From villa to palace
The earliest excavated levels date to the mid-third century AD, when the area appears to comprise three separate plots of land divided by narrow alleys. The town house occupying the central plot probably dates back to the late first or second centuries AD and fronted the Vivari Channel with a handsome view towards Çuka e Aitoit.
By the late third to fourth centuries the central plot was occupied by a large, well-appointed domus. This house was owned by a local grandee who announced his name and status to his visitors by inscribing it in the mosaic floor of the entrance to the building. Only his rank of lamprotato (clarissimus) now survives indicating that he was of senatorial rank. The heart of the building was an elegant colonnaded peristyle courtyard paved with geometric mosaics in the portico and limestone slabs in the centre. A central well drew water from a cistern that collected rainwater from the roofs of the building.
Late Roman houses articulated social hierarchies not only of their owners but also of the visitors – the particular parts of the building visitors were allowed to enter and the routes they were allowed to follow varied according to their social status. Here the principal rooms were on the south. A long gallery, probably facing out onto a small garden, offered views across the water and was paved with an elaborate geometric mosaic. At the west end of the gallery was a large apsidal reception hall or dining room. At the eastern end was a small vestibule with the finest mosaics of the entire complex and painted to resemble a colonnade in order to increase the impression of space. Could the two entrances of the domus have been reserved for different classes of visitors?
Around 420 AD the owner embellished and extended his property, creating a palatial complex, by expanding onto the eastern plot. The peristyle was enlarged and the focal point of the building now became a great Triconch dinning room. The relationship with the waterfront continued to be important for the commanding, sweeping vistas and an elegant marine entrance was added to the complex. That the owner was able to block the old streets on either side of his palace suggests not only the importance of the proprietor but also that the urban topography of Butrint was changing.
In fact, the building works were apparently abandoned close to completion before decoration and paving were added. What brought this about? The likeliest answer is the rising water table. A labyrinth of drains indicates that attempts were made to raise the levels of the floors – but to no avail, and the house was abandoned.
- Aerial view of the Triconch palace
- Objects from the Triconch Palace (Butrint Museum)