Rutland Roman villa

The Rutland Roman villa is a Romano-British villa site in Rutland, England. The site was listed as a scheduled monument by Historic England on 23 November 2021.[1] The villa includes the first example of a mosaic in Britain which depicts scenes from Homer's Iliad.[2]

A geophysical survey of the site in 2021 showed evidence of a large villa complex including indications of a formal garden, a bath house, perhaps a chapel and two mausolea.[3][4]

Discovery

The site was first identified from cropmarks visible on Google Earth in June 2018.[1] In 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic in England), Jim Irvine, the son of the landowner, identified some "unusual pottery" whilst walking through the site and dug a small trench.[2] Historic England subsequently funded an urgent excavation of the site by University of Leicester Archaeological Service in August 2020.[5]

Villa

It dates to the 3rd or 4th century AD and comprises at least seven buildings, including the main villa building, enclosed by a series of ditches.[1]

Mosaic

The fragmentary mosaic measures 11 metres (36 ft) by nearly 7 metres (23 ft) and depicts the battle between Achilles and Hector.[5] It is the first example of imagery from the Iliad discovered from Roman Britain.[2]

See also

References
  1. Historic England. "Roman villa complex, north of Cuckoo Farm Lodge (1477234)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  2. "Roman mosaic and villa complex found in Rutland farmer's field". BBC News. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  3. Watson, Greig (4 March 2022). "Rutland mosaic: Surveys reveal large Roman villa complex at site". BBC News. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  4. "New survey reveals extent of Roman villa complex found at Rutland". Heritagedaily.com. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  5. "Extraordinary Roman Mosaic and Villa Discovered Beneath Farmer's Field in Rutland, East Midlands". Historic England. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.

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