Stabiae: Difference between revisions

===Villa San Marco===

 

 

One of the largest villas ever discovered in [[Campania]], it measured more than 11,000 m²,<ref name="restoring" /> although only half has been excavated. It was being renovated at the time of the eruption as shown by building materials present and displaced artefacts. Nevertheless, it was lavishly decorated with frescoes, with [[stucco]] work, floor mosaics and wall mosaics all of very high artistic quality and many of which were removed and are now held in museums.

The villa was built at least in part on a 6th c. BC platform that may have levelled the ground on the hill.<ref>Taco T. Terpstra. The 2011 Field Season at the Villa San Marco, Stabiae: Preliminary Report on the Excavations, The Journal of Fasti Online ({{ISSN|1828-3179}})</ref> Construction started at the latest in [[Augustus]]' reign and was significantly enlarged with the garden and swimming pool under [[Claudius]].<ref>Giovanna Bonifacio; Anna Maria Sodo, Gina Carla Ascione, In Stabiano – Cultura e archeologia da Stabiae , Castellammare di Stabia, Longobardi Editore, 2006. {{ISBN|88-8090-126-5}} p. 26</ref> The owner's name is not exactly known but it could belong to a certain Narcissus, a [[freedman]], on the basis of stamps found on tiles, or to the Virtii family who had tombs not far away.

 

 

The great peristyle (9) is surrounded by a long porch with a central pool (15) of 36×7 m which at the end has a ''[[nymphaeum]]'' (64,65) that has yet to be explored, decorated with frescoes depicting [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] and several athletes, that were removed by the [[Bourbons]] and are now at the Naples museum and the [[Musée Condé|Condé Museum]] in [[Chantilly, Oise|Chantilly]], France. In the peristyle garden large plane trees grew and their root cavities were found; just as with the casts of humans these cavities were filled with liquid concrete to make casts and archaeologists have also calculated that their age ranged from 75 to 100 years.

====Art from Villa San Marco====

 

File:Fresco of woman with tray in Villa San Marco retouched.jpg|Fresco of woman with tray

File:Fresco of angel in Villa San Marco of Stabiae.jpg|Fresco of winged figure

 

===Villa Arianna===

 

Named for the [[fresco]] depicting [[Dionysus]] saving [[Ariadne]] from the island of Dia (a mythological name for [[Naxos]]), this villa is particularly famous for its frescoes, many of which depict light, winged figures. Notably some of the most exquisite and famous Roman frescoes were found in bedrooms 23 to 26 on Weber's plan, the latter room having an especially fine decor with 18 outstanding frescoes.<ref>Antiquity Recovered: The Legacy of Pompeii and Herculaneum, editor Victoria C. Coates Gardner, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007 {{ISBN|0892368721}}</ref>

 

The "Tuscan" ''atrium'', dating back to the late Republican age, is paved with white-black mosaic and has wall frescoes, often female figures and [[palmette]]s on a black and red background attributable to the ''[[Pompeian Styles|third style]]''. At the centre of the atrium is an ''[[impluvium]]'' while all around are numerous rooms: two of these, placed at the ends of the entrance of the ''atrium'', preserve decorations that imitate architectures such as [[Ionic columns]] that support the [[coffer]]ed ceiling belonging to the ''[[Pompeian Styles|second style]]''.

 

In the other rooms the most important frescoes of all of Stabiae were found, all removed in the Bourbon era and preserved in the National Archaeology Museum of Naples. They include the [[Flora]] or ''Primavera'' found in 1759; it has a size of only 38x22 cm and dates to the first century BC: the fresco represents the Greek [[Flora (mythology)|nymph Flora]], understood by the Romans as the goddess of Spring, turning round in the act of collecting a flower, an allegory of purity, all on a pale-green background; Flora is certainly the best known work of Stabiae, so much so that it has become its symbol, not only in Italy, but also abroad.

 

===Villa del Pastore===

[[File:Labrum (Villa del Pastore) 3.JPG|thumb|Labrum from Villa del Pastore]]

[[File:Villa del Pastore Pastore.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Shepherd from the Villa del Pastore]]

 

===Villa of Anteros and Heracles===

 

This (also called Villa del Fauno or Villa Chapel San Marco) is a ''villa otium'' situated on the border between Castellammare di Stabia and Gragnano, a few metres from Villa San Marco and on the Varano plateau.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Villa of Anteros and Hercules – AD79eruption |url=https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/stabiae/villa-of-anteros-and-hercules |access-date=2020-09-18 |website=sites.google.com}}</ref> It was the first Stabian villa to be excavated during the Bourbon excavations of the ancient town in 1749 and was explored again by Karl Weber in 1779. After being investigated and plundered of all items considered of value it was reburied.

The villa dates from the [[Augustus]]-[[Tiberius]] era and is probably built around a square courtyard. The area found is a large room near the [[perimeter]] wall with a small farmyard enclosed by lower walls and three square-base columns as part of a portico in the entrance to the villa, decorated with images of animals, plants and masks.

 

File:Villa Sant Antonio Abate 1.jpg

File:Villa Sant Antonio Abate 2.jpg

 

===Villa Medici===

 

Named after its locality, it was explored by la Vega in 1781–2. The villa has a rectangular plan with a courtyard in the centre with six columns frescoed in red, a ''[[dolium]]'', a well and a basin with a canal that served as a drinking trough for animals. From the courtyard there are a series of rooms such as the kitchen with oven, a latrine, an ''[[apotheca]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), APOTHE´CA |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=apotheca-cn&highlight=apotheca |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> (upstairs store-room) where fruits were collected and laid on a straw bed<ref>Arnold De Vos; Mariette De Vos, Pompei, Ercolano, Stabia , Roma, Editori Laterza, 1982. p 330</ref> and a ''[[torcularium]]'' (a shed or out-house where the presses for oil or wine were worked<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), TORCULARIUM |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=torcularium-cn |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>), which in turn gives access to a large frescoed room with a yellow [[plinth]] and red stripes while the upper part has green bands on a dark background with drawings of flowers and leaves. In this room were found a cup, a bell and an axe. There is also a wine cellar.

 

===Villa del Filosofo===

 

It was found in 1778 and owes its name to the discovery of a ring adorned with a carved [[cornelian]] depicting the bust of a philosopher. The villa had not been disturbed since the eruption in 79 and many portable objects were found including the ring and an ivory needle with Venus, agricultural tools, [[terracotta]] objects, [[candelabra]], bronze vases and the skeleton of a horse.<ref name="centroculturalegragnano.it">Giuseppe Di Massa, Il Territorio di Gragnano nell'antichità e l'ager stabianus (PDF), pp. 41 http://www.centroculturalegragnano.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Il-Territorio-di-Gragnano-nell%E2%80%99antichit%C3%A0-e-l%E2%80%99Ager-Stabianus.pdf</ref>

 

===Villa Marchetti===

The villa Marchetti located in Santa Maria La Carità was a very large villa, over 2000 sqm. where, in addition to the cultivation of grapes (wooden poles were found for the vineyard), horses and cattle were bred, cereals were grown, and the production cycle was completed with the mill and cooking in the ovens. Cheese was probably produced, as evidenced by a bronze boiler. Large lead pipes and [[hydraulic valve]]s, found near the villa and along the roads (for example in the current Piazza Trivione and throughout the Carmiano area), are testimony to the extent of services in use. A housing block for 14 slaves was found.

 

===Villa detto Carmiano in Masseria Buonodono===

 

The part of the villa shown in red was excavated in 1762 while the rest was done in 1781.<ref>Ruggiero M., 1881. Degli scavi di Stabia dal 1749 al 1782, Napoli, p. 347-8</ref> It was centred around a peristyle and an olive mill was found in the ''torcularium''.<ref>Villa detto Carmiano in Masseria Buonodono https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/VF/Villa_008%20Gragnano%20Carmiano%20masseria%20Buonodono.htm</ref> Several agricultural implements were found including [[Hoe (tool)|hoes]], a hammer and ''[[amphorae]]''.

 

===Villa Casa dei Miri===

This is a ''villa rustica'' excavated in 1779–80 and is near the ''villas of [[otium]]'' of ancient Stabia. It is divided into residential and the rustic areas; the living area consists of an entrance portico with three columns, in which a staircase leads to the upper floor and divides the entrance from a small ''atrium''. Around this are several rooms and a doorway into a large peristyle with twenty columns, with frescoed walls and floors decorated with mosaics and marble ''[[opus sectile]]''. There are also [[thermal baths]].<ref>Arnold De Vos; Mariette De Vos, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabia, Rome, Editori Laterza, 1982. p. 328</ref>

 

===Temples===

[[File:Isolotto di Rovigliano.jpg|thumb|The rock of Rovigliano]]

 

The almost total absence of [[temple]]s in the central Stabiae area suggests that these were most likely razed to the ground during the occupation of [[Sulla]]: however, some remains suggest the presence of various sacred structures such as a temple dedicated to [[Hercules]], [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], [[Athena]], [[Cybele]] and most importantly the Genius Stabianum.