【简译】古罗马人的日常生活

2022-09-02 11:59 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

From the early days of the Roman Republic through the volatile reigns of such ignoble emperors as Caligula, Nero, and Commodus, the Roman Empire continued to expand, stretching its borders to encompass the entire Mediterranean Sea as well as expanding northward to Gaul and Britain. History records the exploits of the heroes as well as the tirades of the emperors. Despite the sometimes-shameful deeds of the imperial office, the empire was built on the backs of its citizens - the unsung people who lived a relatively quiet existence, and who are often ignored by history. Rome was a cosmopolitan city with Greeks, Syrians, Jews, North Africans, Spaniards, Gauls, and Britons, and like any society, the average Roman citizen awoke each morning, labored, relaxed, and ate, and while his or her daily life could often be hectic, he or she would always survive.

从罗马共和国的早期到卡利古拉、尼禄和康茂德等皇帝的动荡统治，罗马帝国不断扩张，其边界延伸到了整个地中海，并向北扩展到高卢和不列颠。历史记录了英雄们的功绩以及帝王们的事迹。尽管皇室有时会有一些可耻的行为，但帝国是建立在其公民背上的——那些默默无闻的人，他们的生活相对平静，而且常常被历史所忽视。罗马是一个拥有希腊人、叙利亚人、犹太人、北非人、西班牙人、高卢人和不列颠人的国际大都市，与任何社会一样，普通罗马公民每天早晨醒来，劳动，放松，吃饭，虽然他或她的日常生活可能很忙碌，但他或她总是会努力生存下去。

人口流动

Outside the cities, in the towns and on the small farms, people lived a much simpler life - dependent almost entirely on their own labor. The daily life of the average city dweller, however, was a lot different and most often routine. The urban areas of the empire - whether it was Rome, Pompeii, Antioch, or Carthage - were magnets to many people who left smaller towns and farms seeking a better way of life. However, the unfulfilled promise of jobs forced countless people to live in the poorer parts of the city. The jobs they sought were often not there, resulting in an epidemic of homeless inhabitants. The work that was available to these new émigrés, however, was difficult to obtain. Slaves performed almost all of the menial jobs as well as many of the professions such as teachers, doctors, surgeons, and architects. Most of the freedmen worked at various trades, for example, as bakers, fishmongers, or carpenters. Occasionally, poor women would serve the affluent as hairdressers, midwives, or dressmakers.

在大城市之外的城镇和小农场，人们的生活要简单得多，生活所需几乎完全依赖自己的劳动。然而，普通城市居民的日常生活却大不相同，而且大多是例行公事。帝国的城市地区，无论是罗马、庞贝、安提阿还是迦太基，都吸引着许多离开小城镇和农场寻求更好生活方式的人。然而，合适工作的紧缺，使无数人生活在城市的贫困地区。他们寻找的理想工作往往不在这，导致无家可归的居民大量涌现。这些新移民很难得到一份工作。奴隶们几乎从事所有的琐碎工作，以及许多职业，如教师、医生、外科医生和建筑工；大多数被解放的人从事各种行业，例如：面包师、鱼贩或木匠。偶尔，贫穷的妇女会以理发师、助产士或裁缝的身份为富人服务。

住房 —— 公寓区

As elsewhere, whether on a farm or in the city, daily life still centered on the home, and when people arrived in the city, their first concern was to find a place to live. Space was at a premium in a walled metropolis like Rome, and from the beginning little attention was paid to the housing needs of the people who migrated to the city - tenements provided the best answer. The majority of Roman citizens, not all of them poor, lived in these apartment buildings or insulae. As early as 150 BCE, there were over 46,000 insulae throughout the city. Most of these ramshackle tenements were over-crowded and extremely dangerous resulting in residents living in constant fear of fire, collapse, and in some areas there was the susceptibility to the flooding of the Tiber River. Initially, little concern from the city was given to designing straight or even wide streets (streets, often unpaved, could be as narrow as six feet or as wide as fifteen), not allowing for easy access to these buildings if a fire did occur. It would take the great fire under Emperor Nero, to improve this problem when streets were widened and balconies built to provide safety as well as access in time of an emergency. These “flats” were usually five to seven stories in height (over seventy feet); however, because many of these tenements were deemed unsafe, laws were passed under Emperors Augustus and Trajan to keep them from becoming too tall; unfortunately, these laws were rarely enforced.

