Pax Romana

The Roman Emperor

Praetorian Guard

Architecture

Public Baths

Roads and Aqueducts

Religion in the Golden Age

Pompeii

The Pax Romana

The two centuries from the reign of Augustus until the death of Marcus Aurelius are known as the Golden Age of

Rome, or the Pax Romana (Roman Peace).

Market in Pompeii, by Antonio Niccolini

Although there were

rebellions and wars of

conquest in this period, the core of the empire

enjoyed peace and prosperity.

The Roman Emperor

In ancient Rome, there was no such title or office as “emperor.”

The term “Roman emperor” is a convenient term to describe the single man who, from Augustus on, had all of the power that had been shared by many officers in the Republic.

Emperors used a number of titles: Imperator (commander), princeps (first senator), augustus (venerable), and caesar.

Praetorian Guard Created during the late

Republic, it was an elite squad assigned to guard the commander’s tent.

Augustus transformed the Guard into the emperor’s private army, which served as the police force in Rome and other Italian cities.

It had legionary strength. A third of its members were stationed in Rome, where they dressed as civilians but carried weapons.

Members of the Guard were paid 50% more than legionaries of comparable rank.

In modern times, the term has been used to

describe an elite military force protecting a

dictator.

The Praetorian Guard was an important force in the Principate. It could put an emperor in office, keep him there, or get rid of him.

The Guard was weakened by Diocletian and eliminated by Constantine in the early 4th century.

Praetorian Guard hails Claudius as emperor.

Architecture

In imperial Rome, architecture was a form of propaganda.

Throughout the empire, great buildings, public and private, were a testament to the glory and importance of Rome and the emperor.

As with military organization and weaponry, in architecture the Romans

were great innovators. Arches, columns, domes and concrete, known and used by

others, became something new and different in Roman hands.

The Pantheon,

one of Rome’s most

famous buildings

While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;And when Rome falls - the world.

- Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

The Colosseum, originally

known as the Flavian

Amphitheatre, was the largest

amphitheater ever built in the Roman

Empire. It held 50,000

spectators.

Construction began around 70 under Vespasian and was completed in 80 under Titus. It remained in use for 500

years.

The Colosseum was used for gladiator games and other public spectacles, including mock naval battles, for

which it could be filled with water piped from the Tiber River.

Medieval map of Rome showing the Colosseum

Artist’s reconstruction of theRoman Forum in the Golden Age

Baths of CaracallaSir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1899

Public Bathing inAncient Rome

Public bathing was an important part of Roman social life in the

Golden Age.

A visit to the baths was a part of daily life for Romans. The baths were a place to relax and meet with friends. Women and men of all classes used the public baths. Sometimes

there were separate facilities or hours for women; sometimes men and women bathed together.

A trip to the baths would include exercise to work up a sweat, a soak in warm, hot and cool pools, and a

cleansing massage with a strigil (pictured) which was used to scrape off aromatic oils and accumulated dirt.

The Romans did not use soap.

Roman baths ranged from small privately managed facilities to large public complexes built and operated by the state.

Baths were found in every neighborhood of Rome, and in almost every Roman settlement throughout the empire.

Baths of Caracalla

The Caracalla baths, the second-largest bath complex in ancient Rome, included two public libraries, one with texts

in Greek and the other Latin.

Baths of Caracalla, engraving, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)

Roads and Aqueducts

Roman road in PompeiiPhoto by Paul Vlaar

Long straight roads, 53,000 miles of them, connected all parts of the

Roman Empire to regional

centers and the imperial capital

in Rome.

The roads were used:

By legions to march quickly to where they were needed

To transport goods over great distances

By Romans to travel around the empire

The roads were built to last; some are still used today.

Via Appia – The Appian Way

The roads were important for maintaining the stability of the empire.Later, during

the 5th century as the empire collapsed, they were used by “barbarians” invading Roman provinces.

Roman roads in Italy

The arcades of the Aqua Claudia with the Anio Novus on top, two of the aqueducts of Rome.

(Constructed in 36-50 under Caligula and Claudius)

Photo by Wilke Schram www.romanaqueducts.info

The Roman waterway system, which brought fresh water to private homes as well as public baths and fountains,

was one of the engineering marvels of the ancient world. The Romans also developed indoor plumbing and sewers

to carry waste away from homes.

Clay pipes (lower right) tapped into

Aqua Claudia

Photo by Wilke Schram

Aqueducts

Eleven water lines brought water to Rome from sources as far as 60 miles away.

Most of the system was composed of underground pipes and tunnels, but when the pipes had to cross valleys, or as they approached the city, they were raised on spectacular arched aqueducts.

Covered stone water channel, Germany

Photo by Wilke Schram

The entire system was gravity-fed. Very subtle gradients maintained the flow of water. Occasionally, a system of pressurized pipe, called an inverted siphon, was used to

push the water a short distance uphill.

Roman aqueduct, ca. 19 BCE, Pont du Gard, France

Similar aqueducts

were constructed all over the

empire. Some are still in use

today.

Religion

Romans worshipped

their classical gods as well

as past emperors,

deified after death.

Emperor worship - the

cult of the emperor - became a

unifying force in the empire.

Temple of Augusta and Livia, Vienne, France. Erected by Claudius.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius offers a sacrifice

Animals being led to sacrifice

Foreign Gods and Cults

Mithras

Isis

Cults from the east became popular in

Rome.

Mithras came to Rome from Persia, through Greece.Isis, a goddess of Egypt,

was also popular in Rome.Many other “mystery cults” were popular in the empire.

Jews were a large religious minority in the Roman Empire.

In addition to their kingdom of Judaea, there were many Jews in Egypt, Syria, and Greece.

There was a Jewish community in Rome from at least the 2nd century BCE.

Caesar and Augustus passed laws protecting the rights of Jews in Rome.

Jews in the Empire

Josephus was a Jewish military leader who was

captured by the Romans. He wrote a history of the Jewish-Roman War of 66-73.

Judaea had been a Roman ally since the 2nd century BCE.

It became a province in 6 CE.

Jews were usually treated with toleration and respect, but not always.

Emperor Caligula insisted on placing a statue of himself in the temple at Jerusalem. Although he was killed before he could do so, he created resentment.

In 66, a local conflict erupted into a major rebellion that lasted until 73. The Jews were defeated. Jewish deaths in the rebellion are estimated to have been between 600,000 and 1.3 million; 100,000 Jews were taken as slaves to Rome.

The temple at Jerusalem was destroyed.

960 Jewish rebels made their last stand at the hilltop fortress of Masada.

The Roman siege of Masada is one of the most famous examples of siege warfare.

15,000 Roman soldiers surrounded the fortress, preventing supplies from getting in. They constructed a massive ramp to assault the rebels on the hilltop.

Rather thanface capture, therebels committed mass suicide.

Masada and ruins on summit

“From one end of Galilee to the other there was an orgy of fire and bloodshed."

- Josephus, Jewish historian

Titus, military commander in Judaea and later emperor, condemned 2,500 Jews to fight wild

beasts in the amphitheater at Caesarea in celebration of his brother Domitan's birthday.

Coin issued by Jewish

rebels during the Roman-Jewish War

Early Christianity Christianity began as a small

cult – one of many – which grew in Palestine after the crucifixion of the Jewish teacher, Jesus of Nazareth.

Communities of Christiansdeveloped around the Mediterranean. Many Christians differedwidely on theory and practice.

Christianity drew a following among the poor and uneducated.

The empire was generally tolerant of religious practices, but Christians’ refusal to participate in official religious celebrations, and their practice of meeting in secret, drew public suspicion.

Christianity grew slowly in the 1st and 2nd centuries.

There were occasional episodes of persecution, as when Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome.

Christianityspread more rapidly in the 3rd

century, alongwith political and economicdisruption.

The persecutionof Christians alsoincreased in the3rd centurycrisis.

Spread of Christianity to 325 CE

Spread of Christianity to 600 CE

Pompeii, a city in southern Italy near

Naples, was founded in the 6th century

BCE.

It was destroyed on August 24, 79 CE,

when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying the

city under several feet of ash and rock.

Pompeii, buried in the explosion, was

abandoned and forgotten.

Pompeii

Computer-generated depiction of the eruption of Vesuvius (by the BBC)

Pompeii was rediscovered in 1748. Excavations have exposed a well-preserved Roman city from the

Golden Age.

Ruins of Pompeii

Photos by Robert Curtis Rossetti

Rome and the Ancient World Slide 4Roman Republic Slide 31Roman Expansion/Punic Wars Slide 46Roman Society in the Republic Slide 82The Roman Revolution Slide 126The Principate Slide 159Rome in the Golden Age Slide 191Third Century Crisis Slide 229The Dominate Slide 244Late Antiquity Slide 257Legacy of Rome Slide 282

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