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ROMAN HOUSES The typical Roman house. Evidence from Pompeii and Herculaneum
ROMAN HOUSESThe typical Roman house.
Evidence from Pompeii and Herculaneum
ROMAN HOUSES
• Introduction:– Most of our knowledge about Roman houses
comes from two places: Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• Why?– Let’s see!
ROMAN HOUSES
• Both Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by the eruption of the volcano known as Mt. Vesuvius.
Roman Houses
• Pliny the Younger, wrote a few years after the eruption and described what happened
• His uncle, Pliny the Elder was in charge of the fleet in the area of the Bay of Naples and died trying to save those fleeing from the eruption
Roman Houses• Pliny’s letter describing the event: "My uncle was stationed at
Misenum, in active command of the fleet. On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew his attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance…. its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches…. In places it looked white, elsewhere blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it…Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points…By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed with pumice stones, so that its level had risen, and if he had stayed in the room any longer he would never have got out.”
ROMAN HOUSES
• Introduction:– In the process of destroying the cities, the volcano
also preserved them intact for 2 thousand years.• HOW?
– Pompeii: Vesuvius rained down pumus stones and ash on top of the city which buried it 40 feet under the ash. Preserving it for 2 millenia.
– Herculaneum: Vesuvius sent a pyroclastic flow of volcanic mud into the city that in most places filled the city over 40 feet high and hardened, preserving everything under it, even eggs, intact.
Roman Houses
Roman Houses
ROMAN HOUSES
• Images of Pompeii:
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• Herculaneum
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• Introduction– As a result of this preservation, Roman
homes were preserved intact, stopped in time. Bread still on the table, wine still in jugs, people still at work. Homes and possessions in them left as they were 2000 years ago.
– This fateful day was August 24, 79 AD.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Introduction:– The homes we will look at today are homes of
the wealthy or Patrician class. This type of home is called a domus. Not all Romans lived in homes like this, as you will see tomorrow.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Typical layout of a Roman home (Domus).– Each room will be discussed.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Taberna: shop– These rooms had
separate entrances that opened to the street and did not connect with the rest of the house. Used literally as shops, rented out by owner of home.
Butcher shop
ROMAN HOUSES
• Vestibulum: vestibule– Long narrow hallway
that led from front door to the atrium. Also called the fauces (throat). The floor of the vestibulum often contained mosaics.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Vestibulum
ROMAN HOUSES
• Atrium:– Large airy room, lighted by
opening in roof. Formal room where guests were received. Also a room for family occasions. On either side of the atrium were smaller rooms. Beyond these rooms the atrium usually opened out into two wings or alae. In the center of the atrium below the opening in the roof was a shallow pool that caught the rainwater. This room was oftern adorned with frescoes.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Atrium
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• Impluvium: small pool in middle of Atrium
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• Cubiculum: small rooms– Small rooms used for a
number of different purposes. On upper story and interior of house they functioned as bedrooms. While small rooms off atrium were used for meetings, libraries, etc. Many cubicula were decorated simply. Bedrooms were decorated with a sleeping couch and a small chest.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Cubiculum
ROMAN HOUSES
• Triclinium: Dining room.– Named after the
couches found in dining rooms.
• Lectus: couch, all purpose. Different sizes. Ate in a reclined position.
• Cathedra: chair with a back.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Triclinium:
Triclinium
Lectus
Cathedra
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• Tablinum: – Directly behind atrium. This
room was open on two sides. Both sides could be closed with curtains or folding, panel doors. Family records were stored here. Busts of famous ancestors were displayed here. Business could also be conducted here. Often had a mosaic floor and wall paintings.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Tablinum
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• Culina: kitchen– Usually a small, dark
and poorly ventilated room. It was relegated to an obscure corner of the house. Household slaves prepared the meals. It contained ovens, metal braziers, pots.
ROMAN HOUSES• Culina:
Braziers
potsOvens
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• Peristilium:– Open courtyard within
the domus. Columns surrounded a garden supported by a shady roofed portico whose walls were painted. The courtyard could contain flowers, shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and fish ponds.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Peristilium:
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• Exhedra– Large, elegant room
usually off the peristyle garden. It was used for formal entertainment and lavish dinner parties. Wall paintings in these rooms often continue the garden theme.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Lararium: household shrine– In Roman homes it was common to find
shrines to guardian spirits of the Roman household. Family members performed daily rituals at these shrines for protection of these spirits, the most important being the lares.
– These spirits were depicted as two young men in dancing posture, holding drinking horns.
ROMAN HOUSES
• Lararium:
ROMAN HOUSES
• Typical outside of a Roman house:
