Recent Finds at Hadrian's Tiburtine Villa

in the early days of January 1955, in company with Professor Aurigemma, who explained his undertaking most fully, showed its first fruits, and then presented the series of photographs which are here reproduced (pls. 62-63, figs. 1-5). These had been taken under difficulties at an earlier stage of the restoration of the marbles, and in the interval which has elapsed since they were made it has been possible to carry considerably further the work of restoration and the attachment of various fragments. As is well known, the Villa as a whole has for centuries been the scene of sporadic digging and discovery, which had enriched the museums of Europe with many remarkable works of art. The present program, however, is aimed at a systematic clearing of one definite area, the long valley at the southern end of the site to which the imperial patron accorded a diversified architectural treatment by means of lateral colonnades leading to a terminal half-dome and secondary structures. Its wealth of marbles had been known for centuries, and the Egyptian or Egyptianizing character of many of these had confirmed the identification of the valley as the Canopus. The striking features at the inner, southern end had earned the (not anciently attested) name of Serapeum. The project is to clear this area completely of the earth and rubbish which had accumulated and consisted largely of infiltrations from the higher ground on each side; to recover all that still exists, after the depredations of past ages, of the details of the architecture and also of the works of statuary which were once exhibited in this noble setting; and eventually to reerect as much as may prove practicable of the fragmentary remains, in order to PLATES 62-63