A reconstruction of Rome as it would have looked to Lucius
Hiniamen humanities
Not only were the Romans well known for their way of thinking "That bigger is always better", or the fact that they were excellent stone masons. What made them most famous was from their talent in Achitechture. They changed architechture to another level with their use of the Arch, Baked Bricks and Cement and Concrete.
Roman House's
Rich Families Homes
Rich family homes were very different. The rich lived in houses which were built around a central hall known as an atrium. Atrium had rooms opening up off of them and they were also open to the weather as they had no roofs. Many atriums had a trough built into their design so that water could be collected when it rained.
Beyond an atrium was a second open courtyard known as a peristylum. This area included a garden and it also had rooms opening up off of it. In the homes of the wealthy, the gardens served as a meeting point so they were designed to be shady and comfortable so that people could meet in them regardless of whether the sun was fierce.
The main rooms were decorated with coloured plaster walls and, if they could be afforded, mosaics. These decorated floors were a statement of your wealth and importance. The grander mosaics had to be done by experts and they were expensive. A master mosaic craftsman would map out the picture while those who worked for him did the actual work in making a mosaic.
Poor Families - Lived in Simple Flats or Apartments
If you were poor in Rome, you lived in simple flats or apartments - the inside of these places was symbolic of your lack of wealth. These flats were known as insulae and only contained two rooms at the most. People tended to use them only for sleeping as they had to work, visit the baths and they usually ate in local inns as cooking in these flats was not safe. These Apartments were poorly constructed, were poorly lit, with no heating and no running water.
Romans Famous For Their Architechture - The Arch, The Baked Brick & Use of Cement
One of the things the Romans are most famous for is their architecture. The Romans brought a lot of new ideas to architecture, of which the three most important are the Arch, the Baked Brick, and the use of Cement and Concrete.
The Great Roman Baths
Roman people usually didn't have hot baths in their houses, as they didn't have running water in their apartments. If for some reason they could access water in their own apartments there was no way of heating it up. And people who lived in cities had to live in small apartments, often a whole family in one room, and so they didn't have room for baths or any yard to exercise in. So instead they used to go to public baths.
Public baths were something like our community centers today, or like a health club. They had swimming pools fed by aqueducts, and hot tubs, and exercise equipment, and often gardens and libraries and theaters as well. Some of them had temples, like the Mithraeum in the Baths of Caracalla. Like community centers, you had to pay a small fee to get in, but they sometimes also had free days.
But unlike most community centers today, Roman baths were made to be really impressive, beautiful buildings. They had high, vaulted ceilings, and the walls were decorated with marble and frescoes. The floors had complicated mosaics.
Pretty much any town in the Roman Empire had at least one bath building, and many had more than one. Army camps had them, too. But of course the biggest, fanciest ones were in the city of Rome
The Public Baths were extremely popular. Roman women and men tried to visit the baths at least once every day. The baths had hot and cold pools, towels, slaves to wait on you.
The baths were packed. The people loved them. At one time, there were as many as 900 public baths in ancient Rome. Small ones held about 300 people, and the big ones held 1500 people or more.
Public baths were something like our community centers today, or like a health club. They had swimming pools fed by aqueducts, and hot tubs, and exercise equipment, and often gardens and libraries and theaters as well. Some of them had temples, like the Mithraeum in the Baths of Caracalla. Like community centers, you had to pay a small fee to get in, but they sometimes also had free days.
But unlike most community centers today, Roman baths were made to be really impressive, beautiful buildings. They had high, vaulted ceilings, and the walls were decorated with marble and frescoes. The floors had complicated mosaics.
Pretty much any town in the Roman Empire had at least one bath building, and many had more than one. Army camps had them, too. But of course the biggest, fanciest ones were in the city of Rome
The Public Baths were extremely popular. Roman women and men tried to visit the baths at least once every day. The baths had hot and cold pools, towels, slaves to wait on you.
The baths were packed. The people loved them. At one time, there were as many as 900 public baths in ancient Rome. Small ones held about 300 people, and the big ones held 1500 people or more.
The Very Public Latrines
Our humble water toilet may be a modern invention, but plumbing existed as early as 2700 BC for the civilizations of the Indus Valley. But among the ancients, the Romans perfected the use of plumbing and toilets into an art, so much that a modern traveler to Ancient Rome would find everything in good order, even if the lack of intimacy might be unsettling at first.
Indoor plumbing was not for everybody, only the richest could afford it, and they were charged for the use of the public latrines. The public latrines were made to be used by 80 people at one time. Romans were a social bunch, there was a lot of gossip to be dealt with, so latrines were build so as to allow conversation, in case anybody had a bad case of constipation (sitting on a mule driver) and needed to spend some time in there.
Water flowed under the latrines to pick up the mess. Since toilet paper was not available as paper was not available at all. Romans used a sponge on a stick to wipe. Sponges were not disposable, they just dipped them in water to clean the remains of the previous user.
Indoor plumbing was not for everybody, only the richest could afford it, and they were charged for the use of the public latrines. The public latrines were made to be used by 80 people at one time. Romans were a social bunch, there was a lot of gossip to be dealt with, so latrines were build so as to allow conversation, in case anybody had a bad case of constipation (sitting on a mule driver) and needed to spend some time in there.
Water flowed under the latrines to pick up the mess. Since toilet paper was not available as paper was not available at all. Romans used a sponge on a stick to wipe. Sponges were not disposable, they just dipped them in water to clean the remains of the previous user.