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Supreme power in ancient rome. The highest power in ancient Rome belonged

The Great Roman Empire is rightfully considered one of the greatest civilizations of the Ancient World. Before its heyday and for a long time after the collapse, the Western world did not know a more powerful state than Ancient Rome. In a short period of time, this power was able to conquer vast territories for itself, and its culture continues to influence humanity to this day.

History of Ancient Rome

The history of one of the most influential states of Antiquity began with small settlements located on the hills along the banks of the Tiber. In 753 BC. e. these settlements united into a city called Rome. It was founded on seven hills, in a swampy area, in the very epicenter of constantly conflicting peoples - Latins, Etruscans and ancient Greeks. From this date, the chronology began in Ancient Rome.

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According to an ancient legend, the founders of Rome were two brothers - Romulus and Remus, who were children of the god Mars and the vestal Remy Sylvia. Once at the center of the conspiracy, they were on the verge of death. The brothers were saved from certain death by a she-wolf who fed them with her milk. As they matured, they founded a beautiful city that was named after one of the brothers.

Fig. 1. Romulus and Rem.

Over time, well-trained warriors emerged from ordinary farmers, who managed to conquer not only all of Italy, but also many neighboring countries. The system of government, language, achievements of culture and art of Rome spread far beyond its borders. The decline of the Roman Empire fell on 476 BC.

Periodization of the history of Ancient Rome

The formation and development of the Eternal City is usually divided into three most important periods:

  • Tsarsky ... The oldest period in Rome, when the local population consisted mostly of fugitive criminals. With the development of crafts and formation state system Rome began to develop at a rapid pace. During this period, power in the city belonged to the kings, the first of whom was Romulus, and the last - Lucius Tarquinius. The rulers did not receive power by inheritance, but were appointed by the Senate. When manipulation and bribery began to be used to obtain the coveted throne, the Senate decided to change the political structure in Rome and proclaimed a republic.

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Slavery was widespread in ancient Greek society. The greatest privileges were enjoyed by slaves who served the masters in the house. The hardest hit was the slaves, whose former activities were associated with grueling work in the fields and the development of mineral deposits.

  • Republican ... During this period, all power belonged to the Senate. The borders of Ancient Rome began to expand through the conquest and annexation of the lands of Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, Macedonia, and the Mediterranean. The republic was headed by representatives of the nobility, who were elected at a national assembly.
  • The Roman Empire ... Power still belonged to the Senate, but a single ruler, the Emperor, appeared on the political arena. During that period of time, Ancient Rome increased its territories so much that it became more and more difficult to govern empires. Over time, the power split into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern, which was later renamed Byzantium.

Urban planning and architecture

The construction of cities in ancient Rome was approached with great responsibility. Each large settlement was built in such a way that two perpendicular roads intersect in its center. At their intersection was the central square, the market and all the most important buildings.

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Engineering thought in ancient Rome reached its peak. The local architects were especially proud of aqueducts - water conduits, through which a large volume of clean water was supplied to the city every day.

Fig. 2. Aqueduct in Ancient Rome.

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One of the oldest temples in Ancient Rome was the Capitol, built on one of the seven hills. The Capitoline Temple was not only the focus of religion, it was of great importance in strengthening the state and served as a symbol of the strength, power and might of Rome.

Numerous canals, fountains, an excellent sewerage system, a network of public baths (thermal baths) with hot and cold pools made life much easier for city dwellers.

Ancient Rome became famous for its roads, which provided troops and postal services with rapid movement, contributed to the developed trade. They were built by slaves who dug deep trenches and then filled them with gravel and stone. Roman roads were so solid that they could safely survive for more than one hundred years.

Culture of Ancient Rome

Deeds worthy of a true Roman were philosophy, politics, agriculture, war, civil law. The early culture of Ancient Rome was based on this. Special attention was paid to the development of sciences and various kinds of research.

Ancient Roman art, particularly painting and sculpture, had a lot in common with art. Ancient Greece... A single ancient culture gave birth to many wonderful writers, poets, playwrights.

The Romans were very fond of entertainment, among which gladiator fights, chariot races and hunting wild animals were in greatest demand. Roman spectacles have become an alternative to the incredibly popular Olympic Games in ancient Greece.

Fig. 3. Gladiator fights.

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When studying the topic "Ancient Rome", we briefly learned the most important thing about Ancient Rome: the history of its origin, features of the formation of the state, the main stages of development. We got acquainted with ancient Roman art, culture, architecture.

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Ancient Rome (lat. Roma antiqua) - one of the leading civilizations of the Ancient World and Antiquity, got its name from the main city (Roma - Rome), in turn named after the legendary founder - Romulus. The center of Rome developed within the swampy plain, bounded by the Capitol, Palatine and Quirinal. The culture of the Etruscans and the ancient Greeks had a definite influence on the formation of the ancient Roman civilization. Ancient Rome reached the peak of its power in the II century AD. e., when he controlled the area from modern Scotland in the north to Ethiopia in the south and from Persia in the east to Portugal in the west. Ancient Rome presented the modern world with Roman law, some architectural forms and solutions (for example, an arch and a dome) and many other innovations (for example, wheeled water mills). Christianity, as a religion, was born on the territory of the Roman Empire. Official language the ancient Roman state was Latin. The religion for most of the period of its existence was polytheistic, the unofficial emblem of the empire was the Golden Eagle (aquila), after the adoption of Christianity, labarums appeared (the banner set by the emperor Constantine for his troops) with a chrisma (pectoral cross).

Story

The periodization of the history of Ancient Rome is based on the forms of government, which in turn reflected the socio-political situation: from the tsarist rule at the beginning of history to the dominant empire at its end.

Royal period (754/753 - 510/509 BC).

Republic (510/509 - 30/27 BC)

Early Roman Republic (509-265 BC)

Late Roman Republic (264-27 BC)

Sometimes the period of the Middle (classical) Republic of 287-133 is also distinguished. BC BC)

Empire (30/27 BC - 476 AD)

Early Roman Empire. Principate (27/30 BC - 235 AD)

Crisis of the 3rd century (235-284)

Late Roman Empire. Dominat (284-476)

During the tsarist period, Rome was a small state that occupied only part of the territory of Latium - the area of \u200b\u200bresidence of the Latin tribe. During the period of the Early Republic, Rome significantly expanded its territory during numerous wars. After the Pyrrhic War, Rome began to reign supreme over the Apennine Peninsula, although the vertical system of control over the subordinate territories had not yet taken shape at that time. After the conquest of Italy, Rome became a prominent player in the Mediterranean, which soon led him to conflict with Carthage, a large state founded by the Phoenicians. In a series of three Punic Wars, the Carthaginian state was completely defeated, and the city itself was destroyed. At this time, Rome also began expansion to the East, subjugating Illyria, Greece, and then Asia Minor and Syria. In the 1st century BC. e. Rome was rocked by a series of civil wars, as a result of which the final victor, Octavian Augustus, formed the foundations of the principate system and founded the Julian-Claudian dynasty, which, however, did not last a century. The heyday of the Roman Empire fell on a relatively calm time of the II century, but already the III century was filled with a struggle for power and, as a result, political instability, and the foreign policy of the empire was complicated. The establishment of the dominant system by Diocletian stabilized the situation for a while by concentrating power in the hands of the emperor and his bureaucratic apparatus. In the IV century, the division of the empire into two parts was finalized, and Christianity became the state religion of the entire empire. In the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire became the object of an active resettlement of Germanic tribes, which finally undermined the unity of the state. The overthrow of the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus-Augustulus, by the Germanic leader Odoacer on September 4, 476 is considered the traditional date of the fall of the Roman Empire.

A number of researchers (in Soviet historiography S.L. Utchenko worked in this direction) believe that Rome created its own original civilization, based on a special system of values \u200b\u200bthat developed in the Roman civil community in connection with the peculiarities of its historical development. These features included the establishment of a republican form of government as a result of the struggle between patricians and plebeians and the almost continuous wars of Rome, which turned it from a small Italian town into the capital of a huge power. Under the influence of these factors, the ideology and system of values \u200b\u200bof Roman citizens were formed.

It was determined, first of all, by patriotism - the idea of \u200b\u200bthe special chosenness of the Roman people and the very fate of the victories destined for it, about Rome as the highest value, about the duty of a citizen to serve him with all his might. For this, a citizen had to possess courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty, dignity, moderation in his lifestyle, the ability to obey iron discipline in war, the approved law and the custom established by ancestors in peacetime, honor the patron gods of his families, rural communities and Rome itself ...

The relevance of the problems associated with the state structure of Ancient Rome is increasing today, and the topic of the essay under consideration, the systematization of knowledge and ideas about the various manifestations of the development of mankind, to a certain extent, will help orient oneself in modern spiritual life, its state and development trends.

The "Rome" community has now developed into a whole state, the "Roman Republic", whose inhabitants (in addition to national-tribal, property and other differences) are divided primarily into personally free and personally not free. Personally free are divided into citizens and foreigners.

The main citadel of the nobility and the governing body of the republic was the Senate. Senators usually numbered 300. The right to appoint senators belonged first to the tsar and then to the consuls. According to the law of Obinius (last quarter of the 4th century), this right passed to the censors. Every five years the censors revised the list of senators, they could delete from it those who, for one reason or another, did not correspond to their appointment, and add new ones. Ovinius' law established "that the censors, under oath, elect the best of all categories of magistrates to the Senate." We are talking about former magistrates up to and including quaestors.

Senators were distributed by rank. In the first place were the so-called "curule senators", that is, former magistrates who held curule positions: former dictators, consuls, censors, praetors and curule aediles; then came the rest: the former plebeian aediles, tribunes and quaestors, as well as senators who did not hold any magistracy in the past (there were few of them). First on the list was the most respected senator called princeps senatus (first senator). The order of voting was determined by belonging to one category or another. The latter took place either by stepping aside, or by personal questioning of each senator. All extraordinary magistrates, for example, dictators, and from ordinary ones, consuls, praetors, and later tribunes of the people, could convene the Senate and preside over it.

Before the outbreak of civil wars, the Senate enjoyed great prestige. This is mainly due to its social composition and organization. Initially, only the heads of patrician families could enter the Senate. But already very early, probably from the beginning of the republic, plebeians began to appear in the Senate. As they conquered the higher magistrates, their number in the Senate began to increase rapidly. In the III century. the overwhelming majority of senators belonged to the nobility, that is, to the ruling caste of Roman society. This created the cohesion of the Senate, the absence of internal struggle in it, the unity of its program and tactics, and provided it with the support of the most influential part of society. There was close unity between the senate and the magistrates, since each former magistrate eventually got into the senate, and new officials were chosen from virtually the same senators. Therefore, it was not profitable for magistrates to quarrel with the Senate. Magistrates came and went, changing, as a rule, annually, and the Senate was a permanent body, the composition of which remained largely unchanged (the massive replenishment of the Senate with new members was a very rare phenomenon). This gave him the continuity of traditions and great administrative experience.

The range of affairs over which the Senate was in charge was very wide. Until 339, as indicated above, he had the right to approve the decisions of the people's assembly. After that year, only the preliminary approval of the bills submitted to the comitia by the Senate was required. According to Menia's law, the same procedure was established in relation to candidates officials.

In the event of a difficult external or internal state of the state, the Senate declared a state of emergency, that is, a state of siege. This was done most often by appointing a dictator. From the II century. other forms of state of siege are introduced into practice. One of them was that the Senate passed a decree: "Let the consuls watch that the republic does not suffer any damage." By this formula, consuls (or other officials) were given extraordinary powers, similar to those of a dictator. Another way to concentrate executive power was to elect one consul. This method, however, very rarely, was used in the 1st century.

