Transcript The Roman Empire

The Roman Peace
•Cultural pluralism and cultural unity
•The purpose of the educational system was not merely to teach how to
read and write but how to read and write well.
•Like wealth and titles, culture was regarded as a mark of distinction and
almost as eagerly sought.
•Greek and Latin.
•Focus on the classical texts
•The ultimate goal of the educational system was the mastery of the
spoken word.
•There was no philosophy of education as a tool for socialization in the
modern sense. Education was narrowly conceived as the prerogative of a
small elite that had the time and the money to spend on it. Extending this
kind of education broadly would have seemed absurd and probably
impossible.
The middle class strove for culture and advanced as far as their
resources would permit them.
City life
•Greater degree of proximity between the classes
•Trials, elections, public announcements, games, theater, religious
celebrations, baths, gymnasia, markets.
•Life was carried on in a very personal, intimate manner
The rich were expected to make tangible contributions to the public life
of the city by serving, unremunerated, as magistrates, giving festivals,
maintaining the food and water supply, erecting public buildings, and
generally contributing to the essentials of civilized life. (p. 372)
The ranking of cities
•Title of Roman colony
•The Italian Right
•Cities of Roman and Latin citizenship
•Native cities
•Villages
•Districts
Ludi: state festivals honoring gods. At the time of Augustus, the
Roman calendar had 77 days of public games honoring the gods;
within two centuries the number had risen to 176.
•Circus races
•Theaters
•Raunch vaudeville
Gladiatorial shows were originally staged as funeral games
honoring the dead, and as a way of drawing attention to the
virtue of the deceased. They were not financed by the state
buy by the individual who felt he had an obligation (a munus;
munera, pl.) to a dead person. (p. 375)
•The munera became politicized.
•The slaughter of animals had symbolic value
•Perditi homines (prisoners of war, criminals, slaves)
The great cultural diversity of the Empire was reflected in the
chaotic variety of religions, cults, philosophies, and theosophies
that offered themselves to the inhabitants of the Roman world.
The emperor was the high priest and head of the Roman state
religion, and as such responsible for maintaining right relations
between the gods and humankind. While alive he was a semi
divine intermediary between human beings and the gods, and
when dead he was a god himself. (p. 377)
Mithraism: An Iranian religion, Mithraism, was popular in the army
and offered an attractive combination of doctrine, ritual, and
ethical practice. Its adherents believed that the cosmos was in
constant tension between the forces of good and evil, light and
darkness, life and death. (p. 378.)
Excluded women
Health of Paganism? pp. 378-379.
Judaism and Christianity: Judaism and Christianity were both
exclusive in the membership and both placed emphasis on the close
adhesion to strict ethical practices and dogmatic beliefs.
The liturgy of Judaism and Christianity had the advantages of both the
philosophers’ lecture hall and the sense of community and brotherhood
of the mystery cults.
To the Jewish belief that God was the Lord of History, Christians added
the assertion that history had found its culmination in the lowly person
of Jesus of Nazareth, who was executed by the imperial prefect Pontus
Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. (p. 379.)
Among the major issues settled in the early years of the Christian
community was the question of whether Jesus’ message was to be
limited to Jews or could be extended to gentiles as well. One of the
principal figures in this momentous debate was a Hellenized Jew, Paul
of Tarsus.
Rabbinic Judaism (The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the
Romans in A.D. 70.
In its earliest form Christianity had the potential to alter familial relations
profoundly. It challenged the old concepts of patriarchal dominance by
suggesting that all members of the Christian community were equal and
that the family of Christians had replaced the family of the secular world.
Roman citizens were potentially capable of a full political life at Rome. In
addition, they had certain rights in criminal law not possessed by anyone
else.
In A.D. 212, the emperor Caracalla extended Roman citizenship to almost
everyone in the Empire.
Honestiores and Humiliores:
•Honestiores could claim special treatment under the law and were
subject to much less stringent criminal punishments.
•Those who belonged to the honestiores included first of all senators
and equestrians, then decurions (local senators), soldiers, veterans,
and dome professionals. The scramble for citizenship became a
scramble for inclusion in one of the higher classifications. (p. 383.)
The Senate remained at the apex of the Roman social pyramid:
•Even though the Senate lost its political power as a corporate,
governing body, it never lost is social position.
•In a status-conscious society, membership in the senatorial order
represented the ultimate achievement of a man’s life.
The Equestrian Civil Service
The Decurion Class
Collegia: burial societies. The purpose of collegia
was to bury the dad and honor their memory with
inscriptions and with celebrations at banquets at
which all the members gathered.
The Roman cult of the dead was deeply ingrained, and
its perpetuation was of the utmost importance. If a
family should die out, the burial society would
indefinitely continue to honor the memory of its
deceased, especially if they were benefactors. (pp.
392-393.)
The collegia were open to all members of society,
servile or fee, male or female, all classes could
indulge in their desire to have a title, achieve some
distinction, and be above someone else.