Transcript The Roman Family - Latin is Fun!!!

The Roman Family
By Celeste Farrell-Pereira 7-2
Meet the Family
There are four members of the family:
Gaius Cornelius—father
Aurelia—mother
Marcus—son, aged sixteen
Cornelia—daughter, aged fourteen
A young boy named Sextus lives with the family
while his father serves overseas
There’s also a Greek slave named Eucleides who
helps the parents educate their children
Distinguished Ancestor:
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus
A heroic general & the most
distinguished member of the
Cornelius family
Defeated Hannibal and the
Carthaginians in the second
Punic War in North Africa
His daughter, Cornelia, proud
mother of the Gracchi brothers—
outstanding social reformers—
was idealized as the perfect
Roman mother and wife
Cornelius’s Responsibilities
Master of the house, he is responsible
for managing the family estate
He legally controls life and death in
the household, but never uses this
power
He is a Roman Senator
Aurelia’s Responsibilities
Aurelia directs the household slaves
and keeps everything in order
She prepares her daughter to run a
household of her own once she is
married, teaching her spinning &
weaving, even though slaves will do
most of the work
Makes sure her son is educated
Sextus
A 12-year-old boy from Pompeii who
lives with the Cornelius family due to
his mother’s death in the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius and his father’s
service overseas in Asia Minor
Dress—Cornelius
Cornelius wears a tunic that
reaches his knees
To represent that he is a senator,
wide purple stripes are added to
each side of the tunic from his neck
down
In the city, and for official
occasions in the country,
Cornelius wears a toga over his
tunic
A plain toga, or pura (also called the
toga virilis, or toga of manhood)
High government officials wear a
toga praetexta, which has a purple
border
Dress—Aurelia
Wears a plain white tunic, or
tunica, with long sleeves
Over the tunic, she wears a
stola, a strapped dress without
any sleeves that reaches the
floor
When Aurelia goes outside she
adds a palla, a thin piece of
cloth hung over the shoulders
and down the body
It can also be hung from the head
Dress—Marcus
Marcus wears a tunic that has narrower purple
stripes than his father’s
His toga, like those of other Roman boys aged 1416, resembles the toga praetexta worn by high
officials
Around his neck he wears a bulla, which is a
necklace with a locket or amulate used to scare off
evil
He has had it since his father put it around his neck after
his birth, and he will continue to wear it till he is of age
When he comes of age, he will offer his bulla and
scrapings of his first beard shavings to the household
Gods, Lares and Penates
After this, he will wear the toga virilis
Dress—Cornelia
Cornelia wears a tunic very similar to
her brother’s, except it is plain and
has no stripes
She also wears the toga praetexta
Roman girls were not given a bulla to
wear
Dress—Family
In public, the Cornelius family dressed very
formally, even their shoes were fancy
When the children played in the villa
(country house) and agris (fields), they did
not wear their togas
They also wore sandals rather than expensive
shoes
People left a cup of their urine outside of
their door at night for a slave to clean the
stains out of their togas
Aeneas
Members of the the family are very
proud of their heritage as Cornelii and
take pride in it
The family, like all Romans, believe
they are descended from the great
Trojan hero, Aeneas
He married the daughter of the king of
Latium, and their descendants were
known as the Latins
City and Country Life
The family lives in Rome
In the summer, they stay in their
country house south of Rome near
the resort town of Baiae
They enjoy peace and quiet there and
escape the heat
This villa overlooks the Bay of Naples
and features a courtyard, gardens,
cool arbors and fish ponds
Conclusion
This family is a wealthy family
They own two houses and keep many
slaves
Even poor Romans kept a slave or two