无论是在农场还是城市，古罗马人的日常生活仍以家庭为中心，当人们到达城市时，他们首先关心的是如何找到一个住处。在罗马这样一个有围墙的大都市里，空间是很宝贵的，从一开始就很少有人关注移民到城市的人们的住房需求——公寓提供了最好的答案。大多数罗马公民，并非都是穷人，都住在这些公寓区或“因苏拉”（因苏拉在古罗马建筑中有两种含义，一是公寓，二是街区住房。）中。早在公元前150年，整个城市就有超过46,000个“因苏拉”。这些破旧的公寓大多过于拥挤，而且极其危险，居民每天生活在火灾、倒塌的恐惧中，在一些地区还容易受到台伯河洪水的影响。最初，城市很少关注或设计笔直甚至宽阔的街道（街道通常没有铺设，可以窄到6英尺或宽到15英尺），如果真的发生火灾，就不容易进入这些建筑。尼禄皇帝时期的大火迫使罗马当局改善了这一问题，街道被拓宽，房屋扩建阳台，以提供安全和紧急情况下的通道。这些 “公寓”通常有五到七层高（超过七十英尺）；然而，由于许多公寓被认为是不安全的，奥古斯都和图拉真皇帝都通过法律限制其高度；不幸的是，这些法律通常很少得到有效执行。

Poverty throughout the city was apparent, whether through one's lack of education or manner of dress, and life in these tenements reflected this disparity. The floor on which a person lived depended on one's income. The lower apartments - the ground floor or first floor of an insulae - were far more comfortable than the top floors. They were spacious, containing separate rooms for dining and sleeping, glazed windows, and, unlike the other floors, the rent was usually paid annually. The higher floors, where rent was paid by the day or week, were cramped, often with only one room to a family. A family lived in constant fear of eviction. They had no access to natural light, were hot in the summer and cold in the winter with little or no running water - this even meant a latrina or toilet. While the city's first sewer system or Cloaca Maxima had appeared in the six century BCE, it did not benefit those on the upper floors (lower floors had access to running water and indoor toilets). Refuse, even human waste, was routinely dumped onto the streets, not only causing a terrible stench but a breeding ground for disease. For many, the only alternative was to use the public toilets. Combine the lack of street lights (there was no foot traffic at night due to the high crime rate), the decaying buildings, and the fear of fire, life on the upper floors of the tenements was not very enjoyable for many of the poor.

整个城市的贫困是显而易见的，不管是缺乏教育还是穿着打扮，这些公寓的生活反映了这种差距。一个人住在哪一层，取决于他的收入。低层公寓（底层或一楼）要比顶层公寓舒适得多。它们很宽敞，有单独的房间供人用餐和睡觉，有玻璃窗，而且与其他楼层不同的是，低层公寓租金通常是每年支付一次。较高楼层的租金是按天或按周支付的，那里很拥挤，往往一个家庭只有一个房间。一个家庭一直生活在被驱逐的恐惧中。他们没有自然光，夏天很热，冬天很冷，几乎没有自来水--这甚至意味着这里像一个“厕所”或“马桶”。虽然城市的第一个下水道系统（Cloaca Maxima）出现在公元前六世纪，但它并没有使高层的人受益（低层的人可以使用自来水和室内厕所）。垃圾，甚至是人类的粪便，都经常被倾倒在街道上，不仅产生可怕的恶臭，而且成为疾病的温床。对许多人来说，唯一的选择就是使用公共厕所。再加上缺乏路灯（由于犯罪率高，晚上没有人流），建筑朽烂，以及对火灾的恐惧，对许多穷人来说，在公寓的高层生活并不愉快。

