Daily Life in Ancient Rome

1. Family Life

1.1. The family was ruled by the paterfamilias or father of the family. If the father didn't approve of a newborn baby, they would either leave it outside to die or claim that it was a slave. Girls would usually be called an adult between age 12 and 18.

2. Food and Drink

2.1. The main foods in ancient Rome were bread, beans, spices, a few vegetables, cheeses, and meats. Favorite drinks included plain water and hot water with herbs and honey. For dinner, poor Romans might have chunks of fish along with some asparagus and a fig for dessert. Wealthy Romans ate more elaborate dinners. Besides the main part of the meal, they had special appetizers. Some favorites were mice cooked in honey, roasted parrots stuffed with dates, salted jellyfish, and snails dipped in milk.

3. Housing

3.1. The spacious, airy homes of the rich stood side by side with the small, dark apartments that housed the poor. The rich houses had large mosaics and work of art in them. The apartments were cramped, noisy, and dirty. Filth and disease-carrying rats caused sickness to spread rapidly. Fire was another danger. Many of the buildings were made of wood, and the cooking grills caught fire easily. In 64 C.E., a disastrous fire broke out that burned down much of the city.

4. Education

4.1. In wealthier families, boys and girls were tutored by their fathers, or often by slaves, until they were about six years old. Then boys went off to school. Classes were held in public buildings and private homes. Many of the tutors were educated Greek slaves. Once at school, students sat on small stools around the tutor. They used a pointed pen, called a stylus, to copy down lessons on small, wax-covered wooden boards. When the lesson was over, they rubbed out the writing with the flat end of the stylus so they could use the board again. The school day lasted until two or three o’clock in the afternoon.

5. Recreations

5.1. The rich enjoyed plays in theaters and musical performances in one another’s homes. Both rich and poor often relaxed at Rome’s public baths. There they could bathe, swim, exercise, and enjoy a steam bath or a massage. The baths also had gardens, libraries, shops, and art galleries. They also watched gladiators in the Colosseum. They would also go to the Circus Maxims to watch chariot races

6. The Romans valued the beauty in their city. It was lined with beautiful temples and gardens. The heart of Rome was the Forum. This is where they would trade, work and gather.

6.1. Daily life in Rome

7. Law and Order

7.1. The Roman republic was mostly ran by the senate. They made all the laws. But in the older times, what the emperor said, was the law. The people in the higher part of the social class usually had body guards to protect them.

8. Religion

8.1. The Romans adopted many Greek gods and worshiped them as their own. They would offer the gods gifts to cure their ill and injured. They also developed holidays for their gods.

9. Country Life

9.1. 90 percent of the empire’s people lived in the country. There, too, rich and poor had very different lives. When they went to the country, wealthy estate owners checked up on how their farms were being managed. But they had plenty of time left over for reading and writing, as well as for hunting, picnicking, and taking long walks. The empire’s farms provided much of the food for Rome and other cities.