Gardens of the Roman Empire

House of Asinus Nica, Central District (Maison de l'Ane, quartier central)

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

The frontier between Numidia and Mauretania fluctuated during early the African kingdoms. It was fixed at the river of Ampsaga during Caesar's reign when he rewarded his ally King Bocchus, giving him part of the Numidian kingdom. By 31 BCE, Numidia (also known as Africa Nova) was under direct Roman control, becoming attached to the province of Africa Proconsularis. Toward 194 CE, Septimus Severus detached most of the Numidia territory from the province of Africa Proconsularis, forming a special province governed from Cirta by a procurator, subordinate to the imperial legate. With the Diocletian reforms, the whole of Roman Africa (with exception of Mauretania Tingitana) constituted a single diocese subdivided into six provinces, including Numidia Cirtensis with Cirta as capital.

Location

Fig. 1: Plan of Cuicul

Credit: (AOROC, from Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., 2019, fig. 1a)

Location Description

The city of Cuicul, modern Djemila in Algeria, was a Roman colony founded by Trajan at the beginning of the second century. It was located near the western frontier of Numidia, at a crossroads near the High Plain of Setif and quite south of the actual "Little Kabylie" region. The original city center was constructed on a spur set between two merging wadi, the Gergour and the Betame, at an altitude of about eight hundred meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains more than a thousand meters above sea level. There are snow falls and freezing cold in winter and plenty of water. For the most part, the climate exc1udes plants which cannot stand the frost; however, we can infer the presence of olive plantations due to the number of olive presses found throughout the town.

Garden

House of Asinus Nica, Central District (Maison de l'Ane, quartier central)

Keywords

Garden Description

Like several peristyle houses of the ancient part of Cuicul, the house of Asinus Nica, about 870 square meters in size, was inhabited and transformed from the second to the fifth century. The fifth century additions are the large reception room XI with a marine Venus mosaic and the private baths with the Asinus Nica mosaics. The more ancient part of the house, south of wall M-M' is rather small and more irregular in shape.

The open area of this peristyle garden, about 9 by 8.5 meters in size, is enclosed by 1 meter-high walls and divided into compartments. Some these were pools, as we can still see hydraulic mortar inside. From the semi-circular pool, a rilled wall brought water to a lower pool, shaped as half a concave octagon. The eastern compartment was a pool that may have been decorated with a water spout, of which only bases remain. It contained a smaller pool, rectangular with two niches. In the western compartment, no mortar was found; it was certainly planted. Four quoining pillars, standing directly on the rock, and eight columns, sitting on low walls, supported the four porticoes that were paved with geometrical mosaics.

The house lacked wide-open views from exedra and from the galleries towards the pools and the gardens. This irregularity can be explained by the presence of a first floor opening directly onto the Cardo Maximus, the existence of which is shown by a staircase with seven steps. A reception room was located on the first floor, so that the enclosed garden and the pools could be seen through windows or galleries from the upper floor. From this elevation, the luxurious decoration and lavish use of water would have been seen to full effect.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the House of Asinus Nica (Blanchard-Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Images

Fig. 2: View of the garden (Blanchard-Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Dates

2nd-5th century CE

Bibliography

Blanchard-Lemée, M., Maisons à mosaïques du quartier central de Djemila (Cuicul), Paris, 1975, pp. 129-151. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., L'édifice appelé "Maison de Bacchus" à Djemila, Études d'antiquités africaines, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2019, SSN 0768-2352. (worldcat)

Places

Cuicul Pleiades: 305068

House of Bacchus, building south of the Great Baths (Maison de Bacchus, édifice au sud des Grands Thermes)

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Plan of Cuicul

Credit: (AOROC, from Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., 2019, fig. 1a)

Location Description

Garden

House of Bacchus, building south of the Great Baths (Maison de Bacchus, édifice au sud des Grands Thermes)

Keywords

Garden Description

The large block of buildings called the "House of Bacchus", (about 7000 m2) has three separated gardens A, B, C and a peristyle VI. This site has been excavated during four periods (1929, 1931,1937 and 1944).

1-The first garden A is a large open area at the north-east corner of the buildings, along the narrow street which separates it from the Great Baths. It could be overlooked from the portico stretching before the great reception hall with seven apses, constructed in the middle of the fifth century. Earlier (second-third century), people could enter it through a door, two steps of which are still visible under the north wall, in front of an underground door of the Great Baths; this garden belonged then to the public baths dedicated in 193 B. C.. At that time, on the western side of this garden, there were little baths excavated under the seven apses room and contemporaneous with the latter.

2-The main building (Plan view Fig. 1) is composed of two peristyle dwellings, formerly separate, linked up during the Late Empire; the central space of the large one was paved, first with slabs, afterwards with mosaic. The little peristyle (7 m x 10 m) was a garden (B) enclosed by three porticoes, supported by six columns (rough and probably stuccoed) and bordered by a low wall. On the south side, there was a semi-circular pool, the front of which was closed by two stone plates, engraved with lozenges and joined by a cut column. The exedra and the rooms having view into the garden seem to have been devoted to private life, unlike the large one.

3-The rear garden (C) of the "House of Bacchus" seems to have originally belonged to the little baths and then the house with the large peristyle VI (see Plan view in red Fig. 1). It was greatly transformed in Late Antiquity. The great seven apses hall, built in the middle of the fifth century, took the place of the small baths and overwhelmed this space with its impressive volume. The large oecus may be assigned to the Constantinian period: perhaps it had a view over the rear garden at that time. Afterwards, this room was extended with an absidial pool (11 m long); through a wide door, people accessed a little terrace, from where they overlooked the new pool, paved with marble, one meter below. Water arrived from two little pools on each side and went into the drain of the seven apses room. Two little columns bore a small pediment. In the inside edges, we see terracotta amphoras used to raise fish. The inside borders are complete, but the outside masonry is unfinished, so that we may think that the rear wall may have stood high enough to form a nymphaeum. The masonry is similar in the fish pool and in the seven apses (brick tiles joined by brick layers forming crosses) : from that, we infer they were built at the same time, in the middle of the fifth century. The foundation of the fish pool was laid on the bottom of the rectangular one, which perhaps was filled up.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the House of Bacchus

Credit: (Dans les jardins de Djemila, Blanchard-Lemée, M., 1998, p. 194, fig. 9)

Images

Fig. 2: The small peristyle garden B and its semi circular basin

Credit: (Février, P.-A. – CCJ 62889))

Fig. 3: The pool and fish pool

Credit: (Février, P.-A.– CCJ 62945)

Fig. 4: The fish pool

Credit: (Février, P.-A.– CCJ 62886)

Dates

3nd-5th century CE

Bibliography

Blanchard-Lemée, M., "Dans les jardins de Djemila", in Antiquités Africaines, 34, 1998, pp. 185-197, Il fig. (worldcat)
Blanchard-Lemée, M., "La Maison de Bacchus à Djemila: Architecture et décor d'une grande demeure provinciale à la fin de l'antiquité", in Bulletin archéologique du CTHS., NS, fasc. 17 B (Colloque sur l'archéologie et l'histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, Perpignan, 1981), 1984, pp. 131-143. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., L'édifice appelé "Maison de Bacchus" à Djemila, Études d'antiquités africaines, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2019, SSN 0768-2352. (worldcat)
Malek, A.-A., "Le jardin au fil de l'eau: mises en scène paysagères dans les domus de Maghreb antique", in L'eau dans les villes du Maghreb et leur territoire à l'époque romaine, eds, V. Brouquier-Reddé et F. Hurlet, Bordeaux, Ausonius, 2018, pp. 248-249. (worldcat)
Malek, A.-A. "De l'espace pictural à l'espace du jardin : mosaïques et jardins dans les domus de l'Afrique romaine", in Archéologie des jardins: analyse des espaces et méthodes d'approches, Van Ossel, P., Guimier-Sorbets, A.-M. (dir.), Archéologie et histoire romaine 26, Editions Monique Mergoil, 2014, p. 20. (worldcat)

Places

Cuicul Pleiades: 305068

House of Castorius, Central District (Maison du Castorius, Quartier central)

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Fig. 1: Plan of Cuicul

Credit: (AOROC, from Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., 2019, fig. 1a)

Location Description

The city of Cuicul, modern Djemila in Algeria, was a Roman colony founded by Trajan at the beginning of the second century. It was located near the western frontier of Numidia, at a crossroads near the High Plain of Setif and south of the actual "Little Kabylie" region. The original city center was constructed on a spur set between two merging wadi, the Gergour and the Betame, at an altitude of about eight hundred meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains more than a thousand meters above sea level. There are snow falls and freezing cold in winter and plenty of water. For the most part, the climate exc1udes plants which cannot stand the frost; however, we can infer the presence of olive plantations due to the number of olive presses found throughout the town.

Garden

House of Europa, Central District (Maison d'Europe, Quartier Central)

Keywords

Garden Description

This house of irregular shape (Plan view, Fig. 1), rested against the ancient city wall, transformed into a decorative wall for the Severian Forum, and between two large cardines. It was excavated in 1911.

We can see the complex building of Late Antiquity (1500 m2), centered around the peristyle, with a large central area (8.10 x 7.70 m) (Fig. 1). The bases of the columns (four on each side) are not visible; therefore, they seem to lay on a lower level, hidden by later phase of construction. During the first half of the fifth century, low walls were set against the columns, except on the west side, where the open area was entered from the gallery. On the north side, an apse, paved with a mosaic representing a shell, encroaches upon the inner space. On the east side, in front of the large exedra XVIII, a mass of masonry includes three small semi-circular pools. A large rectangular fish pool rests against the mass of masonry; there are little terracotta amphoras inside the edges. At the center of this pool, rose a tall hexagonal base engraved with an ivy scroll and unreadable inscriptions, standing on a hollow base. The peristyle galleries were paved with mosaics: there were geometric patterns and two inscriptions glorifying the owner Castorius and his family.

