Rome. The history of human sacrifice. Paul Guiraud. The Private and Public Life of the Romans: Sacrifices A Cleansing Sacrifice to the Gods in Ancient Rome

Anyone who has carefully read the previous chapter obviously realized that the attitude of the Romans to war was initially determined by two main circumstances. This is, firstly, the peasant craving for land, and secondly, the desire of the aristocracy for glory. The Romans viewed the war as a kind of continuation of peasant labor (and demanded, as we have seen, typically peasant qualities). On the other hand, it was a matter in which the true valor of those who want to be glorified and occupy a high place in the Roman state can be most fully manifested. At the same time, in the Roman attitude to war, a lot will remain incomprehensible if you do not understand the original religious beliefs and customs of the Romans.

Of all the states of antiquity, perhaps only in ancient Rome, war and conquests not only became the most important goal of society, but were also considered a matter approved and supported by the gods. Already in the early days of the Republic, censors, turning with prayer to the gods, urged them to contribute not only to the prosperity, but also to the expansion of the Roman state. The Romans themselves explained the power and military successes of their state by the special disposition of the gods, which the Roman people deserved by their exceptional piety. This conviction was expressed in one of his speeches by Cicero: “We have surpassed neither the Spaniards in numbers, nor the Gauls by force, nor the Punians by cunning, nor the Greeks by arts; nor, finally, even the Italians and Latins with the inner and innate sense of love for the homeland, which is characteristic of our tribe and country; but in piety, reverence for the gods and wise confidence that everything is directed and governed by the will of the gods, we surpassed all tribes and peoples. "

What was the originality of the Roman religion? What role did religious beliefs and practices play in the war?

Unlike the Greeks, initially the Romans did not represent their gods in the form of living humanoid images and did not create vivid myths telling about their origin and adventures, about the origin of space and man. A kind of mythology for the Romans was their own heroic history, filled with outstanding deeds for the glory of the fatherland. For a long time in Rome, the images of the deities were vague and their appearance was unknown, so the Romans even dispensed with statues and other images of their gods. But the Romans had an innumerable number of deities. Not only the great forces of nature were deified, but even such actions and states as plowing, border fencing, the first cry of a child, fear, shame, pallor, etc. The Roman gods were the spiritualization of all kinds of earthly phenomena, and they dwelt everywhere: in trees, stones, in springs and groves, in a hearth and a barn. Deceased ancestors were also considered special deities. In addition, each person and each locality, village, river or source had its own patron spirit - genius. But at the same time, in the Roman religion, unlike many religions of the East, there was nothing mysterious and supernatural. She did not arouse sacred awe in people. The Romans did not expect any miracles from the gods, but help in specific matters. To receive this help, it was only necessary to carefully perform all the established rituals and make sacrifices pleasing to the gods. If the divine service was performed in an appropriate way, then the gods, according to the Romans, were simply obliged to help. The relationship between them and the believers was of a purely business, contractual nature. When performing divine services and sacrifices, the Roman seemed to say to the deity: "I give you, so that you give me."

However, the correct appeal to the deity turned out to be by no means an easy matter, since both the number of the gods themselves and the number of situations when their participation was required was very large. And it was important to choose the right one to which god or goddess, with which words and rituals, and at what moment to turn. Even a small mistake could incur the wrath of the gods, violate what the Romans called "peace with the gods." Therefore, in the life of Roman society, people knowledgeable in these matters played a huge role - priests, acting as keepers of divine knowledge and traditions. The priests united in "partnerships" - collegiums, in charge of the veneration of a particular deity or some particular type of sacred rite.

Among the priestly colleges, the most important were the colleges pontiffs, augurs and haruspiks, as well as those that served the highest gods of Rome - Jupiter and Mars. The pontiffs exercised the highest supervision over the divine services in Rome, drew up the state calendar, determined the proper days for addressing the gods and holding popular meetings. Augurs - bird guides - found out and interpreted the will of the gods according to certain signs, or omens, which served as atmospheric phenomena, flight and behavior of birds or other animals. Haruspics predicted the future from the insides of sacrificial animals (mainly the liver). The "science" of predictions, mainly borrowed by the Romans from the Etruscans, was extremely important in Rome. Any political, governmental or military decision was preceded by fortune-telling, the results of which were interpreted by augurs and haruspics. These specialists were necessarily in the retinue of the commander with the army. In each military camp of the Romans, next to the commander's tent, a special place was allocated for conducting bird guesses - augural. Only with a successful outcome of fortune-telling was it considered possible to join the battle, hold elections for public office or vote on the law in the people's assembly.

Pontiff

Belief in signs was so strong in the Roman people that they were viewed as the language by which the gods communicate with people, warning of impending disasters or approving a decision. It is no coincidence that Roman historians conscientiously list in their writings all kinds of signs and predictions, speaking about them on a par with major events in public life. True, some of the signs mentioned in ancient legends already seemed to ancient writers a manifestation of absurd superstitions. To modern man it is all the more difficult to understand what will and how could be expressed, for example, in the fact that mice gnawed gold in the temple of Jupiter, or in the fact that in Sicily the bull spoke with a human voice.

Augur with chicken

Of course, among the Roman magistrates there were people who openly neglected the signs of divine will. But in historical stories about such - very few - cases, it is always edifyingly emphasized that any violation of the instructions of the gods inevitably turns into disastrous consequences. Here are some typical examples. Many ancient authors tell of the consul Claudius Pulchra, who commanded the Roman fleet during the first war with Carthage. When, on the eve of the decisive battle, the sacred chickens refused to peck the grain, foreshadowing defeat, the consul ordered to throw them overboard, adding: "If they do not want to eat, let them get drunk!" And gave the signal for battle. And in this battle, the Romans suffered a crushing defeat.

Another example comes from the Second Punic War. Consul Gaius Flaminius, as expected, performed bird divination with sacred chickens. The priest who fed the chickens, seeing that they had no appetite, advised to postpone the battle to another day. Then Flaminius asked him, what should he do if the chickens do not bite even then? He replied: "Do not move." "This is a glorious fortune-telling," said the impatient consul, "if it condemns us to inaction and pushes us into battle, depending on whether the chickens are hungry or full." Then Flaminius orders to line up in battle formation and follow him. And then it turned out that the standard-bearer could not budge his banner in any way, despite the fact that many came to his aid. Flaminius, however, neglected this too. Is it any wonder that after three hours his army was defeated and he himself perished.

And here is what the ancient Greek writer Plutarch tells about. When in 223 BC. NS. the consuls Flaminius and Furies marched with a large army against the Gallic tribe of Insurbi, one of the rivers in Italy flowed with blood, and three moons appeared in the sky. The priests who observed the flight of the birds during the consular elections said that the proclamation of new consuls was wrong and accompanied by ominous omens. Therefore, the senate immediately sent a letter to the camp urging the consuls to return as soon as possible and resign from themselves, without taking any action against the enemy. However, Flaminius, having received this letter, unsealed it only after he entered the battle and defeated the enemy. When he returned to Rome with a rich booty, the people did not come out to meet him, and because the consul did not obey the message of the Senate, he almost refused his triumph. But immediately after the triumph, both consuls were removed from power. “To what extent, - concludes Plutarch, - the Romans presented every matter to the consideration of the gods and, even with the greatest successes, did not allow the slightest disregard for divination and other customs, considering it more useful and important for the state that their commanders honored religion than defeated the enemy. "

These kinds of stories certainly strengthened the Romans' faith in omens. And she, in spite of everything, always remained serious and strong. The Romans have always firmly believed that success in war comes from the location and help of the gods. That is why it was necessary to impeccably perform all the prescribed rituals and fortune-telling. But their diligent execution in accordance with ancient traditions also had a purely practical significance, since it aroused the military spirit, gave the soldiers the faith that divine forces were fighting on their side.

To attract the gods to their side, the Roman generals before setting out on a campaign, or even in the midst of a battle, often made vows, that is, promises to dedicate gifts to one or another deity or to build a temple in case of victory. The introduction of this custom, like many others, is attributed to Romulus. In one fierce battle, the Romans wavered under the onslaught of the enemy and fled. Romulus, wounded by a stone in the head, tried to delay the fleeing and return them to the ranks. But all around him was a whirlpool of flight. And then the Roman king stretched out his hands to the sky and prayed to Jupiter: “Father of gods and people, repel enemies, free the Romans from fear, stop the shameful flight! And I promise you to build a temple here. " Before he had time to finish the prayer, his army, as if having heard a command from heaven, stopped. Courage again returned to the fleeing, and the enemy was driven back. At the end of the war, Romulus, as promised, erected on this very place the sanctuary of Jupiter-Stator, that is, the "Stopping".

Romulus's vow was later repeated by other commanders. It is interesting that the victorious Roman generals, in gratitude for their help, erected temples to the deities who directly "were in charge" of wars and battles, such as Mars, the same Jupiter, Bellona (the very name of this goddess, perhaps, comes from the word bellum, "war" ) or Fortune - the goddess of luck and fate, to whom, as the Romans believed, all human affairs are subject, and the affairs of war are more than anything. Temples were also dedicated to gods and goddesses, seemingly very far from military affairs, for example, the goddess of love and beauty Venus. And the more successfully the Romans fought, the more temples became in the city of Rome. Before the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), according to the vows of their commanders, about 40 of them were built. And this custom persisted for a long time afterwards.

However, man's dependence on divine designs and the support of celestials did not exclude the need for man himself to show his efforts and will. It is very significant that in the inscriptions made in honor of the victorious generals, it was often indicated that the victory was won during the auspices of the military leader, his power, his leadership and his happiness. Auspices in this case mean the right and duty of the magistrate in command of the army to find out and fulfill the divine will expressed through signs. From the point of view of the ancient Romans, the military leader was just a mediator between the army and the gods, whose will he had to strictly fulfill. But at the same time, it was believed that victory was won under the direct command of the commander, that is, on the basis of his personal energy, experience and knowledge. At the same time, the talents and valor of the commander were inextricably linked with his happiness, which seemed to the Romans a special gift. Only the gods could award this gift.

The right to conduct auspices and other religious rites was a necessary and very important part of the powers vested in the highest magistrates. The priests, in essence, only helped the officials to perform sacrifices and other rituals. Themselves priestly offices in Rome, like magistrates, were elective, although they were occupied, as a rule, for life. Both those and other positions were often combined so that, as Cicero wrote, "The same persons led both the service of the immortal gods and the most important state affairs, so that the most prominent and illustrious citizens, managing the state well, preserve religion, and wisely interpreting the requirements of religion, preserve the welfare of the state."

Connection public policy, war and religion was clearly manifested in the activities of a special college of priests feces. She appeared during the reign of the fourth Roman king, Anca Marcia. It is said that as soon as he ascended the throne, the neighboring Latins took courage and raided the Roman lands. When the Romans demanded compensation for the damage caused, the Latins gave an arrogant response. They hoped that Ancus Marcius, like his grandfather Numa Pompilius, would reign in the midst of prayers and sacrifices. But the enemies miscalculated. Ankh turned out to be similar in temper not only to Numa, but also to Romulus and decided to adequately respond to the challenge of his neighbors. However, in order to establish a legal order for war, Ankh introduced special ceremonies accompanying the declaration of war, and entrusted their execution to the priests-feces. The Roman historian Titus Livy describes these ceremonies as follows: “The ambassador, having come to the borders of those from whom they demand satisfaction, covers his head with a woolen blanket and says:“ Hear, Jupiter, heed the boundaries of the tribe of such and such (here he calls the name); may the Supreme Law hear me. I am the messenger of all the Roman people, by right and honor I come as an ambassador, and let my words be faith! " Then he calculates everything required. Then he takes Jupiter as a witness: "If I wrongly and impiously demand that these people and these things be given to me, may you deprive me forever of my belonging to my country." If he does not receive what he requires, then after 33 days he declares war like this: “Hear, Jupiter, and you, Janus Quirin, and all the heavenly gods, and you, earthly, and you, underground - listen! I take you as a witness to the fact that this people (here he names which one) violated the right and does not want to restore it. "

Having uttered these words, the ambassador returned to Rome for a meeting. The tsar (and later the supreme magistrate) sought the opinion of the senators. If the Senate voted in favor of war by a majority of votes and this decision was approved by the people, the fetials performed the rite of declaring war. According to custom, the head of the fetials brought an iron-tipped spear to the enemy's borders and, in the presence of at least three adult witnesses, declared war, and then threw the spear into the enemy's territory. Such a rite was to emphasize the justice of the war on the part of the Romans, and they invariably observed it. True, over time, as a result of the conquests of Rome, the distance to the enemy land increased. It became very difficult to quickly reach the borders of the next enemy. Therefore, the Romans came up with such a way out. They ordered one of the captured enemies to buy a piece of land in Rome near the Bellona temple. This land now began to symbolize enemy territory, and it was on it that the chief priest-fecial threw his spear, conducting the rite of declaring war.

The fezials were also in charge of the conclusion of peace treaties, which was accompanied by the conduct of appropriate ceremonies. These rites, apparently, were of very ancient origin. This is indicated by the fact that the sacrificed piglet was stabbed by the fetials with a flint knife. Flint was considered a symbol of Jupiter, and the ceremony was intended to show how this god would strike the Romans if they violate the terms of the contract. At the same time, the fetials acted not only as priests, but also as diplomats: they negotiated, put their signatures on treaties and kept them in their archives, and also monitored the safety of foreign ambassadors in Rome. In their actions the fetials were subordinate to the senate and the higher magistrates. This kind of priests was not among other peoples, except for the Latin relatives of the Romans.

Other peoples did not have special seasonal military holidays, which the Romans had. Most of these festivities were dedicated to Mars, the oldest and most revered of the Italic gods. According to the poet Ovid, "Mars was revered above all other gods in antiquity: by this, the warlike people showed a penchant for war." The first day and first month of the year was dedicated to Mars - according to the old Roman calendar, the year began on March 1st. This month itself got its name from the name of God. The Romans represented Mars as a spear-throwing herd guardian and a fighter for citizens. It was in March that the main military holidays were celebrated: on the 14th - the day of forging shields; On the 19th - the day of the military dance in the square of popular assemblies, and on the 23rd - the day of the consecration of the military trumpets, which marked the final readiness of the Roman community to start the war. After that day, the Roman army set out on another campaign, opening the season of war, which lasted until autumn. In the autumn, on October 19, another military holiday was held in honor of Mars - the day of the purification of weapons. It marked the end of hostilities by sacrificing a horse to Mars.

One of the sacred animals of Mars was also the wolf, which was considered a kind of coat of arms of the Roman state. The main symbol of God was the spear, which was kept in the royal palace along with twelve sacred shields. According to legend, one of these shields fell from the sky and was a guarantee of the invincibility of the Romans. To prevent enemies from recognizing and stealing this shield, King Numa Pompilius ordered the skilled blacksmith Mammuriy to make eleven exact spears. By tradition, the commander, going to war, called on Mars with the words "Mars, watch!", And then set these shields and spear in motion. Mars was served by two of the oldest priestly colleges. "Mars Incinerators" performed the rite of burning the victim, and 12 saliev("Jumpers") kept the shrines of Mars and, wearing battle armor, performed military dances and songs in his honor at the spring festival. The Sali procession was supposed to show the readiness of the Roman army for an annual campaign.

Mars was primarily the god of war. Therefore, his most ancient temple was located on the Champ de Mars outside the city walls, since the armed army, according to custom, could not enter the city. The point is not only that civil laws were in force in the City, and beyond its borders - the unlimited military power of the commander. According to Roman ideas, going on a campaign, citizens turned into warriors who renounced peaceful life and had to kill, defiling themselves with cruelty and bloodshed. The Romans believed that this desecration should be gotten rid of with the help of special cleansing rituals.

Sacrifice bull, sheep, pig

Therefore, in the cult of Mars, as in the Roman religion in general, very great importance was given to the rituals of purification. Gathering on the Champ de Mars, armed citizens turned to Mars during the rite of cleansing the city. The ceremonies for the purification of horses, weapons and war trumpets were also dedicated to Mars during the mentioned festivities, with which the season of military campaigns began and ended. The rite of cleansing was also accompanied by the census and the assessment of the property of citizens. On this occasion, Tsar Servius Tullius also made a particularly solemn sacrifice for the entire army, lined up along the centuria - a boar, a sheep and a bull. Such a cleansing sacrifice was called lustrum in Latin, and the Romans used the same word for the five-year period between the next qualification.

Another very interesting Roman holiday is also associated with the rites of cleansing the army, which was celebrated on October 1 on the occasion of the end of the summer hostilities. It included a kind of ritual: the entire army returning from the campaign passed under a wooden bar, which was thrown across the street and was called "sister bar". The origin of this rite is narrated by the famous legend about the single combat of three Roman twin brothers Horace and three twins Curiatius from the city of Alba Longa. According to legend, the third Roman king Tullus Hostilius, who surpassed even Romulus in his belligerence, began a war with the related Albanian people. Coming together for a decisive battle, the opponents, in order to avoid general bloodshed, agreed to decide the outcome of the war by a duel of the best warriors. The Romans put on their side the brothers Horatii, and the Albanian army - Curiatii, equal to them in age and strength. Before the battle, the priests-fetials, having carried out all the prescribed rituals, concluded an agreement on the following conditions: whose fighters win in single combat, that people will peacefully rule over the other. According to a conventional sign, in front of the two armies, the young men met in a fierce battle. After a stubborn battle, three Albanians were wounded, but they could still stand, and two Romans were killed. Curiosities, greeted by the joyful shouts of their fellow citizens, surrounded the last of the Horatii. He, seeing that he could not cope with three opponents at once, turned to feigned flight. He calculated that in pursuit of him, the Curiacii brothers would lag behind each other, and he would be able to defeat them one by one. And so it happened. Safe and sound, Horace takes turns stabbing three opponents.

The proud victory of the Roman army returned to Rome. The first was the hero Horace, carrying armor taken from defeated enemies. Before the city gates, he was met by his own sister, who was the bride of one of the Curiatii. Recognizing among her brother's trophies the cloak she herself had woven for the groom, she realized that he was no longer alive. Having let down her hair, the girl began to mourn her beloved groom. The sisters' screams angered the stern brother so much that he drew his sword, on which the blood of the defeated enemies had not yet dried, and stabbed the girl. At the same time he exclaimed: “Go to the groom, despicable! You have forgotten about your brothers - about the dead and about the living - you have forgotten about your fatherland. Let every Roman woman who begins to mourn the enemy perish so! "

According to the law, for this murder, the court was supposed to pronounce the death sentence on the young man. But after the appeal to the people of Horace himself and his father, the hero was acquitted. Horace the father said that he considered his daughter killed by right, and if it happened otherwise, he himself would have punished his son with paternal authority. In order for the murder to be atoned for, the father was ordered to purify his son. Having made special cleansing sacrifices, the father threw a bar across the street and, covering the young man's head, ordered him to go under the bar, which formed, as it were, an arch. This bar was called "sisters", and passage under the arch became in Rome a ritual of purification for the entire army. It is possible that this simplest arch became the prototype of those triumphal arches that were subsequently erected in Rome in honor of the victorious commanders and their troops. The soldiers participating in the triumph, passing under the arch, like Horace, cleansed themselves of the traces of murders and atrocities committed in the war, in order to become normal civilians again.

Incidentally, the Roman triumph itself (which we will talk about later) was essentially a religious event. It was dedicated to the supreme god of the Roman community - Jupiter Capitoline. Going to war, the Roman commander took vows on the Capitol Hill, where the main temple of Rome, dedicated to Jupiter, was located. Returning victorious, the commander brought gratitude to the gods for his successes on behalf of the Roman people, who awarded him a triumph. The Triumphant entered the City in a chariot drawn by four white horses, similar to the horses of Jupiter and the Sun (which also seemed to be a god). The commander himself was dressed in a purple toga with gold stars woven on it. This garment was given out specially for the triumph from the temple treasury. In one hand he held a rod of Ivory and in the other - a palm branch. His head was adorned with a laurel wreath, and his face was painted with red paint. This appearance likened the triumphant commander to Jupiter himself. Behind the back of the triumphant was a slave who held over his head a golden crown, also taken from the temple of Jupiter. So that at the moment of his highest triumph the commander did not become arrogant, the slave exclaimed, turning to him: "Remember that you are a man!", And urged him: "Look back!". At the end of the triumphal ceremony, the commander placed a golden crown and a palm branch on the statue of Jupiter, returned the garment to the temple treasury, and arranged a ceremonial feast in honor of the gods on the Capitol.

Before the start of the triumphal procession, ordinary soldiers performed cleansing rituals in front of the altar of one of the gods, dedicated images to the gods and brought weapons seized from the enemy as a gift. After that, the soldiers, along with other participants in the triumphal ceremony, made a thanksgiving sacrifice to Jupiter on the Capitol in the presence of the Senate. In honor of the supreme deity, white bulls with gilded horns were slaughtered.

Jupiter was also dedicated to solemn festive prayers in the Capitoline Church on the occasion of the most outstanding victories of Roman weapons. And the more glorious the victory achieved, the more days this service lasted. Its participants put on wreaths, carried laurel branches in their hands; the women loosened their hair and lay down on the ground in front of the images of the gods.

As the main god of Roman power, victories and glory, Jupiter was revered under the name of the All-Good Greatest. In all periods of the history of Ancient Rome, Jupiter the All-Good Greatest was the patron saint of the Roman state. After the Empire replaced the republican system, Jupiter became the patron saint of the reigning emperor. It is only natural that the soldiers and veterans of the imperial army singled out Jupiter among other gods. Celebrating the birthday of their military unit, the soldiers made the main sacrifice to Jupiter. Every year on January 3, the soldiers, according to the established custom, took an oath of allegiance to the emperor. On this day, a new altar was solemnly installed on the parade ground in honor of Jupiter, and the old one was buried in the ground. Obviously, this was done in order to strengthen the power of the oath, consecrating it in the name of the most powerful deity.

The main shrine of every Roman legion, the legionary eagle, was also associated with Jupiter. The eagle was generally considered the bird of Jupiter and was depicted on many coins as a symbol of the Roman state. The following legend tells how the eagle became the legion's banner. Once the titans, unbridled powerful deities, opposed the younger generation of gods, headed by Jupiter. Before setting out to the battle with the titans, Jupiter performed bird-guesses - after all, the gods, according to the ancient Romans and Greeks, were subject to an omnipotent fate - and it was the eagle that appeared to him as a sign, becoming the herald of victory. Therefore, Jupiter took the eagle under his protection and made the main sign of the legion.

Legion eagles were depicted with spread wings and were made of bronze and covered with either gilding or silver. Later they began to be made of pure gold. Losing an eagle in battle was considered an incomparable shame. The legion that allowed this dishonor disbanded and ceased to exist. The badges of individual units that were part of the legion were also revered as special shrines. Roman soldiers believed that military insignia, including legionary eagles, possessed a divine supernatural essence, and treated them with tremendous awe and love, surrounding them with the same worship as the gods. In the military camp, the eagle and other signs were placed in a special sanctuary, where statues of gods and emperors were also placed. In honor of the banners, sacrifices and initiations were performed. On holidays, eagles and banners were oiled and decorated in a special way using roses. An oath taken before the banners of war was tantamount to an oath before the gods. The birthday of a legion or military unit was revered as the birthday of an eagle or banners. The emblems of the military unit and images of those military awards that it deserved in battles and campaigns were attached to military insignia.

As in modern armies, banners were symbols of military honor and glory for the Romans. But their veneration in the Roman army was based primarily on religious feelings and ideas. Soldiers' love for their banners and religion were inseparable. The sacred prohibition to leave the banners was the first requirement of military duty in Rome. This is confirmed by many episodes of Roman military history. For the sake of preserving their flags, the Roman soldiers were ready to sacrifice their lives selflessly. Therefore, at critical moments of the battle, the Roman commanders often used such a characteristic technique: the standard bearer or the military leader himself threw the banner into the midst of the enemies or into the enemy camp, or he himself rushed forward with the banner in his hands. And in order not to disgrace themselves, having lost the banner, the soldiers were forced to fight with desperate dedication. It is said that the first such technique was used by Servius Tullius, fighting under the command of King Tarquinius against the Sabines.

In the Roman state, great importance was always attached to the return of the banners lost in the war. This event was celebrated as a nationwide celebration. Commemorative coins were issued in his honor. And when in 16 A.D. NS. managed to recapture from the Germans the Roman banners they captured, including the eagle, a special memorial arch was erected in Rome in honor of this event.

A very important event in the life of the entire army and each individual soldier was the taking of the military oath. She was considered a sacred oath. Giving it, the warriors dedicated themselves to the gods, primarily Mars and Jupiter, and received patronage from their side for their actions. A solemn oath tied the army to the commander with fear of punishment from the gods in the event of a violation of military duty. A warrior who broke his oath was considered a criminal against the gods. At the beginning of the III century. BC e., during a difficult war with the Samnites, a law was even passed according to which, if a young man did not appear at the summons of the commander or deserted, breaking the oath, his head was dedicated to Jupiter. Apparently, the Romans believed that a soldier who refused to obey the commander was insulting the god of Roman military glory.

Every soldier took an oath when joining the ranks of the army. The commanders gathered recruits in legions, selected the most suitable from among them and demanded an oath from him that he would obey the commander unquestioningly and, as far as he could, carry out the orders of the commanders. All the other warriors, stepping forward one by one, swore that they would act in everything as the first pledged.

During the period of the Empire (I-IV centuries AD), the imperial cult became widespread in the army, as in the entire Roman state. The rulers of Rome began to receive divine honors. Emperors, who possessed immense power and unattainable greatness, were worshiped as real gods. Statues and other images of emperors were considered sacred, like legion eagles and other military insignia. At first, only deceased rulers were deified. Later, some emperors began to be recognized as gods during their lifetime. Members of the imperial family, including women, were also surrounded by divine veneration. The immediate object of worship was the genius and virtues of the emperor. The birthdays of deified and living rulers, the days of accession to the throne and the days of the most glorious victories won under the leadership of the emperor were celebrated as special holidays. Over time, there were a lot of such holidays. Therefore, some of them were gradually canceled. But still there were a lot of them.

If we consider that in units of the Roman army they celebrated all state festivals associated with the traditional gods of Rome, then holidays it turned out a lot. On average, once every two weeks (if, of course, there was no hostilities), the soldiers of the imperial army received the opportunity to take a break from the hardships and monotony of daily service. On such days, instead of the usual unpretentious soldier's ration, they could taste an abundant treat with meat, fruit and wine. But the significance of the festivities, of course, was not limited to this. Festive events were supposed to inspire the soldiers with the idea that the emperors were endowed with supernatural power, that the gods help the Roman state, that the banners of military units are sacred. The main task of the army religion - and first of all the imperial cult - was to ensure the loyalty of the soldiers to Rome and its rulers.

At the same time, religion had to show what it means to be a good soldier, what qualities he should have. For a long time in Rome, such qualities and concepts as Valor, Honor, Piety, Loyalty were revered as deities. Separate temples and altars were built for them. In the II century. n. NS. as a deity, the military began to venerate Discipline. The goddess of victory, Victoria, was very popular among the troops. Usually she was depicted (including on banners) in the form of a beautiful woman with a wreath in her hands. Hercules, the son of Jupiter, an invincible warrior, a mighty defender of ordinary people, enjoyed great popularity among the soldiers.

The religious life of the army was not limited only to traditional deities and the imperial cult, the execution of which was prescribed and controlled by the authorities. It was important for an ordinary soldier and officer to feel the support of such divine patrons, who were always there. Therefore, the cult was very widespread in the army. different kinds geniuses. These patron spirits were depicted as young men holding a cup of wine and a cornucopia in their hands. The geniuses of the Century and the Legion were especially widely revered by the soldiers. The areas where the military unit, at military camps, barracks, hospitals, parade ground, collegiums that united officers and senior soldiers. Even the military oath and banners had their own special geniuses, surrounded by cult veneration.

Jupiter Dolichen

During the time of the Empire, the Roman troops served in different parts of the vast power, made distant campaigns and therefore had the opportunity, communicating with local residents, become familiar with their beliefs. Over time, not only the Romans, but also representatives of other peoples - Greeks, Thracians, Syrians, Gauls - were recruited into the ranks of the army. All this contributed to the penetration of foreign cults into the army. So among the soldiers, faith in the eastern gods spread, for example, the god Baal from the Syrian city of Dolichen. He was revered under the name of Jupiter Dolichensky. After the war with the Parthians at the end of the 1st century AD. NS. many Roman soldiers became worshipers of the Persian sun god Mithra, who personified strength and courage. Soldiers of non-Roman origin, entering the army, of course, worshiped the Roman gods as required by the command, but at the same time they retained faith in their old tribal gods and sometimes even introduced their fellow soldiers from among the Romans to it.

Thus, the religious beliefs of the Roman soldiers did not remain unchanged. However, it was in the army that the ancient Roman cults and rituals were preserved much longer and stronger than among civilian population... Conquering numerous tribes and peoples, the Romans never sought to impose their faith on them. But they were always convinced that no military success could be achieved without the support of domestic deities, without that special Roman military spirit, which was largely brought up by the religious traditions of Rome.

Ancient Rome, too, did not escape the sin of its descendants in the form of ritual executions. According to the ancient law of Romulus, criminals condemned to death were sacrificed to the underground gods during the holiday of Lupercalia. Ritual murders of children were committed during the compitalia festivals of Mania. True, not for long, during the time of Junius Brutus, babies were replaced with poppy or garlic heads. During the Second Punic War, when the Romans suffered a devastating defeat from Hannibal near Cannes and the threat of his capture by the troops of Carthage loomed over Rome, Quintus Fabius Pictor was sent to Delphi to ask the oracle with what prayers and sacrifices to propitiate the gods and when the series of disasters would end. In the meantime, he was traveling the Romans as an emergency measure brought human sacrifices to the gods. Gaul and his fellow tribesman, a Greek and a Greek woman, were buried alive in the Bull Market, in a place fenced with stones, where human sacrifices had been performed long ago.

Probably, this measure, alien to the Roman traditions of that time, helped. The Romans rallied and turned the tide of the war that was unsuccessful for them. Some time later, Hannibal was defeated, and Carthage was destroyed.

But most likely it was not the sacrifices that helped, but the courage and resilience of the Romans. They often sacrificed themselves for the sake of the freedom and greatness of Rome.

The act of the Roman commander Regulus Marcus Atilius went down in history. He was captured by the Carthaginians and was released to Rome on parole in order to achieve an exchange of prisoners. Regulus persuaded the Romans to reject the enemy's proposals, after which he returned to Carthage and was executed.

An end to ritual executions was put in the consulates of Cornelius Lentulus and Licinius Crassus (97 BC) when they were banned by a Senate decree.

In ancient Rome, there was a fairly decent range of executions for criminals: burning, strangulation, drowning, wheeling, throwing into the abyss, scourging to death and beheading, and in the Roman Republic they used an ax for this, and in the empire - a sword. The division of estates in the Eternal City was strictly observed and influenced both the severity of the sentence and the choice of the type of execution.

Book VII of the treatise of the Roman lawyer and statesman Ulpian (c. 170 - c. 223 AD) "On the duties of the proconsul" says: "The proconsul should decide more severely or softer for sacrilege, in accordance with the personality (of the criminal), with the circumstances of the case and time, (as well as) with the age and sex (of the offender). I know that many are sentenced to fight with animals in the arena, some even to be burned alive, and others to be crucified on the cross. However, the punishment should be moderated before fighting with the beasts in the arena for those who commit burglary in the temple at night and take (from there) offerings to the deity. And if someone in the daytime took something not very significant from the temple, then he should be punished by sentencing to the mines, but if he belongs to the venerable by origin (this concept included decurions, horsemen and senators), then he should be exiled to the island ".

During the period of the republic, one of the main places of execution of the sentence was the Esquiline field behind the gates of the same name. The Esquiline Hill was originally a Roman cemetery. During the time of the empire, the field of Mars was chosen as the place of execution.

For the execution of aristocrats, secret strangulation or supervised suicide was often used. Strangulation with a rope (laqueus) was never done in public, only in a dungeon in the presence of a limited number of people. To such a death, the Roman Senate sentenced the participants in the Catiline conspiracy. The Roman historian Sallust described it this way:

“There is a room in the prison, to the left and somewhat below the entrance, which is called the Tulli's dungeon; it sinks into the ground about twelve feet, and is fortified from everywhere with walls, and from above it is covered with a stone vault; filth, darkness and stench make up a vile and terrible impression. It was there that Lentulus was lowered, and the executioners, executing the order, strangled him, throwing a noose around his neck ... Tseteg, Statilius, Gabinius, Tseparius were executed in the same way. "

Moreover, the initiator of this execution was the orator Cicero, who at that time acted as consul. For the disclosure of the Catiline conspiracy, he was awarded the honorary title of "father of the nation." But for the execution of the free Romans, he later amassed many accusations from political opponents.

Over time, strangulation with a rope fell out of fashion among the Romans, and was no longer used during the reign of Nero.

As a privilege, noble Romans sometimes allowed themselves to choose their own way of execution or die without outside help. The Roman historian Tacitus said that when the consul Valerius Asiatic was convicted, the emperor Claudius gave him the right to choose the form of death for himself. Friends offered Asian to quietly fade away, refraining from food, but he preferred a quick death. And he passed away with great dignity. “After doing the usual gymnastic exercises, washing his body and having a fun dinner, he opened his veins, having examined, however, before that his funeral pyre and ordered to move it to another place so that the thick foliage of trees would not suffer from its heat: such was his composure in the last moments before the end. "

Drowning was punishable in ancient Rome at first parricide, and then the murder of the mother and next of kin. Relatives sentenced for murder were drowned in a leather sack, into which a dog, a rooster, a monkey or a snake were sewn together with the criminal. It was believed that these animals were especially bad for their parents. They also drowned for other crimes, but at the same time deprived the convicted of the company of animals.

Crucifixion was considered a shameful execution, and therefore was used for slaves and prisoners of war, as well as for rebels, traitors, and murderers. In the event of the murder of the owner of the house, all slaves living in the house, regardless of gender and age, were subject to crucifixion. In addition to the fact that the purpose of this execution was to make the condemned suffer, there was also some kind of edification to all others that to rebel against the authorities is fraught with painful death. Therefore, the execution was often accompanied by a whole ritual. It was preceded by a shameful procession, during which the convict had to carry the so-called patibulum, wooden beam, which later served as the horizontal crossbar of the cross. A textbook example: the ascent of Christ to Calvary. At the place of execution, the cross was raised on ropes and dug into the ground, and on it the limbs of the condemned were fixed with nails or ropes. The crucified person died long and painfully. Some continued to live on the cross for up to three days. Sometimes, in order to prolong their suffering, they were offered water or vinegar in a sponge. But in the end, the loss of blood, dehydration, the scorching rays of the sun during the day and the cold at night undermined the strength of the unfortunate. And he died, as a rule, from asphyxia, when he could no longer lift his body weight to take a breath. On some crosses, a protrusion was made under the feet of the condemned to facilitate their breathing, but this only delayed their death. And when they wanted to speed it up, they interrupted the executed shins.

It was widely used in ancient Rome and execution by beheading. This was usually a public procedure in front of the city gates. The herald publicly announced to the audience for what crime a person was being deprived of life. Then the herald gave a sign to the lictors, they covered the condemned head, often even before the execution, they flogged him and only then sent him to the kingdom of the dead. The cutting off of the head by the lictors was carried out with an ax. The body of the executed was given to relatives only by special permission, more often it was simply thrown into the Tiber or left unburied.

One of the most famous executions in this way was the execution of the sons of Brutus, condemned to death by their own father.

Lucius Brutus led a coup in Rome, overthrowing King Tarquinius the Proud and establishing a republic in the Eternal City. However, two sons of Brutus, Titus and Tiberius, were tempted by the opportunity to intermarry with the great house of the Tarquinians and, perhaps, themselves to achieve royal power, and therefore entered into a conspiracy to return Tarquinius to the royal throne.

However, the conspirators were betrayed by a slave who accidentally overheard their conversation. And when the letters to Tarquinius were found, the guilt of the sons of Brutus became apparent. They were brought to the forum.

Plutarch described what happened there as follows:

“The convicts did not dare to say a word in their defense, they were embarrassed and sadly silent, and all the others, only a few, wishing to please Brutus, mentioned the exile ... But Brutus, calling out to each of the sons separately, said:“ Well, Titus, well , Tiberius, why don't you answer the accusation? " And when, in spite of the three times repeated question, neither one nor the other uttered a sound, the father, turning to the lictors, said: "It's up to you now." They immediately grabbed the young people, tore off their clothes, put their hands behind their backs and began to flog with rods, and while the others were unable to look at it, the consul himself, they say, did not look away, compassion did not in the least soften the angry and the stern expression of his face - with a heavy gaze he watched how his children were punished, until the lictors, spreading them on the ground, chopped off their heads with axes. Having passed the rest of the conspirators to the court of his comrade in office, Brutus got up and left ... when Brutus left the forum, everyone was silent for a long time - no one could come to his senses from amazement and horror at what happened in front of them. "

By cutting off the head, the so-called "decimation" was carried out in the Roman army, when every tenth was executed in a detachment that showed cowardice. This punishment was mainly practiced when the power of the Roman army was still gaining strength, but there were several later known cases.

During the war with the Parthians, whom the Romans wanted to avenge for the defeat of Crassus's army, Marcus Antony had to resort to decimation. Plutah wrote about it this way:

“After that, the Medes, having made a raid on the camp fortifications, scared away and threw back the advanced soldiers, and Anthony, in anger, applied the so-called“ tithe execution ”to the faint-hearted. He broke them into dozens and out of every dozen of them - to whom the lot fell - he put them to death, while the rest ordered to give out barley instead of wheat ”.

In ancient Rome, the priestesses of the goddess Vesta had a privilege. They had the right to release criminals from death if they met with them on the way to the place of execution. True, for everything to be fair, the vestals had to swear that the meeting was unintentional.

However, for someone, a meeting with a vestal, on the contrary, could become fatal. Vestals moved along the streets in stretchers carried by slaves. And if someone slipped under the stretcher of the priestess of Vesta, then he had to undergo the death penalty.

Girls from noble families became priestesses of Vesta, they took a vow of chastity and celibacy until they reached the age of 30. There were only six of them in Rome, and they made up the college of the Vestals. However, along with some rights, serious obligations were imposed on them, the violation of which was fraught with the death penalty for them, the order of which was described by Plutarch:

“... she who has lost her virginity is buried alive in the ground near the so-called Kollinsky gate. There, within the city limits, there is a hill, very elongated in length. A small underground room with an entrance from above is arranged in the hillside; in it they put a bed with a bed, a burning lamp and a meager supply of food necessary to maintain life - bread, water in a jug, milk, butter: the Romans seem to want to relieve themselves of the accusation that they starved the participant of the greatest sacraments with hunger. The condemned woman is put on a stretcher, outside so carefully covered and taken up with belt bindings that even her voice cannot be heard, and carried through the forum. All silently part and follow the stretcher - without uttering a sound, in the deepest despondency. There is no more terrible sight, no day that would be darker for Rome than this. Finally the stretcher is at the target. The ministers unravel the belts, and the head of the priests, secretly making some prayers and stretching out his hands to the gods before the terrible act, takes the woman wrapped in her head and puts her on the stairs leading to the underground chamber, and he himself, together with the rest of the priests, turns back. When the condemned woman descends, the stairs are raised and the entrance is filled up, filling the hole with earth until the surface of the hill is finally leveled. This is how the violator of sacred virginity is punished. "

However, the fact that the flesh is weak, and sometimes passion is stronger than the fear of death, the vestals have repeatedly shown by their own example. In the History of Rome from the Founding of the City, written by Titus Livy, there are several references to the execution of the Vestals:

In the 5th century BC. the vestal Popilia was buried alive for a criminal fornication. In the IV century BC. the same fate befell the vestal Minutia. In the 3rd century BC. their fate was shared by the vestals Sextile and Tuctius. During the second Punic War, four Vestals were convicted of fornication. First, Otilia and Floronia were caught, one, according to custom, was killed under the ground at the Collin Gate, and the other committed suicide. Floronia's sexual partner, Lucius Cantilius, who worked as a scribe under the pontiffs, also suffered. By order of the great pontiff, he was beaten to death with rods in the Comitia. And soon the vestals Olympia and Florence heard the sad verdict. In the II century BC. for the same sin of fornication, three Vestals Emilia, Licinia and Marcia were already condemned.

The founders of Rome - Rom and Remulus were the children of a violent vestal. She declared her father the god of war, Mars. However, God did not protect her from human cruelty. The priestess in chains was taken into custody, the king ordered the children to be thrown into the river. They miraculously survived and later founded the Eternal City on seven hills. Or they might not have survived.

At the dawn of the Roman Republic, the innocent vestal Postumius was nearly hurt. The charges of violating chastity were caused only by her fashionable outfits and too independent for the girl's disposition. She was acquitted, but the pontiff ordered her to refrain from entertainment, and also look not pretty, but pious.

Refinement in clothes and panache brought suspicion to the aforementioned Vestal Minutia. And then, some slave denounced her that she was no longer a virgin. At first, the pontiffs forbade Minutia to touch the shrines and set the slaves free, and then, by the verdict of the court, they buried her alive in the ground at the Kollinsky gate to the right of the paved road. After the execution of Minutia, this place received the name of the Fel Field.

Vestals could lose their lives not only for fornication. One of them, who did not follow the fire, which led to a fire in the temple of Vesta, was marked to death with rods for negligence.

In general, death sentences in ancient Rome are sometimes filled with the deepest drama. You can recall at least the verdict of Lucius Brutus to his own sons. Or a sentence to the savior of the Fatherland, Publius Horace. True, this story turned out to be with a happy ending:

During the conflict between the Romans and the Albanians, an agreement was reached between them to decide the outcome of the war with a battle of six brothers. Three brothers of the Horatii were to stand up for Rome, and the interests of the Albanians were to be defended by the three brothers of the Curiatii. Only Publius Horace remained alive in this battle, who brought victory to Rome.

The Romans greeted the returning Publius with glee. And only his sister, who was married to one of the Curiatii, greeted him with tears. She let her hair down and began to lament for the deceased groom. Publius was outraged by the cries of his sisters, which darkened his victory and the great joy of all the people. Drawing his sword, he stabbed the girl, exclaiming at the same time: “Go to the groom with your love that has not come at the right time! You have forgotten about your brothers - about the dead and about the living - you have forgotten about your fatherland. So let every Roman woman perish that she begins to mourn the enemy! "

The Romans showed adherence to principles and brought the hero for the murder of his sister to trial before the king. But he did not take responsibility and referred the case to the court of the duumvirs. The law did not promise anything good to Horace, it said:

“Let the duumvirs judge the one who committed a grave crime; if he turns from the duumvirs to the people, to defend his cause before the people; if the duumvirs win the case, wrap his head, hang him with a rope from an ominous tree, spot him inside the city limits or outside the city limits. " The duumvirs, although they felt sympathy for the hero, respected the law above all else, and therefore one of them announced:

Publius Horace, I condemn you for a serious crime. Go lictor, tie his hands.

But then Publius, in accordance with the law, addressed the people. The father stood up for his son, who announced that he considered his daughter killed by right. He said:

Really, quirits, you can see the same one whom you just saw entering the city in honorable attire, triumphant in victory, with a block around his neck, tied between whips and a crucifix? Even the eyes of the Albanians could hardly bear such an ugly sight! Go, lictor, bind the hands that, quite recently, armed, brought domination to the Roman people. Wrap the head of the liberator of our city; suspend it to an ominous tree; Sow it, even though within the city limits - but certainly between these spears and enemy armor, even though outside the city limits - but certainly between the graves of the Curiacii. Wherever you take this young man, honorary distinctions will protect him from the shame of execution!

