Daily Life of Romans

1. Daily Life of Romans Will your family life effect your future?

2. A Mix of People • At the height of their glory Rome had the most beautiful monuments and buildings in the world • Wealth and goods flowed into to Rome from all over the empire, tourists and merchants flocked to the city, narrow streets were jammed with people and carts stuck in traffic • Society made up of a few rich people, many poor people and slaves • Wealthy had luxuries like never seen before • Most free Romans poor and jobless surviving on handouts from the gov’t

3. Luxury • Rich had elegant homes in city and country estates called villas, plenty of food in country, famous for overdoing amounts of food • Wealthy Romans ate like the emperor, having large feasts, with wild game or a wild boar, special occasion required exotic dishes like flamingo, ostrich, or ape, some times a snack was a dormouse baked in honey • Feasts had entertainment with musicians, dancers, and performers reciting poems

4. The Poor • The world of the poor extremely different from life of wealthy • People lived in large concrete apartments with public bathrooms at the end of the hall, kitchens did not exist and some cooked on fires in the middle of the room, many carried food upstairs, waste and trash had to be carried down or thrown from a window • Most houses made of wood, fires were frequent and deadly, in 64 A.D. destroyed most of city

5. Bread and Circuses • Poor needed wheat to survive, when harvests bad or shipments late, poor rioted, emperors provided wheat to poor • Emperors also provided entertainment, held in Colosseum or round arenas called Circuses • Shows could be violent, rich and poor crowded to see, animal fighting animal, like bear and dogs, or lion and bear; animals fighting humans like a rhino hunt, humans fighting humans, gladiators; and army fighting army in recreations of famous battles, sometimes they would come for public executions of people, chariot races, plays by the Greeks, Jugglers, amazing feats • Shows progressed throughout the day and the highlight was gladiators, trained killers who fought to the death, surviving as a gladiator for 10yrs meant freedom, if put down in a match a thumbs up signaled death, down saved for another day

6. Family Life • Many Romans had a strong sense of values, including family life, writings filled with happy family life, dedication and love • Gov’t rewarded families for having a lot of children • Father absolute power in house, owned the wife children, slaves and furniture, early days could sell children into slavery • Women enjoyed freedom in proportion to husband’s wealth and status, Wealthy extremely independent, wives of famous men became famous themselves • Wives and mothers of emperors gained political power as well

7. Slavery • Slavery common in Rome, every wealthy family had slaves, even poor families might own one, few slaves paid for their work, slaves well taken care of, yet had no rights, relationship varied from trusting, used to raise children and companionship, rising to important positions in household • Household slaves fortunate, others led short brutal lives, slaves on farms worked chained together in the fields, slept in chains, Slaves in mines lived very short lives, gladiators risked death and warships were powered by trained slaves • Some slave saved tips to buy freedom, might have special skills like chariot racers