Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia

by Gregory S. Aldrete

Although most Romans lived outside urban centers, the core of Roman civilization lay in its cities. Throughout the empire these cities—modeled as they were after Rome—were strikingly alike. In Gregory Aldrete’s exhaustive account, readers can peer into the inner workings of daily life in ancient Rome and examine the history, infrastructure, government, and economy of Rome; its emperors; and its inhabitants—their life and death, dangers and pleasures, entertainment, and religion. Aldrete also shows how Roman cities differed. To accomplish this comparison, in addition to Rome, he explores Ostia, an industrial port town, and Pompeii, the doomed playground of the rich. Daily Life in the Roman City includes a chronology, maps, numerous illustrations, useful appendices (on names, the Roman calendar, clothing and appearance, and construction techniques), a bibliography, and an index. This volume is ideal for high school and college students and for others wishing to examine the realities of life in ancient Rome.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Architecture, 21st Century, Roman, Archaeology

296 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2004

Reviews

[David Gustafson · Rating 5 out of 5]

From 146 B.C., with its conquest of Greece completed, Rome ruled the Mediterranean and dominated much of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa until about 312 A.D.

This country of 80-90% farmers maintained the largest military force on earth, built colosseums, hippodromes, amphitheaters, aqueducts and communal baths.

But listen up, Karl Marx!

When we think of Rome in all of its material glory, we think of wealthy aristocrats strutting around like peacocks in their togas before reclining at lavish banquets to enjoy the privileged life, but even back then, there was a huge class of entitlementarians.

Rome supported this class of entitlementarians with a monthly stipend of 32.5 kilograms of grain for everyone over the age of ten. 320,000 were on the public dole in 46 B.C. By 37 A.D. that number had dwindled down to about 150,000 slackers where it remained steady for several centuries.

Labor, capital AND entitlementarians? Laetitia tempore, Mister Karl!

Let the good times roll, Mr. and Mrs. America! Until the empire collapses.

What was daily life like? What did they eat, drink, like and dislike? What is known about the working class that kept the wheels of the empire turning?

Girls were often married by the age of thirteen. There were household slaves. Indebted people could even sell themselves into slavery to balance their personal account. There were public brothels along with gobs of spontaneous street graffiti to give us a little “in the moment” taste of what the rabble had swirling around in their ancient noggins.

And no, Hollywood, the gladiatorial games were not the favorite of the population. Rather, it was chariot racing in the Hippodrome that drove the masses crazy with thousands of fanatics banding together by wearing the colors of their favorite racing team.

If you are bored or intellectually insulted by today's boob-tube/smart phone/celebrity culture, "Daily Life in the Roman City" will allow you to pass through a secret door into a much more interesting realm.

[Joe Michalak · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Aldrete provides a comprehensive research review in order to paint a narrative of the Daily Life in the Roman City, absent of the application of any value judgement or editorialization. In covering the variety of relevant topics: Infrastructure, Living, Dying, Religion, Economics; the author synthesizes relevant primary and secondary sources, but then also distills these data into how they would effect the 3 classes of Roman. Lastly, the experience of life in Rome was compared to two other well-preserved, although fairly different cities, Ostia and Pompeii

I was actually led to this book by the author's great courses lecture, which was offered for free on Prime Video during lockdown. The book and the course definitely go well together.

Having spent much time reading books about the experience in the city, this book provides a historical look at cities: how the residents interacted with the city, as well as the costs and benefits of urban life at a point in time, but in one of the world's great cities. Albeit cliche, more has stayed the same than changed as it relates to these topics, and the Roman city life is as relevant to city life today as its ever been.

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teenage me was always interested in the general culture behind ancient civilizations, so reading this book was a welcome change between the usual women-centered books I’ve been focusing on. (Not that I haven’t enjoyed the selections I’ve been reviewing so far, this was just a nice change of pace.) Daily Life is not necessarily a book to read cover-to-cover, and it’s by no means an exhaustive account of the daily lives of the ancient Romans. However, Aldrete focuses his attention on the urban lives of Romans in Daily Life , and from that, you can see the connections he makes to our own modern-day urban lives. Overall, this was an insightful refresher and overview of Roman culture.

[Sarah♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I wanted! The daily lives and the regular people are what interests me most about history and this book absolutely delivered on that. I wish this was part of a whole series of other civilizations cause I’d love to read about more ancient societies in this same style. It discussed everything from politics to dress to holidays to family life.

Only complaint (and it is pretty minor) is that the book is repetitive at times. Sometimes the exact same wording for the same topic is found in multiple chapters. But again not a big deal and maybe some others wouldn’t even notice it.

Overall I deffo recommend if you want to know what day-to-day life was like in Ancient Rome from the republic through the empire!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a little information about a lot of topics. It's not very in-depth, and left me wanting more information. There is some overlap and repetition of information between sections of the book; it seems like this book wasn't designed to be primarily read cover-to-cover, but more as a reference for someone who wants to dip in and get a quick overview of a topic. This book would be good for a student who just wants to get information on a topic or two for a paper. That said, I enjoyed it. It was a quick, easy read.

[Bonnie_blu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never have I read a history book that contains so many factual errors. The author begins by placing ancient Rome east of the Apennines with the majority located on the left bank of the Tiber. Rome is actually located west of the Apennines with the majority on the right bank of the Tiber. A few more examples of the errors contained in the book (as the author states):
- Women born from citizens and children of citizens were not Roman citizens. Fact: They were indeed citizens but with limited rights (e.g., they could not vote or participate in politics).
- Julius Caesar added six intercalary months to the calendar to bring it into agreement with the seasons. Fact: Caesar added slightly less than three intercalary months.
- "Caesar" means "hairy." Fact: Historians maintain that the origin and meaning of "Caesar" are very much in doubt.
- Jupiter and Mars were the primary deities supporting Rome. Fact: Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva were recognized as the major deities, with Mars close behind.
- And too many more to list.

Also, the book contains many editing errors. While there is some good information in the book, I cannot recommend it. It has so many errors and states as fact too many items that are in contention that it should not be used as a source of Roman history.

[Kathleen Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually finished this book quite some time ago. A true-to-life portrayal of life in ancient Rome, this book definitely enhanced the time I spent in central Italy in late 2014. Would read it again in a heartbeat!