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Berbati’s Roman Period

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The Valley’s Roman period

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THE ROMAN PERIOD

The Valley’s Roman Period

The Late Roman period has been identified as one of the best-populated periods in the history of the Berbati valley. The increase in population and settlements in the valley was most likely connected to the Roman villa, a country estate with special-purpose areas connected to agricultural production, that was built in the center of the valley around AD300 and which must have played an important role for the settlements in the area. Remains of a bath, living quarters and manufacturing areas with large olive oil presses, grain mills, iron slag, cut marble and carefully constructed graves are found in the surrounding fields.

The earliest Roman material in the Berbati valley dates to the 1^st century AD, with a majority of the finds however stemming from the 4th century AD and continuing into the 6^th century AD. From the beginning of the 4^th century, there appears to have been an increase in population and settlement in the valley, which reached a peak in the 5^th and 6^th centuries.

In general, the activity pattern in the Berbati Valley during the centuries of Roman occupation, reflect those in other areas of Greece at the time. The Early Roman period was a period dominated by economic decline, deserted lands and depopulation, caused by the many wars that took place in and were fed by the Greek countryside during the second and first centuries BC. The situation was more severe in areas directly afflicted by the wars but a sparsely settled countryside was the general settlement pattern during this period.

This changed from the beginning of the 4^th century AC, after Constantinople became the new capital of the Roman Empire in AD 330. It has been suggested that the separation from the western half of the Empire and the growing demand for agriculture products in the eastern empire may have increased the opportunities for many areas in the Aegean where agricultural products and oil could be produced and exported to the East. As a result, the countryside in many parts of Greece was resettled and agricultural activity increased which contributed to an economic recovery.

While in Italy the villa system was fully developed since Early Roman times, the expansion of the villa economies occurred in Greece in the 4^th and 5^th centuries. The economic expansion that occurred after this part of the Mediterranean came under the sphere of the new capital, probably gave some people access to large resources of land and money. The local upper class became powerful and wealthy; a feudal-like system was created and flourished around countryside villas like Berbati.

Roman villas were generally dominated by large landholders and a range of farmers including slaves, tenants and other workers were integrated into the villa economies. Smaller landholders may have been forced to withdraw from the market and become tied to the villa economies. Smaller sites recorded in the countryside, probably belonged to those working at or in connection with the villas.

The period from the 4^th to 7^th century has been identified as one of the best-populated periods in the history of the Berbati valley. The increase in population and settlements in the Berbati Valley was most likely connected to the villa that was built in the center of the valley around AD 300 and which must have played an important role for the settlements in the area.

There is moreover evidence of a farm complex with one or more farmsteads in the western area of the Berbati Valley on the Phytesoumia spur. Another farm was probably located on the other side of the gorge of Asterion and evidence of Late Roman industrial activity in the form of a possible water mill was identified near Mastos.

THE ROMAN PERIOD

The Roman Villa

The largest roman site in the Berbati valley is a villa covering approx. 450×250 m with auxiliary facilities located around the still visible Roman bath situated in the centre of the valley. It was built around AD 300, and appears to have played an important role for the settlements in the area. Population in the Berbati Valley increased from the beginning of the 4^th century, reaching its peak in the 5^th and 6^th century. During the 4^th-5^th century the economy of the valley was likely dominated by the villa.

The villa was located in the central part of the valley and has been estimated to have covered and area of approx. 2000 m2, judging from the area where structures and finds attributed to the complex have been found. Marble fragments and colored tesserae originating from mosaic floors were found over a vast area, while on the floor of the chapel of Aghios Ioannis a polychrome mosaic with a geometric pattern of circles and triangles was recorded, which was assumed to have been incorporated into a building belonging to the villa complex.

The remains of a bath that was in all probability connected to the villa are located in the center of the Berbati Valley, which was supplied with water from the reservoir and the springs further up the slope to the north. Just to the south of the bath, on the other side of the modern road, the large density of sherds, tiles and finds of marble and pieces of mosaic, suggest that this part of the villa was the living quarters of the owner of the villa. The floor of this part of the villa was equipped with mosaics made in opus sectile and the walls were covered with coloured stucco.

The residential area probably continued north of the bath, assuming that the mosaic floor in the chapel of Aghios Ioannis belonged to the villa. Churches built inside or on the ruins of Roman villas is a phenomenon occurring all over the Roman world, which may indicate cult continuity. However, the survey revealed nothing that could specifically be associated with cult in that area. Instead marble fragments, including a fragment of a possible sculpture suggest that a garden or court was located here. Blue glass tesserae found in the fields around the chapel may have been used to decorate a fountain or a small nympheum in the garden or been components of mosaic covering a wall or ceiling inside the building.

An area NE of the bath was identified as an oletum, a place where olives were processed, as three large trapeta and two weigh blocks were found there. Another huge mortar and a fragmentary trapetum were located just E of the bath, indicating another industrial part of the villa, possibly some kind of local smithy. A possible granary was identified just N of the chapel of Aghios Konstantinos.

The Berbati villa was deserted or destroyed around the middle of the 5^th century. As a result, the number of sites in the valley increased in the following centuries, maybe as a consequence of changes in condition for land ownership.

THE ROMAN PERIOD

The Bath

The remains of a bath that was likely connected to the villa are located in the center of the Berbati valley. The bath was supplied with water from the water reservoir and the springs further up the slope to the North.

The bath was identified as such by the finds of water pipes and terracotta spacer pins in the area. Constructed around AD 300, the current remains stand approx. 3 m high, with another 2.5 m hidden under the modern ground surface. Originally the structure may have been almost 10 m in height and covered an area of at least 25×25 m.

As was common for Roman baths it was constructed of bricks with a cement and rubble core, while the walls were covered with frescos and the floors decorated with polychrome mosaics, which together created an opulent atmosphere.

The gray soil nearest to the structure is mixed with much mortar and plaster from the ruined building. All around the structure, a heavy concentration of material was found: roof-tiles, bricks, sherds, blue glass tesserae, and fragments of cut marble, among them lapis lacedaemonius and rosso antico. The tesserae must have been components of a mosaic. The flat, polished marble slabs were of a variety of shapes and colours and could be parts of an opus sectile floor or wall revetments.

Nearby, remains of mosaics, opus sectile slabs as well as painted wall fragments indicate that this was the location of the living quarters of the villa to which the bath belonged. The villa continued to the north where a part of a mosaic floor can still be seen today in the Chapel of Aghios Ioannis.

The teracotta spacer spins found in the tracts near the bath are of three different shapes, indicating that the bath may have been rebuilt or renovated at some point during the occupancy of the villa. Their function was to fasten tiles at a suitable distance from the walls in order to make it possible for the hot air from the hypocaust to flow between the walls and heat the rooms.

The heating system used for the Berbati bath remains unknown, since the bath was never excavated. Although charcoal was the preferable fuel for hypocaust heating as it gives a minimum of soot, it seems likely that fresh wood was the principal form of fuel. During Late Roman times the Berbati area was considerably more woody than today.

The heating system used for the Berbati bath remains unknown, since the bath was never excavated.

The walls were covered with frescos and the floors decorated with polychrome mosaics, which together created an opulent atmosphere.

The heating system used for the Berbati bath remains unknown, since the bath was never excavated.

The structure may have been almost 10 m in height and covered an area of at least 25×25 m

The structure may have been almost 10 m in height and covered an area of at least 25×25 m.

The bath was constructed of bricks with a cement and rubble core.

THE ROMAN PERIOD

The Reservoir

The remains of a large reservoir are still visible further up the slope c. 350 m to the north of the bath and at a 20 m higher elevation. It was built around AD 300, at the same time as the villa was built and supplied not only the villa itself, its conveniences and production areas, but also the bath.

Measuring 30 × 17 meters with walls preserved up to a height of 3.6 m, it could hold a volume of almost 2000 m³. It was built of concrete, covered with brick and surfaced with hydraulic plaster. On the outside several arches were constructed in order to hold back the pressure on the walls, while the inside was equipped with at least two layers of waterproof lining. Water was supplied through a terracotta pipeline, presumably from the nearby Ayios Nikolaos spring.

According to local information, ancient pipes were still visible in the fields until the 1950-60s and a “tunnel” led from the reservoir to the chapel of Aghios Ioannis.

Although the villa was deserted around AD 500, we have no indications that the water reservoir ceased to be used. Provided it was still functioning, the farmers of the valley might have continued to use it into the 7^th century. The springs to the north and the pipes leading from the Ayios Nikolaos spring might also have been in use after AD 500.

THE ROMAN PERIOD

The Economy of the Villa

The economy of the villa appears to have been primarily based on olive oil production. The location of an oletum, a place where olives where processed, was found just ΝΕ of the Bath and the chapel of Aghios Ioannis.

In total five large conglomerate trapeta assigned to the Late Roman period and used to crush olives prior to pressing in order to facilitate the extraction of oil, were found in the area and were probably grouped together as part of an oil-pressing facility, which was part of the productive facilities of the villa rustica.

The trapetum consisted of a large basin like mortar (the mortarium) with a central column perforated at its top to carry a large horizontal axel. Two hemispherical stone wheels, the orbes where attached the the axle and were turned with a handle by animals or slaves. The trapetum was used only to crush olives prior to pressing in order to facilitate the extraction of oil. Late Roman trapeta in Greece reached enormous sizes. Two of the Berbati trapeta have diameters of 1.20 m and 1.25 m respectively and at least one may weigh in excess of five tons. Fragments of orbes were also discovered built into modern field walls.

Roman Trapetum used to crush olives prior to pressing
*(from Jean Frêne, La tribologie de l’antiquité à nos jours, 2001)*

The trapeta were manufactured locally and represented a substantial investment, both for the labour involved, and for the special skills and tools that were necessary to make a working machine and to keep it operating. Trapeta represent significant capital investments and it is therefore believed that they are good indicators of specialized agricultural production of oil for commercial purposes.

As no trapeta were found in the north-west of the Berbati valley, it seems that the villa oletum served the whole valley.

Stone press beds (canalis rotunda), used in the crushing of the resulting olive mash, were not noticed in situ during the survey. However, a large canalis rotunda, is on display at the main square of the modern village of Berbati (Prosymna).

Grain was probably also cultivated on a rather large scale in the Berbati valley. Many of the collected stone artifacts attributed to the Roman period were fragments of grain mills of different types, including one saddle quern, rotary querns and watermill stones. It is probable that most of the grain was cultivated on the fields on the plain as grain is susceptible to drought and needs good soil and water, while the olives could have been cultivated on the lower hillslopes of the valley. Mixed farming where grain is grown between olive trees was also common in Roman times.

There is evidence for the existence of a Late Roman watermill situated on the banks of the Asterion river, at the point where the stream passed the villa. Watermills are considered to have been a common part of Roman villas from before the second century AD, but the watermill at Berbati is the first rural watermill to be identified in Greece.

The processing of olives into oil
*National Geographic History*

THE ROMAN PERIOD

The Hypogaeum

The Hypogaeum is located just to the west of the Panaghia church with striking views over the Berbati Valley and may have been the family grave belonging to the owner of the villa. Although located at some distance from the villa, it is the only elaborated grave of the roman period found in the area.

The structure consists of two chambers which were once roofed. The first was presumably an antechamber as the second contained five rock-cut cist burials. When initially investigated by Swedish archaeologist Axel W. Persson in the 1930s the remains of 24 individuals were found. However, some of the skeletons may have been buried there at a later date.

Although the burials were plundered, some artefacts remained, such as a bronze ring, some lamps and a few vases. Further cuttings in the bedrock in the area may be the remains of other, now completely destroyed, tombs.

Bibliography

Gain more in-depth knowlege on Berbati’s Roman Period by studying the sources

Forsell R., “The Roman period”, The Berbati-Limnes Archaeological Survey 1988-1990, Stockholm 1996

Hjohlman J., “Pirgouthi in Late Antiquity”, Pirgouthi A Rural Site in the Berbati Valley from Early Iron Age to Late Antiquity, Excavations by the Swedish Institute at Athens 1995 and 1997, Stockholm 2005

Wells B., Runnels C. Runnels, and Zangger E., 1993, “In the Shadow of Mycenae,”. Archaeology 46 (1): 54-63

MORE TO EXPLORE

The Great Mastos Hill

From substantial village in the final Neolithic period, to significant production site of Mycenaean pottery to fortressed settlement in Medieval ages, Mastos Hill has been the most dominated landmark of the Valley…

The Western Necropolis

The Berbati Chamber Tomb Cemetary was located about one kilometer WNW from Mastos Hill, on the lower slopes of the Phytesoumia ridge and oriented to the once perennial river of Asterion…

The rural site of Pyrgouthi

Earliest human activities at the site of Pyrgouthi can be dated to the end of the Early Iron Age, when the focal point of settlement in the Berbati valley moved from Mastos Hill to the eastern part of the valley…

DISCOVER. HISTORY.

Berbati’s Roman Period

The Valley’s Roman period

The Valley’s Roman period

The Villa

The Bath & Reservoir

The Economy of the Villa

The Valley’s Roman Period

The Roman Villa

The Bath

The Reservoir

The Economy of the Villa

The Hy­pogaeum

Bibliography

MORE TO EXPLORE

The Great Mastos Hill

The Western Necropolis

The rural site of Pyrgouthi

The Hypogaeum