The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (3 page)

Beginning in the Renaissance, and especially in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the west has romanticized classical Greek culture into both a radical alternative to Roman culture and into the true source of Western culture. You'll sometimes find Roman civilization portrayed as a kind of cultural pilot biscuit (a tasteless but hearty cracker) whose only value was to serve up a tasty selection of Greek cultural hors d'ouvres to modern taste buds. But there's a lot to learn about and from the Romans. You might find some facets of the Roman story remarkably contemporary in application and impact. The following are a few examples.

 
Lend Me Your Ears
What the god Jupiter had to say about the Romans:

His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono: imperium sine fine dedi.

“For these people [the Romans] I place no boundaries of space or time: I have given them empire without end.”

—Virgil's
Aeneid,
Book I, lines 278–279 (composed between 30 and 19
B.C.E.
)

Rome emerged from a mixture of local cultures and ended as an empire ruled by emperors from Italy, Africa, the Middle East, and northern Europe. The Romans had to bring people diverse in ethnic background, religion, and culture into an overarching system in which they shared some common identity and purpose. We might not like some of the ways that the Romans addressed this tension, but it's often surprising to see just how diverse their empire became.

The abstraction of civil rights is one of the Romans' most important achievements. As Rome grew, it developed different formal and informal relationships with neighboring cities, states, territories, peoples, and empires. And as these became, in turn, “Roman,” the concept of who was a Roman, and what it meant to be Roman, evolved. As a result, the Romans faced abstract and practical problems of civic identity—the scope of which hasn't been seen until our present day. Eventually, through the
Constitutio Antoniniana
in
C
.
E
. 212, all Roman citizens regardless of birth, economic status, or ethnic background, had equal civic status.

The geographic and cultural extent of Rome's influence remains evident in the impact of its language, Latin, upon modern languages. True, classical Latin isn't typically spoken (although spoken Latin is on somewhat of a comeback), but neither is Middle or Elizabethan English. But what about Italian? Spanish? French? Portuguese? Romanian? All these languages grew directly out of Latin. And English? Well, although English is a Germanic language, it was heavily influenced by Latin through French (both through conquest and through French-educated authors like Chaucer) and by the Latin of the Catholic Church. If you're speaking English
now,
many of the words you're using derive from Latin roots.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Words such as “romantic” and “romanticize” do come from “Roman,” but were developed from late medieval literature written in common dialects that evolved from Latin. The Old French term for these dialects was
romans
—hence, the Romance languages. While official documents were written in Latin, works for popular consumption were written in romans and tended to be (check the supermarket) “romantic” in nature.

Most ancient cultures believed time was circular: History operated, like the seasons, within cycles that were recognizable but unalterable. The Romans saw time as linear. They believed that one had control over (and responsibility for) the future by the choices one made. It was a different attitude from that which you see in the literature of the ancient Greeks. Much of Greek literature confronts how to live well within what is essentially a “no-win” scenario. The Romans didn't believe in the no-win scenario. Jupiter had given them, in the words of the poet Virgil,
imperium sine fine
, “empire without end,” and all the possibilities and responsibilities that implied. We are, in many ways, inheritors of that essentially optimistic outlook.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
You can easily see how a common Latin tongue grew into the Romance languages if you look at certain Latin words. Take
bonus
(good), for example: The Italian (
buono
), French (
bon
), and Spanish (
bueno
) derivatives are clear. With some background, you can also see how English words like “sinister” go back to Latin in different ways:
sinister
in Latin is “left” (compare the Italian
sinistra
), but it also means “unlucky” or “ill-omened.” Other Latin phrases, such as
per se
or
pro bono,
have found their way directly into English.

Let's start with the name itself. What do you think of when someone refers to “Rome”? The Italian city? An empire? A religious institution? Images of chariot races or battles from movies? Crowds wandering about in togas? Christians being fed to lions? Debauched banquets? Obviously, the name carries a lot of baggage. When you see the word “Rome,” what the name means depends on the context in which it appears.

