History Online - Roman Empire
Learn how and why Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were crafted during Renaissance. What if the Old Testament was a rendition of events of Middle Ages written after the New Testament? Did the crusaders really wait for 1000 years to punish the tormentors of the Messiah? What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
This book crowns over 30 of meticulous and extensive research.
Chapter 1 The problems of historical chronology
Many religions and philosophies were shared and melded as the Roman Empire grew. The Greeks, the Egyptians, the Hebrews and the Athenian philosophies of Epicurianism and Stoicism all contributed to the Roman pantheon and their ever changing religious views. The Romans preserved and embellished many of the great traditions of Greece passing them on to Europe and the Renaissance.
The name "Patrician" comes from the Latin word patres, or "fathers," and the Patricians were a privileged group of families that dominated the political, religious, and military leadership of the Empire. The majority were wealthy landowners from old Roman families, although the Emperor could raise anyone he chose to Patrician status.
The Senate in Imperial Rome consisted of 600 men, who were either sons of senators, or Roman citizens over the age of 25 with both military and administrative experience, who were elected to the quaestorship - a low-ranking magistracy position. These potential candidates were nominated by the Emperor, and the elections were merely a formality. Once elected, a Senator's career path through various magistracies - including the quaestorship, the aedileship, the praetorship, and the consulship - determined his Senatorial rank.
Women living in the Roman Empire were treated quite differently than the men were. However, that doesn't mean they didn't have an interesting and active life. They were valued for their role in society. In fact, the women in Rome were treated much better than they were in many other societies, such as the Greeks.
Marriage in Roman times was not often a romantic affair, but a personal agreement between families. As sons reached their mid-twenties, and daughters their early teens, spouses were chosen by their parents - in consultation with friends - with an eye towards improving the family's financial position or class.
Though slavery was a prevailing feature of all Mediterranean countries in antiquity, the Romans had more slaves and depended more on them than any other people.
There is no main difference between the ancient Roman armies and today's armies, except that the names and weapons are different.
The Gladiators were professional fighters who fought until death in the amphitheaters of Ancient Rome.
Sounds unbelievable? Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, leading mathematician of our time. He follows in steps of Sir Isaac Newton and finds clear evidence of falsification of History. Armed with logic, astronomy and computers he proves the history of humankind to be both dramatically different and drastically shorter than generally presumed.
Archaeological, dendrochronological, paleographical and carbon methods of dating of ancient sources and artifacts are both non-exact and contradictory, therefore there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artifact that could be reliably and independently dated earlier than the XI century.
The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the XVI century from the contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts (all originals have mysteriously disappeared) and the "proofs" delivered by the late mediaeval astronomers, cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.
In fact, for the last 300 years, the whole class of historians created, researched, perfected and polished a world of phantom universal history and classical civilization artfully constructed by their predecessors in the course of XVI-XVIII centuries at the command of powers of that time. They have polished the real world history into oblivion!
"History: Fiction or Science?", leads You step by step to the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world, is also FALSE. After reading this book you will certainly have a fresh and very suspicious outlook on "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, mediaeval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.
Henry Ford once said: "History is more or less bunk!"
Prominent mathematician Anatoly Fomenko proves it.
Contents
1. Roman chronology as the foundation of European chronology
2. Scaliger, Petavius, and other clerical chronologers.
The creation of contemporary chronology of the ancient times in the XVI-XVII century a.d.
3. The veracity of the Scaliger-Petavius chronology was questioned as early as the XVI century
3.1. Who criticized Scaliger's chronology and where.
3.1.1. De Arcilla, Robert Baldauf, Jean Hardouin, Edwin Johnson, Wilhelm Kammeyer
3.1.2. Sir Isaac Newton
3.1.3. Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov
3.1.4. Recent publications of German scientists containing criticisms of Scaliger's chronologY.
3.2. The questionnable veracity of the Roman chronology and history.
The hypercritical school of the XIX century
4. The problems in establishing a correct chronology of "ancient" Egypt
5. The problem in dating the "ancient" sources.Tacitus and Poggio
Cicero and Barzizza. Vitruvius and Alberti
6. Timekeeping in the Middle Ages. Historians discuss the "chaos reigning
in the mediaeval datings."
