THE VILLAS OF THE DISCOBOLUS AND OF THE PARROT

We now enter an area known as Pantan di Lauro, just before the border between Castelporziano and Capocotta. Basalt blocks of a road were found here and three more villas (Lauro - Claridge 1998, F19, G1-G3). The second villa also possesses baths. The last one is known as the Villa of the Discobolus, after a statue that was found here. Most of this villa was excavated in 1906 by Rodolfo Lanciani. Further excavations were carried out in 1996, revealing an open area to the north flanked by rooms. Brickstamps are dated to 142 AD.

Plan of the Villa of the Discobolus. The statue was found at nr. G.
Image: Lanciani 1906, Tav. I.

The statue is a copy of a famous statue of a discus thrower made by the Greek sculptor Myron of Eleutherae, who worked in the 5th century BC. It was found in a lateral garden of the villa, reached from the villa by a marble staircase. It stood on a brick base clad with marble, and faced the sea. It is made of marble from Paros (the original was of bronze). The statue is now in the Museo Nazionale Romano.

The statue of the discobolus. Image: Wikimedia.

The staircase leading to the lateral garden and the base of the statue. Photo: Lanciani 1906, fig. 6.

One of the rooms (F) was heated. Large marble capitals were found of the columns that once decorated the porticus towards the road.

The marble capitals. Photo: Lanciani 1906, fig. 4.

In 1911 part of a further villa was excavated about 400 metres to the south, by Giuseppe or Edoardo Gatti, and called Villa of the Parrot (Villa del Pappagallo; Crea 2003). The first building phase was dated to the reign of Augustus. It had a peristylium with a fountain, and included bathing rooms. About the decoration Lanciani says: "The best works of art found in these excavations are: a mosaic pavement in black and white, with a coloured parrot in the centre, framed in laurel leaves, and a terracotta frieze with winged figures of Victories holding festoons of fruit and flowers in their hands. The frieze was originally coloured with touches of gilding here and there". Remains of a tomb were found nearby.

The villa was owned by the senatorial Scribonii family. In the early 3rd century there had been a change of ownership, witness an inscription on a reused marble cippus, found in the peristylium. Lanciani: "The Laurentine villa of the Scribonii became the property of a parvenu at the beginning of the third century. His name appears on a votive altar dedicated to Diana Sylvestris by his caretaker, after his master had recovered from a serious illness. The name Marcus Aurelius Septimius Heraclitus Leontius is enough to stamp the man as an ex-libertus, who had gained a fortune in some branch of the imperial financial administration under M. Aurelius and Severus and Caracalla. The caretaker's name is Protogenes". More likely, we are dealing with Aurelius Septimius Heraclitus, Praefectus Aegypti in 215 AD. Diana Silvestris is a female version of the forest deity Silvanus.

DIANE SILVES TRI SANCTAE PRO SALVTE M(arci) AVRELI SEPTIMI HERACLITI LEON TEI PROTOGENES SERB(us) ACTOR EIVS EX VOTO POSUIT

The dedication to Diana. H. 0.75, w. 0.37, d. 0.29. EDR141560.