Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Domus

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

DOMUS. A private house, occupied by a single proprietor and his family, as contradistinguished from the insula, which was constructed for the reception of a number of different families, to whom it was let out in lodgings, flats, or apartments.

The Roman houses were usually built upon one fixed plan, varying only in the size, number, and distribution of the apartments, according to the wealth of the owner, or the particular nature of the ground plot on which they stood. They were divided into two principal members: the atrium, or cavaedium, with its appropriate dependencies all round; and the peristylium, with its appurtenances beyond, which were connected by an intermediate room, the tablinum, and one or two corridors, fauces, or sometimes by both. These several apartments constituted the nucleus of the edifice on its ground-plan, and are constantly found in every Roman house of any size; their relative situations were always fixed; and they were constructed according to a received model, which was never deviated from in any important particular, as shown by the annexed illustration (Domus/1.1), representing the ground-plan of three small houses, side by side, in one of the streets of Rome, from the marble map of the city, now preserved in the Capitol, but executed in the age of Septimius Severus. A A A, the prothyrum, or entrance passage from the street; B B B, the atrium, or cavaedium; C C C, the peristylium; D D D, the tablinum, or passage-room which connects the two principal divisions of the building. Of the other pieces not marked by letters of reference, those by the side of the doors facing the street were shops; those in the interior, eating, dwelling, and sleeping rooms for the use of the family.

The next illustration (Domus/1.2) represents the ground-plan of a Pompeian house, which was also, in some respects, an insula; for it was surrounded by streets on all sides, and some exterior dependencies with upper stories, which had no communication with the principal portion of the structure. It is introduced for the purpose of affording an idea of the general style in which houses of the better class, such as were occupied by private persons in easy circumstances, were laid out, their method of arrangement and number of conveniences; for the palaces of the great aristocracy, whether of wealth or birth, were much larger, and possessed a greater variety of parts, according to the circumstances and taste of the owner. A separate account of these, as well as of the individual members here mentioned, will be found under each distinct name, and enumerated in the classed Index. The house is known as that of Pansa, and is supposed to have been occupied by a Pompeian aedile, from the words PANSAM ÆD. being painted in red letters, near the principal entrance. A. Ostium and prothyrum, the entrance-hall, between the street door and the atrium, with a mosaic pavement, upon which the usual word of salutation, SALVE, is inlaid in coloured stones. B. The atrium, of the kind called Tuscan, in the centre of which is the impluvium (a), to receive the water collected from the discharge of the roofs, and a pedestal or altar (b) of the household gods, which it was customary to place on the impluvium. The length of the atrium is just half as long again as its breadth, as Vitruvius directs that it should be. C C. The alae, or wings of the atrium, which are exactly two-sevenths of the length of the atrium, as required by Vitruvius. C C C C C. Five small cubicula, or chambers intended for the reception of guests, or the use of the family. D. The Tablinum; paved with mosaic, and open to the peristyle, so that a person who entered the house by the principal door, at A, looked through the whole extent of the edifice, the atrium and peristylium, into the oecus and garden beyond, which must have presented a very beautiful and imposing vista: it could, however, be closed, when required, with curtains, or by temporary screens. E. A corridor of communication between the atrium and peristylium, for the use of the servants, and to obviate the inconvenience of making a passage room of the tablinum. In most cases there are two corridors of this description, one on each side of the tablinum, whence they are designated by the plural fauces. d. A chamber, the use of which is uncertain; but it might have served as an eating-room (triclinium), a picture-gallery (pinacotheca), or a reception-room for visitors. This terminates the front part of the house, which includes the atrium and its dependencies. F F. The peristylium, which forms the principal compartment of the second or interior division of the house. It has a roof supported upon columns, which form four corridors, with an open space in the centre, containing a base of water (piscina), similar to the impluvium of the atrium, but of larger dimensions. G G. Alae of the peristyle. e e e e. Four cubicula; the three on the left of the peristyle were used as dwelling-rooms; the other one, by the side of the passage E, appears to have been appropriated to the house porter (ostiarius), or to the slave who had the charge of the atrium (atriensis), as it had a direct and immediate communication with both divisions of the house, as well as the surveillance of the entrance from the side street at m. H. The triclinium, or dining-room; to which the contiguous chamber (f) communicating with it, and with the peristyle, was probably an appurtenance for the use of the slaves and attendants at the table. I. Oecus, which is raised two steps above the peristyle, and has a large window opening on a garden behind, as well as a passage (g) by its side, like the faux of the atrium, in order to give access to the garden without passing through the grand room. K. Culina, the kitchen, which opens at one side upon another room, or back-kitchen (h), furnished with dwarf walls for the deposit of oil jars, cooking utensils, &c., and at the other, upon a court-yard (i), adjoining another of the side streets which flank the edifice, and to which it gives access by a back door (o). L L. A covered gallery (porticus or crypta), running along one side of the garden (M), in one corner of which is a tank (k), supplied from a reservoir (l) by its side. This completes the domus, or private house, occupied by Pansa, which has four seperate entrances: the principal one in front (A), and three at the sides, two for the family and visitors (m and n), and one back door (postica) for servants and tradespeople (o).

