|
Interest in studying ancient Rome arose during the Age
of Enlightenment in France. Charles
Montesquieu wrote a work Reflections
on the Causes of the Grandeur and Declension of the Romans. The first major
work wasThe
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward
Gibbon, which encompassed the period from the end of 2nd century to the fall
of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. Like Montesquieu, Gibbon paid high tribute to
the virtue of Roman citizens. Barthold
Georg Niebuhrwas a founder of the examination of ancient Roman history and
wrote The Roman History,
tracing the period until the First
Punic war. Niebuhr tried to determine the way the Roman tradition evolved.
According to him, Romans, like other people, had an historical ethos preserved
mainly in the noble families.
During the Napoleonic period
a work titled The History of
Romans byVictor
Duruy appeared. It highlighted
the Caesarean period
popular at the time. History
of Rome, Roman
constitutional law and Corpus
Inscriptionum Latinarum, all by Theodor
Mommsen, became very important milestones. Later the work Greatness
and Decline of Rome by Guglielmo
Ferrero was published. The
Russian work Очерки по истории
римского землевладения, преимущественно в эпоху Империи (The
Outlines on Roman Landownership History, Mainly During the Empire) by Ivan
Grevs contained information on the economy of Pomponius
Atticus, one of the greatest landowners during the end of the Republic.
Cuisine
Main article: Ancient
Roman cuisine
Ancient Roman cuisine changed over the long duration of this ancient
civilization. Dietary habits were affected by the influence of Greek culture,
the political changes from kingdom to republic to empire, and empire's enormous
expansion, which exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits and
cooking techniques. In the beginning the differences between social classes were
not very great, but disparities developed with the empire's growth.
Games and recreation
The youth of Rome had several forms of athletic play and exercise, such as jumping, wrestling, boxing,
and racing.[219] In
the countryside, pastimes for the wealthy also included fishing and hunting.[220] The
Romans also had several forms of ball playing, including one resemblinghandball.[219] Dice
games, board
games, and gamble
games were popular pastimes.[219] Women
did not take part in these activities. For the wealthy, dinner parties presented
an opportunity for entertainment, sometimes featuring music, dancing, and poetry
readings.[221] Plebeianssometimes
enjoyed similar parties through clubs or associations, but for most Romans,
recreational dining usually meant patronizingtaverns.[221] Children
entertained themselves with toys and such games as leapfrog.[220][221]
Public games were sponsored by leading Romans who wished to advertise their
generosity and court popular approval; in the Imperial era, this usually meant
the emperor. Several venues were developed specifically for public games. The Colisseum was
built in the Imperial era to host, among other events, gladiatorial combats.
These combats had begun as funeral games around the 4th century BC, and became
popular spectator events in the late Republic and Empire. Gladiators had an
exotic and inventive variety of arms and armour. They sometimes fought to the
death, but more often to an adjudicated victory, dependent on a referee's
decision. The outcome was usually in keeping with the mood of the watching
crowd. Shows of exotic animals were popular in their own right; but sometimes
animals were pitted against human beings, either armed professionals or unarmed
criminals who had been condemned to a spectacular and theatrical public death in
the arena. Some of these encounters were based on episodes from Roman or Greek
mythology.
Chariot racing was extremely
popular among all classes. In Rome, these races were usually held at the Circus
Maximus, which had been purpose-built for chariot and horse-racing and, as
Rome's largest public place, was also used for festivals and animal shows.[222] It
could seat around 150,000 people;[223] The
charioteers raced in teams, identified by their colours. The track was divided
lengthwise by a barrier that contained obelisks, temples, statues and
lap-counters. The best seats were at the track-side, close to the action; they
were reserved for Senators. Behind them sat the equites (knights),
and behind the knights were theplebs (commoners)
and non-citizens. The donor of the games sat on a high platform in the stands
alongside images of the gods, visible to all. Large sums were bet on the
outcomes of races. Some Romans offered prayers and sacrifices on behalf of their
favourites, or laid curses on
the opposing teams, and some aficionados were members of extremely, even
violently partisan circus factions.
