Comparative between Roman houses in Volubilis + an external Roman house in Pompeii

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ROMAN HOUSE DOMUS:

We started to analyse Column house some weeks ago and decided to choose two houses of Volubilis- randomly we have chosen Venus and Hercules. To this two houses we also wanted to compare a house which is not in Volubilis, but shows features  of the Roman house- the Surgent house in ancient Roman Empire in Italy.

Location of the houses

ANALYSING THE TYPOLOGY OF THE HOUSES:

After analysing house of the Columns we can see clearly the divisions of the room- it is not that difficult to go further into the house and see how it is functioning for itself, where is it opening to the other space and to see the difference between public and private. In the first schema we analysed the typology and size of the rooms, so after it can be easier to say what we suppose this room could have been.

The column house

Venus house

Hercules house

ASSUMPTION OF FUNCTIONS OF THE HOUSES:

After gathering proportions of the house we can go step further with schema which is showing functions that have probably been in the house.

1- Vestibulum/ 2- Atrium and Peristyle/ 3- Hortus/ 4- Triclinium/ 5- Assembly rooms/ 6- Tablinum/ 7- Fauces/ 8- Private rooms-Cubiculum

In the column house we come directly into the main entrance with vestibulum, on the left and right with the fauces(or shops) and then it opens to the atrium with peristyle. On the left and right side we find the assebmly rooms, in front the tablinum(or the office of the house owner) and on the other side the triclinium( or the kitchen). Besides the office there is a small atrium and then on the left side we suppose it has all been a private part of the family, the cubiculum. So we devide the house on the right side which is very open- it starts with the shops and to the other side where is the office. Besides on the left others can not enter and is for the family, very private. Not many decorations has been found in the column house, so maybe the owner of the house was not that rich, or his house was handling only small business.

1- Vestibulum/ 2- Atrium and Peristyle/ 3- Hortus/ 4- Triclinium/ 5- Assembly rooms/ 8- Private rooms-Cubiculum/ 9- Termas

The other house is Venus which shows us other side of the houses in Volubilis. It is showing bigger open spaces, than the column house, so maybe it had a more business going on. We also enter through the Vestibulum, to the atrium and further to the triclinium/ kitchen. This proportions and movement in the house are showing the same as a Roman domus in the  Roman empire in Italy. On the right side there is a small atrium further and garden and we supposes it is somehow meant for the cubiculum rooms which are private. On the right side of the atrium are assembly rooms which are including into the thermas, which can be entered through the atrium and assembly rooms. On the left side we suppose again there are private cubiculum rooms. This house is not showing us any signs of the shops, but it was for sure mixed of private and public.

1- Vestibulum/ 2- Atrium and Peristyle/ 4- Triclinium/ 5- Assembly rooms/ 7- Fauces/ 9- Termas

The last house of Volubilis is Hercules. It is somehow not showing the private parts that we could determine. It has again a bigger proportions of the public spaces than the column house. The entrance or vestibulum is on the left side, with three small separated entrances that join in the atrium. Atrium is surrounded by the triclinium and assembly rooms. The last two functions that we supposed were there, are the shops at the bottom with their own entrances and on the upper side the thermas with their own entrance so they should also be public. Other parts of the Hercules were difficult to analyse because they are not showing any connections between them and they surely can not be seen as a private rooms just put between the public ones.

The Surgeon's House:
Part of our research as well we decided to study an external Roman house which it's not from the list of the houses we have this year, it's the Surgeon's House in Pompeii.
The House of the Surgeon is situated in the north-west corner of Pompeii overlooking the Bay of Naples in southern Italy. Its frontage faces the main coast road, known in modern times as the Via Consolare, which enters the city through the Porto Ercolano, north of the house.
The owner of the House was a doctor named Eutyches, and this explains why the house has this name. 

Pompeii and a close-up of Insula VI

1- Vestibulum/ 2- Atrium and Peristyle/ 3- Hortus/ 4- Triclinium/ 7- Fauces/ 8- Private rooms-Cubiculum

The need to get people in their own homes, with the passage of time meant that the models of “domino” house they develop accordingto a model that divided the private house by the public area. And the houses of prestige built in later times assumed this character, modeled on the houses of the Hellenistic type. So you went to the Hortus as turning into a garden of pure aesthetic purpose, surrounded himself with a colonnade, and this is organized around the private rooms of the house, from cubiculum, the bedrooms and the triclinium, the important room for officers meals.