But the whole insula contained several additional apartments or smaller houses, some with an upper story, which were let out to different tenant shopkeepers. 1 1 1. Three shops facing the main street. 2. A shop in the same street, which has also an entrance into the domus, and consequently is supposed to have been the occupation of Pansa himself, in which his steward (dispensator) sold the produce of his farms, such as wine, oil, &c. to the inhabitants of Pompeii, in the same way as the nobility of Florence retail out the produce of their vineyards, at the present day, in a small room on the ground-floor of their palaces. 3 3. Two baking establishments, with their oven (p p), wells (q), a kneading trough (r), and other appurtenances. 4 4. Two more shops, let out to different trades. 5, 6, 7. Three small shops and houses, occupied by different tenants.

The ground-floor thus described, constituted the principal part of an ordinary Roman domus or private house, and contained the apartments occupied by the proprietor and his family; the upper story being distributed into small chambers (coenacula), used as sleeping rooms, and chiefly assigned to the domestic part of the establishment; for it is an incredible supposition that the small rooms on the ground-floor, which openend upon the porticoes of the atrium and peristyle, the principal apartments of the master and mistress, could ever be intended for slaves to sleep in; and the upper story was frequently approached by a double-stair-case, one from the interior of the house, and the other an external one ascending from the street. (Liv. xxxix. 14.) Indications of upper floors are observable in many houses at Pompeii, and other ancient edifices; but only one actual example has ever been discovered, and that no longer exists. It belonged to a house in Herculaneum, which was entirely covered by a bed of lava, from the eruption which destroyed that city; and when excavated, the wood-work, the beams, and architraves, were found to be nearly carbonized by the action of the heat, and the walls were so much shattered by the earthquake which accompanied the eruption of 79, that the whole of the upper story was obliged to be taken down; but the sectional elevation (Domus/1.3) and plan (Domus/1.4) of the rooms exhibited in the two following wood-cuts was made from actual survey before the demolition took place, and consequently afford the only authentic example of this part of a Roman dwelling house now attainable. Nothing is conjectural nor restored, excepting the mere tiles of the roof, and curtains between the columns. A. Section of the atrium. The four columns seen in front supported the roof B (also marked on the subjoined ground-plan), which covered over one of the four corridors surrounding the central and open part of the atrium. Iron rods and rings for hanging curtains between the columns, as shown by the engraving, were found in their original situations when the excavation was made. They were intended to shut out the sun, which beamed down into the lateral corridors from the compluvium, or open space in the centre. C C. Two of the lateral corridors just mentioned which have doors at their furthest ends, opening into separate apartments, and are enclosed above by the flooring of the upper story. D. Section of the peristylium. The eight columns seen in front enclose one of the sides of an open area, which was laid out as a garden. E E. Two of the lateral corridors, which surround three sides of the peristyle, open to the garden on the side nearest to it through their intercolumniations, and enclosed at the back by the party-wall between them and the adjacent apartments. F F. Sectional elevation of the upper story, the plan and distribution of the apartments in which is given in the wood-cut subjoined. Nos. a to m. Twelve small chambers (coenacula) built over the corridors of the court below, and which received their light from windows looking down into the interior, as shown by the elevation. The first six upon a terrace, G (solarium) above the garden; and, consequently, may be surmised to have been intended for the use of the proprietor, his family, and guests. Nos. n to r. Another set of small rooms, some of which have windows to the street, probably used as sleeping rooms for the slaves. Nos. s to v. Rooms probably apportioned to the female part of the establishment; as they form a suite by themselves, with a separate communication from the rest. The floors of these upper rooms are laid in mosaic work as well as those below. The upper story only extends over two sides of the peristyle, as shown by the elevation; the other two having no superstructure above the roof which covered the garden corridor.

2. (οἶκος). A Greek house. No excavation has yet laid open the plan of a Greek house; consequently, any attempt to define and distribute its parts can only be drawn from incidental passages of various authors, and must be regarded as purely conjectural; but as there undoubtedly were some essential points of difference between the domestic habitations of the Greeks and Romans, a supposed plan (Domus/2.1) is here inserted, upon the authority of Becker, which will at least serve to explain the terms which the Greeks employed to designate the various parts of their dwelling houses, and to give a general idea of the usual plan on which they were arranged. a. αὔλειος θύρα. The house door, or principal entrance from the street. b. θυρωρεῖον, θυρών, διάθυρα. The entrance hall or passage; the rooms on the right and left of which afforded accommodation for stabling, for the porter's lodge, and slaves. c. αὐλή. The court and peristyle forming the first division of the house, which was appropriated to the use of the males, and, with the different chambers distributed around it (Nos. 1 — 9.), formed collectively the ἀνδρωνίτις. d. μέταυλος, or μέσαυλος θύρα. The door in the passage which separates the two principal divisions of the house, and which when closed shuts of all communication between them. e. The court and peristyle forming the second or interior part of the house, which was appropriated to the females, and with the various dependencies (Nos. 11 — 18.) situated around it, forms collectively the γυναικωνῖτις. f. προστάς, or παραστάς. A chamber at the further end of the peristyle, probably used as a reception or retiring room by the mistress of the house. g g. θάλαμος, and ἀμφιθάλαμος. The principal bedchambers. h h h. ἰστῶνες. Rooms in which the women worked at the loom. i. κηπαία θύρα. The garden gate, or back door.

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  Domus/1.1
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  Domus/1.2
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  Domus/1.3
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  Domus/1.4
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  Domus/2.1