He built it in the gardens of his mother Agrippina the Elder.
During excavations in Rome, in Pia Pia, archaeologists discovered the remains of Caligula’s portico – a gallery with columns open on one side, where one could stroll in the shade. The emperor built this portico in his mother’s gardens Agrippina the Elder (granddaughters of Augustus and daughters of Agrippa, his closest associate). They occupied almost the entire territory of the modern Vatican.
The remains of the portico are several masonries laid out using the opus quadratum technique (when square or rectangular blocks are laid in parallel rows). The main wall was a retaining wall, strengthening the terrace, which was built on the bank of the Tiber. Behind this wall were the garden and colonnade of the portico. Only the foundation remains of the latter.
There, archaeologists also found a lead pipe with the inscription “C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici”, that is, “Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus” – the full name of Caligula (he went down in history under the nickname that soldiers gave him as a child; caligae are soldiers’ shoes). It is this pipe that allows us to determine when the “improvement” took place in the gardens.
The excavation also yielded several Campana reliefs – terracotta panels used to decorate buildings. According to the finders, they depict unusual mythological scenes. These panels were used as drain covers in the fullonica (laundry) that later appeared in this part of the gardens. Most likely, the reliefs originally decorated some building in the gardens – it is possible that it was Caligula’s portico.
It is interesting that at the beginning of the 20th century, lead pipes with the name Iulia Augusta were found in the same square, probably referring to Livia Drusilla – the second wife of Emperor Augustus and Grandmother Germanika. Germanicus’ wife was Agrippina the Elder. This is how the chain of garden owners is reconstructed – from Livia Drusilla to Caligula.
Caligula is mentioned leaving the gardens of Agrippina the Elder in the work “Embassy to Gaius” by Philo of Alexandria. He was a major philosopher and leader of the Jewish community, he came to Rome to seek the emperor’s protection from pogroms. The delegation first saw the emperor just leaving the gardens of Agrippina. Either Caligula really liked the gardens, or he was simply in a good mood, but he showed such a disposition to the delegation that everyone began to congratulate the delegation on their success. The next meeting was completely different (and, by the way, not in the gardens, but in the palace on the Esquiline). Caligula angrily demanded that the Jews recognize him as a god, and then ordered that his statue be erected in the Jerusalem temple (they eventually talked him out of the statue).
Based on materials from The History Blog
Source: www.nkj.ru
