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The Dark Legacy of Rome

14 March 2018 By Harry Sidebottom

“Apart  from  the  sanitation, the  medicine, education, wine, public  order, irrigation, roads, the  fresh  water  system, and  public  health, what  have  the  Romans  ever  done  for  us?”

The  classic  comedy  of  Monty  Python’s  Life  of  Brian  sums  up  the  modern  perception  that  the  Roman  empire  was  a  force  for  good. But  there  are  darker  aspects  to  the  legacy  of  Rome: racism, sexism and religious intolerance.

It  is  frequently  claimed, always  for  a  contemporary  motive, that  the  Romans  were  not  racist. The  assertion  does  not  fit  the  evidence. Although  capable  of  subtle  variations, Roman  attitudes  were  essentially simple; there  were  two  types  of  foreigners.

Easterners  were  perceived  as  devious, untrustworthy, effeminate, and  cowardly. ‘Like  Jews,’ Cicero  said, ‘Syrians  were  born  slaves.’ In  a  popular  fable,  Arabs  were  ‘liars  and  impostors, who  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  truth.’ These  negative  stereotypes  of  the  easterner  had  been  created  by  the  Greeks  during  the  Persian  Wars  of  the  fifth  century  BC. Ironically, after  the  Greeks  had  been  conquered  by  the  Romans, they  found  the  derogatory  categorisations  applied  to  themselves. The  Romans  added  a  new  element  for  the  Greeks; they  talked  far  too  much. The  Greek  philosopher  Plutarch  tried  to  defend  his  people; talking  was  good  physical  exercise.

As  Phoenicians  from  the  east  had  colonised  the  northern  shores  of  Africa, above  all  at  Carthage, when  the  Romans  looked  to  the  South  unsurprisingly  they  saw  more  easterners. ‘Punica  Fides’, Phoenician  good  faith, meant  exactly  the  opposite. The  hot  sun  increased  the  cowardice  of  Africans. It  meant  they  bled  easily, and  thus  were  scared  of  being  wounded.

Northerners  were  pretty  much  the  opposite  of  easterners. They  were  tall, pale, drunken, stupid, and  fierce. However  their  ferocity  was  short  lived. They  lacked  staying  power, and  they  soon  gave  way  to  abject  terror. It  was  unusual, according  to  Polybius, to  find  a  Thracian  who  was  sober  or  gentle. According  to  Vellius  Paterculus, who  had  fought  against  them, Germans  were  capable  of  speech, and  resembled  human  beings, but  were  little  better  than  animals. They  were  irrational, and  thus  incapable  of  progress, let  alone  culture. With  a  certain  symmetry  to  their  world  view, when  the  Romans  considered  the  west, they  saw  Spaniards  as  much  like  northerners.

The  modern  assertion  that  Romans  were  not  racist  focuses  on  black  sub-Saharan  Africans. Unfortunately  it  is  wishful  thinking. Black people  were  seen  as  funny  and  grotesque. Bath  houses  were  decorated  with  mosaics  portraying  black  attendants  with  exaggerated  curly  hair, thick  lips, and  enormous  penises. The  depictions  were  apotropaic; intended  to  divert  the  evil  eye, or  any  lurking  demons, by  provoking  laughter. Yet  worse, black  people  were  considered  inauspicious. One  morning  when  the  emperor  Septimius  Severus – who  himself  it  is  often  implausibly  claimed  was  black – met  a  black  man, he  took  it  is  an  omen  of  death. The  depth  of  Roman  racism  is  revealed, along  with  the  others  it  was  unlucky  to  meet  at  the  start  of  the  day: eunuchs  and  monkeys.

