ancient roman homes, houses, villas and apartments (original) (raw)

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about ancient roman homes

As with other aspects of ancient Roman life andRoman architecture, Roman homes, houses and villas underwent a degree of evolution, particularly as the fortunes of Rome impacted wealth, society and standards of living.

A further factor to be taken into account is the vast period of time being considered when we speak of "Roman" homes and housing. Ancient Rome had a history which lasted over a thousand years and as such it is hardly surprising that the customs, needs and dwellings of the citizens should change.

Political affairs also affected location: the civil wars betweenJulius Caesar and Pompey at the end of the Republican period meant that it was safer for the rich and important to have their sumptuous dwellings outside Rome's city walls on the nearby hills such as theQuirinal, Viminalis or Celius or even in the Trastevere district where there was the added advantage of land to be employed for sumptuous gardens and parks.

In the centre of town the most over-populated areas where the plebeians dwelt tended to be the lowest and generally least salubrious, probably as they used to be marshes before being drained. The Suburra was the most famous or infamous of these.

Early Roman Homes

The earliest Romans living on the Palatine hill were essentially farmers and shepherds, wearing animal skins asclothing and building their abodes of whatever construction materials were readily available. Archeological digs on the hills of Rome have brought to light a number of clues as to what these huts were like and when they were built.

Roman mythology and tradition places the founding of Rome around the 8th century BC but in fact archeological finds suggest early settlements as early as the 10th century BC.

These early huts were generally rectangular or lozenge shaped. They were made by planting large trunks into the ground, say three per side. The walls would be made by filling the space between them with smaller sized wood and straw/mud.

The roof cover would have been held by wooden beams meeting in the centre at the vertex (ie a traditional roof shape) and supported by one or more trunks standing in the centre of the hut. Roof covering was probably of straw. A hole in the roof allowed smoke from the internal fire to escape.

Rome apartments

Roman town planners are also famous for having invented the first apartment blocks, called "insula" or "insulae". Some examples of these apartment buildings may still be seen in places such as Pompeii or Ostia (Rome's harbour).

These buildings could be as high as 5 or 6 floors high and measure some 10 metres in length and 20 metres in height.

The insulae in the poorest areas could be built out of extremely bad materials such as clay, straw, wood and crude bricks and often owed their structural strength to the support of neighbouring buildings, not a healthy situation. This accommodation, with very little by the way of hygiene was generally regarded as a temporary stepping stone towards something of higher quality.

The apartments at Ostia give us a good example of what the next step up might have been. There are various examples of insulae dating to the reign ofEmperor Trajan (ie when the Empire was at its greatest extent) with the same apartment layout being repeated various times over. These buildings were obviously intended as low cost high quality housing for an increasingly rich middle class present in Ostia at the time as the port of Ostia was itself enlarged and improved. The plans of these buildings show a great deal of thought for use of space and functionality.

The external walls of these buildings are inopus reticulatum(small square blocks placed diagonally above one another) whilst the internal ones are in opus incertum (rather less ordered). There were fewer floors and each apartment had its own terrace and private access. Also at Ostia, there are also various examples of apartments with frescoes and decorations of the typical yellow and red squares which were popular at the time: a good example of housing made for an increasingly rich entrepreneurial middle class.

Roman Houses During the Republic and Empire

Fresco of a villa in Pompeii Roman houses developed into highly sophisticated buildings. The houses of the rich Patricians were veritable multi-storey wonders on the coast or sprawling villas whilst the poorer classes, the Plebeians or Plebs, as in all times and ages were gradually reduced to live in unhealthy slums. The great fire of Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero is said to have burned down the greater part of these slums in order to make way for his enormous palace called "the Golden House" or Domus Aurea.

Building Materials

A more complete rendition of ancient Roman building materials requires a whole page of its own, however Roman walls would be made of brick and mortar whilst floors and roof would be of wood. Terracotta tiles would provide the roof covering. Lead plumbing might be used to get water into the building itself. Lighting was via windows or burning torches and oil lamps, which clearly made buildings highly subject to fire.

Typical Roman House Plan

The middle-upper classes, made of professionals, merchants and nobles could clearly afford their own private houses, whether in the city or in the country. The "basic" house was focused around an atrium whilst a more elaborate and clearly larger variation on the theme was to add a peristyle around the back garden, thus almost doubling the overall footprint of the house..

