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 | ||
The CanopusBuilt in a narrow valley, this area was designed to recall the Canopus canal, an arm of the Nile River between Alexandria and Abukir. Canopus was a port city on the Nile delta with a world-famous temple dedicated to Serapis. | ||
Looking toward the SerapeumThis area may have been used as a summer banqueting hall with less important guests arranged along the sides of the Canopus. See the Serapeum at the far end (south) of the Canopus. |
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Looking toward the ExedraA number of statues, mostly copies of Greek works (now copies in cement while the original copies reside inside) decorated the perimeter. |
The Carytids, copies of the Korai from the Erechtheon on the Athenian AcropolisThese female figures were flanked by silenus figures, who hold baskets on their heads, with the basket replacing a capital. (One Silenus has lost his basket and both have lost their arms!) Some scholars speculate that the carytids and Silenus figures once supported a pergola that was beautifully reflected in the water. | ||
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The Semicircular end with statuary--the so-called Ares and two Wounded Amazons--all copies of Greek originalsThis colonnade has alternating lintels and arches. This curvilinear portico is sometimes called "baroque" because of this stylistic exuberance. | ||
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| Center: Wearing a tall helmet, this figure has been identified as Ares, although Adembri identifies him as Hermes,"recognized by the caduceus, a typical attribute of the god, traces of which are apparent on his right arm" (88). The other Wounded Amazon is a copy of the Greek original by Polyclitus. | 
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Front and rear views of a copy of the Wounded Amazon by Phidias for the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus | ||
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According to Adembri, this is "the most complete copy known to us from the ancient world and although it is not entirely preserved, [it] has allowed researchers to reconstruct a composite sketch of the Greek original: conceived as a standing figure who leans upon a spear, in order to compensate for her weakness caused by a wounded leg" (89). |
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The crocodile, originally in cipollino marble, which is veined in a way suggesting the animal's hideOther sculpture around the Canopus include personifications of the Nile and Tiber, one a sphinx and the other the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus. This crocodile was probably part of a fountain since lead pipe was found between his jaws. Other sculptures discovered here are now in museums throughout Italy and Europe. | |
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