Rome Text Reading
DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT ROME
    Before it is light I wake up, and, sitting on the edge of my bed, I put on my shoes and leg-wraps because it is cold….  I put oil on my hair, comb it, wrap a scarf around my neck and put on my white cloak.  My slaves join me as I go to say good morning to Daddy and mummy and I kiss them both. I find my writing things and exercise book and give them to a slave. Then I go off to school …
I go into the schoolroom and say, "Good morning master." He kisses me and returns my greeting. The slave gives me my wax tablets, my writing things and ruler....

When I finish learning my lesson I ask the master to let me go home to lunch.   A boy from a wealthy Roman family described his day in A.D. 300. Writings like this tell us how Romans lived. Children studied reading, writing, and arithmetic.  The schools were small, and one teacher was responsible for all subjects.  Teachers believed: "A student who has not been flogged (beaten) is not trained."
Wealthy families sent their children to private school beginning at age seven. Girls did not go to school after age 15. Boys were expected to become lawyers or work in the government and learned Latin and Greek literature and rhetoric (the art of writing and speaking).
 Roman schools did not usually teach science, engineering, or higher mathematics. Professional people- engineers, doctors, or lawyers- learned through apprenticeships (on the job training).
RICH AND POOR
    Only the rich could send their children to school and have slaves wait on them.
 His home may have looked like the Roman house shown in this picture.

A rich family in one of these houses might own 500 slaves.
Some very wealthy Roman families might own 4,000 slaves. 
An emperor might command a personal slave population of 20,000.
Where would you spend the most time if you lived in this house?

Would you walk on your artwork? 

The Romans did. Romans decorated their floors with mosaics.		 Only the rich could afford glass pitchers and bowls.

If you put out the fire in this dog-shaped oil lamp your bedroom would be totally dark- -- even during the day!  That’s because the bedrooms rarely had windows.
Household slaves  cooked,  served meals, cleaned and took care of the children.  Each slave might have only one job ---folding the master’s clothes or fixing the mistress’s hair, for example.
But those who lived in the city crowded into apartment buildings called insulae (IHN suh lie).  In some cases, an entire family would live in a single room !
      Apartment buildings were dark and dirty, with no heat or running water.  Water came from public fountains outside.
A writer wrote this :"Most of the city (is) propped up with planks to stop it from collapsing. Your landlord stands in front of cracks that have been there for years and says " sleep well!" although he knows that the house itself may not last the night.  I wish I lived where there were no fires, no midnight panics. "

   
Fires and crime were serious problems. Poor sanitation  spread disease. One out every four babies born in Rome did not live through their first year!
 Half of all Roman children did not live to be ten years old!
FAMILY LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
  Family life was changing too.The father was the absolute head of the family. He could even sell his children into slavery! He could arrange marriages for his daughters when they were only 12 to 15 years old! He would do this for the money it would bring to his family. The young boy and girl had little to say about it.
    
Eventually family discipline changed. A father could no longer sell his children or force marriages . Women could have their own property and slaves.
BENEFITS OF LIFE IN ROME     
The city of Rome was a crowded, busy place with losts of problems . But the emperors tried to keep the city people happy.
PUBLIC SERVICES
     The government gave free wheat to the poor people of Rome.  Sometimes the emperor also gave away money ! These came from taxes that farmers and other people in the provinces paid.
    
 Rome had a large water supply.
Aqueducts carried 200 million gallons of water to Rome daily.		 The city built public baths where rich and poor people could bathe and swim and gather to visit or even do business!

ENTERTAINMENT     
The emperors spent enormous amounts of money to entertain the people.  In fact, 159 days each year had been declared holidays by the A.D. 100's.On these holidays the emperors provided amazing circuses and games to keep the people happy. The Circus Maximus was a giant Roman arena that could hold nearly 200,000 spectators.
Spectacular chariot races took place."All Rome today is in the circus" wrote one Roman, "Such sights are for the young, who shout and make bets with lovely  ladies by their sides."


The Colosseum became famous for its bloody sports. 
Wild beasts were hunted and killed by the hundreds
. 
 Gladiators fought each other to the death. During 7 years 23,000 gladiators fought to entertain the citizens.


The Romans enjoyed bloody events so much that during the intermissions, Romans executed  criminals for the entertainment of the audience.
 

Some Romans claimed that the citizens took too much interest in those things and not enough interest in their government.
A Roman writer complained that the public "wants just two things-bread and entertainments."
 
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
Many Romans believed that their gods needed to be kept happy.  Like many other ancient peoples, the Romans had gods for everything.
THE MANY GODS OF THE ROMANS
The great gods of the Romans were Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
 Jupiter was the supreme god. He controlled the thunder and lightning and was the special guardian of Rome.  Juno was his wife.  She was the queen of the gods and the protector of  women.  Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and guardian of craftworkers.  Many Roman gods were borrowed from the Greeks .  Jupiter was the Greek god Zeus, and Juno was the Greek goddess Hera. Mars, the Roman god of war, was the Greek god Ares. The Romans worshipped these gods together on special days .
   
In their homes, the Romans worshiped many gods.  Vesta guarded where people cooked and kept warm.  Lares guarded the land, and Penates watched over the stored food (remind you of the Spanish word Pinata ?). 
People made offerings to these gods, asking for protection .
In A.D. 26, the Romans built a magnificent temple called the Pantheon to honor all the Roman gods and goddesses.  It was in the shape of a drum, rising 14 stories above the ground, covered with gleaming brass so that people could see it shining all over the city.  The Pantheon is still standing today.
    
 Romans also began to worship their emperors. The emperor was not a god like Jupiter, but he was so powerful that people believed he was divine.
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
The Roman religion was based on rituals, or ceremonies.

They didn't have a book like a Bible . If they sacrificed correctly, the gods would be happy and reward them with protection, success, and wealth.		 Priests also wanted to find signs, or omens, in the organs of the sacrificed animals which would tell them what the gods wanted them to do.

Greeks and Chinese believed similar things.
Other Religions
 By the A.D 100s, many Romans were  dissatisfied with their religion.  Some Romans looked for other religions from Greece, Asia, Persia, and Egypt . Many Romans were becoming Christians. Like  Jews, the Christians believed in just one god. They worshipped only their god, and would not worship Roman gods or the emperor.
Romans were usually tolerant , but when the empire began to have troubles, emperors forced people to follow the Roman religion. For Jews and Christians, this meant sacrificing everything they owned, even their lives for the sake of their beliefs!

  
THE ROMAN ECONOMY
Romans sent ships to the far corners of the ancient world . For FOOD !  
Grain, olive oil and wine.
   
But Roman farming was hard and many people were needed to work the land. Four out of five people in the Roman Empire worked on farms. In America today about one out of forty-five people farm. More Romans were busy on farms than in modern America.  Farmers had to give most of  their grain to the government in taxes, so farmers had little money to spend.
The Market for Roman Industry
    Since farmers did not have much money, there was little demand for manufactured items. In our world today, companies hire many people and produce many items because there is a large “market”, or demand, for the products. In ancient Rome, most people could afford only simple clothes and inexpensive pottery. Only the wealthy could afford decorated pottery and fine jewelry.
 Companies in ancient Rome were small, employing only about 50 slaves. In the U.S. a company might employ thousands of workers.
One Roman wrote this: "So many merchant ships arrive in Rome with cargoes from everywhere, at all times of the year, that the city seems like the world's warehouse.
It's amazing that the harbor is big enough for these merchant ships." Wine, grain, and exotic animals came from all over the Roman Empire.

  Trade in the Empire
Oxen or mules pulled carts, and camels carried lumber,clothing, and furniture over  thousands of miles of roads.Trade brought news of foreign places.
Feeding the Empire
The most important item that the Romans traded was grain. Wheat and barley were used to make bread and other foods. But it was a constant challenge.The city of Rome had one million people by the A.D. 100's. The farmland around Rome could not grow enough grain to feed everyone. The city had to bring in more grain from North Africa, Egypt, and Sicily. Look at this map to see who  sent grain to the city.
      Also,  300,000 people in the city of Rome were so poor that the government had to give food to them. Free handouts kept peace in the city. An emperor might face riots if he did not do this.
    Another 300,000 men in the army also had to be fed. Sometimes the provinces could not produce enough for themselves and the army too. 
Manufacturing and Mining
The largest industry was mining. Marble and other types of rock for the empire's great building projects were mined in Greece and northern Italy. Gold and silver came from mines in Spain.
 Lead and tin came from Britain. These were needed to make weapons and coins. Metals were also exchanged for luxury goods from foreign lands.
 
Luxury Trade
 If you were wealthy, there were traders who traveled far beyond the borders of the empire to bring back unusual items to sell for high prices.
 From the Sahara they brought back strange and wonderful items -ostrich eggs
and ivory.

They went north and brought back blond slaves from the land that is now Germany. These blond slaves were so interesting to the dark-haired Romans that some rich Romans even began wearing blond wigs.

Traders also went into the Far East, bringing back silks from China, and spices and gems from India.
 But the primary purpose of Roman trade was to get food for the millions of Romans .
    Just as ancient Rome could not produce enough grain from its people, many modern nations buy  grain from other countries.  The United States supplies grain to the Soviet Union, China, Argentina, and Australia.