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Ancient Rome
Ms. Melick’s Core
Geography Rome
• A dinner party
– Romans ate with hands.
– People dressed for dinner.
– Some dinner party’s caused drunkenness and
overeating.
– Wine was usually mixed with water.
Geography Rome
• Winnowing
– Removed chaff from threshed grain by putting
chaff into basket and shook the basket from
side to side.
– Winnowing basket (side to side).
– Lighter chaff heavier grain.
Geography Rome
• Climate
– Average – January 45F.
– July – 78F.
– 38 inches of melted snow, rainfall and other
forms of nature.
– Rome mostly hills plains and mountains.
– Mountains split Italy into east and west.
Geography Rome
• Animals
– Rome had mostly African animals.
– Domesticated ox.
• Rome was surrounded by three seas
– Tyrrhenian sea
– Ionia sea
– Adriatic sea
Geography of Rome
• Food
– Grain was used a lot
– Harvested crops
• Harvest time
– Hire extra workers at harvest time to help
bring in the crop and store grain.
– They invited the vallus so that fewer workers
were needed to bring in the harvest.
Jobs in Ancient Rome
• Glass Blowers
– Made of silica soda and lime
– Melted and shaped it
– then let it dry and sold it
– The Romans recycled their glass
• Metalworking and Jewelers
– Metals mixed to make alloys
– Romans made jewelry, bone combs, knives,
mirrors
Jobs in Ancient Rome
– Roman bronze had zinc in it which made it
have gold
– Worked with metals like gold, silver, lead,
copper, iron
• Education
– Poor children worked
– Rich kids taught by father till age 6/7
– School teacher usually educated Greek slave
– Learned Latin, Greek, math, science,
literature, music, public speaking
Jobs in Ancient Rome
– Girls trained to be dentists, real estate agents,
tutors, and midwives
– Usually stayed till age 12 or 13, richer kids
stayed till 16
• Trade
– Ships went to Rome with wine
– The ships also brought grains from north
Africa to feed people
– Trade routes also went through land and sea
Jobs in Ancient Rome
– Used slow carts to carry merchandise
– Ships/carts guarded against robbers/pirates
• Transportation
– The roads covered 50,000 miles
– Designed straight roads
– Lots of ships carried goods
Roman Government
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Government officials
– council proposed laws
– Assembly voted on laws
– Senate confirmed emperor’s decisions
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Laws
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Citizens were hired to enforce laws
Laws were strict because crime was common
Some streets were so dangerous, they had to be closed at night
Frequent crimes were stealing, assault and murder
Romans tried to protect themselves from crime
All laws applied to citizens
Government had right to use physical punishment on lawbreakers
Poorer people were sometimes punished in harsher ways than rich
Laws were made to keep Rome safe and organized
Roman Government
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Court
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In Roman court lawyers represented the accused and the accuser
Any Roman could accuse somebody of a crime
A jury of citizens would decide what would happen with the case
A lawyers job was to interpret the laws in court
Romans sued each a lot
The person who had been accused would sometimes try to get the
jury’s sympathy
Emperor
– Emperor was the leader of the army
– He was the main source of law
– Emperor took advice from the senate but eventually took away their
power
– The emperor could veto laws and control any part of Rome
– There was no reliable system for choosing emperor
Roman Government
• Transportation
– Rome had paved roads that made transportation
easier
– First roads made out of packed earth and rocks
– The roads connected all Roman towns
– Romans had maps that helped them to go places
– People could carry heavy loads with carts and
chariots
– Romans had traffic laws that prevented
Roman Family Structure
• Head of the household
– Usually father
– Sometimes if it was a wealthy family mother would
run it
– Had the rights to: force daughters to get married,
divorce, sell kids into slavery, and also had the right
to punish or kill other family members
– Head of house bought/ sold the property
– Head trained & bought slaves (if they could afford it)
– Had the power to approve strong healthy babies only;
others were left to die
Family & Society
Marriage Arrangements
• Upper class daughters
- upper class daughters were married at about age
thirteen, to a man of about twenty seven
- Husbands were chosen by fathers for wealth and/or
strength (never for good looks or personality)
• Lower class women were often married at age
eighteen to twenty.
- Lower class men were married to lower class women
at about age twenty to twenty two
Family & Society
• Women’s Role
- Women were matrons
- They could not vote or even go out of their own home.
- They told family and slaves what to do and also
educated (taught) children
- Trained daughters to be future matrons
- A large number of women were slaves
Family & Society: Housing
• Rich peoples homes
- rich people had large, spacious and airy homes
- made of stone and/or marble
- walls were thick to keep loud noises from coming in
- considerably small opening in roof, and indoor pool to
keep citrium cool or warm
- rich had the fanciest dining rooms with statues in the
corners
- sometimes there were fountains in the middle to
provide clean water for guests
- had nice beds and furniture
Family & Society: Housing
(continued)
• Poor peoples houses
- they didn’t have houses; a tiny apartment or lived below
or above the shop that they worked at instead
Population
• There used to be exactly 1 million people
in Rome, and 50 million in the empire
Roman Culture
• Buildings & Concrete
– Romans learned how to build arches
– Arches=supports roof & key to building huge
structures
– Ancient Rome was first civilization to use concrete
• Houses
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Several stories/65 ft. high
Built around a courtyard
Sometimes shops on bottom floor
Family & housekeeper lived above
Roman Culture
• Builders
– Romans great builders
– Wonderful public buildings
– Invented dome
– Used many arches in buildings
• The Colosseum
– Modern marvel in Rome
– 50,000 people could exit within minutes
because of many entrances/exits
Roman Culture
• Arts
– Wall paintings-”frescoes” (fresh)
– Floors decorated with mosaics/colored tile
• Painting
– Influenced by Greek art
– Most of Roman art has been lost over time
Roman Culture
• Sculptures
– Roman sculptures very realistic
– Statues were copies of Greek work
• Gods & Goddesses
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Janus-god of beginnings
Venus-goddess of love
Vesta-spirit of health
Minerva-goddess of wisdom and of arts & crafts
No myths or stories about any of these gods
Supreme god-Jupiter-the best & greatest (Roman
form of Greek god Zeus)
Roman Culture
• Gods & Goddesses (cont.)
– Jupiter's wife Juno watches over all women
• Music
– Music played at theaters & religious
ceremonies
– Most complicated instrument was water
organ. Invented by Greek in 3rd century BCE
– Double pipes-a pair of simple flutes
Roman Culture
• Theater
– Romans copied Greek plays
– Tickets free but hard to get
– Woman not allowed to sit in front row because
they might run off with an actor
– Very entertaining
Roman Culture
• Gladiators
– Gladiators-slaves, condemned criminals, but
some normal people want to be gladiator
– Gladiators fight to death in Colosseum
– Successful gladiator=admired
– Unsuccessful=painful death
• Other Sports
– Fighting, man vs. animal
– Beasts attack criminals/Christians
Roman Culture
• Other Sports (cont.)
– Chariot Races-very popular
– Racers race around track in Circus Maximus
(seats 250,000 people)
– Long, oval
– 4 teams-red, white, blue, green
– Success=fame & fortune