Daily Life in the Roman Empire

1. Daily Life in Ancient Rome (Section 2)

1.1. Though Rome was a city of beautiful temples, palaces, and garden, very few of it's one million inhabitants could afford to enjoy them. While the rich strolled through the forum with their body guards and slaves, the poor people labored in dirty, disease-filled neighborhoods. To keep this injustice from turning the less-fortunate into an angry mob, the emperor held free festivals and gladiator fights as an appeasement.

2. Education (Section 8)

2.1. The education in Rome depended on what family you were born into, as while the poor worked instead of going to school, learning trades like leather and metalworking to support their families, wealthier boys and girls got tutored until age six, when the boys would go off to school , which was usually taught in a public building or private home, the tutors often being educated slaves. Typical school days began early, student walking through crowded streets and stopping at breakfast bars to grab something to eat, the boys sitting on stools around a tutor once they reached school and using a stylus and a reusable wax-covered board to write, leaving at the end of the day around three in the afternoon. Boys learned Latin, Greek, math, science, literature, music, and public speaking, becoming soldiers, doctors, politicians and lawyers while girls became dentists, real-estate agents or tutors, freed woman slaves having the opportunity to become midwifes. Upper class boys were schooled until ages twelve through thirteen, while boys who came from richer parents stayed in school until sixteen, when they began to manage their own properties.

3. Recreation (Section 9)

3.1. The Romans had many forms of recreation, ranging from plays and musical performances to going to baths, something both the rich and the poor did to swim and relax. Roman emperors often supplied the poor with 'bread and circus', food and entertainment, to keep them happy and busy, both classes going to the Circus Maximus and gladiator fights, where slaves and prisoners fought to the death against each other and wild animals. The Circus Maximus was more tame then the gladiator fights as it was a chariot race, and both men and woman could mix for this one, instead of the women having to stay in the higher up seats like with gladiator fightf, which provided them with poor views of the fight and gore.

4. Country Life (Section 10)

4.1. Though the Roman's had many cities spread throughout the empire, 90% of the population lived in the country, the situations of the rich and poor were still being very different, as the rich lived in beautiful villas while the poor suffered, using these estates as a place to relax, read, write, hunt and take walks while also checking up on how their farms were being managed. The farms the rich owned provided much of Rome's food, as they grew grain for bread, grapes for wine, olives for oil, and other assorted animals such as goats and sheep, which provided cheese and leather as well as pigs and cattle for their meat, some farmers even keeping bees to make honey. The slaves did much of the work, though, and were treated cruelly by the supervisors. The poor, on the other hand, had hard lives, as they lived in huts and tended their own small farms, trying to earn enough to survive, while some of them were even employed in estates, doing task such as tending the animals, helping with crops. or working as servants.

5. Law and Order (Section 3)

5.1. The Roman's, who believed in the rule of law, had a council of the Senate in ruling as well as the emperor, who's word was usually law. Senators were given privilege in society, and might wear a special toga or pin. Though Roman law was strict crimes such as murder, assault, and robbery were common, and citizens were forced to take protection measures such as to hide their wealth or command their wives and children to avoid going to certain streets or alone. Though there was crime, the Roman's believed that anyone could be brought to court, but the law was still harsher to the poor.

6. Religion (Section 4)

6.1. Religion was important to the Romans, and they adopted many gods, some from other cultures like the Greeks. They wanted to please the gods, leaving sacrifices in shrines, and if someone was sick they would leave a clay model of the injured body part as part of their prayer to remind the gods. Roman's also held festivals for their gods, even eventually thinking of the emperor as a god. As foreigners came, though, they brought new religions to Rome, but the Roman's allowed them as long as they did not encourage disloyalty to the emperor.

7. Family Life (Section 5)

7.1. The usual Roman Family was ruled by a paterfamilias, the father, who was expected to provide for his family. The woman ran the household and were expected to have their baby's at home, who would only live after birth if the father approved. Babies were named after they were nine days old and given a special good luck charm called a bulla in a ceremony, boys offering this bulla as well as their child hood toys to the gods in a coming-of-age ceremony. Girls were not given a ceremony, as they became adults when they were married, and their husband could only become paterfamilias when their own dad died.

8. Food and Drink (Section 6)

8.1. The rich and poor Romans each had a different meal experience, the rich having a kitchen while the poor ate at a thermopolia, a sort of fast food place or at home, though the rich sometimes ate at the thermopolia because service was fast and convenient. The Roman diet typically consisted of bread, beans, a few vegetables, cheese, and meats, while the regular drink was water or hot water with herbs and honey. Breakfast was usually a piece of bread or porridge, lunch was cheese and bread with olives and celery, but the poor usually had chunks of fish, asparagus and figs, while the rich ate more elaborate dinners such as parrots stuffed with dates, mice roasted in honey, snails dipped in milk, and salted jellyfish. Those who could afford it went to the market to get these delicacies, which was packed with goods and produce and where merchants sued all sorts of exotic means to attract customers.

9. Housing (Section 7)

9.1. The Roman poor and rich had very different home styles, just like the food. The rich Roman's lived in grand marble houses with large front halls, pools, multiple rooms, such as the sleeping and dining room, which was filled with mosaics, statues and sometimes even a fountain to provide guests with drinking water. During dinner parties, the guests reclined in chairs while slaves fed them delicious foods and played musical instruments for enjoyment. However, the poor lived in dirty, disease-carrying rat-filled neighborhoods, staying in cramped apartments that were constantly noisy and smoke filled from the cooking grills, which also often also caused the homes to catch fire.