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Roman households varied a great deal, dependent upon status, wealth, position and purpose. However during the first and second centuries AD an ideal Roman house had developed. The house was generally based around two central areas the front and rear, called the atrium and peristylium. Unlike most modern western houses which are surrounded by a garden and paths, the Roman house was insular meaning that it had very few or no outward facing windows and the gardens were situated in the inside of the construct, normally in the peristylium. Ordinarily the atrium and peristylium would be open to the elements, which was perfect for the fine Mediterranean weather, however as Roman lifestyle and fashion spread north and and beyond adaptations were made to more suit the climate they were built in.
Typical of Roman efficiency seen throughout so much of their handiwork, the rooms of the Roman house often found themselves built with a single function or purpose such as the cubiculum for sleeping in (the base of our modern word cubicle) or the triclinium the dining room. Around the peristylium there would normally be a series of rooms called the alae (wings). The use of the alae has been generally lost to time however, it is possible that these served as the general purpose rooms of the household if such a room existed.
Within our displays we have a lot of items which would be found in and around a typical Roman household, it is these items which make up the bulk of our Roman Home display..:GROUP:.
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