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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!

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!