VIDIECKE VILY V LISTOCH RÍMSKYCH ARISTOKRATOV

The article deals with literary descriptions of particular rural Roman villas in the letters of Seneca, Plinius Secundus, and Sidonius Apollinaris. The special attention is devoted to the relationship between descriptions of the villas in the letters, and the real material evidence searched by archaeologists. In the article, the main aesthetic and sociological concerns that Roman aristocrats associated to their luxury country estates are examined. Also some terminological, chronological, and geographical specifications of the Roman country houses as presented in the correspondence of the Roman aristocrats are analysed.