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A domus was the form of house that wealthy families owned in ancient Rome and almost all the major cities of the Empire. (The middle classes and the poor were housed in crowded apartment blocks, known as insulae). The domus included multiple rooms, and an indoor courtyard: the atrium, which was the focal point of the domus, off which were cubicula (bedrooms), an altar to the household gods, a triclinium where guests could lie on couches and eat dinner whilst reclining, and a tablinum (living room or study) and cellae(shops on the outside, facing the street).

In cities throughout the Roman Empire, wealthy homeowners lived in one story buildings with few exterior windows. Glass windows weren't readily available: glass production was in its infancy, and the cost would have been prohibitive, but this exterior blankness did give the occupiers the advantage of protecting themselves from outside noise and intruders. Wealthy homeowners often rented out the two front rooms of their homes to merchants if they lived on busy streets. 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.

The house would not face the streets to protect the family from burglars.

The atrium was the most important part of the house, where guests and dependents (clientes) were greeted. The atrium was open in the centre, surrounded at least in part by high-ceilinged porticoes that often contained only sparse furnishings to give the effect of a large space. In the center was a square roof opening called the compluvium in which rainwater could come, draining inwards from the slanted tiled roof. Directly below the compluvium was the impluvium, a shallow rectangular pool to gather rainwater, which drained into an underground cistern. The impluvium was often lined with marble, and around which usually was a floor of small mosaic.

Surrounding the atrium were arranged the master's families' main rooms: the small cubicula or bedrooms, the tablinum or study, and the triclinium or dining-room. Only two objects were present in the atrium of Caecilius in Pompeii: a small bronze box that stored precious family items and the lararium, a small shrine to the household gods, the Lares. In the master bedroom was a small wooden bed and couch which usually consisted of some slight padding. In each of the other bedrooms there was usually just a bed. The triclinium had three couches surrounding a table. The triclinium often was similar in size to the master bedroom. The study/tablinum was used as a passageway. If the master of the house was a banker or merchant the tablinum often was larger because of the greater need for materials.

The back part of the house was centred around the peristyle much as the front centered on the atrium. The peristylium was a small garden often surrounded by a columned passage, the model of the medieval cloister. Surrounding the peristyle were the bathrooms, kitchen and summer triclinium. The kitchen was usually a very small room with a small masonry counter wood-burning stove. The wealthy had a slave who worked as a cook and spent nearly all his or her time in the kitchen. During a hot summer day the family ate their meals in the summer triclinium to stave off the heat. Most of the light came from the compluvium and the open peristylium.

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