Today, we will conclude the Meet the Romans series with Mary Beard will go behind the closed doors of Roman Houses. Mary provides an intimate look inside the Roman home. How did the Roman family live? Beard starts in Pompeii and the house of a rich man. She walks through the introducing each of the rooms in the house. The typical story of the Roman family is of a husband, wife, children, and slaves. However, underneath that surface, the story of the Roman family is much more complex. The story of the Roman family can be told through statues and a few lines of script.
Beard then looks at Roman marriage. The tombstones provide a classic image of a Roman married couple, a husband and wife holding hands. The stonemasons were quite willing to churn out these types of statues. It showed a picture of equal marriage. The husband ruled the household and the wife spun and wove wool for cloth. Even the Emperor’s wife could be seen in the palace making togas for her husband. So is there additional evidence to help tell the story of the Roman marriage? In the British Museum, there are rings from the Roman period. Mary examines the rings. These rings have imagery of clasped hands, however, there are examples where the husband professed his love for his wife on his ring. These statements highlight the underlying passions of the Roman people. The tombstones highlight some of these passions. In one tombstone, the husband wrote of his wife that not only did she have a sweet personality but she had a wild personality. Another tombstone highlights the dark side of Roman marriage. The husband of one Roman wife threw her into the Tiber River. Beard then discovers another tombstone which was strange in the description of one man’s wife. She was the typical Roman wife. However, her body was described, and had two additional lovers under one household. This tombstone highlights how messy relationships could have been in the Roman world. What does this tell us about the Roman home? Like relationships, the Roman home came in all shapes and sizes. The people could live in small apartments or grand houses. Beard explores the furniture that would have decorated the home. This furniture was preserved when Mount Vesuvius exploded and carbonized the furniture. Tables, cabinets, and even a cradle were preserved. The cradle held the remains of a baby who was sleeping when Mount Vesuvius exploded. After examining the cradle, Beard looks at childhood and looks at the records of the children who lived in Rome. The records highlight that child mortality was high. The dead children were remembered fondly through their tombstones. What happened to the children who did survive? Bones were discovered around Rome and the bones tell the story of the children that survived. They would be doing hard manual hard. However, if you were higher up the social scale you were spared from hard work. Children, especially boys, could be sent to school. Here they would discover poetry and public speaking. Education was a way for parents to climb the social ranks. The parents would push their children to do well. Beard discovers a tombstone of a schoolboy who had died from “too much studying.” What about the girls? There were raised to get married, have children, and run the household. To continue to learn more about the Roman family watch this episode. Beard explores the lives of Roman women and slaves at the end. I would show this final episode to a classroom on Roman history in high school. This would also be an excellent episode to mine for clips for a lecture.
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