The Roman Way of Life
Lesson 1 of Chapter 12
The Empire’s Chief City
Rome
• Carefully planned city with over 1 million people within its
population
• Wealthy Romans lived in large homes on the city’s hills
• Most Romans lived in crowded, noisy, dirty neighborhoods
• To gain the support of Rome’s poor, political leaders offered
“bread and circuses”
The Roman Family
• When Rome was a republic, large families were common
• The father held all the power within the family
• In later times, fathers lost some of that power, families had
fewer children and Roman were more likely to get divorced
and remarry
• Wealthy Roman children were given an education at home
• As they grew, only boys received further education outside of
the home. Poor families received no education
Science and Art
• In science, Romans were influenced by a
Greek named Galen, he emphasized the
importance of anatomy
• Ptolemy was an important Roman scientist.
He focused on the motion of planets and stars
Ptolemy
Galen
Engineering Skills
• The Roman’s built roads that allowed the
soldiers to travel quickly to different regions
• Merchants used the roads for travel and trade
• The engineers also built aqueducts which
carried water over long distances to people
within the cities
Art and Architecture
• Greek sculptures differed from Roman sculptures
• While Greek statues were meant to reflect
perfection in people, Roman statues showed flaws
such as wrinkles and warts
• Vaulted ceilings were designed by placing arches
next to each other in rows
• The use of volcanic ash, lime and water made for an
extremely sturdy mixture used on many ancient
buildings that still stand today.
Literature
• Romans respected writers and philosophers.
They were continuously searching for the
meaning of life
• The Romans honored their gods, but, also
wrote comedies about them.
• They were not afraid to poke fun at the gods,
political leaders and heroes
Theatre and Language
• One of the most popular past times in Rome
was attending plays
• All roles were played by men. Women were
only permitted to play as mimes
• Latin became the language for government,
trade and learning until about a.d. 1500