Expert answer:The role of Christianity in the history of Rome
Answer & Explanation:Unit 4.docx
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Unit 4
Instruction on what to do
Here are the required readings for Ancient Rome, Christianity and the Dark Ages
*** Note
that all the attachments as well as the article on Christianity and the Fall
of Rome are REQUIRED READING . The article is about the secular history of Christianity
and the role it played in the history of Ancient Rome .
A. Background :
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The army of Ancient Rome conquered the same territory Alexander the Great had and expanded
beyond it. Rome adopted Grecian culture, architecture, and renamed Grecian Gods. This was
known as the Graeco-Roman Era.
The Romans were great builders and engineers who constructed an infrastructure of roads, bridges, and
aqueducts throughout Europe. This was a
remarkable achievement, given that Roman Numerals
aren’t an easily workable form of mathematics.
During this time, though, Rome didn’t expand Greek theoretical science and, in fact, it almost became
lost to the future. Science and technology in
Ancient Rome was limited to practical uses such as
construction, medicine and surgery.
Christianity had its roots in Jerusalem during the time of Roman Colonialism. It spread throughout the
Roman Empire in conjunction with the decline
and fall of Rome and it was eventually legalized by
the Emperor Constantine in 313 AD and made the official religion of Rome in 379 by Theodosius.
Dark Ages : As Rome’s influence declined, its infrastructure crumbled, education and teachings of
Ancient Greece was almost lost. Literacy was low,
travel was dangerous.
B. Assignment:
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Provide a summary of the website articles and your reactions.
Think about some of these issues as you read
Rome’s react ion to Greek culture
Rome’s specialty
Science in Rome
Some of the reasons why Rome fell
The role of Christianity in the history of Rome
The meaning of the term, “The Dark Ages.”
The effect on the knowledge and teachings of Ancient Greece
Ancient Roman Culture
URBAN LIFE
Ancient Rome was situated on seven hills and its monumental public buildings – the Colosseum,
the Forum of Trajan, and the Pantheon – made the city the “capital of the world” under the
emperors. But in addition to the arenas, temples, and forums, Rome also had theaters, basilicas,
gymnasiums, baths, taverns, and brothels.
The first emperor, Augustus, had a modest house, but his successors progressively expanded it
into an enormous imperial residence on the Palatine Hill from which all “palaces” take their
name. The rich preferred to live on the hills above the teeming crowds and animals of central
Rome. Rome housed over 1 million inhabitants, so most of its buildings were not villas and
splendid monuments.
The poor lived packed into apartment houses near the center of the city since there was no public
transport. The public spaces in Rome resounded with such a din of hooves and clatter of iron
chariot wheels that Julius Caesar proposed a ban on chariot traffic at night.
One Roman writer said that the imperial government kept the Romans contented by “bread and
circuses.” Other societies have relied on the same strategy, but never to the same degree. The
Roman emperors provided free food to hundreds of thousands and sponsored an endless series of
games. For two centuries the government managed to avoid food shortages or the discontent that
would endanger the rule of the emperors.
The government gave high priority to acquiring, shipping, storing, and distributing food for
Rome and other major urban areas. The Romans had a formidable logistical task to supply
Rome’s 1 million inhabitants.
The emperors organized convoys from Egypt, North Africa, and Sicily to carry food to urban
areas. They generously distributed wheat, which was the staple food of the time. When the
emperors improved facilities at Rome’s seaport, Ostia, for example, they wanted to ensure a
steady supply of wheat to the capital. Italian farms provided fruit and vegetables, but meat and
fish were luxuries in an urban society.
The Romans built huge waterways called aqueducts to bring water to the cities and imported
large jugs of wine and oil from Spain, Gaul, and Africa to fulfill the necessities of the Roman
table.
The emperors used different forms of entertainment to pacify the urban masses, including chariot
races, theatrical and musical performances, wild-beast hunts, mock sea battles, public executions,
and gladiatorial combat. In the Colosseum, Rome’s huge amphitheater, 50,000 Romans could
watch the games.
Criminals and captives were sent to gladiatorial training schools so that they learned to entertain
the crowds. If gladiators successfully performed in combat, they might earn the support of the
crowd and an imperial “thumbs-up,” meaning a reprieve and freedom. The crowd could also
determine whether the fate of the battle’s loser was death. The games were important occasions
during which the Roman people could see the emperor, and he could show his respect for them
by following their desire to spare a gladiator.
