Sperlonga

Place Description

Sperlonga is a maritime villa built at the end of the Roman Republic. It probably belonged to some very rich piscinarius, one of those extremely wealthy Roman patricians who took delight in creating their own fish ponds. The purpose might have been to always find fresh fish at their disposal, or, at least, so they said. Actually those Tritones piscinarum, as Cicero called them (CIC. Att. 2.1.6; 2.9.1), considered their piscinae more a status symbol than an industrial operation, and cherished their fishes more as pets than as tasty tidbits (VARR. r. r. 3.17.3).

Sperlonga, with its lavish decoration and its luxurious setting, was built by one of these tycoons. Built, yes, but by whom? When, in the middle of the last century, this villa was discovered, some scholars decided that it must have been Tiberius. Actually the only connection we could establish between the ancient emperor and this place is the fact that he nearly died while dining in the villa's colossal nymphaeum. At this time he was traveling from Capri to Rome and stopped at Sperlonga to rest. We read that he was there, on a small island set at the center of the fishpond, laying with his friends on mattresses placed around an elegant water triclinium (Fig. 91, A) set on a small island at the center of the fishpond. They were drinking, chatting and enjoying the splendid view of the statuary groups displayed in the nymphaeum when the entrance of the grotto crashed down in a historical landslide reported by both Suetonius (Tib. 39) and Tacitus (ann. 4.59) (Fig. 92). I can't imagine how this unfortunate dinner could place Tiberius as the owner and the creator of the spectacular grotto. However this is what some scholars assert and they still believe it.

I can't agree. For one thing we know that Tiberius disapproved of luxury. In Tacitus (TACITUS) we find the transcription of some of his speeches to the senate and we notice how harshly he attacked all the people who built luxurious villas and bought expensive statues to put in them. How could Tiberius censor his fellows countrymen for purchasing some marble copies of goddesses and heroes, while he himself was importing from Greece those monumental Hellenistic groups, and setting them in the seaside grotto of a more than sumptuous maritime residence? It was not logical, and for this reason we feel quite certain that Tiberius had no part in creating the Sperlongan art display.

However, are we sure that the villa didn't belong to the imperial praedia? No, we can't even deny this: Sperlonga could have entered Augustus' estate through a legacy. As a matter of fact we know that, on their death, many rich men used to leave their property to the emperor. Some of these tycoons and also some relatives of the Julio-Claudian family could easily have done this. We can't even forget that - as reported by Cicero (CIC. I cent. BCE) - Philip, Augustus' stepfather, was one of the most important and rich piscinarii of the first century BCE. Apart from this we can't say anything more.

Places

• Villa Tiberii (Pleiades:433204)