Heating and airconditioning by hypocausts in residential and representative architecture in Rome and Latium studies of a phenomenon of luxury in a favoured climatic area of the Roman Empire on the basis of selected examples.

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr.-Ing. Heinz Beste
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: from 2016 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 317469425

In the previous bibliography regarding archaeological researches and those regarding the history of ancient technique, the topic has been treated only in a marginal way, even though it is of a certain importance regarding the interpretation of Roman buildings, especially those of the Imperial and late-antique periods. Rooms or groups of rooms for residential and administrative purposes and those with a representative function, of different dimensions, equipped with this system are known in whole the Empire. Rooms with hypocaust heating without a bathing function are evident in residential and administrative contexts, and those of buildings with a representative function: domus, castella, villae, palaces, churches and buildings connected with them respectively. For other types of buildings there are single examples. The major part of the examples has been discovered in the Roman provinces with disadvantaged climate conditions, that is to say in the eastern and northern part of the Empire; but they exist in the north of Italy as well, principally in domus. The examples in the favoured climate zones, that is to say in Central and Southern Italy stand out in sharp relief against the former. In the urbs itself there are domus and residences, imperial as well as non-imperial, and in the hinterland of Rome the hypocaust system without a bathing function is found in villae and residences. A great number of the examples belong to the early and the middle Imperial period, but it seems that in the late antique period there has been a real boom of the system. Specialists discuss actually, if climatic changes play an essential role regarding this phenomenon. Generally, it can be started from the thesis, that the owners which either installed a hypocaust heating during the original building phase or in a second phase, achieved more prestige. Similarly, it is possible to suppose that the desire to increase the quality of life played a significant role. Probably, also the bandwagon effect counted. The standardised technique of the hypocaust system, known from countless bath buildings, outside of these ones is more or less identical; the only difference seems to be that the tubuli in the walls often are placed in single lines. In the contemporary written sources there are only few references to the system, especially regarding private buildings. The goal of the research project is an exemplary study of the examples of the system in Rom and Latium. A first step will be the record and interpretation of all known examples, published or unpublished. A second one will be the in-depth study of all the rooms and halls respectively with hypocausts in the Villa of Maxentius on the Via Appia in the suburbium of Rome. Four examples are known there, two of them of considerable dimensions. They suggest that the part of the villa, fated to be the wing of the residence and that one for representative purposes, was furnished with grand luxury.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants