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Villa Rustica - The Villa Buildings
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 Rustic Villa This villa property - well, it's modern to call it a villa, in my family we always just called it "the farmhouse" - has been in my family for almost 150 years, since the days of Cato the Censor (who, as it happens, wrote one of the best books on farming in Italy). The acreage of these simple villas varied; Cato suggested 240 iugera (15 acres) minimum devoted to olive cultivation, which might suggest a farm of roughly 50 acres to grow olives, wheat and barley, crops for grazing cattle, sheep and goats, fruit trees, and other necessities of life. He believed that even 15 acres would require five laborers, three oxherds, one donkey-driver, one swineherd, and one shepherd. The majority, if not all, the farm laborers were slaves, so extensive lodgings were required for the ‘help.’ Since "villa" is a diminutive for the Latin word for village, it is clear that even a modest working farm would be similar to a small village but, where the father, as paterfamilias, was in charge but the manager and housekeeper were next in line of authority.
So, in our case, we have nearly a thousand iugera, of which, indeed, about a quarter is the olive orchards, another quarter is the vinyard (not great wine, but quite drinkable), and about half is reserved for various crops, including grains, vegetables, and fodder for the cows and sheep we graze on the hillsides. We have nearly 20 slaves, 4 of which serve in the house, and 16 work in the fields. They have quarters out beyond the domestic buildings and we've only bought two news slaves in the past ten years. The others have been with us for many years. Closer to the house itself, you can see the general design of the place - it just "grew" as the farm grew bigger. Behind it is an unpaved area and beyond that, multiple small buildings with farmyard purposes. there is the egg house, the shed for butchering, the wine press building, five different buildings for storage of fruit, produce and fodder for the animals, the olive press building, and the stable. In addition, there are pens for pigs and another pen where we lamb the sheep every year, so protect them from wolves and foxes. The orchards were planted by my grandfather and great-grandfather, and we have pear and apple trees, two cherry trees (which aren't doing too well, but after Lucullus brought the cherry back from Asia, everyone HAD to have one), and several quince trees. I make excellent quince preserves.
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Divinely Decadent Demi Domus
~ Table of Contents ~
Test Article II
Test Article III Insulae Etruscan Cities and Their Environment: Caere Etruscan Cities and their Environment: Pyrgi The Tribe of the Langobarden Information about Crete, Knossos, Rethymno and Chania A Woman Of Sparta Martialis, the poet of Epigrams Menerva on an Etruscan Mirror in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe, Germany Forum Romanum: Rostra, Curia, Decennalia Base and Lapis Niger The Southern part of the Campus Martius and the Circus Flaminius Area Forum Romanum: The Arch of Titus Forum Romanum: The Arch of Septimius Severus Forum Romanum: the Temple of Vesta and the Vestal Virgins An Introduction to the Classic Period Maya I ~*Roots*~ Ptah of MenNefer; A Creation Myth Khnum and the Potter´s Wheel The Architecture of Cicero's Villa in Tusculum The Maecenas Worship on the Esquiline Pompey Marcus Antonius Virgil Horace Propertius Heraklia's Oikos The Vintnery Ongoing Restoration of Shunet el-Zebib Quintus Ennius : a Greco-Roman «Republican» Poet on the Aventine A Tour of the Aventine Hill Shops and Craftsmen of the Aventine |
