Back Villa de los Papiros AST Віла Папірусаў Byelorussian Вила на папирусите Bulgarian Vil·la dels Papirs Catalan Vila papyrů Czech Papyrussernes Villa Danish Villa dei Papiri German Βίλα των Παπύρων Greek Villa de los Papiros Spanish Papüüruste villa Estonian
| Villa of the Papyri | |
|---|---|
Villa dei Papiri | |
 Villa of the Papyri | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Town or city | Ercolano |
| Country | Italy |
| Coordinates | 40°48′24″N 14°20′44″E / 40.80667°N 14.34556°E |
The Villa of the Papyri (Italian: Villa dei Papiri, also known as Villa dei Pisoni and in early excavation records as the Villa Suburbana) was an ancient Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named after its unique library of papyri scrolls, discovered in 1750.[1] The Villa was considered to be one of the most luxurious houses in all of Herculaneum and in the Roman world.[2] Its luxury is shown by its exquisite architecture and by the large number of outstanding works of art discovered, including frescoes, bronzes and marble sculpture[3] which constitute the largest collection of Greek and Roman sculptures ever discovered in a single context.[4]
It was situated on the ancient coastline below the volcano Vesuvius with nothing to obstruct the view of the sea. It was perhaps owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.[5][6] In 1908, Barker suggested that Philodemus may have been the owner.[7]
In AD 79, the eruption of Vesuvius covered all of Herculaneum with up to 30 metres (98 ft) of volcanic material from pyroclastic flows. Herculaneum was first excavated between 1750 and 1765 by Karl Weber by means of tunnels. The villa's name derives from the discovery of its library, the only surviving library from the Graeco-Roman world that exists in its entirety.[8] It contained over 1,800 papyrus scrolls, now carbonised by the heat of the eruption, the "Herculaneum papyri".
Most of the villa is still underground. Parts have been cleared of volcanic deposits. Many of the finds are displayed in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. The Getty Villa museum in Malibu, California, is a reproduction of the Villa of the Papyri.
- ^ True, Marion; Silvetti, Jorge (2005). The Getty Villa. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-0892368419.
- ^ Maiuri, Amedeo. Herculaneum and the Villa of the Papyri. Italy (1974): 35–39.
- ^ "Villa of the Papyri – AD 79 eruption". Archived from the original on 2017-01-06. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
- ^ The Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum: Life and Afterlife of a Sculpture Collection, Carol C. Mattusch (Los Angeles, California, 2005), ISBN 0892367229 p. 359
- ^ Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth. Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. New York (1996).
- ^ "Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum". BBC. 2013.
- ^ Ethel Ross Barker (1908). "Buried Herculaneum".
- ^ Chantal, Lheureux-Prevot. "Daniel Delattre: The Herculaneum Scrolls Given to Consul Bonabarte (2010)". Napoleon.org. Archived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2022.