Apartments in Rome

In the wall of the COURT opposite the entrance there is a tablet placed there in 1734 to commemorate the setting up of the Museum. Beneath this and above the fountain reclines the colossal statue of Oceano from the first century B.C. popularly called Marforio, one of the talking statues of Rome. The Portico to the right of the courtyard contains the Egyptian Collection, with sculptures coming in large part from the Temple of Isis in the Campus Martius; of particular interest are the three grey granite columns decorated with figures of priests; the two Cynocephali in the same stone come from the tomb of Nectanebo Il (fouth century B.C.).

Among the sculptures in the ATRIUM are the statue of Minerva from a Greek original of the middle of the fifth century B.C., the statue of the Emperor Hadrian in Pontifical robes, a female divinity, possibly Demetra. from an original of the fifth century B.C., Faustina the elder, a copy of a statue of the fifth century B.C., and a group of Polyphemus and a companion of Ulysses from the late Roman period.

THE GROUND FLOOR ROOMS ON THE LEFT are dedicated to Oriental Cults. Of particular interest are the altar of the Vestal Claudia, which recalls a legend of the end of the third century B.C., and the altar of the Sol Sanctissimus from the first century A.D. (Room I); statues and altars dedicated to the worship of Isis and Serapis (Room II); sculptures from the shrine of Jupiter Dolichenus on the Aventine (Room III).

THE GROUND FLOOR ROOMS ON THE RIGHT contain works of the Roman period. Among these it is worth noting fragments of the calendar, the Amendola Sarcophagus showing details of the struggle between the Greeks and the Galatians from the second century B.C. and very similar to Pergamon art; the so-called Alexander Severus Sarcophagus, a Greek work from the third century B.C., with reliefs on its sides figuring the legend of Achilles and two dead figures lying on the lid.

From the courtyard opposite an enormous statue of Mars Ultor, a staircase leads up to the first floor gallery. This corridor is lined with statues and busts. The following are the most interesting: Leda and the Swan, from a fourth-century B.C. original; Drunken old woman, possibly a copy of a work by Myron the younger; Winged Psyche from a fourth-century B.C. original; Athena from Velletri, a copy of an original bronze from the fifth or fourth century B.C.; bust of Probus, from the third century B.C.; a large bowl set on a well-head with archaistic decoration from Hadrian’s Villa; Cupid bending his bow, from an original by Lysippus, the infant Hercules strangling the Hydra, restored in this form by Alessandro Algardi in the seventeenth century but probably in the original representing Hercules and the hind.

THE HALL Of THE DOVES takes its name from the famous mosaic of four doves drinking at a fountain, which came from Hadrian’s Villa and is a copy of Sosias of Pergamos. There is another mosaic of a Tragic and Comic Mask; a child’s sarcophagus with the myth of Prometheus, a Roman work; a series of Roman busts dating from the end of the Republic or the beginning of the Empire; a statuette of a girl defending a dove from a serpent, a copy of a Greek original of the third to second century B.C. The lIiac Tablet with reliefs representing the story of the destruction of Troy and the flight of Aeneas, and Greek inscription, is also here in a show case.

This is followed by the room containing the Capitoline Venus, a Roman copy of an early Greek original.

THE HALL OF THE EMPERORS is named after the 65 busts of Roman Emperors, almost all of which come from the collection of Cardinal Albani. There are two fine busts of Augustus, one as a young man, the other crowned with myrtle leaves. One should also note: Commodus as a young man; Julia, daughter of Titus; Plotina, wife of Trajan; Heliogabalus. In the centre of the room there is the seated figure of Helena, the mother of Constantine , with a body deriving from Phidian type statuary.

THE HALL OF PHILOSOPHERS contains the busts of 79 photospheres, poets and orators, some of which are of uncertain identity. In the centre of the room there is a seated male figure, a copy of a fourth century Greek original.

The statues of the Young and Old Centaurs from Hadrian’s Villa are placed in the centre of the following HALL. Amongst others of particular interest are the Athlete, a copy of the Diadumenus by Policletus, with a head which is not its own; two copies of Amazon, one of which is considered to be better than Cresila’s fourth-century B.C. original; Pothos from an original Scopas; Old Woman from a Hellenistic original.

THE HALL OF THE FAUN contains the famous laughing Faun holding a bunch of grapes to his mouth; this is a copy dating from Hadrian’s time, of an Hellenistic original; the boy with a mask of Silenus from the beginning of the Imperial period; the boy with a goose, from a second century B.C. original. Set into the hall in this room is a bronze tablet the Lex de imperio Vespasiani in which the “Senate and the Roman People” conferred imperial power on Vespasian in 69.

