Overview

This study explores Roman luxury villa architecture and the Roman luxury villa lifestyle to shed light on the villas' design as a dynamic process related to cultural, social, and environmental factors. Roman villas expressed a novel architectural language which was developed by designers appropriating the existing stylistic and thematic vocabularies of Hellenistic and Roman architecture. Zarmakoupi seeks to describe and explain the ways in which this architecture accommodated the lifestyle of educated leisure and an appreciation of the Roman landscape, and how, in doing so, it became a cultural phenomenon and a crucial element in the construction of Roman cultural identity. In their effort to accommodate the Greek style, Romans created something completely unprecedented in the history of architecture. Through an analysis of five villas from around the bay of Naples (c. 100 BCE - 79 CE), the volume shows that in designing for luxury, Romans developed a sophisticated interplay between architecture and landscape, an interplay which is still seen in architectural design today.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mantha Zarmakoupi (Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Institute of Historical Research, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquity (KERA))
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 19.60cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.001kg
ISBN:  

9780199678389

ISBN 10:   0199678383
Pages:   340
Publication Date:   02 January 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments List of Illustrations 1: Roman Luxury Villas: Introduction, Historiography, and Scope 2: Case Studies 3: Porticus and Cryptoporticus 4: Porticoed Gardens 5: Water Features: Euripi, Natationes, and Nymphaea 6: Triclinia and Dining Facilities 7: Designing for Luxury Appendices Bibliography Index

Reviews

Mantha Zarmakoupi's volume on villas and landscapes around the Bay of Naples is an essential examination of the architecture and decoration of some of the best-known Roman elite villas, appraised through a thoughtful social-historical lens ... The volume is thoughtful in its combination of architectural description with the literary, material, and cultural contextualization of life in luxury villas. Francesca C. Tronchin, The Classical Journal Zarmakoupi's work provides a useful perspective on ways to analyze Roman villas and their architectural features by examining how social interactions would have contributed to the selection and design of architectural elements ... Zarmakoupi's work sheds light on sites that have seldom been published, and can offer tremendous data on ancient Roman luxury villa lifestyles. Ismini Alexandra Miliaresis, The Classical Journal Online

Designing for Luxury on the Bay of Naples would be a rewarding investment for anyone enrolled in a course on Roman domestic architecture. It is definitely a book to add to the reading list. Katharine T. von Stackelberg, Phoenix Mantha Zarmakoupi's volume on villas and landscapes around the Bay of Naples is an essential examination of the architecture and decoration of some of the best-known Roman elite villas, appraised through a thoughtful social-historical lens ... The volume is thoughtful in its combination of architectural description with the literary, material, and cultural contextualization of life in luxury villas. Francesca C. Tronchin, The Classical Journal Zarmakoupi's work provides a useful perspective on ways to analyze Roman villas and their architectural features by examining how social interactions would have contributed to the selection and design of architectural elements ... Zarmakoupi's work sheds light on sites that have seldom been published, and can offer tremendous data on ancient Roman luxury villa lifestyles. Ismini Alexandra Miliaresis, The Classical Journal Online Congratulations are in order. This book is a must-read for all Pompeianisti and, more generally, for all students of Roman architecture as a cultural, not merely a stylistic and technological, phenomenon. Fred S. Kleiner, American Journal of Archaeology

Mantha Zarmakoupi's volume on villas and landscapes around the Bay of Naples is an essential examination of the architecture and decoration of some of the best-known Roman elite villas, appraised through a thoughtful social-historical lens ... The volume is thoughtful in its combination of architectural description with the literary, material, and cultural contextualization of life in luxury villas. Francesca C. Tronchin, The Classical Journal

Author Information

Mantha Zarmakoupi is a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow at the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Institute of Historical Research, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquity (KERA). Her research in classical art and archaeology is informed by her background in architectural practice, history, and theory of architecture.

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