At the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, the formation of the imperial state organization was basically completed. In 96, the emperor Domitian from the Flavian dynasty was killed, causing hatred with his merciless reprisals against all people objectionable to him. The old senator Marcus Coccius Nerva, who was in disgrace, was proclaimed emperor. Nerva adopted and appointed as his successor a talented commander and administrator, a native of Spain, Trajan. Thus began the reign of the Antonine dynasty, coinciding with the time of the highest flowering of the empire and the beginning of its crisis. Repressions of the 1st century crushed all real and potential opposition. The Senate was replenished to a large extent at the expense of the provincial nobility, who received Roman citizenship. At first, it was dominated by people from the western provinces, and under the Antonines, the emperors began to widely include in the Senate and know the eastern regions. Many of these people then returned to the provinces where they were from, already as governors or other high officials of the provincial government; they became the main support of the emperor in the provinces.
During the Antonine period, a uniform system of empire management was created: the imperial council played the main role, where from the time of Hadrian (117-138), the third emperor of this dynasty, the most capable administrators, lawyers, etc. were appointed. control of all the inhabitants of the empire. Curators appeared in many self-governing cities and communities - Roman officials who monitored the financial affairs of these settlements. The central government interfered in all the details of local life. Freedmen, as well as people from the middle strata of the population of Italy and the provinces, went to the imperial service. For people who were on public service, a strict order of passing positions from the lowest to the highest was introduced. Each position corresponded to an honorary title: the most excellent husband, the most prominent husband, the brightest husband, etc.
The most important factor community development empire was the leveling of its constituent areas. In the period II - early III century. the position in the east and in the west is gradually equalized. In the western provinces, especially in Gaul, urban development is intensified; Gallic cities receive the rights of self-government like the Italian ones. The process continues (begun in the 1st century) of the distribution of the rights of Roman citizenship to the nobility of the western provinces, which occupies leadership positions in the cities, created according to Roman models. The position of the Romans is clearly expressed in the speech that Tacitus puts into the mouth of Cerialus, the Roman commander who suppressed the uprising in Gaul in 70. Cerialus says, referring to the representatives of the Gallic tribes: what is necessary to keep the peace... In all other respects you and I are equal: you command many of our legions, you govern the provinces, and these and others; there is nothing that would be available to us and inaccessible to you ... Love and protect the world, love and protect the City (i.e. Rome. - J.S.) which we all, victorious and vanquished alike, consider ours with equal rights. So, here the idea of a single state is expressed, where the provincials and the Romans are essentially equal. As for the taxes that were pumped out by this perfect bureaucratic apparatus, the imperial government sought to convince the population that they were levied for their own benefit, to maintain order and peace, the "Roman peace", pax romana, which was proclaimed greatest achievement empire. Peace meant an end to internal strife and extensive external conquest (which the Antonines had abandoned since the reign of Hadrian). It was a Roman world, that is, a general imperial one, since the empire became more and more united as a result of Romanization. In fact, appeasement, as the Soviet historian G.S. Knabe writes, “meant a widespread and deep monopolization of political decisions by the princeps and his inner circle and, accordingly, the separation of the people from politics, which ceased to be a close and vital matter for him” (Knabe G.S. Roman society during the Early Empire. - History of the ancient world, vol. 3, p. 84).
The urbanization and romanization of the western provinces was facilitated by the settlements of veterans: soldiers who had served their time received land allotments and formed settlements, which often turned into self-governing cities over time. Veterans who had undergone long training in the Roman army brought with them Roman customs, the Latin language of military commands, various cults that they met during campaigns and garrison service in various parts of the empire. Veterans were the real living force that contributed to the leveling of not only forms of government, but also the everyday life of the provinces. From the 2nd century and this leveling is beginning to be felt in the eastern provinces. It is difficult to find a city that would not have an amphitheater: at first they were built by the Romans (as a rule, priests of the imperial cult), but then they began to be built at the expense of the city treasury. Next to the ancient multi-columned temples, baths and triumphal arches like the Roman ones. The uniformity of life was the result not only of imitating the Romans, but also of the fact that all cities had the same governing bodies, the same social organizations, which the authorities, if not legally, then in fact, put under their control. Adrian legalized colleges, since it was no longer possible to fight private communities, but they acted under the supervision of city authorities or specially appointed overseers. So, in the Asia Minor city of Tiatira, the center of the dyeing craft, a certain Avrilius Artemidorus “supervised” the dyes, who at the same time held a senior position in the city government. They tried to involve members of the boards in the official activities of the city authorities. We have come down to joint decrees of city governments and craft unions, adopted in honor of various persons, mainly associated with the Roman administration. The same phenomena were observed in the western provinces. For example, the patron of the collegium of carpenters in Narbonne Gaul was a priest of the imperial cult, who, as the inscription in his honor says, performed "all the highest positions." So, a single "order" was to cover the entire social life of the Roman state, especially the life of cities.
In the region of Agriculture The 2nd century was the time of the spread of colonial relations; model statutes are developed, on the basis of which land is leased. Along with free peasant tenants, more and more slaves appeared on the estates of landowners, planted on the land, who cultivated small plots of land and paid dues to their master. Thanks to this form of exploitation, landowners got rid of the need to maintain an apparatus of overseers, and the slaves became interested in the results of their labor. There was a convergence of the position of such slaves and columns. According to the instructions of Roman lawyers, a slave who found himself in the position of a column could not be torn off the ground, he was no longer included in the "inventory of the estate", that is, he ceased to be considered a thing. From the 2nd century And. e. the blurring of sharp distinctions between slaves and free workers, which began earlier, penetrates into the realm of law and social psychology. A number of laws are being issued that prohibit the arbitrariness of masters in relation to slaves: Emperor Hadrian forbade masters to kill their slaves; the misdeeds of the slaves were to be judged by the ordinary court. His successor Antoninus Pius equated the responsibility for killing one's own slave with the responsibility for killing someone else's slave. All these laws expressed, on the one hand, a general tendency to mitigate slavery (which was an expression of the crisis of the slave-owning economy), and on the other hand, the desire of the state to regulate all aspects of the life of its subjects, including relations between the master and his property - the slave; slaves now became directly subordinate to the higher - in comparison with the power of the master - the power of the divine emperor.
