Image Details

Erich Lessing

Cold springs near Chianciano Terme, 90 miles northwest of Rome, may have saved the life of Augustus (27 B.C.-14 A.D.). According to the first-century B.C. poet Horace, the emperor (depicted in a first-century A.D. marble bust) immersed himself in “icy waters” to cure an ailing liver. These “waters” were probably a spring-fed pool recently excavated by author David Soren.