Roman Culture Exam 2

What are some organizational principles and concepts that influence the basic design of a Roman domus?

Business matters tend to be more public (center / front of domus) while leisure was more private at the back of the house

Describe the basic features of a Roman domus (be sure to use Latin terms as appropriate).

Vestibulum: entryway to house

Impulvium: pool of water in the center of atrium

Tablinum: where paterfamilias would sit when receiving visitors of lower status

Atrium: reception hall

Tablinum: study

Triclinium: dining room

Garden

Cubiculum: bedroom

Kitchen/pantry

Describe two basic types of decoration in a Roman domus.

Wall paintings and floor mosaics

Describe the layout of a typical insula, including different types of inhabitants and in which part of the building they might live.

Tenants of differing socioeconomic classes, as you climbed the steps, wealth of tenants declined and number of people per room increased

20-25 meters

Much more rudimentary possessions than a domus

How do ancient authors describe the construction-quality of a typical insula?

Poor, numerous instances of them collapsing

What is the theory of the four humors?

Black bile: melancholic – analytical

Blood: sanguine – active

Yellow bile: choleric – irritable

Phlegm: phelgmatic – relaxed

Illness is caused by imbalance

• How do we balance it out?

Abundance of fluid would lead to a certain personality

What are the key tenets of the "Hippocratic Oath"?

Reasoned and logical approach to illness

Give them medicine when needed and never give them harmful drugs

When visiting houses I will come for the benefit of the sick and never have any sexual relations with whomever

During treatment I may never speak about the life about the men on any occasion

Do no harm

Describe the living conditions in the upper-floors of a typical Roman insula.

Small, cramped

Futher you went up, the worse you got

Built poorly, cheaply, and fast

How did Galen learn about anatomy, especially the functions of the brain?

Dissections with animals

Apes and pigs

Various experiments

Prohibition on autopsies

Doctors who treated soldiers / gladiators

Describe the four main burial options for people in Rome.

Poorest romans received no burial at all and were tossed into open pits outside the city walls

Burial club: Pooled money to buy a mausoleum where urns containing ashes could be kept

Wealthy had individual tombs built for themselves

Puticulus: burial pit

Columbarium: burial chamber

Catacombs: underground cemetery

Individual / family tombs

Describe the basic elements of a typical elite Roman funeral.

Dressed in fine clothing, wreath placed on head

Parade from his house to Roman Forum

Corpse placed on the Rostra

Procession traveled outside city boundaries, where the corpse was cremated

According to the historian Polybius (208-125 BC), what is the chief advantage of a Roman-style funeral (in terms of its impact on young men)?

young men are animated to sustain all danger in the cause of the common safety

Many also have devoted themselves to inevitable death: some of them in battle, to save the lives of other citizens, and others in time of peace to rescue the whole state from destruction

For what types of accomplishments and/or characteristics are men and women typically praised in funerary epitaphs?

Deceased person’s life, personality, or specific events

Might feature bits of personal philosophy or as message left for posterity

Person’s profession, office held, cause of death, lists of other family members

Why were fires so common in Rome?

Everyone had to cook on open flames

Poor apartment dwellers might have a fire kindled on the floor of their apartment

Olive-oil lamps were the main source of light and easy to knock over

Widespread use of wood as building materials

Lack of effective fire-fighting techniques

What group was established by Augustus to fight fires and what were their primary techniques and resources?

7000 watchmen known as vigiles

Patrolled the city at night carrying buckets and attempting to extinguish any fires before they could spread

Organized into 7 cohorts so that each was responsible for 2 of the 14 regions of the city

Buckets, ladders, axes, siphon device for spraying water

Each cohort had pieces of artillery that could be used to destory buildings and create a firebreak

Describe the greatest dangers faced by the Romans when the Tiber flooded.

Disruption of daily life in the city

Property destroyed, damaged, or lost

Collapse of large buildings

Loss of life

Increased incidence of disease

Describe the basic principles and elements of the Roman legal system in the Late Republic and Empire

No standing police force

• Bodyguard’s for Rome’s elites

State did not take a very active role in regulating criminal activity among individuals, intervened when it was a crime against the state

Do-it-yourself nature

legal texts, literature, and inscriptions

praetors, consuls, popular assemblies, senate, and emperor

private vs public

trials as public spectacles

rise of jurists (Empire)

According to the satirist Juvenal, what are some of the dangers faced by someone walking the streets of Rome at night?

People emptying their brimming pots of waste over you

Hazards

Muggers, thugs, thieves

Mob groups

Describe the three major legal documents that formed the foundation of the Roman legal system.

Twelve Tables, Justinian Digest of Roman Law, Gaius Institutes

According to the laws of the Twelve Tables, what are some crimes punishable by death?

Anyone who knowing or maliciously burns a building

Anyone publicly abuses another in a loud voice, or writes a poem for the purpose of insulting him, or rendering him infamous

Anyone who gives false testimony

Anyone, knowingly and maliciously, kills a free man

When a judge, or an arbiter appointed to hear a case, accepts money, or other gifts, for the purpose of influencing his decision

Anyone should stir up war against his country or deliver a Roman citizen into the hands of an enemy

Which four groups regulated members of Roman society during the Monarchy?

Family, neighbors, priests, elites

(2) Which group demanded the first written law-code at Rome?

