senate, Roman, governing council of the Roman republic. It was the outgrowth of the council of the kings. By the 3d cent. B.C. the senate was a group of 300 men with a high degree of political, legislative, and administrative power at Rome. There were serious checks on its power, especially in the hands of the tribunes. The members were chosen by the censors and included theoretically the best citizens; but as it worked out, the senate consisted of ex-magistrates, almost entirely members of a small number of old families from either the patrician or plebeian classes. Membership was usually for life. In the expansion of Rome in the 3d and 2d cent. B.C. the senate sent out the armies, made the treaties, organized the new domain, and controlled finance. The senatorial conduct of Roman affairs was fairly successful until c.130 B.C. After that the senate's provincial administration of the huge empire was increasingly inefficient and graft-ridden. However, the authority of the senate was not called into question until the growth of party-class division that developed with the agitation of the Gracchi. The leaders of the senate became also the leaders of the most reactionary group and would yield on no point, economic or political. The fatal development in the republic of two parties, optimates (the senatorial conservatives) and populares, grew out of this resistance to change. The optimates tried to foster the idea that they represented constitutionalism versus subversion, but after Sulla, who combined the bloodiest illegality with the strictest defense of the senate (which he raised to 600 members), such a claim by optimates was hypocritical and cynical. Caesar enlarged the number of the senate to 900. The ruin of the optimates and the senate was accomplished in the proscription of 43 B.C. after Caesar's assassination. After the proscription what was left of the senate was docile and ineffectual. Augustus lowered the number to 600. As an administrator he found he had to reduce senatorial control in the provinces. Under the principate the senate became a somewhat less hereditary body and gradually came to include provincials from most regions of the empire. It continued to include many of the empire's leading soldiers and administrators, until it lost much influence in the troubles of the 3d cent. A.D. In the later Roman Empire, it retained some prestige, but very little power. Under Byzantine rule in the 6th cent., the senate disappeared.

roman: see type.

nouveau roman or new novel: see French literature; Robbe-Grillet, Alain.

West Roman Empire: see Roman Empire under Rome.

Vishniac, Roman, 1897-1990, Russian-American biologist, photographer, linguist, art historian, and philosopher, b. Pavlosk, near St. Petersburg. Vishniac took degrees in medicine, philosophy, art history, and biology. He fled in 1920 to Berlin, where he conducted research in endocrinology and worked as a photojournalist. From 1933 to 1939 he produced a photographic record of Jewish communities in Central and Western Europe. A part of this unique humanitarian document was published in 1947 under the title Polish Jews. In the mid-1930s he was imprisoned 11 times and forced to do hard labor in two concentration camps. He escaped and emigrated to the United States in 1940. At Yeshiva Univ. he was appointed research associate (1957) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and became professor of biological education there in 1961. A pioneer in time-lapse cinematography and light-interruption photography as well as the color photomicroscopy of living organisms, Vishniac became, in 1960, project director and filmmaker for the Living Biology film series sponsored by the National Science Foundation. His chief biological researches were in the field of marine microbiology, the physiology of ciliates, and circulation systems in unicellular plants. He proposed the hypothesis that the first living organisms were multicellular structures that emerged many times in many places by different biochemical pathways (polyphyletic origin). A volume of his color microphotographs of proteins, vitamins, and hormones, Building Blocks of Life, was published in 1971. Widely read and fluent in most modern and ancient European and Asian languages, Vishniac was a specialist in East Asian art and philosophy. He taught in several fields at many universities, including the City Univ. of New York, Pratt Institute, and Case Western Reserve Univ.

(including dates of reign)

Augustus, grandnephew of Julius Caesar, 27 B.C.-A.D. 14

Tiberius, stepson of Augustus, A.D. 14-A.D. 37

Caligula, grandnephew of Tiberius, 37-41

Claudius, uncle of Caligula, 41-54

Nero, stepson of Claudius, 54-68

Galba, proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, 68-69

Otho, military commander, 69

Vespasian, military commander, 69-79

Vitellius, military commander, 69

Titus, son of Vespasian, 79-81

Domitian, son of Vespasian, 81-96

Nerva, elected interim ruler, 96-98

Trajan, adopted son of Nerva, 98-117

Hadrian, ward of Trajan, 117-38

Antoninus Pius, adopted by Hadrian, 138-61

Marcus Aurelius, adopted by Antoninus Pius, 161-80

Lucius Verus, adopted by Antoninus Pius; ruled jointly Marcus Aurelius, 161-69

Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, 180-92

Pertinax, proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard, 193

Didius Julianus, bought office from the Praetorian Guard, 193

Severus, proclaimed emperor, 193-211

Caracalla, son of Severus, 211-17

Geta, son of Severus, ruled jointly with Caracalla, 211-12

Macrinus, proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, 217-18

Heliogabalus, cousin of Caracalla, 218-22

Alexander Severus, cousin of Heliogabalus, 222-35

Maximin, proclaimed emperor by soldiers, 235-38

Gordian I, made emperor by the senate, 238

Gordian II, son of Gordian I, ruled jointly with his father, 238

Balbinus, elected joint emperor by the senate, 238

Pupienus Maximus, elected joint emperor with Balbinus by the senate, 238

Gordian III, son of Gordian II, 238-44

Philip (the Arabian), assassin of Gordian III, 244-49

Decius, proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, 249-51

Hostilianus, son of Decius, colleague of Gallus, 251

Gallus, military commander, 251-53

Aemilianus, military commander, 253

Valerian, military commander, 253-60

Gallienus, son of Valerian, coemperor with his father and later sole emperor, 253-68

Claudius II, military commander, 268-70

Aurelian, chosen by Claudius II as successor, 270-75

Tacitus, chosen by the senate, 275-76

Florianus, half brother of Tacitus, 276

Probus, military commander, 276-82

Carus, proclaimed by the Praetorian Guard, 282-83

Carinus, son of Carus, 283-85

Numerianus, son of Carus, joint emperor with Carinus, 283-84

Diocletian, military commander, divided the empire; ruled jointly with Maximian and Constantius I, 284-305

Maximian, appointed joint emperor by Diocletian, 286-305

Constantius I, joint emperor and successor of Diocletian, 305-6

Galerius, joint emperor with Constantius I, 305-10

Maximin, nephew of Galerius, 308-13

Licinius, appointed emperor in the West by Galerius; later emperor in the East, 308-24

Maxentius, son of Maximian, 306-12

Constantine I (the Great), son of Constantius I, 306-37

Constantine II, son of Constantine I, 337-40

Constans, son of Constantine I, 337-50

Constantius II, son of Constantine I, 337-61

Magnentius, usurped Constans' throne, 350-53

Julian (the Apostate), nephew of Constantine I, 361-63

Jovian, elected by the army, 363-64

Valentinian I, proclaimed by the army; ruled in the West, 364-75

Valens, brother of Valentinian I; ruled in the East, 364-78

Gratian, son of Valentinian I; coruler in the West with Valentinian II, 375-83

Maximus, usurper in the West, 383-88

Valentinian II, son of Valentinian I, ruler of the West, 375-92

Eugenius, usurper in the West, 393-94

Theodosius I (the Great), appointed ruler of the East, 379-95, by Gratian; last ruler of united empire, 394-95

Emperors in the East
(until the fall of Rome; see table entitled Rulers of the Byzantine Empire for later emperors)

