Shrine with simple plan and only two rooms with parts in opus reticulatum (reticulated work) of the Augustan period (27 BC/14), but almost entirely rebuilt in concrete covered with bricks by Hadrian (117/138)
Some
scholars have mistakenly identified it with the Auguratorium, the place
where the priests known as Auguri, in charge of forecasting the future,
used to take the so called auspices before a major event, observing the flight
of birds facing southeast
Instead, it
is probably the SACELLO DI VICTORIA VIRGO (Shrine of Victoria Virgo) built in
193 BC by Marcus Cato Porcio next to the Temple of Victory
In the
foundations an earlier archaic shrine was found, made out of big square blocks
of “cappellaccio” stone, covered by a late-Republican concrete construction,
probably corresponding to the ancient Sacello di Iuno Sospita (Shrine of Juno
Sospita)
Eighteen
rooms in concrete covered with bricks dating around the age of Nero (54/68)
On the VAULTS
there are remains of fresco paintings, unfortunately very damaged, dated around
the third century AD
The
numerous graffiti led to suppose that it was a sort of service areas, perhaps
intended for guards
Here was
found the beautiful statue of Charis now in the Palatine Museum
Next to the
House of Livia there are two circular tanks close together dating back to the
archaic period
House
attributed to Livia, wife of Augustus, after the discovery of some lead pipes
with the inscription Iulia Augusta
It was
excavated in 1869 by Pietro Rosa for Napoleon III
The house
is datable to the first century BC, but at least two different phases of
construction have been recognized: 75/50 BC for the walls in opus
reticulatum (concrete covered with bricks) and about 30 BC for the
paintings
All rooms have remains of mosaic floors in simple black and white colors
The access
to the dwelling, located at a lower level compared to the surrounding
buildings, is down a HALLWAY with a black and white mosaic floor, which leads
to a room known as ATRIUM with two pillars supporting the roof
It is more
likely, however, that the true atrium was the so-called ROOM H where there are
maybe elements of the impluvium (rectangular flat-bottomed tank to
collect rainwater) surrounded by cubiculi (small bedrooms)
On the end
side there are THREE ROOMS of which the central one is larger than the lateral
ones, while on the right end side of the atrium there is maybe a triclinium
with a fresco of landscape and an imageless symbol (betilo) of Diana
The TABLINUM
in the center is the most important room from the pictorial point of view, even
if the frescoes have faded, and it is difficult to clearly see the images
These
paintings have been classified as belonging to an advanced stage of the
second Pompeian style
The wall on
the right is divided into three by a portico with Corinthian columns resting on
high bases
The central
aedicula depicts “Io, beloved by Jupiter, freed by Mercury from Argo's
captivity”, a copy of a famous painting by Nikias. The girl sits at the foot of
a column supporting a statue, while there are Argo on the right and Mercury on
the left
On the wall
on the left “Open window overlooking a busy city with various street scenes”
In the
central panel of the wall “Nymph Galatea of the sea horse as she fled from
Polyphemus”
In the HALL
TO THE RIGHT OF THE TABLINUM still stands out the wall decoration on the left,
in square panels, with festoons of leaves, flowers and fruits from which rural
symbols hang
In the
upper part there is a beautiful frieze on a yellow background, faded now, with “Scenes
of Egyptian Life”
In the HALL
TO THE LEFT OF THE TABLINUM walls are decorated with a system similar to the
one of the other two rooms, with columns and pilasters on a lower part of fake
marble, without any scene representing figures
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