The recent excavations along the line of the Via Sacra brought to
light some unimportant remains of shops and houses facing towards the
street. These buildings are of the time of Constantine, and agree in
their construction with his Basilica on the opposite side of the
street. This part of Rome was destroyed by fire in the reign of
Commodus, and again under Maxentius (Dion Cassius, Herodian, Galen,
Capitolinus). In this rebuilding they did not clear away the remains
of the older houses, but built on and over them--a not unusual custom
in Rome. Let us carefully examine the older remains. Our attention is
first attracted by different fragments of beautiful mosaic pavements
of the best period of the art, and evidently the flooring of no mean
house. The first piece that we come across is composed of a pattern
made up of several cubes in different colours; in the rebuilding this
was hid by a pavement of herring-bone brickwork. Beyond is a beautiful
black and white octangular and diamond mosaic pavement, which also did
duty to the rebuilt house. In a small room adjoining we notice a
travertine base of a column, which stands near a piece of black mosaic
pavement, in which are inserted small squares of white marble; in
another chamber close by is a white mosaic with a black border, and
near this another, of white and black sexangular and diamond shape.
Near the cube mosaic are two more bases of columns of travertine, and
a travertine well head: travertine stone, from Tivoli, was not used in
Rome as a building material till about 50 B.C. Amongst the
constructions of the older period we notice six distinct pieces of
walls composed of tufa blocks, perhaps old material re-used, some
blocks of peperino, and a small piece of _opus reticulatum_. Tufa was
used during the kingly period, peperino during the republic, and _opus
reticulatum_--net-work wedges of tufa--by the late republic and early
empire. Amidst the later construction, which is of brickwork, we
notice terra-cotta hot-air pipes, and one piece of a lead pipe, and
remains of flights of stairs leading to upper floors. The brick stamps
found were of the second, third, and fourth centuries. Amongst these
remains was found a small altar. On the scroll at the top is a Roman
eagle, and beneath,--