DRAFT

House of the Large Peristyle

Contributor: Yichen Liu
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

saint-roman-en-gal
saint-roman-en-gal (Pleiades)

Sublocation

House of the Ocean Gods

Sublocation Description

The northern end of this vast house is just west of the House of Five Mosaics and in the same insula. From the Passage des Grands Entrepôts along this northern limit, it runs over 100 meters southward to the "Voie I" along the south side of the archaeological site. The eastern edge is about 230 meters west of the Rhone. No less than five names have been given to the houses occupying part or all of the site. The following table of these names with approximate dates may help the reader keep them straight. The final house runs just over 100 meters from south to north. The first two houses covered only about the first 66 meters from the south, up to the noticeable kink in the north-south lines. The third house in the above list, the House of the Large Peristyle, was limited to the area north of this kink. The fourth house combined these two, while the last rebuilt the whole area keeping only the outline and a few walls. We describe the houses in chronological order. All plans for these houses are from La maison des dieux ocean, Equipe archèologique departmentale de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, published by Aglas, 1996.

Garden

House of the Large Peristyle

Keywords

Garden Description

  Only its eastern end has been uncovered, and of the rooms for living -- presumably to the west – very little is known. What is known is a large peristyle of unusual form with a center certainly planted as a garden. The long axis of the peristyle ran almost due north to make an angle of about 80 degrees with the street along the north and with the axis of the living areas of the house to the west. The form of the peristyle (32.5 x 18 m with porticoes 3.7 meters wide) would have been a fairly normal, slightly trapezoidal "rectangle" with the south side missing were it not that more than half of the west side was also missing. The colonnade on that side ran straight into a wall, presumably of the neighbor's house, which jutted out into the southwest corner of our owner's elegant peristyle courtyard and garden. In the northern part of the courtyard, the presence of a U-shaped channel pool seems well attested but is not shown on the plan.

Plans

house of the large peristyle

Dates

A.D. 20-A.D 60

Bibliography

  1. Laroche, H. Savay-Guerraz, E. Chantriaux et al. Guides Archéologiques De La France. Saint-Romain-en-Gal: Conseil général du Rhône, Equipe archéologique de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, 1984, P. 46-57worldcat

  2. Maison 1996, t.II, p. 364-383

  3. Delaval, Eric, and Hugues Savay-Guerraz. La Maison Des Dieux Océan: (ier Siècle Avant J.-C. _ Iie Siècle Après J.-C.). Saint-Romain-en-Gal: AGLAS, 1996.worldcat

  4. Desbat, Armand. La Maison Des Dieux Océan À Saint-Romain-En-Gal (rhône). Paris: CNRS éditions, 1994, P. 86-132worldcat

  5. Prisset, Jean-Luc, Laurence Brissaud, and Odile Leblanc. Evolution Urbaine À Saint-Romain En-Gal: La Rue Du Commerce Et La Maison Aux Cinq Mosaïques. Paris: CNRS éd, 1994, P. 1-133. worldcat

  6. Gros, Pierre. L'architecture Romaine Du Début Du Iiie Siècle Av. J.-C. À La Fin Du Haut-Empire: 2 Maisons, Palais, Villas Et Tombeaux Paris: Picard, 2001, p. 160-162.worldcat

  7. Bouet, Alain, and Isabel Figueiral. Les Thermes Privés Et Publics En Gaule Narbonnaise. Rome: École française de Rome, 2003, P. 269-271, fig 189.worldcat

Places

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