Herculaneum. Villa dei Papiri or Villa of the Papyri or Villa dei Pisoni.
First excavated 1750-1761, accessed by a series of wells and tunnels.
Excavated again 1764-65, 1996-1998 and from 2008.
Part 1. The complex and the atrium area.
The complex Atrium Lower
levels Reconstructions Getty Villa and the Jashemskis Model Monumental structure Baths House
of the Dionysiac Reliefs and Pavilion Sculptures Frescoes Plan
On this page: Bibliography Excavations The Villa dei Papiri complex The atrium area
Bibliography
Allroggen-Bedel, A. Il Museo Ercolanense
di Portici in Cronache Ercolanese supp. 2,
1983, p. 112.
Barker E. R., 1908. Buried Herculaneum. London: A and C Black.
Comparetti D. and De Petra G., 1883. La Villa Ercolanese de Pisone. Torino: Ermanno Loescher
Cooke, Cockburn, and Donaldson, 1827. Pompeii Illustrated: Vol. 2. London: Cooke, pl. 52.
De Simone, A., Ruffo F. Ercolano
e la Villa dei Papiri alla luce dei nuovi scavi, Cron.
Ercol. 33 (2003)
De Simone, A., Ruffo F. I
mosaici della Villa dei Papiri ad Ercolano (NA). Il quartiere dell'atrio.
Atti del X Colloquio dell'Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la
Conservazione del Mosaico, Lecce, 18-21 febbraio 2004.
Esposito D., 2010. Le Pitture della Villa dei Papiri ad
Ercolano in La Villa Romaine de Boscoreale et ses fresques. édicions
errance: Musée royal de
Mariemont
Esposito D. and
Guidobaldi M., 2010. New
Archaeological Research at the Villa of the Papyri, in the Villa of the
Papyri at Herculaneum. Berlin:
De Gruyter
Gli ornati delle pareti ed i pavimenti delle stanze
dell'antica Pompei incisi in rame: 1796, 1808, and 1838.
Guidobaldi M. P., 2009. Ercolano: Guida agli scavi. Electa
Napoli.
Lapatin, K., Ed., 2019. Buried
by Vesuvius: The Villa Dei Papiri at Herculaneum. United Kingdom: J. Paul Getty Museum.
Maiuri, A., 2008. Cronache degli scavi di Ercolano, 1927-1961.
Sorrento: Franco Di Mauro Editore, (pp. 23ff)
Mattusch C. C., 2010. Programming Sculpture? Collection and Display in the Villa of the Papyri. In The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. De Gruyter: Berlin, pp. 79-88.
Moormann E. M., 2009. Pitture parietali nella Villa dei Papiri a Ercolano :Vecchi rinvenimenti e nuove scoperte, in
Vesuviana. Archeologia a confronto. Atti del Convegno internazionale (Bologna,
14-16 gennaio 2008
Museo Archeologico
Nazionale di Napoli: Rapporto annuale sulle attività del MANN:
Annual Report 2018
Pagano, M. Mosaici romani nella reggia di Portici,
in: Atti del VII Colloquia dell'Associazione italiana per lo studio e la
conservazione del mosaico, Pompei, 22-25 marzo 2000, ed. by A. Papaccio, V. The floors of
the Villa dei Papiri. (p.56-63, of Buried by Vesuvius, the
Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum, edited by Kenneth Lapatin).
Paribeni (Ravenna 2001),
esp. 337–338 and fig. 5 – 8.
Pesando, F. and
Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei,
Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p.292).
Villa Diomedes Project, Image database, http://villadiomede.huma-num.fr/bdd/images/5292
Waldstein C., 1908. Herculaneum Past Present and Future. London: Macmillan.
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2011). Herculaneum, Past and Future. London, Frances Lincoln.
Excavations
1750: Villa of the Papyri, the finding of some buildings and a circular loggia recovered a precious flooring inlaid with polychrome marble (the same that today forms the flooring of a circular room of the Pinacoteca of Naples Museum). It was the belvedere of a garden of a patrician villa.
1752: The central body of the villa, and a second peristyle repeating in minor proportions the larger peristyle of the garden.
