Roman Villae

This new volume of the Amsterdam Archaeological Studies seeks to offer a fresh perspective on the integration of marginal areas in the Roman empire.  Starting from a multidimensional approach  it analyses the social dynamics that led to the development of a large villa in the relatively poor and peripheral hinterland of the Lower Rhine limes. A central role is attributed to agency and the interplay of military and urban networks and native social structures.

Research undertaken in Durham University, Faculty of Social Sciences and Health: Department of Archaeology; supervised by Dr Anna Leone.

Viva voce examination held on April 15th, 2016.
Examiners: Prof. Roland R. R. Smith (University of Oxford), Dr Catherine M. Draycott (Durham University).
Outcome: passed forthwith (no corrections; thesis passed unconditionally).

This paper discusses Raphael's transformation of the villa all'antica through his vision for a Villa Medici on the Monte Mario, today known as Villa Madama. Although Raphael's plans for Giulio de Medici's villa were never realized, Raphael envisioned a harmonious reconciliation of the villa and garden, inspired by the villa all'antica as well as more contemporary designs. Through innovation, he set his work apart from contemporary Roman villa design.

A unique group of sculpture from Early Christian Cyprus comes from the so-called Villa of Theseus, at Nea Paphos. The group comprises (at least) twenty sculptures of divinities and mythological figures, which range in date from the Hellenistic to the Late Roman periods. Their discovery with connection to late antique layers demonstrates the long-lasting importance of sculpture to the villa culture and confirms the empire-wide appreciation of local elites to the medium in late antique times. In this paper, the decoration of the Villa of Theseus will be re-assessed in order to efficiently envisage its sculptural environment, between the late fourth and late sixth centuries. Possibilities for the display and usage of the sculptures within the villa will be offered, while possible reasons for the selection of particular iconographical types will also be suggested, within the broader context of Nea Paphos.

The excavations of the University of Warsaw in the so-called Villa of Theseus in Kato Paphos uncovered a unique group of at least twenty sculptures, predominantly depicting mythological figures and divinities. The building took its definite architectural form in the late fourth century, although its construction had started early in the second half of the second century. In terms of decoration, the villa reached its heyday between the late fourth and sixth centuries. Most of the sculptures, which vary in scale and style, have, nevertheless, been described as reduced copies of the late second or early third century at the latest. Yet, their discovery in late antique layers establishes their availability at the time and confirms the importance of sculpture to the villa culture that boomed in Late Antiquity (fourth to seventh century).

It is the aim of this paper to study the statuary from the Villa of Theseus against the background of the architectural development of the building. Immovable decorative elements and architectural features will be considered, in order to assess where sculpture might have been displayed and reconstruct—to the extent possible—the ancient viewers’ experience. The selection of certain sculptural subjects and their significance (decorative, allegorical, religious) will also be discussed.

This volume offers a comprehensive survey of Roman villas in Italy and the Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire, from their origins to the collapse of the Empire. The architecture of villas could be humble or grand, and sometimes luxurious. Villas were most often farms where wine, olive oil, cereals, and manufactured goods, among other products, were produced. They were also venues for hospitality, conversation, and thinking on pagan, and ultimately Christian, themes. Villas spread as the Empire grew. Like towns and cities, they became the means of power and assimilation, just as infrastructure, such as aqueducts and bridges, was transforming the Mediterranean into a Roman sea. The distinctive Roman/Italian villa type was transferred to the provinces, resulting in Mediterranean-wide culture of rural dwelling and work that further unified the Empire.

La conduite de la vigne en hautain, qui consiste à faire grimper le cep et les sarments sur un arbre porteur, est une technique mentionnée par les agronomes antiques, notamment pour la Gaule (Columelle, Les arbres, XVI, et De l’agriculture, V, 7 ; Pline H.N. XVII, 35 ; Palladius, L’économie rurale, III, 10). La pratique du hautain est encore couramment employée en France à l’époque moderne, très répandue en Espagne et en Italie au XXe s., et on la trouve encore aujourd’hui en Haute-Garonne dans le piémont pyrénéen, et en Haute-Savoie, au bord du lac Léman : il s’agit des fameuses « crosses » dont il reste quelques exemplaires sur la commune de Marin, près d’Evian.
Les archéologues français recherchent depuis longtemps en Narbonnaise et dans le reste de la Gaule des traces matérielles permettant de corroborer les descriptions des auteurs antiques.
P. Boissinot disait en 2001 à propos de cette technique : « on imagine dans ce cas une profusion de fosses autour d’un réseau régulier de creusements plus volumineux. On ne connaît pas pour l’instant une telle configuration de fosses (espacements, emboîtements) dans les décapages archéologiques effectués dans le Midi ». Or il se trouve que pour l’heure seule la plantation du Grand Palais à Châteauneuf-du-Rhône, peut évoquer une telle configuration : des emboîtements de fosses d’un module de 4 pieds et de fosses de 3 pieds, ainsi que des espacements entre les autres fosses s’avérant souvent inférieurs à 2 pieds. Ce site a naturellement soulevé la question de la conduite en hautain.
Récemment, dans Archéopages, nos collègues bretons ont interprété des traces agraires mises au jour sur le site de la villa du Quiou dans les Côtes d’Armor, comme les preuves de cultures en hautain. Ces traces, qui s’organisent en une trame régulière de fosses circulaires, s’apparentent précisément à l’état le plus précoce (Ier s. av. J.-C.) des plantations du Grand Palais. Nous essaierons lors de cette présentation de livrer les arguments permettant d’accréditer ou de réfuter une telle hypothèse d’interprétation.

Analisa‑se a problemática em torno do tipo de ocupação da Quinta do Ervedal (Castelo Novo, Fundão), sítio que alguns investigadores afirmam tratar‑se de um aglomerado secundário do tipo vicus. Procuramos aprofundar esta discussão, aferindo de que forma os dados epigráficos e arqueológicos disponíveis sobre os vici no interior da província da Lusitania, obtidos através das várias investigações que têm abordado a temática do povoamento rural em época romana na Beira Interior, suportam ou não esta tese.

Cet article présente une série d’habitats du haut Moyen Age implantés sur des villae romaines de la région de Nîmes. Un arasement « virtuel » de l’un des sites (La Gramière à Castillon-du-Gard) montre combien le niveau de conservation peut distordre nos façons d’interpréter.

A preliminary excavation has been carried out in 2009 at site 92/2 under the direction of Gab-riella A. Pál. The size of the excavated area was 1.2 ha. Five stone buildings, a pit-house, a "cooling pit", a well and a fence from the Roman era have been discovered. These objects belonged to a villa's pars rustica. According to the aerial photos of the area and its surroundings, the villa urbana of this villa was situated north of the site. Three periods of the pars rusti-ca's buildings were identified: the first one is dated between the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the second period lasted from the end of the 2nd/the beginning of the 3rd centuries to the 4th century, and the third one started in the second half of the 4th century and lasted until the beginning of the Migration Period. Building nr. I, building nr. II and the pit-house belong to the first period. Building nr. I has a northeast-southwest orientation, two rooms and an area of 139 m². A furnace was also found in the house. Building nr. V has a northwest southeast orientation, but it is only partially known because one of its walls was entirely , two of its walls were partially lying underneath the section. The pit-house has a west-east orientation and an area of 8,58 m². There was a posthole next to its northeastern side and a furnace in its eastern part. In later periods, the villa was expanding southwards.

Kivonat: A 92/2. lelőhelyet 2009-ben megelőző feltárás keretében kutatták. Az ásatás vezetője A. Pál Gabriella volt (A. Pál 2010, 388.). A lelőhely feltárt részének kiterjedése 1.2 ha (A. Pál-Cseh 2013, 9.). A római korszakból öt kőépület, egy földbe mélyített gödörház, egy "hűtőgödör", egy kút és egy kerítés vált ismertté. Ezek az objektumok egy villagazdaság pars rusticajához tartoztak. A villagazdaság villa urbanaja a területről és környezetéről készített légifotók alap-ján a lelőhelytől É-ra fekszik (A. Pál-Cseh 2013, 11-12.; Csikó 2013, 53, 60.). A pars rustica épületeinek három periódusát sikerült meghatározni: az elsőt a Kr. u. 2. sz. eleje-3. sz. elejé-re, a másodikat a 2. sz. vége/3. sz. eleje-4. századra, a harmadikat a 4. sz. 2. fele-népvándor-láskor elejére lehet keltezni. Az első periódushoz tartozik az I. sz. és az V. sz. épület, vala-mint a földbe mélyített lakóház. Az I. sz. épület ÉK-DNY-i tájolású, kéthelyiséges és 139 m² nagyságú. A házban egy kemencét is sikerült megfigyelni. Az V. sz. épület ÉNY-DK-i irá-nyú, és csak részben vált ismertté, mivel egyik fala teljes egészében, két fala pedig részben a szelvényfal alatt feküdt. A gödörház nagysága 8,58 m², tájolása NY-K-i. ÉK-i oldala mellett egy cölöplyuk, K-i részén pedig egy kemence feküdt. A villagazdaság a későbbi periódusok-ban dél felé terjeszkedett (A. Pál-Cseh 2013, 11-12.; Csikó 2013, 61-62, 64.).

Las residencias de las altas clases sociales romanas eran un reflejo de su estatus social. Algunas poblaciones de la costa amalfitana se convirtieron en centros turísticos donde construyeron grandes villas con vistas al mar. Stabia, la ciudad romana que se encuentra bajo la actual Castellammare di Estabia, fue una de ellas. Sobre la colina de Varano se construyeron amplios y lujosos complejos aterrazados, conectados con rampas y escaleras, abiertos al mar. Las excavaciones han recuperado lujosos objetos decorativos, espectaculares frescos, estucos, mosaicos y elementos constructivos de la más alta calidad. Nueve son los complejos excavados parcialmente, de los cuales son visitables la Villa San Marco, la Villa Arianna y el Segundo complejo. Un excepcional ejemplo de la forma de vida de la élites imperiales.

La intervención arqueológica realizada en el yacimiento romano de “La Mata I” (Aznalcázar, Sevilla) ha puesto al descubierto los restos de la pars rustica de una villa romana y una serie de enterramientos tardorromanos aislados.

The archaeological intervention carried out in the Roman site named “La Mata I” (Aznalcázar, Sevilla) exposes to view the remains of the pars rustica of a Roman villa and several isolated interments dating from late Roman period.

Abstract (ENG)

The aim of this thesis is the study – based on an inventory – of the Merovingian reuse of Roman stone buildings in the northern part of the kingdom of Austrasia (Belgium, The Netherlands and the North of France), and to determine the motifs, the diffusion and the date of the re-use. In the first chapter, definitions are formed and the history and geography of the study area defined. Next, the Merovingian archaeology in the study area is recapitulated and the Merovingian re-use is set in a larger Western-European framework. The thesis then analyses three forms of re-use: re-occupation, funerary re-use and religious re-use, set against a large array of factors. After the analysis an interpretation is made. Here, the thesis draws on several sources such as reference works of other Western-European regions and countries on Merovingian re-use, but also late-Roman archaeology and Merovingian archaeology in general. In conclusion, the thesis argues that re-use must be acknowledged as a part of the Merovingian settlement pattern rather than a phenomenon. Finally, this thesis hopes to be a starting point in the study of Merovingian re-use in the study area, and to offer a reference work of the study area for further national and international research.


Résumé (FR)

Le but de cette thèse est de faire un inventaire et d'étudier la réutilisation mérovingienne des bâtiments romains en pierre dans la partie nord du royaume d'Austrasie (Belgique, Pays-Bas et Nord de la France), et de déterminer les motifs, la diffusion et la date de cette réutilisation. Dans le premier chapitre, des définitions sont formées et l'histoire et la géographie de la zone d'étude sont définiées. Ensuite, l'archéologie mérovingienne dans la zone d'étude est récapitulée et la réutilisation mérovingienne est replacée dans un cadre plus large d'Europe occidentale. La thèse analyse ensuite trois formes de réutilisation: la réoccupation, la réutilisation funéraire et la réutilisation religieuse, par rapport à un large éventail de facteurs. Après l'analyse, une interprétation est faite. Ici, la thèse s'appuie sur plusieurs sources telles que les ouvrages de référence d'autres régions et pays d'Europe occidentale sur la réutilisation mérovingienne, mais aussi sur l'archéologie de la fin de l'époque romaine et l'archéologie mérovingienne en général. En conclusion, la thèse soutient que la réutilisation doit être reconnue comme faisant partie du modèle de population mérovingien plutôt que comme un phénomène. Enfin, cette thèse espère être un point de départ dans l'étude de la réutilisation mérovingienne dans la zone d'étude, et offrir un ouvrage de référence de la zone d'étude pour la poursuite des recherches nationales et internationales.

