The neighbouring apartments are smaller,
and are likely to have been more private.
The raised platform at one end perhaps once supported a couch,
and the room may have been used
in a comparable way to the cubicula of the Pompeian houses.
Despite the unusual basement design,
the mosaic decoration, columns and the use of the Corinthian style,
all give this area a familiar Roman atmosphere.
It seems that the owner of the house was trying hard
to create an impression of symmetry in Roman fashion.
Other houses in the city also reveal Roman influence.
In the house of the New Hunt,
an elaborate mosaic shows a wealthy man on horseback,
accompanied by servants or slaves,
and hunting wild animals,
especially the African lion, once common in this province.
The decorative border shows other, perhaps more common game animals.
The mottled panel mimics the variegated pattern of a marble slab,
echoing the wall painting of Ephesus.
These hunt scenes parallel those from Pompeii.
It seems that there was a shared conception,
both of how a wealthy man should spend his leisure time
and the way his house might appropriately be decorated.
Mosaics from other houses
also reveal the influence of other parts of the empire.
This mosaic includes a philosophical motto
exalting the reader to be hopeful, if he or she had the education to read it.
This basement dining room is decorated with a mosaic carpet,
depicting a divine image.
Possibly once again the scene in Amphetrite, wife of Poseidon
and herself the female personification of the sea.
This mosaic can be read at different levels.
The fish surrounding the main figures
evoke a world of abundance and luxury.
The cupids evoke a general ambience of Greco-Roman mythology.
While for those with some education in that culture,
the image of Amphetrite herself would recall the myth
in which she was said to have fled to North Africa.
The story must've had a particular resonance
for the inhabitants of this area.
A further mosaic in the corridor outside,
shows the bust of a woman.
Could she be the owner of the house?
Unlike the house of the Hunt,
the basement of this house does not have an open court.
Instead, the rooms lead off an enclosed hall,
approached from the ground floor via a flight of steps.
As at Pompeii,
the houses at Bula Regia are built on a variety of plans,
even though they contain common elements,
such as basement dining rooms.
The house of Fishing has an even more complex layout.
Rooms connected by enclosed corridors,
which run around the underground courtyard.
This small rectangular court is furnished with a fountain.
The sound of cascading water would've echoed
around the surrounding colonnades in summer,
helping the occupants of the underground rooms to feel cool,
and the evaporating water
may have helped to counteract the dry summer heat.
A neighbouring room is decorated with images of a fish and cupid,
and the sea creatures he aims to catch,
giving the house its name.
There's much that we'll never know
about the people who once lived in these houses,
but the way they organised and decorated their living space,
does tell us something about the identities
and cultural affiliations they wanted to create for themselves.
The decorative schemes they chose signified their shared interests
in various aspects of Greco-Roman culture,
including hunting wild animals,
and enjoying Greek literature and mythology.
At the same time, the use of axial building plans
and colonnaded courts in Corinthian style,
link the houses of Pompeii and Africa,
with the public roles played by the buildings of Roman cities...
..while the houses of Ephesus seem to have remained essentially private,
in the Greek tradition.