Vitalité de l’architecture domestique à Carthage au Ve siècle : l’exemple de la maison dite de la Rotonde, sur la colline de l’Odéon

Franco-Tunisian excavations at Carthage (1991-1998) in the “Rotunda House” have revealed much about the eastern slope of the Odeon before the 439 invasion and at the beginning of the Vandal Kingdom. Analysis of both archaeological and architectural data shows that this insula is far from being abandoned. In the first third of the 5th century, there is significant razing and filling for a new construction — an ambitious architectural project, but uncompleted, perhaps because of the Vandal invasion of 439. At the beginning of the Vandal period, another building uses the former’s walls, but reorganizes the circulation patterns. With a large peristyle-court and two upper reception-rooms, the public part of the house receives more emphasis than the private. The new aristocracy clearly perpetuates the lifestyle of the old. This is the first example of domestic architecture and mosaics dated from the Vandal period on the basis of archaeological criteria. [Authors]