The Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium R? M? Num , Classic Latin: Ã, [? m'p?.ri.?: ro: 'ma:.n ?:] ; Koine and Medieval Greek: ??? ??????????, tr. Basileia t? n Rh? mai? n ) is the period Roman post-Roman Roman civilization, characterized by emperor-led rule and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Africa and Asia. The city of Rome is the largest city in the world c. 100 BCÃ, - c. AD 400 , with Constantinople (New Rome) being the largest of about 500 AD, and the imperial population grew to about 50 to 90 million inhabitants (about 20% of the world's population at the time). The precocious 500-year-old was highly unstable in a series of civil wars and political conflicts, in which Julius Caesar was appointed an eternal dictator and subsequently murdered in 44 BC. The civil war and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, the adopted son of the Emperor, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. The power of Octavian was then unaffected and at 27 BC the Roman Senate formally gave it a total power and a new title of Augustus, effectively marking the end of the Roman Republic.
The period of the Roman Empire lasted about 1,500 years compared to the Republican's 500 years. The first two centuries of the existence of the empire were an unprecedented period of political stability and prosperity known as Pax Romana, or "Roman Peace". After the victory of Octavian, the size of the empire increased dramatically. After the Caligula assassination in 41 CE, the Senate briefly considered restoring the republic, but Praetorian Guard proclaimed Claudius emperor instead. Under Claudius, the empire attacked Britannia, the first major expansion since Augustus. After Claudius's successor, Nero, committed suicide in 68 AD, the empire underwent a series of brief civil wars, as well as a large uprising simultaneously in Judea, where four different generals of legion were declared emperors. Vespasian appeared victorious in 69 AD, building the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus, who opened the Colosseum shortly after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. His brief government was followed by a long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually murdered. The Senate then appoints the first of the Five Good Emperors. The Empire reached its greatest level under Trajan, the second on this line.
The period of increasing problems and decline begins with the Commodus government. Commodus's assassination in 192 triggered the Emperor's Five Years, which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to a Third-Century Crisis in which 26 people were declared emperors by the Roman Senate over a span of fifty years. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stable with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was ultimately unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that eventually ended by Constantine the Great, who defeated his rival and became the sole ruler of the empire in 324. Constantine later founded the second capital of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. It remains the capital of the east until his death. Constantine also adopted the Christian religion which later became the official religion of the imperial state. After the death of Theodosius I in 395, the empire was permanently divided between West and East. The powers of the Western Roman Empire were gradually eroded by abuse of power, civil war, barbaric migration and invasion, military reform, and economic depression. The Roman sack in 410 by Visigoth and again on 455 by Vandal accelerated the decay of the Western Empire, while the deposition of the emperor, Romulus Augustulus, on 476 by Odoacer, was generally accepted to mark the end of the empire in the west. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern counterpart, and the separate government in the western part of the empire simply ceased to exist after the death of Julius Nepos, in 480. The Eastern Roman Empire (in modern historiography called the Byzantine Empire) survived for another millennium as wrong one of the world's leading powers alongside the arch-rival of the Sassanid Empire, who had inherited centuries-old Roman-Persian conflict from its Parthian predecessors. The Byzantine Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It is one of the greatest empires in the history of the world. At its peak below Trajan, it covers 5 million square kilometers. It holds the power of about 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population of the world. The longevity and extent of the empire ensure the enduring influence of Latin and Greek, culture, religion, discovery, architecture, philosophy, law and form of government on the imperial descendants. During the medieval period of Europe, attempts were even made to establish the successors of the Roman Empire, including the Romanian Empire, a Crusader state; and Holy Roman Empire. In the manner of European colonialism after the Renaissance, and their hereditary nations, Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian culture were exported on a world scale, playing an important role in the development of the modern world.
Video Roman Empire
Histori
Rome began to develop shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, although it did not develop beyond the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Then, it was the "empire" long before the emperor. The Roman Republic is not a nation-state in the modern sense, but the networks of the remaining cities to govern themselves (albeit with varying degrees of independence from the Roman Senate) and provinces run by military commanders. It was governed, not by the emperor, but by a judge elected every year (Roman Consul above all) in relation to the senate. For various reasons, the 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which eventually led to rule by the emperor. The consul's military powers rest on the concept of Roman imperial law, which literally means "command" (though usually in the military sense). Sometimes, the successful consul is given the honorary title of imperator (commander), and this is the origin of the emperor (and empire ) because of this titles (among other things) were always given to the early emperors on their accessions.
Rome experienced a series of internal conflicts, conspiracies and civil wars since the end of the 2nd century BC and beyond, while greatly expanding its powers outside Italy. This is the period of the Crisis of the Roman Republic. Towards the end of this era, in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was eternally dictator before being killed. The factions of his killers were expelled from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by an army led by Mark Antony and the adopted son of Emperor Octavian. Antony and the Octavian division of the Roman world among them did not survive and the Octavian forces defeated the men of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC, the Senate and the Romans made Octavian the princeps (the "first citizens") by the proconsular empire , thus starting the Principate (the first time of the Roman empire's history, usually dated 27 BC to 284 AD), and gave it the name "Augustus" ("respected"). Though the old constitutional machinery remained, Augustus dominated. Although the republic stood on its behalf, Augustus's contemporaries knew it was just a curtain and that Augustus had all the meaningful authority in Rome. Since his reign ended a century of civil war and embarked on an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity, he was so beloved that he came to hold the power of a de facto king if not de jure . During the years of his reign, a new constitutional order emerged (partly organically and partially by design), so that, after his death, this new constitutional order operated as before when Tiberius was accepted as the new emperor. The 200 years that began with the reign of Augustus are traditionally regarded as Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). During this period, imperial cohesion increased by the level of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never experienced before. Rebellion in the provinces is rare, but with "merciless and swift" when it happens. Sixty years of Jewish-Roman war in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century were remarkable in their duration and violence.
Augustus's success in establishing the principles of dynastic succession was limited by his spending some potent talented heirs. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors - Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero - before it was produced in AD 69 to the disputed Four Year Emperor, from which Vespasian emerged victorious. Vespasian became the founder of the short Flavian dynasty, to be followed by the Nerva-Antonine dynasty that produced the "Five Good Emperors": Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius who tend to be philosophical. In the view of the Greek historian Dio Cassius, a contemporary observer, the accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 AD marks the decline "of the golden empire into one of rust and iron" - a famous commentary that has made some historians, especially Edward Gibbon, to take the Commodus government as early decline of the Roman Empire.
In 212, during the reign of Caracalla, Roman citizenship was granted to all free-living royal residents. But despite this universality movement, the Severan dynasty was very chaotic - the emperor's government was terminated regularly by murder or its execution - and, after its collapse, the Roman Empire was struck by the Third Century Crisis, a period of invasion. , civil disputes, economic chaos, and epidemics. In defining the historical epoch, this crisis is sometimes seen as marking the transition from the Classical Ancient to the Ancient End. Aurelian (reigned 270-275) brought the empire back from the brink and stabilized it. Diocletian completed the work of fully restoring the empire, but rejected the role of the princeps and became the first emperor to be dealt with regularly as domine, master or lord. This marks the end of the Principate, and dominates early. The Diocletian government also brought the most imperial efforts against the perceived threat of Christianity, the "Great Persecution". The state of absolute monarchy that began with Diocletian survived until the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453.
Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate emperor, the Tetrarchy. Convinced that he repaired the disturbance that plagued Rome, he abdicated with his fellow emperors, and the Tetrarchy soon collapsed. The Order was finally restored by Constantine the Great, who became the first emperor to convert to Christianity, and who founded Constantinople as the new capital of the eastern empire. For decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided along the east-west axis, with a center of dual power in Constantinople and Rome. The Julian government, which attempted to restore the Roman and Hellenistic religions, interrupted the succession of Christian emperors briefly. Theodosius I, the last emperor who ruled over East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the official religion of the empire.
The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate at the beginning of the 5th century when German migration and invasion flooded the capacity of the Empire to assimilate migrants and fight the invaders. The Romans managed to fight all the invaders, the most famous being Attila, although the empire had assimilated with so many Germans who doubted loyalty to Rome that the empire began to tear itself apart. Most of the chronology put the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the German warlord Odoacer. By putting himself under the control of the Emperor of the East, rather than calling himself Emperor (as did other Germanic chiefs after overthrowing the emperor of the past), Odoacer ended the Western Empire by ending the line of Western emperors.
The Empire in the East - often known as the Byzantine Empire, but in its day is referred to as the Roman Empire or by various other names - have different fates. It persisted for almost a millennium after the fall of its western counterpart and became the most stable Christian area during the Middle Ages. During the 6th century, Justinian I reclaimed North Africa and Italy. Yet within a few years after Justinian's death, the Byzantine possession in Italy was greatly reduced by the Lombards who settled on the peninsula. In the east, partly resulting from the destructive Epidemic of Justinian, the Romans were threatened by the rise of Islam, whose followers quickly conquered Syria, Armenia and Egypt during the Byzantine-Arab War, and soon presented a direct threat to Constantinople.. In the next century, the Arabs also captured southern Italy and Sicily. Slavic populations are also able to penetrate deep into the Balkans.
The Romans, however, succeeded in stopping further Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century and, beginning in the 9th century, taking back parts of the conquered lands. In 1000 AD, the Eastern Empire reached its peak: Basil II recaptured Bulgaria and Armenia, growing culture and commerce. However, soon after, the expansion suddenly ceased in 1071 with the Byzantine defeat in the Battle of Manzikert. After this important battle sent the empire into a prolonged period of decline. Two decades of internal disputes and Turkish invasions finally paved the way for Emperor Alexios I Komnenos to send a call for aid to the Western European kingdom in 1095.
The West responded with the Crusades, which ultimately resulted in the Constantinople Bags by the participants in the Fourth Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 divided what remained of the Empire into successor states, the last victor was Nicaea. After retaking Constantinople by the Imperial forces, the Empire was little more than the limited Greek state on the Aegean coast. The Roman Empire finally collapsed when Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453.
Maps Roman Empire
Geography and demographics
The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with adjacent territory across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Latin phrase the fine sinus empire ("endless kingdom") expresses the ideology that neither time nor space restricts the Empire. In Vergil's epic poem, the infinite imperial, Aeneid, infinite is said to be given to the Romans by their supreme deity, Jupiter. This claim of universal power was renewed and immortalized when the Empire was under Christian rule in the 4th century. In addition to annexing large areas in their quest for imperial development, the Romans were also a huge sculptor in their ward who directly changed their geography. For example, all forests are cleared to provide sufficient timber resources for an expanded empire. In his book Critias Plato describes deforestation: where there used to be "abundance of wood in the mountains," he can now see only "the framework of the soil."
In reality, Roman expansion was largely undertaken under the Republic, though northern European conquest was conquered in the 1st century, when Roman control in Europe, Africa and Asia was strengthened. During the reign of Augustus, the "world known global map" was presented for the first time in public in Rome, to coincide with the most comprehensive composition of works on the political geography of the ancient, geography of the Greek writer Pontic Strabo. When Augustus died, the warning account of his achievement (Res Gestae) prominently displayed a geographical catalog of people and places within the Empire. Geography, census, and the careful keeping of written records were the primary concern of the Roman Empire government.
The Empire reached its largest stretch under Trajan (ruled 98-117), covering an area of ​​5 million square kilometers. The traditional population estimate of the population of 55-60 million counted between one-sixth and one-quarter of the world's total population and made it the largest population of any integrated political entity in the West until the mid-19th century. Demographic studies have recently argued for peak populations ranging from 70 million to over 100 million . Each of the three largest cities of the Empire - Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch - was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century.
As explained by historian Christopher Kelly:
Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in the ravaged north of England to the banks of the Euphrates river in Syria; of the great Rhine-Danube river system, which swirled in the fertile and fertile lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea, to the rich plains of the North African coast and the thick wounds of the Nile Valley in Egypt. The Empire really circles the Mediterranean... which its conquerors refer to as our mare nostrum - our sea.
Successor Trajan Hadrian adopted a sustaining policy rather than expanding the empire. Borders (fine) tagged, and border (limites) patrols. The most closely guarded border is the most unstable. The Hadrian Wall, which separates the Roman world from what is considered a constant barbaric threat, is the main surviving monument of this effort.
Language
Roman is Latin, which Virgil emphasizes as a source of Roman unity and tradition. Until the time of Alexander Severus (reign 222-235), the Roman birth certificate and will have to be written in Latin. Latin was the language of the law courts in the West and the military throughout the Empire, but was not officially applied to those brought under Roman rule. This policy contrasts with Alexander the Great, who aims to impose Greece throughout his empire as the official language. As a result of Alexander's conquest, the Greek koine has become a language distributed around the eastern Mediterranean and into Asia Minor. The "linguistic border" that divides Latin and Western Latin Greek passes through the Balkan peninsula.
The Romans who received the elite education learned Greek as a literary language, and most men from the ruling class spoke Greek. The Julio-Claudian emperors pushed the high standards of true Latin (Latinitas) , linguistic movements identified in modern terms as Classical Latin, and favored Latin to do official business. Claudius tried to restrict the use of Greek, and occasionally deprived the citizenship of those who did not have Latin, but even in the Senate he drew his own bilingual in communicating with the Greek-speaking ambassador. Suetonius quotes it as referring to "our two languages".
In the Eastern empire, laws and official documents were regularly translated into Greek from Latin. The daily interpenetration of two languages ​​is indicated by bilingual inscriptions, which sometimes even alternate between Greek and Latin. After all the free citizens of the empire were universally eligible in AD 212, a large number of Roman citizens would lack the Latin, although they were expected to gain at least the knowledge of tokens, and Latin remains the marker of "Romanness."
Among other reforms, the Diocletian emperor (reigned 284-305) sought to renew Latin authority, and the Greek expression h? kratousa dialektos proves the continuing status of Latin as "language of power". At the beginning of the sixth century, Emperor Justinian was involved in a quixotic attempt to reaffirm Latin status as a legal language, although in Latin it no longer had any currency as a living language in the East.
Local languages ​​and language heritage
References to translators show continued use of local languages ​​other than Greek and Latin, especially in Egypt, where Copts are dominated, and in military settings along the Rhine and Danube. Roman lawyers also showed concern for local languages ​​such as Punic, Gaulish, and Aramaic in ensuring correct understanding and application of law and oath. In the African province, Libyco-Berber and Punic are used in inscriptions and legends about coins in the Tiberian period (1st century AD). Libyco-Berber and Punic inscriptions appeared in public buildings in the second century, some bilingual in Latin. In Syria, Palmyrene soldiers even use their Aramaic dialect for inscriptions, in the striking exception to the rule that Latin is a military language.
The Babatha Archive is a suggestive example of multilingualism in the Empire. This papyrus, named for a Jewish woman in the province of Arabia and dating from 93 to 132 AD, mostly uses Aramaic, a local language, written in Greek with the influence of Semitic and Latin; a petition to the Roman governor, however, was written in Greek.
