A brief history of Ancient Rome in dates for schoolchildren. Briefly and only the main events

Moscow State Social University

Academy of Economics and Law

Law Institute

TEST

In the discipline "Culturology"

"Culture of Ancient Rome"

Student I course

Faculty of Law

Group No. 1 (correspondence department)

VOROTYNTSEV O.P.

Moscow 2000

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

1. CULTURE OF THE ERA OF THE REPUBLIC ………………………………………………………...4

2. CULTURE OF THE EARLY EMPIRE………………………………………………………………………………7

3. CULTURE OF THE LATE EMPIRE………………………………………………………11

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..15

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………16

INTRODUCTION

The fate of Ancient Rome is unusual and interesting. Legends say that one of Yul’s descendants was King Numitor. He had a brother Amulius - an envious and insignificant man. He had long dreamed of ruling in place of his brother. Having bribed the courtiers, Amulius overthrew Numitor and himself reigned in Alba Longa. So that no one could threaten his power, Amulius killed the son of Numitor, and gave his daughter Rhea Silvia as a vestal virgin to the temple of Vesta. And we already know that the Vestals did not have the right to get married and give birth to children. However, Rhea Silvia was so beautiful that the god of war, Mars himself, fell in love with the maiden and for her sake came down from heaven to earth. Soon she gave birth to two twin boys from him. Frightened by the birth of future rivals in the struggle for the throne, Amulius ordered the king's slave to drown the twins in the Tiber. But the Tiber at this time overflowed widely (not without the intervention of the boys' father Mars), the slave could not get close to the rapids and left the basket with the children on the shore. They would probably have died of hunger and thirst, but then a miracle happened - a she-wolf running past noticed the crying babies and, instead of tearing them to pieces, began to feed them with her milk. Apparently, she felt sorry for the sobbing children, because at that time she herself had small wolf cubs. After feeding the boys, the she-wolf took them to her lair. There they were found by the royal shepherd Faustul. He took them home and raised the boys with his wife Acca Larentia. The couple named the twins Roma and Rem. When the boys grew up, it became clear to everyone that the children came from the royal family, they were so beautiful, smart and powerful. One day, Remus quarreled with the royal shepherds for some reason. He was captured. Romulus, having learned the secret of his birth from Faustulus, raised the inhabitants of the entire country to revolt and freed his brother. Having overthrown Amulius from the throne, Romulus and Remus killed him, and returned the kingdom to their grandfather Numitor. Romulus and Remus decided to found a new city. They chose a place for him exactly where the she-wolf found them lying in a basket on the banks of the Tiber - on the Palatine Hill. But a dispute immediately arose between the brothers about who should name the new city, how to found it and who would reign in it. According to ancient custom, it was necessary to find out the will of the gods - after all, it is they who determine

the fate of every person and the entire state. Auspices - fortune telling by the flight of birds - were supposed to resolve the dispute between the brothers. This is how the Roman poet Ennius describes this event:

Both brothers were very concerned:

Desiring power, they began to tell fortunes by birds...

Rem indulges in fortune telling: a lucky bird

He waits. Meanwhile, on the high Aventine hill

The beautiful Romulus is waiting, watching the flying tribe.

Thus the eyes competed to name the city Remor or Rome.

Citizens are tormented by concern about which of the two will be the ruler.

...Meanwhile, the bright sun went into the underworld of the night, A dazzling light appeared again, pierced by the rays

And immediately from above a beautiful fast bird

On the left it flies for luck. But the golden sun came out -

Then the sacred three times four fall from the sky

The birds' bodies move quickly to happy places.

Romulus then saw that he was given preference.

The throne and power over the country are established by this fortune telling.

So, fortune telling showed that Romulus should be king. But Rem was not happy with this decision. One day, while laying a ditch and erecting the rampart of the future city, he began to mock the low strength of the fortifications that Romulus was erecting. Rem easily jumped over the moat and rampart, mocking his brother. Romulus could not contain his anger and struck Remus, exclaiming: “So it will be with everyone who dares to cross the borders of my city!” So Romulus killed his own brother. After this, he harnessed a white bull and a cow to the plow and drew a sacred furrow. It bounded the future city and showed its outer walls. Where the gate should have been, he raised the plow and carried it in his arms. He named the city by his own name - Rome (in Latin - Roma). The new citizens of the new city - the Romans - had no women. Therefore, Romulus sent embassies to neighboring tribes with a request to give the Romans their daughters as wives. They, however, were in no hurry to become related to the Romans. They mocked the rootless vagabonds whom they considered to be the inhabitants of the new city. It was then that Romulus came up with such a plan. Heralds were sent to the surrounding towns. They reported that soon festive games and equestrian competitions would take place in Rome and all neighbors were invited to them. Especially many Sabines came to the festival; they brought their wives and daughters with them. During the performance, when everyone was captivated by the spectacle, Romulus himself quietly gave a secret sign. The young Romans rushed to the Sabines, grabbed the girls they liked, and dragged them to their homes. The Sabines who returned home sent an embassy to Rome demanding the return of their daughters. When Romulus refused to do this, they - angry and offended - declared war on Rome. After several battles, the troops lined up in front of each other for the decisive battle. And then the unexpected happened. Let’s listen to how the famous Roman historian Titus Livia tells about this: “Then the Sabine women, because of whom the war began, let down their hair and tore their clothes, forgetting women’s fear in trouble, bravely rushed straight under the spears and arrows to cut across the fighters. In order to separate the two systems, to calm the anger of the warring parties, they turned with a prayer first to their fathers, then to their husbands: “Turn your anger towards us: we are the cause of the war, the cause of the wounds and deaths of our husbands and fathers; “We would rather die than be left to live without some or others, as widows or orphans.” Not only the warriors, but also the leaders were touched. Everything suddenly became silent and still. Then the leaders came out to conclude an agreement, and not only were they reconciled, but they made one out of two states.” Romulus proved himself to be a wise ruler. He strengthened Roman power in Latium by conquering many neighboring tribes. He gave laws to the city, established a senate, which was supposed to manage all affairs in Rome. Romulus elected one hundred of the oldest and most respected citizens to the Senate - the word “senate” means “council of elders.” They were also called fathers - “patres”, so their descendants received the name “patricians”. Romulus also established an army, distributing soldiers among legions. The army he created almost always won victories. Romulus ruled the city he founded for thirty-seven years. The end of his life was unusual. Here is how Plutarch describes it: “On the fifth of July, Romulus offered a sacrifice for the whole people outside the city, on the Goat Marsh, in the presence of the Senate and most of the citizens. Suddenly there was a change in the air: a cloud descended to the ground, accompanied by a whirlwind and a storm. The rest of the people began to flee in fear and scattered in different directions, but Romulus disappeared. He was found neither alive nor dead... Proculus, a respected man, swore that he saw Romulus ascending into heaven in full armor, and heard his voice, ordering him to be called Quirinus.” Under the name of the god Quirinus, the Romans revered Romulus. They considered him the patron saint of their city and built altars and temples for him.

Gradually the city grew, its inhabitants - the Romans - subjugated one tribe after another to their power. Soon all of Italy was under their rule. The Romans were excellent warriors and rulers. Over time, they conquered almost all the then known countries and peoples. Roman art is the highest achievement and the result of the development of ancient art. It was created not only by the Romans or Italics, but also by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Syrians, and inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. Gaul, Ancient Germany and other peoples. In artistic skill, of course, the ancient Greek school dominated, but the forms of art in each province of the Roman state were influenced by local traditions.

Ancient Rome gave humanity a real cultural environment: beautifully planned, comfortable cities with paved roads, magnificent bridges, library buildings, archives, nymphaeums (sanctuaries dedicated to nymphs), palaces, villas and simply good houses with good quality beautiful furniture - all that which is typical for a civilized society.

The Romans first began to build “standard” cities, the prototype of which were Roman military camps. Two perpendicular streets were laid - cardo and decumanum, at the crossroads of which the city center was built. The urban layout followed a strictly thought-out scheme.

The artists of Ancient Rome were the first to pay close attention to the inner world of man and reflected it in the genre of portraiture, creating works that had no equal in antiquity.

Very few names of Roman artists have survived to this day. However, the monuments they left are included in the treasury of world art.

1. CULTURE OF THE REPUBLIC ERA

The history of Rome is divided into two stages. The first - the era of the republic - came at the end of the 6th century. BC, when the Etruscan kings were expelled from Rome, and lasted until the middle of the 1st century. BC. The second stage - the imperial one - began with the reign of Octavian Augustus, who switched to autocracy, and lasted until the 4th century. AD From an artistic point of view, these are two extremely different eras. The first is relatively poor in works of art, most of which are known from the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. Probably, the information of ancient authors that the first temples for the Romans were built by their neighbors, the more civilized Etruscans, is correct. It was the Etruscans who created for the Capitol, the main of the seven hills on which Rome is located, the symbol of the legendary ancestor of the Romans - the statue of the Capitoline she-wolf. Talented craftsmen began to flock to Rome from the conquered provinces in search of work and wonderful works of art. Hellas played a special role in this. In Ancient Rome there was a saying: “Captive Greece captured her enemies.”

The city of Rome, founded on April 19, 735 BC, was at first a modest village, but over time it gained more and more strength and absorbed the best creative trends coming from outside. The main shrine of Rome was the temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva on the Capitoline Hill. The temple has not survived, but scholars suggest that it was laid out according to the Etruscan model: with a deep front portico, a high plinth and a staircase leading to the main entrance.

Forum Romanum.

View from above.

Another attraction of Rome is the market square. For example, among the Greeks it was called agora and usually, as in Athens, it was located at the foot of the acropolis. For the Romans it was a forum. All the main city events took place here: meetings, councils, important decisions were announced here, children were educated, trade was done. In the last centuries of the republic, the forum acquired a complete architectural appearance. On one side it was adjacent to the impressive building of the state archive - the Tabularium, which stood on vaulted underground floors. Temples rose in the square, among them the temple of Vesta, the virgin goddess, in which an unquenchable fire burned, symbolizing the life of the Roman people. Columns rose here, to which rostras were attached - the bows of defeated enemy ships (hence the name - rostral column), and there was a “sacred road”, along which there were tabernas - shops. Now all that remains of the Forum Romanum, as the Romans called it, are the foundations of buildings; Its original appearance is represented by reconstruction.

Tabulary on the Forum Romanum.

The so-called Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus (circa 100 BC) helps to assess the quality of plastic works of that era. It was decorated with reliefs on all four sides. Three sides - two narrow and one longitudinal - depicted “Neptune’s Wedding Train and

Amphitrites,” a joyful journey of sea gods and nymphs sailing through the waters on fantastic animals. The relief is skillfully constructed, clearly by a Greek master. The other long side is designed completely differently. It depicts a qualification - an assessment of the property of Roman citizens in order to enroll them in one or another category of citizens. The clerical formalities to which the Romans were so committed are presented on the left side. And on the right it is shown how three sacrificial animals - a bull, a sheep and a pig - are led to the altar, at which the priest and the Roman god of war Mars stand. This is an archaic Roman sacrifice (suo-vetaurilia), the name of which includes the designations of all three animals. This relief is inferior to the work of the Greek master; it is clear that the sculptor overcame great difficulties in depicting the body of the animal in profile and a group of two figures. The relief, of course, belongs to the hand of a prosaic Roman, inexperienced in the arts.

One of the remarkable achievements of Republican Roman art was the portrait. The Romans borrowed a lot from the Etruscans, and, probably, the Etruscan craftsmen themselves worked according to their orders. However, there was one significant difference: the Etruscans creatively processed nature and presented, although a reliable, but poetic image of man. The early Romans started with wax masks - “personas”, which they removed from the faces of their dead ancestors. Masks were kept in every house in a place of honor, and the more of them there were, the more noble the family was considered.

The republican era is characterized by portraits that are very close to life. They convey all the smallest features of the human face, additionally endowing it with the features of old age and the end of life. However, this did not mean that only portraits of old people were created. And yet, the leading character of the portrait was a strong-willed elderly patrician, who, according to Roman laws, had the “right of life and death” for all his household members. A portrait from the Torlonius Museum in Rome (1st century BC) shows an ugly ancient old man, bald, with protruding ears and a drooping lower lip. The eyebrows are missing, the cheeks are sunken. There is nothing from external beauty. The model's flesh is so dead that it almost exposes the bone underneath. This is precisely the strength of the Roman portrait: it is very constructive, strict and logical. It is enough to compare it with the limp, limp faces in Etruscan portraits. By age, the Roman old man is on the threshold of the grave, but he is strong in spirit and self-confidence.

A softening of authenticity in the portrait began in the second half of the 1st century. BC. The portrait of Julius Caesar from the same Torlonium Museum is completely different. It is more generalized and expressive. A movement of the soul appears in him: Caesar looks questioningly, with secret reproach. However, this work is posthumous. Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC.

Republican architecture is represented by a number of remarkable monuments. Among them are order temples, round and rectangular in plan. Round temple - monopter - consisted of a cylindrical base surrounded by a colonnade. According to Etruscan custom, the entrance to the temple was only on one side, the end. The round temple of the Sibyl, or Vesta, at Tivoli, near Rome, is surrounded by Corinthian columns. The frieze is decorated with reliefs depicting a traditional Roman motif - bull skulls, "bucrania", from which heavy garlands hang. It was a symbol of sacrifice and remembrance. The order in such temples was distinguished by its rigid design and dryness: the columns had lost their inherent plasticity in Greece. Rectangular Roman temples also differed from the Greek order ones, as the well-preserved temple of Fortuna Virilis in the Forum Boarium in Rome shows. It also has an entrance only on one side; Ionic columns end with capitals of a modest design. The pediment is completely “non-Greek”, without sculptures inside its tympanum and with

rich, strictly drawn profiles. The Roman bridges of the 2nd - 1st centuries are magnificent. BC. Thus, the Milvius bridge, in addition to its practical advantages (it

Temple of Hercules. II V. BC. Bullish Forum.

stood for more than two thousand years) is distinguished by its expressive image. The bridge visually rests on the water with semicircles of arches, the supports between which are cut with high and narrow openings to lighten the weight. On top of the arches lies a cornice, giving the bridge a special completeness. The bridge seems to move from bank to bank in continuous arches: it is dynamic and stable at the same time.

Rome was heavily built up in the Middle Ages and Modern times, and therefore its ancient appearance is hidden under a layer of layers. Part of the appearance of a Roman city can be illustrated by the example of Pompeii, an Italian city that, along with the cities of Herculaneum and Stabiae, perished in 79 AD. as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The city, buried under ash, was accidentally discovered during the construction of a water pipeline in the 17th century. From 1748 to the present day, its excavations have continued.

The city had a regular layout. Straight streets were framed by the facades of houses, at the bottom of which there were shops-taberns. The extensive forum was surrounded by a beautiful two-story colonnade. There was a sanctuary of Isis, a temple of Apollo, a temple of Jupiter, and a large amphitheater, built, like the Greeks, in a natural depression. Counted for twenty

thousand spectators, it significantly exceeded the needs of the city residents and was also intended for visitors (the population of Pompeii was no more than ten thousand people). There were two theaters in the city.

The Pompeian houses - “domuses” - are remarkable. These were rectangular structures that stretched along the courtyard and faced the street with blank end walls. The main room was the atrium (from lat. atrium - “smoky”, “black”, i.e. a room blackened by soot), which performed a sacred function. At the founding of Rome, there was a cult pit in the very center - “mundus”, where all the inhabitants threw fruits and a handful of earth from their old homeland. It opened only once a year - on the day of the Underground Goddess, or did not open at all. Each house repeated this model: the atrium often had a hole in the center of the roof - kamgshuviya. Below it was a pool for collecting water, related to the mundus - the impluvium. Overall, the atrium served as a “world pillar”, connecting every Roman house with heaven and the underworld. It is no coincidence that all the most important things stood in the atrium: a heavy chest with family valuables, an altar-type table and a cabinet for storing wax masks of ancestors and images of good patron spirits - Lares and Penates.

The inside of the house was painted. The perfectly preserved frescoes show what the typical Roman living environment was like. Early houses (2nd - end of 1st century BC) were painted in the so-called first Pampean style. The walls of the houses were lined with geometric patterns that resembled the lining of the walls with semi-precious stones. Then this “inlay” style was replaced by the “architectural” or second Pampean style. He was in

Wall painting from the Villa of Mysteries. I V. BC.

fashion during the 1st century. BC. The masters of the second Pompeii style turned the interior into a kind of city landscape. The entire height of the walls was filled with images of colonnades, various porticoes, and building facades. Human figures also appeared in the paintings. In the Pampeian Villa of Mysteries, named after the images of a mysterious scene in one of its rooms, there is an excellent example of such painting. The ritual room is literally filled with “fire”: life-size figures of participants in the Dionysian sacrament are presented on the red walls. Architectural divisions help to organize a very complex scene, the core of which is the myth of the rebirth of the god Dionysus in marriage with Ariadne (they are depicted seated on the central wall). Against this background, a picture of a ritual action unfolds, in which very real people take part. The beginning and end of the composition are framed by figures of women. One stands, facing the depths of the room, the other thoughtfully, with irony, watches what is happening. Perhaps the entire mystical effect was designed for the mistress of the house - the newlywed, since both figures (the same woman in two forms) have a wedding ring on their finger.

2. CULTURE OF THE EARLY EMPIRE

The first ruler who opened the way to autocracy was Caesar's grandnephew Octavian, nicknamed Augustus (Blessed). Caesar adopted him shortly before his death. When Octavian was proclaimed emperor (27 BC), this meant that he was given the highest military power. Officially, he was still considered one of the senators, although “first among equals” - the princeps. The reign of Octavian is called the Principate of Augustus. Since then, Roman art began to focus on the ideals that were instilled by the rulers. Until the end of the 1st century. AD Two dynasties reign: Julius - Claudius and Flavians.

Augustus began to lay the foundations of the imperial style. The surviving portraits depict him as an energetic and intelligent politician. Characterized by a high forehead, slightly covered with bangs, expressive facial features and a small, firm chin. Masters now discard everything external and unimportant, and do not blindly follow nature. Ancient authors write that Augustus was

of poor health and often wrapped in warm clothes, but he was portrayed as powerful and courageous. The famous statue from Prima Porta represents him as an orator addressing the people. Augustus is dressed in the attire of an emperor: a richly decorated armor (on which, framed by gods, heavens and the underworld, the Parthians return the banners taken from them to the Romans), a heavy cloak wrapped around his body, and in his hand he holds the imperial staff. At his feet, on a dolphin, sits tiny Cupid, the son of Venus - according to legend, the ancestress of the Julians. The statue is majestic and solemn. The features of the Greek style - bare feet and bare head - give her a special elation.

The desire to go beyond the prosaic perception of life typical of the Romans is also evident in other monuments. Under Augustus, the Altar of Peace was created - a monument to the reunion of supporters of the new regime and the defeated Republicans. The altar was an independent building without a roof, enclosing the altar. The reliefs that decorated the fence were divided into two tiers by a frieze with a meander pattern (a ribbon pattern, usually a line broken at a right angle). The lower one depicted the stems, leaves and curls of the Tree of Life covering the entire field with birds and various living creatures on it: the upper one represented a solemn procession that included members of the imperial house. Greek isokephaly reigns (the heads of those depicted are on the same level), but the group is invaded by figures of children of different ages, enlivening the rhythm. Individual characters are depicted turning around, as if they were addressing the viewer (which was unacceptable for a classical Greek monument). In addition, the images are endowed with individual features and are portraiture.

Augustus himself said about himself that he accepted Rome as clay, but leaves it as stone. The beauty of the buildings erected under him is evidenced by the skillfully executed cornice of the Temple of Concordia, which stood in the Roman Forum. It is distinguished by rich decor: the stone still retains its architectural divisions, but begins to turn into marvelous openwork carvings.

In the era of Augustus, the third Pampean style was popular (late 1st century BC - 50s of the 1st century AD). It is sometimes called "candelabra". The masters again returned to flat decorative patterns. Among the architectural forms, light openwork structures predominated, reminiscent of tall metal candelabra (candlesticks), with framed pictures placed between them. Their subjects are unpretentious and simple, often related to shepherd life, as in the painting “Shepherd with Goats” from the villa in Boscotrecaz. Home scenes like “Cupid's Punishment” from the House of Punished Cupid in Pompeii appear: a tear-stained naughty man is afraid of his mother Venus, who could not stand his pranks. The famous ancient Roman satirist Lucian wrote about this in his dialogues. A favorite theme is the image of a garden, fenced with gilded trellises, bearing fruit, filled with the smell of herbs and the singing of birds. Such is the “Garden with Birds” in the Villa of Livia, wife of Augustus, in Prima Porta and the even more wonderful “Garden” in the House of Fruit Trees in Pompeii. At that time, home “paradises” (gardens) were built in palaces, villas and domuses. As excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum show, some gardens had swimming pools, rare flowers and shrubs, and pergolas covered with plants.

The most popular and most mysterious thing in Roman art are, of course, masks. Male and female, tragic and comic, ugly and beautiful, the masks seem to come to life under the gaze of the viewer. The mask hid the true essence of what was happening. She was a sign of the transition from immortal to mortal, from heavenly to earthly, from mythical to ordinary. Hidden under the masks is the deep difference between the ancient, ritual world and the everyday, human world, freed from lofty thoughts. These worlds had not yet become polar, but their balance was disrupted: the mask meant a transition from one state to another. The reign of Emperor Nero, one of the most insane and cruel rulers in Roman history, was a period of heyday for portrait art. The evolution of his image from a gifted child to a despised monster can be traced in a whole series of portraits. Now they give not only the traditional type of a powerful and brave emperor. Late portraits present Nero as a complex, contradictory nature. His personality, extraordinary and strong, is burdened with many vices. Distinctive features of the emperor's appearance in portraits are sloppy sideburns and hair randomly fluffed above the forehead. The face is gloomy, incredulous, eyebrows are knitted, in the corners of the lips there is a vengeful, sarcastic grin.

In the middle of the 1st century. in the fine arts the genre of still life began to emerge (from French naturemorte - “dead nature”), showing inanimate objects. Originating in the late classics of the 4th century. BC. and which developed brilliantly in the Hellenistic era, the genre of still life has now acquired a new meaning. “High” and “low” directions also appeared in it. The Romans did not hesitate to depict butcher shops in which the carcasses of killed animals hung. However, they also wrote symbolic works that contain a deep secret meaning. In the Tomb of Vestorius Priscus in Pompeii, a golden table is brilliantly painted against a background of scarlet drapery. On the table there are elegantly shaped silver vessels - all in pairs, arranged strictly symmetrically: jugs, wine horns, ladles, bowls. The quiet, ghostly world of things is grouped around a central crater - a vessel for mixing wine and water, the embodiment of the god of fertility Dionysus-Liber.

"Still Life with Fruit and Vase" from Pompeii indicates that the old value system has been destroyed. Since ancient times, the image of the world has been a tree, the roots of which are fed by an underground source. Now the tree is presented without roots, and a vessel with water stands nearby. A broken tree branch is shown, one peach has already been picked, and a piece of its flesh has been separated from the peach, so that the pit is visible. Everything is written masterfully and beautifully: you can feel the fluffy skin of the peach and the transparency of the water in the vessel. The vessel provides shade. The still life is light and airy, but it speaks of the “universal death of nature,” as the ancient Roman poet and philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus (1st century BC) wrote in the poem “On the Nature of Things.” The sacred meaning that has been endowed with human surroundings from time immemorial began to gradually disappear. Things were exposed, “removed their masks” and began to appear in their true form.

In the 70-80s. AD a grandiose Flavian amphitheater was built, called the Colosseum (from lat. colosseus - “huge”). It was built on the site of the destroyed Golden House of Nero and belonged to a new architectural type of building. In Greece, previously there were only theaters that were located on natural slopes of hills and acropolises. The Roman Colosseum was a huge bowl with stepped rows of seats, closed on the outside by an elliptical ring wall. Various performances were given in the amphitheaters: naval battles (naumachia), battles between people and exotic animals, and gladiator fights. The Romans practically never staged tragedies, and even comedies were not successful. As the Roman comedian Titus Marcius Plautus reports, when his “Mother-in-Law” was being performed at the theater, the start of gladiator fights was unexpectedly announced. The audience jumped up from their seats and poured into a more tempting spectacle.

The Colosseum is the largest amphitheater of the ancient era. It accommodated about fifty thousand spectators. Inside there were four tiers of seats, which on the outside corresponded to three tiers of arcades: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The fourth tier was blank, with Corinthian pilasters - flat projections on the wall. On sunny days, a huge canvas canopy was stretched over the Colosseum - velum, or velarium. Inside, the Colosseum is very constructive and organic; expediency is combined with art: it embodies the image of the world and the principles of life that were formed among the Romans by the 1st century. AD The second masterpiece of Flavian architecture is the famous Arc de Triomphe of Titus. Titus, considered a sane and noble emperor, reigned for a relatively short time (79-81). The arch was erected in honor of the ruler in 81, after his death. She immortalized Titus's campaign in 70 on Jerusalem and the plunder of Solomon's temple there.

Triumphal arches are also a Roman architectural innovation, possibly borrowed from the Etruscans. 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. On each side of the opening of the Arch of Titus there are two Corinthian columns. The arch is decorated with a high superstructure - an attic with a dedication to Titus from the “Senate and people of Rome”. At the top is a statue of the emperor on a chariot drawn by four horses. The ashes of Titus were buried in the attica. The arch was an architectural structure, a pedestal for a statue and at the same time a memorial monument. Only people with special charisma (translated from Greek as “mercy”, “divine gift”) were buried this way, that is, endowed with exceptional personal qualities - wisdom, heroism, holiness: Caesar at the Roman Forum, Titus in his arch, Trajan in the base of his column. Other citizens were laid to rest along the roads outside the city gates of Rome. Inside the arch there are high reliefs depicting a triumphal procession: Titus rides a quadriga, his soldiers march to the arch with trophies. The scenes depicted inside the arch correspond to the moment of passing through it, thus the viewer involuntarily joins the action, as if becoming a participant in the scene.

3. late culture: empires

The reign of two Spanish emperors opened the 2nd century. They were provincials, but from a patrician background. This is Trajan (98-117) and Adrian (117-138), adopted by him. Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached the peak of its power. In the future, she will only try to preserve what was conquered by Trajan. This emperor was considered the best of all in Roman history. In the portraits he looks like a courageous, stern man, but not a simple warrior, but an intelligent and courageous politician.

Trajan returned the old type of portrait, abandoning fluffy hairstyles, rich black-and-white modeling and psychologism. The art of his time was committed to the ideal of simplicity. However, this simplicity is apparent. It is enough to compare the portraits of Augustus and Trajan: the great inner strength and depth of Trajan’s images becomes obvious. Greatness and power appear in them that were not there before.

Trajan did a lot for his native [Spain. In it you can still see two bridges created during his time - the Bridge in Alcantara over the Tagus River (now Tagus) and the aqueduct in Segovia. Both belong to the masterpieces of world architecture. The Alcantara bridge is single-tier, but with very high openings. It ends with a simple cornice, in the center of which, over the roadway, there is an arch. The aqueduct in Segovia is two-tiered, with narrow

high spans - can seem monotonous due to the repeating rhythm of its equal-sized arches. It is completely rusticated (from lat. rusticus - “rustic”, “rough”, “uncouth”), i.e. built of roughly hewn stone. This makes the aqueduct natural, close to nature, with which it harmoniously combines.

The most famous monument to Trajan in Rome is his forum. Among all the imperial forums (Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva, Trajan) that grew around the old Forum Romanum, this is the most beautiful and impressive. Trajan's Forum was paved with semi-precious stones forming beautiful patterns, there were statues of defeated opponents on it, a temple was built in honor of the patron deity of Mars Ultor, and there were two libraries - Greek and Latin. Between them stood Trajan's Column, the only one that has survived to this day. She immortalized the conquest of Dacia (a country in the territory of modern Romania). The painted reliefs of the column depicted scenes from the life of the Dacians and their capture by the Romans. Emperor Trajan appears on these reliefs more than eighty times. The statue of the emperor at the top of the column was eventually replaced by the figure of the Apostle Peter.

Adrian, who ruled after Trajan, was a supporter of everything Greek. Adrian, in particular, changed fashion: with his help, the Romans began to wear mustaches and beards, which was not previously accepted. Many portraits of him survive, both in Rome and in the numerous provinces through which he traveled throughout his life. Adrian loved elegance, beauty and himself represented the ideal image of a Roman patrician. The emperor was tall, with noble features and an intelligent, intent gaze of always thoughtful eyes. Under Adria, hair began to be depicted as more luxuriant than in the time of Trajan. Together with the mustache and beard, they picturesquely framed the face. For the first time, the pupils of the eyes began to be drilled out (previously they were only painted), thanks to which the statues looked with a living, “talking” gaze. Both portraits and monuments built under Hadrian indicate that he lived not in the real world, but in a dream world. The emperor was inflamed with love for the young man from Bithynia (a region in Asia Minor) Antinous, in whom he saw the embodiment of Greek beauty. Angina died while traveling along the Nile and was deified. Adrian himself created designs for temples (the Temple of Venus and Roma in Rome) and wrote poetry.

It is not surprising that it was under Hadrian (about 125) that one of the most spiritual monuments of world architecture was created. True, Adrian believed that he only remade the structure that Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus, began to build. The Pantheon - “temple of all gods” - still stands in the center of Rome. This is the only monument that was not rebuilt or destroyed in the Middle Ages. It contains something close not only to the Romans, people of ancient times, but also to humanity in general. “Temple of all gods” is a temple to the divine idea itself.

From the outside it is a huge cylindrical volume, to which a deep portico is attached. Previously, the Pantheon was entered through the triumphal arch that stood on its square. She was a symbolic sign of communion with the divine. Inside, the Pantheon is completely different. It has a two-tier wall with columns and niches, cut through by vaulted arches. On the second, smaller and flatter tier there is a dome. Its power is visually facilitated by five rows of perspective caissons (square recesses) and an upper opening with a diameter of nine meters. Peace, inner harmony, escape from earthly bustle into the world of spirituality - this is what the Pantheon gave to visitors.

Pantheon. II V. --- Rome

Pantheon. Interior.

The same intangible meaning was contained in Hadrian’s Villa in Tibur (now Tivoli). Here there was the Golden Square with the main building of a bizarre shape, which was based on a cross with convex-concave shapes, the Maritime Theater, and libraries. The columns Adrian loved were effectively reflected in the waters of the pool. The villa was a kind of museum: architectural structures were erected here, recreating the image of the beautiful originals that the emperor encountered during his travels. There was the Tempeian Valley, seen in Greek Thessaly. There was the Athenian Motley Portico, once decorated with frescoes by famous masters. There was also an “underground kingdom”. Villa Adriana is an ideal museum, a collection of artistic rarities. It is no coincidence that copies of famous works of famous Greek sculptors were found there.

In Rome, on the other bank of the Tiber, by order of Hadrian, a mausoleum was built, partially rebuilt in the Middle Ages and called the Castel Sant'Angelo. A specially constructed bridge led to the mausoleum. The statues that decorated it were replaced in the 17th century. works of the famous Italian sculptor Lorenzo Bernini.

The Arch of Emperor Hadrian in Athens has a very special appearance. It separated the old city - the “city of Theseus” from the new one - the “city of Hadrian”. The arch does not at all amaze with its impressive monumentality: it is openwork and translucent. Three small rectangular bays rest on a flat pedestal with a wide single-bay arch. Adrian loved the combination of straight and curved lines and shapes, thanks to which the architectural structure turned into a light frame for a beautiful landscape. The new turn to the spiritual, accomplished under Hadrian, is also evident in the change in funeral rites. Cremation, which reigned for millennia, when the dead were burned, began to give way to inhumation - burial in the ground. In this regard, a new genre appeared - a sculptural sarcophagus, decorated with reliefs on mythological themes. The sarcophagus was placed in an underground tomb or pushed into a wall niche - arcosolium. Typically, sarcophagi had a rectangular shape and high relief on only one side.

Hadrian's successor Antoninus received the nickname Pius (the Pious). In the last years of his life, Hadrian was tormented by severe mental illness, and he sentenced many noble Romans to death. Antoninus, risking his life, left them alive and, after the death of his predecessor, showed them to the astonished Senate. This act, in itself little characteristic of the practical, alien to charity Roman nature, spoke of the changes taking place in it.

The Antonines - Pius (138-161), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Commodus (180-192) - built little in Rome itself. In honor of Pius and Marcus Aurelius, columns were erected, similar to Trajan's, but not so remarkable. True, one detail is unusual: on the base of the column of Antoninus Pius the emperor himself and his wife were depicted. The scene of the ascension of souls in bodily form by a winged genius to heaven symbolizes the deification of the imperial couple. The winged genius is accompanied by two eagles - according to ancient belief, the souls of the deceased reside in the form of birds. Previously, such a theme was impossible in art.

The equestrian bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius has survived to this day. The statue is made according to an ancient antique design, but the appearance of the rider is not in harmony with either the horse or the mission of the warrior. The emperor's face is detached and self-absorbed. Marcus Aurelius thinks not about military victories - he had few of them - but about the problems of the world, the human soul. The sculptural portrait of that time acquires a special spirituality. Since the time of Hadrian, the tradition of depicting the face framed by luxuriant hair has been preserved. Under Marcus Aurelius, sculptors achieved special virtuosity. They drilled out each strand, connecting it with bridges to others, and further deepened the channels in the bridges. The light fragmented in the hair, creating a rich play of chiaroscuro. However, special attention began to be paid to the eyes: they were depicted as emphatically large, with heavy, as if swollen eyelids and raised pupils. One got the impression of sad fatigue, disappointment in earthly life and withdrawal into oneself. This is how everyone was portrayed in the Antonine era, even children.

Septimius Severus (193-211), who replaced the unworthy son of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, on the Roman throne, was from North Africa. Septimius was a complex person. Distinguished by his practicality, during the years of his reign he significantly improved the situation in Rome, which was greatly undermined under the later Antonines.

At the same time, the emperor was distinguished by his imperious and stern disposition. Septimius Severus considered himself the spiritual successor of Marcus Aurelius, whom he admired. He was unlucky with his children.

Caracalla, declared co-ruler of his father with the title “Caesar,” killed his brother Geta, wanting to become the only heir to the throne. Many of Severov’s portraits have survived to this day. However, the masters, while retaining some features of Antonin’s portraits, paid more attention to the model’s state of mind. The mass of fluffy hair and eyebrows fused together on the bridge of the nose have never been conveyed so subtly! as in the portraits of Septimius Severus’s wife, Julia Domna. The look of her “Antonin” eyes moves more and more to the side. New trends are also noticeable in the portrait of the Roman emperor Caracalla (211 - 217). The “frame” of hair around the face is sharply reduced, the play of chiaroscuro in the picturesque strands is no longer of interest to the artist. The shape of the head and facial expression are important - frowning, wary, suspicious. In this image one can see, first of all, a soldier, a man of action. Caracalla received his nickname due to the fact that he wore a military cloak “caracalla”.

The era of “soldier” emperors came, who were placed on the throne by the army. The portraits of barbarian emperors are eloquent, as the names indicate: Maxim™ the Thracian, Philip the Arab, Trebonian the Gall. By the will of fate, brought to the heights of power, they killed others and they were killed too. Their fates are tragic. Their portraits are a magnificent human document of that dramatic and controversial era in which they had the fate to live.

The masters stopped depicting voluminous hair, almost removed the mustache and beard, and exposed the plastic skeleton to the limit. The viewer is looked at by the fate-hunted rulers of late Rome, involved in the eternal struggle for imperial power.

In Roman architecture of the 111th century. The Baths of Caracalla stand out as particularly grandiose. For the Romans, the baths were something like a club, where the ancient tradition of ritual ablutions gradually acquired complexes for entertainment and activities: palaestras and gymnasiums, libraries,

Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. III V.

rooms for music lessons.

Visiting baths was a favorite pastime of the Roman plebs, who wanted “bread and circuses” instead of labor. Baths - both private and public, male and female (or shared),

simple and such masterpieces of architecture as Caracalla's were scattered throughout the empire. Each provincial city had its own baths. The Baths of Caracalla occupied a colossal area with lawns and had halls of hot, warm and cold water (caldarium, tepidarium, frigidarium). They were complex architectural structures covered with vaults of various structures - the highest achievement of an engineering genius. Their ruins still amaze with their grandeur. And Caracalla’s contemporaries could admire the brilliance of semi-precious stones, gilding, mosaics, and the rich decor that covered the walls and vaults of the baths.

In the Roman provinces, urban planning continued to flourish, there were rich orders, and the best craftsmen from Rome flocked there. The general level of civilization throughout the Roman Empire at that time was higher than ever - right up to distant Britain, where Hadrian had already reached and where Septimius Severus ended his days. The ancient Romanized world began to acquire, despite local differences, a certain uniform appearance. Special mention should be made about the basilica as a building very common among the Romans. Type of basilica (from Greek"basilica" - "royal house") - a rectangular elongated building for public meetings and councils - arose already in Greece in the 3rd century. BC e. The building was divided by longitudinal rows of supports (columns, pillars) into several passages - naves. The middle nave was usually higher and wider than the side ones and was lit through windows above the side parts. Most often it ended with a protrusion - an apse. Subsequently, the architectural form of the basilica was used as a model for the construction of Christian churches.

In the homeland of Septimius Severus, in Leptis Magna (North Africa), a basilica was built, which differed from all previous ones in its special design and luxury of decoration. On its narrow sides, eastern and western, it had two semicircular niches - apses. The pylons (pillars) that framed them were dedicated to Dionysus and Hercules and were decorated with scenes of their exploits. The emperor identified himself with these two heroes of antiquity. Alexander the Great already did this in the 4th century. BC e., defying the heavens. Now they began to believe in it literally.

Dionysus and Hercules are the two main deities of the late antique world. They were revered everywhere, but Dionysus was much more popular. On the remarkable Roman sarcophagi, which embody the spiritual world of late Rome, Dionysus defeats Hercules. On the famous “Uvarov sarcophagus” from the State Historical Museum (Moscow), Dionysus intoxicates the hero, who was considered the embodiment of reason, will and remarkable physical strength. Dionysus performs the ritual of his death and rebirth. After all, he, too, died in the form of bunches of grapes, which were pressed in vats similar in shape to a sarcophagus, and was reborn in the form of new wine. The god's path from martyrdom to resurrection was embodied in the passion of Dionysus. From him there is one step to the saving death of the Christian god-man.

CONCLUSION

The culture and art of Ancient Rome left humanity an enormous legacy, the significance of which is difficult to overestimate. A 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.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1 . Voshchinina A.I. Ancient art, - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Arts, 1962. - 393 pp.

2. Aksenova A. D. Encyclopedia for children. T.7. Art. 2nd ed., rev. M.: Avanta+, 1999, - 688 pp.: ill.

3. Podosinov A.V. Rome: Gods and Heroes, - Tver: Martin, Polina, 1995. 81) p.: ill.

4. Sokolov G.I. The Art of Ancient Rome, - M.: Education, 1996. 224 p.,: ill.

5. Zaretskaya D.M. World artistic culture, - M.: Publishing center A3, MSK, 1999. - 352 p.

1. Introduction… 2

2. The emergence of Rome... 3

2.1. City of Rome… 3

2.2. Roman kings... 4

3. Formation of the Roman Republic... 6

4. Formation of the Roman Empire... 8

4.1. Principate... 9

4.2. Dominant... 13

5. The government system of Rome... 15

5.1. The structure of the Roman community... 15

5.2. The political system of Ancient Rome during the period of the Republic... 17

5.3. The government structure of Rome during the imperial period... 19

6. Roman law (Laws of the XII tables)… 22

6.1. Laws of the XII tables... 22

7. War with the Celts (Gauls)… 27

7.1. Invasion of the Gauls... 28

7.2. Consequences of the war with the Gauls... 28

8. Collapse of the Roman Empire... 30

9. Conclusion... 33

10. Literature… 35

INTRODUCTION

The history of ancient Rome is the last stage in the development of the ancient world, which covers the time from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. (754/3 BC - the traditional date of the founding of the city of Rome) until the end of the 5th century. AD (476 AD - fall of the Western Roman Empire). Ancient Rome, over its almost thousand-year history, went from a small polis to the largest world power of antiquity. At its height, Rome conquered a colossal territory that stretched from Britain in the north to North Africa in the south and from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east.

The history of the Roman state is divided into three periods:

– royal (mid-VIII century BC – 509 BC);

– Republican (509 – 27 BC);

– imperial (27 BC – 476 AD).

In the 5th – 3rd centuries. BC. the process of formation of the early Roman slave society took place; in the Sh century BC. –P in. AD was its further development from a small community on the Tiber into the strongest Italian and then Mediterranean power. In the third century AD came the economic, social and political crisis of the Roman state, which in the 4th - 5th centuries. AD gave way to a period of prolonged decline.

The oldest period of Roman history, that is, the period from the formation of the Roman community to the establishment of the republic, is usually called the royal period. According to ancient tradition, which is confirmed by archaeological finds, the ancient Roman community was formed from three ethnic groups: Latins, Sabines (both were Italian tribes) and Etruscans (the creators of the oldest civilization on the Apennine Peninsula, whose origin is unknown) through synoicism (merger) of three settlements. The first Roman kings were Italians, then the Etruscan dynasty established itself in Rome, which led to a sharp rise in royal power and the expansion of the influence of Etruscan civilization on ancient Rome. The formation of the Roman polis dates back to this period.

THE RISE OF ROME

Literary data on the emergence of Rome are legendary and contradictory. Even the ancient authors themselves note this. So, for example, Diosinius of Halicarnassus said that “there are many disagreements, both about the time of the founding of the city of Rome and about the identity of its founder.” The most common version was that given by Livy: the founder of Rome was a descendant of the Trojan Aeneas, who came to Italy.

City of Rome

On the hilly banks of the Tiber, 25 km. from its confluence with the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the 9th century. BC. settlements of shepherds and landowners arose. Gradually the settlements merged, were surrounded by a wall and became the city of Rome.

Subsequently, a legend appeared that Rome was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus, suckled by a she-wolf. The Romans believed this legend and calculated their chronology from the fictitious date of the founding of the city.

According to this legend, the Trojan Aeneas, the son of the goddess Aphrodite and the mortal Anchises, survived the destruction of Troy. Together with his son Ascanius, Aeneas fled and after long wanderings arrived on the shores of Latium (a hilly plain along the lower Tiber). At that time, Latinus, the king of the local tribe, ruled there. He received Aeneas in a friendly manner and married his daughter Lavinia to him. Aeneas did not reign over the Latins for long; he died in a battle with the Etruscans.

After the death of Aeneas, his son Ascanius (or Yul - that was his name in other versions of the legends) chose a place in the middle of Latium, on the long ridge of the Alban Mountain, and founded a new city - Albu Longa or the Long Road, where he began to reign. Over time, Alba became the main city of the Latin tribe. The descendants of Aeneas ruled there safely until their fifteenth generation, when discord occurred in the royal family. Two brothers succeeded their father. The elder Numitor received power, and the younger Amulius received royal wealth. Using gold, Amulius took the throne from his brother, and made his daughter Rhea Silvius a priestess of the goddess Vesta, the patroness of the hearth. Amulius hoped that his brother would not have legal heirs, since the Vestals, Vesta’s servants, took a vow of celibacy. However, Rhea Silvia secretly became the wife of the god of war, Mars (Ares), and gave birth to two twins. For this she was condemned to death by Amulet. The king ordered the twins to be thrown into the Tiber. But the slaves who were entrusted with this left the basket with the twins in a shallow place. When the twins cried, a she-wolf came running and fed them with her milk. Soon the children were found by the royal shepherd Faustul. He brought them home and gave them to his wife Larentia to raise. The twins were given the names Romulus and Remus. Having matured, the royal grandchildren turned into handsome, strong and courageous young men. They became leaders of rural youth, the main participants in numerous skirmishes that arose over theft of livestock and the distribution of pastures.

One day Remus quarreled with the shepherds of Numitor and was captured by his own grandfather. During the showdown, the secret of the origin of the twins was revealed. Having united their supporters with the people of Numitor, Romulus and Remus overthrew the criminal king and returned power over Alba to their grandfather. They themselves and their retinue moved to the banks of the Tiber - to those places where they were fed by a she-wolf. There they decided to found a new city, but they could not agree on who would reign in it. Finally, relying on the will of the gods, the brothers began to follow heavenly signs. Remus, who was fortune-telling on the Aventine Hill, was the first to see a good sign - six kites soaring in the sky. Romulus, sitting on the Palatine, saw 12 birds a little later. Each of the brothers interpreted the signs in their own favor, a quarrel broke out between them, and Romulus, rashly striking his brother, killed him on the spot.

On the hill where brotherly blood was shed, the first fortifications of the city, which received the name of its founder, were erected. In honor of Romulus, it was named Roma, as the name sounds in Latin, in Russian - Rome. Roman historians, who studied the antiquities of their people, subsequently calculated the year and day of the founding of Rome - April 21, 745 BC.

Roman kings

Romulus, the founder of the city of Rome, became the first Roman king or, as they were then called, rex (from the Latin rex - king). In an effort to increase his people, he accepted all newcomers: beggars, robbers and even runaway slaves. The city grew, but it seemed that it would live only one generation: after all, the first Romans did not have wives and children, since the surrounding residents, despising them for their low origins, did not give their daughters for them. Then the Romans resorted to a trick: having invited their closest neighbors, the Sabines, to the holiday, at a signal they rushed at the unarmed guests and kidnapped their daughters. The Romans treated the wives they obtained in this way kindly and respectfully, so that they soon won their love, but the fathers and brothers of the Sabine women went to war against Rome. One day, during a battle, tear-stained women appeared on the battlefield and rushed into the thick of the battle. Hugging relatives and husbands, holding out babies to them with prayer, they stopped the battle and reconciled the soldiers. After this, many Sabine families moved to Rome and became part of the Roman people.

After the death of Romulus, the Romans for a long time could not find a worthy replacement for him. Finally, they gave preference to the most virtuous man in Italy. This was forty-year-old Numa Pompilius, who lived modestly in the town of Kura on the Sabine land: there was a loud reputation about him as a man of outstanding learning, kindness and honesty. They said that the warlike Romulus made the Roman people “iron”, Numa - virtuous. Numa introduced new cults (veneration of the gods) in Rome, appointed priests, and established priestly colleges - “associations” of priests. Among the gods he introduced, the goddess of Fidelity and the god of Borders, guarding the sacred sign of property, took pride of place. During the 43-year reign of Numa, the Romans did not wage any wars. By organizing sacrifices, processions and holidays in honor of the gods, the king taught his people to virtue and the joys of a peaceful life. Patronizing good work and rest, he organized colleges of artisans and established holidays and working days. In connection with this, Numa introduced a new 12-month calendar in Rome.

After Numa, two warlike kings ruled - Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius. Under them, the borders of both the cities of Rome and the Roman state expanded.

The last three Roman kings are called Etruscans. Their history began with the fact that during the reign of Ancus Marcius, a rich and energetic man moved to Rome, who took the name Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. He became an advisor to Ancus Marcius and won the love of the Roman people, so after the death of Ancus, bypassing his sons, he was elected king. He received the name Tarquin the Ancient. This king brought the high urban culture of Etruria to Latium. Under him, many Etruscan artisans moved to Rome, and construction work began in full swing. Rome began to transform from a “big village” into a real city. Tarquin fought successful wars with his neighbors, established public games, and began draining the swampy parts of the city. Canals were built to drain the swampy lowlands between the hills, the future main square of the city - the Forum - was paved, the Great Circus was built in the valley between Avetin and Palatine, and a stone temple in honor of Jupiter was founded on the Capitol.

After Tarquin the Ancient, his pupil Servius Tullius, the son of a slave, ruled. According to legend, one day the household of Tarquinius saw a miraculous sign - a fiery glow around a sleeping boy, the son of a maid. Guessing the child's great future from this sign, the king and queen raised little Servius as a son, and then gave him their daughter in marriage. When Servius became king, he transformed not the city of Rome, but the Roman state itself. Servius Tullius also became famous for surrounding Rome with the first stone wall. In the memory of his descendants he remained as a good king, the patron of the plebeians.

The last, seventh king, the son of Priscus Tarquinius the Ancient - Lucius, bore the name Tarquinius the Proud. He seized power through atrocity: overthrowing and killing the elderly Servius Tullius. Then he killed many senators, supporters of the legitimate king, and began to reign under the protection of bodyguards - not elected by the people, and not approved by the Senate. He exhausted the plebeians with construction work, and destroyed prominent patricians out of fear and hatred of their influence.

The cup of patience of the Roman people overflowed when the king’s son abused the noble patrician Lucretia, who rejected his love. The noble woman committed suicide, and the outraged Romans rebelled and drove the entire Tarquin family out of the city.

This period of Roman history is called period of seven kings.

During the “royal period” (VII–VI centuries BC), patriarchal-slave relations and an agrarian system began to take shape in Roman society, in which private property of its individual members arose within the community, along with public land.

Formation of the Roman Republic

After in 509 BC. Tarquin the Proud was overthrown, and the consul Junius Brutus was elected head of the city. The royal period ended and the republican period began, which lasted about 500 years (509–27 BC).

Territory of the Roman Republic

During the period of the early republic, the ancient form of property characteristic of the polis developed, in which the owner of the land was only a full member of the civil community. After the fall of tsarist power and the formation of the republic, both classes - patricians and plebeians - found themselves face to face. For more than two centuries there was a fierce struggle between them. In general, the dispute was about three issues: equalization of political rights, debt bondage, and access to community-state land. The plebeians succeeded in the first decades of the 5th century. BC. achieve significant gains in the form of an independent organization of the plebeian community. By the middle of this century they achieved a second major success - the recording of laws. Soon after this, the plebeian poor achieved the virtual abolition of debt slavery.

Thus, the period of the republic (end of the 6th century BC - mid-1st century BC) is characterized by the struggle of the plebeians and patricians, which ended with the complete equalization of the rights of these classes and the merging of the patrician-plebeian elite. During the struggle, a new class structure of Roman society emerged: the nobility, consisting of the senatorial class and the equestrian class, and the plebs - rural and urban. All of them were Roman citizens (unlike the plebeians during the struggle against the patricians). Non-citizens included the classes of freedmen and slaves. During the period of the Republic, Rome became the largest Mediterranean power. During the continuous war, the structure of the Roman army was formed, which had the character of a national militia. Service there was considered not only a duty, but also an honor. Starting from the 4th century. BC. The state began to pay for military service. The development of commodity-money relations and the expanded use of slave labor (their influx increased sharply in connection with victorious wars) by the beginning of the 2nd century. BC led to the massive dispossession of communal farmers, that is, the rural plebs. Nobiles bought up and simply seized their lands, creating large farms in which slaves became the main producers. The population deprived of land concentrated in the city and joined the ranks of the urban plebs, consisting of artisans, small traders, and the lumpen proletariat. The sharp reduction of the rural plebs - the basis of the Roman army - led to military reform: the poor and volunteers began to be accepted into the army (army reform - the end of the 2nd century BC). The army became professional. Now it could easily be used by a successful commander to establish sole power. The crisis of the economic basis of the polis (a predominantly natural economy based on the personal labor of communal farmers), its social basis (erosion of the rural plebs), the crisis of republican institutions that were not suitable for governing a huge territory, and a sharp increase in the power of commanders relying on a professional army - all this led to the crisis of the polis as a type of state and the crisis of the republic as its typical form for the polis.

Formation of the Roman Empire

With the increase in slavery, discontent among the peoples inhabiting the Roman Empire grew, and in the 1st century. BC. the wars of the disenfranchised Italians against Rome and the slave uprisings, the most famous slave uprising led by Spartacus (74 - 71 BC), shocked all of Italy. Everything ended with the establishment in Rome in 30 BC. the sole power of the emperor, based on armed force.

Growth of the Roman State

The era of Roman history from the middle of the 3rd century. BC. until the end of the 1st century BC. - a time of profound transformations of previous structures, which led to the creation of a new look and essence of Roman society.

In turn, the victorious wars of the Roman-Italian Alliance in the Mediterranean led to the capture of masses of slaves and huge funds, which were invested in the economy and contributed to the rapid development of the economy, social relations and culture of the peoples of Italy.

Roman-Italian society at the beginning of the 1st century. BC. entered into a period of bloody civil wars, a deep general crisis, first of all, of the political and state organization of the Roman Republic.

The complex relationship between Italy and the provinces, between citizens and non-citizens, urgently required a new system of government. It was impossible to govern a world power with methods and apparatus that were suitable for a small community on the Tiber, but ineffective for a powerful power.

The old classes, whose interests were reflected by the Roman Republic, by the end of the 1st century. BC. disappeared or degraded. New rich people, lumpen proletariat, and military colonists appeared.

The traditional polis-communal (republican) socio-political system was replaced by the Roman Empire.

From the 30s BC. a new historical era begins in the history of the Roman state and the ancient world in general - the era of the Roman Empire, which replaced the Roman Republic.

It brought with it relative civil peace and a certain weakening of external aggression. The exploitation of the provinces is becoming more organized and less predatory. Many emperors encouraged city construction and took care of the development of the cultural life of the provinces, the road system, and the introduction of a single imperial currency. For the empire of the first two centuries, one can note the growth of technology, the development of crafts, the rise of economic life, and the growth of local trade. Provincial cities receive self-government. Many new urban centers are emerging.

Thus, from 27 BC. and until 476 AD. Rome experiences a period of empire, which in turn breaks up into the period of the principate (27 BC - 193 AD) and the dominant (193-476 AD).

The period of the empire from the middle of the 1st century. BC. until the end of the 5th century. AD was divided into the principate, when all-republican institutions formally continued to function, but in reality power was in the hands of the princeps - the first citizen of the republic, in fact, the emperor, and the dominat (starting from the end of the 3rd century AD), when a new system of government was formed, headed by emperor.

The period of the principate, or early empire, covers the time from 27 BC. to 193 AD [rule of the dynasties Julius - Claudius (27 BC - 68 AD), Flavian (69-96), Antonin (96-192)]. Augustus and his successors, being princeps of the Senate, simultaneously concentrated in their hands the highest civil and military power. Formally, the republican structure continued to exist: the Senate, popular assemblies (comitia), magistrates, but actual power was in the hands of the princeps.

The emperor-princeps united in his hands the powers of all the main republican magistrates: dictator, consul, praetor, tribune of the people. Depending on the type of affairs, he acted in one or another capacity: as a censor, he staffed the Senate; how the tribune canceled the actions of any government body at his own will, arrested citizens at his own discretion, etc.; how the consul and dictator determined the policy of the state, gave orders in the branches of government; how a dictator commanded an army, ruled provinces, etc.

Thus, the transfer of state control to the princeps occurred due to the vesting of him with supreme power (Latin imperium - power), election to the most important positions, the creation of an official apparatus separate from the magistrate, ensured by the formation of the princeps’ own treasury, and command of all armies.

Dictatorship of Sulla. In the 1st century BC. Rome found itself drawn into the difficult Allied War and was forced to grant Roman citizenship to the entire population of Italy.

The allied war did not bring either Rome or Italy true peace. The era of personal power, the era of dictatorships was approaching. The first dictator was the commander Sulla, who, relying on an army loyal to him, established a regime of sole power, or dictatorship, in Rome. It was indefinite, which distinguished it from the republican dictatorship described above. In addition, Sulla appropriated to himself legislative functions and the right to arbitrarily dispose of the lives and property of citizens. He granted new rights to the Senate, but sharply limited the powers of the people's assemblies and deprived the tribunes of the political functions. The dictatorship of Sulla meant the advent of a new historical era in Roman history, and above all - end of the republic.

Dictatorship of Julius Caesar. The abdication of Sulla (79 BC) returned Rome to a republican constitution, but not for long. Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) became the new Roman dictator. His reign came after the slave revolt (74 BC) under the leadership of Spartacus, which clearly exposed the crisis of the republican form of government and the need for an authoritarian state.

Elected in 59 BC Consul of Rome, Julius Caesar, leading an anti-Senate group, passed two land laws through the comitia, carrying out direct violence over the Senate and rejecting the veto of the people's tribunes as insignificant. Through a series of subsequent measures, Caesar attracted to his side not only broad sections of the Roman people, but also the inhabitants of the provinces.

In 46 BC. Caesar put an end to his last opponents (the Pompeians) and was proclaimed dictator for a 10-year term, and in 44 for life.

The peculiarity of the Caesarist dictatorship is that the dictator had not only consular and tribunician powers, but also censorship (from 46 BC) and high priesthood. As commander of the army, Caesar received the title of emperor. The comitia, made dependent on Caesar, although they continued to exist, imitating the preservation of the republic, followed the instructions of the emperor, including those related to the election to office.

In addition, Caesar received the authority to manage the military and treasury of the state, the right to appoint proconsuls in the provinces and recommend half of the candidates for magistrates in general, the right to be the first to vote in the Senate, which was important, etc. A triumph for Caesar was his proclamation as “Father of the Fatherland” with all the associated honors (a special chariot, a gilded chair, special clothes and shoes, etc.).

The form of government created under Caesar - the principate - was further developed under his successor Octavian Augustus (27 BC - 12 AD).

Founder of the Empire OctavianAugust first received the title of princeps from the Senate. Placed first on the list of senators, he received the right to speak first in the Senate.

The Principate still retains the appearance of a republican form of government and almost all the institutions of the republic: popular assemblies are convened, the Senate sits, consuls, praetors and popular tribunes are still elected. But all this is nothing more than a cover for the post-republican state system.

The emperor-princeps united in his hands the powers of all the main republican magistrates: dictator, consul, praetor, tribune of the people. Depending on the type of affairs, he acted in one or another capacity: as a censor, he staffed the Senate; how a tribune canceled at his own will the actions of any government authority, arrested citizens at his own discretion, etc.; how the consul and dictator determined the policy of the state, gave orders in the branches of government; how a dictator commanded an army, ruled provinces, etc.

The people's assemblies, the main organ of power of the old republic, fell into complete decline. Cicero wrote on this occasion that gladiatorial games attracted Roman citizens more than meetings of the comitia. Bribery of senators, dispersal of meetings, violence against their participants and other signs of the extreme degree of decomposition of the comitia became common occurrences.

Emperor Augustus reformed the comitia in a democratic spirit (abolished qualification categories, allowed absentee voting for residents of Italian municipalities), but took away judicial power from the assemblies - the most important of their former competencies. In addition, the comitia lost their original right to elect magistrates. First, it was decided to test candidates for the consulate and praetorship in a special commission composed of senators and equestrians, i.e. approbation But after the death of Augustus, under his successor Tiberius, the election of magistrates was transferred to the competence of the Senate. “Then for the first time,” wrote the Roman historian Tacitus, “senators began to elect officials, and not assemblies of citizens on the Campus Martius, for before that, although everything most important was done at the discretion princeps, something was done at the insistence of the tribunal assemblies” (Tacitus. Annals. 1.14). Regarding legislation, Tacitus notes that the princeps replaced not only the senate and magistrates, but the laws themselves (Annals. 1.21). This means, of course, that legislation also became the business of the princeps.

Already under Augustus, the Senate was filled with provincial nobility, who owed everything to the princeps, and especially those horsemen who reached the rank of senator. From a body of power extending to the “city of Rome,” the Senate turned into a kind of all-empire institution. But its position was diminished and its powers limited. The bills submitted to the Senate for approval came from the princeps, and their adoption was ensured by his authority. In the end, an unwritten rule arises and is approved: “Everything that the princeps decides has the force of law.”

The right to elect the princeps himself belonged to the Senate, but this also became a mere formality: in many cases the army decided the matter.

The center of the highest institutions of the empire was the “court,” and precisely the court of the princeps. The imperial chancellery with legal, financial and other departments was located here. Finance occupies a special place: never before has the state shown such ingenuity in finding sources of taxes as in the departments of the Empire; never before - before August - has the tribe of imperial officials been so numerous.

The army became permanent and mercenary. The soldiers served for 30 years, receiving a salary, and upon retirement, a significant plot of land. The command staff of the army was composed of the senatorial and equestrian classes. An ordinary soldier could not rise above the position of commander of a hundred-centurion.

Dominant

Dominat (from the Latin dominus - master) is an unlimited monarchy.

In the 3rd century. AD (from 284) from the time of Emperor Diocletian, a regime of unlimited monarchy is established in Rome - dominat. The old republican institutions disappear. Management of the empire is concentrated in the hands of several main departments. They are led by dignitaries who are directly subordinate to the emperor. Among these departments, a special place was occupied by: the State Council under the emperor (discussion of basic policy issues, preparation of bills), the financial department and the military department, which was led by generals appointed by the emperor and only his subordinates.

Officials are allocated a special class: they wear a uniform, they are given privileges, upon completion of their service they are given pensions, etc.

Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine. Among the many reforms and laws of the empire, the reforms of the emperors of the dominant period - Diocletian and Constantine - deserve special attention from historical and legal science.

Diocletian, the son of a freedman, became Roman Emperor in 284 AD. (284–305 AD). His reign was marked by two main reforms.

The first concerned the government structure of a huge empire. This reform can be summarized as follows: 1) supreme power was divided between four co-rulers. Two of them, who bore the title “August,” occupied a leading position, each ruling their own half of the empire—Western and Eastern. At the same time, Diocletian Augustus retained the right of supreme power for both parts of the empire. The Augusti elected their co-rulers, who were given the title “Caesar”; This is how the tetrarchy arose - the rule of four emperors who were considered members of a single “imperial family”; 2) the army, increased by a third, was divided into two parts: one part was located on the borders of the empire, the other, mobile, ensured internal security; 3) as a result of the administrative reform, the provinces were disaggregated (according to some sources, up to 101, according to others, up to 120); 4) the provinces, in turn, were united into dioceses, of which there were 12; 5) Italy, divided into provinces and dioceses, among other lands of the empire, was now completely deprived of its special significance and position (although Rome continued to be considered the capital of the empire for some time).

Diocletian's economic policy provides the first example in history of active administrative intervention in such a complex and dynamic sphere of social life as the economy.

Diocletian introduced, instead of various kinds of indirect taxes, a single direct tax - a land-per-capita tax, collected in kind: grain, meat, wool, etc. The amount of taxation was significantly increased. In an effort to put an end to the circulation of damaged money, the emperor introduced a full-fledged gold coin along with silver and copper.

Trying to stop the rise in prices for goods and services, Diocletian in 301 issued an edict that set maximum prices for wheat, rye, poppy seeds and other goods sold.

In addition, the edict established the maximum wages for a farm laborer, a hairdresser, a teacher, a stenographer, a lawyer, an architect, etc. Note that a lawyer’s fee was 15 times higher than a coppersmith’s salary.

Other reforms of Diocletian strengthened the power of landowners over the peasantry, since the landowner was responsible for collecting taxes from the peasants. The landowner received the right to send, at his choice, a certain number of dependent people for military service, in the imperial army.

The reforms begun by Diocletian were continued by Emperor Constantine (285–337 AD), best known for his church policies favorable to Christians, who had until then been persecuted by the state. By the Edict of Milan 313, Constantine allowed Christians to freely practice their religion (shortly before his death, the emperor himself was baptized).

Under Constantine, the process of enslavement of peasant colonists was completed. According to the imperial constitution of 332, the colon was deprived of the right to move from one estate to another. Anyone who did not obey this law was shackled like a slave, and in this form was returned to the owner. The person who accepted the fugitive colon paid his master the full amount of payments due from the fugitive colon.

The same line was followed in relation to artisans. For example, the imperial edict of 317 ordered coiners, shipbuilders and many other workers to “remain forever in their condition.”

Direct appropriation of surplus product became the main form of exploitation of peasants and artisans.

Under Constantine, the capital of the Roman Empire was transferred to old Byzantium, then called Constantinople (May 11, 330). Accordingly, the highest government institutions were transferred there from Rome, and the Senate was recreated.

State structure of ROMEStructure of the Roman community

Romulus is credited with organizing the Roman community (from the Latin civitas). The population of the city at that time consisted of two main groups: Roman citizens proper, the so-called patricians, and non-citizens – plebeians. The plebeians were part of the community of full citizens and constituted a free, but deprived of political rights, layer of the population, weighed down with various duties; however, they performed military service on an equal basis with the patricians. When conquering neighboring communities, the Romans seized part of their land for the public fund, but plebeians were not allowed to use this land. Commercial and industrial wealth was concentrated mainly in the hands of the plebeians: the patricians, proud of their origin, considered any occupation other than agriculture, political activity and military service humiliating. Patricians were full citizens. They split into three tribes ( tribes). Three tribes - Ramni, Titii and Luceri - made up the “Roman people”. Each tribe consisted of 100 clans. Every 10 clans formed curia. The curia formed the general national assembly of the Roman community - curiat comitia. The People's Assembly accepted or rejected bills proposed to it, elected all senior officials, acted as the highest court of appeal in deciding the issue of the death penalty, declared war, together with the Senate elected the king, dealt with the most important judicial matters, etc.

So, speaking about the origin of the Roman estates, we should take his “complex theory” as a basis:

– patricians were truly native citizens. They represented the full-fledged “Roman people”;

– clients were in direct contact with the patricians, they received land and livestock from them, enjoyed their protection in court, etc. For this, they had to serve in the military detachments of their patrons, assist them with money, and perform various works;

– plebeians stood outside the clan organization of the patricians, i.e. did not belong to the “Roman people”, did not have access to communal land and were deprived of political rights.

The Roman patrician community was a primitive city-state with the typical features of a “military democracy.” Another organ of democracy was the council of elders - senate. Its members were called “fathers” (from the Latin patres - fathers). The competence of the Roman Senate included matters of direct administration, the development of bills, and the conclusion of peace. It consisted of the elders of all 300 clans, which is why it was called the senate (from the Latin senex - old, elder). The elders constituted the hereditary aristocracy of the Roman community, since the custom had taken root that they were chosen from the same family of each clan.

According to legend, Romulus created a senate of 100 senators, Tullus Hostilius added another 100, and Tarquin the Ancient brought them to 300.

Over time, the patricians turned into a closed group of nobles opposed to the broad mass of plebeians. The strengthening of the role of the plebeians in the economy, given their numerical superiority, led to a struggle between the plebeians and the patricians, the first stage of this struggle ended with reforms of the social system attributed to King Servius Tulius. Along with the previous division of the population by gender, a new division of the population by property and territorial characteristics was introduced.

During the reform of “military democracy”, all Roman citizens, both patricians and plebeians, were “valued” according to their existing property (land, livestock, equipment, etc.) and divided into 193 hundred centuries. That is, according to the reform, a division was made into 5 property categories or classes:

– the first class included persons who had a fortune of no less than 100,000 asses (ass is a copper coin, initially weighing 1 pound, its value for the early period of Roman history has not been established);

– in the second - 75,000 asses;

– in the third - 50,000 asses;

– in the fourth - 25,000 aces;

– in the fifth - 12,500 asses.

Those who had very little wealth were “below the class” and were called “proletarians” (Latin proletarii, from the word proles - offspring), i.e. people who had only children.

Each category of the population exhibited a certain number of its representatives - wax units - centuries (literally - a hundred). Centuries now began to hold votes in the national assembly; each century had one vote. Proletarians, i.e. completely deprived of accounted property amounted to only one century. With a coordinated vote of the first two categories, the votes of the rest did not matter. Instead of the old clan tribes, a division into territorial tribes was introduced. The reforms of the “military dictatorship” of Servius Tulius dealt a crushing blow to the outdated tribal system and laid the foundation of the state, i.e. a society based on blood kinship was destroyed, and in its place a state structure based on property differences and territorial division was created.

Property status also determined the place of soldiers in the ranks of the legion. The richest citizens of the first class served in the cavalry and were called horsemen. The remaining members of this class were required to have the full heavy armor of an infantryman and stand in the front ranks of the legion.

Citizens of other classes had light weapons and took place in the back rows. Class V warriors were lightly armed, and proletarians did not serve in the ranks at all.

Servius Tullius allowed plebeians into the army, giving them some political rights through the organization of a new form of national assembly. Both classes took part in it. It was called centuriate assembly.

Century(hundred), being a military tactical unit, became a voting unit. The most important functions of the old assemblies were transferred to the centuriate assemblies - declaration of war, election of officials, court, etc.

At that time, these reforms were a progressive form of management.

The fall of military democracy in Rome, as evidenced by scientists, occurred at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th centuries. BC. in the form of the violent overthrow of the last king and the transfer of his power to two elected officials. They could only be selected from the patricians and were called consuls. Thus, the transition to the republic was carried out.

The political system of Ancient Rome during the republic period

509 BC -the establishment of a republican system after the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud. The organization of power in this period is quite simple, it remained almost unchanged, despite the fact that the republic had grown significantly. Aristocratic and democratic features were combined.

On the basis of the struggle and regrouping of social forces that took place in the era of the early Republic, the Roman republican constitution was formed. In fact, there was no such document. But the description of the Roman political system as a whole and its individual elements was preserved in the works of ancient authors.

A state organization differs from a tribal organization in three features: the presence of a special apparatus of violence and coercion (army, courts, prisons, officials), division of the population not by blood relationship, as well as taxes collected to support the army, officials, etc.

The highest state body is considered to be - people's assembly. There were three types of national assembly - comitia (from the Latin comitia - gathering); – curiatnye; – centuriate; - tribute comitia.

Public assemblies in Rome were convened at the discretion of the magistrates, who could interrupt the meeting or postpone it. The magistrates presided over the meeting and announced the agenda. Voting on issues was open; secret voting (based on tables) was introduced at the end of the republican period. In the first century of the republic, the Senate approved the decisions of the comitia; from the 3rd century. BC. -preliminarily considered the issues on the agenda of the committees.

The functions of the comitia were delineated quite clearly, which the ruling elite of Rome, represented by the Senate and magistrates, used for their own purposes.

Senate - controlled and directed the activities of the people's assembly in the direction it needed, the composition of the Senate was replenished from magistrates who had served their terms. Senators (300,600, 900) were appointed censors every 5 years according to lists of representatives of wealthy noble families from the former magistrates. One of the magistrates convened the senate. The speeches and decisions of senators were recorded in special books. Formally, the Senate was an advisory body, its decisions were senate-consultations. He managed the treasury, established taxes, determined expenses, made regulations for public safety, improvement, and religious worship, conducted foreign policy (approved peace treaties, treaties of alliance), authorized recruitment into the army and distributed legions among commanders.

Magistrate Only a rich man could be elected. The highest magistrates were considered to be censors, consuls and praetors. All magistrates were elected for 1 year (except for the dictator, whose term of office was six months, and the consul during military operations).

The power of the magistrates: supreme (military power, the right to conclude a truce, convene the Senate and national assemblies and preside over them, issue orders and force their execution, the right to judge and impose punishment - the dictator, consul and praetor; the dictator could sentence to death without the right to appeal, consul - his sentence could be challenged in the centuriate assembly; the praetor could not) and general (the right to give orders and impose fines for non-compliance).

Consuls- 2 high magistrates, they were entrusted with primary affairs in civil and military matters; during the war, one remained in the city, the other fought; they recruited an army and commanded it, appointed military leaders, concluded truces, and disposed of military spoils.

Praetors- exercised judicial power. The praetors (city and peregrine) supervised legal proceedings (from the 4th century) and interpreted the law (from the 3rd–2nd centuries). 2 censors were elected for 5 years, they compiled lists of citizens to distribute them into tribes and ranks, monitored morality and issued appropriate edicts.

Quaestors-assistant consuls were in charge of the state treasury, kept state archives, i.e. managed financial expenses and the investigation of some criminal cases.

Aediles -(2 people) monitored public order in the city, trade in the market, organized festivals and processions.

Collegium "26 husbands"(5 boards) supervised prisons, coinage, road clearing and some judicial affairs. The tribunes of the plebeians initially protected the plebeians from the arbitrariness of the patricians, monitored the rule of law, defended unjustly offended citizens, had the right of veto over the actions of any magistrates, and made legislative proposals to the people's comitia.

Army- people's militia, which was formed according to categories: centuries (commanded by centurions); legions (commanded by military tribunes); cavalry detachments (commanded by decurions).

Gradually, the difference in the legal status of patricians and plebeians was destroyed. By the 3rd century. BC. The Roman state system finally took shape in the form of an aristocratic slave-owning republic.

Comitia centuriata resolved issues of war and peace, adopted laws and elected senior officials.

Of utmost importance were tribute comitia, which in the early period were a collection of only plebeians, and then all citizens of a given tribe. The publication of laws passed to them.

The People's Assembly was convened relatively rarely; issues of current politics were resolved by the Senate, which was the most important stronghold of the aristocracy; executive power belonged to the masters. The magistrates and the Senate enjoyed virtually all the fullness of state power in the Roman Republic, which acquired a pronounced aristocratic character. The Senate was in charge of finance, foreign policy, military affairs, and religious issues. Roman masters were elected, collegial, short-term (usually one-year) and gratuitous. In addition to the usual magistrates, in extreme circumstances, a dictator was appointed, who was entrusted with all supreme military and civilian power for a period of 6 months.

The government system of Rome during the imperial period

After the victory of Octavian, the great-nephew and successor of Julius Caesar, over his political opponents, the Senate gave Octavian supreme power over Rome and the provinces (and presented him with the honorary title of Augustus). In Rome and the provinces, a political system was established, which was called the principate. “Principessenatus” was the name in previous times for the first in the list of senators (usually the oldest of the former censors), the first to express his opinion. Princeps Augustus is “the first citizen of the Roman state,” and according to the unwritten Roman constitution, this meant the post of emperor.

To understand what the Roman Empire was like during the period of the principate, what its social system was, we must first dwell on the issue of citizenship. Already under Julius Caesar, the provision of Roman citizen rights in the provinces (there were 18 provinces in total) became a widespread political measure. This practice was continued by his successors. In 212 AD. Emperor Caracalla granted the rights of Roman citizens to the entire free population of the Empire. This significant step had far-reaching consequences. The privileged position of Rome itself was undermined. But by this time the position of free people in Rome and the Empire was significantly different from what it was under the republic.

The top of the slave-owning class consisted of two estates. The first and most noble class was the nobiles. It was formed back in the 4th–3rd centuries. BC. from the patrician-plebeian local nobility. Under the Empire, the Innobili were the ruling class, dominant both in society and in the state. The economic basis of the nobility was made up of huge land holdings, cultivated by a mass of slaves and dependent peculian peasants. The Senate became the political stronghold of the nobility. High-ranking priests and high magistrates, especially the consulate, governors of conquered territories - proconsuls, propraetors, legates, etc. - belonged to the nobility. Under Emperor Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD), the nobility turned into the senatorial class, which was replenished by dignitaries promoted to public service.

Responsible officials and officers emerged from the equestrian class - the financial nobility of the empire with a stature of 4,000,000 sesterces.

The cities of the empire were governed by decurions- a class represented by former magistrates. These were, as a rule, average landowners.

Slaves were still at the lowest rung of the social ladder. Under Augustus, in order to protect the interests of slave owners, special measures were introduced that were extremely cruel. In particular, the possibilities of granting freedom to slaves were sharply reduced, and the law was restored, according to which all those slaves who were in the house at the time of the murder of their master (within shouting distance) and did not come to his aid were subject to execution. One of the sources describes a case of this kind when, despite the discontent of the people, the Senate and the Emperor executed 400 slaves. Roman jurists found a justification for this cruel law: no house can be safe (from labor) in any other way than through fear of death...

Meanwhile, the economic situation testified to the unprofitability of slave labor. Neither the overseer nor the punishments could replace the economic incentive. The slave did what was absolutely necessary and not unnecessary, and so as not to cause punishment. Not a single improvement was beneficial. In Rome, the progress of technology seemed to stop: neither the scythe, nor even the primitive flail with which grain is knocked out of the ears, were known in Rome and its provinces.

Realizing this, slave owners began to provide slaves with peculia, i.e. plots of land for which the owner had to pay a certain share of the product in advance (usually half the harvest). Since the rest was the share of the peasant peculiant, he sought to increase it by increasing the harvest. But in order for peculiar relations to bring noticeable results, they had to be reliably protected from abuse, giving them more or less broad legal protection. However, old Roman law prohibited a slave from carrying out all types of trading and lending transactions on his own behalf (not the owner) and for his own benefit, as well as filing a claim and being liable in court. These prohibitions were an obstacle to the development of peculia as a specific form of rental relations, so they had to be softened, modified, and abolished, which was done very slowly.

At the same time, such an important process was taking place in the Roman Empire as the transformation of the free peasant into a tenant-sharecropper - colon. The development of the colonate was a direct consequence of the never-ending robbery of the peasants, directly related to the growth of senatorial and equestrian latifundia. Another reason was the decrease in the influx of slaves due to the decrease in the military power of the empire and the strengthening of resistance against it.

The colon's obligations were both monetary and in kind. In the first period of the colony, the lease was short-term, but this was unprofitable for the lessor. Only a long lease could provide him with labor and at the same time generate in the colony a desire to improve the land, increase productivity, etc.

Satisfying the demands of landowners, law 332g. marked the beginning of the attachment of tenants to the land. Colonies that had left their estates without permission returned by force. At the same time, the law prohibited the expulsion of colonists when selling land. In the same way, unauthorized increases in the burdens and duties of the prison were prohibited. The attachment of columns to the ground was lifelong and hereditary. Thus, in slaveholding Rome, the feudal order and feudal relations of production were born. In this complex process, the slave rises in his social status, the free peasant, on the contrary, falls.

Towards the end of the empire, the unauthorized killing of a slave and the separation of his family were prohibited, and a simplified procedure for freeing slaves was introduced.

Craftsmen, organized into collegiums, i.e. communities, had to “remain forever in their state,” which meant for them nothing more than a forced hereditary attachment to their professions.

Roman law(LawsXIItables)

The historical conditions for the creation of laws were due to the fact that in the first centuries of the Roman Republic, land - ager publis was very important. There was little arable land, as well as livestock. Because of the land, aggression arose against neighboring tribes with military occupation of their lands and demands for citizens to be warriors. The public nature of the land was the basis for its fair redistribution. The creation of laws is associated with the struggle of patricians and plebeians for equal rights.

Unfortunately, the Laws were not preserved; they died in 390 BC. during the invasion of the Gauls, their content was reconstructed on the basis of fragments from the works of later Roman authors.

Laws of the XII Tables

The laws of the HP tables are an original source for studying the features of economic relations, social structure, legal norms during the period of the early Roman Republic. Legislation was created during an intense struggle between patricians and plebeians, who sought to obtain the right to use public land, achieve the abolition of debt bondage, political equality with patricians. According to tradition, at the insistence of the plebeians in 451 BC. A commission of 10 decemvirs was formed to record the current law. The work was completed in 450 BC. another commission, which included 5 patrician decemvirs and 5 plebeian decemvirs. In449 BC laws common to patricians and plebeians. They got their name because they were inscribed on 12 wooden tablets displayed for public viewing in the main square of Rome, its political center - the Forum.

A distinctive feature of the Laws was strict formalism: the slightest omission in the form of a court agreement entailed the loss of the case. This omission was taken as the “finger of God.”

The laws of the XII tables regulated the sphere of family and inheritance relations, contained rules relating to loan transactions and criminal offenses, but did not concern state law at all. Starting from the 4th–3rd centuries. BC. Laws began to be adjusted by a new source of law - praetor's edicts, which reflected new economic relations generated by the transition from ancient archaic forms of purchase and sale, lending and lending to more complex legal relations caused by the growth of commodity production, commodity exchange, banking operations, etc.

ABOUT family law Ancient Rome should be said first of all, because the Roman family, as depicted in the Tables, was a strictly patriarchal family, i.e. under the unlimited power of a householder, who could be a grandfather or father. This kind of kinship was called agnatic, and all those “subject to” the houselord were agnates to each other.

Cognatic kinship arose with the transfer of an agnate (agnatka) to another family or with a separation from the family. Thus, the daughter of a householder who got married fell under the authority of her husband (or father-in-law, if he had one) and became a cognate in relation to her consanguineous family. The son also became a cognate , separated from the family (with the permission of the father). On the contrary, the adopted person, and thereby accepted into the family, became an agnate in relation to it with all the rights associated with that, including the legal part of the inheritance.

Agnatic kinship was undoubtedly more progressive compared to consanguineous, cognatic kinship, in which one cannot help but see a relic, a relic of ancestral relations.

In Ancient Rome, there were three forms of marriage: two ancient and one relatively new. The most ancient ones were performed in a solemn atmosphere and placed the wife under the control of her husband. In the first case, the marriage was performed in religious form, in the presence of priests, accompanied by the eating of specially made cakes and the wife’s solemn oath to follow her husband everywhere. The second form of marriage took place in the form of buying a bride (in a manipulative form).

But already the Laws of the XII Tables recognize the informal form of marriage - “blue manu”, i.e. "without the power of a husband." In this form of marriage, the woman found significant freedom, including the freedom to divorce (which she did not have in a “proper” marriage). With divorce, a woman took her own property, contributed to the common house as a dowry, as well as property acquired after marriage.

Over time, it was the blue manu marriage that became most widespread, while the “correct” forms of marriage were preserved mainly in priestly and patrician families.

A specific feature of the blue manu marriage was that it had to be renewed annually. To do this, the wife left her husband’s house for three days on the appointed day (to her parents, friends) and thereby interrupted the statute of limitations.

Divorce was available to the husband in all forms of marriage, but for the wife only in blue manu marriage.

After the death of the householder, the family's property passed to the agnates by law, and if the deceased left a will, one should blindly and sacredly adhere to its literal text. In all cases, the widow of the deceased received some part of the property both for her own food and for the maintenance of young children, if they remained in her care after the death of the father. The heirs could, however, divide the inheritance and run the household together, as it was under their father.

Inheritance law. The most significant thing in inheritance law can be considered the recognition of the right to inheritance for those blood relatives (cognates) who previously did not have it.

The first to inherit were, of course, the children, and if there were none left, the grandchildren. When there were neither one nor the other, the testator's brothers, uncles, and nephews were called to inherit. If there were none, the praetor granted the right of inheritance to all blood relatives of the deceased up to the sixth generation. The closest degree of relationship excluded the subsequent one.

In the interests of the old Roman families and to curb the arbitrariness that resulted from the hypertrophied dominance of private property, norms were introduced into Roman law that limited the freedom of testamentary dispositions. The next of kin of the deceased, if bypassed by inheritance, was entitled to at least one-fourth of the property that he would have received in the absence of a will. Thus, the principle of compulsory inheritance was introduced into law, which has survived to this day.

The will itself began to be drawn up in writing and certified by witnesses.

Ownership. In colloquial speech, the words “property” and “possession” are often used as synonyms. However, Roman jurists already warned: “There is nothing in common between property and possession.”

In Roman law, possession was defined as the actual dominion of a person over a thing, combined, naturally, with the desire to exercise this power for himself.

What does a property lack in order to become the property of an individual or legal entity? An extremely important “detail” is the right of disposal, i.e., determining the fate of a thing: its use, collateral, donation, inheritance, etc.

The most common type of ownership was ownership of provincial land. It could be used, i.e. extract, appropriate the income it brings; however, ownership of provincial land belonged to the Roman state and the owner was obliged to pay a special tax.

Thus, one can own a thing, but not have ownership rights to it. On the other hand, often the owner, for one reason or another, is deprived of actual dominion over the thing, and therefore, possession.

You cannot become the legal owner through purchase and sale, donation, barter, inheritance, i.e. any way of transferring things that gives rise to the right of disposal, and therefore the right of ownership. And even in the case when land ownership (non-ownership!), for example a plot of land, did not “reach” the two years that the law required to acquire ownership of it, passes from father to son by right of inheritance, it should be considered that the son originally owns , for this is the only way that all fair possession of things can and should be.

Thus, it can be said that possession arises from the conscientious use - without the use of cunning or force - of a thing, the owner of which is either unknown, absent, or does not offer resistance. Abandoned lands, wild animals and fish, treasures discovered for the first time, etc., can be “captured” and appropriated without hindrance, i.e. things that are not someone else's property.

Ownership cannot and should not be eternal: economic interest prevents this. It is necessary that the owner be interested in improving the property, especially land ownership, so that he treats it as his own property (fertilizes, irrigates, fences, etc.).

An important feature of the Roman ownership there was a division of things into two types - res mancipi and res nec mancipi. The first type included land (at first near Rome, and then all the land in Italy in general), draft animals, slaves, buildings and structures, i.e. objects of traditional communal property. The second type included all other things, the possession of which could be individualized.

To alienate things of the first category - sale, barter, donation, etc. - it was necessary to comply with formalities called mancipation. This word comes from “manus” - hand and contains a figurative idea of ​​​​the transfer of ownership when laying hands on an acquired thing. Having laid on one’s hand, one should also say: “I claim that this thing belongs to me according to the right of the Quirites...” (that is, the descendants of the deified Romulus-Quirinus). Mancipation conveyed to the acquirer the undeniable right of ownership of the thing. Payment of money without mancipation was not yet sufficient, as we see, for the emergence of property rights. The transfer of the mancipated item took place in a solemn atmosphere, in the presence of five witnesses and a weight holder with scales and copper. The latter indicates that the ritual of mancipation arose before the appearance of the minted coin - assa, but copper in the weight determined by the parties already appeared as a general equivalent. The formalities served to remember the transaction in case a related property dispute arose in the future.

All other things, even precious ones, were passed on through simple tradition, i.e. informal transfer under the conditions established by the contract of sale, exchange, gift, etc.

The old slave, like the old horse, demanded - when passing from hand to hand - mancipation, and the precious vase - tradition. The fact is that the first two things belong to the category of tools and means of production and, by their origin, gravitate towards the supreme collective property of the Roman community, while a vase, decoration, like any other everyday thing, were both initially and subsequently objects of individual property.

As for the loan, the Laws of the XII Tables, in addition to the usual loan transactions related to interest, mortgage, etc., also know the so-called nexum, i.e. The debtor's pledge is a debt obligation guaranteed by freedom. Upon expiration of the legal delay in payment, the creditor was free to arrest the debtor and imprison him in his house (debt) prison. Three times a month, on market days, the creditor was obliged to bring the debtor to the market in the hope that there would be relatives, friends, and compassionate people who would agree to pay the debt and redeem the debtor from captivity. Only in 326 BC. Petelia's law reformed the loan agreement and abolished debt slavery. From that time on, the debtor was responsible to the creditor within the limits of his property.

In addition to obligations from contracts, the Laws of the XII Tables also know those that arise from causing harm and illegal actions in general - theft, poisoning, etc. For example, a thief captured with a weapon in his hands was allowed to be executed at the scene of the crime. The same fate awaited those who deliberately “set fire to buildings or stacks of bread stacked near the house.”

In ancient times, an order developed according to which the right of ownership of a thing could arise as a result of long-term possession of the thing. (Vol. VI. 3: The duration of possession in relation to a land plot (was established) at two years, in relation to all other things - at one year).

A special type of property law recorded in the Laws of the XII Tables are easements, rules of law that limit the rights of owners to the property they own, as well as giving the subject a number of rights to property that does not belong to him.

In the Laws of the XII Tables, the owner was directly prescribed:

– Leave undeveloped space around the building (T. VII. 1.);

– Retreat from the boundary of the site at a certain distance (T. VII. 2.);

– Trim trees to a height of 15 feet so as not to cause damage to the neighboring property (T. VII. 9 a).

In addition, the right of passage on someone else's land was granted: “Let (the owners of roadside areas) fence the road, if they do not pave it with stones, let him ride on a beast of burden wherever he wishes.” Owners of plots had the right, under certain circumstances, to use products brought by someone else's property: (T. VII. 9 b.) The Law of the XII Tables allowed to collect acorns falling from a neighboring plot, as well as to file a claim against the owner of the property causing damage (T. VII. 10). If a tree from a neighboring plot has been blown over by the wind onto your plot, you can file a claim for its removal on the basis of Law XII Tables.

Thus, in essence, the Laws of the XII Tables represented the processing and consolidation of the customary law of Rome. They were influenced by the Greek law of the southern Italian policies. The laws were set out in the form of short imperative judgments and prohibitions, some of which bore the imprint of religious rituals. From IV-III centuries. The laws were adjusted by praetor's edicts. Formally, they operated until the 4th century. and were abolished during the reforms of Justinian.

War with the Celts (Gauls)

Rome constantly had clashes with its neighbors. Results of foreign policy of the 5th–3rd centuries. BC. were quite large: Rome destroyed its main enemy in southern Etruria and significantly increased its territory. Having repelled the attack of the Etruscans, Rome from the 5th century. BC. led long wars with its neighbors, mainly for the expansion of territorial possessions. At the beginning, Rome fought for hegemony in the Latin Union, then for the subjugation of Latium and other territories. As a result of the victory over the Etruscan city of Veii, the Romans firmly established themselves on the right bank of the Tiber River and expanded their territory at the expense of the Etruscan lands.

Thanks to the alliance with the Latins, the Romans managed to stop the onslaught from the east. Most importantly, Rome, whose territory was relatively large and continuous, received a significant strategic advantage compared to its neighbors, whose possessions were scattered.

In the struggle for Italy, which lasted about three centuries, the winner was the former small community on the Tiber.

By the 60s of the 3rd century. BC. all of Italy during the Republic, from the Rubicondo River to the Strait of Messina, entered into a kind of federation, led by Rome, capable of measuring strength with the most powerful powers of the Mediterranean.

By the end of the third century. BC. After the formation of the strongest Roman Mediterranean slave-holding power, a Roman society emerged, distinguished by its great diversity and ambiguity of class and estate structure.

Invasion of the Gauls

In 390 BC. A terrible threat loomed over Rome. Hordes of Gallic tribes poured into Italy through the Alps. Armed with huge shields and long swords, the Gauls (Celts) rushed at their enemies with wild warlike cries. The Romans were defeated, and their city was captured, plundered and burned. Only a small fortress on the steep Capitol Hill remained standing. Its long siege began. Six months later, the Romans could barely stand on their feet from hunger and constant lack of sleep. Then the Gauls dared to storm. At night, under cover of darkness, they climbed up the rocks. Where it was cool, they pulled each other up, passing weapons from hand to hand. At the top of the Capitol, the exhausted guards slept. Even the clear watchdogs did not hear the enemy. And only the geese woke up the people with their noise. The sacred birds that lived at the temple of the goddess Juno flapping their wings and cackling like madmen. The Romans woke up from their slumber and threw the Gauls down. The enemy attack was repulsed.

The Gaul leader Brennus lost hope of taking the Capitol and was ready to leave the banks of the Tiber. But, of course, not without reason! Negotiations began. The Romans, forced by hunger to eat sandal leather, agreed to the ransom. After this event, the Romans surrounded their city with a powerful wall.

Consequences of the war with the Gauls

The Gauls (Celts) who invaded central Italy devastated the Roman region and burned Rome. After the Gallic invasion, which devastated Rome, the social struggle between the plebeians and patricians intensified.

In 385 BC. the performance of the plebeian debtors was led by Marcus Manlius of the Capitol. The patricians managed to suppress the movement, Manlius was executed.

In 367-366 BC. The plebeians achieved the adoption of the laws of the people's tribunes, which limited the occupation of state lands by citizens to up to 500 jugeras (125 hectares) and provided that one of the consuls should be elected from the plebeians, as well as partial cassation of debts. As a result of the uprisings of indentured slaves in Rome, debt slavery was abolished.

By the middle of the 4th century. BC. As a result of victorious wars, Rome became the most powerful state in central Italy. In the middle of the 4th century BC. Wars began between Rome and a federation of tribes led by the Samnites for dominance over Campania and Central Italy. The suppression of the uprising of the Latin and Campanian peoples against Rome (340 - 308 BC) and the victory over the Samnites ensured the establishment of Roman rule in Central and large parts of Southern Italy.

At the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. The Romans, having repelled the attacks of the Gauls and Etruscans at the Battle of Lake Vadimon (283 BC) and having achieved the subjugation of the Etruscan peoples, attempted to capture the southern Italian Greek cities (Tarenti, etc.). In 280 BC. Tarentum called for help against Rome the famous commander, King Pyrrhus, who was related to Alexander the Great. Pyrrh defeated the Romans in 280 BC. under Hercules and in 279 BC. at Ausculum in Apulia, but in 275 BC. The Romans defeated Pyrrhus near the city of Malevetum (renamed Beneventum in honor of the victory), forcing him to leave Italy.

The subjugation of the Greek city-states and southern capital tribes completed the conquest of the Apennine Peninsula, which lasted about 200 years, as a result of which federations of city-states and tribes subordinate to Rome were formed.

The conquered communities lost part of their lands, did not have the right to conduct an independent foreign policy and were obliged to field auxiliary troops (they did not have the right to serve in the legions). In matters of internal administration, they were placed in a different position in relation to Rome, which excluded the possibility of their united action against it; very few received the rights of Roman citizenship, some received limited rights.

In an environment of constant wars, the struggle between the plebeians (the main force of Warmia) and the patricians continued.

Collapse of the Roman Empire

One of the periods of Roman history begins with the great conquests of Rome (approximately 264–241 BC), starting with the I Puntian War and ending with the destruction of Carthage and Corinth. From a number of wars, Rome emerged as a first-class military power, which had no equal in the Mediterranean region. The states and peoples that remained independent no longer played a significant role in the further political life of this region.

Enormous values ​​flocked to Rome in the form of indemnities and war booty, masses of slaves were sold in slave markets, and the systematic plunder of the provinces began. The excess of money capital gave rise to insane luxury at the top of the ruling class. Italy was turning into a country of classical slavery.

Slaves' actions against their oppressors began to become more frequent (in the historical sense of the word). One of the significant such uprisings was the uprising of Spartacus (74 - 71 BC). At first, the Roman authorities did not attach much importance to this incident, because similar cases often occurred in Italy earlier, but then, realizing the danger, they sent selected units to suppress Spartacus, which destroyed the slaves.

The complex relationship between Italy and the provinces, between citizens and non-citizens, urgently required a new system of government. It was impossible to govern a world power with methods and apparatus suitable for a small community on the Tiber, but ineffective for a powerful power.

The old classes, whose interests were reflected by the Roman Republic, by the end of the 1st century. BC. disappeared or degraded. New rich people, the lumpen proletariat, and military colonists appeared.

The republic was replaced by empire. It brought with it relative civil peace and a certain weakening of external aggression. The exploitation of the provinces took on a more organized and less predatory character. Many emperors encouraged urban construction and took care of the development of the cultural life of the provinces, the road system, and the introduction of a single imperial currency. For the empire of the first two centuries, one can note the growth of technology, the development of crafts, the rise of economic life, the growth of local trade. Provincial cities receive self-government. Many new urban centers are emerging.

I–II centuries AD - the time of greatest prosperity of the Roman Empire. But by the end of the 2nd century. The consequences of the widespread use of slave labor began to be felt, which increasingly revealed its unprofitability in the context of a reduction in the influx of slave labor due to the cessation of wars. Commodity-money relations collapsed, the economy became subsistence, cities fell into decay, connections between provinces were disrupted, centrifugal tendencies intensified, and many lands remained uncultivated. Political instability arose.

In the middle of the 3rd century. The Roman Empire was in a state of general crisis. All segments of the population experienced uncertainty about the future. Against this background of the empire, Christianity became widespread. The Christian religion, equated with paganism under Emperor Constantine (beginning of the 4th century), created the ideological basis of the Middle Ages. Socio-economic and political processes were also preparing for the advent of a new era. A large estate became the main unit of society. Along with the slaves, who began to be transferred to peculium, that is, they were given ownership of some property, sometimes a plot of land, colons worked on the estate - small tenants dependent on the landowner, whose labor was much more profitable, since part of the results of labor (minus the fixed rent) remained in at their disposal. Three classes of medieval society began to take shape: the clergy, secular farmers (nobility) and working people - peasants. As a result of the naturalization of the economy and the weakening of ties between parts of the empire, local administration was strengthened. Attempts by the imperial authorities to resist this process were generally unsuccessful.

The weakening of the central government was also facilitated by the threat from the barbarians - the Huns and Germans. Barbarians carried out raids and also settled throughout the empire with the consent of the emperors as “allies.” The Roman army increasingly consisted of barbarians.

In the end, all this led to a decline in Rome's resistance to external aggression. Removing some emperors and replacing them with others did not lead to the desired results. In the 4th century. The Roman Empire split into Western and Eastern (Byzantium). The division of the empire into the Western with its capital in Rome and the Eastern with its capital in Constantinople occurred in 395. It happened, however, that the Western and Eastern empires were united under the rule of a successful emperor, but not for long.

In the middle of the 6th century, the Eastern (or Byzantine) Empire made a tremendous effort to restore the former Roman power. The uniqueness of Byzantium lay mainly in the fact that it retained strong imperial power.

Western Roman Empire in the 4th–5th centuries. waged a continuous struggle against the barbarians. Their tribal unions were embedded in the social and political body of the empire and from an external factor gradually turned into an internal factor in its further history. Emperor Justinian (527–565) began great wars in the West. But this inhuman tension of forces led, in the end, to the complete exhaustion of the treasury, uprisings and practically the loss of almost all conquests.

In 476, after the abdication of the last emperor, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. On its ruins, new states and new political formations arose, within which the formation of feudal socio-economic relations began. And although the fall of power of the Western Roman emperor, who had long lost his prestige and influence, was not perceived by contemporaries as a major event, in world history the year 476 became the most important milestone, the end of the ancient world, the slave-owning socio-economic formation, and the beginning of the medieval period of world history, the feudal socio-economic formation.

The collapse of the Roman state and the fall of the Western Roman Empire

Thus, the Roman Empire existed (or rather, eked out an existence) until 476, when the head of the German mercenaries, Odoacer, overthrew the Roman emperor, the young Romulus Augustulus (Romulus Augustus) and took his place. This event was preceded by the actual collapse of the entire Western Empire. And Gaul, and Spain, and Britain found themselves in the power of the Germans. Africa has disappeared. As for the Eastern Roman Empire, it existed for about 1000 years.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it should be said that the ancient Roman civilization represented a progressive type of development. It is characterized by dynamism: important changes occurred throughout the life of one generation.

It is necessary to note the most important events that occurred during the period of Roman civilization:

– private property relations developed for the first time, although there was no complete private property in the Greco-Roman world;

– for the first time, a developed system of commodity-money relations emerged: production was primarily market-oriented;

– the presence of a variety of developed state forms: democracy, aristocratic republic, ancient Greek tyranny, empire.

Rome is historically the first civilization based on the requirement of compliance with well-developed laws. Of great interest is Roman law (Laws of the XII Tables), as well as the attitude of citizens to the laws of their state.

During the development of Roman civilization, the foundations of civil society were laid - self-organization of the population. True, it did not oppose the state, but was its basis, which was determined by the specifics of the polis as a civil community.

The achievements of antiquity are the achievements of a free person. “Classical” exploitation of slaves is the exception, not the rule for Greco-Roman civilization: the establishment of the slave-owning mode of production in the Roman Empire (II century BC - III century AD) was one one of the main factors in the death of the ancient world.

The Roman polis ensured the existence and development of Roman civilization only at a certain stage of history. The moment came when the interests of further development required overcoming the polis as a type of state, leading to the need to form much larger and differently structured states.

In ancient Rome, the crisis was a long process that occurred from the time of Rome's transformation into a Mediterranean power until the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The economic aspect of the policy crisis was the development of commodity-money relations that violated the economic isolation and self-sufficiency of the city-state. In the social sphere, there was an erosion of the basis of the polis - the layer of small and medium-sized communal landowners, artisans and traders who lived on the results of their own labor. Sharp property differentiation within this layer was a consequence of the development of commodity-money relations, as well as the widespread use of slave labor in large farms. Under the influence of the development of commodity-money relations, small and medium-sized owners went bankrupt, and those who became rich seized or bought up land from the poor and created craft workshops in which slaves worked. As a result of these processes, the people's militia fell into decay. For Rome, this led to the replacement of the people's militia with a professional army, and as a result, the fall of the republic and the establishment of the empire.

Italian city-states continued to exist on the territory of the Roman Empire, and in those provinces where there were no policies before, they arose during the period of Roman rule. The gradual loss by the Romans of their exclusivity as a result of the increasingly broad representation of Roman citizenship to the population of the provinces and the introduction of a leveling system of governing the empire did not change the internal structure of the state, which seemed to consist of many autonomous state-type entities. In conditions of the general crisis of the 3rd century. AD As a result of the naturalization of the economy and the curtailment of commodity-money relations (a consequence of the sharp reduction in the influx of slaves due to the cessation of wars), cities began to decline and large estates gradually became the centers of economic and then political life. The empire split into Eastern and Western, and centrifugal tendencies in the provinces intensified. Attempts by the Roman emperors to stop this process by strengthening the bureaucratic apparatus and total surveillance of the provincial administration could not bring success. As the center of gravity of public life shifted from the city to the estate, the formation of a new social structure (clergy, large landowners, dependent farmers who owned a plot of land), and the spread of Christianity in the Western Roman Empire, the prerequisites for the transition to the Middle Ages were formed.

LITERATURE

1. Biryukov Yu.M. State and law of Ancient Rome. – M.: publishing house VPA, 1969.

2. World history of state and law: Textbook / Ed. prof. K.I.Batyr. – M.: Yurist, 1998.

3. Vigasin A.A., Goder G.I., Sventsitskaya I.S. History of the ancient world: Textbook for 5th grade. general education Institutions. – 3rd ed. – M.: Education, 1997.

4. History of state and law: Educational and methodological manual in 4 volumes / Comp. Ph.D. watered n. Kirnos A.V., Ph.D. watered n. Kolesnikov V.A. – Volume 1. – State and law of the ancient and medieval world. – Voronezh, 1998.

5. History of the state and law of foreign countries. Part 1. Textbook for universities. Edited by prof. Krashennikova N.A. and prof. Zhidkova O.A. – M.: Publishing group INFRA.M–NORMA, 1997.

6. History of the ancient world / Ed. Dyakova I.M. – M.: Higher School, 1989.

7. History of ancient Rome. Ed. Kuzishchina V.I. – M.: Higher School, 1993.

8. Krushilo Yu.S. Reader on the history of the ancient world. – M., 1980.

9. Kuzishchin V.I. History of Ancient Rome. – M.: Higher School, 1982.

10. Semennikova L.I. The ancient world // Russia in the world community of civilizations. – Bryansk, 1994.

11. Struve V.V. Reader on the history of the ancient world. – M.: 1975.

12. TibbonE. The history of the decline and collapse of the Roman Empire. – M.: Nauka, 1994.

13. Utchenko S.L. Crisis and fall of the Roman Republic. – M.: Nauka, 1965.

14. Utchenko S.L. Political doctrines of Ancient Rome III-I centuries. BC. – M.: Nauka, 1977.

15. Reader on the history of Ancient Rome / Ed. IN AND. Kuzishchina. – M.: Higher School, 1987.

The report on the topic “Ancient Rome” will talk about the culture and life in this country. A 5th grader can present a report on “Ancient Rome” in a history lesson.

"Ancient Rome" report

Ancient Rome- a powerful ancient civilization that took its name from the capital - Rome. His possessions extended from England in the north to Ethiopia in the south, from Iran in the east to Portugal in the west. Legend prescribes the founding of the city of Rome by the brothers Romulus and Remus.

The history of Ancient Rome dates back to 753 BC. e. and ends in 476 AD. e.

In the development of the culture of Ancient Rome, the following main periods can be distinguished:

1. Etruscan VIII-II centuries BC. e.
2. “royal” VIII-UІ centuries BC. e.
3. Roman Republic 510-31. BC e.
4. Roman Empire 31 BC e. — 476 yr. e.

What did the ancient Romans do?

Rome was originally a small city-state. Its population consisted of three classes:

• patricians - indigenous residents who occupied a privileged position in society;
• plebeians - later settlers;
• foreign slaves - they were captured during the wars waged by the Roman state, as well as their own citizens who became slaves for breaking the law.

Slaves did housework, heavy agricultural work, and worked in quarries.
The patricians received servants, communicated with friends, studied law, the art of war, and visited libraries and entertainment venues. Only they could hold government positions and be military leaders.
The plebeians were dependent on the patricians in all spheres of life. They could not govern the state and command troops. They had only small plots of land at their disposal. The plebeians were engaged in trade and various crafts - stone, leather, metal processing, etc.

All work was done in the morning. After lunch, residents rested and visited baths with thermal waters. Noble Romans could go to libraries and the theater.

Political system of ancient Rome

The entire 12-century path of the Roman state consisted of several periods. Initially, it was an elective monarchy headed by a king. The king ruled the state and served as the high priest. There was also a Senate, which included 300 senators elected by the patricians from among their elders. Initially only patricians participated in popular assemblies, but in a later period, plebeians also achieved these rights.

After the expulsion of the last king at the end of the 6th century. BC, a republican system was established in Rome. Instead of a single monarch, 2 consuls were elected annually, ruling the country together with the Senate. If Rome was in serious danger, a dictator was appointed who had unlimited power.
Having created a strong, well-organized army, Rome conquers the entire Apennine Peninsula, defeats its main rival, Cargafen, and conquers Greece and other Mediterranean states. And by the 1st century BC, it turned into a world power, the borders of which ran across three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa.
The republican system could not maintain order in the expanded state. Several dozen of the richest families began to dominate the Senate. They appointed governors to rule over the conquered territories. The governors shamelessly robbed both ordinary people and rich provincials. In response to this, uprisings and civil wars began that lasted almost a century. In the end, the victorious ruler became the emperor, and the state began to be called an empire.

Education in ancient Rome

The main goal of the Romans was to raise a strong, healthy, self-confident generation.
Boys from low-income families were taught by their fathers to plow and sow and introduced to various crafts.
Girls were prepared for the role of wife, mother and housewife - they were taught to cook, sew and other feminine activities.

In Rome there were three levels of schools:

• Elementary schools, gave students basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Grammar schools taught boys from 12 to 16 years old. The teachers of such schools were more educated and held a fairly high position in society. Special textbooks and anthologies were created for these schools.
• Aristocrats sought to educate their children in rhetoric schools. Boys were taught not only grammar and literature, but also music, astronomy, history and philosophy, medicine, oratory and fencing.

All schools were private. Tuition fees in rhetoric schools were high, so the children of rich and noble Romans studied there.

Legacy of the Romans

Ancient Rome left humanity a great cultural and artistic heritage: poetic works, oratory works, philosophical works of Lucretius Cara. Roman law, Latin language - This is the heritage of the ancient Romans.

The Romans created centuries-old architecture. One of the grandiose buildings - Coliseum. Heavy construction work was carried out by 12 thousand slaves from Judea. They used the new building material they created - concrete, new architectural forms - the dome and the arch. The Colosseum could accommodate more than 50,000 spectators.

Another architectural masterpiece is Pantheon, i.e. temple complex of the Roman gods. This is a dome-shaped structure with a height of about 43 m. At the top of the dome there was a hole with a diameter of 9 m. Through it, sunlight penetrated into the hall.

The Romans were rightfully proud of aqueducts - water pipes through which water flowed into the city. The total length of the aqueducts leading to Rome was 350 km! Some of them were heading towards public baths.

To strengthen their power, Roman emperors widely used a variety of mass spectacles. In 46, Caesar ordered a lake to be dug on the Campus Martius, where a battle was organized between the Syrian and Egyptian fleets. 2000 oarsmen and 1000 sailors took part in it. And Emperor Claudius staged a battle between the Sicilian and Rhodesian fleets on Lake Fucin with the participation of 19,000 people. These spectacles were impressive in their scale and splendor, convincing spectators of the power of the rulers of Rome.

Why did the Roman Empire fall? Scientists believe that the state and military power of the Romans was not able to manage such a huge empire.

The history of Ancient Rome begins with the emergence of the city and traditionally dates back to 753 BC.

The site where the settlement was founded had a favorable landscape. A nearby ford made it easy to cross the nearby Tiber. The Palatine and neighboring hills provided natural defensive fortifications for the surrounding wide, fertile plain.

Over time, thanks to trade, Rome began to grow and strengthen. A convenient shipping route near the city ensured a constant flow of goods in both directions.

Rome's interaction with the Greek colonies provided the ancient Romans with the opportunity to take Hellenic culture as a model to build their own. From the Greeks they adopted literacy, architecture and religion - the Roman divine pantheon is almost identical to the Greek. The Romans also took a lot from the Etruscans. Etruria, located north of Rome, also had an advantageous position for trade, and the ancient Romans learned trading skills directly from the Etruscan example.

Royal period (mid-8th century - 510 BC)

The royal period was characterized by a monarchical form of government. Since there is practically no written evidence of that era, very little is known about this period. Ancient historians based their works on oral histories and legends, since many documents were destroyed by the Gauls during the sack of Rome (after the Battle of Allia in the 4th century BC). Therefore, it is likely that there will be a serious distortion of events that actually occurred.

The traditional version of Roman history, as told by Livy, Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, tells of seven kings who ruled Rome in the first centuries after its founding. The total chronology of their reign is 243 years, that is, an average of almost 35 years each. The kings, with the exception of Romulus, who founded the city, were elected by the people of Rome for life, and none of them used military force to win or retain the throne. The main distinctive sign of the king was a purple toga.

The king was vested with the highest military, executive and judicial powers, officially granted to him by the comitia curiata (an assembly of patricians of the 30 curiae) after the passing of the Lex curiata de imperio (special law) at the beginning of each reign.

Early Republic (509-287 BC)

Between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. Rome rapidly grew from an ordinary trading city into a thriving metropolis. In 509 BC. The seventh king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was overthrown by his rival for power, Lucius Junius Brutus, who reformed the system of government and became the founder of the Roman Republic.

Rome originally owed its prosperity to trade, but war made it a powerful force in the ancient world. Rivalry with North African Carthage united the powers of Rome and helped increase the latter's wealth and prestige. The cities were constant trading competitors in the Western Mediterranean, and after Carthage was defeated in the Third Punic War, Rome gained almost absolute dominance in the region.

The plebes were outraged by the rule of the patricians: the latter, thanks to their dominance over the courts, interpreted customs in their own interests, allowing the rich and noble to be harsh in relation to their dependent debtors. However, unlike some Greek city-states, the plebeians of Rome did not call for land redistribution, attack the patricians, or try to seize power. Instead, a kind of “strike”—secessio plebis—was declared. In effect, the plebeians temporarily “seceded” from the state under the leadership of their elected leaders (tribunes) and refused to pay taxes or fight in the army.

Twelve tables

Things remained in this state for several years before the patricians decided to make some concessions, agreeing to put the laws in writing. A commission composed of plebeians and patricians duly prepared the Twelve Tables of Laws, which were exhibited in the city forum (around 450 BC). These Twelve Tables formulated a rather harsh set of laws, but the Romans of all classes were aware of their justice, thanks to which it was possible to defuse social tensions in society. The laws of the Twelve Tables formed the basis of all subsequent Roman law, perhaps the greatest contribution to history made by the Romans.

Middle Republic (287-133 BC)

The influx of booty and tribute from conquest led to the emergence of a class of extremely wealthy Romans - senators, who fought as generals and governors, and businessmen - the equites (or equestrians), who levied taxes in the new provinces and supplied the army. Each new victory led to an influx of more and more slaves: during the last two centuries BC. the Mediterranean slave trade became a huge business, with Rome and Italy being the main destination markets.

Most slaves had to work on the land of senators and other rich people, who began to develop and improve their estates using new techniques. Ordinary farmers could not compete with these then modern holdings. More and more small farmers lost their lands to the ruin of their rich neighbors. The gap between classes widened as more and more farmers left their land and headed to Rome, where they joined the ranks of the growing class of landless and rootless people.

The juxtaposition of great wealth and mass poverty in Rome itself poisoned the political climate—Roman politics was dominated by warring factions. These were not modern political parties representing completely different ideologies, but rather ideas around which different factions grouped. Supporters of the idea of ​​land redistribution, who had a minority in the Senate, advocated the division and distribution of land resources among the landless poor. Those who supported the opposite idea, representing the majority, wanted to preserve intact the interests of the “best people”, that is, themselves.

Late Republic (133-27 BC)

In the 2nd century BC. Two Roman tribunes, the Gracchi brothers, tried to carry out land and a number of political reforms. Despite the fact that the brothers were killed defending their position, thanks to their efforts, legislative reform was carried out, and rampant corruption in the Senate became less obvious.

Army reform

The decline in the number of small property owners in the Italian countryside had profound consequences on Roman politics. It was farmers who were the traditional basis of the Roman army, buying their own weapons and equipment. This system of recruiting had long become problematic as Rome's armies spent long years abroad on military campaigns. The absence of men in the home undermined the small family's ability to maintain their farm. Thanks to Rome's expanding overseas military expansion and the decrease in the number of small landowners, recruitment into the army from this class became more and more difficult.

In 112 BC year, the Romans faced a new enemy - the tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons, who decided to move to another area. Tribes invaded territories that the Romans had occupied a couple of decades earlier. The Roman armies directed against the barbarians were destroyed, culminating in the greatest defeat at the Battle of Arausio (105 BC) in which, according to some sources, about 80 thousand Roman soldiers were killed. Fortunately for the Romans, the barbarians did not invade Italy at that time, but continued on their way through modern France and Spain.

The defeat at Arausio caused shock and panic in Rome. The commander Gaius Mari carries out military reform, requiring landless citizens to undergo compulsory military service. The structure of the army itself was also reformed.

The recruitment of landless Romans, as well as the improvement of conditions of service in the Roman legions, had an extremely important result. This closely linked the interests of the soldiers and their generals, which was explained by the commanders’ guarantee that each legionnaire would receive a land plot upon completion of his service. Land was the only commodity in the pre-industrial world that provided economic security to a family.

The commanders, in turn, could count on the personal loyalty of their legionnaires. The Roman legions of that time became more and more like private armies. Considering that the generals were also leading politicians in the Senate, the situation became even more complicated. Opponents of the commanders tried to block the latter’s efforts to distribute land in favor of their people, which led to quite predictable results - the commanders and soldiers became even closer together. It is not surprising that in some cases, generals at the head of their armies tried to achieve their goals through unconstitutional means.

First triumvirate

By the time the first triumvirate was created, the Roman Republic had reached its peak. Rival politicians in the Senate Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, together with the young commander Gaius Julius Caesar, created a triple alliance to achieve their own goals. The rivalry for power and ambition of all three helped keep each other in check, ensuring Rome's prosperity.

The richest citizen of Rome, Crassus was corrupt to such an extent that he forced wealthy fellow citizens to pay him for security. If the citizen paid, everything was in order, but if no money was received, the obstinate’s property was set on fire and Crassus charged a fee for his people to put out the fire. And although the motives for the emergence of these fire brigades can hardly be called noble, Crassus in fact created the first fire brigade, which in the future served the city well more than once.

Pompey and Caesar are famous commanders, thanks to whose conquests Rome significantly increased its wealth and expanded its sphere of influence. Envying the leadership talents of his comrades, Crassus organized a military campaign in Parthia.

In September '54 BC. Caesar's daughter Julia, who was Pompey's wife, died giving birth to a girl, who also died a few days later. This news created factional divisions and unrest in Rome, as many felt that the death of Julia and the child ended the family ties between Caesar and Pompey.

Crassus' campaign against Parthia was disastrous. Shortly after the death of Julia, Crassus died in the battle of Carrhae (in May 53 BC). While Crassus was alive, there was some parity in the relationship between Pompey and Caesar, but after his death, friction between the two commanders resulted in civil war. Pompey tried to get rid of his rival by legal means and ordered him to appear in Rome for the trial of the Senate, which deprived Caesar of all powers. Instead of arriving in the city and humbly appearing before the Senate, in January 49 BC. e. Caesar, returning from Gaul, crossed the Rubicon with his army and entered Rome.

He did not accept any accusations, but concentrated all his efforts on eliminating Pompey. The opponents met in Greece in 48 BC, where Caesar's numerically inferior army defeated Pompey's superior forces at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey himself fled to Egypt, hoping to find refuge there, but was deceived and killed. The news of Caesar's victory spread quickly - many of Pompey's former friends and allies quickly went over to the side of the winner, believing that he was supported by the gods.

Rise of the Roman Empire (27 BC)

After defeating Pompey, Julius Caesar became the most powerful man in Rome. The Senate declared him a dictator, and this effectively marked the beginning of the decline of the Republic. Caesar was extremely popular among the people, and for good reason: his efforts to create a strong and stable government increased the prosperity of the city of Rome.

Many changes were carried out, the most significant of which was the reform of the calendar. A police force was created and officials were appointed to carry out land reforms, and changes were made to tax laws.

Caesar's plans included the construction of an unprecedented temple dedicated to the god Mars, a huge theater and a library based on the prototype of the Alexandrian one. He ordered the restoration of Corinth and Carthage, wanted to turn Ostia into a large port and dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth. Caesar was going to conquer the Dacians and Parthians, as well as avenge the defeat at Carrhae.

However, Caesar's achievements led to his death as a result of a conspiracy in 44 BC. A group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius feared that Caesar was becoming too powerful and could eventually simply abolish the Senate.

After the death of the dictator, his relative and comrade-in-arms Mark Antony joined forces with Caesar's nephew and heir Gaius Octavius ​​Furinus and his friend Mark Aemilius Lepidus. Their combined army defeated the forces of Brutus and Cassius in the two battles of Philippi in 42 BC. Both of the dictator's killers committed suicide; soldiers and officers, except those who took a direct part in the conspiracy against Caesar, received forgiveness and an offer to join the army of the winners.

Octavius, Antony and Lepidus formed the second triumvirate of Rome. However, the members of this triumvirate turned out to be too ambitious. Lepidus was given control of Spain and Africa, which effectively neutralized him from political claims in Rome. It was decided that Octavius ​​would rule the Roman dominions in the west, and Antony in the east.

However, Antony's love affair with the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII, destroyed the fragile balance that Octavius ​​sought to maintain and led to war. The armies of Antony and Cleopatra were defeated at the Battle of Cape Actium in 31 BC. e., after which the lovers later committed suicide.

Octavius ​​remained the only ruler of Rome. In 27 BC. e. he receives emergency powers from the Senate, the name of Octavian Augustus and becomes the first emperor of Rome. It is at this moment that the history of ancient Rome ends and the history of the Roman Empire begins.

Reign of Augustus (31 BC-14 AD)

Now Emperor Octavian Augustus carried out a military reform, retaining 28 legions out of 60, thanks to which he came to power. The rest were demobilized and settled in the colonies. Thus, 150 thousand were created. regular army. The length of service was set at sixteen years and later increased to twenty.

The active legions were stationed far from Rome and from each other - the proximity of the border directed the energy of the military outward, towards external enemies. At the same time, being far from each other, ambitious commanders did not have the opportunity to unite into a force capable of threatening the throne. Such caution of Augustus immediately after the civil war was quite understandable and characterized him as a far-sighted politician.

All provinces were divided into senatorial and imperial. In their domains, senators had civil power, but did not have military powers - the troops were only under the control of the emperor and were stationed in the regions under his control.

The republican structure of Rome became more and more a formality every year. The Senate, comitia and some other state institutions gradually lost their political significance, leaving real power in the hands of the emperor. However, formally he continued to consult with the Senate, which often voiced the emperor’s decisions as a result of its debates. This form of monarchy with republican features received the conventional name “principate”.

Augustus was one of the most talented, energetic and skillful administrators the world has ever known. The enormous work of reorganizing every branch of his vast empire created a prosperous new Roman world.

Following in the footsteps of Caesar, he earned genuine popularity by organizing games and spectacles for the people, constructing new buildings, roads and other measures for the common good. The emperor himself claimed that he restored 82 temples in one year.

Augustus was not a talented commander, but he had the common sense to admit it. And therefore, in military affairs, he relied on his faithful friend Agrippa, who had a military vocation. The most important achievement was the conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. e. Then in 20 BC. managed to return the banners and prisoners captured by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrha in 53 BC. Also during the reign of Augustus, the Danube became the border of the empire in eastern Europe, after the conquest of the Alpine tribes and the occupation of the Balkans.

Julio-Claudian Dynasty (14-69 AD)

Since Augustus and his wife Livia had no sons together, his stepson from his first marriage, Tiberius, became the emperor's heir. In Augustus's will he was the sole heir, and after the death of the emperor in 14 AD. the succession of power passed peacefully.

Tiberius

As under Augustus, the empire as a whole enjoyed peace and prosperity. Tiberius did not seek to conquer new territories, but continued to strengthen the power of Rome over the entire vast empire.

Distinguished by his stinginess, the new emperor practically stopped funding the construction of temples, roads and other structures. Nevertheless, the consequences of natural disasters or fires were eliminated using funds from the state treasury, and in such situations Tiberius was not greedy. The main result of Tiberius's reign was the strengthening of imperial power, since the principate of the reign of Augustus still existed in Tiberius's empire.

Caligula

After the death of Tiberius in 37. power passed to Caligula, who was the son of the nephew of the deceased emperor. The beginning of his reign was very promising, since the young heir was popular among the people and generous. Caligula celebrated his rise to power with a large-scale amnesty. However, an incomprehensible illness that happened to the emperor a few months later turned the man on whom Rome pinned its bright hopes into a crazy monster, making his name a household name. In the fifth year of his mad reign, in 41 AD, Caligula was killed by one of his Praetorian officers.

Claudius

Caligula was succeeded by his uncle Claudius, who was fifty years old when he came to power. Throughout his reign the empire prospered and there were virtually no complaints from the provinces. But the main achievement of Claudius's reign was the organized conquest of the south of England.

Nero

He succeeded Claudia in 54. AD his stepson Nero, distinguished by his outstanding cruelty, despotism and viciousness. On a whim, the emperor burned half the city in 64 and then tried to regain popularity among the people by lighting up its gardens with a public display of burning Christians. As a result of the Praetorian uprising in 68, Nero committed suicide, and with his death the Julio-Claudian dynasty ended.

Flavian Dynasty (69-96)

For a year after Nero's death, the struggle for the throne continued, resulting in a civil war. And only the coming to power of the new Flavian dynasty in the person of Emperor Vespasian put an end to the civil strife.

During the 9 years of his reign, the uprisings that broke out in the provinces were suppressed, and the state economy was restored.

After Vespasian's death, his own son became the heir - this was the first time that power in Rome passed from father to son. The reign was short, and the younger brother Domitian, who replaced him after his death, was not distinguished by any special virtues and died as a result of a conspiracy.

Antonina (90-180)

After his death, the Senate proclaimed Nerva emperor, who ruled for only two years, but gave Rome one of the best rulers - the outstanding commander Ulpius Trajan. Under him, the Roman Empire reached its maximum size. Expanding the borders of the empire, Trajan wanted to move the nomadic barbarian tribes as far as possible from Rome. Three subsequent emperors - Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius - acted for the benefit of Rome and made the 2nd century AD. the best era of the empire.

Severan Dynasty (193-235)

The son of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, did not have the virtues of his father and his predecessors, but he had many vices. As a result of a conspiracy, he was strangled in 192, and the empire again entered a period of interregnum.

In 193, a new Severan dynasty came to power. During the reign of Carcalla, the second emperor of this dynasty, the inhabitants of all provinces received the right to Roman citizenship. All the emperors of the dynasty (except for the founder Septimius Severus) died a violent death.

Crisis of the 3rd century

From 235 By 284, the empire was experiencing a crisis of state power, which resulted in a period of instability, economic decline and the temporary loss of some territories. From 235 to 268g. 29 emperors claimed the throne, of whom only one died a natural death. Only with the proclamation of Emperor Diocletian in 284 did the period of upheaval end.

Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

It was under Diocletian that the principate finally ceased to exist, giving way to the dominant - the unlimited power of the emperor. During his reign, a number of reforms were carried out, in particular the formal division of the empire, first into two and then into four regions, each of which was ruled by its own “tetrarch”. Although the tetrarchy lasted only until 313, it was the original idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe division into west and east that led to the future division into two independent empires.

Constantine I and the decline of the empire

By 324, Constantine became the sole ruler of the empire, under whom Christianity acquired the status of a state religion. The capital is transferred from Rome to Constantinople, built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. After his death, the process of decline of the empire becomes irreversible - civil strife and the invasion of barbarians gradually led to the decline of the once most powerful empire in the world. Theodosius I can be considered the last autocratic ruler of the Roman world, but he remained so for only about a year. In 395 power passes to his sons. The division into Western and Eastern empires becomes final.

Roman history is divided into three main periods - royal (mid-8th BC - 510 BC), republican (510-30 BC) and imperial (30 BC - 476 AD). e.).

Early Roman history.

Tsarist period.

From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. in the lower reaches of the Tiber in northern Latium (Central Italy) settled Latin-Siculian tribes, a branch of the Italics who came to the Apennine Peninsula from the Danube regions at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Latins settled on the Palatine and Velia hills, and the Sabines occupied the neighboring hills. As a result of synoicism (unification) of several Latin and Sabine villages in the middle of the 8th century. BC. (tradition dates this event to 754–753 BC) a fortress common to all was built on the Capitoline Hill - Rome. Tradition attributes this act to Romulus, a prince from the city of Alba Longa. Initially, the Roman urban community (people) consisted of three tribes (tribes) - Ramni, Titii and Luceri, divided into thirty curiae (unions of male warriors), and those into one hundred genera (gentes). The Roman family was patrilineal with the right of mutual inheritance; it could accept strangers into its membership, had its own religious cult, a common place of settlement and burial; its members bore the same family name, which went back to a mythical or real ancestor, and were obliged to help each other. The clan consisted of large (three generations) paternal families (familia). The land was owned by the clan - relatives used forests and pastures together, and arable land was divided between families. Rome was governed by the comitia (national assemblies of male warriors), the senate (council of heads of families) and the king. Participants in the comitia gathered in curiae (curiate comitia). The king combined the functions of military leader, priest and judge; he was elected by the comitia on the recommendation of the Senate.

Members of Roman families were quirites - full citizens (patricians). A special category was made up of clients - people dependent on individual quirites and under their protection. Perhaps the clients were impoverished Quirites, forced to seek protection from their relatives or members of other clans.

Of the legendary list of seven kings, the first reliable one was Numa Pompilius, the second was Ancus Marcius, after whom the throne passed to the Etruscan dynasty (Tarquinius the Ancient, Servius Tullius, Tarquinius the Proud). Under them, the Romans conquered a number of neighboring Latin cities and resettled their inhabitants to Rome; There was also voluntary immigration. Initially, the settlers were included in tribes and curia; later access there was closed. As a result, a group of incomplete citizens was formed - plebes; they were not included in the Senate or the Comitia (that is, they were deprived of the right to vote) and could not serve in the army; the state provided them with only a small plot, but they did not have the right to receive part of the “public field” (the fund of lands seized by the Romans from their neighbors).

Demographic growth provoked territorial expansion; The strengthening of the king's power as the leader of the army as a result of constant wars caused opposition from the Senate, which largely controlled the comitia. The kings tried to weaken the clan organization, the basis of the power of the heads of patrician families, and rely on the plebeians, including them in the political and military organization (this also made it possible to strengthen the army). In the middle of the 6th century. BC. Servius Tullius introduced a new administrative division of Rome and the surrounding area: he established twenty-one territorial tribes instead of three, thereby mixing patricians with plebeians. Servius divided the entire male population of Rome (both patricians and plebeians) into six categories based on property; each rank was obliged to field a certain number of armed detachments - hundreds (centuries). From now on, the national assembly to resolve major political issues no longer met in curiae, but in centuries (comitia centuriata); Mostly religious affairs remained under the jurisdiction of the curiat comitia.

The growth of the power of kings in the 6th century. BC. expressed in the disappearance of the principle of their election and their adoption of new royal paraphernalia, borrowed from the Etruscans (golden crown, scepter, throne, special clothing, lictor ministers). The early Roman monarchy attempted to rise above society and its traditional institutions; absolutist tendencies especially intensified under Tarquinius Proud. However, the tribal aristocracy succeeded in 510 BC. expel Tarquin and establish a republican system.

Republican Rome.

The overthrow of the monarchy did not lead to fundamental changes in the government of Rome. The place of the king for life was taken by two praetors elected by the comitia centuriata for one year from among the patricians (“those who lead the way”); from the middle of the 5th century they began to be called consuls (“consulting”). They convened and led meetings of the Senate and the People's Assembly, monitored the implementation of decisions made by these bodies, distributed citizens among centuries, monitored the collection of taxes, exercised judicial power, and commanded troops during the war. Only their joint decisions were valid. At the end of their term, they reported to the Senate and could be subject to prosecution. The assistants to the consuls in judicial matters were the quaestors, to whom management of the treasury later passed. The highest state body remained the people's assembly, which approved laws, declared war, made peace, and elected all officials (magistrates). At the same time, the role of the Senate increased: not a single law came into force without its approval; he controlled the activities of magistrates, decided on foreign policy issues, and supervised finances and religious life; Senate resolutions (Senatus consultations) became laws.

The main content of the history of early republican Rome was the struggle of the plebeians for equality with the patricians, who, as full citizens, monopolized the right to sit in the Senate, occupy the highest magistracy and receive (“occupy”) land from the “public field”; The plebeians also demanded the abolition of debt bondage and the limitation of debt interest. The growing military role of the plebeians (by the beginning of the 5th century BC they already constituted the bulk of the Roman army) allowed them to exert effective pressure on the patrician Senate. In 494 BC. after another refusal of the Senate to satisfy their demands, they retired from Rome to the Sacred Mountain (first secession), and the patricians had to make concessions: a new magistracy was established - the tribunes of the people, elected exclusively from the plebeians (initially two) and possessing sacred immunity; they had the right to interfere with the activities of other magistrates (intercession), impose a ban on any of their decisions (veto) and bring them to justice. In 486 BC the consul Spurius Cassius proposed distributing half of the land seized from the Hernics and part of the “public field” plundered by the patricians to the plebeians and allied Latin communities; senators did not allow the adoption of this law; Cassius was accused of treason and executed. In 473 BC the people's tribune Gnaeus Genucius was killed on the eve of his scheduled trial of both consuls. In 471 BC The plebeians managed to achieve the adoption of a law on the election of tribunes by tribunal comitia (meetings of plebeians in tribes): thus, the patricians lost the opportunity to influence elections through their freedmen. In 457 BC the number of tribunes of the people increased to ten. In 456 BC The tribune of the people, Lucius Icilius, passed a law granting plebeians and settlers the right to develop and cultivate land on the Aventine Hill. In 452 BC the plebeians forced the Senate to create a commission of ten members (decemvirs) with consular power to write laws, primarily for the sake of fixing (i.e. limiting) the powers of patrician magistrates; the activities of consuls and tribunes of the people were suspended during the work of the commission. In 451–450 BC the decemvirs drew up laws that were engraved on copper tablets and exhibited in the Forum (the laws of the Twelve Tables): they protected private property; they approved a strict debt law (the debtor could be sold into slavery and even executed), while establishing a limit on usurious interest (8.33% per annum); determined the legal status of the main social categories of Roman society (patricians, plebeians, patrons, clients, freemen, slaves); prohibited marriages of plebeians with patricians. These laws satisfied neither the plebeians nor the patricians; the abuses of the decemvirs and their attempt to extend their powers provoked in 449 BC. second secession of the plebeians (to the Sacred Mountain). The Decemvirs had to give up power; the consulate and tribunate were restored. In the same year, consuls Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horace passed a law making the decisions of tribunal comitia (plebiscites) binding on all citizens, including patricians, if they received the approval of the Senate. In 447 BC The right to elect quaestors was transferred to the tribute comitia. In 445 BC On the initiative of the people's tribune Gaius Canulei, the ban on marriages of plebeians and patricians was lifted. The growing influence of the plebeians was also expressed in the establishment of the post of military tribunes with consular power, which they had the right to occupy. In 444, 433–432, 426–424, 422, 420–414, 408–394, 391–390 and 388–367 BC. military tribunes with consular power (from three to eight) performed the duties of the highest officials of the Republic instead of consuls; true until the beginning of the 4th century. BC. Only patricians were elected to this post, and only in 400 BC. it was occupied by the plebeian Licinius Calvus. In 443 BC the consuls lost the right to distribute citizens among centuries, which was transferred to the new magistrates - two censors elected from among the patricians every five years by the centuriate comitia for a period of 18 months; Gradually, their responsibility came to compile a list of senators, control the collection of taxes, and supervise morals. In 421 BC plebeians received the right to occupy the position of quaestor, although they realized it only in 409 BC. After ten years of fierce struggle with the patricians, the people's tribunes Licinius Stolon and Sextius Lateran won in 367 BC. a decisive victory: a limit was set on the land allocated from the “public field” (500 jugers = 125 hectares) and the debt burden was significantly eased; the institution of consuls was restored, provided that one of them must be a plebeian; however, the Senate achieved the transfer of judicial power from the consuls to the praetors, elected from the patricians. The first plebeian consul was Licinius Stolon (366 BC), the first plebeian dictator was Marcius Rutulus (356 BC). From 354 BC the plebeians had the opportunity to influence the composition of the Senate: now it was staffed by former high magistrates, some of whom no longer belonged to the patricians; only they had the right to make proposals and participate in their discussion. In 350 BC The first plebeian censor was elected. In 339 BC. the law of Publilius assigned one of the censorship positions to the plebeian class. In 337 BC The position of praetor also became available to the plebeians. Activation in the second half of the 4th century. BC. The policy of moving colonies of land-poor citizens to different regions of Italy made it possible to partially remove the severity of the agrarian question. In 326 BC The people's tribune Petelius passed a law abolishing debt bondage for Roman citizens - from now on they were responsible for the debt only with their property, but not with their bodies. In 312 BC the censor Appius Claudius allowed citizens who did not have land property (merchants and artisans) to be assigned not only to urban but also to rural tribes, which strengthened their influence in the comitia; he also tried to include some of the sons of freedmen among the senators. In 300 BC According to the law of the Ogulniy brothers, plebeians received access to the priestly colleges of pontiffs and augurs, the composition of which was doubled for this purpose. Thus, all magistracies were open to plebeians. Their struggle with the patricians ended in 287 BC, when, after their next secession (on the Janiculum Hill), the dictator Quintus Hortensius passed a law according to which the decisions of the tribunal comitia received legal force without the sanction of the Senate.

The victory of the plebeians led to a change in the social structure of Roman society: having achieved political equality, they ceased to be a class different from the class of patricians; noble plebeian families, together with the old patrician families, formed a new elite - the nobility. This contributed to the weakening of the internal political struggle in Rome and the consolidation of Roman society, which allowed it to mobilize all its forces for active foreign policy expansion.

Rome's conquest of Italy.

Under the Republic, the territorial expansion of the Romans intensified. At the first stage (the conquest of Latium), their main opponents were the Etruscans in the north, the Sabines in the northeast, the Aequians in the east, and the Volscians in the southeast.

In 509–506 BC. Rome repelled the advance of the Etruscans, who came out in support of the overthrown Tarquin the Proud, and in 499–493 BC. defeated the Arician Federation of Latin Cities (First Latin War), concluding an alliance with it on the terms of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, mutual military assistance and equality in the division of spoils; in 486 BC The Guernicas joined this union. This allowed the Romans to begin a series of wars with the Sabines, Volscians, Aequi and the powerful southern Etruscan city of Veii, which lasted a whole century. After repeated victories over its neighbors and capture in 396 BC. Wei Rim established hegemony in Latium.

The strengthening of the foreign policy positions of the Romans in Central Italy was interrupted by the invasion of the Gauls, who in 390 BC. defeated the Roman army at the Allia River, captured and burned Rome; The Romans took refuge in the Capitol. According to legend, the geese, dedicated to the goddess Juno, awakened its defenders with their screams and thwarted the enemy's night attempt to secretly enter the fortress. Although the Gauls soon abandoned the city, Roman influence in Latium weakened significantly; the alliance with the Latins actually collapsed; in 388 BC the Guernicas were deposited from Rome; The Volscians, Etruscans and Equis resumed war against him. However, the Romans managed to repel the onslaught of neighboring tribes. After a new Gallic invasion of Latium in 360 BC. the Roman-Latin alliance was revived (358 BC); in 354 BC a treaty of friendship was concluded with the powerful Samnite Federation ( cm. SAMNITES). By the middle of the 4th century. BC. Rome established complete control over Latium and southern Etruria and began expansion into other areas of Italy.

In 343 BC the inhabitants of the Campanian city of Capua, having suffered defeat from the Samnites, transferred to Roman citizenship, which caused the First Samnite War (343–341 BC), which ended in the victory of the Romans and the subjugation of Western Campania.

The growth of Rome's power led to a worsening of its relations with the Latins; The refusal of the Roman Senate to assign one consular seat and half the seats in the Senate to them provoked the Second Latin War (340–338 BC), as a result of which the Latin League was dissolved, part of the Latin lands were confiscated, and a separate treaty was concluded with each community. Residents of a number of Latin cities received Roman citizenship; the rest were equal to the Romans only in property (the right to acquire property and conduct trade in Rome, the right to marry Romans), but not in political rights (citizens without the right to vote), which they, however, could acquire upon moving to Rome.

During the Second (327–304 BC) and Third (298–290 BC) Samnite Wars, the Romans, with the support of the Lucanians and Apulians, defeated the Samnite Federation and defeated its allies - the Etruscans and Gauls. The Samnites were forced to enter into an unequal alliance with Rome and cede part of their territory to it. In 290 BC the Romans subjugated the Sabines by granting them citizenship without the right to vote; they also occupied a number of areas of Picenum and Apulia. As a result of the war of 285–283 BC. with the Lucanians, Etruscans and Gauls, Rome strengthened its influence in Lucania and Etruria, established control over Picenum and Umbria and took possession of Senonian Gaul, becoming the hegemon of all of Central Italy.

The penetration of Rome into Southern Italy (the capture of Thurii) led in 280 BC. to a war with Tarentum, the most powerful of the states of Magna Graecia (the southern Italian coast colonized by the Greeks), and its ally, the Epirus king Pyrrhus. In 286–285 BC. The Romans defeated Pyrrhus, which allowed them to by 270 BC. to subjugate Lucania, Bruttium and all of Magna Graecia. In 269 BC Samnium was finally conquered. Rome's conquest of Italy up to the borders with Gaul was completed in 265 BC. capture of Volsinium in southern Etruria. The communities of Southern and Central Italy entered the Italic Union led by Rome.

The beginning of Rome's expansion beyond Italy made its clash with Carthage, the leading power in the Western Mediterranean, inevitable. Roman intervention in Sicilian affairs in 265–264 BC caused the First Punic War (264–241 BC). In its first period (264–255 BC), success initially accompanied the Romans: they captured most of Sicily and, having built a fleet, deprived the Carthaginians of supremacy at sea; however, during the African expedition of 256–255 BC. their army was routed and their fleet destroyed by a storm. In the second stage (255–241 BC), Sicily again became the theater of military operations; the war went on with varying degrees of success; the turning point came only in 241 BC, when the Romans defeated the Carthaginian fleet at the Aegatian Islands and blocked the Carthaginian fortresses of Lilybaeum and Drepana in Western Sicily. Carthage had to agree to a peace treaty with Rome, ceding its Sicilian possessions to it. Rome became the strongest state in the Western Mediterranean. Cm. PUNIC WARS.

In 238 BC The Romans captured the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, which belonged to Carthage, making them in 227 BC. together with Sicily, the first Roman provinces. In 232 BC near the Etruscan port of Telamon (at the confluence of Ombrona into the Tyrrhenian Sea) they defeated the hordes of Gauls who invaded Central Italy. In 229–228 BC. in a coalition with the Achaean and Aetolian alliances, Rome defeated the Illyrians (First Illyrian War), who attacked merchant ships in the Adriatic Sea, and captured part of the Illyrian coast (modern Albania); The Illyrian tribes agreed to pay tribute to the Romans. In 225–224 BC Roman troops occupied Cispadan Gaul (the country of the Gauls south of the Padus River - modern Po), and in 223–220 BC. – Transpadan Gaul (the country of the Gauls north of Padus), establishing control over Northern Italy. In 219 BC The Romans won the Second Illyrian War, consolidating their dominion over the Adriatic.

Taking advantage of Rome's struggle with the Gauls and Illyrians, Carthage subjugated the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian (Pyrenean) Peninsula up to the Iber River (modern Ebro). The siege of the Iberian city of Saguntum, allied to the Romans, by the Carthaginian commander Hannibal in 219 BC. led to the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). At its first stage (218–215 BC), Hannibal, having invaded Italy, won a number of brilliant victories and brought Rome to the brink of disaster. During the second period of the war (215–211 BC), hostilities spread to Sicily and Iberia (modern Spain); Neither side was able to achieve a decisive advantage: the defeats of the Romans in Italy and Iberia were compensated by their capture of Sicily (the capture of Syracuse in 211 BC). At the third stage (211–201 BC) a turning point occurred in favor of the Romans: they ousted the Carthaginians from the Iberian Peninsula, blocked Hannibal in southern Italy and transferred the war to Africa. After a crushing defeat at Zama in 202 BC. Carthage capitulated: under the terms of peace 201 BC. he lost all his overseas possessions and lost the right to have a navy and wage war without the consent of Rome; the Romans received all of Sicily and the eastern coast of Iberia; The Numidian kingdom entered into an alliance with them. Rome became the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean.

In parallel with the Second Punic War, Rome fought in 215–205 BC. war with Carthage's ally, the Macedonian king Philip V. He managed to win over the Achaean League and a number of policies of Balkan Greece, which prevented the Macedonians from invading Italy. Exhausted by prolonged military action, Macedonia in 205 BC. made peace with Rome, ceding to it part of her Illyrian possessions.

The defeat of Carthage allowed Rome to begin wide expansion in different regions of the Mediterranean, primarily in the eastern direction, where the main object of its policy were the Hellenistic states - the Seleucid power (Syria), Ptolemaic Egypt, Macedonia, Pergamum, Rhodes, the policies of Balkan Greece, the Kingdom of Pontus ( ). In 200–197 BC Rome, in a coalition with Pergamum, Rhodes, the Achaean and Aetolian alliances, defeated Macedonia (Second Macedonian War), which had to give up all its possessions in Greece, its navy and the right to an independent foreign policy. In 196 BC The Romans proclaimed the “freedom” of Hellas. From that time on, Rome acquired significant political weight in the Balkans and began to interfere in the internal affairs of the Greek states (Thessaly, Sparta). In 192–188 BC the Romans, in a coalition with Pergamum, Rhodes and the Achaean League, defeated the Syrian king Antiochus III and the Aetolian League that supported him (Syrian War); the Seleucid power lost its Asia Minor possessions, which were divided between Pergamum and Rhodes; The Aetolian Union lost its political and military significance. Thus, by the early 180s, Rome was able to undermine the two most powerful states of the Hellenistic world - Macedonia and Syria - and become an influential force in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In 179 BC The Romans managed to suppress the outbreak that broke out in 197 BC. the uprising of the coastal Iberian tribes, supported by the Celtiberians and Lusitanians, and to subjugate the central regions of the Iberian Peninsula, forming two provinces in the conquered territories - Near and Far Spain.

In 171–168 BC the Romans defeated the coalition of Macedonia, Epirus, Illyria and the Aetolian Union (Third Macedonian War) and destroyed the Macedonian kingdom, creating in its place four independent districts that paid them tribute; Illyria was also divided into three Roman-dependent districts; The Aetolian League ceased to exist. Rome became the hegemon of the Eastern Mediterranean.

After the Third Macedonian War, Rome ceased to need the support of its former allies - Pergamum, Rhodes and the Achaean League - and began to seek their weakening. The Romans robbed Rhodes of its possessions in Asia Minor and dealt a blow to its trading power by declaring neighboring Delos a free port. They also contributed to the breakaway of Galatia and Paphlagonia from the Pergamon kingdom and entered into an alliance with Bithynia and Pontic Heraclea, hostile to it.

From the middle of the 2nd century. BC. the nature of Rome's foreign policy is changing: if previously it asserted its influence by supporting some states against others, without, as a rule, seeking to establish direct control over territories outside Italy, now it is moving to a policy of annexation. After the suppression of the Andriska revolt in 149–148 BC. Macedonia was turned into a Roman province, which also included Epirus, the islands of the Ionian Sea and the Illyrian coast. In 148 BC Rome went to war with the Achaean League and in 146 BC. defeated him; The union was dissolved, and the Greek city-states, with the exception of Athens and Sparta, became dependent on the Roman governors of the province of Macedonia. Taking advantage of the conflict between Carthage and the Numidian king Masinissa, Rome began in 149 BC. The Third Punic War, which ended in destruction in 146 BC. Carthage and the creation of the province of Africa on its territory. In 139 BC after a long and exhausting war with the Lusitanians (154–139 ​​BC), the Romans captured the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula, and in 133 BC. as a result of the Numantine War (138–133 BC) they took possession of the lands between the Duria (modern Duero) and Taga (modern Tagus) rivers. After the suppression of the Aristonicus revolt (132–129 BC), the kingdom of Pergamon, bequeathed to Rome by King Attalus III, was turned into the Roman province of Asia. In 125 BC The Romans defeated the alliance of Celtic tribes led by the Arverni and occupied the Mediterranean coast between the Alps and the Pyrenees, forming here in 121 BC. province of Narbonne Gaul. In 123–122 BC they finally conquered the Balearic Islands. As a result of a difficult war with the Numidian king Jugurtha in 111–105 BC. (Yugurthine War), the Numidian kingdom also became dependent on Rome.

Rome's expansion in the north was stopped by the invasion of the Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and Teutones, who inflicted several defeats on the Roman troops. However, the consul Gaius Marius, who reorganized the Roman army, managed to defeat it in 102 BC. Teutons under Aqua Sextiev, and in 101 BC. Cimbri at Vercellae and eliminate the German threat.

In the 1st century BC. The Romans continued their policy of annexing neighboring countries. In 96 BC. the ruler of Cyrene, Ptolemy, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people, which became a province in 74 BC. In the 90s BC. Rome subjugated part of the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (Cilicia). As a result of three wars (89–85, 83–82 and 74–63 BC) with the energetic and aggressive Pontic king Mithridates VI and the war with his ally the Armenian king Tigranes II, the Romans captured a number of Asia Minor regions (Bithynia, Pontus) and Cyprus; Armenia (66 BC) and the Bosporan kingdom (63 BC) recognized their dependence on Rome. In 67–66 BC. The Romans captured Crete, a nest of Mediterranean pirates, in 64 BC. liquidated the Seleucid power and formed the province of Syria on the territory of Syria and Palestine; in 63 BC subjugated Judea. As a result, the Hellenistic state system was dealt a mortal blow; Egypt, Cappadocia, Commagene, Galatia and Bosporus, which retained their nominal independence, no longer represented a real political force; The Romans reached the Euphrates and came into direct contact with the Parthian kingdom, henceforth their main rival in the East. In 53 BC The Parthians, having destroyed the army of Marcus Licinius Crassus, stopped further Roman aggression in Mesopotamia.

From the second half of the 60s BC. The Romans renewed their aggression in the west and northwest. In 63 BC. They completed the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, annexing its northwestern part - the country of the Galleci (Gallecia) - to the Roman state, and in 58-51 BC. captured the entire territory of Gaul up to the Rhine (the provinces of Lugdunian Gaul, Belgica and Aquitaine); military expeditions to Germany (56–55 BC) and Britain (in 56 and 54 BC), however, did not lead to the conquest of these lands.

The new stage of Roman foreign policy expansion is associated with the civil wars in Rome in 49–30 BC. During the struggle with Pompey, Julius Caesar in 47 BC. repelled the attempt of the Bosporan king Pharnaces II (63–47 BC) to recapture Pontus, and in 47–46 BC. defeated the Pompeian ally Numidian king Juba the Elder and annexed his kingdom to the Roman state as the province of New Africa. During the war with Mark Antony, Gaius Octavius ​​(Octavian) in 30 BC. captured Egypt, the last major Hellenistic state.

Thus, as a result of the conquests of the 3rd–1st centuries. BC. Rome became a world power, and the Mediterranean Sea became an inland Roman lake.

Social and political development of the 3rd–1st centuries. BC.

Roman society at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. consisted of full and partial citizens; the full-fledged were divided into nobles, horsemen and plebs. Nobili - serving nobility: families (both patrician and plebeian) who had consuls among their ancestors; the bulk of magistrates and senators were recruited from them. The Equestrians are members of the eighteen equestrian centuries; These included primarily rich plebeians who did not hold higher positions and were not included in the Senate list. The remaining citizens were the plebs. The category of those without full rights included freedmen, who did not have the right to marry Quirites and to be elected to public office (they could vote only in the four city tribes), and Latin allies, who were completely excluded from participating in elections.

During the era of the Punic and Macedonian wars (264–168 BC), the internal contradictions of Roman society faded into the background. In the 3rd century. BC. the national assembly retained an important role in political life; It was the influence of the plebs and the horsemen that explained the special aggressiveness of Roman foreign policy, for the Senate was restrained towards overseas conquests. After the First Punic War, a reform of the comitia centuriata was carried out: the first class (the wealthiest citizens) lost their exclusive position; all classes now represented an equal number of centuries and had an equal number of votes in the national assembly. In 232 BC Tribune Gaius Flaminius achieved division among the poor citizens of the lands of Northern Picenum (“Gallic Field”). In 218 BC, at the proposal of the tribune Claudius, senatorial families were prohibited from owning ships with a displacement of more than three hundred amphorae; Thus, the nobles were removed from maritime trade, which passed mainly into the hands of horsemen.

Since the Second Punic War, on the contrary, the positions of the Senate and the nobility have been strengthened, which is gradually turning into a closed class; in the 2nd century BC. only rare representatives of other social groups manage to get into the highest government positions, especially after the Villian law of 180 BC, which established the age limit for taking master's degrees and the strict sequence of their passage from lower to higher. The nobility establishes complete control over elections, primarily with the help of freedmen and the practice of bribery. The People's Assembly loses its political independence. At the same time, the legal position of the allies is deteriorating, inequality between the Romans, Latins and Italics is deepening; in the provinces, the real disaster is the arbitrariness of the governors and the abuses of the horsemen, who take taxes for farming. The evasion of a significant number of citizens from military service and the system of recruitment by lot leads to a decline in combat effectiveness and discipline in the army.

In the second third of the 2nd century. BC. the situation is aggravated by the crisis of small landownership, which is being replaced by large slaveholding farms (villas). If in 194–177 BC. the state carried out a massive distribution of state lands, then after the completion of the main military campaigns in the East it abandoned this practice (last distribution - 157 BC). This leads to a reduction in the number of full citizens (from 328 thousand in 159 BC to 319 thousand in 121 BC). The agrarian question comes to the forefront of the political struggle between two main groups - the optimates and the populares. The optimates defended the political privileges of the nobility and opposed land reform; The popularists advocated limiting the role of the Senate, returning to the state lands that were in use by the nobility, and redistributing them in favor of the poor. In 133 BC Tribune Tiberius Gracchus passed laws on a land maximum (1000 yugeras), on the confiscation of surpluses, on the creation of a public land fund and the allocation from it to each needy of a plot of 30 yugeras for hereditary use for a moderate rent to the state without the right to sell. Despite the murder of Gracchus and three hundred of his supporters by the optimates, the agrarian commission formed by decision of the national assembly in 132–129 BC. allocated land to at least 75 thousand Romans who were included in the lists of citizens; Possessing judicial functions, it invariably resolved land disputes not in favor of large owners. In 129 BC its activities were suspended, but the popularists achieved the adoption of a law on secret voting in comitia and on the right of the people's tribune to be elected for the next term. In 123–122 BC tribune Gaius Gracchus, brother of Tiberius Gracchus, passed a number of laws in favor of the plebs and horsemen: on the resumption of the activities of the agrarian commission, on the withdrawal of colonies to Africa, on the sale of grain to the Romans at low prices, on the creation of equestrian courts to investigate the abuses of provincial governors, on surrender to the horsemen on the collection of taxes in the province of Asia, on establishing an age limit for military service (from seventeen to forty-six years), on providing soldiers with free weapons, on the abolition of the right of the Senate to appoint special judicial commissions. Gaius Gracchus gained enormous political influence in Rome, but in 122 BC. The optimates managed to weaken his position by defeating a bill to grant Roman citizenship to the allies and putting forward a number of populist proposals. In 121 BC he was killed, and the popular people were subjected to reprisals, yet the Senate did not dare to annul his reforms; True, a ban was imposed on the further distribution of state-owned land (only its rental was allowed), and the already allocated plots were transferred to the private ownership of their owners, which contributed to the mobilization of land in the hands of a few.

The degradation of the Senate oligarchic regime was especially evident during the Jugurthine War of 111–105 BC, when the Numidian king Jugurtha was able to easily bribe magistrates, senators and generals who fought against him. The decline in the influence of the optimates allowed Gaius Marius, a native of the plebs, who distinguished himself in the war with the Numidians, to become in 107 BC. consul. He carried out a military reform, laying the foundations of a professional army (recruitment of citizens regardless of qualifications; their equipment at the expense of the state; annual salary; abolition of the class principle for promotion, etc.); the army began to transform into an autonomous social institution, and soldiers into a special social group, associated more with their commander than with the civil authorities. In the late 100s, Marius, whose authority had increased enormously as a result of his victories over Jugurtha in 107–105 BC. and the Germans in 102–101 BC, entered into an alliance with the Popular leaders Apuleius Saturninus and Servilius Glaucius. In 100 BC they won the elections (Marius became consul, Saturninus became a tribune, and Glaucius became a praetor) and passed laws to reduce the price of grain sold to citizens fivefold, to establish colonies in the provinces for Marius’ veterans, and to grant civil rights to allies. However, Marius's conflict with Saturninus and Glaucius and disappointment in their equestrian policies led to the defeat of the popularists in the next elections and the repeal of all those adopted in 100 BC. laws.

Inequality in the army, the cessation of the practice of granting Roman citizenship, the restriction of the right to move to Rome, arbitrariness on the part of Roman officials and even ordinary Roman citizens caused in 91–88 BC. Italian uprising ( cm. ALLIED WAR); as a result, the Romans were forced to grant Roman citizenship to almost all the Italian communities, although they assigned them not to all thirty-five, but only to eight tribes. Thus, an important step was taken towards transforming Rome from a city-state into a pan-Italian power.

In 88 BC. Tribune Sulpicius Rufus passed a series of anti-Senate laws - on the distribution of new citizens and freedmen among all thirty-five tribes, on the exclusion of large debtors from the Senate, and on the removal from the post of commander of the eastern army of the protege of the optimates Lucius Cornelius Sulla. However, Sulla moved troops to Rome, took it, subjected the popularists to repression, repealed the laws of Sulpicius Rufus and carried out political reform (limiting the legislative initiative of the people's tribunes; restoring the inequality of centuries in voting in favor of the first class). After Sulla's departure to the East in the spring of 87 BC. the popularists, led by Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius, with the support of the Italians, captured Rome and brutally dealt with the optimates; after the death of Mary in January 86 BC. power was usurped by Zinne; in 84 BC he was killed by soldiers. In the spring of 83 BC. Sulla, having defeated Mithridates VI, landed in Calabria and defeated the army of the Populars; in 82 he occupied Rome and established control over all of Italy; his generals suppressed popular resistance in Sicily, Africa (82 BC) and Iberia (81 BC).

In 82 BC Sulla became dictator indefinitely with unlimited powers and launched a reign of terror against his political opponents; special lists (proscriptions) of persons declared outlaws were compiled (4,700 people); on their basis, about fifty senators and sixteen hundred horsemen were killed. Sulla distributed the confiscated lands and the remains of the “public field” to his soldiers (about 120 thousand), which contributed to the strengthening of small land ownership in Italy; he abolished grain distributions; replaced tax farming in the province of Asia with tax collection; destroyed the cavalry courts; increased the role of the Senate, transferring to it the exclusive right of legislative initiative and eliminating the institution of censors; limited the judicial and financial functions of the people's assembly; fixed the age limit for holding positions and the strict sequence of their completion; introduced the practice of appointing senior magistrates after the expiration of their term of office as governors of the provinces; reformed local government, making municipal bodies part of the national mechanism. At the same time, Sulla recognized the equality of new citizens and distributed civil rights widely. In 81 BC he restored the normal functioning of republican institutions and the electoral system, and in 79 BC. gave up unlimited power.

