Roman Furniture

Ancient decorating philosophy often took a minimalistic approach, relying on the frescoes and mosaics rather than the furnishings to add life to a room. Less was more. Consequently, some pieces of furniture served more than one function. For example, little distinction was made between the bed and the couch. Both pieces of furniture looked virtually the same and in many cases one piece was used for both sleeping and sitting. Couches were often made of wood with bronze fittings and could be elaborately decorated. A sleeper either rested his head on cushions, or the wooden headrests built on many examples, such as this one.

Roman Hot Tub (Cauldarium)

Romans loved to take baths, but only the wealthy could afford to have their own tubs. Most citizens went to the local bathhouse to enjoy a good soak and catch up on the local gossip. A bathhouse had three rooms: the tepidarium for a warm bath, the cauldarium for a hot soak, and finally the frigidarium for a cold plunge. Those who could afford it tried to mimic the public bathhouses on a smaller scale. Private bathhouses might contain all the elements of a larger one, or they might have only one tub. It was not uncommon for the wealthy to have running water in their homes, so it was easy to get clean in privacy. This hot tub mimics the cauldarium in the Roman bathhouse for the sims. Add a swimming pool to the room as well so that they have a place to take a plunge after they get warmed up.

Roman Windows

By Rollo

I'm not sure whether I can really call this a set or not, but it certainly is an incredibly useful collection of Roman windows! There is a lack of good Roman build-mode objects for the game and these wonderful windows fit the bill! Ancient Romans were usually not inclined to use many windows in their homes: even the rich limited the number of openings. This had several purposes. First, windows let in the cold and weather. Also, crime could be a very big problem in urban areas. Therefore outside windows were usually small and high to avoid burglary. Instead of windows, well-to-do Romans got their light and air from their spacious peristyles and lofty compluviums. The poor suffered along in the darkness or with what poor windows their insulae might have. Perhaps if they were very lucky, a shuttered balcony might also let in light and air some of the time. These windows ought to be suited to both private residences and larger public buildings like baths and libraries.

LL- The Triclinium Set

By Rollo

This set by the talented Rollo is designed for your Roman dining room, or Triclinium. The ancient Romans ate their dinner reclined on a set of three couches arranged around a central table. A guest's position was determined by their status and relationship to the host. Slaves brought different courses to the table and guests helped themselves with their right hand while reclining on their left. Depending on the size of the feast, food might also be served on long, low tables drawn up to the couches, as shown. The meal would typically be a long and drawn out affair with many courses brought in slowly and carefully. The meal could start early in the evening and last well into the next morning! Light was provided by oil lamps. Though smoky, they were the best option. Putting them up high on tall stands kept the smell and smoke from the burning oil away from the faces of the diners. The Sims does not allow for eating in the Roman style. However, this set will certainly add an authentic feel to your Roman home.

LL- The Peristylium Set

By Rollo

Here's another super set by my friend Rollo! His work just keeps getting better and better! This time, he offers some really nice objects for decorating your Roman peristylium. The peristylium was the open courtyard in the center of the roman home. Sometimes it was paved or tiled, other times it was planted with exotic trees and shrubs. It provided a private sanctuary for the family towards the back of the house. Many of the private rooms opened off of this area. This set provides a piece of statuary on a pedestal and matching pools of water available in two sizes. These should make available a number of decorating possibilities. In addition, there is a stone bench, perfect for lining the shady porticos around your garden.

LL- Roman Lady's Chair

In Roman times, chairs could say a great deal about class and status in society. For instance, folding x-legged chairs were often used specifically by military commanders or ceremonially by certain high-level dignitaries. In classical art, ladies are often shown seated on chairs with ridiculously delicate legs. The size and shape of the legs seems somehow proportionate to the femininity of the sitter. Many of the chairs would never have been possible in real life. This particular piece is adapted from a classic example of a lady's chair in a Roman fresco. Of course, both male and female sims will no doubt get the same amount of enjoyment from sitting on it. :)

HP- The Roman Caupona Set

By Rollo

I'm really, really excited to offer you something different from someone who I think just keeps growing and growing as an object maker. I've been waiting a long time for him to be good enough that I can offer his objects on this site, and I'm happy to say that time has arrived! For his debut, Rollo presents furnishings for the interior of a Roman Caupona. Much like the fast food joints of today, Caupona's offered fast hot food and wine of negligible quality. ;) Included in this set is a table and chair, something simple and suitable for a no-frills restaurant. In addition, a wooden shelf and also a marble one provide storage for dishes, condiments, ingredients, and wine. There is also a marble counter, made of patched pieces of the stone, very much like it may have been in ancient Rome. Especially clever, there is a basin in the counter to hold food. Cauponas often served their meals out of large pots built right into their counters, almost like a modern day buffet. This one is cloned from a punch bowl so your sims can really use it to have a drink! Rollo also included a nice pictorial menu so customers can see the bill of fare. This coordinates very well with the matching wall and tiled floor Rollo has made for the set! This set ought to go a long way for those of us who have been so eagerly waiting to make a Roman downtown!

