Roman city of Italica, Seville, Spain
Italica north of modern-day Santiponce, 9 km northwest of Seville in southern Spain, was an Italic settlement founded by the Roman general Scipio in the province of Hispania Baetica. It was the birthplace of Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian (likely), and Theodosius (possibly). It flourished under the reign of Hadrian, becoming an elaborate urban centre and obtaining the highest status of Roman city. The modern town of Santiponce overlies the pre-Roman Iberian settlement and part of the well-preserved Roman city.
The Roman city was founded in 206 BC., in an indigenous habitat of Turdetania that dates back at least to the fourth century BC. Within its term there are deposits and indications of its very previous occupation, among them Argaric and Greek. During the republican stage it was an important city, and much more in the imperial era, even though it was never a provincial capital or a legal convent. In spite of the general belief that it was abandoned towards the fourth century, the truth is that only the Adriatic extension was abandoned, the city retreating towards something more of its primitive extension, under the current helmet of Santiponce, where a life of certain continued prestige in the Lower Empire and the Visigoth era. The remains of this era are numerous, and it is known that its walls were restored by Leovigildo in 583, In the framework of his struggles against Hermenegildo. Another good example of this survival and prestige, at least until the end of the 7th century, is the presence of Italian bishops in several Christian councils, being the last one in which one of them is documented, one Cuniuldo, the XVI of Toledo, in the year 693. Itálica arrived still alive to the Muslim era, when several Arab authors mention it with the name of ” Talikah / Taliqa ” and there are some known characters with the nisba “al-Talikí” (also, although less, archaeological remains have appeared). It is in the twelfth century when it must have been really abandoned, becoming a depopulated, called by Christians ” Campos de Tal (i) ca”and also” Sevilla la Vieja “.
History
Italica was the first Roman city founded in Hispania and also outside Italian territory. At the end of the second Punic war in Hispania, Publio Cornelio Escipión el Africano settled the wounded soldiers in a pre-existing Turdetan city – whose original name is unknown – in the upper Aljarafe area, on the west bank of the Baetis River, located halfway I walk between the Turdetan cities of Hispalis (Seville) and Ilipa (Alcalá del Río, SE), and probably port. The text of Apiano de Alejandría where this is related, It allows to deduce that the origin of these soldiers was fundamentally of the italic peninsula, that is, of italic auxiliary units, and hence the name chosen by Scipio.
Roman history
The nearby native and Roman city of Hispalis (Seville) was and would remain a larger city, but Italica was founded in 206 BC by the great Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio (later given the nickname Africanus) to settle his victorious veterans from the Second Punic Wars against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and close enough to the Guadalquivir to control the area. The city was built upon a native Iberian town of the Turdetani dating back at least to the 4th c. BC. The name Italica reflected the veterans’ Italian origins, i.e from auxiliary Italic units.
The vetus urbs (original or “old” city) developed into a prosperous city and was built on a Hippodamian street plan with public buildings and a forum at the centre, linked to a busy river port. At some point members of the Roman tribes Gens Ulpia and Aelia had moved to Italica, as these tribes were the respective families of the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian who were later born here.
Italica thrived especially under the patronage of Hadrian, like many other cities in the empire under his influence at this time, but it was especially favoured as his birthplace. He expanded the city northwards as the nova urbs (new city) and, upon its request, elevated it to the status of colonia as Colonia Aelia Augusta Italica even though Hadrian expressed his surprise as it already enjoyed the rights of “Municipium”. He also added temples, including the enormous and unique Trajaneum in the centre of the city to venerate his predecessor and adopted father, and rebuilt public buildings.
The city started to dwindle as early as the 3rd century; a shift of the Guadalquivir River bed, probably due to siltation, a widespread problem in antiquity that followed removal of the forest cover, left Italica’s river port high and dry whilst Hispalis continued to grow nearby.
The city may have been the birthplace of the emperor Theodosius I.
