LATE ROMAN DOMUS ARCHITECTURE
BY
A. R. A. VAN AKEN
Our ideas of the old Roman town house, of late years recon- structed ever more perfectly in all its aspects through excavations and assiduous study, were, until recently, more or less incomplete and vague as regards the late Imperial domus. The recent excava- tions at Ostia have brought to light a number of ;houses dating from the fourth century; the first data of these were published by Becatti in the Bollettino d' Arte (1948) 1). They form a most interesting and valuable collection of material for further study, throwing as they do, a special light on house construction in this late classical period. This epoch, so stirring and complicated both politically and culturally, was a period of diminished artistic expression; it was a time of drawing on departed glory. Especially in sculpture, one notices a constant copying of classic originals, but architecture too fell back upon old themes and oft-applied motives. Technically, the art of building had reached an unprecedented high level. Public architecture demonstrated for the last time its technical skill in the typically Roman mammoth vaults of thermae and Imperial palaces; the basilica of Maxentius being one of its last grandiose manifesta- tions 2). In the field of domestic architecture the massive blocks of tenement-houses continued to dominate the scene; the insula-struc- ture of the fourth century is apparently devoid of new aspects or arresting elements. It is a reiteration of the well-known types of the days of Hadrian, that hey-day of the mass-dwelling, witness the
Case Ostiensi del tardo Boll. d'Arte XXXIII series. I ) Becatti, ° impero 1; IV no. 11 ( 1948) p. 102 seq. 2) E g. Lugli, Roma antica 1 (1947) p. 227 seq. 243 impressive insula with "cortiie porticato" (Boethius' type IV) 3), no doubt one of the noblest creations of Rome's domestic architects. The state of things for the domus is quite different. Judging by the finds at Ostia, one may say that the patrician residence had a remarkable new lease of life in the fourth century and that its peculiar character is very striking indeed. Thi.s type of house differs entirely both in point of plan and structure from the old atrium variety and from the courtperistylar type of later centuries. The 4th century mansion had a character of its own and one recognizes in structure as well as in decoration the hybrid nature of the late Imperial age. The appointment of these houses may be called frankly sump- tuous ; it seems a.s if this time set more store by luxurious outward appearance than by substance. Never before were costly species of marble in so great demand in domestic architecture as in these days. Many sculptures adorned the interior and the nymphaeum was particularly utilized as a decorative and recreative monument to sati.sfy the baroque craving for splendour and luxury of wealthy house owners. Thus it came to lose the last trace of its cultus func- tion, which originally determined its nature. Generally speaking the Imperial town house offered only limited scope for the landscape gardener. It is true that there are a few houses at Ostia possessing a garden, for instance the Case a Giardini near the Porta Marina and the well-known premises along the Via dei Dipinti near the Capitol 4), but the eminently practical insula, as well as the domus of the second and third centuries, leave as a rule only little room for a garden. With the exception of the most remarkable domus della Fortuna Annonaria, not a single one of the 4th century domus found so far, had a garden 5). The garden-
3) Cf. Calza, Contributi alia storia della edilizia imperiale romana; Pal- ladio V (191) p. 21 seq. Boethius e.g.: Den romerska storstadens hyreshusarkitektur; G6teb. Hogsk. Arsskr. 1944: 4 p. 10 seq. 4) Calza, Ostia-itinerario (1938) p. 13 and p. 39, fig. 29; Ostia Nuovi Scavi-itinerario (1947) p. 15; cf. also the well-known beautiful lines in Augustinus' Confessiones IX, 10. 5) In the d.d. Amore e Psiche there is a small viridarium in front of the nymphaeum, catalogued by Calza in his guide as "cortiletto-giardino". It seems somewhat strange to us that the water from the nymphaeum should