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Once upon a time there was an immensely rich man. More. Even more. So wealthy as to have wine brought from Syria (4,921 kilometers away) in the 4th century because the wines from the land where he lived were not to his taste.
An individual so powerful that the villa in which he lived and did business (a group of buildings) occupied 10 hectares, according to the latest georadar data. The living room of his house (triclinium) alone measured 291 square meters and was decorated with mosaics worthy of an emperor’s palace. It is believed that he belonged to an important person or relative of Emperor Theodosius I.
“That man existed,” explains Miguel Ángel Valero, professor of Ancient History at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. To this day it is still unknown what its name was, although archaeologists have baptized it by romanizing the name of a Spanish arch-millionaire. “But sooner or later we will know his name,” says Valero, who has been unearthing his impressive properties for a decade. He has already done it in 5% of the total, in the current province of Cuenca.
The Noheda site was a Roman villa from the 1st centuries BC – 6th centuries AD. C., protagonist today in La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos. It is located in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula, just 18 km from the city of Cuenca. It is also close to the best-known Roman cities in the province, such as Segóbriga (58 km), Ercávica (44.5 km) and Valeria (43.5 km).
It is located just 500 meters northwest of the district of Noheda, from which it takes its name, belonging to the Cuenca municipality of Villar de Domingo García. Being one of the most relevant Roman sites on the Peninsula.
To understand the magnitude of the villa, you have to go to Croatia and see that it is larger than Diocletian’s Palace in Split, and the quality of the tiles, which are normally millimetric and here are one and a half millimeters, which allows give nuances and shadows to the figures.
The archaeologist Miguel Ángel Valero now dreams and works to discover who was the owner of this complex and why he built it and to know how the poor workers of this landowner lived in the town.
For now, he hopes to unearth something important in the villa’s reception hall (850 square meters), but anything is possible in a property that has only been excavated 5 percent and is very accessible for research.
In fact, some mosaics were discovered a single centimeter deep and others at 1.70 meters along with other marble sculptures, there are thirty types in the villa from different origins of the empire, among which a Venus stands out that is exhibited today in the Archaeological Museum of Cuenca.
When we talk about the Roman villa of Noheda, we must take into account that it was in turn built on other settlements, in various strata of time. There is an original Iberian site from the 4th century BC. that is, before Roman times. Then it became uninhabited, and between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD an imperial villa was built.
Afterwards, a new abandonment occurred and finally it housed a third late Roman villa from the middle of the 3rd century until the 4th century AD, which is the monumental villa that can be seen today.
The site where it is located has fantastic conditions for agricultural and livestock development and has been used as such throughout history. In fact, the first town served as a quarry to set up the next one. After the monumental phase, in the 6th century AD, a good part of the workers and slaves stayed there and adapted their already austere and self-sufficient way of life.
They adapted to new needs and exploited the land, no longer as large estates but as small settlements linked to a family unit and a piece of land with its livestock and agriculture: the model that prevailed in Europe in the Early Middle Ages.
In fact, when we talk about this late Roman era, there are no great nobles, no epic deeds, no fantastic battles, but it was a time of pandemics, as happened with the plagues of Justinian, and of boats in the Mediterranean, full of people. who were fleeing for religious reasons. And there were resilient people who adapted, who changed and made history.
It is true that the Roman town of Noheda had a very rich owner, but for that same reason many people also had work and/or enslaved, as it was a urbes in rure (city in the countryside) in an area that covers almost ten football fields.
That is why they are studying the wonders and magnificence of the architecture, but also that 99.9 percent of the population who are the forgotten ones and who not only lived there, but are the ones who really built it.
The archaeological site is made up of the immovable remains of a Roman villa. In particular, several rooms have been documented in what would be part of the sumptuous building of the late Roman rural complex.
The first documented room has a quadrangular plan and has three of its sides finished with exedras, while to the west the access or entrance is located.
This trichora room has an area of ??about 300 m² and is paved with mosaics while the plinth of the walls is decorated with opus sectile and the upper part with mural painting.
A little over two decades ago, a tractor came across a very hard terrain (always known as El Pedregal or Cuesta de los Herreros) in Villar de Domingo García. That part of the municipality received those names because the neighbors kept finding large stone blocks and metal objects whose origin they did not know. When the plow opened the earth, hundreds of small brightly colored stones returned to the light. They were part of the tesserae that made up the mosaics.
