THE FORUM ROMANUM.
[Sidenote: Temple of Castor.]
At a short distance from the entrance to the Palatine we can enter the
Forum near the ruins of an ancient temple, three columns of which are
still standing. These three columns are among the most conspicuous and
beautiful remains of ancient Rome. No doubt can now be felt that they
belonged to the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The situation agrees with
that which is pointed out by the Ancyræan inscription, and by the fact
that Caligula made a passage from the Palatine Palace to this temple.
The substructions of this building have been cleared, and the length and
breadth of the basement and of the steps forming the approach can now be
clearly seen. The three columns belonged to the central part of the
south-eastern side. They are of most elegant proportions, and their
capitals, architrave and frieze are ornamented with decorative work of the
very best period of Græco-Roman architecture. The designs on the
entablature are most delicate and perfect, and well repay a minute
examination. Besides the usual ornaments upon the cornice and corbels
there is along the upper edge a row of beautiful lions’ heads, through
which the rain-water ran off.
The temple had evidently eight columns in front, and eleven side columns,
reckoning in the corner column. The approach was raised high above the
forum level, and has three steps projecting beyond the line of the next
building, the Basilica Julia. The lines of the front steps are preserved,
and also those of the side towards the Capitol, while the other side has
been destroyed. The pavement in front of this has been miserably altered
and mended at a late date, probably after the fourth century.
[Illustration: FORUM ROMANUM]
The capitals when compared with the earlier Corinthian capitals of the
Pantheon, show a longer and narrower type which is also found at the
Temple of Vespasian and the peristyle of Nerva’s Forum, the Colonacce. The
lower foundations of the basement are of old tufa rubble construction, and
possibly belong to the date of the original foundations in B.C. 494 by the
dictator Aulus Postumius, who vowed to build it at the battle of the Lake
Regillus in the Latin war. It was afterwards dedicated by his son in B.C.
484. Two restorations are mentioned, the first executed by L. Metellus
Dalmaticus, consul in B.C. 119, and the second by Drusus and Tiberius in
A.D. 6. The temple was used for meetings of the senate, for harangues from
its steps to the people in the forum, and for holding courts of law. A
register of changes in the value of money was kept in the tabularium of
the temple, and deposits were made here as in many other temples.[41]
Standing as the old temple did near the veteres tabernæ of the forum, and
the newer restorations of them near the Basilica Julia, it was convenient
for business transactions. On the north-west side a street pavement
leading to the Velabrum has been laid bare, which may be that of the Vicus
Tuscus.
[Sidenote: Puteal.]
Descending from the Temple of Castor to the ancient pavement of the Forum
Romanum, we find at the north-eastern corner of the ruin the remains of a
puteal or well-house which has naturally been supposed to be the fountain
of Juturna from its neighbourhood to the Temple of the Twin Brethren, who
are said to have given their horses drink there after the battle of
Regillus.
[Sidenote: Temple of Vesta.]
A little farther to the south the basement of a round building is to be
seen, which may very probably have been the ancient Temple of Vesta. This
was a round building, as we conclude from Ovid and Plutarch’s notices, and
was intended by Numa, the first founder, to denote the spherical shape of
the earth which Vesta personified, or the original family hearth.[42]
[Sidenote: Chapel of Julius Cæsar.]
In front of the Temple of Castor a large block of substructions has been
cleared, which is with great probability assigned to the chapel built in
honour of Julius Cæsar, and called the Heroon of Cæsar. Ovid’s lines, in
one of his letters from Pontus--
“Like the twin brethren whom in their abode
Julius, the god, beholds from his high shrine,”
seem to prove that the heroon was in front of that temple. The body of
Cæsar was burnt in front of the regia and Temple of Vesta, which were at
this end of the Forum, and the heroon was placed on the spot where it was
burnt. The remains of two small staircases were found at the sides of the
heroon, and a wider staircase in front. The epithet “high,” given by Ovid
to its position, seems to be in accordance with the raised basement. The
semicircle of masonry on the north side has not been satisfactorily
explained. It is usually supposed to have belonged to the Julian rostra,
but its shape is not such as to support this idea.
[Sidenote: Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.]
To the north-east of the heroon of Julius Cæsar, we find the ancient
pavement of the road which ran along the north-eastern side of the Forum,
and to this road descend the steps of a temple with a conspicuous row of
six cipollino columns, and with two columns and a pilaster besides the
corner column on each side. These columns have Attic bases and Corinthian
capitals of white marble. The inscription upon the plain architrave in
front shows that the temple was first dedicated to Faustina alone, and
that the first three words, including the emperor’s name, were added after
his death. The Faustina here commemorated was probably the elder Faustina,
wife of Antoninus Pius, as a representation at this temple is given on one
of the medals struck in her honour.[43] She died in A.D. 141, and
Antoninus Pius in 161. The frieze of the temple is ornamented at the sides
with a bold and finely-executed relief representing griffins with upraised
wings, between which are carved elaborately-designed candelabra and vases.
A considerable part of the side walls of grey peperino blocks anciently
faced with marble is still standing. A church was built here at a very
early time, but the present building which forms a strange contrast in the
meanness of its style and proportions to the massive grandeur of the grey
old ruin which embraces it, was built in 1602 by the guild of the Roman
apothecaries.[44]
[Sidenote: Extent of the Forum.]
[Sidenote: Seven brick pedestals.]
[Sidenote: Column of Phocas.]
We now pass along the ancient stone pavement towards the Capitol, and
observe how small the space occupied by the ancient Forum Romanum was. The
temple we have just left stood in the north-eastern corner, and the
columns of the two temples opposite to us on the slope of the Capitol mark
the other end of the Forum. The central pavement now laid bare is of
travertine flags, while the roads are marked by basaltic blocks. On the
side of the central space runs a row of seven large masses of brickwork,
which seem to be the bases of pedestals which supported dedicatory
columns, or statues similar to the one still standing at the end, which
has become known to English travellers as “the nameless column with the
buried base” of Byron. Since Byron’s time the base of this has been
unburied, and bears the name of Smaragdus, proclaimed exarch of Italy for
the eleventh time,[45] who erected it in honour of the Emperor Phocas. The
date is given by the words INDICT. UND., which show that Smaragdus was in
his eleventh year as exarch, and we know that he was exarch under
Mauricius for five years, A.D. 583-588, and six years under Phocas, A.D.
602-608. His eleventh year would thus be in 608, and this was the fifth
year of Phocas’ reign, so that the last words of the inscription confirm
the explanation given of the previous words INDICT. UND.[46] “P. C.” in
the inscription probably mean, as Clinton explains, post consulatum, which
was the way of reckoning in the later years of the Eastern Empire.
[Sidenote: Pedestal of equestrian statue.]
In the centre of the Forum traces of the base of a large pedestal can be
discerned, and this is supposed to have been the position of the
equestrian statue of Domitian described at length by Statius, who says in
the first poem of his ‘Silvæ’ that an equestrian statue of Domitian stood
at the north-western end of the Forum, looking towards the other end. It
was a triumphal statue erected in honour of Domitian’s campaigns against
the Catti and Daci. The poet describes its position very accurately,
mentioning the Heroon of Julius Cæsar which faced it, the Basilica Julia
on the right, the Basilica Paulli on the left, and the temples of Concord
and Vespasian behind. The Temple of Saturn is omitted for some unknown
reason. Statius also alludes to some other principal objects in the Forum,
the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Castor, and the statue of Curtius. He
concludes with prophesying that the statue will outlast the eternal
city.[47] It seems, however, probable, as Mr. Nichols in his admirable
book on the Forum has said, that the statue was removed after Domitian’s
death, when his memory was execrated, or was dedicated to a succeeding
emperor, and that the statement of Herodian about the dream of Severus,
who imagined that he saw an equestrian statue in the Forum, a colossal
representation of which remained there in the historian’s time, may refer
to this pedestal.[48]
[Sidenote: Trajan’s bas-reliefs.]
Two of the most interesting monuments which have been brought to light by
the recent excavations in Rome were discovered in 1872, near the base of
the column of Phocas, where they have been re-erected. They consist of
marble slabs, sculptured with bas-reliefs and forming low screens. Each
screen is constructed of slabs of unequal size, and some of these have
been unfortunately lost. Their original position has been restored as
nearly as possible, and they stand parallel to each other in a line
crossing the area of the Forum. On the inner sides of both of these
sculptured screens, the sacrificial animals, the boar, sheep and bull,
always offered up at the Suovetaurilia, are represented.
The other sides, which are turned outwards, represent scenes in the Forum,
and are commemorative of some public benefaction of one of the emperors,
probably Trajan or Hadrian. On one of them Italia is represented thanking
the emperor for establishing some “alimenta publica,” public relief
institutions, and for apportioning lands to encourage needy parents to
rear their children. Such relief funds and lands intended to supply the
defective population of Italy were first established by the Emperor Nerva,
and afterwards by Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, and are frequently
commemorated on medals, and mentioned by the historians Dion Cassius and
Aurelius Victor, and the authors of the Augustan history.[49] The emperor
is represented in a sitting posture, and stretching out his hand towards a
child presented by a woman in the character of Italia, who apparently
holds another child ready for presentation. Behind the emperor’s seat is
the fig-tree called Navia or Ruminalis, which is said to have grown near
the rostra, and also the figure of Marsyas which stood in the same place.
At the other end of this sculptured scene stands a speaker with a roll in
his hand, addressing a crowd of citizens from a rostrum, which may perhaps
represent the publication of the edict establishing alimenta.
The other bas-relief scene shows a rostrum at one end, from which a
sitting figure is superintending the burning of large bundles of books,
carried and placed in front of him in a heap. The outline of a figure
applying a torch can be traced, and also of several attendants. At the
opposite end to the sitting figure the fig-tree and Marsyas are placed as
in the other relief.
The style of art in which the reliefs are executed cannot, in Professor
Henzen’s opinion, belong to an earlier period than Trajan’s reign. The
treatment corresponds to that on those reliefs taken from Trajan’s arch,
and set up on Constantine’s arch. After Trajan’s time the style of
bas-relief was so much altered that we cannot suppose them to have been
sculptured later than the first year of Hadrian.
As Trajan gained great popularity in the early years of his reign by an
abolition of the arrears of certain debts due to the imperial treasury,
amounting to a large sum, and as he also established alimenta, these
reliefs have been generally supposed to commemorate his public
benefactions, in founding relief institutions and cancelling public debts.
The backgrounds of both the sculptures are occupied by representations of
some public buildings, but it does not seem possible to identify these
with any certainty. That they roughly represent some of the temples and
Basilicas in the Forum in a sketch is all we can say. One of the temples
shown in the relief which depicts the foundation of alimenta has only five
columns in its portico, showing a want of accuracy in the drawing which
throws great doubt upon its topographical value. The archæologists who
have endeavoured to name the buildings have agreed in calling the Ionic
and the Corinthian portico in the relief where the account books are being
burnt those of the Temples of Saturn and Vespasian, with an arch of the
tabularium between them, and the long row of arches the Basilica Julia,
but they differ as to the buildings shown in the other relief, for while
Mr. Nichols thinks that the Basilica Julia is here again represented with
the Heroon of Julius Cæsar and the arch of Augustus, Signor Brizio is of
opinion that we have here the north-western side of the Forum with the
Basilica Æmilia.[50] The rostra are probably meant to represent temporary
wooden constructions.
The most reasonable conjecture which has yet been made as to the purpose
which these sculptured screens served is that they formed a pons or
passage along which voters passed at a time of election from the Forum to
the office where the votes were taken. A great part of the structures used
at such times was probably temporary, and made of wood for the occasion.
Another explanation suggested by Mr. Nichols is that they formed a passage
leading to an altar and statue of the Emperor. It may be that the
sculptures never reached their destined site, but were left here, as many
of the marbles on the Tiber banks were, and gradually buried in rubbish.
[Sidenote: Basilica Julia.]
We now pass to the rows of restored bases of columns, which occupy the
long space on the south-western side of the seven pedestals above
mentioned. Here we find the ground plan of the great Basilica Julia marked
out by a treble row of columns at each of the larger sides, and a double
row at each end. One pier of the outer row towards the Forum has been
restored by Rosa so as to show the original height.
The proof that these ruins belong to the Basilica Julia which was planned
by Julius Cæsar, and begun by him but completed by Augustus, who dedicated
it to his grandsons Caius and Lucius, is the statement in the monumentum
Ancyranum, in which it is placed between the temples of Saturn and Castor.
A second proof is derived from two inscriptions found during the process
of clearing the site, one of which records the repair of the Basilica
Julia, and the erection in it of a statue by Gabinius Vettius Probianus,
prefect of the city in A.D. 377, and the other the rebuilding of the
Basilica Julia under Maximian after the fire which destroyed it in the
time of Carinus and Numerian. This site is also assigned to the Basilica
on the Capitoline plan which may be seen on the staircase of the
Capitoline Museum. The outline given there, and marked by the name
Basilica Julia, agrees in proportion, and in the rows of columns with the
extant remains, and this shows that the present ruin is the same in its
main points with that which stood in the time of Severus, when the
Capitoline plan was made.[51] Seven steps lead up to the level of the
floor from the Forum level.
A great deal of legal business was transacted here, as may be seen from
the frequent mention of it in Pliny’s Epistles. There were four tribunals,
of which Quintilian speaks, at which four trials could be carried on at
the same time; but these tribunals were probably wooden and temporary
erections, and there is no trace of any semicircular apses, such as those
in the Basilica of Constantine. One of Caligula’s amusements, as we are
told by Suetonius, was to stand upon the roof of this basilica, and throw
money to the mob in the Forum to scramble for. Whether the basilica was
covered over in the centre is not certain, but it probably was so, with
two aisles open to the Forum. The row of arches standing at the north-west
corner is partly a restoration of the basilica by Canina, and partly
consists of some piers and a wall standing behind, which has not yet been
satisfactorily identified with any ancient building. The most probable
supposition is that they belonged to the Porticus Julia mentioned by Dion
Cassius, and were parts of an earlier edifice, in front of which and upon
which the basilica was placed by Augustus.
[Sidenote: Cloaca.]
Under the southern end of the floor of the Julian Basilica, an opening has
been made in which the arch of the main cloaca of the Forum valley can be
seen passing across the Forum towards the Subura. This is the drain of
which Juvenal speaks, when he says that the fish taken from the Crypta
Suburæ is the climax of indignity offered to the unhappy parasite Trebius
at his patron’s table.[52] The course of the drain runs from here under
the Via dei Fenili down to the Janus Quadrifrons in the Velabrum, where it
meets other branches and passes down to the Tiber. Between the eastern end
of the Basilica Julia and the temple of Castor ran the Vicus Tuscus, of
which the paving-stones may still be traced. At the western end the Vicus
Jugarius led towards the Velabrum, but this is buried under the present
Via della Consolazione, and cannot be seen.
[Sidenote: Arch of Tiberius.]
The Arch of Tiberius, which stood at the corner of the Basilica Julia,
where the Vicus Jugarius and the Clivus Capitolinus diverged, cannot be
clearly traced, though some of its ruins have been thought to exist among
those uncovered at the edge of and under the modern road. This arch has
been with great probability supposed to be that alluded to by Tacitus in
speaking of the recovery of the Roman standards lost by Varus, and retaken
by Germanicus under the auspices of Tiberius.[53] The triumphal arch
represented on the Arch of Constantine is also thought to be that of
Tiberius placed here.
[Sidenote: Temple of Saturn.]
We now pass under the modern road to the foot of the Capitoline Hill, and
proceed to examine the most prominent ruin at the western end of the
Forum. This consists of eight columns, six of red granite forming a front,
and two side columns of grey granite. The capitals of these and the
decoration of the entablature, architrave and frieze surmounting them are
of a late and debased Ionic order with volutes in the later style, and
they have been pieced together in the last restoration of the temple with
extraordinary negligence. Unequal spaces are left between the columns, and
some are set upon plinths while others are without them. One of the side
columns has been so badly re-erected that the stones are misplaced, and
consequently the diameter of the upper portion is of the same size as that
of the lower. The restored carving on the inner frieze is of the roughest
description, and the barbarous negligence of the whole restoration shows
that it cannot have been done earlier than the fourth or fifth century. A
comparison of the ruins now remaining with the plan as given on the
fragments of the Capitoline map, bearing the name SAT VRNI has been made
by Jordan, who shows that the remains of a prominent and peculiar flight
of steps in front of the six columns correspond to the rough sketch on the
plan, and that this flight of steps facing north must be taken to be the
front of the temple.[54] The pavement stones of the road which led from
the forum past the front of the temple may still be traced curving round
this projecting flight of steps. Little doubt now remains that the ruin of
the eight columns, the name of which has been so much discussed, belonged
to the Temple of Saturn.
[Illustration: Temple of Saturn. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.
Coliseum and Arch of Titus. Temple of Castor.]
The inscription now upon the front was placed there at its latest
restoration which, as we have seen, was in Christian times, and the name
of the divinity is therefore omitted.
This temple was one of the most revered and ancient in the city, and its
foundation is traced back in legendary myth to the Hellenic Kronos. The
earliest date given for the dedication is B.C. 498. Many restorations must
have taken place. An inscription recording one in the time of Augustus by
Munatius Plancus has been found. This temple long retained the name of the
Mint, from the fact that the state treasures were deposited under the care
of the god Saturnus, as one of the most venerated of Roman deities.
[Sidenote: Area of the Dii Consentes.]
The ancient road leading up to the Capitol made a turn behind the Temple
of Saturn, and a portico with semi-Corinthian or Composite columns has
been restored from some columns and capitals found here in 1835. At the
back of this portico were twelve recessed chambers occupied by chapels of
the twelve deities called the Dii Consentes. Four of these still remain
under the modern Via del Campidoglio. The walls are chiefly of brickwork,
apparently of the second or third century, but the back wall against the
ascent to the Capitol is of hard tufa. The interiors were faced with
marble, of which traces are left. From the inscription found in 1835 upon
the architecture it appears that Vettius Prætextatus, a prefect of the
city in A.D. 367, restored the statues of the Dii Consentes, which had
stood here from ancient times. Varro mentions gilded statues of the gods
of the council as near the Forum, and also speaks of their temple. This
portico and chambers cannot, however, have been a temple, but were
evidently clerks’ offices connected with the state depositories near the
Temple of Saturn. Cicero speaks of the clerks of the Capitoline
ascent.[55] Vettius Prætextatus, who restored the building in 367, was
notorious for his opposition to the Christian religion and for his zeal in
supporting the ancient cultus. He held several offices, and was pro-consul
of Achaia under Julian, and probably recommended himself to that emperor
by his attachment to the old Roman religion.
[Sidenote: Schola Xanthi.]
Below the portico and its chambers stands another row of lower chambers,
three of which are said by Marliani to have been found entire in the
sixteenth century. Inscriptions found here give the name of Schola to the
chambers, and hence they have been called Schola Xanthi, from the name of
Xanthus, which occurs in the inscription as a restorer. They were
undoubtedly clerks’ offices, similar to those behind the portico of the
Dii Consentes above them.
[Sidenote: Temple of Vespasian.]
We now turn from the portico of the Dii Consentes to the three Corinthian
columns which stand under the large building called the Tabularium. These
three columns have now been proved to belong to the ruin of a temple
dedicated to Vespasian by his son Domitian. This position of Vespasian’s
temple agrees with the statements of the Notitia and Curiosum and of
Statius. The inscription, of which only the letters ESTITUER now remain,
was seen and the whole of it transcribed by a writer of the ninth
century, whose MS. is preserved at Einsiedlen.[56] It recorded the
restoration of this temple by Severus and Caracalla. The letters ESTITUER
stand at the lower edge of the frieze, showing that there was another line
above. This upper line was DIVO. VESP. AUG. S.P.Q.R., and referred to the
original building of the temple, while the lower line recorded its
restoration. The temple was approached by a flight of steps from the road
between it and the Temple of Saturn, the uppermost of which were placed
between the columns and have been partially restored. The three columns
which now remain are the three corner columns of the portico. They have
fluted shafts and Corinthian capitals. The letters of the inscription were
of metal, and the holes of the rivets which fastened them are still
visible. The architrave and cornice are ornamented very richly with the
usual mouldings, and there are some most interesting reliefs upon the
frieze representing sacrificial implements and the skulls of oxen. A
horsetail for sprinkling, and a sacrificial knife with a vase, a patera,
an axe, and a high priest’s mitre are plainly distinguishable. Another
portion of the entablature was pieced together by Canina and is still kept
in the rooms of the Tabularium. The walls of the cella were built of
travertine faced with marble. Against the back wall stands a large
pedestal which supported the statue of the deified Emperor.
