1038 social organization: Rome The elite in Rome did not have to work Because many owned large estates in the countryside, their source of income was secure, so they turned to public service When they could, they lived in large villas on these estates The elite received preferential treatment in many ways They were able to eat fresh game meat and fish from the Mediterranean or specially stocked fishponds at lavish banquets and at everyday meals, while the diet of commoners consisted largely of beer, bread, lentils, processed fish sauce, and occasionally vegetables and bits of fruit The elite often got away with criminal offenses and, unlike commoners, could not be tortured by the authorities if they were arrested Even those convicted of a capital crime such as murder received preferential treatment Commoners were thrown to beasts, crucified, or burned alive, but aristocrats were put to death relatively humanely with swords—assuming they were convicted Among the top of the elite, the emperor heard cases and would probably have been reluctant to pronounce a death sentence on a member of his imperial court It has been estimated that the population of the city of Rome was about 500,000, but many scholars believe that the number was closer to a million, including a large population of slaves An elite family lived in a single-story dwelling called a domus Such a house typically had several rooms and a central courtyard But as much as a quarter of the city of Rome was taken up with public buildings, so masses of commoners had to live in apartment buildings called insula These buildings were a constant danger The upper stories were supported by wooden beams that sometimes collapsed, and the threat of fire was ever present Additionally, the streets were dark at night, making them dangerous and not just because of criminals Commoners frequently discarded objects or emptied chamber pots through windows onto the street, often to the dismay of people walking below Conditions were similar in other Roman cities, where aristocratic elites held power and commoners lived in less comfortable conditions Privilege among the upper classes extended to the education of children, especially boys Early in the Roman Republic there was no system of education Children learned what they needed to learn, usually farming, at home But during the Macedonian Wars with Greece (215–148 b.c.e.), many Romans gained exposure to Greece and the system of education it had for its sons Because many Romans wanted to imitate the lifestyle of the Greeks, they began to believe that Rome needed a similar education system as a means to a successful public career as an administrator or even a senator Wealthy Romans hired tutors for their children For the less wealthy, private schools provided instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic; the teachers in these schools were often Greek or Greek-speaking slaves At the age of 12 or 13, talented students went on to attended a grammaticus, where they continued their studies in rhetoric, philosophy, history, literature, music, astronomy, geometry, and the Greek language The very best students completed their studies in Athens, studying Greek oratory In the wealthiest homes, books were highly valued and slaves were often employed as copyists to produce a copy of a book for the home The lower classes of the Roman Empire consisted of a diverse set of people They included, of course, poor citizens, but also noncitizens, slaves, and freedmen, or people who had formerly been slaves Manual laborers were regarded as lower class, but so too were large classes of people who in modern life would be regarded as professionals These people included craftspeople, actors, musicians, and philosophers Many people even scorned doctors as members of the lower classes Doctors were often hated because they did not pay taxes To represent their interests, members of the lower classes joined collegia These were similar to modern-day fraternal lodges They gave poor people a place where they could find social relationships They also functioned as burial societies to ensure that poor people received proper burials They were often under the patronage of a wealthy citizen, who provided money for banquets and other activities Patrons also gave members of a collegium some measure of legal protection In return, the collegium honored the patron with prayers and respect Collegia were open to slaves and freedmen as well as poor citizens Slaves were the lowest class of Romans Estimating the number of slaves is difficult, but historians put the number between two million and 10 million, with as many as a half million living in and around the city of Rome Slavery was an odd institution in ancient Rome Slavery was never based on race or ethnicity Slaves were prisoners of war, people in debt, or people who voluntarily sold themselves into slavery as a way of escaping debt or crushing poverty to a way of life that at least provided them with shelter and food Many people treated their slaves with great kindness; others, especially in the countryside, were cruel A slave had no legal status and was regarded as property A male slave was responsible for his master’s welfare to the extent that if the master was murdered, the slave was put to death for failing to protect him Yet slaves could testify in court Many were able to save their own money and eventually buy their freedom Perhaps the oddest thing of all was that some Roman slaves themselves owned slaves Slaves served their masters in many capacities The largest class included agricultural laborers Many slaves worked on construction projects in and around cities Still others worked in Roman households Many slaves were relatively well educated and had talents that led to work as barbers, schoolteachers and tutors, accountants, secretaries, hairdressers, carpenters, messengers, goldsmiths, and even doctors The most talented and educated slaves served as architects, business managers, and civil servants in the empire’s bureaucracy Owning slaves was a mark of status While many Romans owned just one or two slaves, with 10 or fewer being a common number for middle-class people, others owned huge numbers; the historian Pliny claimed that one slave owner he knew owned 4,000 slaves Freedmen were slaves who had gained their freedom In some cases, slave owners freed slaves for meritorious