People who live in the Italian city of Rome are called Romans. It is a very old city and therefore Romans has a rich cultural history that dates back to thousands of years. Let’s have a quick review about Roman civilization and culture in Roman facts for kids.
Roman Emperors | Interesting Roman Facts For Kids
Augustus Caesar
Augustus was the founder of the Roman Empire.
He was also the first emperor.
He died at the age of 75.
Constantine
Constantine was the first Roman emperor who became Christian.
He changed the capital of eastern Roman Empire to Constantinople.
The eastern Roman Empire was known as Byzantine Empire.
Trajan
Under the rule of Trajan (another roman emperor), the Roman Empire reached its maximum size.
Theodosius I
Theodosius I was the last roman emperor.
Theodosius I made Christianity as the state religion.
General Facts
Population
The total population under Roman Empire was between 60 million to 100 million people.
Language
‘Latin’ was the language of the Romans in the West while ‘Greek’ was the language of the Romans in the East (due to the conquests of Alexander the Great).
Architecture
In the field of architecture, Romans made remarkable progress in building mainly the dome, vault and arch.
The biggest bridge built by the Romans was Trajan’s bridge.
Romans constructed biggest structure of circuses.
Literacy Rate
The literacy rate of Romans varies from 5 percent to 30 percent.
Clothing
Romans used to wear simple piece of clothing called Tunic. This dress was for both men and women.
Women
Freeborn women were citizens but were not allowed to vote or hold any public office.
There was a separate family name for every Roman woman, which went on with her till her death.
Legally speaking, father of every Roman woman was in charge of her actions and she would remain under the guidance of her father even after her marriage. Her father was however not allowed to interfere with her daily actions and for that reason, she enjoyed reasonable freedom. She was not obliged to answer her husband for any legal matter instead it was her father whom she was to accountable legally.
If a father had not donated his property to anyone in his life, all the property would have been distributed equally among girls and boys of his roman family. This was the Roman law about inheritance. In this respect, the mother enjoyed great freedom and she was entitled to hold all the property and give after that, the entire property to any of his sons or daughters, whom she wished.
Since a Roman woman was a legal citizen, she was allowed to do business or sign a legal document.
Slaves
During the time of Augustus (a Roman emperor), there was almost 35 percent slaves living in Italy.
The Romans regarded their slaves as the property.
The Roman slaves could not legally marry with others. At times, some kind of bond was accepted by the legal authorities though.
Roman slaves could not possess any property.
More Roman Facts For Kids
Rome, Antioch and Alexandria were the biggest cities of Roman Empire.
According to the theory of law of the Romans, a person was divided into two groups only; he may be a slave or he may be free.
Majority of Romans were not entitled to vote and so they were not allowed to hold any public office either.
Only those Romans were allowed to vote who enjoyed all the rights of a citizen under Roman Empire.
Most of the Romans were not citizens though they were free (not slaves). Such Romans were called peregrine, which means ‘non-Romans’.
Caracalla, a Roman emperor made all the free Romans as the legal citizens.
A male Roman can only have one wife at a time.
Romans described the Mediterranean Sea as ‘Our Sea’ because the whole empire surrounded it.
The two famous games among Roman kids were knucklebones and hoop rolling.
The most fantastic work of art by the Romans was called Mosaic.
Romans used to send their kids to ‘pedagogue’ so that he may educate their kids, teach them how to behave and the like. Pedagogues were however not treated with respect.
The parents of wealthy Roman kids used to sign up teachers to give primary education to their children at home.
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