Hi, guys. We're back with part two on our
lecture about ancient Rome - the
transition from the Republic to the
empire. We were talking about cultural
influences in ancient Rome and
discussing in the realm of literature,
for example, both Cicero and Virgil's
contributions. As the Romans continue to
take over portions of the former Empire
of Alexander the Great and his
Hellenistic successors - who themselves
had spread Greek culture during the day -
the Romans absorbed a lot from many of
these conquered peoples, especially Greek
influences. In the realm of religion, the
Romans were polytheistic. They revered
gods of the earth and the sky, the
spirits that animated the world around
them. We also know that they practiced
ancestor worship, with each family
venerating those who came before them. As
Rome developed and grew though, its
citizens began to embrace deities from
other cultures they conquered or came
into contact with such as their
blending of Etruscan divination with
their own  -or fortune-telling and
their incorporation of Egyptian gods
like Isis or the Persian God Mithras.
Basically, the Romans never met a god
they weren't willing to worship. In fact,
the Romans had some 242 holidays a year
honoring their gods and their Republic.
They firmly believed that if they did
not honor the gods properly they would
lose their favor. The clearest influence
though, on Roman religious belief - Roman
mythology - is from Greek mythology. You
can see, for example, I have the chart
here on the slide. Several major Greek
deities just get imported wholesale into
Roman religious worship. It's sort of a
copy-paste, but you just rename the file.
So Athena becomes Minerva. But it's the
same story and you know the same
associations with them. Aphrodite becomes
Venus. I mean, it's striking how
closely the Romans actually follow Greek
mythology. Over time they even adopted
Greek architectural styles for their
houses of worship. You can see the
picture here on the slide - the temple
dedicated to the god of rivers and
streams.
Ff you didn't know it was Roman you'd say
it's Greek because you see the Greek
columns, the freestanding front porch. It's very interesting how they just sort
of adopted wholesale so many
different Greek influences. Roman
literature was also deeply influenced by
Greek literature. The Romans loved
reading, studying and watching the works
of ancient Greek writers and
philosophers Sophocles Plato, Plautus,
you name it. They also read the works of
contemporary Greek authors, those living
at that time under the Roman Empire -
but those who were still allowed to
produce their own writings. Indeed, so
complete was the ruling class' love of
all things Greek that it was Greek
statues that adorned the halls and
gardens of Roman nobleman. The sons of
patricians were even tutored or sent to
school to study under Greek teachers.
Roman boys were often taught to read and
write in Greek first and then in Latin,
which was their language  - by memorizing
and repeating Greek texts before them.
Really, you could say that the Romans in
some ways believed the Greeks to be
superior to them  - not militarily  - because
they still conquered the Greeks. They
still enslave them. But they deeply,
deeply admired the Greeks in a way that
they really didn't with many other
civilizations. So as strange as it may
seem, the Romans owed a huge intellectual
debt they felt to Greek civilization and
thought that the Greeks were better than
them in in many ways. However, the Greeks
were not as good in construction,
certainly as the Romans were. Here's one
case where the Romans outdid the Greeks
themselves. The Romans were master road
builders, for example. Roads were
important for several reasons - for
facilitating trade throughout your
empire, moving your military. And Roman
engineers excelled at creating roads
that could stand the test of time.Unlike
our roads today which develop potholes
in them within just a few months of
being constructed, you have Roman roads
that are still in use
today. For example, in Yorkshire in Sussex
counties in Great Britain, you still have
original Roman road beds that are in use.
Some of them have been paved over with
more modern materials like asphalt. But
the original excavation - the painstaking
care that Roman engineers created in
using various grades of gravel to
facilitate drainage -  it's just amazing
that they created this vast network of
more than 250,000 miles of paved road
that you can still see evidence of it
today. And some of it is still in use. In
fact, the old saying was "all roads lead
to Rome". You can see the map that I have
here on the slide - beginning in the
center of Rome and radiating out like spokes from a wheel, you can
see how these Roman roads criss-cross
multiple continents over time. The
Colosseum is one of the most iconic of
ancient Rome's most famous constructions
that, again, is still with us today. It's a
little bit worse for wear, without a
doubt. But you can still see it. You can
still visit it today and see the
really excellent construction that goes
into this building. In its prime the
Flavian amphitheater, as it was known at
the time, consisted of four floors and
could seat 50,000 people.It took eight
years to complete this magnificent
structure and some 100,000 cubic meters
of stone. So what did people do at the
Colosseum? Well, one of the chief
entertainments were, of course, gladiator
contests, which could last all day long -
violent confrontations between armed
combatants. Usually, you would mix it up.
It would be too boring to have people
equipped with the same armor and the same
weapons going up against one another. So
they would usually pit gladiators
from different -  that were specialized in
different disciplines of combat - they
would pit them against one another. For
instance, you might have a rotarius,
who used a net, a trident and a dagger -
you might put him up against the cestus -
who was a boxer
with a knuckle duster but wore no armor.
Some were professional soldiers at the
top of their game. Others were, of course,
slaves or condemned criminals
who were trained to participate in this
bloodlust type of sport. Besides
gladiator contests, there were other
bloody sports conducted in the Coliseum
for the amusement of Rome's citizenry.
Attractions such as animal hunts - where a
man would have to face down an animal
likely drawn from the most exotic,
furthest reaches of the Empire. Or you
might have animal-on-animal contests.
