Antonine sophistication (c. AD 135–65)

Abstract

This chapter describes how and why Antonine London came to be characterized by an architecture of domestic luxury. This was evidenced by large private houses laid out around several wings with porticoes, dining rooms, and heated private baths, and decorated with mosaic pavements and painted walls sometimes referencing Bacchic iconography. These designs materialized an educated paideia that drew on Hellenistic ideas, perhaps under the influence of the philosophies of the Second Sophistic. These ideas may have first found architectural expression in London in the Hadrianic period, but were more characteristic of the Antonine city. London’s wealth sustained a local demand for imported goods, whilst the waterfronts where these were landed were also busy at times of military campaigns. Several Romano-Celtic temples were built c. AD 165, including one dedicated to Mars Camulus. Imposing mausolea were built within walled cemeteries along the main road into town. These temples and tombs formed a monumental landscape adapted to the religious and funerary processions through the city.