6.8 Roman Cultural Beliefs and Values
The most important thing you can do to understand Roman architecture, sculpture and artifacts is to compile a list of the beliefs and values that influenced their culture and learn to apply them to the art. Look at these ideas and see if you can find them in the work or art you are analyzing. You will not be able to see all of these ideas in every work of art.
Basic beliefs of Roman culture:
- Strong respect for the past and aversion to change.
- Romans believed that innovation amounted to disrespect for their ancestors. Ancestral custom had to be respected, and reformers, such as the emperor Augustus, managed to phrase their reforms as return to something old, rather than something new.
- Each citizen of Rome had power or authority, that intangible quality that made others obey him. But the amount of authority depended on one’s social status and political standing.
- Romans were also known to be serious and determined rather than playful. Note the austere facial expressions of the portrait sculptures which conveyed their power and superiority to others.
- Roman culture was divided into two social classes: the patricians, defined as the descendants from the first one hundred senators appointed to the Roman aristocratic Senate by king Romulus, and the plebeians, that is, everyone who was not a patrician.
Roman cultural values:
Antiquarianism: It means looking to the past for truth. (Think “nostalgia”). We see evidence of this in the culture’s interest in copies of Classical art, architecture, theatre and philosophy.
Authoritarianism: Because the human authority figure is either divine, or a sanctioned representative of the divine, his or her power is unquestioned and immune to human judgment. This absolute authority tends to be reflected in the arts because that authority tends to be a major patron of those arts. Messages of power and propaganda, often displayed in fearful imagery, tend to show up in authoritarian cultures. Most of the cultural expression is in support of the authority.
Order: Truth is found in order. Systems become the authority. One of the cultures that best represent the value of order is the culture of the Romans. We see the creation of systems of law, roads, water, etc. These are what held the Roman Republic, and later the Empire, together when all else was faltering. The system of government that created the Senate maintained control even under such mad Emperors as Caligula. Order is a focus on setting up systems that will benefit the culture despite upheavals caused by individuals and circumstances. These orderly systems were what allowed Rome to rule a huge area that encompassed a large number of diverse cultures. The systems were what all had in common.
Utilitarianism: “Yes it is lovely but, what does it do? What is it good for?” These would be questions that a utilitarian culture would ask. Pragmatism is the key to Utilitarianism. This value focuses on the practical as opposed to the ideal.
Potential is NOT as important as what works. Utilitarianism can be seen in the multiple uses of Roman buildings as well as the building of tract homes today. Aesthetics is fine, but usefulness is key. When this value is present in a culture, Idealism (as an artistic style NOT value) tends to be used for propaganda purposes. Great examples are Alexander the Great’s idealized face on coins and the Roman tendency to idealize its emperors as a way of validating their rule. Examples of Roman utilitarianism include the building of aqueducts and baths, the inclusion of many entrances to the Colosseum, the development and use of concrete.
WORKS CONSULTED AND FURTHER READING:
Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. Religions of Rome (vol. 1 and vol. 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Boatwright, Mary, Daniel Gargola, Noel Lenski, and Richard Talbert. The Romans: From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. ———. The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150 – 750. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1989.
Cameron, Alan. The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Champlin, Edward. Nero. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2005.
Coarelli, Filippo. Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014. Faulkner, Neil. Rome: Empire of the Eagles, 753 BC – AD 476. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Flower, Harriet. Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
———. Roman Republics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Galinsky, Karl. Augustan Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Gruen, Erich. The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
Harper, Kyle. From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Meeks, Wayne. First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. Morgan, Gwyn. 69 AD: The Year of Four Emperors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Potter, David. Constantine the Emperor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
———. The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180 – 395. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Scullard, H. H. From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68. New York: Routledge, 1982. Southern, Pat. The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. San Francisco: Harper, 1997.
Syme, Ronald. The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 2002.
Wilken, Robert. The Christians as the Romans Saw Them. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
LINKS TO PRIMARY SOURCES
Caesar, Gallic Wars and Civil War http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Caesar/index.html
Cicero, First Oration Against Catiline http://www.bartleby.com/268/2/11.html
Etruscans (descriptions from Herodotus and Livy) http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/etrucans2.asp
Livy, The Rape of Lucretia and Roman way of declaring war http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/livy-rape.asp http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/650livy1-34.asp
Pliny, Correspondence with Trajan about Christians in Bithynia http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/pliny.html
Pliny, Letters https://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pliny-letters.asp
Polybius, Histories, Books I and VI http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/polybius6.asp
Polybius, Comparison of the Roman Maniple with Macedonian Phalanx http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/polybius-maniple.asp
Slavery in the Roman Republic: collected documents http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/slavery-romrep1.asp
Suetonius, Lives http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/suetonius-index.asp
Tacitus, Annals and Histories http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.html http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/histories.html
The Twelve Tables http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/twelve_tables.asp
Markets of Trajan https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ap-ancient-rome/v/markets-of-trajan
Column of Trajan https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ap-ancient-rome/v/column-of-trajan- completed-113-c-e
Augustus of Primaporta https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ap-ancient-rome/v/augustus-of- primaporta-1st-century-c-e-vatican-museums
Attribution:
Berger, Eugene; Israel, George; Miller, Charlotte; Parkinson, Brian; Reeves, Andrew; and Williams, Nadejda, “World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500” (2016). History Open Textbooks. 2.
