The Romans New Perspectives

The Romans
New Perspectives
ABC-CLIO’s
Understanding Ancient Civilizations
The Ancient Maya

The Ancient Greeks
Ancient Canaan and Israel
The Aztecs
The Romans
Forthcoming
The Ancient Celts
The Ancient Egyptians
Ancient Mesopotamia
The Incas
The
ROMANS
New Perspectives
KEVIN M. M C GEOUGH
Santa Barbara, California

Denver, Colorado Oxford, England
Copyright © 2004 by Kevin M. McGeough
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a
review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McGeough, Kevin M.
The Romans : new perspectives / Kevin McGeough.
p. cm. — (Understanding ancient civilizations)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-85109-583-7 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-85109-588-8 (e-book)
1. Rome—Civilization. I. Title. II. Series.
DG77.M4 2004
937—dc22
2004020737
08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an e-book.

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Dedicated to my parents
Contents
Series Editor’s Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii
Maps xiv
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 Introduction 3
Why Are We Fascinated by the Romans? 3
A Note about the Dates Used in This Book 8
How Do We Know about the Romans? 8
Sources of Information on the Romans 9
Universities and Research Programs 13
PART 2: ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Chapter 2 Location of Roman Civilization and Environmental Setting 19

Location of Rome 20
General Natural and Cultural Subdivisions 22
Environmental Transformations 29
Chapter 3 Historical and Chronological Setting 32

History of Research 32
Roman Chronology 45
Literary or Folkloric Evidence of Use for Interpretation of
Roman Civilization 48
Chapter 4 Origins, Growth, and Decline of Roman Civilization 53

Origins and Early Development of Rome 54
The Roman Republic 59
The Roman Empire 78
Chapter 5 Economics 97
Agriculture and Subsistence Activities 97
Craft Specialization and Production 101
vii
viii Contents
Trade 105
Coins and Money 108
Business and Investment 111
Taxation 114
Transportation 115
Chapter 6 Social Organization and Social Structure 121

Internal Organization of Roman Civilization 121
Roman Population 129
Marriage and the Family 132
Social Stratification in Rome 137
Slavery 141
Women in Ancient Rome 144
Chapter 7 Politics 153

Monarchical Government 153
Republican Government 156
Imperial Government 162
The Administration of Empire 164
Military Organization 166
Roman Warfare 170
Chapter 8 Religion and Ideology 178

Origins of Roman Religion 178
Domestic Religion 181
The Roman Pantheon 184
The State Cult 192
Roman Rituals and Festivals 196
The Cult of the Emperor 198
Roman Religious Architecture 199
Roman Death and Burial 200
Chapter 9 Material Culture 207

Architectural Achievements 207
Urban Planning 227
Pottery 229
Roman Art 233
Artifacts from Daily Life 238
Chapter 10 Intellectual Accomplishments 248

Roman Science 248
Roman Philosophy 256
Roman Law 261
Literature 265
Education 269
The Art of Leisure 271
Languages 277
Contents ix
PART 3: CURRENT ASSESSMENTS
Chapter 11 Major Controversies and Future Directions in the Study of

Roman Civilization 287
Controversies in Roman Scholarship 287
Avenues for Future Research 304
Glossary 307
Chronology 333
Sources for Further Study 339
Index 367
About the Author 381
Series Editor’s Preface
In recent years, there has been a significant and steady increase of academic
and popular interest in the study of past civilizations. This is due in part to the
dramatic coverage—real or imagined—of the archaeological profession in pop-
ular film and television, and to the extensive journalistic reporting of spectac-
ular new finds from all parts of the world. Yet, because archaeologists and
other scholars have tended to approach their study of ancient peoples and civ-
ilizations exclusively from their own disciplinary perspectives and for their
professional colleagues, there has long been a lack of general factual and other
research resources available for the nonspecialist. The Handbooks to Ancient
Civilizations series is intended to fill that need.
Volumes in the series are principally designed to introduce the general
reader, student, and nonspecialist to the study of specific ancient civilizations.
Each volume is devoted to a particular archaeological culture (for example, the
ancient Maya of southern Mexico and adjacent Guatemala) or cultural region
(for example, Israel and Canaan) and seeks to achieve, with careful selectivity
and astute critical assessment of the literature, an expression of a particular civ-
ilization and an appreciation of its achievements.
The keynote of the Understanding Ancient Civilizations series is to provide,
in a uniform format, an interpretation of each civilization that will express its
culture and place in the world as well as the qualities and background that
make it unique. Series titles include volumes on the archaeology and pre-
history of the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia,
as well as the achievements of the Celts, Aztecs, and Inca, among others. Still
more books are in the planning stage.
I was particularly fortunate in having Kevin Downing from ABC-CLIO con-
tact me in search of an editor for a series about archaeology. It is a simple
statement of the truth that there would be no series without him. I am also
lucky to have Simon Mason, Kevin’s successor from ABC-CLIO, continue to
push the production of the series. Given the scale of the project and the sched-
ule for production, he deserves more than a sincere thank you.
JOHN WEEKS
xi
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank everyone at ABC-CLIO for their help in preparing this
manuscript; it could certainly not have been accomplished without the help of
the entire team. Scott Horst and Giulia Rossi have done an excellent job in
preparing the illustrations. Cisca Schreefel did a wonderful job catching mis-
takes big and small. Gina Zondorak has also been helpful in the editing
process. Martha Whitt has gone out of her way to facilitate the transformation
of an error-ridden manuscript into a book. During the writing stage Simon
Mason provided critical feedback and support; many thanks are due him.
Many others at ABC-CLIO whom I did not have direct contact with have also
helped and they are just as deserving of thanks. Finally, John Weeks must be
thanked for suggesting this project in the first place and recommending me to
ABC-CLIO.
On a personal level, this book could not have been written without the help
and support of my family and friends. My parents have been generous in their
support as has been my sister. Matthew Rutz, Spencer Allen, Benjamin Porter,
and Jennifer Jacobs acted as valuable sounding boards throughout the writing
of the manuscript. Jeremiah Peterson provided both assistance and access to
his substantial personal library. Theresa Musacchio gave generously of her
time, especially assisting with technical matters, and Prescott was always there
to keep me company. Thanks go to all of them.
Kevin M. McGeough
xiii
Italy, ca. 600 B.C. © ABC-CLIO, Inc.
Growth of the Roman Republic, 509–133 B.C. © ABC-CLIO, Inc.
The Roman Empire at its height, A.D. 117. © ABC-CLIO, Inc.
Division of the Roman Empire, East and West, third century A.D. © ABC-CLIO, Inc.
PART 1
Introduction
I CHAPTER 1
Introduction
WHY ARE WE FASCINATED BY THE ROMANS?

Something about Roman civilization still captivates people today. North
Americans and Europeans frequently encounter images of ancient Rome or
images derived from Roman times. Everybody knows what a gladiator is and
most people can recognize Roman images without having had formal educa-
tion on the topic. Most people know that Julius Caesar was a famous Roman
leader, even if they do not know much about Roman history per se. As any
History Channel viewer could attest, documentaries abound on the subject of
Rome. Likewise, movies about Rome have been popular since the days of the
silent film. The success of the recent film Gladiator is further proof that films
about the Roman era still appeal to a broad audience. There is probably no sin-
gle reason that Roman civilization has remained a popular topic, but it is
worth identifying the aspects of Roman civilization that have seemed relevant
in modern times.
The Ben Hur chariot race re-created in a nineteenth-century print. (Library of Congress)
3
4 THE ROMANS
The crowd gives “thumbs down” to a defeated gladiator in the Colosseum, Rome. Engraving af-
ter a nineteenth-century French painting. (Library of Congress)
One of the more intangible aspects of Rome that intrigues modern people is
the idea of Roman excess. Roman civilization was generally a very conserva-
tive and moderate society. But popular imagination has created a Rome of bru-
tal violence, lewd sexual activity, and an unquenchable appetite for luxury.
There is, of course, some truth in these characterizations, even though the Ro-
mans were not really as shocking as some sources suggest. But certainly some
aspects of Roman life are very prominent in popular culture. Gladiatorial com-
bat and violent entertainment are of huge interest. Many modern cultural crit-
ics have drawn parallels between Roman blood sports and modern sports like
boxing and wrestling. But such parallels are overstatements, because killing
people as an entertainment spectacle is not acceptable in modern culture. Yet
there is something fascinating about the idea of killing for entertainment that
viscerally affects people today. Likewise, stories of the emperors (often based
on uncritical reading of only mildly “historical” accounts) have misled mod-
Introduction 5
Thomas Couture, Romans of the Decadence, 1847. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Re-
source, NY)
ern audiences about the reality of Roman civic virtues. Perhaps the most ex-
treme example of this is the motion picture Caligula, which portrays Roman so-
ciety as less chaste than Roman moralists would have us believe, based on un-
critical readings of the author Suetonius.
On a less popular level, the study of Rome is interesting for what it can reveal
about the roots of modern institutions. Many aspects of modern everyday life
originated in Roman times. For example, the names of the months and days are
based on Roman designations. In fact, the modern calendar is based on the Ro-
man calendar, although it has undergone significant changes. The names of the
planets are derived from the names of Roman gods. Arches and concrete—tech-
nologies perfected by the Romans—are still found in buildings today. Also,
many Catholic readers may well be shocked to see the pre-Christian origins of
some of the officers of the papacy.
That leads to another area of relevance of Roman times in the present: Chris-
tianity originated in Roman times. Although it developed from older Jewish
traditions, early Christianity should be understood within its Roman context.
The traditions of Jesus and all of the writings of the New Testament can be
firmly dated to the Roman period. A good understanding of Roman civiliza-
tion can help Christians understand more about their traditions and better un-
derstand the writings and concerns of the people who played formative roles
in early Christianity. Likewise, Judaism was fundamentally transformed by its
encounter with Roman civilization. Indeed, many aspects of modern Judaism
The Connecticut Avenue bridge in Washington, D.C., utilizes concrete and round arches, both of
which were pioneered in Roman architecture. (Library of Congress)
The Los Angeles Coliseum evokes comparisons with the design of the Roman amphitheater and
the circus (hippodrome). (Douglas Slone/Corbis)
A re-creation of entertainment taking place in the Circus Maximus, Rome. (Pixel That)
Tourists look at the fragmented colossal statue of the Emperor Constantine, in the Capitoline
Museum, Rome. (Benjamin Rondel/Corbis)
8 THE ROMANS
can be said to have originated in Roman times. The study of Roman-period Ju-
daism and Christianity is itself a discipline, so this book will not provide ex-
tensive detail on that topic. However, to understand early Christianity and
Second Temple–period Judaism, a strong understanding of Roman civilization
is essential.
Another aspect of modern life that has been fundamentally influenced by
Roman times is language. Latin is the basis of the Romance languages and is a
distant relative of English and German. Until the 1970s, the study of Latin was
an important part of any education. More than just helpful for comprehending
Latin literature, the study of Latin can provide a better understanding of mod-
ern language. Because language is the fundamental orienting principle for the
way people think about and understand the world, a better understanding of
language can help us to better understand ourselves.
A NOTE ABOUT THE DATES USED IN THIS BOOK

The dates used in this book might appear strange at first. B.C.E. and C.E., rather
than B.C. or A.D., are used throughout. For practical purposes, B.C.E. is exactly
equivalent to B.C., and C.E. is exactly the same as A.D. But from a theological
perspective, the distinction is very important, although it is not something that
most readers would consider. Because the term A.D. is an abbreviation for the
expression anno Domini, which is essentially a profession of Christian faith, the
use of B.C. and A.D. can, although usually unintentionally, exclude non-Chris-
tians. So, although Roman studies more commonly use B.C. and A.D., there is a
general movement away from that terminology in archaeology. On a less polit-
ically correct note, most readers are aware that the abbreviation “c.” or “ca.”
stands for the Latin circa “about.” Circa means that the exact date is not known,
but a fairly accurate approximation can be made.
HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE ROMANS?

On a very basic level, it is important to recognize the sources for what is
known about the Romans. Modern scholars are extremely lucky because a
huge amount of data is available for the study of ancient Rome, arguably more
than for any other ancient civilization. We never forgot the Romans; this civi-
lization has always been part of the cultural memory. Unlike Mesopotamia,
which disappeared from popular consciousness for centuries, Roman civiliza-
tion has continued to play a primary role in Western intellectual traditions.
Partly because of this, and partly because of the nature of Roman remains,
modern scholars have three major kinds of sources for the study of Roman civ-
ilization: textual, archaeological, and art-historical. This book uses all three
types of data to present a broad overview of Roman civilization.
Roman-period literature has provided one of the most important sources of
information for the study of Roman civilization. Although countless volumes
of Roman literature have not been preserved, a substantial amount of pre-
served documents still survives. The importance of these documents in me-
Introduction 9
dieval Islam and Renaissance Europe guaranteed their preservation in one

form or another. A variety of types of Roman literature exist, mostly in Latin or
Greek. Among these are historical writings, literary writings, religious writ-
ings, treatises on science and philosophy, and many other types of writing. All
of these sources can and have been used by scholars to reconstruct Roman civ-
ilization and preserve its traditions. Most of the existing copies of this litera-
ture come from hand-copied documents that date to periods after Roman civi-
lization had waned. But occasionally ancient editions of these texts can be
found. One of the most notable caches of ancient texts was discovered in 1752
in Herculaneum. But this is unusual because the materials the Romans used
for writing did not preserve well in the Italian climate due to the combination
of heat and humidity.
A more recent development in the study of Roman civilization is the use of
archaeological materials. Information gained from archaeological excavations
is substantially different from the kind of information that can be gleaned from
ancient writings. Roman archaeology is a well-established discipline, and
much has been learned from the excavation of Roman sites throughout the
Mediterranean region.
Related to the archaeological evidence (although it should be distinguished
from it) is the art-historical evidence. Techniques for the study of art have been
successfully employed in the study of Roman civilization. The focus of art his-
tory is different from that of archaeology, even though both kinds of evidence
are artifactual. Although different methods and tools of interpretation have
been employed in researching ancient Rome and Roman art, the knowledge
that has been gained through the various methods is an important component
of the study of ancient Rome.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE ROMANS

The centuries of research on Roman civilization have created a vast amount of
scholarly tools and secondary literature. This huge body of work can be quite
intimidating at first, so this book provides a map of sorts to Roman scholarly
materials. What follows here is a guide to the major tools used by Roman stud-
ies scholars in their research. At the end of this volume is an annotated list of
some of the major English-language treatments of Roman topics. The bibliogra-
phy at the end of each chapter should also be considered. These works are not
usually directly referenced in the body of the chapters, but it is important to be
aware of the sources used for the information presented. Scholarship is a con-
tinuous process of building on what has been done before. This book should be
used as a reference tool for Roman scholarship. No claims are made concerning
the originality of this work, so I want to acknowledge the sources used and the
much greater contribution they have made to the field by having provided new
ideas and analyses. The ideas in this book are mostly not original; rather, they
reflect an understanding of the centuries of previous scholarship on this topic.
One last warning before you begin: None of these lists should be considered
complete, but they will provide enough information for getting started.
10 THE ROMANS
Journals
Many scholarly journals are dedicated to the study of Roman civilization.
Most of these journals presuppose that the reader already has a fairly strong
knowledge of Rome, and the articles are geared toward a scholarly audience.
That should not cause the reader to become intimidated. After getting used to
scholarly styles of writing, readers will find that the articles are not that diffi-
cult after all. Journals intended for popular audiences are also very important,
even to professional archaeologists. What makes popular journals so impor-
tant is that frequently these forums are the first places where new research and
excavations are published. It is important to read them to keep up-to-date.
The following is a presentation of some of the more prominent (and mostly En-
glish-language) journals, but this list is by no means exhaustive. The best way
to discover new journals and to get a taste for what they have to offer is to
check the bibliographies of books and articles.
There is a long tradition of journal publication among the various national
schools in Rome (see chapter 3 for the history of research in the field). These
schools publish various journals, collections, and monographs and are impor-
tant sources of information on current research projects. The American Acad-
emy in Rome publishes Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. The British
School publishes Papers of the British School at Rome. Both of these publications
are written primarily in English. French-language resources include the French
School’s Bibliothèque des écoles français d’Athènes et de Rome and Mélanges de
l’École français de Rome, Antiquité. The German School’s Mitteilungen des
Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung is an important German-
language resource.
Many universities publish their own journals devoted to Roman or classical
studies. In the United States, Yale Classical Studies and Harvard Studies in Classi-
cal Philology are published by Yale and Harvard respectively. The Johns Hop-
kins University Press publishes the American Journal of Philology. California
Studies in Classical Antiquity, published by University of California Press, is
useful as well. In the United Kingdom, prominent university-based journals
include Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society and the Oxford Journal of
Archaeology, although neither is devoted entirely to Roman matters.
A number of journals are devoted solely to scholarship on Rome. For gen-
eral articles as well as useful book reviews, look to the Journal of Roman Studies.
More specifically related to archaeological matters is the Journal of Roman Ar-
chaeology, published annually. For those specifically interested in ceramics, the
Journal of Roman Pottery Studies will be important. The Numismatic Chronicle
and the American Journal of Numismatics are geared toward the study of coins,
but not exclusively Roman coins.
More common are journals devoted to classical studies in general. These
publications typically concentrate on Greek and Roman subject matter, but
many also include studies on other aspects of the ancient world or on the com-
munities that used the Latin language. A host of publications that contain the
word “classical” in their title are available, including Bulletin of the Institute of
Classical Studies, Classical Bulletin, Classical Folia, Classical Journal, Classical
Introduction 11
Philology, Classical Quarterly, Classical Review, Classical World, New England Clas-
sical Journal, and Acta Classica, to name a few. Other important resources in-
clude Ancient History Bulletin, Antiquities Journal, and Transactions of the Ameri-
can Philological Association. Important journals that deal with the study of the
past in general and frequently feature important works on Roman civilization
include American Journal of Archaeology and Past and Present.
Popular periodicals devoted to the study of the ancient world are numerous.
Perhaps the most prominent popular publication, occasionally presenting Ro-
man materials, is National Geographic. The magazine Archaeology is widely
available and frequently publishes articles relating to Roman archaeology. Ar-
chaeology Odyssey is a similar publication but is less readily available. Both Near
Eastern Archaeology and Biblical Archaeology Review concentrate on the Near
East but frequently publish articles on Roman-period materials. The Italian
ROMArcheologica is a prominent publication, and even if one does not read
Italian, the photographs are well worth perusing.
Electronic journals are becoming more common in Roman studies and will
doubtless only increase in popularity. The Bryn Mawr Classical Review is a free
journal located at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr. Other E-journals include
ARACHNION: A Journal of Ancient Literature and History on the Web, Classics Ire-
land, Cultures and Classics, Electronic Antiquity: Communicating the Classics, Scho-
lia, and The Stoa. Most of these journals can be found by typing the title into a
search engine like Google or Yahoo!. One warning, however: a slow Internet
connection can make downloading E-journals quite frustrating.
Reference Books
Two of the most common formats for reference works on Rome and the classi-
cal world are a dictionary and an encyclopedia. These types of books provide
alphabetic listings on various topics. Arguably the most prominent English-
language book of this type is The Oxford Classical Dictionary (1996), edited by
Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, now in its third edition. By the
same editors is The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (1998), which pro-
vides encyclopedia-length entries on most facets of Greek and Roman life.
Also by Oxford is The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (1989) and the
smaller (but much more affordable) Oxford Concise Companion to Classical Liter-
ature (1996). Available for a very low price is The Wordsworth Classical Dictio-
nary (1996), reprinted from the 1852 dictionary compiled by William Smith. Al-
though outdated, this book is an unbelievable bargain, and for the most part, it
is still useful for quick reference. An extremely useful German-language refer-
ence tool is Paulys Realencyclopaedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. An En-
glish-language edition is currently in preparation (only the first volume is
available), titled Brill’s New Pauly Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. For the
study of Roman religion, Adkins and Adkins’ Dictionary of Roman Religion
(1996) is useful and available at most bookstores.
Reference books are available in other formats as well, but only two of them
are cited here; other good titles are cited in the guide to further reading located
at the end of this book. For history, there is no better source than The Cambridge
Ancient History. Another fundamental tool for students is the three-volume se-
12 THE ROMANS
ries Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome, edited by Michael
Grant and Rachel Kitzinger.
More specialized reference works on a number of topics are available. Per-
haps the most important work for the study of Rome is the Corpus Inscriptionum
Latinarum, begun by Theodor Mommsen, which collects Latin inscriptions. Se-
lections taken from this volume are normally cited with the abbreviation CIL
and the number of the inscription from within the volume. Guides to Roman
topography are also available. Richardson’s Topographical Dictionary of Ancient
Rome (1992) is good. More in depth is the six-volume Lexicon Topographicum Ur-
bis Romae by Eva Steinby, as well as the Lexicon Topographicum Suburbium Romae.
Those interested in the study of the history of the republic should also be aware
of T. Robert S. Broughton’s important work, Magistrates of the Roman Republic.
The importance of this work cannot be overstressed.
Reference works that provide tools to use with the secondary literature on
Rome are also available. An important tool is the Dictionary of Bibliographic Ab-
breviations Found in the Scholarship of Classical Studies and Related Disciplines
(1983) by Jean Wellington, which provides lists of the abbreviations used by
scholars. Although this may not seem important, it is very difficult to keep
track of all of the different abbreviations used in Roman studies. Another im-
portant type of guide to the secondary literature is the bibliography. There are
many monograph-length bibliographies devoted to classical studies, with dif-
ferent goals and organizational schemes. Three useful volumes are Classical
Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography (1986) by Thomas Halton and Stella
O’Leary, Classical Studies: A Guide to the Reference Literature (1996) by Fred Jenk-
ins, and Ancient Greece and Rome: A Bibliographic Guide (1995) by Keith Hop-
wood.
Anthologies of Classical Sources

A prominent genre of book used in Roman studies is the anthology. Antholo-
gies of Roman texts tend to be organized in one of two ways. One way is to or-
ganize the anthology as selections of writings from specific authors, to give the
novice reader a taste of Roman literature. The other way is to take selections
from classical sources and present them in a manner that illuminates certain
aspects of the history and civilization of Rome. This type is known as the the-
matic anthology. The purposes of these two types of anthology are different.
The first type exposes the reader to literature. The second type, while still of-
fering the reader an exposure to literature, also brings out certain themes of
Roman civilization. Some of the better anthologies include David Cherry’s The
Roman World: A Sourcebook (2001), Basil Davenport’s The Portable Roman Reader
(1951), and Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold’s Roman Civilization Source-
book 1: The Republic (1966). But by far, the anthology used most frequently in
classrooms is Jo-Ann Shelton’s As the Romans Did (1988).
Series
A number of series of books can be helpful for the study of Roman civilization.
The quintessential series dedicated to the study of Classical literature is the
Loeb Classical Library, published by Harvard University Press. This is an ex-
Introduction 13
tremely useful series, dedicated to publishing the original Latin and Greek
writing alongside the corresponding English translations. The red-colored vol-
umes contain Latin language, and the green volumes contain Greek. Each
book provides the text in the original language on the left page, and the ac-
companying translation is found on the right. Also included in each volume
are a critical apparatus and good introductory materials. These books are the
standard of the field in the English-speaking world.
For those who do not read Latin and Greek, there are several other series
that publish ancient literature. Penguin Classics are always good translations,
and usually the volumes include excellent introductory essays. These books
are probably the best introductory translations of ancient literature. Very inex-
pensive translations of ancient literature are available as Dover Thrift Editions.
Although this series typically uses out-of-date translations (translations so old
that they are legally considered public domain), the low price makes them a
viable option for interested readers.
A number of monograph series are devoted to Roman studies. Two impor-
tant series are Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, pub-
lished by the American Academy in Rome, and Journal of Roman Archaeology
Supplemental Series, published by the Journal of Roman Archaeology, both of
which publish monographs on Roman issues. Another series that is quite good
is the Classical Association at the Clarendon Press’s Greece and Rome: New Sur-
veys in the Classics, which publishes short books on a variety of subjects. So
much has been written about Rome that it is impossible to list all of the aca-
demic series here.
Many series of books devoted to nonspecialist audiences can be helpful in
learning about Rome. Shire books, by Shire Publications, provide easy intro-
ductions to a variety of topics in archaeology. Also good is the Interpreting the
Past series, published by the University of California Press/British Museum.
These books are dedicated to popular audiences but are written by experts in
the subject covered. They are easy to read and accurate. The Discoveries series,
published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, also includes a variety of
easy-to-read books on a variety of archaeological topics and is often available
at museum giftshops and large bookstores.
UNIVERSITIES AND RESEARCH PROGRAMS

Many research programs are available in North America and Europe for the
study of Roman civilization. (For a list of graduate programs in the United
States, see http://www.williams.edu/Classics/Grad_Programs.html, and for pro-
grams throughout the rest of the world, see http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/
Faculty/departments.html.) The first requirement of a research program is an un-
dergraduate degree, which can be specifically in Roman studies, or in a related
discipline, such as history, anthropology, ancient languages, or art history, just
to give a few examples. It is not necessary for students to specialize until they
reach the graduate stage. At this level, students generally specialize not only in
Roman studies, but also in a specific aspect of Roman studies, such as Latin or
archaeology. A master’s degree is usually only a one- or two-year program,
14 THE ROMANS
sometimes involving the writing of a thesis. Most PhD programs in Roman

studies no longer require a master’s degree, but a master’s nonetheless pro-
vides a valuable experience and requires a far smaller time commitment than
does a PhD. If you have a master’s degree in Roman studies, you would be
qualified to teach at some schools (although usually not at research institu-
tions) and to work in museums or other specialized institutions. However,
most active scholars in Roman studies have a PhD or are in the process of
working on one. This is quite a serious commitment, involving the writing of a
dissertation. In North America, students are expected to continue with class
work while working on their dissertations, but in Britain it is more common
just to jump right into the dissertation.
It is also worth pointing out that no matter what level of formal education in
Roman studies is desired (if any at all), learning languages is one of the most
important things to do in preparation. Roman scholars should know Latin and
Greek, and some specialize in other languages as well. But the ancient lan-
guages are not the only ones that are important to learn: A working knowledge
of other modern languages is equally important. For Roman studies, scholars
should be able to operate in Italian, French, and German. These languages
(along with English) are the major scholarly idioms of Roman studies, and
those who are unable to read them are excluded from a vast amount of schol-
arly work. So, one piece of sound advice is to start learning languages as soon
as possible. Language study can only help the researcher or the scholar.
Organizations
Outside of (but related to) the university setting are scholarly organizations
dedicated to the study of Roman civilization and the classics in general. These
groups typically publish newsletters and/or journals, organize conferences,
and provide other services for members. Usually there is a membership fee,
but this varies considerably from organization to organization. The members
of such organizations typically are academics, but it is not unheard of for
members of the lay public to be involved. Some of the more important organi-
zations in North America and the United Kingdom are American Philological
Association, American Classical League, Archaeological Institute of America, Associa-
tion of Ancient Historians, Centre for Roman Studies, Classical Association of
Canada, The Classical Association, Classical Association of Scotland, and Women’s
Classical Caucus. There are a number of regional organizations in the United
States devoted to the study of classics, including Classical Association of the At-
lantic States, Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Classical Associa-
tion of New England, and the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest. Many
states have their own classical studies organizations as well.
Online Resources
Typing “ancient rome” into an Internet search engine will generate literally
hundreds of links. A few of the more useful free sites for studying Roman civi-
lization are listed here. Be patient when trying to find these sites—Web pages
change and servers can go down. By the time this book is published, many of
Introduction 15
these links may have already expired. But typing some of the key words of the
links into a search engine should help to find the sites if they still exist. Most of
the Web pages listed here have been stable for some time now, so try the sup-
plied link first. However, do not feel limited to these sites—have fun and fol-
low the links.
Sites that provide links to other Roman Web pages are among the first types
of Web pages with which the beginner scholar should become familiar. These
sites will open up the Internet for you and start you on a useful trail to finding
what you are interested in. An excellent resource is Electronic Resources for Clas-
sicists: The Second Generation (ERC2), located at http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~tlg/
index/resources.html. This Web page offers links to a variety of electronic re-
sources available for classical studies, from university department Web pages
to discussion groups. Educators may be interested in the links to educational
materials for kindergarten to college-level studies. A similar resource is Inter-
net Resources for Classicists, located at http://www.sms-va.com/mdl-indx/internet.
htm. Corax: A Classics Hypersite, at http://omni.cc.purdue.edu/~corax/, is also a
good place to start. A Web page that also has links to sites dealing with other
aspects of the ancient world is Links to Classical Material, at http://www.vuw.ac.
nz/classics/links.html.
General information about Rome is available at a number of sites. Start with
ROMARCH, located at http://acad.depauw.edu/romarch/. At the time of this writ-
ing, ROMARCH offered access to good discussion groups and a clickable map
feature that provided links and ratings of sites. Another good site is Lacus
Curtius: Into the Roman World, located at http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/
europe/ancient_rome/E/Roman/home.html. This site provides a gazetteer to Ro-
man sites (and photographs), along with some important public-domain
works available in their entirety. Many aspects of Roman society are discussed
at Richard’s site about the Roman civilization, located at http://main-vision.com/
richard/Romans.html.
Another important type of Web page is the virtual library. This is especially
useful if one does not have access to a library with substantial Roman materi-
als. Without a doubt, the most important virtual library (for classicists) on the
Internet is Perseus, currently located at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu. This site is
remarkable for the sheer number of classical writings offered, most translated
into English. It is an excellent site for quickly looking up a source, because it is
so easy to navigate. Perseus also has virtual exhibitions, although these do not
change very frequently. The Latin Library at http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ also
offers a good virtual library of Latin texts, although they are all written in
Latin. Latin readers may also find Bibliotheca Latina, at http://polyglot.lss.wisc.
edu/classics/biblio.htm, to be useful. The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html provides translations of Ro-
man texts organized for classroom use.
The Internet has many resources that can help one to acquire Latin-language
skills. A dictionary, study aids, and some Latin texts can be found at Latin Lan-
guage and Literature at http://www.csbsju.edu/library/internet/latin.html. A variety
of materials that can assist the Latin scholar can be found at Tools of the Trade at
16 THE ROMANS
http://classics.rutgers.edu/resources.html. Latin teachers may find The Latin List

listserv useful for contacting other Latin teachers; it can be found at http://www.
geocities.com/Athens/Styx/1790/index.html. Similarly useful is Latinteach at http://
www.latinteach.com/.
Many sites are dedicated to specific topics in Roman civilization. A timeline
of important events in Roman history, from 2000 B.C.E. to 300 C.E., is available
at www.exovedate.com/ancient_timeline_one.html. An online encyclopedia of
Roman emperors, De Imperatoribus Romanis, is available at http://www.
roman-emperors.org/startup.html. The best resource for the study of Roman law
is Roman Law Resources at http://www.iuscivile.com. Roman (and other historical)
weights and measures can be converted into their metric equivalents at http://
www.convert-me.com/en/. Roman dates and numbers are converted into the nu-
merical system at http://www.guernsey.net/~sgibbs/roman.html.
Museums and Tourism

One of the truly great aspects of studying ancient Rome is the accessibility of
the ancient artifacts and architecture. Many Roman archaeological sites are
open to tourists, and the remains are awe-inspiring. Archaeological sites of
other cultures are often nothing more than holes in the ground or modern re-
constructions of ancient buildings. Roman construction, however, was so
strong that many buildings have survived to the present. When visiting a site,
it is possible to actually walk through buildings that the ancient Romans in-
habited. Rome is an excellent tourist destination, and there is a strong empha-
sis on ancient remains within the local tourist industry. But also worth consid-
ering is a visit to Roman-era sites in other parts of the world. Often, these
Roman-era cities are far less crowded with tourists than Rome, and there is
more freedom to wander and explore. Sites in Israel (like Caesarea) and Jordan
(like Jerash) are wonderfully preserved, giving the visitor a good sense of what
Roman life was like. Similarly, visitors to Egypt have the chance to discover
the substantial Ptolemaic and Roman-period remains, which make up the vast
majority of tourist destinations.
Museums provide another opportunity for people to experience Roman ma-
terial culture. There are so many museums with Roman exhibits, it is impossi-
ble to list them all here. A good approach is to browse through travel guides
for the city you are visiting. Good travel guides will have lists of museums
with a description of their collections. A list of museums with links to home
pages can be found on the Web at http://www.vuw.ac.nz/classics/depts.html, but
this list is far from complete. The sheer volume of surviving Roman artifacts
has meant that such artifacts can be found in museums throughout the world.
PART 2
Roman Civilization
II CHAPTER 2
Location of Roman Civilization

and Environmental Setting
A n important first step in any archaeological investigation is to understand

the physical environment in which the ancient people lived. There are
several reasons why this is imperative. The natural environment is the stage
on which human action plays. The constraints imposed by and the possibilities
made available by certain environments have a fundamental effect on the hu-
mans who live in them. For example, Bedouin living in the Sinai and Ameri-
cans living in New York City obviously would have different access to re-
sources and different environmental constraints. In comparison with New
Yorkers, the Bedouins’ resources are scarce, but the Bedouins’ freedom of
movement and living space are much greater than that of New Yorkers. The
same is true in regard to ancient civilizations. To comprehend an ancient cul-
ture, it is important to understand what its environmental constraints were.
The environment also affects what is preserved in the archaeological record.
Some materials survive better in different conditions than others. For example,
the bog marshes in northern Europe are damp enough to preserve human bod-
ies—so well that many “bog men” have survived from the late Bronze Age to
the present. The Egyptian climate is well suited to the preservation of papyrus,
so it has been possible to retrieve much Egyptian writing. Depositional
processes also affect sites as a whole. A volcanic eruption preserved the Roman
cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in their entirety. In contrast, the constant
occupation of the city of Rome has obscured much of its archaeological mate-
rial. An archaeologist must understand how the physical environment has af-
fected an archaeological site before making any conclusions about that site.
The study of the ecosystems in which ancient humans lived is so important
that a whole subdiscipline of archaeology is devoted to it. Environmental ar-
chaeology seeks to understand human interaction as part of an ecosystem.
Rather than focusing only on artifacts (objects created and used by humans),
archaeologists now study plant, animal, and geological remains. Using a vari-
ety of scientific techniques, archaeologists can reconstruct the environments in
which humans lived to understand how humans affected and were affected by
their environment.
This chapter provides a broad overview of the environmental setting of Ro-
man civilization. The enormity of the Roman Empire meant that ancient Ro-
man civilization encountered many different ecosystems and environments.
These issues are explored in the following sections.
19
20 THE ROMANS
The ruins of Herculaneum, Ercolano, Italy. (Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis)
LOCATION OF ROME
Rome, as a geographic term, can refer to two very different entities. Rome was
and is a city, located in modern Italy, on the Tiber River. But Rome also desig-
nates an ancient empire, a large geographic region with constantly shifting
borders that encompassed many distinct climatic zones. The two uses of the
name Rome indicate an intrinsic connection between the city and the empire.
Rome was seen as the center of Roman civilization—the region from which
power and authority radiated out toward the rest of the empire.
The earliest occupation of the city seems to have been in the middle Bronze
Age; however, the remains from this time are meager. From that period on, the
city of Rome has been occupied almost continuous, making archaeological ex-
cavation difficult. Certain areas (such as the Forum) preserve ancient remains.
And certainly new construction can uncover new archaeological evidence.
Rome was founded on highly productive fertile soils, 20 km inland. This re-
gion is typified by irregularly shaped spurs (hills), which were formed by trib-
utary rivers of the Tiber that had cut through the plains. Roman traditions held
that Rome was founded on seven of these spurs, but the traditions are not con-
sistent about which seven hills. The four largest spurs (on the left bank of the
Tiber) are known as the Quirinal, the Esquiline, the Caelian, and the Aventine.
Each of these spurs ended in a knoll that was also referred to as a hill. The most
Location of Roman Civilization and Environmental Setting 21
A map shows the extent of the Roman Empire during the time of Constantine the Great.
(Library of Congress)
A view of the Roman Forum. (Library of Congress)
important three knolls were the two at the end of the Esquiline called the Pala-
tine Hill and the Velia Hill and one at the end of the Quirinal called the Capi-
toline Hill. The low-lying floodplain on the east of the Tiber and north of the
Capitoline Hill is called the Campus Martius (Field of Mars). During the Re-
publican period, this space was left open for military and legislative assem-
22 THE ROMANS
A model of ancient Rome, with the Colosseum in the center. (Araldo de Luca/Corbis)
blies. During the empire period, it was gradually filled with public buildings.
At its height in the Roman period, Rome was one of the largest cities in the
world, measuring from 3 to 5 km across at any given point. More information
on the development of the city of Rome is located in chapter 9.
GENERAL NATURAL AND CULTURAL SUBDIVISIONS

The Roman Empire encompassed a vast number of different geographic re-
gions. (For the history of the growth of the Roman Empire, see chapter 4.) As
the Roman Empire grew, it encountered a number of different environments to

which it was forced to adapt through a variety of means. But Roman culture
actually developed out of its relationship to its immediate environment. That
environment was what is now known as Italy and the Mediterranean. It was
this environment that had the greatest influence on the development of Roman
life. Following is a discussion of three discrete regions (southern Italy, the
Mediterranean, and northern Italy), including some mention about the envi-
ronments of the Roman provinces.
Southern Italy
The city of Rome is located in southern Italy, an area also referred to as penin-
sular Italy. The dominant geographic feature of peninsular Italy is the Apen-
nines mountain range. This mountain range divides southern Italy in two
halves. The eastern side is often referred to as the Adriatic side (because it bor-
ders the Adriatic Sea) and the western half is referred to as the Tyrrhenian side
(because it borders the Tyrrhenian Sea). On the Adriatic side, the coast is low
and sandy and the waters are very shallow. The area around Venice is the only
area that allows access to oceangoing vessels. The western coast, on the other
hand, is broken up by bays and gullies and provides natural positions for an-
chorage. One of these western coastal features, the Golfo di Napoli (Bay of
Naples), is dominated by Mount Vesuvius. The Golfo di Taranto (Gulf of
Taranto) separates the “heel” and “toe” of Italy.
The Tyrrhenian side has a much more stable system of rivers than the Adri-
atic side. This allowed easy communication throughout the region (Hughes
1998: 104). Both the Tiber and the Arno Rivers are navigable and both have
predictable courses. The rivers on the Adriatic side are less predictable and dry
up in the summer months. This posed serious problems with communication
and transportation, especially in pre-Roman times, when river and water
transport was the easiest means of travel.
Rome’s favorable position on the waterways facilitated its rapid develop-
ment. The city is situated on the left bank of the Tiber River (whose source is in
the Apennines), about 22 km inland from the sea, in a region known as Latium.
Rome’s distance from the sea prevented the development of a significant har-
bor, but this distance also made the city less vulnerable to attack by sea.
Rome’s vantage point on the Tiber was a nodal position. From this spot, access
could be easily gained to many of the other rivers, especially because this was
a particularly calm stretch of the Tiber. The Arno River, which also has a source
in the Apennines, flows west consistently. From a transportation and commu-
nication perspective, Rome was in the very center of southern Italy.
Climate. The climate of southern Italy is distinct from that of northern Italy.
It is a Mediterranean climate, a climate common to most of the land directly
situated around the Mediterranean Sea (see page 25). This climate is very con-
ducive to human habitation. The winters are mild and the summers are hot.
Rain can be quite heavy during the winter months, but from June to August
there is next to no precipitation. On the Adriatic side, rivers dry up completely
during these months.
24 THE ROMANS
Volcanoes
Italy is a region that has experienced much volcanic activity. It is home to Eu-
rope’s highest volcano, Mount Etna, which towers at 3,323 m in height. Lo-
cated on the east coast of Sicilia, this volcano has erupted at least ninety
times in recorded history and probably many other times as well. More infa-
mous is Mount Vesuvius, which erupted on August 24, 79 C.E., covering Pom-
peii and Herculaneum.Vesuvius is the only active volcano in continental Eu-
rope. It rises from the Plain of Campania to a height of 1,277 m. Its base is 48
km wide, making it quite large.Vesuvius has two summits, the highest of which
is Vesuvius proper.
Soil. Much of peninsular Italy (especially Campania, Latium, and Tuscany)

has very productive soil. Extinct volcanoes and crater lakes are typical of this
region, which makes the earth well suited to agriculture. Volcanic soils create
natural fertilizers and thus provide a rich environment for plant life. (See side-
bar above.)
Flora. The flora of southern Italy is Mediterranean. It is well adapted to the

climatic extremes of the region and is a fruitful natural resource. Vineyards
and olive groves grow well in this climate and are found throughout southern
Italy. Grapevines and olive trees were introduced to the region in antiquity and
are quite destructive to the soil and to other kinds of plant life. It takes a long
time for vines and olive trees to grow into productive resources after their ini-
tial planting. Once they have grown, however, it is difficult for other flora to
grow in the same area. Other kinds of plant life in southern Italy include fig
trees, pomegranate trees, date trees, and almond trees.
Fauna. Animal life in Italy is much less rich than in the rest of Europe. Until
human encroachment, the rest of continental Europe was teeming with
wildlife, including deer, elk, bison, bears, boars, and wolves. Italy has (and
had) only a small amount of these animals. Wolves and wild boars are present
in Italy’s mountain ranges. Bears roamed the countryside at one time but were
hunted to extinction long ago. Foxes are common, and in the Alps, marmots,
chamois, and ibex can still be found. Italy is home to many bird species, in-
cluding eagles, hawks, vultures, buzzards, falcons, quails, woodcocks, and
partridges. In addition, migratory birds use Italy as a seasonal home.
Typical of Apennine Italy is the variability between lowland plain and hill, a
feature that was well suited for transhumance. Transhumance involved the
seasonal movement of pigs and sheep (rarely cattle) between the farmlands
and the hills. The hill regions provided ample food for the flocks, and their
close proximity to farmland made the journey short and easy. This allowed
small agricultural communities to feed their flocks from wild growing plants,
Vineyards below a Tuscan hill town. (Jay Syverson/Corbis)
which meant the communities were not forced to use their crops as fodder.
Pigs and sheep provided several benefits, such as wool, meat, and milk.
The Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Basin is the geographic region bordering the Mediter-
ranean Sea. The ecosystem throughout this landmass is broadly consistent. De-
spite this fact, the Mediterranean Basin is not often studied as a holistic unit,
because it encompasses sections of southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia
Minor. Since Braudel’s important work, The Mediterranean and the Mediter-
ranean World in the Age of Philip II, was published, historians and archaeologists
have recognized the importance of understanding how the distinct nature of
this ecosystem affects human habitation. The United Nations Educational, Sci-
entific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently recognized the impor-
tance of viewing the Mediterranean as a whole and has developed a project
called the Blue Plan, on which it bases economic and social planning for the re-
gion (King 1997: 3–4).
Although most scholars recognize the utility of thinking of this environment
in terms of the Mediterranean, few agree on the exact boundaries of this area.
King (1997: 5) has suggested that it may be better to view the Mediterranean as
an experiential entity, rather than one whose borders can be drawn on a map.
As a general rule of thumb, however, the Mediterranean region should be un-
26 THE ROMANS
derstood as the landmasses surrounding the Mediterranean Sea that share a

consistent climate.
The Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is the common denominator

of the surrounding lands characterized as Mediterranean. The ancient Romans
called it mare nostrum, which means “our sea.” The sea is about 2,509,000 sq.
km in area, and about 3,600 km in length (from the Straits of Gibraltar to the
coast of Israel). Its width varies, reaching a maximum of approximately 1,100
km. The depth varies considerably—the maximum depth is about 5,150 m,
and the average depth is about 1,501 m. Its major source is the Atlantic Ocean.
The Mediterranean is surrounded almost entirely by land, except for the
opening at the Straits of Gibraltar. Islands of various sizes are peppered
throughout. Because the sea is landlocked (oceans do not affect it), tides are
very calm. Currents are much more apparent and familiarity with them was
essential for ancient seafarers. On a local scale, the currents tend to run coun-
terclockwise up against the shores of various locations. The landlocked nature
of the sea contributes to its salinity (Hughes 1998: 103). This, along with its
high rate of evaporation, makes it a very salty body of water, much more so
than the Atlantic Ocean. An undersea ridge divides the Mediterranean into
two basins (Hughes 1998: 102). The ridge runs from Tunisia to Silicia, dividing
the sea into an east side and a west side.
Climate. The climate of the region is similar to climates such as those of Cali-
fornia and western Australia, so “Mediterranean” can refer to a specific cli-
mate as well as to a region. The Mediterranean climate is subtropical, and its
most noticeable characteristic is that it has only two seasons rather than four.
The region has cool, wet winters and very hot summers with droughtlike con-
ditions. The wettest period is from October to May, and the hottest months are
June to August, although this is not entirely consistent throughout all of the
Mediterranean.
Precipitation is variable throughout the region; some areas receive much
more rain than others. Averages of the annual rainfall are basically meaning-
less; the amount varies widely from year to year (Perry 1997: 36). However,
even in the wettest months, rainfall never occurs in great quantities. From a
meteorological perspective, the Mediterranean climate has three times the
amount of winter rainfall than summer rainfall, but this is a gross oversimplifi-
cation. Often, the rain comes in massive torrents, and sometimes a large pro-
portion of the annual rainfall arrives in a single day. This creates difficulties for
farming. The region’s rainfall cannot be considered a dependable source of
water for crops, even though the precipitation statistics make the rainfall seem
consistent throughout the course of a year (Perry 1997: 36).
One climatic feature that makes the Mediterranean region so pleasant, de-
spite the high temperatures, is the winds. Cool breezes moderate the hot sum-
mer temperatures, making the atmosphere feel much cooler than it actually is.
However, the winds can be quite destructive. Winds known as the mistral
bring a fire hazard to southern France each year. The fire hazard can be ex-
pected yearly because of the predictable nature of Mediterranean weather pat-
terns. The winds follow consistent patterns of movement, and their direction
and speed can be generally predicted for each season. In antiquity, the pre-
dictability of wind patterns made sailing on the Mediterranean dependent on
the season (Perry 1997: 36). For example, in the late Bronze Age, the ancient
city of Ugarit in Syria had laws regulating how long foreign merchants could
stay in the port, because if they stayed beyond a certain month, the winds
would prevent them from sailing home!
Soils. In general, the soils of the Mediterranean region can be considered

quite productive and well suited to agriculture (Hughes 1998: 98). But in the
higher elevations, the mountainous topography of the Mediterranean Basin
creates mountainous soils, which are very thin and subject to erosion. Because
the climate is somewhere between temperate and tropical, Mediterranean soil
tends to have the best qualities of soils found in either of these climatic zones.
Two major soil types are found in the Mediterranean Basin: terra fusca and
terra rosa (Hughes 1998: 98). Terra fusca is dark brown in color and tends to be
present beneath forest environments; it is nonacidic. Terra rosa soil derives its
name from the reddish color of the soil (caused by the presence of iron oxides).
Terra rosa also tends to be very heavy and has large amounts of clay.
Terracing. A method that farmers in hilly environments have used since an-
cient times is terracing, a technique that reduces the problems caused by ero-
sion. Terracing is a process in which the shape of hillsides is altered to create
flat surfaces for cultivation. The slope upon which soil can run off is reduced,
helping to control erosion, and water is kept on the “terrace,” thereby maxi-
mizing water use. Terraces have been used throughout the Mediterranean
from the end of the Bronze Age to the present. They pose a particular problem
for archaeologists, because their ongoing construction prevents any possibility
of dating them. Modern farmers in the Mediterranean have begun abandoning
terracing as a method of erosion prevention. The farmers often do not replace
terracing with another form of erosion containment, and this has led to severe
soil degradation (Rendell 1997: 53).
Flora. The Mediterranean region is closely associated with an ecosystem

known as Mediterranean Woodland. Evergreen shrubs and very small trees
typify the Mediterranean Woodland. The trees can survive the intense heat of
the Mediterranean summer because of their hard leaves, called sclerophyll. In
droughtlike conditions, these leaves resist drying out by closing the pores that
allow evaporation. When rainfall occurs again, the pores reopen.
The flora of the Mediterranean is also well adapted to the effects of fire. Be-
cause of the sometimes intensely hot breezes, brush fires are fairly frequent.
The indigenous plant life has adapted so that it can regrow after a fire. Indeed,
the wild plant life of the Mediterranean is well suited to the region’s extreme
temperatures.
The vegetation found in the Mediterranean today is very different from that
which was present when humans first moved into the region. Much of the
original vegetation of the Mediterranean has been replaced by other types of
28 THE ROMANS
vegetation because of human interference, such as deforestation (Faulkner and

Hill 1997: 255). For example, olive groves and vineyards have mostly replaced
evergreen, oaks, and pine trees, once the most common forms of plant life in
the area. Areas not currently cultivated by modern humans are covered with
dense shrubs, called maquis or macchi.
Northern Italy
The entire Italian Peninsula should be considered a geographical unity, distinct
from the rest of Europe. The Alps bound Italy on the north. Although there are
numerous crossing points through the Alps (on which travel has occurred
since antiquity), the Alps nevertheless created a natural barrier between Italy
and continental Europe. Despite northern and southern Italy’s general geo-
graphic unity in relation to Europe, important ecological differences exist be-
tween the two regions, specifically with respect to topography and climate.
Topography. Unlike peninsular Italy, lowland plains dominate northern Italy.

Mountains surround the plains, and the land is more even than in the south.
The major river in the region is the Po, which cuts through a large floodplain.
The Po flows eastward and runs 652 km into the Adriatic Sea. With its tributar-
ies, the Po River creates about 965 km of waterways. In pre-Roman times the
floodplain flooded frequently. This problem was solved in Roman times
through the digging of canals. The other major river in continental Italy is the
Adige. It enters Italy from Austria and flows east into the Adriatic. Today, allu-
vial deposits are slowly elevating the beds of both the Adige and the Po from
the mountains.
Climate. Northern Italy has a climate much more similar to central Europe
than to southern Italy. Mediterranean climates (see previous section) do not ex-
tend far beyond the areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Northern Italy’s
climate is much colder, with very severe winters. Summers are severe in the
other direction, with quite hot temperatures. Rain falls evenly throughout the
year—northern Italy does not experience the annual drought that southern
Italy does.
Flora. Further differentiating northern Italy from the south is that the olive
tree does not grow in this region. Viticulture is not as successful in this envi-
ronment. The whole region is very heavily wooded. Coniferous and deciduous
forests are the most common woodland flora in this region. Chestnut, cypress,
oak, fir, and pine trees can all be found in Italy.
The Provinces
The nature of Roman expansion meant that the Romans encountered numer-
ous kinds of ecosystems beyond those present in Italy today. Although for the
most part, the Romans can be said to have exported Roman culture and ways
of living throughout the empire, this must be understood within the context of
different environments. Furthermore, the cultures Rome encountered as it ex-
panded were cultures that had developed under different environmental con-
ditions. A detailed geographic study of each area of the Roman Empire would
require volumes; only a brief mention will be made here.
The Romans eventually controlled almost all of Europe, including England.
Europe is a large geographic expanse consisting of very different climatic
zones. It is a highly fragmented continent, with many peninsulas and geologi-
cally complex islands. The continent has, for the most part, a radial drainage
pattern, which means that most streams flow out from the center. Although
Europe has a predominantly northern climate, the warm seas that surround
the continent create much more moderate temperatures. Before human activity
cleared it away, Europe was covered in woodland vegetation. Most of Europe
was dominated by coniferous and deciduous flora, with tundra vegetation
present in the highest elevations and in most northern locations.
The areas of North Africa that fell under the Roman sphere of influence were
mostly regions with a Mediterranean climate. Beyond this fruitful zone, North
Africa consists of desert zones with sparse populations. Egypt, which fell un-
der Roman influence with Augustus, is an exception. The Nile delta (Lower
Egypt) is a rich environment created through the interplay of the Mediter-
ranean Sea and the Nile, forming sandy ridges. The Nile valley (Upper Egypt)
is an extremely rich and agriculturally productive region, formed by the regu-
lar inundation of the Nile (until the construction of the Aswan High Dam).
The Levant (modern-day Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon) is another
Mediterranean climatic zone. This region was part of the Fertile Crescent,
which runs from the Levant down to between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
in Iraq. This was (and is) a very productive region, rich in natural resources. Its
strategic position as a landmass connecting Asia and Europe with Africa has
made it an extremely volatile location politically.
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATIONS
The environment of Italy has been significantly transformed since Roman
times. Italy has one of the worst pollution records in the European Union.
Sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased at a rate far lower than that of the rest
of Europe. These emissions do great damage to buildings, and much of Italy’s
ancient architecture has been damaged and is still threatened. Marine environ-
ments are also changing in Italy. A process called eutrophication became so
rampant in 1988 and 1989 that the government declared a state of emergency.
Eutrophication is a process by which dissolved nutrients build up in a marine
environment, leading to algae growth. Unchecked algae growth depletes the
water of oxygen, killing animal life in the water.
On a more positive note, deforestation is decreasing in Italy. There has been
a significant decline in human encroachment into forested areas. The govern-
ment has also attempted to preserve forests through a park system. About 22
percent of Italy is forested, and this is likely to increase somewhat. All of these
environmental changes mean that archaeologists cannot assume that the an-
cient Romans lived in the same ecological environment as modern Italians.
30 THE ROMANS
In 1981, the second-century bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius was re-
moved from its location on the Capitoline Hill because of the damage caused by air pollution.
(Bettmann/Corbis)
However, scientists still hotly debate whether environmental change is caused

primarily by humans or by independent, uncontrollable phenomena.
Archaeological evidence suggests that from about 200 B.C.E. to about 400 C.E.,
the climate warmed up on a global scale. How can archaeologists know this if
the Romans lacked the technology and desire to record temperature? Ancient
temperature can be estimated from various kinds of evidence. The amount of
carbon isotopes in the atmosphere fluctuates through time, presumably be-
cause of variations in solar activity. During the Roman period, the amounts of
carbon isotopes were consistent with those found in the atmosphere during
better-documented warming periods. The science of palynology, or pollen
analysis, yields similar results. Taking pollen cores allows one to learn the rela-
tive amount of different kinds of pollen in the atmosphere at a specific period
of time. The ratio of amounts of kinds of pollen is directly related to tempera-
ture (Greene 1986: 81–85). Palynology informs us that there was a period of
warming during Roman times. Tree rings also provide important information
about climates. The width of tree rings is affected by temperature and is con-
sistent globally. This makes the redwoods in California a particularly useful
tool for the study of ancient Rome. The California redwoods are trees with
long life spans, dating from well before the Roman period until the present.
Comparison of the tree rings from archaeological sites with those from Califor-
nia (with known dates) constitutes an important dating system called den-
drochronology (see chapter 3). It also allows us to deduce climatic variability
in the past. All of this archaeological evidence suggests that the Romans had a
relatively warm environment.
Another climatic change observable from the archaeological record is soil
erosion. Palynological evidence from the Roman period indicates that exten-
sive deforestation occurred (Greene 1986: 86). In addition, geomorphological
studies have shown that from about the second century C.E. onward, sediment
deposition in rivers increased, a fact that is consistent with deforestation and
increased agriculture. It is important, therefore, to remember that although
many similarities exist between the environments of ancient and modern Italy,
one should not assume that the environment has remained static since the Ro-
man era.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adkins, Lesley, and Roy Adkins. 1994. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Braudel, Fernand. 1972. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of
Philip II. Siân Reynolds (trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
Cornell, Tim. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome. New York: Routledge.
Cornell, Tim, and John Matthews. 1982. Atlas of the Roman World. New York: Facts on
File.
Faulkner, Hazel, and Alan Hill. 1997. “Forests, Soils, and the Threat of Desertification,”
pp. 252–272 in The Mediterranean: Environment and Society. Russel King, Lindsay
Proudfoot, and Bernard Smith (eds.). New York: Halsted Press.
Greene, Kevin. 1986. The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. Berkeley: University of Cal-
ifornia Press.
Hughes, J. Donald. 1998. “Land and Sea,” pp. 89–133 in Civilization of the Ancient
Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Michael Grant and Rachel Kitzinger (eds.). NewYork:
Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Keller, Donald, and David Rupp (eds.). 1983. Archaeological Survey in the Mediterranean
Area. Oxford: BAR International Series.
King, Russel. 1997. “Introduction: An Essay on Mediterraneanism,” pp. 1–11 in The
Mediterranean: Environment and Society. Russel King, Lindsay Proudfoot, and Bernard
Smith (eds.). New York: Halsted Press.
Perry, Allen. 1997. “Mediterranean Climate,” pp. 30–44 in The Mediterranean: Environ-
ment and Society. Russel King, Lindsay Proudfoot, and Bernard Smith (eds.). New
York: Halsted Press.
Proudfoot, Lindsay. 1997. “The Graeco-Roman Mediterranean,” pp. 57–74 in The
Rees, Sian. 1987. “Agriculture and Horticulture,” pp. 481–503 in The Roman World. 2
vols. John Wacher (ed.). New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Rendell, Helen. 1997. “Earth Surface Processes in the Mediterranean,” pp. 45–56 in The
White, Keith. 1970. Roman Farming. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
III CHAPTER 3
Historical and
Chronological Setting
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
The history of research on Rome cannot be understood as the development of
one discipline. From its earliest days, Roman scholarship has been multidisci-
plinary, involving philology, literary studies, archaeology, and many other
methods of analysis. The vast amount of evidence available for the study of
Rome, as well as the fact that Roman civilization was never lost or forgotten,
has meant that many methods have developed for using the vast amount of
available information. What follows is an overview of the main themes in the
history of Roman research, from the dissolution of Rome to the present.
The Medieval World

The city of Rome shrank from prominence when Constantinople and Ravenna
became the new capitals of what had once been the Roman Empire (Moatti
1993: 16). Many of the treasures of the city were taken to other locations. The
population shrank, as did the physical size of Rome. The population moved
off of the hills (the traditional center of Roman occupation) and into the valleys
of the Tiber. Christianity had made Rome’s temples obsolete. These religious
sanctuaries fell into ruins, and people were kept away by the notion that these
locations were haunted. Other cult places (like the Curia and the Pantheon)
were converted into Christian churches. Rome was no longer part of the pres-
ent—it was part of the past.
During the medieval period, Islamic civilization became an important intel-
lectual center for learning and study. Many of the classical writings were pre-
served in Islamic sources and studied in this environment. Scholars have as-
sumed that Roman learning was lost at the hands of barbarian invaders who
squandered it during the medieval period. In fact, much of this learning was
preserved and incorporated into Islamic culture. The study of the relationship
between classical writings and medieval writings in Islam is in its infancy now,
but this work should provide an interesting perspective on both cultures.
In Europe, tourists and pilgrims kept the memory of Roman civilization
alive. Tour guidebooks were the main locus of medieval intellectual work on
Roman civilization. Rome’s prominent place in the history of Christianity
made it a natural destination for pilgrims. And essential for these pilgrims’
visits were guides. One of the most famous of these guides that survives today
32
Historical and Chronological Setting 33
is the Einsiedeln Itinerary. Named after the Swiss monastery in which a copy
was found, this work records eleven walks that pilgrims could take through
Rome to view monuments and inscriptions (Moatti 1993: 21–22; Osborne 1996:
386). Originally dating to the eighth or ninth century (Osborne 1996: 386), itin-
eraries like the Einsiedeln became very popular in the twelfth century. Ar-
guably, however, the most important medieval guidebook to Rome was the
Mirabilia Urbis Romae. Probably dating to the twelfth century, this book lists
various monuments and recounts stories of early Christianity and ancient
Rome (Sperling 1996: 551). What makes this work so important is that it
formed the basis for many later guidebooks (Kinney 1996: 760). These later
books were basically general guides to the city. They tended to demonstrate
very poor understanding of history and concentrated on the location of visible
inscriptions (Moatti 1993: 22). Latin was still a prominent language of learning,
and often, these pilgrims could read Roman inscriptions (although often the
vocabulary and ideas were obscure to them). The descriptions of Latin inscrip-
tions in these guidebooks are useful to modern scholars, especially because
many of the inscriptions have not survived to the present.
Ancient Rome became an important political symbol during the period of
the Avignon papacy (Moatti 1993: 24). From 1309 to 1378, papal authority
moved to Avignon and was under French influence. For Italy, the home of the
Church for centuries, this created a crisis of identity. In the vacuum left by the
departure of the Church, Italians looked to new identities rooted in a time be-
fore Christianity; in this case, they looked to ancient Rome. Interest in ancient
monuments grew, sites were looted, and the antiquities trade grew alongside
the changing sensibilities of what it meant to be Italian. Scholars and politi-
cians brought ancient Rome into popular discourse. Perhaps the clearest mani-
festation of ancient Rome’s new presence in the political discourse of the time
was the political career of Cola di Rienzo (1313–1354). He was a politician who
called for the restoration of the Roman Empire in Italy (Moatti 1993: 26). In
1347, Cola di Rienzo was elected “tribune of the people”—a political office that
had not existed since Roman times (Moatti 1993: 26). After his election, how-
ever, Cola di Rienzo behaved bizarrely and tyrannically. Eventually he was de-
posed and executed by the Roman population. Although usually in less ex-
treme forms, ideas of ancient Rome would play a prominent role in Italian
politics and nationalism, especially in times when the power of the Vatican
waned.
The Renaissance
Medieval Rome’s deterioration began to reverse after the papacy returned to
Rome. The Church became an important force in the restoration of the city and
the retrieval of ancient monuments and documents. At the same time, new
sensibilities toward learning and education spawned greater interest in classi-
cal history. The achievements of Greek and Roman civilization became highly
valued in this period. A sense developed that the learning of these civilizations
had been lost, and scholarly endeavors were initiated to recapture the lost in-
formation or to protect elements of the Greco-Roman world that had been pre-
34 THE ROMANS
The interior of the Vatican Library, Rome. (Library of Congress)
served. The dominant theme in these scholarly attempts was collection. Collec-
tion of ancient documents, artifacts, and data about the past was the funda-
mental goal of Renaissance-period Roman studies.
For modern Roman studies, the collection of ancient documents was ar-
guably the most lasting achievement of this period. Latin and Greek inscrip-
tions throughout Europe were recorded, and some of these editions are still
important today. However, the collection of ancient writing (in Europe) can ac-
tually be said to have begun by a commission of Pope Nicholas V, who was
pope from 1447 to 1455. In 1453, when the Turks captured Constantinople,
Greek scholars fled to Italy, bringing with them their interest in ancient texts.
In response, Nicholas V ordered that Greek manuscripts be purchased (Moatti
1993: 32). Under Nicholas V, the Vatican Library grew into a great library.
Translations and commentaries of ancient texts were commissioned and great
classical writers (such as Ovid and Livy) were rediscovered. Particularly note-
worthy were the editions of Vitruvius’s architectural treatise produced at this
time, which played an important role in the development of Renaissance archi-
tecture (Moatti 1993: 33).
The study of ancient Rome did not always meet with papal approval. In-
deed, the personality of the reigning pope and upper-level members of the
The sixteenth-century “Villa Rotunda” by Andrea Palladio shows the influence of the Romans
on Renaissance architects. (Library of Congress)
Vatican certainly played a role in the manner in which Roman studies per-
sisted. Perhaps the most notorious example of conflict between the Church
and Roman scholars involved Julius Pompanius Leto and the organization he
founded, known as the Roman Academy. The organization held elaborate Ro-
man-style banquets and held meetings in the catacombs (Moatti 1993: 34). Al-
though Leto took the title of pontifex maximus (an honor reserved for the pope
at that time), it was the republican and political sentiments of the Roman
Academy that likely led to the Church’s disapproval (Rowland 1996: 967). In
1468, Pope Paul II tried this group for heresy. However, after a prominent trial,
Leto wrote a long defense of the academy and they were found innocent
(Moatti 1993: 35). After the trial, lectures given by Pompanius on ancient Rome
became extremely popular (Moatti 1993: 35). In 1471, Pope Sixtus IV allowed
the restoration of the Roman Academy, and it lasted as an organization until
the sack of Rome in 1527 (Moatti 1993: 35; Rowland 1996: 968).
It was not just the collection of texts that was important at this time. Collec-
tion of artifacts was made possible by the exploration of ancient ruins and the
new popularity of museums. The discovery of the Golden House (Domus Au-
rea) of Nero led to a new craze for studying Roman architecture. The wonder-
ful murals and statues preserved within became important influences in Re-
naissance art (Moatti 1993: 38–39). Figures as important as Raphael were
inspired by the ancient artwork. In fact, in 1515, Raphael was appointed com-
36 THE ROMANS
missioner of antiquities, and through this office he formed a team to map an-
cient Rome and undertake restoration projects (Moatti 1993: 51).
The discovery of artifacts led to the need to develop institutions in which to
house them. Museums became important centers for antiquarian studies, al-
though normally, they took the form of temporary displays of artifacts held by
institutions that did not specialize in the preservation of the past. In 1471, Pope
Sixtus IV opened an exhibit of some of the Roman collection from the Vatican.
This collection on the Capitoline Hill was of great interest to the public and
popularized the collection of all things Roman and ancient.
The related discipline of early Christian archaeology began with a ground
collapse in 1578 (Moatti 1993: 54–55). The collapse revealed some of the many
catacombs lying beneath Rome that were used by the early Church commu-
nity. In 1593, Antonio Bosio began somewhat systematic excavations of the cat-
acombs. The fruits of his explorations were published in 1632 in his work Un-
derground Rome (Moatti 1993: 55). These early excavations played a role in the
religious controversies of the time (Moatti 1993: 55). Various groups claimed
that the evidence discovered was proof that their church was most similar to
Paul’s church, thereby legitimizing their church over others.
These religious controversies, normally described as the Reformation, led to
the division between Protestantism and Catholicism. The rise of Protestantism
directly affected the study of Classical literature. Latin, as the language of the
Catholic Church, had been a priority of study among scholars. The rise of
Protestantism, however, emphasized the Greek culture of the New Testament,
and subsequently, ancient Greek texts became the focus of Protestant scholar-
ship (Christiansen 1995: 41).
Collecting knowledge of ancient Romans was also an important new devel-
opment in Roman studies at this time. Scholars desired to record large
amounts of information on all aspects of ancient life, and their main goal was
to preserve this information. Aspects of everyday Roman life, economic mat-
ters, and matters of governance all were very important. Machiavelli (best
known for The Prince) gained notoriety for commenting on contemporary po-
litical activities and personalities through his uncomplimentary comparisons
with the Roman institutions described by Livy (Christiansen 1995: 41).
Enlightenment and Romanticism

History classes often make the transition from the Renaissance and Reforma-
tion periods to the Enlightenment and romantic periods seem very clear-cut.
The traits associated with these periods, however, changed slowly and gradu-
ally. With respect to attitudes toward the past, a few underlying traits typified
this transition. Christian archaeology was the dominant area of interest associ-
ated with ancient Roman studies, mostly through the search for relics. Muse-
ums were established and excavations organized. Along with the rise in muse-
ums at this time, the foundations of the modern discipline of art history were
built.
The popularity of museums developed throughout the Enlightenment. Pri-
vate scholars and artists frequently made their collections available to the pub-
lic for viewing. But the Pio-Clementino Museum (which was open to the pub-
lic once a year) was perhaps the most influential museum in terms of Roman
studies. This museum was situated in the Vatican and was begun by Pope
Clementine XIV. It was completed by Clementine’s successor, Pius VI (Oresko
1997: 174). Pius was an avid collector who had granted himself first rights to
any ancient materials discovered (Moatti 1993: 67). He organized excavations
in the Latium region and had the Vatican’s collection catalogued. The finished
catalogue consisted of seven volumes. The Vatican and other institutions were
privy to the wealth of artifacts appearing from the many excavations of Roman
buildings that had begun at this time. Sites like Domitian’s Palace and the
Tomb of the Scipios were discovered and excavated, revealing splendid archi-
tecture and wonderful pieces of art.
These artistic excavations paved the way for the development of the disci-
pline of art history (at least in relation to ancient studies). A scholar of particu-
lar note was Johann Winckelmann (1717–1768), who is often viewed as the fa-
ther of ancient art history (Potts 1996: 1200). The restoration of artwork, in
Winckelmann’s point of view, should be based on the study of other ancient
pieces, not upon the artist’s whims (Moatti 1993: 83). Winckelmann believed
that to compare and understand ancient art, it was important to categorize
artistic works by their dates of creation (Ceram 1959: 14–15). His History of An-
cient Art divided antique art into four distinct periods. The Ancient period was
the period of Archaic Greece, the Sublime period was the fifth century B.C.E.,
the Beautiful period was the fourth century B.C.E., and the Decadent period
was the Roman period (Moatti 1993: 82). Most of Winckelmann’s identifica-
tions were wrong (Johnson 1989: 15). The identifications were important, how-
ever, for their methodology of classification, which Winckelmann established
(Johnson 1989: 15).
Napoleon’s conquest of Italy accelerated the development of classical stud-
ies, but at the same time it undermined local Italian efforts. The Treaty of
Tolentino (1797) allowed the French to remove Roman artifacts from Italy, a
practice that had begun with the French occupation of Rome (Moatti 1993: 86).
Many of these artifacts were moved to the French Museum of the Republic,
opened in 1801. In 1815, however, many of these items were returned to Rome.
The artifacts that were not returned became part of the Louvre’s collection.
Under Napoleon, the study of antiquity developed methodologically. During
his campaign to Egypt, Napoleon established a team of scholars to record and
draw artifacts and sites (as well as local flora, fauna, and inhabitants). These
records were so carefully composed that they are still valuable tools in modern
scholarship (especially in the study of sites and artifacts that have not been
preserved). Napoleon’s team of scholars brought scientific illustration and
recording techniques into vogue as tools for the study of the past.
After the defeat of Napoleon, international interest in Roman archaeology
did not abate. Various national institutions were established in Italy with the
express purpose of studying Roman monuments. In 1829, the Institute of Ar-
chaeological Correspondence was established by King Ludwig I of Bavaria
and Frederick III of Prussia (Moati 1993: 118). After the Franco-Prussian War of
38 THE ROMANS
Excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum
When Mount Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 C.E., it preserved the cities of
Pompeii and Herculaneum in all of their glory, as they were on the very day
of the eruption.The excavations of these two cities have been extremely pro-
ductive and important in the history of Roman scholarship and in the devel-
opment of archaeology as a discipline.
The writings of Pliny the Younger preserved an eyewitness account of the
eruption, so the existence of these cities was never completely forgotten.Ac-
tual excavation of the cities, however, did not begin until centuries later. In
1549, a nobleman ordered water channels dug in the region to provide water
for his nearby villa (Stiebing 1993: 147). The workers dug through Pompeii,
discovering antiquities and inscriptions. But these were of no interest to the
nobleman, and the area was ignored until 1709.
At that time, a peasant digging in hopes of finding a well was disappointed
to hit marble.An Austrian general constructing a villa nearby bought the land
to acquire the marble for construction.The general ordered workers to ex-
pand the trench that the peasant had dug, exposing the theater of Hercula-
neum (Stiebing 1993: 147).The general’s team emptied out the theater com-
pletely, working until 1716. Excavations stopped between 1717 and 1737,
when Vesuvius started erupting again and Spanish forces drove the Austrians
out of the region.
In 1738, excavations resumed, now under the direction of Rocco
Giocchino de Alcubierre (Stiebing 1993: 148).At this time the site was identi-
fied as the city of Herculaneum.Tunnels were dug beyond the theatre, which
had previously been excavated, and many of the antiquities found were
melted down for precious metal. In 1748, excavations at Herculaneum were
halted and the team moved to Pompeii to continue work. But the finds there
were not as spectacular, so the team returned to Herculaneum shortly after-
ward.
When Karl Weber (a Swiss architect) joined the team, he was determined
to map the tunnels. His attempts at recording the excavations were sabo-
taged by the dig director, Alcubiere, who did not think this was a productive
effort (Stiebing 1993: 150). In 1750, the team found what is now known as the
Villa of Papyri—one of archaeology’s greatest discoveries. An amazing group
of bronzes was unearthed, as were Roman copies of busts of Greek philoso-
phers. It was also found to have a library filled with rolls of carbonized and
preserved papyrus. Most of these documents were philosophical writings, but
about 800 of the 1,800 that were discovered have yet to be opened.
In 1763, Pompeii was identified and all efforts were concentrated there.
The excavations from this point on focused on creating an area where
tourists could visit. Numerous publications began to appear that furthered
the public excitement over the finds. And, when Napoleon seized Naples in
1806, excavation efforts were doubled.
The Pompeii excavations entered a new, more scientific phase when

Giuseppe Fiorelli was appointed director in 1860 by the new king, Emmanuel
II (Stiebing 1993: 159). Fiorelli began a journal to document the work at Pom-
peii and took a greater interest in recording procedures. He ordered all of
the previously excavated areas to be completely cleared and he mapped the
entire city based on the town walls. The map was divided into nine sectors,
and Fiorelli’s team began systematic excavations by sector.They stopped the
practice of excavating by tunneling along streets, into the doors of buildings.
Rather, the team began excavating from the top down, attempting to pre-
serve some remains in situ and to record the provenance of artifacts.
A plaster cast of a human body found at Pompeii. (Library of Congress)
In 1864, the first plaster cast of an ancient Roman person was made
(Stiebing 1993: 168). When Vesuvius erupted, it trapped many people within
the city. The ash hardened around the bodies, and when the flesh deterio-
rated, a mold of the body was preserved in ash. When plaster was poured
into the tops of these human molds, it was possible to make casts of the per-
son in the position in which they died. The ash preserved so well that often
facial expressions and clothes are visible in the casts, creating one of the
most haunting types of archaeological remains.
Since 1927, excavations have continued at Herculaneum. Preservation is
much better there because the ash is much harder, better protecting the re-
mains from other disruptive processes. Herculaneum is buried much deeper
than Pompeii, a fact that made the preservation far more extensive. The
wealth of data from these two sites is phenomenal, providing moderns with
an amazing view of what life (and death) was like in the ancient world.
40 THE ROMANS
1870, this became the German Archaeo-

logical Institute. The French had also
remained active in Italy, even af-
ter Napoleon, and the French
School of Rome was founded
in 1873. Roman studies had
become an international en-
terprise during this time.
Scholars from a variety of
countries in Europe com-
posed histories of Rome in
German, French, English,
and other languages (Chris-
tiansen 1995: 43), which
made the field more available
to scholars without a com-
mand of Italian or Latin. Per-
haps the culmination of this
scholarly trend was Edward
Gibbon’s History of the Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire,
which is a masterpiece of the Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire. Engraving after a portrait by
English language. Sir Joshua Reynolds. (Library of Congress)
The Rise of the Italian State

The effect on Roman studies of Italian unification at the end of the nineteenth
century cannot be overemphasized. From 1852 to 1860, Italy went through a
period of violent unification. Under the force of Count Camillo Cavour, Italy
was transformed from a group of absolutist city-states to a unified nation.
Cavour curried favor with France (especially with Napoleon III) by entering
the Crimean War on the side of France and Britain. After the Crimean War,
Cavour and Napoleon deliberately provoked a war with Austria (which held
much of northern Italy) so that France could be justified in fighting against
Austria. After France defeated Austria and entered into a separate peace with
it, Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian nationalist, began securing territory in Italy
through military domination. Eventually, though, Garibaldi capitulated to
Cavour’s forces and joined a union with north Italy. In March of 1861, after
Italy had been formally unified, Victor Emmanuel II was named king. In 1870,
Rome was declared the capital of the new nation of Italy.
With this new proclamation, Rome was rebuilt, a process that would destroy
many Roman monuments. But at the same time that ancient monuments were
being destroyed by new construction projects, Emmanuel II acted to preserve
Italian heritage through a number of institutions (Moatti 1993: 124). Emmanuel
II established the Italian School of Archaeology in 1875 based on the other na-
tional schools for Roman study. And in 1889, the National Museum of Rome
was founded in the Baths of Diocletian.
The Victor Emmanuel monument in Rome. (Paul Thompson; Eye Ubiquitous/Corbis)
Within this context of Italian nationalism, Italian scholars were generally

trusting of classical accounts. German scholars, however, approached the
classical authors from the opposite direction. The work of German literary
historians at this time was greatly influenced by an attitude of skepticism.
Germans tended to be critical of all ancient texts and very interested in the
methodology of the study of history (Christiansen 1995: 44). It was at this
time that biblical criticism developed, and German scholars seriously ques-
tioned the accuracy of the scriptures. The same movements were afoot in Ger-
man classical studies, which strongly contrasted with Italian readings of the
sources. Arguably the most influential of these minimalist scholars was
Theodor Mommsen, who, in 1862, published the first volume of the Corpus In-
scriptionum Latinarum. Mommsen’s work frequently involved the application
of methodology derived from other historical fields to the classical texts. Al-
though German and Italian scholars may have differed in their approach to
historical inquiry, both groups saw Rome as a model of successful nation-
state unification. Like Italy, Germany at this time was not a nation-state, but
rather a series of smaller, yet affiliated local polities. German scholars like
Mommsen saw the study of Rome as a useful tool in modern political dis-
course (Christiansen 1995: 45).
Outside of Germany and Italy, scholars in the larger European nation-states
also saw ancient Rome as a model for informing contemporary political
thought. With both France and England gaining imperial power throughout
the world, the study of Rome was informative for the proper and successful
42 THE ROMANS
Pitt-Rivers
Born in 1827, Augustus Henry Lane-Fox, who later changed his name to Pitt-
Rivers as a condition of a bequest, would become an important figure in the
development of Roman archaeology. The same bequest that led to his name
change made him the owner of substantial amounts of land in southern En-
gland. This land was rich in Roman remains, and Pitt-Rivers would devote
much energy to the study of these materials. He concentrated on what he
called “native” constructions from the Roman period.This was important ar-
chaeological evidence relating to the other side of Roman imperialism, from
the perspective of the conquered peoples.While working on these remains,
Pitt-Rivers pioneered the practice of section drawings, in which stratigraphy
is recorded as it remains along the walls of the trenches. Pitt-Rivers was con-
vinced that it was important to study the context in which the artifacts had
been found. When he died in 1900, he had pioneered many new recording
methods, some of which formed the basis of methods still used in the field
today.
maintenance of imperial conquests. After German and Italian unification,

scholars in France and England would similarly view the Roman Empire as a
political force worth emulating.
The Professionalization of Archaeology

The beginning of the twentieth century saw archaeology develop into a legiti-
mate academic discipline, alongside the social sciences. Archaeology became
the work of scholars rather than wealthy antiquarians (although many were
both). Theoretical issues became much more prominent in archaeological re-
search. Archaeology had become a legitimate academic profession and re-
quired specialized skills and education.
Archaeology, as it developed until World War II, was dominated by the use
of evolutionary models, especially for comparative purposes. The idea of uni-
linear cultural evolution, in which every culture advanced along the same
steps, underlay many academics’ understandings of the past.
Along with the development of new theoretical perspectives came the de-
velopment of improved excavation methods. One of the most important pro-
ponents of a more scientific excavation method was Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
Wheeler was a British archaeologist, and although he was not a Roman spe-
cialist, the methods he innovated are still fundamental to Roman archaeologi-
cal excavations today. Although his innovations cannot be described in detail
here, it should be noted that he introduced excavation techniques that gave ar-
chaeologists much better control while digging. (Wheeler’s volume on this
topic, Archaeology from the Earth, is widely available.)
Sir Mortimer Wheeler with a colleague. (Hulton/Deutsch Collection/Corbis)
Fascist Uses of Rome

World War II temporarily halted archaeological excavations throughout the
world. But the political situation in Italy leading up to World War II had actu-
ally increased the prominence of archaeology, although this archaeology was
based on morally troubling motivations. Just as the romantic nationalists of the
nineteenth century used traditions of ancient Rome to excite Italian sensibili-
ties, Mussolini’s Fascist party adapted symbols of ancient Rome to inspire the
populace. For example, Mussolini adopted the Roman symbol of the eagle and
spoke of the need to revive the Latin language as a means of restoring the
glory of ancient Rome. In his orations, Mussolini emphasized that the Italian
state he led was strongly connected to ancient Rome.
Under Mussolini, state archaeological institutions were given the explicit
goal of demonstrating the connections between ancient and modern Italy
44 THE ROMANS
Mussolini addresses the Fascists in the Colosseum, Rome. (Library of Congress)
(Moatti 1993: 130). Several archaeological projects were planned under the dic-
tator’s supervision. The Augustan city was to be fully restored, as well as the
Via del Mare—the road from Rome to the Mediterranean. From 1937 to 1938,
Augustus’s 2,000th birthday was celebrated. This celebration involved the
restoration of his mausoleum and a related exhibit (Moatti 1993: 132). As they
had during the Avignon papacy and the unification of the Italian state, concep-
tions of ancient Rome had been employed in the service of articulating Italian
identity.
World War II to the Present

After World War II, when archaeological work was revived out of the shadow
of fascism, new goals and new methods were introduced into the discipline.
Roman archaeology ceased to be a tool of the fascist state and lost its promi-
nence in public policy. But the destruction caused by World War II had re-
vealed many ancient remains, and ancient Rome was very much on the minds
of the public.
Evolutionary models of culture still dominated archaeology. However, the
horrors of genocide in World War II substantially checked the development of
biological determinism as a means of understanding human history. Culture-
area studies came to dominate archaeology immediately following the war.

