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Mosaics and Room Function: the Evidence from some Fourth-century Romano-British Villas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Patricia Witts
Patricia Witts
Affiliation:
Bristol
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Extract

The mosaics of fourth-century Romano-British villas constitute a rich but relatively neglected resource. In this paper, I propose to demonstrate how figured pavements can provide indications of the function of the rooms they decorated.

Hitherto, an approach to the identification of different types of room using mosaics as a prime indicator is one that has not been fully utilised. Major studies of the Roman villa are valuable in their own right but barely touch upon room function. Some important and still-cited articles have concentrated on form rather than function. Other studies have focused upon social aspects of the villa. In recent years comments have been made about how decoration can be used to differentiate space but with little reference to mosaics. As against those studies which hint at the use of mosaics but do not make much of them, Thébert has produced a seminal work addressing function, architecture and decoration, especially mosaics, showing that many illuminating deductions can be made.

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Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 31 , November 2000 , pp. 291 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Patricia Witts 2000. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

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