Roman Household (Lesson 11,12) Flashcards
Who held the role of parterfamilias?
The father of the household, he had legal authority over all members of his familia. His “absolute power” was curtailed by law and customs.
Who were part of the familia?
Refers to all those under the legal authority of the paterfamilias. Included children, liberti and slaves, often excluded the wife.
What does Domus mean?
Domus refers to all members of the family which includes the extended family and the physical house.
Cum manu vs Sine manu
Cum: part of husband’ familia
Sine: stay part of father’s familia
Concubinage
Union where only one party wants to get married, common where status differed. Results in non-legitimate children.
Contubernium
One or more parties lacked legal right to marry, common in enslaved people. Results in non-legitimate children.
Atrium of the house
The atrium was the reception hall (main room of the public area of the house). Also the first room you walk in from the entrance. Held lagarium (shrine of household Gods) and imagines of ancestors.
Tabliunum of the house
This is where one would wait for their clients when conducting business. It’s located behind the atrium and it was the office of the paterfamilias.
The Peristyle garden
Centre of private area of the house and open air garden.
The Triclinium
The formal dinning room, luxuruous and decorated for guests. The dinning room was for showing off and entertaining guests not our regular eating.
The Cubiculum
It was the bedroom, decorated but it was a dark room. Difficult to know for sure how this room was used.
The Kitchen
Service rooms like the kitchen weren’t decorated.
Multifunctionality
Latin terms give false sense of rigid structure and it’s hard to know the actual functionality of the rooms because not enough evidence is present.
What is insulae?
Apartment blocks that the poor lived in. Situated in larger cities and were at risk of fire and even collapsing. Entire families would live in one room.
Villa urbana
Country estate with urban luxuries and little agricultural production.
