Hello everyone!
Sorry for the more sporadic posting lately, but I’m currently in the process of moving the blog to another website in order to organize things slightly better!
Additionally, I will be expanding my post topics to more general things, including biographies of famous Romans as well as analysis of Roman art as well!
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Parakeet!
The Roman domus, or house, was not something that your everyday Roman could live in. Only some of the richest or most elite Romans could live in a domus, as most poorer Romans lived in apartment complexes known as insulae, which were cramped, dark, and very unsanitary.
Originally, most of these domus were only one story tall. However, the price of land soon shot upwards, forcing many Romans to start building upwards instead of outwards. As the height of buildings gradually rose, Augustus, the first emperor to do so, restricted the height of these buildings to 70 feet in order to prevent the dangers of having such high buildings. Soon after, Nero decreased the maximum height again, lowering it to 60 feet.
Now, less about all of this random stuff, let’s get into what some of the rooms in your typical Roman home could’ve been! Below is a drawing I’ve made of what a possible Roman domus could’ve looked like- the home of Ovum!
As you can see, there were quite a few rooms in your typical home, and some houses had even more than this! However, here are some of the more common things you could expect to see in your average Roman home.
A. These little things off to the side of Ovum’s fabulous house are shops! These could’ve been rented out to various other Romans, or Ovum could’ve managed them himself with his family! For example, you might see a baker (pistor), a banker, (argentarii), a barber (tonsor), or any one of the other types of jobs working here!
B. This is the vestibulum, a space between the door (which is called the janua or ostia) and the outside road (to the left of the drawing). The vestibulum, as shown in the drawing, is often surrounded only by 3 sides of the house, with the fourth side, of course, exposed to the outside road. Oftentimes, this was where things such as “Nihil intret mali” or “Cave canem” would be located on a mosaic (which mean “May no evil enter”, and “Beware of dog”, respectively).
C. This is also called the ostium, identical in name to the doorway of the house (many definitions of ostia often include both the doorway and the inner hallway in it)! Oftentimes, there would be a small room attached to the side of the ostium (not shown in the diagram) where a doorman (janitor or ianitor) and a dog would be kept. Those who didn’t cave canem would have a nice surprise on the other side of the front door!
D. Welcome to the atrium, or the main area of the home! Oftentimes, the atrium was used by the male head of household (paterfamilias) for receiving clients (cliens), handling business, and in general, just being the public area of the home! Here, we can see the impluvium in the center of it, which is a shallow pool for the collection of water. This pool water could be used for many purposes, including drinking and washing! How does the water get into the impluvium, you may ask? Well, the compluvium is the answer to that question! The compluvium, similarly located in the atrium, is a hole/skylight in the roof of the home that lets both sunlight, air, and water in. In fact, the compluvium oftentimes would be the only source of light for not just the atrium, but the surrounding rooms as well, as windows (fenestrae) were uncommon. Also located in the atrium would be various spinning devices for the women, and the lararium, a shrine to the lares, the household gods.
Interestingly enough, there were also many types of atria.
E. This is the cubicula, or bedroom! These were often very small, with separate cubicula for nighttime sleeping and daytime sleeping (cubicula nocturna and diurna). Those used for the former were known specifically as dormitoria. Oftentimes, these were also used as private meeting spaces, with more intimate guests being received and greeted here.
F. Similarly to ancient Greece, hospitality played a major role in the daily life of the Romans, both in public (hospitium publicum) and in private (hospitium privatum). When a guest arrived, they were oftentimes treated just as highly, if not higher, than even members of the family. Thus, many houses had special rooms for the reception and lodging of guests, known as hospitium. However, when houses did not have the hospitium, guests were often received and lodged in cubicula located off to the side of the atria, similarly to the rest of the family.
G. These are the Alae, or open rooms connected to the atria. Here, imagines, or wax busts of the ancestors were kept. These were used for display as well as ceremony.
H. This is a hallway, or fauces. In a Roman home, these were hallways or passages that led from the central atrium to either the peristylium or another part of the interior of the home.
I. This is a back entrance to the home, or posticum. Oftentimes, servants or slaves would use this entrance instead of the main entrance when entering the home. Of course, the posticum has nowhere near the splendor of the main janua/vestibulum/ostium.
J. This is the culina, or kitchen! Oftentimes, the combination of being in a corner, and thus far away from both the peristylium and the compluvium, and the lack of windows (fenestrae) in the average Roman home resulted in the culina to be dark and stale. Here, women or slaves (in the wealthier families) cooked meals for the family daily.
K. Ovum is a scholar, and no scholar can go without a library (bibliotheca)! After the second Punic War, private libraries became increasingly common (public libraries had been around for a while by then), and the book collecting frenzies of Cicero, Atticus, and other scholars and intellectuals became well known. Soon enough, the practice of owning a private library became extremely common, with many people having libraries but neglecting to read a single book (liber)- simply having the library only to seem educated.
L. This is the study, also known as the tablinum. Not only did the paterfamilias complete business from home inside this room, it also held the family records and archives! Typically in a domus, the tablinum would be situated opposite to the front door, across the atrium, and have an opening to the peristylium (if not a door, at least a window). Thus, the entire house could oftentimes be seen from front to back. The tablinum also often showcased a mosaic or tiled floor, with magnificent paintings on the walls.
M. This is the dining room, or triclinium. In here, there were 3 couches (lectus), each of which could seat 3 people, arranged in a semicircular pattern elevated above and around a central table (known as a mensa) for diners to recline on as they ate. Known as the lectus imus, lectus medius, and lectus summus, each of these couches designated a special area for specific people to sit. On the lowest couch, the lectus imus, sat the host family. On the middle couch, the lectus medius, sat guests of honor. Finally, on the highest couch, the lectus summus, sat the lowest status guests. This system may seem confusing at first, however, it is quite simple why the Romans chose their seating this way! People sitting on the middle couch could easily speak with the hosts sitting on their right (as diners typically reclined on their left elbow). Additionally, they would be provided with a pristine view of the courtyard (or peristylium). Members on the highest couch would not be provided with this view.
N. This is the peristylium, or colonnaded garden! It was a courtyard with the central area open to the sky. The central courtyard had a covered portico with columns surrounding it. In the central courtyard itself, many plants could be found, as if it was a small garden in itself, including roses, rosemary, mulberry, and much more! Furthermore, small statues, fountains, or even the lararium if it was not located in the atrium could be found in the peristylium as well.
O. This is the oecus. Similarly to the triclinia, the oecus was a much larger banquet hall-ish room, with columns supporting the roof of the very large room. This was typically used for larger dinners, and was very similar in function to the triclinia. Interestingly enough, the oecus also had multiple types of styles, as mentioned by Vitruvius, the Tetrastyle, Corinthian, Aegyptian, and Cyzicene.
P. This is the garden, or hortus! Typically, the hortus was located at the back of the house, as depicted in the image. Gardens were used for both leisure and for food, with the latter being what poorer citizens of Rome typically used their gardens for. Oftentimes, footpaths or other decorative elements were also present in the hortus, along with the most popular plants of roses, cypress, rosemary, and mulberry.
These are some of the more basic rooms in the Roman domus, but of course, these aren’t all! Hopefully from reading this you were able to learn something cool, and I’ll be back with another post on some of the less common rooms soon as well!
Cheers,
Parakeet.
Hi there!
Interested in learning more about the fascinating world that was Rome and its inhabitants? Well then, you’ve definitely come to the right place! Join me for posts about Rome, its language, its culture, and so much more! I hope you’ll enjoy my posts and find them both educational and entertaining!
Cheers,
Parakeet!
Pompeii is well known for two things- primarily for its destruction by Mt. Vesuvius, but secondarily for it’s magnificent art, which includes some of the most well preserved art from Ancient Rome.
Classified by the German archeologist August Mau in the late 19th century, there are four categories of Pompeian art, each representing the time period that they came. However, before we get into what these styles may have looked like, it is important that we recognize that these styles of art were not limited to Pompeii itself, but rather encompassed the entirety of the Roman empire as a whole.
This first style of Pompeian art (pictured above), which Mau called the incrustation style, was characterized by faux marble in combination with other decorative elements, and the use of bright colors. This was done in order to give the impression of extravagance to visitors of the home, especially the cliens of the homeowner.
Said by Mau to have come from the 3rd century B.C., it is likely that Hellenistic culture influenced this style of art greatly, especially because this was also around the time that Rome was conquering much of the Greek/Hellenistic world. The first style survived and thrived from about 200 B.C. to 80 B.C., however, it’s influences were present in the later styles of Pompeian art as well, notably in the fourth style too.
The second style of Pompeian art classified by Mau was the illusionist style, where the paintings attempted to make the viewer essentially believe that they were looking through some sort of window or opening or door of some sort, giving the 2D wall a 3D look, thus in turn making the room seem much larger than it actually was. Again, much of this was done in order to increase the extravagance of the homes and show off the wealth of the owners.
Adding onto the illusions, the Romans used objects such as the Ionic columns you see in the mural above to give a sense of depth to the painting. Furthermore, objects in the distance tended to be more blurred as well, adding even more depth and realism to the images.
This third style of Pompeian art, pictured above (image of the House of Vetii, a very interesting place), had no illusionary tendencies to it. Rather, it was simple and monochromatic (A common pattern between artwork of the third style was things painted onto a monochromatic background, such as yellow in our case). Furthermore, the introduction of “zones” or “areas” was also added into this style of art, with approximately 3 vertical areas and 3-5 horizontal areas, which you can somewhat discern from the image above.
Although this style of architecture and art may seem more plain than the others so far, probably because it was, this simplicity may have been caused directly due to the over-complications of the more extravagant art of the second style.
Finally, this fourth style of Pompeian art (image above also from the house of Vetii), was more of a combination of the three previous styles of art. At the bottom of the image, we can see patterns of marble somewhat reminiscent of the first style, as well as tastes of the illusionary second style splashed throughout the painting. However, one thing distinctive of the fourth style not present in the rest of the styles is a sort of wall of framed scenes of sorts, such as the red frame around the scene on the right of the image.
Hopefully this was a much more interesting post, since I’m trying to improve my writing!
Cheers,
Parakeet!!!
Tali was the Roman version of knucklebones, a game played with four tali (made from the bones of animals). These tali would be thrown similarly to how we throw modern dice, with each end of it marked with a number (1, 3, 4, and 6). So basically, each talus would be a small rectangular shaped object, with 4 flat sides and 2 circular sides. Then, on each talus would be inscribed four numbers, I, III, IV, and VI. Thus, each throw yielded one of these numbers from each talus.
Here’s how they played: These knucklebones would be placed into a dice box, known as the fritillus (pictured below), and then thrown.
The value of these throws determined what kind of throw it would be, with the best throw being the Venus, where each talus landed on a different side, giving a total score/sum of 14. The worst possible throw, the Vulture, was when all 1’s were rolled, giving a total score/sum of 4. They would play round after round, where a winner of a round would be the one with the best toss. Alternatively, however, another method of playing would have been playing multiple rounds, and then adding up the total of each round and then determining the winner.
Overall, tali, or knucklebones, wasn’t a hard game to play at all! However, this simple pleasure was enough to keep the Romans entertained night after night. Hopefully this was somewhat interesting, and you learned something about Tali, something that the Romans did for entertainment way back in the day!
Cheers,
Parakeet.
