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26. Pompeii (formerly Boscoreale). Villa rustica nel fondo di Raffaele Brancaccio.

Excavated 1904 by Carlo Rossi-Filangieri.

In contrada Civita-Giuliana, Pompei, at the local Pompei-Boscoreale road, today via Civita.

 

According to CTP, the area for this villa should be to the north-east of Villa 25, and east of Villa 58.

See Van der Poel, H. B., 1981. Corpus Topographicum Pompeianum, Part V. Austin: University of Texas. (plan opposite p.22).

 

Secondo il sito web PAdiP

Villa del fondo Brancaccio, Pompei. Modesta fattoria dove si rinvenne un frantoio per olive (trapetum). Ricoperta dopo lo scavo.

 

According to PAdiP web site –

(Villa del fondo Brancaccio, Pompeii. Modest farm where a mill for olives (trapetum) was found. Re-buried after the excavation.)

 

Bibliography

Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, pp. 423ff.

Carrington, R., 1931. Studies in the Campanian Villae Rusticae: Journal of Roman Studies, 21, p. 122 (n. 26) and note 2, fìg. 16.

Casale A., Bianco A., Primo contributo alla topografia del suburbio pompeiano: Supplemento al n. 15 di ANTIQUA ottobre-dicembre 1979, 65 (Fig. 17) p. 41.

Castaldi, F., 1950. La trasformazione della villa rustica in rapporto alle condizioni della agricoltura: Annali Istituto Sup. S. Chiara di Napoli, 2, fig. 3.

Day, J., 1932. Agriculture in the life of Pompeii: Yale Classical Studies, 3, tav. C, n. 26.

Garcia y Garcia L., 2017. Scavi Privati nel Territorio di Pompei. Roma: Arbor Sapientiae, no. 48, p. 358-361.

Rostovzev, M., 1973. Storia economica e sociale dell’Impero Romano, Firenze, 5° ediz., p. 34, note 26, n. 26.

 

Plan

 

Boscoreale, Villa rustica nel fondo di Raffaele Brancaccio. Plan.

See Casale A., Bianco A., Primo contributo alla topografia del suburbio pompeiano: Supplemento al n. 15 di ANTIQUA ottobre-dicembre 1979, 65 (Fig. 17) p. 41.

 

Notizie degli Scavi, 1921, p.416, (note 1)

Note: Excavations undertaken by private citizens in the Pompeian territory.

(Ten years ago, by commission expressly from sig. Sopraintendente prof. Vittorio Spinazzola, I had to prepare an extensive report, accompanied by numerous photographs, plans and drawings on eleven private excavations of which no news had been given yet. But now that every investigation to find it has been in vain, so it must be considered as definitively lost, and now the Soprintendenza considers that gap must be filled, not without pain, I have redone the work already completed and with this and other subsequent reports, I will give news of the precious topographical antiquarian material, unearthed in the excavations).

(signed Matteo Della Corte).

 

Notizie degli Scavi, 1921, page 423

II.

Another Villa rustica, excavated by sig. cav. Carlo Rossi-Filangieri in the fondo of Raffaele Brancaccio, in the same contrada Civita-Giuliana (Boscoreale) in the months of January to March 1904.

 

Almost at the same distance from the walls of Pompeii, but to the west of via vicinale Pompei-Boscoreale, about 100 m west of the present farmhouse building of Raffaele Brancaccio, was brought back to light a rustic and unadorned farm (fig. 5), which, by the absolute absence of any hint of luxury -the floors were uniformly of beaten earth, and the walls were entirely bare - clearly showed that it would have been inhabited by only workers servicing the surrounding farms, rich in vineyards and olive groves. It was built in opus incertum of the obvious Pompeian materials, and strengthened in several places, after the earthquake of the year 63, with opus latericium. (brickwork)

 

Boscoreale, Villa rustica nel fondo di Raffaele Brancaccio. Plan of villa.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 424, fig. 5.

Boscoreale, Villa rustica nel fondo di Raffaele Brancaccio. Plan of villa.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 424, fig. 5.

 

At "A", facing fully south, was the main entrance, on the left side three large dolia were placed in the earth: in "a" was an oven of 1.50m in diameter.