THE HALL OF THE GLADIATOR or the Dying Gaul is named after the statue of the Dying Gaul, also known as the Dying Gladiator, which came from the Gardens of Sallust in the sixteenth century together with the group of the Gaul killing himself and his wife, now in the National Museum of Rome. Both copies are in marble from the original bronzes which Attalus I had made for the temple of Athena at Pergamus after the victory over the Gauls. In the same room there is also the Amazon from the famous Phydian original; this figure has a head of the Cresila type and not its own and was restored quite arbitrarily so that it is carrying a bow instead of leaning on a lance; a Roman bust formerly identified as Brutus; a faun in re pose (the Faun of Praxiteles) - the best existing copy - from Hadrian’s Villa; a group of Eros and Psyche, from an Hellenistic original of the third to second Century B.C.

Tags: Attalus I, Capitoline Museum, Dying Gaul, Eros and Psyche, National Museum of Rome, Roman Emperors, Sosias of Pergamos

The Museo Nazionale Romano is housed in the Baths which Diocletian had built between the last years of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century A.C. (the dedicatory inscription dated 306 A.C. is conserved in a fragmentary state in the Museum). The building of the baths, the largest in the ancient world, included many rooms besides the traditional calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium - which were designed to hold 3,000 people at the same time. There was a natatio or frigidarium for swimmers (Iarge open air swimming pool) and various other rooms, meeting rooms, librarie s, nymphaleums, dressing rooms, concert rooms and rooms for physical exercices etc. The calidarium, which was partially conserved up to the seventeenth century, took up part of what is now Piazza dell’Esedra. There remains today the apse wall, which is now the entrance to the church of S. Maria degli Angeli. The tepidarium can be identified in the large domed round octagonal hall which now corresponds to the transept of the Basilica. The covered frigidarium may be identified with the vast hall which Michelangelo, commissioned by Pius IV in 1561, converted into the nave of the church, creating its entrance at the eastern end towards what is today the Piazza dei Cinquecento. Michelangelo incorporated the framework of the classical ruins into his design but treated them with the greatest respect. The history of the Baths has never been a happy one, beginning with the siege of Vitige, who cut off the Roman acqueducts in 538, the building has been despoiled for centuries and looted for all the material cons­idered useful up unti! the last ravages for the construction of Stazione Termini.

The idea, first discussed in 1889, for choosing the Baths as the home for the Archaelogical Museum was put into effect in 1907 with the passing of the necessary law. In 1911, the Monument was the site of the Archaelogical Exhibition held in Rome on the occasion of the 50th an­niversary of the proclamation of the kingdom of Italy.

At the present time, on account of staff shortages and reorganisation and building work in progress, certain rooms are closed to the public. Nevertheless the most important works in these parts of the museum, which are at present temporarily closed, are indicated hare.

In the group of rooms which makes up the first part of the itinerary, particular attention should be paid to the sarcophagi with representations of a Dyonisian Thiasos, dating trom the end of the third century A.C.; the legend of Phedra (Room I); standing Muses of the “colonnette” type which date trom the end of the forth century A.C. (ROOM II); a Christian Sarcophagus bearing the name of Marcus Claudianus; a fragment of a Hebrew sarcophagus, figuring the Candelabrum with seven arms, a poly­chrome mosaic trom Via Merulana dating from the third century A.C. (Room III); a mosaic from Collemancio near Assisi figuring hunting Pygmies and animals; the dedicatory inscription of the Baths of Diocletian; the colossal statue of Kore which came trom Ariccia, a Roman replica from the originai attributed either to Kresilas or to Alkamenes; the sarcophagus showing details of the cavalry battle batween the Romans and Barbarians, from the end of the second century A.D.; the other sarcophagus figuring the meeting of Dionysus with Arianne trom the end of the second century A.C.. (Room IV); the mosaic showing quadrigae taking part in a race in the circus, which came from Via Imperiae and which dates back to the fourth century A.C.

ROOM XI contains the marble fragments bearing the inscrip­tions known as the Acts of the Arval Brotherhood, followers of the cult of the Goddes Ceres. One should also note the splendid mosaic of Nereids riding on marine animals (from Casalotti) and those of Hector being dragged in the dust (from Ceccano) and of Hercules and Acheleus (from Anzio). From here we pass into ROOM IX (with its double apse) where there is a sarcophagus in the form of a basin, an arch·sarcophagus from the Via Tuscolana a bath and several architectonic elements.

ROOM X contains the reconstructed tomb of Gaius Sulpicius Platorinus and his family, discovered during the building of the Tiber embankment between Ponte Sisto and the Farnesina. Opposite there is a tomb with murai decorations on the walls and ceilings of the rooms; this was discovered at the foot of the hill of Monteverde in Rome.

The itinerary continues through the modern garden towards Piazza dei Cinquecento, which today constitutes the entrance which corresponds in part to the ancient garden of the Baths and which contains architectural marble remains, part of the collection of inscriptions belonging to the museum and miscellaneous archeo· logical materia!. A small glassed·in arcade (mosaics and fragments of reliefs) leads from the garden into an entrance hall from which one enters the new rooms.

Tags: calidarium, frigidarium, Michelangelo, National Museum of Rome, Pius IV, Roman acqueducts, tepidarium