The emperor Titus opened the Colosseum in AD 80 with 100 days of games in which 9,000
animals died. The crowds came to the games to see fighting and blood as well as the color and
pageantry of public celebrations. The most popular events were the chariot races held in the
Circus Maximus, an arena that held up to 300,000 spectators. Competing teams with brightly
decorated horses attracted fierce loyalty, and up to a dozen four-horse chariots crowded together
through the dangerous turns, lap after lap. Successful charioteers became so wealthy that even
emperors envied their riches.
Historians estimate that about 10 percent of the empire’s population lived in the thousand cities
that stretched from Britain to Syria: Colchester and London in Britain, Lyon and Arles in Gaul,
Timgad and Lepcis Magna in North Africa, to the great eastern cities of Antioch in ancient Syria
and Alexandria in Egypt. Most of these cities were rather small, with fewer than 10,000
residents, and only a handful had more than 100,000 inhabitants. Most of the larger urban
populations were in the East, but new cities developed in the western provinces as an outgrowth
of military settlement and trade. All of these urban centers had a forum and temples, and most
also had the same kind of public buildings found in Rome, but on a smaller scale.
Rome administered a vast empire with a small civil service, so the burden of effective
government rested on the local elite. Some conquered Greek cities retained their traditional form
of government, but many in the western portion of the empire established a municipal council
called a curia, named after the Roman Senate. The city council and annually elected officials
administered the food supply, public services, religious festivities, town finance, and local
building projects. The Romans thus created in these outlying cities a provincial aristocracy
modeled on Rome’s social system. The imperial government expected local authorities to
maintain order by the same social and cultural methods used by Rome. Because of these
methods, Roman municipal governments rarely had to dispatch legions to quiet social unrest or
rebellion.
Local elites often used their own resources to subsidize public buildings, games, and even the
distribution of grain to the poor. They were willing to carry the burden of municipal expenses
because they had a strong sense of civic responsibility and a desire to show off their economic
success. However, when the empire later declined economically, city officials increasingly
avoided their public duties, undermining the entire system of local government. Without the
local elite to maintain order and collect taxes, the empire became ungovernable.
In the latter part of the 1st century AD, a recession hit Italy particularly hard. For instance, a case
of Italian-style pottery made in Gaul and found unopened at Pompeii shows that Italy was
competing with the provinces. An influx of gold from Dacia (present-day Romania) during the
reign of the emperor Trajan temporarily reversed the decline of the Italian economy, but
prosperity could not last forever. Frontier troubles increased the cost of the army, and the
bureaucracy continued its inevitable growth. The empire was no longer expanding, and rising
costs far outstripped the limited economic growth possible in a preindustrial economy. By AD
160 economic decline began to imperil the Roman peace that the emperors had worked so hard
to maintain.
RURAL LIFE
The cities of the empire had large populations and impressive public buildings, but 90 percent of
the emperor’s subjects worked in the countryside and lived in flimsy agricultural huts. Land was
the only secure investment, so the wealthy owned estates and idealized the peaceful life of the
countryside. Yet these same people actually lived in the cities and had a much less romantic view
of real peasants. During the empire all written accounts of the countryside, whether sympathetic
or hostile, came from the sophisticated urban elite who performed no manual labor.
Since landlords usually resided in cities, estate overseers made life in the countryside very harsh.
Agricultural slaves were treated far worse than their urban counterparts who worked in
aristocratic households. The conditions in Egypt were particularly bad. Rome inherited the
dictatorial system of the Egyptian monarchs, the pharaohs, who ordered the production of huge
wheat crops at terrible human cost.
Ancient sources indicate that as many as 42 people occupied one small farm hut in Egypt, while
six families owned a single olive tree. Local villagers lived in crushing poverty and had none of
the diversions of the city like games, religious festivals, or free distribution of food.
Not surprisingly, many peasants drifted to the cities, and the countryside became depopulated.
Emperors initially encouraged small farmers to remain on the land by providing loans, but later
used the brutal practices of Egypt to bind the peasants to the soil, foreshadowing a similar
practice of forced labor during medieval times.
