Included on this site are the following areas of the villa: page 1: the Pecile and the Heliocaminus Bath page 2: areas of or near the Imperial Palace, including the Building with Doric Pillars page 3: Maritime Theater page 4: Philosophers' Chamber and Greek and Roman Libraries page 5: Piazza d'Oro page 6: Building with Fishpond and Large Baths page 7: Praetorium, Small Baths and Vestibule, Nymphaeum with three Exedra page 8: the Canopus page 9: the Serapeum and the Temple of Venus | ||
| All of the buildings on this page are northeast of the Pecile. See the map. | ||
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Exterior of the Philosphers' ChamberBecause scholars believe the seven niches (only 6 are visible in the photograph below) contained statues of philosophers, this apsidal chamber was given this modern name. This structure adjoins the Pecile on one side and the Maritime Theater on the other. |
Interior of the Philosphers' ChamberThis room was richly embellished with a porphyry walls and floor and with a coffered ceiling. It is suggested that the room was used for important council meetings and that the niches would then have held imperial family sculpture. |
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The Imperial Palace |
The Greek Library | ||
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The Latin Library | ||
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It is by no means certain that either of these buildings were libraries--their traditional designation based on the fact that they had niches, presumably for scrolls. They have also been interpreted as "summer triclinia, due to their orientation toward the north where the garden lies; as towers that indicated the dwelling place of the emperor, . . . or, more recently, as the monumental entrance to the palace" (Adembri 64). |
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