THE MATERIALIZATION OF IDENTITY: ARCHITECTURE AND CONSUMPTION IN THE LATE ROMAN VILLAS OF LUSITANIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14795/j.v11i3.1011Keywords:
Identity, consumption, architecture, villa, late roman society, Lusitania,Abstract
Like in the rest of Hispania, the rural world in Lusitania underwent significant changes during the late 3rd and 4thcenturies. During this period, numerous rural residences, characterized by great monumentality and complex decoration, were renovated or built. Like in the rest of the western Mediterranean, the emergence of these rural buildings is related to the new political, economic and social order that followed the tetrarchic period, which was characterized in Lusitania and Hispania by the designation of Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Badajoz) as the capital of the Diocese Hispaniarum and the renewal of aristocratic cadres, with the inclusion in the Senate Ordo of bureaucrats and the military. In this socio-political setting, marked by competition and social promotion, rural residences became true centres of social prestige, where architecture and conspicuous consumption were used as a language to display the economic power and the social status of the ownersto visitors and guests. The detailed analysis of the architecture and other markers of consumption documented in various villages in Lusitania will help to comprehendwhat messages the rural owners exactly wanted to convey, contributing to a greaterunderstanding of the social codes of this privileged group.
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Additional Files
- Fig. 1. Copy of the Missorium of Theodosius. MNAR Photographic Archive/ Photo: Lorenzo Plana Torres.
- Fig 2. Map of Lusitania with the villas mentioned in the text.
- Fig. 3. Comparison of the peristyles of the villas of S. André de Almaçame, Frielas, Freiria, Cardilio (Rodríguez, Carvalho, 2008, 314).
- Fig. 4. Sculptures discovered in the nympheum of Quinta das Longas (Nogales, Carvalho, Almeida 2003).
- Fig. 5. Plan of the villas of 1.- Rabaçal (Pessoa, Rodrigo, Madeira, Burrows 2008) 2.- Quinta das Longas (Nogales, Carvalho, Almeida 2003), 3.-Torre de Palma (Maloney, Hale 1996) and 4.-La Cocosa (Chavarría 2007, 265).
- Fig. 6.- Scene of "Wild Boar Hunting" documented in the village of Las Tiendas (MNAR). MNAR Photographic Archive/Photo: Lorenzo Plana Torres.
- Fig. 7. Scene from "The Muses" documented in the villa of Torre de Palma. (National Museum of Archaeology of Lisbon). (Lancha, André, 2000).
- Fig. 8. Stibadium documented in the villa of Horta da Torre (Carneiro 2014b, 219).
- Fig. 9. Comparative table with the archaeofaunal record of the villas of Torre de Palma, Quinta das Longas, Horta da Torre and Milreu (Benecke 2008; Carneiro 2020).
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