The  philosopher  Musonius  Rufus  argued  that  women  were  capable  of  being  educated  like  men. It  was  the  sort  of  unreal  utopianism  to  be  expected  of  a  hard  line philosopher. Romans  firmly  believed  that  a  woman’s  place  was  in  the  home. They  endorsed, and  enthusiastically  repeated, the  Greek  saying  that  the  finest  praise  a  woman  could  receive  was  not  to  be  mentioned  outside  the  home  at  all. In  law, except  under  exceptional  circumstances, a  grown  woman  had  to  be  represented  by  a  male  tutor, just  like  a  child. Public  magistracies, and  other  offices, were  barred  to  women. After  all  they  were  physically  weak, irrational, superstitious, lascivious, and, if  not  carefully  watched, given  to  drunkenness. In  all  they  were  much  like  barbarians  or  slaves.

Modern  historical  novels  abound  with  feisty  women, chaffing  against  the  restraints  of  the  patriarchal  society  of  Rome. Some  undoubtedly  did, but  it  is  far  more  likely  that  most  accepted  the  culture  in  which  they  had  been  raised.

A  chilling  anecdote  about  the  emperor  Elagabalus  illustrates  the  degree  to  which  women  were  routinely  oppressed  and  brutalised. Elagabalus, we  are  told, wanted  to  become  a  woman. Doctors  had  to  convince  him  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  medical  procedure  to  give  him  a  vagina. Despite  this  he  married  a  man. To  show  that  he  really  was  a  bride, he  appeared  with  a  black  eye  from  the  beating  his  husband  had  inflicted.

In  the  normal  run  of  things  the  Romans  accepted  the  gods  of  others. Even  the  Jews, except  when  in  armed  rebellion, were  tolerated. Their  odd  monotheist  superstition  at  least  had  the  merit  of  being  that  of  their  forefathers. Things  were  very  different  with  the  Christians. They  had  perversely  chosen  their  ‘deadly  superstition’.

A  traditional  Roman  knew  that  the  safety  and  wellbeing  of  the  empire  depended  on  the  Pax  Deorum. If  the  Romans  did  right  by  the  gods, in  turn  the  gods  would  do  right  by  them. Christians  threatened  the  Pax  Deorum  by  denying  the  existence  of  the  pagan  gods. From  the  beginning  there  were  sporadic  persecutions  of  Christians. As  a  Christian  put  it  ‘if  the  Tiber  floods  or  the  Nile  does  not, the  shout  goes  up  “The  Christians  to  the  lion”.’ These  persecutions  were  localised  and  ‘bottom  up’. After  some  natural  disaster, the  pagan  majority  in  a  city  or  province  began  lynching  Christians, and  the  authorities  had  to  step  in  to  restore  order. Things  changed  with  the  political  and  military  disasters  in  the  third  century  AD. The  emperors  Decius  and  Valerian  issued  decrees  designed  to  force  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  empire  to  worship  the  traditional  gods. By  chance  Decius  was  the  first  emperor  to  die  in  battle  against  the  barbarians, and  Valerian  became  the  only  emperor  ever  to  be  captured  alive  by  barbarians. Christianity  was  immensely  strengthened, becoming  a  major  feature  in  the  religious  landscape. Under  the  Tetrarchy, Diocletian  and  his  fellow  emperors  launched  a  far  more  vigorous  campaign  of  persecution.

In  the  fourth  century  AD, after  the  conversion  of  Constantine, when  Christianity  had  become  the  official  religion  of  the  empire, it  was  payback  time. The  Christians  had  learned  the  horrible  techniques  of  persecution  from  their  own  oppressors. They  embraced  them  with  fervour. Pagan  temples  were  torn  down, statues  smashed  and  defaced, books  burnt, irreplaceable  knowledge  destroyed. Eventually  worshipping  the  traditional  gods  was  declared  a  capital  crime. The  course  of  religious  intolerance  was  set.

These, and  other  aspects  of  the  dark  legacy  of  Rome, are  explored  in  Harry’s new  novel, The  Last  Hour. Look out for a chance to win a copy in our giveaway next month!  To find out more visit Harry’s website. 

Check out Harry Sidebottom’s desert island books.

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Filed Under: Features, Lead article Tagged With: Harry Sidebottom, Roman Empire, Romans, Rome, The Last Hour

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