In Dietikon, some twelve kilometers to the west of Zürich, remains of a villa started to emerge in the middle of the 19th century. Excavations began in the 1950's. The villa was built in the middle of the first century, partly destroyed by fire in the later third century, but still used in the fourth.
The only visible remains of the villa. Photo: Wikimedia, Paebi.
Plan of the villa. Drack-Fellmann 1988, Abb. 362. South is up.
1: enclosing wall; 2: area of the main house; 3: sacred area; 4: economy areas.
A: main house; B: secondary building; C: Gallo-Roman temple I;
D: Gallo-Roman temple II; E: possible temple; F, G: secondary buildings.Many buildings were found in an area that was enclosed by a wall measuring 212 x 600 m., 0.60 m. thick. The main house was found below and around the church of Saint Agatha. Small houses and economy buildings (10 x 10 m.) were set against the long sides of the enclosing wall, at regular intervals of 22 m. In some buildings hearths and furnaces for smoking meat and drying foodstuffs were discovered. Another building housed a smithy, witness slag, metal waste and a blacksmithing hammer. In yet another building a stamp for eye salve was found, used by a physician or merchant.
Top. Reconstruction drawing of a building set against the enclosing wall. Ebnöther 1993, Abb. 35.
Bottom left: plan of a building with smoking furnaces. Bottom right: reconstruction drawing of a smoking chamber. Ebnöther 1993, Abb. 36 and 38.
TI(beri) CLAVDI VERATI
DIAMESVS AD CLAR(itatem)Of Tiberius Claudius Veratius.
Copper sulfate salve for clear sight.Stamp for eye salve. Serpentite. W. 0.051, h. 0.01, d. 0.011. Kolb et al. 2022, nr. 398. Photo: EDCS-03000676. In front of the main house were two Gallo-Roman temples. One, discovered in 1953 (C), measured 8.50 x 7.50 m., with a cella measuring 4.00 x 2.80 m. The other (D) was investigated in 1986. Originally it measured 9.10 x 8.80 m., with a wooden cella. Later it was enlarged (12.40 x 12 m.) and given a stone cella. In the cella a pit was found with ceramics and 64 votive coins from the second to the fourth century.
The remains of temple I, discovered in 1953. Photo: Jb SLM 62 (1953), Abb 6.
Reconsruction drawing of temple II. Ebnöther 1993, Abb. 73.The main house could only be partially excavated. Two narrow rooms will have been stairwells. Two rooms had a hypocaust for heating. Fragments of paintings were found. Some mosaics were destroyed during the construction of the nearby railway station. The remains are of particular interest because of the discovery of a symmetrical garden (D) enclosed on three sides by a porticus (B). Plants, bushes or little trees will have been planted in two trenches, one square, the other rectangular, both with semicircular stretches. On two sides were water basins, one very long, perhaps for fish (E, F).
Plan of the main house. Ebnöther 1993, Abb. 15.
A: living rooms; B: porticus; C: enclosing wall; D: garden; E: basin; F: basin.
View of the remains of the garden. Photo: Ebnöther 1991, Abb. 3.
Reconstruction drawing of the garden. Ebnöther 1993, 3.
Literature
Keller 1864(2), 93-94; Von Gonzenbach 1961, 103; Heid 1965; Drack 1980(5); Drack-Fellmann 1988, 388-389; Ebnöther 1990; Ebnöther 1991; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 110-111; Béarat 1992; Ebnöther 1993; Ebnöther 1995; Ebnöther 1996; Ebnöther-Rychener 1996; Fuchs-Béarat 1997; Käch 2013. Plus: Anzeiger für schweizerische Geschichte und Alterthumskunde 2,12-4 (1866), 67; Jahresbericht Schweizerisches Landesmuseum Zürich 62 (1953), 13, 15; Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte 69 (1986), 266-267; 70 (1987), 219-220; 73 (1990), 207; 74 (1991), 257-258.
[5-Apr-2024]
