What Kind of Houses Did the Byzantines Live In? — A Glimpse into 'Ordinary Life' a Thousand Years Ago —

When walking the streets of Constantinople, one's eyes are drawn to the magnificent Hagia Sophia and the massive palaces.

However, the vast majority of people living in that city were neither emperors nor aristocrats. They were merchants working in the markets, artisans working in workshops, and laborers carrying cargo at the docks. What kind of homes did they return to after finishing their day's work?

This time, I would like to visit the 'homes' where the daily lives of the Byzantines were conducted.

The 'Medieval House' We Imagine Is Wrong

When you hear 'medieval house,' what do you imagine?

A dim stone house.
A cold room.
A crude wooden desk.

Influenced by movies and games, many people hold such an image. However, actual urban life in Byzantium was a bit more diverse. Of course, there was a significant difference between the homes of emperors and aristocrats and those of the common people.

While certainly not comfortable, Constantinople possessed a living environment unique to a large city.

Surprisingly, There Were Many 'Apartment Buildings'

When we think of medieval cities, we tend to imagine streets lined with single-family homes. However, for Constantinople, which held hundreds of thousands of people, that was not enough.
In reality, multi-story buildings existed, and many citizens lived in them.

Of course, they lacked the comforts of modern apartments.
However, in the sense that 'many people living in the city shared limited space,' there are surprising commonalities with modern urban life.

Even in Constantinople a thousand years ago, housing problems existed.

The Center of the Home Was the 'Family'

For the Byzantines, a home was not merely a building.
It was a place where the family lived together.

In modern times, life is finely divided: work is at the office, learning is at school, and entertainment is found outside.

But it was different back then.
Work, life, and education were all conducted to a large extent within the home.

Children grow up watching their parents' work.
The child of an artisan becomes an artisan.
The child of a merchant learns the trade.

The home was the place where life itself was conducted.

The kitchen was the heart of the home

For modern people, meals might be something to be finished in between work or hobbies.

However, in Byzantine households, preparing meals occupied a much larger part of daily life than it does today.
The staple food of the Byzantines was bread. Bread appeared on the dining table almost every day.

Baking bread.
Making soup.
Managing preserved foods.

Eating was an important daily task.
Therefore, the kitchen was not just a place for cooking, but also the center of life where much time and effort were spent.

For the Byzantines, the kitchen could be called the heart of the home.

There was faith within the home as well

As we saw in the Eastern Orthodox series, faith was not something special for Byzantine society, but a part of life itself.
Therefore, there were religious spaces inside the home as well.

Small icons, crosses, and paintings of saints.

Praying when waking up in the morning.
Praying before meals.
Praying before going to sleep at night.

The church was not the only place for faith.

The home itself was a small space for prayer.

Conclusion

The citizens of Constantinople did not live in massive palaces, but in very ordinary houses. There, they ate, worked, prayed, and raised their children.

History is not made only by emperors.
Heading to the market in the morning, returning home in the evening. The daily lives of countless such people piled up to support the thousand-year empire.

Understanding Byzantine civilization also means understanding the lives of those nameless people.

Source of opening illustration: Francis Hervé, "Houses in Constantinople" (1837) / Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
*Although not a work from the Byzantine era, this is a 19th-century lithograph that conveys the appearance of medieval Constantinople residences.

▼ Series: Ways of Life Learned from Byzantine Civilization
Part 1: "Living in Constantinople"
#1: Why did the Byzantine Empire last for a thousand years? — What the people of the thousand-year empire cherished —
#2: What it means to live in the world's largest city — What kind of city was Constantinople? —
#3: What kind of houses did the Byzantines live in? — A glimpse into 'ordinary life' a thousand years ago — (This article)
*This series will continue in the future.