Transcript Life in Ancient Rome

Life in Ancient Rome
Chapter 10-1
Roman Culture
• Copied Greeks
• Changed the Greek ways to meet their
own needs
Roman Art
• Greek style statues
– Roman statues had flaws, unlike Greeks
Octavian
Roman Architecture
•
•
•
•
Used Greek porches and columns
Added arches and domes
Vault – curved ceiling
Invented concrete, a mixture of volcanic
ash, lime and water
• Buildings of concrete
– Colosseum
– Pantheon
Colosseum
Pantheon
Roman Literature
• Based on Greek works
• Virgil – Aeneid
• Horace – wrote satires (made fun)
– Wrote odes – poems that express emotions
• Ovid – wrote works based on Greek myths
• Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and
Octavia,[4] by Jean-Joseph Taillasson,
1787, an early neoclassical painting
(National Gallery, London
Roman History
• Livy – wrote “History of Rome”
– Admired Roman achievements
• Tactius – also a historian
– Believed emperors took Romans’ freedoms
Roman Plays
• Many based on Greek
– Seneca
– Plautus
– Terence
Roman Language
• Latin
• Became Europe’s language for
government, trade, instruction until 1500
• Many English words from Latin
• Latin – foundation of Spanish, French,
Italian
Latin Bible, 1407
Roman Cursive
Roman Science
• Galen – anatomy (science about the
structure of the human body)
• Ptolemy – astronomer; mapped over 1,00
different stars
• Engineering –
– Roads and bridges
– Aqueducts to bring in water
– Sewers
Ptolemy
Daily Life in Rome
• Forum – open space that served as
marketplace and public square
• Wealthy Romans – large, nice houses
• City – crowded, noisy, dirty
– Thieves
– Fires/Buildings collapse
– Government gave the poor “bread & circuses”
to keep them from rioting
– Gladiators – fought for entertainment
Roman Forum
Family Life in Rome
• Large, extended families
• Paterfamilias – the father, head of
household
• Boys
– Some went to school and learned reading,
writing, rhetoric (public speaking)
• Girls
– Studied at home
– Learned household tasks
Roman Clothes
• Toga – worn by men (after age 14-16)
• Palla – worn by women (after marriage)
Women in Rome
• Completely controlled by the paterfamilias
• Wealthy women had some freedoms
– Own land
– Run a business
– Sell property
Roman Slaves
•
•
•
•
•
By 100 B.C. 40% of Romans were slaves
Worked hard
Educated worked as teachers, doctors
Punished severely
Spartacus – slave who led a rebellion of
70,000
– 2 years later, revolt was crushed and 6,000 of
his followers crucified
The Fall of Spartacus
Roman Religion
• Greek gods and goddesses given Roman
names
• Roman emperors worshiped
• Believed spirits lived in natural things
• Honored gods
– Altars in the homes
– Offered food
– prayed
Roman Philosophy
• Stoicism – encouraged Romans to live a
practical life