VILLA OF HERODES ATTICUS.
This was proved from finding two pedestals, on which are two Greek inscriptions, copies of which have been placed on the top of the hill, close by the artificial ruin in the Villa Borghese; the originals are in the Louvre. This villa formed part of the dowry of Annia Regilla, wife of Atticus, as we learn from a column, No. 10 in the second Hall of Inscriptions in the Capitol Museum, which afterwards marked the eighth mile on one of the roads. After Regilla's death, he consecrated a statue to Regilla in the above temple. This is denoted by the above inscriptions, which speak of her as "the light of the house, the lady of the land." The wall at the back of the vaulted chamber was primarily intended to support the declivity of the hill, at the foot of which this elegant little building stands. The niches in the walls were for the reception of statues. One of these only, a recumbent figure of a river god, has been preserved, and is supposed to be a personification of the Almo, which flows past the spot.
Several channels for pipes, concealed in the wall, justify the supposition that the water poured forth in numerous streams. The romantic appearance of this spot has been greatly changed by the stream being turned into an aqueduct in the summer of 1873. A path leads to the tomb of Annia Regilla.
Visitors whose time is limited should continue along the Appian Way as far as the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, and then retrace their steps to this road, which leads into the Via Appia Nova ([page 328]), and so return to Rome.
Regaining the Via Appia, at a short distance on the right is the Via Sette Chiesa. Some distance down, near the Tor Marancia farm, are the