ARTEFACT A patrician domus lararium cubiculum tablinum peristylium slave quarters
impluvium atrium
triclinium A domus
A patrician family lived in a large detached house called a domus. It had a central courtyard called the atrium where guests were met and which had a pool called an impluvium to collect rainwater and a shrine to the family gods (the lararium). Other rooms led off this: the bedrooms (cubiculum), the kitchen (culina), the study (tablinum) and the dining- room (triclinium). Upstairs were the slave quarters and outside was a walled garden (peristylium). The walls were decorated with paintings and the fl oors with mosaics, pictures made from small pieces of stone, glass or tile. The houses of the richest patricians also had running water and underfl oor heating. A domus had small windows and was usually quite dark inside, with the atrium and oil lamps providing light.
An insulae A plebeian insulae
The plebeians lived in apartment blocks called insulae. In Rome, these were usually fi ve storeys high. The ground fl oor had shops or workshops that opened to the street. Above them were apartments. The higher you went, the smaller the apartments became. Those at the top were made of
wood and often entire families had to share a single room. The poorest
