The Horti Liciniani [1] was a luxurious complex of an ancient Roman villa with large gardens and outdoor rooms originally belonging to the gens Licinia. It was located in Rome on the Esquiline Hill between via Labicana and via Prenestina, close to the Aurelian walls. They bordered the Horti Tauriani to the north and the Horti Pallantiani and Horti Epaphroditiani to the west.
Lucullus started the fashion of building luxurious garden-palaces in the 1st century BC with the construction of his gardens on the Pincian Hill, soon followed by Sallust's gardens between the Quirinal, Viminal and Campus Martius, which were the largest and richest in the Roman world. In the 3rd century AD the total number of gardens (horti) occupied about a tenth of Rome and formed a green belt around the centre. The horti were a place of pleasure, almost a small palace, and offered the rich owner and his court the possibility of living in isolation, away from the hectic life of the city but close to it. A fundamental feature of the horti was the large quantity of water necessary for the rich vegetation and for the functioning of the numerous fountains and nymphaea. The area was particularly suitable for these residences as eight of the eleven large aqueducts of the city reached the Esquiline.
The Horti Liciniani took their name from the Licinia family (gens), who owned them. In the 3rd century, the Horti Liciani were owned by the Emperor Licinius Gallienus, [2] himself a member of the gens . Latin historians say that the emperor loved to reside here with his entire court, which indicates that it must have been a very large and rich complex.
On the top of the Esquiline Hill Gallienus planned to erect a colossal statue depicting himself in the guise of the invincible Sun god, but the work was never completed. [3] The arcus Gallieni (Arch of Gallienus) still stands at the Esquiline gate. [4] The Palatium Licinianum (palace) stood near the site of the present church of Santa Balbina.
The 4th-century domed nymphaeum that survives, long miscalled a "Temple of Minerva Medica", is believed to have been part of the gardens.
Various artistic finds and statues have been found in the area starting from the 16th century, [5] [6] confirming the vast artistic collection of the Horti Liciniani. These included Venus, Aesclepius and one of Athena (thought to be Minerva) with the snake (symbol of medicine) from which the name derives.
Between 1875 and 1878 the feverish post-unification development of Rome into an urban capital city and of the new Esquiline district revealed ancient buildings, perhaps belonging to the palace, near the nymphaeum, as recorded by Rodolfo Lanciani. A number of remarkable sculptures earlier than the nymphaeum were found reused in and around it, notable of which are statues of two magistrates launching the circus games, perhaps Quintus Aurelius Symmachus [7] and his son Memmius Simmacus [8] (in the Palazzo dei Conservatori), who were important in late 4th century Rome. Others are a bust of Manlia Scantilla, [9] wife of the emperor Didius Julianus, some capitals with columns and Bacchic reliefs and a relief with the "forge of Vulcan".
In 1904 a large mosaic floor with hunting scenes belonging to a long portico of the horti and dated to the early 4th century was found during the construction of the railway underpass. It was in excellent condition, but only 3/5 was removed because the rest remained under the railway tracks. It remained in a warehouse for decades and was "rediscovered" recently and since 1997 it has been exhibited in the Centrale Montemartini museum. [10]
The Domus Aurea was a vast landscaped complex built by the Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city.
The Esquiline Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the Oppius.
The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing on the central trapezoidal piazza in a plan conceived by Michelangelo in 1536 and executed over a period of more than 400 years.
Esquilino is the 15th rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. XV, and is Located within the Municipio I. It is named after the Esquiline Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
Santa Bibiana is a small Baroque style, Roman Catholic church in Rome devoted to Saint Bibiana. The church façade was designed and built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who also produced a sculpture of the saint holding the palm leaf of martyrs.
The Gardens of Sallust was an ancient Roman estate including a landscaped pleasure garden developed by the historian Sallust in the 1st century BC. It occupied a large area in the northeastern sector of Rome, in what would become Region VI, between the Pincian and Quirinal hills, near the Via Salaria and later Porta Salaria. The modern rione is now known as Sallustiano.
The Pincian Hill Italian: Pincio[ˈpintʃo]; Latin: Mons Pincius) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical centre of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of the ancient city of Rome, and was not one of the Seven hills of Rome, but it lies within the wall built by Roman Emperor Aurelian between 270 and 273.
The Athena Giustiniani or Minerva Giustiniani is a Roman marble statue of Pallas Athena, based on a Greek bronze sculpture of the late 5th–early 4th century BCE. Formerly in the collection of Vincenzo Giustiniani, it is now in the Vatican Museums.
The Gardens of Maecenas, or Horti Maecenatis, constituted the luxurious ancient Roman estate of Gaius Maecenas, an Augustan-era imperial advisor and patron of the arts. The property was among the first in Italy to emulate the style of Persian gardens. The walled villa, buildings, and gardens were located on the Esquiline Hill, atop the agger of the Servian Wall and its adjoining necropolis, as well as near the Horti Lamiani.
The Esquiline Venus, depicting the goddess Venus, is a smaller-than-life-size Roman nude marble sculpture of a female in sandals and a diadem headdress. It is widely viewed as a 1st-century AD Roman copy of a Greek original from the 1st century BC. It is also a possible depiction of the Ptolemaic ruler Cleopatra VII.
The Porta Esquilina was a gate in the Servian Wall, of which the Arch of Gallienus is extant today. Tradition dates it back to the 6th century BC, when the Servian Wall was said to have been built by the Roman king Servius Tullius. However modern scholarship and evidence from archaeology indicate a date in the fourth century BC. The archway of the gate was rededicated in 262 as the Arch of Gallienus.
The Horti Lamiani was a luxurious complex consisting of an ancient Roman villa with large gardens and outdoor rooms. It was located on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, in the area around the present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. The horti were created by the consul Lucius Aelius Lamia, a friend of Emperor Tiberius, and they soon became imperial property. They are of exceptional historical-topographical importance. Along with other ancient Roman horti on the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills, they were discovered during the construction work for the expansion of Rome at the end of 1800s.
The Temple of Minerva Medica is a ruined nymphaeum of Imperial Rome which dates to the 4th century CE. It is located between the Via Labicana and Aurelian Walls and just inside the line of the Anio Vetus. Once part of the Horti Liciniani on the Esquiline Hill, it now faces the modern Via Giolitti. It was once thought to be the temple to Minerva Medica mentioned by Cicero and other sources.
The Domus Transitoria was Roman emperor Nero's first palace damaged or destroyed by the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, and then extended by his Domus Aurea.
The Palace of Justice, colloquially nicknamed il Palazzaccio, is the seat of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Judicial Public Library of Italy. It is located in the Prati district of Rome, facing Piazza dei Tribunali, Via Triboniano, Piazza Cavour, and Via Ulpiano.
Hermathena or Hermathene was a composite statue, or rather a herm, which may have been a terminal bust or a Janus-like bust, representing the Greek gods Hermes and Athena, or their Roman counterparts Mercury and Minerva.
The Regio V Esquiliae is the fifth regio of imperial Rome, under Augustus's administrative reform. Regio V took its name from the Esquiline Hill. It contains parts of the Oppian Hill and Cispian Hill and of the Esquiline, plus the plain just outside the Servian Wall.
The Horti Spei Veteris, later called Horti Variani, was a luxurious and important palace-estate, eventually the residence of Emperors, on the Esquiline hill at the south eastern corner of ancient Rome and covering an area of 12,000 m2.
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