Rome and European Civilization

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2001

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg assesses the role Rome has played in European civilization. The myths that surround the foundation of Rome are a potent brew. Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars, raised by a she-wolf in the woods of Latium, the Sabine women raped by the Latins, Aeneas the Trojan General, wrecked off Carthage, loved by Dido and finally founding a new civilisation on the Tiber’s banks. According to William Shakespeare, after Brutus slayed his friend Caesar he claimed, “Not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more”. But what was the idea of Rome that demanded such devotion? And how was an identity forged that exported its values to the greatest Empire the world had ever seen? Rome has meant Republicanism, as well as Imperialism; it has stood for Pax Romana and also for the machinery of war, it is an eternally pagan city that still beats as the Catholic Heart of the Christian Church. With Mary Beard, Reader in Classics at Cambridge University, Catherine Edwards, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck College, London University; Greg Woolf, Professor of Ancient History at St Andrews University.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:10.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:12.0	Hello, the myths surround the program. Hello, the myths that surround the foundation of Rome are a potent brew.
0:17.0	Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars, raised by a she-wolf in the woods of Laitium,
0:21.0	the Sabine women raped by the Latins, in ears the Trojan-Jolm are. in the
0:25.0	Trojan general wrecked off Carthage loved by Dido and finally founding a new
0:28.8	civilization on the banks of the Taiba.
0:31.0	According to William Shakespeare, after Brutus
0:33.8	his friend Caesar he claimed not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome
0:38.8	more. But what was the idea of Rome that demanded such devotion, and how was an identity forged that exported its values to the greatest empire the world had ever seen.
0:49.0	Rome has meant republicanism as well as imperialism and tyranny. It has stood for Pax Romana and also for the machinery of war.
0:56.0	It's an eternally pagan city that still beats the Catholic heart of the Christian Church. With me to discuss the invention or inventions of Rome is Mary Beard,
1:05.5	reader in classics at Cambridge University, Catherine Edwards Lecture in Classics and Ancient History
1:10.0	at Birkbeck College London University and Greg Wolf
1:12.8	professor of ancient history at St Andrews University.
1:15.7	Greg Wolf starting with you will you outline for us the story of Romulus and
1:19.5	Remus who were they and how did they end up founding Rome?
1:23.4	Well the story we have it is two brothers raised by a wolf who go on to have divine
1:29.8	auguries about where the city should be. They fall out over who has the right auguries,
1:35.0	and it ends up with Remus jumping over the plowed furrow that marks the sacred boundary of
1:39.8	Romulus' city and getting murdered by his brother.
1:43.2	So Rome starts with fractricide.
	...

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