DRAFT

Urban House or Schola in Aquincum

Contributor: June Dorsch
Published: 2021-04-21
Modified: 2025-06-29

Province Description

Location

Location Description

This town on the Danube river acquired the rank of municipium under Hadrian in 124 A.D. In the year 194 it was granted colonial status.

Garden

Urban House or Schola in Aquincum

Keywords

Garden Description

Very few houses of Mediterranean type have been discovered, and only one can be said with certainty to have had a garden (Fig. 1, G in Fig. 1). The peristyle courtyard was a prominent feature of this house of irregular plan and substantial size near the southern city wall. The house dates to the 3rd century, and it is thought to have been a clubhouse or schola for young men (collegium iuventutis), complete with a bath suite. In the middle of the courtyard, framed on four sides by a low wall supporting columns, was a square masonry pool (Fig. 2). In the center of the pool was a fountain consisting of a small marble satyr standing on a column of the same material. This decorative element and the unpaved ground strongly suggest the existence of a garden.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of a building with a peristyle garden courtyard (G) and a pool in its center.
Credit: Adapted from Polenz and Póczy 1986, fig. 47.

Images

Fig. 2: The excavated courtyard building with its peristyle garden.
Credit: Photo courtesy of M. Carroll.)

Dates

3rd century

Bibliography

  • A. Mócsy, Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire, London, 1974, p. 166, pl. 16b. (worldcat)
  • H. Polenz and K. Póczy, Das römische Budapest. Neue Ausgrabungen und Funde in Aquincum, Münster, 1986, p. 124, fig. 47, pl. 10. (worldcat)

Places

Explore the places containing this garden: