“She [Hydra] was the mother of Chimaera who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion; in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire. Her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon slay.”.
Hesiod, Theogony, 320-325
The roman villa of La Loma del Regadío is located north of the municipal area of Urrea de Gaén. It consists of a 25-room building, with material evidences that give a chronology between the 1st century and the beginning of the 5th century.
An area of 1500 square meters has been preserved, distributed between the residential area (pars urbana), with 12 rooms decorated with mosaic pavements and wall paintings, and the production area (pars rustica or fructuraria), an array of buildings dedicated to the transformation of farming goods obtained from the territory under control of the villa (fundus). Among this facilities outstands a great pavilion dedicated to olive oil production, with 5 oil presses and their corresponding storage tanks, two molae oleariae to grind the olives, and two other storage tanks which could keep 17.850 litres together.
The residential area outstands for the finding of two mosaics. The first one paved the east gallery of the courtyard (peristylum) over an area of 80 square meters. It is made with small polychromatic stone pieces (tesselae) composing a geometric pattern.
The second mosaic is located in the main room of the residence (oecus). The composition displays a central scene (emblemata) interpreted as the fight between Bellerophon and the Chimera, a mythical theme much liked at the moment.
