-preserved, examples are at Pompeii in the Bay of Naples, where the typical upper-class house consisted of many rooms, usually arranged around an atrium, a hall or court that was open to the sky. Internal walls were decorated with colourful frescos and mosaic pavements decorated the floors of important rooms. Some houses had private bath-suites attached to them; these and some other rooms were heated by the underfloor hypocaust system. Gardens tended to be formal, with beds and hedges geometrically arranged, and much use was made of statuary and other ornament (see History of Gardening).

Lower in society, housing was much meaner, but less is known of the dwellings of the poor than of the grand residences of the rich. Much of a Roman town was occupied by small shops and workshops, with the family living on the premises (often at the rear of the shop): these houses were simple, and probably possessed few amenities. Many Roman townspeople (and probably most of the poorest classes), however, lived in tenements in large blocks that were built and owned as investments by speculative landlords. Life in these apartments was often squalid and overcrowded; buildings were often unsafe, and fire a constant hazard.

The glories of the Roman towns were their public buildings, which were built with funds raised from taxation, or obtained through subscription or, often, erected as the gifts of particularly prominent or wealthy citizens. Often monumental in scale, many of these buildings survive in every part of the empire and are still impressive 2,000 years after being built. The Forum (market place) in Rome, surrounded by the Seven Hills, was the heart of the city, being the centre of government, religion, commerce, and civic life. Among the buildings and monuments that it contained were the Senate House and Comitium (where assemblies were held), statues, altars, arches, and other monuments, including Trajan’s Column. This nucleus was bordered by shops. Beyond stood other public buildings, among them the Colosseum, the Pantheon, public baths (the most notable of which are the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian), triumphal arches, and other monuments to Roman military prowess.

So important were the civic amenities of town life that newly founded towns in territories recently conquered were quickly supplied with temples, baths, theatres, and fora (market places) to encourage the rapid adoption of Roman life. A reasonably prosperous town would be embellished with statues, fountains, and memorials. Major important public buildings would include temples and shrines (dedicated to a variety of local cults as well as to the gods of the official Roman pantheon); aqueducts and bathhouses; a theatre and amphitheatre; and the official courtrooms and council chambers along the sides of the forum. Libraries, colleges, and schools were found in many towns: the emperor Augustus established a great university in Bibracte (in central Gaul) to overshadow a traditional native seat of learning and to act as a focus for the Romanization of this newly acquired region.

Not all Roman towns were of the same status. Rome was the centre of the world, towards which all Romans looked (though in time it was to become less important than Constantinople). Below this was a series of coloniae (colonies): these cities had in early times a special status, for all of their inhabitants were Roman citizens. During the period of the rapid expansion of the Roman world, coloniae were conceived as small copies of Rome itself. Other towns and cities were provincial or regional capitals, or simply part of the extensive network of market towns, or municipiae. All were governed by councils elected from the local population.

IV.

Life in the Countryside

The concentrated population of the towns relied for its food on the farms and estates of the countryside. The vast territories of Rome encompassed every type of land and climate, and agricultural practice was adapted according to local conditions and traditions. The most important Roman introduction in the countryside was the villa estate, a highly efficient unit of production that usually practised mixed agriculture but could, in some areas, be entirely devoted to the specialist production of a single commodity such as oil or wine. Large areas of countryside were organized around villa estates, often run by the labour of slaves, and often owned as investments by absentee landlords.

The villa represented the Roman countryside at its most organized, and in some areas left little room for other types of settlement. Elsewhere, however, villas were scarce, and the countryside was populated by the small settlements and farmsteads of the local, Romanized, people. Some land was reorganized on a grand scale: the draining of the marshes of eastern England, and their conversion into very productive farmland, was an operation on such a scale that it appears to have been organized by government. In places, the life of the peasants was relatively unchanged by the fact of Roman rule, as they continued to cultivate their fields and keep their flocks much in the manner of their ancestors. New markets and better communications, however, allowed many peasants to enjoy much greater prosperity than in earlier periods. On the other hand, taxes had to be paid, and the country people had to support a growing urban population as well as a huge army and an increasingly large bureaucracy.

V.

Family Life

The family was the essential and irreducible basis of Roman life. Within the family, authority rested with the paterfamilias, the male head of the family, whose power in early days was absolute, extending even to the life and death of family members. Over time these powers became somewhat restricted, but a father continued to arrange the marriages of his children, and to keep his adult sons (unable to own property of their own) and daughters in a state of financial dependence. Within the household, he acted as priest in the devotions due to the domestic gods. The actual influence of wives and mothers varied from one household to another (and Roman history is not lacking in strong and wilful women), but legally their rights were few and they were at all times subject to the dominion of husbands and fathers.

