Villa of the Papyri: the only intact library in the ancient world

About this activity

The Villa of the Papyri, one of the largest and most sumptuous Roman villas ever explored, stood overlooking the sea, on what was the coastline before the eruption. It was excavated between 1750 and 1764, at the behest of Charles III of Bourbon, with an intricate system of descent and aeration shafts and underground passages.

Why visit Villa of the Papyri

The building owes its name to the library of papyri discovered in 1750. It was an extremely luxurious villa, as evidenced by its exquisite architecture and the huge number of exceptional works of art discovered, including frescoes, bronzes, and marble sculptures that make up the largest collection of Greek and Roman sculptures ever discovered in one place.

Villa of the Papyri in the Roman World

The construction of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum occurred between 60 and 50 BCE and many archaeologists believe it belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father-in-law of Gaius Julius Caesar. It was damaged in 62 A.D. after a violent earthquake, which necessitated renovation work and rebuilding of the decorations. As shown by the piles of lime and paint found, the area was subject to the eruption of 79 AD and the villa submerged by a mudslide.

Structure of the Villa of the Papyri

The Villa of the Papyri stood overhanging the sea, on what was the coastline before the eruption of 79 A.D. It is over 250 meters long, stands on three levels and has a square-shaped structure, and is itself divided into four squares. The southern ones were used for services, such as living quarters, latrines and papyrus storage, while the northern ones were used for residential and recreational areas.

The basis villae, plastered in white, has not yet been fully unearthed in its height, and it is characterized by large windows. It is also possible to manage to glimpse inside a room that has only been partially explored, the floor of which has not yet been reached, decorated in the vault with vine shoots and small paintings of cupids, sea animals and garlands. Wooden lintels can also be seen, a sign of openings leading to still unexplored rooms.

The entrance, which faced directly onto the sea, is preceded by a portico with columns, similar to that of the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, and paved with mosaic with black and white tiles. Here one enters from the atrium, which features an impluvium surrounded by eleven statuettes used as fountains and onto which several mosaic-paved rooms open.

The peristyle, 100 m long and 37 m wide, with frescoes in the fourth style, has a garden surrounded by a portico with sixty-four columns and a pool in the center: marble and bronze statues were found in the ambulatory at the time of excavation, some of which were moved from their original position due to restoration work and are now on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, such as the Drunken Satyr, Hermes at Rest, Pan with the Goat, a herm (sculpture on a pillar, depicting a human head and the beginning of a torso) probably depicting Lucius Anneus Seneca and the Runners.

Surrounding the peristyle are other rooms including the library and the tablinum: in the former, 1826 carbonized papyrus scrolls were found (unearthed on October 19, 1752), kept in some crates and wrapped in wooden peels. The first interpretations of the papyri, mostly written in Greek and only a few in Latin, were due to Camillo Paderni and Abbot Antonio Piaggio. Those studied deal almost all with Epicurean philosophy, largely made by Philodemus of Gadara, and a small part, those in Latin, deal with the war between Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII against Augustus, taken from a work called De bello Actiaco, but many others nevertheless have yet to be analyzed. Many papyri were lost during excavation operations, others in the attempt to open them. However, much progress has been made over the centuries, and recent techniques, not mechanical but digital (such as x-rays) bode well for the possibility of reading the charred scrolls.

A long avenue leads to a belvedere with a polychrome marble floor, removed for preservation first at the Palace of Portici, then to the National Museum. The villa was also equipped with a water system to serve the numerous pools, fountains and baths. Among the various finds are heaps of grain, oil lamps and a bronze sundial with silver inlays.

History of the Papyrus Villa after its discovery

Found by chance during the construction of a well, the first investigations carried out through tunnels started in 1750 under the direction of the Spaniard Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre, soon joined by the Swiss engineer Karl Weber: it was the latter who made the only plans of the building, one of which was drawn up in 1751, which showed the belvedere area, and another in 1754, later revised in 1764, where all the rooms explored, the tunnels made, the investigations and the findings were precisely illustrated.

It was on the latter plan that Jean Paul Getty built a life-size replica of the villa in Malibu, used first as a private home and later as a museum dedicated to him. The first phase of excavations was completed in 1761, bringing to light not only frescoes and floors, but also a large number of statues and the papyrus scrolls. A further brief campaign of investigation took place between 1764 and 1765 with the participation of Francisco la Vega and Camillo Paderni, keeper of the Portici Museum, and by the French sculptor and restorer Canart.

Later, due to toxic fumes from mofete (carbon dioxide emissions emanating from the ground), all ventilation shafts and tunnels were closed. Investigations of the Villa of the Papyri resumed in 1980 when it was again located, following the ancient Bourbon plans, while open excavation operations began in 1985. A new phase of excavation took place between 1996 and 1998, while since 2002 a reclamation action was put in place through the use of water pumps, to keep the explored part constantly dry: the rooms visible today are limited to the atrium, the basis villae and some rooms of a lower level.

The most important things to know about Villa of the Papyri

At the time, the papyri aroused great curiosity and attention on the part of many scholars, eventually becoming a major attraction and an almost obligatory stop on that famous educational trip called the Grand Tour in which all people from all over Europe who wanted to acculturate themselves participated.