Daily Life in Ancient Rome

Introduction:

What do we mean by "Roman Daily Life"?

What the Romans did depended on who they were: rich or poor; slave or free; male or female; parent or child -- and on it goes.

The Sources:

1. Literature does not represent or even intend to represent reality, as we think of that term 'real.'

2. Archaeological sources are essential.

Pompeii

Herculaneum

Ostia

I. The Flow of the Day: How might a typical day progress?

A. Time:

1. What about clocks and watches?

2. The flow of the Roman day and its activities were set by day and night.

B. What might a typical morning, afternoon, and evening be?

1. Morning:

a. Romans rose early, often before dawn. Why?

-- daylight, noise, heat

b. What would you put on; what would you wear?

(1) Underclothes? indumenta

the licium

a linen bra

(2) For an outer garment?

tunic:

toga: a large circle of white woolen material 2.7 meters in diameter.

c. A word on cosmetics and hairstyles:

(1) Cosmetics were made from natural ingredients, such as charcoal and saffron.

(2) Chalk and while lead were used to whiten the face.

(3) In the late first and early second centuries, elaborate hairstyles became popular for women.

(4) At other times less elaborate styles with waves and braidings were popular.

(5) The hair was usually fixed at home by slaves.

d. Jentaculum (breakfast) and preparing for the day ahead.

2. Afternoon and Evening (food and business):

a. Food and Hygiene

(1). prandium (lunch)

(2). siesta

(3). baths

(4). cena

simple hors d'oeuvres (egg dishes; salads; shellfish)

a course of roasted or boiled meat with a simple vegetable and a sweet (most often a fruit)

b. Occupations

(1) Kamm: "The mass of the population of Rome had welfare benefits of a kind and on a scale never matched before and hardly since, even in Germany under Hitler's cunning regime in the years leading up to the Second World War" (102).

--- the grain and monetary distributions

--- the large number of holidays, 159 per year in the reign of Claudius.

(2) Occupations centered around the provision of daily needs (barbers, bakers, wine sellers, oil sellers, construction, finances, trade, government, and artisans).

(3) Fasti (could conduct judicial and civil business) and Nefasti (business suspended)

(4) Jobs do convey status (Cicero)

--- low end: occupations that incur people's mistrust and contempt (tax gatherers, money lenders, unskilled manual labor)

--- not so good: re-sale dealers; workshop artisans; trades for only the sensual appetites, such as butchers, cooks, fishermen, perfumers, dancers, low-end performers

--- good: medicine, architecture, teaching at a decent level; large business trading

--- best: agriculture and landowner

II. The Roman House: villa (a large estate); a domus (a single family home); and an apartment or small room in a shared tenant building called an insulae. Roman houses are often designed around an open courtyard (atrium).

A. Basic Floor Plan: fauces -- atrium -- tablinum axis From the fauces one is typically able to look the length through the atrium into the tablinum which is framed by the end of the atrium

1. The Remaining Rooms:

Ala: A small room off the atrium

Compluvium: a quadrangular opening in the roof over the atrium. Rainwater flowed through this opening and was collected in a small pool called the impluvium.

Peristyle: an open courtyard or garden area surrounded by a colonnade.

Triclinium: dining room

Culina: Kitchen

Latrina: toilet

Exedra: an oblong room or hall for entertaining guests

Oecus: a small salon used for entertaining -- den

Cubiculum: Bedroom or sitting room often located on a second floor.

Vestibula: The area just in front of the main entrance of the house.

Taberna: shop area typically situated on the street side.

2. Furniture:

(1). Bed

(2). Mensa

(3). Chairs

3. The typical was practical rather than extravagant.

Solid shutters (no glass) kept out the light

Furnished modestly

Only wealthiest of house had any heating or indoor plumbing.

B. Apartments: insulae.

III. The Family (pater familias, marriage, and education)

A. pater familias

1. What the pater familias was not.

2. The pater familias did have legal authority.

--- disposal and distribution of all family property

--- the legal authority to discipline his family

--- the right to expose any unwanted children.

In short the pater was responsible before the law for the well-being and prosperity of his family.

B. Marriage

1. Ages:

2. Motivation:

3. Ceremonies and Types:

manus

sine manu.

concubinatus

IV. The Roman woman

A. Comparably had more rights and privileges than women of some other cultures.

--- inherit property

--- she was not excluded from the males in the family at meal time or while sleeping

--- some did hold jobs outside the home (Eumachia)

B. At home

V. Education:

A. Parents: primarily in Rome from the mother or an older relative, sometimes an educated servant.

B. ludi literarii or elementary school: from age of seven;; both girls and boys of the upper classes; learned reading, writing, and math.

C. Grammaticus: Boys went on the grammar school, where the curriculum emphasized Greek and Latin Literature.

D. Adoption:

E. Study Abroad: The most privileged education included a tour of Greece, Sicily, and Rhodes for study in the famed schools or philosophy and oratory.

VI. Games:

Introduction:

The Romans loved simple gaming (pick-up games of odds and even, and basic board games with dice).

The Romans liked to gamble and betting on the games (small and large) was a good part of the fun.

Romans were also fond of the theater and the races. They enjoyed blood-sport.

A. There were basically two types of games:

ludi scaenici (theatrical events)

ludi circenses (chariot racing; wild beast demonstrations; and gladiatorial contests).

1. Chariot Races:

a. Where? A stadium is an oval track about 200 meters long with seating stands down one or both sides (spina).

Circus Maximus;

Stadium of Gaius and Nero

Stadium of Domitian

b. How were the races run?

--- The standard race was with four horse chariots.

--- The typical race was seven laps, which is just a little over 5 miles.

--- 24 different races were held on the average racing day. --- factions: green, read, blue, and white.

--- fame and fortune: Gaius Appuleius Diocles, raced for 24 years and had 1,462 wins out of 4,257 starts.

--- These chariot races remained popular even in Rome's decline and lasted until 549 A.D.

2. The venationes were fights between wild beasts.

--- 186 BC under M. Fulvius Nobilior.

--- More common Italian animals (deer, wild boar, bears, and bulls) or more imported rarities crocodile, hippos, rhinoceros, apes, even giraffes.

---Wild beast baitings were often on a large scale: for a more extreme example, in Trajan's games of 107 B.C. 11,000 wild animals were slaughtered.

3. The gladiatorial contests (munera):

Origin:

264 B.C. in an exhibition to honor the death of D. Junius Brutus Pera.

Etruria and Campania, where such games were held as a religious right to honor the dead

Rapid Growth in Popularity:

It was in 105 BC that the Romans first put on gladiatorial games at state expense. When Julius Caesar was aedile, he put on a total of 320 pairs. When Titus opened the Colosseum in 80 A.D. several thousand fought in pairs or teams.

Who were the gladiators?: slaves, prisoners of war, or condemned criminals, and very infrequently a member of the lowest class who used such contests to gain popularity and fame.

A Business:

Gladiator Troupes

Training

Capua and Spartacus

Rome: the ludus magnus

Types of Gladiators:

Samnites: with huge rectangular shields, short swords, greaves, and visored helmets

Thracians carried small round shields and curved swords

Retiarii had a trident, net, and dagger

Secutores had a shield, sword, and helmet with a visor

Andabatae fought in armor on horses;

Essedarii fought from chariots.

4. Naumachia was a staged naval battle.

Julius Caesar

The biggest naumachia ever held was staged by Claudius in 52 A.D.

B. The Colosseum

Nero and the name:

The Flavian Amphitheater:

Not the first but the largest:

Efficient Design:

Some Details: The amphitheater is not round, but an elliptical structure 188 x 156 meters and 49 meters high. The first floor was Doric, the second Ionic, and the third floor Corinthian. The entirety was covered in white Travertine marble.