Old town | Late antique Irene (Eiphnh) building

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Late antique Irene (Eiphnh) building

The Late Antique Irene Building was unearthed during rescue archaeological excavations, carried out in the centre of Plovdiv in 1983–1984. It is located in the centre of modern-day Plovdiv, to the northeast of the Forum and in close proximity to the Bishop’s Basilica. The building, together with parts of the ancient street network, is preserved and displayed in situ in a modern-day pedestrian underpass named Archaeological.

The late antique residential building occupied two-thirds of an insula (block) in the centre of ancient Philippopolis and had a representative part and domestic quarters. The representative part, a peristyle courtyard, surrounded by porticos and several rooms with polychrome mosaic floors, dates back to the 4th–5th centuries.

With a total area of 160 sq.m, the mosaics depict various geometric ornamental patterns full of floral and figural representations. A series of greeting inscriptions guide the visitor from the entrance hall, through the portico, to the triclinium and the tablinum. The floor of the banquet hall (triclinium) is covered with a lavishly ornamented polychrome mosaic, whose focal point is a female image, a personification of the goddess Irene, bearing the inscription EIPHNH.

The polychrome mosaic floors were laid in opus tessellatum with natural stone tesserae in different colours. The only exception is the Irene image, which was laid in opus vermiculatum with smalt tesserae. The remains of a glass and smalt melting kiln, discovered in the peristyle courtyard, provide key evidence of the mosaic workshop practice.

The mosaics date back to two basic periods of construction. The one in the triclinium belongs to the first period. The ones in the entrance hall, the southern and eastern portico and the tablinum (reception room) were laid later. The mosaics depict mostly geometric patterns, peculiar to Late Antiquity in the eastern Roman provinces. According to the paleographic investigation of the inscriptions, the earliest one, made around the second half of the 4th century, is the EIPHNH inscription on both sides of the female image. The greeting inscription at the entrance to the triclinium appeared about 30 years later, following a reconstruction of the mosaic floor. At the same time, an octahedral piscina (basin) was constructed, supplied with running water. The latest inscription, laid in the mid-to-late 5th century, is the one in the entrance hall. The name Desiderius mentioned in it can be interpreted as the name of the owner, and the contents of the inscription as a greeting.

Evidence of the important place and the role the owner of the Irene Building played in the life of Philippopolis is provided by the cardo street that was specially built alongside the construction of the Bishop’s Basilica as a direct connection between the two buildings. The Late Antique Irene Building is believed to have functioned as a residence of the Bishop of Philippopolis.

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