The dominance of Latin among the educated elite may obscure the continuity of spoken language, since all cultures within the Roman Empire were dominated orally. In the West, Latin, which is referred to in its oral form as vulgar Latin, gradually replaces the Celtic and Italic languages ​​associated with it by the same Indo-European origins. Commonalities in syntax and vocabulary facilitate Latin adoption.
After the decentralization of political power in the late antiquity, Latin developed locally into branches that became Roman languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian, and a large number of languages ​​and small dialects. Today, more than 900 million people are native speakers around the world.
As an international language of learning and literature, Latin itself continues as an active medium of expression for diplomacy and for intellectual development identified with Renaissance humanism until the seventeenth century, and to Roman law and the Catholic Church to this day.
Although the Greek language continued as a Byzantine Empire language, the distribution of languages ​​in the East was more complex. The majority of Greeks live on peninsulas and Greek islands, western Anatolia, major cities, and some coastal areas. Like Greek and Latin, Thrakia is derived from Indo-European, as are some of the now extinct languages ​​of Anatolia evidenced by the Imperial-era epigraph. Albanians are often seen as descendants of Illyrian, though this hypothesis has been challenged by some linguists, who maintain that it originates from Dacia or Thracian. (Iliria, Dacca, and Thracia, however, may have formed a subgroup or Sprachbund, see Thraco-Illyrian.) Afro -atetic languages ​​- especially Coptic in Egypt, and Aramaic in Syria and Mesopotamia - were never replaced by Greek. The use of international Greek, however, is one factor that enables the spread of Christianity, as demonstrated for example by the Greek usage of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul.
Society
The Roman Empire was highly multicultural, with a "rather surprising cohesive capacity" to create a sense of shared identity while encompassing diverse societies in its political system over a long period of time. Roman attention to creating public monuments and communal spaces open to all - such as forums, amphitheatres, racetracks and baths - helped foster a sense of "Romanness".
The Roman society has many overlapping social hierarchies so that the modern concepts of "class" in English can not be accurately represented. Two decades of civil war from which August rose to a single power left the traditional society in Rome in a state of confusion and upheaval, but did not affect the direct redistribution of wealth and social forces. From a lower class perspective, the summit is only added to the social pyramid. Personal relationships - patronage, friendship (amicitia) , family, marriage - continue to influence the way political and government work, as happened in the Republic. However, in Nero's time, it was not unusual to find a richer slave than a free citizen, or a horseman who exercised more power than a senator.
The opacity or spreading of rigid hierarchies from the Republican Party led to an increase in social mobility under the Empire, up and down, to a level that exceeded all other well documented ancient societies. Women, free people, and slaves have the opportunity to benefit and exercise influence in ways that were previously unavailable to them. The social life of the Empire, especially for those with limited personal resources, is increasingly fostered by the development of voluntary associations and confraternity ( collegia and sodalitate ) formed for a variety of purposes: professional union and trade , veteran groups, religious sodalities, drinking and eating clubs, performing arts groups, and funerary communities.
Infanticide was recorded in the Roman Empire and may have been widespread.
Legal status
According to Gaius jurist, the crucial difference in the Roman "legal person" is that all human beings are free (liberi) or slaves (servi) . The legal status of a free person may be more determined by their citizenship. Most citizens have limited rights (such as ius Latinum, "Latin rights"), but are entitled to the protection of laws and privileges not enjoyed by those who do not have citizenship. Free people who are not considered citizens, but live in the Roman world, have a status as peregrini , non-Romans. In 212 CE, through a decree known as Constitutio Antoniniana , the emperor Caracalla extended his citizenship to all freed royal citizens. This legal egalitarianism will require a broad revision of the existing legal range that distinguishes between citizens and non-citizens.
Women in Roman law
Roman women Freeborn is considered citizens throughout the Republic and the Empire, but does not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. The citizenship status of a mother determines that her children, as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos ("children born to two Roman citizens"). A Roman woman retains her own family name (nomen) for life. Children most often take the name of the father, but in the Empire period sometimes make their mother's name part of them, or even use it instead.
The ancient form of manus marriage where women have been subject to the authority of their husbands was largely abandoned by the Empire era, and a married woman retained possession of any property she brought into marriage. Technically he remained under his father's legal authority, though he moved into her husband's home, but when his father died, he was legally released. This arrangement was one of the factors in the degree of independence that Roman women enjoyed relative to them from many other ancient cultures and to the modern period: although he had to answer his father in legal matters, he was free from direct supervision in his daily life, and her husband did not have the legal power over him. Although it is a point of pride to be a newly married single woman, married, there is little stigma attached to the divorce, or to remarry quickly after losing a husband through death or divorce.
Girls have inheritance rights equivalent to boys if their father dies without leaving a will. The right of a Roman mother to own property and to throw it away when she feels right, including setting her own will, gives her immense influence over her children even as they grow up.
As part of Augustan's program to restore traditional morality and social order, moral legislation seeks to regulate the behavior of men and women as a means of promoting "family values". Adultery, which has become a private family affair under the Republic, is criminalized, and is broadly defined as a forbidden sex act between married men and women, or between married women and anyone other than her husband. The birth of a child is encouraged by the state: a woman who has given birth to three children is given greater symbolic awards and greater legal freedom (the ius trium liberorum) .
