Insula
The insula is the name given to one of the types of housing in ancient Rome.
The habitat in Rome is divided into two main categories:
- Family members belonging to the dominant media have beautiful property, domus , more or less large and luxurious in terms of their fortune, which must reflect the social status and dignity of their owners. These domus not include a single family unit headed by a pater familias.
- As to the second major category of habitat, the insula, it is a multi-storey house designed to accommodate more modestly many families on small areas.
Summary |
History
The insulae are residential structures that appear at the end of the second century BC. AD , inspired by the tall houses of Carthage , which reached up to seven storeys. They multiply throughout the end of the Republican period to become a feature of the urban center of Rome at the beginning of the Empire.
The appearance of these buildings
Multiplying the number of insulae in Rome is due primarily to the increase of the Roman population. The population of Rome has indeed been rising steadily during the first centuries of the history of the city , first because the rate of population growth was exponential , secondly because of political and economic phenomena such as the laws of wheat production II centuryBC. AD , the naturalization of Italy or the pax romana introduced by Augustus , and the extension of the Empire , which led to an increase in immigration.
This increase of population has gradually concentrated in the urban center of the capital, and it took accommodate the growing number of newcomers.
On the other hand, if we admit that the city covered an area of 2000 hectares at the beginning of the Empire , this is an area sufficient to accommodate an estimated population of 1.2 million people, especially since all sectors were not conducive to home construction. Must be ruled out mostly all the places reserved for public buildings, including the Roman Forum , the area contained within the bed of the Tiber , too marshy to be developed, all areas of gardens, the Champ de Mars which 200 ha are unsuitable for (at least for everything related habitat) respect for the gods.
From the Augustan period, Hill Palatine became the preserve of the emperor and his family. The pressure arising from the need of space thus creates the need to find new solutions. In addition, the city can expand in width. There is no need to build too much distance from social and religious movements are restricted because given the lack of effective means of transport. The only possibility is to build upwards.
"Considering the importance of the city and the extreme population density, it is necessary that we multiply in countless homes. As housing for single ground floor can not accommodate this large population in the city, it was, given this situation, the use of high buildings. "
- Vitruvius , De Architectura, Book II, 8, 17
Under Constantine I , Rome 46000 insulae account for 2000 domus Insula, a term of many meanings The meaning of the word insula has undergone several changes before designating the "residential". The etymology of "island" (mid-water), we move to the concept of "plot isolated by roads (vici) and the more precise meaning of" land with apartment buildings (by analogy to the name field). An insula is a residential community, which appeared early in the planning of Rome and it is widely developed. In many works, the insula is a building or group of buildings bounded by a track (vocal range) for a walk around In this meaning are compounded by others, which proves the polysemantic the term. Often, in cases where we mention the insulae, the opposition appears canonical domus / insula In the legal texts of the late Roman Empire , the meaning of the insula is not unequivocal: it is primarily a register entity, that is to say tax , a complex of real estate a certain size forming a unique property divided into sections of varying sizes that can be leased or transferred by inheritance . The insulae are architecturally unit blocks but contain parts or portions of which extend the functions and the destination can be quite diverse. The distinction insula / domus due to other passages of text: "appellatione insulam quoque domus domini iunctam empty if pretio uno cum domo fuisset comparative" . The different parts are leased to tenants under contract (locatio conductio) . In all these cases, the term insula can not meet the definition of an entire city block. Throughout the Empire , the tenements, which as we have seen can be described as insular provided to keep in mind the definitions and legal space, never ceased to multiply. In architectural terms, we can distinguish three broad categories of insulae, although the classification is quite general and there is certainly a larger number of solutions. In these insulae ground floor consists of tabernae (shops) and the upper floors are apartments rented independently. It is the oldest documented model and most common. In tabernae, stairs lead to a cut that serves home to the dealer that is rarely the owner of the shop where he works. In all cases, whether free or slave worker, the tenant of the shop had at his disposal a room where her family lived, cooked, ate and slept. These mezzanines offered little privacy and no comfort, space available to its inhabitants was extremely small. Such an insula often includes as many entries as housing units inside. It is therefore usually two or three doors serving the first, second and third floor. The insulae were largely inhabited by people of lower classes than those who lived in the domus. The second type of building is represented by insulae consist entirely of apartments for rent. These apartments had the prestige and benefits of a stately home, and they are also referred to as domus cenaculae in opposition to upper floors. The last type of insula derives its peculiarity that it is surrounded by a portico. This model construction has occurred after the burning of Rome under Nero ( 64 ). The purpose of these portals was, if we are to believe Suetonius , to limit the spread of fires . This appendix is grafted onto the facades protect pedestrians who made their purchases in tabernae any falling objects, and it provided a sound basis for the construction of terraces (Solaria). Views from the outside, all these insulae had a resemblance: the floors were usually distributed symmetrically, stairs to access upper floors. In many buildings, access to higher floors was by means of scales that insularius (the building manager) had the option to withdraw if the tenant does not pay his rent. The apartments overlook the streets were filled with the broadest of loggias (pergulae) or wooden balconies (maenianae), which are sometimes found support beams embedded in the walls. Sometimes they are built of brick, and are based on a series of barrel vaults supported by large beams of travertine. Inside the first floor Inside the second floor Different types of insulae
The insulae to tabernae
The insulae without tabernae
This kind of insulae was much less common because the shops were vital to the economy of the city.
In this case, the ground floor is no longer limited to stores, but in private rental, which explains that the first windows are placed two meters above the ground: it was the only way to preserve the privacy of its occupants.
The ground-floor buildings of this kind was often luxurious and occupied by a single owner. Only the characters rich could afford such a price could hire up to 30,000 sesterces per annum. The gantry insulae
See also
Related articles
Bibliography
Notes
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5, rated)
Loading ...