From emonc@erols.com Sun Jun 24 09:52:41 2001 Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f5OGqe095412 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 09:52:40 -0700 Received: from smtp02.mrf.mail.rcn.net (smtp02.mrf.mail.rcn.net [207.172.4.61]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f5OGqeF20873 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 09:52:40 -0700 Received: from 66-44-15-79.s1349.apx2.lnh.md.dialup.rcn.com ([66.44.15.79] helo=erols.com) by smtp02.mrf.mail.rcn.net with esmtp (Exim 3.16 #6) id 15ED7m-0004Nj-00 for classics@u.washington.edu; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 12:52:38 -0400 Message-ID: <3B3619E4.F1543F7E@erols.com> Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 12:48:36 -0400 From: Ernest Moncada X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.74 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: ancient noise (was: Restoration C-O-F-F-E-E) References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=x-user-defined Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit "James M. Pfundstein" wrote: > At 12:58 PM -0700 6/23/01, David Lupher wrote: > > > >By the way, I'm waiting for someone to object to my claim that the > >Romans were awakened by daylight and birdsongs by observing that > >their bedrooms were so gloomy and windowless that this explanation > >simply won't do.  Of course, one can suppose that most Romans were > >awakened by their slaves, but this simply puts the question off at > >one remove. Who awakened the slaves? > > I don't think Roman bedrooms were necessarily windowless. They > wouldn't have had windows open up on street level, but they might > open into a courtyard or garden in the house's interior, or be above > street level. Vitruvius mandates that bedrooms and libraries face > eastward to catch the light: _cubicula et bibliothecae ad orientem > spectare debent, usus enim matutinum postulat lumen_ (Vitruvius > 6.4.1, clipped from the text at Bill Thayer's Lacus Curtius). > > JMP("Pater Matutinus") It would seem that some windows did face the street (how else could aspiring lovers gain attention or even entrance--an Exclusus Amator seeking a point of entry other than through the topically closed door: We read in Car. I. 25. 1-2, Parcuis iunctas quatiunt fenestras/jactibus crebris iuvenes.., though here certainly upper story windows and latticed.  Ovid, writing to Maximus, remarks: nox erat et bifores intrabat luna fenestras,/mense fero medio quanta nitere solet, (III.3.5-6) .Light could come in via the shutters, and if light then surely bird song, though admittedly this was Pontus and not Rome. Martial (8.14.3-4) speaks of "glass casements facing the wintry south admitting the clear suns and daylight undefiled," (hibernis obiecta Notis specularia puros admittunt soles et sine faece diem).                                                   EJM    (With second thoughts about having written this today: Si quis negotium fecerit aliquod in die sancto dominico, exterminabo eum et non inveniet benedictionem neque hic neque futuro, sed maledictionem!)   .