An insula
Usually Romans didn't have apartments. The way ancient Romans lived is very different from ours. We have apartments and tend to live mostly in our houses, Romans mostly lived outside. Common people had a lodging, which could have been in an insula or in a loft in the family’s workshop or shop. This lodging was small very minimal, with almost no furniture. There was a chest or two where to place valuables and stored clothes, several pegs where to hang clothes in use, winter capes, and other things, probably a couple of stools, maybe a bed (those who can’t fit on the bed can sleep on a mat or mattress on the floor), and a brazier that would be used to heat the room in winter and to warm up or even cook food.
Shop fronts at Rome’s Trajan Market. The upper window on top of the shop front opens on the lofts where the families could sleep
Multi-room homes were only for the rich. An insula could have a few multi-room apartments on the first floor for wealthier families that weren’t rich enough to afford a domus (a separate house of their own). Even these multi-room apartments were nothing like we imagine, as they had no bathroom or kitchen. A corner of a side room or of a corridor could be used to prepare food, but very little cooking was done at home. And even the very rich had very little furniture and tiny rooms, although their homes were richly decorated.
Luxury bedroom in a Domus, probably this room boasted also a chest and a sitting stool, beside the bed and the stepping stool
Romans lived their city just like we do our homes. Their homes were essentially their bedrooms. When a Roman woke up the first thing he or she did was going to the public latrine to relieve himself or herself. You could also use the family’s pot, which was emptied (usually by one of the women) by pouring its contents into the latrine, or men could use the special jars left out by the dyers to collect urine, which was collected to make ammonia for their trade.
Yes, each hole is an individual WC
Next you started working, after eating a piece of bread dipped in heavily diluted wine for breakfast. Shops and other businesses were open from immediately after dawn until midday, the afternoon was usually leisure time. People visited the public baths for washing and to chat with their friends. At the baths you could also get shaved, receive a massage, play games, exercise. Entry at the baths was so cheap that anyone could afford it, including slaves, at least a few times a week, so the personal hygiene levels in Rome were pretty good. With just a tiny amount, such as a coin or two, you could use the sauna (calidarium), the warm room (tepidarium), and the cold water pool. One would bring some non edible oil (often quite rancid for the poor, delicately perfumed for the rich) and a strigile, a special scraper, used for washing and leave the place clean and fresh. Extra services, like the barber or the masseur were a bit more: those who could afford them brought a few coins along.
An ancient Roman bath
After the bath, men would visit the Forum (in early years, to take part actively to the city’s administration, and then later on, to hear the news and talk about politics). By sunset most people would return home for dinner and sleeping.
Most commonly people ate food bought from the thermopolium, which offered a variety of cooked foods as well as wine. Families would buy their food, eat it on the premise, or bring it home and share it with the family. Foods included porridges, bread, lots of vegetables (both raw and cooked), eggs, fresh cheese (basically a curd), and occasionally fish and meat. The food was bought once a day, eaten hot at noon. Leftovers would be warmed on the brazier for dinner, which also included more bread, cheese, eggs, and olives.
So, basically ancient Romans used their city like we use our apartments. They slept in their homes, but went to the bathroom, washed, had lunches, and socialized in public spaces outside the home.
Image source Google
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