Daily Life in Ancient Rome

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Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Mind Map: Daily Life in Ancient Rome

1. Section 4 Religion The Ancient Romans had lots of gods, and adopted many Ancient Greek gods, and the gods of other cultures. Gods, gods, gods. The Romans often tried to please their gods because they believed their gods controlled everything in their daily lives. They had many temples, offerings of sacrificed animals, and sometimes food. If they were hurt or sick, they would leave something in the shape of their injured part, to remind the gods which part to heal. There were many festivals and "holy days", or holidays throughout the year in order to honor their gods. Eventually the Romans grew to worship their emperors as gods.

2. Section 5 Family Life Family life was ruled by the father of the family, or paterfamilias. The father's word was law in his house, everyone in the house had to obey. That came at a price though, the men and especially the fathers had to support their family, and in poor families both the husbands and wives had to work to feed and care for their family. Another crazy thing that they did, they only kept healthy and strong babies, if the father didn't approve of the baby, it went out on the street and left to either die or be claimed as a slave. They found it odd that other cultures and countries raised all of their children, no matter what condition they were in.

3. Section 6 Food and Drink What food you ate and what drink you drank depended on how rich or poor you were. Only rich people had kitchens, poor people either used small grills or places that were like fast-food restaurants. For breakfast, usually people ate a piece of bread and a bowl of beans or porridge. Lunch might have been some cheese, some bread, and sometimes olives or celery. As for dinner, poor people might have had some chunks of fish with some asparagus and a fig for dessert, while the rich Romans would have had appetizers, then the main meal, and a favorite main meal was mice cooked in honey, with roasted parrots that were stuffed with dates, salted jellyfish, and snails dipped in milk like cookies.

4. Section 7 Housing Housing also depending on your wealth. Rich Romans had large homes made of stone and marble, with thick walls to keep dirt and noise out. They would have a hall right inside the front door that they called an atrium, which is where they received family guests, and there would be an indoor pool to keep it cool. There were many rooms, including fancy dining rooms, which would have been decorated in all kinds of art such as pictures, murals, mosaics, and statues. Poor people would have small, crowded apartments that were noisy, dirt, and crawling with rodents and insects and all of those wonderful creatures. Many of the apartments were made of wood and would catch fire easily, so that was another downside. In 64 C.E., a fire broke out and burned down a lot of the city.

5. Section 8 Education Education depended on what kind of family you were in. Most poor kids were sent to work instead of school and pretty much went straight to college/apprenticeship to help support their families with the money they earned. As for the rich, they were tutored by their dads and slaves until they were 6. Then, only the boys would go to school, but both boys and girls got tutored. Classes were either in school buildings somewhat like we have today, or in private houses. Lots of the teachers were 'educated Greek slaves'. Usually school would start early in the morning (sound familiar?) and would carry their stuff in a leather bag, much like a backpack. Upper-class people would stay in school until they were about 13, while very rich people would stay until they were about 16. Subjects taught included Latin, Greek, math, science, literature, music, and public speaking. Most turned out to be soldiers, doctors, politicians, or lawyers.

6. Section 2 Daily Life in Ancient Rome Many poorer Romans lived in areas filled with disease and crime. Children in those areas were lucky to live past age 10. There is a sort of marketplace called the forum which was commonly used by richer Romans. Said richer Romans spent a great amount of money on cosmetics.

7. Section 3 Law and Order The Ancient Romans believed in the rule of law, and in the words of one Roman judge, "Whatever pleases the emperor is the law." Government peoples were set apart from normal peoples by what they wore, and some important senators had personal bodyguards. Back on the topic of the rule by law, they had something called a fasces, which was a big bundle of sticks with an axe in the center, showing they had the power to punish law breakers. Even though they were strict about the law, crime was still common, and people pretended to be poor in order to divert attention away from themselves.

8. Section 9 Recreation 'There were many forms of recreation in Rome.' Rich people had lots of leisure, because their slaves worked for them. In their free time, they would watch plays and musicals in theaters and sometimes in friend's homes. The most popular form of entertainment were gladiator fights. The emperors would get many slaves and some wild animals and in a 1 vs. 1 fight to the death. They had their own version of a YMCA, they called it the baths. They could bathe, swim, and relax there. It's fun to stay at the... baaaths all day. Lastly, they had the Circus Maximus which would be the host spot for chariot races.

9. Section 10 Country Life 90% of the empire lived in the country. Rich Romans owned country estates, where they would have farms and a place to relax during the summer. Usually when the owners visited their estate, it would be to check up on their farms, but sometimes they would just relax. The owners would have slaves work on their farms. There were lots of slaves out in the country working on the farms of estates. The slaves were supervised by Overseers, who treated the slaves very cruelly. The lives of the slaves were hard, they lived in small huts and tended to their own tiny farms, trying to make money in order to feed themselves and keep their hut. When they weren't trying to make enough money to get by, they were working for their master(s). Someone summed up their lives by saying "He who does not work shall not eat."