Ancient Greek Houses
As one of the first great civilizations, there are many aspects of ancient Greek civilization that are amazing. Ancient Greek houses are one such interesting aspect.
Ancient Greek Houses
The first reference related to ancient Greek houses is dated back to the 5th and 6th centuries B.C., depicting houses basically made up of 2 or 3 rooms, sometimes built around an open-air courtyard. Most of them were built of clay bricks or stones, although some houses made of wood are recorded in the history of Greece.
The roofs of the Greek houses were covered with reeds or tiles. Rich people and poor people had different types of houses. The houses of the riches generally had one or two stories, including a kitchen, a room for bathing and additional rooms as a sitting area, dining and even orgy's room.
The floors of the Greek rooms were tiled, carefully created using clay, stones, or pebbles to keep them cool. In winter, fires in metal baskets were placed on floors when weather was too cold. This was needed because Greeks were usually barefoot at home. Some floors made of pebbles were created as mosaics, collecting pebbles of similar size along the seashore and then coloring the pieces to make arrangements in sand following intricate patterns or picturing particular scenes. The rich men often had in their house both floors and walls with mosaics made of pebbles.
Courtyards were important in Greece as they were the center of family life. Women spent most of the time outdoors in the privacy of their home's courtyard rather than outside their homes. They were allowed to leave their houses alone, but for a very short period of time.
All Greek houses had high walls and a strong gate, however, family homes and temples were not the only structures in Greece. Other buildings used a variety of beautiful columns in different styles to support their roofs. Styles of columns were determined by the different classical orders. Columns were of the Doric order, the simplest column style found in most non-religions buildings mainland, Ionic order, slightly more elaborate than Doric and used mainly in the Ionian Greek territory, and the Corinthian, the most sophisticated and in use since 5th century B.C.
Ancient Greek houses represent just another aspect of the civilization based on the Greek City States. For their time, they represent an advancement over many other peoples of the times.