Schedule:
9 a.m. to 14:30 p.m.
Hours to welcome and teach visiting students:
9:30 a.m. to 14:00 p.m.
Days:
from Tuesday to Friday. On Monday the centre will be closed to the public, due to the organizational and administrative tasks of the Domus, since the Theatre, the Forum and the Museum of Sagunto are all closed that day.
LaThe Domus Baebia offers schools a very open and dynamic experience, depending on the time of the visit and the number of students. A wide range of activities and workshops are available, and the schools can choose up to two workshops along with a tour (itinera) of Sagunto’s museum, theatre, forum, the Domus dels Peixos (Domus of the Fishes), the Via Portici and the Museum of Greco-Roman Scenography.
The Domus welcomes students of all ages, from Elementary and Secondary education, to High School, Professional Development and University students.
Maximum number of students: 50. (groups with such a high amount of students may be required to split the group in two, some of them doing workshops and some others going to the itinera tour).
Individual price per workshop and student: 3 €.
Individual price for itinera tour: 2 €, (with the exception of the Domus dels Peixos and the Via Porticus, which cost 1 € each of them).
Application: You are required to fill the following application form
Application deadlines:
the Domus staff will contact the applicant schools, informing them whether their application has been accepted, and fixing the number of visiting students and teachers, as well as the available workshops for the day and hour of their visit.
The activities to be performed in the Domus and the places to visit in the itinera tour will be discussed and agreed between the Domus and the visiting school centres.
In this link we present the educational offer for the 2023/24 academic year with the list of activities and prices.
In this link you will find the technical sheet of each of the didactic workshops that we offer this academic year.
In the Saguntina Domus Baebia we think of teaching workshops as historical reenactments, bringing back the lives of the people who lived in the town of Sagunto back in 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. We know them with great detail thanks to the inscriptions kept in the town.
The gens Baebia was a prominent family of Saguntum, headed by the pater familias, Lucius Baebius Hispanus, who will lead us during our reenactment through Roman daily life, culture, politics and religion.
Along with Lucius, we shall approach Ancient Culture to the students who visit the Domus Baebia, letting them witness first-hand the daily routine of the members of the Baebia family (religious rituals, banquets, celebrations, work, etc.).
It is important to bear in mind that the historical characters who guide us in these workshops were fully real, and thus, the relationships between them are historical too (with the exception of Baebia Fulvia, daughter, and Oppia and Eros, who are a couple). There are so many characters precisely because we wanted each one of them to be represented in the many workshops we offer in the Domus.
The great Baebia family is composed by men, women and children of all ages. They are the ones who will explain us the genuine characteristics of their age and the rituals related to growing up and maturing: birth, childhood, the acquisition of the manly gown, marriage, political career, work, and finally, the old age.
In this workshop, we focus either on childhood or marriage, depending on the visiting school’s preferences. In both cases, students learn first-hand how rituals of the epoch were. Finally, participants elaborate either a birthday ring, or a wedding ring.
In this workshop we will witness the job of metalsmith Marcus Caecidius, aurifex of the Via Sacra of Rome. Through the work of the city’s craftsmen, the students will know everything about the extraction of materials, the tools and techniques of an artisan, and will see replicas of precious jewels of ancient Rome.
The activity will consist of the elaboration of a small piece of Roman jewelry.
Popilia Rectina will be our protagonist here. Her inscription is located in the stairs of St. Mary’s Church in Sagunto, and she was Voconio Romano’s wife, and passed away being only 18 years old.
Along with her, we will visit Roman thermae (hotsprings), where we shall learn about ancient hygiene and the secrets of beauty.
Students in this workshop of hygiene and cosmetics will prepare smelling salts using essential oil.
The auriga (charioteer) of the red factio, Eutyches, whose inscription is located in the city of Tarragona, will explain us how circus races were, what factiones were, and their composition. We will reenact a chariot race, describing everything about a factio, a charioteer, and the importance of teamwork. We shall finish our race preparing a palm of victory, symbol of glory and fame.
Lucius Baebius Fulvius, the oldest son of the Baebi, will run in the elections to town councillor. His role model is his father-side uncle, Marcus Baebius Crispus, a good connoisseur of Politics. His experience in several election campaigns will help us understand the intricate world of Roman institutions and judicature, and how it worked.
In this workshop, students will represent different judicatures, and will elaborate the well-known SPQR in various formats and materials.
Our protagonist here is Grattia Maximilla, domina (mistress) of the Domus Baebia. We know her thanks to an inscription held in MAM museum, in the town of Onda. Along with her, we will organize a perfect Roman banquet, with its menu, service, lounge, etc.
Near the end of the banquet, students will prepare a culinary amulet, using all the food that had a symbolic or magic importance for Romans. Students can also make smelling salts, following the recipe of ancient gastronomer Apicius.
Our host in this workshop is Lucius Aemilius Gallus, pontifex. In Sagunto’s museum we can find his inscription on the pedestal of a statue depicting a man wearing a toga. Thanks to this information, we know that Lucius’s parents were named Severa and Lucius and that he completed the whole cursus honorum in Sagunto. Among all positions that he occupied, we are most interested in his role as Pontifex. Thus, from Lucius we will learn about the dies fasti and the dies nefasti, as well as about ceremonies and religious festivities.
Students will be taught about the methods to measure time using clocks, calendars, festivities, and the duties of a Roman senator on a daily basis. Near the end, students will craft a sundial.
Baebia Megale is our main character here. Her inscription is missing, but we do keep an illustration of sneaks and six-petal flowers, which some researchers have related to god Dionysius.
This freed woman will invite students to witness the relation between social hierarchy and clothing in Rome, and to experience it first-hand by wearing themselves ancient clothes. Near the end, students will make a leather bulla, an amulet for children and teenagers.
Along with servus (servant) Balbus we shall visit a Saguntinian pottery workshop, named Materno. There, we will learn the process to make ceramic, from the extraction of materials and their preparation, to the potter’s techniques, etc. In the end, students will have the chance to decorate their own ceramic plate, just as ancient Greeks did.
To know more, you can go to these teaching materials or to this teaching notebook.
Our host here is called Perissoterus and he is a mosaic artist who came from Greece. He made a mosaic in the Roman city of Italica (Sevilla), in which we can read the artist’s name. For our reenactment, we shall consider Perissoterus a travelling artist who is hired by the Baebia family to make the mosaic of Dirce, found in Sagunto.
Students will learn the process and techniques to elaborate a mosaic in Antiquity. Near the end, they will make their own little mosaics following the opus tessellatum style, but with nowadays materials.
To know more, you can go to these teaching materials or to this teaching notebook.
Accompanied by the best friend of Baebia family’s eldest, Marcus Acilius Fontanus, whose inscription is located in the History Museum of Sagunto, we will grasp how the Roman Army worked: from enlistment process, to training, equipment, offensive and defensive weaponry, etc.
After learning everything about Roman military world, students will make their own portable board of noughts and crosses.
Marcus Baebius Crispus, whose inscription is in Sagunto’s Museum, will guide us during this workshop.
Students will learn how daily life was for gladiators: their traineeship in the academy, their armour, armatura, their fighting techniques, and their fate in combat, through a symbolic re-enactment of a gladiator fight.
Students will make an original bookmark with an ancient Roman graffiti of a gladiator.
In this workshop, our host will be Oppia Montana. Her inscription is kept in Sagunto’s Museum and is remarkably beautiful, especially considering it’s made of Paro’s yellow marble. During our re-enactment, Oppia is a nursemaid who takes care of the family’s children from their birthday to adolescence; she loves them as if they were her own children. Oppia will share with us the mythical tales she used to entertain the younglings.
Making use of the stories of the Olympic gods, students will roleplay as the gods themselves, creating their own Olympus.
Our main character, Lucius Aelius Caerialis, whose life we know from an inscription of Sagunto’s Antiquarium, will explain us how education was in Rome, and which methods they used.
Students will learn how to write with Roman technics and tools: calamus et papyrus, imitating ancient Roman typography, typical of Pompeian graffities.
Based on Saguntinian inscriptions, we introduce students to the daily life of the Baebia family.
In this workshop, students will get to know all the members of the Baebia Saguntina family, from the pater familias to the family’s loyal slave. All students will dress as Roman citizens and roleplay as different members of the Baebia family (who is who will depend entirely on the whims of Goddess Fortuna).
To learn more about the Baebi Sguntini, please click on this link
Our priest augur Marcus Tettienus explains us which rituals are necessary to bless the foundation of a city. He will also introduce us to the common architecture of Roman cities: aqueducts, bridges, thermae, markets, sewage system, etc.
With the students, we will roleplay as the founders of a brand new city, learning the corresponding rituals. The workshop will end with the minting of commemorative coins (badges) to celebrate the birth of the new city.