Transcript Roman Culture and Society

Warm Up:
 Happy Wednesday!!! Two more school days
until Spring break!!!!!
 What do you know about gladiators?
 Where have you seen gladiators in the media??
Roman Culture and Society
Roman Arts and Literature
The Romans spread Greco-Roman arts
and culture throughout the empire
Roman Arts
 Developed a taste for Greek statues
Sculpture
 Sculptures produced more realistic works
Paintings
 Painters painted portraits and landscapes on
walls of villas
Architecture
 Concrete helped to construct huge buildings
that the Greeks could not create
 Remarkable engineers
 Roads, bridges, and aqueducts
 Built 50,000 miles of roads throughout the empire
 In Rome, a dozen aqueducts kept a population of one
million supplied with water
Architecture
 Excelled in architecture
 Used curved forms
 Arch, vault and dome
Parthenon
 Found in Rome. It was
originally built as a
temple to the gods.
 Later converted to
Christian (Catholic)
church.
 Best example of Roman
Dome building.
Latin Language
 Romans spoke Latin; it was the official language of
the empire.
 It was the language of government, trade, and culture.
 If you wanted to do business with Rome, you had to
speak Latin.
 As Rome spread, and eventually broke apart, the
language split apart.
 Latin still is taught in some schools (important for
law and medical fields), but not in common use.
Latin Language Splits
 Language splinters into several other languages
when Rome falls. These Languages are called
“Romance Languages”, named after Rome itself.
 French
 Spanish
 Italian
 Portuguese
 Romanian
Slavery and Slave Revolts
 No people in the ancient world had more slaves or
depended on slaved more than the Romans
Large numbers of captured soldiers in war became slaves
 Used as: household workers, cooks, valets, waiters,
cleaners, gardeners, farm laborers
 Many slave holders were afraid of their slaves b/c they
treated them so awful
Slavery and Slave Revolts
 If a slave killed his master, the
slave would be executed and all
other slaves would be killed too
 Most famous slave revolt was led
by the gladiator Spartacus
 In 73 B.C. he led 70,000 slaves
 Defeated several armies
 6,000 of his followers were crucified or
nailed to a cross
Spartacus is Hollywood
Aqueducts and Roman Roads
 Superb builders
 Network of 50,000 miles
of roads
 Largest was the Appian
Way
 Rome- a dozen
aqueducts kept 1 million
people supplied with
water
Appian Way
 First Major Roman road. It signaled the start of Rome’s love
of building roads.
How Aqueducts Work
 Aqueducts worked by
using gravity to get
water to a city.
 Water key to large cities
 Drinking Water
 Sewage (Rome’s sewer
system was cutting edge
Life in Ancient Rome
City life in Ancient Rome had great
problems similar to life today
Family
 The heart of Roman
society was the family
 Paterfamilias- the
dominant (oldest,
ususally) male in the
house.
 Included wife, sons and
their wives, unmarried
daughters, and slaves
Education
 Raised their children at
home
 Upper-class children:
expected to learn and
read
 Father was chief figure in
providing education
 Decided whether to teach
them, hire a teacher, or send
to school
 Teachers were often Greek
slaves
Adulthood
 Childhood ended for:
 Boys- 16
 Girls- 12-14
 Ceremony for boys- trade in
purple toga
 Girls ceremony- marriage
 Women must have male
guardians
 Paterfamilias responsibility
 When he dies, sons or nearest
relative takes over
Marriage
 Girls could get married
as young as 12
 Boys usually 16-18
 Meant for life
 3rd century A.D.introduce divorce
 Easy to obtain
 Husband or wife could ask for
it
 Fathers arranged
marriages for their
daughters
Women
 More independence and
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freedom
Right to own, inherit and
sell property
Not segregated from men
in the homes
Could attend races,
theater, amphitheater but
sit in separate sections
Accompanied by maids
Could not participate in
politics
The Roman Gladiators
A Gladiator’s Life
Types of Gladiators
Circus Maximus and The Colosseum
A Gladiator’s Life
 As Rome expands it comes
into conflict with other
cultures
 Majority of those that become
gladiators are because of
conquest
 The conquered were then
escorted back to Rome where
they would be sold in slave
markets
A Gladiator’s Life
 Sent to a ludus
gladiatorious to be trained
 Training was under the
supervision of a lanista or
“the butcher”
 Abuse was common place
and was both physical and
psychological (whipping
most common)
 Day consisted of lifting
weights and learning the
art of death
A Gladiator’s Life
 Common myth is that
gladiators were only slaves
 Majority were but they
were criminals, debtors
and those condemned to
death
 Trained according to one’s
physical attributes or skills
At
the
Coliseum
 At the coliseum gladiators
fought first
 Concerned about survival and
what lanista will do if you do
not perform well
 After condemned are killed,
animals hunted and
criminal fights
 Gladiators fight again in late day
but it is to the death now
Death of Gladiators
 Defeated gladiators could appeal for
mercy but it was at the whim of the
crowd
 Death did not always come at the hands
of one’s opponent
 Men dressed as Roman gods would kill
the loser in a variety of ways to add
to the sensationalism of the event
 Thumbs down meant to spare the
gladiator
 A thumb up meant to kill him
Colosseum
 Built by Emperor Vespasian
and Titus 70-80 A.D.
 Seated 45,000, had two large
restroom areas, covered area,
numbered seating based on
class, and had supporting
facilities nearby
 Longest games were 123 days
long
Colosseum
 Exotic animals hunts,
gladiatorial combat,
executions, brutal
plays, battle
recreations and
possibly naval
battles with
alligators
entertained the
crowds
Material Evidence
Zliten Mosaic
Originally in a Roman seaside villa
Now in Archaeological Musuem
Tripoli, Tunisia