Because of their legal status as citizens and the extent to which they can become emancipated, women can own property, enter contracts, and engage in business, including shipping, manufacturing, and borrowing money. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honor women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication that they can acquire and dispose of great wealth; for example, the Arch of the Sergii is funded by Salvia Postuma, a female member of a respected family, and the largest building in the forum in Pompeii is funded by Eumachia, a Venus priest.
Slaves and laws
In the time of August, as many as 35% of people in Italy were slaves, making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constitute at least a fifth of the population and play a major role in the economy. Slavery is a complex institution that supports traditional Roman social structures as well as contributes to the economy. In urban environments, slaves may be professionals such as teachers, doctors, cooks, and accountants, in addition to the majority of slaves who provide trained or unskilled workers in households or workplaces. Agriculture and industry, such as milling and mining, depend on slave exploitation. Outside Italy, slaves make up an average of about 10 to 20% of the population, rarely in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some parts of Greece. Expanding Roman ownership of land and cultivable industries will affect the practice of slavery that already exists in the province. Although the institution of slavery is often thought to be shrinking in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until the 5th century. Slavery ceased gradually in the 6th and 7th centuries along with the declining urban centers in the West and the complex disintegration of the imperial economy that created demand for it.
The laws relating to slavery "are very complicated". Under Roman law, slaves are considered property and have no legal entity. They can be subjected to forms of corporal punishment that are not normally committed to citizens, sexual exploitation, torture, and summary executions. A slave can not be a lawsuit raped, for rape can only be done against free men; a slave rapist should be sued by the owner for property damage under Aquilian Law. Slaves have no right to a legal marriage called conubium , but their union is sometimes recognized, and if both are released they can marry. After Servile Wars of the Republic, the law under Augustus and his successors indicates driving concerns to control the threat of rebellion through limiting the size of the working group, and to hunt down the fugitive slaves.
Technically, a slave can not own property, but a slave who does business can be granted access to individual accounts or peculium funds that he can use as if it were his own. The requirements of this account vary depending on the level of trust and cooperation between the owner and the slave: a slave with a talent for business can be given a large allowance to generate profits, and may be allowed to inherit Over time slaves have increased legal protection, including the right to complain against their master. Sales bills may contain clauses stating that slaves can not be employed for prostitution, since prostitutes in ancient Rome often became slaves. The trade that developed in the eunuch slave in the late 1st century AD triggered a law prohibiting the castration of slaves against their will "for lust or profit." Roman slavery is not based on race. Slaves are taken from all over Europe and the Mediterranean, including Gaul, Hispania, Germany, Britannia, the Balkans, Greece... Generally slaves in Italy are Italian natives, with a minority of foreigners (including slaves and free people) born outside Italy estimating 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their largest number. Those from outside Europe were predominantly of Greek descent, while the Jews were never fully assimilated into Roman society, remaining as an identifiable minority. These slaves (especially foreigners) have higher mortality rates and lower birth rates than indigenous peoples, and sometimes even mass expulsions. The average age recorded at death for slaves of Rome is very low: seventeen and a half years (17.2 for men, 17.9 for women). During the period of Republican expansionism when slavery had permeated, prisoners of war were the main source of slaves. The ethnic range among slaves to some extent reflects that Roman troops were defeated in war, and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves to Rome. Slaves are also traded on the market, and sometimes sold by pirates. Baby's neglect and enslavement among the poor is another source. Vernae , on the other hand, is a homegrown slave born to a slave girl in an urban household or on a state plantation or farm. Although they do not have special legal status, an owner who abuses or fails to care for his/her vernae faces social rejection, as they are considered part of his/her family, the household, and in some cases may actually be free boys in the family. A talented slave with a talent for a business might collect enough peculium to justify their freedom, or be pampered for the services provided. The manisiisi became so frequent that in 2 BC the law (Lex Fufia Caninia) limited the number of slaves allowed to be free in their will. Freedmen
Rome differs from the Greek city-state in allowing freed slaves to become citizens. After liberation, a slave belonging to a Roman citizen not only enjoyed the passive freedom of ownership, but active political freedom, including the right to vote. A slave who has obtained libertas is a libertus ("liberated man," feminine liberta) in relation to his former his master, who later became his patron
A libertine is not entitled to hold public office or the highest priesthood of the state, but he can play the role of the priesthood in the cult of the emperor. He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, or reach a valid senatorial rank, but during the early Empire, free men held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian restricted their participation by law. Every future child of a free will be born free, with full citizenship rights.
The emergence of liberated free men - through political influence both in imperial service, or wealth - was a characteristic of the early imperial society. The prosperity of a group of free, achievers was evidenced by inscriptions throughout the Empire, and with their ownership of some of the most luxurious houses in Pompeii, such as the House of the Vettii. The excesses of the rich nouveau riche were dysensified in the Trimalchio character in Satyricon by Petronius, writing in the days of Nero. Such individuals, while remarkable, are indicative of possible upward social mobility in the Empire.
Census rating
The Latin ordo (plural ordines ) refers to social differences that are translated into English as "class, order, rank," nothing is right. One of the purposes of the Roman census was to determine the order that belonged to an individual. The two highest ordines in Rome are senators and horseback riding. Outside Rome, the decurion, also known as curiales, is the ruler of the order of a city.
