Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/829

 ROMA. Between the basilica of Constantine and the Co- losseum, and consequently on the eastern side of the Velian height, Hadrian built the splendid Temple of Roma and Venus, commonly called at a later period Templum Urbis, considerable remains of which still exist behind the convent of S. Francesca Romana. In the middle ages it was called Templum Con- cordiae et Pietatis (^Mirabilia Rom. in Effemerid. Letter, i. p. 385); the older topographers gave it various names, and Nardini was the first to de- signate it correctly. The remains exhibit the plan of a double temple, or one having two cellae, the semicircular tribunes of which are joined together back to back, so that one cella faced the Capitol and the other the Colosseum ; whence the descrip- tion of Prudentius (^Contra Syvim. 1. 214): — " Atque Urbis Venerisque pari se cnlmine tollunt Templa, simul geminis adolentur tura deabus." The cella facing the Colosseum is still visible, but the other is enclosed in the cloisters of S. Francesca. In them were colossal statues of the goddesses in a sitting posture. Hadrian is related to have planned this temple himself, and to have been so offended with the free-spoken criticisms of the great archi- tect Apollodorus upon it that he caused him to be put to death. (Dion Cass. Ixix. 4.) Apollodorus is related to have particularly criticised the extrava- gant size of the two goddesses, who he said were too large to quit their seats and walk out of the temple, had they been so minded. The temple was of the style technically called pseudo-dipteros decastylos, that is, having only one row of ten columns, but at the same distance from the cella as if there had been ROMA. 809 two rows. With its porticoes it occupied the whole space between the Sacra Via and the street which ran past the front of the Basilica Constantini. For a more detailed description of it see Nibby, Foro Romano, p. 209, seq., and Canina, Edijizj di Roma, classe ii. A ground plan, and elevations and sec- tions of it as restored, will be found in Burgess, An- tiquities and Topograjihy of Rome, i. pp. 268, 280. Servius {ad Aen. ii. 227) speaks of snakes on the statue of Roma similar to those on that of Minen'a. From some coins of Antoninus Pius the temple appears to have been restored by that emperor. Silver statues were erected in it to M. Aurelius and Faustina, as well as an altar on which it was customary for brides to offer sacrifice after their marriage. (Dion Cass. Ixxi. 31.) It was partly burnt down in the reign of Maxentius, but restored by that emperor. The Arch of Titus, to which from its conspi- cuous position we have so frequently had occasion to allude, stood close to the SW. angle of this temple, spanning the Sacra Via at the very summit of the Velian ridge. Its beautiful reliefs, which are un- fortunately in a bad state of preservation, represent the Jewish triumphs of Titus. The arch could not have been completed and dedicated till after the death of that emperor, since he is called Divus in the inscription on the side of the Colosseum, whilst a relief in the middle of the vault represents his apotheosis. It has undergone a good deal of resto- ration of a very indifferent kind, especially on the side which faces the forum. During the middle ages it was called Septem Lucernae and Arcns Septem Lucemarum, as we see from the Anony- I mus. ARCH OF TITUS RESTOUEU. We shall here mention two other monuments which, though strictly speaking they do not belong to the Palatine, yet stand in such close pi-oximity to it that they may be conveniently treated of in this place. These are the Arch of Const^vntine and the Meta Sudans. The former, which stands at the NE. comer of the Palatine, and spans the road now called Via di S. Gregorio, between that hill and the Caelian, was erected, as the inscription testifies, in honour of Constantine's victory over Maxentius. It is adorned with superb reliefs re- lating to the history of Trajan, taken apparently from some arch or other monument of that em- peror's. They contrast strangely with the tasteless and ill-executed sculptures belonging to the time of Constantine himself, which are inserted at the lower part of the arch This monument is in a much better state of preservation than the arch of Titus, a circumstance which may perhaps be ascribed to the respect entertained for the memory of the first Christian emperor. For detailed descriptions and drawings of this arch see Niebuhr {Beschr. iii. p. 314, seq.), Canina (Edijizj Antichi, classe xii.), Overbeke (Restes de l' An. Rome, ii. t. 8, 9), Pira- nesi (Ant. Rom. i.). The Meta Suuans, so called from its resemblance to the metac of the circus, was a fountain erected by Domitian, remains of which are still to be seen