Roman Houses

Affordable Housing

• “Insulae”: apartments that took up a city block• Often 3-4 stories• Bad construction could lead to collapse and fire• Usually had a shared courtyard, sometimes

running water• The plebs (commoners) and equites (middle

class) often lived in insulae

Insulae, continued

• Insulae ranged in price and apartment size• Usually utilized public latrines• Cooking was discouraged; most bought ready-

made food from alocal thermopolium.

Toilets!!!

Toilets Again!

Don’t forget your

sponge-on-a-stick!!!

Public Fountains

Thermopolium

Domus

• Wealthy city home: domus• Wealthy country home was called a villa• Small country house: casa• Homes for patricians and senatorial class

citizens (upper class folks)• Best-preserved examples are in Pompeii and

Herculaneum

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Domus_romana.png

Shops (tabernae)Shops opened to the street---paid rent to the homeowners.

Atrium:an open, central courtyard, often used as a “living room”

Compluvium and ImpluviumRain comes through the compluvium and is stored in the

impluvium.

Cubiculum:small bedroom

Tablinum:the main office room, usually behind the atrium

Tablinum cont’d

Culina:Kitchen (only in wealthy homes!)

Triclinium:Dining room

Peristylium:a garden (hortus) surrounded by a columned porch

Other Rooms…

• Bibliotheca: library• Vestibulum: entryway (cf our word vestibule)• Latrina: toilet (cf our word latrine)• Some large homes had their own private bath

suites: warm bath, hot bath, cold bath (most people used the wonderful public baths)

Domus Mea!

• Draw or sketch your house and label the rooms.

• By labeling a floor plan you already know, you’ll learn the Latin names for the rooms more quickly!