Artwork discovered in underground gallery deep beneath Rome’s Baths of Trajan
Archaeologists have unveiled what they believe is the biggest wall mosaic ever found in the ancient Roman world.
The lavish artwork was discovered in an underground gallery deep beneath Rome’s Baths of Trajan, a vast imperial leisure complex that had libraries as well as bathing pools. The gallery is hidden within the Colle Oppio, or Oppian Hill, near the Colosseum.
The mosaic, which is 10 metres high and 16 metres wide, depicts centaurs, laurel-wearing poets, naked women, female muses and rows of elaborate columns.
Tiny white mosaic tiles that run the length of the fluted columns give the impression they are gleaming in the sunshine.
“It is certainly the biggest wall mosaic ever found in Rome and possibly in the world,” said Francesco Pacetti, an archaeologist involved in the excavation.
At the base of the wall is a detailed depiction of a Roman city complete with stone walls and a harbour. Experts are unsure whether it is a city that existed in ancient times or depicts an imaginary, ideal town.
“It might be Ostia,” said Mr Pacetti, referring to the ancient port on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy that served Rome’s needs.
“But we just don’t know. Either way, it has been painted in great detail. You see the stone walls and a main gate with two towers and a glimpse of a temple.”
The mosaic adorned the walls of either a domus – a private Roman residence belonging to a rich family – or was part of the Domus Aurea, the sprawling imperial palace that was built by Emperor Nero after a fire in AD 64 destroyed much of the centre of Rome.
In its original state, the wall mosaic may have been even bigger. The top of it was sliced off when Roman engineers built the brick arch foundations for the Baths of Trajan, while the base of it has not yet been dug out and could reveal further treasures.
Archaeologists also found a collection of huge lead pipes that would have brought water from aqueducts to the baths. They are clearly stamped with the words “Therm”, as in thermae or baths, and “Traian”, as in Trajan.
Elsewhere in the large underground gallery, they found a 2,000-year-old fresco that depicts a walled Roman town complete with a theatre, a temple topped by a statue of Apollo, porticoed courtyards adorned with golden statues and a residential neighbourhood of “insulae” – ancient Roman blocks of flats.
Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome, described the finds as “extraordinary”, saying they were “unique in the world”.
The underground complex has been turned into a museum, making the mosaic and fresco accessible to the public.
“These are exceptional discoveries,” said Claudio Parisi Presicce, the superintendent of archaeology for the capital.
Some of the figures in the mosaic are likely to be portrayals of real people, while another is probably a depiction of Aeneas, the mythical hero of Troy who, according to legend, helped found Rome.
The mosaic and fresco were hidden for centuries because the Baths of Trajan were built on top of them.
When inaugurated by Trajan in AD 109, they were the largest baths complex in the Roman world. Nero’s Domus Aurea was also buried beneath the baths complex because his successors wanted to erase all trace of his rule.