Econ+Summaries

Intro Paragraph- Chris

Patrician summary- Jon

Patricians were the highest and wealthiest social class. They would live in large villas that were taken care of by many slaves. They would have many luxurious things, such as their own private baths and mosaics. They would have fancy dinners consisting of wine, sweetened with honey, shellfish, eggs, and cooked fish. These dinners would often come with entertainment, such as comedy and music. The Patricians would usually have jobs in the government, such as a senator or magistrate. These jobs would give them much wealth, which would be used to their leisure. This would also give them high political power, giving them control over society. With much wealth and political power, the patricians had much more power than the plebeians, who they were locked in a social battle with. Overall, Patricians lived a leisured life with much control over those below them.

Plebian Summary

Change Summary:Chris

The Roman Economy was not one that was very complex but still managed to function quite well despite its simplicity. Ancient Rome developed an agrarian slave based economy, which had the main focus of feeding its many citizens. In the beginning the majority of the citizens were farmers that ate most of the food that they grew, and then they gave their extra food to the government to get some tax breaks. However as this began to happen, the farmers began purchasing more land and selling more food. This then gave them more money and they no longer had to work in the fields as much. Then with all the farmers new found free time they began to cultivate other skills and began to develop new types of jobs that paid more and were easier to do. This turned into certain people understand how to make more money by doing little do nothing and the larger population not understanding this and becoming slaves or close to slaves. What also pushed this process along was the Roman’s need for conquest; they believed that the people they conquered would then be slaves. This ended up giving many people nothing to do and some having everything to do.

Job Summary- Mitchell

In Ancient Rome everyone played a role known as a job in society. Jobs were directly related to the strict caste system in Ancient Rome. With an ever changing caste system the jobs changed. The rich known as the Patricians owned land, which meant farming. The Patricians obtained their money mainly by the funding of military enterprises and in return would receive some of the profit. Plebeians or Liberti made up majority of Roman society, it consist of the middle and lower class. The people in this class often moved into Rome years after it was settled. These people were often pushed around by the Patricians. Their jobs usually were working on farms, traders, military, construction workers, and more. Finally slaves were the lowest level of class. Usually slaves were prisoners of war, debtors, or were born into slavery. And unlike American slavery it was not based on race. Slaves usually worked around the house, on the farms, or around the city. In fact much of the ¾ of the Ancient Rome police department was made up of slaves; Also slaves took part in the very popular gladiator games.

Ending Paragraph- Mitchell