To a lesser extent, the leveling affected rural areas, where a community of farmers with their own customs and beliefs was preserved (both in the east and in the west). Community organizations played an essential role in the preservation of the peasantry. The community, of course, could not stop the process of ruin of farmers due to tax oppression, abuses of imperial officials, but it slowed it down, helping its members, in particular, at the expense of the communal fund of lands. As F. Engels points out, in the Roman Empire the class of the free peasantry “was least of all affected by the social upheaval; he also resisted the religious upheaval the longest." (Marx K., Engels F. Soch., vol. 19, p. 311). But also in the communities during the II century. a uniform system of government began to take shape with a hierarchy of elected posts dependent on superior imperial or city officials. Many rural communities ended up on the lands of emperors and their entourage; the position of such community members was reminiscent of the position of the columns.
The stabilization of the economy, the development of colonial relations, the construction of roads contributed to the development of crafts and trade, but the well-being of the empire was fragile. Small farming, although it created the illusion of independence for the slaves and tenants planted on the land, could not provide a sufficient level of agricultural production. Any natural disaster, fluctuation in grain prices threatened farmers with famine and ruin. In the II century. colon arrears in cash payments have increased so much that there is a transition - almost universal - to the collection of quitrents in kind. Difficulties with food supply had a severe impact on the increased artisan population of cities. The inclusion of colleges in official life could not stop the performances of artisans. At the end of the II century. there was an unrest among the bakers of Ephesus, about which the governor of the province of Asia himself investigated. His decision was carved in stone and exhibited in many cities of this province as a warning to others. In the decision of the proconsul (viceroy), bakers were accused of "daring speeches" in the market; they were forbidden to come together. There are known riots in Athens, which were also staged by bakers, as well as performances by construction workers in the city of Pergamon. The intervention of the central government stopped these disturbances, but, of course, did not eliminate their causes.
Throughout the Early Empire, the social struggle in the provinces continued, sometimes growing, sometimes subsiding. Leveling political and public life meant the destruction of tribal ties and customs. The population of many regions of the empire advocated the preservation of these customs. One of the most grandiose uprisings of the II century. there was an uprising in Judea that broke out in 132. The reason for the uprising was the decision of the emperor Hadrian to found a Roman colony on the site of Jerusalem called Elia Capitolina; Jews were forbidden to perform certain religious rites. The uprising was led by Simon ben Koseba, who declared himself the messiah, "God's anointed" and took the name Bar Kokhba - the Son of the Star. Bar Kokhba was supported mainly by the Palestinian poor. The Jewish priesthood did not recognize him and gave him the contemptuous nickname Bar-Kozba - the Son of Lies. The rebels unfolded the real guerrilla war; they managed to take Jerusalem. Palestinian Christians at first joined the uprising: they believed that this was the beginning of the "end of the world." However, Christians, as already mentioned, did not want to call Bar Kochba the messiah: they believed in only one messiah - Jesus; disagreements began between them and the supporters of Bar Kokhba, and the Christians moved away from the rebels.
Selected Roman legions drawn from various provinces of the empire were sent to suppress the uprising. The emperor himself came to observe military operations. In 135 the Romans took Jerusalem; Bar Kokhba was killed. The consequences of this uprising were disastrous for the Jews: they were evicted from Jerusalem and its environs; they were forbidden on pain of death to approach the city more than once a year. A Roman colony was founded in Jerusalem, and a temple to Capitoline Jupiter was erected on the site of the temple of Yahweh. In fact, this meant the completion of the Jewish dispersion and the persecution throughout the empire of the Jews who performed their religious rites. And although Adrian's successor Antoninus Pius somewhat softened the religious policy of his predecessor and allowed the Jews to perform their rites, there could no longer be any talk of their return to their homeland.
The defeat of the Bar Kochba uprising had a huge impact on Christians: it accelerated their final break with Judaism; isolated the Jewish Christians, whom neither Christians nor Jews now considered as their own; showed the futility of the struggle with imperial Rome; hopes for an early end of the world, which were revived during the uprisings, were once again deceived ...
But the hopes for the coming of better times were deceived not only among Christians. In the 1st century certain segments of the population of the empire still had the illusion of the possibility of the emergence of a "noble ruler" who would respect republican freedoms and stop repressions. Under Emperor Trajan, Tacitus, who witnessed the cruel repressions of Domitian, wrote with hope that now everyone can think what he wants and say what he thinks. But it soon became clear that essentially nothing had changed. The new emperors did not resort to mass repression, but those whom they considered dangerous were dealt with no less cruelly. Hadrian, for example, began his reign by executing four prominent associates of his predecessor. The emperors no longer encouraged denunciations, but most of the people who made their career thanks to denunciations remained in their former places. Pliny the Younger describes in one of his letters an expressive episode at a feast at the emperor Nerva, when one of the most disgusting scammers during the reign of Domitian was reclining near the emperor himself, almost embracing him ... The Antonines only strengthened and improved the system of governing the empire, but, in fact, , everything remains the same.
The strengthening of the empire, the leveling of the forms of social life meant the final elimination of polis traditions, polis psychology. Even the Romans no longer felt like a special group, towering over other peoples: people from the provinces received citizenship rights, married Roman women, took seats in the senate and the imperial council. Rome ceased to be a civil community, it became the capital of a huge empire with the same motley population as the population of the entire state. And the completion of this process was the granting in 212 by the emperor Caracalla of the rights of Roman citizenship to the entire free population of the empire. The emperor, apparently, sought to unify the system of taxation in this way. It is characteristic that this seemingly important edict was hardly noticed by contemporaries. If among the wealthy part of the urban population, among people associated with the provincial administration, after the edict of Caracalla, many began to take Roman names (as a sign of Roman citizenship), then in small towns and in the countryside, few people took seriously the fact that from now on you can wear ancient Roman the generic name Aurelius (since that was the generic name of the emperor who gave them citizenship), and most people continued to be called by their usual names.
The "Roman peace" was relatively short-lived. Already under the last Antonines, incursions into the territory of the empire of the Germanic tribes began. Rome began a long and hopeless struggle with the barbarians. Here and there riots and riots broke out, the composition of their participants was motley. Emperor Commodus (180-192), the last of the Antonines, again resorted to executions and again, like the emperors of the 1st century, fell victim to a conspiracy. The stability of the empire turned out to be illusory. The events that unfolded after the death of Commodus showed the complete decay - moral and political - of the people who were in power. His successor Pertinax was assassinated after 87 days of reign. The same people who had proclaimed Pertinax emperor turned against him as soon as he tried to cut costs and rein in the Praetorian Guard. Having finished with Pertinax, the Praetorians undertook an unheard-of action: they announced that they would sell the imperial title to the one who offered the most for it! The halo of holiness and legality was completely torn from the imperial power. True, the emperor, who bought power at auction, did not last long. A new period of struggle for the imperial throne began, the outcome of which was decided by the armies stationed in the provinces; each of them sought to proclaim their protege emperor. In the III century. a protracted crisis engulfed the entire empire: emperors succeeded one another, individual provinces proclaimed their own emperors (this was the case, in particular, in Gaul), large landowners did not obey the central government, officials robbed the population. Workers fled from the imperial lands to the lands of large landowners, who protected them from state officials, preferring not to share the results of their labor with the state; also fled to hard-to-reach mountainous areas or in the desert. In the III century. uprisings of slaves and columns break out both in the western and eastern provinces.
