LATIN SOURCES
CONTENTS
Houses
Water supply
Women
Occupations + soldiers
Food and drink
Patronage
Baths
Religion
Chariot racing
Ampitheatre
- Created by: Former Member
- Created on: 29-04-14 15:26
Houses
COLUMELLA
- three parts divided into living quarters, farmhouse and storehouse
- three parts should be divided into winter and summer rooms (baths, bedrooms and dining room should face a particular way)
- slaves had worse living conditions, e.g. facing midday sun
- herdsmen/shepherds should have rooms next to livestock
- manager should be able to watch foreman, who should be near the animals
- storerooms should be divided, e.g. oil, wine, granaries
HORACE
- countryside was safer, quieter
- city was more luxurious but more dangerous
JUVENAL
- building was safer and more stuctural in the country with better materials: poor in the city
- poverty in Rome and no help for the poor (rich had lots of help)
- fires in the city, people at the top would not hear the warning or get out in time
- rent was high in the city, could buy a house in the country and run it yourself for the same price
- "You need to be rich to sleep in Rome."
- cramped, busy
Water Supply
SENECA
- baths very popular
central to community
lots of activities
big use of water
VITRUVIUS
- water was fed to the city from a reservoir, through pipes, tanks
- tanks for: pools + fountains
baths
private houses
- tanks prevent shortage of water for public use
- private houses paid extra tax to help with upkeep of aqueducts
Women
COLUMELLA
-The foreman was given a woman to live with him
- Women who were more fertile could get exemption or freedom from work if they produced and brought up multiple sons
- Housekeepers were women and they did house work and farm work, including wool work, teaching/learning skills, observing stewards/shepherds/slaves and cleaning/airing furniture + sick bays
JUVENAL/MARTIAL
- Women were mistresses to gladiators
OVID - At The Races
- Men were often very taken with women in public places, v. interested in their movements, way they sit
- Women were compared to goddesses
OVID - Fasti
- It was they woman's job to look after her man in public
- Festivals were named after godesses, showing women were important in Roman society
Occupations (including women and slaves)
COLUMELLA
- Slaves remained in their place of work
- The foreman was expected to be watching work at all times
- Herdsmen, foremen and managers lived in close proximity to livestock
- Foremen should be hard working, dedicated and strong, therefore city men were not appropriate
- Slaves wore practical clothing
- Slave women could be freed after having a certain number of children and were not expected to work in the rain
- Slaves worked hard and were not permitted a lot of leisure time
CICERO
- Some jobs were considered lowly e.g. tax collectors, cooks, fishmongers/butchers
- Respected jobs included medecine, teaching, architecture, good farming
- Money lending = murder
- Gladiators were either desperate, foreign or criminals, controlled by their owners and training was must
Soldiers
VEGETIUS
- Soldiers are taught to march in step 20 (increased to 23) miles in 5 hours
- Also taught to run, swim and jump so they weren't weakened in attack
- Trained with heavy swords/shields, morning and afternoon in all weathers
- Belief that experience is better than pure strenght - would train in all weathers and a variety of tasks e.g. chopping wood, swimming in seas/rivers so that bodies and minds were not weakend
Food and Drink
MARTIAL
- Poor had worse food, e.g. mussels or magpie, rich had luxurious food e.g. oysters, dove
- Food of the poor had worse taste and texture
- Entertainment was chosen by the master/host
- Entertainment could be specific to guests to please or show off
HORACE
- Varied diet depending on location - more luxurious in cities
- Country diets similar to slaves/poor as food wasn't easy to collect so had to be preserved
- Country people were skinnier
- Large dinner parties held in the cities
- Food was always tasted by slaves first to provide a relaxing event
- Masses of leftovers would be consumed the next day or next party
- Food could be dyed different colours
OVID
- Food was left at tombs as offerings to the Gods
Patronage
AUGUSTUS
- Games were put on in honour of others and Gods
MARTIAL
- Patrons could be paid to come to dinner
- Clients would eat worse food at dinners
- Clients had to visit patrons first thing in the morning, regardless of their distance or condition
- Clients must call patrons, "My Lord"
- Clients worked very hard for very little and were often tired. Patrons earnt a lot for very little time given.
- Want-to-be clients would pester a patron with compliments until they were invited to dinner
Baths
COLUMELLA
- Baths should face the summer sunset to give maximum light hours
- Farmhouses had baths that slaves could use on holidays (baths contributed to laziness that was not desired in a slave)
MARTIAL
- Patron-hunters often hung around at the baths
- The rich could have private baths
SENECA
- Public baths were noisy
- Also at the baths were weights for lifting, rub-downs/massages, ball games, singing and hair pluckers
- Food was served at the baths
Religion
COLUMELLA
- The foreman could be religious but could not perform sacrifices or be assosiated with witches or soothsayers
OVID - At the races
- Gods were dedicated to everything - including Victoria (victory), Neptune (sea), Mars (war), Minerva (wisdom, city, education, science, war) and Venus and Cupid (god/dess of love)
OVID - Fasti
- Tombs were honoured with small gifts as Gods in the Styx were not greedy
- Legends that unhonoured dead once rose up and haunted the cities
- There were eleven days for worshipping/honouring the dead
- Terminus was the god of boundaries, fires were lit and stones placed to mark out fields
- Festival celebrating Terminus
- At the feast of Anna Perenna, many people got drunk and relaxed
Chariot Racing
MARTIAL
- Winning chariot races earnt a lot of money
- Chariot racing took place in a circus
OVID
- People went to races to find love (sometimes)
- The races were a great spectacle with team colours
- Chariots were pulled by four horses
(- Some private bets were held)
The Amphitheatre
AUGUSTINE
- People loved games at the ampitheatre to the point of obsession and would crowd in and drag friends along
- A fight was only over when someone died
- A huge cheer would go up when a fight was won
- People would grow to love the events, they "derived pleasure from the wickedness of the contest, and became drunk with bloodlust."
AUGUSTUS
- Games were often put on in the name of leaders or Gods or those associated with them
- 10 000 fighters at a Games
- Fighters and animals would be imported from other parts of the world
Gladiators
Pros - money, fame, ladies, fancy gravestone, adrenaline, buy freedom, exciting
Cons - no rights, likely to die, pressure, fan-girls, trauma, fight your friends
AUGUSTINE
- Shows were liked by most, but not everyone
- Subject to gory wounds
- Bloodthirsty crowd (any violence was better than no violence [SENECA])
CICERO
- Often foreign gladiators
- Fought for honour
- Gladiators were trained
- Pressure to satisfy owners or crowds
- Criminals fought, giving some justice to the Roman world
JUVENAL
- A gladiator's prestige appealed to women
- Respectable women would become mistresses
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