SOCIAL WORLD
Jewish
Judaism was a religious group consisting of the families of The Priesthood and leading rabbis. The clan of The Hasmoneans remained dominating from the days of The Maccabees until Herod The Great.
Pagan
Aristocracy (The Land-holders), The Middle Class, The Plebs (The Poor People), The Slaves and Criminals
Cultural Attainments
Literature
Vergil (The Poet / wrote Aeneid)
Seneca (The Stoic Moralist / wrote philosophic essays and dramatic tragedy)
Pliny The Elder (wrote on Natural History / a scientific account of the natural world)
Tacitus (The Historian / wrote Annals and Histories)
Art and Architecture
Music and Drama
The Arena
Schools
Languages
Latin (law courts and literature of Rome)
Greek(language of The Empire and familiar to educated people)
Aramaic (pre-dominate tongue of The Near East)
Hebrew (a dead language since Ezra except for learned rabbis)
Science
Around 300 B.C., Euclid of Alexandria developed plane geometry so completely that little has changed to this day.
Archimedes of Syracuse (287 – 212 B.C.) investigated mechanics and physics.
Around 160 B.C., Hipparchus invented both plane and spherical trigonometry.
Eratosthenes of Alexandria (273 – 192 B.C.) calculated the circumference of the earth to a surprising degree of accuracy despite the use of the crude instruments of his time.
Moral Standards
The condition of morality in The Roman Empire as a whole may not been as black as some historians have painted it. The virtuous person went unnoticed due to their virtue and the criminal was singled out for attention. The only “news” was crime. Human life was cheap, murder remained frequent, and divorce was easy and accepted.
The exposure of unwanted infants was common...if it’s a boy, let it live...if it’s a girl, expose it! What is meant by "expose it" means "expose it to the elements...let the child die."
Vergil (The Poet / wrote Aeneid)
Seneca (The Stoic Moralist / wrote philosophic essays and dramatic tragedy)
Pliny The Elder (wrote on Natural History / a scientific account of the natural world)
Tacitus (The Historian / wrote Annals and Histories)
Art and Architecture
Music and Drama
The Arena
Schools
Languages
Latin (law courts and literature of Rome)
Greek(language of The Empire and familiar to educated people)
Aramaic (pre-dominate tongue of The Near East)
Hebrew (a dead language since Ezra except for learned rabbis)
Science
Around 300 B.C., Euclid of Alexandria developed plane geometry so completely that little has changed to this day.
Archimedes of Syracuse (287 – 212 B.C.) investigated mechanics and physics.
Around 160 B.C., Hipparchus invented both plane and spherical trigonometry.
Eratosthenes of Alexandria (273 – 192 B.C.) calculated the circumference of the earth to a surprising degree of accuracy despite the use of the crude instruments of his time.
Moral Standards
The condition of morality in The Roman Empire as a whole may not been as black as some historians have painted it. The virtuous person went unnoticed due to their virtue and the criminal was singled out for attention. The only “news” was crime. Human life was cheap, murder remained frequent, and divorce was easy and accepted.
The exposure of unwanted infants was common...if it’s a boy, let it live...if it’s a girl, expose it! What is meant by "expose it" means "expose it to the elements...let the child die."