ROMAN LIFE by Mary Johnston
Days in Ancient Rome
 12 hour day with flexible hour length.
 Salutatio – morning reception (nomenclator – slave who whispered names of callers).
 Noon was siesta time (so quiet that one writer set a ghost story at noon). Afternoon, bath and
exercise, leisurely and social dinner between the 9th and 10th hour (3 – 4 p.m.)
Way of Life
 Nobles – fathers or heads of families (patres) (also called senes, old men) were counselors to
kings, formed the basis of the senate; families of patres were called patricians; possible careers:
1. agriculture; 2. politics (cursus honorum – quaestor (treasurer), praetor (judge), consul; other
offices between, but not part of the cursus, were aedile (public works) and tribune of the plebs); a
novus homo, (like Cicero) the 1st in a family to hold office, was rare; 3. law, a means of political
advancement, no fees or low fees; 4. army, wealth through spoils or even proscriptions.
 Knights (equites), originally were men with enough money to join the cavalry, later were the
businessmen of Rome – moneylenders, tax collectors (publicani), merchants, those in government
administration.
 Commoners (plebs, plebeians) – gradual struggle for rights during the first 100 years of the
Republic through use of secession (strikes). This class ranges from the very poor on ‘welfare’,
who sometimes were forced to settle in colonies or became criminals; those in the army on 20 year
terms to get land grants; small land owners struggling to compete against large estates worked by
slaves; small tradesmen, etc. Freed slaves were part of this class and were never completely equal
to freeborn. Small tradesmen often formed guilds – social organizations with patron for
protection. Civil service – scribae (highest ranking bureaucrats), lictors (attendants for public
officials (lower ranking)). Other professions and trades: architects, teachers, carpenters, letterwriters, and doctors (usually Greek; Galen – great Greek doctor who came to Rome in 164 AD).
Town Life
 Town Council (curia) usually had 100 members (decuriones), included ex-magistrates.
Magistrates and councilors had to be free-born and own property. They got no salary, but did get
the best seats at the games! They were expected to beautify the city, build buildings, etc.
Privileges: wore toga praetexta, sat in curule chair, were attended by lictors in public.
 Knights usually formed the aristocracy of towns, were usually army officers.
 Augustales were wealthy freedmen, ineligible for the town council; they were priests in charge of
the worship of Augustus and subsequent emperors. They wore the toga praetexta.
Country Life
 Writings on Roman farming by Cato the Elder, Varro, Vergil, Pliny the Elder. Terms: iugera
(unit of area), vilicus (overseer), villa rustica vs. villa urbana, familia rustica (country
household), palaestra (exercise court), amphorae (large jars for oil, wine, etc.). There was a trend
toward an increase in large estates (latifundia) and a decline of small farms after the Punic Wars,
and an increase in the importation of grain (from Sicily, and later from Egypt).
 Romans had irrigation, contour plowing, rotation of crops; crops included the ‘Mediterranean
Triad’ of grains, grapes and olives (olive oil a staple for cooking, eating, lamps), as well as other
fruits and vegetables. The topiarius trimmed the hedges in elaborate formal gardens.
Roman Houses
 Earliest were oval huts; became model for the temple of Vesta.
 Parts of the house: atrium – main room; tablinum – office; alae – storage off the atrium, imagines
(wax images of the dead) kept here; compluvium – ‘skylight’, impluvium – pool in atrium;
vestibulum - court between door and street; ostium, ianua, or fores – door. Inscriptions included
cave canem or nihil mali intret, or Salve! Ianitor guarded door; posticum - back door; peristylium
– colonnaded walkway around hortus – garden; culina – kitchen; lararium – shrine to household
gods; bibliotheca – library; triclinium dining room; cubiculum – bedroom; sacrarium – shrine;
exedra – auditorium; solarium – sun deck; latrina – toilet.
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hypocaustum – heating system; heating in individual rooms by portable stoves, metal braziers.
Pipes made of lead from aqueducts and to sewers (Cloaca Maxima – great sewer of Rome).
Building materials included stone, brick, tufa (soft volcanic stone), and cement. Cement walls
(opus caementicum) were made of lime, lava, ash, stone; they were usually faced with brick or
stone. Cement with no particular pattern – opus incertum; with a net pattern – opus reticulatum.
