Italy Blog #75: Standard of Living Declines from 1 AD to Middle Ages

Ancient Roman baths

In this Italy trip blog, we'll show you how the standard of living declined from 1 CE (AD) to the Middle Ages. We learned about this decline as we were touring through the ancient Roman ruins area of Rome in May 2016. What's sad is that so much education, architectural techniques and science learned by the ancient romans was lost when the Roman Empire fell. Here's the contrast:


Life in 1 A.D. (or Common Era) Rome - At this time, the ancient romans bathed for 20 minutes a day. They exercised. They constructed viaducts and had operational sewage systems that carried waste away from populated areas. The average life span of ancient Romans was 55 years old.

WHAT IS THE MIDDLE AGES? - That's the the period of European history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (5th century) to the fall of Constantinople (1453), or, more narrowly, from circa 1100 to 1453.

Ancient romans daily baths

Life in the Middle Ages Rome - People no longer bathed daily, or even weekly or monthly for that matter! (Imagine the filth and bacteria on them). Instead they perfumed themselves heavily to mask their body odor. The didn't exercise anymore. They also lost the technical know-how to build sewage systems and instead tossed their waste into the city streets, which spread disease. The average life span in the middle ages dropped by 20 years to just 35 years old. 

NEXT: Ancient Roman Clothing