Rabbits Find Lost Roman Villas

Rabbits Find Lost Roman Villas
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Steve_Coe]Steve Coe

I recently visited a restored Roman Villa at Chedsworth, England in the Cotswold hills. They had some very beautiful mosaic floors on show, which were still largely intact, within the villa's restored bath houses and dining rooms. These mosaic panels, dating back from between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD, were of great interest to me. The villa itself was made up of a rather large group of adjoining rooms, laid out in an extended three sided horseshoe shape. I was amazed at the size of this ancient farm or ranch, and the extent of its facilities , which included a running water toilet suite, with seating for several individuals and two extensive and opulent bath houses. The villa also boasted a private temple or chapel, with a pool fed by a spring. The temple was dedicated to the local water goddess. Less well preserved, were the remains of extensive colonnades for elegant porticos that once ran along the sides of the building. However the crowning glory was the indubitably the spacious dining hall, with its beautiful mosaic floor, which had the added luxury of under floor heating. To me, the overwhelming impression was that this villa seemed to be more of a comfortable holiday resort, designed for leisure, rather than a working farm.

I was told that in Britain and other European countries, burrowing rabbits and other animals are often responsible, for the discovery of long buried villas and other buildings from the Roman era. These little animals, whilst scratching down to make their burrows, bring up loose tesserae blocks, from buried mosaic floors and spread them around at the surface. These small multi-coloured stone blocks or tiles were probably first loosened up from the original mosaic floors by frost, shortly after the buildings were abandoned, many centuries ago. However once they had been brought to the surface by the rabbits, they have provided clues, to those in the know, that have led to the finding of the ancient remains of several buildings. Chedworth villa, itself, was discovered by two men who were trying to retrieve a ferret, while rabbit hunting in the late nineteenth century.

What amazed me about the floors at Chedworth Villa, was how professionally the mosaic work had been done. After all, Britain was a very remote and fairly poor part of the empire in this period and Chedworth itself was not near any big city or town. However, the owners of the estate must have been very wealthy to have had not one, but two, good sized bath suites with their mosaic decorated steam rooms, dry heat saunas and hot and cold plunge pools and also to have had the wonderful under floor heating system below the dining and living rooms. These facilities must have been treasures indeed in a cold British winter. But what a degree of sophistication to find so far off the beaten track! I'm sure that the mosaic artists must have been imported from overseas - the work was just too professional for a frontier province!

I have always been fascinated by the legacy that Rome has left us and I have to confess that my interest in mosaics as an art form has largely been inspired by the extraordinary richness of the Roman art that this medium has preserved so well. It provides color and sense of the continuance of life that the often grey record of centuries of history sometimes misses. Mosaic art is an open window into a world long past. It gives us a glimpse into a refined and leisurely lifestyle that was far removed from the gore of the gladiator's arena and all the pomp and splendor of Rome's military might. I have seen magnificent 2000 year old mosaics in the British Museum and around Rome, at places such as Ostia, at Caracalla's baths, and in the Vatican. These pieces are no mere architectural decoration, but have been great works of art in their own right. Moreover, they all look as though they were laid out just yesterday.

Mosaics are made to last - the ones we see today have outlasted kingdoms and empires. So any aspiring mosaic artists had better be sure that their work is up to scratch, and of the highest standard, because the most severe critic of their work might only be born around the year 4009. Maybe there will still be some wild rabbits left by then!

There is a useful web page called Roman Mosaics where you can see some photos of these fine mosaics. Check out [http://how-to-make-mosaics.com/content/view/37/58/]http://how-to-make-mosaics.com/content/view/37/58

I was once a builder of bridges and roads, but now like to call myself a writer.

I am African, for my writing is usually about the vast ancient land of warm winds and far horizons that I call my home, but was once birth mother to us all. She still holds many untold stories waiting to be released.

I grew to manhood in the green forests of north of the Zambezi, but now gaze from my desk over the restless southern seas that beat against the fairest cape in all the world.

My website is - http://www.howto-publish-a-book.com

Come visit,

Steve Coe

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