In this way, the Roman villa of Noheda was discovered in 1984 by chance. During the farming work by the Lledó family, owners of the land, a piece of mosaic was discovered.
At the request of its discoverer, José Luis Lledó Sandoval, a first excavation campaign began in December 2005 by the Institute of Historical Heritage of Spain, subsequently systematic excavation campaigns were carried out by the Department of Culture of the Junta of the Community of Castilla-La Mancha.
After the efforts carried out by the autonomous government of Castilla-La Mancha for the acquisition of the land, it was estimated that the site could be visited by the public in 2015.
However, due to clashes between administrations and litigation over the ownership of the land, said opening could not take place until July 2019.
Its geographical location in the peninsular context determines a marked crossroads character. Thus, the site is inserted in the natural region of La Alcarria in Cuenca, which is configured as a geographical bridge space, making this area a natural communication route, which is precisely crossed by some Roman roads.
Indeed, it is an area of ??mandatory passage in communications and cultural contacts throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The physical morphology of the territory fostered a natural tendency of transport in an E-W and N-S direction.
In this way, the existing orography with wide valleys in most of its extension, facilitated the use of “natural paths”, in a north-south direction, while the Serranía de Cuenca on its eastern slope defined with its layouts the “steps”. “mandatory” to take to access the interior of the peninsula from the Levant.
They passed through the province of Cuenca through the study of ancient sources, Itinerary of Antonino, and Anonymous of Ravena, where they have been able to locate the network of Roman roads that ran through Cuenca.
There was a main road between Segontia and Ercávica, with two branches, one to Segóbriga through Alcázar del Rey, and another to Villas Viejas through Carrascosa del Campo. The studies have found several milestones (the inscription refers to an arrangement that Iulios Celsus ordered to be made of 8,000 steps (11km)) the majority belong to the road from Complutum (Alcalá de Henares) to Cartago-nova (Cartagena) The inscription It refers to an arrangement that Iulios Celsus ordered to be made of 8,000 steps.
Another route passed from Complutum (Alcalá de Henares), passing through Leganiel, Barajas de Melo, Ermita de Riansares and Uclés arriving at Segóbriga. And finally the Roman road that passed through Noheda, left Valeria, Tórtola, Villar de Olalla, Albadalejito, Chillarón, Noheda, Sacendoncillo, Torralba, Albalate, Priego, Alcantud, Carrascosa de la Sierra, to Sigüenza
The town of Noheda, the most luxurious in Roman Hispania, shows its treasures. It is known internationally for housing the most spectacular figurative mosaic in the entire Roman Empire. This archaeological site is made up of immovable remains of a Roman villa, with several rooms having been documented. which would be part of the sumptuous building of the late Roman rural complex.
Since the beginning of the excavations in 2005, the spa area or hot springs of the villa and a wide series of rooms and rooms of the house have been documented, among which a tri-apse hall stands out in which a figurative mosaic was found that has a preserved area of ??231 m².
The paintings that decorate the walls of Roman villas, the mosaics on the floors, the sculptures and other elements that ornament these spaces have meaning. In Noheda they mean the possession of maximum wealth. Specialists do not find an answer to how such an accumulation of opulence was possible: more than 30 types of marble brought from all over the known world at the time have been detected. The number of tiles used is “uncountable.”
In each 25 by 25 centimeter square, an average of 1,243 of these small pieces were used, some of millimeters in size to give movement or shadows to the figures.
The mosaic decorative program discovered consists of a main figurative scene that represents a wedding procession and several secondary ones, among which a Bacchic scene stands out, as well as various panels with geometric and vegetal decoration.
To the northeast of the Trichora room, a smaller room with an octagonal floor plan has been documented, whose interior plinth presents remains of the stuccoed vegetal decoration.
Added to this decorative richness is the complex and sophisticated heating system that consists of various types of hypocausts with pilae, arches and underground galleries. It is possible to contemplate a large set of rooms decorated with mosaic floors and provided with a heating system (hypocaustum). , which reflect the luxury and comfort existing in this Empire villa.
The ornamental morphology of this pavement is composed, on the one hand, of a large rectangular area that adapts to the main space of the room, where more than a hundred figures, some of them life-size, are profusely variegated in scenic groups, distributed in the space included. between a wide delimiting band of acanthus leaves and the fountain that occupies the center of the room.
The figurative paintings are structured in six independent but interrelated rectangular stripes, in which themes with mythological allegories, representations of various ludi and allusions to literary and theatrical genres appear, which underlines their originality.
This mosaic has dimensions that are not comparable to the entire Mediterranean arc, including those of North Africa and Syria, the degree of detail is such that Silenus, a character who always appears drunk, has the veins of his eyes to represent that state of drunkenness, if you see the image from above you can think that it is a painting from the Roman period, not a mosaic made with tiles that only measure 3 to 5 millimeters.
The most interesting part is the one that focuses squarely on the development of the mosaics, with precise explanations and visual infographics that bring us even closer to this wonder that has survived to this day.
The clarity and detail of the panels take us fully into the story developed on the floor of the tri-absidated room. The cycle, which is related to the story of Paris and Helen, begins with the myth of the mare race that Pelops had to compete with Oenomaus, father of Hippodamia, in order to marry her. Oenomaus, jealous of the suitors of his daughter due to an oracle that predicted that one of them would kill him, always challenged the suitors to win a mare race, and if they lost, he paid them the curious tribute of cutting off their heads. .
Thanks to a stratagem, Pelops caused Oenomaus’ chariot to jump into the air and thus be able to win the race, finally marrying the intended Hippodamia. But the scene of Paris and Helen is also interesting, directly related to the previous one, and which begins with the famous Judgment to determine which of the three main goddesses takes over the Apple of Discord.
Between power, victory and the most beautiful woman, Paris had no doubt, and the abduction of Helen (symbolized in the mosaic through a ship), will end up triggering the Trojan War. But no less interest is the Dionysian procession, one of the best preserved in the entire Empire and which shows the god of wine and fertility in the fields accompanied by his curious entourage made up of satyrs and maenads.
More than 230 square meters is the space occupied by the mosaic of the Roman villa of Noheda. That is a good part of the room of about 14 by 18 meters that contains it, which has about 300 square meters of surface. A highly developed work carried out with careful technique. The room is the triclinium and is known as the triabsiad room or trichora.
This comes from the fact that it has three exedras or apses, semicircular extensions that were used to meet and sit. The figurative display is enormous. There are six main sectors on the floor of this main room. The central one, damaged, shows elements associated with the sea. Two others, on the sides, are very similar and are considered to reflect theater companies. Underneath this there are other reasons, such as boxers. The missing shortlist is the most impressive and has mythological scenes as protagonists.
At the upper end a so-called Dionysian procession was captured. It is a continuation of the Hellenistic tradition related to Dionysus, Bacchus for the Romans.
God of wine, fertility and theater, he was worshiped through orgiastic frenzies that are at the origin of Greek theatrical performances.
The mythical courtship was carried out with satyrs and maenads, these were his female followers, and was sometimes complemented by mortal participants. This is what is represented in Noheda.
Although the myth of Pelops and Hippodamia was widely accepted in Antiquity, to date it did not have many representations. Apart from the scene that adorned the eastern pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, examples of this iconography were limited to various elements of vascular art and some sarcophagi.
The mosaic would hardly have reflected this myth, the most significant example being the one preserved in the Damascus Museum. The discovery in Noheda of the only known specimen to date with the complete sequential development of all the episodes of the myth has made it possible to document the iconography of each episode and the different characters that star in it, facilitating the reinterpretation of other already known mosaics and the identification of a possible new specimen.
A special mention about the town of Noheda deserves to delve deeper into its marbles, where it allows us to verify that the vast majority of the marble pieces located in the excavations have a foreign (non-Hispanic) origin, covering a wide geographical spectrum of the entire Mediterranean. Up to 38 different types of marble have been cataloged from throughout the Roman Empire.
Marble in Noheda is documented with various uses. An example is in the form of mosaic tiles, or as large plates used to cover the plinth of the triclinium. In addition, it has also been evidenced in small sheets for opera sectilia, or as material for the creation of the large sculptural group found.
The decorative program of various rooms in the complex was configured with an impressive cast of stones from throughout the Roman Empire. The cataloging and study work initiated in the Roman villa of Noheda, together with the completion of the first lithological analyses, allow us to discern a series of data that help to understand what the ornate decoration of certain rooms of the complex was like, presided over by opulent architecture. and excessive luxury, where money did not matter.
In this sense, it is worth highlighting the group of colored marmora from practically all corners of the Empire: Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, North Africa, the Italian peninsula and Hispania.
But equally relevant are the imported white marbles, which come to Noheda from the most relevant imperial quarries and which demonstrate the high economic capacity of the owners of the rural complex in the late ancient period (without a doubt the large quantity and wide range of marbles used in Noheda place to the enclave in one of the late ancient sites, where the use of imported marmora is a common trend, demonstrating the high economic and social capacity of its possessors).
Greco scritto slabs originating from the quarries of Cape Garda (Ras el Hamra), about 10 km from Annaba near the ancient Hippo Regius (Algeria), are very abundant. It also highlights the marbles from the Chemtou mines (ancient Simitthu, Tunisia).
There are very numerous marble variants from the Greek area, both insular and continental. For example, pieces of saint holder (Chium marble) from the island of Chios (Greece) are common.
A very important group of stone materials in Noheda of Greek origin is serpertine (lapis Lacedaemonius) from the Kroketai quarries in the Peloponnese, as well as some of its variants. Likewise, originating from the Peloponnese, specifically from the quarries of Cape Taenaros, the presence of rosso antico (Taenarium marble) has been attested in the town.
The green antico (marmor Thessalicum), which comes from the Larissa area in Thessaly, has been documented in the form of large plaques that ornamented the triclinium pond.
To finish with the marbles from the Greek area, we must mention the presence of some pieces of breccia di Sciro or di Settebassi (Scyrium marble) (originally from Skyros, with the presence of small plates of rectangular morphology, as well as elements of other more complex shapes .
On the other hand, in Noheda there are very abundant marbles from Egypt of the red porphyry type (lapis Porphyrites) whose extraction point is the mines of Gebel Dokhan (Egypt). The pieces found were part of opera sectilia. Another type of Egyptian marble documented in Noheda also comes from this same area, porphyry nero.
With regard to the area limited to Asia Minor, a huge number of pieces have been found, both in crustae and small pieces of the unmistakable Pavonazzetto (marmor Docimium, Phrygium or Synnadicum) with the characteristic white and violet tones that are native to the Turkish area of ??Iscehisar (Afyon).
Pieces of the so-called African marble (Luculleum marble) have also been documented from the Anatolian peninsula (Ballance, from the quarries of Kara Göl and Beylerköy in Teos of the green variety. Of this type, pieces of opera sectilia with rectangular shapes and home runs mainly.
As for white marbles, it has been possible to identify so far in Proconnesian marble (marmor Proconnesium), from the quarries of Monastyr, Kavala and Saraylar on the Turkish island of Marmara.
From the Greek area come a set of white marbles, among which a small piece of quadrangular morphology of Thassos marble and a fragment of molding stand out, which according to the archaeometric analysis can be attributed to the marble of Paros, on the island of the same name located in the Cyclades archipelago.
On the other hand, there are also pieces of highly refined white marble used in statuary and wall decoration compatible with Carrara marble from Italian Tuscany, as well as with Göktepe marble in Mugla (Turkey).
In the surroundings of these rooms, other adjoining rooms have been documented in which other remains of paintings and decorative stuccoes have been recovered. In addition, other types of structural elements and pipes have been recorded, as well as numerous furniture elements, among which several fragments of white marble sculptures stand out.
On the other hand, the scattered remains of movable materials are noticeable on both sides of the Chillarón River and on the slopes of the hills located to the north, which evidence the presence of remains from other areas of the Roman rural complex.
At the opposite extreme, archaeologists are trying to uncover the access to the hall. It must be taken into account that this cruciform space is 900 square meters. It is one of the largest halls known in the entire Roman Empire.
It is worth mentioning the luck that has been had in the excavations, that thanks to an assessment tasting, there are more than two meters of preserved height, with walls 1.25 meters wide.
This means that it will take several years to explore the town, because in each campaign new questions arise that we try to answer.
Currently, the protection, exhibition and musealization phase of the balneum, the Roman baths, which also occupy 900 square meters and are one of the largest known in the Empire, is also culminating. The roof of the building and all the museography are being placed with 3D reconstructions and volumetric methods.
This last mechanism consists of reconstructing the original volumes with steel fiber meshes, generating a transparent wall, which is barely visible during the day, but is illuminated at night. It is reversible and also serves to protect the balneum and its mosaics from inclement weather. The appearance is already impressive even without being finished.
From here I encourage everyone to visit this wonder of Roman mosaics that we have in Spain and specifically in the province of Cuenca, unique in the world according to experts.
The excavations in Noheda could provide information that is still unknown; 95% of the site still needs to be explored. This is what is fascinating about archaeology. Like all science, it is rewritten as new layers of reality are revealed and assimilated.
