Ancient Roman history is usually dominated by larger-than-life rulers such as Julius Caesar and eloquent senators such as Cicero. However, these men led an empire of millions of everyday citizens who were usually less concerned with conquering the world than they were with putting bread on the table and simply enjoying life. A look at the lives of typical Roman citizens reveals a culture that in many fundamental ways is not so different from ours; the ancient Romans worked, played, socialized, and expressed themselves — albeit often quite rudely. Here are six facts that offer a glimpse of what it was like to be an average citizen in one of the world’s largest and most influential empires.
You could always find a public bath
The Romans were masterful architects of public baths, called thermae. These were complex facilities with elaborate heating systems where Romans from all walks of life came together to relax, socialize, and of course, get clean. Bathing in the Roman thermae wasn’t just a simple dip in the water — there was a whole process involved. A visitor would begin by doing some light exercise followed by a hot bath, then a warm bath, and then a cold bath; they could also spend time in a steam room or get a massage. Public baths were a central part of Roman culture, and some citizens even considered them a symbol of Roman identity. In fact, baths were such an essential component of daily life that they were built in nearly every part of the Roman Empire, even in its most remote regions. Roman thermae could be found as far north as the British Isles and as far south as Egypt.
Its cities had lots of graffiti
Archaeological evidence from well-preserved ancient Roman cities such as Pompeii and Herculaneum reveals that, much like people in modern society, the denizens of ancient Rome liked to express themselves through some good old-fashioned graffiti. Since the ancient Romans lived a few millennia before the invention of spray paint, they had to make do by scratching and carving their designs and messages into plaster surfaces around the empire’s cities. Graffiti carved by everyday Romans can be found on the walls of bars, public baths, and other places where people commonly went to socialize. Ancient Roman street art ranged from simple drawings of stick figures and animals to colorful, R-rated jokes and insults. While some of the more famous Romans, such as emperors and statesmen, were commemorated through huge monuments and stately statues, graffiti was often a common person’s best shot at leaving their mark on the world, and many ancient graffiti artists included their names in the messages they left, to be remembered by future generations — even if it was just for a rude boast or scatological joke.
The workday ended at noon
The ancient Romans didn’t have clocks they could use to count the hours of the day. Instead, they kept track of the time using the position of the sun, and employed devices such as sundials to divide the day and night into 12 evenly spaced units called “hora” (hours). Since tracking the sun was the Roman citizen’s principal timekeeping method, the workday was structured around solar positions that were easy to measure with the naked eye, such as sunrise, noon, and sunset. For this reason, a typical citizen would usually start their workday at dawn, which marked the first “hora” of the day, and stop working at noon. This left the rest of the afternoon open for leisure, and citizens from all levels of Roman society would spend that time attending sporting events, theatrical performances, and the all-important public baths.
Its people loved to gamble
A love of gambling extended to all levels of ancient Roman society. Less-wealthy citizens would place bets on a wide variety of board games and dice games, which they played in taverns, city streets, and other public spaces, while the rich would build private gaming rooms in their homes. Romans would also frequently bet on the outcomes of gladiator fights and chariot races. (For the most part, only men were permitted to gamble, though women were allowed to participate in games of chance during special festivals.) Even the Roman emperors got in on the action. Rulers such as Augustus and Nero were known fortheir gaming habits, and for betting small fortunes on a single throw of the dice. Roman Emperor Claudius even had a custom-made carriage built with a gaming table so that he could gamble while traveling.
The forum was the center of public life
With its location right in the middle of the city, the Roman Forum was quite literally the center of everyday life in ancient times. It was where the typical Roman citizen could shop, talk, and find entertainment. It was also the site of most of the city’s public gatherings, the Roman courts of law, and the meeting place of the Roman Senate. What’s more, the forum housed some of Rome’s most important religious sites, including multiple temples dedicated to Roman deities. In other words, if you were a Roman citizen, chances were good that you’d be making frequent visits to the forum for everything from daily errands to grand citywide ceremonies.
There was temple for worshipping Caesar
One prominent temple in the Roman Forum was dedicated not to the worship of a mythological god, but to the former dictator of Rome, Julius Caesar. During the funeral games held in Caesar’s honor shortly after his assassination in 44 BCE, a comet appeared in the sky for seven days, which the Roman populace interpreted as a divine omen that Caesar’s soul had ascended to the status of divinity. This popular belief that Caesar had become a god was codified into law two years later in 42 BCE, when the Roman Senate officially declared him a deity. After this, a temple was built in the forum in Caesar’s honor. It even had an altar where Roman citizens would offer sacrifices to the deified leader, just as they would to supernatural Roman gods such as Jupiter and Saturn.
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