AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightHouses with peristyles from Late Antiquity in the region are relatively smaller in size and have either been modified from buildings of an earlier period or have assumed their place as one of the rural housing typologies among the settlements in the region.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
The surface research on rural settlements and urbanization we have been conducting in the eastern part of the Rough Cilicia region has yielded much evidence pertaining to houses with peristyles. We observed that these dwellings are often common to the rural settlements of Eastern Rough Cilicia. This study aims to evaluate collectively houses with peristyles identified in the rural settlements of the area and to examine the characteristics they have in common. Hence, the possible existence of a unique housing type designed specifically for the region and the conditions of the rural area will be discussed. The data at hand indicates that houses with peristyles in the area were used as farm villas during the Roman period. However, it appears that these dwellings were in use throughout various periods in the rural parts of the region. Significant differences in terms of function and layout have been identified between the houses with peristyles from the Roman period and their counterparts from Late Antiquity. Therefore, this study also aims to investigate when the housing typology with peristyles entered the region and how it evolved over time. The study will also address how this example of urban architecture was adapted to rural purposes and what sort of transformation it underwent throughout different periods. The obtained data indicates that houses with peristyles were widespread in the rural areas of Eastern Rough Cilicia region during the Roman period. These are large buildings of which similar examples are encountered in farm settlements. Comprised of a row of columns surrounding an open, central courtyard and units around it, this dwelling typology should be seen as the imprint of urban architecture in rural settlements and epitomizes landownership in these areas. The tradition also continues in Late Antiquity; however, the character and features of such dwellings change during this period. In the Roman examples of the region, three façades of the central courtyard surrounded by columns feature porticoes. Used as the entrance, the southern façade has none. In these dwellings, some in situ columns and architraves within the courtyard have been identified. The Doric columns are comprised of one or two drums, and the capital is added as a separate piece. In some examples, corner columns are built as rectangular blocks. All of the capitals feature a square abacus and a convex echinus. A portion of the architraves on the columns have been preserved. They are unadorned, and in all the examples they feature two or three fascias and end with an outward-projecting profile. The houses feature a single line of wall comprised of large rectangular ashlars. The high walls and tower of the house in Demircili Sivrikale suggest the presence of a well-protected farmhouse. In such examples, the residential and storage buildings, as well as a central courtyard are located within the walls. Olive oil workshops and manufactories have been identified around the dwellings. Examples in the region have been used as farmhouses. Furthermore, houses with peristyles are accompanied by mausoleums. Evidently, houses with peristyles have also impacted the organization of rural settlements. It is observed that the farms in the region were in perpetual use throughout different periods and some of the buildings within have been added based on need in subsequent periods, evolving around the farmhouse at their center. Houses with peristyles dated to Late Antiquity in the same region are relatively smaller; as distinct from their Roman counterparts, they have lost their symbolic significance and become one of the rural housing typologies within the settlement. Historical and archaeological remains provide information about the periods in which houses with peristyles emerged in the Eastern Rough Cilicia region. The increasing and continued presence of rural settlements during the Roman period has been identified in the region. Archaeological remains attest to the presence of a period of production that increasingly grew as of the late-2nd-early 3rd centuries A.D. The construction of architectural elements of an urban fabric such as aqueducts, temples, monumental gates, fountains and cemeteries, and colonnaded avenues in the cities of the region during this period implies that the Roman influence culminated in architectural forms in these cities. The Roman influence is also felt in the rural areas: they are made part of the production process and evidence of rural settlements multiply in this age. With the expansion of urban life, farms in particular became an indispensable part of economic life. During this period, new buildings bearing traces of urban architecture were constructed in rural areas; elements such as monumental gates and tombs were frequently employed. It appears that houses with peristyles highlighted in this study were also in use during the aforementioned period of construction and development in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. Sarcophagi identified alongside the dwellings support this view. Houses with peristyles from Late Antiquity in the region are relatively smaller in size and have either been modified from buildings of an earlier period or have assumed their place as one of the rural housing typologies among the settlements in the region.
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