Arcadius, son of Theodosius I, 395-408

Theodosius II, son of Arcadius, 408-50

Marcian, brother-in-law of Theodosius II, 450-57

Leo I, chosen by the senate, 457-74

Leo II, grandson of Leo I, 474

Zeno, 474-75

Basilicus, 475-76

Emperors in the West

Honorius, son of Theodosius I, 395-423

Maximus, usurper in Spain, 409-11

Constantius III, named joint emperor by Honorius, 421

Valentinian III, nephew of Honorius and son of Constantius III, 425-55

Petronius Maximus, bought office by bribery, 455

Avitus, placed in office by Goths, 455-56

Majorian, puppet emperor of Ricimer, 457-61

Libius Severus, puppet emperor of Ricimer, 461-65

Anthemius, appointed by Ricimer and Leo I, 467-72

Olybrius, appointed by Ricimer, 472-73

Glycerius, appointed by Leo I, 473-74

Julius Nepos, appointed by Leo I, 474-75

Romulus Augustulus, put in office by Orestes, his father, 474-76

Roman roads, ancient system of highways linking Rome with its most distant provinces. The roads often ran in a straight line, regardless of obstacles, and were efficiently constructed, generally in four layers of materials; the uppermost layer was a pavement of flat, hard stones, concrete, or pebbles set in mortar. Roads were built or rebuilt by the Romans throughout the empire in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Many modern roads are laid out on their routes, and some of the old bridges are still in use. Examples of Roman roads exist near Rome and elsewhere. Their primary purpose was military, but they also were of great commercial importance and brought the distant provinces in touch with the capital. In Italy roads led out of Rome in every direction. The most ancient were the Ostiense Road to Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber; the Praenestine Way SE to Praeneste; and the Latin Road or Latin Way to a point near Capua where it later joined the Appian Way, which was the first of the great highways. The three roads from Rome to the north were connected with others crossing the Alps by the great Alpine passes—Alpis Cottia (Mont Genèvre), Alpis Graia (Little St. Bernard), Alpis Poenina (Great St. Bernard), the Brenner Pass, and others leading into Rhaetia and Noricum. The Flaminian Way was the most important northern route. It ran from Rome NE to Ariminium (Rimini); from that point it was extended (187 B.C.) as the Aemilian Way, which ran in a straight line NW through Bononia (modern Bologna) to the Po at Placentia (Piacenza); later it was extended farther to Mediolanum (Milan). Another northern route was the Aurelian Way from Rome along the Tyrrhenian coast to Pisae (Pisa) and Luna; from there it was extended to Genua (Genoa). The third northern route was the Cassian Way from Rome through Etruria to Faesulae (Fiesole) and Luca (Lucca); near Luca it joined the Aurelian Way. The chief roads leading from Rome to the regions across the Apennines and to the Adriatic were the Salarian Way to Ancona and the Valerian Way to Aternum (Pescara). There were other roads in Italy, most notable among them the Postumian Way, leading from Genua across the Po valley to Aquileia at the head of the Adriatic. A wide system of roads was also built and rebuilt by the Romans in Britain, mainly for military purposes. The best-known British roads were Ermine Street, Fosse Way, Watling Street, and the pre-Roman Icknield Street.

Roman religion, the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome. The spirits were held in awe and were placated with offerings and prayers.

Origins and Development

The indigenous Italic religion, which was the nucleus of the religion of ancient Rome, was essentially animistic. It depended on the belief that forces or spirits, called numina (sing., numen), existed in natural objects and controlled human destiny.

In the beginning of the historical period, when Italy was dotted with small agricultural communities, the family and the household were the basic religious units. Everything vital to the continuance of human life had its numen and appropriate rite. For the perpetuity of the family, the Italian farmer made offerings to the genius of the family. For the safety of the household he worshiped Vesta, the guardian spirit of the hearth fire; the lares and penates, guardians of the house; and Janus, guardian of the door. To protect the boundaries of his property he honored Terminus. To insure an abundant harvest he held various festivals throughout the year. To placate the spirits of the dead he made offerings to the lemures, to the manes, and to the deities of the underworld. In performing these religious ceremonies the head of the family acted as the priest and was assisted by his sons and daughters.

When these families coalesced into tribes and then a state, the family cult and ritual formed the basis of the state cult and ritual. Vesta had a community hearth, the penates a community storeroom, Janus a holy door in the Forum. Rome, which was theoretically one family, was ruled by its king, who as such was head of the family and chief priest. The king was assisted in his duties by his "sons and daughters," the colleges of priests and priestesses. They elaborated and recorded the rituals necessary for the propitiation of the gods and regulated the state ceremonies and the ceremonial calendar. The official clergy included the pontifex maximus, the rex sacrorum [king of the sacred rites], the pontifices, the flamens (see flamen), and the vestal virgins.

Influence of Greek and Middle Eastern Culture

In the earliest period of Roman state religion, Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were the supreme triad. The Romans, however, tolerant of new gods and religions (provided that no harm was done to the state as such), adopted many foreign gods. Under the influence of the Etruscans and other Italic communities, new gods began to appear about the 7th cent. B.C. A wider and much more significant influence, however, was that of the Greek and Middle Eastern cults from about the 3d cent. B.C. Old Roman deities were equated with the Greek gods and accordingly endowed with their attributes and myths. Such important cults as the worship of Dionysus and Apollo were brought to Rome. Greek philosophy, particularly that of the Epicureans (see Epicurus) and the Stoics (see Stoicism), began to influence Roman religious thought.

In the last two centuries of the republic—when the old basis of Roman religion had lost much of its importance, and when the state had grown so massive and distant that its ceremonies failed to satisfy the populace—religious feeling rapidly degenerated. The people, needing a new and emotionally more satisfying religion, turned toward the religious mysteries and the Middle Eastern cults. The most prominent were those of the Great Mother (see Cybele), Isis and Osiris, Sol, and Mithra. Old Roman worship had been controlled, impersonal, and concerned with matters of the everyday world. The new cults, which centered around the individual, promised personal salvation and blessed afterlife. It was in this religious air that Christianity took root and eventually triumphed.

Roman literature: see Latin literature.

Roman law, the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 B.C. to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in A.D. 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil law. Most authorities, however, disregard the largely static period following the reign of Justinian I (527-65).

Early Roman Law

Roman law in the earliest period known is typically expressed in the Twelve Tables with their marked formalism. The usual early procedure was also stereotyped; it was the legis actio, a form of charge and denial the words of which had to be followed exactly by the parties at the risk of losing the suit. Exact knowledge of the words constituting the legis actiones was limited to a body of patrician priests, the College of Pontiffs. The reduction of these forms to writing (c.250 B.C.) was a victory for the plebeians and a step in reducing the religious and formal element in the law. Soon the primary source of law became the lex (plural leges), a statutory enactment that was proposed by a magistrate and accepted by a popular assembly. Among the assemblies empowered to enact leges was that of the plebeians.

Expansion and Development

In the late 3d cent. B.C., Roman law could no longer limit itself to the inhabitants of the republic but was forced to take account of the surrounding non-Roman peoples. Thus, to the jus civile, which governed relations among the Romans and those admitted to Roman status, was added the jus gentium, the law applied in dealings with a foreigner. The jus gentium incorporated much of the highly developed commercial law of the Greek city-states and of other maritime powers. Such provisions, being better adapted to Rome's expanding economic needs than the unyielding provisions of the jus civile, in time tended to be applied universally.

The development of new principles was especially vigorous after c.100 B.C., an important source being the jus honorarium, i.e., the law of the praetors (chief magistrates). On assuming office the praetor announced the principles, sometimes novel, that would govern his decisions. The praetors also contributed greatly to making practice more flexible. In place of the legis actiones, they often used the formulary system. A formula, like a legis actio, was a device for determining the issue between the parties; but instead of being a mere interchange of prescribed speeches, it provided a structure for discussing the actual dispute. Whichever method was used, when the nature of the dispute was agreed upon, the parties brought their case before the judex, a private functionary, who considered the evidence and gave judgment.

Under the Empire

After the establishment of the empire, the development of law largely passed from the praetors (the practice of issuing new edicts ended c.A.D. 125) and from the popular assemblies into the hands of the emperors, sometimes operating through the senate. Various types of imperial enactments called constitutions were issued in abundance.

Legal problems attained great complexity, and the aid of a specially trained class of scholars was enlisted for their solution. Those jurists with a special license from the emperor could write responsa to guide the judges in deciding cases. Most prominent among the jurists was Papinian; his work, with that of Gaius, Modestinus, Paulus, and Ulpian, attained the highest authority. The employment of jurists was a step in making the whole of Roman procedure official; in this process the institution of judex was abolished and the trial placed entirely in the hands of a judge.

By the early 4th cent. most branches of Roman law were fully developed. The system was generally responsive to legal needs and allowed sufficient variety to meet local customs. A grave disadvantage of the system, however, was that the vast corpus of legal matter included much that was confused, contradictory, or redundant; reduction to code form was required. The Theodosian Code (438), the earliest attempt, was followed by the Breviary of Alaric (506). Finally the task was accomplished with the culminating work of Roman legal scholarship, the Corpus Juris Civilis (completed 535) under the direction of Tribonian.

Continuing Influence

After the mid-6th cent., Roman law persisted as a part of the Germanic laws and was in effect in the Byzantine Empire. Revival of classical studies during the Renaissance prepared the way for the partial resurrection of Roman law as the modern civil law in a large part of the world. The jus gentium is perhaps the most widely represented in modern legal systems, for it is the basis of commercial law even in those countries that follow common law.

Roman de la Rose, Le, French poem of 22,000 lines in eight-syllable couplets. It is in two parts. The first (4,058 lines) was written (c.1237) by Guillaume de Lorris and was left unfinished. It is an elaborate allegory on the psychology of love, often subtle and charming. The second part was written (1275-80) by Jean de Meun, who stressed reproduction of the human race as the achievement of God's purpose in the world and digressed into discussion of various subjects. The Middle English Romaunt of the Rose (1st ed. 1532) is a fragmentary translation of the Roman. Chaucer translated a portion of the work. An old standard translation into English is that by Frederick S. Ellis (1900); a later one is by H. W. Robbins (1962).

Roman art, works of art produced in ancient Rome and its far-flung provinces.

Early Influences

From the 7th to the 3d cent. B.C., Etruscan art flourished throughout central Italy, including Latium and Rome. It was strongly influenced by the early art of Greece, although it lacked the basic sense of rational order and structural composition of the Greek models. The influence of native Italic and Middle Eastern art was also strongly felt, particularly during the archaic period (before c.400 B.C.).

