DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0205
DOMUS: AUGUSTIANA
161
which cuts through still earlier buildings. It was first excavated in
1724, and drawings of the paintings on its walls were made (Mitt. 1895,
257-260 ; HJ 90, n. 117, who thinks it may have formed part of the
older domus Augustiana ; PBS vii. p. 58, Nos. 3, 4 ; Egger, Krit.
Verzeichniss der Handzeichnungen in Wien, Nos. 110-113). It was in
turn destroyed by the construction of a water-cistern with five chambers,
to which Boni (JRS 1913, 246-247, cf. YW 1912, 11) wrongly referred
the statement of Suetonius, Nero 31 : ‘we are told by Suetonius
that Nero caused sea-water to be brought from the sea to the Palatine,’
which really concerns the domus Aurea. Finally Domitian sunk his
foundations through the whole group of buildings when he raised
the general level of this part of the imperial palace (ZA 202, 203, 205).
Under the ‘ lararium ’ Boni discovered the remains of a house of
the first century b.c., which he wrongly attributed to Catiline, below
which were terra-cottas of two still earlier houses (third and fifth
century b.c.). The lower floor, accessible by a staircase, and originally
lighted mainly from the north-east (where, under the foundations of the
platform of the palace, other remains may still be seen), consists of a
number of small rooms, with paintings of a transitional period between
the first and second Pompeian styles, in which columns have begun
to make their appearance, and there is an attempt at perspective.
The pavements are of simple mosaic. One room also has a fine
lunette with two griffins in high stucco relief. Scanty remains of the
pavements of the upper story may be seen some 6 feet below the level
of the floor of the ‘ lararium ’ ; in some cases marble pavements have
been laid over them (JRS 1913, 248 ; ZA 204).
The portion of the site to the south-west of the triclinium lies
outside the main group. On the upper level are two apsidal halls
lying side by side, also belonging to the time of Domitian, and by some
supposed to be restorations of his day of the Greek and Latin libraries
of the temple of Apollo, the orientation of which they follow (JRS
1914, 204).
Halfway down the hill, and built against it, is a group of chambers
of the same period with a semicircular exedra in the centre, in front
of which is a row of columns. Below the line of columns the excava-
tions have not been completed, and the plan is therefore uncertain—
for a room belonging to the lower floor, see PBS viii. 91-103. The
only information we have is from the numerous inscriptions scratched
on the walls. The fact that in one of the larger rooms a list of valuable
garments occurs, makes it likely that the building served for the
keepers of the imperial robes. In two of the smaller and darker rooms,
however, the phrase exit de paedagogio occurs several times. Paeda-
gogium might well be interpreted as a euphemism for prison (cf.
Garrucci; Graffites de Pompei (Paris 1856), pls. 12. 25, 30, 31 ; Storia
dell’ Arte Cristiana vi. 135-140 ; Ann. d. Inst. 1857, 276 ; 1882, 217 fl.;
A.D.R, j.
161
which cuts through still earlier buildings. It was first excavated in
1724, and drawings of the paintings on its walls were made (Mitt. 1895,
257-260 ; HJ 90, n. 117, who thinks it may have formed part of the
older domus Augustiana ; PBS vii. p. 58, Nos. 3, 4 ; Egger, Krit.
Verzeichniss der Handzeichnungen in Wien, Nos. 110-113). It was in
turn destroyed by the construction of a water-cistern with five chambers,
to which Boni (JRS 1913, 246-247, cf. YW 1912, 11) wrongly referred
the statement of Suetonius, Nero 31 : ‘we are told by Suetonius
that Nero caused sea-water to be brought from the sea to the Palatine,’
which really concerns the domus Aurea. Finally Domitian sunk his
foundations through the whole group of buildings when he raised
the general level of this part of the imperial palace (ZA 202, 203, 205).
Under the ‘ lararium ’ Boni discovered the remains of a house of
the first century b.c., which he wrongly attributed to Catiline, below
which were terra-cottas of two still earlier houses (third and fifth
century b.c.). The lower floor, accessible by a staircase, and originally
lighted mainly from the north-east (where, under the foundations of the
platform of the palace, other remains may still be seen), consists of a
number of small rooms, with paintings of a transitional period between
the first and second Pompeian styles, in which columns have begun
to make their appearance, and there is an attempt at perspective.
The pavements are of simple mosaic. One room also has a fine
lunette with two griffins in high stucco relief. Scanty remains of the
pavements of the upper story may be seen some 6 feet below the level
of the floor of the ‘ lararium ’ ; in some cases marble pavements have
been laid over them (JRS 1913, 248 ; ZA 204).
The portion of the site to the south-west of the triclinium lies
outside the main group. On the upper level are two apsidal halls
lying side by side, also belonging to the time of Domitian, and by some
supposed to be restorations of his day of the Greek and Latin libraries
of the temple of Apollo, the orientation of which they follow (JRS
1914, 204).
Halfway down the hill, and built against it, is a group of chambers
of the same period with a semicircular exedra in the centre, in front
of which is a row of columns. Below the line of columns the excava-
tions have not been completed, and the plan is therefore uncertain—
for a room belonging to the lower floor, see PBS viii. 91-103. The
only information we have is from the numerous inscriptions scratched
on the walls. The fact that in one of the larger rooms a list of valuable
garments occurs, makes it likely that the building served for the
keepers of the imperial robes. In two of the smaller and darker rooms,
however, the phrase exit de paedagogio occurs several times. Paeda-
gogium might well be interpreted as a euphemism for prison (cf.
Garrucci; Graffites de Pompei (Paris 1856), pls. 12. 25, 30, 31 ; Storia
dell’ Arte Cristiana vi. 135-140 ; Ann. d. Inst. 1857, 276 ; 1882, 217 fl.;
A.D.R, j.