Roman House at Plaza Mayor
About
Under the paving of Segovia's Plaza Mayor, a 2010 dig by Arex Arqueologia hit an intact Roman living space behind the former Hotel Victoria — a beaten-earth floor, rammed-earth wall stubs, and fragments of painted plaster, stratified to the High Imperial period (1st-2nd century CE). Unglamorous next to the aqueduct, but real stratigraphy showing ordinary Segovians living in proper Roman houses on this hill well before 117 CE.
What happened here
The front door opens onto a corridor and then a roofed hall with a pool under an opening in the roof, and that hall is a public room — clients arrive at dawn to greet the owner, and the whole plan is arranged so they can be received and impressed. Behind it, a colonnaded garden with a dining room off it, three couches around a low table, guests reclining on the left elbow. Rooms are small, dark and multi-purpose; furniture is moved as needed. Walls are painted to open the space out with fake architecture and landscapes. Windows are shuttered rather than glazed. Cooking, laundry and the slaves' quarters are pushed to the edges. Street frontage is let out as shops, because it is too valuable to waste.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →