DRAFT

The Canopus gardens (Fig. 1, n. 2)

Contributor: Joshua Rosenheim
Published: 2021-04-21
Modified: 2025-06-29

Province

Region

Region IV

Location

Location Description

DESCRIPTION

Villa Adriana, erected by emperor Hadrian at the beginning of the II cent. A.D., occupies a vast area of 126 hectares. It was a beautiful estate strategically located near Tivoli and, at the same time, not very far from Rome (WINNEFELD 1895; KÄHLER 1950; AURIGEMMA 1961; RAKOB 1973; BROWN 1964). Prior to the Hadrianic settlement, an ancient villa, dating back to the late republican time, already stood there. Probably it belonged to Hadrian's family and, as a matter of fact, many scholars think that Hadrian chose this estate as the ideal one because he already knew the place and was attached to it (LUGLI 1927). Certainly he preserved and restored the original building and made it the nucleus of his private quarters.

The realization of this magnificent residence must have been a cherished dream of Hadrian, and he must have planned it long before becoming an emperor. This is the only way to explain how the works for its construction began immediately after his election and his return to Rome in 118 A.D. Hadrian died in 138 A.D. when his ideal residence was nearly completed. Nearly, because there was still some work to be done. Some important halls of the Great Baths were not finished, and the model for a Stadium, found among the ruins of his last building-yard in the quarters of the stonecutters (CAPRINO 1996-97; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1992-93, p. 73; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 2000, pp. 144-147), was never brought to the unknown place where Hadrian had planned to build it. The Emperor's death put an abrupt end to all activities, and some of the gardens he planned to create, and for which fountains and pavilions had already been built, were never done or, if ever they were completed, seem to have been soon abandoned (SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1992-93, pp. 000-000). As a matter of fact after him Villa Adriana was only partially lived in by his successors and was solely used for occasional visits. It became just one of the many country houses pertaining to the imperial praedia. Some of the existing gardens (Fig. 1), the ones nearer to the center of the residence and the monumental ones, were maintained and irrigated up to the end of the Roman Empire, a fact which is now proved by the concentration of extractable lead found in their soil, and which is due to the use of lead pipes for irrigation (FOSS ET ALII 1990; FOSS 1989-90; FOSS 1992; TIMPSON ET ALII 1994; FOSS, SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1996). As a consequence of Hadrian's death, some others sites, which he had planned to be attractive and important, got no irrigation at all, thus their soil contains only a minimal quantity of extractable lead, about the same amount that is ordinarily found in modern agricultural fields.

Garden

The Canopus gardens (Fig. 1, n. 2)\

Keywords

Garden Description

The Canopus (Fig. 2 and 3) is perhaps the most important of all Villa Adriana's gardens (JASHEMSKI, SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1987-88, pp. 152-162, fig. 11-15; JASHEMSKI, SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1992, pp. 579-585, tavv. I-IV; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1998, pp. 374-383, fig. 9-13; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 2000, pp. 323-324, fig. 80-81, 87, 134-135). It was set at the principal entrance through which Hadrian's important guests were introduced when they came to visit the emperor. Thus the breathtaking view of the Canopus was the first impression visitors received entering this imperial residence. Their glance ran along the narrow valley set at the South side of Villa Adriana's principal entry. An imposing waterway occupied all its length (Fig. 4). Columns and white marble statues reflected themselves in its blue water, and two statuary groups, both representing Scylla in the act of killing Ulysses' mates, emerged from the canal. It was here that Hadrian held his most important receptions and the banquets that, from time to time, he offered to his subjects (MART. 8.49; 9.91). As in ancient Rome dinner began around two o' clock p.m., and as, at this moment, the sun was still very high and very hot, a portico ran along the eastern bank offering its shade to those guests who had to dine on the sunny side (Fig. 2, A). On the opposite one, which was already protected by the hill, there was no portico (Fig. 2, B), but four beautiful copies of the Erecteum's Caryatids and of two Sylens were set on the canal's edge and were reflected on the water (SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1987, pp. 175-178, figs. 13-20, 35-37). The spectacle was superb: the golden color of the portico's columns, fashioned in the yellow marble of Shimtou, stood out against the green of the well-cut hedges of box-tree that bordered the lowest part of the valley (SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 2000a), while high terraces rose at its two sides scaling the surrounding hills (Figg. 4 and 5) To complete the landscaping, a monumental exedra, (Fig. 6) and two elegant pavilion set at its sides (Figg. 2. D and D1 7) decorated the end of the valley (Fig. 2, C). In the old times the exedra was coated with polished marbles and multicolored mosaics. Some of its niches hosted imposing statues and large waterfalls flowed by other ones, while back, at the end of a central long gallery, a powerful cascade fed the outlying waterway (Fig. 2, E). Nothing could have been more pleasant and at the same time more imposing than the Canopus.

Then excavations in the valley showed the existence of two long flower beds that were set on the two side of the canal (Fig. 8) and in them both we and the Danish archaeologists found amphoras cut in two and with large holes on their sides to let the plant kept in them to branch their roots in the soil and remain strong and flourishing. Our probes are marked on the plan (Fig 2. m; n; o; p; q).

Plans

Plan of the gardens at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 1: Plan of Villa Adriana, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Plan of the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 2: The Canopus plan, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Autocad rendering of the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 3: Autocad rendering of the Canopus, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Isometric plan of the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 5: Isometry of the Canopus, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.

Images

Photograph of the canal at the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 4: The canal at the Canopus, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Photograph of the central gallery at the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 6: The central gallery at the Canopus, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Photograph of the lateral pavilion at the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 7: The lateral pavilion at the Canopus, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Photograph of the excavation at the Canopus at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 8: The excavation at the Canopus, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.

Dates

Built between 118 and 138 CE

Excavation Date

unspecified

Bibliography

  • H. Winnefeld, Die Villa des Hadrian bei Tivoli, Berlin 1895, p. 154. (worldcat)
  • H. Kähler, Hadrian und sein Villa bei Tivoli, Berlin 1950. (worldcat)
  • S. Aurigemma, Villa Adriana, Roma 1961. (worldcat)
  • F. Rakob, "Der Bauplan einer kaiserlichen Villa," in W. Hartmann (ed.), Festschrift K. Langheit, Bönn 1973, pp. 113-125. (worldcat)
  • F. E. Brown, "Hadrianic Architecture," in L. F. Sadler (ed.), Essays in Memory of Karl Lehmann, New York 1964, pp. 55-58. (worldcat)
  • G. Lugli, "Studi topografici intorno alle antiche ville suburbane. VI. Villa Adriana. A. - Una villa di età repubblicana inclusa nelle contruzioni imperiali," Bullettino della Commissione archeologica Comunale di Roma 55, 1927, pp. 139-204. (worldcat)
  • C. Caprino, "Plastico marmoreo di uno stadio nella Villa Adriana a Tivoli," Rivista dell'Instuto nazionale di archeologia e storia dell'arte 3 s., 19-20 (1996-97), pp. 113-151. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Nascita e sviluppo di Villa Adriana," Atti della Pontificia Accademia romana di archeologia: Rendiconti 65, 1992-93, p. 73. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, Villa Adriana: il sogno di un imperatore, Roma 2000, pp. 144-147. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, J. T. Ammons, M. E. Simmons, S. Y. Lee, R. C. Minter, "Genesis of soil developed in volcanic tufa at Hadrian's Villa near Rome," Agronomy Abstracts ASA, Madison WL 1990, p. 291. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, "Appendice. Soils of Hadrian's Villa," in E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Il sistema di irrigazione della Piazza d'Oro," Atti della Pontificia Accademia romana di archeologia: Rendiconti 62 (1989-90), pp. 151-157. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, "Appendice. Soils of Hadrian's Villa," in W. F. Jashemski, E. Salza Prina Ricotti "Preliminary Excavations in the Gardens of Hadrian's Villa: the Canopus Area and the Piazza d'Oro" American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 96, No.4 (Oct. 1992), pp. 595-597. (worldcat) (jstor)
  • M. E. Timpson, J.E. Foss, R. J. Lewis, C. A. Stiles, "Soil interpretation of some Roman archaeological sites in Italy and Tunisia," 15th Int. Congr. of Soil Science, Vol. 6b, 1994, pp. 172-173. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Lead Pipes Use in Ancient Roman Irrigation System and Content of Pb in the Soil of Archaeological Sites," Bulletin of the Metals Museum, Vol. 26 (1996-II), Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan, pp. 33-47. (worldcat)
  • W. F. Jashemski, E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "I giardini di Villa Adriana: rapporto preliminare," Atti della Pontificia Accademia romana di archeologia: Rendiconti, Vol. 60 (1987-88), pp. 152-162, fig. 11-15. (worldcat)
  • W. F. Jashemski, E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Preliminary Excavations in the Gardens of Hadrian's Villa: the Canopus Area and the Piazzo d'Oro," American Journal of Archaeology 96, 1992, pp. 579-595. (jstor)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Adriano: architettura del verde e dell'acqua," in Horti Romani, Atti del Convegno Internazionale, a cura di M. Cima, E. La Rocca, Roma 1998, pp. 363-399, fig. 9-13. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, Villa Adriana: il sogno di un imperatore, Roma 2000, pp. 323-324, fig. 80-81, 87, 134-135. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "The Importance of Water in Roman Garden Triclinia," in Ancient Roman Villa Gardens (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection), Dumbarton Oaks 1987, pp. 175-178, fig. 13-20, 35-37. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Vasi da fiori," in Adriano Architettura e progetto, Milano 2000, pp. 202-203. (worldcat)

Places

Explore the places containing this garden: