Aquincum

Aquincum Review

This complex comprises the reconstructed remains of a Roman settlement dating from the first century AD and the capital of the Roman province of Pannonia. Careful excavations have unearthed a varied selection of artifacts and mosaics, providing a tantalizing inkling of what life was like in the provinces of the Roman Empire. A gymnasium and a central heating system have been unearthed, along with the ruins of two baths and a shrine to Mithras, the Persian god of light, truth, and the sun. The Aquincum múzeum (Aquincum Museum) displays the dig's most notable finds: ceramics; a red-marble sarcophagus showing a triton and flying Eros on one side and on the other, Telesphorus, the angel of death, depicted as a hooded dwarf; and jewelry from a Roman lady's tomb.

Hercules Villa. Near the main Aquincum ruins—but functioning as a separate museum—a fine third-century Roman dwelling, Hercules Villa, takes its name from the myth depicted on its beautiful mosaic floor. The ruin was unearthed between 1958 and 1967 and is now only open by request (inquire at the Aquincum Museum). You can only visit the villa on guided tours, which are available in English, Hungarian, German, and French. District III, Meggyfa utca 19-21. www.aquincum.hu. Tours 6,000 HUF total for 10-25 people; 8,000 HUF total for more than 25 people.