The L shaped space between the fish pool and the columns was probably planted.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the House of Castorius

Credit: (Blanchard-Lemée, M., 1975, fig. 4)

Images

Fig. 2: Southwest corner of the peristyle XVI, the L shaped planted area (Blanchard-Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Fig. 3: Hexagonal base engraved with an ivy scroll at the center of the rectangular pool (Blanchard-Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Dates

5th century

Excavation Dates

1911

Bibliography

Blanchard-Lemée, M., Maisons à mosaïques du quartier central de Djemila (Cuicul), Paris, 1975, pp. 158-161. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., L'édifice appelé "Maison de Bacchus" à Djemila, Études d'antiquités africaines, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2019, SSN 0768-2352. (worldcat)

Places

Cuicul Pleiades: 305068

House of Europa, Central District (Maison d'Europe, Quartier Central)

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Fig. 1: Plan of Cuicul

Credit: (AOROC, from Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., 2019, fig. 1a)

Location Description

Garden

House of Europa, Central District (Maison d'Europe, Quartier Central)

Keywords

Garden Description

The block of buildings termed the House of Europa, about 1500 square meters in area, extends along the main Cardo, quite over the north gate of the town. It included large and small baths, a monumental entrance, shops and other areas for commercial use, and a peristyle house on the north side. It was excavated in 1914 and 1915.

Three exedras (Fig. 1, labels 13, 18 and 22) had a large view into the peristyle courtyard (Fig. 2). An open area, limited by the wall I-J and measuring about 10 by 8.4 meters, was enclosed by three porticoes, supported by six columns on the north, five columns and one pilaster on the west and east sides. Around the end of the second century, the area seems to have been paved with cement; rain water went out through a drainage structure at the northwest corner, towards the main drain in the street. At a later period when the house extended to the whole insula, possibly during the fourth or fifth century, three pools were added to the peristyle. In front of the large north exedra, there was a low semicircular pool with small niches inside. At an upper level, a large square pool with niches in the corners almost covered the open central area, about 6 by 5.6 meters in size. On the south side, projecting over the ancient dividing wall I-J, there was a large semi-circular pool, with a small axial recess. On each side, on the southern limit of the square pool, we see a small planter (Fig. 1, labels d and d'), originally at the same height as this pool, about 0.70 m. On each side of the small northern pool, similarly tall plinths probably bore a crater-shaped planting pot or a sculpture, bounded by a low wall to the middle pool.

Room 18 enjoyed a spectacular view toward the terraced fountains and plants. It was paved with mosaics from both the early and late Empire periods, remnants of which have been found. In the fifth century, room 13 was transformed into a triclinium opening towards the west and was paved with a mosaic of Europa.

Above a vaulted cellar (Fig. 1, label IX), probably dating to the second century, a terrace overlooked the peristyle courtyard towards the south. It might have been used as a hanging garden, possibly decorated with potted plants.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the House of Europa

Credit: (Blanchard-Lemée, M., 1975, fig.49)

Images

Fig. 2: View of the peristyle of the house (Blanchard Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Fig. 3: View of planter d (Blanchard Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Dates

2nd-5th century CE

Excavation Dates

1914-1915

Bibliography

Allais, Y., "La maison d'Europe à Djemila", in Revue Africaine, 83, 1939, pp. 35-44. (worldcat)
Blanchard-Lemée, M., Maisons à mosaïques du quartier central de Djemila (Cuicul), Paris, 1975, pp. 129-151, fig.49. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., L'édifice appelé "Maison de Bacchus" à Djemila, Études d'antiquités africaines, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2019, SSN 0768-2352. (worldcat)

Places

Cuicul Pleiades: 305068

House of Hylas, Central District (Maison de Castorius, Quartier central)

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Fig. 1: Plan of Cuicul

Credit: (AOROC, from Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., 2019, fig. 1a)

Location Description

Garden

House of Hylas, Central District (Maison de Castorius, Quartier central)

Keywords

Garden Description

This small, irregular house, resting against the west wall of the judicial basilica, was found in a ruined state in 1938.

