Amazing 3D Roman house animation

The Victoria Museum in Australia and “Ancient Vine” created amazing animations of a Roman house in 3D.

First, the film shows atrium, that is the central place of every Roman domus, which was connected to fauces (entrance to the house) or vestibulum (representative hallway). Guests were entertained in the atrium, so it was the most decorated part of the house. The Atrium was also referred to as the public section (pars urbana ) because of the representative function of the place. Above the atrium was a rectangular hole in the roof (compluvium). It was used to collect water in impluvium, illuminate the interior and ventilate the house. Pure rainwater with impluvium was used by the household members.

The film then focuses on the rooms of the house connected directly to the atrium: cubicula (bedroom), lararium (home sanctuary), slave and servant rooms and latrines. These chambers were often surrounded by side rooms (alae), which led to triclinium (dining room – literally “room with three benches”).

The house had a private office of the head of the house (paterfamilias), called the tablinum. At the end of the house was the peristillium – an open courtyard where children were playing and the household was walking. Peristylium were usually decorated with fountains, and sometimes surrounded by additional rooms or dining rooms. The courtyard was connected with culina (kitchen) and with exedra, which is a large room decorated with mosaics in the floor. Some of the domus had at the very end a separate green area calledhortus.

In another video, we can admire the house of Domina Longina (55-126 CE), wife of the emperor Domitian. The empress’s house was larger than the typical Roman domus. He even had a bathhouse (thermae).