Roman decadence  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Revision as of 23:26, 15 June 2008

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Roman decadence defines the gradual and moral decline in the ancient Roman republican values of family, farming, virtus, and dignitas.

Some contemporary critics of Roman decadence, such as Cato the Younger, attributed its rise to the influence of the Hellenistic philosophy epicureanism, while modern historians such as Edward Gibbon and Cyril Robinson also attribute increasing Roman affluence and the pacifying luxury it afforded.

According to Edward Gibbon, the root of the decadence may lie in the political system. Especially mentioned is the lack of clear rules of succession. A significant number of successions involved bribing the army to be elected emperor, and a civil war between different declared emperors. This resulted in higher taxes and frequent destruction that provoked the apathy of the elite.

More controversially, the early history of the Christian church is also mentioned as a cause of decadence. The early Roman Empire was usually tolerant of the religion of the people conquered, and tried to preserve peace amongst its subjects. After the conversion of most of the Empire to Christianity, religious issues took a proiminent place in the political debate, sometimes leading to civil wars and later persecutions.

Examples

On a broad cultural level

• The increasing popularity of orgies: in the Roman world, the term orgy did not necessarily contain its modern sexual connotation. It referred to a party of unrestrained indulgence during which guests consumed copious quantities of food and drink to such excesses that they often relieved themselves by vomiting (though not in a room called a vomitorium). This is debatable. Recent lectures by Professor Alistair Blanchard at the University of Sydney suggest that the "Roman orgy" is nothing more than a historical myth.

• The increasing extravagance of popular entertainment: exemplified by the inauguration of the Colosseum under the emperor Titus. Dio Cassius said that 9,000 wild animals were killed in the one hundred days of celebration which inaugurated the amphitheatre opening.

Decadence of the emperors

Tiberius

According to ancient historians such as Suetonius, Tiberius indulged in the most morbid sexual perversions in his reclusive gardens on the Island of Capri. Suetonius records disturbing tales of perversity and cruelty, of violent sado-masochism and pederasty, and most of all, extreme paranoia in the diseased emperor's mind. According to Suetonius, he raped very young girls and also enjoyed snapping the necks of boys with his bare hands. While perhaps sensationalized, the stories at least paint a picture of how Tiberius was perceived by the Roman people, and what his impact on the Principate was during his 23 years of rule.

Caligula

Perhaps most infamous of all Roman emperors, Caligula was a completely unstable psychopath who likely suffered from epilepsy. When he became emperor, he satisfied his perversions by having sex with his three sisters, raping the wives of senators, and naming his favorite horse Consul.

He declared himself a god and had his own image superimposed on statues of deities throughout the empire. Later during his chaotic reign, he created a private brothel in the palace, forcing patrician Roman women to prostitute themselves.

Claudius

Emperor Claudius was a notorious drunk and glutton during his long reign. Contrary to popular belief, he had a ruthless streak and enjoyed watching public executions of men and women. He took his own niece Agrippina as his fourth wife, although throughout time many rulers have married family members.

Nero

A perverse and unpredictable ruler, Nero ascended to power by having his mother Agrippina stabbed to death. Late in his rule, he brutally kicked his pregnant wife to death after she criticized his performance at one of his hours-long poetry recitals.

Suetonius tells us that Nero had numerous sexual perversions, had sex with young boys, forced himself on married women of high nobility and even raping a Vestal Virgin. Indulging his love for sado-masochism, Nero covered himself in wild animal skins and attacked the genitals of men and women bound to stakes. He is said even to have lusted after his mother before her death, as she had a great influence over the young emperor.

Nero was also an extravagant spender, declaring that, ‘only a miser counted what he spent, while a true gentleman wasted and squandered.’

To stop the public belief that he had started the great fire of Rome, Nero blamed the devastating fire on the marginal eastern sect called Christians. In many parts of the Roman empire, pogroms broke out against Christians and thousands were arrested. Nero then appeased the mobs of the ravaged Rome by having Christians thrown to lions and tigers, crucified and burned alive on stakes in the Circus.

Elagabalus

A fourteen year old Syrian transvestite who thought himself a sun god. Elagabulus engaged in frequent homosexual perversions, such as prostituting himself in drag and marrying an enslaved chariot driver. He wasted enormous amounts of money, and supposedly fed his pet lions with pheasants while complaining that the people of Rome were starving. Many of the stories about Elagabalus are likely exaggerations by the Roman historians.