On the side of the corridor leading from the Severan Forum, there was a garden, about 11 by 12 meters in size. It was enclosed by a portico on the north and the east sides, with an entrance on the northwest corner. The north gallery, paved with stone slabs and a Hylas mosaic, was supported by four columns standing on a low wall. In the middle of the central intercolumnation, there was a semi-circular pool. The site is dated between the end of the fourth and the fifth centuries.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the House of Hylas

Credit: (Blanchard-Lemée, M., 1975, fig. 77)

Images

Fig. 2: View of the corridor and the basin. On the background, the courtyard garden (Blanchard Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Dates

4-5th century CE

Excavation Dates

1938

Bibliography

Blanchard-Lemée, M., Maisons à mosaïques du quartier central de Djemila (Cuicul), Paris, 1975, pp. 129-151. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., L'édifice appelé "Maison de Bacchus" à Djemila, Études d'antiquités africaines, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2019, SSN 0768-2352. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., "Note sur le développement urbain en Afrique du Nord, les exemples comparés de Djemila et de Sétif", in C.Arch. , XIV, 1964, pp. 21-22, plan p. 14. (worldcat)

Places

Cuicul Pleiades: 305068

Small Baths (Garden of the Small Baths to the south of the Great Baths; rear garden to the west of the House of Bacchus)

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Province Description

Location

Fig. 1: Plan of Cuicul

Credit: (AOROC, from Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., 2019, fig. 1a)

Location Description

Garden

Small Baths (Garden of the Small Baths to the south of the Great Baths; rear garden to the west of the House of Bacchus)

Keywords

Garden Descriptionf

The garden A mentioned as an open area was excavated in 1930-1931 and in 1944 (Plan view, Fig. 1). It was enclosed on the N, by the Small Baths I (covered in a later period by the seven apse hall built in the fifth century); on the W, by the limit of a long boundary wall (44m long) of the property; on the S, by another wall and by the little building II with the well known dionysiac pavement. Along the rear wall of the garden on the W, there was a terrace III (9 m long) paved with black mosaic. It runs from the large reservoir at the SW corner to a pavilion IV near the NW corner. The pavilion (6.40 m x 3.60 m) commanded a large view over the garden; it may be interpreted as a summer dining room, a diaeta. It was decorated with stuccoed moldings and a colorful mosaic pavement, which could hardly be dated before the fourth century, but perhaps was not the original pavement. Parallel to the edge of the terrace, one meter below the reservoir, sixty centimeters below the terrace, there was a rectangular pool V (16. 50 m X 4.50 m, 1.63 m deep). Water entered at the south edge, under the pedestal (a) still in place. Along the W and the S sides of the pool, more or less than two meters away, there is a row of stone bases, each showing a hole for a wood post, that likely supported a pergola; a vine probably shaded the passage (similar holes are visible in the N and W edges of the pool) (fig. 2, fig. 3). Standing on the pedestal (a), we may imagine a garden statue, for the feet of a marble statuette of an Unraveling Venus (1 m high) were found precisely at the same time (fig. 4) ; the body had been carried, by the load of earth along the sharp slope, towards the large peristyle. Near the pool were also found a broken head of Aseculapius (30 cm high) and a set of surgical instruments. On the E side of the garden, there was a tank that stored water from the spring, the channel of which crosses the garden towards the large peristyle VI. The little building II with dionysiac pavement, perhaps widely opened towards the garden, and must be interpreted in connection to it: the vine in the mosaic may recall the vine in the pergola. This ornamental garden combines many uses (bathing, dining, curing, entertaining) and many religious significations, referring to Dionysus, Venus, Aesculapius.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the Small Baths

Credit: (Blanchard-Lemée, M., 1998, fig. 6)

Images

Fig. 2: Southern side of the rectangular pool

Credit: (Février, P.-A. – CCJ 62881)

Fig. 3: Drawing of reconstruction of the rectangular pool (Kahwagi-Janho, H.)

Fig. 4: Venus (Blanchard-Lemée, M., AOrOc)

Dates

Early 3rd century CE

Excavation Dates

1938

Bibliography

Blanchard-Lemée, M., "Dans les jardins de Djemila", in Antiquités Africaines, 34, 1998, pp. 185-197, Il fig. (worldcat)
Blanchard-Lemée, M., "La Maison de Bacchus à Djemila: Architecture et décor d'une grande demeure provinciale à la fin de l'antiquité", in Bulletin archéologique du C. THS., NS, fasc. 17 B (Colloque sur l'archéologie et l'histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, Perpignan, 1981), 1984, pp. 131-143. (worldcat)
Février, P.-A., Blanchard-Lemée, M., L'édifice appelé "Maison de Bacchus" à Djemila, Études d'antiquités africaines, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2019, SSN 0768-2352. (worldcat)
Malek, A.-A., "Le jardin au fil de l'eau : mises en scène paysagères dans les domus de Maghreb antique", in L'eau dans les villes du Maghreb et leur territoire à l'époque romaine, eds, Brouquier-Reddé, V. et Hurlet, Bordeaux, F., Ausonius, 2018, pp. 248-249. (worldcat)

Places

Cuicul Pleiades: 305068