Roman Empire

History Main article: History of the Roman Empire For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Roman history . See also: Campaign history of the Roman military Animated overview of the Roman territorial history from the Republic until the fall of its last remnant (the Byzantine Empire ) in 1453 Transition from Republic to Empire Further information: Roman Republic and Roman Kingdom Augustus of Prima Porta Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC, though not outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. The Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of self-ruled towns (with varying degrees of independence from the Senate ) and provinces administered by military commanders. It was governed by annually elected magistrates ( Roman consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate. [ 1 ] The 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of imperium , meaning "command" (typically in a military sense). [ 5 ] Occasionally, successful consuls or generals were given the honorary title imperator (commander); this is the origin of the word emperor , since this title was always bestowed to the early emperors. [ 6 ] [ a ] Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and civil wars from the late second century BC, (see Crisis of the Roman Republic ) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated by a faction that opposed his concentration of power. This faction was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian divided the Roman world between them, but this did not last long . Octavian's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate gave him the title Augustus ("venerated") and made him princeps ("foremost") with proconsular imperium , thus beginning the Principate , the first epoch of Roman imperial history. Although the republic stood in name, Augustus had all meaningful authority. [ 8 ] During his 40-year rule , a new constitutional order emerged so that, upon his death, Tiberius would succeed him as the new de facto monarch. [ 9 ] Pax Romana Main article: Pax Romana The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule are traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). The cohesion of the empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent and put down "mercilessly and swiftly". [ 10 ] The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors— Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , and Nero —before it yielded in 69 AD to the strife-torn Year of the Four Emperors , from which Vespasian emerged as the victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty , followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the " Five Good Emperors ": Nerva , Trajan , Hadrian , Antoninus Pius , and Marcus Aurelius . [ 11 ] Among the so-called "Five Good Emperors", Hadrian ( r.  117–138 ) is particularly noted for consolidating the empire's frontiers and embarking on ambitious building projects throughout the provinces. [ 12 ] In Judaea, which had long been the center of Jewish national and religious life, his reign marked a decisive turning point. After earlier Jewish resistance to Roman rule, Hadrian visited the region in 129/130 AD and refounded Jerusalem as the Roman colony Aelia Capitolina, naming it after his family (Aelius) and the Capitoline Triad. [ 13 ] The refoundation overlaid the destroyed Jewish city with a new Roman urban plan, and included the construction of a Temple to Jupiter on the site of the former Jewish Temple. [ 14 ] Later tradition and archaeological evidence also indicate a Temple of Venus near the site of the Holy Sepulchre . [ 15 ] Hadrian's measures, combined with restrictions on Jewish practices, helped spark the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 AD). After crushing the uprising, Roman forces expelled most Jews from Jerusalem, barring their entry except on certain days, and rebuilt the city as a statement of imperial power and domination. [ 12 ] Most scholars consider Hadrianic Aelia to have been unwalled, with free-standing gate complexes (such as the northern gate beneath today's Damascus Gate) rather than a continuous defensive circuit. [ 16 ] Transition from classical to late antiquity Main articles: Later Roman Empire and Fall of the Western Roman Empire See also: Barbarian kingdoms and Byzantine Empire The Barbarian invasions consisted of the movement of (mainly) ancient Germanic peoples into Roman territory. Historically, this event marked the transition between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages . In the view of contemporary Greek historian Cassius Dio , the accession of Commodus in 180 marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron", [ 17 ] a comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon , to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the Empire's decline . [ 18 ] [ 19 ] In 212, during the reign of Caracalla , Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The Severan dynasty was tumultuous; an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution and, following its collapse, the Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century , a period of invasions , civil strife , economic disorder , and plague . [ 20 ] In defining historical epochs , this crisis sometimes marks the transition from classical to late antiquity . Aurelian ( r.  270–275 ) stabilised the empire militarily and Diocletian reorganised and restored much of it in 285. [ 21 ] Diocletian's reign brought the empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity , the " Great Persecution ". [ 22 ] Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate tetrarch . [ 23 ] Confident that he fixed the disorder plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, but the Tetrarchy collapsed shortly after . Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great , who became the first emperor to convert to Christianity , and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. Julian , who under the influence of his adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion , only briefly interrupted the succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the state religion . [ 24 ] The Roman Empire by 476, noting western and eastern divisions The administrative divisions of the Roman Empire in 395 AD Fall in the West and survival in the East The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila , [ 25 ] but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. [ 26 ] Most chronologies place the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring Zeno sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 30 ] The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos , the last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against Mehmed II and his Ottoman forces during the siege of Constantinople . Mehmed II adopted the title of caesar in an attempt to claim a connection to the former Empire. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] His claim was soon recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople , but not by European monarchs. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 179. ^ Nicolet (1991) , pp. 1, 15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hekster was invoked but never defined (see the help page ). ^ Lintott, Andrew (1999). The Constitution of the Roman Republic . Oxford University Press. p. 114. ; Eder, W. (1993). "The Augustan Principate as Binding Link". Between Republic and Empire . University of California Press. p. 98. ISBN   0-5200-8447-0 . ^ Richardson, John (2011). "Fines provincial". Frontiers in the Roman World . Brill. p. 10. ^ Richardson (2011) , pp. 1–2. ^ Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (2012). "Imperator" . The Oxford Classical Dictionary . pp.  728 –729. doi : 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3268 . ISBN   978-0-1995-4556-8 . ^ Syme, Ronald (1939). The Roman Revolution . Oxford University Press. pp.  3– 4. ^ Eck, Werner ; Takács, Sarolta A. (2007), The Age of Augustus , translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider (2nd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp.  148– 158, ISBN   978-1-4051-5149-8 {{ citation }} : CS1 maint: publisher location ( link ) ^ Boatwright, Mary T. (2000). Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire . Princeton University Press. p. 4. ^ "Five Good Emperors" . www.britannica.com . 10 June 2024 . Retrieved 4 August 2024 . ^ a b "What was Hadrian's relationship with his Jewish subjects? | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 21 September 2025 . ^ "Aelia Capitolina | Jerusalem, Roman Empire, Temple of Jupiter, Location, & Meaning | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 21 September 2025 . ^ "Aelia Capitolina"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 1 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 256. ^ "Jerusalem - Holy City, Ancient History, Conflict | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . 20 September 2025 . Retrieved 21 September 2025 . ^ Magness, Jodi (2023). "Jerusalem's Northern Defences Under Hadrian". Palestine Exploration Quarterly . 155 (3): 204– 216. doi : 10.1080/00310328.2022.2030609 . ^ Dio Cassius , Roman History , translated by Cary, E. (Loeb Classical Library edition, 1927 ed.), p.  72.36.4 ^ Gibbon, Edward (1776), "The Decline And Fall in the West – Chapter 4" , The History of the Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire , archived from the original on 24 August 2017 , retrieved 27 June 2017 ^ Goldsworthy (2009) , p. 50. ^ Brown, Peter (1971). The World of Late Antiquity . Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 22. ISBN   978-0-1519-8885-3 . ^ Goldsworthy (2009) , pp. 405–415. ^ "Diocletian - Reorganization, Tetrarchy, Edict | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 4 August 2024 . ^ Potter, David (2004). The Roman Empire at Bay . Routledge. pp.  296– 298. ISBN   978-0-4151-0057-1 . ^ Starr, Chester G. (1974) [1965]. A History of the Ancient World (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp.  670– 678. ISBN   978-0-1950-1814-1 . ^ Bury, John Bagnall (1923). History of the Later Roman Empire . Dover Books. pp.  295– 297. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021 . Retrieved 19 February 2021 . ^ Bury (1923) , pp. 312–313. ^ a b Scholl, Christian (2017). Transcultural approaches to the concept of imperial rule in the Middle Ages . Peter Lang AG. ISBN   978-3-6530-5232-9 . Odoacer, who dethroned the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, used neither the imperial insignia nor the colour purple; they were used exclusively by the emperor in Byzantium. ^ a b Peter, Heather . "The Fall of Rome" . BBC. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020 . Retrieved 11 February 2020 . ^ Gibbon, Edward (1776). "Gothic Kingdom of Italy. – Part II." (ebook) . In Widger, David (ed.). History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire . Harper & Brothers. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017 . Retrieved 11 February 2020 – via Project Gutenberg. The patrician Orestes had married the daughter of Count Romulus, of Petovio in Noricum: the name of Augustus, notwithstanding the jealousy of power, was known at Aquileia as a familiar surname; and the appellations of the two great founders, of the city and of the monarchy, were thus strangely united in the last of their successors", "The life of this inoffensive youth was spared by the generous clemency of Odoacer; who dismissed him, with his whole family, from the Imperial palace. ^ Gibbon, Edward (1776). "Gothic Kingdom of Italy. – Part II." . The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire . Archived from the original on 30 August 2017 . Retrieved 11 February 2020 – via Project Gutenberg. The republic (they repeat that name without a blush) might safely confide in the civil and military virtues of Odoacer; and they humbly request, that the emperor would invest him with the title of Patrician, and the administration of the diocese of Italy. ...His vanity was gratified by the title of sole emperor, and by the statues erected to his honor in the several quarters of Rome; ...He entertained a friendly, though ambiguous, correspondence with the patrician Odoacer; and he gratefully accepted the Imperial ensigns. ^ Ozgen, Korkut. "Mehmet II" . TheOttomans.org . Archived from the original on 30 April 2015 . Retrieved 3 April 2007 . ; Cartwright, Mark (23 January 2018). "1453: The Fall of Constantinople" . World History Encyclopedia . Archived from the original on 12 April 2021 . Retrieved 11 February 2020 . ^ Nicolle 2000 , p. 85. Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page ). Read more on Wikipedia →

Government and military Main article: Constitution of the Roman Empire Forum of Gerasa ( Jerash in present-day Jordan ), with columns marking a covered walkway ( stoa ) for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking The three major elements of the Imperial state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government. [ 1 ] The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, agricultural fields, and religious sites. [ 2 ] The Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to rule through force alone. Cooperation with local elites was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions. [ 3 ] Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence incentivized compliance. [ 4 ] Roman government was thus limited , but efficient in its use of available resources. [ 5 ] Central government See also: Roman emperor and Senate of the Roman Empire Antoninus Pius ( r.  138–161 ) wearing a toga ( Hermitage Museum ) The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with divinely sanctioned authority ( auctoritas ). The rite of apotheosis (also called consecratio ) signified the deceased emperor's deification. [ 6 ] The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of powers from several republican offices. [ 7 ] The emperor made himself the central religious authority as pontifex maximus , and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders. [ 8 ] While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate , the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in the Dominate . [ 9 ] The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible and deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually. [ 10 ] The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen. [ 11 ] After Nero, the influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council ( consilium ) became subject to official appointment for greater transparency . [ 12 ] Though the Senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty , equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium . [ 13 ] The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. [ 14 ] Access to the emperor might be gained at the daily reception ( salutatio ), a development of the traditional homage a client paid to his patron; public banquets hosted at the palace; and religious ceremonies. The common people who lacked this access could manifest their approval or displeasure as a group at games . [ 15 ] By the 4th century, the Christian emperors became remote figureheads who issued general rulings, no longer responding to individual petitions. [ 16 ] Although the Senate could do little short of assassination and open rebellion to contravene the will of the emperor, it retained its symbolic political centrality. [ 17 ] The Senate legitimated the emperor's rule, and the emperor employed senators as legates ( legati ): generals, diplomats, and administrators. [ 18 ] The practical source of an emperor's power and authority was the military. The legionaries were paid by the Imperial treasury, and swore an annual oath of loyalty to the emperor. [ 19 ] Most emperors chose a successor, usually a close family member or adopted heir. The new emperor had to seek a swift acknowledgement of his status and authority to stabilize the political landscape. No emperor could hope to survive without the allegiance of the Praetorian Guard and the legions. To secure their loyalty, several emperors paid the donativum , a monetary reward. In theory, the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor, but did so mindful of acclamation by the army or Praetorians. [ 20 ] Military Main articles: Imperial Roman army , Late Roman army , and Structural history of the Roman military Winged Victory , ancient Roman fresco of the Neronian era from Pompeii The Roman Empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138) showing the location of the Roman legions deployed in 125 AD After the Punic Wars , the Roman army comprised professional soldiers who volunteered for 20 years of active duty and five as reserves. The transition to a professional military began during the late Republic and was one of the many profound shifts away from republicanism, under which an army of conscript citizens defended the homeland against a specific threat. The Romans expanded their war machine by "organizing the communities that they conquered in Italy into a system that generated huge reservoirs of manpower for their army". [ 21 ] By Imperial times, military service was a full-time career. [ 22 ] The pervasiveness of military garrisons throughout the Empire was a major influence in the process of Romanization . [ 23 ] The primary mission of the military of the early empire was to preserve the Pax Romana . [ 24 ] The three major divisions of the military were: the garrison at Rome, comprising the Praetorian Guard , the cohortes urbanae and the vigiles , who functioned as police and firefighters; the provincial army, comprising the Roman legions and the auxiliaries provided by the provinces ( auxilia ); the navy . Relief panel from Trajan's Column in Rome, showing the building of a fort and the reception of a Dacian embassy Through his military reforms, which included consolidating or disbanding units of questionable loyalty, Augustus regularized the legion. A legion was organized into ten cohorts , each of which comprised six centuries , with a century further made up of ten squads ( contubernia ); the exact size of the Imperial legion, which was likely determined by logistics , has been estimated to range from 4,800 to 5,280. [ 25 ] After Germanic tribes wiped out three legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, the number of legions was increased from 25 to around 30. [ 26 ] The army had about 300,000 soldiers in the 1st century, and under 400,000 in the 2nd, "significantly smaller" than the collective armed forces of the conquered territories. No more than 2% of adult males living in the Empire served in the Imperial army. [ 27 ] Augustus also created the Praetorian Guard : nine cohorts, ostensibly to maintain the public peace, which were garrisoned in Italy. Better paid than the legionaries, the Praetorians served only sixteen years. [ 28 ] The auxilia were recruited from among the non-citizens. Organized in smaller units of roughly cohort strength, they were paid less than the legionaries, and after 25 years of service were rewarded with Roman citizenship , also extended to their sons. According to Tacitus [ 29 ] there were roughly as many auxiliaries as there were legionaries—thus, around 125,000 men, implying approximately 250 auxiliary regiments. [ 30 ] The Roman cavalry of the earliest Empire were primarily from Celtic, Hispanic or Germanic areas. Several aspects of training and equipment derived from the Celts. [ 31 ] The Roman navy not only aided in the supply and transport of the legions but also in the protection of the frontiers along the rivers Rhine and Danube . Another duty was protecting maritime trade against pirates. It patrolled the Mediterranean, parts of the North Atlantic coasts, and the Black Sea . Nevertheless, the army was considered the senior and more prestigious branch. [ 32 ] Provincial government An annexed territory became a Roman province in three steps: making a register of cities, taking a census, and surveying the land. [ 33 ] Further government recordkeeping included births and deaths, real estate transactions, taxes, and juridical proceedings. [ 34 ] In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the central government sent out around 160 officials annually to govern outside Italy. [ 35 ] Among these officials were the Roman governors : magistrates elected at Rome who in the name of the Roman people governed senatorial provinces ; or governors, usually of equestrian rank, who held their imperium on behalf of the emperor in imperial provinces , most notably Roman Egypt . [ 36 ] A governor had to make himself accessible to the people he governed, but he could delegate various duties. [ 37 ] His staff, however, was minimal: his official attendants ( apparitores ), including lictors , heralds, messengers, scribes , and bodyguards; legates , both civil and military, usually of equestrian rank; and friends who accompanied him unofficially. [ 37 ] Other officials were appointed as supervisors of government finances. [ 35 ] Separating fiscal responsibility from justice and administration was a reform of the Imperial era, to avoid provincial governors and tax farmers exploiting local populations for personal gain. [ 38 ] Equestrian procurators , whose authority was originally "extra-judicial and extra-constitutional", managed both state-owned property and the personal property of the emperor ( res privata ). [ 37 ] Because Roman government officials were few, a provincial who needed help with a legal dispute or criminal case might seek out any Roman perceived to have some official capacity. [ 39 ] In the High Empire, Italy was legally distinguished from the provinces, and along with some favored provincial communities, enjoyed immunity from the property tax and poll tax . However, under the Emperor Diocletian , Italy lost these privileges and was subdivided into provinces . [ 40 ] Law Main article: Roman law Roman courts held original jurisdiction over cases involving Roman citizens throughout the empire, but there were too few judicial functionaries to impose Roman law uniformly in the provinces. Most parts of the Eastern Empire already had well-established law codes and juridical procedures. [ 41 ] Generally, it was Roman policy to respect the mos regionis ("regional tradition" or "law of the land") and to regard local laws as a source of legal precedent and social stability. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] The compatibility of Roman and local law was thought to reflect an underlying ius gentium , the "law of nations" or international law regarded as common and customary. [ 43 ] If provincial law conflicted with Roman law or custom, Roman courts heard appeals , and the emperor held final decision-making authority. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] [ a ] In the West, law had been administered on a highly localized or tribal basis, and private property rights may have been a novelty of the Roman era, particularly among Celts . Roman law facilitated the acquisition of wealth by a pro-Roman elite. [ 41 ] The extension of universal citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire in 212 required the uniform application of Roman law, replacing local law codes that had applied to non-citizens. Diocletian's efforts to stabilize the Empire after the Crisis of the Third Century included two major compilations of law in four years, the Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus , to guide provincial administrators in setting consistent legal standards. [ 44 ] The pervasiveness of Roman law throughout Western Europe enormously influenced the Western legal tradition, reflected by continued use of Latin legal terminology in modern law. Taxation Further information: Taxation in ancient Rome The Temple of Saturn , a religious monument that housed the treasury in ancient Rome Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5% of its gross product . [ 45 ] The typical tax rate for individuals ranged from 2 to 5%. [ 46 ] The tax code was "bewildering" in its complicated system of direct and indirect taxes , some paid in cash and some in kind . Taxes might be specific to a province, or kinds of properties such as fisheries ; they might be temporary. [ 47 ] Tax collection was justified by the need to maintain the military, [ 48 ] and taxpayers sometimes got a refund if the army captured a surplus of booty. [ 49 ] In-kind taxes were accepted from less- monetized areas, particularly those who could supply grain or goods to army camps. [ 50 ] The primary source of direct tax revenue was individuals, who paid a poll tax and a tax on their land, construed as a tax on its produce or productive capacity. [ 46 ] Tax obligations were determined by the census: each head of household provided a headcount of his household, as well as an accounting of his property. [ 51 ] A major source of indirect-tax revenue was the portoria , customs and tolls on trade, including among provinces. [ 46 ] Towards the end of his reign, Augustus instituted a 4% tax on the sale of slaves, [ 52 ] which Nero shifted from the purchaser to the dealers, who responded by raising their prices. [ 53 ] An owner who manumitted a slave paid a "freedom tax", calculated at 5% of value. [ b ] An inheritance tax of 5% was assessed when Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone outside their immediate family. Revenues from the estate tax and from an auction tax went towards the veterans' pension fund ( aerarium militare ). [ 46 ] Low taxes helped the Roman aristocracy increase their wealth, which equalled or exceeded the revenues of the central government. An emperor sometimes replenished his treasury by confiscating the estates of the "super-rich", but in the later period, the resistance of the wealthy to paying taxes was one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Empire. [ 54 ] ^ Bohec (2000) , p. 8. ^ Bohec (2000) , pp. 14–15. ^ Plutarch , Moralia Moralia 813c and 814c; Potter (2009) , pp. 181–182; Luttwak, Edward (1979) [1976]. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire . Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 30. ISBN   0-8018-2158-4 . ^ Potter (2009) , p. 184. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 181. ^ Smith, William (1875). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities . John Murray. pp.  105– 106. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021 . Retrieved 11 February 2020 . ^ Abbott (1901) , p. 354. ^ Abbott (1901) , p. 345. ^ Abbott (1901) , p. 341. ^ Millar, Fergus (2004). "Emperors at Work". Rome, the Greek World, and the East: Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire . Vol. 2. University of North Carolina Press. pp.  3– 22, especially 4, 20. ISBN   0-8078-5520-0 . ^ Boardman (2000) , pp. 195ff. ^ Boardman (2000) , pp. 205–209. ^ Boardman (2000) , pp. 202–203, 205, 210. ^ Boardman (2000) , p. 211. ^ Boardman (2000) , p. 212. ^ Millar (2012) , p. 76. ^ Boardman (2000) , p. 215. ^ Boardman (2000) , p. 721; Winterling (2009) , p. 16. ^ Goldsworthy (2003) , p. 80. ^ Winterling (2009) , p. 16. ^ Tignor, Robert; et al. (2011). Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: The History of the World (3rd ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. p.  262 . ISBN   978-0-3939-3492-2 . ^ Edmondson (1996) , pp. 111–112. ^ Bohec (2000) , p. 9. ^ Hekster, Olivier J. (2007). "Fighting for Rome: The Emperor as a Military Leader". Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC–AD 476) . Brill. p. 96. ^ Roth, J. (1994). "The Size and Organization of the Roman Imperial Legion". Historia . 43 (3): 346– 362. ^ Goldsworthy (2003) , p. 183. ^ Morris & Scheidel (2009) , p. 196. ^ Penrose, Jane (2005). "9: The Romans ". Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War . Bloomsbury US. p. 183. ISBN   978-1-8417-6932-5 . Section 3: Early Empire 27 BC–AD 235 ^ Tacitus Annales IV.5 ^ Goldsworthy (2003) , p. 51. ^ Connolly, Peter (1986). "A Reconstruction of a Roman Saddle". Britannia . 17 : 353– 355. doi : 10.2307/526559 . JSTOR   526559 . S2CID   164155025 . ; Connolly, Peter; Van Driel-Murray, Carol (1991). "The Roman Cavalry Saddle". Britannia . 22 : 33– 50. doi : 10.2307/526629 . JSTOR   526629 . S2CID   161535316 . ^ Goldsworthy (2003) , p. 114. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 183. ^ Potter (2009) , pp. 177–179, Most government records that are preserved come from Roman Egypt, where the climate preserved the papyri.. ^ a b Potter (2009) , p. 179. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 179, The exclusion of Egypt from the senatorial provinces dates to the rise of Octavian before he became Augustus: Egypt had been the stronghold of his last opposition, Mark Antony and his ally Cleopatra .. ^ a b c Potter (2009) , p. 180. ^ Potter (2009) , pp. 179, 187. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 180; Fuhrmann (2012) , pp. 197, 214, 224 ^ Cooley, Alison (2016). "Italy during the High Empire, from the Flavians to Diocletian". In Cooley, Alison (ed.). A Companion to Roman Italy . Blackwell. pp.  130– 131. ISBN   978-1444339260 . ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Garnsey was invoked but never defined (see the help page ). ^ a b Potter (2009) , pp. 184–185. ^ Bozeman, Adda B. (2010). Politics and Culture in International History from the Ancient Near East to the Opening of the Modern Age (2nd ed.). Transaction Publishers. pp.  208– 220. ^ Digeser, Elizabeth DePalma (2000). The Making of a Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome . Cornell University Press. p. 53. ^ Morris & Scheidel (2009) , p. 183. ^ a b c d e Potter (2009) , p. 187. ^ Potter (2009) , pp. 185–187. ^ Morris & Scheidel (2009) , p. 184; Potter (2009) , p. 185. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 185. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 188. ^ Potter (2009) , p. 186. ^ Cassius Dio 55.31.4. ^ Tacitus , Annales 13.31.2. ^ Morris & Scheidel (2009) , p. 184. Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page ). Read more on Wikipedia →

Economy Main article: Roman economy A green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD) tomb in Guangxi , China The Empire is best thought of as a network of regional economies, based on a form of "political capitalism" in which the state regulated commerce to assure its own revenues. [ 1 ] Economic growth, though not comparable to modern economies, was greater than that of most other societies prior to industrialization . [ 2 ] Territorial conquests permitted a large-scale reorganization of land use that resulted in agricultural surplus and specialization, particularly in north Africa. [ 3 ] Some cities were known for particular industries. The scale of urban building indicates a significant construction industry. [ 3 ] Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that suggest elements of economic rationalism , [ 3 ] and the Empire was highly monetized. [ 4 ] Although the means of communication and transport were limited in antiquity, transportation in the 1st and 2nd centuries expanded greatly, and trade routes connected regional economies. [ 5 ] The supply contracts for the army drew on local suppliers near the base ( castrum ), throughout the province, and across provincial borders. [ 6 ] Economic historians vary in their calculations of the gross domestic product during the Principate. [ 7 ] In the sample years of 14, 100, and 150 AD, estimates of per capita GDP range from 166 to 380 HS . The GDP per capita of Italy is estimated as 40 [ 8 ] to 66% [ 9 ] higher than in the rest of the Empire, due to tax transfers from the provinces and the concentration of elite income. Economic dynamism resulted in social mobility. Although aristocratic values permeated traditional elite society, wealth requirements for rank indicate a strong tendency towards plutocracy . Prestige could be obtained through investing one's wealth in grand estates or townhouses, luxury items, public entertainments , funerary monuments, and religious dedications . Guilds ( collegia ) and corporations ( corpora ) provided support for individuals to succeed through networking. [ 10 ] "There can be little doubt that the lower classes of ... provincial towns of the Roman Empire enjoyed a high standard of living not equaled again in Western Europe until the 19th century". [ 11 ] Households in the top 1.5% of income distribution captured about 20% of income. The "vast majority" produced more than half of the total income, but lived near subsistence . [ 12 ] Currency and banking See also: Roman currency and Roman finance Sestertius issued under Hadrian c.  134–138 AD Solidus issued in the name of Constantine II as caesar by Constantine the Great, depicting Victoria on the reverse , one of the last deities to commonly appear on Roman coins, which gradually transformed into an angel under Christian rule [ 13 ] The early Empire was monetized to a near-universal extent, using money to state prices and debts . [ 14 ] Augustus established a practical three-tier currency system that Romans used in their daily lives: gold coins ( aureus ) for major purchases and wealth storage, silver coins ( denarius ) that workers earned and used to pay taxes, and bronze/brass coins, especially the brass sestertius and dupondius , along with the copper as and smaller denominations, that people used for everyday shopping and small transactions. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] Most accounts, rents, and public fees were reckoned in sesterces ( HS ), even when payment arrived as denarii, aurei, or the bronze pieces converted at the fixed ratios of one aureus to twenty-five denarii, one denarius to four sesterces, and one sesterce to four asses. [ 15 ] [ 17 ] Because the bronzes circulated by face value rather than metal content, Romans in the first and second centuries counted coins rather than weighing them, and bullion or ingots were rarely treated as pecunia ("money") outside frontier contexts. [ 14 ] This reliance on token bronzes underpinned the fiduciary character of Roman coinage and contributed to the debasement of the silver denominations in the later Empire, even as standardized money promoted trade, market integration, and a substantial money supply for commerce and saving. [ 14 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] Rome had no central bank , and regulation of the banking system was minimal. Banks of classical antiquity typically kept less in reserves than the full total of customers' deposits . A typical bank had fairly limited capital , and often only one principal. Seneca assumes that anyone involved in Roman commerce needs access to credit . [ 18 ] A professional deposit banker received and held deposits for a fixed or indefinite term, and lent money to third parties. The senatorial elite were involved heavily in private lending, both as creditors and borrowers. [ 20 ] The holder of a debt could use it as a means of payment by transferring it to another party, without cash changing hands. Although it has sometimes been thought that ancient Rome lacked documentary transactions , the system of banks throughout the Empire permitted the exchange of large sums without physically transferring coins, in part because of the risks of moving large amounts of cash. Only one serious credit shortage is known to have occurred in the early Empire, in 33 AD; [ 21 ] generally, available capital exceeded the amount needed by borrowers. [ 18 ] The central government itself did not borrow money, and without public debt had to fund deficits from cash reserves. [ 22 ] Emperors of the Antonine and Severan dynasties debased the currency, particularly the denarius , under the pressures of meeting military payrolls. [ 15 ] Sudden inflation under Commodus damaged the credit market. [ 18 ] In the mid-200s, the supply of specie contracted sharply. [ 15 ] Conditions during the Crisis of the Third Century —such as reductions in long-distance trade, disruption of mining operations, and the physical transfer of gold coinage outside the empire by invading enemies—greatly diminished the money supply and the banking sector. [ 15 ] [ 18 ] Although Roman coinage had long been fiat money or fiduciary currency , general economic anxieties came to a head under Aurelian , and bankers lost confidence in coins. Despite Diocletian 's introduction of the gold solidus and monetary reforms, the credit market of the Empire never recovered its former robustness. [ 18 ] Mining and metallurgy Main articles: Mining in ancient Rome and Roman metallurgy Landscape resulting from the ruina montium mining technique at Las Médulas , Spain, one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire The main mining regions of the Empire were the Iberian Peninsula (silver, copper, lead, iron and gold); [ 23 ] Gaul (gold, silver, iron); [ 24 ] Britain (mainly iron, lead, tin), [ 25 ] the Danubian provinces (gold, iron); [ 26 ] Macedonia and Thrace (gold, silver); and Asia Minor (gold, silver, iron, tin). Intensive large-scale mining—of alluvial deposits, and by means of open-cast mining and underground mining —took place from the reign of Augustus up to the early 3rd century, when the instability of the Empire disrupted production. [ citation needed ] Hydraulic mining allowed base and precious metals to be extracted on a proto-industrial scale. [ 27 ] The total annual iron output is estimated at 82,500  tonnes . [ 28 ] Copper and lead production levels were unmatched until the Industrial Revolution . [ 29 ] [ 30 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] At its peak around the mid-2nd century, the Roman silver stock is estimated at 10,000 t, five to ten times larger than the combined silver mass of medieval Europe and the Caliphate around 800 AD. [ 31 ] [ 33 ] As an indication of the scale of Roman metal production, lead pollution in the Greenland ice sheet quadrupled over prehistoric levels during the Imperial era and dropped thereafter. [ 34 ] Transportation and communication Further information: Cursus publicus The Tabula Peutingeriana ( Latin for "The Peutinger Map") an Itinerarium , often assumed to be based on the Roman cursus publicus The Empire completely encircled the Mediterranean, which they called "our sea" ( Mare Nostrum ). [ 35 ] Roman sailing vessels navigated the Mediterranean as well as major rivers. [ 36 ] Transport by water was preferred where possible, as moving commodities by land was more difficult. [ 37 ] Vehicles, wheels, and ships indicate the existence of a great number of skilled woodworkers. [ 38 ] Land transport utilized the advanced system of Roman roads , called " viae ". These roads were primarily built for military purposes, [ 39 ] but also served commercial ends. The in-kind taxes paid by communities included the provision of personnel, animals, or vehicles for the cursus publicus , the state mail and transport service established by Augustus. [ 40 ] Relay stations were located along the roads every seven to twelve Roman miles , and tended to grow into villages or trading posts. [ 41 ] A mansio (plural mansiones ) was a privately run service station franchised by the imperial bureaucracy for the cursus publicus . The distance between mansiones was determined by how far a wagon could travel in a day. [ 41 ] Carts were usually pulled by mules, travelling about 4 mph. [ 42 ] Trade and commodities See also: Roman commerce , Indo-Roman trade relations , and Sino-Roman relations Roman provinces traded among themselves, but trade extended outside the frontiers to regions as far away as China and India . [ 43 ] Chinese trade was mostly conducted overland through middlemen along the Silk Road ; Indian trade also occurred by sea from Egyptian ports. The main commodity was grain. [ 44 ] Also traded were olive oil, foodstuffs, garum ( fish sauce ), slaves, ore and manufactured metal objects, fibres and textiles, timber, pottery , glassware , marble, papyrus , spices and materia medica , ivory, pearls, and gemstones. [ 45 ] Though most provinces could produce wine, regional varietals were desirable and wine was a central trade good. [ 46 ] Labour and occupations Workers at a cloth-processing shop, in a painting from the fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus in Pompeii Inscriptions record 268 different occupations in Rome and 85 in Pompeii. [ 47 ] Professional associations or trade guilds ( collegia ) are attested for a wide range of occupations, some quite specialized. [ 10 ] Work performed by slaves falls into five general categories: domestic, with epitaphs recording at least 55 different household jobs; imperial or public service ; urban crafts and services; agriculture; and mining. Convicts provided much of the labour in the mines or quarries, where conditions were notoriously brutal. [ 48 ] In practice, there was little division of labour between slave and free, [ 49 ] and most workers were illiterate and without special skills. [ 50 ] The greatest number of common labourers were employed in agriculture: in Italian industrial farming ( latifundia ), these may have been mostly slaves, but elsewhere slave farm labour was probably less important. [ 49 ] Textile and clothing production was a major source of employment. Both textiles and finished garments were traded and products were often named for peoples or towns, like a fashion "label" . [ 51 ] Better ready-to-wear was exported by local businessmen ( negotiatores or mercatores ). [ 52 ] Finished garments might be retailed by their sales agents, by vestiarii (clothing dealers), or peddled by itinerant merchants. [ 52 ] The fullers ( fullones ) and dye workers ( coloratores ) had their own guilds. 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Literacy, books, and education Pride in literacy was displayed through emblems of reading and writing, as in this portrait of Terentius Neo and his wife ( c.  20 AD ). Estimates of the average literacy rate range from 5 to over 30%. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The Roman obsession with documents and inscriptions indicates the value placed on the written word. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ a ] Laws and edicts were posted as well as read out. Illiterate Roman subjects could have a government scribe ( scriba ) read or write their official documents for them. [ 2 ] [ 7 ] The military produced extensive written records. [ 8 ] Numeracy was necessary for commerce. [ 5 ] [ 9 ] Slaves were numerate and literate in significant numbers; some were highly educated. [ 10 ] Graffiti and low-quality inscriptions with misspellings and solecisms indicate casual literacy among non-elites. [ 11 ] [ b ] [ 12 ] The Romans had an extensive priestly archive , and inscriptions appear throughout the Empire in connection with votives dedicated by ordinary people, as well as " magic spells " (e.g. the Greek Magical Papyri ). [ 13 ] Books were expensive, since each copy had to be written out on a papyrus roll ( volumen ) by scribes. [ 14 ] The codex —pages bound to a spine—was still a novelty in the 1st century, [ 15 ] but by the end of the 3rd century was replacing the volumen . [ 16 ] Commercial book production was established by the late Republic, [ 17 ] and by the 1st century certain neighbourhoods of Rome and Western provincial cities were known for their bookshops. [ 18 ] The quality of editing varied wildly, [ 19 ] and plagiarism or forgery were common, since there was no copyright law . [ 17 ] Reconstruction of a wax writing tablet Collectors amassed personal libraries, [ 20 ] and a fine library was part of the cultivated leisure ( otium ) associated with the villa lifestyle. [ 21 ] Significant collections might attract "in-house" scholars, [ 22 ] and an individual benefactor might endow a community with a library (as Pliny the Younger did in Comum ). [ 23 ] Imperial libraries were open to users on a limited basis, and represented a literary canon . [ 24 ] Books considered subversive might be publicly burned, [ 25 ] and Domitian crucified copyists for reproducing works deemed treasonous. [ 26 ] Literary texts were often shared aloud at meals or with reading groups. [ 27 ] Public readings ( recitationes ) expanded from the 1st through the 3rd century, giving rise to "consumer literature" for entertainment. [ 28 ] Illustrated books, including erotica, were popular, but are poorly represented by extant fragments. [ 29 ] Literacy began to decline during the Crisis of the Third Century . [ 30 ] The emperor Julian banned Christians from teaching the classical curriculum, [ 31 ] but the Church Fathers and other Christians adopted Latin and Greek literature, philosophy and science in biblical interpretation. [ 32 ] As the Western Roman Empire declined, reading became rarer even for those within the Church hierarchy, [ 33 ] although it continued in the Byzantine Empire . [ 34 ] Education Main article: Education in ancient Rome A teacher with two students, as a third arrives with his loculus , a writing case [ 35 ] Traditional Roman education was moral and practical. Stories were meant to instil Roman values ( mores maiorum ). Parents were expected to act as role models, and working parents passed their skills to their children, who might also enter apprenticeships. [ 36 ] Young children were attended by a pedagogue , usually a Greek slave or former slave, [ 37 ] who kept the child safe, taught self-discipline and public behaviour, attended class and helped with tutoring. [ 38 ] Formal education was available only to families who could pay for it; lack of state support contributed to low literacy. [ 39 ] Primary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic might take place at home if parents hired or bought a teacher. [ 40 ] Other children attended "public" schools organized by a schoolmaster ( ludimagister ) paid by parents. [ 41 ] Vernae (homeborn slave children) might share in-home or public schooling. [ 42 ] Boys and girls received primary education generally from ages 7 to 12, but classes were not segregated by grade or age. [ 43 ] Most schools employed corporal punishment . [ 44 ] For the socially ambitious, education in Greek as well as Latin was necessary. [ 45 ] Schools became more numerous during the Empire, increasing educational opportunities. [ 45 ] Mosaic from Pompeii depicting the Academy of Plato At the age of 14, upperclass males made their rite of passage into adulthood, and began to learn leadership roles through mentoring from a senior family member or family friend. [ 46 ] Higher education was provided by grammatici or rhetores . [ 47 ] The grammaticus or "grammarian" taught mainly Greek and Latin literature, with history, geography, philosophy or mathematics treated as explications of the text. [ 48 ] With the rise of Augustus, contemporary Latin authors such as Virgil and Livy also became part of the curriculum. [ 49 ] The rhetor was a teacher of oratory or public speaking. The art of speaking ( ars dicendi ) was highly prized, and eloquentia ("speaking ability, eloquence") was considered the "glue" of civilized society. [ 50 ] Rhetoric was not so much a body of knowledge (though it required a command of the literary canon [ 51 ] ) as it was a mode of expression that distinguished those who held social power. [ 52 ] The ancient model of rhetorical training—"restraint, coolness under pressure, modesty, and good humour" [ 53 ] —endured into the 18th century as a Western educational ideal. [ 54 ] In Latin, illiteratus could mean both "unable to read and write" and "lacking in cultural awareness or sophistication". [ 55 ] Higher education promoted career advancement. [ 56 ] Urban elites throughout the Empire shared a literary culture imbued with Greek educational ideals ( paideia ). [ 57 ] Hellenistic cities sponsored schools of higher learning to express cultural achievement. [ 58 ] Young Roman men often went abroad to study rhetoric and philosophy, mostly to Athens. The curriculum in the East was more likely to include music and physical training. [ 59 ] On the Hellenistic model, Vespasian endowed chairs of grammar, Latin and Greek rhetoric, and philosophy at Rome, and gave secondary teachers special exemptions from taxes and legal penalties. [ 60 ] In the Eastern Empire, Berytus (present-day Beirut ) was unusual in offering a Latin education, and became famous for its school of Roman law . [ 61 ] The cultural movement known as the Second Sophistic (1st–3rd century AD) promoted the assimilation of Greek and Roman social, educational, and esthetic values. [ 62 ] Literate women ranged from cultured aristocrats to girls trained to be calligraphers and scribes . [ 63 ] [ 64 ] The ideal woman in Augustan love poetry was educated and well-versed in the arts. [ 65 ] Education seems to have been standard for daughters of the senatorial and equestrian orders. [ 42 ] An educated wife was an asset for the socially ambitious household. [ 63 ] Literature Main article: Latin literature See also: Latin poetry Statue in Constanța , Romania (the ancient colony Tomis), commemorating Ovid's exile Literature under Augustus , along with that of the Republic, has been viewed as the "Golden Age" of Latin literature, embodying classical ideals . [ 66 ] The three most influential Classical Latin poets— Virgil , Horace , and Ovid —belong to this period. Virgil's Aeneid was a national epic in the manner of the Homeric epics of Greece. Horace perfected the use of Greek lyric metres in Latin verse. Ovid's erotic poetry was enormously popular, but ran afoul of Augustan morality, contributing to his exile. Ovid's Metamorphoses wove together Greco-Roman mythology ; his versions of Greek myths became a primary source of later classical mythology , and his work was hugely influential on medieval literature . [ 67 ] The early Principate produced satirists such as Persius and Juvenal . The mid-1st through mid-2nd century has conventionally been called the " Silver Age " of Latin literature. The three leading writers— Seneca , Lucan , and Petronius —committed suicide after incurring Nero 's displeasure. Epigrammatist and social observer Martial and the epic poet Statius , whose poetry collection Silvae influenced Renaissance literature , [ 68 ] wrote during the reign of Domitian . Other authors of the Silver Age included Pliny the Elder , author of the encyclopedic Natural History ; his nephew, Pliny the Younger ; and the historian Tacitus . The principal Latin prose author of the Augustan age is the historian Livy , whose account of Rome's founding became the most familiar version in modern-era literature. The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius is a primary source for imperial biography. Among Imperial historians who wrote in Greek are Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Josephus , and Cassius Dio . Other major Greek authors of the Empire include the biographer Plutarch , the geographer Strabo , and the rhetorician and satirist Lucian . From the 2nd to the 4th centuries, Christian authors were in active dialogue with the classical tradition . Tertullian was one of the earliest prose authors with a distinctly Christian voice. After the conversion of Constantine , Latin literature is dominated by the Christian perspective. [ 69 ] In the late 4th century, Jerome produced the Latin translation of the Bible that became authoritative as the Vulgate . Around that same time, Augustine wrote The City of God against the Pagans , considered "a masterpiece of Western culture". [ 70 ] In contrast to the unity of Classical Latin, the literary esthetic of late antiquity has a tessellated quality. [ 71 ] A continuing interest in the religious traditions of Rome prior to Christian dominion is found into the 5th century, with the Saturnalia of Macrobius and The Marriage of Philology and Mercury of Martianus Capella . Latin poets of late antiquity include Ausonius , Prudentius , Claudian , and Sidonius Apollinaris . ^ Harris (1989) , p. 5; Johnson & Parker (2009) , pp. 3–4 ^ a b Kraus, T.J. (2000). "(Il)literacy in Non-Literary Papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt: Further Aspects of the Educational Ideal in Ancient Literary Sources and Modern Times". Mnemosyne . 53 (3): 322–342 (325–327). doi : 10.1163/156852500510633 . ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 89, 97–98. ^ Mattern, Susan P. (1999). Rome and the Enemy: Imperial Strategy in the Principate . University of California Press. p. 197. ^ a b Morgan, Teresa (1998). Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds . Cambridge University Press. pp.  1– 2. ; Johnson & Parker (2009) , p. 46ff; Peachin (2011) , p. 97. ^ Ando (2000) , p. 101, see also p. 87 on "the government's obsessive documentation". ^ Ando (2000) , p. 101. ^ Phang, Sara Elise (2011). "Military Documents, Languages, and Literacy". A Companion to the Roman Army . Blackwell. pp.  286– 301. ^ Mattern (1999) , p. 197. ^ Gagarin (2010) , pp. 19–20. ^ Harris (1989) , pp. 9, 48, 215, 248, 26, 248, 258–269; Johnson & Parker (2009) , pp. 47, 54, 290ff ^ Cite error: The named reference curchin was invoked but never defined (see the help page ). ^ Beard, Mary (1991). "Ancient Literacy and the Written Word in Roman Religion". Literacy in the Roman World . University of Michigan Press. pp. 59ff. ; Dickie, Matthew (2001). Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World . Routledge. pp.  94– 95, 181– 182, 196. ; Potter (2009) , p. 555; Harris (1989) , pp. 29, 218–219 ^ Johnson (2010) , pp. 17–18. ^ Johnson (2010) , p. 17, citing Martial, Epigrams , 1.2, 14.184–92; Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , pp. 83–84 ^ Johnson (2010) , pp. 17–18; Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , pp. 84–85 ^ a b Marshall (1976) , p. 253. ^ Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , p. 71; Marshall (1976) , p. 253, citing on the book trade in the provinces Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 9.11.2; Martial Epigrams 7.88; Horace, Carmina 2.20.13f. and Ars Poetica 345; Ovid, Tristia 4.9.21 and 4.10.128; Pliny the Elder, Natural History 35.2.11; Sidonius, Epistulae 9.7.1. ^ Marshall (1976) , p. 253; Strabo 13.1.54, 50.13.419; Martial. Epigrams . p. 2.8. ; Lucian , Adversus Indoctum 1 ^ Marshall (1976) , pp. 252–264. ^ Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , pp. 67–68. ^ Marshall (1976) , pp. 257–260. ^ Pliny the Elder . Epistulae . p. 1.8.2. ; CIL 5.5262 (= ILS 2927); Marshall (1976) , p. 265. ^ Marshall (1976) , pp. 261–262; Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , p. 70 ^ Tacitus, Agricola 2.1 and Annales 4.35 and 14.50; Pliny the Younger , Epistulae 7.19.6; Suetonius, Augustus 31, Tiberius 61.3, and Caligula 16 ^ Suetonius . Domitian . p. 10. ; Quintilian . Institutio Oratoria . p. 9.2.65. ; Marshall (1976) , p. 263. ^ Johnson & Parker (2009) , pp. 114ff, 186ff; Potter (2009) , p. 372. ^ Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , pp. 68–69, 78–79. ^ Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , pp. 81–82. ^ Harris (1989) , p. 3. ^ Gagarin (2010) , p. 19. ^ Numbers, Ronald (2009). Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion . Harvard University Press. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-6740-3327-6 . Archived from the original on 30 August 2022 . Retrieved 30 August 2022 . ^ Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , p. 86. ^ Cavallo & Chartier (1999) , pp. 15–16. ^ Peachin (2011) , p. 95. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 84–85. ^ Laes (2011) , pp. 113–116. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 90, 92. ^ Laes (2011) , p. 108; Peachin (2011) , p. 89. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 87–89. ^ Laes (2011) , p. 122. ^ a b Peachin (2011) , p. 90. ^ Laes (2011) , pp. 107–108, 132. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 93–94. ^ a b Peachin (2011) , p. 89. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 88, 106. ^ Laes (2011) , p. 109. ^ Laes (2011) , p. 132. ^ Potter (2009) , pp. 439, 442. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 102–103, 105. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 104–105. ^ Peachin (2011) , pp. 103, 106. ^ Peachin (2011) , p. 110. ^ Peachin (2011) , p. 107. ^ Harris (1989) , p. 5. ^ Saller, R. P. (2012). "Promotion and Patronage in Equestrian Careers". Journal of Roman Studies . 70 : 44– 63. doi : 10.2307/299555 . JSTOR   299555 . S2CID   163530509 . ^ Potter (2009) , p. 598. ^ Laes (2011) , pp. 109–110. ^ Peachin (2011) , p. 88. ^ Laes (2011) , p. 110; Gagarin (2010) , p. 19. ^ Gagarin (2010) , p. 18. ^ The wide-ranging 21st-century scholarship on the Second Sophistic includes Goldhill, Simon (2001). Being Greek under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire . Cambridge University Press. ; Borg, Barbara E., ed. (2004). Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic . De Gruyter. ; Whitmarsh, Tim (2005). The Second Sophistic . Oxford University Press. ^ a b Habinek, Thomas N. (1998). The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome . Princeton University Press. pp.  122– 123. ^ Rawson (2003) , p. 80. ^ James, Sharon L. (2003). Learned Girls and Male Persuasion: Gender and Reading in Roman Love Elegy . University of California Press. pp.  21– 25. ; Johnson, W.R. (2012). "Propertius". A Companion to Roman Love Elegy . Blackwell. pp.  42– 43. ; James, Sharon L. (2012). "Elegy and New Comedy". A Companion to Roman Love Elegy . Blackwell. p. 262. ^ Roberts (1989) , p. 3. ^ Aetas Ovidiana ; McNelis, Charles (2007). "Ovidian Strategies in Early Imperial Literature". A Companion to Ovid . Blackwell. p. 397. ^ van Dam, Harm-Jan (2008). "Wandering Woods Again: From Poliziano to Grotius". The Poetry of Statius . Brill. pp. 45ff. ^ Albrecht (1997) , p. 1294. ^ "The City of God | Summary, Significance, & Facts | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 4 August 2024 . ^ Roberts (1989) , p. 70. Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page ). Read more on Wikipedia →

Religion Main article: Religion in ancient Rome Further information: Roman imperial cult , History of the Jews in the Roman Empire , and Early Christianity See also: Religious persecution in the Roman Empire and Historiography of the Christianization of the Roman Empire The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success to their collective piety ( pietas ) and good relations with the gods ( pax deorum ). The archaic religion believed to have come from the earliest kings of Rome was the foundation of the mos maiorum , "the way of the ancestors", central to Roman identity. [ 1 ] Roman religion was practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des , "I give that you might give". Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma, although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine. For ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. [ 2 ] Each home had a household shrine to offer prayers and libations to the family's domestic deities. Neighbourhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances; as many as 135 days were devoted to religious festivals and games ( ludi ). [ 3 ] In the wake of the Republic's collapse , state religion adapted to support the new regime. Augustus justified one-man rule with a vast programme of religious revivalism and reform. Public vows now were directed at the wellbeing of the emperor. So-called "emperor worship" expanded on a grand scale the traditional veneration of the ancestral dead and of the Genius , the divine tutelary of every individual. Upon death, an emperor could be made a state divinity ( divus ) by vote of the Senate. The Roman imperial cult , influenced by Hellenistic ruler cult , became one of the major ways Rome advertised its presence in the provinces and cultivated shared cultural identity. Cultural precedent in the Eastern provinces facilitated a rapid dissemination of Imperial cult, extending as far as Najran , in present-day Saudi Arabia . [ a ] Rejection of the state religion became tantamount to treason. The Romans are known for the great number of deities they honoured. As the Romans extended their territories, their general policy was to promote stability among diverse peoples by absorbing local deities and cults rather than eradicating them, [ b ] building temples that framed local theology within Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the side-by-side worship of local and Roman deities, including dedications made by Romans to local gods. [ 5 ] By the height of the Empire, numerous syncretic or reinterpreted gods were cultivated, among them cults of Cybele , Isis , Epona , and of solar gods such as Mithras and Sol Invictus , found as far north as Roman Britain . Because Romans had never been obligated to cultivate one god or cult only, religious tolerance was not an issue. [ 6 ] Mystery religions , which offered initiates salvation in the afterlife, were a matter of personal choice, practiced in addition to one's family rites and public religion. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, which conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of " magic ", conspiracy, and subversive activity. Thus, sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists. In Gaul, the power of the druids was checked, first by forbidding Roman citizens to belong to the order, and then by banning druidism altogether. However, Celtic traditions were reinterpreted within the context of Imperial theology, and a new Gallo-Roman religion coalesced; its capital at the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls established precedent for Western cult as a form of Roman-provincial identity. [ 7 ] Judaism posed difficulties for Roman policy that led at times to compromise and granting of special exemptions. Tertullian noted that Judaism, unlike Christianity, was considered a religio licita , "legitimate religion". The Jewish–Roman wars resulted from political as well as religious conflicts; the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD led to the sacking of the Second Temple and the dispersal of Jewish political power (see Jewish diaspora ). A 3rd-century funerary stele is among the earliest Christian inscriptions , written in both Greek and Latin. Christianity emerged in Roman Judaea as a Jewish religious sect in the 1st century and gradually spread out of Jerusalem throughout the Empire and beyond. Imperially authorized persecutions were limited and sporadic, with martyrdoms occurring most often under the authority of local officials. [ 8 ] Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, the emperor attempted to deflect blame from himself onto the Christians. [ 9 ] A major persecution occurred under the emperor Domitian [ 10 ] and a persecution in 177 took place at Lugdunum, the Gallo-Roman religious capital. A letter from Pliny the Younger , governor of Bithynia , describes his persecution and executions of Christians. [ 11 ] The Decian persecution of 246–251 seriously threatened the Christian Church , but ultimately strengthened Christian defiance. [ 12 ] Diocletian undertook the most severe persecution of Christians , from 303 to 311. [ 13 ] From the 2nd century onward, the Church Fathers condemned the diverse religions practiced throughout the Empire as "pagan". [ 14 ] In the early 4th century, Constantine I became the first emperor to convert to Christianity . He supported the Church financially and made laws that favored it, but the new religion was already successful, having moved from less than 50,000 to over a million adherents between 150 and 250. [ 15 ] Constantine and his successors banned public sacrifice while tolerating other traditional practices. Constantine never engaged in a purge , [ 16 ] there were no "pagan martyrs" during his reign, [ 17 ] and people who had not converted to Christianity remained in important positions at court. [ 16 ] : 302  Julian attempted to revive traditional public sacrifice and Hellenistic religion , but met Christian resistance and lack of popular support. [ 18 ] The Pantheon in Rome, a Roman temple originally built under Augustus , later converted into a Catholic church in the 7th century [ 19 ] Christians of the 4th century believed the conversion of Constantine showed that Christianity had triumphed over paganism (in Heaven) and little further action besides such rhetoric was necessary. [ 20 ] Thus, their focus shifted towards heresy . [ 21 ] [ 22 ] According to Peter Brown , "In most areas, polytheists were not molested, and apart from a few ugly incidents of local violence, Jewish communities also enjoyed a century of stable, even privileged, existence". [ 22 ] : 641–643  [ 23 ] There were anti-pagan laws, but they were not generally enforced; through the 6th century, centers of paganism existed in Athens, Gaza, Alexandria, and elsewhere. [ 24 ] According to recent Jewish scholarship, toleration of the Jews was maintained under Christian emperors. [ 25 ] This did not extend to heretics : [ 25 ] Theodosius I made multiple laws and acted against alternate forms of Christianity, [ 26 ] and heretics were persecuted and killed by both the government and the church throughout late antiquity. Non-Christians were not persecuted until the 6th century. Rome's original religious hierarchy and ritual influenced Christian forms, [ 27 ] [ 28 ] and many pre-Christian practices survived in Christian festivals and local traditions. ^ Eiland, Murray (2023). Picturing Roman Belief Systems: The iconography of coins in the Republic and Empire . British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Limited. p. 22. doi : 10.30861/9781407360713 . ISBN   978-1-4073-6071-3 . ^ Rüpke (2007) , p. 4. ^ Bunson, Matthew (1995). A Dictionary of the Roman Empire . Oxford University Press. p. 246. ^ جواد علي, المفصل في تاريخ العرب قبل الإسلام (Jawad Ali, Al-Mufassal fi Tarikh Al-'Arab Qabl Al-Islam ; "Commentary on the History of the Arabs Before Islam"), Baghdad, 1955–1983; Harland, P. (2003). "Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia". (originally published in) Ancient History Bulletin / Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte) . Vol. 17. pp.  91– 103. ^ Rüpke (2007) , p. 4; Isaac, Benjamin H. (2004). The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity . Princeton University Press. p. 449. ; Frend, W.H.C. (1967). Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus . Doubleday. p. 106. ; Huskinson, Janet (2000). Experiencing Rome: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire . Routledge. p. 261. . See, for instance, the altar dedicated by a Roman citizen and depicting a sacrifice conducted in the Roman manner for the Germanic goddess Vagdavercustis in the 2nd century AD. ^ Momigliano, Arnaldo (1986). "The Disadvantages of Monotheism for a Universal State". Classical Philology . 81 (4): 285– 297. doi : 10.1086/367003 . S2CID   161203730 . ^ Fishwick, Duncan (1991). The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire . Vol. 1. Brill. pp.  97– 149. ISBN   9-0040-7179-2 . ^ Bowman, Garnsey & Cameron (2005) , p. 616; Frend, W.H.C. (2006). "Persecutions: Genesis and Legacy". Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine . Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 510. ISBN   0-5218-1239-9 . ; Barnes, T. D. (2012). "Legislation against the Christians". Journal of Roman Studies . 58 ( 1– 2): 32– 50. doi : 10.2307/299693 . JSTOR   299693 . S2CID   161858491 . ; Sainte-Croix, G.E.M de (1963). "Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?". Past & Present (26): 6– 38. doi : 10.1093/past/26.1.6 . ; Musurillo, Herbert (1972). The Acts of the Christian Martyrs . Clarendon Press. pp.  lviii– lxii. ; Sherwin-White, A. N. (1952). "The Early Persecutions and Roman Law Again". The Journal of Theological Studies . 3 (2): 199– 213. doi : 10.1093/jts/III.2.199 . ^ Tacitus. Annals . p.  XV.44  . ^ Eusebius of Caesarea (425). Church History . ; Smallwood, E.M. (1956). " 'Domitian's attitude towards the Jews and Judaism". Classical Philology . 51 : 1– 13. doi : 10.1086/363978 . S2CID   161356789 . ^ Pliny. "Epistle to Trajan on the Christians" . Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. ^ Frend, W. H. C. (1959). "The Failure of the Persecutions in the Roman Empire". Past and Present (16): 10– 30. doi : 10.1093/past/16.1.10 . ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page ). ^ Bowersock, Brown & Grabar (1999) , p. 625. ^ Harnett, Benjamin (2017). "The Diffusion of the Codex". Classical Antiquity . 36 (2): 200, 217. doi : 10.1525/ca.2017.36.2.183 . ^ a b Leithart, Peter J. (2010). Defending Constantine The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom . InterVarsity Press. p. 304. ISBN   978-0-8308-2722-0 . ^ Brown, Peter (2003). The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200–1000 (2nd ed.). Blackwell Publishers. p. 74. ISBN   978-0-6312-2137-1 . ; Thompson, Glen L. (2005). "Constantius II and the First Removal of the Altar of Victory". In Jean-Jacques Aubert; Zsuzsanna Varhelyi (eds.). A Tall Order: Writing the Social History of the Ancient World – Essays in honor of William V. Harris . K.G. Saur. p. 87,93. doi : 10.1515/9783110931419 . ISBN   978-3-5987-7828-5 . ^ Hunt, David (1998). "2, Julian". In Cameron, Averil ; Garnsey, Peter (eds.). Cambridge Ancient History . Vol. 13. Cambridge University Press. p. 68. ^ MacDonald, William L. (1976). The Pantheon: Design, Meaning, and Progeny . Harvard University Press. ISBN   0-6740-1019-1 . ^ Brown, Peter (1993). "The Problem of Christianization" (PDF) . Proceedings of the British Academy . 84 . Oxford University Press: 90. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2022 . Retrieved 3 June 2022 . ^ Salzman, Michele Renee (1993). "The Evidence for the Conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in Book 16 of the 'Theodosian Code". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte . 42 (3). Franz Steiner Verlag: 362– 378. ^ a b Brown, Peter (1998). "Christianization and religious conflict". In Cameron, Averil ; Garnsey, Peter (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History . Vol. XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337–425. Cambridge University Press. pp. 634, 640, 651. ISBN   978-0-5213-0200-5 . ^ Demarsin, Koen (2011). " 'Paganism' in Late Antiquity: Thematic studies Introduction". In Lavan, Luke; Mulryan, Michael (eds.). The Archaeology of Late Antique 'Paganism' (volume 7; illustrated ed.). Brill. p. liv–lv. ISBN   978-9-0041-9237-9 . ^ Constantelos, Demetrios J. (1964). "Paganism and the State in the Age of Justinian" . The Catholic Historical Review . 50 (3): 372– 380. JSTOR   25017472 . Archived from the original on 31 May 2022 . Retrieved 3 June 2022 . ^ a b Brewer (2005) , p. 127. ^ Sáry, Pál (2019). "Remarks on the Edict of Thessalonica of 380". In Vojtech Vladár (ed.). Perpauca Terrena Blande Honori dedicata pocta Petrovi Blahovi K Nedožitým 80. Narodeninám . Trnavská univerzity. p. 73. ISBN   978-8-0568-0313-4 . ; Brewer, Catherine (2005). "The Status of the Jews in Roman Legislation: The Reign of Justinian 527-565 CE" . European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe . 38 (2): 127– 139. JSTOR   41443760 . Archived from the original on 28 May 2022 . Retrieved 3 June 2022 . ^ Rüpke (2007) , pp. 406–426. ^ On vocabulary, see Schilling, Robert (1992). "The Decline and Survival of Roman Religion". Roman and European Mythologies . University of Chicago Press. p. 110. Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page ). Read more on Wikipedia →