THE ARCHITECTURE OF SPACE AND THE ROMAN “VILLA”. ITALIAN PARADIGMS AND THE PROVINCIAL REALITIES OF ROMAN DACIA

Abstract:

The present paper focuses on the architectural and spatial structure of the Roman villa in the II nd and III rd century AD. Its aim is to assess if the characteristics of this architectural structure, as it emerges in the Italian peninsula, had an influence on the structure and organization of the villas in a marginal provincial landscape, that of Roman Dacia. The first part of the paper focuses on the Roman Villa as it is defined and characterized in the literary sources and how these characteristics can be identified in the archaeological structures from Roman Italy. The second part of the paper focuses of the models of villa plans in the Western provinces of the Roman Empire and how they compare to the villa features identified in the first part. The third part of the paper focuses on the provincial space of Roman Dacia. In order to assess if and to what extent the „villa” model is useful to understand the provincial structures, two villa structures from Chinteni (Cluj county) and Dalboșeț (Caraș-Severin county) are assesed compared to the typology and function of the villa we have identified previously. As conclusions, the study highlights the variety of space-use formulas in the villa structures of Roman Dacia and their flexibility despite architectural constraints. Also, even if there are few structural elements that connect the Italian villas to their provincial counterparts, the space-use formulas are similar, hinting towards a deep integration of Roman Dacia’s provincial space in the Roman world.

Keywords:

Roman villa, Private Architecture, Roman Dacia, Villa rustica, Chinteni, Dalboșeț