Senate belonged top management military affairs. He determined the time and amount of recruitment into the army, as well as the composition of the contingents: citizens, allies, etc. The Senate passed a resolution on the disbandment of the troops, under his control, the distribution of individual military formations or fronts among the military leaders took place. The Senate set the budget for each general, and appointed triumphs and other honors to the victorious generals.

In the hands of the Senate was concentrated all foreign policy... The right to declare war, conclude peace and allied treaties belonged to the people, but the Senate conducted all the preparatory work for this. He sent embassies to other countries, received foreign ambassadors and, in general, was in charge of all diplomatic acts.

The Senate managed finances and state property: made up a budget (usually for 5 years), established the nature and amount of taxes, controlled the purchase, supervised the minting of coins, and so on.

The Senate belonged to the supreme oversight of the cult. He instituted festivals, instituted gratitude and cleansing sacrifices, in the most serious cases interpreted the signs of the gods, controlled foreign cults and, if necessary, banned them.

Members of all standing judicial commissions prior to the Gracchian era consisted of senators. Only in 123, Gaius Gracchus handed over the courts to the hands of the horsemen (this name was then understood as rich merchants and usurers).

In the event that the posts of the supreme magistrates, who had the right to preside over the assembly to elect consuls, were vacant or these magistrates could not arrive at the time of the elections to Rome, the Senate declared an "interregnum". This term has survived from the tsarist era. One of the senators was appointed by the "inter-king" to preside over the consular election commissions. He held office for five days, after which he appointed himself a successor and delegated his powers to him. He appointed the next, etc., until the consuls were elected in the centuriate comitia.

Thus, the Senate was the highest administrative body of the republic, and at the same time it possessed supreme control over the entire life of the state.

Both large estate classes of the previous period, patricians and plebeians, continued to exist today, and their mutual struggle for political rights was the most characteristic phenomenon in the life of the Roman community of the period of the Republic. Already under Servius Tullius, according to legend, the plebeians, initially disenfranchised, received some rights, for example, the right to land ownership, the right to legal marriage and commerce among themselves, a limited right to trial, the right to vote and serve conscription... Thus, they became from powerless - incomplete citizens, and the desire for full legal equality with the patricians, especially in the right to occupy the highest state posts, led to an intensification of their struggle with the patricians, to a full equalization in rights. According to the laws of Lucius Sextius (366 BC), the plebeians received access to the highest secular, and according to the law of Ogulny (300 BC) and to the highest spiritual positions, in addition to the right to legally marry with patricians. Thanks to the expansion of the state, the size of the plebs also increased significantly.

Thus, both estates merged into one concept of "Roman people". However, the exercise of the right to hold high public office, due to the costly election campaign and the lack of remuneration for office, was available only to wealthy citizens. As a result, from the patricians and wealthy plebeians, a bureaucratic, serving nobility (nobili) was gradually formed, standing in opposition to the less prosperous plebs.

The government of the Roman community in the Republican period was based on the will of the people. Therefore, all the most important issues of governance were decided on the basis of one or another expression of the will of the community, the "people of Rome." He owned:

legislative power - the right to issue laws;

judicial power - the right to conduct a court;

electoral power - the right to elect magistrates;

decisive power - in matters of peace and war.

The decisions of the people on points a) and d), as having the force of law, were called “the laws of the people” or “people's commands”. The people themselves, as the bearer of supreme power, were clothed with a certain greatness, and crimes against the community were considered insulting to the greatness of the Roman people. Front assembly of the people the fascia of the magistrates present in the assembly bowed as a symbol of their admiration for the "greatness of the people."

The people exercised their rights in popular assemblies, usually in the so-called comitia (from Lat. - "to converge"), that is, in meetings of full-fledged citizens convened and led by an authorized official (for example, a consul or praetor), at which they (in their political divisions by curiae, centuria or tribes) decided by means of voting the next issues proposed for resolution.

All Roman citizens (who had the right to vote) had the right to participate in comitia and to cast a vote, wherever they were - in Rome, province or colony. In accordance with the representatives of the Roman community who participated in the meetings, the comitia were subdivided into the kuriat comitia, the centurian comitia, and the tributary comitia.

A comitia should be distinguished from free meetings convened by a secular or spiritual official (not for political divisions) or gatherings where the people did not vote, but usually listened to reports and messages or discussed some important issues, especially those that were on the waiting list for the next comitia. All those present could speak at these meetings. They usually gathered at the Forum, and those convened by a clergyman - at the Capitol.

The reason for the fall of the republic was that it was a state form, which developed on the basis of a city-state and which could not ensure the interests of a wide circle of slave owners within the framework of a vast empire. Under these conditions, the ruling classes saw the only means of maintaining their power in a dictatorship based on the army. There are many more reasons for the fall of the republic, S. I. Kovalev believes that: “The main and most common cause there was a contradiction between the political form of the republic in the 1st century. BC e. and its social-class content. While this form remained old, its content changed significantly. "

The Roman Empire differed from the republic also by the very organization of the ruling class. In connection with the territorial growth of the Roman Republic, the state was transformed from a body representing the interests of the largest Roman landowners and slave owners, such as the republic, into a body representing the interests of the ruling classes of the entire Roman state.

This presupposed the involvement of slave-owning circles not only in Italy, but also in the provinces in the leadership of the state, and in the future - the equation of Italy and the provinces.

Under Caesar and Augustus, only the foundations of the development of the Roman Empire were laid. The difference between the parts of the empire was still enormous. All disparate areas were united by political power and held together by its military power.

The monarchical reform of Augustus, as it were, closed the circle of the development of the state structure of Rome: monarchy - republic - monarchy. Just as the republican magistracy is a fragmentation of the unified power of the tsar, so the power of the emperor is again the gathering (concentration) of republican magistrates in the person of the sovereign, in the form of a new, extraordinary magistracy.

