Ancient rome achievements and inventions. Technique and technology in ancient states

27.09.201927.05.2017

Do you think people were so primitive 2,000 years ago that they lived in mud? And here it is not. It was the inventions of Antiquity that laid the foundation for modern technological progress, giving us an impressive list of things that have become part of everyday comfort. What are we talking about? We present the inventions of the ancient Romans, the prototypes of which we are happy to use to this day.

11 Incredible Inventions of the Ancient Romans That Power Modern Civilization!

1. Sewer system

The idea to build a sewer, through which city sewage would flow, appeared in Babylon. However, Ancient Rome was the first city to implement this idea so effectively that we still use it today. The Great Cloaca was a canal lined with stone and buried at a depth of 4 meters under the city. Moreover, the very construction of the ancient Romans was performed so skillfully that it still serves as a storm sewer.

2. Road rules and signs

Starting from the 5th century BC. e. The Romans were actively building roads, which was accompanied by the drawing of road atlases and inventing traffic rules. By the way, all of them were equipped with mileposts - the prototypes of modern road signs, which indicated the distance traveled, the name of the emperor and the nearest resting place for travelers. Isn't it impressive?

3. Fast food establishments

If the servants cooked food for wealthy gentlemen, then the poor could not afford such a luxury, because many did not even have a normal kitchen. That is why during the time of the ancient Romans, thermopoles were so common - the prototypes of modern eateries. They were small establishments with an open counter, on which vats of food were boiling. Food was prepared cheaply and quickly - lentils, peas, beans - and visitors were often on the move, so no chairs were offered. Doesn't it remind you of anything?

4. Heating

You say: "It can't be!" And here it can. It was the Romans who came up with a kind of heated floor, which was first used in baths, but then the design migrated to the homes of wealthy slave owners living in the cold provinces. It was called the "hypocaust" and was a wood-burning stove under the floor, the fire of which heated the higher vats of water, forming hot masses of air that penetrated into the rooms and gave heat.

5. Caesarean section

By itself, this procedure became a necessary measure to save the baby if the woman died during childbirth, so there was no need to talk about any kind of humanity to mothers. But later this medical practice of the ancient Romans improved, becoming one of the main achievements of medicine. In addition to caesarean, even then such important instruments for doctors as a vaginal speculum and a catheter were invented.

6. Right of veto

Not only did Roman law become the basis for the legal system of many European states, it was the ancient Roman rulers who invented the right of veto, which made it possible to block short-sighted decisions of consuls or reject discrediting laws passed by the Senate. Today, every head of state that is part of the UN and supports world security has it.

7. Newspapers

The Internet may not have existed before, but the first prototypes of newspapers were very much in use, representing scrolls of parchment filled by hand with texts on topical issues. Such a program was called "The Affairs of the Roman People", it was often hung out in the squares or delivered directly to the hands of noble citizens. What did they write about? About new laws, unusual incidents on the streets of the city, rumors, natural phenomena, and finally, just about the life of prominent ancient Romans. Over time, Julius Caesar made this format mandatory by founding the world's first news paper.

History is not always fair. We are accustomed to exalt the ancient Greek culture, while we assign a secondary role to the Roman one. Roman poetry was not as exalted as Greek, the philosophy of the Hellenes set the tone for the ancient world. Learning from the Greeks was the norm for the nobility of ancient Rome.

If you want to be explained the geometry, then it would be best to turn to the Greek, if you need to build a floating bridge, sewer network or build a weapon that shoots flaming balls of gravel and resin up to 274 meters away, then you should have a Roman to help you. The inventions of Rome still serve in the modern world.

The brilliant architectural, organizational and technical exploits of the Romans distinguish them, as well as the Greeks, among the ancient peoples. Although their knowledge of mathematics was rudimentary, they modeled, experimented, and built as solidly as was possible at the time. As a result, we can still see their work to this day: they stretch from Limyra Bridge in Turkey to Hadrian's Wall in Scotland. Below are the most significant achievements of the ancient Romans.

1. Pontoon bridges

Roman engineering technology is often referred to as synonymous with military technology. The world-famous roads were not built for the daily use of the common people, they were built to ensure that the legions quickly reached their destination and also quickly left from there. The Roman-designed pontoon bridges, built mostly during the wartime period, served the same purpose and were the brainchild of Julius Caesar. In 55 BC. he built a pontoon bridge, about 400 meters long, to cross the river Rhine, which traditionally the German tribes considered their defense against the Roman invasion.

Caesar's bridge across the Rhine was an extremely clever structure. The construction of a bridge across the river, while not disturbing the flow of the river itself, is a very difficult undertaking, especially in a military situation, where the construction site must be guarded around the clock, and engineers must work very quickly and efficiently. The engineers set the supports at the bottom of the river at an angle against the current, thereby giving the bridge additional strength. Protective piles were also installed, which eliminated a potential threat that could float on the river. As a result, all the piles were assembled together, and a wooden bridge was built on their tops. In total, the construction took only ten days, using only lumber. Thus, information quickly spread among the local tribes about the all-encompassing power of Rome: if Caesar wanted to cross the Rhine, he did it.

Perhaps the same apocryphal story accompanies the pontoon bridge of Caligula, built across the sea between Baiae and Puzzuoli, about 4 km long. Presumably, Caligula built this bridge after he heard from a soothsayer that he had about the same chance of becoming emperor as the opportunity to cross the bay of Baia on horseback. Caligula took this as a challenge, and built this very bridge.

2. Segment arch

As with almost all of the above engineering feats, the Romans did not take part in the invention of the arch, however, they are sure they perfected it. Arches and arched bridges had been around for nearly two thousand years when the Romans took over. Roman engineers realized that arches didn't have to be continuous, that is, they didn't have to cover a given gap "in one go". Instead of traversing space in one leap, they could be broken into several, smaller pieces. segment arches.

At new form arches had two distinct advantages. First, the potential space of a span bridge could be increased exponentially. Second, because they required less material to make, segmental arch bridges were more pliable when water passed underneath them. Instead of forcing water to flow through one small hole, the water under the segmented bridges flowed freely, thus reducing the risk of flooding and the rate of wear on the piers.

3. Hydropower

Vitruvius, Godfather Roman Engineering, describes several of the techniques the Romans used to use water. By incorporating Greek technology such as crenellated doors and the water wheel, the Romans were able to develop their advanced sawmills, mills and turbines.

The shifting wheel, another Roman invention, turned under the influence of flowing rather than falling water, making it possible to create floating water wheels used to grind grain. This came in very handy during the siege of Rome in 537 AD. when General Belisarius solved the problem of the siege by cutting off food supplies by building several floating mills on the Tiber, thus providing people with bread.

Strangely, archaeological evidence suggests that the Romans had all the necessary knowledge to create various kinds of water devices, but they used them extremely rarely, preferring instead cheap and widely available slave labor. However, their watermill was one of the largest industrial complexes in the ancient world before the industrial revolution. The mill consisted of 16 water wheels that ground flour for neighboring communities.

4. Aqueduct

Along with roads, aqueducts were another marvel of Roman engineering. The point of aqueducts is that they are very long, very long actually.

One of the problems with water supply big city is that when a city grows to a certain size, you cannot access clean water from anywhere in it. And although Rome is located on the Tiber, this river was very polluted by another Roman engineering achievement, sewers.

To solve this problem, Roman engineers built aqueducts, a network of underground pipes, overhead lines of water, and bridges designed to carry water to and from the city.

Like roads, Roman aqueducts were very complex system. Although the first aqueduct, built around 300 BC, was only 11 kilometers long, by the end of the third century AD. There were 11 aqueducts in Rome, with a total length of 250 miles.

5. Heated floors

Efficient temperature control is one of the most difficult engineering challenges humans face, but the Romans managed to solve it, or at least almost solved it.

Using an idea that is still used today in underfloor heating technology, the hypocaust was a set of hollow clay columns under the floor through which hot air and steam were pumped from a separate furnace to other rooms.

Unlike other, less advanced heating methods, the hypocaust neatly solved two problems that had always been associated with heating systems in the ancient world - smoke and fire. Fire was the only source of heat, however, buildings caught fire from time to time, and the resulting smoke in an enclosed space often played a fatal role.

However, since the floor was raised in the hypocaust system, the hot air from the stove never made contact with the room itself.

Instead of "being" in the room, the heated air passed through the hollow tiles in the walls. As it exited the building, the clay tiles absorbed warm air resulting in a warm room.

6. Sewerage

The huge sewers of the Roman Empire are one of the strangest creations of the Romans, since they were not originally built to serve as sewer systems at all. The cloaca Maxima (or the Great Sewer, if translated literally) was originally built in order to drain some of the waters of the local swamps. The construction of the "cloaca" began in 600 BC and over the following hundreds of years more and more waterways were added. Since canals continued to be dug regularly, it is difficult to say exactly when the cesspool of Maximus ceased to be a drainage ditch and became a proper sewer. Initially a very primitive system, the Cloaca Maxima spread like a weed, stretching its roots deeper and deeper into the city as it grew.

Unfortunately, the Cloaca Maxima had access directly to the Tiber, so the river quickly filled with human waste. However, the Romans did not have to use the water of the Tiber for drinking or washing. It is worth noting that they even had a special goddess who monitored the work of this system - Cloacina.

Perhaps the most important achievement of the Roman sewer system was the fact that it was hidden from human eyes, did not allow any diseases, infections, odors and unpleasant sights to spread. Any civilization can dig a ditch in order to cope with natural needs, however, to build and maintain such a grandiose sewer system, it was necessary to have serious engineering minds. The system was so complex in design that Pliny the Elder declared it to be a more grandiose human structure than the structure of the pyramids.

It is impossible to talk about the achievements of Roman engineering without talking about the roads, which were so well built that many of them are still quite usable even today. Comparing our today's asphalt highways to ancient Roman roads is like comparing a cheap watch to a Swiss one. They were strong, durable and built to last for centuries.

The best Roman roads were built in several stages. To begin with, the workers dug a pit, about a meter deep in the area where it was planned to build a road. Further, wide and heavy stone blocks were installed at the bottom of the trench, the remaining space was covered with a layer of dirt and gravel. Finally, the top layer was paved with slabs with bulges in the center so that water could drain. In general, Roman roads were extremely resistant to the effects of time.

In typical Roman fashion, the engineers of the empire insisted on the creation and use of straight roads, that is, on their construction through any obstacles, and not bypassing them. If there was a forest on the way, they cut it down; if there was a mountain, they built a tunnel through it; if there was a swamp, they dried it out. The downside of this type of road building was of course the sheer amount of manpower needed for the job, but labor (in the form of thousands of slaves) was something the ancient Romans owned in abundance. By 200 B.C. The Roman Empire had about 85,295 kilometers of highways.

In terms of innovation in construction, liquid stone, which is lighter and stronger than ordinary stone, is the greatest creation of the Romans. Today, concrete is an integral part of our daily lives, so it's easy to forget how revolutionary its invention once was.

Roman concrete was a mixture of crushed stone, lime, sand, pozzolana and volcanic ash. It could be poured into any form to build a structure, it was also very strong. Although it was originally used by Roman architects to build strong bases for altars, from the 2nd century B.C. the Romans began to experiment with concrete in order to construct self-contained forms. Their most famous concrete structure, the Pantheon, is still the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world, standing for over two thousand years.

As mentioned earlier, this was a significant improvement on the old Etruscan and Greek rectangular architectural styles, which required columns and heavy walls to be placed around the entire perimeter of any building. Moreover, concrete construction material was cheap and fireproof. It was also quite flexible, as it was able to survive the numerous earthquakes that hit the volcanic Italian peninsula every now and then.

Like many technologies, Roman siege weapons were originally developed by the Greeks and later improved by the Romans. The ballista, essentially a giant crossbow that could shoot large stones during a siege, was constructed from Greek weapons that fell into the hands of the Romans.

Using the tendons of animals, the ballistas worked like springs in giant mousetraps, so they could throw projectiles up to 457 meters away. Since the weapon was light and accurate, it was equipped with spears and arrows, thus it was used as an anti-personnel weapon. Ballistas were also used to besiege small buildings.

The Romans invented their own "siege engines" called wild donkeys because of the powerful blow that a wild donkey can deliver. Although they also used animal sinews in their work, "wild donkeys" were much more powerful mini-catapults that shot fireballs and whole buckets of large stones. At the same time, they were less accurate than ballistas, but more powerful, which made them ideal weapons for undermining walls and setting fires during sieges.

We take the inner space of the modern world for granted, however, we should not do this. Our huge vaulted arches, large atriums, glass walls, ceilings, and more were all unthinkable in the ancient world.

Before the Romans perfected the domes of buildings, even the best architects of those times had to struggle for a long time with the creation of stone roofs. Even the greatest architectural achievements before Roman architecture, such as the Parthenon and the pyramids, looked more impressive on the outside than on the inside. Inside, they were dark, and represented a limited space.

Roman domes, by contrast, were spacious, open, and created a real sense of interior space. For the first time in history. Based on the understanding that the principles of the arch could be rotated in three dimensions to create a shape that had the same strong supporting force but "acted" over a larger area, dome technology was made available largely through concrete.

The ancient Roman era left us a legacy of roads, bridges, architectural monuments, customs and laws. Also January 1st and April 1st! The Daily Incident Chronicle is also their invention! Do you know how counterfeiters were punished in ancient Rome? And what connects taxi drivers and ancient Romans?

The Romans invented the walking zebra. Pedestrians crossed the road on long stones, and rain streams flowed between the stones.

Modern life is complex and diverse. We live using the achievements and discoveries of previous generations, but we rarely think about it: who should be thanked for all this? If you ask the average Russian, what legacy did the ancient Romans leave us? In response, most likely, we will hear that they invented concrete and "water supply, worked out by the slaves of Rome." This is not entirely true. A concrete-like building material was widely used in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor long before the Romans made it the base of their building industry. But it was they who, having put the production of concrete on an industrial basis, managed to give the world the grandiose structures that have come down to us. As for the water supply, I will give as an example the palaces of the Crete-Mycenaean civilization, where scientists managed to find not only the remains of water supply, but also a well-thought-out sewerage system.

The builders of the Roman Republic, and then the empire, managed to preserve the legacy of more ancient cultures and improve it so much that after more than one thousand years, grateful descendants consider the Romans to be the inventors of this or that miracle of civilization.

The Romans have always valued water. Water through the aqueducts flowed into numerous fountains, which in those days did not exist for the sake of beauty: they imitated springs, and the inhabitants took water from them. The word "fountain" itself comes from the Latin fontis ("source"); in ancient Roman fountains, water did not spurt upwards, but flowed down. By the way, the inhabitants of Rome almost did not know gastric diseases, since the water supplied from the slopes of the local hills underwent triple purification - through coal, sand and grass filters. By the 4th century in Rome there were about eight hundred fountains and over a hundred public baths.

Until now, the water in the modern capital of Italy remains tasty and environmentally friendly so much that it can be given even to newborn babies.

Roman bridges and roads

Many structures built by Roman builders and engineers have survived to this day. Among them are sections of roads, ancient aqueducts, water pipes, as well as bridges over rivers and mountain gorges. A striking example is the bridge across the Garde River in southern France. Bridges were built before, but the oldest ones that have come down to us are stone crossings built by the Romans on the basis of concrete and metal.

Each fountain of the eternal city is shrouded in many legends. If you throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, the person who threw it will definitely come back again. Without sparing two coins, a person will definitely find his love in Rome. De Trevi is the most famous fountain in the city. The central place in the fountain is occupied by Poseidon. It is surrounded by sea horses, newts, shells and rocks. According to one of the legends, the fountain got its name because of the intersection of three roads. Three streets lead to the fountain.

Not a single ancient civilization could do without roads, but it was the builders of republican Rome who began to build paved roads. The constantly fighting Romans got tired of stopping the movement of their legions every time the rainy season came - and they began to pave the roads with stone so that the chariots would not get stuck in the mud.

It has become a tradition among many peoples to arrange merry festivities, various deceptions and jokes on the first of April. This tradition has about two and a half thousand years. The April Fool's custom appeared in ancient Rome in the era of the kings. The poet Ovid gives a curious legend about how the second Roman king Numa Pompilius managed to outwit Jupiter himself. In order to master the secrets of the elements and stop the lingering rain, the Roman king entered into an intellectual combat with the chief of the gods. The Thunderer promised to fulfill his request, setting the condition for cutting the head. The king, without hesitation, cut the head of the onion. Unsatisfied Jupiter demanded a sacrifice from a human head. To which the Roman king only cut off a lock of hair. "I demand a living soul!" - exclaimed Jupiter, who lost his self-control. But Numa did not lose his head and at the same moment killed the fish. The supreme god, fearing for his authority, was forced to be content with the sacrifices presented to him and reveal to the cunning king the secret of taming thunder and lightning.

This legend served as the basis for the Romans to celebrate April as the time when a person showed himself smarter than God, with funny jokes, tricks and deceptions. The April custom has long crossed the borders of Italy and, along with other Roman traditions, has spread to many countries.

The examples given only to a small extent reveal the influence that Roman civilization had on subsequent eras. The discoveries and innovations made by the Romans in the field of architecture and construction methods find application in modern architecture. The principles of managing a huge empire today are preserved in the European Community as an ideal state structure. The EU seeks to unite its member countries with a common monetary system, uniform taxation standards, a centralized government and an international arbitration court. Antique ideology and literature, almost forgotten during the Middle Ages, provided the basis for the Renaissance.

The Western Roman Empire officially ceased to exist in 476, after the overthrow of the emperor Romulus Augustulus by the barbarians. But the Roman way of life was so widespread that it could not simply disappear without leaving a trace on the dusty roads of history.

Irina Nekhoroshkina. Italica #2 2000.

If you want to be explained the geometry, then the best thing would be to turn to the Greek, but if you need to build a floating bridge, a sewer network or build a weapon that shoots flaming balls of gravel and resin at a distance of up to 274 meters, then you should take the help of a Roman. The brilliant architectural, organizational and technical exploits of the Romans distinguish them, as well as the Greeks, among the ancient peoples.

Below are some of the most significant achievements of the ancient Romans.

Dome

It is believed that the oldest dome in existence is located in the Roman Pantheon, built around 128 AD.

Weapon

Like many technologies, Roman siege weapons were originally developed by the Greeks and later improved by the Romans. Ballist, essentially a giant crossbow that could shoot large stones during a siege, was constructed from Greek weapons that fell into the hands of the Romans.

The Romans invented their own "siege engines" called "wild donkeys" due to a powerful blow inflicted by a wild donkey. Although they also used animal tendons in their work, the "wild donkeys" were much more powerful mini-catapults that shot fireballs and whole buckets of large stones. At the same time, they were less accurate than ballistas, but more powerful, which made them ideal weapons for undermining walls and setting fires during sieges.

Concrete

In terms of construction innovation, liquid stone, which is lighter and stronger than ordinary stone, is the greatest creation of the Romans. Today, concrete is an integral part of our daily lives, so it's easy to forget how revolutionary its invention once was.

In ancient Rome, there was no word for "concrete". When designating such words as mortar, for the construction of walls, vaults, foundations, piers and similar structures in the Roman lexicon, the phrase “opus cementitium” (opus caementitium) was used, which they began to call Roman concrete.

Roman concrete was a mixture of crushed stone, lime, sand, pozzolana and volcanic ash. It could be poured into any form to build a structure, it was also very strong. Although it was originally used by Roman architects to build strong bases for altars, from the 2nd century B.C. the Romans began to experiment with concrete in order to construct self-contained forms. Their most famous concrete structure, the Pantheon, is still the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world, standing for over two thousand years.

As mentioned earlier, this was a significant improvement on the old Etruscan and Greek rectangular architectural styles, which required columns and heavy walls to be placed around the entire perimeter of any building. Moreover, concrete, as a building material, was cheap and fireproof. It was also quite flexible, as it was able to survive the numerous earthquakes that hit the volcanic Italian peninsula every now and then.

Roads

The best Roman roads were built in several stages. To begin with, the workers dug a pit, about a meter deep in the area where it was planned to build a road. Further, wide and heavy stone blocks were installed at the bottom of the trench, the remaining space was covered with a layer of dirt and gravel.
Finally, the top layer was paved with slabs with bulges in the center so that water could drain. In general, Roman roads were extremely resistant to the effects of time.

Sewerage

The huge sewers of the Roman Empire are one of the strangest creations of the Romans, since they were not originally built to serve as sewer systems at all.

Cloaca Maxima (lat. Cloaca Maxima from lat. cluere - to clean) - a sewerage system in ancient Rome. It was originally built in order to drain some of the waters of the local swamps. The construction of the "cesspool" began in 600 BC. and more and more waterways were added in the following hundreds of years. Since channels continued to be dug regularly, it is difficult to say exactly when Maxim's cesspool ceased to be a drainage ditch and became a proper sewer. Initially a very primitive system, the Cloaca Maxima spread like a weed, stretching its roots deeper and deeper into the city as it grew.

A large cesspool has been preserved and functions as a storm sewer to the present day. Perhaps the most important achievement of the Roman sewer system was the fact that it was hidden from human eyes, did not allow any diseases, infections, odors and unpleasant sights to spread. Any civilization can dig a ditch in order to cope with natural needs, however, to build and maintain such a grandiose sewer system, it was necessary to have serious engineering minds. The system was so complex in design that Pliny the Elder declared it to be a more grandiose human structure than the structure of the pyramids.

Heated floors

Efficient temperature control is one of the most difficult engineering challenges humans face, but the Romans managed to solve it, or at least almost solved it.

Using an idea that is still used today in underfloor heating technology, hypocaust It was a set of hollow clay columns under the floor, through which hot air and steam were pumped from a separate furnace to other rooms.

However, because the floor was raised in the hypocaust system, the hot air from the stove never came into contact with the room itself. Instead of "being" in the room, the heated air passed through the hollow tiles in the walls. At the outlet of the building, the clay tiles absorbed the warm air, resulting in a warm room.

Aqueduct

Along with roads, aqueducts were another marvel of Roman engineering. The point of aqueducts is that they are very long, very long actually.
One of the difficulties of supplying water to a large city is that when the city grows to a certain size, you cannot access clean water from anywhere in it. And although Rome is located on the Tiber, this river was very polluted by another Roman engineering achievement, sewers.

To solve this problem, Roman engineers built aqueducts, a network of underground pipes, overhead lines of water, and bridges designed to carry water to and from the city.

Just like roads, Roman aqueducts were a very complex system. Although the first aqueduct, built around 300 BC, was only 11 kilometers long, by the end of the third century AD. There were 11 aqueducts in Rome, with a total length of 250 miles.

Water was supplied to the city of Rome itself through 11 aqueducts, which were built over 500 years and had a total length of almost 350 kilometers. However, only 47 kilometers of them were above ground: most were underground.
The longest Roman aqueduct was built in the 2nd century AD to supply water to Carthage, its length was 141 kilometers.

pontoon bridges

Roman-designed pontoon bridges, built primarily during wartime to allow legions to reach their destination quickly and leave just as quickly, were the brainchild of Julius Caesar. Pontoon bridge (floating) consisting of floating supports and ceilings.
In 55 BC. he built a pontoon bridge, about 400 meters long, to cross the river Rhine, which traditionally the German tribes considered their defense against the Roman invasion.

hydropower

Vitruvius, the godfather of Roman engineering, describes several of the techniques the Romans used to use water. By incorporating Greek technology such as crenellated doors and the water wheel, the Romans were able to develop their advanced sawmills, mills and turbines.

segmental arch

Roman engineers realized that arches did not have to be continuous, that is, they did not have to cover a given gap "in one go". Instead of traversing space in one jump, they can be broken down into several, smaller pieces. Thus, segmental arches appeared.

The new arch shape had two distinct advantages. First, the potential space of a span bridge could be increased exponentially. Second, because they required less material to make, segmental arch bridges were more pliable when water passed underneath them. Instead of forcing the water to flow through one small hole, the water under the segmented bridges flowed freely, thus reducing the risk of flooding and the rate of wear on the piers.

Ancient (Greco-Roman) civilization, unlike all the others, belongs to two epochs at once: Antiquity and Modern Times, since it is not only the basis, but also constituent part modern Western civilization.
As is well known, Greek culture played an exceptional role in its formation. And although the Romans in their heyday could compete on equal terms with the Greeks, it was still a competition between a respectful student and teacher.
At the same time, the unique contribution of the Greeks to the formation of the modern world would not have been possible without the Romans, who realized themselves most fully and vividly in politics, law and state building. And if the ancient scholars rightly call the amazing culture of Hellas a Greek miracle, then it would be no less fair to call the great Roman Empire a Roman miracle.
Of course, both before and after the Romans in the history of mankind, many world empires are known, that is, powerful powers that united many countries and peoples under their rule. These empires were grandiose and at the same time fragile and, by historical standards, short-lived formations. Sooner or later, the subject peoples gathered strength and began to fight for their independence, the central government weakened and empires fell apart. Those of them who managed to hold out for three centuries can be considered centenarians.
The Roman Empire took shape around the middle of the 2nd century BC. BC, and broke up, as is commonly believed, around the middle of the 5th century. AD, that is, six centuries later. However, in fact, in the V century. only the Western Roman Empire collapsed, while the Eastern one held out for another thousand years, until it died under the blows of the Ottoman Turks in the middle of the 15th century. This empire is known as the Byzantine Empire, but the Byzantines themselves called it the Roman Empire, and themselves the Romans.
Ancient Rome is one of the leading civilizations ancient world and antiquity, got its name from the main city (Roma, in turn named after the legendary founder - Romulus). The center of Rome developed within the swampy plain, bounded by the Capitol, the Palatine and the Quirinal. The culture of the Etruscans and the ancient Greeks had a certain influence on the formation of the ancient Roman civilization. Ancient Rome reached its peak of power in the 2nd century AD. e., when under his control was the space from modern Scotland in the north to Ethiopia in the south and from Azerbaijan in the east to Portugal in the west.
Ancient Rome presented the modern world with Roman law, some architectural forms and solutions (for example, the cross-domed system) and many other innovations (for example, wheeled water mills). Christianity as a religion was born on the territory of the Roman Empire. The official language of the ancient Roman state was Latin, religion during most of the period of existence was polytheistic, the unofficial coat of arms of the empire was the golden eagle (aquila), after the adoption of Christianity, labarums with chrism appeared.
What is the secret of such amazing strength and durability of the Roman Empire? And why, after her death, did she leave behind such a long grateful memory even among the peoples she once conquered? What explains the Roman miracle?
The main reason is, apparently, that the Romans knew how to win not only the people themselves, but also their souls. The conquered peoples gradually joined the city life and the ancient culture associated with it, received the rights of Roman citizenship, and from the subjects of Rome themselves turned into Romans. Over time, they began to treat Rome not as a foreign and hostile force, but as their new homeland, but to ancient (Greco-Roman) culture as their own.
The introduction of the peoples of Europe conquered by Rome to urban life and ancient, that is, Greco-Roman culture, several centuries of life of these peoples in the conditions of ancient civilization ultimately led to the fact that the amazing culture of the small Greek people became the basis of modern Western civilization.
Without Greek culture and the Roman Empire, the modern world would look different than it does now, and we ourselves might be very different. By studying the history of ancient Rome, we can better know and understand ourselves.

