From Birth to Burial: Everyday Life in Ancient Rome

Education facts

Code: 5AK012

In many studies about ancient Rome, "ordinary people" are overshadowed by an elite. In this course, the participants acquaint themselves with a broader segment of the population: slaves, freedpersons and freeborn, children and adults, poor and "middle class". We meet them from birth to burial, learn more about their lives and everyday concerns, their joys and sorrows. We discuss questions like: What kind of work did they perform? What did they eat? How did they go to the toilet? How did they tend to their hygiene? What did they do in their spare time? Our knowledge about shifting living conditions of "ordinary people" rests on a wealth of different sources: archaeology, texts, inscriptions, material culture, and different kinds of visual media. The course offers an overview of these sources and discusses ways in which they can be used to interpret the past.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university

Education offerings

Each offering has its own dates and conditions. Closed offerings are retained as history and do not mean that a new application is open.

• From Birth to Burial: Everyday Life in Ancient Rome

  Uppsala University

  Uppsala

  Start date: 18 January 2027

  End date: 24 March 2027

  Pace of study: 50 %