Roman Housing

Question 1

What was an Insula?

Answer 1

they were apartment blocks in rome

Question 2

What was each apartment block in an Insula called?

Answer 2

a Cenacula

Question 3

At roman’s peak how many people lived in Insula’s?

Answer 3

One million

Question 4

What do most literary sources suggest about conditions inside of the insulae?

Answer 4

That they were cramped, dirty and dangerous

Question 5

What was the most common form of accommodation in Rome?

Answer 5

the Insula

Question 6

What were Insulae built from?

Answer 6

flammable materials such as wood, mud, brick or concrete

Question 7

How tall were roman Insulae?

Answer 7

they ranged from 3 to 5 stories high but some sources describe 7 story insulae

Question 8

How was access given to upper floors?

Answer 8

through internal and outer staircases

Question 9

What where rooms made from?

Answer 9

wooden beams covered with flat terracotta tiles

Question 10

What were ground floor rooms converted into in an insula?

Answer 10

shops

Question 11

What level did a shop often have?

Answer 11

a mezzanine level for storage

Question 12

What did Cicero say about the insula he rented out?

Answer 12

even mice refused to live there

Question 13

Who would often rent out insula?

Answer 13

wealthy romans

Question 14

What were the dimensions of the Insula of Diana of Ostia?

Answer 14

23m high
39m high
4 stories high

Question 15

What wall of the Insula of Diana of Ostia faced the main street?

Answer 15

south and west wall

Question 16

Why was the Insula of Diana of Ostia named that?

Answer 16

a relief of her image is found on the Insula

Question 17

What are some of the features of the Insula of Diana of Ostia? (list 3)

Answer 17

-roofless court wards to let light into the building
-cistern to collect rainwater (water supply)
-communal living rooms
-brick faced concrete
-glazed windows
-shared toilet facilities
-walls painted in yellow

Question 18

What is the Latin word for shops?

Answer 18

Tabernae

Question 19

What is the Latin word for Bedrooms?

Answer 19

Cubiculum

Question 20

What is the latin word for Kitchen?

Answer 20

Culina

Question 21

What is the latin word for office?

Answer 21

Tablinum

Question 22

What is the latin word for dining room?

Answer 22

Triclinium

Question 23

What was the hole in the roof of a domus called?

Answer 23

Compluvium

Question 24

What was the well like structure used to catch rain water in a domus?

Answer 24

impluvium

Question 25

What is the latin word for entrance ?

Answer 25

fouces

Question 26

What were the front room of a Domus usually turned into?

Answer 26

shops

Question 27

Where would the entry passage/fouces lead to?

Answer 27

the atrium

Question 28

How was the fouces in a domus usually decorated?

Answer 28

elaborately with signs and mosaics to welcome the visitor and impress them.

Question 29

What was the atrium?

Answer 29

the front room in a Roman Domus, was the most important room and was designed to impress visitors

Question 30

How as an atrium designed?

Answer 30

it had a compluvium and Impluvium along with frescos and reliefs on the walls to impress visitors

Question 31

Where is the House of Wooden Partition?

Answer 31

It is Herculaneum

Question 32

When was the House of Wooden Partition buried?

Answer 32

79AD in the eruption

Question 33

Why is the House of Wooden Partition named this?

Answer 33

there was a wooden partition to separate the tablinum and the Atrium .

Question 34

What was the atrium in the House of Wooden Partition decorated with?

Answer 34

red, black and yellow panels and it had a marble display table in front of the marble lines impluvium

Question 35

What is the significance of the House of Wooden Partition?

Answer 35

a well preserved roman domus

Question 36

What was the method of building used for insulas called?

Answer 36

opus craticium

Question 37

Where is the House of Menander?

Answer 37

Pompeii

Question 38

What is the house of Menander’s significance?

Answer 38

one of the largest houses in Pompeii

Question 39

Where did the house of Menander get its name from?

Answer 39

the house takes its name from a wall painting of the Greek comic play wright Menander

Question 40

What made the house of Menander impressive (list 4)

Answer 40

-atrium contained an elaborate household shrine
-it had its own private baths
-had a large farming estate
-had a cellar filled with silver vessels
-multiple atriums

Question 41

What paintings/decorations where found in the house of Menander?

Answer 41

-scene from the Trojan War, including the arrival of the wooden horse at Troy in one of them
- floor mosaic depicting scenes from the river Nile

Question 42

Where is the house of Octavius Quartio?

Answer 42

pompeii

Question 43

What was the significance of the House of Octavius Quartio?

Answer 43

the focus of this domus is its magnificent garden and water
features rather than its atrium

Question 44

Where did the House of Octavius Quartio get it’s name from?

Answer 44

the house is named after Octavius Quartio, whose signet ring was
found there.

Question 45

What made the house of Octavius Quartio impressive?

Answer 45

-its impluvium had a fountain jet and was surrounded by flower boxes
-it had a pergola
-it had a canal running through its garden

Question 46

What painting/decorations where found in the House of Octavius Quartio? (list two)

Answer 46

-painting of the myth of Diana and Actaeon
-scenes of the life of Hercules
- scenes of the trojan war
-painting of the myth of narcissus
-shrine dedicated to Diana and Actaeon

Question 47

What is a pergola?

Answer 47

an arched structure in a garden or park consisting of a framework covered with trailing plants.

Question 48

What did Juneval say about insula’s?

Answer 48

that they were poorly constructed and they often collapsed.