Identification In 1968, L. Cozza joined this fragment to frs. 8l, 8m, and 8n (Cozza 1968, p. 22, fig. 14). A decade later, E. Rodríguez-Almeida was able to position the entire group in the top left corner of slab VIII-5 because the thickness, smooth back, and thick, blue veining line in fr. 8l matched other, securely positioned fragments in that slab (frs. 8a, 8b, and 8c) (Rodríguez-Almeida 1970-71, p. 127-129). The join located the architecture depicted in these fragments in the valley between the Caelian and the Palatine Hill, and at equidistance between the Septizodium and the Flavian Amphitheater (the Colosseum). The small rooms and peristyle seen here may be part of a single-family home, a domus. In that case, the elongated room in the corner possibly functioned as a summer bedroom and the larger room next to it with the wide opening as a summer dining room, an oecus. The house is separated from the bath complex in frs. 8l, 8m, and 8n by a wide street.

Significance If the positioning of this fragment group is correct, it provides an interesting glimpse of the urban landscape between the Caelian and the Palatine, with a possible private residence and a small bathing structure surrounded on all sides by imposing, imperial monuments such as the Septizodium, the Temple to the Deified Claudius, and the Colosseum.

Text by Tina Najbjerg