Peculiar mediaeval anachronisms
7. The chronology and the dating of Biblical texts
8. Difficulties and contradictions arising from the reading of old texts
8.1. How does one read a text written in consonants exclusively? The vocalization problem
9. Problems in the Scaligerian geography of Biblical events
9.1. Archaeology and the Old Testament
9.2. Archaeology and the New Testament
10. Ancient historical events: geographic localization issues
10.1. The locations of Troy and Babylon.
13.3. The alleged acceleration of the destruction of the "ancient" monuments
10.2. The geography of Herodotus is at odds with the Scaligerian version
10.3. The inverted maps of the Middle Ages
11. A modern analysis of Biblical geography
12. The mysterious Renaissance epoch as a product of the Scaligerian chronology
13. The foundations of archaeological methods have been based
on the Scaligerian
chronology from the very beginning
13.4. When did the construction of the Cologne Cathedral really begin?
13.5. Archaeological methods are most often based on Scaliger's datings
13.6. One of the numerous problems of the Scaligerian history
the problem
of bronze manufacture before the discovery of tin.
14. The problems and deficiencies of dendrochronology and several other dating methods
14.1. The consequent scale of dendrochronological datings does not extend
further back in time than the X century a.d.
14.2. Sedimentary layer datings. The methods of radium-uranium and radium-actinium analysis
15. Are radiocarbon datings to be trusted?
15.1. The radiocarbon datings of ancient, mediaeval, and modern specimens are scattered chaotically
15.1.1. Libby's initial idea. The first failures
15.1.2. A criticism of the application of the radiocarbon method to historical specimens
15.2. The dating of the Shroud of Turin
15.3 Modern radiocarbon analysis of Egyptian artefacts demonstrates serious contradictions
16. Critical analysis of the hypotheses on which the radiocarbon method is based. By A. S. Mishchenko
16.1. W. F. Libby's initial idea
16.2. Physical basics of the radiocarbon method
16.3. The hypotheses that the radiocarbon method is based upon
16.4. The moment of the object's departure from the exchange reservoir
16.5. Radiocarbon content variations in the exchange reservoir
16.6. Variations in radiocarbon content of living bodies
18. Numismatic datings
Chapter 2 Astronomical datings
1. The strange leap of parameter D" in the Theory of Lunar Motion
2. Are the "ancient" and mediaeval eclipses dated correctly?
2.1. Some astronomical data
2.2. The discovery of an interesting effect: an unprejudiced astronomical dating
shifts the dates of the "ancient" eclipses to the Middle Ages
2.3. Three eclipses described by the "ancient" Thucydides
2.4. The eclipses described by the "ancient" Titus Livy
3. Transferring the dates of the "ancient" eclipses forward in time into
the Middle Ages
eliminates the enigmatic behaviour of the parameter D".
4. Astronomy moves the "ancient" horoscopes into the Middle Ages
4.1. The mediaeval astronomy
4.2. The method of unprejudiced astronomical dating
4.3. Many "ancient astronomical observations" may have been theoretically
calculated
by late mediaeval astronomers and then included into the "ancient"
chronicles as "real observations"
4.4. Which astronomical "observations of the ancients" could have been
a result
of late mediaeval theoretic calculations?
5. A brief account of several examples of Egyptian Zodiacs
5.1. Some general observations
5.2. The Dendera Zodiacs
5.3. The horoscopes of Brugsch and Flinders Petrie
5.4. Finite datings of the Egyptian Zodiacs based on their complete deciphering,
as obtained by A. T. Fomenko and G. V. Nosovskiy in 2001
5.5. On the errors of E. S. Goloubtsova and Y. A. Zavenyagin 6. Astronomy in the New Testament
Chapter 3 The new dating of the astronomical horoscope as described in the Apocalypse
By A. T. Fomenko and G. V. Nosovskiy
1. The proposed research method
2. General information about the Apocalypse and the time of its creation
3. Ursa Major and the throne
4. The events took place on the Isle of Patmos
5. The constellations of Cassiopeia and the throne were drawn as Christ
sitting on his throne in the Middle Ages
6. The Milky Way
7. Twenty-four sidereal hours and the constellation of the Northern Crown
8. Leo, Taurus, Sagittarius, Pegasus
9. The daily rotation of the Northern Crown
10. Equine planetary images in mediaeval astronomy
11. Jupiter is in Sagittarius
12. Mars is beneath Perseus in either Gemini or Taurus
13. Mercury is in Libra
14. Saturn is in Scorpio
15. The Sun is in Virgo with the Moon underneath the feet of the latter
16. Venus is in Leo
17. The astronomical dating of the Apocalypse by the horoscope it contains
18. Our reconstruction of the initial content of the Apocalypse
Chapter 4 Astronomy in the Old Testament
1. Mediaeval astronomy in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel
1.1. The title of the book
1.2. The description of the Milky Way and the Ophiuchus constellation
1.3. The Biblical description of the astronomical sectors, or "wings," on the celestial sphere
1.4. The constellations of Leo, Taurus and Aquila
1.5. The Biblical description of the mediaeval "wheels," or planetary orbits
1.6. Parallels with the astronomical symbolism of the Apocalypse
1.7. Biblical cherubim, chariots, and mediaeval planetary orbital wheels
1.8. The Biblical description of mediaeval cosmology as a celestial temple
2. The Biblical prophecy of Zechariah and the date of its creation
3. The Biblical prophecy of Jeremiah and the date of its creation
4. The Biblical prophecy of Isaiah and the date of its creation
5. The Biblical prophecy of Daniel and the date of its creation
Chapter 5 The methods of dating the ancient events offered by mathematical statistics
1. The local maxima method
1.1. The historical text volume function
1.2. The maxima correlation principle
1.3. Statistical model
1.4. Experimental test of the maxima correlation principle.
Examples of dependent and independent historical texts
1.5. Method of dating the historical events
2. Volume functions of historical texts and the amplitude correlation principle.
By A. T. Fomenko and S. T. Rachev
2.1. Dependent and independent chronicles. Volume function maxima correlletions
2.2. Rich and poor chronicles and chronicle zones
2.3. Significant and insignificant zeroes of volume functions
2.4. The information respect principles
2.5. The amplitude correlation principle of volume graphs in the poor zones of chronicles
2.6. Description of statistical model and formalization
2.7. The hypothesis about the increase of the "form" parameter of a chronicle in the course of times
2.8. The list and characteristics of the Russian chronicles we investigated
2.9. The final table of the numeric experiment
2.10. Interesting consequences of the numeric experiment.
The confirmation of the statistical model
2.11. Comparison of a priori dependent Russian chronicles
2.12. Comparison of a priori independent Russian chronicles
2.13. Growth of form parameter in the course of time
for the Russian chronicles after the XIII century
2.14. Growth of the average form parameter over the course of time
for groups
of Russian chronicles of the XIII-XVI century
2.15. Growth of the average parameter of form over the course of time
for the groups
of Russian chronicles of the alleged IX-XIII century
2.16. Chronological shift by 300 or 400 years in Russian history
2.17. Conclusions
3. The maxima correlation principle on the material of the sources pertinent
to
the epoch of Strife in the History of Russia (1584-1619)
By A. T. Fomenko, N. S. Kellin and L. E. Morozova
4. The method for the recognition and dating of the dynasties of rulers.
The small dynastic distortions principle
4.1. The formulation of the small dynastic distortions principle
4.2. The statistical model
4.3. Refinement of the model and the computation experimens
4.4. Result of the experiment: coefficient c(a, b) positively distinguishes
between the dependent and independent dynasties of kings
4.5. The method of dating the royal dynasties and the method
detecting the phantom dynastic duplicates
5. The frequency damping principle.The method of ordering of historical texts in time
6. Application of the method to some concrete historical texts
7. Method of dating of the events
8. The frequencies duplication principle. The duplicate detection method
9. Statistical analysis of the Bible
9.1. Partition of the Bible into 218 "generation chapters"
9.2. Detection of the previously known duplicates in the Bible
with the aid of the frequency dumping principle
9.3. New, previously unknown duplicates we discovered in the Bible.
General scheme of their distribution within the Bible
9.4. A representative example: the new statistical dating of the Apocalypse,
which moves from the New Testament into the Old Testament
10. The method of form-codes. The comparison of two long currents of regal biographies
11. Correct chronological ordering method and dating of ancient geographical maps
Chapter 6 The construction of a global chronological map and the results of applying
mathematical procedures of dating to the Scaligerian version of the ancient history
1. Textbook of ancient and mediaeval history in the consensual Scaliger-Petavius datings
2. Mysterious duplicate chronicles inside the "Scaliger-Petavius textbook"
3. Mysterious duplicate regal dynasties inside the "textbook by Scaliger-Petavius"
4. Brief tables of some astonishing dynastic parallelisms
5. Conformity of results obtained by different methods
5.1. General assertion
5.2. The agreement of the different methods on the example of the identification
of the Biblical Judaic reign with the Holy Roman Empire of allegedly X-XIII century a.d.
6. The general layout of duplicates in "the textbook by Scaliger-Petavius".
The discovery of the three basic chronological shifts
7. The Scaligerian textbook of the ancient history glued together
four duplicates of the short original chronicle
8. The list of phantom "ancient" events which are phantom duplicates,
or reflections of the mediaeval originals
9. Identification of the "ancient" Biblical history with the mediaeval European history
10. Our hypothesis: history as described in surviving chronicles only begins in ca. the X century a.d.
We know nothing of the events that took place before the X century a.d.
11. Authentic history only begins in XVII century a.d.
The history of the XI-XVI century is largely distorted.
Many dates of the XI-XVI century require correction
12. The radical distinction of our chronological concept from the version of N. A. Morozov
13. The hypothesis about the cause of the fallacious chronological
shifts
in the creation of the history of antiquity
13.1. Chronological shift of a thousand years as the consequence of the fallacious dating of Jesus Christ's life
13.2. The letter "X" formerly denoted the name of Christ,
but was later proclaimed to stand for the figure of ten.
The letter "I" formerly denoted the name of Jesus, but
was later proclaimed to be the indication of one thousand
13.3. Until the XVIII century, the Latin letters "I" or "J" - i.e. the
first letters of the name of Jesus -
were still used in several
European regions to denote "one" in recording of dates
13.4. How the chronological shift by 330 or 360 years could have occured
13.5. What latin letters "M", "D", "C" in Roman dates meant originally, in the Middle Ages
13.5.1. General idea
13.5.2. Example: the date on the tomb of Empress Gisela
13.5.3. Another example: the date on the headstone of Emperor Rudolf Habsburg
13.5.4. Recording of mediaeval dates was not unified everywhere even in the XVIII century
13.5.5. Some datings of printed books and manuscripts dating
from the XV-XVII century
will apparently have to be moved
forwards in time by at least fifty more years
13.6. The foundation date of Rome of Italy
13.7. A later confusion of foundation dates of the two Romes,
on the Bosporus and in Italy.
13.8. Scaliger and the Council of Trent. Creation of the Scaligerian
chronology
of antiquity in the XVI-XVII century
13.9. Two phantom "ancient" reflections of Dionysius Petavius,
a mediaeval chronologist of the XVII century
14. A stratified structure of the Scaligerian textbook of ancient history
15. The coordination of a new astronomical dating with a dynastic parallel
16. A strange lapse in the Scaligerian chronology near "the beginning of the new era"
Chapter 7 "Dark Ages" in mediaeval history
1. The mysterious Renaissance of the "Classical Age" in mediaeval Rome
1.1. The lugubrious "Dark Ages" in Europe that presumably succeeded
the beauteous "Classical Age"
1.2. Parallels between "antiquity" and the Middle Ages that are known
to historians, but misinterpreted by them
1.3. Mediaeval Roman legislators convene in the presumably destroyed "ancient" Capitol
1.4. The real date when the famous "ancient" statue of Marcus Aurelius
was manufactured
1.5. Could the "ancient" Emperor Vitellius have posed for the mediaeval
artist Tintoretto?
1.6. The amount of time required for the manufacture of one sheet of parchment
1.7. The "ancient" Roman Emperor Augustus had been Christian, since
he wore a mediaeval crown with a Christian cross
2. The "ancient" historian Tacitus and the well-known Renaissance writer Poggio Bracciolini
3. The mediaeval Western European Christian cult and the "ancient" pagan
Bacchic celebrations
4. Petrarch (= Plutarch?) and the "Renaissance of antiquity"
4.1. How Petrarch created the legend of the glory of Italian Rome out of nothing
4.2. Petrarch's private correspondence with people considered
"ancient characters" nowadays
5. "Ancient" Greece and mediaeval Greece of the XIII-XVI century
5.1. The history of the mediaeval Athens is supposed to be obscured by darkness
up until the XVI century
5.2. Greece and the Crusades
5.3. The history of Greek and Athenian archaeology is relatively short
5.4. The tendentious distortion of the image of mediaeval Athens in
the "restoration works"
of the XIX-XX century
6. Strange parallels in the Scaligerian history of religions
6.1. Mediaeval Christianity and its reflection in the Scaligerian "pagan antiquity"
6.2. Mediaeval Christianity and "ancient" Mithraism
6.3. References to Jesus Christ contained in "ancient" Egyptian artefacts
6.4. Researchers of the ancient religions commenting on the strange similarities
between the cults of "antiquity" and those of the Middle Ages
6.5. Moses, Aaron and their sister Virgin Mary on the pages of the Koran
6.6. The XI century as the apparent epoch of St. Mark's lifetime.
The history of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice
7. The "ancient" Egypt and the Middle Ages
7.1. The odd graph of demotic text datings
7.2. The enigmatic "revival periods" in the history of "ancient" Egypt
7.3. The ancient Hittites and the mediaeval Goths
8. Problems inherent in the Scaligerian chronology of India
9. Was the artificial elongation of ancient history deliberate?
Annexes
2.1. (to chapter 2) Grammatical analysis of an eclipse description
in History by Thucydides. By Y. V. 471
5.1. (to chapter 5) Per annum volume distribution in some Russian chronicles
5.2. (to chapter 5) Frequency matrix of names and parallels in the Bible
By V. P. Fomenko and T. G. Fomenko
6.1. (to chapter 6) Per annum volume distribution in The History of the City
of Rome
in the Middle Ages by F. Gregorovius
6.2. (to chapter 6) Per annum volume distribution in The Roman History
from
the Foundation of the City by Titus Livy
6.3. (to chapter 6) Per annum volume distribution in the book by Baronius
describing mediaeval Rome
6.4. (to chapter 6) The "double entry" of the Biblical royal reigns of Israel and Judah
6.5. (to chapter 6) Armenian history. Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire
of the alleged X-XIII century a.d., a.k.a. the Kings of Judah, a.k.a. the
mediaeval Armenian Catholicoses
1. Three phantom reflections of the same mediaeval dynasty
2. The parallelism between the mediaeval Armenian history
and the phantom Roman Empire according to Scaliges
6.6. (to chapter 6) The identification of the "ancient" Kingdom of Judah
with the Holy Roman Empire of the alleged X-XIII century a.d.
The correlation between reign durations and biographical volumes
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire, successor of the Roman Republic, controlled the Mediterranean world and much of Northern Europe after 31 B.C. The last Roman emperor in the western half of the empire was deposed in 476. The eastern part of the empire continued without interruption, but with gradually shrinking territory, until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks (See Byzantine Empire). Successor states in the west (the Frankish kingdom and the Holy Roman Empire) and the east (the Russian czars) used titles adopted from Roman practices well into the modern period.
The Roman Empire's influence on government, law, architecture, and many other aspects of life remains inescapable.
Julius Caesar's Military Success and Murder
When Augustus was just four years old, his father suddenly died; without a male mentor, the boy's future looked bleak. But in 49 BC, when he was thirteen, Augustus' fortunes took a dramatic turn for the better when his great uncle, Julius Caesar, gained the upper hand on the battlefield.
Caesar openly defied the Senate as well as his former political ally, the formidable military leader Pompey. Together, Caesar, Pompey and Crassus had formed the First Triumvirate, a political union that dealt a deathblow to Rome's Republican system of government. Pompey's and Caesar's armies would duel for control of the Roman Empire. As Caesar led his army across the Rubicon River toward Rome, Pompey fled to Greece to prepare for war. Caesar declared himself master of Rome, and ruler of an empire still aspiring to greatness.
Emperors
Social standing in the Roman Empire was based in part on heredity, property and wealth, Roman citizenship, and freedom. The specific class designations included Senators, Patricians, Equestrians, Plebeians, Slaves, Freedmen, and non-Roman citizens - all of which were ruled by the Emperor. The boundaries between these classes were legally enforced, although it was possible to move up the social ladder as one's financial circumstances improved. During the Empire, entry into the higher classes could be gained upon acquisition of property and wealth, or at the pleasure of the Emperor - in one famous incident, Caligula even raised a horse to Senatorial rank.
Patricians
Patrician status was required for ascent to the throne, but otherwise the class had few privileges other than reduced military obligations, and the ability to serve in certain priesthoods.
The education of a Patrician son would center on literature, poetry, mythology, history, geography, Greek, and, most importantly, public speaking. Older youth would continue on to study law, in preparation for a political or administrative career.
Senators
Women
According to Roman law, all women had to have a male custodian. In childhood, boys and girls were both under the guardianship of the eldest man in the family, just as children today are taken care of by their parents. This man had the power of life and death over those in his family. Even after the women were married, sometimes this guardianship was not passed to the husband. The law eventually changed and they no longer had to have a male guardian.
When a girl reached the age of twelve, she was allowed to marry. The young girl's father would generally arrange the marriage. He would choose the husband based upon how much help his family would be politically. The bride could refuse only if she could prove that the man was morally unfit to be her husband. There were three different types of marriages in Rome. One, which resembled the selling of the bride, was called coemptio. With this, the bride was required to adopt the religion of her new family and she was no longer considered part of her father's family. Another kind of marriage was more informal. The bride still considered herself part of her father's family. She was allowed to keep her religion and her father's family kept legal custodianship. The third kind of marriage was called uses. It was caused simply by the man and woman living together.
During the early days of Rome, men could only divorce a woman for certain reasons. If the woman slept with other men while married, poisoned her husband's children, or counterfeited his keys, the husband was granted a divorce. This did change as time went on. Later, childlessness of the couple as well as political and personal reasons were added to the list of reasons for divorce. If a divorce did occur, the children always lived with their father.
The daily life of Roman women depended on their level of income. Numerous male and female slaves often attended wealthy women. This freed them up from many daily household tasks. They spent their time visiting, shopping, attending festivals and recitals, and supervising the education of their children. The lower class women, with less money and social standing, had to work for a living, often in the fields and around the house.
Wedding Customs
The betrothal was formal ceremony between the two families where gifts were exchanged, the dowry was agreed upon, an agreement was signed, and the deal sealed with a kiss. The actual wedding date was chosen carefully. Although June was the preferred month, weddings took place throughout the year.
On the wedding day, the groom would lead a procession to his bride's family home. Bridesmaids would escort the bride to meet her groom. She would be wearing a tunica recta - a white woven tunic - belted with an elaborate "Knot of Hercules," elaborately arranged hair, an orange wedding veil, and orange shoes. Following the signing of the marriage contract, there was a great marriage feast. The day ended with a noisy procession to the couple's new home, where the bride was carried over threshold so she wouldn't trip - an especially bad omen.