1753: The find that made Herculaneum known the world over, in a narrow room, almost humble, were arranged around the walls, on wooden shelves or closed in capsae or spilled on the floor, a large mass of cylindrical rolls. It was a library, a whole library of not less than 1800 Papyri mainly in Greek, but a lesser part in Latin.
1763: The excavation of the villa was not accomplished: the foul-smelling gas coming from the subsoil (the moféta) forced abandonment and in 1763, the mouths of the tunnels and the wells were closed preventing access and ventilation, the Villa dei Papiri or, as was said, the Villa dei Pisoni, descendants of that Lucio Calpurni Pisone Cesonino, who was Caesar's father-in-law and the enemy of Cicero, returned to the deep silence of its double shell of hardened mud and fire.
See Maiuri, A., 2008. Cronache degli scavi di Ercolano, 1927-1961. Sorrento: Franco Di Mauro Editore, (pp. 23ff)
According to Guidobaldi, there was a brief respite in 1764-5 when further excavation was carried out, before gas forced the closure of the access wells.
See Guidobaldi M. P., 2009. Ercolano: Guida agli scavi. Electa Napoli, p. 121.
During 1996-8, open-air excavations, the so-called Scavi Nuovi, were carried out in the area of the Villa of Papyri and the so-called North-west Insula.
See Pesando, F. and Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei, Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p.292).
According to Wallace-Hadrill, “until a modern campaign of excavations is carried out, the relationship between the Villa and Herculaneum will be limited. The 1996-1999 excavations only uncovered a corner of the villa, limited to the atrium area. By opening a vast trench to connect the villa to the main site and by taking the excavation down to the level of the ancient shore, it demonstrated that both the villa and the houses on the western edge of the town had lower levels reaching down to the shore. This excavation showed the magnificence of the lower terrace of the villa, with its pool close to the sea-shore. Simultaneously it demonstrated the splendour of the house at the western edge of the town, decorated with neo-Attic reliefs.
See Wallace-Hadrill, A., 2011. Herculaneum
Past and Present. London:
Frances Lincoln, p. 118.
The Villa dei Papiri Complex
Villa dei Papiri complex, June 2014. Overview of site, looking west. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
From front to back are:
The double roof of the House of the Dionysiac Reliefs, seaside pavilion.
The paler coloured roof around the corner is the House of the Dionysiac Reliefs.
The tall building of the baths.
The white roof covering the collapsed monumental structure.
The levels of the Villa dei Papiri itself.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Looking north-west across large trench towards site of Villa, top centre-right. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. 2006.
Excavation trench running to the Villa of the Papyri before conservation work. Photo by kind permission of Prof. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill.
See Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2011). Herculaneum, Past and Future. London, Frances Lincoln Ltd., p. 87.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2004. Looking north-west. Photo courtesy of Jennifer
Stephens. ©jfsPAP0658
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Looking north towards baths complex, on left, and residential complex, on right. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Looking north-west along access ramp to villa. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. June 2012.
Looking north-west along access ramp to villa. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Plan of villa showing the only excavated area that is in the open-air (D) in thicker black lines.
In 2008 excavations recommenced at the site.
The building has now been closed to the public so that archaeologists can excavate the frescoed rooms on the lower ground floor.
Conservation of the mosaics and frescoes already found is also being carried out to protect them from damp and erosion.
You are advised to check with the archaeological site authorities to see if this has changed before trying to visit.
See
Guidobaldi, M. P., 2006. Ercolano: guida
agli scavi. Electa Napoli, p. 122.
See Pesando F.,
Guidobaldi M., 2006. Pompei, Oplontis,
Ercolano, Stabiae. Roma: Laterza, p. 393.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Ramp leading to lower and upper levels of the villa. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
The atrium area
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Atrium level sketch plan. Based on 2006 plan by Pastore.
The room numbers are those used on these Herculaneuminpictures pages for this level of the villa.
See Pesando, F. and Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei, Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p. 398).
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Looking west across walkway (a), the large loggia, with white and black mosaic floor.
From right, doorway to triclinium room (i), corridor (h), oecus room (g), room (b), corridor (t), room (s) and room (u).
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Looking north across triclinium, room (i), with white and black mosaic. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012. North-west
corner of triclinium, room (i). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
North-west corner of triclinium, room (i), fresco with part of a torso scantily wrapped in a strand of cloth. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
According to Moormann, this shows a tall woman, standing in front of a red plate, of which some fragments have been found in room (i).