RESUMEN El artículo describe y realiza un primer estudio de las estructuras y los materiales de una villa romana recientemente excavada en Antequera. Entre ellos destacan el repertorio musivo y escultórico, de los que emerge la importancia del yacimiento.
SUMMARY The present article describes and attempts a first approach to the structures and materials from a recently discovered Roman Villa in Antequera. The Villa is particularly remarkable for its mosaics and sculptures, from which the importance of the site arises.

Nel volume della Forma Italiae del 1928 dedicato a Circeii Giuseppe Lugli compendiò, in modo sistematico, i dati provenienti dalla sua accurata ricognizione con l’edito disponibile. Se i meriti di questo lavoro monumentale sono innegabili, questa sintesi tuttavia sigillò, con un aspetto uniforme ed in certo modo definitivo, numerose questioni ancora aperte e meritevoli di approfondimento. Da questo spazio interpretativo lasciato aperto dalla Forma Italiae, e dalla necessità di un’integrazione del materiale edito ormai quasi un secolo fa, nasce l’opportunità di questo contributo.
L’Autore, partendo dalla constatazione che, il più delle volte, l’identificazione tra luoghi menzionati dalle fonti e siti identificati sul terreno è stata ottenuta adoperando indizi modesti e non univoci, dedica la prima parte del contributo all’analisi delle informazioni e degli strumenti adoperati per proporre tali identificazioni. Il volume, prima di offrire una lettura diacronica di insieme, discute individualmente le grandi tematiche che caratterizzano il popolamento antico del territorio: il suo contesto mitologico, la sua edilizia religiosa e le principali arterie di comunicazione. Questo approccio ha permesso numerose nuove acquisizioni tra cui l’identificazione di un santuario dedicato a Venere, la definizione della cronologia e delle modalità di recezione dei maggiori culti locali, l’individuazione di una colonia dedotta al Circeo dal padre di Cesare e la ricostruzione diacronica dei sistemi di viabilità egemone e di navigazione interna che legavano la colonia al resto del Lazio.
Il volume è l’esito di vari anni di indagini archeologiche condotte al Circeo in collaborazione con l’Ente Parco Nazionale del Circeo e con la Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio, e dell’esigenza di integrare le nuove evidenze con l’edito ed i materiali d’archivio. Da questo sforzo di sintesi emerge, vivida, l’immagine della piccola ed antica colonia di Circeii, le priorità della sua élite, e le risposte che vennero date all’incalzare degli eventi nel periodo compreso tra la fine del VI secolo a.C. ed i primi anni dell’impero.

The book deals with a paper reconstruction of Pliny the Younger' s (c. AD 61-112) villa near Ostia, some twenty kilometres from Rome. This unique work was created in Rome in the years 1777-78 by a young Pole, Count Stanis³aw K. Potocki (1755-1821) in cooperation with Giuseppe Manocchi and other outstanding artists of the time. The work, originally in the Potocki collection in Wilanów, is today housed in the iconographic collection of the National Library, Warsaw. It contains over thirty large-format drawings (57.789.5 cm) in colour. Just before the close of the 18th century, probably during his last sojourn in Italy (1795-97), Count Potocki wrote a 24-page-long commentary to his work, entitled Notes et Idées sur la Villa de Pline. This hitherto unpublished manuscript commentary and reconstruction drawings of the villa are now published together with a virtual visualisation of the villa produced in 3D Studio Max 2014.

