Urban Decay

Wealthy Romans lived in a domus, or a house, with marble walls, floors with intricate colored tiles, and windows made of small panes of glass. "Most Romans however were not very wealthy or even rich.'' They lived in small, smelly rooms in apartment houses with six or more stories called islands.  Each island covered an entire block. At one time there were 44,000 apartment houses within the city walls of Rome. First floor apartments were not occupied by the poor since these living quarters rented for about $400 a year. The more shaky wooden stairs a family had to climb, the cheaper the rent was. The upper apartments that the poor rented for $40 a year and were hot, dirty, crowded, and dangerous. Anyone who could not pay rent was forced to move out and live on the on the crime infested streets. Because of this, cities began to decay. Some historians believe that this helped lead to the down fall of the Empire. (Ten Reasons for the Fall of Rome Packet)