Ancient rome

Roman lives - the patricians Peristylium (or garden) Wealthy and powerful Romans were called patricians. The patricians controlled the Roman Senate which made the laws for Rome. Patricians lived in private houses in the city, called a domus. They also had country villas (houses), with a farm run by a manager and worked by slaves. Dining room Walls around the house • The domus looked plain from the outside, with blank walls facing the street. Shops often occupied the front of the house. The family entered the house through a narrow corridor that led to the atrium, an open courtyard with a pool in the middle to catch rain water. The main rooms of the house - the bedrooms, kitchen and the dining room - were grouped around the atrium. • At the rear of the house was the peristylium, or walled garden. Patrician families In patrician families, 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 their father 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 families' wealth and influence. Girls were allowed to marry at 12 years of age and boys at 14. Men and women wore short-sleeved, knee-length tunics, tied at the waist. Wealthy Roman men wore a toga over the tunic. Wealthy women wore a stola (a long tunic) over the undertunic. Bedrooms Shop A cut-away drawing of a domus (a private house) in Rome. Some of these houses used a hypocaust or heating chamber to heat the house. • 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 three courses. Their food included eggs, sea urchins, oysters, pork, fruits and dormice, which were rare and expensive. The men and women lay on couches around a central table. • Slaves served the food and musicians entertained during the meal. Sometimes people ate so much that they deliberately got sick so that they could begin again. Roman lives - the plebeians In the city, most Romans were called plebeians. Plebeians included those who produced and sold anything, such as bread, footwear or clothes, down to the very poor. Many poorer Romans worked as labourers. Some were better off because they worked as craftsmen such as bakers, glassworkers or carpenters in their own workshops. Plebeians lived in insulae - apartment blocks which were five or six storeys tall. The rooms at street level were rented as shops. • Better-off families rented a number of well-furnished rooms on the lower floors. • The poorest families lived in the upper floors, in bad conditions in bare rooms. Usually, there were no toilets in the insulae, so tenants had to use public toilets. Neither was there a water supply, so people had to draw water from the public fountains which were Atrium A Roman street with an insula (apartment block), above, and shops and a public toilet on the ground floor. What evidence is there in this illustration to show that the streets were dirty? What evidence supports the view that the better-off plebeians lived in the first-floor apartments? supplied through aqueducts (channels for water). Rubbish was thrown out the windows onto the street. Wood-burning stoves provided heat, but there was a great danger of fire. Poorer families depended on bread or wheat biscuits for their breakfast and lunch. They also ate a kind of porridge made from wheat and barley. They could not cook in their apartment blocks (insulae), so their evening meals were either cold or bought from inns or take-away shops. 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. Did You Know? The streets had thermopolia - take-away shops which sold hot food.

Roman lives - Roman women In Roman society, a woman's place was in the home. She was under the control of her husband. Her job was to have children who, among the rich, would inherit the property of the family. • The ideal Roman woman was hard-working and obedient to her husband. The role of the mother was to pass on the same ideas to her daughters and younger women. The main job of the mother was to run the household. In richer families, she gave orders to the slaves who did the work; the only traditional work that richer women did was spinning or weaving. Poorer women worked in the markets, the shops and the baths. Daughters of richer families went to primary school where they learned to read and write using wooden tablets coated with wax. After primary school, the girls stayed at home to prepare for marriage. Girls were allowed to marry at 12 years of age. They provided a dowry (marriage payment) for their new husbands. The dowry could be money or property. Since the dowry had to be returned in the case of a divorce, this gave women some influence over their husbands. Roman women were encouraged to have large families because many children died at childbirth or at a young age. Childbirth was also dangerous for mothers, and many died in their thirties.

The Story of Rome The story of Rome began in the 8th century BC (799-700), when villages grew on seven hills along the banks of the River Tiber. The villages joined together to form the city of Rome in 753 BC. Rome expanded, and conquered all of Italy by 250 BC. The city then conquered all the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. Eventually the Roman Empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall (a defensive wall built between Scotland and England), along the Rhine and the Danube to Turkey. The Empire also controlled all the lands of North Africa. For the next 600 years, the Roman Empire dominated these lands, until its final collapse in 476 AD. Describe the story of Ancient Rome Identify the map of Ancient Rome Place events of Ancient Rome in chronological order Key Words Legend Stola Forum Insulae Domus Tunics Dole Frescoes Did You Know? Amphitheatre Patricians Aqueduct Plebeians Toga The Roman Empire in the First Century AD The Romans had a legend (fable, folklore) that gave a different version of how the city began. They said that the twins Romulus and Remus founded the city. The twins had been left to die in the River Tiber by an evil uncle. They were found and reared by a she-wolf. They decided to build a city at the spot where they were found. They had a dispute over the wall of the city, and Romulus killed Remus. The city was named after Romulus, who became its first ruler. Assessing Your Learning 1. According to legend, who founded Rome - Romulus or Remus? 2. How many years was Rome a republic - 482; 509; 536? 3. How long was Rome an empire -503; 449; 1,229 years? 4. Where is Hadrian's Wall? 5. Put these events from Roman history in chronological order: Julius Caesar assassinated; Hadrian's Wall built; The Romans invaded Britain. 753 BC e city of Rome was founded Hibernia Hadrian's Walla BRITANNIA Londinium Rhine River Lutetia (Paris) GAUL Alps Milan Pyrenees SPAIN Atlas Mountains AFRICA Danube River Caspian Sea Caucasus Black Sea Rome Vesuvius Naples Pompeii THRACE Byzantium Mediterranean Sea Carthage 509 BC Rome became a republic 27 BC Augustus became the first Roman Emperor 55 BC The Romans invaded Britain Jerusalem Alexandria EGYPT 122 AD Hadrian's Wall built 476 AD The end of the Western Roman Empire 700 BC 600 BC 500 BC 400 BC 300 BC 200 BC 100 BC 1 BC 1 AD 100 AD 200 AD 300 AD 400 AD 500 AD 600 AD "During the time of the Roman Republic, the wealthiest people controlled an elected Senate which made the laws, but they also had to consult representatives of the poorer classes. During the Roman Empire, one person, the Emperor, ruled everybody. Empire 44 BC Julius Caesar assassinated Roman Lives Roman towns - where Romans lived When the Romans conquered new territory, they built towns. These towns were planned. They were built in a grid pattern, with streets at right angles to each other, and surrounded by walls. The main buildings were: • The forum or marketplace • The amphitheatre (circular or oval building with a central space) for gladiatorial contests • The public baths where many Romans bathed daily and met friends Investigate the lives of people in Ancient Rome: patricians, plebeians, women The ruins of the Roman Forum. The Forum was the centre of business, political and religious life in Ancient Rome. 40 The layout of a Roman town 1. The forum or marketplace where people met and shopped. 2. The amphitheatre, where gladiatorial contests were held. 3. The theatre, where plays were held. 4. The public baths. 5. Paved streets with stepping stones, with two main streets running north-south and east-west. 6. The town walls for defence. 7. The main gates, with roads leading to the nearby towns.