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Chapter 11

The traditional ideologies and historical framework which the early emperors of Rome sought to institutionalize in the city’s monumental buildings became a liability in a new Christian world, where pagan traditions were not immediately reconciled with Christian values. Rome, the city that had once been fed with grain from Egypt, Libyan figs, Spanish olive oil and peppercorns from India, was struggling for survival. Byzantium, capital of the Eastern Empire, had first been reconstructed in the time of Septimius Severus not just as a Roman city, but modeled on Rome itself, on and around seven hills. The remarkable thing about the civilization of Rome is not that it ultimately collapsed, but that from such minute beginnings it survived for so long under so many external and internal pressures. Rome’s empire not only produced a number of practical models for scholarship, linguistics and science, it has also been used by subsequent scholars and rulers as a model for successful imperial conquest.

Introduction

The legacy of Rome

Roman aqueduct at Segovia, twenty-nine metres high and still in working order. (VRoma: Paula Chabot)

The remarkable thing about the Roman civilization is not that it ultimately collapsed, but that from such minute beginnings it survived for so long under so many external and internal pressures. It lasted long enough, and the pressures were resisted firmly enough, for many Roman practices, even those dating from before the Christian era, to become entrenched in modern life.

Latin inscription on an altar to Disciplina, a military cult deity, found at Birrens, Dumfriesshire, and dating from between AD 120 and AD 180. It goes on to say that the altar was erected by the Second Tungrian Cohort, which included a troop of cavalry. (Illustration by Jennifer Campbell from Antony Kamm, <em>Scotland in Roman Times</em>, Scottish Children’s Press, 1998)

Except for the addition of three letters, the alphabet used for English and the Romance languages, as well as for German, Scandinavian and other languages, is that which the Romans developed and refined for Latin. Further, the Romance languages themselves are firmly based on Latin, as is one-third of English. The success of Latin as the foundation of so many modern languages is not just due to the fact that it was possible to use it eloquently for the expression of literary forms, but because it could be employed so precisely to express points of law, science, theology, philosophy, architecture, agriculture, botany and medicine. As such, it was the language of scholarship, and of prose, in Western Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is still the language of the Roman Catholic Church. And it survives intact within the English language in the form of numerous tags and phrases. Without a close acquaintance with Latin literature on the part of writers in other languages, there would be virtually no English or European literature before about AD 1800.

Spread from William Shakespeare’s sonnets, published by the Folio Society in 1947. (Antony Kamm)

The Romans’ systematic attitude to measurement enabled them to establish the basis of a calendar that has never been improved upon, and to devise methods to assess distances with great accuracy. They turned building into a science and gave a new impetus to hydraulics.

A device for measuring distance, described by Vitruvius (fl. c. 50–26 BC). The wheel (A) runs along the ground. A peg on its axle fits into the cogs of the wheel (B), the rotation of which is transmitted through a series of joints (C, D, E, F) to a disc (G), which is perforated with holes. As the disc rotates these holes come opposite to the open end of a tube (H, J), leading to a tank (K). Pebbles are placed on each hole at (G), and the device is so geared that at every mile one falls into the tank. Dials may be fitted to the horizontal shafts (L, M). (From Cyril Bailey (ed.), <em>The Legacy of Rome</em>, Clarendon Press, 1923)

The contribution of Roman law to European law is incalculable, and from the Romans come the traditions of impartial justice and trial by jury. Banking, public hospitals and libraries, the postal system, daily newspapers, the fire service, central heating, glass windows, apartment blocks, sanitation, drainage and sewers, social benefits and public education are all Roman in origin, as is that universal common bond and basis of social life that they called familia (‘the household’) and we recognize as the family, or the family unit.

Families, from the <em>Ara Pacis</em>, Rome 13–9 BC. (VRoma: Ann Raia)

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Image Gallery

FIGURE 11.1. Dedication to three Emperors: Honorius, Arcadius and Theodoisius in the Roman Forum (ca. AD 402–406). This dedication, in front of the Arch of Septimius Severus, was set up by the Senate to honour the fides and virtus of the Emperors after one of the Gothic Wars. The marble block, reused from an earlier equestrian statue (the hoof print is still visible on one side, as are Greek letters on the bottom right corner) illustrates how Late Antique Rome was the “city that eats itself”. This monument, along with an Arch of Honorius (much smaller than the Septimius’ Arch) was meant to show solidarity, but the erasure of Flavius Stilicho’s name illustrates the increasingly volatile political environment in Rome. Photo by Gregor Kalas, Assosicate Professor of Architecture at the University of Tennessee. FIGURE 11.2. Architectural reconstruction of Hagia Sophia. This building, quite possibly the greatest example of Byzantine architecture remaining, featured golden niches and ceilings that would inspire the Basilica of San Marco, Venice which includes spoils, including a bronze quadriga statue, “rescued” by the Venetians during the Ottoman sack of Constantinople. The lower levels are filled with rich polychrome marbles from across the Empire: green marble (Laconia), yellow marble (Numidia), red and white marble (Caria), and gray granite and purple porphyry (Egypt). Justinian famously boasted “Solomon, I have outdone thee”. Wilhelm Lübke & Max Semrau, Grundriß der Kunstgeschichte, 14th ed (Paul Neff Verlag, 1908), via Wikimedia Commons. FIGURE 11.3. “Napoleon Awakening to Immortality”, a sculpture by François Rude, now in the Musée D’Orsay (1845). This image of Napoleon sitting up as he awakens to everlasting life, represents a combination of Roman funerary imagery in his reclining posture (like the sarcophagus of the spouses (Figure 1.3) and the ideal classical style of Augustus’ public portraits: looking ahead with a serene and ageless expression (like Augustus’ Prima Porta statue, Figure 3.4). Dressed in military regalia, with the corona civica “the civic crown” and capite velato a “covered head,” while a dead eagle lies at his feet, Napoleon invokes a similar consolidation of militia, politics, and religion. Photo © Musée d’Orsay © Dist. Grand Palais/ Patrice Schmidt. FIGURE 11.4. Dedication of Augustus’ Res Gestae by Mussolini. A modern copy Augustus’ Res Gestae (restored in 2005 and incorporated into the Ara Pacis museum) survives on the Via Ripetta, across the street from the Mausoleum of Augustus (where the original version was erected). The wall is all that survives of a pavilion set up by Mussolini in 1938. Hitler, perhaps while drafting his own autobiography, was fascinated by this monument during his visit to Rome in 1938 and described Mussolini as “the founder of a new imperium”. Photo by the Author. FIGURE 11.5. Statue of Christopher Columbus at Columbus Circle in New York. Originally funded by Italian businessmen (in the late 19th century), the monument was to celebrate America’s relationship with Europe (funded by Spain, founded by an Italian explorer). The monument has become the subject of controversy and a violent demonstration in 2017. The response, however has been to declare it a heritage monument and protect it, but there are plans to add a postscript regarding Columbus’ treatment of local inhabitants at Hispaniola. Photo © Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons. FIGURE 11.6. Statue of America and Australia at the Natural History Museum in Vienna. Built in the late 19th century (from 1871) this monument, is not unlike it’s contemporary, the Victoria Albert Monument in Hyde Park (opened in 1872). Both monuments represent an old-world concept of “Empire” with foreign nations often depicted as “noble savages”. The seated figure of America, a bare chested Native American donned with a feather headdress sits beside a kneeling and bare breasted woman: Australia (compare with defeated Britannia, Figure 10.5). These figures (America and Australia) contrast cultures from the “New World” with European culture: on the opposite niche is a seated figure of Europa, who is depicted, like statue of liberty, fully clothed and with crown. Photo © Godot13 via Wikimedia Commons.