Any day in Ancient Rome: the daily life of a Roman

When we think of the ancient Romans, emperors, weapons and wars always come to mind. But how did ordinary citizens live in everyday life? Where did they live? What were they wearing? What were their leisure?

Let's start from the houses, where we have an extraordinary testimony from the archaeological site of Pompeii.

The rich lived in the domus. From the #vestibulum, a disengagement that led to the interior, we moved towards the #atrium, a courtyard that revolved around the #impluvium, a rectangular basin that collected rainwater and then conveyed to an underground cistern.

The #tablinum next to the #atrium was the master's study room where the family archives were kept, while on the opposite side was the garden, the #hortus.

Next to the atrium were all the rooms, called #cubicula. The house was on one floor and received the light from a ceiling opening, from a sloping roof called a #compluvium.

People less environments instead lived in the insulae, similar to modern condominiums, composed of several floors to exploit the space upwards. Sometimes the ground floor was a small domus, though less luxurious than that of the patricians, and the lodgings of the upper floors were rented out.

Outside there were often tabernae (shops) where the tenants worked. In a Roman shop you could buy food or objects made of iron, clay or wood. The taberna was a sort of restaurant or trattoria and consisted of a single room with a barrel vault where wine and a meal were congealed. The foods were contained in large holes in the counter, while on the back there was the room where the meal was eaten.

The Romans consumed breakfast in the morning, generally consuming bread with oil and salt, eggs or fruit. Lunch or "second breakfast" was a frugal meal in the midst of the day's activities while dinner, eaten in the evening, for the poor consisted of chickpeas, oil and vegetables, while for the rich it could also be a sumptuous feast of fish, meat and desserts served by maidservants, served lying on the triclini.

The Roman man's clothing was composed of a tunic, a sort of mostly sleeveless shirt, long up to the knee or calf, and above it was worn the toga, a large cloak of white wool that it wrapped around the body in such a way as to leave the right arm free.

On the other hand, the woman's clothing consisted of a basic tunic, to which was added the stole, a short-sleeved dress fastened to the waist by a belt and dangling to the ground in elegant folds. When they came out, women wore a cloak, called #palla, with which they could also cover their heads.

The richest citizens spent a lot of time in the baths, real centers of social life. First we would dive into the calidarium, a tub with hot water, then we would go through the tepidarium, to get used to the temperature change, and we would end up in the frigidarium, the tub of cold water.

As is known, the Romans crowded the amphitheatres, vast arenas of oval shape and surrounded by steps, such as the famous Colosseum, to see bloody shows of gladiators or the less bloody racing carts. These places were a kind of sporting stadiums of antiquity.

Ultimately, having removed the pomposity of the great historical figures handed down from the official historiography, the Roman society of everyday everyday life (with due proportions) is more similar to ours than perhaps we thought. After all, by reflecting, we could consider them as our hypothetical "ancient" grandparents.

June 26, 2018 | Roman History

Any day in Ancient Rome: the daily life of a Roman

Let's start from the houses, where we have an extraordinary testimony from the archaeological site of Pompeii.

The #tablinum next to the #atrium was the master's study room where the family archives were kept, while on the opposite side was the garden, the #hortus.

Next to the atrium were all the rooms, called #cubicula. The house was on one floor and received the light from a ceiling opening, from a sloping roof called a #compluvium.