Ancient Rome Flashcards
What were wealthy Romans called?
What did they control?
Wealthy Romans were called patricians.
They controlled the roman senate, which made the laws for Rome.
What did Patricians live in?
They lived in private houses in the city, called a Domus. They also had country villas, with a farm run by a manager and worked by slaves.
Describe a Domus in detail
How was wealth shown in someone’s house?
The Domus looked plain from the outside, with blank walls facing the street. Shops often occupied the front of the house. They had heating chambers under the floors.
Wealth was shown by the number of tiles on the roof of your house.
Explain the dynamics of a patrician family in ancient Rome. What were the roles of each family member?
Mention marriage and clothing.
The family group was large, including husband, wife and children, but also other relations.
The father was fully in charge and the children were expected to obey him, even after they had grown up.
The main job of the mother was to run the household. She gave orders to the slaves, who did the work.
Marriages were often arranged to increase a family’s wealth and influence. Girls were allowed to marry at 12 and boys at 14.
Men and women wore short-sleeved, knee-length tunics, tied at the waist. Wealthy romans wore a toga over the tunic. Wealthy women wore a stola (a long tunic) over the undertunic.
Explain the daily routines of richer families in ancient Rome (about meals and baths).
Richer families had two simple meals for breakfast and lunch and waited until the evening for the main meal of the day. This was after a visit to the baths.
The main meal called the Cena had 3 courses. The men and women lay on couches around the central table. Slaves served the food and musicians entertained during the meal. People made themselves sick so they could eat more food.
List some entertainment in Rome.
Rome was very well known for its public entertainment. This was often paid for by the government to keep the people happy. Examples are the colosseum (gladiator contests), the circus Maximus (chariot racing), public bathhouses, Roman theatres.
What were most Romans called?
Plebians
List information about the lives of plebians
Plebians included those who produced and sold anything such as bread, footwear or clothes down to the very poor.
Plebians lived in insulae, which could be five or six storeys tall. The rooms at street level were rented as shops. The lower down, the better off the family was.
Usually, there were no toilets in the insulae, so tenants had to use public toilets. There was no water supply either so people drew water from public fountains which were supplied through aqueducts.
There was a great risk off fire in these buildings.
What did poorer families rely on for food?
Poorer families depended on bread or wheat biscuits for their breakfast and lunch. They ate a type of porridge made from wheat and barley. They could not cook in their insulae, so their evening meals were either cold or bought from inns or Thermopolis (takeaways).
What did the emperor give out for free because of poverty? What was this called?
Poverty was so great in the city of Rome that emperors gave a free supply of grain to 200,000 people every month to keep them happy. this was called the dole.
Explain a roman woman life
A woman’s place was in the home. Her job was to have children who would inherit the property of the family.
The role of the mother was to pass on her ideas to her daughters and younger women.
Her main job was to run the household. She gave orders to the slaves if she was rich. The only traditional work that richer women did was spinning or weaving.
Poorer women worked in markets, shops or the baths.
Daughters of richer families went to primary school and learned to read and write on wooden tablets. Boys went on to secondary school while girls then prepared for marriage.
In marriage, girls provided a dowry for their new husbands. this was either property or money. In the case of divorce, this was returned and this gave women some influence over their husbands.
They were encouraged to have large families as many children died at birth or at a young age. This was dangerous for mothers and they often died in their 30’s.
Who made the law in ancient Rome?
How did courts work?
Romans had a written code of law called the twelve tables. The laws were made by the emperor and the senate. The laws laid down what Romans could do legally. The courts ruled on guilt or innocence.
Victims of crimes collected their evidence and brought the accused to court. In serious crimes, people were entitled to a trial by jury; less serious crimes were tried before a magistrate.
Who enforced the law?
They used soldiers who had the job of keeping order. These soldiers dint patrol the streets but were called on when needed. At night, vigiles patrolled the streets to watch out for fires and to prevent crimes. The Romans believed that punishments for crime should be severe so that they would act as a deterrent to committing future crimes.
What were the crimes?
There were great divisions between the poor and rich. This resulted in causing crimes, particularly robbery and burglary. Other crimes included fraud in trade, such as cheating about goods that were sold. More serious crimes included arson and murder. Slaves running away was also regarded as a crime.
What were the punishments?
They depended on your position in society. Nobles were treated better than ordinary Romans, citizens of Rome were treated better than non-citizens and slaves were treated worst of all.
Ordinary citizens got whipped or were fined for small crimes. For serious crimes, they were hanged or beheaded.
Nobles didn’t commit small crimes but serious crimes instead. They would be executed or sent into exile to some other part of the empire.
Slaves would be crucified or forced to fight in combat.
In the army, discipline was imposed by the execution of every tenth soldier. This was called decimation.
