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The Roman Empire
The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Caesar Augustus. Although Rome accumulated a collection of tribute-states in the centuries before the autocracy of Augustus, the pre-Augustan state is conventionally described as the Roman Republic.The difference between the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic lies primarily in the governing bodies and their relationship to each other.
For many years historians made a distinction between the Principate, the period from Augustus until the Crisis of the Third Century, and the Dominate, the period from Diocletian until the end of the Empire in the West. According to this theory, during the Principate (from the Latin word princeps, meaning "the first", the only title Augustus would permit himself) the realities of dictatorship were concealed behind Republican forms; while during the Dominate (from the word dominus, meaning "Master") imperial power showed its naked face, with golden crowns and ornate imperial ritual. We now know that the situation was far more nuanced: certain historical forms continued until the Byzantine period, more than one thousand years after they were created, and displays of imperial majesty were common from the earliest days of the Empire.
The provinces of the Roman Empire.
Over the course of its history the Roman Empire controlled all of the Hellenized states that bordered the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the Celtic regions of Western Europe. The administration of the Roman Empire eventually evolved into separate Eastern and Western halves, more or less following this cultural division. They are respectively known as the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. By the time that Odoacer took power of the West in 476 the Western half was clearly evolving in new directions, with the Church absorbing much of the administrative and charitable roles previously filled by the secular government. The Eastern half of the Empire, centred around Constantinople, the city of Constantine the Great, remained the heartland of the Roman state until 1453 when the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks.The Roman Empire's influence on government, law, and monumental architecture, as well as many other aspects of Western life remains inescapable. Roman titles of power were adopted by successor states and other entities with imperial pretensions, including the Frankish kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, the first and second Bulgarian empires, the Russian/Kiev dynasties (see czars), and the German Empire.
Roman culture
Ancient Roman culture evolved throughout the thousand-year history of that civilization. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which, at peak, covered an area from Cumbria and Morocco to the Euphrates.Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, located on seven hills, and its monumental structures like the Colosseum, the Forum of Trajan and the Pantheon. The city also had several theatres and gymnasiums, and many taverns, baths and brothels. Throughout the territory under the control of ancient Rome, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, there were imperial residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The poor lived in the city centre, packed into apartments, which were almost like modern ghettos.
The city of Rome was a large megapolis of that time, with a population of one million people. The public spaces in Rome resounded with such a din of hooves and clatter of iron chariot wheels that Julius Caesar had once proposed a ban on chariot traffic at night. Historical estimates indicate that around 10 percent of population under the jurisdiction of the ancient Rome lived in innumerable urban centres, with population of 10,000 and more and several military settlements. Most of these centres had a forum and temples and same type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome.
The large urban population required an endless supply of food which was a complex logistical task, including acquiring, transporting, storing and distribution of food for Rome and other urban centres. Italian farms supplied vegetables and fruits, but fish and meat were luxuries. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centres and wine and oil were imported from Spain, Gaul and Africa.
Ninety percent of the population under the jurisdiction of ancient Rome lived in the countryside, in thatched huts and in abject poverty. Landlords generally resided in cities and their estates were left in the care of farm managers. These farm managers treated the manpower under their control very badly. The plight of rural slaves was worse than their counterparts working in urban aristocratic households. Some records indicate that as many as 42 people lived in one small farm hut in Egypt, while six families owned a single olive tree. The villagers were also devoid of certain diversions like games and religious festivals. Such a rural environment continued to induce migration of population to urban centres.
Against this human background, both the urban and rural setting, one of history's best-known civilizations took shape, leaving behind a cultural legacy that still survives today.
Historical and cultural context
Rome's cultural roots
Many aspects of the Roman culture were appropriated from the Ancient Greeks.Roman sculpture was at its most original in the production of strongly characterized portraits such as this bust of Cato the Elder. In architecture and sculpture, the continuity between Greek models and Roman imitations are apparent. The chief Roman contribution to architecture was the arch, and the dome it made possible. While much Roman sculpture was derivative of Greek models, and all deeply indebted to Greek techniques, the Roman character made portraiture the strongest and most original aspect of Roman sculpture. A strongly characterized portrait bust like the surviving portrait bust of Cato the Elder is a clearly envisioned, strongly individual character, not an idealized type such as are typically found in Greek sculptures.