She wears a cloak moved by the wind and holds a thin branch rod, probably a thyrsus, with the left hand against the shoulder.
The height of the fragment, almost one metre, is an indication to classify the figure as a fragment of a megalography.
I refer again to the specimen of Terzigno which is contemporary.
The decoration adorns a luxurious triclinium, overlooking the sea, and brings to the villa the aspect of a pastime caught during a moment of relaxation, that is the otium.
We have such a situation more or less equal to that of the famous room (5) of the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, from which visitors could look towards the sea through a porch.
See Moormann E.
M., 2009. Pitture parietali nella Villa
dei Papiri a Ercolano :Vecchi rinvenimenti e nuove
scoperte, in Vesuviana. Archeologia a confronto. Atti del Convegno
internazionale (Bologna, 14-16 gennaio 2008), pp. 159, Fig. 8.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July
2010.
Looking north across room (i), triclinium. The metal walk-way on the right is above the area of room (m). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Corridor h, with mosaics in opus tessellatum (woven style). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
White regular cubic tesserae form a white background of oblique courses that is characterized by the irregular dotting of black tesserae, limestone fragments and coloured marbles, and can be ascribed to the Second Style.
The walls of corridor (h) were built in opus reticulatum with 8– 10 cm wide irregularly arranged cubilia; they were extensively damaged and in a number of cases the wall surface was missing.
Until the most recent excavation the corridor was still full of the backfilling material of a Bourbon tunnel that ran at its entire length, as indicated by Weber’s plan. To avoid possible landslides and the collapse of the structure, the tunnel had been closed with a retaining wall erected with waste material. The presence of wall painting fragments in the filling of the tunnel suggests that the Bourbon workers used materials taken from the nearby rooms.
See Esposito D. and Guidobaldi M., 2010. New Archaeological Research at the Villa of the Papyri, in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 25, fig. 5, fig. 4.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. 2009.
Room (g), probably an oecus. In the recent excavation carried out in room (g), a layer of residual collapsed material of about 1m square was found still piled up at its south-east corner (rear right in this photo). This layer contained the collapsed wall paintings which once decorated that corner of the room.
It must be noted that due to the extreme frailty of the stratigraphic context and the complexity of the intervention aimed at recovering the plaster fragments, the excavation was carried out by the restorers with the help of the archaeologist in order to reconstruct the decorative apparatus. It was therefore possible to recover all the collapsed plaster fragments and to reconstruct almost completely the decorative scheme on the south-east corner of the wall.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012. Looking towards
doorway to room (f), another oecus. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012. Doorway to room (f),
oecus. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Looking north across room (f), oecus. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Multicolour geometric mosaic floor in room (f), oecus. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2004.
Looking north across multicolour geometric mosaic floor in room (f), oecus.
Photo
courtesy of Jennifer Stephens. ©jfsPAP0671
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2004. Detail of multicolour geometric mosaic
floor in room (f), oecus.
Photo
courtesy of Jennifer Stephens. ©jfsPAP0672
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Looking east across western walkway (a), the large loggia.
From left, corridor (u), room (s), corridor (t), room (f), room (b), room (g), corridor (h), room (i). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Corridor (t). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Looking east across room (r), at the rear of room (s), on right.
Ahead is the area of room (d) the ala, and atrium (c), looking towards the room (e), the other ala, with painted remains in north-east corner.
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
According to Guidobaldi and Esposito, a limited excavation survey was carried out in room (s) to verify the presence of the pavement.
The survey, carried out along the east wall, confirmed that the pavement of the room, in opus tessellatum, must have rested upon a flat floor supported by wooden beams, which collapsed at the time of the 79 C.E. eruption.
It is probable, therefore, that the floor is still in situ, but subsided under several dozens of centimetres of collapsed material.
See Esposito D. and Guidobaldi M., 2010. New Archaeological Research at the Villa of the Papyri, in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 28, notes 14 and 15.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010. Room (r), detached
wall decoration in store. Photo
courtesy of Michael Binns.
See Esposito D.,
2010. Le Pitture della Villa dei Papiri
ad Ercolano in La Villa Romaine de Boscoreale et ses fresques. édicions errance: Musée royal de
Mariemont, p. 220, fig. 17.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Room (r), detail of glass fruit bowl from detached wall
decoration. Photo courtesy of
Michael Binns.
See Esposito D.,
2010. Le Pitture della Villa dei Papiri
ad Ercolano in La Villa Romaine de Boscoreale et ses fresques. édicions errance: Musée royal de
Mariemont, p. 225, fig. 21.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Looking east across room (c), the atrium, with black tessellated flooring with coloured chippings. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012.
Looking west across room (c), the atrium towards room (d), an ala. Photo
courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. 2009. Room (d), ala, looking west from room (c), the atrium.
In the recent excavations three minor clearing surveys were carried out at the openings towards tablinum (b) and alae (d) and (e). During these surveys the remains of mosaics adorning the thresholds of these rooms, which were removed during the Bourbon exploration, were recovered. It is probable that these thresholds can be recognized among some of the flooring now stored in the apartments of the Reggia of Portici.
See Pagano, M. Mosaici romani nella reggia di Portici,
in: Atti del VII Colloquia dell'Associazione italiana per lo studio e la conservazione
del mosaico, Pompei, 22-25 marzo 2000, ed. by A. Paribeni (Ravenna 2001), esp.
337–338 and fig. 5 – 8.
See Esposito D. and Guidobaldi M., 2010. New Archaeological Research at the Villa of the Papyri, in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 26, fig. 6, fig. 7, note 8.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012.
Looking north in atrium, room (c), across black tessellated flooring with coloured chippings towards impluvium. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
During the recent clean-up of the impluvium basin, it has been possible to identify the imprints of the slabs removed at the time of the Bourbon excavation in the mortar bed of the impluvium. There is also evidence of the passage of a Bourbon tunnel, which seems to stop at the northern border of the impluvium.
See Esposito D. and Guidobaldi M., 2010. New Archaeological Research at the Villa of the Papyri, in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 28.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
North-east corner of ala, room (e), with remains of painted plaster. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012.
North-east corner of ala, room (e), with remains of painted
plaster. Photo
courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. June 2012. North wall in
north-east corner of ala, room (e). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. North wall of ala, room (e). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
De Simone and Ruffo place MANN 9423 here in the ala (e).
See De Simone, A. and F. Ruffo. Ercolano e la Villa dei Papiri alla luce
dei nuovi scavi, CronErcol 33 (2003), p. 295-296, p. 298.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. North wall of ala, room (e). Fresco with sacred landscape and temples.
According to De Simone and
Ruffo, this fresco came from this room.
Now in Naples Archaeological
Museum. Inventory number 9423.
See De Simone, A. and F. Ruffo. Ercolano e la Villa dei Papiri alla luce
dei nuovi scavi, CronErcol 33 (2003), p. 298.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Looking east across room (l) (that is L), triclinium. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. 2004. Looking west across room (l), (that is L), triclinium.
On the right is room (o).
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Looking into a Bourbon tunnel behind room (o). Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Mosaic floor in Bourbon tunnel behind room (o).
Villa dei Papiri,
Herculaneum. July 2010.
Reproduction resin skulls and bones, destined for the boatsheds. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Wooden remains in store. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Plaster remains in store. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Remains of Tegulae mammatae in store. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. July 2010. Remains of wood in store. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Mosaic in Naples Archaeological Museum.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Circular polychrome mosaic floor, from the belvedere.
Diameter 7.80m, covering an area of 42 square metres, now in Naples Archaeological Museum, but without an inventory number.
According to Gli
Ornati -
No.32. “Pavimento
circolare a lastre di giallo antico. Le lastres on
piramidali e circolarmente disposte in ventidue cerchi concentrici.
Incisione del Fiorillo.”
See Gli ornati delle pareti ed i pavimenti delle
stanze dell'antica Pompei incisi in rame: 1838, and Gli Ornati (pt.2. 1808).
According to Papaccio, “this was sketched by Weber on January 13th, 1751, described as the great circular “belvedere mosaic”, so called because it was imagined to have adorned an outlying panoramic point of the Villa.”
See Papaccio, V. The floors of the
Villa dei Papiri. (p.56-63, of Buried by Vesuvius, the Villa dei Papiri at
Herculaneum, edited by Kenneth Lapatin).
