Ancient Roman Empire - Housing

If you were a wealthy Roman (and you would hope you were), you could afford to own both a town house and a country villa. Wealthy Roman homes were usually of the same basic design; the front door opened into an Atrium (Hall), which had an opening to the sky and a pool in the center. A garden at the back of the house added to the airy feeling of the house, which is needed in the fierce heat of an Italian summer. The rooms were uncluttered and elegant with high ceilings and wide doors but with few windows. The walls would be brightly painted and the floors often richly decorated with mosaics.

But only a small minority enjoyed the kind of luxury that came with owning such a fine house. The great majority of citizens lived in rural poverty; in tall or crowded city tenements. The tenements had no sanitation and were a constant fire hazard. The ground floor of the tenements was usually occupied by a row of shops.