La arquitectura privada en la antigua Roma: insulae y domus desde una perspectiva juridica y técnica

Abstract

This study offers a comparative analysis of two key residential models in ancient Rome: the domus and the insula, understood not merely as architectural forms but as legal and social expressions of Roman urban organization. Far from being simple physical structures, both typologies vividly reflect how power, social inequality, and legal norms were inscribed in domestic space.

Drawing on an interdisciplinary methodology that combines legal, technical, and archaeological analysis, and through a critical review of both primary and secondary sources—including archaeological, urban, and contemporary historical studies—the work provides an integrated understanding of architectural design, the legal regulations that governed it, and the social context that shaped it.

The study's findings clearly demonstrate that Roman law regulated access to, use of, and transmission of housing in a socially stratified manner, thereby reinforcing existing hierarchies. The domus, protected by a more robust legal framework, offered its owners both patrimonial and symbolic security, consolidating their social status. In contrast, the insulae, subject to more lax regulation, were more vulnerable to speculative practices and substandard living conditions. Altogether, this work provides a complex, multidimensional reading of Roman housing, understood as a legal, technical, and symbolic space. The findings allow for a deeper understanding of urban life in antiquity and the ways in which the built environment articulated power relations and social belonging in Roman society.