Italica was important enough in late Antiquity to have a bishop of its own, and had a garrison during the Visigothic age. The walls were restored by Leovigildo in 583 AD during his struggles against Hermenegildo.
It is during the government of Adriano when the city itself requests the emperor, and against his advice, as Aulo Gelio tells it, to change its advantageous Roman municipal statute to that of a Roman colony, heavier but more prestigious, since they were simulacra Romae or “mirrors of Rome” and as an ideal part or extension of Urbs itself. Following this concession it was renamed Colonia Aelia Augusta Italica, in honor of Adriano, titles that are often abbreviated as CAAI
Modern history
Modern historiography, from Ocampo and Morales in the 16th century, was always aware of the importance of the city, as well as the birth in it of three emperors: Trajan, Adriano and Teodosio I the Great, sung by Rodrigo Caro in his famous Song, which would still have to add the eldest son of this, Arcadio.The ruins were visited, admired and desolated, by many foreign travelers, who left in writing, and sometimes drawn, their impressions. All its prestige, history and fame were not enough, however, to save it from being subject to continued plundering, and a permanent quarry of materials from the Arab era, even in the enlightened era.
In 1740 the City Council of Seville ordered the demolition of the walls of the amphitheater to build a dam in the Guadalquivir, and in 1796 areas of the primitive vetus urbs were still flown to build the new Camino Real de Extremadura.
The first legal norm of protection of the deposit took place on February 9, 1810, under the Napoleonic occupation, ordering to return its old name of Italica, and allocating an annual budget for regular excavations, which, however, did not materialize until 1839-1840, and due to the efforts of a simple and unknown official. In 1873 the pillages were still vandalism.
Although perhaps already begun under Trajan, it is proven literary and epigraphically the participation of Adriano in the great urban expansion to the north – also hypodymic, like its predecessor – which was baptized in 1960 by Garcia and Bellido as Nova urbs or “city new “, which only had a really splendid existence during the second century, at the end of which, and without ever being completed, began its decline, for certainly political-economic reasons. This is the part of the city that currently constitutes the Archaeological Ensemble of Italica, unparalleled because of its huge mansions paved with mosaics, or its great, though very shattered, amphitheater, quarter of the Empire for its capacity. The “old city” or Vetus urbs is located under the urban area of the current town of Santiponce (founded in 1601, after successive floods of the river, closer to which it was located primitively), since this part of the city is the one that most continuity had, reaching the times of the Muslim occupation when it took place, in the tenth century, its definitive depopulation and abandonment. Very few known Roman remains of her, the main ones of which are the theater and the so-called “lesser hot springs” or “Trajan’s”.
By Royal Order of 13 of December of 1912 Italica was declared a National Monument, but after other minor rules, has not been to the Decree # 7/ 2001, of 9 January, the Government of Andalusia, when they have defined clearly the archaeological zone of Italica and the areas of its effective protection. Its ruins are today a main tourist attraction 7 km north of Seville and its protection is being resumed with the latest scientific techniques.
Rediscovery and excavations
In recent centuries, the ruins became the subject of visits, admiration and despair by many foreign travellers who wrote about and sometimes illustrated their impressions. Italica’s prestige, history and fame were not enough, however, to save it from being the subject of continued looting, and a permanent quarry for materials from Ancient times to modern ones. In 1740 the city of Seville ordered demolition of the walls of the amphitheatre to build a dam on the Guadalquivir, and in 1796 the urbs vetus was used to build the new Camino Real of Extremadura. The first law of protection for the site took effect in 1810 under the Napoleonic occupation, reinstating its old name of Italica, and allocating an annual budget for regular excavation.
One of the first excavators was the British textile merchant and Seville resident Nathan Wetherell, who uncovered nearly 20 Roman inscriptions in the vicinity of Italica in the 1820s that were later donated to the British Museum. Regular excavation, however, did not materialise until 1839-1840. By Royal Order of 1912 Italica was declared a National Monument, but it was not until 2001 that the archaeological site of Italica and the areas of protection were clearly defined.
