Roman culture flourished during the Roman Civil War and the early empire. During this period, the Romans not only recognized the achievements of Greek culture, but also transformed it with their own unique spirit, which became rich nutrients for the prosperity of Roman culture and made it develop continuously. The greatest cultural achievements of the Romans were law, history and architecture.

Legal science

Roman law is one of the greatest creations that the Romans dedicated to mankind. As a part of the superstructure of Roman slavery society, Roman law is based on the economic factors of Roman slavery and the contradictions and struggles between civilians and nobles, slaves and slave owners in various historical development stages determined by this economic factor. On this basis, the ruling group of slave owners made clear provisions on various legal relations and principles of private ownership and commodity exchange in Roman slave society by using legislative techniques and judicial language, which was conducive to consolidating the ruling order of slave owners.

The connotation of Roman law is very rich, which came into being with the appearance of Roman slavery, and constantly supplemented its own content with the development and decline of slavery. From the development process of Roman law, Roman law can be roughly divided into the following four periods; (1) Customary law to statute law period (8th century BC to 5th century BC): This period was in the formation stage of Roman slave country, and statute law had not yet appeared. At this time, the main contradiction in society is the contradiction and struggle between the gentry, nobles and civilians. The result of the struggle was the establishment of a slave country on the ruins of the clan system. However, the establishment of the Republic did not solve the contradiction between nobles and civilians, and the struggle between them continued. Driven by the struggle of civilians against the nobility, Rome enacted a written law, namely "Twelve Bronze Tables Law", in 45 1-450 BC. (2) The written law of the Republic: Although the law of twelve bronze tables is a symbol of civilian victory, this law has not solved the political rights of civilians, that is, civil rights and debts, so the struggle has not stopped. After a long struggle between civilians and nobles, around the political rights and debts of civilians, the following bills were formulated one after another: in 367 BC, three bills, the Ricini Act and the Random Thoughts, were promulgated, stipulating that one of the two consuls must be a civilian; In 326 BC, the Portia Act was promulgated to abolish debt slavery. In 287 BC, the Hortensia Law was promulgated, and the civil service conference had legislative power. (3) Laws in the Imperial Period: During this period, the ruling order of Roman countries was relatively stable, and Roman law reached its peak. This empire includes a huge world, which is combined by various economic, political, scientific and cultural ties far away from the Mediterranean. The diversity of laws and customs in various regions of the empire requires the unification of laws; Complex class relations and ethnic relations need to be adjusted; The dominant position of the slave-owning class needs to be consolidated. All these have promoted the development of Romanology. As the activities of the citizens' assembly stopped during this period, the legislative power tended to be decentralized. At the beginning, the decision of the Senate and the legislation of the Fuehrer became the main legal historical materials in the imperial period. As the Senate lost its legislative function at the end of the 3rd century, the Fuehrer's legislation gained special significance. At the end of the empire, the decisions of senior officials (the decisions of the chief guards and the mayor) also had the nature of legislation. During this period, some new schools of law appeared, forming a situation in which a hundred schools of thought contend. A jurist is an interpreter of the law. At first, jurists were priests, and later there were secular people from the time of Apias Claudius (4th century BC). In the imperial era, the role of jurists increased. They not only helped the emperor to formulate Roman private law in an all-round way, but also sought theoretical basis for the emperor's dictatorship. The Eastern Roman Empire is the fourth stage of Roman law. The greatest achievement at this stage is Justinian's Complete Works of Civil Law, which is a collection of Roman law. However, this stage is beyond the scope of this chapter, so it is not discussed here. )

Roman law is one of the great works in the world legal history, and it is indeed in a unique position. It had a great influence not only on Roman society, but also on later generations, including feudalism and capitalism. At the same time, it also had a great influence on Roman education and later education.

Historical science

The Romans paid special attention to their own national traditions, so the Roman government appointed special officials to compile their own national history. According to the generally accepted opinion in academic circles, the earliest historical work of the Romans was Chronology, which was compiled by the high priest in the 5th century BC. At first, because one of the main purposes of chronicles is to compile calendars, historical facts are very brief. Compilation has been much more detailed since the 3rd century BC. However, this chronicle still has no consistent historical narrative, and can only be regarded as the bud of Roman historiography. The real Roman historiography came into being after the Punic War began in the second half of the 3rd century BC.

Neves (260-200 BC) was the first historian in Rome. He took part in the first Punic War and wrote a narrative epic in Latin with this war as the theme. Later, he divided the epic into seven volumes. The second historian in Rome was Ennius (239- 169 BC), who also wrote history in epic form, with 18 volumes. This epic covers the whole history of Rome from Aeneas to the author's death. Poetic historiography is a historical style with strong literary color, which has great limitations.

The real historical account can only be carried out in prose. It was Cato who wrote the first Roman history in prose (that is, inspector Cato, 234- 149 BC). He lived in an era when the Romans won a decisive victory in the Balkans. The national consciousness of Rome has been enhanced, and the chronology written in Greek can no longer meet the needs of the Romans. Under this social background, Genesis written by Cato in Latin became a masterpiece of the era of understanding. Genesis consists of seven volumes. The first three volumes detail the legends about early Rome and other Italian cities. The fourth and fifth volumes describe the Punic War, and the sixth and seventh volumes are the events from the Punic War to 149 BC. Genesis, full of pictures, is still written by chapters, sweeping away the bad habits of old historical styles. He was the first real historian in Roman history.

There are two famous historians in the Republic. Polybius (200 BC-117), a Greek aristocrat, was later captured in Rome. After gaining his freedom, he wrote a 40-volume general history, which comprehensively described the history of Greece, Rome and eastern Mediterranean countries from 264 BC to 146 BC. Another historian is salus Tius (86-35 BC). He is the author of three history books: The War of Juguda, The Catiline Conspiracy and History.

The prosperous period of Roman historiography was the beginning of the empire. The first famous historian in this period was Li Zhi (59 BC-A.D. 17). He has a close relationship with Octavian and was once the teacher of Octavian's grandson Claudius. His masterpiece is History of Rome since the Founding of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as History of Rome), with a total volume of 142, which describes the history from Aeneas to Italy until 9 BC. 1 From the end of the century to the beginning of the 2nd century, Tacitus (55-120th year) stepped onto the historical stage with its unique style. He wrote many books, including chronicles, history, biographies of Agulli Cora and Germania. He pushed Roman historiography to its peak. Plutarch (AD 46- 120), a contemporary Greek historian with Tacitus, once wrote a biography (also translated into Who's Who in Greece and Rome). The famous historian after Tacitus was Apia (AD 95- 165), a Greek who was born in Alexandria. He wrote a 24-volume history of Rome in Greek, which was a very valuable historical work period.

In a word, Roman historiography is very developed. It not only occupies an important position in Roman culture, but also has a great influence on education. As a higher discipline, it is included in the curriculum of higher education.

build

The genius and character of the Romans are not as vivid and intense as in architecture anywhere. Greeks are great theorists and creators of lofty ways of thinking. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans were great builders of life and reality. They not only created an unprecedented powerful nation-state and law in the ancient world, but also built an unprecedented grand project in material construction.

The Pantheon is one of the masterpieces of the Romans. The porch of the Pantheon was built in 27 BC by Agulli Ba, the prime minister of Augustus, but the main body of the Pantheon was built during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 1 18- 128). The outstanding feature of this building is a deep colonnade with a gable roof. There are eight national pillars in the colonnade, and each pillar has a pedestal and a stigma. The rectangular vestibule behind the colonnade and the huge dome temple are all made of brick cement.

Rome's Flavin National Theatre is the tallest building in Rome. It was built in 80 AD, commonly known as the performance field of the Roman powers. This is a great miracle in ancient Roman architectural engineering. The foundation, outer wall and inner window wall of the theater are tuffaceous stone, and the interior of the roof is cement; The lower seat of a famous person is marble, while the upper seat is wood. Concentric corridors support layers of seats connected to stairs. This theater can accommodate 45,000 people.

The Arc de Triomphe was built by Roman slave owners to show off Roman martial arts. The wind of building the Arc de Triomphe began after the 2nd century BC. The Arc de Triomphe usually spans the road and has one, two or three openings. Some arc de Triomphe are also decorated with propaganda reliefs. Among these Arc de Triomphe, Constantine the Great is the most spectacular. It was built in 3 15 A.D. to commemorate Constantine the Great's victory over Michelson in 3 15 A.D..

Waterway architecture is another grand project in ancient Rome. The aqueduct on the Gar River is one of the many amazing water conservancy projects in ancient Rome. It was built in 1 century, located in the Gar Valley in Nimes, southern France, and played a role in guiding the river through the valley. The middle section of aqueduct is about 50 meters high. This is a building designed completely from the perspective of use, without any decoration. Its structural proportion is harmonious, which makes it look more spectacular.

The last big building is the celebration column. It was built to commend the great achievements of the representatives of the slave owners' class. For example, the Trajan Celebration Column, built in A.D. 1 13, is to commend his achievements in conquering the summer. On this tall marble, the magnificent scene of the Battle of Trajan is depicted in relief.

These magnificent buildings are not only the evidence that Roman slave owners oppressed the working people, but also the crystallization of the wisdom of the Roman people, which fully embodies the creative spirit of the Roman people. Architecture formed on the basis of architectural practice, like Roman historiography, is not only a wonderful flower in the Roman cultural garden, but also incorporated into the curriculum of Roman higher education as a higher discipline, injecting fresh blood into Roman education.