Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/858

 838 ROMA. known. Its situation near the place assigned is determined by the following passage in Seneca's Apocolocyntosis : " Injicit illi (Claudio) manum Talthybius deorum nuntius et trahit capite obvoluto, ne quis euni possit agnoscere, per Campum Martiuni ; et inter Tiberiin et Viam Tecfam descendit ad in- feros '■ (p. 389, Bip.). If this descent to the infernal regions was at the subterranean altar of Pluto and Proserpine before mentioned, it would go far to fix the situation of the Tarentum in the noithern part of the Campus ; but this, though probable, is not certain. The Via Tecta is mentioned once or twice by JIartial (iii. 5, viii. 75). Among the other monuments relating to Augustus in the Campus Slartius, was an Ara Pacis, dedi- cated to Augustus on his return from Germany, B. c. 13. (bion Cass. liv. 25; Ov. Fast. iii. 882 ; Fast. Praen. III. Kal. Feb.) The Ara Fortunae Reducis was another similar altar (Dion Cass. liv. 19); but there is nothing to prove that it was on the Campus Martins. In the reign of Augustus, Statilius Taurus erected an Amphitheatre on the Campus, — the first built of stone at Rome ; but its situation cannot be determined. (Dion Cass. li. 23; Sxet. Aug. 29.) Along interval ensued after the reign of Augustus before any new public buildings were erected on the Campus jIartius. Caligula began, indeed, a large amphitheatre near the Septa ; but Cladius caused it to be pulled down. Nero erected, close to the baths of Agrippa, the Therbiae Neronianae, which seem to have been subsequently enlarged by Alex- ander Severus, and to have obtained the name of Thermae Alexandrinae. The damage occa- sioned in this district by the fire of Nero cannot be stated, since all that we certainly know is that the amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus was destroyed in it- (Dion Cass. Ixii. 18). The fire under Titus was considerably more destructive in this quarter (Id. Ixvi. 24); but the damage appears to have been made good by Domitian. Among the buildings re- stored by him on this occasion we find the Temples OF Isis AND Serapis mentioned ; but we have no accounts respecting their foundation. Their site may, however, be fixed between the Septa Julia and the baths of Agrippa, near the modern church of S. Maria sopra Minerva. Thus Juvenal (vi. 527): — " A Meroe portabit aquas, ut spargat in aedem Isidis, antiquo quae proxima surgit Ovili." (Cf. Joseph. B.Jud. vii. 5. § 4.) It was near the spot mdicated that the celebrated group of the Nile was discovered which now adorns the Vatican (Braun, Museuins of Rome, ji. 160), together with several other Egyptian objects (Flaminio Vacca, Mem. nos. 26, 27;" Bartoh, Mem. no. 112, &c.). Alexander Severus devoted much attention to these temples (Lampr. A. Sev. 26), and they must have existed till a late period, since they are enumerated in the Notitia. Domitian also restored a temple of Minerva which stood near the same spot, the Minerva Chalcidica of Cassiodorus (Ckron. siib Dojiiit.) and of the Notitia. (Montf. Diar. Ital. p. 292). It must have been the temple originally founded by Pompey in commemoration of his eastern victories, the inscription on which is recorded by Pliny (vii. 27). It was from this temple that the church of S. Maria]ns,t mentioned derived its epithet of sopra Minerva ; and it seems to have been near this spot that the celebrated statue of the Giustiniani Pallas, now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican, ROMA. was discovered ; though according to other, but le.ss probable, accounts, it was found in the circular tem- ple near the Porta Muggiore (Braun, Mtiseuins, Sfc. p. 1 54). Some topographers assume that the temple built by Pompey was a ditferent one from the above, with the barbarous title of Minerva Campensis, but in the same neighbourhood ; which does not seem probable (Canina, Indicaz. p. 405). Domitian also founded in the Campus Martius an Odeum and a Stadium (Suet. Dom. 5), which will be described in the proper sections. The situation of the former cannot be determined. The Stadium, in all probability, occupied the site of the Piazza Na- vona, the form of which shows that it must have been a circus. The name of Navona is a corruption of in Agone, and important remains of this Stadium ■M^^ *.. VNTfiNINE COLUMN. (cOLU.MN OF M. AUUEUUS.)