Carroll, M. (2026). "Private Villa." Gardens of the Roman Empire, accessed October 2, 2026. https://roman-gardens.github.io/id/fc6807050c/

Private Villa

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

Dates

late second century BCE to late second/early third century CE

Excavation Dates

unspecified

Garden Description

One of the houses built in the late second century BCE on Samos was repaired and refurbished around the middle of the first century BCE. This house had two peristyle courtyards from the outset, but the remodeling of the house during the Roman period definitively changed their appearance .

In the northernmost courtyard around the edge of the peristyle was a broad, shallow channel (1.45 m wide and 28 cm deep) fed with water from a pipe on the west; this possibly was planted. The southern peristyle (20.58 x 14.70 m) was designed with an elaborate water system, and it may also have been planted . Inside the stylobate of the courtyard was a water channel 52 cm deep with a series of semi-circular and rectangular basins. Another water channel running north-south bisected this peristyle in two equal halves, and in the middle was a diamond shaped pool with marble edging. A fountain fed by a lead pipe stood in the centre of this pool. Both water systems were repaired several times before the house was destroyed in the late second or third century CE, indicating the importance attached to them. Although firm evidence for vegetation is lacking, we may assume that the abundant use of water and the decorative plan of the peristyle courtyards was directly connected with the use of these spaces as gardens.

Bibliography

  • Tölle-Kastenbein, R. 1974. Das Kastro Tigani: die Bauten und Funde griechischer, römischer und byzantinischer Zeit: Samos Band XIV. Bonn: Habelt. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places