第五讲：古罗马文化

Lecture Five: Roman Culture
5.1. Brief History of Roman Culture
Ancient Roman often refers to the ancient civilization appeared in the middle of Italian peninsula in the beginning of the 9th century B.C., going through Roman Kingdom (罗马王政时代)，Roman Republic(罗马共和国) and Roman Empire（罗马帝国），which rose to be the most powerful empire by the first century whose territory stretching over Europe, Asia and Africa，dominating the Mediterranean. But by 395，Roman Empire was split into Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire ended up in 476, while the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium 拜占庭帝国)was wiped out by Ottoman Empire in 1453.（奥斯曼帝国，it was a Turkish state founded by Osman(奥斯曼一世)。

It was in the middle of Asia in the beginning but expanded its territory to Asian Minor. In 1453 it wiped out Eastern Roman Empire and set its capital in Istanbul ( 伊斯坦布尔). In its heyday its territory stretched over Europe, Asia and Africa three continents，including Balkan peninsula, Asian Minor peninsula , the entire Middle East and most of Africa. By 17th century it stated to be on the wane, with its territory being encroached by the Tsarist Russia(沙皇俄国) and Britain and France. After the first World War, it only kept the headquarters of Turkey. In 1922, Ottoman Empire was overthrown completely）.
5.2. Roman Kingdom （753B.C.—509 B.C.罗马王政时代，又称罗马王国）
In the middle of the 8th century B.C., the Romans (Romulus and Remus罗莫路和勒莫) established the city-state of Rome in the middle of Latium plain (拉丁姆平原)in the downstream of Tiber River(台伯河) over the Italian peninsula. Its polity was then a traditional Monarchy.
5.3.The Roman Republic (509__27 B.C.罗马共和国)
After having demolished the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic began in 509 B.C., and lasted until 27 B.C., when Octavian (屋大维/奥古斯都Augustus ) became in effect the first Roman emperor. For the next 500 years, Rome would be governed by emperors. The Roman Republic was in essence ruled by the Roman aristocrats.
5.4.Roman Empire (27 B.C.---395 A.D.)
In 264 B.C., when the Roman Republic had established dominion over the Italian peninsula, there were four other great powers in the Mediterranean world_____ Carthage（迦太基，one of the ancient African countries, lies in what is today called Tunis, wiped out in 146B.C. by Roman Empire）, Macedonia（马其顿，one ancient state in Balkan Peninsula）, Egypt, and Syria. By 146 B.C., Rome had emerged victorious over the other powers and by 30 B.C., they were all Roman provinces.
In the chaotic years following Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C., the rising military powerful general Octavian usurped the highest state power after having put an end to Roman civil wars for decades. And by
27 B.C., he was entitled as Augustus by the Senate(元老院), which is historically regarded as the token of the period of Roman Empire. Although eager for political power, Augustus was by no means a self-seeking tyrant, he was a creating statesman who prevented the renewal of civil war that had plagued the Republic and introduced needed reforms in Italy and the provinces. His long reign, from 27 B.C. to A.D.14 marks the beginning of the Pax Romana (罗马帝国统治下的太平盛世), the Roman Peace, which endured until A.D. 180. In terms of political system, it was the principate(元首制),created by Augustus, but in essence the former monarchy.
5.5. Pax Romana (27B.C.__A.D. 180)
The period of Pax Romana was one of the finest in the ancient world. Revolts against Roman rule were few, and Roman legions ably defended the Empire’s borders. The Mediterranean world had never enjoyed so many years of peace, effective government, and economic well-being. Stretching from Britain to the Arabian Desert and from the Danube River(多瑙河)to the sands of Sahara, the Roman Empire united some seventy million people. The same law bound together Italians, Spaniards, North Africans, Greeks , Syrians, and other peoples. Although dissatisfaction was sometimes violently expressed and separatist tendency persisted, people from diverse backgrounds viewed themselves as Romans even though they had never set foot in the capital.
5.6. The Influence of Roman Culture on Western Civilization.
5.6.1. Language
From Latin, the Roman language ,came the Romance languages(罗曼斯语，从拉丁语演变而成。

) for many European states: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romania.
5.6.2. Literature
Latin prose headed by Caesar ( He wrote Commentary on Gallic War,《高卢之战》) and Cicero, and Roman poetry represented by Virgil(维吉尔), Horace（贺拉斯）, and Ovid（奥维德）have become the literary object of imitation by variety of European men of letters for later generations , and the research focus of the literature field..
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Roman law and nomology(法理学)became the basis of legal codes for most European states, which influenced the world tremendously as well , which was one of the greatest contributions Roman culture made for the world. The earliest law made by Romans was The Law of Twelve Tables.(《十二铜表法》) in 450 B.C. During the reign of Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century A.D. the emperor Justinian complied the code on Roman law, called Corpus Juris Civilius(查士丁尼民法大全) in Byzantine, which was the focus of the Roman law, it deeply influenced the world law hereafter, particularly in Continental Law System(大陆法系) and Anglo-American Law System（英美法系）.
5.6.4. Education
Roman education was divided into two parts__ the Republic(the 6th century B.C. to the first century B.C.) and Roman Empire(the first century to the 5Tth century B.C.).In the early period of the Roman Republic, the leading Roman economy was agriculture, so educational priority was set on family education as the Republic was involved in consecutive wars with its neighbors. The educational objects were primarily peasants and soldiers.
However in the later period of the Republic, Roman industry and commerce developed to some extent, the focus then was shifted to school education on top of the abstraction, digestion and reformation of Greek culture. The school systems then were of two kinds: Greek School and Latin School. The subjects covered dialectics, history, law, mathematics, rhetoric, astronomy, geometry, ethics and music. The Greek culture and education being reformed by the Romans exercised great impact on later Europe.
5.6.5 Christianity
Christianity was founded and flourished in the period of Roman Empire，which exercised far-reaching and profound influence on the human culture, particularly on the European culture.
5.6.7.Architecture
The Romans were greatest engineers. They covered their world from one end to the other with roads, bridges, aqueducts, theatres and arenas. Roman architectural buildings , versus Greek ones ,are earthly buildings, such as bathrooms, amphitheatres, sports grounds, and triumphal arches,etc.
5.6.7.1. The Pantheon(万神殿)
The ancient Romans had already developed the dome architecture to its highest level before 1900, which is beyond the later generations. The greatest and best preserved Roman temple____ The Pantheon which was built by Augustus’s son-in-law during Hadrian Emperor(哈德良大帝时期)in 27 B.C. and reconstructed in the 2nd century A.D. It is in a round ,domed form and has the world’s first interior space. The Pantheon was an architectural miracle with a 142-inches-diameter span without any concrete structure. Even to this day it is still a miracle for us modern people with modern architectural technology.
5.6.7.2.Pond du Gard (嘉德水道桥)
Pond du Gard , a well-preserved aqueduct ,situated in the city of Nimes in Southern France(法国尼姆市), was an arch bridge built up during the ancient Gaul Era（高卢时代）. It has the length of 50 kilometers, completed by 15 years and 500 builders.
5.6.7.3. The Colosseum (罗马圆形大剧场)
It is an enormous amphitheatre built in the centre of Rome in imperial times. A masterpiece of engineering, it held more than 5,000 spectators. Its interior is two-third of a mile round.
5.6.7.4. Painting
Roman painting was strongly influenced by the art of Greece. Unfortunately much of the painting no longer exists.
5.6.7.5. Sculpture
The Romans developed a sculpture-portrait style in their images of wax to show respect to the deceased and the powerful.
⑴.Constantine the Great (君士坦丁大帝) It was made in the early fourth century A.D., an enormous head of the first Christian emperor. ⑵．Spoils from the Temple in Jerusalem ( 81 A.D. ) They are records of triumphant procession celebrating the Roman conquest of Judaea in 70
A.D.
⑶. She-wolf This is a statue which illustrate the legend of creation of Rome. The daughter of a king was loved by the war god Mars and bore him twin sons, Romulus and Remus. A wicked uncle set the twins adrift on the Tiber River, but they were cast ashore and nursed by a she-wolf, and raised by a shepherd . Upon reaching manhood, Romulus and Remus decided to build a city. In making out the boundaries , they quarreled, whereupon Romulus killed Remus and became the founder of Rome.
Today at the site of the city’s founding, there stands a statue of the she-wolf.
5.7. Summary Greek Culture and Roman Culture.
5.7.1. Similarities of Greek and Roman cultures
⑴.both peoples had traditions of rooted idea of citizen-assembly, hostile to monarchy and servility.
⑵.Their religions alike enough for most of their deities to be readily
identified：Greek Zeus(希腊神话的主神宙斯) = Roman Jupiter(朱庇特，罗曼神话中的宙斯神)，Greek Aphrodite(阿芙洛狄忒，司爱与美之女神)= Roman Venus(维纳斯，罗曼神话中的爱与美的女神)，etc.
⑶. Their languages worked in similar ways and were ultimately related,
both being members of the Indo-European language family which stretches from Bangladesh to Iceland.
5.7.2. Differences between the Greek and Roman cultures
⑴. The Romans built up a vast empire, the Greek didn’t, except for the
brief moment of Alexander’s conquest, which soon disintegrated. ⑵. The Romans were confident in their own organizational power, their
military and administrative capabilities, shown by the uniformity with which they put their system smoothly and quickly into effect, wherever in the world they went.
⑶. The Romans knew that the Greeks enjoyed an artistic and intellectual
inheritance much older and immeasurably richer than their own. They
respected this inheritance and assimilated it for the artistic enrichment of their own culture. The Roman writer Horace said, “Captive Greece took her rude conqueror captive.”。