Via Giovanni Giolitti 409
Built in the fourth century AD
Grandiose structure maybe formerly part of the HORTI LICINIANI (Gardens of Licinius) of the emperor Licinius Gallienus (253/268) according to Filippo Coarelli
According to Federico Guidobaldi it was rebuilt for Constantine (306/337) with bricks marked with dates of the time of Maxentius (306/312) and used for the private sector of Costantine’s PALATIUM SESSORIANUM, the large urban residence of Constantine and his family
Unusual plan with ten sides and a diameter of 25 m (82 feet)
The polygonal-shaped DOME gradually assumes an hemispheric aspect
Is often mistakenly considered a nympheum or a fountain
Among the statues found here:
A “Minerva with serpent” called “Athena Giustiniani” now in the Vatican Museums that gave the arbitrary name to the building
“Two judges in place to launch a small sack to start the races in the circus”, “Statue of dancing satyr” and “Statue of Dionysus with a panther” now on display at the Centrale Montemartini, together with the mosaic “Hunting Scenes” found in the vicinity and in part still incredibly buried under rail tracks
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