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They were the primary school teacher.
They taught ages of approximately 7-11 years old.
The grammaticus was a teacher who provided secondary education and taught Greek and Latin literature, focusing on grammar, figures of speech, and mythology. The pupils analysed literature and learnt passages by heart. Students would move on to the grammaticus around the age of 12 to 15 (if their parents could afford it).
Upon reaching adulthood, a Roman boy would dedicate his boyhood toga, known as the toga praetexta, which had a purple border, and the bulla, a lucky charm worn since infancy, to the household gods.
The Roman boy would put on a plain white toga called the toga virilis. Accompanied by family and friends, the boy was escorted to the forum, where he was formally registered as a citizen.
His name was then recorded on the roll of his family's tribe.
A sacrifice was offered at the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, after which the day was devoted to celebrations and a banquet.
The bulla was a special amulet given to Roman boys, both rich and poor, to protect them until they safely reached adulthood.
It may have been given as early as the dies lustricus, about nine days after birth, to mark the child's entry into the family.
What rituals were associated with funerals in ancient Rome?
At the point of death, a close relative would attempt to catch the dying person’s last breath with a kiss and then close their eyes and mouth.
All those present would call out the name of the deceased.
Following this, the body was washed and anointed to delay decay and dressed in their finest clothes.
A small coin was placed in the mouth to pay Charon, the ferryman of the underworld in Graeco-Roman myth.
For a wealthy man, the body would be displayed for eight days on a couch in the atrium, adorned with flowers, wreaths, and candles, while women lamented, and visitors paid respects.
Cypress or pine branches outside the house indicated the loss.
The funeral procession for the wealthy included flute and horn players, hired mourners, actors, and any slaves freed by the deceased.
The relatives of the dead would walk behind the corpse in mourning.
Burial or cremation took place outside the city.
Following the ceremony, the spirit of the dead was believed to descend to the underworld and was worshipped as a member of the family's Lares.
There were also festivals to commemorate the dead, such as the Parentalia and Lemuria.
According to the Poet Martial
Early Morning (First and Second Hours): The day began with clients attending the morning salutation (salutatio) at the houses of their patrons. Clients would present themselves to their patron, hoping to receive a gift or assistance.
Late Morning (Third to Fifth Hours): This part of the morning was busy with various activities. Barristers would be engaged in legal work. It was also the time when Rome's varied businesses took place.
Midday (Sixth Hour): The sixth hour was generally a time for rest for the exhausted. A light lunch, known as prandium, would have been taken, often consisting of something cold left over from the previous night. For schoolchildren, the school day, which started early to make the best use of daylight, lasted for about six hours with a short break at midday.
Afternoon (Seventh to Ninth Hours): The seventh hour marked a return to activity. The eighth and ninth hours might be dedicated to exercise, such as wrestling for those inclined. By around four in the afternoon, people would begin to anticipate cena, the main meal of the day. In the early Republic, this meal was taken at midday, but by the early Empire, it had shifted to the late afternoon, and people would recline on couches to eat.
Evening (Ninth/Tenth Hour onwards): The ninth hour was described as inviting people to relax on dinner couches. Martial, as a poet, noted that the tenth hour was his time for writing poetry.
How might a Roman man's day be structured, and what clothing might he wear?
He likely slept in a loincloth and tunic, so dressing was quick. He would wash his eyes, mouth, and hands in cold water.
The emperor Augustus started the fashion of attending public bathhouses, and from that day all classes went to them.
A simple breakfast may have consisted of water, bread and honey, or leftovers. Then the man would put on his day’s attire, which would vary based on his standing in society.
What was a toga made from and its shape and size?
The toga, a distinctive Roman garment, was made of fine wool. The shape of a toga was a segment of a circle, measuring about 16 feet from point to point and seven feet in depth. It was worn slung under the right arm and draped around the body, with both ends finishing on the right shoulder. Although statues depict men wearing togas, the specifics of how they were fastened and folded are not definitively known.
Domestic: slaves lived with the family and carried out all household-related tasks, with wealthier households employing slaves as nurses, teachers (paedagogi), cooks, gardeners, hairdressers, secretaries, and cleaners.
Industrial: slaves were employed in mines, factories, and large farming estates (latifundia) and often lived and worked in harsh conditions under an overseer.
Public: slaves were owned by the state and performed various roles in the city, such as construction, cleaning, and maintaining public buildings.
In Roman law, slaves had no legal rights and were considered the property of their owner.