Interesting but short post: the Fratres Arvales was the first college in Rome (note that collegiae are associations, unlike today’s colleges which are places of education). Originating from Romulus, this group was likely founded before the founding of Rome itself! It was essentially a group of 12 priests, or brothers, who retained their position for life. During this time, they dedicated their time to the worship of Dea Dia, a goddess of growth and fertility, or the Roman equivalent of Demeter. Included in this overarching description, it is also said that they offered public sacrifices for the fertility of the fields; thus, this common practice done by them was the origin of the name of the college itself. Furthermore, they were expected to hold an annual festival known as the Ambarvalia, where Ceres, along with Dea Dia was celebrated. During this three day celebration (*during the public part of it*), the 12 fratres arvales essentially walked around the city in a procession, followed by agricolae, or farmers. Again, this was to encourage the fertility of the fields, and to wish for a good harvest.
The 12 priests of the fratres arvales also had special clothes to wear! They each wore a corn headband, a white fillet (a narrow band of cloth or some other material), and the toga praetexta (a toga with a purple border, typically worn by boys before they received the toga virilis/pura. For more information about togas, check out a previous post that I made about them!).
Although this may not seem that interesting, it’s truly great to think about something so ancient like this- the first college in Rome!
Liberalia, the festival of Liber, the god of wine, was celebrated yearly on March 17th. Celebrating the coming of age of Roman boys, every year on the date of the festival, a boy would give up his bulla and toga praetexta and begin wearing the toga virilis.
Now, you may be asking, what is the bulla? What is the toga praetexta? What is the toga virilis? Why are there so many types of togas? Well, that’s what I’m here for!
This above image, from the collection of Johns Hopkins Archaelogical Museum, is an example of a typical bulla. This amulet, an accessory appropriated from the Etruscans, was worn by Roman boys and girls to ward off evil spirits, namely fascinato, the evil eye. As I said before, on the date of the Liberalia (March 17th), the boys, typically aged from 14 to 16, would give up their bullae in a sacrifice to the Lares, or the household gods. Typically though, their mothers would later come and keep the bulla in order to ward off future evil spirits. On the other hand, girls would give up their bulla on the day of their marriage, not during the Liberalia.
Now, what is the toga praetexta? Before I answer this, there are actually a few distinctions between togas that I would like to cover! So, here is a brief list of what types of togas there were, who might’ve worn them, and what they looked like!
Just to reestablish, on the day of the festival of Liber, Roman boys, typically aged from 14-16, would give up their toga praetexta for a toga virilis, signifying their transition to manhood as well as citizenship.
Sorry for the shorter post today, but hopefully you were able to get something out of it about togas!
Cheers,
Parakeet.
Gladiators are often the first thing that come to many people’s minds when they think of Rome. Today, I’ll try to give some more insight on the types of gladiators.
Said to have come from an Etruscan practice of killing slaves and others at funerals, gladiator fighting was first appropriated into Roman culture at the Forum Boarium in 264 B.C., when Decimus Brutus and Marcus Brutus fought at the funeral of their father- similar to what the Etruscans had done. Thus, the era of Roman gladiators had begun.
Ranging from prisoners of war (or just captives in general, which included Christians and Jews), to voluntary freedmen who fought for glory, gladiators came from all over Rome to fight in the arena. However, before going into the arena, they needed training at schools known as ludi (fun fact: Spartacus began his rebellion at a ludi), often overseen by teachers known as lanistae. The lanistae functioned as the managers of a team of gladiators, known as a familia. In some cases, the lanistae even went as far as owning the gladiators, with the capability of essentially trading in slaves/gladiators. These gladiators trained together, sparring in order to prepare for the arena. However, it is important to recognize that not all gladiators were trained the same, in fact, there were many, many types of gladiators, which I will list and explain below.
(The image above represents a gladiator fighting scene, taken from the Zliten mosaic)
Hopefully this gave you some interesting information on all of the different types of gladiators! Tune in tomorrow for some more stuff!
Cheers,
Parakeet.
