Daily Life In Ancient Rome

1. Religion

1.1. Religion was very important to the Romans. They adopted many of the Greek gods. They wanted to please their gods because they believed that they controlled their daily life. When someone was sick or injured, Romans would leave a small offering at a temple in the shape of the hurt part of the body. Each home had an altar in their home where the family worshipped its own household gods and spirits. In time, the Romans came to honor their emperors as gods. Foreigners brought new forms of worship to Rome.

2. Family Life

2.1. Family life was ruled by the paterfamilias, or "father of the family." Roman men were expected to provide for their family with the goods and needs that their family needed to live a healthy lifestyle. Roman babies were usually born at home. The Romans only kept babies that were healthy and strong. If they were the opposite it was either left outside to die, or to be claimed as a slave. Babies were named in a special ceremony when they were nine days old. Weddings were held at a temple. Both the bride and groom, were dressed in a white toga.

3. Food and Drink

3.1. What Romans cooked and ate all depended on whether they were either rich or poor. Only the rich had kitchens in their homes. The poor cooked on small grills and depended on "fast-food" places. The main foods in ancient Rome were bread, bean, spices, a few vegetables, cheeses, and meats. Some of their favorite drinks were plain water and hot water with herbs and honey. For breakfast, Romans usually ate a piece of bread and a bowl of beans or porridge. Lunch might have a small bit of cheese and bread, and perhaps some olives or celery. Lastly, for dinner poor Romans might have chinks of fish along with some asparagus and a fid for dessert. Wealthy Romans ate mice cooked in honey, roasted parrots stuffed wit dates, salted jellyfish, and snails dipped in milk.

4. Housing

4.1. The housing was very different for the rich and for the poor in Rome. Wealthy Romans lived in grand houses, built of stone and marble. Thick walls shut out the noise and dirt of the city. They had an indoor pool to keep the atrium cool. Many of the poor crowded into tall apartment buildings. Others lived in small apartments above the shops where they worked. Without proper kitchens, the poor cooked their meals on small portable grills, which filled the rooms with smoke. The poor lived in very terrible conditions.

5. Education

5.1. If you grew up in ancient Rome, your education would depend on the type of family that you were born into. Many poor children in Rome were sent to work instead of to school. The typical Roman school day started out very early in the morning. On the way to school, the children usually stopped at local breakfast bars and bought beans, nuts, and freshly baked bread to munch on while they walked to class. Students sat on small stools around the tutor. The typical school day lasted until two or three o'clock.

6. Recreation

6.1. There were several forms of recreation in ancient Rome. Wealthy Romans had a lot of leisure, because slaves did the work. The rich enjoyed plays in theaters and musical performances in one another's homes. Both the rich and poor often relaxed in Rome's public baths. A favorite gathering place was the Circus Maximus. It was a huge racetrack with room for 200,000 spectators. Men and women sat in separate sections in the Colosseum.

7. Country Life

7.1. Rome was one of many cities scattered throughout the Roman Empire. But 90% of the empire's citizens lived in the country and the poor had VERY different lives. Wealthy Romans often owned country mansions, called villas. A villa was a place for a wealthy Roman to invest their money in raising crops and livestock. Slaves did much of the actual work of farming. Overseers, or supervisors, kept a close eye on the slaves and often treated them very cruelly and harshly.

8. Daily Life in Ancient Rome

8.1. The Romans had a gathering place called the Forum. Wealthy Roman women had their own slaves to do work for them. Lots of soldiers marched through the streets. There were hundreds of thousands of slaves that strolled the streets for their owners. Wealthy Romans decorated their homes with statues, fountains, and fine pottery. The rich were only a small part of the Roman population. Most of the population lived on the countryside, but they also had large cities too.

9. Law and Order

9.1. The Romans always believed in the rule of the law. Most of the Roman laws were very strict, but that was because crime was very common in Rome. Romans tried to protect themselves from crime by dressing less wealthier than they really were. The police rarely patrolled the poorer streets and mostly watched the wealthier areas. Some areas were so violent at night that they had to be closed. The poor were often not citizens and had way harsher punishments than the wealthy did. Sometimes they were even tortured.