imperial Rome essays

imperial Rome essays During the Imperial Rome era, the lifestyles were quite different in which we in the present are very much used to. The civilization of the Roman Empire depended on the vitality of its cities. This meant that the society was based upon the strength that its cities contained. Almost all cities during this period were inhabited with a population of 20, 000. Only a select few had a populace of 75, 000 or more. The city of Rome in total had approximately 500, 000 residents. These figures compared with todays numbers seem incomparable but were large at the time. As people moved into Rome to start a living during the Imperial days, they were somewhat overwhelmed by its size, bustle, and noise. This was of the norm as most other cities that they fled were probably small subtle towns. With the continual expansion of people, there were two distinct classes of society, the rich and the poor. For the wealthy individuals or families, life was full of luxuries, along with comfortable living cond itions. The prosperous inhabited elegant homes, which were called domus. These dwellings included spacious areas, magnificent courtyards, several rooms designed for specific purposes (e.g. sleeping dinning) and a quaint and peaceful environment. With the space that these well-crafted monstrous homes occupied, most of Romes territory was built for the rich. This caused serious problems as only a small portion of the population inhabited these lodgings and colossal structures that were built such as theatres and forums, leaving a small amount of space for the mass of Romes population. Apartments, which were called insulaes or islands, were constructed to provide a less than livable home for the majority of people. They were usually five or six stories high to accommodate the most people possible, as every inch of space was considered a necessity. The most renowned insulae was the Insula of Febiala, which seemed to have towered above ...