Els Munts (Roman villa)
The villa of "Els Munts" is a residential roman villa built during the 2nd century C.E.[1] The villa is located 12 km away from Tarraco in the municipality of Altafulla in Spain.[1] Scholars have regarded the villa of Els Munts as noteworthy for its mosaics[2] and exceptional state of preservation.[3] As a part of Tarraco, the villa of Els Munts is a UNESCO World Heritage site.[3]
Architecture[edit]
The villa of Els Munts contains several components including a bath, gardens, and temple. In total the villa had a garden, semi-basement corridor with cistern for Caius Valerius Avitus, peristyle, water cistern known locally as "La Tartana", a more extensive water reservoir, dining room (triclinium), the Mithraeum—a temple dedicated to the god Mithras, porticoed corridor. The baths had a reception with an atrium and alcover stone slab floor. There were heated rooms: caldaria, tepidaria, and furnaces with hypocaustum, and cold rooms (frigidaria). A furnace, praefurnia, heated the hot rooms from below. Lastly, there were latrines which excess water from the baths used to remove the excrement.[4][5]
History[edit]
The ancient people known as the Iberians were early inhabitants of the region. The Roman historian Livy mentions Tarraco in describing part of the origns of the Second Punic War.[6] The villa was initially built in the 1st century CE, on top of which the remains preserved today were built in the middle of the 2nd century CE.[1][5] Sometime after 175 CE but before 200 CE, a fire burned at villa of Els Munts, and the inhabitants abandoned it.[5]
The owner of the villa was Caius Valerius Avitus, a duumvir for the Roman province of Tarraco. A wall painting at the site indicates this information.[7]
Location and Geography[edit]
The villa of Els Munts is located in the municipality of Altafulla.[8] Approximately 12 kilometers from Tarraco, modern day Tarragona and near the mouth of the Gayá River, the villa of Els Munts sits atop the western slope of a coastal hill which is part of Cap Roig, the origin of which is the Miocene era.[5] It overlooks the Mediterranean Ocean and is near the Via Augusta.[5]
Accessibility[edit]
The villa of Els Munts is part of a museum open to the public.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Guiral Pelegrín, Carmen (2010). "La decoración pintada del "cubículo de las estaciones" de la Villa Romana dels Munts (Altafulla, Tarragona)" [The painting of the «Seasons cubiculum» of the roman villa of Els Munts (Altafulla, Tarragona)]. Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie I, Prehistoria y Arqueología (in Spanish) (3): 127–143. doi:10.5944/etfi.3.2010.1968. ProQuest 1669855973.
- ^ Durán Peneda, Mercedes (2000). "Nuevos mosaicos de la villa dels Munts en Altafulla, Tarragona. Apreciaciones iconográficas / Mercedes Durán Penedo". Biblioteca Virtual (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ "Vila romana de Els Munts". www.catalunya.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Josep Anton Remolà Vallverdú (January 2009). "La vil· la romana dels Munts (Altafulla, Tarragonès)". academia.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ Livy. 21.61. https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10907/pg10907-images.html#c61
- ^ Arbulo, Joaquín Ruiz de (2014). "El signaculum de Caius Valerius Avitus, duoviro de Tarraco y propietario de la villa de Els Munts (Altafulla)". Pyrenae. 45 (1): 125–151. ISSN 2339-9171.
- ^ Catalunya, Agència Catalana del Patrimoni, Generalitat de. "Villa romana de Els Munts". Visitmuseum· Catalonia museums (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 June 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "The Roman Villa of Els Munts | Site". mnat.cat. Retrieved 15 June 2023.