Objectives

 

Tetrastylon is designed to create the scientific basis for the identification and definition of a type of Roman domus. This typological feature is the result of a hybrid house plan between the Greek and Roman conceptions of housing. The structural scheme of this domus joins, the concept of the development of the Greek habitat and the use of the Roman atrium space as the central distribution area of the house.

This particular typology has been observed in different Roman cities with a Greek past, in different geographical contexts and chronologies, but it has not been analysed enough by Roman domestic architecture studies. It is therefore necessary to establish and document accurately the various households that existed in antiquity to better understand the first stage of any cultural society. In this case a house that has a cultural exchange for the formation of its structure and its role in the society in which it has been developed.

 

O1. Collect and systematise the information about the “tetrastyle courtyard house” and its variants of the Western Roman Empire cities with a Greek phase and create a spatial database of the domestic remains.

O2. Distinguish the social representation spaces (public part of the house) of the private sphere of the “Tetrastyle courtyard house” and the identification of productive roles and level of consumption of the examples collected. Also, compare these parameters with other types of Roman domus.

O3. Conduct a spatial analysis of the “Tetrastyle courtyard house” and its variants, comparing its geographical areas, its chronology and the coexistence with other typologies of domus and the percentages of their implementation in the different cities.

O4. Compare the social impact of the “Tetrastyle courtyard house” with the “Atrium house” and "Hellenistic peristyle house", defining the social and public representation functions of both of them. Simultaneously establish the architectural and functional differences between the two typologies for a proper identification of the archaeological remains.

O5. To assess the actual spread of this type of domus in the Roman Empire, its chronology, its evolution, and propose a hypothesis of the social significance of the existence of this typology in the Roman world.

O6. 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 of each territory.

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