Roman Atriums Essay

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City Dwellings:
The most distinguishing feature of Roman family city dwellings, or domus, was the atrium. The atrium was distinguished by an open area in the roof that not only let in light and air, but also served as an opening to collect rain water into the impluvium, a collection pool, which functioned as the primary source of water in the home and lay in the floor beneath the opening (Fife, 2012, para.4). Additionally, atriums were used as a meeting place for guests and to display art and wealth, with mosaics or paintings on the floors and walls and sculptures of family figures or idols. Commonly, rooms were built off of the atrium, which functioned as a central hub of the home. Rooms such as offices or dining spaces for hosting guests were common in this forward area of the house. Domus’ also frequently included a garden, or courtyard, in the back that lead into spaces for more personal use such as bedrooms, off of the garden. There were often many rooms to accommodate not only the owning family, but also household slaves. (Generalized domus, n.d.)
However, the majority of individuals in cities did not live in homes of this style. Functionally, Rome built apartments, or insulae, that could …show more content…

There were two types of villas: villa rustica, more of a farmhouse, and the villa urbana, a rural home to escape from life in the city (Domestic architecture, n.d., para. 6). The villa rustica was more of a functional estate as it often housed workers and slaves of the owner that participated in agricultural production. This type of villa may include a portion which was similar to the domus for the owners. However, while housing was part of the structure it also had a substantial portion that was dedicated to the business of the estate which focused on growing and processing whatever goods they were producing. Functionally, villa rustica were an estate for the business interests of the

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