Slavery
It is impossible, however, to put an accurate figure on the number of slaves owned by the Romans at any given period: for the early Empire with which we are concerned conditions varied from time to time and from place to place. Yet, some estimates for Rome, Italy, and the Empire are worth attempting. The largest numbers were of course in Italy and especially in the capital itself. In Rome there were great numbers in the imperial household and in the civil service - the normal staff on the aqueducts alone numbered 700 (Frontin. Aq. 116-7). Certain rich private individuals too had large numbers - as much for ostentation as for work (Sen. Ep.110.17). Pedanius Secundus, City Prefect in AD 61, kept 400 slaves (Tac. Ann. 14.43.4), Gaius Caecilius Isidorus, freedman of Gaius Caecilius, left 4116 in his will in 8 BC, while some owners had so many that a nomenclator had to be used to identify them (Pliny HN 33.135; 33.26). However, there is evidence to suggest that these cases were not typical - even for great houses. Sepulchral inscriptions for the rich noble gens the Statilii list a total of approximately 428 slaves and freedpersons from 40 BC to AD 65. When these figures are analysed, the number of slaves and freedpersons definitely owned by individual members of the gens is small, e.g. Statilius Taurus Sisenna (consul of AD 16) and his son had six, Statilius Taurus Corvinus (consul ordinarius of AD 45) had eight, and Statilia Messalina, wife of Nero, four or five. Seneca, a man of extraordinary wealth, believed he was travelling frugally when he had with him one cartload of slaves (most likely four or five) (Ep 87.2). References in Juvenal and the Scriptores Historiae Augustae suggest that many non-plebeian Romans had either no slave or merely one or two (Sat. 3.286; 9.64-67,142-7; S.H.A. Hadr.17.6). From evidence such as this Westermann, Hopkins and others are understandably cautious when attempting to come to a total figure for slaves in the city of Rome in the 1st century AD. Hopkins' estimate of 300,000-350,000 out of a population of about 900,000-950,000 at the time of Augustus seems plausible.
The same kind of caution needs to be exercised in attempting to arrive at a figure for slaves in Italy for the same period. Passages in the Satyricon (e.g. 37;47;53) would suggest that some households had vast numbers. But that work is of course fiction - though the references to slave numbers there can only have point if certain private individuals did own a lot of slaves. Overall, a figure of around two million slaves out of a population of about six million at the time of Augustus would perhaps seem right (again we follow Hopkins). If so, approximately one in every three persons in Rome and Italy was a slave.
And what of the Empire as a whole for this period? It is impossible to give any kind of accurate figure. We have neither statistics for the total area nor for the provinces separately. And of course the number of slaves in each province depended on the particular circumstances prevailing there. Some provincial locations had a high number of slaves: Pergamum in the 2nd century AD (we deduce this from Galen De Propr. Anim. 9) had 40,000 adult slaves and these formed (as at Rome) one third of the adult population. At Oea (Tripoli) in Africa also in the 2nd century AD the wife of Apuleius owned a familia of slaves well in excess of four hundred (Apol. 77.93; cf.102). However, other areas in the Empire had comparatively few slaves. The evidence from papyri suggests that in all likelihood slaves in Egypt never rose much above 10% of the population and in poorer areas there dropped to as low as 2%. And in other regions, particularly perhaps in the more backward provinces of the West, slaves may never have comprised a significant segment of the work force at all. What then might we assume as an approximate number of slaves in the entire empire in this period? The attractive hypothesis of Harris is ten million, i.e. 16.6%-20% of the estimated entire population of the Empire in the first century AD, i.e. one in every five or six persons would have been a slave. This of course is not a computation, merely a conjecture.
Whence came these slaves? Some have presupposed that because two of the more important sources of slaves in the Republic - war and piracy - had become significantly restricted in the Empire there was a gradual diminution in the number of slaves during the first three centuries AD. However, there is no statistical proof of this, and for that reason Harris rejects it, preferring to think that there was no serious drop in the number of slaves or in the demand for them - at least until AD 150. And since there is no evidence either that the cost of slaves spiralled upwards during this period, it seems sensible to infer that the supply of slaves needed annually to replenish the normal depletion of their numbers was more or less available without too much difficulty.
The Roman Army
In the Roman army, the commanding officer of a legion was called the Legate. He was assisted by a deputy called the Camp Prefect, and a staff of six senior administrative officers called Tribunes. The original function of the Tribunes was to spread the call to arms and to ensure that the citizens rallied to the Eagles in time to march and fight. Later, the Tribunate became more of a political tenure, a training ground for young noblemen waiting to go into the consular or civil services. Whenever a Tribune chose to distinguish himself militarily rather than serve his time administratively and get out, his success was almost preordained.
There were normally 28 legions in commission at any given time, and each legion was divided into 10 cohorts. By the end of the third century, the first two cohorts of each legion had been expanded to Millarian status, which meant that each held 1,00 men and was the approximate equivalent of the modern battalion. Prior to that time, only the First Cohort had been Millarian. To the First and Second Cohorts fell the honor of holding the right of the legion's line of battle, and they were made up of the finest and strongest battle-hardened veterans. Cohorts Three through Ten were standard cohorts of 500 to 600 men.
Each Millarian cohort was composed of ten maniples, and a maniple was made up of ten squads of 10 to 12 men each.
The bulk of the legion's command was provided by the Centuriate, from the ranks of which came the centurions, all the middle-and lower-ranking commissioned officers of the legion. There were six centurions to each cohort from Three to Ten, making 48, and five senior centurions called primi ordines, in each of the two Millarian Cohorts. Each legion had a primus pilus, the senior centurion, a kind of super- charged Regimental Sergeant Major. The primus pilus headed the First Cohort, the Second Cohort was headed by the princeps secundus, and Cohorts Three through Ten were each commanded by a pilus prior.
The Roman centurion was distinguished by his uniform: his armor was silvered, he wore his sword on his left side rather than his right, and the crest of his helmet was turned so that it went sideways across his helmet like a halo.
Each centurion had the right, or the option, to appoint a second-in-command for himself, and these men, the equivalents of non-commissioned officers, were known for that reason as optios. Other junior officers were the standard bearers, one of whom, the aquilifer bore the Eagle of the legion. There was also a signifier for each century, who bore the unit's identity crest and acted as its banker. Each legion also had a full complement of physicians and surgeons, veterinarians, quartermasters and clerks, trumpeters, guard commanders, intelligence officers, torturers and executioners.
Gladiators
The gladiatorial fights originated in central Italy, probably as a funeral sacrifice. The first gladiatorial games in Rome were held in 264 BC, when three pairs of gladiators fought as part of a funeral celebration. By 174 BC, 37 pairs participated at a 3-day event. The Roman Senate limited the number of contestants after Julius Caesar held an event with 300 pairs of gladiators. The emperor Domitian in AD 90 presented combats between women and dwarfs.
The emperor Trajan held the largest contest of gladiators in the year 107 AD to celebrate a victorious battle. This fight included 5000 pairs of fighters.
The gladiators were male slaves, condemned criminals, prisoners of war, and sometimes Christians. They were forced to become swordsmen in training schools called ludi, and special measures were taken to discipline them and prevent them from committing suicide.
A successful gladiator received great acclaim; he was praised by poets, his portrait appeared on gems and vases, and patrician ladies pampered him. A gladiator who survived many combats might be relieved from further obligation. Occasionally, freedmen and Roman citizens entered the arena, as did the insane Emperor Commodus.
According to the weapons they used and their methods of fighting, gladiators were divided into various classes. There were heavily and lightly armed gladiators, and they fought against each other. For example, the retiarius (net man), who wore a short tunic, attempted to capture his fully armed opponent, the secutor (pursuer), with a net and then to kill him with a dagger. Other classes fought using different weapons, or from horseback or chariots. According to tradition, when a gladiator had overpowered his opponent, the spectators decided the fate of the weaker man. If they wished to let the defeated man live, they would wave their handkerchiefs. If they wanted the man to die, they would turn their thumbs downwards.
Constantine the Great banned gladiatorial contests in AD 325, but they continued to be held until about 500AD.
