Early Roman villa alpha, limestone cornice fragment and plaster paving south of mosaic A3
- Description:
- Early Roman villa alpha, limestone cornice fragment and plaster paving south of mosaic A3
- Photographer:
- Image capture by Edwin Brock
- Date Created:
- June 10, 1998
- Collection:
- Villa of the Birds Mosaic Conservation
- Series:
- Existing conditions before conservation
- Subseries:
- Early Roman Villa
- Location:
- Alexandria, Egypt and Al Iskandarīyah
- Time Period:
- Early Roman Empire
- Topic:
- Domestic architecture
- Genre:
- black-and-white photographs
- Conservation Note:
- Three layers of painted plasters preserved in some wall sections point to rather prolonged occupation of the house as a whole, although the construction of the building is still far from being precisely dated .. Stylistic analysis of the mosaics might at least provide some useful data. All of them seem to be made in the latter half of the 1st century AD or beginning of the 2nd century at the latest. This chronology is at least partially corroborated by archaeological evidence. A bronze coin dated to the reign of Domitian, found under the mosaic a-2 provides a useful terminus post quem (Progress Report 2).
- Copyright Status:
- copyrighted
- Creative Commons License:
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Local ID:
- arce_ca_vob_images_0172.tif
- Project History:
- At the heart of modern Alexandria in Kom el-Dikka lies an exceptional demonstration of Domestic architecture during the Roman Imperial period. The Early Roman villa named “Villa of the Birds” houses exceptionally well preserved mosaic floors, made of tesserae. True to its name, it contains Mosaic a-5 which depicts different bird species within seven different panels. Under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Dr. Wojciech Kolataj and his team conserved the mosaic floors, constructed a shelter, and landscaped the surrounding area. Some related supplemental work was carried out by the Polish-Egyptian Preservation Mission, and sponsored jointly by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (currently the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities) and the Polish Center of Archaeology. Conservation work was made possible with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (formerly the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities).
- Funding Agency:
- Villa of the Birds Mosaic Conservation project was made possible with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. 263-G-00-93-00089-00 (formerly 263-0000-G-00-3089-00) and administered by the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE).