ELIZALDE, THERESEDOLDUCO, KAYEDUMPIT, MARIEDASILAO, ALLEN

DEFANTE, ANTON

GEOGRAPHICAL AND ECOLOGICALSETTING

• Ancient Rome Geography - Hills, marshes and rivers. Ancient Rome's geography was in many ways the secret of its future success so much so that even Roman writers, including Cicero, recognized how fortunate the choice had been.

• What is particularly interesting is that Rome, at odds with most other Italian cities, is built on a relatively low ground rather than on a dominating high ground. The lowest point of the city is at the Pantheon (approx 13m above sea level). The highest is Monte Mario hill (120 m asl).

• Ancient Pompeii- although close to the sea was essentially built on the side of a mountain on a spur of lava flow with a dominant position over the sea and the river Sarno.

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• The marshes meant that the first inhabitants tended to congregate on the steep hills which had been cut out by erosion.

• Being an area of volcanic origins the soil is naturally rich in water springs and minerals. The hills themselves were (are) largely made up of tufa rock - a sort of hardened rocky sponge.

Tufa Rock

• This type of stone was widely used for ancient Roman building and construction for example to build foundations, the earliest walls of the city or even as part of wall construction - opus reticulatum. It is still widely used in modern day construction.

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• Rome’s low-lying position partly explains the general lack of high defense towers -the surrounding hills are higher anyway. The towers which were built through late antiquity and middle ages were later substituted by religious domes which, at least in spirit, bring the heavens down to earth or the spirit up to the heavens depending on your perspective.

• The Geography of Ancient Rome was characterized by relatively steep hills on the left bank of the river Tiber, at the point where the river flowed around a small island (16m asl) as well as branching out into marshy areas between the hills. In a sense, the Tiber island itself is a hill.

• The marsh areas were drained and developed into the Forum Boarium - the meat market and first port of ancient Rome.

• At that time the river was still navigable by Roman ships. Other parts of the marshes were drained to allow the city to grow between the hills. The most notable examples were the marsh between the Palatine and Aventine which became the Circus Maximus, with wooden seats along the hill sides of what was the marsh.

• The cloaca maxima and other drainage systems are still in function and the flowing water within them can still be heard by those visiting subterranean Rome.

• The first two hills to be populated were the Palatine and Capitoline

• but the city soon extended to include the Aventine, Caelius, Oppius, Viminalis and Quirinalis and others.

• The move across the river was largely prompted by military defence needs.

• Some of these hills were actually made up of a couple hills each with their own name. The most renowned across the river are the Janiculum and Vatican.

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• A curious hill is "Testaccio" which in reality is a man-made hill entirely made of carefully laid out broken amphora pieces (the amphorae were the ceramic containers used for commerce).

• This hill per se gives a pretty good idea of the extent to which man has come to alter the original geography.

• Other hills have come to be virtually dug out or eliminated as part of continuous urban development, for example the Velia hill.

SOCIAL & POLITICAL STRUCTURE

*republic- system of government in which citizens choose

representatives to govern on their behalf

Social Class

• patricians- wealthy land owner; Nobilities• plebians- common people• slaves

*Forbidden to marry between social classes

Consul- highest position * can only be obtained by patrician men

senate-law makers* composed of 300 patricians* not chosen by the citizens but by the consul*elected for life

Assembly- elects tributes*allows plebians into its membershipTribune- president of plebians* has right to intervene legal matters and leto

legislation

law of 12 tables• code of laws which spelled out civil matters,

crime and punishments, and relationships among citizens and family members

• applies to both patricians and plebians• marriage between 2 social classes is now legal• plebians can be consuls

RELIGIOUS SYSTEM

From the beginning Roman religion was polytheistic. From their gods and spirits,

Rome added to this collection to include both Greek gods as well as a number of foreign cults. Eventually, all of their gods had been

washed away, gradually replaced by Christianity.

The Romans thought that there were many gods, and that these gods each controlled different parts of the world: storms, the

ocean, marriage, blacksmithing, and so forth.

Each Roman family has there one specific god that they believe in called penates. They pay their respect to augurs, there priest who specializes in their signs.

One important Roman idea about their gods was "do ut des", which is Latin for "I give so that you will give." People should sacrifice to the gods, so that the gods would help them in return.

•Temples to worship the gods were built throughout the Roman Empire. •Temples usually always followed the same building pattern. •The roof was triangular shaped and supported by great pillars. •Steps led up to the main doorway that was usually built behind the pillars. •The inside of the temple would have been very well decorated and there would have been a statue of the god in it.

Patheon

Christianity

Later in Rome, Christianity was developed. It became a major religion in Rome soon after its creation. At first, the Christians were not accepted into

Rome. Once Christianity was introduced into society, it became a major religion. The Romans started building churches rapidly, which led to the

rise of Christianity in Rome.

vaticano St. John Lateran

The Christians believed in Jesus. They believed that they should live life like Jesus, because they believe that he was a figure to look up to. Christians want to live without sin, because living with a small amount of sin gets them into heaven. A Christian believes that too much sin would get you in hell, which is a punishment.

INFASTRUCTURES, AESTHETIC ART

One of the things the Romans are most famous for is their architecture.

• The Romans brought a lot of new ideas to architecture, of which the three most important are the arch, the baked brick, and the use of cement and concrete.

• Roman architecture inspired the design of the U.S. Capitol building!

• The Romans were the first to build aqueducts.

• The running water, indoor plumbing and sewer system carrying away disease from the population

• The Romans developed or improved their art by copying the art from the Greeks for the statues.

• Statues were made from clay or marble. • Metal was sometimes added to the statues so that they

had added strength. • Statues were well made, were nude and they were

made of gods or important leaders which were recognized .

• The fact that the statues had important people meant that they had to be done as well as possible since it was honouring their gods.

• Paintings and mosaics were important too as they were used to advertise or to show everyday life scenes.

• These were made in local colours which were found in the stone, plants and any other source of colour.

• one example of this is in the Roman town of Pompeii. These paintings usually showed scenes of everyday life in the countryside. 

Arches

Basilica• A very common type of building erected for

business purposes and also for the accommodation of the courts.

• It usually consisted of a rectangular hall, of considerable height, surrounded by one or two ambulatories, sometimes with galleries, and lighted by openings in the upper part of the side walls.

Colosseum

• one of the world's most magnificent pieces of architecture.

• constructed between A.D. 70 and 80 under three Flavian emperors: Vespasian, Titus, and Dominton..

Pantheon• a place of worship for the Romans, who worshipped many

gods and goddesses.

• There is a perfect dome on the top of the Pantheon and in that dome is a large hole. This is very interesting and important because it lets in the natural light from outside and it allows rain to come in, which would wash away the blood from animal sacrifices.

• There was a system set up in the way the floor curved so that when it rained, it would wash the floor and then flow towards the walls of the Pantheon and then drain out through a special drain.

The Forum•  - In the times of ancient Rome, The Forum

was full of government buildings and temples and markets. The Romans used columns in their architecture, just like the Greeks. In this way, the architecture of the Romans and Greeks are very similar.

Catacombs• The ancient catacombs were tombs for Christians. At

the time that these were used, Christians were persecuted for their religion. Since they were persecuted,

• Christians had to be very careful when burying their dead. If non- Christians found the grave, they would try to steal jewelry of the dead person or even damage the body. To prevent this, Christians buried their dead in these underground tombs that were like little shelves just big enough for the body. These catacombs were also good hiding places for people escaping persecution.

Trajan’s Column

• The Trajan's Column built by the architect Apollodoro from Damasco during the reign of emperor Trajan to celebrate his victorious deeds in Dacia. It was built on the centre of the Forum. The column is 30 metres high. On in it are represented the events of the war in Dacia.

Economic setting

• Ancient Rome commanded a vast area of land, with tremendous natural and human resources.

• As such, Rome's economy remained focused on farming and trade.

• Agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape,

• and by the 1st century BC, vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers, who were unable to match the imported grain price.

• The annexation of Egypt, Sicily and Tunisia in North Africa provided a continuous supply of grains. In turn, olive oil and wine were Italy's main exports.

Finance• For centuries the monetary affairs of the Roman Republic had rested

in the hands of the Senate. These elite liked to present themselves as steady and fiscally conservative.

• The aerarium (state treasury) was supervised by members of the government rising in power and prestige, the Quaestors, Praetors, and eventually the Prefects. With the dawn of the Roman Empire, a major change took place, as the emperors assumed the reins of financial control. Augustus adopted a system that was, on the surface, fair to the senate. Just as the world was divided in provinces designated as imperial or senatorial, so was the treasury. All tribute brought in from senatorially controlled provinces was given to the aerarium, while that of the imperial territories went to the treasury of the emperor, the fiscus.

Trading

• Even before the republic, the Roman Kingdom was engaged in regular commerce using the river Tiber. Before the Punic Wars completely changed the nature of commerce in the Mediterranean, the Roman republic had important commercial exchanges with Carthage. It entered into several commercial and political agreements with its rival city in addition to engaging in simple retail trading. The Roman Empire traded with the Chinese over the Silk Road.