Characteristics of ancient Roman culture

Ancient Rome rose in the Italian peninsula, adjacent to Greece. When the Greek classical culture was highly prosperous in the 5th century BC, Rome was still a city-state that had just entered civilization. With the external expansion of Rome, the influence of Roman culture is growing. Roman culture is an important part of western classical culture, which is inextricably linked with Greek culture. No matter in architecture, religion, science, literature and art, we can see the influence and imprint of Greek culture, which is the inheritance and development of Greek culture, but its achievements in these aspects are better than those of Greece.

The Romans were an agricultural country in the early days. For a long time, they maintained a vigorous, simple, hardworking and pragmatic folk custom. * * * And the early Romans lived frugally, not luxuriously, and people dressed simply and ate simply. Under the influence of Roman national spirit, simplicity and practicality became the most important feature of Roman culture. For example, Roman art tends to be practical, pursuing grandeur in form and emphasizing individuality in character expression. The outstanding achievements of Roman art are manifested in architecture and sculpture. Roman architecture has greatly surpassed Greece in overall planning, complex technical structure and diverse uses, forming a Roman-style architecture. Large cylindrical structure and arch coupon structure are the remarkable characteristics of Roman architecture, and gradually formed the Roman architectural system and national style. Whether it is temples, palaces, theaters, squares, bathing places, etc. The Romans have made pioneering innovations in advance, and these buildings themselves contain the meaning of public facilities, so cultural construction can be further promoted. The Romans transformed the absorbed buildings according to their own national characteristics, inherited the essence of the column system of Greek architecture and developed the collective style. For example, the Pantheon is indispensable in Roman architecture. At the same time, Rome also absorbed the artistic essence of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. Roman architectural features generally embody this style in the imperial capital, which is a great pride of Roman culture and an important symbol of the unification and integration of architectural art in a wider range.

The architectural art of ancient Rome has made great achievements. Large-scale buildings have rich and dignified style, harmonious and unified composition and various forms. The Romans opened up new fields of architectural art and enriched architectural technology.

Due to the development and perfection of Roman political system, its influence on culture is also very prominent. Roman society has gone through three stages: the monarchical era, the imperial era and the imperial era. Therefore, the political practice of the Romans added many new factors to the western political tradition. High achievements have been made in national concepts, ruling skills, laws, military technology, engineering, etc. Advocate perseverance, obedience and sense of responsibility among citizens. It contributed to the promotion and development of Roman culture. Therefore, its social life and customs are increasingly rich.

Rome has also made great achievements in writing and literature. The ancient Romans used characters earlier, but the real literary works came into being later. Before the 3rd century BC, there were primitive folk literature in Rome, but these oral poems were rarely preserved. The development of Roman literature was realized on the basis of accepting the influence of Greek culture, transplanting and transforming Greek poetry, drama and other literary forms in the process of unifying Italy and expanding overseas. Roman cultural works are very rich, such as comedies "The Merchant" and "The Boatman", which left 57 speeches and more than 800 letters to Cicero's works. In the 7th century BC, the Romans created the Latin alphabet on the basis of the Etruscan alphabet (converted from the Greek alphabet). After continuous improvement, the Latin alphabet has become the basis for many other nationalities to create their own characters. This is one of the great contributions of the ancient Romans to world culture.

There are also many different factions in philosophy, and different factions have formed different theories. Roman materialist philosophy exposes and criticizes religious superstitions and fools people. The idealist philosophy in the late Roman Empire put forward that "Taiyi" is the origin of the world, and the means of practice is abstinence and asceticism, which purified the soul, realized the unity of soul and Taiyi, and realized the transition to religious theology, which had a great influence on Christian theology and left wisdom for mankind.

In terms of natural science, the Roman people have a strong spirit of practical scientific rationality, which is manifested in two aspects: (1) integrating the knowledge since ancient Greece, and even integrating it into a knowledge system; Second, it pays attention to the application of scientific knowledge to production practice, thus creating the most highly developed productive forces in the ancient western world. The Romans attached importance to practicality, which made practical science and technology closely related to people's lives, such as agriculture, architecture, military, medicine, surveying and mapping, etc., which developed in Rome and made great achievements. The development of practical science and technology in Rome is the most prominent in agriculture. Intensive Cultivation by Old Cato, On Agriculture by Varo and On Agriculture by Mullai are three famous agricultural books in Rome. They not only discuss agricultural production technology and methods of managing agriculture through price, but also discuss social and economic relations. In the golden age of science and technology in Rome for more than 100 years, all kinds of science and technology have made remarkable progress, especially the technical engineering knowledge that serves production and is closely combined with the Roman spirit of attaching importance to practicality is fruitful.

Rome has many cultural characteristics, various forms and many fields. The Romans developed Roman culture with pioneering spirit, enriched Roman culture and made outstanding contributions to all mankind.