In the west of the empire, the situation was aggravated by continuous barbarian invasions; in the east, it was threatened by the Persians. The provinces themselves organized resistance to the barbarians, often disregarding the orders issued by the emperor. Gaul in the 3rd century the largest uprising raged, which went down in history under the name of the uprising of the Bagauds (fighters); the sources also mention a slave uprising in Sicily; in Rome itself in the third century. unrest began at the mint, which spread to the city; in order to suppress this uprising, an army of almost ten thousand had to be used.
F. Engels characterizes the society and the state of the Roman Empire during the period of decline in the following way: “The Roman state turned into a gigantic complex machine exclusively for sucking the juices out of its subjects. Taxes, state duties and all sorts of exactions plunged the mass of the population into ever deeper poverty; this oppression was intensified and made unbearable by the extortion of governors, tax collectors, and soldiers. This is what the Roman state came to with its world domination: it based its right to existence on the maintenance of order within and on protection from barbarians from without; but its order was worse than the worst disorder, and the barbarians, from whom it undertook to protect citizens, were expected by the latter as saviors. (Marx K., Engels F. Soch., vol. 21, p. 147).
At the end of the III century. succeeded in temporarily stabilizing the domestic political situation. This was achieved largely due to the fact that Diocletian (an Illyrian by birth, the son of a freedman) who came to power established an open monarchical system of government - dominat (from the Latin "dominus" - "master"). But the stabilization was short-lived. The onslaught of the barbarians did not weaken, the empire was losing one region after another. At the end of the IV century. there was an official division of the empire into Eastern and Western, and in the 5th century. The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, and barbarian kingdoms arose in its place.
Changes in the social structure of the II-III centuries. could not but influence social psychology and ideology of various sections of the population of the empire. It was a time of crisis and elimination of the ancient worldview based on the idea of the reasonableness of the world order. To people of all backgrounds and positions, the world began to seem the embodiment of evil and injustice. The mass consciousness of that time was characterized by belief in witchcraft, magic, soothsayers, passionate hopes for a miracle. The collapse of collective - social and family - ties led to the fact that people tried to determine their place in the world by establishing "personal contacts" with supernatural forces. A huge number of not only preachers, but also “miracle workers” appeared. This socio-psychological situation is well illustrated by the fate of two people who were described by the famous satirist of the 2nd century. Lucian. One of them is Alexander, called a false prophet by Lucian. According to Lucian, he appeared in Asia Minor and declared himself a soothsayer. As Lucian writes, he prophesied with great skill, possessing more than imagination and ingenuity: to some he gave answers ambiguous and indefinite, to others - completely unintelligible. His fame spread throughout Asia Minor and reached Italy. Many noble Romans turned to him for divination, and one of them even married, in obedience to Alexander's prediction, his daughter. Over time, Alexander declared himself a deity. But after his death, his veneration ceased: he acted alone and did not create any religious group.
Alexander in the image of Lucian is an obvious charlatan. But the biography of another preacher - the wandering philosopher Peregrine - is more complicated. Peregrine moved from city to city, adjoining one or the other religious groups. During his wanderings, Lucian reports, Peregrine met with Christians, “became both a prophet, and the head of the community, and the leader of the meetings - in a word, one was everything. As for books, he interpreted, explained them, and composed many himself. For his commitment to Christianity, Peregrine was imprisoned, but then released. Subsequently, Peregrine had a conflict with Christians, and he began to preach on his own. While in Rome, he attacked the emperor, for which he was expelled from the capital; in Greece he tried to persuade the Greeks to revolt against the Romans. In the end, Peregrine committed suicide in public: he lit a large fire and threw himself into it. Before his death, he declared that he was doing this in order to teach people to despise death and courageously endure misfortune. Peregrine is a wandering lone philosopher who has lost contact with his homeland and at the same time seeks to get in touch with people, to unite them around him. His suicide was both an act of desperation and an expression of a kind of vain desire to finally attract the attention of people who did not listen to him, but whom he needed. And in a sense, he was not mistaken: his death made a much greater impression than his sermons. Immediately there was talk of miracles. Someone said that he himself saw Peregrine after being burned in a wreath of sacred olive and in white clothes: people so wanted to believe that martyrdom leads to immortality. This story shows that Christians no longer stood alone: they were joined and left by people who preached similar ideas, bringing them into Christianity and, in turn, borrowing something from it.
Among the masses of the empire II-III centuries. various unofficial religious unions spread, revering one deity, which in their eyes was one and all-powerful. In different provinces one can find dedications to the “God of the Most High”, “God of the Nameless”; many people worshiped the sun and various solar deities. From Asia Minor to Britain, one could meet worshipers of the Iranian solar god Mithra, whose cult began to spread as early as the 1st century BC. Some scholars call Mithraism a rival to Christianity. The main holiday of Mitra (also called the Invincible Sun) was the day of the winter solstice - December 25, which was then transformed by Christians into the feast of the Nativity of Christ. In the III century. even some Roman emperors revered the Invincible Sun and patronized this cult. In its origin and character, Mithraism was closer to the traditional beliefs of the population of the empire than Christianity: there was no strict monotheism in Mithraism. But it was precisely this similarity with the ancient polytheistic religions that were losing popularity, as well as the greater isolation of the Mithraic communities compared to Christianity (to get there, one had to pass special tests) that did not allow Mithraism to turn into a world religion. An important role here was played by the fact that only men were accepted into the communities of Mitra worshipers. Probably, quite a few Mithraists entered Christian communities over time, introducing their ideas and some rituals into them.
The II-III centuries were a time when the crisis of the former, traditional orders was not only felt by the lower classes of the population, but also realized by the educated elite of society, which tried to find a solution to insoluble problems in the field of philosophy. The last representatives of Roman stoicism still believed in the rationality of Nature, but they also believed that the life of a particular person is evil and therefore it is necessary to part with it without regret. In this regard, the figure of Marcus Aurelius (161-180) is characteristic. last emperor from the Antonine dynasty. He was a philosopher by vocation, tried to follow his ideals, but it was under him that the first signs of the crisis of the empire appeared. In his essay “Alone with Myself” (another translation is “To Myself”), he wrote: “Time human life- moment; its essence is an eternal flow; feeling vague; the structure of the whole body is perishable; the soul is mysterious; glory is unreliable ... Life is a struggle and wandering in a foreign land; posthumous glory - oblivion. But what can lead to the path? Nothing but philosophy” (II, 17). So, even in the imperial palace, ideas about the frailty of life and the aimlessness of striving for glory penetrated. But traditional philosophy also could not answer the questions that worried people of that time. Not without reason, since the II century. significant development reaches a skeptical direction in philosophy, whose supporters denied the possibility of comprehending the truth. Skeptics called all the positive positions of philosophy dogmas and fought against "dogmatic" philosophy.
The new philosophical systems that spread in the empire were characterized by the interpenetration of mythology and philosophy: mythical images were abstracted in them, and abstract concepts acted as acting entities in themselves. Some of these constructions were not designed for their logical understanding: they had to be perceived as an integral image, as a picture, behind which the incomprehensible essence of the cosmos is hidden. Many of these idealistic teachings of late antiquity undoubtedly influenced the formation of Christian theology.
Among these, one should include the one that took shape in the 3rd century. Neoplatonism. The Neoplatonists tried to overcome the so tragically felt gap between the world of ideals and the world of reality, between the subjective and the objective. They taught that the world comes into being through the successive emanations (outflows) of the absolute deity, which is pure light. Evil is only a transient, temporary imperfection associated with the remoteness of the material world from the world soul, generated by the absolute deity. The souls of people belong partly to the divine world, partly to the material world, but even in earthly life a person can discover the deity in his soul through a special non-rational spiritual contemplation. The souls of such people after death are united with the deity, and the souls of the rest are reborn to bodily life in a new guise. In Neoplatonism, magical ideas, divination, and the doctrine of demons played an important role. Over time, these elements begin to occupy the main place in it. The ancient rationalistic philosophy is being replaced by a kind of philosophy of revelation.
The doctrine of the logos, created as early as the 1st century BC, is gaining ground. n. e. Philo of Alexandria, who sought to combine Jewish doctrine with Greek idealist philosophy. At the center of his teaching was the concept of the Logos, which then played an important role in various areas of Christian theology. God, according to the teachings of Philo, does not have any qualities, has no extension in time and space. The mediator between this absolute and the world is the Word, the Mind of God - the Logos. Below it are the "powers of God", influencing the cosmos and man. Through the Logos, man can achieve union with the deity. The concept of the Logos (Divine mind) was also present in the teachings of the worshipers of Hermes the Thrice Greatest (Trismegistus), who considered the world to be evil, created not by a deity, but by demonic forces. The doctrine of the Logos was reflected in New Testament literature (probably not directly through the writings of Philo of Alexandria, but under the influence of the Gnostic teachings that arose within and alongside Christianity). The Gospel of John begins like this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Among the religious and philosophical groups that were directly adjacent to Christianity, penetrating into it and competing with it, there were groups of Gnostics (from the Greek word "gnosis" - "knowledge"). The Gnostics also considered the world to be an evil created by various demons; but man (in any case, the chosen people) has not only a body and soul, but also a spirit consubstantial with the absolute deity. The purpose of existence is to awaken ecstatic (not rational) knowledge of the deity and connect your spirit with the world spirit. The teaching of the Gnostics was exclusively individualistic: the path to the deity was based for them on personal intuition. Gnostics associated with Christians, or Christians associated with Gnostics, perceived the mission of Jesus as a revelation that helps people who have "spirit" in them to gain insight.
Such religious and philosophical teachings were not and could not be of a mass nature: their complexity, sometimes deliberately, fenced off from the surrounding society (all such groups kept their rituals, spells, magic formulas in secret), the undeveloped ethical norms that people so needed in the decaying ancient world - all this hampered the wide dissemination of the teachings of the Hermetists, Gnostics, Orphics, etc. But the very abundance of such religious and philosophical groups shows in what direction the spiritual searches in the Roman Empire of the II-III centuries went, covering both the top and the bottoms of society. Philosophers are driven out by "wonderworkers". Their popularity and influence is fueled by a shared thirst for the miraculous, all the more intense the more difficult and precarious everyday life was in the crisis-ridden Roman Empire. It is not surprising that it was the II-III centuries that became the centuries of the spread of Christianity throughout the territory of a huge power and in all social strata.
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General History [Civilization. Modern Concepts. Facts, events] Dmitrieva Olga Vladimirovna
Early Roman Empire (1st–2nd centuries)
The principate of Octavian Augustus (27-14 BC) was the time to eliminate the crisis in the Roman state, to revive economic ties Italy with the provinces, the stabilization of its foreign policy position. The successors of power from the Julius dynasty founded by Octavian Augustus Claudius - Tiberius (14-37), Caligula (37-41), Claudius (41-54) and Nero (54-68) tried, and at first pores not without success, to continue its activities. The trend in the development of the empire, which consisted in strengthening the monarchical power, while relying on provincial slavery, in which Rome and the Italics gradually lost their economic and political privileges, manifested itself more and more clearly in politics.
Tiberius, who at the beginning of his reign managed to suppress the rebellion of the Roman legionnaires, had no choice but to try to strengthen his monarchical power without violating peaceful relations with the senate. Many functions of the emperor were transferred to the senate. However, the senators did not like the desire to strengthen the provinces and establish strict order in them and provoked their opposition speeches. Tiberius responded to this with repression, which was the reason for his elimination. The successor of Tiberius, nicknamed Caligula, was a very unbalanced person with despotic manners. He demanded divine honors for himself, spent huge amounts of money to arrange his luxurious courtyard. To this end, he went to the confiscation of the property of the nobility and open robbery of the provinces.
The successful attempt on the life of the extravagant princeps was greeted by representatives of the Senate opposition as a liberation from tyranny. The protracted debate in the Senate about the heir to power was interrupted by the Praetorians. They forced them to recognize their chosen one - the aged Claudius, a relative of Caligula - as the new ruler of the empire. During the period of his principate, the bureaucracy was significantly strengthened, imperial chancelleries were created, the staff of which was headed by rich and therefore omnipotent freedmen. The policy of pressure on senators was continued. Important changes also took place in relations with the provinces. In 48, the richest Gallic slave owners received the right to be elected to the Roman Senate. This was the impetus for the generous granting of the rights of Roman citizenship to the provincials. Pressed by the provincial nobility, the Roman Senate oligarchy was indignant. Under these conditions, Nero, who instead of Claudius poisoned at the feast by the Praetorians, was proclaimed emperor, inspired the Senate nobility with hopes for the restoration of its power and significance.
