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47-651: From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Romans along the most panoramic points of the coast, who had chosen the area as a favourite vacation spot. The remains of some of these, around the imperial pleasure villa of the Roman emperors , as well as the Tunnel of Sejanus can be seen today in the Parco archeologico del Pausilypon , or Pausilypon Archaeological Park, and elsewhere. Posillipo

94-560: A freedman , was born in the 1st century BC and attained membership of the equestrian order. Vedius Pollio's first certain appearance in historical sources comes after Octavian (later Augustus) became sole ruler of the Roman world in 31 BC; at some point Vedius held authority in the province of Asia on behalf of the emperor. For a mere equestrian to govern this province was anomalous, and there were presumably special circumstances; Vedius' term of office could have been in 31–30 BC before

141-472: A stamped water pipe . In various points the presence of water supply pipes (coated with hydraulic mortar) show the opulence of the facilities. The George Vallet Archaeological museum in Sorrento has a model of the villa. Access for visitors to the ruins of the imperial villa is currently through the Tunnel of Sejanus. The extraordinary 770 metre-long Grotta di Seiano or "cave of Sejanus" passes beneath

188-635: A "villa" by modern scholars. Two kinds of villas were generally described: Other examples of villae urbanae were the middle and late Republican villas that encroached on the Campus Martius , at that time on the edge of Rome, the one at Rome's Parco della Musica or at Grottarossa in Rome, and those outside the city walls of Pompeii which demonstrate the antiquity and heritage of the villa urbana in Central Italy. A third type of villa

235-697: A breeze. Villas were centres of a variety of economic activity such as mining, pottery factories, or horse raising such as those found in northwestern Gaul . Villas specialising in the seagoing export of olive oil to Roman legions in Germany became a feature of the southern Iberian province of Hispania Baetica . In some cases villas survived the fall of the Empire into the Early Middle Ages ; large working villas were donated by aristocrats and territorial magnates to individual monks, often to become

282-530: A further anecdote: Publius Vedius, earlier, had left some items with Vindulus, who meanwhile had died. Vindulus's heir later examined the items and found five portrait-busts of married ladies, including the noted patrician Junia Secunda . Cicero took these to be trophies of Vedius' sexual conquests, and, while highly praising her publicly, in correspondence he criticized her for the indiscretion and her husband and brother for their lack of awareness of her conduct. But an affair, if it did occur, may have been with

329-477: A grand statement against immoral luxury made even at the emperor's own cost. Scott notes that in replacing the house with a public monument Augustus merely "carried out the terms of the will", and argues that any suggestion he wished to censure Vedius's memory may have been mere "gossip". Also in the 1st century AD, Vedius's story was used by the philosopher Seneca the Younger and the encyclopedist Pliny

376-435: A pool of lampreys into which slaves who incurred his displeasure would be thrown as food, a particularly unpleasant means of death, since the lamprey "clamps its mouth on the victim and bores a dentated tongue into the flesh to ingest blood". However, the emperor, Augustus , on visiting Pollio and witnessing the condemnation of a slave, took action against Pollio and saved the slave, an incident widely documented in writings of

423-410: A position of authority in the province of Asia . In later life, he became infamous for his luxurious tastes and cruelty to his slaves – when they displeased him, he had them fed to " lampreys " that he maintained for that purpose, which was deemed to be an exceedingly cruel act. When Vedius tried to apply this method of execution to a slave who broke a crystal cup, Emperor Augustus (Pollio's guest at

470-525: A similar founding. As late as 698, Willibrord established Echternach Abbey at a Roman villa near the city of Trier (now Echternach in Luxembourg ) which Irmina of Oeren , daughter of Dagobert II , king of the Franks , presented to him. Vedius Pollio Publius Vedius Pollio (died 15 BC) was a Roman of equestrian rank, and a friend of the Roman emperor Augustus , who appointed him to

517-679: A sister, Junia Prima . Vedius died in 15 BC. Among his many heirs, Augustus received a large part of Vedius's estate, including his villa at Posillipo, along with instructions to erect a suitable monument on the site. The emperor demolished at least part of Pollio's house in Rome and constructed in its place a colonnade , the Porticus of Livia in honour of his wife, which he dedicated in 7 BC. Vedius's treatment of his slaves and Augustus's conduct towards him became popular subjects for anecdotes in antiquity. During or shortly after Augustus's reign, Ovid praised his demolition of Vedius's house as

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564-416: A while, the friendship of Augustus, in whose honour he built a shrine or monument at Beneventum . On one occasion, Augustus was dining at Vedius' home when a cup-bearer broke a crystal glass. Vedius ordered him thrown to the lampreys, but the slave fell to his knees before Augustus and pleaded to be executed in some more humane way. Horrified, the emperor had all of Vedius's expensive glasses smashed and

611-554: Is a rocky peninsula about 6 km long surrounded by cliffs with a few small coves with breakwaters at the western end of the Bay of Naples. These small harbours are the nuclei for separate, named communities such as Gaiola Island and Marechiaro . Posillipo is mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman sources. As part of Magna Graecia , the Ancient Greeks first named it Pausílypon , meaning "respite from worry". The French Homeric scholar Victor Bérard identified Posillipo as

658-641: The Bay of Naples like the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum , or on the isle of Capri , at Circeii and at Antium . Wealthy Romans also escaped the summer heat in the hills within easy reach of Rome , especially around Frascati and including the imperial Hadrian's Villa -palace at Tivoli . Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of them, which he inherited, near Arpinum in Latium. Pliny

705-760: The Italian President 's residence during his stays in Naples. It also contains a Mausoleum to those who died for their country, the Mausoleo Schilizzi . Posillipo has given its name to Naples' waterpolo team, Circolo Nautico Posillipo . The neighbourhood was seat of the homonymous circuit which hosted the Grand Prix of Naples between 1933 and 1962. 40°48′20″N 14°12′12″E  /  40.80556°N 14.20333°E  / 40.80556; 14.20333 Roman villa A Roman villa

752-469: The hypocaust . The late Roman Republic witnessed an explosion of villa construction in central Italy (current regions of Toscana, Umbria, Lazio, and Campania), especially in the years following the dictatorship of Sulla (81 BC). For example the villa at Settefinestre from the 1st century BC was the centre of one of the latifundia involved in large-scale agricultural production in Etruria . In

799-461: The "Publius Vedius" who appears in Cicero 's letters as a friend of Pompey may also be Vedius Pollio. Cicero, governor of Cilicia , was travelling near Laodicea in 50 BC, when Publius Vedius met him with a large retinue, and several wild asses and a baboon in a chariot . Unimpressed, Cicero wrote to Atticus , "I never saw a more worthless man." About this possible Vedius Pollio, Cicero adds

846-535: The 1950s took it back to a state of neglect since when it was restored. The remains of other Roman houses can be seen in Marechiaro along the beach, or at Calata Ponticello where there is an Ionic column base and a brick niche. On the cliff towards Gaiola are the remains of the "House of the Spirits" also called "Villarosa" which was the nymphaeum of the villa and also built in the first century BC. Further along

893-458: The Elder . In two ethical treatises, Seneca used Vedius's treatment of the cup-bearer and Augustus's response to illustrate the extremes to which anger could lead and the need for clemency . Pliny the Elder mentioned Vedius's lampreys in his Natural History while treating varieties of fish, noting the man's friendship with Augustus while ignoring the story of the latter's clemency. Pliny

940-571: The Imperial Villa, include a 2000-seat theatre on the rocky promontory at the end of the Bay of Naples. Some of the villa's rooms can be seen with traces of the wall decorations while its marine structures and fish ponds are now part of the neighbouring submerged Gaiola Park. The villa was built in the first century BC by Publius Vedius Pollio. On his death in 15 BC, the villa was bequeathed to Augustus , and remained in imperial possession for his successors at least until Hadrian, as witnessed by

987-550: The Posillipo hill and connected the imperial villa and other patrician villas nearby with the Phlegraean Fields and the towns and ports of Puteoli ( Pozzuoli ) and Cumae . It owes its name to Lucius Aelius Seianus ( Sejanus ), prefect of the emperor Tiberius , who according to tradition commissioned its enlargement in the first century AD; the first tunnel was built 50 years earlier by architect Cocceius Auctus at

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1034-688: The Younger had three or four which are well known from his descriptions. By the 4th century, "villa" could simply connote an agricultural holding: Jerome translated in the Gospel of Mark (xiv, 32) chorion , describing the olive grove of Gethsemane , with villa, without an inference that there were any dwellings there at all. By the first century BC, the "classic" villa took many architectural forms, with many examples employing an atrium or peristyle for interior spaces open to light and air. Villas were often furnished with heated bath suites ( thermae ) and many would have had under-floor heating known as

1081-577: The appointment of a regular proconsular governor, or after a major earthquake in 27 BC. He later returned to Rome. Despite these services to the state, it was for his reputed luxury and cruelty that Vedius would become best known. He owned a massive villa at Posillipo on the Gulf of Naples , later described by the poet Ovid as "like a city". Most notoriously, he kept a pool of lampreys into which slaves who incurred his displeasure would be thrown as food. Nevertheless, he retained, at least for

1128-494: The behest of Agrippa . The eastern entrance is cut into the rock cliff within the archaeological park while the western entrance was a monumental arch with opus reticulatum lining the cliff sides, and both ends being of about 14 m height. The height, width and length of the tunnel made it a great engineering achievement and an extravagant one considering it served only a small population. An enormous volume of rock alone had to be removed though some served as building material for

1175-460: The centuries. it was rediscovered during works for a new road in 1841 and immediately brought to light and made passable by Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies , becoming a tourist destination. Additional lining and arches were built to repair and reinforce the ancient walls. During World War II , it was used as an air raid shelter for the inhabitants of Bagnoli ; the war and landslides during

1222-597: The coast to the west is the perimeter of the "School of Virgil" where it was believed that the "prophet" practised magical arts. The grandeur and luxury of these villas are documented in the George Vallet Archaeological museum. The Roman aqueduct supplying the coastal villas was a branch of the Serino aqueduct or Aqua Augusta and was discovered in 1882 when the Grotta Nuova di Posillipo

1269-531: The earliest examples are mostly humble farmhouses in Italy, while from the Republican period a range of larger building types are included. The present meaning of "villa" is partially based on the fairly numerous ancient Roman written sources and on archaeological remains, though many of these are poorly preserved. The most detailed ancient text on the meaning of "villa" is by Varro (116–27 BC) dating from

1316-477: The end of the Republican period, which is used for most modern considerations. But Roman authors (e.g. Columella [4-70 AD], Cato the Elder [234-149 BC]) wrote in different times, with different objectives and for aristocratic readers and hence had specific interpretations of villa . The Romans built many kinds of villas and any country house with some decorative features in the Roman style may be called

1363-406: The era (see Vedius Pollio for more details). Vedius died in 15 BC and was probably forced to bequeath a large part of his estates, including the villa, to the emperor Augustus . Although Augustus had Vedius' mansion in Rome razed, Pausilypon was rebuilt and extended to become a palace, which remained in imperial possession at least until the time of Hadrian . In the 17th century the property of

1410-469: The imperial period villas sometimes became quite palatial, such as the villas built on seaside slopes overlooking the Gulf of Naples at Baiae and those at Stabiae and the Villa of the Papyri and its library at Herculaneum preserved by the ashfall from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79. Areas within easy reach of Rome offered cool lodgings in the heat of summer. Hadrian's Villa at Tibur ( Tivoli )

1457-400: The land of Homer 's Cyclopes . From the 1st century BC the beautiful coastline of Campania attracted wealthy Romans as a place to build elaborate and grand villas as retreats. Of ancient Pausilypon the most visible ruins are those of the notorious villa of Vedius Pollio , later to become an imperial villa. The villa was described by the poet Ovid as "like a city". Most notoriously, he kept

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1504-461: The nucleus of famous monasteries . For example, Saint Benedict established a monastery in the ruins of a villa at Subiaco that had belonged to Nero . Around 590, Saint Eligius was born in a highly placed Gallo-Roman family at the 'villa' of Chaptelat near Limoges , in Aquitaine . The abbey at Stavelot was founded ca 650 on the domain of a former villa near Liège and Vézelay Abbey had

1551-443: The pool filled in. According to Seneca , Augustus also had the slave freed; Dio merely remarks that Vedius "could not punish his servant for what Augustus also had done". There are a number of less certain appearances that may be the same Vedius Pollio. A Vidius or Vedius, possibly the same, is mentioned in a letter of 46 BC as involved in a dispute with the scholar-politician Curtius Nicias . As well, Ronald Syme suggests that

1598-461: The remains of a Portico overlooking the sea. An oblong building called the temple was also found along with the remains of an aqueduct. In about 1870 the Marchese del Tufo opened a quarry for pozzolana clearing away the central part of what had been a broad continuous terrace along the south front of the property in Roman times. The buildings that stood on the hillside above the terrace, including

1645-453: The site of the imperial villa passed to the family Maza who, for several generations, showed an interest in archaeology and Francesco Maria Maza ( c.  1680 ) was the author of inscriptions which he affixed to the so-called 'Piscine of V.Pollio' and to the 'Temple of Fortune' which were in situ as late as 1913. However the Maza collection was dispersed and the loss to archaeological science

1692-479: The southern part of the baths, fell down the slope into the sea. The archaeological park is one of the most beautiful places in the city and along the coast of Posillipo. Among the most important sites are the "cave of Sejanus", the underwater park of Gaiola, the imperial villa of Pausilypon (including the odeon , theatre) and the Palace of the Spirits. The ruins of the Roman villa of Vedius Pollio , also known as

1739-453: The time) was so appalled that he not only intervened to prevent the execution but had all of Pollio's valuable drinking vessels deliberately broken. This incident, and Augustus's demolition of Vedius's mansion in Rome, which Augustus inherited in Vedius's will, were frequently referred to in antiquity in discussions of ethics and of the public role of Augustus. Publius Vedius Pollio, the son of

1786-456: The tunnellers from each end met after remarkably small inaccuracies of alignment given the techniques of the time. It had three secondary side tunnels ending in openings overhanging the bay to provide light and ventilation. Although known about by scholars (for example it is referred to in the Polish writer Adam Mickiewicz 's epic Pan Tadeusz published in 1834), it had fallen into disuse over

1833-399: The villas. The tunnelling was complicated by the alternation of pozzolanic earth with tufa necessitating the elaborate lining of most of the tunnel with stonework of opus reticulatum and then with vaulting on top of these walls. Work progressed at 5–7 m per day as indicated by the joints between sections. It was not perfectly straight in plan but included small deviations near the centre where

1880-458: Was a large commercial estate called latifundium which produced and exported agricultural produce; such villas might lack luxuries (e.g. Cato) but many were very sumptuous (e.g. Varro). The whole estate of a villa was also called a praedium , fundus or sometimes, rus . A villa rustica had 2 or 3 parts: Under the Empire, many patrician villas were built on the coasts ( villae maritimae ) such as those on picturesque sites overlooking

1927-510: Was associated with the Villa for more than half a century. He did much excavation, but again without publication of results. In 1841 more methodical excavations were begun on the adjoining property to the west of the ancient lane that led down the valley from the "Tunnel of Sejanus" to the sea. The principal buildings of that part of the Villa were soon brought to light; the Theatre, an Odeon, and

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1974-508: Was in an area popular with Romans of rank. Cicero had several villas. Pliny the Younger described his villas in his letters. The Romans invented the seaside villa: a vignette in a frescoed wall at the House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto in Pompeii still shows a row of seafront villas, all with porticos along the front, some rising up in porticoed tiers to an altana at the top that would catch

2021-578: Was irreparable as a catalogue had never been prepared. Several objects of art from Posillipan sites found their way into the hands of Spanish collectors, and are still no doubt among the Roman antiquities in Spain. Many fine pieces were taken to Mergellina and lost among the other ornaments of the villa of the Duke of Medina. In 1820 the southern portion of the property was purchased by a well-known Neapolitan archaeologist , cavaliere Guglielmo Bechi, and his name

2068-502: Was made for a tramway through the hill. Ancient inscriptions found inside the tunnel verify that it fed the villa of Felix Pollio, among others, mainly intended for the nymphaeum and the baths. The area remained largely undeveloped until a road, via Posillipo, was built between 1812 and 1824. That road starts at sea level at the Mergellina harbour and moves up the coast, roughly parallel to the shore. The artistic School of Posillipo

2115-476: Was no admirer of Augustus and his handling of the story has been seen as "a gratuitous jibe" at the emperor. In a highly rhetorical passage, the Christian writer Tertullian stated that after executing slaves, Vedius had his lampreys "cooked straight away, so that in their entrails he himself might have a taste of his slaves' bodies too". In several works, Adam Smith cited Augustus's intervention to save

2162-472: Was started by Antonie Sminck Pitloo , painting marine shore landscapes from the area. The submerged parts of the ruins of the imperial villa and the rich and diverse marine and coastal natural environment can be seen via boat excursions. The area has been heavily overbuilt since the end of World War II, but contains some notable historical buildings and landmarks. Among these is the Villa Rosebery ,

2209-565: Was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire , sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common features of being extra-urban (i.e. located outside urban settlements, unlike the domus which was inside them) and residential, with accommodation for the owner. The definition also changed with time:

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