The Roman day


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The Romans divided their day in two big parts:

The people worked in the morning, and in the afternoon they could rest, and go to the thermae for example, to wash themselves etc. Those two parts were each divided into 6 six hours.


Before noon


Because of the big differences between the rich and poor people in Rome, we will compare the day of a rich and a poor family.
 
 
 
Rich family Poor family

Hour 1.

 A slave awakened a patronus, a rich lord. After he was awake, he ate something quickly, because the first clients were waiting before the door already, to wish their master (the patronus) a good morning. This happening was called the salutatio. The salutatio was a standard part of the day for every patronus and client. The clientes were almost ever poor and came to their "own" patron to greet him. The patronus gave some money or food so they could survive the day in exchange for this. That was called a sportula.
In the mean time the other members of the family were awaken. They too had to put on their clothes quickly: the boys had to be at school very early, and the girls had to help their mothers in the household and learn how to run their own household in the future. The mother had to run the household (read: give slaves charges). The boys were brought to school by their paedagogus, a slave who was occupied with the children. Then they were at school the whole afternoon. More about Roman education in The Roman education.		 A poor proletarian had no slaves, so he couldn't be awaken. When he was awake, he had to hurry: his patronus was waiting for him at the salutation. The living circumstances in the insulae, a sort of flats where the largest and poor part of the people of the city lived, were very bad. For that reason there were a lot of sick persons. A decent patronus gave his client money for a doctor or medications. Clientes often got help to start a little shop or something like that too.
The children of a proletarian only went to the primary school. They didn't go to the secondary school and further, because their parents had no moony for that. These children also had no paedagogus who brought them to school, because a proletarian could not afford slaves.
Hour 2 till 6.After the salutatio the patronus went to his job, lets say on the Forum Romanum, which wasn't only the biggest market place in Rome, but also a centre of politics, culture and business. On his way to the Forum, the patronus was attended by his clientes under the motto: A Roman master is never alone. Once on the Forum Romanum the patronus started to work: attend meetings, hold speeches on the ministry of the emperor, or do administrative things. A lot of there worked a lot of people. At 12 o'clock they had a short break for lunch. After the salutatio the proletarian attended his lord to his job. After that he had to survive the day; help a hand here and there for some money, because he never had a permanent job. Sometimes proletarians assembled at, let's say, a Forum, and started a row. Those rows had to be stopped by the lictores, the civic guards.

After noon



Rich family Poor family

Hour 7

 After the lunch pause the Romans worked till the end of the 7th hour. At that time, it was too hot in Rome to work. Then they held a sort of siesta. The patronus went home, and the boys were picked up from school by the paedagogus. The proletarians held a kind of siesta too, but in their insulae. In the summer it was almost too hot to stay there, but they had no other place to go, except the basilicae on the Forum Romanum and the Thermae.
Hour 8 8 The rich people went to the Thermae, the public bathhouses of Rome. The entry fares for these public places were very low. The Romans could rest here, get massage with oil and sand and wash off the dust from the streets of Rome. Even proletarians could go to the Thermae, because entrance was cheap. Those Thermae were very luxurious, they were the villas of the proletarians, and here they could enjoy the luxuries and riches of the Roman Empire.
Hour 9 till 12 After the visit of the Thermae, the Romans had supper. They had their meal in the triclinium, the dining room. For the rich people, such a meal was a real dinner (cena). Such a cena was a real social happening. There were always guests. The diner lasted the whole evening, and the men and women chat a lot.
A diner existed usually of a hors d'oeuvre and 3 other courses.
  • Hors d'oeuvre: mostly with eggs, figs and olives.
  • First course: salad, vegetables, champignons.
  • Main course: meat or fish (often red mullet or tarbot, the Romans loved that), with lots of sauce.
  • Desert: cheese, fruit or cakes.

The Romans ate with their fingers. That was possible because the slaves carved all the meat and fish in small pieces, before they served it. When their fingers became greasy, they dipped them in a bowl with water. Sometimes, the Romans used a spoon, but they never used knives. Knives were used in the kitchen. Forks weren't used at all.
At a dinner the men reclined on beds at the table, and the women sat on chairs. The children found their place on the edge of a bed or on the floor. After dinner the children went to bed, while the parents continued to discuss and drink wine and other drinks. This was called a drinking-bout (bacchanal). It was usually very pleasant at a dinner.
Something remarkable: The tables of the rich Romans were laid in the kitchen, and then slaves carried it to the triclinium. 		The proletarians ate what they got that day. That could be much, but also nothing. Then there was nothing but starvation. After dinner most proletarians went to bed, because the next day they had to get up very early, to hurry to the salutatio.















Reconstruction fo a recliningbed. Only a mattress is missing.


Outline of how the Romans reclined during the dinner.
A Roman dinner could look like this.


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