DRAFT

The so-called Throne Hall garden (Fig. 1, n. 17)

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 so-called Throne Hall garden (Fig. 1, n. 17)

Keywords

Garden Description

The so-called "Throne Hall" (MACDONALD, PINTO 1995, pp. 78-81), was not a throne hall at all (Fig. 46). It was a garden (JASHEMSKI, SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1987-88, pp. 154-156, figs. 9-10; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1998, p. 366, fig. 2; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 2000, pp. 325-330, figs. 111-113). A probe (Fig. 46, A), in the peristyle cleared that here there was no flooring. Another probe (Fig. 46, B), revealed instead the existence of two flowerbeds (Fig. 46, C), dug in the tufa, and enclosed by low walls of irregular blocks of stone, roughly set together by a poor mortar. Even a small flowerpot was found in the northern flowerbed (Fig. 47). By its small size and its shape, it revealed to have contained some small plant of the kind called by Pliny "viola"(Fig. 48). The garden was crossed in the middle by a central alley: a large path (Fig. 46, P) that led to a podium (Fig. 46, S) set in an ample apse. Today both these two elements are in very bad condition The remains of the apse are scarcely higher than the basis of a series of niches, which - Penna says - were decorated by chunks of pumice tinged with green and bluish hues to imitate the grottoes' rocky walls, a typical decoration for a garden nymphaeum. Today the podium, that was set in the middle of the apse, is quite wrecked. Once it must have been lined with marble but today only the concrete of its basement is left (Fig. 49).

However the presence of the podium and the fragments of the red marble suggests that all this arrangement was created to expose some particularly beautiful piece of sculpture. As a matter of fact, chunks of a red marble statue (a Faun's tail, and a piece of a goat's skin) have been found here. This suggests the presence of a third statue of Faun with a goat, similar to the two that have already been found at Villa Adriana. Unfortunately, the way in which the remains have been broken, and the vicinity of some kilns where many pieces of sculpture were reduced to chalk, makes us think that nothing more will be found. It is a pity, because this statue, probably brought back by the emperor's in 125 A.D., must have been an outstanding piece of sculpture.

It is evident that this peristyle-garden was clearly designed to give a scenographic view of the masterwork (Fig. 50) to people staying in the Doric Pilasters' Hall.

Plans

Plan of the gardens at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 1: Plan of Villa Adriana, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Plan of the Throne Hall garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 46: Plan of the Throne Hall garden, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Reconstruction of the Throne Hall garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 50: Reconstruction of the Throne Hall garden.

Images

Photograph of the unearthing of a flower pot in the Throne Hall garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 47: Finding a flower pot.
Credit: Courtesy of Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Photograph of the flower pot found in the Throne Hall garden at Hadrian's Villa, in its modern state
Fig. 48: The flower pot found in the Throne Hall garden, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Photograph of the concrete basement remaining from the ruined Podium in the Throne Hall garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 49: The concrete basement remaining from the ruined Podium in the Throne Hall garden, 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. L. Macdonald, J. A. Pinto, Hadrian's Villa and Its Legacy, Yale University 1995, pp. 78-81. (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. 154-156, figs. 9-10. (worldcat)
  • 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, p. 366, fig. 2. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, Villa Adriana: il sogno di un imperatore, Roma 2000, pp. 325-330, figs. 111-113. (worldcat)

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