Hadrian’s Villa 9788843577194, 8843577190

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Texts by

Benedetta Adembri

Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali Soprintendenza Archeologica per i l Lazio

HADRIAN'S VILLA

Electa

Cover Hadrian's Villa, T h e Canopus

Translation E r i c De Sena

Reprint 2014 First edition 2000 © Ministero per i B e n i c le Attivita Culturali Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio An editorial realization by Mondadori Electa S.p.A., Milano www.electa\veb.com

Contents

8

Hadrian

20

The Architectural Plan of the Villa

48

The Rediscovery of the Villa

50

The Buildings o f Hadrian's Villa

52

Pecile

55

The Hundred Chambers

56

The Baths with Heliocaminus •

59

The Philosophers' Chamber

60

The Maritime Theater

63

Library Courtyard

63

The Libraries

65

The Hospitalia and Imperial Triclinium

67

Terrace and Tempe Pavilion

67

Imperial Palace

69

Building with Doric Pillars

70

Piazza d'Oro

77

The Guard Barracks

78

Building with a Fish Pond

80

Nympheum-Stadium

82

Small Baths

84

Grand Baths

86

Praetorium

87

The Canopus

101

Torre di Roccabruna

101

The Vestibule

102

Building with Three Exedras

106

Nympheum and the Temple of Venus

108

The Greek Theater

110

Bibliography

© Maritime Theater Thus named lor its form and decoration inspired by marine (hemes, this is a circular space with a diameter of about 2.> meters that is surrounded hy a canal. The theater was reached hy means of two portable bridges, which were later substituted hy a permanent cement structure. r

€> Piazza d'Oro This is a peristyle (porticocd courtyard) with a central pool and small gardens. The short ends laced the Vestibule to the north and a polygonal space to the south. The Piazza d'Oro is among the largest areas within Hadrian's Villa. It was probably used by Hadrian to receive his court and diplomats. €> Building with Tin •ee Kxcdras This chamber was probably a vovntitio, namely a dining room. The central space is rectangular, but beyond (he colonnade three of the four walls wen; characterized, on the exterior, by semicircular apses embellished by porlicocH; (be northern wall was substituted bv a monumental

© Pecile A massive courtyard surrounded by four porticoes. 232 meters long and 97 meters wide, its short ends were curved. The central water pool is 106 meters long and 26 meters wide. The north side was originally a porlicus miliaria, a portico, the length of which was planned according to the duration of after-dinner strolls advised by doctors. 0 The Baths Of modest proportions, the Small Baths were arranged around a central octagonal space that was illuminated by large windows. The Grand Baths were larger, but from an architectural point of view the plan was loss experimental. One of the most notable; areas of the baths was

the frigidarium.

The elongated pool located at the center of this area was intended to mimic the canal that led from the city of Alexandria to Canopus, a city set on the Nile delta: hence the name of the complex. A large exedra (with a diameter of 15 meters) linked the pool to the adjacent areas.

Hadrian

Hadrian's family tree.

Publius Aelius Hadrianus born in AD 76, probably i n Italica (near modern-day Seville), to a family originally from Hadria in Piceno which had moved to Spain in the region of Baetica. Following the premature death of his father, Hadrianus Afer, cousin of Trajan, Hadrian was taken under the latter's wing (Trajan was childless) and raised in his home. Always beside the emperor, Hadrian enjoyed a successful military career, demonstrating a particular aptitude in the use of weaponry and in planning military operations; so talented was he that Hadrian assumed the rank of Major in the army (AD 101-102). He was later nominated as a member of the plebeian t r i bune, became a praetor and eventually a governor: first in Pannonia (AD 107) and later, in AD 114 or 117, i n Syria. In fact, Hadrian was stationed in Antioch when he received word of Trajan's death (AD 117) and the election which made him emperor. His ascension to the throne was not without controversy: the fact that he was to assume the highest position of the state and especially because he had gained the favor of Trajan's wife Plotina, who, it was rumored, had been his lover and guided him in the choice of his own wife, did not save him from having to make a compromise with the Senate and increase the number of legions in order to maintain control of the army, which was so closely tied to his predecessor. We

ALBERO GENEALOGICO I LEGAMI FAMILIARI DELL'IMPERATORE ADRIANO (A. Caballos Rufino, Italica y lot ttalktmts, Sevilla, 1994, p. 186 e $$.) (M.vu>r/S)

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