 

The next courtyard, "B" (in which were gathered fragments of many terra-cotta amphorae; another dolium which was noted on the plan; an oil-jar 0.14 m high; a rustic dish of 0.18 m in diam, and twenty-two hinges of bone) formed the entrance that was common to all the surrounding rooms, and contained the following noteworthy things:

in "b", the lararium, consisting of a semicircular niche 0.53 m high, at the foot of which were found the skeletons of two men and two dogs;

in "c", a volcanic stone mill (mola manuaria), walled above a suitable parapet;

in "d", just in front of the entrance, a latrine, where a third dog had taken refuge, like the skeleton found there.

 

The rooms on the east side, "rooms 1-4", 2m high on the east and 3.50m high on the west, must be regarded as a series of closets, because they were simply covered with a roof, sloping outwards. By the considerable furnishings/household goods found here room 3 was the exception, where perhaps the workers gathered to consume their meals. Here are the objects found therein. 

— Bronze: an ovoidal dish 0.16m high; a cylindrical small box, 0.09m high. 

— Iron: two hoes and a gardening knife; three keys, and the remains of the foot of a piece of furniture with castors moulded in bone.

— Glass: a bottle with spherical belly and long neck, 0.19m high. 

— Terracotta: three lamps, one with the relief of a sphinx on the disk; five curvaceous jugs, 0.16 - 0.18m high; a cup 0.16m high, with ring handle; a small cup, or drinking cup, 0.07m high; an ovoidal dish, 0.09m high; a plate of 0.21m diameter; three wine amphorae; an amphora on level foot; a vase; 0.90m high, containing remains of millet seeds; a plate, 0.14 m in diameter.

 

Two entrances opened on the west side of the courtyard, and of these the one went only to a large storeroom "room 10", from which came two wine amphorae: the other entrance to the central rooms.  In "room 5" were the first two lengths of the masonry stairs that gave access to the upper loggia; opposite was “room 6", solely plastered, though rustically, which had not given place to any sorts of finds, perhaps because it had already been explored in recent times: and this applied equally to the adjoining rooms, all searched unnecessarily.

 

In the trapetum "room 7", in addition to the solid, volcanic lava olive-press, formed of a basin with a hemispherical cavity, around the central column were placed the two hemispheres of the same stone joined by the only horizontal bar, only one object was found here, which was a round lead boiler, 0.30m high, furnished with three iron ring handles, around the brim.

 

Found in "room 9", whose use was unknown use, were:

— Bronze: a cylindrical situla, 0.14 high; a casserole of 0.13m in diameter. 

— Terracotta: a large spherical pot, 0.40 m high; three jugs, 0.15 - 0.17m high and two lamps; a wide and low pan, 0.37m in diameter; two wine amphorae, on the neck of one was the inscription CIL IV 6967: V(inum) r(ubrum) \ T.M.F.

 

Two certain notions are these: that the “room 12” was a hay-loft, being gathered, in large masses, carbonised straw, and that the big shed "13", whose large roof sloped towards the east and was supported in its centre by a massive brick pillar, was a chestnut poles store, these were also found in a carbonised state between the pillar and the northern wall, just as they had been lying, straight, but with the upper tips slightly inclined towards the north.

 

Finally, in this shed were gathered the remains of two lanterns with bronze frame, and several fragments of the sheets of transparent silicate (“talce”) that covered it; a lead counterweight of trapezoidal shape, drilled longitudinally at the summit; a rustic earthenware dish, 0.22m in diameter; a simple circular-bodied lamp, and six fragments of dishes, with their maker’s marks:

 

Boscoreale, Villa rustica nel fondo di Raffaele Brancaccio. Makers’ marks.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 425.

Boscoreale, Villa rustica nel fondo di Raffaele Brancaccio. Makers’ marks.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 425.

 

 

A look at the plan makes clear that the building, originally of a smaller square plan, was later expanded with the construction of the hay-loft "12" with its corridor access to the north, of woodshed "13", and of the rooms "11 and 8 “, of which the last was built between the entrances "A and C", separately adding to the courtyard and to the woodshed.

 

 

 

 

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Ultimo aggiornamento - Last updated: 12-Oct-2021 16:05