Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/844

Rh 816 ROME [TOPOGRAPHY AND and show how deeply the buried part descends below the present level The brick cornice and marble consoles, covered with enriched mouldings in stucco, and the sham marble facing, also of stucco, if com- pared with similar details in the baths of Diocletian, leave little doubt as to this being a work of his time, and not, as has been usually as- sumed, the WOrk Of Pope Honorius I., who (625-633 A.D.) conse- crated it as the church of S. Adriano. mi- From the m. Curia a flight of steps led ^ m ^,+^fV, Q p^ " I0 - 12. Curia of Diocletian, as it was in the 16th century. itneyo- A) A> A Original -^dows now blocked up. B. Bronze initmm (Liv., doors. C. Stucco facing. D. Cornice with marble consoles i. 36), the level and enriched stucco mouldings, both existing. E. Baking of which ap- corn i ce now g n e, but shown by Du Perac. pears from the existing steps and pavement near the arch of Severus (see Plate VII. ) to have been about 2 feet below that of the Forum, and not above it, as Bunsen and others have asserted, iginal On the Comitium stood the ancient rostra till they were rebuilt tra. on a new site by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. The ancient rostra were so called in 338 B.C., when Camillus and Mcenius defeated the Latin fleet at Antium, and the beaks (rostra) of the captured ships were fixed to an existing platform on the Comitium for orators. It was also called a "templum" because the structure was consecrated by the augurs (Cic., De Orat., Hi. 3). Other rostra, named for distinction Rostra Julia, were so called from the beaks of ships taken at Actium and affixed by Augustus to the podium of the temple built by him in honour of the deified Julius. Both are mentioned by Suetonius (Aug., 100). There were several other platforms or tribunals for orators in and about the Forum, but they were not called rostra. From the original rostra Cicero delivered his Second and Third Catiline Orations, and they were the scene of some of the most important political struggles of Rome, such as the enunciation of their laws by the Gracchi. Beside the Comitium another monument was erected, also adorned with beaks of ships, to commemorate the same victory at Antium. This was the Columna Mcenia, so called in honour of Mcenius (Plin., H.N., xxxiv. 11, vii. 60). The Columna Duilia was a similar monument, erected in honour of the victory of C. Duilius over the Punic fleet in 260 B.C. ; a fragment of it with inscription (restored in imperial times) is preserved in the Capitoline Museum. 1 Columns such as these were called "columnse rostrate." teco- Near the Comitium, on the side towards the Capitol, was the sis. Grsecostasis, a platform where foreign ambassadors stood to hear the speeches (see Varro, loc. cit.). It appears probable that, like the rostra, the Graecostasis was moved in the 1st century B.C. ; and this name has been given with some probability to the curved marble-faced platform behind the existing rostra. na- The Senaculum appears to have been a place of preliminary lum. meeting for the Senate before entering the Curia (Liv., xli. 27 ; Val. Max., ii. 2, 6) ; it adjoined the temple of Concord, and when this was rebuilt on an enlarged scale in the reign of Augustus it appears probable that its large projecting portico became the Senaculum (Dionys., i. 34, vi. 1). It may possibly have once been identical with the Area Concordias mentioned by Livy (xl. 19) in connexion with the Area Vulcani (comp. xxxix. 46). isilicse A great part of the north-east side of the Forum was occupied by Forum, two basilica;, which were more than once rebuilt under different names. The first of these appears to have been adjacent to the Curia, on its south side ; it was called the Basilica Porcia, and was founded by the elder Cato in 184 B.C. (see Liv., xxxix. 44, and Plut., Cato Major, 19) ; it was burnt with the Curia at Clodius's funeral Adjoining it another basilica, called JSmilia et Fulvia (Varro, vi. 4), was built in 176 B.C. by the censors M. Fulvius and M. .ffimilius Lepidus; 2 it stood, according to Livy (xl. 51), 1 The column itself is a copy made by Michelangelo ; it is at the foot of the stairs of the Palazzo dei Conservator!. 