Area studies involved the categorization and study of discrete cultures, bound
by specific geographic regions. At this time it became common to specialize in
the study of a particular culture, rather than in archaeology in general.
In the 1960s and 1970s, scientific and social scientific methods were intro-
duced into archaeology. Processual archaeology sought to separate archaeol-
ogy from the study of history. The goals of a processualist were more similar to
the goals of hard scientists than to those of historians. Processualists sought to
understand the behavior of ancient humans (normally through anthropologi-
cal or scientific models) rather than to just describe it. Essentially, processualist
archaeology (often also called “New Archaeology”) is very rooted in evolution-
ary models and functionalist explanations for human behavior. The reaction to
this movement, called post-processualism, created heated debates in the 1970s
and 1980s. Post-processualism cannot be easily explained or defined because it
involves many different methods and approaches. In general, post-processual-
ists viewed humans and their behavior as too complex for scientific models to
be successfully applied. Although post-processualism rejected the explanatory
laws of processualism, it also returned archaeology to the study of history.
The most striking feature of Roman archaeology since World War II is its
pace. Incredible amounts of work have been accomplished. In fact, although it
was possible to summarize the achievements of all the medieval archaeologists
in a few paragraphs, it is impossible even to begin to summarize the achieve-
ments of the twentieth-century scholars in so little space. The rest of this vol-
ume is devoted to the description of the results of this endeavor.
ROMAN CHRONOLOGY
One of the first steps in gaining an understanding of the past is to understand
the chronological framework used in reference to the particular civilization of
interest. Scholars of Rome usually divide the Roman period proper into three
distinct phases: the regal (or monarchical) period, the Republican period, and
the imperial period. These periods are discussed in more detail in chapter 4.
Each period is based on the prevailing form of government in Rome during
that period. According to ancient historians, the regal period began in 753
B.C.E. and ended in 509 B.C.E. The Republican period lasted from 508 B.C.E. until
about 29 B.C.E. The imperial period began shortly after the end of the Republi-
can period, and 476 C.E. is usually considered to be the end.
Archaeologists and historians employ two distinct types of chronology—ab-
solute chronology and relative chronology. Absolute chronology is based on
actual dates. Dating the period of the Republic from 508 B.C.E. to 29 B.C.E. is an
example of absolute dating. In contrast, stating that the Republican period
comes after the regal period is an example of relative dating. Relative chronol-
ogy bases chronology on the relationship of artifacts and events with other ar-
tifacts and events. For example, in Jordan, archaeologists can determine that a
site is a Roman-period site if certain kinds of glass artifacts are found. In a case
like this, an archaeologist can date the site to the Roman period (as opposed to
46 THE ROMANS
the Hellenistic period or Byzantine period) but would not be able to determine
a specific date for the site.
Roman archaeologists have much data for both absolute and relative dates,
especially when compared with other areas of study. Think of how many doc-
umentaries you have seen that try to redate the construction of the pyramids
or an event from biblical times. Roman chronology is fairly secure in contrast.
The wealth of classical sources and Roman calendrical interests provide schol-
ars with many absolute dates. Taken with the vast amounts of archaeological
excavations that have produced relative dates, Roman studies benefits from a
wealth of chronological information. Following are some examples of the an-
cient and modern sources for Roman chronology.
Roman Systems of Dating

The chronological framework upon which modern scholars base their under-
standing of Roman history is that of the Romans themselves. More is said
about Roman calendrical techniques in chapter 10, but issues of Roman-year
reckoning are important for understanding chronology and its associated
problems.
The most consistent method of identifying a year in ancient Rome was
through the name given to the year. The name of the year was not numerical
but was based on the names of the consuls who reigned in that particular year.
This system is very cumbersome and can be quite complicated when first at-
tempting to study Roman history. Although the list of consuls goes back as far
as 509 B.C.E. (the beginning of the Republic), historians do not trust the infor-
mation for the time before 300 B.C.E. (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 337). And be-
cause the Roman year was actually much shorter than a solar year (until the
Julian reforms of 45 B.C.E.), there are problems with converting consul dates
into absolute dates.
There were two types of year calculations that were better known among the
general population of Rome. Occasionally, emperors would designate the
name of a year after themselves. But even more important to the general popu-
lation was the indictio, which was the annual tax assessment. From about 287
C.E. on, the indictio was numbered in five-year cycles; after 312 C.E., it was
numbered in fifteen-year cycles (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 337). This kind of
timekeeping was important for all Romans to be aware of, and records of the
indictio can be useful in historical reconstruction.
Numismatics
Numismatics, the study of ancient coins, is a subfield of Roman archaeology.
Much has been written on this subject, and more is discussed about coins and
their place in Roman economy in chapter 5. Coins last very well in the archae-
ological record, and because there is writing and/or imagery on every coin,
they are very easily identifiable.
Roman coins can be useful for dating, but there are certain problems with
their use in this manner. Coins can provide a terminus post quem (“the date after
which”), which means that they can be used to identify the earliest possible
date for the stratum in which they were found. If a coin can be dated to a cer-
tain year, its context must be later than that year. But because Roman coins had
such a long circulation life, the context in which the coin was found could be
many years after it was minted. Furthermore, because coins are so small, it is
very easy for their initial context to be disturbed by depositional or archaeo-
logical processes. Therefore, archaeologists have to be very careful about the
provenance of coins.
Typology and Seriation

Typology is one of the most important concepts in archaeology. Derived from
the natural sciences, typology refers to the classification of artifacts according
to their features. It is assumed that artifacts with similar appearances and
properties have some intrinsic relationship, so it is considered worthwhile to
organize them accordingly. Creating typologies is a necessary component of
archaeological information management. Archaeologists are confronted with a
huge amount of data. The best way to control these quantities is to simplify
and organize the data.
Related to typology is the concept of seriation, which incorporates evolu-
tionary concepts into the classification schema, based on the principle that the
styles and forms of objects evolve over time. Seriation also presupposes the
principle of stratigraphic superpositioning, which suggests that an object
found above another object comes from a more recent time than the lower ob-
ject. The first objects found in an archaeological excavation are, theoretically,
the most recent (although this is not always the case). Likewise, the lowest ob-
jects at a site are the earliest. By comparing the relative depositions of artifacts,
then comparing this information with that of other sites, archaeologists can
build seriated typologies of artifacts. It then becomes possible to date a site or
architectural feature relative to other sites with the same artifacts. This princi-
ple is most frequently used in ceramic analysis (see chapter 9) and architec-
tural analysis.
The principles of typology and seriation are fundamental to any archaeolog-
ical study. They allow archaeologists to understand the particular site being
excavated in the context of the rest of the culture area. For Roman studies, ty-
pologies are well established, making relative chronologies fairly easy to pro-
duce, given enough research time.
Radiocarbon Dating and Other Scientific Techniques

Scientific methods have revolutionized archaeologists’ ability to date material
remains. Radiocarbon dating (also known as carbon-14 dating) is probably the
best-known method of scientific dating commonly employed by archaeolo-
gists. In 1949, Arnold and Libby published a paper in Science that detailed their
ability to date objects of a known date, independently, by the amount of radio-
carbon in the artifacts. This paper revolutionized archaeological research.
Radiocarbon dating is based on the observation that neutrons produced by
cosmic radiation react with nitrogen in the earth’s atmosphere to produce car-
bon 14. This carbon isotope is absorbed in organic materials, but ceases to be
48 THE ROMANS
absorbed when the organism dies. Carbon 14 is unstable and gradually decays
after it is no longer absorbed by the previously living matter. According to
Libby, this rate of decay is stable, and it takes 5,730 years for half of the C-14 in
organic materials to decay (this is known as half-life). The object can then be
dated by the scientific examination of the amount of radiocarbon isotopes
present. The dates sent back by the lab are only statistical approximations
(each date also has a standard deviation). But with enough carbon dates, an ar-
chaeologist can greatly reduce the margin of error, so that any organic artifact
(made of material that was once living) can be radiocarbon dated if it was care-
fully excavated. This is a useful method of analysis for objects dating between
50,000 B.C.E. and 1,500 C.E.
However, radiocarbon dates must be calibrated. Libby had thought that the
amount of carbon-14 isotopes in the earth’s atmosphere had always been con-
stant. This assumption has been proven wrong; changes in solar activity and in
the earth’s magnetic field have made the amount of carbon isotopes variable
throughout history. So, to produce accurate dates, radiocarbon dates must be
compared with evidence derived from other scientific methods.
Dendrochronology is one such method; it is basically the study of tree rings.
Tree rings are the concentric circles that can be seen in a tree trunk and that
represent the tree’s annual growth. Because these circles develop based on var-
ious climatic phenomena, specialists have developed methods of comparing
the rings of different trees. By comparing the rings of different trees with those
of trees that were felled on a known date, it is possible to establish absolute
dates. This method has been particularly useful for Roman studies in the Euro-
pean periphery.
LITERARY OR FOLKLORIC EVIDENCE OF USE FOR

INTERPRETATION OF ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Scholars of ancient Rome are particularly fortunate in the wealth of textual ev-
idence available for the study of Roman civilization. The writings of classical
authors have been preserved in numerous formats and provide an unparal-
leled source of information about Roman life and history. Taken in tandem
with archaeology, these literary sources for the study of Rome are invaluable.
More is said about Roman literature in chapter 10, but for now, it is important
to point out some of the historical and mythological sources that have played
particularly important roles in the development of Roman studies.
Roman Historians
The Romans had a strong tradition of historical writing. From about the third
century B.C.E., authors writing in Latin composed works describing historical
events. Parallel to this was an equally rich Greek-language tradition of histori-
cal writing, which often provided an outsider’s perspective on Roman history
and personalities. It is not possible to provide an overview of the vast amount
of ancient historical sources here, but some important characteristics of Roman
history writing should be mentioned.
The ancient histories that have survived most frequently do not survive as
complete compositions. Because of the accidents of preservation and transmis-
sion history, full sections of otherwise well-preserved works are often missing.
Often, historical accounts are known about only because they were quoted at
great length in the works of other writers. So it must always be remembered
that the historical sources, while quite rich, are also very incomplete.
One of the striking features of ancient-history writing in Rome is the explicit
moralizing. Since about the nineteenth century, historians have attempted,
with varying success, to remove moral judgment from their accounts of the
past. But for the Roman historian, it was an important aspect of the writing.
The lives of figures of the past provided lessons on moral behavior, and this
was an important motive for historical study.
Roman historians were not only interested in moralizing. Frequently they
worked directly with archival materials. Most of the records of public archives
have long been lost, so the only source for these records is in the writings of the
historians. Ancient historians sometimes quoted these documents at length, in
effect preserving the records and allowing us to read them. The same can be
said for major documents such as treaties and law codes, which are, almost ex-
clusively, preserved embedded in larger historical narratives.
Roman Mythology
Mythologies that have been particularly useful (and controversial) in the study
of Roman civilization are the myths about the foundation of Rome. These sto-
ries revolve around the eponymous founder of Rome. Eponymous founders
are individuals who were traditionally held to be the sole founder of a city and
usually blended together mythical and historical aspects. The eponymous
founder was the means by which a culture situated itself in relationship to
other cultures. It was a simplified understanding of a complex situation.
Eponymous founders are also often found in family lineages. In a family line-
age, the eponymous founder is the earliest ancestor (although such a thing can
never be known), and it is from this person that family identity is constructed.
A famous example of eponymous ancestry that is still familiar to modern audi-
ences is Jacob in the Old Testament. He is credited in the Bible as the founder
of the nation of Israel, and all Israelites are said to have descended from him.
Similarly, his brother Esau is the eponymous ancestor of the nation of Edom.
Romulus and Remus. The story of Romulus and Remus is perhaps the best-
known myth of the foundation of Rome. The name Romulus suggests that the
story is a myth. Romulus is a back-formation (a word derived from another
word but claimed to be an earlier form) of the name Rome. A vestal virgin (a
priestess of the goddess Vesta who was prohibited from sexual intercourse)
was impregnated by the god Mars. She gave birth to Romulus and Remus,
twins, but King Amulius (the vestal virgin’s uncle, who had deposed her fa-
ther as king) did not want any claimants to his throne, so he ordered the chil-
dren to be left to die by the Tiber River. The children did not die, however. A
she-wolf suckled them (an image depicted in numerous artistic forms from Ro-
50 THE ROMANS
Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf. Bronze sculpture in the Capitoline Museum,
Rome. (Corel Corporation)
man times to the present) until a herdsman named Faustulus took them in and
raised them as his children.
When the children grew up, they were recognized as the sons of the vestal
virgin. They deposed their great-uncle (the man who had had them left to die)
and reinstalled their grandfather as king of Alba Longa, a city near Rome.
Romulus founded a city on the Palatine Hill. Remus founded a city on the
Aventine Hill. The twins began to quarrel during the construction of the cities,
and eventually Romulus killed Remus.
The myth goes on to describe how Rome developed as a city. Romulus en-
couraged Rome’s growth in several ways. He welcomed criminals and run-
away slaves to settle on the Palatine. His most famous attempt at demographic
expansion is told in a story commonly referred to as “The Rape of the
Sabines.” In this tale, Romulus invited the Sabines (a neighboring people) to
watch games held at Rome. While the Sabine men watched the games, Roman
men carried the Sabine women off and raped them to produce heirs. War be-
tween Rome and the Sabines ensued, but eventually the two cities came to a
mutual peace.
The Aeneas Legend. Another story told of the foundation of Rome is derived
from the Greek epic poem The Iliad. Aeneas is the only Trojan hero to have sur-
vived the Trojan War, and there is some reference in the poem that his descen-
dents will eventually rule Troy. After the Trojan War, Aeneas wandered the
Mediterranean. He had a son named Romus, and when Aeneas founded the
city of Rome, he named the city after this son. The character of Aeneas seems
to have been very popular among the Etruscans and at Lavinium. The compo-
nents of this story that made it popular in Rome were twofold. First, it estab-
lished that the Romans had an ancient pedigree (in the ancient world, older is
better) dating to the Trojan War. Second, it demonstrated that the Romans
were not Greeks and had had a history independent of Greek heritage (Cor-
nell 1995: 65).
Evander. Yet another story involves Evander (sometimes said to be the son of
Hermes) and his movement of people from Arcadia to the Palatine. Since
Evander’s name means “good man,” it is likely that Evander is not a historical
figure. At the Palatine, he supposedly founded a new city and established ritu-
als related to the worship of the Greek god Pan. Other tales tell of how Her-
cules visited Evander at the Palatine and killed a monster for him, leading
Evander to found a cult for Hercules at the site. There are numerous stories
about Evander and his various heroic deeds relating to Roman history, but
most of them stress some fundamental connection between early Rome and
Greece.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
University Press.
Bloch, Raymond. 1960. The Origins of Rome. London: Thames & Hudson.
Burnett, Andrew. 1991. Roman Coins. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ceram, C. W. 1959. Gods, Graves, and Scholars. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Christiansen, Erik. 1995. A History of Rome: From Town to Empire and from Empire to Town.
Aarchus, Denmark: Aarchus University Press.
File.
Cowell, F. R. 1980. Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Perigee Books.
Crawford, Michael. 1982. The Roman Republic. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Deiss, J. J. 1966. Herculaneum: Italy’s Buried Treasure. New York: Crowell.
Dorey, Thomas (ed.). 1966. Latin Historians. London: Routledge & K. Paul.
———. 1967. Latin Biography. London: Routledge & K. Paul.
Dupont, Florence. 1989. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Christopher Woodall (trans.). Cam-
bridge: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Friedländer, Ludwig. 1910. Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire. London:
Routledge & Sons, Ltd.
Gardiner, Jane. 1993. Roman Myths. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Gjerstad, Einar. 1962. Legends and Facts of Early Rome. Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup.
Grant, Michael. 1958. Roman History from Coins. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
———. 1971. Roman Myth. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons.
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Greene, Kevin. 1992. Roman Pottery. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hayes, John W. 1997. Handbook of Mediterranean Roman Pottery. London: British Museum
Press.
Johnson, Stephen. 1989. Rome and Its Empire. New York: Routledge.
Kinney, Dale. 1996. “Mirabilia Urbis Romae,” pp. 759–760 in An Encyclopedia of the History
of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond (ed.). Westport: Greenwood
Press.
Kraus, Theodore. 1975. Pompeii and Herculaneum: The Living Cities of the Dead. New York:
Harry N. Abrams.
MacKendrick, Paul. 1960. The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy. New
York: St. Martin’s Press.
Mellor, Ronald. 1988. “Roman Historiography and Biography,” pp. 1541–1562 in Civi-
lization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Michael Grant and Rachel
Kitzinger (eds.). NewYork: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Moatti, Claude. 1993. The Search for Ancient Rome. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
Ogilvie, R. M. 1976. Early Rome and the Etruscans. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press.
Oresko, Robert. 1997. “Culture in the Age of Baroque and Rococo,” pp. 139–176 in The
Oxford Illustrated History of Italy. George Holmes (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Osborne, John. 1996. “Einsiedeln Itinerary,” pp. 386–387 in An Encyclopedia of the History
of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond (ed.). Westport: Greenwood
Press.
Pallotino, Massimo. 1991. A History of Earliest Italy. Martin Ryle and Kate Soper (trans.).
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Potts, Alex. 1996. “Winckelmann, Johann Joachim (1717–1768),” pp. 1199–1200 in An
Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond
(ed.). Westport: Greenwood Press.
Rowland, Ingrid. 1996. “Roman Academy (Accademia Romana),” pp. 967–968 in An
Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond
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Dearborn Publishers.
IV CHAPTER 4
Origins, Growth, and Decline

of Roman Civilization
T his chapter provides a historical overview of Rome. What follows is a

framework of the major historical events that occurred throughout Rome’s
long history. This account is short and is not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, it
should be used as a beginning step in one’s study of Roman history. A broad
perspective of the flow of Roman history will help provide a structure for fu-
ture investigations. The sheer volume of works written on Roman history can
be overwhelming, and many of them assume a basic level of knowledge. This
section provides that level of knowledge. After reading it, it will be possible to
peruse a more detailed work on Roman history and understand the major ar-
guments that are made and situate the discussion within one’s own broader
perspective. The major events and people in Roman history are described to
give a sense of how they all fit together in the larger narrative of Roman life.
However, the descriptions that follow should not be considered complete. For
example, numerous volumes have been written on the Punic Wars, yet here
they are discussed only in brief.
Furthermore, the discussion that follows represents a history of important
individuals and events. Scholars now recognize that histories involving only
these subjects are inadequate. History is no longer considered just a recounting
and analysis of events and activities of major political figures. History should
be more nuanced, involving discussions of all aspects of ancient lives. Archae-
ology can help this endeavor by providing information on how everyday peo-
ple lived—a perspective that is presented in later chapters. However, histori-
ans who work without a thorough knowledge of emperors, battles, and other
political events are doing themselves and the scholarly world a disservice. Al-
though a given history is not just the history of political events, it does not
mean that that facet of history should be excluded.
After reading this chapter, it is hoped the reader will understand some basic
themes of Roman history. This chapter offers the opportunity to learn about
the difference between the republic and the empire, about the wars with Han-
nibal, and about the lives of famous Romans such as Julius Caesar and
Caligula. It is also important to keep this chapter in mind as a reference tool for
any further study of Rome. Roman history is long and complex, and it is often
difficult to keep the names and events straight. This chapter is a reference tool
that can help in quickly learning about (or remembering) many concepts that
are central to understanding Rome.
53
54 THE ROMANS
ORIGINS AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF ROME

Locating the origins of a particular cultural group or phenomenon is a difficult
task. It is not easy to determine when one culture begins and another ends.
And if an account does look simple—be warned! It is probably an oversimpli-
fication. Histories of origins are intrinsically more complicated than a simple
reading might lead one to believe. Frequently, such accounts are used to justify
the beliefs and values of those writing them and to justify the reality of the
time of the account’s writing. In the case of ancient Rome, the situation is par-
ticularly difficult because of the relative paucity of sources, as opposed to the
tremendous amount of source material available for the later periods. This sec-
tion on the origins and early development of Rome provides a basic frame-
work for understanding the nature of early Rome. Chapter 11 treats the schol-
arly controversies about early Rome.
Iron Age Rome

It is somewhat arbitrary to begin a history of Roman civilization with the Iron
Age settlements, but there are strong breaks between the late Bronze Age
cultures and later cultures in this region. Around 900 B.C.E., large settlements
appeared on previously unsettled soil. The material culture of the early Iron Age
suggests that numerous local groups had arisen. Unlike the late Bronze
Age, which was relatively uniform in Italy, regional variation in the early Iron
Age was considerable. The appearance of cremation burial related to a cultural
horizon referred to as Urnfield culture was the dominant trend in the late
Bronze Age. In contrast, Iron Age Italy had a variety of burial practices and
customs and a variety of identifiable, regional cultural groups. Iron Age cul-
ture can be characterized as many distinct local cultures with a variety of dif-
ferent traits.
One of the most important of these local groups was the Villanovan culture,
which was first identified in 1853. The culture is named after the site at which
it was first identified (Villanova near Bologna). Naming a cultural group after
the first site of identification was a common practice in the archaeology of pre-
historic periods. The most notable feature of Villanovan material culture is the
use of distinctive urns for the burial of their cremated dead. The urns were
biconical and covered with a lid (either a bowl or a helmet). They were placed
in deep shafts and covered by stone slabs. Sometimes the ashes were kept in
terra-cotta models of huts, which likely represented the kind of dwellings in
which the Villanova people lived (Bloch 1960: 69). Evidence for wattle-and-
daub huts that may have resembled these terra-cotta models has been exca-
vated from numerous sites. Usually the dwellings are clustered together in de-
fensible positions. Often the Villanovan culture is viewed as a precursor to
Etruscan culture.
Rome itself has archaeological evidence dating from the middle Bronze Age.
But substantive remains are preserved only from the end of the Bronze Age
and the beginning of the Iron Age (Cornell 1995: 51). These remains belong to
what scholars call the Latial culture (see Table 4.1 for the chronological distinc-
Origins, Growth, and Decline of Roman Civilization 55
Table 4.1 Latial Culture Chronology*
Phase Dates Terminology Preserved Burial Types
I c. 1000–900 B.C.E. Protovillanovan cremation

IIa c. 900–830 B.C.E. Villanovan cremation and inhumation
IIb c. 830–770 B.C.E. Villanovan inhumation
III c. 770–730/20 B.C.E. Villanovan inhumation
IVa c. 730/20–640/30 B.C.E. Orientalizing inhumation
IVb c. 640/30–580 B.C.E. Orientalizing inhumation
*Adapted from Cornell 1995: 50 (Table 1).
tions). In the earliest phases at Rome, these remains are manifest in a number
of urn burials. The urns are circular jars, buried in a pit, and distinct from Vil-
lanovan remains. Other, nearby sites provide information on the Latial culture,
but this is still mostly funerary evidence. The site of Osteria dell’Osa has
yielded hundreds of tombs to archaeologists since the 1970s. This cemetery,
dated to the Latial IIA phase, consists of both cremation- and inhumation-style
burials (Bloch 1960: 75–77; Cornell 1995: 51). Differences in grave goods are as-
sumed to be related to the status of the buried individual, although gender
may also have been a determining factor in the nature of burial used. The evi-
dence for the living members of the Latial culture is less well preserved. Settle-
ments were small, with very little differentiation in structures and material
culture (Cornell 1995: 54). By the IIB phase, the settlements became larger,
leading this period to be characterized as proto-urban. Moving back to Rome
itself, some evidence for huts dating to phases III and IV has been excavated,
indicating the continued occupation of Rome by the Latial culture (Bloch 1960:
69–71; Cornell 1995: 57). Later Roman historians seem to have written about
the cultures of this period, but there are no documents contemporary with this
period.
Rome and the Etruscans

The relationship between Rome and the Etruscan city-states is very unclear.
Later Roman historians seem to have had a love-hate sensibility toward the
Etruscans, and modern scholars have radically different opinions on the na-
ture of Roman-Etruscan connections. Some see the origins of Roman civiliza-
tion as deeply rooted in Etruscan civilization. Other scholars see no connection
between the two. It seems most likely that the answer lies in the middle of
these two extremes. The Etruscans lived in very close proximity to the city of
Rome, and no doubt the interactions between these two peoples were influen-
tial in both directions.
Whatever the exact nature of contact between these two groups, it is worth-
while to present an introductory overview of the Etruscans. From about 800
B.C.E. to 300 B.C.E., the Etruscan culture flourished. Between the Arno River and
the Tiber River, and against the Apennine Mountains, the Etruscans lived in
the region now known as Tuscany. Although Herodotus states that the Etrus-
can people immigrated to Tuscany from Lydia, modern scholars tend to be-
56 THE ROMANS
Etruscan mural paintings from the Tomb of the Fortune Tellers. (Archivo Iconografico, S.A./
Corbis)
lieve that they were indigenous to the region. Since the 1980s, it has been in
vogue among archaeologists to assume internal causes for change rather than
mass migrations of people, so one should be careful about those who dismiss
Herodotus’s accounts out of hand. They may just be following current aca-
demic trends rather than fully accounting for the available data. Linguistic ev-
idence is helpful in resolving this debate.
Most of the Etruscan cities (such as Veii and Tarquinii) were located inland,
but within a day’s reach of the coast. The sites were set upon hilltops in very
defensible positions. Most of the wealth of the Etruscans came from agricul-
ture (owing to the rich volcanic soil) and from mining the rich deposits of cop-
per and iron. Trade, especially with the Greeks, further provided wealth to the
ancient peoples of Tuscany. This region was intensely rich, and it was in no
small part due to the natural resources that Etruscan civilization prospered. At
the same time, the contacts with the Greek world provided the Etruscans with
the best of the Greek and Near Eastern civilizations.
Governance of the Etruscan city-states bore a close resemblance to early Ro-
man governance. In fact, it is often assumed that the early Roman city-state
system was modeled after the Etruscans (Bloch 1960: 105; Crawford 1982: 29;
Ferril 1988: 46–47; Starr 1953: 15). Others suggest that the city-state arrived via
Greece (Pallotino 1991: 118). This is possible, but it must be noted that the city-
state system had been a common form of political organization from as far
back as third-millennium Mesopotamia. A king ruled each city, and each city
was bound to the rest in what scholars traditionally call a “loose confedera-
tion.” Although political authority certainly manifested itself in this kind of
city-state system, religious authority may have been likewise oriented on this
model. There is evidence that the city of Volsinii may have been a kind of reli-
gious center at this time (Grant 1978: 14–15). Within a city-state type of confed-
eration, it is common for different cities to have different kinds of authority
over other cities. So it is not implausible that Volsinii may have been a religious
capital, yet other cities may have had more political or economic authority.
The Regal Period

The history of the regal period is fraught with problems. It is very difficult to
tease out facts from the ancient historical accounts of that time. Certainly the
origin accounts are mythical (and are discussed in chapter 11). Ancient sources
speak of seven kings ruling Rome in the regal period (see Table 4.2). The first
of these kings was the mythical Romulus, who, according to tradition,
founded Rome on April 21, 753 B.C.E. Following Romulus were six more kings.
Historians pick and choose between the kings they believe were historical fig-
ures and those they believe were mythical. In general, historians are more
trusting of the later kings in the lists as opposed to the earliest. However, the
dates of 753 B.C.E.–510 B.C.E. are usually considered relatively trustworthy by
historians, but not precisely accurate (Scullard 1961: 30–33). The accounts of
these seven early kings represent attempts by ancient historians (writing in
later periods) to identify the origins of particular Roman institutions. For ex-
ample, the third king, Tullus Hostilius, is said to have founded the Senate
house.
The processes involved in the selection of a king have not survived to the
present; however, it is known that kingship in the regal period was not heredi-
tary (Crawford 1988: 30; Ferril 1988: 47). Scholars have suggested that the king
was selected from the upper officials who served the previous king. Evidence
for this is based on the observation that a king and his successor were often
linked by marriage. The daughter of the reigning king, it is reported, was fre-
quently married to the king’s chosen successor. This evidence is very problem-
atic. Genealogical data from ancient sources are often not trustworthy. The
Table 4.2 Traditional Dates and Ethnicity of the Seven Kings of Rome
Name Regnal Years Ethnicity
Romulus 753–715 B.C.E. Various traditions

Numa Pompilius 715–673 B.C.E. Sabine
Tullus Hostilius 673–641 B.C.E. Latin
Ancus Marcius 641–616 B.C.E. Sabine
Tarquin I 616–579 B.C.E. Etruscan
Servius Tullius 579–534 B.C.E. Various traditions
Tarquin the Proud 534–509 B.C.E. Etruscan
58 THE ROMANS
links between the seven kings of Rome may indicate the attempts on the part
of later historians to make sense of the connectedness of these individuals. The
information available about these kings is also very explicit about indicating
that they were not ethnically Roman. Whether this was true is unclear. It is in-
teresting that the accounts of the Roman kings suggest Latin, Sabine, and
Etruscan origins—this is probably indicative of an ancient society composed of
people of varying backgrounds and where ethnicity (if such a concept can be
said to have existed) was fluid and complex.
The kings called “Etruscan” have been of particular interest to modern
scholars of Rome. King Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin I), accounts claim, brought
Etruscan culture to the city of Rome (Bloch 1960: 101; le Glay et al. 2001: 24;
Heurgon 1973: 141–143). This same king is the supposed initiator of the many
early public works projects. It is unclear exactly how much these claims are
based on early traditions and how much they are based on early historians’ de-
sires to explain where Etruscan influences in Roman society came from. Mod-
ern historians have traditionally taken the rise of Tarquin as indicative of an
Etruscan conquest or domination of Rome (Ferril 1988: 47; Grant 1978: 23).
They have regarded the evidence as suggestive that the Etruscans had a hege-
monic influence over Rome and often refer to this time as the Etruscan period.
Recently, Cornell has challenged the long-held belief that regal Rome ever ex-
perienced an Etruscan period. He suggests that Tarquin was not Etruscan and
that his (and his successors’) reigns do not represent an Etruscan domination
of Rome (Cornell 1995: 156–159). Cornell’s ideas are not conventional but they
are important to consider. He illustrates that the long-held notion that the Tar-
quins ushered in a new era is based on minimal evidence. Whether or not the
reigns of Tarquin and his successors represented an Etruscan incursion, there
was likely a strong link between the Roman and Etruscan cultures.
The last king of Rome was supposedly Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin
the Proud), who is said to have come to the throne after assassinating the pre-
vious king. As the story goes, Tarquin the Proud was an unpopular and unjust
king. Problems arose when his son Sextus raped Lucretia (the virtuous wife of
Sextus’s cousin, Collatinus). Lucretia killed herself (in virtuous Roman fash-
ion), and popular anger toward Sextus led to rebellion. The Tarquins were ex-
pelled in this rebellion and Rome became a republic. It is probable that at some
point around 510 B.C.E., the Roman governing system did switch from a
monarchy to a republic in a rebellion. However, the impetus for the rebellion,
the rape of Lucretia, seems more like a Roman or Greek literary invention than
an actual event.
Rise of the Roman City-State

How do the events recorded by Roman historians compare with the archaeo-
logical record of the time? Most scholars think the two mesh together fairly
well. The archaeological record of the period suggests that the site of Rome ex-
panded in the mid-seventh century, becoming more heavily urbanized. This is
consistent with other sites in the region. Larger, more urbanized sites are often
associated with the rise of what has been called the city-state system. This was
the major organizational system of the Etruscans as well (see the previous sec-
tion on the regal period). The city-state usually consisted of a large settlement,
with a defensive position and communal areas within the city itself. Cemeter-
ies and farmsteads were outside of the settlement proper. Governance was lo-
cal and centered in the city.
Theories of how the city-state came to be the dominant mode of settlement
in Italy at this time are many. The fundamental difference among the various
theories is the rate at which scholars assume change occurs. Some suggest that
city-states are founded all at once (Gjerstad 1962). Others suggest that urban-
ization occurs gradually (Cornell 1995). Rate of change is a problem in histori-
cal and scientific fields in general (e.g., the debates surrounding Stephen Jay
Gould’s notion of punctuated equilibrium, which suggests that change occurs
very quickly between periods of change and very long periods of stasis) and is
not likely to be resolved anytime soon.
The archaeological evidence for city-state settlements and the historical evi-
dence for the kings of Rome are consistent with each other. Although the de-
tails and personalities of the kings of the regal period may not represent real,
historical personages, the institution of kingship within the context of a city-
state form of government probably accurately describes the regal period.
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

The beginning of the Roman republic coincides with the expulsion of the Tar-
quins from the city itself. With the forced exit of the Etruscan monarchy came
the formation of the republican form of government. Whether or not the expul-
sion was an actual historical event at this stage, history can now be discussed
more confidently. A description of the new form of governance can be found in
chapter 7.
Concomitant with the rise of the new form of government was the rise of an
order of people known as the plebs (or plebians). In contrast to the patricians
(elite families who claimed descent from the original senators chosen by Rom-
ulus), the plebs were a heterogeneous group of underprivileged people who
organized themselves into a collective political unit (see chapter 6). In 494
B.C.E., the plebs withdrew from the city of Rome (likely on account of mount-
ing debts) and gathered on the Sacred Mount. There they voted to create their
own governing body—the concilium plebis. This event, according to ancient his-
torians, led to the codification of Roman law in the “Twelve Tables.” These
laws gave equality to all citizens but also formalized the differences between
the two orders. Modern scholars often refer to the conflict between these two
groups as “The Conflict of the Orders,” of which more is said in chapter 6.
The Latin League and the Conquest of Italy

As Rome grew in size, it found itself in conflict with numerous neighboring
Latin cities. These cities had banded together centuries earlier for shared cultic
and religious purposes. With Rome’s rise to prominence, this league of cities
took on a militaristic aspect as well (Ferril 1988: 50). Modern scholars refer to
60 THE ROMANS
this organization as the Latin League, although it must be mentioned that this
was not a name used in antiquity. The exact nature of this organization is not
well understood, nor is the sequence of events that led to war with Rome. It is
clear that the Latin League went to war with Rome sometime after 504 B.C.E.,
and victory was gained by the Romans at the Battle of Lake Regillus in 499
B.C.E. The causes of the war were probably rooted in Rome’s growing economic
and military might.
Although Rome had been victorious in 499 B.C.E., relations between the two
entities did not normalize until a formal treaty was agreed upon six years later.
The foedus Cassianus, between Rome and the Latin League, was formed in 493
B.C.E., marking the end of the Latin War (Crawford 1982: 43; Ferril 1988: 50).
Named after the Roman consul who was instrumental in its creation, the treaty
viewed Rome and the rest of the league as equal partners, with Rome the only
city able to call all of the cities to war. It established certain rights between the
citizens and established a system of common defense. Spoils of war were di-
vided, giving half to the league and half to Rome (Cornell 1995: 299). The con-
ditions of the treaty were preserved by a summary in the writings of Dionysius
of Halicarnassus.
Perhaps some of the motivation behind the foedus Cassianus was the desire
for mutual security (Walbank et al. 1989: 282). Migrations of people known as
the Volsci, the Sabines, and the Aequi led to attacks by these peoples against
Roman and Latin territory. Throughout the fifth century, Rome was forced to
fend off attacks from these three groups and various others. It is difficult to de-
termine, from the accounts preserved by Livy regarding this period, what
were historical events and what were literary tales. It is clear that war pre-
vented the region from gaining stability for the first half of the fifth century.
Through the second half of the fifth century, however, the raids of the Volsci
and Aequi became more infrequent, and those of the Sabines seemed to have
stopped completely.
The Veientine Wars. While the raids of the Volsci and Aequi tapered off,
Rome and the city of Veii (15 km north of Rome) soon became entrenched in a
serious conflict. These cities had had an uneasy relationship since the regal pe-
riod, engaging in occasional warfare (Walbank et al. 1989: 294). In the latter
half of the fifth century, conflict between the two states broke out over the con-
trol of transportation routes along the Tiber River. For both cities, prosperity
was based on their central location on major trade routes, and securing access
to these routes was a necessary step in ensuring that that prosperity would
continue (Cornell 1995: 310; Grant 1978: 49; Huergon 1973: 181). Three wars
were fought relating to this issue. The first Veientine War lasted from 483 B.C.E.
to 474 B.C.E., the second from 437 B.C.E. to 435 B.C.E., and the third from 406
B.C.E. to 396 B.C.E. The length of this third war led to a reorganization of the Ro-
man military (Grant 1978: 51 [also see Cornell 1995: 313]); to accommodate the
length of time, Roman soldiers were kept away from home (see chapter 7). The
series of conflicts ended when the Romans captured the city of Veii in 396
B.C.E., after a long siege.
The Attack of the Gauls. After the conquest of Veii, Rome was poised to be-
come the most powerful force in central Italy when an old threat reasserted it-
self. For centuries, bands of marauding Gauls had come across the Alps. An
ambiguous term, Gaul, in general use, can refer to any Celtic or German tribe.
Here, the Gauls were marauding tribes who attacked Rome from the north.
These attacks were sporadic and of little consequence, given the preponder-
ance of intercity conflict throughout the period. But in 390 B.C.E., one army of
Gauls managed to penetrate the Roman heartland all the way to the River Al-
lia, according to Polybius. Since the Romans were used to fighting in phalanx
formation (see chapter 7), the Gauls were able to defeat the Roman forces by
surrounding and overpowering them in hand-to-hand combat (Grant 1978:
52).
After this easy victory, the Gallic army entered Rome. Most of the popula-
tion of Rome had already fled, but Livy tells of some who remained behind.
Livy recounts two stories of the Gauls’ entrance into Rome to illustrate the
valor of Roman citizens even in the face of defeat. The first story describes the
Gallic plunder of the area surrounding the Forum. Upon entering the patrician
houses that had not been boarded up, the Gallic army was struck by the
majesty of the Roman citizens and mistook them for statues. But when one
Gaul tugged on the beard of a Roman, the Roman responded by striking the
Gaul with a staff. The Gallic response was to kill all those remaining and burn
down the houses.
The second story told by Livy is of the garrison that held Capitoline Hill.
The Gauls attempted a night raid against this last group of Romans. They
moved up the hill secretively, undetected by the Roman watch. But, according
to Livy, the sacred geese of Juno noticed them and began honking. When the
Romans heard this commotion, they used the chance to slay the Gallic in-
vaders. Eventually, however, the forces on Capitoline Hill were forced to sur-
render because they had run out of supplies. Whatever the truth of Livy’s ac-
counts, the Gauls left Rome after being paid a heavy ransom and plundering
much of the city (Walbank et al. 1989: 308).
Scholars do not agree on how the sack of Rome affected the republic in its
immediate aftermath. It is uncertain how much the attack weakened Rome
economically. Crawford suggests that the incident had almost no impact on
Roman development, and that the renovation of the Servian Wall twelve years
later indicated that Rome’s wealth lay undiminished (1982: 39). Cornell also
sees the quick economic recovery of Rome as evidence that this disaster was
not as catastrophic as the ancient accounts suggest (1995: 318). The fact re-
mains, however, that this wall was built for primarily defensive purposes, and
that construction did not begin until twelve years later. The construction of the
wall suggests a fear of attack, and the long time that elapsed before construc-
tion began suggests that Rome was impoverished. For years it was assumed
that the Gauls destroyed many historical documents at the time of the invasion
(including annals from the regal period). But scholars have become more in-
clined to believe that these records never existed at all. The sack of Rome must
have caused a terrible economic crisis at first, but certainly it was not long be-
62 THE ROMANS
fore the republic was running smoothly again. Security became a central con-
cern of the republic, as did territorial expansion.
The First Samnite War. From 343 B.C.E. to 341 B.C.E., the Romans were at war
with the Samnites. The term Samnite refers to a group of tribes organized in a
federation of villages, occupying south-central Italy (Grant 1978: 62). In 354
B.C.E., a treaty had been established between Rome and the Samnites. But
Rome’s alliance with the city of Capua brought them into conflict with the
Samnites in 343 B.C.E., according to Livy. By 341 B.C.E., the war had drawn to a
close, and a new treaty was established, guaranteeing the previously held
lands and alliances of both sides. This alliance with the Samnites would later
prove beneficial in Rome’s development as the supreme power in Italy. But
peace with the Samnites would not last.
The End of the Latin League. Allied with Rome since the foedus Cassianus of
493 B.C.E., the Latin League became concerned that Rome’s powers were grow-
ing too strong after the war with the Samnites (Cornell 1995: 348; Crawford
1982: 41). It is likely that in the years following the Gallic sack, Rome had been
inconsistent in honoring the terms of the treaty. There may have been occa-
sional war with the Latins, but the evidence for these conflicts is not as clear as
some scholars suggest (Pallotino 1991: 132). It is certain that in 340 B.C.E., the
Latin League revolted against Rome. Probably an attempt to check Rome’s
growth and expansion, the revolt proved futile. Rome utterly defeated the
Latin League in 338 B.C.E. (with the help of the Samnites), and the reorganiza-
tion of the Latin states strengthened Rome’s position immeasurably (Crawford
1988: 19; Pallotino 1991: 129).
Rome disbanded the Latin League and organized the Latin towns in a man-
ner that prevented them from allying themselves against Rome. In essence, ac-
The Legacy of Alexander the Great
When Alexander the Great of Macedon died in 323 B.C.E., he left behind a
huge empire, stretching from Greece to the Indus Valley. However, he did not
leave behind a clear successor and until 281 B.C.E., the empire was contested
by the diadochoi (the Greek word for “successors”).The diadochoi competed
with one another for control of the divided empire and those related to
Alexander by blood were killed off quickly. The most important successor
was Ptolemy, who gained control of Egypt. Eventually, however, both empires
were absorbed into the Roman Empire.All of these territories that had been
conquered by Alexander were Hellenized, which is to say the regions had
been greatly affected and transformed by the encounter with Greek culture.
The absorption of these Hellenized regions into the Roman Empire brought
Greek practices into even greater prominence throughout the empire.
cording to Livy, all the Latin towns were assimilated into Rome. The Latin
cities were made into municipia, some of which were fully incorporated into
the Roman state with full rights of citizenship (Heurgon 1973: 200). Others had
all rights of citizenship with the exception of the right to vote (Heurgon 1973:
200). The designation of cities as municipia instantly made large portions of
Italy Roman. Rome further entrenched its power by encouraging the elites of
these municipia to participate in Roman social and economic life. Indeed, ties
of marriage and finance integrated the Latin cities into the strict social hierar-
chy of Rome. By marrying the interests of municipia elites with those of Rome,
the Roman state gained a powerful hegemony over large sections of Italy. Re-
volt from the municipia no longer was a concern, because the municipia saw
themselves as Roman, with commercial and social interests dependent on the
Roman state’s prosperity. And because tribute usually took the form of man-
power sent to the Roman army, the Latin cities lost their independent military
forces.
Furthering Roman strength in Italy after 338 B.C.E., Rome greatly increased
the policy of establishing coloniae (colonies). Coloniae were settlements created
where none had existed before. Particularly, they were set up in strategic mili-
tary or economic regions. Locations of Roman weakness quickly became loca-
tions of Roman strength (Crawford 1988: 21; Grant 1978: 45, 60). Furthermore,
by displacing large segments of the population and establishing them in new
areas, Rome weakened internal opposition. These new colonies became com-
pletely dependent on support from Rome.
The Second Samnite War. Roman interests began to conflict with Samnite in-
terests again in 328 B.C.E. with the foundation of the Roman colony at Fregellae
(Cornell 1995: 352). In 327 B.C.E., Rome (upon request from its ally Naples)
again went to war with the Samnites. The Caudine Forks was the site of tre-
mendous Roman military loss in 321 B.C.E. Although scholars do not agree on
the scale of devastation, the Roman army was forced to surrender (Heurgon
1973: 207). But when the republic refused the terms of surrender, the war be-
gan again. In 303 B.C.E., the war came to an end without a clear victor.
During the second Samnite War, the Romans constructed the Via Appia (the
Appian Way), a major road between Rome and Capua. This was not the first
major road leading to Rome; in fact, Rome’s position at the crossroads of many
trade routes provided it with strategic advantage from its inception. But the
Via Appia can be considered the first massive public roadway built to facilitate
military traffic (Grant 1978: 63). Although previous roads had been gravel and
were constructed simply, the Appian Way’s construction was a monumental
undertaking, involving a significant amount of engineering activity. Here can
be found the beginnings of Roman intercity infrastructure.
The Third Samnite War. By the outbreak of the third Samnite War, Rome had
most of Italy under its control. In 298 B.C.E. the Samnites, along with a coalition
of Etruscans, Gauls, and Umbrians, went to war with Rome in an attempt to
check its growing power (Heurgon 1973: 209). The major defeat of the Samnite
64 THE ROMANS
A section of the Via Appia near Rome. (Pixel That)
forces came in 295 B.C.E. at the Battle of Sentinum. In 290 B.C.E., the Samnites
surrendered to Rome and became assimilated under greater Rome. Within a
few years, a similar fate befell the Etruscans and Gauls.
The Pyrrhic Wars. After the third Samnite War, Rome controlled most of Italy
south of the Po Valley. But it would be Rome’s victories in the Pyrrhic Wars
that would secure Roman domination over a conquered and unified Italy
(Cornell 1995: 364; Ferril 1988: 52). The background of these wars was Rome’s
relationship to the neighboring Greek regions. Alexander of Epirus (a Greek
mercenary) had formed a treaty with Rome in 334 B.C.E. to prevent Rome from
interfering in activities among the Greek cities, including Tarentum, and Rome
had mostly honored that treaty.
However, when the construction of Roman colonies began in Greece, Taren-
tum declared war on Rome with the backing of Pyrrhus of Epirus (a relative of
Alexander the Great). In 280 B.C.E., Pyrrhus landed in Italy with a huge expedi-
tionary force. Pyrrhus won his early battles, but at huge costs to his army
(which included twenty elephants). The expression “pyrrhic victory,” meaning
a victory gained at a cost greater than the rewards, originated from the Battle
of Asculum in 279 B.C.E., when Pyrrhus narrowly defeated the Roman army.
Although the Romans’ old enemies, the Samnites, joined Pyrrhus, most of
Rome’s other allies remained loyal to the city. In 275 B.C.E., the Romans de-
feated him at Beneventum. Pyrrhus’s misfortunes continued in his attacks on
Sicily, where, after initial victories, he was held off by the powerful forces of
the Carthaginians. In 274 B.C.E., Pyrrhus returned to Epirus and from there
managed to conquer most of Greece and Macedon. He was killed at the city of
Argos, supposedly by a pot that a woman threw out of a window, hitting him
in the head. Strangely, this is a common trope in ancient literature. As a means
of denigrating the memory of warriors, stories are told of their deaths caused
by women throwing household goods from higher stories of buildings (for a
similar story, see the Book of Judges 9:50–54 in the Old Testament). So it is un-
likely that this is how Pyrrhus actually died. In 272 B.C.E., the war came to an
end when the Romans laid siege to Tarentum. This victory gave Rome com-
plete control of southern Italy (Pallotino 1991: 137).
The Punic Wars and Expansion

At the same time that Rome emerged as a world power, the city of Carthage (in
Tunisia) had reached a similar status. Carthage was founded in the Iron Age
by Phoenicians from the city of Tyre (in modern Lebanon). The Phoenicians
were sea merchants with a long naval tradition. They spoke a Semitic language
known as Phoenician, through which the alphabet was introduced into Greek
(itself the basis of today’s alphabet). Phoenician language inscriptions that are
written in Latin script are referred to as Punic.
Carthage and Rome had long been allies, seeing common enemies in the
Etruscans, the Greeks, and King Pyrrhus. But after Rome had conquered the
southernmost sections of Italy, the Mediterranean Sea became a contested
arena. Sicily, which allowed easy access to both Italy and North Africa, became
the first contested ground (Pallotino 1991: 141).
The First Punic War. From 264 B.C.E. to 241 B.C.E., Rome and Carthage fought
on the island of Sicily. Initially, the war on Sicily had nothing to do with either
of these great cities (Craword 1982: 55; Grant 1978: 95). The Sicilian city of
Syracuse had hired Greek mercenaries (the Mammertines) to fight for them.
But after a disagreement about pay, the Mammertines seized the city of Mes-
sana (modern Messina) on the northeastern tip of the island (Caven 1980: 82).
Syracuse responded with force and the Mammertines responded by pleading
for help, first from the Carthaginians and then from the Romans. Rome was di-
vided as to whether it should assist. According to Polybius, the Senate did not
vote to attack, but the assembly did. Rome did invade, however: Sicily was lo-
cated too strategically to allow the Carthaginians to gain control of it (Caven
1980: 15).
The Romans’ arrival at Sicily was met with some successes. The early victo-
ries led to an alliance with Hiero of Syracuse (Grant 1978: 95), and soon Rome
dominated most of Sicily. But the Romans did not control the seas, a vital area
when battling for control of an island. In contrast, naval forces had been a
66 THE ROMANS
Phoenician strength since at least the late Bronze Age (and probably earlier).
Rome had never developed as a sea power. This was in great part because of
its geographical location; it was an inland city without a seaport, and Rome’s
growth throughout Italy had not required extensive naval powers. Polybius
claims that Rome rectified the situation by building a navy of ships modeled
after a wrecked Carthaginian vessel that had been captured. After a rocky
start, Rome eventually gained the upper hand at sea, possibly through an in-
novation on the ship design. Added to Roman ships was the corvus (the crow),
which was a drawbridge with an iron spike at the end. A Roman ship would
come alongside a Carthaginian ship and drop the drawbridge onto it. The iron
spike would hold the Carthaginian ship to the side of the Roman ship and al-
low Roman soldiers to board the enemy ship and defeat them from inside.
This grappling technique took away the Carthaginian naval advantage and al-
lowed Rome to use its hand-to-hand fighting skills at sea (Ferril 1988: 53; Grant
1978: 96).
In 241 B.C.E., Carthage was forced to withdraw from Sicily, make peace with
Rome, and pay a large indemnity. Shortly thereafter, Rome altered the terms of
the agreement by taking control of Sardinia as well. Both Sicily and Sardinia
were treated as territories by Rome. These territories were taxed and ruled di-
rectly by Rome, a significant departure from the treaty-building model Rome
had used to bring mainland Italy under its control (Crawford 1988: 28; Grant
1978: 99).
The Second Punic War. In the aftermath of the Roman defeat of Carthage, re-
bellions broke out among Carthage’s Spanish territories. These rebellions
brought Hamilcar Barca (a Carthaginian general) to Spain, along with his son,
Hannibal. Carthage fought numerous wars in this region, losing Hamilcar
along the way. In what modern scholars call the Treaty of Ebro, Hamilcar’s
successor, Hasdrubal, promised Rome that Carthaginian forces would not
cross the Ebro River, although it was probably a unilateral statement on Has-
drubal’s behalf and not a bilateral agreement per se (Caven 1980: 82; Grant
1978: 115).
When Hasdrubal was assassinated in 221 B.C.E., the Carthaginian army de-
clared Hannibal their leader. Hannibal, one of history’s most brilliant military
tacticians, led the Carthaginian army against Rome in the Second Punic War,
which lasted from 218 B.C.E. to 202 B.C.E. The conflict ignited over the town of
Saguntum, south of the Ebro River. The Romans claimed Saguntum as a pro-
tectorate (although the exact nature of the relationship is debated), so when
Hannibal attacked the city, on the grounds that Saguntum was a security threat
to Carthaginian holdings, it was tantamount to a declaration of war against
Rome (Caven 1980: 88–89; Ferril 1998: 54; Grant 1978: 115). No one is certain if
Hannibal intended this act as an invitation for war with Rome, but when
Saguntum fell to Carthage in 218 B.C.E., Rome and Carthage became enemies
again.
Hannibal decided to attack Italy directly. The logical route would have been
through the Mediterranean Sea, but because Rome had become the preemi-
Hannibal and his soldiers crossing the Alps, with elephants. (Library of Congress)
nent naval power, this would have meant devastation for the Carthaginian
forces. So a land route was necessary and Hannibal’s legendary crossing of the
Alps was the solution. The exact route Hannibal followed has been obscured
by time, but it is most probable that he and his massive forces traveled along
the Spanish coast, moved north along the Rhone River, and then went over the
Alps and into Italy (Caven 1980: 119; Grant 1978: 116). Rome sent an army to
cut off Hannibal’s forces at the Rhone River, but in a strategic misstep they ar-
rived too late and missed the Carthaginian army.
When Hannibal came out of the Alps, he gained the support of the Gauls,
whom the Romans had recently defeated. Indeed, the Po Valley was an area of
weakness for Roman security, and Hannibal marshaled new allies there, re-
building the army that had decreased through the arduous journey (Crawford
1982: 56; Grant 1978: 116). In 218 B.C.E., Hannibal defeated Roman armies at the
Ticino and Trebbia Rivers. While Rome recalled troops from around the em-
pire, Hannibal moved his forces through an unguarded corridor toward cen-
tral Italy. At Lake Trasimene in 217 B.C.E., Hannibal ambushed and defeated a
Roman army. The Romans changed strategy with the election of Quintus
Fabius as dictator. Now the Roman armies avoided head-to-head conflict with
68 THE ROMANS
Scipio Africanus
Born in 236 B.C.E., Scipio was one of Rome’s greatest military minds, never
having lost a battle. He is most famous for his defeat of Hannibal at the Battle
of Zama in 202 B.C.E. The title Africanus was bestowed upon him for his victo-
ries in Africa. The battle strategies Scipio employed were so effective that
General Patton is said to have employed strategies based on Scipio’s in World
War II. Scipio was also known as a lover of all things Greek. At this stage in
Roman history, this was an unusual attitude, one that was used against Scipio
by his enemies in the Roman Senate. But for the most part, Scipio was
extremely popular with the Roman public and his own soldiers had a near-
mystical devotion to him.
Hannibal’s army, preferring to keep Roman forces in upper areas to engage in

small raids against Hannibal (Ferril 1988: 54; Grant 1978: 118). Such tactics
were known as “Fabian tactics,” which, in modern vocabulary, refers to tactics
of delay and harassment. But this was unpopular with the Roman populace
(Caven 1980: 129), and in 216 B.C.E., Rome engaged Hannibal head-on at the
Battle of Cannae. This was a stunning defeat for Rome, in which possibly
70,000 Roman men lost their lives, severely diminishing the Roman military.
The defeat also led to the abandonment of numerous Roman allies, including
the Samnites, Syracuse, Philip V of Macedon, and numerous individual cities
throughout Italy (Caven 1980: 141).
The weakness in Hannibal’s strategy was that he was cut off from Carthage,
unable to reinforce his army, and therefore unable to protect his holdings
(Caven 1980: 149). After nine years, Hannibal’s brother’s army (in Spain) set
out to help in Italy. But this Carthaginian force was destroyed by the Roman
general Scipio. This victory led to Scipio’s election as consul and to his subse-
quent journey to Africa to attack Carthage directly. Now with Rome as the ag-
gressor, Carthage was forced to recall Hannibal to Africa, where his forces
were defeated by Scipio’s in 202 B.C.E. at the Battle of Zama. Henceforth, Scipio
became known as Scipio Africanus, for his conquest of Africa (Crawford 1982:
61). (See sidebar above.)
The Roman terms of surrender were brought to Carthage by Hannibal, who
accepted the harsh conditions. In addition to a yearly payment to Rome,
Carthage lost all holdings outside of Africa and was forbidden to wage war
outside of Africa. Rome took over Spanish holdings in Spain (although numer-
ous rebellions made this a difficult region to administer). Within Africa itself,
Carthage could go to war—with Rome’s permission. Hannibal gave up his
military role to concentrate on domestic management and Carthage’s eco-
nomic success grew again. Rome, uncomfortable with Hannibal’s continued
presence, demanded he be handed over. Hannibal refused and fled eastward
until 182 B.C.E., when he poisoned himself to avoid capture.
The Third Punic War. The third and last Punic War (151–146 B.C.E.) led to the
complete destruction of Carthage. The North African city and its remaining
holdings had continued to prosper economically (Grant 1978: 143). But consid-
erable enmity was still felt toward Carthage in Rome. Politicians, most notably
Cato the Elder, insisted that Rome’s safety could not be guaranteed until
Carthage was razed (Crawford 1982: 93; Grant 1978: 144). Public opinion fa-
vored a military end to Carthage. In 151 B.C.E., Rome had its ally, Numidia (in
Africa), manufacture a crisis to force Carthage to attack, thereby breaking its
treaty obligations (Crawford 1982: 93; Grant 1978: 144). Rome, declaring this to
be a breaking of the previous agreement, declared war on Carthage. In 146
B.C.E., Carthage was destroyed completely. All of the surviving citizens became
slaves, and the North African lands became a Roman province (Grant 1978:
144).
The Conquest of the East. Throughout the Punic Wars, Rome was also in-
volved in military affairs in the Greek and Near Eastern worlds (Errington
1971: 102, 131). During this time, Rome fully encountered the Hellenized
world and began to assimilate Greece into the newly expanding Roman Em-
pire. Even though Rome traditionally had been somewhat involved in Greek
affairs, it had always been reluctant to engage Greece fully (Errington 1971: 7).
It was during the First Illyrian War (229 B.C.E.–228 B.C.E.) that Rome’s expan-
sion began to include Greece (Crawford 1982: 62). The war, according to Poly-
bius, began in a setting of state-supported (or at least not discouraged) piracy.
The Illyrians, a people who lived east of the Adriatic Sea from Rome, had long
engaged in piracy against ships traveling in that vicinity. According to Poly-
bius, this piracy reached its pinnacle while under Queen Teuta of the Illyrians.
When the Romans protested the piracy, the Roman ambassador was killed. At
this, Rome declared war against Illyria. Rome easily defeated Illyria and left
much of Queen Teuta’s kingdom under the control of a Greek named
Demetrius of Pharos. Furthermore, restrictions were placed on sailing in this
region and a heavy tribute was imposed (Scullard 1961: 190).
In 220 B.C.E., the Second Illyrian War broke out—this time against Rome’s
former ally, Demetrius. There were several factors involved in initiating war
once again. At the time, the Romans claimed that Demetrius’s destruction of
Greek cities and acts of piracy went against the treaties reached after the First
Illyrian War (Crawford 1982: 63). Certainly, in this, Rome was gaining the sup-
port of Greek public opinion. Crawford (1982: 63) has also suggested that, with
the second Punic War imminent, the Romans wanted to shore up their eastern
flank against Carthage. Whatever the motivations, Rome quickly forced
Demetrius to flee.
Demetrius fled to Philip V of Macedon. By this time, the Second Punic War
was well under way. Demetrius convinced Philip (according to Polybius) to
join sides with Carthage against Rome. Certainly, Philip V had been made un-
easy by Rome’s ability to intervene in political affairs in Illyria, and he desired
to limit Rome’s powers. So after the Roman defeat at Cannae, Philip V allied
himself with Hannibal. But when the tide turned against Carthage in 205 B.C.E.,
70 THE ROMANS
Philip V removed himself from the alliance and formed a treaty with Rome
(Scullard 1961: 219).
Livy and Polybius disagree on exactly when and how conflict arose again
between Rome and Macedon. The likeliest course of events is that when Mace-
don began moving against Rhodes, the island asked Rome for help. Claiming
that Philip V and Antiochus III (of Syria) were conspiring about dominance
over Egypt, Rhodes was able to convince Rome that Philip was in a position to
become too powerful. Consequently, in 200 B.C.E., Rome attacked Macedonia.
Under the direction of General Gaius Flaminius, Rome managed to defeat
Philip in 197 B.C.E. at the Battle of Cynoscephalae.
At first, Rome left the Greek city-states to their own devices (Gruen 1968: 78;
Rawson 1988: 52; Scullard 1961: 219). At the Isthmean Games in 196 B.C.E., the
same general who led Rome to victory against Macedon—Flaminius—declared
all Greek cities free. However, the Greek cities proved themselves unable to
manage their internal affairs without conflict and Rome soon returned, inter-
vening (Grant 1978: 134–138). Antiochus III of Syria, who had amassed a large
empire in the Near East while Rome was fighting Carthage, attacked Greece in
192 B.C.E. Rome, with the help of Carthage, and was able to defeat Antiochus in
190 B.C.E. at Magnesia. Rome gave much of Antiochus’s empire to Pergamum,
the city that had initially requested Roman help against Antiochus.
Between 171 B.C.E. and 168 B.C.E. the Romans went to war against Philip V’s
son, Perseus. His defeat in 168 B.C.E. led to the dissolution of Macedon into
four republics (Grant 1978: 140). The tax imposed on these Macedonian re-
publics was very high—so high, in fact, that all Roman citizens were exempted
from taxes at the time (Scullard 1961: 297–298), a fact that led to revolt in 149
B.C.E. Rome easily crushed this revolt and re-formed the four separate re-
publics into one larger Macedonia. Another revolt was crushed in 146 B.C.E.
This second revolt led to the total destruction of the city of Corinth (Grant
1978: 143; Scullard 1961: 305). Rome had gained a new empire to the east, and
in 133 B.C.E., King Attalus II of Pergamum willed all of the territory gained
from Antiochus III to Rome. The Roman republic now controlled territory
from Spain to Syria and from Africa to the Alps.
Fall of the Republic

Rome’s now huge empire and immense wealth caused a number of problems
that eventually led to the collapse of the republic and the concentration of po-
litical power in the hands of a single individual—the emperor. The gulf be-
tween rich and poor had grown tremendously (Grant 1978: 151). Wealth
flowed into the capital in huge amounts, but only to a small group of families.
Furthermore, because senators were restricted in the kinds of commerce in
which they could engage, the ruling families were no longer necessarily the
wealthy families. Land was often confiscated from the poor to grant it to mili-
tary personnel (a group that had become quite powerful). Much of the tax bur-
den rested on Italians outside of Rome, who lacked many of the rights of Ro-
man citizens. Various military threats further demonstrated the incapacity of
the Roman republic to deal with problems both inside and outside of Rome.
Up to this point, this chapter has dealt mostly with Rome’s expansion and ex-
ternal affairs; however, the fall of the republic is deeply rooted in the internal
affairs of the government of Rome.
The Land Crisis. As Rome’s territories had grown, the wealthy in Rome had
gained massive fortunes. Much of this wealth was converted into landhold-
ings, with the wealthy buying huge estates throughout Italy (Stockton 1979: 7).
This amassing of land into elite hands undermined the traditional Mediter-
ranean economy, which was based on small-scale subsistence farming and pas-
toralism (Crawford 1982: 103; Crawford 1988: 33; Grant 1978: 162). Large cities,
especially Rome, depended on food imported from the countryside, and cre-
ated much more profitable venues for the sales of the cash crops produced by
these huge farms, which were often run by absentee landlords. This meant that
the rural, landless poor had increasingly little access to staple foods. The situa-
tion worsened with the return of Roman soldiers to Italy. Many small farmers
were evicted from their lands so that the returning soldier could be provided
with a farm for his own family. The rural poor, forced off their land with no ac-
cess to the basic necessities of life, moved into urban centers (Grant 1978: 165).
Two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, attempted to solve these problems.
Their efforts eventually led to the breakdown of the republican system.
The Gracchi came from a very prominent family (Stockton 1979: 23). Their
father was a governor of Spain, and their mother was the famous Cornelia,
daughter of Scipio Africanus. Tiberius, who was elected tribune in 133 B.C.E.,
was married to the daughter of Appius Claudius (see the sidebar on page 72).
Tiberius approached the problem of the landless poor by looking to long-ig-
nored laws that limited the amount of land that could be owned by one family.
By resurrecting these laws, Tiberius ensured that the surplus land held by the
aristocracy would be given up and redistributed among the poor (Crawford
1982: 109; Crawford 1988: 33–34; Grant 1978: 169; Starr 1953: 53). Whereas the
Senate refused these measures, Tiberius enacted the legislation through the
Plebeian assembly. Technically either assembly could pass legislation without
agreement from the other, but traditionally this was not practiced (Crawford
1982: 109–110; Grant 1978: 170). The only way the Senate could prevent this
legislation was if another tribune vetoed the legislation. One of the ten trib-
unes did attempt to veto, but Tiberius had the man deposed. The legislation
was passed and a commission consisting of Appius Claudius and the Gracchi
was created. Tiberius attempted to be elected tribune for a second year, but
while the Senate debated whether this breach of custom was legal, Tiberius
was killed by a mob that opposed his reforms.
Tiberius’s brother, Gaius, became tribune in 123 B.C.E. and had similar goals.
Not only did Gaius want to enact land reforms, he also wanted to reform
prices and the military and establish new colonies (Grant 1978: 174). Most rev-
olutionary was his desire to offer the vote to non-Roman Italians. But this also
weakened his support from the urban poor, whose power to vote was one of
their means of political force (Grant 1978: 175). Riots broke out, martial law
was declared, and a price was put on Gaius’s head by Opimius, the consul at
72 THE ROMANS
Appius Claudius Caecus
Known as “The Blind” because of his blindness in old age, Appius Claudius
Caecus was a famous censor of Rome. Classical sources tell us that he ex-
tended membership of the Senate to rich citizens of the lower classes and to
the sons of freedmen. This new list of senators drawn up by Appius caused
considerable controversy in Rome. It is difficult to know how much of a pop-
ulist Appius really was and how much is the bombast of ancient historians,
such as Livy. It is very likely, however, that Appius increased taxes, with the in-
tention of facilitating his public works projects, the two most famous being
the aqua Appia (the first major aqueduct in the city of Rome) and the Via Ap-
pia (a paved road from Rome to Capua). During the time of Appius Claudius
Caecus, Rome began incorporating numerous Greek traditions, such as the
public worship of war gods and the use of coinage.Whether any of these in-
novations can be ascribed to Claudius is unclear.Toward the end of his days,
he vehemently opposed peace with Pyrrhus. Classical sources preserve many
writings attributed to him, including aphorisms, and Cicero wrote that Appius
Claudius Caecus was a great orator.
the time (121 B.C.E.). During these riots, senators killed many of Gaius’s sup-
porters. Gaius, once cornered, had his slave kill him rather than be captured,
and more than 3,000 other Gaius supporters were executed. So the reform at-
tempts of the Gracchi met with failure, but the brothers became martyrs of
Rome and symbols of political virtue.
The Rise of the Military. The immediate legacy of the Gracchi and the at-
tempts at land reform was the death of the consensus-style leadership that had
been so successful in the early years of the republic (Ferril 1988: 57; Grant 1978:
176; Starr 1953: 53). It was replaced by the rise of party politics, the domination
of the Roman government by the Senate, and the rise to power of generals
whose armies were more loyal to them than to the state of Rome. The land is-
sue was somewhat resolved by the expansion of Rome into the Po and Rhone
valleys (because so much new land was acquired). But war in Africa was to
further the internal strife of the republic.
War (112 B.C.E.–105 B.C.E.) with the Numidian king Jugurtha in Africa found
Rome divided as to how to proceed with the battle (Crawford 1982: 125). The
political conflict within Rome reached its apex when a Roman army surren-
dered to Jugurtha. While various investigations of the Senate were launched, a
non-noble named Marius was elected consul, to better run the campaign
against Jugurtha. This was a tremendous blow to the power of the Senate,
which traditionally had been responsible for the conduct of war (Ferril 1988:
57). The monumental step that Marius enacted was to allow almost any male
to join the army. That is to say, a man no longer needed property to become a
soldier, he only needed to be recorded in the census (see chapter 7). This led to
a professionalization of the military, because the ranks had become filled with
the landless poor lacking otherwise gainful employment. When war was over,
these men had no home to return to, leaving Marius in control of a very pow-
erful force. Within two years, Marius’s professional army, trained in new tac-
tics, had defeated Jugurtha.
A new threat from Germanic tribes in the north put further pressure on the
Roman army. In 105 B.C.E., a Roman army was defeated by these tribesmen at
Orange. This emergency set the stage for Marius’s unprecedented five consec-
utive elections to the position of consul (in total, Marius was consul for seven
years) to deal with this emergency for Rome’s northern holdings (Ferril 1988:
57; Grant 1978: 179). The military under Marius was generally successful and
by 101 B.C.E., the threat from the Germanic tribes ended (Grant 1978: 179).
From 104 B.C.E. to 99 B.C.E. Marius also quelled a slave revolt in Sicily, which
broke out when a planned release of illegally imprisoned slaves was repealed.
The Social War and the Rise of Sulla. Rome enjoyed nearly a decade of rela-
tive peace, which was broken in 91 B.C.E. The tribune, Marcus Livius Drusus,
brought forward legislation that would give various rights to Italian non-Ro-
mans, including the right of citizenship (Ferril 1988: 58). Drusus was killed by
elements in Rome who opposed Italian emancipation.
The murder of Drusus led to a coalition of Italian cities, according to Livy.
They formed an embassy that went to Rome to voice their complaints. When
the Senate refused to hear them, the Italians declared war on Rome. This was
the beginning of the Social War (the Latin word socii means “allies”), a civil
war within Italy that lasted two years. Rome brought the conflict to an end by
making a number of concessions. Most important of these was that citizenship
was granted to any revolting city that laid down its weapons and to any indi-
vidual who quit fighting and came before the praetor in Rome.
On the heels of the Social War arose a new figure—Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
In 88 B.C.E. he was elected tribune and gained control of the army. A threat had
arisen from King Mithradates of Pontus, who had invaded Roman territory
and massacred a large number of Romans. Sulla was to take the army to battle
Mithradates, but was challenged by supporters of the seventy-year-old Mar-
ius, who believed that Marius should lead the battle against Mithradates. Riots
between supporters of Marius and supporters of Sulla broke out and Sulla fled
the city. Once out of Rome, Sulla gathered his army and returned, burning the
city and killing the supporters of Marius. Although Marius himself escaped,
Sulla cemented his power in Rome and then left with the army to battle
Mithradates.
While Sulla was battling the forces of Mithradates, Marius returned to Rome
with his own army. By stopping supplies from entering Rome, Marius forced
Rome to surrender to him. Once in Rome, Marius killed numerous political op-
ponents and was elected consul for the seventh time (83 B.C.E.). But Marius
died only a few days after gaining the office, and Lucius Cinna (the consul
who had called Marius back in the first place) gained control of Rome.
74 THE ROMANS
At the same time, Sulla made a treaty with Mithradates and returned to
Rome with his well-trained and experienced army. In 82 B.C.E., Sulla fought a
Samnite army at the walls of Rome in what has come to be known as the Battle
of the Colline Gate. Sulla, victorious, executed about 6,000 Samnites and took
control of Rome. Appointed dictator, Sulla began eradicating his political op-
ponents. Through proscriptions, Sulla seized the income of many wealthy in-
dividuals in Rome, according to Strabo. Proscriptions were lists of names of in-
dividuals deemed public enemies. They could be hunted down and killed for a
reward and all of their property could be seized by the state. Furthermore, any
sons of a man on the list would lose their citizenship. In further attempts to
gain income, Sulla destroyed and looted Samnite territories and raised tribute
from other towns. Sulla also strengthened the Senate by decreeing that it had
sole power over the military (Ferril 1988: 58–59). Numerous other constitu-
tional reforms were undertaken to prevent the dissolution of Rome into civil
war (Grant 1978: 189). In 80 B.C.E., Sulla retired his dictatorship and wrote his
memoirs, but left the Roman republic divided and embittered. The end of the
republic was dominated by the struggles among powerful men seeking to gain
sole control of Rome.
The Last Years of the Republic. The relative stability of the republic had been
completely destroyed by Sulla’s reign. A series of powerful individuals, lead-
ing the army and controlling various factions in Rome, attempted to gain sole
control of the republic (le Glay et al. 2001: 113). The first of these ambitious in-
dividuals to appear after the resignation of Sulla was Pompey the Great (Gaius
Pompeius). Pompey had proven himself a skilled military man under Sulla in
the wars against Mithradates. After Sulla died, he was given command of a
force to do battle with an anti-Sullan governor in Spain. While Pompey was
victorious in Spain, another general, Lucullus, was gaining victories against
Mithradates, who had come into contest with Rome again, this time in Bithy-
nia. Although Lucullus was victorious against Mithradates (who was forced to
return to Pontus), he lost control of his army and was forced to give his leader-
ship to Pompey (Heichelheim and Yeo 1962: 208). By undercutting the suc-
cesses of another general, Pompey had gained control of more military power.
Back in Rome, Marcus Licinius Crassus, who had been an ally of Sulla and was
one of the wealthiest men of the city, was furthering his political power and al-
lied himself with Pompey.
The alliance of Crassus and Pompey led to the eventual end of the slave re-
volt led by Spartacus (73 B.C.E.–71 B.C.E.). Memorialized in Stanley Kubrick’s
film, Spartacus, the revolt of Spartacus was a massively destructive event. Spar-
tacus was a Thracian gladiator who escaped with some of his fellow gladiators
from his training camp in Capua and was joined by escaped slaves from all
over the empire. What made Spartacus’s force so powerful was that it con-
sisted of well-trained warriors. Many of the slaves were soldiers who had been
defeated and captured from enemy forces, and many had been trained as glad-
iators. This was an awesome army, and under Spartacus they terrorized Italy
for two years. Moving along the Apennines, they looted towns, with the even-
tual goal of moving north and out of Ro-

man territory. Eventually the forces of
Crassus were able to defeat them, and
Pompey’s forces mopped up the remain-
ing rebels.
Crassus and Pompey were elected
consuls in 70 B.C.E., even though Pom-
pey was technically not eligible for the
office (he was too young and had not
held the required offices). Under these
two men, many of the constitutional re-
forms of Sulla were reversed (Heichel-
heim and Yeo 1962: 210). In 67 B.C.E.
Pompey was granted an army with the
mandate to wipe out piracy in the Medi-
terranean. Amazingly, this feat was ac-
complished in about three months. After
this, Pompey went to battle with Mithra-
dates. This oft-reappearing foe of Rome’s
was eventually forced into suicide in 63
B.C.E. After defeating Mithradates, Pom-
pey conquered the lands of the Near A sculpted portrait of Pompey. (Library of Congress)
East—Syria, Judaea, and Mesopotamia.
The inclusion of these lands within the
Roman sphere of influence gave Rome command of most of the Mediter-
ranean. This stability facilitated trade and travel throughout the region.
While Pompey was carving out an empire in the east, Crassus had allied
himself with another figure—Julius Caesar. Caesar, a supporter of Marius, had
become quite popular by throwing games at Aedile in 65 B.C.E. Caesar and
Crassus worked together in the political life of Rome in many ventures, in-
cluding a land reform bill. Cicero, the great orator, helped defeat this bill and
came to be an unofficial leader of more conservative forces (Heichelheim and
Yeo 1962: 221). Despite this, Caesar became a popular figure in Roman political
life. In 63 B.C.E. he became pontifex maximus, and in 61 B.C.E. he went to Spain as
governor. While in Spain, Caesar attempted to run for consul, but Cato the El-
der and others blocked him on the grounds that the candidate had to be physi-
cally present in Rome. So Caesar returned to Rome in 60 B.C.E., ran for the con-
sulship, and won.
When Pompey returned to Rome in 62 B.C.E., he found a city embroiled in
controversy. The Catiline conspiracy (see the sidebar on page 76) had recently
been resolved, cementing the powers of conservative forces in the Senate.
Pompey had expected that he could easily gain recognition for his eastern set-
tlements and gain veterans’ benefits for his troops. The Senate, composed of
many old enemies, including Lucullus, rebuffed him (Heichelheim and Yeo
1962: 221). So Pompey looked to Crassus and Caesar to see that his demands
were met. These three men agreed to work together in what became known
76 THE ROMANS
The Catiline Conspiracy
The Catiline controversy is a very well-documented event in Roman history.

The writings of Cicero and Sallust have left detailed accounts of the attempts
of one individual to start a revolution in Rome. Catiline was a patrician with
political aspirations who lost the election for consulship to Cicero in 63 B.C.E.
Catiline had promised to cancel debts and was possibly supported by Julius
Caesar, but lost the election again in 62. After this, Catiline gave up on the po-
litical process and began planning for revolution. Cicero marshaled evidence
against him and when Catiline left Rome, Cicero presented the evidence to
the Senate.The Senate arrested and executed Catiline’s co-conspirators and
sent troops out to kill Catiline.They succeeded in this in 62 B.C.E.
(erroneously) as the First Triumvirate. The relationship was cemented when

Caesar’s only child, Julia, married Pompey.
The three men managed to achieve much. Pompey’s demands were met and
Caesar gained command of a military for campaigns into Gaul (which were
made famous through his own writings). In 55 B.C.E., Caesar managed to set up
a Roman presence as far away as Britain and defeated the Gauls at the Battle of
Alesia in 52 B.C.E. During this time, however, the alliance of the First Triumvi-
rate was breaking down (Taylor 1949: 141). In 64 B.C.E., Julia died, an event that
broke the familial connection between Caesar and Pompey. And in 63 B.C.E.,
Crassus died attempting to attack the Parthians. Crassus’s death left Rome di-
vided into factions supporting either Caesar or Pompey (Taylor 1949: 141).
Pompey’s factions gained the upper hand politically in 49 B.C.E., when the Sen-
ate declared martial law against Caesar, and Caesar’s tribunes (Marc Antony
and Quintus Cassius) were forced to flee (Taylor 1949: 160).
In response, Caesar, with his large army, attacked Pompey’s forces and eas-
ily defeated them. It was Caesar’s legendary “Crossing of the Rubicon” in 49
B.C.E. that plunged Rome into civil war. Pompey fled to Greece, and Caesar re-
turned to Rome, where he pardoned his opposition. Against Pompey, he sent
seven legions to Greece, where Pompey’s larger forces were surprised by a
winter attack. In 48 B.C.E., at Pharsalus, Caesar’s forces defeated Pompey’s.
Pompey fled to Egypt, but was killed there. In Egypt, Ptolemy XIII was fight-
ing his sister Cleopatra VII for control over the land of the Nile. Ptolemy, in an
attempt to win Rome’s backing, cut off Pompey’s head and presented it to
Caesar when he arrived in Egypt. Caesar, however, sided with Cleopatra, and
installed her as ruler of Egypt.
In 47 B.C.E., Caesar returned to Rome (after his famous dalliance with Cleo-
patra) and began reorganizing the Roman state. In 44 B.C.E. he appointed him-
self dictator perptuus (dictator for life), fundamentally altering Roman govern-
ment forever. His power, which seemed that it could grow even more absolute,
became a source of concern for the Senate. So on March 15, 44 B.C.E. (the Ides of
March), he was killed by a group of senators, who stabbed him repeatedly.
Augustus visiting Cleopatra in her chamber. (Library of Congress)
Rome, however, was not impressed with this assassination. Marc Antony
managed to prevent the annulment of Caesar’s acts, while mobs burned down
the Senate house. Caesar’s heir, Octavian, gained the backing of the senators
who had been involved in the conspiracy against Caesar. Individuals such as
Cicero supported Octavian simply because Octavian was an alternative to
Marc Antony (Stockton 1988: 127). Eventually, however, Octavian joined forces
with Marc Antony and his ally, Lepidus—forming the Second Triumvirate. The
Second Triumvirate moved back to Rome, where they punished many of their
enemies, including Cicero.
The Second Triumvirate divided the empire among themselves: Octavian
took the west, Antony took the east, and Lepidus took Africa. Octavian and
Antony began careful maneuvers to cement their power. Antony attacked the
Parthians and cemented his military power. He married Octavian’s sister, Oc-
tavia. Together, Antony and Octavian made a treaty in Misenum (39 B.C.E.)
with Pompey’s son, who controlled Sicily and Sardinia. Octavian cemented his
power by allowing his brilliant general, Agrippa, to attack and defeat Pom-
pey’s son and gain other important military victories. Octavian also entangled
himself further in Roman nobility by divorcing his wife (Scribonia) on the day
she bore his daughter, Julia. He married a noblewoman, Livia Drusilla, forcing
Livia to divorce her husband, with whom she had had two children.
The uneasy partnership of Antony and Octavian began to fall apart when
78 THE ROMANS
Antony married Cleopatra (who had been Caesar’s mistress) in 37 B.C.E. This
marriage was not legally recognized because Antony was still married to Octa-
vian’s sister, and polygamy was not allowed in Roman law. Octavian began
campaigning in Rome against Cleopatra, and Antony divorced Octavia in 35
B.C.E. In 34 B.C.E., Antony declared Cleopatra and her heirs the rulers of Egypt.
Following this, Octavian announced that Antony had declared Cleopatra’s son
(Caesarion) as Caesar’s true heir, and with the support of Rome, Octavian de-
clared war on Antony. In 31 B.C.E., at the Battle of Actium, Octavian’s forces
were victorious. Antony and Cleopatra, their forces having surrendered, fled
to Alexandria. Octavian’s forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra’s remaining
forces in 30 B.C.E. in Alexandria, where two of history’s most romantic figures
took their own lives. With this, the Roman republic was replaced with the Ro-
man Empire.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The wars of the final days of the republic had left Rome impoverished and the
entire Mediterranean unstable. Octavian was seen as the man who could bring
peace and prosperity back to Rome and her provinces. And in this he was suc-
cessful. But at the same time what was left of the republican form of govern-
ment was destroyed.
The Principate
Octavian returned to Rome in 29 B.C.E. after reorganizing the eastern provinces
that had been devastated in the wars of the previous years. At this time Octa-
vian had tremendous power and controlled the military. He was extremely
popular in Rome, and his victory over Egypt, which now supplied free grain
to Rome, certainly aided this popularity. The Battle of Actium had left him in
near-complete control, but he lacked a constitutional position. Calling himself
“Emperor Caesar Augustus, Son of a God” (referring to his adoptive relation-
ship to the now-deified Julius Caesar), he claimed to have restored the repub-
lic, but at the same time he had amassed near-absolute governing authority. It
was Octavian’s consistent use of republican terminology and public dedica-
tion to republican principles that made his power palatable to the citizens of
Rome (Grant 1978: 248). He never took on the grandiose titles that Julius Cae-
sar had used, nor did he take the position of dictator (Ferril 1988: 65).
In 27 B.C.E., Octavian, in an infamous speech to the Senate, turned over his
powers. This announcement had been carefully staged, and his supporters
protested his resignation, claiming that Rome could not survive without Octa-
vian. Octavian’s response was theatrically reluctant, and he agreed to act as
consul for ten years, overseeing the provinces of Egypt, Spain, Syria, and Gaul.
Because these were the provinces where most of Rome’s legions were based,
Octavian had control of the military. In response to Octavian’s “generous” sac-
rifice of power, the Senate bestowed upon him the name Augustus, which
means “revered one.” From this point on, Octavian was referred to as Augus-
tus. Even though Augustus’s control was complete, he had learned from the
example of the murder of Julius Caesar (his adopted father) that he required
the support of the Senate to retain control. Referring to these acts in 27 B.C.E. as
“The First Settlement,” Augustus claimed to have restored the republic. In fact,
he had gained powers that at one time had been held by numerous offices and
brought an effective end to republican government.
With these powers, Augustus left Rome for Gaul and Spain. He remained on
the periphery of the empire until 24 B.C.E. From 27 to 24 B.C.E., Augustus ac-
complished military victories in Spain (the Cantabrian Wars), although he was
not a particularly brilliant military tactician. He wrote his autobiography at
this time, but it did not survive. The best records from this period are the writ-
ings of Dio Cassius. After falling almost fatally sick, Augustus apparently
shifted his strategy for leadership. In 23 B.C.E. he resigned his consulship. He
gained the position of tribunicia potestas (tribune of the people) for life and
gained imperium maius (power greater than all others). By virtue of his im-
perium maius, Augustus was de facto leader of the Roman Empire.
In 19 B.C.E., Augustus once again shifted the nature of his powers, having of-
ficially received consular powers for life. Scholars have debated the reasons for
these periodic strategy changes (Stockton 1988: 128). Were they attempts to
combat problems or were they opposition to Augustus? Or did they represent
the growth and development of Augustus’s understandings of proper gover-
nance? Whatever the case, after 19 B.C.E., Augustus was in a position where his
political power was no longer questioned.
The Succession. What was in doubt was who would take over supreme
power after Augustus’s death. The powers that Augustus had accumulated in
his office were not hereditary, but neither was there a system of succession in
place, as his position had been created on an essentially ad hoc basis (Grant
1978: 253). So although it was not constitutionally binding, Augustus made
certain to indicate whom he would designate as his heir.
The first individual who would be heir to the throne was Marcellus, nephew
of Augustus. Augustus himself lacked a son, although his second wife, Livia,
had sons from a previous marriage. But Augustus wanted an heir from his own
bloodline (the Julian bloodline). His first wife had a daughter named Julia, so
Augustus had Marcellus and Julia marry (25 B.C.E.). This seemed like a clear
statement of intent that Marcellus was the favored heir (Stockton 1988: 137).
However, in 23 B.C.E., when Augustus thought he was dying, he handed his
signet ring (the symbol of his power) over to his longtime friend Agrippa, not
to Marcellus (Stockton 1988: 138). Perhaps a power struggle would have en-
sued had Marcellus not died that same year. Agrippa had been a close friend
and general to Augustus for many years and was the military intelligence be-
hind him. In 21 B.C.E., Augustus had his widowed daughter Julia married to
Agrippa. They had five children, and Augustus adopted the three sons. By 12
B.C.E., Agrippa’s powers were fast approaching those of Augustus, when
Agrippa died unexpectedly of illness.
At this time, Agrippa’s sons (adopted by Augustus) were too young to rule.
So Augustus turned to Livia’s sons from her previous marriage (see sidebar
80 THE ROMANS
Livia
The third wife of Augustus, Livia is portrayed in classical sources as a schem-

ing woman, willing to do anything to give her sons a step up in life. She mar-
ried Octavian in 38 B.C.E., after her first husband granted her a divorce at the
request of Augustus. It is written (and may represent widespread belief at the
time) that the high number of Augustus’s heirs who died prematurely could
be attributed to her. She was accused, by classical authors, of having killed
those who competed with her sons to become heir.The fact that her eldest
son,Tiberius, eventually did become emperor furthered the plausibility of this
story to the ancient writers. Modern scholars tend to believe, however, that
this depiction of Livia is more representative of classical literary topoi than of
historical fact. It is widely considered more plausible that she had nothing to
do with the deaths of Agrippa and Marcellus. On a more positive note, the
classical writers considered her to have been virtuous in her tolerance of Au-
gustus’s numerous indiscretions. Although it is said that she was the great
love of Augustus’s life, it did not stop his philandering. This is particularly
ironic given the fact that Augustus banished both his daughter and grand-
daughter for immorality and banished Ovid for his immoral poetry.
above). The eldest of these sons, Tiberius, was forced to divorce his wife and
marry the once-again-widowed Julia. Tiberius married Julia in 11 B.C.E., but be-
cause he was very attached to his now ex-wife, Tiberius was quite bitter. By 6
B.C.E., Agrippa’s sons, Lucius and Gaius, had entered public office but had
proven themselves to be unworthy heirs. Augustus attempted to rein in their
power by elevating Tiberius above them. Tiberius refused, left Julia, and exiled
himself to Rhodes. However, by 4 C.E. Lucius and Gaius were both dead.
There were now three viable candidates for Augustus’s heir: Tiberius,
Agrippa’s surviving son Agrippa Postumus, and Augustus’s great-nephew
Germanicus. All three candidates were adopted by Augustus in 4 C.E. Soon
enough, Agrippa Postumus proved to be too volatile and was permanently ex-
iled. This left Tiberius and Germanicus as the two possible candidates, with
Germanicus the only Julian. When Tiberius adopted Germanicus, the problem
was solved.
When Augustus died in 14 C.E., the office of emperor had become firmly es-
tablished, but the method of succession had not been entrenched. Without a
mechanism in place for providing incontestable succession, the identity of the
next emperor would always be insecure. But the continued existence of the of-
fice itself was secure and would remain so for more than 300 years. The ac-
counts of Augustus’s death (from illness) tell that he admitted to the performa-
tive aspects of his creation of the imperial office and that he asked those present
to applaud for him as he departed the comedy of life. This is likely apocryphal,
but Augustus died having inaugurated a new political system for Rome.
Table 4.3 The Julio-Claudian Emperors
Name Regnal Years
Augustus 31 B.C.E.–14 C.E.

Tiberius 14 C.E.–37 C.E.
Caligula 37 C.E.–41 C.E.
Claudius 41 C.E.–54 C.E.
Nero 54 C.E.– 68 C.E.
The Emperors
With the death of Augustus, the imperial period can truly be said to have be-
gun. From this point in Roman history until the death of Constantine, the story
of Rome cannot be told without reference to the personalities of the emperors
(see Table 4.3).
The Julio-Claudians. Because Tiberius already shared a great deal of the

powers of Augustus, his transition to emperor was a given (Garzetti 1974: 3;
Goodman and Sherwood 1997: 47). The transition itself was not particularly
smooth. Whereas Augustus’s feigned reticence to accept power had endeared
him to the Senate, the same approach by Tiberius simply annoyed that political
body (Ferril 1988: 68). Also problematic was that the legions used the death of
Augustus as an excuse to revolt for higher payment. Such revolts were quickly
quelled by Germanicus. Tiberius was not well liked, but he ruled from 14 C.E.
to 37 C.E. His bad reputation is due to the writer Tacitus, who portrayed him in
a shockingly negative fashion. Initially Tiberius attempted to allow the Senate
freedom of action, but he became frustrated by their lack of ambition. Toward
the end of his reign, Tiberius had become increasingly paranoid about treason,
and numerous treason trials engulfed Rome (Garzetti 1974: 43–49). Eventually
Tiberius withdrew to the island of Capri, where he spent his final ten years.
Various rumors of his homosexuality and pederasty on the island circulated,
but these were typical allegations against unpopular public figures, so it is dif-
ficult to evaluate their veracity. When he died in 37 C.E., he was remembered as
having been extremely unpopular.
As with Augustus, dynastic succession under Tiberius was complicated.
Germanicus (Tiberius’s adopted son) and Germanicus’s son Drusus were the
two major generals under Tiberius. Fighting the Germans beyond the Rhine,
Germanicus fought three substantial campaigns (Garzetti 1974: 33–38). After
these, he campaigned in the east, where he met his end in 19 C.E. (Garzetti
1974: 42). His son Drusus also met an untimely end (23 C.E.), meaning that the
two most likely heirs died before Tiberius. Scholars are divided as to whether
the death of Drusus was really caused by his wife Livilla, poisoning him for
her lover Sejanus, who was head of the Praetorian Guard (Garzetti 1974: 57).
However, Sejanus was retroactively accused of many crimes when he asked to
marry Livilla two years after Drusus’s death, a request that Tiberius refused.
Sejanus ordered the widow of Germanicus and her sons killed, accusing them
of attempting to seize the throne. While Tiberius was on Capri, Sejanus became
82 THE ROMANS
the virtual ruler of Rome (Garzetti 1974: 55). But this came to an end when Se-
janus plotted against Tiberius’s named heir, Gaius (Caligula). Sejanus and all
of his supporters were killed. When Tiberius died, his only heir was Caligula,
who took the throne, becoming one of Rome’s most notorious emperors.
Caligula reigned from 37 C.E. to 41 C.E. The son of Germanicus, he went to
live with Tiberius at Capri when the plot led by Sejanus against him was re-
vealed. He became seriously ill shortly after becoming emperor. Whether the
illness was physical or psychological is unclear, but his later actions are not
those of a well-balanced individual. After killing numerous possible rivals,
Caligula depleted the treasury for massive spectacles (such as creating a
bridge of ships across the Bay of Naples in 39 C.E.). His favorite racehorse
dined with him and was dressed in the garb of emperors. To refill the treasury
he raised taxes and auctioned off gladiators. In 39 C.E. he left to conquer
Britain, but returned in 40 C.E., having failed. Toward the end of his life,
Caligula declared himself a god and was said to have wandered about talking
to the god Jupiter and to the moon. His incestuous union with his sister
Drusilla was looked upon with contempt. He built a temple to himself and or-
dered the Jerusalem Temple converted to an imperial temple, but he died be-
fore this was carried out. In 41 C.E. he was assassinated at the Palatine
Games—an assassination that had widespread support (Garzetti 1974:
101–103).
With Caligula’s death, some members of the Senate had hoped for a return
to the republican system (Garzetti 1974: 106). But, according to Josephus, when
Claudius was discovered hiding behind a curtain of the palace, he was quickly
elevated to the emperorship. Claudius was the son of Drusus, but he had some
sort of physical disability that embarrassed the imperial family, so he had been
kept out of public affairs (Garzetti 1974: 101–103). Claudius reigned from 41
C.E. to 54 C.E., fearing for his life throughout that time. His first actions were to
punish those who had conspired against Caligula, and for the rest of his reign
he would quickly dispatch anyone who he feared was plotting against him,
eventually killing more than 300 people (Garzetti 1974: 108, 114). Claudius is
most notable for his successful invasion of Britain and his poor judgment in
wives. His third wife, Messalina, was notorious for killing her rivals and her
numerous lovers (Salmon 1966: 171). In 48 C.E., she married one of these lovers
(while still married to Claudius), an action that led to her execution.
Claudius’s luck with wives was just as bad with his fourth wife, Agrippina,
daughter of Caligula. After having secured the position of heir for her son
Nero, Agrippina poisoned her husband, Claudius (Salmon 1966: 17).
Agrippina succeeded in putting her son on the emperor’s throne, but that
same son eventually had her killed. Nero, who reigned from 54 C.E. to 68 C.E.,
was one of the most notorious emperors. Along with matricide (Salmon 1966:
178), Nero ordered a boy named Sporus castrated and then married him. Other
bizarre behavior included taking a man named Pythagoras as his “husband”
and kicking another wife (who was pregnant) to death. Classical sources sug-
gest that he spent evenings wandering the streets assaulting women and steal-
ing from shops. His love of playing the lyre as accompaniment to the singing
Charles Laughton as Nero in The Sign of the Cross, 1932. (Bettmann/Corbis)
of songs he had written was also not well received (Garzetti 1974: 157). In 64
C.E., when a fire broke out at the circus maximus and engulfed Rome, people ac-
cused Nero of starting it. This was unlikely, and although Nero did substan-
tially deplete the treasury through relief measures, the story that he sang a
song while watching the fire consume Rome has, despite its improbability,
long held great power in historical writings. Nero exacerbated his unpopular-
ity by blaming the fire on Christians and persecuting members of this group
(Garzetti 1974: 164). After a number of attempts, Nero was finally overthrown
by supporters of a man named Galba who was declared emperor in Spain.
84 THE ROMANS
The Flavians. Galba, who had been crowned emperor in 68 C.E., was over-
thrown shortly thereafter. In quick succession, two new emperors came in and
out of power. Otho committed suicide when it was clear that Vitelllius’s forces
would soon overwhelm him. And Vitellius (who was supported only by the
German legions) was killed by the supporters of the Flavian family, led by Ves-
pasian.
Vespasian’s accession to the throne inaugurated the second great hereditary
line of emperors—the Flavians (see Table 4.4). The Flavians came out of the
equestrian class and brought back stability from the chaos that had engulfed
Rome after the uprising against Nero (Ferril 1988: 70; Goodman and Sherwood
1997: 62). Vespasian’s reign from 69 C.E. to 79 C.E. was peaceful and stable.
From a political perspective the same could be said for his son Titus’s reign (79
C.E.–81 C.E.). However, breaking the stability was the eruption of the volcano
Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. When Titus
died unexpectedly, his brother Domitian took the office of emperor and ruled
from 81 C.E. to 96 C.E. Domitian was a capable but unpopular ruler (Salmon
1966: 285). He was very afraid of conspiracies against him, and from 93 C.E. un-
til his death, he executed and banished people at will, based on his paranoia.
Eventually realizing that they would all be killed, Domitian’s wife and numer-
ous high-ranking officials had the emperor killed, ending the Flavian control
of Rome (Goodman and Sherwood 1997: 65).
Table 4.4 The Flavian Emperors
Name Regnal Years
Vespasian 69–79
Titus 79–81
Domitian 81–96
The Five Good Emperors. After the fall of the Flavians, there was a line of five
emperors who had orderly successions and generally good relations with the
Senate, hence their designation “The Five Good Emperors” (see Table 4.5).
Nerva, who reigned from 96 C.E. to 98 C.E., was installed after the assassination
of Domitian. When Nerva sensed that the tide was turning against him, he
adopted the governor of Upper Germany, Trajan, as his heir (Ferril 1988: 72).
The selection of an heir based on skill rather than on bloodline (theoretically)
stabilized the succession process (Garzetti 1974: 305). Rather than being killed
in a coup, Nerva was allowed to live out his final months in peace and brought
an end to the expectations of bloodshed in the transition between emperors.
Nerva’s successor, Trajan, was the first emperor born in the provinces (Spain)
and he reigned from 98 C.E. to 117 C.E. Under Trajan, the Roman Empire grew to
its largest extent (Salmon 1966: 274), pushing all the way to the Persian Gulf.
Trajan was also an energetic builder. His most impressive monument, Trajan’s
Column, still stands in Rome but has been adorned by a statue of St. Peter since
1588. While campaigning in the east, Trajan fell ill (Salmon 1966: 290). Some ac-
Portrait of Emperor Trajan, engraved after a sculpted bust. (Pixel That)
counts claim that he named Hadrian his heir when he became ill. Others sug-
gest that after Trajan died, his death was unannounced until letters naming
Hadrian as his heir could be engineered. Either way, Hadrian became emperor
in 117 C.E. and reigned until 138 C.E. He was quite capable, although he had a
rocky start involving the execution of four senators who, it was thought, were
intent on overthrowing him (Salmon 1966: 296–297). Hadrian gave up Trajan’s
eastern conquests (Garzetti 1974: 420) and solidified preexisting borders
(Hadrian’s Wall between England and Scotland is a remnant of this policy). A
lover of Greek culture, Hadrian traveled the empire (Salmon 1966: 301)—prob-
ably a wise idea, because he was not well liked in Rome. Before dying, he
named as his heir Antoninus Pius, who reigned from 138 C.E. to 161 C.E. Not
much is known about Antoninus, who reigned from Rome; he is notable in that
his adopted son became one of the most famous emperors (see Table 4.6).
86 THE ROMANS
Table 4.5 “The Five Good Emperors”
Name Regnal Years
Nerva 96–98
Trajan 98–117
Hadrian 117–138
Antoninus Pius 138–161
Marcus Aurelius 161–180
Table 4.6 The Antonine Dynasty
Name Regnal Years
Antoninus Pius 138–161

Marcus Aurelius with Lucius Verus 161–169
Marcus Aurelius 161–180
Commodus 180–193
Marcus Aurelius became emperor in 161 C.E. but insisted that Lucius Verus
be given the same honors. The two reigned together until Verus’s death in 169
C.E. Marcus Aurelius continued to reign until 180 C.E. This emperor is most fa-
mous for his work Meditations, which still survives. Much of Marcus Aurelius’s
reign was spent at war, first with the Parthians, then with German invaders,
then against Cassius, the governor of Syria (who probably mistakenly thought
that Marcus Aurelius was dead), and again against the Germans. The empire
that had been solidified by Trajan and Hadrian had begun to fall apart. Plague
hit Rome in 167 C.E. and lasted for at least ten years. Before dying of illness,
Marcus Aurelius named his son Commodus his successor—the first successor
linked by heredity in eighty years.
Commodus, Civil War, and the Severans. Historians consider the period after
the death of Marcus Aurelius to be a time of decline for Rome (Ferril 1988: 75).
Until this time Rome had been the center of the empire and the center of impe-
rial power. But after the death of Marcus Aurelius, power shifted to the
provinces, where centralized control was minimal. Also, the Roman borders
were almost continually under attack and were gradually shrinking. Most his-
torians date the beginning of this decline to 180 C.E., the year of Marcus Aure-
lius’s death.
Marcus Aurelius died while campaigning in Germany. He had been accom-
panied by his son Commodus, whom Marcus Aurelius had been grooming for
the position of emperor. At the death of the emperor, Commodus became sole
ruler (his father had already made him co-emperor to ease the succession),
ushering in a period of collapsing Roman fortune (at least from the imperial
perspective). He negotiated a settlement with the German forces the Roman
army was fighting at that time and quickly returned to Rome.
Commodus may be best known to modern audiences as the antagonist in

the film Gladiator, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Commodus reigned from 180
C.E. to 192 C.E., but for the most part he had given up on administering the em-
pire as soon as he had returned to Rome. He let his advisors run the govern-
ment for him. The energies of Commodus were concentrated more on games,
sex, and paranoia. His love of gladiatorial battles was legendary (indeed, nu-
merous tales survive that try to explain why he was so obsessed with this
sport). Commodus was very skilled, and he often participated in gladiatorial
games by finishing off injured gladiators and killing animals. Although it
made him extremely popular with the crowds, it horrified the senators and
governing classes (Garzetti 1974: 550). Commodus’s sexual appetite was as vo-
racious as his appetite for sports. Contemporary sources claim that he kept 300
young girls and 300 young boys for his sexual enjoyment.
Governing power was mostly in the hands of the advisors of Commodus.
The first powerful advisor was Saoterus, who sat with Commodus in the em-
peror’s chariot during Commodus’s triumphal procession, receiving numer-
ous kisses from the emperor. Saoterus was killed in 182 C.E., shortly after an at-
tempt was made on Commodus’s life by his sister and her nephew. These
attacks made Commodus paranoid and he removed himself from governing.
While Commodus gorged on sex and sports, his advisor Perennis took over his
responsibilities. But in 185, Commodus had Perennis executed, fearing that his
advisor had become too powerful. The next powerful advisor was Cleander, a
Phrygian slave who had risen through the ranks in the imperial household.
Very corrupt, Cleander sold offices and became quite wealthy. This worked
against him in 190 when, during a grain shortage, the populace came to be-
lieve that Cleander had fixed the prices to make a profit. When an angry mob
descended, demanding Cleander’s execution, Commodus accommodated
them. After the death of Cleander, Commodus demanded that he be deified
and be called Hercules, son of Zeus. Commodus, like Hercules, often wore a
lion skin and carried a club. When fire destroyed the Temple of Vesta and the
Peace Temple, Commodus initiated major rebuilding in the center of Rome.
Calling himself the second founder of Rome, he renamed the city Colonia
Commodiana. In 192, Commodus sealed his fate when, during a gladiatorial
game, he paced in front of the senators brandishing the severed head of an os-
trich as a threat. It was well known that he planned to kill the two proconsuls
at an upcoming Games (Garzetti 1974: 551). Shortly thereafter, Commodus was
assassinated, leading to a civil war.
The first emperor after Commodus was Pertinax, but after 87 days he was
killed by the Praetorian Guard. The next emperor, Didius Julianus, reigned
only 66 days. This short-lived emperor had gained the office in a bidding war
with another man. But in the periphery, the military did not approve of this,
and three commanders marched on Rome. The commander from the Danube,
Septimius Severus, reached Rome first. Didius Julianus was killed and the Sen-
ate proclaimed Septimius Severus emperor, founding the line of Severan em-
perors (see Table 4.7).
Septimius defeated and killed the other governors who had marched to
88 THE ROMANS
Table 4.7 The Severan Emperors
Name Regnal Years
Septimius Severus 193–211

Caracalla 211–217
Geta 211
Macrinus 217–218
Elagabalus 218–222
Severus 222–235
Rome and purged their supporters from the Senate. He reigned from 193 C.E.
to 211 C.E. and regained some of the territory that the empire had previously
lost. Septimius sacked the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon and made northern
Mesopotamia a province. Septimius died while campaigning in Scotland. He
was succeeded in 211 by his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, who were supposed
to reign jointly. But Caracalla killed Geta within a year. Caracalla then ruled
until 217 B.C.E., when he was killed by an assassin. Caracalla was replaced by a
Moor named Macrinus, who reigned until he was assassinated in 218. Macri-
nus’s assassins proclaimed a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, Elagabalus, as em-
peror. This boy was also the high priest of the god Elagabalus, and he set up
worship of this deity in Rome. His foreign religious practices and attempts to
elevate Elagabalus above Jupiter infuriated the Roman population (Cook et al.
1939: 55). Also, Elagabalus’s practice of dressing as a transvestite and working
as a prostitute raised concerns in Rome. Tales survive describing his requests
to be bodily transformed into a woman, but it is hard to separate fact from
polemic in the accounts of his sexual practices. Elagabalus, after adopting
Alexanius, was assassinated. Alexanius (now Alexander Severus) took the
throne and ruled from 221 to 235. He was only thirteen, and the power actually
resided with his mother, Mamaea. The two of them were executed by their le-
gions after an unpopular settlement with Germanic invaders in the north.
The Barracks Emperors. For fifty years after the death of Alexander Severus,
the Roman Empire was beset with problems (Christiansen 1995: 150). At least
twenty-seven emperors were selected (see Table 4.8), most from the ranks of
the military (hence the term barracks emperors), and most were killed, often by
their own troops. Alongside these twenty-seven emperors were approximately
fifty usurpers to the throne. Those emperors raised from within the military
ranks were often the biological sons of the previous emperor. The armies fre-
quently supported this kind of transition as it ensured their continual pay-
ment. However, frequently enough, the army would turn against its own cho-
sen emperors.
The instability among the military led to an instability of the empire’s de-
fenses. Rome’s frontiers were besieged from almost every side (the Sahara
proved to be an exception). Frontier battles were difficult because frequently
the emperor had to return his army to Rome to quell an internal uprising. The
Franks and Alamanni (who would later become the French and Germans) at-
Table 4.8 Major “Barracks Emperors”
Name Regnal Years Name Regnal Years
Maximinus I 235–238 Macrianus 260–261

