Just a few minutes’ walk from the House of Augustus is the house of his famous (third) wife, Livia. We know this was her house due to the discovery of a lead pipe stamped “IVLIA AVGVSTA” (Julia Augusta).

You enter her house through what would have been a gracious atrium, which then splits into three long rooms, a tablinum (reception room) and two side rooms. The flooring was black with white mosaics.

The room on the left (a triclinium, or dining room) is decorated by illusionistic architecture with an idyllic landscape in the distance.

The reception room was the most elaborately decorated, depicting mythological scenes, which are now faded. Still visible, however, is a scene of the god Mercury rescuing Io, who had been changed into a white cow by Zeus in order to hide her from his jealous wife Hera.

The lovely room on the right is decorated with garlands of leaves, fruits, flowers, and ribbons, in between faux columns. A frieze ay the top of the frescoes shows the fascination of the time period with all things Egypt (camels, sphinxes, etc.), which were particularly important to Augustus and Livia. After all, Augustus had defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra in his quest for total power.

We watched the computer-generated sound and light show, then headed out to see more Super Sites.