The content of this article provides interesting history, facts and information about life in Ancient Rome including Ancient Roman Jobs. Roman Life. Roman Colosseum Home. As time went by the Plebeians were also allowed to take political office. Some of the jobs included the following: Senators who sat on the Chief Council of Rome.
The above links and the article on Roman Government provides additional facts, descriptions and information about these political jobs. There were also jobs for the lawyers, the police, the firemen and the law enforces such as jailors, torturers and executioners! Teachers were required. Some of these were well educated slaves but others assumed these positions. One of the educational jobs was that of a Rhetor a teacher who was a master of public speaking.
Ancient Roman Jobs - The Military It took a lot of soldiers and a lot of military expertise to control the lands, provinces and countries held by the Roman Empire.
The Roman army was a well oiled fighting machine, but the soldiers were also expected to build roads and forts. There were numerous ranks in the Roman Army, some such as General can be compared to the modern day. Other ranks included Centurion, Tribune and Legionaries. There were also craftsmen who supplied services to the military such as blacksmiths and metal workers.
In addition to the idle and the profligate attracted to Rome by the free grain and by the other allurements that bring a like element into our cities now, large numbers of the industrious and the frugal had been forced into the city by the loss of their property during the civil wars and the failure to find employment elsewhere.
Relief was occasionally given by the establishing of colonies on the frontiers—in this manner Caesar put as many as 80, in the way of earning their living again, short as was his administration of affairs at Rome—but it was the least harmful element that was willing to emigrate. The dregs were left behind. Aside from beggary and petty crimes the only source of income for such persons was the sale of their votes; this made them a real menace to the Republic.
Under the Empire their political influence was lost, and the State found it necessary to make distributions of money occasionally to relieve their want. Some of them played client to the upstart rich, but most of them were content to be fed by the State and amused by the shows and games. Inscriptions, particularly those that deal with the guilds, tell us more.
In spite of the increase of slave labor and the decrease of the native Italian stock, there continued to be free laborers working in many lines, their numbers constantly swelled by the manumission of slaves.
They worked at many trades, at heavy labor, in the cities, and even on the farms. They were not always as well off as many of the slaves or freedmen, as they were dependent on their own efforts and the labor market and were without owner or patron on whom they might fall back. It is difficult to learn anything about wages, but they cannot have been high. The free distribution of grain helped the poor citizen at Rome, and vegetables, fruits, and cheese made the rest of his diet.
He could nearly always afford a little cheap wine to mix with water. If he married, his wife helped by spinning or weaving. He lived in a cheap tenement, and in that mild climate there was no fuel problem. His dress was a rough tunic; if shoes were worn they were wooden shoes or cheap sandals. The public games gave him amusement on the holidays, and the baths were cheap, when not free. The guild gave him his social life, and decent burial was provided by membership in guild or burial society.
From the excavations at Pompeii, however, we may form some idea of the shops and the business done in them. It has been said already that the street sides of residences might be rows of small shops, most of which were not connected with the house within.
Such a shop was usually a small room with a counter across the front, closed with heavy shutters at night. The goods sold over the counter were often made directly behind it. Some masonry counters have holes for several kettles, where the hot food prepared in the shop was kept for sale. In one case change was found lying on the counter as it was left in alarm at the time of the eruption.
Locksmiths, goldsmiths, and other craftsmen had the necessary equipment and sold their own goods. There were also retail shops where goods were sold that were produced elsewhere on a larger scale, as the red glazed Arretine ware from Arretium and Puteoli, the copper and bronze utensils from Capua, and so on. The shopkeeper might work alone in his small room by day and sleep there at night.
Some shops have stairways leading to a room or two in the floor above, where the family, we may suppose, lived over the shop.
He demands that the covers be taken off expensive table-tops and that their ivory legs be brought down for his inspection, he criticizes objects of art and has certain ones laid aside, and, leaving at last for luncheon, buys two cups for a penny and carries them home himself! It is thought that the inhabitants of Pompeii bought their daily bread from bakeries rather than baked it themselves at home, since ovens rarely are found in the houses of the town.
Bakeries are identified by the presence of stone mills to grind grain, and large wood-burning ovens for baking. Two graffiti discovered on the precinct wall of the Temple of Apollo are an indication of this. They read Verecunnus libarius hic and Pudens libarius, which can be roughly translated as 'Verecunnus and Pudens sell sacrificial bread here'. Each mill consists of two mill-stones, one stationary and one hollow and shaped like a funnel.
The funnel-shaped stone had slots, into which wooden levers could be inserted so that the stone could be rotated. Each mill would have been operated either by manpower or with the help of a donkey or horse in one bakery, the skeletons of several donkeys were discovered. In order to make flour, grain was poured from above into the hollow stone and then was ground between the two stones.
In total, 33 bakeries have so far been found in Pompeii. The carbonised remains of loaves of bread were found in one, demonstrating that the oven was in use at the time of the eruption in A.
From then on the industry began as a separate profession. The Guild or College, called Collegium Pistorim. The bakers in Rome at this period enjoyed special privileges: they were the only craftsmen who were freemen of the city, all other trades being conducted by slaves. We suppose that the bakers, instead of being honoured by the strict regulations, must have felt deprived by them.
