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House of Eustolios
These are my lecture notes from my site report on the House of Eustolius, an archeologically significant Roman bath located in Kourion. These notes were presented as a tour at the archeological site itself, with me leading the AAP crew and pointing out interesting things. Always remember calidarium, tepidarium and friiiiigidarium! Woot!
BEFORE HILL
- located at the southeast of the Kourion plateau
- built on top of the ruins of a Late Hellenistic manor which had been destroyed by earthquakes in the late 4th century AD
- present form of house dates from end of 4th century to the middle of the 7th century
BEFORE ENTRANCE
- building complex was constructed of limestone blocks
- had more than 30 rooms in addition to a bathing establishment
- entrance of house was on the west
ENTRANCE & FORECOURT
- House of Eustolious opened to a rectangular forecourt (15m by 5m)
- on the left are a set of rooms allocated for storage and service
- on the immediate right are the latrines, which can be accessed by following a long corridor
- position of latrines within building complex is stylistically rare
- possible explanation is that the latrines were built on top of a long apsidal hallway
- straight ahead is the vestibule
VESTIBULE
- on the floor, see an inscription in black tesserae, framed by a multicoulored wreath
- says: "Enter for the good luck of the house"
- in itself, these inscriptions are common - last week, saw same thing in the Tony's presentation of the House of Dionysius
- the vestibule is 20 meters long and 5 meters wide
- once opened onto the west end of the north portico of a central square courtyard
- courtyard probably enclosed a garden with a square fountain and a rectangular fishpond
COURTYARD
- the floors of the three long porticoes extending around the east, south and west sides are paved with mosaics
- unfortunately, the mosaic floor of the north portico has entirely disappeared
WEST PORTICO (COURTYARD)
- west portico preserved a badly damaged mosaic floor
- divided into four panels
- decorated with cross-shaped ornaments, rosettes, and other geometrical motifs
SOUTH PORTICO (COURTYARD)
- mosaic floor of south portico is also badly damaged
- shows lots of artistic variety
- swasticas, squares, and circles
- also, both rectilinear and curviliner motifs
- juxtoposition of these themes were very popular in this era
EAST PORTICO (COURTYARD)
- major part of mosaic floor has been preserved in excellent condition
- mosaics decorating the center and southeastern end of the floor, aesthetically beautiful
and historically significant
- MOSAIC ON FLOOR
- made using brown and white tesserae
- inscription is written in the form of a three-lined poem resembling the Homeric dactylic hexameter
- in translation it reads: "In place of big stones and solid iron, / gleaming bronze and even adamant, / this house is girt by the much venerated signs of Christ"
- this mosaic clearly emphasizes the predominance of Christianity over paganism
- see representations of fish and certain birds of paradise
- a grey goose, a pheasant, partridge, guinea hen and falcon
- these are all striking Christian symbols, which represent deep faith in Christianity
- clearly, the edict of Milan in AD 313 had been completely accepted before the construction of this building complex
SOUTH WING
- a particularly interesting inscription is before the entrance to the south wing of the House
- elegaic couplet representing Christian virtues
- written, as before, in brown tesserae enclosed in a rectangular panel of white tesserae
- says "The sisters Reverence, Prudence, and Piety tend the platform and this fragrant hall"
CENTRAL PART OF EAST PORTICO
- [ so we know that the builder of the house was Christian. But who was he???]
- inscription with the builders name is in the central part of the floor of the east portico
- this inscription was partially destroyed
- forms three elegaic couplets in six lines
- says "Eustolious, having seen that the Kourians, although / previously very wealthy, were in abject misery, did not / forget the city of his ancestors, but first having / presented the baths to our city, he was then taking care / of Kourion as once did Phoebus and built this / cool refuge sheltered from the winds."
- two important points
- mention of phoebus, commonly known as Apollo - this shows that pagan references were not wholly shunned in this Early Christian environment
- furthermore, tells us about Eustolious and his gift (noblesse oblige)
EAST HALL
- styled as a Greek andron, or men's dining room
- floor has floral motifs, in addition to circles, octagons, and crosses
- east hall was flanked by several small rooms, which were probably bedrooms for men and women
- to the east of the East Hall is a single-chambered rock-cut tomb as well as a mosaic floor of blank and white pebbles which depicts a jar, a fish, and a dolphin
- this dates to the beginning of the 2nd century BC, probably between 215-185 BC
- scholars postulate that this mosaic may be part of a heroon, which is a cult place for the cult worship of a dead individuals
BATHING COMPLEX
- combined bathing and sanitary facilities with relaxation and recreation
- consists of a composite frigidarium, a rectangular tepidarium, and a cross-shaped caldarium
FRIGIDARIUM
- made up of a long rectangular hall oriented north-south, a semicircular cold basin to the north, and a second cold basin to the east
- see two rectangular footbaths in the north and east sides of the hall.
- at bottom of frigidarium, you can see a mosaic divided into four panels
- first panel, at south is almost completely destroyed
- second panel has a partridge at the center, flanked by intersecting circles
- third panel has stylized meanders and square panels
- the fourth panel depicts the bust of a young woman in a medallion
- holds a measure in her hand equivilent to a Roman foot
- inscription on her head is the word KTISIS, which symbolizes the Founding Spirit or the Creation.
- floor of semicircular basin was paved with marble in opus sectile
- floor of rectangular basin has a mosaic with wavy patterns representing waves of the sea
- on the north and south sides of the rectangular basin, you can see the dressing rooms, known as the apodyteria
CALIDARIUM & TEPIDARIUM
- antechamber leads to tepidarium, then to caladarium
- tepidarium and caldarium have marble floors supported on large flat tiles
- these flat tiles were supported by brick pillars, which were part of the hypocaust, or hot-air system
- to far north, one can see the praefurnia or furnace room, which heats air for the hypocaust
- the smoke and heat from the praefurnia are drawn into semicircular flues, which heat the tiles below the floor of the baths
MISC
- after undressing in the apodyteria, people went to the frigidarium. After bathing, they went to the antechamber and then proceeded to the tepidarium and calidarium
- the house of Eustolius was a public center until the mid 7th century when it was destroyed in Arab raids
- in its prime, this house and the Theater were the main public buildings for the amusement of Kourion's inhabitants.
SOURCES
Umm, actually, I lost my bibliography for this -- there were actually two really helpful pamphlets on this site in the AAP Library (in the lab), but I can't recall the authors @_@
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