Like They Say!!!!!!!!!!!

"When In Rome Do As The Romans Do"

ROME

The greatest city naturally was the city of Rome itself. Had it originally started as a small settlement on the Palatine Hill it had grown into the greatest city of the ancient world. In the earliest days of Rome the Forum was an uninhabited swamp, but soon the marshy plain at the bottom of the Palatine Hill was drained and the first paved streets, most of all Via Sacra, were built. The Via Sacra, the oldest Roman street, was to remain most important street at the very heart of the city. The wealthy would usually stay clear of the district east of the Forum know as the subura, this was the poorer part of Rome. This is not to say that the subura was dangerous to all. There was indeed some distinguished patricians living there. Julius Caesar, for example, lived there until he became pontifex maximus.

Roman People

Many people think that the Romans had a very simple economy. Most people were farmers, who ate mainly the food they grew themselves. They also made most of what they needed themselves like clothes, furniture, and tools, and they rarely went to a store or a market. Other people say that the Roman economy was much more complicated than that. They think that the Roman farmers sold a lot of the food they grew at the market, and used the money to buy food, clothes, tools, and furniture. They they were able to pay their taxes in money, at least sometimes. A Roman would usually get up early and work a six hour day. This of course was only the case for working men, women stayed at home.
The Roman population was divided into two groups: Patricians and Plebians. The patricians were the descendants of th most ancient and powerful families, they were landowners, they had political power in the senate, and lived in large houses. The plebians were mainly artisans or peasants who worked the patricians' land; they lived in apartments and they had no political rights. The patricians married and did business only with the people of their class. The plebians could only narrow the gap between the two classes in one way: by becoming clients (obedient servants) of a patrician family. They offered their services and so recieved teh protection of the head patrician family.

The Great City of Rome

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The Civilized City

The entire concept of Roman life seemed to center around the city. The countryside was a nice place to retire to for a while in order to stay in touch with nature. Yet it was seen as a unsuitable place for a true citizen. Romans were after all social creatures, which craved being part of a society. The Roman needed a community, family, or at least a group of friends around him. No better place was there for this than the city.
The truly civilized citizens had to be more than educated or successful. In the Roman mind it was necessary to belong. Though to be a citizen also meant to prove oneself. A Roman was always subject to the gaze of his fellow citizens and it was in their eyes that he was to show himself a worthy person by, respect to his parents, loyal to his patrons, and able to raise his family. Just as the Roman craved society, so was he made to prove himself worthy of membership in it.

Census

In the beginning was the census. Every five years, each male Roman citizen had to register in Rome for the census. In this he had to declare his family, wife, children, slaves, and riches. Should he fail to do this, his possessions would be confiscated and he would be sold into slavery. But registration meant freedom. A master wishing to free his slave needed only to enter him in the censor's list as a citizen. To the Romans the census made them more than a mere crowd or barbarian rabble. It made them a populus, a people , capable of collective action. To the Romans the census was one of the foundation stones of their civilization.

Roman Goverment

The Roman government (in its entire history from founding to fall) was a strange mix of a democracy and a republic. An interesting fact list that the people of Rome took many of their ideas of government from the Ancient Greeks. When the Roman Republic was first set up, in 500 B.C., the people in charge were two men called consuls. Because the Ancient Romans did not want one man to make all of the laws. Woman were not allowed to be consuls. The consuls controlled the army, and they decided whether to start a war and how much taxes to collect and what the laws were. They both had to agree in order to change anything; if one of them said "veto", then nothing would be done. The consuls got advice from the Senate, which was made up of men from wealthy families in Rome. Women were not allowed in the Senate either. Most of the time, the consuls did what the Senate advised. Once you got into the Senate, you stayed in it for life. Most consuls eventually joined the Senate because there dads and grandfathers were in it.