DRAFT

House of the Aviary (Maison de la Volière)

Author: Amina-Aïcha Malek

Contributor: Xue Xia

Permalink: https://roman-gardens.github.io/test-drafts/id/dd8246deb4/

Published: 2021-04-21

Modified: 2025-09-16

Dates

end of 2nd-4th century CE

Garden Description

Located on a hill overlooking Carthage, the house of the aviary is divided into two parts: the unit centered on the peristyle in the west, and the ensemble with the reception room in the east (Plan view, Fig. 1).

In the center of the peristyle in the western part of the house was an octagonal area enclosed by a low wall 50 cm high. P. Gauckler, the original excavator, recognized the area as a viridarium (1). The Aviary mosaic covers the floor space between the portico and the octagonal garden (1). In the center of each corner of the mosaic was a deep cavity in which a tree was planted. There was a cistern beneath the peristyle. A lararium (7) with an aedicula bodes the northern portico of the peristyle garden.

In the eastern part of the house, a low wall with six semi-circular niches that alternated with five square-shaped niches faced the oecus bordered by a portico. On the wall was laid out a large pool with small niches bordered on each side by two planters (26,27). On a higher level of the pool and the planters were three small cascades decorated with parietal mosaics and paintings depicting hunting and fishing scenes. Water coming from the huge cistern complex on the top of the hill ran through the cascades and fell into the pool. This arrangement can be compared to theater decor where nature is displayed. Hence, the oecus bordered by a portico was facing a frons scaenae composed by a pulpitum behind which were lined up the pool and two planters that could be compared to a proscaenium. The house dates from the end of the IInd-IVth century.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the House of the Aviary
Credit: (Malek, A.-A., 2014, p. 17 and 2018, fig. 12.10).

Images

Fig. 2: Reconstruction drawing of corner of the peristyle garden of the House of the Aviary.
Credit: (Malek,A.-A., 2018, fig. 12.9B)

Bibliography

Ben Osman, W., "Etude des pavements de la Villa de la Volière", p. 147, in Mosaïque, Recueil d'hommage à Henri Stern, Paris, 1983. (worldcat)
Bullo, S., Ghedini, F., Amplissimae atque ornatissimae domus: l'edilizia residenziale nelle città della Tunisia romana, Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 2003, p. 125-128. (worldcat)
Ennabli, A., "La Maison de la Volière à Carthage: L'Architecture", p. 132, in Mosaïque, Recueil d'hommage à Henri Stern, Paris, 1983. (worldcat)
Malek, A.-A., "De l'espace pictural à l'espace du jardin : mosaïques et jardins dans les domus de l'Afrique romaine", in Archéologie des jardins :analyse des espaces et méthodes d'approches, eds. P. Van Ossel, A.-M. Guimier-Sorbets, Archéologie et histore romaine 26, Editions Monique Mergoil, 2014, p. 17.
Malek, A.-A., "Mosaic and nature : "Cultural allusions to Nature in the Roman Domus", in Gardens of the Roman Empire, Volume II, eds., W. F. Jashemski, K. Gleason, A-A Malek, K. Hartswick, Cambridge University Press., NY, 2018, pp. 329-301, fig. 12.9B, 12.10. (worldcat)