Life in rome
Life in romeLife in Rome
"Was Rome a pleasant city to live in?" Well, writers who wrote about it say that they didn't think so. This is based on survived writings.
One big reason why life was not that good was the plan of the city. To many buildings were being built. Emperors were building too many impressive, marble temples. Then in the residential areas were the insulae. They are unplanned blocks of poorly built apartment buildings. These buildings were for the ordinary Roman. They were built very closely, and building collapse was common.
Nero made a more systematic reconstruction of the buildings. He used brick concrete instead of wood. Even though he did this, less than twenty years later half the city got on fire. This probably happened because the Romans use torches, oil lamps, and cooked on gas stoves. An hour couldn�t go without a fire starting somewhere.
The streets of Rome were also very noisy especially at night. This was because Caesar said that chariots were allowed on the streets only after sunset. The streets were also very crowded. So even when the chariots weren�t there, the people were. Another very chaotic place was the Argiletum. This is the most known shopping center in the empire. Most Romans didn�t own land. "The average Roman had little privacy and still less money." Most Romans who lived in the city were craftsmen, shopkeepers, or general laborers.
"Trade was always conducted on a small scale." This was because each merchant was responsible for himself. The large...
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