Dwelling of ancient Rome
Rome with the apogee of the Empire, became more the big city of the world and its company is very treated on a hierarchical basis. The dwellings of the ancient Rome, making it possible to place the various orders of this company, are quite different natures but proceed in fact of the same Latin origin.
History
The Latin , in the Italy préromaine lived in round or elliptic huts, surmounted of a thatched roof conical. They opened by square doors and had windows with one or two leaves. They were laid out on a base which isolated them from moisture. Under the influence of the Etruscan , these houses become rectangular and, to shelter all the family, form an enclosure around a central court and give on garden ( hortus ), such an enclosed to him. At the bottom of the central court, the tablinum is, the part where the Lord's Prayer familias sleeps. In this part is also the temples with the Lares and the Pénates , which are often in a niche practiced in the wall, which is closed with two shutters. This form evolves/moves very little to become the Villa rustica. To Rome, considering the scarcity of the grounds, the central court is reduced to the Atrium . The dwellings evolve/move in Insula E for poorest and in Domus , which is declined of the suburban Villa with the palates for richest. In the countryside, the dwellings of poorest remain for a long time of simple huts. The slaves who, for the greatest number, work in the Latifundia, are placed in Ergastule S.It is under Néron, after large the fire that the landscape of Rome changed the most. Many a domus made place with insulae . Néron, after the fire, devoted many efforts to the restoration of Rome: many districts (of which domus ) shaven, were levelled to build surer and more comfortable buildings to place the modest population. It enacted a certain number of measurements, like the widening of the ways, limited the maximum height of the insulae , the use of more solid materials, the systematic use of cement… which were not applied any more by its successors. Rome remains a compact city, less 200 pas separate the countryside from the Capitole.
Under Constantin {{Ier}}, the city counts 46.000 insulae' in the districts of the Vélabre, Argiletum, Trastévère, Forum Boarium, and 2.000 domus on the heights of the Quirinal, Esquilin, Caelius, Aventin, Pincio.
See also: History of Rome
In the provinces
In the conquered provinces, richest and people of the city adopt, with more or less delay, the habit of the villas to the Roman, “insulae”, but poorest their traditional dwellings keep. Many cities were also born around Roman camps; the buildings were residences and shops of merchants, these buildings were functional. There were also small houses being used to place the family (illegitimate) soldats. The town of Pompéi is a archeoligic source of first importance.See also: Noviodunum, Oppidum, Cities and Roman legions, Colony (Rome)
Comfort
The kitchens were done on small containers out of terra cotta pierced with holes to ensure pulling. One burned there wood and one was permanently to blow on fires. The fires were frequent. The winters, of the containers in the parts and large fires power stations ensured the contribution of heat. Even in the villa most luxurious, there will be heating only for the baths.
Water
See also: List of the Roman aqueducts
The Water, as a vital resource, is an element of unquestionable comfort. Until Auguste, the provisioning was done primarily by fountains supplied with sources, cisterns and wells. The construction of Aqueduct S.A. allowed the construction of public fountains. One counted some, to, more than 600 with Rome supplied with his aqueducts, of the collected sources and of reserve. Tanks some times covered with mosaics ( lacus ) collecting rainwater.
The public garden were equipped with water jet ( salientes ) often decorated with statues with Nymphée S. For example, the Fontaine of Juturne was built close to the forum under the République.
Only some villas had the authorization of the hand even emperors, to receive public water. The inhabitants of Rome was to go to seek their water the every day. Starting from Trajan only, the districts of Right Bank of the the Tiber receive sufficient drinking water to do without the cisterns. The private thermal baths or private latrines exist only for the largest villas.
See also: Roman Thermal baths, urban Watchmen
Kitchen
One could notice that with Pompéi, destroyed in 79, practically all the houses have their clean Moulin S. Each house has also its own furnace in which one cooked circular and flat breads. Many houses have also mills with olive oil. The inhabitants of the insulae were them, certainly, to buy to eat in the tabernae and thermopolia .See also: Kitchen of ancient Rome
The religion
See also: ancient Roman Religion, Laraire
The domestic worship is a very important worship for the Romans. Each house was to have its crowned site dedicated to the worship, most modest like the important ones. This place was generally a Laraire, located in an angle of the Atrium of the house. In the Insula E , apartment building, it could be appeared by a painting in the ground floor.
Example of villa
- Gallo-Roman Villa of Loupian
- Roman Villa of Casale
- villas of Pompéi