1. Pax Romana The Roman Emperor Praetorian Guard Architecture Public Baths Roads and Aqueducts Religion in the Golden Age Pompeii

2. The Pax RomanaThe two centuries from the reign of Augustus until the death of Marcus Aurelius are known as the Golden Age ofRome, or the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). Althoughthere wererebellions andwars of conquest in this period,the core ofthe empireenjoyedpeace andprosperity.Market in Pompeii, by Antonio Niccolini 3. The Roman EmperorIn ancient Rome, therewas no such title or office asemperor. The term Romanemperor is a convenientterm to describe the singleman who, from Augustus on,had all of the power that hadbeen shared by many officersin the Republic. Emperors used a numberof titles: Imperator(commander), princeps (firstsenator), augustus(venerable), and caesar. 4. Praetorian Guard Created during the lateRepublic, it was an elite squadassigned to guard thecommanders tent.Augustus transformed theGuard into the emperorsprivate army, which served asthe police force in Rome andother Italian cities.It had legionary strength. Athird of its members werestationed in Rome, where theydressed as civilians but carriedweapons. In modern times, theterm has been used toMembers of the Guard were describe an elite militarypaid 50% more thanlegionaries of comparable rank.force protecting adictator. 5. The Praetorian Guard was an important force in thePrincipate. It could put an emperor in office, keep himthere, or get rid of him. The Guard was weakened by Diocletian and eliminated byConstantine in the early 4th century.PraetorianGuard hailsClaudius asemperor. 6. ArchitectureIn imperialRome,architecturewas a form ofpropaganda.Throughoutthe empire,great buildings,public andprivate, were atestament tothe glory andimportance of As with military organization andRome and theweaponry, in architecture the Romansemperor. were great innovators. Arches, columns, domes and concrete, known and used by others, became something new and different in Roman hands. 7. ThePantheon,one of Romes most famousbuildings 8. While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;And when Rome falls - the world.- Lord Byron, Childe Harolds Pilgrimage TheColosseum,originally known as the FlavianAmphitheatre, was the largest amphitheaterever built in the RomanEmpire. It held 50,000spectators. 9. Construction began around 70 under Vespasian and wascompleted in 80 under Titus. It remained in use for 500years. 10. The Colosseum was used for gladiator games and otherpublic spectacles, including mock naval battles, for which it could be filled with water piped from the Tiber River. 11. Medieval map of Rome showing the Colosseum 12. Artists reconstruction of theRoman Forum in the Golden Age 13. Public Bathing in Ancient RomePublic bathing was an important part of Roman social life in the Golden Age. Baths of CaracallaSir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1899 14. A visit to the baths was a part of daily life for Romans. Thebaths were a place to relax and meet with friends. Women and men of all classes used the public baths. Sometimesthere were separate facilities or hours for women;sometimes men and women bathed together. 15. A trip to the baths would include exercise to work up a sweat, a soak in warm, hot and cool pools, and acleansing massage with a strigil (pictured) which wasused to scrape off aromatic oils and accumulated dirt.The Romans did not use soap. 16. Roman bathsranged from smallprivately managedfacilities to largepublic complexesbuilt and operatedby the state. Baths were foundin everyneighborhood ofRome, and inalmost everyRoman settlementthroughout theempire. 17. Baths of Caracalla The Caracalla baths, the second-largest bath complex inancient Rome, included two public libraries, one with textsin Greek and the other Latin. 18. Baths of Caracalla, engraving, Giovanni Battista Piranesi(1720-1778) 19. Roads andAqueducts Long straight roads, 53,000 miles of them, connected allparts of the Roman Empireto regionalcenters and theimperial capital in Rome. Roman road in PompeiiPhoto by Paul Vlaar 20. The roads wereused: By legions to march quickly to where they were needed To transport goods over great distances By Romans to travel around the empire The roads were built to last; some arestill used today.Via Appia The Appian Way 21. The roadswereimportant formaintainingthe stability ofthe empire. Later, duringthe 5thcentury as theempirecollapsed,they wereused bybarbariansinvadingRomanprovinces. Roman roads in Italy 22. The arcades of the Aqua Claudia with the Anio Novus on top, two of the aqueducts of Rome.(Constructed in 36-50 under Caligula and Claudius) Photo by Wilke Schramwww.romanaqueducts.info 23. AqueductsThe Roman waterway system, which brought fresh water to private homes as well as public baths and fountains,was one of the engineering marvels of the ancient world.The Romans also developed indoor plumbing and sewersto carry waste away from homes. Clay pipes(lower right)tapped intoAqua ClaudiaPhoto byWilke Schram 24. Eleven water linesbrought water toRome from sourcesas far as 60 milesaway.Most of the systemwas composed ofunderground pipesand tunnels, butwhen the pipes hadto cross valleys, oras they approachedthe city, they wereraised onCovered stone water channel,spectacular arched Germanyaqueducts. Photo by Wilke Schram 25. The entire system was gravity-fed. Very subtle gradients maintained the flow of water. Occasionally, a system ofpressurized pipe, called an inverted siphon, was used to push the water a short distance uphill. Similar aqueductswereconstructedall over theempire. Some are still in use today.Roman aqueduct, ca. 19 BCE, Pont du Gard, France 26. Religion Romans worshippedtheir classical gods as well as pastemperors, deified afterdeath. Emperor worship - thecult of theemperor - became aunifying forcein the empire.Temple of Augusta and Livia, Vienne, France. Erected by Claudius. 27. Animals being led to sacrifice Emperor Marcus Aureliusoffers a sacrifice 28. Foreign Gods andCults Cults from the east became popular inRome. MithrasMithras came to Rome fromPersia, through Greece. Isis, a goddess of Egypt,was also popular in Rome.Many other mystery cultswere popular in the empire. Isis 29. Jews in the Empire Jews were a largereligious minority in theRoman Empire. In addition to theirkingdom of Judaea, therewere many Jews in Egypt,Syria, and Greece. There was a JewishJosephus was a Jewish community in Rome from atmilitary leader who least the 2nd century BCE.was captured by theRomans. He wrote a Caesar and Augustus history of the Jewish- passed laws protecting the Roman War of 66-73.rights of Jews in Rome. 30. Judaea had been aRoman ally since the 2ndcentury BCE.It became a province in6 CE. Jews were usuallytreated with tolerationand respect, but notalways. Emperor Caligula insisted on placing a statue ofhimself in the temple at Jerusalem. Although he waskilled before he could do so, he created resentment.In 66, a local conflict erupted into a major rebellionthat lasted until 73. The Jews were defeated. Jewishdeaths in the rebellion are estimated to have beenbetween 600,000 and 1.3 million; 100,000 Jews weretaken as slaves to Rome.The temple at Jerusalem was destroyed. 31. 960 Jewish rebels made their last stand at the hilltopfortress of Masada.The Roman siege of Masada is one of the most famousexamples of siege warfare.15,000 Roman soldiers surrounded the fortress,preventing supplies from getting in. They constructed amassive ramp to assault the rebels on the hilltop.Rather thanface capture, therebels committedmass suicide.From one end of Galilee to the otherthere was an orgy offire and bloodshed." - Josephus, Jewish historianMasada and ruins on summit 32. Titus, military commander in Judaea and later emperor, condemned 2,500 Jews to fight wild beasts in the amphitheater at Caesarea in celebration of his brother Domitans birthday. Coin issuedby Jewishrebels during the Roman- Jewish War 33. Early ChristianityChristianity began as a smallcult one of many whichgrew in Palestine after thecrucifixion of the Jewishteacher, Jesus of Nazareth. Communities of Christiansdeveloped around theMediterranean. ManyChristians differedwidely on theory and practice. Christianity drew a following among the poor anduneducated. The empire was generally tolerant of religious practices,but Christians refusal to participate in official religiouscelebrations, and their practice of meeting in secret, drewpublic suspicion. 34. Christianity grew slowly in the 1st and 2nd centuries. There were occasional episodes of persecution, as whenNero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome.Christianityspread morerapidly in the 3rd Spread of Christianity to 325 CEcentury, alongwith politicaland economicdisruption.The persecutionof Christians alsoincreased in the3rd centurycrisis. Spread of Christianity to 600 CE 35. Pompeii Pompeii, a city insouthern Italy nearNaples, was founded in the 6th centuryBCE.It was destroyed onAugust 24, 79 CE, when Mt. Vesuviuserupted, burying the city under severalfeet of ash and rock.Pompeii, buried inthe explosion, wasabandoned andforgotten.Computer-generated depiction of the eruption of Vesuvius (by the BBC) 36. Ruins of Pompeii Photos byRobert Curtis Rossetti Pompeii was rediscovered in 1748. Excavations have exposed a well- preserved Roman city from theGolden Age.