T
he Roman house was more than just a place to live. It played an
important role in Roman societal rituals. In the Roman world,
individuals were frequently bound to others in a patron-client rela-
tionship whereby a wealthier, better-educated, and more powerful
patronus would protect the interests of a cliens,sometimes large
numbers of them. The standing of a patron in Roman society often
was measured by clientele size. Being seen in public accompanied by
a crowd of clients was a badge of honor. In this system, a plebeian
might be bound to a patrician, a freed slave to a former owner, or
even one patrician to another. Regardless of rank, all clients were ob-
ligated to support their patron in political campaigns and to per-
form specific services on request, as well as to call on and salute the
patron at the patron’s home.
A client calling on a patron would enter the typical Roman domus
(private house) through a narrow fauces (the “jaws” of the house),
which led to a large central reception area, the atrium.The rooms
flanking the fauces could open onto the atrium, as in FIG. 10-16,or
onto the street, in which case they were rented out as shops. The roof
over the atrium was partially open to the sky, not only to admit light
but also to channel rainwater into a basin (impluvium) below. The
water could be stored in cisterns for household use. Opening onto the
atrium was a series of small bedrooms called cubicula (cubicles).
At the back were two recessed areas (alae,wings) and the patron’s
tablinum or “home office,” a dining room (triclinium), a kitchen, and
sometimes a small garden.
Endless variations of the same basic plan exist, dictated by an
owner’s personal tastes and means, the size and shape of the lot pur-
chased, and so forth, but all Roman houses of this type were inward-
looking in nature. The design shut off the street’s noise and dust, and
all internal activity focused on the brightly illuminated atrium at the
center of the residence. This basic module (only the front half of
the typical house in FIG. 10-16) resembles the plan of the typical
Etruscan house as reflected in the Tomb of the Shields and Chairs
(FIG. 9-7) and other tombs at Cerveteri. Thus, few scholars doubt
that the early Roman house, like the early Roman temple, grew out
of the Etruscan tradition.
During the second century BCE, when Roman architects were
beginning to construct stone temples with Greek columns, the Roman
house also took on Greek airs. Builders added a peristylegarden be-
hind the Etruscan-style house, providing a second internal source of
illumination as well as a pleasant setting for meals served in a summer
triclinium. The axial symmetry of the plan meant that on entering the
fauces of the house, a visitor could be greeted by a vista through the
atrium directly into the peristyle garden (as in FIG. 10-15), which often
boasted a fountain or pool, marble statuary, mural paintings, and mo-
saic floors.
While such private houses were typical of Pompeii and other
Italian towns, they were very rare in large cities such as Rome,
where the masses lived instead in multistory apartment houses
(FIG. 10-54).The Roman House
ARCHITECTURAL BASICS10-16Restored view and plan of a typical Roman house of the Late Republic and Early Empire (John Burge).
(1) fauces, (2) atrium, (3) impluvium, (4) cubiculum,(5) ala, (6) tablinum, (7) triclinium, (8) peristyle.
Older Roman houses closely followed Etruscan models and had atriums and small gardens, but during the Late
Republic and Early Empire, Roman builders added peristyles with Greek columns.Pompeii and the Cities of Vesuvius 247