DRAFT

House of the Birds

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 Birds

Keywords

Garden Description

This large, typical 'peristyle house' had a courtyard that provided light for all the rooms of the house. The entrance was on the southwest side of the house from the main street leading from the gate where the visitor enters. After a small vestibule and a wide fauces, one came directly into the peristyle garden. Beneath it was a cistern in which rainwater was collected; the water was accessed by means of a well and winch. Water also came from an aqueduct to a fountain on the façade of the house. The peristyle took up a quarter of the total area of the house.

To the left of the entering guest was the reception room with an interesting mosaic of the birds, each bird in its own square. Straight ahead, behind the peristyle, was a large triclinium with a good view of the garden. Moreover, beside the triclinium and presumably visible from it through a window was a small garden with a peristyle of two columns on two sides and four on one side. Most of this garden was occupied by an ornate pool with semicircular extensions at the corners. On the other side of the triclinium was another pool with long steps descending into it suggesting that it was for swimming. It was surrounded by a patio. Opening onto this patio were five rooms with mosaic floors. To the visitor's right on entering the garden from the southwest were found traces of a niche with a mosaic pavement above which had once been the lararium.

Maps

Fig. 1: Map of Italica.

Images

Fig. 1: Photograph looking over the garden to the northeast.
Fig. 2: Photograph of the small garden to the left and rear of the large peristyle garden.
Fig. 3: Photograph of the small garden to the right and rear of the large peristyle garden.
Fig. 4: Photograph of the small fountain garden.
Fig. 5: Plan of the House of the Birds and other drawings.
Fig. 6: Plan of the House of the Birds.

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). 70-71 (worldcat)

Places

Explore the places containing this garden: