INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Ancient Eastern civilizations lost their priority in social development and gave way to a new cultural center that arose in the Mediterranean and was called "ancient civilization". It refers to history and culture Ancient Greece as well as ancient Rome.

In my work, I would like to trace the main directions in the development of Roman culture and highlight a number of features in it. Also, during the analysis, try to determine how great was the influence of the cultures of the conquered countries. Is it possible to consider the culture of Ancient Rome as an independent phenomenon, or did it develop in the course of endless borrowings? Besides, could not the cultural factor in any way contribute to the collapse of the empire? These are the questions I will try to answer in my work.

The center of the future great power - the city of Rome - arose in Latium, in central Italy, in the lower reaches of the Tiber River. An ancient parable, transmitted by Roman historians - Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Titus Livius and the poet Virgil, attributes the foundation of the city to the legendary Romulus and refers this event to 754 - 753 years. BC. on the day of the celebration of the shepherd goddess Palea (April 21).

More than twelve centuries (VIII century BC - V century AD) existed Roman culture, which was a phenomenon more complex than Greek. Rome, later Greece, appeared on the stage of world history and was the capital of an immense empire that captured all the territories around the Mediterranean. The very word "Rome" was synonymous with greatness, glory and military prowess, wealth and high culture.

The Roman mentality differed sharply from the Greek. If the Greeks were an amazingly gifted people in the field of artistic creativity, then the Romans had the greatest ability for practical activities. This main feature of the Roman temperament left its mark on Roman culture.

The Romans were good, disciplined soldiers, excellent organizers and administrators, legislators and lawyers. They achieved great success in the field of urban planning and urban improvement, they were excellent rural owners. The Romans created outstanding architectural monuments, striking with the perfection of engineering technology.

The history of ancient Roman civilization is a complex phenomenon. The population of ancient Italy consisted of multilingual peoples who gradually submitted to the authority of Rome. Ancient Rome as a whole means not only the city of Rome ancient era, but also all the countries and peoples he conquered that were part of the colossal Roman power - from the British Isles to Egypt. The Roman Empire was the largest state, covering all the territories adjacent to the Mediterranean. Over a long period (IV century BC - III century), the Roman Republic turned from a small city-state into a world slave-owning power, which was based on imperial power.

“All roads lead to Rome,” says the proverb, as travelers and merchants rushed here from all over the world.

The entire cultural system of ancient Rome was devoted to substantiating the superiority of the Roman political system, educating the Romans to be good citizens, proud of their belonging to the “master people”. The main value for the Romans was Rome itself, the Roman people, destined to conquer other peoples and rule them for their own happiness. The Roman Empire developed on the basis of large-scale slavery and agriculture, the conquest of vast territories, the conquest of many peoples and cultures, which necessitated the creation of a huge bureaucracy and the development of sophisticated political management methods.

The history of ancient Roman culture is divided into three main stages:

.Early or royal period (VIII - VI centuries BC)

.Roman Republic (v - 1st centuries BC)

.Roman Empire (I - V centuries AD)

The basis of Roman art was ancient Italian culture, in which the art of the Etruscans played a leading role. The Etruscans inhabited these lands from the 1st millennium BC. e. and created an advanced civilization. Etruria was a strong maritime power. Skillful metallurgists, shipbuilders, merchants, builders and pirates, the Etruscans sailed throughout the Mediterranean Sea, assimilating the cultural traditions of many peoples inhabiting its coast, while creating a high and unique culture. They began to create something new that the ancient Romans later developed: engineering structures, wall monumental painting, a realistic sculptural portrait. It was from the Etruscans that the Romans would subsequently borrow the experience of urban planning, handicraft technology, the technology of making iron, glass, concrete, the secret sciences of the priests, and some customs, for example, celebrating victory with a triumph.

However, a powerful cultural movement begins in Rome only at the end of the 3rd century. BC. its main feature was the influence of Greek culture, the Greek language and education. Numerous figures of Roman culture of that time - prose writers, philosophers, doctors, architects, artists - were overwhelmingly non-Romans.

Rome exerted its influence on the Hellenistic territories conquered by it. Thus, a synthesis of Greek and Roman cultures was formed, which resulted in the Late Antique Greco-Roman culture (I-V centuries AD), which underlay the civilization of Byzantium, Western Europe and many Slavic states.

RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY

For the most ancient period of Roman history, the cult of family and tribal patron spirits is especially characteristic. First of all, they included manna - the souls of dead ancestors; the ancient Romans believed in the existence of the afterlife, where the souls of the dead go - these are Orc and Elysium. Penates were also revered - the patron spirits of the house and lares, which were patron spirits with broader functions, there are references to the lares of crossroads, roads, navigation, etc. An important place was occupied by the cult of the fire of the hearth, personified in the goddess Vesta. In the most ancient beliefs, traces of totelism can also be traced, for example, the legend of the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus. There were also agrarian cults.

Later, some tribal gods turned into objects of state worship, becoming patron gods of the city-state. TO ancient gods can be attributed to Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus (Romulus), which were the most important for the Romans. If the first two have correspondences among the Greeks, then the god Quirinus has no analogues in the Greek pantheon.

One of the revered purely Italic deities was Janus, depicted with two faces, as the deity of entry and exit, of every beginning. Olympically, the gods were considered the patrons of the Roman community and were revered by the entire civil community. Among the plebeians, the divine trinity was especially popular: Ceres, Libera-Proserpina - the goddess of vegetation and the underworld, and Liber - the god of wine and fun.

One of the most popular goddesses in Rome is Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and the fire that burns in it. Vestal priestesses served in the temple of Vesta, who took a vow of virginity and chastity. Girls 6-10 years old were selected very carefully, without the slightest flaw. For ten years they were trained, then they were initiated, received the name Amata in addition to their own, and served in the temple for ten years. For violation of the vow of chastity, the punishment was cruel: the sinner was buried in the ground alive. For lesser offenses they could be flogged. Vestal Virgins enjoyed great honor and respect. Insulting them was punishable by death. After serving ten years, they spent another ten teaching the younger generation of priestesses. After all this, the Vestal could return to the family and even get married.

The Romans had many gods of fertility: Flora - the goddess of blooming flowers, Pomona - the goddess of apple trees, Faun and Faun - the deities of forests, groves and fields, and others.

Mythology was practically absent, there were also no images of the gods - they worshiped their symbols, so the symbol of Vesta was fire, Mars - a spear. All the deities were completely faceless. The Roman did not dare to claim with complete certainty that he knew the real name of the god or that he could discern whether it was a god or a goddess. In his prayers, he also maintained the same caution and said: "Jupiter the Most Benevolent Greatest, or if you wish to be called by some other name." And making a sacrifice, he said: "Are you a god or a goddess, are you a man or a woman." On the Palatine (one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was located) there is still an altar on which there is no name, but only an evasive formula: “To God or goddess, husband or woman”, and the gods themselves had to decide to whom the sacrifices offered on this altar belong.

Roman mythology is characterized by the animation and deification of abstract concepts and values, such as Freedom, Valor, Consent. Glory stood out in particular. In honor of the outstanding commanders, emperors and their victories, the arches of Triumph were erected, on which the exploits of the victor were depicted.

After the conquest of Greece, there is some transformation of the image of the Roman gods and their convergence with the Greek ones: Jupiter - Zeus, Juno - Hera, Minerva - Athena, Venus - Aphrodite, Mars - Ares, Neptune - Poseidon, Mercury - Hermes, Bacchus - Dionysus, Diana - Artemis , Vulcan - Hephaestus, Saturn - Uranus, Ceres - Demeter. Among the Roman gods, the main Olympic gods stood out under the influence of Greek religious ideas: Jupiter - the god of the sky, thunder and lightning, Mars - the god of war, Minerva - the goddess of wisdom, the patroness of craft, Venus - the goddess of love and fertility, Vulcan - the god of fire and blacksmithing, Ceres is the goddess of vegetation, Apollo is the god of the sun and light, Juno is the patroness of women and marriage, Mercury is the messenger of the Olympic gods, the patron of travelers, trade, Neptune is the god of the sea, Diana is the goddess of the moon.

Before starting a war with any people, the Romans tried to win over the gods of this people to their side, promising these gods all the necessary sacrifices.

The Roman pantheon never remained closed; foreign deities were accepted into its composition. The inclusion of new gods was thought to increase the power of the Romans. So, the Romans borrowed almost the entire Greek pantheon, and at the end of the 3rd century. BC. veneration of the Great Mother of the Gods from Phrygia was introduced.

The slaves who arrived in Rome and Italy professed their cults, thereby spreading other religious beliefs.

The priests of the gods were considered officials, in the late Republican period they were elected. The priests observed the cult of individual gods, the order in the temples, prepared sacrificial animals, monitored the accuracy of prayers and ritual actions, and could give advice on which deity to turn to with the necessary request. Also in each temple there were priests who specialized in divination: augurs - predictors of the future by the flight of birds or in relation to their food; haruspex - predicting the future by the entrails of sacrificial animals and by lightning strikes.

The Romans expected help from the gods in specific matters and therefore scrupulously performed the established rituals and made the necessary sacrifices. In relation to the gods, the principle “I give so that you give” worked.

In the imperial period, the cult of the geniuses of emperors was gradually established - first posthumous, and then intravital. Julius Caesar was the first to be deified (posthumously). Caligula declared himself a god during his lifetime.

In the 1st century AD in one of the provinces of the Roman Empire, Christianity was born, which played an important role in the history of world culture.

CHRISTIANITY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

In the 1st century BC in Palestine - on the outskirts of the Roman Empire - Christianity arises, and already in the time of Nero (second half of the 1st century AD) there was a Christian community in Rome.

During the I - III centuries. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. The imperial authorities are suspicious of Christians, attributing to them misanthropy, because Christians of that time not only waited, but also called for the End of the World and the Last Judgment, Christians refused to perform official sacrifices in front of statues of state gods (including emperors). This led to numerous persecutions of Christians, initiated by Nero. They took place with special force under the emperors - Domitian, Trojan, Marcus Aurelius, Decius, Diocletian.

But, despite all the persecution, Christianity continued to live and spread, and by the 4th century it became a force that the emperors themselves had to reckon with. In 313, Emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which proclaimed the equality of all religions - including Christianity, and in 325 Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion. By decree of Theodosius the Great in 395, all pagan temples were closed, from that moment Christianity became the only official religion of the Roman Empire.

Already at the end of I - beginning. 2nd century the Gospels (“Good News”) were written in Greek, the Epistles and Acts of the Apostles were written, as well as the Apocalypse, i.e. the books that made up the New Testament. To discuss and resolve complex theological issues, and first of all - to combat the Arian heresy, which were then hotly discussed by Christians, by decree of Emperor Constantine in 325, a cathedral was created in the city of Nicaea, which became the first of the seven Ecumenical Councils christian church.

ARCHITECTURE AND MONUMENTAL WALL PAINTING

ancient roman civilization culture painting

In order to understand the general nature of Roman architecture, the reasons for the appearance of giant front squares, large spectacular buildings and memorial ensembles, it is necessary to understand the socio-economic life of Ancient Rome. The development of trade, successful wars and the influx of slaves favor the rise of the economy, the further enrichment of the tribal nobility (patricians), the promotion of the rich from among the common people (plebeians) and the formation of a new Roman nobility - nobles. Increasing wealth inequality; free community members are forced out of the lands and rush to the city, where they are engaged in crafts, petty trade, and become professional soldiers. Wars are turning into one of the main means of profit for the Roman nobility. Generals - the winners were the idols of the Romans, they were given high honors. To commemorate the victories, many days of festivities were held with solemn parades of troops, distribution of bread and money, grandiose performances, and gladiator fights. In accordance with the way of life, the architecture of Rome also took shape - a complex system public buildings, temples, squares, accommodating tens of thousands of people.

The Etruscans were the teachers of the Romans. It was they who taught how to build buildings, but very soon the Romans surpassed them in this art. They began to make better use of materials that had already been used before, adapted new ones, and improved methods of construction.

The early city was built without a plan, randomly, had narrow and crooked streets, primitive dwellings made of wood and mud brick. Only temples were large public buildings, for example, the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, built in the 6th century BC, a small temple of Vesta in the forum. Inside the city, wastelands and undeveloped plots were preserved, the houses of the nobility were surrounded by gardens. The sewers were at first open, but then they were covered with wooden flooring, and later with a stone vault.

Roman roads were of great strategic importance, they united various parts of the country. The Appian Way leading to Rome (VI-III centuries BC) for the movement of cohorts and messengers was the first of the network of roads that later covered all of Italy. Near the Aricci valley, the road, paved with a thick layer of concrete, rubble, lava and tuff slabs, went because of the terrain along a massive wall (197 m long, 11 m high), dissected in the lower part by three through arched spans for mountain waters.

At the beginning of the 4th century BC. the fire of Rome after the capture of it by the Gauls destroyed most of the city's buildings. After the fire, the city was surrounded by new, so-called Servian walls. They consisted of the main outer walls and a powerful earthen rampart resting on it, which was supported by another, less high wall from the side of the city.

In the 1st century BC there are multi-storey buildings, villas of the nobility, built of baked bricks and concrete, and even marble. The city was divided into quarters, the quarters were grouped into districts.

The Romans sought to emphasize in their buildings and architectural structures the idea of ​​strength, power and greatness that suppress a person. Hence the love of Roman architects for the monumentality and scale of their structures, which amaze with their size, was born.

Another feature of Roman architecture is the desire for lavish decoration of buildings, rich decorations, a lot of decorations, to create mostly not temple complexes, but buildings and structures for practical needs (bridges, aqueducts, theaters, amphitheaters, baths). Roman architects developed new constructive principles, in particular, they widely used arches, vaults and domes, along with columns, they used pillars and pilasters. Arches and vaults were borrowed from the Etruscans.

The arched structure is based on two elements: pillars and an arch resting on them. So, the horizontal overlap is replaced by a curved arch. The rectangular massive shape of the pillars is less individualized than the column.

The clearest example of the use of an arched structure - triumphal arches. These typically Roman memorial structures were erected already in the Republican period. Most often they were established in honor of victories.

Triumphal Arch of Titus was erected in honor of the capture of Jerusalem by the troops of Emperor Titus (180s BC). its architectural appearance consists of a powerful monolith cut through in the center by an arched span. Here we are faced with the decorative use of the order system, characteristic of the Romans: creating a purely visual impression of the constructiveness of the order system by “imposing” it on the wall array. The "facade" of the arch is clearly divided into a base, a middle part, consisting of Corinthian semi-columns and an entablature, and an upper part in the form of a massive attic, where the urn with the ashes of the emperor was enclosed.

Unlike the Greek architects, who drew up the plan of buildings without following the dry geometry of its different parts, the Romans proceeded from strict symmetry. They widely used Greek orders - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian (the most beloved, magnificent order). The Romans used orders only as a decorative, decorating element.

The Romans developed the order system and created their own orders, different from the Greek ones.

Spectacles occupied a large place in the public life of the Romans. Theaters and amphitheatres are typical of ancient cities. Even during the period of the late Republic in Rome, a peculiar type of amphitheater developed. The latter was entirely a Roman invention. If the Greek theaters were arranged in the open air, the seats for spectators were located in the recess of the hill, then the Roman theaters were independent closed multi-tiered buildings in the city center with seats on concentrically erected walls. The amphitheaters were intended for the crowd of the lower classes of the capital population, greedy for spectacles, in front of which gladiator battles and naval battles were played out during the days of the festivities.

After the civil war of 68 - 69 AD, Vespasian, who came to power, began the construction of an amphitheater, known throughout the world as Coliseum. The completion of its construction fell on the reign of the son of Vespasian - Titus (80 AD) in honor of the opening of the Colosseum, hundred-day gladiatorial games were given.

In plan, the Colosseum was a closed oval (524 meters in circumference), dissected by transverse and annular passages. Its central part, the arena, is surrounded by stepped benches for spectators. The external appearance, monumental and majestic, is determined by the ring wall, designed in the form of a multi-tiered order arcade: below - Tuscan, above - Ionic, in the third tier - Corinthian, above which Corinthian pilasters were placed.

One of the most perfect examples of a temple with a dome was Pantheon in Rome (c. 120), created by Apollodorus of Damascus. Here constructive and artistic tasks creation of a large-span dome space. Rounded in plan (rotondo type), the temple had an 8-column portico of the Corinthian order. The building had a powerful domed volume outside, a single and whole space inside. The interior is dominated by a dome, at the top of which a light opening is left (a spherical vault, which is a monolithic mass without a frame, rests on a wall 6 m thick). the wall is divided into two tiers: the lower one, where deep niches alternate with massive columns of the Corinthian order, and the upper one, as an intermediate one between the support and the dome.

For the first time in architecture, the main focus has shifted to the interior space, which, with its solemn and festive decision, contrasts with the external appearance, where the space of a monumental volume dominates.

Grandiose dome coverings were used in baths, representing a complex of rooms and courtyards where the Romans rested and had fun. The basis of the composition was ablution halls (baths). Most famous Baths of Caracalla (206 - 216).

The Romans create a type of public square called the forum. Appearing in the Republican period, the forums of the empire acquired a ceremonial appearance, becoming also a grandiose one. architectural ensemble, which includes many buildings of various functional affiliations, glorifying one or another emperor.

Famous forum of Trajan (trans. floor. II century AD) was created by Apollodorus of Damascus. It included:

.The main rectangular square with a triumphal arch at the entrance and a colonnade behind which were semicircles of trading shops;

.The five-nave basilica of Ulcia, deployed perpendicular to the central axis;

.A small peristyle courtyard with Trajan's column, covered with a continuous ribbon of reliefs depicting the military exploits of the emperor. It was located on the central axis between two symmetrical library buildings;

.The last peristyle courtyard, rounded on the side where the temple of Trajan stood.

The whole ensemble was united by the motif of colonnades and porticos of various sizes, sometimes reaching huge ones.

All these grandiose constructions were demanded by Rome as the center of a vast empire. And indeed, built up with all these structures, rich in monuments, the city in the III - IV centuries. looked impressive. In the III century. a lot of construction was still going on - arches, magnificent baths, palaces were erected. “But, in the words of A. Blok, “there was no longer a single painful place on the body of the Roman Empire,” the creative potential gradually faded away.” Thus, architecture begins to outlive itself, to become more and more primitive. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in the pursuit of innovation and luxury, the Roman nobility too quickly exhausted the possibilities of borrowed building techniques.

Developing in Rome monumental wall painting. The so-called "Pompeian" frescoes are usually divided into four groups:

."Inlaid style" - II century BC Imitation of facing the wall with squares of multi-colored marble - "House of the Faun".

."Architectural-perspective" style. Between the picturesquely executed columns, pilasters, cornices, large multi-figure compositions were placed on subjects borrowed from Greek painting. The realistic interpretation of images dominates - the painting of the "Villa of the Mysteries".

."Candelabra" style - from the end of the 1st century BC. The most rigorous and elegant, with a variety of decorative motifs (garlands, candelabra, ornaments), which framed plot images of small sizes - "The House of Punished Cupid".

."Magnificent" style - from the middle of the 1st century AD. Combines the characteristic features of the second style (promising architectural constructions) and the third (wealth of ornamental decorations) - paintings in the palace of Nero - the Golden House, the house of the Vettii.

SCULPTURE

According to legend, the first sculptures in Rome appeared under Tarquinius Proud, who decorated the roof of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol built by him with clay statues according to the Etruscan custom. The first bronze sculpture was a statue of the goddess of fertility Ceres, cast at the beginning of the 5th century. BC. From the 4th century BC. they begin to erect statues of Roman magistrates and even private individuals. Bronze statues were cast in early era Etruscan masters, and starting from the II century. BC. - Greek sculptors. The mass production of statues did not contribute to the creation of truly artistic works, and the Romans did not strive for this. For them, the portrait resemblance to the original seemed important in the statue. The statue was supposed to glorify this person and therefore it was important that the image was not confused with someone else.

For the development of the Roman individual portrait influenced by the custom to remove the wax masks from the deceased, which were kept in the main room of the Roman house. In sculptural work, the craftsmen apparently used them. The appearance of the Roman realistic portrait was influenced by the Etruscan tradition, which was guided by the Etruscan masters who worked for Roman customers. In this art, Rome reached its greatest heights.

Despite the complexity of the development of a sculptural portrait, the main milestones of this process can be distinguished:

.The period of hard realism - I century. BC. - "Portrait of an old patrician", portraits of Caesar (the birth of a psychological trend)

.The period of the classics (idealization of the image) - con. I century BC - early 1st century - portrait statues of Augustus.

.The period of complicated realism (psychologization and pomposity) - the second half. IV. - portraits of Vitelius, Nero, Flaviev.

.Reminiscence of the periods of realism and classics - II century. - portrait of Plotina, wife of Emperor Trajan, portraits of private individuals, portrait of Antinous

.The period of acute psychologism - III century. - portraits of Caracalla, Philip the Arabian.

.Late period - IV century.

In this area of ​​art, the Romans, who used Etruscan traditions, introduced new artistic ideas and created excellent masterpieces, such as the Capitoline Wolf, Brutus, Orator, busts of Cicero, Caesar and others.

From the end of the III century BC. Roman sculpture begins to be influenced Greek sculpture. When plundering Greek cities, the Romans captured a large number of sculptures. Despite the abundance of originals taken out of Greece, there is a great demand for copies from the most famous statues. Greek sculptors copy the originals of famous masters. An abundant influx of Greek masterpieces and mass copying retarded the flourishing of their own Roman sculpture.

LITERATURE

Roman literature arises as imitative literature. The first steps of Roman fiction are associated with the spread of Greek education in Rome. Early Roman writers imitated classical Greek literature, although they used Roman subjects and some Roman forms.

During the development of civil society, literature has become one of the leading means of dialogue with the authorities.

At the end of the III century. BC. in Rome, the Latin literary language is formed and on its basis - epic poetry. A whole galaxy of talented poets and playwrights appears, who usually took Greek tragedies and comedies as models. One of the first Roman tragedians was a freedman Livy Andronicus , a Greek by origin, translated into Latin the "Odyssey" by Homer (III century BC). His works played an important role in the development of Roman literature. They introduced the Romans to wonderful Greek literature, mythology, epic and theater. Livy Andronicus laid the foundation for Roman fiction.

The younger contemporaries of Livius Andronicus were Roman poets Gnaeus Nevius (c. 274 - 204 BC) and Ennius (239 -169 BC). Nevy wrote tragedies and comedies, borrowing plots from Greek authors, but the influence of Roman life in his works is felt much stronger than in Andronicus. Nevius compiled poems about the first Punic War (264 - 241 BC) with a summary of the previous history of Rome. Ennius was the first to describe in verse the entire history of Rome, arranging events by year. Ennius' main work was the Annales, but he also wrote tragedies and comedies like his predecessors. Ennius was the first to introduce the hexameter, a more euphonious poetic meter among the Greeks, into Latin literature. Livius Andronicus and Gnaeus Nevius wrote their works in archaic Saturnian verse.

The largest Roman writer of the late III - early II century. BC. was Titus Maccius Plautus (254 - 184 BC), actor by trade. He compiled 130 comedies, of which only 20 have come down to us. He worked only in the comedy genre. The plots of the comedies were very diverse - scenes from family life, from the life of mercenary warriors, and urban bohemia. One of the indispensable heroes of Plautus' comedies were slaves - cunning, resourceful, dexterous and greedy. In terms of plot and character, Plautus' comedies are imitative. His characters have Greek names, and his comedies are set in Greek cities. The comedies of Plautus are usually published in alphabetical order. The first is called "Amphitryon". The comedy "Boastful Warrior" was more popular. The comedy was probably directed against mercenary troops and reminded the audience of the victory over Hannibal. Despite the fact that the action of Plautus' comedies is played out in Greek cities, and their heroes bear Greek names, they contain many lively responses to Roman reality. In his comedies, to a certain extent, the interests and views of the broad masses of the urban plebs are reflected.

Roman comedy and tragedy developed largely under the influence of Greek models and were considered non-Roman genres. Originally a Roman literary genre, the ball was the genre of the so-called satura. This is a mixture of different verses - long and short, written in Saturn and other sizes. How literary genre satura got into deep development in creativity Gaia Lucilia (180 - 102 BC). He wrote 30 books of saturas, where he denounced the vices of contemporary society: self-interest, bribery, moral decay, perjury, greed. Plots for saturas Lucilia gave real life. These plots marked the beginning of the realistic trend in Roman literature.

