4 ms·
You've got to compare the right things. Average Romans were probably slaves and, not sure, but probably lived in shanties that definitely don't exist. The mos
by pm90 9y ago
You've got to compare the right things.
Average Romans were probably slaves and, not sure, but probably lived in shanties that definitely don't exist.
The mosaics and stuff that survives today is likely the home of an elite, or some important Government building. So the right comparison would be to, say, Empire State Building.
- thinkingemote 9y agoUsing a US analogy I think the right one would be a Plantation owners house.
- jaclaz 9y agoOf course the luxury homes were for an elite, but forget about the "average" Roman being a slave, by definition a Roman was NOT a slave (and a slave by definition not a Roman), actually the Romans were the first to "invent" the figure of the "liberto" (freedman in English): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedman that - once freed - became a citizen (with some very marginal restrictions).
- pm90 9y agoI think you're being a little too pedantic. When I said Roman, I meant a person living in the city of Ancient Rome. I deliberately avoided the use of the term citizen.
- jaclaz 9y agoSorry, if I seemed so, but one of the essential and novel parts of the political organization of Ancient Rome was the "dignity" of citizenship, that was given (with different degrees) to almost everyone, including conquered people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_citizenship