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Describe The Layout And Function Of The Ancient Romans

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Discussion Forum Question Unit 7
Describe the layout and function of the various kinds of dwellings used by the Ancient Romans in the cities and countryside.
In the previous studies in unit 6, we learned that Romans were in influenced by Greeks in so many ways and among others was in the works of Art where the Romand began adorning their buildings with Greek ornaments (Morey, 1901). Generally, the Romans have drawn architectural inspiration from the Etruscans as well as the Greeks.
In ancient Rome the dwelling kinds were referred to as domus meaning “house” in Latin. These were taken to mean a structure designed for either a nuclear or extended family and located in a city or town (Becker, J., 2017).Thedomus was the type of house occupied …show more content…

their use is unknown), Cubiculum (Bedroom) ,Culina (the kitchen in a Roman house)- was dark and gloomy and smoke filled the room because there was no chimney, where slaves prepared food for their masters and guests in Roman times and Posticum which was a servants' entrance which was also used by family members wanting to leave the house unobserved.
A schematic of a domus can be similar to the picture below:- Courtesy of www.khanacademy.org

Another kind of apartment in Roman architecture was an Insula (Plural Insulae, which meant Island in Latin). This apartment building housed most of the urban population of ancient Rome including ordinary people of lower or middle class status (plebs) and all, but the wealthiest from the upper middle class (the equites) (Crystalink, n.d.). The Insulae could be up to six or seven stories high.
Example of Insula is shown in the picture below. Courtesy of www.khanacademy.org

There was also another kind called Roman Villa. A Villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class (Crystalink, n.d.). The earliest examples of building grouped into this category, sometimes referred to by then Villa rustica (country Villa), are mostly humble farmhouse in Italy (Becker, J., …show more content…

It is noted that an ideal Villa is internally divided into two zones. The urban zone for enjoying life (pars urbana) and the productive one (Pars rustica) (Becker, 2017).Villa often focus internally around courtyards and atrium

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