The thermae were the Roman bathhouses of the day, with some Romans visiting the thermae seven or eight times a day, such as the emperor Commodus. However, thermae were typically only the larger bathhouses that took up multiple city blocks, also typically owned by the government, while the smaller, often personally owned ones, were known as balneae or balineae.
Typically, bathing was only used by Romans for cleanliness and health, rather than luxury. The bathing process was an extremely intricate one, with not just one bath being taken, but many in several different rooms, each with its own purpose. First, however, to understand this process, we need to learn about the rooms of the thermae.
Looking at this image of the floor-plan of the Stabian baths in Pompeii, we can right off the bat tell that the Pompeian thermae was an incredibly large structure. Additionally, we can also see how there are two sets of baths. This is because men and women bathed separately, with the smaller bath dedicated solely for the use of women. However, by the 1st century A.D., gender segregation in bathing became less and less common, up to the point where there was possibly no segregation at all. Hadrian, however, restored gender segregation once more in public baths when he was emperor.
As bathers entered the thermae, which was typically during or after the eighth hour, they would first past through a passageway, marked by the x in the diagram. On the left of the passageway would be the Latrina, or bathroom. Then, as bathers turned right, they would enter a covered portico that surrounded the middle area -the Palaestra, or exercise yard. Typically, bathers would first exercise in the palaestra, which was somewhat of an open field, before entering the actual thermae. These exercises could include activities such as weight lifting, wrestling, running, and other types of physical sports. However, exercise was mainly light, for the purpose of maintaining health.
These areas, combined with an atrium that was an open courtyard, similar to the atria found in homes,make up the vestibule. Near here, the balneator, or curator of the baths would collect an entrance fee for the baths- one quadrans. Additionally, there were also servants present here that waited on guests too. Linked to the atrium might also be exedrae or oeci for the more well off guests (with similar functions to the exedrae and oeci found in the domus), or even possibly a small room for the balneator.
After this, the specific order of rooms that a Roman bather might’ve visited is unclear, with many sources contradicting each other. However, it is reasonable to guess that a Roman might’ve first headed to the Apodyterium, marked by A on the map. The apodyterium was the changing room of the thermae. Here, bathers would completely undress, putting their clothes in cubbies that would be watched over by slaves known as capsarii or capsarius. However, these capsarii were generally shady and untrustworthy people, often in league with criminals. Thus, robberies coordinated by capsarii were widespread throughout Rome. Also located in the apodyterium would be a passageway to the praefurnium, or the mouth of the furnace. There would be three boilers here, each containing water. However, one would have hot water, one warm, and of course, the other cold, each feeding into their respective areas. Of course, all of this doesn’t come without workers to maintain everything!
Then, from the apodyterium, a bather might head to the tepidarium, or warm room. Typically, bathers that wanted to proceed with the warm bath and sweating process entered the tepidarium (as there were doors to both the tepidarium and the frigidarium from the apodyterium). In the tepidarium itself, bathers were annointed with various oils, a process that was done by slaves known as unctores or aliptae. These oils would be later scraped off using strigils. Interestingly, there was actually no water found in the tepidarium- something affirmed by the baths in Pompeii. Instead, there would be warm air pumped through the room in order to keep it at the perfect temperature. This warm air, combined with the power of a hypocaust, or what the Romans used to heat the baths, were also used to heat three bronze benches, which could be used for typical bench activities such as sitting, etc. The tepidarium could also be used as another apodyterium for these bathers as well, since it possessed cubicles in the walls that allowed for possessions to be stored.
From the tepidarium, a bather may choose to proceed to the caldarium, sudatorium, or laconicum. The caldarium, shown on the image as “C”, was the hot room of the Roman baths. Typically, this was located directly above the hypocaust (the heating system), in order to keep the room as hot as possible. However, because of this positioning, oftentimes the floors would have to be doubled in thickness to even allow walking on it- single floors would be too hot to walk on!
