Roman Civilization

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Roman Civilization
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Clothing

• Most clothing made of wool, some linen and silk
• 2 types indutus put on amictus wrapped
• Subligaculum loincloth/underwear
• Tunica tunic (long shirt)
• Tunica manicata long sleeve tunic
• Tunica talares floor length tunic

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Clothing (cont.)

• Tunica angusti clavi tunic worn by equites with
  narrow purple stripes
• Tunica lati clavi tunic worn by senators with
  wide purple stripes
• Wrappings for warmth (worn only by old or ill
  people) legsfasciae upper legfeminalia lower
  legtibialia bodyventralia throatfocalia
• Pants (worn only by barbarians) braccae

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Clothing (cont.)

• Toga was the mark of a Roman citizen
• Regular toga toga pura/virilis/libera
• Toga candida/splendens worn by men running for
  public office, candidati, bright white color
• Toga praetexta worn by boys before manhood and
  curule magistrates, purple border

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Clothing (cont.)

• Toga picta worn by triumphing generals and
  emperors, entirely purple
• Toga sordidata/pulla worn by people in
  mourning, dingy toga
• Lacerna more convenient mantle that eventually
  nearly replaced the toga, came in many colors,
  could have a hood (cucullus)
• Military cloak trabea, paludamentum, sagum,
  similar to lacerna but heavier

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Clothing (cont.)

• Paenula wrap used for protection from weather
  and cold, similar to a poncho, no sleeves
• Synthesis dinner garment
• Laena, abolla very heavy cloaks
• Endormis bath robe

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Clothing (cont.)

• Sandals soleae
• Shoes calcei
• Mulleus patricians shoe
• Calceus senatorius senators shoe
• Perones shoes of untanned leather
• Caligae soldiers half boot

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Clothing (cont.)

• Pilleus felt cap, worn by lower classes,
  especially workmen
• Causia/petasus broad-brimmed felt hat worn for
  protection from the sun
• Beards worn after the reign of Hadrian
• Only jewelry worn by a roman citizen was a ring,
  often a seal ring, worn on the joint

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Clothing (cont.)

• 3 main articles make up womens clothing, tunica,
  stola, and palla
• Tunica is similar to that of a man
• Mamillare band of soft leather worn similar to
  modern bra
• Strophium sash worn over tunica
• Stola is the distinctive dress of a matron
• Stola had a wide border (instita) at the lower
  hem and a girdle (zona)

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Clothing (cont.)

• Palla shawl-like wrap for outdoors
• Women worn the same soleae and calcei as men
• Nodus hair gathered in a knot on the back of
  the neck
• Reticula hair nets
• Vittae/taeniae/fasciolae hair ribbons
• Coronae garlands of flowers

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Clothing (cont.)

• Umbraculum/umbella parasol
• Flabellum fan
• Sudaria handkerchiefs
• Roman women wore many types of jewelry, rings,
  brooches, pins, coronets, bracelets, necklaces,
  earrings, and pendants
• Pearl was the favorite jewel

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Living Arrangement

• Domus house
• Atrium main room
• Compluvium pool to collect rain water
• Impluvium hole in the roof of the atrium to let
  in light, air, and rainwater, 4 types
• Tuscanicum 2 pairs of beams at right angles
• Tetrastylon similar to Tuscanicum, but with
  pillars at the intersections
• Corinthium More pillars than tetrastylon
• Displuviatum roof sloping outward to carry
  water away, only rain falling directly went into
  the compluvium
• Atrium testudinatum had no impluvium

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Tablinum Study/office
• Arca strong box for valuables, in atrium or
  tablinum
• Alae wider parts of the atrium
• Peristylium colonnaded courtyard behind the
  tablinum
• Vestibulum open court between the street and
  building

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Ostium entrance to the house, door and doorway,
  ianua/fores specifically door
• Limen threshold
• Culina kitchen
• Latrina bathhouse
• Triclinium dining room, 3 couches
• Cubiculum bedroom
• Bibliotheca library

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Sacrarium private chapel
• Oecus sitting room/parlor, used also as a
  banquet hall
• Exedra room with permanent seats, probably for
  lectures or similar purpose
• Solarium place to sit in the sun, often on the
  flat roof, decorated with flowers and shrubs
• Cella servorum slaves quarters

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Paries wall, made of various materials, often
  fronted with marble stucco
• Lateres crudi stone or unburned brick
• Opus quadratum dressed stone
• Opus caementicum concrete
• Lapis Puteolanus concrete made of lime and
  volcanic ashes with pieces of stone
• Lateres cocti kiln-burned brick

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Wall frontings, either opus incertum (flat faces
  of rocks with no particular shape or pattern) or
  opus reticulatum (flat faces of stone cut into
  uniform squares, giving a pattern like a net)
• Solum floor
• Pavimentum floor covered by stone, brick, tile,
  and potsherds, smoothed with a heavy rammer
  (fistuca)

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Poorer homes had pavimentum floors, richer had
  stone slabs fitted together, some had concrete
  floors
• Floors of upper stories were either made of wood
  or concrete
• Tectum roof, usually made of tiles
• Tegula tile, made with flanges to fit together
• Imbrices Tiles made to cover the flanges

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• 4 parts to doorway, threshold (limen) two jambs
  (postes) and lintel (limen superum)
• Door hinge was a cylinder turning in sockets in
  the threshold and lintel, similar to a modern
  gate
• Fores double doors
• Posticum back door
• Pessuli bolts Serae bars

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Fenestra window
• Foculi metal coal boxes used for heating
• Some wealthy homes had furnaces
• Water could be piped into the house from mains
  laid down in the middle of streets
• Often a tank for water in the upper part of the
  house and a fountain in the court

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Lectus couch/bed
• Sedile backless stool, most primitive seat
• Sella stool, ordinary seat for one
• Subsellium bench, used in the Senate
• Sella curulis stool with curved, folding ivory
  legs, used by magistrates
• Solium high backed chair with solid arms
• Cathedra curved back chair with no arms

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Mensa table
• Monopodium table with one support, used often
  for a lamp
• Abacus rectangular top with raised rim, used
  just as a modern sideboard for dishes
• Delphica table with three legs
• Some tables made with adjustable legs

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Living Arrangement (cont.)

• Lucerna lamp Candelae candles
• Candelabra lamp or candle stand
• Faces torches
• Arca chest
• Armaria cabinets
• Solarium sun-dial
• Clepsydra water clock

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Food and Meals

• Great variety of fruits and vegetables
• Many were imported from the provinces, e.g. peach
  (malum Persicum), apricot (malum Armeniacum),
  pomegranate (malum Punicum), cherry (cerasus),
  and lemon (citrus)
• Pork, beef, mutton, and goat was eaten, goat was
  poorest, pork most popular

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Domestic and wild fowl were eaten, as well as
  wild animals such as hare, boar, and dormouse
  (glis)
• Fish was very popular, both fresh and salt water,
  as well as oysters (ostreae)
• Dairy was commonly used as milk, cheese, cream,
  but not butter
• Honey was used as a sweetener
• Salt was used as seasoning and preservative

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Frumentum grain, general term for any type of
  grain grown for food, including wheat, barley,
  rye, oats, and spelt (far)
• Puls porridge made from water and ground grain
• Pistor baker
• Mola mill, made of lower millstone (meta) and
  upper (catillus) that would rotate
• Panis bread, pure wheat (panis siligneus),
  lower quality (panis plebeius/castrensis/sordidus/
  rusticus)

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Olives were next in importance to grain, eaten
  themselves or used to make oil (oleum)
• Grapes were eaten fresh and dried, but were most
  importantly used for wine
• Best quality wine was from the ager Falernus
• Mustum freshly pressed grape cider
• Defrutum grape-jelly, half evaporated mustum

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Vinum wine, mustum fermented in huge jars
  (dolia) for about nine days
• After a year, stored in jars (amphorae)
• Acetum vinegar, spoiled wine
• Mulsum honeyed wine
• Mulsa fermented honey and water

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Ientaculum breakfast, usually of bread
• Prandium lunch, cold food, bread, salad,
  cheese, fruits, nuts, or meat from previous night
• Merenda midday snacks
• Vesperna evening supper, only rural

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Cena dinner, main meal of the day and social
  function, almost always being either host or
  guest
• Umbrae uninvited friends of guests
• Three couches were called lectus summus, lectus
  medius, and lectus imus, counter-clockwise
• Each place on a couch was also locus summus,
  medius, and imus, left to right
• Place of honor lectus summus, locus summus
• Locus consularis lectus medius, locus imus

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• 3 parts of dinner, appetizer (gustus/promulsis/ant
  ecena), dinner proper (cena), and dessert
  (secunda mensa), each part could have several
  courses
• If a dinner was going to be long, it would start
  earlier rather than go late (tempestiva convivia)

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Convivium after dinner conversation over
  dessert and wine
• Comissatio/compotatio/symposium drinking party
  after dinner
• Coronae convivales garlands of flowers worn
  while drinking (the scent was thought to help
  prevent intoxication)
• Rex/arbiter/magister bibendi In charge of the
  proportion of wine to water and rules for the
  drinking, person chosen by dice throw

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Food and Meals (cont.)

• Crater large mixing bowl for wine
• Pocula drinking goblets
• Cyathus ladle for measuring wine, about 1/12th
  of a pint or graduated by 12ths
• A guest proposed someones health and everyone
  immediately drank as many cyathi as were letters
  in the given name
• Gambling was common at these drinking parties

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Theater

• Ludi scaenici theater performances
• 4 types of theater performances, comedies
  (comoediae), tragedies (tragoediae), farces
  (mimi), pantomimes (pantomimi)
• Fabula palliata plays in Greek costume
  depicting greek life
• Actors were all male slaves
• Grex troupe of actors with a manager (dominus
  gregis)

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Theater (cont.)

• Wigs were used to represent different characters,
  gray for old men, black for young men, red for
  slaves, etc
• Ornamenta props used onstage
• At first, plays were staged at the bottom of a
  sloping hill, only later were temporary theaters
  built and the first permanent one in Rome was
  Pompeys in 55 BC

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Theater (cont.)

• The orchestra was assigned to the senators, the
  next fourteen rows of seating to the equites, the
  rest for everyone else, first come first served
• Proscaenium front line of the stage
• Scaena all behind the proscaenium, devoted to
  the actors
• Cavea all in front of the proscaenium, devoted
  to the spectators

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Theater (cont.)

• Cunei sections of seating, six in lower
  section, twelve in upper section
• Praecinctio semicircular passage separating
  lower and upper seating
• Boxes were reserved for the giver of the show,
  the emperor, and the Vestals
• Vela awnings spread to protect people from the
  sun