Yes, it's quite a size. I love the guy done in the hexagon, looks like some cartoon character! Hopefully any other figures they find will be more like the horseman.
stunning mosaics, but a very stange shaped building plan with some odd angles The man with the Big Eyes reminds me of 'Christian' cartoons
Quote:a very stange shaped building plan with some odd angles
Fourth century aristocrats seemed to love buildings with lots of odd angles and interlocking apses! The villa at Piazza Armerina is one example.
More similar to this one, perhaps, might be the
Domus delle Sette Sale, built on top of the old cistern of the Baths of Trajan in Rome:
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Incidentally, this villa seems to had belonged to Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, one of the most important figures of Pagan Rome in the late 4th century. A very nice book about him is "Vettius Agorius Praetextatus – Senatorial Life in Between", by Maijastina Kahlos, available on line at
http://www.maijastinakahlos.net/b/kirjoi...etextatus/
Quote:"Vettius Agorius Praetextatus – Senatorial Life in Between"
That does look interesting, yes. Another good, and recent, book is Watts's
The Final Pagan Generation, about Praetextatus and three of his contemporaries, and really an overview of aristocratic life in the fourth century empire:
The Final Pagan Generation
(not much in it about houses, or mosaics, though, sadly!)
Are there any more resources online giving the floor plans of 4th century villas? or any paper sources anyone could point me to?
Quote:resources online giving the floor plans of 4th century villas?
If you're looking for villas, rather than the big urban domus (many of which, in the fourth century, became as massive as rural villas, and often more elaborate!), then there are plenty of examples to look at.
Try doing a google image search on any of the following late Roman sites and you should find plans and web pages:
Villa Montmaurin, France
Villa Olmeda, Spain
Villa Romana, Piazza Armerina, Sicily
Villa Quintilii, Italy
Villa Echternach, Germany
Villa Nennig, Germany
Villa / Palace Konz, Germany
Villa Seviac, France
Butrint Triconch Palace, Albania
You might like to scan through the online portions of this book too (the paper version is quite pricey, unless you can get it through a university library):
Housing in Late Antiquity
That should give you some starting points. If you want to look at some more urban dwellings, this site about Ostia is excellent - most of the surviving buildings are Hadrianic/Severan, but some have later additions (go to 'clickable plans' in the left panel, then click on the highlighted individual buildings in each Regio map):
Ostia Antica
*Edit* - this book also has a lot of plans and descriptions of later villas - and some of the chapters are in English. Well worth a scan through:
Villas Tardoantiguas en el Mediterráneo Occidental