2-368-754 - Samuel Magal/Sites & Photos/Heritage Images

The House of the Hunt, Bulla Regia, Tunisia. The House of the Hunt, which takes its name from a mosaic in the basement, evidently belonged to a wealthy citizen. It was constructed by combining and altering a number of small existing houses. The upper floor is badly ruined, but the basement, lying some 5m (16ft) below ground level, is well preserved. The rooms, laid out round a courtyard lined with Corinthian columns, include bedrooms (identified by the small mosaic-decorated platforms for the beds) and a large dining room (triclinium), also with a pavement mosaic. The bedrooms have an interesting air supply and ventilation system, with pipes built into the walls which communicate with an air shaft surrounding the rooms. The layout on the ground floor is similar, with two colonnaded courtyards, dining and living rooms, bedrooms and a small bath-house. Bulla Regia is an archaeological site in northwestern Tunisia, a former Roman city near modern Jendouba. It is noted for its Hadrianic-era semi-subterranean housing, a protection from the fierce heat and effects of the sun.