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!!!
Toilets Again!
Don’t forget your
sponge-on-a-stick!!!
Public Fountains
Thermopolium
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.
Atrium:an open, central courtyard, often used as a “living room”
Compluvium and ImpluviumRain comes through the compluvium and is stored in the
impluvium.
Cubiculum:small bedroom
Tablinum:the main office room, usually behind the atrium
Tablinum cont’d
Culina:Kitchen (only in wealthy homes!)
Triclinium:Dining room
Peristylium:a garden (hortus) surrounded by a columned porch
Other Rooms…
• Bibliotheca: library• Vestibulum: entryway (cf our word vestibule)• Latrina: toilet (cf our word latrine)• Some large homes had their own private bath
suites: warm bath, hot bath, cold bath (most people used the wonderful public baths)
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!