BRESCIA

X LIFE

The Romans were excellent at assimilating local culture into a more universal 'Roman' one , and with territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East

Brescia is a city in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. On the eastern outskirts is the San Salvatore–Santa Giulia complex. This former monastery includes a basilica, cloisters and the Santa Giulia Museum, with items including Roman bronzes
At the beginning of the 4th century BC Brescia and its territory was occupied by the Gauls 'Cenomani' tribe and the city became their capital. Soon after, due to their relations with the Romans, Brescia was slowly Latinized, .

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There were many similarities across the Roman World : Roman coins circulated everywhere, and in every province there were cities adorned with statues of the emperor and buildings such as baths, basilicas, and amphitheaters that embodied Roman cultural and architectural

capitiolium

The Capitolium, built by the emperor Vespasian in AD 73

domus & mosics

For wealthy Romans, life was good. They lived in beautiful houses

found in brescia

Gilded Bronzes hidden beneath the Capitoline temple in Brescia.

Brescia : Brixia

Brixia's social and economic importance in imperial times ,it had about 6,000 inhabitants and is shown by the fine remains of Roman domus overlooking the main street

The temple was reached by means of two flights of stairs, and overlooked the forum and basilica. Cidneo Hill thus provided a dramatic background to the setting, in the style of Hellenistic architectural models. The surrounding area, once the Roman city centre, contains the remains of numerous monumental buildings of importance for civil, social and economic life, such as the theatre, which was used for entertainment and public meetings and is calculated to have held fifteen thousand people. The forum, in front of the Capitolium (under Piazza del Foro), housed Brixia’s market and was the centre of commerce; it was surrounded by arcades lined with shops and closed to the south by the basilica, the ancient law court.
After being one of the main Cisalpine centres for several centuries, Brixia began to decline in importance towards the end of the III century A.D. Overshadowed, even though at first its economy was not affected, by the growing power of Mediolanum, which under Diocletian had become one of the capitals of the Western Roman Empire. The late ancient period V century AD saw the extension of the city walls towards west. In the V and VI centuries the architectural and urban structure began to decay; and after the barbarian invasions, ruins, kitchen gardens and hovels obliterated the dignity of the Roman edifices.

The Capitolium of Brixia
The main temple in the center of the Roman town of Brixia (Brescia). 73AD

The Capitolium, built by the emperor Vespasian in AD 73, was a religious site and the monumental centre of ancient Brixia. The building was situated on the decumanus maximus. It is a temple with three chambers, where the Capitoline trinity of deities was worshipped, and is based on the plan of the underlying Republican temple (probably constructed in 80-70 BC, soon after Roman citizenship was granted in 89 BC), which has also been brought to light by the archaeological excavations. It seems that the Capitolium originally had four chambers, a peculiarity due to the form of the preceding Republican temple, the easternmost of which was demolished to make way for an extension of the theatre. This fourth cella was probably used for the worship of a local deity, perhaps a Celtic god such as Bergimo, or maybe Hercules, given that there existed an oral tradition of referring to the Capitolium as the Temple of Hercules.

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The Repubblican Sanctuary
1st-century-BC sanctuary with preserved mosaics and frescos that predate the other Roman structures on the site. To enter the Santuario you must spend four minutes in a decompression chamber

The temple’s splendid frescoes present a remarkable sight. The wall decoration, a rare example of the ‘early second style’ (100-80 BC), features architectural elements and painting in a close-knit combination: a modular arrangement of imitation decorative-stone panels, with periodic attached Ionic half-columns bearing Ionic-Italic capitals.

The santa giulia House of Brixia
Located inside the historic former monastery of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia.

The Domus

The Domus formed part of a Roman residential quarter situated on the lower terraces of Cidneo Hill, between the monumental town centre and the eastern city wall.

Reception rooms are arranged around stone-paved atria, together with private and service rooms; mosaics and frescos are modelled on similar decorations in Rome and Pompei, and they back onto flower gardens and vegetable patches towards the town wall. The more important rooms had centrally heated floors and walls. A network of lead pipes, fed by one of the city’s aqueducts, supplied running water to services and fountains; the latter were also installed inside reception rooms, an indication of the householders’ elevated social and cultural level.

The Domus and the Mosics

The Dionysus Room 4

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The domus owes its name to the figure of Dionysus in the central panel ofthe mosaic floor. The chamber was used as a dining room (triclinium), in which the three couches on which the guests reclined were arranged on three sides, facing the entrance. The floor decoration served to emphasize the room's function; the two-handled vases overflowing with vines and bunches of grapes and Dionysus who, turning towards the diners, offers a special glass (rithòn) to a panther, are obvious references to the banquet, which was an important moment in the social life of the householder.

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The room of Dionysus (4) The domus owes its name to the divinity reproduced in the box shown in the center of the mosaic, Dionysus, the god of wine. The compartment was used as a dining room (triclinium) in which the threebanquet beds on which the guests were seated were arranged in a horseshoe, facingthe entrance. The decoration of the floor also underlines the function of the environment: the two-handle ases(kántharoi) from which vine shoots with bunches of grapes emerge, the god Dionysus, facing the guests,who drinks a panther with a particular chalice (rithòn), there are evident references to the banquet, the moment betweenthe most important in the social life of the landlord. The frescoes on the walls, work by different hands andprobably made together with the floor during the second century AD, they reproduce decorative motifs rather widespread (landscapes, marine scenes, theatrical masks), but combined with extreme originality.

The Pygmies Coartyard 2

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This was the centre of the domes, surrounded by rooms to which it gave light. A river scene inspired by the Nile is painted on the back Hippopotamuses, pygmies and a figure interpretable as a priest of the otian goddess Isis. The execution of this fresco may be dated to th of the 2nd century AD, a period in which these Nile scenes, which z widespread in the time of Augustus (1st century BC – Ist century ame fashionable once more. central part of the wall contains the remains of a niche, originally

Room 3

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The mosaics in the ancient Romans house were a sign of the social status of families and usually were typical of the rich houses, the Domus.Originally, the mosaic covered the whole floor surface like a carpet and it is a kind of highly refined example probably committed by a rich Roman family.

The Finds at santa giulia House Brixia
Located inside the historic former monastery of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia.

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