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Regio IV - Insula IV - Ninfeo degli Eroti (IV,IV,1)
(Nymphaeum of the Erotes)

The Nymphaeum of the Erotes is a closed, almost square room (8.00 x 8.00), that was entered from the east, from the Cardo Maximus. It was built in the first quarter of the fifth century (opus latericium and vittatum).

Four corner piers suggest a cross-vault. The walls and floors were decorated with white marble. In the centre of the room is a marble basin, containing a bowl-shaped basin on a pedestal (not the original basin, which disappeared during the Second World War). In the lateral walls are rectangular niches, near which statues of Eros with a bow were found. In the semicircular niche in the back wall must have been a statue of Venus. All niches are flanked by marble consoles carrying twisted columns. To the left and right of the niche in the back wall is a narrow doorway.



Plan of the nymphaeum. After SO I.

Photos and drawings



View from the entrance. Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia.


View towards the street. Photo: Klaus Heese.


The statues of Eros with a bow. Photo: Wikimedia.


Partial reconstruction drawing. Scrinari-Ricciardi 1996, fig. 410.


[jthb - 5-May-2022]