Running the Roman Home

Running of the Roman Home explores the real 'every-day' life of the Romans and the effort required to run a Roman household. It considers the three elements of housework - supply, maintenance and disposal.
It is divided into sections on how the Romans collected water and fuel, milled flour and produced thread; how they cleaned the house, illuminated it, did the washing up, cleaned their clothes, got rid of waste water and sewage, and threw out their rubbish.
The evidence is taken from literary, archaeological and artistic sources, and often compared to historical or modern parallels from communities using the same methods.

Alexandra Croom is keeper of archaeology at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museum, where she has worked for 20 years. She is the author of Roman "Clothing and Fashion" and "Roman Furniture."