Content Flashcards
(104 cards)
Convivium or Symposium
Final course/drinking
After the Cena (main meal)
Involved entertainment and discussion
Associated both with wild revelry and serious philosophical discussions
Garum
Fermented fish sauce popular across the Empire with people of all classes
Fish intestines mixed with salt and left to ferment for 48 hrs.
Garum could be Liquid or evaporate into a paste
Caracalla
granted citizenship to all freeborn Roman citizens in 212 CE
Ways of becoming/being a Roman Citizen
- Being born citizen from two free parents
- Military service came with pension (20 years of service)
- Freed slaves were automatically granted citizenship
1st century: Path to Roman Citizenship
honorable discharge from army
2st century: path to Roman citizenship
any individual who enrolled in a legion
Citizenship privileges
- Right to make a will
- Right to vote (men only)
- Right to wear the Toga
- Legally protected from suffering abuse without trial
- Pass on citizenship to children
- Right to use three-name system
What was central to all aspects of Roman Life?
Wealth (class) & Status (legal standing)
Class: 2 elements
- Economic class: concerned with wealth
- Social sophistication: actions that are direct result of economic standing
Status: 2 elements
- Legal standing - citizen or non-citizen
- Social prestige - more casual, fluid (reputation)
gens
clan
Women naming system
Women usually known by the feminine version of their father’s nomen (last name)
Praenomen rare for women and if used, were adjectives
“New Men”
Men who were wealthy, but whose families did not previously hold high political offices
They aimed to distinguish themselves by getting elected to public office and admitted to the senate
“New Men” were looked down upon by the senators with senatorial ancestry
Those with famous ancestors would display wax images of their ancestors in their home
Marius
New Men
Cicero
was abandoned by the senate in part because of his “New Man” status, exiled
Augustus
The traditional political families were heavily damaged in the civil wars and proscriptions
– Therefore, there were many “New Men” under
Social Mobility
- Possible in the empire
- Slaves could be freed (freedpeople)
- Freedpeople could become very, very wealthy (but could never apply for office)
- Sons of equestrians could become senators, etc
- People in the provinces could become citizens
- Citizenship granted with an honourable discharge from the army
- Most often took generations for anything to happen
- Still stigma with having freedpeople in one’s ancestry
- Stereotypes and discrimination against those from the provinces
Tunic
Worn alone at home and work, but never at a social function
tunica angusticlavia
narrow-striped tunic
Worn by Equestrains
tunica anteclavia
broad- striped tunic
worn by senators
Toga
- Male citizens only
- Made from unbleached wool
- Semicircular cloth, between 12 and 20 feet in length
- Restricted movement (and behaviour)
- Variation in colour depending on rank and distinction
Toga Virilis
- Also called Toga Alba
- Plain white toga
- Worn by adult Roman citizens on formal/special occasions
Toga Praetexta
- White toga with purple stripe near border
- Worn over a tunic with two broad, vertical purple stripes
- Worn by freeborn boys before they came of age, senators (held position of curule, magistrate, and priesthoods
Toga Picta
- “Painted toga”
- Both dyed and embroidered
- Purple with gold accents
- Worn by the emperor
- Also by officials giving public games, consuls on special occasions, and generals during their triumph
- Increasingly elaborate over time
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