How did you find yourself on streets of ancient Rome?
Insula in the port of Ostia
Nowadays, street names and house numbers are used to identify a place of residence. It is a simple and effective system, but the ancient Romans did not use it. In small towns, finding a given house by a stranger might not have been a big challenge. Such a person was certainly helped by local residents and guided him accordingly.
However, in large cities, such as Rome, achieving the goal could be a much more serious challenge. In Rome, some of the larger and more important streets had names, but most did not. Hence, the Romans determined the location of their houses by giving characteristic places where their buildings were located, e.g. statues, baths, temples, even single trees.
Sometimes houses on streets without names were located, for example, on the way to landmarks. Even if the streets had names, it was necessary to provide the visitor with characteristic points to find his way around the city.
A good tip was also to provide a place of residence for famous and important figures in the city’s political and cultural life. However, It should be emphasised that the best way to find a house was to ask passers-by.
