The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (8 page)

 
Lend Me Your Ears
“On August twenty-fourth at about one o'clock, my mother pointed out a cloud to him [Pliny the Elder] that was very unusual both for its size and for its appearance. He had just taken a cold bath and was warming up by lying about in the sun after breakfast while reading a bit. He called for his slippers and went up the hill from which the wonder could best be seen. A cloud was rising up out of a mountain (this was only later recognized to be Vesuvius because it was hard to tell from such a distance from which mountain the cloud was coming at the time) which was closest in form and shape to an umbrella pine tree. For it rose up on a kind of very tall trunk and poured outward at the top like in branches. It was sometimes bright white, and sometimes dark and spotted, depending on whether it had brought up ash or earth.”

—Pliny the Younger,
Letter
6.16, written to the historian Tacitus, ca
C
.
E
. 110

 
Roamin' the Romans
When in Turkey, be sure to visit Bodrum (ancient Halicarnassus), where there is a fine museum dedicated to underwater archeology. Much more than Roman artifacts are there, of course, but you'll get an overview of the role that seafaring and merchant trade played throughout ancient history.

The Mediterranean is littered with shipwrecks, and the sunken treasure that they have provided includes more than objects of art and gold. They also tell us a great deal about trade, travel, and technology.

Freshwater lakes have also yielded some remarkable finds. Two well-preserved vessels from the early empire were excavated between 1929 and 1932 at the bottom of Lake Nemi, not far outside of Rome. Excavators drained the lake (using, in part, the old Roman aqueduct) down to the ships, which were placed in a museum designed for their preservation and study. Unfortunately, the Nazis burned it all as they abandoned Italy. Drawings, some photographs, and other material remain. Efforts are underway to rebuild full-scale working replicas of the original ships.

We have a great deal of textual evidence from and about the Romans. Both Greek and Roman culture were highly literate, which means that people ranging from private individuals to state officials created a variety of written documents.

On the public and state level, there is a great deal of literature that recorded what happened and when, described decrees and laws, and proclaimed the purpose or origin of buildings and public monuments. Other public texts, like the signs that adorn the walls of Pompeii, give us an idea of the kinds of public discourse that took place in a bustling Roman town.

Literature of all kinds, much of it highly introspective and self-analytic, circulated in the public sphere. Moreover, a great deal of personal material has been recovered, which gives us a look into the lives of individuals—evidence often sorely lacking in the study of ancient cultures.

Official texts were often preserved in what was literally a “hard copy”—stone or bronze. Treaties, dedications, proclamations, and official documents such as the Twelve Tables (see the following list) were inscribed to ensure their permanence. Other official records were kept in less secure ways, and most were lost in the sack of Rome by the Gauls in 390
B
.
C
.
E
. The most important official public documents for the study of Roman history and culture are . . .

• Lapis Niger:
  Also called the Black Stone, this is the only original document of Roman history that we possess, and the oldest monument in the Roman Forum. The Lapis Niger is a fragmented stone pyramid dating to the period of the Kings (sixth century
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .) with inscriptions concerning ritual law and practice.
  
• Twelve Tables:
  These were law codes originally written on wood and later inscribed in bronze (see Chapter 5, “Seven Hills and One Big Sewer: Rome Becomes a City,” for more on them). Although we do not possess the originals, we have a good idea of what they contained. Early Roman historians had access to them, and Roman schoolchildren of the first century
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  . were forced to memorize them much as has been done at times in the United States with the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
  
• Fasti:
  These were originally public lists of days on which legal and public business could be held. They were kept by magistrates and priests. Over time, these lists came to include yearly records of public concern such as magistrates, treaties, triumphs, and portents. These records were used by early Roman historians for chronological and historical information. The Fasti are more accurate for dates after about 300
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  ., but overall they are pretty accurate. Augustus
  had information combined from several fasti and set up the
  Fasti Capitolini
  (also known as the Regia Inscription), which covered the period from Romulus to about 12
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  . You can see fragments of this inscription in Capitoline Museum in Rome.
  
• Annales Maximi:
  These were yearly records kept by the
  Pontifex Maximus
  , or chief priest. These were kept since the time of the kings, but like many other records, perished in the Gallic sack of 390
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  . Various other lists were brought back together to restore the record in about 133
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .
  

 
Veto!
We possess few original documents from the Romans. Much of what we know about official records, such as the Twelve Tables, comes from quotations by other authors or fragments of inscriptions that are themselves copies. A few original documents of personal nature, such as papyrus fragments, graffiti, and signs, have been preserved in archeological finds, and there are many epitaphs with personalized inscriptions. But we possess no “first edition” works of Roman literature. These works were passed on through copies and preserved in libraries and monasteries.

