Maxentius and Villas on the Via Appia:
New Archaeological Contexts

Elizabeth L. Platte (Kalamazoo College)

The last decade of archaeological excavations between the second and sixth miles of Rome’s Via Appia has produced a wealth of new evidence about imperial villa culture in this suburb of the capital city. In 2000, Italy’s Sopraintendenza Archeologica unveiled the impressive results of its excavations, conservation and site presentation at the Villa dei Quintili, a splendid estate begun by an aristocratic family under Hadrian, appropriated by Commodus and apparently patronized by emperors throughout the third century. Since 2003, the Kalamazoo College/University of Colorado Excavations at the Villa of Maxentius have conducted three seasons of fieldwork in the residential sector of the Appian complex built by this self-proclaimed emperor who controlled Rome from 306-312 CE.  Last summer, the Sopraintendenza opened the newly excavated Capo di Bove bath building, which belonged to a still-unidentified second through fourth-century CE villa located between the Maxentian and Quintili estates. These recent excavations raise an important question never before explicitly posed: why did the embattled usurper Maxentius construct a new palatial complex on the Via Appia when the luxurious Villa dei Quintili, located just two Roman miles away, was already in imperial hands?

This paper explores possible answers by examining the policies and propaganda of Maxentius in relation to the changing forms and functions of imperial villas during the Tetrarchic period.  The elegance and innovative layout of the imposing Villa dei Quintili clearly advertised to passers-by the prestige of its owners. However, the Tetrarchic period ushered in a new and vastly different language of power. Maxentius needed a villa that would express his personal authority through up-to-date architectural forms—a role that the Villa dei Quintili could no longer fulfill.  The Tetrarchic ethos of city foundation was also mirrored in contemporary imperial villas, further motivating Maxentius to construct a new villa instead of occupying a pre-existing imperial property.

Nevertheless, the question of why Maxentius chose this specific site on the Via Appia still persists.  Here Maxentius’ calculated official image as princeps and conservator urbis suae undoubtedly came into play. The Via Appia had a venerable history, reflected in the Kalamazoo/Colorado project’s 2006 discovery of late fourth/early third-century BCE occupation beneath the great apsidal aula of the Villa of Maxentius. The site’s deep Republican roots, now documented all the way back to the Via Appia’s earliest period of the construction, must have appealed to Maxentius’ desire to project a conservative image. 

The property’s pre-existing funerary associations may also have contributed to Maxentius’ decision to construct his villa there.  The Augustan Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella formed a kind of funerary cornerstone to the Maxentian complex, its giant cylinder echoed architecturally in the adjacent “Tomb of Romulus” and towers of the Circus of Maxentius. Funerary considerations were also paramount when Herodes Atticus, a wealthy imperial courtier, owned the estate in the second century CE.  After the death of his wife, Annia Regilla, a relative of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Herodes Atticus rededicated his estate to her memory, calling it the Triopion.  In this capacity, it not only honored Annia Regilla, but also served as a cult center of the deified empress Faustina.  One innovative aspect of Tetrarchic villas was their inclusion of mausolea.  In fact, a dynastic mausoleum was the most prominent component of the Maxentian complex as seen from the Via Appia.  It therefore seems likely that the desire to include a large tomb in the complex guided Maxentius’ choice of location.

This paper argues that recently excavated villas on the Via Appia provide fresh insights into their symbolic role as architectural vehicles of Late Antique imperial propaganda.

TOPIC CODE:  AR