The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum: Archaeology, Reception, and Digital Reconstruction

312 Pages·2010·55.949 MB·English

by  Mantha Zarmakoupi

The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum
Sozomena
Studies in the Recovery of Ancient Texts
Edited
on behalf of the Herculaneum Society
by
Alessandro Barchiesi, Robert Fowler,
Dirk Obbink and Nigel Wilson
Vol. 1
De Gruyter
The Villa of the Papyri
at Herculaneum
Archaeology, Reception,
and Digital Reconstruction
Edited by
Mantha Zarmakoupi
De Gruyter
ISBN 978-3-11-020388-2
e-ISBN 978-3-11-021543-4
ISSN 1869-6368
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
TheVillaofthePapyriatHerculaneum:archaeology,reception,
anddigitalreconstruction/editedbyManthaZarmakoupi.
p.cm.(cid:2)(Sozomena:studiesintherecoveryofancienttexts)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-3-11-020388-2(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.VillaofthePapyri(Herculaneum) 2.Dwellings(cid:2)Italy(cid:2)
Herculaneum (Extinct city) 3. Herculaneum (Extinct city) (cid:2)
Antiquities. 4.Excavations(Archaeology)(cid:2)Italy(cid:2)Hercula-
neum(Extinctcity) I.Zarmakoupi,Mantha,1975(cid:2).
DG70.H5V56 2010
9371.72564(cid:2)dc22 2010046157
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TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutsche
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athttp://dnb.d-nb.de.
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Contents
mantha zarmakoupi
Introduction ....................................... VII
antonio de simone
Rediscovering the Villa of the Papyri .................... 1
maria paola guidobaldi, domenico esposito
New Archaeological Research at the Villa of the Papyri
inHerculaneum .................................... 21
eric m. moormann
Wall Paintings in the Villa of the Papyri. OldandNewFinds . 63
carol c. mattusch
Programming Sculpture? Collection and Display intheVilla of
the Papyri ......................................... 79
mario capasso
Who Lived in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum –
ASettled Question? ................................. 89
david sider
The Books of the Villa of the Papyri .................... 115
kenneth lapatin
The Getty Villa: Recreating the Villa of the Papyri inMalibu. 129
dana arnold
En Foüllant à l’Aveugle: Discovering the Villa of the Papyri
inthe18th century ................................... 139
diane favro
From pleasure, to “guilty pleasure,” to simulation: rebirthing
the Villa of the Papyri ............................... 155
mantha zarmakoupi
The virtual reality digital model of the Villa of thePapyri
project ............................................ 181
VI Contents
List of Contributors ................................. 195
Bibliography ....................................... 197
General Index ...................................... 215
Plates ............................................. 223
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4 Introduction
5
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8 Excavatedforthefirsttimeinthe18thcenturybymeansofunderground
9 tunnels, the Villa of the Papyri has been profoundly influential in the
10 field of Classical Studies. Not only do the collection of papyri from
11 theVillaform theonly intactlibrary tosurvive from Greco-Roman an-
12 tiquity, but the sculptural decoration of theVilla alsocontributed tothe
13 development of Winckelmann’s aesthetic theories and made a signifi-
14 cant impact on the study of Classical Art. The unique character of
15 the finds, as well as the inaccessibility of the Villa itself after the end
16 of the excavations contributed to the creation of a myth around the
17 site and more specifically around its finds and ownership. In the
18 1990s, after over two centuries of inaccessibility during which Weber’s
19 plan was the only tangible reference to the Villa’s architecture, new ex-
20 cavations brought more of this fascinating site to light. The new exca-
21 vations, conducted in 1994–1998 by Infratecna and after 2007 by the
22 ArchaeologicalSuperintendencyof Pompeii,haveenrichedourknowl-
23 edgeandunderstandingof theVillaof thePapyri.Thepaperspresented
24 in this volume give a comprehensive account of the new excavations,
25 for the first time in English, and provide an overview of new research
26 on the Villa.
27 Inthefirsttwochaptersthenewexcavationsarepresented.Antonio
28 DeSimonediscussestheprocessofre-discovering theVillainthe1980s
29 and analyzes the results of the first open-air excavations of 1994–1998.
30 These show that the Villa was more extensive and monumental than
31 previously thought, and demonstrate that it is exemplary of the monu-
32 mental luxury villas that fronted the Bay of Naples in the first century
33 B.C.E.andthe firstcentury C.E. MariaPaola Guidobaldi andDomeni-
34 co Esposito discuss the most recent excavations conducted at the Villa
35 and present the new finds from the Villa, including the decoration of
36 room (I) of the basis villae and the wooden furniture lined with ivory
37 that present Dionysian-related scenes. The study of the construction
38 techniques, pavements and wall paintings enables us to assess the chro-
39 nologyof theVillaanddateitsfirstphasetothethirdquarterof thefirst
40 century B.C.E. Furthermore, Guidobaldi tackles the issues involved in
VIII ManthaZarmakoupi
1 themanagementandrestorationof thisfragilesitethatinsomeareaslies
2 almost 4m below the current sea level.
3 Chaptersthreeandfourdiscussthewallpaintingsandsculpturalcol-
4 lection of the Villa. Eric Moormann assesses his previous work on the
5 fragments of wall paintings found in the 18th-century to analyze the
6 overallchronologyof thewallpaintingsattheVilla.Asinotheropulent
7 villas and houses from the Campanian region, owners appreciated and
8 retained Second Style decorations side by side with the new fashions
9 of the Fourth Style. Carol Mattusch analyzes the sculptural collection
10 foundattheVillaandgoesbeyondthetraditionalconceptofasculptural
11 program to look more deeply at the industry of sculpture and at the
12 means by which these art-works found homes.
13 The following two chapters examine the papyri found at the Villa.
14 In chapter five, Mario Capasso re-examines the question of the Villa’s
15 owner(s) by assessing the research and scholarship on the archaeology
16 of the Villa and attempts to bridge the approaches of archaeologists
17 andpapyrologiststothequestion.Inthenextchapter,DavidSiderpres-
18 ents the attempts and methods used to open and read the papyrus rolls
19 from the Villa in the 18th and 19th centuries and discusses the nature of
20 the library of the Villa. The specialized library of mainly Greek Epicur-
21 eantextsmusthavebeenpartofalargerlibraryofbothGreekandLatin
22 texts.
23 The reception of the Villa in the 18th and 20th centuries is addressed
24 in the next two chapters. Kenneth Lapatin discusses the genesis of J.
25 Paul Getty’s idea to build a replica of the Villa of the Papyri in Malibu,
26 California, in order to house his art collection. The association of the
27 Villa with Julius Caesar’s father-in-law appealed greatly to the tycoon
28 and the limited information about the Villa’s architecture allowed the
29 interpretative leeway necessary for the realization of his vision. Dana
30 Arnold uses Derridean concepts to point to the fragmentary way that
31 the Villa was accessed and understood in the 18th century. The codified
32 representation of the Villa’s underground spaces by Weber is indicative
33 of thewaysinwhichthescientificgraphicconventionswereameansto
34 codify knowledge about architecture and archaeology at the time.
35 The last two chapters address the real and virtual reconstructions of
36 the Villa of the Papyri. Diane Favro focuses on the real re-birthing of
37 theVilla of thePapyri astheGetty Villa toaddressthe history of recon-
38 structions and their sensorial “stigma.” Her analysis of responses to the
39 sensorial delights of the Getty Villa sheds light on the academic dichot-
40 omy between scientific/conceptual (i.e., good) and sensorial (i.e., bad)
Introduction IX
1 approaches that lingers in the fields of architectural and art history as
2 well as archaeology. Mantha Zarmakoupi presents the Virtual reality dig-
3 italmodelof theVillaof thePapyriprojecttoaddressthewaysinwhichsuch
4 models may be used to document and investigate archaeological sites.
5 By presenting a reconstruction that distinguishes between known and
6 hypothetical structures, this project aims to provide a research and edu-
7 cational tool for the Villa.
8 ThisvolumeistheoutcomeofaconferencethatwasheldinOxford
9 in September 2007 on The archaeology, reception and digital reconstruction of
10 theVillaof thePapyri.IwouldliketothanktheBritishAcademyandthe
11 OxfordClassicsFacultyBoardfortheirsupportandtheFriendsof Her-
12 culaneum Society for generously sponsoring the conference. I am in-
13 debted to Robert Fowler and Dirk Obbink for their assistance and sup-
14 port for the conference as well as for the production of the present vol-
15 ume. I am particularly grateful to Robert Fowler for checking the Eng-
16 lish translations of the Italian texts. Furthermore, I would like to thank
17 Elisa Perego and Veronica Tamorri for translating the first two chapters
18 from Italian to English.
19 At the time of the conference, the most recent excavations by the
20 Archaelogical Superintendency of Pompeii were underway at the
21 Villa. I am grateful to Maria Paola Guidobaldi and Domenico Esposito
22 for agreeing to present the results of their work in this volume.
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24 New York, May 2010
25 Mantha Zarmakoupi
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