Since the early 1990s our knowledge of ancient housing and our understanding of its significance in social terms have transformed rapidly. Research in this field has proceeded along a separate path from work on Greek and Roman families (discussed in Harlow and Parkin, THE FAMILY). Historically, attention focused on relatively straightforward questions: what did houses look like, and how were their interior spaces used at different times and in different places? Recently, however, there has been a shift in emphasis as scholars have realized that studying housing offers a new means to explore a variety of broader, more complex social and cultural issues which are largely inaccessible through traditional research methods. It has become clear that although ancient houses may seem familiar to us because they provided space for some of the same activities as modern, Western homes, there are also significant conceptual differences. For example, the distinction between “public” and “private” which is now so central was not drawn in the same way in antiquity, when a house could also be important for storing agricultural produce, for craft production and for trade. At the same time, in addition to the basic nuclear family, ancient households often incorporated a variety of slaves and other dependents. The central role played by houses and households in ancient life means they can shed light on a range of wider questions. This chapter reviews some major directions taken by research since the late nineteenth century and explores the surviving evidence for ancient housing, highlighting similarities and differences between the approaches to Greek and to Roman material and looking at the relative emphasis placed on texts, archaeological and iconographic sources.
World History
