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OLD ROME:
A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the Campagna.
by
ROBERT BURN, M.A.,
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Being an Epitome of His Larger Work 'Rome and the Campagna.'
[Illustration]
London: George Bell and Sons, York Street,
Covent Garden.
Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Co.
1880.
[The Right of Translation is reserved.]
London:
Printed by William Clowes and Sons,
Stamford Street and Charing Cross.
PREFACE.
This book is intended to serve as a handbook to the actually-existing
ruins and monuments of ancient Rome and the Campagna. It is divided into
topographical sections for the convenience of travellers visiting Rome,
and the monuments which exist in each section have been briefly described,
and a summary given of their history and archæological value.
The introductory section contains general remarks upon the site,
monumental history, and architecture of Rome; and in a section prefixed to
Chapter IX. the nature of the soil and configuration of the hills and
valleys of the district surrounding the city are stated.
In the Appendix to the eighth chapter will be found a list of the chief
monumental antiquities in the museums, galleries, and other public places.
This has been thought to be useful, as these are often difficult to
recognise from being mixed with so many other attractive and important
objects of more modern art and history. All speculative conjectures as to
the probable sites or constructions of ancient buildings or places have
been avoided. Such questions require more space than can be spared in so
small a volume, and have been fully treated of in my larger work, “Rome
and the Campagna.”
I have confined myself in this handbook to a brief topographical,
archæological, and historical description of each existing ruin or
monument. The references given have been restricted to modern treatises
and to a few of the more rarely read Greek and Latin authors. Full
classical authorities are given in “Rome and the Campagna,” and are
referred to in the foot-notes of this handbook.
The importance of topographical and archæological knowledge, in enabling
us to realise the history of ancient life, both national and social, is
fortunately becoming more and more generally recognised. The early growth
and characteristic features of the Roman commonwealth can be traced in
great measure to the conformation of the ground on which the community was
first developed. Such local influences are among the highest and most
philosophical parts of historical investigation, and have a most important
value in enabling us to form an estimate of the truth of statements made
by the ancient writers of history.
Besides this interest which pervades the early stage of Roman history,
there is also a natural connection, by way of cause or explanation,
between the events of later times and the localities in which they
occurred; and this in social as well as in national history. Many Roman
customs and usages, now extinct, are illustrated and realised by the
knowledge gained from monuments of ancient architecture and art. And
again, the spirit of Roman literature is more fully sympathised with, and
its difficult passages and allusions are frequently elucidated by the
light of archæological knowledge.
Thus there is not only the poetical and imaginative satisfaction, which is
usually felt most vividly in treading the soil, surveying the scenes, and
breathing the air in which great historical persons lived and events
occurred, but also an element of fact which gives a firm basis of
incontestable truth to our knowledge, and which no speculative
interpretation can dissolve.
It is hoped, therefore, that even such an abridged description of ruins,
and such a summary of archæological results as that which forms the basis
of the present volume, will not be without use to the student of history,
as well as a guide to the traveller.
In the chapter on the ruins of the Campagna I have inserted some
statements on the geological formations, and on the climate, which appear
to have influenced the history and the architecture of that district.
The books from which useful information has been derived are, in addition
to those mentioned in the list given in “Rome and the Campagna,” some of
the later numbers of “Annali dell’ Instituto,” a small treatise called
“Guida del Palatino,” by C. L. Visconti and R. A. Lanciani, and “A
Topographical Study of the Roman Forum,” by Mr. F. M. Nichols.
ROBERT BURN.
CAMBRIDGE.
_Sept. 24, 1879._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I.
THE PALATINE AND VELIA 14
CHAPTER II.
THE FORUM ROMANUM 38
CHAPTER III.
THE COLISEUM AND ESQUILINE 58
CHAPTER IV.
THE IMPERIAL FORA AND THE CAPITOLIUM 83
CHAPTER V.
THE VELABRUM AND THE CIRCUS FLAMINIUS 103
CHAPTER VI.
PANTHEON, COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, MAUSOLEUM OF
AUGUSTUS, MAUSOLEUM OF HADRIAN, AND NEIGHBOURHOOD 127
CHAPTER VII.
THE QUIRINAL HILL--BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN--AGGER OF
SERVIUS--CASTRA PRÆTORIA 153
CHAPTER VIII.
THE AVENTINE AND CÆLIAN HILLS 161
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII. MONUMENTAL ANTIQUITIES IN THE
MUSEUMS, PIAZZAS, AND OTHER PLACES 177
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER IX 185
CHAPTER IX.
A. THE VIA APPIA AND THE ALBAN HILLS 194
B. THE VIA LATINA AND TUSCULUM 210
C. GABII AND PRÆNESTE 219
D. OSTIA AND PORTO 229
E. TIBUR 235
F. NORTH-WESTERN CAMPAGNA 256
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
TEMPLE OF JUPITER _Title page._
TEMPLE OF SATURN, ETC. 47
ARCH OF SEVERUS 53
COLISEUM, FROM THE PALATINE HILL 62
COLUMN OF TRAJAN 85
FORUM OF NERVA, IN 1600 95
PALATINE HILL, TEMPLE OF HERCULES, AND CLOACA MAXIMA 109
THEATRE OF MARCELLUS 113
PANTHEON 130
THE QUIRINAL HILL FROM THE PALATINE 154
ARCH OF DOLABELLA 175
PEDESTAL OF ANTONINE COLUMN 179
CONE FROM THE TOP OF HADRIAN’S MAUSOLEUM 180
CIRCUS OF MAXENTIUS 213
TEMPLE OF VESTA AT TIBUR 250
PONTE NOMENTANO 258
MAPS, PLANS, &c.
PLAN OF ANCIENT ROME, WITH RAILWAYS 1
PLAN OF THE HILLS OF ROME 2
MOST ANCIENT ROME 2
ROME, THE PRESENT WALLS, AND WALLS OF AURELIAN 4
PLAN OF THE PALATINE HILL 14
PLAN OF RUINS IN THE FORUM ROMANUM 38
PLAN OF MONS OPPIUS 73
FORA OF THE CÆSARS 82
THE CIRCUS FLAMINIUS 122
FRAGMENTS OF PIANTA CAPITOLINA--THEATRE OF POMPEY 124
THE THERMÆ OF DIOCLETIAN 154
THE SERVIAN WALLS 156
THE BATHS OF CARACALLA 166
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF ROME 185
PLAN OF THE ALBAN HILLS AND GABII 202
PLAN OF THE AREA OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER ON MONTE CAVO 206
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNE AT PRÆNESTE 224
PLAN OF OSTIA AND PORTO 229
PLAN OF HADRIANEUM, NEAR TIVOLI 236
PLAN OF TIVOLI 248
MAP OF ANCIENT ROADS 256
ICHNOGRAPHIA 261
[Illustration]
OLD ROME:
A HANDBOOK TO THE RUINS OF THE CITY AND THE CAMPAGNA.
INTRODUCTION.
I.--THE SITE OF ROME AND THE WALLS OF ROME.
One of the principal points in the early history of every nation is the
effect of the natural configuration of the country in which their first
settlements are formed upon the subsequent character of the people.
The site of Rome consists of several separate hills, upon which distinct
groups of original settlers established themselves. These groups after a
temporary rivalry seem to have agreed to form a confederation, in which
the leading part was assigned to the Palatine settlement. Such was the
origin of that special aptitude shown by the Romans for forming coalitions
with rival states, and also of that most valuable trait in their political
character, their reverence for law as laid down by a central authority,
for each group was taught by their confederate union to regard itself as
sharing that central authority. Hence, the historian Livy remarks that
under the Roman Republic which built up the power of Rome, the command of
law was superior to that of men. But besides this aptitude for confederate
union and respect for central authority which the nature of the site seems
to have instilled into them, the Romans were also taught by it a readiness
to meet their enemies in the open field, and not to trust much to the
protection of steep crags or fortified posts. None of the hills of Rome
afforded a strong acropolis, such as most other ancient cities possessed.
