Otacilia Severa, wife of Emperor Philip I,  247/248 AD. Image courtesy of Edgar L. Owen,

Westminster Seminar: Wine, Women & Song

games for Rome's 1000th birthday.  Image courtesy of Edgar L. Owen,

The Early Empire (~30 BC to 180 AD)

• 2nd c. AD: why called the "golden age;" what areas did the Roman empire encompass then?
• Augustus
• who was he related to; whom did he fight before becoming the head of the Roman state?
• what were the keys to his power? What was his title?
• what did people gain from his rule? What did they lose?
• After Augustus
• what were the keys to success for the Roman empire? And why?

• The nature of the evidence
• what are the types of evidence we have
• strengths or weaknesses of the evidence
• The Ideal Roman
• Key Roman virtues
• Place of tradition
• Class Structure
• three main factors
• three main 'classes' and their distinctions
• position of slaves and freedmen/women
• Patron/Client
• definition
• how do each benefit

• The Calendar, etc.
• three key days of the Roman month (origin, function)
• Nundinae-what are they
• hours: how divided, how different from modern
• types of clocks (reliability?)
• The Roman Male
• the beginning of the day: bedroom & bed like? sleeps in? time gets up? puts on? washing?
• basic tasks of the day for rich and poor
• the baths (see later)
• dinner (see later)
• The Barber
• services provided
• instruments used
• The Roman Female
• the beginning of the day: bedroom & bed like? sleeps in? time gets up? puts on? washing?
• basic tasks of the day for rich and poor
• hair care and make-up
• The Baths
• what were they like (physical environment);
• who attended  and when
• what one did at the baths (basic rooms, etc.)
• implications of all of the above)

• Basics:
• food preservation, methods
• food cooking, methods
• Meals
• number, times, what eaten and drunk typically, length
• where eaten, with whom, how (seated?), with what utensils, clean up?
• menus: for poor, for rich
• entertainment at
• customs at
• implications