CONSTANTIUS GALLUS 351AD Roman Caesar RARE Ancient Coin BATTLE Horse man i39477

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  Constantius  Gallus   - Roman Caesar:  351-354 A.D. - Bronze AE3 17mm (2.13 grams) Struck at the mint of Heraclea 351 A.D. Reference: RIC 91 (Heraclea) DNCONSTANTIVSNOBC - Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right. FELTEMPREPARATIO Exe: SMHΓ - Soldier  spearing falling horseman.

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Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (ca. 325/326 -  354), better known as Constantius Gallus , was a member of the Constantinian dynasty and Caesar of the Roman  Empire (351-354). Gallus was consul three years, from 352 to 354.

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 Family

Son of Julius Constantius by his first wife Galla, Gallus' paternal grandparents  were Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora .

Julius Constantius was also a half-brother of Roman  Emperor Constantine I , and thus Gallus was a first cousin of Emperors Constantine II , Constantius II and Constans .

The older sister of Gallus, of unknown name, was the first wife of Constantius II . Julius Constantius had married a second wife,  Basilina, who had borne him a son, Flavius Claudius Iulianus, later emperor, and  known as Julian .

 Appearance

Gallus was very good looking, with soft blond hair.

 Youth

Gallus was born in Massa Veternensis , Italia , after his father had returned from exile. In 337, during the purges  that hit the imperial family after the death of Constantine I, Gallus saw his  father and his elder brother killed, probably by order of his cousin  Constantius. The only imperial males surviving were the three Emperors, Gallus,  and Julian, who were probably too young or ill (Banchich) to be a menace to  Constantius.

With regards to Gallus' youth, the most accepted view is that  he lived with Julian under Eusebius , bishop of Nicomedia ,  then in Constantinople since 340 (when Eusebius became bishop of the capital). After  341 (death of Eusebius), Constantius sent Gallus and Julian to the imperial  manor in Macellum , Cappadocia .  An alternative view accepts hints from sources that want Gallus in Ephesus to  study, and then going to Macellum from an exile in Tralles.

 Caesar

In 350, Magnentius had rebelled and killed the emperor Constans ,  claiming the purple. Constantius II prepared to move against the usurper, but needed a  representative in the East, so he called Gallus at Sirmium ,  raised him to the rank of caesar (15  March 351 ),  gave him the name Constantius , and strengthened the bonds with his cousin  by allowing Gallus to marry his sister Constantina . Gallus and Constantina, who probably shared her brother's aim  of controlling the young caesar, set up residence in Antioch .

During his rule, Gallus had to deal with a Jewish rebellion in Judea /Palestine  (see War against Gallus ). The rebellion, possibly started before Gallus'  elevation to caesar, was crushed by Gallus' general, Ursicinus , who ordered all the rebels slain.

Gallus was saved from an assassination plot by a woman, who  revealed that some members of her household were planning the murder. Some  sources, among whom are Joannes Zonaras , claim that this plot had been organized by Magnentius in  order to distract Constantius from Magnentius himself.

Some sources (Philostorgius)  claim Gallus' generals won a campaign against the Sassanids . Others, basing their views on an almost-peaceful situation  between Sassanids and Romans, dismiss this claim. In 354, Gallus sent the Comes Orientis ,  Nebridius, against the Isaurians ,  who had been raiding the city of Seleucia on the Tigris .

As a consequence of the need to gather food for the troops of  a Persian campaign or because of drought, the grain supply in Antioch decreased.  In order to counter the higher price of grain, Gallus forced the passage of some  laws regardless of the opinion of the Senate, thus alienating the support of the  senatorial class of Antioch. Ammianus Marcellinus , a philo-senatorial writer, tells how the anger of the  people of Antioch for the famine was diverted by Gallus towards the consularis Syriae Theophilus, who was killed by the mob.

Ammianus reports also that Gallus and Constantina started  several trials for magic against wealthy people, ending in the execution of  innocents and in the confiscation of their wealth. The same source claims that  Gallus walked anonymously in Antioch by night, asking passersby for their  opinion on their caesar, while Julian records the great amount of time spent by  Gallus at the Hippodrome, probably to obtain popular support.

Doubting his cousin's loyalty, Constantius reduced the troops  under Gallus, and sent the Praetorian Prefect Domitianus to Antioch to urge Gallus to go to Italy.  Different sources tell different stories, but all agree that Gallus arrested  Domitianus and the quaestor Montius who had come to his aid, and that the two  officers were killed.

The arrest of Montius led to the discovery of what seems to  be a plot to elevate an usurper against Gallus. The conspirators had the support  of two tribuni fabricarum (officers of the weapons factories) who had  promised the weapons for an uprising (Ammianus Marcellinus, 14.7.18 ), and probably of the troops in Mesopotamia, as well as of the  rector of the province of Phoenice. All of those involved in the plot were  sentenced to death.

 Fall and death

Constantius was informed of the trials in Antioch during a  campaign against the Alamanni .  Having signed a peace with the Germanic tribe, Constantius decided to settle the  matter with his cousin. First he summoned Ursicinus to the West, whom he  suspected to have been inciting Gallus in order to create the occasion for a  revolt and the usurpation of his own son.

Next, Constantius summoned Gallus and Constantina to Milan.  Constantina left first, in order to gain some of her brother's trust, but died  at Caeni Gallicani in Bithynia .  Gallus, whose bonds to Constantius had been weakened, stayed in Antioch.  Constantius tried to lure Gallus, sending the tribunus scutariorum   Scudilo to tell Gallus that Constantius wanted to raise him to Augustus . Gallus desiring to finally obtain the rank of Augustus , took Constantius's bait and left Antioch to  meet him. Gallus in an exhibition of his presumed soon to be Augustus powers,  staged a chariot race in Constantinople's Hippodrome and crowned the victor, an honor reserved only for those that  are Augustus. This insolence of Gallus enraged Constantius, further adding to  his dislike for the upstart Caesar. In an attempt to further isolate Gallus from  any form of military protection, Constantius had the garrisons removed from the  towns in Gallus's path.

When Gallus arrived to Poetovio in Noricum , Barbatio , an officer who had been supporting Gallus' dismissal within  Constantius' court, surrounded the palace of the caesar and arrested him,  stripping Gallus of the imperial robes, but assuring him that no harm would come  to him. Gallus was led to Pola, Istria (now  Pula, Croatia). Here he was interrogated by some of the highest officials of  Constantius' court, including the eunuch praepositus cubiculi Eusebius  and the agens in rebus Apodemius .  Gallus tried to put the blame of all of his actions on Constantina, but  Constantius sentenced him to death; The emperor later changed his mind, and  ordered the caesar to be spared, but Eusebius ordered that the news was not to  reach the executioners


The Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium Romanum ) was the post-Republican  period of the ancient Roman civilization , characterised by an autocratic form of government and large  territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean.

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, during the reign of Trajan in 117 AD

The 500-year-old Roman Republic , which preceded it, had been  weakened and subverted through several civil wars . Several events are commonly  proposed to mark the transition from Republic to Empire, including Julius Caesar 's appointment as perpetual dictator (44 BC), the Battle of Actium (2  September 31 BC), and the Roman Senate's granting to Octavian the honorific Augustus (16 January  27 BC).

Roman expansion began in the days of the Republic, but the Empire reached its  greatest extent under Emperor Trajan : during his reign (98 to 117 AD) the  Roman Empire controlled approximately 6.5 million km2  of land surface. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, the  institutions and culture of Rome had a profound and lasting influence on the  development of language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and forms of  government in the territory it governed, particularly Europe, and by means of  European expansionism throughout the modern world.

In the late 3rd century AD, Diocletian established the practice of dividing  authority between four co-emperors (known as the tetrarchy ) in order to better secure the vast  territory, putting an end to the Crisis of the Third Century . During the  following decades the Empire was often divided along an East/West axis. After  the death of Theodosius I in 395 it was divided for the last  time.

The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 as Romulus Augustus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . The Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire ended in 1453 with the death  of Constantine XI and the capture of Constantinople to Mehmed II , leader of the Ottoman Turks .

Government

Emperor

The powers of an emperor (his imperium ) existed, in theory at least, by  virtue of his "tribunician powers" (potestas tribunicia ) and his  "proconsular powers" (imperium proconsulare ). In theory, the tribunician  powers (which were similar to those of the Plebeian Tribunes under the old republic) made  the Emperor's person and office sacrosanct, and gave the Emperor authority over  Rome's civil government, including the power to preside over and to control the  Senate.

The proconsular powers (similar to those of military governors, or Proconsuls , under the old Republic) gave him  authority over the Roman army. He was also given powers that, under the  Republic, had been reserved for the Senate and the assemblies , including the right to declare war,  to ratify treaties, and to negotiate with foreign leaders.

The emperor also had the authority to carry out a range of duties that had  been performed by the censors , including the power to control Senate  membership. In addition, the emperor controlled the religious institutions , since, as emperor, he  was always Pontifex Maximus and a member of each of  the four major priesthoods. While these distinctions were clearly defined during  the early Empire, eventually they were lost, and the emperor's powers became  less constitutional and more monarchical.

