Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/820

 800 ROMA. before quoted from Serviua (ad Aen. vii. 607), how- ever absurd in other respects, may at least he received as evidence of the existence of such a Janus here, especially as it is confirmed by other writers. Thus -Joannes Lydus: Kal roioxnov aiirov SyoA/ia (rsTpd- fxopipov) if T<fi <p6p(fi Tov Nep6a irl koI vvu Aiytrai (Tea(j}(Tfx.fvov (rfe Metis, iv. 1 ). So also JIartial : — " Nunc tua Caesareis cinguntur limina donis Et fora tot immeros, Jane, quot ora trei'is " (s. 28. 5). In the middle ages this Janus-temple appears to liave borne the name of Koah's Ark. In the time of Pope Paul V. considerable remains existed of the pronuos, or vestibule of this temple of Minerva, consisting of several columns with their entablature, with the following inscription: imp. NEItVA. CAESAK. AVG. PONT. MAX. TRIE. POT. II. IMP. II. PROcos. (Caniua, Foro Rom. p. 171.) Paul took these columns to adorn his fountain, the Acqiia Paolo, on the Janiculum. In the 17a Alessandrina there are still remains of the wall of peperino which formed the enclosure of the forum, tor;ether with two large Corinthian columns half buried in the earth, now called the Colonnacce. Their entablature is covered with mutilated reliefs, and over them is an Attic, with a figure of Minerva, also in relief. The situation of the forum of Nerva, and the remains of it existing in his time, are de- cribed by Palludio {Architettura, lib. iv.), also by Du Pe'rac (torn, vi.), who observes, that it was then the most complete ruin of a forum in Rome. The Colonnacce are represented by Gamucci, Antichita di Roma, p. 55; Desgodetz, p. 159, seq. ; Overbeke, pi. 39. There is a good description of the f ira of Augustus and Nerva by Niebuhr in the Beschreibwig Roms, vol. iii. p. 275. Forum Tmjani. - Thus between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, the Velian ridge and the ascent of the Quirinal, the valley was almost filled with a splendid series of public places, which we might imagine could hardly be surpassed. Yet it was re- served for Trajan to complete another forum, still more magnificent than any of the preceding ones, for the construction of which the Quirinal itself was forced to yield up part of its mass. Previously to the time of Trajan that hill was connected with the Capitoline by a sort of isthmus, or slen- der neck; the narrow and uneven defile between them was covered with private houses, and tra- versed only by a single road of communication between the forum and Campus Martins. But on the western side of this defile lay one of the handsomest quarters of Rome, containing the Septa Julia, the Flaminian circus, the theatres of Balbus, Pompey, and Maicellus, together with those temples and porticoes which so much excited the admiration of Strabo, and which he has described in a passage quoted in the former part of this article. The de- sign of the fonim of Trajan was, therefore, to con- nect this quarter of the town with the imperial fora in a manner not unworthy of the magnificent struc- tures on either side of it. This gigantic work, a portion of which still remains, though the greater part has disappeared under the united influences of time and barbarism, is supposed to have been pro- jected, and even begun, by Domitian. (Aur. Vict. Cues. 13; Hieron. i. p. 443, Rone; Cassiod. Chron. ii. p. 197.) It was, however, executed by Trajan, witii the assistance of the celebrated architect ApoUo- dorus of Damascus. (Diou Cass. Ixix. 4.) But no ROMA. ancient author has left us a satisfactory description of it. and we aje obliged to make out the plan, as best we may, from what we can trace of tlie remains ; a task somewhat aided by the excavations made by the French when they had possession of Rome at the commencement of the present century. (See Tournon, Etudes Statist. Rome, tom. ii. p. 253, pi. 28, 29; Fea, Notizie degli scavi nelV Anfiteatro Flavio e nel Foro Traiano, Rom. 1813; Bimsen, Les Forum de Rome, ii"*" partie, p. 24, seq.) This immense work consisted of the following parts : — 1. The foram, properly so called, a large open area immediately adjoining the NW. sides of the fora of Caesar and Augustus, and filling the whole .'jpace between the Capitoline and Quirinal, - much of the latter hill, indeed, and some of the former, having been cut away in order to make room for it. This part, which was called the area or atrium fori (Cell, xiii. 24; Amm. Marc. xvi. 10), contained, in the middle, an equestrian str.tue of Trajan, and was adorned with many other statues. The SW. and NK. sides of this square where the ground had been cut away from the hills, was occupied with semicircular buildings. There are still large remains of that under the Quirinal, which are vulgarly called the baths of Paullus Aemilius. The lower part of this edifice, which has only been laid open within the last few years, consists of quadrangular niches, which pro- bably served as little shops ; above them was a vaulted portico, with rooms and staircases leading to the upper floors. Piranesi and other topographers con- jectured that there was another similar building on the side of the Capitol, at the place called the Chiavi d Oro ; but Canina was the first to demon- strate its existence in his Indicazione Topografwa. Along the front of each of the crescents thus formed there seems to have been a portico, which gave the forum its proper rectangular form. The forum was thus divided into three parts, through both the ex- terior ones of which there was a road for cariiages, as appears from traces of pavement ; whilst the square, or middle division was paved with flag-stones. In the middle of the SE. side there seems to have been a triumphal arch, vestiges of which were discovered in the time of Flaminio Vacca (Memorie, no. 40), forming the principal entrance on the side of the imperial fora. rOUUM TRAJ.NI. 2. Next to the forum on the NW. side lay the Ba- silica Ulpia, which extended across it lengthways, and thus served to form one of its sides. The basi- lica was called Ulpia from Trajan's family name. The plan of the middle part is now laid entirely open. It seems to have been divided internally by four mws of columns, thus fonning five aisles, with circular nbsides or chalcidica at each end. During the ex-