Roman Houses: Evidence and Issues Evidence

• Archaeology -structural remains -visual evidence (painting, mosaics, etc.)

• Epigraphic -house plans inscribed on stone - “Forma Urbis Romae” = 3rd-c. plan of Rome displayed publicly in administrative office

• Documentary -ancient urban and demographic records - “Regionary Catalogues” = 4th-c. records of Rome listing building types by region

• Literary -descriptions of life / activity in residential spaces from ancient literature -Petronius, The Satyricon (esp. “Trimalchio’s Dinner Party”) = 1st-c. satirical novel Categories of Houses in Roman World

domus = single-family home insula = apartment building villa = country / vacation house Domus • domus = conceptual and physical -family / household -physical house containing household > spatial configuration reflects domestic structure -paterfamilias = head of household • cities with lower population density • often integrated commercial / productive space • larger examples designed for public display / visibility / status statements -unlike Greek oikos where privacy was concern -Greek oikos not used for social advancement Typical domus plan à “atrium house”

• fauces = entrance (“jaws”) • atrium = central space • cubiculum = bedroom • ala = side spaces (“wings”) • tablinum = office/business space • triclinium = dining room • hortus = garden • taberna = shop Origins

• emerged in central Italy in 8th c. BCE • similarities to temples / regal structures / tombs -tripartite division of structure -axial emphasis on central room • reflection of Italic social / political / religious practices -tablinum as original bedchamber, then reception space -tablinum = site of deity, king, deceased, paterfamilias -atrium as forecourt where guests gather Regia (king’s house), Rome

Etruscan temple

Rome 8th-5th c. houses Etruscan tombs Fauces

• entrance corridor beyond door -door often remained open during day • narrow and dark • sometimes with guardroom • funnels visual perspective through house -establishes spatial and visual contrast with atrium • often paved in mosaic with meaningful or humorous motifs Atrium

• central gathering space • with or without columns • compluvium / impluvium for water, light • tables and fountains • traditional location of marital bed • loom often on display • decoration usually conservative Tablinum

• office / archives often equipped with tables / cabinets / seats • on central axis of house -across atrium from fauces • important reception space for head of household • often most elaborately decorated space off atrium • window / doorway leading to garden space beyond Ala

• wing off atrium • multi-functional, transitional spaces • often contained household shrine for family gods and busts of ancestors Cubiculum

• small rooms on side of atrium • sealed by curtains or wooden screens • multifunctional spaces -storage -sleeping -meetings / business • function determined largely by furniture • among most elaborately decorated spaces in house Triclinium

• “room with three couches” = dining rooms • often multiple ones throughout house • portable couches and table or permanent built-ins Hortus

• garden in back of house • varying degrees of size and aesthetic / architectural elaboration • for productive or aesthetic purposes Peristyle • Greek influence in 2nd c. BCE • emphasis on leisure rooms: dining, baths, gardens, fountains • increasing complexity and size of house -peristyle and surrounding rooms often majority of house footprint • expansion of houses by buying neighboring properties

à

House of the Surgeon, Pompeii House of Pansa, Pompeii 3rd-c. BCE 1st-c. BCE Peristyles Styles of Pompeiian Wall Painting

2nd style: ca. 60 – 20 BCE

1st style: ca. 200 – 60 BCE

3rd style: ca. 20 BCE – 20 CE 4th style: ca. 20 CE – Roman Social Rituals

• hierarchy: patron > friend > client > slave • salutatio = morning greeting to patron by client - held at house of patron (paterfamilias) - patron traditionally sat on chair / throne in tablinum - clients wait in group until individually admitted to atrium - admission by rank and familiarity to patron -small gift from patron in return for errands Reading Roman Houses as Social Spaces

• modern concepts of public / private too simple • house as space of public visibility and business • hierarchy of space defined by accessibility -access depends on social connections • importance of space conveyed by position within house, decoration, furnishings, views -proximity to paterfamilias and decorative investment Social Mobility and Competition

• proliferation of reception rooms (peristyles, dining rooms, gardens) • effective use and location of different decorative styles • property acquisitions within insula allow for expansion • focus of paterfamilias moves from tablinum to peristyle > • houses without atrium -lack clients > no need for salutatio -spend more time out of house doing business for others

House of Sallust, 4th c BCE – 1st c. CE Insulae

• apartment block with multiple units and facilities • ground floors often commercial • appear later than domus (1st – 3rd c. CE) • cities with greater population density and greater commercial activity • plans variable • ground floor = commerce and larger residences • building regulations for public safety and fraud prevention • upper floors have increasingly lower value (unlike today) -height limitations -uninsulated, drafty, leaky, noisy -roofing materials -wooden construction prone to fire and collapse -limiting party walls -complaints of birds nesting in rafters -colonnades and wider streets *contrasting value of privacy with modernity* Apartment Living According to Romans

“We live in a city which is, to a great extent, propped up by flimsly boards. The manager of your apartment building stands in front of the collapsing structure and, while he conceals a gaping crack (possibly many years old!), he tells you to sleep well even though a total cave-in is imminent. It’s best, of course, to live where there are no fires and no panics in the dead of night. Here, one neighbor discovers a fire and shouts for water, another neighbor moves out his shabby possessions. The third floor, where you live, is already smoking, but you don’t even know! Downstairs there is panic, but you, upstairs, where the gentle pigeons nest, where only thin tiles protect you from the rain, you will be the last to burn.” --Juvenal, Sat. 3

“I live in a little cell, with one window which doesn’t even fit properly. Boreas [the god of wind] himself would not want to live there!” –Martial, 8.14.5-6

“Novius is my neighbor; we can reach out our windows and touch hands. Who would not envy me and think I am happy every single hour since I can enjoy so close a companion? Yet he is so far away from me as [the governer of Egypt]. I cannot dine with him, nor even visit him or talk with him; in the whole city there is no one who is so near and yet so far from me.” –Martial, 1.86

“If you can tear yourself away from Rome’s chariot races, the finest home in Sora or Fabrateria or Frusino can be bought outright for as much as you now pay in a year’s rent for your dark hovel” --Juvenal Sat. 3

“Two of my buildings have fallen down, and the rest have large cracks! Not only the tenants, but even the mice have moved out!” –Cicero, Letters to Atticus 14.9 Ostia: Rome’s Port City

• economy tied to shipping/storage • high transient population Rome: Capitoline Insula Insulae in Broader Social Context • many insulae owned by aristocracy -significant income from rental market -sometimes located above domus • renters = members of same social network? -relationship with owner? • social network created by insula -common entrances and spaces -reliance on nearby food / service venues • integration of commercial space > wider community of acquaintences

Rome: Termini Insula • large elite house (E) with reception rooms • commercial bath complex connected to house • two blocks of shops / insulae (C, D) built at same time -shops function separately, but likely owned collectively • guild-hall (collegium) also nearby

*variety of spaces and social composition *housing integral to social life of neighborhood