In fact, the monarchy was restored after the Battle of Actium (31 BC), when all military force was concentrated in the hands of Augustus, and legally - in 27, when Octavian received from the Senate the title of "Augustus" (venerable, sacred) supreme leadership and supervision of all affairs, the right to control the actions of the remaining authorities, control some provinces and the main command over the entire army ...

On this basis, the power of the Roman emperors gradually grew, up to Diocletian (285-305 AD), when it becomes a monarchy in the strict sense of the word. All power was concentrated in the hands of one person, and the Senate and the people no longer played any state role. The power of the emperor was lifelong, but not dynastic, hereditary: the emperor could only indicate to the state the person to whom he wanted to transfer power after death, appointing him the heir of his personal property and wealth. Such could be a person adopted by the sovereign. The emperor could accept him as co-ruler and transfer the title of "Caesar", awarding him with various honors necessary to build his reputation, especially in the army.

The emperor had the right to relinquish power himself. As a "magistrate" he could have been removed by the Senate, but, relying on the army, he did not fear this removal. If anything, the removal of emperors has always been an act of violence.

The powers of the emperor consisted of military power, which constitutes the main support of his influence. It was given to him by the Senate and the army, and as the commander-in-chief of the Roman army, the emperor resembled a republican proconsul, since the military forces were located in the provinces, the rulers of which were proconsuls.

As consul, censor and tribune of the people, the emperor was able to:

take an active part in legislation, leading the Senate and the comitia; but along with their decrees, the personal orders of the emperor issued on the basis of his law (edicts, decrees, mandates, constitutions, etc.) were in effect;

participate in legal proceedings: draw up lists of jurors, manage proceedings, especially military and criminal ones, and the court of the emperor was the highest instance;

to participate in the elections of magistrates, and the emperor checked the legal capacity of candidates, recommended his own (candidates for Caesar), which was almost equal to the appointment, appointed some officials himself, especially governors in the imperial provinces;

as a censor - to draw up lists of estates, especially the Senate, thus subjecting him to his personal influence;

to exercise supreme supervision and leadership in all public affairs, internal and external, to manage the state economy and finances, to mint coins, etc. The censor's supervision of morality was also included in the competence of the emperor;

exercise their power in the provinces, where the emperors could appoint their officials to govern local communities, often to the detriment of their previous autonomy.

The emperor also possessed spiritual power. As the supreme pontiff and a member of all the principal priestly colleges, the emperor had supreme supervision over the cult and over the property of the spiritual colleges and temples.

In addition to the republican-type magistrates dependent on the emperor, they appointed a number of special officials for various branches of government: to govern the provinces of procurators, legates of Augustus; for individual parts of the management of curators, prefects. Of the latter, the most important were: the prefect of the city - the mayor and the city judge; prefect of the praetorians - the head of the praetorians, a very influential dignitary after the emperor; the prefect in charge of the provisional part of Rome, and others. These ranks usually received support from the imperial treasury and were often appointed from senators or equestrians, sometimes (lower positions) from imperial dismissals.

Here is how J. God characterizes the state of Rome at that time: “In the II century. the decline of Roman morality is especially noticeable; weakening of patriotic feelings, which ceased to be a source of civic virtues, replaced by the desire for personal well-being, "bourgeois virtues" that coexisted with greed, the kingdom of money, debauchery, individualism. The connection with family has weakened. "

The Senate continued its apparently honorable existence, legally it stood even higher than the Emperor, who received his power from the Senate. However, in fact, the immense personal and military importance of the emperor deprived the Senate of almost any independence, especially since, due to his censorship power, the emperor had the right to replenish the total authority, and as a tribune of the people, he could stop all the decisions he did not like with his intercession. As before, the Senate was given supervision over the cult, the management of the (state) treasury. However, when the state treasury merged with the imperial treasury, this right was abolished. The Senate also had the right to elect magistrates (where, however, it was also constrained by the candidates nominated by the emperor). He possessed the power of the judiciary as one of the highest judicial instances, led by the emperor, as well as the right to govern the senate provinces, etc. However, in fact, the decisions of the Senate were often only the confirmation of the will of the emperor.

The death of Rome also means the death of the great ancient culture as a whole. As T. Mommsen figuratively noted: “A historic night fell over the Greco-Latin world, and it was beyond human power to turn it away, but Caesar nevertheless allowed the exhausted peoples to live out the evening of their development in tolerable conditions. And when, after a long night, a new historic day dawned and new nations rushed to new, higher goals, many of them had a splendid seed sown by Caesar, and many owe their national identity to him ”.

Based on the above, we can conclude that throughout its existence, Ancient Rome underwent development in its state development from the so-called tsarist period, when the king was the bearer of supreme power, it was in the tsarist period that the Roman community received that characteristic appearance that so distinguishes it from other communities of the ancient world. Further, the Roman community develops into a Republic, some strata acquire rights, for example, the right to land tenure, the right to legal marriage and commerce among themselves, a limited right to litigation, the right to vote and serve military service. The Republic is replaced by the Empire, in which there is a concentration of fragmented republican power in the hands of the Emperor.

Formation on the territory of Italy of a kind of Roman statehood and culture, the creation of a world power that covered the entire Mediterranean and Western Europe, and its long (about 4 centuries) existence, the birth within its boundaries of the syncretic Mediterranean antique civilization as a prototype of the future European civilization, the emergence and spread of a new world religion here - Christianity - all this gives Ancient Rome a special place in world history.

1. Alferova I. V. Roman Antiquities: brief outline... - Smolensk: Rusich, 2000, - 384 p.

2. Badak AN et al. History of the ancient world. Ancient Rome. - Minsk: Harvest, 2000 .-- 864 p.

3. Elmanova NS Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Young Historian. - M .: Pedagogika-Press, 1999 .-- 448 p.

4. Kovalev SI History of Rome. Publ .: Leningrad University, 1986 .-- 744 p.

5. Shtaerman EM Social foundations of religion of Ancient Rome. - M .: Nauka, 1987 .-- 320 p.

Story

The periodization of the history of Ancient Rome is based on the forms of government, which in turn reflected the socio-political situation: from the tsarist rule at the beginning of history to the dominant empire at its end.

