Culture & Civilization | Roman Housing Flashcards
What were the names of apartment blocks that ordinary Romans lived on?
The few wealthiest Roman families in the urbs lived in palaces. Palaces on the eastern hills (Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline) had extensive gardens. Prominent Romans owned many homes, both in the cities and in the country. These large homes contained such luxuries as a private bathhouse, a library, multiple dining rooms, internal gardens with statuary, workshops, and so on. Ordinary Romans lived in simple apartments in apartment blocks called insulae. Many have been found in the ancient port of Ostia. Insulae in the capital became huge, each covering a city block and having three to five stories.
What was the name of the typical city home of the average upper-class Roman family?
The domus was the typical city home of the average upper-class Roman family. It was plain and windowless on the outside facing the street. Rooms opened onto interior open-air courtyards. The aristocratic patron entertained guests and received clients in his home. The domus was less lavish than a palace, but still might have mosaic floors, frescoed walls, and a private water supply delivered in lead pipes from a main aqueduct. It might have a second story containing cubicula and other private rooms.
Vestibulum
Entryway before the front door. Clients gathered here in the early morning to meet the patron.
Janua
Front door.
Fauces
Corridor leading from the janua to the atrium.
Tabernae
Shops, operated by the patron or rented out. These opened only onto the street and were not internally connected to the rest of the house.
*Atrium
*Learn these for the Intro Level Exam.
A large open-air interior courtyard. It was the formal room where guests were received and clients assembled to wait for their customary morning visits to their patron. It was also a room for family occasions. At the center of the atrium, directly beneath the opening in the roof (compluvium), was the impluvium. The walls of the atrium might be adorned with frescoes. The atrium often contained the lararium, a niche containing a shrine to the family gods (lares and penates).
*Cubiculum
*Learn these for the Intro Level Exam.
Small bedrooms or sitting rooms, usually furnished with no more than a bed and wooden chest.
Ala
Side apartments, storage.
Posticum
Rear entrance.
*Tablinum
*Learn these for the Intro Level Exam.
Office, where family records and treasure chest were kept. Openings at both ends, providing a view from the atrium through the peristylium, could be closed with foldng doors or screens.
*Triclinium
*Learn these for the Intro Level Exam.
Dining room, with a three-sided cushioned bench for reclining (the refined way to dine was in a reclining position) surrounding a small round table.
*Peristylium
*Learn these for the Intro Level Exam.
Colonnaded interior garden with frescoes, statuary, and fountains.
*Culina
*Learn these for the Intro Level Exam.
Kitchen.
Exedra
Room with seats for formal entertainments, dinner parties, conversations, and disputing. May be decorated with frescoes and mosaic floors. Mosaic floors used small bits of colored glass (tesserae) to create a picture, often of scenes taken from mythology or nature.
