Jeremy Allen, Amanda Mayer, and Alexandria Matheny
Dr. Martin
ENGL 208
3 November 2009
Roman Empire Presentation
Rome was established in 753 B.C, beginning as a monarchy. After the
expulsion of the king in 509 B.C, Rome became a Republic. After several wars and
the murder of Julius Caesar, Octavian (Augustus) established the Empire in 27
B.C. (Lawall 1044-43). The Roman Empire fell around 500 A.D.
Roman religion was split into private worship of individual spirits and
public worship of gods. The twelve greatest Roman gods and goddesses were called
the “di consentes,” and they paralleled the Greek gods. While the gods came
mostly from Greece, Roman deities were a blend of many gods from different
cultures. In The Aeneid, the gods
play an active role in the founding of Rome. Since Aeneas and Romulus were said
to have been made gods after death, the Emperors of Rome including Augustus
traced their roots back to these founders of Rome; therefore, the Emperors were
seen as divine and were made into gods after death (“Roman Gods”).
Education in Rome was primarily focused on boys, and its purpose was to
create an ideal Roman citizen. Very early in the Roman Empire, education focused
on physical training that built up “strength and endurance, that the boy might
be better fitted to fight for his country” (Poynton 1). The idea of formal
education came from the Greeks (3), and if a boy was from an upper-class family,
his parents could afford tutors who would come and teach him to write and read
epics such as the Odyssey and
Iliad (4). In the formal schooling,
there were three stages: Lutus, where the children learned arithmetic, writing,
and orating skills (5); Grammaticus, where they learned how to read and write
poetry (6); and Rhetor, where they were instructed on how to properly deliver
speeches (10). Education was mainly focused on forming ideal citizens and
teaching boys to become orators.
Writers in the Roman Empire did not necessarily live directly off of
their literary works. Most writers were senators or of the equestrian class, and
many Roman writers had literary patrons that provided them with the means to
publish their work (White 52). Maecenas, an advisor and friend of Augustus, was
the patron of many writers including Virgil; in fact, Maecenas helped Virgil
recover his estate after its confiscation in the Civil War and gave him an
impetus to write the Georgics (Bunson
339). Literary works such as The Aeneid
were written as propaganda to glorify Rome and the Roman Emperor;
The Aeneid does so by describing
Aeneas’ heroic founding of Rome and using Aeneas as a prototype of an ideal
Roman ruler (Lawall 1052).
The political structure of Roman history was divided into three phases: the era
of the monarchy, the era of the republic, and the era of the empire. The era of
the Empire was established by Augustus after the death of Julius Caesar, and
kept Rome politically stable for centuries. Power was centralized in the
emperor, who had complete control of government. Since the emperor was seen to
have been descended from Aeneas and Romulus, who were made into gods after
death, he claimed to have divine power. However, for a certain period of time,
the Senate collaborated with the emperor and even had the power to elect him
(“Roma: Political System”).
The social structure of the Roman Empire was based on wealth, property, and
heredity, and the only way to move up the social ladder was through patronage or
acquisition of wealth or property. Classes were distinguished by dress; for
example, the emperor was the only person allowed to wear a purple toga. The
social classes in Rome were Patricians, who were the wealthy elite; Senators,
who were the political class whose power shifted depending on the attitude of
the emperor; Equestrians, who were former Roman cavalry who later became a sort
of business class; Plebians, who were free citizens; Slaves, Soldiers, and Women
(“Social Order”).
The role of women was defined by the status of the men in their lives, whether
it be their father or husband. Their degrees of freedom depended largely on
their wealth and social status; some women owned their own businesses and
wealthy widows had the most freedom and power of all women. Women could not vote
or run for offices of any kind, and therefore had little overt political power.
However, they had a heavy influence behind the scenes. In public, they were
expected to fulfill the traditional roles of wives and mothers who worked in the
home (“Social Order”).
The Roman Empire spanned most of the known world at the time. It consisted of
“Brittain, France, all Southern Europe, the Middle East, and the whole of North
Africa” (Lawall 1042). The world was still seen as flat.
The major enemies of Rome were the Carthageans, who the Romans fought against in
the three Punic Wars (Bunson 197); the Goths, a barbaric Germanic tribe
(246-47); and the Huns, the most feared enemy towards end of the Empire (266).
The major literary genres in the Roman Empire were drama, poetry, prose, and
satire (Adkins 212-13). The most popular genre was poetry, which included epic
poetry such as The Aeneid. A
development in poetry that occured in the Roman Empire, especially in
The Aeneid, was the use of epic
poetry as “a way to analyze the present” (Williams 14). This technique gave
poets more freedom in what they wrote in an age where literature was heavily
regulated because it provided a subtle way to critique the present by appearing
to concentrate on the past (15).
Art and Architecture in Rome differed based on regional taste due to the size of
the Empire. The art portrayed different social classes and was more designed to
suit the needs of patrons and glorify the Empire than for artistic purposes.
Roman architecture was highly practical and designed to show the grandeur of the
Empire. Examples of Roman architecture include aqueducts, the Coliseum, and the
Circus Maximus. Art and architecture in Rome also catered to the Roman desire
for entertainment (“Roman Art”) .
Works Cited
Adkins, Lesley, and Roy A. Adkins, eds. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome.
New York: Facts
on File, 1994. Print.
Bunson, Matthew, ed. Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire: Revised Edition.
New York: Facts on
File, 2002. Print.
Gold, Barbara, ed. Literacy and Artistic Patronage in Ancient Rome.
Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1982. Print.
Lawall, Sarah, and Maynard Mack, eds. The Norton Anthology of World
Literature. 2nd ed. Vol.
1. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
Poynton, J. B. “Roman Education.” Greece and Rome. 4.10 (1934): 1-12.
JSTOR. ITHAKA:
Winthrop U, Dacus Lib., Rock Hill, SC. Web. 1 November 2009.
“Roma: Political System.” CITRAG.IT.
1996. Web. 1 November 2009.
“Roman Art and Architecture.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia.
2009. Web. 1
November 2009.
“Roman Gods.” PBS.org. 2006. Web. 1 November 2009.
“The Roman Empire in the First Century: Social Order.” PBS.org. 2006.
Web. 1 November
2009.
White, Peter. “Positions for Poets in Early Imperial Rome.” 1979. Gold. 50-66.
Print.
Williams, Gordon. “Political Patronage of Literature in Rome.” 1979. Gold. 3-27.
Print.