A ROMAN’S LIFE

From birth to death

GROWING UP

The newborn is given a name on their 9th day

Boy’s name: Gaius Iulius Caesar

Girl’s name: Julia

At the age of 15 a boy becomes a man, namely a full citizen and wears the

toga virilis.

Around the same age a girl is usually given in her first marriage

Life expectancy is on average shorter (about 30-35 years), which makes an

earlier start in life imperative.

Admission to manhood/womanhood comes with the advent of sexual (not

necessarily emotional) maturity.

IS THIS A TOGA VIRILIS?

NOPE. THAT WAS THE TOGA PRAETEXTA. IS THIS A TOGA

V IRIL IS?

NOPE. THIS WAS JUST A SHEET ON AN IDIOT. IS THIS THE TOGA

V IRIL IS?

N O P E . T H E Y A R E D E C O R AT E D T O G A E O F M A G I S T R AT E S. W H AT A B O U T T H I S

O N E ?

NOPE. THAT’S A DRESSIS THIS A TOGA?

N O P E . T H I S I S A G R E E K S T Y L E O U T F I T ( T O O S H O RT. T H I S O N E M AY B E ?

NOPE. THIS IS A SOLDIER’S OUTFIT. THIS ONE, MAYBE?

THIS THE ONE

EDUCATION

Primary education: Maybe at home, but usually at a ludus

(school), common for boys and girls (the Greeks only sent

boys to school, while girls were schooled at home).

Lessons included languages (Greek and Latin) arithmetic

and some physical exercise.

Secondary education usually at a grammar school with a

grammaticus. Involved reading and learning Greek and

Latin literature.

SCHOOL

THE ARTES LIBERALES

HIGHER EDUCATION

Rhetoric

(Quintilian Institutio Oratoria), Cicero De Oratore

Philosophy

In Christian times:

Theology

TECHNICAL EDUCATION (e.g. Medicine or Engeneering)

were offered through apprenticeships with a master.

MARRIAGE

Often for political reasons

A contract set out the property arrangements and legitimized the

marriage

The ceremony bears many similarities with ours (engagement ring,

covering of the bride, white dress, fertility symbols) ,because we have

adopted these from the Romans.

A wedding party and a bridal procession, is common in many cultures\

Marriage, like death, was a socially stratified event, where the rich

had the opportunity for ostentatious behavior.