Today we talk about the houses where the ancient rich romans lived.
Nowadays wealthy people live in varied different kind of houses, it can be a beautiful apartment or an indipendent villa, but in ancient Rome the apartments were for humble people while the rich ones lived in large single family homes called Domus.
Most of these houses had similar features and rooms. There was an entryway that led to the main area of the house called Atrium, and beyond there was the office. In the back of the house there was an open garden with a beautiful portico that run all around offering shade and freschness during the summer.
But let’s discover one by one the different main parts of a Roman Domus.
- Vestibulum: It was a gran entrance hall to the house. On either side of the entrance hall might be rooms that housed small shops opening out to the street.
- Atrium: An open room where guest were greeted. It tipically had an open roof and a small pool that was used to collect water.
- Tablinium: It was the office or the living room for the man of the house.
- Triclinium: this was the dining room, often incredibly decorated to impresse the guests.
- Cubiculum: it was the bedroom, normally it was a pretty small space.
- Culina: the kitchen.
In the countryside, rich people had amazing Villas which were much larger and more confortable than their city homes. They had multiple rooms including servants’ quarters, courtyards, baths, pools, storage rooms, exercise rooms and wonderful gardens. They also had modern conforts such as indoor plumbing and heated floors.
Italy is the country with the best preserved archeological sites in the entire world.
If you’re organizing your trip to Italy you must include the archeological areas of Pompei and Ercolano¹, both buried almost 2000 years ago by the massive eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the harbour city of Ancient Ostia, few miles away from Rome and incredibly preserved.
Take a look at our website and discover our tour of Ancient Ostia!
For more info about our tour in Ostia click HERE
