Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/855

 ROMA. ■was applied were twofold; it served for gymnastic and warlike exercises, and also for large political as- semblies of the people, as the coniitia and contiones. At first it must have been a completely open field with only a few scattered sacred places upon it; and it was not till the 6lh century of the city that regular temples began to be built there. By de- grees it became covered with buildings, except in that part devoted to the public games and exercises, and especially the equiria, or horse-races, instituted by Romulus in honour of Mars. (Varr. L. L. vi. § 1.3; Paul. Diac. p. 81.) The spot where these took place is indicated by Ovid {Fast. iii. 519): — " Altera gramineo spectabis Equiria campo Qucm Tiberis curvis in latus urget aquis. Qui tamen ejecta si forte tenebitur unda Caelius accipiet pulverulentus equos." The part of the Campus the side of which may be said to be " pressed upon " by the stream of the Tiber, is that lying between Piazza Navona and the bridge of S. Angela, where the ground forms an angle opposed to the descending waters. Here also was the bathing-place of the Roman youth. (Hor. Od. iii. 7.25 ; Comp. Cic. pro Coel. 15.) Some writers have assumed that this spot was regarded as forming a distinct division called Cam- pus Minor, whilst the remainder of the plain was called C^vaiPUS Ma.jou. (Preller, Regionen, p. 160; Urlichs, Rom. Manfeld, p. 19; Canina, Jiidic, pp. 384, 412.) But this diotinction does not appear to rest on adequate authority. It is derived from a passage in Catullus : " Te campo quaesivimus minore " (liii. (Iv.). 3); and from another in Strabo, quoted in the former part of this article, where, in describing the Campus Martins, he speaks of another field, or plain, near it (ttAjj- aiov 5' effTi tov TveSiov tovtov kuI &o TreSiof, Koi (TToal KVKKcf Trafnrri6e7s, k. t. A.). But, as Becker observes (I/andb. p. 599), Strabo has already de- scribed the Campus Martins as the usual place for gymnastic exercises, and therefore his aAAo TreSiov cannot be the part of it just described. It seems most probable that he meant the Campus Flaminius, which still retained its ancient name, though for the most part covered with the porticoes and other build- ings which he describes ; just as we have a Moor- fields and Goodman's Fields in the heart of London. The Campus Minor of Catullus may have been the Campus Martialis on the Caelian ; or, as Preller observes, the punctuation may be: — " Te campo quaesivimus, minore Te in circo." The ancient loci religiosi on the Campus Martius were the following: — The Palus Cai'Reae, or Caprae, where Romulus is said to have disappeared during the holding of an assembly of the people: its situation is unknown ; but it does not seem im- probable, as Preller suggests {Regionen, p. 137), that its site may have been marked by the Aedicula Capuaria, mentioned in the Notitia in the 7th Region, and that it may consequently have lain somewhere under the Quiriiial. (Liv. i. 16; Ov. Fast. ii. 489, &c.) A j.lace called Tauentu.m, or Terf.ntusi, which appears to liave been volcanic (campus ignifer), with a subterranean Ara Ditis Patris kt Proserpinae, where the ludi saecularcs were performed. The legend of Valesius and his children, and an account "of the institution of the games, will be found in the Diciionurij of Antiqui- ROMA. 835 ties, p. 716. We are here only concerned for the situ- ation of the place, which is very variously assigned by different writers. Urlichs placed it in the Forum Boarium, which, however, must be wrong, as it was undoubtedly in the Campus Martius (Val. IIax. ii. 4. § 5; Festus, p. 329), though at one extremity of it. (Zos. ii. 4.) Hence Becker placed it near the mausoleum of Augustus, being led to this conclusion by the Sibylline oracle recorded by Zosimus {I.e.'):— 'Pf^€<i' 61* TreSi'o) irapa Qv/jiSpiSos anAeTov vSaip "Omrrt aTeiv6rarov. Becker refers the word aTavoTarov in this pas- sage to TTiSiov, and hence selects the northern part of the Campus for the site of Tarentum, as being the narrowest. But it may equally well refer to vSaip; and the narrowest part of the Tiber in its course through the Campus Martius — taking that appellation in its more extended sense — is where it is divided by the Insula Tiberina. Other passages adduced are undecisive, as those of Ovid {Fast, i 501) and Seneca {de Morte Clatidii, 13) ; and therefore though Preller {Regionen, Anhang. p. 241) pronounces against Becker's site, we must leave the question undetermined. The Ara Martis, near which, when the comitia were ended the newly-elected censors took their seats in curule chairs, was probably the earliest holy place dedicated to the god on the Campus which bore his name. We have already observed, when treating of the Porta Fontinalis, that it must have j been near that gate, and that it was perhaps erected by Numa. There was also an Aedes JIartis on i the Campus, probably at the spot where the equiria were celebrated. (Dion Cass. Ivi. 24; Ov. Fast. ii. 855.) It seems to have been a distinct temple, from that already mentioned in the Circus Fla- I minius. The site of the Temple of the Lares j Permarini, dedicated by the censor M. A.emilius Lepidus, B.C. 179, in pursuance of a vow made by L. Aemilius Regillus after his naval victory over the I fleet of Antiochus, cannot be determined (Liv. xl. 52; Macrob. Sat. i. 10); but it may probably have j stood, as Preller conjectures, near the Kavalia. The Aedes Juturnae, built by Q. Lutatius Ca- tulus towards the end of the Republic, stood near the arches of the Aqua Virgo, and consequently near the Septa. (Serv. adAen. sii. 139; Ov. Fast. i. 463; Cic. /wo Cfeewi. 36.) Such was the Campus Martius down to the im- perial times ; when the great works undertaken there by Julius Caesar and Augustus gave it quite a new appeai'ance. But, before we proceed to de- scribe the.se, we must say a few words respecting the Navalia, or government dockyards. The older topographers placed them under the Aventine, from confounding them with the Emporium or commercial docks. Piale fir.-t pointed out the incorrectness of this view; but erred himself in placing the Navalia on the opposite bank of the Tiber, from his ignorance of certain passages which determine them to have been in the Campus JIartius. These pass.iges, which were first adduced by Becker {de Muris, (j-c. p. 96, Handb. p. 159), are the following: " Spcs unica imj)erii poimli Romani, L. Quinctius, trans Tiberim contra cum ii)sum locum, ubi imnc Navalia sunt, quatuor jugerum colebat agrum, quae jirata Quinctia vocantur." (Liv. iii. 26.) This passage shows the Navalia to have been on the left bank of the Tiber, opj)osite some fields called prata Quinctia; and the following one from Pliny fixes the situation 3 a 2