After the death of Sulla in 78 BC. the order he had established began to crumble. In opposition to the optimates (leaders - Gnaeus Pompey and Marcus Crassus), horsemen, plebs, freedmen and Italics united; control of Spain fell into the hands of the popular Quintus Sertorius. But the defeat by Pompey in 78 BC. The anti-Sullan rebellion in Etruria led to the strengthening of the power of the Senate oligarchy. In 74 BC a slave revolt led by Spartacus broke out in Italy; in 71 BC it was suppressed by Crassus. After the assassination of Sertorius in 72 BC. Pompey took Spain from the popular people. Pompey's growing influence raised concerns among the Senate, which refused in 71 BC. appoint him commander in the East. Pompey came to an agreement with Crassus and the popular people; in 70 BC they defeated the optimates in the elections. Pompey and Crassus, who became consuls, achieved the abolition of the Sullan laws: the rights of the people's tribunes and the position of censors were restored, representatives of the horsemen and plebs were introduced into the courts, and tax farming was allowed in the province of Asia. In 69 BC. Sulla's supporters were expelled from the Senate. In 67 BC. Pompey received emergency powers for three years to combat piracy, and in 66 BC. unlimited five-year power in the East to fight Mithridates; in his absence, Julius Caesar emerged among the popular, gaining authority among the plebs thanks to the organization of magnificent spectacles. Failure in 63 BC the rebellion close to the popularists of Catiline, who put forward the slogan of complete abolition of debts, scared away many supporters from them, especially the horsemen; the influence of the optimates increased again. In 62 BC. The Senate rejected the request of Pompey, who had successfully completed his eastern campaign, to retain command of the army and give his soldiers land. Returning to Italy, Pompey concluded in 60 BC. alliance with Crassus and Caesar (first triumvirate). The triumvirs achieved the election of Caesar as consul, who in 59 BC. passed a law granting plots to Pompey veterans and low-income citizens; the power of governors in the provinces was also limited; the leaders of the optimates - Cicero and Cato the Younger - were forced to leave Rome. In 58 BC, after the expiration of his consular powers, Caesar received control of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria (later Transalpine Gaul) with the right to recruit an army. Associated with it is a 58 BC tribune. Publius Clodius, an extreme popularist, achieved enormous influence in the popular assembly; he introduced free distributions of grain, limited the right of censors to change the composition of the Senate, and created armed detachments of slaves and freedmen. Pompey, who came into conflict with Clodius, became close to the optimates and achieved the return of Cicero to Rome; tribune 57 BC Annius Milo, a supporter of the Senate, organized his troops in opposition to Clodius. But Cicero's attempt to repeal the agrarian law of 59 BC. again rallied the triumvirs, who in the spring of 56 BC. concluded a new agreement in Luqa. The Senate capitulated and was completely removed from political decisions; The popular assembly extended Caesar's powers in Gaul for another five years and elected Pompey and Crassus as consuls. After the death of Crassus in the Parthian campaign in 53 BC. and the murder of Clodius in 52 BC. control of Rome was concentrated in the hands of Pompey; his relationship with Caesar deteriorated, and he again went over to the side of the Senate, which granted him virtually dictatorial power; For the sake of an alliance with Pompey, the optimates sacrificed Milo: he was convicted, and his troops were disbanded. In 50 BC There was an open rift between Caesar and Pompey. Rejecting the Senate's demand to resign, Caesar in January 49 BC. started a civil war: he invaded Italy and captured Rome; Pompey retreated to Greece. In January 48 BC. Caesar landed in Epirus and in June 48 BC. at Pharsalus (Thessaly) he inflicted a crushing defeat on Pompey, who fled to Alexandria, where he was executed by order of the Egyptian king Ptolemy XIV. Arriving in Egypt, Caesar suppressed the anti-Roman uprising in Alexandria and elevated Cleopatra VII to the Egyptian throne. In 47 BC he established control over Asia Minor, and in 46 BC. captured Africa, winning a victory over the Pompeians and their ally, the Numidian king Juba, at Thapsus. The civil war ended in 45 BC. the defeat of the sons of Pompey at Munda and the subjugation of Spain.

Caesar effectively established a monarchical regime. In 48 BC he became dictator for an indefinite period, in 46 BC. – dictator for ten years, in 44 BC. - dictator for life. In 48 BC he was elected tribune for life. As Pontifex Maximus (as early as 63 BC), Caesar held supreme religious authority. He received censorial powers (as prefect of morals), a permanent proconsular imperium (unlimited power over the provinces), supreme judicial jurisdiction and the functions of commander-in-chief. The title of emperor (a sign of the highest military authority) formed part of his name.

The old political institutions remained, but lost any significance. The approval of the popular assembly became a formality, and elections became a fiction, since Caesar had the right to recommend candidates for office. The Senate was transformed into a council of state, which previously discussed laws; its composition increased one and a half times due to Caesar's supporters, including the sons of freedmen and natives of Spain and Gaul. The former magistrates became officials of the city government of Rome. The provincial governors, whose duties were limited to administrative supervision and command of local military contingents, found themselves directly subordinate to the dictator.

Having received the authority from the national assembly to “organize” the state, Caesar carried out a number of important reforms. He abolished the farming of direct taxes and streamlined their collection, placing responsibility for it on the communities; limited the arbitrariness of local authorities; brought numerous colonies (especially veterans) to the provinces; reduced the number of recipients of grain distributions by more than half. By granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul and many cities in Spain, Africa and Narbonne Gaul and introducing a single gold coin into circulation, he began the process of unification of the Roman state.

Caesar's authoritarianism fueled Senate opposition. March 15, 44 BC conspirators led by Cassius Longinus and Junius Brutus killed the dictator. However, they failed to restore the republic. Octavian, Caesar's official heir, and Caesarian leaders Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in October 43 BC. formed a second triumvirate, dividing the western provinces among themselves; Having captured Rome, they obtained emergency powers from the national assembly and launched terror against political opponents, during which about three hundred senators and two thousand horsemen died; Republicans strengthened in Sicily (Sextus Pompey) and in the eastern provinces (Brutus and Cassius). In the autumn of 42 BC Octavian and Antony defeated the Republican army at Philippi (Macedonia); Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Having conquered the East, the triumvirs in 40 BC. redistributed all the provinces: Octavian received the West and Illyria, Anthony - the East, Lepidus - Africa. After destruction in 36 BC. During the last hotbed of republican resistance (Octavian's victory over Sextus Pompey), the contradictions between the triumvirs intensified. In 36 BC. Lepidus tried to take Sicily from Octavian, but failed; Octavian removed him from power and included Africa in his possessions. In 32 BC An open conflict broke out between Octavian and Mark Antony and his wife (from 37 BC), the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. In September 31 BC. Octavian defeated Antony's fleet at Cape Actium (Western Greece), and in the summer of 30 BC. invaded Egypt; Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Octavian became the sole ruler of the Roman state. The era of the Empire began.

Culture.

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. In the 2nd–1st centuries. BC. There is a departure from collectivism, individualism is strengthening, the individual opposes himself to the state, traditional ideals are being rethought and even criticized, society is becoming more open to external influences. All these features were reflected in Roman art and literature.

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 rows of 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).

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 the 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”).

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.

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 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 ( 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.

Under the influence of Homer in the second half of the 3rd century. BC. The first Roman epic poems appear, telling the history of Rome from its foundation to the end of the 3rd century. BC., - Punic War Naevia and Annals Ennia. In the 1st century BC. Lucretius Carus (95–55 BC) creates a philosophical poem About 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.

The first prose works in Latin belong to Cato the Elder (234–149 BC), the founder of Roman historiography ( Origins) and Roman agronomic science ( About agriculture). The real flowering of Latin prose dates back to the 1st century. BC. The best examples of historical prose are the works of Julius Caesar - Notes on the Gallic War And Notes on the Civil War– and Sallust Crispus (86 – ca. 35 BC) – Conspiracy of Catiline, Jugurthine War And Story. Scientific prose of the 1st century. BC. introduced by Terence Varro (116–27 BC), author of the encyclopedia Human and Divine Antiquities, historical and philological works About Latin, About grammar, About the comedies of Plautus and treatise About agriculture, and Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), creator of the treatise About architecture.

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 significant contributions to the development of the theory of Roman eloquence ( About the speaker, Brutus, Speaker).

Imperial Rome.

Principate of Augustus.

Having become the sole ruler, Octavian, taking into account the rejection by wide sections of the population of an openly monarchical form of government, tried to clothe his power in traditional clothes. The basis of his powers were the tribunate and the highest military power - the imperium (from 29 BC he bore the permanent title of emperor). In 29 BC. he received the honorary nickname "Augustus" ("Exalted") and was proclaimed princeps (first person) of the Senate; hence the name of the new political system - the principate. In the same year, he was granted proconsular power in the border (imperial) provinces (Gaul, Spain, Syria) - he appointed their rulers (legates and procurators), the troops stationed in them were subordinate to him, the taxes collected there went to his personal treasury (fiscal ). In 24 BC The Senate freed Augustus from any restrictions imposed by law in 13 BC. his decisions were equated to Senate resolutions. In 12 BC he became the great pontiff, and in 2 BC. was awarded the title of “Father of the Fatherland.”

Formally, in the Roman state there was a diarchy of the princeps and the senate, which retained significant rights and disposed of the internal (senate) provinces and the state treasury (erarium). However, the diarchy only masked the monarchical regime. Having received in 29 BC. censorship powers, Augustus expelled the Republicans and supporters of Antony from the Senate and reduced its composition. The real power of the Senate was significantly limited by the creation of an informal advisory council under the princeps and the institution of unelected (appointed by him) magistrates with their own staff - the prefect of Rome, the prefect of Annona (involved in supplying the capital), the praetorian prefect (commander of the guard). The princeps actually controlled the activities of the governors of the Senate provinces. As for the national assembly, Augustus preserved it, making it an obedient instrument of his power; Using the right to recommend candidates, he determined the outcome of the elections.

In his social policy, Augustus maneuvered between the Senate aristocracy and the equestrians, which he sought to transform into a service class, actively involving them in governance, primarily in the provinces. He supported medium and small landowners, whose number increased due to 500 thousand veterans who received land in colonies outside Italy; land plots were assigned to the private property of their owners. Large-scale state construction provided work for a significant part of the urban population. With regard to the lumpen (about 200 thousand), Augustus pursued a policy of “bread and circuses”, allocating large funds for it. Unlike Caesar, he practically refused to grant Roman citizenship to provincials, but at the same time limited the practice of tax farming, partially transferring it to local merchants, began to introduce a new system of tax collection through procurators, and fought against corruption and abuses of provincial governors.

Augustus carried out military reform, completing the century-long process of creating a Roman professional army: from now on, soldiers served for 20–25 years, receiving a regular salary and constantly being in a military camp without the right to start a family; upon retirement, they were given a monetary reward (donativa) and given a plot of land; the principle of voluntary recruitment of citizens into legions (shock units) and provincials into auxiliary units was established; guard units were created to protect Italy, Rome and the emperor; Guardsmen (Praetorians) enjoyed a number of benefits (they did not participate in wars, served only 16 years, and received high salaries). For the first time in Roman history, special police units were organized - cohorts of vigils (guards) and city cohorts.

The reign of Augustus (30 BC - 14 AD) was marked by three major uprisings in the border provinces - the Cantabri and Asturs in Northern Spain (28-19 BC), the tribes of Central and Southern Gaul (27 BC ..) and Illyrians (6–9 AD).

In foreign policy, Augustus avoided large-scale wars; nevertheless, he managed to annex Moesia (28 BC), Galatia (25 BC), Noricum (16 BC), Raetia (15 BC), Pannonia (16 BC) to the Empire. 14–9 BC), Judea (6 AD); The Thracian kingdom became dependent on Rome. At the same time, an attempt to subjugate the Germanic tribes (campaigns 12 BC - 5 AD) and organize the province of Germany between the Elbe and the Rhine ended in complete failure: after the defeat in 9 AD. In the Teutoburg Forest, the Romans retreated across the Rhine. In the East, Augustus generally supported a system of buffer vassal kingdoms and fought the Parthians for control of Armenia; in 20 BC The Armenian throne was taken by his protege Tigran III, but from 6 AD. Armenia fell into the orbit of Parthian influence. The Romans even intervened in dynastic conflicts in Parthia itself, but achieved little success. Under Augustus, for the first time, South Arabia (the unsuccessful campaign of the Egyptian prefect Aelius Gallus in 25 BC) and Ethiopia (the victorious campaign of Gaius Petronius in 22 BC) became the object of Roman aggression.

Under the closest successors of Augustus - Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius I and Nero, monarchical tendencies strengthened.

Vespasian's successors, his sons Titus (79–81) and Domitian (81–96), continued the policy of favoring the provinces. At the same time, they resumed the practice of generous distributions and organizing spectacles, which led to a depletion of the treasury in the mid-80s; for the sake of its replenishment, Domitian unleashed terror against the propertied classes, which was accompanied by massive confiscations; repressions especially intensified after the uprising in 89 of Antony Saturninus, legate of Upper Germany. The internal political course began to acquire an openly absolutist character: following the example of Caligula, Domitian demanded to call himself “lord” and “god” and introduced the ritual of ceremonial worship; to suppress the opposition of the Senate, he carried out periodic purges of it, using the powers of a lifelong censor (from 85). In an atmosphere of general discontent, the princeps' inner circle formed a conspiracy, and he was killed in September 96. The Flavian dynasty disappeared from the historical scene.

In foreign policy, the Flavians generally completed the process of eliminating the vassal buffer states on the border with Parthia, finally including Commagene and Lesser Armenia (west of the Euphrates) into the Empire. They continued the conquest of Britain, subjugating most of the island, except for its northern region - Caledonia. To strengthen the northern border, Vespasian captured the area between the sources of the Rhine and Danube (Decumate Fields) and created the provinces of Upper and Lower Germany, and Domitian made a successful campaign in 83 against the German tribe of the Chatti and entered into a difficult war with the Dacians, which ended in 89 with a compromise peace: for With an annual subsidy, the Dacian king Decibalus pledged not to invade the territory of the Empire and to protect the Roman borders from other barbarian tribes (Sarmatians and Roxolani).

After the assassination of Domitian, the throne was taken by the Senate protege Marcus Cocceius Nerva (96–98), the founder of the Antonine dynasty, who tried to consolidate the different strata of Roman society. To this end, he continued the Flavian agrarian policy of supporting small landowners (mass purchase of land and its distribution among the needy), created an alimentary fund to support orphans and children of low-income citizens, and proclaimed as his heir and co-ruler the governor of Upper Germany, Marcus Ulpius Trajan, who was popular in military circles. 97).

Another important component of the dominant regime was the army, the number of which increased significantly under Diocletian; The main support of the emperor was not the stationary legions, an eternal source of political tension, but the newly created mobile troops stationed in cities. Voluntary recruitment was supplemented by forced recruitment: landowners were obliged to supply a certain number of soldiers depending on the size of their holdings. The process of barbarization of the army also intensified significantly.

The financial policy of the tetrarchs was also aimed at strengthening state unity. In 286, the minting of full-fledged gold (aureus) and new copper coins began, and monetary circulation was temporarily normalized; however, due to the discrepancy between the real and nominal value of the aureus, it quickly disappeared from circulation, and the practice of defacement of the coin resumed. In 289–290, a new tax system was introduced, common to all regions of the Empire (including Italy): it was based on a periodic census of the population, unified principles of taxation (capitation in cities, land in rural districts) and tax liability - land owners for the colons and slaves planted on the land, curials (members of city councils) for the townspeople; this contributed to the attachment of peasants to the land, and artisans to their professional organizations (colleges). In 301, fixed prices and fixed wage rates were established by law; for their violation, severe punishments were provided, including the death penalty (there were even special executioners on duty in the markets); but even this could not stop the speculation, and the law was soon repealed.

In the religious sphere, a sharply anti-Christian course prevailed: by the beginning of the 4th century. Christianity spread in the army and urban strata and became a serious competitor to the imperial cult; an independent church organization headed by bishops, which controlled a significant part of the population, posed a potential threat to the omnipotence of the state bureaucracy. In 303, the practice of Christian worship was prohibited, and persecution of its adherents began; houses of worship and liturgical books were destroyed, church property was confiscated.

The tetrarchs managed to achieve some domestic and foreign political stabilization. In 285–286 the Bagauda uprising was defeated, in 296 control over Egypt and Britain was restored, in 297–298 unrest in Mauritania and Africa was suppressed; a limit was put on the invasions of the Germanic (Alemannics, Franks, Burgundians) and Sarmatian (Carps, Iazyges) tribes; in 298–299, the Romans ousted the Persians from the eastern provinces, captured Armenia and made a successful campaign in Mesopotamia. But after the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian from the throne in 305, a civil war broke out in the Empire between their heirs, ending with the victory of Constantine the Great (306–337), son of Constantius Chlorus: in 306 he established power over Gaul and Britain, in 312 over Italy and Africa and Spain, in 314–316 - over the Balkan Peninsula (without Thrace), and in 324 - over the entire Empire.

Under Constantine, the formation of the dominant regime was completed. Instead of the tetrarchy, a harmonious vertical system of government arose: a new element was added to the administrative-territorial structure created by Diocletian - four prefectures (Gaul, Italy, Illyria and the East), uniting several dioceses; at the head of each prefecture was a praetorian prefect, reporting directly to the emperor; in turn, the rulers of the diocese (vicars) were subordinate to him, and to them the governors of the provinces (presidas). Civil power was finally separated from the military: the command of the army was exercised by four military masters, not controlled by the praetorian prefects. Instead of the princeps' council, an imperial council (consistory) arose. A strict hierarchy of ranks and titles was introduced, and court positions acquired special importance. In 330, Constantine founded a new capital on the Bosphorus - Constantinople, which became at the same time the imperial residence, administrative center and main headquarters.

In the military sphere, the legions were disaggregated, which made it possible to strengthen control over the army; palace units (domestiki) emerged from the mobile troops, replacing the Praetorian Guard; access to them was open to barbarians; the military profession gradually began to turn into a hereditary one.

Constantine carried out a successful monetary reform: he issued a new gold coin (solidus), which became the main monetary unit in the Mediterranean; Only small change coins were minted from silver. The emperor continued the policy of assigning subjects to a specific place of residence and field of activity: he forbade curials from moving from one city to another (decrees 316 and 325), artisans from changing their profession (edict 317), colons from leaving their plots (law 332); their duties became not only lifelong, but also hereditary.

Constantine abandoned the anti-Christian course of his predecessors; Moreover, he made the Christian Church one of the main pillars of the dominant regime. According to the Edict of Milan 313, Christianity was given equal rights with other cults. The emperor freed the clergy from all state duties, granted church communities the rights of legal entities (receive deposits, inherit property, buy and free slaves), encouraged the construction of churches and missionary activities of the church; he also closed some of the pagan sanctuaries and abolished some priestly offices. Constantine actively intervened in the internal affairs of the Christian church, trying to ensure its institutional and dogmatic unity: when serious theological and disciplinary disagreements arose, he convened congresses of bishops (councils), invariably supporting the position of the majority (Rome 313 and Arles 314 councils against the Donatists, the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea 325 against the Arians, Council of Tire 335 against the orthodox Athanasius of Alexandria). Cm. CHRISTIANITY.

At the same time, Constantine remained a pagan and was baptized only just before his death; he did not renounce the rank of great pontiff and patronized some non-Christian cults (the cult of the invincible Sun, the cult of Apollo-Helios). In 330, Constantinople was dedicated to the pagan goddess Tykha (Fate), and the emperor himself was deified as Helios.

Constantine successfully fought with the Franks on the Rhine and the Goths on the Danube. He continued the practice of settling barbarians in empty territories: the Sarmatians in the Danube provinces and Northern Italy, the Vandals in Pannonia.

Before his death in 337, Constantine divided the Empire between three sons: Constantine II the Younger (337–340) received Britain, Gaul, Spain and the western part of Roman Africa, Constantius II (337–361) received the eastern provinces, Constantius (337–350) received Illyria, Italy and the rest of Africa. In 340, Constantine II tried to take Italy from Constant, but was defeated at Aquileia and died; his possessions passed to Constant. In 350 Constans was killed as a result of a conspiracy by the military leader Magnentius, a barbarian by birth, who seized power in the West. In 352, Constantius II defeated Magnentius (who committed suicide in 353) and became the sole ruler of the Empire.

Under Constantius II, theocratic tendencies intensified. Being a Christian, he constantly intervened in the internal church struggle, supporting moderate Arians against the Orthodox, and tightened his policy towards paganism. Under him, taxes increased significantly, which placed a heavy burden on the curials.

In 360, the Gallic legions proclaimed Caesar Julian (360–363) emperor, who, after the death of Constantius II in 361, became the sole ruler of the Empire. In an effort to stop the decline of cities and municipal land ownership, Julian lowered taxes, reduced expenses for the courtyard and the state apparatus, and expanded the rights of the curiae. Having converted to paganism (hence his nickname “Apostate”), he attempted to revive traditional cults: destroyed pagan temples were restored and confiscated property was returned to them. While pursuing a policy of religious tolerance, the emperor at the same time banned Christians from teaching in schools and serving in the army.

Julian the Apostate died in 363 during a campaign against the Persians, and the army elected him to succeed the chief of the imperial bodyguard, Christian Jovian (363–364), who canceled all the anti-Christian decrees of his predecessor. After his death in 364, the commander Valentinian I (364–375) was proclaimed emperor, who shared power with his brother Valens II (364–378), giving him the eastern provinces. Having suppressed the uprising of Procopius in 366, who acted under the slogan of continuing the politician Julian and appealing to the social lower classes, the emperors issued a number of laws to protect the “weak” from the “strong,” established the position of defensor (defender) of the plebs and launched a fight against corruption. At the same time, they pursued a policy of limiting the rights of the curials and did not take into account the Senate at all. Both brothers professed Christianity, but if Valentinian I avoided interfering in church affairs, then Valens II persecuted the orthodox and instilled Arianism by all means. After the death of Valentinian I in 375, power over the western provinces passed to his sons Gratian (375–383) and the young Valentinian II (385–392). Gratian normalized relations with the Senate and finally broke all ties with paganism, renouncing the rank of great pontiff.

The foreign policy of the successors of Constantine the Great was reduced to the defense of the borders of the Empire. In the Rhine direction, the Romans won a number of victories over the Franks, Alemanni and Saxons (Constant in 341–342, Julian in 357, Valentinian I in 366); in 368 Valentinian I invaded right-bank Germany and reached the sources of the Danube. In the Danube direction, success also accompanied the Romans: in 338 Constans defeated the Sarmatians, and in 367–369 Valens II defeated the Goths. In the late 360s and early 370s, the Romans erected a new system of defensive structures on the Rhine-Danube border. In the eastern direction, the Empire waged a protracted struggle with the Sassanid power: Constantius II fought with the Persians with varying success in 338–350 and 359–360; after the unsuccessful campaign of Julian the Apostate in 363, his successor Jovian concluded a shameful peace with the Sassanids, abandoning Armenia and Mesopotamia; in 370 Valens II resumed the war with Persia, which ended after his death with an agreement on the division of Armenia (387). In Britain, the Romans under Constans and Valentinian I managed to inflict several defeats on the Picts and Scots, who periodically invaded the central part of the island.

In 376, Valens II allowed the Visigoths and part of the Ostrogoths, retreating south under pressure from the Huns, to cross the Danube and occupy the deserted lands of Lower Moesia. The abuses of imperial officials caused their uprising in 377. In August 378, the Goths defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Adrianople, in which Valens II died, and devastated the Balkan Peninsula. Gratian appointed the commander Theodosius (379–395) as ruler of the eastern provinces, who managed to stabilize the situation. In 382, ​​Theodosius I concluded an agreement with the Goths, which became a turning point in the relationship between the Romans and the barbarians: they were allowed to settle in Lower Moesia and Thrace as federates (with their own laws and religion, under the control of tribal leaders). This marked the beginning of the process of the emergence of autonomous barbarian proto-states on the territory of the Empire.

Theodosius I generally followed the political course of Gratian: in the interests of the Senate aristocracy, he introduced the post of defensor of the Senate; provided benefits to peasants who developed abandoned lands; intensified the search for fugitive slaves and colones. He renounced the rank of great pontiff and in 391–392 switched to a policy of eradicating paganism; in 394 the Olympic Games were banned, and Christianity was declared the only legal religion in the Empire. In the internal church sphere, Theodosius I decisively supported the orthodox trend, ensuring its complete triumph over Arianism (Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople 381).

In 383, Gratian died as a result of the rebellion of Magna Maximus, who subjugated the western provinces to his power. Valentinian II fled to Thessalonica, but in 387 Theodosius I, having overthrown the usurper, restored him to the throne. In 392, Valentinian II was killed by his military leader Frank Arbogast, who proclaimed the rhetorician Eugenius (392–394), who, being a pagan, tried to revive the religious policies of Julian the Apostate, Emperor of the West. In 394, Theodosius I defeated Arbogast and Eugenius near Aquileia and restored the unity of the Roman state for the last time. In January 395 he died, dividing the state between his two sons before his death: the eldest Arcadius got the East, the younger Honorius the West. The Empire finally broke up into Western Roman and Eastern Roman (Byzantine). Cm. BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

Culture.

Starting from Augustus, state patronage became a new phenomenon in the cultural sphere. Roman culture loses its polis (narrow ethnic) character and acquires a cosmopolitan character. A new system of values ​​is spreading, primarily among the urban population, based on servility, contempt for work, consumerism, the desire for pleasure and passion for foreign cults. The rural type of consciousness is distinguished by great conservatism: it is characterized by respect for work, loyalty to the patriarchal system of relations and veneration of traditional Roman gods.

Urban planning is developing intensively. A special Roman type of urban planning is spreading: the city consists of residential areas, public buildings, squares (forums) and industrial zones (on the outskirts); it is organized around two central avenues intersecting at right angles, dividing it into four parts, usually oriented to the cardinal points; Narrow streets stretch parallel to the avenues, dividing the city into blocks; Along the streets paved with sidewalks, drainage channels are laid, covered with slabs on top; a developed water supply system includes water pipes, fountains and cisterns for collecting rainwater.

