3.2 The Roman Home and Family Flashcards
Who was the paterfamilias
The oldest living male in a Roman family, and the head of the household
What jobs/power did the paterfamilias have over his family
- Power of life and death over a new-born (could order for it to be exposed or killed)
- Oversee the education of his children
- Arrange a suitable marriage for daughters
- Lead worship at the household shrine
What were the lares
Household gods, representing the spirtis of the family ancestors
What were patrons and clients
The patron was a Roman who would give financial or other support to a client and in return the client would do work to boost his buisness oppourtunities
Where would schooling take place
No set location - usually the back of a shop or in the streets
When would school start
At dawn
What stage of education did girls attend
Usually only the litterator
How old were you to visit the litterator
7 - 11
What was taught at the litterator
Reading, writing and some basic arthimetic
What was a stilus and how was it used
Thin sheets of wood covered in wax made up the wax tablet. The stilus had a sharp end for marking the wax, and a flat end to smooth it out to be resued
What was papyrus
Thick reed paper invented in Egypt where students could write with pen and ink
What age would you attend the grammaticus
12 - 16
What was taught at the grammaticus
Lean and recite passages, learn mythology, learn Greek
Why was it important to learn Greek
Most people spoke Greek and was considered the language of the educated
What secondary subjects were studied at the grammaticus
Music, astronomy, philosophy, and natural science
What age would you attend the rhetor
16 +
What was taught at the rhetor
Public speaking, how to deliver speeches and debating matters of battle strategy or legal matters
What was a cena
Dinner
What would happen before a dinner party
Host and guests would spend time at the baths
How would the dinner party be arranged
3 per couch. Couches faces so reclining on left elbows, H,M,L couches where freedmen and clients on bottom one, with most important guest on top, with host near them
Courses of a dinner party
- Light appetisers of eggs,oliver and then mulsum (wine sweetened with honey)
- Main course - selection of meats or fish accompanied by vegetables and sauces
- Dessert - nuts, furit or simple sweet-cakes
What entertainment was offered at dinner parties
- Wine drinking
- Dancers, acrobats and clowns
- Games with dice or backgammon
- Discussion of literature of philosophy
What is this: ‘Whoever had paid me the fee for teaching , let him have what he seeks from the gods’
Graffito found scratched on a column on one side of the large palaestra in Pompeii - reffers to a teacher being paid, suggesting there was a school at the side of an exercise ground
What is this: ‘Thalamus, his client, elects Publius Panquius Proculus duumvir with judicial power’
An inscription that shows a client supporting his patron in an annual election campaign, that was painted on a wall of a street in Pompeii
What is this
Inscriptions found on the wall of a summer dining room in a Pompeian house, with instructions of how a guest should behave at a dinner party
