STAGE 1
POMPEII
Pompeii was
situated at the
foot of mountain
Vesuvius on the
Bay of Naples,
and may have
had a population
of about 10,000.
Pompeii was
located southeast
of Rome.
Caecilius& his family
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Lucius Caecilius Iucundus and his
family lived in Italy during the 1st
century AD in Pompeii.
He was a rich Pompeian banker &
businessman.
When archeologists excavated his
house, they discovered his
accounts in a strongbox; these
documents tell about his business
dealings.
153 documents in the form of tax
tablets were found in his house.
They included receipts, contracts
and loan documents.
He inherited some of his money,
but made most of it through
business activities. He dealt in
slaves, cloth, timber, & property,
ran a dyeing business, raised
sheep & cattle, & had a contract
for collecting local taxes.
Caecilius
ROMAN NAMES
• A male Roman citizen usually had 3 names.
• Praenomen-”Lucius”-personal name
• Nomen-”Caecilius”-name of the “clan” or the group of
families to which he belonged
• Cognomen-”Iucundus” name of his own family and
close relatives. It is often descriptive. Iucundus means
pleasant.
Roman names
• Slaves usually had only one name. If their owner freed
them (which was common), they became freedmen, and
they usually took the praenomen and nomen of their
master, using their old name as their cognomen. For
example, if Caecilius freed his slave Grumio, Grumio
would probablly be Lucius Caecilius Grumio.
• Girls and women usually had a feminine form of their
father’s Nomen. For example, all the daughters of
Caecilius would have been named Caecilia. If there were
more than one, they would have been Caecilia Prima,
Caecilia Secunda, etc.
Metella-Roman women
• Roman women were not equal, could not
vote and were expected to obey their
fathers and husbands
• However, they had much greater personal
freedom than women in most other parts of
the Mediterranean world. Virtuous women,
especially mothers, were held in high
respect.
• Ran the household, supervised children &
slaves, had her husband’s confidence
• Although their lives did center on the home,
they did not live in seclusion; they went out
to shop, visit friends, attended public
events, attended parties; dined next to their
husbands at banquets
Roman women
• Roman marriage was monogamous (only
one legal spouse). However divorce was
allowed and not uncommon
• Upper class women were well educated
and informed, and took part in social and
literary conversation
• Working class women occasionally ran
businesses, usually when a widow took
control of their deceased husband’s affairs.
Roman houses:
villa-country estate;
domus-town house;
insula-apartment building;
casa: cottage
• Domus
• Came right up to the
sidewalk with no grass in
front
• Outside windows were few,
small, fairly high
• Some were one story, some
two stories
• On either side of the front
door, many houses had
shops, which were rented
out by the owner of the
house.
Feature of the
Atrium
• Ianua-door
• Fauces: entrance hall
• Atrium-main formal room; was very open with little furniture
(maybe a marble table, strongbox and couch). The floor was
paved with marble slabs or mosaics & the walls were
decorated with panels of brightly painted plaster.
• Compluvium: square opening in the roof of the atrium,
through which came light, air, rain.
• Impluvium: marble-lined, shallow rectangular pool that
collected rainwater, which was then stored in a cistern for
household use.
• Lararium: small shrine in the corner near the door, at which
the family gods were worshiped.
Atrium
Atrium-Water and light flowed through a hole
in the ceiling called the compluvium, into a
pool called the impluvium
Lararium-shrine in the atrium, where
the household gods, the Lares and
Penates, were worshiped.
• Around the atrium were arranged the tablinum, triclinium
and cubicula
• Tablinum: study
• Triclinium: dining room
• Cubiculum: bedroom
• Behind the tablinum were the Peristylium, hortus and
latrina
• Peristylium: colonnade of pillars surrounding a hortus
(garden)
• Hortus: garden, laid out with flowers, shrubs, a fishpond,
and sometimes a fountain. It served as a family room
and general place to hang out.
• Latrina: toilet or bathroom
• Culina: kitchen
Tablinum: usually right behind the atrium
triclinium
Cubiculum
Peristylium
culina
Cave canem
Poor people in the city lived in apartment
buildings called insulae, several stories
high