Gardens of the Roman Empire

House A, Piazza della Vittoria

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

Province Description

Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, was colonised by Greeks from the later eighth century B. C., with Syracuse becoming the largest and most powerful Greek polis; in time most of the indigenous settlements of the interior also became profoundly Hellenized. The western tip of the island was settled by Phoenicians and later became an outpost of Carthaginian control. In the third century B. C. Sicily became embroiled in the First Punic War which resulted in Rome's acquisition of the island as its first overseas provincia in 241 B. C.; in 211 B. C. Sicily was above all famed for its agricultural fertility and its capacity to produce exceptional grain yields (wheat and barley), and to a lesser extent wine. By the time of the Roman Empire the principal flourishing cities were located on the coast, with much of the interior given over to scattered agricultural villages, villas and farms.

Region

Palermo

Location

Palermo Pleiades: 462410

Garden

House A, Piazza della Vittoria

Keywords

Garden Description

There is a circular pool in the center of the peristyle in this grand house (Fig. 5). The date of this pool may belong to the substantial refashioning of the dwelling in the third century A. D.

Plans

Images

Fig. 5 Palermo, Piazza della Vittoria, plans of houses A, B and C

Bibliography

R. J. A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster, 1990, p. 127 with references, and p. 121, fig. 109.8. (worldcat)

Places

Pan(h)ormus Pleiades: 462410

House B, Piazza della Vittoria

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

Province Description

Region

Palermo

Location

Palermo Pleiades: 462410

Garden

House B, Piazza della Vittoria

Keywords

Garden Description

A pool, still frescoed in blue, has recently been uncovered at the south end of the peristyle, no doubt opposite the principal room of the south range (which remains to be excavated) of this house, which lies adjacent to houses A and C. The excavation is not yet published and does not appear on Fig. 5.

Plans

Images

Fig. 5 Palermo, Piazza della Vittoria, plans of houses A, B and C

Places

Pan(h)ormus Pleiades: 462410

House C, Piazza della Vittoria

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

Province Description

Region

Palermo

Location

Palermo Pleiades: 462410

Garden

House A, Piazza della Vittoria

Keywords

Garden Description

There is a rectangular tank or fountain set against the rear wall of a small internal court (Fig. 5) in this almost totally unexcavated house, which lies back to back with the house containing garden 4.

Plans

Images

Fig. 5 Palermo, Piazza della Vittoria, plans of houses A, B and C

Bibliography

R. J. A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster, 1990, p. 127 with references, and p. 121, fig. 109.8. (worldcat)

Places

Pan(h)ormus Pleiades: 462410

House Grounds of the "Villa San Pancrazio"

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

Province Description

Region

Taormina

Location

Syracuse Pleiades: 462506

Garden

Villa at Patti Marina

Keywords

Garden Description

In private housing at this site on the east coast no excavation has so far been attempted to reveal the presence of gardens, and little is known of the arrangements for running water in houses to irrigate such gardens or to supply ornamental pools and fountains. This town house has a small rectangular pool with a small semicircular recess (Farrar Type B) at the south end of the garden peristyle, facing what was presumably the principal dining room at the south end of the house. The precise date is uncertain.

Plans

Bibliography

G. M. Bacci, Attivita della soprintendenza: Taormina, Kokalos 39-40 (1993-94): 945-7. (worldcat)

Pool types: L. Farrar, Ancient Roman Gardens, Stroud, 1998, pp. 71-84.(worldcat)

Places

Tauromenium Pleiades: 462506

PUBLIC GARDEN Syracuse

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

Province Description

Region

Syracuse

Location

Syracuse Pleiades: 462503

Garden

PUBLIC GARDEN, Syracuse

Keywords

Garden Description

In the Roman period, the clearest evidence for the presence of a formal garden in a public place comes from Syracuse, where an impressive piazza, 175 by 45 meters, was laid out early in the Augustan period on the west side of the third-century B. C. Altar of Hieron (Fig. 2). A U-shaped stoa was erected on three sides, with fourteen columns on the short sides and sixty-four on the long; the Altar itself formed the fourth. Within the area enclosed by this portico, a large rectangular basin was erected in the center, with steps at the corners and a statue base in the middle; a drain led away from the basin westwards under the portico. The open space around the basin was planted systematically with five rows of trees, thirty-two trees in the two outermost rows, and twenty-six in each of the rows interrupted by the pool; there were thus 142 trees (of unknown species) in all (Fig. 3). The arrangement, with its central pool, trees and surrounding porticoes, recalls similar monuments in Campania, such as the Great Palaestra, also of Augustan date, at Pompeii (see Vol. 1, no.), and the Palaestra at Herculaneum (see Vol. 1, no.). The function of the Syracuse square is unknown, but it must have been principally intended as a pleasant park where the townsfolk of Syracuse could stroll, especially, perhaps, when attending events staged in the nearby amphitheater.

Plans

Images

Fig. 2 Syracuse, plan of the piazza adjacent to the Altar of Hieron with central pool and pits marking the sites of trees

Fig. 3 Syracuse, general view of the piazza as it appears today

Bibliography

G. V. Gentili, Notizie degli Scavi 1954, pp. 333-61 (worldcat);

R. J. A. Wilson, Archaeological Reports 34 (1987-88): 115, fig. 6 (worldcat)

id., Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster, 1990, pp. 197-8 with fig. 165.1. (worldcat)

Places

Syracusae/Syrakousai Pleiades: 462503

Villa at Borgellusa di Avola

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

Province Description

Region

Syracuse

Location

Syracuse Pleiades: 462503

Garden

Villa at Borgellusa di Avola

Keywords

Garden Description

There is a four meter square basin located in the middle of the space enclosed by the peristyle (Fig. 6). Belonging to Farrar's type D, the pool has a square exterior and an inner outline of semicircular corner niches alternating with rectangular recesses. Probably belonging to the first half of the first century A. D., the pool is waterproofed with white mortar inside, and has edges lined with white and grey marble, possibly Carraran (Fig. 7).

