House of the Cascade

[1] It is typical of most of the Roman houses excavated to date in North Africa in that it looks inwards to a central courtyard around which the majority of the rooms are arranged.

Finally, the ‘skewed’ articulation of the pavement in the large triclinium (apparently designed to maximise the view to the central courtyard and garden for the most important dinner guest), seems to be a unique feature.

The excavations performed of the house gives us valuable insight into the development of urbanisation at Utica as well as the domestic architecture and evolution of mosaics in Roman Tunisia.

Although the majority of the pavements at the house lack the vivid colours and imaginative designs of the mosaics exhibited (e. g. the Bardo National Museum in Tunis).

From the main entrance in the north the passer-by would get a glimpse of a decorative pool (possibly adorned with a fountain and sculpture) located directly inside the vestibule.

The architect who designed the main triclinium used framing columns and other devices so as to maximise the impact of the view of the central fountain and thus increase the enjoyment of the owner and his guests while they dined.

While depictions of fish were common in the iconography of the early Church and appear in the mosaics of basilica from the 5th and 6th centuries, it is likely that their choice at the House of the Cascade had a more prosaic reason.

Probably during the latter part of the period the house was occupied by a public official who received supplicants in the reception room (oecus) with its raised dais.