[2] Along with a domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a separate country house known as a villa.

Many chose to live primarily, or even exclusively, in their villas; these homes were generally much grander in scale and on larger acres of land due to more space outside the walled and fortified city.

These multi-level apartment blocks were built as high and tightly together as possible and held far less status and convenience than the private homes of the prosperous.

[5] The domus included multiple rooms, indoor courtyards, gardens and beautifully painted walls that were elaborately laid out.

Thus a wealthy Roman citizen lived in a large house separated into two parts, and linked together through the tablinum or study or by a small passageway.

It is usually seen only in grander structures; however, many urban homes had shops or rental space directly off the streets with the front door between.

The atrium was open in the center, surrounded at least in part by high-ceilinged porticoes that often contained only sparse furnishings to give the effect of a large space.

Separated by the length of another room, entry to a different portion of the residence was accessed by these passageways which would now be called halls, hallways, or corridors.

The dominus was able to command the house visually from this vantage point as the head of the social authority of the pater familias.

[7][better source needed] The wedding couch or bed, the lectus genialis, was placed in the atrium, on the side opposite the door or in one of the alae.

The culina was dark, and the smoke from the cooking fires filled the room as the best ventilation available in Roman times was a hole in the ceiling (the domestic chimney would not be invented until the 12th century CE).

Slaves were ubiquitous in a Roman household and slept outside their masters' doors at night; women used the atrium and other spaces to work once the men had left for the forum.

Even in its original state, the House of Augustus would not have been a good representation of a typical domus, as the home belonged to one of Rome's most powerful, wealthy and influential citizens.

The home's importance as a universally recognized haven was written about by Cicero after an early morning assassination attempt.

He speaks of a commune perfugium, a universal haven or the agreed normal refuge of an individual: I am the consul for neither the forum... nor the campus... nor the Senate House... nor house, the common refuge of all, or bed, the place granted us for repose, nor the seat of honor have ever been free from ambush and peril of deathThe concept of legal abode such as domicilium or today's usage "domicile" is a documented and legal standard, common in Western society for thousands of years.

[11] An early reference to domicilium is found in the Lex Plautia Papiria, a Roman plebiscite enacted in 89 BC.