Realistically, the main support of an emperor's power and authority was the  military. Being paid by the imperial treasury, the legionaries also swore an  annual military oath of loyalty towards him, called the Sacramentum .

The death of an emperor led to a crucial period of uncertainty and crisis. In  theory the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor, but most emperors  chose their own successors, usually a close family member. The new emperor had  to seek a swift acknowledgement of his new status and authority in order to  stabilize the political landscape. No emperor could hope to survive, much less  to reign, without the allegiance and loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and of the legions. To secure  their loyalty, several emperors paid the donativum , a monetary reward.

Senate

While the Roman assemblies continued to meet after the  founding of the Empire, their powers were all transferred to the Roman Senate , and so senatorial decrees (senatus  consulta ) acquired the full force of law.

In theory, the Emperor and the Senate were two equal branches of government,  but the actual authority of the Senate was negligible and it was largely a  vehicle through which the Emperor disguised his autocratic powers under a cloak  of republicanism. Although the Senate still commanded much prestige and respect,  it was largely a glorified rubber stamp institution. Stripped of most of  its powers, the Senate was largely at the Emperor's mercy.

Many emperors showed a certain degree of respect towards this ancient  institution, while others were notorious for ridiculing it. During Senate  meetings, the Emperor sat between the two consuls ,[18]  and usually acted as the presiding officer. Higher ranking senators spoke before  lower ranking senators, although the Emperor could speak at any time.[18]  By the 3rd century, the Senate had been reduced to a glorified municipal body.

Senators and  equestrians

No emperor could rule the Empire without the Senatorial order and the Equestrian order . Most of the more important  posts and offices of the government were reserved for the members of these two  aristocratic orders. It was from among their ranks that the provincial  governors, legion commanders, and similar officials were chosen.

These two classes were hereditary[citation  needed ] and mostly closed to outsiders. Very  successful and favoured individuals could enter, but this was a rare occurrence.  The career of a young aristocrat was influenced by his family connections and  the favour of patrons. As important as ability, knowledge, skill, or competence,  patronage was considered vital for a successful career and the highest posts and  offices required the Emperor's favour and trust.

Senatorial order

The son of a senator was expected to follow the Cursus honorum , a career ladder , and the more prestigious  positions were restricted to senators only. A senator also had to be wealthy;  one of the basic requirements was the wealth of 12,000 gold aurei (about 100 kg of gold), a figure which  would later be raised with the passing of centuries.

 Equestrian order

Below the Senatorial order was the Equestrian order. The requirements and  posts reserved for this class, while perhaps not so prestigious, were still very  important. Some of the more vital posts, like the governorship of Egypt (Latin Aegyptus) , were even  forbidden to the members of the Senatorial order and available only to  equestrians.

Military

Legions

During and after the civil war, Octavian reduced the huge number of the legions (over 60) to a much more manageable and  affordable size (28). Several legions, particularly those with doubtful  loyalties, were simply disbanded. Other legions were amalgamated, a fact  suggested by the title Gemina (Twin).

In AD 9, Germanic tribes wiped out three full legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . This disastrous  event reduced the number of the legions to 25. The total of the legions would  later be increased again and for the next 300 years always be a little above or  below 30.

Augustus also created the Praetorian Guard : nine cohorts ostensibly to maintain the public peace  which were garrisoned in Italy. Better paid than the legionaries, the  Praetorians also served less time; instead of serving the standard 25 years of  the legionaries, they retired after 16 years of service.

Auxilia

While the auxilia (Latin: auxilia =supports) are  not as famous as the legionaries, they were of major importance. Unlike the  legionaries, the auxilia were recruited from among the non-citizens. Organized  in smaller units of roughly cohort strength, they were paid less than the  legionaries, and after 25 years of service were rewarded with Roman citizenship , also extended to their sons.  According to Tacitus there were roughly as many auxiliaries  as there were legionaries. Since at this time there were 25 legions of around  5,000 men each, the auxilia thus amounted to around 125,000 men, implying  approximately 250 auxiliary regiments.

Navy

The Roman navy (Latin: Classis , lit.  "fleet") not only aided in the supply and transport of the legions, but also  helped in the protection of the frontiers in the rivers Rhine and Danube . Another of its duties was the  protection of the very important maritime trade routes against the threat of  pirates. Therefore it patrolled the whole of the Mediterranean, parts of the North Atlantic (coasts of Hispania, Gaul, and  Britannia), and had also a naval presence in the Black Sea . Nevertheless the army was considered  the senior and more prestigious branch.

