Housing
For now, there is no direct or sufficiently explicit information about the type of housing in pre-Roman Corduba. The data deficit even affects the Republican era.
The oldest houses archaeologically documented for the new Roman city come from the mid to late second century BC. These domestic constructions were built on a foundation of boulders, with elevations of adobe or mud walls, soil or gravel pavements and vegetal roofs, following the indigenous way.
At the end of the 1st century BC, new and more elaborated models begin to prevail, among which domus and peristyle houses, related to wealthy families, start to stand out.
The house under the current Bailio Hospes Hotel, built in the 1st century AD and abandoned in the late 3rd century AD, belongs to this type.
Houses were also built in the neighborhoods outside the walls or vici. Significant testimonies of domestic architecture have been documented in all directions. In the western area, it can be highlighted the so-called Domus of the Satyr, which was excavated in the Paseo de la Victoria and was decorated with rich figurative paintings of Dionysus and Ampelos. In the eastern sector, several domus were excavated in the mid last century in Corredera square. They had a very relevant decoration of mosaics that can be seen today at the Salón de Mosaicos in the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos.
In suburban and rural areas, villae were developed with residential functions but especially with agricultural vocation. The known as Santa Rosa villa, documented north of the city, probably had more of a suburban domus than of a villa because, for now, the space for the agricultural production has not been documented.
Bibliography
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VAQUERIZO GIL, D. (2003): Guía Arqueológica de Córdoba, Córdoba.
VAQUERIZO GIL, D. (2004): “Arquitectura doméstica y funeraria”, en Dupré, X. (Coord.), Las capitales provinciales de Hispania. Córdoba. Colonia Patricia Corduba, Roma, pp. 81-94, Lám. VI.
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