1.
Roman villa
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A Roman villa was a country house built for the upper class in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The villa rustica centered on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied, under the Empire a concentration of Imperial villas grew up near the Bay of Naples, especially on the Isle of Capri, at Monte Circeo on the coast and at Antium. Wealthy Romans escaped the heat in the hills round Rome. Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of them, Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. The Empire contained many kinds of villas, not all of them lavishly appointed with mosaic floors, in the provinces, any country house with some decorative features in the Roman style may be called a villa by modern scholars. Some villas were more like the houses of England or Poland. These early suburban villas, such as the one at Romes Auditorium site or at Grottarossa in Rome, demonstrate the antiquity and it is possible that these early, suburban villas were also in fact the seats of power of regional strongmen or heads of important families. A third type of villa provided the organizational center of the large holdings called latifundia, by the first century BC, the classic villa took many architectural forms, with many examples employing atrium or peristyle, for enclosed spaces open to light and air. Upper class, wealthy Roman citizens in the countryside around Rome and throughout the Empire lived in villa complexes, the villa-complex consisted of three parts. The pars urbana where the owner and his family lived and this would be similar to the wealthy-persons in the city and would have painted walls. The pars rustica where the chef and slaves of the villa worked and lived and this was also the living quarters for the farms animals. There would usually be other rooms here that might be used as store rooms, the villa fructuaria would be the storage rooms. These would be where the products of the farm were stored ready for transport to buyers, storage rooms here would have been used for oil, wine, grain, grapes and any other produce of the villa. Other rooms in the villa might include an office, a temple for worship, several bedrooms, a dining room, Villas were often furnished with plumbed bathing facilities and many would have had an under-floor central heating known as the hypocaust. Smaller in the countryside, even non-commercial villas operated as largely self-supporting units, with associated farms, olive groves, Roman writers refer with satisfaction to the self-sufficiency of their villas, where they drank their own wine and pressed their own oil, a commonly used literary topos. The late Roman Republic witnessed an explosion of villa construction in Italy, especially in the following the dictatorship of Sulla. In Etruria, the villa at Settefinestre has been interpreted as being the centre of one of the latifundia that were involved in agricultural production. At Settefinestre and elsewhere, the housing of such villas was not richly appointed
2.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
3.
Valjevo
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Valjevo is a city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants,59,073 of whom were urban dwellers. Valjevo occupies an area of 905 square kilometers, its altitude is 185 meters, the city is situated along the river Kolubara, a tributary of the Sava river. In the nearby village of Petnica scientists found the first complete neolithic habitat in Serbia, in Roman times this area was part of the province of Moesia. Valjevo was mentioned for the first time in 1393 and it was an important staging post on the trade route that connected Bosnia to Belgrade. Valjevo became significant during the 16th and 17th centuries under stable Ottoman rule, at the beginning of the 19th century most of the territory of Serbia rapidly transformed. The Serbian revolution began with armed rebellion, in 1804, the local Serb population had rebelled against the Turkish lords and liberated a large part of Serbia. One cause for the revolution was the killing of two prominent Serbian commanders by the Ottoman Turks, the two well-known knights, Ilija Bircanin and Aleksa Nenadovic, were killed in Valjevo on the bridge over the Kolubara. The settlements development accelerated further in the 20th century, when Valjevo became an important industrial and cultural center, during the First World War the battle of Kolubara was fought in the immediate vicinity. A large hospital for the wounded was in the town, the city suffered widespread destruction in World War II. At the end of the 20th century it was bombed during the NATO attack on Yugoslavia. Apart from the city, Valjevo covers the area which includes the following settlements, According to the 2011 census results. The ethnic composition of the city of Valjevo, The Valjevo mountain range, Divčibare is a plateau in the mountain of Maljen. It has an altitude of 1000 m. It is 28 km from Valjevo and 110 km from Belgrade, the canyon of the Gradac River ends in the town centre. The Gradac is one of Europes cleanest rivers, as evidenced by the presence of otters, the Valjevo mountain range offers clean air, medicinal herbs, forest fruits and wild game. The vicinity is kept free of industrialisation and the soil is unpolluted, hunting and fishing in the mountain rivers is common. The air-spa of Divčibare offers rest and recreation, vrujci Spa has mud baths for rheumatic diseases, as well as a hotel and sports complex with swimming pools
4.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
5.
Villa Armira
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Villa Armira is a 1st-century suburban Roman villa in southeastern Bulgaria, located in the proximity of Ivaylovgrad, Haskovo Province. Discovered in 1964 during reservoir construction, it is a historical attraction to the Ivaylovgrad area. It is classified as a monument of culture of national importance, Villa Armira lies some 4 kilometres southwest of Ivaylovgrad. It was named after the Armira River, a tributary of the Arda. Villa Armira, a sumptuous palace villa, is one of the largest and most richly decorated Ancient Roman villas excavated in Bulgaria and it features rich marble decoration and complex floor mosaics, some geometric and some depicting animals and plants. The villa dates to the half of the 1st century AD. The two-storey U-shaped villa spreads over 3,600 square metres amidst a garden, Villa Armira had 22 separate rooms on the ground floor alone in addition to a panorama terrace. The entire ground floor was covered in elaborately decorated white marble, the villas floor mosaics display features typical of Ancient Roman art. The mosaics in the masters chamber depict the 2nd century AD owner with his two children, these are the only Roman-era mosaic portraits to be discovered in Bulgaria, a common theme in the villas decoration is the gorgon Medusa. In the 3rd century AD, Villa Armira was expanded eastward with a triclinium, Villa Armira is thought to have been destroyed in the late 4th century, possibly by the Goths some time around the Battle of Adrianople of 378. The villa itself, with many of the floor mosaics intact, underwent Phare-funded reconstruction and anastylosis and was opened for visitors in 2008
6.
Ivaylovgrad
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Ivaylovgrad is a town in Haskovo Province in the very south-east of Bulgaria set near the river Arda in the easternmost part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the centre of the homonymous Ivaylovgrad Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,756 inhabitants, byzantine eparchial lists from the time of the 9th-10th century mention a bishops centre by the name of Lyutitsa on the site of present-day Ivaylovgrad. According to John VI Kantakouzenos, his infantry reached the fortress in 1342–1343, the settlement was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks during their invasion of the Balkans in the 14th-15th century. Information about the town during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria is scarce, much of the Bulgarian population moved from the region due to organized robberies and internecine wars in the empire. Ivaylovgrad is the seat of Ivaylovgrad municipality, which includes the following 50 places, Ivaylovgrad municipality website Ivaylovgrad Info
7.
Hypocaust
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The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning under and caust-, meaning burnt. The earliest reference to such a system suggests that the temple of Ephesus in 350 BCE was heated in this manner and its invention improved the hygiene and living conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of modern central heating. Hypocausts were used for heating hot baths and other buildings in ancient Rome. The ruins of Roman hypocausts have been found throughout Europe and in Africa as well. The ceiling of the hypocaust was raised above the ground by pillars, called pilae stacks, supporting a layer of tiles, followed by a layer of concrete, then the floor tiles of the rooms above. Rooms intended to be the warmest were located nearest to the furnace below and he also describes a device for adjusting the heat by a bronze ventilator in the domed ceiling. Remains of many Roman hypocausts have survived throughout Europe, western Asia, excavations at Mohenjo-daro in what is now Pakistan have unearthed what is believed to be a hypocaust lined with bitumen-coated bricks. If it fulfilled a role, the structure would pre-date the earliest Roman hypocaust by as much as 2000 years. In 1984–1985, in the Republic of Georgia, excavations in the ancient settlement of Dzalisi uncovered a large castle complex, featuring a well-preserved hypocaust built between 200–400 BCE. Dating back to 1000 BCE, Korean houses have traditionally used ondol to provide floor heating on similar principles as the hypocaust, on a smaller scale, in Northern China the Kang bed-stove has a long history. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the hypocaust fell into disuse, in Britain, from c.400 until c.1900, central heating did not exist, and hot baths were rare. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Roman system was adopted for the heating of Hispano-Islamic baths, a derivation of hypocaust, the gloria, was in use in Castile until the arrival of modern heating. After the fuel was reduced to ashes, the air intake was closed to keep hot air inside, de Architectura Roman engineering Roman technology Ondol Gloria Masonry heater. Kang bed-stove Vitruvius Underfloor heating About Roman baths, by William Smith, disputing the priority of Sergius Orata Garrett G. Fagans paper Sergius Orata, Inventor of the Hypocaust. Published in Phoenix, Vol.50, No
8.
Baden-Baden
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Baden-Baden is a spa town, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans as Aquae, in modern German, Baden is a gerund meaning bathing but Baden, the original name of the town, derives from an earlier plural form of Bad. As with the English placename Bath, there are various other Badens at hot springs throughout Central Europe, the current doubled name arose to distinguish it from the others, particularly Baden near Vienna in Austria and Baden near Zürich in Switzerland. It is a reference to the Margraviate of Baden-Baden, a subdivision of the Margraviate of Baden, Baden-Baden became its formal name in 1931. Baden-Baden lies in a valley of the Northern Black Forest in southwestern Germany, the western districts lie within the Upper Rhine Plain. The highest mountain of Baden-Baden is the Badener Höhe, which is part of the Black Forest National Park, the old town lies on the side of a hill on the right bank of the Oos. Since the 19th century, the resorts have been located on the other side of the river. There are 29 natural springs in the area, varying in temperature from 46 to 67 °C. The water is rich in salt and flows from artesian wells 1,800 m under Florentine Hill at a rate of 341 litre per minute and is conveyed through pipes to the towns baths. Roman settlement at Baden-Baden has been dated as far back as the emperor Hadrian, the known ruins of the Roman bath were rediscovered just below the New Castle in 1847 and date to the reign of Caracalla, who visited the area to relieve his arthritic aches. The facilities were used by the Roman garrison in Strasbourg, the town fell into ruin but its church was first constructed in the 7th century. By 1112, it was the seat of the Margraviate of Baden, the Lichtenthal Convent was founded in 1254. The margraves initially used Hohenbaden Castle, whose ruins still occupy the summit above the town, Baden suffered severely during the Thirty Years War, particularly at the hands of the French, who plundered it in 1643. They returned to occupy the city in 1688 at the onset of the Nine Years War, the margravine Sibylla rebuilt the New Castle in 1697, but the margrave Louis William removed his seat to Rastatt in 1706. The Stiftskirche was rebuilt in 1753 and houses the tombs of several of the margraves, the town began its recovery in the late 18th century, serving as a refuge for émigrés from the French Revolution. The town was frequented during the Second Congress of Rastatt in 1797–99 and she came for medicinal reasons, as the waters were recommended for gout, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, skin disorders, and stones. The Ducal government subsequently subsidized the resorts development, guests included Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, and Berlioz. The pumproom was completed in 1842, the Grand Duchys railways mainline reached Baden in 1845