Sculpture

Large polychrome terra-cotta images, such as the Apollo of Veii (Villa Giulia, Rome), sandstone tomb effigies, and tomb paintings reveal a native feeling for voluminous forms and bold decorative color effects and an exuberant, vital spirit. From c.400 B.C. through the Hellenistic age, the vitality of the archaic period gave way to imitation of the Greek classical models combined with a native trend toward naturalism (Mars of Todi, Vatican). The merging of these trends produced the establishment of Hellenistic realism in Roman Italy at the end of the republic and the beginning of the empire (Orator, Museo Archeologico, Florence; Capitoline Brutus, Conservatori, Rome.).

After the conquest of Greece (c.146 B.C.), Greek artists settled in Rome, where they found a ready market for works executed in the Greek classical manner or in direct imitation of Greek originals. While the many works by these copyists are of interest principally for their reflection of earlier Greek art, they throw light on the eclecticism of Roman taste, and their influence was of paramount importance throughout the development of Roman art. Roman portraits, however, have an origin very remote and altogether Italianate. It was a Roman custom to have a death mask taken, which was then preserved along with busts copied from it in terra-cotta or bronze.

By the time of the empire, the Roman conception of art had become allied with the political ideal of service to the state. In the Augustan period (30 B.C.-A.D. 14) there was an attempt to combine realism with the Greek feeling for idealization and abstract harmony of forms. This modification is seen in the famous Augustus from Prima Porta (Vatican), which represents the first of a long series of the distinctly Roman type of portrait. Under the emperors from Tiberius through the Flavians (A.D. 14-A.D. 96) portrait busts reveal in general a growing concern with effects of pictorial refinement and psychological penetration. The magnificent reliefs from the Arch of Titus, Rome, commemorating the conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, mark a climax in the development of illusionism in historical relief sculpture.

From the time of Trajan (A.D. 98-A.D. 117) the influence of the art of the Eastern provinces began to gain in importance. The spiral band of low reliefs on Trajan's Column (Rome), commemorating the wars against the Daci, employs a system of continuous narration. In the period of Hadrian (117-138) there was a reversion to the idealization of the Augustan style and at the same time a growing sense of voluptuousness. Major works from the later period of the Antonines (138-192) are the column and the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (Rome).

From the time of Caracalla to the death of Constantine I (211-337) the rapid assimilation of Eastern influences encouraged a tendency toward abstraction that later developed into the stiff iconographic forms of the early Christian and Byzantine eras. The reliefs of the friezes from the Arch of Constantine, Rome (c.315), may be regarded as the last example of monumental Roman sculpture.

Painting

Roman painting, like sculpture, was strongly influenced by the art of Greece. Unfortunately, much of the painting has perished. What remains suggests that the art was conceived principally as one of interior decoration. Aside from encaustic portraits chiefly of Alexandrian origin, the largest single group of Roman paintings is from Pompeii, although parallel work exists elsewhere. The Incrustation, or Architectonic Plastic, style extended to c.80 B.C.; it was characterized by flat areas of color broken by full-scale painted pilasters in apparent imitation of marble slabs.

The Architectural style that followed lasted 70 years; it was largely influenced by stage design and employed painted columns, arches, entablatures, and pediments to frame landscapes and figure compositions, destroying the architectonic quality of the wall. Many famous paintings, such as the Aldobrandini Wedding and Odyssey Landscapes (Vatican), are believed to be Roman copies of Greek originals. By 10 B.C. the Architectural style yielded to the Ornate style, where the semblance of architectural construction became subordinate to decoration, and the paintings within the borders became prominent. Most surviving Pompeiian paintings date from the Intricate style period, which commenced about A.D. 50 and continued until the destruction of the city in A.D. 79 by the eruption of Vesuvius. Large areas of flat color enclose diminutive, graceful, and delicate scenes executed in brilliant color.

Mosaic and the Minor Arts

The continued striving after three-dimensional illusionist effects revealed in the various phases of painting was duplicated in the development of mosaics, extensively produced throughout the empire. In general the Roman minor arts tend to emphasize sumptuousness of materials and ornamentation. Cameos and golden jewelry were extensively produced. Among the most famous is the large Cameo of the Deified Augustus (Paris).

The famous pottery from Arretium (modern Arezzo) was mass-produced and widely exported. Early examples employed a black finish and aimed at imitation of metallic effects. From the time of Augustus, the ware was characterized by a deep red glaze with decorative figures in low relief applied to the body of the vase. During the 1st cent. A.D. new processes were invented for making glass, and techniques were developed for the imitation of precious stones that made possible the production of fine murrhine vases (e.g., the famous Portland vase, British Museum).

Roman architecture, structures produced by the ancient Romans.

The Etruscans

The origins of Roman architecture can be traced to the Etruscans, who migrated from Asia Minor to Italy in the 12th cent. B.C. What little is known about their architecture has been ascertained from clay models and tomb interiors. Etruscan architecture is thought to have derived from prototypes found in the nearby Greek colonies in southern Italy established during the 8th and 7th cent. B.C. The Etruscans are thought to have used arches and vaults in their later architecture.

Structural Characteristics

Following the establishment of the Roman Republic in the 5th cent. B.C., Roman architects began to absorb and synthesize influences from both the Etruscans and the Greeks, adapting earlier building types to their specialized urban needs. A characteristic feature of Roman design was the combined use of arcuated and trabeated construction (employing arches and constructed with post and lintel). Although at first tentatively employed in the spaces between the classical columns, the arch eventually came to be the chief structural element. Flanking columns, usually engaged and superimposed (partly embedded into a wall and laid over it), served merely as buttresses or for decoration.

The cut-stone construction of the Greeks was largely replaced after the invention of concrete in the 2d cent. B.C. This enabled architects to cover vast interior spaces with vaults of increasing complexity and without interior supports. These included the barrel vault, the cross or groined vault, and the dome and semidome. Vault buttresses, instead of forming exterior projections, became an integral part of the interior support system. Although unfired brick was employed in all periods, under the empire baked bricks became popular as a facing for concrete walls. From early times stucco was used as a finish for important buildings. For the more luxurious finishing of exterior and interior walls, sheathings of alabaster, porphyry, or marble were used. Of the Republican period (c.500-27 B.C.), the great aqueducts outside the city of Rome are the most impressive remains.

Roman Landmarks and Building Patterns

The principal monuments of Roman architecture belong chiefly to the period between 100 B.C. and A.D. 300, including the Colosseum (A.D. 70-82), the Pantheon (A.D. 118-125; see under pantheon), and the Baths of Caracalla (c.A.D. 215). Beginning with the reign of Augustus (30 B.C.-A.D. 14), the Roman architectural output proceeded on a vast scale to accommodate the needs of the rapidly expanding empire. Provincial towns were laid out according to logical plans, particularly in North Africa. In Syria, arcaded streets were built.

Each town's focus was the forum, or open public square, surrounded by colonnades and the principal buildings in axial arrangement. The great forum in Rome itself was built in stages, as each emperor sought to glorify his achievements. The last large forum to be built was that of Trajan (2d cent. A.D.), and was the most extravagant. Within each forum, a temple, conforming to Etruscan type, was usually elevated on a high base with steps ascending to a deep portico. Since the temple was to be seen only from the front, the Roman architect utilized pilasters or engaged columns along its sides. This pseudoperipteral type is seen in the Maison Carrée (1st cent. A.D.) at Nǐmes, France. Examples of circular temples include the temple of Vesta at Tivoli (1st cent. B.C.) and the 3d-century temples of Jupiter at Split and Venus at Baalbek.

Roman Architectural Innovations

Most important among the structures developed by the Romans themselves were basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, and triumphal arches. Unlike their Greek prototypes, Roman theaters were freestanding structures. The auditorium was semicircular, with movable seats at the orchestra level. Distinctly Roman innovation were the uniting of stage and auditorium as a single structure and the rich architectural embellishment of the stage itself. For the oval amphitheaters such as the colosseum, there are no known Greek precedents. The monumental or triumphal arch was also a purely Roman invention. The basilica, probably a Roman development based on the Greek temple, provided a large and relatively open interior space. From its original use as a Roman law court, the basilica form was adapted by the Christians for their churches.

The baths, while probably derived from Greek gymnasia, were constructed on a totally unprecedented scale, the complexity of their plan competing with the luxury of their detail. In the typical Roman dwelling, the rooms were grouped about the atrium, which, by means of an opening in its roof, also served as a court. Multistory houses in the larger cities, called insulae, anticipated modern apartment buildings, as can be seen for example at Ostia (3d cent. A.D.). A third type of Roman dwelling was the luxurious country villa built by wealthy citizens to escape the congestion and squalor of the cities.

Roman Question: see Lateran Treaty.

Roman Empire: see Rome; Byzantine Empire; Holy Roman Empire.

Roman Catholic Church, Christian church headed by the pope, the bishop of Rome (see papacy and Peter, Saint). Its commonest title in official use is Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. "Roman Catholic" is a 19th-century British coinage and merely serves to distinguish that church from other churches that are "Catholic" (see catholic church). The term "Roman Church," when used officially, means only the archdiocese of Rome. Roman Catholics may be simply defined as Christians in communion with the pope.

Organization of the Church

There are within the church a number of rites, i.e., ancient, independent traditions of discipline and worship, differentiated through isolation (see also liturgy). Besides the Roman rite, to which the vast majority belong, there are among Catholics five Eastern rites, used by a number of communities (Eastern Catholics or Uniates; see patriarch). They are: the Byzantine (the rite also of the Orthodox Eastern Church, which is not in communion with Rome), to which belong many groups, including Melchites, Ruthenians, Romanians, and the Italo-Albanians of S Italy; the Antiochene (also the rite of the autonomous Jacobite Church), to which belong the Maronites, the Syrian Catholics, and the Malankarese of Malabar; the Alexandrian, to which belong the Catholic Copts and Ethiopians (see Copts); the Chaldaean (also the rite of the autonomous Nestorian Church), to which belong Chaldaean Catholics and Syro-Malabarese; and the Armenian (also the rite of the autonomous Armenian Church). These rites and communities have their own organizations under the pope and are protected from attempts to "Latinize" them. Best known, perhaps, of the non-Roman Western rites are the Ambrosian, the Dominican, and the Mozarabic.

Apart from the rites and foreign missions, the organization of the church is by diocese, the territory of a bishop. Important sees have archbishops, who often supervise neighboring, suffragan bishops. With certain restrictions, the pope names the bishops. Dioceses are made up of parishes, each of which has a church and a priest (the pastor). The pope controls bishops mainly by general legislation. His government, which is run by the cardinals living at Rome, is concerned with matters of wide significance, such as missions and relations with states (see also cardinal; papal election; Vatican City).

Cutting across territorial lines are the religious orders of men and women; their field is monastic life, nonparish activities, and schools; they frequently run missions, hospitals, and colleges (see monasticism). Their members generally receive subsistence only. The parish clergy support themselves, often with salaries fixed by the bishop. Most of the clergy are priests (see orders, holy); they are trained (usually from four to six years) in seminaries maintained by the bishops, the orders, or the Vatican. Members of the clergy do not marry, unless they are parish priests of Eastern rites.

There is no churchwide census, and there are various criteria for determining membership. However, the Roman Catholics in the world are estimated to be about half the total number of Christians and make the church one of the largest religions in the world, with more than 1 billion adherents. Roughly half of all Catholics live in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2003, there were 63.4 million Roman Catholics in the United States.

Beliefs, Doctrines, and Practices

To belong to the church one must accept as factually true the gospel of Jesus as handed down in tradition and as interpreted by the bishops in union with the pope. Fundamental in this divine tradition is the Bible, its text determined and disseminated by the church. Adherents must also accept the church as possessing the fullness of revelation, and the church, according to the Roman Catholic catechism, is the only Christian body that is "one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic."

The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the keystones of the Catholic faith; it holds that the pope (the vicar of Christ) and the bishops have in varying degrees the spiritual authority Jesus assigned to his apostles. The voice of the pope, either alone or in conjunction with his bishops in council, is regarded as infallible when speaking on matters of faith and morals taught in common with the bishops (see infallibility). Many features of the traditional teaching (dogma) have been analyzed and restated, by the councils and by great theologians (see council, ecumenical; creed; Thomas Aquinas, Saint; Trent, Council of; Vatican Council, First; Vatican Council, Second).

The chief teachings of the Catholic church are: God's objective existence; God's interest in individual human beings, who can enter into relations with God (through prayer); the Trinity; the divinity of Jesus; the immortality of the soul of each human being, each one being accountable at death for his or her actions in life, with the award of heaven or hell; the resurrection of the dead; the historicity of the Gospels; and the divine commission of the church. In addition the Roman Catholic Church stresses that since the members, living and dead, share in each other's merits, the Virgin Mary and other saints and the dead in purgatory are never forgotten (see church; saint).

The church is seen as having from God a system of conveying God's grace direct to humanity (see sacrament). The ordinary Catholic frequents the sacraments of penance (required at least once a year) and the Eucharist (required once every Easter time; see also sin). The Eucharist is the center of public worship, often embellished with solemn ceremony (see Mass).

Private prayer is also regarded as essential; contemplation is the ideal (see mysticism), and all believers are expected to devote some time to prayer that is more than requesting favors. Different methods of prayer are recommended (see rosary; Saint Ignatius of Loyola; Thomas à Kempis). Self-renunciation is a necessary part of prayer (see fasting; Lent).

The church teaches that the main motive for ethical behavior is the love of God. Nothing that God has created is evil in itself, but evil use may be made of it. The doctrine concerning persons not Catholic is that since God affords each human being light sufficient to attain salvation, all will be saved who persevere in what they believe to be good, regardless of ignorance. Only those will be damned who persist in what they know to be wrong; among these are persons who resist the church when they know it to be the one, true church.

History

For the first centuries of the church's history, see Christianity.

The Church in the Middle Ages

From the 9th cent. to 1520 the church was simply Western Europe taken in its religious aspect, and no clear line divided spiritual from temporal life. In the West (unlike the East) the religious organization was free for centuries from grave interference from civil rulers. Charlemagne was an exception, but his influence was benign. In the chaotic 9th and 10th cent. every part of the church organization, including the papacy, became the prey of the powerful.

The restoration of order began in monasteries; from Cluny a movement spread to reform Christian life (see Cluniac order). This pattern of decline of religion followed by reform is characteristic of the history of the Roman Catholic Church; the reform goals have varied, but they have included the revival of spiritual life in society and the monasteries, and the elimination of politics from the bishops' sphere and venality from the papal court. The next reform (11th cent.) was conducted by popes, notably St. Gregory VII and Urban II. Part of this movement was to exclude civil rulers from making church appointments—the first, bold chapter in a 900-year battle between the church and the "Catholic princes" (see church and state; investiture).

The 12th cent. was a time of great intellectual beginnings. St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians revived practical mystical prayer. Gratian founded the systematic study of the canon law, and medieval civil law began its development. This double study was to provide weapons to both sides in the duel between the extreme papal claims of Innocent III and Innocent IV, and the antipapal theories of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Also in the 12th cent., Peter Abelard and other thinkers pioneered in rationalist theology.

From early rationalist theology and from the teachings of Aristotle developed the philosophies and theologies of St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas (see also scholasticism). This was the work of the new 13th-century universities; to them, and to the friars—the Dominicans and Franciscans—who animated them, passed the intellectual leadership held by the monasteries. St. Dominic's order was formed to preach against the Albigenses (a campaign that also produced the Inquisition). The vast popular movement of St. Francis was a spontaneous reform contemporary with the papal reform of the Fourth Lateran Council. The 13th cent. saw also the flowering of Gothic architecture.

The contest between church and state continued, ruining the Hohenstaufen dynasty and, in the contest between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France, bringing the papacy to near ruin. Then came the Avignon residence—the so-called Babylonian captivity of the papacy (1309-78), a time of good church administration, but of excessive French influence over papal policy. Except for isolated voices, such as that of St. Catherine of Siena, the church seemed to lose energy, and a long period devoid of reform began. A long-enduring schism and a series of ambitious councils (see Schism, Great) involved most churchmen in a welter of politics and worldliness.

There were popular religious movements, characterized by revivalism and a tendency to minimize the sacraments (along with church authority); they encouraged private piety, and one group produced the inspirational Imitation ascribed to Thomas à Kempis. The popular tendencies were extreme in John Wyclif, who developed an antisacramental, predestinarian theology emphasizing Bible study—a "protestant" movement 150 years before Protestantism.

The Reformation and Counter Reformation

The 15th-century councils did little for reform, and the popes, shorn of power, were reduced to being Renaissance princes. Such men could not cope with the Protestant revolt of Martin Luther and John Calvin (see also Reformation). The Protestants aimed to restore primitive Christianity (as described in the Bible), and they succeeded in weakening the hold of the church in all of N Europe, in Great Britain, and in parts of Central Europe and Switzerland. Politics and religion were completely intertwined (as in England, Scotland, and France); hence the admixture of religious issues in the Thirty Years War.

Within the church there triumphed the most extensive of all the church's reform movements (see Counter Reformation; Jesus, Society of). From it sprang a general revival of religion and much missionary activity in the new empires of Spain and Portugal and in East Asia. In France, Catholicism found new life, beginning with St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. There, too, began the cult of the Sacred Heart (i.e., God's love for men), which would affect Catholic prayer everywhere. A contrary influence was Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis), an antisacramental middle-class movement.

The Seventeenth through Nineteenth Centuries

The 17th cent. saw an increase of state control over the church (see Gallicanism) in all the Catholic countries, and in the 18th cent. the Bourbons began a course openly aimed at eliminating the papacy. The suppression of the Jesuits was part of the campaign, which reached a climax in the legislation of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. The revolutionary movement eventually destroyed the Catholic princes, and the church had to live with secular states, some anti-Catholic, some tolerant. The facts of the change were not clear at once, and for much of the 19th cent. the popes (and other Catholics) would look back to an idealized 18th-century golden age before "liberalistic" atheism and materialism. The last of these popes was Pius IX, who was forced to give up the Papal States. In enouncing the dogma of papal infallibility Pius did much to cement church unity.

In Pius's successor, Leo XIII, the church found new leadership; he and his successors worked and preached to urge Catholics to take part in modern life as Catholics, abandoning reactionary dreams and seeking some social reform. In some countries Catholic political parties were formed. Meanwhile oppressive conditions and the development of a mass socialist movement combined to detach much of the working class from the church. Otto von Bismarck (in Germany; see Kulturkampf) and "liberal" governments (in Italy, France, and Portugal) passed hostile measures, especially against religious orders.

The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries

In the 20th cent. the tensions between the church and national governments sometimes led to outright suppression of the church, as in the former Soviet Union and Communist Eastern Europe, Mexico, Spain, and China. Mussolini and Hitler also ruined as much of the church as they could. The century has been marked more noticeably, however, by new trends in the practice and outlook of the church. The encyclical of Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891), was followed by the Quadrigesimo Anno (1931) of Pius XII, and the Mater et Magistra (1961) of John XXIII, the Progressio Populorum (1967) of Paul VI, and the Laborem Exercens (1981), Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987), and Centessimus Annus (1991) of John Paul II. The purpose of these was fundamental readjustment to the moral and social problems of modern life and a greater stress upon the role of the laity in the church. Linked with this was a movement for church "renewal" both by laity and the clergy. This was particularly strong in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States.

Some of the issues stressed were the need for liturgical reform, the recognition of the various regional contributions to the living existence of the church, and the recognition of the nonpolitical internationalism of the church (although declarations of implacable opposition to atheistic Communism persisted and were particularly strong under Pius XII, who urged the church to oppose all antireligious totalitarianism). Another growing revival involved the tightening of relations between the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and various Protestant churches.

All of these "progressive" currents came together at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which, under John XXIII and Paul VI, initiated broad reforms in the areas of public worship, government, and ecumenism (see ecumenical movement). The long-reigning John Paul II made the church more international and continued his predecessors ecumenical trends, but he affirmed (as the popes preceding him did) the church's traditional stands on marriage, abortion, homosexuality, and other doctrinal matters, opposed relaxing the rule of celibacy, and reemphasized the primacy of the Vatican in church government.

The church in the United States began the 21st cent. confronting a major crisis concerning sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests and how it is and was handled by the U.S. hierarchy. Multiple revelations in 2002 that some bishops had allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood and to continue to perform their duties in situations where abuse could and sometimes did recur sparked outrage in the United States; such cases were also not reported to civil authorities. Various dioceses faced civil lawsuits and criminal investigations, several bishops resigned after their involvement in sexual relationships was revealed, and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston resigned because of criticism over his handling of sex abuse charges. The issue led to a meeting between American cardinals and the pope in Rome, and, after a meeting of American bishops and discussions with the Vatican, to the establishment of new policies that included barring a priest who has sexually abused a minor from any ministerial role and that committed the hierarchy to alert legal authorities to instances of abuse.

Roman, town (1990 pop. 78,749), NE Romania, in Moldavia, at the confluence of the Prut and Siretul rivers. Sugar refining and the manufacture of building materials are the chief industries. The town was founded in the late 14th cent. by the ruling prince of Moldavia.

In the following list, the date of election, rather than of consecration, is given. Before St. Victor I (189), dates may err by one year. Antipopes—i.e., those men whose elections have been declared uncanonical—are indicated.

St. Peter, d. 64? or 67?

St. Linus, 67?-76?

St. Cletus, or Anacletus, 76?-88?

St. Clement I, 88?-97?

St. Evaristus, 97?-105?

St. Alexander I, 105?-115?

St. Sixtus I, 115?-125?

St. Telesphorus, 125?-136?

St. Hyginus, 136?-140?

St. Pius I, 140?-155?

St. Anicetus, 155?-166?

St. Soter, 166?-175?

St. Eleutherius, 175?-189?

St. Victor I, 189-99

St. Zephyrinus, 199-217

St. Calixtus I, 217-22

antipope: St. Hippolytus, 217-35

St. Urban I, 222-30

St. Pontian, 230-35

St. Anterus, 235-36

St. Fabian, 236-50

St. Cornelius, 251-53

antipope: Novatian, 251

St. Lucius I, 253-54

St. Stephen I, 254-57

St. Sixtus II, 257-58

St. Dionysius, 259-68

St. Felix I, 269-74

St. Eutychian, 275-83

St. Caius, 283-96

St. Marcellinus, 296-304

St. Marcellus I, c.308-309

St. Eusebius, 309-c.310

St. Miltiades, or Melchiades, 311-14

St. Sylvester I, 314-35

St. Marcus, 336

St. Julius I, 337-52

Liberius, 352-66

antipope: Felix, 355-65

St. Damasus I, 366-84

antipope: Ursinus, 366-67

St. Siricius, 384-99

St. Anastasius I, 399-401

St. Innocent I, 401-17

St. Zosimus, 417-18

St. Boniface I, 418-22

antipope: Eulalius, 418-19

St. Celestine I, 422-32

St. Sixtus III, 432-40

St. Leo I, 440-61

St. Hilary, 461-68

St. Simplicius, 468-83

St. Felix III (or II), 483-92

St. Gelasius I, 492-96

Anastasius II, 496-98

St. Symmachus, 498-514

antipope: Lawrence, 498-505

St. Hormisdas, 514-23

St. John I, 523-26

St. Felix IV (or III) 526-30

Boniface II, 530-32

pope or antipope: Dioscurus, 530

John II, 533-35

St. Agapetus I, 535-36

St. Silverius, 536-37

Vigilius, 537-55

Pelagius I, 556-61

John III, 561-74

Benedict I, 575-79

Pelagius II, 579-90

St. Gregory I, 590-604

Sabinian, 604-6

Boniface III, 607

St. Boniface IV, 608-15

St. Deusdedit, or Adeodatus I, 615-18

Boniface V, 619-25

Honorius I, 625-38

Severinus, 640

John IV, 640-42

Theodore I, 642-49

St. Martin I, 649-55

St. Eugene I, 654-57

St. Vitalian, 657-72

Adeodatus II, 672-76

Donus, 676-78

St. Agatho, 678-81

St. Leo II, 682-83

St. Benedict II, 684-85

John V, 685-86

Conon, 686-87

antipope: Theodore, 687

antipope: Paschal, 687

St. Sergius I, 687-701

John VI, 701-5

John VII, 705-7

Sisinnius, 708

Constantine, 708-15

St. Gregory II, 715-31

St. Gregory III, 731-41

St. Zacharias, 741-52

Stephen II, 752 (never consecrated)

Stephen II (or III), 752-57

St. Paul I, 757-67

antipope: Constantine, 767-69

antipope: Philip, 768

Stephen III (or IV), 768-72

Adrian I, 772-95

St. Leo III, 795-816

Stephen IV (or V), 816-17

St. Paschal I, 817-24

Eugene II, 824-27

Valentine, 827

Gregory IV, 827-44

antipope: John, 844

Sergius II, 844-47

St. Leo IV, 847-55

Benedict III, 855-58

antipope: Anastasius, 855

St. Nicholas I, 858-67

Adrian II, 867-72

John VIII, 872-82

Marinus I, 882-84

St. Adrian III, 884-85

Stephen V (or VI), 885-91

Formosus, 891-96

Boniface VI, 896

Stephen VI (or VII), 896-97

Romanus, 897

Theodore II, 897

John IX, 898-900

Benedict IV, 900-903

Leo V, 903

antipope: Christopher, 903-4

Sergius III, 904-11

Anastasius III, 911-13

Lando, 913-14

John X, 914-28

Leo VI, 928

Stephen VII (or VIII), 928-31

John XI, 931-35

Leo VII, 936-39

Stephen VIII (or IX), 939-42

Marinus II, 942-46

Agapetus II, 946-55

John XII, 955-64

Leo VII, 963-65, or Benedict V, 964-66 (one of these was an antipope)

