PR-2237IRE Ancient Rome

Roman Life–Homes
The homes of the shepherds in Rome’s earliest
days were merely one-roomed huts with a hole
in the roof to let out smoke from a fire. As Rome
expanded over the centuries, land was scarce, so
builders had to build upwards. By the third century
AD most peopled lived in an insula, a block of
apartments similar to our modern block of flats.
Poor people couldn’t afford houses so they rented
a small room in an insula, even though rent for
apartments owned by the upper classes (patricians)
was often quite high. Builders could normally build
up to five or six storeys and some apartments on
the lower levels were quite luxurious and spacious.
Poor tenants lived in the upper storeys, which were
usually built of wood, not stone like those below.
Not many insulae had their own toilets, so tenants
had to use public latrines. Sponges, used instead
of toilet tissue, were washed clean in the constant
flow of water along a narrow channel in front of
the seats.
Roman homes didn’t have electricity and were lit
by oil lamps or wax candles. Oil lamps, also used
to illuminate streets, burnt vegetable oil from
olives, nuts or sesame seeds, or fish oil. With
southern Italy’s mild winters, heating wasn’t a big
problem. Open fires in metal braziers, using wood
or coal but mainly charcoal for fuel, were found
Insula – apartment block
in many homes. Braziers in the wooden sections
of insulae could have been a fire hazard, especially
if used for cooking meals in the hot, dry summers.
There was no running water so it was carried from
public fountains by family slaves.
Open metal brazier
The villas of the rich, usually country houses
attached to farms, were luxurious and sometimes
contained 20 or 30 rooms. They had private baths,
mosaic patterns on the floor and some even had
glass windows in the upper rooms. Villas usually
contained a central atrium, with a glass skylight,
where guests were welcomed to the household.
Furniture such as tables, chairs, couches or
cupboards was only used in the larger rooms like
the atrium. Unlike the simply-made furniture of
the poor, villas contained elegant tables, beds and
chairs often inlaid with ivory, shells, marble and
decorative woods. Early mirrors were bronze or
silver, highly polished, but by the fifth century AD
they were made of glass.
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