Houses, Villas, and Palaces in the Roman World [antikvár]

FOREWORD Modern archaeology has made impressive advances in the recovery and study of the private buildings of Greeks and Romans of practically every time and a large variety of places. The Greek house, since Bertha Carr Rider's history was first published,' has come much more sharply into focus and has yielded structures which, however perishable, reflect a sense of dignity, a sensitivity to family needs, and an aesthetic sense quite compatible with the other achievements of the Greek spirit. The sweeping generalization, still repeated in some popular histories, that the Greeks sought the communal civic centre or palaestra or temple compound because their homes were so nondescript and unpleasant has been totally dispelled by the marvellous finds at Olynthus and Delos, and more recently in Attica and Athens itself^ The humble fifth-century shop-dwelling of Simon the Shoemaker, Socrates' pupil, and the atelier home of Mikion the Athenian sculptor, evidence an imexpected degree of utility and comfort. 3 The tradition of ancient Greek house design persists, in evolution, into the present day, often with a startling similarity of attitude to domestic life.'^ There is also a constant sense of living persons in the recovered homes of the ancient Greeks and Romans, an intimacy which transcends time and recreates a family's private travails and prosperity with uncanny detail. The recon-60, 61 structed cubiculum of the Boscoreale Villa in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and the splendidly reconstructed Roman house at Augst (Switzerland) are only a sample of what may be done under skilled direction and with adequate funds.^ The venturesome engineering genius of Hippodamus, the Milesian tovra-planner, and others of the same profession who remain anonymous, revolutionized Greek city plans in fifth-century Hellas and Magna Graecia and undoubtedly sparked off