Articles (Society)

Today, business travel is standard all over the world. A multitude of means of transport, a wide range of accommodations and other facilities, such as telecommunications, make travelling for business purposes quick, comfortable and safe. And what were such issues like in the vast Roman Empire? The answer comes from the detailed, and therefore extremely valuable, journals and letters of a certain official who meticulously recorded his travels.

Ancient Rome was a multicultural state, which owed its relative prosperity to the skilful balancing between the strength of the Roman army in the occupied territories and openness to local culture and non-interference in the everyday life of conquered peoples as much as possible. However, this apparent openness of the Romans to these cultures was not altruistic. Ultimately, significant inhabitants of the conquered areas adopted the Roman way of being and language, which degraded local cultures by merging with Latin culture. In the case of Greek, however, the complete opposite happened. It was the Romans who, after conquering Hellas, propagated this language not only in the east but also in the west of the empire.

As is well known, women in ancient Rome had very limited rights, but their social position was much stronger than that of Greek women. Despite this, she still remained completely dependent on men – first her father and then her husband. Manus, or the passing of the wife under the authority of the husband, was closely related to the institution of marriage. If we combine the concepts of marriage and manus, this requires more explanation.

Development of Roman gardens (horti) was greatly influenced by Greek culture. The impact of the Greek style was first due to the gardens of Magna Graecia and Sicily. Then the East began to play a role, along with conquests and numerous contacts. Territorial gains under the Republic led to the accumulation of wealth in the hands of an influential elite who developed their great estates, including gardens.

The ancient Romans created a very developed culture. They conquered huge areas and where they settled, they introduced their customs. To this day, we can admire their technological achievements preserved in the form of monuments. Their greatest achievements certainly include thermal baths, also known as baths. They were a place of meetings and numerous entertainments. However, their most important function was to take care of hygiene.

In ancient Rome, the simplest method of conveying information or the content of your work was to deliver it – recitation (recitatio), which was certainly based on Greek symposiums (symposium). Seneca the Elder reports that a certain Asinius Pollio, who wrote during the reign of Octavian Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE), invited guests to read his work¹. Pliny the Younger, Martial and Juvenal regret that in their time there was a really big number of people reciting their songs.