Technology
Main article: Roman
technology
Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advancements that were lost in the Middle Ages and not rivaled again until the 19th and 20th centuries. An example of this isInsulated glazing, which was not invented again until the 1930s. Many practical Roman innovations were adopted from earlier Greek designs. Advancements were often divided and based on craft.Artisans guarded technologies astrade secrets.[224] Roman civil engineering and military engineering constituted a large part of Rome's technological superiority and legacy, and contributed to the construction of hundreds of roads, bridges, aqueducts, baths, theaters and arenas. Many monuments, such as the Colosseum, Pont du Gard, and Pantheon, remain as testaments to Roman engineering and culture. The Romans were renowned for their architecture, which is grouped with Greek traditions into "Classical architecture". Although there were many differences from Greek architecture, Rome borrowed heavily from Greece in adhering to strict, formulaic building designs and proportions. Aside from two new orders of columns, composite andTuscan, and from the dome, which was derived from the Etruscan arch, Rome had relatively few architectural innovations until the end of the Republic. In the 1st century BC, Romans started to use concrete widely. Concrete was invented in the late 3rd century BC. It was a powerful cement derived from pozzolana, and soon supplanted marble as the chief Roman building material and allowed many daring architectural forms.[225] Also in the 1st century BC, Vitruvius wrote De architectura, possibly the first complete treatise on architecture in history. In late 1st century BC, Rome also began to use glassblowing soon after its invention inSyria about 50 BC. Mosaics took the Empire by storm after samples were retrieved during Lucius Cornelius Sulla's campaigns in Greece. Concrete made possible the paved, durable Roman roads, many of which were still in use a thousand years after the fall of Rome. The construction of a vast and efficient travel network throughout the Empire dramatically increased Rome's power and influence. It was originally constructed to allow Roman legions to be rapidly deployed. But these highways also had enormous economic significance, solidifying Rome's role as a trading crossroads—the origin of the saying "all roads lead to Rome". The Roman government maintained way stations that provided refreshments to travelers at regular intervals along the roads, constructed bridges where necessary, and established a system of horse relays for couriers that allowed a dispatch to travel up to 800 km (497 mi) in 24 hours. The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water to cities and industrial sites and to aid in their agriculture. The city of Rome was supplied by 11 aqueducts with a combined length of 350 km (217 mi).[226]Most aqueducts were constructed below the surface, with only small portions above ground supported by arches. Sometimes, where valleys deeper than 500 m (1,640 ft) had to be crossed, inverted siphons were used to convey water across a valley.[56] The Romans also made major advancements in sanitation. Romans were particularly famous for their public baths, called thermae, which were used for both hygienic and social purposes. Many Roman houses came to have flush toilets and indoor plumbing, and a complex sewer system, theCloaca Maxima, was used to drain the local marshes and carry waste into the Tiber river. Some historians have speculated that lead pipes in the sewer and plumbing systems led to widespread lead poisoning, which contributed to the decline in birth rate and general decay of Roman society leading up to the fall of Rome. However, lead content would have been minimized because the flow of water from aqueducts could not be shut off; it ran continuously through public and private outlets into the drains, and only a few taps were in use.[227] Other authors have raised similar objections to this theory, also pointing out that Roman water pipes were thickly coated with deposits that would have prevented lead from leaching into the water.[228] Legacy Main articles: Legacy of the Roman Empire and ClassicsAncient Rome is the progenitor of Western civilization.[230][231][232] Thecustoms, religion, law, technology,architecture, political system,military, literature, languages,alphabet, government and many factors and aspects of western civilization are all inherited from Roman advancements. The rediscovery of Roman culture revitalized Western civilization, playing a role in the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment.[233][234] |
About us|Jobs|Help|Disclaimer|Advertising services|Contact us|Sign in|Website map|Search|
GMT+8, 2015-9-11 20:58 , Processed in 0.128899 second(s), 16 queries .
