Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/837

 R05IA. * p. 498), since that building is at some little distance from the circus, and certainly does not stand on higher ground. The temple of Ceres contained some precious works of art (Plin. xxsv. 10. s. 36. § 99), especially a picture of Dionysus by Aristides, which Strabo mentions that he saw (viii. p. 381), but which was afterwards destroyed in a fire which consumed the temple. We also find a Temple of Venus mentioned at the circus, founded by Q. Fabius Gurges, b. c. 295, very appropriately out of the money raised by fines levied on certain matrons for incontinence. (Liv. X. 31.) It seems to have been at some distance from the Forum Boarium, since the censors M. Livius and C. Claudius contracted for the paving of the road between the two places. (Id. ssix. 37.) Yet we have no means of defining its site more accurately, nor can we even tell whether it may not have been connected with the altar of Venus Blurcia before mentioned. But the Temple of Flora, founded by the aediles L. and M. Publicius, the same who constructed the clivus or ascent to the Aventine which bore their name, must have lain close to that ascent, and consequently also to the temple of Ceres just described ; since Tacitus, after relating the re -dedication of the latter under Tiberius, adds: " codemque in loco aedem Florae (dedicavit), ab Lucio et Marco Publiciis aedilibus constitutam." {Ann. ii. 49.) The Publicii applied part of the same money — raised by fines — with which they had constructed the clivus, in instituting floral games in honour of the divinity which they had here con- secrated, as we learn from the account which Ovid puts into the mouth of the goddess herself (^Fast. V. 283). These are all the temples that we find mentioned in this quarter; but before we leave it there are one or two points which deserve to be noticed. The Cave OF Cacus was reputed to have been near the Clivus Publicius. Solinus mentions it as being at the Salinae, near the Porta Trigemina (i. 8); a situa- tion which agrees with the description in Virgil of the meeting of Aeneas and Evander at the Ara Maxima of Hercules, from which spot Evander points out the cave on the Aventine (^Aen. viii. 190, seq.):— " Jam primum saxis suspensam banc adspice rupem," &c. Of the DuoDECiM PoRTAE mentioned in the l^o- tilia in this Region we have already spoken [Part II. p. 757]. IX. The Caelian Hill. The Caelius presents but few remains of ancient buildings, and as the notices of it in the classics are likewise scanty its topography is consequently involved in considerable obscurity. According to Livy (i. 30) Tulhis Hostilius fixed his residence upon it; but other accounts represent him as re- siding on the Velia. (Cic. Rep. ii. 31.) We find a Sacellum Dianae mentioned on the Caeliolus — an undefined part of the eastern ndge{deBar.Resp. 15); another of the Dea Carna " in Caelio monte" (Ma- crob. 5. i. 12); and a little Temple of Minerva Capta situated on the declivity of the hill: — " Caelius ex alto qua Mons descendit in .aequum, Uic ubi non plana est, sed prope plana via est, Parva licet videas Captae dclubra Minerrac." (Ov. Fast. iii. 837, seq.) VOL. U. ROMA. 817 Hence it was probably the same ancient sanctuaryi called " Minervium " in the sacred books of the Argives, which lay on the northern declivity of the Caelian towards the Tiibemola (" Circa Minervium qua e Caelio monte iter in Tabeniola est," Varr. L. L. V. § 47), and probably near the modem street Via della Navicella. The most considerable building known on the Caelian in later times was the Temple of Divus Cl^vudius, begun by Agrippina, destroyed by Nero, and restored by Vespasian. (Suet. Vesp. 9 ; Aur. Vict. Caes. 9.) The determination of its site de- pends on the question how far Nero conducted the Aqua Claudia along the Caelius, since we learn from Frontinus that the arches of that aqueduct termi- nated at the temple in question. (Front. Aq. 20, 76.) These Arcus Neroniani (also called Caeli- montani, Gruter, Inscr. clxxxvii. 3) extend along the ridge of the narrow hill, supposed to be the Caeliolus, from the Porta Maggiore to the Santa Scala opposite the Lateran, where they are inter- rupted by the piazza and buildings belonging to that basilica. They recommence, however, on the other side in the Via di S. Stefano Rotondo, and proceed with a small gap as far as that church. There are further traces of them on the W. side of the arch of Dolabella; and the opinion of Canina seems probable enough, that they terminated near the garden of the convent of 55. Giovanni e Paolo, and that the remains of a huge substruction at this spot belonged to the temple of Claudius. (Lidicaz. p. 73, seq.) Canina is further of opinion that the Aqua Claudia was distributed a little beyond this spot, and that one of the uses to which it was applied by Nero was to replenish his lake, which occupied the site of the Flavian amphitheatre. Others, however, are of opinion that the aqueduct did not proceed beyond the church of S. Stefano Rotondo, and therefore that the temple of Claudius stood near that spot, or that the church may even have been built on its foundations. But there are no sufficient grounds for arriving at any satisfactory conclusion on these points, and altogether the view of Canina is perhaps the more probable one. The Arch of Dolabella, just alluded to, ap- pears from the inscription on it to have been erected in the consulship of Dolabella and Silanus, a. d. 10. Its destination has been the subject of various con- jectures. Some have imagined it to be a restora- tion of the Porta Caelimontana; but this can hardly be the case, since, if the Servian walls had run in this direction, half of the Caelian hill would have been shut out of the city. On the other hand, its appearance excludes the notion of a triumphal arch; and it could not originally have formed part of an aqueduct, since it was erected previously to tlie con- struction of the Aqua Claudia. It seems most pro- bable therefore that it was designed as an entrance to some public place ; but there are appearances that Nero subsequently conducted his aqueduct over it. (Canina, Indicaz. p. 77.) The road which led up to it from the Via di S. Gregorio seems in ancient times to have been called Clivus Scauri. It is mentioned under that name in the Epistles of S. Gregory (yW.VS), AnA the Anonymus Einsiedlensis calls it Clivus Tauri, which is probably a scribe's error. Next to th.e temple of Claudius, the Notitia men- tions a Mac'ellum Magnum, probai)ly the market recorded by Dion C;issius as founded by Nero (r)]v ayupav rinv o^wv, rb pixKiWov wvo(xa(Tfjiivov, ko- 3 G