DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0236
142 THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME.
ascertained by recent excavations to have been a semi-circular
terrace with fountains and a round temple in the centre [Melanges,
1913, 261). The so-called Poecile is believed to have been built in
imitation of that at Athens described by Pausanias, and decorated
with copies of the celebrated paintings by Polygnotus which existed
in the Greek example. The remains consist of an immense wall
750 feet in length with a portico on each side, of which the travertine
bases on which the columns stood still exist in situ, as also the
marble panelling of the lower portion of the walls. The west end
of it is supported by enormous arched substructions. The portico
probably served for walking or driving under in sun or rain1 and the
open space (in the centre of which was an open basin for water) was
probably a garden in the favourite shape of a hippodrome.
Between the Libraries and the Poecile, the planes of which
form an obtuse angle, there is a large circular building (Plate
LXXVII) which seems to have been designed to connect the two.
Within the circular wall of the enclosure was a peristyle, and in the
centre (with a tank of water round, 3 feet deep, and originally with
two movable small bridges across) are the foundations of a structure
which, Lanciani thinks, was a pavilion to which Hadrian could
retire when he desired to be alone (generally known as the Teatro
Marittimo)2, while Hulsen prefers to consider it an aviary, pointing
out that it corresponds to Varro’s description, and to the recon-
struction after this description by Ligorio.3 To the east of it was
a series of rooms heated by hypocausts, with a south and west
exposure, which may provide an example of a heliocaminus (the
name has often been wrongly applied to another part of the villa),
i.e., a place in which the sun’s warmth might be used for thera-
peutic purposes.
To the south of the Poecile is a hall with three semi-circular
recesses (interesting as the prototype of the Christian cellae trichorae),
which recent excavations have shown to be a triclinium for summer
use—once very elaborately decorated, but now much damaged.4
To the east is the so-called Stadium, with a rectangular court to
1 The fact that its length is one-seventh of a Roman mile strongly confirms
this view (Hulsen in Jahrbuch des Instituts, xi (1896), Anzieger, 47).
2 There is no better ground for the name Sala dei Filosofi, applied to the
hall to the south-east of it.
3 Cf. Blondel in Melanges Ecole Franc, i (1881), 63 ; and Schultze in Mem.
Amer. Acad., ii (1918), pi. 6.
4 A careful restoration is given by Chilman in Mem. Amer. Acad., iv (1924),
103 sqq.
ascertained by recent excavations to have been a semi-circular
terrace with fountains and a round temple in the centre [Melanges,
1913, 261). The so-called Poecile is believed to have been built in
imitation of that at Athens described by Pausanias, and decorated
with copies of the celebrated paintings by Polygnotus which existed
in the Greek example. The remains consist of an immense wall
750 feet in length with a portico on each side, of which the travertine
bases on which the columns stood still exist in situ, as also the
marble panelling of the lower portion of the walls. The west end
of it is supported by enormous arched substructions. The portico
probably served for walking or driving under in sun or rain1 and the
open space (in the centre of which was an open basin for water) was
probably a garden in the favourite shape of a hippodrome.
Between the Libraries and the Poecile, the planes of which
form an obtuse angle, there is a large circular building (Plate
LXXVII) which seems to have been designed to connect the two.
Within the circular wall of the enclosure was a peristyle, and in the
centre (with a tank of water round, 3 feet deep, and originally with
two movable small bridges across) are the foundations of a structure
which, Lanciani thinks, was a pavilion to which Hadrian could
retire when he desired to be alone (generally known as the Teatro
Marittimo)2, while Hulsen prefers to consider it an aviary, pointing
out that it corresponds to Varro’s description, and to the recon-
struction after this description by Ligorio.3 To the east of it was
a series of rooms heated by hypocausts, with a south and west
exposure, which may provide an example of a heliocaminus (the
name has often been wrongly applied to another part of the villa),
i.e., a place in which the sun’s warmth might be used for thera-
peutic purposes.
To the south of the Poecile is a hall with three semi-circular
recesses (interesting as the prototype of the Christian cellae trichorae),
which recent excavations have shown to be a triclinium for summer
use—once very elaborately decorated, but now much damaged.4
To the east is the so-called Stadium, with a rectangular court to
1 The fact that its length is one-seventh of a Roman mile strongly confirms
this view (Hulsen in Jahrbuch des Instituts, xi (1896), Anzieger, 47).
2 There is no better ground for the name Sala dei Filosofi, applied to the
hall to the south-east of it.
3 Cf. Blondel in Melanges Ecole Franc, i (1881), 63 ; and Schultze in Mem.
Amer. Acad., ii (1918), pi. 6.
4 A careful restoration is given by Chilman in Mem. Amer. Acad., iv (1924),
103 sqq.