John XIII, 965-72

Benedict VI, 973-74

antipope: Boniface VII, 974, 984-85

Benedict VII, 974-83

John XIV, 983-84

John XV, 985-96

Gregory V, 996-99

antipope: John XVI, 997-98

Sylvester II, 999-1003

John XVII, 1003

John XVIII, 1004-9

Sergius IV, 1009-12

Benedict VIII, 1012-24

antipope: Gregory, 1012

John XIX, 1024-32

Benedict IX, 1032-44

Sylvester III, 1045

Benedict IX, 1045

Gregory VI, 1045-46

Clement II, 1046-47

Benedict IX, 1047-48

Damasus II, 1048

St. Leo IX, 1049-54

Victor II, 1055-57

Stephen IX (or X), 1057-58

antipope: Benedict X, 1058-59

Nicholas II, 1058-61

Alexander II, 1061-73

antipope: Honorius II, 1061-72

St. Gregory VII, 1073-85

antipope: Clement III, 1080-1100 (see Guibert of Ravenna)

Victor III, 1086-87

Urban II, 1088-99

Paschal II, 1099-1118

antipope: Theodoric, 1100

antipope: Albert, 1102

antipope: Sylvester IV, 1105-11

Gelasius II, 1118-19

antipope: Gregory VIII, 1118-21

Calixtus II, 1119-24

Honorius II, 1124-30

antipope: Celestine II, 1124

Innocent II, 1130-43

antipope: Anacletus II, 1130-38

antipope: Victor IV, 1138

Celestine II, 1143-44

Lucius II, 1144-45

Eugene III, 1145-53

Anastasius IV, 1153-54

Adrian IV, 1154-59

Alexander III, 1159-81

antipope: Victor IV, 1159-64

antipope: Paschal III, 1164-68

antipope: Calixtus III, 1168-78

antipope: Innocent III, 1179-80

Lucius III, 1181-85

Urban III, 1185-87

Gregory VIII, 1187

Clement III, 1187-91

Celestine III, 1191-98

Innocent III, 1198-1216

Honorius III, 1216-27

Gregory IX, 1227-41

Celestine IV, 1241

Innocent IV, 1243-54

Alexander IV, 1254-61

Urban IV,1261-64

Clement IV, 1265-68

Gregory X, 1271-76

Innocent V, 1276

Adrian V, 1276

John XXI, 1276-77

Nicholas III, 1277-80

Martin IV, 1281-85

Honorius IV, 1285-87

Nicholas IV, 1288-92

St. Celestine V, 1294

Boniface VIII, 1294-1303

Benedict XI, 1303-4

Clement V, 1305-14

John XXII, 1316-34

antipope: Nicholas V, 1328-30 (see Rainalducci, Pietro)

Benedict XII, 1334-42

Clement VI, 1342-52

Innocent VI, 1352-62

Urban V, 1362-70

Gregory XI, 1370-78

The Great Schism, 1378-1417

Roman Line

Urban VI, 1378-89

Boniface IX, 1389-1404

Innocent VII, 1404-6

Gregory XII, 1406-15

Avignon Line

antipope: Clement VII, 1378-94 (see Robert of Geneva)

antipope: Benedict XIII, 1394-1423 (see Luna, Pedro de)

antipope: Clement VII, 1423-29

antipope: Benedict XIV, 1425-30

Pisan Line

antipope: Alexander V, 1409-10

antipope: John XXIII, 1410-15 (see Cossa, Baldassare)

Martin V, 1417-31

Eugene IV, 1431-47

antipope: Felix V, 1439-49 (see Amadeus VIII)

Nicholas V, 1447-55

Calixtus III, 1455-58

Pius II, 1458-64

Paul II, 1464-71

Sixtus IV, 1471-84

Innocent VIII, 1484-92

Alexander VI, 1492-1503

Pius III, 1503

Julius II, 1503-13

Leo X, 1513-21

Adrian VI, 1522-23

Clement VII, 1523-34

Paul III, 1534-49

Julius III, 1550-55

Marcellus II, 1555

Paul IV, 1555-59

Pius IV, 1559-65

St. Pius V, 1566-72

Gregory XIII, 1572-85

Sixtus V, 1585-90

Urban VII, 1590

Gregory XIV, 1590-91

Innocent IX, 1591

Clement VIII, 1592-1605

Leo XI, 1605

Paul V, 1605-21

Gregory XV, 1621-23

Urban VIII, 1623-44

Innocent X, 1644-55

Alexander VII, 1655-67

Clement IX, 1667-69

Clement X, 1670-76

Innocent XI, 1676-89

Alexander VIII, 1689-91

Innocent XII, 1691-1700

Clement XI, 1700-1721

Innocent XIII, 1721-24

Benedict XIII, 1724-30

Clement XII, 1730-40

Benedict XIV, 1740-58

Clement XIII, 1758-69

Clement XIV, 1769-74

Pius VI, 1775-99

Pius VII, 1800-1823

Leo XII, 1823-29

Pius VIII, 1829-30

Gregory XVI, 1831-46

Pius IX, 1846-78

Leo XIII, 1878-1903

St. Pius X, 1903-14

Benedict XV, 1914-22

Pius XI, 1922-39

Pius XII, 1939-58

John XXIII, 1958-63

Paul VI, 1963-78

John Paul I, 1978

John Paul II, 1978-2005

Benedict XVI, 2005-

Polanski, Roman, 1933-, Polish-French film director, b. Paris. His family returned to Kraków, Poland, when he was three. His parents were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and his mother died at Auschwitz, but Polanski, living partly on his own, escaped the Holocaust. He began to act after the war and later (1954-59) studied filmmaking in Łódź, where he made a number of notable shorts, e.g., Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958). His first feature-length work, the Polish-language Knife in the Water (1962), a sexually charged psychological drama, brought him international acclaim. From his earliest efforts and throughout his career, Polanski has exhibited a taste for dramatic situations presented with a cool lack of sentimentality and marked by unexpected violence and a sense of irony, black humor, and isolation and dread. Moving to England, he made three films, the best known of which is the intense, erotic, and terrifying Repulsion (1965).

Polanski went on to Hollywood in 1968 and that year made his American debut with the horror classic Rosemary's Baby, his greatest commercial success. In 1969 his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, and a group of their friends were murdered by members of the Charles Manson "family." Subsequently, Polanski settled in France but returned to the States to make the award-winning noir detective thriller Chinatown (1974). After pleading guilty to statutory rape in 1977, he fled (1978) back to France, where he had become (1976) a citizen, before sentencing, and has not returned to the United States. He later made a number of films including Tess (1980), based on a Thomas Hardy novel; the thriller Frantic (1988); the erotically compelling Bitter Moon (1992); and Death and the Maiden (1994), based on an Ariel Dorfman play. After a few largely forgettable films, he directed The Pianist (2002), a brooding, intimate, and fear-haunted drama based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor, for which Polanski received an Academy Award. He also has acted in and written screenplays for a number of his films.

Jakobson, Roman, 1896-1982, Russian-American linguist and literary critic, b. Moscow. He coined the term structural linguistics and stressed that the aim of historical linguistics is the study not of isolated changes within a language but of systematic change. In Czechoslovakia in the late 1920s and the 30s, Jakobson and a few colleagues, most notably N. S. Trubetzkoy, developed what came to be known as the Prague school of linguistics. They argued that synchronic phonology, the study of speech sounds in a language at a given time, must be considered in light of diachronic phonology, the study of speech sounds as they have changed over the course of the language's history. After leaving Czechoslovakia in 1939, Jakobson went on to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden before coming to the United States to teach at Columbia Univ. (1943-49) and later Harvard (1949-67); at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1957-67) he worked with Morris Halle on distinctive-feature theory, developing a binary system that defines a speech sound by the presence or absence of specific phonetic qualities, such as stridency and nasality. Through his contact with French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss and others, Jakobson was influential in the development of structuralism.

Holy Roman Empire, designation for the political entity that originated at the coronation as emperor (962) of the German king Otto I and endured until the renunciation (1806) of the imperial title by Francis II. The term itself did not come into usage until several centuries after Otto's accession.

For a list of all emperors from Otto I to Francis II and the dates they reigned, see the table entitled Holy Roman Emperors.

Origins

The Holy Roman Empire was a successor state to the empire founded in 800 by Charlemagne (see also Carolingians), who revived the title of Roman emperor in the West. According to Carolingian theory, the Roman Empire had merely been suspended, not ended, by the abdication of the last Roman emperor in 476. In 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Roman emperor, probably perceived more as a personal title than as a reference to a particular territorial rule. From the death of Arnulf (899), the last Carolingian to hold the imperial title, until Otto's coronation in Rome by Pope John XII, various rulers bore the imperial title but exercised no authority; among them were Louis III, king of Provence, and Berengar I, king of Italy.

Nature of the Empire

From the time of Otto's reign the imperial office was based on the German kingship. The German king, elected by the German princes, automatically sought imperial coronation by the pope. After 1045 a king who was not yet crowned emperor was known as king of the Romans, a title that asserted his right to the imperial throne and implied that he was emperor-designate. Not every German king became emperor, however, because the popes, especially when elections to the kingships were disputed, often claimed that the selection of the emperor was their prerogative. Despite the fact that the German kingship and the imperial office were technically elective, they tended to become hereditary.

At times the electors, the German princes who approved the succession to the German kingship, exercised real authority in choosing the king, although papal confirmation was still necessary for accession to the imperial throne. In 1338 at the diets of Rhense and Frankfurt the German princes proclaimed the electors' right to choose the emperor without papal intervention. The Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Charles IV reaffirmed this and regulated the election procedure. Emperors continued to be crowned by the pope until after the coronation (1530) of Charles V. Thereafter, following the precedent (1508) of Maximilian I, they were crowned at Frankfurt. Several early emperors were also crowned king of Italy with the iron crown of the Lombards. After 1438 the imperial office was held, with one exception, by the house of Hapsburg.

The empire was justified by the claim that, just as the pope was the vicar of God on earth in spiritual matters, so the emperor was God's temporal vicar; hence he claimed to be the supreme temporal ruler of Christendom. Actually, the power of the emperor never equaled his pretensions. Although the emperors were accorded diplomatic precedence over other rulers, their suzerainty early ceased over France, S Italy, Denmark, Poland, and Hungary; and their control over England, Sweden, and Spain was never more than nominal. The authority of the emperors in Italy and Germany was sometimes nonexistent, sometimes real.

The territorial limits of the empire varied, but it generally included Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, parts of N Italy, present-day Belgium, and, until 1648, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Some countries (e.g., Hungary) were ruled by the emperor or imperial prince but were outside the empire, while others (e.g., Flanders, Pomerania, Schleswig, and Holstein) were part of the empire but were ruled by foreign princes who held their lands in fief from the emperor and took part in the imperial diet.

History

Conflict with the Pope and the Italians

When Otto I became emperor, he renewed the traditions of the Carolingian empire that had been eroding for decades before Arnulf's death. Otto's empire comprised the German duchies, Lorraine (or Lotharingia), Italy, and Burgundy, which had its own nominal king. Burgundy (see Arles, kingdom of) was formally annexed in 1033.

The imperial position, however, was precarious from the start. A conflict over the relationship between the papacy and the imperial throne resulted in the investiture controversy during the reign of Henry IV (1084-1105), who appointed bishops to three sees already under the direction of papal appointees. He was also suspected of tolerating simony and other practices that the pope was trying to curb. In 1076, Henry IV withdrew his obedience to Pope Gregory VII and was excommunicated. Subsequent struggles between the popes Alexander III, Gregory IX, and Innocent IV and the emperors Frederick I and Frederick II concerned papal sovereignty in Italy. The papacy was victorious, and the emperors ceased to interfere seriously with papal affairs except during the Great Schism (see Schism, Great) of the 15th cent. and in the Italian Wars of the 16th cent.

Also untenable was the dual position of the emperors as rulers of Germany and of Italy; geography as well as cultural and political conditions separated the two countries. The defense of the empire against foreign attack was made more difficult by the repeated attempts of the emperors to maintain their authority in Italy against the opposition of the city-states (see commune), the papacy, and the petty princes. Frederick I failed to suppress the Lombard League, which had papal support. Frederick II, after inheriting Naples and Sicily, was primarily interested in Italian affairs; his conflict with the papacy produced the feud between Guelphs and Ghibellines throughout Italy and ruined the imperial authority there.

Conflict in Germany

The death (1254) of Conrad IV, the last ruling Hohenstaufen, was followed by an interregnum of 19 years. Opposing claimants to the imperial crown were unable to exercise authority during this period, and the power of the emperor declined considerably. The election (1273) of Rudolf I as the first Hapsburg German king restored some order, but after his death rival claimants renewed the strife. The effect of continued warfare and weak monarchs increased the power of the German princes, particularly the dukes of the great duchies of Bavaria, Saxony, Swabia, Franconia, Thuringia, and Upper and Lower Lorraine. The Golden Bull of 1356 conceded the princes' dominance over the monarchy.

The emperors maintained some authority against the nobles with the support of the towns and of the great ecclesiastical princes (e.g., the archbishop-electors of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier), who were imperial appointees. As the German towns grew in wealth and power, they entered leagues for defense against the nobles. Since they acted as a counterbalance to the nobility, they were generally favored by the emperors, who made them free imperial cities with a voice in the diet. The power of the emperors, however, had come to depend largely on the size and wealth of the emperors' hereditary domains. Thus, the Luxemburg emperors (Henry VII, Charles IV, Wenceslaus, and Sigismund) and the Hapsburg emperors concerned themselves with their own lands to the detriment of the unity of the empire.

During the reign of Maximilian I (1493-1519) the conflict between the dynastic policy of the Hapsburg emperors and the interests of the German empire (then known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) became pronounced. The princes attempted to remove the administration of the empire from the emperor and put it in the hands of an imperial council; the council would control all external and internal affairs of the empire. Under pressure Maximilian I created (1500) a council (see Reichsregiment) and an imperial court of justice. However, these were only temporary measures, since the Hapsburgs had no intention of pursuing German policy, which would conflict with their dynastic interests, particularly in Austria.

Dissolution of the Empire

In the 16th cent., under Charles V and Ferdinand I, imperial and Austrian affairs were practically identical. This identity was furthered by the Reformation, which generally aligned the German Protestant princes against the emperors, who championed Roman Catholicism. In the Thirty Years War (1618-48; see Ferdinand II; Ferdinand III; Wallenstein; Protestant Union) the emperor, allied with Spain, opposed the Protestant princes, who were allied chiefly with Sweden and France. The struggle ended with the virtual dissolution of the empire in the Peace of Westphalia (1648; see Westphalia, Peace of), which recognized the sovereignty of all the states of the empire; the only limitation was that the princes could not make alliances directed against the empire or the emperor.

Although the imperial title became largely honorific, the outward forms of the empire were retained; the emperors, with their hereditary lands, remained powerful monarchs. While the peace generally legalized the situation that had existed in the empire since the Reformation, it also advanced the growth of particularism and absolutism in the German states. The emperors suffered further loss of prestige in their wars against Louis XIV (see Dutch Wars 3; Grand Alliance, War of the; Spanish Succession, War of the).

The death (1740) of Charles VI ended the male Hapsburg line, precipitating further conflict (see Austrian Succession, War of the; Seven Years War). While the elector of Bavaria was chosen (1742) emperor as Charles VII, Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI, defended her Hapsburg inheritance against the claims of Bavaria, Prussia, and Saxony. By the peace of Hubertusburg (1763), Francis I, husband of Maria Theresa, was recognized as emperor; however, Prussia, under King Frederick II, had emerged as the leading German power. Joseph II, successor of Francis I, adhered to the principles of the Enlightenment; he attempted to rationalize the administration of the imperial government but failed in the face of resistance by the particularist princes, especially Frederick II of Prussia.

During the French Revolutionary Wars the empire was completely reorganized by the treaty of Lunéville (1801) and by action of the diet in 1803. The number of states was greatly reduced, and the remaining states were aggrandized at the expense of the petty princedoms and ecclesiastical estates. In 1804, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II took the title Francis I, emperor of Austria, and after the establishment (1806) of the Confederation of the Rhine under Napoleon I, Francis renounced his title as Holy Roman Emperor. After the fall of Napoleon no attempt was made to restore the empire, but a German Confederation was established that lasted until 1866.

(including dates of reign)

Saxon dynasty

Otto I, 936-73

Otto II, 973-83

Otto III, 983-1002

Henry II, 1002-24

Salian or Franconian dynasty

Conrad II, 1024-39

Henry III, 1039-56

Henry IV, 1056-1105

Henry V, 1105-25

Lothair II, duke of Saxony, 1125-37

Hohenstaufen dynasty and rivals

Conrad III, 1138-52

Frederick I, 1152-90

Henry VI, 1190-97

Philip of Swabia, 1198-1208

antiking: Otto IV (Guelph), 1198-1208

Otto IV (king, 1208-12; emperor, 1209-15), 1208-15

Frederick II (king, 1212-20; emperor, 1220-50), 1212-50

Conrad IV, 1237-54

antiking: Henry Raspe, 1246-47

antiking: William, count of Holland, 1247-56

Interregnum, 1254-73

Richard, earl of Cornwall, and Alfonso X of Castile, rivals

Hapsburg, Luxemburg, and other dynasties

Rudolf I (Hapsburg), 1273-91

Adolf of Nassau, 1292-98

Albert I (Hapsburg), 1298-1308

Henry VII (Luxemburg), 1308-13

Louis IV (Wittelsbach), 1314-46

Charles IV (Luxemburg), 1346-78

Wenceslaus (Luxemburg), 1378-1400

Rupert (Wittelsbach), 1400-1410

Sigismund (Luxemburg), 1410-37

Hapsburg dynasty

Albert II, 1438-39

Frederick III, 1440-93

Maximilian I, 1493-1519

Charles V, 1519-58

Ferdinand I, 1558-64

Maximilian II, 1564-76

Rudolf II, 1576-1612

Matthias, 1612-19

Ferdinand II, 1619-37

Ferdinand III, 1637-57

Leopold I, 1658-1705

Joseph I, 1705-11

Charles VI, 1711-40

Interregnum (1740-42) and other dynasties

Charles VII (Wittelsbach-Hapsburg), 1742-45

Francis I (Lorraine), 1745-65

Hapsburg-Lorraine dynasty

Joseph II, 1765-90

Leopold II, 1790-92

Francis II, 1792-1806

roman à clef(French; “novel with a key”)

Novel that has the extraliterary interest of portraying identifiable people more or less thinly disguised as fictional characters. The tradition dates to 17th-century France, when members of aristocratic literary coteries included in their historical romances representations of well-known figures in the court of Louis XIV. A more recent example is W. Somerset Maugham's Cakes and Ale (1930), widely held to portray Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole. A more common type of roman à clef is one in which the disguised characters are easily recognized only by a few insiders, as in Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins (1954).

