Insula
An insula (plural: insulae) was used to refer to one of two things in a Roman settlement; either an square/rectangular area bounded on all sides by roads (effectively a city block), which may have included multiple buildings of mixed or single use, or a single, multi-family, multi-story dwelling complex similar to modern apartment complexes, which in turn may have been a part of the city block insula. The literal meaning of the word in Latin is ‘island’ and it was used to refer to actual islands as well. The architectural use of the word is reminiscent of the literal meaning in describing insular structures; with the city block being isolated by roads on all sides, as an island would be surrounded by water, and the apartment block also being isolated as single, large structure with both residential and commercial use. With regard to the apartment complex-style building, insulae were, as apartments are in the modern world, a means to house non-social/economic elites in urban environments with dense population distribution. There is evidence of the existence of wealthier insulae in places like Ostia, though that does not seem to be the primary living arrangement for the wealthy, who would more likely be living in dwellings more akin to a single family residence.