According to Allroggen-Bedel, this was a mosaic floor from the
Villa of Papyri at Herculaneum.
See Allroggen-Bedel,
A. Il Museo Ercolanense di Portici in Cronache Ercolanese supp. 2, 1983, p. 112.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Circular polychrome mosaic floor, from the belvedere.
It is now installed in a circular room at Naples Museum to the left of the galleries of sculptures from the Villa dei Papiri.
Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number s. n.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Polychrome mosaic floor, from the belvedere, now in Naples Museum.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Polychrome mosaic floor, from the belvedere, now in Naples Museum.
Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum. Detail of centre of polychrome mosaic floor, from the belvedere.
Photo courtesy Naples Museum. See Museum Annual Report 2018.
Mosaics in the Royal Palace at Portici.
No.1 - The provenance for this mosaic is uncertain.
After its discovery in the eighteenth century, it was lifted and sent to the Royal Palace at Portici.
However, it is possible that it was from a room at the Villa of the Papyri.
Photographed at Reggia di Portici, October 2013. Mosaic pavements in Royal Apartments.
Photo courtesy of Frédérique Marchand-Beaulieu and Helen Dessales.
©Villa Diomedes Project, Image database, http://villadiomede.huma-num.fr/bdd/images/5283
See Papaccio, V. The floors of the
Villa dei Papiri. (p.56-63, of Buried by Vesuvius, the Villa dei Papiri at
Herculaneum, edited by Kenneth Lapatin).
No.1 - Detail of central mosaic in photo above.
“A Second Style composite pavement at Portici in opus tessellatum consisting of 63 squares (7 x 9) of alternating positive and negative geometrical space in black and white tesserae, creates the optical illusion of superimposed rotated dotted squares.
The central panel is surrounded by a long band of braided guilloche in white, yellow and red on a black background.”
See Papaccio, V. The floors of the
Villa dei Papiri. (p.56-63, of Buried by Vesuvius, the Villa dei Papiri at
Herculaneum, edited by Kenneth Lapatin).
Photographed at Reggia di Portici, October 2013. Mosaic pavements in Royal Apartments.
Photo courtesy of Frédérique Marchand-Beaulieu and Helen Dessales.
©Villa Diomedes Project, Image database, http://villadiomede.huma-num.fr/bdd/images/5292
No.1 - Reggia di Portici, pre 1796. Detail of mosaic flooring in Royal Apartments, possibly from Villa of Papyri.
See Gli ornati delle pareti ed i pavimenti delle
stanze dell'antica Pompei incisi in rame: 1838, p. 118/124, and Gli Ornati pt.1.1796.
According to Cooke, Cockburn, and Donaldson – This mosaic may have come from the Villa of Diomedes at Pompeii.
See Cooke, Cockburn, and Donaldson, 1827. Pompeii Illustrated: Vol. 2. London: Cooke, pl. 52.
No.2. - Reggia di
Portici, July 2021.
Mosaic floor in Palazzo Reale, attributed as being from Villa of Papiri at Herculaneum. Photo courtesy of Davide Peluso.
No.2. - Reggia di Portici, October 2013. Mosaic pavement in Royal Apartments.
Photo courtesy of Frédérique Marchand-Beaulieu and Helen Dessales.
©Villa Diomedes Project, Image database, http://villadiomede.huma-num.fr/bdd/images/5323
No.2. - Reggia di Portici, October 2013. Detail of mosaic flooring in Royal Apartments.
Photo courtesy of Frédérique Marchand-Beaulieu and Helen
Dessales.
©Villa Diomedes Project, Image database, http://villadiomede.huma-num.fr/bdd/images/5322
No.2 - Reggia di Portici, pre-1796. Detail of mosaic flooring in Royal Apartments.
See Gli ornati delle pareti ed i pavimenti delle
stanze dell'antica Pompei incisi in rame: 1838, and Gli Ornati (pt.1.1796)
The complex Atrium Lower levels Reconstructions Getty Villa and the Jashemskis Model Monumental
structure Baths House of the Dionysiac
Reliefs and Pavilion Sculptures Frescoes Plan
On this page: Bibliography Excavations The Villa dei Papiri complex The atrium area