Plans

Images

Fig. 7 Borgellusa, water basin at the centre of the peristyle garden

Bibliography

G. M. Bacci, Scavi e ricerche a Avola, Grammichele, Portopalo, Taormina, Kokalos 30-31 (1984-85): 711-13 (worldcat);

R. J. A. Wilson, Archaeological Reports 34 (1987-88): 115, fig. 6 (worldcat) id., Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster, 1990, pp. 197-8 with fig. 165.1. (worldcat)

Places

Syracusae/Syrakousai Pleiades: 462503

Villa at Castroreale San Biagio

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

Province Description

Region

Messina

Location

Messina Pleiades: 462538

Garden

Villa at Castroreale San Biagio

Keywords

Garden Description

There is a rectangular fountain basin set at the south end of the peristyle facing the triclinium, probably of the second century A. D. (Figs 8 and 9).

Plans

Images

Fig. 8 Castroreale San Biagio, plan of Roman villa

Bibliography

R. J. A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster, 1990, pp. 199-203, with figs 165.3 and 166 (202 for the garden).(worldcat)

Places

Zancle/Messana Pleiades: 462538

Villa at Durrueli di Realmonte

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

Province Description

Region

Agrigento

Location

Durrueli di Realmonte

Garden

Villa at Durrueli di Realmonte

Keywords

Garden Description

There is a small semicircular basin (Farrar Type E) inserted in a secondary period in the north edge of the peristyle, facing the principal marble-paved reception or dining-room of the north wing (Fig. 10). The basin has marble wall-veneer and plain tessellation on its floor (Fig 11). This arrangement at Durrueli may have been influenced by North African fashion, where the demi-lune basin is especially common.

Plans

Images

Fig. 10 Durrueli di Realmonte, plan of Roman villa

Bibliography

R. J. A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire, Warminster, 1990, pp. 198-9 with figs 164 and 165.2.(worldcat)

M. Aoyagi, Ripresa eegli scavi nella villa romana di Realmonte, Kokalos 26-27 (1980-81): 668-73 (worldcat)

Places

Durrueli di Realmonte

Villa at Patti Marina

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

Province Description

Region

Messina

Location

Messina Pleiades: 462538

Garden

Villa at Patti Marina

Keywords

Garden Description

This fourth-century villa on the north coast has also yielded evidence for a garden (but no ornamental pools). A figured mosaic pavement belonging to an earlier, third-century villa was found inside the courtyard of the later villa, but it had been heavily damaged by cuttings through it for the plants and trees of the garden of the fourth-century villa. Nothing can be said of the layout of the latter in detail as the excavation remains unpublished, but the potential for garden archaeology in the island has at least been demonstrated.

Plans

Bibliography

G. Voza, L'attivita della Soprintendenza alle Antichita della Sicilia Orientale, Kokalos 26-7 (1980-81): Attivita nel territorio della Soprintendenza alle Antichita di Siracusa nel quadriennio 1980-1984, Kokalos 692-3; 30-31 (1984-85): 660-61.R. J. A. Wilson (worldcat)

Places

Zancle/Messana Pleiades: 462538

Villa in the Casale district near Piazza Armerina

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

Province Description

Region

Enna

Location

Enna

Garden

Villa, in the Casale district near Piazza Armerina

Keywords

Garden Description

The sumptuous fourth-century villa has, not surprisingly, a large and most elaborately-shaped pool at the center of its main peristyle (Farrar Type G: Fig. ): it consists of a rectangular central basin with outward-curving recesses in the middle of the long sides, and two independent demi-lune pools (i.e. with one straight and one curved side, but enclosing overall less than a semicircle) at either end of the short sides; the whole is twenty meters long and nine meters wide (15 on Fig. 12). Its exterior was veneered in marble; the interior was mosaic-lined, with fish depicted on the edge above the water line, and plain tessellation below. Water played from a fountain at the center of the pool, where a small octagonal base was furnished with a vertical lead pipe. The demi-lune pools were wholly marble-lined. A headless marble statuette of a cupid (Fig. 13) and the legs of a second were found in the larger basin: they must have formed a matching pair of statues, set on the pedestals found at either end of the pool. The marble head of a curly-haired young man was also found in the western demi-lune basin (Fig. 14). Nothing is known of the presumed garden surrounding this elaborate pool, but marble slabs set between the columns of the peristyle to restrict access to the central area were carved with stylised dolphins (Fig. 15), and a marble table-support carved with the customary feline on its front face, which was found in the southern peristyle corridor, might also conceivably have come from the garden (Fig. 16). The elliptical court (41) in front of the three-apsed banqueting hall was also provided with two small fountains as well as an elaborate water feature with niches (a nymphaeum) at its west end, but it had no garden, as the area was mosaic-paved (unless the latter is secondary).

Plans

Images

Fig. 12 Piazza Armerina, plan of late Roman villa

Bibliography

A. Carandini, A. Ricci and M. De Vos, Filosofiana. La villa di Piazza Armerina, Palermo 1982, pp. 126-8 (worldcat)

G. V. Gentili, La villa romana di Piazza Armerina Palazzo Erculio, Osimo, 1 (1999): 79-83; 2 (1999): 25-8 (worldcat)

R. J. A. Wilson, in G. C. M. Jansen (ed.), Cura aquarum in Sicilia: Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Syracuse, May 16-22, 1998 [Bulletin Antieke Beschaving Supplement 5], Leiden: Stichtung BABesch 2000 [publ. 2001]: 22-23).(worldcat)

Places

(H)Enna