1. The development of Roman civilization.

In the II century BC, after the victory over Carthage and Macedonia, the Roman state dominates the entire expanse of lands washed by mediterranean sea. The conquered countries became an inexhaustible source of slaves. Hundreds of thousands of them were sold for nothing to the agricultural estates of the new Roman nobility - the nobility. Only those whose property was estimated at no less than one million sesterces belonged to this class.
The growth in the number of large estates (latifundia) was accompanied by the opposite process of the ruin of the Roman peasantry. It could not withstand the competition of cheap slave labor. Lacking access to new land funds, it was suffocating from the lack of land, generated by the fragmentation of plots between the heirs, and even more by robbery and the seizure of their lands by the rich. It suffocated in the grip of enslaving loans.
The inevitable result of this process was the extreme intensification of the struggle between small and large landowners. The culmination of the struggle was the reforms of the Gracchi brothers.
In 133 BC. Tiberius Gracchus, elected tribune, proposed a law that established the maximum size of land ownership in private hands - 1000 yugers per family (about 250 hectares). The surplus was to be distributed among the landless and those with little land.
But land alone was not enough. Peasants needed livestock, implements, seeds. Money was needed, but it was at the disposal of the Senate. Meanwhile, it was the Senate, which expressed the interests of the nobles and consisted of the latter, that stubbornly resisted the reform.
Tiberius, who passed the law through the popular assembly, had to violate the Roman constitution three times. He demanded the removal of his colleague, Tribune of the People Octavius, who had vetoed the land bill. This requirement was granted. He demanded that the people's assembly itself decide on the issue of subsidies needed for the implementation of land reform. And this measure was implemented. The last thing left was to get re-elected new term. The people stood on the side of Tiberius. Then the Senate, accusing Tiberius of striving for a one-man dictatorship, and, presenting himself as a champion of democracy, organized the assassination of the people's tribune.
With the death of Tiberius Gracchus, as expected, the implementation of the reform was actually suspended.
A new rise in the movement is associated with the name of Gaius Gracchus. An outstanding orator and politician, a man of rare nobility, Gaius Gracchus was elected to the same position as his older brother. Continuing the work of Tiberius, he tried to find support among the impoverished Roman plebs. In his interests, a reduction in the price of bread was carried out, agricultural colonies were organized on the conquered lands, etc. Guy's activities were interrupted by his tragic death. The Senate again triumphed.
The legal basis for the agrarian reform of the Gracchi brothers was that, according to ancient tradition, the Roman territory was considered public property. Therefore, it was possible to redistribute it. In order to put an end to such projects forever, the law of the III year BC. e. land holdings were declared inviolable property.
In the difficult conditions of civil strife and wars that filled the historian) of the 11th and 1st centuries BC, the military militia becomes unreliable. In addition, the number of those landowners who supplied its main contingents has sharply decreased. Under the consul Marius (1st century BC), the Roman army becomes hired, serving for a salary. Obedient to the one who paid it, the army became an instrument of the parties. With its help, the last remnants of Roman republican democracy were liquidated.
The history of the Roman army is perhaps the clearest evidence of the fundamental changes that took place in Roman society. And the point is not only in its organization, recruitment conditions, etc., although this, of course, is very important.
In the Roman army, for the first time (with the death of Caesar), the right to own real property was recognized for persons who did not have the status of paterfamilias. In the Roman army, the guild system begins, which flourished in the era of feudalism: it is a corporation of military artisans. Here, as, indeed, in many other armies of antiquity, machines and other innovations were used for the first time, the division of labor was especially developed, etc. The rebirth of the Roman army meant the rebirth of the entire Roman social and state structure, the end of the old Roman Republic.
In 82 BC. the commander Sulla establishes a one-man dictatorship in Rome, removing all other magistracies from power. Sulla's dictatorship was indefinite. Sulla arrogated to himself the power to legislate. He granted new rights to the senate and sharply reduced the competence of the people's assemblies. The tribunes were deprived of political functions.
The Roman slave-owning republic is going through a deep crisis. Its final downfall was hastened by the famous slave revolt led by Spartacus (74 BC).
In the middle of the 1st century BC. Julius Caesar laid the foundation for a new political system that replaced the republican one. He is called the principate by one of the titles of the first person in the state - the Roman emperor - princeps.
The beginning of the principate as an established form of power and control is usually associated with the reign of Julius Caesar's successor, Emperor Octavian Augustus (27 BC-14 AD).
The decline of Roman democracy, whatever it was, was caused mainly by the development of slavery and private ownership of land. Sharp differences in fortunes were in conflict with the institutions that emerged and matured in an era of relative equality.
It should also be borne in mind that the Roman republican institutions took shape as the governing bodies of the city, the policy. They could not perform the same functions in relation to the entire huge power that Rome had become. This task was carried out by the Roman Empire.
By sacrificing the exclusive position of the “Roman people”, the empire helped to unite the slave-owning elements of all lands into one class. Actually, the Roman slave owners became part of it, albeit a special one - the leading one.
Already under Julius Caesar, the granting of the rights of a Roman citizen in the provinces became a widespread political measure. This work was continued by his successors. Finally in 212 AD. under the emperor Caracalla, the rights of Roman citizens were granted to the entire population of the provinces.
Differences in the position of free people, established in the Ancient period, generated by various historical circumstances, disappear.
The top of the slave-owning class consisted of two estates. Under the emperor Augustus (1st century BC), the nobili became a senatorial class, replenished by people who were promoted in public service. The class of horsemen included quite rich people (the minimum qualification was 400 thousand sesterces), who supplied responsible officials and officers to the state. Both senators and equites came from various parts of the empire. The management of the cities was in the hands of the decurion class, as a rule, middle landowners.
The consolidation of the ruling class facilitated the administration of the vast empire and enabled the government machine to crush the resistance of the slaves with great success. Already under Augustus, the interests of slavery were protected by energetic measures. They boiled down to preventing new actions of slaves, to decisively limiting the release of slaves into the wild, to expanding repressions against them.
Emperor Augustus restored, in particular, the law, according to which all those slaves who were in the house at a shouting distance at the time of the murder of their master were subject to execution, regardless of whether they were involved in the murder or not. This is one of the most disgusting uses of objective imputation. The law was not left without application. In one case, despite widespread popular discontent, the senate and the emperor ordered the execution of 400 people. Roman lawyers did not hide the reasons for this heinous measure: “No house can be secure in any other way than by compelling slaves to protect their master from danger both from home and from strangers by fear of the death penalty ...” .
Meanwhile economic development more and more clearly pointed to the unprofitability of slave labor. No taskmaster and no punishment could replace the economic stimulus. Deprived of the bare necessities, sharply hating his oppressor master, the slave did only what he was directly forced to do, and did so in order to avoid the scourge. Any new tool turned out to be short-lived in his hands. None of the improvements were of sufficient benefit.
Understanding this, the owners began to provide slaves with land plots - peculia. Slaves were required to give them a certain share of the product, usually half the crop. The other half remained at their complete disposal. The benefits of this new form of exploitation were undeniable.
But in order for it to become more widespread, it was necessary to give legal protection to those relations in which, willy-nilly, the slave-speculator was involved.
The old Roman law forbade him to sell anything on the market, and meanwhile without this he could not exist, the law forbade him to borrow, hire or rent cattle, buy anything, enter into contractual relations in general. The old law forbade the slave to file suits in court and to respond to suits brought against him. All this was incompatible with the conduct of an independent economy. It was necessary, finally, to protect the slave from abuse by the master himself, since both the land and the slave himself were his property.
Gradually, slowly, all these interests were settled to the advantage of the owner of the peculia.
At the same time, another important process- the transformation of a free peasant into a sharecropper. His common name becomes a column. The development of the colonate was the result of the plundering of peasant land and the consequent growth of latifundia. Another reason was the decrease in the influx of slaves from abroad, which was the result of a decrease in the military power of the empire, on the one hand, and an increase in resistance to it, on the other.
Colon obligations were both monetary and in-kind.
The colonat began with a short-term lease. But it was less profitable for the landlord. Only a long lease could provide him with a permanent labor force and at the same time give rise to a desire in the colony to improve the land, build buildings, and so on.
Satisfying the demands of the landowners, the law of 332 AD. initiated the attachment of tenants to the land. Those who voluntarily left the estates returned by force. At the same time, it was forbidden to round up columns when selling land. All this laid the foundation for the development of feudal relations and the transition from slavery to feudalism. In this complex process, the slave rises to the position of a feudal-dependent person, the free peasant descends to him. The dominant form of peasant land ownership becomes emphytheus, that is, long-term, and then inherited lease of the master's land. From Italy, it then passes into feudal France, Germany, Poland, and the western regions of Russia.
By the end of the empire, a ban was established to kill a slave, to separate the families of slaves during the sale, and a simplified procedure for releasing a slave into the wild was introduced.
Like columns, artisans are attached to their professions. Their hereditary corporations (associations) arise.

2. Features of the formation and development of the culture of ancient Rome.

In the history of the culture of Ancient Rome, we distinguish a number of periods. Usually there are three main stages in the development of the form of culture of any society, including the Roman one.
The first stage is the emergence, formation of a phenomenon, its existence along with others and the gradual separation as the dominant, dominant. In relation to the culture of Ancient Rome, this stage covers the time from the VIII century. BC e., the moment of the founding of the "Eternal City", the approval of the Etruscan dynasty, the adoption of the law of the XII tables, and until the III century. BC e., the end of the struggle of the patricians and plebeians and the conquest of all Italy by Rome.
The second stage is associated with the functioning of mature forms of culture, the most developed, "classical". For Ancient Rome, the stage of maturity covers the period from the 2nd century BC. BC e., when classical slavery became dominant in the cities, and up to the 2nd century. n. e., when slavery spread to the periphery of the republic.
The third stage is associated with the withering away, decomposition of culture, the emergence of elements of a new culture, in the future - dominant and dominant. For ancient Rome, this late stage covers the period from the 2nd century BC. n. e. until the 5th century n. e., the time of the conquest of Rome by the barbarians.
But sometimes you can find another periodization, where the evolution of the political system of ancient Rome is taken as the basis for counting periods. In this case, allocate:
1. culture of the era of kings (VIII century BC-VI century BC);
2. culture of the era of the Republic (V century BC-I century BC);
3. culture of the period of the empire (I century AD - V century AD).
As you can see, this periodization is somewhat different from the previously given historical dates, but not in essence: in both cases, we are talking about the emergence of culture, the period of its heyday and the stage of extinction, decomposition.
Just like the Greek, the ancient Roman civilization had a culture that preceded it. In ancient times, the territory in which Roman culture arose was inhabited by inhabitants who spoke the Umbrian language, it was they who created the culture of the so-called Villanova. Then they were replaced by the Etruscans, who came to these parts around 1000 BC. e. The Etruscans created a highly developed civilization with their urban culture. Known are such Etruscan policies as Arretius, Caere, Clusius, Tarquinius, Volki, Veii, etc.
The canonical legend connects the rise of Rome with ancient Greek history the death of Troy. One of the defenders of Troy, Aeneas, left the city captured by the Greeks, and after wandering the seas, landed in Italy. He married the daughter of the local king Latina. The son of Aeneas, Ascanius Yul, founded the city of Alba Longe, but was overthrown by his brother. The daughter of the deposed king - Rhea Sylvia, in order to stop the dynasty, was made a priestess of the goddess of domestic fire - Vesta. Vestals under the age of 30 were required to observe a vow of celibacy.
But Rhea Silvia gave birth to two twins from the god Mars himself. They did not dare to kill her, but the babies were taken away and taken to the forest to be killed there. But the slave did not comply with the royal order and left the children. They were fed by a she-wolf, then the shepherds picked up two brothers and named them Romulus and Remus. When the brothers grew up, they accidentally killed the king, who once ordered them to be killed, and restored their grandfather to the throne. They themselves left and founded a new city. At the same time, the brothers quarreled, and Romulus killed Remus. Thus was founded Romulus, Roma, the city of Rome.
According to the famous historian of the 1st c. BC e. Mark Terentius Varro this happened on April 21, 753 BC. e. For many years, this legend was considered unreliable. But still, even now in the center of Rome there is a monument to the Capitoline Wolf. Recent excavations confirm that Rome arose in the 8th century. BC e. It should be noted that on April 21, the most ancient shepherd's monument, Parilia, is usually celebrated.
The date of the founding of Rome plays an important role in the history of culture. For many centuries it served as a reference point for historical dates. There were several cultural traditions for telling time historical events. Religious, connected with the dogmas of the Old Testament, for the starting date takes the time "from the creation of the world" by God. Later, around the ninth century n. e., it was supplemented by a New tradition - "from the time of the birth of Christ" - an event described by the New Testament - I century. n. e. In our literature, this "time" is called "the time before our era" and "the time of our era." But along with these, essentially religious, norms, there was a purely secular tradition, which counted events "from the time of the founding of Rome."
During the period of the VIII century. BC e. three peoples lived in the vicinity of Rome - these are the Latins, who settled on the site of the Palatine Hill in the 10th century. BC e., the already mentioned Etruscans and Sabines (Sabines). Hills were first settled - Palatine, Caelius, Esquiline, Quirinal, Vilinal, Capitol, Aventine. A square formed between the hills - Forum Romanum - the center of Rome. But soon all 7 settlements grew and united into one settlement. Thus, in the history of Rome we observe the same phenomenon of culture, Sinoikism, as in the emergence of the Greek city-states. And yet, it is not the polis that is the state center of culture, but the civitas.
Polis is a city-state, it is a civil community that combines political and state functions. Civitas is a civil community, urban. Unlike the culture of Ancient Greece, which emerges as a non-centralized, multipolar culture, the culture of Ancient Rome is a single, state-supported, centralized culture. Rome, having arisen as a settlement of a small community, people from Alba Long, eventually turns into the political, administrative, cultural center of a huge, rigidly centralized empire stretching from Britain to Central Asia.
In all the spaces that were conquered by Roman soldiers, a single, unified, state-imposed Roman culture spread. Historians have identified a strange pattern: the Roman legions "could not gain a foothold in the lands in which the vine did not grow, although the fate of the Roman Empire was not connected with the history of viticulture" . And grapes were cultivated in the vast expanses of the Old World!
The development of Roman civitas was greatly influenced by the historical conditions of the founding of Rome. The Romans were constantly at war with their neighbors, hence their culture was initially militarized. Roman history begins with conflict and murder and ends in the flames of fires to the cries of victory of the Vandals, Heruli and other barbarian peoples. Rome was forced to constantly fight, to make alliances with its neighbors, to break them, to conclude again. Therefore, political circumstances contributed to the fact that the Romans constantly annexed more and more new territories with a dependent, semi-dependent and not free population to their city-state.
Initially, the head of the Roman community was the king. He combined the functions of the supreme commander, judge and priest. Initially, religious culture had a state character, served state, political tasks, served state interests.
Hence, the well-known formalism of religious life, its excessive regulation, lack of independence. Having linked its fate with the state, religious culture could not evolve, adapt to changing circumstances, and degenerated along with the state apparatus.
At the base of the Roman community were three ethnic elements - three tribes: Latins, Sabines and Etruscans. In each tribe there were ten curiae, in one curia there were ten genera. In total, the Roman community initially included three hundred genera. Only the members of these clans were citizens, and their leaders sat in the Senate, and they were patricians. In addition, there were clients and plebeians. Initially, the plebeians were not part of the "Roman people", but later they received all rights. The king was chosen.
The second period in the development of the culture of Ancient Rome was called "republican". It is associated with the struggle of the plebeians and patricians. Under the pressure of the plebeians, the "Laws of the XII Tables" were drawn up and promulgated, which, although they improved the legal status of the plebeians, did not save them from petty oppression. Only in 445 BC. e. plebeians formally received all the rights of citizenship.
Considering the path passed by ancient Rome, it can be noted that it was an evolution "from the policy to the empire", "from the citizen to the subject." The citizen was characterized by immediate, direct "non-alienated" ties in the "community-citizen" system, that is, ties of "complicity." For the "subject" the ties in the "empire-subject" system, that is, the ties of subordination, became decisive in culture.
The position of a person was determined not by his personal efforts, his personal qualities and talents, but by his place in state structure, which first in the republic torn away, ousted most of the citizens from power, and then, in the empire, turned everyone into "subjects", bringing alienation to extreme forms. Hence the enormous role played by the state, the policy that suppressed, subordinated to itself all other elements of culture.
In the era of the flourishing of civil society, during the period of the republic, when Rome itself (the motherland) was the main value, the Roman people developed a political and legal culture, philosophy. "Perhaps, in no other culture did law occupy such a high place in the hierarchy of its components, did not penetrate to such an extent both philosophical thought and everyday life". All spheres of culture were subordinated to the task of justifying the superiority of the Roman political system over all others.
But, having achieved power and greatness, Rome began to decline. During the period of the empire, political freedoms are lost, the cult of the emperor grows, a feeling of alienation, meaninglessness, and fear of the future spreads. Under these conditions, religion comes to the fore in the hierarchy of culture. The emperor himself was declared a god, and any official was obliged to take an oath upon taking office, in which he pledged to honor, love and honor the emperor as a god. Throughout " eternal city"statues of the emperor were placed, which everyone was obliged to worship. The frequent change of emperors led to a frequent change of sculptures. But the assertion of a "political religion" did not save the situation. Rome was filled with priests of all kinds of gods and cults, all kinds of sects, followers of esoteric (secret) teachings .Among the variety of confessions ( religious communities) Christianity gradually gains influence - the "religion of slaves", and then the majority. In the last decades of the existence of the Roman Empire, Christianity dominated philosophy, art, and legal doctrines.
In everyday life, the most primitive ideas about the supernatural were widespread: divination, superstition, magic.
Rome soon became largest city peace. Its population reached 1 million people. Naturally, the problem of urban economy, the culture of ensuring urban life, was very acute. It was provided by intensive construction. Moreover, the material - stone, was underfoot, in underground quarries - catacombs. As the upper city grew, the underground one also grew, where runaway slaves hid, robbers and robbers hid, and later Christians gathered.
By the 1st century n. e. in Rome, there were 11 water pipes - aqueducts, and about 600 fountains. The largest aqueduct of Marcius, built in 144 BC. e. was about 90 km long, it still operates today. By the 3rd century n. e. Rome received daily up to 1 million m3 of water and the Roman population was completely provided with water. A resident of the capital accounted for 600-900 liters per day.
In Rome there were 170 thermae, public baths, in the IV century. n. e. - already 1000. On average, there were 60-80 baths per 1 district. Libraries were arranged in the baths, disputes were held. Daily bathing became a custom by the time of the empire. Rome entered the history of culture and the introduction of city doctors - employees. Anthony Pius established that for large cities it is necessary to have 10 doctors, 7 for medium and 5 for small ones. settlements. Doctors were exempted from military service and kept at the expense of the city treasury.
Unlike neighboring Greece, where there was little arable land, Rome was located on a flat territory, and initially it had no problem with grain imports - everything was produced locally. A highly developed "bread culture" was created. The culture of bread rested on the technology developed for those conditions: a wheeled plow was invented, a moldless plow was used, reaping machines were used, harrows, winnowing shovels, etc. were known. Thus, a technique was used that neighboring Hellas did not know. Highly developed technology was expensive and was used in large villas, and not in small peasant farms.
The culture of tillage was also highly developed - advanced agriculture made it possible to obtain, according to Columella, up to 10 wine skins (200 amphorae) from 1 yuger of arable land (4 yuger equaled 1 ha). Varro adds that if for the most part in Italy there was a harvest of seven to ten, and for Etruria - seven to fifteen, then the advanced farms received a harvest of up to 2.5 centners of grain per 1 hectare.
Varro, Cato, Columella - Roman scientists, writers, paid much attention to the arrangement of fields, the description of tools, that is, the improvement of the culture of bread. Known works: Cato "On Agriculture" (beginning of the 2nd century BC), Varro "On Agriculture", in which the issues of profitability of agricultural production are most carefully clarified, the need for the use of fertilizers, selection, acclimatization of crops, farm specialization.
The system of restoration of soil fertility, as it was comprehended and developed in the work of Lucius Moderatus Columella "Agricultural Encyclopedia" in the 60s. 1st century n. e. remained unsurpassed in Europe until the introduction of chemical fertilizers in the 19th century.
The basis of the production of "bread" was the Roman estate. It was divided into three parts: Villa (estate) - the center of the estate; Fundus - the land area on which the economy was conducted; Instrumentum - equipment, tools.
All "tools" were also divided into three parts: Instrumentum mutum - "silent" tool, tools; Instrumentum semivocale - instrument, non-speaking equipment, that is, cattle; Instrumentum vocale - talking tools, that is, slaves.
The widespread use of slave labor gave specificity to Roman culture. On the one hand, the exploitation of slaves gave a surplus product used for the development of other components of culture - art, law, religion, politics. On the other hand, "slave labor" ruined the free farmer, forced him to move to the city, to look for the application of his forces there.
The Romans realized that slave labor was less productive than free labor, but nevertheless could not refuse it. Free labor was used either in seasonal work or in unhealthy areas. In all other cases, slave labor was used.
Slaves, especially skilled craftsmen, were expensive. For example, an artisan slave (faber) cost 20-30 thousand sesterces, which was equal to the annual income of an average estate of 200 yugers (50 hectares). Therefore, a peasant, a former community member, could not buy a slave for himself. Since the slave is a "talking tool", it was expensive, it should be protected and "not spoiled" without need.
The large-scale slave-owning economy ruined the free peasant and itself collapsed in an insurmountable contradiction. The army of those who eat bread grew faster than the production of bread itself. Not the "revolution of slaves", not uprisings, like the war waged by Spartacus, the slave-gladiator, destroyed the culture of slavery: no, it decomposed due to its inherent antagonisms: the motivation for the work of slaves fell, but the free were not interested in honest labor either.
The culture of "atium" a, leisure, was undeveloped. The aristocracy preferred to engage in war and politics. There was no time and desire for arts. The taste of the Roman public was not well known, it was believed that they preferred comedy to tragedies, and gladiatorial fights to comedies. The social position of the poet, the artist remained belittled.
The Romans were not a musical people. As a rule, foreigners, or slaves, that is, dependent strata of the population, were engaged in these arts. Only after the victory over Carthage did the Romans begin to get involved in philosophy, art, and poetry. The beginning of Roman prose, poetry lies in folk culture, formed even before the emergence of civilization. In particular, the Salia brothers are known - a religious association of priests of the god Mars, who staged theatrical performances - on March 1, the brothers in battle attire staged processions, singing songs. Already by the 1st c. Nobody understood the language of these songs! The movement of the procession was accompanied by a dance - trinudium. The Romans also had a funeral rite for a long time, during which demonstrative battles were held. The first gladiators (from the word "gladius" - a sword) were therefore called bustuaries (from the word "bustum" - a fire on which the body of the fallen was burned, or the burial itself).
The first organized games still had a connection with the burial: in 264 BC. e. at the funeral of Junius Brutus, his sons staged a sword fight. The spectacle impressed the Romans so much that the games became a tradition and entered the history of Roman culture as an undoubted innovation.
Gladiator circuses began to be built everywhere. In Rome, a giant gladiatorial theater, the Colosseum, was specially built, the ruins of which have survived to this day. Gladiator schools arose, where slaves were taught the art of wielding a sword. The gladiator Spartacus went down in history as the leader of the slave uprising that almost destroyed Rome.
Roman culture developed unevenly. Compared with the period of the kings, the republican form of government led initially to its decline. Only a century later, there is a revival - the fact is that during this period Rome fought for the very possibility of its existence. Later, military successes contribute to the flourishing of culture by robbing conquered peoples: Greeks, Kuns, Gauls, Britons. Gradually, Rome became involved in a whole series of wars, which brought culture to a stagnant state, gave it a militaristic character.
Rome became famous for its troops. They were distinguished not only by high proficiency, but also by discipline. It was established, first of all, at the expense of punishment: the symbol of the power of the centurion was the rod, the symbol of the power of the consul was fascia - hatchets stuck in a bundle of sticks. But punishment, fear were present during the construction of many armies. Discipline in the Roman army was kept at the expense of a well-thought-out system of awards: soldiers were awarded insignia, orders, bracelets. After serving time, they could get land. The highest award for a soldier was a wreath of oak leaves. The warrior who first climbed the walls of the fortress received a golden wreath.
Yet Roman culture perished. Even in the II and early I centuries. BC e. was formed by the works of Polybius, Posidonius, Sallust theory of "decline in morals" as the cause of the degradation of Rome. The essence of the concept was that the gradual enrichment of Rome, the complication of political life is inevitably accompanied by moral degradation. Guy Sallust Crispus noted that “when the state grew by labor and justice, when the great kings were tamed by war ... and all the seas, all the lands opened up before us, fate began to rage and turned everything upside down. Those who easily endured hardships, dangers, difficulties, - leisure and wealth turned out to be an unbearable burden for them, in other circumstances they were desired. First, a thirst for money developed, followed by a thirst for power, and both became, as it were, the common root of all disasters ... The infection spread like a plague. People changed in general, and Roman power from the most just and best turned into cruel and intolerable.
From the time when wealth began to command respect, continues Sallust, as glory, power, might became his companion, from that very time valor began to wither, poverty and selflessness began to be considered a shame.
Some authors note the "dialectical nature of this concept." Development in it "is perceived as a blessing inseparable from evil", and in relation to the characteristics of time, two movements of time turn out to be conjugate in it - progressive and regressive. We will note the idealistic, illusory nature of this kind of "concept". In it, the secondary character - morality - is determined by secondary qualities - political ones. Meanwhile, both politics and morality are, although important, factors of development derived from production relations. The reference to the "dialectical" interaction of good and evil also does not lend credibility to the concept, because the causes of "evil" in society are of a different nature.
In our opinion, the reason for the death of the culture of Rome is a contradiction rooted in culture itself and consisting in a violation of the conformity of the productive forces of society and man with those production relations that once, in the period of maturity, they corresponded to, created space for their development, a stable system incentives and motives for work and activity.
The heyday of the classical culture of the ancient polis was ensured by the conquests of the Roman plebeians. Legislative limitation of loan capital to a certain minimum, up to 8 1/3% per year, then the interest rate was reduced to 6% or 0.5% per month, the prohibition of debt slavery, the receipt of a land plot from ager publicus funds, public land, on property rights (that is, without the need to pay rent) became the most important conquests of the Roman plebeians.
First of all, in the economic field, they created the basis for their existence, guaranteed to a certain extent, as active members of the civil collective, ensured the flourishing of the classical policy in Ancient Greece and Ancient Italy, the economic base of which was, to some extent guaranteed by law, small-scale independent agriculture and handicraft production.
In ancient policies, the agrarian question was at the heart of all political conflicts.
The victory of the plebeian in the centuries-old struggle between patricians and plebeians by the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. showed the futility of the development of large landownership on the previous basis, that is, on patriarchal slavery using the labor of debtor slaves in purely natural production, harsh usury directed against its own citizens, and finally, on the basis of the permeation of the organization of large holdings by relations of small farming.
Thus, economic basis the culture of antiquity, its classical phase, is patriarchal slavery with natural production.
It is this position that most fully corresponds to the state of the productive forces of ancient society and is the basis of the classical phase in its culture, the pinnacle of its development. The expansion of slave-owning production, the establishment of a large-scale agricultural economy and commodity-money circulation objectively went beyond the framework of property relations and led, in the end, to the decline of both the former mode of production and its culture.

3. Achievements and values of the culture of the civilization of Ancient Rome

The civilization of ancient Rome did not become a technical culture, although the Romans achieved a certain technical progress in the field of agricultural production.
Among the reasons that did not allow the development of technology, science is usually called the limited use of energy sources - water, wind, steam, etc. Even the muscular energy of animals was not used to the proper extent. Bull teams, donkeys, mules remained the main means of transportation and transportation of heavy loads. Horses were not widely used due to the fact that they did not know the stirrup. It appeared only in the 8th century. n. e. The wagon cart remained unknown until the 3rd century BC. n. e. The consequence of this was the high cost and inefficiency of land transport, which did not contribute to the development of manufactory.
The technique was used in the non-productive sphere, for entertainment, in military affairs. And here the Romans had much to learn from the Greeks. Science, philosophy were also borrowed and came too late to receive original forms of development. Slavery is usually blamed for this. But in neighboring Greece, the labor of slaves was also used, but nevertheless, a deeply original scientific and philosophical thought developed here.
In its most concentrated form, ancient culture is expressed in political thinking. Politics - that's the only worthy occupation for a citizen, a free man - both the Romans and the Greeks thought so.
Polis left behind three ideas.
The first idea is the idea of citizenship - membership in the policy, the city-state. Hence the involvement of the entire life of the polis, civitas.
The second idea is democracy - democracy, people's rule - the citizen's involvement in managing the life of the policy, participating in the affairs of the state.
The third idea is the idea of a republic - a common cause, which means the opportunity to take one's place in the "common cause" by choice. Hence the development of the elective principle, the turnover of commanders, their accountability to the Senate, collegiality in decisions.
If the culture of Greece exhausted itself with these ideas, then ancient Rome went further - at a moment of crisis, it approved the idea of a single, centralized state. Thus, he created the conditions for the spread of a single, unified culture. Moreover, Rome went even further, to the idea of empire - the unlimited, undivided power of the head of state. And this extended the life of the culture of Rome in relation to the culture of Greece for almost another five centuries, but still did not save it: the Romans in the 4th century. n. e. have forgotten how to fight and even defend themselves. Suffice it to recall that after the ruin of Rome by the Vandals in 455, the Romans discussed not how to rebuild the city, but how to arrange a circus performance; they were no longer capable of more. And they submitted to the leader of the Heruli Odoacer in 476 without resistance.
The most complete and complete culture is manifested in morality, in the moral code that each nation develops for itself. The moral norms developed by the Romans are richer than the norms of the ancient Greek polis. If the Greeks reduced all the virtues to four - justice, wisdom, courage, moderation, then the Romans did not limit their number, as well as the number of gods.
A person was valued not by his individual qualities, virtues, but by their totality: the sum of all moral qualities constituted a new wholeness - virtus, valor. But, unlike the Greek policy, where the norms came from civil society, in Rome the state was their affirming beginning. The virtues themselves acquired an existence independent of man, were imposed on him in the form of state, sacred personalities, personified in gods and emperors.
Concordia (consent), Fides (fidelity), Honor (honor), Clementia (meekness), Virtus (valor) are plural norms and qualities attributed to emperors, but these are also separate deities. The Roman religion was the state religion, and the official was also the main minister - the pontiff. A certain hierarchy of values has developed. Gaius Lucilius gave the following scheme:
In the first place are deeds for the benefit of the fatherland and the qualities of a person that ensure them, for example, patriotism.
Then come the values aimed at the benefit of relatives - the family.
In last place were values that expressed concern for one's own welfare - selfishness, individualism.
The reward for virtus, that is, for the development of moral culture as the highest value, was honor, Honor, popular approval, recognition. Rome approved a whole list of honorary elective offices, cursus honorum, for which they were chosen as a reward for showing virtus.
The deeds of courageous people provided the Romans with freedom. Freedom was closely connected with independence, a dependent person could not be free. Therefore, it was believed that a position performed for money cannot be considered free: "Salary makes a person a slave," the Romans believed. Therefore, rich people were promoted to positions.
Later, when internecine, civil wars Roman society began to tear apart, new values \u200b\u200bbegan to be affirmed - humanitas (humanity), and even later, during the period of the empire - urbanitas (grace, courtesy).
Thus, humanism is not the original value of culture. While culture develops and its own contradictions have not reached a developed form, society does not appreciate humanism, concern for a particular person, does not cultivate it. Everything overshadows the duty, duty, necessity emanating from the state, the collective, society, that is, the organizing, rational principle.
As they decompose, the center of motivation is transferred to the person himself, he becomes the highest value, a measure of assessment, the goal of culture. Although the cultures of Rome and Greece developed synchronously in time and space, the values that they recognized were different.
With the aggravation of contradictions - economic, political, social, the culture of Rome also decayed, ensuring its unity and integrity for many centuries. The Roman thinkers themselves noted a certain regression of their culture, but they could not do anything. Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, conveyed the words of the jurist of the era of the early empire, Gaius Cassius Longinus: "Measures that were taken in antiquity in any area were better and wiser, and those that subsequently changed changed for the worse" .
Having discovered traces of the decline of culture, the Roman society resigned itself to this, accepted it as a fatal inevitability, and did not find the strength in itself to find the Answer to the Challenge of history. Other nations will look for him.

In conclusion, it should be said that the ancient Roman civilization was a progressive type of development. It is characterized by dynamism: important changes occurred throughout the life of one generation.
It is necessary to note the most important events that occurred during the period of the existence of Roman civilization: for the first time, private property relations developed, although there was no complete private property in the Greco-Roman world; for the first time, a developed system of commodity-money relations took shape: production was oriented primarily to the market; the presence of a variety of developed state forms: democracy, aristocratic republic, ancient Greek tyranny, empire.
Rome is historically the first civilization founded on the requirement of well-designed laws. Of great interest is Roman law (Laws of the XII tables), as well as the attitude of citizens to the laws of their state.
In the course of the development of Roman civilization, the foundations of civil society were laid - the self-organization of the population. True, it did not oppose the state, but was its basis, which was determined by the specifics of the policy as a civil community.
The achievements of antiquity are the achievements of a free man. The "classical" exploitation of slaves is an exception, not the rule for Greco-Roman civilization: the establishment of a slave-owning mode of production in the Roman Empire (II century BC - III century AD) was one of the main factors in the death of the ancient world .
The Roman policy ensured the existence and development of Roman civilization only at a certain stage of history. The moment came when the interests of further development demanded the overcoming of the policy as a type of state, led to the need for the formation of much larger and differently structured states.
In ancient Rome, the crisis was a long process that took place from the time of the transformation of Rome into a Mediterranean power until the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The economic aspect of the crisis of the policy was the development of commodity-money relations, which violated the economic isolation and self-sufficiency of the city-state. In the social sphere, the basis of the policy was being eroded - a layer of small and medium landowners-communities, artisans and merchants living on the results of their own labor. The sharp property differentiation within this stratum was a consequence of the development of commodity-money relations, as well as the widespread use of slave labor in large farms. Under the influence of the development of commodity-money relations, small and medium-sized proprietors went bankrupt, and those who grew rich, seized or bought land from the poor, created handicraft workshops in which slaves worked. As a result of these processes, the people's militia fell into decay. For Rome, this led to the replacement of the people's militia by a professional army, and as a result to the fall of the republic and the establishment of the empire.
On the territory of the Roman Empire, Italian city-states continued to exist, and in those provinces where there were no policies before, they arose during the period of Roman rule. The gradual loss by the Romans of their exclusivity as a result of the increasingly broad presentation of Roman citizenship to the population of the provinces and the introduction of a leveling system for managing the empire did not change the internal structure of the state, consisting, as it were, of many autonomous formations of the state type. In the conditions of the general crisis of the III century. n. e. as a result of the naturalization of the economy and the curtailment of commodity-money relations (a consequence of a sharp reduction in the influx of slaves in connection with the cessation of wars), cities began to decline and large estates gradually became centers of economic, and then political life. The empire split into East and West, centrifugal tendencies intensified in the provinces. The attempts of the Roman emperors to stop this process by strengthening the bureaucracy and total surveillance of the provincial administration could not bring success.
As the center of gravity of social life shifted from the city to the estate, the formation of a new social structure (clergy, large landowners, dependent farmers who owned a plot of land), the spread of Christianity in the Western Roman Empire, the prerequisites for the transition to the Middle Ages were formed.