In the early morning at dawn, the first sounds of a new day were heard in Roman houses. Slaves scrubbed marble floors with beeswax, rattled dishes in the dining room, lit a fire in the stove, opened shutters and prepared details for the masters' daytime toilet. All Roman houses were happy in different ways, depending on the wealth of the owners. The owners themselves also woke up early, minus those cases when parties turned into night festivities with friends.
The Romans were in a hurry to get to work. True, they worked until noon and a day after two, since the holidays in Ancient Rome prevailed over weekdays, and on weekdays after dinner, the Romans themselves arranged holidays. How?
The pleasure principle 2000 years ago
Unlike the principle of deprivation and suffering, legalized several centuries later by the Church, the pagans of ancient Rome followed the principle of pleasure. They discovered it long before Freud's theory. If there was no god who could become the patron saint of pleasure in all its forms, the Romans borrowed it or invented it themselves. They were in a hurry to live. This innate impulse was constructive and destructive for those times, but no one really thought about it.
The ritual of morning washing was performed over a basin or a bronze bowl, but without soap - the Romans did not know it. Instead, they used beech ash, ground clay and lye, or bean flour. For smoothness, the skin was then softened with an oil balm. They dried themselves with a linen towel. Men shaved daily, the elderly, oddly enough, did not hesitate to dye their hair black, and bald ones did not neglect wigs. Slaves and female slaves were responsible for ensuring that men were clean-shaven, starched, and dressed in a clean toga, while women had their hair in fashion, make-up and dressed in the best way. The wealthy Romans had barber slaves (tonzors) and ornatrices for matrons. Hair was twisted with a hot iron rod - an analogue of curlers.
The Romans made their first breakfast in a hurry, very often on the way to work, having bought cold or warm snacks in one of the many shops. After that, the women either started household chores, or visited friends and relatives. There were few working women in ancient Rome and they were mainly employed in craft workshops.
Roman Forum 2000 years ago - the meeting place could not be changed
at first they were places of lively trade or, simply put, ordinary markets. During the imperial period, they became centers of attraction for the Romans. Basilicas were erected and senate curiae appeared. Here were held solemn processions of the conquerors and demonstrations of loot in the conquered territories. The most recent events could only be found on the forums. The former markets gradually turned into fairs, and then into cultural and political centers of the city.
Simple Romans who lived in multi-storey insulah, often in small rooms without sanitary facilities and water, they gladly rushed to the forums in the morning: it was a way to join the good and feel like a resident great empire... Here verbiage and oratory was allowed in unlimited quantities and for everyone. Anyone could address the crowd from an impromptu podium and give a speech on any topic, except those that questioned the greatness of the empire and the status of the existing government.
There were at least eleven such forums in Rome during the imperial period. Both bread and circuses - everything could be given and received here by the inhabitant ancient city in the rhythm of a rapidly changing daily. Here trade agreements were concluded, prices for fast-moving and slow-moving goods were set, and the magnificence of colonnades and painted statues filled the hearts of the inhabitants and guests of Rome with pride and aesthetic satisfaction. After work (by about one o'clock in the afternoon), the Romans, having washed and changed their clothes, flocked to the squares in the hope of getting a chance, a good offer or buying best price overseas product of the first quality.
Useful :
Roman bathing 2000 years ago
The ancient Romans believed that truth was in water. They even worshiped the goddess Veritas, the daughter of Saturn, who was believed to have lived in the depths of the wells. However, the Roman emperors, with the help of an army of thousands of slaves and noble craftsmen, allowed the inhabitants of the ancient metropolis to literally bathe in the true moisture of bliss. Aqueducts and baths were built, which completely changed the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Romans about the properties of water and its political significance.
The famous baths of the emperors became the focus of a new culture and way of life in ancient Rome. The Baths of Diocletian and Caracalla were visited daily by thousands of Romans, young and old. Libraries, playgrounds, wellness procedures following the example of the ancient Etruscans alternated with relaxation and sunny procedures, and the fate of the republic was decided "on the sidelines" of the thermal baths or directly in the pools.
The baths in the afternoon have become an alternative to forums and circuses. Especially after Agrippa's greatest decision to make them free for everyone. You could see mimes, dancers, sellers of flowers and amulets, you could have plenty of food and drink, you could place bets on gladiators, spin a love affair or just choose one of the priestesses of love. You could go in for sports or read ancient manuscripts.
The sophisticated mechanism of water procedures today, for reasons of economy, has only partially survived. Meanwhile, Roman baths had their own rules for enjoying water. Visitors first entered thiepidarium - a spacious pool with slightly heated water, in which they stayed for about an hour. Then it was the turn caldarium: Here the water was heated to approx. 40 ° C. Finally, the bather chose the laconicum - a pool with hot water in a room with heated air (a prototype of a sauna). For the final hardening served as a tonic frigidarium with cold water.
Colosseum and circuses 2000 years ago
Everything new is well forgotten old. Two thousand years before the advent of modern boxing, wrestling, fencing, horse racing, and even football, Roman civilization enjoyed the brutal struggle of male power in its many arenas and stadiums. The sight and smell of blood excited and intoxicated crowds of thousands of spectators, and the victorious gladiators became idols. Contrary to popular belief, the death of a gladiator in the arena of the Colosseum was not a common occurrence. The Romans were merciful in their own way, but at the same time practical: buying and training a gladiator cost a lot of money.
Unfortunately, Roman people did not have the same feeling of compassion for the wild beasts that were included in the Colosseum performances. According to the testimony of contemporaries, it is known that at least 5,000 predatory animals were killed in 100 days of the celebration in honor of the opening of the Colosseum.
Big Circus, or Circo Massimo, which could accommodate up to 300 thousand spectators, shook the cheers and roars of the enthusiastic audience the Roman sky is almost daily. According to legend, the abduction of the Sabine women and the subsequent clash of the Latins and the Sabines, which miraculously ended in a strong union of the two tribes, happened just after one of the equestrian competitions in the Circus Maximus.
But this was only a small part of the entertainment industry in ancient Rome. There were stadiums - structures with a purely sports orientation, among which is the famous Domitian stadium, an exact copy of which is the current pearl of Rome - Piazza Navona. There were circuses in which battles were held on water and on life-size ships. Among them is Naumachia Augusta in the area of \u200b\u200bthe current Trastevere quarter.
End of the day and dinner in Rome 2,000 years ago
Tired of the sun and celebrations, the Romans ran into taverns before going to bed (an analogue of the current fast food - fast food) or rushed home, where a dinner warmed up by slaves was waiting for them. They often dined in the presence of slaves clustered in a corner of the refectory. If guests were received, according to all the rules, dinner became a loose concept. The care of the slaves was to see off satisfied guests, to light the way with a torch, or to personally harness the wagon.
After supper the couple retired to their chambers. In Roman families, if there was such an opportunity, the spouses slept separately and only as needed slept in a bedroom with a wide bed. This is one of the mysteries Of the eternal city... But the morning is wiser than the evening.
Therefore, we will not only visit the most important sights in the city center, but also take a close look at the inhabitants of this city - how they talk, how they eat and drink coffee, which churches they prefer for concentrated prayer, and what they recall, casting a hasty glance over the buildings of the Ancient and the Modern Rome.
We will begin our walk in Piazza Venezia, where, according to Italians, "you can feel the heartbeat of the Eternal City." Here, a true Roman will certainly drop into a bar, and after drinking coffee while standing in one gulp, he will go about his business. Meanwhile, we will slowly climb the Capitoline Hill to the Basilica of the Virgin Mary, built on the site of the Roman temple of the goddess Juno. Pious Italians believe that you can get rid of all diseases if you turn with prayer to a wooden figurine of the Baby Jesus (Bambin Gesu), carved by the angels themselves from a tree growing in the Garden of Gethsemane.
On Capitol hill I will tell you the legend of the founding of the Eternal City, and we will admire the famous Capitoline she-wolf, who nursed the twins Romulus and Remus. Not far from the sculpture of a she-wolf, there is a fountain with drinking water Aqua Marcia, which to this day is loved by all Romans for its taste and coolness. I will show you how real Romans drink water, pinching the spout of the drinking fountain from below so that the stream of fresh and cold water touches your lips, but not your hands. Against the backdrop of the opening panorama of the Roman Forum, I will tell you stories about a brilliant commander and a talented architect who conquered not only peoples, but also the forces of nature.
Then we will go to the legendary Trevi Fountain, where we will find out how many coins need to be thrown into it in order to make all wishes come true, and we will drink water from the tubes of lovers, because every Italian has done this at least once in his life to meet his love and live a long happy life together.
After wandering through the narrow streets, we will find ourselves at the Piazza Rotunda in front of the Pantheon, where we will try to solve the mystery of the unfinished portico of the temple to all the gods, like the Romans throughout the centuries. On the way to Piazza Navona, I will tell you about the philosophy of coffee in Italy, because in this country coffee is an indisputable unifying factor. All true connoisseurs of this drink will tell you that the best coffee in Rome can be tasted in St. Eustachia is not far from the Pantheon, and over a cup of coffee we learn the legend about this saint and why all the walls of the coffee shop are decorated with images of a deer with a cross over his head.
The last point on our route is Piazza Navona, a meeting place and evening rest for Roman youth and couples. I will tell the history of the square and its name, we will admire the fountain of the Four Rivers by Lorenzo Bernini and the church of St. Agnes, created by his eternal rival Francesco Borromini. And since catholic Christmas already very close, I will tell you how this holiday goes in a traditional Italian family. As Piazza Navona becomes the most iconic market in the city during Christmas time, it is sure to captivate you with its atmosphere and chic counters with traditional sweets!
And, of course, what about without the cherry on the cake? At the end of our walk, you will find a sweet surprise - a delicacy that, as the Italians themselves say, will make you lick your mustache like a cat! I will look forward to our acquaintance and will try to give you as many joyful moments and vivid impressions as possible!
Organizational details:
- Coffee and sweets are not included in the tour price and are paid separately.
- For a group of 4 people, the cost of the tour is 120 euros
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Book an excursion on any of the available days in the calendar
- This is a private tour in Russian, the guide will conduct it for you and your company.
- On the site you pay 23% of the cost, and the rest of the money - to the guide on the spot. You can
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I hope this series of photographs will bring you closer to the "correct" Rome. So, this story is about my Rome on July 13, 2014.
To get up with the first rays of the sun, my duty and conscience to my clients - couples in love from different countries the world who come to Italy before or after the wedding, and sometimes just for a relationship anniversary or birthday. I am convinced that only at this time can you truly enjoy the city and take beautiful pictures. On my official website jakutsevich.ru you will find more photos and ideas for walking at dawn, and not only in Italy. But today my story is not about lovers, but about love for Rome.
Most often we meet with friends and clients at the Arch of Constantine near the Colosseum. Literally in early July, she was finally freed from the scaffolding.
This is what the square near the main Roman landmark usually looks like at 6.30-7.00 am. All mass excursions start at 8.30-9.00, and until that time most people are not interested in it. This is why we appoint ours so early.
This morning I walked with Hawley and Jordan, who flew to Rome from the United States six months before the wedding. Who is interested, maybe a story about the guys.
On this day, according to all forecasts, even in the iPhone, forecasters promised torrential rains.
Of course, I don't like getting wet, but as a photographer I just adore such light and clouds. Moreover, any rain tends to end, and in Rome they usually pour not for long, but "like from a bucket." In any case, you can always while away the time in one of the many cafes for a cup.
A minute after the photo above was taken, it poured from the same bucket, and we jumped into a taxi and moved to. Then I had to wait 20 minutes under a canopy.
And, as usual, the clouds quickly dispersed.
We admired the embankment and decided to go down to the river.
Someone who, and seagulls can be found in any weather.
Bridge of Umberto I - the second king of Italy.
In front of the Pantheon, only us and a lonely seller of umbrellas, who in the daytime turns into a seller of water or scarves.
Not far from the Pantheon is the Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio church. We advise everyone to look there and admire the incredibly beautiful painting of the famous Andrea Pozzo, which creates the illusion of a dome, although the ceiling is flat.
In the early morning after the rain, even the central streets are completely deserted.
How do you like this Via del Corso without hundreds of shopaholic tourists?
And the most glamorous Via Condotti leading to.
We headed towards the People's Square.
Here we met several bored workers dismantling fences after a recent concert.
The ultimate goal of our morning walk was the Pincio hill and one of the most beautiful Roman parks. It is from here that one of the best free views of the panorama of Rome opens up. It is here that hundreds of tourists flock during the day. In the distance you can see, as you can see at 9 in the morning, there are not many people who want to admire the panoramas of the Eternal City. And rightly so in the morning there is no such stifling heat, which everyone adores so much in July-August, and bored alone.
View of the People's Square.
It was here that we met with mom and the Holy brothers to have a small family photo session.
It seems that the Vatican is just a stone's throw away.
And this is how proudly it rises above the city located in Piazza Venezia.
You can endlessly admire the Roman churches.
What a morning without coffee? - you ask and you will be absolutely right.
The mood of our entire delegation is cheerful and positive, and with a chocolate croissant life is generally a success!
Yana Yakutsevich, the editor-in-chief of ITALY FOR ME, is always happy to join us.
Our whole walk took about 4 hours and we were a little tired, but impressed by the beauties we saw, we went on a well-deserved rest in order to meet in one of the most atmospheric districts of Rome in the evening. Surprisingly, many tourists still have not heard or ignored this gastronomic paradise - you will not find such a concentration of bars and restaurants anywhere else in Rome.
This evening was especially deserted, as most of the tourists were glued to the TV screens in the bars - they were showing the final of the World Cup in Brazil.
The bars themselves are very small and it is not customary to sit inside, so most of the fans hang out on the street.
It is in this format that most Italians while away evenings if they want to chat and have a drink. Sitting inside and having a feast for the whole world is not particularly customary. More often, everyone stands with glasses on the street next to the bar and after drinking a glass they move to the next institution.
Such was one of my days in "correct Rome". As you can see, it is tasty and inexpensive to have breakfast and dinner, as well as to comfortably enjoy the most popular places and attractions, no one bothered us. You can love such a Rome and you can fall in love with such a Rome for life!
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You can tell about historical events in such a way that the reader (ordinary, not a historian) gets bored of the monotonous abstruse narration and cold numbers and puts the book aside after a dozen pages. Forever and ever.
Or it can be done differently - lively, excitingly, drawing parallels with the present, thereby making what happened a long time ago close and understandable.
So did Alberto Angela, an Italian paleontologist, archaeologist, writer and TV presenter.
In his book One Day in Ancient Rome. Everyday life, secrets and curiosities ”, he turned the reader into a secret observer of Roman life.
One day in 115 AD, during the reign of Emperor Trajan, when Rome, according to the author, "was experiencing an era of greatest power and, possibly, the greatest beauty", during a period when the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to the borders of Iran, and from the Sahara to the North Sea, following the author, the reader finds himself in the capital of the empire - in the houses of the Romans, on the streets of the city, in temples and schools, in the forum and markets, in court, at the execution of criminals and gladiatorial battles in the Colosseum, at feasts of the elite and “at the tables "The poor.
Roman modus vivendi ("way of being") - a way of building, a way of dressing, eating, communicating in the family and with outsiders, a clear system of laws and social rules - in it Alberto Angela sees the secret of the longevity of the Roman Empire and influence on the development of all mankind. And he talks about this Roman "way of being" in his book.
The topic of Rome has always been interesting to me, and for some time now especially (practical considerations), so I not only read, but also made notes for myself.
Interested in Rome? Then look under the cat.
Rome in the era of Emperor Trajan was a huge city at that time, its population reached one and a half million people.
A city where different cultures and beliefs met, it was then a "melting pot".
