Villas as nodes: Social Networks evolving from the results of the excavations at the maritime Villa of Capo di Sorrento
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In the study of Roman villas of the late republic and early imperial period, questions of ownership attribution and social-hierarchical categorisation of user groups have played a central role ever since. In addition to the often uncertain attribution by means of written records, various epigraphic evidence is used (e.g. inscriptions, graffiti, stamps on lead pipes, pottery and bricks etc.). Rather than for the (supposed) identification of the owners, who could in fact change within a short period of time due to political changes and (sometimes associated) property speculation, the epigraphic evidence therefore seems to be more suitable for analysing socio-economic networks. Thus the villa serves as a node from which relationships to people, objects and places can be visualised. The new excavations of the villa maritima of Capo di Sorrento have also yielded epigraphic material, mainly brick stamps. On the basis of the personal and family names identified, an attempt will be made to plot a social network. The focus is not on retracing possession, but rather on reconstructing dynamic social and economic links that have left their mark in construction and renovation work as well as in agricultural production, stressing the significance of cross-domain approaches integrating linked open data (LOD). In this way, a social network can be mapped out that is connected to places, people and objects and that is potentially suitable for transfer to other villas as well as for the integration into the contemporary regional living and economic conditions. At the same time, this contributes to the contextualisation of the villa site.
Author: Klose, Christoph
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6949413585
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