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Remains of the top floors of an insula near the Capitolium and the Aracoeli in Rome.
In Roman architecture, insulae (singular insula) were large apartment buildings where the lower and middle classes of Romans (the plebs) dwelled. The floor at ground level was used for tavernas, shops and businesses with living space on the higher floors.

The urbanization of the larger Roman cities caused a great demand for housing which was within a comparable vicinity of the city center and real estate was therefore at a premium. As such, private houses were a luxury which only the wealthy could afford. This led to a majority of the inhabitants of the inner city living in apartment and tenement housing called insulae.

These houses were often constructed at minimal expenses for speculative purposes. The insulae were therefore of poor construction and prone to fire and collapse, as described by Juvenal. Because of the inherent safety issues and extra flights of stairs, the uppermost floors were the least desirable, and thus the cheapest to rent. Living quarters were typically smallest in the building's uppermost floors, with the largest and most expensive apartments being located on the bottom floors. The insulae could be up to six or seven stories high (some were even 8 or 9 stories high- these very tall buildings were being built before the height restrictions). A single insula could accommodate over 40 people in only 400 square meters (4305 sq. feet), however the entire structure usually had about 6 to 7 apartments, each had about 200 square meters (2152 sq. feet).

Because of the dangers of fire, and collapse, the height of the insulae were restricted by Emperor Augustus to 70 Roman feet (20.7 m), and again by Emperor Nero down to 60 Roman feet (17.75m) after the Great Fire of Rome. There may have been up to 50,000 insulae, as compared to only 2000 domus in the late 200 A.D, when the city was in decline, and the population was smaller.

The great Roman orator Cicero was a notorious slum lord who owned numerous insulae in the city. When one collapsed from poor construction, Cicero purportedly stated that he was happy that he could charge higher rents for a new building than the collapsed one. [1]

Like upper class homes, many insulae did have running water or sanitation as described by Strabo. Despite accordances against it, many residents would pour trash and human excrements out the windows and into the surrounding streets and alleys.

The name of the "insulae" was derived from the Latin for islands. They were called so because of the way they looked from a bird's eye view. It would appear these buildings were spaced out like islands (hence the name), while being surrounded by road.

The Romans were the first civilization to utilize flats and apartments.

References

1. ^ [Aldrete, Gregory "The Roman City p 80]

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Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture.
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Insula is the Latin word for "island".

Insula may also mean:
  • An insulae (Roman building) with several stories; the lowest floor was used for shops and the higher for residence (the higher, the cheaper)
  • Ínsula Barataria

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worldwide view of the subject.
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An apartment building, block of flats or tenement is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments (US) or flats (UK).
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In Ancient Rome, the plebs were the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian (Latin: plebeius).
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Taverna refers to a small restaurant serving Greek cuisine, not to be confused with "tavern". The Greek word is ταβέρνα and is originally derived from the Latin word taberna ('shed' or 'hut', from tabula
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Urbanization or Urbanisation (see difference in spelling) means the removal of the rural characteristics of a town or area, a process associated with the development of civilisation.
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luxury good is a good for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises, contrast with inferior good and normal good. Luxury goods are said to have high income elasticity of demand: as people become more wealthy, they will buy more and more of the luxury good.
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apartment is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).

The term "apartment" is favored in North America, whereas the term "flat
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Satires are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE.

Juvenal is credited with sixteen known poems divided between five books; all are in the Roman genre of Satire, which, at its most basic in the time of
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Augustus Caesar
Emperor of the Roman Empire

Reign January 16 27 BC – August 19 AD 14
Full name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
Born September 23, 63 BC
Rome, Roman Republic
Died August 19, AD 14 (age 76)
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The ancient Roman units of measurement were built on the Ellenas system with Kemetian, Avram, and Kiengir influences. The Roman units were generally accurate and well documented.
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Nero
Emperor of the Roman Empire

Nero at Glyptothek, Munich
Reign October 13, 54 – June 9, 68
(Proconsul from 51)
Full name Nero Claudius Caesar
Augustus Germanicus
Born November 15 37
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According to the historian Tacitus, the Great Fire of Rome started on the night of 18 July in the year 64, among the shops clustered around the Circus Maximus.[1] As many Romans lived in wooden houses without masonry, the fire spread quickly through these areas.
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domus was the form of house that wealthy families owned in ancient Rome and almost all the major cities of the Empire. (The middle classes and the poor were housed in crowded apartment blocks, known as insulae, while the country houses of the rich were known as villas).
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Marcus Tullius Cicero

Cicero around age 60, from an ancient marble bust
Born: January 3, 106 BC
Arpinum, Italy
Died: December 7, 43 BC
Formia, Italy
Occupation: Politician, lawyer, orator and philosopher
Nationality: Ancient Roman
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Strabo[1] (Greek: Στράβων; 63/64 BC – ca. AD 24) was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. He is mostly famous for his 17-volume work Geographica
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Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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