Rome and the Social Role of Élite Villas in its Suburbs

ISBN-13: 9781407302492 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 182 str.

Geoff W. Adams

Opis

Following on from his earlier 2006 work on the suburban villas of Campania, Geoff Adams here turns his attention to the villas of the suburban environs of Rome itself. He uses both literary and archaeological evidence, but his principal method of enquiry is via a statistical survey of the architecture of the villas. Of particular interest are the ratio's of public to private space, and the percentages of space set aside for leisure and entertainment. Other types of villas (rural, urban, coastal) are also assessed, in order that the particular social functions of the suburban villa may be discerned.

This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the various ‘villa’ sites in the region of Rome in order to differentiate the various intentions that lay behind their construction over time. This includes an analysis of the coastal villas near Ostia, the estates in the Alban Hills, the socio-political function of Imperial residences and how each site can be used to understand the social climate of the hinterland beyond the capital up until the end of the 2nd Century AD, but there have also been some examples taken from a 3rd Century context as well, which have been used on a largely comparative basis. The main focus remains the development of villas around the capital into the first two centuries of the Roman principate. The author analyses the chief characteristics of the layout of central Italian villas of the élite, using specific case studies of villas that have been excavated and/or recorded outside the city of Rome. This analysis aims to uncover correlations between the literary definition of “suburbia”, the identification of villas as ‘suburban’ – as opposed to rural or maritime.