Professional paper
ANTIQUE FACILITIES IN DOBRIKA COVE ON THE ISLAND OF VELIKI BRIJUN
Anton Vitasović
; Javna ustanova Nacionalni park Brijuni Odjel kulturno-povijesne baštine Brijuni, HR
Abstract
SUMMARY
ANTIQUE FACILITIES IN DOBRIKA COVE ON THE
ISLAND OF VELIKI BRIJUN
Anton VITASOVIĆ
The power of argument deriving from the proportions of the antique villas in Dobrika
Cove and the material finds recovered in the course of the research in the period between
1976 and 1984 changes the picture of antique Brijuni. The size, the content, and the
luxury of the villa rustica built on three terraces in Verige Bay have been attracting the
attention of guests and visitors for a hundred years. It was only in the second half of the
last century that they acquired a silent companion, that is, the villa rustica in Dobrika
cove, whose revival has brought to light the oldest Roman villa present on the islands of
Brijuni. The material remains and social circumstances date the villa back to the period
between the second half of the 2nd century BC and the first quarter of the 1st century
BC, that is, to the period between 129 and 79 BC. Even though the facility has not been
fully researched, the material remains and finds offer an insight not only into dating but
also into the owners’ various activities and needs. The life necessities of the people who
occupied the villa were determined by the economic resources (fertile land, animals and
the sea) which dictated the development of agriculture, live stock breeding and fishery.
This antique enclave, which is relatively distant from any hill forts, lived until the time
of the civil war between Anthony and Octavian, when it was destroyed.
In the first half of the 1st century AD, a big Roman villa, 51 meters x 58.7 meters
in size, was built above, to the east and to the north of the abovementioned villa. The
facilities are situated behind the three tracts of the peristyle that wind the courtyard,
while the fourth, sea-oriented side, is closed by a colonnade. The colonnade connects to
the western facade of the facility at the raised ground f loor height. The above mentioned is sufficient for the reader to conclude that the western facade is formed, on both sides,
by a raised ground f loor building with a double-slope roof. The inside slopes of the roof
construction, at the dripping edge level, are connected by a series of architraves posed on
the pillars whose bases are situated at the bottom of the raised ground f loor. Behind the
western façade are rooms constituted by an elevation of the area reserved for machinery as
well as the space above the cellar and the stable. The arrangement of the rooms indicates
great respect for Vitruvius’ advice - the cellar area is situated to the north, while the
stables and the residential area are to the south; recommendations regarding the relations
of the sizes, communication, and other recommendations were also implemented. All
these elements were used in the construction of the central economic facility where the
predominant position is assigned to the grape processing units, must fermentation facilities,
and cellar areas. The presence of two facilities next to the central one, and of several other
facilities, indicate that the estate was far more complex than was previously believed.
Specifically, a smaller dislocated facility with a rather large residential area, a fireplace
and a small bathroom, seems to have been the residence of wage labourers or slaves who,
by all appearances, worked at the nearby quarry (fig. 7 2). The other facility (fig. 7 3 and
fig. 9), situated in the immediate vicinity, is even more interesting, not so much for its
size and finely worked architectural elements, but more for the presence of yet another
grape processing unit. This additional unit, which includes a must fermentation area, steps
out of the antique patterns due to the fact that there are two identical facilities designed
for the same purpose that are situated at the distance of the incontestable 18 meters. The
architectural remains of a somewhat more complex production facility, a working place
of a large number of workers, as well as the absence of other functional areas typical of a
villa rustica, testify to the presence of twin buildings. The timing of the must processing
and fermentation was aligned with the processing that took place in the main facility,
that is, with the weather conditions and the pace of the grape harvest. In fact, with
the organized production of wine, the must fermentation area is the bottleneck of the
production process. All the arguments speak in favour of the fact that the owner of the
villa rustica in Dobrika Cove on the islands of Brijuni underestimated the yield of the main
vines as well as new ones. This becomes clear when one considers the inadequate capacity
of the must fermentation area in relation to the capacities of the cellar areas, which could
have held 55,172 litres of wine in the semi-buried dolia, and as much in other recipients
above ground. It is evident that, with time, the capacity of the must fermentation area
became inadequate for the quantity and the course of the production. For that reason,
the owner had to build a new facility with an additional processing unit in order to meet
the grape harvesting and processing needs. Central heating, large residential spaces, a
bathroom, numerous cellar areas and a big stable testify that the owner was a capable
entrepreneur, who, at the time of Augustan peace, in addition to wine production as the
main activity, he began to use other natural resources, namely, he extracted and sold stone from a one kilometre long quarry, as well as extracted and produced salt and constructed
small ships. All those activities took place inside an estate which, alongside the islands of
Madona (Gospin, Pusti) and Vrsar (Orzera - Medvjedica) (48 iugers), covers the surface
of approximately 788 iugers, that is, 19,805 hectares.
The annexes and facilities for processing olives built inside and outside the north tract of
the villa can be dated to the period between the end of the 2nd century and the beginning
of the 3rd century AD. This period is associated with less stable circumstances in the
empire and with Marcus Aurelius Justus. His name is present on the altar alongside the
votive inscription to goddess Flora, which confirms that he was the owner of the villa
and the estate in Dobrika Cove on the island of Veliki Brijun. The distance from land
prolonged the prosperity of the estate, and so the owner leased a ceramic workshop in
Fažana. Namely, in the year 78 AD, after the last descendant of Caius Laecanius Bassus
died, the workshop became an imperial property, which is attested by double stamping.
At first both the Laecanii’s and the imperial stamps were present, because of the unresolved
relationships. Later, only the PAC stamp and the imperial stamp appeared, and then
they were substituted by the lease holders’ stamps, that is, the imperial property stamp
disappeared and the stamp of Marcus Aurelius Justus appeared.
The rhythm and the content of the architectural composition of the luxurious rustic villa
in Verige Bay bear testimony to a combination of urban and rural architectural aspects.
The villa bears a century long stamp of Roman social and economic trends present both
on the Brijuni islands and in the broader area. The research into a completely unknown
facility and area showed that the antique Brijuni (Ursaria, later Pularia) had had seven
owners, and that it had not, as had been believed and argued for a long time, been the
property of a sole owner, the one who owned the villa in Verige Bay. The estate situated
in Dobrika Cove could have satisfied the needs far greater than those of 42 families, that
is, of 148 people, as we previously speculated on the basis of strict criteria regarding the
functioning of the estate. As is the case with all estates, this one too had its moments of
prosperity and stagnation in the long and tumultuous period between the years 129/79
BC and the year 476 AD. When compared to other antique buildings present on the
islands of Brijuni and beyond, the villa rustica with its twin buildings situated in the
south-eastern corner of the Byzantine castrum locality (fig. 26), even though not under
Roman dominance, show intactness of shape and use even in the period following the
end of the Byzantine-Gothic war in the year 539 AD. It can be said that people lived
and worked in the area of the villa rustica and the villa, reconstructing and converting
them as necessary, from the 2nd century BC to the 8th century AD, and, in some areas
that were reconstructed, such as the wine cellar area, even as far as the year 1348, when
clergy left the area while the lay people started to build homes on the eastern coast of
the island of Veliki Brijun.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
40945
URI
Publication date:
15.11.2007.
Visits: 4.062 *