Roman School

[Caesonia Glorina]

I am wondering how i can do a Roman student timetable, what they looked like and what other subjects they did? because i would like to do one and live like the roman's did

I also want to do a roman calender like we have a enlish calender (today's dat eis the 22 May 2009

What time would I have to go to bed for school the next day and what time do I need to wake up?

 

Caesonia Glorina

[Nephele]

As a Roman daughter, you might not have been sent to school at all. Your education would have been chiefly focused on learning how to weave and run a Roman household, in preparation for marriage and becoming the domina (lady) of your own household. As a member of the upper classes, you might have been additionally instructed in poetry and the playing of a musical instrument.

 

That's not to say that Roman girls never went to school with their brothers -- they just didn't graduate to schools of higher education teaching rhetoric, as the sons of the upper classes might have.

 

If you did attend one of the many schools in Rome (there was no unified system of public education), you would start your day extremely early in the morning -- so early in the morning that your pedagogus (private slave assigned to bring you to school and also assist in your learning) would have to carry a lantern in the wintertime as the sun would not yet be fully up.

 

Your school hours would be long, with a recess occurring only at noon, during which time you might purchase some food from a street vendor for your prandium (lunch). Then it's back to school for you until dusk.

 

In addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, you would also be expected to learn some Greek (you're already speaking Latin). Discipline would be harsh, so you had best attend your lessons.

 

Your school year would start on March 24th, with school breaks during the hottest summer months, and during the Saturnalia and New Year's holiday. Other days that you might have off from school might be for the important religious festivals during the year, and on the Nones (the 5th or 7th day of the month).

 

I recommend this book to you, to learn more of what it might have been like to grow up and live in Rome in the year 134 CE: A Day in Old Rome, by William Stearns Davis.

 

As for your question about the Roman calendar, see here.

 

Here is a site for converting dates into Roman style.

 

-- Nephele