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HASS7 Ancient Rome: society and government: Roles in society

Glossary

Barbarian - A term used by the Romans to refer to people who lived outside the Roman Empire. 

Citizen - A Roman citizen had certain rights and privileges including the right to vote. Only freeborn men were fully Roman citizens.

Dynasty - When a family passes down the leadership of a country from generation to generation.

Forum - The area of a Roman town that was the center of Roman life. Government meetings, public speeches, and business all took place in the forum.

Gladiator - A person who fought for the entertainment of Roman audiences. Gladiators sometimes fought to the death.

Paterfamilias - The man who was leader of the Roman family. He had complete power over his wife and children.

Patrician - A member of the original elite land-owning families of Rome.

Plebeian - A common person or person not of the patrician class.

Slaves - Public slaves (called servi publici) were owned by the Roman government. They might work on public building projects, for a government official, or in the emperor's mines. Private slaves (called servi privati) were owned by an individual. They worked jobs such as household servants, laborers on farms, and craftsmen.

                                                                                                                                                                          Source: Ducksters, Plebeians and Patricians, 2021, 

https://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_rome/glossary_and

_terms.php

 

Key groups

The patricians were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The social structure of Ancient Rome revolved around the distinction between the patricians and the plebeians. The status of patricians gave them more political power than the plebeians. The relationship between the patricians and the plebeians eventually caused the Conflict of the Orders. This time period resulted in changing the social structure of Ancient Rome.

Source: Wikipedia, Patrician (Ancient Rome), 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrician_(ancient_Rome), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

Image source: http://earlyworldhistory.blogspot.com/2012/02/patricians.html

Source: ClickView, 2018, Patrician - Ancient Roman terms, duration 0.40, URL: https://online.clickview.com.au/exchange/videos/7508210/patrician-ancient-roman-terms

The plebeians, also called plebs, were, in ancient Rome, the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". 

Source: Wikipedia, Plebeians, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebeians

Image source: https://www.studentsofhistory.com/comparing-patricians-plebeians

Source: ClickView, 2018, Plebeian - Ancient Roman terms, duration 0.55, URL: https://online.clickview.com.au/exchange/videos/7508094/plebian-ancient-roman-terms

The main attraction in the arena was the gladiators. Gladiators were men who would fight each other in the arena. Usually gladiators were slaves or prisoners, but sometimes volunteers would become gladiators. A very few of the best gladiators who survived would become rich and famous. The gladiators were trained to fight. They had different areas of specialties in terms of fighting styles and weapons so each fight would be different and interesting for the people to watch. Some gladiators used heavy armor and swords, while others fought with little armor in order to be quicker. One type of fighter called a Retiarius would use a net and a trident to fight. Each style had its advantages and disadvantages. Not all of the fights were to the death. When a gladiator was about to lose he could ask for mercy. The crowd or leaders would then decide if the loser would live or die.

                                                                                                        Source: Ducksters, Ancient Roman arena entertainment, https://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_roman_arena_entertainment.php
 

Image source: https://historycollection.com/40-facts-about-the-gladiators-of-ancient-rome/

Source: YouTube, 2018, The truth about ancient gladiators, Adam Ruins Everything, duration 4:33, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIDlAPNwbS8

SLAVES: Wealthy ancient Romans had slaves. In some homes, slaves were treated like valued servants. In others, they were severely abused. Slaves kept the furnaces burning in the bath houses, cooked meals in smoking chimneys in the kitchens, cleaned, sewed, and did the household and garden labor for wealthy Romans. Intelligent and gifted slaves also tutored the kids (those kids who studied their subjects at home), kept the accounts, and sometimes ran vast farm estates or commercial departments of their masters' firms. 

Source: rome.mrdonn.org, Daily life in Ancient Rome, (n.d.), https://rome.mrdonn.org/dailylife-patricians.html

Image source: https://lsaclassics.com/2019/09/29/new-season-ancient-past/

Source: YouTube, 2019, Weird History, What it was like to be a Roman slave, duration 10:53, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kx_2Sh7iz0

Throughout the history of Ancient Rome, women were considered second to men. They had little official role in public life. Despite this, women played an important part in the culture and history of Ancient Rome.

Source: Ducksters, Roman women, 2021, https://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_rome/roman_women.php
 

Image source: https://griekse-les.nl/women-and-their-role-in-ancient-greece-and-rome/

Source: YouTube, 2013, Four sisters in Ancient Rome, TED-Ed, duration 8:38, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQMgLxVxsrw

Children were generally loved and taken care of in Roman families. Boys were especially important because they would carry on the family name. When a child was born, it was placed on the ground by the midwife. It was only accepted into the family if the father picked it up. Otherwise, the child would be put outside to die of exposure. Sometimes abandoned infants would be rescued by other families and raised as slaves.

                                                                                                                                                        Source: Ducksters, Family life, 2021, https://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_rome/family_life.php

Image source: This is a modern depiction of ancient Roman children from an unidentified children's book. The boys are playing knucklebones (talus) a game very popular among both children and adults. The girls are playing ball (pila). The image gives a different rapresentation of boys and girls. Notice the bullas (amulets) the boys, but not the girls have. The boys seem to be lower class children. Differently from Greeks, among Romans bare feet in public were seen as inappropriate for well-to-do people. The girls seem better arranged, but of course that was common across cultures.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          https://histclo.com/chron/ancient/rome/acr-kf.html

Source: YouTube, 2019, How they did it - growing up Roman, Invicta, duration 24:24, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w38PL4kg4A