He frightened the provincials. Too noisy, frivolous, eccentric, full of crooks and profit-oriented. Those who were born in Rome or lived long ago saw the city as “full of life and fun” (according to Martial).
Differences between people were determined by their status, whether you are a Roman citizen, or a foreigner (peregrinus), or a slave.
According to Roman law, slaves belonged to the category of things, and their labor was the basis of the Roman economy.
In imperial Rome, different religions peacefully coexisted - along with the gods of the Romans (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Diana, Bacchus, Mercury, etc.), "foreign" deities imported from the conquered lands were in use: Isis from Egypt , Cybele from the territory of modern Turkey, Mithra from Persia. In the common quarters there were small Christian communities - about fifty years before that they were persecuted under Nero and have not yet recovered.
There were also several synagogues in Rome - many Jews moved to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus in the 70s of our era.
Later, under the Emperor Constantine, Christianity would come to the fore, and push all other religions aside.
In the meantime, the pragmatic Romans cordially accepted all the cults, and everyone could believe what he wanted, but with one condition: to also make a sacrifice to the glory of the emperor, attend ceremonies in his honor and recognize his absolute power. The early persecution of Christians is connected precisely with the fact that they refused to recognize the divinity of Nero and participate in imperial cults.
The new beliefs were more open to women than the cold, official Roman religion, which was exclusively male. Foreign religions infiltrated families, and there women became their preachers, thanks to their role in raising children.
The first stage of education in Rome was elementary schools - children were gathered in groups in shops or on the street. If the parents had money, then the teenagers continued their studies, studying grammar, Latin and Greek literature. Knowledge of the Greek language largely determined the status, belonging to the noble class. The Romans considered Greece to be the true birthplace of culture the ancient world, and myself - the sons and heirs of this great civilization.
Wealthy young men continued to study, mastering the rules of eloquence, preparing themselves for a public career.
Secondary and higher schools were no longer “in the dust,” like the elementary school, but in the homes of students or in special classrooms.
The house of the rich man (domus) was a small fortress without windows, removed from the street (only sometimes small windows were left in the upper part of the house). Such houses had roofless atriums - light and water entered the house through unprotected spaces during rains. Water was collected in the center of the hall in the pool (impluvium), and was discharged into underground reservoirs. Water was also supplied to wealthy houses from aqueducts - a personal water supply was a rare privilege, a consequence of useful contacts and acquaintances. The well-to-do Roman family owned between five and twelve slaves (and some families owned hundreds of slaves). The most reliable slave slept in front of the master's door. The decor in the house was sparse, the frescoes on the walls added brightness. Fragile and valuable items were kept in cabinets - glass goblets, cups, scales. Clothes were put in wooden chests. Gold, documents, deeds of sale on tablets or papyrus were kept in safes - chests with cunning locks.
Rome gave the world modern urban development.
Insuls - skyscrapers of Antiquity, high-rise Roman buildings (from the Latin "insula" comes the modern Italian word "isolato", meaning a whole isolated quarter). More and more people from all over the empire arrived in Rome, more housing was required, so the city grew up - up to six floors plus an attic (it was guaranteed to be an illegal part of a built house). The higher the floor, the poorer its tenants. It is difficult to go up without elevators, the higher the floor, the more unreliable the housing is built and the greater the risk that a collapse will occur, it is more difficult to go down in the event of a fire, and the people living under the roof were flooded with rain.
The upper floors were inhabited by servants, teachers, small artisans, bricklayers, porters, suppliers of goods to shops and markets. Below are city officials. Even below were entrepreneurs, wealthy merchants, developers working in close contact with the imperial or senate authorities. Slaves kept order in the house, and they also carried water into the houses. There is little space, there were even staircases. The higher the floor, the cramped and dirtier the apartment.
The windows on the upper floors were not glazed; they were simply covered with pieces of leather, linen or wooden shutters.
Each insula had an owner. But the rent was not collected by him, but by a professional administrator - he took care of the maintenance of the house and looked for tenants. The administrator paid the owner only for the rent of expensive prestigious apartments on the second floor, and took the payment for the rest of the apartments for himself. Every six months lease agreements renegotiated and many were thrown out into the street in search of a new home.
The Romans had no sense to spend a lot of time at home, so they headed to the city, to the forum, to the baths or somewhere else.
You could go to watch the process in court, in the Basilica of Julius - there were great trials, but small cases were considered, because in Rome it was customary to go to court on the slightest pretext. The college of judges (centumvirs, there are one hundred and eighty of them) was divided into four halls, in which the sessions were held. In each room there was a praetor (chairman of the session), forty-five judges, a plaintiff and a defendant with their lawyers. And behind the backs of the participants, spectators gathered - ordinary people who adore watching the debates in court sessions as if they were fascinating performances. Meetings that began in the morning could have ended at sunset. If they did not like the speeches of lawyers in one room, the audience moved to another room. The lawyer did not improvise, he followed a plan drawn up in advance. Thorough preliminary preparation is the methodology of many of the major Roman Forum lawyers. Lawyers built phrases, chose words, tone, voiced and followed Cicero, who said that the art of an orator consists of three elements: the ability to excite, delight and persuade. And they created spectacular scenes. The audience reacted to successful performances with applause, shouts and whistles (the first row of spectators, bribed by the lawyer of the "clack" does not count, they made noise for money). The great success with the audience put psychological pressure on the judges and influenced the verdict.
Everyone knows about the love of the Romans for spectacles thanks to the Colosseum.
His "schedule" included "bestial harassment", public executions of criminals and gladiatorial fights.
For four and a half centuries of work, the Colosseum has become a place where the number of deaths per unit area is the highest in the world. According to some estimates, about a million people have lost their lives in this arena.
Men under Trajan wore tunics, the rich wore a toga over a tunic - only Roman citizens could wear it. Pants were worn only by legionnaires. During this period of Roman history, it was customary to walk shaved, otherwise they would not understand you - unless you are a soldier or a philosopher. The women also wore robes that looked like tunics. Women's clothing was brighter than men's, decorated with embroidery. Wealthy Romans wore fancy hairstyles or wigs. Hair for light and red wigs was brought from Germany, black - from India. Wigs were worn in the evening for feasts.
Most of the Romans were simple people, unpretentious in food. The influential minority indulged themselves in sumptuous dinners, lasting hours, with seven course changes. Such feasts were part of the lifestyle of the wealthy Romans.
They were often invited to visit not because of a desire to stay in the company, but for political reasons and for the sake of prestige.
Trajan's Roman cuisine is reminiscent of Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine.
The dishes are flavored with seasonings, herbs and spices. In practice, the widespread use of spices and spices in Roman cuisine is indispensable in order to interrupt the smell of meat (and fish) "with a smell".
An unpleasant but inevitable reality in a world without refrigerators and preservatives.
The Romans preferred soft foods to crispy ones (for example, meat was boiled before frying).
The Greeks, who always considered boiled meat too simple food, scornfully called the Romans “boiled meat eaters,” that is, a rude people.
Meat is one of the favorites of Roman cuisine: it was not only fried on a wire rack and on skewers, but also minced and eaten with various fillings in the form of cutlets and meatballs. Or pork intestines were stuffed with meat scraps and offal - this, in fact, is nothing more than a sausage. In imperial Rome, one could find a well-known dish to us - luganiga sausage (or lucanica, Lucanian sausage, as the Romans call it). It was made from minced smoked beef or pork mixed with various spices - cumin, pepper, parsley or savory. Pork fat and pine nuts were added to the minced meat. The result is a real treat ...
Another familiar dish is foie gras, goose liver: it was highly prized already in ancient Rome.
Among the products of that time, there are no products familiar to modern italian cuisine tomatoes, large beans, corn, chocolate. All of this will be revealed in the New World thanks to Columbus. The Romans did not know mozzarella either, because it is made from the milk of an Asian buffalo, which had not yet been brought to Italy. The same goes for eggplant, which became widespread in the Middle Ages thanks to the Arabs. In the absence of tomatoes and mozzarella, no one has yet invented pizza. There are still no spaghetti and other pasta that have spread in Italy since the Middle Ages.
