Staircase from Vestibule.—891. Rome Triumphant; 885. Relief—the Death of the Children of Niobe; 893. Antoninus Pius Distributing Corn (?); 894. Orphan Children of Faustina (?). (See [page 44].)
Upper Floor, First Room.—905. Apollo; 906. An Athlete; 915. Cupid.
Noble Gallery.—Reliefs; 1008. Hercules and the Hesperides; 1009. Dædalus and Icarus; 1010. A Sacrifice; 1013. Antonius holding a Horse; 1018. Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus, Faustina, and Rome; 1014. Venus, Diana, Apollo, and Victory sacrificing.
Left Room.—1013. Relief—Antinoüs Crowned with the Lotus Flower, very beautiful.
Second Room.—952. Apollo Sauroctonos, by Praxiteles.
Beyond the villa is the
CATACOMB OF S. PRISCILLA.
Priscilla is said to be the Christian name of the mother of Pudens. Anastasius (xxxi. 31) says this cemetery was made by Bishop Marcellus, A.D. 307. There is a burial vault here said to be the tomb of the family of Pudens; it has some rude frescoes—a woman coming out of a house; an orante in act of prayer, called a Madonna; a woman between two men, twice over. Other frescoes, in different chambers, are the Three Jews in the Fiery Furnace; Good Shepherd; four orantes and doves; seven men carrying a barrel, whilst two others lie on the ground. Scratched on the wall is Oratius D. Nobilibus Antonius Bosius; and underneath was a marble slab—Bonaviæ Conjugi Sanctissimae; a Good Shepherd; a female figure seated, with a child in her lap, looking towards a male figure with hands extended, called the Virgin and Isaiah (query, Joseph)—between them is a star. This is the earliest painting of the Virgin known.
Leaving the catacomb, the hill on the left, beyond, was the site of