Low Ham Roman Villa

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Low Ham Roman Villa

The Low Ham Roman Villa was a Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
courtyard villa

Roman villa

A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Rome country house built for the upper class....
located near Low Ham

Low Ham

Low Ham is a village in the civil parish of High Ham in the England county of Somerset.At the time of the Domesday Book Low Ham was part of the estate of Serlo de Burcy, and was later known as Ham Burcy and Nether Ham....
in the civil parish

Civil parish

In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a civil parish is usually the lowest unit of local government, below district and county councils....
of High Ham

High Ham

High Ham is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. Within the parish of High Ham are the villages or High and Low Ham and the Hamlet of Bowdens, Henley, Paradise and Picts Hill....
in the English

England

Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
. It is best known for the extraordinary figured mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other material. It may be a technique of Decorative arts, an aspect of interior decoration or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral....
depicting the story of Aeneas

Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
and Dido.

villa was discovered by a local farmer, Herbert Cook, in 1938, whilst digging a hole to bury a dead sheep. Protected from deep ploughing during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, it was excavated from 1946 to 1955 by H S L Dewar and C A Ralegh Radford

Ralegh Radford

Courtenay Arthur Ralegh Radford was an English archaeologist and historian who pioneered the exploration of the Dark Ages of Britain and popularized his findings in many official guides and surveys for the Office of Works....
.

villa appears to have been constructed around AD 340 on a gentle slope facing north-east, only about a mile from other villas at High Ham

High Ham

Pitney

Pitney is a village and parish in Somerset, England, located east of Langport and west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. In 2002, the village had a population of 416....
.

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The Low Ham Roman Villa was a Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
courtyard villa

Roman villa

A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Rome country house built for the upper class....
located near Low Ham

Low Ham

Civil parish

In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a civil parish is usually the lowest unit of local government, below district and county councils....
of High Ham

High Ham

England

Somerset

Mosaic

Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
and Dido.

Discovery

The villa was discovered by a local farmer, Herbert Cook, in 1938, whilst digging a hole to bury a dead sheep. Protected from deep ploughing during World War II

World War II

Ralegh Radford

Villa

The villa appears to have been constructed around AD 340 on a gentle slope facing north-east, only about a mile from other villas at High Ham

High Ham

Pitney

Pitney is a village and parish in Somerset, England, located east of Langport and west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. In 2002, the village had a population of 416....
. Aerial photography

Aerial photography

Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure....
has shown that there are a number of farm buildings around a large courtyard, although the excavations concentrated on the residential west wing and bath house. The baths were particularly impressive. They featured the usual suite of rooms with a deep cold plunge bath and beautiful mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic floor

The large 14 foot (4.3m) square mosaic depicts the story of Aeneas and Dido, as told in the 1st century bc

1st century BC

The 1st century Before Christ, also known as the last century BC or 1st century Before Common Era started on the first day of 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC....
by the Roman poet, Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works?the Bucolics , the Georgics and the Aeneid?although several Appendix Vergiliana are also attributed to him....
. Like the villa, it dates to the mid-4th century. The Low Ham mosaic is unique in Roman Britain in providing a narrative story in five panels: Aeneas sailing to Carthage, Aeneas meeting Dido, the couple out hunting, the couple embrace and Dido left alone after Aeneas' departure. It is the earliest piece of narrative art in the country. It was lifted in 1953 and is now on display in the Somerset County Museum

Somerset County Museum

Somerset County Museum is located in the 12th century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton, Somerset, England.It hosts a collection of toys and dolls, sculpture, natural history, fossils, fine silver and pottery, and also contains a collection of archaeological items, including the mosaic found at the Low Ham Roman Villa....
.