Typical Days, Roman Jobs, Family, School and Food
A Normal Day: Their usual routine would be they start off with a very light breakfast because they have to work. Work would normally end in the early afternoon when they go to the Roman Pools to get clean and socialise. At 3pm they would have dinner, they considered a dinner a social event.
Roman Jobs:
Farmer: Most Romans who lived in the countryside were farmers. They mainly harvested wheat because it made bread.
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Soldiers: The Roman army was one of the largest in its time, so that meant it needed soldiers. The army gave an opportunity to poor citizens to earn money and get land. This way often put the lower class to the middle class.
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Merchant: Merchants sold and bought items around the empire. They kept the economy rolling and kept the Emperor rich.
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Entertainers: People in Ancient Rome liked entertainment a lot. Entertainers included musicians, dancers, actors, chariot races and gladiators.
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Government: The government was the strongest position in the whole roman community. They had a wide variety of different government jobs like tax collectors and clerks to the highest of positions like the Senator. Senators were very wealthy and powerful, senators stay in that position for life.
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Craftsman: They normally made dishes, pots, fine jewellery, weapons. Craftsmen were very important to the empire. Some craftsmen worked by themselves or learned a specific craft, usually what their father learnt. Other craftsmen were slaves, so they could produce large amounts of certain items like pots.
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Lawyers, Teachers, Engineers: The more education people had in Rome, the more of a chance they had to earning more with the following jobs, becoming a lawyer, teacher or engineer.
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Family: Being part of a family is very important. The head of the family was very important because he legally had all the power in the family, the head was called a paterfamilias. However the wife also had a strong say of what happened in the family. She handled finances and the household.
School: Roman children normally started school at the age of 7. Wealthy children were taught by a tutor which taught them full time, while not so rich children went to public schools. They studied the subjects of maths, reading, writing, literature and debate. School was mostly for boys, while some wealthy girls were tutored at home. Poor children did not have an opportunity to go to school.
Food: Romans had a light breakfast and little food during the day, dinner was every romans paradise. Dinner was a major event starting at 3pm. They would lie on the sides of their couch while the servants gave them their food. They ate without utensils and often washed their hands during their meals in water. Their normal food would've been bread, beans, fish, vegetables, cheese and dried fruit, they rarely ate meat. However the richer people had a larger variety of foods in fancy sauces, the appearance of the food was as important as the actual taste of the food. Some of their delicacies would be very strange to us, like mice and peacock tongues.