The sudatorium was another form of hot room, like a modern sauna, that provided a moist hot bath. Similarly, the laconicum was another sweating room. However, the laconicum was a dry room, with no moisture in the air, unlike the sudatorium. In the laconicum and sudatorium, exercises could be performed to encourage perspiration, including things like running or weight lifting. Located throughout these rooms might also be warm pools known as piscina or natatio for quicker dips in the water.
On the other side of the spectrum was the frigidarium, or cold room. In this room there would also be a natatio, or pool, as well, which could be kept cold by snow. Typically, a plunge in the cold priscina of the frigidarium would be used to close the pores in the body, and thus would often be the last bath in the bathing process. After visiting the frigidarium, for instance, a Roman bather would likely return back to the apodyterium where they would retrieve their belongings from the capsarii and head on back to their homes.
The thing keeping the baths together was the heating system known as the hypocaust. Typically, the rooms directly above the hypocaust system would be the hot rooms, such as the sudatorium, caldarium, and laconicum (remember how the caldarium had to have double thick floors in order to even be walkable!). Then, slightly further away would be the tepidarium, and at the very furthest the frigidarium and apodyterium, which required no heating at all.
Sorry for the delay in posting!
Cheers,
Parakeet.
Chariot racing (the ludi circensis) was the dangerous and exhilarating favorite past-time of the Romans. With onlookers viewing teams of chariots racing around a stadium, chariot racing was truly a spectacle to behold. Held in the Circus Maximus between the Aventine and Palatine Hills, as many as 150,000 spectators could be seated at once.
Typically, there were four racing factions (factiones), or teams, that these viewers cheered for. The teams were each represented by a color, with the original colors being red, white, blue, and green, or russata, albata, veneta, and prasina respectively, with the red and white factions coming before the blue and the green. However, later, two more factiones were added by Domitian: purple and gold. These were both unpopular, and thus died out relatively quickly however, never gaining traction as the other four colors had. Then, in the second century, the blue and green factions came to become extremely popular and strong, consuming the red and white factions, thus leaving only the blue and green factions to compete against each other. These factiones would be like our modern version of sports teams, each with large fan bases cheering them on. In addition to watching and cheering on factiones, individual charioteers, or aurigae, were also cheered and followed by Romans- similar to how we today follow sports stars. These aurigae faced great danger in every race that they competed in, accentuated by the fact that they often tied the steering rope around their waists. This would mean that if the horses got out of their control, which was very likely considering they had to control 4, sometimes even 6 in the rare case, horses at the same time (and also because attacks against other aurigae during the ludi circensis was common, even encouraged by some emperors), they would be dragged along behind the horses- often to their death. However, this danger only encouraged more and more Romans to visit the Circus to see these great spectacles, leading some surviving freedmen aurigae to become incredibly rich. In fact, the richest athlete in the world is not anyone of the modern age. It is actually a charioteer known as Gaius Appuleius Diocles, with a net worth of 15 BILLION dollars (35 million sesterces) in today’s money.
Less about the random stuff, let’s talk about the Circus Maximus (pictured above)! This was the location of the ludi circensis (The chariot races). Here, twelve aurigae rode either biga (two horse chariots) or quadrigae (four horse chariots) lined up in carceres (essentially holding cages for before the race). Then, as the race begun with the drop of the mappa (hankercheif dropped to mark the start of the race), contestants began racing around for a total of seven laps (known as curriculum), marked at the end by a chalk line known as the calx, before completing the race. They raced around a central dividing barrier that was known as the spina, and then turned around turning posts known as metae at the ends of the spina that were essentially protection in case of crashes. On top of the spina, in combination to ova et delphini (symbols of Castor and Pollux as well as Neptune), or seven eggs and dolphins that were used to mark laps in a race, were also things like obelisks (i.e. the obelisk Flaminio), statues, etc. On the track itself would be a thin layer of sand known as the harena. Additionally, surrounding the track itself to protect the spectators from events that used to be held at the circus maximus (i.e. venationes, or beast hunts), would be the the euripus, a ditch-like structure that prevented animals from crossing.
After a fire in 31 B.C., Augustus constructed a pulvinar, a type of religious throne, where emperors would be able to sit to watch the races. In addition, images and statues of the gods would be brought to the pulvinar as well after the pompa circensis, or circus procession/parade (where they would be carried on ferculae).
In the pompa circensis itself, the typical order of people would be: boys on horseback, followed by future infantrymen on foot, then finally the aurigae. Furthermore, there would also be dancers and singers accompanying them, making it a true parade! These people, would march through the city of Rome, taking a path of: the Capitoline Triad to the Forum, onto the Via Sacra and finally into the Circus Maximus.
Some interesting random fun facts:
Hopefully this taught you something interesting about the Roman sport of chariot racing or the Circus Maximus, where the ludi circensis was held! (Also, sorry for the chunky-ish wording of this post 😦 )
Cheers,
Parakeet.
In my first blog post about the domus, I mentioned how most Romans actually lived in hot, dark, and stale apartment buildings known as insulae. In this post, I’ll go into greater detail about insulae and what living inside them was like.
Essentially, all Romans that were not rich enough or elite enough to live in a domus lived in one of these “islands”. Why were they called islands, you may ask? Oftentimes, they would take up entire city blocks, with one giant chunk of land being only used for apartment housing- thus, it was essentially an “island” by itself of just living space. Typically, these insulae would be built out of mud, tile, or some other sort of cheap material- in general, the cost of construction of one of these apartment buildings would be extremely cheap. However, this cheapness led to a terrible quality of living, with larger and larger dangers of collapse and fire. Thus, Augustus limited the height of insulae to 70 feet in order to curb the dangers of collapse, further reduced to 60 feet by Nero after the great fire. Furthermore, Nero took other measures as well in order to prevent further fire in Rome, such as widening streets and Also due to safety issues (as well as there being a distinct lack of elevators or escalators 2000 years ago in ancient Rome), upper story homes were often undesirable. Typically, insulae could range from anywhere between 3 stories to the tallest at 8 stories (the Insula Felicles) , despite building heights being capped by Augustus and Nero.
On the first floor of these insulae, similar to what could be found in a domus (refer to the drawing of the domus! Everything marked A would be tabernae), were tabernae, or shops. Situated above these shops would be the living areas, also known as coenaculum (coenaculum can also be defined as any upstairs room, especially in a domus as well). Also on the first floor, again similar to a domus, would be a central open courtyard or garden in the center of the insulae.
An interesting fact: Cicero once quoted in his writing Crassus as being joyful whenever one of the many older insulae that he owned collapsed, since he would be able to replace it with another one and charge higher rents.
Hopefully you enjoyed this post seeing into the other side of the Roman housing situation, and maybe learned something interesting along the way as well!
Cheers,
Parakeet!
Nundinae, or market days, were the equivalent of weekends on the Roman calendars (no school for schoolchildren, no work for a large amount of people, religious activities-especially for Jupiter and Saturn). Supposedly established by Romulus, nundinae have been around ever since the first days of Rome. Originally, using the 10 month calendar of Rome, there would be 38 nundinae spread out throughout the year. On these nundinae, the people of the countryside/farmers/etc. would come into town and sell things in the market. Additionally, during this time while they were in the city, they would also hear from various rulers on the proceedings of the next period of time as well as various judicial rulings. While the plebeians worked, however, the day was technically feriae for the populus (and thus nefasti and not comitia), where the patricians were not allowed to conduct business (nor were they allowed to convene in comitia). Later, however, in the Twelve Tables, it is made explicitly clear that nundinae were to be F, or fasti, for both classes of Romans.
Fun Fact: Interestingly enough, even when being referred to a singular market day, the plural form “nundinae” would always be used!
Sorry for the shorter post today 😦
Cheers,
Parakeet!
The Roman Life Forum 