The Importance Of Houses In Ancient Rome

It is quite interesting to note that homes or houses in ancient Rome were functioning as one of the tools to differentiate the different classes of the society. Today, we can easily detect whether one is wealthy or not from their houses, implying that the culture of building and maintaining sophisticated houses as a sign of wealth has been existing since ancient times.

Ancient Roman buildings could be classified into public buildings and private buildings. Public builds include; forums, markets, temples, basilicas, colosseum and arenas or amphitheatres, circus maximus, Roman theatres, baths and bath houses, the gymnasium, stadia and xysti, campus martius, triumphal arches and triumphal columns, and forts. Private buildings include; Roman palaces,

These were big complex with each having a portico which was a porch that led to the entrance of a building with a roof structure supported by columns or enclosed by walls.
Roman Villas: These were the country houses mostly the residences of the wealthy Romans. They include principal rooms of private houses, court facing towards the street with a portico extending along the entire front, a hall in form of an oblong square surrounded by galleries, reception rooms, bedrooms, inner apartment to the main bedroom called the penetralia, the second floor contained the dinning room and apartment of the women and the dormitory of the slaves. These buildings were decorated with mosaics and frescoes and had private baths. They also had splendid courtyards, garden, and fountains.
Tenement Apartment: These were apartment buildings mostly for the poor. They were small, dark, crowded and were mostly four to six storeys tall. Poorly built of wood and were therefore inclined to fire or collapse. There were no toilets or baths, therefore tenants used public latrines or chamber pots. Also there was no water or heating, so occupant had to obtained water from neighborhood