Insula (Roman city) explained

See also: History of urban planning.

The Latin word insula (; : insulae) was used in Roman cities to mean either a city block in a city plan (i.e. a building area surrounded by four streets)^[1] or later a type of apartment building that occupied such a city block specifically in Rome and nearby Ostia.^{[2] [3]} The latter type of Insulae were known to be prone to fire and rife with disease.^[4]

A standard Roman city plan^[5] was based on a grid of orthogonal (laid out on right angles) streets.^[6] It was founded on ancient Greek city models, described by Hippodamus. It was used especially when new cities were established, e.g. in Roman coloniae.

The streets of each city were designated the decumani (east–west-oriented) and cardines (north–south). The principal streets, the decumanus maximus and cardo maximus, intersected at or close to the forum, around which the most important public buildings were sited.

Sources and further reading

• The Insula IX Excavation: http://www.reading.ac.uk/silchester/town-life/insula_ix.php
• Pompeii Insula 9: http://donovanimages.co.nz/proxima-veritati/insula-9/index.html

Notes and References

1. Book: Chaitanya Iyyer . Land Management . 1 December 2009 . Global India Publications . 978-93-80228-48-8 . 147.
2. Book: Gregory S. Aldrete. Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii and Ostia. 2004. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-0-313-33174-9. 78–80.
3. Book: Stephen L. Dyson. Rome: A Living Portrait of an Ancient City. 1 August 2010. JHU Press. 978-1-4214-0101-0. 217–9.
4. Book: Goldsworthy, Adrian. Augustus: First Emperor of Rome. 28 August 2014. Yale University Press. 978-0-300-21666-0. en. 19.
5. Book: Macaulay, David. City: A Story of Roman Planning and Engineering. registration. Boston. Houghton-Mifflin. 1974.
6. Web site: Roman Engineers: A Plan for a Small Roman City.