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Roman House

Earliest houses => small round huts, thatched roofs. 1 room with door, window, smoke opening. Ashes of dead placed in urns shape like this. Oval huts later -> rectangular huts Temple of Vesta (goddess of hearth) – round, worship of goddess began @ hearth of early house. Atrium – single room of early house, chief room of later house All members of household lived, cooked & ate, worked, sacrifices offered to gods Space opposite door reserved for father/mother. Hearth located here, mother¡¯s implements for spinning/weaving nearby Strongbox also here, contain valuables of the father. At night spread on the dirt floor. Town and city houses, apartment buildings, farmhouses, country mansions Vitruvius wrote book about architecture – states his own principles of construction Archeology – info about houses. Study remains of houses @ different time period. Many different types, vary with region/climate and finance/taste of owner. Roman houses in Britain/Africa unlike those at Rome. Vesuvius buried Pompeii/Herculaneum – preserve examples of Roman houses.

Later houses – chief room atrium – name originally mean whole house, but applied to room. Atrium – no windows, light/air came through compluvium. Compluvium – quadrilateral opening in roof, rain entered here Water fell into impluvium. Impluvium – space hollowed in floor, rain water gathered, ran into a cistern for use. House entrance opened directly on street. On right/left inside – small rooms cut off from atrium At end furthest from entrance, alae. Characteristic features of Roman house – tablinum, alae, compluvium, impluvium Tuscan atrium – roof supported by 2 pairs of beams, crossed at right angles Atrium tetrastylon – 4 pillars support roof beams at corners of compluvium Corinthian atrium – had more than 4 pillars. Atrium displuviatum – roof sloped to outer walls, water carried off by gutters – impluvium collect water that fell into it. Testudinatum – no compluvium and all roofed. Might have clerestory windows.

By Cicero¡¯s time, atrium not center of family life. Became formal reception hall for display. Rooms at sides used for bedrooms, kitchen/dining room near peristyle, later bedrooms If rooms needed for other uses, upper story had bedrooms. Upper stories – may have been built because of expensive land or concrete strong enough.

Atrium decorated as much as owner could afford, opening in roof enlarged, marble pillars Statues placed between pillars and along walls. Impluvium -> marble basin, carved/decorated Maybe even a fountain. Floors: mosaic; ceilings: paneled/carved/decorated w/ ivory. Walls brilliantly painted, colored. Owner greet guests, patron receive clients, husband welcome bride to new home Altar to lares + penates (household gods) – often still in atrium Implements for spinning still kept in atrium Livy (1st century BC) Marriage couch opposite entrance – placed there on wedding night

Alae – (wings) alcove at each side of atrium, furthest end from entrance, cabinets in here contained wax busts of ancestors, who had held curule offices. Cords running from one bust to another and inscriptions show relationship of men Stories about these people told to children. Imagines – wax busts

Tablinum – master¡¯s office/study, opposite outside door Tabulae – account books – kept in tablinum Arca – heavy chest, a safe for valuables – also in tablinum. Tablinum lay between peristyle and atrium. Corridor beside it led to peristyle when tablinum closed.

Front rooms converted into shops -> easily done – rooms opened to interior, few windows, only 1 front door. In such a case hallway between 2 outer rooms gave family access to front door. Sometimes apartments and single rooms as well as shops. These rooms frequently rented out.

Vestibulum – open court in front of the door, with ornamental pavement from door to street City house built on street line, door separated from street only by threshold, opened to atrium. Planted with shrubs/flowers, statues, trophies of war. For small houses, vestibulum = narrow space between door and inner sidewalk. Wedding processions assembled here, boy escorted to Forum when discard purple-bordered toga Clients gathered here for morning calls/receive bread.

