Villa of Anthée

VillaGallia Belgica · Anthée, Onhaye, Namur province, BelgiumBuilt 80 CE

About

The villa at Anthée grew into the largest Roman country estate in Wallonia, its residential wing and working farm stretching 642 meters end to end along the road linking Bavay to Trier. Namur archaeologists first uncovered the site in 1863, and later digs exposed colonnaded rooms finished with mosaics, painted stucco, and marble marquetry. A bath suite with several hypocaust-heated rooms served the household through the following centuries. Established already in the 1st century CE, the estate stood roughly four decades old by 117 CE, with most of its long working life still ahead of it.

What happened here

A working estate with a comfortable house attached, and the proportions vary with how rich the owner is and how often he visits. The farm side has presses for oil and wine, threshing floors, storage sunk into the ground, stables and quarters for the workforce. The residential side has baths, dining rooms sited for the view, mosaics, and a garden with water in it. A manager runs the place year-round and reports; the owner arrives for the vintage and for the summer. Produce goes to market or to the owner's town house, and the accounts are kept in detail. Some villas are pure retreat with no farm at all, built on a cliff or a lake specifically to be looked at from a boat.