Society & Life

Society Overview

The Top Roman Achievements

The Empire Naturally the most obvious achievement of the Romans was their vast empire, which spread over three continents. It lasted for a long, long time. From 625 BC to …

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The Evils of the Roman Empire

Rome has a glittering history. Its empire lasted for a thousand years, its great emperors are famous still today. But Rome had a bad side to it. If we could …

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Roman Libraries

by Javier Rodriguez The intellectual prestige of the Greek world was consolidated through the Hellenistic libraries, mainly the library of Alexandria and the one of Pergamum. The first became the greatest …

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The Roman House

Early Italian houses grouped around the atrium, with a small garden, the so-called hortus, at the back.The classic Roman house, however, was divided into two parts. The first part grouped …

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Household Sex

In a Roman household sex was in plentiful supply. Except, so it seems, between the actual married couples. The existence of slaves in the house naturally mean that, particularly the …

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Conjugal Love

Love was irrelevant to the success of a marriage in Roman eyes. Marriage was there in order to provide children. Loved was a welcome thing, but by no means necessary. …

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Marriage

The symbolic bed enthroned in the atrium or tablinum of the Roman house was a reminder that the house was also intended to accommodate a woman destined to become a …

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The Roman Games

If at first the games of the early Roman republic had religious significance, then later the ‘secular’ games were purely for entertainment, some lasting a fortnight. There were two kinds …

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Roman Dress

Roman clothing owed much to that of ancient Greece, but it had distinct forms of its own. In all the ancient world, first and foremost clothes needed to be simple. …

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Obligations of Nobility

The civilization that was Rome had high demands on its people. The Roman citizen may have enjoyed rights and had room to follow his ambitions, but so too did he …

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Women

Girls enjoyed a similar, if not the same education as boys in early childhood. Though beyond primary education it was generally only daughters of aristocratic families who continued their education. …

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