Reference : Encyclopedia Britannica
ROME INDEX
ANCIENT AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES
CRYSTALINKS MAIN PAGE
PSYCHIC READING WITH ELLIE
2012 THE ALCHEMY OF TIME
Daily Life in Ancient Rome
If you had lived in ancient times, would you have chosen to become a Roman citizen?
You might have! The ancient Romans invented more games than any other culture.
Birthdays were really big deals. They were celebrated as festivals, with gifts from
friends and family and neighbors!
Find out what the ancient Romans did all day! Read the delightfully zany, original
story, Thomas, Greatest Lawyer in all…Rome! If you’re in a hurry, use the Table of
Contents to find just what you need! See ya round the Empire!
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Baths
Entertainment
Breakfast
Siesta/Lunch
Roman Families
Clothing/Hair Styles Roman Houses Weddings
The Forum
Toys & Games Life in the Country
School!
Dinner Time
Great Builders
Thomas, Greatest Lawyer in all…Rome
Conclusion Credits FUN Stuff FREE Stuff For Teachers Other Cultures
Join the Empire! Become a Roman Citizen!
If you had lived in ancient times, you could have applied to become a Roman
citizen. Not everyone who applied was accepted, but anyone could apply. Would you
have wanted to become a Roman citizen? Let’s find out!
The ancient Romans were very different from the ancient Greeks. The ancient
Romans were down-to-earth realists, not idealists. You can see this in their statues.
The Greeks made statues of perfect people. The Romans created real life statues. A
statue of one of the Roman emperors is a good example. His nose is huge! The ancient
Greeks would never have done that.
The Romans were fierce soldiers and wonderful builders. They built roads all over
the empire, and all roads led to Rome. The ancient Greeks had roads, but they were
not built nearly as well, and the Greek’s roads did not connect in any particular order.
Connect to what? Each Greek city-state was its own unit. In ancient Rome, Rome was
the heart of the empire!
Two thousand years ago, Rome was a busy place. It was a crowded, noisy, smoky,
dusty city, with beautiful temples and public buildings. The rich had gracious homes,
each with an entrance atrium, which was the center of family life. For those who were
not quite as rich, there were apartment buildings, some quite nice ones, and there were
shabby tenements for the poor. Narrow streets wound between the seven hills.
Some people walked around Rome. Some were carried in covered litters, with
curtained couches carried on poles by slaves. Soldiers strode though town in chain
mail or leather armor. Workmen hurried in belted tunics of dark wool. Before
daylight, boys hurried to school. Later in the day, Roman citizens strolled around
town in white wool tunics. Shops lined the streets. Down in the Forum, courts were in
session, and the great Senate orators met and argued.
Even for the poor, life in the city was lively. There was always something going on,
like the great State festivals including shows in the theatres, races, and fights in the
arenas. These were free spectacles that citizens could enjoy.
The ancients Romans started their day with breakfast.
The lower class Romans (plebeians) might have a breakfast of bread, dry or dipped
in wine, and water. Sometimes olives, cheese, or raisins were sprinkled on the bread.
In 1c CE, it became the custom to distribute bread daily to the unemployed.
Workmen, on their way to work, grabbed some bread, and ate it on the way.
The upper class Romans (patricians) enjoyed fresh meat, fish, fruits, vegetables,
bread, and used honey to sweeten food. (Sugar was unknown). They had slaves to
cook and clean. Slaves cut their food for them, as they didn’t use forks or knives, but
ate with their fingers. A wet towel was handy (or brought by slaves) to tidy up after a
meal. Early in the morning, schoolboys, on the run, often stopped at a bakery for a
quick meal, or to buy a pancake to eat on their way to school.
Then, they got dressed to go out.
CLOTHING & HAIR STYLES: The very early Romans wore a toga. It looked like
a white sheet 9 yards long. Togas were arranged very carefully, in a stylish way.
Togas fell out of style rather early. (The toga was inconvenient, and people felt the
cold when they wore it.) To get anyone to wear them, even very early emperors had to
legislate the wearing of togas by at least senators. Eventually, the emperors gave up.
The Romans switched to comfortable tunics, which looked like long tee-shirts. They
were far more practical. Tunics were made of cool linen, for summer wear, and warm
wool, for winter wear. Sometimes, they worn trouserlike affairs.