Roofs were tiled; windows had shutters (glass was too expensive). Apartments (insulae) were
built around an open central court; ground floor had shops (tabernae). Augustus and Nero limited
height to 7 and 6 floors because of fire danger or collapse (they were cheaply made). The
insularius was a slave who looked after the building and collected rent. From the street one saw
bare, plain walls of buildings, no yards. There were graffiti, ads, election notices on the walls.
Streets had sidewalks, stepping stones. Juvenal wrote of crowded streets, danger at night of
robbers.
Interior decoration: few items of furniture, but often expensively made, beautiful: included lectus
– bed, couch; curule chair (for high magistrates, had purple cushion, ivory legs); solium – straight
chair; cathedra (armless chair, used by teachers, hence ex cathedra meant an authoritative
statement, such as one issued by a bishop (hence cathedral); mensa – table; clocks (sundial,
clepsydra – water clock); lamps; candelabrum – stand for hanging lamps; faces – torches.
Roman Families
 Familia (household) had paterfamilias (head of household). Familia included relatives, clients,
slaves, property. Gens (clan) meant households related through a common male ancestor.
Cognomen meant branch of gens. Patria potestas was power of life and death of the pater over
his familia (moderated by custom). Pater was to filius as patronus was to cliens as patrician was
to plebeian as patres were to citizens as Jupiter was to the other gods. Power of father ended with
death, banishment, son or daughter becoming priest (Flamen Dialis) or Vestal Virgin, if the son
was adopted by someone else, or if the daughter married. Domenica potestas – master’s power
over all property in familia. He could assign portions to relatives (peculium – same term is used
for a slave’s personal savings and property). The wife was in the same position as the daughter,
came into the husband’s familia. Manus is the power of the husband over the wife.
 Agnates were closest relatives, had descent from a common male ancestor, included wife and sons
who were adopted. Agnates formed gens. This relationship was called agnatio.
 Cognates were related by blood through males or females; this relationship was called cognatio;
no legal claims to familia. Cara Cognatio (a.k.a. Caristia) on Feb. 22 celebrated the tie of blood
with presents, family reunions. There was no marriage within 4 th degree of relation (cousins): ius
osculi – right to kiss only! Terms for relatives were more complex, e.g. patruus – paternal uncle,
avunculus – maternal uncle; matertera – maternal aunt, amita – paternal aunt; nepos – grandson.
Family cult showed importance of agnates; pater as famly priest gave rites for ancestors; a
childless man would adopt a son of family of same rank as his (adoptio). The Gens was a familia
in the widest sense, in that they had the same nomen; gentiles were people of the same gens.
Roman Names
 Praenomen – individual name; few choices for men (never more than 30) included Appius (APP.),
Aulus (A.), Decimus (D.), Gaius (C.), Gnaeus (CN.), Lucius (L.), Manius (M’.), Mamercus
(MAM.), Marcus (M.), Publius (P.), Quintus (Q.), Servius (SER.), Sextus (S., SEX., SEXT.),
Septimus (SEPT.), Spurius (S.), Tiberius (TI.), Titus (T.), (the original meaning (numbers, etc.)
was lost in the name). Praenomen given on Dies Lustricus (day of purification - 9th day after
birth for boys, 8th for girls).
 Nomen – name of gens
 Cognomen – family or branch (stirps) of gens– originally a nickname (e.g. Crassus means ‘fat’)
 Agnomen – 4th or even 5th name to show further division of branch, adoption, honor (called
cognomen ex virtute).
 Women’s names – feminine form of nomen (any girl in the Livius family was named Livia).
 Slaves – puer became por added to master’s praenomen (e.g. Marcipor – Marcus’ boy).
 Freedmen used master’s praenomen and nomen plus L. (libertus) and own name as cognomen.
 Naturalized citizens adopted Roman names.
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Marriage Customs and Roman Women
 Three kinds of marriage: 1. Confarreatio – highest form, used in some patrician families, named
for far (a grain) cake broken and shared; the pronuba (matron) joined the hands of groom and
bride, who came in manum viri (under the power of her husband); no divorce; this form became
less popular in the Republic but was a requirement for some priesthoods. 2. Coemptio – fictional
sale of wife to husband as property. 3. Usus – common law marriage, common among plebeians.
 Ius conubii – right of intermarriage between patricians and plebeians gained in 445 BC. Customs
included betrothal, engagement and/or wedding ring worn on the ring finger of the left hand
(belief that a nerve ran from there to the heart), dowry, no license required, just permission of
paterfamilias; minimum age 14 for males, 12 for females. At the wedding the bride gave up her
bulla, wore the tunica recta (straight tunic), flame colored veil (flammeum) and shoes, had a
special hairstyle (divided into six locks). Ceremony included vow: Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia
(Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia). Procession of wedding party to groom’s house with show of
force in imitation of Romulus’ men stealing the Sabine women, cries of Talassio (“For
Thalassius”, rich man sent his servants to find the most beautiful Sabine woman for him). In the
atrium the groom offered the new bride gifts of fire and water to symbolize new life and home.
 Roman matrons (married women) had no legal rights, but were given great respect. Matronalia,
March 1st, was like Mother’s Day. Matron could be given a funeral eulogy (laudatio) in the
Forum when she died. The epitome of the Roman matron was Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi
brothers, who, when asked to show a wealthy friend her jewels, called in her two sons. During the
late Republic and the Empire there was a decline in family importance and morality.
Roman Children
 At birth baby called pupus, pupa until naming. Baby was laid at father’s feet for his acceptance.
If he refused baby, by law it could be exposed (left to die), but no actual instances of this are
known. At birth babies received a guardian spirit, called genius for boys, juno for girls. On the
9th day (8th for girls) they received a praenomen and gifts, including a bulla and crepundia (rattles
or beads forming a necklace). This day was the Dies Lustricus (Day of Light or Purification).
 A boy wore the toga praetexta until he came of age and put on the toga virilis (age 16 or 17),
usually at Liberalia (March 17th), feast of Liber. He then became eligible for military service.
Girls came of age when they got married.
Education
 Paedagogus – Greek word for leader of children. Elementary schools taught reading, writing
(stylus, wax tablets), arithmetic, memorization (12 Tables of Law). Grammar school –
grammaticus taught Latin and Greek, music, geometry. Schools of rhetoric taught composition.
 Foreign Study – higher education, e.g. philosophy, taught in Athens, Alexandria. Young men
often apprenticed to lawyer or general for training. Quintilian, 1 st century AD grammarian, was a
famous teacher of oratory (he taught Pliny the Younger).
Slavery
 During the Republic the source was prisoners of war, sold right after battle by quaestors to slave
dealers (spear was a sign of public sale; sub hasta venire – to be sold into slavery). Dealers
(mangones) brought slaves to public sales in cities. In public sales, imported slaves’ feet were
whitened with chalk. If slave had a cap on, no guarantee was offered to the buyer.
 Public slaves: owned by the state, took care of public buildings, streets, served magistrates and
priests (as lictors, carried the fasces, bundle of rods with ax imbedded), were jailers, executioners,
etc. Private slaves: personal slaves of master were part of the familia urbana. Slaves were hired
out for profit or used in master’s business (e.g. farmhands, called familia rustica.
 Runaways were branded on the forehead with an F. or FUG. for ‘fugitive’ or made to wear an iron
collar. Peculium – slave’s property, could be used to buy freedom. Vicarius – slave of a slave.
 Punishments included flogging, torture, and crucifixion (for attempt on master’s life or
insurrection). A common curse was ‘ad malam crucem,’ ‘go to the evil cross.’ If a slave killed
his master, all the slaves could be killed. Slaves could testify in a legal case only if tortured.
Manumission (the freeing of a slave, could take place formally before a praetor (judge) or
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informally before witnesses. A freed slave wore a cone-shaped liberty cap (copied in the French
Revolution) called a pilleus, was called libertus (freedman) and his master became his patron.
Clientes/Hospites
 Under the late Republic, patrons were wealthy men, clients were poor men who sought favors.
Client had duty to appear at salutatio (morning visit); patron’s favor was a free meal or basket of
food (sportula), or sometimes a gift of money. A hospes was a guest OR host; guests were treated
as equals and friends. The opposite of hospes is hostis (stranger and enemy). Hospites were to be
given aid and shelter; tokens of hospitality (tesserae) were exchanged, hospitality was
reciprocated to those traveling. To violate hospitium was to offend Jupiter, god of hospitality.
Clothing of Men and Boys
 Two classes of clothing – indutus (put on) and amictus (wrapped around). Indutus included
subligaculum (underwear) and tunica (basic garment worn by all; to a citizen the tunica was an
informal indoor garment with a wide stripe for a senator, 2 narrow stripes for a knight). Gallic
braccae (trousers) were garments of barbarians, although later Romans used them for riding or
hunting or wore in the north for warmth. Nations who wore pants were called nationes braccatae,
a term of contempt for Gauls, Germans, etc. Amictus included the toga, the symbol of citizenship
(Vergil called Romans the gens togata) and peace, as opposed to the short tunica of the warrior.
Kinds of togae included: plain off-white toga (called toga virilis, toga pura, toga libera); toga
candida for candidates for office (made extra white through bleaching and chalk); toga praetexta
with purple border for boys and magistrates; toga picta (crimson with gold border) for triumphant
generals and later for emperors; toga pulla (dingy, dark) for those mourning. The fold of the toga
pulled over the head means the wearer is in a religious ceremony.
 Other garments: cloaks included lacerna (cape), paenula (worn over head), and synthesis (bright
robe for going to a banquet). Soleae (sandals) were worn indoors with tunic and removed during
dinner. When a guest called for his sandals (soleas poscere) he was signaling that he was ready to
go. Calcei (shoes) were worn outside with the toga. Caligae were boots (the emperor Gaius was
known as Caligula, “Little Boot,” because of a little army uniform he wore as a child in army
camp with his father, the famous general Germanicus). Hats included the pilleus, cone-shaped hat
worn by the poor, freed men; petasus, wide brimmed hat used by travelers to keep the sun off.
 Hair styles varied. Adult men usually were beardless (until the Emperor Hadrian) and had short
hair, although they let it grow shaggy when mourning. Jewelry included signet or seal ring.
Clothing most often made of wool (lana), in its natural, off-white color, and woven at home.
Even Augustus prided himself in wearing clothing woven by his wife Livia. Togas were cleaned
by professional cleaners or fullers called fullones.
Clothing of Women and Girls
 Women wore subligaculum (underwear), tunica, outer tunic (stola) with folds over a belt
(cingulum), and a shawl (palla) outdoors. Fibulae were pins or brooches worn to hold tunicae or
stolae at the shoulders. They wore soleae and calcei. Wool was the most important fabric
(natural color) through the Republic; other materials included linen, cotton, and expensive silk
from China. Hair was frequently styled very elaborately, sometimes dyed; wigs were worn.
Jewelry was important (anulus – ring, inaures – earrings, armilla – bracelet). Pearls were most
popular (no diamonds). Women carried parasols and fans.
Food
 Grapes, olives, and grains were the staples. Other foods were fruits (no oranges), vegetables (no
potatoes, tomatoes, or maize), meats (pork was the favorite), fowl, fish, dairy products (butter was
used as an ointment, not as food), honey (no sugar), salt (government monopoly because it was
essential), cereal grains. Relative importance of kinds of meat is shown by the religious rite
suovetaurilia (sus – pig, ovis – sheep, taurus – bull). A grain porridge known as puls was eaten
by all, like a national dish. Bread was baked in circular loaves with dividing marks on top. Olives
were important as fruit, cooking oil, lamp oil, and as perfume base. Garum (a.k.a. liquamen) was
a fermented fish sauce used on everything. Grapes consumed fresh, as wine, as raisins. Wine was
mixed with water. Mulsum was honey and wine, mustum was grape juice. No tea or coffee.
