Ancient Rome: When Being a Teen was Tough

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Being a teenage in ancient Rome wasn't easy. There were no X-box 360's to play or cars to drive, or even chariots to cruise around in. Don't get me wrong, there were chariots, but the only teens that got to drive them were those young men going off to fight the latest Roman war, or, if they were lucky enough, race around the colliseum, a sport that often resulted in death.

According to A Glimpse of Teenage Life in Ancient Rome

while your average American teenager devotes more than seven hours a day to imbibing media – to watching TV, playing video games, hanging out on Facebook — the average 17-year-old Roman kid (circa 73 AD) had some more serious business to deal with. Like mastering reading and writing in two languages, fighting in imperial wars, taking care of (obscenely young) spouses and various other items.

See for yourself:

The video was created by Ray Laurence, a classics professor, from the University of Kent.

How is being a teen tough today? Do you see any parallels between the world of today's teenagers and the teenagers of ancient Rome?