Switzerland in The Roman Era - Roman Switzerland - Culture and Society

Culture and Society

Testaments of Roman culture such as baths, floor heating and imported goods (pottery, glass, religious icons and artworks) have been found in even the poorest Roman era dwellings, indicating that Romanization was effective at all levels of society. Roman public baths were found in all villages, temples with integrated theaters – showing animal or gladiatorial combat – in most.

While the superimposition of Roman culture on the local population appears to have been unproblematic and thorough, the Celtic traditions did not disappear entirely, resulting in a fusion of Roman and local culture that characterized all aspects of society. Latin, the language of government and instruction, only gradually replaced the local Celtic dialects in everyday use. Local artworks and religious icons of the period exhibit influences of ornamental Celtic art, classical Greco-Roman art and even Oriental styles from the far reaches of the Empire. An important incentive for the local people to Romanize was the perspective of obtaining the various degrees of Roman citizenship and the rights conferred thereby, including the right to vote, to hold public office and to render military service.

The hundreds of villae found in Switzerland, some very luxurious, attest to the existence of a wealthy and cultured upper class of landowners. Many villae belonged not to Roman immigrants, but to members of the Celtic aristocracy who continued to hold their lands and their rank after the Roman conquest. Of the lower classes, much less is known, although there are inscriptions attesting to the existence of guilds (collegia) of boat skippers, doctors, teachers and traders, as well as to the existence of a trade in slaves.