18 Aug 2007
A Roman Country Estate
After all the rainy pics of late, I thought I'd share some sunny ones for a change. Here are the first impressions of the villa rustica, the Roman country estate in Wachenheim, a village some twenty minutes drive from Mannheim.
Mannheim lies at the Rhine, so the lands west of the river were Roman-dominated since Caesar who defined the Rhine as border between Gallia and Germania. Finds point to a so-called Elbe-Germanic tribe having migrated in from Bohemia or todays Thuringia (who knows, it could have been some of the guys Arminius conquered when he dealt with the Marcomannic king Maroboduus in 18 AD). They have been connected to the Nemeti known from Roman sources.
Main building seen from the east wing
(The roofed-in place in the background is a cellar)
The Nemeti were probably a Germanic tribe, though it's difficult to say for sure because of all the tribal moves going on between 50 BC and AD 20. Maybe they were more Germano-Celtic, like the Treveri north of them you may remember from my posts about Trier. A major Roman town in the area was Noviomagus / Civitas Nemetorum, todays Speyer.
The villa was found by chance during a reparcelling of the agricultural land in 1980. Funds and donations made it possible to buy some of the land which has since then been excavated under lead of the Archaeological Monument Care Speyer, and the remains have been restored to avoid further decay. A number of tablets has been set up which explain what's what in the villa as well as some additional Roman context. The open air museum encompasses 15000 square metres, but there are more remains suspected to hide under the vinyard next to it.
The land where the villa was found also showed traces of earlier settlements dating back as far as the Late Stone Age 6000 BC.
Porticus (entrance hall) of the main building, about 60 metres wide
Settlement in Roman times began with a farm in timber construction about 20 AD. In the early 2nd century the farm was enlarged and stone buildings in Roman style were erected. The villa and outhouses have been changed several times; the remains we can see today represent the status from the early 4th century. The Wachenheim villa rustica obviously had survived the Alamannic incursions of the 3rd and 4th centuries rather well.
We cannot say for sure whether the villa belonged to a Roman family living in the Rhine valley, or to a rich, Romanized Nemetian one. It may as well have changed ownership during all those years. What we can say is that whoever lived there wanted all the Roman amenities like hypocaust heating and baths.
The width of the foundations points to two storey buildings for most of the estate. Another luxury were two sets of baths, one for the family and one for the slaves and farmhands.
Compared to other villas in the area it counts as medium sized though it looks pretty large when you walk around. And while it might not be the largest villa, it surely is one of the best preserved (not counting the reconstructed ones in the Moselle valley).
View from the porticus over the remains of the main building
In the 5th century, the estate was still inhabited, probably by Germans, but it began to fall into decline and was abandoned in the 6th century.
This is pretty much the view the people living in the Roman Villa would have had on a summer afternoon. The Romans introduced vineyards to the Rhine valley and other suitable areas around it, that's why the landscape has not changed much since then, except that the modern villages look a bit different from the Roman-time estates and settlements.
Vineyards near the villa
The area, the so-called Deutsche Weinstraße (German Wine Road) is famous for its vintages. Of course, the growing of grapes spreads far beyond the villages connected by said road.
I've mentioned that the Wachenheim villa has two sets of baths, assumedly one for the family located inside the main villa, and another for the slaves and farmworkers in the outbuildings. The family bath encompassed 59 square metres, that's pretty much a two room flat today. Talk about luxury. The room behind the cellar you can see on the photo was the warm bath (changed to a hot bath in the 4th century). The original hot bath is to the right where part of the hypocaust heating has been laid open. There had been a whole system of heating tunnels and water and sewage pipes.
Wachenheim villa, the tepidarium (warm bath) Partly reconstructed toilets, in the background part of the second baths View towards the remains of the villa, the roofed area is the cellar
Light came in from six air shafts on the west wall, albeit not very much. The walls had been whitewashed and were decorated with red painted, artificial joints. The Romans liked even their cellars pretty. The three niches in the north wall also date from this first period.
It has been assumed those may have been places for the images of Mithras and his helpers, and the cellar was used as mithraeum, but the usual stone benches on the sides are missing. On the other side, if the cellar was only used as storage room, why build three niches, one large and two smaller ones, that don't look very useful for putting things in other than statues or such. Wooden shelves would have been of more use.
View towards the north wall niches (the air shafts can be seen on the left)
In the 3rd century, the cellar was rebuilt. The eastern wall which today has seven niches as mysterious as the three on the north side was remade, and the cellar was divided into two compartments by a wall.
While the southern room could still be accessed by the stone stairs hiding behind the bush on the photo below, the 'inner' room would have been entered by a wooden staircase from inside the villa. Maybe it was then the room was used as mithraeum; the benches could well have been made of wood and not stone. I've not found out by which arguments the three niches in the north wall are ascribed the first building period, while the east wall ones belong to the second.
View towards the south, on the right side the niches, in the foreground the dividing wall
In the 4th century, the inner room was filled up and covered with a platform for a furnace room (praefurnium), that way the warm bath (tepidarium) changed into a hot bath (caldarium). The new bath was in use until the villa was abandoned in the 6th century.
I wonder if, in case the inner room has indeed been used as mithraeum, this change in architecture came about by a change in the religion of the owners who may have become Christians and wanted to cover up the pagan place.
After all the rainy pics of late, I thought I'd share some sunny ones for a change. Here are the first impressions of the villa rustica, the Roman country estate in Wachenheim, a village some twenty minutes drive from Mannheim.
Mannheim lies at the Rhine, so the lands west of the river were Roman-dominated since Caesar who defined the Rhine as border between Gallia and Germania. Finds point to a so-called Elbe-Germanic tribe having migrated in from Bohemia or todays Thuringia (who knows, it could have been some of the guys Arminius conquered when he dealt with the Marcomannic king Maroboduus in 18 AD). They have been connected to the Nemeti known from Roman sources.
(The roofed-in place in the background is a cellar)
The Nemeti were probably a Germanic tribe, though it's difficult to say for sure because of all the tribal moves going on between 50 BC and AD 20. Maybe they were more Germano-Celtic, like the Treveri north of them you may remember from my posts about Trier. A major Roman town in the area was Noviomagus / Civitas Nemetorum, todays Speyer.
The villa was found by chance during a reparcelling of the agricultural land in 1980. Funds and donations made it possible to buy some of the land which has since then been excavated under lead of the Archaeological Monument Care Speyer, and the remains have been restored to avoid further decay. A number of tablets has been set up which explain what's what in the villa as well as some additional Roman context. The open air museum encompasses 15000 square metres, but there are more remains suspected to hide under the vinyard next to it.
The land where the villa was found also showed traces of earlier settlements dating back as far as the Late Stone Age 6000 BC.
Settlement in Roman times began with a farm in timber construction about 20 AD. In the early 2nd century the farm was enlarged and stone buildings in Roman style were erected. The villa and outhouses have been changed several times; the remains we can see today represent the status from the early 4th century. The Wachenheim villa rustica obviously had survived the Alamannic incursions of the 3rd and 4th centuries rather well.
We cannot say for sure whether the villa belonged to a Roman family living in the Rhine valley, or to a rich, Romanized Nemetian one. It may as well have changed ownership during all those years. What we can say is that whoever lived there wanted all the Roman amenities like hypocaust heating and baths.
The width of the foundations points to two storey buildings for most of the estate. Another luxury were two sets of baths, one for the family and one for the slaves and farmhands.
Compared to other villas in the area it counts as medium sized though it looks pretty large when you walk around. And while it might not be the largest villa, it surely is one of the best preserved (not counting the reconstructed ones in the Moselle valley).
In the 5th century, the estate was still inhabited, probably by Germans, but it began to fall into decline and was abandoned in the 6th century.
This is pretty much the view the people living in the Roman Villa would have had on a summer afternoon. The Romans introduced vineyards to the Rhine valley and other suitable areas around it, that's why the landscape has not changed much since then, except that the modern villages look a bit different from the Roman-time estates and settlements.
The area, the so-called Deutsche Weinstraße (German Wine Road) is famous for its vintages. Of course, the growing of grapes spreads far beyond the villages connected by said road.
I've mentioned that the Wachenheim villa has two sets of baths, assumedly one for the family located inside the main villa, and another for the slaves and farmworkers in the outbuildings. The family bath encompassed 59 square metres, that's pretty much a two room flat today. Talk about luxury. The room behind the cellar you can see on the photo was the warm bath (changed to a hot bath in the 4th century). The original hot bath is to the right where part of the hypocaust heating has been laid open. There had been a whole system of heating tunnels and water and sewage pipes.
Directly outside the main building is a latrine with water flushing. Since our dear Romans were practical people, they used the used water from the second baths for toilet flushing by building the seats over the drainage pipe which was guided through an open channel under the toilets. The sewage was probably led into a brook near the villa, while the freshwater was taken from a different source. There has been a well far enough from the brook to have offered clean water.
We know from Vindobona (Vienna) that a good part of it ran under the ground, especially in parts where frost may have damaged the aquaeducts (and while the Rhineland is warmer than where I live, frost in winter is not impossible). Such systems would not leave many traces today after ploughing the fields for centuries.
The toilet seats are a reconstruction. Visiting the loo was not the private matter it is today, not only in the military forts but in private households as well. Latrines often had decorated walls, but not enough traces remain of the Wachenheim villa to learn anything about frescoes and mosaics in those buildings. Public toilets also fell victim to a phenomenon today called graffiti which is not as modern as we think, but I doubt the owner of the villa would have allowed dirty jokes on the latrine walls.
One of the most interesting features of the Wachenheim villa is the cellar which has been preserved in its original height - probably got filled with rubbish and mud and was missed by the stone filching farmers. With a size of 11.90 x 3.90 metres (46.50 square for those who, like me, suck at maths) it is one of the largest in the Roman settled lands along the Rhine. 
Light came in from six air shafts on the west wall, albeit not very much. The walls had been whitewashed and were decorated with red painted, artificial joints. The Romans liked even their cellars pretty. The three niches in the north wall also date from this first period.
It has been assumed those may have been places for the images of Mithras and his helpers, and the cellar was used as mithraeum, but the usual stone benches on the sides are missing. On the other side, if the cellar was only used as storage room, why build three niches, one large and two smaller ones, that don't look very useful for putting things in other than statues or such. Wooden shelves would have been of more use.
In the 3rd century, the cellar was rebuilt. The eastern wall which today has seven niches as mysterious as the three on the north side was remade, and the cellar was divided into two compartments by a wall.
While the southern room could still be accessed by the stone stairs hiding behind the bush on the photo below, the 'inner' room would have been entered by a wooden staircase from inside the villa. Maybe it was then the room was used as mithraeum; the benches could well have been made of wood and not stone. I've not found out by which arguments the three niches in the north wall are ascribed the first building period, while the east wall ones belong to the second.
In the 4th century, the inner room was filled up and covered with a platform for a furnace room (praefurnium), that way the warm bath (tepidarium) changed into a hot bath (caldarium). The new bath was in use until the villa was abandoned in the 6th century.
I wonder if, in case the inner room has indeed been used as mithraeum, this change in architecture came about by a change in the religion of the owners who may have become Christians and wanted to cover up the pagan place.
Comments:
<< Home
I wonder what it looked like when it was whole. Were the walls wooden or something? Is that why they disintegrated?
The walls of most buildings were stone. I suppose they were used as quarry in the Middle Ages, and that's why only foundations are left.
Gabriele
Neet. Yes were greedy.
Since I was in Manhiem before 1980 is the reason why I didn’t hear of it then.
Do we know any thing about the number of people it took to work it or big the fields were.
And the important question – how big was the library? :- )
Neet. Yes were greedy.
Since I was in Manhiem before 1980 is the reason why I didn’t hear of it then.
Do we know any thing about the number of people it took to work it or big the fields were.
And the important question – how big was the library? :- )
Built to last.
Wonder if the foundations were made of outer dressed courses with a rubble core. I'm particularly impressed by the uniformity of the quarried facing stones.
Wonder if the foundations were made of outer dressed courses with a rubble core. I'm particularly impressed by the uniformity of the quarried facing stones.
Awesome pictures (thank you, thank you), and a very interesting explanation of things. It would be interesting to how many people it took to work the farm, do they know?
Hank and Ann,
I don't know how many people would have worked on a country estate that size. It will be part of my research for the currently shelved The Charioteer though, so I'll keep an eye open for info. The website for the villa is brand new and not yet complete, but I may contact the leader of the excavation.
Bernita,
I suppose there's a rubble core. It is the way other buildings in comparable climate have been done - the Romans knew a few things about insulation. ;)
Hi Vivi Anna, welcome to my blog. Yes, there will be more pics of Roman and Mediaeval remains in Germany and Britain.
Post a Comment
I don't know how many people would have worked on a country estate that size. It will be part of my research for the currently shelved The Charioteer though, so I'll keep an eye open for info. The website for the villa is brand new and not yet complete, but I may contact the leader of the excavation.
Bernita,
I suppose there's a rubble core. It is the way other buildings in comparable climate have been done - the Romans knew a few things about insulation. ;)
Hi Vivi Anna, welcome to my blog. Yes, there will be more pics of Roman and Mediaeval remains in Germany and Britain.
<< Home
