Abstract
A fifth season of excavation at the late Roman rural estate of Gerace (Enna province, Sicily) took place in 2018. A rectangular kiln of the fifth century ad, partially excavated in 2017, was confirmed as having internal walls of mud brick, hardened by successive firings. It was reduced in size in a secondary period. Investigation was conducted on another of the vertical shafts, extraordinarily hacked through the thickness of parts of the mud-brick walls of this kiln in the sixth century, in order to create rudimentary furnaces, but their function remains unknown. In the bath-house of ca. 380 ad, the rest of the frigidarium, partly investigated in 2017, was uncovered. The geometric mosaic floor has an inscription on all four sides, uniquely so in the Roman Empire; it names the estate as the praedia Philippianorum. Roundels on the mosaic include monograms of ‘Asclepiades’ and ‘Capitolini’, both also named in the inscription. The text of the inscription is discussed, and possible interpretations of what it might mean are offered. Excavation found that the walls of the cold room were never finished and a horseshoe-shaped cold pool on its north side was never installed, suggesting that the baths were left incomplete, although they were used. Further evidence was found of serious earthquake damage that occurred in the second half of the fifth century. It may have happened at night if burn marks on one part of the mosaic come from dislodged torches; they and a glass lamp suggest that night bathing was practised, in line with its increasing popularity elsewhere in late antiquity. An attempt was made to repair the baths after the earthquake, but this was aborted while still in full swing, and the baths were abandoned. A small part of the early Byzantine settlement which replaced the elite buildings on the estate soon afterwards, was excavated nearby; three phases were identified, belonging to the sixth and seventh centuries. Five appendices present evidence of kiln temperature, animal bones, carbonized seeds, and wood charcoal, as revealed during the 2018 season, as well as a selection of pottery from key deposits which aids the dating of individual phases.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 95-212 |
| Number of pages | 118 |
| Journal | Mouseion |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Introduction The UBC excavation of a Roman rural site at Gerace in central Sicily, 崃尀 km (as the crow flies) south of Enna, continued for a fifth season in ? 尃崃搁 which lasted from 挀th May to 帀nd June, and this paper outlines its principal results. The work was carried out through a concessione di scavo generously granted by the Assessorato di Beni Culturali of the Regione Siciliana and with the full support and collaboration of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali di Enna. It was also made possible thanks to renewed funding from the Social Studies and Humanities Research Council of Canada. To all three bodies I am profoundly grateful for making this research possible. The University of British Columbia’s involvement at Gerace dates from 布尃崃币? when a geophysical survey was conducted, and since then four previous campaigns of excavation took place, in 布尃? ? and 布尃? 愂ȃ布尃? 持 The reader is referred to earlier papers in this journal where the work of these seasons has been reported.1 Briefly, Gerace was occupied by a Roman villa from at least the second century ad, but the earliest building of which substantial remains have been
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Mouseion.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Classics
- Archaeology
- Archaeology
