Society of Antiquaries of London (2025) h/b 319 £40 (ISBN 9780854313105)
Low Ham was a centre of activity in the neolithic period and bronze age. There is clear evidence of a settlement there during the middle to late iron age. During the Roman period a villa was developed on the site, comprising four wings or ranges around a central courtyard. It was oriented so that the front wall and the main entrance faced north-east. Work began in the late second or third century with the construction of the south-east wing. The rest of the project followed on from there, reaching its zenith in the mid fourth century, which was the golden age of Romano-British villas.
The villa’s most famous treasure from the fourth century is the well-known ‘Dido and Aeneas’ mosaic, which was found in the frigidarium. It is now displayed in the Museum of Somerset. This comprises five panels in the shape of an H. It illustrates the story as told by Virgil in the Aeneid. Venus stands naked in the central panel, attended by two cupids, and presiding over events. The long panel on the right-hand side of the H shows Aeneas and his companions in three ships, having arrived at Carthage. A rectangular panel at the top shows Aeneas meeting Dido. He stands cross-legged in military clothing, leaning on a spear held in his right hand. Dido, semi-naked, also stands cross-legged. Although the pair are facing us, their eyes are swivelled, so that each is looking into the eyes of the other. The long panel on the left-hand side of the H depicts the hunt: Dido, Aeneas and a companion are galloping on horseback, with their cloaks flying out behind them. The rectangular panel at the bottom shows Dido and Aeneas sheltering from the storm in an amorous embrace, with trees on each side. When the mosaic was in situ, this panel was closest to the bath.
This book gives an account of the excavation of the villa over the last eighty years. Work began at the end of the Second World War. There were three seasons of field work under the direction of Stephen Dewar and Ralegh Radford. They carried out further trenching in 1955. In the 1970s Roger Leech, then a PhD student, now one of the authors of this book, carried out aerial and landscape research of the area. This enabled him to map further features of the villa. He was also able to talk to Radford and obtain details of the earlier excavations. In 2018 there were further excavations of the villa under David Roberts, who agreed with Leech to produce a collaborative publication of the site. The result is this book. Rachel Cubitt sets out the structural findings, so far as they can be understood from the data. The three principal authors have been assisted by a team of specialist contributors.
The first eight chapters provide a wealth of detail about each stage of the excavations and the finds recovered, including environmental materials. Chapter 9 describes the prehistoric landscape and what is known about iron age and bronze age settlements in the region. Chapter 10 takes us back to the villa and includes some interesting speculation about the mid fourth century owners. They clearly knew their Virgil and presumably gave the mosaicist precise instructions about what they wanted. The authors suggest that the villa may have had a library, with niches or cubicles where people could read. Other nearby villas also had mosaics reflecting scholarly tastes: for example, Pitney villa I, which had numerous scenes depicting figures from Mediterranean mythology. The authors suggest that the owners of Low Ham villa during the mid-fourth century may have been part of a literary peer group in the area. This reviewer is persuaded. It is easy to picture like-minded individuals gathering in the splendid setting of Low Ham Villa to discuss classical literature, not unlike a modern book group.
This delightful book is packed with detail and well-illustrated with colour photographs and plans. It has much to offer those classicists who (like this reviewer) enjoy visiting and studying Romano-British villas.
Rupert Jackson