This volume offers a comprehensive survey of Roman villas in Italy and the Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire, from their origins to the collapse of the Empire. The architecture of villas could be humble or grand, and sometimes luxurious. Villas were most often farms where wine, olive oil, cereals, and manufactured goods, among other products, were produced. They were also venues for hospitality, conversation, and thinking on pagan, and ultimately Christian, themes. Villas spread as the Empire grew. Like towns and cities, they became the means of power and assimilation, just as infrastructure, such as aqueducts and bridges, was transforming the Mediterranean into a Roman sea. The distinctive Roman/Italian villa type was transferred to the provinces, resulting in Mediterranean-wide culture of rural dwelling and work that further unified the Empire.

This edited volume, based on the first Williams Symposium on Classical Architecture, held at the University of Pennsylvania in April 1990, focuses on the theme of the well-appointed Roman country house. Using archaeological and textual evidence, the chapters address issues of villa composition, economy, and society. The volume also explores the possible reasons that Greeks did not embrace the villa lifestyle as the Romans so eagerly did. Finally, this book provides a promising foundation for future studies of the nature of the villa phenomenon. Contributors: Lisa Fentress, Chrystina Häuber, Adolf Hoffmann, Ann Kuttner, Hans Lauter, Guy Metraux, Richard Neudecker, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill. Symposium Series 9 University Museum Monograph, 101

An assessment of the Bay of Naples as a popular vacation spot in ancient Rome evaluates the picturesque area as a villa site for numerous emperors and a retreat of choice for the artistic community, in a lavishly illustrated volume that features reproductions of period artwork.

In Gardens of the Roman Empire, the pioneering archaeologist Wilhelmina F. Jashemski sets out to examine the role of ancient Roman gardens in daily life throughout the empire. This study, therefore, includes for the first time, archaeological, literary, and artistic evidence about ancient Roman gardens across the entire Roman Empire from Britain to Arabia. Through well-illustrated essays by leading scholars in the field, various types of gardens are examined, from how Romans actually created their gardens to the experience of gardens as revealed in literature and art. Demonstrating the central role and value of gardens in Roman civilization, Jashemski and a distinguished, international team of contributors have created a landmark reference work that will serve as the foundation for future scholarship on this topic. An accompanying digital catalogue will be made available at: www.gardensoftheromanempire.org.

In the Dutch archaeological community, the Roman Villa of Maasbracht has become famous for the beautiful remains of murals that have survived to this day. Almost all of this material was found in the infill of the stone cellar, a veritable time capsule that has been excavated with much patience and care. The first field campaign in 1981 consisted of some four trial trenches excavated by members of the local archaeological society. These yielded amongst others foundation trenches of walls and floors of mortar and rubble from the Roman period. This was in 1982 cause for the State Service for Arc.

This volume, which was awarded Honorable Mention and a Silver Medal from the Premio Romanistico Internationazionale Gérard Boulvert, investigates the socio-economic role of elite villas in Roman Central Italy drawing on both documentary sources and material evidence. Through the composite picture emerging from the juxtaposition of literary texts and archaeological evidence, the book traces elite ideological attitudes and economic behavior, caught between what was morally acceptable and the desire to invest capital intelligently. The analysis of the biases affecting the application of modern historiographical models to the interpretation of the archaeology frames the discussion on the identification of slave quarters in villas and the putative second century crisis of the Italian economy. The book brings an innovative perspective to the debate on the villa-system and the decline of villas in the imperial period.

Part of Cut-out Models series, this book features pieces to cut and glue to create a historical scene. Suitable for kids, it includes full assembly details and instructions.

Multidisciplinary essays on early villa culture and architecture in Republican Italy

In a fascinating study of ancient Roman architecture, classics scholar Alexander McKay examines simple houses, mansions, estates and palatial buildings, interior furnishings, and gardens--revealing that Roman civilization was astonishingly similar to our own. He also discusses the conditions of life in the Roman provinces. 153 illustrations.