私人别墅

On the contrary, most of the wealthy residents - those who didn't live in villas outside the city - lived in a domus. These homes, at least in Rome, were usually located on Palatine Hill to be close to the imperial palace. As with many of the tenements, the front of this dwelling (especially in cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum) often contained a shop where the owner would conduct daily business. Behind the shop was the atrium - a reception area where guests or clients were greeted and private business sometimes conducted. The atrium would often include a small shrine to a household or ancestral god. The ceiling of the atrium was open and beneath this was a rectangular pool. On rainy days the water that came through this opening was collected and used elsewhere in the domus. On either side of the atrium were smaller rooms, called cubiculum which served as bedrooms, libraries and offices. Of course, there was ample space available for a dining room or triclinium and the kitchen. To the rear of the domus was the family garden.

相反，大多数富有的居民——那些没有住在城外别墅的人——都住在domus（豪宅，上流阶级和中流阶级公民的住宅）里。这些住宅，至少在罗马，通常位于帕拉丁山上，靠近皇宫。这种住宅（尤其是在庞贝和赫库兰尼姆这样的城市）的前面通常有一个铺子，主人在那里处理日常事务。铺子后面是中庭，这是一个接待区，用来迎接客人或客户，有时也用来处理私人事务。中庭通常包括一个供奉家庭或祖先之神的小神龛。中庭的天花板是开放的，下面是一个长方形的水池。在雨天，从这个开口处流出的水被收集起来，并用于住所内的其他地方。在中庭的两边是较小的房间，称为cubiculum（是高地位家庭居住的古罗马房屋），用作卧室、图书馆和办公室。当然，还有充足的空间可用于建造餐厅或三室一厅与厨房。宅院的后面是私人花园。

家庭

Regardless whether rich or poor, tenement or villa, the fundamental social unit throughout the empire was the family, and from the early days of the Republic, the existence of the family-centered entirely on the concept of paterfamilias - the male head of the household had the power of life and death over all members of the family (even the extended family). He could reject children if they were disfigured, if he questioned their paternity, if he had more than one daughter already or merely if he felt so inclined. He could also sell any of his children into slavery. Gradually, over time, this extreme, almost all-powerful, control over one's family (patria potestas) would diminish. However, this ironclad rule by the husband or father did not limit the power of the woman of the house.

不管是富人还是穷人，公寓还是别墅，整个帝国的基本社会单位是家庭。从共和国的早期开始，家庭的存在完全以父权概念为中心——男性户主对家庭所有成员（甚至是大家庭）拥有生杀大权。如果孩子被毁容，如果他质疑孩子的父亲身份，如果他已经有一个以上的女儿，或者仅仅是觉得有必要，他可以不承认这个孩子的身份。他还可以把他任何一个孩子卖给奴隶贩子。随着时间的推移，这种极端的、几乎无所不能的对家庭的控制（patria potestas）会逐渐减少。然而，丈夫或父亲的这一铁律并没有限制家中妇女的权力。

The home was the domain of the wife. While she was initially restricted from appearing in public, she ran the household and often saw to the education of the children until a tutor could be found. By the end of the Republic, she was even permitted to sit with her husband at dinner, go to the baths, although not at the same time as the men, and attend the theater and games. Later, women could be seen working as bakers, pharmacists and shopkeepers and, legally, women's rights improved, for example, divorce proceedings could be initiated by either the husband or wife.

家庭是妻子的领域。虽然她最初被限制在公共场合出现，但她管理着家庭，并经常负责孩子们的教育，直到家里能够承担家庭教师的支出。到了共和国末期，她甚至被允许与丈夫坐在一起吃饭——洗澡当然不能与男人同时进行；她还能参加剧院与娱乐活动。后来，人们可以看到妇女从事面包师、药剂师和店主的工作，在法律上，妇女的地位得到了改善，例如，离婚诉讼可以由丈夫或妻子提出。

饮食

Everyone has to eat, and the diet of a Roman resident depended, as did his or her housing, on one's economic status. For many of the poor this meant waiting for the monthly allotment of grain. To most Romans the main meal of the day was in the late afternoon, from four to six. The morning and noon meals were usually light snacks, sometimes only bread. Since there was no refrigeration, shopping was done daily at the many small shops and street carts or in the city's forum. Many of the foods we consider Italian today did not exist in early Rome. There were no potatoes, tomatoes, corn, peppers, rice, or sugar. Neither were there any oranges, grapefruits, apricots, or peaches. While the wealthy enjoyed imported spices in their meals, reclined on pillows and were served by slaves, many of the extremely poor or homeless ate rancid cereal or gruel (the lack of a quality diet caused many to suffer from malnutrition). To others the daily diet consisted of cereals, bread, vegetables and olive oil; meat was far too expensive for the average budget although it sometimes became available after a sacrifice to the gods (as only the internal organs were used in a sacrifice). Wine was the common drink, but, for the poor, water was available at the public fountains.

每个人都要吃饭，罗马居民的饮食和他们的住房一样，都取决于一个人的经济地位。对于许多穷人来说，这意味着要等待每月的粮食分配。对大多数罗马人来说，一天的主餐是在下午四点到六点之间。上午和中午的饭菜通常是简单的点心，有时只有面包。由于当时没有冷藏设备，所以每天都要在许多小商店和街头小车上或在城市的集市上购物。我们今天认为的许多意大利食品在早期罗马并不存在。当时没有土豆、西红柿、玉米、辣椒、大米或糖。也没有橘子、葡萄柚、杏子或桃子。当富人在饭菜中享用进口香料，躺在枕头上，由奴隶服侍时，许多极端贫穷的人或无家可归的人却吃着馊掉的谷物或稀饭（缺乏高质量的饮食使许多人患上了营养不良症）。对普通人来说，日常饮食包括谷物、面包、蔬菜和橄榄油；肉类对于普通人的预算来说太过昂贵，尽管有时在向神灵献祭后可以获得少量的肉（因为在献祭中只使用动物内脏）。酒是常见的饮料，但对于穷人来说，公共喷泉可以提供饮用水。

工作与娱乐

For the affluent the day was divided between business and leisure. Of course, business was only conducted in the morning. Most Romans worked a six-hour day, beginning at dawn and ending at noon, although, occasionally some shops might reopen in the early evening. The city's forum would be empty because the afternoon was devoted to leisure - attending the games (gladiatorial competitions, chariot races, or wrestling), the theater or the baths - all of which were also enjoyed by the poor (as many in government felt the need for the poor to be entertained). Even during times of crises, the citizens of Rome were kept happy with bread and games. They could be found at the Circus Maximus, Colosseum, or Theatre of Pompeii.

对于富裕的人来说，一天的时间被划分为生意和休闲时间。当然，生意只在早上进行。大多数罗马人每天工作六小时，从黎明开始到中午结束，不过，偶尔有些商店会在傍晚重新开张。城市集市在下午是空的，这里是用来休闲的地方——参加比赛（角斗士比赛、战车比赛或摔跤）、剧院或浴场，穷人也可以参与（因为许多政府官员认为穷人需要娱乐）。即使在危机时期，罗马公民也能通过面包和娱乐保持快乐。他们可以在马克西穆斯竞技场、斗兽场或庞贝剧院找到属于自己的欢乐时光。

Throughout the empire, cities such as Antioch, Alexandria, Carthage or even Cathago Nova became romanized, containing an amphitheater or arena. The city of Pompeii had three municipal baths, two theaters, a basilica, and an amphitheater. During the time of Emperor Claudius there were 159 days when no business was conducted (no day of rest existed in a Roman week); however, Emperor Marcus Aurelius considered this too extreme and decreed there had to be at least 230 days of business.