Architecture remains the leading sphere of Roman art. Most buildings are constructed from Roman concrete and fired bricks. In the temple architecture of the 1st century. Pseudoperipterus (Square House at Nîmes) is certainly dominant. In the era of Hadrian, a new type of temple appeared - a rotunda topped with a dome (Pantheon); in it, the main attention is paid not to the external appearance (most of it is a blank wall), but to the internal space, holistic and richly decorated, which is illuminated through an opening in the center of the dome. Under the Severas, a new form of centered-domed temple appeared - a decahedron with a dome on a high drum (Temple of Minerva in Rome). Civil architecture is represented primarily by triumphal columns (the 38-meter-high Column of Trajan) and arches (the single-span Arch of Titus, the three-span Arches of Septimius Severus and Constantine the Great), theaters (the Theater of Marcellus and the Colosseum, which use a multi-tiered arcade), grand aqueducts and bridges, inscribed in the surrounding landscape (the aqueduct in Segovia, the Gard Bridge at Nimes, the bridge over the Tagus), mausoleums (the tomb of Hadrian), public baths (the Baths of Caracalla, the Baths of Diocletian), basilicas (the Basilica of Maxentius). Palace architecture is evolving in the direction of castle architecture, taking as a model the layout of a military camp (Diocletian's palace-fortress in Split). In the construction of residential buildings, peristyle construction is widely used; new elements are the glazed peristyle and mosaic floors. “High-rise” buildings (insulas), reaching four to five floors, are being built for the poor. Roman architects of the 1st–3rd centuries. continue to creatively master the achievements of different architectural traditions - classical, Hellenistic, Etruscan: the creators of the Colosseum combine a multi-tiered arcade with elements of the order (half-columns), the leading architect of the era of Hadrian Apollodorus of Damascus, when building the Trajan Forum, uses colonnades and beam ceilings instead of vaults and arches; the Mausoleum of Hadrian reproduces a model of an Etruscan burial structure; The design of Diocletian's Palace in Split uses an arcade on columns. In some cases, an attempt to synthesize different styles leads to eclecticism (Temple of Venus and Roma, Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli). From the 4th century The Christian type of temple is spreading, which borrows a lot from the Roman tradition (basilica, round temple).

In the plastic art of the 1st–3rd centuries. the sculptural portrait continues to dominate. Under Augustus, under the influence of classical examples, republican realism gives way to some idealization and typification, primarily in the ceremonial portrait (the statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, Augustus in the image of Jupiter from Cum); masters strive to convey the model’s dispassion and self-control, limiting the dynamics of the plastic image. Under the Flavians, there is a turn towards more individualized figurative characteristics, increased dynamism and expressiveness (busts of Vitellius, Vespasian, Caecilius Jucunda). Under the Antonines, the general fascination with Greek art led to massive copying of classical masterpieces and an attempt to embody the Greek aesthetic ideal in sculpture; the tendency toward idealization reappears (numerous statues of Antinous). At the same time, there is an increasing desire to convey a psychological state, primarily contemplation ( Syrian, Bearded barbarian, Black person). By the end of the 2nd century. in portrait art, features of schematization and mannerism are increasing (the statue of Commodus in the form of Hercules). The last flowering of Roman realistic portraiture occurs under Severus; the veracity of the image is combined with psychological depth and dramatization (bust of Caracalla). In the 3rd century. two trends are indicated: the coarsening of the image (laconic modeling, simplification of plastic language) and the increase in internal tension in it (busts of Maximinus the Thracian, Philip the Arab, Lucilla). Gradually, the spirituality of the models acquires an abstract character, which leads to schematism and conventionality of the image. This process reaches its culmination in the 4th century. both in portrait (bust of Maximin Daza) and in monumental sculpture, which became the leading genre of plastic art (colossi of Constantine the Great and Valentinian I). In sculptures of that time, the face turns into a frozen mask, and only disproportionately large eyes convey the model’s state of mind.

In painting at the beginning of the 1st century. AD the third Pompeian (candelabrum) style was established (small mythological paintings framed with light architectural decoration); new genres emerge - landscape, still life, everyday scenes (House of the Centenary and House of Lucretius Frontinus in Pompeii). In the second half of the 1st century. it is replaced by the more dynamic and expressive fourth Pompeian style (House of the Vettii in Pompeii). In the 2nd–3rd centuries. wall painting begins to gradually be replaced by mosaic images.

The era of Augustus is the “golden age” of Roman literature. The circles of Maecenas and Messala Corvinus became the centers of literary life. Poetry remains the leading sphere of literature. Virgil (70–19 BC) introduces the bucolic genre (a collection of shepherd poems) Bucolics), creates a didactic poem about agriculture ( Georgics) and a historical-mythological poem about the origin of the Roman people ( Aeneid). Horace (65–8 BC) composed epics (couplets), satires, odes, and solemn hymns, combining lyrical motifs with civil ones and thereby departing from the principles of neotericism; he also develops the theory of Roman classicism, putting forward the ideal of simplicity and unity ( The art of poetry). Tibullus (c. 55–19 BC), Propertius (c. 50–15 BC) and Ovid (43 BC–18 AD) are associated with the flowering of elegiac poetry. Ovid's Peru also belongs to Metamorphoses (Transformations) is a hexametric epic that sets out the foundations of Greco-Roman mythology, and Fasts, describing in elegiac meter all Roman rituals and festivals. The greatest prose writer of the “golden age” is the historian Titus Livius (59 BC – 17 AD), the author of the monumental History of Rome from the founding of the City in 142 books (from mythical times to 9 BC).

In the era from Augustus to Trajan (the “Silver Age” of Roman literature), satirical poetry developed rapidly; its leading representatives are Persian Flaccus (34–62), Martial (42–104) and Juvenal (mid-1st century - after 127). In Martial's work, the Roman epigram receives its classical design. The tradition of epic poetry is continued by Lucan (39–65), the creator Pharsalia(Pompey's war with Caesar), Papinius Statius (c. 40–96), author Thebaids(campaign of the Seven against Thebes) and Achilleades(Achilles at Lycomedes on Skyros), and Valery Flaccus (second half of the 1st century), who wrote Argonautica. Phaedrus (first half of the 1st century) introduces the fable genre into Roman literature. The largest playwright of the era is Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), who mainly composed palliates ( Oedipus, Medea and etc.); the modern Roman plot is developed by him only in pretext Octavia; he creates a new type of hero - a strong and passionate person, capable of crime, becoming a toy in the hands of an inexorable fate and obsessed with the thought of death (suicide). The importance of prose is growing. In the middle of the 1st century. Petronius (d. 66) writes a satirical adventure novel Satyricon in the genre of Menippean satire (a combination of prose and poetry). Historiography is represented by Velleius Paterculus (born ca. 20 BC), who gave an overview of the history of Rome from the fall of Troy to the reign of Tiberius, Curtius Rufus (mid-1st century), author Stories of Alexander the Great, and Cornelius Tacitus (55 - approx. 120), famous for his Annals And History; he also wrote a historical and ethnographic treatise Germany, eulogy About the life and morals of Julius Agricola And Dialogue about speakers. Oratorical prose is in decline (a passion for panegyrics and flowery declamations). The only major speaker of the 1st century. is Quintilian (c. 35 – c. 100), who contributed with his work Advice to the speaker significant contribution to the development of rhetorical theory. Pliny the Younger (61/62 – ca. 113), the author of a collection of stylized letters, works in the epistolary genre. Scientific prose is represented by the historical and medical treatise of Cornelius Celsus Arts, geographical opus of Pomponius Mela About the structure of the Earth, the grandiose encyclopedia of Pliny the Elder Natural history and the agronomic work of Columella About agriculture.

II century marked by a sharp increase in Greek literary influence and the flourishing of Roman literature in Greek, primarily prose. Its main genres are romance novel ( Chaerei and Callirhoe Khariton, Ephesian stories Xenophon of Ephesus, Leucippe and Clitophon Achilles Tatius), biography ( Parallel biographies Plutarch), satire ( Dialogues Lucian of Samosata), historiography ( Anabasis Alexandra And Indica Arriana, History of Rome Appian), scientific prose ( Almagest, Geography Guide And Quadrature Claudius Ptolemy, medical treatises of Soranus of Ephesus and Galen). In Latin literature of the 2nd century. Prose also occupies a leading position. Suetonius (c. 70 – c. 140) raises the genre of historical and political ( The Life of the Twelve Caesars) and historical and literary biography to the level of historical research. In the second half of the 2nd century. Apuleius creates an erotic-adventurous novel Metamorphoses(or Golden donkey). The archaizing tendency is gradually intensifying (Fronto, Aulus Gellius), associated with the desire to revive examples of old Roman (pre-Ciceronian) literature. In the 3rd century. Latin literature is in decline; at the same time, a Christian direction was born in it (Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Cyprian). Greek-language Roman literature of the 3rd century. represented mainly by a romance novel ( Daphnis and Chloe Longa, Ethiopia Heliodor); prominent Greek-speaking historian of the early 3rd century. is Dio Cassius (c. 160–235). In the 4th century. There is a new rise in Latin literature - both Christian (Arnobius, Lactantius, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine) and pagan, the best examples of which are the historical work of Ammianus Marcellinus (second half of the 4th century) Acts(from Nerva to Valens II) and the poetic works of Claudian (born ca. 375), especially his mythological epic The Abduction of Proserpina. The desire of educated pagan circles to support the ancient Roman cultural tradition leads to the appearance of various commentaries on classical Roman authors (comments by Servius on Virgil, etc.).

During the era of the Empire, philosophy was actively developing. Its leading direction in the 1st – first half of the 2nd century. Stoicism becomes (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius). According to the Stoics, the universe is generated and governed by divine reason; a person is not able to change the laws of the universe, he can only live in harmony with them, fulfilling his social duties with dignity and maintaining dispassion in relation to the outside world, its temptations and disasters; this allows a person to find inner freedom and happiness. In the III–IV centuries. The dominant position in Roman philosophy is occupied by Christianity and Neoplatonism, which arose as a result of the synthesis of Platonism, Aristotelianism, mystical neo-Pythagoreanism and Eastern religious movements. The founder of Neoplatonism is Ammonius Saccus (175–242), the main representatives are Plotinus (c. 204 – c. 270), Porphyry (c. 233 – c. 300) and Proclus (412–485). According to their conviction, the beginning of existence is the divine unity, from which the spiritual world arises, from the spiritual - the spiritual world, from the spiritual - the physical world; the goal of man is to find the path to the one, renouncing the material (which is evil) through moral purification (catharsis) and freeing the soul from the body through asceticism.

During the imperial period, Roman jurisprudence reached its peak - the most important component of Roman culture, which largely determined its originality.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

At the beginning of the 5th century. The situation of the Western Roman Empire became more complicated. In 401, Italy was invaded by the Visigoths led by Alaric, and in 404 by the Ostrogoths, Vandals and Burgundians led by Radagaisus, who were defeated with great difficulty by the guardian of Emperor Honorius (410–423), the Vandal Stilicho. The withdrawal of part of the British and Gallic legions to defend Italy led to a weakening of the Rhine border, which in the winter of 406/407 was broken through by the Vandals, Suevi and Alans, who flooded Gaul. Having received no help from Rome, Gaul and Britain proclaimed Constantine (407–411) emperor, who drove the barbarians into Spain in 409; however, the Burgundians gained a foothold on the left bank of the Rhine. In 408, taking advantage of the death of Stilicho, Alaric again invaded Italy and took Rome in 410. After his death, the new Visigothic leader Ataulf withdrew to southern Gaul and then captured northeastern Spain. In 410 Honorius led the legions out of Britain. In 411, he recognized the Sueves, who settled in Gallecia, as federates of the Empire, in 413, the Burgundians, who settled the district of Mogonziak (modern Mainz), and in 418, the Visigoths, ceding Aquitaine to them.

During the reign of Valentinian III (425–455), barbarian pressure on the Western Roman Empire intensified. During the 420s, the Visigoths expelled the Vandals and Alans from the Iberian Peninsula, who in 429 crossed the Gaditanian (modern Gibraltar) Strait and by 439 captured all the Roman West African provinces, establishing the first barbarian kingdom on the territory of the Empire. In the late 440s, the conquest of Britain by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes began. In the early 450s, the Huns led by Attila attacked the Western Roman Empire. In June 451, the Roman commander Aetius, in alliance with the Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians and Saxons, defeated Attila on the Catalaunian fields (east of Paris), but already in 452 the Huns invaded Italy. Only the death of Attila in 453 and the collapse of his tribal union saved the West from the Hun threat.

In March 455 Valentinian III was overthrown by senator Petronius Maximus. In June 455, the Vandals captured Rome and subjected it to a terrible defeat; Petronius Maximus died. The Western Roman Empire was dealt a mortal blow. The Vandals subjugated Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. In 457, the Burgundians occupied the Rodan basin (modern Rhone), creating an independent Kingdom of Burgundy. By the early 460s, only Italy remained under the rule of Rome. The throne became a plaything in the hands of barbarian military leaders, who at will proclaimed and overthrew emperors. The protracted agony of the Western Roman Empire was put an end to the skyr Odoacer: in 476 he overthrew the last Western Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus, sent signs of supreme power to the Byzantine emperor Zeno and founded his own barbarian kingdom in Italy.

Religion.

Religion was an important element in the public and private life of the Romans. It arose from a synthesis of Latin, Sabine and Etruscan beliefs. In the ancient period, the Romans deified a wide variety of natural and economic functions (the god of fertilizers Sterkulin, the god Statinin, who teaches babies to stand, the goddess of death Libitina, etc.). The object of veneration was also the deified virtues: Justice, Harmony, Victory, Mercy, Piety, etc. From the Etruscans, the Romans borrowed the triad of higher gods - Jupiter (god of priests), Mars (god of war) and Quirinus (god of peace), which at the end of the 7th century . BC. they replaced the Capitoline triad with Jupiter - Juno (goddess of marriage and motherhood) - Minerva (patron of crafts). From the same time, cult images of gods (statues) appeared. Gradually, Jupiter became the head of the pantheon, the composition of which was increased by a number of Italic deities. Particularly revered were, in addition to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, Janus (originally the guardian of the doors of the home, later the god of every beginning), Vesta (protector of the hearth), Diana (goddess of the moon and vegetation, assistant during childbirth), Venus (goddess of gardens and vegetable gardens) , Mercury (patron of trade), Neptune (lord of water), Vulcan (god of fire and blacksmiths), Saturn (god of crops). From the 4th century BC. The Hellenization of the Roman pantheon begins. Roman deities are identified with the Greek ones and acquire their functions: Jupiter-Zeus, Juno-Hera, Minerva-Athena, Diana-Artemis, Mercury-Hermes, etc.

In Roman religion, ancestral cults played a large role. Each family had its own patron gods - the Penates (protected the family inside the house) and Lares (protected the family outside the house). Each family member had his own individual guardian (genius), while the father’s genius was revered by everyone. They also worshiped the spirits of ancestors, who could be good (manas) or evil (lemurs). The center of home worship was the hearth, in front of which the head of the family performed all rituals.

The cult consisted of sacrifices (animals, fruits), prayers and rituals. Prayer was a magical way of influencing the deity, who was supposed to fulfill a request in response to a sacrifice. The Romans attached special importance to predicting the fate and will of the gods. The most common were fortune telling by the entrails of sacrificial animals, by the flight of birds (auspices), by atmospheric phenomena, and by the movement of celestial bodies. Fortune telling was the responsibility of special priest-interpreters - both the Romans (College of Augurs) and the famous Etruscan haruspices. In addition to augurs, in Rome there were other categories of priests, also united in colleges: pontiffs, headed by the great pontiff, who supervised other colleges, were in charge of observing the Roman religious calendar and supervised rituals, sacrifices and funeral cults; Flamins (priests of certain gods); Salii (who performed rituals in honor of the gods of war, especially Mars); Arval brothers (who prayed for a good harvest); Vestals (immaculate priestesses of Vesta); Luperci (priests of the fertility god Faun).

From the 2nd century BC. traditional Roman religion begins to decline; Various eastern cults (Isis, Mithra, Serapis) are becoming increasingly popular; with the beginning of our era, Christianity and related religious movements (Gnosticism, Manichaeism) spread. In the era of the Empire, the cult of the emperor and a number of other official cults (the cult of the Peace of Augustus, the cult of Deified Rome) also played an important role. At the end of the 4th century. The Roman religion, along with other pagan movements, is completely prohibited.

Private life.

Family law and family law were developed in Rome. The family was ruled by a father who enjoyed unlimited power over his children: he could expel them, sell them, and even kill them. Children were raised at home or educated by a home teacher or in schools. The sons remained under the authority of their father until his death; daughters - before marriage.

The Romans were characterized by respect for women, especially mothers. Unlike Greek women, Roman women could freely appear in society. In the house, the mother wife was the mistress who managed the household and the keeper of the family cult. Laws protected her from her husband’s tyranny; She herself was the intercessor of the children before their father. Many women had primary education. During the era of the Empire, they almost had equal rights with men, having received the opportunity to manage their own property and marry on their own initiative; this led to the emergence of divorces. In the era of dominance, under the influence of Christianity, the social role of women is reduced; the belief in their inferiority spreads; the practice of marrying only with the consent of the bride’s parents is being revived; married women are confined to household chores.

Rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage and death played an important role in the life of the Romans. On the ninth (boy) or eighth (girl) day after birth, the naming ceremony was performed: in front of the home altar, the father raised the child from the ground, thereby recognizing him as his own, and gave him a name. As soon as the child stood up, they put on a child's toga and a golden amulet. Upon reaching the age of sixteen, the young man underwent a dressing ceremony (he took off his child’s toga and amulet, dedicating them to the penates, and put on a white toga and a special tunic), and then, together with his peers, went in a solemn procession to the Capitol for sacrifice. A wedding was often preceded by an engagement: after a conversation with the groom, the bride's father hosted a dinner; the groom gave the bride a wedding ring, and the bride gave the groom elegant clothes woven by her hands. The wedding ceremony itself opened with the ritual of kidnapping the bride in the evening by torchlight in the presence of relatives and friends; when the procession arrived at the groom's house, the bride decorated the door and oiled the doorposts, and the groom carried her across the threshold; inside the house, the main ritual was performed under the leadership of the priest (the newlyweds exchanged greetings, the bride accepted fire and water from the betrothed, symbolically touching them; they ate the wedding cake); the subsequent festive dinner ended with the distribution of nuts; women took the bride to the bedroom while the guests sang; in the morning the wife made a sacrifice to the penates and assumed the duties of the hostess. The ritual of parting with the deceased began with extinguishing the fire in the home; relatives mourned the deceased, loudly calling his name; the washed and anointed body was clothed in a toga, laid on a bed in the atrium (main hall) and left for seven days; a pine or cypress branch was attached to the outer door; During mourning, the Romans did not wash, cut their hair or shave their beards. The funeral itself took place at night; their participants were dressed in dark togas. The funeral procession, accompanied by music and singing, headed to the forum, where a laudatory speech was made about the deceased, and then proceeded to the resting place. The body was either buried or burned. After burning, the ashes were mixed with incense and placed in an urn. The ceremony ended with turning to the shadow of the deceased, sprinkling those present with blessed water and saying the words “it’s time to go.”

The usual daily routine of a Roman: morning breakfast - chores - afternoon breakfast - bathing - lunch. The time of morning and afternoon breakfast varied, while the time of lunch was precisely fixed - about half past two in the winter and half past two in the summer. Swimming lasted approximately an hour, and lunch lasted from three to six to eight hours (often until dark); after it, as a rule, they went to bed. Breakfast consisted of bread soaked in wine or a weak solution of vinegar, cheese, dates, cold meat or ham. Several dishes were served for lunch: an appetizer (fish, soft cheese, eggs, sausages), lunch itself (meat, mainly pork, pie), dessert (apricots, plums, quinces, peaches, oranges, olives); at the end of dinner they drank wine, usually diluted and chilled (the favorite was Falernian). There were no forks, food was taken with hands. Lunch was rarely complete without guests and involved communication between the diners; they reclined around a small table on stone beds covered with fabrics and cushions; they were entertained by jesters and comedians, sometimes musicians and poets.

The underwear for men and women was a tunic - a shirt like a Greek chiton, belted around the hips; in the early period they preferred a short (knee-length) sleeveless tunic; later the tunic became wider and longer (to the feet) with full or split sleeves. On top of the tunic, married women wore a stola (a long shirt made of expensive material with sleeves and a belt) and a strophium (a corset made of thin leather that supports the chest and makes it fuller); girls who were not supposed to have too full breasts, on the contrary, tightened them with a bandage. The outerwear for men was a toga (a cloak, the hem of which was thrown over the left shoulder, leaving the right shoulder open. Until the beginning of the 1st century BC, the toga was modest; then it began to be decorated with numerous folds. The color of the toga indicated the status of its wearer (purple , embroidered with golden palm trees, for triumphant commanders, white with a purple border for officials, etc.) To protect from bad weather, they wore a cloak with a hood (penula). During campaigns, special cloaks were used - long (paludament) for a military leader like Greek chlamys and short (sagum) for an ordinary warrior. The Romans borrowed pants from the Gauls; they were mostly worn short to the knees and not very wide. Outerwear for women was a palla - something between a cloak and a wide tunic; sometimes it looked like a toga. Tunic was considered home and work clothing, toga and palla - ceremonial and festive. Unlike Greek, Roman clothing was sewn; it was usually wrapped or fastened with buckles; buttons were practically not used. In the early period they wore woolen clothes, later – linen and silk. Men walked bareheaded; in bad weather it was covered with a hood or a toga was pulled over it. Women put a veil over their heads or covered their faces; then they began to use headbands and round caps, sometimes covered with gold or silver mesh. Initially, footwear was limited to sandals (in the home only) and boots that covered the entire foot to the ankle; then solid or split boots with laces, ankle boots and boots with belts are distributed. The soldiers had rough shoes (kaliga). The Romans also knew gloves, which they wore during heavy work and in cold weather; There are also cases of their use during meals.

Until the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. the Romans wore long hair and beards; from 290 BC Thanks to the Sicilian barbers who arrived in Rome, haircuts and shaving became a custom. The fashion for beards returned during the imperial era (especially under Hadrian). The oldest women's hairstyle is hair parted in the middle and tied in a knot at the back of the head; Under the influence of the Greeks, perm gradually spread. At the end of the 2nd century. BC. In Rome, wigs from Asia appeared, which became especially popular in the 1st century. BC. The Romans (especially Roman women) took care of facial beauty (blush, rubbing, dough mixed with donkey milk, powder made from rice and bean flour), healthy teeth (they cleaned them with pumice powder or chewed mastic; artificial teeth and even jaws are known) and about body hygiene (washed and anointed with ointments daily); in Rome, bathing became a special ritual. In the early era, the Romans wore practically no jewelry, rings at best; Gradually, especially among women, neck chains, necklaces, bracelets, and tiaras came into use.

Foreign historiography.

The scientific historiography of Ancient Rome dates back to the creator of the historical-critical method, the German scientist G.B. Niebuhr (1776–1831), who applied it to the analysis of the legendary Roman tradition; His name is also associated with the beginning of a serious study of the social evolution of Roman society. The first researcher of the Roman economy was the Frenchman M. Dureau de La Malle (1777–1857), who put forward a hypothesis about its purely slave-owning nature. However, until the mid-19th century. Scientists paid most attention to political history. In the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. There has been a significant historiographical upsurge, due primarily to the expansion of the source base (epigraphic material) and the use of the historical-comparative method. The leading position is occupied by the German school headed by T. Mommsen; The French (A. Vallon, F. de Coulanges) and English (C. Merivel) schools compete with it. At the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. a hypercritical direction arises (E. Pais), interest in socio-economic history increases (E. Meyer, K. Bücher, M. Weber), the struggle of classes and estates (R. Pellman, G. Ferrero), the outskirts of the Roman world - Gaul ( K. Jullian), North Africa (J. Toutin), Britain (R. Holmes); The scientific study of early Christianity is progressing (A. Harnack). The modernizing interpretation of Roman history (E. Meyer’s school) is spreading, and attempts are being made to consider it from the point of view of racial theory (O. Zeeck).

After the First World War, the importance of archaeological research increased (Pompeii, Ostia), and the prosopographic method was introduced (M. Geltzer, F. Munzer). Fundamental collective works on Roman history appear ( Cambridge Ancient History in England, General history of antiquity in France, History of Rome in Italy). The leading role goes to the French (L. Omo, J. Carcopino, A. Pignol) and English (R. Scallard, R. Syme, A. Duff) schools. Active study of socio-economic issues continues, primarily from a modernization perspective (M. Rostovtsev, T. Frank, J. Tutin).

In the second half of the 20th century. the influence of the modernization trend is noticeably weakening: more and more emphasis is placed on the difference between the Roman economy and the modern one (M. Finley), the thesis about the limited role of slavery in Roman society is put forward (W. Westerman, the school of I. Voigt), the postulate about the absolute lack of rights of slaves is criticized (K .Hopkins, J.Dumont), indirect forms of expression of social contradictions are studied (R. McMullen). One of the main controversial issues is the question of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire (F. Altheim, A. Jones) and the nature of the transition (continuity or break) from antiquity to the Middle Ages (G. Marron, T. Barnes, E. Thompson). At the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century. there is increasing interest in the environmental factor of Roman history, the influence of the natural environment and landscape on social relations, political institutions and culture (K. Schubert, E. Milliario, D. Barker).

Domestic historiography.

The tradition of scientific study of Roman history arose in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. (D.L. Kryukov, M.S. Kutorga, T.N. Granovsky, S.V. Eshevsky). The objects of research by Russian scientists were mainly political history, socio-political institutions, social ideology, religious consciousness; in the second half of the 19th century. leading positions were occupied by historical and philological (F.F. Sokolov, I.V. Pomyalovsky, I.V. Tsvetaev) and cultural and historical directions (V.G. Vasilyevsky, F.G. Mishchenko). At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. attention to socio-economic issues increased (R.Yu. Vipper, M.M. Khvostov, M.I. Rostovtsev). After 1917, domestic historiography reoriented itself to the study of material culture, socio-economic relations and class struggle. The concept of the ancient socio-economic formation and slave-owning mode of production was actively developed (S.I. Kovalev, V.S. Sergeev). The theory of the “slave revolution” in Roman society was put forward (S.I. Kovalev and A.V. Mishulin). Issues related to slavery (E.M. Shtaerman, L.A. Elnitsky) and the economic system (M.E. Sergeenko, V.I. Kuzishchin) dominated in the 1960–1980s, but interest in history gradually increased Roman culture (A.F. Losev, V.V. Bychkov, V.I. Ukolova, E.S. Golubtsova). Since the late 1980s, the thematic spectrum and methodological base of Russian historiography have expanded significantly. An important direction was the study of the history of everyday life, socio-cultural and ethno-cultural processes (G.S. Knabe, A.B. Kovelman).

Ivan Krivushin

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