The Origin and Relationof Greek and Roman

Housing

Elspeth WengrenAHI 190aWinter 2011

If a house could speak, it would have a very clear story

-Aeschylus, Agamemnon 37-38

Domestic organization and spatial segregation became especially significant to Greeks during the 5th century BCE.-This coincides with the establishment of Pericles citizenship law.

Spur of Hippodamian city planning in mid-5th century BCEDomestic architecture in Greece and Greek settlements began conforming to new standards based off organization, practicality and social acceptance.

The Hellenistic period marks a change in Greek life. Early Greek city-states had been run by citizen elites, but with the rise of Alexander and through out his campaign in the 4th century BCE, Greek city-states became operated by kings.

As Greek and middle-eastern culture merged in the Hellenistic world, there was an increase in palatial construction. This trend was echoed in Greek domestic architecture as well, resulting in the establishment of the Greek prostas, pastas and peristyle type houses.

Abbreviated Background of Greek Housing

The RomanRegia today. (ARTstor.org)

Greek Influence On Roman HousingDuring the Republican Period, Roman traditionalists feared that the ‘over-exuberance’ of Hellenistic cultural and its increasing influence would have a negative impact on the traditionally modest Roman way of life.However, elements of Greek domestic design, especially the Greek peristyle, would eventually be incorporated into the Roman architectural vernacular.

Side note: The Roman dining room, called the triclinium, came from the Greek word for couch, klinê, which were the couches used for eating in a reclining position, a ritual the Romans had inherited from both the Greeks and the Etruscans.

Typical Olynthian House, House A vii 4 (Cahill 76)

Greek Pastas Style Houses at Olynthus

c.400-348 BCE

The typical Olynthian house can be encapsulated as, “An individual structure

occupied around 290 square meters in ground area and consisted of around ten

rooms on the ground floor, space which was often supplemented by further apartments in

an upper storey. The house as a whole is inward-looking and centered around an open court at the centre or south of the building. There is a strict separation from the street.

Each house was normally entered via a single street door” (Nevett 46).

An Olynthian Pastas House in a Paragraph or Less…

Window, seen in the upper left Apulian Calyx Krater (Cahill 77)

“Pastas,” like a veranda, were prevalent features throughout Greece and could run the length of the house.

Houses were founded on stone socles (bases) but the super structure was primarily mud-brick.

Closed off to the public, presenting blank walls to the streets.

Court yard often doubled as a work space.

Small, or no, windows.

Some had an attached shop or space that was either leased out or in some way used to increase income.

Additional Housing Information

http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/athnlife/domestic.htm

Distribution of two storied houses in Olynthos (Cahill 83)

Some houses had a second story, which is believed to have been the women's quarters, the gynaikonitis.

Reconstruction of House A vii 4 at Olynthus (Cahill 105)

Left: Key to house plans and artifact distribution (Cahill 86)

Below: Artifact distribution for House A vii 4 (Cahill 104)

Villa of the Bronzes, Olynthos (Cahill 98)

The House of Many Colors, Olynthus (Cahill 87).

Variations of the Pastas House

Greek Prostas Houses at Priene

(ARTstor.org)

Left: The basic Prostras house in Priene during the 3rd century BCE (ARTstor.org)

Shared characteristics with Pastas Houses:

-A central court yard open to the sky

-A men’s andron (but typically smaller)

-Small and high, or no, windows

-A gynaikonitis, when a second story was present

-Loosely defined functions of space (other than the andron)

House plans and layout at Priene (ARTstor.org)

Greek communal planning of grid streets and aligned rectangular block housing in Priene in the mid-4th century BCE.

(ARTstor.org)

(ARTstor.org)

Peristyle Houses of Delos

Mosaic Court in Dellos House of the Dolphins, by Asklepiades c.100BCE (ARTstor.org)

Delos Peristyle, House of the Colline (ARTstor.org)

Delos, House of the Tridentc.150-100BCE

(ARTstor.org)

(PerseusDigitalLibrary.tufts.edu)

Views of the remainder of the peristyle court in the House of the Trident, Delos. Above: shows the main entryway into the house. To the Left: shows the view from what would be within.

(ARTstor.org)

(PerseusDigitalLibrary.tufts.edu)

Revisiting Greek House Types

Pastas Prostas Peristyle

The Emergence of a Roman Atrium Housing in History

History's Two Main Sources on Roman Domestic Architecture: Vitruvius, in his On Architecture, Book 8, discusses the Roman House, but in a theoretical nature.Pliny the Younger who authored two letters in the early 2nd

century, giving detailed descriptions of two of his villas at Tusculum and Laurentium, in Italy.Cicero, Martial, Petronius, Statius and Sidonius make passing references to Roman housing, while Petronius was the most influential author to discuss Roman behavior within houses.

From the writing of Vitruvius two main points stand out:1. That the type of house a man lives represents and needs be appropriate to his social status. Furthermore, that a member of the elite who played a role in public life was expected to have clientes.2. That there should be a distinction between intimate spaces occupied solely by the residents and those open to guests and visitors.

Thus, Roman Atrium Houses were developed to accommodate these criteria.

A main entryway leading to an interior central atrium court.An Atrium court differed from a peristyle in that most of the court was covered by extending the surrounding downward sloping roofs. The central area left uncovered and open to the sky corresponds to the size of the central impluvium.At the far end of the atrium would be the main reception room of the house the tablinum. This room could be left open to both the front and rear, but would then have had wooden partitions to close off the openings when desired. The tablinum was flanked by two other rooms the alae, and then the assorted cubicula. The tablinum also acted as the area for the display of family archives. Here, the dominus would receive guests. The triclinium (dining room) was located to one side of the atrium, often in the corner of the house.The lararium (household shrine) was often located in the atrium, or an adjacent room.It is sometimes difficult to locate specific kitchens in Roman households of all periods, as often the family had portable braziers that could be easily set up in any part of the house.

Inside an Early Atrium House

Though we lack definitive evidence, the favored consensus regarding the origins of the atrium house, consider the atrium to have been derived from the Greek idea of central courtyards houses, dating back to the 6th century BCE at Megara Hyblaea, in combination with the Etruscan temple porches formed by large over-hanging eaves.The early Atrium houses, in the ‘Atrium-Tablinum’ arrangement show close relation to the oecus-prostas arrangement, exemplified by the ‘prostas houses’ in Priene. There were still no columns serving as structural support in early ‘Atrium-Tablinum’ houses.The addition of alae with the lararium -Rooms added specifically for displayThe three main rooms were directly aligned across the back, as in Greek peristyle houses. -But the tablinum at the center was open to the atrium for its full width, flanked by the triclinium to one side and domestic space to the other. *Increased amount of domestic/public space, both visible and accessible.The Atrium style house became a marker or Roman culture and spread throughout the entire Roman Empire.

Additional Atrium Information

Early example of Roman ‘Atrium-Tablinum’ Design The House of the Surgeon,

Pompeii 3rd century BCE

Plan and Reconstruction (ARTstor.org)

Impluvium within the atrium (ARTstor.org)

Within the atrium (ARTstor.org)

Incorporating the Peristyle in Atrium HousingBorn of Roman desire to add a domestic part to their

homes, but without sacrificing the atrium-tablinum layout that was so fitting to the daily lives of the Roman elite.The solution was to attach to the rear of the atrium complex a peristyle court, an popular idea that became the new Roman standard from the 2nd century BCE onward.Roman peristyles were consciously arranged to be symmetrical and revolve around a central feature.Columns entered the Roman domestic architecture vernacular. -As seen in the tetrastyle atria.General trend towards more decorative architecture within private houses.

Remains of a tetrastyle atrium at the House of the Faun, Pompeii 2nd century BCE

(ARTstor.org)

House of the Faun Pompeii, 2nd-1st century BCE

-Developed Roman Atrium style, with the inclusion of a peristyle, the design type that remained prevalent in Roman culture from the 2nd century BCE onward.

-tetrastyle atria

-preferred axial layout

-informal room arrangement (with the exception of the tablinum)

(ARTstor.org)

Plan and view from the garden

in the peristyle

View from exterior looking through main entryway (ARTstor.org)

Faun statue in courtyard, for which the house has been named (ARTstor.org)

Floor mosaic, cupid riding a a

lion (ARTstor.org)

Interior view of atrium (ARTstor.org)

Reconstruction drawing of interior atrium (ARTstor.org)

(ARTstor.org)

Closing NotesRoman Atrium housing developed through the process of selecting Greek design ideas that were fitting for their own cultural, social, and practical needs at a specific time.

Both Greek and Roman house designs are not resolutely defined and unyielding. Traditional standards did exist, but there was much variation.

In both the Greek and Roman examples, the house plans discussed belonged to middle and upper class citizens.It is important to “bear in mind that only a few houses are preserved out of the many thousand that once existed. A unique design could thus be the surviving representative of a widespread trend, or alternatively the product of an eccentric owner" (Ellis 6).

Philippe Bruneau and Jean Marcadé. "Delos." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 11 Jan.

2011<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T022044>.

Thomas Braun, et al. "Greece, ancient." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 11 Jan.2011

<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T034254pg2>.Cahill, Nicholas. Household and City Organization at Olynthus.New Haven, CT: Yale UP,2001.

Print.Ellis, Simon P. Roman Housing. London: Duckworth, 2000.Print.Gardner, Ernest. "The Greek House." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 21(1901): 293395.

JSTOR.Web. 10 Jan. 2011.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/623877>.Graham, J. Walter. "Origins and Interrelations of the Greek House and the Roman House.”

Phoenix 20.1 (1966): 3-31. JSTOR. Web. 11Jan. 2011.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086313 .>.

Wolfram Hoepfner and Joseph Coleman Carter."Priene." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.  <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T069568>.Kulözu, Neslihan, and Melda Açmaz. "Transformation of House Typology in the Ancient

Priene City." Google Documents. Faculty of Architecture, Middle East Technical

University, Turkey. Web. <http://docs.google.com/>.Nevett, Lisa C. Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity. New York:Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.Rider, Bertha C. The Greek House. London: Cambridge UP, 1916. Print.Tomlinson, Richard. From Mycenae to Constantinople : the Evolution of the Ancient City. London: Routledge, 1992. Print.

Bibliography