Let's take a look at some of the meanings “Rome” can have.

Of course, Rome is both a modern and an ancient city. As far as modern Rome goes, there is an incredible depth to the city, which swirls with visible reminders from (and this is important) every era of its past.

But Rome isn't just about the medallions and scars of an influential veteran of history, it's about the experience of living here and now against the backdrop of there and then. That's what gives the city a profound depth, a sharp poignancy, and (at times) a rich absurdity. An angry child takes a stand on an ancient stone in the forum and, gesturing like an orator, demands his
gelato;
traffic swirls around piazzas like a never-ending chariot race; and, amid the din and dust, a tired Roman washes his hands and neck at an ancient fountain and lovingly caresses the carved face from which the water trickles.

So go to Rome in the here and now, savor the complexity and contradictions, marvel at the majesty and madness, and throw a few coins in Trevi Fountain for me.

Rome new, old, and older. Sit by the Renaissance fountain with a cold
gelato
and contemplate the Pantheon—an inspiration to both past and present.

We often think of the Romans as people of a land, like the Egyptians. But they were the citizens of a single city, the people who lived in and around its walls. As they expanded their influence, they became much more than the city; at their core the Romans remained a conservative people centered on the traditions and values of this one place. It's amazing to think that an ancient Latin city, no larger than a couple of modern cruise ships, could become so powerful and influential.

The people of ancient Rome established a framework of laws, treaties, and conventions among themselves and with those whom they conquered and governed. Over time, some outsiders became Roman citizens, and people from other towns and cities could be “Roman” in the same way that people born in Rome were. Others enjoyed various privileges, depending on their city's relationship with Rome. In any case, the political, cultural, and legal system that bound these people together, but which nevertheless remained centered on the city of Rome, is sometimes what is meant by “Rome.”

 
Veto!
You'll see the term “Roman Empire” used loosely to refer to the Roman imperialistic state. But the “Empire,” or “Imperial Age,” is also a specific period in Roman history, namely, when emperors ruled Rome. This differs from the “Republic” and the “Principate.” So look carefully at whether the term is being used in the context of Romans governing the conquered or the Romans governing themselves!

 
Roamin' the Romans
If you're in Washington, D.C., there are plenty of Romanesque things to see. But as you wander around the neoclassical architecture, reflect a moment on the fact that American government features a “Senate” and not a Parliament, located on the “Capitol” hill. In such ways did the American founders borrow not only Roman political institutions but also from Roman political geography in forming their own “Republic.”

Over time, the city of Rome, its citizens, and their allies conquered and controlled (to various degrees) an enormous expanse of tribal lands, cities, and kingdoms. Some of these were under direct Roman control; others were loosely controlled by alliances backed by the threat of force or installed leaders friendly to the Romans. The ways that Rome controlled and dominated these areas changed over time, and the term “Rome” at times refers to what might be thought of as the Roman sphere of influence. This control was not always exercised from the city of Rome itself; at times the city of Rome was secondary to Constantinople, Milan, Ravenna, and even Alexandria as the geographical source of “Rome's” directive power.

You will sometimes hear the term “Rome” used with reference to the Vatican. The Vatican is a Roman Catholic state established on the outskirts of Rome during the chaos of the fall of the western Roman Empire by the bishops of Rome, or popes. “Rome,” in this context, sometimes refers more to the Holy See, the power of institutional and ecclesiastical authority vested in and proceeding from the Popes. The Holy See, and consequently the Vatican, grew through the Middle Ages into a powerful and influential religious and political institution.

People have, over time, referred to Rome or the Romans when advancing or attacking ideas about power, authority, governance, and moral order. Western history is littered with rulers and authors who longed for a “new Rome” in one form or another. Spanish conquistadors argued about whether they were, in fact, following a Roman model or escaping from it in conquering the New World. Political theorists, such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, argued for versions of the American constitution using dueling references to Rome and famous Romans. In these contexts, “Rome” is less about a city or ancient people than it is a term that symbolizes a bundle of political, moral, and cultural ideas.