"Senator" is not an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual accepted in the Senate after he was elected and served at least one term as an executive judge. A senator must also meet the property requirements of at least 1 million sestertii, as determined by the census. Nero gave a lot of money to a number of senators from old families who were too poor to qualify. Not all men who qualify for the senate order prefer to take the seat of the Senate, which requires the domicile of the law in Rome. The emperor often filled vacancies in a body of 600 men with an agreement. The son of a senator belongs to the senate order, but he must qualify for his own ability to enter the Senate itself. A senator may be expelled for violating moral standards: he is forbidden, for example, from marrying a free woman or fighting in the arena.
In Nero's day, the senators were mainly still from Rome and other parts of Italy, with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from Greek-speaking provinces in the East began to be added under Vespasian. The first senator of the easternmost province, Cappadocia, was accepted under Marcus Aurelius. During the Severan dynasty (193-235), the Italians controlled less than half the Senate. During the 3rd century, the domicile in Rome became impractical, and the inscriptions prove to senators who are active in politics and generosity in their homeland (patria) .
The senator has an aura of prestige and is a traditional class that rises through the cursus honorum , the political career path, but the knights of the Kingdom often have greater political wealth and power. Membership in the equestrian order is based on the property; in the early days of Rome, equity or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as fighter mounted ("common horses"), but the cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire. The census census of 400,000 sesters and three generations of free births qualifies a man as a horseman. The Census of 28 BC uncovered a large number of qualified men, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered in Cadiz and Padua itself. Equestrians rose through military career paths (tres militiae) to be prefects and procurators that were heavily placed within the imperial government.
The emergence of provincial men into the orders of senators and riding was an aspect of social mobility in the first three centuries of the Empire. The Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike the subsequent European nobility, the Roman family could not maintain its position only through succession of hereditary or land rights. Going to the higher ordines brings difference and privilege, but also a number of responsibilities. In ancient times, a city relied on its prominent citizens to fund public works, events, and services (munera) , rather than tax revenues, which were mainly supported by the military. Maintaining a person's rank requires huge personal expenses. The decree was crucial to the functioning of the cities in the Empire later, when the city council became exhausted, those who had ascended to the Senate were encouraged by the central government to surrender their seats and return to their hometowns, in an attempt to maintain civilian life.
In the later Empire, the dignities ("worthy, self-esteem) attended by senators or horseback riding were further enhanced with titles such as vir illustris ," famous men ". The appellation clarissimus (Greek lamprotatos ) is used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family, including women. The "value" of equestrian status breeds Those in the imperial service were ranked according to the salaries ( sexagenarius , 60,000 sesterces per year; centenarius <100,000; ducenarius <200,000). The title of Unfair trial
Since the republican principle of equality of citizens under the law fades, the upper class symbolic and social rights lead to the informal division of Roman society into those who have gained greater honor and honesty and those who are people the humble (humiliores) . In general, honest is a member of three higher "orders", along with certain military officers. The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive impetus among the upper classes to have their superiority over other citizens affirmed, especially in the judicial system. The penalty depends on the decision of the chairman's official as the relative "dignity" of the defendant: an honest person can pay a fine when convicted of a crime that a human may receive scourging.
The execution, which has been a rare legal punishment for free people under the Republic even in the case of capital, can be quick and relatively painless for Imperial citizens who are considered "more respectable", while those considered less likely to suffer from the type of torture and prolonged death. previously reserved for slaves, such as crucifixion and condemnation to beasts as spectacle in the arena. In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their position as being honest, especially if they refused to fulfill the religious aspect of their civic responsibilities, and thus became the subject of the punishment that created condition of martyrdom.
Government and military
The three main elements of the imperial Roman state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government. The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people were dealt with, the military mission switched to the police: protecting Roman citizens (after 212, all Freeborns from the Empire), the farming fields that fed them , and religious sites. Without modern instruments whether mass communication or mass destruction, the Romans did not have enough energy or resources to impose their power through violence alone. Cooperation with local power elites is necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract income. The Romans often exploited the internal political divide by supporting one faction over another: in Plutarch's view, "it was a dispute between factions within the cities that led to the loss of self-government".
Communities with loyalty shown to Rome maintain their own laws, can collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases are exempt from Roman taxes. Legal privileges and relative independence are an incentive to stick with Rome. The Roman government was so limited, but efficient in its use of the resources available to it.
Central government
The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of certain powers of some republican offices, including the inviolability of the people's tribunes and the censorship authorities to manipulate the hierarchy of Roman society. The emperor also made himself a central religious authority as Pontifex Maximus, and concentrated the right to declare war, endorse covenants, and negotiate with foreign leaders. While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate, the emperor's powers from time to time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in Dominating.
The Emperor is the ultimate authority in policy making and decisions, but at the beginning of his Command he is expected to be accessible by individuals from all walks of life, and to deal personally with official businesses and petitions. Bureaucracy is formed around it only gradually. The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal advisory body that consisted not only of senators and equestrians, but also trusted slaves and free men. After Nero, the unofficial influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor council (consilium) was the subject of official appointment for greater transparency. Although the senate took the lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty, the equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium. Women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in her decision. Plotina had an influence on both her husband, Trajan and her successor Hadrian. His influence is advertised by having his letters on official matters published, as a sign that the emperor is reasonable in exercising his authority and listening to his subjects.
Access to the emperor by others may be obtained at the daily acceptance of (salutatio) , the development of the traditional respect paid by the client to his patron; a public banquet was held at the palace; and religious ceremonies. Ordinary people who do not have this access can realize their general agreement or displeasure as a group in a match held in big places. In the 4th century, as urban centers decayed, Christian emperors became distant figures who issued a general verdict, no longer responding to individual petitions.
Although the senate was able to commit little murder and open rebellion against the will of the emperor, he survived the restoration of Augustan and the restive Emperor Four Years to maintain his symbolic political stability during the Principate. The Senate legitimized the emperor's power, and the emperor needed the senator's experience as legates to serve as generals, diplomats, and administrators. A successful career requires competence as an administrator and remains in favor of the emperor, or over time may be some emperor.
The practical source of emperor power and authority is military. Legionaries were paid for by the imperial treasury, and swore an annual military loyalty to the emperor (sacramentum) . The death of an emperor led to a period of uncertainty and crucial crisis. Most emperors show their successor options, usually close family members or inheritors of adoption. The new emperor had to seek a quick recognition of his status and authority to stabilize the political landscape. No emperor can hope to survive, much less to rule, without the loyalty and loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and the legions. To secure their loyalty, some emperors paid donated money, prize money. Theoretically, the Senate is entitled to elect a new emperor, but so consciously acclamates by the army or Praetorians.
Military
After the Punis War, the Roman Empire army consisted of professional soldiers who volunteered for 20 years of active duty and five as reserves. The transition to the professional military has begun in the late Republican period, and is one of the many major shifts of republicanism, in which the conscripted army has carried out their responsibilities as citizens in defending the homeland in campaigns against certain threats. For Imperial Rome, the military is a full-time career in itself. The Romans expanded their war machines by "organizing the communities they conquered in Italy into systems that produced enormous human resources for their troops... Their main request of all the defeated enemies was that they provided troops to Roman soldiers each year. "
The primary mission of the Roman military from the early kingdom was to preserve Pax Romana. The three main divisions of the military are:
- a garrison in Rome, which includes Praetorians and vigiles serving as police and firefighters;
- the provincial army, composed of Roman legions and servants provided by the province (auxilia );
- the navy.
The military garrison attachment throughout the Empire was a major influence in the process of cultural exchange and assimilation known as "Romanization," especially in politics, economics, and religion. The knowledge of Roman military originated from various sources: the texts of Greek and Roman literature; coins with military themes; papyri who kept military documents; monuments such as the Trajan Column and the triumphal arch, featuring artistic depictions of both combatants and military machines; archeology of military burial, battle grounds, and camps; and inscriptions, including military diplomas, tombstones, and dedication.
Through his military reforms, which included consolidating or dissolving the loyalty units in question, Augustus altered and orchestrated the legions, down to a hobnail pattern on the sole of soldiers' boots. A legion is organized into ten groups, each consisting of six centuries, with a further century of ten teams of
In 9 AD, the German tribes destroyed three full legions in the Teutoburg Forest Battle. This catastrophic event reduces the number of legions to 25. The total legion will then be increased again and for the next 300 years is always slightly above or below 30. The army has about 300,000 troops in the 1st century, and under 400,000 in 2, " significantly smaller "from the collective armed forces of the territory it conquered. No more than 2% of adult men living in the Empire are serving in the Imperial army.
Augustus also created the Praetorian Guard: nine groups, as if maintaining a public peace, placed in Italy. Paid better than the legion, the Praetorians served only sixteen years.
The auxilia is recruited from non-citizens. Organized in smaller units with brute force, they are paid less than legion, and after 25 years of being crowned with Roman citizenship, are also extended to their sons. According to Tacitus there are about many servants because there are legions. The auxilia thus numbered about 125,000 people, implying about 250 additional regiments. The Roman cavalry of the early Empire mainly came from the Celtic, Hispanic or German regions. Some aspects of training and equipment, such as the four-horned saddle, came from Celtic, as noted by Arrian and shown by archeology.
The Roman Navy (Latin: classis, "fleet") is not only aided in the supply and transportation of legions, but also helps in the protection of the border along the Rhine and Danube rivers. One of his duties is to protect an important maritime trade route against the pirate threat. It patrols across the Mediterranean, parts of the North Atlantic coast, and the Black Sea. Nevertheless, the army is considered a senior and more prestigious branch.
Provincial government
The annexed area became a province in a three-step process: creating a list of cities, taking population censuses, and surveying land. Further government registers include births and deaths, real estate transactions, taxes, and juridical processes. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the central government sent about 160 officials each year to rule outside of Italy. Among these officials were "Roman governors", as they are mentioned in English: whether the judges were elected in Rome who in the name of the Romans ruled the provinces of the senators; or governors, usually from the equestrian rankings, who held their empire in the name of the emperor in the provinces excluded from the control of senators, especially the Roman Egyptians. A governor must make himself accessible to the people he orders, but he can delegate tasks. His staff, however, were minimal: his official clerk , including lictors, heralds, messengers, scribes, and bodyguards; legates, both civilian and military, usually from the equestrian rank; and friends, ranging in age and experience, who accompanied him unofficially.
Other officials are appointed as government financial supervisors. Separating fiscal responsibility from justice and administration is Imperial-era reform. Under the Republic, provincial governors and tax farmers can exploit local people for personal gain more freely. Horseracing procurator, whose authority was initially "extra-judicial and extra-constitutional," administered both state-owned property and the vast personal wealth of the emperor (res privata) . Since the Roman government officials are few in number, a province in need of legal dispute or criminal proceedings may look for a Roman who is deemed to have an official capacity, such as a procurator or military officer, including officers to the lowest stationarii military police.
Roman law
The Roman court had original jurisdiction over cases involving Roman citizens throughout the empire, but too few court officials to apply Roman law uniformly in the provinces. Most of the Eastern empires already have established legal codes and juridical procedures. In general, it is Roman policy to respect the mos territory ("regional tradition" or "land law") and to regard local law as a source of legal precedents and social stability. The conformity of Roman and local law is thought to reflect the underlying ius gentium, state law, or international law considered as common and common among all human communities. If the details of the provincial law are contrary to Roman law or custom, the Roman court hears the petition, and the emperor holds the final authority to make a decision.
In the West, laws have been administered on a very local or tribal basis, and private property may have been a novelty in the Roman era, especially among the Celtic tribes. Roman law facilitates the acquisition of wealth by pro-Roman elites who find their new privileges as citizens to be profitable. The extension of universal citizenship to all imperial inhabitants of the Empire in 212 required the application of uniform Roman law, replacing local legal codes that had been applied to non-citizens. Diocletian's efforts to stabilize the Empire after the Third-Century Crisis included two major legal compilations in four years, the Gregorian Codex
The practice of Roman law seeping throughout western Europe had a profound effect on Western legal tradition, reflected in the continuous use of Latin law terminology in modern law.
Taxation
Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5% of the Empire's gross product. Typical tax rates paid by individuals range from 2 to 5%. The tax code is "confusing" in the complicated direct and indirect tax system, some paid with cash and some others. Taxes may be specific to a province, or type of property such as a salt evaporating or pond fishery; they may apply for a limited time. Tax collection is justified by the need to defend the military, and taxpayers sometimes get refunds if the army captures the surplus of booty. Similar taxes are received from less-monetized areas, especially those who can supply grain or goods to the army camp.
The main source of direct tax revenue is individuals, who pay poll tax and tax on their land, which is interpreted as a tax on production or productive capacity. Additional forms may be submitted by those eligible for certain exemptions; for example, Egyptian farmers may register fields as vacant and tax-exempt land depending on the flood pattern of the Nile. The tax liability is determined by the census, which requires each family head to appear before the chairman and provide the number of heads of households, as well as the property accounting held for agriculture or residence.
The main sources of indirect tax revenues are portoria , customs and tolls on imports and exports, including among the provinces. Special taxes are levied on the slave trade. Toward the end of his reign, Augustus imposed a 4% tax on the sale of slaves, which Nero shifted from buyers to dealers, who responded by raising their prices. An owner who persecutes a slave pays "freedom tax", calculated at 5% of its value.
An inheritance tax of 5% is assessed when a Roman citizen above a certain net worth leaves the property to anyone but a member of their immediate family. Revenue from land tax and 1% sales tax at an auction goes to a veteran pension fund (aerarium militare) .
The low taxes helped the Roman aristocracy increase their wealth, which is equivalent to or exceed the income of the central government. An emperor sometimes replenishes his treasury by confiscating the property of the "super rich", but in later periods, the resistance of the rich to pay taxes was one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Empire.
Economy
Moses Finley was a prime proponent of the primitive view that Roman economy was "backward and backward," characterized by subsistence agriculture; city ​​centers that consume more than they produce in terms of trade and industry; craftsman of low status; slowly developing technology; and "lack of economic rationality." The current view is more complex. Territorial conquest enables large scale land-use reorganization resulting in surplus and agricultural specialization, particularly in North Africa. Some cities are known for certain industries or commercial activities, and the scale of buildings in urban areas shows significant construction industries. Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that show elements of economic rationalism, and the Empire is highly monetized. Although means of communication and transportation were limited in ancient times, transportation in the 1st and 2nd centuries was growing rapidly, and trade routes linked regional economies. The supply contract for the army, which includes every part of the Empire, attracted local suppliers near the bases (castrum) , across provinces, and across provincial borders. The empire may best be regarded as a regional economic network, based on the form of "political capitalism" in which the state monitors and regulates trade to guarantee its own income. Economic growth, though not comparable to modern economies, is larger than most other societies before industrialization.
Socially, the dynamics of the economy opened one of the paths of social mobility in the Roman Empire. Social progress depends not only on birth, patronage, luck, or even extraordinary ability. Although the aristocratic values ​​permeate the elite society tradisional
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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