The fall of Nero resulted in a fierce civil war, which manifested the desire of individual Roman armies to nominate their pretender to the vacant throne, as well as the desire of the provincial nobility to support the candidate for power closest to their interests. During the civil war of 68-69. it became clear that the emperor could be proclaimed not only in Rome, but the provincial nobility was so strong that they could nominate their protege and successfully fight for him.
As a result of the struggle between the commanders, Vespasian Flavius, an experienced military leader, won. He did not belong to the circles of the Roman aristocracy, so the Roman legions operating in Judea, as well as the slave-owning nobility of the Hellenized cities of the East, became his support. The coming to power of Vespasian meant not only a change ruling dynasty, but also the further expansion of the social base of the empire at the expense of provincial slave owners. He became the founder of a new dynasty of Roman emperors - the Flavians, who ruled from 69 to 96.
Vespasian assumed power at a difficult time. The treasury was empty. Revolts raged in the empire. Seeking the support of slave owners, the emperor acted with great caution. He managed to suppress the uprising in Judea and Gaul. The strictest economy was introduced in the financial sphere. In order to enlist the support of the provincials in his actions, Vespasian grants the rights of Latin citizenship to many provincial cities. In 73, he reorganizes the Senate. About a thousand large slave-owners of Gaul and Spain moved to Rome and filled up the senate. Thus, gradually the Roman Empire turned into an object of domination by the slave-owning nobility of the entire Mediterranean.
Vespasian's successors, Titus (79-81) and Domitian (81-96), continued the policy of the founder of the new dynasty. Its last representative, Domitian, systematically limited the influence of the senate, relying on the provincial nobility, the army and the Roman horsemanship. For the first time, he ordered himself to be called "master and god." His authoritarian ways led to him being assassinated by the conspirators and damned by the senate.
This time, the Senate has already announced its princeps - the elderly aristocrat Nerva. Having no support among the army leaders, he was forced to appoint as his heir a native of Spain, an experienced commander Trajan. The dynasty that replaced the Flavius and ruled from 96 to 192 was called the Antonines (after one of its representatives, Emperor Antoninus Pius). It should be noted that it was during the reign of the Antonins that the political order was finally formed, which fully corresponded to the interests of the provincial nobility. During the period of the Principate of Trajan (98-177), the empire reached its highest power. In the course of two difficult wars, Dacia was conquered. Success accompanied Trajan in campaigns to the East, as a result of which the Parthians suffered several defeats. Trajan reached the Persian Gulf, but the news of uprisings in the provinces forced him to abandon the consolidation of his victories. On the way back to Rome, he died. In the region of domestic policy Trajan still showed concern for provincial slave owners. However, as the economy developed in the provinces, the economic and political importance of Italy itself steadily declined. All attempts to stop the degradation of small and medium Italian landownership were unsuccessful.
Trajan's successor, Emperor Hadrian (117-138), in order to strengthen the borders of the empire and preserve what he had conquered, was forced to abandon the policy of broad military conquests. At the same time, he strengthened his monarchical power, relying on a powerful bureaucratic apparatus. All his actions faced the traditional discontent of the senatorial aristocracy, but its resistance became more and more passive. The only thing that the senators could do was to refuse to deify the emperor after death, although, starting from Octavian Augustus, all the late princeps received this right.
Antoninus Pius (138-161), who succeeded Hadrian, very easily overturned this decision of the Senate, which once again testified to the weakness of the Senate opposition. It is generally accepted that the reign of Antoninus Pius is the period of the highest economic rise of the Roman Mediterranean power, whose economy was already based on intensive municipal life and the growth of the economic opportunities of the provinces. However, this prosperity did not last long. The symptoms of the crisis gradually increased. They manifested themselves most clearly during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The unfavorable foreign policy situation (danger of invasion from the Germans in the north and the Parthians in the east), natural disasters and epidemics within the country exhausted the forces of the state. Unrest grew in the richest provinces (in Gaul, Egypt and Syria), the Roman army with difficulty restrained the onslaught of the barbarians and suppressed uprisings in the provinces. The impending crisis may also be evidenced by the fact that the authorities were forced to force the captured barbarians to cultivate the lands of the depopulated northern provinces in the position of Roman columns.
During the reign of the last emperor from the Antonine dynasty - Commodus (180-192) - tendencies towards despotism were most clearly manifested. He demanded his deification during his lifetime, encouraged the spread of Middle Eastern cults in the west of the empire, and sought to establish unlimited autocratic power without regard to the interests of the senatorial aristocracy. This was the reason for the conspiracy of 192, as a result of which Commodus was killed.
The specific form of monarchical power, established in the form of a principate by Octavian Augustus, at first fully met the economic and political needs of the population of the vast Roman Mediterranean power. Now slaveholding relations developed on a broader basis within the entire Mediterranean. New regions of the state were included in the orbit of developed slavery, as a result of which, by the 2nd century. n. e. the economy of the empire continues to develop in an ascending line. However, the movement of the centers of economic life from Italy to the provinces became a symptom of an impending crisis that soon struck first Italy, and then the whole empire.
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author Connolly PeterThe Roman Empire. Rome from 140 BC to 200 AD Introduction In the second half of the II century. BC. Rome annexed new territories. Significantly strengthened his position in Spain, North Africa and Greece, and the conquest of southern Gaul made it possible to secure the land route to Spain.
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From the book Rome and its Enemies [Carthaginians, Greeks and Barbarians] written by Penrose JanePART 3 THE EARLY EMPIRE 27 BC e. - 235 AD
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From the book General History. History ancient world. 5th grade author Selunskaya Nadezhda Andreevna§ 51. Early empire. The First Emperors The reign of Augustus The Roman people rejoiced at the end of the civil wars. But everyone understood that now peace and prosperity would depend not on the consuls and the senate, but on the will of one person. This man was Augustus, the first Roman
Early Roman Empire (1st-2nd centuries AD) Principate
| Parameter name | Meaning |
| Article subject: | Early Roman Empire (1st-2nd centuries AD) Principate |
| Rubric (thematic category) | History |
The era of the Civil Wars. Fall of the Roman Republic.
Economics and social Relations in the Roman Republic in the 2nd century. position in the Roman provinces.
