1. Villa Romana Home for upper-class citizens.
Poor people lived in very tiny, cramped apartments.
Front view of a villa Romana (reconstruction)

2. Model of villa Romana from the back.
Model of a typical “insula” or apartment building.
Where the poor lived.
Upper floors were made of wood=fire hazard.
8-10 people in one of two rooms=disease/filth.

3. 1. Atrium: formal room for receiving guests.
Roman atrium
1. Atrium: formal room for receiving guests.

4. 2. Peristylum: open area with in the center of the house
2. Peristylum: open area with in the center of the house. Contained a small garden.

5. Vestibulum: A Roman house did not open directly onto the road, but into a small passage way, the vestibulum, the corridor which led from the main door onwards into the atrium was called the fauces (#4)

6. The floor in the vestibulum often had a tiled mosaic with messages for the visitor like
“Have!” (Greetings!)

7. “Salve lucrum!” (Welcome $$$)
“Cave canem!” (Beware of dog)

8. 5. Impluvium: pool in the middle of the atrium for catching and storing rainwater.

9. Alae: spare rooms with no specific use.
6. Alae: spare rooms with no known purpose.
Triclinium: dining room. Romans reclined and ate in these rooms. A large house would often have several triclinia.
Romans reclined while they ate. They lay on lecti which were covered with cushions.
Triclinia (plural of triclinium)
Lectus

10. 8. Tablinum: a large, open reception room connected to the atrium.
The tablinum is where the pater familias (Roman father) would conduct his daily business, meeting business associates, etc.
Tablinum

11. 9. Exedra: large dining and party room
9. Exedra: large dining and party room. The walls were often decorated with garden themes.
Mosaic from the floor of an exedra.

12. 10. Taberna: large room on the front of the house with no access to the interior. Often used as shops, storage areas, even apartments for the poor.
View of the ruins of a Roman house with tabernae in the coastal town of Herculaneum.
Reconstruction of a Roman house with tabernae in the front.

13. Cubiculum: cubicula (pl.) were mainly used as bedrooms.
Cubicula were often painted to make them seem larger or more elaborate.
Reconstruction of Roman cubiculum.

14. Andron: passageway from the atrium to the peristylum.
Posticum: entrance used by slaves or members of the household if they were trying to sneak around.
Bathroom
Culina: kitchen