The Roman Empire, which existed from 27 BC to 1453 AD, was divided into: the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. With the Mediterranean Sea as its center, it is a great empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa, and it is an important stage of ancient Roman civilization.
It can be said that the ancient Roman civilization can be called a legend in the history of human civilization.
Regarding the rise of ancient Roman civilization, there have been many famous myths and stories since ancient times, which not only show the fighting spirit of the ancient Roman people, but also the most primitive origin of ancient Roman civilization. However, the expansion of the Roman Republic allowed Rome to go beyond a city-state and become a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multilingual, and multi-cultural power that surrounded the Mediterranean.
It was not until 27 BC that the Senate conferred on Gaius Octavian the title of "Augustus", and thus the Roman Republic entered the imperial era. There are many legends about the Roman Empire, but the legend of the founding of the Roman Empire is a very interesting thing, and even this matter has been criticized as a "scandal" by posterity.
The story goes back to the time of the Trojan War, when there was a fierce general named Aeneas, whose father was a mortal and his mother was the goddess Venus. According to Roman records, in 1184 BC, Agamemnon led many allied armies, using extremely clever tactics, and finally captured the city of Troy in Asia Minor.
After the fall of the city of Troy, the victorious side razed the prosperous city to the ground and carried out a bloody massacre of the Trojans. Although Troy perished, Aeneas escaped under the protection of the gods and gave him a sacred mission: to build the Roman Empire.
Aeneas traveled for many years in the folk world, gained a lot of insights, and learned a lot of knowledge. When Aeneas came to Carthage, Queen Tito fell in love with Aeneas at first sight, so she left Aeneas behind. However, Aeneas did not stay long before he accepted instructions from Zeus and Hermes to get up and go to Italy to go to war with the city of Fareri.
The lonely queen Dido, on the other hand, died with the departure of her lover. After Aeneas settled in Italy, one of his descendants, a woman named Rhea Sylvia, gave birth to a lovely twin with Mars, the god of war: Romulus and Remus. Later, it was Romulus who founded Rome.
The mother of Romulus and Remus was Rhea Sylvia, who was asked to be a virgin priestess, and their father, according to legend, was Mars, the god of war, but there are also legends that they were the children of adultery with a certain craftsman. In the tradition of Plutarch and Tito Livy, Roman history records that Romulus was the first king of the ancient Roman monarchy.
So, this should be a romantic story, but why did it become a scandal?
It all starts with the love story of Aeneas and Queen Dido.
Queen Tedor was originally a princess of Phoenicia, but she had to flee to Africa when her brother seized the throne, and after being engaged to king Ialubhas of Africa, she maintained an underground love affair with Aeneas.
When the peach-colored news reached the streets of Libya, it soon reached the point where everyone knew it. The world says that this matter was spread by the "goddess of rumors". It is said that the "Goddess of Rumors" is a member of the Giant Clan defeated by Zeus in Greek stories, who specializes in spreading rumors, or the infamous rumors.
Moreover, when spreading rumors, the "Rumor Goddess" never cares about the truth or falsity of rumors, good or evil, as long as it is a rumor, she will spread it. This also makes the relationship between Dido and Aeneas even more confusing. People laugh and joke about the affair of the magnate, while Tedo goes to her fiancé's room in an attempt to reverse black and white with a clever mouth.
She advised her fiancé not to listen to the rumors outside, but the more she listened, the more angry the king became. Eventually, the king used Zeus's divine powers, which triggered "Zeus and Hermes' mission to guide Aeneas to build a Rome", and the king cut Aeneas out of his sight and cut off the scandal with his fiancée.
Some scholars have even satirized that the construction of Rome is inseparable from the affair with Queen Tito and the rapid spread of the "goddess of rumors". It is precisely because the flood of scandals can no longer be wrapped up, so that Aeneas, who has no way back, can only move forward towards the mission. There are even people who say that "there would be no Rome without the goddess of rumors".
It was not until 23 BC, when Virgil read aloud historical materials to the Roman emperor, that the "goddess of rumors" appeared for the first time, and people realized the activity of the "goddess of rumors". In fact, in many cases, "rumors" play an important role in a city, because it spreads rapidly and the consequences are so serious that ordinary people cannot imagine.
Ancient Rome was a city full of rumors, and rumors could penetrate into all classes and corners. Whether it is the streets, or daily life, whether it is war or elections, rumors will play a pivotal role in it. Most of the sources of rumors come from the mouths of politicians, through self-interested rumors, to convey the selfish interests and purposes they want to promote.
In fact, the "goddess of rumors" is the product of the constant deification of the Roman people, in the hearts of the Romans: the goddess of rumors seems to really exist between heaven and earth, not only to understand the situation, but also to hear people's hearts and see what is happening and what is about to happen. In Rome, rumors were encouraged, and even became fun for the people after dinner.
Fresh material, combined with some facts, was eventually fabricated into different versions, as if the whole world were filled with rumors. Eventually, under the influence of the prank of the goddess of rumors, Tido's affair ended.
Although there were many affairs above the temples in the Roman Empire, as the Roman Empire grew stronger, its degree of enlightenment was also breathtaking, and some of the measures to obscure class consciousness were also shocking.
In 451 BC, the implementation of the Law of the Twelve Bronze Tables restricted the rights of the nobility, the rights of the commoners were recognized, and the land system was stipulated, which can be said to be the basis of Roman law. Coincidentally, by 445 BC, Rome had passed a bill allowing nobles to intermarry with the poor, also known as the "Cannules Act".
Since then, the concept of the rule of law has become more popular and decentralized, it is no longer a political toy between the aristocracy and the top, but also a direction for the advancement of the common people, and the republican regime in Rome has been further confirmed. However, for a long time, in order to win the new aristocratic power between the commoners and nobles, the struggle between the nobles and the commoners once again plunged the Roman Empire into a scuffle.
In fact, all this is a very normal phenomenon, and the development of a country must be spiraling: learning from failure and then moving forward. Between 343 and 290 BC, Rome experienced three Punic wars, followed by the Greek kingdom of Pyrrhus. By 272 BC, Rome had captured the city of Taranto, and in 270 BC, Rome had captured cities such as Leccio.
Since then, the Roman Empire has continued to grow.
Resources:
[Roman Empire, Homeric Epic, Aeneid