Punic Wars
Punic Wars 264-146 BC e., aggressive wars between Carthage and Ancient Rome for dominance, first in Sicily, and then throughout the Western Mediterranean. The name of the wars is due to the fact that the Romans called the Carthaginians Punians. There were 3 P. in total. Main the cause of the war was the struggle for Sicily. The reason for it was the arose in 264 BC. e. conflict over Sicilian ᴦ. Messana, captured by rebellious Syracusan mercenaries (Mamertines). The ruler of Syracuse, wanting to return the city, began a war. actions against the Mamertines, who turned to Rome and Carthage for help at the same time. Between those who arrived in Sicily, Rome. and Carthage, the troops clashed, marking the beginning of the war. actions. The Romans defeated the Carthaginians and captured Messana (264). In 263 Syracuse became an ally of Rome.
The 1st Punic War lasted 23 years, starting from 264 ᴦ. BC e., and ended with the defeat of Carthage. Rome turned Sicily into its province-subordinate region. At the same time, the power of Carthage was not broken, and both sides were preparing for new fights. 2nd Punic War 218-201 BC Carthage has the famous commander Hannibal. He crossed the Alps with huge losses, won the battle of Cannes, but did not go further to Rome, and was soon forced to return to Carthage. (After the defeat at Cannes, the Romans avoided decisive battles - the war became protracted. Young and the gifted Roman commander Scipio, who fought victoriously against the Carthaginians in Spain for five years, put forward a bold plan to capture the enemy capital and landed in Africa.After 15 years of war in Italy, without experiencing a single defeat, Hannibal was forced to rush to the defense of Carthage.) The Battle of Zama -202 ᴦ. Roman victory. Scipio was named African. (1. Carthage was deprived of all its possessions outside Africa; 2. Carthage gives the Romans its fleet; 3. Contribution.)
The shortest was the 3rd Punic War (149-146 BC), during which Carthage, after a long siege, was taken, looted, burned and, by order of the Roman Senate, wiped off the face of the earth.
As a result of the Punic Wars and other military campaigns, the Roman community greatly expanded its land holdings, resulting in new forms of economic activity. Many conquered and confiscated lands were marginal and, both for the government and for the peasant colonists, could become too expensive a pleasure. For this reason, the ruling class opened up space for private entrepreneurship: those who wished were given the opportunity to develop vacant land on the condition that they annually contribute to the treasury a tithe from sowing, one-fifth from plantings and a collection from the number of cattle heads driven out to pastures. The consequence of this process was such phenomena as the growth of large landownership, the growth in the number of landless people who made up the army of farm laborers, and the emergence of such a major social and economic factor as slave ownership: imported slaves as a result of conquests.
In the II century. BC. in Rome, latifundia arose - large, mainly cattle-breeding, farms of the Roman nobility, based on slave labor.
Although by the end of the II century. BC. Rome and turned into a great world power, it tended to decline, because with the development of large-scale landownership, which used colossally developed slave labor, the factor on which the state had long relied was fundamentally destroyed: the economy of small landowners. In all branches of activity, the labor of slaves was used, who were engaged in crafts, managed large enterprises of their masters, taught children, and managed banking operations. Their number was huge, and the situation was extremely difficult. From the beginning of the II century. BC. slave uprisings are continuously taking place in Italy: 134-132 rᴦ. BC. - uprising in Sicily, over 20,000 people were executed, 73-71 gᴦ. BC. - an uprising led by Spartacus, more than 6,000 people were executed.
At the same time, the threat to the state was not in slave riots, but in the fall of the class of small owners, which developed in parallel with the strengthening of slavery. The Roman government always supported smallholder ownership by distributing newly acquired land to the poor, however, after the Punic Wars, this process slowed down and the number of full Roman citizens decreased.
In the middle of the 1st c. BC. republican Rome is facing collapse: it is shaken by uprisings in the conquered provinces, heavy wars in the East, civil wars in Rome itself.
The civil wars in Rome are a vivid manifestation class struggle(between large landowners-slaveowners and small producers, as well as between various groupings of dominions, class) in the slave-owning society of Rome.
The first outbreaks of civil wars can be considered separate episodes of the struggle during the agrarian reforms of the Gracchi (133 and 123-122 BC)
Particularly wide range of civil. wars reach during clashes between the supporters of Gaius Marius and Cornelius Sulla (88-82 BC) in the First Civil War of Sulla 88-87 BC. e. and during the Second Civil War of Sulla 83-82 BC. e., victories in both were won by supporters of Sulla.
In 82 ᴦ. BC. the commander Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC) established his sole power and for the first time proclaimed himself a dictator for an indefinite period. His dictatorship was aimed at overcoming the state crisis in Rome. But in 79 ᴦ. BC. he admitted that he had not achieved his goal and resigned.
Civil wars were also serious during the period of the struggle of Julius Caesar and Pompey for dictatorship (49-45 BC), which ended with the victory of Caesar, as well as in the era of the second triumvirate (43-30 BC), when there was a struggle for throne between Caesar's heirs. Ultimately, Egypt was annexed to Rome and placed under the personal control of the emperor, who acted here as the successor to the Ptolemies.
The civil wars that lasted for decades were over, but Octavian's victory in these wars at the same time meant the final fall of the republic.
The Roman Republic fell because it was a state form that developed on the basis of a city-state and which could not ensure the interests of wide circles of slave owners within the framework of a vast empire and in the face of aggravated contradictions between slaves and free, poor and rich, full-fledged and disenfranchised.
At 43 ᴦ. BC. Mark Antony (83-30 BC), Octavian (63 BC - 14 AD), Lepidus (about 89-13 BC) entered into an alliance, finally defeated the Republicans and divided into 42 ᴦ. BC. among themselves the Roman Empire. At the same time, striving for personal power, Antony and Octavian in 31 ᴦ. started a new civil war, which ended in the victory of Octavian, who received the title of Augustus from the Senate and proclaimed from 27 BC. emperor. Octavian was endowed with the right of a tribune, commander of all troops and even a high priest.
Augustus ruled for a long time (27 BC - 14 AD) and brought Caesar's reform to the end. He left a huge Roman Empire, the possessions of which stretched to Armenia and Mesopotamia, to the Sahara and the shores of the Red Sea.
Augustus and his successors put an end to the uprisings and civil wars, limited the robbery of the provinces. The August peace is coming for two centuries of peace and stability unprecedented in the history of ancient Rome.
The state system was officially called a republic, and the supreme ruler was a princeps (from the Latin princeps the first), that is, the first citizen or the first senator (hence the name of the political system of this era, the principate).
In the Age of the Principate, the Roman conquests ended. The state has reached its maximum limits. At the beginning of the 2nd century, Dacia was the last to conquer (modern.
