Here we reach the Sala Rotonda, built by Pius VI., paved with a mosaic found in 1780 in the baths of Otricoli, and containing in its centre a grand porphyry vase from the baths of Titus. On either side of the entrance are colossal heads of Tragedy and Comedy, from Hadrian's Villa. Beginning from the right are:
539. *Bust of Jupiter from Otricoli—the finest extant.
540. Antinous, from Hadrian's Villa. All the drapery (probably once of bronze) is a restoration.
"Antinous was drowned in the Nile, A.D. 131. Some accounts assert that he drowned himself in obedience to an oracle, which demanded for the life of the emperor Hadrian the sacrifice of the object dearest to him. However this may be, Hadrian lamented his death with extravagant weakness, proclaimed his divinity to the jeering Egyptians, and consecrated a temple in his honour. He gave the name of Besantinopolis to a city in which he was worshipped in conjunction with an obscure divinity named Besa."—Merivale, lxvi.
541. Faustina the elder, wife of Antoninus Pius.
542. Augustus, veiled.
543. *Hadrian, found in his mausoleum.
544. *Colossal Hercules, in gilt bronze, found (1864) near the Theatre of Pompey. The feet and ankles are restorations by Tenerani.
546. *Bust of Antinous.
547. Sea-god, from Pozzuoli.