Some of the more common Roman home terms are described in the table. The key letters to the left of the terms enable the various areas to be matched to the plan shown below the table:

a	Ala	Two rooms, opposite one another, facing onto theatrium. Their use is uncertain but may have been for storage, general use and, in Patrician houses, for displaying the face masks of their ancestors preserved fromRoman funerals.
b	Andron	Corridor connecting the garden (hortus) and the atrium.
c	Atrium	In the most ancient times of Rome the atrium was the area where much of family life went on.The atrium was rather like a central courtyard in the house with a rectangular opening in the roof above it (the compluvium) providing air and light. A rectangular basin in the ground (impluvium) corresponded to the opening above in order to collect rain water. All major living areas of Roman homes had direct access to the atrium.
d	Compluvium	Rectangular opening in the roof, above the atrium of the house. It let in rain, air and light. Rain fell into theimpluvium.
e	Cubiculum	A bedroom.
f	Culina	Kitchen
g	Exedra	An area at the bottom of the garden, at the end of theperistylium. It was more or less equivalent in function to the tablinum ie. for meetings, chatting and generally getting together.
h	Fauces	The corridor which led from the front door (ianua) to the main part of the house, the atrium.
i	Hortus	The garden. Closed in by a wall.
j	Ianua	The front door of the house. It was normally set a little further in from the road, leaving a small entrance area called thevestibulum. Notice the similarity with the word January (Ianuarius), first month of the year in theRoman calendar revised byJulius Caesar. Some more front door facts.... The front door had great significance for the Romans and hence had its own divinity from the earliest times: the two-faced Roman god Ianus whose temple was open during times of war and shut during peace. The tradition of carrying one's bride over the doorstep dates back to Roman marriages. It wouldn't be unnusual to have an image of a phallus over your front door as a luck charm to favour wellbeing, wealth and fertility in the home. See the Roman god Priapus.
k	Impluvium	A rectangular section dug into the ground of theatrium into which rain water was collected as and when it fell in from the compluvium.
L	Peristylium	A range of columns around an area such as a garden. Rather like a cloister. It could even be made of two floors.
mm	Piscina	Pool/fountain in the centre of the peristyle/garden.
n	Posticum	Back entrance to the house.
o	Taberna	A shop with directroad access. If this was managed by the household slaves and servants then it might have access from the atrium otherwise it would be made independent of the main household.One particular taberna in Pompeii, attached to the back of a rich villa is an example of how an ancient Roman prostitution business might be run.
p	Tablinum	In Rome's earliest days the tablinum was the pater familias' private study. A sort of drawing room or lounge. It was situated on the Atrium on the opposite side from the front door (ianua). The interior was often decorated with frescos andart.The tablinum would be closed off from the atrium by heavy curtains and from the garden by way of wooden doors.
q	Triclinium	The dining room. There would generally be three couches in this room (hence the name beginning with "tri"). Poorer houses might have a biclinium. The couches would be built at right angles to one another. Those in the garden would be made of brick and then plastered or covered in marble. Those in the house itself would generally be made of wood.The couches would be set around a table called "mensa". The leftmost couch was reserved for the master of the house, his wife and one of his sons or in the absense of a son for one of his liberti. The central couch would be for high ranking guests, particularly the spot next to the master of the house. The third couch would be for other guests. The romans adopted the practice of eating in a lounging position from the Greeks. As we can see from numerous paintings of the time, reclining was generally reserved for men whilst women would sit. Formerly it was habitual to eat in the atrium,tablinum or in a room called the "cenaculum" on the floor above the tablinum.
r	Vestibulum	The small hall area which separated the front door from the main road. Rich Patricians often started their day by taking visits from their numerous "clients (clientes) who would congregate in the vestibulum early in the morning.

Some further notes:

Windows were generally larger on the top floors than the lower ones. Windows were particularly popular on the side of the house facing onto the garden.
The Lararium, where the family spirits were honoured might be in a corner of its own, for example in the peristyle.
The compluvium above the atrium might have terracotta decorations such as palmettes.
The latrine was often next to the kitchen. Refuse from both kitchen and latrine would generally wash directly onto the road.
The kitchens were generally quite small. Cooking would be on tripods above open fires and coals. There might be an oven for baking bread which could in some cases double up to heat water used for the underfloor heating system.
Larger villas might have one or more rooms called an Oecus - a hall which could be used for receptions and meetings with friends.
Villas would even have their own roman baths. In their simplest form there would be two rooms: the first would be used as changing room and as tepidarium (luke warm water). The second was the caldarium. The rooms would have few if any windows in order to preserve the heat of the water. The bath might therefore be excavated in a basement area where it would be easiest to conserve heat.
The richest houses would have an extra bath called a frigidarium (an indoor cold pool) and a natatio (an open air swimming pool).

A plan view of a typical Roman house is described below. The first has a simple garden whilst the second has a peristyle around a pool and various other extra rooms.

The size, number of slaves, activities and beauty of the furnishings, frescoes andmosaics all depended on the personal preference and wealth of the owner and hence varied greatly according to fortune and personal taste.

Roman houses would be run by the lady of the house with the aid of her slaves. Extremely rich Roman families would have a large number of slaves for a variety of tasks in the home, including one to tell you the time.....

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"[ancient roman homes](#ancient roman homes)" was written by Giovanni Milani-Santarpia for www.mariamilani.com- Rome apartments