[Sidenote: Temple of Concord.]
Next to the temple of Vespasian, we are told by Statius, stood the Temple
of Concord. The site is also determined by passages in Plutarch and in
Dion Cassius, and by the plan given in the Capitoline map. Excavations
were carried out here in 1817, 1830, and 1835 which resulted in disclosing
the foundations of the temple, and in finding some inscriptions which
attest the dedication of this spot to the goddess Concord. The temple of
Concord was founded according to Livy, Ovid, and Plutarch by Camillus in
B.C. 367, on the memorable occasion when the senate after a long and
anxious debate, wisely determined to make peace with the Commons by
throwing open the office of Consul to the plebeian order.[57]
It was placed near the old meeting-place (Comitium) of the privileged
families (gentes), as if constantly to remind them that the newly
established concord of the community was under the special sanction of the
gods. When the Temple of Camillus was first restored we do not learn. The
earliest notice of a new Temple to Concord is the statement that the
Consul Opimius was ordered by the senate on the death of C. Gracchus to
build a new temple to Concord. The temple seems to have been a kind of
Pantheon or museum, for it was filled with a great number of statues of
various gods, and with curiosities. On the left-hand side of the remaining
foundations of the cella are two large pedestals which probably supported
two of the principal statues.
Tiberius rebuilt it after his German campaign in A.D. 6 and 7, and
dedicated it in honour of himself and his brother. The form of the latest
restoration, which seems to have been carried out after the building
behind it, the so-called Tabularium, was built, as it is placed so close
to that building and must have rendered the decorations on its walls
invisible, can be traced by the present relics of foundation walls, and
presents a singular deviation from the normal plan of a Roman temple. The
pronaos, or front chamber, is narrower than the cella or shrine behind it,
and forms a sort of porch to it. This is an instance of the form of temple
called prostylos by Vitruvius, and consisting of a broad Tuscan cella with
a narrow Greek portico.[58]
The cella has greater breadth than depth. The basement is of considerable
height in front, and some of the steps, Cicero’s Gradus Concordiæ[59] can
be traced, while the enormous threshold of African marble still remains. A
coin of Tiberius shows us that the temple had a portico of six columns in
the Corinthian style, and a group of three figures embracing, as a symbol
of Concord, at the top. One of the bases of the columns is still preserved
in the Capitoline Museum, and a portion of the frieze was restored by
Canina, showing that the decorative work was of great beauty. The
inscription is given in the Einsiedlen MS. of the ninth century, and the
temple was still standing in the twelfth century, as we learn from the
Ordo Romanus, a procession route book. The stones were probably carried
away for building purposes in the thirteenth century. Between the ruins of
the Temple of Concord and those of Vespasian’s Temple, the foundations of
a little chapel of Faustina may be seen. The name has been given to it
from an inscription discovered here.
[Sidenote: Arch of Severus.]
Close to the ruins of the Temple of Concord stands the triumphal arch of
Septimius Severus, composed of three archways of Pentelic marble. The side
archways are connected with the central archway by small openings in the
intervening walls, and the arched interiors of all three are decorated by
square coffers with rosette ornaments. On each side stand four columns of
Proconnesian marble with Composite capitals, on the pedestals of which are
bas-reliefs representing figures of barbarian captives clothed in breeches
and wearing the chlamys and Phrygian cap, and conducted by Roman soldiers
wearing the lacerna. The spandrils of the arches are ornamented with the
usual figures of Victory and symbols of captivity, in the outlines of the
river gods of the Euphrates and Tigris. Between each pair of outer and
inner pillars there are large bas-relief sculptured scenes executed in a
very confused and tasteless style. The four lower and narrow compartments
show the goddess Roma receiving the homage of the East, which is
personified by a woman wearing a tiara. Behind her, in a long train of
carts and carriages, come the spoils of the various nations conquered by
Severus. Above this narrow line of figures which runs round below the four
compartments above the side arches, are four larger bas-reliefs
representing the sieges and victories of Severus in Parthia, Adiabene, and
Arabia. On the side towards the Forum is represented on the left hand the
raising of the Parthian siege of Nisibis in northern Mesopotamia by
Severus after he had crushed his rivals Æmilianus and Pescennius Niger in
Pontus and Syria. The taking of the town of Carræ west of Nisibis, and the
march of the Roman army thence against the Adiabenians are also here
portrayed. The compartment, on the right hand, looking from the Forum,
contains a bas-relief representation of the surrender of Abgarus, king of
Osroene,[60] and the siege of the town of Hatra on the Tigris.
[Illustration: Arch of Severus.]
On the other side towards the Capitol and so-called Tabularium, the
second campaign of Severus in the East is portrayed. On the right hand the
flight of the Parthians from Babylon, the entry of the Romans into that
city and the second siege of Hatra are represented. On the left is the
wresting of the towns of Seleucia and Ctesiphon from the Parthians, the
flight of their king Artobanus and the surrender of the Arabians who had
joined the Parthian side.[61]
The entablature which surmounts these arches is badly designed and
executed, the projections over the columns being far too heavy. Upon the
attica above the entablature there are the traces of nails on the corner
pilasters which seem to have borne some military ensigns. The whole
central space of the attica is occupied by a long inscription formerly
inlaid, as appears from the rivets, with metal. Upon a coin of Severus
giving a representation of the arch, a chariot with six horses is shown
standing over the attica, and on the four corners were equestrian statues.
From the inscription it appears that the arch was built in the year A.D.
203. The repetition of the title Parthicus, points to the Parthian
campaigns of Severus. In the fourth line the name of Geta and his titles
have been erased, as in other ruins of the same date, and the words
OPTIMIS FORTISSIMISQUE PRINCIPIBUS inserted in their place. In the middle
ages the tower of a church called SS. Sergio e Bacco was built upon the
top of this arch, but was removed in 1536 on the entry of Charles V. by
command of Pope Paul III.
[Sidenote: Ruins under the road across the end of the Forum.]
Near the Arch of Severus, and also between the temple of Saturn and the
corner of the Basilica Julia, the modern road runs over archways. Under
the archways some substructions of large peperino stones and other forms
of building have been disclosed. These may have belonged to pedestals upon
which statues were placed, or in the case of those near the arch of
Severus to the later Rostra and Græcostasis, and in the case of those near
the corner of the Basilica Julia to the Arch of Tiberius. The round
pedestal which stands near the Arch of Severus was possibly the pedestal
of the Miliarium Aureum, as it is not strong enough to bear the weight of
a heavy statue.[62]
A representation of the Rostra of the Empire which may have stood here is
given in the relief on the face of the Arch of Constantine, which looks
towards the Coliseum, where three arches are seen, corresponding to the
Arch of Severus on the right, and one arch corresponding to that of
Tiberius on the left. Constantine is shown in this bas-relief addressing
the people from the rostra.
[Sidenote: The Carcer.]
Under the church of S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami, which stands near the Arch
of Severus, are two chambers, which are always shown as the ancient prison
of Rome, said to have been first built by the King Ancus Martius, and then
rebuilt or enlarged by Servius Tullius. The upper of these two chambers is
of an irregular shape, but the lower is constructed in a conical form by
the gradual projection of the stones forming the sides. This mode of
building an arch is of very early date, before the introduction of the
principle of the round arch, and is found in the oldest tombs of Etruria,
and in well-houses at Tusculum and Cære.[63]
There can be no doubt that this part of the building is of great
antiquity. But the proofs that it ever formed a prison are not so clear.
This has been inferred from the striking account of the imprisonment of
Jugurtha by Sallust, who states that Jugurtha was placed in a cell with
water at the bottom, and exclaimed, “Hercules, how cold your bath is!”
Hence it has been thought that the prison must have had water in it, as
this chamber has on the floor.
Another proof that this is the ancient prison, called in the middle ages
the Mamertine prison, from a statue of Mars or Mamers, or from the Forum
Martis near it, has been derived from the statements of many Roman
authors, who place the prison on the slope of the Capitol, near the Forum,
and speak of an inferior as well as a superior chamber. The prison was
probably in this neighbourhood, but the shape of the conical vault is
rather that of a well-house. Mommsen has therefore suggested that this was
the original purpose of the lower chamber, and that it was used as a
cistern for collecting the water from the surrounding slopes. The top of
the ancient conical vault is truncated and closed, with the exception of a
round hole, by slabs of stone fastened together with iron cramps.
A communication with the arched sewers which run down to the Forum, and
also with an archway which reaches up the slope to some large chambers on
the north-west under the Vicolo del Ghettarello, has been opened by Mr.
Parker, and these longer vaulted chambers which are of great antiquity,
have been taken to be extensions of the original regal prison. But there
is no sufficient evidence to show that these arched passages were used for
any purpose of transit, and they were more probably channels for draining
off the water, which would otherwise have accumulated in the chambers or
on the slopes.[64]
An inscription is fixed in the outer wall, recording a restoration of the
building by the Consuls C. Vibius Rufinus and M. Cocceius Nerva, as
ordered by a decree of the Senate. These two men were consules suffecti
before A.D. 24, probably in A.D. 22, the ninth year of Tiberius. But the
name of the building is not mentioned in this inscription, and it seems
uncertain whether it has not been removed from elsewhere.
There was another and larger prison in this district, and this larger
prison was called the Lautumiæ. Forty-three Ætolian prisoners are said by
Livy to have been crucified in the Lautumiæ, which must therefore have
been certainly much more extensive than the cell which is called the
Carcer Mamertinus. Seneca also mentions the request of a prisoner, Julius
Sabinus, that he might be removed from the Carcer to the Lautumiæ.[65]
There seems, therefore, to be no distinct proof that the conical cell was
ever anything more than a water tank, and the name of prison which has
been attached to it is probably a mediæval legend invented to indicate a
spot which might be venerated as the prison of St. Peter.
[Sidenote: Tabularium.]
On the side of the Capitoline Hill towards the Forum, a very high and wide
mass of building, now called the Palace of the Senator, and used for the
transaction of urban business, stands. This is founded upon an ancient
range of masonry of which a considerable part still remains, measuring
about 220 feet in length, and 50 feet in height. An entrance has been made
from the Via del Campidoglio, and as the wall was cut through for this
purpose, the structure of the building may be best observed here. On the
inner side red tufa has been used, and on the outer grey peperino, and the
blocks are laid alternately lengthwise and crosswise, as in the Servian
wall building. A great mass of masonry of this sort without cement, forms
the main substructions of the building. Along the front run the traces of
an arcaded passage, which anciently led across from one side to the other
of the building. The arches were walled up by Nicolas V., in order to bear
modern buildings above them. One has now been opened to show the
architecture. A pavement of basaltic lava, such as was used in the streets
of ancient Rome, has been found in the arcade, showing that it was a
public passage. The architecture of the building is Doric, which points to
an early date, and the capitals and cornice are of travertine. It is
probable that another arcade ran above the one now traceable. A high
flight of steps leads up into the chambers from the archway now walled up
at the back of the Temple of Vespasian. From the architecture it may be
concluded that these remains of a large ancient building date from the
republican times of Rome, and are almost the only relics of that era. This
ruin is generally called the Tabularium, but it has been shown by Mommsen
that there is no ground for supposing that the name was ever applied to it
in any ancient writings, and that the name is more properly Ærarium Populi
Romani, or Ærarium Saturni, and that it was attached to the Temple of
Saturn. Many of the temples in Rome had æraria attached to them, and it
does not appear that any central place of deposit ever had the name of
Tabularium alone, without further title, especially applied to it. The
inscription which has been placed at the entrance, and records the
construction of some building, or part of a building by Q. Lutatius
Catulus, when consul, was placed where it now stands by Canina. It is
supposed by Mommsen to refer to the repairs and alterations of the vaults
under the Capitol, which were carried out in pursuance of Sulla’s plan of
improvements on the Capitol, and after Sulla’s death were continued for
many years by Q. Catulus.[66]