Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TETRASTYLON (Definition, analysis and interpretation of a new typology of the Roman House: The TetrastyleCourtyard House, a domus with a hybrid cultural conception sheltered by a global civilization ofAntiquity)
Période du rapport: 2018-01-01 au 2019-12-31
Tetrastylon is a Roman Architecture study designed to create the scientific basis for the identification and definition of a new type of Roman domus.
This project has studied a specific Roman house that we can only find in Roman towns with a Greek background. This type of house, which is a hybrid concept of Greek or Hellenistic scheme of house and a specific Roman courtyard type, has been observed in different parts of the Roman Empire. The work has been focused in the area of the ancient Magna Grecia and Sicily. For this reason, part of the time of the research has been devoted to fieldwork in Southern Italy and Sicily. In the last few years, various studies have identified a type of atrium house in the Roman cities with a Greek past, which is not possible to recognise as a common Roman atrium house. In fact, part of these studies defined the courtyard of these houses as a reduced peristyle because the household scheme is a Hellenistic concept. This phenomenon is complex and has required a deep analysis. This type of house had been detected in some archaeological sites, but until Tetrastylon, it had not had a complete, comparative and systematic study of different examples. In the absence of an integral compilation of this domus, the first step was to create the scientific basis for the identification and description of this house. After that, we can better understand the historical context, its real influences and the impact of this domestic structure on Roman society, which has been named “Tetrastyle Courtyard House”.
Therefore, conducting Tetrastylon significantly contributed to analyse 1) the European cultural heritage and identity, 2) the diversity of the European culture and 3) the interaction and translation of traditions of its different countries and regions. All of them are research goals recommended by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. The final objective of Tetrastylon was to understand the cultural exchange between two different societies as a result of different migratory waves, and how this social impact can be perceived within the domestic space and its daily consequences.
Objectives
1. Collect and systematise the information about the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and its variants.
2. Distinguish the social representation spaces (public part of the house) from the private sphere of the “Tetrastyle courtyard house”.
3. Conduct a spatial analysis of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and its variants.
4. Compare the social impact of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House with the Atrium House, defining the social and public representation functions of both of them.
5. Simultaneously establish the architectural and functional differences between the two typologies for a proper identification of the archaeological remains.
6. To assess the role of Tetrastyle Courtyard House as an example of the immigrant societies integration in urban centres with previously established societies, differentiating architectural traces of each of the cultures involved in the formation of this domus: Greek, Roman and the preceding ones of each territory.
This project has studied a specific Roman house that we can only find in Roman towns with a Greek background. This type of house, which is a hybrid concept of Greek or Hellenistic scheme of house and a specific Roman courtyard type, has been observed in different parts of the Roman Empire. The work has been focused in the area of the ancient Magna Grecia and Sicily. For this reason, part of the time of the research has been devoted to fieldwork in Southern Italy and Sicily. In the last few years, various studies have identified a type of atrium house in the Roman cities with a Greek past, which is not possible to recognise as a common Roman atrium house. In fact, part of these studies defined the courtyard of these houses as a reduced peristyle because the household scheme is a Hellenistic concept. This phenomenon is complex and has required a deep analysis. This type of house had been detected in some archaeological sites, but until Tetrastylon, it had not had a complete, comparative and systematic study of different examples. In the absence of an integral compilation of this domus, the first step was to create the scientific basis for the identification and description of this house. After that, we can better understand the historical context, its real influences and the impact of this domestic structure on Roman society, which has been named “Tetrastyle Courtyard House”.
Therefore, conducting Tetrastylon significantly contributed to analyse 1) the European cultural heritage and identity, 2) the diversity of the European culture and 3) the interaction and translation of traditions of its different countries and regions. All of them are research goals recommended by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. The final objective of Tetrastylon was to understand the cultural exchange between two different societies as a result of different migratory waves, and how this social impact can be perceived within the domestic space and its daily consequences.
Objectives
1. Collect and systematise the information about the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and its variants.
2. Distinguish the social representation spaces (public part of the house) from the private sphere of the “Tetrastyle courtyard house”.
3. Conduct a spatial analysis of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and its variants.
4. Compare the social impact of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House with the Atrium House, defining the social and public representation functions of both of them.
5. Simultaneously establish the architectural and functional differences between the two typologies for a proper identification of the archaeological remains.
6. To assess the role of Tetrastyle Courtyard House as an example of the immigrant societies integration in urban centres with previously established societies, differentiating architectural traces of each of the cultures involved in the formation of this domus: Greek, Roman and the preceding ones of each territory.
