Culture and traditions of ancient Rome. The culture of Ancient Rome: its formation and development

Ancient Rome is an ancient state that existed for 12 centuries and left a huge cultural heritage. The heyday and end of the ancient period are associated with Rome. Having gone from a small city to a huge empire, Rome was able to become the cradle of modern European civilization.

1. Period of the kings (VIII - VI century BC)

According to Varro, Rome arose on the banks of the Tiber River in 753 BC. The myth of the brothers Remus and Romulus, who were suckled by a she-wolf and founded a great city, is widely known.

Rome was inhabited by Latins, Sabines, Etruscans and other peoples. The descendants of the city's founders called themselves patricians. Settlers from other places were called plebeians.

During this period, Rome was ruled by the kings: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius the Ancient, Servius Tullius, Tarquinius the Proud.

The king was elected by the people. He led the army, was considered the main priest and administered justice. The king shared power with the Senate, which included 100 elders of the patrician clans.

In Roman society, the basis was clan. He was later replaced by his family. The head of the family had unquestioned authority and absolute power over its members.

During the royal period, the religion of the ancient Romans was animistic. Everything around was filled with different entities and deities that had to be sacrificed and worshiped.

Under the influence of Etruscan and Greek religion, the Romans began to form their own pantheon of gods, who were given human characteristics. The faith of the Romans demanded the most precise observance of numerous rituals. From here followed the development of the institution of priesthood. Priests in Ancient Rome were elected by the people. There were so many of them that they formed their own colleges.

Applied art during this period still retained Etruscan and Greek influence. Red or black pottery had intricate, complex shapes in the form of people, animals or plants. To decorate products, craftsmen, like the Greeks, used geometric patterns.

Painting was mostly decorative. The walls of houses and tombs were painted with bright frescoes depicting everyday and religious scenes. Images of battle scenes, flora and fauna, and mythical creatures were widely used.

The sculptures were mainly made in small forms from bronze, wood, stone, and ivory. Masters were just beginning to depict human figures, so they were carved in a simplified manner. But the artists tried to convey the realism of those depicted. This is especially noticeable in funerary statues. Relief sculptural images were used in everyday objects (jugs, chests, caskets, weapons, etc.).

During this period, a protective wall around Rome was built, expanded and strengthened. An aqueduct was built to carry water to the city. The buildings were made laconic but durable, and little attention was paid to decoration. In 509 BC. The Temple of Jupiter was built on the Capitoline Hill. Its architecture combines elements of Etruscan and Greek cultures. Construction has begun on the Forum, a popular place in Rome. There was a market here, solemn and religious ceremonies, elections of officials, and trials of criminals were held.

Until the 6th century BC. Oral creativity was mainly used: songs, fairy tales, myths. Then the Romans began to write down tales of deities and heroes, ritual songs and texts. Many stories were adopted from the Greeks and transferred to Roman realities.

During this period, Roman culture was just beginning to take shape. She carried many borrowings from other peoples, mainly the Etruscans and Greeks. But at the same time, the originality of the Romans and their own worldview were already evident.

2. Republic (VI - I century BC)

2.1 Early Republic period (VI - III century BC)

The last king, Tarquin the Proud, turned out to be a tyrant and was overthrown. In 510 BC. A republic was formed in Rome. It was ruled by two consuls who were elected every year. A little later, the position of dictator with emergency powers appeared. He was appointed consul for 6 months by decision of the Senate at times when Rome was in danger.

During this period there were many wars in Rome. Society was torn by internal contradictions. As a result of its aggressive policy, Rome managed to establish dominance in the Apennines.

In the middle of the 5th century. BC. Laws of 12 tables are adopted. For a long time they became the first written source of Roman law and regulated property, family, and inheritance relations.

In the 4th century BC. monetary relations came to replace natural ones - the first copper coins came into circulation.

By the 4th century. BC. The influence of the Etruscans weakens, and original Roman products appear in ceramics and bronze. However, in the 5th century BC. There was a certain decline in crafts compared to the Tsarist period.

As for architecture, the Etruscan influence is still strong here. The Romans built wooden temples with terracotta sculptures and wall paintings. Dwellings were built without any frills, copying Etruscan houses with an atrium (a courtyard with a shallow pool for collecting rainwater).

Folk art was represented by songs (wedding, magical, triumphal, heroic).

In writing, Etruscan letters are replaced by Greek ones, and the Latin alphabet is further formed.

In 304 BC. The calendar was published by the aedile Gnaeus Flavius. It is considered the first Roman literary work.

In 280 BC. A public speech delivered in the Senate by Appius Claudius was recorded. He also published a collection of moral sayings, “Sentences.” One of them is still in use: “Everyone is the architect of his own happiness.”

2.2 Late Republic period (III - 1st century BC)

Numerous wars in the 2nd century BC. (Punic, Macedonian) led to the expansion of the power of Ancient Rome. Carthage, which competed with Rome, was destroyed, Greece and Macedonia became Roman provinces. This entailed the enrichment of the Roman nobility. Slaves and gold were the main trophies during the wars. Gladiator fights appear - the favorite pastime of the ancient Romans. Rome becomes a strong state, but contradictions are brewing within it, causing civil wars. Establishment of the dictatorship of Sulla and Caesar in the 2nd - 1st centuries BC. subsequently led to the Principate of Octavian Augustus.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Under Greek influence, the architecture of the city changes. Wealthy Romans build houses with marble cladding and use mosaics and frescoes to decorate their homes. Statues, paintings and other art objects are placed inside. In sculpture, a realistic portrait becomes a characteristic phenomenon. By the 1st century BC. Roman architecture acquires its originality. Under Caesar, a new Forum was built, and gardens and parks began to be laid out in the city.

New customs came to Rome from the East and Greece. The Romans began to dress in colorful clothes, abundantly decorating themselves with jewelry. Men began to shave smoothly and cut their hair short.

Customs within the family also changed. Women received more freedom. They could dispose of their property and even file for divorce. However, by the end of the republican period the number of divorces increased significantly. This indicates the decline of the family institution.

In 240 BC. A freed Greek under the name Titus Livius Andronicus translated Greek plays into Latin. From this time Roman literature began. His follower was Naevius of Campania. He composed plays based on Greek ones, but used events close to him and recognizable people. The comedian Titus Maccius Plautus was also famous. At the same time, folk farces and mimes were popular among the Romans.

Descriptions of modern history also appeared. So at the end of the 3rd century BC. Quintus Fabius Pictor and Lucius Cincius Alimentus wrote the Annals, a detailed account of the history of Rome. The works of Cato the Elder are also known: “On Agriculture”, “Beginnings”, “Admonitions to the Son”, where he advocates patriarchal Roman values, criticizing the fashion for everything Greek.

During the late Republic, Varro left a great legacy in the life of Rome. His main work was called “Antiquities of Divine and Human Affairs.” In addition, he wrote many historical, biographical, and philosophical works, creating an encyclopedic picture of knowledge about Ancient Rome.

During this period, the fashion for political journalism came. Many famous personalities strive to document their activities in written works. Among them are Scipio the Elder, Sulla, Publius Rutilius Rufus, Gaius Julius Caesar and others.

The art of oratory is developing. Cicero played a special role in its development. The Romans took lessons in eloquence; it was very important for them to be able to speak publicly in the Senate, in court, and in the Forum. Successful speeches were recorded. In Rome, the Greek school of eloquence predominated, but soon the Roman school appeared - more laconic and accessible to ordinary segments of the population.

In the 1st century BC. poetry blossoms. Lucretius and Catullus were talented poets. Lucretius wrote the poem “On the Nature of Things,” and Catullus was famous for his lyrical and satirical works. Satirical pamphlets were popular and were a method of political struggle.

At the same time, further Hellenization of the Roman religion took place. The cult of the Greek gods Apollo, Demeter, Dionysus, Hermes, Asclepius, Hades, Persephone, etc. came. The rituals became more and more magnificent and complex. The cult of the goddess Cybele also penetrated into Rome from the east. By the end of the 1st century BC. Egyptian sacred cults appeared in Rome. Astrology, fortune telling, and magic became popular.

3. Empire (1st century BC - 5th century AD)

3.1 Early Empire Period (Principate) (1st century BC - 2nd century AD)

In the 30s BC. Caesar's nephew Octavian Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome. He called himself “princeps” - first among equals. And later he received the title of emperor, concentrating all power in his hands. Thus began the imperial period of Roman history - the “golden age” of Roman culture. Patronage of poets and artists was provided by Octavian Augustus' friend Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, whose name became a household name.

At this time, poetry reached special heights. The most famous poets were Horace, Ovid, Virgil. Virgil's works - "Bucolics", "Georgics", "Aeneid" glorified Augustus and predicted the onset of a "golden age". At the same time, he lovingly describes the nature of Italy and refers to the traditions and identity of the Romans. Horace's "Odes" still remain a model of lyric poetry. Ovid became famous for his love lyrics. His works “Metamorphoses”, “Fasts”, “Science of Love” became most famous. At this time, the realistic Roman novel gained great popularity. The most famous are Petronius's Satyricon and Apuleius's Golden Ass.

During the time of Augustus, scientific thought also developed. The historical works of Titus Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus spoke about the greatness of Rome and its role in ancient history.

The geographer Strabo described many peoples and countries, Agrippa compiled maps of the empire. Vitruvius wrote a treatise on architecture. Pliny the Elder created Natural History. Ptolemy outlined all modern astronomical knowledge in his work “Almagest”. The physician Galen wrote a treatise on anatomy, “On the Parts of the Human Body.”

In order to connect parts of a huge empire, roads and aqueducts were built, which have survived to this day. In Rome itself, temples were erected - Apollo and Vesta on the Palatine, Mars the Avenger on the new Forum of Augustus. In the 1st - 2nd century AD. Such famous architectural monuments as the Pantheon and the Colosseum were built.

New architectural forms appeared - a triumphal arch, a two-story colonnade. The provinces also built temples, baths, theaters and circuses for gladiator fights.

3.2 Late Empire period (3rd - 5th century AD)

After the death of Augustus, emperors came to power with unlimited, despotic power in the manner of Eastern tyrannies. Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Vespasian carried out brutal, bloody repressions and, in turn, were killed as a result of conspiracies of their circle.

However, there were also emperors who left behind good fame - Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius. Under them, the role of the provinces increased. Their natives were given access to the Senate and the Roman army. At the same time, it was no longer possible to hide the internal contradictions among Roman society. Despite Rome's attempts to establish a strong government, the colonies sought independence.

The architecture becomes monumental, embodying the idea of the power of the supreme power. Grandiose buildings were built: stadiums, forums, mausoleums, aqueducts. An example of such architecture is the Forum of Trajan.

By the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was in decline. In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts: Western and Eastern. At this time Christianity was born. At first it is banned, its followers are brutally persecuted. Emperor Constantine allows Christians to practice their faith, and soon Christianity becomes the official religion.

Unfortunately, the triumph of the Christian faith led to the destruction of many ancient monuments. Early Christian art began to develop on the basis of Roman art: basilica temples were built, painting in the form of murals appeared in caves. The figures of people in them are shown quite schematically, more attention is paid to the internal content of the scene.

The Eastern Roman Empire, under the guise of Byzantium, existed until 1453. In 410, Rome was sacked by barbarians. In 476, the Western Empire, and with it the ancient world, ended its existence after the abdication of the last emperor.

Nevertheless, the legacy of Ancient Rome is difficult to overestimate. It had a huge impact on the development of culture around the world.

INTRODUCTION - Founding and Development of Ancient Rome

Chronology of the cultural history of Ancient Rome

Features of polis ideology and the formation of the culture of Ancient Rome

Mythology and ancient religion of Rome

Mythology and religion of Ancient Rome

Celebrations and performances of Ancient Rome

Ancient Roman architecture

Sculpture

Art

Literature

Drama and theater

Painting

Oratory

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION - FOUNDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF ANCIENT ROME

ROME Ancient (Roma) - an ancient state. Initially, the territory of the Apennine Peninsula was inhabited by various tribes, among which the most developed were the Veneti in the north, the Etruscans in the center, and the Greeks in the south. It was the Etruscans and Greeks who had a decisive influence on the formation of ancient Roman culture.

The Etruscans inhabited these lands from the 1st millennium BC. e. and created an advanced civilization that preceded the Roman one. Etruria was a strong maritime power. Skilled metallurgists, shipbuilders, traders, builders and pirates, the Etruscans sailed throughout the Mediterranean Sea, assimilating the cultural traditions of many peoples inhabiting its coast, creating a high and unique culture. It was from the Etruscans that the Romans would subsequently borrow the experience of urban planning, craft techniques, technology for making iron, glass, concrete, the secret sciences of the priests and some customs, for example, celebrating a victory with a triumph. The Etruscans also created the emblem of Rome - a she-wolf who, according to legend, suckled the twins Romulus and Remus - descendants of the Trojan hero Aeneas. It was these brothers who, according to legend, founded the city of Rome in 753 BC. e. on the day of the celebration of the shepherd goddess Paleia (April 21).

The Latins who lived in the west gradually reached a high level of development, conquered neighboring territories and peoples, and later formed one of the largest empires of antiquity, which included European countries, the northern coast of Africa and part of Asia.

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus around 754 - 753 BC. e. Legends mention 7 rulers in the 8th-6th centuries. kings. After the expulsion of the last king, Tarquin the Proud, a republic was established (510 - 509 BC).

By the middle of the 3rd century. BC e., having subjugated the entire territory of Italy, Rome turned into a large state that achieved hegemony throughout the Mediterranean, which led to a clash with Carthage. After three Punic Wars, defeating Carthage in 146 BC. e., Rome becomes the largest Mediterranean power. The ruin of the peasants, which intensified due to the growth of large land ownership and slavery, caused a widespread movement of the rural plebs, slaves (the rebellion of Spartacus) and the first outbreaks of civil war on the streets of Rome.

In the socio-political life of Rome in the 1st century. BC e. The army and its leaders began to play an increasingly important role (L. K. Sulla, G. Marius, G. Pompey, etc.). During the civil war of 49-45. BC e. Caesar became the unlimited ruler of the state; in 44 BC e. As a result of a conspiracy by supporters of the republic, Caesar was killed.

The new period of civil wars ended with the victory of Octavian, who received from the Senate in 27 BC. e. title of Augustus. Since the reign of Augustus, Rome has become an empire.

Under Trajan in the 2nd century. n. e. the empire reached its maximum borders. Uprisings of the local population in the conquered lands, combined with barbarian invasions, led to the fall of a number of provinces and the division of the empire into Eastern and Western (395). In 476, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the leader of the German mercenaries Odoacer. The Eastern Roman Empire, called Byzantium, lasted for about 1,000 more years.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT ROME

In the chronology of the cultural history of Ancient Rome, three major periods can be distinguished:

1. monarchy - 753 - 509. BC e.;

2. republic - 509 - 29 BC e.;

3. empire - 29 BC e. - 476 AD e.

FEATURES OF POLIS IDEOLOGY AND FORMATION OF THE CULTURE OF ANCIENT ROME

The Roman community at the beginning of the republican period was one of the policies of the Apennine Peninsula. A polis (in Latin civitas) is, as a rule, a small slave state with a single city - the center of political and cultural life. The city was usually surrounded by defensive walls and was a fortress - a refuge for the surrounding residents in times of military danger. Citizens of the community were only local natives who owned land. Aliens and foreigners, and especially slaves, did not have the right to own land and therefore were not citizens. Citizens were required to serve in the militia and take part in public meetings. The executive power was corrected by elected "magistrates". A collective of citizens decided political affairs at public assemblies and defended the borders of their small state by gathering into a militia.

There was no bureaucratic pressure over the citizen; the state machine itself did not seem to him something alien and terrible. The citizen, together with his slaves, cultivated his plot, voted in the national assembly and elected magistrates, and defended his hometown from enemies with arms in hand. A citizen of a polis community was characterized by a sense of freedom, a conscious choice of his actions. If it was necessary to go on a campaign, then the citizen knew that this was not the whim of an official, but the severe necessity of fighting the enemy; if the national assembly decided to impose a tax on citizens, then this was caused by necessity, and not by the arbitrariness of the government. The main actions and measures seemed understandable and real to the resident of the city-state. In addition, these measures were taken at a public meeting in which the citizen himself participated.

Such an order generated a sense of freedom, self-esteem, self-confidence, a calm, realistic outlook on life and existing relationships. Since all political and military issues were resolved collectively at a national assembly or in the militia, this formed a sense of collectivism, civil community, and prevented the development of individualism. The individual, her thoughts and interests were dissolved in the civil collective.

Ancient slave-holding policies were characterized by a desire for isolation and isolation. This is especially evident in the life of agricultural communities, one of which was Rome. Citizens, cultivating their plots of land, conducted subsistence farming and needed little outside help. The danger of land seizures could come from neighbors, so citizens of ancient city-states usually had strained relations with their closest neighbors. This tension further strengthened the isolation of the community, its hostility directed outward, its aggressiveness. This, in particular, explains the close connection between civil and military organizations in ancient communities. Citizens of the community, small landowners engaged in hard agricultural labor, did not strive to borrow new thoughts and ideas, but to preserve their ancient morals and customs, and were wary of everything new and foreign. Attachment to one’s local, ancestral, primordial is one of the striking features of the ideology of the agrarian polis.

The crisis of the community's polis system began with the penetration into the citizenship environment of alien elements who stood outside the community's political and military organization. The developing slavery and the social stratification of citizenship itself were disintegrating the polis orders and institutions.

Gradually, as the Roman conquests developed, the Roman community, a city-state located on the Tiber, was replaced by a huge power that included the entire Apennine Peninsula and many overseas territories with a population of millions, many cities, a complex economy, different classes, a standing army, and a complex state apparatus.

The decomposition of the ancient polis led to a crisis in the ideology of its citizenship. There is a departure from collectivism and a growth in individualism, the opposition of the individual to the collective, people are losing calm and inner balance. The ancient morals of our grandfathers are ridiculed and criticized, and other morals, foreign ideology and religion begin to penetrate into the Roman environment.

The culture of Ancient Rome is associated with the completion of the history of ancient society. It continued the Hellenistic tradition and at the same time acted as an independent phenomenon, determined by the course of historical events, the uniqueness of living conditions, religion and the character traits of the Romans. The culture of Ancient Rome was characterized by increased individualism. The individual increasingly begins to oppose himself to the state, traditional ancient ideals are rethought and criticized, society becomes more open to external influences.

The early Roman worldview was characterized by a sense of himself as a free citizen, consciously choosing and committing his actions; a sense of collectivism, belonging to a civil community, the priority of state interests over personal ones; conservatism, following the morals and customs of ancestors (ascetic ideals of frugality, hard work, patriotism); the desire for communal isolation and isolation from the outside world. The Romans differed from the Greeks in being more sober and practical.

We can say that, in general, ancient culture and civilizations developed within the framework of the history of “eternal Rome” - a state that went from a peasant community on the river. Tiber to a world power - rulers of the whole world. Ancient culture reached its highest peak during the Roman civilization.

For more than twenty centuries (VII century BC - V century AD), Roman culture existed, which was a more complex phenomenon than Greek. Rome, later than Greece, appeared on the stage of world history and was the capital of an immense empire that captured all the territories around the Mediterranean. “All roads lead to Rome,” says the proverb, as travelers and traders flocked here from all over the world... Rome exerted its influence on the Hellenistic territories it conquered.

Thus, a synthesis of Greek and Roman cultures was formed, the result of which was the late antique Greco-Roman culture (I-V centuries AD), which formed the basis of the civilization of Byzantium, Western Europe and many Slavic states.

By Ancient Rome as a whole we mean not only the city of Rome of the ancient era, but also all the countries and peoples it conquered that were part of the colossal Roman power - from the British Isles to Egypt.

Roman art is the highest achievement and the result of the development of ancient art, since it was created not only by the Romans, but by the peoples they conquered: the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Shins, inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Ancient Germany, who sometimes stood at a higher level of cultural development.

As you know, Rome extended its power not only to the lands of its neighbors, but also to the surrounding vast countries. Even then, in ancient times, contemporaries were looking for an explanation for these impressive achievements: historians and poets found their reasons mainly in the strength of Roman weapons and the heroism of the Romans.

MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT RELIGION OF ROME

The mythology of Ancient Rome gives the clearest idea of the spiritual world of man at that time. It is also associated with the development of many areas of art (literature, architecture, etc.). In addition, it is directly related to people’s religious beliefs, and the influence of religion on the development of the state and its society is undeniable.

At the initial stage, the beliefs of the Romans were expressed in the observance of traditions and rituals. The rite of the founding of Rome is forever enshrined in legends and tales.

Later, traditional beliefs are replaced by the ancient Roman religion. The ancient Roman religion reflected the simplicity of hardworking farmers and shepherds, completely absorbed in the daily affairs of their humble lives. Having lowered his head to the furrow that his wooden plow plowed, and to the meadows in which his cattle grazed, the ancient Roman did not feel the desire to turn his gaze to the stars. He did not honor either the sun, or the moon, or all those celestial phenomena that with their mysteries excited the imagination of other Indo-European peoples. He had had enough of the secrets contained in the most mundane, everyday affairs and in his immediate surroundings. If one of the Romans had walked around ancient Italy, he would have seen people praying in groves, altars crowned with flowers, grottoes decorated with greenery, trees decorated with horns and skins of animals whose blood irrigated the ants growing under them, hills surrounded by special veneration , stones anointed with oil. Everywhere some kind of deity seemed to appear, and it was not for nothing that one of the Latin writers said that in this country it is easier to meet a god than a person. According to the Roman, human life in all, even the smallest, manifestations was subject to power and was under the tutelage of various gods, so that man at every step depended on some higher power.

Along with such gods as Jupiter and Mars, whose power was increasingly increasing, there were an innumerable number of less significant gods, spirits who took care of various actions in life and economy. Their influence concerned only certain aspects in the cultivation of the land, the growth of cereals, raising livestock, beekeeping and human life. The Vatican opened the child's mouth for the first cry, Kunina was the patroness of the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby's food, Potina and Edusa taught the child to drink and eat after weaning, Cuba watched over the transfer of him from the cradle to bed, Ossipago made sure that the child's bones grew together correctly , Statan taught him to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak, Iterduk and Domiduk led the child when he left the house for the first time.

All these deities were completely faceless. The Roman did not dare to assert with complete certainty that he knew the real name of the god or that he could distinguish whether he was a god or a goddess. In his prayers, he also maintained the same caution and said: “Jupiter, Most Good, Greatest, or if you wish to be called by some other name.” And when making a sacrifice, he said: “Are you a god or a goddess, are you a man or a woman?” On the Palatine (one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was located) there is still an altar on which there is no name, but only an evasive formula: “To God or goddess, husband or woman,” and the gods themselves had to decide who owns the sacrifices made on this altar.

The Roman gods did not descend to earth and did not show themselves to people as willingly as the Greek gods. They stayed away from a person and even if they wanted to warn him about something, they never appeared directly: in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of temples, or in the silence of the fields, sudden mysterious exclamations were heard, with the help of which God gave a warning signal. There has never been any intimacy between God and man.

In ancient Rome, all knowledge about the gods essentially boiled down to how they should be revered and at what moment to ask for their help. A thoroughly and precisely developed system of sacrifices and rituals constituted the entire religious life of the Romans. They imagined the gods to be similar to praetors (Praetor is one of the highest officials in Ancient Rome. Praetors were in charge of judicial affairs.) and were convinced that, like a judge, the one who does not understand official formalities loses the case. Therefore, there were books in which everything was provided and where one could find prayers for all occasions. The rules had to be strictly followed; any violation negated the results of the service.

The Roman was constantly in fear that he had performed the rituals incorrectly. The slightest omission in prayer, some non-prescribed movement, a sudden hitch in a religious dance, damage to a musical instrument during a sacrifice was enough for the same ritual to be repeated again. There were cases when everyone started over thirty times until the sacrifice was performed flawlessly. When making a prayer containing a request, the priest had to be careful not to omit any expression or pronounce it in an inappropriate place. Therefore, someone read, and the priest repeated after him word for word, the reader was assigned an assistant who monitored whether everything was read correctly. A special servant of the priest ensured that those present remained silent, and at the same time the trumpeter blew the trumpet with all his might so that nothing could be heard except the words of the prayer being said. Equally carefully and carefully they carried out all kinds of fortune-telling, which among the Romans was of great importance in public and private life. Before each important task, they first learned the will of the gods, manifested in various signs, which priests called augurs were able to observe and explain. Thunder and lightning, a sudden sneeze, the fall of an object in a sacred place, an attack of epilepsy in a public square - all such phenomena, even the most insignificant, but occurring at an unusual or important moment, acquired the significance of a divine omen.

The most favorite was fortune telling by the flight of birds. When the Senate or consuls had to make a decision, declare war or proclaim peace, promulgate new laws, they first of all turned to the augurs with the question of whether the time had been chosen for this. The Augur made a sacrifice and prayed, and at midnight he went to the Capitol, the most sacred hill in Rome, and, facing south, looked at the sky. At dawn, birds flew by, and depending on which direction they flew from, what they were like and how they behaved, the augur predicted whether the planned business would succeed or fail. Thus, finicky chickens ruled a powerful republic, and military leaders in the face of the enemy had to obey their whims.

This primitive religion was called the religion of Numa, after the second of the seven Roman kings, who was credited with establishing the most important religious principles. She was very simple, devoid of any pomp, and knew neither statues nor temples. In its pure form it did not last long. The religious ideas of neighboring peoples penetrated into it, and now it is difficult to recreate its appearance, hidden by later layers.

Foreign gods easily took root in Rome, since the Romans had the custom, after conquering a city, to move the vanquished gods to their capital in order to earn their favor and protect themselves from their wrath.

This is how, for example, the Romans invited the Carthaginian gods to come to them. The priest proclaimed a solemn spell: “You are a goddess or a god who extends guardianship over the people or state of the Carthaginians, you who protect this city, I offer prayers to you, I pay homage to you, I ask for your mercy, so that the people and the state of the Carthaginians leave, so that they leave their temples so that they leave them. Come join me in Rome. May our churches and city be more pleasant to you. Be merciful and supportive to me and the Roman people and to our soldiers the way we want it and how we understand it. If you do this, I promise that a temple will be built for you and games will be established in your honor.”

Rich and powerful, the Etruscans, from the heights of their fortified cities, standing on steep and inaccessible mountains, dominated vast expanses of land. Their kings dressed in purple, sat on chairs lined with ivory, and were surrounded by honorary guards armed with bundles of rods with axes stuck in them. The Etruscans had a fleet and for a very long time maintained trade relations with the Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy. From them they borrowed writing and many religious ideas, which, however, they altered in their own way.

Not much can be said about the Etruscan gods. Among the large number of them, a trinity stands out above the others: Tini, the thunder god, like Jupiter, Uni, the queen goddess, like Juno, and the winged goddess Menfra, corresponding to the Latin Minerva. This is, as it were, a prototype of the famous Capitoline Trinity. With superstitious piety, the Etruscans revered the souls of the dead, as cruel creatures thirsting for blood. The Etruscans performed human sacrifices at the graves; gladiator fights, later adopted by the Romans, were initially part of the cult of the dead among the Etruscans. They believed in the existence of a real hell, where Harun, an old man of half-animal appearance, with wings, armed with a heavy hammer, delivers souls. On the painted walls of Etruscan graves there is a whole string of similar demons: Mantus, the king of hell, also winged, with a crown on his head and a torch in his hand; Tukhulkha, a monster with an eagle's beak, donkey ears and snakes on his head instead of hair, and many others. In an ominous line they surround the unfortunate, frightened human souls.

Etruscan legends say that one day in the vicinity of the city of Tarquinii, when peasants were plowing the land, a man with the face and figure of a child, but with gray hair and a beard like an old man, emerged from a wet furrow. His name was Tages. As a crowd gathered around him, he began to preach the rules of fortune telling and religious ceremonies. The king of those places ordered a book to be compiled from the commandments of Tages. Since then, the Etruscans believed that they knew better than other peoples how to interpret divine signs and predictions. Fortune telling was carried out by special priests - haruspices. When an animal was sacrificed, they carefully examined its insides: the shape and position of the heart, liver, lungs - and, according to certain rules, predicted the future. They knew what each lightning meant, and by its color they knew which god it came from. The haruspices turned a huge and complex system of supernatural signs into a whole science, which was later adopted by the Romans.

Further, Greek mythology had its influence on Roman mythology. Dmitrieva N.A. gives the following assessment of this fact: “The original Roman mythology, unlike the Greek, is ugly and prosaic. Rome accepted and assimilated the entire pantheon of Greek deities, giving them only other names: Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite - Venus, Ares - Mars, etc. "Captive Greece defeated her uncultured conqueror" (Horace)".

MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME

Since the 3rd century. before i. e. The Greek religion began to have a very strong influence on Roman religion.

The Romans identified their abstract gods with the Greek gods. Thus, Jupiter was identified with Zeus, Mars with Ares, Venus with Aphrodite, Juno with Hera, Minerva with Athena, Ceres with Demeter, etc. Among the numerous Roman gods, the main Olympic gods stood out under the influence of Greek religious ideas: Jupiter - the god of sky and thunder and lightning. Mars is the god of war, Minerva is the goddess of wisdom, patroness of crafts, Venus is the goddess of love and fertility. Vulcan is the god of fire and blacksmithing, Ceres is the goddess of vegetation. Apollo is the god of the sun and light, Juno is the patroness of women and marriage, Mercury is the messenger of the Olympian gods, the patron of travelers, trade, Neptune is the god of the sea, Diana is the goddess of the moon. One of the revered purely Italian deities was Janus, depicted with two faces, as the deity of entry and exit, of all beginnings. The Olympian gods were considered the patrons of the Roman community and were revered by the patricians. The plebeians especially revered the divine trinity: Ceres, Libora, Proserpina - the goddess of vegetation and the underworld, and Libora - the god of wine and fun. The Roman pantheon never remained closed; foreign deities were accepted into its composition. The adoption of new gods was believed to strengthen the power of the Romans.

In the 2nd century. BC. Rome conquered Greece and adopted Greek culture, and by the 1st century. BC. A common Greco-Roman culture prevailed throughout the Mediterranean. Both Roman and Greek authors continued to create mythological works in the Hellenistic spirit - both scientific and purely artistic. Although this literature, like Hellenistic poetry, was already far from the powerful realism of classical mythology of the era of its origin, some of its examples became outstanding phenomena of world literature. Virgil and Ovid belonged to this tradition. At the same time, the official religion retained the character of a state cult. However, as city-states became anachronistic, new forms of religious cult began to take shape: the cult of the king in the Hellenistic states and the cult of the emperor in the Roman Empire. Rulers were deified, first after death, and then during life. It was a cult that exalted power but had no need for narrative mythology or theology. Ordinary people continued to adhere to the ancient religion.

So, the Romans borrowed almost the entire Greek pantheon

In general, the conquest of many overseas territories introduced the Romans to various gods, who found admirers among the Roman population.

Mystery cults, which promised personal salvation, and eastern cults in Hellenistic form, which attracted admirers primarily because of their exoticism, became widespread. The goddess Isis and her mysteries were borrowed from the Egyptians, and the cult of Mithra, which included the bloody ritual of slaughtering a bull, came from Anatolia and Persia. The fascination with astrology turned out to be exceptionally stable, identifying the ancient gods with the luminaries and seeing in the changeable but predictable configurations of stars and planets a system that influenced the course of human life. The idea of this system of impersonal influences corresponded to the belief in impersonal magic, and, at a higher level, to the philosophical speculations of the Neoplatonists. At the end of the 3rd century. BC e. veneration of the Great Mother of the Gods from Phrygia was introduced.

The conquest of many overseas territories, especially the Hellenistic states, introduced the Romans to Hellenistic and Eastern gods, who found worshipers among the Roman population.

The slaves who arrived in Rome and Italy professed their own cults, thereby spreading other religious views. In order for the gods to take care of people and the state, they needed to make sacrifices, offer prayers and requests, and perform special ritual actions. Special boards of knowledgeable people - priests - monitored the cult of individual gods, the order in temples, prepared sacrificial animals, monitored the accuracy of prayers and ritual actions, and could give advice on which deity to turn to with the necessary request.

The Roman religion bore the stamp of formalism and sober practicality: they expected help from the gods in specific matters and therefore scrupulously performed established rituals and made the necessary sacrifices. In relation to the gods, the principle “I give so that you give” operated. The Romans paid great attention to the external side of religion, to the petty performance of rituals, and not to spiritual fusion with the deity. The Roman religion did not arouse the sacred awe and ecstasy that take possession of the believer. That is why the Roman religion, while outwardly very strictly observing all formalities and rituals, had little impact on the feelings of believers and gave rise to dissatisfaction. This is associated with the penetration of foreign, especially eastern, cults, often characterized by a mystical and orgiastic character, and some mystery.

The cult of the Great Mother of the Gods and the cult of Dionysus - Bacchus, included in the official Roman pantheon, were especially widespread. The Roman Senate took measures against the spread of orgiastic eastern cults, believing that they undermined the official Roman religion, with which the power of the Roman state and its stability were associated. So, in 186 BC. e. Unbridled bacchanalia associated with the rites of the cult of Bacchus - Dionysus were prohibited. Wide penetration of Greek influence in the 2nd century. BC e. led not only to the great influence of Greek religion and the adaptation of Roman religious views to it.

One of the important consequences of Greek influence was the spread of Greek philosophy in Roman society and the views of Greek philosophers on religion and the gods. The work of the Hellenistic writer Euhemerus, who believed that the gods are deified great people who once lived, was translated into Latin. The highest Roman aristocracy, familiar with Greek philosophy, begins to be skeptical of religious beliefs, although they view religion as a necessary means of governing the people. The spread of mystical Eastern cults among the masses and the skeptical attitude towards Roman religion among the aristocracy undermined the official Roman religion. The turbulent events of civil wars, frequent confiscations, and proscriptions led to changes in traditional beliefs. The idea of an afterlife, of bliss beyond the grave, is spreading as a kind of protest against disorder and torment in the real world. The cult of blind fate - Fortune, which bestows happiness and unhappiness arbitrarily and often unfairly, is developing.

Most of the Western world is familiar with classical mythology primarily in its Roman “garments”: Zeus is Jupiter, Hera is Juno, Athena is Minerva, Cronus is Saturn, Odysseus is Ulysses, etc. Of course, this was not always the case. Under the layer of Greek culture, the features of local tradition are clearly visible. Although there were personified deities here, they played a much smaller role than the impersonal spirits - numina (numina), who animated and controlled various places, things and even forms of human activity. Even those spirits that had individual names were not endowed with personality traits and did not have their own mythology. There was also no hero cult that would have allowed historical figures to be included in mythology. The divine principle, figuratively speaking, was diffused throughout the world, and the more we move away from the personified gods with the myths related to them, the closer we come to the very essence of the Italic religion. The main spirits were penates, lares and lemurs, devoid of sensory form. Penates were revered in every home; they were the spirits of pantries where food supplies were stored. It was believed that the Penates of Rome itself were the household gods of Aeneas, whom he brought with him to Italy after the fall of Troy. Lars are the spirits of the borders that divided the lands of neighboring communities; they were especially revered by agricultural workers and household servants. Lemurs were ghosts. With the help of ritual, a person tried to communicate with these forces.

By contrast, it becomes especially clear how much Greek culture owed to its ideas about the heroic age and its contacts with Near Eastern civilizations. No doubt folk tales and legends were popular among the Italic tribes, but their traces are almost invisible in later mythology.

Actually, Roman mythological legends, which are not a simple transcription of Greek myths, usually turn out to be the creation of Roman writers and poets or lovers of antiquity. The original character and characteristics of the Italic gods - before these gods are identified with their Greek counterparts - are most often very obscure; Some local deities, not identified with characters from Greek mythology, are known only by name.

In addition to Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus were venerated in Rome from ancient times, both of them identified with Ares, the Greek god of war. However, Mars appears to have originally been an important agricultural deity, and the Romans always attached much more importance to him than the Greeks did to Ares. Quirinus was sometimes identified with Romulus, one of the founders of Rome, who became a god after his death. Vesta may be related to the Greek goddess Hestia: both are goddesses of the sacred hearth, and neither has its own mythology. However, after the establishment of the institution of Vestal Virgins, who maintained the fire in her temple, Vesta became a very influential Roman goddess.

The ancient Roman deity was definitely Janus, depicted with two faces and considered the god of entrances and exits and all beginnings in general. More significant was his function as the guardian of fords and places safe (in the mystical sense) for crossing water barriers. Juno was an important goddess, later identified with Hera, but not associated with Jupiter (except in cases of direct Greek influence). Neptune, the minor water deity, became the Roman equivalent of Poseidon. During the expansion of Rome, the Romans became acquainted with other gods of the neighboring Italian regions. Diana, a huntress revered in a grove dedicated to her south of Rome, has been identified with the Greek Artemis. Minerva, the goddess of crafts, took over all the functions of Athena. Venus, who was in charge of the flowering and fruiting of gardens, was identified with Aphrodite. Thanks to her son, the Trojan Aeneas, she played an extremely important role in the legends intended to link the origins of the Romans with the Greek heroic era. Mercury inherited from Hermes an interest in trading activities, and Vulcan, the god of volcanoes, was identified with Hephaestus. Apollo and Aesculapius (Greek Asclepius) were borrowed practically unchanged. The Romans had doubts about Dionysus, since the ecstatic nature of his cult contradicted ancient Roman ideals. However, over time, despite strong opposition from the authorities, his cult established itself as the cult of Bacchus, or Liber, and during the era of the Roman Empire his mysteries acquired extreme popularity.

The Romans also began to participate in rituals dedicated to the Phrygian Great Mother Cybele no earlier than the era of the Empire. Greek culture was greatly influenced by the Homeric epic, and Rome could not absorb this culture without finding its own place in the heroic past and giving birth to its Homer. This became possible thanks to the work of the poet Virgil, who lived at the beginning of the Empire.

However, the Romans did not want to consider themselves descendants of the Greeks they conquered, so they looked for their roots among the ancient rivals of the Greeks - the Trojans. Virgil's Aeneid not only embodied ideas about the connection between Rome and Troy, but also became Rome's most significant contribution to the mythological tradition. The poem is dedicated to Aeneas, the son of Venus, who manages to escape after the fall of Troy. Together with other surviving Trojans, he swims across the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, reaching Sicily, and then Carthage on the coast of Africa. There, Venus inspires the Carthaginian queen Dido to love Aeneas. When Aeneas leaves the queen to fulfill her destiny and find a new homeland for the Trojans, she kills herself. Aeneas sails along the coast of Italy and lands in Latium, the region of the future Rome. Here he is given Lavinia, the daughter of King Latin, as his wife, but first he must defeat in the war another contender for Lavinia’s hand, Turnus. Lavinia gives her name to Lavinium, an important religious center of Latium and Rome, and the son of Aeneas, Ascanius, takes the name Yula (the Roman family of Julius, whose most famous representatives were Julius Caesar and Augustus, traced their origins to it). After Lavinius, Alba Longa was founded, which in turn gave rise to a new settlement - Rome. In the most common version of the story of the founding of Rome, power in Alba Longa was seized by a usurper who overthrew his brother, killed his sons and made his niece, Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin so that she could not have offspring. However, Rhea Silvia fell in love with the god Mars, and from him she gave birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. The babies were thrown into the Tiber, but they washed ashore in the place where Rome was later founded. The brothers were nursed by a she-wolf (an animal sacred to Mars), and then they were picked up by a shepherd. Having matured, they overthrew the usurper, after which they returned home and founded Rome. Quarrels often broke out between them, and in one of them Romulus killed Remus. After Virgil, little was added to heroic mythology.

Titus Livy's account of the ancient history of Rome is based primarily on purely legendary material, but it lacks that close connection between the world of heroes and the world of gods, which was characteristic of the heroic legends of the Greeks. At the same time, these legends were treated as true history for a long time. Tragedies and poems on mythological themes continued to be created, but they were only reworkings of standard motifs. Latin authors gradually began to give preference to other genres - rhetorical prose, satire, novels and modern history.

Usually gods simply personify some kind of impersonal supernatural force. In mythological tales, the supernatural is given a name and an image, so that the anonymous miraculous intervention becomes a god with a name and a role in the plot of the story. When getting acquainted with individual myths, one gets the impression that almost any god could play this role; in local legends it is assigned to a local deity. However, sometimes the very nature of a supernatural event determines the choice of a deity: sudden “natural” death is caused by the invisible arrows of Apollo (for men) or Artemis (for women), irrational sensual attraction is the work of Aphrodite, etc.

The gods live their own lives separately from people, they are not subject to illness, pain and death. Their lives are magical stories, completely devoid of that tragic dimension that appears only when a mortal man appears on the stage. Only by being imbued with a feeling of attachment to some mortal can a god experience true suffering. In some sense, all gods represent “fate,” “the course of things,” or “the proper course of things.” However, sometimes fate itself is personified in the image of the goddess of fate (Greek Tyha, Roman Fortuna), or the three goddesses of fate (Greek moira Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, spinning and breaking the thread of life; Roman Fates), or Nemesis (“Retribution”).

Jupiter - heads the community of gods. It is Jupiter who personifies the divine principle as such, and it is to him that the supreme power belongs in all situations where other gods are involved. He is the center of this community, since he overthrew the elder gods and rules “here and now”; the status of other gods is determined by the degree of their relationship with Jupiter.

Juno - In religion, Hera was revered both as the wife of Jupiter and as the patroness and protector of women and marriage. He is distinguished by his power, cruelty and jealous disposition. She pursues with her hatred the lovers and children of Jupiter.

Neptune in mythology is primarily the god of the sea, the wild and angry brother of Jupiter. Like Jupiter, he is depicted in art as a bearded man holding a trident. In addition, Neptune was considered the father of monsters (for example, the one-eyed Cyclops). However, initially (which was also reflected in the cult) he was also an earthly deity, associated with fertility and fresh waters, sending earthquakes, and in some areas - the husband of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and the patron of horses (whose form he sometimes takes himself).

Dis was another brother of Jupiter. After defeating the Titans, he inherited the underworld. The most famous legend, the protagonist of which is Dis, corresponds to his abduction of Proserpina, daughter of Ceres. Despite Jupiter's intervention, Dis tricks Proserpina into eating the pomegranate, as a result of which she is forced to return to him every year for four months as his wife and, accordingly, queen of the underworld.

It is customary to divide all gods into Olympian (heavenly) and chthonic (earthly). However, both in mythology and in cults, such a division does not always justify itself.

This is best illustrated by the case of Demeter, sister of Zeus and one of the most important goddesses of Greek religion. Demeter is conventionally classified as an Olympic deity, but she is the goddess of crops and, accordingly, the fertility of the earth depends on her. It would be more accurate to say that some gods, cults and myths had "chthonic" aspects that contrasted with their "celestial" or "Olympian" aspects. Thus, Zeus, as the god of sky and rain, turns out to be the husband of the earth goddess Demeter and the father of the “Virgin” - Kore, personifying germinating crops.

The earth has always occupied the most important place in the religious consciousness of people. The dead are buried in the ground, but living grains necessary for life grow from the ground. In this paradox, the source of the so-called. mystery cults. The most famous of them is the cult of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis near Athens. A key role in the Eleusinian mysteries was played by the myth of Demeter’s sorrowful wanderings in search of her daughter, kidnapped by Hades. Unrecognized, she is received and welcomed by the household of King Eleusis. In gratitude for this, she tries to make the king’s son immortal, secretly tempering him in fire, but the spell is broken by his mother, who is distraught at this spectacle. In the end, when Demeter's grief led to crop failure and famine, Kore was returned to her in Eleusis. Before leaving, Demeter rewarded the Eleusinians by teaching them special rituals.

In Homer, Athena appears as the patroness of heroes. She was originally a Mycenaean palace goddess, similar to the goddesses worshiped in the Minoan palaces of Crete. In any case, her temples were always located on the hills of the acropolis. With the development of her cult in Athens, she becomes a pan-Greek goddess. The patroness of heroes, she herself is a warrior and is depicted with a spear and a helmet, as well as a breastplate called the “aegis” (originally a magical goat skin). However, Athena is also the goddess of crafts and wisdom. This is symbolized by the myth of her birth: according to one version, she came out of the head of Zeus, according to another version (in Hesiod), she was the daughter of Zeus and the Titanide Metis (“good advice”, “thought”). Apollo and Artemis (Diana). Apollo and Artemis were considered twins, children of Zeus from the Titanide Leto, who is only known to have been their mother. They grew up on the island of Delos, where Leto had to hide from the hatred of Hera and where sanctuaries were subsequently dedicated to Apollo and Artemis.

Apollo was one of the most important gods - the god of music, poetry, purification, prophecy and healing. Only in later myths do they begin to associate him with the sun. He was credited with establishing oracles at Delphi and other less important religious centers. Apollo is often seen as an Anatolian deity adopted by the Greeks. In the Homeric epic, he supports the Trojans of Asia Minor against the Greeks, but in the classical era he becomes perhaps the most “Greek” of the gods, depicted as a beautiful beardless youth. Apollo's weapon is the bow. Artemis, the huntress, patroness of hunters, and goddess of wild places and animals, also uses a bow. In many areas, ancient pre-Hellenic goddesses were identified with her. Artemis is virgin, but at the same time she is the goddess of childbirth, and in Ephesus (on the western coast of Asia Minor) she was depicted with many breasts. It seems that her virginity only symbolizes her independence and superiority over the male sex. She hunts in the wild, accompanied by nymphs (Greek for “young woman”). She punished the hunter Actaeon, who spied her bathing in a forest stream, by turning him into a deer, which was torn to pieces by his own dogs. Together with her brother Apollo, she killed the seven sons and seven daughters of the mortal woman Niobe, who boasted that she had more children than Leto - a vivid illustration of the common theme of divine wrath caused by human pride. It was to Artemis that Agamemnon, who led the campaign against Troy, had to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia as punishment for a minor offense he inflicted on the goddess during the hunt. However, according to one version, Artemis saves the maiden at the last moment by replacing her with a doe on the sacrificial altar. Later legends identify Artemis with the goddess of the inhabitants of Tauris (on the Black Sea coast) and report that Iphigenia became a priestess of Artemis in Tauris and remained there until her brother Orestes took her away. Aphrodite (Venus). Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, is the complete opposite of Artemis. Her cult almost certainly came from the Middle East, where there were many goddesses of this kind. Homer speaks of her as the daughter of Zeus by Dione, but Hesiod claims that she was born from sea foam (aphros), fertilized by the blood of the genitals of the castrated Uranus, father of Cronus. Such a rough origin was fully consistent with her elemental essence, and the Greeks treated her with fear - as a powerful cosmic force that could not be resisted. It was said that she was offended by the devotion of Hippolytus, the son of the hero Theseus, to Artemis and inspired Hippolytus's stepmother Phaedra with a reckless and indomitable passion for him. Hippolytus rejected Phaedra, and she committed suicide, falsely accusing Hippolytus of the feelings that possessed her. Theseus, believing his wife’s dying lie, cursed Hippolytus, which caused the latter’s death. Even Aphrodite's love for mortals could be a source of danger. Her beloved Adonis was killed by a boar, and her favorite Paris died during the Trojan War, which began not without her help. It must be said that in Rome Aphrodite (under the name Venus) was revered much more than in Greece, because the son of Venus, Aeneas, was considered the ancestor of the Romans.

Hephaestus (Vulcan). Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, may originally have been a volcano deity. However, this function was forgotten, and he began to be worshiped as the god of artisans. In Greek mythology, he is a comic character; according to the Iliad, he was lame because Zeus threw Hephaestus from heaven for trying to intervene in a quarrel with Hera. In the Odyssey, Hephaestus appears as the husband of Aphrodite, who cheats on him. One day he pretended to be leaving, and Aphrodite invited the god of war, Ares, to her bed. Hephaestus invented a wonderful net in which lovers became entangled in the midst of their embrace. Nevertheless, the gods were more jealous of Ares than they sympathized with Hephaestus. In the Iliad, Hephaestus is in a happier marriage with one of the nymphs; he forges new weapons and armor for Achilles when he loses his old ones.

Ares (Mars). Ares, whose name is synonymous with the word "war", was the personification of brute force; he was respected, revered, but not loved. Homer portrays him as a braggart and a coward, although it was useful to have him on his side. In mythology, he plays the role of the ancestor of many cruel and warlike heroes.

Hermes (Mercury). Hermes is the god of shepherds. He was especially revered in mountainous Arcadia (Central Greece), which was traditionally considered his homeland. The fertility of herds (and possibly people) depends on Hermes, so he was sometimes depicted as a simple wooden or stone pillar with a bearded head and a protruding phallus. This type was developed in portraiture, which more decently depicted his masculinity. In addition, in the 6th century. BC. Another iconographic type also appears: Hermes begins to be depicted as a beautiful beardless youth, the patron of athletics and gymnasiums. For mythology, his function as the god of roads is especially important. Together with Iris (“Rainbow”), he becomes the messenger of the gods. He is the patron saint not only of travelers and merchants, but also of other people on the “high road” - thieves and robbers. As the god of wanderings, Hermes also acts as a guide for the souls of the dead to the kingdom of the dead. By his nature, he is similar to all people of the “high road” - resourceful, inventive and not always trustworthy.

Dionysus, or Bacchus (Bacchus). Dionysus, the god of sensual liberation achieved through wine, dancing and drama, was the only Olympian to have a mortal mother, Semele of Thebes (although she was probably a local earth goddess in origin). Myths tell of his appearance with his ecstatic religion and dancing adherents, in particular the maenads (“mad women”). Significantly, he encounters resistance and his religion is rejected, but he is eventually recognized as a deity. The cult of Dionysus was established in Greece already in the Mycenaean era. The Dionysian cults retained some of the wild features characteristic of its myths, even after the 3rd century. BC. Dionysus assumes special significance as the patron of the thriving mystery cults in Greece and Rome. He was depicted as an effete, bearded young man, often accompanied by goat-legged satyrs or horse-legged Silenians; There were also maenads in his retinue. Orpheus. Orpheus was not, strictly speaking, a god, but he should be mentioned here because he was the patron of the mysteries. According to legend, a musician and poet from Thrace (Northern Greece) was torn to pieces by frantic bacchantes. Orpheus descended into the underworld to bring back Eurydice. According to the oldest versions of the myth, he succeeded, but according to the more common version, he looked back at her before their journey back to earth ended, and therefore lost her again.

There are many other gods in Greek mythology. Hestia (Vesta), goddess of the sacred hearth and sister of Zeus, has few traditions, but she occupied an important place in popular religion. Eros (Cupid) - “sensual love”, “lust” - was often considered one of the most ancient gods, but later they began to see him as the son of Aphrodite. The most famous myth about Eros, the story of Psyche (“Soul”) and Cupid told by Apuleius, is a typically fairy-tale plot, clothed by the author in mythological and allegorical form. Goat-footed Pan was the god of herds and meadows, like his father Hermes. Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, was a fearsome and mysterious figure associated with the underworld. Several gods of the older generation retained their position even after Zeus and his family came to power. Those of them who personified natural forces or whose names denoted certain entities continued to appear as the most ancient deities in popular beliefs, although they did not play a special role in religious cult or myth. Gaia (Tellus), "Earth", was the grandmother of Zeus and the "mother of all". She represents an ancient type of fertility goddess who was known in many places and under different names. It was only after Cybele (a goddess of the same type, worshiped in the western regions of Asia Minor) penetrated into Greece, was identified with the mother of Zeus Rhea, and then transferred to Rome, that this type acquired a concrete embodiment. Separate from the cult of Cybele in Asia Minor there was a cult of her young lover or son, Attis, who was castrated. According to some versions of the myth, Attis, like Aphrodite's lover Adonis, fell victim to a wild boar. Helios and Selene - “Sun” and “Moon” - were also characters in folk beliefs, which endowed them with chariots in which they made their way across the sky. The cult of Helios played an important role in Rhodes, and it was only at the very end of the classical era that Helios became associated with Apollo. During the era of the Roman Empire, he becomes the central figure of the pagan religion. Selene was often identified with other mythological figures, especially Hecate and Artemis. Another vague image of the same type is Eos (Aurora), “Dawn”.

The space of Greek myth was also inhabited by less significant creatures: local deities, river gods, demigods and all kinds of giants, monsters and mixanthropic creatures (half-animals, half-humans).

Democratization, which made priestly positions accessible to plebeians, and the position of the head of the cult - the great pontiff - elective, coupled with the prohibition of donating and bequeathing land to temples, did not allow the development of either the priestly caste or its stronghold - the temple economy. The civil community itself became the highest authority. The ideological justification for the cohesion of civil society was the veneration of ancestors and gods. Moreover, the relationship with the gods in the new society underwent the same extreme rationalization as the relationship between people. Traditions, the origins of which were the gods, were the most important guideline ensuring the stability of life. Thus, the right of the collective received, as it were, divine sanctification. That is why the Roman imperial power, which arose to maintain order among Roman society, immediately began to self-deify. “The cult of the emperor was supposed to personify the unity of Roman citizens scattered throughout the vast power, while at the same time acting as a guide for stateless provincials. In essence, it was not a cult of personality, but of the same symbolic sign of social need, which were all the pagan gods.” .

Ancient Christianity was able to replace this cult because it was not associated with the distinction between citizens and non-citizens. This happened when all residents of the empire had equal rights. The emergence of early Christianity was due to the fact that Rome was gradually overwhelmed by a wave of all kinds of sectarian teachings, philosophical schools, and mystical cults coming from the East. And the tendency to establish monotheism was very strong. They hoped for a single religion common to the entire empire as a means of preserving the empire and preventing its collapse. However, it was already too late, and even the establishment of a single religion would not have saved the state torn by contradictions.

CELEBRATIONS AND PERFORMANCES OF ANCIENT ROME

The lower strata of the population, oppressed by oppression and fate, dreamed of the appearance of a messiah, a savior of God who would come, give bliss to the suffering, and punish the persecutors. From an early time, various festivals and performances played an important role in the public life of Rome.

At first, public performances were also religious ceremonies; they were an indispensable part of religious holidays. In the VI century. BC e. they began to organize performances of a secular (not religious) nature, and not priests, but officials began to be responsible for their conduct. The venue for such performances was no longer the altar of one god or another, but a circus located in the lowland between the Palatine and Aventine hills.

The earliest Roman civil holiday was the festival of the Roman Games. For several centuries it was the only civil holiday of the Romans.

From the 3rd century. BC. new ideas are established. Plebeian games become of great importance. The largest religious holidays were those associated with the cult of agricultural gods - cerealia in honor of Ceres, Vinalia - the festival of the grape harvest, Consualia - the festival of the harvest, Saturnalia - the festival of crops, Terminalia - the festival of boundary stones, Lupercalia - the festival of shepherds. Being the festivities of the ancient inhabitants of Rome, farmers and shepherds, these holidays continued to be especially revered among the rural population.

At the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 1st century. BC e. The Apollo Games, games in honor of the Great Mother of the Gods - the Megalenic Games, as well as floralia - in honor of the goddess Flora, were also established. Their organization was in charge of the curule aediles. These games were annual and regular, but in addition to them, extraordinary games could also be held depending on a successful war, deliverance from an invasion, a vow, or simply the desire of the magistrate. The games lasted from 14 - 15 days (Roman and Plebeian games) to 6 - 7 days (floralia). The total duration of all holidays of these games (ordinary) reached 76 days a year. Each festival consisted of several sections: 1) a solemn procession led by the magistrate who organized the games, called a pomp, 2) competitions in the circus, chariot races, horse racing, etc., 3) stage performances in the theater of Greek and Roman plays authors. The performances usually ended with a feast, a massive meal, sometimes for several thousand tables.

Setting up games required a lot of money. For example, funds were allocated for the Roman Games in the middle of the 1st century. BC e. 760 thousand sesterces, Plebeian games - 600 thousand, Apollonian games - 380 thousand. As a rule, the money allocated from the treasury was not enough and the magistrates responsible for organizing the games contributed their own money, sometimes exceeding the allocated amount. Of the 76 holidays, about 30 days were devoted to theatrical performances. Some of the festivities, such as Floralia and the Games of Apollo, consisted almost entirely of stage performances. The large number of stage days in the system of public performances indicates the significant role of theater in the public life of Rome in the 1st - 1st centuries. BC e. Apparently, this is explained by the influence of the excellent Greek theater and Greek literature, the general cultural growth of the Roman public, and the increase in the urban population, which usually attended theatrical performances.

The interest of the Roman public, on the other hand, ensured the high level of Roman drama, the appearance of good plays by Plautus, Terence, Pacuvius and Actius. Despite the popularity of theatrical productions, Rome did not have a permanent theater building for a long time. Typically, a temporary theater structure was erected on the square and was made of wood. At first, only the stage and stage were erected, and the audience watched the performance while standing. Senators and nobles sat in chairs brought from home by their slaves. In the middle of the 1st century. BC e. They began to build benches for all spectators. And only in 55 BC. e. Pompey built a permanent stone theater building. Unlike the Greek theater, the Roman theater did not have an orchestra; it was reserved for the seats of senators (the later parterre), the stage was lower, but wider than the Greek one and was connected by side passages to the orchestra. Seats for spectators rose above the orchestra in a semicircle - an amphitheater. The Roman theater was equipped with various mechanical devices and mechanisms necessary for lifting heavy objects and changing scenery.

Gladiator fights are gaining extraordinary development in Rome. Gladiatorial fights have been held in Etruscan cities since the 6th century. BC. From the Etruscans they entered Rome. For the first time in 264, a fight between three pairs of gladiators was staged in Rome. Over the next century and a half, gladiatorial games were held at the funerals of noble persons, called funeral games and had the character of a private performance.

Gradually, the popularity of gladiator fights is growing. In 105 BC. e. gladiatorial fights were declared part of public spectacles and magistrates began to take care of their organization. Along with magistrates, private individuals also had the right to fight. To give a performance of a gladiator fight meant to gain popularity among Roman citizens and to be elected to public office. And since there were many people who wanted to receive a magistrate’s position, the number of gladiator fights increased. Several dozen and even hundreds of pairs of gladiators worth several hundred thousand sesterces are already being brought into the arena. Gladiatorial fights became a favorite spectacle not only in the city of Rome, but also in all Italian, and later in provincial cities. They were so popular that Roman architects created a special, previously unknown type of building - an amphitheater, where gladiatorial fights and baiting of animals were held. Amphitheaters were designed for several tens of thousands of spectators and were several times greater than the capacity of theater buildings. The number of performances, both private and public, in Rome and other cities and their duration constantly increased, and their importance grew more and more.

At the end of the Republic, magistrates and statesmen considered the holding of public performances an important part of their government activities. In the conditions of an aristocratic republic, where all power was concentrated in the hands of a narrow elite of the slave-owning class, the ruling group considered the organization of public performances one of the means to help distract the broad masses of Roman citizenship from active state activities. It is not surprising that the growth of public performances was accompanied by a decline in the importance of popular assemblies and their political role.

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE IV-I CENTURIES. BC.

The development of Roman architecture was closely connected with the course of Roman history, the complication of social relations, and the growth of the city; it took place under Greek and Etruscan influence: there were some borrowings here.. Just like in religious beliefs, borrowing took place in several stages and the experience of several peoples was used. The Etruscans were the teachers of the Romans. It was they who taught how to build buildings, but very soon the Romans surpassed them in this art. They began to make better use of materials that had already been used before, adapted new ones, and improved construction methods. Therefore, it is not surprising that in Roman art during its heyday, it was architecture that played the leading role, the monuments of which even now, even in ruins, captivate with their power.

The Romans marked the beginning of a new era of world architecture, in which the main place belonged to public buildings, embodying the ideas of the power of the state and designed for huge numbers of people. Throughout the ancient world, Roman architecture has no equal in the height of engineering art, the variety of types of structures, the richness of compositional forms, and the scale of construction. The Romans introduced engineering structures (aqueducts, bridges, roads, harbors, fortresses) as architectural objects into urban, rural ensembles and landscapes.

The early city was built without a plan, in a haphazard manner, with narrow and crooked streets, and primitive dwellings made of wood and mud brick. The only large public buildings were temples, for example the Temple of Jupiter on Capitol Hill, built in the 6th century. before i. e., a small temple of Vesta in the forum. Inside the city, vacant lots and undeveloped areas remained; the houses of the nobility were surrounded by gardens. The drainage ditches were at first open, but then they were covered with wooden flooring and later with a stone vault.

The fire of Rome after its capture by the Gauls destroyed most of the city's buildings. After the fire, Rome was again built up spontaneously, preserving the main lines of the former streets and squares. The expanded city was surrounded by new, so-called Servian walls, which were a remarkable structure. They consisted of a main outer wall and a powerful earthen rampart resting on it, which was supported by another, less high wall on the city side. The outer shell was made of massive square blocks.

The growth of the population of Rome led to the development of vacant lots and to the compaction of additions. Some streets were paved with cobblestones. The old sewerage system was reconstructed. The growing population required good water, for the supply of which two water pipelines were built, dug underground, several tens of kilometers long.

A new stage of urban construction began in the 2nd century BC: not only vacant lots, but also landfills are being built up, and urban land is rising in price. Instead of primitive dwellings made of adobe and wood, they appeared in the 1st century. n. e. multi-storey houses and villas of the nobility, built from baked brick and concrete and even marble. Several new water pipelines supply good drinking water many kilometers away. The city center - the Roman Forum - is being improved, it is expanding, new public buildings and temples are being built around it, its porticos are being paved with tiles. New types of public buildings are appearing. The very dense development of the urban area, crowding and cramped conditions could not but cause the need for special green areas - parks located on the outskirts of the city. This is how the luxurious gardens of Sallust and Lucullus appeared. The city was divided into blocks, the blocks were grouped into districts. As a result of the Roman conquests, wealth of all kinds flowed into Rome and the Italian cities. This caused the rise of Roman architecture. The Romans sought to emphasize in their buildings and architectural structures the idea of strength, power and greatness that overwhelm man. This is where the love of Roman architects for the monumentality and scale of their buildings, which amaze the imagination with their size, was born.

Another feature of Roman architecture is the desire for lavish decoration of buildings, rich decorative furnishings, a variety of decorations, a greater (than the Greeks) interest in the utilitarian aspects of architecture, in the creation primarily not of temple complexes, but of buildings and structures for practical needs (bridges, aqueducts, theaters, amphitheatres, baths). Roman architects developed new design principles, in particular they widely used arches, vaults and domes, along with columns they used pillars and pilasters. Unlike the Greek architects, who drew up the plan of buildings without following the strict symmetry of its different parts, the Romans proceeded from strict symmetry. They widely used the Greek orders - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, and their most favorite was the magnificent Corinthian order.

Unlike Greek classical architecture, in which orders were an organic combination of decorative decoration with the structure of the building, the Romans used Greek orders only as a decorative, decorative element. However, the Romans developed an order system and created their own orders, different from the Greek ones. Such orders were a composite order, i.e. representing a combination of elements of all Greek orders in one, an order and the so-called order arcade, i.e. a set of arches resting on pillars or columns.

A new type of civil society with its own demands gradually emerged. The needs of Roman society gave rise to many types of structures: amphitheatres, baths, triumphal arches, aqueducts, etc. On Roman soil, palaces, mansions, villas, theaters, temples, bridges, and tombstones received a new architectural solution. The rationalism underlying Roman architecture was manifested in the spatial scope, constructive logic and integrity of gigantic architectural complexes, strict symmetry and clarity. With the expansion of Roman rule into Greece and the Hellenistic states, the sophistication and luxury of the Hellenistic cities penetrated into Rome. The influx of wealth from conquered countries during the 3rd-1st centuries. BC e. changed the morals of the Romans, creating wastefulness among the ruling classes. Famous Greek statues and paintings by Greek masters were imported in huge quantities. Roman temples and palaces turned into art museums. His passion for Greek art manifested itself primarily in his appeal to the order system. While the order played a constructive role in Greek architecture, in Rome it was used mainly for decorative purposes.

During the Republican period, the main types of Roman architecture emerged. The harsh simplicity of the way of life in the conditions of constant fierce wars was reflected in the constructive logic of monumental engineering structures. They were the first to reveal the originality of Roman art. The grandiose structures are noteworthy - the ancient defensive walls of Rome, which arose back in the 8th century. BC e. on three hills: Capitol, Palatine and Quiripala, made of stone (early - 6th century BC and the so-called Servian Wall - 378-352 BC). Roman roads were of great strategic importance; they united different parts of the country. The Appian Way leading to Rome (VI-III centuries BC) for the movement of cohorts and messengers was the first of a network of roads that later covered the whole of Italy. Near the Aricchi valley, the road, paved with a thick layer of concrete, crushed stone, lava and tuff slabs, ran along a massive wall (197 m long, 11 m high) due to the terrain, dissected in the lower part by three through arched spans for mountain waters. Gradually, over the next centuries, Rome became the most water-rich city in the world. Powerful bridges and aqueducts (the aqueduct of Appius Claudius, 311 BC, the aqueduct of Marcius, 144 BC), running tens of kilometers, took a prominent place in the architecture of the city, in the appearance of its picturesque surroundings, becoming an integral partly into the landscape of the Roman Campania. Rome acquired a completely new look, corresponding to the prestige of the world capital. The number of public buildings increased, forums, bridges, aqueducts were built, and the architectural decoration was enriched. According to the historian Suetonius, Augustus “decorated Rome so much that he could justifiably boast that he accepted it as brick and left it as marble.” The city amazed contemporaries with the vastness of its area - it had no clear boundaries on either side. Its outskirts were lost in the luxurious villas of Campagna. Magnificent buildings, colossal porticoes, vaulted roofs and decorated with pediments, richly decorated pools and fountains alternated with the greenery of groves and alleys. “The embodiment of the power and historical significance of imperial Rome were triumphal structures glorifying the military victories of Rome. Triumphal arches and columns were erected not only in Italy, but also in the provinces for the glory of Rome. Roman buildings were active conductors of Roman culture and ideology there. Arches were built for various reasons - both in honor of victories and as a sign of the consecration of new cities. However, their primary meaning is associated with triumph - a solemn procession in honor of victory over the enemy. Passing through the arch, the emperor returned to his hometown in a new capacity. The arch was the border of one’s own and another’s world.”

Spectacles occupied a large place in the social life of the Romans. Theaters and amphitheaters are characteristic of ancient cities. Even during the period of the late Republic, a unique type of amphitheater developed in Rome. The latter was entirely a Roman invention. If Greek theaters were set up in the open air, with seats for spectators located in a hollow of a hill, then Roman theaters were independent closed multi-tiered buildings in the city center with seats on concentrically erected walls. Amphitheaters were intended for the crowd of the lower classes of the capital's population, greedy for spectacles, in front of which gladiator battles, naval battles, etc. were played out during the festivities. In the 70-80s. n. e. a grandiose Flavian amphitheater was built, called the Colosseum (from the Latin colosseus - “huge”).

The Colosseum is the largest amphitheater of the ancient era. It accommodated about fifty thousand spectators. The powerful walls of the Colosseum (height 48.5 m) are divided into four tiers by continuous arcades; on the lower floor they served for entrance and exit. In plan, the Colosseum is an ellipse (156X198 m); the center of his composition is the now destroyed arena, surrounded by stepped benches for spectators. The ellipse most fully met the requirements of the dynamics of the unfolding spectacles - gladiator fights. It made it possible to maximally activate the viewer, to bring the seats of the privileged public closer to the arena; The seats descending like a funnel were divided according to the social rank of the spectators. All these grandiose constructions were required by Rome as the center of a huge empire. And indeed, built up with all these buildings, rich in monuments, the city was also in the 3rd – 4th centuries. looked impressive. In the 3rd century. A lot of construction was still going on - arches, magnificent baths, and palaces were being erected. “But, as A. Blok put it, “there was no longer a single sore spot on the body of the Roman Empire,” creative potential gradually faded away.” Thus, architecture begins to become obsolete and become more and more primitive. Perhaps this is due to the fact that, in pursuit of innovation and luxury, the Roman nobility too quickly exhausted the possibilities of borrowed construction techniques.

Roman architecture in the IV - I centuries. before i. e. went through two periods of its development. The first period covers the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., when Rome was a relatively poor and small city. Roman architecture of this time developed under the strong influence of Etruscan architecture; for example, the forms of the early Roman temple and its decorative decoration, the use of the arch and vault, were borrowed from the Etruscans. The leading type of structures are military engineering (defensive walls, for example the wall of Servius, built in the 4th century BC; some parts of the wall date back to the 6th century BC) and civil (the first water pipelines and roads - the end of the 4th century century BC). The second period (1st - 1st centuries BC) is characterized by the widespread use of concrete and vaulted structures. New types of buildings appear, for example, basilicas where trade transactions were carried out and courts were administered (the first basilica was built in the 1st century BC), amphitheaters where gladiator fights and fights with animals were held, circuses where chariot races took place, baths - a complex of bathhouses, libraries, places for games, for walks, surrounded by a park. A new type of monumental structure emerges - the triumphal arch. The needs of trade gave rise to the construction of warehouses (for example, the huge portico of the Emilians - 1st century BC), and special market premises.

Buildings appeared for administrative needs: offices, archives (the central senate archive Tabularium was built in the 80s of the 1st century BC), court premises. The conquest of Italy and the Mediterranean brought to life the intensive completion of permanent military camps, multi-layered roads encircling the whole of Italy and continued in the provinces. The needs of the growing urban population lead to the improvement of sewage systems and the construction of new water pipelines, supplying water to Rome several tens of kilometers away. Rome in the 1st century BC e. turns into a huge city with a population of millions, multi-storey buildings, densely built up with numerous public buildings, living a tense, nervous life. Not only Rome, but also small cities (for example, Pompeii) turn into the 1st century. BC e. to well-appointed, cultural centers with a variety of buildings, beautiful squares, cobbled streets, a stone theater and amphitheater, a circus, numerous shops and taverns.

According to legend, the first sculptures in Rome appeared under Tarquinius Proud, who decorated the roof of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, which he built according to Etruscan custom, with clay statues. The first bronze sculpture was a statue of the fertility goddess Ceres, cast at the beginning of the 5th century. BC. From the 4th century BC. they begin to erect statues of Roman magistrates and even private individuals. Many Romans sought to erect statues of themselves or their ancestors in the Forum. In the 1st century before i. e. the forum was so cluttered with bronze statues that a special resolution was issued by which many of them were removed. Bronze statues, as a rule, were cast in the early era by Etruscan craftsmen, and starting from the 1st century. BC e. - Greek sculptors. Mass production of statues did not contribute to the creation of good works, and the Romans did not strive for this. For them, the most important thing in the statue was its portrait resemblance to the original. The statue was supposed to glorify this person, his descendants, and therefore it was important that the person depicted was not confused with someone else. The development of the Roman individual portrait was influenced by the custom of removing wax masks from the dead, which were then stored in the main room of the Roman house. These masks were taken out of the house during ceremonial funerals, and the more such masks there were, the more noble the family was considered. During sculptural work, the masters apparently widely used these wax masks. The emergence and development of Roman realistic portraiture was influenced by the Etruscan tradition, which was guided by Etruscan masters working for Roman clients.

From the end of the 3rd century. BC e. The remarkable Greek sculpture begins to exert a powerful influence on Roman sculpture. During the plunder of Greek cities, the Romans captured a large number of sculptures, which delighted even the practical and conservative Romans. A flood of Greek statues literally poured into Rome. For example, one of the Roman commanders brought 285 bronze and 230 marble sculptures to Rome after his campaign, another carried 250 carts with Greek statues in triumph. Greek statues are exhibited everywhere: in the forum, in temples, baths, villas, in city houses. Despite the abundance of originals exported from Greece, there is a great demand for copies of the most famous statues. A large number of Greek sculptors moved to Rome, copying the originals of famous masters. The abundant influx of Greek masterpieces and mass copying slowed down the flowering of Roman sculpture itself. Only in the field of realistic portraiture did the Romans, using Etruscan traditions, contribute to the development of sculpture and create several excellent works (Capitolian she-wolf, Brutus, Orator, busts of Cicero and Caesar). Under the influence of Greek art, the Roman portrait begins to lose the features of naturalism characteristic of the Etruscan school, and acquires the features of some generalization, that is, it is truly realistic.

Urban planning and architecture of the Republican era go through three stages in their development.

In the first (5th century BC) the city was built up chaotically; primitive dwellings made of adobe and wood predominate; monumental construction is limited to the construction of temples (the rectangular temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the round temple of Vesta).

At the second stage (IV–III centuries BC), the city begins to be improved (paved streets, sewerage, water pipes). The main type of structures are engineering military and civil buildings - defensive walls (the wall of Servius of the 4th century BC), roads (Appian Way 312 BC), grandiose aqueducts supplying water for tens of kilometers (Aqueduct of Appius Claudius 311 BC), sewage canals (cloaca Maximus). There is a strong Etruscan influence (temple type, arch, vault).

At the third stage (2nd–1st centuries BC), elements of urban planning appear: division into blocks, design of the city center (Forum), arrangement of park areas on the outskirts. A new building material is used - waterproof and durable Roman concrete (made of crushed stone, volcanic sand and lime mortar), which makes it possible to construct vaulted ceilings in large rooms. Roman architects creatively reworked Greek architectural forms. They create a new type of order - a composite one, combining the features of the Ionian, Dorian and especially Corinthian styles, as well as an order arcade - a set of arches resting on columns.

Based on the synthesis of Etruscan samples and the Greek peripter, a special type of temple emerged - a pseudo-peripter with a high base (podium), a facade in the form of a deep portico and blank walls dissected by semi-columns. Under Greek influence, the construction of theaters begins; but if the Greek theater was carved into the rock and was part of the surrounding landscape, then the Roman amphitheater is an independent structure with a closed internal space, in which the spectators are located in an ellipse around the stage or arena (Great Theater in Pompeii, theater on the Campus Martius in Rome).

To build residential buildings, the Romans borrowed the Greek peristyle design (a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, to which living quarters are adjacent), but, unlike the Greeks, they tried to arrange the rooms in strict symmetry (House of Pansa and House of Faun in Pompeii); country estates (villas), freely organized and closely connected with the landscape, became the favorite vacation spot of the Roman nobility; their integral part is a garden, fountains, gazebos, grottoes, statues and a large reservoir. The Roman (Italian) architectural tradition itself is represented by basilicas (rectangular buildings with several naves) intended for trade and the administration of justice (Basilica of Portia, Basilica of Aemilia); monumental tombs (tomb of Caecilia Metella); triumphal arches on roads and squares with one or three spans; thermal baths (complexes of bathhouses and sports facilities).