JERZY MIZIOLEK is professor of the visual arts and the classical tradition at the University of Warsaw (Institute of Archaeology). He studied art history and classical archaeology at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków and Christian archaeology at the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia, Rome. He received his Ph.D. in 1987 and habilitation in 1996. He has been awarded a Saxl Fund fellowship at the Warburg Institute (1990), a Getty Grant Program postdoctoral fellowship (1991), a Mellon fellowship at Villa I Tatti (Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, 1994), a fellowship at the Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence (1995), a Paul Mellon fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (1996, 1997, 1998, 2001) and a Getty Research Institute fellowship (2006). Since 1992 he has been teaching courses in Italian Renaissance art and the classical tradition in the visual arts of the 18th and 19th centuries. He is the author of more than 150 papers and reviews published, among others, in the Journal of the Warburg Institute, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Intitutes in Florenz, Arte Cristiana, Prospettiva, Fontes, Renaissance Studies, I Tatti Studies, Fontes, Iconographica, Pegassus and Arte Lombarda. Several of them deal with Italian Renaissance domestic paintings. He has published seven books, including: Sol verus: Studies in the Iconography of Christ in the Art of the First Christian Millennium (1991), Soggetti classici sui cassoni fiorentini alla vigilia del Rinascimento (1996), Falsifications in Polish Collections and Abroad (2001), The Artistic Culture of Warsaw' s University (2003) and Muse, bacchanti e centauri. La pittura pompeiana e la loro fortuna in Polonia (2010). Since 1991 he has delivered more than forty papers and lectures at foreign universities and international symposia concerning Early Christian, Renaissance and neoclassical art.

In our study, we want to present the methodological background and the results of geophysical investigations of the Roman rural sites at Bakonya-Csucsa-dűlő, Cserdi-Horgas-dűlő and Szabadszentkirály-Gerdei-árok partja near Pécs (Baranya County, Hungary), conducted in recent years.

The Villa of  the Emperor Domitian near the promontory of Circeo on the shore of the  coastal lake of Paola, is a monumental complex of the greatest importance which today is located in a 45.96 hectare natural reserve in the Parco Nazionale del Circeo.   
This area from the 18th century up to 1939 was rented for agricultural purposes to private citizens. Since 1940, it has been devoted to pine seed cultivation, which, along with clandestine excavations of the 18th century, has lead to a significant reduction in the visibility of the surviving archaeological remains.
Thanks to the discovery of air photos in the archives of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio and of the ICCD - Aerofototeca di Stato,  taken before the plantation of the pines, the acquisition of valuable information about the structures of this villa, which are no longer visible due to the thickness of the trees, is now possible.
Information offered by this archive was not limited to the survey phase, but, through the restitution of the archaeological traces, it has contributed a great deal to the realization of a general archaeological cartography, an essential tool in order to continue investigations of the site.

Chicago
Spyropoulos, George. “Appropriation and Synthesis in the Villa of Herodes Atticus at Eva (Loukou), Greece.” In Egypt and the Classical World: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Antiquity, by Jeffrey Spier and Sara E. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. /06/.

MLA
Spyropoulos, George. “Appropriation and Synthesis in the Villa of Herodes Atticus at Eva (Loukou), Greece.” Egypt and the Classical World: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Antiquity, by Jeffrey Spier and Sara E. Cole. J. Paul Getty Museum. /06/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021.

This publication was created using Quire™, a multiformat publishing tool from Getty.

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  Identifiers: LCCN (print) | LCCN (ebook) | ISBN 9781606066874 (paperback) | ISBN 9781606067673 (ebook) | ISBN
   
Front cover: Osiris Canopus, Roman, AD 117–138 (detail). Alabaster. H: 50.8 cm (20 in.); Diam: 27.9 cm (11 in.). The Hague, Royal Collections, 4-1690. Reproduced with permission (final credit line TK).

In 2003 is door de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek (ROB) een waarderend onderzoek uitgevoerd door middel van proefsleuven op het rijksmonument van de Romeinse villa Meerssen-Onderste Herkenberg. De resultaten van dit onderzoek worden in dit rapport gepresenteerd en aangevuld en vergeleken met gegevens uit de eerdere onderzoeken. Daarnaast zullen aanbevelingen worden gedaan over het beheer en inrichting van het terrein.

Tourist guide of the Roman Villa of Larderìa (Roggiano Gravina, CS) and the Esaro valley (Calabria), from the Prehistoric period to the Early Middle Ages.
- I section: The territory of the Esaro valley. From the first prehistoric frequentations to the Enotrian settlements;
- II section: The territory of the Esaro valley. From the "Empire" of Sybaris to the affirmation and decline of the Italic populations (end of VIII-III century BC);
- III section: The Romans in the Bruttii. Organization of the territory and production facilities;
- IV section: The Esaro valley in Roman and Late Antiquity;
- V section: The Larderìa Villa;
- VI section: Villa Larderìa: thermal baths and mosaics.