Rome, Palatino, Casa di Livia: MRA-ITA-Rom189
Type Sample Item
Sample ID
- MRA-ITA-Rom189
Sample Material Type
- Plaster
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 4.3
- Width
- 1.6
- Height
- 1.7
Weight
- weight value (g)
- 14.8
Geographic Location
- Country
- Italy
- Place
- Rome
Site/monument
- Italy (ITA)
Rome
Palatino
Casa di Livia
Historical note about the site/monument
- The House of Livia (Casa di Livia) is a rich private domus from the 1st century BC, which has been attributed to Livia on the basis of the name Iulia Augusta found engraved in a lead pipe visible in the tablinum (reception room). The structure is composed of a quadrangular atrium surrounded by four spaces with mosaic flooring and painted walls dateable to around 30 BC, among the most important examples of the Second Style in Rome. The atrium’s back wall opens into the tablinum and the two symmetrical rooms on either side of the central tablinum. The atrium’s right wall leads to a fourth space interpreted as a triclinium (dining room).
The House of Livia is an important archaeological site on the Palatine Hill. The Palatine, rising 51 meters above sea level, is studded with archaeological sites and was a key place in the Roman historical imagination. It was here, the legend said, that the infants Romulus and Remus were rescued and raised by a she-wolf. These miracles were marked in ancient Rome by the construction of a vaulted sanctuary inside the hill itself in remembrance of the mother wolf’s den. The Palatine’s connection with the first royalty of Rome made it an attractive home for the affluent during the Republican period; Emperor Augustus made his residence on the hill, and part of Nero’s Domus Aurea was also located here. Other important archaeological sites on the Palatine include the Temples of Cybele and of Apollo Palatinus, Palace of Domitian, and the House of Tiberius.
Further reading:
Holloway, R. R. (2014). The archaeology of early Rome and Latium. Routledge.
Cerutti, S. M. (1997). The location of the houses of Cicero and Clodius and the Porticus Catuli on the Palatine Hill in Rome. American Journal of Philology, 118(3), 417-426.
Claridge, A., Toms, J., & Cubberley, T. (2010). Rome: an Oxford archaeological guide. Oxford University Press.
Chronological period (sample)
- Roman period