 Provinces The Temple of Bacchus in Baalbec , Lebanon

Until the Tetrarchy (296 AD) Roman provinces (lat. provincae ) were administrative and territorial units of the Roman Empire  outside of Italy . In the old days of the Republic the  governorships of the provinces were traditionally awarded to members of the Senatorial Order . Augustus' reforms changed  this policy.

Imperial provinces

Augustus created the Imperial provinces . Most, but not all, of the  Imperial provinces were relatively recent conquests and located at the borders.  Thereby the overwhelming majority of legions, which were stationed at the  frontiers, were under direct Imperial control. Very important was the Imperial province of Egypt , the major breadbasket of the Empire, whose grain supply was vital to feed the masses in  Rome. It was considered the personal fiefdom of the Emperor, and Senators were  forbidden to even visit this province. The governor of Egypt and the commanders  of any legion stationed there were not from the Senatorial Order, but were  chosen by the Emperor from among the members of the lower Equestrian Order .

Senatorial provinces

The old traditional policy continued largely unchanged in the Senatorial provinces . Due to their location,  away from the borders, and to the fact that they were under longer Roman  sovereignty and control, these provinces were largely peaceful and stable. Only  a single legion was based in a Senatorial province: Legio III Augusta , stationed in the Senatorial  province of Africa (modern northern Algeria).

The status of a province was subject to change; it could change from  Senatorial towards Imperial, or vice-versa. This happened several times [26] during Augustus' reign. Another  trend was to create new provinces, mostly by dividing older ones, or by  expanding the Empire.

 Religion The Pantheon , the present structure  built during Hadrian 's reign, was dedicated to  the worship of all Roman deities.

As the Empire expanded, and came to include people from a variety of  cultures, the worship of an ever increasing number of deities was tolerated and accepted. The  Imperial government, and the Romans in general, tended to be very tolerant  towards most religions and cults, so long as they did not cause trouble. This  could easily be accepted by other faiths as Roman liturgy and ceremonies were  frequently tailored to fit local culture and identity. Since the Romans  practiced polytheism they were also able to easily assimilate the gods of the  peoples the Empire conquered.

An individual could attend to both the Roman gods representing his Roman  identity and his own personal faith, which was considered part of his personal  identity. There were periodic persecutions of various religions at various  points in time, most notably that of Christians. As the historian Edward Gibbon noted, however, most of the  recorded histories of Christian persecutions come to us through the Christian  church, which had an incentive to exaggerate the degree to which the  persecutions occurred. The non-Christian contemporary sources only mention the  persecutions passingly and without assigning great importance to them.

Imperial cult The Augustus of Prima Porta ,  showing Augustus in military outfit holding  a consular baton (now broken off)

In an effort to enhance loyalty, the inhabitants of the Empire were called to  participate in the Imperial cult to revere (usually deceased)  emperors as demigods . Few emperors claimed to be Gods while  living, with the few exceptions being emperors who were widely regarded at the  time to be insane (such as Caligula ). Doing so in the early Empire would  have risked revealing the shallowness of what the Emperor Augustus called the "restored Republic" and  would have had a decidedly eastern quality to it. Since the tool was mostly one  the Emperor used to control his subjects, its usefulness would have been  greatest in the chaotic later Empire, when the emperors were often Christians  and unwilling to participate in the practice.

Usually, an emperor was deified after his death by his successor in an  attempt by that successor to enhance his own prestige. This practice can be  misunderstood, however, since "deification" was to the ancient world what  canonization is to the Christian world. Likewise, the term "god" had a different  context in the ancient world. This could be seen during the years of the Roman Republic with religio-political practices  such as the disbanding of a Senate session if it was believed the gods  disapproved of the session or wished a particular vote. Deification was one of  the many honors a dead emperor was entitled to, as the Romans (more than modern  societies) placed great prestige on honors and national recognitions.

The importance of the Imperial cult slowly grew, reaching its peak during the Crisis of the Third Century . Especially in the  eastern half of the Empire, imperial cults grew very popular. As such it was one  of the major agents of romanization . The central elements of the cult  complex were next to a temple; a theatre or amphitheatre for gladiator displays and other  games and a public bath complex . Sometimes the imperial  cult was added to the cults of an existing temple or celebrated in a special  hall in the bath complex.

The seriousness of this belief is unclear. Some Romans ridiculed the notion  that a Roman emperor was to be considered a living god, or would even make fun  of the deification of an emperor after his death. Seneca the Younger parodied the notion of  apotheosis in his only known satire The Pumpkinification of Claudius , in which  the clumsy and ill-spoken Claudius is transformed not into a god, but a  pumpkin or gourd . An element of mockery was present even  at Claudius's funeral, and Vespasian 's purported last words were Væ,  puto deus fio , "Oh dear! I think I'm becoming a god!".

Absorption of  foreign cults

Since Roman religion did not have a core belief that excluded other  religions, several foreign gods and cults became popular.

The worship of Cybele was the earliest, introduced from around  200 BC. Isis and Osiris were introduced from Egypt a century  later. Bacchus and Sol Invictus were quite important and Mithras became very popular with the military.  Several of these were Mystery cults . In the 1st century BC Julius Caesar granted Jews the freedom to  worship in Rome as a reward for their help in Alexandria.

Controversial  religions Druids

Druids were considered as essentially  non-Roman: a prescript of Augustus forbade Roman citizens to practice  "druidical" rites. Pliny reports that under Tiberius the druids were suppressed-along with  diviners and physicians-by a decree of the Senate, and Claudius forbade their rites completely in  AD 54.

 Judaism

While Judaism was largely accepted, as long as Jews paid the Jewish Tax after 70 AD, there was anti-Judaism in the pre-Christian Roman Empire and there were several Jewish-Roman wars .

The Crisis under Caligula (37-41) has been proposed as the  "first open break between Rome and the Jews", even though problems were already  evident during the Census of Quirinius in 6 and under Sejanus (before 31).

Until the rebellion in Judea in AD 66, Jews were generally protected. To get  around Roman laws banning secret societies and to allow their freedom of  worship, Julius Caesar declared Synagogues were colleges. Tiberius forbade  Judaism in Rome but they quickly returned to their former protected status.  Claudius expelled Jews from the city; however, the passage of Suetonius is  ambiguous: "Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the  instigation of Chrestus he [Claudius] expelled them from the city." Chrestus   has been identified as another form of Christus ; the disturbances may  have been related to the arrival of the first Christians , and that the  Roman authorities, failing to distinguish between the Jews and the early  Christians, simply decided to expel them all.

Historians debate whether or not the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva's  modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in 96. From then on, practising  Jews paid the tax; Christians did not.[34]

 Christianity The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer , by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883). Roman Colosseum .

Christianity emerged in Roman Judea as a Jewish religious sect in the 1st century AD.  The religion gradually spread out of Jerusalem , initially establishing major bases  in first Antioch , then Alexandria , and over time throughout the Empire  as well as beyond.

Christianity shares numerous traits with other mystery cults that existed in  Rome at the time. Early Christianity placed a strong emphasis on baptism, a  ritual which marked the convert as having been inducted into the mysteries of  the faith. The focus on a belief in salvation and the afterlife was another  major similarity to other mystery cults. The crucial difference between  Christianity and other mystery cults was the monotheism of Christianity. Early Christians  thus refused to participate in civic cults because of these monotheistic  beliefs, leading to their persecution.

For the first two centuries of the Christian era , Imperial authorities largely  viewed Christianity simply as a Jewish sect rather than a distinct religion. No  emperor issued general laws against the faith or its Church, and persecutions,  such as they were, were carried out under the authority of local government  officials. A surviving letter from Pliny the Younger , governor of Bythinia, to the  Emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions  of Christians; Trajan notably responded that Pliny should not seek out  Christians nor heed anonymous denunciations, but only punish open Christians who  refused to recant.

Suetonius mentions in passing that during the  reign of Nero "punishment was inflicted on the  Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition " (superstitionis novae ac  maleficae) . He gives no reason for the punishment. Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, some among the  population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame  onto the Christians.

One of the earliest persecutions occurred in Gaul at Lyon in 177 . Persecution was often local and  sporadic, and some Christians welcomed martyrdom as a testament of faith .[39]  The Decian persecution (246-251) was a serious  threat to the Church, but while it potentially undermined the religious  hierarchy in urban centers, ultimately it served to strengthen Christian  defiance.[40] Diocletian undertook what was to be the most severe and last major persecution of Christians ,  lasting from 303 to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to suppress, and  in 313, the Edict of Milan made tolerance the official  policy. Constantine I (sole ruler 324-337) became the  first Christian emperor, and in 380 Theodosius I established Christianity as the  official religion.

By the 5th century Christian hegemony had rapidly changed the Empire's  identity even as the Western provinces collapsed. Those who practiced the  traditional polytheistic religions were persecuted, as were Christians regarded  as heretics by the authorities in power.

