INTRODUCTION

An old, yet still topical theme of discussion within Roman archaeology is the army's role as Kulturträger and mediator in the diffusion of Roman cultural forms among indigenous groups in the frontier provinces. For the areas north of the Alps, most studies emphasise the critical role of the army in this dissemination. In his recent book on Roman Britain, however, David Mattingly seeks to qualify the army's importance in this regard. He stresses the ‘essentially self-serving use of material culture within the army, which to a large extent developed a separate version of Roman identity, distinguishing soldiers from civilians rather than uniting them’. He points to the marginal impact of Roman military culture on indigenous rural populations in the heavily militarised zones of west and north Britain. He bases his conclusion in part on the studies by Simon James and Ian Haynes, who analyse the Roman army as a community with a strongly developed sense of its own identity.

A major focus in this discussion is the intermediary role of veterans in the spread of Roman cultural forms. Veterans constitute a key group because of their ability to bridge the gap between the military and civilian worlds. Although numerous studies have elaborated on this theme, they have tended to focus rather narrowly on legionary veterans. They have done so for pragmatic reasons – legionary veterans are much better represented in the epigraphic record than their auxiliary counterparts – but also because of the belief that it was legionary veterans who were the bearers and transmitters of Roman culture, certainly in the early imperial era, and who are therefore most deserving of our attention.

Auxiliary veterans are a much neglected group in the study of romanisation processes in the Rhineland frontier zone. They merit greater attention because of their dual potential role as transcultural mediators, not only between the military and civilian spheres, but also between Romans and indigenous rural populations.

INTRODUCTION

The incorporation and integration into the Roman empire had a profound impact on the socio-political, economic and cultural order of the peoples in the Gallic and Germanic provinces. The key material example was without doubt the introduction of Roman-style towns and the associated urban culture. Just as important, however, and inextricably linked to this, was the profound transformation of the countryside, where at least 90% of the population lived. A key factor was the large-scale appearance of Roman villas from the second half of the 1st century AD onwards. Because of their attractive physical manifestation (multi-roomed houses with tiled roofs, stone foundations, plastered walls, hypocausts, bathing facilities, etc.), they count as the most ‘Roman’ component of the then rural landscapes. There is a long tradition of research into the origin, development and social interpretation of villas (see below). In the past decades we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of excavations and a veritable information explosion on Roman rural settlements. However, developing interpretive frameworks for rural settlement research has failed to keep pace with this data explosion. What we need are new, theory-based syntheses to organise the existing evidence and point the way for future research.

This study is an attempt to do just that. Our aim is threefold: a. to develop a synthesis of the origin and development of Roman villa landscapes in the northern provinces, b. to formulate a cohesive body of theoretical concepts and ideas about the social, economic and cultural function of villas within the context of the Roman empire, and c. to contribute to comparative research into Roman villa landscapes. We also wish to create a framework in which the various contributions to this volume can be understood.

Defining the concept of ‘villa’ is no easy task. One of the problems facing us is that the term has a wide range of meanings in Roman written sources and does not therefore lend itself to a workable archaeological definition.1 On the other hand, it has proved archaeologically impossible to distinguish clearly between villa settlements and non-villa settlements.

The archaeology of Roman villas and more generally of Roman rural landscapes has enjoyed widespread interest for some generations now, among both scholars and a wider audience. Some educational presentations of villa sites have even emerged as regular public attractions, as we have seen in the past decade with the villas of Borg in the Trier area, Ahrweiler near Bonn and Jemelle-Malagne in the Belgian Ardennes. Despite marked differences in the way they present the Roman past, they all have in common their ability to appeal to the general public, each attracting about 50,000 visitors a year. Why do Roman villas hold such a fascination for people? There are probably different factors at work here. Villas are regarded as the most ‘Roman’ component of the rural landscapes of that time. Through their fascinating archaeological remains (pavements with mosaics, houses with stone foundations, tiled roofs, painted walls, hypocausts, bathing facilities, etc.), they stimulate public imagination about the Roman past. Roman villas evoke a feeling of familiarity through their associations with modern ideals of civilisation and strategies of elite distinction in terms of comfortable living and an appreciation of a rustic life in the country. In our modern post-industrial society, the arcadian ‘Traum vom Lande’ also has broad appeal, as we see in the escape from the city and the building of modern villas. In that sense, villas fit within the modern quest for an idealised past. At the same time, villa attractions help us put modern Western civilisation into perspective through our awareness of the decline of the Roman empire.

Underpinning this volume is archaeological research into villas and villa landscapes in the northern provinces of the Roman empire. In 2006 the Archaeological Centre at VU University Amsterdam launched the research programme Villa landscapes in the Roman North. Economy, culture, lifestyles. Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), it is scheduled for completion in 2011. Included in the planned output for the programme is this synthesis volume of articles by project members, supplemented by contributions from other archaeologists working in the field of Roman rural archaeology. The aim of this book, which builds on an international symposium organised in Vaals (NL) in November 2008, is fourfold:

• a. to develop a synthesis on the emergence and development of Roman villa landscapes in the northern provinces.

INTRODUCTION

One of the key material manifestations of the integration of the Gallic and Germanic provinces in the Roman empire was without doubt the introduction of Roman-style towns and – inextricably linked to this – the wide-spread appearance of Roman villas on the countryside from the second half of the 1st century AD onwards. There is a long tradition of research into the origin, development and social interpretation of villas. Villas by no means represent a homogeneous category, and we are able to distinguish different types on the basis of their architecture and spatial layout. When looking for the origins of this kind of settlement, archaeologists for a long time sought parallels among Italic villas, assuming them to be the models for villas in the north. In the past two decades, however, research has convincingly shown that the northern villa types were not simple replicas of Roman-Mediterranean models. Instead, they displayed a considerable individuality by incorporating local elements into their layout and architecture. This finding ties in with the general view that ‘becoming Roman’ was by no means a standard process, but involved significant variation in the ways in which individuals and groups interpreted a Roman identity in a provincial setting. Everywhere, the process of appropriating a Roman identity led to the creation of new cultural forms, which in part recalled Mediterranean traditions but which always incorporated local characteristics. We find examples of these hybrid forms not only in Gallo-Roman villa architecture, but also in temple construction, funerary monuments and the naming of deities.

These latter observations prompt new questions for villa research in the north: how should we visualise the formation process of the northern villa types? Which social groups were the key transcultural mediators in this process? And what motivated the owners to build these villas? The aim of this paper is to contribute to this discussion by analysing one specific subgroup of villas. These are the axial villas of the Anthée type (fig. 1), characterised by a double courtyard, a strong association with an elite and a relatively early starting date. We will address the following topics in this paper:

• a. the spatial layout and geographical distribution of double-courtyard villas

• b. the social interpretation of these villas

• c. the continuity between double-courtyard villas and pre-Roman rural settlements

• d. the link with urban elite houses