Domus: M. Aemilius Scaurus

M. Aemilius Scaurus (pr. 56 B.C.) was the mid-1st c. B.C. proprietor of a magnificent aristocratic residence on the lower *Palatine, at the intersection of the *Sacra Via and *Clivus Palatinus (Asc., Scaur. 23; Papi, LTUR). Excavations in 1983-85 unearthed remains of at least one, possibly two houses, in this area (Papi 1986). The house dates to the second quarter of the 1st c. B.C. based upon its building materials and mosaics (area: c. 1600 m2); its atrium and portions of a series of heated bathing rooms are preserved (Papi 1986). Carandini connected the Asconius passage with these remains convincingly to identify them as the domus of M. Aemilius Scaurus (Carandini esp. 359-73, fig. 2). In 53 B.C. Scaurus sold the house to P. Clodius Pulcher (Asc., Mil. 28; Pliny, NH 24.106) and in 17 B.C. the famed Hymettan marble columns of its atrium were transferred from the domus to the *Theater of Marcellus (Pliny, NH 36.2.5-6). Its owner in the Augustan era remains unknown, though Clodius’ heir P. Claudius Pulcher (cos. A.D. 21/22), is one possibility (Carandini 369). By the mid-1st c. A.D. C. Caecina Largus (cos. A.D. 43) was proprietor (Papi, LTUR; Richardson).