An effective approach to the study of Roman provincial houses is to examine how global architectural trends influenced the residential architecture of local urban elites. In the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus and Cyrenaica (Libya), which formed part of the Ptolemaic kingdom during the Hellenistic period, provide a typical example of this phenomenon. The House of Orpheus in Nea Paphos (Cyprus), which represents both a typical and a distinctive example of regional residential architecture, provides a good example to start from. Its architecture is rooted in the Hellenistic housing tradition but also exhibits architectural features (e.g. private baths) and decorative elements (e.g. a particular type of Corinthian capital), that emerged and became widespread during Imperial times. Similar global phenomena, though producing different local results, can be observed in urban houses in Cyrenaica. This paper endeavours to identify the glocal aspects of housing in these provinces, as well as the local responses that developed within a global framework.
