1. Roman Housing
By: Leah Miller

2. Layout of Common Upper-class Home (domus)
Ala (wings off atruim)
Triclinium (dining room)
Taberna
(shop)
Peristylium
(columned garden)
Atrium
(formal entrance hall)
Vestibulum (entrance hall)
Exedra (garden room)
Tablinum (office or study)
Culina (kitchen)
Cubiculum (small room or bedroom)

3. Vestibulum Long hallway Connected house to outside street
Many wall paintings
Pompeii- Priapus god of fertility
Mosaics on floor
Messages such as:
“Greetings”
“Welcome”
“Welcome money”
“Beware of dog”
Vestibulum

4. Atrium and Ala Open, airy room Formal entrance room
Main room with many rooms surrounding
Gathering place of guests and clients
Family occasions
Square hole in center roof
Square pool under hole
Collect rainwater
Paintings along walls
Myths
No furniture

5. Cubiculum Normally used as bedrooms (inner and upper level)
Sometimes used as (off atrium):
‘Conference’ room
Library
Only furnished with sleeping couch and wooden chest
One window, maybe two if larger room
Lavish wall paintings

6. Culina The kitchen Usually in corner or to side
Hot, small, dark, smoky, poor ventilation
Slaves cooked
Brick and stone ovens heated by embers
Top of oven used to keep food warm

7. Peristylium Garden surrounded by columns Equivalent of lawn
Near back of house
Inner walls covered in paintings
Pompeii- ‘Venus on the half-shell’
Contains lararium- shrine to the gods
Flowers, shrubs, fountains, benches, fish ponds

8. Exedra Garden room Large and elegant Off of peristylium
Formal entertainment and dinner parties
Nature-themed wall paintings and mosaics
Exedra

9. Taberna Shops Rented out by masters of house Separate doors
Sometimes not even connected
Shops include:
Wine
Poultry
Bakery
Helped shield outside noise

10. Tablinum Office-like room Designed to see through atrium
and tablinum into the peristylium
Contained:
Family records
Family finances
Busts of famous ancestors
Master of house greeted clients
Mosaic floors
Detailed wall paintings
Sometimes of family and ancestors
Caelilius house in Pomeii

11. Triclinium Dining room Named after three couches (lectus)
Wide bed/couch
Different size for sleeping or dining
Three people per couch
Cathedra (chair with back) used by women and old men
Beautiful wall paintings
Normally two:
One in back
One on side

12. Poorer Houses Poor Romans lived in flats called insulae
3 or more floors
First 3 floors were stone; rest were wood
Ground floor was shops
Small room for one family
Windows only light source
No glass in windows
Dangers:
Collapses
Burn down
Robbery
Lack of room

13. Villas Also known as a complex Country house (wealthier famers)
3 main parts
Villa urbana
Living spaces; about as comfortable as domus
Villa rustica
Staff live and work
Stable
Small hospital
Small prison
Storage space
Grain
Oil
Wine
Products made in villa

14. Preservation Many ruins left over Many houses in Pompeii Others in:
England
Germany
Italy
Other countries
Different portions preserved
Different kinds preserved
Domus
Insula
Villa

15. Now vs. Then Now: Then: Layouts vary widely Outdoor yards No slaves
Normally one generation
Normally no shops
Larger kitchens
More furniture
Natural and unnatural light
Then:
Layouts are similar
Peristylium courtyard
Slaves live in house
Many generations
Rented out shops
Small dark hot kitchens
A few pieces of furniture
Natural light sources

16. Bibliograohy Information: Photos:
visual.merriam-webster.com
library.thinkquest.org
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology (models)
3sigma.com
trekearth.com
seasunandvillas.com
dgengl3140.blogspot.com
art.com
replica3d.com
www2.bc.edu
cti.itc.virginia.edu
stoneschool.com
onlinehomes.webs.com
vroma.org
Information: