“Ancient Rome is currently experiencing a boom as a subject of comparison. There is hardly a world power that is not viewed as a reincarnation of the Roman Empire, hardly a head of state who does not bear at least vague similarities to Caesar or another Roman ruler. But aren't the political, social, and societal structures in ancient Rome fundamentally different from those of the leading nations of the 21st century? Wasn't life quite different around two thousand years ago?
Not necessarily, if you follow Karl-Wilhelm Weeber, the intrepid researcher of Roman cultural, social, and everyday history, who examines it in his new study "Rome from Below." The table of contents alone clearly reveals the intention to capture ancient Rome with modern parameters and current topics reminiscent of the recent coalition agreement: In addition to working conditions, internal security, and migration, these also include animal welfare, the treatment of minorities, sexual tolerance, and the environment.
Weeber begins with the question of slavery. While the Romans are now classified by the post-colonial front as a "slave-owning society," Weeber advises caution: On average, there were two to three slaves per Roman upper-class family; moreover, labor was by no means purely a matter of slavery, but was performed by both free and unfree people. Nevertheless, the slave status in Greco-Roman antiquity should not be romanticized: There is evidence that slaves were treated like commodities, and Weeber provides ample examples of their abuse. However, he also identifies several examples of public protest (demonstrations, sit-ins) by Roman citizens in cases of excessive violence against slaves.
Slaves were primarily employed in despised crafts and had to work in mills or mines. They often worked as doctors or teachers, professions of dubious prestige that could be pursued without formal training. Weeber is particularly fascinated by the topic of sex, and not only in relation to slavery: Female slaves in particular were used particularly frequently in this field, and prostitution was ubiquitous, not just in the popular street or graveyard sex trade. "Sexual exploitation" is everywhere, and here Weeber frequently falls into a moralistic tone, one from which he otherwise manages to distance himself ironically. In any case, Roman sexual morality was "not exemplary"—when has it ever been? And above all: is it exemplary today?
The author also dislikes literary jokes about the disabled: He has little sympathy for a woman who not only cheats on her limping husband but also mocks him – like Venus did with her divine husband Vulcan. The widespread mockery of the stuttering and trembling Emperor Claudius (think of Seneca's "Pumpkinization") is, to him, proof that the Romans were "less sensitive than we are" when it came to discrimination and cultivated "humor without empathy." The telling epithets alone demonstrate a relaxed attitude toward "discrimination" ("baldhead," "fatso," "cross-eyed," "castrated boar" . . .). Here, too, Weeber conjures up a few positive counterexamples so as not to cast the Romans in too dim a light: He cites blind lawyers and one-armed politicians as examples of what he calls "positive integration."
The Romans weren't gentle with the elderly either: The saying "Sexagenarii de ponte!" ("Throw the sixty-year-olds off the bridge!") would probably be considered "ageism" by today's standards. On the other hand, the esteem shown by the Senate and the "mos maiorum" speaks to Roman respect for the elderly. The youth, however, didn't fare all roses. Only about 50 percent of children survived the age of ten, and abandonment or infanticide were handled liberally. Even the surviving children were probably rarely granted carefree years of free play. The young people were able to vent their frustration later, at least some of them, gathering together in so-called grassatores ("drinking gangs") and causing chaos in the inner cities – these were said to have been primarily the children of well-to-do citizens, and rumor has it that Nero, as a teenager, was among them. The Romans had few options for defending themselves against such nightly excesses: there was no real police force. At times, they were able to help themselves with vigilante groups and guard dogs—or slave troops hired for protection.
Sometimes, these were also used out of fear of immigrants: Rome was a veritable "migrantopolis," which also led to some "angry citizens" provoked "racist" prejudices, such as those against "effeminate" Greeks, "thieving" Syrians, and so on; overall, however, such fears of foreign infiltration were supposedly countered by an overwhelming majority of open-minded and tolerant Romans. No matter where they came from, the ancient or modern Romans had to find their way on their own and provide for themselves and their families. Among the few prominent social welfare packages put together by Roman rulers during the imperial period was the "panem et circenses," abbreviated in the satirist Juvenal's version: The emperor supported the (non-slave) population of Rome and exempted them from gainful employment; in times of need, grain prices were also subsidized. The lavish entertainment program at the Circus Maximus was intended to provide distraction; but Weeber makes it unmistakably clear that this form of securing power by no means led to depoliticization.
Otherwise, collective bargaining negotiators can also benefit from the Roman Learning to celebrate holidays: The Roman calendar at times listed an immense number of holidays (almost 160 under Claudius), but only a few of them were mandatory. Generally, people could choose whether to take a day off – and voluntarily forgo income on those days.
The renowned classical philologist and historian Weeber evaluates a rich trove of historical and literary sources for his exploration of Roman everyday life. However, he makes no secret of the fact that quite a few of his observations are based on conjecture or speculation, or are documented solely in literary texts. It is probably part of the nature of this social history that literary depictions are applied fairly directly to reality and occasionally overshoot the mark. But when it's done in such a charming, entertaining, and self-deprecatingly coquettish way as in this book about Rome, one can take it in stride.
Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: "When Rome was not yet
Antiquity." Journey into the Roman times.
Galiani-Berlin Verlag, Cologne 2025. 432 pp., hardcover, €32.” [1]
1. In der Migrantopolis: Beim Sex kein Vorbild: Karl-Wilhelm Weeber misst die alten Römer an modernen Pflichten. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 11 June 2025: 10. MELANIE MÖLLER
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