Finding an Apartment in Ancient Rome

Transcript
· Introduction
0:01 · Welcome to Toldinstone. I’m Dr. Garrett Ryan. Today, we’re discussing Roman apartments – what
0:07 · they were like, how much they cost, and how they were rented and managed. As we’ll see, apartments
0:13 · in ancient Rome were as expensive as those in modern New York - and much more dangerous.
0:29 · The vast majority of Rome’s million or so inhabitants lived in the apartment
0:33 · buildings known as insulae. According to one ancient count, there were no
0:38 · fewer than 46,602 insulae in Rome – and only 1,790 private homes. Like modern apartments,
0:48 · insulae ranged in quality from luxurious to squalid. The best units were rented by
· Good and bad apartments
0:54 · senators and wealthy freedmen. As a young man, the future dictator Sulla lived in an apartment;
1:01 · and even after he became emperor, Augustus sometimes slept in the apartments of his
1:05 · freedmen. On the other end of the scale, the migrant workers who flooded into Rome
1:10 · during the summer lived in cell-like rooms stacked on the roofs of ramshackle tenements.
1:16 · The ground floor of an insula was normally reserved for shops. In
1:20 · a world without elevators or reliable plumbing, the most desirable apartments
1:25 · were directly above. The cheaper units were higher up – sometimes
1:30 · much higher. Although the emperors limited the maximum height of apartment buildings to 70,
1:36 · and later 60, feet, these regulations seem to have been honored in the breach. One apartment
1:43 · building – the Insula Felicula – was so tall that it became a tourist attraction.
1:48 · Virtually all of Rome’s insulae have disappeared, but dozens survive in Ostia,
· The insulae of Ostia
1:54 · the port at the mouth of the Tiber. Most of Ostia’s insulae date to the second century,
1:59 · and were built – like the Pantheon and the Markets of Trajan – of brick-faced concrete.
2:05 · Their interiors were divided into apartments of varying size. The standard layout was centered
2:11 · on a hall-like room known as the medianum, with spaces used for dining or entertaining on
2:17 · either end. One wall of the medianum had windows facing a street or courtyard. A series of small,
2:26 · usually windowless bedrooms opened from the opposite side. The bedrooms
2:31 · of Roman apartments don’t seem to have been very comfortable. Nor – to judge from this carbonized
2:37 · example in Herculaneum – were Roman beds. That’s because the Romans didn’t have Helix
· Helix [sponsorship text redacted]
4:06 · Welcome back. Perhaps the most remarkable apartment buildings in Ostia are the
· The Garden Houses
4:12 · so-called Garden Houses, built during the reign of Hadrian. This luxurious
4:18 · residential complex consisted of two buildings – probably four stories high – at the center
4:24 · of a landscaped courtyard ringed by shops and other apartments. Four identical units
4:30 · occupied each floor of the central buildings. They followed the usual medianum-centered plan,
4:37 · but on a grand scale. Their reception rooms were two stories tall, with a double row of
4:42 · windows. Over the other rooms was a mezzanine that likely housed storage spaces and slave
4:48 · quarters. Including this level, a single apartment could easily have 15 or 20 rooms.
· Decoration
4:56 · Many insulae in Ostia were decorated with mosaics and frescoes. Although their windows were usually
5:02 · closed only with wooden shutters, some had panes of glass or selenite. Apartments on upper stories
5:10 · might be provided with wooden balconies. In some cases, entire floors were jettied out to maximize
5:17 · space; the poet Martial claimed that apartment dwellers could shake hands across Rome’s streets.
5:24 · The vast majority of apartments had no plumbing, forcing their inhabitants to draw water
· Amenities
5:29 · from public fountains or pay carriers to do it for them. At least the lower floors of
5:35 · some insulae in Ostia, however, were connected by lead pipes to the local aqueduct. Likewise,
5:42 · though most apartment dwellers deposited human waste in chamber pots – emptied
5:46 · from the nearest convenient window – a few Ostia units had private latrines,
5:51 · situated as far as possible from the main living area to minimize odors.
· Owning and renting
5:57 · Insulae were frequently built by wealthy speculators. Often,
6:01 · entire apartment blocks were leased to investors, who then sublet the individual units. The property
6:08 · was managed by a slave or freedman known as the insularius. Like a modern superintendent,
6:14 · the insularius was responsible for basic upkeep and repairs. He also
6:19 · collected the rent, which was due once a year, normally on July 1.
6:25 · We know from graffiti in Pompeii that apartments were advertised with painted inscriptions.
6:30 · Anyone interested in the “quality apartments” of the Insula Arriana Polliana, for example,
6:36 · could contact Primus, the slave of a prominent Pompeian aristocrat. Whatever the rents were in
· Rent prices
6:42 · the Insula Arriana, we can be sure that they were much more reasonable than those in Rome,
6:47 · where even modest apartments often cost 2,000 sestertii a year – roughly double
6:53 · the average income of a laborer. High-end units were correspondingly pricey: one of
6:59 · Cicero’s clients paid an annual rent of 30,000 sestertii for a third-floor apartment.
7:06 · To judge from our literary sources, living conditions in most Roman insulae were less than
7:12 · opulent. Juvenal imagines a hapless insula-dweller cramped under the roof tiles with a tiny bed,
7:18 · a few knick-knacks, and a basket of mouse-eaten scrolls. Martial – who lived in a third-floor
7:25 · apartment on the Quirinal Hill – complained of the street noise that cascaded through
7:29 · his windows. So did Seneca, who had the misfortune of living directly over a bath.
· Fire and other hazards
7:36 · Noise was far from the only hazard. Insulae were often poorly maintained,
7:41 · and had an unnerving habit of collapsing. Cicero, who seems to have been something of a slumlord,
7:47 · notes in a letter that one of his properties was falling into ruin, and all the tenants had fled.
7:53 · The greatest danger was fire. Although their walls were usually masonry, the floors, partitions,
7:59 · and penthouses of insulae were made of wood. Since Rome’s firefighters were unable to pump
8:05 · water into the upper stories of tall apartment buildings, a stray coal or dropped lamp often
8:11 · destroyed an entire block. The problem was so pervasive that prudent investors hesitated
8:17 · before sinking money in the profitable but flammable Roman real estate market.
8:23 · There was, finally, the risk of eviction. Anyone who failed to pay their rent on time
8:29 · was unceremoniously expelled. Martial describes watching a freshly-evicted
8:35 · family trudge down the street, heading for one of the bridges that sheltered Rome’s homeless.
8:41 · As Rome’s population shrank in late antiquity, the insulae began to empty. At Ostia, aristocrats
· The last insulae
8:48 · converted vacant apartment buildings into lavish summer homes. But soon even these were abandoned.
8:55 · Of the tens of thousands of insulae that lined Rome’s streets in late antiquity,
9:00 · only one is visible today. It stands, still half-buried, on the slopes of the
9:06 · Capitoline Hill. Five of its stories are preserved – tenements over apartments,
9:12 · apartments over shops, all looming invisibly over the buried streets of ancient Rome.
9:20 · I hope you enjoyed today’s video. If you’d like to check out my new series
9:25 · “Rome in Review” and the other exciting benefits recently added to my Patreon,
9:30 · follow the link onscreen. Thanks for watching!

As always, I have no interest in criticism of the transcript.

Landlords required proof that your income was 3x the rent. This was tricky for the slaves.

Good stuff. Amazing the similarity in apartment life today.

How about praise?

Learned much just by reading. Really appreciate these transcripts.

Didn’t have Zillow?...........

Praise is still okay. :^) Thanks!

They generally had no kitchens, so Rome had more takeout joints than most modern cities.

Like other politicians, Cicero had money invested in apartment buildings.

Freakin’ slaves, always pissin’ and moanin’. /sarc

Do they not think they used some sort of pillows or mattresses on their beds?

Doesn't affect me. I am not looking for an apartment in ancient Rome.

Drum roll

You say that now, but if you wind up having a mishap in a Time Machine...

Varied, some of surviving dining rooms had stone built-ins, a few wood ones (and beds) survived the eruption and were preserved in Herculaneum. The practice of reclining while eating was common among posh Romans, Etruscans, and Greeks, maybe others.

Several years ago, I pent a month in Italy visiting friends and traveling around the country. Friends’ lovely house was in Infernetto, a suburb near Ostia. They suggested that I hire a guide and go see it. Utterly fascinating. We scrambled around big boulders and climbed broken steps. I don’t remember exactly what the bedrooms looked like, so thanks for this.

Went to Pompeii as well, a larger city, hired a guide and had a wonderful tour. Took a picture there that now hangs on my living room wall. That gorgeous red works with my decor.

bttt

I ain’t watchin or readin all that.

summarize it

A) I didn’t ping you into here, B) to reiterate, I’m not interested in criticisms about the transcript. Read it yourself.

Nice!

partment dwellers deposited human waste in chamber pots – emptied from the nearest convenient window

Up until the invention of the flush toilet and automobile, human communities must have stunk from miles away.

The B.O. and general butt-stink must have been hideous.

Transcript
	·	Introduction
0:01	·	Welcome to Toldinstone. I’m Dr. Garrett Ryan. Today, we’re discussing Roman apartments – what
0:07	·	they were like, how much they cost, and how they were rented and managed. As we’ll see, apartments
0:13	·	in ancient Rome were as expensive as those in modern New York - and much more dangerous.
0:29	·	The vast majority of Rome’s million or so inhabitants lived in the apartment
0:33	·	buildings known as insulae. According to one ancient count, there were no
0:38	·	fewer than 46,602 insulae in Rome – and only 1,790 private homes. Like modern apartments,
0:48	·	insulae ranged in quality from luxurious to squalid. The best units were rented by
	·	Good and bad apartments
0:54	·	senators and wealthy freedmen. As a young man, the future dictator Sulla lived in an apartment;
1:01	·	and even after he became emperor, Augustus sometimes slept in the apartments of his
1:05	·	freedmen. On the other end of the scale, the migrant workers who flooded into Rome
1:10	·	during the summer lived in cell-like rooms stacked on the roofs of ramshackle tenements.
1:16	·	The ground floor of an insula was normally reserved for shops. In
1:20	·	a world without elevators or reliable plumbing, the most desirable apartments
1:25	·	were directly above. The cheaper units were higher up – sometimes
1:30	·	much higher. Although the emperors limited the maximum height of apartment buildings to 70,
1:36	·	and later 60, feet, these regulations seem to have been honored in the breach. One apartment
1:43	·	building – the Insula Felicula – was so tall that it became a tourist attraction.
1:48	·	Virtually all of Rome’s insulae have disappeared, but dozens survive in Ostia,
	·	The insulae of Ostia
1:54	·	the port at the mouth of the Tiber. Most of Ostia’s insulae date to the second century,
1:59	·	and were built – like the Pantheon and the Markets of Trajan – of brick-faced concrete.
2:05	·	Their interiors were divided into apartments of varying size. The standard layout was centered
2:11	·	on a hall-like room known as the medianum, with spaces used for dining or entertaining on
2:17	·	either end. One wall of the medianum had windows facing a street or courtyard. A series of small,
2:26	·	usually windowless bedrooms opened from the opposite side. The bedrooms
2:31	·	of Roman apartments don’t seem to have been very comfortable. Nor – to judge from this carbonized
2:37	·	example in Herculaneum – were Roman beds. That’s because the Romans didn’t have Helix
	·	Helix [sponsorship text redacted]
4:06	·	Welcome back. Perhaps the most remarkable apartment buildings in Ostia are the
	·	The Garden Houses
4:12	·	so-called Garden Houses, built during the reign of Hadrian. This luxurious
4:18	·	residential complex consisted of two buildings – probably four stories high – at the center
4:24	·	of a landscaped courtyard ringed by shops and other apartments. Four identical units
4:30	·	occupied each floor of the central buildings. They followed the usual medianum-centered plan,
4:37	·	but on a grand scale. Their reception rooms were two stories tall, with a double row of
4:42	·	windows. Over the other rooms was a mezzanine that likely housed storage spaces and slave
4:48	·	quarters. Including this level, a single apartment could easily have 15 or 20 rooms.
	·	Decoration
4:56	·	Many insulae in Ostia were decorated with mosaics and frescoes. Although their windows were usually
5:02	·	closed only with wooden shutters, some had panes of glass or selenite. Apartments on upper stories
5:10	·	might be provided with wooden balconies. In some cases, entire floors were jettied out to maximize
5:17	·	space; the poet Martial claimed that apartment dwellers could shake hands across Rome’s streets.
5:24	·	The vast majority of apartments had no plumbing, forcing their inhabitants to draw water
	·	Amenities
5:29	·	from public fountains or pay carriers to do it for them. At least the lower floors of
