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HOMES OF THE PATRICIANS
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4eF1tw8_nU
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqodAR80AtQ
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The houses of patrician families were called called villas. These villas
included:
(a) Atrium – a hall open to the sky. Had marble columns and bronze statues
of gods or of the owner. There were pools, fountains and flowers.
(b) Walled garden – called a peristyle
(c) Bedrooms
(d) Dining Room
(e) Kitchen - Culina
(f) Reception Rooms
(g) Storerooms
(h) Slaves quarters
(i) Surrounded by high walls
(j) Very few windows on the street side for protection
(k) There was very little furniture – just chairs, couches, tables and beds
(l) Floors had colourful mosaics.
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HOMES OF THE PLEBIANS – pg 58
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 Plebian families lived in blocks of flats called insulae
 Four or five stories high – the higher up you were, the cheaper the
rent.
 Had to carry buckets of water upstairs
 No indoor toilets – used public toilets or pots
 The content of these pots was thrown out of the window onto the
streets.
 Shops at street level
 Made of wood – fires were common
 Flats were small – whole families (grandparents also) crammed into
one or two rooms.
 Probably just used them for sleeping
 Dangerous to cook food because of fires – ate at food
shops/takeaways called thermopolia
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What was life like for a Roman family?
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 The father had the power of life or death over everyone. When a new baby was
born it would be laid at its father's feet - if the father picked the baby up it would
live, but if he ignored the baby it would be taken away to die.
 Men often beat their wives and children and could sell them into slavery.
 Women were expected to run the home, cook meals, and raise children. If they
were wealthy, women were lucky; they had slaves to do the work. Women could
not become citizens or vote in elections.
 Women could inherit property and some were successful in business. Some
plebian women ran shops, worked in trades and crafts and were especially good
at weaving, silverwork and making perfumes.
 Many girls were married at the age of 14. Marriages were often arranged between
families. A man could divorce his wife if she did not give birth to a son. Many
women died young (in their 30s), because childbirth could be dangerous, and
diseases were common.
FOOD - PLEBIANS
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 PLEBIANS
 Did not each much during the day – mostly in the evening.
 For breakfast Plebians ate bread dipped in wine with olives,
cheese or raisins. Some could only afford porridge.
 For lunch they usually had cold food such as bread, salad, fruit
and nuts or a vegetable soup. Drank wine mixed with water.
 Meat was a luxury, unless they lived in the countryside and
could go hunting or fishing. Poor people did not have kitchens
in their homes, so they would often buy takeaways like
sausages or fried fish from the food shops.
FOOD - PATRICIANS
The upper class Romans (patricians) had dinners that were quite
elaborate. The men had the dinner parties; (decent) women and children
ate separately. They usually ate a three course meal and they lasted for
several hours.
STARTERS
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. For starters there were savoury titbits such as oysters, mussels, and
raw or cooked vegetables. A favourite food was stuffed dormice.
MAIN COURSE
The main course was usually roast or boiled meat, covered in rich,
spicy sauces. Romans used rich sauces to over up the taste of food
that was not very fresh. Some Romans liked to eat snails fattened
on milk, peacocks' brains and flamingos' tongues.
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DESSERT
For desserts, Romans ate pastries, nuts
and fruit such as figs and grapes.
Honey was used to sweet the food because they did not
know about sugar.
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Clothing & Hair Styles
The official dress of a Roman citizen as the toga. It looked like a white sheet 9
yards long. Togas were arranged very carefully, in a stylish way.
Togas fell out of style rather early. (The toga was inconvenient, and people felt
the cold when they wore it.) To get anyone to wear them, even very early emperors
had to legislate the wearing of togas by at least senators. Eventually, the emperors
gave up.
The Roman men switched to comfortable tunics like a long T-shirt to the knee.
These were tied at the waist and were far more practical. Tunics were made of cool
linen, for summer wear, and warm wool, for winter wear.
Roman women wore long tunics belted at the waist. After she married (could be
as young as 12) they wore a long woollen tunic over this called a stola.
The common Roman
footwear,
The Roman soldier's
military sandal,
• Roman men usually wore only one ring, and hairstyles
and beards changed with the times
• Women used plenty of makeup, often dyed their hair
golden-red and loved to wear jewellery – rings earrings,
bracelets and necklaces.
Both men and women wore leather sandals in the house
and shoes outside.
• Children wore a special locket around their neck, given
to them at birth, called a bulla. It contained an amulet as
a protection against evil and was worn on a chain, cord,
or strap.
•
ENTERTAINMENT
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 CIRCUS MAXIMUS
 ROMAN BATHS
 COLOSSEUM
CIRCUS MAXIMUS
The ancient Romans loved chariot racing. In early Roman times, young nobles
used to race their chariots around the 7 hills of Rome. People had to scatter
to get out of the way. They stopped for no one.
In the 6c BCE (about 2,500 years ago!), the ancient Romans built the Circus
Maximus in the city of Rome. Basically, the Maximus was a race track. It was
designed to race chariots. Women could attend the races. They could sit with
men. That was very unusual.
Usually four teams competed in the race. They were called after colours: The
Reds, the Greens, the Whites and the Blues. The fans wore the colours of
their team and there was heavy betting on each race. Four horses would run
side by side pulling the chariots at breakneck speed. They raced around the
track seven times (about 8 Kilometres). Crashes were common.
The original Circus Maximus was built out of wood. It burnt down a couple of
times. During the Roman Empire, the Circus Maximus was rebuilt using marble
and concrete (an ancient Roman invention!).
The Circus Maximus was not the only circus in the Roman Empire. The
Romans built circuses (outdoor racetracks) all over the Empire. The Circus
Maximus was the most well- known race track.
It could seat over 250,000 people! Admission was free. Anyone could attend
the races, including Rome's poor. There were races every day. It was the
height of success to race in the Circus Maximus.
ROMAN BATHS
The ancient Romans loved bathing. The Public Baths were extremely popular.
Roman women and men tried to visit the baths at least once every day.
Sometimes they might hit the baths first, and then wander down to the Forum,
although many did prefer to get their shopping done early.
In all but the largest baths, there were separate hours for men and women.
The women's time slot was apparently much shorter, so that women probably
had to be more careful scheduling. Large baths had duplicate facilities.
Slaves would wait on you and massage you with olive oil. Then if you wished
you could go to the exercise yards and do weightlifting or wrestling. You could
relax with your friends in the warm room or else go to the hot room called the
caldarium which had a tub of very hot water in which you could sit. The cold
room, called the frigidarium, had a refreshingly cool pool. They also had steam
rooms, saunas, exercise rooms, and hair cutting salons. They had reading
rooms and libraries, and many shops.
They even had stores, selling all kinds of things. People sold hot fast food.
The baths were arranged rather like a very large mall, with bathing pools.
The baths were packed. The people loved them. At one time, there were as
many as 900 public baths in ancient Rome. Small ones held about 300 people,
and the big ones held 1500 people or more! Some Roman hospitals even had
their own bathhouses. A trip to the bath was a very important part of ancient
Roman daily life.
Could kids use the baths? No. Was there an admission charge to the baths?
Yes, but they were cheap. Could slaves use the baths? Properly, no - but the
people who could brought their slave attendants with them.
THE COLOSSEUM
The Colosseum was a huge public entertainment centre near to the Forum.
It was like a football stadium and could seat nearly 50,000 spectators. Some
people were not lucky enough to have a seat in the Colosseum. If you didn't
mind standing, it could hold up to 70,000 spectators! Sometimes a great
awning would be drawn across to protect the audience from the hot sun.
There were special seats for the patricians and important people like the
emperor.
This is where the ancient Romans gathered to watch bloody combat between
gladiators, and battles between men and wild animals. This is where they
threw people to the lions! To see men being killed was very entertaining to
the ancient Romans. On occasion, they flooded the Colosseum with water, to
hold naval battles. During the battles, many competitors died.
Gladiators were usually slaves and belonged to the men who managed the
fights. Each man had his team of fighters. Gladiators wore armour and had to
fight each other. Sometimes both men had swords, but sometimes one man
had a sword while the other had a net and a spear. He would try to entangle
his opponent in the net and kill him with the spear.
The fight lasted until one man was killed or too badly wounded to go on. The
crowd would then shout its opinion of the winner. People who thought he
had fought well would cheer. Others would boo and yell for his death. The
emperor then gave the signal. If he raised his thumb, the gladiator lived. If
he turned it down, he died.
Successful gladiators were often adored by their fans, a little bit like film stars
today. If they lived, they could win their freedom and retire as wealthy men.
The ancient Romans were great builders. They built things to last. The
Colosseum was built of concrete, faced with stone, as were most
amphitheaters. It was built in the early days of the Roman Empire, around 70
CE. It was designed to host huge spectacles. Anyone could attend the events
in the Colosseum. Admission was free.