Roman poetry, 1st c. BC. climbed to a new, higher level. Many poets lived at this time, but among them are more prominent - Titus Lucretius Kar (95 - 51 BC) and Gaius Valerius Catullus (87 - 54 BC). Lucretius owns a wonderful poem "On the Nature of Things" in six books. This philosophical poem expounds the teachings of the Hellenistic philosopher Epicurus about the nature of the gods, about the origin of the earth, sky, sea, about the development of mankind and human culture from the primitive state to the time of Lucretius. In the poem, the Latin language reached a new height; the language of farmers and warriors, short, abrupt and poor, thanks to the art of Lucretius, turned out to be capacious, rich, full of shades, suitable for conveying the finest human feelings and deep philosophical categories.

Catullus is the greatest poet of the end of the Republic, a master of lyric poetry. He wrote small poems, where he described the feelings of a person: love and jealousy, friendship, love for nature, etc. A number of poems are directed against the dictatorial intentions of Caesar, his greedy slanderers. The poetic work of Catullus was influenced by Alexandrian poetry with its special attention to mythology, sophistication of the language, and the author's personal experiences. In world lyric poetry, the poems of Catullus occupy a prominent place. His poetry was highly appreciated by A.S. Pushkin.

Drama and poetry were the main, but not the only, types of Latin literature. In parallel, prose developed. Until the 2nd century BC writings in prose were rare and were brief records of historical events and legal norms. Early Roman prose, like poetry, was imitative.

The first prose work in Latin was Mark Portia of Cato the Elder (II century BC) "About agriculture". Cato published about 150 of his speeches, wrote a Roman history, an essay on medicine, oratory.

The most prominent Roman writers, masters of the prose word, lived and worked in the 1st century BC. BC. Mark Terence Varro (116 - 27 BC) - a unique writer, wrote about 74 essays in 620 books. The main work of Varro is "Antiquities of divine and human affairs" in 41 books. Works - "On the Latin Language", "On Latin Speech", "On Grammar", "On the Comedies of Plautus". He also wrote a treatise "On Agriculture", where the issues of agriculture are presented in an elegant literary form. "The Menippean Satura" in 150 books is a cheerful and witty poetic work. The merits of Varro in the development of Roman literature were so great that a monument was erected to him, the only Roman writer, during his lifetime.

Mark Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) - wrote in various prose genres: philosophical works ("On the limits of good and evil", "Tusculan conversations", "On the nature of the gods", etc.), legal writings ("On State”, “On Duties”), speeches (“against Verres”, “against Catiline”, “Philippis against Antony”), on the theory of oratory (“On the Orator”, “Brutus”), numerous letters.

A major Roman writer was Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), author of "Notes on the Gallic War" and "Notes on the Civil War". Acting as a writer, Caesar pursued political goals: to justify his aggressive and often treacherous actions in Gaul, to shift the responsibility for unleashing a civil war on his opponents.

In the "Golden Age of Augustus" (27 BC - 14 AD), Roman literature reached its highest peak: masterpieces of world literature were created, enriching its treasury. This heyday is associated with the work of such poets as Virgil, Horace and Ovid.

Publius Virgil Maro (70 19 BC), he owns three main works that glorified his name - "Bukoliki" (42 - 39 BC), a poem about agriculture "Georgics" (37 -30 years BC) and the historical and mythological poem "Aeneid" (29 - 19 BC).

Quintus Horace Flaccus (65-8 BC), contributed to the formation of imperial ethics, the morality of a loyal new regime, more than any of the other poets. Was one of the favorite poets of Augustus. Wrote several famous works: a small collection of poems of a satirical nature, epods and satyrs, four books of "Ods", or "Songs", of a lyrical nature, two books of "Messages", or "Letters". By order of Augustus, Horace wrote the majestic hymn to the Roman state "Song of the Century". Horace owns the poetic manifesto of the prophetic mission of the poet - the famous "Monument". Subsequently, based on the "Monument" of Horace in Russian poetry, the great Russian poets Derzhavin and Pushkin created similar "monuments".

Publius Ovid Nason (43 BC - 18 AD), the main theme of creativity was love, as one of the most important manifestations of human relationships. Two poetry collections have been written - "Elegies", or "Songs of Love", and "Heroides" (letters from heroines known from mythology to their beloved). The infamous treatise - "The Art of Love", served as the main reason for the exile of the poet. In the second period of his work, Ovid wrote two large historical and mythological poems, Metamorphoses and Fasty. By the time of the link are works - "Letters from Pontus" and "Tristia", "Sorrowful Elegies".

Of the works of prose literature, a worthy place is occupied by a grandiose historical work. Tita Livia (59 BC - AD 17) "From the Foundation of Rome" in 142 books.

Roman literature cannot be imagined without Plutarch (c. 46 - c. 126) he owns 227 works, of which more than 150 have survived. Plutarch's literary heritage can be divided into two categories: a series of treatises on moral topics, including religion, philosophy, politics, literature and music, and biographies.

CONCLUSION

Shaken by the powerful blows of the barbarians, the Roman Empire was heading towards its death. Ancient art was completing its journey. After the death of Constantine (337), the crisis of the ancient order sharply worsened in Rome. The attacks of the barbarians on the borders of the empire intensified, the Romans lost almost all their provinces. In 395, the Roman Empire was finally divided into Western and Eastern. The city of Rome remained the capital of the western half, and the city of Constantinople, founded by Constantine on the site of the former Greek colony of Byzantium, became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (future Byzantium).

In 410 and 455, Rome suffered a terrible defeat - first from the Goths, and then from the Vandals. In 476, the commander of the German mercenaries stationed in Italy, Odoacer, deposed the infant emperor Romulus-Augustulus. This event is considered to be the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

The Eastern Roman Empire did not perish under the blows of the barbarians and lasted for almost a thousand years.

With the end of the Western Roman Empire, ancient culture also perished, which had a great influence on the subsequent development of European peoples, became their common property, the basis of the entire culture of new Europe. The earliest images of the originality of this culture appeared at the level of the most ancient forms of folk art, in particular mythology, the plots of which have been the richest material for painters, sculptors, composers, and poets for many centuries.

Ancient Rome gave Europe a developed jurisprudence, from which the modern system of law grew, and also left a rich cultural heritage that has become part of the life and culture of modern mankind. Majestic remains of Roman cities, buildings, theaters, amphitheaters, circuses, roads, aqueducts and bridges, baths and basilicas, triumphal arches and columns, temples and porticos, port facilities and military camps, high-rise buildings and luxurious villas amaze modern man not only for its splendor, good technology, quality of construction, rational architecture, but also for its aesthetic value. In all this, there is a real connection between Roman antiquity and modern reality, a visible proof that Roman civilization formed the basis of European culture, and through it of all modern civilization as a whole.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.Grinenko G.V. Reader on the history of world culture. Tutorial- 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Higher education, 2005. - 940 p.

2.History of Ancient Rome: Proc. for universities on special "History" / V.I. Kuzishchin, I.L. Mayak, I.A. Gvozdev and others; Ed. IN AND. Kuzishchina. - 4th ed., revised. and additional - M.: Higher. school, 2001. - 383 p.

.Pivoev V.M. Culturology. Introduction to the history and philosophy of culture: Textbook / V.M. Pivoev. - Ed. 2nd, revised. and additional - M.: Gaudeamus; Academic Prospect, 2008. - 564 p.

.Sadokhin A.P. World art culture: a textbook for university students / A.P. Sadokhin. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: UNITY - DANA, 2008. - 495 p.

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Ancient Roman culture went through a difficult path of development from the culture of the Roman community to the city-state, having absorbed the cultural traditions of ancient Greece, having experienced the influence of Etruscan, Hellenistic cultures and the cultures of peoples. ancient East. Roman culture became the breeding ground for the culture of the Romano-Germanic peoples of Europe. She gave the world classic examples of military art, government, law, urban planning and much more.

The history of ancient Rome is usually divided into three main periods:

− royal (VIII - beginning of VI century BC);

- Republican (510/509 - 30/27 BC);

- the period of the empire (30/27 BC - 476 AD).

Early Roman culture, like Greek, is closely connected with the religious ideas of the population of Ancient Rome. The religion of that time was characterized by polytheism, very close to animism. In the view of the Roman, every object and every phenomenon had its own spirit, its own deity. Each house had its own Vesta - the goddess of the hearth. The gods were in charge of every movement and breath of a person from birth to death. Another curious feature of the early Roman religion and worldview of people is the absence of certain images of the gods. The deities were not separated from those phenomena and processes that they were in charge of. The first images of the gods appear in Rome around the 6th century BC. e. influenced by Etruscan and Greek mythology and its anthropomorphic deities. Before that, there were only symbols of the gods in the form of a spear, arrow, etc. Like other peoples of the world, the souls of ancestors were revered in Rome. They called them penates, lares, mans. A feature of the religious worldview of the Romans is their narrow practicality and the utilitarian nature of communication with deities according to the principle "do, ut des" - "I give so that you give me."

From the 5th century BC e. a serious influence of Greek culture and religion begins, going through the colonies of the Greeks in Italy. The rich mythology of the Greeks, the whole poetic, colorful world of Greek legends, enriched the dry and prosaic soil of the Italo-Roman religion in many ways. Under the influence of the Greek and Etruscan mythological tradition, the supreme deities of the Romans stood out, the main of which are: Jupiter - the god of the sky, Juno - the goddess of the sky and the patroness of marriage, the wife of Jupiter; Minerva is the patroness of crafts, Diana is the goddess of groves and hunting, Mars is the god of war. The myth of Aeneas appears, establishing the relationship of the Romans with the Greeks, the myth of Hercules (Hercules), etc. To a large extent, the Roman and Greek pantheons are identified. Around the 4th century BC. e. the Greek language spreads, mainly among the upper strata of the population. Some Greek customs are gaining popularity: shaving beards and cutting hair short, reclining at the table while eating, etc. In the 4th century BC. e. in Rome, a copper coin is introduced according to the Greek model, and before that they paid simply with a piece of copper. The development of Roman civilization led to a significant growth and elevation of the capital of the state, the city of Rome, which in the I-III century BC. e. numbered from one to one and a half million inhabitants. After the conquest of the western part of the Hellenistic world by Rome, such large cultural centers as Alexandria of Egypt, Antioch in Syria, Ephesus in Asia Minor, Corinth and Athens in Greece and Carthage on the northern coast of Africa entered its borders. Rome and other cities of the empire were decorated with magnificent buildings - temples, palaces, theaters, amphitheatres, circuses. Amphitheaters and circuses, in which animals were poisoned, gladiator fights and public executions were held, are a feature of the cultural life of Rome. The fertile soil of these cruel spectacles was endless wars, a colossal influx of slaves from conquered lands, the ability to feed and entertain the plebs through predatory wars.

A distinctive feature of the cities of the era of the empire was the presence of communications: paved roads, water pipes (aqueducts), sewers (cesspools). There were 11 aqueducts in Rome, two of which are still in operation. The squares of Rome and other cities were decorated with triumphal arches in honor of military victories, statues of emperors and prominent public people of the state. Magnificent buildings of public baths (terms) with hot and cold water, gymnasiums and rest rooms were built. In many cities, houses of 3-6 floors were erected, called insuls.

art The Roman Empire absorbed the achievements of all the conquered lands and peoples. palaces and public buildings were decorated with wall paintings and paintings, the main plot of which was episodes of Greek and Roman mythology, as well as the image of water and greenery. During the period of the empire, portrait sculpture received special attention, a characteristic feature of which was exceptional realism in the transfer of features of the depicted face.

Great success achieved in Rome education and scientific life. Education consisted of three levels: elementary, grammar school and rhetoric school. The latter was high school, and it taught the art of eloquence, which was highly valued in Rome. Emperors appropriated large sums on the maintenance of schools of rhetoric.

The centers of scientific activity remained the Hellenistic and Greek cities: Alexandria, Pergamon, Rhodes, Athens and, of course, Rome and Carthage. Great importance was given in Rome in the I-II centuries to geographical knowledge and history. A particularly great contribution to the development of these areas of knowledge was made by the geographers Strabo and Claudius Ptolemy, the historians Tacitus, Titus Livius and Appian. The activity of the Greek writer and philosopher Plutarch belongs to this time. In the era of the empire, the literature of ancient Rome reached its apogee. During the reign of Emperor Augustus, Gaius Cylnius Maecenas lived. He collected, supported financially and took care of talented poets of his time. Among the poets, Virgil, a member of the circle of Maecenas and the author of the immortal epic poem "Aeneid", had the greatest fame during his lifetime. Another poet of the circle of Maecenas is the master of the perfect form of verse Horace Flaccus. The fate of Ovid Nason, a remarkable lyric poet, the author of the poem "The Art of Love", which caused the wrath of Emperor Augustus and the poet's exile to the Black Sea city of Toma (Constanta), far from Rome, where he created two collections of lyric poems "Sorrow" and "Messages from Pontus" is dramatic. ". Wrote poetry and the famous Emperor Nero. Truly the era of the empire was the golden age of Roman poetry. The satirist Junius Juvenal, who wrote 16 satires, and the writer Apuleius, the author of a kind of fantastic novel Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass, about the transformation of the young man Lucius into a donkey and his adventures, also became famous for their skill during this period.

Roman culture is pagan culture. But the era of the late Roman Empire was marked by the wide spread within its borders of a new creed - Christianity, which won the final victory in Rome under Emperor Constantine (324-330). The fourth century AD was the heyday of Christian eloquence. The abundance of church disputes and polemics with the pagans gave rise to an extensive Christian literature, created according to all the rules of ancient rhetoric. The ideological struggle between Christians and pagans became especially acute in the 5th century AD. e. - in the last decades of the existence of the great Roman power.

In the crisis that engulfed the Roman world in the 3rd century A.D. BC, one can detect the beginning of the upheaval, thanks to which the medieval West was born. The barbarian invasions of the 5th century can be regarded as an event that hastened the transformation, gave it a catastrophic run, and profoundly changed the whole appearance of this world. But along with the death of the Roman state, ancient culture did not disappear, although its development as a single organic whole did stop. The potential of ancient culture, its treasures, despite the long oblivion, were appreciated and claimed by descendants.

Thus, ancient culture is a unique phenomenon that gave general cultural values ​​in literally all areas of spiritual and material activity. Only three generations of cultural figures, whose lives practically fit into the classical period of the history of Ancient Greece, laid the foundations of European civilization and created images to follow for millennia to come. The distinctive features of ancient Greek culture: spiritual diversity, mobility and freedom - allowed the Greeks to reach unprecedented heights before other peoples began to imitate the Greeks and build a culture according to the patterns they created.

The culture of Ancient Rome - in many respects the successor of the ancient traditions of Greece - is distinguished by religious restraint, internal severity and external expediency. The practicality of the Romans found a worthy expression in urban planning, politics, jurisprudence, and military art. The culture of Ancient Rome largely determined the culture of subsequent eras in Western Europe.

Literature

6. Akimova I. A. Culturology. - M., 2004. - 712 p.

7. Andreev Yu.V. The price of freedom and harmony. - St. Petersburg, 1999. - 399 p.

8. Antiquity as a type of culture: Sat. Art. / Rev. ed. A. F. Losev. - M., 1988. - 333 p.

9. Gurevich P. S.. Culturology. - M., 2004. - 335 p.

10. Culturology: lecture notes / ed. A. A. Oganesyan. - M., 2004. - 283 p.

11. Ostrovsky A. V. History of civilization. - St. Petersburg, 2000. - 359 p.

Questions for self-control

1. What does the term "antiquity" mean?

2. What states can be classified as ancient?

3. Name the time frame of ancient culture.

4. Antiquity was the prototype of what culture?

5. Why can't the culture of Ancient Rome be characterized as exclusively pagan?

Chapter 18. EUROPEAN Culture Middle Ages

There is no other culture in which one's own life - line by line and out of obligation - would be so important for the living person, because he must verbally give an account of everything.

O. Spengler

The Middle Ages is a fairly long period in history. In classical chronology, it occupies a place from the 5th to the 17th century, or more precisely, the era from 476, the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, to 1642, when the English bourgeois revolution began. In traditional historical scholarship, the Middle Ages are usually characterized as a decline compared to antiquity. This applies especially to the period of the early Middle Ages. However, not all so simple. Apparent drop in level common culture was nothing more than the birth of a young, qualitatively new cultural organism, with its own unique features.

The environment where the culture of the Middle Ages was born consisted of the so-called barbarian peoples: the Celts, Germans, Slavs, etc., who undoubtedly came into contact with ancient culture, but often as a military or not free. The heritage of antiquity influenced them, but it was purely external in nature, for even then typically barbarian (in the sense of special) elements formed the basis cultural development these many tribes. The process that took place in Europe in the I-IV centuries AD. e., known as the Great Migration of Peoples, forced the essentially agricultural tribes to constantly move from place to place, plus the development of a particular territory was accompanied by endless military clashes in which entire peoples and languages ​​\u200b\u200bare killed. All this gradually led to the formation of a qualitatively different, in contrast to antiquity, ideas about the world, about the universe. This world seemed vast and boundless, full of mysteries and secrets, having large spaces and equally great opportunities, but they must be defended in endless wars and skirmishes. In contrast to the calm and measured ancient "space", the world of the Celts and Germans was dark and mysterious, inhabited by many creatures, mysterious, incomprehensible, evil and good, living and living in a variety of places. This is the mythical world of gnomes and elves, goblins and trolls, disembodied spirits, where the human person, in addition to limitless possibilities, feels lonely and abandoned at the same time. The life of people together was not only a necessity, but also an opportunity to more fully reveal their qualities, and together with their people, comrades-in-arms, friends. Initially, it turned out that the leader and his squad played a big role in the life of the barbarian tribes - the guarantor of the protection of the tribe and the guarantor of its survival in case of crop failure, because military affairs in such a rich world was the cornerstone of honor, valor and just real business.

Historically, a situation has developed in which the system of seeing the world of the barbarians, in terms of its external and internal manifestations, surprisingly flexibly correlated with the Christian idea of ​​the Incomprehensible and Beginningless God and his creation - infinite universe. Therefore, it is not surprising that Christian missionary activity among the wild and cruel barbarians was more successful than in the enlightened ancient world. Most of the Germanic and Celtic tribes adopted Roman Christianity. Gradually, many monasteries arose on the territory of Western Europe, which, like oases in the desert, became the centers of a new, emerging culture. It was from the monasteries that the most brilliant preachers came out, literate and widely educated people, not only in religious terms, concentrated in the monasteries, it was the monastery that was the ideal and center of real, true life for those around. Of course, pagan beliefs came into contact and fought with Christian beliefs, but the latter prevailed with surprising ease. Moreover, the Church showed amazing flexibility in accepting those rites that did not harm the act of faith and farsightedly left in the form of Christian holidays.

Monasteries were not only the center new culture. Their closed, closed, ascetic, full of inner spirituality rhythm of life was an example and formed the basis for the structure of a new, medieval society. The outward isolation and inaccessibility of the monastery was reflected in the isolation and hierarchy of the class medieval society. The leaders with their retinues gradually turned into an aristocratic elite, which in turn also had an internal hierarchy. The leader became the king, and his subordinates formed a hierarchy of dukes, counts, barons, knights, etc. The possession of territory became a symbol of power and nobility. The king gave his warriors a plot of land for service. The one who received it took an oath of allegiance to the king. The Christian "In the beginning was the Word ..." began to play a decisive role in society. From now on, this word decides everything. The giver of the land was called señor (senior). The recipient of the land is a vassal. Vassals took an oath of allegiance to the lord and this oath was stronger than any document or agreement. This was all the more relevant in conditions of almost total illiteracy. The vassals, in turn, did the same with the land, that is, they recruited their servants, as a result of which a kind of hierarchical ladder developed, where each vassal was subordinate only to his lord. "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal" - this was the unwritten law of the medieval hierarchy. However, it is wrong to represent the relationship between the lord and the vassal as the relationship between master and servant. These are precisely friendly relations, because loyalty is the main criterion for friendship. The lord is more of a patron than a lord. It often happened that the lord had more duties to the vassal than vice versa. Before us is emerging a unique civilization in which the economic element recedes before personal, friendly relations. Neither in the cultures preceding this era, nor in subsequent cultures, such a phenomenon is seen.

Several stages can be distinguished in the development of Ancient Rome: 1st period - royal: 754 - 510 BC; 2nd period - republican: 510 - 30 years BC; 3rd period - imperial: 30 BC -

476 AD

The most ancient population of the Apennine peninsula were the Ligures.

In the I millennium BC. the bulk of the population was made up of tribes speaking Indo-European languages, pushing back the former population - the Etruscans, who came from Asia Minor, Greeks and others. By the 1st century BC. As a result of the conquest of Italy by Rome, a single Italian people was formed.

The Etruscans, who created the first states in the Apennines, had a special influence on the culture of Rome. Their culture has many analogies with the cultures of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and Greece.

Rome was founded, it is believed, in 754 (3) BC. and was originally a monarchy with strong remnants of tribal relations. During the tsarist period, a state was formed in the form of a policy, the socio-economic basis of which was the ancient form of ownership. Roman culture of the early period developed under the strong influence of the Etruscans and Greeks. In the 7th century BC. writing based on the Greek alphabet. The Roman culture of the early period did not have bright achievements: the Romans did not clearly imagine their gods, the religion showed signs of rationalism and formalism without exaltation, there was no vivid mythology like the Greeks, for whom it became the soil and arsenal of artistic creativity. There were no epic poems in Rome like those of Homer. Dramaturgy originated from rural holidays - saturnalia, whose participants performed with songs and dances. The priests kept chronicles - annals. An important manifestation of culture was law-making, which was formed on the basis of customary law, royal laws and laws adopted by people's representatives. The first written monument of Roman law was the “Laws of the XII Tables” (5th century BC), which fixed the norms of customary law and at the same time protected private property, class and estate inequality.

The life of the Romans of the tsarist and early republican times was distinguished by unpretentiousness. Houses and shrines were nondescript. From the custom of making death masks, portrait sculpture began to develop, which was very similar to the original.

In general, the early Roman culture, having accepted the fruitful influence of other peoples, retained its originality and developed local Italo-Latin foundations.

By the III century BC. Rome became the hegemon on the Apennine Peninsula. Causes of Roman Success: Successful geographical position in the center of the Apennines; rapid socio-economic development on the basis of advanced ancient slavery; military-technical superiority, which arose on the basis of an advanced economy and culture; lack of unity among the opponents of Rome. However, the conquest of Italy by Rome did not mean the creation of a single centralized state. Rome remained a polis. At the same time, the formation of the Roman-Italian union economically and culturally brought together different regions of Italy.

In the initial period of the republic, Rome was a polis with the dominance of a political ideology: with a heightened sense of citizenship and civic community, the value of freedom, the dignity and collectivism of citizens. Gradually, as the Roman conquests, the Roman community: the city-state was replaced by a huge power. The decomposition of the ancient polis led to a crisis and the ideology of its citizens. There is a departure from collectivism and the growth of individualism, the opposition of the individual to the team, people lose their calmness and inner balance. Ancient morals and customs are ridiculed and criticized, other customs, foreign ideology and religion begin to penetrate into the Roman environment.

The Roman religion, which developed under strong Greek influence, also included foreign deities. It was believed that the reception of new gods strengthened the power of the Romans. Religion bore the seal of formalism and practicality. Much attention was paid to the external side of religion, the performance of rituals, and not spiritual merging with the deity. Therefore, the feelings of believers were little affected and dissatisfaction arose. Hence the growth of the influence of Eastern cults, often distinguished by a mystical and orgiastic character.

Holidays, accompanied by processions, sports competitions, theatrical performances, and gladiator fights, played an important role in the life of the Romans. Moreover, the importance of public performances grew all the time: they were an important means of distracting the broad masses from social activity.

