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a - house of the villa's owner; b - lodgings of the slaves working in the villa; c - oxen-house; d - kitchen; e - bathroom; f - olive-oil storehouse; g - wine store; h - sheep- and goat-houses; i - stable; j- covered sheds. |
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Roman villas in the present-day Bulgarian lands
Detached estate centers in the present-day Bulgarian lands of Roman and L ate Roman times (lst - 4th century AD) were usually designated in the respective written sources by the term villa, and more rarely by other terms, for example - casa agrestis. The wider term villa rustica has been set up in Bulgarian and foreign literature under the influence of the works of the Roman authors from the time of the Republic and the Early Empire.
According to the resources of the owner, the villa could vary from a single building to a huge building complex and facilities of elaborate spatial design. An unified structure of housing and economic units, whose main body was the owner's dwelling is the common characteristic of the villae. The owner's presence, permanent or provisional, is the major trait of the organization of the villa as an independent production entity. The existence of the owner's house is the specific feature of the structure and the design of the villa as a detached settlement unit.
The progressive development of the villas in contemporary Bulgarian land is clearly attested for the period from the end of the 1st to the mid - 4th century. All the objective indices show that the Late Roman Imperial Age was just the most prosperous period of its development in the present-day Bulgarian territory. Further more, the analysis displays an inclination to reduction of the estates of moderate size that were represented by the villae without imposing living quarters. At the same time the enlargement and the prosperity of most of the villae with imposing housing buildings, villae-residences included, testify to the strengthening and to the greater resources of the big estates of provincial or imperial importance. The undoubted flourishing and the above characteristics in the villae development at the end of the 3rd - first half of the 4th century AD are by no means unique for the present-day Bulgarian territory. Similar evolution and analogous trends were attested for the villae in other regions of the Empire as well: in Roman Britain, Roman Span, Southwestern Gaul, Northern Africa, etc.
The growing interest both of Bulgarian and foreign scholars in Roman villae from Bulgarian lands confirms their importance in the social, economic, settlement and cultural development of the respective Roman and Late Roman provinces.