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Romania). The cessation of conquests led to 2 consequences:
1) Rome is forced to go on the defensive of confrontations with the barbarians
2) The influx of cheap labor has sharply decreased
In the empire, city life is flourishing, old cities of the ancient type are growing, new cities of the ancient type are growing, relations of classical slavery, ancient orders, customs and culture are spreading.
In the II century. AD, which is called the golden age of the Roman Empire, it reaches its highest power and prosperity. But already in the III century. AD The Roman Empire was in crisis. She was on the verge of death and decay.
Early Roman Empire (I-II centuries AD) Principate - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Early Roman Empire (I-II centuries AD) Principate" 2014, 2015.
The economy at the villa gradually became more complex and improved, the requirements for the quality of commercial products were constantly growing, and with them the need for qualified initiative workers increased. But to force them to work not out of fear, but out of conscience, is not...
BOOK THREE If I am ashamed to hear something shameful about our generation, then it is even more annoying to write about it myself. Therefore, I assumed, without in any way neglecting the command maliciously given to me, when the desired end of the second book came, that would complete my work .... .
3.1. Characteristics of the period of the Roman Empire
After 23 BC Octavian Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) received the title of emperor and from that moment the Roman Republic becomes the Roman Empire. In his reign, Roman culture is experiencing a brilliant flowering, its "golden age". The principate of Augustus, whose main slogans were: the restoration of the republic and the morals of the ancestors, the cessation of wars and unrest, was perceived by contemporaries as a long-awaited deliverance from civil strife and wars that shocked Roman society. Therefore, Roman values, half-forgotten religious rites, legends about the “valor of the ancestors”, the “Roman myth” (that is, the legend about the power over the world supposedly intended for Rome by the gods and fate itself) were now emphasized in every possible way and were one of the main topics of most cultural figures of the era of the early empire. . The "Roman myth" merged with the "myth of Augustus" - the peacemaker, the deliverer from suffering - both myths became the cornerstone of the official ideology of the Empire.
In the "age of Augustus" the synthesis of ancient Greek and Roman culture was completed. Under the influence of the final assimilation and processing of the Hellenic heritage, literature and art reached a high level, and the ancient culture of Rome was finally formed, which entered European culture as an essential component.
The first century of the Empire, the dark era of despot emperors, is described in detail in the writings of the great Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus. His main works are called "History" and "Annals", they have survived to this day. Tacitus was born in the reign of Nero, as an adult he saw the cruelty of Domitian and lived to the years when an order was established in Rome, reminiscent of the peaceful rule of Augustus. About his time, Tacitus wrote: “We showed a truly great example of patience. If past generations saw what constitutes unlimited freedom, then we saw the same unlimited enslavement. Endless persecution has taken away our ability to communicate, express our thoughts, and listen to others. And along with the voice, we would lose our very memory, if it were as much in our power to forget as to be silent.
After the cruel despot emperors, the peaceful Antonin dynasty reigned in Rome for a long time, leaving a good memory behind. The reign of the Antonines is called the "golden age" of the Empire, this "age" occupies almost the entire second century of the new era. The most famous emperors of the "golden age" were the commander Trajan and the philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
In the II century. AD The empire enjoyed inner peace. The emperors of Antoninus did not wage wars of conquest, but firmly guarded the main borders of the Roman state, which passed along the rivers Euphrates, Danube and Rhine. Beyond the Euphrates stretched the great Parthian kingdom (formerly Persia); on the banks of the Danube in present-day Romania, the kingdom of warlike Dacians arose. The Rhine separated Roman Gaul from the wild Germanic tribes. More than once, border wars broke out in these areas, during which the Roman legions invaded enemy territory.
Under the Antonines, normal relations were established between the emperors and the senate, executions and persecutions ceased, people were able to freely express their thoughts. The historian Tacitus, who lived to this day, wrote: "The years of rare happiness have come, when everyone can think what he wants and say what he thinks."
Under the Antonines, the position of the provinces changed: they began to gradually become equal in rights with Italy. Many provincials became Roman citizens, the most noble of them entered the Roman Senate. Greek writer of the 2nd century Aelius Aristides said, addressing the Romans: “With you, everything is open to everyone. Anyone who is worthy of public office ceases to be considered a foreigner. The name of the Roman became the property of all cultural mankind. You have established the world as if it were one family." Soon after the Antonin dynasty was interrupted, the unification of the Roman state, carried out under her rule, was completed: in 212 AD. By edict of the Emperor Caracalla, the entire population of the Empire received Roman citizenship. At this time, even on the imperial throne, now often not native Romans, but Syrians, Africans, natives of the Balkan regions sat. But just in the III century, the peace within the Empire was broken: local rulers began to get out of obedience to the central government; now in one province, then in another, self-proclaimed pretenders to the imperial throne appeared. The army ceased to obey the laws: soldiers appointed and overthrew emperors and even sold the imperial crown. The so-called soldier emperors they proclaimed ruled for only a few years or months. Because of all the rebellions and strife in the middle of the III century. The Roman Empire nearly fell apart.
The events of the 3rd century in the Roman Empire received the name "crisis of the 3rd century" in science. Most of all, the crisis affected the political life of Rome: new civil wars, the "barbarization" of the Empire, the growing separatism of the provinces, the ever-increasing pressure on the empire of the tribal unions of the Germans and other peoples. In economic terms, by the middle of the 3rd century, the empire had fallen into a state of complete ruin.
At the end of the 3rd century, Diocletian, a native of the Roman province of Illyria, who came to the imperial throne, and his successor Constantine carried out a series of reforms that could briefly bring the empire out of crisis and prolong its existence for more than 100 years.
Diocletian gave the imperial power a frankly royal character. The emperor became officially called the master. He wore purple, gold-woven dresses made of brocade and silk, a precious crown shone on his head, he was given ceremonial honors reminiscent of the rituals of the eastern court: subjects knelt before him, kissed the edge of his clothes, called him “your majesty” or “your majesty ". The courtiers surrounding the lord were called “lordships”, “lordships”, “excellencies”, “nobles”. Everything that had to do with the emperor was considered sacred: he had a "sacred palace", "sacred council", "sacred bedroom".
After the death of Constantine (337) in Rome, the crisis of ancient orders sharply worsened again. The attacks of the barbarians on the borders of the empire intensified, the Romans lost almost all their provinces, torn apart by internal contradictions, pressed from all sides by external enemies, the Roman Empire was steadily coming to an end. In 395, the Roman state was finally divided into Western and Eastern. The capital of the Western half remained the city of Rome, and the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (future Byzantium) was the city of Constantinople, founded by Constantine on the site of the former Greek colony of Byzantium.
In 410 and 455, Rome suffered a terrible defeat - first from the Goths, and then from the Vandals (hence the concept of "vandalism"). In the middle of the 5th century, only Italy remained under the rule of the emperors. In 476, the commander of the German mercenaries stationed in Italy, Odoacer, deposed the infant emperor Roma-la-Augustula and sent the insignia of imperial dignity to Constantinople. This event is considered to be the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
As for the Eastern Roman Empire, it lasted almost another thousand years. With the end of the Western Roman Empire, ancient culture also perished.
3.2. Architecture
The architecture of the time of Augustus served the purposes of the exaltation of Rome. Augustus liked to say that, having accepted Rome of brick, he left it of marble. A new Forum was built in the city, the main building of which was the temple of Mars Ultor (Avenger). It was built of tuff, lined with marble and decorated with luxurious Corinthian columns 18 m high. On the Palatine, near the imperial palace, a magnificent temple of Apollo was erected. The architecture of the Augustan era was distinguished by graceful and slender classical proportions - such is the portico of Octavia (the emperor's sister) or the large (for 30 thousand spectators) stone theater of Marcellus. On the Campus Martius in 9 BC the famous Altar of Peace was erected, the walls of which were decorated with reliefs depicting solemn processions. The peace altar of Augustus was also supposed to glorify the age of happiness and prosperity.
The development of architecture led to the emergence of wall paintings, best known from the excavations of houses in the city of Pompeii in Italy. The frescoes depicted colorful paintings on mythological, historical, everyday subjects and resembled Greek ones. In Rome, samples of Greek sculptors and wall paintings were reproduced, but they were distinguished by great realism in reproducing the features of the original and its psychological content. Such is the marble statue of Augustus from Primaporta, created in the style of Polykleitos, but more majestic and closer to the original.
Augustus' successors continued to decorate Rome with new buildings and structures. On the Palatine Hill, Tiberius built a new imperial palace (its construction was completed under Caligula).
The new palace was called the "Golden House" because of the mass of gold and precious stones in its decoration. The central streets of Rome were expanded, the height of buildings was limited, the whole city was decorated with new porticos that protected passers-by from the scorching sun. The city created on the ashes under Nero was precisely that beautiful and “ eternal Rome which was admired by his contemporaries.
A remarkable achievement of Roman construction technology was the building of the temple of all gods - the Pantheon in Rome.
After the civil war of 68-69. AD Vespasian, who came to power, began the construction of an amphitheater, known to the whole world as the Colosseum. The completion of the construction of the Colosseum fell on the reign of his son Titus (80 AD). In honor of the opening of the Colosseum, a hundred-day gladiatorial games were given.
Almost completely rebuilt the center of Rome, Nero: after a strong fire in 64 AD. the emperor ordered to demolish all the buildings of the central part of the city and in their place to build the imperial palace with the residences surrounding it.
In terms of plan, the Colosseum was an ellipse with a circumference of 524 m. This is a three-story building (later a fourth floor was added) with arched-vaulted ceilings. The wall of the Colosseum, about 50 m high, consisted of three tiers of arches - entrances (80 arches of the lower tier allowed fifty thousand spectators to fill the stands in a matter of minutes), and the fourth tier had a blank wall with cedar masts mounted on brackets: they pulled an awning over the stands for protection from the sun on hot days (or in case of bad weather). In the lower tier of the Colosseum were semi-columns of the Doric third tiers were statues. Up to 3,000 pairs of gladiators could fight simultaneously in the arena of the Colosseum, and under it were utility rooms, corridors, cages for wild animals.
The outstanding achievements of Roman architecture of this period include triumphal arches: one-, three- and five-span, which were erected in honor of the emperors. If the Greeks explained the military victory by the valor of all the soldiers, the Romans attributed it to the personal merits of the commander. The triumphal arch served as an expression of the highest honors to the emperor-commander. In Rome, only the arches of Titus have survived - a monumental and at the same time strict single-span arch (80 AD), Septimius Severus (111 century) and Constantine (IV century). The last, the most complex of all, seems to be a tasteless heap of architectural and sculptural elements.
The emperors of the early Roman Empire continued to decorate the Roman Forum. The most grandiose and beautiful was the Forum of Trajan, about which they said that not only people, but even the gods were amazed by him. Trajan's Forum was built at the beginning of the 2nd century BC. under the direction of the Greek architect Apollodorus. It included the actual forum, surrounded by a colonnade, with an equestrian statue of the emperor and two semicircular structures, the so-called "markets" of Trajan, which served to store overseas goods brought to Rome. In the depths of the Forum, another grandiose structure rose - the "basi-lika Ulpiya" - a building for court hearings. It is curious that the basilica of Ulpia was elongated and had three naves in the style of a Greek temple; it did not have vaulted ceilings, so characteristic of Roman architecture. Two libraries adjoined the basilica - Latin and Greek. The attraction of Trajan's forum was also the massive triumphal column of this emperor, the largest of the triumphal columns. Its height is almost 27 m, its trunk is made of 17 colossal blocks of Carrara marble, the entire column is wrapped around a ribbon of bas-reliefs depicting episodes of Trajan's wars with the Dacians (the length of the relief is 200 m).
Under Emperor Hadrian, Trajan's successor, the Roman Pantheon was rebuilt on the Campus Martius. A portico with eight columns of Egyptian red granite with white marble Corinthian capitals was attached to the temple building. The connection of a Greek portico with a Roman domed structure was typical of Roman architecture. The Pantheon is one of the most beautiful monuments of antiquity.
In the II century. The first equestrian statues appear in Rome. One of them is the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which still adorns the Capitoline Square.
One of the most remarkable Roman buildings are the terms (baths), which played a big role in the daily life of the Romans. Roman baths have come a long way from republican simplicity to luxury and excesses of the imperial era. They belonged to both private individuals and the state for public needs.
In the I - II centuries. rapid construction was going on not only in Rome, but also in other cities of Italy in the provinces. Throughout the empire, one can find the remains of monumental structures and monuments of that time: the great temple of Zeus in Athens, the amphitheater in Verona, the ports in Ostia and Herculaneum, the amphitheater in Pompeii. And in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt, and in Gaul, and in Spain, traces of ancient Greco-Roman architecture have been preserved: amphitheaters and circuses, baths and aqueducts, roads and bridges, arches and columns, temples and plastic compositions.
The cult of imperial power contributed to the creation of colossal, majestic structures. The huge baths of Diocletian surpassed in their size the baths of Caracalla, and the palace of Diocletian in the vicinity of present-day Split was also colossal.
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