Gardens of the Roman Empire

Guest House 1

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

2nd-4th century CE

Garden Description

A Roman guest house of the 2nd century A.D., so-called Guest House I, was erected southeast of the Roman Kladeos baths of ca. 100 A.D. (Fig. 3, A on plan). The guest house had a peristyle courtyard with a water-filled channel surrounding a rectangular island. The island may have been planted as a garden, since this area was not paved. Around 220/230 A.D. the guest house was altered. At this time, the building was given direct access through a corridor to the Kladeos baths. The peristyle courtyard of the guest house also was reduced in size and paved with terracotta slabs (C on plan), suggesting that the garden was no longer maintained.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of Guest House I (A) and Guest House II (B) with their courtyard gardens (G). The garden in Guest House I was later paved over (C).

Credit: Adapted from Mallwitz 1972, fig. 230.

Bibliography

A. Mallwitz, Olympia und seine Bauten. Munich,1972, pp. 276-277, fig. 230. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places

Guest House 2

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

3rd-4th century

Garden Description

In the first third of the 3rd century A.D. another guest house, so-called Guest House II (B on plan), was built at Olympia, immediately east of and connected with Guest House I (see Fig. 1). Guest House II was almost certainly built to supplement Guest House I after alterations to the latter resulted in its loss of the peristyle courtyard and garden. Guest House II was built with a peristyle courtyard, and its design is very similar to the one in the earlier Guest House I. In the center of the courtyard was an unpaved, and possibly planted, rectangular island surrounded by a water channel (G on plan). Both guest houses were badly damaged in the late 3rd century and only partially used thereafter until their abandonment in the 4th century.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of Guest House I (A) and Guest House II (B) with their courtyard gardens (G). The garden in Guest House I was later paved over (C).

Credit: Adapted from Mallwitz 1972, fig. 230.

Bibliography

A. Mallwitz, Olympia und seine Bauten. Munich,1972, pp. 276-277, fig. 230. (worldcat)

Keywords

peristyles (Roman courtyards)AAT:300080971

Places

House of Nero

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

Mid-1st to 3rd century CE

Garden Description

This house was built at the time of, and possibly for, the emperor Nero, who, on several occasions in the mid-1st century A.D., performed personally in the games at Olympia. To enable the construction of the building just south of the stadium, the earlier east baths were demolished. The house had a peristyle courtyard (G on plan), measuring 14 x 17 m., that was reached after passing through the atrium in the west. In the courtyard was a distinctive decorative feature (Fig. 1). This consisted of a water channel one meter wide around the edges of the courtyard that could only be crossed by a bridge on each of the four sides. The lack of paving in the area encircled by the water channel suggests that the courtyard may have been planted. The building was partially torn down in the early 3rd century to make way for a Roman bathhouse.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the 'House of Nero' with its garden courtyard (G) and water channel (stippled).

Credit: Adapted from Mallwitz 1972, fig. 167.

Bibliography

A. Mallwitz, Olympia und seine Bauten. Munich,1972, pp. 276-277, fig. 230. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places

Leonidaion

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

2nd-3rd century CE

Garden Description

This building southwest of the temple of Zeus was the largest guest house in the sanctuary at Olympia. The original Leonidaion, a gift of Leonidas from Naxos, was built shortly after 338 B.C. with a central courtyard. In the 2nd century A.D. the building was remodeled, and this courtyard was transformed into a veritable water garden (Fig. 1). The garden consisted of an outer quatrefoil island surrounded by a water channel (stippled on plan), and in the middle of this island was another circular one around which ran a second water channel (stippled on plan). On the quatrefoil island were planting beds (b on plan) in the middle of the four sides and sculptures in each of the rounded corners. This island could be reached by a bridge spanning the outer channel on the north and south sides. The central circular island was not accessible by such bridges. During the earthquake in the late 3rd century, the building was badly damaged and not rebuilt in this form.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the Leonidaion with its quatrefoil and circular gardens (white) and planting beds (b) surrounded by water channels (stippled) in the courtyard.

Credit: Adapted from Mallwitz 1972, fig. 201.

Bibliography

A. Mallwitz, Olympia und seine Bauten. Munich,1972, pp. 276-277, fig. 230. (worldcat)
R. Tölle-Kastenbein, Antike Wasserkultur. Munich, 1990, p. 192. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places

Sanctuary of Zeus

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

unspecified

Garden Description

The extensive sanctuary at which Panhellenic athletic games took place, was situated on the Alpheus river in groves of trees of ancient date. In early Greek mythology, the semi-divine Herakles was said to have planted trees in the sacred precinct, called the Altis, at Olympia (Pindar, Olympian Odes 3.13-18, 23-26, 31-34). In the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., Roman visitors to the site could still see the groves of wild olives and plane trees (Pausanias 5.10.1, 5.13.1, 5.15.3; Philostratos, Imagines 2.6.1). In the Roman period, imperial patronage and the resuscitation of the games prompted the erection of several new buildings along the banks of the Kladeos river, in particular guest houses, for the many visitors and tourists.