 How do the average non-elite ancient Romans live? How do they spend their leisure time? Too often we have forgotten these less than famous individuals from the Roman world. To correct this oversight, this is the start of a new series of daily life episodes in ancient Rome. And in this episode, we will look at a number of average Romans who were just trying to get by or those who showed off how they had made it in Roman society. To gain real insights into the lives of average Romans, we need to look at Roman art, in particular from Rome and the Vesuvian cities, so that we can get an authentic feel of the lives of these Romans of no particular fame. In this episode, we'll take a look at a number of specific events, jobs and portraits. Let's look at daily life of the Romans through art. Let's begin with writing and records and some famous images of portraits of modestly wealthy Romans. From this woman to this couple from the house of Tarentius Neu. Each image reveals the tabella, wax tablets held within a wooden frame and paired with a pen for inscribing on the wax. Writing this in your portrait was a sign of education and status in Roman society. But beyond these paintings, we actually have the case of Lucius Chakilishukundus, who was active in Pompeii from 15 to 62 AD. And it's in his house, they were found in 1875, a treasure trove of 153 wax tablets that were banking records of the life and activity of Lucius Chakilishukundus in Pompeii. In one such receipt, on display in the Museo Archeological Dinapoli, it includes his work in the Filonica business. Now what happened in a Filonica? The Filonica was a place to finish woven cloth and to clean it once it was dirty and we're so fortunate that we have a pillar preserved from a Filonica in Pompeii, the Filonica of Lucius Varanius Hapsaeus that details all of this specific activities in a Filonica. The first thing that you would do is to wash the cloth in water and some other material – urine, potash, natron and other materials that were related to get the cloth clean and to degrease it. And who's treading the water? It's slaves, including children. The second step was to rub into the cloth fuller's earth which served to widen it. Then you would rewash it and you actually squeeze out the water with a press which is depicted and then dry it out, hanging it on long beams of wood and also comb it out. Finally, you'd fumigate it with sulfur, placing the cloth on a wicker frame called the Viminea Cavia which is depicted here. Life at a Roman port is beautifully depicted in the famous Turlonia relief recently on display in the Capitoline Museums. This relief comes from Portus, the great imperial port of Ostiantica and it shows a scene of life in Portus which is highlighted by the representation of the faros of the lighthouse with a flame burning on top. The site is busy and industrial and it gives us a sense of the ships arriving at the harbor, the incredibly complex rigging and the sails of the ships. Here's an offering from the master of the ship and thanks for safe travel and a small tugboat that's attached to the larger ship and even an attendant offloading an amphora. Let's take a look at this related image of a boat, not a seafaring vessel but a river transport boat, a Navus Caudicaria, called the Isis Giminiana and it was found in Columbarium 1865 on the Ostiensei Necropolis along the Via Laurentina and what you have here is the scene of the deposit of dry goods into a modius, a dry measuring container and there are also slave attendants or freedmen that are carrying on their shoulders sacks of grain ultimately destined to go upriver, up the Tiber to that great consumer city, Rome. Where did you eat in the busy cities in the Roman Empire? Oftentimes you are in a Capona or a Thermopolium, the fast food counters and we have extraordinary images preserved from Pompeii, Isla Sacra and Ostiantica. In the first scene we have from the Capona of Salavius in Pompeii, four individual scenes giving us an idea of the dynamic life inside the bar. In the first scene you have people kissing with a caption, I don't want to something with Myrtalis. In the second scene there are men drinking, they have their drinking cups and they're calling out to a barmaid probably for more alcohol. In the third scene men are seated playing dice and in the fourth scene it seems the same two men have now begun fighting, yelling obscenities at each other as the bar keeper or innkeeper intervenes telling him to take the fight outside. How little has changed. Here's another image of a bar scene, this one from the Isla Sacra Necropolis in which you have a representation of the faros, the lighthouse from Portis and then you have a scene of a bar counter with wares on display for sale. Here's another scene of a bar in this case from Ostiantica itself and this is one of the most unique dynamic bar scenes we have from the ancient world. We have apparently the owner of the bar behind the counter is a woman and she has in front of her two plates with fruit. Above here are a number of a fowl that are on display for sale and beneath her counter there are caged birds as well as caged rabbits. Finally maybe strangest of all on the counter next to her are actually a pair of monkeys. Are these pet monkeys? Are these monkeys for sale? We're not really sure but overall it's giving us a sense of the dynamic, the hustle and bustle and the scene of a port city like Ostiantica and the dynamic of people buying and selling. This was where you went to eat on a daily basis if you were just staying in an inn or if you were renting a space above the shop you didn't have that full kitchen of the domus. This is where you went to get your daily meal. All kinds of processions were commonly observed in Roman cities. Now the highlight in ancient Rome was the Roman triumph. You had soldiers carrying a ferriculum which had different kinds of trophies even defeated foes. You had a procession of animals that were pretty sacrificed and ultimately there's the general and his chariot. He's god for a day. He's the great champion of Rome but there are many more modest processions that took place all the time in the streets of Roman cities. Here's one of the carpenters, the fabri tignari and it was depicted in their office in Pompeii and you see carpenters in a procession carrying their own ferriculum or beer and what they're carrying is a small wooden shrine with different acts of work. There's a partially preserved image of Minerva, their patron goddess. There's a statue of a figure that has been identified as Ditalis, another sponsor of the carpenters. He himself was a famous carpenter in mythology. So maybe this scene which also depicts people sawing wood, maybe this is a scene from the festival of the quinquatria which was a festival to honor the goddess Minerva. And we can take a look at this related image from Rome from the collegium, the association of the fabri tignari on the Capitoline hill. This was found in 1938. It's in Montmartini Museum today. Historically these carpenters took care of the roofing system of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and here you see again Minerva is their patron goddess overseeing their work, their depictions of saws and a square. There are many other images that depict jobs of people in the Roman world from metalworkers. This is from the Borgia collection now in the Archaeological Museum of Naples showing metalsmiths if not in particular working with copper. And we have these mosaic workers actually cutting and making the individual tesserae. What a job! But the results were absolutely stunning as we see from this incredible collection of a variety of mosaics from Montmartini Museum. We've just begun this new series on daily life in the Roman world. So stay tuned for more episodes. You can also tune in to our free live lectures throughout each month. Just go to ancientromelive.org and subscribe to the newsletter. And of course we appreciate your support. Go to ancientromelive.org slash support. So we can make more great original content.