  • Royal period (/ - / 509 BC).
  • Republic (510 / - / 27 BC)
    • Early Roman Republic (509-265 BC)
    • Late Roman Republic (264-27 BC)
      • Sometimes the period of the Middle (classical) Republic (287-133 BC) is also distinguished.
  • Empire (30/27 BC - AD)
    • Early Roman Empire. Principate (27/30 BC - AD)
    • Late Roman Empire. Dominat (- years)

Ancient Rome map

During the tsarist period, Rome was a small state that occupied only part of the territory of Latium - the area of \u200b\u200bresidence of the Latin tribe. During the period of the Early Republic, Rome significantly expanded its territory during numerous wars. After the Pyrrhic War, Rome began to reign supreme over the Apennine Peninsula, although the vertical system of control over the subordinate territories had not yet taken shape at that time. After the conquest of Italy, Rome became a prominent player in the Mediterranean, which soon led him to conflict with Carthage, a large state founded by the Phoenicians. In a series of three Punic Wars, the Carthaginian state was completely defeated, and the city itself was destroyed. At this time, Rome also began expansion to the East, subjugating Illyria, Greece, and then Asia Minor and Syria. In the 1st century BC. e. Rome was rocked by a series of civil wars, as a result of which the final victor, Octavian Augustus, formed the foundations of the principate system and founded the Julian-Claudian dynasty, which, however, did not last a century. The heyday of the Roman Empire fell on a relatively calm time of the II century, but already the III century was filled with a struggle for power and, as a result, political instability, and the foreign policy position of the empire was complicated. The establishment of the dominant system by Diocletian stabilized the situation for a while by concentrating power in the hands of the emperor and his bureaucratic apparatus. In the IV century, the division of the empire into two parts was finalized, and Christianity became the state religion of the entire empire. In the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire became the object of an active resettlement of Germanic tribes, which finally undermined the unity of the state. The overthrow of the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus-Augustulus, by the German leader Odoacer on September 4 is considered the traditional date of the fall of the Roman Empire.

Magistrates could submit a bill (rogatio) to the Senate, where it was discussed. Initially, the Senate had 100 members, during most of the history of the Republic there were about 300 members, Sulla doubled the number of senators, later their number varied. A place in the Senate was obtained after passing ordinary magistrates, but the censors had the right to lustration the Senate with the possibility of expelling individual senators. The Senate met in calendars, nons, and idams every month, and also on any day in the event of an emergency convocation of the senate. At the same time, there were some restrictions on the convocation of the Senate and the comitia in the event that the appointed day was declared unfavorable for one or another "sign".

Dictators who were elected on special occasions and for no more than 6 months had extraordinary powers and, unlike ordinary magistrates, were not accountable. With the exception of the extraordinary magistracy of the dictator, all offices in Rome were collegiate.

Society

The laws

As for the Romans, for them the task of war was not simply victory over the enemy or the establishment of peace; the war only ended to their satisfaction when the former enemies became “friends” or allies (socii) of Rome. The goal of Rome was not to subjugate the whole world to the power and imperium of Rome, but to spread the Roman system of alliances to all countries of the earth. The Roman idea was expressed by Virgil, and it was not just a poet's fantasy. The Roman people themselves, populus Romanus, owed their existence to such a war-born partnership, namely, an alliance between patricians and plebeians, the end of the internal strife between whom was put by the famous Leges XII Tabularum. But even this document of their history, sanctified by antiquity, was not considered by the Romans to be divinely inspired; they preferred to believe that Rome had sent a commission to Greece to study the legal systems there. Thus, the Roman Republic, itself based on law - an indefinite alliance between patricians and plebeians - used the leges instrument mainly for treaties and administration of the provinces and communities that belonged to the Roman system of alliances, in other words, to the ever-expanding group of Roman socii that formed societas. Romana.

Social structure of Roman society

Over time, the social structure as a whole has become noticeably more complex. Horsemen appeared - persons not always of noble birth, but engaged in commercial operations (trade was considered an unworthy occupation by the patricians) and concentrated significant wealth in their hands. Among the patricians, the most noble families stood out, and part of the families gradually faded away. Around the 3rd century. BC e. the patrician merges with the horsemen into the nobility.

Until the late Republic, there was a type of marriage cum manu, "at hand", that is, a daughter, getting married, fell into the power of the head of the husband's family. Later, this form of marriage fell out of use and marriages began to be contracted sine manu, without a hand, in which the wife was not under the control of her husband and remained in the power of her father or guardian. Ancient Roman marriage, especially in the upper classes, often consisted of financial and political interests.

Several families with kinship ties formed the gens, the most influential of which played an important role in political life.

Fathers of families, as a rule, married their children, guided by prevailing moral norms and personal considerations. The father could marry a girl from the age of 12, and marry a young man from the age of 14.

Roman law provided for two forms of marriage:

When a woman passed from the authority of her father to the authority of her husband, that is, she was accepted into the family of her husband.

After marriage, the woman remained a member of the old surname, while claiming the inheritance of the family. This case was not the main one and looked more like cohabitation than marriage, since the wife could leave her husband and return home at almost any moment.

Regardless of which form young people preferred, marriage was preceded by betrothal between the young. During the betrothal, the young took a marriage vow. Each of them, when asked if he promised to marry, answered: "I promise." The groom handed the future wife a coin, as a symbol of the marriage concluded between the parents, and an iron ring, which the bride wore on the ring finger of her left hand.

At weddings, all matters related to the organization of the wedding celebration were transferred to the steward - a woman who enjoyed general respect. The steward took the bride out into the hall and handed her over to the groom. The transmission was accompanied by religious rituals in which the woman played the role of the priestess of the hearth. After the feast in the parents' house, the newlywed was seen off to her husband's house. The bride had to theatrically resist and cry. And the steward stopped the girl's stubbornness, taking her from the arms of her mother and handing her over to her husband.

