ROMAN LIFE IN A NUTSHELL

THE CENSUS

• Every 5 years each male citzen had to register in rome for the census
• It had to declare his family, wife, children, slaves and riches
• Should he fail to do so his possessions would be confiscated
• He would also be sold into slavery
• To free your slave the master in the census would put citizen

THE FORUM

• The forum changed 7 times but always remained at heart of city
• Except for the northern corner the forum was a square for the market
• Caesar built his new Forum on one side of the Via Sacra and the Basilica Julia on the other.

CITY SHOPS AND MARKET

• The east of the forum was the poor mans market subra
• The south lay the velabrum or general market
• Boarium or cuppedenis the market of luxury goods

SUBURA

• This was the east side or the poorer part of rome
• Julius caesar lived there before he became pontifex maximus
• Also had a large market where poor and slaves did there shopping

ROMANS IDENTITY AND HONOR

• A roman held himself at the opinion of others not the opinion of himself
• Glory or honour were also measured only in the recognition it drew from others
• only advantage to be gained from glory and honour was to use it to climb the social ladder

NOBILITY

• Nobility was either gradually built up or torn down by a family
• Three fathers was the duration required to establish a mans nobility
• The father, grandfather and great-grandfather had each to have exercised a higher magistracy

THE CLIENT SYSTEM

• A client was a loyal supporter of a high-standing roman family
• Should a patron or client die the heir would take over in the same position

POPULARES AND OPTIMATES

• the populares ('people's party') and the optimates ('senatorial party').
• old privileged families hence sought to prevent any change from reducing their powers
• The new more powerful families went to the less priviliged

RULERS OF THE REPUBLIC

• Rome was a realm of quasi kings: magistrates and senators
• The senate, made up of former magistrates
• All such powers rested effectively with the highest magistrates, the consuls

THE WORKING DAY

• A Roman would usually get up early and work a six hour day.
• This of course was only the case for working men
• the task of queuing for the tokens which granted a family its monthly grain dole was done by the men of the house
• The construction industry would also require enormous numbers

INDUSTRY

• Rome achieved an absolute lead in in jthe production of luxury goods
• Industry though flourished elsewhere Genoa, Ostia and Ravenna were Rome's major harbours
• Como, Sulmona, Salerno and Puteoli were centres of the iron industry

WOMEN

• A woman's guardian would inevitably be a man
• Girls enjoyed a similar, if not the same education as boys in early childhood
• It was usual for marriages to be arranged
• The early Romans did enact stringent controls over their women

SLAVES

• Slaves laboured in the mines and in the empire's many farms and potteries
• The state's public works were largely completed and maintained by slaves.
• Educated slaves functioning as their accountants and clerks.

EDUCATION

• In the early days of the Roman republic the education of children was completely in the hands of their parents
• Cato the Elder or Aemilius Paulus took their time to personally teach their children basic skills like counting
• boys were largely taught by their fathers, then girls were taught by their mothers

DRESS

• Roman clothing owed much to that of ancient Greece, but it had distinct forms of its own.
• first and foremost clothes needed to be simple. As for possible materials
• The needles of the day were coarse and unwieldy by modern standards Hence any stitching or sewing was kept to a minimum.

FOOD AND DRINK

• The Romans had no coffee tea sugar liqueurs, truffles potatoes French beans or even tomatoes.
• widespread vegetables were broad beans, lentils and chick peas, lettuces, cabbages and leeks.
• beverage of the Roman world, as with the Greeks, was wine

THE ARMY

• Whenever possible the monotonous army diet was naturally supplemented with whatever came to hand
• Naturally the officers of the army enjoyed a more versatile diet.
• choice cuts of pork, even piglet, chicken, venison, anchovies, oysters, eggs

THE POOR

• depended on the corn dole to supply them with grain
• 122 BC onward a grain ration was available to the Roman poor at half price
• poor will no doubt have had a healthier diet, than their urban counterparts.

THE WEALTHY

• possess the wealth to eat what they fancy, rather than what they canafford
• The dinner parties of the wealthy were elaborate, at times gluttonous affairs.
• Many dinner parties given by Roman grandees were meant to impress the guests.

LIQUAMEN

• If the rich host's ambition with exotic meats was to impress
• The main such sauce was liquamen, a intense fish sauce produced in factories
• These sauces, although sounding rather gruesome today, in fact formed much of the basis of Roman cuisine

HOLIDAYS AND THE GAMES

• These sauces, although sounding rather gruesome today, in fact formed much of the basis of Roman cuisine
• But there was also a staggering number of public holidays
• most of them became the stuff of legends, the gladiatorial combats

THE FAMILY

• In the Roman world, the family would include everyone within a certain household.
• the father of the family, the paterfamilias, the wife the children and the slaves of the household.
• it was indeed the oldest living father who ruled over his family

THE GENS

• apart from belonging to a family would also belong to a gens, which is perhaps best describe as a clan
• Nobility was established in Rome by the holding of high offices over generations, not by being born to a particular gens
• If a Roman died without any heir, not even a distant relative, then his money would be left to the gens.

FUNERAL RITES

• The Roman sense of family life applied also to a person's death
• Ideally members of the family were to be present when a Roman died
• the point if death one of his closest relations would catch his last breath with a kiss

THE ROMAN HOUSE

• One distinct difference between the civilized Roman world and the barbarians was their housing
• Rome took to housing its people in sophisticated brick-built houses

ROMAN ADRESSES

• People would state that they lived near certain landmarks
• Sometimes nameless streets would be described by what points they connected, and were referred to as 'the road to....'.
• knowledge of the Romans' lack of definite addresses helps paint a picture of the organized chaos