The Roman Villa

2018

The term villa had multiple meanings in Latin and many manifestations in Roman history as well as Mediterranean-wide variations in the archaeological record. In fact, the establishment of a precise definition already preoccupied ancient authors such as Cato and Varro, and modern scholars continue to debate how it can be applied to what kinds of buildings. While we may still be far from finding a universal definition, both the written and the archaeological record can point us in the right direction.

2010

I f by the word villa 1 we mean a building standing isolated in the countryside that was involved in slave-run agriculture and possessed a speci‹c area intended to house, though irregularly, a dominus, then such a structure and the related lifestyle have a de‹nite terminus post quem-namely, the year 367/366 BC, when the two great Licinio-Sextian laws were passed, the de consule plebeio and, above all, the de modo agrorum. The development in Rome of a type of slavery similar to the contemporary Greek one depends entirely on these two measures. As a matter of fact, the ‹rst law assured a gradual composition of the dramatic con›ict between plebeians and patricians and a reorganization of the agrarian economy, while the other bill put an end to the exclusive patrician control of the ager publicus. 2 These were all basic conditions that ushered in a more pro‹table exploitation of the land through slave labor.

Villa Landscapes in the Roman North, 2011

Introduction 2 Composition and size of the ordo decurionum 3 Urban domus and villas 4 Rural properties and burial places 5 Bonds of friendship and patronage 6 Conclusions Abbreviations References Appendices 1-5  i n t r o d u c t i o n In the western half of the Roman empire, the foundation of towns and the introduction of a system of civic self-administration constitute the most important changes of the Roman era, alongside the rise of villas. 1 The precise organisation of the new administration differed from civitas to civitas as in most cases it was partly built upon existing indigenous structures. However, as a result of a process of political integration, referred to in the recent literature as 'municipalisation', 2 the institutional organisation of the local communities developed along much the same lines and finally became fairly uniform across the Gallic and Germanic provinces. Everywhere the old tribal senate of elders was transformed into a Roman-style city council, variously referred to as senatus, curia or, most often, ordo decurionum. 3 The tribal pagus lost its political autonomy and was subordinated to the civitas, its significance in the Roman period being largely restricted to the religious domain. 4 And single magisterial positions rooted in local tradition, such as the vergobretus and praetor in Central Gaul or the summus magistratus among the Batavi, 5 quickly disappeared and were replaced by the archetypical collegial pairs of duumviri, aediles and quaestores. It is these municipal magistrates, together with the members of the city council with whom they were closely connected, which are the focus of this paper. They are referred to here as the 'ruling elite'. Who were these men? How many of them were there? Both developments are inextricably intertwined. Cf. Whittaker 1990, 116, who states that 'villas were primarily, although not of necessity, an urban phenomenon (…), a phenomenon of a central civitas town'.

2012

The archaeology of Roman villas and more generally of Roman rural landscapes has enjoyed widespread interest for some generations now, among both scholars and a wider audience. Some educational presentations of villa sites have even emerged as regular public attractions, as we have seen in the past decade with the villas of Borg in the Trier area, Ahrweiler near Bonn and Jemelle-Malagne in the Belgian Ardennes. 1 Despite marked differences in the way they present the Roman past, they all have in common their ability to appeal to the general public, each attracting about 50,000 visitors a year. Why do Roman villas hold such a fascination for people? There are probably different factors at work here. Villas are regarded as the most 'Roman' component of the rural landscapes of that time. Through their fascinating archaeological remains (pavements with mosaics, houses with stone foundations, tiled roofs, painted walls, hypocausts, bathing facilities, etc.), they stimulate public imagination about the Roman past. Roman villas evoke a feeling of familiarity through their associations with modern ideals of civilisation and strategies of elite distinction in terms of comfortable living and an appreciation of a rustic life in the country. In our modern post-industrial society, the arcadian 'Traum vom Lande' also has broad appeal, as we see in the escape from the city and the building of modern villas. In that sense, villas fit within the modern quest for an idealised past. At the same time, villa attractions help us put modern Western civilisation into perspective through our awareness of the decline of the Roman empire. Underpinning this volume is archaeological research into villas and villa landscapes in the northern provinces of the Roman empire. In 2006 the Archaeological Centre at VU University Amsterdam launched the research programme Villa landscapes in the Roman North. Economy, culture, lifestyles. Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), it is scheduled for completion in 2011. Included in the planned output for the programme is this synthesis volume of articles by project members, supplemented by contributions from other archaeologists working in the field of Roman rural archaeology. The aim of this book, which builds on an international symposium organised in Vaals (NL) in November 2008, is fourfold: a. to develop a synthesis on the emergence and development of Roman villa landscapes in the northern provinces. b. to formulate a cohesive body of theoretical concepts and ideas about the social, economic and cultural functioning of villas within the context of the Roman empire. c. to contribute to comparative research into villa landscapes and the phenomenon of regionality of Roman rural landscapes. d. to bring about methodological innovation by devising a classification of villa development trajectories, and to apply new geographical and cartographical techniques (including GIS) in the analysis of villa landscapes. The source material used in this book is primarily of an archaeological nature. Our aim first and foremost is to incorporate in the analyses the explosive growth in archaeological information in recent decades, including that from 'grey literature', and to render it productive for broader discussions. But we also seek to use historical and epigraphic data to arrive at a more balanced picture. This volume is simply organised. We start with an extensive introductory paper setting out the parameters for the study of Roman villa landscapes using a series of themes. This is followed by 16 articles with a thematic or regional focus that give added depth to the discussions raised here. They include two contributions which present concrete case studies of recently excavated villa sites.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2020