在整个帝国，诸如安提阿、亚历山大、迦太基甚至卡塔戈诺瓦等城市都成为罗马化的城市，城里包含一个圆形剧场或竞技场。庞贝市有三个市政浴场，两个剧院，一个大教堂和一个圆形剧场。在克劳狄乌斯皇帝时期，有159天没有进行商业活动（在罗马的一周中不存在休息日）；然而，马可·奥理略皇帝认为这太极端了，并下令至少要有230天的商业活动。

一幅来自罗马庞贝城的壁画（约公元 60 年），描绘了Terentius Neo 拿着卷轴，他的妻子拿着手写笔和写字板。

浴场

After a busy day conducting business and attending the games, a Roman citizen needed to relax and this relaxation time was spent at the baths - bathing was important to all Romans (usually once or twice a week). The baths were a place to socialize and sometimes conduct business. In 33 BCE there were 170 in Rome, and by 400 CE there were over 800 including the largest and most sumptuous, the Baths of Trajan, Caracalla, and Diocletian. An emperor could always ensure his popularity by building baths. A typical bath included a gym, health center, swimming pool and sometimes even a bordello (for the more affluent guests). Most were very cheap to use and even free on public holidays. A typical bath would have three rooms - a tepidarium or relaxation room, a caldarium or hotter room, and a frigadarium or cooling room. Slaves were used to maintain the heat in the various hot rooms as well as attend to the needs of the wealthy. One of the most famous baths was the one given to the city by Emperor Diocletian. It covered thirty-two acres with a lavish garden, fountains, sculptures and even a running track. It could seat 3,000 guests. After a relaxing afternoon at the baths, a Roman citizen, wealthy or poor, would return home for their evening meal.

在忙完一天的生意或参加比赛后，罗马公民需要放松，这种放松的时间是在浴场度过的——洗澡对所有罗马人都很重要（通常每周一到两次）。浴场是一个社交场所，有时也是进行商业活动的地方。公元前33年，罗马有170个浴场；到公元400年，就有800多个浴场，包括最大和最豪华的特拉扬浴场、卡拉卡拉浴场和戴克里先浴场。一个皇帝总是可以通过建造浴场来确保他的知名度。一个典型的浴场包括健身房、保健中心、游泳池，有时甚至还有一个妓院（为更富裕的客人服务）。大多数浴场的使用费用非常便宜，甚至在公共假期还是免费的。典型的浴场会有三个房间——一个温水池或放松室，一个热水池或更热的房间，以及一个冷冻室或冷却室。奴隶们维持各个热室的热量，并满足富人的各种需求。最著名的浴场之一是戴克里先皇帝赐予该城的浴场。它占地三十二英亩，有一个豪华的花园、喷泉、雕塑，甚至还有一条跑道。它可以容纳3,000名客人。在浴场度过一个轻松的下午后，罗马市民，无论贫富，都会回家吃夜宵。

总结

Daily life in a Roman city was completely dependent on one's economic status. The city, however, remained a mixture of wealth and poverty, often existing side by side. The wealthy had the benefit of slave labor whether it was heating the water at the baths, serving them their evening meal, or educating their children. The poor, on the other hand, had no access to education, lived in run-down tenements, and sometimes lived off the charity of the city. Historians still argue about the fall of the empire - was it religion or the influx of barbarians? However, there are those who point to the poor of the city - the squalor, the rise of the unemployed, and the increase in disease and crime - as a contributing factor to the western empire's eventual demise.

罗马城市的日常生活完全取决于一个人的经济地位。然而，这座城市仍然是财富和贫穷的混合体，两者并存。富人可以享受到奴隶劳动的好处，无论是在浴场加热水、为他们提供夜餐，还是教育他们的孩子。另一方面，穷人没有受教育的机会，他们住在破旧的公寓里，有时还靠城市的慈善事业生活。历史学家对帝国的衰落仍有争议——是宗教原因还是野蛮人的涌入？然而，也有人指出，城市的贫穷——肮脏、失业者的增加以及疾病和犯罪的增加——是导致西方帝国最终灭亡的一个因素。