This is the second of three posts looking at the mosaics at some of the sites I visited on a recent trip to southern England. The first was about Fishbourne Palace and can be seen here. This time, its Bignor Roman villa in the spotlight.
Bignor is an independently managed site, fascinatingly still owned and operated by the descendants of the man who discovered the villa in 1811 - George Tupper, who began showing visitors around the site as early as 1814. Bignor, then, is as old a heritage attraction as you'll find anywhere.
The development of the site is fairly typical for this type of rural complex. There is some evidence of later 1st Century occupation, but the first substantial stone building on the site wasn't constructed until the 3rd Century. This was rebuilt and expanded upon during the later 3rd and 4th Centuries until it reached its peak as a full courtyard villa - a central garden enclosed by suites of rooms on all sides.
The first mosaic that George Tupper discovered was one of the finest in the entire complex, and one of two tessellated pavements that Bignor is now most famous for - the Ganymede pavement. Believed to be the floor of a dining room, the pavement features a roundel with the boy Ganymede being abducted by Jupiter in the guise of an eagle (more of that story in a moment), with a hexagonal piscina to the side, itself surrounded by 6 maenads.
Ganymede was a Trojan shepherd who, because of his beauty, was abducted by Jupiter to become the cup bearer of the gods. Jupiter did this in the form of an eagle (just one of Jupiter's many animal disguises), and the scene here shows Ganymede being lifted away, and he almost seems to be waving goodbye to his mortal life. Ganymede has become a symbol for homosexual love, particularly that between an older man and a younger boy - something rather prevalent in the classical world. The reference to drinking and merriment is continued with the inclusion of the dancing maenads around the piscina - they were the female followers of Bacchus, god of wine and revelry. The subject of the mosaic would definitely suggest that the room was intended to be used for eating, drinking and the entertaining of guests.
Ganymede is a common and easily identifiable character in classical art. Just for the sake of it, here he is in a photo I took at Naples Museum, sharing an intimate gaze with Jupiter.
Bignor's other superstar mosaic is the 'Venus and the Gladiators' pavement, probably the floor of a winter dining room, built as it was over a hypocaust.
The collapse of the main section of the mosaic, which provides a wonderful view of the hypocaust structure, has sadly made it difficult to interpret the floor as a whole, as the crucial central image has been completely lost.
The mosaic contains a great variety of imagery, but it is the apse at one end that gives it its name, bearing as it does a portrait of a female in a roundel, with a long panel beneath featuring cupids acting as gladiators. The female portrait is most commonly associated with Venus, but the identification is not entirely secure, and definite attributes of the goddess are lacking. It remains a possibility that the figure is in fact mortal.
The panel with the cupids stands as one of the most recognisable and characterful elements of any surviving mosaic in Britain. A series of scenes portray the story of a gladiatorial contest between a retiarius (a net man) and a heavily armoured secutor. The final scene shows that the secutor emerged the victor.
Aside from these two outstanding keynotes, the villa possesses a wonderful array of other pavements, including one that may possibly bear a maker's name (the letters 'TER' above a dolphin perhaps being short for Terentius) and an amazingly long corridor mosaic, currently the longest on display in Britain (though the now lost corridor from Greetwell villa, just east of Lincoln is just one that is believed from drawings to have been even longer).
Away from the main building, though originally part of another wing of the house, can be seen the slight remains of the bath house and yet another mosaic, this time a Medusa with wonderfully wavy snakes in her hair. As this was situated in the changing rooms, I wonder if people avoided treading on her to avoid bad luck?
It feels like I've been travelling non-stop for the last couple of weeks, and during this trekking I've been able to see a few Roman sites, both in the north west and in the Cotswolds. Some visits were to re-acquaint myself with old friends, others to expand my horizons and see another little slice of our heritage.
In the finest tradition of Letters from Li Dongni, I'd therefore like to share a few thoughts and photos, in no particular order.
Senhouse Roman Museum, Maryport
The Senhouse Museum is one of those places that reminds you that fantastic archaeology isn't always found in picturesque locations. With due apologies to the locals, the town of Maryport on the north west coast is far from a lovely place, but thankfully it is home to a museum with a very lovely Roman collection indeed - namely the Jupiter Optimus Maximus altars set up annually by the 1st Cohort of Spaniards. These can claim to be the largest collection from any site in Britain, and their condition is almost perfect. The museum has adopted as its emblem a boar (a symbol of the XX Legion), which it has sweetly named after the 1870 discoverer of a large haul of altars - Humphrey.
Of course, what Roman site worth its salt hasn't produced a few lucky phalluses? Senhouse is thankfully up there with the best of them so here they are, just for you, including the famous 'snake stone'.
I always like to save the best until last, and without doubt my favourite object in the museum was this great little carving of a native 'horned deity'.
North Leigh Roman villa, Oxfordshire
This small but charming (and originally rather grand) villa was conveniently situated mere metres from the B&B we were staying in, but by odd coincidence I had been here before. The star of the show is the tessellated pavement secured beneath a building for protection, which had been closed when I'd gone before. By sheer lucky coincidence, on this occasion it was being opened for the first time in almost a decade on the very day we visited. Aside from the nice mosaic survival, it also offered a very nice example of how the mosaic interacted with the walls of the room, particularly in the form of the tubuli (box flue tiles) which heated the walls and allowed the smoke from the hypocaust to be released.
Ravenglass Roman Bath house, Cumbria
The smallest of the sites I visited, and I dare say not the one that attracts the greatest hordes of tourists, though this might be because of the inadequate signage. Still, despite this, the remains are what English Heritage describe as 'the tallest surviving in northern Roman Britain' (though their definition of 'northern' might differ from mine as I can think of a few sites with equally tall remains that are far from 'southern') and are nicely interpreted.
Birdoswald Roman fort, Hadrian's Wall
Birdoswald is one of the better known forts on Hadrian's Wall, and boasts one of the most complete sections of wall surviving nearby. Although only around a quarter of the inside of the fort is exposed, the gates and walls give a good sense of scale, and the site museum is nicely executed, with a good balance between Roman history and the story of the discovery and investigation of the site over the last few hundred years.
Corinium Museum, Cirencester
Cirencester is a place that had been on my 'must visit' list for a while now, and the Corinium Museum was a major reason for that. Having undergone a refurbishment a few years ago, I had been waiting to see how the new displays look and I'm very happy to say I wasn't disappointed. The Roman collections are first rate, particularly the mosaics and the religious carvings, and the displays are thoughtful, clean and well laid out.
One particularly fine object is a bronze sculpture of Cupid, now sadly without wings. Found in 1732 it is believed to have been part of a lamp. Said to date from the mid 1st to mid 2nd Centuries, I still can't help thinking that the chubby face has more than a little of the 18th Century about it.
Cirencester Roman amphitheatre
Roman amphitheatres in Britain are fairly rare survivals - usually because they were of earth and timber construction and therefore easily destroyed in subsequent centuries. Cirencester's fortunately survives, and is worth a stroll out from the town to visit. Sadly, it seemed that when we visited, someone on two wheels had already been enjoying the arena's floor.
