1.2. Roman citizens wore a semi-circular piece of cloth called a toga
1.3. It was folded over one shoulder
1.4. men wore white togas made of wool or linen
1.5. Senators wore a toga with a purple stripe as a mark of their rank
1.6. Women wore long dresses called a stola, dyed different colors
1.7. Often they wore a long shawl called a palla
1.8. Ordinary Romans wore clothes of wool or linen but the rich could afford cotton and silk
1.9. Roman clothes were held with pins and brooches
1.10. Both men and women wore wigs and false teeth
2. A Rich Roman's Life
2.1. Rich people enjoyed luxuries such as mosaics and panes of glass in windows and even a form of central heating called a hypocaust.
2.2. Wealthy Romans also had wall paintings called murals in their houses
2.3. The wealthy owned very comfortable furniture
2.4. It was upholstered and finely carved
2.5. People ate while reclining on couches
2.6. Furthermore some people had a piped water supply
2.7. Water was brought into towns in aqueducts they went along lead pipes to wealthy individual houses
2.8. Many wealthy Romans owned large estates in the countryside called villas
2.9. They were usually arranged to be self-sufficient
2.10. As well as farm workers there were craftsmen like a blacksmith, a carpenter and a potter
2.11. If the owner of the villa was absent a man called a villicus and his wife the villica ran the villa
3. Roman Education
3.1. The sons and daughters of better off Romans went to a primary school called a ludus at the age of 7 to learn to read and write and do simple arithmetic
3.2. At 12 or 13 boys went to secondary school where they would learn geometry, history, literature and oratory
3.3. Teachers were often Greek slaves
3.4. The teachers were very strict and they frequently beat the pupils
3.5. Boys and girls from rich Roman families were educated at home by a tutor
3.6. Children wrote on wax tablets with a pointed bone stylus
4. Roman Food
4.1. A Roman dining room was called a triclinium
4.2. The Romans ate a breakfast of bread and fruit called the ientaculum
4.3. At midday they ate a meal called the prandium of fish, cold meat, bread and vegetables
4.4. The main meal was called the cena and was eaten in the evening
4.5. The Romans were also very fond of fish sauce called liquamen
4.6. They also liked oysters, which were exported from Britain
5. Roman Women
5.1. In Rome women could not vote or hold public office.
5.2. However women were allowed to own and inherit property and some ran businesses.
5.3. In certain trades some women helped their husbands, especially in silver working and perfumery
5.4. Furthermore some women were priestesses or worked as midwives or hairdressers
5.5. Some women were gladiators. However in the Roman Empire most jobs were done by men.
5.6. Most women were fully occupied with looking after children and doing tasks like spinning wool for the family
5.7. Rich women had more freedom, especially if they were widows
5.8. Roman women could also divorce their husbands
6. Roman Towns
6.1. In Rome poor people lived in blocks of flats called insulae
6.2. Most were at least five stories high. However they were often badly built, and their walls sometimes cracked and roofs caved in
6.3. Most people lived in just one or two rooms.
6.4. Furniture was very basic
6.5. Rooms were heated by charcoal burned in braziers
6.6. The inhabitants used public lavatories
6.7. Most obtained water from public fountains and troughs
6.8. It was too dangerous for the inhabitants of insulae to cook indoors and they had to buy hot food from shops
6.9. in the center of every Roman town was a rectangular space called the Forum
6.10. It was lined by shops and by a public building called the basilica. Markets were also held on the forum.
7. Roman Games
7.1. In the towns another important building was the public baths
7.2. In Roman times people went to the baths not just to get clean but also to socialize
7.3. Roman Baths consisted of a frigidarium or cold room, a Tepidarium or warm room and a caldarium or hot room
7.4. You usually finished with a dip in a cold pool
7.5. To clean themselves Romans rubbed their skin with oil and scraped it off with a tool called a strigil
7.6. Larger towns also had an amphitheater where 'sports' such as cock fighting were held and sometimes gladiators fought to the death. Some Roman towns also had theater
7.7. In Rome there was a great amphitheater called the Coliseum
7.8. It was built in 80 AD and could hold as many as 55,000 people
7.9. A sun shade or velarium could be unfurled over the heads of the spectators
7.10. The people of Rome were also very fond of chariot racing
7.11. There were four teams, greens, blues, reds and whites
7.12. Their supporters often gambled on the outcomes of races treated the charioteers as heroes
7.13. However being a charioteer was dangerous and often ended in early death
7.14. The Romans gambled with dice
7.15. They also played board games
7.16. Roman children played with wooden or clay dolls and hoops
7.17. They also played ball games and board games
7.18. They also played with toy carts and with animal knuckle bones
8. Roman Society
8.1. At its height the population of the city of Rome was probably over one million
8.2. However the Roman Empire was an agricultural society where most people made their living from farming
8.3. Only a small minority of the population lived in towns
8.4. in the Roman Empire there were two types of people - citizens and non-citizens
8.5. Roman citizens had certain privileges
8.6. From 89 BC all inhabitants of Italy were made Roman citizens
8.7. In 212 AD century all free people in the Roman Empire were made citizens
8.8. In Rome the upper class were called patricians
8.9. The Senators who ruled Rome came from patrician families
8.10. Below them were the equites
8.11. They were merchants and bankers and sometimes civil servants or army officers
8.12. All other free people were called plebeians
8.13. Often they had to live off a 'dole' of free grain provided by the government
8.14. Many of the inhabitants of Rome were slaves.
8.15. Prisoners of war were made slaves and any children slaves had were automatically slaves
8.16. A slave's life was no doubt horrid
8.17. Most were probably treated reasonably just to keep them working efficiently
8.18. Slaves who worked in mines probably suffered most
8.19. Some slaves did manage to save enough money to buy their freedom
8.20. Other were granted their freedom by their owners
