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1 -r* <'-Vf ' tf . > *y-:,-:-'iMI. j,-,. CHAPTER4 The Roman Forum was ^,.^, , government, and religious life in theRoman IntroductionIn the last chapter, you learned how Rome became the center of asprawling empire. In this chapter, you'll explore what daily life waslike for people living in the empire at the height of Rome's power-around 100 "All roads lead to Rome," boasted the Romans. For thousands of miles,road markers showed the distance to Rome. But more than roads connect-ed the empire's 50 million people. They were also connected by Romanlaw, Roman customs, and Roman military Rome was the center of the empire, the Forum was the center ofRome. The word forum means "gathering place." The original forum inRome was an open area used for merchants' stalls, races, games, andplays. In time, the Forumbecame a sprawling complex ofgovernment buildings, meetinghalls, temples, theaters, andmonuments.

2 This collection ofbuildings and plazas was theheart of Rome's religious, busi-ness, and government life . Ifyou wanted to find out whatlife was like for people in theRoman Empire, the Forumwould be a good place to this chapter, you'll visitthe bustling center of Rome'svast empire. You'll learn abouteight areas of daily life inancient Rome and discoverhow different life was therefor the rich and the this spoke diagram as a graphic organizer to explorevarious aspects of daily life in ancient life in the Roman Empire 335 The area known as the Forum wasthe heart of Rome's business,government, and religious Daily life in ancient RomeIf you had visited Rome in the first century or two , youwould have seen a city of great contrasts. Nearly a million peoplelived in the empire's capital city. Rome was full of beautiful tem-ples, stately palaces, and flowering gardens.

3 Yet most of its peo-ple lived in tiny apartments crammed into narrow, dirty the city's markets, wealthy Roman women shopped forgoods, accompanied by their slaves. Proud senators strolled withtheir bodyguards while soldiers tramped through the and craftspeople labored at their trades. Foreignersroamed the streets from such faraway places as Britain, Spain,and Egypt. And in the midst of it all were Rome's slaves hundreds of thousands of them, many of them captured in and goods flowed into Rome from the four corners ofthe empire. Wealthy Romans spent fabulous sums of money onsilk, perfumes, jeweled weapons, and musical instruments. Theydecorated their homes with statues, fountains, and fine the rich were only a small part of Rome's of the city's people lived in filthy neighborhoods filledwith crime and disease. Their children were lucky to live past theage of 10.

4 To keep the poor from becoming a dangerous mob,Roman emperors gave away food and provided entertainmentlike gladiator games and chariot empire had many large cities, but most people lived inthe countryside. There, too, most of the people were poor. Someworked their own small farms. Others labored on huge estatesowned by the 's take a closer look at daily life in the Chapter Law and OrderRomans always believed in the rule of law. In the days of therepublic, the Senate and the assemblies were important sources oflaw. In the empire, the ultimate source of law was the emperor. Asone Roman judge said, "Whatever pleases the emperor is the law."Even in the empire, however, Romans honored their old tradi-tions. The Senate continued to meet, and senators had high statusin society. They even had their own styles of clothing. They mightwear special rings, pins, or togas (robes).

5 Important senators hadtheir own bodyguards. The guards carried fasces, bundles ofsticks with an ax in the center. The fasces were symbols of thegovernment's right to use physical punishment on laws were strict, but crime was common in Rome. Themost frequent crimes were stealing, assault, and murder. Romanpolice kept an eye on richer neighborhoods but rarely patrolledthe poorer sections of the streets were so dangerousthat they were closed at tried to protectthemselves against crime. Richmen tried to hide their wealth bywearing old. dirty togas whenthey traveled at night. Womenand children in rich familieswere told never to go outdoorsalone, even during the Roman, including thepoor, could accuse someoneelse of a crime. A jury of citi-zens decided the case. Accusedpersons sometimes tried towin the jury's sympathy. Theymight wear rags or dirty clothesto court or have their wives andchildren sob in front of the believed that onelaw should apply to all , under the empire Romanlaw was not applied poor faced harsher punish-ments than the rich and some-times even Rome's courts, lawyers repre-sented both accused persons andtheir life in (he Roman Empire 337 Bulls were often offered as asacrifice to Mars, the Romangod of ReligionReligion was very important to the Romans, In an earlier chap-ter, you learned that the Romans adopted many Greek gods.)

