Mamurra, who was Caesar's praefectus fabrum in Gaul, set the example of lining his room with slabs of marbles ![]() The Romans were exceedingly partial to marble for the decoration of their houses. thirty-eight feet high, and of such immense weight that the contractor of the sewers took security for any injury that might be done to the sewers in consequence of the columns being carried along the streets.He was soon outdone by M. Scaurus, who placed in his atrium columns of black marble, called Lucullean, twelve feet in height, and were only six in number.Marble columns were first introduced into private houses by the orator L. Crassus, but they did not exceed Lucullus especially surpassed all his contemporaries in the magnificence of his houses and the splendour of their decorations. M. Lepidus, who was consul B.C. 78, was the first who introduced Numidian marble into Rome for the purpose of paving the threshold of his house but the fashion of building magnificent houses increased so rapidly that the house of Lepidus, which, in his consulÂship, was the first in Rome, was, thirty-five years later, eclipsed by a hundred others It was not till the latter times of the republic, when wealth had been acquired by conquests in the East, that houses of any splendour began to be built but it then became the fashion not only to build houses of an immense size, but also to adorn them with columns, paintings, statues, and costly works of art. XVI.15), and were usually built of wood or unbaked bricks. Till the war with Pyrrhus the houses were covered only with thatch or shingles The houses of the Romans were poor and mean for many centuries after the foundation of the city. These multi-level apartment blocks were built as high and tightly together as possible and held far less status and convenience than the private homes of the prosperous.A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875. Many poor and lower middle class Romans lived in crowded, dirty and mostly rundown rental apartments, known as insulae. The elite classes of Roman society constructed their residences with elaborate marble decorations, inlaid marble paneling, door jambs and columns as well as expensive paintings and frescoes. While many chose to live primarily, or even exclusively, in their villas, these homes were generally much grander in scale and on larger acres of land due to more space outside the walled and fortified city. Along with a domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a separate country house known as a villa. ![]() The word dom in modern Slavic languages means "home" and is a cognate of the Latin word, going back to Proto-Indo-European. The modern English word domestic comes from Latin domesticus, which is derived from the word domus. It could be found in almost all the major cities throughout the Roman territories. It comes from the Ancient Greek word domi meaning structure since it was the standard type of housing in Ancient Greece. In ancient Rome, the domus was the type of house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. Freebase Rate this definition: 3.3 / 3 votes
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