It's well known that in ancient Rome, citizens of the Eternal City would receive a dole of bread and oil and that the provision of such, alongside a steady supply of entertainment - Juvenal's famous panem et circenses (Satires X) - was enough to keep everyone happy and chuntering along without setting fire to the forum and throwing the senate into the Tiber.
Do historians believe Diocletion's price caps were enforced? Wouldn't a black market have popped up immediately given the underlying inflation driving Diocletion's attempt to crack down on prices rising?
There is evidence of a black market emerging in the wake of Diocletian's edicts, which I'd have to look up the sources for. But it mostly revolved around 'insider dealing' surrounding the trading of goods at source, rather than in the food stalls.
I've just started your latest book (thank you for putting it in KU). You had me at the Ye Olden Tyme chapter descriptions, further with the Jethro Tull reference in the preface, but I've been all in since I got to the snarky parts with grown up language.
I hope this will prevent me from being thrown in the TIber.
A lot of execution is alluded to through the use of terms like 'the noose and the hooks' - the noose to strangle with and the hooks to drag the body to the Tiber.
Throwing the body into the Tiber is very symbolic, although the use of the Tiber itself was simply because it was the nearest water. There's nothing specific about the actual river.
It symbolizes removing the remains from the world of the living into a form of exile and for the elites in society, exile was a punishment almost as bad as death. To be cast out of elite society was to lose everything.
Relatives would normally be allowed to fish the remains out of the river once this final indignity had been imposed on them - they didn't really want the river bobbing with dead people.
Tabernae were primarily shops that occasionally had room for travellers, and inns were generally seen as pretty disreputable places to stay at, so they were primarily places for transients to rest at.
Higher class travellers would stay at more official places such as a 'mansio.'
The question to really ask would be how many people were moving about in the first place? Peasants didn't really have anywhere to go or any need to move around, so once someone got to somewhere like Rome, they would either find somewhere more permanent to stay or there would be somewhere a bit nicer to stay at.
I don't know. I think Roman soldiers would have loved Coca-Cola. The fact that Coca-Cola is available to us basically on demand and in a variety of packaging indicates that the demand is so high that they have a great selection of offerings for us.
Do historians believe Diocletion's price caps were enforced? Wouldn't a black market have popped up immediately given the underlying inflation driving Diocletion's attempt to crack down on prices rising?
There is evidence of a black market emerging in the wake of Diocletian's edicts, which I'd have to look up the sources for. But it mostly revolved around 'insider dealing' surrounding the trading of goods at source, rather than in the food stalls.
I've just started your latest book (thank you for putting it in KU). You had me at the Ye Olden Tyme chapter descriptions, further with the Jethro Tull reference in the preface, but I've been all in since I got to the snarky parts with grown up language.
I hope this will prevent me from being thrown in the TIber.
I'm glad you are enjoying it!
I was recently doing some research into a fellow who took his own life by 'hurling himself headlong.'
On closer inspection, it turned out that he did, indeed, hurl himself headlong into the Tiber.
This pleases me to no end. If the hurling didn't do it, the sewage and dead things would.
A lot of execution is alluded to through the use of terms like 'the noose and the hooks' - the noose to strangle with and the hooks to drag the body to the Tiber.
Throwing the body into the Tiber is very symbolic, although the use of the Tiber itself was simply because it was the nearest water. There's nothing specific about the actual river.
It symbolizes removing the remains from the world of the living into a form of exile and for the elites in society, exile was a punishment almost as bad as death. To be cast out of elite society was to lose everything.
Relatives would normally be allowed to fish the remains out of the river once this final indignity had been imposed on them - they didn't really want the river bobbing with dead people.
Two points raised by Mary Beard:
1. Were the dolia at the thermopolia sealed? Were they suited to holding wet foods, or did they only hold dry food?
2. The inversion of eating out: rich people dined at home; most others ate in the streets or in tabarnae.
My question: did tabernae and inns lodge and board permanent residents, or did they only lodge travelers?
Tabernae were primarily shops that occasionally had room for travellers, and inns were generally seen as pretty disreputable places to stay at, so they were primarily places for transients to rest at.
Higher class travellers would stay at more official places such as a 'mansio.'
The question to really ask would be how many people were moving about in the first place? Peasants didn't really have anywhere to go or any need to move around, so once someone got to somewhere like Rome, they would either find somewhere more permanent to stay or there would be somewhere a bit nicer to stay at.
I can't really imagine "ass" as a monetary unit, for some reason...
1 as, 2 asses.
I say it 'az'.
I don't know. I think Roman soldiers would have loved Coca-Cola. The fact that Coca-Cola is available to us basically on demand and in a variety of packaging indicates that the demand is so high that they have a great selection of offerings for us.
Did the barbers also offer shaves or was it shave and a haircut?
They would offer a shave, too, yes.
There's an article about that!
https://jamescoverley.substack.com/p/did-the-romans-shave-their-beards?r=2pal2f