History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

Secular Architecture: Domestic, Carolyn S. Snively

Classics Faculty Publications

The geographic focus of this discussion of Byzantine domestic architecture, from the late fourth to fifteenth centuries, will be on the Balkans and Asia Minor. Although more dwellings exist than any other type of structure within a settlement or outside it, emphasis has often been on large public buildings or the peristyle house rather than the range of housing units and their multifunctional nature. Those who study domestic architecture tend to look at palaces and other grand and richly decorated structures; only recently has attention been paid to lower-class and rural dwellings.

The chances of excavation often dictate our knowledge …