Insula (Roman)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term insula had originally been applied to rectangularly shaped building plots in a Roman city containing 6-8 housing units, usually 400 Roman feet square but could be as large as one square stadion.
Growing pressure for land in many larger areas, ensured only the wealthy could afford to live in a private house. Available land was purchased by the wealthy, consolidated, and giant mega-buildings soon swallowed entire city blocks. Most citizens were forced into these apartment buildings and tenement houses called insulae or insula in the singular.
Roman insulae were five to six stories high, had windows with no glass, were made from timber, mud brick, and later primitive concrete. Usually the owner would purchase all the contiguous lots as to build as large as possible. The upper floors were without heating or running water and only sometimes had lavatories. Romans had to go to public latrines instead.
Some insulae were built very poorly and cheaply for speculative purposes making them prone to fire and collapse.
Cooking was frowned upon, due to the fact that this was usually what started the fires.
 |
This architecture-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