The Capitol of Rome was by no means impregnable. Its central depression
rendered it always more or less accessible and liable to be seized by a
powerful enemy. The Palatine, though partially fortified, was never
considered a strong position. Hence we find that the Servian walls were
the only fortifications erected to protect Rome for more than eight
hundred years, from the time of Servius down to that of Aurelian. The
statement of Strabo, that the absence of fortifications round Rome was to
be accounted for by the native spirit of the Romans, which was “to defend
their walls by their men, and not their men by their walls,” is evidently
full of meaning.
II.--MONUMENTAL HISTORY.
Relics of the two great public works executed during the regal period of
Roman history still remain in the venerable stone arches of the main drain
which was constructed to make the Forum valley more habitable, and in the
rough portions of the Servian walls which have been found on the Aventine
and Quirinal Hills. It is probable that the ruined walls at the edge of
the Palatine are anterior to the monuments of the time of Servius.
Of the earlier republican period of Roman history there are no monumental
ruins now existing. The ruins which have been excavated on the Capitoline
Hill and the basement of the Temple of Vesta in the Forum date from the
regal epoch. And this is what might be naturally expected from the dislike
of a republican government to require the forced labour anciently called
for in the erection of large buildings.
But in the later period of the Roman republic some of the oligarchical
leaders and successful generals constructed large buildings, of which
traces can now be found. Thus the foundations of the temples and of the
portico built in the Campus Martius by Metellus Macedonicus and by Cn.
Octavius can be still recognised, and ruins of the immense stone theatre
of Pompeius Magnus remain to the present day. But the greater portion of
the ruins of Rome dates from the Augustan age and the subsequent imperial
ages. First among them stands the Pantheon, which has kept its roof and
its original structure uninjured through the storms and earthquakes and
the wasting hand of time during more than nineteen centuries. It bears the
date of B.C. 27 on the frieze of its portico. The Theatre of Marcellus
must be next mentioned, and the Mausoleum of Augustus. To the Julian
dynasty may be also ascribed the colossal columns of the Temple of Mars
Ultor, with the huge wall adjoining them, and the Egyptian obelisks which
still decorate some of the piazzas. To the same dynasty we owe the vast
arches of the Claudian aqueduct, and the massive brick foundation of the
Palatine palace.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: ROMA ANTIQUISSIMA.]
The Flavian dynasty, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian changed the
characteristic features of the city of Rome. Where Caligula and Nero had
covered the ground with costly palaces and pleasure-grounds, the Flavian
emperors built the resorts of military and of national life. The Coliseum
and the Arch of Titus were the fit accompaniments of their world-subduing,
blood-thirsty legions, and the Baths of Titus, and the public reception
rooms on the Palatine, encouraged the citizen life of Rome once more to
develop itself.
The political aims and imperial ideas of Trajan, Hadrian and the Antonines
are nobly illustrated by the modifications and enlargements they
introduced in the structure and extent of the city of Rome. Trajan in his
magnificent Forum and library sought to encourage the metropolitan life
and literary tastes of the nation, while on his storied column he recorded
their world-wide triumphs and reminded them of their enormous power.
The Mausoleum of Hadrian remains to commemorate the vast and ponderous
strength of his rule, and the Aurelian Column stands to attest the lofty
magnificence of the Antonine dynasty.
* * * * *
In the reign of Commodus, between the Antonine era and the time of
Severus, a great fire devastated the central districts of Rome. The
restorations effected by Severus and the popular policy of his successors
are commemorated in the Arch of Severus, the Portico of the Pantheon, and
the huge ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. The defensive power of the Roman
nation then became gradually weaker and weaker, till in sixty years after
the time of Caracalla, Aurelian commenced the sad task of home
fortification. His walls, which were completed a hundred years later by
Honorius, still surround the greater part of Rome. During these hundred
years the power of the Constantinian rule, of which the great basilica and
arch remain monuments, and the warlike courage of Diocletian revived for a
time the imperial spirit at Rome.
The last and most familiar of the monuments which follow the transfer of
power from Rome to Constantinople is the Column of Phocas in the Forum,
erected when three centuries of desolation had followed the grandeur of
Constantine and his dynasty.
The Vatican Hill and the northern end of the Transtiberine district were
not enclosed within walls till the time of Pope Leo IV. He undertook in
A.D. 848 the enclosure of St. Peter’s and the Vatican Hill, thus forming
that district into a separate town, which was named after the Pope Civitas
Leoniana. The western wall of this enclosure may still be traced by its
ruins in the garden of the Vatican palace. After the successive
destructions and minor repairs of the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and
thirteenth centuries, in 1527 the architect San Gallo was employed to
erect huge bastions on the wall of Rome, which he placed chiefly between
the Porta Ostiense and the Porta Appia. In 1628 Pope Urban VIII. restored
the walls on the left bank, and subsequently in 1642 he proceeded to erect
the walls which now stand between the Porta Portese and the Porta
Cavallegieri, where the arms of that Pope are still affixed to the walls.
This was the final important addition to the main walls of the city.
III.--ROMAN BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE.
The earliest form of Roman masonry, consisting of rectangular tufa blocks
placed in layers alternately parallel to and across the line of the wall,
so as to bind the mass together firmly, may be best seen in the ancient
fragments of the Servian wall on the Aventine and the Quirinal Hills and
in the ruins on the western slope of the Palatine. This kind of building
is the natural product of the peculiar parallel cleavage in the
tufaceous rocks of the Roman hills. In those parts of the Campagna where
basalt rather than tufa becomes the usual material, as at Præneste, we
find polygonal masonry. One specimen of a mode of construction anterior to
the introduction of the arch into Roman masonry is left us at Rome. This
is the vault of the old well-house near the Capitol called the Mamertine
Prison, where we find overlapping horizontal blocks of stone which
originally met in a conical roof, but are now truncated and capped by a
mass of stones cramped together with iron. That the principle of the arch
was known in the regal period of Rome is shown by the great arch of the
Cloaca Maxima. But no arches remain of so early a date which are not
subterranean, and it is not likely that the arch was used in the early
temples at Rome. These were, as we learn from Vitruvius, constructed in
the so-called Tuscan style, which was the Italian contemporary of the
Greek Doric. It is possible that the columns in the walls of S. Maria in
Cosmedin, which are placed at unusual distances from each other, may have
been an imperial restoration of the Temple of Ceres, after the old Tuscan
fashion (Fig. 1). The next modification of architectural style, which is
usually called, from the general influence of the Greek colonists on Latin
art, the Tusco-Doric order, may be seen in the lowest range of columns and
bases in the Theatre of Marcellus. The shaft of these columns is much more
slender than in the Grecian Doric, and only partially fluted, if at all;
while a cima recta is substituted for the echinus of the capitals (Figs. 2
and 3). The position of the triglyphs and the proportions of the cornice
were also much changed, and the whole effect became less massive and bold
than that of the Tuscan temples.
[Illustration: ROME THE PRESENT WALLS AND THE WALLS OF AURELIAN]
The ancient Tuscan arrangement of the interior of temples remained after
this modification of their columns and capitals. The three ruins which now
occupy the most prominent place at the northern end of the Forum, the
Temples of Saturn, of Concord, and of Vespasian, all retain the plan
called prostylos by Vitruvius. The Temple of Concord is especially
remarkable for the union of a broad Tuscan cella with a narrow Greek
portico. An alteration peculiarly Roman was made in the cella of the
Greek temple. Instead of surrounding this part of a temple with rows of
columns, the Romans clothed it with pilasters, thus introducing the mode
of construction deservedly stigmatised by Vitruvius, under the name
pseudoperipteral (Fig. 4). This may be seen in the ruin commonly called by
the name of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
The Greek Ionic order became known and employed by the Romans early in the
third century B.C. The Tomb of Scipio Barbatus shows the Ionic volute and
dentil mixed with the Doric triglyph and gutta. The Roman alterations in
the Ionic capital may be best seen in the pillars of the Temple of Saturn,
and in the second range of columns surrounding the Theatre of Marcellus
and the Coliseum. Specimens may also be seen in the basilica of S.
Lorenzo fuori le Mura, and in the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, which
have been transferred from the ancient temples. The distinctive Roman
modification was the position of the volutes diagonally instead of
laterally (Figs. 5 and 6).
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
It is supposed that the first introduction of the Greek Corinthian order
into Rome was brought about by the barbarian act of Sulla, in transporting
the columns of the Temple of Zeus from Athens to the Capitoline Temple of
Jupiter. Of the remaining specimens of this order in Rome, the portico of
the Pantheon is the oldest. In that building the capitals appear somewhat
shorter and broader than in the later examples, at the ruins of the Temple
of Castor in the Forum (Fig. 7), and in the peristyle of Nerva’s Forum
called the Colonnacce.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
The Composite capital, for it can hardly be called an order, as there is
nothing in the entablature or the base to distinguish it from the
Corinthian, was formed probably under the patronage of the early emperors.
The earliest instance we have of it now extant in Rome, is in the Arch of
Titus (Fig. 8) and there are only three other ruins where it is found.
These are, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Arch of the Goldsmiths, and
the Baths of Diocletian, at Sta. Maria degli Angeli, where it is mixed up
with Corinthian capitals. The peculiar combination of which it consists,
the superposition of the Ionic volutes upon two rings of Corinthian
acanthus leaves, is not generally considered a very happy artistic
design. Hope says of it, that “instead of being a new creation of genius,
it gave evidence of poverty to invent and ignorance to combine,” and
Fergusson is hardly more complimentary to the Roman architects.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
But though we must deny to this Roman adaptation of Greek forms the credit
of originality, or even of symmetrical design, yet its rich appearance was
peculiarly suited to the lavish ornamentation with which the Roman
emperors delighted to trick out their palaces and halls, and it well
represents to us the character of the Roman imperial architecture, with
its indiscriminate combination of mouldings and profusion of gaudy detail.
The three great triumphal arches of Titus, Septimius Severus, and
Constantine at Rome, and also the Arch of Drusus, are decorated with an
unmeaning and foreign dress. In the Arch of Constantine alone, the columns
which stand in front are in some measure justified by the statues they
support.
Of the minor archways at Rome, that of Gallienus has Corinthian pilasters
in the roughest style of art, the Janus Quadrifrons probably had rows of
Corinthian columns between its niches, and the small gateway near it has
decorative pilasters with Composite capitals. On the other hand, the Arch
of Dolabella on the Cælian, which has a single line as cornice, and the
Porta S. Lorenzo are examples of the striking effect of a simple arch
without Greek ornament. The unmeaning pediments and tasteless columns with
which most of these arches are adorned, remind us of Pope’s recipe for the
front of a villa, “Clap four slices of pilaster on’t; that, laid with bits
of rustic, makes a front.”
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
Colossal columns were as genuine a creation of Imperial Rome as triumphal
arches. In both the sculpture had become subordinate to the pedestal. The
idea of placing a statue upon the top of a column was probably unknown to
the Greeks, or at least, never carried out on the immense scale of the two
great Roman Columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. It must not, however,
be forgotten, that the Column of Trajan, and probably also that of Marcus
Aurelius, was enclosed within a narrow court, and that the bas-reliefs
were intended to be seen from the roofs and windows of the surrounding
buildings.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
Some of the most characteristic remains of the Roman national taste in
architecture are the Mausoleum of Hadrian, and the Tombs of Cæcilia
Metella and of Plautius. The ponderous walls of these massive and
indestructible marvels of masonry were essentially Roman, but in their
external decorations we find a strange combination of foreign designs. The
Mausoleum of Hadrian was dressed up with an array of pilasters, columns,
and statues, and the Mausoleum of Augustus was covered with terraces and
trees, in imitation of the Temple of Belus at Babylon.
The most conspicuous among the Roman appropriations of foreign monumental
designs were the oriental obelisks which were brought from Egypt, and
erected in the Circi at Rome and in front of some of the buildings, and
some of which still stand in the piazzas of modern Rome. The remains of
eleven of these have been found. The Romans often misused them by placing
them alone, and not following the Egyptian method of always setting them
in pairs.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
The huge vaulted arches of brick-work and concrete which remain in the
Baths of Caracalla, and the Basilica of Constantine, and the massive
arches of the Claudian Aqueduct, are the glory of Roman architecture. For
the Coliseum, astounding as are its durability and massive grandeur, is
not so illustrative of the special Roman development of the use of the
arch and of brick-work as are the other great ruins just mentioned. We see
embodied in them the indomitable energy which bridged the valleys and
tunnelled through the hills, but which possessed no eye for fine
proportion of outline or symmetrical and harmonious combination of
details. Brickwork was the material in which the characteristic Roman
ruins were executed. The Coliseum and the Theatre of Marcellus are dressed
in Greek robes, while the brick arches of the aqueducts, and the massive
structure of the Baths of Caracalla reflect the peculiar genius and
character of the Roman imperial power.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
CHAPTER I.
THE PALATINE AND VELIA.
The entrance to the ruins on the Palatine Hill is now made through a
gateway opposite to the Basilica of Constantine. This gateway was erected
by the architect Vignola in the sixteenth century as an approach to the
Farnese Gardens, which formerly occupied the north-western part of the
Palatine Hill. On the right and left hand of the gateway are placed two
ancient pedestals, which were discovered near the Arch of Septimius
Severus in 1547. One of these, which stands on the right hand, supported
an equestrian statue of Constantius, erected by Neratius Cerealis, prefect
of the city in A.D. 353, in commemoration of the expulsion from Italy and
death of Maxentius.[1] On the left side pedestal, a representation of the
Suovetaurilia is sculptured in bas-relief, and the decennalia vota, or ten
years’ good wishes to Constantius and Galerius are mentioned. The side of
the hill at the back of the gateway of Vignola is terraced at several
levels, on the third of which ascending from the entrance, a part of the
pavement of an old road, probably the Clivus Victoriæ, leads to the right.
The line of this clivus is represented in the marble plan now on the
staircase of the Capitoline Museum which plan was made in the time of
Septimius Severus.
INDEX TO THE PLAN OF THE PALATINE RUINS.
1, 2. Entrance.
3. Clivus Victoriæ.
4. Museum.
5. Water reservoir.
6. Fragments of ruins.
7. Altar of Calvinus.
8. Fragments of ruin.
9. Domus Gelotiana.
10. Figure of crucified ass.
11. Stadium Palatinum.
12. Exedra.
13. Baths.
14. Palatine Belvedere.
15. Imperial Box over Circus.
16. Augustan Palace.
17. Ruin called the Academy.
18. Triclinium.
19. Viridarium.
20. Peristylium.
21. Smaller chambers.
22. Basilica.
23. Imperial reception hall.
24. Lararium.
25. Area Palatina.
26. Fragment of ancient ruin.
27. Clivus Palatinus.
28. Porta Mugionia.
29. Temple of Jupiter Stator.
30. Walls of substruction.
31. Cryptoporticus.
32. Subterranean passage.
33. Piscina.
34. House of Tiberius.
35. Well.
36. Unknown ruins.
37. So-called Temple of Jupiter Victor.
38. Uncertain basements. Scala Caci.
39. So-called Auguratorium.
40. Soldiers’ quarters.
41. Garden.
42, 43. Staircase and substructions of Caligula’s buildings.
44. Ruins of lavacrum of Heliogabalus.
----> Path to be followed.
_To face Plan on p. 14._
[Illustration: GENERAL PLAN OF THE RUINS ON THE PALATINE]
[Sidenote: Clivus Victoriæ]
The basalt paving stones of this road are well preserved. On the right
hand proceeding towards the northern angle of the hill lie a number of
fragments of ancient houses, among which were probably the house bought by
Clodius and that of Cicero. These houses appear to have looked down upon
the Forum, since Cicero speaks of raising his house in order to exclude
Clodius from the sight of the city which he had hoped to destroy.[2]
Other houses of the Roman nobility of the later republican times were
probably placed on this side of the Palatine, in order to be near the
Forum and the places of political and social meetings.[3]
[Sidenote: Porta Romanula.]
The Museum in which are collected the various fragments of statuary and
antiquarian interest which have been found in the late excavations on the
Palatine has been placed in the ground-floor of the casina which stands
near the Clivus Victoriæ. The ancient road is then overreached and arched
over by the extensions of the Palatine imperial palace built by Caligula,
under which it passes to the site of the ancient Porta Romanula.[4] Most
of the chambers on the left were probably occupied by the guards of the
gateway, and the graffiti they contain are of a character which confirms
this supposition.
Outside the Porta Romanula the road bends round the hill along the side
which looks towards the Capitoline. The first ruins to be seen under the
slope of the hill here are the remains of a portico of the republican era,
constructed of tufa with reticular-work facings. This portico has been
supposed to be possibly that which Lutatius Catulus built after his
victory over the Cimbri in the Area Flacciana, mentioned by Valerius
Maximus and by Cicero as being near his house.[5] But there seems to be
nothing left which can identify this ruin with the Porticus Catuli.
[Sidenote: Area Flacciana.]
Beyond this so-called Area Flacciana the line of walls presents some
projecting masses, which appear to be built upon the ancient substructions
of towers such as would be formed in fortified buildings. A great part of
the walls erected here in imperial times were built of concrete framed and
supported by beams and planks of timber. These beams having now rotted
away, have left their impressions on the concrete, and hence the vertical
and horizontal grooves which form so conspicuous a part of these walls.
Two remarkable fragments of antiquity must be noticed here. The first is a
conical aperture in the side of the hill which supplied a cistern placed
below with water. Such cisterns are to be found elsewhere in the hills,
and may be supposed to have been constructed previous to the great
supplies of water having been brought by the aqueducts.
At the western corner of the hill opposite to the Janus Quadrifrons stands
a large fragment of the most ancient walls of the Palatine. It is
constructed of masses of tufa, taken from the hill behind it, and roughly
laid together without cement or mortar. These stones appear to have been
split from the rock, and not cut by chisel, which shows the antiquity of
their construction. The wall of Romulus is the name by which this and the
other portions of massive tufa walls round the Palatine are now known.
They undoubtedly belong to the earliest defences of the Palatine
settlement.
[Sidenote: Altar.]
Not far from this ancient fragment of wall stands a most interesting relic
of primitive superstition, an altar of travertine stone cut in archaic
fashion, with volutes resembling those in the well-known tomb of Scipio in
the Vatican Museum. The inscription on this altar is as follows: SEI DEO
SEI DEIVÆ SAC. C. SEXTIUS, C. F. CALVINUS, PR. DE SENATI SENTENTIA
RESTITUIT. This is supposed by some antiquarians to be the altar mentioned
by Cicero and Livy, as having been erected in consequence of the voice
heard before the Gallic invasion predicting disastrous times.[6]
But that altar is said to have been placed above the Temple of Vesta at
the end of the Nova Via, which was on the other side of the Palatine. This
mode of dedication to an unknown Deity was not uncommon at Rome, and is
mentioned by Cato and commented upon by Gellius. The form of the word
DEIVÆ shows that the inscription belongs to the earlier Latin.[7]
C. Sextius Calvinus, who restored the altar, was probably son of C. S.
Calvinus, the Consul of A.U.C. 630, and was the competitor of C. Servilius
Glaucia in the year 654.[8]
[Sidenote: Germalus.]
The north-western end of the Palatine Hill, round which we have been
passing, was the spot whence arose the name Germalus which Varro tells us
was given to it in memory of the (germani) twin brothers, Romulus and
Remus having been cast ashore here from the Tiber waters, and suckled by
the wolf. How far the district called Germalus extended over the hill is
not known. Cicero speaks of a house belonging to Milo which stood upon the
Germalus, and Livy says that a wolf ran through the Vicus Tuscus and the
Germalus to the Porta Capena.[9] The bronze figure of the wolf and twins
now in the Capitoline Museum is said by Flaminius Vacca, who wrote in
1594, to have been found at no great distance from this place, and Urlichs
has shown that this figure is probably the one dedicated by the Ogulnii,
ædiles in B.C. 297.[10]
Further southwards at the foot of the slope we come to another fragment of
the most ancient wall of the Palatine settlement. This building appears to
stand at right angles to the line of the hillside, and it was therefore
supposed at first to have belonged to a wall traversing the intermontium
or depression which crosses the Palatine Hill from this point to the Arch
of Titus, and to have confirmed the opinion of those archæologists who
confine the extent of Roma quadrata to the north-western end of the hill.
But subsequent exploration has shown that this wall does not pass along
the intermontium, but turns off at a right angle. Another fragment of the
most ancient wall was found in 1860, according to Lanciani, under the
Villa Mills, showing that the wall of Roman quadrata passed round the
whole hill, and not only round the north-western end.
[Sidenote: Domus Gelotiana.]
Close to the fragment of ancient wall we come to a series of chambers
excavated first in 1857, and afterwards cleared and rendered more
accessible in 1869. These belonged to a building in connection with this
part of the imperial palace, and were occupied by soldiers of the
emperor’s guard, as may be seen by examination of the inscriptions left
on the walls. The traces of a square court, surrounded with a portico, one
granite pillar of which remains, and on the side of this court towards the
hill, of a number of chambers arranged on each side of a semicircular
recess, are the main features of this ruin. The brickwork supports which
appear here were erected by Canina, and a large quantity of remains have
fallen from the higher levels of the hill.
The inscriptions which are most remarkable are the following. On the
right-hand wall near the entrance the name HILARUS, followed by the
letters MI. V. D. N., which have been interpreted to mean “miles veteranus
domini nostri,” a veteran soldier of our Lord. Numerous other inscriptions
with the letters V. D. N. will be found in the chamber to the left of the
central recess. One of these in the triangular room records the name of
two soldiers who belonged to the foreign troop of Peregrini: BASSUS ET
SATURUS PEREG.[11] Other inscriptions allude to a pædagogium, or training
school, as for example, CORINTHUS EXIT DE PEDAGOGIO. Most of these are in
the triangular rooms behind the central semicircular recess, or in the
furthest room on the left of it. In this last is to be seen the figure of
an ass turning a mill, with the inscription, LABORA ASELLE QUOMODO EGO
LABORA VI ET PRODERIT TIBI. But the most famous of these graffiti is that
now shown in the Kircherian Museum representing the crucified ass, with
the title “Alexamenus worshipping his god,” which was taken from the room
on the right of the central semicircular recess, and has been the subject
of much comment. Another record of the same Alexamenus was found here in
1870, in which he is called Alexamenus fidelis.
[Sidenote: Stadium.]
Passing now beneath the Villa Mills which occupy the site of the Augustan
library, and the Temple of Apollo, built by Augustus, we turn to the left
up the slope of the hill and find a large open space in which the later
excavations have disinterred the relics of a stadium, consisting of a
curved series of walls, surrounding the foundation of a meta or goal, and
two lines of bases of columns, which ran along the sides and the end of
the stadium.[12]
A large building in the form of a semicircular recess of exedra, a stand
for viewing the races, is still partially remaining, and also the
foundation of two entrances on the southern side. That this was a stadium
connected with the imperial palace is evident from its shape and its
length, which corresponds to that laid down by the ancient writers as the
proper length of a stadium for foot-races. The large exedra at the
southern side contains on the ground-floor a vast central saloon, and two
side rooms. A few decorative paintings of the latest and least valuable
kind of art remain on the walls, among which are some geographical and
astronomical figures. A coat of foreign marbles covered the walls, and the
pavement was of marble. This part of the Palatine buildings was probably
occupied by the Frangipani in the 13th century. The right-hand chamber was
apparently without decoration, but in the one on the left the wall is
ornamented with fresco paintings of elegance, and the pavement is of fine
mosaic. A list of names with numbers attached to them, which seem to be
those of combatants in the stadium, was found among the graffiti here.
The upper level of the semicircular exedra was filled by a large chamber,
the side of which, towards the stadium, was occupied by a line of granite
columns, fragments of which remain in the arena below. The interior of
this chamber was also ornamented with marbles and statues. Some statues of
Amazons and the Hercules of Lysippus now in the Pitti at Florence, were
found here according to Vacca, who wrote at the end of the sixteenth
century. The brickwork and the architecture of this exedra seem to be of
the time of Hadrian, and the bricks found here with labels give the date
of A.D. 134, the third consulship of Ursus Servianus. The portico which
ran round the stadium was apparently of later construction than the
exedra, as the date on its bricks seems to refer to Tertullus Scapula,
Consul in A.D. 195, in the reign of Septimius Severus, under whom great
alterations and extensions were carried out in this wing of the palace.
The vast ruins which remain on the south of the stadium belong chiefly to
the works of Septimius Severus, and have long been celebrated as the most
picturesque among the Cæsarean relics. The curved wall behind the great
exedra, and the numerous passages and chambers which stand near it, seem
to have belonged to a bath supplied with water from the branch of the Aqua
Claudia, four arches of which are still remaining on the hill below,
opposite to the church of S. Gregorio. This was a branch from the Claudian
aqueduct, and crossed the valley from the opposite Cælian Hill.
[Sidenote: Palatine Belvedere.]
The lofty wing of the palace, which extends along the slope of the Circus
Maximus, opposite to the Aventine, is reached by a modern bridge from the
ruins adjoining the stadium. From the top of this huge ruin a splendid
view of the Cælian, the Aventine, and the Alban Hills may be seen, and the
spot has been sometimes called the Palatine Belvedere. What the exact
nature of the buildings placed upon these lofty ranges of arches was
cannot be easily determined, but they correspond in some degree to the
arched walls of the side between the arches of Titus and Constantine and
to those of the palace of Caligula near the Capitoline, and were mainly
intended to raise the imperial saloons to the higher level of the northern
end of the hill. Spartianus in his ‘Life of Severus’ says that Severus
bestowed particular pains on this part of the Palatine Hill in order to
make it the chief entrance to the imperial palace, and that his reason for
so doing was to produce an impression of his magnificence upon his African
fellow-countrymen, who, when visiting Rome, would naturally enter at this
point by the Porta Capena, which was the gate just below. The Septizonium
was an imperial building near this part of the hill probably built by
Severus, views of the ruins of which are to be seen in the books of the
topographers Du Perac and Garrucci who wrote before the end of the
sixteenth century, when the Septizonium was pulled down by Sixtus the
Fifth.[13] At the western end of the long and lofty ruin, and near the
end of the stadium, is a projecting portion of ruined chambers which has
been generally supposed to have contained the emperor’s private pulvinar,
or box whence he viewed the games in the Circus Maximus. But the
construction of this edifice, including its round tower, seems to be of a
very late style, and it may have been built as late as the sixteenth
century.
We now return along a modern path which runs under the grounds of the
Villa Mills towards the domus Gelotiana described above. A curved terrace
occupies the upper edge of the hill, along which probably ran a portico
commanding a view over the southern part of Rome and the Trastevere. At
the back of this are the buildings called the Villa Mills from their
former possessors, now occupied by a nunnery, and therefore inaccessible
to the public. In the year 1777, the plan of the ancient buildings which
stood here was explored by Rancoureuil. They consist of a court surrounded
with columns and suites of chambers. Parts of the main front looking
towards the circus remained till the year 1827. The brickwork of these
ruins has induced Cav. Rosa to assign them to the Augustan Age and to call
them Domus Augustana. No sure evidence has, however, been discovered for
this, and it seems more probable that the Domus Augustana was nearer to
the Forum Romanum.[14]
[Sidenote: Academia and Bibliotheca.]
Passing back again by the ruins called the Domus Gelotiana as before
described, we turn to the right and ascend the side of the hill. On the
higher level at this point are the ruins of two buildings to which the
names of Academia and Bibliotheca have been given by Rosa. In one of these
the remains of semicircular ranges of seats and a platform have been
supposed to be recognizable, and here may have taken place the recitations
and discussions mentioned by Pliny as constantly kept up in the imperial
palace.[15]
[Sidenote: Ædes Publicæ.]
Behind these rooms stand the ruins of a portico, built upon substructions
of an earlier period, with Corinthian columns of cipollino, probably
forming the side of a small courtyard. Here it may be seen through an
opening in the ground to what a depth the substructions of this part of
the Palatine buildings descend into the depression or intermontium which
originally separated the two parts of the hill, and was filled up by the
Flavian emperors. We now enter the range of reception rooms commenced by
Vespasian when he destroyed Nero’s golden house, and built by Vespasian
and his sons, Titus and Domitian, at the same time with the Coliseum.
These are raised on gigantic constructions of opus quadratum to the level
of the rest of the Palatine Hill. Many stamps on the bricks found here
seem to show that the buildings were finished by Domitian.
[Sidenote: Triclinium.]
The south-eastern side of the range of the Imperial Flavian buildings we
are now entering is still covered by the edge of the monastery which
occupies the grounds of the Villa Mills, and we can therefore only see the
north-western part. But this is sufficient to convey a full idea of the
extent of the suite. We are now entering at the back of the triclinium or
dining hall, at the end of which is a semicircular apse, possibly intended
for the emperor’s table when he dined here. The form of the room
corresponds to Vitruvius’ description of the proper arrangements for a
triclinium. Very little of the original decoration remains, except two
granite columns, of which there were originally sixteen, and a portion of
beautiful pavement composed of porphyry, serpentine, and giallo antico. It
is possible that this may be the triclinium in which Statius dined at
Domitian’s table, and of the marble decorations and spacious size of which
he speaks in the fourth book of his ‘Silvæ.’[17]
Near the apse of this room an opening in the ground leads down to some
subterranean rooms which formerly belonged to a private house situated in
the depression of the hill, and afterwards covered over by the Flavian
emperors. The brickwork in this house seems to be of the later republican
period, and the walls retain decorations of the best style.
These decorative paintings have, of course, suffered very much from damp
and neglect, and all the principal features of the house have been
destroyed by the substructures of the Flavian triclinium. The name of
Bagni di Livia was long used in connection with this spot by the ciceroni.
[Sidenote: Nymphæum.]
Returning to the upper level, we find, at the side of the triclinium, the
remains of a nymphæum or viridarium, consisting of an elliptical basin and
fountain of marble, with niches for statues and bas reliefs, and ledges
for ornamental flowers and plants. On the western side of the nymphæum a
garden-house was built by the Farnese, part of which still stands, the
portico having some arabesques and some paintings by a pupil of Taddeo
Zuccari, representing scenes on the Palatine as described by Virgil, the
meeting of Æneas and Evander, and the monster Cacus.
[Sidenote: Peristylium. Vestibulum.]
[Sidenote: Atrium.]
Beyond the triclinium and nymphæum we come to the remains of the largest
court in the suite, which is called the peristylium, occupying a space of
140 by 154 paces, anciently surrounded by a portico of columns of Porta
Santa marble. The pavement and decorations of this quadrangle would seem
by the remains to have been most superb. On the north-west side of it are
eight rooms of various shapes, arranged symmetrically round an octagonal
central chamber, from which four large doors open, with four corresponding
niches. The same plan of rooms was carried out also on the opposite side
of the peristylium, as was shown by some excavations in 1869. These were
waiting-rooms and offices of various kinds. From the great quadrangle of
the peristylium we pass to the grand audience chamber, the position of
which corresponds generally to that of the atrium of a Roman house. This
was surrounded by a portico of sixteen Corinthian columns of foreign
marbles, and their frieze and bases were ornamented in a most elaborate
manner. Eight niches with colossal statues of basalt are said by Bianchini
to have stood round this court, and in the Tribune at the southern end was
placed the solium augustale, where the emperor sat on grand occasions,
when meetings of the senate or other bodies were held here. The grand
entrance of this atrium, which looked towards the Arch of Titus, was
adorned by two huge columns of giallo antico, and the threshold stone
consisted of a mass of Greek marble from which the altar of the church of
the Pantheon was made. Many of the marbles from this atrium were taken by
the Farnese to Naples.
[Sidenote: Lararium.]
On the right hand of this reception room towards the Villa Mills was a
building which shows us by its position and shape that it was the lararium
or shrine of the household gods where sacrifices were offered on solemn
occasions. The remains of an altar were discovered here.
[Sidenote: Basilica.]
Opposite to the lararium are the foundations of a building with a tribune
and podium, probably used by the emperor in cases such as those described
by Tacitus, when imperial constraint was exercised over a legal verdict.
Two rows of columns, arranged as is commonly the case in the basilicæ, and
a portion of some white marble railings have been found and preserved
here.
Along the side of this tribunal hall and that of the peristylium and its
adjoining offices, ran a long portico connecting the whole suite of halls
together.
The history of this range of imperial buildings has been very probably
supposed to be as follows. Vespasian intended them to be used in support
of his revival of the Augustan imperial policy, and that a name such as
Ædes Publicæ, “National Chambers,” should be given to them.[18]
Accordingly, all these rooms have the character of public rather than
private buildings. There is apparently no provision for domestic life, and
all the sections of the edifice seem to have been public audience or
banqueting rooms.
[Sidenote: Porta Mugionia.]
[Sidenote: Jupiter Stator.]
In front of the last described buildings, which we have called the
basilica, the atrium, and the lararium, is an open space, on the right
hand of which, looking towards the Arch of Titus, a fragment of the
earliest walls of the Palatine remains, constructed of tufa blocks taken
from the hill underneath. Beyond this, towards the Arch of Titus, are the
paving stones of an ancient road which was probably the approach to the
palace, and to the left of this road stand the relics of one of the most
ancient gates, the Porta Mugionia. This is described by Vacca as having
been discovered at the end of the sixteenth century, when it was still
decorated with marble. The substructions alone now remain, and close to
them may still be traced the foundations of an ancient temple which can be
no other than the temple of Jupiter Stator. Solinus says that the house of
Tarquinius Priscus was near the Porta Mugionia, and Livy states that he
lived near the Porta Mugionia. The statue of Clœlia is also said by Livy
to have stood at the top of the Sacra Via which was near the Arch of
Titus, and this statue is further placed by Pliny near the Porta
Mugionia.[19] The remains of the temple show that it was arranged
according to the cardinal points of the heavens, looking north and south.
On the foundation stones are the names of Philocrates and Diocles, masons
employed in building. Three old inscriptions referring to the worship of
Jove were found here, and are to be seen in the Palatine Museum.
[Sidenote: Cryptoporticus.]
Near the ruins of this Temple of Jupiter Stator we find vast blocks of
substruction which belong to the complicated ranges of buildings occupying
the north-eastern end of the hill, and generally believed to have been
erected by Caligula. They extend along the side of the hill over the
Forum, and along the Clivus Victoriæ by which we entered, to the point
which overlooks the Velabrum. The modifications and enlargements of this
structure during the ages succeeding Caligula have rendered it a confused
mass of ruins, and the walls and chambers now left have served chiefly as
substructions for the lofty mansions erected upon them in the course of
ages. From the corner of these ruins, next to the Temple of Jupiter
Stator, runs a long arched cryptoporticus or covered passage, which can be
entered from the ruins of this temple or from below nearer to the modern
entrance gateway. It is supposed that this may have been the
cryptoporticus in which, as we learn from Josephus, Caligula was
assassinated on his return from the ludi palatini given in front of the
palace. He is said to have turned off from the direct line of entrance,
and to have passed into this covered way in order to hear and see some
youths from Asia performing. The assassins, after accomplishing their
end, were afraid to venture through the front of the palace, and took
refuge by hiding in the house of Germanicus.[20]
[Sidenote: House of Tiberius.]
At the western end of the cryptoporticus a house has been disinterred by
the late excavations, and it has been inferred that this must have been
the one called by Josephus the house of Germanicus. Whatever name may now
be assigned to it, the house appears to have been preserved for some
reason from destruction, and it seems reasonable to conclude that some
connection with the earlier history of the imperial Cæsars rendered it an
object of veneration and care. The space between the cryptoporticus, along
which we have passed, and the so-called basilica of the palace, is
supposed to have been called the Area Palatina, where those who came to
call upon the emperor had to wait.[21] The long cryptoporticus was
connected with the Flavian public buildings, and perhaps also previously
with the house of Augustus, by a branch passage which runs off from the
long cryptoporticus at right angles, towards the back of the atrium and
lararium. By this means the emperor could pass from his private palace to
the public audience and banqueting chambers without encountering the crowd
of those who were waiting for audience in the area. In this area was
found, in 1868, the pedestal bearing the name of Domitius Calvinus, now
placed on the site of the ruined temple which lies farther to the west,
and which we shall presently mention.
In the angle of the cryptoporticus near the house of Germanicus, are some
beautiful remains of decorative work, consisting of paintings of birds and
winged genii. These have been much injured by the damp exuding from a
piscina which was constructed here in the second or third century for the
keeping of fish, and which can be entered at the angle of the
cryptoporticus. Near this piscina is the entrance to the building called
the house of Tiberius or Germanicus. The construction of this house
belongs to the period of Roman architecture, when reticulated work formed
of the harder tufa, with small diamond-shaped stones, and with corners and
connecting parts of the same stone, but without brickwork, was generally
used. It was therefore probably built during the later republican times,
and this agrees with the supposition that it was the works of Tiberius’s
father or grandfather. Suetonius says that Tiberius was born on the
Palatine.[22] The leaden pipes which have been found here, bear the names
of Julia, the daughter of Titus, of one of Domitian’s, and one of
Septimius Severus’s freedmen.
The house is divided into two main parts, one of larger dimensions for
receiving guests and showing hospitality, and the other of smaller sized
rooms, for the family. The vestibule is an arched passage adorned with
paintings on the walls, and mosaic pavement. From this the atrium is
entered which had no impluvium, but was covered entirely with a roof. On
the left are the remains of an altar of the Lares, and at the further side
of the atrium are three large rooms, the decorative paintings of which are
well preserved.
In the central chamber, the walls are divided into large compartments by
columns of the Composite order, adorned with vine leaves. One of the large
scenes represented here is that of Polyphemus, who, after having crushed
his rival Acis with an enormous rock, turns towards Galatea, who is riding
on a hippocampus. Another, placed above the frieze, is a picture of a
domestic initiation ceremony, as the sacred tænia which is being presented
seems to prove. A third picture, also above the frieze, shows the
preparations for a sacrifice. On the right sits a female figure, with a
mantle, and a faun standing before some utensils for ablution, which are
being lifted by a second female figure, while the sacrificial kid is being
brought by a young slave. The next picture represents a row of houses
along the side of a street or road, at the door of one of which a lady
with her maid is knocking, while four or five figures present themselves
above on the balconies. The last picture is one of Io hidden in the wood
of Juno at Mycenæ, and watched by Argos, with a figure of Hermes
descending by Jove’s command to rescue Io. The names of Io, Argos, and
Hermes are legible here.
The room on the left hand of this one is also divided by Composite columns
adorned with vine leaves, and by a beautiful frieze of giallo antico. The
lower compartments have no figures, but the upper are ornamented with
designs of genii and fantastic flowers.
The room on the right hand is decorated with beautifully-designed
paintings of flowers and fruit, hanging from one column to the next. From
these festoons hang the emblems of various divinities, the lyre of Apollo,
the timbrel of Cybele, and the mystic sieve and mask of Bacchus. These
seem to indicate that this was the lararium of the house. The frieze
contains a number of landscape and marine views, with many figures of men
and animals painted on a yellow ground.
At the north-western corner of the atrium opens a fourth chamber, which
may perhaps have been the dining-room, or triclinium, decorated with
trophies of sacred emblems of Diana and Apollo. The atrium communicates
with the rooms at the back of the house and with a small courtyard by
means of a corridor. Some of these rooms were used as baths, others seem
to have opened towards the street, the pavement of which still remains
along the side of the house.
[Sidenote: Palatine temples.]
On the other side of this street is an entrance to the subterranean caves
which have been cut in this part of the hill. These hollows were mainly
stone quarries and wells. A puteal, or well-cover, has been placed over
one of these in front of the house which we have described. On this side
of the street also stand the foundations which have been supposed to have
belonged to the priests of the Temple of Jupiter Propugnator on the
Palatine, some portions of the fasti of whose college have been found near
the Basilica Julia and the Marforio.[23] There is also the foundation of a
temple, called by Rosa the Temple of Jupiter Victor, to be seen extending
from this street towards the viridarium of the ædes publicæ of Domitian
before mentioned, and towards the edge of the hill which looks over the
Circus Maximus. These ruins consist of masses of tufa work mixed with
later brickwork of the Antonine times. The pedestal with the name of Gnæus
Domitius Calvinus which is placed here came, as we have said, from the
spot called the Area Palatina before mentioned. The Notitia also places
the Temple of Jupiter Victor in the Area Palatina, and for these two
reasons the name seems to be wrongly applied to this ruin. We can trace in
it the remains of a building raised on a basement with lofty flights of
steps, alternating with terraces in front, towards the Circus Maximus,
just as we find at Tibur and at Tusculum temples, placed on the side of a
hill with high flights of steps ascending to them.[24]
[Sidenote: Germalus and Scala Caci.]
The remainder of the upper level of this north-western corner of the hill
is occupied by numerous ruins of squared tufa stone, which evidently
belonged to some of the most ancient and venerated relics of Rome. This
was, no doubt, the part of the Palatine to which the name Germalus was
given, in memory of the Germani, or twin-brothers, Romulus and Remus, who
were cast ashore at its foot from the flooded waters of the Tiber. Two
distinct edifices have been disclosed here, from the first of which, a
rectangular foundation of tufa stones, a passage bearing marks of great
antiquity descends towards the church of Anastasia and the gas works. This
rectangular ruin has been called by many various names, such as the Temple
of Jupiter Feretrius, the Tugurium Faustuli, the Temple of the Magna Mater
Cybele, or of the Lares Præstites. The descending passage to the Vallis
Murcia has been supposed to be the Scala Caci mentioned by Solinus,[25]
and it is possible that the legend of Cacus refers to this point of the
Palatine next to the Aventine. The marks on the stones of this descent are
probably only quarry marks. No brickwork is found here in the lower ruins
nor any marbles. But in the mass of fragments there are remains of the
republican and of the imperial restorations of the many venerated
buildings and altars which must have stood upon this corner of the hill.
On the right hand of this descent a small rectangular court was discovered
in 1872, with a staircase and a channel for water running through it. This
is thought by Lanciani to have been possibly the fifth Argean Chapel,
which was somewhere on the Germalus. A statue found here bears some marks
of having represented the goddess Cybele.
[Sidenote: Auguratorium.]
The most conspicuous ruin at this end of the hill is a mass of concrete
and tufa blocks, apparently of the republican era, in the shape of a
rectangular basement. This has the form of a temple in antis, i.e. with
projecting wings, and faces the south, commanding a view over the Aventine
and Tiber valley. Cav. Rosa has conjectured that this is the ruin of the
auguratorium mentioned by the Notitia as situated near the other most
ancient sacred spots on the Palatine. But an inscription which records the
restoration of the auguratorium by Hadrian does not support this view, as
the work now remaining is mostly republican.[26] Lanciani thinks that this
may have been the Ædes Matris Deum, to which the statue found as before
mentioned in front of it belonged.
At the back of the so-called auguratorium we find a long series of rooms
running in a line across the hill from north-west to south-east, which
have vaulted roofs and are similar to those found below in the domus
Gelotiana, before described. Cav. Rosa has inferred with reason from this
and from the graffiti in these rooms that they formed a part of the
offices and guard-rooms attached to that large portion of the palace which
lay on the site now occupied by the gardens and the vast masses of
brickwork at the northern corner of the hill. The graffiti to be seen here
are chiefly the scribblings of soldiers’ names, rude sketches of ships and
animals, and combats of gladiators.
[Sidenote: Tiberiana domus.]
Several passages of the Roman historians lead us to conclude that the
suite of rooms occupied by Tiberius were situated here. It was from the
Tiberiana Domus, as Tacitus relates, that Vitellius surveyed the
conflagration of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, and the engagement
between his adherents and the Flavian party under Sabinus. The Tiberian
part of the palace was also that through which, as Tacitus also tells us,
Otho descended into the Velabrum, after joining Galba at the sacrifice in
the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine.[27] Afterwards, the Tiberiana Domus
became the favourite residence of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, and
it was probably during their reigns that the library which we find
mentioned by Gellius was established here.[28]
We now pass through the garden grounds which lie over the remains of the
Domus Tiberiana, and descend on the side which looks over the Forum, by a
long staircase through the immense masses of brickwork and concrete which
are said to have been part of the insane additions of Caligula to the
imperial palace. He is declared to have made a passage from this wing of
the palace to the back of the Temple of Castor below in the Forum, in
order that he might appear in that sacred shrine as an equal of the twin
gods and an object of worship when the Senate met there. He also joined
this corner of the palace with the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter by a huge
viaduct, which passed over the Basilica Julia, in order that he might thus
make himself the contubernalis of Jupiter.[29] Some of the substructions
of this viaduct are to be seen near the back of the church of S. Maria
Liberatrice. We now leave the Palatine by the Clivus Victoriæ, along which
we entered, and turn to the arch of Titus and the ruins which stand near
it.
THE VELIA.
[Sidenote: The Velia.]
Near the arch of Titus the Palatine Hill runs out in a gradually sloping
ridge north-eastwards towards the Esquiline Hill. On one side of this
ridge the ground sinks towards the Forum Romanum, and on the other towards
the Meta Sudans and the Coliseum. The level of the pavement under the arch
of Titus is fifty-three feet above the ancient pavement of the Forum. It
seems probable that this outlying part of the Palatine was that which bore
the name of Velia.[30]
[Sidenote: Arch of Titus.]
On the summit of the ridge above described stands the arch of Titus, the
most complete of all the monuments of imperial Rome. The central part of
the original building remains, and is easily distinguished from the
subsequent travertine restorations by being constructed of Pentelic
marble. The height of the arch is forty-nine feet and its breadth
forty-two feet. Originally there were two fluted Corinthian columns on
each side of both faces of the arch, the two inner of which are now left,
while the two outer are modern. Over the arch are two bas-reliefs of
Victory which, though much injured, are still remarkable for the beauty of
their outlines. On the keystone of the side towards the Coliseum is a
figure of Rome, and on the other side Fortune with a cornucopia.
The most interesting parts of the arch have fortunately been preserved by
their protected position in the interior. On each side is a magnificent
alto-relievo, representing the triumphal procession of Titus after the
capture of Jerusalem. The relievo on the south side shows a number of
persons carrying the spoils of the Jewish Temple. The golden candlestick,
the golden table for showbread, and the trumpets are clearly recognizable.
These, according to Josephus,[31] among other utensils of the Jewish
temple, were deposited in Vespasian’s Temple of Peace. The procession is
moving towards a triumphal arch.
In the northern relief the emperor is represented in his triumphal car,
drawn by four horses, and surrounded by his guards and suite. Victory is
holding a crown over his head, and the goddess Roma guiding the reins. The
interior of the arch is ornamented with richly-carved rosettes and
coffers, and upon the crown is a rather undignified representation of the
apotheosis of the emperor astride upon an eagle’s back.
On the Coliseum side a small portion of the entablature is left. The
frieze had a bas-relief, which partially remains, of a sacrificial
procession. The attica is modern, with the exception of the inscription.
That the arch was erected after the emperor’s death is shown by the title
Divus, and also by the figure of his apotheosis under the archway. Another
arch had been erected in the Circus previously in the year 80, when the
Coliseum was completed, and Titus gave a great festival. The date of the
extant arch is, therefore, the year 82 or 83.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
[Sidenote: Temple of Venus and Rome.]
Almost the whole of the southern slope of the Velia towards the Coliseum
is occupied by the ruin of a vast foundation which extends under the
church and convent of S. Francesca Romana. The substructions, of which
the inner core only, consisting of rubble-work, is left, were originally
cased with travertine blocks. They form an enormous quadrilateral terrace,
round which a portico of granite columns ran. Upon this was raised a
basement some four or five feet higher, and a building with two apses back
to back, similar to the tribunes of a basilica. These are ornamented with
large square coffers and niches for statues. It has been generally
inferred from the statements of Dion Cassius and Spartianus that this
building was the Temple of Venus and Rome built by Hadrian and dedicated
by the Antonines, but burnt down in the time of Constantine and restored
by him.[32] Pope Honorius I. stripped the bronze tiles from the roof, and
they were placed on the Basilica of S. Peter, whence they were taken by
the Saracens in A.D. 846. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
limekilns were set up near the arch of Titus by the Romans and the marbles
of this spot were burnt into lime.[33] The two tribunes which stand back
to back and the buildings near them have not the appearance of a temple,
but rather of a legal court or basilica. For this reason, and also because
a large portico of this shape is represented in the marble plan of the
city, the fragments of which are now in the Capitoline Museum, as having
belonged to the Porticus Liviæ, Mr. Parker, in his ‘Archæology of Rome,’
has maintained that this was the Porticus Liviæ, built by Augustus and
afterwards used by Hadrian for the Temple of the Sun and Moon. Jordan has
also shown that the Porticus Liviæ was near this spot, but he places it
farther to the north-east, behind the Basilica of Constantino.[34] Since
Dion Cassius speaks of the Temple of Venus and Rome as having been close
to the Coliseum and also near the Sacra Via, and Spartianus says that it
stood in the vestibule of the Domus Aurea of Nero, we are almost compelled
to assign this position to that temple.[35]
[Sidenote: Domus Transitoria.]
Nero’s enormous extension of the Palatine buildings must have occupied a
great part of the Velia, reaching across it from the Palatine to the
Esquiline. But his great Domus Aurea and its surrounding porticoes and
halls, which were called Domus Transitoria, and occupied not only the
slope of the Velia but also the site of the Coliseum, were destroyed by
the Flavian emperors who succeeded him, and we can only point to one
fragment, of the Domus Transitoria which stands near the corner of the
Basilica of Constantine at the side of the path which leads between that
ruin and the buildings of S. Francesca Romana.
[Sidenote: Basilica of Constantine.]
The vast arches of the ruin called the Basilica of Constantine form, next
to the Coliseum, the most conspicuous object in the neighbourhood of the
Forum, and they were long supposed to have belonged to the Temple of
Peace, Vespasian’s great temple. But the decision of modern archæology has
assigned them to Constantine, on the ground that the brickwork is of much
later date than the time of Vespasian, and also that the few remains of
decoration which are extant bear indications of a great decline of
ornamentative art when they were constructed. Further evidence has been
derived from a coin of Maxentius, the rival of Constantine, having been
found in 1828 sticking in the mortar of one of the fragments. Aurelius
Victor says that the basilica called by the name of Constantine was begun
by Maxentius.[36] The three gigantic arches now standing formed the roof
of the eastern aisle of the basilica, which consisted, as the foundation
clearly shows, of a central hall and two side aisles. The arches are
sixty-eight feet in span and eighty feet high. They are ornamented by
octagonal caissons or coffers, containing central rosettes and the
interspaces are relieved by rhomboidal panel work. The two side arches
have their backs walled up, and there are six arched windows in each wall.
At the back of the central arch is a semicircular tribune, with niches for
statues and a central pedestal. Some of the marble ornaments of this
tribune are still left, and show in their rude execution evidence of the
Constantinian style of art. A screen seems to have separated the tribune
from the interior of the hall. In front of the three great arches can be
plainly seen the spring of the enormous roof which covered the central
hall of the basilica. This central hall must have been at least 80 feet in
width and 115 feet in height.
The southern aisle was of the same construction and size as the northern,
and in place of the tribune had a grand entrance on the side towards the
arch of Titus. A flight of steps and a portico with porphyry columns, two
of which are now in the Conservatori Museum on the Capitol, formed the
approach to the entrance. A white column from the central hall is to be
seen erected in front of S. Maria Maggiore, where it was placed in the
seventeenth century by Paul V.
At the western end of the central hall was a tribune, the ruins of which
are now occupied by a warehouse, and at the eastern end an entrance in
three divisions opened into the road between the basilica and the portico
of the so-called Temple of Venus and Rome. This entrance had a vestibule
or verandah similar to those found at S. Giovanni in Laterano and at S.
Maria Maggiore, and answering to the building called a chalcidicum by
Vitruvius.[37] (Fig. 9, p. 33.)
[Sidenote: SS. Cosma and Damiano.]
The church of SS. Cosma and Damiano which now stands at the north-western
end of the Basilica of Constantine is, like many other churches in Rome,
constructed on the ruins of some ancient temple. A most careful account
has been given of its various stages of construction by Mr. Parker.[38]
This may possibly have been the site of the original Temple of the
Penates, and some archæologists have thought that the round temple which
has been converted into the vestibule of the church was that of the
Penates. The doorway of this temple with its columns, frieze and bronze
doors, has been raised from the lower level of the old temple, on which
the crypt of the church now stands beneath the floor. At the back of this
the nave of the church was built on the ruins of some unknown temple, and
behind the apse of the nave is said by Mr. Parker to have been the wall on
which the celebrated Capitoline marble plan of Rome was hung. The
fragments of this plan, which was shaken down, he thinks, by the fall of a
great mass from the Basilica of Constantine, were found here. The chapel
of the Penates was on the road from the summa Sacra Via to the Carinæ,
which would place it near this spot.[39] The name “Temple of Romulus”
given to the ruins by mediæval writers may have been derived from some
restoration by Romulus, son of Maxentius.
[Sidenote: Lavacrum of Heliogabalus.]
We now pass through the arch of Titus along the ancient road towards the
Coliseum, and on the slope of the Palatine to our right stand the ruins
of a mediæval church which was excavated in 1873 by Cav. Rosa. This is
said to have been called the church of S. Maria Antiqua, and to have been
placed upon the ruins of the lavacrum of Heliogabalus.[40] The chambers
now disclosed seem to have been used as a bath. Along the side of the hill
near this are numerous ruins similar to those on the other side of the
Palatine, which were apparently guard rooms.