Updated!

Burled Curved-Leg Desk

The inspiration for this table comes from a small and unclear detail of a fresco I saw in a book. In it, a table like this one with slightly flared legs was being used by the devotees of the cult of Isis as an alter of sorts in a ceremony. That picture was fairly unclear and the table in question wasn't much to look at. My version takes the basic shape and improves upon it by rendering it in a lovely dark burled wood. The Romans prized certain sorts of exotic woods like ebony very highly. One in particular from northern Africa fetched top dollar in its time and items made of it were considered the most costly of luxury items. The great orator Cicero reportedly bought himself a large table of this wood, paying the equivalent of several hundred-thousand dollars in modern money for this piece. The work also goes on to mention that his wife was none to happy about this extravagant purchase.

LL- Ancient Roman Lamp Pack

The ancient Romans had fairly few choices when it came to heat and light. For fuel, wood, as it has always been was a common choice, especially for bigger fires. For small lights instead of candles, the Romans often used oil lamps fueled by olive oil, something they grew in ample quantities. It smoked a lot and smelled pretty bad, but it was easy to come by and relatively cheap. For the rich, these lamps could be ornate and were made of fine materials like bronze. In this set, there is an ornate candelabra supporting a small dish for a flame as well as hooks for four smaller hanging oil lamps. This piece is ideal for fancy rooms where lots of light is needed. There is a plain oil lamp on a stand as well, with three wicks to provide plenty of light. More utilitarian, it fits nicely into any room of the house. For heat as well as light, there is braizer, ideal for large rooms like the atrium. Finally, there is a small portable desk lamp, for personal use while reading or working, or in a small room.

LL- Roman Toilet and Sponge

This has been one of the most requested objects for a long time, so I decided I'd better make it. This is a Roman toilet and sanitary sponge on a stick. Typically, toilets in the Roman home where located in the kitchen, because it was regarded unsightly to put them in the bath house, and more practically, for most Romans, their only access to the sewer was through the kitchen. The toilet was built over the access pipe and a hole with sloping floor nearby was built into the base of the toilet, so that kitchen waste and residue from cleaning the floor could be quickly and easily swept into the sewer. Since it would be enormously impractical to put the toilet in the kitchen in the Sims, I recommend placing it in either the bathroom or in a small room right off of the kitchen. Included with the toilet is a decorative hygienic sponge. In Roman days, toilet paper was not used, but the Romans felt just as strongly about keeping clean after they went. They used a piece of cloth or a sponge, tied onto the end of a stick to wipe off their behinds. To keep it clean in between uses, the item was kept in a bucket of water where it could be washed out. When the sponges became to foul, they were replaced and the water in the pail was changed regularly. The Roman Toilet practices may seem disgusting to us today, but consider how practical it would be for cleaning to have the toilet in the kitchen, especially before garbage disposals. Also, re-using the sponge stick is a lot more environmentally friendly than going through rolls of specially made paper.

Mortar and Pestle

Before the age of food processors, everyone ground their food with a mortar and pestle. This ancient tool has been in use for thousands of years and was certainly used by the Romans. It would have been ideal for crushing herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, and mint as well as for grinding rare spices like pepper. This fine marble version will look equally fine in both a modern and an ancient kitchen.

Family Lararium

The lararium was a central part of any Roman household. It served as a place to worship and care for the family gods, or Lars. The shrines varied in complexity. Some were floor models that looked like miniature temples with built in cupboards for holding household objects. Others, like the one above, were flat and relatively simple with only a shelf for offerings. This particular shrine is based on a famous example from a villa in Pompeii. The fresco on the front of it shows several guardian spirits flanking the family Lars. There is a snake crawling across the bottom. For the Romans, the snake was a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. In larger cabinet-like larariums, the Romans sometimes actually kept live snakes as pets and to protect their miniature temple from evil spirits and misfortune. In the Sims, this shrine will make an interesting focal point for your family's atrium. In addition, your family can "converse with the gods" and improve the speaking abilities.

Marble Statues

The Romans clearly loved statuary. It was used in architecture and to commemorate gods, famous or beloved people, and mythological events. The Romans closely copied the Greeks when it came to sculpture and many Roman statues are copies of earlier Greek ones. However, the Romans never had quite the skill of their Greek predecessors. The two individuals commemorated by statues here aren't exactly famous, but you may enjoy reading a bit about their history.

Note: I am using a head and face from Sim Freaks for one of my statues. If you want to see it on one of your sims, I suggest you go visit them for that and other great skins!

Folding Chair and Hoofed-Table

These to pieces of furniture are both based on designs found in Pompeii. The table has deer or goat-like feet and would have been used either as an end or side table or as a small dinning table in the triclinivm. The folding chair has cast bronze legs in the shape of whales and could have been used throughout the Roman house or by army officers campaigning in the field.

Cypress Trees

Trees like this can still be seen in Italy today. Ancient Roman frescoes show them as well and they were no doubt planted around houses, buildings, and estates. Italian cypress is a fine light wood occasionally used in the construction of musical instruments like virginals and harpsichords. Of these particular specimens, one is larger and grows in the ground while the smaller one is still in a pot.

Note: Both of these trees are to be found in the tree category in The Sims. For this reason, both must be placed on open terrain.

Toy Legion

The existence of toys is well documented in ancient Rome. We have many surviving examples. Children played with such favorites as dolls and marbles. They also had toy animals, though we probably would not approve of the material choice as some toys were made of lead! Given the importance of the military in Roman culture, a miniature army would not probably be unheard of. Adults might have also enjoyed such a set and generals or other officers could use it for planning. This version is a scaled down model of a real legion with all the important characters: the legionnaires, the cavalry, centurions, horn players, and the standard bearer. Sims both young and old should enjoy this amusing treat.

counter.jpg (13658 bytes) Roman Counters

This simple counter was found in roman shops and kitchens alike. Typically made of concrete, this one is covered in stucco and painted with a cheery red and white stripe. The counter has a long lasting, durable pin marble counter. Examples of this counter and ones like it can still be seen today in places like Pompeii.

Kitchen Pantry

I can't begin to say how much this object has been asked for and demanded by visitors. I put off making it because, quite honestly, it was a very difficult project. I have finally done the impossible so that you may have an appropriate food storage system in your Roman house. I don't really know how accurate this is, since I could find no pictures of a Roman food storage unit. I have made this one based on my best guess and also the constraints set forth by the game. Romanesque or not, this pantry looks great in a primitive kitchen.

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Marble-Topped Desk

This desk was originally made for the House of the Dolphin. It is like one that comes with the game with the exception that it has had its drawers removed and a marble top has been added to it. It is not as fancy as many roman desks were, but it looks much better than anything else available in the game.

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More Pillars

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These pillars are originally from the house of the Dolphin. The red and white pillars is based on a actual pillar design found in a peristyle in Pompeii. The orange and red pillar comes from a Victorian design book which shows this pillar surrounding an impluvium in an atrium.

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Scroll Rack

No roman tablina was complete without some fashion to hold the family's collection of scrolls. This object does the job nicely and will complement any Roman home.

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Roman "Stove"

The Sims presented the problem that there was no authentic looking kitchen furniture available. This is what the typical Roman "stove" looked like. There was a place below for a wood oven and a charcoal pit on top to use for cooking with pots. This item helps improve the look of a Roman kitchen.

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Roman Couch

This couch is loosely based on a reproduction seen in a museum. It would typically have been used in a group of three, for dinning. (This use is demonstrated above by the Sims. Dinners reclined on the couches and ate food with their hands from a small central serving table.) However it will look good in any room of the Roman house. The catalog picture which accompanies the couches description is for some reason fairly poor quality. But don't let that prevent you from buying: the imperfections are noticeable when viewed from a small zoom but up close will largely not show up.

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Marble Pillars

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There was a serious lack in The Sims of good decorating columns. These three coordinate with my marble wall and floor tiles and will allow more elegant and accurate decoration of your Roman home.

Roman Wicker Chair

There seems to be a lack of good chairs that match a Roman-style house. This chair is a re-designed version of the one with the diamond pattern seat cover. This new chair is actually very like an actual Roman chair design. With a Pompeian red seat cushion, it fits well in any room of the house.

Marble Pedestal Table