House of the Trifolium (Maison du Trifolium)
Dates
Early 3rd century CE
Garden Description
This house is the largest excavated to-date at Thugga. It appears to date from the first half of the 3rd century. The rooms on the ground floor were arranged around a large court, which was more than 5 m lower than the street. A garden occupied the center of the court which is enclosed by a portico on its four sides, the columns of which, carved with plaster and connected by a balustrade ought to have supported a wooden frame. The porticos were paved with mosaics. The 3 doors of the oecus open onto the W portico, in front of which between two pilasters was a semi-circular pool projecting into the garden. This basin was decorated with a mosaic representing fish today destroyed. The oecus opens on the N onto a large room in the form of a trifolium.
Plans
Bibliography
- Aounallah, S., Maurin, L., "Remarques sur la topographie rurale et urbaine du pagus et de la ciuitas de Thugga (Dougga, Tunisie)", in Hommes, cultures et paysages de l'Antiquité à la période moderne : Mélanges offerts à Jean Peyras, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2013. (worldcat)
- Bullo, S., Ghedini, F., Amplissimae atque ornatissimae domus: l'edilizia residenziale nelle città della Tunisia roman, Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 2003, pp.274-276. (worldcat)
- Hiesel, G., Strocka, V. M., "Vorberchicht Über die Grabungen 1996-2000", in Thugga, I, Grundlagen und Bericht, Ed. M. Kanoussi, V. M. Strocka, pp. 75-76, 78, Abb. I
- Poinssot, C., Les ruines de Dougga, Tunis, 1958, p. 53: plan, général n°18. (worldcat)
- Plan from http://www.dougga.rnrt.tn/file/plan_maison_trifolium.pdf