Lecture 14

Life in Imperial Rome

A. The Population of Imperial Rome

1. People flocked to Rome.

a. Opportunities were ripe in the imperial capital.

b. Soldier-farmers frequently lost their land and came to the city as impoverished beggars.

c. By the first century B.C. the population was huge, dangerous, and politically unstable.

2. Rich and poor

3. Emperors became the patrons of the poor

a. Bread and circuses

b. Public-works

4. Syria, Egypt, and farther east

a. Slaves, or former slaves (freedmen)

b. Freedmen 

c. Many "native" Romans disliked these "foreigners," as seen in the Satires of Juvenal

B. The Religions of Imperial Rome

1. The old classical cults 

2. Emperor-worship 

3. Oriental religions

C. Economics and Social Life

1. "Household slaves" 

2. Factories

3. Satyricon of Petronius

D. Housing Conditions

1. Rich and poor 

2. The wealthy lived in large, fancy houses 

3. Fire was always a danger, as was crime and filth

4. The dangers of fire and of an evening stroll are described by Juvenal

E. Entertainments and Spectacles

1. Amphitheater and Circus 

2. Public violence

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