THE DOMUS ROMANA
The domus Romana is the most important Roman period building found in Malta. Discovered in 1881 by A. A. Caruana, this rich domus is the only house of the Roman Republic period (1st century BC) to have been fully excavated within the ancient Maltese city, Melita.
The remains of this rich and sumptuously decorated Roman residence were accidentally discovered on the 3rd February 1881. Although archaeological excavations were conducted on site in 1881, the site was still partially destroyed in 1899, when a road was constructed from Rabat to Mtarfa cutting through the left side of the Roman building, destroying a good portion of this site. It is estimated that part of the Roman house, water tanks and their channels as well as presumably Islamic graves were completely destroyed. Unfortunately no records of the structures and unearthed objects were kept.
During the course of the first archaeological excavations, the remains of forty-four Muslim graves were discovered. They were overlying the remains of a number of remarkably fine polychrome mosaic pavements and architectural elements belonging to a Roman House. The uncovered architectural remains comprised four large rectangular rooms, incorporating a peristyle, a portico and four cisterns. These excavations, conducted by A. A. Caruana, also produced fragments of other Roman mosaic floorings, statues, inscriptions, coins, toiletry artefacts and domestic utensils.
Further investigations by Sir Temi Zammit in 1908 also record the discovery of a large number of richly ornamented columns, mosaics, statues, marble inscriptions, coins and glass objects. Many of these were domestic utensils or toiletry artefacts of high-quality workmanship that seem to indicate that the domus must have been inhabited by a wealthy family.
The area surrounding the Roman House underwent a subsequent array of investigations by Sir Temi Zammit and his colleagues between 1920 and 1925. These revealed that the Roman house extended even further and on the northern side of the house, other Roman buildings and the presence of an ancient road were discovered.
What is a Roman domus?
A Roman domus is an upper class townhouse usually situated within the boundaries of the city walls. Contrary to a domus, a Roman villa was usually a much larger structure, situated outside the town, often found in picturesque areas surrounded by large orchards.
A Roman domus belonging to the Early Republican period (1st – 2nd century AD) was usually constructed according to a particular layout. The large spaces within the townhouse were constructed and aligned one after another and surrounded by smaller rooms. These were determined by the social needs which originated back in Etruscan times (4th-3rd century BC). According to the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius (De Architectura c. 90-20 BC), spaces and rooms within a Roman domus had to be built following an exact scheme which dictated size, function and position. These requisites helped the inhabitants and their guests to satisfy their primary and social needs.
Contrary to a domus, a Roman villa was usually a much larger structure found within the rural landscape. Two types of villas existed, the purely residential and the rustic villa. The first one was a luxurious building, often inhabited by rich people belonging to the Roman upper class.
Rustic villas, other than the usual amenities and large gardens surrounding them, also contained facilities related to the cultivation of land and the processing of land products (olive oil, wine and wheat flour). The large buildings and the surrounding tenements always requested a number of slaves and farmers who lived in special quarters within the villa. In Malta examples of rustic villas have been found at San Pawl Milqi, Birżebbuġia, Żejtun, Iklin, and Gozo. The villa discovered at Ramla Bay, Gozo, is the only example of a residential villa built on the beach. This villa, richly decorated with mosaic floors and wall paintings, was also equipped with a bathing complex.
Not all the Romans inhabiting the island lived in townhouses or luxurious villas. People who could not afford to live in a private house lived in insulae. These were multi-storey brick structures very similar to modern-day apartments. One can nowadays admire the best-preserved examples dating from the 1st and 3rd centuries AD in the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Ostia. No buildings of this type have yet been found in Malta.