House of the Trifolium
About
The largest and best-preserved private house excavated at Dougga takes its name from a trefoil-shaped suite of three rounded rooms opening off its colonnaded garden courtyard, a plan some archaeologists have read as a private bath or even an inn. Builders raised it in the 3rd century AD, more than a hundred years after Trajan's death fixed this map's 117 CE snapshot. It sits within Dougga's UNESCO World Heritage core, uphill from the Capitol and forum.
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.
Sources
Nearby
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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 →