Strolling with power: New light on controlling movement and viewing in the elite Roman Villas of Stabiae

Abstract

Two of the most evanescent features of an archaeological site which have a huge effect upon how we interpret the original character of the site are: movement; and gardens (fgs. 1, 2). Recent excavations and studies at the large Roman villas of Stabiae near Pompeii by the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation and Pompeii Superintendancy since 2007 have brought new light on how the elite inhabitants and guests of the villas moved through the spaces. At the so-called Villa San Marco (fg. 3) excavations have suggested that that villa and the townhouse across the street (fg. 4) were part of a single property conjoined by a bridge across the street between them. At the Villa Arianna excavations and studies have revealed that the early phase of the villa (c. 80–60 BCE) was designed around a single axial “Durchblick” (through-view) while after the Augustan peace new spaces were added exploiting cross-axial views to the landscape (fg. 5). An extraordinarily well-preserved huge formal garden was excavated which revealed that it was designed not only to be walked in by groups of guests, but it was designed to manipulate the interaction between hosts and guests (fg. 6).