As the empire developed, laws about the treatment of slaves became progressively more humane.
In the 2nd century CE, Emperor Hadrian passed laws forbidding masters from killing their slaves or selling them as prostitutes or gladiators without court approval.
Maximum 100 slaves can be freed in a will.
Slave has to be at least 30 years old.
What rights were given to the freedman and their children in ancient Rome?
Upon being freed, a freedman was permitted to wear the pileus, a felt cap symbolising liberty.
Freedmen were Roman citizens, but they were not allowed to run for public office or become members of the senatorial or equestrian classes.
However, their descendants had full rights of citizenship.
Health: Slave with bad health is too expensive to keep as they make no profit, so many masters just free them for them to die on the streets.
Love: Masters may free their slave girls to marry them or to get heirs
Court: Any evidence given by a slave at court has to be under torture, so by freeing slaves they are less likely to reveal incriminating information.
Flex: To show off your wealth was you can free slaves, without feeling the economic cost
Good Act: A slave may be freed for good service as a reward to drive the other slaves to work harder.
Change in the leisure time?
Wealthy women had more free time due to an increase in the number of slaves in Roman cities, and they used this time for education and leisure.
She was the goddess of the hearth so was responsible for:
Food
Light
Warmth
Comfort
The Lares were believed to be the protective spirits of the family's ancestors, watching over the entire household, property, and fields.
The Penates were believed to be spirits that protected the larder or storehouse of the family.
The Lares protected the family's ancestors, while the Penates protected the family's food stores, ensuring the family would not run out of food.
Lares did not move when the family moved but the Penates did.
Lares protected the entire family including slaves but the Penates only protected the family.
Janus was the god of the doorway,
protecting the entrance of the Roman house.
The Lemuria was a festival to appease restless spirits, particularly those with a grievance, and it involved a private ritual carried out in the home. It was celebrated in silence, in the home, on three alternate nights in May. Each householder had to carry out a private ritual to persuade any spirits not to haunt the household. Temples were closed and no marriages were held during this period.
The Parentalia was a Roman religious festival held in honour of the dead, where families would head out to their ancestors' tombs, decorate the graves with garlands of flowers, and leave food and drink offerings . It lasted from February 13th to 21st, during which time temples were closed and no marriages took place. The first eight days involved private remembrance, and on the 21st, there was a public festival of remembrance.
Religious offerings included garlands of flowers, food and drink such as wheat, salt, wine, and milk.
Blood was the favourite food of the dead.
Tombs often had holes which led to a pip into the tomb or urn to pour in offerings.
Where were tombs located?
Why?
Tombs were outside the city walls, and near roads.
So that the spirits of the dead could not haunt the living.
Both burial and cremation were practised by the Romans.
Early Roman times saw burial as common, but by the end of the 1st century BCE, most people were cremated. Cremation was cheaper than burial as less space & a smaller tomb was needed.
The triclinium was the dining room. By the early Empire, most people dined in the late afternoon - their first solid meal of the day - and did so reclining on a couch propped by pillows on their left side. The meal itself had three courses; each course, however, might have several dishes. The triclinium might contain decorations of painted plaster panels with scenes from Greek myths.
What might be found within the atrium?
Inside the atrium would be a bronze or marble table, a couch, and perhaps a strong-box for family valuables.
The floor was paved with marble slabs or mosaics. In the centre of the room was the impluvium, a shallow rectangular pool lined with marble to collect rainwater.
What was the in the tablinum?
Family records were stored & the chest containing family finances.
The tablinum (study) of Caecilius was decorated with a particularly expensive shade of red paint.
What were some common colours used to decorate a domus?
Vivid wall paintings were typical in houses of Pompeii, in red, orange, blue-green, yellows, purples and black.
These paintings frequently depicted mythological scenes or country landscapes.
What were some of the features of a Roman domus?
Roman houses (domūs) had upper floors (though not always preserved), which may have been used for sleeping or storage and rented out as living accommodation.
The houses also included the familia (nuclear family, relatives, slaves, and freedmen).
Wealthy men used their houses to work, greet friends and clients, and conduct politics.
The houses came right up to the pavement with
Few, small, high windows intended to let in enough light but keep out the heat of the sun.
From the outside, with its few windows and high walls stretching all the way round, the house did not look very attractive or inviting.
What was the role of the Client?
In return for help, the client would be expected to show gratitude and service.
A poet, for example, would praise the patron in his poetry.
