55. Oplontis. Villa di Poppea or Villa of Poppea or Villa Poppaea or Oplontis Villa A.
Parts of the villa were discovered in the digging of the Sarno Canal (1593–1600), the tunnel excavations of Francesco La Vega (April 1785), and Michele Rusca (April 1839 - November 1840).
Excavated 1964 to 1984. Oplontis Project excavations from 2005.
Garden excavation by Wilhelmina Jashemski 1974 to 1978 and 1983 to 1984.
Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Plan
Location
The excavations are in Via Sepolcri, Contrada Mascatelle in the centre of the modern city of Torre Annunziata.
Visiting, visite, visita, Besuch
To get there from Torre Annunziata Circumvesuviana station turn left out of the station along Via Paolo Boselli. At its end (about 170 metres) turn right onto Via Sepolcri and the excavations are on the left after the red building (about 250 metres).
To see the entrance on Google https://goo.gl/maps/qfHLpKQWygA2
Soprintendenza:
Guida/guide/guia/Leitfaden:
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Soprintendenza: Tourist
plan of the excavations.
Oplontis
The name Oplontis is attested solely in the Tabula Peutingeriana, a medieval copy of an ancient map of existing roads in Italy at the time of the Roman Empire. In this map the name Oplontis indicates some structures positioned between Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Therefore, the name Oplontis is attributed to a series of archaeological finds, which are actually related to a suburban area of Pompeii:
A residential
villa, the Villa di Poppea, Oplontis Villa A;
A rustic villa attributed to L. Crassius Tertius, Oplontis Villa B, which, next to numerous bodies of victims of the eruption, was found a significant amount of gold and silver coins, along with numerous pieces of fine jewellery;
A thermal baths structure at Oncino, under the current Terme Nunziante, attributed by A. Maiuri to the Consul Marcus Crassus Frugi.
Recent finds in
Via Andolfi.
Bibliography
There is a comprehensive bibliography at the Oplontis Project web site: See Oplontis Project Bibliography.
Layout of our photographs and pages
We have set out the pages of this villa so that you can first go through and see the photographs of the 99 rooms in number sequence.
After this are more Jashemski excavation photographs arranged by year so that you can see the villa as it emerges from the lapilli over the years, and also follow the excavation and casting techniques used.
Entering the villa through the north garden 56
The Villa is 28 feet below the street level of the town. It is entered via a long and deep staircase that leads to the north garden 56.
The sheer walls of volcanic ash and the surrounding modern buildings dwarf it, making it difficult to imagine the towering location and expansive views that the Villa would have enjoyed in its heyday between about 50 B.C. and A.D. 79.
Cores taken by archaeogeologist Giovanni Di Maio revealed evidence of man-made structures below the cliff, suggesting that retaining walls and ramps provided access to and from the seashore. Being able to arrive from the sea as well as the land would have been an important feature of luxurious Roman villas on the Bay of Naples.
See Oplontis Project Introduction for more detail.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023. Entrance
gateway on Via Sepolcri. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, May 2010. PAP description notice-board by the entrance gate to the site.
The ticket office is at the road level just inside the entrance gate and the villa is at a lower level. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October
2023.
Tickets and timetable. Photo courtesy
of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2022.
PAP description notice-board. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Villa of Poppaea, Oplontis, October 2023.
SANP description notice-board in English. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023. UNESCO
notice-board. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October
2023. Plan of Villa. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October
2023.
Looking south across site of villa and gardens, with entrance
steps, on right. Photo courtesy
of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Looking south down from the ticket
office level towards villa with the entrance steps on the right. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, March
2019.
Looking south
down from the ticket office level towards villa with the entrance steps on the
right.
Foto Annette
Haug, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2011.
Looking south down
from the ticket office level towards villa with the entrance steps on the right.
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, May 2010. Looking south from entrance steps towards room 21, on
left, and portico 33 on right.
The villa is entered by going down a long ramp of steps. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023. Entrance steps down to Villa. Photo
courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, April 2018. Looking north up entrance steps, showing ash depth.
Photo courtesy of Ian Lycett-King. Use is subject to Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License v.4 International.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, May 2010. SANP description notice-board.
The villa was attributed to Poppea, after Poppea Sabina the second wife of the Emperor Nero, on the basis of an inscription found on an amphora.