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Typeface used most widely in Western typography, the general term for the type of this book's text. Characterized by simple, unembellished shapes, roman was developed by 15th-century printers as an alternative to the heavy-bodied, spiky black letter script. Models for a new type that was easier to cut and read were found in the scriptoria, where scribes, probably at the urging of humanist scholars, were experimenting with a letter face they believed had been used in ancient Rome. Historians now trace its ancestry instead to the letter forms developed for Charlemagne's decrees by Alcuin in the 9th century. Within a century, roman had superseded all other typefaces throughout Europe; the sole exception was Germany, where black letter continued to hold sway into the 20th century.

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Type of avant-garde novel that departs from traditional novelistic conventions by ignoring such elements as plot, dialogue, and human interest. Seeking to overcome readers' habits and challenge their expectations, antinovelists deliberately avoid any intrusion of authorial personality, preferences, or values. Though the term was coined by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1948, the approach is at least as old as the works of the 18th-century writer Laurence Sterne. Writers of such works include Nathalie Sarraute, Claude Simon, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Uwe Johnson, and Rayner Heppenstall.

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Religious beliefs of the Romans from ancient times until official acceptance of Christianity in the 4th century AD. The Romans believed that everything was subordinate to the rule of the gods, and the object of their religion was to secure divine cooperation and benevolence. Prayer and sacrifice were used to propitiate the gods and were often carried out at temples dedicated to particular divinities and presided over by priests (see flamen). The chief Roman priest, head of the state religion, was known as the pontifex maximus; notable among the other groups of priests were the augurs, who practiced divination to determine whether the gods approved of an action. The earliest Roman gods were the sky god Jupiter, the war god Mars, and Quirinus; other important early gods were Janus and Vesta. Many other deities were borrowed from Greek religion or associated with Greek gods, and the stories woven into Roman mythology were often taken directly from Greek mythology. Domestic shrines were devoted to divine ancestors or protectors, the Lares and Penates. Dead Roman emperors were also raised to the status of divinities and were regarded with veneration and gratitude.

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Law of the Roman Republic and Empire. Roman law has influenced the development of law in most of Western civilization. It dealt with matters of succession (or inheritance), obligations (including contracts), property (including slaves), and persons. Most laws were passed by assemblies dominated by the patrician families, though the rulings of magistrates were also important. Later emperors bypassed these forms and issued their own decrees. The interpretations of jurists also came to have the weight of law. Though various attempts were made to gather and simplify existing laws (beginning with the Law of the Twelve Tables), by far the most successful effort was that of Justinian I, whose code superseded all previous laws and formed the Roman Empire's legal legacy (see Code of Justinian). Roman legal procedure is the basis for modern procedure in civil-law countries. In the early Republic, the plaintiff was required to call the defendant to court or to bring him by force. A magistrate then decided whether the case should go before a judex, or prominent layman. The judex heard arguments from advocates and questioned witnesses; he made a decision but had no power to execute it. In the later Republic, much greater power was placed in the hands of the magistrates and courts: the summons was issued by the court, the trial was held only before a magistrate, and the court became responsible for the execution of the sentence.

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(born Aug. 18, 1933, Paris, France) Polish-French film director. He grew up in Poland and survived a traumatic wartime childhood under the Nazis. His first feature film, Knife in the Water (1962), brought him international fame. He left Poland that year for Britain, where he made Repulsion (1965), and later the U.S., where his Rosemary's Baby (1968) was highly successful. In 1969 his new wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by followers of Charles Manson. He directed a graphic adaptation of Macbeth (1971) and the acclaimed film noir Chinatown (1974). In 1977 Polanski was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of statutory rape. He subsequently jumped bail and fled to France, where he remained active in both the theatre and motion pictures. His subsequent films include Tess (1979), Frantic (1988), Bitter Moon (1992), Death and the Maiden (1994), and The Pianist (2002), which won the Gold Palm for best film at the Cannes International Film Festival and earned a best director Academy Award for Polanski.

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(born Oct. 11, 1896, Moscow, Russia—died July 18, 1982, Boston, Mass., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. linguist. Born and educated in Moscow, Jakobson moved to Prague in 1920; the European political situation forced him to flee to Scandinavia in 1938 and to the U.S. in 1941. He taught at Harvard University (1949–67). His interests ranged from folk epics and the cultural history of the Slavs to general phonology, the morphology of the Slavic languages, and speech acquisition. His preoccupation with contrast and opposition is reflected in his analysis of the Russian case system (1938), a brilliant analysis of the Russian verbal system (1948), and preeminently in his work on distinctive features in phonology.

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(born Oct. 11, 1896, Moscow, Russia—died July 18, 1982, Boston, Mass., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. linguist. Born and educated in Moscow, Jakobson moved to Prague in 1920; the European political situation forced him to flee to Scandinavia in 1938 and to the U.S. in 1941. He taught at Harvard University (1949–67). His interests ranged from folk epics and the cultural history of the Slavs to general phonology, the morphology of the Slavic languages, and speech acquisition. His preoccupation with contrast and opposition is reflected in his analysis of the Russian case system (1938), a brilliant analysis of the Russian verbal system (1948), and preeminently in his work on distinctive features in phonology.

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Group of Vatican bureaus that assist the pope in exercising his jurisdiction over the Roman Catholic Church. The work of the Curia is traditionally associated with the College of Cardinals. A cardinal named as secretary of state coordinates the activities of the Curia, and various sacred congregations handle administrative matters—for example, the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints is concerned with beatification and canonization and with the preservation of relics. The judicial branch of the Curia consists of three tribunals, of which the highest is the Apostolic Signatura.

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(born Aug. 18, 1933, Paris, France) Polish-French film director. He grew up in Poland and survived a traumatic wartime childhood under the Nazis. His first feature film, Knife in the Water (1962), brought him international fame. He left Poland that year for Britain, where he made Repulsion (1965), and later the U.S., where his Rosemary's Baby (1968) was highly successful. In 1969 his new wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by followers of Charles Manson. He directed a graphic adaptation of Macbeth (1971) and the acclaimed film noir Chinatown (1974). In 1977 Polanski was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of statutory rape. He subsequently jumped bail and fled to France, where he remained active in both the theatre and motion pictures. His subsequent films include Tess (1979), Frantic (1988), Bitter Moon (1992), Death and the Maiden (1994), and The Pianist (2002), which won the Gold Palm for best film at the Cannes International Film Festival and earned a best director Academy Award for Polanski.

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German Heiliges Römisches Reich

Realm of varying extent in medieval and modern western and central Europe. Traditionally believed to have been established by Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III in 800, the empire lasted until the renunciation of the imperial h1 by Francis II in 1806. The reign of the German Otto I (the Great; r. 962–973), who revived the imperial h1 after Carolingian decline, is also sometimes regarded as the beginning of the empire. The name Holy Roman Empire (not adopted until the reign of Frederick I Barbarossa) reflected Charlemagne's claim that his empire was the successor to the Roman Empire and that this temporal power was augmented by his status as God's principal vicar in the temporal realm (parallel to the pope's in the spiritual realm). The empire's core consisted of Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia. Switzerland, the Netherlands, and northern Italy sometimes formed part of it; France, Poland, Hungary, and Denmark were initially included, and Britain and Spain were nominal components. From the mid-11th century the emperors engaged in a great struggle with the papacy for dominance, and, particularly under the powerful Hohenstaufen dynasty (1138–1208, 1212–54), they fought with the popes over control of Italy. Rudolf I became the first Habsburg emperor in 1273, and from 1438 the Habsburg dynasty held the throne for centuries. Until 1356 the emperor was chosen by the German princes; thereafter he was formally elected by the electors. Outside their personal hereditary domains, emperors shared power with the imperial diet. During the Reformation the German princes largely defected to the Protestant camp, opposing the Catholic emperor. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia (1648) recognized the individual sovereignty of the empire's states; the empire thereafter became a loose federation of states and the h1 of emperor principally honorific. In the 18th century, issues of imperial succession resulted in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. The greatly weakened empire was brought to an end by the victories of Napoleon. Seealso Guelphs and Ghibellines; Investiture Controversy; Concordat of Worms.

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