SCULPTURE

Roman monumental sculpture did not develop as much as Greek; she was not focused on the image of a physically and spiritually perfect person; its hero was a Roman statesman, dressed in a toga. Plastic art was dominated by the sculptural portrait, historically associated with the custom of removing a wax mask from the deceased and storing it along with figurines of household gods. Unlike the Greeks, Roman masters sought to convey individual, rather than ideally generalized, features of their models; their works were characterized by great prosaicism. Gradually, from a detailed fixation of the external appearance, they moved on to revealing the inner character of the characters (“Brutus”, “Cicero”, “Pompey”).

A characteristic feature of the thinking of the Romans was practicality, a love not for theoretical, but for applied sciences. For example, agronomy reached a high level of development in Rome. Several agricultural treatises have been preserved - Marcus Portius Catana (1st century BC), Terence Varro (1st century BC), where various agronomic problems are carefully and deeply studied.

The Roman architect Vitruvius wrote a special treatise “On Architecture” in 10 books, indicating the high level of Roman architectural thought. The turbulent events of the last century of the Republic, the fierce political struggle that was waged in the People's Assembly and the Senate, contributed to the development of oratory and rhetoric.

Manuals on rhetoric appeared, outlining the basic rules of oratory. Despite the strong dependence on Greek models, Roman rhetoric was able to overcome them and say a new word here. Among the manuals on rhetoric, one should name the work of an unknown author “Rhetoric to Herennius” (some attribute its composition to Cicero) and several works of Cicero - “Brutus”, “On the Orator”.

The science of law has received great development: jurisprudence, or jurisprudence. The first studies appeared in the 1st century. BC e., and in the 1st century. BC. There was already a solid legal literature. Particularly noteworthy are the 18 books of “Civil Law”) and “Definitions” by Quintus Mucius Scaevola (they, unfortunately, have not survived). A wide variety of legal issues were addressed in Cicero's numerous speeches.

In the 1st century BC e. Roman philology was also born.

Special studies appeared on grammar, on the use of letters, the emergence of the Latin language, philological comments on the comedies and tragedies of writers of the 1st century. BC e. The most prominent experts in the field of Roman philology were Nigidius Figulus, who wrote extensive grammatical comments, and his student Terence Varro, the author of the essay “On the Latin Language” and many other works.

Just as the huge Roman state consisted of many heterogeneous parts, still mechanically interconnected and not merged into an organic whole, so the Roman culture of the late Republican era was a combination of many principles - Etruscan, primordially Roman, Italic and Greek. The composite nature of Roman culture explains the eclecticism of many of its aspects.

ART OF ANCIENT ROME.

Discussion and evaluation of the art of Ancient Rome is one of the most controversial issues in numerous studies. Sometimes scientists express very critical judgments.

Roman art learned early to flatter and pretend, Dmitrieva believes. “Already in the heroic statues of Augustus, depicted as a commander theatrically extending his hand to the troops, there is tension and falsehood. And the portraits of the insignificant emperor Commodus in the form of Hercules, with a club and a lion’s skin on his shoulders, or Nerva in the guise of Jupiter are already clearly false and deliberate.”

In Rome they did not particularly believe in the ideal of the ancient eastern triad “god - king - hero”. And in general they no longer believed in anything. Philosophical thought feverishly wandered, most willingly inclining towards the sorrowful submission to fate preached by the Stoics. The vices of the rulers were no secret to anyone. Nevertheless, the prestige of power had to be somehow maintained, because the most criminal ruler had no shortage of praisers and flatterers. But still it was only half false, and under the mask of flattery there was a merciless gaze, devoid of illusions. And therefore it is impossible to unequivocally condemn or praise the art of Ancient Rome. The roots of this problem are too deep, and therefore we must turn to history.

The art of ancient Rome, like that of ancient Greece, developed within the framework of a slave society, so it is these two main components that are meant when they talk about “ancient art.” The art of Rome is considered the culmination of the artistic creativity of ancient society. It is right to assert that, although the ancient Roman masters continued the Hellenic traditions, the art of ancient Rome is an independent phenomenon, determined by the course and course of historical events, and living conditions, and the originality of religious views, the character traits of the Romans, and other factors.

Roman art as a special artistic phenomenon began to be studied only in the twentieth century, essentially only then realizing all its originality and uniqueness. And yet, many prominent antiquists still believe that the history of Roman art has not yet been written, the full complexity of its problems has not yet been revealed. In the works of the ancient Romans, unlike the Greeks, symbolism and allegory prevailed. Accordingly, the plastic images of Hellions gave way to the Romans' picturesque ones, in which the illusory nature of space and form predominated - not only in frescoes and mosaics, but also in reliefs. Statues like the Maenad of Skopas or the Nike of Samothrace were no longer created, but the Romans owned unsurpassed sculptural portraits with exceptionally accurate depiction of individual facial features and character, as well as reliefs that reliably recorded historical events. The Roman master, unlike the Greek, who saw reality in its plastic unity, was more inclined towards analysis, dismembering the whole into parts, and a detailed depiction of the phenomenon. The Greek saw the world as if through the poetic haze of myth that united and tied everything together. For the Roman, it began to dissipate, and phenomena were perceived in more distinct forms, which became easier to comprehend, although this also led to a loss of the sense of the integrity of the universe.

In ancient Rome, sculpture was limited primarily to historical relief and portraiture, but fine arts with an illusory interpretation of volumes and forms developed - fresco, mosaic, easel painting, which were poorly widespread among the Greeks. Architecture has achieved unprecedented success both in its construction and engineering and in its ensemble expression. What was new among the Romans was their understanding of the relationship between artistic form and space. The extremely compact, concentric in essence forms of the classical Parthenon did not exclude, but, on the contrary, expressed the openness of the building to the open spaces surrounding the Acropolis. “In Roman architecture, which usually amazes with its ensemble scope, preference was given to closed forms. Architects loved pseudoperipetras with a colonnade half recessed into the wall. If the ancient Greek squares were always open to space, like the Agora in Athens or other Hellenistic cities, then the Roman ones were either surrounded by high walls, like the forums of Augustus or Nerva, or were located in lowlands.” The same principle was manifested in sculpture. The plastic forms of Greek athletes are always presented openly. Images like a praying Roman, throwing the edge of his robe over his head, are mostly contained within themselves, concentrated. Roman masters in sculptural portraits focused attention on the personal, individual characteristics of a person.

The system of Roman architectural and plastic images is deeply contradictory. The compactness of their forms is only apparent, artificial, apparently caused by imitation of classical Hellenic models. The attitude of the Romans to form, volume, and space was completely different from that of the Greeks, based on the principle of breaking through boundaries and frames, on the eccentric rather than concentric dynamics of artistic thinking. In this sense, Roman art is a qualitatively new stage in man’s aesthetic exploration of reality. The attraction of Roman artists to classical Hellenic forms, which evokes a feeling of duality in Roman monuments, is now perceived as a manifestation of a kind of reaction to the innovations that were proclaiming themselves. The loss of the integrity of artistic forms, realized by the Romans, often forced them to create buildings of enormous size, sometimes grandiose, in order to at least compensate for the inconsistency or limitations of the images. Perhaps it was precisely because of this that Roman temples, forums, and often sculptural works were significantly larger than the ancient Greek ones.

An important factor that influenced the character of ancient Roman art was the enormous space of its field of action. The dynamism and constant expansion of the territorial scope of ancient Roman art with the inclusion in its sphere already in the 5th century BC. Etruscan, Italic, Gallic, Egyptian and other forms, with a special meaning of Greek, cannot be explained only by the properties of Roman artistic potential. This is a process associated with the development of pan-European art, in which the Roman began to play a special role - the interpreter and custodian of the artistic heritage of the ancient era, while simultaneously identifying its own Roman principles. In the Roman crucible, various artistic values were fused so that in the end a completely new medieval aesthetic practice, which did not exclude the traditions of antiquity, emerged. From the Pyrenees shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern borders of Syria, from the British Isles to the African continent, tribes and peoples lived under the influence of artistic systems that were dictated by the capital of the empire. The close contact of Roman art with local art led to the appearance of unique monuments. The sculptural portraits of North Africa are striking in comparison with those in the capital with their expressiveness of forms, some British ones with a special coldness, almost stiffness, Palmyra ones with the intricate ornamentation of decorative ornaments of clothes, hats, and jewelry characteristic of oriental art. And yet, it should be noted that by the middle of the 1st millennium AD, at the end of antiquity, trends toward the convergence of various aesthetic principles made themselves felt in the Mediterranean, which largely determined the cultural development of the early Middle Ages.

The end of Roman art can be formally and conventionally determined by the fall of the Empire. The question of the time of the emergence of Roman art is very controversial. Distribution on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula in the 1st millennium BC. highly artistic works of the Etruscans and Greeks contributed to the fact that Roman art, which was just beginning to take shape, turned out to be invisible. After all, for a long time, from the 8th to the 6th centuries. BC, Rome was a small settlement among many other Italic, Etruscan and Greek cities and settlements. However, even from this distant past, where the origins of Roman art go, brooches with Latin names, cists and such monumental bronze sculptures as the Capitoline She-wolf are preserved. Therefore, it is hardly legitimate to begin the history of the art of ancient Rome, as is sometimes done, from the 1st century. BC, without taking into account, although small in quantity, very important material, which over time, one must think, will increase.

The periodization of Roman art is one of the most difficult problems of its history. In contrast to the accepted and widespread periodization of ancient Greek art, which designates the formative years as archaic, the heyday as classics, and the crisis ages as Hellenism, historians of ancient Roman art, as a rule, associated its development only with changes in imperial dynasties. However, the change of dynasties or emperors did not always entail a change in artistic style. Therefore, it is important to determine in the development of Roman art the boundaries of its formation, prosperity and crisis, taking into account changes in artistic and stylistic forms in their connection with socio-economic, historical, religious, cult, and everyday factors.

If we outline the main stages in the history of ancient Roman art, then in general terms they can be represented as follows. The most ancient (VII - V centuries BC) and Republican eras (V century BC - I century BC) are the period of formation of Roman art. Within these broad time boundaries, the principles of Roman creativity itself were slowly formed, often in confrontation with Etruscan, Italic, and Greek influences. Due to the lack of material materials and very poor coverage of this long period in ancient sources, it is impossible to differentiate this stage in more detail. In the VIII - V centuries. BC. Roman art could not yet compete not only with the developed artistic creativity of the Etruscans and Greeks, but, obviously, with the artistic activity of the Italics, which had clearly declared itself. Roman art flourished in the 1st and 2nd centuries. AD Within this stage, the stylistic features of the monuments make it possible to distinguish: the early period - the time of Augustus, the first period - the years of the reign of the Julios - Claudius and Flavians, the second - the time of Trajan, the late period - the time of late Hadrian and the last Antonions. The times of Septimius Severus, like earlier Pompey and Caesar, should obviously be considered transitional. With the end of the reign of Septimius Severus, a crisis in Roman art began.

However, ancient Roman art had the greatest impact on the architects, painters and sculptors of Italy, who perceived and interpreted the rich artistic heritage of Rome in their own way. In the 17th century Scientists from other European countries became interested in ancient Roman art. It was a time of intensive collection of artistic material, the “antique” period, which replaced the humanistic, Renaissance one. Revolution of the 18th century in France awakened the attention of French scientists and artists to Roman art. At the same time, a scientific and aesthetic attitude towards the ancient heritage arose. I. Winkelman, unlike the figures of the “antique” period, acted as a representative of the educational philosophy of his time, the creator of the history of ancient art. True, he still treated Roman art as a continuation of Greek. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. It was no longer private individuals who began to engage in ancient Roman art, but government institutions in Europe. Archaeological excavations were financed, large museums and scientific societies were founded, and the first scientific works on ancient Roman works of art were created. Attempts to philosophically comprehend the essence and specificity of ancient Roman art were made at the end of the 19th century. F. Wikhof and A. Riegl.

LITERATURE

History of Roman literature V–I centuries. BC. breaks down into two periods. Until the middle of the 3rd century. BC. oral folk literature undoubtedly dominated: incantations and incantations, work and everyday (wedding, drinking, funeral) songs, religious hymns (the hymn of the Arval brothers), fescennins (songs of a comic and parody nature), saturas (impromptu skits, a prototype of folk drama), atellans (satirical farces with permanent masked characters: a fool-glutton, a fool-braggart, an old miser, a pseudo-scientist-charlatan).

The birth of written literature is associated with the emergence of the Latin alphabet, which originated either from Etruscan or Western Greek; it numbered twenty-one characters. The earliest monuments of Latin writing were the annals of the pontiffs (weather records of major events), prophecies of a public and private nature, international treaties, funeral orations or inscriptions in the houses of the deceased, genealogical lists, and legal documents. The first text that has come down to us is the laws of the Twelve Tables 451–450 BC; The first writer known to us is Appius Claudius (late 4th - early 3rd centuries BC), author of several legal treatises and a collection of poetic maxims.

From the middle of the 3rd century. BC. Roman literature began to be strongly influenced by Greek. He played a major role in cultural Hellenization in the first half of the 2nd century. BC. circle of Scipios; however, she also faced strong opposition from the defenders of antiquity (the group of Cato the Elder); Greek philosophy caused particular hostility.

The first steps of Roman fiction are associated with the spread of Greek education in Rome. Early Roman writers imitated classical examples of Greek literature, although they used Roman plots and some Roman forms. However, in my opinion, it was literature that became the art form where the Romans most vividly and uniquely expressed their individuality. During the development of civil society, literature became one of the leading means of dialogue with the authorities.

There is no reason to deny the existence of oral Roman poetry that arose in a distant era. The earliest forms of poetic creativity are undoubtedly associated with cult. Thus arose a religious hymn, a sacred song (carmen), an example of which is the song of the Salievs that has come down to us. It is composed of Saturnian verses. This is the most ancient monument of Italian free poetic meter, analogies to which we find in the oral poetry of other peoples. Roman literature emerges as imitative literature.

The first Roman poet was Livius Andronicus, who translated the Odyssey into Latin. According to his origin, Libya was a Greek from Tarentum. In 272 he was brought to Rome as a prisoner, then he was released and began teaching the children of aristocrats. The translation of the Odyssey was done in Saturnian verses. His language was not distinguished by grace, and it even contained word formations that were alien to the Latin language. This was the first poetic work written in Latin. For many years, Roman schools studied from Andronicus's translation of the Odyssey. Livy Andronicus wrote several comedies and tragedies, which were translations or adaptations of Greek works.

The translations of Livy Andronicus were very free; they were rather alterations of the original, allowing for the inclusion of new passages, changes in names, and new scenes. The works of Livy Andronicus, imperfect and awkward in literary terms, nevertheless played an important role in the development of Roman literature. They introduced the Romans to wonderful Greek literature, mythology, and epic. and the theater. Livy Andronicus took the most difficult, first step; he laid the foundation for Roman fiction, and this is his immortal merit.

During the life of Livy, the poetic activity of Gnaeus Naevius (about 274-204), a Campanian native, who owns an epic work about the first Punic War with a brief summary of previous Roman history, began. In addition, Naevius wrote several tragedies, including those based on Roman legends. Since in the tragedies of Naevius the Romans performed, dressed in a formal costume - a toga with a purple border - these works are called fabulae praetextae. “Nevius also wrote comedies in which he did not hide his democratic convictions. In one comedy, he spoke ironically about the then all-powerful Scipio the Elder; addressed to the Metellas, he said: “By the fate of the evil Metella, the consuls are in Rome.” Naevius was imprisoned for his poetry and was released from there only thanks to the intercession of the tribunes of the people. However, he had to retire from Rome."

After the second Punic War, the works of the poet Ennius (239-169) appeared. He was originally from Bruttium. Ennius took part in the Second Punic War, after which he served as a centurion on the island of Sardinia, here he met Cato the Elder, who brought him with him to Rome. From that time on, Ennius lived in Rome and was engaged in teaching and literary work. Ennius received the rights of Roman citizenship and moved among noble Romans; He was especially close to the circle of the Scipios. Ennius's main work was the Chronicle (Annales), but in addition, like his predecessors, he wrote tragedies and comedies. Ennius was the first to introduce the hexameter into Latin literature. Thus, Greek poetic meters, based on certain alternations of long and short sounds, could be used for Latin poetry. Ennius enjoyed fame during his lifetime, and after his death he was revered as one of the best poets.

The comedy “The Boastful Warrior” was more popular. The action takes place in Ephesus. The main character is Pyrgopolynices, a warrior in the service of Seleucus. He managed to take the girl away from Athens. An Athenian youth, her lover, comes to Ephesus and makes efforts to free the girl. The main participants in this are the slave Palestron and the good old man, the warrior’s neighbor. The old man’s client pretended to be in love with the warrior, made an appointment with him, and he, wanting to free himself from the Athenian girl, sent her away with rich gifts. In the last act, the intrigue is revealed; the boastful warrior, with everyone laughing, is beaten by the slaves of the wise old man. Despite the fact that the action of Plautus's comedies takes place in Greek cities, and their heroes bear Greek names, they contain many lively responses to Roman reality. Plautus did not have aristocratic patrons; he depended, first of all, on the mass audience; his comedies reflect, to a certain extent, the interests and views of the broad masses of the urban plebs. We find in his comedies a protest against usury, against aristocratic arrogance. The comedy "The Boastful Warrior" was probably directed against mercenary troops and reminded the audience of the victory over Hannibal. The plots of Plautus are not original; conventional types are derived from his comedies, but Plautus has inimitable comic situations. They are easy to remember. Plautus created a language of comedy that is distinguished by its freshness and variety; skillfully using wordplay, he created new figurative expressions, successfully introduced neologisms, and parodied expressions accepted in the official language and in court. He took a lot from colloquial speech, from the language of the lower classes. There are many rude expressions in the language of Plautus, but nevertheless, he was considered exemplary.

Another representative of Scipio's circle, Lucilius (180-102) is known for his satires, which reflected the social life of the era. Lucilius attacked the vices of his contemporary society: he condemned perjury, greed and luxury, but at the same time he touched upon literary and other topics. The word satura originally meant a dish consisting of various fruits, and had different meanings before Lucilius. Lucilius applied it to his works to indicate a mixed literary form, but since his time this concept usually refers to didactic works aimed at condemning vices and correcting the morals of the society contemporary to the poet. Only fragments of Lucilius's satires have survived.