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Meals of the Day
 Excesses of the early empire are detailed in The Banquet of Trimalchio in the Petronius’
Satyricon. 3 meals a day was common. In older days and in the country they were breakfast
(ientaculum), dinner (cena), and supper (vesperna). In the city the 3 meals were ientaculum,
lunch (prandium), and cena. The first two meals of the day were light; the cena was a social
event beginning about mid afternoon (9th hour) for 3 hours. Proper number of diners at dinner was
9. Positions of guests on couches were fixed according to their importance; the most important
place was called the consul’s place. Parts of the dinner were antecena or gustus (appetizers, often
including eggs), cena, and secunda mensa (dessert, often with apples or other fruit). Full meal
was ‘ab ovo usque ad mala’ (from egg to apples).
 Guests removed their sandals and reclined on couches. They had no table knives or forks.
Entertainment often included poetry readings. Extravagant banquets included flowers and
perfume sprinkled on diners (thought to prevent drunkenness). The rex or magister or arbiter
bibendi (master of drinking) was appointed master of revels to set mixture of wine and water and
to be in charge of gambling. Commissatio (a.k.a. compotatio) was a drinking party.
Games, Exercise, and Baths
 Training in sports useful to soldiers – riding, swimming, practice with swords. The Campus
Martius, a flat area along the Tiber, was an exercise area, drill area for the army. Ball games
included trigon (3 person, 3 cornered catch with 2 balls). Romans liked to gamble with dice
(tesserae), knucklebones (tali), and coin flipping.
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Public baths, like modern health clubs, were called balneae if small, thermae if large. Fees were
very low so all could afford to go (quadrans); often a wealthy man paid all fees. Parts of the
thermae: apodyterium (dressing room), tepidarium (warm room), caldarium (hot room),
frigidarium (cold room), unctorium (room for massage, rubdown with oil, scraping with strigilis),
laconicum (hot room without water for a sweat bath), palaestra (exercise area). Baths were
heated by central system called hypocaust. Romans bathed about the 7 th – 8th hour (1-3 o’clock).
Women bathed at different hours or in different rooms. Ruins of the famous baths of Diocletian
and Caracalla still remain.
Theaters and Plays
 Ludi – term for all shows; ludi scaenici – plays. Plays were originally religious, to honor a god,
given at state or private expense and free to citizens. By the late Republic the religious sense was
lost; during the Empire, plays lost out in popularity to gladiatorial games and races. Types:
tragedy and comedy (from Greeks), pantomime, farce (last two were the most popular). Plays
were usually given in the morning, were supervised by aediles like games, were given by acting
companies (all actors were men, often slaves, wore masks: red hair = slave, black hair = young
man, gray hair = old man). Comedies of Plautus and Terence were adapted from Greek models.
 First permanent theater built in Rome was by Pompey (Theatre of Pompey) in 55 BC; Augustus
built the Theater of Marcellus (for his nephew/son-in-law who died very young). Roman
theaters differed from Greek: used arches to build on flat land, didn’t have to depend on a hillside.
Architectural plans are known from writings of the Roman architect Vitruvius. Parts of the
theater: scaena (stage), cavea (seating area), cunei (section of seats in front for senators). There
was no roof, but there was an awning (velarium) to protect spectators from the sun and rain. The
curtain was raised from a slot in the bottom of the stage.
Circuses and Races
 Circus – a ring. Ludi circenses – shows in the ring. Circus Maximus was the oldest, largest,
most popular of the many circuses in Rome. Parts of a circus: carceres (starting gates, means
‘prisons’); spina (central dividing wall); metae (posts marking ends of spina); lap counters were
eggs or dolphins); calx (finish line); arena (sand). Races were usually 7 laps (lap = curriculum,
entire race was a missus). The race started with the dropping of a white mappa (handkerchief).
Racing teams were called factiones, named for the colors the drivers wore (blue and green were
most popular; others were red and white, later gold and purple also). There was much rivalry and
betting. Most chariots were pulled by 4 horses (called a quadriga; 2 horse chariot is a biga).
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Drivers (aurigae) were slaves or freedmen, wore a short tunic, kept a knife in the waistband to cut
reins wrapped around their waist. There were many famous aurigae. Other shows in the Circus
were gladiatorial contests, beast hunts, horse shows (desultores rode two horses at once, lept back
and forth between them; Ludus Troiae – drills by several riders in the style of games by Ascanius
in Book 5 of the Aeneid). The Pompa Circensis was a colorful procession to open the games.
Gladiators and Amphitheaters
 Rome got gladiatorial contests from the Etruscans (Etruria is the region north of Rome), who
made captives of war fight as a sacrifice at funerals of important men. First contests in Rome
were in 264 BC (same year the 1st Punic War started). They were rare until the late Republic.
Games given for the public were called munera; they continued until the 5th century AD. Sources
for gladiators were war captives, bad slaves, convicted criminals; later sources included volunteers
and sometimes Christians for refusal to worship the ‘divine’ emperor. Gladiators were trained and
kept in schools called familiae. Spartacus led his rebellion from a school in Capua, 73-71 BC.
 An amphitheater was a theater with seats all the way around. The earliest known amphitheater
was at Pompeii (75 BC); the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum) was opened in Rome in 80 AD.
The Flavian emperor Vespasian began it, his son, Titus, dedicated and opened it, and his other
son, Domitian, completed it. The Colosseum had 80 entrances. It could be flooded for mock
naval battles (naumachiae). An awning (velarium), deployed by sailors, kept the sun off the
spectators. The pulvinar was the emperor’s seat; lower seats were for Vestals, senators, giver of
the games (editor). Higher seats were for the poor. Women sat at the top. Tickets were tesserae.
 Gladiators named after Roman enemies: Samnites, heavily armed, Thracians lightly armed. A
favorite matchup was the heavily armed secutor vs. the retiarius, equipped with a net and trident.
The murmillo had a fish on his helmet. The essedarius fought from a chariot. A bestiarius
fought animals. A gladiator who fought blind was an andabata. A venatio was a beast hunt.
 Ads for shows found on city buildings, sometimes results were posted: v. = vicit (he won), p. =
periit (he died), missus = he was let off. The Gladiator’s salute: Morituri te salutant (those about
to die salute you). If the gladiator was defeated and the ‘thumbs down’ (pollice verso) sign was
given, he was killed and dragged out the Death Gate (Porta Libitinensis).
 In a gladiator’s 1st appearance he was called a tiro (beginner); he could be ranked primus palus
(first in his class, etc.); he could win freedom and be given a symbolic wooden sword (rudis).
Gladiators could become rich through prizes and gifts. They could become trainers (lanistae).
Travel, Correspondence, and Books
 Rome was the center of civilization; Romans had little desire to travel elsewhere unless necessary
for public or private business. Travel by sea was difficult (no compass) and dangerous. Roads
were good, usually built by the military for moving troops quickly. Romans traveled roads in
wagons or carts (riding a horse without a saddle was uncomfortable). Streets of Rome were closed
to vehicles during daylight (sunrise to mid afternoon) because of crowds. Exceptions were high
priests, Vestals, triumphs. Litters (lecticae) and sedan chairs (sellae) were permitted. Some
vehicles: pilentum (4-wheeled carriage) and carpentum (2-wheeled) for priests and state
processions; carruca (larger coach); and for long journeys, the raeda (4-wheeled covered wagon)
and cisium (2-wheeled, faster, smaller). Inns were poor. The wealthy stayed with hospites.
 Letters: wealthy men had tabellarii, slaves who carried letters (could average 26-27 miles/day on
foot and 40-50 by horse). Slaves who wrote letters from dictation were librarii, servi ab epistulis,
servi a manus, or amanuenses. Letters were written with a stilus on wax tablets (tabellae) which
were folded over, tied with a string (linum), sealed with wax (cera), and a seal (signum).
 Paper was papyrus; pages were chartae; red and black (from soot) inks were used. The form of a
book was a roll (volumen); paper was rolled around a wooden dowel called an umbilicus with
knobs on the ends (cornua). They were covered so only the tag with the title (titulus) showed,
and stored in cubbyholes. The reader unrolled the roll with the right hand and rolled it with the
left. Books were copied by hand by amanuenses. By the end of the Republic publishing became
a business; copyists were often slaves. Many had private libraries; 1st public library opened by
Asinius Pollio during reign of Augustus. Augustus opened 2 more. The largest was built by
Trajan (Bibliotheca Ulpia). In the 4th century books began to be made with parchment or vellum.
