INSULA
a house containing a number of apartments (see De Marchi in
Mem. 1st. Lombardo, 1891, 252 sqq.; Calza in Mon.
L. xiii. 541-608;
RL 1917, 60-87; and contrast Hermes, 1885, 91-100; Mem. Acad.
Inscr. B.-
L. 1915, 279-335). Assigning to one-third of the 44,300
1
insulae enumerated in Reg. (Brev. gives 46,602) an area of 400 square
metres each, and 100 each to the rest, we get an average area of 200 square
metres per insula, or a total of 8,860,000 square metres; and, adding
500 square metres for each of the 1790 domus, we get a further 895,000
square metres, giving a total of 9,755,000 square metres, out of the total
area of 13,868,750 square metres within the area of the Aurelian walls.
Calza computes the approximate population of Rome at the time of
Constantine at 40 per insula, or roughly 1,800,000.
