page_title: Roman ruins of Pisões
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Roman ruins of Pisões / History
caption_attribution_description: Roman Villa of Pisões, Portugal Roman villa, Pisões
context_page_description: The Roman Ruins of Pisões, is an important Roman villa rustica located in the civil parish of Beja in the municipality of Beja, in the Portuguese Alentejo, classified as a Imóvel de Interesse Público.
context_section_description: The urban villa dates back to the 1st century, and continued occupied until the 4th century, owing to the artefacts discovered on site that included ceramics, terra sigilata, friezes, glass, bronze and coins. The area, due to its fertile and abundant biodiversity made the location a viable site to develop a farm, support livestock and mine, products that support many of the local markets. Its occupation was discontinuace; apart from the Roman period, the discovery of two Visigothic capitals and the existence of black ceramics, indicate a period of cross-pollination at the site.
  A small altar, to the invocation of the goddess Hygieia, suggest the name of the family that occupied the residence, the Gaio Atílio Gordo clan. The building belonged to an agricultural enterprise, that supplied the Roman city of Pax Julia (today Beja) from the 1st to the 4th centuries with foodstuffs. Gaius Atilius Cordo,  whose name was found on an altar stone,  was one of its owners.
  The rustic villa was accidentally re-discovered in 1967, during the course of agricultural work, resulting in immediate archaeological investigations in the area.
caption: A part of the complex thermae at the site
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