Gordian I 238 Claudius II 268–270
Gordian II 238 Quintillus 270
Balbinus 238 Aurelian 270–275
Pupienus 238 Tacitus 275–276
Gordian III 238–244 Florianus 276
Philip the Arab 244–249 Probus 276–282
Decius Trajan 249–251 Carus 282–283
Trebonianus Gallus 251–253 Numerian 283–284
Aemilian 253 Carausius 286–293
Valerian 253–260 Diocletian 284–305
Gallienus 253–268
Table 4.9 The Leaders of the Gallic Empire
Name Regnal Years
Postumus 260–269
Laelianus 269
Marius 269
Victorinus 268–271
Tetricus 271–274
tacked across the Rhine River. The Vandals and Goths attacked across the
Danube River. (See sidebar on page 90.) These forces were the first enemy forces
to kill a Roman emperor in battle—Decius, in 251 B.C.E. And in the east, the Sas-
sanians’ mighty army brought instability and became the first army to capture
a Roman emperor in battle (Valerian in 260 B.C.E.). (See sidebar on page 90.)
When news of Valerian’s capture was made known, two major provinces
broke off from Rome and became independent. The Gallic province, supported
by British and Spanish legions, declared independence and set up a capital at
Trier. Independence was maintained until 274 (see Table 4.9 for a list of leaders).
Similarly, in the east, centered on the city of Palmyra, the Palmyrene province
broke away until 274. These provinces were brought back under control by the
emperor Aurelian in 274. Aurelian was a general who managed to quell numer-
ous rivals to the throne and reunify Rome. Aurelian was dedicated to the wor-
ship of the Unconquered Sun, a popular deity within the army (Ferril 1988: 77).
The worship of this deity, in Aurelian’s time, became a cultural phenomenon
that united the otherwise very separate cultures in the empire. After Aurelius’s
murder, another six emperors would reign before Diocletian stabilized Rome.
From Diocletian to Constantine. Diocletian is often painted by Christian his-

torians as a dark and evil emperor, in juxtaposition to Constantine, who inau-
gurated Christianity as the official religion of the empire. Indeed, Diocletian
did bring a revived intolerance for Christianity through edicts in 297, 298, and
90 THE ROMANS
Huns, Goths, and Vandals—Who Were the Barbarians?
It can be difficult to keep track of all of the different groups called “barbar-
ians” by the Romans. In general, barbarians were anyone who was not Greek
or Roman. However, the more specific use of the term barbarian refers to any
of the seminomadic tribes who engaged in war with the Romans. Often the
individual names of the tribes are derived from their reputed origin. The
Huns, who seem to have come from central Asia, eventually dominated the
Black Sea region. Their most famous leader was Attila, who, after 451, began
attacking Rome.The Goths were a Germanic group who came from near the
Vistula River. Goths separated into two groups. The Ostrogoths (eastern
Goths) dwelt near the Black Sea from about the fourth century on, and did
not have much to do with Rome. The Visigoths (western Goths) sacked
Rome in 410. The Vandals were Germanic tribes from the Baltic coast who
migrated to the area of modern Hungary and eventually formed a kingdom in
North Africa.The Alans were Asiatic tribes pushed into the Roman heartland
by the expansion of the Huns and the Goths. Other Germanic tribes in-
cluded the Alamanni, the Burgundians, and the Suebi.
Sassanians
From 226 C.E. until the seventh century, the Sassanid family ruled the Persian
Empire. They came to power by destroying the ruling elite of the Parthian
dynasty, but for the most part, they perpetuated Parthian governance and
society.The Sassanians were massive builders and can be considered an east-
ern version of the Roman Empire for their legacy of building and imperial
conquest.The major religion of the Sassanids was Zoroastrianism, but other
religions did thrive in this environment.The Sassanian Empire was one of the
most powerful in history but is frequently overlooked in history books.
304 (Bowder 1978: 12–13), which demanded that all soldiers and administra-
tors offer sacrifice on pain of death (an activity prohibited by the Christian reli-
gion). Diocletian, who reigned from 284 to 305, restructured the Roman Em-
pire and the nature of leadership (Christiansen 1995: 162). At a fundamental
level, the nature of the emperor’s mandate changed under Diocletian. The em-
peror was no longer the chosen of the people, but rather the chosen of the
gods—in particular, Jupiter. The new title that went with this was dominus
(which means “master”) and an emperor’s reign was no longer called a princi-
pate but a dominate (Ferril 1998: 79). The origins of the divine right of European
Constantine the Great converting to Christianity at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. (Bettmann/
Corbis)
medieval kings to rule can be found in this philosophy of Diocletian’s. Deter-

mining that the empire was too large to govern single-handedly (Bowder 1978:
3), Diocletian installed Maximian as Caesar of the west. Furthermore, to ensure
a smooth succession, Diocletian and Maximian each adopted a Caesar to assist
in governance and to take over after their own deaths. Diocletian chose Maxi-
manius and Maximian chose Constantine (Bowder 1978: 3–5). These four
rulers became known as the Tetrarchy. Each ruler ruled from his own palace
(none of which were in Rome). Diocletian engaged in massive building proj-
ects and reorganized the Roman governmental system. He retired in 305.
The Tetrarchy, which theoretically had been established to ensure a smooth
succession, actually prevented a smooth succession (Ferril 1988: 79). From 305
until 324, the empire once again disintegrated into factions, as Constantine,
Maximanius, and three other claimants (including a man named Licinius) vied
for the throne. Constantine courted the Christian church for popular support.
In 312, Constantine and Maximanius met in battle at the Milvian Bridge. Ac-
92 THE ROMANS
cording to Eusebius, Constantine had a vision the night before the battle in
which he saw a Christian symbol blazing against the sun. So he had all of his
army paint this symbol (the chi-rho) on their shields and was subsequently suc-
cessful in the battle. Whatever the truth behind the story of Constantine’s con-
version to Christianity, this battle left two emperors of Rome—Licinius in the
east and Constantine in the west. By 324, Constantine had killed Licinius and
taken control of the empire.
Rise of Christianity
The pretext for Constantine’s attack on Licinius was Christianity (Bowder
1978: 32). After the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Licinius and Constantine had
shared power over the Roman Empire, and Licinius had been tolerant of Con-
stantine’s efforts to Christianize Rome. Sporadic conflicts marred the peace be-
tween the two leaders, but for the most part the status quo remained, with
power evenly divided between Constantine and Licinius. This changed in 323,
when Licinius made the mistake of moving against the Christian factions
within the imperial bureaucracy (Bowder 1978: 42). Fearing that all Christians
were working on behalf of Constantine, Licinius had some bishops executed
and razed some of the churches. This provided Constantine with an excuse to
attack Licinius. Constantine soundly defeated Licinius at Hadrianopolis, and
then again at Chrysopolis. Eventually Licinius surrendered, on the condition
that his life would be spared. But in 325, Constantine broke his promise to al-
low Licinius to live, and he had his former rival and Licinius’s son executed.
For Christianity, the year 324 C.E. marked a turning point. The religion had
moved from its origins as a fringe movement in Judaism (see chapter 8) and
had become the official religion of the empire. While Licinius still had power,
Constantine had been checked in his attempts to exclude non-Christian reli-
gions from practice. But with Licinius out of the way, Constantine was able to
legislate against paganism. Sacrifice was forbidden, and the treasuries of pa-
gan temples were confiscated. Roman social life was also legislated based on
Constantine’s Christian principles. Most notably, gladiatorial combat was out-
lawed. The laws passed by Constantine, infamous for their harsh punish-
ments, directly reflected Christian morality.
Christianity flourished under Constantine’s patronage. In 325 C.E. the Coun-
cil of Nicaea convened at the request of the emperor. Worrying that Christian
unity was threatened by theological disagreements, Constantine invited bish-
ops and theologians to meet in order to come to a consensus on the nature of
the Trinity. Known as the Arian controversy, the Church had become divided
on how to understand the relationship of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in re-
lation to one another. An Alexandrian priest named Arius had brought the
controversy to a head by suggesting that God was dominant and that Jesus
and the Holy Spirit were subordinate, although at the highest level of creation.
The other viewpoint, which would eventually prevail in Christian thought,
held that God is one being, but a being that exists in three forms—Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. The end result of the Council of Nicaea was the composition
of the Nicaean Creed, which affirms the non-Arian viewpoint, in very ambigu-
ous language. It is intriguing that a Roman emperor would play a role in theo-
logical decision making, and goes to show how Christianity had changed from
a fringe movement into an organized religion playing a role in government.
Perhaps the most tangible illustration of Christianity’s integration into Ro-
man imperial government was the movement of the capital from Rome to
Constantinople. In 324 Constantinople was founded atop the existing city of
Byzantium. Constantine had spent most of his early years reigning from Trier
and spent little time at Rome. The foundation of Constantinople further under-
mined Rome’s status as the center of the empire. Even though Constantine
erected fabulous buildings in Rome, his disbanding of the Praetorian Guard
brought with it Rome’s concomitant loss of status as the imperial city. In 337
Constantine became ill and finally accepted baptism to Christianity. He was
buried in Constantinople, much to the horror of the Roman aristocracy, who
expected him to be buried in Rome. The historical irony is profound, in that
the man who legislated Christianity as the sole religion of Rome was deified
by the Senate after his death!
Fall of the Roman Empire

Edward Gibbon’s monumental masterpiece, The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, has indelibly affected scholars of Rome. No discussion of Rome can be
complete without a discussion of whether even the title of this work can be
considered accurate. Chapter 11 discusses in more detail the nature of this con-
troversy. What follows here, rather, is a description of the basic historical
events that bring Roman history to a close. The end date of the Roman Empire
is typically understood to be 476, when a barbarian king sat on the throne of
the emperor. But many consider the Byzantine civilization and the Holy Ro-
man Empire to be continuations of Roman glory. However one understands
the ends of Rome, from a material culture perspective (that is to say, an archae-
ological perspective), the end of Roman civilization with recognizable links to
the Republican and monarchical periods comes in 476.
Constantine left his three sons, Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius II,
as rulers of the empire. Constantine II was nominally the leader, but for all
practical purposes, the empire was divided into three discrete sections (Bow-
der 1978: 44). But infighting between the brothers eventually led to Constan-
tius II becoming sole ruler. In 360, Constantius II, feeling that it was too un-
wieldy to rule the empire alone, elevated his half cousin Julian to a position of
power. The two of them eventually feuded over power, but Constantius II died
before much came of the conflict. Julian, now Caesar of the west, attempted to
reduce the prominence of Christianity and return Rome to paganism
(Cameron and Garnsey 1998: 44). For this Julian is often called “The Apostate.”
Julian died while campaigning against the Persians, and Jovian was named as
his successor. Jovian, however, did not live to return to Constantinople and no
heir was immediately apparent (Cameron and Garnsey 1998: 113).
Valentinian I, a military officer, was appointed emperor. Shortly thereafter
he appointed his younger brother as augustus of the east. The House of Valen-
tinian ruled over a Christian Roman Empire, divided between east and west,
94 THE ROMANS
from 364 to 392. Battles against barbarian forces eventually led to the death of
the House of Valentinian. In their place rose the House of Theodosian, which
ruled amid various struggles until 455. Although Theodosius I had strength-
ened the office of emperor, this strength lasted only until his death in 395. His
two sons continued the office of emperor, but actual power shifted to advisors.
In addition, the capital of Roman government was moved to Ravenna in 404.
This city was in a very defensible position—in the middle of a marsh in north-
ern Italy.
The loss of prestige for the city of Rome was furthered by its sack in 410. The
commander of the Roman army, Stilicho, had entered into an agreement with
Alaric the Visigoth in 407. Alaric was hired to move his barbarian army against
Illyrium to bring the area under Roman control in return for a substantial pay-
ment. However, after this deal was brokered, other barbarian groups attacked
Gaul and the governorship of Britain was usurped. The attack on Illyrium had
to be called off, and Alaric was not paid. In response, Alaric sacked Rome. Al-
though the actual destruction was not great, the sack of Rome was certainly
demoralizing. It also illustrated one of the growing weaknesses of the Roman
Empire. The Roman military had become dependent on barbarian military
forces that were not loyal to Rome (Ferril 1986). Local barbarian warlords had
also become more powerful, and attacks on Roman holdings were not uncom-
mon.
Nine more emperors ruled after the last of the Theodosian-supported rulers
(Valentinian III). At this point, the empire was permanently divided between
east and west. From 455 on, the eastern empire is better known as the Byzan-
tine Empire. The western empire held on for about twenty years, plagued by
barbarian attacks, until finally, in 476, the barbarian king Odovacer became
king of the empire. At this point, imperial history comes to an end. No more
emperors are presented as leaders of Rome. The power of the western Roman
Empire passed completely into the hands of German chieftains.
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V CHAPTER 5
Economics
M any economic aspects of modern life are taken for granted today in
North America and Europe. Very few people are actually involved in
primary food production; most people do not harvest their own crops or
butcher their own meat (except on a very small scale). Likewise, people do not
produce their own clothes, and even fewer actually create the fabric used in
clothes. This disassociation with primary production is a hallmark of the in-
dustrialized world. To understand ancient Roman economy, it is necessary
first to understand this major difference between modern industrialized life
and ancient Roman life. Other than the very wealthy, most Roman households
were very involved in the day-to-day production of food and clothing. There
were markets where goods could be bought and sold, but they certainly did
not play as important a role in supplying a family with their needs as stores do
today. This chapter describes some of the major elements of the Roman econ-
omy. For a general overview of the controversies relating to the study of Ro-
man economy, read the appropriate section in chapter 11.
AGRICULTURAL AND SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES

The basis of the Roman economy was agriculture (Hopkins 1988: 753). The
vast majority of people living within the Roman sphere of influence gained
their livelihood through small-scale subsistence farming (Finley 1973: 139).
Their economic interactions with the rest of society were relatively limited.
They produced what they needed, when they needed, on their own. The num-
ber of agricultural workers within the classical world has been a controversial
topic. Some scholars have argued that almost every nonelite Roman engaged
in some sort of agriculture. Others have argued that a significant proportion of
agricultural production was done on a massive scale on massive estates, free-
ing most other Romans from these obligations. Unfortunately, there is not
enough evidence to say either way. We do, however, know a lot about the ac-
tual practice of farming in Roman times, and that is the subject of the remain-
der of this section.
Landholding and Types of Farmsteads

Ownership and control of land are central issues in understanding agricultural
economy. Who owns the land and who has rights to it are important, but also
usually very complicated, issues. Landownership usually involves a hierarchy
of rights to land use, and it is frequently not possible to say that one individual
97
98 THE ROMANS
owns land outright. Usually no one has complete rights over a piece of real es-
tate. The individual landowner was frequently obligated to the state in return
for the right to own the land; in the period of the republic these obligations in-
cluded military service. On the other hand, even the emperors did not have
full control over land, because they had to deal with laws and customs protect-
ing the rights of individual landowners. Real estate ownership issues are much
more complicated than ownership issues involving moveable property, which
can be owned outright. What follows is a discussion of the major Roman types
of landownership, but it is important to remember that the categories dis-
cussed here were not as clear-cut in actual practice.
The Family Farm. The ideal form of Roman landownership was the small
family farm. In later times, the Romans believed that all of their ancestors had
farmed small plots of land (Shelton 1988: 152). These early Romans had owned
their land, and it was the hard work of their forefathers that had led Rome to
such success (Shelton 1988: 153). In reality, it is unlikely that the earliest Roman
settlements consisted of independent, self-sufficient, single-family farm
dwellings. Nonetheless, this was a powerful myth and became the norm in the
early Republican period. The pater familias of the farmstead was obligated to
fight in the military, a difficult burden for the farm (Stockton 1979: 9). Because
the farm probably operated only slightly above the subsistence level, the loss
of one productive member during important agricultural periods was signifi-
cant. Small family farms were just as economically unstable in the ancient
world as they are today. Subsistence farmers were at the mercy of the weather,
price fluctuations, and a variety of other variables beyond their control.
Ager Publicus. The ager publicus was public land, farmland owned by the
state, and the subject of much controversy in the late Republican period. The
Roman state gained this land during the conquest of Italy by confiscating it
from those cities that resisted Roman advances (Stockton 1979: 11). Much of
this land was assigned to colonies. Some of it was doled out to individuals. By
about the middle of the second century B.C.E., however, much of this land was
distributed to wealthy landowners who already had large estates. When Ro-
man forces took over new areas, they incorporated the preexisting landowner-
ship schemes into the Roman administration. Because of this, there was great
variation in local landownership practices in the empire. But the land that was
annexed as ager publicus was administered in an entirely Roman fashion.
Agricultural production was geared toward producing a surplus—enough for
the city dwellers in the nearby colony and the Roman army stationed in that
region.
Latifundia. Latifundia were huge corporate agricultural estates run with the
purpose of making a profit. Owners of these kinds of land began to dominate
Roman agriculture, gradually buying out the small landholders (Pallotino
1991: 130; Rees 1987: 484). Larger farms were better equipped to deal with un-
certainty in an economic activity revolving around considerable insecurity
Economics 99
(Stockton 1979: 13). These small landholders moved to the city and became the
urban poor, because the larger landholders did not normally hire these ex-
farmers to work the newly purchased land (Rees 1987: 484). Instead, latifundia
were worked by massive amounts of slave labor.
Tenants and Sharecroppers. Eventually, large landholders found that large

slave-based work teams were not economically viable. Even though slaves
were not paid wages, they were expensive, because all of their needs had to be
met by the farm owner. So these large corporate farmers began to rent out land
to smaller farmers. The larger farms were divided into smaller units. Some of
these units were rented out to tenants. The tenant was obliged to pay a yearly
fee and/or was compelled to work on the renter’s farm. A system similar to
sharecropping was also used in certain circumstances. These types of land-
holding relationships became prominent in about the second century C.E.
(Stockton 1979: 15). They lasted well into the medieval period, and some have
argued that they formed the basis of European feudalism and manorialism.
Methods of Farming
Farming methods throughout the empire were related to and dependent upon
the climate of the area being farmed. It is useful to think of Roman farming as
either dry farming or moist farming, depending on the amount of precipita-
tion in the particular region (Rees 1987: 481). Farming practices varied consid-
erably throughout the empire, having developed from local traditions, predat-
ing the Romans by centuries (Rees 1987: 482). Some broad generalizations can
be made, and will be explored in the section that follows.
Dry-farming techniques were essential in areas with a Mediterranean cli-
mate (see chapter 2). Farmers working in this type of climate were forced to
cope with, before all other problems, issues of water management. There was
substantial precipitation in Mediterranean climates, but it was unpredictable.
Terracing techniques of water conservation were important (these are dis-
cussed in detail in chapter 2). Agriculturalists in the Mediterranean typically
farmed according to a two-year system, in which fields were left fallow for one
year at a time and generally used every other year (but see White 1970: 47).
Seed was sown sometime between October and December, and harvesting
took place in June or July. The tools used by Roman farmers were relatively
simple. Plowing was done with a tool called a light ard. Hoes and sickles were
also used. In general, Roman agricultural tools consisted of iron heads with
wooden handles (Rees 1987: 489).
Moist farming, typical of northern Europe, was much less work-intensive
than dry farming and had more predictable yields. This kind of farming in-
volved the use of agricultural tools that were different from those used for dry
farming. During Roman times, farmers used harvesting machines called the
vallus or carpentum in these regions (Rees 1987: 498). There were lighter and
heavier versions of this machine, but all were pushed by draft animals. We
know about these machines not because they have survived archaeologically,
but because they are depicted in Roman art and described by Pliny. Another
100 THE ROMANS
Engravings based on reliefs on the “Tomb of the Baker” show the process of baking bread in an-
cient Rome. (Pixel That)
tool used in Roman moist farming was the wheeled plow. This tool had two
small wheels, attached to an iron spade that could be pushed along the soil,
making plowing easier on the farmer’s back (Rees 1987: 498).
Types of Crops
Most Roman farms engaged in mixed agriculture, meaning that a variety of
different crops were grown. Cereals (such as wheat and barley) were very im-
portant in subsistence agriculture and formed the basis of the Roman diet.
Olives and grapes were successful cash crops. Growing these vine-based crops
could not support a family, but because olive oil and wine were always in high
demand in the cities, farmers who grew these crops could be confident that
they could sell their produce. Vine-based agriculture was a significant invest-
ment of time and resources, because it takes years for planted vines to become
agriculturally productive. Fruit, nuts, vegetables, and figs were also important
Roman crops.
Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry was usually integrated with agriculture on small subsis-
tence farms, but some scholars have argued that it was divorced from agricul-
ture on the larger estates. Animals were an important part of all Roman farms
and fulfilled a number of roles (Rees 1987: 486). The manure produced by ani-
mals was used as an important source of fertilizer (White 1970: 125). Roman
Economics 101
writers observed that for the larger estates it was difficult to acquire sufficient
amounts of fertilizer (White 1970: 144). The massive strength of draft animals
also assisted in agricultural labor.
But animals were also useful sources of products for consumption (see
White 1970: 272–231 for a slightly different understanding). Cattle were very
important in Italy. There was a large demand for meat in Rome and dairy
products were always desired. Hides and bones were important resources for
other industries. Sheep were also used for dairy production and meat, but
wool was their most valuable contribution. Pigs and other animals played var-
ious roles as well.
Shepherds were an important part of agro-pastoralism. In Roman literature,
shepherds are described in very romantic terms. But generally, Romans seem
to have disliked the duties of the shepherd, and usually shepherding chores
became a slave’s responsibility. The shepherd would wander with the sheep,
protecting and assisting them. Thieves were one of the primary enemies of the
shepherd, who often spent days at a time away from the settlement.
CRAFT SPECIALIZATION AND PRODUCTION

Related to issues of agriculture were issues regarding craft specialization. Be-
cause not all people were involved in food production, those who were had to
produce a significant surplus in order for everyone to be fed. Craft specializa-
tion is an important archaeological concept. A craft specialist is an individual
who has a particular knowledge of and access to the necessary equipment for a
specific kind of production. The presence of craft specialists in a society im-
plies some kind of division of labor, because not everybody can produce all
things. In other words, each individual has a specific occupation or job. In Ro-
man times there was a high degree of craft specialization. This was especially
true of urban dwellers, who had a much larger pool of occupational choices.
Based on the occupations recorded in Roman tombstone epithets, there were at
least 200 jobs in which Romans could engage, and there were likely many
more possibilities that have not been recorded (Hopkins 1988: 772). Most of the
return from working these jobs probably went to purchasing food or fulfilling
other primary needs (rent, clothes, etc.). People were trained in specific fields
to produce specific goods. By creating a surplus of these goods (more than the
individual producer could use), the craft specialist could exchange the surplus
for other specialized goods. Trading specialized products was also the mecha-
nism by which the specialist would gain food and other products necessary for
survival. What follows is a discussion of particular kinds of specialist activity
in which the Romans engaged.
Mining and Quarrying

The Romans required resources on a tremendous scale—a scale previously un-
known in the ancient Mediterranean. Therefore, mining and quarrying were ex-
tremely important aspects of industrial production. Some modern scholars
have even suggested that in terms of scale, these occupations were second only
102 THE ROMANS
The quarry at Carrara, Italy, has provided fine white marble since ancient times. (Library of
Congress)
to agriculture (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 330). Much archaeological evidence for
mining exists; however, there are several problems with using this kind of data.
The most important problem is that it is often very difficult to date mining sites.
If a mine was not exhausted in Roman times, it probably remained in use until
well after the Roman period. Also, because the process of mining is so destruc-
tive, Roman evidence often does not survive. Another problem with archaeo-
logical investigation of mining is that the most common sources of ore and
stone were aboveground surface deposits. After such resources are fully ex-
ploited, nothing remains, so it is difficult to get an accurate sense of the degree
of mining in any period before record-keeping procedures were employed.
Economics 103
Mining and quarrying techniques remained fairly similar throughout Ro-

man history. In general, aboveground resources were exploited as much as
possible. When veins of precious ores ran out above ground, miners would fol-
low the deposits underground. Vertical shafts were cut straight down into the
ground to gain access to these deposits (Woods 1987: 613). Aboveground re-
sources were gathered in a number of ways. Large amounts of water were
sometimes used to wash away the debris or soil-covering deposits (Healy
1988: 783). The stone or ore itself would often be subject to extremes of heat
(through fire) and cold (through water) to produce cracks and separate the ma-
terial from the deposit. Preexisting cracks in the rock were similarly used.
Tools were wedged into cracks and pressure was exerted to increase the split
(Woods 1987: 615).
Miners themselves were usually slaves or convicted criminals (Healy 1988:
788). The job was so unpleasant and dangerous that freedmen were unlikely to
willingly engage in it. The organization of mining within the Roman world is
not exactly clear. In the imperial period, it seems that there were state-run min-
ing operations used to supply the building projects of the empire (Healy 1988:
787–788). But for the most part, local stone was used in building projects to re-
duce transportation expenses. Private (but wealthy) individuals or groups
controlled these operations. Mining seems to have been contracted out by the
state to various organizations (Healy 1988: 788). Evidence for this comes from
discoveries of unused ingots of metal that are stamped with the names of min-
ing companies or private individuals. Probably it is most accurate to consider
Roman mining and quarrying as industries financed through a combination of
public and private organizational strategies.
Metallurgy
Metallurgy was well developed in the Near East and Europe centuries before
Roman civilization arose. There are a number of distinct steps in metallurgy,
all aimed toward the goal of creating usable objects from metal materials. Met-
allurgy involves a significant degree of investment in terms of materials, pro-
cessing, and levels of education. First, ore had to be processed into usable
metal. This process involved heating the ore to very high temperatures. To
make bronze, tin and copper had to be mixed in a fixed ratio. The Romans
gained quite a degree of precision in the composition of alloys like bronze.
Usually this kind of processing occurred near the mine. The metal was cast
into ingots with the understanding that the ingots would later be melted down
by a local craft specialist.
The actual techniques of working metals varied depending on the type of
metal used. Gold and silver were both hammered and engraved into desired
forms. They could also be melted and cast in molds—especially common for
jewelry. Iron was heated and pounded or punched. Bronze was also cast, usu-
ally in molds or through what is called the lost-wax method. The lost-wax
method (often referred to by its French name çire perdue) involved the use of a
temporary mold made out of wax. It is very easy to sculpt with wax, which al-
lows for more ornate designs. After the metal poured inside the mold cooled,
104 THE ROMANS
the wax molds were disposed of. Iron, lead, and copper were also important
metals in Roman times.
Woodworking
Carpentry and woodworking were important skills in the Roman world. The
Romans used many wooden products. Boats, carts, tools, and furniture (or at
least parts of these items) were made of wood. Unfortunately, wood does not
survive well, according to the archaeological record. It deteriorates relatively
quickly in most archaeological contexts. But from a variety of sources, like
artistic and literary descriptions, there is evidence for the kinds of wooden ob-
jects used (Liversidge 1976: 155). Many objects were made of wood, and it is
likely that the tools used for carving were very similar to those used today
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 329; Liversidge 1976: 159–165). In most parts of the
Roman world, wood was a plentiful resource; however, there is some evidence
for deforestation in different periods and places.
Pottery and Manufacture

We know about ceramic production from a number of different sources. Ar-
chaeologically, the study of production sites (i.e., kilns) can provide informa-
tion about the methods of manufacture. Examination of the pottery itself can
also reveal the methods of production. Further evidence comes from ethno-
graphic analogy, which is the study of how modern potters work their craft.
More is said about Roman pottery styles and production in chapter 9.
Textile Production
Textiles were produced in the home and in larger industrial contexts. The
processes of manufacture were relatively similar in both contexts (Manning
1987: 598–599). The first step was the collection and preparation of the fiber.
Wool was sheared from sheep. Flax and hemp were harvested at certain times
of the year and then specially treated for use as fiber (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
327–328; Wild 1976: 168). It is likely that individual homes purchased these
raw materials, rather than producing them themselves. The next step was to
spin the fiber into a usable form. This could be done at the household level, us-
ing techniques and tools that predated the Romans by centuries (Wild 1976:
169). After the fiber was spun, it was woven, similarly possible at the house-
hold level, with relatively simple and inexpensive equipment. At this stage,
the woven textile was given to specialists for further treatment (Hopkins 1988:
764; Wild 1976: 176). The textile was washed, and then fullers treated the fabric
(with earth or urine) to remove the grease, dirt, and animal oils (Hopkins 1988:
764).
Leather was used by the Romans in a number of contexts, not just for cloth-
ing. Created from the skins of animals, the animal was first slaughtered and
the hide removed. The hide was then treated extensively, involving consider-
able scraping to remove leftover pieces of flesh, and beating the hide to soften
it for easier manipulation (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 329; Waterer 1976: 179).
Tanning leather involved soaking it in a particular solution (Waterer 1976: 179).
Economics 105
Usually this was a solution of liquid and tree bark, but it varied regionally
(Waterer 1976: 180). After some further finishing treatments, the leather was
available for a number of uses.
TRADE
The study of ancient trade can be a difficult task. It is very important (and very
difficult) to avoid bringing one’s own preconceptions to this subject. Although
more is said about the controversies of this subject in chapter 11, a few points
are important to bear in mind. The work of the anthropologist Marcel Mauss,
exemplified by his work in The Gift, has demonstrated that beneath the trans-
fer of goods between people lie important social relationships. These social re-
lationships are particularly important in the study of ancient trade. A great
deal of information can be learned, not only about the specifics of trade, but
also about the relationships between the people or groups that traded.
An important difference between modern times and Roman times is the rel-
ative standing of merchants within the community. Although the ability to
make a profit is considered a virtue in many sectors of modern society, it was
not a virtue in Roman society. Trading and selling were considered distasteful
and not the activities of proper Romans. This was not unique to the Romans—
many precapitalist societies shared a similar disregard for selling. It is a unique
feature of the modern world that making money is considered morally accept-
able rather than socially reprehensible. On the other hand, there is certainly ev-
idence that this did not prevent people from attempting to make a profit.
Shopping in Rome
The degree to which trade was impor-
tant in ancient economies is a question
of great controversy (see chapter 11). But
in the city of Rome itself, there is unde-
niable evidence that trade was con-
ducted. Evidence exists for standardized
systems of measurement. Merchants
sold their wares as a primary means of
making a living. Profit was the goal of
these sales—to be certain, there are
enough accounts (and complaints) about
this in Classical literature. Often mer-
chants were artisans as well. Sometimes
homes, shops, and workshops all were
connected, and there is evidence that ar-
tisans often sold their crafts from shops
attached to their workshops. In other sit-
uations, however, merchants could act
solely as middlemen. These shop own- Weights and measures found at Pompeii.
(Library of Congress)
106 THE ROMANS
Storefronts on Fortuna Street, Pompeii. (Library of Congress)
ers were completely divorced from production, much as store clerks in malls
are today.
Some areas of the city of Rome were specifically geared toward shopping.
The Forum was the major center for shopping throughout much of Roman his-
tory (Cowell 1980: 124). Various markets in and around the area were dedi-
cated and renovated by various emperors. The most magnificent was Trajan’s
Market, which was founded in 114 C.E. This ancient mall had over 150 shops
that sold a variety of products (Cowell 1980: 125). The market was right by a
river, so that deliveries could be made by water directly to the larger stores.
Other sections of Rome also facilitated trade, and certain streets were known
for their shops. Probably the most famous was vicus Tuscas, which had many
different types of wares for sale (Cowell 1980: 126). Some products were sold
in areas informally designated for that kind of commodity. For example, the fo-
rum boarium was where cattle were sold. Undoubtedly, Rome was a world
shopping capital, much as London, Paris, New York, and Hong Kong are to-
day.
International Trade
International trade was an important component of Roman society from very
early on. Literary sources provide ample descriptions of the kinds of trade that
Rome engaged in over long distances. Archaeological evidence is also helpful
Economics 107
An imaginary scene in the Roman Forum. (Pixel That)
in studying long-distance trade. Although the actual products that were

traded have often not survived in the archaeological record, the containers in
which those products were shipped (e.g., pottery) have been preserved and re-
covered. Furthermore, the numerous excavated shipwrecks provide even more
complete pictures of trade (see sidebar on page 108).
Before the imperial period, international trade was probably relatively infor-
mal. Connections between elite families across borders were probably the
dominant force behind the earliest Roman trade (Parker 1987: 635). Interna-
tional trade by sea was made safer after Pompey’s campaign against piracy,
which was conducted explicitly to make sea commerce secure (Parker 1987:
636). In the imperial period, international trade became an important compo-
nent of the state economy. The city of Rome came to rely on regular imports.
Laws revolved around the importation of certain commodities to ensure that
their delivery was dependable.
Roman trading networks in the imperial period were quite expansive, from
China to Scandinavia (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 194; Parker 1987: 651). Evi-
dence of this comes from the Roman material culture found in both of these re-
gions dating to this time. Especially notable is the large amount of Roman
coins discovered in India dating to the imperial period (Adkins and Adkins
108 THE ROMANS
Shipwrecks
The many shipwrecks that lie at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea have
provided archaeologists with important evidence for the nature of Roman
seafaring and international trade. The study of these ships, which is referred
to as underwater archaeology, has become an important subdiscipline within
archaeology. There are basically two methods used to study these underwa-
ter ships—excavation and reconnaissance. Excavation is quite time consum-
ing, but it is also very rewarding.The sea preserves many types of objects that
are not preserved in dry areas, but great care must be taken when moving
these artifacts to the surface. Reconnaissance is less destructive, involving ob-
serving and recording discovered wrecks, but without removing the ancient
remains from their underwater graves. As technology improves, underwater
archaeology will prove to be an even more important tool for archaeological
work.
1994: 194; Greene 1986: 29). Gold and silver coins were traded, probably based
on the value of their metal, rather than on the value invested from imperial au-
thority. In general, the Romans exported goods that had been secondarily pro-
duced or had added value. That is to say, the Romans exported to the periph-
ery manufactured goods with the Roman manufacturing, not raw materials.
Imports to Rome were mostly raw materials and semimanufactured goods.
Grain was the most important import to Rome, so much so that its importation
was government regulated (see sidebar on page 109). A substantial proportion
of Rome’s grain supply came from Egypt. This is not as odd as it may seem; it
was probably much easier to transport large quantities of products across the
Mediterranean rather than across Italy by land (Greene 1986: 40; Manning
1987: 592). Olive oil and wine were also traded across the Roman world in sig-
nificant quantities.
There were many individuals who participated in international trade. But
the people mostly responsible were the middlemen, who were willing to travel
to buy and sell goods in faraway locations. Two types of traders were active in
ancient Rome. Mercatores were merchants who traded specific goods (Adkins
and Adkins 1994: 194; d’Arms 1981: 3; Manning 1987: 590). They were distin-
guished from negotiators, who were traders of more general kinds of prod-
ucts. Negotiators were representatives of larger organizations, agents of trad-
ing companies, or the active members of groups of investors (Adkins and
Adkins 1994: 194; d’Arms 1981: 25).
COINS AND MONEY

Coins are one of the richest sources of data for the study of ancient Rome.
There are a number of ways in which coins can be used in historical study. The
Economics 109
The Grain Dole
One of the benefits of living in the city of Rome was possible access to free
wheat. At varying times in Roman history, wheat was offered to the citizens
of Rome free of charge. This was a valuable political tool, especially for the
emperor, as it preserved his popularity within the city. With grain imports
from Egypt well regulated, the citizens of Rome had access to a constant food
source. Given the large population of the city and the growing use of the sur-
rounding land for cash crops, the free wheat provided to Romans was very
important.
first, which assists in the dating of archaeological sites and materials, was dis-
cussed in chapter 3. Coins can also be used indirectly as sources of information
from an art-historical perspective. Images on coins frequently consisted of pic-
tures of architectural features, showing what buildings may have looked like
(Burnett 1991: 31–32). Even more frequently depicted on Roman coins were
portraits of important Romans (Burnett 1991: 34–36). Sometimes these por-
traits attempted to depict features realistically, but most often they are interest-
ing because specific traits of these individuals were purposefully depicted.
The artist who designed the coin chose to emphasize specific physical features,
either because the person actually looked like that or for propagandistic pur-
poses. This leads to another use of coins in the study of Rome: the use of coins
to understand the larger state apparatus from propaganda and economic per-
spectives (Burnett 1991: 37–41). Finally, a noteworthy use of coins, one that will
be explored in this chapter, is for the specific study of the Roman economy.
First, the history of coin use in the Roman world will be discussed. Second,
what coins can tell us about Roman economy will be explored.
The History of Roman Coins

The use of coins in ancient Rome started slowly. None were used in the regal
period, and it was not until later in the republic that a system of coinage was
adopted. It was Roman contact with the region of Campania that provided the
impetus for the minting of the first bronze coins. Rome’s first mint was estab-
lished in 289 B.C.E. (Greene 1986: 48), minting bronze coins, with a base denom-
ination called the as. The as was about 1 pound of bronze, and had smaller sub-
divisions, as low as 1/24 as. These coins were too large to be made with a die
(the kind of press normally used for coins) and had to be cast, like large,
bronze objects (Greene 1986: 48). There were also some less prominent silver
and gold coins in circulation at this time.
The next major phase in the history of Roman coinage came in approxi-
mately 211 B.C.E. This was around the time of the second Punic War, and the
Roman economy was in shambles. It was with the new coinage system at this
time that the denarius, a silver coin, became the base currency unit. This was
110 THE ROMANS
Table 5.1 Major Denominations of Coins from Augustus to Caracalla
Name Value Metal
quadrans 1/4 as bronze

semis 1/2 as brass
as base bronze
dupondius 2 asses brass
sestertius 4 asses brass
quinarius 8 asses brass
denarius 16 asses silver
aureus 25 denarii gold
about equal to ten bronze asses. Bronze coins were still more important in
everyday usage, but silver had become the new standard of value. Under Au-
gustus, Roman currency underwent another major reorientation (Greene 1986:
49). But the denarius was still the base currency unit (see Table 5.1). This cur-
rency system, while undergoing occasional changes based on imperial edicts
and the changing value of metal, remained intact until the third century C.E.
(see Kent 1987).
What Coins Meant for the Roman Economy

Coins, when they appear in an economy, are a distinct feature. Most items in-
volved in economic transactions have some sort of value that is ascribed from
a number of angles. The value of coins is explicitly derived from some sort of
economic authority. An institution (normally affiliated with the state) creates
the coin in standard, comparable amounts, and makes a declaration as to its
value. This institution must have enough authority to influence participants in
the economy to accept these values and use the coins as a means of storing and
transmitting wealth (Burnett 1991: 10). This does not mean that the values set
by these authorities are absolute, but they must be sufficiently grounded in re-
ality to allow the coins to function within the economy. So already the presence
of coins informs the historian that the Roman government had enough author-
ity over economic matters to set values and standardize currency.
But what role did coins have in the Roman economy? This question is not as
easy to answer as it might appear. It lies at the heart of an important debate on
the nature of preindustrial economies (see chapter 11). Coins can fulfill specific
roles; Greene suggests three possibilities (Greene 1986: 51). They can make ex-
change easier. Instead of bartering (in which both parties must have goods that
the other party desires), coins allow trade when only the goods of one party
are desired. Related to this, coins can act as a standard of value. Even if coins
are not physically traded, it is often useful to have a sense of an item’s value in
relationship to other items. Coins can provide that standard. Also important is
the use of coins for storing wealth. Coins (ideally, though never practically) are
a stable mechanism for accumulating wealth. For example, it is much more
convenient to be paid in coins than in dairy products, because coins will not
quickly go bad and lose their value. This means that people who get coins can
Economics 111
save them, and use that wealth later. These are some of the theoretical uses of
coins, but which of these uses actually happened in Roman times?
Because we know coins existed in Roman times, we can postulate some of
the ways that coins were used. Coins were used as a standard of value; written
sources give information about the price of goods and services from the de-
nominations of coins. Coins may have been used to store wealth. Numerous
coin hoards have been discovered throughout the empire. This does not neces-
sarily reflect wealth storage, but it is the most likely option. Individuals, as
part of economic transactions, also used coins. There are anecdotal accounts of
people using coins to buy and sell in Roman literature. And, for another exam-
ple, we know that people paid a quadran to get into the baths in Rome. Another
important type of evidence is the denomination of coins. If denominations
were too large, then only certain individuals and institutions could use them
(Burnett 1991: 44–45). In Roman times, however, this was not the case. The de-
nominations reflected a wide variety of values, from negligible values to ex-
tremely expensive values (Greene 1986: 52). So, theoretically, everybody could
use coins.
But questions of scale need to be considered as well. Just because there were
coins, and people used them in a way that is similar to how people use money
today, it does not mean that coins functioned exactly the way coins and money
do today. It is likely that the Roman use of coins was on a much smaller scale
than the use of money today. In the cities, coins were definitely important for
trade (Crawford 1970: 45). The same probably cannot be said for rural areas or
areas of the empire without strong monetary traditions. Coins were not impor-
tant in every transaction, and many transactions could occur without any con-
sideration of money. It is important not to equate Roman coins with modern
money—the two, although appearing similar, are in fact different in many
ways.
BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT

The nature of Roman business and investment can seem very different de-
pending on the account that one reads. It is a controversial topic, and studies
on the subject often reflect more about a scholar’s personal beliefs than histori-
cal reality. These issues are dealt with more fully in chapter 11, but some com-
ments can safely be made here about the nature of Roman business and invest-
ment. For the wealthier Romans, those for whom investment was an option,
business life revolved around the patrimony and the patrimonial estate (Veyne
1987: 139). It also revolved around increasing (or at least sustaining) the patri-
monial estate. Rigid occupational categories were not applied to the Roman
pater familias, who could invest in a variety of manners. Unlike modern times,
when people can say that they are advertisers or publishers, the professional
aspects of Roman life were not as important a means of social identification.
Ideally, the occupation of the pater familias was the management of his estate.
Most of these forms of investment revolved around landholding. Land was
the basis for most types of investment available to a wealthy Roman (Frier
112 THE ROMANS
1980: 21; Parker 1987: 635). Agriculture was by far the most important kind of
property-based investment (White 1970: 12). The owner could be directly in-
volved in agricultural production (managing the estate himself or through his
slaves) or indirectly involved by renting out the land and profiting from agri-
cultural fees. Nonagricultural land was also important (Frier 1980: 21). Income
was derived from renting out domestic property, especially within the cities
(Frier 1980: 27). Apartment complexes were owned by wealthy individuals
who sought profit through rental fees (Frier 1980: 28). It was also common for
rental fees to be gained from other pursuits, such as renting workshop or com-
mercial space. Small businesses like tavernes or inns also provided possible in-
vestment opportunities.
Publicani and Societas

In the absence of direct government initiatives, the Roman government would
auction off contracts to individuals and groups to perform jobs for the state.
These kind of projects varied and included diverse tasks such as tax collection
and road construction. Auctions were held and contracts were given out to the
highest bidder. The individuals who took these contracts were called publicani.
An organization of men bidding as a group was called a societas (Shaw 1988:
816). These were essentially investment groups who put their land down as
collateral to gain the right to participate in these profitable enterprises. Al-
though never formally part of the Roman government, these groups became
entrenched over time, because an organization that had once held a contract
was likely to continue getting contracts.
Moneylenders and Safekeeping

Long before Rome, money lending had become an extremely common practice
in the ancient world. But this kind of money lending was very different from
the kind of lending services offered at banks today. Normally, private individ-
uals gave loans. Banks as such did not exist, although banks and banking
houses are frequently mentioned in scholarly literature. These designations re-
fer more to groups of individual moneylenders in joint ventures or families
with long histories of money-lending, rather than to the formal economic insti-
tutions of today. Essentially, however, a moneylender could be anybody with
enough liquid assets to provide a loan to another individual (Shelton 1988:
140). Money lending was a very profitable enterprise, because interest was
charged at exorbitant rates. Theoretically there were government limits on
rates of interest, but in practice it was easy to circumvent these regulations.
Usually the person who needed the loan was not in a position to negotiate.
Loans were also made to larger groups; for example, provincial cities that
could not pay their taxes. Tax collectors increased their profit by making loans
to people or groups who owed taxes but could not pay them (Shelton 1988:
149). The interest rates in these cases were very high.
Unlike today, when a family might be proud that one of their children had
grown up to be a banker, in Roman times this was considered shameful. Al-
though loaning money was very common in Rome, moneylenders were
Economics 113
viewed with disdain. Perhaps the most well-known criticisms of moneylend-

ers are found in the New Testament, but similar sentiments are also found in
other ancient literature. Often, well-established members of Roman society
would hide their money-lending enterprises by hiring an agent to take care of
the logistics of the transactions (Shelton 1988: 140).
Other services associated with modern banking were performed in Roman
times—especially those related to long-distance trade. Currency exchange was
an important service for foreign merchants (Greene 1986: 63; Thompson 1988:
829). Visitors to other cities also normally needed a safe place to store their
money or assets, and individuals living in the cities could offer these kind of
services (Thompson 1988: 830). There are even some examples of ancient in-
surance. When a loan was advanced to facilitate a maritime trading expedi-
tion, clauses that freed the debtor from repayment if the ship sank could be
added to the agreement (Thompson 1988: 834). There is also evidence for home
insurance, especially as protection from fires, but not much is known about
those agreements.
The Patron-Client Relationship

Arguably, the patron-client relationship was the most important, nonfamilial
relationship in Roman society. The relationship formed when a lower-class,
less powerful individual (the client) asked a wealthier and more powerful in-
dividual (the patron) for patronage. The patron was expected to provide legal
and financial assistance to his clients (Shelton 1988: 14). Sometimes a payment
(called a sportula) was given to the client as well (Ellis 2000: 170). The clients
provided political support for the patron, revolving around the election
process (Ellis 2000: 170; Shelton 1988: 15). Just as important for the patron was
the social capital that came from having a large retinue of clients. Clients were
important Roman status symbols, and clients were expected to demonstrate
this relationship publicly.
The origins of the patron-client relationship are unknown. In the regal pe-
riod, this relationship was considered legally binding, meaning that it had
been formalized from a very early point in Roman society. Initially only patri-
cians were allowed to be patrons, but during the period of the republic this re-
striction loosened to allow any wealthy citizen to become a patron. In the im-
perial period, as elections became less important, the relationship became
more of a master-servant relationship. Also, clients became less distinguish-
able from parasites. Parasite here is used in its original sense. Initially, a para-
site merely referred to a fellow diner (in Greek times) but came to refer to an
individual who acted as a moocher (Faas 2003: 61).
The most regular obligation of the client to the patron was the morning salu-
tatio (Ellis 2000: 170–171; Shelton 1988: 16). Early in the morning the client was
expected to visit his patron’s house and greet him. This was the point of the
day at which it was appropriate for the client to ask for assistance. The saluta-
tio was held in the triclinium (see chapter 9) of the patron’s house (Ellis 2000:
170). The patron would receive clients while seated; where the client sat de-
pended on his status and the favor of the patron.
114 THE ROMANS
Patronage was one of the main mechanisms through which the arts were
perpetuated in Roman society. Much in the same way that patrons of the arts
are understood today, a patron could support an artist or writer if the patron
liked the artist’s work. Often the patron would make very specific demands of
the artist (Blagg 1987: 728). But more important for the patron was the social
esteem gained from other upper-class Romans by patronizing the arts. Even
better was when the patron was memorialized in the art of the client. Perhaps
the most famous patron is the one memorialized in Shakespeare’s eighteenth
sonnet, which begins, “Shall I compare thee with a summer’s day.”
TAXATION
Roman taxation was significantly different from modern taxation. Taxes were
not paid so that the government could provide infrastructure (Shaw 1988: 824).
A Roman taxpayer would never wonder about “his taxes at work” and expect
an accounting from the government. Neither were taxes collected as any sort
of economic regulating device (Shaw 1988: 809–810). So, for example, taxes col-
lected on imported and exported goods were not really customs dues, because
they were not levied as a means of controlling trade. These forms of taxation
were simply methods of increasing state revenue. Keeping in mind this role of
Roman taxes helps explain Roman tax collection in general. Taxes were not
paid only in money, but could also be paid as services or as goods in kind.
In the earliest years of Roman history, only people renting out ager publicus
(the public lands) paid taxes. But as Rome expanded across Italy, the govern-
ment increasingly needed revenue to support military activity (Shaw 1988:
810). Tributum (tribute) was imposed directly on an individual. The degree of
tax owed was decided through the census (Shaw 1988: 811–812). About every
five years, a census was taken to evaluate the level of wealth of an individual
A detail from The Tribute Money by early Renaissance artist Masaccio shows St. Peter handing
over payment to a Roman tax collector. (Sandro Vannini/Corbis)
Economics 115
(and his family) to determine the individual’s rank. This was a crucial determi-
nation regarding the individual’s participation in political life, as well as his
military obligations. The Roman ideal was that citizens of Rome should be ex-
empt from paying taxes, except for military obligations, and the major burden
of taxes should be held by noncitizens and provincial subjects (Shaw 1988:
811).
Taxation institutions varied through the Roman period. In the period of the
republic, revenue was held by the treasury of Saturn (aerarium Saturni), which
was controlled entirely by the Senate (Shaw 1988: 810). From the time of Au-
gustus on, the treasury of Saturn became more and more just the treasury of
the city of Rome (Shaw 1988: 810). The powerful state treasury was the fiscus in
Rome, associated with numerous provincial fisci (Shaw 1988: 810). The fisci
represented the emperor’s personal wealth, and he had control over it. All the
people who ran the fisci were appointed by the emperor and controlled by
him.
Tax collection was not a centrally organized system in Roman times. There
was a considerable quantity of different kinds of taxes that were levied, known
because of the hundreds of different types of taxes listed in papyri from Egypt
(Shaw 1988: 810). The specifics were different for each type of tax. In general,
the right to collect taxes was auctioned off to the highest bidder. This gave the
government a predictable source of income (Shaw 1988: 815). Because the Ro-
man tax base was essentially agrarian, it received amounts of taxes that varied
year by year. But through this method of auctioning off tax-collecting rights,
Rome received a fixed sum from the tribute collector. This tribute collector had
the right to collect taxes at a higher rate than the government required, allow-
ing considerable profit for the collector and encouraging tremendous corrup-
tion. Because the tribute collectors, in order to purchase the rights to tax,
needed considerable funds and could not be senators, the equestrians became
the dominant class involved in tax collection (Shaw 1988: 816).
TRANSPORTATION
In discussing issues of economics, scholars often do not take into account is-
sues of transportation. Yet in many ways transportation is fundamental to
economies. The limits of transportation dictate the limits to economic activity.
Speed, cost, and accessibility of transportation were all important issues to the
ancient economic participants, so it is just as important for modern scholars to
consider them. It is easiest to divide Roman transportation into two cate-
gories—land transportation and water transportation (Greene 1986: 17).
Within these two categories, it is important to distinguish between local and
long-distance transportation. Some of the stranger elements of Roman eco-
nomic life make more sense when the problem of transportation is considered.
Land Transportation
Roads and other kinds of infrastructure are discussed in chapter 9. What is dis-
cussed here are the kinds of evidence available for the study of long-distance
116 THE ROMANS
Table 5.2 Roman Distance Measurements
Measurement Metric Equivalent
mille passus (mile) 1,480 m

stadium (maritime) 187.5 m
actus 35.48 m
passus 1.48 m
pes (foot) 29.4 cm
uncia (inch) 2.43 cm
Roman land transportation vehicles and the kinds of land transportation activ-
ities that took place. Measurement systems are not discussed in detail, but see
Table 5.2 for the most important distance measurements. Local traffic was nor-
mally on foot or, if transporting goods, with simple wagons. Travel by foot or
by pack animals was most likely the choice of the less well-off members of Ro-
man society. Horses were not used for this kind of transportation in Roman
times; they were too expensive. Various kinds of wheeled vehicles were the
preferred form of transportation.
In general, there is much less evidence for land transportation vehicles than
for water vehicles. Most of the knowledge about this is derived from literary
descriptions and art-historical representations. It is very difficult to make tech-
nical assessments of the craft based on this kind of information. From Roman
art we can see that two- and four-wheeled vehicles were used, powered by
draft animals (Greene 1986: 37; Laurence 1999: 123). Literary sources indicate
that at a certain point the Romans adopted Celtic technology, but specific evi-
dence is not very strong (Greene 1986: 36). There is a general tendency in Ro-
man scholarship, based on this evidence, to describe the low technological
level of Roman wheeled vehicles. Recent reevaluation of some of these long-
held technological assumptions (e.g., that Roman vehicles did not have sus-
pension or separate front axles) has shown that they are incorrect (Greene
1986: 38).
Couriers and messengers also traveled along Roman roads. In Republican
times, tabellarii (couriers) were hired to deliver messages (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 184). Augustus established a state postal system of sorts during his reign
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 184). This system, called the cursus publicus (public
course), was for military and state personnel only. Officials used it for convey-
ing messages and supplying armies. The basic system was one in which vehi-
cles and animals were stationed in fixed positions along the route. The courier
would travel to each point and switch vehicles to facilitate quick transport of
the message.
Water Transportation
Water transportation was a much more important form of transportation in
Roman times (but see Brunt 1971). Roman ship technology was quite ad-
vanced. More than thirty Greek and Latin names for types of ships are known,
and many shipwrecks provide information about ancient Roman crafts (Ad-
Economics 117
A busy Roman harbor scene depicted in a fresco from Pompeii. (Mimmo Jodice/Corbis)
kins and Adkins 1994: 186). Roman shipbuilding was unique in that the first
step was the construction of the outer shell—the hull (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 186; Greene 1986: 21–24). After the hull was built, the interior of the ves-
sel was added. This is exactly the opposite order of how most ships were built
before the Industrial Revolution. Mortise and tenon joints were used to con-
nect the various planks of the ship. Pitch and beeswax were used as caulking
for the hull, to keep the ship waterproof. Merchant ships were powered by
sails, and had much smaller crews than warships. The typical Roman trading
vessel could be anywhere from 12 to 40 m long. Cargo capacities were large. It
is known from shipwrecks that four layers of amphorae (see chapter 9) could
be stacked within a merchant ship (Greene 1986: 26). This was about
118 THE ROMANS
6,000–8,000 pots, and with each pot weighing (when full) about 50 kl, it was
quite a large cargo. The speed of these vessels varied depending on the route.
Sailing from Italy to Egypt would take about ten days. But sailing the opposite
direction, from Egypt to Rome, was much longer, possibly taking up to two
months, because the winds blew in the wrong direction (Greene 1986: 28).
The Romans built artificial harbors so that large sailing vessels could be ac-
commodated directly in the ports. Often, though, cargoes were transported to
smaller vessels for travel up through the system of rivers that connected the in-
terior of the Roman Empire (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 190; Greene 1986: 31).
These vessels were much smaller than seagoing vessels. The technology was
also quite a bit simpler, based more on hollowing out large logs than on com-
pound construction. Actual examples of these river-based ships have been
found in the Rhine River (Greene 1986: 31). These inland water routes were
probably more important transportation systems than the roads for which
Rome is so famous, and they certainly were the major routes for conveying
cargo.
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VI CHAPTER 6
Social Organization
and Social Structure
INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OF ROMAN CIVILIZATION

Geographic organization and social organization are often thought of as two
distinct categories. But in actual practice, these two types of organization, al-
though manifested differently, are closely related. This discussion of Roman
social history begins, then, with an acknowledgment of the important role of
the physical environment in the way people interacted with one another. Cer-
tainly for the Romans, the nature of a person’s everyday life was directly re-
lated to the particular kind of region or settlement in which they lived. There is
a lot of evidence on this subject, archaeological and literary, that can help re-
construct the internal, physical organization of Roman society.
One of the most important recent trends in archaeology is the use of surface
surveys to better understand settlement and land-use patterns. Surveying is an
archaeological technique that does not involve excavation. Because there is no
excavation, survey techniques tend to be much cheaper than traditional exca-
vations, causing negligible damage to the site itself. There are three major
types of surveys used in Roman archaeology. Reconnaissance surveys involve
archaeologists walking or driving over a set region of space, collecting archae-
ological samples from the surface of sites, thereby identifying the location and
geographic range of ancient settlements. The second type of surface survey in-
volves aerial photography. Photographs taken from the air are examined for
information about site distribution, because archaeological remains (especially
Roman remains) are often easier to recognize from the air. The third and most
recent type of survey involves the use of technology called Geographic Infor-
mation Systems (GIS), which is a computer-based mapping database technol-
ogy. The effects of GIS are just beginning to be felt in Roman archaeology. All
three of these techniques are changing our understanding of the Roman world.
Roman remains are so distinctive that surface surveys can provide consistent
and reliable information; however, each project must be evaluated on its own
merit (Greene 1986: 98–99). Because there is such a wide variety of information
collection techniques, the data from different surface surveys are not always
directly comparable. What follows is a discussion of some of the results gained
from these techniques; however, with the growing importance of surveying, it
should not be surprising if future research leads to much different conclusions.
121
122 THE ROMANS
Types of Settlements
An important component of survey work is establishing a hierarchy of sites.
This is less subjective with Roman civilization than with other archaeologically
identifiable cultures. It seems that the Romans thought of their settlements in
terms of hierarchy, so it is not a modern imposition of hierarchy, but rather a
discovery of an ancient hierarchy (Poulter 1987: 388; Woolf 1998: 133). Some of
the major categories of settlements are discussed in the sections that follow.
Roman cities have been the focus of the vast majority of Roman scholarship.
The sources for cities are much richer than the sources for rural areas, and there
has been scholarly interest in the concept of the city since the Victorian period.
There has been a general realization in current scholarship that for the ancients,
the distinction between urban and rural was not as extreme as it is for modern
thinkers. Although the Romans certainly saw a distinction (witnessed through
the many writings that glorify rural life), in terms of the average Roman’s expe-
rience of life, there may not have been as great a distinction. But for the pur-
poses of this discussion, it is nevertheless useful to distinguish between types of
cities, because the Romans used distinct settlement strategies with each.
Colonies and Capitals. Perhaps the most intentional and aggressive Roman
land-use strategies involved the establishment of colonies. In the Republican
period, when Rome first began its expansion, colonies were established to
achieve very specific goals (Drinkwater 1987: 361). Populations were imported
into areas that were underpopulated to facilitate Roman expansion (Crawford
1982: 73, 106–107). Related to this, colonies were set up near cities that had re-
sisted Roman expansion. Often these cities’ lands were confiscated and distrib-
uted to the new colonies (Crawford 1982: 43, 46). This strategy undermined lo-
cal resistance to Roman rule by weakening the productive abilities of the cities.
New colonies also allowed the exploitation of local resources for Rome’s use
(Drinkwater 1987: 361). Colonies were also important components of Roman
land-use strategy in imperial times. Each province ideally had a major city that
functioned as the capital of that province and was designated as such through
a legal decision from Rome (Drinkwater 1987: 372). These capitals were ex-
pected to be the major economic, social, and political centers of each province.
Roman urban centers had standardized infrastructure and facilities, which
helped foster feelings of “Roman-ness” among local populations (Drinkwater
1987: 372). For more on the processes of Romanization, see chapter 11.
Incorporated Cities. Especially in the eastern part of the empire, the Romans
had to contend with preexisting urban centers. Much of the Greek world never
really adopted Roman infrastructure, and Greek culture was still considered
“high culture.” For the most part, the Romans simply added their administra-
tive systems on top of the preexisting administrative systems of the Greek
cities, and they had little direct influence on settlement types (Levick 1987:
331). There were a few exceptions. Some preexisting eastern cities were desig-
nated as capitals (Levick 1987: 332). One innovation, however, was the new
Social Organization and Social Structure 123
prominence of the Roman villa. The coastal cities thrived in Roman times be-
cause of the renewed Mediterranean trade (Levick 1987: 332). The situation
was very different in the western empire, which had only minimal urbaniza-
tion when the Romans moved in. Because there were no cities, the Romans
could build from scratch (Drinkwater 1987: 363). In the west, “high culture”
was Roman culture, not Greek culture, and Rome directly contributed to the
rise of western cities (see Drinkwater 1987: 345).
Military Sites. Roman military sites are best known from the western empire
locations. In fact, a general tendency in the scholarship of the western Roman
Empire is to concentrate on military history, so there is a somewhat skewed
view of the importance of military sites in that region. The features of a Roman
military camp or fort were quite standard and are discussed in detail in chap-
Hadrian’s Wall, looking east toward Housesteads Fort. (Robert Estall/Corbis)

124 THE ROMANS
A drawing of a Roman military camp. (Pixel That)
ter 7. But there were also important permanent military settlements in the Ro-
man frontier that should be mentioned. Of importance to Roman conceptions
of the frontier is the concept of the limes, the border of Roman control. This
border was conceived as a line, with everything behind the line conjuring up
images of civilization and urban life, and everything beyond the line conjuring
images of barbarians and unsettled societies. Perhaps the best physical exam-
ple of this Roman sensibility is Hadrian’s Wall. But borders in other parts of
the empire have also been identified. Most conspicuous are rows of watchtow-
ers (built of stone and/or timber) that allowed Roman soldiers to guard the
surroundings (Maxfield 1987: 157–164). Forts and garrisons were also impor-
tant Roman military settlements, and the rate of their establishment corre-
sponded with the expansion of the empire (Drummond and Nelson 1994: 128).
Related to these permanent military settlements were the towns that arose in
adjacent land, filled with individuals whose economic livelihoods were geared
toward servicing the Roman soldiers (Poulter 1987: 388, 394). Because Roman
soldiers could expect consistent and good payment, these subsidiary services
could be supported over the long term (Poulter 1987: 389).
Rural Sites. The most difficult type of site to account for through survey
techniques is the rural site. The problems involve primarily issues of defini-
tion. Each survey project defines rural sites in different ways (Greene 1986: 71).
Even the concept of the villa lacks general agreement (see chapter 9). To make
sense of the survey data, one must carefully examine how each survey team
defined rural settlements. Rural settlements can encompass anything from a
large estate to a small structure in the middle of a field. Yet these rural sites are
the least understood from traditional excavations and text study, so their dis-
covery in settlement surveys is extremely important.
Settlement Patterns in Italy

Outside of Rome, extensive surveys of settlement and land-use patterns began
after World War II. The postwar reconstruction of Italy brought with it a shift
in modern landholding and ownership (Greene 1986: 103). During this transi-
tion phase, the British School in Rome set out to gain as much data about rural
Roman life as possible before the land was reclaimed for agricultural use
(Greene 1986: 103). Since then, surveying has become an increasingly impor-
tant component of archaeological research in Italy. Although this work is gen-
erally geared more toward pre- and post-Roman sites, there is still important
work directly related to Roman-Italian land use.
Although the exact patterns of land use differ by topographical and cultural
region in Italy, a relatively general pattern has emerged. From about 300 B.C.E.
onward, there is a noted decline in Etruscan cities (Greene 1986: 103). These
cities were not abandoned, but in rural areas they decreased in size relative to
other towns and villages. At the same time, roads appeared throughout Italy,
and many new, small sites were founded. These smaller sites proliferated in
this early period and became increasingly dense throughout the Republican
and early imperial periods (Drummond and Nelson 1994: 6). Roman agricul-
tural sites have been found throughout Italy, indicating a very high level of
land use. Toward the end of the Roman period, many of these sites were com-
pletely abandoned, and the density of rural occupation decreased significantly
(Greene 1986: 109). But the rural population did not move into the former Ro-
man cities, because these locations also experienced a decline in size and pop-
ulation. The villa also disappeared as a settlement unit. The population moved
steadily into hill sites, which were easily defended—a response to the lack of
stability in medieval times.
These settlement surveys have drastically affected our earlier understanding
of Roman society. Previous to the incorporation of survey data, the city was
considered the primary organizing principle of Roman civilization. It has now
become clear that rural landscapes were dotted with smaller villages and
towns, making the role of the city less prominent in the lives of everyday Ro-
mans (Greene 1986: 109). Although it is still understood that participation in
Roman government required residency in Rome, for the average Roman
farmer, economic life was not centered there. Similarly, the density and continu-
ity of land use have proven that there was not as great a distinction between ur-
ban settlements and rural settlements in ancient times as there is in the present.
126 THE ROMANS
Another innovation in scholarly thought about Roman society is related to

our understanding of the Roman landholder. From textual evidence, the
process of larger farmsteads swallowing up family farms appears to have
dominated Roman economic history (Greene 1986: 109). But survey evidence
has shown that this process was limited in geographic scope. Larger farm-
steads took over along waterways that facilitated easy transport—land trans-
portation of agricultural goods was prohibitively expensive (Greene 1986:
107). But small, single-family farmsteads remained the norm in inland areas
(Drummond and Nelson 1994: 62; Greene 1986: 107). This was all likely related
to transportation costs. There would have been no reason to establish a large,
agricultural center in an area that was prohibitively far away from major cen-
ters and transportation systems.
Outside of Italy: Roman Settlement in Conquered Lands

Outside of Italy proper, Roman settlement and land-use strategies varied, de-
pending on local circumstances. The diverse geographic and environmental
features of the various regions had a direct impact on human land use. Local
cultures and pre-Roman traditions also had an effect on the Roman incorpora-
tion of these lands. It is important to be aware that the different archaeological
traditions in each region have also significantly affected our understanding of
Roman settlement patterns. Roman archaeology has been of huge interest in
Britain for more than 100 years. By contrast, in the Levant, Roman archaeology
has been routinely ignored in favor of the examination of earlier civilizations.
So some of the regional differences may be due more to different archaeologi-
cal interests and traditions than to actual ancient differences.
Britain. In Britain, Roman remains have been relatively well examined, in

similar proportion to earlier archaeological horizons. Britain has extremely di-
verse environmental conditions, contained within a relatively small space. But
some broad generalizations can be made. There was not much difference be-
tween pre-Roman and Roman-period settlement systems (Greene 1986:
126–127). Both before and during Roman times, the region consisted of a dense
network of rural sites (Drummond and Nelson 1994: 136). Cities did not play a
major role, and likely there was minimal urban-rural distinction. But the Ro-
man presence was not entirely without effect. Interesting observations have
been made about land use in proximity to Hadrian’s Wall (Breeze 1987: 208).
On the Roman side, large, well-planned agricultural estates were prominent
(Greene 1986: 126–127). The non-Roman side of the boundary had a less orga-
nized and consistent network of agricultural land use (Greene 1986: 126–127).
Consequently, the Roman presence in Britain likely facilitated a stable environ-
ment for larger agricultural enterprises (Greene 1986: 111).
Spain. Survey research in Spain has demonstrated that the Roman presence
in the region had a very large effect on local land use. This was very different
from the Roman presence in Britain. With the Roman arrival in Spain, land use
increased tremendously, peaking in the second century C.E. (Greene 1986: 115).
Julius Caesar invading Britain. (Library of Congress)
Villas as agricultural estates became very prominent in Spanish settlements

until the third century B.C.E. (Greene 1986: 115). From that point on there was a
general decline in land use (Poulter 1987: 409). The ups and downs of Spanish
agriculture were likely tied directly to the role of Spanish crops (like olives and
grapes) in Roman international trade (Greene 1986: 111).
128 THE ROMANS
Gaul. Gaul (basically modern France) was affected inconsistently by Roman

occupation. The more remote areas were affected less drastically by the more
limited Roman presence (Greene 1986: 116). This was true both in terms of ac-
tual Roman land use as well as stability against barbarian attacks brought by
the Roman military. But for the most part, there was a general tendency for ru-
ral settlements to increase with the arrival of the Romans (Greene 1986:
116–117). There were no major cities in Roman Gaul; smaller villages seem to
have been the most important centers (Poulter 1987: 398; Woolf 1998: 141). But
this is also evidence of less distinction between rural and urban environments
in antiquity.
The Aegean Regions. In general, the high urban density of the Greek and
Hellenic regions was not drastically changed by the Roman presence (Levick
1987: 331). There is evidence in some regions for some abandonment of Greek
settlements in the Roman period (Greene 1986: 134). There was a greater pres-
ence of settlements along coastal regions during the Roman period—probably
related to the prosperity and stability of Roman maritime trade (Greene 1986:
134–135).
The Near East. From Egypt through the Levant and into Mesopotamia, set-
tlement patterns were relatively unchanged with Roman conquest. However,
this impression could have been caused by the relative lack of interest in Ro-
man-period archaeology in these regions (see Kennedy 1987: 273). But for the
most part, beginning with the Iron Age, there were relatively consistent land-
use strategies until the arrival of Islam. One settlement type that can be consid-
ered Roman, however, is the presence of the villa (Greene 1986: 138). Villas
were distinctively Roman and were not paralleled in earlier or later settlement
systems.
North Africa. North Africa actually should be considered as two distinct

geo-cultural areas (Mattingly 1957: 61). The coastal regions are characterized
by their Mediterranean climate and have had a long tradition of agricultural
productivity (Daniels 1987: 231). The major impact of Rome on settlement
strategies on the coast was the increased presence of colonies of Roman veter-
ans (Greene 1986: 133, but see Daniels 1987: 250–252). But the more inland re-
gions, characterized by arid and desert environments, had very different Ro-
man land use from the types of land use that came both before and after. The
Roman period was the only period of major agricultural use of this region. Pre-
vious to the Roman presence, pastoralism was the major subsistence activity of
the arid environments. However, Roman skills in water management facili-
tated the use of this area for productive agricultural use. It is still quite contro-
versial whether these Roman-period farms represented Roman farmers set-
tling in the region, or whether they represented local people beginning to farm
because of the stability created by the Roman presence and the demands of Ro-
man trade (Daniels 1987: 226–227; Greene 1986: 131–132).
Roman soldiers scaling the walls of Carthage, 146 B.C.E. (Library of Congress)
ROMAN POPULATION
There are two basic questions that historical demographers ask about ancient
populations. The first is: How many people lived in the population—what was
its size? This can be an important problem for the study of Roman society. The
size of the citizen population in the Republican period, or the amount of slaves
during the imperial period, can drastically affect one’s understanding of the
past. The second, and related, question is: How long did those people live?
Both questions require careful analysis and comparison of fertility and mortal-
ity rates. Population movement (immigration and emigration) can also be an
important factor in this kind of study. The section that follows details how his-
torical demographers used ancient Roman material, as well as how historical
demographers have answered the two questions mentioned above.
Problems in Demographic Estimation

Given the fundamental importance of demographic data in modern society,
the lack of data that have survived from the past is striking. Demographic his-
torians have to be very creative in finding and using evidence for this subject.
With the rise of Christianity (and the sacrament of baptism), birth dates be-
130 THE ROMANS
came important pieces of information, and from that point onward, there are
excellent records. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Roman-period
evidence.
The most obvious kinds of evidence that can be used are surviving Roman
census documents. Not much of this evidence has survived, however. There is
some information on the total amounts of citizens in Rome during the reigns of
Augustus and Claudius. Better evidence comes from Roman-period Egypt, in
the form of papyri and ostraca (Bagnall and Frier 1994). Tax records, kept over
long periods of time, allow estimates about population size and age. In gen-
eral, these records from the state administration are useful, but give incom-
plete glimpses into the ancient populations (Scheidel 2001: 11).
Another important type of evidence comes from funerary inscriptions.
Tombstones (or their commemorative equivalents) often give the age at death
of the individual. There are quite a few problems with using this kind of data.
Parkin suggests a number of ways in which the sampling of funerary monu-
ments is biased (Parkin 1992: 17). Only certain segments of society could afford
these kinds of monuments, so there is more evidence about the upper classes
(Parkin 1992: 12–13). The very young and the very old are not attested to con-
sistently (Parkin 1992: 7). Given the expectations of high infant mortality, the
number of infant commemorative markers is quite small (Parkin 1992: 6). Gen-
der is also problematic because significantly more men were given monu-
ments than women (Parkin 1992: 15–16). Chronological and geographic distri-
butions are also problems, because customs related to death varied throughout
time and space (Parkin 1992: 8–11, 13–14).
Likewise, skeletal remains are not as helpful as might be expected. Archaeol-
ogists have found many Roman bodies, and paleopathology is an important
subdiscipline. But it is not possible to age skeletal remains specifically enough
to be useful in demographic studies (Scheidel 2001: 19). But we can learn about
nutrition, disease, and other health-related issues from the skeletal remains.
This kind of information is important for understanding health-related con-
straints on the Roman population.
Perhaps the kind of evidence most used in Roman demographic studies is
the comparative model. Roman population information is predicted based on
analogous population curves and statistical extrapolation. Societies that do not
use contraceptive or other birth-control methods are studied in order to under-
stand “natural birth rates” (Parkin 1992: 112). The problem, however, is that
these models cannot take into account the specific historical situations in Ro-
man times. It assumes a degree of sameness between modern populations and
preindustrial populations.
Despite the difficulties of extrapolating demographic data about the Ro-
mans, it is a worthwhile venture. It should be understood that any conclusions
reached can be considered only estimates. By taking advantage of all of these
kinds of evidence, some useful conclusions can be made. But be aware that any
figures given by a Roman demographic scholar should be taken with a grain of
salt. Conclusions are never as certain as they may seem when presented in ta-
bles and charts containing numbers and equations.
The Population of Rome and Periphery

By combining the types of information above, scholars generally agree that the
city of Rome’s population, at its peak, was somewhere between 80,000 and 1
million people (Scheidel 2001: 51). These are the figures that are quoted in
most treatments, and they are probably accurate. Rome was definitely the
largest city in the Mediterranean region at this time. The populations of other
large cities (like Alexandria and Carthage) could have ranged anywhere from
300,000 to 100,000 (Scheidel 2001). It is much more difficult to predict popula-
tion for Italy as a whole. Based on catchment analysis (the study of the amount
of people that can be supported by the farmland) and census data, scholars
have estimated that there were about 5 million free inhabitants in Italy during
the early years of the imperial period (Scheidel 2001: 53). But how many slaves
lived in Italy at the same time is still a mystery (Scheidel 2001: 55). Scholars
have guessed that there were perhaps another 2 to 3 million slaves, and there-
fore the total population would have been around 8 million (Scheidel 2001: 56).
But this is just educated guesswork. It is easier to predict Egypt’s population,
because useful census data exist; it was probably about 7 million at that time
(Parkin 1992: 65). Extrapolating from this, the Roman Empire had perhaps 50
to 60 million inhabitants as a minimum number, and a maximum number of
around 100 million should be considered (Scheidel 2001: 63). None of these fig-
ures, however, should be understood as absolute.
Fertility and Mortality Rates

Some general statements about fertility rates and mortality rates can be made.
These estimates are based on anecdotal accounts and modern analogy. Fertility
rates for the Roman Empire are usually assumed to be analogous to natural
birthrates. There are some problems with this, because Roman families used
three types of birth control, and natural birthrates are based on societies that
did not use any kind of birth control (other than social constraints). The three
types of birth control used by Romans were contraceptive techniques (al-
though not very dependable), abortion, and infanticide/exposure (French
1988: 1356). More is said in this chapter about these methods, but they likely
did not significantly alter the demographics of Roman fertility.
It is difficult to make generalizations about Roman family size. Scholars sup-
pose that an average Roman woman would have had five pregnancies in her
life (Saller 1994: 42). This is an average, however, meaning that some women
had more pregnancies, and some would have had fewer (Saller 1994: 42). Note
that this number (five) refers to the average number of pregnancies, not to sur-
viving children (Saller 1994: 42). High mortality rates make it difficult to esti-
mate averages for numbers of children who lived to adulthood. There was
probably a wide variation in the numbers of surviving children and in the rela-
tive sizes of Roman families.
Some comments can be made about Roman mortality. We assume that infant
mortality was very high. Likewise, mortality rates were relatively high (al-
though not to the same extent) for young children. If an individual lived past
132 THE ROMANS
Ulpian’s Life Table
An ancient source used in historical demography is Ulpian’s Life Table. Pre-

served in the Digest (a massive collection of Roman legal thought; see chapter
10), Ulpian’s Life Table is a series of calculations to determine the taxes on an-
nuities, based on what seem to be predictions of life expectancy.What is con-
troversial about this document is how it can be used in demographic studies.
It seems to reflect some Roman interest in predicting how long people
tended to live, but what these data are based on is obscure. It may represent
a very early attempt at estimating mortality rates, or it may just be a compli-
cated taxation system designed to make the elderly more easily taxable.
the early years of childhood, then the mortality risks decreased considerably
(Wiedemann 1989: 16–17). The life expectancy of adults in the ancient world is
a controversial issue in historical demographics. Most scholars agree that
males had a lower life expectancy than females. Some scholars go even further
to suggest that frequently, males must have died at very young ages (in their
late twenties and early thirties), because ancient authors frequently discussed
female remarriage (Saller 1994: 12–13). This second argument is not very com-
pelling, though, because the disparity in frequency of discussion about male
remarriage versus female remarriage tells more about Roman attitudes toward
women than about the realities of the situation. And the dangers of childbirth
for women should not be underestimated. Pregnancy was a dangerous time in
a Roman woman’s life. It is difficult to suggest an average life span for either
men or women. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that Romans could
live quite long lives. Various pieces of indirect evidence argue against the tra-
ditionally held notion of thirty years as an average life expectancy. For exam-
ple, the cursus honorum (course of honors) presupposes a much longer life for a
Roman man. Other anecdotal evidence hints that someone who died in his or
her thirties would be thought to have died young (see sidebar above). On the
other hand, being elderly in Roman society was probably not a normal situa-
tion, certainly not a situation that someone would have expected (as in mod-
ern times).
MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The family was the fundamental organizing principle of Roman society. For
most Romans, the family unit was the dominant unit of social interaction and
identity formation. Most Romans would have had more to do with their fam-
ily on a daily basis than with any other group, which makes understanding the
family integral to understanding Roman society. There is a wealth of scholar-
ship on this subject. What is remarkable about this scholarship is that most of
the evidence used by scholars is very similar. Yet very divergent interpreta-
tions of the family are presented based on these same data. This makes study-
ing Roman family life very interesting but also very frustrating.
One of the fundamental disagreements among Roman social historians re-
lates to the degree of affection and love among family members. French schol-
ars have traditionally held that love and affection did not develop until much
later in Western history. High infant mortality, and the option of exposing un-
wanted children, forced parents to take a less loving attitude toward their chil-
dren. Similarly, scholars have argued that love was possible in marriage, but
not probable—marriage was primarily an economic relationship. There are
many problems with these notions, however. One of the fundamental prob-
lems is how to make sense of Roman literature if love was not an important
theme in family life. The prominence of love as a subject in Roman writing
(love between husband and wife, parent and child, etc.) does not make sense if
this kind of affection did not actually exist. I personally believe that the emo-
tional ties in a Roman family were very strong, and that the more prominent
roles of life and death in family situations did not hamper the development of
affection.
Another problem for Roman family scholars is how to define the family. Dif-
ferent definitions of family are appropriate depending on the circumstances. In
legal contexts, the Roman family involved all members of the household, as
well as house and property (Saller 1994: 75). In nonlegal contexts, however,
family did not include the property, it only referred to the people. Similar prob-
lems arise with interpreting the word domus (literally, house). The context of
use of the word is very important in understanding it. It can refer to the physi-
cal house, the entire household including property and people, just the house
staff, or a dynastic lineage (Saller 1994: 80–82). Family and house had different
meanings and different connotations; it is misleading to try to pin down an en-
tirely consistent definition of either.
On the other hand, some statements can be made about the constituent
members of a family. In regard to a relatively wealthy family, it is possible to
reconstruct certain members (given ideal circumstances). The head of the
household was the pater familias, the father of the house and the oldest male
member. Attached to this male was his wife, who was brought from another
male-centered house and incorporated into a new family through marriage.
The children of this marriage were also family members. Slaves were consid-
ered family members and were the responsibility of the pater familias, al-
though if freed, the slaves were removed (from a legal standpoint) from mem-
bership in the family. Deceased ancestors were an important part of the Roman
family as well, and in the mental construct of the average Roman, the dead
continued to play a role in family life.
Marriage
Marriage was an expected duty of all Roman citizens (Treggiari 1988: 1343;
Veyne 1987: 37). Both sexes were expected to marry and produce offspring
(Balsdon 1963: 190; Dixon 1992: 62). Marriage was a change in social status in
which the bride passed from her father’s authority to her husband’s. With this,
134 THE ROMANS
the woman changed families as well, becoming a member of the groom’s

household. Women should not be seen as completely passive parties in this,
however. Consent among all parties was a Roman legal requirement for mar-
riage (Saller 1994: 127; Treggiari 1988: 134). Although parents played a signifi-
cant role in the choice of partners, it was necessary for both the husband and
wife to be willing participants. It was also necessary for both parties to have
connubium; that is, the legal right to marry each other. Citizenship was re-
quired; hence slaves were not allowed to officially marry one another or to
marry citizens (Treggiari 1988: 1347). In earlier times patricians and plebeians
were not allowed to intermarry, but that restriction was removed early on.
Close family members did not have connubium with one another; incest laws
were strict in Rome (Treggiari 1988: 1347).
An important question about marriage, and one that is not likely to be an-
swered soon, is that of the age of the partners at marriage. It is generally as-
sumed that in a typical situation, the man was older than the woman. There is
sufficient anecdotal evidence to be certain of this, or at least to be certain that
the Romans found it very strange when the opposite was the case. But the ab-
solute ages of the individuals are much more difficult to predict. It is often as-
sumed that women could be married as soon as they reached maturity, any-
where in the range of twelve to sixteen years of age (Saller 1994: 26). But just
because women could be married without negative social pressure does not
mean that they actually were. Financial pressure, as well as the availability of a
desirable (or suitable from the father’s perspective) union certainly played
roles (Treggiari 1988: 1340). Some scholars argue that women were usually
closer to age twenty at first marriage, with poorer women being among the
oldest at first marriage (Saller 1994: 37). A man’s age at first marriage was older
than the respective woman’s, but what the average age was is not known. It
was probably conceivable for a man to be married as soon as he became an
adult (around age sixteen or seventeen), but he may not have actually gotten
married until he had established his own household (Treggiari 1988: 1346).
After deciding that a marriage was appropriate, the father of the bride usu-
ally arranged a dowry (but see Dixon 1992: 64). This was a large financial bur-
den, and although not legally required of the bride’s father, it was socially ex-
pected. It formed the daughter’s share of the inheritance or the patrimony but
was given into the charge of her husband-to-be. If the marriage were to dis-
solve, the dowry would normally be returned (or sued for return) to the bride
and her family (Treggiari 1988: 1348). But as long as the marriage lasted, the
dowry was in the hands of the husband. Wives’ rights to property varied.
Manus referred to the situation in which a woman’s property was fully con-
trolled by her husband, but it was not an essential component of marriage
(Treggiari 1988: 1344).
No full account of a wedding has survived (Treggiari 1988: 1350). Some have
argued that the ceremony was unimportant from a legal perspective and that
marriage was a wholly private affair (Veyne 1987: 34). This differs from today,
when a marriage involves public declarations in order to make it legal. There
were a variety of ritual practices that seem related to weddings, but it is not
clear if all were performed at a wedding, or in what combination they were

performed. Treggiari suggests that the following events may have occurred at
a wedding (Treggiari 1988: 1349–1350): Auspices may have been taken, feasts
may have been held, and various public acts (like throwing nuts to the crowd
of well-wishers) may have occurred. A procession of the bride to her new
home was expected, but rather than the husband carrying her across the
threshold, the bride’s servants did so. It is important to note that although the
wedding lacked legal significance, it probably had very important religious
and/or social significance for the couple and their families.
Divorce was possible between Roman couples. Willingness to be married
was not just a requirement at the start of the marriage, but also throughout the
marriage (Dixon 1992: 81; Treggiari 1991: 32). But scholars are divided as to the
rates of divorce in Roman times, and the practicality of the situation. Divorce
was likely a luxury of wealthier families. For most of Roman history, both men
and women could initiate divorce, but it was usually more complicated if the
woman initiated it, because property ownership then became a more difficult
issue (Dixon 1992: 81; Treggiari 1988: 34). The children stayed with the father.
Remarriage was possible for both widowers and widows and was somewhat
expected (Veyne 1987: 75). Both widowers and widows could also engage in
relationships without fear of public shunning, a luxury not available to women
who had not yet had their first marriage (Veyne 1987: 75).
Polygamy was not acceptable in Roman society. It is possible to form the im-
pression, from reading about the sordid affairs of the imperial families, that
polygamy was frequent. For the average Roman it was not, and most would
have considered the occasional polygamous actions of an emperor to be dis-
tasteful. Affairs and sexual relations with other members of the household
were frequent occurrences, however, but for married partners these actions
carried a social stigma. Concubinage did occur in Rome, but it had a different
connotation. For the Romans, concubinage involved a marriagelike relation-
ship between partners that lacked connubium (a legal right to be married). So
typically, a concubine was not a second wife, but rather a woman whom the
man could not (or was not willing to) marry because of her lower social station
(Veyne 1987: 76). Sexual relations were considered adulterous only if a man
had relations with a married woman who was not his wife (Fantham et al.
1995: 300). If the woman was not married (even if the man was), it was not con-
sidered adultery.
Children
Children were an important aspect of Roman life, and it was considered a citi-
zen’s duty to have children (Treggiari 1988: 1327). Fathers were expected to be
affectionate and caring toward their children. Education was a responsibility
of the father (see chapter 10). The average family had two or three children
who survived to adulthood. Childhood was considered a distinct stage in life
(Dixon 1992: 102). Infants were infants until they learned to speak (Dixon 1992:
104; French 1988: 1359). Girls were girls until they reached sexual maturity.
Boys were men when they reached the age at which they could publicly wear
136 THE ROMANS
the adult toga (Wiedemann 1989: 143). The actual age at which boys could
wear the toga varied among boys.
Unless the couple used some kind of birth control (which would not have
been dependable), the woman probably became pregnant soon after marriage.
Brent Shaw has argued that there were seasonal spikes in amounts of children
born in particular periods that may relate to a fixity of season for marriage
(Shaw 2001). Childbirth was a dangerous time for a woman. Premodern medi-
cine could not accommodate the kinds of complications that arose during a
pregnancy. On the other hand, for women who could afford a midwife, they
could expect a high degree of cultural and emotional support during the
process.
Once the child was born, the parents had to decide whether or not to keep
the child (Veyne 1987: 9). Exposure was a possibility for the family but was
probably not taken lightly (French 1988: 1357). The frequency of exposure (giv-
ing up the child) in Roman times is unknown. Some sources suggest that femi-
cide, the killing of girls in preference for boys, was common, but it is impossi-
ble to determine whether this was a frequent choice of families (French 1988:
1356). Among the poor, exposure was often an attempt to provide the child
with a better life, one with the necessary means of support (Veyne 1987: 9). An
exposed child was supposed to be left in a public place and fully clothed so
that a family desiring the child could accept it (French 1988: 1356). Children
born out of wedlock were considered illegitimate. They did not have the right
to take their father’s name and took their mother’s name instead (Veyne 1987:
11). This treatment was given to children born not only of adulterous affairs
but also to children born of unions other than marriage (Veyne 1987: 77–78). A
child born out of wedlock had no parental inheritance rights.
The Patrimonial Household

The exposure of children is often considered alongside the power of the pater
familias, called the patria potestas. This was the absolute power of the pater fa-
milias over the other members of his household, including the right to punish
family members with death (Saller 1994: 115). The Greeks wrote about this Ro-
man trait with shock (Saller 1994: 102–114). But it is doubtful how frequently a
father exercised this authority or how tolerant the state was of such practices
(Dixon 1992: 131). The cases that have survived of the pater familias exercising
his authority over life and death suggest that it was an abnormal situation.
Without a doubt, however, the pater familias was the supreme power in the
household. Greek observers write about grown sons being forced to obey their
fathers (Veyne 1987: 27). It is also realistic to assume that there were many situ-
ations in which younger boys became the pater familias before reaching matu-
rity because of the early death of the father (Saller 1994: 131). Whatever the ac-
tual frequency of these situations was, the pater familias was the oldest living
male member of the household, and he exercised authority over it. However,
the wife frequently was designated with the authority to run the household.
There is also ample evidence to suggest that whereas sole power legally
resided with the pater familias, and that the wife had virtually no significant
say in matters, all of this was dependent on the temperaments of the two par-
ties involved.
Inheritance and Adoption

Related to the power of the pater familias was control over the patrimony—the
family estate. Power over the estate passed between generations through wills.
The pater familias declared his intentions in legal documents, which were pub-
licly read upon his death. This was an important event. Wills were judged
harshly, and it was important for the person composing the will to follow so-
cial norms of respectability and appropriateness (Veyne 1987: 31). Normally,
the next oldest male would get the majority of the patrimony and become the
next pater familias. If a will did not follow social norms, it could be revoked by
the state.
Adoption was a common mechanism to facilitate inheritance to nonbiologi-
cal kin while preserving the family name (Veyne 1987: 17). Adoption within
the imperial family helped ensure proper succession and indicated the favor of
the emperor. Males who had living parents could be adopted as well. The ben-
efit to these men was to gain access to a patrimony, especially important for
poor families and younger sons.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN ROME

Roman civilization was extremely stratified and hierarchical. Principles of dif-
ferentiated social position were legislated and codified from the earliest legal
materials. In an excellent essay, Saller suggests that Roman society should be
looked at in terms of three different social categories (Saller 1988: 550). These
categories are order (where membership is formally defined by the state), sta-
tus (perception of prestige), and class (based on access to the means of produc-
tion). Related to social stratification is slavery; this topic is discussed later in
this chapter.
The Orders
Orders are formally defined categories of people. There were two orders in
early Rome—patricians and plebeians. Membership in an order was based en-
tirely on birth. These categories were signified in numerous ways. Most no-
table was that particular dress was suitable for members of particular orders.
For example, patricians were allowed the privilege of wearing a certain kind of
shoe.
Patricians. Roman tradition suggests that the patricii (patricians) came into
existence during the regal period (Mitchell 1990: 2). The early traditions sug-
gest that this order was formed from the original senators chosen by Romulus
when he founded Rome. Many scholars have noted a linguistic connection be-
tween the word patrician and the Latin word for “father” (Cornell 1995: 245, for
example). Some have argued that this indicated that patricians produced patres
(fathers) who were senators (Cornell 1995: 245–246). This may be true; how-
138 THE ROMANS
A Roman patrician and his wife, first century C.E. (Mimmo Jodico/Corbis)
ever, it is unlikely that the patricians were the sole ruling class of early Rome. It
is likely that very early on, these families took a leading role in city governance
(Mitchell 1990: 18). The families had hereditary rights and were connected
with the Senate (Mitchell 1990: 17). Membership in the Senate was not exclu-
sive to the patrician order (Cornell 1995: 247). But many patricians were sena-
tors and this order wielded much authority over the Senate (Crawford 1982:
32). In addition, patricians held the major religious positions, such as pontiff
(Cornell 1995: 251–252; Crawford 1982: 32). Large landholders, the patricians
gained their wealth through landownership. From 218 B.C.E. on, senators were
banned from engaging in commerce. So they were forced to look to their land-
holdings even more as a source for the acquisition of wealth.
Modern scholars disagree on when the patrician order became a well-
defined social body (Cornell 1995: 252). The classic statement on this issue is
by de Sanctis, who suggested in the early twentieth century that the patricians
closed their ranks by discouraging intermarriage (de Sanctis 1953). That is to
say, they formed themselves into an isolated group by not allowing new mem-
bership (except through birth or adoption). By about 450 B.C.E., it had become
impossible for a nonpatrician to become a patrician. Even very wealthy nonpa-
tricians were excluded.
Plebeians. The origin of the plebeian order (or plebs) is obscure although it is
well known that the word pleb translates to “masses” (Cornell 1995: 256). It is
possible to talk about a group known as the plebs early in the republic (Cornell
1995: 256). At that time, the plebs seemed to be a heterogeneous group of un-
derprivileged people. It is also likely that wealthy nonpatricians were mem-
bers of this group. This group of people (effectively nonpatricians) was ex-
cluded from holding senatorial offices and other important positions in city
governance. It is the disenfranchised nature of this group that probably lies at
the roots of its formation—a formation that is clear in the conflict of the orders.
Conflict of the Orders. Classical sources viewed Roman society as essentially

dimorphic from its inception. The primary difference between individuals was
between patricians and plebeians, and most ancient sources describe this as an
almost natural difference. Modern scholars think that the issue was much
more complex. The division of society into orders developed historically
throughout the regal period and the period of the republic in what is often re-
ferred to as the Conflict of the Orders.
In 494 B.C.E., a plebeian group withdrew from the city of Rome and took up
residence on the Sacred Mount, so tradition tells us. In what became known as
“The First Succession,” the plebeians formed a governing system to go along
with that of the patricians. The exact nature of these offices is described in
chapter 7, but it is important to note that this is the point at which the plebs
forced their way into Roman governance. Furthermore, demands for laws to
be written down led to the composition of the Twelve Tables (see chapter 10).
The motivations for the plebeian succession are not entirely clear. The root
causes of the conflict were likely economic in nature (Cornell 1995: 265). The
archaeological record of this period suggests that Rome was not prospering
economically (Cornell 1995: 266). Minimal public works projects were enacted
at this time and fine imported pottery all but vanished (Cornell 1995: 266), in-
dicating a lack of wealth that could be used for prestige activities (activities not
directly related to subsistence). It is likely (although not certain) that the plebs
were concerned about exploitation through debt-bondage—nexus (Cornell
1995: 266; Crawford 1982: 32; Jolowicz 1967: 9). Debt-bondage is an institution
that has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia and continues, in some parts of the
world, to the present day. A poor farmer, for instance, who lacked capital to
purchase seed or other agricultural necessities, would borrow the means of
production from a wealthier individual. As collateral, he would leave a mem-
ber of his household in the charge of the loaner as a guarantee. The person, as
collateral, would work in the loan agent’s household until the farmer could
pay back the debt. At the time of the First Succession, it is probable that this in-
140 THE ROMANS
stitution was rampant and subject to varying abuses. By forming a plebeian

government, the plebs were better able to act against abuses in this system.
The other major problem that was probably dealt with in the First Succession
was the land needs of the poor (Cornell 1995: 268; Jolowicz 1967: 8–9). At this
time, landholdings of the poor were very small—barely enough for subsistence.
And certainly the landholdings were too small to enable the poor landholder to
accumulate a surplus as insurance in times of crisis (e.g., poor harvests). Al-
though actual landownership was small, it seems that a great deal of land was
designated as public. Individual families could work the public land to supple-
ment their own meek landholdings. However, by the time of the First Succes-
sion, apparently, this public land had mostly been annexed by very wealthy
landholders—landholders who could afford large staffs of slaves and debt-
bonded workers to cultivate the land. It is probable that the plebs demanded
more equitable distribution of land at this time (Cornell 1995: 269–270).
Status
Status refers to the perceived prestige of an individual. Normally status is
gained through the activities of an individual’s life and is not directly based on
birth. However, it must be noted that birth into a specific order or class pre-
sents individuals with differential access to the kinds of activities that relate to
status. In Roman times, status was designated very specifically. People of par-
ticular status were described as members of particular groups. Cornell has sug-
gested a more complex understanding of how status was manifested in Rome
(Cornell 1995: 258). The terminology used that related to status, according to
Cornell, did not represent hard-and-fast groups. Indeed, most of the terminol-
ogy reflected binary oppositions. In addition, people could be described as
members of a number of status groups. In Cornell’s perspective, these binary
oppositions should be viewed as ranges of status, with the binary oppositions
reflecting the most extreme measures of each status relationship (Cornell 1995:
258). The following section deals with some of these Roman status concepts.
Absidui and Proletarii. A fundamental status distinction from the regal pe-
riod until the reforms of Marius was the distinction between landowners and
the propertyless (Crawford 1982: 46). Those who owned property were called
absidui. Absidui, as landowners, were eligible for military service. The proletarii
owned no land and were not allowed to perform military service. Within Ro-
man law, proletarii had a lower legal status, probably related to their wealth.
For example, proletarii could not act as guarantors for loans to absidui because
it was likely that they would not in fact be able to guarantee the loan.
Equites and Pedites. This status group originated in the regal period. Basi-
cally knights, equites were individuals who could afford the equipment and
training for horse-based warfare (Gelzer 1969: 5). However, by the second cen-
tury B.C.E., this group had withdrawn from military service and had taken on
governmental functions (such as tax collection). The basic requirement to be-
come an equite was the ownership of property valued at more than 400,000
sesterces (Gelzer 1969: 10; Jolowicz 1967: 78). On the other side of this status
are community members who lacked sufficient funds (in the eyes of the state)
to be provided with a horse, hence pedites.
Patrons and Clients. Arguably the most prominent status distinction within
Roman society was the distinction between patron and client. A patron was a
wealthy individual and held higher status within the community than his
client. A client was a subordinate individual who formally asked a patron for
assistance. More of this relationship is discussed in chapter 5, but it is impor-
tant to identify the patron-client relationship as one of Cornell’s primary bi-
nary social impositions.
SLAVERY
Slavery was an important component of the Roman economy and has received
much attention in modern scholarship. It is important, from the outset, to un-
derline the differences between Roman slavery and the slavery that existed in
early America. Slavery in Rome was primarily an economic status and as such
was changeable. It was not predicated on theories of racial superiority, and it
was not confined to one group of people, as it was to African Americans. When
considering Roman slavery it is important to try to think of it without reference
to slavery in the United States. The two phenomena are not really comparable,
other than that the word slavery is used to describe both situations.
Who Became Slaves?