Roman Soldiers/Armor: It’s interesting to note that most Roman armor probably did
not shine. They used a lot of chain mail (a sort of cloth made of circular links), which
doesn’t shine. They also made scale armor (metal plates about 3 inches long and about
an inch wide, sewn together on a linen/leather backing.) Scale armor shines a little,
but not much. And, they made leather armor, with the metal on the inside, or at least
under the leather, probably again on a backing of linen, to make three layers. So,
although the ancient Romans loved the ornate and glittery, their armor most probably
did not shine!
Roman Men: Rings were the only jewelry worn by Roman citizen men, and good
manners dictated only one ring. Of course, some men did not follow “good taste”, and
wore as many as sixteen rings. Hairstyles and beards varied with the times. In early
Roman times, men wore long hair and full beards. For a while, they were cleanshaven with short hair. About 1c CE, they had started to style their hair, and wear
beards again.
Roman Women: Women enjoyed gazing at themselves in mirrors of highly polished
metal (not glass). The ancient Roman women loved ornate necklaces, pins, earrings,
bracelets and friendship rings. Pearls were favorites. Women often dyed their hair,
usually golden-red. They used false hairpieces to make their hair thicker or longer.
Sometimes, Roman women wore their hair up, in carefully arranged styles, held with
jeweled hairpins. Sometimes they wore it down, curled in ringlets. Parasols were used,
or women might carry fans made of peacock feathers, wood or stretched linen.
Women’s street shoes were made of leather, like a man’s. In the house, most Romans
(men and women) wore sandals. Women’s sandals were brightly colored. Some were
even decorated with pearls.
Roman Boys: Boys wore a tunic down to their knees. It was white, with a crimson
border. Once a boy became a man, he put aside his childish clothes, and wore an allwhite tunic.
A boy became a citizen at age 16 or 17. The year was selected by choosing the date
which came closest to March 17th. Coming of age, becoming a citizen, was quite a
celebration. On a boy’s sixteenth or seventeenth birthday, the boy dressed himself in a
white tunic, which his father adjusted. The day ended with a dinner party, given by the
father, in honor of the new Roman citizen.
Roman Girls: Girls wore a simple tunic with a belt at the waist. When they went
outside, they wore a second tunic that reached their feet.
BULLA: Children wore a special locket around their neck, given to them at
birth, called a bulla. It contained an amulet as a protection against evil and was worn
on a chain, cord, or strap. Girls wore their bulla until the eve of their wedding day,
when their bulla was set aside with other childhood things, like her toys. Boys wore
their bulla until they day they became a citizen. Boys bullas were put aside and
carefully saved. A boy’s bulla could be wore by the owner again, if he won special
honors. For example, if he became a successful general, and won the honor of
triumph, he would wear his bulla in ceremonial parades, to protect him from the evil
jealously of men or gods.
Once they got dressed, adults might wander down to the
Forum, to do their shopping and banking.
The Forum was the main marketplace and business center, where the ancient
Romans went to do their banking, trading, shopping, and marketing. It was also a
place for public speaking. The ancient Romans were great orators. They loved to talk
(although not nearly as much as the ancient Greeks!) The job of their orators was not
to argue, but to argue persuasively! People thronging the Forum would stop and
listen, then wander away to do their shopping, and perhaps leave a gift at a temple for
one of their gods. The Forum was also used for festivals and religious ceremonies. It
was a very busy place.
The kids went to school!
School: The goal of education in ancient Rome was to be an effective speaker.
The school day began before sunrise, as did all work in Rome. Kids brought candles
to use until daybreak. There was a rest for lunch and the afternoon siesta, and then
back to school until late afternoon. No one knows how long the school year actually
was; it probably varied from school to school. However, one thing was fixed. School
began each year on the 24th of March!
In early Roman days, a Roman boy’s education took place at home. If his father could
read and write, he taught his son to do the same. The father instructed his sons in
Roman law, history, customs, and physical training, to prepare for war.Reverence for
the gods, respect for law, obedience to authority, and truthfulness were the most
important lessons to be taught. Girls were taught by their mother. Girls learned to
spin, weave, and sew.
About 200 BC, the Romans borrowed some of the ancient Greek system of education.
Although they did not add many subjects, they did begin sending their boys, and some
of their girls, with their father’s permission, to school, outside their home, at age 6 or
7.
The children studied reading, writing, and counting. They read scrolls and books.
They wrote on boards covered with wax, and used pebbles to do math problems. T …
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