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!

Don’t forget your

sponge-on-a-stick!!!

Thermopolium (fast-food shop)

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

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

VestibulumPrivate Entryway

Culina:Kitchen (only in wealthy homes!)

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

Bibliotheca

• Library• Some homes had 2 libraries: one for

Latin books and one for Greek books

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

Tablinum:the main office/study, usually behind the atrium

Tablinum cont’d

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

Triclinium:Dining room

Cubiculum:small bedroom

Other Rooms…

• Some large homes had their own private bath suites, or balneum: warm bath, hot bath, cold bath (most people used the wonderful public baths, balneae)• Toilet: latrina (like our word “latrine”)

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!