The roman villa in Horta da Torre (Fronteira)

A model of monumentality in the private rural architecture of Lusitania

Abstract

Ongoing excavations since 2012 in Horta da Torre (Fronteira, Alentejo, Portugal) have allowed discovering a villawith double-apse room crowned by a stibadium. The 90m² room was entirely paved with opus signinum, because the space was delicately flowed with water, creating an artificial scenario where nature and built structures combined. Walls were covered with polychromic mosaics, and aquatic elements decorated all the room. Further research used georadar, allowing to identify a major 3ha building, with two patios surrounded by perystiles. This is a common prototype used in the monumental villae that in the 3^rd century dominate the rural landscape in Lusitania.

A major overview of the results is presented, with a balance of the eight archaeological campaigns. In a wider context, other villae in the surrounding region will be referred, placing the Horta da Torre as one more element in the display of private entrepreneurship in the rural landscape in Lustania.