What Does your Home Say About You?

Dear Classical Wisdom Member,

What does your home say about you?

Does it inspire you?

Does it reflect your state of mind...or perhaps your aspirations?

Is it dramatic or sensational, filled with bold colors and striking design?

Or is it a place of calm...a neutral, restorative space that offers you ataraxia, that serene tranquility so prized by the Epicureans?

Or, perhaps, is it a source of quiet frustration: cluttered, confusing, or simply uninspiring?

Regular readers of these humble pages will not be surprised to learn that the ancients thought a great deal about such questions. While history books tend to focus on wars, emperors, and political intrigue, the truth is that most people in antiquity -just like today- spent the majority of their lives at home.

...But they understood that the home was never merely a private refuge. It was a stage upon which identity, values, status, and even morality were performed.

In the ancient world, brightly painted walls were not just decorative, they communicated wealth, education, and taste. The arrangement of rooms shaped social interactions. Homes were places of business, politics, philosophy, hospitality, and self-presentation. To step into a Roman house was to step into a carefully curated microcosm of its owner’s world.

And in many ways, that remains true.

Of course, culture and class still shape how we live. In modern megacities, from New York and Paris to Tokyo and Hong Kong, homes can feel more like convenient closets: places to sleep between long days spent elsewhere.

Yet for many of us, the home remains the center of daily life...and since the pandemic, more than ever, it has also become our office, classroom, and social stage.

Indeed, through Zoom screens and virtual meetings, our private spaces became public again. Our bookshelves, kitchens, and artwork formed the backdrop of our professional lives...raising questions the Romans themselves once debated:

How public should a home be? What does domestic space reveal about status, character, and values? And how much should one spend on creating the perfect home?

In this month’s Podcast with Professors, we explore these timeless questions with Marden Fitzpatrick Nichols, Assistant Professor of Classics at Georgetown University and author of How to Make a Home: An Ancient Guide to Style and Comfort.

Together, we discuss why Roman houses were designed to stimulate conversation, how architecture shaped mental health and moral character, why simplicity was praised even amid luxury, and what ancient ideas about beauty, sustainability, and moderation can teach us today.

You may be surprised to learn what truly concerned the Romans, how they believed their surroundings shaped character, and what a home was thought to reveal about the soul of those who lived inside it…

So, what does your home say about you?

Members: please enjoy this thoughtful, wide-ranging conversation...and step inside the ancient world in one of its most intimate and revealing forms: the home.

You can also read the transcript above or download the audio only version below.

If you are not yet a member, but would like to enjoy all resources, including this week’s Member’s only Podcast with Professors, subscribe today and bring the Classics into Your home...

Subscribe now

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

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