6 Theyalso adopted gods from other cultures to create their own groupof Roman wanted to please their gods because they believed thatthe gods controlled their daily lives. At Rome's many temples andshrines, people made offerings and promises to the gods. Theyoften left gifts of food, such as honey cakes and fruit. They alsosacrificed animals, including bulls, sheep, and someone was sick or injured, Romans would leave asmall offering at a temple in the shape of the hurt part of thebody. For instance, they might leave a clay foot to remind the godwhich part of the body to festivals and holidays, or holy days, were heldthroughout the year to honor the gods. But religion was alsoa part of daily life . Each home had an altar where the familyworshiped its own household gods and spirits. The family hearth,or fireplace, was sacred to the goddess Vesta. During the mainmeal of the day, the family threw a small cake into the fire as anoffering to time, the Romans came to honor their emperors as emperor, Caligula, had a temple built to house a statue ofhimself made of gold.

7 Every day the statue was dressed in thetype of clothes that Caligula was wearing that the empire grew, foreigners brought new gods and formsof worship to Rome. The Romans welcomed these new religionsas long as they didn't encourage disloyalty to the Chapter Family LifeFamily life in Rome was ruled by the paterfamilias, or "fatherof the family." A Roman father's word was law in his own his grown sons and daughters had to obey men were expected to provide for the family. In richerfamilies, husbands often held well-paid political positions. Inpoor families, both husbands and wives often had to work inorder to feed and care for their Roman women ran their households. They bought andtrained the family's slaves. Many wanted money of their own andwere active in business. Often they bought and sold babies were usually born at home. The Romans keptonly strong, healthy babies.

8 If the father didn't approve of anewborn, it was left outside to die. Romans found it strangethat people like the Egyptians raised all their were named in a special ceremony when they werenine days old. A good-luck charm called a bulla was placedaround the baby's wore their bullasthroughout the ages of 14 and18, a Roman boy celebratedbecoming a man. In a specialceremony, he offered hisbulla, along with his child-hood toys and clothes, to girls did not have aceremony to celebrate the endof childhood. They becameadults when they were mar-ried, usually between the agesof 12 and were held at atemple. The bride wore awhite toga with a long groom also wore a whitetoga, along with leather shoesthat he had shined with ani-mal fat. But the new husbanddid not become a paterfamil-ias until his own father parents allowed onlystrong, healthy babies to young men and women inRome, getting married was a stepinto life in the Roman Empire 339In Rome's bustling marketplace,merchants sold many kinds of foodand other Food and DrinkWhat Romans cooked and ate depended on whether they wererich or poor.

9 Only the rich had kitchens in their homes. The poorcooked on small grills and depended on "fast food" places calledthermopolia, where people could buy hot and cold foods thatwere ready to go. Even the rich often bought their daytime mealsat thermopolia because the service was fast and main foods in ancient Rome were bread, beans, spices, afew vegetables, cheese, and meats. Favorite drinks included plainwater, hot water with herbs and honey, and breakfast, Romans usually ate a piece of bread and a bowlof beans or porridge. Porridge was an oatmcai-Hkc cereal madefrom grains like barley or wheat. Lunch might include a small bitof cheese and bread, and perhaps some olives or dinner, poor Romans might have chunks of fish alongwith some asparagus and a fig for dessert. Wealthy Romans atemuch fancier dinners. Besides the main part of the meal, they hadspecial appetizers.

10 Some favorites were mice cooked in honey,roasted parrots stuffed with dates, salted jellyfish, and snailsdipped in markets offered many choices to those who couldafford them. Wealthy Roman women or their slaves shopped forthe perfect foods for fancy dinner parties. Merchants often keptplayful monkeys or colorful birds on display to attract shelves were packed with fruits, live rabbits, chickens,geese, baskets of snails, and cuts of meat. Large clay jars werefilled with a salty fish sauce the Romans liked to pour over themain dish at Chapter HousingLike food, housing was verydifferent in Rome for the richand for the poor. The spacious,airy homes of the rich stood sideby side with the small, darkapartments that housed the Romans lived ingrand houses built of stone andmarble. The walls were thick tokeep out the noise of the the front door was ahall called an atrium where thefamily received guests.