Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity

Explores the wider cultural framework in which we should study the housing in the Greek and Roman worlds.

Lisa C. Nevett (Author)

9780521783361, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 August 2010

198 pages, 38 b/w illus. 3 maps
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

"This is a welcome interpretation of the chiefly material (archaeological) evidence for households from eighth century BCE Greece through fourth century CE Roman times. The author provides an insightful view of the ordinary activities of daily life in the classical world through its material evidence and clearly shows how much detail is learned from this cultural, sociological, and historical approach." --Choice

Housing is shaped by culturally-specific expectations about the kinds of architecture and furnishings that are appropriate; about how and where different activities should be carried out; and by and with whom. It is those expectations, and the wider social and cultural systems of which they are a part, that are explored in this volume. At the same time, the book as a whole argues two larger points: first, that while houses, households and families have in recent years become increasingly important as objects of inquiry in Greek and Roman contexts, their potential as sources of information about broader social-historical issues has yet to be fully realised; and second, that greater weight and independence should be given to material culture as a source for studying ancient history. The book will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students and scholars.

Introduction
1. Domestic space and social organisation
2. House form and social complexity: the transformation of early Iron Age Greece
3. A space for 'hurling the furniture'?: the andron and the development of Greek domestic symposia
4. Housing and cultural identity: Delos, between Greece and Rome
5. Seeing the domus behind the dominus in Roman Pompeii: artefact distributions as evidence for the whole household
6. Housing as symbol: elite self-presentation in North Africa under Roman rule
Epilogue. Domestic space and social organisation in classical antiquity
Glossary
Period names and dates referred to in this book.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]