Vespasian's villa uncovered north of Rome

[Ludovicus]

"A team of British and Italian archaeologists have discovered the remains of a lavish villa belonging to the emperor Vespasian, exactly 2,000 years after his birth."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...discovered.html

Edited August 7, 2009 by Ludovicus

[Ursus]

Very interesting. I always admired Vespasian.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Thanks for this Ludovicus.

 

The reign of Vespasian and then that of his sons has always been a favorite of mine.

 

Here's a bit more info to add to your post.....

"The exact location of Falacrinae has long been the subject of debate. We now know that this village of ancient Rome lay near Cittareale, " Pierluigi Feliciangeli, the mayor of Cittareale, told Discovery News. Indeed, the rediscovery near Cittareale of an ancient Roman inscription celebrating a Falacrinae resident at the Social War in 91-88 B.C., has made it possible to identify the ancient village.

In a parallel dig, archaeologists found the remains of Falacrinae -- tombs, vases, and various artifacts which are now on display at the Cittareale museum. "We have Falacrinae and we have this huge villa. It all points to Vespasian. This is an incredible finding for Cittareale," Feliciangeli said. According to Coarelli, the most spectacular section of the villa is the floor of the main hall, made of polychrome marbles quarried in North Africa. Two other rooms have delicate mosaic floors.

 

The villa is said to be somewhere in the region of 15,000 square meters in size.

Edited August 9, 2009 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus

[Ludovicus]

Thanks for this Ludovicus.

 

The reign of Vespasian and then that of his sons has always been a favorite of mine.

 

Here's a bit more info to add to your post.....

"The exact location of Falacrinae has long been the subject of debate. We now know that this village of ancient Rome lay near Cittareale, " Pierluigi Feliciangeli, the mayor of Cittareale, told Discovery News. Indeed, the rediscovery near Cittareale of an ancient Roman inscription celebrating a Falacrinae resident at the Social War in 91-88 B.C., has made it possible to identify the ancient village.

In a parallel dig, archaeologists found the remains of Falacrinae -- tombs, vases, and various artifacts which are now on display at the Cittareale museum. "We have Falacrinae and we have this huge villa. It all points to Vespasian. This is an incredible finding for Cittareale," Feliciangeli said. According to Coarelli, the most spectacular section of the villa is the floor of the main hall, made of polychrome marbles quarried in North Africa. Two other rooms have delicate mosaic floors.

 

The villa is said to be somewhere in the region of 15,000 square meters in size.

 

 

Thanks for more details on this news item. If you have any images of either Flacrinae artifacts or of mosaic floors from the presumed Vespasian villa could you please post them or links to them. I'm curious. What do you find interesting about this emperor and his sons?

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Thanks for more details on this news item. If you have any images of either Flacrinae artifacts or of mosaic floors from the presumed Vespasian villa could you please post them or links to them. I'm curious. What do you find interesting about this emperor and his sons?

 

Sorry I forgot to post the link to the article, there's a couple of picture's of the mosaic floor they discovered.

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/06/v...sian-villa.html

 

What I like about Vespasian is the way he managed to stabilize the Empire after the tyrannical rule of Nero and then the civil war which happened after his death. Vespasian was a soldier at heart and had worked his way up to the very top of the tree by firstly being extremely good at what he did and secondly by earning the love and respect of his soldiers and the people of Rome. He was a man of strict military discipline and simple tastes, Vespasian proved to be a conscientious and generally tolerant administrator. More importantly, following the upheavals of A.D. 68-69, his reign was welcome for its general tranquility and restoration of peace. In Vespasian Rome found a leader who made no great breaks with tradition, yet his ability to rebuild the empire and especially his willingness to expand the composition of the governing class helped to establish a positive working model for the "good emperors" of the second century. Plus the fact that he was the first Emperor to die peacefully since Augustus ( OK, Tiberius had supposedly passed away quietly, but there is some speculation that his successor Gaius could have helped him along a bit!) surely goes to prove that he was a good and worthy ruler of Rome.

[Ludovicus]

Gaius, thanks so much for your sketch of Vespasian. Lovely marble floor in that villa!

Edited August 10, 2009 by Ludovicus

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

HERE'S a bit more on the villa from Mary Beards column in The Times, casting her doubt that it is really anything to do with Vespasian at all.

[Ludovicus]

Here are 12 high resolutions photos from the excavation site. I found them in today's "Repubblica.it" newspaper. Just hit the "avanti" button to view the images..

 

http://roma.repubblica.it/multimedia/home/7194410/1

Edited August 13, 2009 by Ludovicus

[JGolomb]

HERE'S a bit more on the villa from Mary Beards column in The Times, casting her doubt that it is really anything to do with Vespasian at all.

 

Jason here...just joined the community and this is terrific. Gotta find a way to spread the word!

 

Anyway - I love this behind the scenes politics of science. By the time news usually reaches the masses, it's likely to have gone through months (if not years) of hand-ringing, discussion, exploration, study, peer reviews, and general highs and lows. I find it amazing that any of the experts stood too firmly behind the Vespasian declaration. While the masses might throw out a "who cares", the impact to the researchers reputation could be terrifically damaging.

 

From Beard's story:

"Even the excavator, Filippo Coarelli, who 'has form' with a whole series of over-optimistic 'identifications', admits that there isn't exactly any evidence for this. It's just a large Roman house of roughly the right date in roughly the right place."

 

I wonder what drove the hullaballoo around Vespasian specifically, WITHOUT enough real evidence. From a purely scientific perspective, it would be hard to argue for its identification. And yet the media tends to perpetuate this 'news' with language declaring that it is, in fact, Vespasian crib. I wonder if there's a BBC or Discovery special in the works and this became the first marketing element of the exclusive? Maybe it's the only way for archeology to compete with Britney, Lohan, and the latest sex tapes.

 

-Jason