Villa di Livia

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Augustus statue from Prima Porta, now in the Vatican Museums

The Villa di Livia is located in the Roman district of Prima Porta ; in Roman times the place was called Ad Gallinas Albas (With the white hens). It originated at the end of the 1st century BC. BC and probably belonged to Livia , the wife of the emperor Augustus , and is therefore to be assigned to the 2nd style / architectural style of the Pompeian wall painting. The villa has not been completely excavated to this day, as the area is used for agriculture. Due to this fact, the building findings are endangered and are constantly being damaged.

Ad Gallinas Albas

Legend has it that a white chicken fell into the lap of Empress Livia in Augustus' country estate and it was dropped by an eagle. The chicken carried a branch of laurel in its beak, which was then planted. From this one laurel branch a laurel grove was created, from which the holy laurel branches of the emperors were cut. The offspring of the white hen were kept in the villa, which has been called "Villa ad gallinas albas" since then.

The wall paintings

Detail of the garden fresco

This building became known for the wall paintings in the garden room, which were discovered in 1863, finally removed in 1951 and brought to the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome. They completely enclose the room in plant and garden motifs and thus create a garden illusion.

The Augustus of Prima Porta

A marble statue of Augustus found here is an important testimony to both Roman art and its political instrumentalization. The statue is called Augustus von Prima Porta after the place of discovery and comparable portraits of the emperor are assigned to the Prima Porta type .

literature

  • Mabel M. Gabriel: Livia's garden room at Prima Porta . University Press, New York 1955.
  • Allan Klynne: The Prima Porta garden archaeological project. Terra sigillata from the Villa of Livia, Rome. Consumption and discard in the early Principate . Dissertation, Uppsala University 2002.
  • Gaetano Messineo (Ed.): Ad Gallinas Albas. Villa di Livia (Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Communale di Roma / Supplemento; Vol. 8). "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 2001, ISBN 88-8265-167-3 .
  • Jane C. Reeder: The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta. The underground complex and the omen of the Gallina alba . In: American Journal of Philology , Vol. 118 (1997), pp. 89-118, ISSN  0002-9475 .
  • Jane C. Reeder: The Villa of Livia "ad gallinas albas". A study in the Augustan villa and garden (Archaeologia Transatlantica; Vol. 20). University Press, Providence, RI 2001.
  • Salvatore Settis : La villa di Livia. Le pareti ingannevoli . Mondadori Electa, Milan 2008, ISBN 978-88-370-6204-0 .

Web links

Commons : Villa di Livia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali: Villa di Livia ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Italian) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archeoroma.beniculturali.it

Coordinates: 42 ° 0 ′ 9.5 ″  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 30.7 ″  E