It had two building phases, the first in the middle of the first century BC, and the second in the Claudian era.
The garden sculptures were found away from their original location and the household goods have not been found.
This suggest that the villa was uninhabited and undergoing refurbishment at the time of the eruption in 79 AD.
Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2011. Description noticeboard. Photo courtesy of Michael
Binns.
La villa, scavata
negli anni Sessanta del Novecento, e stata riportata alla luce parzialmente.
Essa e
comunemente ritenuta proprietà di Poppea Sabina, seconda moglie di Nerone.
Il nucleo
originario della villa risale alla meta del I secolo a C., ma subì una serie di
ampliamenti e rifacimenti in età Augustea e Claudio-Neroniana.
All’epoca
dell’eruzione, erano in corso lavori di ristrutturazione, per riparare i danni
del terremoto del 62 d.C.: le colonne in marmo del portico della piscina sono
state infatti trovate smontate e anche le sculture della villa erano state
spostate.
Although the villa was excavated in the 1960’s, it has
only been partially uncovered.
It is commonly believed to have belonged to Poppaea
Sabina, the second wife of the Emperor Nero.
The original nucleus of the villa dates back to the
middle of the first century BC but was enlarged and re-built during the
Augustan and Claudio-Neronian periods.
At the time of the AD79 eruption, work was underway to
repair earthquake damage from AD62: marble columns from the swimming pool
portico were found disassembled and even the sculptures had been moved from the
villa.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, c.1983 or 1984. Looking south from entrance steps towards portico 34, room 21, and portico 33.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
Oplo0078
Oplontis
Villa of Poppea, October
2023. Looking south across north garden. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, May 2011. Looking south across north garden.
The entrance steps from the roadway are on the right, leading to the west portico, room 33. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, May 2011.
West portico 33, looking north-west at a column snapped off and embedded in the pyroclastic flow debris.
This can be seen on the extreme west of the portico, at the bottom of the entrance stairs. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, c.1983 or 1984. Looking south along central pathway towards room 21.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
Oplo0076
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Looking east across north garden.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October
2023. Looking south-east
across the north garden. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, May 2011. Looking south-east across the replanted north garden.
In the upper
left of the photo is the doorway through to room 69.
In the centre
of the photo is the east portico of the north garden, room 34.
On the right,
just in the photo, is the entrance to the large salon, room 21, which would
have enjoyed fine views across the garden.
Photo courtesy
of Michael Binns.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, April 2018. Looking south across the east end of the north garden
area.
Photo courtesy of Ian Lycett-King. Use is subject to Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License v.4 International.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015. East side of north garden, and one of the
plaster-casts of tree-root cavity.
In the upper
right is the doorway to Exedra 69.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, May 2010.
Looking east
across north garden towards the trellised area with the plaster-casts of
tree-roots, now replanted with trees.
Photo courtesy
of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, May 2010.
Looking
south-east across north garden towards the trellised areas, the pathway (left
to right) leads towards the exedra room 69 in the east.
Photo courtesy
of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Looking east
across north garden towards doorway to Exedra 69 and pool. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe
Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020. Looking east along pathway
towards doorway to Exedra 69.
The remains of one of Wilhelmina’s root
cavity plaster-casts which she proved had been a large clump of shrubs,
probably oleanders, can be seen on the left. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Looking west along pathway in north
garden, across the front of the villa from Exedra 69. Photo
courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, April 2018. Looking west along pathway in north garden, across the
front of the villa.
Photo courtesy of Ian Lycett-King. Use is subject to Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License v.4 International.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1977. Looking north-west in the north garden.
Looking from the huge root cavity found in 1974, along the diagonal line of a pathway, with bases. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J77f0358
According to Wilhelmina, “At the edge of the diagonal passageway on the east, four masonry statue bases were found. On them the marble shafts that supported the sculptured white marble heads had been mounted. In 1975, we had found the portrait head of a woman of the Julio-Claudian period. In addition, the Italian excavators had found the head of the goddess Aphrodite, the child Dionysus and the fine head of a Julio-Claudian boy, which some claimed was most certainly the child Nero.
These herms, which would have been set in the middle of clumps of plants, mainly oleanders, reminded us of the garden paintings that showed sculpture set amid masses of flowering oleanders. Only the shaft of one other herm was found, and a few details of the hair still on the shaft were sufficient for Stefano De Caro to identify the missing head as that of a bearded archaic-type Dionysus.”
See Jashemski, W.F., 2014. Discovering the Gardens of Pompeii: Memoirs of a Garden Archaeologist, (p.255).
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015. Looking towards the remains of one of Wilhelmina’s
root cavity plaster-casts.
She proved that
this would have been a large clump of shrubs, probably oleanders, centre of photo.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2022. Looking south across garden area on north
side of villa. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, April 2018. Looking south-west across garden area on north side of
villa.
Photo courtesy of Ian Lycett-King. Use is subject to Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License v.4 International.
Rooms 1 to 4
Room 1. Small room giving access to room 27
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Room 1, doorway in south-east corner of room 4.
On the right is the doorway to room 22.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015.
Room 1, looking east across room into room 27, and through to internal peristyle 32.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Room 1, north
wall.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2017. Room 1, east wall with doorway to room 27.
Foto Annette Haug, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Room 1, upper east wall with remains of painted decoration.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Room 1, upper south wall with remains of painted decoration.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Room 1, upper west wall with remains of painted decoration.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. Room 1, flooring.
Room 2. Storeroom
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015.
Room 2,
doorway in north-west corner of room 27, the enclosed courtyard.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015. Room 2, storeroom.
Room 3. Corridor
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015.
Entrance to corridor 3 in north wall of room 4, leading to east portico 34.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October
2023.
Corridor 3 leading from room 4, north-east corner, to east portico 34. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015.
Corridor 3 leading from room 4, north-east corner, to east portico 34.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. West wall of corridor 3 leading to east portico 34.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015. East wall of corridor 3 leading to east portico 34.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015.
Corridor 3
leading south from portico 34 to room 4, past door to room 30.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015.
Remaining
plaster on west wall of corridor 3 leading south from portico 34 to room 4.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015.
Remaining
plaster on west wall of corridor 3 leading south from portico 34 to room 4.
Room 4. Room on south side of garden, and north side of
atrium.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Room 4, south side,
looking west through pilasters into the atrium, room 5. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe
Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, May 2010.
Room 4, south side. Looking west through pilasters into the atrium, room 5. On the right is the doorway into room 9.
Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, south-west corner, looking
south. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, detail of marine-horse and two
dolphins from upper south wall. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Room 4,
looking across flooring towards west wall. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe
Ciaramella.
Oplontis
Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Room
4, west wall with doorway to room 9, on left. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis
Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, west wall with doorway to room 9, on left and entrance to corridor 6 to the west portico, on right. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September
2015.
Room 4, west wall with doorway to room
9, on left and entrance to corridor 6 to the west portico, on right.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2011. Room 4, painted decoration on west wall. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, detail of painted bird from
upper west wall, left of centre. Photo
courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis, Villa of Poppea, October 2001.
Room 4, detail of painted decoration on upper west wall in north-west corner. Photo courtesy of Peter Woods
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September
2015. Room 4, looking west across flooring.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015. Looking north.
Room 4,
north-west corner, and entrance to corridor 6 to the west portico, room 33.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020. Looking north.
Room 4, north-west corner, detail of
decoration above entrance to corridor 6.
Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, detail of decoration on north
wall above entrance to corridor 6 in north-west corner.
Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, detail of painted swan on north
wall in north-west corner. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room 4, detail of painted decoration on
north wall in north-west corner. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis
Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Room
4, north side, looking north-west towards courtyard garden, room 20. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis
Villa of Poppea, October 2020.
Room
4, looking north-west towards courtyard garden, room 20. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September
2015.
Room 4, looking north-west across
courtyard garden, room 20, and through window in north wall into large salon,
room 21.
Oplontis Villa
of Poppea, September 2015.
Room 4, east
end of north side, looking towards small entrance into room 20, the courtyard
garden.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, October 2023.
Room 4, looking north-east towards courtyard
garden, room 20 and through window in north wall into large salon, room 21.
Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, September 2015.
Room 4, north-east corner, with entrance to corridor 3 leading to east portico 34 in north wall, looking north.
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, May 2011.
Room 4, east wall with entrance to corridor 3 leading to east portico 34, on left, and doorway to room 1, on right. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Plan