048a.

Ruine del Tempio di Ercole Callaico, esistenti nelle Vigne dietro la Chiesa di S. Bibiana

Nolli refers to this ancient domed building with the more common name of Tempio di Minerva Medica. Modern scholarship describes it as a garden pavilion belonging to the Horti Liciniani, a 4th century Roman villa. The ten-sided domed structure survives today, but its dome has partially collapsed and the building next to it is gone. In his title Vasi locates it in the vigne (farms) behind the church of S. Bibiana (NN 27), which is the nearest landmark in what was an empty corner of the city. The two figures in the foreground are either walking through the fields or along the unpaved Via di Porta Maggiore.