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Ancient Roman Homes
The streets were very irregular.
During the time of Nero the city of Rome was set on fire,
and more than two-thirds of it burnt to the ground.
The people of the city of Rome was therefore provided with
the opportunity to rebuild the city with greater regularity and splendor.
The streets were straightened and widened but the Ancient
Roman homes of the poor were still small, dark and crowded.
Ancient Roman Homes
of the Rich Patricians
After the fire the height of the houses of the rich were limited to seventy feet, and each house had a portico
before it, fronting the street (A portico is a porch that
leads to the entrance of a building with a roof structure
supported by columns or enclosed by walls). The homes were
heated by portable furnaces in their rooms, on which
account they had little use for chimneys, except for the
kitchen.
The windows of some of their homes were glazed with a thick
kind of glass, not perfectly transparent; in other homes
isinglass split into thin plates was used (isinglass were
sheets of mica which were commonly used as a heat-resistant
substitute for glass). Perfectly
transparent glass was so rare and valuable in Rome, that
only the Emperor or the very rich could afford it for but
only for wine goblets. Detached houses, those homes not joined with the neighboring ones were called
Insulae.
Rooms in Ancient Roman Homes
The houses had high sloping roofs, covered with broad tiles,
and there was usually an open space in the centre to provide
light to the inner apartments.
The windows were closed with blinds of linen or plates of
horn, but more generally with shutters of wood. During the
time of the emperors, a species of transparent stone, cut
into plates, was used for the purpose.
The lower floors of the homes of the rich were, at this
time, either inlaid marble or mosaic work. Every thing
curious and valuable was used as ornaments and for furniture.
The number of stories was generally two, with underground
apartments. On the first, were the reception-rooms and
bed-chamber; on the second, the dining-room and apartments
of the women.
The principal rooms of private houses and ancient Roman
homes were as follows:
The outer door was furnished with a bell: the entrance was
guarded by a slave often in chains who was armed with a staff, and
attended by a dog. *** The vestibulum,
or court before the gate, which was ornamented towards the
street with a portico extending along the entire front *** The atrium or hall, which was in the form of an oblong
square, surrounded by galleries supported on pillars *** Reception rooms
Main bedroom
An inner apartment, called the penetralia *** The second floor housed the
dining-room and apartments of the women *** The dormitories of slaves and menials are called the
cellae
The atrium or hall, which was in the form of an oblong
square, surrounded by galleries supported on pillars. It
contained a hearth on which a fire was kept constantly
burning, and around which were ranged the lares, or images
of the ancestors of the family.
These were usually nothing more than waxen busts, and,
though held in great respect, were not treated with the same
veneration as the penates, or household gods, which were
considered of divine origin, and were never exposed to the
view of strangers, but were kept in an inner apartment,
called the penetralia.
Ancient Roman Homes
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