Tetrastylon was designed to systematically compile, analyse and disseminate all the information about a new type of Roman domus. To achieve this main objective, during these 2 years the candidate has performed:
a) Collation data. During the period of the fellowship, I have collected all the available data of the archaeological remains related to the Tetrastyle Courtyard House, and I have studied in situ all the domestic architecture of Magna Graecia and Sicily. I worked in 11 Roman cities and I have cataloged 23 different examples. The study of the architecture of each case has been based on its technical and constructive materials, their plans, architecture and engineering.
b) GIS and database of the archaeological remains. I have designed and implemented a spatial database to systematise all the documented information. All the information and each domestic unit of the project can be found and filtered by chronology, architectural features, or geography and can be mapped. Spatial analyses about the housing structures and their relationship with the city urbanism has been developed. At present, all the project data is prepared to be freely shared online.
c) Network Analysis and Space Syntax studies. A very important study of the households is the identification of the public spaces of the houses. I have innovated with the use of Network Analysis as a new methodology for identifying and understanding the composition of the domestic spaces (as it was one of the goals of the project).
At the end of the project, it has been possible to consolidate, define and standardize this typology in the South of Italy and Sicily. We can say that the methodological and systematic study of the Tetrastylon project has allowed to scientifically establish the household typology of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and its social implications in the hybridism of the Roman culture. The scientific results have been widely accepted by the scientific community (Presented in International congresses (AIAC 2018, EAA2018; CAA2019; Workshop Sapienza 2019) and press articles (Cortés 2020; Cortés, A. (Forthcoming); Cortés, A. & Migliorati, L. (eds) (in press); Cortés, A. & De Soto, P. (In prep.). In June 2019, a specific workshop focused on this type of house was held in the Università di Roma, La Sapienza. This meeting meant the consolidation of this hybrid typology.
a) Collation data. During the period of the fellowship, I have collected all the available data of the archaeological remains related to the Tetrastyle Courtyard House, and I have studied in situ all the domestic architecture of Magna Graecia and Sicily. I worked in 11 Roman cities and I have cataloged 23 different examples. The study of the architecture of each case has been based on its technical and constructive materials, their plans, architecture and engineering.
b) GIS and database of the archaeological remains. I have designed and implemented a spatial database to systematise all the documented information. All the information and each domestic unit of the project can be found and filtered by chronology, architectural features, or geography and can be mapped. Spatial analyses about the housing structures and their relationship with the city urbanism has been developed. At present, all the project data is prepared to be freely shared online.
c) Network Analysis and Space Syntax studies. A very important study of the households is the identification of the public spaces of the houses. I have innovated with the use of Network Analysis as a new methodology for identifying and understanding the composition of the domestic spaces (as it was one of the goals of the project).
At the end of the project, it has been possible to consolidate, define and standardize this typology in the South of Italy and Sicily. We can say that the methodological and systematic study of the Tetrastylon project has allowed to scientifically establish the household typology of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and its social implications in the hybridism of the Roman culture. The scientific results have been widely accepted by the scientific community (Presented in International congresses (AIAC 2018, EAA2018; CAA2019; Workshop Sapienza 2019) and press articles (Cortés 2020; Cortés, A. (Forthcoming); Cortés, A. & Migliorati, L. (eds) (in press); Cortés, A. & De Soto, P. (In prep.). In June 2019, a specific workshop focused on this type of house was held in the Università di Roma, La Sapienza. This meeting meant the consolidation of this hybrid typology.
Tetrastylon was designed to improve the scientific knowledge about Roman housing and its economic, political and social impact in Roman society. Until the development of this project, there was an important misunderstanding about the structure and the inhabitants of a certain type of Roman domus. Due to its similarities with 2 other types of Ancient domus, different conclusions were generated depending on the identification of the archaeological remains.
The interest generated by the topic and methodology of the Tetrastylon project has been reflected in the continuous invitations and acceptances in congresses and international scientific meetings. This new type of Roman house has been presented and defended in different congresses to the scientific community and Roman housing specialists. As a result, this type of house has been widely accepted as it served to explain the similarities and differences with the other housing types. Within the framework of this project, I have organised a workshop focused on the study of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House where the most renowned specialists in domestic architecture debated about this type of domus.
During the last period of my fellowship, I began to publish some of my scientific results and methodologies. The development of the Tetrastylon project has been fruitful in publications. Besides some papers will appear during 2020, I’ve been able to publish one book, edit one volume about the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and publish 3 papers in peer-review journals. Since the beginning of the project, I have also been working in some social media diffusion as a webpage and a twitter account, as it was planned in the application.
The interest generated by the topic and methodology of the Tetrastylon project has been reflected in the continuous invitations and acceptances in congresses and international scientific meetings. This new type of Roman house has been presented and defended in different congresses to the scientific community and Roman housing specialists. As a result, this type of house has been widely accepted as it served to explain the similarities and differences with the other housing types. Within the framework of this project, I have organised a workshop focused on the study of the Tetrastyle Courtyard House where the most renowned specialists in domestic architecture debated about this type of domus.
During the last period of my fellowship, I began to publish some of my scientific results and methodologies. The development of the Tetrastylon project has been fruitful in publications. Besides some papers will appear during 2020, I’ve been able to publish one book, edit one volume about the Tetrastyle Courtyard House and publish 3 papers in peer-review journals. Since the beginning of the project, I have also been working in some social media diffusion as a webpage and a twitter account, as it was planned in the application.