Movements and Views. Some Observations on the Organization of Space in Roman Domestic Architecture from the Late Republic to Early Medieval Times

Abstract

The atrium and the central peristyle house are two basic types in Roman domestic architecture. They can be followed from the sixth/fifth centuries BC to the fifth/sixth centuries AD, the second type overlapping the first in the early Imperial period. In both types of houses two recurring and related ordering principles in the organization of spaces can be observed: movement patterns and visual axes. While the use of the visual, or “deep-view” axis appears to be modified over the centuries in relation to the manipulation of social self-advertisement performed by the elite, the architecturally conditioned movement patterns appear to remain constant.