In the Roman world, there were many ways one could become a slave. Often
people entered into a debt-bondage relationship. Individuals who needed col-
lateral for a loan, or who could not afford to pay back a loan, would enter into
the debtor’s care (or send a member of the household to the debtor) for an
agreed-upon length of time (see chapter 5). Also, children could be sold into
slavery if the parents lacked funds or the desire to raise them (Veyne 1987: 55).
Another alternative was that the child could be exposed, a process by which
the child would be taken away with no payment transaction (Veyne 1987: 52).
Less civil means also brought people into slavery. Pirates would sell kid-
napped individuals into slavery (Wiedemann 1997: 22). The spoils of war were
often human resources—enemy soldiers and civilians were the largest demo-
graphic of slaves (Wiedemann 1997: 22). Certain kinds of criminal convictions
could also lead to enslavement. And with all of these kinds of slavery, any chil-
dren born of a slave were themselves slaves (Veyne 1987: 53).
The Purchase of Slaves

Slaves were frequently purchased from slave traders. At a slave market, the
slaves were paraded around in the nude, often wearing only placards that
listed their attributes. The slaves were auctioned and sold to the highest bid-
der, although it was also possible to rent slaves for a fixed period. The slave
trader, ideally, was supposed to be able to affirm that the slave was not other-
142 THE ROMANS
wise encumbered or physically unwell (Shelton 1988: 168). Slave markets were
found throughout the empire. The island of Delos was a particularly large and
infamous slave market, where slaves acquired from Asia were sold.
The Work of Slaves

The kind of work done by slaves depended heavily on the particular slave
owner. Household slavery was probably the easiest life for a slave. Numerous
occupations were available within a household context. Slaves could be teach-
ers, gardeners, cooks, clothes-makers, barbers, or any other domestic func-
tionary that the householder had need for (Shelton 1988: 170). Within this con-
text, both male and female slaves were also frequently used for the sexual
satisfaction of their owners. Slaves could also work almost independently of
their owners, running shops or other projects that produced income for their
masters. As artisans, slaves could often freely practice their trade (Veyne 1987:
56–57). This made it possible for slaves, in some contexts, to amass large
amounts of wealth.
Outside of the home, slaves could work in mines, factories, or on farms. This
work was often quite difficult—the worst kind of manual labor, which freed-
men had no desire to do themselves. Groups of slaves were often organized
under a slave having the position of foreman (Veyne 1987: 55). Towns and
cities could also own slaves. These slaves were employed in construction
work, such as the maintenance of roads and aqueducts. Cleaning crews con-
sisting of slaves were also used in the cities and in public spaces, such as baths.
Slaves were a very expensive labor force. It was often much cheaper to hire
laborers for work than to buy slaves. Slaves were expensive to purchase, but it
was also very expensive for the owner to provide and care for the slave. Often,
the benefit gained from a slave was the prestige that came with owning a large
number of them, rather than an actual production benefit.
The Treatment of Slaves

The treatment of slaves varied radically, depending on the individual slave’s
owner. A slave could live a prosperous life, and enjoy treatment similar to a
family member’s if the owner so wished. Marriages between owner and slave
were not infrequent. However, slaves were the property of the owner and were
treated as such. It is often said that slaves had the same rights as objects within
a household. This is not exactly true; it is a mistake based on the conception
Romans had of a household, which differed from the conception held today.
Slaves were punished in a number of ways, but punishment depended on
the personality of the master (Shelton 1988: 176). Punishment by slave owners
was kept in check by the fact that a slave owner would not want to perma-
nently damage his investment. Slaves who committed crimes were punished
harshly. In fact, if a slave killed a free man, it was legal to kill all of the slaves
within that household (Shelton 1988: 178). Death by crucifixion was a punish-
ment feared by all slaves. Even if not convicted of a crime, slaves were subject
to torture in order to elicit testimony from them (Shelton 1988: 178).
Runaway slaves were a problem for the Romans. Branding and slave collars
A scene from the movie Spartacus. Laurence Olivier as Crassus talks to defeated slave rebels
Spartacus (Kirk Douglas, right) and Antoninus (Tony Curtis). (Pixel That)
were used as means of identifying slaves (Shelton 1988: 180). Particular gar-
ments (indicating that a person was a slave) made it difficult for slaves to leave
the city unaccompanied by their owners. And any slave who was caught im-
personating a freedman was subject to capital punishment. Slave revolt was a
concern for Roman citizens (Shelton 1988: 181). In large households, the slave
population often greatly outnumbered the free members of the household.
Large-scale slave revolts did occur in the Roman world, the most famous of
which was led by Spartacus (see chapter 4). Numerous rules existed for the
prevention of slave revolts. For example, slaves were not allowed in the mili-
tary. Contrary to popular belief, slaves did not work the oars of Roman war-
ships. It was understood that a slave did not make a trustworthy soldier.
Slaves could marry one another, but the marriages would not be legally rec-
ognized (Treggiari 1988: 1353). This arrangement was called contubernium.
Children born to slaves were the property of the slave owner. Slaves could
save up and buy their freedom, or they could be granted manumission by their
144 THE ROMANS
owner. In such cases, the relationship shifted from master-owner to patron-

client. And often slaves would receive small gifts of money from their owners,
called peculium.
Freedmen
A slave that had been manumitted by his or her owner was called a freedman
(libertus). There were many possible reasons an owner might have had for free-
ing a slave (Treggiari 1969: 11–20). Certainly compassion was a possible mo-
tive. Stoic philosophy disapproved of the institution of slavery. And slaves
who were in the personal service of their masters and developed personal rela-
tionships with them were more likely to be freed. If an owner fell in love with
his slave and wanted to marry her, he would have had to free her first. Freed
slaves could also be adopted by their masters. Compassion on the part of other
freedmen could also have led to manumission; former slaves would some-
times buy the freedom of their friends. Economic motives could also lead to
freed slaves. Slaves could save up and purchase their freedom (usually by pay-
ing their owner the initial purchase price). If the owner could not afford the
slave’s upkeep, or if the slave was too old or sick to pay his or her own weight,
the owner may have released the slave. Social reasons could also motivate an
owner to free his or her slaves. The act of freeing slaves was prestigious,
demonstrating both generosity and wealth.
The most common way for slaves to be manumitted was for the master and
slave to appear before a magistrate (Watson 1970: 47). The magistrate would
perform a ceremony, and the slave was officially freed—able to wear the cap of
a freedman (Shelton 1988: 190; Treggiari 1969: 21). Another method of manu-
mission was for the master to provide for it in a will (Treggiari 1969: 27; Wat-
son 1970: 46). Upon the death of the master, the slave was declared freed. The
promise of eventual freedom could be a compelling motivation for slaves to be
faithful to their masters. Slaves could also be unofficially manumitted. Called
Junian Latins, these slaves were not legally free, but could live like freedmen
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 342; Watson 1970: 47). The children of Junian Latins,
however, were not free, and upon the death of a Junian Latin, his property re-
verted to the original master (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 342).
Freedmen became citizens of Rome. They could vote but they were prohib-
ited from running for office or joining the senatorial and equestrian orders (but
see Treggiari 1969: 52–64). Of course, it was very rare that a freedman would
have enough wealth or prestige to run for office or join one of the upper ranks.
The children of freedmen, however, were not considered freedmen; they were
considered ordinary citizens, with all the rights and privileges of citizens
(Treggiari 1969: 227). The granting of citizenship to freedmen was the easiest
way for a foreigner to become a Roman citizen.
WOMEN IN ANCIENT ROME

The study of Roman women as a distinct scholarly endeavor is a relatively
new subject in Roman studies. What makes the recent advances in the study of
Roman women different from what has come before is the incorporation of
gender and feminist theory. There is no room in this book to discuss these dy-
namic and diverse fields of theory, but it is important to be aware that the ap-
plication of these new theoretical approaches has opened up a new field. How
gender is constructed as a concept (in the eyes of both moderns and ancients)
and made unstable by a variety of factors such as age and class has been a rev-
olutionary new question. The binary opposition of male-female is no longer
seen as a concrete difference, but rather an interaction and process spanning
more than these two polar extremes. Roman art and literature are particularly
appropriate subjects for these theoretical approaches, and archaeology can
help provide information that spans class differences. For the beginner, the
vast amount of new literature on women in antiquity can be frustrating be-
cause there is just as much excellent scholarship as there is poor scholarship.
The discussion that follows includes some of the important themes that have
arisen in recent scholarship.
Roles of Women
It would be impossible to describe all of the roles that were available to women
in ancient Rome. But an interesting avenue of research is to study the kinds of
roles that were glorified in literature and art. But as with all people, it was pos-
sible to fill many roles and have many identities. The average modern individ-
ual plays various roles throughout a lifetime. It should be assumed that the an-
cient world had similar levels of complexity regarding the roles women could
play.
Mother. One of the primary roles associated with women in Roman times
was that of mother. This is not surprising; it is a biological fact of human exis-
tence. But what makes this category interesting in Roman times is the central-
ity of the mother in Roman culture (Balsdon 1963: 203). A woman’s virtue was
intrinsically linked to her reproductive skills and to her responsibilities as a
mother (Dixon 1988: 7). A common notion in scholarship is that women’s ac-
tivities were closely guarded to ensure the paternity of their children, because
in antiquity, fatherhood could not be proven scientifically (Balsdon 1963: 197).
One of the best sources for these attitudes toward women is mortuary monu-
ments. One of the glowing qualities most often commemorated in funerary in-
scriptions was the description of the woman as an ideal mother (Fantham et al.
1995: 318).
Wife. Funerary inscriptions also tell much about another role of women—
that of wife (Dickison 1988: 1320; Fantham et al. 1995: 1320). Because eulogies
tended to describe positive qualities only, the descriptions in ancient eulogies
(while not necessarily true of the actual person) were indicative of wider cul-
tural values. The highest virtue that a Roman woman could possess was pu-
dicitia, devotion to her husband (Dickison 1988: 1325, Fantham et al. 1995: 225).
For all Roman women, with the exception of the vestal virgins, it was expected
that they should have a husband. A woman without a husband (unless wid-
owed) was seen as aberrant, and the fringe position of prostitutes within Ro-
man society attests to this (see Krenkl 1988).
146 THE ROMANS
Religious Participant. There were many roles

that women could play in religious life. The
Vestal Virgins were among the most powerful
cultic officials in Rome, and more is said about
them in chapter 7. Likewise, the wife of the rex
sacorum (the religious official who acted on be-
half of the king) played an important role in
Roman religious ceremony. There were deities
and festivals that were exclusively the purview
of women. The pax deorum was held twice
every year. This was a feast only for married
women, held in honor of the goddess Bono Dea.
Views of Women
One of the problems with the study of Roman
women is that most of the available evidence
has been distorted through male eyes. Almost
all of the texts are from a male perspective, and
artistic evidence is likely just as phallocentric.
This makes it imperative to understand the so-
cial beliefs people held about women in order
to make use of these sources. If the biases of
one’s sources are known, there is a much better
chance of understanding why a given source
says what it does.
Male Guardians. One of the traditional male

views of women in Roman times was that they
required male guardianship in most of life’s
stages (Dickison 1988: 1324). Before marriage,
women were seen in relation to their fathers,
with the father acting as the sole guardian.
From the father’s house, the normative next
Statue of a vestal virgin. (Araldo de Luca/ step for a Roman woman was marriage and the
Corbis) guardianship of her husband. It certainly seems
that in an ideal biography (from a Roman male
perspective), a woman was in a man’s care at
all stages in her life. Even in the absence of a father or husband (through death,
for example), there was usually a male who could step in as pater familias,
from an ideal perspective. In actual practice, however, the constancy of male
guardianship would have differed considerably in every situation.
Women in Myth. The roles of women in the myths of the foundation of Rome
are compelling. Consider the story of the Rape of the Sabines (see chapter 3).
From this myth, Roman society is cast as initially completely composed of
males. These males (in the male-only society) seize and rape a group of women
Queen Boadicea rallying Britons before battling with the Romans. (Library of Congress)
from another city. In antiquity, the emphasis on the rape aspect did not cast the
males in a negative light, but rather emphasized the sexual purity and virtue of
the female ancestors of the Romans (Fantham et al. 1995: 217). Likewise, the
rape of Lucretia (see chapter 4) demonstrates the qualities of a virtuous woman
in terms of sexual chastity (Dickison 1988: 1325, Fantham et al. 1995: 225). On
the other hand, women are seen very negatively in the story of the sacking of
the Capitoline Hill by the Sabines (Fantham et al. 1995: 218). A woman, accord-
ing to Livy, showed the Sabines a secret route in exchange for payment.
Women in Political Life. Women were not allowed to vote, nor were they al-
lowed to run for public office. Although they could participate in public gath-
erings, their direct participation in civic government was barred. This meant
that any influence on government activity during the Republican period was
indirect, and as such, is very difficult for historians to trace. In the imperial pe-
riod, the status of women in regard to political life did not change. But histori-
ans are better able to trace the effect of some notable women on political life.
These women were people who were close to the emperor. Because of the em-
peror’s power, anyone close enough to personally influence him could also in-
fluence public life.
148 THE ROMANS
Agrippina, wife of Emperor Claudius. Statue, full length, seated, facing right; in Naples Museum.
No. 1531.
In Roman literature, the influence of women on male politicians was not

looked upon favorably (Dickison 1988: 1325). Women who attempted to act in
the public sphere were described as liars, overemotional, and unable to control
their desire or temper (Fantham et al. 1995: 367–368). As a means of discredit-
ing a male politician, accusations about the influence of his wife could be
levied. Amazingly, this kind of sentiment still persists today, and is commonly
part of political discourse—consider the popular-culture image of Hillary Clin-
ton during her husband’s presidency.
More prominent in Roman history than the wives of politicians were the
mothers of politicians. There was a considerable degree of variation in the in-
Perpetua
An absolutely remarkable document is the diary of a young woman named

Vibia Perpetua. She was a wellborn and educated Christian woman who, in
203 C.E., was killed in an amphitheater in Carthage. Perpetua was only 22, and
her crime was religious in nature. Although Christianity was not a crime per
se in Rome at this time, local governors could use their own discretion in
such matters. Often Christian executions were justified through charges of
atheism when someone refused to participate in Roman cultic events. Per-
petua and four of her housemates were charged with atheism. Her diary pro-
vides tremendous insight into the mind of a woman in a situation unthinkable
in modernity. The diary records the events of the judicial proceedings and
conversations with her father, who begged her to simply recant Christianity
and make a Roman sacrifice. Perpetua recorded her feelings and fears about
her infant child and about her time in prison. She also recorded four of her
dreams in vivid detail. She and her housemates were killed in a public specta-
cle.They were first attacked by wild beasts but were killed when Roman sol-
diers slit their throats.
fluence that mothers had over male political actors. On the one hand, there
was the influence the mother had as the earliest role model for the child, an in-
fluence that should not be ignored, but one that is more difficult to see histori-
cally (Dickison 1988: 1323; Dixon 1988: 170). On the other hand, there are the
infamous mothers (e.g., Agrippina, mother of Nero) who wielded considerable
influence at court (Fantham et al. 1995: 308–313).
The stories about barbarian women provide very interesting insights into
Roman conceptions of gender and otherness. Boudicca, who lived c. 26–60 C.E.,
was the queen of the Iceni tribe, a Celtic tribe in Britain. She led a revolt against
the Romans and had many military victories, but was eventually defeated.
Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, who lived around 260 C.E., also went to war
against Rome, but was eventually defeated. The Roman descriptions of these
women are very interesting. Both were described in a virtuous light, and they
seem to have commanded the respect of the Romans. On the other hand, there
is a very romanticized otherness about these women and their people. That
these barbarians would allow themselves to be led by women was more evi-
dence of their savagery (Fantham et al. 1995: 389–390). And, that women in
these societies could be described in virtuous terms normally restricted to men
further demonstrated the backwardness of Roman civilization.
Women in the Public Sphere

For all who argue for the cultural superiority of the Greeks over the Romans,
the position of women in the public sphere is perhaps the best counterargu-
ment. In Greek society, women were curtailed from participation in public life
to an extreme degree. Although in actual practice it may not have been the
150 THE ROMANS
case, the ideal Greek woman never left the house. This was certainly not the
situation for Roman women, who were allowed a significantly higher degree
of civil liberty than most ancient women. Women were a constant presence in
Roman public spaces (Balsdon 1963: 201; Fantham et al. 1995: 338). They were
not restricted in their ability to move around the city, and they participated in
spectacles, baths, and other public activities (Dickison 1988: 1319).
There are also recorded instances of women acting in the public sphere as a
collective. One occasion came as a response to sumptuary laws passed in the
wake of the second Punic War. The lex oppia (opulence laws) limited the
amount of gold women were allowed to possess. In 195 B.C.E., women demon-
strated in the streets to have this law repealed, and it was (Dickison 1988:
1321). This event is known from the writings of Cato the Elder, who warned
about the dire consequences of women who possess too much wealth. There
are other examples of women acting as a group. In 309 B.C.E., women were said
to have gathered 1,000 pounds of gold to bribe invaders to leave the city. And
supposedly, under Emperor Elagabulus, a women’s Senate was formed to cre-
ate a code of female etiquette.
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VII CHAPTER 7
Politics
MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENT
The evidence that can be used to reconstruct the government of the Roman
monarchy is meager at best. Archaeological data can reveal the existence of
public structures, population and site size, and the spread of material culture.
However, this evidence is very open to interpretation. Unlike the multitude of
contemporary sources available for the Republican and Imperial periods, there
is a lack of historical records contemporary with the period of the monarchy.
Much later accounts of the monarchy have survived, but it is often difficult to
untangle the historical facts from the blend of mythical accounts and contem-
porary political polemic.
Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, is also considered the founder of
the monarchical government. Although it is unlikely that this individual actu-
ally laid the basis of government in the manner described by the ancient
sources, the description of what he was supposed to have established probably
provides a reasonably trustworthy account of the monarchy’s political struc-
tures of (at least toward the end of its existence). The foundation of this gov-
ernment, supposedly established by Romulus, is based on a division of the Ro-
man people into three tribes. Each of these tribes was divided into ten
extended families (curiae), and further subdivided into families (gentes). These
tribes and family divisions may not reflect ancient lineages; rather, they may
represent a later administrative organization. Whether this division of three
tribes existed before Roman government is unknown, but it is likely that the
choice of criteria for division was an administrative innovation (Cornell 1995:
114, 117). Other structures that Romulus was thought to have founded were
the comitia curiata (the assembly of wards) and the Senate (see the section that
follows). Certainly, the king and the Senate were the powerful governing bod-
ies of the early monarchy. It is unclear exactly when the comitia curiata actu-
ally began to function.
The Senate
Although the Senate lasted throughout Roman history, its functions and pow-
ers changed drastically. In the period of the monarchy, the Senate consisted of
elders, chosen by the king, to help advise him in matters of government
(Staveley 1988: 496). The number of advisors was limited to 100. Tradition sug-
gests that the initial selection of the senators was made by the king, who chose
individuals from the families who had supported his rise to the throne (Stave-
153
154 THE ROMANS
ley 1988: 495). The Senate at this time lacked formal ability to legislate; law was
the domain of the king. The Senate was more influential in matters of adminis-
tration.
Comitia Curiata
Another component of monarchical government was the comitia curiata (see
below). The exact function of this body during this period is not known, but
information about its internal organization does exist. This assembly was com-
posed of ten subdivisions, one representing each of the three tribes, making a
total of thirty curiae. It seems that the membership of an individual was based
on his birth, but it is not clear how these divisions were originally established
(Cornell 1995: 116). The origins of the comitia curiata are obscure and con-
tested. Roman traditions suggest that it was established by Romulus at the in-
ception of the monarchy. Many scholars do not trust these sources and suggest
that the comitia curiata was formed toward the end of the monarchical period.
Scholars are divided on this issue. Even in the same encyclopedia, Civilizations
of the Ancient Mediterranean, two scholars (Ferguson and Staveley) offer oppos-
ing viewpoints. Comparative study of ancient state formation has shown that
when political divisions are justified as representing preexisting lineages,
those claims should not be trusted without close investigation. Claims for the
antiquity of lineage often cannot be trusted because lineages are such mal-
leable categories. For example, often there is a person in one’s family who is
not recognized as part of the family tree. Or even more simply, some people
take their name from their father’s side of the family, some from their mother’s
side, some from their spouse’s side, and still others from somewhere else en-
tirely. It would be hard to imagine trying to piece together a family’s heritage if
it was recorded only in ancient documents.
The King
The origin of kingship is ascribed to the founding of the city by Romulus, and
he is considered by tradition to be the first king. But the exact nature and ori-
gin of early kingship has been obscured by time. There is a strong ancient tra-
dition that the king and Senate came into existence together, but the exact na-
ture of the relationship between the two in early times is unclear.
Kingship in Rome was not hereditary (Cornell 1995: 141). That is to say,
kingship did not pass from father to son because of the blood connection be-
tween the two. However, a king could appoint men to powerful positions—in
essence giving them assistance on the road to kingship. Succession at this time
was theoretically very orderly. The first step, after the previous king was no
longer able to govern, was that the Senate nominated an interrex (interim
king), who would be the leader of Rome for five days (Ferguson 1988: 649).
During these five days, the interrex would choose a king. This choice probably
had to be ratified by the comitia curiata (although scholars disagree on this),
and the interrex would continue to make suggestions until the curiae affirmed
one of his choices.
The king was the head of state and held the office for a life term. He was re-
sponsible for the finances of Rome, for lawmaking, and for the armed forces
Politics 155
Romulus on horseback, cheered by a crowd of Romans. (Library of Congress)
(Ferguson 1988: 649). The king was also the religious head of Rome, with vari-
ous cultic staff reporting to him.
The Reforms of Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius (578–535 B.C.E.) became king through what may have been
atypical means. He may have come to power because of the influence of his
predecessor, who seemed to have gained the throne through a coup (Staveley
1988: 496). However it was that he came to power, Servius Tullius radically al-
tered the governmental organization and created a framework that would last
into the Republican period (Heurgon 1973: 146).
We know of the reforms of Servius Tullius through the writings of Cicero,
Livy, and Dionysius, although the accounts are not contemporary with the re-
forms and do not agree on all of the details. Likely much of what these histori-
ans describe came later than Tullius, as their descriptions of the system under
Tullius seem very similar to descriptions of the political system during their
own time (Heurgon 1973: 149). One must be careful when reading modern
scholars’ observations; many of them take these accounts completely at face
value and basically just paraphrase the ancient accounts.
One of the major reforms was the reorganization of the tribal system (Heur-
156 THE ROMANS
gon 1973: 152–153). Many modern scholars follow the ancient historians, who
claim that Servius Tullius divided Roman territories into twenty tribes (Fergu-
son 1988: 650). This is not likely, since this was well before the period of Roman
expansion, when Rome started gaining territory (Cornell 1995: 174). Many of
the regions where these twenty tribes supposedly originated were not even
controlled by Rome at this time! Most scholars, however, accept that the re-
form involved the reorganization of Rome into four tribes, each of which con-
sisted of a quarter of the city and some surrounding land (Cornell 1995: 176).
No matter how the tribes were divided, it is most important to note that the
tribes were reorganized. As Last suggested, this reform altered the very way in
which Romans came to identify and organize themselves (Last 1945).
Another major reform that had a lasting effect was the creation of the comitia
centuriata. Landowners were divided into five classes, based on wealth. Land-
holders who did not hold enough land were called proletarri. Each of these
classes was divided into groups of 100 men, hence centuries. Fraccaro noticed
that these divisions corresponded with the division of the Roman legion (Frac-
caro 1931). Note that each of the classes was responsible for providing 1,000
men for military service. This organization lasted into the Republican period.
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
The expulsion of Tarquin (see chapter 4) marked the end of the monarchy and
the beginning of the republic. The nomenclature refers to a shift in form of
government, but the nature of this transition is unclear. Was it a smooth
change from a single leader with a life term to two leaders elected annually?
Was there an interim form of government? How rapidly did the change
progress? All of these questions are asked and debated by Roman scholars.
The foundation for much of the discussion on these issues lies in Polybius’s
description of the republican government. This foundation is discussed on
page 168.
It can be stated for certain that at some point after the expulsion of the
monarchy, the leadership of the state was invested in the office of praetor (later
consul), which was held by two individuals, elected for a year’s term. The
praetors held symbols of leadership that were different from (although related
to) the monarch’s, but they did have the king’s power of imperium (the power
to command).
Although the powers of the head of state were curtailed with the beginnings
of the republic, the powers of the aristocracy grew (Crawford 1988: 19; Wal-
bank et al. 1990: 179). The gradual growth of aristocratic power led to what
scholars call the “Conflict of the Orders” (see chapter 6). The conclusion of this
conflict led to new powers for various institutions in the political life of Rome
(Crawford 1988: 18). The nature of these institutions is described in the sec-
tions that follow.
The Senate
When the monarchy was driven out of Rome, the body of elders who advised
the king remained in the form of the Senate. Senators were responsible for ad-
Politics 157
A procession of Roman senators, along the side of the Ara Pacis Augustae. (Araldo de Luca/
Corbis)
vising the two consuls (elected annually) on which legislation of the proposals
submitted by the consuls should be submitted to the popular assemblies for
voting. Although the Senate itself could not pass laws, it strictly controlled
which legislation reached the assemblies and was, therefore, one of the most
powerful political institutions within the republic (Crawford 1982: 34; Jolowicz
1967: 27; Starr 1953: 21). The Senate could also issue decrees that had “the force
of law,” if not an actual designation as law (Shelton 1988: 226). The Senate was
also responsible for governing the provinces and senators were often sent as
governors to the provinces. The Senate usually met at the Forum, in the north-
west corner known as the Curia Hostilia. However, Senate meetings theoreti-
cally could be held in any public place within a certain distance of Rome.
The Senate was composed of men who had once held an elected position as
a magistrate (see page 164). At the beginning of the republic, the Senate was
limited to 300 men, but by the time of Julius Caesar there were 900. Once the
man’s term of service came to an end, he became a senator and remained a
senator for life, although he could be expelled for misconduct (Cornell 1995:
364; Staveley 1988: 509). So, unlike modern American senators (but much like
Canadian senators), Roman senators were nonelected officials serving life
terms. These men were not paid for their work as senators, but it was an av-
enue through which prominent Roman families sought political gain.
Indeed, participation in the Senate was a luxury of the wealthy (see Schatz-
158 THE ROMANS
man 1975 for a description of senatorial wealth). Because one had to have held
office to become a senator, it was necessary to have amassed enough wealth to
pay for an expensive election campaign (Gelzer 1969: 110). The interests of the
Senate corresponded with the interests of the wealthy and well-established
families of Rome. But class-based self-interest cannot be seen as the sole moti-
vating force of the Senate. There were senators whose actions in government
were based on ideals rather than on personal political achievement (Shelton
1988: 228). And at certain periods, senators would work on behalf of the
masses to sway their votes in the assemblies (Shelton 1988: 228). It was espe-
cially important to have the support of the assemblies when running for a po-
litical position.
The Assemblies
There were two main areas of civic life that were voted upon during the Re-
publican period. Citizens voted on legislation, and they also elected govern-
ment officials (Shelton 1988: 206). Legislation was never debated or discussed
at an assembly, only voted upon. Unlike American representative democracy,
in which citizens vote for politicians to represent them at legislative assem-
blies, the Romans engaged in direct democracy, in which the voters themselves
were in attendance at legislative assemblies.
Although the issues could not be discussed at the assembly, often a few days
before the assembly was to meet, informal meetings called contio were held
(Taylor 1966: 2). Anyone could attend these meetings, including foreigners,
women, and slaves (although none of these categories of people could vote).
Normally a contio was held to familiarize the general public with an issue that
was to be voted on, or to introduce the candidates for election (Taylor 1966:
15).
Voting was organized by assembly. Eligible voters met with their assembly
outdoors and voted there. In order to vote, the citizen had to physically attend
the assembly and, by extension, had to be in Rome. It is difficult to know how
many Italian citizens actually made the journey to Rome to vote after they
gained the right in the Social War (see chapter 4). Certainly this hampered the
voting ability of many citizens who lived outside of the capital. Until 139 B.C.E.,
votes were cast aloud; after 139 B.C.E., secret ballots were used (Taylor 1966: 15).
There were four different assemblies in the Republican period: the comitia
curiata, the comitia centuriata, the comitia tributa, and the concilium plebis.
Remember that comitia does not have the same meaning as the English word
committee. It is better translated as “assembly.”
Comitia Curiata. Dating from the period of the monarchy, the comitia curi-
ata reflected the ancient tribal divisions of Rome (Crawford 1988: 17). Each of
the three tribes was divided into ten wards (curiae). In the Republican period,
this assembly ceased to have a practical function. Its role was ceremonial, con-
ferring imperium on some elected officials (Botsford 1909: 189).
Comitia Centuriata. This assembly met in the Campus Martius (Field of

Mars). In the period of the monarchy, the comitia centuriata was organized
Politics 159
into units of 100 men; this is where the name centuriata derives from. But
throughout the Republican period, the actual number of members varied
greatly. At the Campus Martius, each century had its own meeting enclosure.
During the monarchy it was a military assembly, but by the republic it had be-
come a general assembly. There were 373 centuries. As with the comitia tributa
(assembly of tribes), voters voted as a block, meaning that if the majority of
votes within a century were “yes,” then that would be considered one “yes”
vote and tallied along with the 372 other possible votes (Crawford 1982: 17;
Staveley 1988: 489). The division into century was based on age and property
value (Heurgon 1973: 147). Because there were fewer centuries of the poorer
classes, the wealthier classes could vote as a block against the poor (Crawford
1982: 17; Staveley 1988: 489). At the beginning of the Republican period, this
was the major assembly, voting on whether to go to war, electing magistrates,
and acting as an appeal court for capital cases (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 39).
As the Republican period progressed, more and more power was in the hands
of the comitia tributa and the concilium plebis.
Comitia Tributa. This was the assembly of the tribes. The name derives from
the division of voters into thirty-five tribes, based on the supposed origins of
one’s ancestors and/or one’s own geographic origin. Voting occurred at the
Forum in Rome, with basically the same system as the comitia centuriata,
when summoned by a consul, praetor, or tribune. The function of this assem-
bly was to vote for some magistrates, vote on some legislation (legislation put
forward by a magistrate), and act as a court of appeal in noncapital cases (Ad-
kins and Adkins 1994: 39).
Concilium Plebis. Structured as thirty-five blocks, like the comitia tributa,

the plebeian assembly also met in the Forum, with participation restricted to
plebeians (see chapter 6). Established early in the Republican period, after 287
B.C.E., it made decisions that were binding on all citizens, not just plebeians.
The actual power of this assembly depended on the mood in the Senate at the
time (Heurgon 1973: 194). When the senators supported the concilium plebis,
this group could be very influential. But when the group was not favored, the
Senate could find ways to restrict its powers.
Magistrates
Magistrate refers to an elected governmental office in Rome (Schiller 1978: 172).
Two individuals filled each office—individuals holding the same office were
called collegae (Schiller 1978: 176). Most of these positions were held for one-
year terms. Once an individual had been elected a magistrate for the first time,
that citizen was eligible to be a senator, a nonelected position (Shelton 1988:
210).
After 180 B.C.E., the offices for which a citizen was eligible to run were deter-
mined by his age and which offices he had previously held (Schiller 1978: 178).
This was called the cursus honorum (the course of honors). The course of hon-
ors (in this usage the word honors is best rendered in English as “political of-
fices”) was a legalized system, but occasionally an individual would advance
160 THE ROMANS
ignoring these rules. Pompey’s rise to prominence is an example of someone

ignoring the cursus honorum (see chapter 4).
The ideal path was that a citizen would have spent at least ten years in a mil-
itary or judicial position. After this period, he would be eligible to run for the
lowest level of office—that of quaestor, and, with usually a two-year interval
between each office, slowly progress to higher offices. Practically, the upper-
level honors were dominated by a select group of powerful Roman families.
Magistrates held one of two types of power in Rome. The upper-level offices
held imperium, which gave power in a military setting, and the power to enact
the death penalty. The comitia curiata theoretically granted imperium, but this
was, practically speaking, a symbolic role. Lower-level magistrates held potes-
tas, which was the power granted by their specific office.
Quaestors. This was the lowest level of magistrate, and ideally the first step
in the cursus honorum. A man could be elected quaestor at the age of 27 (true
of most of the Republican period) and at this time would be able to gain entry
into the Senate. The number of quaestors varied along with the size of
Rome’s external holdings (Schiller 1978: 187). Serving a variety of functions,
quaestors were responsible for both public records and the treasury (Adkins
and Adkins 1994: 42; Schiller 1978: 187). Outside of Rome, they were responsi-
ble for paying the army and administering finances for the governor (Jolowicz
1967: 49).
Aediles. There were usually four aediles at a given time, serving a one-year
term. Elected by the comitia tributa, two were plebeians, and two were curule
(officials with state authority). These individuals were in charge of much of the
Roman infrastructure. From the maintenance and building of public works
(e.g., aqueducts) to the regulation of weights and measures, the aediles kept
the city of Rome running smoothly (Schiller 1978: 186). Until the reign of Au-
gustus, the aediles were also responsible for public games (Schiller 1978: 176).
This responsibility placed aediles in a very public setting and provided them
with much exposure. Throwing expensive games was a sure way of attracting
votes, so even though the position of aedile was not a mandatory position
along the cursus honorum, it was a useful political stepping-stone.
Praetors. At least thirty-nine years of age, praetors were judicial figures.

With the initial dissolution of the monarchy, praetors took over responsibilities
that had been the king’s, including military power (Schiller 1978: 181), al-
though this office later came to be known as consul. As the Republican period
progressed, the military responsibilities of the praetors ceased, but they re-
tained the power of imperium. Elected annually by the comitia centuriata, the
praetors also issued an edict of law annually (Jolowicz 1967: 46). The number
of praetors varied, as did their jurisdiction. For example, the praetor urbanus
was responsible for law within the city of Rome (Jolowicz 1967: 47). These re-
sponsibilities somewhat overlapped with those of the praetor peregrinus, who
dealt with foreigners (Jolowicz 1967: 47).
Politics 161
Consuls. This is the Roman office after which the American office of president
is modeled. The consul was elected for one year. The exact regulations concern-
ing who was eligible for election to this office changed throughout the Republi-
can period. Two consuls served at a time; this acted as a balance and check on
their individual authority. Citizens had to be thirty-six years old (later forty-two
years old) to be elected consul. Until 150 B.C.E., consuls could not be reelected
until a ten-year span had elapsed. After 150 B.C.E., reelection was banned out-
right, although in fact, many consuls were reelected after this ban. Nominated
by the Senate, consuls were elected by comitia centuriata (Jolowicz 1967: 44).
The consul chaired Senate meetings and ensured that the decisions the Sen-
ate made were carried through. Primarily, though, the consul was the com-
mander of military forces (Jolowicz 1967: 45; Schiller 1978: 182). In this role, the
consul would lead the Roman military on foreign campaigns.
Censors. Censor was the highest position that could be held by a magistrate
in a nonemergency situation. The office was held for an eighteen-month pe-
riod, and was elected by the comitia centuriata (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 43;
Jolowicz 1967: 50; Schiller 1978: 183). The specific responsibilities of the censor
made it a very powerful position in Rome. The censor registered all citizens,
ensuring that they were classified properly for tax and voting purposes
(Jolowicz 1967: 50). He was also responsible for commissioning public works
and the use of public land (Schiller 1978: 183). As a moral authority in Rome,
the censor could expel senators from the Senate (Jolowicz 1967: 50).
Dictator. During a state of emergency, the

Senate had the power to nominate a dicta-
tor, who acted as supreme commander for
six months (Jolowicz 1967: 54), which was
the length of time that war was engaged in
during a year. The nomination of a dictator
did not mean that other magistrates lost
their powers. But the dictator did gain com-
plete control over military and judicial mat-
ters (Jolowicz 1967: 54). Julius Caesar was
the last dictator in Rome (until the twenti-
eth century, at least).
Pro-praetors and Pro-consuls (Promagis-

trates). In order to cope with the growing
size of Rome’s territories, Roman govern-
ment developed the legal concept of proro-
gation (Staveley 1988: 509). This allowed
the powers of a praetor or consul to be ex-
tended to another individual for a specific
period. It also allowed the pro-praetor (or Bust of Caesar,Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy.
pro-consul) to act “in the place of” the prae- (Corel Corporation)
162 THE ROMANS
tor or consul (Ferguson 1988: 652). Usually this extension was made for the
purpose of a military campaign. It was an important innovation that allowed
the republican form of government to still govern effectively over an ever-in-
creasing territory (Ferguson 1988: 654).
IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT
When Augustus became the first emperor (see chapter 4), the Roman political
system underwent another massive transformation. Authority was fully cen-
tralized in the figure of the emperor, who was emperor for life. Augustus mod-
ernized, clarified, and restructured much of the Roman political system.
Through a series of carefully calculated steps, Augustus built upon republican
principles to centralize leadership in one personality.
The Emperor
The emperor was the supreme commander of the empire, with authority de-
rived from popular support and most importantly, his complete authority over
the military (Campbell 1984: 25; Salmon 1966: 39). In Rome, the emperor’s mil-
itary authority was displayed through the Praetorian Guard. Popular support
came from the holding of games, the presiding over of public functions, and a
variety of other means. Imperial patronage curried and reinforced popular
support. His role as a legislator must not be overlooked, because the emperor
was the main source of law. The emperor chose which of his sons would suc-
ceed him, and if he had no sons, would designate a successor by adopting him
and declaring his adopted son the next emperor.
The Senate
Theoretically, under the empire, the Senate’s powers were extended. Its de-
crees came to have the rule of law behind them and did not require ratification
by a popular assembly (Goodman and Sherwood 1997: 94). However, in prac-
tice, the powers of the Senate were drastically reduced, beginning with the
granting of increased powers to Augustus (Staveley 1988: 524). Augustus re-
duced the Senate—which had grown to more than 1,000 members—to 600
members. It remained at around this number until the last years of the impe-
rial period. Furthermore, Augustus added a property qualification. Individu-
als had to possess a certain amount of land before being eligible for senatorial
service.
The Senate did retain a certain number of powers. It retained control over
the state treasury, and individuals sent by the Senate governed some of the
provinces (Goodman and Sherwood 1997: 95). Certain legal proceedings were
enacted in the Senate (usually proceedings that involved one of its members or
an upper-class family). Various matters of infrastructure were controlled by
the Senate, and the occasional foreign embassy was received. But for the most
part, the Senate as a body had lost much of its power. Individual senators,
however, could gain a great deal of power through their relationship to the
emperor (Goodman and Sherwood1997: 96), although depending on the em-
peror, this was not always a safe venture.
Politics 163
Statue of Augustus Caesar,Vatican Museum, Rome. (Library of Congress)
The emperor, technically, received his power as a gift from the Senate. Al-
though Augustus and the first emperors after him attempted to demonstrate
some deference (though only in speech) to the Senate, later emperors lost the
sensibility that deference to the Senate was a political necessity. Indeed, as the
Senate became increasingly less important as a political body, the disdain of
the emperor only grew. Furthermore, the Senate lost much of its influence to
164 THE ROMANS
the class directly below it (Staveley 1988: 524)—the equine (see chapter 6).
More and more, positions that previously had been senatorial jobs went to the
equites, further undermining senatorial authority and power.
Magistrates
In the imperial period, the cursus honorum grew even more and the number
of magistrates was greatly increased (Bowman et al. 2000: 227). Election to
magistrate was no longer a responsibility of the comitia. This body ceased to
have an effective function. Rather, the Senate gained control of the power to
elect magistrates, many of whom came from senatorial ranks.
Magistrates after Augustus officially shared their power with the emperor.
And the emperor had the power to appoint magistrates. This power was fun-
damental in retaining the emperor’s absolute control over the Senate. The in-
stitution of the office of city prefect was an important imperial appointment to
this end (Staveley 1988: 523). The city prefect had many responsibilities that
overlapped with the other magistrates’, but its authority superseded all of the
other magistrates’. In many ways, these other magistrate offices became more
honorific than politically effective.
One of the fundamental developments in the history of governance that oc-
curred during the imperial period was the transference of administrative pow-
ers from the hands of elected magistrates to nonelected government officials
(Staveley 1988: 523). At this time, a true institutionalized bureaucracy arose.
Many of these new, permanent bureaucrats came from the house of the em-
peror or from the equine class. Although technically the equine class was be-
low the senatorial, this group gained in power through the patronage of the
emperor.
The Praetorian Guard

Augustus installed a standing army in the city of Rome itself, which became
known as the Praetorian Guard. This guard consisted of nine cohorts of 500
men and acted as the emperor’s personal military force. The Praetorian Guard
enforced the emperor’s will within the city of Rome and was under his direct
control (Campbell 1984: 114). Under normal circumstances there were two
commanders who wielded considerable power.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF EMPIRE

In Roman studies, nomenclature can be particularly confusing. Caesar is both
a name and a title. Rome is both a city and a culture. The word empire is an-
other term that has different uses. In the context of Roman studies, empire de-
scribes two distinct situations. First, it refers to the period of Roman history
ruled by an emperor (from the end of Augustus’s reign until Oadacer’s con-
quest). Second, it describes a kind of power relationship, in which a center (or
core) exercises authority over a periphery. Rome developed these kinds of
power relationships (an empire) during the Republican period, so it is correct
to say that there was a Roman Empire before the imperial period! This section
Politics 165
An engraving of the Roman Praetorian Guard. (Pixel That)
will deal with the second use of empire and explain how Rome administered
areas outside of Rome proper.
The origin, nature, and aims of Roman imperialism are issues of controversy
among modern scholars. It is safe to say that after the defeat of the Latin
League in 338 B.C.E., Rome took a new position in relation to its neighbors. The
Latin cities became municipia (municipalities) of Rome. The municipia had dif-
ferent statuses in relation to Rome. Some were fully incorporated into the Ro-
man government and were granted all the rights and obligations of citizen-
ship. However, this was more of a theoretical granting of rights than a practical
one. Because all governance took place in Rome, citizens who lived away from
Rome were not able to participate in governance as fully. Other municipia did
not gain the rights of citizenship, but were still incorporated into Roman gov-
ernance. The population of the municipia had the right (and was encouraged)
to engage in business with Romans as well as to marry them. This was ar-
guably the most effective means the Romans had of ensuring stability and loy-
166 THE ROMANS
alty to Rome. By tying local elites’ social and economic welfare to the welfare
of greater Rome, it ensured that the local elites would remain loyal.
Another means Rome used to expand into new territory under the republic
was through the creation of coloniae (colonies). Colonies were cities built by the
Romans and settled with people brought from other parts of the empire. These
cities were built in astonishingly uniform fashion, mirroring Rome on a
smaller scale, but in faraway locations. These “mini-Romes” were usually es-
tablished in locations of strategic importance, ensuring that Roman values per-
meated throughout the Mediterranean.
As Roman power expanded beyond Italy, new systems of administration
had to be incorporated. Larger territories were divided into provinces. The
provinces were placed under the authority of a governor. Governors with the
rank of pro-consul were elected from the senatorial ranks for a one-year term.
During the imperial period, governors could be appointed directly by the em-
peror, with no fixed-term limit. These governors were called imperial legates. A
permanent, professional staff did not assist governors. Rather, they brought an
entourage, which included assistants, advisors, junior senators, and a military
detachment with them to the province. During the imperial period, the eques-
trian class (now no longer responsible for providing cavalry) would provide
fiscal procurators who were responsible for taxation and similar matters in the
periphery. Taxation is discussed in more detail in chapter 5. The main respon-
sibilities of the governors were to defend the frontiers and to maintain order
within the province.
MILITARY ORGANIZATION
The Roman military has been a subject of great interest to historians. In fact,
military history is well recognized as a subset of history in general. What fol-
lows is a brief overview of the organization of the Roman military, divided
into two discrete periods—the army of the republic and the army of the impe-
rial period. Even though there is evidence for the army of the regal period, it is
assumed that there were strong similarities between the regal and republican
armies.
The Army of the Republic

The government of the republic was inherently related to the military organi-
zation that originated in the regal period. Initially the Roman army consisted
of two major groups of men: citizen landholders and auxiliaries (people con-
quered by the Romans). Individuals were called up to serve for specific battles.
So although it was not a standing army, the sheer quantity of battles fought en-
sured that property owners were called up frequently. However, these prop-
erty owners could be called up to fulfill different roles in different battles; rank
was not held consistently by the drafted soldiers. The organization of the Ro-
man military was ascribed to the innovations of King Servius Tullius (Fraccaro
1931). He is said to have taken a census of the people of Rome, and from that
census, military obligations were drawn up. Also, Servius Tullius is credited
Politics 167
with introducing the Greek hoplite system into the Roman army (Cornell 1995:
183–186). Associating these innovations with Servius Tullius may, however,
just reflect attempts by later Roman historians to identify the origins of institu-
tions.
The ten-year siege of Veii (captured in 396 B.C.E.) is said to have been the im-
petus for the introduction of payment for soldiers (Grant 1974: 51; Watson
1987: 78). Previously, service had been compelled by the obligations of
landownership. During the Veii siege, the length of campaigning became too
great for landholders to be involved and still maintain economic security. The
institution of payment allowed longer campaigns and campaigns that ex-
tended through the winter. It is arguable whether paying troops was meant to
be a permanent feature of the Roman military when it was first brought into
practice at Veii. But it certainly became a permanent feature from that point on.
Concomitant with this innovation, the phalanx formation was abolished and
replaced with the maniple (Parker 1958: 26–27; Webster 1988: 710). In addition,
new weapons and defensive equipment were introduced. The combination of
technological and organizational innovations and an army that could cam-
paign for longer periods of time greatly strengthened the Roman military.
The reforms traditionally associated with Marius were reactions to changing
social and economic conditions in Rome (Parker 1958: 21–23). Land had in-
creasingly been concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy landholders. The
large number of poor landholders were unable to shoulder the military bur-
dens. At the same time, landless, or poor-landed individuals, moved into the
city in hopes of finding work. In response to these related situations, service in
the military was opened to the poor, greatly extending the manpower base of
the Roman army.
At the same time that enlistment was opened to a larger group of men, the
terms of enlistment changed. Rather than enlisting for a particular campaign,
men enlisted for a certain period. The legions that men joined also started tak-
ing on independent identities. Legions gained names and symbols and became
recognizable as discrete organizations.
The Army of the Empire

After the Battle of Actium, Augustus controlled a huge and powerful army
(see chapter 4). For Augustus, there were two major goals that needed to be
met through the military (Anderson 1987: 89). The first was to secure the bor-
ders of the now quite vast Roman Empire. The second was to maintain the se-
curity of his position as sole leader of Rome. These goals were met by the
spread of the military throughout the provinces—keeping the army large
enough to enforce order, but small enough so as not to form an effective oppo-
sition to his command (Anderson 1987: 89–90). Augustus also further profes-
sionalized the army by instituting more regularized reward systems (Ander-
son 1987: 90). Particularly powerful in creating a stable environment was the
institution of land grants (Anderson 1987: 90). Although unpopular with local
elites (who lost land as part of this process), land grants gave veterans security
and a reason to remain loyal to the status quo.
168 THE ROMANS
With the stationing of legions in the provinces, auxiliary forces were better
able to organize and were included in campaigns (Grant 1974: 58). The re-
gional nature of these military forces eventually worked against a unified
Rome. When centralization broke down, the stronger provincial armies were
in a position to raise up their men as contestants for the throne. The period of
the barracks emperors (235–284 C.E.) represents the apogee of this trend.
Composition of the Military

It is an oversimplification to suggest that the Roman military structure re-
mained the same from the time of the monarchy until Constantine, but some
generalizations can be made. So much has been written on Roman warfare that
what follows is just a cursory overview of the important structures.
The Organization of the Legion. The legion (from the word legio, which
means “levying”) was one of the fundamental organizing principles of the Ro-
man army (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 51). Originally the term legion referred to
the entire army, but after the fourth century B.C.E., it was used to designate a
regiment of infantrymen. The number of legions varied through Rome’s his-
tory. Each legion had a number, and after the reforms of Marius, many had
names or nicknames. The numbers were given based on the order of formation
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 55). Titles were based on several criteria, including
the geographic region of combat (for example, the Parthica legion fought the
Parthians), or were used to describe a quality of that legion (for example, the
legion name Felix means “lucky”).
The members of the legion were supplied by a system established during
the regal period. Each tribe was responsible for providing 1,000 men, consist-
ing of ten subdivisions called centuries. The equites class was responsible for
providing the cavalry.
Polybius provides information about the makeup of a Roman legion. It must
be kept in mind that the legion Polybius described reflects legions as they were
during the second Punic War. An ideal legion consisted of 4,000 infantry and
200 cavalry. Before the Marian reforms, these men were divided into thirty ma-
niples, reflecting the wealth of the various members. There were four classes of
soldiers (based on their wealth, and therefore on the equipment they owned).
In descending order they were the triarii, the principes, the hastati, and the
velites (cloak-wearers) (Parker 1958: 31). After Marius, the legion was divided
into ten cohorts (rather than maniples) and the fourfold class distinction disap-
peared (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 52). However, the most skilled cohort was al-
ways the first, and the skill level decreased from there (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 52; Parker 1958: 31).
In the republic, a legion was under the direct control of a consul, a praetor,
or in times of crisis, a dictator. Below this leader each legion had six tribunes
(ruling in pairs for two months at a time), who each had ten centurions be-
neath them (one centurion for each centurie). Each centurion designated a
partner—prior centurion (Parker 1958: 31). This system was changed under Au-
gustus (Anderson 1987: 94–95). The legions were moved to the direct control of
Politics 169
a princeps rather than a consul or pro-consul. The six tribunes were placed un-
der the authority of the legatus legionis (legion commander). And below the
tribunes was the praefectus castorum (camp prefect), a senior military man who
had once held the position of chief centurion. Below him, the ranks remained
very similar to those instituted during the republic.
The Cavalry. The cavalry consisted of the horse warriors of the legion, and it
was a powerful military force. Of varying size throughout the regal and Re-
publican periods, it could be anywhere from 300 to 1,800 members strong. The
role played by the cavalry in combat was taken over by the auxiliary forces in
the imperial period (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 68). The cavalry consisted solely
of members from the equite class, who were wealthy enough to afford the ex-
pensive equipment.
The Auxiliaries. Although the infantry was the backbone of the Roman fight-
ing force, it lacked specialization (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 67–68; Anderson
1987: 100; Bowman et al. 2000: 332). Frequently, forces from the region in which
the campaign was being fought (normally groups previously conquered by the
Romans) were called up as an added force to assist the Roman army (Grant
1974: 57). Julius Caesar gained most of his victories through the successful use
of auxiliaries (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 67). In the period of the empire, these
forces were used to great effectiveness. And at this time, they were used in
place of the cavalry for horse-based combat (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 68).
The Navy. Rome was late to develop a naval tradition. Because of its inland
position, a strong navy was not central to an effective defense of the city. It was
not until the first Punic War that Rome was forced to create a large navy. Once
it gained a navy, Rome did not sustain its sea forces in the way it sustained its
ground forces. Rather, navies were built in response to specific situations (Starr
1953: 36). The objectives of the Roman navy were threefold. First, the navy was
responsible for controlling the seas during a battle—particularly important in
the Punic Wars and the civil wars. Second, international commerce could be
threatened by piracy, so the policing of waters was an important role. Third,
the navy moved people and goods around the empire.
Ships were divided into fleets. Under the republic these fleets were overseen
by senators; under the empire they were the responsibility of prefects. Prefects
also commanded naval bases and outposts. Squadron commanders led the
ships at sea, and each ship had a captain who reported to that squadron com-
mander. Sailors were considered low-class soldiers. The Hollywood image of
ships powered by slave labor is probably inaccurate. It seems that most sailors
enlisted of their own free will but came from the lower ranks of society.
The Urban Forces. Under Augustus, the city of Rome was fortified by a num-
ber of entities. The most powerful of these was the Praetorian Guard (see page
164). Similarly, Augustus established a personal bodyguard consisting of Ger-
man soldiers known as the Germani corporis custodes. The city also had a vary-
170 THE ROMANS
ing number of cohorts with varying amounts of soldiers dedicated to keeping

the peace within Rome. There were also a number of cohorts dedicated to fire-
fighting, known as vigiles.
ROMAN WARFARE
Rome is often characterized as a militaristic society. Indeed, the governing sys-
tem and social order of Rome seem to have evolved out of the need for mili-
tary organization. The art of war under the Romans reached high levels of
strength and efficiency. The strategies and tactics of the Roman military and
the Roman generals have provided inspiration and ideas for many later gener-
als, and until very recently, the study of Roman warfare was an important part
of an American military education. Much has been written on the art of war in
Rome. The following provides a basic orientation to this subject.
Tactics
War in the Roman period was based on principles that were very different
from warfare after the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, to a modern witness, Ro-
man warfare would have seemed very orderly. Under ideal circumstances, bat-
tle would take place in an open area. The combatants would line up against
one another and rush to attack in the center. One of the strengths of the Roman
army was that it was very ordered and disciplined. The Romans would create
three lines (one behind the other) lengthwise to the opposition. The lines
would advance one at a time, fight, and then retire. When the first line would
retire (and regroup), the second would move up to take its place, and so on,
until a victor was decided. However, this was the ideal situation and the un-
derlying principle. Actual battles were much more chaotic and complicated,
also involving cavalry attacks and other special forces. Indeed, the enemies of
Rome did not always operate under the same principles, and Roman battle
tactics developed in response.
Hoplites. Hoplite warfare originated in Greece and was a means of warfare

in which a tight line of infantrymen made up the major thrust of the attack.
These men would line up in a phalanx so that their armor would overlap and
attack the enemy in a series of attack lines (Watson 1987: 76). Although provid-
ing a very powerful attack, battle in a phalanx position is not maneuverable
and is easily routed by forces who do not attack in a tight formation.
Maniples. To make the phalanx more maneuverable, at the time of the siege
of Veii, the hoplites were divided into smaller groups called maniples (Watson
1987: 86). These troops were also equipped with javelins to attack the opposi-
tion from a distance. In essence, the defensive nature of a phalanx tactic was
replaced with a very offensive one. In fact, though, the defensive capabilities of
a maniple were not great. One of the major weaknesses of the maniple system
was the front line. Between each maniple was a gap (equally as wide as a ma-
niple). This provided a space for enemy troops to move through and attack the
Politics 171
interior of the army before the first assault was finished. This led to the inno-
vation, under Marius, of the cohort system.
Cohort. Marius brought the cohort system into full effect in the Roman mili-
tary (Watson 1987: 86). However, this was not an entirely original innovation.
According to Polybius, Scipio Africanus used the cohort system to defeat Han-
nibal (see chapter 4). The cohort system solved the problem inherent in the ma-
niple system by increasing the number of men in the combat unit. By increas-
ing the number of men, the gap in the front lines between the units decreased,
forcing enemy combatants to engage the front line directly. This was an effec-
tive strategy, combining the defensive strength of phalanx tactics with the mo-
bility of the maniples.
Siege Warfare. The siege of cities was another important component of Ro-
man warfare. In the Mediterranean, cities were often built on raised ground
and walled. Rome used two basic strategies to break the city and gain control:
attrition and the building of siege equipment. Both of these techniques were
used at the site of the most infamous Roman siege—Masada in Israel (see side-
bar on page 172). By encircling a city, the Roman army prevented the move-
ment of supplies. Eventually a city would be forced to surrender, after having
run out of food and possibly even water. Ramps would be built that would
lead directly up to the city wall. These ramps were used to bring battering
rams up to the city wall. They were constructed by infantrymen who held up
their shields and marched in a tortoise formation, which protected them from
attacks from the city walls (Parker 1958: 15). When a breach was made in the
wall, the Roman army managed to gain entrance to the city and finish off the
enemy combatants. Sometimes, instead of a rampart, the Roman forces would
create a double line of earthworks to keep troops in the city, and to prevent re-
inforcements from entering the city. Towers were also built, from which
archers could fire projectiles over the city walls.
Weapons
Weapons and armor, before the army was professionalized, were the property
of the individual soldier, and brought by him to battle (see Adkins and Adkins
1994: 81–89 for more detailed descriptions of the following weapons and ar-
mor). The type of weapon and armor used by the individual reflected his posi-
tion in the military. The triarii were equipped with long spears and wore full
armor. The principes were also fully armored but carried javelins. Also wear-
ing armor were the hastati, who carried a shield, a sword, and two javelins.
The lowest class of soldier, the velites, wore no armor and used a sword, light
javelins, and light shields. After the reforms of Marius, all soldiers wore armor
and carried a shield and javelin. Normally, the heavy javelin used by the Ro-
man forces was called a pilum. It was designed to break on impact. This was of
great benefit; once it was thrown, the enemy could not pick up the javelin and
throw it back against the Roman troops (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 86).
Beyond the infantry, other weapons were used. Archers used bows and
172 THE ROMANS
Masada
An account of the siege of Masada can be found in the writings of Josephus.

Archaeological excavations at the site have also shed light on this infamous
event. Masada is located in the Judean Desert, close to the Dead Sea, in Israel.
The site rises high above the surrounding plain and is not easily accessible. Ex-
cavated in 1963 and 1965 by Yigael Yadin, the site is a tourist attraction today.
It was the last outpost to fall to the Roman army in the First Jewish Revolt
(66–74 C.E.).According to Josephus, Jewish zealots occupied the site in 66 C.E.,
and maintained control until 73 C.E. The Roman army, under Flavius Silva,
brought the Tenth Legion to Masada in 72 C.E. The Romans applied two major
strategies against the fortress. First, by encircling the perimeter and setting up
camp, they prevented the occupants of Masada from leaving for reinforce-
ments or supplies. The Jewish zealots had supplied themselves well, however,
knowing that the Romans would use this strategy. Second, the Romans con-
structed a huge siege ramp (still present today) to bring siege equipment up to
use against the wall. According to Josephus, when a breach was made in the
wall, the zealots committed suicide rather than submit to Roman rule.
Masada, Israel; the northern palace. (Nathan Benn/Corbis)
arrows. Usually the bow was a composite bow (wood reinforced by animal
horns and sinew). Arrows were made of wood, with iron or bone tips. Cross-
bowlike devices that could propel bolts or stones at the enemy from a great
distance were used. In addition, ballistae were used, which were stone-throw-
ing machines that were effective at great distances and against walls. Catapults
(called onagers) had an even greater range and power than ballistae.
Examples of various weapons and devices of war used by the Romans. (Pixel That)
174 THE ROMANS
Naval Warfare
Naval warfare was very different from land combat. The heart of Roman naval
combat was the warship (although there were actually a variety of ship types
in the Roman fleet). The Roman warship was based on Greek designs and
shipbuilding traditions (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 72). Warships were built by
first laying out the keel, then adding the hull planks. The hull planks were fit-
ted together with mortise and tenon joints, which kept the planks firm against
one another. Frames were added after this to provide strength. There were
three major types of warships, trireme, quadrireme, and quinquereme (Adkins
and Adkins 1994: 72). These names likely derived from the number of men
who worked each oar—the more men needed, the larger the ship. Warships
were propelled mainly by oarsmen during battle; the sails were stowed when
in combat.
During the Punic Wars, when Rome was forced to take to the seas for battle,
one particular innovation called the corvus (crow) gave the Romans an edge
over the Carthaginians. The corvus was basically a drawbridge fitted with an
iron spike. A Roman ship could pull up next to an enemy vessel and lower the
drawbridge (which would be secured with the iron spike) onto it. Roman sol-
diers could run across the corvus and slaughter the sailors on the enemy ves-
sel. Not only would this disable an enemy vessel, but it also provided another
ship for the Roman navy!
Military Life
The duration of service required of conscripts and volunteers varied through-
out Roman history. Under Augustus, the typical term was sixteen years; later
this was extended to twenty years. Auxiliary forces had longer terms, and
Praetorian guards had shorter terms of service. Men between the ages of sev-
enteen and forty-six were eligible for military service (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 76; Webster 1988: 705). Soldiers were forbidden to marry while in the ser-
vice (Parker 1958: 237–238). Training, according to Josephus, was also a part of
everyday life for the soldier. Josephus contrasts this with the armies of other
peoples, who trained only before battle. Under the monarchy and the republic,
soldiers were not paid for their services. Military service was an obligation for
landholding. The long siege at Veii changed this, and soldiers began to receive
payment. Beyond the structured payments provided to soldiers, military men
expected to share in the booty of any campaigns. Often this was the most sig-
nificant method of wealth accumulation available to the troops. Later in the
imperial period, veterans could expect to receive land grants for services ren-
dered—often in the provinces in which they had served.
Roman Army Camps

Very distinctive to the Roman army was the building of military camps. The
custom in the ancient Mediterranean was to billet troops within towns that
were close to the arena of battle. However, this meant a great disruption of life
for the residents of those towns. Soldiers are not known for reserved behavior
Politics 175
when off duty, and towns with billeted troops would often suffer as though
they had been besieged. But by not keeping Roman soldiers in the towns,
Rome could engage in warfare without unduly disrupting the life of the com-
munities nearby.
To the Romans, order and discipline were virtuous. The layout of a military
camp was fairly standard, although it varied over time. It consisted of tents,
laid out like a small city, on level ground and in an orderly fashion. There were
specific sections designated for equipment and animals. Defenses were laid
out around the perimeter, and guards were stationed.
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VIII CHAPTER 8
Religion and Ideology
T he study of Roman religion has not prospered in modern scholarship. Al-

though much has been written on this subject, not much of it is very good,
and some scholars have gone so far as to say that there are no good books in
English on Roman religion. One of the reasons for the lack of quality scholar-
ship is that from the standpoint of classicists, Roman religion is greatly over-
shadowed by Greek religion. So whereas scholars have tended to look admir-
ingly at Greek religion, with its many myths and sophisticated religious
literature, they have looked upon Roman religion with scorn and disdain, of-
ten describing it as unimaginative and derivative. Roman religion is not usu-
ally considered a major contribution to the world’s intellectual heritage. But
these kinds of claims are difficult to back up when one actually engages with
the evidence of Roman religion. And it should be remembered that it was
within this theological environment that Christianity originated and Judaism
thrived. Many of the major religious institutions that are perceived to have
originated in medieval times are, in fact, developments from Roman institu-
tions. There are some bright lights on the horizon of the study of Roman reli-
gion. Very recently, some excellent and methodologically sound works have
appeared on the subject and hopefully, this trend will continue.
ORIGINS OF ROMAN RELIGION

Investigating early aspects of Roman religion is problematic. Most of the
sources for early Roman religion actually come from periods after contact with
The Myth and Ritual School
One of the most important schools of thought in religious studies that has
influenced Roman studies is what is known as the “myth and ritual school.”
This is a school of thought that developed out of Victorian-era comparative
folklore/mythology studies, especially the work of Sir James Frazer (most fa-
mous for his work The Golden Bough). The myth and ritual school sees myth
as inherently related to cultic practices and looks to understand mythology
by its place in ritual contexts. Although not very prominent today, this was
one of the dominant ways of thinking about ancient religion.
178
Religion and Ideology 179
The Dead Sea Scrolls
One of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time, the Dead
Sea Scrolls are documents written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that came
to light on the black market in 1947. They were first discovered by Bedouin,
and other documents later appeared in controlled archaeological excavations.
All of these documents came from sites near the Dead Sea, but the principal
location was Qumran, where many scholars believe that a group called the Es-
senes lived (but this is just a hypothesis). The documents are important for
many reasons. Some are copies of biblical texts and are actually the earliest
preserved biblical manuscripts. These are very important for biblical scholar-
ship, especially as a means of understanding the transmission history of the
Bible. But there are also many texts that are unique to Qumran, and as such,
are evidence of a religious community not known from other sources.
Greece seriously influenced Roman religion. It is difficult to recognize and un-

derstand Roman traditions before the import of the Greek mythological sys-
tem. This is an area where archaeology should help, but religion is one of the
least understandable aspects of human civilization through archaeology. Al-
though it is often easy to recognize temples and cultic activity, it is difficult to
understand what was believed and felt by the ancients. In fact, it is an unwrit-
ten rule of archaeology that if something that has been discovered cannot be
identified, it is simply labeled “cultic.”
Numinous Forces and Other Scholarly Inventions

Most accounts of early Roman religion involve some discussion of numinous
forces (for example, see Ferguson 1988c: 853). The word numinous refers to im-
personal forces, usually localized in one particular area. Numinous powers are
usually understood as natural forces that are neither good nor bad, but are
simply the energy behind everyday phenomena. There is no anthropomorphic
element of numina, meaning that they are not imagined as humans, as the
Greeks imagined their deities. This is usually perceived as the earliest identifi-
able stage of Roman religion (North 2000: 15).
Although there is some evidence for Roman belief in the powers inherent in
natural things, the idea that Roman religion experienced a phase of belief char-
acterized by this kind of theology is mostly a scholarly fiction. When the com-
parative study of religion first developed during the Victorian period, it was
popular to apply evolutionary-based models to all aspects of study. Until
World War II, this was extremely prevalent in the social sciences, and in reli-
gious studies was popular even up to the 1970s. The evolutionary model of re-
ligion, in its most simplified form, sees religion as beginning with animism;
that is, the worship of the powers of nature. This is akin to the numinous forces
supposedly worshiped by the ancient Romans (for example, see Bailey 1932).
180 THE ROMANS
The next stage in the evolution of religion was seen as the worship of anthro-
pomorphized deities—gods that acted like humans, as in Greek religion. The
culmination of the evolution of religion, while not usually stated, is often pre-
supposed to be monotheistic theological systems, like Christianity, Judaism,
and Islam.
The descriptions that the earliest types of Roman religion revolved around
the worship of numinous forces are mostly based on these notions. These sug-
gestions cannot be completely discounted, but it is important to understand
that such ideas are not based on evidence, but on preconceptions. In religious
studies in general, evolutionary models of religious development have mostly
been discredited. These kinds of theoretical frameworks presuppose that
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are “more advanced” religions. Mixed in with
these problems is the more general issue of scholars giving priority to Greek
traditions. Therefore, it will be useful now to discuss the ways in which Greek
and Roman religions interacted.
Contacts with the Greek Religion

One of the most prominent misconceptions about Roman religion is that it was
simply Greek religion with Latin names. This mistake is especially obvious in
the study of mythology. Because mythology was never really an important
part of Roman religious life (it was important in Roman historical writing,
however), the Romans never developed their own set of elaborate myths (Fer-
guson 1988c: 854). Because of this, it has often been assumed that Roman reli-
gion was entirely based on Greek religion, but in fact, only the mythological
accounts were integrated in this manner.
The situation is actually much more complex than that. When Greek influ-
ence started to become especially prominent in Roman society, there were at-
tempts to equate Roman and Greek gods (Shelton 1988: 367). Consider Jupiter,
for example. From early times, Jupiter was the supreme god of the Latin cities
and was also associated with some aspects of the weather. The supreme Greek
god was Zeus, who also had weather associations. It was not a large concep-
tual leap for the Romans to associate Zeus and Jupiter with each other, and
eventually the two grew to be interchangeable in popular conceptions (Shelton
1988: 367). But what is important to note is that Jupiter was an independent de-
ity, conceived of by the Romans long before Greek contact. Jupiter is not just
the Latin name of Zeus. These identifications of one god with another led to a
similar association between Roman gods and the myths of the Greeks (Fergu-
son 1988c: 855). So, in essence, the mythology of Greek gods became the
mythology of Roman gods.
Etruscan Elements
Studies in Roman religion usually detail the aspects of Etruscan religion that
were preserved in later traditions. Indeed, the importance of Etruscan religion
for Roman civilization cannot be overstated. What is problematic is that we
know much less about Etruscan religion than Roman religion, so it is impor-
tant to be careful when reading about this subject to determine why scholars
have come to the conclusions that they have. Often the modern scholarly as-
sumptions made about Etruscan religion are based on uncritical readings of
Roman accounts of Etruscan religion. This is not methodologically sound, es-
pecially because many of the later Roman writers who discussed the Etruscans
actually knew very little about them. In ancient times, new concepts were of-
ten justified by claiming even older origins for them. Older was better, and
more authoritative, and new things (especially religion) were not trusted. So
sometimes these authors claimed Etruscan roots just to appear more legiti-
mate.
Most later Roman sources emphasize that Etruscan religion centered on
written knowledge and books of wisdom (Ferguson 1988b: 951). Unfortu-
nately, the Etruscan language has yet to be deciphered. Classical authors did
preserve Latin translations of fragments of these works, however, and they are
important sources of information on Etruscan religion. Especially important
for later Roman traditions were Etruscan techniques of divination. It is possi-
ble to speak confidently about Etruscan skills in the study of weather-related
omens, especially those of thunder and lightning (Ferguson 1988b: 951). But
this is not really “religious.” The ancient omen readers treated this form of in-
quiry as more of a science. The discussion on divination in this book can be
found in chapter 10.
DOMESTIC RELIGION
It is somewhat arbitrary to separate out religious aspects of domestic life in an-
cient Rome. But there are many elements of ancient home life that modern
people would recognize as religious, rather than just another aspect of daily
life. Many day-to-day activities could be considered religious or cultic. The
home was an area in which nonvisible forces were at work, and important
chores involved pacifying these forces.
Vesta
The most important deity of the household was Vesta, who was the goddess of
the hearth. The hearth was central to the life of the family. It provided warmth
for the house and fire for cooking food and warming water (Fowler 1922: 73).
The hearth was an important life-giving force, and so was Vesta. Every day, of-
ferings were made to her, in the form of salt cakes or other foodstuffs (Fergu-
son 1988e: 921). Each family member was responsible to make daily supplica-
tions to Vesta. Her prominence in Roman state religion should be understood
as an extension of this protective household role to the entire state of Rome
(see Shelton 1988: 361). Her only known temple was located in the Roman Fo-
rum. The vestal virgins were responsible for keeping the fires continuously lit
in the temple.
Genius and Juno

The genius was the sacred fertility power held by the pater familias. This was
the procreative power of the male household, the power that allowed him to
182 THE ROMANS
have children (Ferguson 1988e: 921). It was seen as the connecting force be-
tween family members and an important link to male ancestors who came be-
fore. The major celebration for the genius was held on the birthday of the pa-
ter familias. Genii were also associated with specific areas of the house, and
eventually with groups of people and cities. The symbol for the genius, if
used, was the snake (Ferguson 1988e: 921). The female equivalent of the ge-
nius was the juno. It played a similar role in domestic cult, but was not con-
sidered as important as the genius, especially as a binding force between fam-
ily members.
Lares
The pater familias was responsible for the upkeep of the lares, who were pro-
tective deities. They seem to have originated in one of the earliest periods of
Roman religion, and it is not certain what their original role was. It is often
suggested that these spirits were originally related to agriculture but eventu-
ally came to reside in the house (see Ferguson 1988e: 921). There is not much
evidence for this, even though the agricultural origin of the lares is stated as
fact in numerous books. One of the most important responsibilities of the pater
familias was to keep a shrine to the lares, called a lararium, in the house, most
often in the atrium (Shelton 1988a: 363). Lares outside of the household were
thought to dwell on roads, especially at crossroads (Ogilvie 1969: 101).
Household Locations
Many of the divine or semidivine forces that resided within the household
were associated with specific locations within the house. These locations were
ones of particular danger or need for the family (Fowler 1922). Vesta and her
association with the hearth, as well as the hearth’s essential power in the
house, have already been discussed. Other household locations had similar
(although less powerful) protective deities and semidivine creatures. Particu-
larly important locations were areas where food was kept, or liminal areas.
Liminal areas are dangerous areas that border two distinct locations. The first
of these forces is the one associated with doorways. The god most associated
with thresholds and doorways in Roman times was Janus. It is not clear when
Janus came to be associated with all thresholds. He was certainly the deity re-
sponsible for a gate located at the Roman Forum from early times. Another
semidivine force associated with specific household locations was the penates.
These spirits protected the food storage areas (Ferguson 1988e: 921; Fowler
1911). The penates required daily offerings, usually given to them by throwing
food or salt on the fire. These offerings were normally presented at mealtimes.
Ideally, some food offerings were left on the tables for these spirits as well
(Ogilvie 1969: 102). Images of the penates were kept in the atrium. Also related
to household locations was Termina, who was associated with property bound-
aries, especially in rural areas (Fowler 1922: 82). Each boundary stone had its
own divine force related to Termina. These forces were worshiped in the Termi-
nalia festival, celebrated every February 23 (Perowne 1969: 23).
An engraving of a household shrine found at Pompeii. (Pixel That)
184 THE ROMANS
Lemures and Manes

The dead played an important role in Ro-
man domestic life. The dangerous dead
were the lemures, who were essentially
hostile ghosts associated with the house
(Fowler 1922: 85). These ghosts were often
the ghosts of people who had died at a
young age or otherwise unexpectedly. Be-
cause of the tragic elements of their death,
these “ghosts” were considered danger-
ous. These haunting spirits could be kept
away by performing the proper household
rituals. The most important of these rituals
were those held every May 9, May 11, and
May 13 (Fowler 1969: 106–107).
Dead ancestors also played a role in Ro-
man religious life and as members of the
household. The ancestors were benevolent
spirits known as manes. It seems that only
later in Roman religion was each individ-
ual seen as having a manes, which was
akin to a soul. Prior to this, the manes
were the collective spirits of the dead,
worshiped communally (Fowler 1922: 85).
The most important means of worshiping
these forces was through the festivals of
Feralia and Parentalia.
THE ROMAN PANTHEON

The Roman pantheon was never as rigidly
formalized as the Greek pantheon. There
were many deities in Roman religion, and
the worship of these deities was not
equally prominent in all locations of the
empire. There were, however, two impor-
tant groups of gods in Roman religions.
The earliest, most often called the Archaic
Triad, consisted of Jupiter, Mars, and Quir-
inus. Later, the Capitoline Triad, which
A statue from the Republican period shows a Ro- consisted of Jupiter, his consort Juno, and
man holding busts of his ancestors. (Gianni Dagli Minerva, surpassed this triad in promi-
Orti/Corbis) nence (Ferguson 1988c: 854).
The gods were seen as beings distinct
from humanity. Although they could in-
fluence the everyday world, they were not assumed to have direct contact with
humans in the same manner as Greek gods. Roman gods could be contacted
through specific media, most commonly through ritual and divination. These
indirect methods of communication allowed humans to influence the gods.
Within this general framework, the Romans had many gods. Both temporally
and geographically dispersed, the gods of the Romans varied considerably in
time and place. It is beyond the scope of this book to detail all of the Roman
gods. What follows are brief discussions of some of the more prominent Ro-
man deities.
Jupiter
Jupiter was the supreme god of the Romans and was of considerable impor-
tance in Roman religion from earliest times until the rise of Christianity. Jupiter
was a god associated with weather, and lightning especially was considered a
mark of Jupiter (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 119). Very early on, Jupiter was
equated with the Greek god Zeus. Likewise, in other parts of the empire,
Jupiter was equated with local supreme gods, such as Amon, in Egypt (Per-
owne 1969: 17). The study of the many epithets of Jupiter is an area of research
unto itself. Books have been written on the hundreds of titles associated with
Jupiter, or forms of Jupiter, throughout Roman history. His main temple in
Jupiter in his chariot, yielding a thunderbolt. (Pixel That)

186 THE ROMANS
Rome was located on the Aventine Hill. Much is recorded about the cultic
practices of this temple, including the interesting restrictions on the flamines
(chief priests) of this temple (Ferguson 1988e: 911).
Mars
Mars was the Roman god of war and agriculture (Perowne 1969: 19) and was
much more important in Roman religion than his Greek counterpart Ares was
in Greek life. As the god of war, Mars was offered sacrifices before battles to
ask for victory, and after battles in thanks for victories. The Campus Martius,
named after Mars, was the field in which the Roman army practiced. As an
agricultural deity, Mars is associated with the month of March, and is related
to spring and regeneration (Perowne 1969: 19). This season was one for which
many festivals were offered in honor of Mars. The Romans associated him
with the woodpecker and the wolf (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 141). Much ink
has been spilled on the discussion of whether Mars was first an agricultural
god and then a war god, or vice versa. Neither side of this debate has been able
to offer conclusive arguments. A notable worshiper of Mars was Augustus,
who established many temples to this deity.
Quirinus
The third member of the Archaic Triad, Quirinus was a Sabine god who ex-
isted long before the founding of Rome (Perowne 1969: 21). Despite the impor-
tance of this deity, not much of certainty can be said about Quirinus. Most
scholars see some evidence that Quirinus was a war god (Perowne 1969: 21).
More concrete is the fact that in later times Quirinus was associated with the
divine form of Romulus (see Dumézil 1970). His Sabine origins provide evi-
dence of the importance of this population group in the early formation of Ro-
man civilization.
Juno
Jupiter’s consort, Juno, was a member of the Capitoline Triad. She came to be
associated with the Greek goddess Hera, and it is likely that this Greek associ-
ation caused her to be considered the consort of Jupiter. However, her exis-
tence independent of Jupiter was quite important, especially for Roman
women. From earliest Roman times, Juno was associated with childbirth and
marriage (Perowne 1969: 18). The festival of Matronalia, in which only women
could participate, involved Juno. Another important festival involved hus-
bands giving wives presents. As with Jupiter, Juno had many epithets, and dif-
ferent forms of Juno played different roles throughout Roman society. From
the late republic on, she was often referred to as a queen. The Temple of Juno
Moneta at Rome was associated with weights and measures, and records of
standards for measurement were kept there.
Minerva
The third member of the Capitoline Triad, Minerva was also sometimes seen as
the consort of Jupiter (Perowne 1969: 18). She came to be associated with the
Greek goddess Athena, and therefore had some warlike characteristics (Ad-
kins and Adkins 1996: 153). But in Roman religion, Minerva’s influence over
issues of the mind and intelligence were more important (Perowne 1969: 19).
She seems to have originally been the patroness of crafts and the creative arts.
Later in Roman times, Minerva came to be prominent for her wisdom and in-
spirational powers. She eventually surpassed Mars as the most important mil-
itary deity.
Janus
Janus was the god of beginnings, and as such, his name is usually the first spo-
ken in Roman prayers (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 111). The month January gets
its name from this deity. Related to this role, he was also the god of thresholds
and doorways, and because of this he was worshiped at both the household
and state levels. He was also associated with bridges, and there were at least
five shrines to Janus located throughout the city, near bridges. Janus was de-
picted as a two-faced individual, with one face looking forward and one look-
ing behind.
Saturn
The origins of Saturn are obscure, but he came to play an important role in Ro-
man religion. Some Roman writers claim that Saturn was originally a Greek
god, but the reasons for this claim probably stem from the Greek-seeming wor-
ship practices used in Saturn’s cult. He seems to have been an agricultural de-
ity, and some scholars have argued that the festival of Saturnalia, held in De-
cember, was originally related to winter sowing (Adkins and Adkins 1996:
200). His temple was at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. During the Republican
period, Saturn’s temple functioned as the state treasury.
Vulcan
Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and industry. He was associated with the
Greek deity Hephaestus. Vulcan’s associations with fire were both destructive
and productive. The importance of fire in smelting and metal production ex-
plains Vulcan’s importance for metalsmiths (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 245).
There was an important cult of Vulcan in the town of Ostia. His main festival
was the aptly named Volcanalia.
Venus
Venus was an important early deity, but unfortunately not much is known of
her. She was likely a goddess of fertility and vegetation but was associated
with the Greek goddess Aphrodite from very early on (Adkins and Adkins
1996: 232). This association was so strong that she eventually took over the
mythology of Aphrodite in its Roman incarnations. At the state level she was
important because Aphrodite was the mother of Aeneas, one of the legendary
founders of Rome (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 232). Important political figures
took her as a patron, including Pompey and Sulla. These traditions have ob-
scured her original role, but this is also characteristic of her popularity in Ro-
188 THE ROMANS
A Roman bust of Venus. (Araldo de Luca/Corbis)
man society. Roman women were often depicted as Venus in funerary art as a
means of demonstrating their virtue.
Mercury
Mercury was the Roman god of communication and trade. He was associated
with the Greek god Hermes, and was frequently depicted wearing a winged
hat and shoes. Mercury, while having his own temple in Rome, was never as-
signed a flamines (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 152), indicating that his worship
in Rome never reached levels of substantial importance. But there is evidence
for organized worship of Mercury among elites outside of the official state
structures (especially among groups of investors). Outside of Italy proper,
Mercury was a very popular deity. According to Julius Caesar, worship of Mer-
cury was prominent in the western empire (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 152).
Diana
Diana was a very popular goddess among Roman women and is often assumed
to have originally been Etruscan. She was a hunter and was associated with the
woods as well as with the moon (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 60). Diana was a vir-
gin, but also a deity that could be invoked for assistance in childbirth (Adkins
and Adkins 1996: 60). Her Greek counterpart was Artemis. But it was her role as
a defender of women that made her popular with that demographic. Servius
Tullius, it is said, built a temple for her on the Aventine Hill in the regal period.
Ceres
Ceres was a grain goddess in Rome and a popular goddess in Sicily. Very little
is known about this deity, who was also associated with nature and regenera-
tion (Adkins and Adkins 1996: 44). She was associated with the Greek goddess
Demeter, and had an important cult center in Rome. She was worshiped in a
festival that occurred annually from April 12 to April 19. The importance of
grain for basic subsistence underscored the importance of Ceres, and implor-
ing her favor was a way for farmers to attempt to gain control over something
that they in fact had very little control over.
Foreign Cults
In general, however, the Romans were tolerant of other religious traditions
(Ferguson 1988c: 856). This might seem strange given the traditions in Chris-
tianity and Judaism of Roman intolerance, and it is an important issue to ad-
dress. To the Romans, the problem with Judaism and Christianity was that
both of these traditions did not allow worship of other deities. Because of this,
Christians and Jews were frequently accused of atheism, and for that they
could be sentenced to death. However, for the worshipers of other, non-Roman
deities, the Romans were usually tolerant as long as the worship remained
within the limits of civic taste.
Isis. The cult of Isis was very popular among the elite of Rome. Isis was an
Egyptian deity, worshiped in that country from early times. She was both the
wife and sister of Osiris, and mother of Horus. In Egyptian myth, Isis was a
powerful protective force, and stories of her protecting her infant son Horus
were popular. During the Ptolemaic period in Egypt, Isis became an almost
universal goddess of feminine power. By the time Isis became popular in
Rome, her cult had been greatly influenced by Greek ideas and concepts. Some
scholars believe that images of Isis holding Horus as an infant were influential
in early Christian images of Mary holding the infant Jesus.
Apollo. Apollo was a Greek god and was always recognized as such in Ro-
man times. He was never associated with a different Roman deity. Apollo was
introduced into Rome in the early Republican period but became especially in-
190 THE ROMANS
The Aeneid
The Aeneid is one of the great classics of world literature. It is an epic poem,
written in Latin, and composed by Virgil in the years 29 B.C.E.–19 B.C.E.Virgil
tells the story of the foundation of Rome (giving credit to Aeneas, a hero
from the Trojan War). Using structures and narrative devices similar to those
used by Homer,Virgil glorifies the history of Roman civilization, especially the
interactions between human and divine, through Rome’s past.Written during
the reign of Augustus, the Aeneid is consistent with the general artistic pro-
gram under Augustus of celebrating Rome through literature.
fluential under Augustus. This deity’s influence in Rome was first felt as a
healing god and as an oracle. Apollo was also associated with poetry, and Vir-
gil wrote much about him. There is a rich mythological tradition surrounding
Apollo, perhaps enhanced by his relationship to poets.
Bacchus. Bacchus was the Roman version of Dionysus. Knowledge of the

worship of Bacchus and the practices of the Bacchae is derived from Livy, but it
is difficult to untangle truth from fiction. Most of the worshipers of this deity
were women. These women would work themselves into ecstatic frenzies, and
they ate raw flesh. Livy describes the Bacchanalia (the rites of worship of Bac-
chus) as wild and criminal. Whatever the truth of Livy’s accounts, the worship
of Bacchus was severely restricted by a decree of the Senate in 186 B.C.E. (North
2000: 64). Because this was a mystery cult, the initiates would not reveal what
happened in the worship. This secrecy fed Roman fears that the Bacchae were
conspiring against the state, so assembly of the Bacchae was forbidden (but see
North 2000: 64). This did not, however, prevent private worship of Bacchus
(Turcan 2000: 119).
Mithras. Mithras was a Zoroastrian deity that came to Rome in a mystery

cult, with worship reserved exclusively for men. Roman Mithraists were gen-
erally men in the military who had served in the east or traders who bought
and sold in the same region (Ferguson 1988c: 858). But worship of this deity
became very popular beyond this group, at times rivaling Christianity in terms
of numbers of worshipers. But the secret and exclusive nature of the cult pre-
vented it from ever playing a prominent role in Roman civic life. Temples to
Mithras were built into caves or other underground locations (Turcan 2000:
132). Worship consisted of a communal meal, and the priesthood was hierar-
chical and formalized (Turcan 2000: 132). Bulls seem to have played a promi-
nent role in Mithraism (Perowne 1969: 102). Mithras took the form of a bull,
and there is evidence that bull sacrifice was an important component.
Cybele. In 204 B.C.E., a consultation of the Sibylline Books concluded with the
suggestion that the worship of Cybele be brought to Rome from Phrygia. A Ro-
Bacchus, after a relief on a Roman sarcophagus. (Pixel That)
man emissary traveled to Asia Minor and returned with the black stone that
became the centerpiece of the worship of Cybele (Perowne 1969: 64). Cybele,
also known as magna mater, was a goddess of the earth and fertility. But her
worship was a bit wilder than Roman manners preferred. We are not certain
how much of what was written about these worshipers is true, but it was said
that the men castrated themselves and the women slashed their arms (Shelton
1988: 402). Suffice it to say, the Roman government soon restricted the nature
of this deity’s worship.
Judaism
Roman-period Judaism is a well-studied subject and is a discipline in its own
right. Only cursory mention can be made of Judaism in this volume, but there
is a considerable amount of scholarly literature on this subject. This is a period
of many remarkable moments in Jewish history. On the one hand, it was in the
Roman period that the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament)
reached its final form, and it is the period of the latest biblical writings. Two
important Jewish historians, Josephus and Philo, wrote during Roman times.
And two other works, still important today, were completed—the Mishnah
and the Talmud. On the other hand, this was also the period in which the
Jerusalem Temple was destroyed. This event had a profound effect on the de-
velopment of Judaism, and it was one of the contributing factors in the rise of
the synagogue as the dominant location for worship and for the rise of rab-
binic thought as a prominent locus of authority. Much of modern Judaism has
its roots in Roman-period Judaism.
Christianity
As with Judaism, Christianity in the Roman period is a subject too large to be
dealt with in this volume and is actually a discipline in its own right. Unlike
Judaism, Christianity can be said to have begun in Roman times. As a fringe
192 THE ROMANS
branch of Judaism, Christianity developed in Palestine under Roman rule.

Based around the teachings of Jesus, Christianity eventually developed into
the official religion of the Roman Empire. The earliest history of the Church is
obscure, but most scholars agree that early Christians prepared themselves for
the end of the world, which they believed was coming soon. Theological con-
cerns shifted away from eschatology with the teachings of Paul, who spread
Christianity beyond Roman Palestine. Paul and his school wrote most of the
books in the New Testament in the Greek vernacular of the day, called Koine.
Paul’s Christianity attracted many adherents, as it was rooted in the venerable
traditions of Judaism, but it did not require worshippers to follow Jewish regu-
lations (like keeping kosher or getting circumcised). The great Christian the-
ologian St. Augustine lived in Roman times, and much of his writings reflects
a Roman conquest.
THE STATE CULT

This section on state cult, if an ancient Roman had written it, would have been
part of chapter 7, the chapter about politics. With a few exceptions, the opera-
tion of the state cult was seen as an integral part of Roman governance. These
cultic officials were not distinct from other elite members of Roman society and
did not require specialized skills or knowledge (Beard 1988: 933). The informa-
tion and skills were learned after appointment to the position. Cultic officials
were elected members of the government, performing a government task.
This government task was the maintenance of the pax deorum (Fowler 1911:
169). This was the maintenance of the proper relationship between citizens and
their gods, done through ius divinum (North 1988b: 982). The gods were mostly
ambivalent to humans but very legalistic in their responses. In order to curry
divine favor, rituals had to be performed perfectly (North 2000: 45). Any devi-
ation from the prescribed procedure would nullify the ritual, and to gain the
gods’ favor it would have to be started again (North 1988b: 981; Shelton 1988:
372). The importance of this was so great that the Roman state created an ap-
paratus dedicated to the maintenance of human-divine relationships to ensure
the proper carrying out of the ritual and festival procedures (Ogilvie 1969: 100;
Shelton 1988: 380). To the Romans, the proof of the efficacy of these procedures
came from the continual economic and military success of the Roman Empire
(Shelton 1988: 372). Misfortune at this scale was explained by improper cultic
acts (Shelton 1988: 391).
The organization of the state cult was based on distinct colleges. These col-
leges were separate from one another; each had its own internal organization
and structure. The duties of the colleges were very specific, with no overlap be-
tween the organizations (North 2000: 25). There was also an implicit hierarchy
of cultic officials, with some colleges having more perceived importance in Ro-
man life and some individual offices carrying more status (North 2000: 25–26).
The Four Colleges

There were four major colleges of Roman cultic officials that were important
enough that they would regularly be consulted by the Senate: the Pontifices,
the augurs, the sacris faciundis, and the epulones. The Romans themselves saw a
distinction between these four colleges and the other colleges, and these four
were perceived as the most important in cultic life (Beard 1988: 372). In the Re-
publican period there is much evidence for public discussions of the nature of
these institutions (North 2000: 26). An issue of great importance in Roman
civic life was the method of determining who would become cultic officials
(Beard 1988: 934; North 2000: 26). In the earliest phases, it seemed that the col-
leges themselves selected new members. But eventually the system of internal
selection was modified so that the citizens of Rome voted on membership
(North 2000: 27; Shelton 1988: 386). It is interesting to note the prominence of
the day-to-day running of these colleges in Roman public debate.
Pontifices. The collegium pontificum was the highest ranking of the Roman
colleges. The members (pontiffs) were responsible for the overall maintenance
of the state cult (Ogilvie 1969: 107). Festivals and other state-sponsored wor-
ship were under the control of these officials. They acted as advisors to the
Senate on religious issues and oversaw some matters, including adoption and
inheritance (Beard 1988: 935). Rules and regulations involving burials were
also included among their responsibilities (Beard 1988: 935). In earliest times,
the Pontifices may have had some responsibilities for bridge building, as the
name of the organization had some linguistic connection to bridges (Ferguson
1988e: 910; Ogilvie 1969: 107). There were three pontiffs at a given time, and all
had to be patricians. But by the end of the republic, the restriction on patrician
membership was lifted, and the number of pontiffs increased to sixteen.
The highest-ranking cultic official in Rome was the pontifex maximus (Ogilvie
1969: 108). This was the chief pontiff, who also had a supervisory role over the
vestal virgins. He was the major public face of the Pontifices, responsible for
publishing the decrees of that body. The responsibilities of the pontifex max-
imus included cultic roles originally held by the king during the regal period.
But along with the rex sacrorum, the pontifex maximus took over these respon-
sibilities. The pontifex maximus dwelt in an official residence throughout the
Republican period. In the empire period, however, the emperors filled this po-
sition until the reign of Gratian.
Augurs. The augurs were the state body responsible for asking for and inter-
preting omens (see chapter 10). The main method for gaining signs was by tak-
ing an auspice (or a sign) from the behavior of birds. The movements and ac-
tivities of birds were one of the major methods used by the Roman gods to
make their will known to their human subjects. It was very important to ask
for signs before major events (such as a military campaign) to make certain
that the gods favored the action (Beard 1988: 935; Ferguson 1988e: 911). Signs
could also come unsolicited, and it was the responsibility of the augurs to rec-
ognize such signs and report them to the Senate.
Sacris Faciundis. The major responsibility of this college was to keep and
protect the Sibylline oracles (North 2000: 54). If requested by the Senate, this
group would consult the Sibylline oracles, but most of the daily activities of
194 THE ROMANS
The emperor as pontifex maximus: relief of Augustus as a priest on the Ara Pacis Augustae. (Ar-
aldo de Luca/Corbis)
this group were simply maintenance. Usually they were consulted only in
emergencies (Ferguson 1988b: 953). The Sibylline oracles were a collection of
books that, according to legend, had been acquired during the regal period.
The Sibyls were ten female prophets, one of whom tried to sell books of the
oracles to King Tarquinius Priscus. The king refused, so the prophet began de-
stroying the nine books. According to legend, when only three books re-
mained, the king broke down and bought the remainder, paying the price she
had originally asked for all nine (Ferguson 1988b: 953–954). Thus went the leg-
end of the Sibylline oracles. They remained the preserve of the sacris faciundus
until they were destroyed in a fire in 83 B.C.E. (Ferguson 1988b: 954).
Epulones. Arguably the least prestigious of the four colleges was the epu-
lones, whose main responsibility was to administer feasts and games (Beard
1988: 935). This was the least prestigious college for a citizen attempting to
make a name for himself, but it was nonetheless important. And because of the
public role of the epulones in game and feast settings, it was a way to make a
name for oneself. The number of epulones changed through Roman history.
Originally three, then seven, the eventual size of the college was ten.
The Other Colleges

There were other organizations of priests in Rome that did not have such an
important role in political life. These other priesthoods did not have as much
political power and were less likely to be able to influence the Senate.
Nonetheless, these other organizations were considered very important in Ro-
man religious life and were seen as important contributors to the Roman reli-
gious community.
Vestal Virgins. One of the most widely written about groups of cultic officials
is the vestal virgins. As the name suggests, this organization consisted of
women responsible for the public worship of the goddess Vesta. This was the
same goddess that was worshiped in every Roman home as the goddess of the
hearth, but in the case of the vestal virgins, Vesta was associated with the pub-
lic hearth. It was important to keep the fires of this hearth burning and to keep
Vesta properly supplied to ensure the continued success of Rome (Beard 1988:
935; Shelton 1988: 387).
The members of this order were more set off from regular society than the
members of other Roman religious organizations. They lived in an official resi-
dence, were materially supported through state funding, and wore clothing
that distinguished them from the rest of Roman society (Beard 1988: 934, 936).
Originally four and later six women formed the college (Ogilvie 1969: 108).
Membership was selected by the pontifex maximus from girls of patrician
families, ages six to ten. These girls had to take a vow of chastity and remain
virgins for thirty years, after which they were released from service (Beard
1980). After thirty years, the woman could choose whether to continue in ser-
vice, and it is assumed that most did. The punishment for breaking the
chastity vow was death, and there are some gruesome accounts of vestal vir-
gins actually having being killed for breaking their vows. The method of exe-
cution was to be buried alive, as it was prohibited to strike a priestess of Vesta
(Beard 1988: 935; Ferguson 1988e: 911). But this aspect should not be overem-
phasized. Membership in this organization was a powerful way for women to
take an active role in Roman public life, in a context other than that of wife or
mother (Beard 1988: 935).
Flamines. The flamines were the cultic officials appointed as leaders of wor-
ship for specific deities (Beard 1988: 936). There were ideally fifteen flamines at
all times, each regulating the worship of different deities, although only the
specifics about the flamines for three deities are known (Ferguson 1988e: 911).
They were supervised by the Pontifices, but unlike the pontiffs, the work of a
flamen was a full-time occupation (Beard 1988: 936; Ogilvie 1969: 109). As such,
these priests wore distinctive clothes (including a white conical hat called an
196 THE ROMANS
apex) and were barred from certain activities (Beard 1988: 936). We know of
many of these taboo activities for the flamen of Jupiter, who could not ride
horses or wear knots on his body (Ferguson 1988e: 911). We assume that there
were similar (and to us, seemingly arbitrary) taboos for the other flamines that
marked them off as sacred individuals, but concrete evidence is lacking.
Arval Priests. The Arval Priests, it has been argued, were the oldest Roman
religious organization. They performed cultic acts for the goddess Dea Dia
(Fowler 1911: 435). Other activities involved making sacrifices and performing
duties that would make the agricultural fields productive. There were a total
of twelve of these priests, and the individuals were elected for life. The oldest
example of Latin poetry is the carmen arvale, which is a song of these priests
(Fowler 1922: 78).
Fetiales. The fetiales were responsible for the religious components of rela-
tionships with other states and foreign peoples (Ferguson 1988e: 911). These
cultic workers were responsible for ratifying treaties and declaring war against
other nations. There were twenty members at a given time, and they worked
in pairs (Ferguson 1988e: 911). One half of the pair was responsible for carry-
ing the sacred herbs (the verbenarius). The other half of the pair (the pater patra-
tus) was responsible for the oral pronouncements.
Haruspices. Strictly speaking, the haruspices were never a college per se, but
by the time of the imperial period, they were a formal organization that was
consulted by both the Senate and the emperor. The haruspices were, like the
augurs, responsible for interpreting signs and omens. There were two common
methods for this—the examination of the entrails of animals and the observa-
tion of meteorological phenomena. Although the Romans considered the
haruspices to be experts in Etruscan divination arts, there were, in fact, direct
connections between the activities of the haruspices and similar activities in
ancient Mesopotamia.
Rex Sacrorum
One of the most important religious functionaries in republican times was the
rex sacrorum. This cultic position was created to fill in the gap caused by the ex-
pulsion of the kings (Beard 1988: 936; Ferguson 1988e: 910; Ogilvie 1969: 109).
The king (in the regal period) had been responsible for a variety of religious
obligations. After the expulsion of the king, the king’s responsibilities were di-
vided up between the pontifex maximus and the rex sacrorum. The rex sacro-
rum was appointed for life and could not hold other civic positions. He, along
with his wife, was responsible for enacting various rituals and sacrifices.
ROMAN RITUALS AND FESTIVALS

Roman religious rituals and festivals were an important component of reli-
gious life. Days for these activities were called feriae, a term that could indicate
public holidays or private celebrations. Every day of the year was designated
as either fasti or nefasti (Ferguson 1988e: 912; Fowler 1911: 2). Fasti days were
days on which business could be engaged in (Ferguson 1988e: 909). Nefasti, by
contrast, were days on which business could not be conducted because of the
solemnity of the religious festival. But feriae were not always fasti or nefasti; it
depended on the situation. It was important to be aware of whether a holiday
was fasti or nefasti, because the obligation not to work (if nefasti) was a legal
one held by all citizens. Otherwise, individuals were not obligated to partici-
pate in the festivities.
Lupercalia
This is probably the best known of Roman festivals, as Shakespeare described
it in detail in his play Julius Caesar. But at the same time, the significance of this
celebration is not clear, and numerous ideas about its social role have been of-
fered (North 1988b: 983). The origins of this ritual had been forgotten by the
Republican period, and the deity associated with it (Lupercus) was likely a
later imposition (Fowler 1969: 311; North 1988b: 984). There were two minor
colleges of priests associated with this festival. On February 15 of every year,
the luperci (as these priests were known) gathered on the Palatine. The cere-
mony began with the sacrifice of goats and a dog and an offering of cakes pre-
pared by the vestal virgins (Fowler 1969: 311). Two prominent youths then had
their foreheads rubbed with blood (Fowler 1969: 311). But the majority of the
festival involved the luperci, who, wearing only parts of the recently sacrificed
goats, ran through town slapping people with strips of skin cut from the goats
(Fowler 1969: 311; North 1988b: 983).
Saturnalia
One of the most important Roman festivals (and the basis of the Christian hol-
iday of Christmas), Saturnalia officially occurred on December 17, but in actual
practice the celebrations could last until December 25 (Fowler 1969: 268). This
roughly coincided with the winter solstice, and the principal focus of the cele-
bration was the god Saturn. The festivities commenced with a sacrifice at the
Temple of Saturn, followed by a large public feast (Fowler 1969: 271). At home,
celebrants were expected to treat each other well, and slaves expected to be
treated like equals for the duration of the celebrations (Fowler 1969: 272; Shel-
ton 1988: 385).
Parentalia
This festival commemorating the dead was an annual event that lasted from
February 13 to 21 (Fowler 1969: 306). Quite a bit is known about the actual cel-
ebration of this festival from the writings of Ovid. Over the course of this cele-
bration, civic structures were mostly closed, as were temples. In general, al-
though it was a state-sanctioned festival (with the vestal virgins performing
some rituals), most of the celebration of parentalia was a private affair (Fowler
1969: 307). Most of the cultic acts of Parentalia were performed at home. But
one aspect of this festival involved bringing food to the tombs of the deceased
198 THE ROMANS
Metamorphoses
Like the Aeneid, Metamorphoses was written during the Augustan Age and is a
Latin epic poem. But unlike the Aeneid, the author of Metamorphoses, Ovid,
fell out of favor with Augustus and was banished from Rome. The work re-
volves around the theme of transformation, which is also the meaning of the
title. Ovid collected numerous myths from Greece and the ancient Near East
and reworked them in Metamorphoses. It is excellent literature, although
scholars often suggest that the literary quality of the individual sections is
variable.
(North 1988a: 997). Family members brought these offerings to the tombs of
their ancestors. The last day of the Parentalia festival was marked by a public
celebration called feralia. On feralia, offerings were brought to the tombs of the
deceased in a much more public manner than throughout the earlier days of
the festival (Fowler 1969: 308). The next day of the festival was a day for cele-
bration among living family members, culminating in a large meal at home.
Lemuria
Another festival for the dead was Lemuria, but the dead of this festival were
not the benign past ancestors of Parentalia. During Lemuria, it was the ghosts
of the dead who were pacified—ghosts who could haunt the household and
cause serious problems for the families (Fowler 1969: 108–109). Not much is
known about state activities during this festival, but Ovid has described the
private ceremonies. It was conducted over three days, on May 9, 11, and 13
(Fowler 1969: 106–107). The ritual observance of this festival centered on the
performance of apotropaic magic by the pater familias at set times. The pater
familias made ritualistic gestures, walked backward barefoot, and cast beans
for the lemures (Fowler 1969: 109; North 1988c: 998). This would hopefully keep
the lemures at bay.
THE CULT OF THE EMPEROR

The Roman cult of the emperor is very misunderstood, and its prominence is
often overstated in popular accounts of Rome. The Romans never experienced
the same level of ruler worship as did other ancient civilizations (such as the
Egyptians). In fact, the living emperor was never worshiped as a deity in Rome
or Italy. Classical writers used the reactions of emperors toward the concept of
deification as a means of indicating approval or disapproval (Fears 1988: 1022).
So, if a classical writer stated that an emperor desired worship, it was a way of
painting the emperor in a bad light. On the other hand, if the emperor was de-
scribed as feeling uncomfortable with such an honor, then it served as a means
of describing the emperor positively. Likely these accounts had little to do with
the realities of the situation.
The cult of the emperor was a cult begun after his death. Emperors were de-
ified after they had passed away. Theoretically, if, during the cremation of the
emperor’s corpse, the Senate witnessed the rising of the spirit of the emperor,
then that emperor was decreed divine, and a mortuary-cultic service system
was established (Fears 1988: 1014–1015). Not all emperors were deified, and
not all deified emperors were worshiped uniformly across the empire.
The earliest deified emperor was Julius Caesar, his status encouraged by his
adopted son Augustus. This was most probably a blatant political act on the
part of Augustus, because this made him, by proxy, the son of a god (Fears
1988: 1014; Taylor 1975: 181). Emperor cults were of varying popularity in dif-
ferent areas. In the Near East, these were extremely popular cults (including
even the worship of living emperors) because of the long traditions of ruler
worship (Taylor 1975: 145–148, 205). A more general emperor cult was the wor-
ship of Roma, which was a powerful means of centering religious power in
Rome (Shelton 1988: 389; Taylor 1975: 147).
The cult of the emperor was a popular phenomenon. In many ways, the em-
peror came to be viewed as a mediating force between the people and the gods
(Fears 1988: 1020). There were two specific aspects of the imperial cult that are
important to mention. As with every pater familias, the emperor had a power
called genius (Taylor 1975: 191), which was procreative in nature (Fears 1988:
1015). Likewise, the numen of the emperor was a power worshiped by the
everyday Roman (Taylor 1975: 182–183). Numen was the power of divinity,
and in the case of the emperor, the power was related to his imperium.
ROMAN RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE

Roman religious architecture was generally conservative, and many scholars
emphasize the Etruscan and Greek influences on Roman temples (Boëthius
1978: 156–157). Temples did not function in ancient Rome as modern religious
structures function today. They were not laid out or designed to facilitate the
needs of worshipers. Rather, they were designed to fulfill the needs of the de-
ity and to preserve varying levels of purity and sacredness. The colleges of the
Pontifices and the augurs officially designated areas as sacred temples. Tem-
ples marked off space that was distinct from everyday (profane) life.
Most Roman temples were designed with the same basic principles in mind,
and most had some standard features. The entrance to Roman temples tended
to be at the top of staircases that led directly into the temple complex. Within
the temple, the most important room was the cella (Nash 1944: 26). This was
the sanctuary of the temple, the major religious space. Within the cella, and
usually at the back, was the altar or altars, as well as cult statues representing
the deity. Often these items were kept elevated above the rest of the temple
floor, on podiums (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 294; Boëthius 1978: 156). Here, of-
ferings were left for the deity and ritual observances were performed. In some
later temples (especially those in Roman provincial cities) the number of cellas
was increased to three (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 294). These three cellas were
symbolic of the Capitoline Triad. Surrounding the entire complex were orna-
ments of columns (of various types), and terra-cotta facing decorations were
200 THE ROMANS
A Roman temple: the Maison Carré, Nîmes, France. (Library of Congress)
applied directly to the walls. Sometimes Roman temple cellas were completely
round; the Pantheon was the most famous example of this architectural style
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 296; Nash 1944: 27).
ROMAN DEATH AND BURIAL

For many societies that have been rediscovered through archaeology, there is
an inordinately large amount of information about those cultures’ beliefs to-
ward the dead. The Egyptians were one such culture, in that archaeologists
have examined and investigated the funerary customs of these people in a
higher proportion to the living world to such an extent that it has been mistak-
enly assumed that the Egyptians were obsessed with death. There is an oppo-
site problem with the Romans. There is relatively little Roman writing about
death and the afterlife. For an understanding of Roman funerary culture, one
is forced to rely almost entirely on the archaeological record. Archaeologists
with other regional specialties would be surprised about the lack of knowl-
edge (or interest) in Roman attitudes toward the dead on the part of Roman
scholars. What follows is an overview of the available data and some of the
more prominent interpretations of those same data.
The Afterlife
There are a number of problems reconstructing what the Romans believed hap-
pened to a person after death. The major problem is a problem of sources—
Roman descriptions are sorely lacking. Those descriptions that are available,
especially in Golden Age poetry, are very problematic. They tend to reflect the
tripartite afterlife that was imagined by the Greeks (North 1988a: 999). These
three main areas in Greek thought concerning where the dead dwelt were the
Elysian Fields, Limbo, and Hades. All of these places appear in Roman litera-
ture, but they may be just literary references or conventions, not reflecting ac-
tual Roman beliefs in the afterlife. Toynbee has demonstrated, however, that
the Romans certainly believed in the survival of the individual in some form
after death (1971: 38).
Another method that scholars have used to attempt to reconstruct Roman
attitudes toward the afterlife is studying changes in burial strategies. The
prominence of cremation in early Roman times (as well as some isolated tex-
tual references) has suggested to some scholars that the Romans saw the dead
as a collective group, undifferentiated as individuals (North 1988a: 998). A
movement toward the use of inhumation indicates a change in these attitudes,
since inhumation preserves the body (North 1988a: 998). These arguments are
not based on very strong evidence, but they are frequently repeated in the
scholarship on ancient Rome. One aspect of Roman belief is certain, however.
Some part of the individual survived after death (North 1988a: 1006), whether
it survived as an individual or as some sort of collective being. The proof for
this lies in the prominent role of festivals honoring the dead in Roman tradi-
tions.
Funerals
When a Roman was near death, the close relatives would remain by the per-
son, with the goal of kissing the dying family member and catching his or her
last breath (Ferguson 1988e: 922). After the last breath had been taken, the
name of the deceased was pronounced and vocal lamentations for the recently
departed began (Ferguson 1988e: 922). The body was cleaned, dressed, and
stretched out, ideally with the feet facing the door (Ferguson 1988e: 922). The
body was left in display like this for a set period. After the time elapsed, the
body was processed to another location, outside of the city walls (Ogilvie 1969:
104). There, ceremonies were conducted and the body was either inhumed or
cremated (Ogilvie 1969: 104). After this final disposal of the body, the individu-
als who had shared the household with the deceased were compelled to ritu-
ally clean themselves and the house to remove the impurities caused by death.
Cemeteries,Tombs, and Sarcophagi

One of the benefits for archaeologists studying funerary customs is that some
of the best finds are made in mortuary contexts. Most archaeology involves
sifting through the garbage of the ancients in sites that have been abandoned.
But cemeteries almost always consist of purposefully placed items that play
the same role today as they did in antiquity. Grave goods (objects interred with
the dead) were usually of high quality and were often in very good condition.
It is not mere treasure hunting that leads archaeologists to cemeteries. There is
much information that can be learned from a society based on its funerary cus-
toms. This is the subject of the following discussion.
202 THE ROMANS
The James Ossuary
The James Ossuary is an artifact, dating from Roman times, that has been
newsworthy recently. An antiquities collector had purchased this ossuary (a
funerary container for human skeletal remains) but had not realized its signif-
icance until scholars translated the Aramaic inscription on its side. The in-
scription reads,“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Controversy erupted
soon after the preliminary publication of this find. Was this evidence for the
existence of Jesus of Nazareth? Was it a fake? Did it refer to another James,
Jesus, and Joseph, not of biblical fame? None of these questions has been an-
swered yet. The box itself certainly dates to Roman times and is authentic.
The inscription is more difficult. Scholars are divided on whether the whole
inscription is genuine or whether just part of the inscription is authentic and
a modern forger added on the mention of Jesus to raise the market value of
the ossuary. As of the writing of this book, the Israel Antiquities Authority
(IAA) has officially deemed the artifact a forgery; however, the criteria used
by the IAA are not universally accepted as accurate without doubt.
Cemeteries. The growth of cemeteries and mortuary deposits through Ro-

man times varied widely, so it is difficult to make overarching statements
about cemeteries and cemetery layouts. The common theme, however, is that
Roman law forbade the burial of human remains within the city (Nash 1944:
39; Toynbee 1971: 73). So, to investigate funerary remains, archaeologists are
forced to look outside of the settlements per se, at associated complexes
nearby. The examination of a necropolis can provide much information for ar-
chaeologists, but because of space considerations, this discussion is limited to
the information that can be gained about funerary customs. For information
on how mortuary remains can inform us about demography, see chapter 6.
The easiest cemeteries to recognize are those associated with a specific town.
The necropolis of a city could be walled or unwalled, and the organization of
the cemetery proper was usually haphazard (Nash 1944: 39). The lack of plan-
ning in city cemeteries can be associated both with the unpredictable relative
rates of death as well as with the differential needs of the dead, based mostly
on class and access to wealth (Toynbee 1971: 74–75). One of the most important
examples of Roman cemetery culture is the Street of the Tombs at Pompeii, lo-
cated just outside the city gates. This remarkable complex is notable not only
for its size and preservation but also for the widely varying types of funerary
structures in use (Toynbee 1971: 119).
Another important location for burials that followed the laws prohibiting
burial within the confines of the city was along the major roads of the Roman
world. Especially important was the stretch of the Via Appia near Rome itself.
Huge monuments to the dead were erected along the roads, so that the dead
were commemorated on a grand scale for the large volume of people traveling
to and from Rome.
A less normative location for burials is associated with the Jewish and Chris-
tian communities of the Roman Empire. Catacombs refer to belowground
burial complexes. They are usually quite large and very winding. Human re-
mains (sometimes in ossuaries and sometimes in sarcophagi) were placed into
carved-out niches or benches in the underground complexes. The catacombs
were a method of burying large groups of people in close proximity, in much
larger numbers than could be accommodated by family tombs (Toynbee 1971:
234–235). Catacombs are best known from the city of Rome itself and from Ro-
man Palestine.
Tombs. In Roman times there was such a large number of tomb types that it
is impossible to detail all of them here. Some of the more important types are
mentioned here, as well as some of the important concepts. For the Romans, an
important component of the care of human remains was burial. Even cremated
bodies were preferably interred in some form or another. This concept lies at
the heart of the most basic type of tomb—the simple pit burial (Toynbee 1971:
101). On a slightly more complex scale were unroofed enclosure tombs. In
these kinds of tombs, a small area was set off from the rest of the cemetery by
walls. Within the walls, the ashes of the deceased were interred, and various
mourning rituals took place within the enclosed area (Toynbee 1971: 80). Both
The Street of the Tombs, Pompeii. (Library of Congress)

204 THE ROMANS
of these types of inhumations were intended for one person at a time. A mau-
soleum was a tomb for a single person that was built on a huge scale and was
frequently circular in shape (Nash 1944: 41).
Inhumations for more than one person were typically built on a grander
scale than the previously mentioned tombs. Family tombs are perhaps the
most notable Roman type, in which, as the name suggests, an entire family
would be interred within the complex. Larger multiple burial complexes were
called columbaria (Toynbee 1971: 113–110). A columbarium was a large tomb that
could accommodate the ashes of literally hundreds of individuals. Normally
urns or ossuaries were placed into niches carved into the walls. These were the
basic types of multiple individual tombs, but it is important to be aware that
there was considerable variation in style, and there were many other types of
tombs not mentioned here.
Sarcophagi and Other Mortuary Equipment. Sarcophagi were essentially

coffins and were an important component of Roman mortuary culture. It
should be noted that both cremated and noncremated remains were placed
within sarcophagi. These coffins were made in a variety of materials and with
varying levels of care. Wooden sarcophagi have not survived well into modern
times, but many of the more elaborate stone sarcophagi have. These stone sar-
cophagi are frequently covered with beautiful relief art and there are many
studies of these items from an art-historical perspective.
Related to sarcophagi are ossuaries and urns that were also used to contain
the material remains of the deceased. With these containers, the bodies would
have to have been cremated or had only the bones interred due to the small
size of the objects. For the less wealthy, simple clay or glass pots could be used
as urns (Toynbee 1971: 253). But once again, there were a wide variety of types
available to the Romans. Some were very elaborate ceramic, stone, or metal
vessels. Some were shaped like houses or altars (Toynbee 1971: 253–255). The
most frequent type was those shaped like a simple chest—rectangular in shape
with simple decoration.
Also important were tombstones. These tombstones performed essentially
the same function as tombstones do today. They marked the location of the
burial and indicated some information about the deceased. Even the most
common shape of Roman tombstones was similar to that of those found today.
They were rectangular and set with the longest axis vertical, and the informa-
tion was usually carved only on the front (Toynbee 1971: 246–257). The types
of information inscribed varied considerably. Often the same information was
built directly into tomb buildings, but for less wealthy families a tombstone
was a useful means of commemoration.
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Bailey, Cyril. 1932. Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome. Westport: Greenwood Press.
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IX CHAPTER 9
Material Culture
ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS
One of the most recognizable achievements of Roman civilization is the archi-
tecture. Probably most people have a vague idea of what Roman architecture
looks like (although they may confuse it with Greek architecture), as the visual
power of these monuments is so effective. The modern city of Rome still incor-
porates ancient monuments directly into urban life. And wherever the Romans
went, they left Roman-style buildings, which still dot the landscapes of Eu-
rope, Africa, and Asia. The monumental size and durable construction of Ro-
man buildings resulted in wide-scale preservation of Roman buildings in
modern times. A great deal is known about Roman architecture because so
much of it has survived.
It is also lucky that Roman writings about architecture have survived, which
means that we can understand what the Romans thought about their build-
ings. One of the most important sources is On Architecture, written by Vitru-
vius, in the period of the late republic (Ellis 2000: 14). Pliny the Younger also
wrote about architecture in two letters (Ellis 2000: 14). Satyricon by Petronius is
a satire, but because it describes domestic activities (albeit from an exagger-
ated perspective), it provides important evidence for the use of household
space (Ellis 2000: 15).
One of the key concepts to understand about Roman architecture is stan-
dardization. The same types of buildings were supposed to look the same and
function the same in every city in every province. Think of how recognizable
American fast-food restaurants are wherever they are located, and how mini-
mal local variation is. Although the Romans certainly did not operate on the
same scale, it is still a useful analogy. Any Roman could, ideally, enter any
house and know what the rooms were used for. Likewise, a Roman should
have been able to recognize the baths in any city, and expect to find consistent
features.
Public Architecture
In the imperial period, public construction was highly organized. Under the
supervision of an imperial office devoted to public works, numerous bureau-
crats commissioned construction projects (MacDonald 1982: 141). Often pri-
vate companies were involved, but some areas always remained under the
control of the imperial government. So for example, although the imperial
207
208 THE ROMANS
Vitruvius
Vitruvius was an architect and military engineer under Julius Caesar, who
wrote extensively during the reign of Augustus. His writings are among the
most important sources on Roman architecture and construction tech-
niques. His treatise, De architectura, is well preserved and is a valuable re-
source for modern scholars.Although somewhat dependent on earlier archi-
tectural treatises (especially Greek), his work was original and in-depth.
Vitruvius believed that architects had to be knowledgeable about all aspects
of human life, as architecture affected and was affected by all aspects of life.
So his treatise includes discussions of issues that would not be included in ar-
chitectural manuals today.
government was solely responsible for brick making, private companies were
able to construct roads (Packer 1988: 307).
Construction crews worked directly under the supervision of one individ-
ual—the architect. For this reason, much of Roman architecture can be attrib-
uted to historical individuals—an uncommon kind of knowledge in ancient
studies. The craftsmen who worked beneath the architect were organized ac-
cording to specialized tasks. Often scholars call these organizations “guilds.”
This is not the best term, because it refers to a historically specific kind of me-
dieval organization, but it is a useful way of thinking about Roman profes-
sional organization.
The Walls of Rome. The construction of the first city wall is attributed to the
second-to-last king of Rome, Servius Tullius. Excavations of the Servian wall
suggest that it was actually built much earlier. About 7 miles in length, the
stone wall surrounded the earliest settlement. But Rome’s growth soon spread
beyond the confines of this wall. In 271 C.E., Emperor Aurelianus built a new
wall to enclose the extended city of Rome (Lanciani 1967: 66). About 12 miles
in length, this wall acted as a fortification for the city of Rome well into the
nineteenth century. Unfortunately, this has meant that the wall has been con-
tinuously renovated, and not much of the actual ancient wall remains.
Fora. The fora were open areas within Roman cities, akin to the agora of
Greek times (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 134). Used as markets as well as meet-
ing areas for entertainment and religious functions, the forum was the center
of the Roman city (Boëthius 1978: 145; Woloch 1983: 40). In fact, in planned
cities, the forum lies at the very center, and the rest of the city radiates out from
this point (Boëthius 1978: 146). In Roman cities, fora were structured axially,
usually surrounded by monumental architecture (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
134; Boëthius 1978: 146). They were often colonnaded as well. Fora at both
Casa and Pompeii are extremely well preserved and follow this pattern.
Material Culture 209
The most famous of these was the Forum Romanum, which was the center of
Roman religious and commercial life. Legend has it that this was the area des-
ignated by Romulus as a meeting center for the Romans. It probably became
the central meeting place at some time in the sixth century B.C.E., when the
marshes in the region were drained (Woloch 1983: 35). Built on a level, rectan-
gular space at the foot of the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, the Forum Ro-
manum was approximately 520 feet by 150 feet in size. Starting sometime in
the second century B.C.E., the Forum Romanum became the meeting place of
the various comitia (Boëthius 1978: 48). It was renovated frequently and was
gradually surrounded by monumental architecture. Some of the more impor-
tant monuments associated with this forum are the Black Stone, the Arch of Ti-
tus, the Temple of Venus, and the Severan Arch.
Basilicas. The word basilica has many connotations. In the strictest sense
(and the sense in which it is used here) a basilica is a particular kind of build-
ing. The basilica is defined by particular architectural characteristics. The most
important is the peristyle—an open central space (Boëthius 1978: 149). The
peristyle of a basilica is roofed. On the other side of the columns that line each
side are four aisles (called ambulatories). Basilicas were often attached to fora
and used as public structures. Merchants could conduct business within if the
weather was not suitable for outdoor trade (Woloch 1983: 45). They were fre-
quently used as temples and in later times were important in Christian archi-
tecture.
Baths. An important aspect of Roman life was the public bath (see also chap-
ter 10). Baths originated in the Greek world and are still found in modern-day
Turkey. By the first century C.E., baths were found in every major Roman city,
usually near the forum. Roman baths had consistent architectural features
(Woloch 1983: 70). Each had a changing room (apodyterium). The bathrooms
were organized according to temperature (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 138).
There was an unheated room with a cold-water basin (frigidarium). Of middle-
temperature range was the tepidarium, which was indirectly heated, and as the
name suggests, provided tepid water. The hottest room was the caladarium,
which had a hot pool and water basins. Frequently associated with baths were
palaestra, which were essentially exercise yards (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 138;
Boëthius 1978: 197).
Entertainment Complexes. Spectacle, the viewing of entertainment, was an

important part of Roman social life (see chapter 10). Distinct types of public ar-
chitecture were used for distinct kinds of entertainments, and these architec-
tural types are very identifiable. For many modern people, Roman entertain-
ment complexes are the most recognizable type of Roman architecture.
A Roman chariot-racing arena was called a circus. The most famous of these
is the Circus Maximus, located in Rome. A circus typically consisted of two par-
allel sides, with one end enclosed in a semicircle. The other side held starting
gates, ideally twelve (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 141). In the center of the com-
210 THE ROMANS
The Roman theater in Orange, France. (Library of Congress)
plex was the raceway, divided into two tracks by a long barrier (Boëthius 1978:
198). Audience members sat on either side of the circus.
Theaters were semicircular structures in which dramatic performances were
staged. Roman theaters, while inherently derived from Greek theater architec-
ture, were novel in a number of ways. Unlike Greek theaters, Roman theaters
were not cut out of the hillside but were entirely freestanding architectural
units (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 140; Woloch 1983: 58). This contributed to the
isolated and closed-off feeling of Roman theaters; the Roman theater was sepa-
rate from the rest of the world. Also adding to this feeling was the back wall of
the stage (the scaenae frons), which rose to the full height of the theater, as did
the sidewalls (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 140; Woloch 1983: 60). Smaller theaters
were roofed as well (Woloch 1983: 61). The seats of the theaters were sectioned
off according to social rank (Boëthius 1978: 202). The best seats in the house
were the two balconies over the cavea (orchestra pit), in which the emperor and
his retinue, as well as the vestal virgins, could sit. Rome did not have a perma-
nent theater until 58 B.C.E., when Aemilius Scaurus built one of wood that
seated about 80,000 people (Boëthius 1978: 202–203). In 55 B.C.E., Pompey had a
theater built in stone (Boëthius 1978: 205–206). Later, Augustus built the The-
ater of Marcellus as a memorial to his dead nephew.
Amphitheaters should be distinguished from theaters, both structurally and
functionally. Amphitheaters were oval (sometimes circular) in shape and were
the site of spectacles like gladiatorial combat. Almost every Roman city had an
amphitheater, but many of the older Greek cities did not. Unlike theaters, am-
phitheaters were an entirely Roman innovation. The first amphitheaters were
made of wood and were located outside of Rome, in Campania (Woloch 1983:
64). Usually amphitheaters were situated on the outskirts of the city, unlike
most public architecture, which was more central (Woloch 1983: 66). The center
of the amphitheater was called the arena, where the spectacle took place.
Awnings separated the audiences from the arena, protecting them from the vi-
olence below.
Infrastructure and Aqueducts

Among the greatest achievements of Roman civilization was the infrastruc-
ture. No civilization prior to Rome had been as skilled at building roads or
supplying the urban population with its basic needs. The combination of
skilled planning and advanced engineering talents facilitated Rome’s develop-
ment. Transportation and water management were high priorities for the Ro-
mans and were important contributions to the enduring nature of Roman civi-
lization.
Roads and Streets. Urban streets were very narrow in Rome, often no more
than alleyways cramped between towering insulae and gigantic monuments
(Cowell 1980: 15; Chevallier 1976: 67). By the time of the later republic, most of
the streets were made of stone or volcanic rock; previously the city streets had
been dirt or gravel (Cowell 1980: 15; Chevallier 1976: 71). After the great fire of
64 C.E., Nero is said to have widened the streets considerably (Cowell 1980: 16;
Chevallier 1976: 72). But two centuries later, Juvenal complained about the
narrow streets of the city of Rome. Roads in cities founded later in Roman his-
tory (such as those in colonies) tended to be wider and followed a more regu-
lar plan (Carcopino 1940: 45).
“All roads lead to Rome” is the famous maxim, and, as maxims go, it is
fairly accurate. From Rome, it was very easy to travel throughout Italy. The Via
Aurelia led north along the western coast, and the Via Salaria linked up with
that same road after traveling through the Italian interior (Chevallier 1976: 67).
Both the Via Flaminia and the Via Salaria led north from Rome to the east coast
(Chevallier 1976: 67). One could move straight to the east coast from Rome on
the Via Tiburtina (Chevallier 1976: 67). The Via Casilino led south to the west
coast. But perhaps most famous was the Via Appia, which, for 650 km, headed
southeast to the Mediterranean coast (Chevallier 1976: 67). Once out of Rome,
funerary monuments lined the Via Appia as tributes to the wealthy dead.
Milestones were set along these roads that indicated distances. The network of
roads linked people in other cities to Rome, both in the ability to travel to
Rome and in a feeling of connectedness to Rome (see Laurence 1999).
Roads were built through a combination of public and private organiza-
tions. Although the Roman government (usually a consul or censor) decided
what roads needed to be built, state officials contracted out the construction to
private organizations that managed the work. The distinction between public
and private becomes confusing because these “private” organizations fre-
quently used armies and Roman military crews (Chevallier 1976: 84–85). The
money for the construction of roads also came from a combination of public
212 THE ROMANS
A bird’s-eye view of ancient Rome, showing the road system. (Library of Congress)
and private sources. Although the Roman government frequently paid a sub-
stantial portion of the cost, private individuals, especially the people who ac-
tually used the road, contributed to the fund (Laurence 1999: 46). In the earlier
periods of expansion, Roman roads were built one at a time. But beginning
with the Flavian emperors, entire networks of roads were planned and con-
structed in tandem (Carcopino 1940: 51; Laurence 1999: 47–48).
Roads in the countryside were constructed mostly from locally available
materials. Construction began by digging a large roadbed, in the best circum-
stances about 15 feet wide and 3 feet deep (Chevallier 1976: 83). The bed was
filled with very tightly compacted stone and gravel. Above this, a layer of sand
or some other soft material was added. The pavement was placed on top of
this softer material and consisted of a variety of materials. Sometimes gravel
was used; other times, stones were cut to fit one another and firmly placed
without mortar, as the street surface. From very early on, the Romans were
aware of the importance of draining water from the roads (Chevallier 1976:
83). Because water can create a number of problems if not removed, a variety
of drainage systems (dependent on the type of construction) were used to re-
move water and lengthen the life of the road.
Bridges. Because bridges were built to be very strong in order to support the
heavy traffic, they tended to survive in the archaeological record. Roman
bridges were especially well built and some are still in use today! Bridges were
used over rivers and in certain dryland areas that were too hilly or depressed
to allow for an even road to be built. There were three major types of bridges
employed by the Romans: wooden bridges, pontoon bridges, and stone
bridges (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 180–182). Each of the different kinds of
bridges was based on different technological and engineering principles.
Wooden bridges were probably the earliest type of bridge built by Roman en-
gineers. The bases of these bridges were composed of many wooden poles sunk
into the bottom of the river (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 180; Boëthius 1978: 94).
Looking directly down upon one of these bridge bases, one would see what
looked like a bed of nails. Flat pieces of timber were then laid across the tops of
these wooden poles. Because the top levels of the poles would have been even
with one another, the wooden beams laid on top created a flat surface. The
sheer volume of poles beneath the planks made the bridge relatively stable.
Pontoon bridges were a more temporary transportation solution. The basic
concept of a pontoon bridge was to lay boats side by side across a river (Ad-
kins and Adkins 1994: 180). Although the boats were side by side, people could
move from boat to boat, leading from one bank of the river to the next. This
kind of bridge was used only as a temporary means of moving across rivers,
and usually only in military contexts. A notable pontoon bridge was that cre-
ated by Emperor Caligula in 39 C.E.
Stone bridges were the strongest type of bridge, but they also required a
considerable labor and material investment. Roman stone bridges are distinct
because of the use of arches as the major source of support. The first stone
bridge on the Tiber was built in 142 B.C.E. (Cowell 1980: 15). But these were not
the only kinds of bridges used by the Romans, and often these technologies
were used in combination with one another, especially in areas like marsh-
lands, where variable techniques were more appropriate (e.g., wooden poles
were used as the base, but limestone paving stones were used as the platform).
And in some places where the river was too wide, ferries were used.
Water Management. Bringing water to a city as populous as Rome was a dif-

ficult venture, even with the abundant quantities of water nearby. Note, how-
ever, that in most parts of the empire, water was gathered directly by individu-
als from rivers and lakes, or through wells dug into the ground (Adkins and
Adkins 1994: 135; Woloch 1983: 72). In the larger cities, however, this was im-
possible, so mechanisms for transporting large quantities of water were
needed. The Roman solution to this problem was the aqueduct.
The initial impetus for building aqueducts in a city was the need to supply
large and consistent amounts of water to the baths (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
214 THE ROMANS
The Pont du Gard, Nîmes, France: an aquaduct constructed during the time of Agrippina. (Li-
brary of Congress)
135). Surprisingly, the other uses of aqueducts were secondary. Since it is very
difficult to block an aqueduct once it is built, these secondary uses of aque-
ducts (like public fountains and private water supplies) were actually mecha-
nisms for draining water (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 136). An aqueduct began
at a water source outside of the city and ran downhill to the highest point of
the city, usually the center. The tunnels ran as close to the ground (ideally un-
derground) as possible (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 135). The volcanic material
around Rome (tufa) was quite easy to dig through, making underground tun-
nels very easy to construct. Sometimes, if the topographical levels varied be-
tween the water source and the city, pipes were used to siphon water uphill
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 136). Shafts were installed along the length of the
aqueduct to allow repair crews to inspect and fix the aqueducts on a regular
basis (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 136).
Sanitation. Given the high degree of technological and architectural skill

held by the Romans, it is surprising how unimportant sanitation was in Rome.
The Romans did not connect poor sanitation and disease in the way we do to-
day. Indeed, the impetus for sanitation and waste removal was based on aes-
thetic rather than health reasons. At the domestic level, cesspits were the major
component of waste management technology. In apartment complexes, these
cesspits were often connected through piping.
Public latrines were also an established feature of Roman cities throughout
the empire. Very easily identifiable when visiting a site, a Roman public wash-
room consisted of benches (often set in a U shape) with holes. Various channels
were cut into the stone, and water basins were in place throughout the room.
Hypocausts
The Romans were able to provide central heating for some of the public
buildings and houses through hypocausts.This system of heating was remark-
ably simple and sophisticated at the same time. In the basement of the struc-
ture, a fire was lit when heat was desired. The heat from the fire would rise
and fill the rest of the building.The movement of the heat was controlled by
openings in the floor and hollowed-out walls, forcing heat to specified areas.
The stone benches were heated by a hypocaust system. Throughout Rome, uri-
nal pots were also set up on street corners. The contents of these pots were
kept for use in textile manufacturing.
Construction
When visiting a Roman archaeological site, one of the striking features one
sees is the quantity of structures that have been preserved. The Romans were
so skilled at building that not only do their monuments survive to the present,
but everyday buildings have survived as well. Advances in architecture, engi-
neering, and construction are some of the most important contributions that
the Romans made to Western civilization, so it is worth looking at these as-
pects of Roman life in depth.
Surveying. An important aspect of engineering is surveying, at which the Ro-

mans were very skilled. Upon the founding of a new town the axes of the town
were marked according to careful astronomical observations (Adkins and Ad-
kins 1994: 131; Woloch 1983: 11). There is disagreement among scholars about
the nature of these observations, but certainly the stars functioned as useful
fixed points for measuring large spaces. The lines of the walls of the city were
marked by plowing their outline into the dirt (Woloch 1983: 12). Land survey-
ors were called agrimensores (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 150). They used a groma,
which was an instrument used for sighting land (Boyd 1988: 1697). The func-
tional components were two arms, crossed at right angles (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 150). When the groma was set into the ground, it was possible to sight ac-
curate square or rectangular land plots (Boyd 1988: 1697). Rural land was also
surveyed and distributed on the principle of the quadrant (Boyd 1988: 1697).
The surveyors would trace out the grid on the ground and divide that area
into four sections by marking the two axes. The remaining space was then di-
vided into 100 segments (centuriae), taking into account preexisting roads and
topography. The surveyors would then allocate the land to colonists, based on
a lottery system.
Building Techniques. Modern scholars know the details of Roman building

techniques very well. There are a large number of treatments of the subject,
with varying levels of complexity. Some of the major principles deserve a men-
216 THE ROMANS
The Arch
The quintessential Roman architectural feature was the arch. But it is inaccu-
rate to suggest that it was the Romans who invented the arch, because there
is evidence for arches in much earlier architecture in the Levant and
Mesopotamia. The principle behind the arch is relatively straightforward.
Arches, by definition, are a means of spanning an open area without using a
single, flat block.The arch can hold much greater weight than the single block
(usually called a lintel) because the downward weight of the arch’s compo-
nents and the materials set above the arch are redirected upward by the ma-
terial on the side of the arch. In essence, the arch creates an upward-moving
pressure rather than a downward-moving pressure.There are many different
types of arches, and the Romans used many types of arches in their buildings.
tion here. The earliest Roman construction was simple, and like most of Bronze
Age Europe, the dominant architectural style in early Roman periods was the
wattle-and-daub hut (Boëthius 1978: 34; Packer 1988: 299). Wattle refers to a
wall built of interlocking branches. Daub is the mud mix that is plastered over
the wooden frame. These houses typically had a thatched roof and mud floors.
Also used in the regal period were mud-brick structures with wooden roofs
and ceramic tiles (Boëthius 1978: 34–35, Packer 1988: 299).
The Romans are actually best remembered for their skills in building with
more permanent materials, such as stone. Construction in stone was based on
the principle of cutting even-sized, rectangular stone blocks. The cut stones
were lain in regular courses, although the exact design of the courses varied
considerably. The Romans did not invent this technique; it can be found in
much earlier Greek architecture. But it was certainly one of the more important
methods of construction.
Roman architecture advanced beyond anything that had come before in the
ancient world with the integration of concrete and arches (Boëthius 1978: 144).
Concrete allowed roofed buildings to reach unparalleled sizes and extremely
high shapes (MacDonald 1982: 153). Concrete was cheap and easy to form into
the shape of arches. And arches were strong enough to allow monumental-
sized roofs to survive.
Building Materials. Rome had access to what was, until that time, unsur-
passed quantity and variety of building materials. Not only was Italy wealthy
in natural resources, but the expansion of the empire also gave access to
tremendous amounts of new materials. Wood was also an important material
in Roman construction. Especially in the apartment complexes, wood was
used in the frames of larger structures (MacDonald 1982: 147–148). Some of the
smaller architectural components were ceramic (MacDonald 1982: 150). Pipes
within houses were frequently made of clay, and roof tiles were also ceramic.
Similarly, bronze and other metals were used as components of larger architec-
tural features (MacDonald 1982: 146–147).
But stone was the most important material in Roman construction (Packer
1988: 300). The wide use of stone is one of the primary reasons that so many
Roman remains are preserved today. Quarried from many locations, the major
drawback of using stone was that it was difficult to transport. From about 50
B.C.E. onward, local stone (called tufa) was employed (Packer 1988: 300). After
about 100 C.E., travertine (a type of limestone formed in hot springs) was used
in construction (Boëthius 1978: 139; Packer 1988: 301). Travertine had to be
brought from far away.
Marble, probably the material most associated with Roman construction,
was used widely beginning in the first century B.C.E. (Packer 1988: 300). The
closest source of white marble was the Colony of Luna (Packer 1988: 301; Wil-
son 1986: 368). Marble was sent from Luna to Rome over water (Packer 1988:
301). Colored marble was sent to Rome from all over the empire, often at great
expense (Packer 1988: 301). Marble was quarried in the shape of rectangular
blocks, which could then be used for either architectural construction or sculp-
ture. Often, though, marble simply served as the façade for what were mostly
concrete-based structures.
Concrete is often cited as a Roman invention. This is not technically true;
there are much earlier examples of concrete use. But it is accurate to state that
during Roman times, concrete took on a much more prominent role in con-
struction contexts. Beginning with the reign of Nero, concrete was used in all
kinds of building contexts, not just utilitarian contexts (Ling 1988a: 1677).
Concrete, in ancient contexts, is a substance composed of mortar and larger
aggregates (Packer 1988: 302; Ward-Perkins 1977: 65–66). Roman mortar was
typically made by combining lime and volcanic sand (Wilson 1986: 364).
These components distinctly set Roman concrete apart from earlier types of
concrete, as both are well suited for this kind of use (Ward-Perkins 1977: 68).
When water was added to this combination, the new substance would
harden, creating a very strong but malleable building material. It would take
the form of whatever mold surrounded it, making it cheaper and quicker to
use than stone (MacDonald 1982: 154). Usually this concrete was faced with
another material, and some scholars have suggested that the facing was the
stronger structural component. This is incorrect; the concrete, after hardening,
was the strongest component (Wilson 1986: 364). The facing was merely deco-
rative or aesthetic.
Monumental Architecture
Monumental architecture is architecture built on a larger scale than most other
buildings. Usually monumental architecture does not have just a functional
purpose but is also deeply symbolic and meaningful. The Romans were great
builders, and some of these buildings are particularly noteworthy. It would be
impossible to describe all of the major Roman monuments, so a few that are
particularly illustrative of Roman monumental architecture in general are pre-
sented here.
218 THE ROMANS
Column Types
Many have read about Aeolic, Doric,Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite
orders, or capitals.These terms refer to styles of columns, and the names re-
flect the areas in which the styles supposedly originated.All but the Compos-
ite style originated before the Roman period, but all were used in Roman ar-
chitecture.
The Colosseum. More properly referred to as the Flavian Amphitheater, the

Colosseum is one of the world’s most recognizable ancient monuments, on a
par with the Pyramid of Khufu or the Great Wall of China. We do not know the
identity of the architect of this massive structure, although many scholars have
made educated guesses. We do know that it was endowed by the emperor Ves-
pasian and inaugurated by Titus in 80 C.E. The inauguration ceremony lasted
for 100 days, during which more than 5,000 wild animals were slaughtered. It
was spectacle of immense proportions. In a valley between the Palatine and
Esqualine Hills, a lake that had been part of Nero’s Golden House was drained
to accommodate this large structure (Ward-Perkins 1981: 67). More than 157
feet high, the Colosseum consists of four primary levels (Ward-Perkins 1981:
68). The first floor has Doric columns, the second has Ionic columns, the third
has Corinthian columns, and the fourth is one long, continuous wall. Inte-
grated into this fourth level were poles that held up an awning that roofed the
Colosseum, protecting spectators from the weather. Spectators sat on hard
stone bleachers; blankets and cushions could be rented to make viewing more
comfortable. Although we do not know if there was an entrance fee, we do
know that food and souvenirs were sold in the galleries on the first floor.
The Pantheon. Technically, the Pantheon should have been discussed in

chapter 8 because it is a temple. But the sheer magnitude of the structure and
its prominent place in the history of architecture make it worthy of discussion
in an architectural context. The Pantheon was a temple built to all of the gods,
and as such was a departure from the norms of Roman temple architecture
(MacDonald 1982: 111; Wilson 1986: 386–388). It was built from 118 to 125 C.E.
by the emperor Hadrian, but the name of Hadrian’s predecessor, Marcus
Agrippa, is still carved on the Pantheon. We assume that Marcus Agrippa con-
structed an earlier (and much smaller) version of the Pantheon (Ward-Perkins
1981: 111). The size of the Pantheon is what makes it truly spectacular. The di-
ameter of the large domed roof is over 40 m, and it was the largest roofed
building until the twentieth century (Wilson 1986: 386). The dome weighed
more than 5,000 tonnes and was composed of arches made of concrete. The
walls that supported this gigantic dome were more than 7 m thick. The lower
sections were constructed of travertine and the upper were concrete (Ward-
Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, showing the coffered dome and the oculus. (Library of
Congress)
Perkins 1981: 114). The inside feels like a wide-open space. This effect was pur-
posely planned (MacDonald 1982: 115; Ward-Perkins 1981: 116). The interior
walls are constructed of many niches, which add to the feeling of vastness.
Hadrian’s Wall. Built by Hadrian (as can be guessed from the name) be-
tween 122 C.E. and 128 C.E., Hadrian’s Wall is about 120 km long. It is com-
posed of rubble and concrete, faced with stone, and follows the topography of
the land. Ditches were dug both in front of and behind the wall. A steep bank
behind the wall also allowed the sentries to see for long distances. This wall
marks the boundaries of the Roman Empire in Britain, roughly separating
Britain and Scotland. In antiquity this wall did not act as a defensive fortifica-
tion. Rather, it was a vantage point from which to watch the northern tribes, as
well as a border checkpoint allowing unarmed northerners to come and go. It
represented a massive investment of manpower, around 11,500 men.
Hadrian’s Villa. Another important building commissioned by Hadrian was

the villa named after him, built in Tivoli, near Rome. Hadrian’s Villa was con-
structed from 125 to 135 C.E. It is an interesting blend of a variety of architec-
220 THE ROMANS
A reconstructed view of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome. (Pixel That)
tural styles. Some of the sections of the complex were named after various
places that Hadrian had visited (Ramage and Ramage 1996: 184). So, for exam-
ple, there was a section named the Accademia after the school in Athens
founded by Plato. This villa was actually a unique fusion of many architectural
traditions, which was unusual in Roman times.
Baths of Caracalla. Also known as thermae Antoniniane, the Baths of Cara-

calla were remarkably large. The complex was over 11 hectares in area, and
had cisterns that could hold 80,000 cubic meters of water. The caladarium
(heated room) was domed, and itself was as large as the Pantheon. Almost
2,000 people could bathe there at one time. Constructed in 211 C.E., the baths
were used until 537 C.E. Throughout their use, entrance was relatively inexpen-
sive, making them accessible to all.
Nero’s Golden House. The domus aurea was a monumental palace built by
Nero after the Great Fire of Rome. Nero annexed fire-devastated land in order
to build this structure, and it may have been this act that led to the rumors that
the emperor started the fire (Ellis 2000: 55). Essentially, the Golden House was
in the style of a country estate but was located in the center of the city. The cen-
terpiece of the complex was a large artificial lake, which later became the site
of the Colosseum (Ward-Perkins 1981: 61). It was a striking structure not just
for its size (Nero’s contemporaries were appalled by what they considered a
waste of space), but also for its many breaks with Roman architectural tradi-
tions (Boëthius 1960: 96–97, 128). For example, the octagonal rooms in the
Golden House were a radical departure from the rectangular rooms typical of
Roman buildings (Wilson 1986: 379).
Domitian’s Palace. Before this palace was built, the eastern half of the Pala-
tine Hill (about 440,000 square feet) was leveled (Ellis 2000: 56). Once this was
accomplished, marble from Egypt and Libya was imported, and construction
was led by the architect Rabirius (Ward-Perkins 1981: 78, 80). The palace was
grouped into two main sets of buildings. The domus Flavia was the official area,
where matters of statecraft were engaged in (MacDonald 1982: 49; Ward-
Perkins 1981: 80–82). The domus Augustana was the private residence of the
royal family (MacDonald 1982: 49; Ward-Perkins 1981: 82–83). Although only
rubble remains of the palace today, descriptions of it are preserved in the po-
etry of Statius.
Trajan’s Column. To commemorate Trajan’s military victories, the Senate

commissioned Trajan’s column, erected in Trajan’s forum. A large column, 100
feet high (30 m) and made of twenty-eight blocks of marble, it was faced with a
frieze depicting the two Darian wars fought by Trajan (Ward-Perkins 1981: 87;
Wilson 1986: 383). The images on the higher portion of the column were not
meant to be read from the ground, but from the upper stories of surrounding
buildings (but see Ward-Perkins 1981: 87). Inside the column is a spiral stair-
case that leads to the top. The base of the column was a funerary chamber for
Narrative relief sculpture on the Column of Trajan, showing episodes from the Dacian War. (Ali-
nari Archives/Corbis)
222 THE ROMANS
Trajan. The column still stands today, but the statue of Trajan that was once
atop the column was replaced by a statue of St. Peter in 1588.
Domestic Architecture
The homes in which ancient Romans lived are a fascinating subject, and there
is much excellent scholarship on this subject. Not only does the study of an-
cient household architecture provide insight into the daily life of the average
Roman, it can also tell us a lot about Roman social relationships and identities.
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill has made some very important arguments about the
centrality of the Roman house and domestic space in the social relationships of
the ancient Romans (see Wallace-Hadrill 1994). To simplify his argument con-
siderably, Wallace-Hadrill suggested that the house was designed and deco-
rated as a way of communicating status and identity to the rest of the commu-
nity (Wallace-Hadrill 1994). Where one lived, as well as how one lived, was a
primary means of situating oneself within the larger structure of Roman soci-
ety. There is much evidence for Wallace-Hadrill’s interpretations. For example,
in the discussion that follows, the reader will note that the reception and din-
ing facilities in Roman houses were located at the back of the house. Guests
had to traverse the entire household to reach the receiving area (Zanker 1998:
13). Along the way, these visitors were shown the entire household, which
communicated messages about the owners and residents. It is possible that un-
invited guests could often see far into the house from the street and view mes-
sages about the status of the house’s owner. However, scholars vehemently
disagree on the degree and nature of privacy in the Roman home. Some of the
written accounts suggest that guards were posted at doors to help keep the
residence separate from the rest of the city (Cowell 1980: 20).
Elite Homes. Elite homes—the homes of the wealthy and higher classes—un-
derwent many changes in style over the course of Roman history. Although in-
dividual houses were unique, it is often possible to talk about “ideal types” of
houses. Indeed, although houses had generally regularized divisions of space,
there was a considerable degree of difference in terms of size and luxurious-
ness. An ideal type of household is a hypothetical house that incorporates all
possible features of a house in all of the right combinations of layout and size.
Because of the rich archaeological and written record of Roman elite housing,
scholars have been able to identify ideal types of houses in different periods.
The house was referred to as the domus, although it should be noted that this
word can also be used to describe buildings with a public function.
In the period of the republic (at least from about the third century B.C.E., al-
though possibly earlier), the ideal elite house of a Roman was the atrium
house (Ellis 2000: 26). Although there are many variations of the atrium house,
some underlying principles have been identified by modern scholars. The
name of this type of house is derived from the central feature of the structure—
the atrium. In a Roman house, the atrium was square or rectangular, and it was
located in the center of the building. In the earliest houses, this was the loca-
tion of the family hearth, but later homes lacked this feature. Most of the
The House of the Faun in Pompeii
One of the most amazing examples of an elite Roman home is the structure
known as the House of the Faun, found in Pompeii. Excavations at this house
began in 1830 by the German Archaeological Institute. These archaeologists
erroneously named the structure “The House of the Faun” because of the
statue of a satyr found in the atrium of the house. It is also known as “The
House of Goethe,” because excavations on the structure began while the son
of the famous poet was visiting the site.The house, while inhabited during the
final days of Pompeii, preserved the styles of the period of its initial construc-
tion in the second century B.C.E. The walls are decorated in the First style,
long out of fashion by the time of the house’s destruction.The mosaics of the
house are well preserved. At the entrance, the Latin word for “welcome” was
tiled. But more remarkable was the amazing mosaic depicting the battle be-
tween Alexander the Great and Darius, found in the exedra of the house. One
of the most fabulous Roman mosaics ever discovered, this mosaic suited the
large and majestic home now known as “The House of the Faun.”
atrium was roofed over, but the very center was left open. Directly beneath
this opening, and embedded in the floor of the building, was a small pool
called an impluvium. The impluvium was where rainwater collected as it en-
tered the atrium through the opening in the roof directly above. The atrium
ideally was the center of the household, with other rooms surrounding it on all
sides. The main household entrance (the vestibulum) led to the entrance hall
(the fauces), which led directly to the atrium (Boëthius 1978: 185; Ellis 2000: 27).
The main reception room of the house, the tablinum, was found at the other
end of the atrium (Ellis 2000: 27). The tablinum was flanked on both sides by
rooms called alae, and both the tablinum and the alae were open to the atrium
(Ellis 2000: 27). Another important room in the atrium house was the dining
room. The dining room was called the triclinium, after the dining couches ide-
ally found within. Most scholars stress the importance of the axial nature of
private homes. By this they mean that, within the layout of the house, there
was a straight line from the vestibule, through the fauces and atrium, culmi-
nating in the tablinum. Scholars used to believe that this kind of house was
found only in Italy, but recent excavations have demonstrated that there may
be some atrium-style houses in the western provinces (Ellis 2000: 28–31). In the
east, no houses have been found so far that can confidently be described as
atrium houses (Ellis 2000: 28). But remember, it is often very difficult to iden-
tify specific rooms from archaeological evidence, so these kinds of reports have
to be carefully evaluated.
Gradually supplanting the atrium-style house as the most popular in Rome
was the peristyle house (Elllis 2000: 31). This style of architecture was related
to Greek styles, but scholars are divided about the exact relationship between
224 THE ROMANS
The peristyle courtyard of the House of the Two Brothers, Pompeii. (Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis)
Greek and Roman peristyle architecture (Cowell 1980: 19; Ellis 2000: 34–35).
This ideal type of house has also been found throughout the western
provinces, but each province developed its own unique interpretations of peri-
style architecture. The term peristyle refers to a particular room of the house.
The peristyle was an area enclosed on four sides (but still open-air), often cen-
tering on a garden. Columns surrounded the interior of the enclosure. Some
scholars have seen similarities between these columns and monumental archi-
tecture in the public areas of the city. Related to the peristyle was the oecus,
which was a dining and reception area adjacent to the peristyle (Ellis 2000:
35–37). In Rome, older atrium-style houses were not usually demolished and
replaced by peristyle houses. Rather, a peristyle was added to the garden of an
already-standing atrium house (Ellis 2000: 32). But throughout the period of
the empire, the peristyle was the elite type of house (Ellis 2000: 41).
Apartment Complexes. We assume that most of the population of ancient

Rome lived in apartment or tenement homes, rather than atrium or peristyle
houses. Unfortunately, there is not as much archaeological evidence for this as
one would hope. These buildings tended to be made out of much poorer mate-
rials (Frier 1980: 3) and have not survived archaeologically in many sites. The
major exception is the port of Ostia, where there is direct evidence for this kind
An Advertisement for an Apartment Rental
Rental notices that had been painted on the walls of buildings in Pompeii have
been found. One is presented here in translated form, taken from Shelton’s
anthology (Shelton 1988).The notice reads:
The Arrius Pollio Apartment Complex
owned by Gnaeus Allius Nigidius Maius
FOR RENT from July 1
streetfront shops with counterspace,
luxurius second-story apartments,
and a townhouse.
Prospective renters, please make arrangements
with primus, slave of Gnaeus Allius Nigidius Maius.
There are a number of interesting features about this rental ad. It shows
that apartment complexes had proper names, and could be owned by an indi-
vidual.There are sections with different functions available for rent, including
commercial space and domestic space. Note, too, the prominent role of the
slave in the business transaction.
of habitation (Boëthius 1978: 183; Ellis 2000: 73). Between archaeology and an-
cient writings, it has been possible to reconstruct (somewhat) the architecture
of the less-privileged ancient Romans.
These apartments were part of three- or four-story buildings. Before Augus-
tus legislated height limitations, some of them reached heights of eight or nine
stories (Cowell 1980: 19). Often these apartment complexes took up entire
blocks. In these situations, the blocks are called insulae. According to Cowell, in
350 C.E., Rome had 44,173 insulae, as opposed to 1,782 private houses (Cowell
1980: 21). The disparity between these numbers (although they are not as exact
as Cowell argues) shows that the apartment complex was the dominant living
quarters in Rome. Sometimes the inhabitants of the apartment complex would
buy the entire floor on which they lived, but most often they would simply
lease the space from a landlord.
The most common type of apartment found at Ostia is the cenaculum (Ellis
2000: 73; Frier 1980: 6). This kind of apartment would take up an entire floor of
a building. The residents entered through a shared staircase, into a long hall-
way called a medianum (McKay 1988: 1378). The medianum ran the entire
length of the apartment and was the primary entrance for the three to five
other rooms in the complex (Ellis 2000: 74; Frier 1980: 5). The medianum was
also the room with windows to the outside, and these windows provided air
and light to the other rooms in the residence (Ellis 2000: 74). It is easy to imag-
ine how stuffy it could become, especially in the hot Mediterranean climate.
The room farthest from the staircase entrance was the dining and reception
226 THE ROMANS
room (Ellis 2000: 74). But it should be mentioned that it is not as easy to deter-
mine room functions in apartments as it is in elite houses (Ellis 2000: 73–74).
Related to the apartment complexes, and sometimes incorporated into the
insulae, were store residences. These were areas that functioned both as a store
and as a residence (Ellis 2000: 78). Although there were many shops that did
not function as a residence, it is important to remember that commercial and
domestic spaces were not as sharply differentiated in ancient Rome as they are
in North America and Europe today. Many shopkeepers (or shop workers)
lived in their place of business. Most frequently, a store residence was formed
from a two-room apartment (Ellis 2000: 78). The front room (the room that
opened into the street) was the main commercial space, where people bought
and sold goods and services (Ellis 2000: 78). The other room (either behind or
above the shop room) could function as residence, storage area, workshop, or
any combination of these (Ellis 2000: 78).
Villas. Another kind of house often found within the urban environment
was the villa. Most commonly, however, villas were associated with rural sites
and it is likely that when they were incorporated into urban environments,
they represented a conscious attempt to capture rural life (Boëthius 1978: 195).
The villa urbana was a kind of house modeled after opulent country homes.
These urban households attempted to capture elements of Greek and learned
culture within the decor of the house and to create a luxurious living environ-
ment (Zanker 1998: 17, 136). Villas could be found within the city (villa ur-
bana), on the outskirts of the city (villa suburbana), on the coast (villa maritimae),
and in the countryside (villa rustica) (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 148).
There were many varieties and styles of villas, and it is difficult to precisely
define a villa in the same way that other household types can be defined (Ad-
kins and Adkins 1994: 148; Ellis 2000: 13). Commonly employed in the identifi-
cation and definition of villas is the concept of Romanization, in which the ar-
chitecture and décor have closer ties to Rome than those of the local
architectural culture (Ellis 2000: 54). But there are many problems with using
this concept; see chapter 11 for more on the debate about Romanization. In
general, the Italian villa consisted of the pars urbana, which was the structure in
which the owner lived; the pars rustica, which were the farmhouses used by the
agricultural workers; as well as various storage buildings (Ellis 2000: 13–14).
Villas of many architectural styles have been identified both archaeologi-
cally and through art-historical sources. There were very small villas, called
cottage villas, which consisted of a small rectangular building. There were also
larger types of villas. Peristyle villas were architecturally consistent with peri-
style houses in the city (Boëthius 1978: 192). Basilica farmhouses were a later
innovation in the western provinces, defined by the two post rows running
through the center of the main building. Courtyard villas had an inconsistent
number of buildings constructed around a central courtyard (Adkins and Ad-
kins 1994: 149). Other than the villas built entirely for the luxury of the owner,
such as those along the seacoast and within the city, the villa was part of a
larger farming complex. But even as parts of a farming complex, the villa
lifestyle was associated with luxury.
URBAN PLANNING
The study of ancient urban planning can be very helpful in reconstructing the
way space and relationships were viewed in the past. The layout of the city
usually reflects how elite members understand the relationships of the various
components of city life. In North American urban planning, there is generally
a tendency to separate residential, industrial, and commercial spaces. Like-
wise, within the modern city, these zones are further subdivided by class divi-
sions. Usually it is obvious which are the wealthy parts of town and which are
the less privileged. Historians and archaeologists of Roman civilization are
very lucky that there is evidence for Roman urban planning in a variety of
temporal and geographic contexts. What follows is a discussion of urban plan-
ning, first in the city of Rome, and second outside of Rome. Keep in mind the
points made in chapter 6 about settlement patterns.
Rome
Construction in Rome lacked an overall scheme like that employed in the con-
struction of colonies (Boëthius 1960: 33). The massive public works projects for
which Rome is so well known were built on a case-by-case basis. The rationale
behind the earliest urban planning of the city of Rome has been lost, although
scholars often assume it was based on Greek and Etruscan principles of how a
city should look (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 131). The earliest writings tell us
that Rome consisted of four major subdivisions, or urban zones. These zones
were the suburbana, esquilina, collina, and palatina (Cowell 1980: 13). Augustus
later reorganized the city into fourteen regions (Cowell 1980: 15).
This is not entirely consistent with what we know of Etruscan town plan-
ning, but then again, the information about Etruscan town planning is contra-
dictory. On the one hand, Vitruvius tells us that the Etruscans built towns on a
regular plan. According to Vitruvius, this plan consisted of three main streets,
with three main gates. On the other hand, the Etruscan cities of Veii and Vetu-
lonia, which have been excavated, bear no resemblance to Vitruvius’s descrip-
tion (Boëthius 1978: 65). These cities appear to have developed haphazardly
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 131; Boëthius 1978: 65) in what some scholars call an
Islamic city model, but this chapter will refer to it as a segmentary town
model. In a segmentary town, the city is not planned according to even distri-
butions of space and overarching strategies, but it is still ordered. The ordering
comes from the social relationships of the various kin groups that inhabit the
city. Kinship and relationships, not city planners, determine where houses are
built and what the urban layout looks like. Other early cities bear a closer re-
semblance to Greek urban centers (Wilson 1986: 363). The city of Marzabotto
has an identifiable, rectangular grid (Boëthius 1978: 69; Ellis 2000: 24). It seems
very similar to earlier Greek cities, which used an urban planning model that
scholars call orthogonal.
What all of these early cities have in common is that they are defined by the
topography of the area (Boëthius 1960: 36). Rather than altering the environ-
ment, early Roman and Etruscan cities used the natural landscape as a guiding
force. Indeed, the environment played an important role in urban planning
228 THE ROMANS
throughout Roman history. Disasters and destructions provided moments for

the transformation of the urban landscape on a grander scale. After the sack of
Rome by the Gauls (387 B.C.E.), the city was rebuilt without much considera-
tion for planning. Especially in residential areas, reconstruction was a free-for-
all. For the most part, buildings were constructed on vacant lots, without re-
gard for previous ownership or suitability of location.
After the Great Fire of 62 C.E., only four of the fourteen regions survived, al-
lowing for massive rebuilding projects. Indeed, it was natural disaster that al-
lowed the city to be rebuilt and modernized. This is probably at the heart of
the accusations leveled at Nero after the fire. The emperor was accused of
starting the fire to make room for massive building projects. Although the ac-
cusation was false, it demonstrated the real problem of space in the city of
Rome.
Empire
Outside of the city of Rome, there were varying degrees of urban planning, de-
pending on the circumstances of each particular city. It is obvious that many
cities were not directly planned. Ostia, for example, had the same kind of hap-
hazard development as earlier cities (Boëthius 1978: 181–183). The planning
principle apparent for those cities that were planned was the conscious at-
tempt to integrate them directly into the fabric of Roman civic life. The Ro-
mans made very conscious decisions in regard to the establishment of new
towns or the methods of incorporating preexisting towns into the empire.
Preexisting towns incorporated into the empire could not be extensively re-
organized without massive destruction. So overall urban plans were not used
in this process. But Roman construction projects were still an important part of
the process of incorporating these cities. Constructing Roman public and civic
buildings in these newly conquered cities was a powerful means of directly ty-
ing the inhabitants of these cities to Roman lifestyles. The construction of
buildings that were distinctly Roman helped make these cities Roman. So, al-
though it was not urban planning per se, these kinds of construction projects
were powerful means of reinforcing Roman civic identity in areas that lacked
Roman civic traditions.
Colonies were cities or towns established by the Romans in a location where
no settlement previously existed. Under the republic, during the period of ex-
pansion, colonies were founded in areas of weaker Roman power to shore up
power in that region. Similar principles were enacted under the empire.
Colonies were founded where no previous settlement existed. The principles
of the urban planning were based on the same principles that underlay Roman
military camps (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 131). The colony, ideally, was
square-shaped and surrounded by fortifications. Within the square, the city
was divided into quadrants (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 131–132). Two main
roads divided the city into these quadrants; the streets were perpendicular,
ideally meeting in the center of the city. Within each quadrant, roads ran paral-
lel to the two main streets, creating blocks usually called insulae (Boëthius
1978: 183). Ideally, each insula was equipped with a public fountain that sup-
plied running water. Civic structures were located in the center of the colony;
however, those buildings related to entertainment (for example, theaters and
amphitheaters) were placed on the outskirts of the settlement (Adkins and Ad-
kins 1994: 131).
POTTERY
Ceramic artifacts are among the most frequent finds at any Roman archaeolog-
ical site. Ceramics are objects made of clay that have been shaped and then
fired in a kiln (a pottery oven). A ceramic object can be broken, but the pieces
(called sherds) do not decompose like other materials. Only bone, depending
on the alkali levels of the soil, can appear in more frequent quantities. This
makes the study of Roman pottery important in any study of Roman material
culture. Pottery and ceramics are virtually indestructible in the archaeological
record.
Pottery Classification Methods

Classification of pottery is an important part of any archaeological investiga-
tion. In order to be useful, classification must be based on consistent cate-
gories. The kinds of questions asked about the pottery must be the same. This
allows useful comparison of pottery from different sites. These comparisons
usually involve analysis of form, ware, decoration, and production techniques.
The section that follows describes the methods archaeologists use to study Ro-
man pottery, and it will familiarize the reader with the basic terminology used
in ceramics scholarship.
Form. The form of the vessel is its shape. There are standardized terms that
refer to specific parts of the pot and that are used frequently in pottery analy-
sis. Since most excavated pottery is found broken, archaeologists often initially
categorize the finds based on these terms for pot parts. Sections of the pot that
have identifiable features are considered diagnostic. A skilled ceramicist can
recognize a pot based on a single diagnostic sherd.
The basic components of ceramic vessels are usually referred to using the
following terminology. Most frequently found are body sherds. These are
sherds that come from the side of the vessel but do not have any identifiable,
morphological features (although they may be decorated). More important ar-
chaeologically are the diagnostic sections of the vessel. The base refers to the
bottom of the vessel and is usually quite easy to identify. Usually the base is
also classified according to its shape (such as flat or ring-shaped). On the other
end of the pot is the mouth—the opening of the vessel. The edge of the vessel’s
mouth is called the lip. This is easy to remember; just like a face, the mouth is
surrounded by lip. Immediately beneath the lip is the rim, which is often quite
distinctly shaped. Technically the lip and rim are separate parts of the vessel,
but more often than not the terms are used interchangeably. Other diagnostic
parts of pottery are handles and spouts. These basic terms are used in most
treatments of Roman pottery.
230 THE ROMANS
It is also important to know how to describe the overall shape of the vessel.
The most important overall distinction is whether the vessel is open or closed.
Open vessels have a mouth at least 50 percent of the size of the maximum di-
ameter of the vessel. Closed vessels are those whose mouth is less than 50 per-
cent the size of the maximum diameter. For example, a modern Coke™ bottle
is a closed vessel, but a modern kitchen bowl is an open vessel.
Ware. Ware (also called fabric or paste) is the material the pot is made of. It
always includes clay, and it often includes other elements used as temper (a
strengthening component). Temper can be sand, dung, chaff, or any number of
materials. There are a number of significant classifications that can be made
based on ware. Generally, however, most Roman pottery is divided into coarse
or fine ware. Coarse ware often feels very rough to the touch and is very
porous, because larger nonclay elements were not removed when the clay was
initially mixed with water (levigation). The pottery is porous because some of
these nonclay elements burned away completely in the heat of the kiln, leaving
only a hole or pockmark. On the other hand, fine ware does not have many in-
clusions, feels smooth, and looks quite well made. There are many other cate-
gories, but these two are the most important for non–pottery specialists.
Decoration. Decoration describes how the outside of the vessel has been ma-
nipulated for aesthetic reasons. If the outside has been manipulated for func-
tional reasons, the decoration is better referred to as surface treatment. Because
it is often difficult to determine why a potter chose to make the vessel in a par-
ticular way, it can be hard to determine whether surface treatment or decoration
is the better term to use. The term decoration will be used for simplicity’s sake.
There are many ways to describe the decoration of the vessel. Appliqué is any
part of the vessel that was constructed separately and then attached to the ves-
sel just before firing. Paint is just what it seems it would be—a painted decora-
tion on the vessel. Slip is similar, but the “paint” used is made out of a thin
layer of wet clay. Wash is a kind of slip, but much thinner. It is so thin, in fact,
that you can see the original clay beneath the wash. There are many other
terms that can be used, but most of them are quite self-evident, and one can
understand them when encountering them.
Production Techniques. Understanding exactly how a vessel was made is an

important part of classification. It is assumed that most types of pottery were
formed similarly. The clay is chosen and mixed with water and temper until it
is in a moldable state. The vessel is then shaped. There are many ways of doing
this. Most Roman pottery was shaped on a wheel. The potter shaped the vessel
while moving the platform it was set upon (the wheel) very quickly. This same
technique is used today. But there were many other techniques used in the an-
cient world. After its shaping, the clay has usually become hard (usually called
leather hard because it is tough but still somewhat malleable like leather). The
pot is then fired in a kiln. The kind of kiln used and the temperature of the
oven substantially affect the pot. This is the typical technique assumed in pot-
tery production. Ceramicists are interested in the minor variations in this pro-
cedure and classify the pots accordingly.
Major Categories of Roman Pottery

All of the techniques of ceramic study just listed go into the process of classify-
ing and studying Roman pottery. Form, ware, decoration, and production
technique are the major criteria for creating ceramic typologies. Since the nine-
teenth century, Roman ceramic studies have progressed so much that basic cat-
egories of Roman ceramics have been established and are used consistently in
Roman studies. What follows is a description of the most important categories
of Roman ceramics, especially those categories that are considered to be a
given in Roman scholarship. This should provide enough background to read
(and understand) more technical works on Roman pottery.
Fine Wares. One of the primary divisions scholars use when studying Roman
pottery is the distinction between fine ware and coarse ware. Although this
may seem like a subjective distinction (and technically it is), in actual practice
the difference is very obvious. Fine ware is pottery of high quality, usually
highly fired, thin-walled, and often covered with a slip. There are a few impor-
tant subtypes of Roman fine ware that are important to be familiar with.
Campanian ware is one of the earliest types of Roman fine ware (Greene
1986: 158). Campanian ware (which is named after its location of production)
is derived from Greek and Near Eastern forms. Notable for its reddish slip, this
ware occurs in many forms. Chronologically, Campanian ware lasted from
about 200 B.C.E. until the beginning of the common era (Hayes 1997: 37). This
category of pottery is subdivided into three major phases: Campana A, Cam-
pana B, and Campana C (Hayes 1997: 37–39). Campana A is the earliest form
and Campana C is the latest. Although related to each other, each subgroup of
Campanian ware is easily distinguished from the others.
Perhaps the most typically Roman fine ware is terra sigillata ware. This pot-
tery has a glossy red surface (created by the red slip). The pottery is usually
quite thin-walled. There were many forms of terra sigillata pottery; the princi-
pal forms were cups and bowls (suitable for fluids), plates of various sizes, and
bowls with molded designs (Greene 1986: 159; Hayes 1997: 43–44). It is as-
sumed that terra sigillata pottery often represented attempts to render more
expensive forms of metal vessels in clay (Hayes 1997: 42). The term for repre-
senting one item in another medium is skewomorph. Terra sigillata pottery is of-
ten also called Arretine pottery, because there was a large production center
(which exported throughout the Roman world) in Arretium, but technically
not all terra sigillata pottery is Arretine ware (Hayes 1997: 42). This was also
the term used in ancient texts to describe this kind of pottery. Terra sigillata
pottery has been widely studied. The earliest studies are by Dragendorff and
Oswald and Pryce, but much has been learned since these scholars established
the initial groundwork.
Related to terra sigillata ware is African red slip ware, most of which was pro-
duced in North Africa, rather than in Italy (Hayes 1997: 59). These forms ap-
232 THE ROMANS
pear later than terra sigillata, and their categorization is based on region of
production. Hayes (1980) has established the major framework used by schol-
ars; however, he acknowledges that more excavations and studies are needed.
Hayes’s major categories are fourfold (Hayes 1997: 59). Terra sigillata African
A and D were produced in Carthage, with D a later variation of A (Hayes 1997:
59). Terra sigillata African B was not actually made in Africa, but rather in the
south of France (Hayes 1997: 62). Terra sigillata African C originated in Tunisia
(Hayes 1997: 59). The basic forms of all of these categories of red slip pottery
are similar to terra sigillata.
Relief ware is a more general term for fine ware pottery with relief decora-
tions. These are very distinctive kinds of ceramics. Knidian relief ware (dating
from 70 C.E. to 250 C.E.) is mold-made (Hayes 1997: 70). The forms are very in-
teresting and include ornamental jugs, zoomorphic jugs, and phallus-shaped
vessels (Hayes 1997: 72–73). Corinthian relief ware (dating roughly to the third
century C.E.) tend to be small, straight-sided bowls (Hayes 1997: 73). On the
walls of the vessels are reliefs of various figural images (Hayes 1997: 73).
Coarse Wares. Coarse wares are not as easy to study as fine wares. There are
a number of reasons for this. First, there is not as much secondary literature on
coarse wares because they are not as aesthetically pleasing as fine wares. The
forms and materials are, generally speaking, of lower quality and are less
likely to interest art historians (who tend to study these materials). Second, be-
cause coarse ware was more functional than stylish, it did not change as rap-
idly or consistently as fine ware (Greene 1992: 31). It is much more difficult to
make chronological distinctions in regard to coarse ware. Third, coarse ware
varied considerably at the local level (Greene 1992: 31–32). So even if someone
is an expert in Roman coarse ware at Pompeii, that scholar has to relearn the
corpus for Roman Britain.
There are a few major types of coarse ware that are important to become fa-
miliar with. One of the major categories is buff ware (Hayes 1997: 75). This kind
of pottery is made of clay fired to a cream color (hence the name buff). It is usu-
ally very porous, meaning that the vessels, when filled with liquid, sweat con-
siderably. Buff ware is, counterintuitively, very good for serving liquids, be-
cause it helps cool down the liquid. I have done some experimental
archaeology with Egyptian pottery and found that porous vessels actually cool
off liquids quite well. When this kind of pottery was transported, a resin (often
of bitumen) could be added to seal the liquid inside and stop it from sweating
(Hayes 1997: 75–76).
Another important group of coarse ware ceramics is vessels used in food
preparation. Cooking pots usually have rounded bottoms, sometimes with
small handles near the rim (Hayes 1997: 76). These handles were used to fix the
pot above a fire or to tie a lid on top, not to carry the vessel (Hayes 1997: 76).
Pompeiian red ware are types of cooking vessels that usually have flat bot-
toms. They are named Pompeiian red ware not because they were found at
Pompeii, but because the clay was the same color as the wall plaster in some
Pompeiian houses (Hayes 1997: 78). Also used in Roman food preparation was
the mortarium. Mortaria are large, flat bowls used for grinding food. Ridges or
slits in the interior of the vessel would help grind or husk food, when the food
was rubbed or pounded inside the mortarium. These vessels have very thick
walls, making them easy to hold. They were probably mass produced in molds
(Hayes 1997: 80), because from an aesthetic point of view, the quality of these
vessels is never very high.
Amphorae. Amphorae are not easily described as either fine or coarse ware. In
a sense, they straddle those two categories and are usually considered a sepa-
rate category of pottery. These vessels are descendants of Syro-Palestinian ves-
sels, dating from as far back as the middle Bronze Age. The clay of amphorae is
yellowish, brown, or red. Amphorae are large-capacity vessels with a pointed
base. In Roman times, they usually had two handles (Hayes 1997: 27), but in
other periods, four- and three-handled forms were also known. The shape of
these vessels is designed for maritime transport. Excavations of numerous
shipwrecks and various artistic representations (especially earlier Egyptian
tomb reliefs) show that the vessels were stacked vertically, in layers on top of
one another within the ship. The pointed bottom allowed the vessels to be
jammed between the necks of the vessels below, making the whole shipping
area quite secure (Hayes 1997: 27). Essentially locked together, the amphorae
would not break or shift with the rolling of the sea. The high number of am-
phorae that are found intact within excavated shipwrecks attests to the success
of this strategy.
ROMAN ART
Roman art has been an important subject within Roman studies for a long
time. The study of Roman art is a discipline in its own right and only some
comment can be made here. No matter what kind of background one has in art
history, it is probably easy to recognize Roman art or references to it. There is
something very powerful and distinctive about Roman art that makes it (or its
influences) easy to identify. This quality makes Roman art very powerful. Even
centuries later it is still possible to understand and be influenced by Roman
artistry, even though the culture is long gone.
Painting
Paintings from Rome are very important in the wider field of art-historical
study because of the large volume preserved (Charles-Picard 1968: 8). Com-
pared with the relative paucity of surviving Greek examples of painting, Ro-
man painting is the major source of our understanding (other than literary de-
scriptions) of Classical painting (Ling 1991b: 5). This art form is usually
considered in two major categories. The first is painting on moving tablets
(Ling 1988a: 1771; Ling 1991b: 1). The second is painting directly on walls
(Ling 1988a: 1771). Because of the nature of preservation, the wall paintings in
the Vesuvian cities have been studied in the greatest detail. Also well studied
are tomb wall paintings from the beginning of Roman civilization. The first
234 THE ROMANS
category, movable painting, has not been preserved to nearly the same extent
as wall painting, and as such, it is treated in far less detail in the secondary lit-
erature. Because wall painting was related to architecture, the forms of wall
painting are discussed in more detail in the section titled “Decoration” on page
241 of this chapter.
The techniques and materials used for Roman painting depended on the type
of painting. In the first category of Roman art, the paint was applied directly to
a wooden (or sometimes stone) plaque (Charles-Picard 1968: 47). Wall art in-
volved painting directly upon a layer of plaster stucco that had been directly
applied to the wall (Pratt 1976: 227). The paint itself was derived from natural
sources (Pratt 1976: 224). Minerals provided pigments for earth colors (i.e.,
browns and dark reds). Vegetable and animal sources provided other colors
(Pratt 1976: 224). Worth mentioning is the famous purple dye, well associated
with Roman royalty, that came initially from Phoenicia. Purple dye was derived
from murex shells that were found off the coast of modern-day Lebanon.
Many themes were explored in Roman painting. One of the most important
was portraiture. Roman portraiture was quite striking in its attention to real-
ism. Roman portraits can be eerie to view, because one is truly looking at the
image of a person from centuries ago. This was a unique feature in the ancient
world, because most ancient art attempted to portray ideal visions of the hu-
man form (e.g., strength, youth, beauty) or very schematized aspects of the in-
dividual. But in Roman portraits, even the wrinkles were painted in close de-
tail. This attempt to faithfully reproduce the image of an individual is called
veristic style, from the word veritas, which means “truth” (Strong 1976: 44).
Landscapes were also an important component of Roman painting (Ling
1991b: 142). At times realistic and at times whimsical, landscape paintings
brought the tranquillity of the natural world to the interior of Roman struc-
tures (Charles-Picard 1968: 98; Ling 1991b: 143). Similarly, mythological scenes
or images of daily life were important themes in Roman painting (Charles-Pi-
Faiyum Mummy Portraits
Roman portraiture is recognized as technically advanced, detail oriented, and

concerned with capturing a realistic image of the subject. Roman portraiture
and painting techniques merged with Egyptian burial customs in the form of
the Faiyum mummy masks. These masks served the same basic function in
Egyptian mortuary customs as did the more traditional mummy masks (most
notably the golden headpiece of Tutankhamun). But rather than having been
sculpted, these masks were made in the form of portraits on wooden panels
or on linen.They are called Faiyum portraits because William Flinders Petrie
first discovered them in this region of Egypt. Since then, this style of funerary
mask has been found in many other parts of Egypt.These mummy portraits il-
lustrate the unique fusion of Roman and local culture in Roman-period Egypt.
card 1968: 98; Ling 1991b: 101). These paintings were often very lush, and all
tended to be romanticized representations rather than realistic depictions—ex-
actly the opposite of the intentions behind portraiture.
Mosaics
Mosaic is an art form, incorporated directly into architecture, that archaeologi-
cally survives much better than wall painting. The reason for this is that the
primary components of a mosaic are the pieces of stone that make up the de-
sign. Even if the mosaic was broken or damaged, skilled restorers frequently
could put it back together again, almost like a jigsaw puzzle. When traveling
in the Mediterranean, if one visits a Roman archaeological site, one is bound to
see a mosaic reconstructed by archaeologists. This is true of floor mosaics; pre-
A Roman mosaic depicting a charioteer and his horse. (Araldo de Luca/Corbis)

236 THE ROMANS
served wall mosaics are much rarer (although there are exceptions; the Vesu-
vian wall mosaics have survived virtually intact).
Roman mosaics developed out of Hellenistic traditions of art in this medium
(Charles-Picard 1968: 97). But the Romans really took the art of mosaic crafting
to a higher level by attempting to create designs specifically for this medium,
rather than simply reinterpreting artwork previously conceived of as a paint-
ing (Strong 1976: 236). By the empire period, mosaics were quite popular, but
they also had become mass produced and of lower quality (Strong 1976: 236).
There were a variety of types of mosaics, based on the different construction
techniques. Both Vitruvius and Pliny record the methods ancient artists used
to create this kind of artwork. The most well-known kinds of mosaics are those
composed of tesserae, small stone cubes (Neal 1976: 241). But there are other
kinds of mosaics as well. Signinum consist of colored mortar and chunks of
stone and other materials (Strong 1976: 101). Opus sectile are mosaics that use
large pieces of stone that are cut in different shapes from one another and are
assembled to form the design (Neal 1976: 241).
Mosaics had numerous kinds of designs. Often scholars divide mosaics into
two major categories—black and white mosaics and polychrome mosaics
(Strong 1976: 101). Certainly the most common kind of mosaics were those that
depicted simple geometric images or designs. Unlike Hellenistic mosaics, the
geometric or abstract designs lacked a focal point. There were also nongeomet-
ric images. Mythic themes were often employed, especially myths appropriate
to the type of room (Ling 1991b: 136; Strong 1976: 236). So, for example, water
scenes were often found in baths. Human figures were also depicted. How-
ever, these figures were not historic individuals, but rather personifications of
cities, seasons, months, and other abstract concepts. In the western provinces,
scenes taken from daily life—appropriate to the kind of activities that took
place in the particular room—were also employed.
Sculpture
Numerous examples of Roman sculpture have survived to the present, and
clearly sculpture was a vibrant form of art in Roman times. The subject of Ro-
man sculpture is usually explored alongside Greek sculpture. The relation-
ship of Roman sculpture to Greek sculpture traditions is particularly prob-
lematic. The earliest examples of Roman sculpture seem more related to
Etruscan artistic styles; funerary masks are especially indicative of this (Bo-
nanno 1983: 82; Ramage and Ramage 1996: 40). But when, in the Republican
period, Rome began to expand into Greek regions, Greek artistic influence be-
came very strong (Brilliant 1974: 200). Much of this influence came directly
from the Greeks, because Greek artists were brought to the city of Rome. By
the imperial period, Greek styles and types of sculpture predominated, but
the subject matter had become very Roman. In the provinces, a similar phe-
nomenon occurred in that Roman subjects were sculpted in local styles and
materials (Strong 1976: 217).
Like Greek sculpture, Roman sculpture tended to be very naturalistic, mean-
ing that the Roman artists attempted to render the sculpture to look like the
The Ara Pacis Augustae
One of the most important pieces of Roman sculpture that illustrate how
scholarly categories are not always so clear-cut is the masterpiece Ara Pacis
Augustae (the Altar of Augustan Peace).This was a monumental version of an
altar, probably based on Greek models in a much smaller scale.The reliefs as-
sociated with the altar carry a novel kind of imperial image. It is an example
of historical relief sculpture, commemorating a procession and sacrifice that
actually took place in 13 B.C.E. The altar was atop a stepped platform, sur-
rounded by screens. On the east and west sides were doorways, and associ-
ated with the doors were panels sculpted with reliefs of mythological scenes.
subject in form (Strong 1976: 44). Sculptures were made in many materials
(Brilliant 1988: 1729). Stone and marble sculptures are the best-known types of
Roman statuary in modern times, but this is probably because stone lasts so
long in the archaeological record. In fact, many Roman statues in modern mu-
seums did not come from archaeological excavations; Roman statues were of
such a high quality that they were kept for centuries.
Roman sculpture was created for many reasons and fulfilled many artistic
roles. Scholars generally divide Roman sculpture into three categories: com-
memorative, funerary, and religious (Bonanno 1983: 70–71), but these cate-
gories should be considered very loose classifications. Commemorative art
tends to be reflected in portraits (Strong 1976: 44). Busts (sculptures of an indi-
vidual from the shoulders up), statues in the round (statues of an individual’s
entire body), and equestrian statues (individuals riding horses) are the most
common types of commemorative works. Religious sculpture can come in
many forms. Cult statues are statues of deities, religious figures, or personified
forces. Sculptural decoration is also an important component of religious
sculpture traditions. In funerary contexts, sculptured sarcophagi were impor-
tant in Roman elite funerary culture, even within the context of a tradition of
cremation.
Glass
Glassmaking was not a Roman invention, although this mistake is made in
many museum displays. Glass had already been manufactured for centuries in
Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Romans initially used Hellenistic glassmaking
techniques, and after glass blowing was invented in Syria in the first century
B.C.E., this technique was also incorporated (Price 1976: 114). By about 100 C.E.,
blowing glass became the dominant method of manufacturing within the Ro-
man Empire (Price 1976: 111). This new technology allowed glass to be made
cheaply and quickly, enabling mass production and shipping throughout the
empire.
238 THE ROMANS
Glass was very widespread in the Roman world and was used in a variety of
contexts. In architectural contexts, glass was used in windows and as a means
of decoration. Glass was used for tableware, especially as drinking imple-
ments. Luxury items in glass are also attested to. Cameo glasses were very
common. This was a kind of decorative art in which two layers of different col-
ored glass (frequently white on blue) were pressed together (Price 1976: 123).
The top layer was carved, leaving a design in relief in the color of the lower
layer. Cage glasses were later luxury items (Price 1976: 123). These looked like
modern drinking glasses, except that the outer layer of glass was carved in
what looked like a cage or net design.
Gems
Gems were an important category of Roman art. Gems could be embedded in
settings to make jewelry. Of more interest to scholars are those gems that were
engraved (called intaglios). Roman gems are based on Greek and Etruscan
styles (Henig 1983: 153). But unlike Greek and Etruscan scholarship on gems
(which is quite advanced), scholarship on Roman gems has only just begun
(Spiers 1992: 73). Much of the problem with the study of Roman gems comes
from the fact that gems were remarkably similar throughout the duration of
Roman history and across the many lands under Roman dominion (Spiers
1992: 75; but see Henig 1974: 43). So it has been impossible to create useful
chronological and typological categories for Roman gems. A variety of factors
have constrained the development of the study of this artifact category. For ex-
ample, there is a large temporal gap in the study of Roman gems, because var-
ious sumptuary laws limited their use in the early Republican period. More
problematic is the fact that most Roman gems do not come from controlled ar-
chaeological investigations. They are more frequently purchased illicitly, and
there are quite a few in the hands of private collectors (for more on the contro-
versies of collecting, see chapter 11).
Scholars study Roman gems in terms of certain stylistic criteria, often di-
vorced from chronology and geography. These criteria include engraving
style, iconography, and any settings in which the gems were placed (Spiers
1992: 76). Often these settings are much easier to date or to place in historical
context than are gems on their own. The type and shape of gemstone are also
important criteria for study. Gems in Roman times were frequently made of
types of quartz, including carnelian, chalcedony, agate, and sardonyx (Spiers
1992: 5). Jaspers, especially red, green, and yellow jaspers, became popular
from the second century C.E. in Rome (Spiers 1992: 5). Garnet was also fre-
quently used for gems (Spiers 1992: 5).
ARTIFACTS FROM DAILY LIFE