Early marriage was the norm, particularly for women. Girls could be married at the age of 12, and were commonly engaged when as young as 7. With people so young, the legal requirement under the later Republic that a girl should consent to her father’s choice of a husband can have offered little protection, particularly since the grounds for refusal were very limited. On the occasion of her marriage, a girl dedicated her childhood dress and toys to the family gods, and joined the household of her husband; she remained, however, subject to her father’s authority. Boys were commonly married between the ages of 15 and 18 (again, usually at the behest of their father), and could come of age at any time after reaching 14: the ceremony, which involved the adoption of adult dress and registration as a full citizen, often took place on March 17, the festival of Liber and Libera, gods particularly associated with fertility.

In many Roman households, children were brought up largely by the domestic slaves, who were also responsible for their earliest education. A father would often act as tutor to his own sons (girls generally being considered not worth educating), concentrating at first on the proper learning of Latin (which was, to many Roman citizens under the empire, a foreign language). Professional tutors became increasingly common in upper-class households from the late Republic onward: often of Greek origin, they taught Latin and Greek grammar and the liberal arts of rhetoric and philosophy (although some conservatives regarded such learning as effete and un-Roman). By the 1st century ad private schools had become more usual than domestic tutors: their quality varied, but flogging seems usually to have been the main educational technique. Major towns often provided some public support for education, by providing a basic stipend for a grammaticus, or master, to establish a school. Higher education was rarely provided: there were medical colleges (mostly in Greece), and the study of law was of importance, though usually managed by a form of pupillage, by which a youth was attached to a practising lawyer.

VI.

The Roman Day

The Roman day began early, soon after daybreak. Breakfast, the ientaculum, was a very light meal and the business of the day began immediately afterwards. These early hours were the time for clients to visit their patrons, and for the transaction of private affairs and the paying of social and dutiful calls. The law courts and the Senate also began their business early in the day, and continued in session until the afternoon. By midday the first substantial meal of the day, prandium or luncheon, was no doubt very welcome. In early days this was the main meal of the day, but gradually the evening cena, or dinner, became more important. The prandium was a meal taken privately, usually within the household; it could be a very light meal, and guests were not normally invited. After luncheon, it was customary to take a short sleep; this was particularly important during the summer months, but might be dispensed with during the shorter and cooler winter days. All work ceased during the siesta; even troops on active service took this rest whenever possible.

The period after the siesta was the usual time for a visit to the gymnasium and the baths. The public baths were a distinctive and essential feature of Roman life, the centre of much social activity as well as of physical recreation. All social classes enjoyed the amenities of the thermae, which were often very luxurious, or of the balneae, a slightly inferior class of establishment. At the end of the 1st century bc there were already 170 bathhouses in the city of Rome; by the late Empire the number had risen to some 900. Most baths, in Rome and elsewhere, were run as commercial enterprises, though an endowment to subsidize a particularly fine set of baths was an honourable bequest to be made by a successful citizen. Bathing was segregated by sexes, women being provided either with a duplicate set of rooms or, in smaller establishments, with particular hours set aside for their use. Around some of the lower class of baths, however, hung a reputation for vice, and it is probable that some were used as centres of prostitution and other socially proscribed activities.

The usual prelude to bathing was the taking of exercise in a hall (the palaestra) designed for that purpose; wrestling, running, and ball games are all recorded, and the exercise hall was usually equipped with a swimming bath. After this, the bather proceeded through a series of hot and cold baths (the actual sequence varied), including a fiercely hot steam-room (the caldarium). Soap was not used: instead, the bather was rubbed with oil (sometimes perfumed) that was then scraped off with a blunt, knife-like object (the strigil), removing dirt in the process. Bath attendants were on hand to help with these procedures, to instruct in exercise, and to provide massage and other services. It was usual for the better off to arrive at the baths accompanied by their own slaves. The session ended with a rub-down and relaxation; before beards became fashionable in the 2nd century ad, this may have been the occasion for shaving.

After the baths came dinner, the main meal and the main social occasion of the day. It is certainly true that, in some rich households in Rome, especially under the early Empire, dinner parties could be vulgar displays of wealth, characterized by debauchery and bad behaviour. Such affairs should not, however, be taken as normal, and it should be remembered that some of the more repellent accounts of Roman dinners were intended as satire. A quiet meal with friends was much more usual, although dinner was at all times an important occasion, and the virtues of hospitality greatly prized. A full dinner party numbered nine, diners reclining on the three couches that made up the triclinium of the traditional Roman dining room. Entertainment—music, poetry, or conjuring tricks—was often provided during the meal but conversation was highly valued, and an interesting mixture of guests would be arranged by a careful host.

The Romans were very interested in food, and the rich and educated classes took a close interest in sauces and wines. There are numerous examples of fortunes lavished on the pleasures of the table; the provision of luxurious meals was a perfect opportunity for social competition. Various laws passed under the Republic, designed to limit the sum that could be spent on a meal and even to prohibit particularly extravagant delicacies, had little effect. A formal dinner comprised three courses: the gustatio, a spread of vegetables, olives, and small, tasty dishes; the cena proper, of meats, fish, and vegetables; and the bellaria, a dessert of fruit. The quantities consumed tended to be large, and dishes were often very rich. Much Roman food was flavoured with garum or liquamen, sauces made from fermented fish, and combinations of meat and sweet fruits or honey were common. Fish was particularly appreciated, sea fish being a prized delicacy in an inland city such as Rome. Wine was drunk, and a certain amount of snobbery attached to the appreciation of particular vintages (Falernian being the wine most esteemed). Wine was usually drunk in the Greek manner, mixed with water, but the more hardened drinkers preferred it neat. A dinner might last as long as the wine and the conversation held out, but excessively late hours were generally frowned upon.

The guests at a dinner party wore a form of evening dress, consisting of a tunic and a short cloak, both of the same colour. The tunic and cloak, worn with leggings in the winter, constituted the usual dress of most Romans (and were even worn by some women); for the poorer classes, for tradesmen and artisans, and for soldiers this style was universal, and it was also the informal attire of the upper classes. For formal occasions, however, the richer and more important citizens continued for centuries to wear the toga, a voluminous garment of woollen cloth, made in the shape of a great semicircle and draped around the body in an elaborate fashion. Of very ancient Latin origin, the toga was not a particularly practical garment: it restricted movement, must have been uncomfortably hot in summer, and was probably inadequately warm in winter. It was, nevertheless, the mark of a Roman, and it would have been unthinkable to transact any formal business when dressed in any other way. Social ranks were indicated by the design of the garment: a narrow stripe along the hem (the toga angusticlavius) denoted a person of equestrian rank, while the senatorial classes were distinguished by a broad stripe (the toga laticlavius). The emperor’s toga had a purple stripe.

VII.

Holidays and Leisure

In the Roman world, before the adoption of Christianity, a considerable degree of religious toleration was the norm and a wide range of cults was followed, many of them having Oriental origins. By the 3rd century ad, a number of religions had become very influential, having in common an element of secrecy and a series of rituals of initiation; these cults of Isis, Osiris, and Mithras existed alongside more traditional forms of Roman worship as well as, in the provinces, surviving elements of old native religions. At its most basic level, however, religion was a household affair, each family having its own domestic gods, the lares, whose rites were celebrated under the supervision of the family head. This was a very ancient branch of the Roman religion, and was closely associated with the official state worship of the Capitoline gods at the head of whom was Jupiter, in a sense the paterfamilias of the whole Roman nation. The derivation of the Capitoline pantheon from the gods of ancient Greece is obvious, and much of the mythology and ritual of Rome was of Greek origin (see Greek Mythology; Roman Mythology). The Romans were, generally, a pious people; they were also superstitious, and much addicted to spells, charms, and magical incantations to protect them from evil.

The Roman calendar included a large number of festival days, many of them (at least in origin) of religious significance. Most of these holidays were of ancient origin, recalling the cycles of the agricultural year that had been so important to the Roman ancestors. As well as particular religious observances prescribed for each holiday were public games and entertainments, which gradually came to overshadow the original significance of the festivals. Perhaps the most popular holiday was the festival of Saturnalia, dedicated to Saturn and held in the month of December. This was an occasion for celebration and for feasting and drinking that often reached excess; public business was suspended, masters waited upon their slaves, and the world was turned upside down. As well as the regular fixed festivals, additional holidays were often voted by the Senate (or, later, decreed by the emperor) to celebrate particular events. These occasional holidays included the triumphs which were sometimes awarded to victorious generals, and which included a processional pageant and public games.

The Romans were very fond of the games, which became increasingly extravagant and costly affairs, not just in Rome but in a host of provincial arenas and amphitheatres. At the beginning of the 1st century bc, 57 days in the year (including almost all of April) were dedicated to games. The entertainment offered during these festivals was very varied, including theatrical performances, chariot races, and military exercises. Chariot races, in particular, became extremely popular: by the time of the late Empire, when political activity was for most people both dangerous and futile, it was replaced by a deep rivalry based on the support of different chariot-racing teams. Gladiatorial contests and the associated wild beast hunts became also very popular (though they were not, strictly speaking, part of the official games): by the late 1st century ad they had become almost a national obsession. At the opening of the Colosseum in ad 80, 100 days of entertainment involved the slaughter of 11,000 wild beasts and contests between 10,000 gladiators (though one might suspect the figures of being exaggerated, the huge scale of the Colosseum arena speaks for itself). Huge sums of money were expended on games (usually in attempts to win the political support of the populace), and gladiatorial contests were in particular often condemned as both hideously cruel and absurdly wasteful; they continued, however, long after the official adoption of Christianity, the last recorded fight being in ad 392.

VIII.

Science and Engineering

Generally speaking, the Romans showed little interest in the natural world, and Roman science was a poor mixture of legend and superstition. Some progress was made in understanding the human body and developing the science of medicine, but this study was almost entirely the achievement of Greeks; otherwise, informed interest in science was confined to the fields of civil and military engineering, at both of which the Romans excelled.

Roman towns were extremely well served by public utilities: for example, until modern times, no towns and cities enjoyed such a reliable and (generally) clean water supply as did Rome, which was supplied by 14 aqueducts running a total length of 426 km (265 miles). In the provinces, too, the practical genius of Roman engineers has left lasting traces: the Pont du Gard, the great three-tiered bridge that carries an aqueduct over the valley of the Gard, near Nîmes, is a wonder of the ancient world. Towns were supplied with efficient sewers and drains; the roads were well made and dry; elements of this infrastructure are still in use today in certain parts of what was once the Roman Empire. Roman builders and engineers were efficient: they built on a grand scale, they built to impress, and they built to last. The monumental scale of many Roman buildings was possible because of Roman innovations in building technique, particularly the invention of poured concrete and of a round-headed arch that could be used to span considerable spaces. The first use of a weight-bearing iron girder was in the Baths of Caracalla, in Rome; waterproof materials were developed to line aqueducts and cisterns; and such sophisticated principles as the cantilever were on occasion employed.

IX.

The Visual and Literary Arts

The essential characteristics of Roman architecture are an assertive solidity and assured grandeur. It was originally derived from the styles of Greece, and influenced by Africa and the East, though much of it is often over-ornamented with elaborate and irrelevant detail. Classical Roman architecture is at its best when plain and monumental (as can be seen in some of the surviving buildings of Rome itself); borrowed Greek taste is often less convincing. A particularly Roman building form that was to become very important, influencing styles in many provinces long after the end of Roman rule, was the basilica, a relatively plain, aisled building as well adapted to meet the needs of a medieval church as it was to serve those of a Roman town council.

In the other visual arts, Roman taste is often at odds with modern sensitivities. The Roman world was colourful: surfaces were plastered and painted, often in vivid colours, and the overall effect can be overpowering. Surviving buildings at Pompeii show the lavish use of fresco painting, which must have been general all over the empire. Greatly accomplished was the art of the mosaic pavement, many of which are strikingly attractive and even witty (as those designed to resemble an unswept floor, littered with pieces of rubbish). Roman sculpture began by imitating that of Greece, and was not always successful. Perhaps most convincing are the minor portrait busts of individual citizens, often made for funerary purposes; these still gaze out at the world with an air of hardbitten virtue, and appear to be realistic portraits of Roman personalities.

Roman literature was written as often in Greek as it was in Latin, the Greek tongue being favoured by many men of learning. Roman Greek was not always well-written Greek, and it is in the Latin literature that some of the real glories of Roman letters may be found. The finest period is perhaps that of the last days of the Republic and the beginning of the empire, an epoch that produced Virgil‘s epic mythology of Rome’s origins; the forensic genius of Cicero‘s political and legal speeches; the agonized love-lyrics of Catullus; and the beginnings of historical writing in the works of Livy, Tacitus, and Suetonius. Literacy was widespread (as is shown by the innumerable graffiti on walls and everyday objects), and the literature of Rome was widely enjoyed. The art of oratory was also, at one time, much esteemed, and was seen as valuable training for the Senate and the law courts; as power became increasingly centralized under the empire persuasive and elegant public speaking became irrelevant, and the oratorial art declined. It is the literature of ancient Rome that has proved perhaps its most enduring legacy, lying at the root of a continuing tradition that kept literacy and learning alive through the Dark Ages and ensured that political, legal, and philosophical thought would always be influenced by the world of Rome.