VILLAE RUSTICAE: FAMILY AND MARKET-ORIENTED FARMS IN GREECE UNDER ROMAN RULE. Proceedings of an international congress held at Patrai, 23-24 April 2010, edited by A. D. Rizakis and I. P. Touratsoglou, pp. 752-761., 2013

This paper addresses the specificities of the appearance of villas as well as the significance of villa culture in Roman Greece and tackles the notion of the villa as a ‘Romanisation’ marker in this region. The spread of the villa in the Roman provinces was not the expression of a new social and economic form, as it was in Italy, but the result of the increasing taste for and use of Roman building materials, techniques, and styles. Indeed, the adoption of both the architectural language and lifestyle of the villa in the provinces rendered villas as one of the explicit markers of ‘Romanisation’. The cultural phenomenon of luxurious villas in Roman Greece was variegated both over distinct areas of the region, due to the different political developments, and over time. During the first two centuries of our era, luxurious villas and the life in the villa were not instrumental in the owners’ effort to assume political power and climb the social ladder. Local elites and Roman settlers sought to achieve their socio-political ambitions through their prominent presence in the cities and their euergesiai, following Hellenistic practices and internalizing Roman policies. The evidence for luxurious country houses after the second century CE, however, suggests that this changed over time. It is possible that the increased social competition that was brought about by the Diocletianic and Constantinian led elites to seek different venues for their self-promotion and self-display – the spaces of the villa.

2016

of the ancient architectural form. 4 These patrons and architects, inspired by their studies, invented the villa loggia, a liminal space, which this paper argues evolves into an emblem of Renaissance suburban villa life. The ancient villa did not often have a loggia, but with this innovation, the Renaissance patron and architect created a perfect formal embodiment of villa life. The villa and loggia are neither fully rural nor urban, instead existing in both city and country as public and private sphere. The suburban villa is a conglomeration of city and country life, where reality and fantasy meet, and the loggia, which incorporates interior and exterior, manifests the dichotomy of a country estate, near the city and often used business and leisure. 5 Villas from antiquity forward have incorporated elements of nature into their design, whether on a grand scale like that of Hadrian's villa estate at Tivoli or in a lesser fashion as an enclosed space behind the residence. 6 These ancient landscapes, however, were largely unknown in the Renaissance. While Vitruvius focused only on villa architecture, other ancient texts instructed the Renaissance patron and artists on nature. Roman architecture's tabernae provides a similarity to the Renaissance loggias used for negotium; the space is a single-room inlaid shop, covered by a barrel vault. 7 In his letters, Pliny the Younger writes of the Ancient Roman desire to escape to a country retreat, both 4 Ancient texts like Vitruvius were studied and inspired a great portion of medieval and renaissance architecture, including the villa. Interpretations of Vitruvius' architectural treatise were implemented into public and private building. It was not until later, when excavation of Ancient Roman dwellings began, that Vitruvius' words materialized into spaces.