The site
As no modern city covered many of Italica’s buildings, the result is an unusually well-preserved Roman city with cobbled Roman streets and mosaic floors still in situ. Many rich finds can also be seen in the Seville Archaeological Museum, with its famous marble colossus of Trajan.
The archaeological site of Italica encompasses mainly the urbs nova with its many fine buildings from the Hadrianic period. The original urbs vetus (old town) lies under the present town of Santiponce.
Extensive excavation and renovation of the site has been done recently and is continuing.
The small baths and the Theatre are some of the oldest visible remains, both built before Hadrian.
Italica’s amphitheatre was the third largest in the Roman Empire at the time, being slightly larger than the Tours Amphitheatre in France. It seated 25,000 spectators, about half as many as the Colosseum in Rome. The size is surprising given that the city’s population at the time is estimated to have been only 8,000, and shows that the local elite demonstrated status that extended far beyond Italica itself through the games and theatrical performances they funded as magistrates and public officials.
From the same period is the elite quarter with several beautiful (and expensive) houses decorated with splendid mosaics visible today, particularly the:
House of the Exedra
House of the Neptune Mosaic
House of the Birds Mosaic
House of the Planetarium Mosaic
House of Hylas
House of the Rhodian Patio.
The walls
It is possible that the Ibero-Roman nucleus had a fence defining its perimeter, but the first historical news of the walls are from the middle of the 1st century BC Augustus worked on them, Adriano expanded them and Leovigildo restored them in 583. The maximum perimeter, in the second century AD, was more than 3,000 m., with an average thickness of 1.5m.
Origin
In Roman times the entire city was bounded by a walled perimeter. It generally had a defensive character, but also played a symbolic and religious role, since the influence of the gods and their temples reached it. There are visible remains in two points of the Archaeological Ensemble: a tower of times of Augustus, in the theater area, adjacent to the stands; and an adriana period canvas at the northern end of the city, next to the amphitheater.
Technical description
The tower of the theater area, from the time of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD), is built with a rig that combines concrete with vertical strips of masonry; The concrete foundation is preserved from the Adriano period (117-138 AD).
Comments
The walls of Italica, which came to cover an area of more than 50 hectares, were built in various phases that correspond to the extensions and reductions operated on the surface occupied by the city. A geophysical survey developed between 1991 and 1993 located a wall canvas that ran after the elevation where the temple presumably dedicated to Trajan sits. It is pending archaeological dating, but it is thought that it could be a late-Roman section erected after the hypothetical reduction of the urban plot, or the performance of King Leovigildo, which restores the Italian walls in the year 583, at the time of the confrontation with His son Hermenegildo.
The amphitheater
With a capacity of 25,000 spectators, it was one of the empire’s largest amphitheaters with three levels of stands. Under the level of the old wooden floor of the amphitheater there is a service pit for the different spectacles of gladiators and wild beasts.
The grandstand, cavea was divided into three sections, the ima, media and summa cavea, separated by annular corridors called praecinctiones. The first, the ima cavea, had 6 tiers, with 8 access doors, and was reserved for a ruling class. The second, the half cavea, was intended for the humblest population, had 12 tiers and 14 access doors. The summa cavea, covered by an awning, was reserved only to house children and women.
The amphitheater also had several rooms dedicated to the cult of Nemesis and Dea Caelestis.
The theater
The theater is the oldest known civil work in Italica, after the probable remains of the curia found in 1984. It is located in the so-called Cerro de San Antonio, west of the town center of Santiponce, taking advantage of the natural slope on the Baetis. It was built between the 1st and 1st centuries AD. C., and its use, surely already sporadic, lasted until at least the fifth century, more or less as in the rest of Hispania, possibly being the main cause of its abandonment, rather than its condemnation for religious reasons (which on the part Christian was so incessant as unfruitful.), The gradual disappearance or disinterest of local elites who used to pay for them; the truth is that it was disused and part of its land was filled and converted into warehouses and pens, landfills and even instead of occasional burials, already in medieval times. He was finally filled and blinded by various floods of the Guadalquivir.
The approximate location of the building was known since the 18th century, and the origin of some sculptures was known there. Part of its stands were partially discovered by the 1940s in the corral of one of the houses on the hill, but it was not massively excavated until the period 1970-1973, with subsequent minor campaigns to free the porch. After several phases of restoration, initiated in the 80s, it is currently used for the celebration of the Italica Theater Festival.
The Traianeum
The Traianeum was a large, imposing temple in honour of the Emperor Trajan, built by his adopted son and successor, Hadrian. It occupies a central double insula at the highest point of nova urbs. It measures 108 x 80 m and is surrounded by a large porticoed square with alternating rectangular and semicircular exedra around its exterior housing sculptures. The temple precinct was decorated with over a hundred columns of expensive Cipollino marble from Euboea, and various fountains.
Although no reliable evidence has appeared, it has been assumed since its excavation, towards the years 1979-1980, that the baptized as “Traianeum” is a temple dedicated to Emperor Trajan erected by his nephew-grandson and successor, Adriano. It is located in a plaza de la nova urbs, surrounded by a porticoed square.
The Roman Baths
Italica had at least two public thermal complexes, one in the old city and one in the new city, both with hot water (caldarium), temperate (tepidarium) and cold (frigidarium), sudatorio (laconicum) and perhaps palaestrae poolsof exercise, as was the custom, that fully satisfied the hygienic customs of the Roman population. The hot springs of the old city are popularly known as “Minor” or “Trajan’s”, and are accessible within the town. The hot springs of the new city are the so-called “Mayores” or “de la Reina Mora”, occupying the extension of a complete block; it seems that they were left unfinished, and they are still partly without digging; It is one of the most exploited areas of Nova Urbs.
The hot springs
They were a leisure center that housed, along with other services, public toilets. They date from the time of Adriano, towards the first half of the second century. It is a large building; approximately occupies an area of 32,000 square meters. They are found in Nova Urbs, occupying the extension of a complete apple, still partly without digging. The structure of the distribution of swimming pools and furnaces is still preserved. The hot springs were accessed through a stairway that gave way to the lobby. Behind this is the T-shaped pool, with white marble walls and floors. Then you access the rest of the bathroom rooms and around it are the service rooms and the dependencies. In addition to the hot springs themselves, with the three rooms (caldarium, tepidarium and frigidarium),
The lesser hot springs
They are located in the old town of Santiponce, more specifically on Trajan Street, and their dating is before Adriano. These remains have been given numerous interpretations. They have been dated in the time of Trajan (98-117) by the construction methods used and in Adriano’s time its structure was reinforced. The surface occupies an area of about 1,500 square meters, in an area urbanized by Trajan with public buildings.
The vestiges that are observed correspond to the central and rear area of the baths, being able to recognize two rooms of hot temperature (caldarium), a temperate one (tepidarium) and another one for cold baths (frigidarium) and for the practice of exercises. The excavated site does not fully cover the entire area of the hot springs, as it extends below the surrounding houses, especially the main gate.
The aqueducts
Traditionally, the existence of the remains of a single aqueduct that brought water to Italica from Tejada la Nueva (near Escacena del Campo (Huelva), about 36.5 km west of the city, was known in the literature. had heard of some visible remains, and reference a large cisterns and near the city, which were seen and described by Jerome scholar Fray Fernando Ceballos, but whose location was given up for lost. some work of the Hydrographic Confederation of the Guadalquivir in January 1974 gave some of the remains and calculated the slope direct the only aqueduct still believed.
Aqueduct of the 1st century AD C.
The aqueduct of 37 km total length was first built in the 1st c. AD and extended under Hadrian to add a more distant source for supplying the expanded city. It fed a huge cistern at the edge of the city which remains intact. Some of the piers of the arches are still visible near the city.
The first aqueduct, dates from the beginning of the 1st century AD and brought water from at least ten springs along the river Guadiamar (the old Maenoba), the main one, that of the Basil Garden, supplying only the then existing vetus urbs or old city. A good part of this aqueduct, up to the Conti gorge, runs underground, but at some points (the best one passing through the farm “La Pizana”, at the end of Gerena), the gallery through which it ran the water is visible in about 40 m., presenting a height of 1.70-1.80 m and around 80–90 cm wide. The specusor channel was covered with a barrel vault. The main characteristics of this oldest aqueduct, according to the author, are the massive use of concrete, circular louvres, and its general lack of brick cladding, except for the arches in some small bridges.
Aqueduct of Hadrian (2nd century AD)
When the construction of the so-called Nova Urbs, with its large houses, hot springs and the huge amphitheater, the need to expand the water supply was evident. The problem was solved in an ingenious way, building a long extension that collected water from another good spring area, further away, in the farmhouse of Peñalosa de Tejada la Nueva (end of Escacena del Campo, Huelva), near the Roman Ituci, where the Great Fountain, Small Fountain, of the Mora Mora are still preserved and several others, annexing the new canalization to that of the primitive aqueduct at the height of the aforementioned Conti gorge. Shortly before arriving in Italica, the Adriatic conduction separated again, arriving at the own cisterns, of three ships (the views in the 18th century by Zevallos), already near the amphitheater.
The Adriatic aqueduct was a concrete construction, but with the particularity of being entirely clad in brick, a luxury detail that does not present any other aqueduct of the peninsula, and very few in the Empire. Its specus or channel is smaller, always with hydraulic cord and elevated on a substructure to keep the level constant; it must be covered in the open sections with tegulae or with stone plates of Tarifa. Its luminaries, unlike those of the old one, are square and also covered with brick, denoting its coetaneity with the Nova urbsand its sewer system. It had long stretches of arches to save streams and troughs, mostly disappeared today, although a spectacular stretch is still preserved at the crossing of the Guadiamar River.
After a stage of great abandonment, and of the well-known ecological catastrophe of 1998, the public interest and that of the administrations have come together to save and revalue what remains of such an expensive hydraulic work, whose remains are now part of the protected ” Green Corridor of Guadiamar “, and of the Route of the Historic Landscapes of Olivares. so, although it lost is huge, it is possible that the future of what remains to be seen with greater optimism, and even that may be more debris still covered, or be better studied sections known.
The houses
In the splendor of the Itálica de Adriano, houses of important and rich local families were built in the city, some of which would undoubtedly be senatorial that, in addition to following the traditional scheme of the Roman house, with an interior courtyard of which then they would derive the courtyards of the Andalusian houses, they had the predominant Hellenistic aesthetic of the time.
Among the houses of Italica, the following stand out:
Casa de la Exedra: The characteristics of this building do not clarify the specific function it had. It has been classified as housing – Domus -, since it partly has the characteristics of these, but its grandeur – it occupies a whole module of 4,000 m2 – and the appearance of undetermined elements means that it is also identified as a “semi-public” building, possibly a private school where their owners also lived. On the sides of the entrance there are seven taverns, public shops, which flank the door. There are also two others on the right side and one on the back. In its interior design we can see that after the vestibulum of the entrance, the jaws gives way to the building’s distribution patio. This peristilumIt is rectangular with a curvilinear and elongated fountain or pool located on its central axis. For the perimeter portico support there are no columns as is traditional and there are large pillars of cruciform plan. Most likely they are to support a greater weight than usual in a private home, so it is assumed that it could support one or more upper floors.
These pillars would not be adintelados, if not they would be joined by arches forming an archway in each of the floors. On either side are distributed numerous rooms – cubiculum- which make up the whole domus itself. One of them has access to the outside through the right facade. At the bottom of the peristilium is accessed by stairs to the area of the hot springs distributed by inner courtyard. Two of the bathrooms are covered by vaults of a quarter sphere. On one of its sides, the left as you enter, there is a large rectangular and elongated arena – almost the entire length of the building – that ends in a large exedra covered with a quarter-sphere vault. This area is connected to the outside with a corridor perpendicular to the direction of the entrance to the right side. Therefore, we can determine four large areas within this building: the tabernae, the hot springs, the domus and the exedra with its lecture. Mosaicof opus sectile: Geometric mosaic of rectangular shape organized in fifteen frames framed with gray marble and with central motif, which represents, well, circular figures, or a combination of shapes that results in a starry motif. It can be schematic figurations of astral models.
Neptune House: We frame this building in the semi-public category because, despite not having been completely excavated, what has been observed so far suggests a unique construction that occupies the entire block of about 6,000 square meters. The little that has been documented of the building hardly says anything about its spatial distribution, if we exclude data from the western sector, dedicated to a beautiful hot spring area. A Tepidarium and a Caldarium have been excavated in this area, which conserve the brick pillars of the Hypocaustum, and a sector of the cold area, or Frigidarium, decorated with the mosaic that gives name to the property and that is counted among the main ones of the city. The presence of the thermal area, documented rooms towards the center of the building with elaborate mosaics and, already on the north flank, a cistern of considerable proportions, reinforce the hypothesis that this great building performed functions analogous to that of the Exedra, located in the next block.
The main mosaic of the house represents the god Neptune and his courtship of sea creatures. In black and white except for the figure of the god, polychrome, he represents the trident driving a car pulled by two hippocampus; Around it, centaurs, ram, bull and other land animals have been transformed into inhabitants of the sea by replacing their hindquarters with fish tails, they live in the aquatic depths with dolphins, fish, molluscs and crustaceans. It is thought to correspond to the frigidarium of the thermal area. Another mosaic represents a city murada with towers, possibly the capital of the kingdom of Minos, since inside there is a maze that, distributed in four quadrants, girdles a central emblem where the Athenian hero Theseus, winner of the Minotaur, was represented in his day. A final mosaic is made up of a series of paintings with elements linked to the god Bacchus, the Greek Dionysus: dancing mans, satyrs, centaurs, tigers fighting against evil. This god and the hero Theseus representing in the other mosaic have a common history, since one concludes what the other has initiated.
House of the Patio Rhodium: In this east-facing building that has not been fully excavated, the organization of the space is achieved thanks to several consecutive open spaces around which the different rooms are arranged. The main one in this house is a rhodium-type patio, that is, with one of the four galleries higher than the rest and the transit between levels solved by the use of steps. As is common in this sector of Italica, the main pavements were mosaics of careful invoice. Unfortunately, the long exposure to the elements and the action of man has determined its loss or the deterioration of its state of conservation. Beyond the area defined by the mosaics, you can see a series of pools associated with a small pool, which you may think we are facing the remains of a laundry.
Another luxurious house of Itálica that is excavated only in part, which leaves unknowns of its distribution. Specifically, the entrance to the house is under discussion, on the eastern side through a large hall or more improbably through the southern facade. The main peristilium was chaired by a square fountain and had one of its corridors at a height higher than the remaining ones – rhodium court. It communicated with a triclinium, in the lower height, which is tiled with the mosaic that represents allegories of the four seasons and in front, with another larger triclinium, the main one, with a mosaic of tigers and flanked by two courtyards. From these patios you can access other units, also tiled with mosaics. Specifically, the entrance to the house is under discussion, on the eastern side through a large hall or more improbably through the southern facade. The main peristilium was chaired by a square fountain and had one of its corridors at a height higher than the remaining ones – rhodium court. It communicated with a triclinium, in the lower height, which is tiled with the mosaic that represents allegories of the four seasons and in front, with another larger triclinium, the main one, with a mosaic of tigers and flanked by two courtyards.
Hylas House: Another luxurious Italica house that is excavated only in part, which leaves unknowns of its distribution. Specifically, the entrance to the house is under discussion, on the eastern side through a large hall or more improbably through the southern facade. The main peristilium was chaired by a square fountain and had one of its corridors at a height higher than the remaining ones – rhodium court. It communicated with a triclinium, in the lower height, which is tiled with the mosaic that represents allegories of the four seasons and in front, with another larger triclinium, the main one, with a mosaic of tigers and flanked by two courtyards. From these patios you can access other units, also tiled with mosaics. The northernmost courtyard communicates by a staircase with an anteroom, which in turn serves as a passage to the room with the mosaic of “Hilas”, which gives its name to the house. It depicts the abduction of Hilas by the Nymphs, chaired by Hercules. Currently this central motif is in the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Seville, leaving only the surrounding geometric decorations.
House of the Birds: Its organization is typical of the Roman domus: A porticoed peristyle surrounded by the other rooms. It is a stately residence, possibly of an aristocratic family in the city. It is worth mentioning that this type of houses only represents a minority of the population, usually the houses of the town were infinitely worse, not to mention the “ghettos” of slaves. It has a good number of high quality mosaics, one of them gives name to the house. It was the first fully excavated house in the whole of Itálica. It is currently restored and equipped with walls of about 60 cm. of height that delimit the different rooms. From the door you can access a lobby -vestibulum- that immediately communicates with the “jaws” of access to the “peristilium” or patio with a well, distribution center of the house. It consists of a covered corridor, of rectangular plan that surrounds the patio and to which the doors of the rooms open. Columns are used for clamping the roof. In the background is the “triclinium “, flanked by two uncovered patios -exedra- one with a fountain and another with a pool. Also in this area the other main rooms are located, all of them paved with excellent mosaics. On the wings of the house are the rooms of the service, the kitchens and drains On the left of the house is the cubiculum paved with a mosaic with birds that gives name to the domus.Finally on the main facade some rooms are opened to the outside, one of them with oven, which were shops -tabernae- associated with housing.
Planetarium House: Its construction begins at the time of Adriano (117-138) and undergoes various reforms in late Roman times, highlighting among them the segregation of the plot in several room units. Residential building of almost 1,600 square meters, excluding the taverns that occupy the western half of an apple located between the Amphitheater and the temple dedicated to Trajan. The mosaic that gives name to this house consists of a circle within which seven medallions with busts are distributed. They represent the planetary deities that, in the Roman calendar, give name to each of the days of the week. In the center is Venus (Friday), surrounded by the Moon (Monday), Mars (Tuesday), Mercury (Wednesday), Jupiter (Thursday), Saturn (Saturday) and the Sun (Sunday). It is one of the mansions destined exclusively to the notables of Italica. These residences stand out for their privileged location, the quality of the construction and the luxury of their finishes, as well as for the extension of the habitable surface. It occupies the western half of an apple located between the amphitheater and the temple dedicated to Trajan. Upon admission through the “ostium” or entrance, you reach the lobby and the “tablinum”, reception room and transit open to the peristyle.
Around the peristilium, a large porticoed patio with columns and a central garden, the domestic areas were distributed: bedrooms – “cubicula” – and living rooms – “oeci” -. The two most western areas are the best known, being almost identical among them: a side room and two bedrooms with doors to a larger rear room and opening to the atrium, quadrangular space with an opening in the roof to allow the passage of air, light and rainwater. At the bottom of the peristyle was located, coinciding with its axis, the room for meals or “triclinium” and on both sides new rooms and patios. The plot was segregated into several room units in late Roman times. The peristyle was divided in two, so that its northern part was linked to the domestic area, characterized by mosaics, and the remaining surface became a garden or patio. In this new courtyard the columns were replaced, to the south, by powerful pillars, on which a second floor was raised. The rooms built at the bottom of the peristyle in the second century suffered the overlapping of various structures related to a late-stage service area.