STAGE 1

POMPEII Pompeii was situated at the foot of mountain Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, and may have had a population of about 10,000. Pompeii was located southeast of Rome.

Caecilius& his family Lucius Caecilius Iucundus and his family lived in Italy during the 1 st century AD in Pompeii. He was a rich Pompeian banker & businessman. When archeologists excavated his house, they discovered his accounts in a strongbox; these documents tell about his business dealings. 153 documents in the form of tax tablets were found in his house. They included receipts, contracts and loan documents. He inherited some of his money, but made most of it through business activities. He dealt in slaves, cloth, timber, & property, ran a dyeing business, raised sheep & cattle, & had a contract for collecting local taxes.

Caecilius

ROMAN NAMES A male Roman citizen usually had 3 names. Praenomen-” Lucius”-personal name Nomen-”Caecilius”-name of the “clan” or the group of families to which he belonged Cognomen-”Iucundus” name of his own family and close relatives. It is often descriptive. Iucundus means pleasant.

Roman names Slaves usually had only one name. If their owner freed them (which was common), they became freedmen, and they usually took the praenomen and nomen of their master, using their old name as their cognomen. For example, if Caecilius freed his slave Grumio, Grumio would probablly be Lucius Caecilius Grumio. Girls and women usually had a feminine form of their father’s Nomen. For example, all the daughters of Caecilius would have been named Caecilia. If there were more than one, they would have been Caecilia Prima, Caecilia Secunda, etc.

Metella-Roman women Roman women were not equal, could not vote and were expected to obey their fathers and husbands However, they had much greater personal freedom than women in most other parts of the Mediterranean world. Virtuous women, especially mothers, were held in high respect. Ran the household, supervised children & slaves, had her husband’s confidence Although their lives did center on the home, they did not live in seclusion; they went out to shop, visit friends, attended public events, attended parties; dined next to their husbands at banquets

Roman women Roman marriage was monogamous (only one legal spouse). However divorce was allowed and not uncommon Upper class women were well educated and informed, and took part in social and literary conversation Working class women occasionally ran businesses, usually when a widow took control of their deceased husband’s affairs.

Roman houses: villa-country estate; domus-town house; insula-apartment building; casa: cottage Domus Came right up to the sidewalk with no grass in front Outside windows were few, small, fairly high Some were one story, some two stories On either side of the front door, many houses had shops, which were rented out by the owner of the house.

Feature of the Atrium Ianua-door Fauces: entrance hall Atrium-main formal room; was very open with little furniture (maybe a marble table, strongbox and couch). The floor was paved with marble slabs or mosaics & the walls were decorated with panels of brightly painted plaster. Compluvium: square opening in the roof of the atrium, through which came light, air, rain. Impluvium: marble-lined, shallow rectangular pool that collected rainwater, which was then stored in a cistern for household use. Lararium: small shrine in the corner near the door, at which the family gods were worshiped.

Atrium

Atrium-Water and light flowed through a hole in the ceiling called the compluvium, into a pool called the impluvium

Lararium-shrine in the atrium, where the household gods, the Lares and Penates, were worshiped.

Around the atrium were arranged the tablinum, triclinium and cubicula Tablinum: study Triclinium: dining room Cubiculum: bedroom Behind the tablinum were the Peristylium, hortus and latrina Peristylium: colonnade of pillars surrounding a hortus (garden) Hortus: garden, laid out with flowers, shrubs, a fishpond, and sometimes a fountain. It served as a family room and general place to hang out. Latrina: toilet or bathroom Culina: kitchen

Tablinum: usually right behind the atrium

triclinium

Cubiculum

Peristylium

culina

Cave canem

Poor people in the city lived in apartment buildings called insulae, several stories high