In Rome, on Piazza Pia, archaeologists have discovered the remains of Caligula's portico

In Rome, on Piazza Pia, archaeologists have discovered the remains of Caligula's portico. The emperor had this portico built in the gardens of his mother, Agrippina the Elder (the granddaughter of Augustus and the daughter of Agrippa, his closest associate). The gardens occupied almost the whole of the territory of the present-day Vatican.

In Seneca's dialogue "On Anger" (De ira) there is an episode in which the Emperor Caligula, "in the company of matrons and other senators, by lantern light, cut off their heads (those of the Roman senators and knights) right on the garden terrace that separated the portico from the river bank on his mother's estate."

In the course of the excavations the archaeologists also found a great many ceramic slabs and terracotta figurines depicting mythological scenes, which probably adorned the roof of the portico.

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In Rome, on Piazza Pia, archaeologists have discovered the remains of Caligula's portico

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

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