Villa Romana del Casale (Sicilian: Villa Rumana dû Casali) is a Roman villa built in the first quarter of the 4th century and located
about 3 km outside the town of Piazza Armerina, Sicily, southern Italy. Containing the richest, largest and most complex collection of
Roman mosaics in the world,
The Villa was constructed (on the remains of an older villa) in the first quarter of the 4th century AD, probably as the center of a
huge latifundium (agricultural estate) covering the surrounding area. How long the villa kept this role is not known, maybe for less
than 150 years.
In late antiquity the Romans partitioned most of the Sicilian hinterland into huge agricultural estates called "latifundia"
(sing. "latifundium"). The size of the villa and the amount and quality of its artwork indicate that it was the center of such a
latifundium. The owner was probably a member of senatorial class if not of the imperial family itself, i.e., the absolute upper class
of the Roman Empire. (Text from Wikipedia)
There are indications that the earlier house was destroyed by an earthquake in the first decade of the 4th century, by which time it
was probably owned by Marcus Aurelius Maximinianus, a Pannonian who had risen from the ranks of the Roman army to become a general,
and then was raised to the status of Augustus by Diocletian. On the violent death of Maximinianus in 310 it would have passed to his
son and imperial colleague Maxentius, killed at the battle of Milvian Bridge in Rome in 312. (Text from UNESCO website on
Villa Romana del Casale)
No comments:
Post a Comment