DRAFT

House of the Deep Trench

Contributor: Lai Ching Tsui
Published: 2021-04-21
Modified: 2025-06-29

Location

Location Description

In 206 BC Publius Cornelius Scipio settled wounded veterans of the battle of Ilipa in an existing Turdentanian town which he renamed Italica to remind the settlers and their descendants of their origins. Three centuries later, it was still a town of some 14 hectares, less than a fourth the size of Pompeii and much smaller than neighboring Hispalis (Sevilla) or Corduba. Little is known of this town archaeologically because it lies under modern Santiponce.

Italica underwent a major expansion during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, a native of the town. A new area of 30 hectares to the northwest of the old city was enclosed with walls, laid out in an orthogonal plan, and provided with aqueduct water and a well-designed sewer system. Imperial-style baths were built, and a vast and innovative monument to Hadrian's adopted father Trajan, the Traianeum, was erected. Just north of the new walls an amphitheater accommodating 25,000 spectators was constructed. Dio Cassius says (69.10.1) says that Hadrian showed his patria great honor and bestowed on it many splendid gifts. Style and construction techniques point to imperial and even eastern influence in the layout, the baths, and the Traianeum. Mileposts on a new road leading north proclaim his patronage, the aqueduct is almost surely his work, and his initials are found on some lead pipes.

Garden

House of the Deep Trench

Keywords

Garden Description

In late antiquity, a new city wall was built excluding most of the Hadrianic addition. This house, however, remained inside the new wall and was therefore occupied longer and is somewhat better preserved than most other houses of the second century expansion. The street along its south side led to the front steps at the east end of the Trajaneum. The entrance to the house was on the east side from the street. From the entrance, one came into the vestibule, and then to the east portico of the peristyle, which begins at the right side of the figure. The columns of the peristyle were of brick covered with painted stucco. In the center of the courtyard was a pool lined with opus signinum. In its bottom were some round planting pots in which aquatic plants had been rooted. In the middle of this pool, there was a second, smaller pool with a lobed center. In the south gallery was a niche, presumably for a lararium.

Maps

Fig. 1: Map of Italica.

Images

Fig. 1: Photo of the House of the Deep Trench.

Dates

unspecified

Bibliography

  • Antonio Garcia y Bellido,Colonia aelia augusta Italica, Instituto Español de Arqueologia, (Madrid 1960). (worldcat)
  • A. Caballos and P. León,ITALICA MMCC: Actas de las Jornadas del 2.200 Aniversario de la Fundación de Itálica, Sevilla, Consejeria de Cultura, (Sevilla 1997).(worldcat)
  • A. Caballos, J. Marín and J. M. Rodríguez Hielgo, Itálica Arqueológica, Universidad de Sevilla, (Sevilla 1999). 84 (worldcat)

Places

Explore the places containing this garden: