The Roman Villa in the Mediterranean Basin

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.

Author Biography

Annalisa Marzano (Ph.D. 2004, Columbia University, New York) is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Reading, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London. She has published on a wide range of topics related to the social and economic history of the Roman world and has participated in numerous archaeological projects. She is the author of two monographs, Roman Villas in Central Italy. A Social and Economic History (2007), which won the Silver Medal and Honorable Mention at the VIII Premio Romanistico Internazionale Gerard Boulvert, and Harvesting the Sea: The Exploitation of Marine Resources in the Roman Mediterranean (2013). Guy P. R. Métraux (Ph.D. 1972, Harvard University, Massachusetts) is Professor Emeritus of Visual Arts at York University, Toronto, and a member of the Collaborative Program in Ancient History (University of Toronto/York University). He has participated in archaological excavations in Italy, Turkey, and Tunisia, co-authoring The San Rocco Villa at Francolise (London and New York 1985) with M. Aylwin Cotton. His 1995 book Sculptors and Physicians in Fifth century Greece won the Raymond Klibansky Prize from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. A Guggenheim Fellow, his current work focuses on villas in their literary and physical aspects.