Ch 7 · Lesson 25Latin · Chapter 7 · Lesson 25 · Themed review
Domus et dies
The Roman house and the Roman day: door or gate, wall or wall, and Martial's hour-by-hour account of how the day was spent.
Practise this lesson
16-word session
A quick mix of exercises - recognise, recall, type and build each word. Miss one and it comes back round until it sticks.
Worth knowing
Domus et dies: the Roman house and the Roman day
Latin has two words for most parts of a house, and the difference usually matters. This session sorts them out, then follows a Roman through the day.
Where Romans lived
A was a town house for one well-off family. Most people in the city lived in an , an apartment block: the same word as island, because the block stood with streets on every side. The blocks grew so tall that Augustus, according to Strabo, barred new buildings on the public streets from reaching seventy feet.
| Latin | Meaning | Not to be confused with |
|---|---|---|
| house, home | |
| wall of a city or an enclosure | |
| gate, a city or large entrance | |
| roof, and so a house | |
| bed, and the couch you ate on |
means at home, and with no preposition means home as a destination: , he came home.
The day, hour by hour
Romans split daylight into twelve from sunrise to sunset, so a summer hour was longer than a winter one. The poet Martial (4.8) gives a working day:
| Hour | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1st-2nd | callers greet their patron at his house |
| 3rd | the lawyers start talking |
| to the 5th | the city works |
| 6th | rest; midday is |
| 7th | work ends |
| 8th | exercise |
| 9th | dinner, the cena, eaten lying on the |
Lunch, , was light, and you meet the word in chapter 10. The big meal came in the afternoon, and a guest, a , came for that.
Try it
, . - The house was big, but the roof was bad.
. - The slave opens the door.
ad . - At the first hour many people come to the house.
in . - At night there is a fire in the house.
Sources: Martial, Epigrams 4.8; Strabo, Geography 5.3.7 (the height limit).