Have you ever stopped to wonder why we build our houses the way we do? Who decided this is what a "house" should be? Believe it or not, our houses tell a lot about our culture and a "house" does not look the same in different parts of the world! Like us, Romans lived in a variety of different houses. Some lived in apartments, some in small houses, some in lavish mansions. It all depended on their wealth and social standing. Across the Roman world, however, houses had some similarities, which we will explore in this chapter.
Key Vocabulary:
- Insulae -- urban multi-story apartment buildings
- domus -- Latin for "home"; an urban house
- area -- "open space," a place just outside the rural villa where work like processing grain would happen
- villa rustica -- a "country house"
- villa urbana -- "city house"; a large, wealthy urban estate
- villa maritima -- "house by the sea ("mare")"
- atrium -- the main entrance chamber of the house
- fauces -- "throat," the entrance hallway that leads from the main door to the atrium
- peristyle -- "columns around," this was a style of garden which had a colonnaded walkway around it
- cubicula -- "bedrooms"
- tablinum -- the room where the father of the house (pater familias) would meet clients and conduct business. It was often connected to the Atrium
- triclinium -- the dining room of the house, usually with a view of the peristyle courtyard/garden
- piscina -- the fishpond usually located in the garden/peristyle courtyard
- lararium -- the small shrine located in the atrium that is dedicated to the household gods (Lares/Penates)
- hortus -- the garden within the peristyle courtyard and often around the piscina
- impluvium -- the hole in the floor of the atrium to catch rain water from the compluvium
- compluvium -- the hole in the ceiling of the atrium that allows light and fresh air into the house
World History Encyclopedia Article: Roman Houses
To start, click here to open an Ancient History Encyclopedia article on Roman houses. Fill out your notes sheet as you go! Then, take a look at the images below to see what a Roman house would have looked like.
Khan Academy: Roman Domestic Architecture
Now, let's dive into more detail on the Roman home with some Khan Academy articles:
Roman Houses "Turn in on Themselves"
Now that you've had a chance to learn all about Roman houses, I want you to think about a famous phrase that says Roman houses "turn in on themselves." What do you think that means? Let's think about a Roman villa for a moment -- did you notice the high outer walls? the few windows? Where is the focal point of the house? It's in the peristyle courtyard and garden, which is located in the center of the house! Now, think about modern houses -- notice all the windows? the lawn/outside yard? Modern houses have a tendency to "look outward," which Roman houses "look inward." Why do you think that is? Well, for many modern homes, we want to have a few of nature and our yard. For the Romans, that view would have been of a chaotic, busy, and possibly dangerous city. There really wasn't much someone would want to look at! Instead, the Romans would bring the outside world into their house with the garden, creating a focal point for the house and an oasis from the chaos of a city. In this sense, Roman houses truly did "turn in on themselves" and did so on purpose!
Vitruvius on Houses
In his work on architecture, the Roman writer Vitruvius discussed what a house should look like and how it should function (depending on the social status of the owner):
The private rooms are those into which nobody has the right to enter uninvited, such as bedrooms, dining rooms, bathrooms, and all others used for similar purposes. The common rooms are those which any of the people have a perfect right to enter, even without an invitation: that is, vestibules, inner courts, peristyles, and all intended for the like purpose. Hence men of everyday fortune do not need entrance courts, tablina, or atria built in grand style, because such men discharge their social obligations by going round to others rather than by having others come to them.
Those who are dependent on country produce must have stalls for cattle and shops in their entrance courts, with cellars, granaries, store-rooms, and so forth in their houses, constructed more for the purpose of keeping the produce in good condition than for ornamental beauty.
For moneylenders and tax farmers, houses should be built rather comfortable and showy, and secure against robbery; for advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate their audiences; for men of rank who, from holding offices and magistracies, have social obligations to their fellow citizens, lofty entrance courts in princely style, most spacious atria and peristyles, broad groves and walks, appropriate to their dignity, and in addition, libraries and porticoes, finished in a style similar to that of great public buildings, since private law suits, hearings before arbitrators, and even councils of state are quite frequently held in the houses of such men. -- Vitruvius, De Architectura, VI. iii. 1-4, 6-8, v. 1-2 (translation by Napthali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold)
Those who are dependent on country produce must have stalls for cattle and shops in their entrance courts, with cellars, granaries, store-rooms, and so forth in their houses, constructed more for the purpose of keeping the produce in good condition than for ornamental beauty.
For moneylenders and tax farmers, houses should be built rather comfortable and showy, and secure against robbery; for advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate their audiences; for men of rank who, from holding offices and magistracies, have social obligations to their fellow citizens, lofty entrance courts in princely style, most spacious atria and peristyles, broad groves and walks, appropriate to their dignity, and in addition, libraries and porticoes, finished in a style similar to that of great public buildings, since private law suits, hearings before arbitrators, and even councils of state are quite frequently held in the houses of such men. -- Vitruvius, De Architectura, VI. iii. 1-4, 6-8, v. 1-2 (translation by Napthali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold)
A Modern Roman Villa: The J. Paul Getty Museum
In 1974, J. Paul Getty opened up a museum in California that was a faithful recreation of the Villa of the Papyri in Pompeii. Filled with art from the ancient Greek and Roman world, this museum stands as an opportunity to see what a Roman House would have looked like. Take a look at the video to the right to see this villa.
Click on the video below to see a 360 degree tour of the Getty Villa! |
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Visuals of Roman Houses
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Click the images below to see 3D panoramas of houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum.