Daily life in the Roman Empire

1. Daily life

1.1. Rome was full of beautiful temples, stately palaces, and flowering gardens. The city also had Forums, where wealthy women shopped with their slaves who were caught in war. There were proud senators who were guarded by their bodyguards, there were soldiers who marched through streets, and merchants and craftspeople who labored the trades. Wealthy Romans spent great sums of money on silks, perfumes, jeweled weapons, and musical instruments. They decorated their homes with statues, fountains, and fine pottery.

2. Law and Order

2.1. In the empire, the ultimate source of law was the emperor. Even in the empire, however, Romans honored some of their old traditions. The Senate continued to meet, and senators had high status in society. Roman laws were strict, but crime was common in Rome, and under the empire, Roman law was not spread equally. If a poor person did a crime, they would have to pay harsher punishments than the wealthy.

3. Religion

3.1. The Romans had many gods from different cultures to form their own group of them. The Romans wanted to please the gods because they believed that they controlled their daily lives. They had shrines and temples where people made offerings such as animals and food to the gods. Each house had an alter where the family could worship their own household gods. Foreigners brought many new religion traditions, and the empire excepted most of them, unless they discouraged loyalty.

4. Family Life

4.1. In richer families, husbands often held well-paid political positions. In poor families, both husbands and wives had to work in order to feed and care for themselves and their children. Wealthy Roman women ran their households, bought and trained slaves, had money of their own, and were active in business. Romans only kept strong, healthy babies. If a baby was disapproved, it was left to die or to be taken as a slave.

5. Recreation

5.1. The rich enjoyed plays in theaters and musical performances in each other’s homes. Both rich and poor often relaxed at Rome’s public baths, where they could bathe, swim, and enjoy a massage. Roman emperors gave the poor food and entertainment (such as bread and chariot races and gladiator contests) to keep them happy. Both men and women, usually slaves, were gladiators.

6. Food and Drink

6.1. Whatever Romans cooked and ate was based on whether they were rich or poor. The main foods in ancient Rome were bread, beans, spices, a few vegetables, cheeses, and meats. For breakfast, most Romans had a piece of bread, and a bowl of beans or porridge. Lunch usually included things like cheese and bread, or even olives and celery. Dinners for the poor included chunks of fish, some asparagus, and a fig. Wealthy Romans often had mice cooked in honey, roasted parrots stuffed with dates, salted jellyfish, and snails dipped in milk. Roman markets offered many choices to those who could afford them.

7. Education

7.1. Many poor children in Rome were sent to work and not school, where they learned trades such as metalworking and leather working, to help raise money for their families. 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, where they were taught Latin, Greek, math, science, literature, music, and public speaking. Upper-class boys stayed in school until age 12 or 13, but boys from very wealthy families often continued school until they were 16.

8. Housing

8.1. Housing was very different for the rich and the poor. The rich had spacious, airy homes built with stone or marble, while the poor had dark, small apartments made of wood. Others lived in small apartments above the shops where they worked. The wealthy's homes were covered with murals, mosaics, and statues. The poor's homes were filled with dirt, filth, and disease-carrying rats.

9. Country Life

9.1. Ninety percent of the empire's people lived in the country, where poor and rich still had very different lives. Wealthy Romans often owned country estates with large homes, called villas. The poor lived in huts and worked their own small farms, trying to earn enough to survive. They also could have labored on the estates, tending the animals, helping with the crops, or working as servants.