On-line presentation by Marina De Franceschini at the Meeting of Cultural Astronomy, organized by the Unione Astrofili Napoletani
Tuesday 14 March 2023, 9 pm.
👉 👉 Request the Zoom Link to our inbox: rirella.editrice@gmail.comThe Villa of Tiberius in Sperlonga is the oldest imperial villa with astronomical orientation and illuminations, which will be imitated by other emperors such as Nero with the Domus Aurea and Hadrian with the Villa Adriana in Tivoli.
The Villa of Sperlonga is built near the sea, where it was a huge natural Grotto that Emperor Tiberius transformed into a spectacular summer triclinium, creating an artificial lake inside the cave.
Inside the Grotto he arranged a huge sculptural group with Ulysses blinding Polyphemus, another with Scilla and various sculptures related to the Odyssey, the Iliad and the myth of Ulysses.
The Grotto had two natural niches that were modified by building a cubicle decorated with mosaics and shells and digging a niche in which the group of Ulysses and Polyphemus must have been.
Thanks to the astronomical orientation, the two niches of the cave are illuminated by the sun's rays only on the days of the Summer Solstice (June 18 to 25) and the Winter Solstice (December 19 to 26).
At the Summer Solstice the rays of the Sun illuminated the Polyphemus group. The phenomenon had a special symbolic meaning, linked to the rituals of the Roman calendar and to the divine origin of imperial power.