World of Rome - Introduction to Roman Culture 9780521386005, 0521384214, 0521386004, 9780521384216

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The World of Rome is an introduction to the history and culture of Rome for students at university and at school as well as for anyone seriously interested in the ancient world. It covers all aspects of the city - its rise to power, what made it great and why it still engages and challenges us today. The first two chapters outline the history and changing identity of Rome from 100 BC to AD 476. Subsequent chapters examine the mechanisms of government (from Republic to Empire}, the economic and social life of Rome (the city of Rome, production and consumption, the family) and Roman ways of looking at and reflecting the world (ideology, literature, art and architecture). An epilogue discusses continuing Roman influence in lan­ guage, culture, architecture. Drawing on the latest scholarship, the book has been edited to make a coherent whole, and cross-referencing between sections allows the reader to make connections between history, institutions, values and environment. All this, in addition to frequent quotations from ancient writers and numerous illustrations, makes this a stimulating, up-to-date and accessible introduc­ tion to ancient Rome. The World of Rome (a companion to The World of Athens published by Cambridge University Press in 1984) is particularly designed to serve as a background book to Reading Latin by the same authors (Cambridge University Press 1986).

The World of Rome

Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta

The World of Rome AN INTRODUCTION TO ROMAN CULTURE

Edited by

Peter Jones Formerly University of Newcastle upon Tyne

and

Keith Sidwell University College, Cork

UCAMBRIDGE

V UNIVERSITY PRESS

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521386005 © Cambridge University Press 1997 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1997 15th printing 2016 Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The world of Rome: an intoduction to Roman culture / edited by Peter Jones and Keith Sidwell. cm. p. Includes indexes. ISBN 0 521 38421 4 (hardback) - ISBN 0 521 38600 4 (paperback) 1. Rome-Civilization. I. Jones, P. V. (Peter V.) II. Sidwell, Keith C. DG77.W73 1997 937dc20 96-23376 CIP ISBN 978-0-521-38421-6 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-38600-5 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accur1 of URLs for external or third party internet websites referred to in this publili and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,, accurate or appropriate.

CONTENTS

Preface List of contributors List of maps and illustrations Notes

page ix Xl Xll XVI

Part I: Ideology, history and administration 1 The idea of Rome (753-31 BC) 2 Rome's new kings (31 BC-AD 476) 3 Princeps and imperator 4 Governing Rome

1

49 83 112

Part II: Society and economy

5 The life of the city

140

6 Production and consumption

181

7 The Roman family

208

Part Ill: The Roman mind

8 The Roman mind

235

9 Roman literature

262 287

10 Roman art and architecture Epilogue: The ghosts of Rome

317

Appendix 1: Roman emperors

328

Appendix 2: Latin and Greek writers

331 Vil

viii

Contents Appendix 3: Cross-references with the text of Reading Latin

347

Acknowledgements for illustrations

353

Index and glossary of Latin terms

358

General index

366

Topographical index

382

Index of personal names

387

Index of passages

395

PREFACE

This volume was conceived during the preparation of Reading Latin (Cambridge University Press 1986). It was intended that it should fulfil the same role as does The World of Athens (Cambridge University Press 1984) for Reading Greek (Cambridge University Press 1978) - that is, that it should be both a 'background book' for a Latin language course and an introduction to Roman history, society and culture. The project began to take firm shape, however, only after Reading Latin had been published. In 1989 we began to invite contributions and in 1990 work began on the book in the following manner. The initial proposal was laid before the contributors, who met with the editors to discuss the project. This process continued over a period of three years, and resulted in large-scale changes to the original plan as well as srµaller changes to individual contributions as they came in. In this way, we hoped to avoid that tendency to intellectual incoherence which is often the hallmark of collaborative books. It has not been possible to avoid differences of emphasis or of intellectual approach among the contributors: but then that would not have been desirable. The existence of such divergences among those who prac­ tise the art of Roman history has to become known to students sooner or later. Sooner is better. The result is, we hope, still both coherent and accessible. The problems we faced were daunting. To produce a reasonably-sized (and reasonably-priced) introduction to Rome, with its vast chronological spread and geographical diversity, was never going to be easy. In the end, it seemed that the best plan was to attempt to provide a very broad intellectual framework for understanding the Roman world both as it was developing and as it later crystallised (from Republic, then to Empire), and to illustrate and argue from specific evidence, so that the vagueness of generality never overwhelmed the student. A book of this kind cannot hope to say everything which is necessary about Rome. But it lX

x

Preface

does aim to ask the central questions which have to be asked if we are to have an up-to-date model for comprehending an ancient - and alien - culture. And it provides a series of snapshots of crucial moments from that culture which make concrete its dynamics. We would like to offer here our warmest thanks to the contributors (listed below), who gave unstintingly of their time and energy to make this project possible and to bring it to completion. Professor Roger Ling merits particular mention for his sterling efforts with the pictures, a massive task for a book like this, with magnificent results. The editors also owe a debt of gratitude to Cambridge University Press for undertaking to promote a volume which required a large investment prior to publication. We are grateful to Ciara Kierans for her work on various of the indexes. Peter Jones Keith Sidwell December 1995

Newcastle upon Tyne Maynooth

CONTRIBUTORS

J EREMY

PATERso N (chapters 1, 2 and 6) is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Newcastle on Tyne. JOHN R ICHARDSON (chapters 3 and 4) is Professor of Classics at the University of Edinburgh. N ICHOLAS PURCELL (chapters 1, 2 and 5) is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at St John's College, Oxford. ANDRE w WALLACE-HADRILL (chapter 7) is Director of the British School at Rome and Professor of Classics at the University of Reading. SIMON PRICE (chapter 8) is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. JOHN BARSBY (chapter 9, Appendix 2) is Professor of Classics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Ro GER LING (chapter 10, and pictorial consultant) is Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Manchester. KEITH SIDWELL (chapter 9 and Epilogue) is Senior Lecturer in Classics at St Patrick's College, Maynooth.

XI

LIS T OF MAPS AND ILLUS TRATIONS

Maps 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The world of Rome The West Greece and the Near East Italy Central Italy The city of Rome

page xviii XIX

xx XXll XXlll XXlV

Note: The purpose of these maps is simply to show the position of places, regions, provinces and buildings mentioned in the text. They do not represent the Roman world at any particular chronological point, and no consistent attempt has been made to include places that are not in the text. For historical maps, see further N. G. L. Hammond, Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity, Park Ridge, NJ, 1981. Illustrations Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta frontispiece 1. 1 Reconstruction drawing of a hut in the early Iron Age page village on the Palatine in Rome 3 1.2 Etruscan hut-urn from Veii 3 1.3 Shepherds discovering the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus 5 1.4 Inscription of P. Valerius from Satricum (Lapis Satricanus) 7 1.5 Detail of the Fasti Triumphales 8 1.6 Coin (gold stater) issued to commemorate Flamininus' 'liberation' of Greece in 196 BC 19 1.7 Detail of the frieze from the monument of Aemilius Paullus at Delphi 21 Xll

List of maps and illustrations 1.8 1.9 1.10 1. 11 2. 1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2. 11 2. 12 2. 13 2. 14 3. 1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 4. 1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 5. 1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5. 6

The Via Appia Air photograph of Roman 'centuriation' Portrait of Pompey Coin (denarius) of Octavian (c. 36-29 BC) Augustus' sun-dial in Rome Augustus' sun-dial: detail of pavement-markings Mausoleum of the Plautii, near Tivoli Plan of the Forum of Augustus Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace), Rome (13-9 BC) Relief on the breastplate of the statue of Augustus from Prima Porta Portrait of Caligula (AD 37-41) Coin (aureus) of Claudius Chariot-race Golden House of Nero, plan Portrait of Vespasian (AD 69-79) from Ostia Palace of Domitian on the Palatine (Domus Augustana) Portrait of Hadrian (AD 117-38) Tombstone from South Shields Arch of Titus, Rome (soon after AD 81) Arch of Augustus in the Roman Forum Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus (dedicated in 2 BC) A census ceremony and suouetaurilia Statue of a Roman with busts of his ancestors Casting of votes in the Comitium The Roman army in the field: the shipping of supplies; the ritual sacrifice The emperor addresses his troops; building a fort The army gathers outside a fortified encampment in readiness for action Portrait-statue of a general Augustus: portrait-statue from Via Labicana, Rome The ludi: a gladiatorial combat. The ludi: scene from a wild-beast hunt Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli (between AD 124 and 133) Dice-players in a tavern The river-harbour in Rome Model of the harbour area in Rome

x111

23 27 37 46 54 55 56 57 58 59 65 66 69 70 72 74 75 79 85 88 89 97 101 113 122 123 125 128 133 151 151 156 157 160 160

XlV

List of maps and illustrations 5.7 Mausoleum of Hadrian, built AD 135-9 (now Castel Sant' Angelo) 5.8 Remains of the mosaic inscription SALVE LVCRV ('Welcome, Profit!') in the doorway of the House of Syricus at Pompeii 5.9 Insignia of the Carthaginian shipmasters 5. 10 Mithraeum 5.11 Rites of Isis 6.1 The port of Ostia: aerial view 6.2 A corn-measurer (mensor) checking the contents of a cornmeasure (modius) 6.3 Detail of the Severan marble plan of Rome 6.4 A country estate 6.5 Agricultural labours 6.6 Market-scene 6.7 Drawing of a marble market inscription 6.8 Letter found at Vindolanda (Chesterholm) on Hadrian's Wall 6. 9 Money-changing (or rent-collection?) 6. 10 Funerary monument of L. Calpurnius Daphnus 6. 11 Amphorae in a shipwreck at La Madrague de Giens, near Toulon 6.12 A shopping-complex in Rome (Trajan's 'markets') 6.13 Tomb of M. Virgilius Eurysaces, Rome 7. 1 Aeneas fleeing from Troy with Anchises on his shoulder 7.2 Funerary busts popularly called Cato and Porcia 7.3 Pompeii, gravestone of N. Istacidius Helenus 7.4 The ideal Roman house (domus): isometric drawing 7.5 View into an atrium 7.6 Shrine of the household gods 7. 7 Statue of a Roman matron 7.8 Pompeian peristyle garden 7.9 Bakery 7.10 Reconstructed wine-press 7.11 Ostian high-rise architecture 8. 1 Mosaic with an elegiac couplet referring to Virgil's Aeneid 8.2 A school-scene 8.3 Model of Pliny's Laurentine villa 8.4 Claudius' speech on the admission of Gauls to the Roman Senate 8.5 Artemis: Roman copy of a Greek statue

161 166 167 173 173 182 183 184 185 187 193 194 195 197 197 200 203 204 209 211 211 218 219 220 221 222 224 224 226 238 239 242 243 245

List of maps and illustrations 8.6 Funerary monument of Philopappus on the Hill of the Muses, Athens (AD 114-16) 8.7 The spoils from the defeat of the Jews in AD 70 8.8 Bust of Epicurus 8.9 Painting by Cesare Maccari: Catiline denounced by Cicero 9. 1 Portraits from Pompeii of a man with a scroll and a woman with a pen and tablets 9.2 Lead curse-tablet from Bath 9.3 Roman library 9.4 Model of the theatre of Marcellus, Rome (dedicated in ll BC) 9.5 The curia (Senate-house) in Rome 9.6 Papyrus from Qasr Ibrim (Egypt) (part of a poem by Gallus) 9.7 Arretine bowl with love-making scene 9.8 Scene from New Comedy. Menander's Theophoroumene 9.9 Aeneas wounded: painting from Pompeii 9.10 Sacro-idyllic painting from Pompeii 9.11 Portrait of Virgil 10.1 Portrait-statue of a Roman (so-called Pseudo-Athlete) from Delos 10.2 Round temple by the Tiber in Rome 10.3 The Maison Carree in Nimes (AD 2-3) 10.4 Substructures of a sanctuary on Monte Sant' Angelo at Terracina 10.5 Veristic portrait resembling a death-mask 10.6 Architectural decoration of the Second Style 10.7 Third Style wall-decoration in Pompeii 10.8 Gemma Augustea 10. 9 The Colosseum, Rome 10.10 Detail of a black and white silhouette mosaic 10.11 Side-panel of the base of the column of Antoninus Pius Ep. 1 Temple of Antoninus and Faustina in the Roman Forum, now the church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda Ep.2 Section through the dome of the Pantheon drawn by Andrea Palladio Ep.3 Lord Burlington's version of the Pantheon, Chiswick House Ep.4 Painting by Claude Gelee, called Le Lorrain Ep.5 Roman legionaries in an Asterix cartoon

xv 246 247 249 256 264 265 265 266 267 268 270 273 275 278 282 289 290 291 293 296 299 305 307 309 313 315 319 321 322 323 326

NOTES

1 The following abbreviations are used for epigraphic sources (i.e. inscriptions) both in the text and in the Index of Passages: CIL E&J ILS

OGIS

RIB SEC SIG Tab. Vindol.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum V. Ehrenberg and A.H.M. Jones, Documents

Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius H. Dessau, lnscriptiones Latinae Selectae W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graecae lnscriptiones Selectae Roman Inscriptions in Britain Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum W. Dittenberger, Sylloge lnscriptionum Graecarum A.K. Bowman and J.D. Thomas, The Vindolanda Writing-Tablets Tabulae Vindolanenses II

2 Freeborn Roman citizens had three names. These were (1) the praenomen (or forename), which is usually abbreviated (see below); (2) the nomen (gens 'clan' name); (3) the cognomen (name of the familia 'household', sometimes derived from some exploit of the person or an ancestor). In this book the full name (or if that is not known, as many names as are known) is usually given upon first appearance, with the normal abbreviation. This is either the cognomen (e.g. Caesar, Cicero), or the nomen (e.g. Virgil, Ovid). The following are the commonest praenomina with their abbreviations: Aulus = A. Decimus = D. XVl

Gaius = C. Gnaeus = Cn.

Notes

Lucius = L. Marcus = M. Manius = M'

XVll

Publius = P. Quintus = Q. Sextus = S.

3 The official language of Rome was Latin. Latin and Greek (the senior cultural partner) were used to write major histories of Rome from the earliest period. They are indispensable tools for the budding Roman historian. You can begin to learn Latin from this book's com­ panion textbook, Reading Latin: Text and Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises, (2 vols. , Cambridge University Press, 1986, by the editors of this volume) and progress to later Latin with Reading Medieval Latin (Keith Sidwell, Cambridge University Press, 1995). For Greek, we recommend the JACT Greek Course, Reading Greek (Cambridge University Press, 1978) and its companion volumes. 4 We have included many Latin (and a few Greek) terms, some Latin phrases and sentences, and one complete poem in Latin. All are translated where they occur. Latin terms can be found, with literal translations and references to their occurrence in the text, in one of the indexes. Since they are used in both singular and plural, you need to be aware of the way Latin nouns form their plurals: (1) Singulars in -a change to -ae (e.g. matronalmatronae). (2) Singulars in -us change to -i (e.g. amicuslamici), or to -us with long u (e.g. domusldomus). (3) Singulars in -um change to -a (e.g. plebiscitumlplebiscita). (4) Singulars in -io change to -iones (e.g. rogatiolrogationes). (5) A further group has singulars in a variety of endings (e.g. -isl-torl-nsl-ps), but plurals in -es (e.g. classislclasses, coactorl coactores, clienslclientes, princepslprincipes). 5 Latin words are printed in the text with consonantal -u- (pronounced -w-), not -v-. Thus we print auaritia, not avaritia (English 'avarice') . 6 Cross-references are made to JACT, The World of Athens: An Introduction to Classical Athenian Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1984) , by the abbreviation WoA. 7 The book is arranged for reference purposes by paragraphs num­ bered 1-505 through the book. Cross-references in square brackets in the text are to these paragraph numbers. Paragraph numbers are also referred to in the Indexes and Appendices.

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