Gardens of Sallust

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ludovisi Gaul, now in the Palazzo Altemps

The Gardens of Sallust (Latin: Horti Sallustiani) were Roman gardens developed by the Roman historian Sallust in the 1st century BC using his wealth extorted as governor of the province of Africa Nova (newly conquered Numidia). The landscaped pleasure gardens occupied a large area in the northwestern sector of Rome, in what would become Region VI, between the Pincian and Quirinal hills, near the Via Salaria and later Porta Salaria. This rione is now known as Sallustiano.

The gardens contained many pavilions, a temple to Venus, and monumental sculptures. Items later found in the gardens include:

the Obelisco Sallustiano, a Roman copy of an Egyptian obelisk which now stands in front of the Trinità dei Monti church in the Piazza di Spagna at the top of the Spanish Steps
the Borghese Vase, discovered there in the 16th century.
the sculptures known as the Dying Gaul and the Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife
the Ludovisi Throne, found in 1887, and the Boston Throne, found in 1894.

The gardens were acquired by Tiberius and maintained for several centuries by the Roman Emperors as a public amenity. The Emperor Nerva died of a fever in a villa in the gardens in AD 98, and they remained an imperial resort until they were sacked by the Goths in 410 (Procopius). In the early seventeenth century Ludovico Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV, purchased the site and constructed the Villa Ludovisi, in the course of which several important Roman sculptures were rediscovered. Much of the area occupied by the gardens was divided into building lots and filled following the break-up of Villa Ludovisi after 1894, as Rome expanded as the capital city of Italy after the unification of Italy.