Name
Zaccaria Mari
Organisation Name
Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio

Season Director

  • AIAC_50 - Antinoeion - 2003
    During work conducted in 1998 in the so-called "Grande Vestibolo" of Hadrian's Villa, facing the Cento Camerelle, a vast semicircular exedra was discovered connected to a fence and to two rectangular structures. This is a complex architectural arrangement in which coexist hydraulic elements, the art of gardening, and marble decorations. Among the finds of exceptional importance are those in Egyptianizing style, such as a fragment of a seated statue of the pharoah Rameses II (1290 - 1224) and various fragments of sculpture of humans and animals. The two rectangular structures are believed to have been two temples situated one in front of the other, decorated with precious marble, also in Egyptianizing style. This was certainly a cult place tied to the Egyptian world, probably dedicated to the Bythinian love of the emperor Hadrian - Antinoos - who drowned in the Nile in the year 130 and was subsequently divinized. The latter may be testified by the innumerable finds of statues of Antinoos-Osiris. The complex is interpreted therefore as a true Antinoeion datable to the years around AD 135.

Season Team

  • AIAC_51 - Cosiddetta Tomba - 2003
    L'intervento di pulizia e l'indagine di scavo hanno avuto come oggetto il monumento circolare noto come il "Sepolcro" o la "Tomba", situato ai margini settentrionali del complesso di Villa Adriana, fra Piazza d'Oro e gli Inferi. L'edificio, da sempre rimasto visibile, è stato riprodotto nella pianta Ligorio-Contini del 1668 e nella pianta generale della Villa di Francesco Piranesi del 1781, piante grazie alle quali siamo a conoscenza di dettagli architettonici oggi perduti. La struttura, accessibile attraverso un' angusta porta arcuata, è composta da un corridoio anulare illuminato da finestrine a gola di lupo e da una piccola camera centrale coperta da una cupola. Bolli di età adrianea (anni 123-124 d.C.) in opera, frammenti di colonne di ordine dorico, oltre alla presenza nei pressi di una grossa porzione di epistilio curvo, spingono ad escludere che si tratti di un monumento funerario preesistente la costruzione della Villa, secondo l'interpretazione tradizionale che dell'edificio veniva fornita. Esso doveva essere piuttosto un padiglione o un sacello munito, almeno in una fase, di colonnato marmoreo, accessibile per mezzo di due scale, come si è potuto vedere in seguito alle indagini. L'analisi delle murature ha evidenziato che il monumento subì un radicale intervento di modifica nel corso della tarda età adrianea.
  • AIAC_51 - Cosiddetta Tomba - 2004
    During this campaign investigation continued of the circular monument (the so-called Sepolcro or Tomba) and a new excavation was undertaken on a nearby rectangular building which was probably a small temple with a frontal flight of steps. As regards the so-called Sepolcro, the trench opened in 2003 was completed and partly enlarged and trenches were put in above the central circular space of the building which removed parts of the apparent tumulus. These investigations clarified various aspects of the monuments history: the floor levels around the building had been completely destroyed, the light well was built in the same phase as the construction of the drum, the flight of steps was built up against a buttress, the structure present on the opposite side of the monument is certainly modern and the peristyle reconstructed by Piranesi around the drum is in reality situated above it. These elements, together with an accurate survey of the structure provide the basis for the first hypothetical reconstructions of the plan and walls. During the next campaign it is planned to extend the excavation around the Sepolcro and partially remove the deposit covering the drum. This will enable the investigation of the central space, which must surely have a decorative marble pavement and statues or sculpted decoration. (Alessandro Betori-Zaccaria Mari)
  • AIAC_8 - Arcinazzo Romano - 1999
    The villa rises to ca. 900 m. in height at the foot of the mount Altuino, in the area of Altipiani di Arcinazzo. Previously investigated in 1955-60, it has been excavated again by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio beginning in 1999. The villa was reached by the ancient via Prenestina and the via Valeria-Sublacensis, and is attributed to Trajan thanks to water pipes which carry the imperial title and are datable to AD 97-102 and AD 114-115. In the Roman period the area was populated with a rich and variegated fauna (wild boar, stags, bucks, porcupines, bears, lynxes, etc.), hunted not only for imperial banquets, but also for circus shows. The villa occupies a stretch of five hectares and is organized on two large plateaus arranged on different levels. The building technique employed in the walls is that of opus mixtum of reticulatum and bands of bricks. The lower plateau was endowed with a front structure that served the functions of belvedere tower, service and storage rooms. The internal space was delimited by painted porticoes and pavements in large sheets of white marble. The architectonic décor was very rich judging from the base of the transenna, the columns of white marble, and their capitals, the echinus of which was decorated with ovules of the type of Trajan's Column. The garden inside the porticoes contained a series of fountains, unfortunately no longer extant following the destructive excavations of the past centuries. A large triclinium was found on an elevated floor facing toward the garden. It was decorated with fountains, small columns, colored marbles and polychrome mosaics. Open-air atria and a series of other rooms which probably housed persons of rank opened onto the sides of the triclinium. These rooms were paved in opus sectile, and were richly decorated with polychrome mosaics and stuccoes. Completing this group of rooms were cubicula and service spaces that permitted access to the upper spaces. The recent excavations suggest that the most ancient pipes, dating between AD 97-102, are related to the first phase of construction of the villa, onto which was joined, between AD 114 and 120, the larger building. It is possible that the architect of this monument was Apollodorus of Damascus, official architect of Trajan. (Zaccaria Mari)

Publication Authors