Barbarian German Life Case Study

I have decided to answer question one: “Would you have preferred to have lived among the ‘civilized’ Romans or the ‘barbarian’ Germans during the Golden Age of Rome (first two centuries C.E.)?” Put simply, I believe I would have preferred living with the Romans in the Golden Age of Rome. Considering I am a reproductive-age woman, neither the Romans nor the barbaric Germans had ideal circumstances for a person like myself; however, the urban-centric, permanent, military-protected Roman empire is more appealing. I am from Raleigh, NC, a medium-sized city. If this were to be the case in my Roman alternate life, I would have access to aqueducts, bustling city squares and markets, and possibly heated homes. This is the case only because I am an upper middle class person--I am aware that if I were lower class, I would possibly become a slave or a farmer. In that case, barbarian German life wouldn’t be so poor in comparison. But as someone who would …show more content…
Losing a powerful male family member would not necessarily be such a pressing issue in Rome, and I know the paid professional Roman soldiers would have a much better chance at protecting my city and my family than my family itself may. Also, if we were to apply my family size in real life to my ancient life, I would only have a grandmother, middle-aged aunt, mother, father, and younger brother. This is not favorable in German society, as these members comprise all of my family on both sides. My death/injury would not be avenged easily, and therefore it would have very little chance of being prevented. And, as Professor Pumphrey mentioned in class: quality of life suffers in a society riddled by violence. While there was plenty of violence in the Roman empire, the prized justice system allowed for most conflicts to be solved in the absence of