Book contents
- Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Kinship ‘In the Halls’
- 2 Domesticating the Ancient House
- 3 Mind the Gap
- 4 A Family Affair
- 5 Textiles in Alkestis’ thalamos
- 6 Architectural Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Architecture
- 7 The Reconstruction of an Agricultural Landscape
- 8 Mudbricks and Papyri from the Desert Sand
- 9 Housing and Community
- 10 The Elusive vestibulum
- 11 Living in the Liminal
- 12 Experiencing Sense, Place and Space in the Roman Villa
- 13 Houses and Time
- 14 Spaces of Desire
- 15 A Response: ‘Using the Material and Written Sources’ Revisited
- Index
- References
10 - The Elusive vestibulum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 July 2022
Book contents
- Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Kinship ‘In the Halls’
- 2 Domesticating the Ancient House
- 3 Mind the Gap
- 4 A Family Affair
- 5 Textiles in Alkestis’ thalamos
- 6 Architectural Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Architecture
- 7 The Reconstruction of an Agricultural Landscape
- 8 Mudbricks and Papyri from the Desert Sand
- 9 Housing and Community
- 10 The Elusive vestibulum
- 11 Living in the Liminal
- 12 Experiencing Sense, Place and Space in the Roman Villa
- 13 Houses and Time
- 14 Spaces of Desire
- 15 A Response: ‘Using the Material and Written Sources’ Revisited
- Index
- References
Summary
The archetypical elite Roman house (domus) was entered through the vestibulum. In what is the locus classicus, Aulus Gellius defines the vestibulum as a ‘vacant place before the entrance, midway between the door of the house and the street’ (Gellius 16.5). More than a hundred classical texts inform us about the characteristics of vestibula, but for all this textual evidence, ‘real’ vestibula have been remarkably hard to find in the archaeological record. This chapter offers a study of Roman domestic vestibula on the basis of both literary and archaeological sources. In the first part, it is argued that most architectural rooms or spaces that have been labelled as vestibula do not correspond to vestibula as described in the textual evidence. In the second part, a number of reasons for this mismatch are reviewed, after which new ways of dealing with both kinds of evidence are offered, to overcome the discrepancies between the sources.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Housing in the Ancient Mediterranean WorldMaterial and Textual Approaches, pp. 322 - 353Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Allison, P. M. (1997). Artefact distribution and spatial function in Pompeian houses. In Rawson, B. and Weaver, P., eds., The Roman Family in Italy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 321–54.Google Scholar
Allison, P. M. (2001). Using the material and written sources: turn of the millennium approaches to Roman domestic space. American Journal of Archaeology 105, 181–208.Google Scholar
Allison, P. M. (2004). Pompeian Households: An Analysis of the Material Culture. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Ashby, T. and Rushforth, G. R. (1915). Roman Malta. Journal of Roman Studies 5, 23–80.Google Scholar
Badel, C. (2007). L’audience chez les sénateurs. In Caillet, J. and Sot, M., eds., L’audience: rituels et cadres spatiaux dans l’Antiquité et le Haut Moyen Age. Paris: Picard, 141–64.Google Scholar
Barnabei, F. (1901). La villa Pompeiana di P. Fannio Sinistore scoperta presso Boscoreale. Rome: Tipografia della R. Accademia dei Lincei.Google Scholar
Bergmann, B. A. et al. (2010). Roman Frescoes from Boscoreale: The Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor in Reality and Virtual Reality. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.Google Scholar
Berry, J. (2016). Boundaries and control in the Roman house. Journal of Roman Archaeology 25, 125–41.Google Scholar
Cambi, N. (1987). Salona und seine Nekropolen. In von Hesberg, H. and Zanker, P., eds., Römische Gräberstrassen: Selbstdarstellung, Status, Standard. Kolloquium in München vom 28. bis 30. Oktober 1985. Munich: Beck, 251–80.Google Scholar
Carandini, A. et al. (1985). Settefinestre: una villa schiavistica nell’Etruria romana. Modena: Panini.Google Scholar
Carucci, M. (2007). The Romano-African Domus: Studies in Space, Decoration and Function. BAR International Series 1731. Oxford: BAR.Google Scholar
Cecamore, C. (2004). Le figure e lo spazio sulla base di Sorrento. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 111, 105–41.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. R. (2013). Domus/single family house. In Ulrich, R. B. and Quenemoen, C. K., eds., A Companion to Roman Architecture. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 342–62.Google Scholar
