Rome Never Sleeps: Summary

Immediately I get the impression I am reading a book, about a person in modern day New York City, even the sentence “Rome never sleeps” confirms this for me. New York City is known for being the city that never sleeps. The magnitude of Rome was palpable to the citizens. The monuments, libraries, and temples can put many modern cities today to shame. I have never been to New York City still; I can imagine people feel that this is where life is happening. This is the tone I get from ancient Rome as well. The position Angela takes is to just show you a day, but also point out the connections and continuity. He brings the readers on a guided tour while pointing out the similarities. While any differences or changes are thoughtfully defended by …show more content…
The way apple products are made in China have often been compared to slave work and how our fresh food is harvested has been compared to slave like environments. However, legal human slavery does not exist today. Reading this book, Angela really makes you get into the mind of an ancient roman, so when I read the chapter of the slave market, it made me angry and cringe. “A good bed warmer”1 is written on a wooden sign hangs from a female slave’s neck. The majority of slaves in Ancient Rome did not have a good life. If you were a domestic slave, helping the master’s wife get dressed, then you were considered to have a decent life as a slave compared to other situations. Being used for sex was a horrible life of a female slave, as well as being a country slave. A country slave endured daily beatings and little food up until they passed away. Slaves were owned by roman masters and were not considered human beings by law but as things or …show more content…
However, the few changes are really significant and life changing. Some of these changes are abolished slavery and equal rights for all humans, regardless of gender, religion, race and age. One change that is heartbreaking to read is the fate of newborn babies in ancient Rome. A newborn baby is placed at the feet of his father, at this time the babies’ fate is decided. The father can accept the baby by picking it up and showing to his relatives that he now has a male heir. Or the father can ignore the baby due to too many children in the family, birth defects, the sex of the child or his beliefs that the child was a result of adultery. The baby was then disposed of in many ways.1 Death might be the most painless way to go, since the other options gave a child a life of being a slave or a prostitute. Now this is an example of an impactful change since ancient time. Of course this exact thing still occurs in certain countries around the world, however in the United States this does not happen, and mothers do not pray for a son in order to satisfy their husband’s demands. Angela proves to the readers there is more continuity by pointing out Rome’s greatest problems which were traffic, noise, litter, housing shortages, immigration, and unsafe streets. These are problems of large cities down to small villages. Angela