House No. 1 or West House

Published: 2026-10-01
Last modified: 2026-10-01

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Dates

1920s

Garden Description

The entrance [Fig. 1, 2] to this house was on the west side of the colonnaded street. Just to the north was a shop [23] selling fish and garum; its tanks are still in place. The entrance hall leads into the west gallery of the peristyle courtyard [25]. There are three columns on each side of the courtyard. Each column's base featured an ornamental double torus. Three capitals have been preserved; they were of the Doric order but were only rough-hewn as they, like all columns in Baelo, were covered with plaster. A garden most likely surrounded the well in the center. Rooms [32] and [33] were probably the reception room and the triclinium respectively. The reception room had a good view of the garden though not central. The northwest corner of the house belonged instead to the garum factory [VI].

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the two port houses. From Sillières.

Images

Fig. 2: Photo of West House seen from the north. The two vats in the left foreground are just above the numeral IV on the plan. The peristyle is in the center of the picture.

Bibliography

  • A. Balil Iliana, 'Casa y urbanismo en la España antigua. Casa familiar y vivienda colectiva en la España romana,' Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología, XXXIX, Universidad de Valladolid (Valladolid 1973), 138-140.(worldcat)
  • P. Sillières, M. Fincker, J.M. Labarthe,Baelo Claudia: une cité romaine de Bètique, Collection de la Casa de Velázquez 51 (Madrid 1995), 165-170.(worldcat)

Keywords

Places