Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/851

Rh ARCHEOLOGY.] ROME 823 of which stood a bronze colossus of Augustus, 1 50 feet high (Plin., II. N., xxxiv. 18). Round the portions, between the Numidian marble columns, were statues of the fifty Danaids, and opposite them their fifty bridegrooms on horseback (see schol. on Pers., ii. 56), many fragments of which have been found. In the centre before the steps of the temple stood an altar surrounded by four oxen, the work of Myron (Proper., EL, ii. 3, 7). Within the same area was a small temple of Vesta (C.I.L., i. p. 392), dedicated on 28th April 12 B.C., when Augustus was elected pontifex maximus; 2 the sacred block or altar symbolically called Roma Quadrata, sur- rounded by a circular trench called the Mundus, was also in some part of this great group of buildings. On the side towards the Circus Maximus was the palace of Augustus, which was excavated in 1775, and drawings of which were published by Guattani. 8 A great part shown by him has since then been destroyed, and all is now concealed ; the plan (48 in fig. 17) is taken from Guattani. The whole group is described by Ovid (Trist., iii. 1). Augustus also rebuilt the temple of Victory, 4 which gave its name to the Clivus Victoria ; this temple stood on the site of a prehistoric altar (Dionys., i. 32), and was more than once rebuilt, e.g., by L. Postumius, 294 B.C. (Liv., x. 33). In 193 B.C. an sedicula to Victory was built near it by Porcius Cato (Liv., xxxv. 9). Remains of the temple and a dedicatory inscription were found in 1 725-28 5 not far from the church of S. Maria Liberatrice ; the temple was of Parian marble, with Corinthian columns of Numidian giallo antico. The Area Apollinis and its group of buildings suffered in the fire of Nero, and were restored by Domitian. The whole was finally destroyed in the great fire of 363 (Ammian, xxiii. 3), but the Sibylline books were saved. The palace of Caligula occupies the northern angle of the Palatine, and extends over the Clivus Victoria a long way towards the Clivus Palatinus (see fig. 17). This part of the Palatine was once occupied by the Lucus Vestee, with the Sacellum Volupire and many fine private houses. Among these were the dwellings of Q. Lutatius Catulus, Q. Horteusius, Catiline, Scaurus, Crassus (Plin., H.N., xxxvi. 3, 24), whose house was afterwards bought by Cicero, 6 and the house of Clodius, the view of which Cicero threatened to block out. 7 Many other wealthy Romans had houses on this part of the Palatine, so that the cost of the site for Caligula's enormous palace must have been very great. The part now existing is little more than the gigantic substructures built to raise the principal rooms to the level of the top of the hill. The lowest parts of these face the Nova Via, opposite the Atrium Vestre, and many stories of small vaulted rooms built in mixed brick and opus reticulatum rise one above the other to the higher levels. 8 The palace extends over the Clivus Victoria, supported on lofty arches so as to leave the road unblocked ; many travertine or marble stairs lead to the upper rooms, some starting from the Nova Via, others from the Clivus Victoria. Its enormous extent is referred to by Pliny (H.N., xxxvi. 24). A large proportion of these substructures consist of dark rooms, some with no means of lighting, others with scanty borrowed light. Many small rooms and stairs scarcely 2 feet wide can only have been used by slaves. The ground floors on the Nova Via and the Clivus Victoria appear to have been shops, judg- ing from their wide openings, with travertine sills, grooved for the wooden fronts with narrow doors, which Roman shops seem always to have had, very like those now used in the East. The upper and principal rooms were once richly decorated with marble linings, columns, and mosaics ; but little of these now remains. By the side of the Clivus Victoria; still exists the start of the bridge by which Caligula joined the Capitolium to the Palatium (Suet., Cal., 22) ; it is partly supported on corbelled arches, richly decorated with delicate stucco reliefs ; the floor is of mosaic, and a piece of the open marble screen or balustrade is still in situ. The intermediate parts of Caligula's bridge were removed after his death, and the exit from the palace is blocked by a brick-faced wall, very little later in date than the palace itself. Near the bridge are some rooms very handsomely ornamented with a combination of coloured stucco reliefs and painting on the flat. The upper part of the palace, that above the Clivus Victoria, is faced wholly with brickwork, no opus reticulatum being used, as in the lower portions by the 1 The bronze head, now in the court of the Palazzo dei Conservator!, may possibly have belonged to this colossus ; it is much too small for that of Nero, to which it has generally been attributed ; it seems, however, of inferior work- manship to that of the Augustan age. 2 Ovid (Fast., iv. 949) mentions this group as being divided among three gods, namely, Phoebus, Vesta, and Augustus (conip. Metam., xv. 864). The plan cf a circular temple drawn by Ligorio (Cod. Ursin. Vat., 3439, fol. 25) probably represents this temple of Vesta as discovered in the 16th century ; it is repro- duced in Bull. Comm. Arch. Roma, 1S83, pi. xvii. 3 Mon. Ant. ined. di Roma, 1785, p. 56. 4 This temple is shown on a rare bronze medallion of Gordianus III. ; it is domed, and on the pediment is inscribed NEIKH OHAOfcOPOS. See Grueber, Roman Medallions, pi xlii., London, 1874. 5 See Bianchini, Pal. dei Cesari, 1738, p. 236. 6 Cic., Pro Domo, 43 ; Val. Max., vi. 3, 1 ; and see Becker, Handb., i. p. 423. 7 Cic., De Hants., 15, 33. 8 At this point the Palatine is cut away into four stages like gigantic steps ; the lowest is the floor of the Atrium Vesta?, the second the Xova Via, the third the Clivus Victorias, and the top of the hill forms the fourth. Nova Via. This possibly marks a difference of date, and the occurrence of brick stamps of the latter part of the 1st century A.D. in various parts of the palace shows that a large portion of it is later than the time of Caligula. The next great addition to the buildings of the Palatine was the Flavian magnificent suite of state apartments built by Domitian, over a Palace, deep natural valley running across the hill (see fig. 17). The valley was filled up and the level of the new palace raised to a considerable height above the natural soil. Remains of a house, decorated with painting and rich marbles, exist under Domitian's peristyle, partly destroyed by the foundations of cast concrete which cut right through it. The floor of this house shows the original level, far below that of the Flavian palace. The south angle of this great building adjoins the palace of Augustus, and it is connected with the palace of Caligula by a branch subterranean passage leading into the earlier crypto-porticus. These two build- ings continued to be used as the private apartments of the emperor, the Flavian block consisting only of state rooms ; the words AEDES PVBLICA were inscribed upon it by Nerva to show its public charac- ter. It consists of a large open peristyle, with columns of Oriental marble, at one end of which is the grand triclinium with magnifi- cent paving of opus sectile in red and green basalt and coloured marbles, a piece of which is well preserved ; next to the triclinium, on to which it opens with large windows, is a nymphaeum or room with marble-lined fountain and recesses for plants and statues. On the opposite side of the peristyle is a large throne-room, the walls of which were adorned with rows of pavonazetto and giallo columns and large marble niches, in which were colossal statues of porphyry and basalt ; at one side of this is the basilica, with central nave and apse and narrow aisles, over which were galleries. The apse, in which was the emperor's throne, is screened off by open marble cancelli, a part of which still exists. It is of great interest as show- ing the origin of the Christian basilica ; S. Agnese fuori le Mura is exactly similar in arrangement (see BASILICA, vol. iii. p. 417). 9 On the other side of the throne-room is the lararium, with altar and pedestal for a statue ; next to this is the grand staircase, which led to the upper rooms, now destroyed. The whole build- ing, both floor and walls, was covered with the richest Oriental marbles, including all the varieties mentioned on p. 808. Out- side were colonnades or portions, on one side of cipollino, on the other of travertine, the latter stuccoed and painted. The magni- ficence of the whole, crowded with fine Greek sculpture and covered with polished marbles of the most brilliant colours, is difficult now to realize ; a glowing description is given by Statius (Silv., iv. 11, 18; see also Plut., Poplic., 15, and Mart., viii. 36). Doors were arranged in the throne-room and basilica so that the emperor could slip out unobserved and reach by a staircase (30 in fig. 17) the crypto-porticus which communicates with Caligula's palace. The vault of this passage was covered with mosaic of mixed marble and glass, a few fragments of which still remain ; its walls were lined with rich marbles ; it was lighted by a series of windows in the springing of the vault. This, as well as the Flavian palace, appears to have suffered more than once from fire, and in many places important restorations of the time of Severus, and some as late as the 4th century, are evident. In 1720-26 extensive exca- vations were made here for the Famese duke of Parma, and an immense quantity of statues and marble architectural fragments were discovered, many of which are now at Naples and elsewhere. Among them were sixteen beautiful fluted columns of pavonazetto and giallo, fragments of the porphyry statues, and an immense door -sill of Pentelic marble, now used for the high altar of the Pantheon ; these all came from the throne-room. The excavations were carried on by Bianchiui, who published a book on the subject. 10 In the middle of the slopes of the Palatine, towards the Circus Domus Maximus, are considerable remains of buildings set against the Gelo- wall of Romulus and covering one of its projecting spurs. This tiana. series of rooms with a long Corinthian colonnade has been sup- posed to be part of the Domus Gelotiana, from which Caligula used to watch the races in the circus below (Suet., Cal., 18). Little, however, of the existing remains is as early as the reign of Caligula, and the marble porticus apparently dates from the time of Severus. The rooms were partly marble -lined and partly decorated with painted stucco, on which are incised a number of interesting in- scriptions and rude drawings. Here, in 1857, was found the cele- brated (so-called) caricature of the Crucified Christ, now in the Museo Kircheriano, but which, more probably, has a Gnostic meaning. 11 The inscription CORINTHVS. EXIT. DE. PEDAGOGIO suggests that this building was at one time used as a school, per- haps for the imperial slaves. A number of soldiers' names also occur, e.g., HILARYS. MI. V. D. N. (Hilarus miles veteranus domini nostri) ; some are in mixed Latin and Greek characters, with many 9 The brick stamps on the tiles laid under the marble paving of the basilica have CN. DOMITI. AMANDI. VALEAT. QVI. FECIT ., the last three words a common augury of good luck stamped on bricks or amphorae ; these date from a restoration after a tire in the time of Severus. 10 Pa?, dei Cesari, Verona, 1738 ; see Guattani, AW. di Antich., 1798. 11 See Kraus, Das Spottcrucifoc vom Palatin, Freiburg, 1S72, and Becker, Das Spottcrucifix, &c., Breslau, 1866.