Unit 12: Housing and City Life
Contents and layout ©1999 Joseph J. Hughes, Ph.D.
Revised 09 November 2000
Pompeii triclinium
Herculaneum tabernae
domus cenacula
insulae forica
atrium vigiles
cubiculum villa
I. The Roman House
A. sources of our information
1. archaeology
a. Rome and other big cities
b. Pompeii and Herculaneumdestroyed by volcano 79 AD
2. architectural texts
a. Vitruvius
b. others
B. where people lived
1. poor people rented slots in insulae
a. apartments
b. rooms
c. could be evicted for non-payment on a moment's notice
2. rich people bought a domus
a. houses in Rome
1). higher costs of living
2). be a part of it all
b. houses in the country
1). much less expensive
2). often owned in droves
3). a place to stay when you're in this neck of Italy
3. sometimes rich folks maintained apartments in big cities too
C. features of the Roman domus
1. vestibulum
a. entrance to the Roman house
b. sometimes used for display of ornamental images
c. household gods lived by the door
2. atrium
a. center of Roman family life
b. reception room for guests
3. impluvium
a. collected rain from the compluvium (hole over atrium)
b. main source of the house's water
4. cubiculum
a. used as bedrooms
b. used as guest rooms
c. used as sitting rooms
5. triclinium
a. dining room
b. furnished with triclinia
c. sometimes more than one
6. peristylium
a. open courtyard surrounded with colonnade
b. nice place to take a walk
7. portico
a. closed colonnaded courtyard
b. indoor place to walk
8. creature comforts of the floofy Roman house
a. central heating
b. running water
D. features of the insulae
1. huge apartment blocks
a. often five to six stories tall
1). cheap shoddy wood
2). some mud brick if you were lucky
b. very shoddily constructed
1). often burned down
2). often fell down
2. contained a huge number of people in cenacula (apartments)
a. shops (tabernae) and a domus on the first floor
1). rich folks rented first floor rooms (domus)
2). poor folks lived in their tabernae
b. any number of people may have lived in a room
3. absentee landlords a problem
a. quarterly rent collected by agents
1). rent usually exorbitant
2). agents paid whatever they could extort
b. very reluctant to do maintenance
c. could lock people out for non-payment
E. Roman furniture
1. lectus (bed)
a. reclined in it by day in place of a chair, slept on it by night
b. single beds (lectuli) for individuals
c. double beds (lecti geniales) for couples
d. triclinia for dining
2. mensa (table)
a. not tables in our sense
b. usually used for display of goodies
3. chairs
a. benches (scamna)
b. stools (sellae)
c. armchairs reserved for gods and emperors
4. lighting generally awful
a. natural lighting minimal
1). big windows let in light and weather
2). glass was rare and prized
3). shutters most common of all
b. artificial lighting awful
1). candles
2). stoves
5. heating and cooking
a. central heating and ovens for the rich
b. braziers for the poor
c. ventilation usually bad
II. The city Rome
A. The Center of the City
1. Capitolium: temple of Juppiter Optimus Maximus
2. Forum: center of Roman public life
a. Rostra: platform for orations and trials
1). crow's beak
2). adorned with ship's prows
b. Cvria Hostilia: senate house
c. Tribvnal: trials held here
d. Basilicae: buildings for public business
e. Tabernae: shops for eeting and drinking
3. Markets:
a. scattered all over town
b. Trajan built big ones
B. Palatine Hill
1. floofy residence of bigwigs during the Republic
a. not so much the floofiness of the place
b. more a matter of location, location, location
2. residence of the Princeps from Auggie's time on
a. Auggie's house was comparatively simple
b. Later emperors built on...and on....and on
C. Subura
1. NE of the Roman Forvm
2. More average folks lived here
3. bustle, noise, dirt
4. Julius Caesar lived here
III. Life in the city Rome
A. benefits
1. public waters
a. supplied by aqueducts
1). architectural marvels
2). lead pipes
b. rich could have running waters
c. poor made do with fountains
2. sewers
a. Cloaca Maxima
1). dates from 400s BC
2). existing part due to M. Agrippa
b. ran from public latrines
c. not necessarily widespread
1). nice if you've got 'em
2). much easier to dump it out the window
3. public baths
a. place to meet your friends
1). equivalent of shopping malls
2). Romans comparatively big on cleanliness
b. a fee was charged
c. more on this later?
4. public latrines (forica)
a. a place to meet your friends
b. not always used
1). hard to get to at times
2). a fee charged
c. alternatives
1). do it in the road or a trench
2). do it and throw it out the window
3). do it at the fuller's
d. Vespasian: Pecunia nihil olet
5. all roads lead to Rome
a. great access to countryside
b. not all roads in town paved
1). some sidewalks
2). lots of mud
6. entertainment
a. refined city entertainments if that's what you're into
b. lots of less refined ones, too.
B. problems
1. crowded conditions
a. population
1). 334 AD: 1,797 domus and 46,602 insulae
2). 337 AD: 1,460,000 people
3). O BC: 1,200,000 people
b. traffic
1). all sorts of land transportation in city
2). streets very narrow and crowded
3). lots of dung
c. noise
1). houses packed very close together
2). walls very thin
3). houses themselves very cramped
d. filth
2. crime
a. various offenses
1). robbery
2). muggings
b. lack of official police
1). the rich hired bodyguards
2). the poor took their chances
3. housing often unsafe
a. houses very cheaply built
1). wood
2). plaster
b. danger of houses falling down
1). not well built
2). not well kept up
c. danger of fire
1). no fire departments (-vigiles-) until Aug's day
2). no fire escapes
3). no ready water
d. the VIGILES
1). instituted by Augustus
2). all freedmen
3). first 600, then 7000
4). sometimes had military powers
4. often downright unsanitary
IV. Life in the sticks
A. major cities in the Empire
1. Greek cities lived in the Greek style
a. Romans did not try to "civilize" the Greeks
b. content just to extort taxes
c. happier during the Antonine Age
2. most Latin-speaking cities emulated Rome
a. Pompeii
b. Herculaneum
c. scads of cities all over the West
B. housing in rural areas
1. poor houses
a. lived in little huts
b. often rudimentary
2. farmhouses
a. much like city domus
b. also agricultural rooms
3. vacation villas
a. often one rich guy owned many
1). one in the mountains
2). one by the sea
b. mainly for rest and relaxation
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