The Villa of the Papyri was an ancient Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named after its unique library of papyri scrolls, discovered in 1750. The Villa was considered to be one of the most luxurious houses in all of Herculaneum and in the Roman world. Its luxury is shown by its exquisite architecture and by the large number of outstanding works of art discovered, including frescoes, bronzes and marble sculpture which constitute the largest collection of Greek and Roman sculptures ever discovered in a single context.
Villa of the Papyri
The Villa of the Papyri before the eruption.
A bronze bust of an Egyptian priest, mid 1st century BC, found in the Villa of the Papyri
Barker identified this sculpture as Mercury. It has been referred to as Seated Hermes.
Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town, located in the modern-day comune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
The excavations of Herculaneum
Herculaneum plan showing the ancient site below the modern (1908) town and the 1631 "lava" flow
Small Herculaneum Woman (Dresden)
Insulae numbers of main excavated area
