Augustus on the Palatine: an ideological choice
When Octavian, returning from his victory over Cleopatra and Mark Antony (29 BC), chose the Palatine as his permanent residence, he did not build a new palace. He purchased and enlarged the house of Hortensius, Cicero's great oratorical rival, situated on the eastern slope of the Palatine overlooking the Roman Forum.
The choice was deliberately ideological: Augustus intended to present himself as a Roman citizen among citizens, not as an Oriental monarch. His house was a domus of reasonable proportions — certainly luxurious, but comparable to the residences of the wealthiest senators rather than to a royal palace. Suetonius recalls that Augustus slept in the same bed for decades, often dressed in clothes woven by his wife or daughters, and admitted no grandiose displays of solid gold.
This studied modesty was reflected in the architecture: no monumental pronaos, no imperial vestibule. The house was arranged in rooms of normal dimensions, reached by a modest staircase.
The House of Livia: a question of identity
The House of Livia is adjacent to the House of Augustus and traditionally identified as the dwelling of the first emperor's wife. This identification rests on a nineteenth-century find: a lead pipe bearing the inscription Iulia Augusta, the name Livia adopted after Augustus's testamentary adoption of her (14 AD).
However, many modern archaeologists believe that the House of Livia was in fact part of Augustus's own residence — possibly the older suite in the complex, predating the restructuring that produced the House of Augustus as we know it. The Iulia Augusta inscription may refer to Livia's property ownership in the period after her husband's death.
In any case, the two houses form a coherent architectural and decorative unit, with frescoes that are stylistically and chronologically homogeneous, dated to the Second Pompeian Style (circa 40–10 BC).
The Second Pompeian Style: painting as architectural illusion
The frescoes in both houses belong to the so-called Second Pompeian Style, a pictorial tradition developed in the first century BC that attempts to dissolve the wall by painting it as a window open onto architectural or landscape spaces.
The principle of the Second Style is illusionistic perspective: columns, pilasters, podia, entablatures, and fantastical architectures are painted with such perspectival skill that the wall appears transparent — a window onto imaginary halls, porticoes, gardens, or theatres.
This tradition was influenced by scaenographia — the scene painting of Greek and Hellenistic theatres — and by the environments of Greece and Asia Minor that Augustus and his circle had encountered during military campaigns. Translating that sophistication into Roman architecture was a cultural statement: the Augustan Palatine looked toward the Hellenistic East without abandoning Roman sobriety.
The rooms of the House of Augustus
The House of Augustus contains a series of decorated rooms, four of which are open to visitors. Each room has a coherent pictorial theme that has given rise to modern conventional names.
The Room of the Masks: named after the relief medallions painted with theatrical masks decorating the walls. These masks — tragedy masks, comedy masks, satyr masks — are painted on a red ground and framed by colonnaded architectures of extraordinary refinement. The floor is in polychrome marble opus sectile. This room is considered the finest space in the entire house.
The Room of the Pines: the walls display landscape vistas with pine trees on a black ground, one of the rarest examples of pure landscape in Roman painting. The pines emerge from low ground with small figures and constructions in the background.
The Study of Augustus: a small cubicle with geometric coloured panelling, probably the emperor's private workplace. Suetonius recounts that Augustus had a small study on the upper floor — ad summos clivos — where he withdrew to work; the room discovered does not exactly match the description but is its most likely candidate.
The Room of State Frescoes: the official entrance, with walls featuring false colonnades with open vistas.
The frescoes of the House of Livia
The House of Livia preserves frescoes of equally exceptional quality, distributed across three main rooms.
The Tablinum (reception room): the walls display large panels with mythological episodes — among which Io watched by Argus and Polyphemus and Galatea are recognisable — framed by painted architectures and elaborate cornices. The dominant colours are Pompeian red, ochre yellow, and white. The figurative panels are small in format and set within broader architectural compositions.
The Triclinium: the masterpiece of the house. The walls show a complex system of multi-storey galleries with balconies, projecting entablatures, and fragments of landscape seen through successive perspectival openings. The sense of depth is extraordinary: the viewer seems to stand on a loggia opening onto further loggias.
The left Cubiculum: a smaller room with a yellow ground and delicate architectures, lighter in palette than the Triclinium.
The technique: fresco and pigments
The frescoes in both houses are executed a fresco — with pigments applied directly onto wet plaster — a technique that guarantees millennial durability because the pigments chemically bond to the calcium carbonate of the plaster as it sets.
The pigments used were costly and precious:
- Pompeian red was obtained from cinnabar (minium), mercury sulphide extracted mainly in Spain. It was the most expensive pigment of antiquity.
- Egyptian blue (calcium copper silicate frit) had been produced artificially since the third millennium BC.
- Yellow came from ochre (hydrated iron oxide) from various Italian quarries.
- Green was mainly malachite or green earth.
- Black was obtained from soot, burnt ivory, or calcined bones.
Application required a strict sequence: the plaster is prepared in multiple layers; the final layer (arriccio) must remain damp long enough for the artist to complete each individual giornata (day's work). The joints between giornate are often visible in raking light.
The history of the building: Augustus's lightning bolt
Suetonius records a significant episode: after lightning struck a part of the Palatine, Augustus consulted the haruspices and offered the people access to the struck spot, since lightning was interpreted as a sign of religious predestination. More significantly, Augustus surrendered the upper floor of his own house to the god Apollo, received in a dream as divine will, integrating it into the complex of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus (28 BC).
This gesture — transforming part of one's private home into a public sanctuary — was one of the most symbolically effective acts of the Principate: the divine and the private merged in the person of the princeps.
The history of excavations and conservation
The House of Augustus was discovered in the second half of the nineteenth century during the first major Palatine excavation campaigns. The frescoes, in a surprisingly good state of preservation, were immediately recognised as exceptional. Some panels were detached and transferred to the Museo Nazionale Romano for conservation reasons.
Systematic restoration campaigns in the 1990s–2000s enabled the two houses to be reopened to the public under controlled conditions: humidity, temperature, and visitor numbers are monitored. Access is normally limited to small groups by reservation, to minimise the impact of human breath on the plaster.
How to visit the two houses today
The House of Augustus and the House of Livia are located on the Palatine, included in the combined Colosseum–Roman Forum–Palatine ticket.
- Access to both houses is limited and subject to separate booking: check availability on the official Soprintendenza website
- Visits take place in small groups (normally 20–30 people)
- Photography is generally permitted without flash
- Paid guided tours offer in-depth explanations of the painting technique
- The House of Livia is open more regularly than the House of Augustus (which has closure periods for restoration)
A visit to both houses takes approximately 45–60 minutes and should be planned as part of a broader Palatine itinerary.
Visit with a private driver
The House of Augustus and the House of Livia are located on the Palatine, included in the combined Colosseum–Forum–Palatine ticket.
Visit the House of Augustus, the House of Livia, and the Palatine with a private driver: arrive in comfort at one of antiquity's most extraordinary painted cycles. Service from €49. → Book your driver at myromedriver.com
Frequently Asked Questions
How old are the frescoes? The frescoes date to approximately 30–20 BC — making them roughly 2,050 years old. They are among the oldest in situ Roman painted cycles.
Is booking required? For the House of Augustus, almost always yes. For the House of Livia it varies by season. Check the Soprintendenza website before your visit.
Are the frescoes originals? Largely yes: most of the frescoes visible in the rooms are in situ — still on the original wall. Only a few secondary panels have been detached for conservation and are held at the Museo Nazionale Romano.
Why have the frescoes been preserved so well? The site was covered by debris and then by the Farnese Gardens for some 1,500 years. Progressive burial maintained constant temperature and humidity — ideal conditions for the preservation of painted plaster.
What is the difference between the House of Augustus and the House of Livia? They are two adjacent houses, probably forming a single complex in antiquity. The House of Livia is traditionally identified as the wife's apartment; the House of Augustus as the core of the imperial residence.
Article No. 48 — TIER S — MON-03 Roman Forum + Palatine Type: HISTORY Words: ~2,400