1. Daily Life

2.  Rome – Capital city of Roman Empire  One of the first true “cities”  One Million + inhabitants  Overcrowding

3.  Census  Counted Roman citizens, their families, slaves, and wealth  Could lose it if they didn’t register it  They could even be sold as slaves  Allowed government to track  Took place every 5 years  Citizenship  Originally only those who lived in the city were counted as Roman citizens  As empire expanded, people in other parts were counted as citizens, too  These other parts of the empire modeled themselves after Rome  Women were not counted as citizens

4.  Small number of rich Romans  Elegant homes in city  Villas = country estates  Massive feasts  Exotic dishes, entertainment, induced vomiting  Could last days

5.  Most people in Rome were poor or slaves  Poor housing conditions  Apartments with no running water, toilets, or kitchens  Waste dumped into street  Wooden houses  Great Fire of AD 64  Survived on wheat  Riots would break out from poor harvests  Need for distraction

6.  Circus = arena for shows  Shows became known as circuses, too  Colosseum also housed entertainment  Entertainment  Animals/humans fighting  Clowns  Public executions  Plays  Gladiators  People who fight to the death  “Thumbs up” or “thumbs down”

7.  Fathers with 3+ kids got land from gov.  Women with 3+ kids, slaves with 4+ kids received privileges  No financial benefit from gov. if unmarried or childless  Gov. wanted to increase family size, continue family names

8.  3 generations of men, women, and children lived in same house  Paterfamilias - head of the Roman household  Father of the family (Latin)  Could be father, grandfather, or great-grandfather  Absolute power over the household  Owned everything in it  Sons had to be freed by the father in order to do business or to own property  At one point, they had the power to sell children into slavery

9.  Women married into households  Became like daughters to the paterfamilias of their new households  Some women lived in their original family’s households even after marriage  Freedom of Roman women depended upon husband’s wealth and status  Wealthy women fairly independent  Influenced famous/powerful men throughout history  Some became doctors, businesswomen  Some women even controlled own money  Jobs of lower class women: cooks, dressmakers, hairdressers, dancing, and singing

10.  Very common  Slaves often well taken care of physically  Slaves still had virtually no rights  Slaves often became close with their possessing families  Some even gained important familial positions  Slaves who didn’t work in households were less fortunate  Poor conditions working in mines  Others worked on farms  Some were gladiators  Chance to buy freedom  Served as rowers on warships