ABSTRACT
The ancient Romans were among the most austere and self-disciplined people in all of world history, but they were also among the most decadent and debauched. They were alternately civic-minded and selfish, tolerant and brutal, law-abiding and corrupt, creative and anti-intellectual, urbane and primitive. At least 80 percent of Romans, however, lived in the countryside, and agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Trade, finance, mining, quarrying, fishing, and the production of crafts were all important to the Roman economy. They were not, however, considered respectable professions: Roman senators, for example, were, at least theoretically, forbidden from engaging in commerce. Ancient Rome's traditional religion was similar to religion in ancient Greece in several important respects. First, both faiths were polytheistic. Later, Christians would label Greek and Roman polytheists as pagans. Second, there was a distinction in both Greece and Rome between the state-endorsed religion and the religion of ordinary people.