Greek literature had a great influence on the formation and development of Roman literature, initially the language of literature was Greek. Of the most significant authors of the period of the republic, one can note the comedian Titus Maccius Plautus (254 - 184 BC); Gaius Lucilius (180 - 102 BC), who denounced the vices of society in satire; Titus Lucretius Cara (95 - 51 BC), who wrote the philosophical poem "On the Nature of Things"; Gaius Valerius Catullus (87 - 54 BC), master of lyric poetry, who wrote

In prose, Mark Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BC) became famous, who, in fact, created the encyclopedia "Antiquities of Divine and Human Affairs" about history, geography and religion, a monument was erected to him as the only Roman writer during his lifetime; Mark Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) - orator, philosopher, lawyer, writer. A major Roman writer was Gaius Julius Caesar, author of Notes on the Gallic War and Notes on the Civil War.

The growth of the power of Rome led to the rise of architecture, which expressed the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bstrength, power and greatness, hence the monumentality and scale of buildings, the magnificent decoration of buildings, decorativeness, greater interest than the Greeks in the utilitarian aspects of architecture: many bridges, aqueducts, theaters were built, amphitheatres, thermal baths, administrative buildings.

Roman architects developed new constructive principles, in particular, they widely used arches, vaults and domes, along with columns they used pillars and pilasters, and the Romans adhered to the symmetry system. Roman architects began to widely use concrete for the first time. In the 1st century BC. Rome has become a huge city with a million people, high-rise buildings and numerous public buildings.

Science developed rapidly, and with a practical roll: one can distinguish the agronomists Cato and Varro, the theoretical architect Vitruvius, the lawyer Scaevola, the philologist Figulus. I

2nd century AD - "golden age" of the Roman Empire. The peoples of the Mediterranean for the first time in history found themselves within the boundaries of one huge power. The borders between individual states, turned into Roman provinces, were destroyed, monetary systems were unified, wars and sea robbery were stopped. Conditions were created that favored the establishment of economic and cultural ties between different areas, the progress of agriculture, crafts, construction, domestic and foreign trade.

The Romans perceived, assimilated and processed the cultural heritage of the ancient Eastern and Hellenistic world. They simultaneously contributed to the familiarization with the Greco-Roman culture of different sections of the population of the western provinces of the empire, spreading Latin and Greek among them, introducing them to economic and technical achievements, mythology, works of art, literature, architecture, scientific knowledge and philosophical theories, with system of Roman law.

Of the creators of the culture of the "golden age" of Rome, one can note: the geographer Strabo; historians Tacitus, Titus Livius, Pliny, Plutarch; philosophers Seneca and Marcus Aurelius; poets Virgil, whose poem "Aeneid" is the crown of Roman poetry, Ovid, who wrote about love; Petronius and Juvenal - satirists; prose writers Apuleius and Long. Roman law reached a special development. Roman legal norms proved to be so flexible that they can be applied in any social system based on private property.

From the III century AD. Rome entered a period of crisis, which is based on the crisis of the slave system. Political instability increased. The crisis of traditional culture deepened, consumerism intensified, moral decay increased, the desire for pleasure and hedonism were noted.

Reflection of the crisis of traditional Roman culture was the emergence and wide spread of Christianity, which became the state religion.

In 395, the empire was divided into Western and Eastern. In 476, the Western Roman Empire fell under the onslaught of barbarians, and Byzantium was formed in the east, transforming into a feudal state, the most cultured during the Middle Ages in Europe.

The meaning of ancient civilization.

The ancient tradition was never interrupted either in the West of Europe or in the East of Europe, although there were periods of the early Middle Ages when much was forgotten. Certain values ​​of ancient culture were absorbed by Christianity. Latin became the language of the church and science in the Middle Ages. Many achievements of antiquity were preserved and developed by the Arab-Islamic civilization (philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, medicine). The system of Roman law was adapted to medieval Europe. During the Renaissance, antique samples became the subject of study. Ancient art, literature, architecture, theater are connected with modernity by thousands of threads.

The ideas of ancient democracy had a special influence in politics. The idea of ​​Rome as a political and spiritual center that unites peoples also lived on.

The culture of the Ancient World experienced a worldview revolution or, in the terminology of Karl Jaspers, "axial time". As a result of Confucianism and Taoism in China, Buddhism in India, Zoroastrianism in Iran, the ethical monotheism of the prophets in Palestine, and Greek philosophy, for the first time two most important principles are affirmed: universal unity and moral self-sufficiency of the individual.

World religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam) have been formed, with an attitude towards the denial of patriarchal values ​​and an appeal to a person who goes beyond tribal norms and makes a free choice. A completely new phenomenon of "conversion" to a religious or philosophical faith arises: the choice of doctrine and the norms of behavior that follow from it.

Until morality separated from sacral-tribal taboos and personal moral consciousness completely identified itself with the public opinion of the tribal, ethnic group, an independent act in which a person chooses for himself a way of thinking and a way of life was impossible: a person could violate generally accepted norms, but could not look for other norms for himself. The destruction of the automatism of the tradition of the genus made life position problem of the individual and cleared the way for the psychology of "conversion". The authority of tradition, which had previously dominated, came into conflict with the authority of doctrine.

During the period of ancient civilizations, the power of the idea was discovered, as something opposed to the absolutization of ritualism. Based on the idea, it was possible to re-build human behavior among people. The greatest discovery of ancient civilizations is the principle of criticism. The appeal to the idea, to the "truth" made it possible to criticize the given human life together with myth and ritual - the main languages ​​of the archaic worldview. Antiquity set the task: to seek the truth that makes a person free. Man has left the "uterine", pre-personal state, and he cannot return to this state without ceasing to be a man.

Ancient Roman culture - a set of achievements in the field of spiritual and material culture of the Roman Republic (V-I centuries BC) and the Roman Empire (I century BC - V century AD). The concept of ancient Roman culture in the narrow sense of the word refers only to the culture of Roman Italy, and in the broad sense - to the culture of the Mediterranean united by the Romans.

The ancient Roman civilization went through a difficult path of development from the culture of the Roman community of the city-state, having absorbed the cultural traditions of Ancient Greece, having experienced the influence of the peoples of the ancient East. Roman culture became the breeding ground for the culture of the Romano-Germanic peoples of Europe. She gave the world classic examples of military art, government, law, urban planning and much more.

History of ancient Rome It is customary to divide into three main periods: royal(VIII - beginning of VI centuries BC); republican

(510/509 - 30/27 BC); empire period(30/27 BC - 476 AD).

If for the Greeks in the spiritual life the main value is man is a citizen, man is the measure of all things, then for the Romans it is citizen, patriot and the people themselves had a special, God-chosen destiny. A citizen must have courage, steadfastness, honesty, loyalty, dignity, the ability to obey iron discipline in war and the rule of law and the customs of ancestors in peacetime, be moderate in lifestyle.

In Rome slavery reached its highest development in antiquity. A free citizen considered it shameful for himself to be suspected of "slave vices" (such as lies and flattery) or "slave occupations", which here, unlike Greece, include not only craft, but also performing on stage, composing plays, the work of a sculptor and painter. Only politics, war, and the development of law were recognized as deeds worthy of a Roman, especially a noble one.

Science were adapted to practical, political, legal, commercial, military and construction activities. Cicero, the first philosopher, orator, theorist of pedagogy and politics, reproached the Greeks for their fascination with speculative sciences, in particular mathematics, guided by practical benefits, considered it right to limit the development of this science to "the needs of monetary calculations and land surveying."

The centers of scientific activity remained the Hellenistic and Greek cities: Alexandria, Pergamon, Rhodes, Athens and, of course, Rome and Carthage. Great importance was attached in Rome in the I-II centuries. geographical knowledge and history. Geographers made a particularly valuable contribution to the development of these areas of knowledge. Strabo(64/63 BC - 23/24 AD) and Claudius Ptolemy(after 83 - after 161), historians Tacitus(c. 58 - c. 117), Titus of Libya(59 BC - 17 AD) and Appian(? - 70s of the 2nd century). By this time, the activities of the Greek political figure, writer and philosopher Lucia Seneca(c. 4 BC - 65 AD), author of the Letters to Lucilius, the tragedies Oedipus and Medea, as well as a writer and historian Plutarch(c. 45 - c. 127), whose numerous works are united under the code name "Moralia".

The key to understanding Roman art are the words of the Roman writer Julius Frontinus about the nine grandiose Roman aqueducts: “one cannot compare their stone masses with the useless pyramids of Egypt or with the most famous, but idle buildings of the Greeks.” The pathos of utility in the name of the state is realized in the construction of cities, forums (squares), triumphal arches (for the solemn entry of the winners), temples (to the patron gods of Rome), public baths(places for secular communication), circuses and amphitheaters (for the entertainment of the public), etc.

It is impossible to deny the civilizational mission of Rome. The Romans were not only a nation of soldiers, but also builders and organizers - architects, engineers, lawyers. Together with the power of Rome, the order of aqueducts (water pipes), roads, the Latin school and Roman law came to the hitherto wild peoples of Western Europe.

In the age of empire reached its apogee literature. Among the poets he achieved the greatest fame Virgil(70-19 BC), author of the epic poem "Aeneid". They possessed the perfect form of verse Horace Flaccus(65-8 BC), Ovid Nason(43 BC - 18 AD). The era of the empire became a truly golden age of Roman poetry. Famous for their skill as a satirist Junius Juvenal(c. 60 -
OK. 127), who wrote 16 satires, writer Apuleius(c. 124 -?), the author of a kind of fantastic novel "Meta-morphoses, or the Golden Ass", which did not lose interest among our contemporaries.

As a special phenomenon in the development of world civilization, the Roman right. It included a system of legal norms governing property and other economic relations related to the right of ownership, rules for ensuring contractual obligations and liability, and very advanced rules on the inheritance of property. Roman lawyers divided law into private, that is, relating to the "benefit of individuals," and public, relating to the "state of the Roman state."

In direct connection with the peculiarities of political life, the oratory. Owning it was considered an important and most effective way to strengthen authority in society and win political success. Roman eloquence reached its apogee in the person of Cicero. interesting Cicero's thoughts on culture. Culture for Cicero is not limited to education, the development of sciences and arts, the care of which he considers rather more characteristic of Greece than of Rome. For the famous speaker, true culture lies in a special structure of life, where the spiritual state of a person and the general interests of the state are in a contradictory, but inseparable unity. For the sake of the highest goal, the prosperity of the republic, citizens and society must go to self-restraint. A man who has forgotten the interests of society, and a ruler who has forgotten the interests of citizens, are not Romans, but barbarians. The opposite of barbarism is culture, and therefore the most important thing in the Roman Republic is that it is - state of culture.

The interaction of Greek and Roman elements in the culture of the co-building European civilization, European as a cultural phenomenon: the unity of word and deed, idea and embodiment, theory and practice, harmony and benefit - this is the precious heritage of antiquity, which, the farther, the more it attracts admiring glances.

It is from antiquity that the current European and American civilizations have inherited:

the foundations of modern sciences, although their individual elements began to form even in more ancient societies - among the Sumerians, in the territories of present-day Egypt, China and India; basic aesthetic forms, as evidenced by the general style of modern Western art and architecture compared to the oriental examples that are not at all similar to them; the basic norms of statehood and law, which still constitute the theoretical foundation of Western democracy with its separation of powers, electivity, equality of citizens before the law, etc.; basic moral standards and the main religion - Christianity, arose in the conditions of the crisis of ancient civilization.

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Roman antiquity borrows many ideas and traditions of Greek culture. Roman duplicates Greek, philosophy uses various ideas of the teachings of Greek thinkers. In the era of Roman antiquity, oratory, artistic prose and poetry, historical science, mechanics, and natural science reach a high level of development. architecture Rome uses Hellenic forms, but is distinguished by the gigantism inherent in the imperial scale of the state and the ambitions of the Roman aristocracy. Roman sculptors and artists follow Greek models, but, unlike the Greeks, they develop the art of realistic portraiture and prefer to sculpt not naked, but “closed” statues.

Both the Greeks and the Romans loved every kind of spectacle - Olympic competitions, gladiator fights, theatrical performances. As you know, the Roman plebs demanded "bread and circuses." Everything antique art was subject to the principle entertainment .

The most important cultural innovations of Roman antiquity are associated with development of politics and law . The management of the vast Roman power required the development of a system of state bodies and legal laws. Ancient Roman jurists laid the foundation of legal culture, on which modern legal systems still rely. But the relationships, powers and duties of bureaucratic institutions and officials clearly stipulated by law do not eliminate the tension of the political struggle in society. Political and ideological goals significantly affect the nature of art and the entire cultural life of society. Politicization - a characteristic feature of Roman culture.

Roman civilization became the last page in the history of ancient culture. Geographically, it arose on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula, having received the name from the Greeks - Italy . Subsequently, Rome gathered into an immense empire those countries that arose as a result of the collapse of the power of Alexander the Great. Ancient Rome claimed to rule the world, to be a universal state, coinciding in scale with the entire civilized world.

The population of Ancient Rome lived in clans in territorial communities. At the head of archaic Rome was Tsar , with him was senate , and the most important questions were solved popular assembly . In 510 BC the Roman Republic is formed, which lasted until the 30s. 1st century BC Then comes the period of the Empire, which ended with the fall of the "eternal city" in 476 BC. e.

Ideology of the Roman determined patriotism - the highest value of a Roman citizen. The Romans considered themselves God's chosen people and focused only on winning. Revered in Rome courage, dignity, strictness, thriftiness, zeal to obey discipline, law and legal thinking.

Lies and deceit were considered vices characteristic of slaves. If the Greeks bowed to philosophy and art, then for a noble Roman, worthy occupations were war, politics, agriculture and law.

Laws were made in Rome (12 tables) And "Roman moral code" , which included the following moral principles: piety, fidelity, seriousness, valor.

Religious performances Romans are not rich. Of the gods of ancient Roman mythology, Jupiter was revered (in ancient Greek mythology - Zeus), Juno (Hera), Diana (Artemis), Victoria (Nike). The god Hercules (Hercules) enjoyed special love, whose 12 labors were unusually popular in antiquity. At the beginning of the 1st millennium, Rome began to spread Christianity.

By the 1st century B.C. The Roman Empire conquered Hellenistic Greece . Roman culture flourished, fed by foreign cultures with their riches. The influence of the culture of defeated Greece was especially noticeable. She captured the Romans. They begin to study the Greek language, philosophy, literature, invite famous Greek orators and philosophers, and themselves go to the Greek city-states to join the culture before which they secretly bowed.

In Rome, rhetoric is developing powerfully, since without a virtuoso mastery of the living word, a political career is impossible. The most brilliant Roman orator was Mark Thulius Cicero .

Has a unique look roman art : a realistic sculptural portrait, fresco painting, etc. is being created. In architecture, the desire for grandiosity, pomposity and splendor is clearly visible. It finds its expression in construction triumphal arches, squares (forums), snores, theaters, bridges, markets, hippodromes etc. The Romans invented a way to quickly harden concrete, began to use arched structures in construction, and gave the world plumbing. grand amphitheater Coliseum , the temple of all the gods - the Pantheon in Rome - evidence of the remarkable achievements of Roman architecture.

As already mentioned, in the I century. BC. spread in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire Christian ideas . A new myth appears about the possibility of achieving the Kingdom of God on earth and the idea of ​​rewarding the suffering and disadvantaged with happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven. This idea became especially attractive to the lower strata of Rome. Gradually, Christianity embraced the Roman aristocracy and intelligentsia with its ideas, and at the beginning of the 4th-6th centuries. became official religion of the Roman Empire . From 410 to 476 Rome is being defeated by the Goth barbarians, German mercenaries, and others. The eastern part of the Roman Empire (Byzantium) lasted another thousand years, while the western part, having perished, became the foundation for the culture of the emerging Western European states. Outstanding personalities of Roman culture:

Cicero- orator, politician, philosopher, public figure.

Sallust, Titus of Libya, Polybius- politicians, propagandists of the great civilizational mission of Rome and the creation of the Universal State.

Virgil, Lucretius Carus, Ovid, Horace the great Roman poets. (Virgil - "Aeneid", L. Car - "On the nature of things", Ovid - "Metamorphoses", Horace - "Message to the Pisons").

So, Greco-Roman antiquity (VI century BC - V AD) left the world culture with the following achievements :

Rich and varied mythology;

The developed system of Roman law (“Laws of 12 tables”);

Laws of goodness, truth, beauty ("Roman moral code");

Enduring works of art (sculpture, poetry, architecture, epic, theater);

Variety of philosophical ideas;

world religion - Christianity , which became the spiritual core of subsequent European culture.

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