Languages

The language of Rome before its expansion was Latin , and this became the empire's official  language. By the time of the imperial period Latin had developed two registers : the "high" written Classical Latin and the "low" spoken Vulgar Latin . While Classical Latin remained  relatively stable, even through the Middle Ages , Vulgar Latin as with any spoken  language was fluid and evolving. Vulgar Latin became the lingua franca in the western provinces, later  evolving into the modern Romance languages : Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , etc. Greek and Classical Latin were  the languages of literature, scholarship, and education.

Although Latin remained the most widely spoken language in the West, through  to the fall of Rome and for some centuries afterwards,  in the East the Greek language was the literary language and  the lingua franca. The Romans generally did not attempt to supplant local  languages. They generally left established customs in place and only gradually  introduced typical Roman cultural elements including the Latin language.[43]  Along with Greek, many other languages of different tribes were used but almost  without expression in writing.

Greek was already widely spoken in many cities in the east, and as such, the  Romans were quite content to retain it as an administrative language there  rather than impede bureaucratic efficiency. Hence, two official secretaries  served in the Roman Imperial court, one charged with correspondence in Latin and  the other with correspondence in Greek for the East.[44]  Thus in the Eastern Province, as with all provinces, original languages were  retained.

Moreover, the process of hellenisation widened its scope during the Roman  period, for the Romans perpetuated "Hellenistic" culture,[47][48][nb  4] but with all the trappings of Roman improvements. This further spreading of  "Hellenistic" culture (and therefore language) was largely due to the extensive  infrastructure (in the form of entertainment, health, and education amenities,  and extensive transportation networks, etc.) put in place by the Romans and  their tolerance of, and inclusion of, other cultures, a characteristic which set  them apart from the xenophobic nature of the Greeks preceding them.

Since the Roman annexation of Greece in 146 BC, the Greek language gradually  obtained a unique place in the Roman world, owing initially to the large number  of Greek slaves in Roman households. In Rome itself Greek became the second  language of the educated elite.It became the common language in the early Church (as its major centers in the early  Christian period were in the East), and the language of scholarship and the  arts.

However, due to the presence of other widely spoken languages in the densely  populated east, such as Coptic , Syriac , Armenian , Aramaic and Phoenician (which was also extensively spoken  in North Africa), Greek never took as strong a hold beyond Asia Minor (some  urban enclaves notwithstanding) as Latin eventually did in the west. This is  partly evident in the extent to which the derivative languages are spoken today.  Like Latin, the language gained a dual nature with the literary language, an Attic Greek variant, existing alongside spoken  language, Koine Greek , which evolved into Medieval or Byzantine Greek (Romaic).

By the 4th century AD, Greek no longer held such dominance over Latin in the  arts and sciences as it had previously, resulting to a great extent from the  growth of the western provinces. This was true also of Christian literature,  reflected, for example, in the publication in the early 5th century AD of the Vulgate Bible , the first officially accepted  Latin Bible . As the Western Empire declined , the number of people who spoke both  Greek and Latin declined as well, contributing greatly to the future East -West  / Orthodox -Catholic  cultural divide in Europe.

Important as both languages were, today the descendants of Latin are widely spoken in many  parts of the world, while the Greek dialects are limited mostly to Greece, Cyprus , and small enclaves in Turkey and Southern Italy (where the Eastern Empire retained control for several  more centuries). To some degree this can be attributed to the fact that the  western provinces fell mainly to "Latinised" Christian tribes whereas the eastern provinces  fell to Muslim Arabs and Turks for whom Greek held less cultural significance.

Culture

Life in the Roman Empire revolved around the city of Rome, and its famed seven hills . The city also had several theatres , gymnasia , and many taverns , baths and brothels . Throughout the territory under Rome's  control, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas , and in the capital city of Rome, to the residences on the  elegant Palatine Hill , from which the word "palace "  is derived. The vast majority of the population lived in the city centre, packed  into apartment blocks.

Most Roman towns and cities had a forum and temples, as did the city of Rome  itself. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban  centres[55]  and served as an avenue to import wine and oil from abroad. Landlords generally resided in  cities and their estates were left in the care of farm managers. To stimulate a  higher labour productivity, many landlords freed a large numbers of slaves. By  the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household slaves taught the Roman young  (sometimes even the girls). Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape  gardening on the Palatine or in the villas .

Many aspects of Roman culture were taken from the Etruscans and the Greeks . In architecture and sculpture , the difference between Greek models  and Roman paintings are apparent. The chief Roman contributions to architecture  were the arch and the dome.

Roman public baths (Thermae )  in Bath , England (Aquae  Sulis in the Roman province of Britannia ).

The centre of the early social structure was the family, which was not only  marked by blood relations but also by the legally  constructed relation of patria potestas. The Pater familias was the absolute head of the  family; he was the master over his wife, his children, the wives of his sons,  the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen, disposing of them and of their goods  at will, even putting them to death. Originally, only patrician aristocracy  enjoyed the privilege of forming familial clans, or gens , as legal  entities; later, in the wake of political struggles and warfare, clients were  also enlisted. Thus, such plebian gentes were the first formed, imitating  their patrician counterparts.

Slavery and slaves were part of the social  order; there were slave markets where they could be bought and  sold. Many slaves were freed by the masters for services rendered; some slaves  could save money to buy their freedom. Generally mutilation and murder of slaves was prohibited  by legislation. It is estimated that over 25% of the Roman population was  enslaved Professor Gerhard Rempel from the Western New England College claims that in the  city of Rome alone, during the Empire, there were about 400,000 slaves.

The city of Rome had a place called the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars"), which was a  sort of drill ground for Roman soldiers. Later, the Campus became Rome's track  and field playground. In the campus, the youth assembled to play and exercise,  which included jumping, wrestling , boxing and racing . Riding , throwing, and swimming were also  preferred physical activities.

In the countryside, pastimes also included fishing and hunting. Board games played in Rome included Dice (Tesserae or Tali ), Roman Chess (Latrunculi),  Roman Checkers (Calculi), Tic-tac-toe (Terni Lapilli), and Ludus duodecim scriptorum and Tabula,  predecessors of backgammon. There were several other activities to keep people  engaged like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances,

Clothing,  dining, and the arts Fresco of a Roman woman from Pompeii , c. AD 50.

Roman clothing fashions changed little from the late Republic to the end of  the Western empire 600 years later. The cloth and the dress distinguished one  class of people from the other class. The tunic worn by plebeians (common people) like shepherds and  slaves was made from coarse and dark material, whereas the tunic worn by patricians was of linen or white wool. A  magistrate would wear the tunica augusticlavi ; senators wore a tunic with  broad stripes, called tunica laticlavi . Military tunics were shorter than  the ones worn by civilians. Boys, up until the festival of Liberalia, wore the toga praetexta , which was a toga with a crimson or purple border. The toga virilis , (or toga pura ) was worn by men over the age of 16 to  signify their citizenship in Rome.

The toga picta was worn by triumphant generals and had embroidery of  their skill on the battlefield. The toga pulla was worn when in mourning.  Even footwear indicated a person's social status: patricians wore red and orange  sandals, senators had brown footwear, consuls had white shoes, and soldiers wore  heavy boots. Men typically wore a toga, and women a stola . The woman's stola looked  different from a toga, and was usually brightly coloured. The Romans also  invented socks for those soldiers required to fight on  the northern frontiers, sometimes worn in sandals.

In the later empire after Diocletian 's reforms, clothing worn by soldiers  and non-military government bureaucrats became highly decorated, with woven or  embroidered strips, clavi , and circular roundels, orbiculi , added  to tunics and cloaks. These decorative elements usually consisted of geometrical  patterns and stylised plant motifs, but could include human or animal figures.  The use of silk also increased steadily and most courtiers of the later empire  wore elaborate silk robes. Heavy military-style belts were worn by bureaucrats  as well as soldiers, revealing the general militarization of late Roman  government. Trousers-considered barbarous garments worn by Germans and  Persians-were only adopted partially near the end of the empire in a sign for  conservatives of cultural decay. Early medieval kings and aristocrats dressed  like late Roman generals, not like the older toga-clad senatorial tradition.

Roman fresco with banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti   (IX 12, 6-8) in Pompeii.

Romans had simple food habits. Staple food was simple, generally consumed at  around 11 o'clock, and consisted of bread, salad, cheese, fruits, nuts, and cold  meat left over from the dinner the night before. The Roman poet, Horace mentions another Roman favourite, the olive , in reference to his own diet, which he  describes as very simple: "As for me, olives, endives , and smooth mallows provide sustenance." The family ate  together, sitting on stools around a table. Fingers were used to eat solid foods  and spoons were used for soups.

Wine was considered a staple drink, consumed at all meals and occasions by  all classes and was quite cheap. Many types of drinks involving grapes and honey  were consumed as well. Drinking on an empty stomach was regarded as boorish and  a sure sign for alcoholism , whose debilitating physical and  psychological effects were known to the Romans. An accurate accusation of being  an alcoholic was an effective way to discredit political rivals.

