Rome and the Social Role of lite Villas in its Suburbs

Following on from his earlier 2006 work on the suburban villas of Campania, Geoff Adams here turns his attention to the villas of the suburban environs of Rome itself. He uses both literary and archaeological evidence, but his principal method of enquiry is via a statistical survey of the architecture of the villas. Of particular interest are the ratio's of public to private space, and the percentages of space set aside for leisure and entertainment. Other types of villas (rural, urban, coastal) are also assessed, in order that the particular social functions of the suburban villa may be discerned.