Again, it would be too boring to have a wolf
going up against the wolf. So they might
put a bear up against the wolf or a lion
against a hippopotamus. They would
starve these animals for days leading up
to the competition so that they would be
at maximum aggression. In addition to the
Colosseum, for public amusement other
still standing
Roman constructions were the vast
network of bands public baths that were
created under Rome. People loved to go to
the baths. In fact, Roman men and
women tried to visit the baths at least
once every day. What was the attraction
besides cleanliness, of course? Well Roman
baths were like the fancy spas that we
have today. They had hot and cold pools,
towels to dry off with, slaves to wait on
you hand and foot. They boasted steam
rooms, saunas, exercise rooms. You could go
get your hair cut at one of these salons/
And these were meeting places. These were
social spaces where the Romans every day
you would see your neighbors. You'd see
your friends. You'd see family members - you'd
catch up on the latest gossip and news.
Indeed, at the height of Rome there were
almost 900 public baths in the city
alone. But what's really important to
understand about all these attractions -
the Colosseum - the aqueducts to bring
fresh water to Roman citizens - the baths -
was that these were all made free to the
public. In other words, it was not just
the wealthy they got to enjoy many of
these attractions like the Circus
Maximus - the large racetrack in Rome
where they might hold competitions for
chariot racing or foot races. Anyone
could get in to these public amusements.
And this was a deliberate strategy on
the part of Rome's
government by the time of the early
empire - a strategy that's often referred
to as bread and circuses, offering free
grain to the poor so that they can make
bread in times of need,
offering them free entertainment to go
see a gladiator contest at the the
Coliseum or to go freely take baths or
go to the Circus Maximus to watch a
race. This was a strategy on the part of
Rome's government by the time of the
Empire to make sure that people were
well fed and they were that they were
entertained -  a strategy to distract them
from the fact that they were actually
losing their political rights. Keep
people well fed. Keep them happy.
Give them something to do on a Friday
night.
You're gonna lessen the chance of
rebellion. So this strategy of bread and
circuses was not done out of any
necessary kindness in the hearts of
Rome's government under the Empire. It
instead is to try to keep people who
were poor - politically oppressed, living
in crowded, disease-ridden conditions -
just make sure that you lessen the
chance of rebellion. As the poet Juvenal
observed of the poor now he said
"with no vote sell their motto is
couldn't care less. Time was," he said "when the plebiscite" -  meaning the people
"elected generals, heads of state,
commanders of legion. But now," he
concluded, "they've pulled in their horns
and there's only two things that concern
them: bread and circuses." Where's my food?
Where's my entertainment? Well, aside from
all this high culture -  literature,
architecture and the like - what was
day-to-day life like Romans? Well, men
were definitely considered the total
head of the family - the paterfamilias.
They moved in the realm of politics and
public life. The father was the general
as well as the spiritual head of the
family.
He held absolute power over anyone
living underneath his household. He could
determine what careers his children
pursued, who they would marry. He even had
the power of life or death
over his wife, children, relatives and any
slaves living in his household.
He decided, for example, whether or not an
infant lived or died in his household. A
disobedient child, according to Roman law,
could be sold into slavery or even
killed outright. As for the status of
women, they were legally subordinate -
meaning beneath the power of the men  -in
their lives from the time they were born
until the time they died. A woman
was first legally subject to her father
as long as he lived, then to her husband.
Roman noble women were married off by
their fathers, for instance, around the
age of 12. And while they could own
property, they had no political voice and
their education was rudimentary at best.
Roman civilization thought that women
were intellectually inferior to men. So
why waste the time giving them an
education? They could not run their own
businesses until much later in the
Empire. As for adultery, in Rome it was a
crime defined as the wife's violation of
the marriage vows not the man's. In fact,
married men in Rome who engaged in sex
outside of wedlock were free from the
charge of adultery as long as the
partners that they chose were from a
lower social class or were non Romans. So
as you might expect
then slaves, once more, are being preyed
upon. With all this being said, a divorce
was fairly easy to secure under the
Roman Empire. Either partner could
divorce the other simply by renouncing
the marriage to their spouse. And a
divorce became so common over time that
even some of the highest-ranking
politicians of the day such as Julius
Caesar, Pompey and Cicero as well as
Augustus ware themselves divorced. Also
marriages might be more likely to break
up since prostitution was legal and
widespread in Rome. Couples might also not
stay together if there were fewer
children involved. And the birth rate
among the wealthy in Rome begins to drop
over time as Romans begin practicing
early forms of contraception and
abortion. In fact, the birth rate dropped
alarmingly low among the Roman upper
classes to the point where eventually
there were laws passed requiring
patrician families to start birthing and
raising more children over time. So
prostitution, infanticide, high divorce
rates, inter-family honor killings,
bloodlust sports in the
Colosseum - there were some Romans over
time who began to grow critical of
their society and what they perceived
was the breakdown of morals. Others
worried about the constant mistreatment
of the poor and what might happen if the
plebeian class ever decided to make it
final once and for all -
- get up leave Rome and let it wither
and die on the vine. And, in fact, we will
see a new religion developing on the
fringes of the Roman Empire that would
end up becoming a direct reaction to the
excesses of Imperial Roman society. That
religion will be Christianity, which
we'll discuss in a future video.
