House of the Scattered Branches and Flowers (Maison de la Jonchée)
Province
Province Description
An ancient district of Africa in Roman times, Mauretania lay west of Numidia and covered most of present-day Morocco and western Algeria. By the second century BCE, when Jugurtha of Numidia was rebelling against Rome, Jugurtha's father-in-law Bocchus had most of Mauretania under his control. In 25 BCE Augustus appointed Juba II as ruler of Mauretania. Claudius divided it into two provinces: Mauretania Caesariensis, with Caesarea (modern Cherchel) as capital, and Mauretania Tingitana, with Tingis (modern Tangier) as capital. By the end of the 5th century CE, the province had disappeared.
Location
Location Description
A prestigious city on the southwestern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Caesarea is located approximately 100 km west of Algiers. Situated on the border of an upland plain dominating the sea and bordered on the west and east by the mountains of the Chenoua and of the Cape Ténès, respectively, the city was one of the ports that the Carthaginians established on the coast of the Maghreb.
The city was originally known as Iol. Just after the fall of Carthage during Julius Caesar's reign, the city was controlled by African dynasties and later became the capital of the amalgamated Massyle kingdoms ruled by Micipsa (son of Massinissa) and Bocchus (king of the Maures and ally to Caesar). In 33 BCE after Bocchus' death, Rome annexed the kingdoms and entrusted them to a client king, Juba II. Juba was the son and successor to Hiempsal II, one of Pompey's allies. He was sent as a hostage to Rome in 25 BCE and later married Cleopatra Selenus, daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Highly learned, Juba was renowned for his achievement in transforming Iol into a Greco-Roman town, renamed Caesarea. Juba II was succeeded by his son, Ptolemy of Mauretania, who was murdered by Caligula in 40 CE. The city then became the capital of the province named after it, Mauretania Caesarea, the eastern part of Mauretania (the western part being a second province, Mauretania Tingitana), administered by a provincial governor.
Under Claudius the city became a Roman colony, Colonia Claudia Caesarea. The old Phoenician port was enlarged and expanded for military use, the most important such port in North Africa after Carthage. The city expanded, with 7 km of walls surrounding an area of about 370 acres. From the end of the second and through the fourth centuries, the city was a flourishing settlement. During the middle of the fifth century, Saint Augustine preached in the principal church. At the end of the fifth century, the city was conquered by Vandals, eventually being annexed by the Byzantine Emperor later during the sixth century.
The city has been continually occupied to the present day, now known as Cherchel. From the Roman period, many archaeological sites have survived, including temples, baths, houses adorned with mosaics and sculptures, a theater, a forum, a judiciary basilica, an amphitheater, a large hippodrome, and a lighthouse constructed on the islet of the city.
Garden
House of the Scattered Branches and Flowers (Maison de la Jonchée)
Keywords
- domusAAT:300005506
- peristyle housesAAT:300005452
- pools (bodies of water)AAT:300008692
- fountainsAAT:300006179
Garden Description
Located on the southeastern seaboard of Cherchel, this domus was only partially excavated but is still considered to be one of the largest houses of Caesarea. The ruins discovered between 1963 and 1964 are spread out over more than 60 meters from east to west and 30 meters from north to south. The house had two levels separated by a terrace wall, 15 meters of which have been uncovered.
To the north, a rectangular pool was discovered on the lower level. It measured 10 meters by 7.5 and included a fountain built on a square-shaped base, 2.8 meters wide. The sides had rectangular recesses and also included a water spout in the shape of a pyramid. The tracing of the pipe was still visible. The center of the peristyle may have been planted.
Only part of the southern gallery was excavated. The gallery was 3.15 meters wide and the low wall that separated it from the garden was 0.5 meters thick. The gallery roof was supported by columns, whose bases were 3.2 meters apart (Plan view, Fig. 1).
It is assumed that the peristyle and its garden may have had a view over the sea. One of the rooms sharing this view was decorated with the mosaic of the Jonchée famous for its uniqueness.
Plans
Images
Dates
4th century CE
Excavation Dates
Bibliography
- Baghli, S. A., Février, P. A., "Recherches et travaux (1962-1965)", in Bulletin d'archéologie algérienne, t.1, 1962-1965. p.3; BAA, t.3, 1967, p.7, fig.8 et 9. (worldcat)
- Ferdi, S., Corpus des mosaïques de Cherchel, Etudes d'Antiquités africaines, Paris, 2005, p. 23-31.(worldcat)
- Ferdi, S. et Malek, A. A., 2000, "Les mosaïques de la maison de la Jonchée à Cherchel", in Mosaïque gréco-romaine : actes du VIIe Colloque international pour l'étude de la mosaïque antique VII, Tunis, p. 327-335. (worldcat)
- Lassus, J., "L'archéologie algérienne en 1959", in Libyca, arch. épigr., t.8, 2ème sem. 1960, p.30.
- Leveau, Ph., "Les maisons nobles de Caesarea de Maurétanie", Antiquités africaines, t.18, 1982， pp.110-12. (hathitrust)
- Malek, A.-A. "Mise en scènes paysagères", in Algérie antique, Catalogue d'exposition, 26 avril-17 août 2003, Musée de l'Arles et de la Provence antique, ed. C. Sintès, Y. Rebahi, Avignon 2003, p. 188-194.
- Malek, A.-A., "Mosaic and nature : "Cultural allusions to Nature in the Roman Domus", in Gardens of the Roman Empire, Volume II, eds., W. F. Jashemski, K. Gleason, A-A Malek, K. Hartswick, Cambridge University Press., NY, 2018, pp.317-321 (worldcat)