DRAFT

House of Hylas

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 Hylas

Keywords

Garden Description

This house, with three garden areas, is just east of the Santiponce cemetery. The principal garden, to the south, had a fountain with a rectangular basin in the center. The walls of the basin were covered with mosaics representing fish and molluscs. To the east opened a triclinium, identifiable by the U-shaped design of the floor mosaic. To the north of the principal garden was a large room with a double opening onto the garden. It could well have been either a reception room or a second triclinium.

To the east of this room was a second garden; low walls with the columns of the peristyle resting on them separated the garden from the surrounding galleries. Three of these – on the north, south and west sides – were paved with geometric mosaics; on the east side was a fairly large room with a doorway opening onto the street. Whether or not this was the main entrance will not be clear until the southern corner of the house has been excavated. Two rooms with mosaic floors opened off the south gallery; and two more, off the north gallery. One of the north rooms had a mosaic floor with an emblem showing Hylas carried off by the nymphs. This mosaic gives the house its name and has been removed to the Archaeological Museum in Sevilla.

To the west of the central reception room or triclinium was the third garden, which survives in much worse condition than the eastern one. It also likely had a peristyle and certainly it had a small rectangular pool in the middle.

Maps

Fig. 1: Map of Italica.

Images

Fig. 1: Photograph looking northeast over a pool in the west garden.
Fig. 2: Plan of the House of Hylas.

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). 82-83 (worldcat)

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