House

Greek houses of the Archaic and Classical

periods were relatively simple in design.
Houses usually were centered on a courtyard
that would have been the scene for various
ritual activities; the courtyard also provided
natural light for the often small houses. The
ground floor rooms would have included
kitchen and storage rooms, perhaps an animal
pen and a latrine; the chief room was
the andron— site of the male-dominated
drinking party (symposion). The quarters for
women and children (gynaikeion) could be
located on the second level (if present) and
were, in any case, segregated from the mens’
area. It was not

Plan, Olynthus (Greece), House A vii 4, built

after 432 but before 348 B.C.E., from Olynthus,
vol. 8 pl. 99, 100 and fig. 5 (photo: Perseus
Digital Library)
Plan, Olynthus (Greece), House A vii 4, built after 432, before 348 B.C.E., from Olynthus, vol. 8 pl. 99, 100 and fig. 5, kitchen complex c, d, and e; andron (k) (photo:
Perseus Digital Library)

uncommon for houses to be attached to workshops or shops. The houses excavated in the southwest
part of the Athenian Agora had walls of mud brick that rested on stone socles and tiled roofs, with
floors of beaten clay.

The city of Olynthus in Chalcidice, Greece, destroyed by military action in 348 B.C.E., preserves
many well-appointed courtyard houses arranged within the Hippodamian grid-plan of the city. House
A vii 4 had a large cobbled courtyard that was used for domestic industry. While some rooms were
fairly plain, with earthen floors, the andron was the most well-appointed room of the house.