Roman scholars are very lucky because they have three very good sources of
information on artifacts from Roman daily life. Archaeologically, the Vesuvian
cities have been particularly good sources of information. The eruption of
Vesuvius was so sudden that many objects were left just as they were used
every day. This kind of deposition is very unusual because most archaeological
finds are the purposefully discarded remains of the ancient world. From an
art-historical perspective, there is a rich tradition of visual depiction of every-
day life. And especially with the prominence of veristic styles, this information
can be very helpful. Textually, because of the encyclopedic tendencies of Ro-
man writers, there are very good written accounts of everyday life.
Household Artifacts
It may be somewhat misleading to include only one section on household dec-
oration, because there were so many different types of houses, and because
class and taste were important carriers of difference. But some general com-
ments can nonetheless be made if these problems are kept in mind. Especially
in terms of technology and style, household artifacts reflected the values of Ro-
man society. So some standardization was present; just keep in mind that in
general, the discussion that follows centers on elite households.
Furniture. The Roman household was furnished but certainly not to the ex-
tent that North American and European homes are furnished today. Furniture
was extremely expensive relative to other products available in Rome, and
space was limited (Cowell 1980: 24–25). So even the wealthy were more likely
to concentrate on acquiring better-quality furniture than on greater numbers of
furniture (Cowell 1980: 24). As was discussed in the first section of this chapter,
Roman homes had rooms that were, at least ideally, divided according to func-
tion. Sometimes the furniture of specific rooms reflected these divisions. But
consider your own house as an analogy. You might have rooms that are desig-
nated for particular functions (dining room, bedroom, etc.), and have appro-
priate furniture (dining table, beds, etc.), but in actual daily practice a wide va-
riety of activities take place in the rooms. The same was likely true for the
Romans. So do not consider these distinctions about rooms and furniture as
hard-and-fast rules about how Romans behaved in the home. Rather, consider
them in terms of underlying principles that may or may not have been fol-
lowed by the residents.
The atrium of the house was an ever-changing space that fulfilled a variety
of functions and housed a wide variety of furniture. But it is also the easiest
space to recognize archaeologically because of its distinct architectural fea-
tures. There are at least ten examples of Pompeiian homes in which chests
were found in the atrium (Ellis 2000: 146). In addition, some Pompeiian atri-
ums contained pottery that was quite large and normally associated with stor-
age (Ellis 2000: 146–147). It is likely that the atrium was used as a storage area,
as well as an area of the house in which domestic tasks were performed, be-
cause of the open space and open roof (Ellis 2000: 147). Also found in atriums
were marble tables called cartibulum (Ellis 2000: 146).
Most often associated with the furniture kept within the house was the tri-
clinium, named after the couches typically associated with the room. This was
the main dining and reception room of the household. In elite houses, diners
would recline on couches to eat meals rather than sitting upright (although
240 THE ROMANS
this was considered a luxury even in Rome and may have been the ideal rather
than the typical method of eating). Three couches were placed in a semicircle,
probably fitting about seven or eight diners (Ellis 2000: 148). The diners would
recline with their heads toward the center of the circle and their feet toward
the walls (Ellis 2000: 148). Tables were very small and close to the ground (Ellis
2000: 148). Usually courses were served one at a time, so the small serving
space was not a hindrance to dining. But there were no large dining tables
such as the kind that would be found in a house today. Sometimes cupboards
were placed in the triclinium, in which serving equipment was probably
stored, although this is not known for certain (Ellis 2000: 152).
Although it may seem odd to modern readers, beds were not found in great
quantities in the Roman household. Slaves were unlikely to have beds, and
even children were not necessarily provided with them. Although beds did
not survive particularly well in the archaeological record, educated guesses
can be made about where they would have been placed in some homes. The
basis for this is the of mosaics in rooms assumed to be bedrooms. If the bed-
room had a mosaic, there was frequently an undecorated, rectangular segment
of the mosaic placed along the rear wall (Ellis 2000: 156). It is assumed that the
reason this part of the mosaic lacked decoration was that it would have been
covered by furniture.
Kitchens are also difficult to identify archaeologically, a fact that has led
scholars to suggest that Roman homes often did not have kitchens, and that
food was either eaten cold or acquired from local taverns (Ellis 2000: 159). If a
kitchen is identifiable archaeologically, the furniture is usually of two types.
The first is the oven and related cooking equipment (Ellis 2000: 158). The sec-
ond is the domestic shrine or cultic equipment, which seemed to be placed in
the same area as food preparation (Ellis 2000: 158).
There were also types of furniture not specific to particular rooms. Chairs
were not common in Roman houses in the way that they are today. Wealthier
homes did have chairs, and these would have been offered to guests out of re-
spect or used by the higher-status household members (Cowell 1980: 24–25).
Folding stools would have been used more frequently due to their ease of stor-
age, mobility, and inexpensive price (Cowell 1980: 25). Portable wooden
screens were also used in the household to subdivide space on a more tempo-
rary basis than walls (Ellis 2000: 147).
Lighting. The most important source of light for Roman homes was the sun.
Windows were strategically located throughout the house to give access to
sunlight. This made lighting quite uneven, not only from room to room, but
also within individual rooms. But after the sun went down, it was, of course, a
useless source of light. Oil lamps were one means of lighting the home (Cowell
1980: 28). Found all over the Roman Empire, oil lamps are instantly recogniza-
ble. They are ceramic and seem to be typologically based on the oil lamps used
in the Near East from as long ago as the early Bronze Age. There are more lux-
urious versions of oil lamps, made out of different kinds of metal, but the ce-
ramic lamps are the type found most frequently in excavations. Oil was
poured into the lamp, and a wick was inserted. The oil burned slowly, giving
off a soft glowing light. These lamps were placed on tables and stands
throughout the Roman home. Oil was very expensive, however, so these
lamps would not have been used in the poorer homes without consideration of
the cost (Cowell 1980: 28). Similarly, braziers were used to burn charcoal, not
only for light, but also to heat the home (Cowell 1980: 26). Remember, though,
that all of these technologies involving fire were not as easy to use in the an-
cient world as they would be in modern times. Without matches, creating a fire
was a very time-consuming task; there were likely some fires burning all day
in order to facilitate the nightly lighting of lamps.
Decoration. Wall paintings and mosaics dominated decoration in Roman

homes. Although these types of art were discussed earlier, it is important to
mention the ways in which Roman artists integrated art directly into the archi-
tecture of Roman homes. The basic classification of this integration was estab-
lished in the nineteenth century by August Mau. His terminology has become
the basis for modern discussions. Frequently, when one reads scholarship
about Roman art, Mau’s terms are used, without explanation. So Mau’s typol-
ogy of Pompeiian interior decoration will be described next, in order to pro-
vide enough background to study the subject further. These categories roughly
correspond with changes in Pompeiian domestic architecture as well.
Mau’s typology is roughly chronological and is relatively easy to monitor,
because the name of each style is given a number corresponding to the order of
its appearance. First style (also known as Incrustation style) of interior decora-
tion involved the painting of artificial architectural features onto the walls of
buildings (Wilson 1986: 363). For example, blocks of stone were created in plas-
ter relief to imitate real blocks of stone. There is no figural art; the emphasis is
on the irregularities of the wall.
Around 70 B.C.E. a new style became prominent. Second style (also known as
Architectural style) incorporated landscape art in the center of the viewing
space. The landscape tended to be very idyllic; the term sacro-idyllic is often
used as the primary description (Ling 1991b: 145–146; Wilson 1986: 372). A
shrine or column is usually found in the center of the landscape with various
individuals surrounding the architectural feature. Surrounding the landscape,
the entire wall is divided into three sections (Charles-Picard 1968: 50). There is
a wide central panel (in which the landscape image is placed) and two smaller
panels on either side. Architectural effects within these panels are created en-
tirely through painting, creating the illusion of architectural features where
none are apparent (see Ling 1988a).
The illusion of architectural features disappeared in the Third style (some-
times called Ornate style). Lasting from about 10 B.C.E. to 50 C.E., Third style di-
vided the wall into three sections horizontally (Wilson 1986: 377). Architectural
features were completely subordinate to the decorative scheme (Charles-Picard
1968: 58). The impression one gets from looking at a Third-style wall is that of a
large palace with framed pictures hanging on the wall (Ling 1988a). Mythologi-
cal paintings were placed in the center (Wilson 1986: 377).
242 THE ROMANS
Fourth style (Intricate style) attempted to create the illusion of larger

amounts of space within the enclosed room (Wilson 1986: 378). Extravagant ar-
chitectural details were painted; such details, in many cases, would not have
been possible had they been constructed rather than painted (Wilson 1986:
378). So although architectural features became important once again, they
were no longer realistic architectural features. This was the most commonly at-
tested style at Pompeii, as it was the type in vogue at the time of Pompeii’s de-
struction.
Clothing and Hygiene

There are three major sources of information—literature, art, and archaeologi-
cal artifacts—that archaeologists have used to reconstruct the personal appear-
ances of everyday Romans (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1385). Roman litera-
ture describes clothing, appropriate methods of use, the kinds of adornment
worn by people, and the types of steps taken for personal hygiene. Roman art
provides graphic illustration of the same topics. Archaeological evidence is not
as useful in terms of clothing, as textiles do not preserve well over time. But ar-
tifacts relating to personal hygiene are found in archaeological contexts; muse-
ums have actual ancient hygiene tools (for example, combs and razors) on dis-
play in their collections.
Clothing. Roman clothing did not vary substantially throughout Roman his-
tory. Indeed, there is a remarkable conservatism in Roman dress that spans the
Republican and imperial periods (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 344). Although it
is possible to make some observations about changing styles, these changes
are in the details; the overall nature of Roman clothing was relatively consis-
tent. Clothing also reflected some of the same attitudes that Romans had to-
ward architecture, in terms of standardization (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988:
1401). Clothing was not a statement of individuality in Roman times; it did not
(for the most part) reflect personal tastes and preferences (Bonfante and Jaun-
zems 1988: 1401). Rather, clothing was functional and standardized. Particular
clothes were appropriate for certain people in certain situations (Bonfante and
Jaunzems 1988: 1401). Deviation from these norms was not acceptable in Ro-
man society. Clothing directly indicated one’s social status and occupation. Al-
though this may be somewhat true of today’s fashion (we have clothes that are
appropriate for formal occasions, for work, and for the gym), there is still a de-
gree of choice in fashion today that was not available to the ancient Roman.
Textiles in the Republican period were manufactured at home (Bonfante and
Jaunzems 1988: 1401; Cowell 1980: 68). Although this continued to some extent
in the imperial period, textile factories came into existence at that time as well
(Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1402). The most common fabrics were wool and
flax, and most fabrics were white in color (Cowell 1980: 68). Most garments
were created from one large piece of fabric, rectangular or oval in shape (Cow-
ell 1980: 68). More elaborate garments could involve stitching more than one
piece of fabric together (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1401). Clothes repre-
sented a considerable investment of time and resources, and as such were a
very valuable commodity. In Roman literature, it is common to encounter in-

stances in which gifts of clothing were given. This kind of gift was very valu-
able, and even if the clothes were previously used, they were considered a
very fine gift (Cowell 1980: 75). Clothes were not washed at home, because
most homes lacked the necessary amount of water (Cowell 1980: 69). There
were individuals within the city who specialized in laundering.
Although there was not as great a difference between men’s and women’s
clothing in Rome as there is today (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 344), it is none-
theless possible to distinguish between men’s and women’s fashions. Cer-
tainly literary sources comment on some styles that made men appear effemi-
nate and other styles deemed inappropriate for “proper” ladies. So gender
roles were expressed in Roman clothing.
The most important component of the Roman clothing ensemble was the tu-
nic (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 345). For men, the tunic ideally fell just below
the knees (Cowell 1980: 71). For women, the tunic reached to the feet (Cowell
1980: 71). A belt, normally just a rope tied around the waist, could adjust the
length of the tunic (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 345). Although there were more
elaborate tunics with sleeves, most simple tunics were sleeveless. The sides of
the tunic were open, allowing for great freedom of arm movement (Bonfante
and Jaunzems 1988: 1403).
Most notably Roman was the toga. Togas became a formal style of dress to-
ward the end of the imperial period (Cowell 1980: 72). Wearing a toga was a
right restricted to Roman citizens (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1406). Togas
were basically heavy garments made of white wool (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
344). There were a variety of methods of wrapping the toga; these methods
varied with time. Early on, the toga was worn as the sole piece of clothing;
later it became more appropriate to wear a toga over a tunic (Adkins and Ad-
kins 1994: 344).
Clothing bore designs indicating the status of males. Generally these decora-
tions took the form of purple stripes that ran vertically down from the shoul-
der; the wider the stripe, the higher the status (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988:
1402–1403). Children also wore stripes on their tunics, but as a marker of age,
not of rank (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1402). The color of garments was
also indicative of status or setting. For example, emperors wore purple togas,
and mourners wore black togas to funerals (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988:
1402). Charioteers wore tunics that were the color of their particular order (Ad-
kins and Adkins 1994: 345).
Romans also saw a difference between undergarments and overgarments
(Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1403). Undergarments for men could consist of
lighter tunics or loincloths. It was inappropriate for Roman men not to wear
undergarments, especially men in professions in which whatever was beneath
their overgarments may have been exposed publicly. Women had a variety of
undergarment options, including leather or linen brassieres, called strophium,
which bound the breasts (Bonfante and Jaunzems 1988: 1404). Outerwear in-
cluded various types of shoes, sandals, or boots (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
345). Men did not cover their heads, but married women were expected to do
244 THE ROMANS
so when out in public (Cowell 1980: 73). Cloaks were also worn over the regu-
lar ensemble, depending on the weather (Cowell 1980: 74).
Personal Hygiene. Hygiene and grooming were very important to the Ro-
mans. There is a lot of evidence (more so than for most ancient cultures) for the
methods and styles of hygiene. Women wore makeup and perfumes. They
plucked their eyebrows and removed unwanted hair by rubbing the area with
pumice stones (Cowell 1980: 64). Men kept their beards until Scipio Africanus
made it fashionable for men to be clean-shaven (Cowell 1980: 66). Shaving was
considered too difficult a task for men to do themselves, so a barber or slave
would have to assist (Cowell 1980: 67). Hairstyles in general varied with
changing tastes (Cowell 1980: 65). There is much evidence, especially from art-
historical recordings, for different hairstyles. Perhaps the best-known type of
Roman hairstyle was what is known today as a “Caesar cut,” although this
was not the name of this style in antiquity. Dental care was just as important as
hair care; white teeth were the expected norm of the upper classes (Cowell
1980: 64). Bathing was perhaps the most important element of personal hy-
giene, but more is said on that topic in chapter 10.
Personal Adornment. Jewelry is an extensively studied subject. Only passing

comment is made on it here, as it is so well covered in popular works. An im-
portant type of jewelry was called the fibula. This was the pin used to fasten tu-
nics and togas, and was a common component of ancient European and
Mediterranean material culture traditions. It was worn by both sexes. Men
would wear brooches and possibly rings. Women wore more types of jewelry.
In addition to the types listed as worn by men, Roman women wore earrings,
necklaces, bracelets, bands, and hair accessories.
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X CHAPTER 10
Intellectual Accomplishments
A common theme will become apparent in this chapter: the claim that the
Romans were relatively impoverished in comparison with the Greeks in
terms of intellectual accomplishment. This belief is widely held by classicists
(especially by those who specialize in Greece) but it is not accurate. Although
it is easy to disparage the Roman intellectual heritage when comparing gladia-
tors with Plato, it is more difficult to justify this attitude toward Rome when its
cultural achievements are considered. If the Romans really were as intellectu-
ally deprived as scholars often suggest, how did they build the Pantheon? And
how did they manage an empire of such incredible size and diversity for so
long?
Roman intellectual accomplishments have to be considered on their own
terms. It is true that in terms of science and philosophy, the Romans borrowed
heavily from the Greeks. But at the same time, Romans adapted and used
Greek concepts in very distinct ways. The Romans were much more prag-
matic—intellectual thought was put into actual, practical use. The Roman
writings that have been preserved do not concentrate on speculative intellectu-
alism in the same ways that preserved Greek writings do. But the Romans
were familiar with those Greek traditions and attempted to preserve and dis-
seminate Greek science and philosophy. That should be considered an intellec-
tual accomplishment in and of itself.
ROMAN SCIENCE
Roman science was dominated by scholars who researched and compiled in-
formation from other authorities (Stahl 1962). The expert in Roman science was
ideally the individual who could compile as many different sources on a sub-
ject as possible, and by so doing, gain mastery of that subject himself (Stahl
1962). Although some of these authors (such as Varro and Pliny the Elder) pro-
duced massive tomes on these subjects, perhaps the most popular Roman sci-
entific works were handbooks (Potter 1996: 93; Stahl 1962). A book like the one
you are reading right now would have been very suitable to Roman scientific
tastes. Handbooks and abridgments of larger treatises were common tools for a
Roman scholar. Not only did they facilitate reading, but they also lowered the
cost of copying and purchasing the volumes (Stahl 1962). These kinds of works
were produced for practically all subjects, and this trend should be seen as one
of the guiding principles behind Roman science. What follows is a discussion
of some of the more prominent aspects of Roman science.
248
Intellectual Accomplishments 249
Calendar and Time

The Roman conception of the year changed over the course of Rome’s history
(the systems of year names used in Rome are discussed in chapter 3). In earli-
est times the Roman year consisted of ten lunar months (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 337; Fowler 1969: 2). Because ten lunar months do not add up to one full
solar year, this calendar eventually became problematic. Even when the
amount of lunar months in a year was increased to twelve (probably in the
sixth century B.C.E.), a Roman year was still not as long as a solar year (Adkins
and Adkins 1994: 337).
The month names that are used today are based on the Roman names. July is
named after Julius Caesar and August is named after Augustus. September
through December are all named after the months’ numerical order in the year.
The months had uneven amounts of days, with thirty-one, twenty-nine, or
twenty-eight days in each. About every other year, because of the discrepancy
with the solar year, an extra twenty-two or twenty-three days were added to
February (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 337). This did not reconcile the Roman
year with the solar year, however. By the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman year
was about three months ahead of the solar year (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
337).
Julius Caesar drastically changed the Roman calendrical system, transform-
ing it into basically the system we use today. Known as the Julian calendar, this
newly conceived calendar year was almost exactly the length of a solar year.
The modern conception of the year, based on the Gregorian calendar (intro-
duced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 C.E.), is virtually the same as the Julian.
The major exception is that the Gregorian calendar’s system of leap years more
accurately compensates for the discrepancy between the solar year and the cal-
endar year.
The system of labeling days was very different from our own. Rather than
numbering the days in consecutive order (e.g., the first of July, the second of
July, and so on), the Romans numbered the days in relation to three named
days (Fowler 1969: 9–10). The first of the month was called kalendae, the thir-
teenth or fifteenth day was called idus (ides), and in between was a day that
was nine days before idus called nonae. The other days in the month were
numbered based on their relationship to these other days. The concept of the
week initially seems to have reflected a nine-day schedule, as every ninth day
was considered a market day (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 338). The seven-day
week was eventually adopted in Rome through the influence of Hellenistic as-
trologers and the religions of Judaism and Christianity.
The day itself was understood as consisting of two distinct periods—night
and day (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 338). Each half of the day had exactly
twelve hours, but the length of the hours varied based on the season (Adkins
and Adkins 1994: 338). The modern abbreviations A.M. and P.M. are actually Ro-
man abbreviations for ante meridiem (before the middle of the day) and post
meridiem (after the middle of the day). To tell the hour, Romans used sundials,
shadow clocks, and, especially useful at night, water clocks. There did not
250 THE ROMANS
seem to be any concern with divisions of time that were smaller than hours
(e.g., minutes).
Astronomy and Astrology

Although the Romans are often accused of not having contributed anything to
the study of astronomy, this is not true. Some of history’s most important as-
tronomers lived in Roman times, although not always under Roman rule. Pick-
ing and choosing what is Greek and what is Roman leads to misunderstanding
the true connectedness of these two cultures. What is presented here is how as-
tronomy was viewed by the Romans, with no effort made to distinguish be-
tween Roman and Greek accomplishments. Although certain astronomical
theories may have been Greek in origin, the fact is that the Romans likely held
these beliefs, and it is worthwhile to know what the Romans understood.
Until Copernicus, perhaps the most influential astronomer was Ptolemy. He
lived from 100 to 178 C.E. in Egypt. Ptolemy was not the first astronomer to de-
scribe an astronomical system in which the earth was the center of the universe
with the sun, moon, and planets revolving around it. But Ptolemy’s theoretical
explanation of this situation, based on careful observation and synthesis of
previous astronomical works, made it the standard within the Roman (and
later the Islamic) world. In general, Ptolemy’s writings were far more sophisti-
cated than the general Roman understanding of the earth’s place in the
cosmos.
Particularly important in Roman times were the practical applications of as-
tronomy. Many professions required individuals to be well versed in astron-
omy. Surveyors’ equipment included astronomical manuals (Potter 1996: 94).
Roman urban planning was based on astronomical models (Potter 1996:: 94).
The sky was divided into quadrants, like the city, and the cardinal lines of the
sky (cardo and decamunus) bore the same names as the main roads in Roman
towns (Potter 1996: 93). Similarly, sailors and marine travelers used the stars
for orientation. And farmers used astronomy to assist in their planning around
agricultural cycles.
Another practical application of astronomy was astrology. Astrology, as
most are aware, was the science of predicting events on earth based on the
movements of the stars. The Romans inherited their astrological traditions
from both the Etruscans and the Greeks, but the oldest source for astrological
learning was ancient Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian roots of astrology
were so well acknowledged in Roman times that astrologers were often called
Chaldei, which is a term better used to describe a distinct group of people from
the region near the Mesopotamian city of Babylon. Astrology became very in-
fluential in Rome in the Republican period, when Greek cities were incorpo-
rated into Rome (Potter 1996: 96). Greek astrologers moved to Rome and pro-
duced important works. A notable astrologer was Posidonius, a Stoic, who
lived from about 135 B.C.E. to 50 B.C.E. He produced five books on astrology
and demonstrated the compatibility of astrology and Stoic philosophy (Potter
1996: 96). In general, astrology was quite popular with the Romans until the
period of the Christian emperors.
A fifteenth-century book depicts crowned Greek astronomer Ptolemy and his Renaissance
translator Regiomontanus. (Library of Congress)
252 THE ROMANS
Divination
Divination, the art of predicting the future based on observations and ritual
practices, was an important Roman science. Some might cringe at categorizing
divination as a science, but for the ancients this was appropriate. From the ear-
liest evidence of divination (in Mesopotamia), it is clear that ancient divination
was based on careful and rigorous observations of the natural world and his-
torical events. It was not a charlatan’s art; it was a legitimate attempt by the an-
cients to understand the connection among various elements of the world.
But the religious basis of divination should not be neglected. For many di-
viners, these arts were a primary medium of contact between gods and hu-
mans. The various divinatory practices allowed humans to find out the will of
the gods and to gain messages from the gods. Sometimes humans initiated this
kind of communication, when diviners performed in a ritual to ask the gods a
question. Other times, the gods initiated the communication system by send-
ing messages in the form of signs, which it was the responsibility of the divin-
ers to interpret. What follows are brief discussions of the major kinds of Ro-
man divination other than astrology.
Haruspices. The haruspices in Roman times were diviners who studied partic-
ular phenomena in order to understand the will of the gods. The term haruspex
refers to diviners who used any number of techniques. Only the most promi-
nent will be mentioned here. These traditions in Rome stem originally from the
omen literature of Mesopotamia and may have been transmitted to the Ro-
mans through Etruscan culture. There were direct connections between these
Mesopotamian arts and the Roman arts of the haruspex. Hepatoscopy, the
study of animal entrails, was another science that originated in Mesopotamia
and lasted through the Roman period. The trained diviner learned the will of
the gods through the examination of a slaughtered animal’s entrails (in
Mesopotamia the liver was the most important organ for this information).
This may seem horrifying to a modern reader, but it is important to remember
that slaughtering animals was a daily activity in the Roman world. There was
not the same kind of disassociation with food production in the ancient world
as there is now, so the slaughtering of an animal would not have been shock-
ing to a Roman. Related to hepatoscopy was the study of unusual natural phe-
nomena—deformed births, strange growths, or anything that in modern times
would be found in a Ripley’s Believe It or Not® museum. These phenomena
were signals from the gods and were deeply meaningful. Weather phenomena
were similarly important; thunder and lightning were usually bad omens (Pot-
ter 1996: 93). Especially given Jupiter’s connection to thunder and lightning,
these weather omens were of primary importance.
Augury. Augury was a method for learning whether the gods approved of
certain actions (like battles) before they were begun (Ferguson 1988b: 911).
This involved the careful observation of the habits of birds, referred to as “tak-
ing the auspices.” Although the Greeks knew this kind of divination, the Ro-
mans transformed augury into a rigorous science. Roman augurs followed
Aelius Aristides
Born in 117 C.E., Aelius Aristides is known from his autobiography, The Sacred
Tales. He was a man plagued by illnesses that first struck him in about 142 C.E.
These illnesses were debilitating (although some scholars have called Aris-
tides a hypochondriac). Whatever the nature of his illnesses, they were very
real to him. The Sacred Tales recount his healing, granted by the god Asclepius.
Asclepius communicated to Aristides through dreams, giving him advice on
methods of healing. These methods involved fasting, vomiting, and various
types of physical shock using extremes of temperature. Asclepius also com-
manded Aristides to record the advice-bearing dreams, which he did in his
autobiography.
very careful rules in performing the rituals and receiving answers to questions.
The system was too complicated for the general public, and eventually a col-
lege was established. Augurs were elected for life, and were responsible not
only for asking questions of the gods, but also for watching for unsolicited
messages from the gods.
Dreams and Dream Incubation. Divination through dreams was probably

the most accessible kind of divination available to the average Roman. Every-
one dreams, so theoretically everyone was able to receive messages from the
gods. But not everyone was able to interpret these dreams; for that, experts
were consulted. An easier alternative to consulting an expert was consulting a
dream interpretation book. These books listed possible topics in dreams and
what those topics symbolized. These kinds of books are still available today
and many are indirectly based on Roman writings. Dreams could also be incu-
bated, meaning that an individual could attempt to attract a dream addressing
certain kinds of information through certain ritual activities. This was espe-
cially useful for sick people, who would sleep in a sacred location in order to
gain a cure. The most famous of these sacred, dream-related areas was associ-
ated with the god Asclepius. Dreams were also important divinatory mecha-
nisms in Jewish and Christian traditions; there are many preserved dream ac-
counts from both communities.
Natural Sciences
It is difficult to discuss Roman scientific inquiry into the natural world in de-
tail. It is often stated that the Romans were not very interested in the natural
sciences, or that they never achieved the level of knowledge that the Greeks
were able to achieve. These kinds of claims overstate the situation, and in fact,
there is evidence for the work of some Roman scientists. The problem is that
the work of these scientists has not been preserved in written accounts.
254 THE ROMANS
Physics was a subject of great importance to the Romans. The most obvious
manifestations of this interest are the massive feats of engineering and technol-
ogy that would have been impossible without some knowledge of physics.
True, this is applied science, but that does not make it any less rigorous or ac-
complished than theoretical science. For those people who put theoretical sci-
ence on a higher level, though, there are Roman examples even of this, particu-
larly among the Epicureans. Lucretius’s poem, De Rerum Natura, is a poem
about atomic theory (Potter 1996: 92). In verse, Lucretius expounded on the ba-
sic constituent elements of the natural world and commented about quantum
mechanics.
Similarly, the biological and geographical sciences were also of interest to
the Romans. Perhaps the best-known example of this kind of literature is the
encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder, called Natural History. In this thirty-
seven-volume work, Pliny has compiled Greek and Latin learning on subjects
such as zoology, botany, mineralogy, astronomy, mathematical geography, and
topographical geography. The work relies heavily on Greek sources, but its
popularity in Rome was surely indicative of Roman interests in the more theo-
retical aspects of the natural sciences.
The Study of History

More Greek historical writing has survived to the present day than Roman his-
torical writing (Lintott 1988: 226), and because of this, classicists tend to devote
more energy to the study of Greek historiography. But the study of history by
the Romans was remarkable and innovative. Roman history writing’s goals
were different from those of modern, scholarly history writing, but this does
not mean that Roman history writing was inferior. History writing was not
meant to be an objective, dispassionate account of the past. On the contrary,
the study of history by the Romans was intended to glorify and preserve the
memory of Rome, as well as to provide lessons and practical instruction for fu-
ture readers based on the actions of past figures (Mellor 1988: 1554). Because of
this, Roman history often takes on moralizing tones that are inappropriate in
modern history writing (Mellor 1988: 1541). But the goal of compiling history,
for the Romans, was to provide lessons for the readers. There are two general
types of Roman history writing: the narrative of historical events associated
with Rome and the writing of biographies and autobiographies of important
people.
The narration of historical events in Roman historical writing usually re-
volved around the city of Rome, its wars, and its internal politics (Lintott 1986:
236; Mellor 1988: 1543). The glorification of Rome was important, as was the
preservation of the memory of Rome (Lintott 1988: 226). But the practical as-
pect of Roman history writing cannot be ignored. Roman historians did not
study history for history’s sake. They wrote in order to learn (or provide in-
struction) from the past (Collingwood 1945: 34). For this reason, the individu-
als who actually participated in historical events were considered the best his-
tory writers (Lintott 1988: 227, 231). Modern history writing discourages this;
the modern historian should be objective and uninvolved. But for the Romans,
Title page of a 1519 edition of Pliny’s Natural History. (Library of Congress)
256 THE ROMANS
people who acted in historically important events could provide the greatest
insight and instruction based on their participation. The causes of historical
events were particularly important. Understanding why things happened as
they did was one of the best means of learning from the past.
Another major theme in Roman historical writing was recounting the stories
of great people. Autobiographies were written to justify the individual’s own
actions to future readers (Lintott 1988: 231; Mellor 1988: 1557). Biographies
were written as models for good and bad behavior (Lintott 1988: 23; Mellor
1988: 1554). These biographies were not always glowing praise of past figures.
Suetonius compiled imperial biographies, filled with both the achievements
and the scandals of the emperors. Plutarch compiled a work that compared the
lives of various Roman and Greek individuals to demonstrate particular as-
pects of humanity.
ROMAN PHILOSOPHY
Roman philosophy has been consistently underrated by later critics. However,
it is true that philosophy was not well received in the Republican period. In
fact, in 161 B.C.E., the Senate allowed philosophers to be expelled from the city
(Shelton 1988: 426). And compared with Greek accomplishments in this area of
intellectual activity, Roman accomplishments were less obvious, often based
directly upon earlier Greek schools of thought. However, it is important to rec-
ognize that the Romans contributed substantially to the history of the disci-
pline of philosophy. Even when using Greek models, Roman philosophers
adapted these schools of thought in particularly Roman ways.
Before specific individuals and schools of thought are described, some obser-
vations about ancient Roman philosophy in general should be made. For ex-
ample, to the Roman, philosophy was an important guide to how one should
conduct oneself and how one should live. It was more than just an intellectual
pursuit; it had direct application to everyday life. Morality and the relationship
between humans and gods were important subjects of inquiry. Also of impor-
tance to Roman philosophers were the subjects of physics and metaphysics.
The very nature of the composition and functioning of the universe was di-
rectly tied to “right living” in the Roman mind. Although it might seem un-
usual to the reader that philosophy and physics should be so connected, that
connection is still quite strong today. In the sections that follow, some of the
specific schools of thought prominent in Roman times are addressed.
Stoicism
Arguably the most influential philosophical school in Roman times was Sto-
icism. Founded in Athens by Zeno, the name Stoic is derived from the colon-
nade where Zeno lectured, called the Stoa. Originally from Cyprus, Zeno lived
from about 333 to 262 B.C.E. He should not be mistaken for the Zeno written
about by Aristotle. At the basis of Stoic philosophy was the concept of logos, of-
ten translated into English as “logic” (Hayes 2002: xx). True knowledge in-
volves understanding logos. All knowledge is a process based on perception
by the senses (Hayes 2002: xxvii). These perceptions were then evaluated by
the mind, according to Stoic logic. Physics was equally important in the quest
for wisdom. Zeno’s Stoic school had a distinct view of the makeup of the uni-
verse. All things had some sort of bodily substance, and this bodily substance
was unified and connected (Shelton 1988: 432). Unlike the Epicureans, Stoics
did not believe in atoms, and they did not believe that individual components
made up the greater whole (Shelton 1988: 432). Yet the Stoics did believe that at
the same time that everything is physically connected, everything is also ever-
changing. These basic notions of the physical world lie at the heart of Stoic
thought. In addition, ethics, which had as its goal the attainment of happiness,
was also important (Shelton 1988: 432).
The popularity of Stoicism in Roman society made sense for a number of rea-
sons. It was possible to study ethics from a Stoic perspective, without studying
logic and physics, if the individual was not interested in the latter subjects
(Shelton 1988: 431). And indeed, many Romans were not very interested in
studies that did not lead to tangible, practical results. Since Stoicism was a very
adaptable philosophy, it was easy to pick and choose the parts of the doctrines
that were desirable—a particularly Roman approach to philosophy. Many of
the specific features of Stoic philosophy were also well suited to Roman values.
In general, the Stoics praised discipline and steadfastness as virtuous ways of
life (Shelton 1988: 431). The very meaning of the word stoic in modern English
well suits the Roman Stoic ideals, which also well suits Roman values derived
from other areas of life. And because Stoicism did not require withdrawal from
public, civic, or familial life, it was easily incorporated into Roman society
(Clarke 1956). Stoicism was also more easily compatible with Roman religion
(Clarke 1956). The stories of the gods were useful as a means of describing the
human condition. But more useful was divination, which allowed the diviner
direct access to the rhythms of the world and nature.
Of tremendous importance in Stoic thought was the idea that happiness was
best attained by living in harmony with nature (Clarke 1956). However, this
was not the kind of harmony with nature, or the simple life, that was espoused
by American transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson. To the Stoics, “na-
ture” meant the material substance that was manifest in all that exists (Shelton
1988: 432). For humans, reason was the embodiment of this concept, and as
such, the happy person was the one who lived according to reason. Part of this
process was the deprivation of or control over emotion. Remember, in Stoic
logic, information is first gained from the senses and then evaluated by the
mind. This is the stage when the virtuous individual had the possibility to fol-
low reason and decide not to react emotionally to a situation. Choice was para-
mount; if you followed Stoic teachings, nothing could affect you unless you al-
lowed it to do so.
Although the exact teachings of Stoicism varied considerably, the foregoing
descriptions represent the general gist of the teachings. Although many Ro-
mans followed Stoicism, we know about the philosophy through the writings
of only a few individuals. Seneca the Younger is an important source on Sto-
icism, as he wrote so voluminously. Seneca lived from around 4 B.C.E. to 65 C.E.
258 THE ROMANS
Engraving from a portrait bust of Marcus Aurelius. (Pixel That)
and argued that it was important to put oneself in difficult situations to test
one’s ability to endure and apply reason (Shelton 1988: 435). Suicide was an
appropriate response to unbearable hardship (Shelton 1988: 435), and Seneca
chose this route, killing himself rather than suffer after being implicated in a
conspiracy to kill Nero.
Perhaps the most famous Roman Stoic is Marcus Aurelius. Emperor of
Rome from 161 to 180 C.E., Marcus Aurelius has gained modern-day popular-
ity with various editions of his Meditations. Like The Art of War by Sun Tzu,
these ancient writings speak vividly to modern readers. People have regarded
it as an ancient kind of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. So it is important
to be careful about which edition you read, because the commentaries often
have more to do with current publishing trends than with Roman civilization.
Meditations was written while Marcus Aurelius was campaigning against the
barbarians and is an eclectic collection of thoughts. He was not particularly
representative of Stoics, because in his writings, he appeared quite emotional

and was unapologetic for that (Hayes 2002). But his observations were, for the
most part, firmly rooted in a Stoic understanding of the world. His writing
was also the last major strictly Stoic work, although Stoic philosophy played
an important role in later Christian thought.
Epicureanism
Also imported from Athenian tradition was Epicureanism, which, although
not as popular in Rome, was still quite important. Epicureans were disciples of
Epicurus, who taught in Athens and lived from 341 to 271 B.C.E. Most of our
knowledge of him comes from the poet Lucretius, who lived in Rome from 99
to 55 B.C.E. At the outset of this discussion it is important to clarify that the En-
glish word epicure (meaning a person wholly devoted to sensual pleasure)
does not reflect Epicurean thought, but rather the hostile reaction of later writ-
ers to Epicurean thought. In many ways, this was actually the opposite of what
Epicureans believed.
Sensual pleasure was not real pleasure. Happiness, according to the Epicure-
ans, was attained by becoming free of stress (Shelton 1988: 427). Things that
caused sensual pleasure were dangerous because they could lead to pain. Lux-
ury did not increase happiness; it was best to satisfy needs as simply as possi-
ble (Clarke 1956: 7; Shelton 1988: 427). Desire, which was related to luxury, was
a kind of mental illness (Clarke 1956). Desire for anything—power, wealth,
love—would lead to pain eventually (Clarke 1956). True happiness was gained
by withdrawing completely from life; marriage and civic participation were
not approved of in Epicurean thought (Clarke 1956). Friendship, on the other
hand, was healthy and led to increased happiness. Sexual activity was also
beneficial, so long as it was unencumbered with obligation (Clarke 1956).
Fear, like desire, was another hindrance to happiness. One of the chief are-
nas in which fear was created was religion. Humans feared the gods, and this
fear led to a loss of happiness. Although the gods did exist, according to the
Epicureans, they were remote beings that did not participate in human life in
any way (Asmis 1988: 1640). So it was senseless to attempt to involve oneself
with the gods through religion. Fear could be vanquished through physics and
scientific knowledge (Shelton 1988: 427). To the Epicureans, knowledge of the
world made the world a less fearful place. Although the soul did not survive
death, the constituent elements of the self—atoms—were eternal (Shelton
1988: 427–428). All things were composed of atoms or void, according to the
Epicurean physicists. Death was the process of atoms disassembling from their
current state (Shelton 1988: 428).
Much of this philosophy did not fit well with Roman ideals. The idea that
civic and familial life should be avoided was anathema to the Romans (Clarke
1956). Civic and familial life were the cornerstones of Roman society. More-
over, the belief that the gods did not participate in human life was also difficult
for the average Roman. But even with its lack of fit in normative Roman soci-
ety, Epicureanism played an important role in the philosophical development
of the civilization.
260 THE ROMANS
Roman Understandings of Plato

Just as he is today, Plato was regarded as one of the most important philosoph-
ical figures in Roman intellectual traditions. A Greek philosopher, Plato lived
from 427 B.C.E. to 347 B.C.E. and was one of the most influential figures in hu-
man history. This discussion will be limited to Roman additions to the history
of Platonic thought.
Plato’s contributions are usually seen in terms of three distinct schools, al-
though it should be remembered that these three categories are much more fluid
than they may appear in the descriptions that follow. All relate in some way to
the institution of the Academy, the school founded by Plato, which survived
(with interruptions) in some form or another until the Christian emperors.
Skepticism. Skepticism was the dominant school of thought at the Academy

until the rise of Middle Platonism, and even afterward, it continued to be an
important tradition in ancient Rome (Meredith 1986: 292). As the name sug-
gests, Skeptics struggled with the impossibilities of human knowledge. Be-
cause people experienced the same thing in different ways, absolute truth was
an impossible goal. The best approach to knowledge was to reserve judgment
and not make truth claims.
Middle Platonism. Middle Platonism was a school of Platonic interpretation

that departed substantially from the Skepticism of the Academy. The founder of
Middle Platonism was Antiochus, who died in 68 B.C.E. His teachings have not
been well preserved, but what is known is that he taught against the Platonic in-
terpretations of the Academy and saw a greater connection between Plato and
Aristotle than what was considered acceptable by the Academy (Meredith 1986:
293). Other important thinkers who have been understood in terms of Middle
Platonism include Plutarch, Philo of Alexandria, and Albinus. Middle Platon-
ism was never really a coherent, unitary philosophical system, and it is doubtful
that these philosophers read one another’s works (Meredith 1986: 296).
Neoplatonism. Founded by Plotinus, who died in 270 C.E., neoplatonism was

the dominant philosophy of the Roman Empire until the closing of the Acad-
emy in 529 C.E. by Justinian. It was a philosophy that attempted to synthesize
previous systems, and in so doing criticized Stoicism, Skepticism, and Gnosti-
cism (Meredith 1986: 297). At the base of neoplatonism was experience
(Meredith 1986: 297). The individual experienced neoplatonic truths rather
than intellectualizing them (Meredith 1986: 297). This is evident from descrip-
tions of Plotinus’s personal, ecstatic experiences (Meredith 1986: 298). Also im-
portant to neoplatonism was the movement of the individual toward a closer
relationship to God. Neoplatonism had a profound influence on Christian
thought; St. Augustine’s writings were greatly indebted to this tradition.
Gnosticism
The Gnostics were a sect of Christianity with very distinctive philosophical un-
derstandings. They were the subject of scorn and attack from other Roman
philosophers and are of particular interest to modern audiences. Because of

the popularity of Gnosticism in modern, pseudoarchaeological sources, it is es-
pecially important to be critical when reading books about them. The term
Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge.” This
knowledge was the knowledge of redemption that humanity gained about the
divinity and was held by a specific group of people only. The Gnostics differ-
entiated between the creator and God; they were not one and the same. Of
great importance to the study of the Gnostics was the discovery of the Nag
Hammadi papyri. Named after the city near where they were found, these pa-
pyri have proved to be an important source on the Gnostics from their own
perspective. The texts were written in Coptic and include interpretations of
canonical scripture as well as unique works.
ROMAN LAW
Roman law was dynamic and complex. It is impossible to give a complete
overview of Roman legal practices and philosophy here. Rather, specific
themes of importance will be singled out. The evidence for Roman law is quite
uneven. There is much information from the later imperial periods, as well as
much writing by individuals who were interested in law. On the other hand,
there is very little information on how law affected the underprivileged, or
what the social basis for law was. The actual practice of law is also not as clear
as some scholars suggest.
Modern scholars tend to write glowing accounts of Roman law. It was de-
scribed as one of humanity’s greatest intellectual achievements and was seen
Roman Legal Classifications
The Romans had an advanced system of legal classification.To a Roman jurist,

there were many different kinds of law, but the primary distinction was be-
tween public and private law.This distinction is still present in North Ameri-
can legal systems today. Within this binary division, the law was further un-
derstood as being divided into smaller subsections, including criminal law,
personal law, property law, and contract law. One of the distinctions within
Roman property law that is interesting is the distinction between property
that was res mancipi or res nec mancipi (Jolowicz 1967: 139–141). This was a
distinction about the rights an individual had to sell property. Property that
was res mancipi could be transferred to another individual only through a
very elaborate ceremony (Watson 1988: 618).This kind of property was usu-
ally equipment necessary for subsistence and often communally owned, for
example, agricultural equipment. By the late Republican period, this ceremony
had become anachronistic but was performed anyway (Watson 1988: 618).
Property that was res nec mancipi could be alienated in any number of ways,
and was not restricted in the same manner (Watson 1988: 618).
262 THE ROMANS
as the basis of continental Europe’s modern legal system (Watson 1973: 3). One
of the key points often suggested by scholars of Rome is that Roman law was
the first legal system divorced from religion. Often this is viewed against our
most familiar ancient legal source—the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. The
context of the rich legal material found in the Bible is a series of commands
given by God. For that very reason, Roman scholars saw Roman law, which
was not thought to be divinely inspired, as a step beyond biblical law. Even if
this argument could be considered valid (as it is an extreme oversimplification
of the biblical material), Rome nonetheless was not the earliest society with
laws based in human activities and divorced from the divine. Mesopotamia
had a rich legal tradition and survives in many sources. Moreover, in the early
years of the Roman republic, the responsibility for the interpretation of law
was held by the College of Pontiffs—a religious institution! Roman law was
not the clear break with the past that many Roman scholars claim. When read-
ing accounts of Roman law, be careful to separate the author’s enthusiasm for
the subject from the considerable data available for its study.
Sources of Roman Law

It was previously mentioned that the source of Roman law was not religion.
Given that this is the case, where did the authority to create law come from in
Roman society? Who created law in Rome? These are complex questions and
important ones since they stand at the very heart of Roman legal philosophy.
The sources of Roman law changed throughout Rome’s long history. Custom
certainly played a part in Roman law (Jolowicz 1967: 99; Shelton 1988: 248;
Watson 1988: 608). Especially in the governing of the provinces, common law
could not be ignored. But unlike North American legal systems, custom was
not the dominant legal force in Rome. Rather, law came from people who spe-
cialized in the subject through activities such as issuing edicts, compiling legal
writings, or trying court cases (Watson 1988: 609). Some of the more important
sources are listed in the sections that follow.
The Twelve Tables. A demand made by the plebs during the Conflict of the
Orders (see chapter 6) was that laws be written down (Jolowicz 1967: 11). In
451 B.C.E., according to ancient sources, ten patricians (called the decemviri)
were commissioned to record a series of laws (Jolowicz 1967: 11). These laws
came to be known as The Twelve Tables. Tablets were set up in the Forum so
that all could read these laws (but see Schiller 1978: 146–147). The Gauls de-
stroyed the original tablets in 390 B.C.E., but their contents were preserved in
numerous copies (although no complete edition exists today). Even after their
destruction by the Gauls, these laws were perceived as the basis of subsequent
Roman law (Jolowicz 1967: 106). An important part of Roman education was
the study of these original Twelve Tables or editions of them (Jolowicz 1967:
106; Schiller 1978: 148).
Because a complete edition of the laws is not available, it is impossible to be
certain about their contents and format (Cornell 1995: 278). Many scholars
have attempted to reconstruct the order of the laws and their overall format,
but these attempts can only be considered interpretations (see Schiller 1978:
149–151). The form in which the laws survive is often puzzling. Without con-
text, the fragments of the laws are often very strange and difficult to under-
stand. Sometimes the law was in the form of an “if-then” statement (Cornell
1995: 279; Jolowicz 1967: 107). Other times it was in the form of prohibitive
statements (“you shall not”) (Cornell 1995: 279).
Scholars have been able to identify some of the issues dealt with by the laws
(Cornell 1995: 280–292). Regulations on treatment of slaves and debt-slaves
was a theme (see chapter 6). Family law was also included, giving the husband
the same rights over his wife as over his children. At the same time, obligations
and the rights of other family members were also listed. Regulations on the ob-
ligations between individuals of different status were also included (see chap-
ter 6 for a discussion of status).
Edicts. Legal edicts tended not to be long lists of rules and regulations in the
Roman world. Rather, the form of a legal edict was a statement of intent
(Jolowicz 1967: 95). The author would attempt to convey a general statement
of principle. In the Republican period, the praetors would issue edicts that
would stand during their year-long term in office (Watson 1988: 609). By the
imperial period, praetorial edicts were no longer an important component.
The comitia tributa became more responsible for the issuing of legal edicts
(Watson 1988: 610). Any edict issued by the emperor was, of course, binding
(Watson 1988: 611). By 230 C.E., the Senate had become the dominant source of
legal edicts (Jolowicz 1967: 372–373).
Independent Legal Writing. One of the most compelling components of Ro-

man law was the primary position of legal intellectuals, who worked within
the legal system without a formally state-recognized position. These people
were called jurists. From the reign of Augustus on, jurists were the most
prominent authorities on law in Rome (Schiller 1978: 273; Watson 1988: 610).
They did not have a formal position, nor were they paid for their services
(Watson 1988: 609). However, remuneration for their services came in the form
of political support gained from helping a wide array of people, because jurists
were frequently aspiring politicians (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 47). The jurists
produced voluminous amounts of writing and discrete schools of thought
arose. Perhaps the most famous of these works is Institutes by Gaius (Schiller
1978: 43). This is a book that survived almost completely and was the struc-
tural basis for the Justinian Code (Watson 1970: 17). It is an elementary source-
book, consisting of four sections, detailing different aspects of the law, and was
written in the second century C.E. Its contemporaries did not cite this book, nor
do contemporary jurists mention Gaius (Jolowicz 1967: 396). It was not until
426 C.E. that Gaius was granted ius respondendi, which was the right to give a
legal opinion, a right bestowed on prominent jurists (Jolowicz 1967: 92; Schiller
1978: 276).
Legal Practices
The actual practice of law in Rome is not completely clear. The records tend to
illustrate the legal mechanisms in place for the wealthy and from the perspec-
264 THE ROMANS
An eighteenth-century print of a Roman magistrate (“pretore”). (Stapleton Collection/Corbis)
tive of those heavily interested in the law. There is not much information on
how an everyday person encountered Rome’s legal apparatus.
There seem to have been two major types of legal action that could be taken
by a Roman. One was the drawing up of forms (legis actio), which involved the
writing of complex legal documents that properly fit into traditional formulas
(Jolowicz 1967: 87; Watson 1988: 612). The document’s consistency with tradi-
tion was one of the primary criteria for evaluating its merit (but, see Watson
1988: 612). The second kind of legal action was the drawing up of a formal
claim, which the plaintiff attempted to prove against the defendant (Watson
1988: 613).
Courts existed in numerous forms in Rome. In the Republican period, mag-
istrates were responsible for trying cases (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 47). At
some point in the second century B.C.E., permanent courts were established
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 47). Often these courts were dedicated to specific
kinds of legal issues, such as inheritance or property cases (Adkins and Adkins
1994: 47). The Senate held power over criminal cases (Adkins and Adkins 1994:
47). In the Roman provinces, legal issues were tried by the governor, who
toured the province under his control (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 42).
LITERATURE
The literature of the Romans is one of that civilization’s great contributions to
world heritage. The Romans produced beautiful and innovative works of
prose and poetry. Often Roman literature is unfairly maligned by scholars who
put primacy on Greek writing, but much of Latin literature is of the highest
quality. In terms of the study of Roman civilization, literature receives the most
attention, because the study of classics revolves around the study of those an-
cient writings. Because of the huge amount of scholarship that has been cre-
ated through the study of Roman literature (which began in the Roman pe-
riod!) it would be impossible to survey it here. Rather, the following is a sketch
outline of the major periods of Roman literature (as defined by modern schol-
ars). This is only a starting point, but it should help the reader become familiar
with the concepts used by scholars of Roman literature.
Formative Period (until approximately 80 B.C .E.)

The earliest Latin literature is heavily dependent on Greek models (Brown 1986:
60). The earliest preserved Latin literature dates from the third century B.C.E. (as
did many of the intellectual accomplishments mentioned in this chapter), the
period in which Roman contacts with the Greek world were intensifying. Most
of the writings from this period have not survived, but later sources describe
them. For example, later classical writers discuss Saturnian narrative meter
(meter refers to the rhythm of the poem, which, in ancient literature, was based
on the number of syllables in the line). But not many examples of Saturnian me-
ter have survived, and scholars disagree on many of its nuances.
What are well preserved are Latin versions of the Greek New Comedy form.
Greek New Comedy was roughly equivalent to modern sitcoms; it was stories
of stereotyped situations in everyday settings (Arnott 1988: 1485). The charac-
terizations were the major force of the plays (Hunter 1985: 59), which were rig-
orously structured into five acts separated by choral interludes unrelated to the
play (Hunter 1985: 35–36). Between 205 and 184 B.C.E., Plautus wrote twenty
comedies in this style. In poetic verse, Plautus still managed to employ collo-
quial Latin speech and created very engaging characters and settings. Terence
wrote plays of this same type slightly later, most revolving around love affairs
and ironic situations. The most renowned of these early Latin authors was En-
nius, who lived from 239 to 169 B.C.E. Unfortunately his works have not sur-
vived. But from later sources we know that he wrote in many genres (Brown
1986: 72). His masterpiece, Annales, was an epic detailing the history of Rome,
and it was quite well regarded in antiquity (Brown 1986: 73).
266 THE ROMANS
The Golden Age (80–14 B.C .E.)

Latin literature reached its highest forms at the end of the republic and the be-
ginnings of the empire. As is true of much of history, periods of great social
and political turmoil are often fertile arenas for literary production. At this
time, Latin literature began to take on its own forms and to move beyond mere
imitation of Greek forms. Writing began to become thought of as a “Roman oc-
cupation” (Lyne 1986: 184). And many of the great writers of this period were
also statesmen, participating in the construction of society at all levels. Schol-
ars typically divide this period into two subperiods, the Ciceronian period and
the Augustan period, both roughly corresponding to the lifetimes of their
namesakes.
The Ciceronian period lasted from 80 to 43 B.C.E. It was a time of turmoil and
controversy in the city of Rome. The period takes its name from Cicero, one of
the most important statesmen in all of history. Cicero was Rome’s finest orator,
and is often considered to have written in flawless Latin. Much of his abun-
dant body of work survives, including personal letters and masterpieces of
Latin rhetoric. But Cicero was not the only skilled writer producing works at
this time. This is the period of Lucretius’s poem, De Rerum Natura, which is po-
etry stemming from Epicureanism. Catullus innovated styles of poetry that
used Greek forms (Nisbet 1986: 114). But what was novel was that Catullus
wrote about everyday life in poetic forms (Nisbet 1986: 109). Catullus’s most
famous poems were those about his mistress, whom he called Lesbia, in order
to keep her true identity a secret; she was actually the sister of a very powerful
Roman (Nisbet 1986: 111). Other authors from this period are Julius Caesar,
Nepos, Publius Syrus, and Sallust.
Cicero
Cicero was one of the major intellectual figures of Roman civilization. Living
from 106 B.C.E. to 43 B.C.E., Cicero was a master of many arts, including law,
rhetoric, and philosophy. More than 800 of his letters survive, as do numer-
ous examples of other kinds of prose. His writing became a model of prose
for later Latin writers, and it is still viewed as some of the most technically
superb Latin writing. His philosophical writings were not particularly novel,
and according to him, they were more a means of participating in public life
after he had been banned from public service. Cicero desired to bring Greek
philosophical writing to Rome and attempted to summarize it for the Ro-
mans. In his account of philosophy, Cicero purposely avoided taking a stance
in regard to the philosophical traditions because he did not want his author-
ity to decide the matter for the reader. Although Cicero’s importance in Ro-
man philosophy has been emphasized in earlier chapters of this book, his po-
litical contributions should not be ignored. He was an expert statesman and
one of Rome’s most influential individuals.
Eclogue the First, an eighteenth-century English engraving of the Eclogues of Virgil. (Library of
Congress)
The Augustan Age is traditionally considered to have lasted from 43 B.C.E.

until 14 C.E. Unlike the Ciceronian period, the Augustan Age was a period of
stability and calm. During this time, literature developed in tremendous
strides. Much of this literary growth was directly related to the patronage of
Emperor Augustus, who purposefully sought to employ artists of all types in
service of the state. Augustan art in all media is frequently replete with propa-
gandistic tendencies, but that did not always mean that the art and literature
were deficient. In fact, much of this literature was some of the finest ever writ-
ten. This was the time in which Virgil, one of the world’s greatest poets, lived
(70–19 B.C.E.). Virgil wrote poetry about a variety of subjects, including nature
and farm life. His Epicurean philosophy showed in his writing. He is most fa-
mous for his epic poem The Aeneid, which he had ordered destroyed upon his
death, as he had not been able to complete it to his satisfaction. Augustus did
not allow this, and the beautiful poem survives to this day. Horace was an-
other great state-sponsored poet; Augustus was his patron. Likewise, Livy glo-
rified the state of Rome; his large work on the history of Rome consisted of 142
books. Ovid, on the other hand, was an extremely popular writer with the gen-
eral public, but not with the state. He was exiled in 8 C.E. But before this, Ovid
268 THE ROMANS
wrote Metamorphoses, which recounts much of Greek and Roman mythology.

He was also renowned for his work Ars Amatoria, which detailed the arts of
love.
Silver Age (14 B.C .E. –138 C .E.)

Generally the Silver Age is thought to have marked a decline in Roman literary
output. And at one level that is certainly true. At no time in the Silver Age does
literature receive as much prominence as it did in the Augustan Age. But the
same could be said of many other aspects of Roman life, and the literature of
the Silver Age should not be considered inferior to that of the Golden Age. Ad-
mittedly, however, there were no masterpieces from this period to rival Meta-
morphoses and The Aenied.
In this period, Latin authors no longer wrote in the shadow of Greek authors
so much as they wrote in the shadow of the Latin masters of the Augustan Age
(Jenkyns 1986: 267–268). This can be seen in some of the developments of the
literature of this period. Frequently pointed out is that even in some of the
finer-quality works, there is a certain artificiality to the writing (Wheelock
1995: xxxiii). The Roman rhetorical arts certainly influenced literary forms
(Russel 1986), which gave the literature a technically superb feel, but a shallow
feel nonetheless. Some of the more important writers of this period were
Seneca, Martial, Pliny, Tacitus, and Juvenal.
Late Latin (138 C .E.–beyond Rome)

After the Silver Age, it is much more difficult to classify Latin literature in
broad terms. The writing of this period covered a long expanse of time, into
the medieval period, and as such is difficult to speak of coherently. Scholars
are more likely to discuss specific authors than to use broad terms such as
those mentioned previously, with some exceptions. One such exception is the
use of the designation “Archaising period,” which is typically taken as ranging
from the mid- to late second century C.E. (Wheelock 1995: xxxiv). Trends at this
time included the purposeful use of early Latin and Vulgar Latin (the Latin
spoken by the general populace). Fronto and Aulus Gellius are two of the more
prominent authors who could be characterized in this way. Another archaising
tendency was the rebirth of interest in Greek sophistry (rhetoric), sometimes
called the Second Sophistic by classicists. The romance novel became quite
popular at this time. These were entertaining adventure stories, featuring pi-
rates, exotic locales, and adventurous situations. Another designation of a time
of late Latin literary productivity is the patristic period, which spanned the
late second to fifth centuries. The term patristic refers to the fact that the writers
in this category were early Christian church fathers. Their writings, while
heavily influenced by the classics, were Christian in nature and message. The
intention was to reach the masses, and because of this, Vulgar Latin was com-
monly used (Wheelock 1995: xxxiv). Notable is the Latin translation of the
Bible, called the Vulgate, produced by St. Jerome at this time. Other famous pa-
tristic writers are Tertullian, Ambrose, and Augustine.
Roman Libraries
Libraries were known from the Greek and Hellenistic periods; the library in
Alexandria was the most famous. In Rome, libraries were of two types—pri-
vate and public. Private libraries developed first. Often these libraries, as was
the case with the library of Lucullus, were composed of books looted after
attacks on Greek cities. Other private libraries, like Cicero’s, were created by
purchasing books and borrowing books to have them copied. Bookstores
were essentially scriptoria, businesses that would copy books for a fee. How-
ever, among the elites it was just as common to borrow books and have
clerks copy them. Julius Caesar announced the construction of the first public
library in Rome in 44 B.C.E. Unfortunately, Caesar was killed before construc-
tion could begin.A colleague of his,Asinius Pollio, followed through with Cae-
sar’s idea, and after a military campaign in 39 B.C.E., in which he gained enough
booty to pay for a library, he founded Rome’s first public library. No remains
of this library have been preserved. Augustus, in 28 B.C.E., added a library to
the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill.This library consisted of two cham-
bers, side by side. One chamber held Latin books and the other held Greek.
Niches in the walls held wooden bookshelves that stored the manuscripts.
Another important library was the one built by Trajan.Trajan’s library also had
separate Greek and Latin chambers, but these faced each other, with Trajan’s
Column (which still stands today) in between.The major innovation of Roman
libraries was the space dedicated to reading. Greek libraries were essentially
storehouses. But Roman libraries left the center of the rooms open as read-
ing space.There is evidence that individuals could borrow books from the li-
brary, but it is not clear to what extent this was allowed.
EDUCATION
Like many components of Roman life, education was a practical matter. Skills
and knowledge were taught to children to prepare them for later life. Educa-
tion was not for the sake of education; not everyone in Rome needed to under-
stand physics. So education in Roman times concentrated on instilling in chil-
dren the information needed for participation in Roman life. Education first
took place in the home and, from the third century B.C.E. on, took place in
schools as well.
Home Education
Most of what we know about Roman home education in the earlier periods is
derived from the writings of Cato the Elder. Cato was very conservative and
argued for a return to the “good old days.” Education was one of Cato’s inter-
ests. Children’s education was the responsibility of the pater familias (Wiede-
mann 1989: 143). In the earliest periods of Roman history, the education given
270 THE ROMANS
at home was relatively informal. Boys (and, less frequently, girls) learned
enough information to conduct simple business transactions (Cowell 1980: 38).
This involved some degree of literacy as well as rudimentary mathematics
training. The father in the home also taught Roman traditions, laws, and other
social information (Wooten 1988: 1109). Boys learned physical skills necessary
for military life. Girls accompanied older female household members on their
daily routines to learn appropriate domestic skills (Cowell 1980: 39; Wooten
1988: 1110).
Formal Education
Sometime in the third century B.C.E., more formal educational institutions be-
came normative in Rome. Wealthy families could purchase slaves (or hire
freedmen) for the job of teaching their children (Shelton 1988: 106). But most
Romans chose a less expensive option—sending their children out to a school
(Shelton 1988: 107). These schools were privately funded institutions (Shelton
1988: 108), either endowed by wealthy patrons or kept afloat by the sole
teacher. Teachers’ salaries were very low (Cowell 1980: 41). Some schools were
located in rented rooms, in a variety of types of buildings (Cowell 1980: 41).
Other schools, to avoid the costs of facilitating a structure, taught outside in
open areas (Shelton 1988: 108). The school day began at dawn and normally
ended sometime around midday (Cowell 1980: 40; Shelton 1988: 108).
There were three levels of Roman schooling. The lowest level of schooling
was open to both boys and girls, and was taught by a magister or litterator
(Cowell 1980: 44; Shelton 1988: 107). Sometime between the ages of ten and
twelve, girls would stop their education, but some boys would continue on to
the grammaticus (Shelton 1988: 107). This level of schooling was mostly in lan-
guage skills; boys learned writing, speaking, and Greek (Cowell 1980: 44; Shel-
ton 1988: 107). Other topics (such as astronomy) were covered, but they were
discussed only to allow the students to better understand literature, not out of
a value held for the subject itself. The highest level of schooling was the rhetor,
to which only the wealthiest boys progressed, at about the age of fifteen (Shel-
ton 1988: 108). This kind of education was geared toward careers in public of-
fice through the teaching of rhetoric (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 211; Wooten
1988: 1115).
Rhetoric
Derived from the Greeks, rhetoric (along with literature) was the major goal of
a young Roman’s education (Clarke 1956). Rhetoric was the art of speaking
(but see Kennedy 1972: 3–4), and was a necessary component of education for
an individual pursuing a career in public life (such as law or politics). There
were five main types of training involved in the study of rhetoric (Wooten
1988: 1114). First, it was necessary to decide what information was appropriate
for speaking and what kinds of information needed to be included. Second,
the student needed to learn how to structure that information into a coherent
whole (Wooten 1988: 1114). Third, stylistic and technical details of composition
were elaborated upon (Wooten 1988: 1114). The fourth area of work was learn-
ing to memorize the material; a good speaker had to be able to command large
amounts of material in his head (Wooten 1988: 1114). And fifth, public speak-
ing techniques were taught; the actual delivery of the speech was just as im-
portant as the contents (Wooten 1988: 1114). Other, less directly related subjects
were also studied, because a public orator should command a wide variety of
information. For example, morality was an important subject, because a good
speaker had to have a strong understanding of those issues.
THE ART OF LEISURE

If there was one art that the Romans perfected, it was the art of leisure. Most
people are generally familiar with the variety of leisure activities available to
the Romans. Leisure is an interesting aspect of society to study, as the values
and desires of people are quite apparent in leisure activities. Leisure activities
usually reinforce the values of a society and establish norms. Careful study of
leisure in any society provides a microcosm of the larger society. For the Ro-
mans, this was very apparent. When studying Roman leisure, it is interesting
to consider issues of class and gender and how these issues are reflected in
various leisure activities. Similarly, leisure activities were often powerful pro-
pagandistic mediums; state and emperor were very subtly cast in a positive
light. And for the Romans, a society that valued virtue, restraint, and chaste
behavior, the kinds of entertainment they chose to engage in seemed to reflect
exactly the opposite kinds of values.
Roman attitudes toward leisure were interesting. Roman citizens were not
supposed to be participants in performance or athletic activities of any sort. To
the Romans, athletics was a functional activity, not the noble pursuit it was to
the Greeks (Shelton 1988: 377). Activities that were understood as “entertain-
ment” were considered frivolous (Shelton 1988: 337). Roman citizens had
much social pressure preventing their participation. Most performers were
slaves, freedmen, or foreigners (Humphrey 1988: 1153). Watching the enter-
tainment was fine, but participating was degrading for any citizen.
Feasting
The image of Rome held by many people doubtless includes some sense of
sumptuous and indulgent feasts and banquets. This is not an entirely unfair
image of Rome, at least not for one small segment of society. The writings of
Martial, Pliny, and Petronius (especially his Satyricon) describe these feasts in
great, although highly exaggerated, detail. But for most Romans, hosting a
banquet was not a feasible economic possibility. The poor had other options
available to them. Clubs of various sorts allowed members to participate in
feasts (Shelton 1988: 315–316). Likewise, the many taverns in the city provided
similar social outlets related to eating (Faas 1994: 41–45).
Ideally every Roman ate two or three meals a day. The Roman equivalent of
breakfast was a very small meal, called the jentaculum, with the main dish usu-
ally a small pancake sometimes dipped in wine (Faas 1994: 38). During the Re-
publican period, the main meal of the day was the midday meal, called the
272 THE ROMANS
cena (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 343; Faas 1994: 40). The evening meal (vesperna)
was taken just before bed, and was quite light. In the empire, the midday meal
was lighter, and the major meal was left for the evening. For the vast majority
of Romans, the staple of the diet was wheat-based, usually boiled into a por-
ridge-like mix (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 343).
The elites of Rome, however, engaged in feasting and banqueting on a regu-
lar basis. Feasts were large dinner parties; guests brought their own napkins,
but the host provided food, wine, and entertainment (Shelton 1988: 317). This
could be a remarkable economic burden, but hosting feasts was an important
way of building up social capital. People of all social classes and ranks partici-
pated in these banquets. Although table manners were not nearly as formal as
they are today, the position of individuals around the table was strictly deter-
mined by rank (Faas 1994: 58–60). Slaves waited hand and foot on all guests
(Faas 1994: 68). The meal began with small appetizers (called gustatio or pro-
mulsio), which consisted of salads, oysters, and especially eggs (Faas 1994: 76,
78). After the appetizers, a drink of wine was provided (Faas 1994: 77). After
the wine interlude, the main courses were served—about six or seven (Faas
1994: 77). These were the main dishes and were brought out one at a time. The
tables were not large enough to accommodate many dishes, so only one or two
dishes could be eaten at once (see chapter 9). These courses consisted of a vari-
ety of meats, especially fish, poultry, and pork. A common culinary technique
of the Roman chef was to attempt to disguise the food, shaping it into other
forms (like a bird) before serving it (Ling 1988: 330). The ingredients were not
supposed to be discernible. After these main courses, “second tables” were
served (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 343; Faas 1994: 81). This was dessert, consist-
ing of sweetened cakes or fruit. After dessert, the banquet proper began, in
which wine consumption was the culinary focus.
The social aspects of feasting were just as important as, if not more than, the
food. Entertainment was provided in a number of forms. Sometimes the host
would arrange for musicians, dancers, or other performers to entertain guests
(Faas 1994: 97–98, 101). Recitations took place at banquets, and learned guests
were often invited to present on various subjects (Faas 1994: 96). Guests, espe-
cially during the banquet, were expected to discourse on a wide variety of sub-
jects. All the while, slaves would serve the guests and hosts, perfuming them
and anointing them with oil.
Bathing
A distinctly Roman leisure activity was to visit the public baths. Ideally, every
Roman town had a public bathhouse, in which Romans could relax, bathe, ex-
ercise, and socialize. Architecturally, Roman baths were standardized (see
chapter 9). These structures were incredibly luxurious yet all classes were able
to use the baths. The admission price to the baths was quite low, so in practice,
most people really could use the facilities. The normal admission price, when
not remitted by an emperor culling favor with the populace, was one quadran,
the lowest denomination of currency, and next to worthless (the equivalent of
a penny nowadays). Both men and women used the facilities. Sometimes
The Roman baths, Bath, England. (Library of Congress)
bathing was in mixed company (this was remembered as particularly notori-

ous under Nero), but normally this was not allowed (Cowell 1980: 145).
Women’s facilities were next to the men’s, and usually smaller in size.
The actual practices at the baths varied by room. Of course, bathing, im-
mersing oneself in water with the goal of cleaning, was the most prominent ac-
tivity. But other things went on at the baths as well. Impurities were removed
from the body by sweating them out. Once the body had perspired enough, a
wooden or metal stick (called a strigilis) was scraped across the flesh, removing
dirt and exfoliating the skin (Cowell 1980: 146). If the bather could afford
slaves, the slave would scrape. If the individual was without a slave, he or she
would have to do the scraping themselves, or hire an attendant at the bath. At-
tendants could also be hired to perform other services, including massaging
and perfuming the client (Cowell 1980: 146). Slaves were expected to carry the
bather’s towels and toiletries, but those services could also be purchased from
bath attendants (Cowell 1980: 146). Other activities not related to cleaning in-
cluded a variety of physical activities in the gymnasium. Wrestling was very
popular. The less active could relax in the adjoining gardens.
The baths were inherently social, but in a way that was not possible in other
274 THE ROMANS
centers of Roman social life. At the baths, with one’s clothes off, all signs of sta-
tus and rank were missing as well. This allowed Romans of various classes
and wealth to mingle and socialize, without economic-based visual indicators
creating the first impression. D. Bruce MacKay has suggested that this was a
liminal space; the luxury of the baths and the ethereal feeling of being cleaned
in extreme temperature, but at the same time in a tranquil setting, took people
out of their everyday lives. The relaxing and harmonious atmosphere conjured
up feelings of goodwill not only toward fellow Romans, but to the emperor as
well. Because mosaics with rulership themes and the opulence of the structure
itself were very subtle forms of imperial propaganda, the baths functioned not
just as a place to cleanse oneself, but also as a place where Roman identity was
reaffirmed.
Spectacle
Perhaps the most “Roman” of all Roman leisure activities was the viewing of
spectacle. Spectacles were held for various purposes. Ludi were games held on
religious holidays (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 347; Shelton 1988: 332). These re-
ligious holidays originated for a number of purposes. Sometimes they were
based on older, religious festival days. Other times they honored the gods, per-
haps after an important military victory (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 347). The
ludi were state-run events, using public money. Aediles were responsible for
organizing them, and often paid considerably out of their own pockets in or-
der to curry favor with the public before elections (Shelton 1988: 333). Another
occasion for spectacle was a funeral. Private spectacles were funded to honor a
recently deceased ancestor. These spectacles were called munera and were an
Etruscan tradition (Adkins and Adkins 1994: 347). There were a variety of
types of spectacles. So much has been written on this topic, and it is so easy to
find good information on it, that it will only be cursorily examined here.
Chariot Racing. Chariot racing was extremely popular in the Roman period.
This kind of game had a long history—it was an Olympic event in Greek times.
In Roman times, chariot racing was a commercial enterprise in which citizens
did not participate (Shelton 1988: 350). It was mere entertainment, not a reli-
gious demonstration (but see Auget 1994: 122). Chariot drivers were profes-
sionals, usually slaves owned by one of the companies (Humphrey 1988: 1156).
In Rome there were four chariot-racing companies, called factio, that wore ei-
ther red, white, blue, or green (Shelton 1988: 350). Wealthy businessmen
owned these factio; it was an expensive venture (Humphrey 1988: 1156). The
owners negotiated rental fees with the aediles, who offered a substantial prize
to the winners (Shelton 1988: 350).
The races themselves took place at one of the many circuses, the arenas built
specifically for them (see chapter 9). The driver stood in the chariot, with the
reins wrapped around his body, which was very dangerous if the chariot
crashed (Auget 1994: 129). The chariot was attached to a team of two, four, or
six horses (Cowell 1980: 171). The number of competitors racing at one time
depended on the size of the circus. The sport was a full-contact sport; drivers
purposely crashed into one another and attempted to throw off the other rac-
ers (Shelton 1988: 357). The chariot race in the film Ben Hur is actually fairly ac-
curate on that account. The audience could also get out of control; a British
football type of hooliganism was not unknown in the Roman circuses (Auget
1994: 135–136, 141–142). Betting also took place, and placards with chariot
drivers’ statistics were available to the audience (Cowell 1980: 172; Humphrey
1988: 1154). Chariot drivers who were successful could become celebrities of
great renown within the city of Rome (Cowell 1980: 173; Shelton 1988: 355,
359).
Gladiators. Gladiatorial combat is one of the most compelling topics of an-

cient Rome. However, the cultural prominence of gladiators in Roman times is
not matched by our modern fascination with them. Think of how many films
have featured gladiators prominently. This combat originated in Etruscan
times and was an important component of munera celebrations (Humphrey
1988: 1159). Controversial among modern Roman scholars is when gladiatorial
combat began to be funded in public celebrations. But certainly by the time of
Julius Caesar, gladiatorial combat had become a public spectacle (Shelton 1988:
333).
Gladiators were individuals who had been bought by gladiator-training
schools (Shelton 1988: 342). They could have been slaves (this was a punish-
ment for unfavored slaves), enemies captured in war, or even impoverished
freedmen who sold themselves (Shelton 1988: 342–343). The training schools
provided equipment and instruction in a variety of gladiatorial techniques.
The school rented out the gladiators for various events. Because of this, not
every match was a fight to the death (Shelton 1988: 343). Often gladiators were
spared—it would have been too large of a loss in investment if half of your
gladiators did not survive the match. It is somewhat of a misconception that
the audience determined the fate of the losing gladiator at the end of a match
(Grant 1967: 74). The audience would signal their favor with a “thumbs up” or
a “thumbs down,” but it was the sponsor of the event who made the actual de-
cision (Watson 1967: 74). Eventually gladiators could win their freedom and
retire from the arena. Some gladiators achieved a high level of fame, just as
chariot drivers did.
Gladiators specialized in the use of certain kinds of equipment and certain
fighting techniques. One class of gladiator was the heavily armored gladiators.
These gladiators could not move very quickly but had a lot of protection. The
Samnians (later, after the Samnians were Roman allies, the name was changed)
and the Thracians were both well armored with helmets and greaves (shin
guards) (Grant 1967: 58–59). The myrmillones were very heavily armored, with
a distinctive fish image on their helmet (Grant 1967: 59–60). There were also
lightly armored gladiators who used speed and agility to their advantage.
These gladiators learned to use nets and tridents, bows and arrows, or lassoes.
Other types of gladiators were the essedarii, who drove war chariots (Grant
1967: 62) and the dimacherii, who had two swords (Grant 1967: 62). Also note-
worthy were the andabatae, who wore a helmet that blocked their vision, forc-
ing them to fight blindly (Grant 1967: 61). Bestiarii fought wild animals without
armor (Auget 1994: 89).
276 THE ROMANS
Other Events. There were other types of spectacles within the Roman world.
Large naval battles, called naumachiae, were staged on artificial lakes (Adkins
and Adkins 1994: 349). Similarly, historic battles or mythological battles were
also staged (Grant 1967: 88–91). In these events, people actually died, build-
ings were destroyed, and ships sank. Also popular were wild animal hunts
(Auget 1994: 99). Large numbers of animals were killed this way, and the more
exotic the better, as hunts were performed in front of an audience (Adkins and
Adkins 1994: 348; Auget 1994: 81). Similarly, animals would be put into arenas
to fight each other; for example, lions fighting elephants. Executions were also
held in entertainment venues. Convicted criminals would be set, without
weapons, against animals or gladiators and killed, to the crowd’s amusement
(Auget 1994: 93–95). Nero’s execution of Christians by feeding them to the li-
ons is a famous example.
Theater, Recitations, and Music

Theater never reached the level of popularity in Rome that it did in Greece. It
entered Roman society quite late, considering the popularity of the dramatic
arts amongst the Etruscans and the Greeks. When theater began to be per-
formed in Rome, it was mostly in the form of imitations of Greek-style theater.
Women were not allowed on stage, so female characters were played by men
(Adkins and Adkins 1994: 349). Costumes would differ according to whether
the play was a comedy or a tragedy. And it is a subject of contention among
modern scholars whether masks were worn on the Roman stage. Companies
of actors, consisting of both slaves and freedmen, were organized, and a man-
ager led each company (Arnott 1988: 1488). Although the Romans despised ac-
tors as a group, a few popular actors rose to prominence (Humphrey 1988:
1159, Shelton 1988: 337).
More popular for the Romans were the mimes and pantomimes (Humphrey
1988: 1158). Note that in Roman times, mimes had speaking roles and pan-
tomimes did not. Musicians and singers accompanied pantomime perfor-
mances. In general, pantomime performances celebrated mythological themes
and mostly lacked a plot (Humphrey 1988: 1159). The lack of story did not hurt
the popularity of pantomimes, because violence, sex, and nudity played very
important roles in a pantomime (Shelton 1988: 340). Unlike most Roman the-
atrical performances, women were allowed on stage for pantomimes. There is
one famous story of a female performer who refused to take off her clothes for
the crowd at their request (which was the custom of this kind of theater); she
was hauled off the stage by the audience.
A less formal type of performance was the recitation. Mostly done in private
contexts, a recitation involved reading a piece of literature to an audience. The
literature could be a famous poem, for which the performer had prepared a
reading. Or it could be an original piece of work, which the artist was present-
ing for the first time. This kind of activity often occurred in private homes and
frequently in tandem with a meal (Shelton 1988: 320). An amusing letter writ-
ten by Pliny the Younger describes how attending a recitation was not really
enjoyable but rather an obligation to suffer through. Recitations were very
popular, nonetheless, in the imperial period.
Music was not particularly popular in the city of Rome. Organized concerts
and performances were not popular (Cowell 1980: 161). And a free Roman
would never have lowered himself or herself to play a musical instrument
(Cowell 1980: 159–160). This tendency of the Romans to hold musicians in low
esteem should be remembered when considering the rumors that Nero played
his harp as Rome burned. This was the pursuit of slaves and professional mu-
sicians. Music could be heard in a number of contexts. Street performers were
common, and the choral interludes in the theater also provided public music
displays (Cowell 1980: 161). Slaves would also perform within the home, espe-
cially as after-dinner entertainment. Dancing was not approved of (Cowell
1980: 158). Skilled dancing was discouraged (it might make the dancer look
like a professional), although it was taught (Cowell 1980: 158). In the early em-
pire period, dancing had less of a stigma and became a more popular pursuit.
LANGUAGES
One of the primary sources for the study of ancient Rome is the many writings
that have survived. This means that the study of ancient languages is ex-
tremely important for anyone who wants to thoroughly understand ancient
Rome. So much of the evidence comes from these ancient texts that it is diffi-
cult to meaningfully study Rome without some knowledge of these languages.
Most university programs require specialized study of at least one of the lan-
guages used in Roman times, even when students are strictly archaeology or
art history majors.
Rome at its height incorporated numerous regions with various languages.
Language is one of the primary ways in which communication occurs and
through which knowledge is transmitted. Understanding these various lan-
guages provides one with greater accessibility to the mindset of the ancient
people. To be able to think in the words and language structures that the an-
cient people used allows a better understanding of them. What follows is a dis-
cussion of the languages used in the Roman world and the various ways in
which they were recorded.
Latin
The language most associated with the Romans is Latin. The Latin language
has had a long history and has been very important in European history. Its use
began before the Roman period, and is, in some contexts, still with us today. It
has been prominent in a number of different contexts. It was the dominant lan-
guage of European Christianity until very recently, and is still an important part
of many faith traditions. Latin is also used in scientific contexts, as exemplified
by taxonomical categories, usually using Latin terminology as a means to cross
language boundaries. Until very recently, Latin was an important part of grade-
school curriculum, but this has become less common in recent years.
Latin is an Indo-European language. This means that it comes from the fam-
ily of Indo-European languages, so named because the earliest examples of
this language were found in India and Europe. Other Indo-European lan-
guages are Sanskrit, Greek, Russian, and English. These languages are all cog-
278 THE ROMANS
nate to one another, meaning that they are related to one another but are not
derived from one another. Latin is the parent language of the Romance lan-
guages, which include Italian, Spanish, and French, and all of these languages
are derived from Latin.
Latin is one of the dialects of the Italic branch of the Indo-European family,
and its origins are still controversial today. The name Latin comes from the
name of the group of tribes called Latini who lived in the Latium area. Some
have suggested that these tribes came from central Europe, but it is difficult to
say with certainty where these tribes originated. Whatever the origins, the ear-
liest inscriptions date to the sixth century B.C.E., and the earliest Latin literature
dates to the third century B.C.E.
Greek
Although Latin was the language of Rome and its people, Greek played a very
important role in Roman society. After the third century B.C.E., when Rome’s
contact with Greece had grown, Greek played an important role in the intellec-
tual life of Rome. Greek language was studied by schoolchildren (if they got
that far in school), and ideally, Roman men were able to read the masterworks
of Greek literature. Latin remained subordinate to Greek in the Greek areas of
the empire, never supplanting Greek as the dominant spoken language.
Greek is also an Indo-European language, but other than that, it is not re-
lated to Latin. Like Latin, Greek is an inflected language, meaning that the
form of words is usually more important than word order in a sentence. There
are many stages of the Greek language. The earliest certain evidence for Greek
language is Linear B, which was first discovered on the island of Crete. In Ro-
man periods, the Greek commonly spoken is called koine—this is the language
in which the New Testament was written. Attic Greek is the kind of Greek that
developed in the fourth century B.C.E. and was the dominant form of literary
Greek.
Origins of the Alphabet

Both Greek and Latin use an alphabet derived from the same, earlier alphabet.
Indeed, even the alphabet today is based on this alphabet. The earliest evi-
dence for the alphabet comes from Egypt, in the middle kingdom period. Frag-
ments of alphabetic inscriptions have been discovered in the desert, presum-
ably invented by Semitic-speaking miners working for the Egyptians. These
Semitic speakers adapted certain forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs into letters
and created the alphabet. These earliest discoveries have been announced but
have not yet been published, so little should be said about them now. Slightly
later discoveries in the Sinai of a similar phenomenon are well published and
suggest that this was the probable origin of the alphabet.
The Phoenicians transmitted the alphabet to the Greek world. The Phoeni-
cian language was Semitic (see page 281), but it is presumed that contact with
Phoenicians led Greek speakers to adopt the alphabet for their own use and to
their own language. This is confirmed by the fact that many of the forms of the
earliest Greek letters bore a close resemblance to those of Phoenician letters. But
later, the scripts diverged considerably. And by adding letters to stand for vow-
els, Greek innovated beyond Phoenician, which did not have written vowels.
The Latin alphabet is a combination of the Greek version of the alphabet and
the Etruscan alphabet. The alphabet did not remain entirely stable throughout
Roman history. There were changes in letterforms, and for brief periods, new
letters were added. But for the most part, the Latin alphabet remained remark-
ably stable throughout its long history. Latin used essentially the same alpha-
bet as English, with the exception of there having been no j, u, or w in Latin.
Both Latin and Greek also have different styles of script depending on the
medium used. Generally the kinds of script can be divided into monumental
and cursive. Monumental, as the name suggests, is the style of letters used in
monumental art, especially when carved into hard materials like stone. Cur-
sive writing is less formal and more suited for writing with ink than for en-
graving. Another style of writing to be aware of is called uncial, which was a
later form of writing. Uncial writing is purposely very easy to read in cursive,
as it uses all capital letters, with all the letters rounded. The shapes of letters
change over time and can be an important way of dating artifacts if no other
dates are given.
Other Languages
There were many other languages that were important in Roman times. Ro-
mans did not enforce the use of Latin when they took over a region. However,
local elites were encouraged to learn and use Latin, which was essential if they
wanted to participate in any form of governance. So Latin gradually spread
and became the dominant language in Europe. But it did not usually com-
pletely supplant other language traditions. Although the following is not
meant to be exhaustive, some of the more important languages are discussed.
Etruscan. Etruscan was the language spoken by the Etruscans (see chapter
4). It was not an Indo-European language, but beyond that, it is difficult to say
anything for certain about it. Although we know that there was Etruscan liter-
ature (later authors comment on this), none of it has survived to the present. In
fact, of the inscriptions in Etruscan that have survived, many are unreadable.
Only a few words of Etruscan have been translated. Latin was influenced by
Etruscan, but also supplanted it; Etruscan did not survive very long under the
Romans.
Aramaic. Aramaic is a Semitic language, with a long history of use and de-
velopment. It is closely related to Hebrew; in fact, the Hebrew alphabet used
today is actually the Aramaic alphabet. Aramaic developed at some time in the
second millennium B.C.E., in the Fertile Crescent (the region from modern-day
Israel to modern-day Iraq). By about 1000 B.C.E., Aramaic was spoken com-
monly throughout Mesopotamia, although writing was still primarily in
Akkadian. Aramaic became the official language of the Persian Empire, and
from this point it spread throughout the Near East. In Roman times, Aramaic
was the language spoken in the Levant. Many important Roman-period Ara-
280 THE ROMANS
Latin script: Roman funerary stele depicting an innkeeper, found near Isernia. (Araldo de
Luca/Corbis)
maic documents have been preserved in Egypt and Israel. It is an essential lan-
guage for anyone wanting to study Roman-period Palestine, Roman-period
Judaism, or Roman-period Christianity.
Phoenician-Punic. Also a Semitic language, Phoenician was the language,

spoken by the Phoenicians, through which the alphabet was transmitted to the
Greeks. It was an important language for trade and international contact.
Punic was the form of Phoenician used in the city of Carthage. Given the im-
portant role of Carthage in Roman history, Punic is an important language in
Roman studies. There is much inscriptional material preserved in both Phoeni-
cian and Punic.
Celtic Languages. The designation Celtic refers to a particular Indo-European

language family, which has survived as Gaelic, Welsh, and other related lan-
guages. There is not much evidence for ancient Celtic languages. The informa-
tion is primarily secondhand. Celtic words used in Roman inscriptions or on
coins are one source of evidence. Another is in the study of ancient names, in-
cluding place-names and the names of people in Classical literature. Indeed,
for anyone wanting to study ancient Celtic traditions, a thorough grounding in
Latin is a very important first step.
Writing Materials
Most of Roman writing has not been preserved in its original form, meaning
that classical writings are preserved in later copies. Unlike cuneiform tablets,
which survive well in the archaeological record, Roman writings were not
written on materials that preserve well, except of course, inscriptions. Inscrip-
tions were usually intended to be enduring, and were inscribed into materials
that endured well. Other media were not intended to survive in the same way.
From the third century B.C.E., the Romans used papyrus from Egypt as paper.
Wooden rollers were often attached to the papyrus and were preserved as
rolled scrolls. Writing tablets were also used. Sometimes these took the form of
thick wood blocks that were hollowed out and filled with wax. Writing was in-
scribed into the wax. Similarly, in places too remote to be supplied easily with
papyrus, leaf tablets were used. Leaf tablets were tablets made of very thin
pieces of wood; the wood was malleable and could be bent and formed. Com-
binations of writing tablets and papyrus were used as the predecessors of
modern books. Eight sheets of papyrus were bound together in the middle
(making sixteen pages). Covers were created by adding pieces of wood to the
front and back. These nonmonumental types of writing are preserved in arid
locations, such as Israel and Egypt, but do not survive well in a climate like
Rome’s.
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PART 3
Current Assessments
XI CHAPTER 11
Major Controversies and

Future Directions in the Study
of Roman Civilization
CONTROVERSIES IN ROMAN SCHOLARSHIP

As with all scholarly pursuits, the study of ancient Rome involves many peo-
ple looking at the issue from many different perspectives. Often it is difficult to
reach consensus on important issues in the scholarship of Roman civilization.
And it must be remembered that academia is not a democratic pursuit. That is
to say, just because a majority of scholars have one opinion does not mean that
that opinion is correct. Reading this book should provide one enough of a
background in the study of ancient Rome to be able to evaluate various schol-
arly opinions. What follows is a discussion of some of the major controversies
in modern scholarly circles. It is by no means an exhaustive presentation; vir-
tually every aspect of Roman civilization can be viewed from a different per-
spective! These are just a few of the major controversies.
Origins of Rome
Two different presentations of the origins of Rome have previously been dis-
cussed. In chapter 3, mythological stories about the foundation of Rome were
explored, and in chapter 4, some of the archaeological and historical evidence
related to Roman origins were discussed. In general, scholarly controversy re-
volves around the basic question of what constitutes a source of information
and how those sources should be used. What follows is a discussion of some of
the dominant schools of thought within the community of Roman scholars in
regard to Roman origins. You may want to refer to chapters 3 and 4 to remind
yourself of that evidence.
Theodor Mommsen. The great historian Theodor Mommsen significantly al-

tered scholarly approaches to the foundation of Rome. His notions became the
dominant approach used by classicists at the beginning of the twentieth cen-
tury and are still quite important even today. Mommsen’s general approach to
the study of early Rome was through the investigation of the myths about
Rome’s foundation. Mommsen did not believe that the myths or historical ac-
counts were accurate narratives per se. That is to say that Mommsen did not
believe that the histories preserved information about actual historical events.
287
288 THE ROMANS
The ruins of ancient Rome depicted in the late eighteenth-century by Piranesi. (Library of Con-
gress)
But for Mommsen, these accounts could nevertheless be useful in reconstruct-

ing early Roman history. These myths preserved information about early Ro-
man ethnic composition, about early Roman civic institutions, and about early
Roman social structures. So for example, Mommsen saw the story of the rape
of the Sabines as nonhistorical, meaning that he did not believe that the event
actually occurred. But he suggested that the story reflected the Roman belief
that the Sabines were involved in the foundation of Rome. This approach to
early Roman history has dominated the field since its initial suggestion and
has been a fruitful avenue of research.
Rome and Urbanism. Most of the scholarly community assumes that the
chronologies presented in the ancient sources are roughly accurate. However,
a Swedish scholar, Einar Gjerstad, rejected the ancient chronologies in the form
in which they have been passed down. Gjerstad, writing after World War II,
saw a substantial break in the archaeological remains of Rome that represented
a shift from preurban to urban society. It was at the moment of urbanization
that Gjerstad placed the foundation of Rome. He suggested that the first king
of Rome was Numa Pompilus, and that, in a deliberate act of unification, this
first king brought together a number of small villages into a unified political
entity—the city of Rome. The argument he made is much more complex than
Major Controversies and Future Directions 289
The Rape of the Sabines. (Bettmann/Corbis)
that; it involves pushing down the chronology of the regal period into the time
in which the republic was thought to have been founded.
As the study of urbanism became a prominent topic in the discipline of an-
thropology, Gjerstad’s opinions began to seem less probable. Scholars became
less likely to view ancient accounts of a city’s foundation as historically accu-
rate. Rather, they began to understand that these stories were purposely sim-
plified accounts. Close reading of foundation accounts suggest much more
complicated situations. The German scholar Hermann Müller-Karpe was the
first to contrast notions of what he called Stadtgründung (city foundation) and
Stadtwerdung (city development). Müller-Karpe’s view was that Rome devel-
oped gradually from one village on the Palatine to the other spurs, gradually
becoming a large city.
Indo-European Origins. The Latin language is an Indo-European language.

Scholars, especially around the beginning of the twentieth century, went to
great lengths to explain the movement of Indo-European languages from India
to Ireland. What spread with these languages? An influential and controversial
scholar named Georges Dumézil spent his scholarly career arguing that early
Roman practices were infused with an Indo-European social structure. Com-
mon to all Indo-European cultures, according to Dumézil, was that society had
290 THE ROMANS
a tripartite division: rulers and priests, warriors, and producers of goods.

Dumézil saw these structural elements as embedded in Roman myth. He
never adequately explained the origins of the Indo-European institutions,
namely how they arrived in Rome, and why they were perpetuated. His evi-
dence was quite weak, but his prose is quite convincing at first read, and he
has been most influential among French scholars. It must be said, however,
that attempts at isolating a common Indo-European culture behind each of the
civilizations that used an Indo-European language is methodologically un-
sound and has never been successful. But other scholars using similar argu-
ments have argued that there is evidence from the Late Bronze Age of Indo-
European invaders arriving in Italy. But again, these notions are based on
outdated models that suggest that cultural change is caused solely by outside
influence.
Early Rome in Its Italian Context. The current trend in the study of early
Rome is not to view the development of Rome as a unique phenomenon.
Rather, the development of Roman society should be viewed from its broader
Italian context. Scholars such as Giuseppe Micali and Theodor Mommsen sug-
gested this approach long ago, but only recently has that approach come to
dominate the field. There has been an increased recognition that the study of
other areas contemporaneous with early Rome can shed light on Rome’s
founding. Archaeology has proved to be the most useful tool for this endeavor.
It allows scholars to gain access to evidence that did not survive in classical ac-
counts and likewise is not biased from the perspective of those later classical
writers. This is a productive approach to the study of early Rome, and the
prominence of Etruscan archaeology in Italy attests to the growing recognition
by scholars that it is an important approach to the study of antiquity.
Decline, Fall, or Continuation of Rome? Where did the Roman Empire go?
This is a very difficult question. There is no single event that can be singled out
as the cause of Rome’s end. Numerous ideas have been put forward to explain
the incredibly complex reasons why the glory of Rome vanished. No single
theory has appealed to a majority of scholars; however, many can be ruled out.
Most scholars would argue that there were a number of factors that con-
tributed to the decline of Roman civilization and that no simple answer could
ever be valid. This section illustrates some of the more important conceptions
about the end of Rome, and those that are most frequently referred to in schol-
arly literature. You may want to refamiliarize yourself with the historical
events mentioned in chapter 4 to better understand where these theories came
from.
Edward Gibbon. The single most important work on this topic is The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. Although much of this magiste-
rial work is out-of-date and problematic, there has never been a historical work
that can rival it. As a piece of scholarship, it stood out from the time of its com-
position. And as prose, the work stands out as a classic of the English language.
Archaeologists excavating the Appian Way near Minturno, 70 miles southeast of Rome, 1956.
(Bettmann/Corbis)
Most later readers suggest that Gibbon’s main argument for the cause of the
fall of Rome was the internal weaknesses caused by the rise of Christianity
(especially in terms of military sensibilities) and the barbarian pressures on the
frontier. But this is an oversimplification. Gibbon goes to great lengths to
describe in detail the various events and circumstances that led to the fall of
Rome. The work has to be read in its entirety to get a good sense of Gibbon’s
understanding. The fall of the Roman Empire seems to be one event in the
long, narrative thrust of history. From this perspective, many elements
contributed to the fall of Rome, but certainly the rise of Christianity and the
barbarian invasions are offered as the most prominent causes in Gibbon’s dis-
cussions.
292 THE ROMANS
Interior of an Etruscan tomb:“The Tomb of the Alcove.” (Archivo Iconografico, S.A./Corbis)
Ecological Disaster. There is evidence that the Roman Empire brought sig-
nificant environmental destruction with it. Both environmental disasters
caused by the Romans and climatic changes have been offered as explanations
for the end of Roman dominance. Deforestation, for example, went hand-in-
hand with Roman expansion. Deforestation increases soil erosion, which leads
to poor conditions for farming. The extensive deforestation that went with Ro-
man expansion certainly had an impact, at least at the local level.
Ellsworth Huntington has used the redwood trees in California to make ar-
guments about the collapse of the Roman economy. He has argued that there
was a significant climatic change from the fourth to sixth centuries C.E. that
would have had an environmental impact. This climatic change was recogniz-
able from the comparison of relative sizes of the tree rings of the California
redwoods. In the period that Huntington recognized, the tree rings appear to
have been much thinner, indicating a decrease in the amount of rainfall. This
decrease in rainfall, according to Huntington, would also have affected the
area of the Roman Empire and caused famine and crop failure throughout the
Roman world.
Vladimir Simkhovitch made another important ecological argument.
Simkhovitch suggested that soil degradation was one of the primary causes for
Roman economic collapse. Basing his arguments on textual accounts of Roman
agriculture, Simkhovitch stated that although the Romans had advanced agri-
cultural techniques, they did not always practice the most effective types of
soil management. This led to the eventual exhaustion of the soil and an inabil-
ity to grow crops.
Did these environmental problems cause the collapse of Roman civilization?
Probably not. The evidence for the widespread effects of these changing condi-
tions is not strong. Environmental problems were a concern throughout the
Roman period and seem to have been no worse in the latter years of Roman
rule. Certainly environmental issues were matters of life and death for local,
small-scale farmers and producers. But in terms of the empire as a whole, these
ecological problems do not seem to have been that destructive.
Decay Theories. Sometimes referred to as “seed” or “germ” theories, decay

theories about the collapse of Rome are theories that argue that internal struc-
tural problems existed within Roman civilization that eventually led to its
downfall. These problems could have originated at any point in the history of
Roman civilization, so scholars hypothesizing decay theories often do so based
on evidence from well before Roman civilization came to an end. Beyond the
notion of internal problems, these decay theories, however, bear little or no re-
semblance to one another.
The reason that ancient Roman writers gave for Rome’s decline was loosen-
ing moral values. Ammianus Marcellinus, in the fourth century C.E., wrote that
greed and luxury had weakened Roman virtue. Salvian, in the fifth century
C.E., claimed that the invading barbarians had stronger morality than the Ro-
mans who were being attacked. That weak morals should have caused the col-
lapse of Rome is not an accepted type of explanation from a modern perspec-
tive. But it is important to be aware of this argument because of its prominence
in ancient writings.
One of the more odd theories to have made its way into popular writing is
the notion that the Romans died of lead poisoning. Most associated with S.
Colum Gilfillan, this theory is based on the fact that ingestion of any kind of
lead in certain quantities creates health risks. Since the Roman aristocracy
could afford lead pipes in their homes for their water systems, the elites con-
sumed a great deal of lead. The lead poisoned the Roman aristocracy, accord-
ing to this viewpoint, weakening their minds and bodies, and leading to the
eventual death of Roman civilization. There is, however, no evidence for this.
The Romans were well aware of the negative effects of lead, and normally
used earthenware pipes for their water supply. Although lead can lead to vari-
ous kinds of illness, nothing in the historical or archaeological record suggests
that it had anything to do with the fall of Rome.
It has also been argued that issues of race were an important contribution to
294 THE ROMANS
the decline of Roman civilization. Whenever scholars bring up race as a cate-

gory in the study of the ancient world, readers should be extremely cautious
about trusting those arguments. More often than not, these modern scholars
are projecting their modern notions about race onto the ancients. Modern an-
thropologists do not widely accept the concept of biological difference in hu-
man populations that can be based on race, and in general this concept should
be taken with a grain of salt. One of the more shocking theories was put for-
ward by Martin Nilsson, who suggested that rampant interracial breeding in
Roman times led to “less Roman” people and that the spirit of “Romanness”
was diluted by foreign blood. This argument can be rejected out of hand. A
more interesting argument is that made by Tenney Frank. He argued, based on
a study of the names on tombstone inscriptions, that greater numbers of non-
Romans increasingly entered Roman society, first as slaves, and then after
emancipation, as freedmen and citizens. These people, not raised with Roman
customs, lacked strong ties to Roman society and hence lacked the motivation
to preserve Roman culture. Frank’s statistical evidence for this has been dis-
proved completely, and as such his arguments have not stood the test of time.
But on the other hand, there probably is something to his notion that Roman
hegemony was weakened by the frequency of incorporation of new, lower-
class citizens who had no economic stake in Roman society.
This leads to the final decay argument that will be discussed here. Depopu-
lation was an important economic cause for the collapse of Rome, according to
some scholars. Arthur Boak argued that a shortage of labor, probably begin-
ning at the end of the second century C.E., eventually led to widespread eco-
nomic collapse. A decrease in population led not only to a decrease in produc-
tive labor, but also to a decrease in military power. As the population shrank,
the economic needs of the Roman elite grew, and this burden was shifted onto
the decreasing population. Many scholars since Boak have written on this sub-
ject and have discovered that there is not much evidence for depopulation on a
significant scale, and as such, this theory has been largely abandoned.
Class Conflict. Another type of explanation for the decline of Rome is rooted
in the notion of class conflict. These theories have not been popular in the
United States because of their strong association with Marxism. However, the-
ories of decline because of class conflict have been very important in Roman
scholarship outside of the United States and should be addressed. Indeed, one
of the earliest commentators on the subject, Salvian the Presbyter, wrote in 440
B.C.E. that the Roman Empire was doomed in the west because the tax burden
on certain segments of the population was too high to allow these individuals
to feel any loyalty to the empire. More recently, Geoffrey de St. Croix has made
similar arguments. Evidence comes from the various forms of legislation writ-
ten at the end of the Roman period that attempted to rein in unfair taxation
practices.
Frank Walbank has similarly suggested that most of the Roman population
had no access to the wealth of Rome. This prevented the primary producing
force from being motivated to produce to capacity. As the empire grew, the pri-
mary loci of economic activity moved to provincial areas. In these locations,

the producers underproduced, because their primary goal was household sub-
sistence rather than surplus production. This fragmented the Roman economy.
Rather than one connected Roman economy, the later Roman economy is more
accurately viewed as a series of independent, loosely connected local
economies.
One of the most important proponents of class conflict as an explanation for
Roman decline was Michael Rostovtzeff. Rostovtzeff argued that the imperial
army was itself a class, and that this class was excluded from regular Roman
life, yet paradoxically it was responsible for providing and keeping safe the
regular Roman life. Soldiers who were stationed in the periphery and were not
incorporated into Roman urban life increasingly identified with the rural peas-
ants, who bore the brunt of imperial taxation. The decline of Roman imperial
power came with an increasing identification of the army with the rural popu-
lation.
Military. Most scholars, no matter what they view as the primary cause of
the decline of Roman civilization, agree that the barbarian invasions certainly
played a part in the fall of Rome. The question, then, is not whether invading
forces played a role in Roman decline, but rather why in the fifth and sixth
centuries these invasions affected Roman civilization so severely.
Arther Ferrill has made the argument that Rome collapsed because of a shift
in emphasis within Rome’s military strategy. A number of factors relating to
The sack of Rome. (Pixel That)

296 THE ROMANS
the Roman approach to the military changed, which eventually caused Rome
to lose its military advantages. After Constantine, according to Ferrill, the Ro-
man military depended more on cavalry and less on infantry. This was neces-
sary to facilitate the use of the army as a personal security force for the emper-
ors. But infantry was a more appropriate attack force against the barbarian
hordes. Similarly, the increasing tendency to use barbarian soldiers rather than
trained Roman soldiers, although not weakening the army, nevertheless meant
that there was no Roman tactical advantage against barbarian foes. These wars
became wars between two barbarian armies, and as such, Rome was not guar-
anteed victory as it was in the early years of the empire.
Ramsay MacMullen made similar arguments. The later Roman army, ac-
cording to MacMullen, had become less of a military force and more of a bu-
reaucratic force. The Roman army was in charge of many more aspects of
provincial administration, especially those related to infrastructure, than it had
been before, a fact that weakened the military edge. These soldiers did not live
the same regimented lives as soldiers working under Marius and were not
nearly as well trained for combat. Edward Luttwack has made a related argu-
ment that the frontiers were less militarily secure because the emperors re-
quired military security in the heart of Roman territory, a previously unneces-
sary military expense.
An extremely important contribution to the study of this question came
from A. H. M. Jones in his book The Later Roman Empire, 294–602. In this vol-
ume, one of the themes Jones addressed is not why the western empire fell, but
why the eastern empire did not. This is an important approach to the issue of
the fall of Rome. This kind of comparison cannot provide certain answers, but
it provides useful analogies. So although the two situations were not exactly
the same, learning what happened in one situation can suggest new ways of
looking at events in the other situation. One of Jones’s major conclusions was
that the east was strategically less vulnerable than the west. The eastern em-
pire was geographically more secure. Similarly, the east was more populated
and more developed. The eastern economy was much stronger than the west-
ern economy, so funding the military was not as burdensome. Furthermore,
the eastern empire was much more politically secure. It did not suffer from
civil wars as the west did, meaning that the military could be used primarily
for external security rather than for internal security, and that the east was a
more unified political and social body than the west.
“There Was No Fall.” An influential conception that has arisen in twentieth-

century scholarship, and has to be dealt with by all Roman scholars, is the sug-
gestion that Rome never fell. In fact, it is often stated that the Roman Empire
continued into the tenth century, as did the Byzantine Empire. So rather than
looking for causes for the fall of Rome, some scholars have suggested that it is
more important to look for causes of the transformation of Rome into Byzan-
tium. Solomon Katz was the first scholar to argue that Rome’s fall was not a
major crisis in the history of civilization, and that in fact, many Roman institu-
tions survived long after Rome’s political fall—especially law, literature, lan-
guage, and architecture. Peter Brown has also been influential in this line of
thought. He has downplayed the role of barbarian invasions and emphasized
intellectual and conceptual transformations of Roman civilization into Byzan-
tine civilization. One argument of his that is very compelling is that the shift
from Roman to Byzantine civilization represents a shift away from the
Mediterranean Sea as the center of international civilization. But the dominant
transformation was, of course, the advent of Christianity. Other scholars have
made the argument that Christian ways of thinking were not fully compatible
with Roman civic virtues. Michael Grant (who should not rightly be included
in this category, as he does suggest that Rome fell) has argued that, especially
in the writings of St. Augustine, secular and worldly rulers become less impor-
tant authorities as divine and religious leaders become more important au-
thorities. This marks a radical transformation from previous Roman ideology.
Rome’s Relationship to Greece

The relationship between Roman civilization and Greek civilization is quite
problematic. Especially problematic is that it is often not perceived as a prob-
lem within Roman studies. This issue will not be discussed in much detail
here, but there are some aspects of it that the reader should be aware of. It
seems that the general impression that people have about Roman and Greek
culture is that Roman culture is basically derived from Greek culture. This is
especially true of Roman religion, in which it appears that the dominant con-
ception is that the Romans “stole” Greek religion and gave the Greek gods
Latin names. The same can be said about attitudes toward Roman science and
art. If you continue to study ancient Rome, you will often read that the Ro-
mans were “less intelligent” than the Greeks, or that the Romans were a “prac-
tical” people and not interested in abstract thought. Two of the most important
reasons that people have this impression about Rome and Greece will now be
discussed.
First, these attitudes toward Greco-Roman relationships are derived some-
what from ancient sources. In fact, many such ideas can be specifically attrib-
uted to the third century B.C.E., when Roman contacts with the Greek world
had just become strong. Greek culture was imported directly into Rome at this
time, and many of the classical writers (whose works are still preserved) had
been born in Greece. Taken alongside a general ancient attitude toward the su-
periority of Greek culture, our ancient evidence has a skewed presupposition
toward the superiority of Greek culture.
Second, the modern study of ancient Rome is intrinsically connected to the
modern study of ancient Greece. Most universities’ classics departments have
specialists in Greek and Roman studies, and often classes or works on ancient
history involve only discussion of Greece and Rome together. At the same time
that these two ancient cultures are considered in tandem, there are many as-
pects of the two cultures that are not suitable for comparison. The accidents of
literary preservation have preserved writings that are not necessarily compa-
rable. The scale of the civilizations is often not considered, either. Indeed, the
way that classical studies has developed as a discipline has made certain that
298 THE ROMANS
Greece and Rome are intrinsically linked, but at the same time it has also cre-
ated a situation in which the relative merits of both cultures are compared. It is
quite shocking that scholars still believe that it is appropriate to make value
judgments about Roman intellect. Imagine someone trying to compare the in-
telligence levels of the Mesopotamians with the Mayans. It would be ridicu-
lous. So why continue to do so with Greece and Rome?
Romanization and Imperialism

One of the areas of Roman research that has changed the most drastically over
the past twenty years relates to Roman imperialism and Romanization. Earlier
scholarship on these subjects has tended to come from one of two perspectives.
Roman imperialism was seen as either a positive influence, a force that
brought civilization and economic benefits to underdeveloped regions, or, con-
versely, a vehicle of oppression, suppressing local cultures and voices in favor
of the culture of the dominator. Scholars now recognize that the situation was
much more complex than either of these ideological poles allowed for. The mo-
tivations of Roman imperialism and the effects on local cultures are not simple
problems; they are complex sets of issues that need to be explored from a num-
ber of perspectives. The next section outlines some of the major controversies,
in relation to Roman imperialism, that are manifest in modern scholarship.
Economic Benefits of Roman Imperialism. This discussion begins with one

of the most concrete controversies in studies of Roman imperialism—the eco-
nomic benefits. This topic is actually much more controversial than it might
seem. We are so influenced by our conceptions of nineteenth-century imperial-
ism and the economic benefits for the European imperial powers that it can be
difficult to look critically at how imperialism manifested itself in other envi-
ronments. The economic benefits of imperialism are also often equated with
the motivations for imperialism, so it is important to look closely at these
issues.
War booty was certainly an economic benefit for Rome and its armies. The
defeated powers were forced to pay large indemnities for the cost of war, and
conquered cities were thoroughly looted. But this kind of income was only a
sporadic one and could not be considered a reliable source of state income. It is
unlikely that the economic benefits from the battles themselves were substan-
tial motivating forces at the state level (although the financial rewards for indi-
vidual participants may have been a compelling motivation).
It has often been assumed that the acquisition of slaves was an important
economic consideration of warfare. It certainly cannot be denied that a vast
amount of slaves were introduced into the Roman world for precisely this rea-
son. However, scholars have pointed out that there are hints of legislation sug-
gesting that this practice was more a matter of punishing the defeated and dis-
mantling the armies and kinship networks of conquered people than an actual
method of resource acquisition.
More stable economic benefits came from the imposition of taxes on con-
quered people. These taxes became regularized sources of state income. Al-
Captives brought before a victorious Roman general. From a relief on a Roman sarcophagus.
(Pixel That)
though the amount of taxes collected from the conquered was not stable, the
revenue received by the state was, because of the structure of the publicani and
Roman taxation (see chapter 5). But this was not just an economic benefit; it
was an ideological benefit as well. The ability to exempt all Roman citizens
from taxation and to force the taxation burden upon provincial populations
was a powerful force of state power. But certainly the economic benefits were
tangible.
Direct resource extraction was likely an important component of Roman im-
perialism. Certainly in the early years of expansion in Italy, colonies were pur-
posely established in areas that could provide resources desired by the elite of
Rome. Similarly, the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire was char-
acterized by massive grain imports from Egypt to Rome. These imports were
extremely valuable to urban populations and certainly became an economic
necessity.
Security was an important economic consideration that should not be ig-
nored in a discussion of Roman imperialism. Pompey’s eradication of Mediter-
ranean pirates facilitated economic growth on an international scale. Similarly,
conquests in western Europe and the policing of the frontiers could not help
but increase economic productivity in those regions, and from them, to the em-
pire as a whole. It was much easier to conduct trade if one did not have to
worry about running into a barbarian army.
Romanization. It is doubtful that economic benefits (whatever they may

have been) were the sole force behind Roman expansion and imperial devel-
opment. An important issue, and a lightning rod of discussion in Roman schol-
arship, is that of Romanization. Many definitions have been given for Roman-
ization. In general, however, it is best to think of Romanization as the process
300 THE ROMANS
through which non-Romans were integrated into or excluded from Roman so-
ciety. Be aware that this is a modern scholarly abstraction, which originated in
the works of Theodor Mommsen; it is not an ancient concept.
Perhaps the strongest argument for the utility of Romanization as a cate-
gory of modern scholarship is the homogeneity of Roman material culture.
Every area where the Romans expanded has archaeological material that is
easily identifiable as Roman. Some scholars have argued that there are signif-
icant local variations in the material culture and that the same kind of objects
can have different meanings in different contexts. Although both of these
statements are true, it is undeniable that the Romans achieved a degree of ma-
terial culture continuity throughout their empire. It is obvious that an artifact
is Roman.
On the other hand, Romanization as a concept is often misused. Perhaps the
most egregious examples of this are lists of “Roman” traits that have been
identified in provincial cultures. Earlier scholars of the Roman periphery
would often attempt to identify elements of Roman culture that were “success-
fully” incorporated into other cultures and those elements that were not suc-
cessful. This overly simplistic use of the concept of Romanization led to a back-
lash against it. The best way to understand Romanization is to recognize that
the Romans were aggressive in exporting aspects of their culture, but at the
same time to understand that this process differed in different times and
places. One scholarly method that can be successfully employed in the study
of Romanization is postcolonial discourse.
Postcolonial Discourse. Central to both economic and ideological issues sur-

rounding Roman imperialism and Romanization are modern conceptions of
how these relationships were constructed. Previous scholarship has tended to
emphasize Roman imperialism and culture as monolithic entities and assumed
that colonized cultures were likewise monolithic. But the development of dis-
course analysis has radically altered how issues of empire are viewed and un-
derstood. It is now recognized that there is no unified Roman imperialist. Like-
wise, historians also understand that colonized peoples, such as the Judeans
and the Celts, were also not unified entities. There was no simple reaction to
imperialism from either side, and different events had different meanings to
different people. Discourse analysis involves viewing empire not as a fact or an
entity, but as a set of relationships and issues. This is important, although it
might seem somewhat strange if one has never before encountered postcolo-
nial discourse. But by focusing on issues that appear in situations where there
is an empire and a periphery, one can better explore the complexities of those
issues.
Another benefit of postcolonial discourse is that it assumes voice and
agency (the ability to act) on the part of the colonized. Imperialism is not a
one-way stream, with a dominant culture implanting a set of values on a sub-
ordinate culture. Rather, it is a process in which all sides (possibly many more
than just two sides) affect one another. These ancient people were people with
their own lives and cultures, not just automatons who passively gained Ro-
man culture. Think about the literature of the New Testament. These books
were written from a distinctly non-Roman voice, and yet they have become
some of the most influential writings in history. The Book of Revelation is per-
haps the most obvious response to Roman imperialism, but much of Paul’s
writing discusses how Christians should live within the context of Roman civ-
ilization. But remember, imperial discourse is not simply acceptance or resis-
tance of a dominant culture but is the whole series of attitudes, beliefs, and
systems of change involved in the interaction of different cultures from un-
even levels of power.
At the same time, it is important to recognize that the Roman Empire was
very real to the ancients. Some scholars writing from a postcolonial discourse
perspective have gone too far, and in trying to illuminate the multifaceted as-
pects of ancient life have obscured the realities of the ancient situation.
Hadrian’s Wall really exists and marked a real boundary. Likewise, Roman im-
perialism was a real historical process; it is only the nature of that process that
should be questioned. Indeed, it is important for scholars working from a dis-
course perspective to have a firm control over the ancient evidence, rather than
to make vague, theoretical statements. Ignoring the ancient evidence to sup-
port modern generalization simply substitutes one monolithic preconception
for another.
Neoclassical vs. Substantivist Economics

Another heated issue in Roman studies and archaeology in general revolves
around a basic question: how similar to the modern economy was the ancient
economy? This has been a difficult question to answer, especially because most
of the sources employed as “proof” for one side or the other are quite ambigu-
ous. This controversy has been driven as much by ideology as it has been by
scholarly inquiry. It is important to be aware of this controversy, as most Ro-
man scholars are not particularly explicit about their stance on this issue, but
do tend, at the same time, to present dogmatic arguments.
The roots of this controversy can be seen in the writings of Karl Rodbertus,
who argued that the basis of the ancient economy was the household—what
he called an oikos economy (based on the Greek word for “house”). Rodber-
tus’s point was that commerce played only a minimal role in the day-to-day
life of the Romans, and that most people got what they needed by making it
themselves. Karl Bücher picked up this argument and established an evolu-
tionary model of economic development, a model in which the Roman econ-
omy was essentially dominated by self-sufficient households.
Although initially there was much negative criticism against Rodbertus and
Bücher, the idea of a household-based economic system was flushed out by the
great sociologist Max Weber. Weber was clear in pointing out that language is
an important component of an argument and that using modern economic ter-
minology to describe the past is inaccurate. He argued that although some in-
dividuals did attempt to make profits in Roman times, such individuals were
limited by the state, and that profit-making organizations originated at the
household level.
302 THE ROMANS
Perhaps the most important early challenge to the argument that the ancient
economy differed from the modern economy came from Michael Rostovtzeff, a
name that has figured prominently in other discussions of Roman controver-
sies. Rostovtzeff’s main contribution to this debate was to claim that there was
no meaningful difference between ancient and modern economy. The appear-
ance of difference existed only because of the different scale of economic ac-
tion. In ancient times, economic activity occurred at much lower levels, and in-
volved much lower quantities than economic activity after the Industrial
Revolution.
The most influential figure in this entire debate, however, is Karl Polanyi.
His writings took a central position in this discussion, and most scholars take a
stance in reference to Polanyi. Polanyi argued that the economy should be
viewed as an embedded process, directly integrated into the social structure of
the society. People who take this approach are normally referred to as “sub-
stantivists.” Those who disagree with this approach and see the economy as a
distinct sphere of life are often referred to as “formalists.” More specifically,
formalists who use modern economic models to study the ancient world are
often called neoclassicists, a term derived from economics, but with a much
more specific meaning in that discipline. This is where the argument stands to-
day. There has been no resolution, and for the most part scholars do not explic-
itly argue about this matter in print anymore. But most scholars who study the
ancient economy do so from a formalist or substantivist view, and this should
be considered in any further studies of Roman economy and society.
Private Collectors, the Antiquities Market, and Repatriation

Ethical issues about the proper treatment of our cultural heritage have become
even more important after the unfortunate tragedies that befell Iraq’s museum
during the recent U.S. and British military operations in that country. But the
illegal sales of antiquities as well as repatriating artifacts back to their original
locations have been important issues for years. And even though the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has an
official stance on these issues, policy is not always evenly implemented.
The antiquities market and private collecting have been prominent forces in
Roman archaeology from its earliest days, and in fact, private ownership was
one of the initial arenas in which archaeology developed. In general, most peo-
ple would assume that the buying and selling of antiquities are morally dubi-
ous. Ancient artifacts are part of our common cultural heritage, and they be-
long in the public sphere. On the other hand, what is more morally difficult is
what to do with antiquities that are already in private collections or on the
black market. The problem is quite difficult. On the one hand, when private
collectors allow scholars to study the artifacts and publish information about
them, the collectors are essentially making the artifacts available to the public.
This seems like a good compromise. Unfortunately, however, every time infor-
mation about an ill-gotten antiquity is published in a scholarly journal, the
value of antiquities in the market increases and encourages more antiquities
trade. This is a real catch-22, and the scholarly community is very divided on
Ruined Library of Celsus, Ephesus,Turkey. (Chris Hellier/Corbis)
the issue. What is worse: never to study antiquities that are already in private
collections and lose the information they can provide, or to study the objects at
the potential expense of the loss of many more objects over time?
Another issue that has become even more important in the aftermath of the
Iraqi museum tragedies is repatriation. Should respected museums like the
British Museum, the Louvre, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art be expected
to return artifacts from their collections that were gained through unscrupu-
lous or imperialist means? This is another moral question with no easy an-
304 THE ROMANS
swers. On the one hand, the loss of a nation’s cultural heritage is very sad, es-
pecially if that heritage was lost through morally unacceptable behavior. On
the other hand, the issue of the Baghdad Museum has shown that artifacts
housed in volatile regions can be in grave danger and cannot always be as-
sumed to be protected with the same infrastructure that institutions like the
British Museum can provide. And similarly, does modern Italy really have
more claim to Roman artifacts than the United States? Although geographi-
cally the center of ancient Roman culture, modern Italy bears little resem-
blance to ancient Rome, and there are many people of Italian descent living in
other parts of the world today.
AVENUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The study of Roman civilization is a dynamic discipline. Every generation of
the field transforms itself completely. New questions become important, new
sources become available, and new approaches to the data are implemented. It
is impossible to predict what the future holds for Roman studies. To conclude
this book, two new directions in which the field is moving are briefly sug-
gested—they are exemplified by the words integration and synthesis. One
caveat, however: Remember that archaeology is unpredictable. Who knows
what may be found tomorrow that will radically change our understanding of
Roman civilization?
Integration
The study of ancient Rome should involve integration at different levels—the
integration of the large amount of evidence available about Rome and the inte-
gration of a variety of disciplines into the field of Roman studies. One of the
major problems with Roman studies today is that scholars gain expertise in the
interpretation of only one kind of evidence. This is understandable, as it takes
years of training to become comfortable working with these data at a scholarly
level. But it is unfortunate nonetheless. Archaeological and textual evidence
are better served when used in tandem with each other. Volumes written about
Rome should involve both kinds of data sets, not just texts or archaeology. The
field is better served by building on the works of all kinds of scholars, not just
those who have done the same type of work before.
Another form of integration that is becoming more prominent in Roman
studies and likely will continue to do so is the implementation of advances
from other disciplines. The study of Rome has always been multidisciplinary,
in that it has incorporated history, archaeology, and art history as interpretive
tools. But today, it is important to open up even more and use methods de-
rived from other fields. At the theoretical level, this means integrating the
work of scholars in fields such as anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. Ro-
man studies have been particularly bad at involving theory in the interpreta-
tion of data. This is mostly because so much data are available for the study of
Rome that theory is not needed as desperately as it is for the study of other an-
cient cultures. But Roman studies can only benefit from a greater exposure to
theoretical issues. From a more practical standpoint, the hard sciences also
have much to offer to the study of Rome. The earth sciences have already pro-
vided valuable tools (e.g., geographic information systems) that have been
successfully implemented in Roman archaeology. If these trends continue, it
can only be beneficial.
Synthesis
The other main theme in the future of Roman studies is best described as syn-
thesis. Roman archaeology especially has been notorious for creating regional
syntheses, but not grander scales of synthesis. It is often difficult to compare
material from Roman Britain and Roman Africa, even though such compar-
isons would be of tremendous benefit. The problem, of course, is that synthesis
is very difficult. But by creating larger syntheses of the huge amount of avail-
able data, the data become more manageable. So much information is now
available about Roman civilization that it is no longer possible for a scholar
like Theodor Mommsen to control all of the data. But creating synthetic analy-
ses of the data can help manage the huge variety of available material.
One approach that can assist in synthesis is to make sources for study read-
ily available to anyone who is interested in it. The Internet and Web-based data
services will be key in the dissemination of new information. There are several
reasons why this is so. The Internet removes the geographical barrier of li-
braries. Do not misunderstand: this author loves libraries and probably always
will. But Web-based libraries will make sources available all over the world. So
even if one does not live in close proximity to a research institution specializ-
ing in Roman studies, it is still possible to have access to the scholarly materi-
als. Another benefit of Web-based publication is that it is far less expensive
than publishing a book. Archaeologists are notorious for not publishing final
reports of archaeological excavations. Web-based publications allow lower
publication costs and quicker dissemination. Related to this, Internet-based
forms of data management can be especially useful in the publication of pre-
liminary reports. An exceptional innovator in this kind of information sharing
is Ian Hodder, with his Web-based publication of the Neolithic site of Çatal
Höyük (http://catal.arch.cam.ac.uk). Hopefully, Roman archaeologists can
follow this example of Web-based publication.
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Glossary
ABSIDUI: landowners eligible for military service.

ACADEMY: a school of philosophy in Athens founded by Plato that remained
important through Roman times.
ACCIUS: a Latin poet; lived from 170 B.C.E.–c. 86 B.C.E.
ACHAEAN LEAGUE: an organization of ten Achaean cities founded in 280
B.C.E. and disbanded in 146 B.C.E.
ACROPOLIS: the upper part of an ancient city; in Latin called an arx.
ACTIUM: the site, off the west coast of Greece, where Octavian defeated
Antony’s fleet in a naval battle.
ACTUS: Roman unit of distance measurement, equivalent to about 35.5 m.
ADELPHI: comedy by Terence, adapted from earlier Greek sources.
AEDILE: the magistrate responsible for the maintenance of Rome’s infrastruc-
ture.
AEGEAN: the area within the general region of the Aegean Sea roughly equiv-
alent to Greece.
AELIAN: a Stoic and rhetorician who lived in Rome from c. 170 C.E. to 235 C.E.
AELIUS ARISTIDES: wrote an autobiography known as The Sacred Tales, which
described his attempts to gain a cure from Asclepius.
AENEAS: legendary Trojan leader in the Trojan War; in some accounts consid-
ered the founder of Rome.
AENEID: a Latin epic poem written by Virgil celebrating the history of Roman
civilization.
AERARIUM: the Roman treasury in the Temple of Saturn.
AFRICAN RED SLIP WARE: form of pottery related to TERRA SIGILLATA ware, but
came later and was mostly produced in North Africa.
AGER PUBLICUS: state agricultural land that was assigned to individuals or
colonies but frequently held by wealthy investors.
AGORA: the Greek version of the Roman forum.
AGRIMENSORES: land surveyors.
AGRIPPA: an important figure in the establishment and early maintenance of
the principate and an important advisor to Augustus.
AGRIPPINA: the daughter of Agrippa and Julia and mother of Caligula who
was banished from Rome by Tiberius.
ALAE: rooms in a Roman house, often flanking the TABLINUM and open to the
ATRIUM.
ALARIC: Visigothic leader who held Rome for three days in 410 C.E.
ALBA LONGA: one of the oldest Latin cities; may have been the head of the
Latin League.
307
308 Glossary
ALEXANDER SEVERUS: emperor from 222 C.E. to 235 C.E.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: one of the greatest generals in history; conquered
most of the Mediterranean and Near East for Macedon, spreading Hellenistic
culture to all of the conquered territories.
ALEXANDRIA: city on the northern coast of Egypt, founded by Alexander the
Great, and famous for its library.
AMBROSE: patristic writer who lived c. 340 C.E.–397 C.E.
AMBULATORIES: the distinct aisles found in basilicas, but later designated a
specific style of church.
AMORES: collection of love poems written by Ovid.
AMPHITHEATERS: oval-shaped structures where spectacles like gladiatorial
combat took place and should not be confused with theaters.
AMPHITRUO: a comedy by Plautus.
AMPHORAE: large vessels suitable for maritime trade and transport; found in
shipwrecks in large quantities.
ANATOLIA: the designation for the part of Asia Minor roughly equating to
the area now known as Turkey.
ANDABATAE: gladiators who wore helmets that blocked their vision.
ANNALES: an epic on the history of Rome by Ennius Quintus.
ANNALS: ancient historical records of important events, but also the proper
name for a historical work by Tacitus.
ANNONA: Rome’s public grain supply, but the Latin word literally means
“harvest.”
ANTE MERIDIEM: abbreviated A.M., meaning “before the middle of the day.”
ANTHROPOMORPHIC: when something not human is thought of as human in
form or crafted into a human form.
ANTIOCHUS: died in 68 B.C.E. and is credited with founding the loose philo-
sophical school of thought known as Middle Platonism.
ANTONINES: the emperors Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Com-
modus, even though these emperors were not blood relatives.
ANTONINUS PIUS: emperor from 138 C.E.–161 C.E.
ANTONY: the lover of Cleopatra, heir of Julius Caesar and enemy of Octa-
vian.
APEX: the white, conical hat worn by the flamines priests.
APHRODITE: a Greek goddess, later associated with Venus.
APODYTERIUM: the changing room in a bath complex.
APOLLO: Greek god who became very popular in Rome, especially through
his connection with poetry.
APOTROPAIC: protective magic, usually performed to keep bad things from
happening (as opposed to encouraging good things to happen).
APPIUS CLAUDIUS: the Roman man said to have initiated construction of the
Appian Way, the road named after him.
AQUEDUCTS: structures built by the Romans to supply water to the baths,
and, by proxy, to the cities.
ARA PACIS: large altar that commemorates the return of Augustus from Gaul.
ARAMAIC: northwest Semitic language, spoken throughout the Near East
during the Roman period.
Glossary 309
ARCH: an important architectural feature that allows open spaces to be

spanned and can hold a considerable weight above.
ARCHAIC: a chronological period, which spans from the seventh century
B.C.E. to the beginnings of the classical period.
ARCHAIC TRIAD: group of gods consisting of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus.
ARCHAISING PERIOD: period of Latin literature typified by attempts to pur-
posely use Vulgar Latin or earlier forms of the language.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: see SECOND STYLE.
ARD: tool used by Roman farmers for plowing.
ARENA: center part of an amphitheater.
ARES: Greek god who came to be associated with Mars.
ARRETINE POTTERY: another name for TERRA SIGILLATA pottery; it is the name
more commonly used in ancient texts.
ARTEMIS: Greek goddess who came to be associated with Diana.
ARVAL PRIESTS: priests responsible for the worship of the goddess Dea Dia
and for various other activities related to the fertility of the fields.
ARVUM: Latin term for a plowed field.
AS: a unit of Roman currency.
ASCLEPIUS: Greek god that individuals consulted, frequently through
dreams, to gain cures and medical assistance.
ASHLAR: kind of masonry, consisting of squared stones laid horizontally.
ATHENA: Greek goddess who came to be associated with Minerva.
ATRIUM: center portion of a house, usually square or rectangular.
ATRIUM HOUSE: type of Roman house, characterized by the centrality of the
atrium.
ATTIC: Greek term for stage.
AUGURS: the branch of Roman public religion whose members attempted to
understand various communications from the gods, which came in many
forms, such as the flight paths of birds.
AUGURY: the science of observing bird behavior to gain omens from the
gods.
AUGUSTAN AGE: the literary and artistic period from the death of Caesar un-
til the death of Ovid, and does not correspond directly with the reign of Au-
gustus.
AUGUSTUS: title conferred upon Octavian by the Roman Senate; the title
came to be used by subsequent rulers of emperors and is the Roman equiva-
lent of the English word emperor.
AULUS GELLIUS: author of Attic Nights.
AUREUS: a unit of Roman coinage.
AUSPICE: see AUGURY.
AVENTINE: one of the hills of Rome.
BABYLON: ancient Mesopotamian city located in modern Iraq.
BACCHANALIA: rites performed for Dionysus that were banned in Rome in
186 B.C.E.
BACCHIDES: a comedy by Plautus.
BACCHUS: the Roman version of the Greek god Dionysus.
BARBARIAN: the designation used for all non-Greek-speaking peoples.
310 Glossary
BARRACKS EMPERORS: from 235 C.E. until 284 C.E., at least twenty-five emper-
ors were selected from within the ranks of the military (hence barracks), nor-
mally quickly killed and replaced by a new emperor.
BASE: term used in ceramic analysis to denote the bottom of a vessel.
BASILICA: distinct type of building, characterized by a peristyle with an open
central space.
BATHS: public complexes for bathing, found in most Roman cities, and open
to all who could afford the inexpensive entrance fees.
BATHS OF CARACALLA: a very large bathing complex (over 11 hectares in
area) that was used from 211 C.E. until 537 C.E.
BESTIARII: gladiators who fought wild animals.
BOETHIUS: philosopher and Christian theologian who lived from about 476
C.E. to 524 C.E.
BONA DEA: goddess worshipped exclusively by women and celebrated in a
biannual feast called the PAX DEORUM.
BOUDICCA: woman who led a revolt against the Romans in Britain in 61 C.E.,
also known as Boadicea.
BRUTUS: one of the murderers of Julius Caesar, immortalized as such by
Shakespeare.
BUFF WARE: pottery made of clay fired to a cream color.
BUSTS: sculptures of an individual depicting the parts of the body from the
shoulders up.
BYZANTIUM: the city of modern-day Istanbul, once the capital of an empire
that lasted from 330 C.E. to 1453 C.E.
CAESAR: originally the family name of Julius Caesar; it was assumed by Oc-
tavian after his adoption and was subsequently used by other emperors, gain-
ing the title on their accession or upon their appointment as heir.
CAESARION: the nickname for Ptolemy XV, who was a son of Cleopatra and
was rumored to have been fathered by Julius Caesar.
CALADARIUM: the hot room in a Roman bath.
CALIGULA: emperor from 41 C.E. to 54 C.E.
CAMENAE: goddesses associated with water.
CAMPANIAN WARE: one of the earliest types of Roman fine ware ceramics and
notable for its reddish slip.
CAMPUS MARTIUS: located outside of the city of Rome; the initial meeting
place of the Roman army and the comitia centuriata and in English called the
Field of Mars.
CAPITAL: an architectural term for the top part of a column.
CAPITOLINE: one of the hills of Rome.
CAPITOLINE TRIAD: group of gods consisting of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
CAPTIVI: a comedy by Plautus.
CARACALLA: emperor from 211 C.E.–217 C.E.
CARDO: one of the cardinal lines of the sky and one of the cardinal lines laid
out in land surveying.
CARMEN ARVALE: the oldest surviving example of Latin poetry and a song of
the Arval Priests.
Glossary 311
CARPENTUM: harvesting machine used in the northern provinces of the Ro-

man Empire.
CARTHAGE: city in modern-day Tunisia, founded in the Iron Age by Phoeni-
cian seafarers, which became a huge naval and commercial power and fought
with Rome in the Punic Wars.
CARTIBULUM: marble table found in the ATRIUM of a Roman house.
CASSIUS DIO: Roman historian who lived from about 150 C.E. to 235 C.E.
CASTRUM: rectangular, planned Roman military camp.
CATACOMBS: belowground burial complexes, especially associated with the
Jewish and Christian communities of Rome.
CATCHMENT ANALYSIS: study of the amount of people who can be supported
by the land in a given region.
CATILINE CONSPIRACY: attempted revolution led by Catiline in 63 B.C.E. that
was exposed by Cicero.
CATO THE ELDER: Roman moralist, especially noteworthy for his glorified ac-
counts of Rome’s past and “good old days” attacks on contemporary Roman
society.
CATO THE YOUNGER: a Stoic and vocal opponent of the Triumvirate.
CATULLUS: poet during the Augustan Age who innovated new styles of
Latin poetry using Greek forms.
CAUDINE FORKS: site of a Roman defeat to the Samnites in 321 B.C.E.
CAVEA: orchestra pit of a Roman theater.
CELLA: the sanctuary of a temple.
CELTS: group of ancient people who lived in western Europe, spoke a com-
mon language, and from whom most of our knowledge comes from Roman
sources.
CENA: Roman midday meal.
CENACULUM: apartment that took up the entire floor of a building.
CENSOR: one of the most powerful elected positions in the republic, respon-
sible for registering citizens, keeping censuses of property, and ensuring that
senators engaged in moral behavior.
CENSUS: taken every five years as a means of evaluating the wealth of Ro-
man individuals.
CENTUMVIRI: group of men who acted as a jury in some property-related tri-
als in the Republican period.
CENTURIAE: segments of land allocated to colonists, usually by a lottery
system.
CENTURIONS: officers in the Roman army, of varying ranks and authorities.
CERES: goddess associated with grain.
CHALDEANS: ancient tribe that lived near Babylon well before Roman times;
came to be associated with astrology in classical traditions.
CHALDEI: name used for astrologers in Roman times.
CICERO: lived from 103 B.C.E. to 46 B.C.E.; was a statesman, orator, and writer
of unsurpassed talent.
CICERONIAN AGE: term for the literary period roughly contemporaneous
with Cicero’s life.
312 Glossary
CIRCUS: track for chariot racing, semicircular in shape, with a field divided
into two sides; spectators sat in stands on either side.
CIRCUS MAXIMUS: the largest and most famous chariot-racing track, located
in Rome.
CIRE PERDUE: see LOST WAX.
CISTELLERIA: a Roman comedy by Plautus.
CLAUDIAN: Latin poet who died in 404 C.E.
CLAUDIUS: emperor from 41 C.E. to 54 C.E.
CLEOPATRA VII: commonly considered the last queen of Egypt and romanti-
cally linked with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.
CLIENT: a lower-status individual who was supported, in a variety of ways,
by a patron.
CLOACA MAXIMA: the major Roman sewer, first constructed in the regal pe-
riod and still in use today.
COARSE WARE: cheaper kind of pottery, usually used for utilitarian purposes
rather than decorative purposes.
COGNATES: languages or words that are related to one another but not de-
rived from one another.
COLLEGE: not postsecondary school, but rather state organizations of cultic
officials.
COLLINA: one of the four major zones of the city of Rome until Augustus re-
organized the city.
COLONY: type of Roman city founded by the Romans in newly conquered
territories, often settled by veterans.
COLOSSEUM: the large structure (more properly called the Flavian Am-
phitheater) inaugurated by Titus in 80 C.E. and still one of the most prominent
monuments in Rome.
COLUMBARIUM: large tomb that accommodated the remains of hundreds of
(usually cremated) individuals.
COMITIA: Latin term for assembly; should not be confused with the modern
word committee.
COMITIA CENTURIATA: the assembly of centuries, a Republican assembly of
373 centuries (groups of 100 men) who voted on legislation and the election of
upper officials.
COMITIA CURIATA: the assembly of wards; each of the three tribes was further
divided into ten wards, who voted as a block during the period of the monar-
chy on approving the king or any other magistrate with imperium.
COMITIA TRIBUTA: the assembly of tribes, this republican assembly func-
tioned like the comitia centuriata but was divided into thirty-five tribes and
generally voted on less important issues.
COMITIUM: enclosed building used for assemblies, the most famous located
in the forum Romanum.
COMMODUS: emperor from 180 C.E.–192 C.E.
COMPLUVIUM: the open section in the roof of an atrium that leads to the im-
pluvium.
CONCILIUM PLEBIS: structured similarly to the comitia tributa, this assembly
consisted only of plebeians.
Glossary 313
CONNUBIUM: the legal right of a couple to marry each other.

CONSTANTINE: emperor from 307 C.E. to 337 C.E. who converted the empire
to Christianity.
CONSUL: elected military commander.
CONTIO: informal meeting held before an election to inform the general pub-
lic (patrician and slave, male and female) about an issue.
CONTUBERNIUM: the nonlegal arrangement that allowed slaves to marry one
another.
COPTIC: the latest form of the Egyptian language, and also the term gener-
ally used for the Christian population living in Egypt.
CORINTHIAN RELIEF WARE: type of fine pottery, dating to the later Roman pe-
riod, notable for the reliefs molded on the sides.
CORNELIA: daughter of Scipio Africanus and mother of the Gracchi; an influ-
ential figure in Roman civic life through her sons and considered a model Ro-
man woman.
CORVUS: developed during the Punic Wars, this was a drawbridge (fitted
with an iron spike) that allowed Roman soldiers to board and overwhelm en-
emy warships.
CRAFT SPECIALIZATION: when an individual has the skills, tools, and re-
sources for one particular occupation and performs that occupation to create a
surplus of material or labor that can then be traded for other goods.
CRASSUS: one of the members of the First Triumvirate.
CUBICULUM: the bedroom in a Roman house.
CUPID: son of Venus and Vulcan and a Roman adaptation of the Greek god
Eros.
CURIA: the building where the Senate met.
CURIAE: an extended family, of which there were ten in each of the three
tribes, during the period of the monarchy.
CURSUS HONORUM: the “course of honors”; after 180 B.C.E., citizens could
only be elected to positions in a fixed order, at certain ages, with specific inter-
vals between offices, although some individuals (such as Pompey) were able
to ignore these steps.
CURSUS PUBLICUS: Roman military and state transportation network, estab-
lished by Augustus.
CURULE MAGISTRATES: magistrates (censors, consuls, praetors, and some
aediles) with the right to use certain symbols of state authority.
CYBELE: goddess brought to Rome, who was also known as Magna Mater,
whose worshippers were notorious for ecstatic behavior.
CYNICISM: type of philosophy that never developed into an established
school, but most typified by ascetic beggars who wandered the Roman
world.
DEA DIA: goddess whose main worship was performed by the Arval Priests.
DECAMUNUS: one of the cardinal lines of the sky and one of the cardinal lines
laid out in land surveying.
DECAY THEORIES: theories that explain the fall of Rome through internal, sys-
temic problems; also known as “germ” or “seed” theories.
DECEMVIRI: groups of ten men formed to perform specific civic functions.
314 Glossary
DEMETER: Greek goddess who came to be associated with Ceres.

DENARIUS: a unit of Roman coinage.
DIALOGUE: Greek literary genre, sometimes used in Roman literature, orga-
nized around a conversation between individuals.
DIANA: hunter goddess who was invoked for assistance in childbirth.
DICTATOR: supreme commander of Rome, nominated by the Senate for a set
period during times of crisis.
DIMACHERII: gladiators who used two swords.
DIOCLETIAN: emperor from 285 C.E.–305 C.E.
DIONYSUS: Greek god worshipped in a mystery cult.
DIS: Roman version of Pluto, the god of the underworld.
DIVINATION: general term for techniques of predicting the future or commu-
nicating with the gods.
DOMESTIC RELIGION: religion practiced in the average Roman household,
which is usually contrasted with state or official religion.
DOMINATE: from dominus (meaning “master”), this is the term used to de-
scribe an emperor’s reign from Diocletian’s reign onward, as opposed to prin-
cipate.
DOMITIAN: emperor from 81 C.E. to 96 C.E.
DOMITIAN’S PALACE: the huge palace built on top of the Palatine Hill.
DOMUS: the word for house that can refer to the physical house, the staff of
the house, or a family line.
DOMUS AUREA: Nero’s Golden House, a huge imperial estate constructed in
the middle of Rome, with an artificial lake as its centerpiece.
DOMUS PUBLICA: the official residence of the pontifex maximus, located in
Rome.
DREAM INCUBATION: the practice of purposefully seeking out dreams, often
by sleeping in a particular setting.
DUPONDIUS: a unit of Roman coinage.
ECLOGUES: ten pastoral poems by Virgil.
EDICTS: statements of legal intent, issued by Praetors in the Republican pe-
riod and by the emperor in the imperial period.
EGERIA: type of water nymph that could assist pregnant women.
ELAABALUS: emperor from 218 C.E.–222 C.E.
ELEGY: type of poetry written with a specific meter that was associated with
funerals and laments, and in modern times refers only to literature of mourning.
ELYSIAN FIELDS: in Greek and Roman literary traditions, one of the locations
where the dead dwelled.
EMPEROR: the office of the leader of Rome during the imperial period.
EMPEROR CULT: the worship of deified, dead emperors, not the worship of
living emperors.
EMPIRE: the term for the period of Roman history in which Rome was ruled
by an emperor, as well as a more general term for the larger Roman state.
ENNIUS QUINTUS: a Roman poet who lived from 239 B.C.E.–169 B.C.E.
EPHESUS: town in modern Turkey to which Paul wrote his letter to the
Ephesians.
Glossary 315
EPIC: a literary genre that usually involves accounts of the past involving hu-
mans and gods.
EPICUREANISM: an Athenian philosophical tradition that promoted the study
of physics and the withdrawal from civic life.
EPICURUS: the founder of Epicureanism.
EPIDICUS: a comedy by Plautus.
EPIGRAPHY: the study of inscriptions.
EPISTLES: the scholarly term for letters or literature written in the form of let-
ters.
EPITHETS: words or phrases describing the attributes of a person, usually as-
sociated with their name or titles.
EPULONES: the college of cultic officials responsible for administering feasts
and games.
EQUESTRIAN: see EQUITES.
EQUESTRIAN STATUES: statues of individuals mounted on a horse, but not
necessarily statues of equestrians.
EQUITES: a status group consisting of property holders who were wealthy
enough to afford the equipment for horse-based warfare.
ESQUILINA: one of the four major zones of the city of Rome until Augustus
reorganized the city.
ESSEDARII: gladiators who drove chariots.
ESSENES: a particular Jewish sect, infamous from the New Testament, whom
most scholars associate with the Dead Sea Scrolls.
ETRUSCANS: the dominant cultural group that lived in central Italy prior to
the rise of Roman civilization.
EUNUCHUS: a Roman comedy by Terence based on an earlier play by Menan-
der.
EUSEBIUS: a Christian writer who lived from about 260 C.E. to 340 C.E., and
one of the most important sources for early Christianity.
EVANDER: a Greek god, who in some Roman legends was the founder of
Rome.
EXEDRA: a recess in the wall of a Roman house.
FACTIO: the four chariot-racing companies in Rome that rented out chariots
and drivers for events.
FAIYUM MUMMY PORTRAITS: realistic paintings of human faces, found on
mummified bodies in Egypt during the Roman period.
FASCES: an important symbol of power in Rome, consisting of a bundle of
rods, and infamous because of its associations with Mussolini’s Fascist party
(and the source of that party’s name).
FASTI: the name of Ovid’s poem about the Roman calendar, derived from the
same term used to describe days of the year in which business could be con-
ducted.
FAUCES: the main hall of an atrium-style house that connected the VESTIBULUM
with the ATRIUM.
FAUSTULUS: the shepherd who supposedly found Romulus and Remus.
FELICITAS: the goddess of luck.
316 Glossary
FERALIA: Roman festival for the dead.

FERIAE: a Roman festival day.
FETIALES: the cultic officials in charge of treaties and international relations.
FIBULA: pin for fastening Roman clothing.
FINE WARE: well-made, highly fired pottery.
FIRST SETTLEMENT: in 27 B.C.E., Octavian gained the name Augustus and
claimed to have restored the republic, but in fact brought that form of govern-
ment to an end.
FIRST STYLE: style of wall painting and interior decoration at Pompeii typi-
fied by the rendering of artificial architectural features in paint.
FIRST SUCCESSION: the moment when the Plebeians withdrew from Rome
and formed an internal governing system.
FISCUS: the private treasury of the emperor.
FLAMINES: the leaders of the cults of particular deities.
FLAVIANS: the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.
FLORUS: a Roman historian, whose major work records major events from
the earliest times until the time of Augustus.
FOEDUS CASSIANUM: treaty between Rome and the Latin League (493 B.C.E.),
which made Rome equal to the league as a whole in terms of dividing spoils of
war and gave Rome the sole right to summon the entire league to war.
FORA: the plural form of forum.
FORMATIVE PERIOD: the earliest stage of Latin literature, typically under-
stood as lasting until 80 B.C.E.
FORTUNA: goddess with a temple in the Forum Boarium, associated with
good luck.
FORUM: open area, often in the center of the town, used as a public meeting
space for a variety of activities.
FORUM BOARIUM: area in Rome where cattle were sold.
FORUM ROMANUM: center of Roman religious and commercial life located at
the foot of the Capitoline and Palatine Hills.
FOURTH STYLE: style of wall painting and interior decoration found at Pom-
peii that depicts fanciful and impossible architectural features.
FRANKS: German tribes who eventually conquered what is now modern
France.
FREEDMEN: slaves that have been manumitted.
FRIGIDARIUM: the cold room in a Roman bath.
FRONTO: a prominent orator, especially influential on Cicero.
GAIUS: author of the Institutes, an ancient sourcebook on Roman law.
GALBA: emperor from 68 C.E. to 69 C.E.
GALLIC WAR: the name of Julius Caesar’s account of the wars of the same
name.
GAUL: before 42 B.C.E., this is the designation given to the section of Italy that
lies between the Alps and Apennines, but after the conquest of this region by
Augustus, Gaul is used to refer to the area of modern France.
GENII: the plural form of the word genius.
GENIUS: the spirit that resides within every pater familias that allowed him
to procreate and lead the household.
Glossary 317
GENIUS AUGUSTI: the manifestation of Augustus’s procreative power that

was publicly worshipped.
GENIUS LOCI: the term used for a deity when the individual invoking the de-
ity did not know its name.
GENS: a Roman family line, all descended from one male ancestor, and all
bearing the same name.
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS: a computer-based mapping database
technology, which is becoming very important in archaeological enquiry.
GEORGICS: a poem by Virgil that romanticizes rural life.
GERM THEORIES: theories that explain the fall of Rome through internal, sys-
temic problems, also known as “decay” or “seed” theories.
GERMANIA: the name of the writings of Tacitus on the German tribes.
GERMANICUS: name bestowed on Nero Claudius Drusus for victories over
the Germans and held from then on by the Julio-Claudian family.
GERMANY: understood by the Romans to be the area east of the Rhine River
and north of the Danube River.
GETA: emperor in 211 C.E.
GIBBON, EDWARD: one of the most influential Roman scholars of all time, fa-
mous for his masterpiece, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
GIS: See GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
GNOSIS: the Greek word for “knowledge.”
GNOSTICS: a distinct Christian sect that believed in a creator deity separate
from the supreme god.
GOLDEN AGE: a period of Latin literature, traditionally understood as lasting
from 80 B.C.E. until 14 B.C.E.
GOLDEN HOUSE: see DOMUS AUREA.
GOTHS: Germanic tribe that settled near the Black Sea.
GRACCHI: two brothers (Tiberius and Gaius) who attempted significant so-
cial reforms in the second century B.C.E.
GRAMMATICUS: the level of school attended by boys, beginning around the
ages of 10 to 12.
GREEK: an Indo-European language prominent in Roman civilization.
GREEK NEW COMEDY: type of play characterized by stereotyped characters
and situations.
GROMA: instrument used in surveying, whose main components consisted of
two arms crossed at right angles.
GROMATICI: land surveyors.
GUSTATIO: appetizers at a Roman feast.
GYMNASIUM: Greek sports complex that was also popular in Roman times
and often attached to a bath.
HADES: in Greek and Roman literary traditions, one of the locations where
the dead dwelled.
HADRIAN: emperor from 117 C.E.–138 C.E.
HADRIAN’S VILLA: villa in Tivoli that incorporated architecture from all over
the empire.
HADRIAN’S WALL: the Roman wall in the north of England, erected by
Hadrian between 1222 C.E. and 128 C.E., that acted as Rome’s border in Britain.
318 Glossary
HAMILCAR BARCA: an important Carthaginian general who led the Car-

thaginian forces in the first Punic War.
HANNIBAL: Carthaginian general who terrorized the Roman countryside
during the second Punic War.
HARUSPICES: diviners who studied particular phenomena (such as animal
entrails) in order to understand the will of the gods.
HEBREW BIBLE: another name for the books of the Old Testament.
HECYRA: a Roman comedy by Terence.
HELLENISTIC: the term used to describe the Greek culture associated with the
conquests of Alexander the Great.
HEPATOSCOPY: the science of studying animal entrails for omens.
HERA: Greek goddess who came to be associated with Juno.
HERCULANEUM: city destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in 70 C.E.
HEROD THE GREAT: king of Judea from 37 B.C.E. until 4 B.C.E., and an impor-
tant figure in Second Temple Judaism.
HEXAPLA: an edition of the Old Testament consisting of six columns of paral-
lel text from different sources, compiled by Origen.
HIBERNIA: Latin name for Ireland.
HORACE: Roman poet who lived from 65 B.C.E. to 8 B.C.E.
HORTENSIUS: greatest Roman orator until Cicero beat him in trial in 70 B.C.E.
HORUS: Egyptian deity and the son of Isis and Osiris.
HUNS: nomads who are assumed to have originated in central Asia who
were fearsome warriors.
HYPOCAUST: system of central heating, created by burning a fire in the base-
ment of a building and allowing the heat to rise through vents or gaps in the
floors and walls.
IDES: or idus, the thirteenth or fifteenth day of the month.
IMPERATOR: the title bestowed on a military commander by his troops after a
victory, and after Augustus, title assumed by all emperors.
IMPERIUM: Latin word for the political concept of the power to command.
IMPLUVIUM: pool in the middle of a Roman atrium, directly beneath the
conubium, that collected rainwater.
INCRUSTATION STYLE: see FIRST STYLE.
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES: those languages that share common character-
istics and possibly a parent language, so named because they are found in In-
dia and Europe.
INFLECTED LANGUAGES: languages in which the form of the word is more
important than the order of the words in a sentence.
INSTITUTES: a sourcebook on Roman law written by Gaius.
INSULA: literally refers to a city block but in Roman contexts refers to apart-
ment or tenement complexes.
INTAGLIO: engraved gems.
INTERREX: in the regal period, the person appointed to replace the king tem-
porarily upon his death, until the next king was chosen.
INTRICATE STYLE: see FOURTH STYLE.
IRON AGE: period in which the Villanovan culture lived.
Glossary 319
ISIS: Egyptian goddess who became quite popular in Rome during the impe-
rial period.
ISLAMIC CITY: see SEGMENTARY CITY.
IUS DIVINUM: the proper relationship between gods and humans.
IUS RESPONDENDI: the right to give a legal opinion.
JANUS: god of thresholds and doorways, commonly depicted with two faces.
JENTACULUM: Roman breakfast, usually just a very small meal.
JEROME: one of the early Christian church fathers, who lived from about 347
C.E. to 420 C.E.
JOSEPHUS: Jewish historian and one of the best sources on Roman-period Ju-
daism.
JUGURTHA: Numidian king who was defeated by Marius in 104 B.C.E.
JULIAN: emperor from 360 C.E. to 363 C.E.
JULIUS CAESAR: brilliant general who became dictator of Rome, but was as-
sassinated in 44 B.C.E.
JUNIAN LATINS: slaves who were unofficially manumitted and allowed to
live like freedmen but whose children were still slaves and whose property
still belonged to the master.
JUNO: wife of Jupiter, identified with the Greek goddess Hera and also the
name for female procreative power.
JUPITER: the supreme god of the Romans, associated with weather.
JURISTS: legal intellectuals who worked in Rome, wrote on issues of law, and
participated in legal cases.
JUSTIN: a Roman historian.
JUTURNA: goddess associated with fountains.
JUVENAL: Roman satirical poet.
KALENDAE: the name of the first day of the month.
KNIDIAN RELIEF WARE: mold-made pottery often found in very interesting
shapes, dating from 70 C.E. to 250 C.E.
KOINE: the common dialect of Greek and the language of the New Testa-
ment.
LACONIUM: the sauna room in a Roman bath.
LARARIUM: the shrine for the household lars, kept in the atrium, which was
the responsibility of the pater familias.
LARES: protective household deities, cared for by the pater familias.
LARS: singular form of the word lares.
LATE LATIN PERIOD: a broad period of Latin literary output, usually under-
stood as beginning in 138 C.E.
LATIFUNDIA: large agricultural estates, worked by slaves.
LATIN: an Indo-European language and the most prominent language in
Rome.
LATIN LEAGUE: association of Latin towns (probably originating in the sev-
enth century B.C.E.) for the joint worship of deities and mutual protection, led
by Alba Longa until Rome defeated the city, and made itself a dominant part-
ner (in the foedus Cassianum) until its dissolution in 338 B.C.E..
LATINI: tribes living in Latium before the Roman period.
320 Glossary
LATINS: people who lived in Italy between the Tiber River and the Northern
Etruscan settlements during the Iron Age; the term later took on a broader
meaning.
LATIUM: an area in western Italy between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian
Sea.
LEAF TABLETS: writing tablets made out of very thin sheets of wood.
LEGATI: various officials in Roman provincial governance, including legion
commanders, ambassadors, and governors.
LEGIS ACTIO: legal action that involved drawing up forms and legal docu-
ments.
LEMURES: hostile ghosts who could be dangerous forces within the house-
hold.
LEMURIA: the festival held to satiate the LEMURES.
LEVANT: general geographic term for the regions of land on the east side of
the Mediterranean Sea.
LIBATIONS: liquid offerings, usually poured.
LIBERTI: see FREEDMEN.
LICTORS: the attendants who carried the fasces before certain administrative
and cultic officials.
LIMBO: in Greek and Roman literary traditions, one of the locations where
the dead dwelled.
LIMES: either fortified military roads or permanent borders like Hadrian’s
Wall.
LIMINAL: describing areas and/or times of transition.
LIMITES: frontier districts.
LINEAR B: earliest certain Greek language, well known from Bronze Age
Crete.
LIP: the edge of the mouth of a pot.
LITTERATOR: the lowest level of public schooling, attended by both boys and
girls.
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS: Roman playwright also known for his translation of the
Odyssey into Latin.
LIVY: Roman historian who lived from 59 B.C.E. to 17 C.E., whose work is one
of the most important sources of Roman history.
LOST WAX: method of casting metal in which the mold was carved out of
wax, which was destroyed after the metal was cooled.
LUCAN: poet who lived from 39 C.E. to 65 C.E.
LUCIAN: an important writer who was born in 115 C.E.
LUCIUS VERUS: coemperor from 161 C.E. to 169 C.E., along with Marcus Aure-
lius.
LUCRETIUS: an important Stoic who wrote De Rerum Natura.
LUDI: games held on religious holidays.
LUPERCALIA: the festival in which the Luperci ran through the streets slap-
ping bystanders with strips of goat-skins.
LUPERCI: the priests in charge of the festival of Lupercalia.
MACRINUS: emperor from 217 C.E. to 218 C.E.
Glossary 321
MAGISTER: the lowest level of public schooling, attended by both boys and
girls.
MAGISTRATE: an elected official in the Republican period who served in of-
fice for one year.
MAGNA MATER: see CYBELE.
MANES: benevolent spirits of dead ancestors.
MANUMISSION: the act of freeing a slave, who, once manumitted, became a
freedman.
MANUS: literally means “hand” but is a type of marriage in which the hus-
band gains complete control over the wife’s property.
MARCUS AURELIUS: emperor from 161 C.E–180 C.E.; wrote Meditations.
MARIUS: influential Roman general who introduced numerous military re-
forms and is widely credited with professionalizing the army.
MARS: Roman god of war and agriculture.
MARSIAN WAR: another name for the Social War.
MARTIAL: Roman poet who lived from 40 C.E. to 104 C.E.
MASADA: the site of a Jewish stand against Rome, which was not captured
until 73 C.E., well after the Jewish Revolt had been suppressed elsewhere in Ro-
man Palestine.
MATRONALIA: festival in which only women were allowed to participate.
MAU, AUGUST: renowned Roman art historian who identified the four styles
of wall paintings at Pompeii still used as categories in scholarship today.
MAUSOLEUM: tomb for a single individual built as a commemorative area.
MAUSS, MARCEL: gifted anthropologist and student (and nephew) of Emile
Durkheim, whose study on gift-giving revolutionized the way scholars under-
stand this phenomenon.
MEDIANUM: the long hallway in a Roman apartment complex that functioned
both as the primary entrance and the primary source of light.
MENAECHEMI: a Roman comedy by Plautus.
MERCATORES: Roman merchants who traded specific goods.
MERCURY: god associated with communication and trade.
MESOPOTAMIA: the Greek word for the region and civilization that flourished
between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (basically modern Iraq).
METALLURGY: the art of gaining metal from ore and fashioning that metal
into tools and other objects.
METAMORPHOSES: written by Ovid; one of the world’s greatest literary
achievements, brilliantly connecting Near Eastern and classical traditions
through the theme of transformation.
METER: the rhythm of a poem; in classical works it is based on the number of
syllables in a line and their respective length.
MIDDLE PLATONISM: a philosophical school of thought founded by Anti-
ochus, which saw connections between the thought of Plato and Aristotle.
MILES GLORIOSUS: a comedy by Plautus.
MILLE PASSUS: Roman distance measurement, equivalent to 1,480 meters.
MINERVA: goddess associated with crafts and creative arts as well as intelli-
gence.
322 Glossary
MISHNAH: compilation of rabbinic teaching.

MITHRAS: Zoroastrian god who became very popular in Rome, especially
among soldiers and merchants who had traveled to the east.
MITHRIDATIS: king of a small region near the Black Sea who fought with
Rome in what are called the Mithraditic Wars.
MOMMSEN,THEODOR: one of the most influential modern Roman scholars.
MONOTHEISM: the belief in and worship of a single supreme deity and the
category to which Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all belong.
MORTARIA: large flat bowls that were probably used for grinding and other
kinds of food preparation.
MOSTELLARIA: a comedy by Plautus.
MOUTH: the opening of a vessel.
MUNERA: funeral games, a tradition that originated with the Etruscans.
MUNICIPIA: cities in Italy that had many of the rights and obligations of citi-
zens, but lacked the right to vote.
MYRMILLONES: heavily armored gladiators who had a distinctive fish design
on their helmets.
MYSTERY RELIGIONS: religions that had restricted memberships and secret
practices that emphasized individual cultic participation.
NAG HAMMADI: the site in Egypt of a find of very important Gnostic papyri.
NATURAL BIRTHRATES: birthrates in populations that do not use birth-control
techniques, other than social pressures (like prohibitions on premarital sex).
NATURAL HISTORY: the thirty-seven-volume encyclopedia compiled by Pliny
the Elder on topics of natural history.
NAUMACHIAE: staged naval battles put on as entertainment for the Roman
public.
NEAR EAST: term usually used by scholars to denote the area popularly
known as the Middle East.
NECROPOLIS: Greek word for cemetery, used to refer to ancient cemetery
complexes.
NEFASTI: days of the year on which business was not supposed to be trans-
acted for religious reasons.
NEGOTIATORES: representatives of large trading companies and investment
groups.
NEOPLATONISM: philosophical school of thought that emphasized experi-
ence rather than theory.
NEPOS: Roman writer, notable for his biographical works.
NEPTUNE: god associated with water.
NERO: emperor from 54 C.E.–68 C.E.
NERO’S GOLDEN HOUSE: see DOMUS AUREA.
NERVA: emperor from 96–98 C.E.
NEXUS: the institution of debt-slavery, in which a member of the indebted
household is given over to the loan granter until the loan can be repaid.
NOBLES: high-status Romans from established families.
NONAE: the day of the month that came nine days before the ides.
NONIUS MARCELLUS: wrote an important encyclopedia of Latin and writings
in Latin during the reign of Constantine.
Glossary 323
NOVUS HOMO: term used to describe a man who was the first member of his
family to be elected consul, which made his family noble.
NUMA POMPILIUS: the legendary second king of Rome.
NUMEN: term used to describe divine power.
NUMINA: impersonal, semidivine forces, usually associated with a particular
area or item.
NUMISMATICS: the study of coins.
OCTAVIA: name of the sister of Octavian and wife of Antony, and also the
name of the daughter of Claudius and first wife of Nero, about whom a
tragedy, named after her, was written.
OCTAVIAN: the man who defeated Antony and Cleopatra and became Au-
gustus, founder of the Principate.
ODOACER: the barbarian who became king of Rome in 476 C.E. and whose as-
cension is often considered to mark the end of the Roman Empire.
OECUS: the dining area associated with the peristyle in a peristyle house.
OIKOS: the Greek word for house, but often used to describe economies re-
lated to household-level production.
OPUS SECTILE: mosaics that consist mainly of large pieces of cut stone,
carved to fit together to form one design.
ORACLES: shrines or people through which gods could communicate with
humans; the term can also refer to the actual answers given by the gods.
ORATORY: the art of public speech, which was the forum for the practical ap-
plication of the skill of rhetoric.
ORCHESTRA: the semicircular section in the front of a Roman theater.
ORDERS: formally defined categories of people, of which the most notable in
Rome were the PATRICIANS and the PLEBEIANS.
ORIGEN: an early Christian scholar of Alexandria who lived from 185 C.E. to
254 C.E., most known for his work the Hexapla.
ORNATE STYLE: see THIRD STYLE.
ORTHOGONAL: an orderly type of town planning common in Greek cities.
OSCANS: a group of people who lived in Italy and spoke a language related
to but distinct from Latin.
OSIRIS: an important Egyptian deity, but in Roman times was more impor-
tant as the husband of Isis.
OSSUARIES: rectangular boxes in which the bones of the dead were stored.
OSTIA: a port city with well-preserved apartment complexes that have been
substantially excavated.
OSTRACA: broken fragments of pottery or stone with writing or drawings on
them.
OSTROGOTHS: the eastern Gothic tribes.
OTHO: emperor in 69 C.E.
OVID: one of the greatest Roman poets, author of Metamorphoses, who lived
from 43 B.C.E. to 17 C.E.
PAGAN: originally meant an inhabitant of a small hamlet, but with the rise of
Christianity came to be used to describe people who were not Christians or Jews.
PAGANALIA: celebration, associated with Ceres, celebrating the sowing of
crops.
324 Glossary
PALAESTRA: an exercise yard, often found associated with bathing complexes

in Roman times.
PALATINA: one of the four major zones of the city of Rome until Augustus re-
organized the city.
PALATINE: one of the major hills of the city of Rome.
PALEOGRAPHY: the study of ancient writing.
PALEOPATHOLOGY: the study of human health in ancient populations.
PALLADIUS: author of an important treatise on agriculture, one of the pri-
mary sources for the study of Roman agriculture.
PALMYRA: an important city built around a rest stop in the Syrian Desert.
PANTHEON: a huge temple in Rome built by Hadrian, dedicated to all of the
gods of Rome.
PANTOMIME: theatrical performance, usually of mythological or historical
events, involving sex, nudity, and violence.
PAPYRUS: type of paper, made from papyrus reeds found in Egypt.
PARASITE: a fellow diner in Greek society but came to take on the meaning of
a “moocher” or “sycophant” in Roman times.
PARENTALIA: festival held to commemorate dead ancestors and provide
them with offerings.
PARS RUSTICA: the structures in a villa complex used by agricultural workers
and as storage space.
PARS URBANA: the structure in a villa complex that was reserved for the
owner’s residence.
PASSUS: a unit of Roman distance measurement, equivalent to 1.48 m.
PATER FAMILIAS: the head of a household, ideally the oldest male.
PATER PATRATUS: a fetiales cultic worker responsible for making oral declara-
tions and curses.
PATRIA POTESTAS: the absolute power of the pater familias over the members
of his household.
PATRICIANS: an organized group of privileged families, originating in the re-
gal period.
PATRISTICS: the late Latin writings of the early Church fathers.
PATRON: a higher-status individual who supported, in a variety of ways, a
client.
PAX DEORUM: feast held twice yearly, in which married women (and only
married women) worshipped the goddess Bona Dea.
PECULIUM: a small gift, frequently given by a master to a slave.
PENATES: semidivine forces associated with particular household locations
who required daily offerings.
PERISTYLE: a distinct architectural feature, typically consisting of a series of
pillars surrounding a set-off area.
PERISTYLE HOUSE: the type of house that eventually overtook the atrium
style of house in popularity, characterized by the presence of an attached peri-
style.
PERSIANS: the people of what is now known as Iran.
PES: a unit of Roman distance measurement, often called the Roman foot,
equivalent to 29.4 cm.
Glossary 325
PETRONIUS: author of Satyricon.

PHAEDRUS: wrote a collection of fables based on Aesop.
PHARSALI: an epic poem written by Lucan that chronicled the conflict be-
tween Pompey and Julius Caesar.
PHILIP OF MACEDON: the man who unified Macedon, paving the way for his
son, Alexander the Great, to create an empire.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA: an important Jewish writer who died in 45 C.E.
PHOENICIA: the stretch of Lebanon and Syria that the sea-faring Phoenicians
called home.
PHOENICIAN: a Semitic language, related to Hebrew, and spoken by the
Phoenicians and Carthaginians.
PHORMIO: a comedy written by Terence.
PILUM: the type of javelin used by the hastati princeps.
PLAUTUS: author of numerous comedies who lived from 250 B.C.E. to 184
B.C.E.
PLEBEIANS: a heterogeneous group of underprivileged people in Rome who
emerged as an organized group sometime early in the Republican period.
PLEBS: see PLEBEIANS.
PLINY THE ELDER: compiled a thirty-seven-volume encyclopedia called Nat-
ural History.
PLINY THE YOUNGER: a Roman administrator who died in 113 C.E. and is
known to modern scholars because books of his letters have survived.
PLOTINUS: died in 270 C.E. and is credited with founding Neoplatonism.
PLUTARCH: Greek historian whose most famous work, Moral Lives, compares
and contrasts the biographies of certain Greeks and certain Romans.
PLUTO: the Latin name of the god Hades, of the underworld.
POENULUS: a comedy written by Plautus.
POLIS: the Greek word for “city.”
POLYBIUS: Greek historian who came to Rome during Rome’s rise as a world
power and whose History is one of the most important sources on Rome.
POLYTHEISM: the belief in more than one god.
POMPEII: one of the cities destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in 70 C.E.
POMPEIIAN RED WARE: not pottery made at Pompeii, but pottery that is a red
color similar to the reds in the wall paintings at Pompeii.
POMPEY: also known as Pompey the Great. Lived from 106 B.C.E.—48 B.C.E.
and was a powerful ruler in the later years of the republic.
PONTIFEX MAXIMUS: meaning “chief priest;” a title that was first taken by
Augustus and used (even by the Christian emperors) until the reign of Gratian
in 383 C.E.
PONTIFICES: state officials in charge of the overall maintenance of Roman re-
ligion, usually three in number.
POPULUS: the term used for the citizens of Rome as a collective.
POSIDONUS: a Stoic who lived from 135 B.C.E.–50 B.C.E. and wrote five books
on astrology.
POST MERIDIEM: abbreviated P.M., meaning “after the middle of the day.”
PRAETORIAN GUARD: the emperor’s personal security force, stationed in
Rome.
326 Glossary
PRAETORS: replaced the king after the monarchy came to an end, and came
to take on a judicial role in Roman political life.
PREFECT: the head of a military unit or an upper-level administrator in the
Roman government.
PRIAPEA: poems written during the reign of Augustus to celebrate the god
Priapus.
PRIAPUS: Greek god adopted into Roman culture, usually appearing as a
statue placed in gardens, with a frightening face and large phallus.
PRINCEPS: the name used by Augustus to describe his position as head of the
Roman government, and is the word from which principate is derived.
PRINCIPATE: the name generally used to refer to the transition period be-
tween the republic and the empire in which Augustus ruled as princeps (first
citizen), but can also be used to refer to the period from Augustus until Dio-
cletian.
PRO-CONSUL: see PRO-MAGISTRATES.
PROCURATOR: government official in charge of financial issues.
PROLETARII: the lowest property class of citizens who were not obligated to
render military service.
PRO-MAGISTRATES: officials appointed to fulfill the functions of the consul or
praetor in place of these officials, usually for military purposes.
PROMULSIO: the appetizers at a Roman feast.
PROPERTIUS: a Roman poet who was associated with Ovid and wrote four
books of elegies.
PRO-PRAETOR: see PRO-MAGISTRATES.
PROSCRIPTIONS: under Sulla, men were declared outlaws, listed by name,
and could be hunted down and killed for a reward, while the man’s sons
would lose citizenship and all property was confiscated.
PROSODY: the study of verses in poetry, especially prominent in the study of
Greek and Latin.
PROVINCE: an administrative unit of the Roman Empire.
PSEUDOLUS: comedy written by Plautus.
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD: the designation given for the period of history when
Egypt was ruled by the house of Ptolemy, the most famous of these rulers be-
ing Cleopatra VII.
PTOLEMY: lived in Egypt from 100 C.E.–178 C.E.; was one of the most influen-
tial astronomers.
PUBLICANI: private individuals who purchased government contracts at auc-
tions and performed government designated tasks for profit.
PUDICITIA: a kind of virtue a Roman woman could be described as having,
best understood as devotion (especially sexual) to her husband.
PUNIC: the name given to the version of the Phoenician language that was
spoken and written in Carthage.
PUNIC WARS: the wars that the Romans fought against Carthage during the
period of the republic.
PYRRHIC VICTORY: a victory gained at a very high cost.
PYRRHUS: Greek king who went to war with both the Romans and Carthage.
Glossary 327
QUADRAN: the lowest denomination of Roman coin.

QUAESTOR: the lowest level of magistrate, whose responsibilities included
the administration of public records and administration of the treasury.
QUINARIUS: a unit of Roman coinage.
QUINTILIAN: an important teacher and writer on the subject of rhetoric, who
taught important individuals such as Pliny the Younger.
QUIRINAL: one of the hills of Rome.
QUIRINUS: Sabine god and member of the Archaic Triad.
RAVENNA: became the capital of the western Roman Empire under Hono-
rius.
REGAL PERIOD: the first major period of Roman history, deriving its name
from the fact that during this period, Rome was ruled by a king.
REGIA: originally the residence of the king of Rome, but in Republican times
became the residence of the pontifex maximus.
REGIONES: the administrative unit of the city of Rome, initially four in num-
ber, but under Augustus was increased to fourteen.
REMUS: the brother of Romulus, one of the legendary founders of Rome.
REPUBLIC: the second major period of Roman history, so called because of
the nature of the Roman government at this time.
RES MANCIPI: property that had restrictions on its sale or alienation.
RES NEC MANCIPI: property that was free to be sold.
REX SACRORUM: the cultic official who took over many of the king’s religious
roles after the office of king was abolished at the end of the regal period.
RHETOR: the highest level of education available to Roman boys.
RHETORIC: the art of speaking and one of the most important components of
a young Roman’s education.
ROMA: divine manifestation of the city of Rome.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES: include Italian, Spanish, and French, all languages
originally derived from Latin.
ROMULUS: one of the legendary founders of Rome who had a twin brother
named Remus, both of whom were suckled by a wolf, according to the stories.
ROMULUS AUGUSTULUS: emperor from 475 B.C.E.–476 C.E.; usually considered
the last emperor of the western empire.
ROSTOVTZEFF, MICHAEL: one of the major Roman historians of the early twen-
tieth century.
RUBICON: a river in Italy.
RUDENS: a comedy written by Plautus.
SABINES: group of people who lived north of Rome and probably made up a
substantial portion of the Roman population in the regal period.
SACRIS FACIUNDIS: college of cultic officials in charge of the Sybilline Oracles.
SALLUST: Roman historian who lived from 86 B.C.E. to 35 B.C.E.
SALUTATIO: the morning ritual in which a client came to the house of a pa-
tron to offer greetings.
SAMNITES: a group of tribes, organized into a loose federation of villages that
occupied south-central Italy, who warred intermittently with Rome between
343 B.C.E. and 290 B.C.E.
328 Glossary
SARCOPHAGUS: type of coffin used for inhuming the remains of the dead,
even if the body had been cremated.
SATIRES: a name of two separate collections, one by Horace, and the other by
Juvenal.
SATURN: an important Roman god, probably associated with agriculture,
who had a temple on the Capitoline Hill.
SATURNALIA: the Roman festival from which the Christian holiday Christ-
mas is derived.
SATYRICON: a novel, written by Petronius, that did not fully survive, but has a
long section describing a feast.
SCAENA: the stage of a Roman theater.
SCAENAE FRONS: the back wall of the stage of a Roman theater.
SCIPIO AFRICANUS: Roman general who defeated Hannibal and conquered
North Africa for Rome.
SCRIPTORIA: institutions that copied manuscripts.
SECOND SOPHISTIC: revival of Greek rhetoric in the second century C.E.
SECOND STYLE: style of wall painting and interior decoration found at Pom-
peii that typically incorporated landscape art into the decorative scheme.
SECOND TABLES: the course of the Roman meal that we think of as dessert.
SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD: the period of Jewish history that ranges from the re-
building of the temple in Jerusalem until its destruction by the Romans in
70 C.E.
SEED THEORIES: theories that explain the fall of Rome through internal, sys-
temic problems, also known as “germ” or “decay” theories.
SEGMENTARY CITY: type of city also known as an Islamic city that was laid
out primarily according to kinship.
SELEUCIDS: one of the ruling dynasties that took over parts of Alexander the
Great’s kingdom after his death.
SEMIS: a unit of Roman coinage.
SENATE: an important political institution throughout Roman history, the
Senate acted in an advisory role first to the kings, then elected officials, and fi-
nally the emperor.
SENECA THE YOUNGER: lived from 4 B.C.E. to 65 C.E. and was an important
proponent of Stoicism.
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS: emperor from 193–211 C.E.
SERVIAN WALL: a wall constructed in 378 B.C.E. in the aftermath of the Gallic
sack, which surrounded the city proper and still survives in part today.
SERVIUS TULLIUS: one of the early kings of Rome.
SESTERCE: see SESTERTIUS.
SESTERTIUS: a unit of Roman coinage.
SIGNINUM: a type of mosaic made up of colored mortar and large chunks of
different kinds of materials.
SILVER AGE: a period of Latin literature, usually understood as ranging from
14 B.C.E. to 138 C.E.
SKEPTICISM: Greek philosophical tradition that struggled with the impossi-
bility of attaining true knowledge.
Glossary 329
SKEWOMORPH: the attempt to make an item in one medium look like an item
in a different medium (e.g., a ceramic bowl made to look like a metal bowl).
SLIP: a kind of paint, made out of clay, used to decorate ceramics.
SOCIAL WAR: lasted from 90 B.C.E. to 88 B.C.E. when Rome’s allies revolted.
SOCIETAS: organizations of investors.
SOCII: the name given to allies of Rome.
SPARTACUS: a slave who led a major slave revolt against Rome from 73 B.C.E.
to 71 B.C.E.
SPORTULAE: a payment given to a client by a patron.
STADIUM: a Roman unit of measurement for nautical distances that was
equivalent to about 187.5 m.
STATUE-IN-THE-ROUND: statue that is carved on all sides and intended for
viewing from 360 degrees.
STATUS: the perceived prestige of an individual that can be signified in many
ways.
STICHUS: a comedy written by Plautus.
STOICISM: a Greek philosophical school founded by Zeno that became very
popular in Rome.
STOICS: individuals who followed Stoicism.
STRIGILIS: a stick used in a Roman bath to remove dirt from and exfoliate the
skin.
STROPHIUM: a Roman brassiere.
SUBURBANA: one of the four major zones of the city of Rome until Augustus
reorganized the city.
SYBILLINE ORACLES: a collection of books in the charge of the sacris faci-
undis, which were based on the knowledge of ten prophets.
TABERNA: chamber opening directly onto the street in a Roman city that was
used as commercial or industrial space.
TABLELARII: hired messengers during the Republican period.
TABLINUM: the main reception room of a Roman house, often flanked by ALAE.
TACITUS: historian whose works Annals and Histories are important sources
on Roman history.
TALMUD: collection of rabbinic writings that center on commentary on the
Mishnah.
TARQUIN: one of the family names of early Roman kings, traditionally
thought to be Etruscan.
TEMPLUM: the area an augur marked off to take an auspice.
TEPIDARIUM: the room in a bath complex with tepid water facilities.
TERENCE: a comedy writer whose works won ancient critical acclaim.
TERMINA: deity associated with property boundaries.
TERMINALIA: the festival devoted to the divine forces in boundaries, cele-
brated on February 23.
TERRA SIGILLATA: one of the most important types of Roman pottery, easily
recognizable because of its glossy red surface.
TERTULLIAN: an early Christian apologist and theologian who lived from 160
C.E. to 225 C.E.
330 Glossary
TESSERAE: the small stone cubes used to create a mosaic.

TETRARCHY: the name given to the fourfold ruling system under Diocletian,
in which the empire is ruled by four individuals.
TEXTUAL CRITICISM: the study of the transmission of texts, involving exami-
nation of differences in various editions, sometimes with the goal of re-creat-
ing the original text (although in actual practice this is impossible).
THEATER OF MARCELLUS: the theater in Rome, built by Augustus as a memo-
rial to his nephew Marcellus.
THEATERS: semicircular structures in which dramatic performances were
staged; not synonymous with amphitheater.
THEODOSIUS: emperor from 379 C.E.–395 C.E.
THERMAE: a public bath.
THERMAE ANTONINIANE: see BATHS OF CARACALLA.
THIRD STYLE: style of wall painting and interior decoration found at Pompeii
that involved dividing the wall into three separate sections.
THRACIANS: group of people and the name of a type of gladiator.
TIBER RIVER: the river that runs through Rome.
TIBERIUS: emperor from 14 C.E. to 37 C.E.
TITUS: emperor from 79 C.E.–81 C.E.
TOGA: the quintessential Roman garment, made out of heavy white wool
and wrapped around the body in numerous ways.
TRAJAN: emperor from 98 C.E.–117 C.E.
TRAJAN’S COLUMN: the huge marble column erected to commemorate Tra-
jan’s military victories that has friezes all around it, and now has a statue of St.
Peter on its top.
TRAVERTINE: a kind of stone used in Roman building, quarried from Tivoli.
TRIBUTE: the payment made by a subordinate state to a dominant state.
TRIBUTUM: tax imposed directly upon an individual.
TRICLINIUM: dining room in a Roman house and also the name of the
couches that the Romans dined on within this room.
TRINUMMUS: a comedy by Plautus.
TRISTIA: collection of poems by Ovid.
TRIUMVIRATE: an official board of three.
TUFA: volcanic stone used in concrete and readily available around Rome.
TULLUS HOSTILIUS: the legendary third king of Rome.
TUNIC: the basic component of Roman clothing, worn by both men and
women.
TWELVE TABLES: a series of laws, supposedly drawn up in 451 B.C.E., that
formed the basis of early Roman law.
UNCIA: a unit of Roman distance measurement, often called the Roman inch,
equivalent to 2.43 cm.
UNCIAL: type of Latin cursive using all capital letters so as to be easily read.
VALLUS: harvesting machine used in the northern provinces of the Roman
Empire.
VANDALS: Germanic tribe that eventually conquered North Africa.
VECTIGALIA: public revenues and rents.
Glossary 331
VENUS: god of fertility and vegetation.

VERBENARIUS: a fetiales priest who carried sacred herbs.
VERISTIC STYLE: a style of art that attempted to depict the subject as accu-
rately and as realistically as possible.
VESPASIAN: emperor from 69 C.E–79 C.E.
VESPERNA: the Roman evening meal, usually taken just before bed.
VESTA: Roman goddess of the hearth, worshipped in every Roman home
and cared for by the vestal virgins.
VESTAL VIRGINS: girls who entered service between the ages of six and ten,
taking a vow of chastity, to administer the state worship of Vesta.
VESTIBULUM: the main entrance to a Roman house.
VESUVIUS: the volcano that erupted in 70 C.E., covering, among other cities,
Pompeii and Herculaneum.
VIA APPIA: also known as the Appian Way, a road built in 312 B.C.E. between
Rome and Capua, and named after Appius Claudius; sections of this road can
still be visited today.
VICTORIAN PERIOD: the period in which Queen Victoria reigned over Britain,
roughly the latter half of the nineteenth century.
VICUS TUSCAS: a famous shopping street in Rome.
VIGILES: Roman firefighters.
VILLA: a term used frequently in scholarly literature on Rome that usually
refers to a luxurious country estate.
VILLA MARITIMAE: a villa located by the sea.
VILLA RUSTICA: a country villa.
VILLA SUBURBANA: a villa located on the outskirts of a city.
VILLA URBANA: a villa found within an urban environment.
VILLANOVAN CULTURE: culture that lived in central Italy during the Iron Age.
VINALIA: Roman festival celebrating the harvest of vineyards.
VIRGIL: one of Rome’s greatest poets, author of the Aeneid.
VITELLIUS: emperor in 69 C.E.
VITRUVIUS: Roman architect who wrote De Architectura.
VOLSCI: Italian tribe that spoke a language that was related to but distinct
from Latin.
VULCAN: god of smithing and the power of fire.
VULGAR LATIN: vernacular Latin, the form of the Latin language used in
everyday speech.
VULGATE: the Latin translation of the Bible, rendered by Jerome.
WASH: a SLIP (paint for ceramic vessel) so thin that the original clay of the pot
can be seen beneath.
WATTLE AND DAUB: type of construction material known from Iron Age set-
tlements, consisting of branches and mud.
WHEELOCK’S GRAMMAR: arguably the most used Latin grammar today.
ZAMA: the site of the battle at which Hannibal was defeated by Scipio.
ZENO: the founder of Stoicism.
ZENOBIA: queen of the city of Palmyra who declared independence from
Rome until the defeat of her army.
332 Glossary
ZEUS: the supreme god of the Greeks, who came to be associated with
Jupiter.
ZOOMORPHIC: something that is not an animal, crafted to look like an ani-
mal.
ZOROASTRIANISM: the major religion of the Persians, supposedly based on
the teachings of Zarathustra.
Chronology
753 B.C.E. Traditional date of the founding of Rome

753–715 Traditional dates of the reign of Romulus
715–673 Traditional dates of the reign of Numa Pompilius
673–641 Traditional dates of the reign of Tullus Hostilius
641-616 Traditional dates of the reign of Ancus Marcius
616–579 Traditional dates of the reign of Tarquin I
579–534 Traditional dates of the reign of Servius Tullius
534–509 Traditional dates of the reign of Tarquin II (The Proud)
509 King expelled from Rome
508 Treaty between Rome and Carthage
499 Rome defeats the Latin League at the battle of Regillus
493 Treaty between Rome and the Latin League (foedus Cassianum)
483–474 First Veientine War
451 The Twelve Tables are drawn up
437–435 Second Veientine War
406–396 Third Veientine War
396 Veii destroyed
390 The sack of Rome by the Gauls
378 Servian Wall built
354 Roman treaty with the Samnites
348 Second treaty between Rome and Carthage
343–341 First Samnite War
340 The Latin War begins
338 Rome defeats and breaks up the Latin League
327–303 Second Samnite War
323 Death of Alexander the Great
321 Roman army surrenders to the Samnites at the Caudine Forks
312 Building of the Via Appia
Building of the aqua Appia, the first Roman aqueduct
298–290 Third Samnite War
284–272 Pyrrhic Wars
272 Rome gains control of all of southern Italy
264–241 First Punic War
229–228 First Illyrian War
226 Treaty at Ebro River with Carthage
220–219 Second Illyrian War
218–202 Second Punic War
333
334 Chronology
216 Battle of Cannae

215 Sumptuary laws enacted
213 Rome is hit by an earthquake
202 Battle of Zama
200–197 Macedonian War against Philip V
192 Rome is hit by an earthquake
186 Bacchic rites are made illegal
184 Cato the Elder is censor
182 Hannibal poisons himself to avoid Roman capture.
167 Delos declared a free port
151–146 Third Punic War
148 War against Macedonians
War against Achaeans
146 Corinth is destroyed
144 The Marcian Aqueduct is built
142 First stone bridge over the Tiber River is built
135–132 Slave revolt
133 Tiberius Gracchus is elected tribune and assassinated
123 Gaius Gracchus is elected tribune
121 Gaius Gracchus and supporters are put to death
112–105 War with Jugurtha of Numidia
107 Marius elected consul
105–101 War with German tribes in the north
104–99 Slave revolt in Sicily
91 Marcus Livius Drusus is killed.
90–88 The Social War
89–85 First Mithridatic War
88–82 Civil War in Rome
83–82 Second Mithridatic War
74–63 Third Mithridatic War
73–71 Slave revolt led by Spartacus
67 Pompey rids the Mediterranean of pirates
66–62 Pompey conquers the Near East
63 Catiline Conspiracy
Cicero is consul
62 Pompey returns to Rome
60 First Triumvirate formed
59 Caesar is consul. Pompey marries Caesar’s only daughter, Julia
58–57 Cicero expelled
58–51 Caesar campaigns in Gaul
55–54 Caesar campaigns in Britain
54 Julia dies
53 Crassus killed while campaigning against Parthians
51–50 Cicero is governer of Cilicia
49–45 Civil war in Rome
Chronology 335
49 Senate declares martial law against Caesar

Caesar attacks and defeats Pompey’s forces
Pompey flees Rome
48 Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus
Pompey is killed in Egypt
47 Caesar is declared dictator for life
46 Cato commits suicide
44 Caesar killed on the Ides of March
44–30 Civil war in Rome
43 Second Triumvirate is formed
40 Second Triumvirate divides up the empire
Antony marries Octavia
37 Antony marries Cleopatra, though the marriage is not legally recog-
nized
35 Antony divorces Octavia
33 Second Triumvirate dissolved
31 Antony and Cleopatra’s forces defeated at Actium
30 Octavian is victorious at Alexandria
Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide
27 Octavian is given the name Augustus (revered one) by the Senate
26–25 Augustus fights the Cantabrian Wars in Spain
23 Augustus resigns his consulship in exchange for lifelong tribuni-
cian powers and imperium maius (power greater than other au-
thorities)
Marcellus dies
19 Augustus is granted consulship for life
18 Laws regulating marital relations are passed
11 Augustus forces Tiberius to divorce his wife and marry Julia
4 B.C.E. Herod the Great dies
14 C.E. Augustus dies one month before his seventy-sixth birthday
14–37 Tiberius reigns as emperor
37–41 Caligula reigns as emperor
41–54 Claudius reigns as emperor
43 Britain invaded
54–68 Nero reigns as emperor
59 Nero has Agrippina (his mother) put to death
60 Boudicca leads rebellion in Britain
61 Nero has Octavia (his ex-wife) put to death
64 The Great Fire of Rome
65 Conspiracy against Nero discovered, conspirators are put to death
66–73 Jewish Revolt in Judea
69 Year of Four Emperors
Flavian Revolt
69–79 Vespasian rules as emperor
70 Titus destroys Jerusalem and temple
336 Chronology
71 Plague and fire in Rome

79 Vesuvius erupts
79–81 Titus reigns as emperor
80 Colosseum inaugurated
81–96 Domitian reigns as emperor
96–98 Nerva reigns as emperor
98–117 Trajan reigns as emperor
117–138 Hadrian reigns as emperor
121 Hadrian commissions Hadrian’s Wall
130–134 Bar Kochba Revolt in Palestine
135 Jews banned from Jerusalem
138–161 Antoninus Pius reigns as emperor
161–180 Marcus Aurelius reigns as emperor
167 Rome is hit by plague
168–175 Marcus Aurelius’s German war
169 Lucius Verus dies while campaigning with Marcus Aurelius
180–192 Commodus reigns as emperor
182 Saoterus is assassinated
185 Perennis is executed
190 Cleander is executed at the behest of an angry Roman mob
193–197 Civil war ensues after Commodus is assassinated
193–211 Septimius Severus reigns as emperor
211–217 Caracalla rules as emperor
212 All free citizens of Rome are granted citizenship
217–218 Macrinus reigns as emperor
218–222 Elegabalus reigns as emperor
221–235 Alexander Severus rules as emperor
235–284 At least twenty-five “Barracks emperors” rule
250 Christian persecutions
251 Decius becomes the first emperor slain in battle, at Abrittus
260 Valerian is the first emperor captured in battle (by the Sassanians)
260–274 The Gallic and Palmyrene provinces break away from Rome and
become independent
270–275 Aurelian, who reunited the empire, reigns as emperor
270 Aurelian builds wall around Rome
284–305 Diocletian rules as emperor
287–296 Britain breaks away
293 Diocletian establishes Tetrarchy
301 Diocletian legislates price controls
303 Christian persecutions
305 Diocletian and Maximian abdicate
312 Battle of the Milvian Bridge
312–324 Constantine controls the western empire and Licinius controls the
eastern empire
313 Edict of Milan passed, giving Christians freedom to worship
324–337 Constantine rules as sole emperor
Chronology 337
324 Constantinople is founded on the site of Byzantium

325 Licinius and his son are executed
Council of Nicaea
330 Constantine moves his government to Constantinople
357 Battle of Argentorate
359 Constantinople granted a Senate
361–363 Reign of Julian the Apostate
364–392 House of Valentinian rules Rome
376 Valens permits thousands of Visigoths and Ostrogoths to enter em-
pire
378 Goths defeat Romans at Battle of Adrianople
379–395 Theodosius the Great reigns
391 Paganism banned again
395 Empire divided into east and west
401 Italy invaded by Alaric and Visigoths
402 Ravenna becomes capital
403 Italy invaded by Alaric
406 Germanic tribes invade Gaul
407–408 New Gallic Empire formed
410 Visigoths sack and occupy Rome (for three days)
418 Roman treaty with Visigoths
435 Theodosius II decrees all pagan temples to be converted to Chris-
tianity or to be closed
438 Law Code of Theodosius
439 Vandals conquer Roman Africa
451 Romans and Visigoths defeat Attila the Hun
452 Attila the Hun invades, but Pope Leo I persuades him not to enter
Rome
455 Rome sacked for two weeks by Vandals
476 Last western emperor deposed; Odoacer takes throne
533 Justinian’s Digest is published
609 Pantheon converted to a church
1082 Rome sacked
1349 Earthquake in Rome
1453 Byzantine Empire destroyed by Ottomans
1458–1464 Papacy of Pius II, collector of Roman artifacts
1466 Etruscan tomb opened at Volterra
1468 Pomponio Leto and Roman Academy arrested
1515 Raphael becomes overseer of antiquities in Rome
1527 Charles V sacks Rome
1588–1589 Trajan’s Column is restored
1666 French Academy in Rome founded
1707 Society of Antiquaries founded
1709 Excavations begin at Herculaneum
1727 Accademia Etrusca founded
338 Chronology
1738 Renewed excavations at Herculaneum

1740 Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia founded
1748 Excavations at Pompeii begin
1750 Villa of the Papyri discovered at Herculaneum
1753 British Museum in London founded
1776–1788 Edward Gibbon’s masterpiece, The History of the Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire, is published
1780 Scipio family tomb discovered in Rome
1793 Louvre opened
1794 Gustaf III’s Museum of Antiquities opened in Stockholm
1809–1814 French occupation of Rome
1816 French return antiquities to Rome
1820 Venus de Milo discovered
1837 Pope Gregory XVI founds Museo Gregoriano Etrusco
1853 Villanovan culture discovered and identified
1860 Fiorelli becomes director of Pompeii excavations
1862 First volume of Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum is published
1869 House of Livia discovered in Rome
1870 The Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded in New York
Museum of Fine Arts founded in Boston
1871–1882 Schliemann excavates Troy
1873 French School in Rome founded
1879 Archaeological Institute of America founded
1895 American Academy in Rome founded
1899 British School at Rome founded
1899 Antonio Mau’s Pompeii—Its Life and Art is first published (an En-
glish translation follows in 1900)
1902 Archaic cemetery discovered in the Forum Romanum
1912 Royal Ontario Museum founded in Toronto
1926 Swedish Institute in Rome founded
1927 Excavations at Herculaneum resume yet again
Sources for Further Study
Abbott, Frank, and Allen Johnson

1926 Municipal Administration in the Roman Empire. Princeton: Princeton University
Press. (Dense and difficult reading, this book is now out of date but is still one of the
most thorough accounts of municipal government and the relationship between
Rome and the other cities.)
Adcock, F. E.
1940 The Roman Art of War under the Republic. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Ad-
cock provides a good, general introduction to the Roman military. The writing style
is a bit old-fashioned, and the information is slightly out of date. But because it is es-
sentially a collection of lectures, it is quite easy to read.)
Adkins, Lesley, and Roy Adkins

1994 Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (An easy-to-
use sourcebook on many aspects of Roman daily life that provides information nor-
mally not available in one place.)
1996 Dictionary of Roman Religion. New York: Facts on File. (This is another good ref-
erence tool by Adkins and Adkins. The entries are arranged alphabetically and are
trustworthy. The only complaint is that the bibliographies accompanying each entry
are relatively sparse.)
Andrae, Bernard
1977 The Art of Rome. R. Woolf (trans.). New York: H.N. Abrams. (This is an easy-to-
read one-volume overview of Roman art with good illustrations.)
Auget, Roland
1994 Cruelty and Civilization: The Roman Games. New York: Routledge University
Press. (Auget’s book is a good introduction to the Roman games in all their forms. It
begins with a discussion of the concept of cruelty in Roman games, and what it re-
flects about Roman society and modern society.)
Badian, E.
1958 Foreign Clientelae. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Although outdated, this book is
still useful as a source on Rome’s relationship to client states.)
1968 Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Argu-
ing against economic motivations for Roman imperialism, Badian analyzes this sub-
ject and scholarship on Roman imperialism in general in this volume.)
1972 Publicans and Sinners. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (This is a discussion of
339
340 Sources for Further Study
the nature of the publicani; the name of the book is derived from the negative image
of the publicani in the New Testament.)
Bailey, Cyril
1932 Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome. Westport: Greenwood Press. (This is an
important work but is very flawed in its interpretive framework. The major problem
is that it presents a unilinear cultural evolutionary model of Roman religion. If the
reader can ignore these interpretations, then some of the hard data can still be use-
ful.)
Balsdon, John
1967 Julius Caesar and Rome. London: English University Press. (Geared towards the
lay reader, this generally follows Gelzer’s work, but at a simpler level.)
Beard, Mary
1980 “The Sexual Status of Vestal Virgins.” Journal of Roman Studies 70. (Very worth
reading, this journal article presents an interesting discussion of the vestal virgins
and is almost always cited in discussions of this religious group.)
Beard, Mary, and Michael Crawford

1984 Rome in the Late Republic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (The reader will find
a good discussion of the politics of the period in this volume.)
Beard, Mary, and John Henderson

2001 Classical Art: From Greece to Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (More than
just a descriptive art-historical account, this book provides discussions of sensuality,
sexuality, and power in Roman art, as well as more traditional discussions about
painting, statuary, and portraiture. Includes a discussion on Greek art as well.)
Beard, Mary, and John North (eds.)

1987 Pagan Priests. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Articles by different scholars
are collected in this volume, all on the subject of pagan priests. Included in the arti-
cles are important theoretical discussions about the role of priests in Roman religion
and the appropriateness of the use of the term priest.)
Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price

1998 Religions of Rome. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (This two-
volume collection provides a very good introduction to Roman religion. The first
volume presents the history of Roman religion from a chronological perspective. The
second volume is an anthology of Roman sources relating to religion.)
Bloch, Raymond
1960 The Origins of Rome. London: Thames & Hudson. (Bloch describes the origins
of Rome from the perspective of both texts and archaeology. Most important is
Bloch’s argument that early Roman history should be understood within the context
of other events in Italy rather than as an isolated phenomenon.)
Boardman, John (ed.)

1993 The Oxford History of Classical Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (An edited
collection of essays on classical art in a volume meant as a companion to The Oxford
History of the Classical World. Directly relating to Roman studies is the chapter on the
republic and early empire and the chapter on the late Roman Empire).
Boardman, John, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray (eds.)

1988 The Oxford Illustrated History of the Roman World. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. (Contained in this volume is a collection of essays by prominent Romanists on
general topics in Roman civilization, but with a very heavy literary emphasis. Those
interested in Roman literature would be well advised to start here.)
Boëthius, Axel
1960 The Golden House of Nero. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (This book
is not just about Nero’s Golden House, although there is a good chapter on it. There
are also chapters about Iron Age architecture, domestic architecture, and other top-
ics.)
1978 Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
(Originally published as one volume with Ward-Perkins [1981], this is the only com-
prehensive book on this subject. The book has been revised in its second edition,
with material added after the author’s death. The illustrations are very good.)
Bowder, Diana
1978 The Age of Constantine and Julian. New York: Barnes & Noble. (The political and
religious events of the late Roman Empire are described in detail.)
Bowersock, Glen
1965 Augustus and the Greek World. Westport: Greenwood Press. (The adoption and
integration of the Greek world into the Roman sphere of influence are the subject of
this detailed, text-based study.)
1969 Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Based on a series
of lectures, the relationship of Sophistic thought in Rome is well described here. This
is probably the best entrance into this subject if the reader wants to approach it from
a Roman perspective.)
Bradford, Ernle
1981 Hannibal. New York: Barnes & Noble Inc. (Another older volume that has been
reissued by Barnes & Noble, this is an easy-to-read account of Hannibal’s life, focus-
ing mostly on military affairs. Unfortunately, there is only a brief chapter devoted to
Hannibal’s life after the Battle of Zama, which was a very interesting time.)
Brendel, O.
1979 Prolegomena to the Study of Roman Art. New Haven: Yale University Press. (First
published in the Memoirs of the American Academy at Rome, because Brendel’s essays
have been so influential, that they were reprinted. This book is only sparsely illus-
trated and is not an overview of Roman art. Rather, it tackles questions of what
makes art Roman and establishes many of the definitions and questions that are still
asked in the field of Roman art history.)
Brilliant, R.
1974 Roman Art. London: Phaidon. (There are two distinct sections in Brilliant’s
book. The first section [and the largest] is a discussion of various themes of Roman
art. The second section provides a chronological analysis of Roman art.)
Brown, Frank
1961 Roman Architecture. New York: G. Braziller. (Brown’s discussion of Roman ar-
chitecture is very brief, but because more than half of the book consists of illustra-
tions, it is still a useful treatment on architecture. It is a very easy read and discusses
the issue from a chronological perspective.)
Brown, Peter
1971 The World of Late Antiquity, A.D. 150–750. London: Thames & Hudson. (This is a
good introduction to the intellectual world of the later Roman Empire and early
Byzantine period. Brown’s conceptions of this period are very important, especially
for scholars of early Christianity.)
Brunt, Peter
1971a Italian Manpower. London: Oxford University Press. (This is a thorough exami-
nation of Roman census documents.)
1971b Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic. London: Chatto & Windus. (Chronologi-
cally oriented discussion of various elements of social conflict throughout Roman
history. It also includes two background chapters, including one on economics.)
Buckland, W. W.
1975 A Text-book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian. 3rd ed. Revised by Peter
Stein. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Written from the perspective of a
lawyer, this very dense and difficult work attempts to list Roman laws, even using le-
gal language. It is thorough but methodologically flawed in its use of sources.)
Burnett, Andrew
1991 Roman Coins. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Intended as an intro-
duction for nonspecialists, this book deals with coins in primarily classical and me-
dieval contexts. It is a useful introduction to how archaeologists can use ancient coins
to reconstruct the past.)
Campbell, J. B.
1984 The Emperor and the Roman Army. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Not only describ-
ing the imperial army, this book discusses in detail the importance of the army for
the political support of the emperors, going so far as to argue that the army was the
primary force behind the later emperors.)
Camps, William
1969 An Introduction to Virgil’s Aeneid. London: Oxford University Press. (Specifi-
cally geared toward students and first-time Virgil readers, this book provides excel-
lent commentary and discussion on The Aeneid.)
Carcopino, Jérôme
1940 Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Henry Rowell (ed.). New Haven: Yale University
Press. (An overview of Roman life, the first part of the book describes various aspects
of Roman social history, such as population, urbanism, family, class, religion, and ed-
ucation. The second part describes a typical day in the life of the average Roman.)
Carson, A. G.
1978 Principal Coins of the Romans. 3 vols. London: British Museum Publications.
(Each volume discusses a different period of Roman coinage—the republic, the prin-
cipate, and the dominate, respectively, and provides ample illustrations and discus-
sion.)
Casson, Lionel
1974 Travel in the Ancient World. London: Allen and Unwin. (Casson discusses the
nature of travel in antiquity.)
Caven, Brian
1980 The Punic Wars. New York: Barnes & Noble Inc. (This book provides a compre-
hensive narrative of many of the events of the Punic Wars. It also provides analysis of
the key players and some of the social setting of the wars. The book is chronologically
organized, which gives the reader a good sense of the historical flow of the conflict.)
Chambers, Mortimer
1970 The Fall of Rome: Can It Be Explained? 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston. (This is an anthology of the works of important modern scholars on the fall
of Rome. It is a good place to begin one’s study on this subject, although Kagan’s vol-
ume [1992] is similar and more up-to-date.)
Charles-Picard, Gilbert
1966 Living Architecture: Roman. London: Oldbourne. (There are useful illustrations
and plans in this overview, although some of the plans are missing scales. Charles-
Picard singles out some of the most important monuments, but his categorizations
are not very helpful.)
1970 Roman Painting. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society. (This is the most com-
prehensive English-language treatment on this subject. There are many illustrations
but most are black-and-white.)
Charleston, Robert
1955 Roman Pottery. London: Faber and Faber. (This book has excellent photographs
of many types of Roman pottery and provides a thorough introduction to red-gloss
ware, glazed ware, and coarse ware.)
Chevallier, Raymond
1976 Roman Roads. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Chevallier presents an
overview from both an archaeological and inscriptional perspective of the evidence
for Roman roads.)
Clark, M. L.
1956 The Roman Mind. London: Cohen & West Ltd. (This is one of the few good
books about Roman philosophy. It is outdated, but unfortunately nothing has sur-
passed it.)
Commager, Steele (ed.)

1966 Virgil: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. (Collected
in this volume are a number of essays by different scholars on Virgil and his work.
While many of these essays are out of date, the volume as a whole can give the
reader a good sense for more traditional, literary studies.)
Cornell, Tim
1995 The Beginnings of Rome. New York: Routledge. (This is arguably the best
overview of early Roman civilization available, and the sections where Cornell departs
from more traditional scholarly conceptions of Rome are particularly noteworthy.)
Cornell, Tim, and John Matthews

1982 Atlas of the Roman World. New York: Facts on File. (Not really an atlas, this
book is a good introductory account of Roman history.)
Cowell, F. R.
1980 Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Perigee Books. (This book can be found in
most large bookstores. It is very outdated but is very easy to read and relatively com-
prehensive in its coverage of everyday life. The sometimes inappropriate pictures
can be quite amusing.)
Crawford, Michael
1982 The Roman Republic. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (One of the better
discussions of the history of this period, Crawford’s book is particularly useful for
learning about the sources of Roman history.)
Crook, John
1977 Law and Life in Rome. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Crook gives a general
discussion of Roman law, but it is more a discussion of the social role and social prac-
tice of law in Roman society than a discussion of laws per se.)
1995 Legal Advocacy in the Roman World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (This vol-
ume describes how advocacy worked, what the sources are for this aspect of legal
life, and its wider social setting.)
D’Ambra, Eve
1998 Roman Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Quite easy to read, the
book begins with a discussion of what the study of art can contribute to one’s under-
standing of Roman social structure. The first chapter is followed by more traditional
discussions on art history.)
d’Arms, John
1981 Commerce and Social Standing in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press. (The relationship between attitudes and actions, specifically in relation to no-
tions of commerce, is discussed here. Also helpful are the author’s explanations of
the practical aspects of commerce and investment in Rome.)
de Coulanges, Fustel
1864 The Ancient City. New York: Doubleday Books. (A classic work on the concept
of the city in the ancient world; even though it is outdated, it is still a useful read.)
de Franciscis, Alfonso
1978 The Buried Cities: Pompeii and Herculaneum. Napoli: Interdipress. (This is a
glossy, popular book on Pompeii. It basically consists of paragraph-long treatments
on the various monuments. It has excellent color photos, and although not very
scholarly, it’s a useful book for travelers to Pompeii or for people who are just look-
ing for an easy overview.)
Deiss, J. J.
1966 Herculaneum: Italy’s Buried Treasure. New York: Crowell. (Here is a popular ac-
count of Herculaneum, which gives information on both the site and its excavations.
There are many pictures but all are in black and white.)
Dilke, Oswald
1971 The Roman Land Surveyors: An Introduction to the Agrimensores. Newton Abbot:
David and Charles. (A good study with a lot of technical details about many aspects
of land surveying.)
1987 Mathematics and Measurement. Berkeley: University of California Press. (In-

tended for general audiences, this is probably the easiest (yet still accurate) account
of mathematical issues in the ancient world.)
Dixon, Suzanne
1992 The Roman Family. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (In one of the
best treatments of the subject, Dixon discusses the practices involved in marriage
and family life as well as the social meaning of the institution of the family.)
Dodds, Eric
1965 Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. Cambridge: New York: W.W. Norton.
(Dodds’s volume is an influential and controversial work that argues for similarities
between Roman religion and Christianity. Dodds approaches religion using Freudian
and Frazerian interpretative categories. See the response to Dodds in the volume ed-
ited by Smith and Lounibos [1984].)
Dorey, Thomas (ed.)

1966 Latin Historians. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (Dorey has edited a
volume of essays, written by experts in each subject area, on particular Roman
historians, including Polybius, Caesar, Sallust, Livy, Ammianus Marcellinus, and
Bede.)
1967 Latin Biography. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. (Each chapter in this col-
lection of essays is devoted to a particular Roman biographer.)
Duckworth, George
1952 The Nature of Roman Comedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Written
specifically for students, this is essentially a book on Greek New Comedy, and espe-
cially about Plautus and Terence. It includes discussions on the background and his-
tory of comedy, the presentation of comedy, an analysis of various plays (as well as
brief summaries of the plays), and a discussion on the relationship between Roman
and Greek comedies.)
Dudley, Donald
1960 The Civilization of Rome. New York: The New American Library. (This is a
slightly out of date, but good survey of Roman history. Only 256 pages, it can be con-
sidered only an outline of Roman history—but sometimes outlines can be useful.)
Duff, A. M.
1926 Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (An authorita-
tive although outdated overview of many aspects of the lives of freedmen in ancient
Rome, with thematically organized chapters.)
Dumézil, Georges
1970 Archaic Roman Religion. 2 vols. Philip Krapp (trans.). Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. (This work has been very influential in Roman scholarship on religion.
It is an important work but probably not the best book with which to begin one’s stud-
ies. This is the easiest English version of Dumézil’s important but flawed Indo-Euro-
pean hypothesis. His conclusions and viewpoints are not necessarily trustworthy.)
Duncan-Jones, Richard
1982 The Economy of the Roman Empire: Quantitative Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. (Presented here is an attempt at quantitative methods of investiga-
tion of the Roman economy. Noteworthy are the lists of prices in various regions, al-
though there are a lot of problems with the techniques of analysis and the conclu-
sions drawn from those techniques. Nonetheless, this work has been important in
modern research on the Roman economy.)
1990 Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. (Duncan-Jones provides a less quantitatively oriented discussion of Roman
economy in this volume than in his 1982 work. Included are important discussions of
transportation, labor, agriculture, urbanism, and taxation.)
Dupont, Florence
1989 Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Christopher Woodall (trans.). Cambridge: Basil
Blackwell Ltd. (While discussing many aspects of everyday Roman life, Dupont pro-
vides insightful analysis of the social meaning of the habits of daily living.)
Earl, Donald
1967 The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Earl
considers the morality of the Roman nobility through Roman philosophical writings,
although he has a shockingly positive bias about the nature of the Roman nobility.)
Ellis, Simon
2000 Roman Housing. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. (This is a good discus-
sion of Roman housing from both an architectural perspective and a social perspec-
tive. Chapters on decoration and furniture are quite good. Especially notable is the
integration of both archaeological and textual data.)
Errington, Robert
1972 The Dawn of Empire: Rome’s Rise to World Power. London: Hamish Hamilton.
(Oriented toward nonspecialist readers, this book discusses Roman expansion sur-
rounding the second Punic War.)
Fagan, Garret
1999 Bathing in Public in the Roman World. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
(This volume concentrates on the social role of the baths but also includes a collec-
tion of inscriptions related to bathing.)
Fantham, Elaine, Helene Peet Foley, and Natalie Boymel Kampen

1995 Women in the Classical World: Image & Text. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Covering Greek and Roman women, the essays collected here are written by a vari-
ety of authors and are somewhat uneven. The general format of the articles is to in-
tersperse actual ancient writings with modern scholarly writing.)
Ferguson, John
1970 The Religions of the Roman Empire. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (This book
studies Roman religion from a comparative-religion framework.)
Finley, Moses (ed.)

1960 Slavery in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Heffer. (Another classic work; if one
is interested in the subject of slavery from a social-historical or economic standpoint,
start with this collection of important statements.)
1973 The Ancient Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Finley’s classic
statement on the nature of ancient economies; scholars of ancient Rome are familiar
with this work, although the conclusions are certainly controversial.)
Fowler, William
1911 The Religious Experience of the Roman People. London: Macmillan. (Published in
this book are a number of lectures given by William Fowler on many aspects of Ro-
man religion. It is an exhaustive work. Although it is out of date, it is still an impor-
tant work and is frequently cited.)
Fraenkel, Eduard
1957 Horace. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Fraenkel attempts to understand Horace’s
poetry entirely from a literary perspective and tries to understand the poetry as a Ro-
man was supposed to understand it.)
Frank, Tenney
1927 An Economic History of Rome. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. (Before ed-
iting his five-volume, comprehensive survey of Roman economic issues, Frank pub-
lished this shorter, preliminary account. It is good to read through this volume before
tackling his larger series.)
1933–1940 (ed.) An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome. 5 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press. (This is a comprehensive, edited series, detailing various aspects of
the Roman economy. Although outdated, it is still a worthwhile source and probably
the most inclusive.)
Freeman, Charles
1993 The World of the Romans. New York: Oxford University Press. (Readers will
find this popular account of Roman civilization easy to read and well written.)
Friedländer, Ludwig
1910 Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire. London: Routledge & Sons,
Ltd. (This is a four-volume encyclopedia on Roman social history. Although very
outdated, much of the information is difficult to find elsewhere, and there is nothing
available that is more current with a similar scope.)
Frier, Bruce
1980 Landlords and Tenants in Imperial Rome. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
(This is an interesting study of real estate in Roman times, especially rental issues. It
includes a discussion of the apartments at Ostia, the rental market, and legal issues
relating to rental property.)
Futrell, Alison
1997 Blood in the Arena. Austin: University of Texas Press. (This is an easy-to-read,
semipopular account of gladiators and Roman arena culture. In terms of the arena,
Futrell discusses matters of its origins, religious events, amphitheater construction,
and human sacrifice.)
Gardiner, Jane
1993 Roman Myths. Austin: University of Texas Press. (This is a well-illustrated vol-
ume, intended for general audiences.)
Garnsey, Peter
1980 Non-slave Labour in the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge Philologi-
cal Society. (This is a collection of essays by prominent scholars on the topic of labor.
The importance of this question in studies of ancient economy is clear from this
work. It is a bit technical, however, and not all of the essays are in English.)
Garnsey, Peter, Keith Hopkins, and C. R. Whittaker (eds.)

1983 Trade in the Ancient Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press. (In-
cluded within this volume are thirteen articles on a variety of aspects of the classical
economy. Most of the articles use Finley’s economic models as a starting point, so it is
useful to see how his models work when other scholars incorporate them.)
Garnsey, Peter, and Richard Saller

1987 The Roman Empire: Economy and Society. Berkeley: University of California
Press. (Written by two prominent scholars; the reader cannot go wrong with this ac-
count of Roman civilization.)
Garnsey, Peter, and C. R. Whittaker (eds.)

1983 Trade and Famine in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge Philological So-
ciety. (This is a collection of eleven articles presented at a conference, most of which
are in English. It is an excellent source of information on the subject of ancient
famine, so do not be intimidated by the non-English articles.)
Garzetti, A.
1974 From Tiberius to the Antonines. J. R. Foster (trans.). London: Methuen. (This is a
detailed reign-by-reign account of the period noted in the title.)
Gelzer, Matthias
1968 Caesar, Politician and Statesman. Peter Needham (trans.). Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press. (Although out of date stylistically, this is still one of the clas-
sic accounts of Caesar.)
1969 The Roman Nobility. Robin Seager (trans.). New York: Barnes & Noble. (Origi-
nally published as two separate volumes in German, this work, geared toward stu-
dents, describes various aspects of the lives of the nobility in the republic, including
patronage and political influence.)
Gibbon, Edward
1776–1788 The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. (Available in many
editions, many of which are abridged, this classic of English-language writing is a
necessary read for anyone interested in Rome.)
Gjerstad, Einar
1962 Legends and Facts of Early Rome. Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup. (Gjerstad argues for a
different chronology of early Rome and for a substantially different early history
than more traditional accounts.)
Goodwin, Martin, and Jane Sherwood

1997 The Roman World 44 B.C.–A.D. 180. New York: Routledge University Press. (Both
the history of the early empire and the major questions asked by modern scholars are
the subject of this work.)
Grant, Frederick
1957 Ancient Roman Religion. New York: Liberal Arts Press. (This anthology of ancient
literature is arranged and selected to present a general overview of Roman religion.)
Grant, Michael
1958 Roman History from Coins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(This is a small book [less than 100 pages] that demonstrates how you can study his-
tory through coins.)
1971 Roman Myth. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons. (This is a readable discus-
sion of Roman myths. Most of the myths are those recounting the foundation of
Rome. Grant does a good job of describing the political uses of myth.)
1974 The Army of the Caesars. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. (This is a good his-
torical study of the army in the empire.)
1978 History of Rome. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. (This is a good, but brief,
overview of Roman history from the Etruscan period until the fall of the western em-
pire and is more comprehensive than most one-volume books on the subject.)
1999 The Collapse and Recovery of the Roman Empire. New York: Routledge. (This vol-
ume tackles the question of why the Roman Empire survived through the troubled
260s–270s C.E. A pretty detailed discussion of a very interesting period, but Grant in-
sists that it is surprising that Rome survived this period.)
Grant, Michael, and Rachel Kitzinger (eds.)

1988 Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons. (This is a three-volume encyclopedia, geared toward students and
popular audiences, that provides a good overview of classical civilization and a use-
ful bibliography for selected topics in ancient studies.
Greene, Kevin
1986 The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press.
(This book is geared toward specialists and nonspecialists and provides an excellent
discussion of how archaeology can contribute to the study of the Roman economy. It
includes sections on transportation, coinage, agriculture, industry, and settlement
survey data.)
1992 Roman Pottery. Berkeley: University of California Press. (This book is a good
introduction to the study of pottery in general and Roman pottery in particular. It is
easy to read and emphasizes how archaeologists study Roman pottery more than
pottery itself.)
Griffin, Jasper
1985 Latin Poets and Roman Life. London and Chapel Hill: University of North Car-
olina Press. (The interconnectedness of poetry and daily life is the main focus of this
study. Griffin demonstrates how Roman literary conventions, which seem artificial
to modern readers, were very powerful to ancient readers.)
Grimal, Pierre
1983 Roman Cities. G. Michael Woloch (trans.). Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press. (Grimal describes Roman urban planning as well as the important, typical
structures within a Roman city. The book contains a descriptive catalogue of Roman
cities, listing city names (modern and ancient), dates of occupation, locations, and
descriptive elements.)
Gruen, Erich
1968 Roman Politics and the Criminal Courts, 149–78 B.C. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-
sity Press. (This is an interesting study of Roman political systems through the legal ev-
idence, especially through trials. The way rival Roman families and factions used crim-
inal trials as public forums for disputes and attacks is made clear in Gruen’s study.)
1984 The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome. 2 vols. Berkeley: University of
California Press. (Gruen analyzes the institutions of Roman imperialism and pro-
vides a historical account of the development of Roman imperialism in the East.)
1995 The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. Berkeley: University of California
Press. (The period surrounding the end of the republic is discussed in detail.)
Hadas, Moses
1956 A History of Rome. New York: Garden City Press. (The history of Rome is re-
counted in this volume by presenting selections from classical sources. An interest-
ing method of presentation, but the uncritical presentation of sources can be some-
what problematic.)
Hardie, Philip
1998 Virgil. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (A brief but very good introduction to
Virgil and his poems.)
Harris, W. V.
1979 War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327–70 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
(This book discusses imperialism, its aims, and attitudes toward war and the nature
of conquest in the Republican period.)
Hart, B. H. Liddell
1994 [1926]. Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon. New York: Da Capo Press. (Writ-
ten from the perspective of a military historian, this is a study of Scipio Africanus
and his military strategy, with detailed descriptions of battles.)
Hayes, John W.
1980 Late Roman Pottery with Supplement. London: British School at Rome. (Not an
easy read, but it is the most important book on this topic and the most thorough pre-
sentation of Hayes’s ceramic typology. The 1980 edition has a valuable supplement.)
1997 Handbook of Mediterranean Roman Pottery. London: British Museum Press. (Per-
fect for the beginner, this book discusses specific forms and more general issues in
Roman ceramic studies.)
Healy, John
1978 Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World. London: Thames & Hud-
son. (For an overview of mining in the classical period, this is the best work. It tells
what was mined and how it was mined.)
Henig, Martin (ed.)

1983 Handbook of Roman Art: A Survey of the Visual Arts of the Roman World. Oxford:
Phaidon. (Henig has collected a selection of essays on a variety of topics in Roman
art [such as architecture, sculpture, and mosaics.] What makes this handbook useful
is that each essay is written by a specialist on the subject.)
Heurgon, Jacques
1973 The Rise of Rome to 264 B.C. James Willis (trans.). Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press. (Major issues in the study of Rome are presented here, especially those
that have been prominent in non-English-speaking scholarly circles.)
Higgins, Reynold
1966 Greek and Roman Jewelry. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Although
there is only one chapter explicitly devoted to Roman jewelry, the first half of the
book treats important technological issues.)
Holmes, T. Rice
1928–1931 The Architect of the Roman Empire. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (The
first volume is a detailed narrative of events leading up to the establishment of the
principate. The second volume is centered on Augustus, the architect of the Roman
Empire.)
Hopkins, Keith
1978 Sociological Studies in Roman History I: Conquerors and Slaves. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press. (Discusses issues of slavery and imperial domination using
sociological methods. The important contribution of this book is the models for so-
cial change Hopkins suggests and his demonstration of the applicability of sociology
to ancient studies.)
1983 Sociological Studies in Roman History II: Death and Renewal. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press. (Another series of sociological studies; the topics in this vol-
ume are all somewhat related to death, including games, succession, and mortuary
customs.)
Hunter, Richard
1985 The New Comedy of Greece and Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(Specifically geared toward undergraduates, most of this book is about Greek mani-
festations of Greek New Comedy. But because Roman adaptations of Greek New
Comedy are very heavily based on the Greek prototypes, this book provides a very
useful account of the genre in Roman times as well.)
Huskinson, Janet
2000 Experiencing Rome. New York: Routledge. (This book was written with upper-
level undergraduates in mind. It contains eleven essays on Roman culture, all with a
heavy emphasis on analysis.)
Jashemski, W. F.
1979 The Gardens of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Villas Destroyed by Vesuvius. New
York: Caratzas Brothers. (This is probably the most thorough account of gardens in
ancient Rome. It is well illustrated, and most of Jashemski’s arguments are based on
archaeology and art history.)
1993 The Gardens of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Villas Destroyed by Vesuvius: Appen-
dices. New York: Caratzas Brothers. (Not as explicitly related to the first volume as
one might think, this book contains three appendices. The first describes every exca-
vated Vesuvian garden. The second is a catalogue of Roman garden paintings. And
the third includes evidence of Roman flora and fauna.)
Jolowicz, Herbert
1954 Historical Introduction to Roman Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(A very dense discussion of the history of Roman law, this is a thorough work. It pro-
vides much of the historical context for Roman law that is lacking in other works on
the subject.)
Jones, A. H. M.
1964 The Later Roman Empire, 294–602. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Jones suggests
that it is useful to compare the eastern and western empires. The contrasts and com-
parisons he draws are instructive.)
1974 The Roman Economy: Studies in Ancient Economic and Administrative History. Pe-
ter Brunt (ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. (Collected here are some important essays by
Jones on major issues in Roman economy. Some of the articles are general, but most
are geared toward scholars. This is an important collection because of Jones’s contri-
bution to the subject.)
Kagan, Donald
1992 The End of the Roman Empire: Decline or Transformation? 3rd ed. Lexington: D.C.
Heath and Company. (This is an anthology of important scholarly works on the

problem of the fall of Roman civilization, with some introduction and commentary.)
Katz, Solomon
1955 The Decline of Rome and the Rise of Mediaeval Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University
Press. (Katz describes how much of Roman civilization [law, art, language] contin-
ued into medieval civilization. This was a very important work when it first came
out, basically instituting a new field of study and integrating medieval and classical
scholarship.)
Keller, Donald, and David Rupp (eds.)

1983 Archaeological Survey in the Mediterranean Area. Oxford: BAR International Se-
ries. (This is an eclectic collection of articles, many of which do not deal with Roman
times. It opens with some methodological discussion about surveying in general.
Also included are a number of reports [mostly preliminary] about survey work
throughout the region.)
Kennedy, George
1972 The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
(Written with students in mind, this is a thorough account of rhetoric from a chrono-
logical perspective.)
Keppie, Lawrence
1983 Colonisation and Veteran Settlement in Italy 47–14 B.C. London: British School at
Rome. (Colonies and their impact are the key issues addressed by Keppie. Most of
the volume is concerned about those colonies settled by veterans and the nature of
that relocation.)
Kleiner, Diana (ed.)

1996 I Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery.
Kleiner’s volume was created to accompany a museum exhibition and is filled with
essays by a number of scholars. There are three main sections [not including the in-
troductory sections on art and gender theory] that revolve around women in the
public, private, and funerary realms.
2000 I Claudia II: Women in Roman Art and Society. Austin: University of Texas Press.
(This book, while ostensibly a companion volume to I Claudia, is not an exhibition
catalogue but a series of articles on women in Rome, with somewhat of an emphasis
on art-historical evidence.)
Klingaman, William
1986 The First Century. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. (This book encom-
passes the entire first century C.E., including the Roman world. It is interesting to put
Roman civilization in context with other civilizations. The prose is very readable,
but sometimes contains unreliable information. Klingaman frequently makes asser-
tions that cannot be backed up from a scholarly standpoint, so use this book with
care.)
Kraus, Theodore
1975 Pompeii and Herculaneum: The Living Cities of the Dead. New York: H.N. Abrams.
(Kraus’s book is very large, not in page numbers but in the size of the book. The
chapters are arranged according to various subjects, such as “Man,” “Gods,” and
“Art.”)
Laurence, Roy
1999 The Roads of Roman Italy. New York: Routledge. (Laurence provides good infor-
mation on the Roman-period roads in Italy. He puts the issue of transportation into
the social context of Roman civilization and illustrates the connection between roads
and Roman ideas of territory.)
Lawrence, Arnold
1972 Greek and Roman Sculpture. New York: Harper & Row. (There are five chapters
in this book specific to Roman sculpture, but the first three provide important infor-
mation on the study of ancient sculpture in general.)
le Glay, Marcel, Jean-Louis Voisin, and Yann Le Bohec

2001 A History of Rome. 2nd ed. Antonia Nevill (trans.). Malden: Blackwell. (This
book provides an excellent overview of Roman history from earliest times until 395
C.E. but concentrates mostly on political history.)
Levick, Barbara
2000 The Government of the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York: Rout-
ledge. (This is a thematically organized anthology of translated ancient texts relating
to Roman governance, economy, and law.)
Ling, Roger
1991 Roman Painting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Actually a discus-
sion of wall painting, this book provides the easiest introduction to Mau’s categories
of Pompeiian wall paintings; probably easier than reading Mau’s book. It also has
chapters on aspects of wall painting, including mythological/historical paintings,
techniques, and patrons.)
Lot, Ferdinand
1961 The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages. New York:
HarperTorch Books. (This is a good study, because it encompasses both the fall of
Rome and the early medieval period. It illustrates how Roman institutions were
transformed in medieval times.)
Luttwak, Edward
1976 The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press. (Written from the perspective of a military historian and strategist, this book
details the development of imperial military strategy and warfare, tying these devel-
opments to specific historical situations.)
Lyne, R.O.A.M.
1980 The Latin Love Poets from Catallus to Horace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Designed for students, Lyne’s introduction to love poetry includes theme-based dis-
cussions as well as sections devoted to particular poets.)
MacDonald, William
1976 The Pantheon. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Although this is prima-
rily a discussion of the Pantheon [with a description, study of its meaning, and prin-
ciples of its design and construction], MacDonald uses other Roman architecture to
better understand his subject, making the book relevant beyond just the Pantheon.)
1982 The Architecture of the Roman Empire I. New Haven: Yale University Press. (Not
an overview of the subject, but this book includes interesting chapters on Nero’s
palace, Domitian’s palace, Trajan’s markets, and the Pantheon. There are also more
general discussions of construction and design as well as individual architects.)
1986 The Architecture of the Roman Empire II. New Haven: Yale University Press.
(Very different from MacDonald’s first volume, this book discusses imperial perspec-
tive from the context of its urban environment.)
MacMullen, Ramsay
1963 Soldier and Civilian in the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press. (The novelty of this book is that it discusses the lives and roles of soldiers
when not at war.)
1966 Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, Unrest, and Alienation in the Empire. Cam-
bridge: Harvard University Press. (MacMullen’s book details many important as-
pects of the decline of Rome as well as Roman military history and techniques in the
imperial period.)
1976 Roman Government’s Response to Crisis, A.D. 235–337. New Haven: Yale Univer-
sity Press. (Good description of the events of the period presented from a social-his-
torical point of view.)
1981 Paganism in the Roman Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press. (Provided in
this volume is a discussion of Roman religion from what is essentially a philosophi-
cal perspective. It has a very good discussion of paganism as a category and how it
can be a useful category for understanding Roman religion.)
Marsh, Frank Burr

1963 A History of the Roman World from 146 to 30 B.C. 3rd ed. London: Methuen. (Al-
though it concentrates on political and military history, this book is well organized
and detailed.)
Mau, August
1982 [1902] Pompeii: Its Life and Art. F. W. Kelsey (trans.). 2nd ed. New York:
Caratzas Brothers. (Mau’s work is one of the most important works on Roman art
history ever written. Although there has been much more excavated at Pompeii since
the time this book was written, the art-historical categories Mau recognized are still
used in Roman studies today. This book is worth reading; it is one of those books that
is talked about more than it is actually read.)
McKay, Alexander
1975 Houses, Villas and Palaces in the Roman World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
(Domestic housing is the major theme of this book. But the reader should be careful
when using it, as it is filled with errors. Unfortunately, there is no book that covers
the same ground that this book does.)
Meier, Christian
1982 Caesar. David McLintock (trans.). New York: Basic Books. (This is an influen-
tial biography of Caesar, to which many of the other biographies on the man refer.
There is a heavy emphasis on the military campaigns. The English translation is
geared toward a popular audience, so there is no bibliography or footnotes.)
Meiggs, Russel
1973 Roman Ostia. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (This is the classic account of
Ostia. It is a very substantial book, discussing the history of Ostia, aspects of urban
life at Ostia, and elements of urban planning.)
Millar, Fergus
1977 The Emperor in the Roman World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Millar’s
book is an exhaustive overview of the role of the office of emperor in Roman times.
Not a discussion of specific emperors, this book examines the social and political
roles of emperors.)
Mommsen, Theodor
1871 History of Rome. 4 vols. New York: Scribner. (This is one of the masterpieces of
Roman scholarship. Originally intended as a five-volume work, this book is one of
the platforms on which modern Roman scholarship is based.)
Nicolet, C.
1980 The World of the Citizen in Republican Rome. P.S. Falla (trans.). Berkeley: Univer-
sity of California Press. (The concept of the citizen and issues related to citizenship
are discussed in this volume. Nicolet’s book is a very useful study on this topic.)
North, John
1976 “Conservatism and Change in Roman Religion.” Papers of the British School at
Rome: 44. (This is one of the most cited articles on the subject of Roman religion. It is
crucial to read it to be able to understand much of the current scholarly work on this
subject.)
2000 Roman Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (This is a short monograph
on major issues in the study of Roman religion with useful discussions on ap-
proaches to the study of Roman religion.)
Norwood, Gilbert
1923 The Art of Terence. New York: Russel & Russel. (Although Norwood para-
phrases and comments on Terence’s plays, unfortunately he does not translate Latin
phrases, making this book difficult for a beginner.)
Ogilvie, R.M.
1969 The Romans and Their Gods. London: Chatto & Windus. (This is a classic
overview that is still frequently cited. It is not a bad source of information, although
it should be read alongside more recent accounts.)
1976 Early Rome and the Etruscans. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press. (The tex-
tual evidence for early Roman and Etruscan civilization is presented, but because the
book does not consider the archaeological evidence, the accuracy of the conclusions
is questionable.)
Pallotino, Massimo
1991 A History of Earliest Italy. Martin Ryle and Kate Soper (trans.). Ann Arbor: Uni-
versity of Michigan Press. (The early history of Italy, not just Rome, is presented in
this volume, but most important are the historiographic issues that Pallotino dis-
cusses.)
Parker, Henry William

1958 The Roman Legions. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Slightly out of date, this
book nevertheless provides an accessible account of life in the Roman legions. The
daily life of soldier, the various reforms, and legion tactics are all discussed. The ap-
pendixes provided are useful reference tools about specific legions.)
Parkin, Tim
1992 Demography and Roman Society. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (A
good introduction to the methodology of Roman demography and the evidence that
is available.)
Percival, John
1975 The Roman Villa: An Historical Introduction. Berkeley: University of California
Press. (This general survey of the Roman villa describes the physical manifestations
of the villa as well as its social and economic role in Roman times and has an espe-
cially good discussion of regional variations.)
Plass, Paul
1995 The Game of Death in Ancient Rome. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
(There are two main sections in this book. The first centers on gladiatorial combat
and the second discusses the phenomenon of political suicide. The link between
these two seemingly unconnected subjects is Plass’s discussion of the social role of
violence in Roman civilization.)
Polanyi, Karl, Conrad Arensberg, and Harry Pearson (eds.)

1957 Trade and Market in the Early Empires. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company. (This
is a collection of articles by different authors and is the most important statement of
the substantivist school of economics. This is an extremely important work in the his-
tory of ancient economic scholarship. Whether or not you agree with the perspective,
it is important to be familiar with this work.)
Potter, D.S., and D.J. Mattingly (eds.)

1999 Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press. (Intended for classroom use, this is a collection of essays on various
aspects of Roman social history. The essays were written and collected with teaching
in mind, so they are very clear and readable.)
Quinn, K.
1969 Latin Explorations. 2nd ed. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. (Quinn’s book
is essentially a discussion of six major Roman poets. It is not a good introduction, as
Quinn primarily deals with issues that he believed had not been dealt with well in
previous scholarship. It has been an influential work, and for that reason may be
helpful in one’s continued studies of Rome.)
1999 [1959] The Catullan Revolution. 2nd ed. London: Bristol Classical Press. (Al-
though not well regarded when it first appeared, this has been a very influential
book. It argues that Catullus led a new literary movement in Rome.)
Raaflaub, Kurt (ed.)

1986 Social Struggles in Archaic Rome. Berkeley: University of California Press. (The
Conflict of the Orders is treated in twelve essays by prominent scholars. For interpre-
tation and analysis of the conflict, this is an excellent resource.)
Rawson, Beryl (ed.)

1991 Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
(Nine essays regarding the Roman family—by different scholars on various issues—
are collected here.)
Rawson, Elizabeth
1975 Cicero: A Portrait. London: Allen Lane. (Rawson provides a good overview of
Cicero and especially brings out his place within Roman traditions.)
Rickman, Geoffrey
1980 The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Rickman’s study is
the authoritative work on the history of cereal crops in the city of Rome. It is struc-
tured along chronological lines and gives a good historical account of the city’s
changing relationship to this important type of crop.)
Rodgers, William
1964 [1937] Greek and Roman Naval Warfare. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. (This
is a thorough overview of Greek and Roman naval warfare. Written from the per-
spective of a U.S. Navy vice admiral, the description of military strategy and tactics
is truly informative. There are some factual errors, but these are more than made up
for by the insight into how naval combat plays out.)
Rose, H.J.
1948 Ancient Roman Religion. New York: Hutchinson’s University Library. (Rose’s
volume is a classical account of Roman religion that has not stood the test of time.
Arguments made by Rose are often directly attacked by later scholars and usually for
good reason. Comments such as “the Romans were a much slower-witted people”
should make modern readers uncomfortable.)
Rostovtzeff, Michael
1957 Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. (This is one of the most important works on Roman history and economy. The
author is one of the most well-respected scholars and this work is still widely quoted
today.)
Saller, Richard
1982 Personal Patronage under the Early Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press. (The patron-client relationship is examined in detail in Saller’s mono-

graph. He attempts to investigate actual examples of patronage, and much of the dis-
cussion is philological.)
1994 Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press. (This is an excellent study of demographic issues related to Roman
families. There are three major sections in this work: a demographic study, a discus-
sion of family, and property issues within the Roman family. The true strength of this
work lies in its ability to integrate statistical evidence with discussion of Roman fam-
ilies and come to interesting conclusions about social history.)
Salmon, Edward Togo

1966 A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138. 5th ed. (This is a detailed
historical account, organized according to the reign of each emperor in the period.)
Scarre, Chris
1995 Chronicle of the Roman Emperors. New York: Thames & Hudson Ltd. (Scarre’s
book provides information about each of the emperors. The book was written for
general audiences, and Scarre is sometimes not critical enough in his use of ancient
historical accounts, but the book is full of information and is very easy to use and
read.)
Schatzman, Israel
1975 Senatorial Wealth and Roman Politics. Bruxelles: Latonus. (This is an important
work investigating the economic circumstances and motivations of senators. Part 3
lists senators by name and discusses each individual, a useful tool for more ad-
vanced study.)
Scheidel, Walter (ed.)

2001 Debating Roman Demography. Leiden: Brill. (Contained within this volume are
five articles on Roman demography. The first is an overview of the history of the sub-
ject in Roman scholarship and provides a very good discussion of the major issues
and the problems for incorporating demographic studies. The other articles are
rooted in specific problems, but are nonetheless interesting and of high quality. This
book, however, is not meant for nonspecialists.)
Scullard, H. H.
1961 A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 B.C. London: Methuen. (This is a tradi-
tional political and military history of Rome—dependable, but out of date.)
1976 From the Gracchi to Nero. 4th ed. London: Methuen. (This is a traditional, politi-
cal-military history, with extensive notes. It is well organized and has clear discus-
sions of the complicated political situations of this period.)
1981 Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
(This is the best source on Roman festivals available in English. It is most valuable as
a reference tool, as the majority of the book is a day-by-day guide to all of the most
important festivals of the Romans. The appendixes include valuable information
about festivals unavailable elsewhere.)
Seaford, R.
1978 Pompeii. New York: Thames & Hudson. (Seaford’s book is not geared toward
specialists. It is well illustrated and contains sections on economy, politics, villas [and
their paintings], religion, and the destruction of Pompeii.)
Sear, Frank
1982 Roman Architecture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (This introduction to the
subject consists of two types of chapters: chapters about particular periods and chap-
ters about particular architectural concepts.)
Shelton, Jo-Ann
1988 As the Romans Did. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Shelton’s book is a col-
lection of translations of ancient sources, thematically arranged. It is a staple of uni-
versity classrooms. The translations are good and the commentary is engaging. It is
an excellent teaching and learning resource.)
Sherwin-White, Adrian
1963 Roman Society and Law in the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Here is
an interesting book about the legal and institutional settings of the New Testament.
Because this book was written from the perspective of a Roman scholar and not a bib-
lical scholar, it gives a very different [and useful] take on the New Testament, provid-
ing a lot of background that was assumed knowledge by New Testament authors.)
1973 The Roman Citizenship. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (This is a classic ac-
count of the issue of citizenship, although it is now outdated. This book is pretty
dense reading. The first half of the book deals with the period of the republic, and the
second half deals with the period of the principate.)
1984 Roman Foreign Policy in the Greek East. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
(Rome’s military and political relationship to Greece is explored in this monograph.)
Sinnigen, William, and Arthur Boak

1977 A History of Rome to A.D. 565. 6th ed. New York: Macmillan. (The first edition
was written by Boak but has been substantially revised after his death by Sinnigen;
this is a good textbook of Roman political and military history.)
Smith, Robert, and John Lounibos (eds.)

1984 Pagan and Christian Anxiety: A Response to E.R. Dodds. New York: University
Press of America. (The result of a conference at Princeton, this volume is a collection
of essays responding to the arguments put forward by Eric Dodds.)
Stahl, William
1962 Roman Science. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. (This is the standard
account of Roman science and is a necessary read if one is interested in this subject. It
describes the development of Roman science from what is essentially a chronological
perspective.)
Starr, Chester, Jr.

1971 Ancient Romans. New York: Oxford University Press. (This is a frequently
cited, short introduction to Rome.)
Stockton, David
1971 Cicero: A Political Biography. London: Oxford University Press. (This biography
concentrates on Cicero’s role in political life, rather than his many other contribu-
tions. By singling out this aspect of Cicero’s life, Stockton is able to explore a number
of interesting issues about Roman society.)
1979 The Gracchi. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (This is a good discussion of the politics
and laws during the time of the Gracchi.)
Strong, Donald
1988 [1976] Roman Art. Hammondsworth: Penguin Books. (Strong provides a brief
overview of Roman art from a chronological perspective. With the exception of the
first two chapters, the book is organized by groups of emperors. This can be rather
misleading, because art does not always change with regime.)
Strong, Donald, and David Brown

1976 Roman Crafts. London: Duckworth. (There are nineteen chapters in this book
that describe Roman craft activity in different media. The discussions are well illus-
trated, with good explanations, especially from a production standpoint.)
Syme, Sir Ronald

1939 The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (This is a classic ac-
count of the transformation from republic to principate. Written from a political per-
spective, this book does a good job of describing the rise of important families.)
1958 Tacitus. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Syme’s biography of Tacitus is a clas-
sic work. It provides a comprehensive biography of Tacitus and a substantial discus-
sion of his works and history writing in general.)
1978 History in Ovid. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Another classic work of Syme’s, this
book provides an ample discussion of the historical context of Ovid. It is difficult
reading, with untranslated Latin passages and many sentence fragments, but is a rel-
atively important work.)
Taylor, Lily Ross

1949 Party Politics in the Age of Caesar. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Tay-
lor provides a good description of the various political parties that operated during
Caesar’s time. It is a helpful explanation of the major players and groups.)
Toynbee, Arnold
1965a Art of the Romans. London: Thames & Hudson. (The amount of illustrations in
this volume is unfortunately low. Even though the discussions are wide ranging,
they can be difficult to follow without images.)
1965b Hannibal’s Legacy. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press. (This is an ex-
tremely detailed study of the setting and aftermath of the second Punic War.)
Toynbee, Jocelyn
1971 Death and Burial in the Roman World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (This is
the best English source on Roman mortuary traditions. It is cited frequently and is
well respected. It discusses the beliefs and rituals behind burial, cemetery types, and
grave goods. It integrates archaeological and textual data in a very useful fashion.)
Treggiari, Susan
1969 Roman Freedmen during the Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (This is a thor-
ough discussion of all aspects of the lives of freedmen during the Republican period,
including legal aspects, careers, politics, religion, family, and children.)
Turcan, Robert
2000 The Gods of Ancient Rome. Antonio Nevill (trans.). New York: Routledge Press.
(This is a general introduction to Roman religion, although the title is somewhat mis-
leading, as it has only minimal discussion of Roman gods per se. The translation is
very readable, and it has good discussions of domestic religion, state religion, and
imported religious traditions.)
Vag, David
1999 Coinage and the History of the Roman Empire. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn
Publishers. (The first volume provides biographies of Roman officials and historical
summaries, and the second volume provides an introduction to numismatics and a
catalog of coins with their relative ancient values.)
Veyne, Paul (ed.)

1987 A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium. Arthur Goldhammer
(trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (The first volume of the History of
Private Life series, this book contains articles by five scholars, three on Roman issues.
The views are relatively traditional and in some ways out of date. However, the de-
scriptions of Roman life are quite vivid.)
Wacher, John (ed.)

1987 The Roman World. 2 vols. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (A two-volume
work, with essays by different scholars on certain aspects of Rome in the imperial pe-
riod. The individual essays are quite good, but the choice of topics is relatively idio-
syncratic.)
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew
1994 Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton University
Press. (This is a very influential study of the household in Roman times, based
mostly on the evidence from the Vesuvian cities. Wallace-Hadrill sees the household
as socially meaningful space and attempts to understand these meanings. His analy-
sis is very good, but it is often repeated in shorter form in other articles. However,
this is the most complete account of his ideas.)
Walsh, Patrick
1970 The Roman Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Written for stu-
dents, this book traces the development of Roman novels from their origins in other
genres.)
Walters, Henry
1905 History of Ancient Pottery. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. (This was a
pioneering work on the subject, though now very out of date. The second volume de-
scribes Roman pottery and has valuable information on production and styles.)
Ward-Perkins, John
1977 Roman Architecture. New York: Electa/Rizzoli. (With beautiful illustrations
and top plans, there are chapters on the Republican period, the Augustan Age, and
concrete architecture, among other topics.)
1981 Roman Imperial Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.(Originally

published as one volume with Boëthius in 1978, this is one of the most important and
well-respected books on this subject. It covers architecture in Italy and in the rest of
the Empire but does not deal with the art of the period.)
Watson, Alan
1970 The Law of the Ancient Romans. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.
(Here is a brief, easy overview of Roman law, organized into discussions of the his-
tory of law and the types of law that existed in Rome.)
Webster, Graham
1969 The Roman Imperial Army. Totowa: Barnes & Noble Press. (Here is a sound
presentation on all aspects of the imperial army, with chapters on the frontier and
borders, camps and forts, combat, and peacetime activities.)
West, David
1967 Reading Horace. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Press. (This is a small book that pro-
vides a good introduction to Horace and his works, specifically designed for non-
specialists.)
Wheeler, Sir Mortimer

1964 Roman Art and Architecture. New York: Thames & Hudson. (Wheeler was one
of the most influential modern archaeologists, important in all fields, not just Roman
studies, for his pioneering field techniques. This is a good book, organized according
to type of art. Most interesting is the chapter on collecting in Roman times.)
Wheelock, Frederic
1995 Wheelock’s Latin. 5th ed. R. A. LaFleur (trans.). New York: HarperCollins.
(Wheelock’s is the Latin grammar textbook. It is probably the most used introductory
Latin textbook. You can use this book as an aid for classroom study, or the very moti-
vated can use this book for self-study.)
White, Keith
1967 Agricultural Implements of the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. (This is very similar to White’s Farm Equipment of the Roman World, but geared
toward terms relating to the raising of crops.)
1970 Roman Farming. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (This is the classic study on
Roman farming. It deals with many aspects of Roman agriculture in technical detail
[but not unreadable technical detail]. For questions about Roman agriculture, go here
first.)
1975 Farm Equipment of the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(The goal of White’s book is to identify the names of various kinds of farm equip-
ment, and that is precisely what he does, using textual and archaeological data. This
is more of a reference book than the kind of book that one would sit down and read.)
Whittaker, C. R. (ed.)
1993 Land, City and Trade in the Roman Empire. Brookfield: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
(This is a collection of fifteen important essays on Roman economy by prominent Ro-
man scholars. None of the essays was written for this publication. They have been
collected from other publications and confusingly retain the same formatting [in-
cluding page numbers!] of their original sources.)
Wiedemann, Thomas
1989 Adults and Children in the Roman Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press.
(Using textual data, Wiedemann traces the changing attitudes toward children and
about childhood through the first four centuries C.E. He studies the issue from a
number of perspectives—demographic, legal, etc.)
1995 Emperors and Gladiators. New York: Routledge Press. (Although a good general
introduction to gladiatorial combat is not provided by this volume, I think it is an im-
portant book for beginners to read nonetheless. Wiedemann discusses the social sig-
nificance of gladiators, avoiding the kinds of disparaging commentary provided by
most writers on this topic. In other words, he attempts to understand gladiators from
a Roman perspective, not a modern perspective.)
1997 Slavery. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (A brief monograph on the subject of
slavery in Greek and Roman society. The individual chapters are good, and espe-
cially noteworthy are Wiedemann’s comments on the problems of studying ancient
slavery, given American historical circumstances.)
Wilkinson, L. P.
1955 Ovid Recalled. Portway: C. Chivera. (Written for a nonspecialist but Latin-
reading audience. Wilkinson provides a biography of Ovid as well as literary com-
mentary.)
1962 Ovid Surveyed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (This is an abridged

version of Wilkinson’s 1955 work, Ovid Recalled.)
Williams, Gordon
1968 Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (This book
was written with the goal of situating Roman poetry within its historical context.)
1983 The Nature of Roman Poetry. London: Oxford University Press. (This is a simpli-
fied version of Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry.)
Wiseman, T.P.
1985 Catullus and His World: A Reappraisal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(This is a mixture of biography and literary criticism and is a useful introduction to
the setting of Catullus.)
Wiseman, Timothy
1971 New Men in the Roman Senate. London: Oxford University Press. (Wiseman at-
tempts to identify all of the senators of municipal or equestrian origin in the period
139 B.C.E. to 14 C.E. As well as a discussion on the subject, Wiseman also lists all of the
names of these identified senators with some biographic information.)
Yavetz, Zvi
1969 Plebs and Princeps. London: Oxford University Press. (The relationship be-
tween the plebs and nobility in the principate is the primary topic of Yavetz’s book. It
includes a good discussion of the ways in which the urban crowd could affect the Ro-
man political scene.)
1983 Julius Caesar and His Public Image. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (A good
study of Caesar, but what makes this volume noteworthy is the first chapter, which
discusses the history of scholarship on Julius Caesar.)
Zanker, Paul
1998 Pompeii: Public and Private Life. Deborah Schneider (trans.). Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press. (Zanker’s book is an excellent study on understanding the
social meaning of Roman architecture—both state architecture and the architecture
of the home. The descriptions of how space and design affect the individual are an
important contribution. This book, however, is not an overview of Pompeii or its ar-
chaeology.)
Index
Absidui, 140 Amphorae, 233

Actium, Battle of, 78, 167 Ancestor spirits, 184
Actors, 276 Animal hunts, 275
Adige, 28 Animal husbandry, 100–101
Adoption, 137 Animal life, 24
Adriatic Sea, 23 Animism, 179
Adultery, 135 Ante meridian (A.M.), 249
Aediles, 160 Antiochus, 260
Aeneas, 50–51 Antiquities market, 302–303
Aeneid, 190, 267, 268 Antoninus Pius, 85
Aequi, 60 Antony, 77–78
Aerial photography, 121 Apartment complexes, 224–226
Afterlife beliefs, 200–201 Apennines, 23
Ager publicus, 98, 114 Aphrodite, 187
Agriculture, 97–101 Apollo, 189–190
animal husbandry, 100–101 Appian Way (Via Appia), 63, 211
crops, 100 Appius Claudius Caecus, 71, 72
farming methods, 99–100 Aqueducts, 213–214
investment, 112 Ara Pacis Augustae, 237
Italian flora and fauna, 24 Aramaic, 279–280
landholding patterns, 97–99, 126 Archaeological sites, tourist industry, 16
Mediterranean flora, 27–28 Archaeology
North African Roman colonies, 128 antiquities market and private
soil degradation, 31, 293 collectors, 302–303
subsistence farming, 97 environmental, 19
terracing, 27 GIS, 121
tools, 99–100 Italian context for Roman
water management, 99 development, 290
Agrippa, 79–80 Pitt-Rivers, 42
Agrippa, Marcus, 218 processualism and post-
Agrippa Postumus, 80 processualism, 45
Agrippina, 82 professionalization of, 42
Alamenni, 88 radiocarbon dating, 47–48
Alans, 90 surveying, 121, 125
Alaric, 94 typology and seriation, 47
Albinus, 260 Archaic Triad, 184, 186
Alcubierre, Giocchino de, 38 Archaising, 268
Alexander the Great, legacy of, 62 Archers, 171
Alphabet, 278–279 Arches, 216
Alps, 28 Architecture, 207–226, 241
Hannibal’s crossing, 67 apartment complexes, 224–226
Amphitheaters, 210–211 aqueducts, 213–214
367
368 Index
Architecture (continued) Athletics, 271

arches, 216 Atrium house, 222–223, 239
architects and craftsmen, 208 Attic Greek, 278
atrium house, 222–223, 239 Attila, 90
basilicas, 209 Augury, 193, 252–253
baths, 209, 272–273 Augustan Age, 267
Baths of Caracalla, 220 Augustine, St., 192, 260
bridges, 213 Augustus Caesar, 77–80
Colosseum, 218 emperor cult, 199
column types, 218 German bodyguard, 169
domestic, 222–224 literature and, 267
Domitian’s Palace, 221 Mars and, 186
elite homes, 222–224 Ovid and, 198
entertainment complexes, 209–211 the Senate and, 162
fora, 208–209 Aurelian, 89
Hadrian’s Villa, 219–220 Aurelianus, 208
Hadrian’s Wall, 219 Aurelius, Marcus, 86, 258–259
materials, 216–217 Auxiliaries, 168, 169
monumental, 217–222 Aventine Hill, 20, 50, 186, 189
Nero’s Golden House, 220 Avignon papacy, 33
Pantheon, 200, 218–219
public architecture, 207–208 Bacchus, 190
religious, 199–200 Baghdad Museum, 304
roads and streets, 211–213 Ballistae, 172
Romanization, 226 Banks and banking, 112–113
sanitation, 214–215 Barbarian women, 149
standardization, 207 Barbarians, 90
surveying, 215 Barca, Hamilcar, 66
techniques and materials, 215–217 Barracks emperors, 88–89
Trajan’s Column, 221–222 Basilicas, 209
villas, 226 Baths, 209, 272–274
walls of Rome, 208 Baths of Caracalla, 220
Arian controversy, 92 Battle of Actium, 78, 167
Aristides, Aelius, 253 B.C.E. (“before the common era”), 8
Arno River, 23 Beds, 240
Art, 8, 37, 233–238 Bible, 301
gems and jewelry, 238 Boak, Arthur, 294
glass, 237–238 Borders, 124
Greek art and influence, 236 Bosio, Antonio, 36
household decoration, 241–242 Boudicca, 149
mosaics, 235–236 Boundaries, termina, 182
music, 277 Bridges, 213
painting, 233–235 Britain
patronage of, 114 Hadrian’s Wall, 85, 123, 124, 219
sculpture, 236–237 Pitt-Rivers and archaeology, 42
See also Architecture; Household Roman settlement patterns, 126
artifacts; Literature; Pottery British School, 125
Art history, 37 Bronze, 103
Artifact repatriation, 303–304 Brown, Peter, 297
Artifacts from daily life. See Household Bücher, Karl, 301
artifacts Building techniques, 215–216. See also
Arval priests, 196 Architecture
As (monetary unit), 109 Burial practices, 54
Assemblies, 158–159 Business and investment, 111–114
Index 369
Byzantine Empire, 94 Chronology, Roman. See Roman

chronology
Caelian, 20 Cicero, 75, 76, 77, 266
Caesar, Augustus. See Augustus Caesar Circa (ca.), 8
Caesar, Julius, 75–77 Circus, 209, 274–275
calendar system and, 249 Circus Maximus, 209
deification, 199 Cities, 122–123
public libraries and, 269 Gjerstad on urbanism, 288–289
use of auxiliaries, 169 municipia, 63, 165
Calendar, 5, 249 City prefect, 164
Caligula, 82 City-states, 56–59
Caligula (film), 5 Class conflict, 294–295
Cameo, 238 Claudius, 82
Campus Martius, 21, 158–159, 186 Clementine XIV, Pope, 37
Capitals, 122 Cleopatra VII, 76, 78
Capitoline Hill, 21 Climate
Capitoline Triad, 184, 186 change, 292
Caracalla, 88 farming methods and, 99
Caracalla, Baths of, 220 Mediterranean, 23, 26–27, 99
Carpentry, 104 Clocks, 249
Carthage, Punic Wars and, 65–69 Clothing, 242–244
Catacombs, 36, 203 textile and leather production,
Catapults, 172 104–105
Catiline conspiracy, 75, 76 Coarse wares, 230, 232–233
Cato the Elder, 269 Cohorts, 168, 170
Cattle, 101 Coins and money, 108–111
Catullus, 266 currency exchange, 113
Cavalry, 169 evidence for long-distance trade,
Cavour, Camillo, 40 107–108
C.E. (“of the common era”), 8 Roman economy and, 110–111
Celtic languages, 281 Cola di Rienzo, 33
Cemeteries, 201–202 Colleges of cultic officials, 192–196
Censors, 161 Colonies (coloniae), 63, 122, 166
Census, 114, 130 urban planning, 229
Centuries, 168 Colosseum, 218
Centurions, 168 Columbaria, 204
Ceramic, 104, 229. See also Pottery Column types, 218
Ceres, 189 Comitia centuriata, 156, 158–159
Chairs, 240 Comitia curiata, 153, 158
Chariot racing, 274–275 Comitia Plebis, 159
Children, 135–136 Comitia Tributa, 159, 263
education, 135, 269–271 Commodus, 86–87
exposure, 136, 141 Concrete, 217
sold as slaves, 141 Concubinage, 135
Christianity, 189, 191–192 Conflict of the Orders, 156
catacombs, 36, 203 Constantine, 91–93
Constantine and rise of, 91–93 Constantine II, 93
Diocletian and intolerance for, 89–91 Constantinople, 34, 93
fall of Roman Empire and, 291, 297 Constantius II, 93
Gnosticism, 260–261 Consuls, 156, 160, 161
medieval-era pilgrims, 32–33 Controversies in Roman scholarship.
Perpetua, 149 See Roman studies, controversial
Reformation, 36 issues in
Roman context, 5, 8 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 41
370 Index
Corvus, 174 Dumézil, Georges, 289–290

Couches, 239–240
Council of Nicaea, 92 Economics, 97–118
Courts, 264–265 agriculture, 97–101
Craft specialization and production, ancient versus modern perspectives,
101–105 301–302
Crassus, Marcus Licinius, 74–76 benefits of Roman imperialism,
Cremation, 54, 201 298–300
Crops, 100 business and investment, 111–114
Cult of the emperor, 198–199 coins and money, 108–111
Curia Hostilia, 157 craft specialization and production,
Curiae, 153 101–105
Currency exchange, 113 debt-bondage, 139–140, 141
Cursus honorum, 164 lending, 112–113
Cybele, 190–191 occupations, 101
patrimony, 111
Dairy products, 101 patron-client relationship, 113–114
Dancing, 277 publicani and societas, 112
Date system (B.C.E. and C.E.), 8 taxes, 114–115
Dating systems, 30–31, 46, 47–48. See also trade, 105–108
Roman chronology transportation, 115–118
Days, 249 Education, 135
De Rerum Natura, 254, 266 rhetoric, 270–271
Dead Sea Scrolls, 179 schools, 270
Death and burial, 200–204 Egypt
Debt-bondage, 139–140, 141 Cleopatra, 76, 78
Decay theories, 293–294 climate of, 19
Decius, 89 environmental setting, 29
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Roman grain imports from, 108, 299
(Gibbon), 40, 93, 290–292 Roman settlement patterns, 128
Deforestation, 28, 29, 292 Einsiedeln Itinerary, 33
Demetrius of Pharos, 69 Elagabalus, 88
Demographics, 129–132 Emmanuel II, 40
Denarius, 109 Emperor cult, 198–199
Dendrochronology, 30–31, 48 Enlightenment era, 36–37
Depopulation, 294 Ennius, 265
Diana, 189 Entertainment. See Leisure and
Dictators, 161 entertainment
Didius Julianus, 87 Environmental setting, 19–31
Diocletian, 89–91 decline of Rome, 292–293
Discourse analysis, 300 location of Rome, 20–22
Divination Mediterranean region, 25–28
augury, 193, 252–253 natural and cultural subdivisions,
dreams, 253 22–29
haruspices, 196, 252 northern Italy, 28
Divorce, 135 provinces, 28–29
Domestic architecture, 222–224 southern Italy, 23–25
Domestic artifacts. See Household transformations, 29–31
artifacts Epicureans, 254, 259, 266
Domestic religion, 181–182 Epulones, 194–195
Domitian, 84 Equestrian class, 166
Domitian’s Palace, 221 Equites, 140–141, 168, 169
Dowry, 134 Esquiline, 20–21
Dreams, 253 Etna, Mount, 24
Index 371
Etruscans, 55–57 sarcophagi, 204, 237

cities, 125 tombs, 203–204
language, 279 Funerary inscriptions, 130
religion, 180–181
town planning, 227 Gaius, 263
European environment, 28–29 Galba, 83–84
Eutrophication, 29 Gallic province, 89
Evander, 51 Garibaldi, Guiseppe, 40
Evolutionary model of religion, 179 Garrisons, 124
Executions, 275 Gauls, 61, 128
Exposure of children, 136, 141 Gems, 238
Gender distinctions. See Women
Falyum mummy portraits, 234 Genius, 181–182
Family, 132–137 Gentes, 153
children, 135–136 Geographic Information Systems (GIS),
divorce and remarriage, 135 121
infant mortality, 132–133 German classical studies, 41
inheritance and adoption, 137 Germani corpus custodes, 169
love and affection, 133 Germanic tribes, 73
marriage, 133–135 Germanicus, 80, 81
patrimonial household, 136–137 Geta, 88
Family farm, 98 Ghosts, 184, 198
Farming methods, 99–100. See also Gibbon, Edward, 40, 93, 290–292
Agriculture Gilfillan, S. Colum, 293
Fascist Italy, 43–44 Gjerstad, Einar, 288–289
Feasting, 271–272 Gladiator (film), 3, 87
Feralia, 184, 198 Gladiators, 3, 4, 275
Ferrill, Arthur, 295–296 Glass, 237–238
Fertile Crescent, 29 Global warming, 30
Fertility rates, 131 Gnosticism, 260–261
Festivals and rituals, 184, 196–198 Gods and goddesses, 184–191. See also
Fetiales, 196 Religion; specific deities
Fine wares, 230, 231–232 Golden Age of Roman literature,
Fiorelli, Giuseppe, 39 266–268
Firefighters, 170 Goths, 89, 90
First style, 241 Government. See Politics; specific
First succession, 139–140 institutions
First Triumvirate, 76 Gracchus, Gaius, 71–72
Fiscus, 115 Gracchus, Tiberius, 71
Flamines, 195–196 Grain dole, 108
Flavians, 84 Grain imports, 108, 299
Flora, 24, 27–28 Grant, Michael, 297
Forts, 124 Grapes, 100
Forum, 106, 208–209 Greece
Fourth style, 242 problematic issues of Greco-Roman
France, Roman artifacts and, 37 relationships, 297–298
Frank, Tenney, 294 Roman colonies in, 64
Franks, 88 Roman conquest of (Illyrian Wars), 69
Frazer, James, 178 Roman settlement patterns, 128
Freedmen, 144 Greek art, 236
French School of Rome, 40 Greek culture, women in, 149–150
Frontier, 124 Greek language, 278
Funerary culture, 200–204 Greek New Comedy, 265
cemeteries, 201–202 Greek philosophy, 256
372 Index
Greek religion, 178, 180 Imperialism, origin, nature, and aims of,
Greek science and philosophy, 248 165
Gregorian calendar, 249 Incrustation style, 241
Gregory XIII, Pope, 249 India, Roman coins in, 107
Groma, 215 Indictio, 46
Guilds, 208 Industries, 101–105
mining and quarrying, 101–103
Hadrian, 85, 218, 219 pottery manufacture, 104
Hadrian’s Villa, 219–220 textile production, 104–105
Hadrian’s Wall, 85, 123, 124, 219 woodworking, 104
Handbooks, 248 See also Agriculture; Pottery; specific
Hannibal, 66–68 crafts or industries
Harbors, 118 Infant exposure, 136
Haruspices, 196, 252 Infant mortality, 132–133
Harvesting machines, 99 Infrastructure, 211–213
Hastati, 171 aediles and, 160
Hepatoscopy, 252 Inheritance, 137
Hera, 186 Inscriptions, 281
Herculaneum, 19, 24, 38–39, 84 Institutes (Gaius), 263
Herodotus, 55–56 Insurance, 113
Hills of Rome, 20–21 Integration of Roman studies, 304–305
Historians, Roman, 48–49 Intellectual accomplishments, 248
History, Roman study of, 254–256 education, 269–271
History of research. See Roman studies, Greek versus Roman, 248, 297–298
history of research philosophy, 256–261
History of Rome. See Roman history Roman study of history, 254–256
Hoplites, 167, 170 science, 248–256
Horace, 267 See also Leisure and entertainment
House of the Faun, 223 Interior decoration, 241–242
Household architecture, 222–226 International trade, 106–108
Household artifacts, 239–244 Internet resources, 14–16
adornment, 244 Interrex, 154
clothing, 242–244 Intricate style, 242
decoration, 241–242 Iron-Age Rome, 54–55
furniture, 239–240 Islamic civilization, 32
hygiene and grooming, 244 Italian nationalism, 40–41, 43–44
lighting, 240–241 Italy
Household deities, 182 environmental settings, 23–25, 28–29
Huns, 90 population in Roman times, 131
Huntington, Ellsworth, 292 Roman development context, 290
Hygiene and grooming, 244 settlement patterns, 125
Hypocausts, 215
James Ossuary, 202
Iliad, 50–51 Janus, 182, 187
Illyrian Wars, 69 Javelin, 171
Imperial government, 162–164 Jewelry, 238, 244
administration of empire, 164–166 Jewish revolts, 171, 172
army of the empire, 167–168 Jones, A. H. M., 296
emperor, 162 Josephus, 172, 174, 191
magistrates, 164 Journals, 10–11
Senate, 162–164 Jovian, 93
Imperial Rome, 45 Judaism, 5, 8, 189, 191
Imperialism, economic benefits of, Jugurtha, 72–73
298–300 Julian, 93
Index 373
Julian calendar, 249 music and dancing, 277

Julius Caesar. See Caesar, Julius races, 274–275
Julius Caesar (Shakespeare), 197 Roman attitudes toward performers,
Junian Latins, 144 271
Juno (female genius), 182 spectacle, 274–276
Juno (goddess), 184, 186 theater and recitation, 276
Jupiter, 180, 184, 185–186 Lemuria, 198
Jurists, 263 Lending, 112–113
Justinian Code, 263 Lepidus, 77
Levant
Kings of Rome, 57–58 environmental setting, 29
Kingship (regal period), 154–155 Roman settlement patterns, 128
Kitchens, 240 Licinius, 91–92
Koine, 278 Life expectancy, 133
Lighting, 240–241
Lamps, 240–241 Limes, 124
Land and property ownership, 97–99, Liminal areas, 182
140 Literature, 8–9, 265–268
classes of landowners, 156 archaising, 268
land grants for veterans, 167, 174 Augustan Age, 267
landholdings of the poor, 140 Cicero, 266
status distinctions, 140 formative period, 265
women’s rights, 134 Golden Age, 266–268
Landscape painting, 234 handbooks, 248
Languages, 277–281 libraries, 269
Indo-European, 289 patristic period, 268
See also Latin language Roman history writing, 254–256
Late Bronze Age, 54 Silver Age, 268
Latial culture, 54–55 sophistry, 268
Latifundia, 98–99 Livia, 79–80
Latin language, 8, 277–278, 289 Livy, 60, 61, 267
medieval usage, 33 Lost-wax method, 103
resources, 13, 15–16 Louvre, 37
Latin League, 59–60, 62–63, 165 Lucius Verus, 86
Latin literature, 265–268. See also Lucretia, rape of, 147
Literature Lucretius, 254, 259, 266
Law, 261–265 Lucullus, 74
courts, 264–265 Lupercalia, 197
edicts, 263 Luttwack, Edward, 296
independent jurists, 263
inheritance and adoption, 137 Macedon, Roman conquest of, 69–70
legal classifications, 261 Machiavelli, 36
legal practices, 263–265 MacMullen, Ramsay, 296
non-Roman Italians’ rights, 73 Macrinus, 88
Twelve Tables, 59, 139, 262–263 Magistrates, 159–160, 164
women’s property rights, 134 Mammertines, 65
See also Politics Manes, 184
Lead poisoning, 293 Maniple, 167, 170–171
Leaf table, 281 Manumission, 143–144
Leather, 104–105 Marble, 217
Legions, 168 Marcellinus, Ammianus, 293
Leisure and entertainment, 271–277 Marcellus, 79
bathing, 272–274 Marcus Aurelius, 86, 258–259
gladiators, 275 Mare nostrum, 26
374 Index
Marine environments, 29 Months, 249

Marius, 72–73, 167, 170 Monumental architecture, 202, 217–222
Markets and shops, 105–106 Moral values, 293
Marriage, 133–135 Mortality rates, 131–132
Mars, 184, 186 Mosaics, 235–236
Martial, 271 Mother role of women, 145
Masada, 170, 172 Müller-Karpe, Hermann, 289
Matronalia, 186 Mummy portraits, 234
Mau, August, 241 Municipia, 63
Mauss, Marcel, 105 Museums, 16
Meals, 271–272 Enlightenment era, 36–37
Measurement, 105 Renaissance era, 36
Meat, 101 repatriation of artifacts, 303–304
Medieval era, 32–33 Mussolini, Benito, 43
Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), 258 Mythology
Mediterranean climate, 23, 26–27, 99 myth and ritual school, 178
Mediterranean region, 25–28 Roman origin myths, 49–51, 287–288
Mediterranean Sea, 26 See also Religion
Mercury, 188–189
Messalina, 82 Nag Hammadi papyri, 261
Metallurgy, 103–104 Napoleon Bonaparte, 37, 38
Metamorphoses (Ovid), 198, 268 Napoleon III, 40
Micali, Guiseppe, 290 National Museum of Rome, 40
Middle Platonism, 260 Nationalism, Italian, 40–41, 43–44
Military Natural sciences, 253–254
army of the republic, 166–167 Naval forces, 169
auxiliaries, 168, 169 Punic Wars and, 65–66
camps, 174–175 spectacles, 275
cavalry, 169 warfare, 174
classes of soldiers, 168 Near East, Roman settlement patterns,
decline of Rome and, 295–296 128
land grants for veterans, 167, 174 Neoplatonism, 260
legions, 168 Nero, 82–83
life and training, 174 Golden House, 220
navy, 169, 174 great fire and, 228
Praetorian Guard, 162, 164 Seneca and, 258
professionalization of, 72–73, 167 Nerva, 84
Servian reforms, 166–167 New Testament, 301
service opened to the poor, 167 Nicaean Creed, 92–93
siege warfare, 171 Nicholas V, Pope, 34
tactics, 167, 170–171 Nile delta, 29
urban forces, 169–170 Nile valley, 29
warfare, 170–174 North Africa, environmental setting, 29
weapons and armor, 171–173 North Africa, Roman settlement
Military sites, 123–124, 174–175 patterns, 128
Mimes, 276 Northern Italy, 28
Minerva, 184, 186–187 Numen, 199
Mining and quarrying, 101–103 Numidia, 72
Mirabilia Urbis Romae, 33 Numinous forces, 179–180
Mithradates, 73–74 Numismatics, 46–47. See also Coins and
Mithras, 190 money
Mommsen, Theodor, 41, 287–288, 290
Money. See Coins and money Occupations, 101, 142
Moneylending, 112–113 Octavian, 77–80. See also Augustus Caesar
Index 375
Oil lamps, 240–241 Piracy, 299

Olives, 24, 28, 100 Pitt-Rivers, 42
Online resources, 14–16 Pius VI, Pope, 37
Orders, 137–140, 156 Plague, 86
Ornate style, 241 Plant life (flora), 24, 27
Ossuaries, 202, 204 Plato, Roman philosophies and, 260–261
Ostia, 229 Plautus, 265
Ostrogoths, 90 Plebian assembly, 159
Otho, 84 Plebians, 59, 139
Ovid, 197, 198, 267–268 Pliny the Elder, 254
Pliny the Younger, 38, 207, 271, 276
Painting, 233–235 Plotinus, 260
household decoration, 241–242 Plutarch, 260
See also Art Po River, 28
Palatine Hill, 21, 50, 221 Polanyi, Karl, 302
Paleopathology, 130 Politics, 153–175
Palmyrene province, 89 administration of empire, 164–166
Palynology (pollen analysis), 30 assemblies (comitia), 158–159
Pantheon, 200, 218–219 imperial government, 162–164
Pantomines, 276 magistrates, 159–160, 164
Papyrus, 281 military organization, 166–170
Parasite, 113 monarchical government, 153–156
Parentalia, 184, 197–198 republican government, 156–162
Pastoralism, 101 Senate, 153–154, 156–158, 162
Pater familias, 136–137, 181–182, 198 Servian reforms, 155–156, 166–167
Patria potestas, 136 women and, 147–150
Patricians, 59, 137–139 Pollen analysis (palynology), 30
Patrimony, economic issues, 111 Pollio, Asinius, 269
Patristic period, 268 Pollution, 29
Patronage of the arts, 114 Polygamy, 135
Patron-client relationship, 113–114 Pompanius Leto, Julius, 35
Paul II, Pope, 35 Pompeii, 19, 24, 38–39, 84
Pax deorum, 192 House of the Faun, 223
Pedites, 141 Intricate style, 242
Peristyl, 209, 223–224 Pompey the Great, 74–76
Perpetua, 149 Pontifices, 193
Persian Empire, 90 Population, 129–132
Personal hygiene, 244 depopulation and decline of Rome,
Pertinax, 87 294
Petronius, 271 Portraiture, 234
Phalanx, 167, 170 Posidonius, 250
Philip V of Macedon, 69–70 Post meridian (P.M.), 249
Philo, 191, 260 Post-processualism, 45
Philosophy, 256–261 Pottery, 104, 229–233
Epicureans, 254, 259, 266 amphorae, 233
Platonism and Gnosticism, 260–261 coarse wares, 230, 232–233
Stoicism, 256–258 decoration, 230
Phoenicians, 65 fine wares, 230, 231–232
alphabet, 278 form, 229–230
language, 281 production techniques, 230–231
Physics, 254 ware, 230
Pigs, 24, 101 Praetorian Guard, 162, 164, 169
Pilgrims, 32–33 Praetors, 156, 160
Pio-Clementino Museum, 37 Prefects, 169
376 Index
Pregnancy and childbirth, 136 household locations, 182

Princeps, 168 myth and ritual school, 178
Principate, 78–79 numinous forces, 179–180
Principes, 171 origins, 178–181
Processual archaeology, 45 rituals and festivals, 196–198
Proconsuls, 161–162, 166 Roman pantheon, 184–191
Proletarii, 140, 156 state cult, 192–196
Property ownership. See Land and women and, 146
property ownership See also Christianity; Divination;
Prorogation, 161 Vestal Virgins; specific deities
Prostitutes, 145 Religious sculpture, 237
Protestantism, 36 Renaissance era, 33–36
Ptolemy, 62 Repatriation of artifacts, 303–304
Ptolemy (astronomer), 250 Republican Rome, 45. See also Roman
Public land, 98 history, Roman republic
Publicani, 112 Republican Rome, government,
Punic Wars, 65–69, 174 156–162
Purple dye, 234 assemblies (comitia), 158–159
Pyrrhic Wars, 64–65 magistrates, 159–160
military organization, 166–167
Quadrireme, 174 the Senate, 156–158
Quaestors, 160 Revelation, book of, 301
Quinquereme, 174 Rex sacrorum, 193, 196
Quirinal, 20–21 Rhetoric, 270–271
Quirinus, 184, 186 Rituals and festivals, 196–198
Roads, 63, 211–213
Race, and decline of Roman civilization, monuments to the dead, 202
294 Rodbertus, Karl, 301
Radiocarbon dating, 47–48 Roma, 199
Rape of Lucretia, 147 Roman Academy, 35
Rape of the Sabines, 50, 146–147, 288 Roman art. See Art
Raphael, 35–36 Roman chronology, 45–48
Real estate ownership, 98–99 dating systems, 30–31, 46, 47–48
Recitation, 276 numismatics, 46–47
Reconnaissance surveys, 121 typology and seriation, 47
Redwood trees, 30, 292 See also Roman history
Reference books on Rome, 11–12 Roman civilization, environmental
Reformation, 36 setting. See Environmental setting
Regal period, 45, 57–58 Roman civilization, popular interest in,
government, 153–156 3–5
Servian reforms, 155–156 Roman emperors
Religion, 178–204 Augustus, 77–80, 162, 169, 186, 198,
afterlife, 200–201 199, 267
architecture, 199–200 authority of, 162
colleges of cultic officials, 192–196 “barracks emperors,” 88–89
cult of the emperor, 198–199 Constantine, 91–93
death and burial, 200–204 cult of the emperor, 198–199
domestic, 181–182 Diocletian, 89–91
Etruscan, 180–181 divine status of, 82, 90
evolutionary model, 179 fall of the Roman Empire, 93–94
foreign cults, 189–192 “Five Good Emperors,” 84–86
genius, 181–182 Flavians, 84
ghosts and ancestors, 184 imperial government, 162
Greek, 178, 180 Julio-Claudians, 81–83
Index 377
Julius Caesar, 75–77, 169, 199, 249, 269 class conflict, 294–295
Severans, 87–88 decline and fall of Rome, 290–297
See also specific emperors environmental changes, 292–293
Roman historians and historical writing, Greco-Roman relationships, 297–298
48–49 Indo-European origins, 289–290
Roman history, 53–94 Roman origins, 287–290
chronological framework, 45–48 Roman imperialism, 165
Etruscans and, 55–57 Romanization, 300–301
fall of the Roman Empire, 93–94 Roman studies, history of research,
integration of, 304–305 32–45
Iron Age and Latial culture, 54–55 Enlightenment era, 36–37
regal period (seven kings of Rome), medieval era, 32–33
57–58 Mussolini and fascism, 43–44
rise of Roman city-state, 58–59 19th century Italy, 40–42
Roman history writing, 254–256 professionalization of archaeology, 42
synthesis of, 305 Renaissance era, 33–36
Veientine Wars, 60 World War II to present, 44–45
Roman history, Roman empire, 78–94. Roman studies, sources of information
See also Roman emperors for, 8–16
Roman history, Roman republic, 59–78 academic and research programs,
Antony versus Octavian, 77–78 13–14
conquest of Greece and Macedon, anthologies of classical sources, 12
69–70 archaeological sites, 16
fall of the republic, 70–78 journals, 10–11
landless poor and, 71 museums, 16
Latin League and Latin Wars, 59–60, mythology, 49–51
62–63 online resources, 14–16
Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar, 74–77 organizations, 14
professionalization of the military, reference works, 11–12
72–73 Roman historians, 48–49
Punic Wars, 65–69 Roman literature, 8–9
Pyrrhic Wars, 64–65 series, 12–13
sack by the Gauls, 60 Romanization, 226, 300–301
Samnite Wars, 62–64 Rome, decline and fall of, 93–94,
Social War and Sulla dictatorship, 290–297
73–74 ancient Roman commentary, 293
Spartacus and slave revolt, 74–75 Christianity and, 292, 297
Roman imperialism class conflict, 294–295
economic benefits of, 298–300 decay theories, 293–294
origin, nature, and aims of, 165 depopulation, 294
postcolonial discourse, 300–301 environmental change and, 292–293
Roman law. See Law Gibbon on, 93, 290–292
Roman literature. See Literature military considerations, 295–296
Roman religion. See Religion racial theories, 294
Roman studies, controversial issues in, transformation into Byzantium,
287 296–297
ancient versus modern economic Rome, great fire of 62 C.E., 228
perspectives, 301–302 Rome, location of, 20–22. See also
antiquities market and private Environmental setting
collectors, 302–303 Rome, origins and foundation of, 54–59,
artifact repatriation, 303–304 287–290
benefits of Roman imperialism, accuracy of ancient chronologies, 288
298–300 Dumézil on Indo-European origins,
Christianity, 291, 297 289–290
378 Index
Rome, origins and foundation of outside Italy, 126–128

(continued) types, 122–125
foundation myths and folklore, 49–51 Seven hills of Rome, 20–21
Gjerstad on Rome and urbanism, Severans, 87–88
288–289 Severus, Alexander, 88
Italian context, 290 Sharecroppers, 99
Mommsen on foundation myths, Sheep, 24, 101
287–288 Shepherds, 101
See also Roman history Ship technology, 116–118, 174
Rome, population of, 131 Shipwrecks, 108
Rome, urban planning, 227–229 Shops and markets, 105–106
Romulus, 49–50, 57, 137 Sibylline oracles, 193–194
monarchical government, 153, 154 Sicily, Punic Wars and, 65
Rostovtzeff, Michael, 295, 302 Siege warfare, 170
Rural sites, 125 Simkhovitch, Vladimir, 293
Sixtus IV, Pope, 36
Sabines, 50, 60 Skeletal remains, 130
rape of, 50, 146–147, 288 Skepticism, 260
Sacris Faciundis, 193–194 Slaves
St. Croix, Geoffrey de, 294 debt-bondage, 139–140
Salvian the Presbyter, 294 freedmen, 144
Samnite Wars, 62–64 manumission, 143–144
Sanitation, 214–215 population, 131
Sarcophagi, 204, 237 purchase of, 141–142
Sassanians, 90 revolts of, 74–75, 143
Saturn, 187 Roman imperialism and, 298
Saturnalia, 197 treatment of, 142–144
Satyricon (Petronius), 207 work of, 142
Schools, 270 Social structure, 121–150
Science, 248–256 classes of landowners, 156
astronomy and astrology, 250 demographic evidence, 130
calendar and time, 249–250 education, 135
divination, 252–253 fall of Roman republic and, 70–71
natural sciences, 253–254 family, 132–137
Scipio Africanus, 68, 71, 170 marriage, 133–135
Sculpture, 237 orders and stratification, 137–140
Second style, 241 physical environment and, 121
Second Triumvirate, 77 population patterns, 129–132
Sediment deposition, 31 settlement types, 122–128
Sejanus, 81–82 slavery, 141–144
Senate status, 140–141
edicts, 263 women, 144–150
imperial government, 162–164 Social War, 73, 158
regal period, 153–154 Societas, 112
republican government, 156–158 Soil
state cult and, 192 degradation, 31, 293
Seneca the Younger, 257–258 Mediterranean region, 27
Septimius Severus, 87–88 peninsular Italy, 24
Seriation, 47 Soldiers, classes of, 168. See also Military
Servian Wall, 61 Southern Italy, 23–25
Servius Tullus, 155–156, 166–167, 189, Spain
208 Carthaginians in, 66
Settlements, 122–128 Roman settlement patterns, 126–127
in Italy, 125–126 Spartacus, 74–75, 143
Index 379
Status, 140–141 Tree ring analysis (dendrochronology),

Stoicism, 256–258 30–31, 48
Stone, 217 Triarii, 171
Stratigraphic superpositioning, 47 Tribes, 153, 156
Subsistence farming, 97 Tribunes, 168
Suetonius, 254 Tribute, 114
Sulfur dioxide, 29 Triclinium, 239, 240
Sulla, Lucius Cornelius, 73 Trireme, 174
Surveying, 121, 125, 215, 250 Trojan War, 50–51
Tullius, Servius, 155–156, 166–167, 189,
Tacitus, 81 208
Tarentum, 64 Twelve Tables, 139, 262–263
Tarquin I, 58, 156 Typology, 47
Tarquin the Proud, 58 Tyrrhenian Sea, 23
Taxation, 114–115, 299
collectors, 112 Ulpian’s Life Table, 132
indictio, 46 Undergarments, 243
records, 130 Urban centers. See Cities
Tenants, 99 Urban planning, 227–229, 250
Termina, 182 Urbanism, 288–289
Terracing, 27, 99 Urnfield culture, 54
Tetrarchy, 91 Urns, 204
Textiles, 104–105, 242
Theater, 276 Valentinian I, 93–94
Theaters, 210 Valerian, 89
Theodosian, 94 Vandals, 89, 90
Theodosius I, 94 Vatican Library, 34
Third style, 241 Veientine Wars, 60
Tiber River, 23 Veii, 227
Tiberius, 80–82 Velia Hill, 21
Time, concepts and conventions, 249–250 Velites, 171
Titus, 84, 218 Venus, 187
Togas, 243 Vespasian, 84, 218
Tombs, 203–204, 233 Vesta, 181, 182, 195
Tombstones, 204 Vestal Virgins, 146, 181, 193, 195, 197
Tourism Vesuvius, 23, 24, 38, 84, 238
archaeological sites, 16 Vetulonia, 227
medieval era, 32–33 Via Appia, 63, 211
Trade, 105–108 Vigiles, 170
long-distance, 106–108 Villa of Papyri, 38
piracy and, 107 Villanovan culture, 54
shops and markets, 105–106 Villas, 123, 127, 128, 226
trading vessels, 117 Vineyards, 24, 28
See also Economics Virgil, 190, 267
Trajan, 84, 85 Visigoths, 90, 94
Trajan’s Column, 221–222 Vitellius, 84
Trajan’s Market, 106 Vitruvius, 207, 208, 227
Transhumance, 24 Volcanoes, 24
Transportation, 115–118 Volsci, 60
infrastructure, 211–213 Vulcan, 187
land vehicle technology, 116
ship technology, 116–118 Walbank, Frank, 294
Travertine, 217 Warfare, 170–174. See also Military
Treasury of Saturn, 114 Watchtowers, 124
380 Index
Water management, 99, 213–214 in Greek culture, 149–150

Wattle and daub, 216 male guardianship, 145
Weapons and armor, 171–173 myth and folklore, 146–147
Weber, Karl, 38 political life, 147–149
Weber, Max, 301 property rights, 134
Wedding rites and practices, 134–135 public life, 149–150
Weeks, 249 roles of, 145–147
Wheeler, Mortimer, 42 Woodworking, 104
Widows and widowers, 135 World War II era, 44–45
Wife role of women, 145 Writing materials, 281
Wills, 137
Winckelmann, Johann, 37 Year, concepts and conventions, 249
Windows, 240
Winds, 26–27 Zeno, 256
Women, 144–150 Zenobia, 149
barbarians, 149 Zeus, 180
fashions, 243 Zoroastrianism, 90
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KEVIN MCGEOUGH was born in Ontario and grew up in Alberta, Canada.

McGeough received a B.A. in history from the University of Lethbridge and an
M.T.S. degree from Harvard Divinity School; he expects to receive a Ph.D.
from the University of Pennsylvania shortly. Recently he has returned to the
University of Lethbridge and accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor
in Archaeology for the Geography Department. Outside of school, McGeough
is an avid film fan.
381

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The Romans

The Ancient Maya

Santa Barbara, California

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an e-book.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Series Editor’s Preface xi

PART 2: ROMAN CIVILIZATION

Chapter 2 Location of Roman Civilization and Environmental Setting 19

Chapter 3 Historical and Chronological Setting 32

Chapter 4 Origins, Growth, and Decline of Roman Civilization 53

Chapter 6 Social Organization and Social Structure 121

Chapter 7 Politics 153

Chapter 8 Religion and Ideology 178

Chapter 9 Material Culture 207

Chapter 10 Intellectual Accomplishments 248

PART 3: CURRENT ASSESSMENTS

Chapter 11 Major Controversies and Future Directions in the Study of

WHY ARE WE FASCINATED BY THE ROMANS?

A NOTE ABOUT THE DATES USED IN THIS BOOK

HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE ROMANS?

dieval Islam and Renaissance Europe guaranteed their preservation in one

SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE ROMANS

Anthologies of Classical Sources

UNIVERSITIES AND RESEARCH PROGRAMS

sometimes involving the writing of a thesis. Most PhD programs in Roman

http://classics.rutgers.edu/resources.html. Latin teachers may find The Latin List

Museums and Tourism

Location of Roman Civilization

A n important first step in any archaeological investigation is to understand

The ruins of Herculaneum, Ercolano, Italy. (Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis)

A view of the Roman Forum. (Library of Congress)

GENERAL NATURAL AND CULTURAL SUBDIVISIONS

the Roman Empire grew, it encountered a number of different environments to

Soil. Much of peninsular Italy (especially Campania, Latium, and Tuscany)

Flora. The flora of southern Italy is Mediterranean. It is well adapted to the

Vineyards below a Tuscan hill town. (Jay Syverson/Corbis)

derstood as the landmasses surrounding the Mediterranean Sea that share a

The Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is the common denominator

Soils. In general, the soils of the Mediterranean region can be considered

Flora. The Mediterranean region is closely associated with an ecosystem

vegetation because of human interference, such as deforestation (Faulkner and

Topography. Unlike peninsular Italy, lowland plains dominate northern Italy.

However, scientists still hotly debate whether environmental change is caused

The Medieval World

The interior of the Vatican Library, Rome. (Library of Congress)

Enlightenment and Romanticism

Excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum

The Pompeii excavations entered a new, more scientific phase when

A plaster cast of a human body found at Pompeii. (Library of Congress)

1870, this became the German Archaeo-

The Rise of the Italian State

The Victor Emmanuel monument in Rome. (Paul Thompson; Eye Ubiquitous/Corbis)

Within this context of Italian nationalism, Italian scholars were generally

maintenance of imperial conquests. After German and Italian unification,

The Professionalization of Archaeology

Sir Mortimer Wheeler with a colleague. (Hulton/Deutsch Collection/Corbis)

Fascist Uses of Rome

Mussolini addresses the Fascists in the Colosseum, Rome. (Library of Congress)