 
Veto!
Oral sources are not necessarily suspect simply because they are passed on by word of mouth rather than in written documents. Many cultures, ancient as well as modern, preserve details of their history in traditional oral forms that are remarkably accurate and comprehensive.

The Romans left an incredible amount of literature, and we'll cover the specifics in Chapter 11, “Literature and Culture of the Republic,” and Chapter 21, “
Cogito Ergo Sum:
The Life of the Mind.” There is poetry, history, philosophy, biography, satire, ethnography—even a cookbook! Overall, however, the Romans loved to talk about themselves, both in self-adulation and self-criticism. They were also quite conscious of preserving their legacy and their traditions. Consequently, we have lots of material about almost all aspects of Roman life—once the Romans began to record them. Unfortunately, they didn't start to pursue literature until the end of the second century
B
.
C
.
E
., so much of what we know about the early Romans comes from later sources and oral tradition.

It may surprise you, but the scribbles and scratches that you find on bathroom walls and alleyways has a long and honorable history as far as cultural historians are concerned. We learn a great deal that you might never think of from such writings. For example, since most people (like myself) tend to (mis)spell things phonetically, misspelled graffiti can tell us how Latin was pronounced in different times and in different places. Graffiti can also give us an insight into the composition of neighborhoods, social issues and attitudes, and facets of culture that were originally meant for public viewing but rarely, if ever, seen.

 
Lend Me Your Ears
Here are a few examples of graffiti found at Pompeii.

• Town rivalries:
  puteolanis felicia omnibus Nucerinis felicia et uncum Pompeianis Petecusanis
  , meaning “Happiness to the people of Puzzuoli! Happiness to everyone of Nuceria! And the meat hook for the Pompeians and Pithecusians”;
  
• I was here:
  Lucius pinxit
  , meaning “Lucius wrote (painted) this”;
  
• “It's a dirty job,” but:
  pecunia non olet,
  meaning “Money don't stink.”
  

It's always helpful, when studying a culture, to have the perspectives of both insiders and outsiders. There are other writers who wrote in other languages (mostly Greek) about the Romans and events in which Rome was involved. Most of these authors were “Romanized” either as captives in war or by acculturation, and they often sought to explain Roman successes and the new world order to their audiences. Four of the most influential were . . .

• Polybius
  (ca 220–120
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .). Polybius was an influential Greek who was taken to Rome after the battle of Pydna (168
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .). There he became the tutor of a powerful Roman, Scipio Aemelianus. Eventually he oversaw part of the reorganization of Greece after the destruction of Corinth in 146
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  . and wrote a history about Rome's domination of the Mediterranean. In it he includes a famous analysis of the Roman constitution as being a superior mix of the elements of monarchy (the Roman consuls), aristocracy (the Roman senate), and democracy (the Roman assemblies).
  
• Flavius Josephus
  (ca
  C
  .
  E
  . 37–100). Josephus was a Jewish statesman, soldier, and Pharisee during the Jewish rebellion of 68. He became an attendant of the emperors Vespasian and Titus and was present at the fall of Jerusalem in 70. He returned to Rome and became a citizen. There he wrote several works which include his perspective on Rome and the Romans. The first was “The History of the Jewish War Against the Romans,” which was originally written in Aramaic for Jews in Mesopotamia but then translated into Greek. His other works were written in Greek and included a history of the Jews from Creation to 66
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  ., an autobiography, and two essays against Apion of Alexandria, an anti-Semitic scholar.
  
• Plutarch
  (ca
  C
  .
  E
  . 46–120). Plutarch was a prolific Greek writer, moralist, and lecturer who lived in central Greece. He appears to have traveled the empire on several occasions. His works are too many to describe here, but they include the biographical “Parallel Lives,” in which the lives of 23 famous Greeks are told alongside that of an equal number of famous Romans with a brief comparison after each pair.
  
• Cassius Dio
  (ca
  C
  .
  E
  . 150–235). Dio was from Nicea in Bythinia (modern Turkey). He became consul in Rome and governor of Africa and Dalmatia. Although a Roman citizen and a powerful one, Dio is included here because he spent 22 years writing a comprehensive Roman history in Greek. Part of it survives, including the only surviving account of Claudius's invasion of Britain.
  

Relief showing the spoils of Jerusalem in Emperor Titus's triumphal parade. From the arch of Titus in Rome.