Eight of these guilds were older than history, those of the tanners, cobblers, carpenters, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, potters, dyers, and, oddly enough, the flute-blowers. They all traced their organization to Numa. Numerous others were formed as knowledge of the arts advanced or the division of labor proceeded.
Special parts of the city seem to have been appropriated by special classes of workmen, as in our cities, like businesses are apt to be carried on in the same neighborhood; Cicero speaks of a street of the scythe-makers. The use of guilds and clubs for political purposes in the later years of the Republic led to the suppression of most of them, and from that time the formation of new ones was carefully limited. These organizations differed from both the medieval guilds and the modern trades-unions.
There was no system of apprenticeship, and the members did not use their organizations to make demands for better wages or working conditions. As the necessity for competition with slave labor made such demands useless, there were no strikes. The guilds became largely social organizations for men engaged in the same line of work.
The drift to specialization shows in the guilds, for, whereas in early times there had been only the guild of the cobblers sutores , there came to be guilds of those who made each kind of shoe, the calceolarii, the solearii, and so on through the list.
Its organization was based on that of the towns; the guilds had their magistrates, decurions, and plebs. When there was a distribution of money, the members shared in proportion to their rank in the guild. Each guild had a patron, or patrons, chosen for reputed wealth and generosity. The members of a guild had their regular times and places for meetings of business and festivity, and if prosperous or blessed with a generous patron might own their own hall schola.
They filled their treasuries by means of initiation fees, dues, and fines. On the great holidays they marched in processions with their banners. Each guild had its patron deity and common religious rites. Even when a guild was not organized as a funerary association, it often maintained a common burial ground. Such matters were jurisprudence, administration and diplomacy, and war.
It was customary, therefore, for the young citizen to attach himself for a time to some older man, eminent in these lines or in some one of them, in order to gain an opportunity for observation and practical experience in the performance of duties that would sooner or later devolve upon him.
This arrangement was not only highly advantageous to the young men, but was also considered very honorable for those under whom they studied. These tirones became familiar in this way tirocinium militiae with the practical side of administration and war, while at the same time they were relieved of many of the hardships and dangers suffered by those, less fortunate who had to rise from the ranks.
It was this staff of inexperienced young men who hid in their tents or asked for leave of absence when Caesar determined to meet Ariovistus in battle Caesar, De Bello Gallico, I, 39 , although some of them, no doubt, made gallant soldiers and wise commanders afterwards.
In the next place, the exercise of the body must not be neglected; but children must be sent to schools of gymnastics, where they may have sufficient employment that way also. This will conduce partly to a more handsome carriage, and partly to the improvement of their strength. For the foundation of a vigorous old age is a good constitution of the body in childhood.
Wherefore, as it is expedient to provide those things in fair weather which may be useful to the mariners in a storm, so is it to keep good order and govern ourselves by rules of temperance in youth, as the best provision we can lay in for age. Yet must they husband their strength, so as not to become dried up as it were and destitute of strength to follow their studies. For, according to Plato, sleep and weariness are enemies to the arts.
Thatcher, ed. I hasten to speak of that which is of the greatest importance, even beyond all that has been spoken of; namely, I would have boys trained for the contests of wars by practice in the throwing of darts, shooting of arrows, and hunting of wild beasts. For we must remember in war the goods of the conquered are proposed as rewards to the conquerors. But war does not agree with a delicate habit of body, used only to the shade; for even one lean soldier that has been used to military exercises shall overthrow whole troops of mere wrestlers who know nothing of war.
To which objection it is no difficult thing to reply. Important positions in religious administration included those of Augurs, Haruspices, and Vestal Virgins. The Augurs were the high priests who interpreted the will of the gods through the study of the flight of birds.
Haruspices, on the other hand, were religious figures who made future predictions by studying the entrails of animals. Finally, the Vestal Virgins were virgin female priests of goddess Vesta and were responsible for maintaining the sacred fire for Vesta.
Since ancient Rome was a vast empire, there was considerable trading going on not just with other parts of the world but also between different parts of the empire itself. Due to this large volume of trade, a variety of ancient Roman jobs for trade were available to the people. Common ancient Roman jobs related to trading and merchandise included fishing, making of weapons and tools, building, baking, fruit trade, hairdressing, and others.
An extensive network of roads was built to facilitate this trade between different parts of the empire. Entertainment was a very important part of the ancient Roman Empire, particularly in the city of Rome.
There were various forms which included more sophisticated types of entertainment such as the theatre to more violent forms of entertainment such as gladiator fights. Various festivals and public gathering took place in the amphitheatres where sports such as chariot racing and enactment of battles were common forms of entertainment.
Other forms of entertainment included gambling and the oldest profession in the world, prostitution was also common. The Making of sculptures, frescos, and finely created pottery and jewellery was widespread in ancient Rome and many people were employed in these professions. Roman artists were also employed to paint walls and large houses as well as public buildings.
Ancient Roman jobs for craftsmen and artists not only included the decoration of pottery and jewellery and making of sculptures and frescos, but also making weapons for soldiers. These professions generally ran in families and the son of an artist or a designer grew up to adopt the same profession. Ancient Roman society was a complex mixture of all kinds of people and multiple ethnicities.
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