San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-02-18
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE,
Domestic Designs which Preceded the
Era of Public Grandeur.

Domestic Designs which Preceded the
Era of Public Grandeur.
So great has been the destruction in
Rome of many palaces and public monu-
ments, even within the first three centu-
ries of our era and of course much more
so since, that it is very difficult even to
trace the plans of some of the more i'm
portant which were known to have ex-
listed, though it is impossible to make ex.
cavations anywhere in the sacred city
without coming upon strata after strata OF
houses erected at various periods. TIC
study her domestic architecture, there.
fore, we have to go to Pompeii, second,
or even third rate city, perhaps, but
which, by provision of nature, has been
preserved in great part down to our own
day.
1t is true that all the roofs and vaults
are gone, and of the walls only from ten to
twelve feet remain, but with these and the
description of various authors it is possible
to reconstruct in our imagination the gen.
eral appearance of the city before il was
overwhelmed by the last fatal eruption of
Vesuvius in the year A. ID. 70, which buried
the city in a shower of ashes, pumice and
stone in layer twelve to fourteen feet
deep OF the temple and other public
buildings it is not worth speaking, as they
are of far less Importance than those in
Rome and elsewhere, but of the private
houses and villas of the upper and lower
classes there exists an ineXhaustible sup
ply, from which the following general ar,
rangelments can be summarized.
The more important houses were divided
into two parts, the public and the private
portion. OF the former an entrance vesti-
bule led to the atrium, a large hall open in
the center to the sky, the covered portion
having a roof sometimes supported by
columns surrounding the impluvium IA
marble basin under the compluvium, or
open space in the roof Round the atrium,
and lighted from it were series of cham
bers, sleeping rooms for the male guests,
recesses for conversation and the tablinum
or sitting room.
The private portion consisted of a peri
style around an open court, in which there
was a small garden; the triclinium or din
ing room; the pinacotheca or picture room:
the bibliotheca or library, and suites OF
small chambers used as bedrooms. Be
side these there was generally a court sur
rounded by the Offices, the kitchen, bake
house and storerooms. All these rooms de.
rived their light from the internal courts,
the exterior of the block forming the house
being invariably occupied by shops, in
which sometimes the lord of the mansion
kept retainers, who sold the produce of his
farms and lands.
From the walls which still remain erect,
we find that they were all richly decorated
in color, painted in arabesque and occa-
sionally with landscapes, figure subjects
and wreaths of flowers; the columns were
of marble or painted in imitation, and the
floors inlaid with mosaic or with small
pieces of marble set in cement. The roofs,
being all in wood have persisted, but their
coverings in tiles, with the various orna-
ments on the ridges of the roofs, are still
found in the excavations. Such portions
of Herculaneum-a town close by-as it has
been found possible to eXcavate (the lava
which overwhelmed it being of great hard
ness) shows even finer work than at Pom
peii, and those remains which occasionally
are found in Rome show a far higher quail
ity of work than that found in either Of
these cities.-Cassell's New Popular Edu
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