I apologize for the late post about our time in Rome. We have a shortage of internet “hotspots” here in Italy.

 On our way from Florence to Rome, we stopped by a very remote village with a young sheep farmer. She had a degree in repairing art work, but she became allergic to some of the chemicals, and had to find another way to support herself.  She cooked a fabulous meal for us, lamb of course, and it was the best lamb I have ever had (and I don’t even like lamb). She talked to us about her struggles of breeding sheep that were local to her village and how she wishes that other people within the industry were more ethical when it comes to how they treat their animals. You have to treat them with respect and care for them when they are sick, for without them, you have no income.

We arrived late Tuesday night in Rome after a long bus ride from the sheep farm.  Early the next morning our guide, Valentina, met us at the hotel for a three hour long walking tour. After a group lunch, we all went to see the Colosseum, before having to go back to work on our articles.

Corey and my article for the day was called “Slavery, Incentives and Manumission.” It was about how there are two different ways to motivate slaves: “stick” and “carrot” slavery. Stick is when they are motivated to work by the fear of being punished, and carrot slavery is when they are motivated by an incentive, for example manumission ( being able to buy your freedom from your slave owner).It is interesting because in the southern states, stick slavery dominated and in the Roman Empire carrot slavery dominated. Do you think the Romans saw any economic incentives to carrot slavery and manumission? One of the main things the group discussed was that it depends on the type of labor and that carrot slavery might work better when a slave has a specific trade. They might also be more motivated to work harder to be able to save enough money to pay their owner his future loss of net income.  It is hard to grasp the concept of slavery during this time. There are so many magnificent and one-of-a-kind buildings that I cannot imagine what it was like to be a slave back then. A lot of sweat, tears, blood and money went into the historical sites, such as the thermal baths and the Colosseum, and many of the building still stand and are well preserved today.



Thermal Baths



 

Girls in front of the Colosseum



I have been to Rome before but I saw a lot of new thing on this trip as well. For example, we went to the thermal baths, Monte Testaccio , the ancient Roman Forum, the Spanish steps, the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel.  I think my favorite experience in Rome was climbing the steps to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. The view from the top was beautiful!

Ciao!