Transcript Roman Culture & Society - Miami Beach Senior High School

Roman Culture & Society
SS.A.2.4.5; SS.A.1.4.1; SS.B.2.4.1
Roman Art

500-200 BC: Romans adopt Greek culture
 Romans
loved Greek art
 Greek statues displayed in public & in homes
 Later, copies of Greek statues used

Original Roman works more realistic
 Greeks
created art to idealize the reality
 Romans created realistic art, showing even
unattractive physical features
Roman Architecture
Architecture=practical art
 Continued to use many Greek conventions

 Colonnades

and rectangular buildings
Roman architectural styles, included:
 Arches,
vaults and domes
Used concrete in almost everything
 Engineers built roads, bridges and
aqueducts

 50,000+
miles of road
Roman Literature
The “golden age” of Latin literature=Age
of Augustus (31 BC-AD 14)
 Virgil: best poet of Augustinian Age

 Approved
of Augustus; wrote his greatest
work—Aeneid—in honor of Rome
Horace: pokes fun at human weakness
 Live: Historian, prose writer, treated
history as series of moral lessons,
advocated virtue, not always accurate

Roman Family
Paterfamilias: patriarch, dominant male
 Households included: wife, children, wives
and children of children, slaves
 Children raised at home, unlike in Greece
 Children expected to learn reading/writing
 Teachers usually Greek slaves, as learning
Greek was important to success in empire
 Boys learned morals, family values, law
and physical training for war

Roman Women
Womanly weakness=male protection
 Minimum age for marriage= 12 years

 Median
age for marriage= 14 years
Marriage was for life, usually
 Divorce possible after 3rd Century B.C.
 Men and women allowed to ask for
divorce, and process was easy
 Could not participate in politics

Changes to the Family

A.D. 200: Paterfamilias no longer absolute
authority over children, more freedoms
 Could
not sell as slaves, or put to death
Also true about authority over wife
 Women allowed to attend races, theater
and other public events, sit in women sec.
 A.D.: Women have right to property,
center of household social life

Slavery
Slavery common in ancient world
 Romans had heaviest dependence on
slaves, more than other peoples
 Slaves considered part of family
 Slaves from all over empire, even Italy
 Greek slaves in demand as tutors,
musicians, doctors, and artists
 Some mistreated slaves, believe easier to
work to death and replace, than treat well

Slave Revolts
Some slaves would revolt against owners,
even killing them
 Some Romans lived in fear of slaves
 73 BC: A gladiator named Sparticus, leads
70,000 slaves in revolt, beating many
legions of Roman soldiers

 Killed
in 71 BC, followers crucified
Daily Life

Rome is place to be, population 1 million
 Largest
city in empire, capital city, richest
 Overcrowded and noisy
Walking at night dangerous, crime
 Dirty, garbage dumped out windows
 Rich lived in large, beautiful villas
 Poor lived in apts. (insulae) 1-6 floors

 Concrete
with wood floors, often poorly built
 Building fires common
Public Programs

Rome had many great buildings
 Baths,
theaters, government buildings,
markets, temples= impressive, grand
200,000 poor get free grains from gov
 Free entertainment for the people 

 Paid
for by emperors
 Circus Maximus: horse and chariot races
 Dramas
 Gladiatorial Shows