How to Be a Roman ─ A Day in the Life of a Roman Family

How to Be a Roman is a fascinating guide to day-to-day life in ancient Rome. Explore the early Empire through the eyes of a typical Roman family – father, mother, son and daughter – and discover the daily routine of a each member of a bustling Roman household. The lives of Roman men and women differed considerably: when a Roman husband might be standing up to speak in the Senate, his wife may be giving birth to the family's heir. The education experienced by their sons and daughters would also vary depending on their sex and their parents' expectations for their future. And a typical middle-class Roman family was not made up of the core relatives alone. Learn the daily routine of the various servants and slaves that would have dressed, fed and cared for their Roman masters, and meet the various merchants and tutors who offered the services that made the Roman way of life possible. All areas of life are covered in this comprehensive guide to life in ancient Rome: from getting dressed and eating breakfast, to braving the busy markets and practising religion. There are parts of this daily routine that may seem startlingly similar to our own way of life, and of course their are areas that could not be more different (unless visiting a soothsayer or writing to a Roman general on the edge of an Empire are tasks often included in your day-to-day routine)! Discover ancient Rome as experienced everyday by its slaves, citizens and senators.

Paul Chrystal was educated at the Universities of Hull and Southampton where he took degrees in Classics and wrote his MPhil thesis on attitudes to women in Roman love poetry. He appears regularly on BBC local radio the World Service. He is the author of over fifty books on a wide range of subjects, including histories of northern places, social histories of tea and of chocolate, a history of confectionery in Yorkshire and various aspects of classical literature and Roman history.