The Comfort of the Age of Marcus Aurelius

One of the most striking and memorable landmarks of Roman Carthage is the Villa of the Aviary (Fr. Villa de la volière). It sits proudly in the northern quarters of the city upon the Odeon Hill, named in honour of the adjacent theatre.

Though the archaeological precinct known as the “Roman villas” is quite extensive, this particular dwelling is the sole survivor to have been excavated and restored to a state where one may behold with one’s own eyes the domestic elegance of a second-century Roman residence—the very epoch of Marcus Aurelius.

The peristyle garden: An avian enigma

The villa was christened by the archaeologists who laboured here in the 1960s, inspired by the exquisite mosaics depicting birds nestled amongst lush foliage that pave the viridarium (garden) situated within the villa’s peristyle (the column-girt courtyard).

The moniker is likely a nod to the celebrated treatise by the Roman polymath Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC), De Re Rustica (On Agriculture). In it, while discussing country estates, he describes his own villa along the Via Latina between Rome and Naples, featuring an ornithon—a specialized pavilion designed for housing exotic birds kept purely for their beauty and song.