DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57734#0123
felt himself safe and indulged in the abominations attri-
buted to him by his contemporaries, but also have de-
voted himself unobserved to the nocturnal studies with
Thrasyllus.
The walls still remaining on the ground floor
running from west to east to which reference is now
made, and which once supported the superstructure now
under discussion, run from 1.70 to 1.90 metres in thick-
ness, whereas those running parallel alongside of them
are only 1.20 metres thick. This fact alone demands
that it should be unhesitatingly taken into consideration
in dealing with a re-construction, for it points indispu-
tably to a higher elevation above these mighty walls
and thereby furnishes us simultaneously with those
additional rooms which were still wanting to the per-
fecting of the palace, namely the storey required to
be reserved as the sleeping-quarters of the solitary,
distrustful emperor and conveniently near, above such
dormitory, the observatory needed for his astrological
and superstitious researches.
Although, owing to the light needed for the peri-
style, the palace only stood two storeys high on the
eastern side, it rose on the western side to the height
of 4 storeys, of which the two uppermost, being
reduced in size, had each its own terrace in front,
similar to that which is shown to have been the case
with the large four-storey terrace-houses on the south
side of Pompeii (see Weichardt’s “Pompeii before its
destruction”).
And, as in Rome, too, four-storeyed houses were
by no means uncommon and as, furthermore, the
representations of palatial buildings on Pompeiian wall-
paintings also show that many storeys were not unusual,
there is no valid objection to raise against the lofty
silhouette of the Villa Jovis presented in this work.
When one takes into consideration that beneath
the ground-floor, corresponding with the sloping bed
of the rock, towards the south-west stood a basement-
119
buted to him by his contemporaries, but also have de-
voted himself unobserved to the nocturnal studies with
Thrasyllus.
The walls still remaining on the ground floor
running from west to east to which reference is now
made, and which once supported the superstructure now
under discussion, run from 1.70 to 1.90 metres in thick-
ness, whereas those running parallel alongside of them
are only 1.20 metres thick. This fact alone demands
that it should be unhesitatingly taken into consideration
in dealing with a re-construction, for it points indispu-
tably to a higher elevation above these mighty walls
and thereby furnishes us simultaneously with those
additional rooms which were still wanting to the per-
fecting of the palace, namely the storey required to
be reserved as the sleeping-quarters of the solitary,
distrustful emperor and conveniently near, above such
dormitory, the observatory needed for his astrological
and superstitious researches.
Although, owing to the light needed for the peri-
style, the palace only stood two storeys high on the
eastern side, it rose on the western side to the height
of 4 storeys, of which the two uppermost, being
reduced in size, had each its own terrace in front,
similar to that which is shown to have been the case
with the large four-storey terrace-houses on the south
side of Pompeii (see Weichardt’s “Pompeii before its
destruction”).
And, as in Rome, too, four-storeyed houses were
by no means uncommon and as, furthermore, the
representations of palatial buildings on Pompeiian wall-
paintings also show that many storeys were not unusual,
there is no valid objection to raise against the lofty
silhouette of the Villa Jovis presented in this work.
When one takes into consideration that beneath
the ground-floor, corresponding with the sloping bed
of the rock, towards the south-west stood a basement-
119