Everyday Life in Ancient Rome

Catalog description

This course will study daily life as it was lived by Romans in the period of the late Republic and early Empire: how they worked and worshipped, how they dressed, fed and entertained themselves. We will look at the lives of women, men and children, at questions of family life and social status, at rich and poor, at slaves and free. We will consider topics such as work and leisure, food and drink, marriage and divorce, crime and punishment, law and property. All of these issues will be examined through a careful study of the evidence from the time, both written and archaeological, giving us direct access to the ways in which people lived, and how they depicted their own lives and the lives of others.