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Roads, Aqueducts, and Sewers
 Via Appia was built in 312 BC by Appius Claudius. Roads were built for moving troops. They
had footpaths, gutters, curbstones, milestone markers measuring distance from the Golden
Milestone (Miliarium Aureum) in the Forum (all distances were measured by it).
 The water supply ran mainly underground. The 1st aqueduct was the Aqua Appia, built by Appius
Claudius; the 1st high level aqueduct was the Aqua Marcia, which supplied water to the
Capitoline; Augustus built the Aqua Julia and Aqua Virgo. Channels were masonry, gravity
carried water to city reservoirs, street pipes to houses (ground floor only) and public fountains.
The Cloaca Maxima (Great Sewer) was built by Tarquinius Superbus to drain the area of the
Forum. Sewers ran from baths, public latrines, and the ground floor of buildings.
Roman Religion
 State Religion: according to tradition Numa Pompilius, the second king, established Roman
religion, organized priestly colleges and priests (flamines) to Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus (the deified
Romulus), and organized the calendar for religious festivals. The head of religion was called the
Pontifex Maximus; during the Empire he was usually the emperor. Various priestly colleges
included augurs (who interpreted the will of the gods by taking the auspices, i.e. watching the
flight of birds, the sacred chickens, thunder, etc.) and haruspices (examined the entrails of
sacrificial animals). The Commission of 15 (quindecimviri) guarded the Sibyline Books which
foretold the future of Rome. The Vestal Virgins tended the sacred fire in a round temple of Vesta
(their terms were 30 years). Gods included Jupiter, Juno, Saturn (crops), Venus, Minerva, Diana,
Hercules, Mercury (commerce), Bacchus, Ceres, Proserpina, Apollo, Asculapius (god of healing,
adopted from the Greeks, worshipped on Tiber Island where there was an ancient hospital). Rome
adopted several more gods: Cybele (Magna Mater) from Phrygia in 205 BC, Isis from Egypt,
Mithra from Persia (Mithraism was popular with the army). There were also Jews and Christians
in Rome. Under Augustus there was revival of religion and rebuilding of many temples. Worship
of emperors began with Augustus (and the deification of Julius Caesar) but was only done outside
of Rome during the emperor’s lifetime. The Augustales, local freedmen, were in charge of
emperor worship. The Christians’ refusal to worship emperors led to their persecution.
 Family Religion: the father was the priest; the Lar Familiaris protected the household (lares also
protected crossroads, had shrines there; the Lares Compitales were worshipped at street-corner
shrines), and every house had a shrine to the Lar, called the lararium, usually found in the atrium.
The Penates protected the storeroom. Other household gods were the genius of the paterfamilias
(sometimes represented in Pompeii as a snake), and Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Romans made
daily offerings to the household gods. Each family had its own rites, or sacra, the execution of
which was thought necessary not only for the well being of the family, but of the state.
Romans and Their Dead
 A body had to be properly buried or wander as an unhappy ghost. An empty grave was called a
cenotaphium. The poor, children, slaves, and Christians were buried. Wealthy were cremated.
By law burial and burning took place outside the city. Tombs along the road were family tombs or
built by burial societies to which the less wealthy belonged. The very poor were buried in potters’
fields. Executed criminals were not buried. A sepulchrum (tomb) was a house for the dead. It
had a pipe through which offerings could be poured. Famous tombs: the Mausoleum of Hadrian
(Castel di Sant’Angelo), the Tomb of Augustus (Marcellus was the 1st placed there, Nerva the last;
on its bronze doors were the Res Gestae, the deeds of Augustus), and the pyramid tomb of Gaius
Sestius. Columbaria (‘dovecotes’), built by burial societies, were niches for many burial urns.
 Remembrance of the dead (manes) was very important and was done by families. It was
important for a man to have a son to take care of these rites (one reason for adoption). Annual
days to honor the dead were Parentalia (a.k.a. Dies Parentalis) and Feralia. A professional
undertaker was called a designator. Funerals were family centered. Cypress boughs were a sign
of mourning. There was a procession to the Forum, where important people received a funeral
oration (laudatio), and then were cremated (the ustrina was the place for cremation). There then
followed the Nine Days of Sorrow, and then sometimes funeral games. Family members mourned
for ten months. Wax images of the dead (imagines) were kept in a shrine at home.