The client was expected to attend the salutatio or early morning ceremony of greeting, dress formally in a toga, and address his patron as domine.
Clients would also perform various tasks and errands for the patron.
What were the benefits for the Client in the Patronage system?
A patron might be a client's chief means of support as the government didn't provide any state assistance apart from distributions of free grain or occasionally money to a limited number of citizens.
The patron usually gave a daily basket the sportula, earlier this comprised of food but later it moved onto being money.
When did Patrons and Clients meet?
Clients were expected to present themselves at their patron's house each day for the salutatio or early morning ceremony of greeting.
What are the implications of clients being invited to dinner with their Patron?
Clients could get invited to dine with the Patrons. This could implicate that they saw each other as closer to equal, however…
At these dinners, some patrons served two different qualities of food and wine:
A superior quality for themselves and their close friends
A poor one for the clients
Indicating that patrons regarded their clients as inferiors.
How old were Roman men and women usually when they got married?
Women: Usually around 13-14
Men: Usually around late teens or early twenties, unless this was not their 1st marriage, then the age gap could be up to 30-40 years.
What was the sponsalia?
This was the engagement ceremony.
The future husband and bride’s father would agree to the marriage.
Then:
Gifts were exchanged
A ring was placed on the third finger of the girl's left hand.
Family and friends were present as witnesses
The ceremony would be followed by a party.
Would a marriage be forced on a girl?
The husband was normally chosen for the girl by her father or guardian.
The law laid down that if the girl did not agree to the marriage, it could not take place.
However, few daughters would have found it very easy to defy their father’s wishes.
Even though the law stated the girl had to agree to the marriage, the reality was that few daughters would defy their father's wishes.
The ceremonies started the night before the wedding, when a bride dedicated her childhood toys to the Lares. That night, she also wore a special dress the white “tunica recta” (straight tunic, so called because it was woven on an upright loom), and a yellow hairnet , both of which she had woven herself. She slept in these clothes.
What happened on the morning of the wedding?
In the morning the bride girdled the tunic with a belt made of ewe's wool (which symbolized fertility).
This was tied in a tight knot, the 'knot of Hercules', which her husband was to untie that night.
This knot was meant to suggest fertility as well, since in Greek mythology Hercules was credited with fathering seventy children.
The dressing process then continued with the help of the bride's friends, who no doubt provided advice and moral support.
They made up her hair, arranging it in six tresses and parting by a spear (although even the Romans seem to have forgotten the origin of this tradition).
On her head the bride then placed a garland of flowers which she had picked herself,
followed by the bright yellow wedding veil, which symbolized her new status as an adult woman who was expected to cover her head in public.
When did the main religious element of the marriage ceremony happen?
Why?
What was it?
When the groom arrived at the bride's house, which had been decorated with garlands, the main religious element took place.
To ensure the favour of the gods, the auspices were taken:
Either a pig or a sheep was sacrificed,
An auspex inspected its insides to look for omens.
If they were declared to be good…
The marriage would proceed.
What happened after the wedding ceremony?
A feast was held at the bride’s house.
(Before the procession to the groom’s house; the brides new place of residence)
What did the wedding procession entail?
After the ceremony came the procession of the bride to her new home, an event full of symbolism.
She would act out being torn from the arms of her mother (to commemorate the seizing of the Sabine women), and was then led by torchlight through the streets by three boys with living parents.
One of these would carry a torch lit from the bride's hearth, the other two would lead the way; the bride herself carried a distaff and spindle to signify her new domestic role, while a noisy crowd would also shout fortuna or talassio ('good luck') and tell rude jokes or sing obscene songs.
What was a funeral club?
The cost and benefit?
Other functions?
Why was this done?
A funeral club was a type of Roman society that poorer Romans joined as a form of funeral insurance policy.
Members would pay a joining fee and a monthly subscription. When a member died, the club would cover their funeral expenses, ensuring they received a proper burial.
Additionally, fellow members would attend the funerals. These clubs also served a social function, holding monthly meals that allowed poorer people to make friends and connections.
The purpose of joining such a club was rooted in the Roman belief that a proper burial was important for the soul to pass into the Underworld and find rest. Romans believed that a body that was not properly disposed of could lead to the deceased's ghost haunting the living. However, the very poorest citizens and most slaves could not afford membership in these funeral clubs.
Evidence used legally for a marriage?
The marriage contract was signed in the presence of ten witnesses, who ensured that the union had legal validity.
The husband and wife agreed that they were married.