Amiternum and the upper Aterno valley : a Sabine-Roman town and its territory

Study of the Roman town of Amiternum, in central Italy (general topography, history of the site, productive activities agriculture and transhumance, excavation history, and presentation of the results of a research project 2006-2009). Among the buildings constructed in this town there is a basilica and its annexe. The floor and walls of both the basilica and the annexe were decorated with variously coloured marbles. Ceramic evidence from beneath the floor in the basilica points out a date in the Early Empire. A large complex measuring 45 x 105 m, identified as a domus, is discussed in detail. Is seems to have been constructed in the Early Empire, but the pavements were renovated in the 2nd century A.D., after which some smaller modifications were made. It was destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 346/7 A.D. However, it seems that the domus was abandoned shortly before the collapse. All three sondages that were carried out in 2007 and 2008 revealed that a large part of the mosaic and marble decoration had been removed before the collapse of the walls and roof. In sondage 1 the remains of a simple mosaic floor were found next to the monumental limestone threshold at the entrance to the domus (p. 75, fig. 12). Through sondage 2 small parts of a mosaic, with large white tesserae, were found on the North side of the atrium, besides pieces of painted plaster that were lying on the remains of the pavement. Both the mosaic and wall-paintings belong to the later phase of the house (p. 76, fig. 13). Sondage 3 made it possible to discover the decoration of the triclinium, dated from the 2nd century A.D. : a polychrome mosaic pavement, now very badly damaged, and some colourful marble panels that covered the walls (p. 76, fig. 14). Sondage 3 also made it possible to know about the decoration of the tablinum: the fragments of two successive mosaic pavements, one of top of the other, both made mainly with white tesserae and bordered by red bands, and the remains of painted plaster from the walls. The wall-plaster respects the later mosaic floor. Consequently, both belong to the second phase of the decoration (p. 76, fig. 15).