The Goddess Fortuna in Imperial Rome: Cult, Art, Text - University of ...

sanctuaries of Italy– Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste and Hercules Victor in
Tivoli– as well as Hellenistic palatial constructions and the constructions of past
prominent Roman statesmen, such as Scipio Aemilianus. 610 Lucullus’ horti were
one of the clearest and earlier examples in Rome of the Roman patron making his
house not just into a imitation of a temple proper with luxurious materials, but
rather of an entire sanctuary. According to the seminal study of Coarelli,
Lucullus’ villa is an excellent example of domestic architecture, which exceeded
the norms of the Republic and set the standard for the combination of domestic
and sacral architectural elements. 611 The end result in Rome would be the
imperial horti as much as the Augustan complex on the Palatine, followed by
imperial residences such as the Domus Aurea and Domitian’s Palace in Rome. 612
Much of the evidence for Coarelli’s study of the complex, however, is
based on the sixteenth–century drawings of Pirro Ligorio, whose accuracy is
questionable in view of the recent French excavations on the ridge between the
Villa Medici and Trinità dei Monti. 613 Except for the few, general literary
references to the Republican phase of the villa (e.g., Plut., Lucull. 42.2), few
609 Coarelli (1983), reprinted in Coarelli (1996) 327-343, La Rocca (1986) 3-35, Cima and La
Rocca (1998), Kuttner (1998) 93-107. See new considerations and definition of horti in Purcell
(2001) 546-556.
610 Coarelli (1996) 335-338, La Rocca (1986) 3-35, esp. 5, 21-22.
611 Coarelli (1996) 327-343.
612 La Rocca (1986) 3-35.
613 In contrast to Coarelli (1983), see the most recent excavations of the French Academy: Broise
and Jolivet (1998) 189-202 and LTUR (1996) H. Broise and V. Jolivet, “Horti Lucullani,” III.67-
70, (1999) V.266, which have found almost no constructions dating to the middle of the first
century BCE. Instead, most of the waterworks and buildings belong to the first century CE.
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