The Hut of Romulus: Assessing an Archaeological Site

“The Romans” Case StudyChapter 1A. Graham

King Evander’s Hut on the Palatine

Virgil’s Aeneid 8.360-370: ‘they were coming up to Evander’s humble home, and there

were cattle everywhere, lowing in the Roman Forum and in the now luxurious district of Carinae… “Come into my poor home and do not judge it too harshly.” With these words he led the mighty Aeneas under a roof tree of his narrow house and set him down on a bed of leaves covered with the hide of a Libyan bear.’

• Translation from Penguin edition: D. West (2003), p. 175.

Romulus’ Hut

This image was created by planetware: http://www.planetware.com/rome/palatine-hill-i-la-rph.htm, and adjusted with labels by the author.

Romulus’ Hut: Casa RomuliPost holes! If you like reconstructing wattle and daub huts from holes where wood used to be, archaic archaeology is for you!

Image 1: A model of an archaic hut can be found at the Museo della Civilta, Roma. Image reproduced from: http://condor.depaul.edu/sbucking/296A05_over11.htm Image 2: By Vitold Muratov (own work), via Wikimedia Commons:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palatine_Hill.House_of_Romulus.jpg

Villanovan urn from the 9th-8th century BC which probably contained the ashes from a burial

‘Italic - Urn in the Shape of a Hut and a Door - Walters 482312’, by Italic - Walters Art Museum. Licensed under public domain via Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italic__Urn_in_the_Shape_of_a_Hut_and_a_Door_-_Walters_482312.jpg

These urns, foundin archaic burial sites inRome, reveal aspectsof Roman domesticarchitecture, allowing reconstructions from limited archaeologicalremains (e.g. postholes)

Libyan bear hide?

Sloping beams of the wooden roof?