in ancient rome, the insulae (singular "insula") were large apartment buildings where the lower and middle classes of romans (the plebs) dwelled. the floor at ground level was used for tabernas, shops and businesses, with living space on the higher floors. insulae in rome and other imperial cities reached up to ten or more stories, some with more than 200 stairs. several emperors, beginning with augustus (r. 30 bc-14 ad), attempted to establish limits of 20–25 m for multi-storey buildings, but met with only limited success. the lower floors were typically occupied by either shops or wealthy families, while the upper stories were rented out to the lower classes. surviving oxyrhynchus papyri indicate that seven-story buildings even existed in provincial towns, such as in 3rd century hermopolis in roman egypt.