18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Luxurious Ancient Roman Home With Magnificent Mosaic Wall uncovered between the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill

Archaeologists have uncovered a luxurious Roman home between Rome’s Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, boasting an “unparalleled” mosaic featuring shells, marble, and precious glass.

The discovery was unveiled by the Italian Culture Ministry on Tuesday. Officials said that the ancient structure, which dates to the late Republican age, was built in at least three phases between the second half of the second century BC and the end of the first century BC.

The Domus is located in the area of the so-called Horrea Agrippiana warehouse complex along the Vicus Tuscus, a trading street that linked the Roman Forum to the river port on the Tiber.

Distributed around an atrium/garden, the domus features the specus aestivus as its main room, a banquet hall imitating a cave used during the summer season. Originally, it was adorned with spectacular water displays through lead pipes embedded in decorated walls.

What makes this discovery unique is the discovery of an extraordinary mosaic wall covering called “rustic” in this room, which is unparalleled due to the complexity of the depicted scenes and chronology.

The domus features an extraordinary mosaic. Photo Ministero della Cultura.
The domus features an extraordinary mosaic. Photo Ministero della Cultura.

The mosaic, crafted with sea-shells, Egyptian blue tesserae, precious glass, marble fragments, and colored stones, suggests the domus owner was a high-status nobleman or soldier, reports The Heritage Daily.

Three large ships ride waves in the mosaic towards a coastal city, its walls dotted with small towers and porticoes in a scene suggesting the owner of the more than 2,000-year-old home, or domus, had been victorious in battle.

The four niches, which are separated by pilaster strips and embellished with vases that sprout vines and lotus leaves, depict stacks of weapons with Celtic trumpet horns (carnyx), ship prows with tridents, and helmets with triremes, perhaps hint at the domus owner’s dual victory—both at sea and on land.

Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, said the excavations will conclude early next year, adding: “We will work intensely to make this place, among the most evocative of ancient Rome, accessible to the public as soon as possible.”

Archaeologists also discovered “of the highest quality” white stucco carvings in an adjacent reception room, featuring detailed architectural renderings and vague “figures.”

The discoveries are the culmination of a lengthy excavation set to conclude in early 2024. Alfonsina Russo, head of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, the body that oversees many of ancient Rome’s key monuments, said that authorities would “work intensively to make this place, one of the most evocative in ancient Rome, accessible to the public as soon as possible.”

Reiterating Russo’s commitment, the ministry noted that the domus will join an expanding series of “new and diversified visitor routes opened in recent years that make up the varied cultural offerings of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.”

Cover Photo: Ministry of Culture handout

Italian Culture Ministry

Related Articles

What Lies Beneath Bor Ovoo? Turkish and Mongolian Researchers Set to Unearth Ancient Nomadic Traditions

20 July 2025

20 July 2025

Renowned historian Prof. Dr. Kürşad Yıldırım, a leading expert in Central Asian nomadic cultures from Istanbul University, is spearheading a...

14th-century inscription found on Turkey’s Giresun Island

4 January 2022

4 January 2022

On Giresun Island, which is 1.2 kilometers (0.7 miles) off the Turkish province of Giresun on the Black Sea’s southeastern...

İnscriptions in Turkey is Showing How Romans Tackled İnflation

21 March 2021

21 March 2021

The largest marble city in the world, located in western Turkey in the province of Muğla, draws attention with large...

“Last Rhodes shipwreck” of Roman period found in Turkey’s Fethiye

5 March 2022

5 March 2022

Turkish researchers, a Rhodes shipwreck from the third century A.D. was discovered in the depths of the Gulf of Fethiye...

New Archaeological Discovery Extends Human Settlement of Kodiak Island by 7,800 Years

26 August 2025

26 August 2025

Archaeologists at the Alagnaruartuliq site (KAR-00064) on Kodiak Island’s Karluk Lake have uncovered evidence of one of the oldest known...

Hand disease known as Viking disease may have its origins in Neanderthal genes

14 June 2023

14 June 2023

A recent study in the Oxford University Press journal Molecular Biology and Evolution demonstrates that a condition known as Dupuytren’s...

2,800-Year-Old ‘Pharmaceutical production area’ discovered in ancient Thracian City

19 January 2024

19 January 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed a “pharmaceutical production area” supported by a water source during ongoing excavations in the Thracian Ancient City...

Mosaic Discovered in Illegal Dig in Zile Points to Ancient Roman Public Structure

12 July 2025

12 July 2025

Zile, a district in the Tokat province of northern Türkiye, has long been recognized as one of Anatolia’s most historically...

Archaeologists Use Song to Unveil the Legendary End of West Africa’s Kaabu Kingdom

19 March 2025

19 March 2025

As the archaeological discoveries at Kansala, located in present-day Guinea-Bissau, reveal the tangible remnants of the once-mighty Kaabu Kingdom, the...

An opulent 2,000-year-old ‘city hall’ has been discovered near the Western Wall in Israel

8 July 2021

8 July 2021

An important 2,000-year-old public building has been unearthed near the wailing wall in Israel. Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority...

Archaeologists Discover Ivan III’s Seal in Moscow — The First Grand Ducal and Final Lead Seal Ever Found

22 June 2025

22 June 2025

Archaeologists uncover the first grand ducal seal from Moscow, linked to the founder of the centralized Russian state. Archaeologists conducting...

A Life-Size Funerary High Relief Discovered in Pompeii’s Porta Sarno Necropolis

3 April 2025

3 April 2025

A research project titled “Investigating the Archaeology of Death in Pompeii,” developed by the Universitat de València in collaboration with...

New Museum being Built for the Stolen Goddess Cybele in Western Turkey

12 June 2021

12 June 2021

A marble statue of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele, which was returned to its native home of Turkey’s Afyonkarahisar will...

Leptis Magna was once one of the most important African cities of the Roman Empire

28 September 2021

28 September 2021

The ancient city of Leptis Magna, as was its name in antiquity, was once one of the most prominent and...

Researchers may have found the wreck of British explorer James Cook’s Endeavour

3 February 2022

3 February 2022

The wreck of Captain James Cook’s famed vessel the Endeavour has been found off the coast of the U.S. state...