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Roman Villa of P. Fannius Synistor | Boscoreale

Your name is Lucius Herrenius Florus. It is a late spring day in the consulship of C. Licinius Mucianus and T. Flavius Sabinus. You have recently acquired for yourself an idyllic agricultural residence situated in the fertile region of Campania; a villa that dates it’s foundation to a time well before Augustus Caesar restored the Republic.

In previous years, the villa belonged to a certain Publius Fannius Synistor, but the whole property went for auction after his financial endeavours in Rome grounded him into bankruptcy. Now, freshly moved in, all that is left for you to do is explore your new villa…

Salve!

Welcome to Campania! I am pleased to present my first finished map for the Source Engine, gm_publius_villa!

Enjoy the experience of exploring an ancient Roman countryside estate from the comfort of your desktop computer ᵒʳ ᵐᵘˡᵗᶦᵐᵉᵈᶦᵃ ᵈᵉᵛᶦᶜᵉ ᵒᶠ ᶜʰᵒᶦᶜᵉ, complete with brightly decorated rooms, a picturesque peristyle garden, multiple triclinia to dine in, and even a bathing suite!

As you could probably tell by the intro, this is a digital reconstruction of the villa of Publius Fannius Synistor (Villa 16) from Boscoreale, Italy. By the time Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the villa was probably already one hundred and fifty years old! It had exchanged hands twice, with the final owner at the time of the disaster being Lucius Herrenius Florus.

As someone with archaeological experience in this field of history, I have tried to reproduce the villa from the ground plan as best as I can, featuring all the amenities a countryside villa couldn’t do without. The lack of many rooms and the simplistic plan of real villa reflects the periodical usage of the estate during the warmer and harvest months, compared to year-round use of the average well-to-do domus of the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Neapolis or elsewhere in Roman Italy. Many of the wall designs you see in the map are based off of and inspired by the real decorated rooms of the villa, though none of them are completely accurate when compared to the highly detailed real thing.

The original building circa 79 AD would most definitely have had a substantial second floor level, as evidenced by a stairwell in a room next to the entrance hall. Since this has disappeared from the archaeological record completely, I have not, at least in this reconstruction, attempted to reproduce it. Maybe in a version two…?

Now for the disclaimer part! ᴬᴴᴴᴴᴴᴴᴴ As this is the first map I have actually fully finished and uploaded, there are of course some issues. The first is that there were way too many T-junctions for Gmod’s poor VBSP to fix on this highly detailed map. The result is that I had to skip this process for the map to compile, at the cost of a few seams and shimmering in darker places. It seems to be unnoticeable in brightly lit areas. The second is that there might be some slight stuttering while the map is running. Also, repot any missing textures! If anyone is willing to help fix the map, then please do reach out to me!

Also, make sure to keep an eye out for multiple secrets, perhaps etched in charcoal by an idle slave when no one was looking… c:

Please enjoy and leave some feedback!