| Abstract: |
Report on excavations at the site of the `Elliptical Building' and adjacent structures near the centre of the Roman legionary fortress in Chester. Initial excavations directed by Robert Newstead and John Droop took place following slum clearance in 1939, with further work on the site allowing another phase of excavation between 1963 and 1969 directed by John Eames. The building consisted of an oval courtyard building, its construction in stone having been begun in the 70s of the first century AD. Immediately to its south lay a small bath house, while to the north was a range of tabernae. The building was abandoned before work had progressed much beyond the foundations, eventually being completed to a modified design in the third century, during the Severan period, and possibly serving as a macellum. The bath house and tabernae were, however, finished and were in use through the second century. Although the function of the Elliptical Building has been the subject of speculation, the author suggests that it could have been intended as a abortive Flavian imperial shrine and exhibition (augusteum/imago mundi -- a concept later expressed in the Pantheon in Rome), the Chester fortress having possibly at one stage been intended to accommodate the governor's residence and seat of provincial administration. Includes numerous computer reconstructions and |
