Romes Civilization

The Romans began as a small tribe living in modern Italy but expanded to create the largest and longest lasting empire of antiquity. They were a hardy and industrious people who survived in a violent world mainly by creating a powerful army. The Roman Army went through many changes over the thousand years of its existence and failed eventually to defend the empire, but in general it was consistently superior to opponents from all corners of the world. The empire expanded on the strength of the ruthless and aggressive Roman legions, and consolidated through benign administration and public works on an unprecedented scale.

The people who became the Romans migrated from northern Europe and settled on the plains south of the Tiber River. They established towns on the seven hills near the river. These towns eventually merged to form their capital city of Rome. As first a republic and then an empire, Rome began expanding after 400 BC and eventually controlled the entire Mediterranean coastline, Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Danube, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and modern England.

The Roman Empire in the West ceased to exist in 476 AD, although it was gone for practical purposes many decades earlier. The proximate cause of the collapse was invasion across the Rhine and Danube Rivers by Germanic settlers. Many underlying causes for the collapse have been suggested. The adoption of Christianity and preoccupation with the afterlife instead of practical matters on Earth was one. The increasing inability to administer the large empire was another. Taxes were required after the second century to support the large army and this caused unrest and revolt in the provinces. The slave economy went into decline because slaves became sparse when conquests ceased after the second century. The empire failed to industrialize because of its dependence on slavery. Plague took a heavy toll on the population and trade declined thereafter. The army declined in quality because mercenaries had to replace citizens that avoided service as soldiers and officers. Repeated turmoil and civil war over succession to the throne sapped the strength of the legions and brought barbarian contingents into army.

The legacy of the Romans was broad and far-reaching. It includes the transmission of much ancient culture to the modern age, especially Greek art and literature. The Romans began urbanization of Europe. In addition to Rome, they founded Paris, London, Lyons, Bordeaux, Cologne, Toledo, and Milan. Modern railway gauges trace back to wagon ruts in Roman mines. The Romans excelled at engineering and construction, and first used the arch, the dome, and concrete. A few of their famous roads, bridges, and aqueducts are still in use. The Latin language influenced the later development of the French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian languages. Roman law was codified and updated by the Byzantines and is the basis of law for most European countries today.

Romes Armies

Tower Shield

The Romans adopted a tall rectangular shield that gave them advantages in battle when used properly. The size of the shield protected more of the body. The Romans fought in tight rectangular formations of approximately 100 men called maniples. The shields of the men in the maniple presented a continuous front, or shield wall, which protected them greatly from missile fire. They developed a formation variant called the Testudo (or turtle). In this formation, the shields covered all four sides and the heads of the men, allowing them to advance under missile fire. This was useful advancing toward a gap in an enemy wall, for example.

Charioteer School

Chariot racing was the most popular activity in the hippodromes. The Romans raised this ancient Greek Olympic event to fanatical popularity. Romans kept 14,000 horses for chariot races and gave them the best possible care. The Emperor's Praetorian Guard had orders to refrain from blowing their trumpets before a race, to avoid disturbing the horses. The Emperor's palace, behind the Circus Maximus, had a box where he could sit without leaving the palace grounds, and the Emperor attended most of the races. Citizens wore their finest gowns and jewellery, and even the horses sometimes had pearls woven into their manes.

Hippodrome

a typical one featured 12 races, each with four chariots. Racers belonged to one of four permanent teams - the Reds, Greens, Blues and Whites. Racing fans were fiercely loyal to their teams and wagered huge sums of money. Each chariot was pulled by two or four horses. Races proceeded anti clockwise around the ring seven times at maximum speed, although horses were trained to slow down on the inside turns to avoid crashing or being hit by other chariots. Individual charioteers wore a coat with their team's colour, a leather helmet, rib protection and leather leggings. They carried a whip and a dagger to cut themselves free of their reins in case of a crash. Accidents were frequent and drivers wrapped the reins around their waist to provide better leverage when leaning into turns; charioteers who moved too slowly were trampled to death.

Chariot drivers were highly trained, and could achieve great fame and wealth with a successful career. One Gaius Apuleis made almost 36 million sesterces in his 24-year career. Prizes sometimes included houses or farms. The Flavian emperors expanded chariot racing to 100 heats a day as part of their strategy to placate the citizenry. Bookmakers released carrier pigeons after each race to get results to off-track bettors.

Forts

Ancient warfare meant continuous campaigning, especially in the Empire's early, expansionist days. Roman armies operated deep within enemy territory, living off the land, the largesse of allied tribes and the spoils of conquered enemies. Their marching camps consisted of tents, and rarely stayed in one place for more than a few days. After an area was pacified, the legions built turf and timber forts a day's march apart and patrolled between them. When the threat of enemy activity receded, the army went home.

In remote and savage lands like Germany and Britain, the tribes were never quiet for long. Here the Romans built large forts to house part of a legion indefinitely, or to serve as campaign bases. Permanent forts weren't built until the third and fourth centuries, when imperial expansion stopped and Rome's emphasis turned to maintaining its frontiers. These late forts were built of local stone and included towers for archers and artillery.

Typical permanent forts had a central headquarters and comfortable homes for senior officers. Junior officers had their own houses. Blocks of barracks housed common soldiers, each holding one 'century' of 80 men. Sturdy granaries held the legion's food, and most forts included workshops and field hospitals. As citizens grew confident of peace, forts developed into towns, and some of these towns evolved into cities.

Bath Houses

Roman baths were about far more than keeping clean. They were centres for entertainment, healing and socializing, much like sports clubs. The largest bath houses covered 30 acres and could accommodate 1,600 people at a time in great vaulted halls as well as intimate lounges. Roman baths were lavish affairs with mirrored walls, mosaic floors and marble-lined pools. Slaves moved on their errands through miles of tunnels under the floor, so as not to disturb bathers, but were always nearby to satisfy any whim. Baths were segregated by gender.

After entering, a citizen paid any fee in the main hall, then disrobed in a changing room and left his clothes with his slave. He might start by working up a sweat playing at sports in the exercise yard. When he tired of this he went on to the cold water pool ('frigidarium'), warm room ('tepidarium'), hot room ('caldarium'), and steam room ('sudatorium') - traditionally in that sequence, or according to personal preference. After bathing he visited the 'unctuaria' to have his skin scraped and oiled. Now thoroughly cleansed and relaxed, he could choose further diversion in on-site reading rooms, gaming parlours, food and wine shops, or even theatres, art galleries and museums.

Wealthy Romans made private baths a centrepiece of their homes. Villas had furnaces primarily to heat water for their baths. Men sometimes bathed in wine, and women in milk. Even permanent forts in far corners of the Empire included baths for soldiers stationed there.

Most public baths were free, although the nicer ones charged a small fee to exclude slaves and the poor. The baths were either built at public expense or from the privy purses of emperors, to curry favour with the populace.