Ostium – doorway and door Originally, opened into atrium, later, when hallway built between vestibulum and atrium, this hall called ostium. Street door set well back, threshold had ¡°Salve!¡± (good health) or ¡°Nihil intret mali¡±(may no evil enter) or charm against fire. Ostium closed off by curtains. Fores, janua – door Janua – outer door, ostium – inner door Fores – double door, posticum – back door Salve – good health Nihil intret mali – may no evil enter Janitor – door man – kept behind door, sometimes had small room. Dog chained in ostium. Cave canem – beware of the dog

Peristylum – open court at rear of tablinum, flowers, trees, shrubs. Adopted from Greeks Surrounded by rooms, veranda/paved corridor, w/ roof supported by columns. Porches/colonnades properly called peristyle, but name applied to whole section of house Pool/fountain in center of garden, passage led to street, maybe small garden behind. Protected from wind, many plants grown here, laid out as garden. Lotsa statues. Peristyle center of family life, larger than atrium. Rooms in this part got light through doors/latticed windows Separate rooms for cooking/eating, bedrooms, library, drawing rooms, storerooms, baths, toilet, slave quarters, stable Latrina – toilet Culina – kitchen – most important around peristyle. Open fire w/o chimney. Charcoal stove of masonry w/ fuel beneath built into wall. Portable stove sometimes used. Spoons, strainers, pots, pans, kettles, pails -> graceful, good workmanship Trivets hold pots/pans above charcoal stove, some pots stood on legs. Near kitche: Shrine of household, small bakery w/ oven, bathroom/toilet -> use same water/sewer connections, stable. Triclinium – dining room – not always close to kitchen – slaves carried food anywhere. Dining rooms for different seasons. Peristyle used for dining -> eg. House of Sallust @ Pompeii. House of the Silver Wedding, couches, dining table built of masonry at side of peristyle Fountain in table, played when table not used.

Cubicula – sleeping rooms – small, scantily furnished. Alcove for bed, anteroom for slave Cubicula diurna – sleeping rooms for rest in daytime – in coolest part of peristyle Cubicula nocturna / dormitoria – regular sleeping rooms on west side to catch sunshine In large houses, bedrooms usually in 2nd story.

Bibliotheca – library – booklovers had them, people who wished to appear cultured had them. Decorated with statues of Minerva & Muses and busts/portraits of men of letters. Face east, protect against dampness (Vitruvius) Books were papyrus rolls kept in cases/cabinets around walls

Sacrarium – room with a shrine and images of gods Oeci – rooms for entertainment of large groups, banquet hall Exedrae – rooms with permanent seats, for readings, lectures, etc. Solarium – sun deck – laid out as garden with shrubs/flowers, on terrace or flat roof Cellars, pantries, storerooms.

House of Pansa – had Pansa on election notice, in Pompeii. House of the Surgeon – named so because of surgical instruments found in rooms, Pompeii. Newport Villa – Britain, Isle of Wright. Long corridor instead of atrium, furnace under one of the rooms of the bath, a fireplace (unusual), sleeping rooms on 2nd floor.

Braziers – portable stoves used for heating – held hot coals. Hypocaust – fire under house, warm air circulated in tile pipes and hollow walls and floors Common in Britain. Aqueducts bring water from mountains. Mains laid in middle of street, water piped into houses. Tank in upper story to distribute water. Rooms – no plumbing, slaves carried needed water. Water piped to fountain in peristyle/garden, bathroom / toilet. If cannot afford water supply, carry water from public fountains. Cloaca Maxima – main sewer – built in time of kings

Wood for temp. structures Permanent buildings – stone/unburned brick Walls of dressed stones laid in regular courses. Tufa – soft volcanic rock in Latium, dull/unattractive, covered w/ fine white marble stucco finish Sun dried bricks used until 1st century BC. Covered w/ stucco to protect/decorate. Cement – cheaper, more durable, easily worked/transported. Used for private homes/public Opus caementicium – cement work – walls made of cement At Rome, cement = lime + volcanic ash, reinforced with pieces of stone size of fist. Brickbats sometimes used instead of stone, sand instead of volcanic ash. Broken pottery, crushed => better than sand. Best concrete = made from pieces of lava (roads made w/ this) – harder stone = better concrete Concrete harden under water. Opus Signinum – waterproof lining of cement with crushed terra cotta, for cisterns Concrete walls – along line for wall upright posts 3 feet apart. Horizontal boards nailed to them. Boards 10 – 12 inches wide. Cement w/ stones poured into space between boards When hardened, frame removed, boards raised => until wall to desired height. 7 inch walls <-> 18 foot walls of the Pantheon of Agrippa. Stronger than stone wall, parts cut away but still strong in other parts. Stone/burned bricks for wall facing. Commonly soft tufa. Earliest method – bits of stone w/ one smooth face but irregular size/shape, with sides put into the concrete. Opus incertum – irregular work, bits of stone cover the cement Tufa in small blocks of uniform size, w/ square outer face. Looked like net. Opus Reticulatum – network, blocks of uniform size cover cement Bricks for facing triangular in shape, set horizontally w/ point in concrete. No brick only walls. Even thin walls had concrete core. | Outer face of walls covered w/ limestone or marble stucco. Pavimentum – a floor by smoothing ground, cover with stone, brick, tile or potter. Pounded down by heavy rammer. For better house, slabs of stone fitted together. Concrete floors with mosaic surface. In upper stories, floor of wood or concrete poured over temp. flooring of wood – heavy, need strong walls for support. Ceilings – floor above it, maybe concrete or laths nailed on rafters and covered w/ mortar/stucco Roofs – some flat, some sloped in 2 directions, some sloped all 4 sides. Earliest roof thatch of straw -> shingles -> tiles At first, tiles flat, later made w/ flange on each side so lower part of one tile slips into upper part of another. Laid side by side, flanges covered w/ semicircular tiles inverted over them. Gutters of tile ran along eaves, carry water into cisterns.

Roman doorway – 4 parts – lintel, 2 jambs (doorposts) and threshold – lacked hinges Lintel – massive piece of stone, hold weight of wall above. Door mortised to & supported by hard wood cylinder, thicker + longer than door, w/ pivot at each end. Turned in sockets in threshold and lintel. Doors opened inwards, outer doors had bolts and bars. Locks/keys clumsy, but doorkeeper on duty, so locks not needed. In house, curtains preferred to doors.

Windows opened on peristyle. 1st floor rooms no windows to street – country house exception. In upper floors, there were windows not opening to peristyle. Shutters – slid in framework on outer wall. Junctae – joined, shutters in 2 parts move in opposite directions when closed Latticed windows | Covered w/ fine network keep out mice & animals. Glass too expensive to use commonly; Occasionally talc or translucent material to keep out cold.

Majority of population live in apartments – built around court, sometimes 6 – 7 stories high. Insulae – apartments, Augustus limit to 70 feet, Nero (54-68 AD) limit to 60 feet after fire. Term originally meant for city blocks. Built poorly/cheaply for speculative purpose. Fire + collapse easy. Outside rooms lighted by windows, balconies overhang street – closed by shutters Inside rooms lighted from court. Single rooms usually rented, but sometimes several rooms to an apartment. Ostia – remains of insulae found – upper apartments each had own stairway. Ground floor occupied by shops. Insularius – slave of owner, looked after building and collected rent

Downtown streets – galleries, balconies, flower pots, window boxes – lively atmosphere Residence quarters of towns – plain, monotonous – no lawns/gardens face street. Houses all one style, finished in stucco w/ few windows mainly in upper stories. Only decorations – decorated vestibulum, occasional balcony, public fountain In day, small shops and balconies/windows open At night – shutters closed Pompeii – colonnades in front of buildings, walls decorated w/ paintings, ads, election notices Streets – paved, sidewalks 12 – 18 inches higher than roadway. Stepping stones – one walk to another – fixed in pavement @ convenient intervals. Usually oval w/ flat tops, 3 feet long, 18 inches wide. Wagons wore paving in deep ruts between stones, wheels ~3 feet apart. Rome – streets narrow/crooked. Private carriages not used, went on foot or sedan chairs. At night, dangerous, could be robbed.



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