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