The Army, Religion, Law, Republican Art Week 13

What does this photo depict?

• A roman funeral 

• If someone passed away, busts/masks of the ancestors would be carried

Paterfamilias definition 

• Father of the family 

• Applied to the oldest male in the family

• Had control over everyone-> very central role 

Three Roman Names

Romans had a first name (praenomen), last name (nomen) and a distinguishing name (usually if they did something notable) (cognomen)

Examples: 

1. Gaius Julius Caesar 

2. Marcus Tullius Cicero-> Cicero = chickpea

Patron and Client 

• A patron was a wealthy or influential Roman who provided protection, legal aid, and support to clients, who in return offered respect and loyalty to the Patron.. 

So what does the term Patr, refer to in the words, Patron, Patrician, etc.?

• Refers to father

Why did people want to be patrons?

• They enjoyed fulfilling favours because they would gain reputation and influence and would be “center of attention”. It was a way for their ego to be boosted in a way.

So what were the three “father figure” roles?

• Paterfamilies -> head of family

• Patrician -> aristocrats

• Patron -> provide assistance to the poor

What was a unique way that indicated your social status?

• Seating

• Ex. seating at the theatre, at the dinner table, etc.

Was social climbing possible in Rome?

• Yes, however difficult and took many generations 

Various types of Roman religion/spirits

1. Deities: sky god; war god 

• The conquered Greeks conquered the Romans = the Romans adopted a large number of Greek practices

2. Animistic spirits: numina 

• Rivers, forests, roads, mountains, towns io

3. Family ancestors and spirits 

4. Personal magic

> Romans had a pious and pragmatic (would do whatever was required) toward religion 

What is the Roman word for spirits?

• Numina (numen)

How did the name Jupiter come around?

• The king of the gods would be called zeus patr

• Saying zeus patr fast sounded like jupiter

The story of Vesta 

• Vestalia was a festival in honour vesta 

• Vesta was the goddess of sacred fire 

• Only time throughout the year the temple of vesta had its doors open 

• Women would come in barefoot with their hair undone and leave gifts to vesta 

• To honour the sptry of vesta, a donkey was allowed in 

Why? Was a donkey allowed in?

• A donkey was allowed because a weirdo god was creeping on her 

• The donkey made a noise and alerted vesta 

• So now a donkey is allowed in the temple 

At the end of the festival, what would happen?

• It was called “when the poop is removed” 

• Called this because they would clean all the donkey poop 

• Poop would be dumped in the tiber river 

Since Romans excused a lot of traditions in the name of religion, they would do anything, esp. things like this.

1. Deities: priestly colleges

Romans had a group of priests and each priests had a different job 

Name the 4:

1. Pontiffs: administrative job >oversaw all the festivals 

• The chief of head was called the Pontifex Maximus (what the pope is called now) 

• ^ In charge of religious contracts 

2. Flamens: priests dedicated to specific gods (would say the prayers/carry out the festivals) 

3. Augurs: priests who interpreted the will of the gods through behavior of birds to determine whether important actions had divine approval. 

• “Inaugurate” = to bring in an augur 

4. The 15 Men: in charge of the books of the sybil 

What is the story of Sybil?

• Sibyl offered King Tarquin nine prophetic books

• After he repeatedly refused her price, she burned six of them and sold the remaining three for the original price

• These became the Sibylline Books, which Rome consulted during major crises. 

When would the 3 books of sybil be consulted? 

• When Rome was in major crisis 

Vestal Virgins and the Home-fire of Rome 

The temple had 10 priestesses who were virgins throughout their service 

Was seen as being the symbolic heart of rome 

Why was the Vestal Temple considered the safest place in Rome?

• To ensure that the women were virgins, the temple would be locked up 

• This caused important documents to be stored in the temple as well

2. Numina 

Romans believed spirits were invested in throughout the empire 

Regions of land were also considered to have spirits 

What is a cult?

• A religious celebration in honour of the spirits 

Which figure is a priest when looking at a sculpture/painting?

• Priest will have toga thrown up on their head

3. Family Religion

What is a Lares and lararium?

Romans believed that their ancestors had powers called Lares 

• A roman house would have a lararium = a palace to honour lares

4. Personal Magic

Would use amulets, curse tablets, horoscopes, ghosts to defend/attack 

What is this an image of?

• Image above is of an amulet of a uterus 

What is the difference between the two?

Above: pot w/ a script

Below: pot w/ bogus on it, a scam to look like the pot above

What is a ponti-fex?

• Roman priest from the college of Pontiffs 

• Would survey religious rituals 

• Highest ranking preist 

What does ponti fex mean?

• Bridge builder 

Roman syncretism

• When two religious practices merge 

• Tolerance was based on pragmatism = accepted other religions because it was politically and socially useful, not because of an ideology

What is the religious capitol?

• Rome

Religions accepted by Rome:

1. Magna Mater (Cybele)

2. Mithras 

3. Isis 

4. Bacchus

5. Yahweh 

1. Magna Mater (Cybele)

• The 15 men consulted from the Sybil book that they need to bring the great mother to Rome 

• A meteor fell from the sky and emerged Cybele

• the romans brought it back to rome to worship 

1. Mithras 

• A Roman god influenced by Persian religion, Zoroastrianism 

• Secret/mystery religion

• Depicted slaying a bull (tauroctony)

• Became popular among Roman soldiers (a military cult)

• Women were not allowed part of religion 

1. Isis 

• Egyptian goddess 

• Had many unofficial temples at rome 

• Romans equated Isis with Venus, Cleopatra associated herself with Isis

• People in this religion claimed that they met isis

1. Bacchus

• “Bacchanalia” = secret religious festivals held in honour of Bacchus 

• Religion was temporarily banned because rumours went out that the people of this religion were conspiring against the government 

1. Yahweh 

• God worshiped in judaism 

• Judea was the most problematic area of the Roman empire 

What is this image of?

• A coin showing a jewish person under a palm tree with a roman standing above them 

• The coin says “Judea captured”

What law are we focusing on throughout this course?

Formative Law

Court case of the barber and woodcutter

• They made an agreement that a woodcutter would bring all of the wood that his ox could pull

• In return the barber gives the woodcutter a haircut 

• The woodcutter then says he wants his wagon that carries wood since it is made of wood 

• They then took this to court 

• Due to issues in the contract, it was severed

Civil Procedure 

> When two citizens disagreed, the procedure that took palace 

1. Formulation of the problem (also called the formula system)

• Instructions for a judge to follow in deciding a case 

2. Selection of Judge 

3. Trial 

What was the influence of the formula system 

• Development of the contract law, tort law, cyber law

• Justinian's Digest -> compilation of Roman legal writings ordered my Emperor Justinian

Who were the Legal experts 

• Jurists and Lawyers (Gratis or pro bono -> would do it for free)

Why would people ever do something for free?

• To become a patron 

What type of law did Romans focus on? How did laws form?

• Civil laws 

• Tended to let law develop in courts 

• Did not create statutory laws 

Criminal Procedure, what was it like?

• If someone did something terrible, the government would appointment sometime to help prosecute this person 

• Very rarely used

What were permanent courts like?

• Would have expert judges for certain cases 

Social function of law

• Roman law was not interested in preventing crime 

• Expected for citizens to advocate for themselves 

Redistributive justice (compared to rehabilitative justice) 

• If someone thought they were above the law, revenge would be brought upon them to put them in their place 

Who are Delatores

• informers who accused people of crimes 

• If court case is successful, a reward is received 

Who is Crassus 

• The wealthiest man in Rome who wanted military glory 

• Gathered a military force to gain military glory against the Parthia Empire 

• As he was marching out, he was offered assistance and refused both because he wanted credit on his own 

• He then ended up dying in the battle of Carrhae as he fell into a trap by Parthia 

How much power did the Army really hold?

• Power of army was so important in Rome that they could refuse to serve which would humiliate the leader 

• Large number of army = political clout 

• Proclaim and depose Emperors -> Roman armies could declare new emperors and overthrow existing ones

3 Elements of the Roman Army 

1. Legions: Heavy infantry, only roman citizens 

2. Auxiliaries: other forces, non-roman allies 

3. Praetorians: bodyguard to the emperor (in the imperial era) 

What was the legion in the early republic like?

• Drafted amateurs who fought together in a simple line formation 

• Had to pay for own equipment and served for one battle season 

What was the legion in the late Republic like (post punic wars)?

• Legion becomes a sub group of all those drafted; it fights under an assigned commander 

• The trend is toward more standard weapons

• The same group of soldiers would be recruited as a group in the same legion whenever drafted > basically serving w/ the same people

What are the requirements to enlist?

• Male 

• Roman citizen 

• Own land 

• No criminal record 

• Had to take a physical test 

• Must take training

2 major benefits of being in a legion?

1. oot was divided amongst soldiers if a city was captured by them

2. When done your military duty, you could be rewarded with retirement benefits 

Who is Marius? What changes did he make?

• A military commander who transformed Roman army by making these changes: 

1. Did not need to own land to join army 

2. Each commander would recruit his own army (no longer randomly assigned) 

3. Equipment was provided 

4. There was promotion 

What social and political repercussions did Marius’ changes bring about?

• Became extremely strong military force 

What was a jackass? 

- someone who carried everything they needed (weapons, tent, etc) 

• similar to how a donkey carries everything 

What changes were made in the Imperial Army?

• Annual pay increased 

• Fixed term of duty + fixed pension

• Legions no longer attached to specific commanders

• Non citizens can enlist 

Axuillaries 

• Non drafted citizen drafted allies 

• Called “light” infantry 

• Received retirement and full citizenship if served for 25 years 

Praetorian Guard 

• Bodyguards to the emperor 

• Better benefits 

• Disbanded by the first African Emperor since so powerful (army could dispose of emperor thats why)

Manipular formation

instead of fighting along straight line, they would break into groups 

Why was the Roman military so successful?

1. Discipline -> intense training + decimation

2. Technique -> Roman roads and camps

3. Bravado -> Monuments and military culture

What is decimation?

• Type of punishment 

• Every 10th soldier would be killed 

What is this?

Republican coins

Where is the rest of the building?

Often times when looking at republican roman architecture, we only have the foundations of the buildings. 

Why are the doors of the temple of Janus always open? 

• Rome was always at war with someone → as shown in this coin

What was a Roman innovation that was dominant in architecture?

The roman arch -> freestanding arch so army could parade through 

What is distinctive about Roman art?

• Realism Sculptures (they looked aged/wise) -> called sculpture narrative 

• Very long captions under sculptures 

• Favoured story like/ comic strip sculptures

What is the hairstyle of this Roman woman called?

• The nodus