As Titus Livy wrote: “The people could not bear neither the tears of their father, nor the peace of mind of Horace who was equal in front of any danger - they were acquitted rather out of admiration for valor than in justice. And so that the apparent murder was nevertheless atoned for by the cleansing sacrifice, the father was commanded to purge his son at the public expense. "

However, the peace between the Romans and the Albanians, concluded after the battle of the Horace and the Curiatius, was short-lived. It was cunningly destroyed by Mettius, for which he paid dearly. In a bloody battle, the Roman king Tullus defeated the Albanians, and then passed a stern sentence to the instigator of the war:

Mettius Fufety, if you too could learn to be faithful and abide by treaties, I would teach you this, leaving you alive; but you are incorrigible, and therefore die, and let your execution teach the human race to respect the holiness of that which was defiled by you. Quite recently, you split your soul between the Romans and the Fidenians, now you will split your body.

Titus Livy described the execution in the following way: “Immediately two quadruplets were brought, and the king ordered to tie Mettius to the chariots, then the horses launched in opposite directions jerked and, tearing the body in two, dragged the limbs fastened with ropes behind them. Everyone averted their eyes from the vile sight. For the first and last time the Romans used this method of execution, which did not agree much with the laws of humanity; for the rest, we can safely say that no nation has imposed lighter punishments. "

During the war with the Volski, the Romans chose Aulus Cornelius Kos as their dictator. But the real hero in this war was Mark Manlius, who saved the Capitol Fortress. After the end of the war, Manlius became the leader of the plebeians, defending their rights. However, this displeased the authorities and Manlius was brought to trial. He was accused of his rebellious speeches and false denunciation of the authorities.

However, Manlius has built his defense quite impressively. He brought about four hundred people to court, for whom he contributed money counted without growth, whom he did not allow to be taken into bondage for debts. He presented to the court his military awards: up to thirty armor from killed enemies, up to forty gifts from commanders, among whom two wreaths were striking for the capture of walls and eight for saving citizens. And he even bared his chest, streaked with scars from wounds received in the war.

But the prosecution won. The court reluctantly passed a death sentence to the guardian of the plebeians. Livy described the execution of Manlius as follows:

“The tribunes threw him off the Tarpeian rock: so one and the same place became a monument to the greatest glory of one man and his last punishment. In addition, the dead were doomed to dishonor: first, public: since his house stood where the temple and the courtyard of the Coin are now, it was proposed to the people that not a single patrician should live in the Fortress and on the Capitol; secondly, generic: the decision of the Manliev clan determined not to name anyone else Mark Manliy. "

During the war with the Samnites, the Roman dictator Papyrius, who went to Rome, he announced to the chief of the cavalry, Quintus Fabius, an order to remain in place and not to engage the enemy in his absence.

But he did not obey, opposed the enemy and won a brilliant victory, leaving twenty thousand defeated enemies on the battlefield.

Papirius's anger was terrible. He ordered Fabius to be arrested, to strip off his clothes and to prepare rods and axes. The commander of the cavalry was cruelly beaten, but he could think that he still got off lightly, since for violating the order, he could be killed.

The tribunes and legates asked the dictator to spare Fabius. He himself, together with his father, who became consul three times, knelt before Papyrius, and finally he took pity and announced:

Be your way, quirits. For military duty, for the dignity of power, victory remained, but now it was decided whether to continue to have one or not. The guilt has not been removed from Quintus Fabius for waging a war contrary to the prohibition of the commander, but I concede him, convicted for this, to the Roman people and the tribunal authorities. So by pleas, and not by law, you managed to help him. Live, Quintus Fabius, the unanimous desire of your fellow citizens to protect you turned out to be a greater happiness for you than that victory from which you recently did not feel your legs; live, daring to do what your father would not have forgiven you if he were in the place of Lucius Papirius. You will return my favor if you want; and the Roman people, to whom you owe your life, will best be thanked if the present day teaches you, henceforth, both in war and in peacetime, to obey lawful authority.

If the Romans treated their own military leaders so strictly, then the traitors were not at all going to spare. For the fact that Capua went over to Hannibal in the most difficult time for the Roman republic, the legate Guy Fulvius cruelly dealt with the authorities of this city. Although, however, the Capua senators themselves understood that they should not expect mercy from the Romans. And they made the decision to die voluntarily. Titus Livy wrote about it this way:

“About twenty-seven senators went to Vibius Virrius; dined, tried to drown out the thoughts of impending disaster with wine, and took poison. We got up, shook hands, embraced for the last time before dying, weeping over ourselves and over our hometown. Some stayed to burn their bodies at a common fire, others went home. The poison acted slowly on the well-fed and drunk; the majority lived the whole night and part of the coming day, but nevertheless died before the gates were opened before the enemies. "

The rest of the senators, known as the main instigators of the deposition from Rome, were arrested by the Romans and sent into custody: twenty-five - in Calais; twenty-eight to Tehan. At dawn, the legate Fulvius rode into Thean and ordered the Campanians who were in prison to be brought. They were all first flogged with rods, and then beheaded. Then Fulvius rushed to Cala. He was already sitting there at the tribunal, and the withdrawn Campanians were tied to a post, when a horseman rushed from Rome and handed Fulvius a letter instructing him to postpone the execution. But Guy hid, without even opening it, the letter he received in his bosom and through the herald ordered the lictor to do what the law ordered. So were those who were in Kalakh executed.

Fulvius was already rising from his chair when the campanian Tavreus Vibellius, making his way through the crowd, addressed him by name. Surprised Flaccus sat down again: "Tell me to kill me too: you can then boast that you killed a man much more courageous than you." Flaccus exclaimed that he was out of his mind, that the Senate decree forbade it, even if he, Flaccus, wanted it. Then Tavreya said: “My fatherland has been captured, I have lost my relatives and friends, I have killed my wife and children with my own hand so that they would not be disgraced, and I am not even allowed to die like my fellow citizens. May valor free me from this hated life. " With the sword, which he hid under his clothes, he struck himself in the chest and, dead, fell at the feet of the commander. "

Roman criminal law is much more interesting and varied than similar collections of laws of other countries. It is not for nothing that students are still studying it. law schools... There were many innovations in it for its time, for example, the concepts of guilt, complicity, attempt, etc. were defined. But in principle, in fact, it followed generally accepted norms based on the principle of tolion - death for death, eye for an eye, etc.

The first Roman laws were the laws of Romulus. According to them, any murder called "parricide" was punished with the death penalty. This emphasized that Romulus considers murder to be the gravest atrocity. And the direct murder of his father is unthinkable. As it turned out, he was not far from the truth. For nearly six hundred years, no one in Rome dared to take the life of his own father. The first patricide was a certain Lucius Hostius, who committed this crime after the Second Punic War.

It is curious that Romulus appointed the death penalty for husbands who sold their wives. They should be subjected to ritual murder - sacrificed to the underground gods.

One of the first high-profile murders in Rome highlighted new facets of Romulus's personality and helped to raise his image among the people.

During the period when two kings ruled in Rome - Romulus and Tatius, some household and relatives of Tatius killed and robbed the ambassadors of Lavrenty. Romulus ordered to severely punish the guilty, but Tatius in every possible way delayed and postponed the execution. Then the relatives of the killed, failing to achieve justice through the fault of Tatius, attacked him when he, together with Romulus, sacrificed in Lavinia, and killed him. They praised Romulus loudly for his justice. Apparently their praise touched the heart of Romulus, he did not punish anyone for the deprivation of the life of the co-ruler, saying that murder was atoned for by murder.

The replacement of the republic by the empire in Rome was largely predetermined by the flaws in the republican system, which were exposed during the bloodshed arranged first by Marius and then by Sulla.

Marius, who staged the terror in Rome, did not even execute. His henchmen simply killed everyone with whom he did not deign to greet.

Sulla didn't bother too much with sentencing. He only made proscriptions - lists of those who, in his opinion, were subject to death, and then anyone could not only kill people on these lists with impunity, but also receive a reward for this. The collapse of the Roman Republic actually marked the civil war, after which Julius Caesar became the uncrowned ruler of Rome. And the imperial power was actually approved by the assassination of Caesar by the republicans. The "golden period" of the reign of Octavian Augustus created the illusion that imperial power is a blessing. But the tyrants who replaced him showed how evil she can be.

During the reign of emperors in Rome, there was both a sharp increase in the number of types of criminal offenses, and an increase in punishment. If in the days of the Republic the main purpose of punishment was - retribution, then during the period of the Empire its purpose becomes intimidation. New species have appeared state crimes that were associated with a special emperor - a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor, an attempt on his life or the life of his officials, non-recognition of the religious cult of the emperor, etc.

The class principle of punishment began to be expressed even more clearly. Slaves were punished more often and harsherly. A law passed in 10 AD prescribed that in the case of the murder of the master, all the slaves in the house should be put to death unless they made an attempt to save his life.

In the early empire, privileged persons could be punished with the death penalty only in the case of the murder of relatives, and later in 4 cases: murder, arson, magic and insult to majesty. At the same time, persons of lower social status were punished with the death penalty for 31 types of crimes.

But when real tyrants began to rule the Roman Empire, who with manic passion executed everyone and everything, the laws began to fade into the background. The emperor's whim was stronger than any of them.

The beginning of the reign of a series of tyrants was laid by Tiberius. Telling about his fierce disposition, Gaius Suetonius Tranquil said:

“His natural cruelty and composure were evident even in childhood. Theodore Gadarsky, who taught him eloquence, discerned this earlier and sharper than anyone else, and was almost the best in identifying it when, scolding him, he always called him: "mud mixed with blood." But this became even brighter in the ruler - even at first, when he was trying to attract people with feigned moderation. One jester before the funeral procession loudly asked the deceased to tell Augustus that the people had not received the gifts he bequeathed; Tiberius ordered him to be dragged to him, to count his due and to execute him, so that he could report to Augustus that he had received his in full.

Then, to the praetor's question whether to prosecute for an insult to the majesty, he replied: "The laws must be fulfilled," and he fulfilled them with extreme cruelty. Someone removed the head from the statue of Augustus to put another; the case went to the Senate and, as doubts arose, it was investigated under torture. And when the defendant was convicted (in fact, he was acquitted), accusations of this kind gradually reached the point that it was considered a mortal crime if someone beat a slave in front of the statue of Augustus or changed clothes if he brought a coin or a ring with his image to a latrine or to a brothel, if he spoke about some of his words or deeds without praise. Finally, even a man died, who allowed in his city to show him honors on the day on which they were once paid to Augustus.

Finally, he gave full vent to all possible atrocities ... It is too long to list his atrocities separately: it will be enough to show examples of his ferocity on the most general cases. A day did not pass without execution, whether it was a holiday or a reserved day: even on New Year a man was executed. Together with many, their children and the children of their children were accused and condemned. The relatives of the executed were forbidden to mourn for them. Any reward was assigned to prosecutors, and often to witnesses. No denunciation was denied confidence. Any crime was considered criminal, even a few innocent words. The poet was tried for the fact that he dared to censure Agamemnon in the tragedy, the historian was tried for what he called Brutus and Cassius the last of the Romans: both were immediately executed, and their writings were destroyed, although only a few years before they were openly and successfully were read before Augustus himself. Some prisoners were forbidden not only to console themselves with their studies, but even to speak and converse. Of those who were summoned to the trial, many stabbed themselves at home, confident of condemnation, avoiding persecution and shame, many took poison in the curia itself; but those with bandaged wounds, half-dead, still trembling, were dragged into prison. None of the executed did not pass the hook and Gemonium: in one day twenty people were thrown into the Tiber, including women and children. An ancient custom forbade the killing of virgins with a stranglehold - therefore, the executioner defiled underage girls before execution. Those who wanted to die were forced to live. Death seemed to Tiberius too light a punishment: upon learning that one of the accused, by the name of Karnul, did not live to see the execution, he exclaimed: "Karnul eluded me!"

He began to rage even stronger and more unrestrained, furious with the news of the death of his son Drusus. At first he thought that Drusus had died of illness and intemperance; but when he learned that the treachery of his wife Livilla and Sejanus had killed him with poison, there was no longer any salvation for anyone from torture and execution. He spent his days completely immersed in this inquiry. When he was informed that one of his Rhodes acquaintances had arrived, who had also summoned him to Rome by a kind letter, he ordered to immediately throw him under torture, deciding that this was someone involved in the investigation; and having discovered a mistake, he ordered him to be killed so that the lawlessness would not receive publicity. On Capri, they still show the place of his massacre: from here, after long and sophisticated torture, the convicts were thrown into the sea in front of his eyes, and below the sailors picked up and crushed the corpses with hooks and oars, so that no one was left with life. He even came up with new way torture, among others: having deliberately made people drunk with pure wine, they unexpectedly bandaged their limbs, and they fainted from cutting dressings and from retention of urine. If his death had not stopped him and if, as they say, Thrasillus had not advised him to postpone some measures in the hope of a long life, he probably would have exterminated people even more, without sparing the last grandchildren ... "

On the imperial throne, Tiberius was replaced by Caligula. But this did not make the Roman people any easier. The new ruler raged no less than the previous one, and also became an inventor in terms of torment. It was with him that the fashion for a new show began. Instead of armed gladiators, unarmed people, condemned to execution, appeared in the arenas of the amphitheaters, on which hungry predators were set on. In fact, it was the same killing of a person, but not at the hands of an executioner and much more effective.

How this happened can be imagined from the description of Josephus Flavius ​​of the massacre of the emperor Titus over the inhabitants of defeated Judea:

“African lions, Indian elephants, German bison were released against the prisoners. Doomed to death people - some were dressed in festive dress, others were forced to put on prayer cloaks - white with a black border and blue tassels - and it was pleasant to watch them turn red. Young women and girls were driven into the arena naked so that spectators could watch their muscles play in the moments of death. "

The Roman emperors, fed up with all kinds of executions and sexual orgies, sought entertainment in hitherto unseen bloody spectacles. It was no longer enough for them to give the death penalty a theatrical spectacle, expelling the convicts into the arena of the amphitheater, where they were killed by gladiators or wild animals. They wanted something they had never seen before.

To satisfy the sophisticated bloodthirsty tastes of the emperors, bestiaries (trainers who trained animals in amphitheatres) persistently tried to teach animals to rape women. Finally, one of them, named Carpophorus, managed to do it. He impregnated tissues with the blood of females of various animals when they began to estrus. And then he wrapped the women sentenced to death in these fabrics and set the animals on them. Animal instincts were deceived. Animals trust their sense of smell more than sight. In front of hundreds of spectators, they violated the laws of nature and raped women. They say that Carpophorus once presented to the public a scene based on a mythological plot about the abduction of a beauty by the name of Europa by Zeus in the form of a bull. Thanks to the ingenuity of the bestiary, the people saw how the bull in the arena copulated with Europe. It is difficult to say whether the victim, depicting Europe, survived after such a sexual act, but it is known that similar acts with a horse or a giraffe for women were usually fatal.

Apuleius described a similar scene. The poisoner, who sent five people to the next world in order to take possession of their condition, was subjected to public outrage. In the arena, a tortoiseshell bed with a feather mattress and a Chinese bedspread was set up. The woman was stretched out on the bed and tied to her. A trained donkey knelt on the bed and copulated with the convict. When he finished, he was taken away from the arena, and instead of him, the predators were released, who completed the mockery of the woman, tearing her apart.

The sophistication of the Roman emperors in terms of the methods of depriving people of life truly knew no bounds. Gaius Suetonius Tranquil wrote about the atrocities of Caligula:

“The ferocity of his disposition was revealed most clearly by the following actions. When the cattle, which were used to feed wild animals for spectacles, became more expensive, he ordered them to be thrown at the mercy of criminals; and, going around the prisons for this, he did not look at who was to blame for what, but directly ordered, standing at the door, to take everyone, "from bald to bald" ... or road works, or threw to wild animals, or they themselves, like animals, put on all fours in cages, or sawed in half with a saw - and not for serious offenses, but often only because they spoke badly about his spectacles or never swore his genius. He forced fathers to be present at the execution of their sons; for one of them he sent a stretcher when he tried to evade due to ill health; another he, immediately after the spectacle of the execution, invited him to the table and with all sorts of pleasantries forced him to joke and have fun. He ordered the overseer of gladiatorial battles and persecutions to be beaten with chains in front of his eyes for several days in a row, and killed no sooner than he felt the stench of a rotting brain. He burned the writer Atellan for a poem with an ambiguous joke at the stake in the middle of the amphitheater. One Roman horseman, thrown to wild beasts, did not stop shouting that he was innocent; he returned it, cut off his tongue and drove him back into the arena. An exile, returned from a long exile, he asked what he was doing there; he flatteringly replied: "He tirelessly prayed to the gods that Tiberius would die and you become emperor, as it happened." Then he thought that his exiles were begging him to die, and he sent soldiers across the islands to kill them all. Contemplating to tear one senator apart, he bribed several people to attack him at the entrance to the curia, shouting "enemy of the fatherland!" and he was satisfied only when he saw the limbs and entrails of the slain being dragged through the streets and piled up in front of him.

He aggravated the monstrosity of his actions with the cruelty of his words. The best commendable feature of his disposition, he considered, in his own expression, equanimity, that is, shamelessness ... Going to execute his brother, who allegedly was taking medicine for fear of poisoning, he exclaimed, “How? antidotes against Caesar? " He threatened the exiled sisters that he had not only islands, but also swords. The praetorian senator, who had gone to Antikyra for treatment, asked several times to postpone his return; Guy ordered him to be killed, saying that if the hellebore does not help, then bloodletting is necessary. Every tenth day, when signing the list of prisoners sent to execution, he said that he was settling his score. Having executed several Gauls and Greeks at the same time, he boasted that he had conquered Gallogretia. He always demanded to execute a person with small frequent blows, repeating his famous order "Hit, so that he feels that he is dying!" When mistakenly executed instead of the right person another with the same name, he exclaimed, "And this one was worth it." He constantly repeated the well-known words of the tragedy: "Let them hate, if only they were afraid!"

Even in the hours of rest, among feasts and amusements, his ferocity did not leave him either in speech or in deeds. During snacks and drinking, interrogations and tortures were often carried out in front of him on important matters, and a soldier stood, a master of beheading, to chop off the heads of any prisoners. In Puteoli, during the consecration of the bridge - we have already spoken about this invention of his - he summoned a lot of people from the shores and unexpectedly threw them into the sea, and pushed those who tried to grab the helms of the ships with hooks and oars into the depths. In Rome, for a national feast, when some slave pulled off a silver plate from the bed, he immediately gave it to the executioner, ordered his hands to be cut off, hung on the front of his neck and, with an inscription, what was his fault, to lead by all the feasting. Myrmillon from the gladiatorial school fought with him on wooden swords and deliberately fell in front of him, and he finished off the enemy with an iron dagger and ran a victory circle with a palm tree in his hands. During the sacrifice, he dressed himself as an assistant to the butcher, and when the animal was brought to the altar, he swung and killed the butcher himself with a blow of the hammer. "

On the imperial throne, Caligula was replaced by Claudius. He had less imagination in the methods of homicide, but in bloodlust he was not inferior to Caligula. In Russian, Claudia can be described as a tyrant. And, as you know, tyrant is the worst judge, because he considers himself smarter than any Law and judges not by it, but at his own discretion.

And Claudius liked to judge. While still a consul, he judged with the greatest zeal, and at the same time, often exceeding legal punishment, ordered to throw the condemned to wild animals. And when he became emperor, he did judge as he pleased. Suetonius wrote:

“... Appius Silanus, his father-in-law, even two Julius, the daughter of Drusus and the daughter of Germanicus, he put to death without proving the accusations and without hearing an excuse, and after them - Gnaeus Pompey, the husband of his eldest daughter, and Lucius Silanus, the youngest fiancé. Pompey was stabbed to death in the arms of his beloved boy, Silanus was forced to lay down praetor's office four days before the January calendars and die on the very day of the new year, when Claudius and Agrippina were celebrating their wedding. Thirty-five senators and more than three hundred Roman horsemen were executed by him with rare indifference: when the centurion, reporting on the execution of one consular, said that the order had been executed, he suddenly announced that he had not given any orders; however, he approved of what he had done, since the dismissals assured him that the soldiers had fulfilled their duty, on their own initiative rushing to avenge the emperor.

His natural ferocity and bloodthirstiness manifested itself in both large and small. Tortures during interrogations and executions of parricides were forced by him immediately and in front of his eyes. Once in Tibur, he wished to see the execution according to the ancient custom, the criminals were already tied to the pillars, but there was no executioner; then he summoned the executioner from Rome and patiently waited for him until evening.

There was no denunciation, there was no informer so insignificant that, on the slightest suspicion, he would not rush to defend himself or take revenge. One of the litigants, approaching him with a greeting, took him aside and said that he had a dream that someone had killed him, the emperor; and a little later, as if recognizing the murderer, he pointed to his adversary who was approaching with a petition; and immediately, as if red-handed, he was dragged to execution. Appius Silanus, they say, was destroyed in the same way. Messalina and Narcissus conspired to destroy him, dividing the roles: one at dawn burst in mock confusion into the master's bedroom, claiming that he had seen in a dream how Appius attacked him; the other, with mock amazement, began to tell her that she had been sleeping the same dream for several nights already; and when then, by agreement, it was reported that Appius was bursting at the emperor, who had been ordered to appear at that very hour the day before, it seemed such a clear confirmation of the dream that he was immediately ordered to be seized and executed. "

The tyrants are dangerous to those around them, first of all, because of their unpredictability. For example, Claudius somehow took care of the unfortunate share of sick slaves, whom the wealthy Romans, who did not want to spend money on their treatment, simply threw out on the Aesculapian island. And the emperor passed a law according to which these discarded slaves became free in case of recovery. And if the owner wanted to kill them rather than throw them away, then he was subject to murder charges.

On the other hand, Claudius loved to send people to fight in the arena because of the slightest wrongdoing on their part. Many artisans had to master the profession of gladiator. If the emperor did not like how the lift they built or some other mechanism worked, the masters had only one way - to the arena.

After Claudius was poisoned with porcini mushrooms, Nero took his throne. It seemed that the Romans, who survived successively three subtly cruel tyrants: Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, were already difficult for anyone to horrify. But Nero succeeded. With his massive brutality, he surpassed his predecessors.

At first, Nero, with a fair amount of imagination, in various ways sent all his loved ones to the next world, including his mother. And if family ties were not an obstacle for him to shed blood, then he dealt with people strangers and strangers altogether with ferocious and merciless means.

Guy Suetonius Tranquil wrote:

“The tailed star, according to the general belief, threatening death to the supreme rulers, stood in the sky for several nights in a row; Alarmed by this, he learned from the astrologer Balbill that usually kings pay off such disasters with some kind of brilliant execution, driving them away on the heads of the nobles, and also doomed to death all the noblest men of the state - especially since the disclosure of two conspiracies presented a plausible pretext for this: the first and most important was compiled by Piso at Rome, the second by Vinician at Beneventa. The conspirators held the answer in shackles of triple chains: some voluntarily confessed to the crime, others even imputed it to themselves - according to them, only death could help a person tainted with all vices. The children of the condemned were expelled from Rome and killed by poison or hunger: some, as you know, were killed at a common breakfast, along with their mentors and servants, others were forbidden to earn their own food.

After that, he executed anyone and for anything without measure and analysis. Apart from the others, Salvidien Orfit was accused of renting out three taverns in his house near the forum to the ambassadors from the free cities; the blind jurist Cassius Longinus - for having preserved among the ancient ancestral images of ancestors the image of Caius Cassius, the killer of Caesar; Phraseya Pet - because he always looked gloomy, like a mentor. By ordering them to die, he left the convicts a few hours of life; and so that there would be no delay, he assigned doctors to them, who immediately "came to the aid" of the indecisive — that is what he called the deadly autopsy. There was one famous glutton from Egypt who knew how to eat raw meat and anything - they say Nero wanted to let him tear and devour living people. "

Fortunately, Nero was not allowed to do this. He had to flee, hated by all the people, accompanied by only four companions, who, at his request, killed him. Plebs celebrated the death of the tyrant by running through the city in Phrygian caps.

After that, Rome had many more emperors. But only one of them made him doubt by his actions that Nero was the most cruel ruler. Domitian, in terms of ingenuity in torture and executions, clearly claimed his laurels. He was especially distinguished by the fact that he sent people to execution at the slightest pretext.

Suetonius wrote:

“Pantomime student Paris, still beardless and seriously ill, he killed, because his face and art reminded him of his teacher. He also killed Hermogenes of Tarsus for some hints in his "History", and ordered the scribes who copied it to be crucified. The father of the family, who said that the Thracian gladiator would not yield to the enemy, but would yield to the master of the games, he ordered to be dragged into the arena and thrown to the dogs, displaying the inscription: "Shield-bearer - for impudent language."

Many senators, and among them several consulars, he sent to death: including Civica Cereal - when he ruled Asia, and Salvidien Orfit and Acilius Glabrion - in exile. These were executed on charges of preparing a rebellion, while the rest were executed under the most trifling pretexts. So, he executed Elia Lamia for old and harmless jokes, albeit ambiguous: when Domitian took his wife away, Lamia said to the man who praised his voice: "This is because of abstinence!", And when Titus advised him to marry again, he asked: "Are you looking for a wife too?" Salviy Kokceyan died for celebrating the birthday of Emperor Otho, his uncle; Mettius Pompusian - because they said about him that he had an imperial horoscope and carried with him a drawing of the whole earth on parchment and the speeches of kings and leaders from Titus Livy, and called his two slaves Magon and Hannibal; Sallust Lucullus legate in Britain - for the fact that he allowed to call the new type of spears "Lucullus"; Junius Rusticus - for having issued words of praise to Phraseya Peta and Helvidius Priscus, calling them men of blameless honesty; on the occasion of this accusation, all philosophers were expelled from Rome and Italy. He also executed Helvid the Younger, suspecting that in the outcome of one tragedy, in the faces of Paris and Enona, he depicted his divorce from his wife; also executed Flavius ​​Sabinus, his cousin, for the fact that on the day of consular elections the herald mistakenly declared him to the people not a former consul, but a future emperor.
After the internecine war, his ferocity intensified even more. In order to elicit the names of the hiding accomplices from his opponents, he came up with a new torture: he burned their shameful members on fire, and cut off their hands for some.

His ferocity was not only immeasurable, but also perverse and insidious. The day before, he invited the steward, whom he had crucified on the cross, to his bedchamber, having seated him on the bed right with him, let him go reassured and contented, even giving him a treat from his table. Arrezin Clement, the former consul of his close friend and spy, he executed with death, but before that he was merciful to him no less, if not more, than usual ... , and the softer the beginning, the more surely the cruel end was. Several people accused of insulting the majesty, he presented to the Senate, announcing that this time he wants to check whether the senators love him very much. He easily waited to be condemned to execution according to the custom of their ancestors, but then, frightened by the cruelty of punishment, he decided to calm his indignation with these words - it would not be superfluous to quote them exactly: “Let me fathers senators, in the name of your love for me, ask you mercy, which, I know, will not be easy: let the condemned be given the right to choose death for themselves, so that you can save your eyes from the terrible sight, and people understand that I was also present in the Senate. "

However, Domitian is more famous in history for the executions not of senators, but of Christians. In particular, it was he who became one of the main characters in the story of St. George. Although, in fairness, I must say that the persecution of Christians began long before Domitian.

with exceptions, the sex of the victim had to correspond to the sex of the deity. Proserpine demanded a cow that was barren, like herself, a fertile Earth - on the contrary, a cow that bore evidence of her fertility in herself, Juno - the goddess of motherhood and family - brought, in addition to cows, also sheep that had two twin lambs, which and accompanied their mother to the altar. Minerva preferred heifers, she also accepted cows, but did not tolerate kids, because they eat olive trees.

At propitious sacrifices, usually a boar or a pig was offered. If any mercy was requested, then they tried to choose such a sacrifice, which in one way or another could serve as a symbol of the requested. So, when they wanted the illness to pass as soon as possible, or to finish the work started, the victim was chosen so old that one could be sure of her imminent death. Newborn animals were considered unclean; they became clean, that is, fit for sacrifice, only after reaching a certain age: bulls and other animals of the same species - after 30 days, rams - after 8, piglets - on the fifth or tenth day.

It could happen that at hand there was no animal that unites everything in itself. the necessary conditions... In such cases, the pontiffs could allow an exception to the rule. White bulls became rare, as a result of which Jupiter Latiaris began to accept red bulls, and Jupiter Capitoline extended his indulgence to what could be offered to him, instead of white bulls, whitened with chalk. Initially, people were sacrificed to the gods, then they were replaced by other living creatures. The goddess Mania, accustomed to receiving people at first, later began to be content with dough figurines and even woolen dolls. Dis Pater and Saturn also hosted puppets. Mans have learned to deceive the bloodlust by throwing a veil of the color of blood on corpses. True, since the funeral of D. Brutus Pera (in 264 BC) it has become a habit to bring them human sacrifices in the form of a battle of gladiators. It is very likely that poor people, instead of real animals, often brought dough sacrifices to the gods.

Each sacrificial animal was subjected to a preliminary thorough examination (probatio) to make sure that it possesses all the qualities required by God. A calf whose tail did not reach the knee fold, a ram with a pointed tail, or a black tail, or a cut ear were rejected as unusable. However, impeccable animals are indispensable

In ancient Rome, there was a fairly decent range of executions for criminals: burning, strangulation, drowning, wheeling, throwing into the abyss, scourging to death and beheading, and in the Roman Republic they used an ax for this, and in the empire - a sword. The division of estates in the Eternal City was strictly observed and influenced both the severity of the sentence and the choice of the type of execution.

Book VII of the treatise of the Roman lawyer and statesman Ulpian (c. 170 - c. 223 AD) "On the duties of the proconsul" says: "The proconsul should decide more severely or softer for sacrilege, in accordance with the personality (of the criminal), with the circumstances of the case and time, (as well as) with the age and sex (of the offender). I know that many are sentenced to fight with animals in the arena, some even to be burned alive, and others to be crucified on the cross. However, the punishment should be moderated before fighting with the beasts in the arena for those who commit burglary in the temple at night and take (from there) offerings to the deity. And if someone in the daytime took something not very significant from the temple, then he should be punished by sentencing to the mines, but if he belongs to the venerable by origin (this concept included decurions, horsemen and senators), then he should be exiled to the island ".

During the period of the republic, one of the main places of execution of the sentence was the Esquiline field behind the gates of the same name. The Esquiline Hill was originally a Roman cemetery. During the time of the empire, the field of Mars was chosen as the place of execution.

Ancient Rome, too, did not escape the sin of its descendants in the form of ritual executions. According to the ancient law of Romulus, criminals condemned to death were sacrificed to the underground gods during the holiday of Lupercalia. Ritual murders of children were committed during the compitalia festivals of Mania. True, not for long, during the time of Junius Brutus, babies were replaced with poppy or garlic heads. During the Second Punic War, when the Romans suffered a devastating defeat from Hannibal near Cannes and the threat of his capture by the troops of Carthage loomed over Rome, Quintus Fabius Pictor was sent to Delphi to ask the oracle with what prayers and sacrifices to propitiate the gods and when the series of disasters would end. In the meantime, he was traveling the Romans as an emergency measure brought human sacrifices to the gods. Gaul and his fellow tribesman, a Greek and a Greek woman, were buried alive in the Bull Market, in a place fenced with stones, where human sacrifices had been performed long ago.

Probably, this measure, alien to the Roman traditions of that time, helped. The Romans rallied and turned the tide of the war that was unsuccessful for them. Some time later, Hannibal was defeated, and Carthage was destroyed.

But most likely it was not the sacrifices that helped, but the courage and resilience of the Romans. They often sacrificed themselves for the sake of the freedom and greatness of Rome.

The act of the Roman commander Regulus Marcus Atilius went down in history. He was captured by the Carthaginians and was released to Rome on parole in order to achieve an exchange of prisoners. Regulus persuaded the Romans to reject the enemy's proposals, after which he returned to Carthage and was executed.

An end to ritual executions was put in the consulates of Cornelius Lentulus and Licinius Crassus (97 BC) when they were banned by a Senate decree.

Gastronomy and food intake

Until the conquest of Asia, gastronomy or cuisine was generally a secondary place in the life of the Romans. Slave cooks were hired during a holiday or reception. There were no shops-bakeries with the most diverse and special varieties of bakery products, vegetables were taken from their own garden, meat - from their possessions.

In Asia, the Romans saw whole performances that could be called "royal feasts". And they wanted the same at home. Cooking is becoming an art, gastronomy is becoming fashionable as a means of attracting attention. The main task of the owner was to surprise with the initial products, which are not found in Italy. The prestige of a dish was determined by where the food was brought from. Pork had to be from Gaul, goat meat from the Balkans, snails from Africa, sturgeon from Rhodes, moray eels from Iberia, etc. A gourmet was one who, from the first piece, could determine where, say, an oyster or one or another fish was brought from. The cultivation of peacocks (to the table) has turned into a real industry. What were the dishes made from camel hooves or nightingale's tongues!

On the other hand, the cultivation of, for example, blackbirds was profitable: the income from the annual sale of five thousand blackbirds exceeded the cost of a plot of good land of fifty hectares. It was also less risky than cultivating cereals.

In early Italy, residents ate mainly a thick porridge made from spelled, millet, barley, or bean flour. It was a kind of national food of the Italians. Wheat bread was the main meal. More than a kilogram per day was considered the norm for an adult worker. The bread was seasoned with salted olives, vinegar, and garlic.

At all times, they ate a variety of vegetables. They were believed to help relieve headaches and malaria. The favorite dish of the working people was a thick stew made from beans together with pods. We ate porridge with olive oil and lard.

Of the meat, goat and pork were most often used, beef - after sacrifices. An indispensable dish for dinner in a well-to-do house was the wild boar (exhibited in its entirety). Under Augustus, they began to cook dishes from storks, and soon it was the turn of the nightingales. Even later, flamingo tongues, crow's feet with a garnish of rooster combs became culinary novelties.

Gourmets loved the tenderloin of a pig that had died from overeating.

A person could not always be a vegetarian for a long time. These were, among other things, supporters of the calls of the Pythagorean philosophers not to eat the meat of killed animals. And when, under Tiberius, they began to fight against foreign cults, refusal to eat the meat of some animals began to be considered a sign of dangerous superstitions.

And at all times they did not do without seasonings, roots and spices. An invariable seasoning for all dishes was the spicy garum sauce. Small fish was placed in a vat, heavily salted and left in the sun for two to three hours, thoroughly mixing. When the salty turned into a thick mass, a large basket of frequent weaving was lowered into the vat. The liquid that got into it was the garum.

Mixing dissimilar products in one dish was characteristic. Recipe: Simultaneously boil meat, salted fish, chicken liver, eggs, soft cheese, spices, then pour raw eggs and sprinkle with caraway seeds.

Figs were in the first place among fruits.

Like the Greeks, the Romans ate three times a day: early in the morning - the first breakfast, around noon - the second, in the late afternoon - lunch.

The first breakfast was served shortly after getting up. It usually consisted of a piece of bread dipped in wine, greased with honey or sprinkled with salt, cheese, fruit, milk. The schoolchildren bought pancakes or flatbreads fried in lard for breakfast.

Lunch was served in the afternoon. He was also humble: bread, figs, beets. It could consist of yesterday's or a cold snack and was often eaten on the go, even without the traditional hand washing.

In the old days, they dined in the atrium, in the summer in the garden and in the winter by the hearth.

The most convenient way to attract attention, surprise and arouse the envy of fellow citizens is to invite them to dinner.

The whole family and those invited from relatives gathered for dinner.

Judging by the Etruscan vase painting, in the 7th century. BC. during the feast, the husband and wife, observing the ancient custom, reclined on the same bed. After the 4th century. BC, judging by the lids of the sarcophagi, only the husband was reclining on the bed, and the woman was sitting at his feet. A little later, following Roman customs, the Etruscan woman began to sit at the table in a chair or in an armchair. Numerous archaeological evidence suggests that Etruscan women (from a privileged group) were educated (for example, they were often depicted with unrolled scrolls).

In ancient times, the Romans ate while sitting. Later, during the meal, the men reclined on couches around the table, leaning on a pillow with their left hand. The women continued to sit (a different position was considered indecent for them), as did the poor in the cramped tabernas. The classical canon required three wide beds on each side, for a total of nine people ate at the same time, separated from each other by pillows. The bed on the right side of the serving servants was considered "upper", honorary, on the left - "lower", the owner sat on it. The most honorable place ("consular") was the extreme left of the middle box. In wealthy houses, the slave nomenclator indicated to everyone his place. In a friendly circle they sat down at will.

Between the bed and the wall, a gap was left in which the guest's slave could fit: he gave him his sandals to preserve (before lying on the bed), used the services during meals. It was customary to take away some pieces from dinner. The owner gave them to the same slave to carry home.

The practice of simultaneous meals for guests was also very common, but in different triclinies, depending on their social status ("important", "less important"), with a corresponding differentiation of dishes.

The Romans' love for silver did not come immediately. In the heyday of the Republic in Rome, there was only one silver table set, and the senators who were supposed to receive foreign ambassadors borrowed it from one another (to the amazement of the envoys). In the last century of the Republic, the importance of silver objects in the house was already such that the owner, receiving a guest, had to show him all his silver. This was one of the unspoken rules of good manners, and the guest had the right to demand that he be shown the host's wealth if this was not done. But the quality of silver items came to the fore.

Reading at lunch became a custom in Rome. Along with the fashionable "oriental" cuisine, a fashion has emerged for spectacles during meals. Music, singing, dancing, staging scenes from comedies are becoming an indispensable condition for the reception. The dinner lasted several hours.

The food was served in deep covered plates and bowls. The pieces were taken right hand... The guests put food on themselves.

Napkins were put on the table, or the owner gave out to the guests, but others brought them with them. Sometimes a napkin was tied around the neck.

Both local and imported wines were used. Practiced different ways changes in the taste and strength of wines. But for women, a number of laws forbade drinking strong wine. According to Cato the Terrible, in the early period drinking women were subjected to the same punishments in court as those who cheated on their husbands. According to the ancients, in order to prove abstinence and observance of the law, women kissed their relatives, thereby convincing them that they had no wine fumes. Parents and relatives allowed their daughters and sisters to drink only weak wine made from grape pomace or raisins.

If the dinner was called, then at the end of it, the booze began - comissatio. This custom came from Greece. Therefore, they drank according to the "Greek model": the manager chosen among the guests (magister) determined the proportion of mixing wine with water. They were mixed in a large crater and poured into cups with a ladle on a long handle - kiaf (45 ml). The cups were of different capacities - from an ounce (one kiaf) to a sextarius (12 kiafs, a little over half a liter). Cups of four kiafas are often mentioned in the literature.

Wine was diluted with chilled or hot water or snow (which was more expensive than wine). To improve the taste of wine, the Romans added concentrated wine syrups to it, and they were prepared in lead containers.

It was customary to drink to each other's health (propinare), wishing: "Bene tibi (te)" ("For your good"). The others exclaimed: "Vivas!" ("be healthy!", lit. "live"). As many kiafs drank for the health of the absent as there were letters in their name.

Holidays and games

Holidays in Rome were divided into national, official, rural, urban, family, individual deities, professions, planned and unscheduled.

Let's highlight some. Dates are translated into the modern calendar.

Every year on March 1 (later - January 1), the beginning of the new year was celebrated (tradition since 153 BC). On this day, there were official celebrations associated with the inauguration of the newly elected consuls.

Lupercalia was celebrated on 15 February. Initially, it was a feast of the shepherds in honor of Faun-Luperk. On this day, they brought cleansing sacrifices (a dog and a goat) - in order to revive the fertility of the earth, herds and people - at the foot of the Palatine, in the grotto of Lupercal. According to legend, a she-wolf (lupa) lived in it, nursing Romulus and Remus. Then the youths with goatskin on their hips (luperki) ran around the Palatine Hill, lashing either everyone or only women with belts cut from the skin of a sacrificial goat. According to Plutarch, women believed that the cleansing blows of belts heal from infertility, contribute to the bearing of the fetus and a successful childbirth.

March 15 was celebrated by Anna Perenna. It is associated with the rite of expulsion or destruction of lived time. On the banks of the Tiber, huts of young greenery were placed, in them or under open air people drank, had fun, sang comic and obscene songs. Each was required to wish the other a long life, "desiring as many years as who drained the cups" (Ovid). It was believed that Anna fills the year with measured segments - months, and researchers suggest that she is a personified feminized form from annu perennus - an inexhaustible, forever lasting year. Therefore, in most myths, Anna appears as a deep old woman.

Ovid has a story about how Anna, disguised as a young beauty, aroused the passion of Mars; at the last moment he discovered his mistake, but he looked extremely ridiculous and ridiculous. The old woman symbolized the obsolete year, mockery ("immodest jokes") over Mars - mockery of the one who stubbornly clings to the old, instead of falling in love with the coming youth of nature and the year. In the old cities of Italy, the rite of burning Anna has been preserved. At the end of winter, bonfires are made of old rags and rags, on which a stuffed animal of old Perenna is burned, accompanied by songs and dances.

In Cerealia (April 12), an ancient custom commanded the villagers to release foxes with lit torches on their tails.

August 13 is the slave festival. It was the birthday of a native of the slaves of the semi-legendary Roman king Servius Tullius.

January 22 was the day of family love and harmony - the holiday of Karistia was celebrated in the circle of the closest relatives. On the holiday of Liberalia (in honor of Libera-Bacchus) on March 17, young men who reached the age of sixteen were included in the lists of citizens.

The most popular was the ancient annual Italian festival of Saturnalia. In the era of the empire, the duration of Saturnalia reached seven days.

Saturn was considered king in Latium during the "golden age", when people did not know slavery. Therefore, the slaves on this day could not only make fun of the owner, but the owner himself was obliged to serve the slaves at the table. By tradition, they exchanged gifts - symbolic wax candles, clay figurines, relief images. On this day, according to Lucian, it was necessary not to do any business at all, get angry, take the bill from the manager, do gymnastics, compose and deliver speeches (except for jokes), distributing gifts according to the merits of the recipients, and send all of them (to scientists - in double size) , wash, drink the same wine from the same bowls, divide the meat equally among all, play dice for nuts, etc.

Health care

In 293 BC, during another epidemic in Rome, it was read in the "Sibylline Books" about the need to bring from the city of Epidaurus a snake dedicated to the god Asclepius (Aesculapius). According to legend, already on the Tiber, the snake slipped out of the ship and swam across to one of the islands. Therefore, a sanctuary was erected on it, which served at the same time as a hospital. Treatment at this temple became a custom in Rome for several centuries.

The Aesculapian island was also known to others. Claudius ordered that the sick and emaciated slaves, taken out and left by the masters on the island, in case of recovery, would forever receive freedom.

At the end of the 3rd century. BC. In Rome, whole groups of Greek doctors appear. Mostly they were slaves, but later became freedmen. If they were freeborn in their homeland, Caesar granted them citizenship rights. To the doctor Anthony Muze, who cured Augustus from a serious illness, the senators erected a monument at their own expense, and the emperor exempted doctors from taxes. Court doctor of the 2nd century Galen left over a hundred medical treatises.

Doctors were also pharmacists. And among them there was their own specialization both in the types of diseases and depending on the profession of the clients: healers of gladiators, firefighters, etc. But there were no pediatricians as such. The medical service in the army was especially carefully organized, at the end of the 2nd century. she installed a special emblem for herself - the goblet and the serpent of Asclepius.

The population of Rome treated doctors ambiguously. The rejection was caused primarily by the very principle of work for a fee (as an actor or artisan). Secondly, they had the right to use poisons. And sometimes involved in palace intrigues, they provided abundant food for gossip and reasons for scandals. According to Tacitus, it was the court doctor who provoked the death of Claudius. Thirdly, the tendency of some doctors to prescribe extremely expensive medicines, the exposure of pseudo-healers, encroaching on high fees, further diminished the authority of the medical profession. And doctors are increasingly becoming heroes of anecdotes that make it easier for people to get to the next world.