Woman playing a kithara , a wall mural from Boscoreale , dated 40-30 BC

Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek  authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics telling  the early military history of Rome. As the empire expanded, authors began to  produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy. Virgil represents the pinnacle of Roman epic  poetry. His Aeneid tells the story of flight of Aeneas  from Troy and his settlement of the city that would  become Rome. The genre of satire was common in Rome, and satires were written  by, among others, Juvenal and Persius . Many Roman homes were decorated with  landscapes by Greek artists. Portrait sculpture during the period utilized  youthful and classical proportions, evolving later into a mixture of realism and  idealism. Advancements were also made in relief sculptures, often depicting  Roman victories.

Music was a major part of everyday life. The word itself derives from Greek μουσική (mousike ), "(art)  of the Muses ". Many private and public events were  accompanied by music, ranging from nightly dining to military parades and  maneuvers. In a discussion of any ancient music, however, non-specialists and  even many musicians have to be reminded that much of what makes our modern music  familiar to us is the result of developments only within the last 1,000 years;  thus, our ideas of melody, scales, harmony, and even the instruments we use  would not be familiar to Romans who made and listened to music many centuries  earlier.

Over time, Roman architecture was modified as their urban requirements  changed, and the civil engineering and building construction technology became developed and refined. The Roman concrete has remained a riddle, and even  after more than 2,000 years some Roman structures still stand magnificently.[76]  The architectural style of the capital city was emulated by other urban centres  under Roman control and influence.

Education

Following various military conquests in the Greek East , Romans adapted a number of Greek  educational precepts to their own system. Home was often the learning centre,  where children were taught Roman law , customs , and physical training to prepare the  boys for eventual recruitment into the Roman army . Conforming to discipline was a  point of great emphasis. Girls generally received instruction[78]  from their mothers in the art of spinning , weaving , and sewing .

Education nominally began at the age of six. During the next six to seven  years, both boys and girls were taught the basics of reading , writing and arithmetic . From the age of twelve, they would  be learning Latin , Greek , grammar and literature , followed by training for public speaking . Oratory was an art to be practised and learnt,  and good orators commanded respect. To become an effective orator was one of the  objectives of education and learning . In some cases, services of gifted  slaves were utilized for imparting education.

Economy

The invention and widespread application of hydraulic mining , namely hushing and ground-sluicing, aided by the  ability of the Romans to plan and execute mining operations on a large scale,  allowed various base and precious metals to be extracted on a proto-industrial  scale.

The annual total iron output is estimated at 82,500 t,  assuming a productive capacity of c. 1.5 kg per capita.[81] Copper was produced at an annual rate of  15,000 t, and lead at 80,000 t,[83]  both production levels not to be paralled until the Industrial Revolution ;[84]  Spain alone had a 40% share in world lead production. The high lead output was a  by-product of extensive silver mining which reached an amount of 200 t  per annum.[86]  At its peak around the mid-2nd century AD, the Roman silver stock is estimated  at 10,000 t, five to ten times larger than the combined silver mass of medieval Europe and the Caliphate around 800 AD. Any one of the Imperium' s most important mining provinces produced as much silver as the  contemporary Han empire as a whole, and more gold by an entire order of magnitude.

The high amount of metal coinage in circulation meant that more coined money  was available for trading or saving in the economy (monetization).

 Currency

The imperial government was, as all governments, interested in the issue and  control of the currency in circulation. To mint coins was an important political  act: the image of the ruling emperor appeared on most issues, and coins were a  means of showing his image throughout the empire. Also featured were  predecessors, empresses, other family members, and heirs apparent . By issuing coins with the image  of an heir his legitimacy and future succession was proclaimed and reinforced.  Political messages and imperial propaganda such as proclamations of victory and  acknowledgements of loyalty also appeared in certain issues.

Legally only the emperor and the Senate had the authority to mint coins  inside the empire. However the authority of the Senate was mainly in name only.  In general, the imperial government issued gold and silver coins while the  Senate issued bronze coins marked by the legend "SC" , short for Senatus Consulto "by decree of the Senate". However, bronze coinage could be  struck without this legend. Some Greek cities were allowed to mint[91]  bronze and certain silver coins, which today are known as Greek Imperials   (also Roman Colonials or Roman Provincials ). The imperial mints  were under the control of a chief financial minister, and the provincial mints  were under the control of the imperial provincial procurators. The Senatorial  mints were governed by officials of the Senatorial treasury.


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