DRAFT

House Formigé Square - 2 phases

Authors: Eric Morvillez , Emilie Chassillan

Permalink: https://roman-gardens.github.io/test-drafts/id/50dac00f2c/

Published: 2021-04-21

Modified: 2025-06-29

Province

Province Description

Ancient Roman colony (founded 118 BCE) and senatorial province located in modern southern France, along the Mediterranean. This province had stronger cultural and political ties to Italy than the rest of Gaul.

Location

Sublocation

House Formigé Square-2 phases

House

House Formigé Square-2 phases

Keywords

House Description

The house found under Formigé square lies 200 m south of the intersection of the cardo maximus and the decumanus maximus at 150 meters from the quays of the port. It is in the southwest quarter of Insula A of the network of the city. A parcel of 462 square meters has been recovered with a useful covered surface of about 342 square meters. To the south it is paralleled by a decumanus and by other habitations to the north and east. The principal entrance was probably on the south. What may be called the first stage of construction, though it replaced a previous condition, seems to go back to around A.D. 1-5. In this condition, it was occupied until A.D. 60-70. Its pavements have been preserved, along with a large part of its painted decoration up to a considerable height.

One enters the house on the south from the edge of the street by a wide entrance with a floor of pounded earth, which accommodates a bench. At the end of the vestibule, there is an atrium [2] of 9.2 by 10.54 meters, around which the house is organized. The impluvium was surrounded by low walls on which an imaginary garden was painted. In a second phase, nine planters filled with earth were arranged on three sides of the impluvium.

Around A.D. 65-70, the house entered a second stage which lasted three and a half centuries. It was enlarged over a two-meter deep fill on which was planted a garden [1] of 12.5 by 10 meters, framed by a portico [2] and bordered on the south by four rooms. The portico was 2.8 meters wide, including the stylobate. The courtyard of the first condition was transformed into a rectangular pool (9 by 2.2 m) divided into two parts by a low wall with a fountain to the north and two rectangular planters (each 1.7 by 0.7 m ) on the south.

Plans

Fig. 1 Plan of the House Formigé Square-2 phases

images

Dates

A.D. 1-5 First Stage of Construction A.D. 65-70 Second Stage of Construction

Bibliography

Bouet, Alain. La Maison Urbaine D'époque Romaine: Atlas Des Maisons De Gaule Narbonnaise. Vaucluse: Service d'Archéologie du Conseil Général de Vaucluse, 1996, fiche n°3, P. 110-111, fiche n°4, P. 112-113. (worldcat)
RIVET, D. BRENTCHALOFF, S. ROUCOLE, S. SAULNIER, Fréjus, Atlas topographique des villes de gaule méridionale, R.A.N., supplément 32, Montpellier, 2000, P. 195-198. (worldcat)