Hadrian's Villa

History

The villa was constructed near Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) as a retreat from Rome for Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD. Hadrian is said to have disliked the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, leading to the construction of the retreat. It was traditional for the Roman emperor to have constructed a villa as a place to relax from everyday life. Previous emperors and Romans with wealth had also constructed villas (e.g. Villa of Trajan). Though emperors' villas were supposed to be a place of rest and leisure, there is some evidence of Hadrian conducting official duty from the villa in the form of an inscription of an official letter sent from the villa in the summer of 125 AD.

Hadrian began construction on the villa early in his career as emperor, though brick stamp evidence shows us that construction of the villa was ongoing.

After Hadrian, the villa was used occasionally by his various successors (busts of Antoninus Pius (138–161), Marcus Aurelius (161–180), Lucius Verus (161–169), Septimius Severus and Caracalla have been found on the premises). Zenobia, the deposed queen of Palmyra, lived near the villa from 273 until she died. The villa was restored by Diocletian during the final decades of the third century.

The first documented rediscovery of the villa was by Historian Biondo Flavio in the late 15th century who brought its attention to Pope Pius II whose writings on the villa in his Comeratti began to pique architectural interest in the villa. In the 16th century, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este had much of the remaining marble and statues in Hadrian's Villa removed to decorate his own Villa d'Este located nearby.

Structure and architecture

The complex of the villa contains many structures from different cultures. For example, the villa has a small river running through it which relates back to the Egyptian Nile river. The villa contains several Greek figures called Poikilos. All surviving written evidence of Hadrian's Villa in ancient writing is from the Historia Augusta, which describes how Hadrian named rooms of the villa after various significant locations within the Roman Empire (the Lyceum, the Academy, Hades) and these continue today to be the terms scholars use to describe sections of the villa.

The architecture goes beyond the mere naming of its structures after places and monuments seen by Hadrian on his extensive travels across the empire. Certain buildings clearly attempt to recreate specific features of landscapes or architecture that had personal significance for the emperor.

Thus, the area known as the Canopus, named after the Egyptian city and a section of the Nile which leads to the city, features a long, stately reflecting pool representing the Nile. It is a large open-air dining area with a covered triclinium with a huge stibadium (a semicircular masonry couch) located in an enormous domed exedra overlooking the lake. This area's sculptural program is the most complete including copies of famous sculptures including the caryatids of the Erechtheion, a statue depicting the Egyptian dwarf and fertility god Bes, and a crocodile.

The Antinoeion

In 1998 a new section of the villa, named by scholars the Antinoeion, was rediscovered. This area is located on the main road leading to the grand vestibule. The discovery of a large concrete foundation has been used as evidence of the original location of the Antinous Obelisk which is now located on the Pincian Hill in Rome. Some scholars have argued that this evidence is proof of Antinous' tomb being located on the villa. This has been challenged by scholars who argue that the area instead was a highly Egyptianized nypheum. The Antinoeion is just one example of Egyptianization of the villa. Artwork such as the crocodile of the Canopus and the statue of Osiris-Antinous show the prevalence of this orientalist aesthetic in the villa.

Sculptures and artworks

A lifelike mosaic depicted a group of doves around a bowl, with one drinking, seems to be a copy of a work by Sosus of Pergamon as described by Pliny the Elder. It has in turn been widely copied. Artworks found in the villa include:

• Statue of Osiris-Antinous, Vatican Museum
• Discobolus
• Dove Basin mosaic, copy of a famous Hellenistic mosaic, Capitoline Museums
• Diana of Versailles, Louvre
• Crouching Venus
• Capitoline Antinous
• Young Centaur and Old Centaur (Capitoline versions)

Significance

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Hadrian's Villa as a World Heritage Site in 1999. The designation specified the boundaries of the site and created a buffer zone around it in which no new construction was permitted. In 2011, the communal government of Tivoli announced plans, later cancelled, to build a waste dump in the vicinity of the villa and approved the construction of public housing on 120,000 sq. meters within the buffer zone. At its 36th Annual Meeting, UNESCO formally addressed these encroachments on the site. While they commended the Italian government for its decision to abandon the construction of a waste dump in the Corcolle area, the committee requested the government "to inform the World Heritage Centre in due time about any major development project planned in the buffer zone of the property, including the housing development at Comprensorio di Ponte Lucano, for which a Heritage Impact Assessment should be included, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, before any irreversible commitment is made." UNESCO also requested "the State Party to submit . . . an updated report on the state of conservation of the property," by February 2014, reflecting concerns over the deterioration of the exposed ruins.

The reasons for making the villa a World Heritage Site are: it is a masterpiece that brings together the material culture of the Mediterranean world, it inspired the Renaissance and baroque period, it inspires the modern world as well, and the villa is an exceptional survival of the early Roman Empire.

In 2019, UNESCO designated Hadrian's Villa as a site with special immunity from wartime activity due to its profound symbolic value. In 2021 February, archaeologists led by researcher Rafael Hidalgo Prieto from the Pablo de Olavide University announced the discovery of remains of Hadrian's breakfast room which used to show his imperial power. They revealed a structure as a water triclinium and a separate dining room that served as a model for the well-known Serapeum.

"The emperor wanted to show things that would overwhelm the visitor, something that had not been seen anywhere else in the world and that exists only in Villa Adriana" said Prieto.

Gallery

File:The circular temple dedicated to the Venus of Cnidus, Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (15167492616).jpg|The Temple of Venus File:Le nymphée du palais (Villa Adriana, Tivoli) (5889202532).jpg|The Nymphaeum File:Lazio Tivoli2 tango7174.jpg|The Maritime theatre File:The Three Exedras, Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (37425691864).jpg|The Three Exedras File:The Casino with Semicircular Arcades, Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (33613295823).jpg|The Casino File:Centaur mosaic - Google Art Project retouched.jpeg|"Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" mosaic was made for the dining room of Hadrian's Villa (120–130 AD). Altes Museum Berlin, Germany File:Bust Antinous Hermitage (GR-4220).jpg|Bust of Antinous Hermitage Museum

References

References

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