After reaching the age of 14, Roman boys living in Egypt were enrolled in a youth organization, historians claim

Nov 6, 2014 21:03 GMT  ·  By
Study sheds new light on the life of teens who lived 2,000 years ago in Roman territories
   Study sheds new light on the life of teens who lived 2,000 years ago in Roman territories

Having analyzed thousands of ancient documents, historian Ville Vuolanto with the University of Oslo and Dr. April Pudsey with the University of Newcastle found that, in a way, Roman boys who lived millennia ago had their own YMCA.

More precisely, researcher Ville Vuolanto and Dr. April Pudsey claim that, 2,000 years ago, Roman boys living in Egypt were more or less willingly enrolled in a youth organization shortly after entering adolescence.

This organization, whose existence was documented with the help of information contained in some 7,500 personal letters, administrative papers, and literary texts dating back to ancient times, was established to teach them how to be good citizens.

The ins and outs of this ancient youth organization

University of Oslo historian Ville Vuolanto and fellow researcher Dr. April Pudsey say that just boys whose parents were free-born citizens were allowed to become members of the organization, then known as a gymnasium. Girls and boys born to slaves did not have permission to enroll.

Besides, it appears that, in order to become a member of this ancient youth organization in Roman Egypt, a teenager needed to come from a fairly prosperous family. It is estimated that just 10 to 25% of the boys living in Egypt in ancient times joined the gymnasium after reaching the age of 14.

Interestingly enough, it appears that it wasn't just Roman boys who were enrolled in this youth organization. On the contrary, teenage boys born to wealthy Egyptians and Greeks were also allowed to join the gymnasium.

Girls and poor teenage boys led a very different life

Egyptian, Greek, and Roman boys whose parents weren't rich enough for them to be able to join the youth organization had no choice but start working while still at a very young age. Thus, many got jobs even before entering adolescence and worked as apprentices for 2 to 4 years.

Interestingly enough, it appears that slave children could become apprentices as well. What's more, their contracts were not all that different to the ones signed for the free boys. However, slave children more often than not lived not with their parents, but with their owners.

As far as the girls who lived in Roman Egypt 2,000 years ago are concerned, Dr. April Pudsey and researcher Ville Vuolanto say that most of them stayed and worked at home until in their late teens, when they got married and moved in with their husbands.

“We have found only one contract where the apprentice was a girl, but her situation was a little unusual. She was not only an orphan but also had her deceased father's debts to pay,” historian Ville Vuolanto told the press in a recent interview.

The researchers say that they plan to continue studying documents and artifacts dating back to Roman times. The end goal is to better understand the life of children and teenagers who lived millennia ago in territories that were part and parcel of the Roman Empire.