Celebrations associated with the arrival of a new family member began on the eighth day after childbirth and lasted for three days. The father raised the child from the ground and gave a name to the baby, thereby announcing his decision to accept him into the family. After that, the invited guests gave the baby gifts, as a rule, amulets, the purpose of which was to protect the child from evil spirits.

For a long time it was not necessary to register a child. Only when a Roman came of age and put on a white toga did he become a citizen of the Roman state. He was introduced to officials and included in the list of citizens.

For the first time, registration of newborns was introduced at the dawn of a new era by Octavian Augustus, obliging citizens to register a baby within 30 days from the date of birth. Registration of children was carried out in the temple of Saturn, where the governor's office and archive were located. At the same time, the child's name and date of birth were confirmed. His free origin and the right of citizenship were confirmed.

Status of women

The woman was subordinate to the man because, according to Theodor Mommsen, she "belonged only to the family and did not exist for the community." In wealthy families, a woman was given an honorable position, she was engaged in the management of the economy. Unlike Greek women, Roman women could freely appear in society, and, despite the fact that the father had the highest power in the family, they were protected from his arbitrariness. The main principle of building Roman society is to rely on the elementary cell of society - the family (surname).

The head of the family, the father (pater familias), ruled infinitely in the family, and his power in the family was formalized by law. The family included not only a father and mother, but also sons, their wives and children, as well as unmarried daughters.

The surname included both slaves and all household property.

The power of the father extended to all members of the family.

Almost all decisions regarding family members were made by the father himself.

At the birth of a child, he determined the fate of the newborn; he either recognized the child, or ordered it to be killed, or abandoned it without any help.

The father solely owned all the property of the family. Even after reaching adulthood and getting married, the son remained powerless in his surname. He had no right to own any real estate during his father's life. Only after the death of his father, by virtue of his will, did he receive his property by inheritance. The infinite domination of the father existed throughout the Roman Empire, as well as the right to dispose of the fate of loved ones. In the late period of the Roman Empire, fathers were freed from unwanted children due to economic difficulties and a general decline in the moral foundations of society.

In Roman families, a woman had great rights, since she was entrusted with the duties of housekeeping. She was the sovereign mistress of her house. It was considered good form when a woman was good at establishing family life, freeing up her husband's time for more important state affairs. The dependence of a woman on her husband was, in essence, limited to property relations; a woman could not own and dispose of property without the permission of her husband.

A Roman woman freely appeared in society, went to visit, attended solemn receptions. But politics was not a woman's business, she was not supposed to be present at the meetings of the people.

Education

Boys and girls began to be taught at the age of seven. Wealthy parents preferred homeschooling. The poor used the services of the schools. At the same time, the prototype of modern education was born: children went through three stages of education: primary, secondary and higher. The heads of the family, taking care of the education of their children, tried to hire Greek teachers for their children or to get a Greek slave for training.

The vanity of the parents forced them to send their children to Greece for higher education.

At the first stages of education, children were mainly taught to write and count, they were given information on history, law and literary works.

IN High School training took place in oratory. During practical exercises, students performed exercises that consisted of making speeches on a given topic from history, mythology, literature, or from public life.

Outside Italy, they received education mainly in Athens, on the island of Rhodes, where they also improved their oratory, got an idea of \u200b\u200bvarious philosophical schools. Education in Greece became especially relevant after Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Lucius Licinius Crassus, being censors in 92 BC. e. , closed Latin rhetorical schools.

At the age of 17-18, the young man had to leave the doctrine and undergo military service.

The Romans also cared about the fact that women were educated in connection with the role they had in the family: organizer of family life and educator of children at an early age. There were schools where girls studied with boys. And it was considered honorable if they said about a girl that she was an educated girl. In the Roman state, already in the 1st century AD, they began to train slaves, as slaves and freedmen began to play an increasingly prominent role in the economy of the state. Slaves became managers of estates and engaged in trade, were put overseers over other slaves. Literate slaves were attracted to the bureaucratic apparatus of the state, many slaves were teachers and even architects.

A literate slave was worth more than an illiterate one because he could be used for skilled work. The educated slaves were called main value Roman rich man Mark Licinius Crassus.

Former slaves, freedmen, gradually began to form a significant stratum in Rome. With nothing behind their souls except the thirst for power and profit, they strove to take the place of an employee, a manager in the state apparatus, engage in commercial activities, usury. Their advantage over the Romans began to appear, which consisted in the fact that they did not shy away from any work, considered themselves slighted and showed perseverance in the struggle for their place under the sun. Ultimately, they were able to achieve legal equality, to push the Romans away from government.

Army

The Roman army for almost the entire time of its existence was, as practice proved, the most advanced among the rest of the states of the Ancient World, having gone from the people's militia to professional regular infantry and cavalry with many auxiliary units and allied formations. At the same time, the main fighting force has always been the infantry (in the era of the Punic Wars, in fact, the marines that showed themselves perfectly appeared). The main advantages of the Roman army were mobility, flexibility and tactical training, which allowed it to operate in conditions of various terrain and in harsh weather conditions.

With a strategic threat to Rome or Italy, or a sufficiently serious military threat ( tumultus) all work was stopped, production was stopped and everyone who could simply carry weapons was recruited into the army - the inhabitants of this category were called tumultuarii (subitarii), and the army - tumultuarius (subitarius) exercitus... Since the usual recruitment procedure took longer, the commander-in-chief of this army, the magistrate took out special banners from the Capitol: red, indicating recruitment for the infantry, and green for the cavalry, after which he traditionally announced: “Qui rempublicam salvam vult, me sequatur” (“Who wants save the republic, let him follow me ”). The military oath was also pronounced not individually, but together.

