Domestic Architecture and Household Relations: Pompeii and Roman Ephesos

Abstract

Domestic architecture has been used by classical archaeologists and historians to trace aspects of social relations in the Roman world. As the context for diverse activities, both private and public, the Roman domus was also a critical locus for domestic relations among members of the nuclear family, dependants such as freedmen and slaves, as well as non-residents. Yet much of the texture of daily life within the household remains beyond our grasp. Through discussion of house types from Pompeii and Ephesos the value and the limitations of this social analysis of domestic architecture is examined, with particular focus on family life.