Wine, of course. According to Pliny the Elder and Horace, the best of all is Falernian, produced in the north of Campania. Marcial prefers Albanian wine, originally from the very places south of Rome where the famous Castelli Romani wine is now made. Horace continues the list, adding also Kalenskoe (wine for the rich), Massica and Cecuba, produced near Fondi in the south of Latium, which the poet considers "generous and strongest."
Saffron, pepper, cumin, ginger, cloves, sesame seeds, oregano, sage, mint, and juniper were added to the dishes. Dates, raisins, pomegranates, pine nuts were popular, different types green salad, wild asparagus, turnips, cabbage, chickpeas, lentils, peas, beans, various types of bread. Pork was the most popular meat, and fish was expensive - two or three times more expensive than meat. Various birds were eaten - from blackbirds to flamingos, from cranes to parrots.
The markets had a large selection of snails, oysters, crayfish, lobster, shrimp.
In the early days of Roman history, they ate mostly something like porridge - puls - with eggs, olives and sour cheese. To this was added a large amount of legumes and vegetables. Meat was rare; pork and chicken were more common. Indeed, until the 3rd century BC, it was forbidden to slaughter and eat cows and bulls, which could only be used for field work and sacrifices.
Later conquests brought with them new trends and new products.
So, the protracted Roman feast is over. And after him he would return home alive, because Rome at night was unsafe.
As Juvenal wrote, "you could be considered careless if you went to visit for dinner without making a will" ...
Such, according to Alberto Angela, was Rome during the reign of Emperor Trajan.
But all my notes turned out to be informational, not too lively.
Many life situations and stories described in the book were left overboard.
For example, a morning in a rich man's house, a slave market, the birth of an heir to a Roman citizen, a walk in the Roman Forum, or the execution of a moneylender in the Colosseum.
Alberto angela
UNA GIORNATA NELL'ANTICA ROMA
© O. Uvarova, translation, 2016
© M. Chelintseva, translation, 2016
© Edition in Russian, design. LLC "Publishing Group" Azbuka-Atticus "", 2016
CoLibri® Publishing House
I dedicate this book to Monica, Riccardo, Edoardo and Alessandro, with gratitude for the light that you have brought into my life.
Introduction
How did the ancient Romans live? What happened every day on the streets of Rome? We've all asked ourselves similar questions at least once. This book is intended to answer them.
In fact, the charm of Rome is impossible to describe. You can only feel it - whenever you visit an archaeological site of the Roman era. Unfortunately, explanatory signs and existing guidebooks in most cases offer only the most general information about everyday life, focusing on architectural styles and dating.
But there is one trick to help breathe life into archaeological sites. Take a closer look at the details: the worn steps of the stairs, graffiti on the plastered walls (there are a lot of them in Pompeii), ruts knocked out by carts in stone pavements, and scuffs on the thresholds of dwellings left by the entrance door that has not survived to our times.
If you focus on these details, suddenly the ruins will re-fill with the beating of life and you will "see" the people of that time. This is exactly how this book was conceived: telling a great story with the help of many small stories.
Over the years of television filming of monuments of the Roman era - both within the boundaries of Rome itself and beyond - I have repeatedly come across life stories and curious details of the times of imperial Rome, forgotten for centuries and rediscovered by archaeologists. Peculiarities, habits, curiosities of everyday life or the social structure of a now extinct world emerged ... The same thing happened during conversations with archaeologists, when reading their articles or books.
I realized that this valuable information about the Roman world almost never reaches people, remaining "in captivity" of special publications or archaeological sites. So I tried to outline them.
This book aims to bring the ruins of Ancient Rome to life with the help of a story about everyday life, answering the simplest questions: how did passersby feel as they walked the streets? What did their faces look like? What did the townspeople see looking out of the balconies? What did their food taste like? What Latin would we hear around us? How did the first rays of the sun illuminate the temples on Capitol Hill?
You can say that I aimed the lens of a TV camera at these places to show how they could have looked two thousand years ago, so that the reader would feel like on the streets of Rome, inhaling their various smells, meeting the eyes of passers-by, going into shops, houses or the Colosseum. Only in this way can one understand what it really meant to live in the capital of the empire.
I live in Rome, and therefore it was easy for me to describe how the sun illuminates the streets and monuments in different ways during the day, or to visit archaeological sites myself to notice the many small details that I give in my book, in addition to those collected for years of filming and reporting.
Naturally, the scenes that will unfold before your gaze during this visit to Ancient Rome are not the fruit of pure fantasy, but, as already mentioned, are directly based on the results of research and archaeological discoveries, laboratory analyzes of finds and skeletons, or the study of ancient literature.
The best way to organize all of this information is to arrange it as a description of one day. Each hour corresponds to a certain place and character of the Eternal City with its occupations. This is how the picture of everyday life in ancient Rome gradually unfolds in time.
Only the last question remains: why is a book about Rome needed at all? Then, that our way of life is a continuation of the Roman. We wouldn't be ourselves without the Roman era. Just think: usually Roman civilization is identified with the faces of emperors, marching legions and colonnades of temples. But her real strength lies elsewhere. This power allowed it to exist for an unimaginably long time: in the West for more than a thousand years, and in the East, albeit with some internal evolution, which led from Constantinople to Byzantium, even longer, more than two millennia, almost until the Renaissance itself. No legion, no political or ideological system could have ensured such longevity. Rome's secret lay in its daily modus vivendi, the way of being: the way of building houses, the way of dressing, eating, interacting with other people in the family and outside it, subject to a clear system of laws and social rules. This aspect remained largely unchanged over the centuries, although it underwent a gradual development, and allowed the Roman civilization to exist for so long.
And has that era really sunk into the past? After all, the Roman Empire left us not only statues and magnificent monuments. She also left us the "software" that supports our daily existence. We use the Latin alphabet, and not only Europeans, but the whole world use it on the Internet. The Italian language comes from Latin. Much of it also comes from Spanish, Portuguese, French and Romanian. A huge variety english words also have Latin roots. And that's not to mention legal system, about roads, architecture, painting, sculpture, which would not be what they are without the Romans.
In fact, if you think about it, much of the Western way of life is nothing more than the development and continuation of the Roman way of life. Just what we could see on the streets and in the houses of the imperial era of Rome.
I tried to write the kind of book I would like to find in a bookstore to satisfy my curiosity about life in ancient Rome. I hope I can satisfy your curiosity as well.
So, let's move to a Roman alley in 115 AD, during the reign of Emperor Trajan, when Rome, in my opinion, was experiencing an era of the greatest power and, possibly, the greatest beauty. Day as day. Dawn soon ...
Alberto Angela
The world at the time
Under Trajan, in 115 AD, the Roman Empire was as vast as ever before or since. Its land borders stretched along the perimeter for more than ten thousand kilometers, that is, almost a quarter of the circumference of the globe. The empire stretched from Scotland to the borders of Iran, from the Sahara to the North Sea.
She united a variety of peoples, different including purely outwardly: they were blondes Northern Europe, and the peoples of the Middle East, Asians and North Africans.
Imagine the inhabitants of China, the United States and Russia, who today would be united into one state. And the share of the population of the Roman Empire in the total population of the Earth was even higher at that time ...
The landscape on this vast territory was also extremely diverse. Moving from one outskirts to another, we would, reaching warm mediterranean shores and volcanoes of the Apennine Peninsula, met icy seas with seals, vast coniferous forests, meadows, snow-capped peaks, huge glaciers, lakes, rivers. On the opposite shore of "Our Sea" (so - Mare nostrum - the Romans called the Mediterranean Sea), endless sandy deserts (Sahara) and even the coral reefs of the Red Sea.
No empire in history has included such diverse natural landscapes. Everywhere the official language was Latin, everywhere they paid with sesterces, and everywhere the same code of laws was in force - Roman law.
