Town Tour
In all the lands they conquered, the Romans built towns that they could feel at home in, Each town was built to a plan. The romans liked everything to be organised and orderly. The streets were laid out in a criss cross pattern. Usually they would have two main streets that divide the town. Smaller streets led off these at right angles.
Every Roman town contained the buildings that are in this map.
A Roman town in Greece would look the same as one in Britain.
Click on a number from the list below to find out more about that part of town.
1,     2,     3,     4,     5,     6,     7,     8
  
1. Forum
The forum was like a town square important government buildings like law courts and offices were built around it and market stalls were sometimes set up inside it. It was often the centre of the city where people met and did business.
 
2. Baths
The thermae or bath houses were not only places for washing but some people went to meet friends and spend spare time. Large bath houses had restaurants games rooms snack bars and even libraries. Baths could be very hot where people sat round as in a sauna or very cold. Men and women either had separate bath houses or used the same one at different times.
  
3. Amphitheatre
The amphitheatre was where shows were put on some of these seem cruel to us today. People  could  watch  wild  animals fighting each other or attacking people. There were also gladiator fights where two men would fight each other until one of them was dead.
  
4. Basilica
The basilica was in the centre of the town and was like a town hall. Important government buildings like law courts and offices were built inside it.
 
 
 
 
 


5. Christian Church

A place to worship God.
 
6. Temple
The temple was where the romans went to worship their gods the romans believed in many different gods. When they took over a new land they often took over the gods worshipped there as well. Some emperors were worshipped as gods after they died later christianity spread through the roman empire and became the official religion in  AD 312.
  
7. Town House
Rich people lived in houses but poor people lived in blocks of flats sometimes three or four storeys high.
  
8. North Gate
Many towns had walls around them with gates to let people and animals in just like today there were often traffic jams some places tried avoid this by only allowing carts into the town at night.
People could not be buried inside the town walls tombs were often seen along the roads leading into a town the tombstones described who was buried there just as they do today.
  
Aqueducts
The romans were very good engineers their towns had sewers and piped water supplies. Sometimes water had to be brought from far away an aqueduct was a kind of bridge that carried water across the valley.

 
 

 
 
  

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