2 The Forum Piscatorium or fish-market appears to have been at the back of Ihis basilica (see Liv., xl. 51). "post argentarias novas," the line of silversmiths' shops along the north-east side of the Forum. In 50 B.C. it was rebuilt by L. jEmilius Paulus (Plut., C&s., 29; Appian, Bell. Civ., ii. 26), and was more than once restored within the few subsequent years by members of the same family. Its later name was the 'Basilica Pauli, and it was remarkable for its magnificent columns of Phrygian marble (Plin., U.N., xxxvi. 24) or pavonazetto. Near the middle of the north-east side of the Forum stood also Temp the small bronze temple of Janus, 3 the doors of which were shut of Janu on those rare occasions when Rome was at peace. 4 A first brass of Nero shows it as a small cella, with richly ornamented frieze and cornice. Another sedicula near that of Janus was the shrine of Venus Cloacina (or the Purifier), probably on the line of the great cloaca (Liv., iii. 48; Plin., H.N., xv. 36). Two or more other shrines of Janus stood on this side, behind the shops of the money- lending argentarii ; and the word "Janus" was used to imply the place of usurers (Hor., Sat., ii. 3, 18). So far the buildings mentioned have been mostly those whose sites are still buried under the line of modern houses on the north- cast of the Forum, the only part which has not yet been excavated. Turning to those of which existing remains are visible, at the north-west end the rostra of Julius Cfesar mark the limit of the Forum in this direction, as the arch of Fabius beside the temple of Faustina did in the other. Plate VII. shows the plan of the rostra, with the curved Gracostasis Existin behind it. It is an oblong platform about 78 feet long and 11 feet rostra, high above the level of the Forum ; its ground floor, paved with herring-bone bricks, is 2 feet 6 inches below the Forum paving. Its end and side walls are of tufa blocks, 2 feet thick and 2 feet wide, each carefully clamped to the next with wooden dovetail dowels. Its floor was supported by a series of travertine piers, carrying travertine lintels, on which the floor slabs rested (see fig. 13). Outside it was completely lined with Greek marble and had a richly moulded plinth and cornice ; none of the latter is in situ, but many pieces lie scat- tered around. A groove cut in the top of the cornice shows the place where marble cancelli were fixed ; one of the cornice blocks is partly without this groove, showing that the screen did not extend along the whole front of the ros- tra. This agrees with a relief on the arch of Con- stantino, repre- senting the em- peror making an oration from the ">^j rostra, with other buildings at this end of the Forum FIG. 13. shown behind. In this relief the screen is shown with a break in the middle, so that the orator, standing in the centre, was visible from head to foot. Two tiers of large holes to hold the bronze rostra are drilled right through the tufa wall, and even through the travertine pilasters where one happens to come in the way ; these holes show that there were nineteen rostra in the lower tier, and twenty above set over the intermediate spaces of the lower row. The back wall of the rostra is of concrete faced with brick, which, being probably the work of Julius Csesar in 44 B.C., is the earliest dated example of brickwork in Rome. The inside space, under the main floor of the rostra, is coated thickly with stucco, the brick wall being studded in the usual way with iron nails to form a key for the plaster. In spite of the assertions of Bunsen, Jordan, and others that the Curv< curved platform behind (conjecturally called the Gracostasis) is a platft work of late date, it is evident from various constructional points, visible at the junction of the two structures, that it existed before the rostra, which when built completely hid its rich lining and the pilasters of porta santa marble which decorated its front, very strong evidence as to the curved platform being earlier in date. The level Section through front of rostra, showing the marble lining, screen, and bronze beaks, the position of which is shown by the holes in the existing tufa wall. The details are to double scale. 3 The original temple was one of the prehistoric buildings attributed to Romulus and Tatins (Serv., Ad JEn., i. 291), or by Livy (i. 19) to Nuiria. ' 4 Bee Mon. Ancyr.; Procop., Bell. Goth., i. 25 ; Liv., i. 19 ; Suet., Aug., 22. I