5:35	·	some insulae in Ostia, however, were connected by lead pipes to the local aqueduct. Likewise,
5:42	·	though most apartment dwellers deposited human waste in chamber pots – emptied
5:46	·	from the nearest convenient window – a few Ostia units had private latrines,
5:51	·	situated as far as possible from the main living area to minimize odors.
	·	Owning and renting
5:57	·	Insulae were frequently built by wealthy speculators. Often,
6:01	·	entire apartment blocks were leased to investors, who then sublet the individual units. The property
6:08	·	was managed by a slave or freedman known as the insularius. Like a modern superintendent,
6:14	·	the insularius was responsible for basic upkeep and repairs. He also
6:19	·	collected the rent, which was due once a year, normally on July 1.
6:25	·	We know from graffiti in Pompeii that apartments were advertised with painted inscriptions.
6:30	·	Anyone interested in the “quality apartments” of the Insula Arriana Polliana, for example,
6:36	·	could contact Primus, the slave of a prominent Pompeian aristocrat. Whatever the rents were in
	·	Rent prices
6:42	·	the Insula Arriana, we can be sure that they were much more reasonable than those in Rome,
6:47	·	where even modest apartments often cost 2,000 sestertii a year – roughly double
6:53	·	the average income of a laborer. High-end units were correspondingly pricey: one of
6:59	·	Cicero’s clients paid an annual rent of 30,000 sestertii for a third-floor apartment.
7:06	·	To judge from our literary sources, living conditions in most Roman insulae were less than
7:12	·	opulent. Juvenal imagines a hapless insula-dweller cramped under the roof tiles with a tiny bed,
7:18	·	a few knick-knacks, and a basket of mouse-eaten scrolls. Martial – who lived in a third-floor
7:25	·	apartment on the Quirinal Hill – complained of the street noise that cascaded through
7:29	·	his windows. So did Seneca, who had the misfortune of living directly over a bath.
	·	Fire and other hazards
7:36	·	Noise was far from the only hazard. Insulae were often poorly maintained,
7:41	·	and had an unnerving habit of collapsing. Cicero, who seems to have been something of a slumlord,
7:47	·	notes in a letter that one of his properties was falling into ruin, and all the tenants had fled.
7:53	·	The greatest danger was fire. Although their walls were usually masonry, the floors, partitions,
7:59	·	and penthouses of insulae were made of wood. Since Rome’s firefighters were unable to pump
8:05	·	water into the upper stories of tall apartment buildings, a stray coal or dropped lamp often
8:11	·	destroyed an entire block. The problem was so pervasive that prudent investors hesitated
8:17	·	before sinking money in the profitable but flammable Roman real estate market.
8:23	·	There was, finally, the risk of eviction. Anyone who failed to pay their rent on time
8:29	·	was unceremoniously expelled. Martial describes watching a freshly-evicted
8:35	·	family trudge down the street, heading for one of the bridges that sheltered Rome’s homeless.
8:41	·	As Rome’s population shrank in late antiquity, the insulae began to empty. At Ostia, aristocrats
	·	The last insulae
8:48	·	converted vacant apartment buildings into lavish summer homes. But soon even these were abandoned.
8:55	·	Of the tens of thousands of insulae that lined Rome’s streets in late antiquity,
9:00	·	only one is visible today. It stands, still half-buried, on the slopes of the
9:06	·	Capitoline Hill. Five of its stories are preserved – tenements over apartments,
9:12	·	apartments over shops, all looming invisibly over the buried streets of ancient Rome.
9:20	·	I hope you enjoyed today’s video. If you’d like to check out my new series
9:25	·	“Rome in Review” and the other exciting benefits recently added to my Patreon,
9:30	·	follow the link onscreen. Thanks for watching!