Fishbourne RomanPalace is in the village of Fishbourne, Chichester in West Sussex. The largepalace was built in the 1st century AD, around thirty years after the Romanconquest of Britain on the site of a Roman army supply base established at theClaudian invasion in 43 AD. The rectangular palace surrounded formal gardens,the northern half of which have been reconstructed. There were extensivealterations in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, with many of the original black and whitemosaics being overlaid with more sophisticated coloured work, including theperfectly preserved dolphin mosaic in the north wing. More alterations were inprogress when the palace burnt down in around 270, after which it wasabandoned.
Although local peoplehad known of the existence of Roman remains in the area, it was not until 1960that the archaeologist Barry Cunliffe first systematically excavated the site,which had been accidentally uncovered by Aubrey Barrett an engineer working forPortsmouth Water Company who was laying a new water main across a field. TheRoman villa excavated by Cunliffe's team was so large that it became known asFishbourne Roman Palace, and a museum was erected to protect and preserve someof the remains in situ. This is administered by the Sussex ArchaeologicalSociety.
In size, it isapproximately equivalent to Nero's Golden House in Rome or to the Roman villaat Piazza Armerina in Sicily, and in plan it closely mirrors the basicorganisation of the emperor Domitian's palace, the Domus Flavia, completed inAD 92 upon the Palatine Hill in Rome. Fishbourne is by far the largest Romanresidence known north of the Alps. At about 500 feet (150 m) square, it islarger in size than Buckingham Palace.
A modern museumhas been built by the Sussex Archaeological Society, incorporating most of thevisible remains including one wing of the palace. The gardens have beenre-planted using authentic plants from the Roman period. A team of volunteersand professional archaeologists are involved in a continuing researcharchaeological excavation on the site of nearby, possibly military, buildings.The last dig was in 2002.
The firstbuildings on the site were granaries, apparently a supply base for the Romanarmy, constructed in the early part of the conquest in 43 AD. Later, twotimber-frame buildings were constructed, one with clay and mortar floors andplaster walls which appears to have been a dwelling house of some comfort.These buildings were demolished in the AD 90s and replaced by a substantialstone-walled house, which included a courtyard garden with colonnades and abath suite. It has been suggested [4] that the palace itself, incorporating theprevious house in its south-east corner, was built in around c 73-75 AD. Areinterpretation of the ground plan and finds assemblage by Dr Miles Russell ofBournemouth University has suggested that, given the extremely close parallelswith Domitian's imperial palace in Rome, its construction may more plausiblydate to after AD 92.
With regard to wholived in the Fishbourne palace, the accepted theory, first proposed by BarryCunliffe, is that the early phase of the palace was the residence of TiberiusClaudius Cogidubnus (or Togidubnus), a pro-Roman local chieftain who wasinstalled as king of a number of territories following the first stage of theconquest. Cogidubnus / Togidubnus is known from a reference to his loyalty inTacitus's Agricola,[5] and from an inscription commemorating a temple dedicatedto Neptune and Minerva found in nearby Chichester. Another theory is that itwas built for another native, Sallustius Lucullus, a Roman governor of Britainof the late 1st century who may have been the son of the British princeAdminius.[7] Two inscriptions recording the presence of Lucullus have beenfound in nearby Chichester and the redating, by Miles Russell, of the palace tothe early AD 90s, would fit far more securely with such an interpretation. Ifthe palace were designed for Lucullus, then it may have only been in use for afew years, for the Roman historian Suetonius records that Lucullus was executedby the delusional emperor Domitian in or shortly after AD 93.[8]
Additionaltheories suggest that either Verica, a British client king of the Roman Empirein the years preceding the Claudian invasion was owner of the palace, or evenone Tiberius Claudius Catuarus, whose gold signet ring was recentlydiscovered.[2]
The palaceoutlasted the original owner and was extensively re-planned early in the 2ndcentury, being subdivided up into a series of lesser apartments. Furtherredevelopment was begun in the late 3rd century, but these alterations wereincomplete when the north wing was destroyed in a fire c. 270 AD. The damagewas too great to repair, and the palace was abandoned and later dismantled. Itis not known whether the fire was accidental, set by coastal raiders or part ofa more widespread period of disruption caused by the revolt of the 'British'emperor Carausius in the 280s AD.
The final phasepalace comprised four large wings with colonnaded fronts, forming a squarearound a formal garden. The north and east wings each consisted of suites ofrooms built around courtyards, with a monumental entrance in the middle of theeast wing. In the north-east corner was an aisled assembly hall. The west wingcontained state rooms, a large ceremonial reception room, and a gallery. Thesouth wing contained the owner's private apartments. The palace also includedas many as 50 mosaic floors, under-floor central heating and an integralbathhouse.
文章大意：主要讲的是对一个罗马宫殿的考察。第一段总述该宫殿的历史；第二段描述发现的经过；第三段对其建筑进行描写；第四段列举了关于该宫殿为谁而建的两种假说；最后段说明该地方现状。
答案：
填空题
- Save food for the army
- Surrounded by formal gardens
- Colors are added to mosaic floors
判断题
- The Fishbourne Roman Palace was the first building built on the site. NOT GIVEN
- Research is going on in this area. TRUE
- FALSE
- TRUE
- Scientists have reached agreement on whom the palace was built for. FALSE
- The palace was burnt down by local people. NOT GIVEN
填空题
10. The first part found was part of a wall.
11. One of the kings lived there until 93 AD.
12. His gold ring was foundthere.
13. A modern museum was builtto protect it.
第二篇：动物保护
第三篇：气候影响
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