Characteristics of Roman civilization

Rome, as such, did not begin to have importance until the 8th century BC. C. and its origins from the historical point of view must be linked to the etruscan culturefor it was from the Etruscans from whom they took their first roots. Next in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to focus on the characteristics of Roman civilization so that you get to know better one of the towns that had the most impact on the development of our history and from which we drank and soaked ourselves culturally and socially during the years of expansion of the Roman Empire by Europe.

Index

1. Roman society
2. The Roman economy
3. Daily life in the Roman city
4. Roman religion

We begin by talking about characteristics of Roman civilization discovering the two fundamental groups into which the Republic was divided:

• Patricians: they represented a minority within society. They were Roman citizens who occupied high military and political positionss, in addition to being landowners who enjoyed all Roman rights.
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• Commoners: were the peasants, merchants, artisans and small owners who, unlike the patricians, lacked those Roman rights, this fact is related to that their origin was foreign (Etruscan, Latin ...) but that they constantly fought to achieve equality in civil rights, in this way they managed to access the elections (large assemblies) in which the Roman people met to elect their rulers, so they had the right to vote.

Outsiders as well as women whether they were patricians or plebeians were not considered Roman citizens, so they could not participate in Roman politics. We also have to mention the slaves, who lacked freedom, worked for their owner, who was considered to be their owner and did not receive any type of salary for their work. Sometimes these slaves were freed by their masters and became freedmen.

During the period of High Empire, citizens no longer have privileges behind the Edict of Caracalla, the intention of this was to increase the tax revenue of the empire by increasing the number of people who would have to pay on slaves, so that many of the privileged who did not pay taxes now had to do so. make.

Regarding the Low empire is characterized by a crisis in which free peasants from the cities began to move to areas rural people in search of food and protection due to rising prices as it was increasingly difficult to obtain food. To survive, many of these free commoners as well as small farmers were forced to receive the protection of the great aristocrats turned landowners. They were tied to the lands and thanks to later imperial reforms their positions became hereditary.

Image: Pinterest

We continue listing the characteristics of Roman civilization talking about economic management. Agriculture was the basis of the Roman economy and it was based on the cultivation of olive trees, vines and cereals. Another economic activity was artisan production which consisted of making fabrics, ceramics, bronze objects, iron, perfumes, leather... This type of work was carried out in workshops, where in Most of the cases, the owner was a freedman and in his service they had a number of slaves who, depending on the work they did, had more or less.

This activity gave rise to commercial exchange, thanks to the increase in production, communication routes (Roman roads) and the development of maritime transport. The exchanges not only came to be between the different Italian provinces but also crossed the borders of the empire. Trade with Asia stands out from where the species, perfumes, fabrics, precious stones were brought ...

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire.

Roman life revolved around the forum which, in turn, was where the most important buildings were:

• The basilica, which had multiple functions since they were meeting rooms where commercial transactions were carried out, sold and They bought products, it also had legal functions since it was the place where minor crimes were solved
• The curia, which was the place where the senate meetings were held
• The temple, which was where the divinity was worshiped

The cities also had hot springs, which were the public baths paid for by the State but also a meeting place, they had libraries, palestras (gymnasiums) and large gardens.

In Rome, public shows were not lacking, hence the construction of theaters, amphitheaters, where the fights between gladiators took place, or a gladiator and a beast and the circuses where the chariot races were held. These shows were free and paid for by the state.

Roman houses depended on the level of wealth of the Romans, the wealthiest lived in individual houses (domus) while the poorest renting in buildings with two or more floors (insulae).

Image: clarionweb.es

We ended up discovering the characteristics of Roman civilization by talking about the religion of this people. The Romans were based on a polytheistic religion, The main gods were Jupiter, Juno and Minerva who were Greek gods only that they changed their names because the Romans adopt the Greek religion. For this they went to the temples that were where these divinities were found to worship him.

That in regards to public worship but another common practice among Roman citizens was the presence of small shrines (lararium) in their houses where they worshiped the protective gods of the families (lares) and home (penate). With its significant growth and expansion in the 4th century, Christianity was considered the official religion of the State.

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