Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/852

 832 KOMA. its having been the residence of Belisarius during his defence of Rome. It is the same building men- tioned by Procopius under the name of vaKariov. (Procop. B. G. ii. 8. 9 ; Anastasius, V. Silver, pp. 104, 106, Blanch.) The part of the hill included ■within the later city was bounded by the wall of Aurelian, by the valley which separates the Pincian from the Quirinal, and by the Campus JIartius on the west. The most famous place on the Pincian was the Gardens of Luculhis. Their situation is de- termined by a passage in Frontinus, from which we learn that the arches of the Aqua Virgo began un- der them. {Aq. 2.) This must have been in the street called Capo le Case, since the arches are still in existence from that spot to the Foiitana di Trevi. (Canina, Indie, p. 395.) The early history of these gardens is obscure. They were probably formed by a Lucullus, and subsequently came into tlie pos- session of Valerius Asiaticus, by whom they were so much improved that Messalina's desire of pos- sessing them caused the death of Valerius. (Tac. Ann. xi. 1, 32, 37.) They appear to have been also called after him " Horti Asiatic! " (Becker, Handb. p. 591), and it is possible, as we have said before, that they may sometimes have borne the name of " Horti Valeriani." They were the scene of Slessa- lina's infamous marriage with Silius (Juv. 5. s. 334) and of her death by the order of Claudius. (Tac. Ann. xi. 37.) The gardens remained in the possession of the imperial family, and were reckoned the finest they had. (Plut. Lucidl. 39.) The fa- mily of the Domitii, to which Nero belonged, had previously possessed property, or at all events a sepulchre, on the Pincian ; and it was here that the ashes of that emperor were deposited. (Suet. Ner. 50.) Popular tradition places it on that part of the hill which overhangs the church of S. Maria del Popolo near the gate of the same name. XIII. The Campus Martius, Clecus Fla- MiNius, AND Via Lata. The whole plain which lies between the Pincian, Quirinal, and Capitoline hills on the E. and the Tiber on the W., — on which the principal part of modern Rome stands, — may be designated generally by the name of Campus Martius, though strictly speaking it was divided into three separate dis- tricts. It is narrow at the northern part be- tween the Pincian and the river, but afterwards expands to a considerable breadth by the winding of the Tiber. It is terminated by the approach of the latter to the Capitohne hill, between which and the stream a part of the Servian wall forming its southern boundary anciently ran. It was cut through its whole length by a straight road, veiy nearly corresponding with the modern Corso, run- ning from the Porta Flaminia to the foot of the Ca- pitol. The southern part of the district lying be- tween this road and the hills formed, under the name of Via Lata, the 7th of the Augustan Regions; but how far it extended to the N. cannot be de- termined. From its northern boundary, wherever it may have been, to the Porta Flaminia and beyond that gate, the road before described wa.s called Via Flaminia. The southern portion of the Campus JIartius lying between the same ro,ad and the Tiber, as far N. as the modem Piazza Navona and Piazza Colonna, constituted the 9th Region of Augustus, under the name of CiRCUs Flaminius. In the earlier times all this district between the ROJIA. hills and the river was private property, and was applied to agricultural purposes. We have already related in the former part of this article, how, after the expulsion of the Tarquins, the Campus Martius was assigned, or rather perhaps restored, to the public use. But the southern portion of the plain appears still to have belonged to private owners. The most considerable of these possessions was the Peata Flaminia, or Campus Flaminius, which, however, must soon have become public property, since we find that assemblies of the people were held here under the decemvirs. (Liv. iii. 54.) Among these private estates must have been the Ager Cati, in which was a fountain whence the stream called Petronia flowed into the Tiber, and seems to have formed the southern boundary of the proper Campus JIartiusC' Petronia amnis est inTiberim per- fluens, quam m.agistratus auspicalo transeunt cum in Campo quid agere volunt," Fest. p. 250 ; cf. Paul. Diac. p. 45) ; also the Cabipus Tiberinus, the property of the vestal Taracia, or Suffetia, which she presented to the people. (Plin. xxxiv. 11.) We shall begin the description of this district from its southern side; that is, from the Servian wall between the Capitoline hill and the Tiber. Immediately before the Porta Carmentalis lay the FoEUM Olitorium. It was, as its name implies, the vegetable market. (Varr. L.L. v. § 146.) The Elephas Herbarius, or bronze statue of an elephant, which stood near the boundary of the 8th Region (v. Notitia) has by some topographers been connected with this forum, merely, it would seem, from the epithet herbarius; but the wall must have made here a decided separation between the 8th and 9th Regions. There were several temples in the Forum Olitorium, as those of Spes, of Juno Sospita, of Pietas, and of Janus. The Temple of Spes was founded by M. Atilius Calatinus in the First Punic War. (Tac. Ann. ii. 49; Cic. iV. D. ii. 23; Liv. xxi. 62.) It was destroyed in the great fire which devastated this neighbourhood during the Second Punic War (Liv. xxiv. 47), and though soon rebuilt, was again burnt down in b. c. 30; after which the restored temple was dedicated by Ger- manicus. (Tac. I. c.) The Temple of Juno was consecrated by C. Cornelius Cethegus in B. c. 195. There is a confusion in Livy between the names of Sospita and Matuta applied to this deity (xxxii. 30, xxxiv. 53); and it is diiBcult to decide which epithet may be the correct one. The Temple of Pietas is connected with the well-known legend of the Roman daughter who nourished her father (or mother) when in prison with the milk of her breast, and is said to have re- sided on the spot where the temple was erected. (Festus, p. 209 ; Val. Max. ii. 5. § 1.) It was dedi- cated in B. c. 180 by the son of M. Acilius Glabrio, in pursuance of a vow made by his father, on the day when he engaged king Antiochus at Ther- mopylae. (Liv. xl. 34.) It was pulled down in order to make room for the theatre of Marcellus. (Plin. vii. 36.) There appears, however, to have been another temple of Pietas in the Circus Fla- minius itself. (Jul. Obs. 114.) Close by was the Temple of Janus, to which we have already ad- verted in the former part of this article. The greater portion of the Forum Olitorium must have been en- grossed by the Theatre of Marcellus, of which we shall speak in another section ; and it may therefore be doubted whether it continued to serve the purposes of a market when the theatre was