page_title: Villa Poppaea
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Villa Poppaea / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Català: Plant de la Vil·la Popea a Oplontis (Itàlia). 01-Atri 02-Cuina 03-Caldari 04-Tepidari 05-Saló 1 06-Triclini 07-Cubiculum 08-Saló 2 09-Galeria 10-Peristil 11-Passadís 12-Oecus 13-Piscina 14-Hospitalies 15-Viridarium 16-Saló 3 17-Saló 4 18-Saló 5 19-Vestuari 20-Latrina 21-Peristil 22-Larari 23-Saló nord 24-Jardí
context_page_description: The Villa Poppaea is an ancient luxurious Roman seaside villa located in Torre Annunziata between Naples and Sorrento, in Southern Italy. It is also called the Villa Oplontis or Oplontis Villa A. as it was situated in the ancient Roman town of Oplontis.
  It was buried and preserved in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, like the nearby cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, about 10 m below modern ground level.
  The quality of the decorations and construction suggests that it was owned by the Emperor Nero, and a pottery sherd bearing the name of a freedman of Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of the emperor Nero was found at the site, which suggests the villa may have been her residence when she was away from Rome and which gives it its popular name.
  It was sumptuously decorated with fine works of art. Its marble columns and capitals mark it out as being especially luxurious compared with others in this region that usually had stuccoed brick columns.
  Many artifacts from Oplontis are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
  Parts of the villa lying under modern structures remain unexcavated.
context_section_description: The villa was first built in the 50s BC and then enlarged in stages. The oldest part of the house centres around the atrium. During the remodeling, the house was extended to the east, with the addition of various reception and service rooms, gardens and a large swimming pool.
  This grandiose maritime villa is characterized by “rituals of reception and leisure” through both its physical space and its decoration.
  Its original core comprised an atrium, public dining and other reception rooms, and smaller rooms. A kitchen, baths (later rebuilt for entertainment), a lararium, and a peristyle comprised the service area. Workrooms and dormitories on the upper floor for slaves, and a latrine and baths on the ground floor surrounded this peristyle.
  It was extended in the age of Claudius (AD 41-54) when peristyles with colonnaded porticoes extended out from the building's core, framing formal gardens. 
  The east garden had an immense swimming pool in the centre bordered on the south and east by trees. 
  Some 40 marble sculptures of extraordinary beauty were found, forming one of the most extensive collections of statues, busts and other marble ornaments known in the entire region. Among these was a group of centaurs and centauresses found in the west portico facing the north garden. Many of them also served as fountains and were intended to surround the pool but were found away from their proper position.
  The Villa's earliest frescoes are some of the best examples of the illusionistic Second Style, while later renovations and additions are marked by comparably high-quality paintings of the Third and Fourth Styles. Mosaic floor pavements of varying types occur throughout the Villa.
  Like everywhere else in the region the villa was damaged in the earthquake of AD 62 and renovation and repairs were still being made until its last moments as, for example, some of the columns were found dissembled and garden sculptures away from their proper location indicates.
caption: Plan of the Villa Poppaea: 01-Atrium, 03-Caldarium, 04-Tepidarium, 06-Triclinium, 07-Cubiculum, 10-Peristyle, 12-Oecus, 13-Piscina, 15-Viridarium, 20-Latrine, 21-Peristyle, 22-Lararium, 24-Garden
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