The Origin and Relation

of Greek and Roman

Housing 

Elspeth

Wengren

 AHI 190a

Winter 2011 

If a house could speak,

it would have a very clear story

-Aeschylus, Agamemnon 37-38 

 

Domestic organization and spatial segregation became especially

significant to Greeks during the 5th century BCE.

-This coincides with the establishment of Pericles citizenship law.

Spur of Hippodamian city planning in mid-5th century BCE

Domestic architecture in Greece and Greek settlements began

conforming to new standards based off organization, practicality

and social acceptance.

The Hellenistic period marks a change in Greek life. Early Greek

city-states had been run by citizen elites, but with the rise of 

 Alexander and through out his campaign in the 4th century BCE,

Greek city-states became operated by kings.

 As Greek and middle-eastern culture merged in the Hellenistic

world, there was an increase in palatial construction. This trend

was echoed in Greek domestic architecture as well, resulting in the

establishment of the Greek prostas, pastas and peristyle type

houses.

 Abbreviated Background of Greek Housing

 

The RomanRegia today. (ARTstor.org)

Greek Influence On Roman Housing 

During the Republican Period, Roman traditionalists feared that

the „over -exuberance‟ of Hellenistic cultural and its increasing

influence would have a negative impact on the traditionally

modest Roman way of life.

However, elements of Greek domestic design, especially the

Greek peristyle, would eventually be incorporated into the Roman

architectural vernacular.

Side note: The Roman dining room,

called the triclinium, came from the

Greek word for couch, klinê, which

were the couches used for eating in a

reclining position, a ritual the Romans

had inherited from both the Greeks

and the Etruscans. 

 

Typical Olynthian House, House A vii 4

(Cahill 76) 

Greek Pastas 

Style Houses at

Olynthus

c.400-348 BCE 

 

The typical Olynthian house can be encapsulated

as, “An individual structure occupied around 290

square meters in ground area and consisted of 

around ten rooms on the ground floor, space which

was often supplemented by further apartments in

an upper storey. The house as a whole is inward-

looking and centered around an open court at the

centre or south of the building. There is a strict

separation from the street. Each house was

normally entered via a single street door” (Nevett

46). 

 An Olynthian Pastas House in a

Paragraph or Less… 

 

Window, seen in the upper 

left Apulian Calyx Krater 

(Cahill 77) 

“ Pastas,” like a veranda, were

prevalent features throughout Greece

and could run the length of the house.

Houses were founded on stone socles 

(bases) but the super structure was

primarily mud-brick.

Closed off to the public, presenting

blank walls to the streets.

Court yard often doubled as a work

space.

Small, or no, windows.

Some had an attached shop or space

that was either leased out or in some

way used to increase income. 

 Additional Housing Information 

 

http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/athnlife/d

omestic.htm 

Distribution of two storied houses in Olynthos(Cahill 83) 

Some houses had a second

story, which is believed to

have been the women's

quarters, the gynaikonitis. 

 

Reconstruction of House A vii 4 at Olynthus (Cahill 105)  

 

Left: Key to house plans and

artifact distribution (Cahill 86)

Below: Artifact distribution for House A vii 4 (Cahill 104) 

 

Villa of the Bronzes, Olynthos (Cahill 98) 

The House of Many Colors,

Olynthus (Cahill 87). 

Variations of the Pastas House 

 

Greek Prostas Houses at

Priene 

(ARTstor.org)

 

Left: The basic Prostras house in Priene

during the 3rd century BCE (ARTstor.org) 

 

Shared characteristics

with Pastas Houses: 

-A central court yard open to

the sky

- A men‟s andron (but

typically smaller)

-Small and high, or no,

windows

-A gynaikonitis, when a

second story was present

-Loosely defined functions of 

space (other than the

andron) 

 

House plans and layout at Priene(ARTstor.org) 

Greek communal

planning of grid

streets and

aligned

rectangular block

housing in Priene

in the mid-4th 

century BCE. 

(ARTstor.org)

 

(ARTstor.org)

 

Peristyle Houses of 

Delos 

Mosaic Court in Dellos House of the Dolphins, by

 Asklepiades c.100BCE (ARTstor.org) 

 

Delos Peristyle, House of the

Colline (ARTstor.org) 

 

Delos, House of the

Trident 

c.150-100BCE 

(ARTstor.org)

 

(PerseusDigitalLibrary.tufts.edu)

 

Views of the remainder of the

 peristyle court in the House of the

Trident, Delos. Above: shows the

main entryway into the house.

To the Left: shows the view from

what would be within. 

(ARTstor.org)

(PerseusDigitalLibrary.tufts.edu)

 

Revisiting Greek House Types 

Pastas Prostas

Peristyle 

 

The Emergence of a Roman Atrium Housing in History

History's Two Main Sources on Roman Domestic Architecture:

Vitruvius, in his On Architecture, Book 8, discusses the Roman House,

but in a theoretical nature.

Pliny the Younger who authored two letters in the early 2nd century,

giving detailed descriptions of two of his villas at Tusculum and

Laurentium, in Italy.

Cicero, Martial, Petronius, Statius and Sidonius make passing references

to Roman housing, while Petronius was the most influential author to

discuss Roman behavior within houses.

From the writing of Vitruvius two main points stand out:

1. That the type of house a man lives represents and needs be

appropriate to his social status. Furthermore, that a member of the elite

who played a role in public life was expected to have clientes.

2. That there should be a distinction between intimate spaces occupied

solely by the residents and those open to guests and visitors.

Thus, Roman Atrium Houses were developed to accommodate these

criteria. 

 

 A main entryway leading to an interior central atrium court.

An Atrium court differed from a per is ty le  in that most of the court was

covered by extending the surrounding downward sloping roofs. The

central area left uncovered and open to the sky corresponds to the size of 

the central impluv ium  .

 At the far end of the atrium would be the main reception room of the house

the tab l inum  . This room could be left open to both the front and rear, but

would then have had wooden partitions to close off the openings when

desired.

The tabl inum   was flanked by two other rooms the alae  , and then the

assorted cub icu la  .

The tab l inum   also acted as the area for the display of family archives.

Here, the dominus would receive guests.

The t r ic l in ium   (dining room) was located to one side of the atrium, often in

the corner of the house.

The lararium   (household shrine) was often located in the atrium, or an

adjacent room.

It is sometimes difficult to locate specific kitchens in Roman households of 

all periods, as often the family had portable braziers that could be easily set

Inside an Early Atrium House 

 

Though we lack definitive evidence, the favored consensus regarding the

origins of the atrium house, consider the atrium to have been derived

from the Greek idea of central courtyards houses, dating back to the 6 th 

century BCE at Megara Hyblaea, in combination with the Etruscan temple

porches formed by large over-hanging eaves.

The early Atrium houses, in the „ Atrium-Tablinum‟ arrangement show

close relation to the oecus-prostas arrangement, exemplified by the

„ prostas houses’ in Priene.

There were still no columns serving as structural support in early „ Atrium-

Tablinum‟ houses. 

The addition of alae with the lararium 

-Rooms added specifically for display

The three main rooms were directly aligned across the back, as in Greek

 peristyle houses.

-But the tablinum at the center was open to the atrium for its full width,

flanked by the triclinium to one side and domestic space to the other.

*Increased amount of domestic/public space, both visible and accessible.

The Atrium style house became a marker or Roman culture and spread

throughout the entire Roman Empire. 

 Additional Atrium Information

 

Early example of Roman „ Atrium-Tablinum‟ Design

The House of the Surgeon, Pompeii

3rd century BCE 

Plan and Reconstruction (ARTstor.org)

 

Impluvium within the atrium

(ARTstor.org) 

Within the atrium (ARTstor.org)

 

Incorporating the Peristyle in Atrium Housing 

Born of Roman desire to add a domestic part to their homes, but

without sacrificing the atrium-tablinum layout that was so fitting to

the daily lives of the Roman elite.

The solution was to attach to the rear of the atrium complex a

 peristyle court, an popular idea that became the new Roman

standard from the 2nd century BCE onward.

Roman peristyles were consciously arranged to be symmetrical

and revolve around a central feature.

Columns entered the Roman domestic architecture vernacular.

-As seen in the tetrastyle atria.

General trend towards more decorative architecture within private

houses. 

Remains of a tetrastyle atrium at the

House of the Faun, Pompeii 2nd 

century BCE (ARTstor.org) 

 

House of the Faun 

Pompeii, 2nd-1st century BCE 

-Developed Roman Atrium style, with the

inclusion of a peristyle, the design type that

remained prevalent in Roman culture from

the 2nd century BCE onward.

-tetrastyle atria

-preferred axial layout

-informal room arrangement (with the

exception of the tablinum) 

(ARTstor.org)

Plan and view

from the

garden in the

 peristyle 

 

View from exterior looking through main

entryway (ARTstor.org) 

Faun statue in

courtyard, for which

the house has been

named (ARTstor.org) 

Floor mosaic, cupid

riding a a lion

(ARTstor.org) 

 

Interior view of atrium

(ARTstor.org)

Reconstruction drawing of 

interior atrium (ARTstor.org) 

 

(ARTstor.org)

Closing Notes 

Roman Atrium housing developed through the process of selecting Greek

design ideas that were fitting for their own cultural, social, and practical

needs at a specific time.

Both Greek and Roman house designs are not resolutely defined and

unyielding. Traditional standards did exist, but there was much variation.

In both the Greek and Roman examples, the house plans discussed

belonged to middle and upper class citizens. 

It is important to “bear in mind

that only a few houses are

preserved out of the many

thousand that once existed. A

unique design could thus be the

surviving representative of a

widespread trend, or 

alternatively the product of an

eccentric owner" (Ellis 6). 

 

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2011<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T022044>.

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<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T034254pg2>.

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Print.

Ellis, Simon P. Roman Housing . London: Duckworth, 2000.Print.

Gardner, Ernest. "The Greek House." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 21(1901): 293395.

JSTOR .Web. 10 Jan. 2011.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/623877>.

Graham, J. Walter. "Origins and Interrelations of the Greek House and the Roman House.” 

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<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086313 .>.

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Kulözu, Neslihan, and Melda Açmaz. "Transformation of House Typology in the Ancient

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Nevett, Lisa C. Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity . New York:Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.

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