A new analysis of the archaeological remains of Roman Barcelona paints a city dominated by large manor houses, while the homes of the lower classes have left barely a trace. Experts point out that the available information is partial and reflects only the elites.
A mosaic of mosaics. This is how archaeologists describe Roman Barcelona, Barcino, founded between 15 and 10 BC during the reign of Emperor Augustus. However, what has survived to this day are almost exclusively the houses of the wealthiest, while the dwellings of the common people remain a mystery. Where was the populace? Because they were certainly there.
In the tiny city that grew around Mount Tàber, only four domus have been documented, and all of them, due to their size, layout and decoration, belonged to great magnates. The same is true in the periphery: villas—many of them producing white wine—have been found in Sant Pau del Camp, La Sagrera, l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà, Esplugues, Sant Joan Despí, Montcada i Reixac, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Premià de Mar, Mataró, Gavà, Viladecans, or Castelldefels. Also in Baetulo, present-day Badalona, which served as the capital of its area.
Barcino was unusually founded close to Baetulo, protected by an octagonal wall. Its foundation is linked to the end of the Cantabrian Wars and Augustus's desire to control the fertile area around the Llobregat, in the triangle between Collserola, the Garraf mountains, and the sea, and to provide occupation and a future for veteran soldiers. Lands, businesses, peace.
“Barcino was born as a centre for territorial structuring. People inhabited these peri-urban areas around the city; we cannot think only of what is inside the walls,” explains Isabel Rodà, professor of archaeology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. “Legally, the city controls the ager Barcinonensis, the nearby rural territory; we could say they are the ones supplying local products, something that is very trendy today but which they had already discovered,” she adds with humour.
The image we have of Barcino is very partial. In contemporary works, the domus (or remains of them) appeared within the walls on Avinyó Street, Sant Honorat, Sant Miquel Square, or in Pati Llimona. The first was in operation between the 1st and 4th centuries AD and was next to the wall. It had rich paintings on ceilings and walls. At one end, there was a bakery. It is suspected that it occupied the entire block, meaning a large number of people must have lived there: lords and serfs.
“Barcino was born as a centre for territorial structuring. People inhabited these peri-urban areas around the city; we cannot think only of what is inside the walls.”
— Isabel Rodà, professor of archaeology at UAB
The second domus was excavated in 1999 and 2002, revealing Roman mosaics and a large medieval warehouse. Research indicates it was built in the 4th century. The rooms are decorated with paintings and mosaics that reveal, for example, that they had private baths, indicating the social status of their owners. Today, 680 m2 are open to visitors.
Outside the walls, but within the current municipal boundaries of Barcelona, remains have been found in Sant Pau del Camp, Antoni Maura Square, and especially in La Sagrera. About four kilometres from Barcino, a lavish villa of approximately 1,100 m2 was discovered in 2011, built between the 4th and 5th centuries AD, although with earlier elements, next to a road leading to the wall. It featured a residential area, exceptionally well-preserved baths, rooms decorated with mosaics, wall paintings, hydraulic systems, heating systems, and facilities for agricultural management. The most notable element is a mosaic of over 50 m2, with geometric motifs, which the Museu d’Història de Barcelona (Muhba) rescued and restored.
Carme Miró, who was responsible for the Pla Barcino, summarises the situation: “We have barely four and a half houses within Barcino and we do not know what they were like. The ones we know of were impressive, with private baths, but we have no idea how the common people lived... Archaeology has a synonym, and that is ‘uncertainty’.”
“We have barely four and a half houses within Barcino and we do not know what they were like. The ones we know of were impressive, with private baths, but we have no idea how the common people lived.”
— Carme Miró, former head of Pla Barcino
Eduard Riu-Barrera, an archaeologist from the Servei de Patrimoni i Arquitectura of the Generalitat, details that those in Barcino “are large houses because all the service lived with the patricians, who basically lived off wine. As the city grows outside the walls, we have not found anything, for example, in the current Eixample, which may have destroyed what was there.”
Daniel Alcubierre, an archaeologist from Muhba, adds: “We have information mainly about the well-off citizens, not about the working classes; we do not have their homes, but we do have workspaces within the city, such as the dyehouse, the laundry, a fish salting factory, a wine cellar...”. All those remains were excavated starting in 1931 and in 1945 were integrated into Muhba.
“In the 1st century, there are many villas operating in the surroundings,” the archaeologist analyses, “and in the 4th, those villas have been monumentalised, renovated... This indicates that some families have concentrated properties and businesses: two thousand years ago, but it seems pure capitalism.”
Research is ongoing, and archaeologists hope that future excavations can shed light on the lives of the popular sectors of Barcino. For now, the Roman city presents itself as a society of marked contrasts, where the elites left their mark while the common people remain in the shadows of history.
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