Central Sicily - Sicily - page 461

11 Thermae B2

12 Triclinium C2

13 Xystus C3

Sights

Thermae
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP
To the north of the villa's main entrance OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP , which leads through the
remnants of a triumphal arch into an elegant atrium OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (forecourt), is
the villa's baths complex. Accessible via the palaestra OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (gymnasi-
um), which has a splendid mosaic depicting a chariot race at the Circus Maximus in Rome
(the room is also known as the Salone del Circo or Circus Room), is the octagonal frigidari-
um OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (cold room), where the radiating apses contained cold plunge
pools, and a tepidarium OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (warm room), where you can now see the
exposed brickwork and vents that allowed hot steam into the room.

ROMAN SITE

Peristyle & Great Hunt Roman Site
The main part of the villa is centred on the peristyle OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP , a vast covered
courtyard lined with amusing animal heads. This is where guests would have been re-
ceived before being taken through to the basilica OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (throne room). Of
the rooms on the northern side of the peristyle, the most interesting is a dining room fea-
turing a hunting mosaic called the Little Hunt OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP - 'little' because the
big hunt is over on the eastern flank of the peristyle in the Ambulacrodella Scena della Grande
Caccia OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP (Corridor of the Great Hunt). This 64m-long corridor is em-
blazoned with dramatic hunting scenes of tigers, leopards, elephants, antelopes, ostriches
and a rhino - animals that the Romans eventually hunted to extinction in North Africa.
The first figure is resplendent in a Byzantine cape and is flanked by two soldiers, most
likely Maximianus himself and two members of his personal guard.

Bikini Girls Mosaic