From the time of Lucilius, satire became a purely Roman literary genre, which was developed in the following era. In the period from the end of the 3rd century. until the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. Roman literature, initially imitative, gradually acquired original features and developed independently. Literature introduced Roman society to new ideas; it contributed to the creation of the Latin language, which was then studied for many centuries. The last century of the Republic was marked not only by the flourishing of Latin prose, but also by outstanding successes in the field of poetic creativity. Versification was taught in schools, and the ability to compose poetry was a sign of good taste. “Two currents fought in Roman poetry of that time: one of them sought to find vulgar poetic forms, to use diverse poetic techniques that were cultivated by Hellenistic, especially Alexandrian, poets; the other defended the traditional form of versification, which came from Ennius. Cicero considered himself a supporter of this form; Titus Lucretius Carus, the author of the famous philosophical poem “On the Nature of Things,” also joined the same trend.”

Terence Varro is a unique writer; he wrote about 74 works in 620 books (unfortunately, almost all of them were lost). Varro's main work is "Antiquities of Divine and Human Affairs" in 41 books - a historical, geographical and religious encyclopedia; he wrote numerous grammatical and historical-literary works ("On the Latin Language", "On Latin Speech", "On Grammar", “On the comedies of Plautus”), “Portraits” - biographies of the most prominent citizens, philosophical works (“Lohistorians” - a collection of philosophical treatises on various topics, for example about history, about happiness, about madness, etc.). Varro also wrote a treatise “On Agriculture”, where agricultural issues are presented in good literary form. Finally, Varro owns the famous “Menippean Saturas” in 150 books - a cheerful and witty poetic work. Varro's merits in the development of Roman literature were so great that he, the only Roman writer, had a monument erected to him during his lifetime.

The work of Cicero was no less, if not more important in the history of Latin culture. Cicero was an outstanding statesman, an excellent orator, lawyer, expert in philosophy, and a wonderful writer. In his hands, the Latin language acquired a new sound, new expressiveness and plasticity. Cicero's prose is perfect in all respects, it is colorful, easy to understand, varied, rich in content, and has an internal rhythm. Cicero wrote in various prose genres: philosophical works ("On the Limits of Good and Evil", "Tusculan Conversations", "On the Nature of the Gods", etc.), legal works and speeches ("On the State", "On Duties", speeches " against Verres", "against Catiline", "Philippica against Antony"). He authored works on the theory of oratory ("On the Orator", "Brutus"), and numerous letters - elegant and relaxed. The works of Cicero introduced the Romans to Greek philosophy and enriched it with knowledge of many issues of jurisprudence, history, and political doctrines. Without the works of Cicero, it is just as impossible to imagine subsequent Roman literature as it is to imagine Russian literature of the 19th century. without Pushkin's creativity. Cicero's works were diligently read and reread in subsequent centuries. They have survived to this day with the greatest completeness (in comparison with the works of other authors).

A major Roman writer was Julius Caesar, the author of Notes on the Gallic War and Notes on the Civil War. These works are accounts of two wars fought by Caesar himself. Acting as a writer, Caesar pursued political goals: to justify his aggressive and often treacherous actions in Gaul, to place responsibility for the outbreak of the civil war on his opponents. Caesar's "Notes" are outstanding literary works, examples of Roman artistic prose. They are characterized by a thoughtful, clear composition, a simple, relaxed story, and precise and correct language.

A big event in the literary life of the end of the Republic was the publication of the historical works of Sallust Crispus (86 - 35 BC): “On the Jugurthine War”, “On the Catalina Conspiracy” and “History”. The first two works of Sallust are examples of historical monographs; they were written to show the complete inability of the Roman nobility to govern the state and the need to establish strong power. The works of Sallust are at the same time major literary works. They are written masterfully, the presentation is outwardly calm, but behind it one can feel the internal tension; the description of specific historical facts is interspersed with philosophical reasoning and brilliant historical portraits, the speech is short, succinct and very expressive.

The Western Roman Empire fell, and some researchers believe that almost everything created by Rome perished with it, and further development began almost from scratch. But even if in the early period of the history of the Western “barbarian kingdoms” a significant number of achievements of the material and spiritual culture of antiquity were forgotten, much of what it created continued to live in the West. In the East, in Byzantium, the ancient tradition, being reinterpreted, was essentially never interrupted. In both the west and east of Europe, Christianity dominated, having absorbed the values of ancient culture.

Thanks to the works of the “church fathers,” literate people became acquainted with some of the provisions of ancient philosophy, history, and myths. When the Slavic countries, including Rus', adopted Christianity, these works, delivered from Byzantium, like other Christian works, historical chronicles, novels about Alexander the Great, became known here. In the West, Latin remained the language of the church and science for many centuries after the fall of Rome. In monasteries, manuscripts of ancient authors were copied, thanks to which they came to us. If Eastern European and Slavic countries became acquainted with the ancient heritage through Byzantium, then in Western Europe they knew only what was left of Rome. Only when, with the attack of the Turks on Byzantium, many Byzantine scientists began to move to Italy, here they became acquainted with the ancient heritage in its entirety, which stimulated the flourishing of Renaissance culture. Now the works of Roman authors were extracted from monastic repositories, copied, studied, and commented on. Over time, the influence of the ancient heritage grew stronger.

European literature constantly turned to antiquity, and the connection between them became increasingly stronger. Ancient subjects were worked on: “Antony and Cleopatra”, “Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare, “Phaedra”, “Britannicus” by Racine, “Medea”, “Horace”, “Pompey” by Corneille. Entire plays were reproduced: Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” repeated Plautus’ “Menekhmov,” and Moliere’s “The Miser” repeated Plautus’s “The Chest.” The servants of the comedies of Moliere, Lope de Vega, Goldoni are inspired by the images of dexterous, intelligent slaves of Plautus, helping their masters arrange their love affairs. Ancient novels were translated and new ones were written in imitation of them.

Without familiarity with ancient culture, it is impossible to understand the numerous Roman reminiscences of the classics of Russian literature. In Russia, back in the 18th century, ancient authors were translated, and Derzhavin already wrote his “Monument” in imitation of Horace’s “Monument”. A.S. knew Roman literature very well. Pushkin. His translations of Horace have no equal in their adequacy to the original. Merezhkovsky (“Julian the Apostate”), Bryusov (“Altar of Victory”), Andreev (plays “The Rape of the Sabine Women” and “The Horse in the Senate”) turned to ancient subjects. That is, this proves that Roman literature was a completely self-sufficient phenomenon, otherwise it would not have found such a wide response in world literature, and which it still does.

Under the influence of Homer in the second half of the 3rd century. BC. poetry develops - the first Roman epic poems appear, telling the story of the history of Rome from its foundation to the end of the 3rd century. BC, – Punic War of Naevius and Annals of Ennius. In the 1st century BC. Lucretius Carus (95–55 BC) creates a philosophical poem On the Nature of Things, in which he sets out and develops the atomistic concept of Epicurus.

At the beginning of the 1st century. BC. Roman lyric poetry arose, which was greatly influenced by the Alexandrian poetic school. Roman neoteric poets (Valerius Cato, Licinius Calvus, Valerius Catullus) sought to penetrate into the intimate experiences of a person and professed the cult of form; their favorite genres were the mythological epillium (short poem), elegy and epigram. The most outstanding neoteric poet Catullus (87 - c. 54 BC) also contributed to the development of Roman civil lyric poetry (epigrams against Caesar and Pompey); thanks to him, the Roman epigram took shape as a genre.

DRAMATURGY AND THEATER

The birth of the main genres of Roman literature was associated with imitation of Greek and Hellenistic models. The works of the first Roman playwright, Livius Andronicus (c. 280–207 BC), were adaptations of Greek tragedies of the 5th century. BC, like most of the writings of his followers Gnaeus Naevius (c. 270–201 BC) and Quintus Ennius (239–169 BC). At the same time, Gnaeus Naevius is credited with creating the Roman national drama - pretexts (Romulus, Clastidia); his work was continued by Ennius (The Rape of the Sabine Women) and Actium (170 - ca. 85 BC), who completely abandoned mythological subjects (Brutus).

Andronicus and Naevius are also considered the first Roman comedians who created the genre of palleata (Latin comedy based on a Greek plot); Naevius took material from Old Attic comedies, but supplemented it with Roman realities. The heyday of palleata is associated with the work of Plautus (mid-3rd century - 184 BC) and Terence (c. 195-159 BC), who were already guided by Neo-Attic comedy, especially Menander; they actively developed everyday topics (conflicts between fathers and children, lovers and pimps, debtors and moneylenders, problems of education and attitudes towards women).

In the second half of the 2nd century. BC. the Roman national comedy (togata) was born; Afranius stood at its origins; in the first half of the 1st century. BC. Titinius and Atta worked in this genre; they depicted the life of the lower classes and ridiculed the decline of morals. At the end of the 2nd century. BC. atellana (Pomponius, Novius) also received a literary form; now they began to play it after the performance of the tragedy for the entertainment of the audience; She often parodied mythological stories; The mask of an old rich miser, thirsty for positions, acquired special significance in her. At the same time, thanks to Lucilius (180–102 BC), satura turned into a special literary genre - satirical dialogue.

PAINTING

Two styles dominated in painting (wall painting): the first Pompeian (inlay), when the artist imitated the laying of a wall of colored marble (House of Faun in Pompeii), and the second Pompeian (architectural), when he used his design (columns, cornices, porticos, arbors) created the illusion of expanding the space of the room (Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii); An important role here was played by the depiction of the landscape, devoid of the isolation and limitations that were characteristic of ancient Greek landscapes.

ORATORY

I century BC. is the golden age of Roman oratorical prose, which developed within two directions - Asian (florid style, abundance of aphorisms, metrical organization of periods) and Attic (compressed and simple language); Hortensius Gortalus belonged to the first, Julius Caesar, Licinius Calvus and Marcus Junius Brutus to the second. It reached its peak in the judicial and political speeches of Cicero, who originally combined Asian and Attic manners; Cicero also made a significant contribution to the development of the theory of Roman eloquence (On the Orator, Brutus, Orator).

CONCLUSION.

The art of Ancient Rome left humanity an enormous legacy, the significance of which is difficult to overestimate. The great organizer and creator of modern norms of civilized life, Ancient Rome decisively transformed the cultural appearance of a huge part of the world. For this alone he is worthy of lasting glory and the memory of his descendants.

In addition, the art of Roman times left many remarkable monuments in a variety of fields, ranging from works of architecture to glass vessels. Each ancient Roman monument embodies a tradition compressed by time and taken to its logical conclusion. It carries information about faith and rituals, the meaning of life and the creative skills of the people to whom it belonged, and the place this people occupied in the grandiose empire.

The Roman state is very complex. He alone had the mission of saying goodbye to the thousand-year-old world of paganism and creating those principles that formed the basis of Christian art of the New Age. Latin, the language of the ancient Romans and all the peoples subject to them, became the basis of the Romance languages, as well as the language of science and the Catholic Church. The Latin alphabet was adopted in Western Europe, and Greek formed the basis of the Slavic languages. Roman construction techniques and architecture had a great influence on Western European architecture, especially Spain, France, and Italy.

Admiring our modern writers, sculptors, and generals, we still compare them with the great ancient heroes.

The culture of Ancient Rome existed for more than 12 centuries and had its own unique values. The art of Ancient Rome glorified the veneration of the gods, love of the Fatherland, and soldier's honor. Many reports have been prepared on Ancient Rome, which tell about its achievements.

Culture of Ancient Rome

Scientists divide the history of ancient Roman culture into three periods:

Tsarsky (8th-6th centuries BC)
Republican (6th-1st centuries BC)
Imperial (1st century BC - 5th century AD)

Tsarsky is considered a primitive period in terms of cultural development, however, it was then that the Romans developed their own alphabet.

The artistic culture of the Romans was similar to the Hellenic, but had its own characteristic features. For example, the sculpture of Ancient Rome acquired emotions. On the faces of the characters, Roman sculptors began to convey the state of mind. There were especially numerous sculptures of contemporaries - Caesar, Crassus, various gods, and ordinary citizens.

During the times of Ancient Rome, such a literary concept as a “novel” first appeared. Among the poets who wrote comedies, the most famous was Lucilius, who wrote poems on everyday topics. His favorite topic was ridiculing the obsession with achieving various riches.

TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this

The Roman Livius Andronicus, who worked as a tragic actor, knew Greek. He managed to translate Homer's Odyssey into Latin. Probably, under the impression of the work, Virgil will soon write his “Aeneid” about the Trojan Aeneas, who became the distant ancestor of all Romans.

Rice. 1. The Rape of the Sabine Women.

Philosophy has achieved extraordinary development. The following philosophical movements were formed: Roman Stoicism, whose task was to achieve spiritual and moral ideals, and Neoplatonism, the essence of which was the development of the highest spiritual point of the human soul and the achievement of ecstasy.

In Rome, the ancient scientist Ptolemy created a geocentric system of the world. He also owns numerous works on mathematics and geography.

The music of Ancient Rome copied the Greek. Musicians, actors and sculptors were invited from Hellas. The odes of Horace and Ovid were popular. Over time, musical performances acquired a spectacular character, accompanied by theatrical performances or gladiatorial fights.

A letter from the Roman poet Martial has been preserved, in which he claims that if he becomes a music teacher, he will be guaranteed a comfortable old age. This suggests that musicians were in great demand in Rome.

Fine art in Rome was utilitarian in nature. It was presented by the Romans as a way to fill and organize living space. It, like architecture, was carried out in the form of monumentality and grandeur.

To summarize, we note that Roman culture can be considered a successor to Greek, however, the Romans introduced and improved a lot in it. In other words, the student has surpassed the teacher.

Rice. 2. Construction of a Roman road.

In architecture, the Romans built their buildings to last for centuries. The Baths of Caracalla are a striking example of gigantism in construction. Architects used such techniques as the use of palaestras, peristyle courtyards, and gardens. The baths were equipped with sophisticated technical equipment.

Majestic Roman structures include roads that are still in use today, the famous defensive ramparts of Trajan and Hadrian, aqueducts and, of course, the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum).

Topic: Cultural life of Rome
Purpose of the lesson: 1. To introduce students to the achievements of the ancients
Romans; reveal the meaning of the catchphrase
"Meal'n'Real".
2. Determine the reasons for the emergence of Christianity as a world religion and show that
The Christian religion is a religion of salvation from suffering, evil and injustice.
Lesson objectives: To develop the ability to work with a historical document (video fragment
"Coliseum");
develop cognitive interest in the past; contribute to the moral education of students,
instill a love of beauty.
Educational equipment: interactive whiteboard, handouts
Educational and methodological complex: author's flipchart
Lesson content
I. Start of the lesson
II. Checking the house. assignments (4 questions on the interactive board)
III. Communicate the topic and purpose and objectives of the lesson.
IV. Studying the topic according to plan:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Architecture
How the Romans lived
Spectacles (fragment from the video film “Colosseum”)
Sculpture
Technical structures
The emergence of Christianity
Greeting students
Smile at each other. Give me your smile too.
May this lesson bring us the joy of communication and fill our souls with beautiful
feelings.
Review of homework (Task on the interactive whiteboard)
Task No. 1
Task No. 2
Task No. 3
Task No. 4
Learning a new topic
We continue to talk about culture and today in class we go on a journey to the Ancient
Rome, let's meet
with city buildings and architectural monuments, many of them have survived to this day,
We’ll find out which Romans were good engineers and builders, what “public baths” are
Romans, we will reveal the meaning of the popular expression “bread and circuses”, we will find out how it originated
Christianity in ancient Rome. Together with you, after some time, we must answer the question:
Why can the city of Rome be called “eternal”?
So, the topic of our lesson is “Cultural life of the Romans” (write in notebook)
Exercise:
(Guys, as the lesson progresses, write down new definitions in your notebook, and at the end we will see
who was the most attentive
Updating students' knowledge:
Guys, what is culture? (these are people’s achievements in something...)
Guess which country's culture had the greatest influence on culture
Rome? (Greece).Roman culture reaches its highest peak during the era of the empire. Romans
In many ways they were students of the Greeks, but in their character they were strikingly different from them. Greeks

characterized by a special feeling of beauty, grace, and sublimity. The Romans were rougher, more practical,
more down to earth. Therefore, the achievements of the Romans in culture differ from the Greeks.
The Romans willingly used the cultural heritage of all their predecessors, creatively
processing and adapting it to your needs.
(SLIDE map of the Roman Empire)
By the beginning of the new era, the Roman Empire had reached its greatest power. Much
The borders of the empire expanded, and gradually more and more peoples were included in it. The center of this
Rome was a multilingual state.
And so, before us is the PLAN of Ancient Rome (SLIDE – Plan of Ancient Rome)
Rome amazed everyone with its majesty and beauty: both visitors and the townspeople themselves.
The buildings of the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus especially stand out on the plan. We will return to them a little later.
And here we are in the very center of Rome, where FORUM is the main square of the city. Forum
built up with new buildings, temples, arches, columns. But it's always crowded here
Look, friends met here, they share news, talk about their successes and
failures.
The forum was not only an economic, but also a political center. We're a little late here
only that there was the emperor and his soldiers.
A huge number of buildings were built in Rome to emphasize the power of the empire.
(SLIDE). You and I are near the Arc de Triomphe, they were installed in honor of victories over enemies. Under
With them, the victorious commander entered Rome along with his army, booty, and prisoners. She amazes
its monumentality and majesty.
Columns were built at many Forums to glorify emperors. (SLIDE) On the column itself
bas-reliefs with scenes of the life of emperors were placed, and multi-meter statues were crowned with columns
emperors.
– But we came to the column of Emperor Trajan, as you can see it has still been preserved.
The thirty-meter column is hollow, and inside there is a staircase leading to a lantern at the top. All of her
decorated with marble bas-reliefs about the victories and activities of Emperor Trajan.
The symbol of the city, the Colosseum building is the highest achievement of the architectural art of the Romans (from
Latin colosseum, which means huge, enormous), intended for spectacles: gladiatorial
fights and theatrical performances. It accommodated about 50 thousand spectators. Such big buildings
The Romans were able to build thanks to the new building material he invented: concrete
(a mixture of sand, stone, brick, volcanic pumice and water, which, after the water dries,
hardened and became very dense), as well as new technologies for the construction of arches and domes.
We'll get to the spectacle at the Colosseum a little later.
Dozens of temples were built in Rome.
We approached the most famous temple - the Pantheon - “temple of all gods”. He doesn't look like
most ancient temples. Did you notice that it is round, the width of the dome is 43 m. In contrast
Unlike other Greek and Roman temples, the main thing in the Pantheon is not the external, but the internal appearance. Let's
Let's go inside. Thanks to the dome, a spacious hall without columns has been created inside the Pantheon,
supporting the ceiling. The dome is divided into square recesses, they are not the same size,
and decrease from bottom to top. This makes the dome seem even higher, it seems to stretch out,
becomes ovoid.
Listen how quiet it is here... People come and go...
Here is an Egyptian worshiping the god Osiris, and a little further away a rich Roman thanks God.
Why do you think such a temple was built in Rome?
The Pantheon is a temple dedicated to all the gods of the empire. Many peoples lived in Rome and they could
worship your gods.
Today it is a cultural shrine, a church, and the tomb of two kings and Raphael.
The Romans were wonderful builders and engineers. They built 85,000 km of roads
(SLIDE APPIAN VIA) throughout the empire, they all started in Rome, which is why

the famous saying: “All roads lead to Rome” and many aqueducts, (from the Latin words AQUA
– “water” and DUKO – “I lead”) to supply cities with water. Features of Roman aqueducts
was that for the most part they passed not underground, but above the ground. The longest aqueducts
totaled 2030 km.
And now we are standing next to the Roman aqueduct (SLIDE)
How did the Romans live?
Look:
This is the emperor's palace. It occupies an entire area of the city.
The houses of wealthy slave owners were located near the imperial palaces, on the hills where the air
was healthier and cleaner.
Here is a domus - the home of a rich Roman.
Let's try to describe the house of a rich Roman. (SLIDE domus)
Usually it was a 23-story building with many separate rooms. The rooms are large and
spacious. Richly decorated. You can see paintings in them. In the center of the rectangular house was
an enclosed courtyard - an atrium in which the swimming pool was located. This house had living rooms, bedrooms,
libraries. The rich lived in luxury. One family lives in such a house, but is served by
dozens of slaves.
The life of the rest of the population of Rome differed sharply from the lifestyle of the nobility.
Look there: (SlideInsula) multi-storey and apartment buildings for ordinary people -
insula (multi-storey residential building with rooms and apartments intended for rental
for rent) Moreover, the resettlement of people in such houses took place according to their social status in
society: the poorer the person, the higher he lived, the lower the rent for housing.
Oh, how they all push and scream.....
Take a closer look and describe how ordinary citizens of Rome live
What do you think are the disadvantages of these houses?
What danger did the residents of the insuls expose themselves to?
Insulas could house trading establishments, shops, and taverns. Due to wooden floors
Insulas were not durable and burned easily during massive urban fires. Therefore for the first time
in the world, the Romans had to organize fire brigades that went out to put out fires.
Finding the right house was not easy: there were no signs with street names or house numbers.
The houses were depressingly monotonous, and the streets were dirty and narrow. Danger awaited passers-by
on the streets - broken dishes and garbage were flying from the windows, and slop was pouring out. The windows in the houses did not have glass and
In bad weather they closed with shutters, then even during the day they had to light a lamp. Water in
There were no apartments; they took it from city fountains. There were no kitchens as such either; food was prepared
on braziers with charcoal. The poor often ate dry or on the go, buying food from street vendors.
peddlers.
How did the life of the emperor and his entourage differ from the life of other Romans?
(listen to student responses)
Look, there’s a Roman rushing to meet us. The clothes remind me of what people
Roman clothes?
The clothing of a Roman is similar to that of a Greek.
How can this be explained?
This is explained by extensive cultural ties and location in the same climate zone.
If clothing in Egypt and Greece reflected personal well-being, in Rome it reflected position in society.
Who knows what these clothes are called?
The clothing of the working people consisted of a tunic - a shirt-length with short ones that did not reach the elbow
sleeves and a thick thick cloak. To a person from "society"
it was necessary to put on a toga for nobles. The toga (a piece of white long cloth) was purely Roman
clothes. Exiles were forbidden to wear it. The toga was put on in several stages, without the help of others
it was impossible to dress her. The toga was supposed to be white, without any decorations. Only
boys wore a toga with a purple stripe until adulthood. The triumphant wore purple

toga embroidered with gold. These clothes included shoes with straps that covered the foot. More
men wore cloaks of different styles; there were many cloaks. They were not put on themselves, but thrown on.
The Romans did not have trousers; they were considered barbaric clothing.
Women's clothing consisted of a tunic, stola and pala and was not very different from
male. Stolu (long garment in the form of folds, with short sleeves, tied with a belt at the
waist) were worn by respectable married women. The table should not be bright or colorful. Coming out
at home, the woman threw a pallu over herself - a long, wide shawl.
Children's clothing was a copy of adult clothing.
Sandals served as footwear at home; shoes on the street.
The Romans did not know head coverings like ours. In the heat, men could throw it over their heads
the top of the toga, and for women the top of the palla.
Guys, who can name the external differences between a Greek and a Roman? (Slide on the board)
(The Greeks wore beards, but the Romans did not)
Are you probably tired? Now I will take you to the favorite place of the Romans. These are baths, and in Rome they are
called terms (SLIDE)
Tell me, what is the bathhouse for you and me now?
But the Roman baths are huge complexes that include baths, swimming pools, gardens,
libraries, sports grounds. Many Romans spent whole days in the baths,
the fee for them was small.
Where do you think people got their free time? The fact is that the free citizens of Rome
neither the poor nor, especially the rich, worked. They were provided by the state - the richest Roman
empire, they received free bread, free entertainment was arranged for them, citizens,
those who did not want to work demanded “bread and circuses” from the state (grain distribution and announcement of
gladiatorial fights) There is a known case when people threw stones at the procession of one of
emperors, demanding bread and circuses. This expression has become popular. Spectacles loved by the Romans
– chariot races, (SLIDE) which were held in the Circus Maximus (they were a very dangerous species
sports) and gladiator fights - in the Colosseum.
Now we will go with you to the Colosseum and see with our own eyes the favorite spectacles of the Romans.
Everything you see was created according to historical documents, in which one of the great poets of that
time described the portrait and character of the main character. (film “Colosseum” 11 min 19 sec.)
Be careful, after the spectacle is over, I will have questions that you must answer.
answer.
Questions for the video clip:
What is the main purpose of this amazing structure? (killing gladiators and animals for fun
Roman public?)
What spectacles of the Romans did you see? (animal hunting for people, gladiator fights)
Who was present at the spectacles?
If a gladiator was a slave, under what conditions did he receive freedom? (when he won)
How do you think behavior at shows characterizes the Roman public? (cruelty,
heartlessness, excitement)
(From an early age, a person in Roman society was subjected to humiliation, his personal dignity
was suppressed, the father could punish the child with a whip, aggressiveness accumulated and spilled out into
descendants in sadistic admiration of the cruelty presented in the arena. Gladiatorship
was an expression of hatred and the will to power - two traits of the Roman character that pushed them to do anything
new conquests.)
Passion for gladiatorial games speaks of base tastes and low cultural standards.
the level of the free population of Rome compared with Greece.
What were the Greeks' favorite shows?
(favorite spectacles of the Greeks: theatrical performances and sports games)
Let's leave the Colosseum, they are waiting for us at the art museum. Here we will learn about sculptural
art of the Romans.

Sculpture art. (working with text in rows) p.165
Read row 1, make up questions 34 (write in notebook)
Read row 2, get ready to answer questions from classmates
Row 3, using the busts provided, guess what character traits you wanted
depict a sculptor.
(Listen to student responses)
Sample questions from the text:
What material did the Romans create sculptures from? (white marble, bronze)
What influenced the development of sculptural art? (they knew how to remove masks from the face of the deceased
person, conveyed the character of a person)
What does the “closed statue” rule mean?
Where could you see the best works of sculptors? (in churches, public buildings, private
houses).
Our trip to Rome has come to an end, tell me why Rome is called eternal
city?
(people have been living here continuously for more than 2500 thousand years and the cultural heritage created by man
can be seen now.)
And in the Roman Empire another important event took place - the Christian faith was born there.
religion –
By studying the history of different countries, you also became acquainted with the religious beliefs of the peoples living in
them.
Remember and name the gods in whom the Greeks and Romans believed (SLIDE gods are hidden)
Greeks Romans
Zeus Jupiter king of the gods, god of thunder
Hera Juno, patroness of women,
motherhood
Hestia Vesta patroness
hearth and home
Poseidon Neptune god of the seas
Ares Mars god of war
What do Greek and Roman beliefs in gods have in common? (Both the Romans and the Greeks had many gods,
since they were pagans, there was polytheism.)
Who knows what this religion is called? (pagan)
(This is a religious belief in many deities representing the forces of nature)
Two thousand years ago, on the edge of the Roman Empire, in Palestine, a new religion arose
– Christianity. Residents of the eastern provinces began to worship a new god - Jesus Christ.
The first Christians were poor people and slaves, whose life was hard and joyless. They
believed that only Christ would save them from hardships and hardships, so they began their religion
call it Christian.
It was no coincidence that a new religion appeared in Palestine. It was the Jews who lived under the yoke of the Babylonians, Persians,
Macedonians, Romans.
Gradually, representatives of various nationalities became Christians. Christians
proclaimed that everyone is equal before God: slaves and free people, men and women.
Christians boldly declared that they did not recognize the emperor as a god and refused to bow to him. They
argued that not today tomorrow the power of cruel Rome will collapse, fair retribution awaits
all oppressors of the people.
Without thinking about the meaning of Christian teaching, without understanding that the new religion can keep people in obedience
slaves and colons, the Romans began to persecute Christians: houses of worship were destroyed, burned
their books, many Christians were executed.
(SLIDE) In fear for their lives, Christians secretly met in the catacombs to pray together.

1. Introduction.

2. Mythology of Ancient Rome.

3. Ancient Roman architecture.

4. Literature of Ancient Rome.

5. Art of Ancient Rome.

6. Conclusion.

7. List of references used.

1. Introduction.

Ancient culture and civilizations developed within the framework of the history of “eternal Rome” - a state that evolved from a peasant community on the river. Tiber to a world power - rulers of the whole world. Ancient culture reached its highest peak during the Roman civilization.

Rome exerted its influence on the Hellenistic territories it conquered. In this way, a synthesis of Greek and Roman cultures was formed, the result of which was the late antique Greco-Roman culture (I-V centuries AD), which formed the basis of the civilization of Byzantium, Western Europe and many Slavic states.

Ancient Rome means not only the city of Rome of the ancient era, but also all the countries and peoples it conquered that were part of the colossal Roman power - from the British Isles to Egypt. Roman art is the highest achievement and the result of the development of ancient art, since it was created not only by the Romans, but by the peoples they conquered: the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Shins, inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Ancient Germany, who sometimes stood at a higher level of cultural development.

As we see, Rome extended its power not only to the lands of its neighbors, but also to the surrounding vast countries. Even then, in ancient times, contemporaries were looking for an explanation for these impressive achievements: historians and poets found their reasons mainly in the strength of Roman weapons and the heroism of the Romans. But what then caused the collapse of the great power, was it only the invasion of the barbarians? Did the cultural aspect play any role here?

In my work, I would like to follow the main directions of development of Roman culture and highlight a number of features in it. Also, during the analysis, try to determine how great the influence of the cultures of the conquered countries was.

Can the culture of Ancient Rome even be considered an independent phenomenon, or did it develop through endless borrowing? In addition, could the cultural factor somehow contribute to the collapse of the empire? These are the questions that I will try to answer in my work.

This problem is very popular in research circles. Indeed, despite long-term study, clear answers have not yet been obtained. Although there is enough literature to form your own opinion. In writing this work, I used art history publications, books on mythology and literature, scientific articles and historical sources. The most informative and useful were: “Essays on the culture of Ancient Rome” (Herman N.Yu.), as well as an article by Kptev A.V. "Ancient civil society". Both authors approached the problem in an extremely diverse manner. Many of their researches are very polemical, but on the whole they are interesting and new. It is they, it seems to me, that provide the most comprehensive and important information necessary for understanding the problem.

1. Mythology and religion of Ancient Rome.

I would like to start a conversation about the culture of Ancient Rome with its mythology, since, in my opinion, it gives us the clearest idea of the spiritual world of man of that time. It is also associated with the development of many areas of art (literature, architecture, etc.). In addition, it is directly related to people’s religious beliefs, and the influence of religion on the development of the state and its society is undeniable.

At the initial stage, the beliefs of the Romans were expressed in the observance of traditions and rituals. The rite of the founding of Rome is forever enshrined in legends and tales. Later, traditional beliefs are replaced by the ancient Roman religion.

The ancient Roman religion reflected the simplicity of hardworking farmers and shepherds, completely absorbed in the daily affairs of their humble lives. Having lowered his head to the furrow that his wooden plow plowed, and to the meadows in which his cattle grazed, the ancient Roman did not feel the desire to turn his gaze to the stars. He did not honor either the sun, or the moon, or all those celestial phenomena that with their mysteries excited the imagination of other Indo-European peoples. He had had enough of the secrets contained in the most mundane, everyday affairs and in his immediate surroundings. If one of the Romans had walked around ancient Italy, he would have seen people praying in groves, altars crowned with flowers, grottoes decorated with greenery, trees decorated with horns and skins of animals whose blood irrigated the ants growing under them, hills surrounded by special veneration , stones anointed with oil.

Everywhere some kind of deity seemed to appear, and it was not for nothing that one of the Latin writers said that in this country it is easier to meet a god than a person.

According to the Roman, human life in all, even the smallest, manifestations was subject to power and was under the tutelage of various gods, so that man at every step depended on some higher power. Along with such gods as Jupiter and Mars, whose power was increasingly increasing, there were an innumerable number of less significant gods, spirits who took care of various actions in life and economy. Their influence concerned only certain aspects in the cultivation of the land, the growth of cereals, raising livestock, beekeeping and human life. The Vatican opened the child's mouth for the first cry, Kunina was the patroness of the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby's food, Potina and Edusa taught the child to drink and eat after weaning, Cuba watched over the transfer of him from the cradle to bed, Ossipago made sure that the child's bones grew together correctly , Statan taught him to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak, Iterduk and Domiduk led the child when he left the house for the first time.

Equally carefully and carefully they carried out all kinds of fortune-telling, which among the Romans was of great importance in public and private life. Before each important task, they first learned the will of the gods, manifested in various signs, which priests called augurs were able to observe and explain. Thunder and lightning, a sudden sneeze, the fall of an object in a sacred place, an attack of epilepsy in a public square - all such phenomena, even the most insignificant, but occurring at an unusual or important moment, acquired the significance of a divine omen. The most favorite was fortune telling by the flight of birds. When the Senate or consuls had to make any decision, declare war or proclaim peace, promulgate new laws, they first of all turned to the augurs with the question of whether the time was right for this. The Augur made a sacrifice and prayed, and at midnight he went to the Capitol, the most sacred hill in Rome, and, facing south, looked at the sky. At dawn, birds flew by, and depending on which direction they flew from, what they were like and how they behaved, the augur predicted whether the planned business would succeed or fail. Thus, finicky chickens ruled a powerful republic, and military leaders in the face of the enemy had to obey their whims.

Before the Romans came into direct contact with the Greeks, who exerted such an overwhelming influence on their religious ideas, another people, closer geographically, discovered their spiritual superiority over the Romans. These were the Etruscans, a people of unknown origin, whose amazing culture has been preserved to this day in thousands of monuments and speaks to us in an incomprehensible language of inscriptions, unlike any other language in the world. They occupied the northwestern part of Italy, from the Apennines to the sea, a country of fertile valleys and sunny hills, running down to the Tiber, the river that connected them with the Romans. Rich and powerful, the Etruscans, from the heights of their fortified cities, standing on steep and inaccessible mountains, dominated vast expanses of land. Their kings dressed in purple, sat on chairs lined with ivory, and were surrounded by honorary guards armed with bundles of rods with axes stuck in them. The Etruscans had a fleet and for a very long time maintained trade relations with the Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy. From them they borrowed writing and many religious ideas, which, however, they altered in their own way.

The further development of Roman mythology was influenced by three factors: the democratization of society caused by the victory of the plebs, victorious Roman aggression and acquaintance with more developed cultures and religions, with which the Romans entered into complex relationships. Democratization, which made priestly positions accessible to plebeians, and the position of the head of the cult - the great pontiff - elective, coupled with the prohibition of donating and bequeathing land to temples, did not allow the development of either the priestly caste or its stronghold - the temple economy. The civil community itself became the highest authority.

The ideological justification for the cohesion of civil society was the veneration of ancestors and gods. Moreover, the relationship with the gods in the new society underwent the same extreme rationalization as the relationship between people. Traditions, the origins of which were the gods, were the most important guideline ensuring the stability of life. Thus, the right of the collective received, as it were, divine sanctification. That is why the Roman imperial power, which arose to maintain order among Roman society, immediately began to self-deify. “The cult of the emperor was supposed to personify the unity of Roman citizens scattered throughout the vast power, while at the same time acting as a guide for stateless provincials. In essence, it was not a cult of personality, but of the same symbolic sign of social need, which were all the pagan gods.” . Ancient Christianity was able to replace this cult because it was not associated with the distinction between citizens and non-citizens. This happened when all residents of the empire had equal rights.

The emergence of early Christianity was due to the fact that Rome was gradually overwhelmed by a wave of all kinds of sectarian teachings, philosophical schools, and mystical cults coming from the East. And the tendency to establish monotheism was very strong. They hoped for a single religion common to the entire empire as a means of preserving the empire and preventing its collapse. However, it was already too late, and even the establishment of a single religion would not have saved the state torn by contradictions.

1. Ancient Roman architecture.

As for Roman architecture, there were some borrowings here too. Just like in religious beliefs, borrowing took place in several stages and the experience of several peoples was used.

The Etruscans were the teachers of the Romans. It was they who taught how to build buildings, but very soon the Romans surpassed them in this art. They began to make better use of materials that had already been used before, adapted new ones, and improved construction methods.

Therefore, it is not surprising that in Roman art during its heyday, it was architecture that played the leading role, the monuments of which even now, even in ruins, captivate with their power. The Romans marked the beginning of a new era of world architecture, in which the main place belonged to public buildings, embodying the ideas of the power of the state and designed for huge numbers of people.

Throughout the ancient world, Roman architecture has no equal in the height of engineering art, the variety of types of structures, the richness of compositional forms, and the scale of construction. The Romans introduced engineering structures (aqueducts, bridges, roads, harbors, fortresses) as architectural objects into urban, rural ensembles and landscapes.

With the expansion of Roman rule into Greece and the Hellenistic states, the sophistication and luxury of the Hellenistic cities penetrated into Rome. The influx of wealth from conquered countries during the 3rd-1st centuries. BC e. changed the morals of the Romans, creating wastefulness among the ruling classes. Famous Greek statues and paintings by Greek masters were imported in huge quantities. Roman temples and palaces turned into art museums.

His passion for Greek art manifested itself primarily in his appeal to the order system. While the order played a constructive role in Greek architecture, in Rome it was used mainly for decorative purposes.

The grandiose structures are noteworthy - the ancient defensive walls of Rome, which arose back in the 8th century. BC e. on three hills: Capitol, Palatine and Quiripala, made of stone (early - 6th century BC and the so-called Servian Wall - 378-352 BC).

Roman roads were of great strategic importance; they united different parts of the country. The Appian Way leading to Rome (VI-III centuries BC) for the movement of cohorts and messengers was the first of a network of roads that later covered the whole of Italy. Near the Aricchi valley, the road, paved with a thick layer of concrete, crushed stone, lava and tuff slabs, ran along a massive wall (197 m long, 11 m high) due to the terrain, dissected in the lower part by three through arched spans for mountain waters.

Gradually, over the next centuries, Rome became the most water-rich city in the world. Powerful bridges and aqueducts (the aqueduct of Appius Claudius, 311 BC, the aqueduct of Marcius, 144 BC), running tens of kilometers, took a prominent place in the architecture of the city, in the appearance of its picturesque surroundings, becoming an integral partly into the landscape of the Roman Campania.

Rome acquired a completely new look, corresponding to the prestige of the world
capital Cities. The number of public buildings increased, forums, bridges, aqueducts were built,
the architectural decoration was enriched. According to the historian Suetonius, Augustus “decorated Rome so much that he could justifiably boast that he accepted it as brick and left it as marble.” The city amazed contemporaries with the vastness of its area - it had no clear boundaries on either side. Its outskirts were lost in the luxurious villas of Campagna. Magnificent buildings, colossal porticoes, vaulted roofs and decorated with pediments, richly decorated pools and fountains alternated with the greenery of groves and alleys.

“The embodiment of the power and historical significance of imperial Rome were triumphal structures glorifying the military victories of Rome. Triumphal arches and columns were erected not only in Italy, but also in the provinces for the glory of Rome. Roman buildings were active conductors of Roman culture and ideology there.

Arches were built for various reasons - both in honor of victories and as a sign of the consecration of new cities. However, their primary meaning is associated with triumph - a solemn procession in honor of victory over the enemy. Passing through the arch, the emperor returned to his hometown in a new capacity. The arch was the border of one’s own and another’s world.”

Spectacles occupied a large place in the social life of the Romans. Theaters and amphitheaters are characteristic of ancient cities. Even during the period of the late Republic, a unique type of amphitheater developed in Rome. The latter was entirely a Roman invention. If Greek theaters were set up in the open air, with seats for spectators located in a hollow of a hill, then Roman theaters were independent closed multi-tiered buildings in the city center with seats on concentrically erected walls. Amphitheaters were intended for the crowd of the lower classes of the capital's population, hungry for spectacles, in front of which gladiator battles, naval battles, etc. were played out on the days of festivities.

In the 70-80s. n. e. a grandiose Flavian amphitheater was built, called the Colosseum (from the Latin colosseus - “huge”). The Colosseum is the largest amphitheater of the ancient era. It accommodated about fifty thousand spectators. The powerful walls of the Colosseum (height 48.5 m) are divided into four tiers by continuous arcades; on the lower floor they served for entrance and exit. In plan, the Colosseum is an ellipse (156X198 m); the center of his composition is the now destroyed arena, surrounded by stepped benches for spectators. The ellipse most fully met the requirements of the dynamics of the unfolding spectacles - gladiator fights. It made it possible to maximally activate the viewer, to bring the seats of the privileged public closer to the arena; The seats descending like a funnel were divided according to the social rank of the spectators.

All these grandiose constructions were required by Rome as the center of a huge empire. And indeed, built up with all these buildings, rich in monuments, the city was also in the 3rd – 4th centuries. looked impressive. In the 3rd century. A lot of construction was still going on - arches, magnificent baths, and palaces were being erected. “But, as A. Blok put it, “there was no longer a single sore spot on the body of the Roman Empire,” creative potential gradually faded away.” Thus, architecture begins to become obsolete and become more and more primitive. Perhaps this is due to the fact that, in pursuit of innovation and luxury, the Roman nobility too quickly exhausted the possibilities of borrowed construction techniques.

1. Literature of Ancient Rome.

Roman literature emerges as imitative literature. The first Roman poet was Livy Andronicus, who translated the Odyssey into Latin.

According to his origin, Libya was a Greek from Tarentum. In 272 he was brought to Rome as a prisoner, then he was released and began teaching the children of aristocrats. The translation of the Odyssey was done in Saturnian verses. His language was not distinguished by grace, and it even contained word formations that were alien to the Latin language. This was the first poetic work written in Latin. For many years, Roman schools studied from Andronicus's translation of the Odyssey.

Livy Andronicus wrote several comedies and tragedies, which were translations or adaptations of Greek works.

During Livy's lifetime, poetic activity began Gnea Naevia(c. 274-204), a Campanian native who wrote an epic about the first Punic War with a summary of previous Roman history.

In addition, Naevius wrote several tragedies, including those based on Roman legends.

Since in the tragedies of Naevius the Romans performed, dressed in a formal costume - a toga with a purple border - these works are called fabulaepraetextae.

“Nevius also wrote comedies in which he did not hide his democratic convictions. In one comedy, he spoke ironically about the then all-powerful Scipio the Elder; addressed to the Metellas, he said: “By the fate of the evil Metella, the consuls are in Rome.” Naevius was imprisoned for his poetry and was released from there only thanks to the intercession of the tribunes of the people. However, he had to retire from Rome."

After the second Punic War, the poet's works appeared Ennia(239-169). He was originally from Bruttium. Ennius took part in the Second Punic War, after which he served as a centurion on the island of Sardinia, here he met Cato the Elder, who brought him with him to Rome. From that time on, Ennius lived in Rome and was engaged in teaching and literary work. Ennius received the rights of Roman citizenship and moved among noble Romans; He was especially close to the circle of the Scipios.

Ennius's main work was the Chronicle (Annales), but in addition, like his predecessors, he wrote tragedies and comedies. Ennius was the first to introduce the hexameter into Latin literature. Thus, Greek poetic meters, based on certain alternations of long and short sounds, could be used for Latin poetry.

Ennius enjoyed fame during his lifetime, and after his death he was revered as one of the best poets.

From the writings of all three of these poets - Livy, Andronicus, Naevius and Ennius - only fragments have survived to this day.

Roman Comedy is better represented. For many centuries the comedies of Titus Maccius Plautus (circa 254-184) were considered exemplary. Plautus was born in Umbria. Arriving in Rome , He became a servant in a troupe of actors, then engaged in trade, but was unsuccessful, after that he worked for hire, and in his free time he wrote comedies, which he managed to sell. The further fate of Plautus is unknown to us. We only know that he died in 184. Plautus had to travel a lot, meeting people who belonged to the most diverse strata of the population of Italy.

In terms of plot, layout and character, Plautus's comedies are imitative. They were created under the influence of neo-Attic comedy, which, unlike the political comedy of the classical era, was an everyday comedy. Plautus's heroes have Greek names, action his comedy takes place in Greek cities. In the comedies of Plautus, as in the neo-Attic comedy, conventional types appear.

Plautus' comedies are usually published alphabetically. The first is called "Amphitryon". The plot is as follows. The Theban Amphitryon goes to war. Jupiter comes to his wife in the form of Amphitryon himself and Mercury in the guise of Amphitryon’s servant. After some time, the true servant returns to notify his master's wife of his arrival, but he is expelled from the house. The same fate befalls Amphitryon himself. The wife does not recognize him and assures him that her husband has returned long ago. Finally, the gods decided to leave. Jupiter revealed the whole secret to Amphitryon and, together with Mercury, flew to heaven. Amphitryon is happy that Jupiter himself condescended to his wife.

in Greek cities, and their heroes bear Greek names, they contain many living responses to Roman reality.

Plautus did not have aristocratic patrons; he depended, first of all, on from mass audience, his comedies reflect to a certain extent the interests and views of the broad masses of the urban plebs. We find in his comedies a protest against usury, against aristocratic arrogance. The comedy "The Boastful Warrior" was probably directed against mercenary troops and reminded the audience of the victory over Hannibal.

The plots of Plautus are not original; conventional types are derived from his comedies, but Plautus has inimitable comic situations. They are easy to remember. Plautus created a language of comedy that is distinguished by its freshness and variety; skillfully using wordplay, he created new figurative expressions, successfully introduced neologisms, and parodied expressions accepted in the official language and in court. He took a lot from colloquial speech, from the language of the lower classes. There are many rude expressions in the language of Plautus, but nevertheless, he was considered exemplary.

Another representative of Scipio's circle, Lucilius (180-102) is known for his satyrs, which reflected the social life of the era. Lucilius attacked the vices of his contemporary society: he condemned perjury, greed and luxury, but at the same time he touched upon literary and other topics. The word satura originally meant a dish consisting of various fruits, and had different meanings before Lucilius. Lucilius applied it to his works to indicate a mixed literary form, but since his time this concept usually refers to didactic works aimed at condemning vices and correcting the morals of the society contemporary to the poet. Only fragments of Lucilius's satires have survived.

The last century of the Republic was marked not only by the flourishing of Latin prose, but also by outstanding successes in the field of poetic creativity. Versification was taught in schools, and the ability to compose poetry was a sign of good taste.

“Two currents fought in Roman poetry of that time: one of them sought to find vulgar poetic forms, to use diverse poetic techniques that were cultivated by Hellenistic, especially Alexandrian, poets; the other defended the traditional form of versification, which came from Ennius. Cicero considered himself a supporter of this form; Titus Lucretius Carus, the author of the famous philosophical poem “On the Nature of Things,” also joined the same trend.”

When the Slavic countries, including Rus', adopted Christianity, these works, delivered from Byzantium, like other Christian works, historical chronicles, novels about Alexander the Great, became known here. In the West, Latin remained the language of the church and science for many centuries after the fall of Rome. In monasteries, manuscripts of ancient authors were copied, thanks to which they came to us.

If Eastern European and Slavic countries became acquainted with the ancient heritage through Byzantium, then in Western Europe they knew only what was left of Rome. Only when, with the attack of the Turks on Byzantium, many Byzantine scientists began to move to Italy, here they became acquainted with the ancient heritage in its entirety, which stimulated the flourishing of Renaissance culture. Now the works of Roman authors were extracted from monastic repositories, copied, studied, and commented on.

Over time, the influence of the ancient heritage grew stronger. European literature constantly turned to antiquity, and the connection between them became increasingly stronger. Ancient subjects were worked on: “Antony and Cleopatra”, “Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare, “Phaedra”, “Britannicus” by Racine, “Medea”, “Horace”, “Pompey” by Corneille. Entire plays were reproduced: Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” repeated Plautus’ “Menekhmov,” and Moliere’s “The Miser” repeated Plautus’s “The Chest.” The servants of the comedies of Moliere, Lope de Vega, Goldoni are inspired by the images of dexterous, intelligent slaves of Plautus, helping their masters arrange their love affairs. Ancient novels were translated and new ones were written in imitation of them.

1. The art of Ancient Rome.

And in conclusion, I would like to pay attention to the art of Ancient Rome, especially since its discussion and assessment is one of the most controversial issues in numerous studies. Sometimes scientists express very critical judgments. Roman art learned early to flatter and pretend, Dmitrieva believes. “Already in the heroic statues of Augustus, depicted as a commander theatrically extending his hand to the troops, there is tension and falsehood. And the portraits of the insignificant emperor Commodus in the form of Hercules, with a club and a lion’s skin on his shoulders, or Nerva in the guise of Jupiter are already clearly false and deliberate.” In Rome they did not particularly believe in the ideal of the ancient eastern triad “god - king - hero”. And in general they no longer believed in anything. Philosophical thought feverishly wandered, most willingly inclining towards the sorrowful submission to fate preached by the Stoics. The vices of the rulers were no secret to anyone. Nevertheless, the prestige of power had to be somehow maintained, because the most criminal ruler had no shortage of praisers and flatterers. But still it was only half false, and under the mask of flattery there was a merciless gaze, devoid of illusions. And therefore it is impossible to unequivocally condemn or praise the art of Ancient Rome. The roots of this problem are too deep, and therefore we must turn to history.

In the works of the ancient Romans, unlike the Greeks, symbolism and allegory prevailed. Accordingly, the plastic images of Hellions gave way to the Romans' picturesque ones, in which the illusory nature of space and form predominated - not only in frescoes and mosaics, but also in reliefs. Statues like the Maenad of Skopas or the Nike of Samothrace were no longer created, but the Romans owned unsurpassed sculptural portraits with exceptionally accurate depiction of individual facial features and character, as well as reliefs that reliably recorded historical events. Roman masters, unlike the Greek ones, who saw reality in its plastic unity, were more inclined towards analysis, dismembering the whole into parts, and a detailed depiction of the phenomenon. The Greek saw the world as if through the poetic haze of myth that united and tied everything together. For the Roman, it began to dissipate, and phenomena were perceived in more distinct forms, which became easier to comprehend, although this also led to a loss of the sense of the integrity of the universe.

The same principle was manifested in sculpture. The plastic forms of Greek athletes are always presented openly. Images like a praying Roman, throwing the edge of his robe over his head, are mostly contained within themselves, concentrated. Roman masters in sculptural portraits focused attention on the personal, individual characteristics of a person.

However, the change of dynasties or emperors did not always entail a change in artistic style. Therefore, it is important to determine in the development of Roman art the boundaries of its formation, prosperity and crisis, taking into account changes in artistic and stylistic forms in their connection with socio-economic, historical, religious, cult, and everyday factors.

Roman art flourished in the 1st and 2nd centuries. AD Within this stage, the stylistic features of the monuments make it possible to distinguish: the early period - the time of Augustus, the first period - the years of the reign of the Julios - Claudius and Flavians, the second - the time of Trajan, the late period - the time of late Hadrian and the last Antonions. The times of Septimius Severus, like earlier Pompey and Caesar, should obviously be considered transitional. With the end of the reign of Septimius Severus, a crisis in Roman art began.

All artistic creativity in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day bears traces of the strong influence of Roman art. Attention to him was always very close. In the ideas and monuments of Rome, many generations found something in tune with their feelings and goals, although the specificity of Roman art, its originality remained undisclosed, and seemed only a late Greek expression of antiquity. Historians from the Renaissance to the twentieth century noted in it various, but always close to their modern features. In the circulation of Italian humanists of the 15th - 16th centuries. to ancient Rome one can see socio-political (Cola di Rienzo), educational and moralistic (Petrarch), historical and artistic (Ciriac of Ancona) tendencies. However, ancient Roman art had the greatest impact on the architects, painters and sculptors of Italy, who perceived and interpreted the rich artistic heritage of Rome in their own way. In the 17th century Scientists from other European countries became interested in ancient Roman art. It was a time of intensive collection of artistic material, the “antique” period, which replaced the humanistic, Renaissance one. Revolution of the 18th century in France awakened the attention of French scientists and artists to Roman art. At the same time, a scientific and aesthetic attitude towards the ancient heritage arose. I. Winkelman, unlike the figures of the “antique” period, acted as a representative of the educational philosophy of his time, the creator of the history of ancient art. True, he still treated Roman art as a continuation of Greek. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. It was no longer private individuals who began to engage in ancient Roman art, but government institutions in Europe. Archaeological excavations were financed, large museums and scientific societies were founded, and the first scientific works on ancient Roman works of art were created.

Attempts to philosophically comprehend the essence and specificity of ancient Roman art were made at the end of the 19th century. F. Wikhof and A. Riegl.

1. Conclusion.

So, in my work I tried to trace the main milestones in the development of Roman culture and answer the question about the role of borrowings. It seems to me that talking about the Roman heritage as borrowed is not fair. Too much of its own was introduced by Roman civilization, otherwise there would not be so much interest in it today. As for the crisis of the empire, we see that the main reasons were hidden within society itself, and, therefore, partly in the culture implanted by it. Art, following society, needed fundamental changes, an influx of new forces and ideas for its revival and renewal, but the course of history cannot be changed, and the once powerful empire fell at the hands of barbarians. The invaders were actively supported by the enslaved peoples, slaves, which once again confirmed the deep crisis within society. In the course of my work, I learned many new interesting facts, which I tried to reflect as fully as possible.

One way or another, the art of Ancient Rome left humanity an enormous legacy, the significance of which is difficult to overestimate. The great organizer and creator of modern norms of civilized life, Ancient Rome decisively transformed the cultural appearance of a huge part of the world. For this alone he is worthy of lasting glory and the memory of his descendants. In addition, the art of Roman times left many remarkable monuments in a variety of fields, ranging from works of architecture to glass vessels. Each ancient Roman monument embodies a tradition compressed by time and taken to its logical conclusion. It carries information about faith and rituals, the meaning of life and the creative skills of the people to whom it belonged, and the place this people occupied in the grandiose empire. The Roman state is very complex. He alone had the mission of saying goodbye to the thousand-year-old world of paganism and creating those principles that formed the basis of Christian art of the New Age.

Latin, the language of the ancient Romans and all the peoples subject to them, became the basis of the Romance languages, as well as the language of science and the Catholic Church. The Latin alphabet was adopted in Western Europe, and Greek formed the basis of the Slavic languages. Roman construction techniques and architecture had a great influence on Western European architecture, especially Spain, France, and Italy. Admiring our modern writers, sculptors, and generals, we still compare them with the great ancient heroes.

2. Literature used:

1. Troyansky I.M. "History of Ancient Literature", 3rd edition, Leningrad, 1957

2. Encyclopedia. Volume VII. Art. Volume I. M. 1998

3. Art. A book for reading on the history of painting, sculpture, architecture. M., 1961

4. Parandovsky Ya. Mythology. M., 1971

5. German N. Yu. et al. Essays on the culture of Ancient Rome. M., 1990

6. Dmitrieva N.A. A Brief History of Art. M., 1992

7. Paul Guiraud. Private and public life of the Romans...

8. Koptev A.V. Ancient civil society.

It is interesting that it was from the Romans that the word “religion” came and subsequently became widespread - the worship of imaginary supernatural beings and “cult” - in a figurative sense, “to honor”, “to please”, and involves the performance of religious rituals. Parandovsky Ya. Mythology. M., 1971. P. 15

On the day of its foundation, Romulus first of all begins the sacrifice. His comrades light a fire and everyone jumps through the flames. The meaning of this ritual is that pure people (purified by sacred fire) should begin to act. The memory of this ritual has survived to this day, and today the Romans celebrate the birth of their city (11 days before the Kalends of May). Paul Guiraud. Private and public life of the Romans. P. 11.

Parandovsky Ya. Mythology. M., 1971. P. 65.

German N.Yu. and others. Essays on the culture of Ancient Rome. M., 1990. P. 153.

Koptev A.V. Ancient civil society. From 17.

Art. A book for reading on the history of painting, sculpture, architecture. M., 1961.

Dmitrieva N.A. A Brief History of Art. M., 1992. P.99.

Troyansky I.M. History of ancient literature. L., 1957. P. 69

German N.Yu. and others. Essays on the culture of Ancient Rome. M., 1990. P.156

Dmitrieva N.A. A Brief History of Art. M., 1992. P.97.

Encyclopedia. Volume VII. Art. Volume I. M., 1990. P. 154.