Social, Political, and Economic Structures of Imperial Rome 97better connected than themselves, while a few man-
aged, for a time at least, to hang on to whatever money
they had realized from the sale of their country farms.
The majority lived in near destitution, kept alive only
by occasional labor, the grain dole, and contributions
from the rich. Nearly everyone, however, belonged to
mutual aid societies that helped their members in time
of need and guaranteed them a decent burial.
Like most of the urban slaves and freedmen, the
poor inhabited a room or two in one of the innumer-
able insulaeor tenements that packed the lower regions
of the city (see illustration 5.7). After the rebuilding
projects of Augustus and the fire of A.D. 64, these
structures were usually of brick with concrete grills in-
stead of windows. Though an improvement over the
makeshift buildings of the republic, the new insulae
were not safe. Wooden floors, stairs, and roofs kept the
fire companies busy, while excessive height and cheap
construction sometimes caused them to collapse and
kill their inhabitants (see document 5.6). Individual
apartments must have been dark and smoky with poor
ventilation and no heat beyond that provided by a
charcoal brazier for cooking.
Fortunately, the Romans spent little time at home.
They met their friends in the street or in the Forum,
where they would gather to pick up gossip and make
their views known by rowdy demonstrations. Wealthy
Romans affected to despise the mob, but no politician,
not even the emperor, could afford to ignore it. Great
efforts were made to distract and amuse the citizenry,
for the stability of the state depended upon “bread and
circuses.” Those with political ambitions funded the-
atrical presentations, circuses, gladiatorial combats,
chariot races, and huge public feasts in which the en-
tire body of Roman citizens ate and drank itself into
oblivion. Only the enormous cost of such entertain-
ments could justify the wealth amassed by the Roman
aristocracy.
Whatever their political function, such spectacles
did little to elevate public taste. Circuses involved the
slaughter of exotic animals by men, or of men by ani-
mals. The Romans enjoyed seeing convicted criminals
mauled by bears or lions almost as much as the gladia-
torial contests in which specially trained slaves fought
to the death. Chariot racing, too, was a blood sport in
which fatal accidents were common. Various teams rep-
resented political factions and betting was heavy.
After the games—or a hard day’s work—Romans
headed for the public baths. These massive facilities,
which could be enjoyed by anyone, provided exercise
rooms, steambaths, and hot and cold pools for bathing.
Separate areas were reserved for men and women,
though the women were given no place to exercise. Be-
cause the Romans had no soap, the bathing ritual began
with a steambath. They then scraped their bodies with
an instrument called a strigeland immersed themselves
successively in hot and cold water. The whole process
was lengthy enough to provide further opportunity for
socializing.
Amenities provided at little or no cost made life in
the city tolerable, even for the poor. The streets were
noisy—even at night—and the crime rate was relatively
high, but those who had neither jobs nor possessions
could ignore such problems. The city was clean by all
but twentieth-century standards. Massive aqueducts
brought pure water into every neighborhood where it
bubbled up in innumerable fountains, and even the
meanest apartment had a terrace garden or a few pottedIllustration 5.7
Reconstruction of a Typical Insula
or Apartment House, Ostia. These
strikingly modern-looking apartment
blocks were based on design codes es-
tablished during Nero’s reconstruction of
Rome. By the second century A.D., when
the one depicted here was built at
Rome’s port of Ostia, they had become
the standard form of urban housing in
Italy.