In Parc La Grange in Genève a villa was discovered in 1888. Excavations were begun in 1919 by Louis Blondel and Gaston Darier. The ruins were covered with earth afterwards. In the years 1991-1993 the excavated area was opened again and enlarged ... and then covered with earth again.
The excavated area in the early 1990's. Photo: Haldimann et al. 2001, Fig. 2.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Plan of the site. South is up. Blondel-Darier 1922, Pl. II.The villa was built in the first century and used until the late fourth century. The complex covered an area of 450 x 180 m., between the Lac Léman and a main road. The main building (40 x 30.50 m.) had on the south side a peristyle, a garden surrounded by colonnades. It could be entered from the south and east. In the centre may have been a water basin. The living rooms were on the north side, around a central hall that has been called an atrium. Scant remains of mosaics were found. The painted decoration was mostly lost after the excavation. To the north-west were baths.
Reconstruction drawings of the main house, seen from the south and north. Haldimann et al. 2001, Figs. 13-14.
The locality is known as Frontenex, documented as early as 1304 as Frontonay. Blondel has suggested that the name was derived from praedium Frontonis, the estate of Fronto. This Fronto might be known from two funerary inscriptions, found in Genève and Allinges (France). The man was duumvir aerarii, a magistrate in charge of the treasury in nearby Vienna (Vienne, France).
T(ito) RICCIO T(iti) FIL(io) VOL(tinia)
FRONTONI IIVIR(o) AER(arii)
ET T(ito) RICCIO FRONTONI
PATRI ET Q(uinto) RICCIO
FIDO FRATRI
HERED(es) EX TESTAM(ento)To Titus Riccius, son of Titus, of the tribe Voltinia,
Fronto, magistrate in charge of the treasury,
and to Titus Riccius Fronto,
his father, and to Quintus Riccius
Fidus, his brother.
The heirs, according to the will.Funerary inscription from Allinges (France).
Limestone. H. 0.71, w. 0.95, d. 0.22.
EDCS-09201035. Photo: MAH, Genève.
Literature
Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 12 (1919-1920); 108-109; 14 (1922), 74-75; Blondel-Darier 1922; Jahresbericht der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 17 (1925), 100; 20 (1928), 70; 32 (1940-1941), 117; Drack 1950, 81; Von Gonzenbach 1961, 108-111; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 405-406; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 131; Haldimann - André - Broilet-Ramjoué 2001; Terrier 2002.
[23-Nov-2023]
