PITTURE FRAMMENTARIE DALLE INDAGINI ARCHEOLOGICHE SOTTO LE TERME DI TRAIANO A ROMA

Abstract

On the southern slope of the Oppian Hill, under the southwestern exedra of Trajan’s Baths, runs a long buried
gallery built to support the western fence of the baths. Excavations conducted inside the gallery since the
late 1990s have brought to light the remains of earlier structures destroyed by the construction of the baths,
leading to the discovery of the fresco known as the “Painted City” and a wall mosaic depicting “the Muses”.
The layers of fill of the mosaic gallery produced many fragments of painted plaster from unknown, but
undoubtedly contiguous, buildings, most likely dating to between the fire of Nero and the construction of
the baths (104-109 AD). A group of fragments, with floral and architectural motifs on a white background,
has many affinities with paintings from adjacent buildings dating to the Neronian and Flavian eras, including
the Domus Aurea and the Paedagogium. Another group of fragments has stucco decorations applied on
the paintings; given the variations in the thickness of the mortar, it is believed that they probably decorated
a vaulted ceiling.