In Ancient Rome the housing was split into two categories, the wealthy housing and the poor housing. Rich Roman’s lived in grand mansions and poor people (the majority of the population) live in small, two room apartment. In Ancient Rome the poor were squashed into 1-2 room apartments up to 5 stories high. All washing and sleeping was all done in one room and the other room was for other purposes. These apartments had no running water and were very hot in summer, cold in winter, noisy and smelly. People in apartments ate in local inns or restaurants as it was not safe to cook in the apartments. Houses of the Rich featured small olive lamps to light the house, solid high walls with few windows and basic furniture like couches, tables and chairs. In the center of the house was the atrium; a hole in the roof that channeled rain water into a hole below which served the residents of the house as a pool, it also allowed sunlight into the house. In terms of furniture the house was consisted of simple stools, beds and tables. Another feature of a wealthy person’s house is a peristylum. A peristylum is a garden type part of the house. It was a place of relaxation and communicating with others. The garden and lots of shade and cover above it so the area could be used regardless of the weather. Inside the house of a rich person the walls were decorated with coloured plaster and the floor was decorated with tiles and mosaics. The mosaics on the floor would represent the status or wealth of the person. For very wealthy people complex mosaics were built onto the floor by specialized builders that were paid well. Water was pumped by underground pipes into rich people’s homes. A person could pay for the width of the pipe leading to their house to increase in size so more water would be pumped into their house. Underneath the house was a massive fire called a hypocaust. The hypocaust was used to heat up water for baths, washing and to heat the floors of the house. Slaves were paid to keep the fire clean and make sure it stayed alight during the course of the day. |
|