Littlecote Roman Villa

Santiago F (Sh)

The Littlecote Roman Villa is located 10 miles away from Marlborough College and is one of the best preserved and largest villas in the UK. Made up of 60 rooms and two thermal bath suites, the villa can tell us a lot about the lives of the people who lived there. As well as being home to some of the finest mosaics in England, the villa was built during a great age for the Roman Empire and I am going to tell you some background on what was taking place as this villa was made.

In 1727, William George discovered the Orpheus mosaic while he dug post-holes and when it was discovered, it was regarded as “the finest pavement that the sun ever shone upon in England”. An engraving and a drawing were made before the location of the villa was forgotten. In 1976, it was rediscovered and the mosaics were fully restored in the year 1980. The courtyard villa is majestic and is one of the largest in Britain.

These mosaics are usually thought of in very complicated religious terms involving Orpheus, Bacchus and Apollo. The tiles are incredibly small and the whole mosaic has vast amounts of detail and elegance. Several of the other mosaics have images of a large variety of topics. From representations of creatures from mythology and snapshots of daily life, they all had immense amounts of detail and are regarded as some of the finest examples of the Romans’ capabilities in the arts.

Although the mosaics are beautiful, I would like to focus more on what was going on in the Roman Empire as this villa was constructed. This villa was created roughly around the year 170AD and during this time, the Roman Empire was at its peak. With a population of one million people, Rome was the heart of the Roman Empire. Ruled by emperor Marcus Aureilius, the Roman Empire was expanding greatly. It stretched from Europe to North Africa to the Middle East. The land was divided into smaller areas called provinces, which were ruled by governors appointed by the Empire. Though this was functional during these years, the vast size was one of the main reasons for the great Empire’s downfall.

Although it only became the main religion in 313AD, Christianity was gaining followers. As word of Jesus spread across the Roman Empire, emperor Marcus Aurelius wanted to maintain the Roman Empire’s polytheistic religion and therefore supressed Christians by doing several things. He passed edicts against Christians, ordering the persecution and punishment of those who refused to change back to the Polytheistic religion.

Finally, during this time, architecture in Rome was very impressive. Roads, aqueducts and public buildings were progressing greatly and several famous buildings such as the Pantheon were rebuilt just a few decades from this.

The villa was not used very much until between the second and fourth centuries AD, when people started living in it. The people who inhabited the villa are unknown but they presumably had some connection to Roman leaders at the time as they were very wealthy. During these years, the villa expanded greatly. Several new rooms were made and a hypocaust and a bathhouse were input, an amenity only for the wealthiest citizens to experience. This villa is an insight into the life of people 1,800 years ago, when the Roman Empire was at its most powerful, spreading across the globe. The Empire was fantastic: poetry, art, wars, myths, huge technological developments and a huge advancement of life, the Empire of the Romans had it all. The villa also shows the development of the designs of villas and how they have progressed over time.

The Roman villa is also a well-known tourist attraction, attracting people around the world who are interested in the history of the Romans. The villa is unbelievably well preserved and there is a lot of information and facts that people can learn when they visit this site. Overall, this villa is full of rich culture and history and is one of the greatest in Britain. I am incredibly interested in this genre of history and that is why I chose to write about this.