Culture

Politics, war, agriculture, the development of law (civil and sacred) and historiography were recognized as deeds worthy of a Roman, especially from the nobility. On this basis, the early culture of Rome took shape. Foreign influences, primarily Greek, penetrating through the Greek cities of the south of modern Italy, and then directly from Greece and Asia Minor, were perceived only insofar as they did not contradict the Roman system of values \u200b\u200bor were processed in accordance with it. In turn, Roman culture at the time of its heyday had a huge impact on neighboring peoples and on the subsequent development of Europe.

The early Roman worldview was characterized by the feeling of being a free citizen with a sense of belonging to a civic community and the priority of state interests over personal ones, combined with conservatism, which consisted in following the mores and customs of their ancestors. In - centuries. BC e. there was a departure from these attitudes and individualism intensified, the personality began to be opposed to the state, even some traditional ideals were rethought.

Tongue

Latin language, the appearance of which is attributed to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. was the Italic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. In the course of the historical development of ancient Italy, Latin supplanted other Italic languages \u200b\u200band, over time, occupied a dominant position in the western Mediterranean. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Latin was spoken by the population of the small region of Latius (lat. Latium), located in the west of the middle part of the Apennine Peninsula, along the lower course of the Tiber. The tribe that inhabited Latius was called the Latins (lat. Latini), his language is Latin. The center of this area was the city of Rome, by whose name the Italic tribes united around it began to call themselves the Romans (lat. Romans).

There are several stages in the development of Latin:

  • Archaic Latin
  • Classical Latin
  • Postclassical Latin
  • Late latin

Religion

Ancient Roman mythology in many aspects is close to Greek, up to the direct borrowing of individual myths. However, in the religious practice of the Romans, animistic superstitions related to the worship of spirits also played an important role: geniuses, Penates, Lares, lemurs and mans. Also in ancient Rome, there were numerous colleges of priests.

Although religion played a significant role in traditional ancient Roman society, by the 2nd century BC. e. a significant part of the Roman elite was already indifferent to religion. In the 1st century BC. e. Roman philosophers (most notably Titus Lucretius Carus and Mark Tullius Cicero) largely revise or question many of the traditional religious positions.

Art, music, literature

Everyday life

The social evolution of Roman society was first studied by the German scientist G.B. Niebuhr. Ancient Roman life and life were based on developed family legislation and religious rituals.

To make better use of the daylight, the Romans usually got up very early, often around four in the morning, and after breakfast, they began to engage in public affairs. Like the Greeks, the Romans ate 3 times a day. Early in the morning - the first breakfast, around noon - the second, in the late afternoon - lunch.

In the first centuries of the existence of Rome, the inhabitants of Italy ate mainly thick, steeply cooked porridge made from spelled, millet, barley or bean flour, but already at the dawn of Roman history, not only porridge was cooked in the household, but also bread cakes were baked. The culinary arts began to develop in the 3rd century. BC e. and reached unprecedented heights under the empire.

The science

Main article: Ancient roman science

Roman science inherited a number of Greek studies, but unlike them (especially in the field of mathematics and mechanics) it was mainly of an applied nature. For this reason, it was the Roman numbering and the Julian calendar that received worldwide distribution. At the same time, its characteristic feature was the presentation scientific issues in a literary and entertaining form. Jurisprudence and agricultural sciences reached a special flourishing, a large number of works were devoted to architecture and urban planning and military technology. The largest representatives of natural science were the encyclopedic scientists Guy Pliny Secundus the Elder, Mark Terentius Varro and Lucius Annei Seneca.

Ancient Roman philosophy developed mainly in the wake of the Greek, with which it was largely associated. Stoicism is the most widespread in philosophy.

Roman science has achieved remarkable success in the field of medicine. Among the outstanding physicians of Ancient Rome, one can note: Dioscorides, a pharmacologist and one of the founders of botany, Soranus of Ephesus, an obstetrician and pediatrician, Claudius Galen, a talented anatomist who discovered the functions of nerves and the brain.

Encyclopedic treatises written during the Roman era remained the most important source of scientific knowledge for most of the Middle Ages.

The legacy of ancient Rome

Roman culture, with its developed ideas about the expediency of things and actions, about a person's duty to himself and the state, about the importance of law and justice in the life of society, supplemented ancient Greek culture with its desire to understand the world, a developed sense of proportion, beauty, harmony, a pronounced game element ... Ancient culture, as a combination of these two cultures, became the basis of European civilization.

The cultural heritage of Ancient Rome can be traced in scientific terminology, architecture, and literature. For a long time Latin has been the language of international communication for all educated people in Europe. Until now, it is used in scientific terminology. Based latin In the former Roman possessions, Romance languages \u200b\u200bemerged, which are spoken by the peoples of a large part of Europe. Among the most outstanding achievements of the Romans is the Roman law they created, which played a huge role in further development legal thought. It was in the Roman possessions that Christianity arose and then became the state religion - a religion that united all European peoples and greatly influenced the history of mankind.

Historiography

Interest in the study of Roman history arose, in addition to the works of Machiavelli, also during the Enlightenment in France.

The first major work was the work of Edward Gibbon, "The History of the Decline and Collapse of the Roman Empire", which covered the period from the end of the II century to the fall of a fragment of the empire - Byzantium in 1453. Like Montesquieu, Gibbon appreciated the virtue of Roman citizens, at the same time, the decomposition of the empire according to him began already under Commodus, and Christianity became the catalyst for the collapse of the empire, undermining its foundations from the inside.

Niebuhr became the founder of the critical movement and wrote the work "Roman History", where it is brought up to the First Punic War. Niebuhr attempted to establish how the Roman tradition arose. In his opinion, the Romans, like other peoples, had a historical epic, preserved mainly in noble families. Niebuhr paid some attention to ethnogenesis, considered from the angle of the formation of the Roman community.

In the Napoleonic era, V. Durui's work "History of the Romans" appeared, emphasizing the then popular Caesarian period.

The work of Theodor Mommsen, one of the first major researchers of the Roman heritage, opened a new historiographic milestone. An important role was played by his voluminous work "Roman History", as well as "Roman State Law" and "Collection of Latin Inscriptions" ("Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum").

Later came the work of another specialist, G. Ferrero - "The Greatness and Fall of Rome." The work of I.M. Grevs "Essays on the history of Roman land tenure, mainly in the era of the Empire", where, for example, information appeared about the economy of Pomponius Atticus, one of the largest landowners of the end of the Republic, and the model of the average estate of the August era was considered the economy of Horace.

Against the hypercriticism of the works of the Italian E. Pais, who denied the authenticity of the Roman tradition until the 3rd century AD. e. , De Sanctis spoke in his "History of Rome", where, on the other hand, information about the tsarist period was almost completely denied.

The study of Roman history in the USSR was closely associated with Marxism-Leninism, which did not have specialized works at its core and relied on such frequently cited works as "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", "Chronological Extracts", "Forms preceding capitalist production "," Bruno Bauer and early Christianity, "etc. The emphasis was on slave uprisings and their role in Roman history, as well as agrarian history.

Much attention was paid to the study of ideological struggle (S. L. Utchenko, P. F. Preobrazhensky), which was seen even in the most favorable periods of the empire (N. A. Mashkin, E. M. Shtaerman, A. D. Dmitrev, etc.) ...

Attention was also paid to the conditions of the transition from the Republic to the empire, considered, for example, in Mashkin's work "Principate of Augustus" or in "Essays on the History of Ancient Rome" by VS Sergeev, and the provinces, in the study of which AB Ranovich stood out.

Among those who studied the relations of Rome with other states, A.G. Bokshchanin stood out.

Since 1937, the "Bulletin of Ancient History" began to appear, where articles on Roman history and archaeological excavations began to be frequently published.

After a break caused by the Great Patriotic War, the History of Rome by SI Kovalev and The History of the Roman People by the critic VN Dyakov were published in 1948. In the first work, the Roman tradition is considered reliable in many ways; in the second, doubts were expressed on this score.

see also

Primary sources

  • Dio Cassius. "Roman history"
  • Ammianus Marcellinus. "Acts"
  • Polybius. "General history"
  • Publius Cornelius Tacitus. "History", "Annals"
  • Plutarch. "Comparative Biographies"
  • Appian. "Roman history"
  • Sextus Aurelius Victor. "On the origin of the Roman people"
  • Flavius \u200b\u200bEutropius. "Breviary from the founding of the city"
  • Guy Valley Paterculus. "Roman history"
  • Publius Anney Flor. "Epitomes of Titus Livy"
  • Herodian. "History of Rome from Marcus Aurelius"
  • Diodorus of Siculus. "Historical Library"
  • Dionysius of Halicarnassus. "Roman Ancient History"
  • Guy Suetonius Tranquill. "Biography of the Twelve Caesars"
  • The so-called "Authors of the Biographies of August" ( Scriptores Historiae Augustae): Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus, Vulcatius Gallicanus, Aelius Lampridius, Trebellius Pollio and Flavius \u200b\u200bVopisk

Fragments

  • Gnei Nevy. "Punia War"
  • Quintus Annius. "Annals"
  • Quintus Fabius Pictor. "Annals"
  • Lucius Cincius Aliment. "Chronicle"
  • Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder. "Beginnings"
  • Pompey Trog. "Filippov's story"
  • Guy Sallust Crisp. "Yugurt war"
  • Granny Licinian

Later fundamental works

  • Theodor Mommsen Roman history.
  • Edward Gibbon The history of the decline and destruction of the Roman Empire.
  • Platner, Samuel Ball. A topographical dictionary of Ancient Rome

Notes (edit)

Links

Portal "Ancient Rome "
Ancient Rome at Wikimedia Commons
  • X Legio - Military equipment of antiquity (including fragments of Russian translations of Roman authors and articles on the military affairs of Ancient Rome)
  • Roman glory Antique military art
  • The Roman Law Library by Yves Lassard and Alexandr Koptev.
  • The Art of Ancient Rome - Photo Gallery by Stevan Kordich

Ancient Rome

After Romulus, according to the testimony of ancient Roman historians, 6 more kings ruled in Rome:

  1. Numa Pompillius
  2. Tull Hostillius
  3. Ankh Marcius
  4. Servius Tullius
  5. Tarquinius the Proud

Historians consider the first three kings legendary, and the kings of the "Etruscan dynasty" were real historical figures, the history of whose accession is still controversial among scientists. Therefore, this period in the history of Rome is called "royal".

Roman community

The Roman community is created. According to legend, Romulus gave the community the correct organization, created the Senate - a council of elders of 100 people, who, together with the king and the assembly of the people, began to rule Rome.

The rulers of the Etruscan dynasty created an interesting and unique culture on the territory of Italy. The Etruscans stood in the 7th - 6th centuries BC. for more high level development than the Romans, therefore, with the accession of the Etruscan dynasty in Rome, both the appearance of the city and the nature of the royal power changed. For example, Servius Tullius surrounded the city with a fortress wall and carried out a very important reform - he divided all the inhabitants of Rome into five property classes and distributed, depending on their state, the rights and obligations of the population of the city.

The last king, Tarquin the Proud, was a tyrant, he surpassed all in cruelty and arrogance. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe supreme indivisible power - "empires" - and the external signs of its distinction appeared: the king wears a purple robe, sits on an ivory throne, he is accompanied by a retinue of lecturers of 24 people carrying faszs - bundles of rods with an ax in the middle. Fascs meant the king's right to decide the question of the life and death of any member of the community. Of course, the Romans did not like this, and they expelled the entire royal family from the city, and the royal power was abolished (510 BC). Anyone who tried to restore it was declared an enemy of the people and sentenced to death. Instead of kings, they began to elect two officials - consuls. The first consuls, the Romans elected Lucius Brutus and Collatinus, and the Roman state began to be called "republic", which means "common cause". The Roman community now consisted of 2 estates: patricians and plebeians, later settlers, who were denied access to the patrician clan organization and their authorities.