Living In An Insula p.18 and p.19 Flashcards
This deck covers what an insula would contain and what it would be like to live in one.
What does insula mean in English?
block of flats or island
Why is the word for island used as the same word for a block of flats?
Because all the flats surrounded by streets resembled islands surrounded by the sea.
Rents for insula in Rome were…
very high
What was one large disadvantage about most of the insula?
They were built very flimsily.
What were the best two floors for accommodation in an insula?
Ground floor and first floor
Why were the bottom two floors the best to live in?
Give two reasons.
1) The top floors are more vulnerable to collapsing or fires.
2) The higher floors do not receive a direct water supply but have to walk down to the bottom of the insula and carry up water.
The ground floor of an insula was often divided into what?
Shops and workshops
There would also often be a mezzanine level for the owners of the shops to live in.
Most residents in insulae had to go where to get cooked food?
They would have to eat out.
In Subura, only what type of people owned their own house?
Very wealthy people