Plebians

(3) What are the three parts of a Roman law?

Preamble, main text, sanctio

Which group emerged during the late-Republic to interpret the increasing complexity of Roman law?

Jurists

Under Augustus, what was the basic difference between a "chosen" jurist and a "normal" jurist?

Chosen jurists had the power of speaking with the authority of the princeps, had more power

What were the two most popular gardens in Rome?

Horti Lucullus

Horti Sallust

What are some of the main features of Rome's most popular gardens?

Luculliani: dining rooms, libraries, sculptures, mosaics, grottos, courtyards

Sallust: fishponds, porticus (covered walkway), obelisks, temple of Venus

What are the two main types of bath-complexes in Rome during the Empire?

Thermae: large public baths

Balnea: small public / private baths

Describe the typical bathing features of a public bath-complex.

Palaestra: gymnasium

Natatio: swimming pool

Apodyterium: Changing room

Frigidarium: cold room

Tepidarium: warm room

Caldarium: hot room

Describe how a hypocaust works (be sure to use Latin terms as appropriate)

Praefurnium: furnace

Pilae: pillars / small columns

Tubuli: tubes

Forced hot air under the floors and between the walls of rooms such as caladarium

Apart from actual bathing, what other services and amenities were offered at a public bath-complex?

Shops and offices, swimming pools, changing rooms, exercise cours, library, fountains and gardens

Which foods formed the staple of the Roman diet?

Grain in the form of bread and porridge

Olives and olive oil

Fruits and vegetables

Garum: fish sauce

Wine

What are some typical features of a formal aristocratic banquet?

Appetizers were olives, snails, vegetables, eggs, shellfish

Main course was elaborate meat dishes

Dessert of nuts or fruit

Entertainment, drinking, conversation

Takes place in dining room

Higher level of food including meat → sign of success and wealth

Entertainment

• Servants on demand

Where you were asked to sit was a reflection of status

• Placement and hierarchy

What types of erotic images are common in Pompeii, where are they found, and what are some of their functions?

Many roman lamps and bowl were decorated with graphic erotic scenes

Mass market items used in everyday life by average romans

Market of erotic artwork

Erect male organ worn as a charm to ward off evil

Found in the domus, mosaics, paintings, sculptures

Fertility, arousal for sex, success for childbirth

Describe the origins of gladiator duels at Rome

Originated with Etruscans, funeral cermony

Campanian funerary ritual

Cesear began to transform them into a form of entertainment from a religious ceremony

264 BC: 1st gladiatorial games at Rome

Greek colonies, doesn’t originate in Rome

Describe the four main sources of gladiators.

Prisoners of war

Slaves

Criminals

Vounteers

Where do gladiators receive their training?

Ludus, gladiator school

Who oversees gladiator training?

Lanista, overseer

Describe the basic aspects of gladiator training.

Abandon old name and take a stage name

General training with wooden weapons until he became familar with fighting techniques

Lanista evaluated and assigned to different programs of specialized training depending on abilities

Describe the basic elements of a munus legitimum.

Proper spectacle

Pompa: procession with distinguished guests, musicians, fighters, priests, and statues of gods

Venatio: animal hunt

Animal fights

Execution of criminals

Gladiators

Naumachia: naval battle

Extras: awning, music, food, drinks, and gifts

What are some typical Roman attitudes towards gladiators?

Gladiators were seen as celebrities, idolized: Don’t need to be handsome, can just be a gladiator

Some of them were viewed as savages

Both glorified and looked down on

Who built the Colosseum and with what resources?

Vespasian

Concrete arches

Concrete core with brick facing and tufa and travertine stone

Resources gained from the first jewish revolt

Describe some of the significant features of the Colosseum.

78 ground entrances

Network of ramps, stair corridors

Teirs of seating

Accomodate about 55000 spectators

Underground maze, place to hold cages for wild animals

Cover used to provide shade

Gladiator training school connected

What is the basic architectural building unit of the Colosseum and what are its advantages?

Forex, arch supported by two pillars

Supported by vaults

Colosseum could be divided into sections, aided in speed, efficiency, and cost of building

Describe the main features of the Circus Maximus in the 2nd century AD

150000+ spectators

Spina // spine: shrines, sculptures, 2 obelisks, water features, lap counters (dolphins and eggs)

Metae: turning posts

Carceres: starting gates

Pulvinar: sacred area

Describe the main competitors and events on race-day at the Circus Maximus in the 2nd century AD

Orginizations called factions, are trained, equipped, and entered teams in the races

Reds, Whites, Blues, Greens

Entertainment between races: musicians, dancers, acrobats; beast hunts/fights; athletic competitions; desultores // leapers

Why were permanent entertainment venues, such as theaters and amphitheaters, not permitted in Rome until the 1st century BC?

strong opposition from the Roman Senate, who feared the potential for large crowds gathering in such structures to incite social unrest and political instability

perceived moral decline that could come with readily accessible public entertainment

Preferred to keep events temporary and controlled by the elite

Who built the first permanent theater in Rome and how he did he justify it?

Pompey the Great (55 BC)

dedicating it as a temple to Venus Victrix

Designed the theatre as a religious building than an entertainment venue

Describe three common types of theatrical performances.

Greek and Roman tragedies and comedies

Mimes: “realistic” soap operas

Pantomimes: mythological soap operas