Coarelli, F. (2012). Palatium: il Palatino dalle origini all’impero. Rome: Edizioni Quasar.Google Scholar
Cooper, K. (2007). Closely watched households: visibility, exposure and private power in the Roman domus. Past & Present 197, 3–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cotton, M. A. and Métraux, G. P. R. (1985). The San Rocco villa at Francolise. London: British School at Rome and Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. (1971). Fishbourne: A Roman Palace and Its Garden. London: Society of Antiquaries of London.Google Scholar
De Franceschini, M. (1998). Le ville romane della X Regio (Venetia et Histria): catalogo e carta archeologica dell’insediamento romano nel territorio, dall’età repubblicana al tardo impero. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
De Franciscis, A. (1988). La casa di C. Iulius Polybius. Rivista di Studi Pompeiani 2, 15–36.Google Scholar
Dickmann, J. A. (1999). Domus frequentata: anspruchsvolles Wohnen im pompejanischen Stadthaus. Munich: Verlag Dr. F. Pfeil.Google Scholar
Dyer, T. H. (1871). Pompeii: Its History, Buildings, and Antiquities, 3rd ed. London: Bell.Google Scholar
Eck, W. (1997). Rome and the outside world: senatorial families and the world they lived in. In Rawson, B. and Weaver, P., eds., The Roman Family in Italy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 73–99.Google Scholar
Finsen, H. (1962). Domus Flavia sur le Palatin: Aula Regia – Basilica. Munksgaard: Hafniae.Google Scholar
Finsen, H. (1969). La résidence de Domitien sur le Palatin. Copenhagen: Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. Supplementum 5.Google Scholar
Förtsch, R. (1993). Archäologischer Kommentar zu den Villenbriefen des jüngeren Plinius. Mainz: Zabern.Google Scholar
Goldbeck, F. (2010). Salutationes: die Morgenbegrüßungen in Rom in der Republik und der frühen Kaiserzeit. Berlin: Akademie.Google Scholar
Greenough, J. B. (1890). The fauces of the Roman house. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 1, 1–12.Google Scholar
Guidobaldi, M. P. (2000). Le abitazioni private e l’urbanistica. In Giardina, A., ed., Storia di Roma dall’antichità a oggi: Roma antica. Rome: Laterza, 133–61.Google Scholar
Guilhembet, J.-P. (2007). Normes romaines et résidences pompéiennes: remarques historiographiques. In Laforges, M. O., ed., La norme à Pompéi. Ier s. avant – Ier s. après J.-C., colloque de Lyon 17/11/2004 (Contributi di Archeologia Vesuviana III). Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 93–107.Google Scholar
Hales, S. (2003). The Roman House and Social Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hartnett, J. (2008). Si quis hic sederit: streetside benches and urban society in Pompeii. American Journal of Archaeology 112, 91–119.Google Scholar
Hartnett, J. (2017). The Roman Street: Urban Life and Society in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hellmann, M. C. (1992). Recherches sur le vocabulaire de l’architecture grecque, d’après les inscriptions de Délos. Paris: Diffusion De Boccard.Google Scholar
Hurst, H. (1988). Nuovi scavi nell’area di Santa Maria Antiqua. Archeologia Laziale 9, 13–17.Google Scholar
Lafon, X. (1995). Dehors ou dedans? Le vestibulum dans les domus aristocratiques à la fin de la République et au début de l’Empire. Klio 77, 405–23.Google Scholar
Lauritsen, M. T. (2011). Doors in domestic space at Pompeii at Herculaneum: a preliminary study. In Mladenović, D. and Russell, B., eds., TRAC 2010: Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxford: Oxbow, 59–75.Google Scholar
Lauter, H. (2009). Die Fassade des Hauses IX 1,20 in Pompeji: Gestalt und Bedeutung. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.Google Scholar
Leach, E. W. (1993). The entrance room in the house of Iulius Polybius and the nature of the Roman vestibulum. In Moormann, E. M., ed., Functional and Spatial Analysis of Wall Painting: Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress on Ancient Wall Painting, Amsterdam, 8–12 September 1992. Leiden: Stichting Babesch, 23–28.Google Scholar
Leach, E. W. (1997). Oecus on Ibycus: investigating the vocabulary of the Roman house. In Bon, S. E. and Jones, R., eds., Sequence and Space in Pompeii. Oxford: Oxbow, 50–72.Google Scholar
Lega, C. (1989–90). Il Colosso di Nerone. Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 93, 339–378.Google Scholar
Lorenzatti, S. (1998). La domus di Giove Fulminatore. Bolletino di Archeologia 49–50, 79–98.Google Scholar
Lugli, G. (1915). Le antiche ville dei Colli Albani prima della occupazione domizianea. Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 42, 251–316.Google Scholar
Mar, R. (2009). La Domus Flavia, utilizzo e funzioni del palazzo di Domiziano. In Coarelli, F., ed., Divus Vespasianus: il bimillenario dei Flavi. Milan: Electa, 250–63.Google Scholar
Marquardt, J. (1864). Römische Privatalterthümer (erste Abteilung). Leipzig: Weidmann.Google Scholar
Nevett, L. (1997). Perceptions of domestic space in Roman Italy. In Rawson, B. and Weaver, P., eds., The Roman Family in Italy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 281–98.Google Scholar
Nevett, L. (2010) Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pesando, F. and Guidobaldi, M. P. (2006). Pompei, Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae (Guide archeologische Laterza). Rome: Laterza.Google Scholar
Platts, H. (2018). The development and role of the Roman aristocratic domus. In Holleran, C. and Claridge, A., eds., A Companion to the City of Rome. London: Wiley Blackwell, 299–316.Google Scholar
Proudfoot, E. (2013). Secondary doors in entranceways at Pompeii: reconsidering access and the ‘view from the street’. In Bokern, A. et al., eds., TRAC 2012: Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxford: Oxbow, 91–115.Google Scholar
Riggsby, A. M. (1997). ‘Public’ and ‘private’ in Roman culture: the case of the cubiculum. Journal of Roman Archaeology 10, 36–56.Google Scholar
Royo, M. (1999). Domus imperatoriae: topographie, formation et imaginaire des palais impériaux du Palatin. Rome: École Française de Rome.Google Scholar
Ruffia, E. (2005). Le ‘Grotte di Catullo’ a Sirmione: guida alla visita della villa romana e del museo. Milan: Edizioni ET.Google Scholar
Saller, R. P. (1982). Personal Patronage under the Early Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Speksnijder, S. A. (2015). Beyond ‘public’ and ‘private’: accessibility and visibility during salutationes. In Tuori, K. and Nissin, L., eds., Public and Private in the Roman House and Society. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 102. Portsmouth, RI: JRA, 87–99.Google Scholar
Sutherland, C. H. V., Carson, R. A. G., Carradice, I., Buttrey, T.V., Mattingly, H., Amandry, M. and Burnett, A., A. (1984). The Roman Imperial Coinage, 2nd ed. London: Spink and Son.Google Scholar
Tamm, B. (1964). Ist der Castortempel das vestibulum zu dem Palast des Caligula gewesen? Eranos 62, 146–69.Google Scholar
Torelli, M. (1993). s.v. “Area Palatina”, Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae (Volume Primo, A–C), ed. Steinby, E. M.. Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 119.Google Scholar
Van Deman, E. B. (1924). The House of Caligula. American Journal of Archaeology 28, 368–98.Google Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (1994). Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (1997). Rethinking the Roman atrium house. In Laurence, R. and Wallace-Hadrill, A., eds., Domestic Space in the Roman World: Pompeii and Beyond. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 22. Portsmouth, RI: JRA, 219–40.Google Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2001). Emperors and houses in Rome. In Dixon, S., ed., Childhood, Class and Kin in the Roman World. London: Routledge, 128–43.Google Scholar
Widrig, W. M. (1980). Two sites on the ancient Via Gabina. In Painter, K., ed., Roman Villas in Italy: Recent Excavations and Research. London: British Museum, 119–40.Google Scholar
Winterling, A. A. (1999). Aula Caesaris: Studien zur Institutionalisierung des römischen Kaiserhofes in der Zeit von Augustus bis Commodus (31 v. Chr.–192 n. Chr.). Munich: R. Oldenbourg.Google Scholar
Wiseman, T. P. (1982). Pete nobiles amicos: poets and patrons in Late Republican Rome. In Gold, B., ed., Literary Patronage in Greece and Rome. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 29–49.Google Scholar
Wiseman, T. P. (1987). Conspicui postes tectaque digna deo: the public image of aristocratic and imperial houses in the Late Republic and Early Empire. In L’Urbs: espace urbain et histoire (Ier siècle av. J.-C. – IIIe siècle ap. J.-C.). Actes du colloque international organisé par le Centre national de la récherche scientifique et l’École française de Rome (Rome, 8–12 mai 1985). Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 393–413.Google Scholar
Wiseman, T. P. (2012). Where did they live (e.g., Cicero, Octavius, Augustus)? Journal of Roman Archaeology 25, 656–72.Google Scholar
Wiseman, T. P. (2013). The Palatine, from Evander to Elagabalus. Journal of Roman Studies 103, 234–68.Google Scholar
Zanker, P. (1988). The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Zanker, P. (2002). Domitian’s palace on the Palatine and the imperial image. In Bowman, A. K. Cotton, H. M., Goodman, M. and Price, S., eds., Representations of Empire: Rome and the Mediterranean World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 105–30.Google Scholar