Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/857

Rh ARCHEOLOGY.] ROME 829 tions the sculpture by the Athenian Diogenes which adorned it, and its capitals and dome covering of Syracusan bronze (xxxiv. 7) ; the ceiling of the portico too was of bronze, supported by massive tubular girders, 1 which remained till Urban VIII. melted them to make cannon for S. Angelo and the baldacchino of St Peter's ; the bronze weighed 450,000 ft. The bronze tiles of the dome were stolen long before by Constans II., in 663, but on their way to Constantinople they Avere seized by the Saracens. The portico . lias eight columns on the front and three on the sides, all granite monoliths except the re- stored ones on the east side, sixteen in all. The capitals are Corinthian, of white marble ; the tym- panum (deros) of the pedi- ment Avas filled Avith bronze reliefs of the battle of the gods and the giants. 2 The Avails of the circular part, nearly 20 feet thick, are of solid tufa concrete, thinly faced with brick. The enormous dome, 142 feet 6 inches in span, is cast in concrete made of pumice- stone, pozzolana, and lime; being one solid mass, it covers the building like a shell, free from any lateral thrust at the haunches. Round the central opening or hypsethrum still re- mains a ring of enriched mouldings in gilt bronze, the only bit left of the bronze Avhich once covered the Avhole dome. The lower story of the circular part and the Avails of the pro- FIG. 24. Plan of Pantheon and part of thermse jecting portico were covered 9 Agrippa. A. Angle of portico rebuilt in ti i i er> i n 1 1 th century. B, B. Niches which contained Avith slabs of Greek marble; colossal sta j tues ' of Augustus and Agrippa. a great part of the latter C. Pedestal for statue, and apse added by still remains, enriched Avith Hadrian. Corinthian pilasters and bands of sculptured ornament. The tAA-o upper stories of the drum Avere covered outside with hard stucco of pounded marble. Inside the Avhole AA r as lined AA-ith a great variety of rich Oriental marbles. This magnificent interior, divided into two orders by an entablature supported on columns and pilasters, has been much injured by alteration ; but the materials are ancient, and the general effect is probably much the same as it Avas, not in the time of Agrippa, but after the restorations of Hadrian (Spart., Hadr., 181) and Severus, Avhen the magnificently coloured por- phyries and Oriental marbles Avere so largely used. 3 About 608 the Pantheon was given by Phocas to Boniface IV., Avho con- secrated it as the church of S. Maria ad Martyres. In 1881-82 the destruction of a roAV of houses behind the Pantheon exposed remains of a grand hall AA'ith richly sculptured entablature on Corinthian columns, part of the great therrnre of Agrippa, Avhich extend beyond the Via della Ciambella (fig. 24). A great part of the thermae appears from the brick stamps to belong to an exten- sive restoration in the reign of Hadrian, and bricks of his time are even said to have been found in the facing of the Pantheon itself. 4 (See BATHS, vol. iii. p. 434 sq.) Close by the Pantheon is the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, which stands (as its name records) on the site of a temple to Minerva Chalcidica, probably founded by the great Pompey c. 60 B.C. 5 Adjoining this AA'ere temples to Isis and Serapis, a cult Avhich became very popular in Rome in the time of Hadrian ; large quantities of sculpture, Egypto-Roman in style, have been found on this site at many different times. 6 Several of the barracks (excubitoria] of the various cohorts of the vigiles or firemen have been discovered in various parts of Rome. 1 Drawings of this interesting bronze Avork by Sallustio Peruzzi are pre- served in the Uffizi at Florence. 2 On the architrave is cut an inscription recording the restoration of the Pantheon by Severus in 202. 3 The Pantheon still possesses its original doors between fluted pilasters, and over them an open screen, all of bronze. Other ancient bronze doors still exist in the temple of Romulus, the Lateran basilica, and in its baptistery, the latter taken from the thermae of Caracalla. 4 The plan of the whole group, including the Pantheon, is given by Palladio (op. cit.). The recent discoveries are given by Lanciani, Not. d. Scavi, 1882, p. 357, with a valuable pla,n. The one given by Canina is worthless. See also Maes, II Pantheon, 1881 ; Geymiiller, Documents inedits sur les Thermes d' Agrippa, Lausanne, 1883 ; Nispi-Landi, II Pantheon, 1SS2 ; Adler, Das Pan- theon, Berlin, 1871 ; and Hirt, Das Pantheon, Berlin, 1807. 5 Part of the Serapeum is shown on a fragment of the marble plan ; see Jordan, For. Ur. Rom. 6 See 'Marucchi, "Le Scoperte dell' Iseo Campense," in Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom., 18S3, and Ann. last., 1853 ; Fea, Miscell., ccliv. 112. The central depot is buried under the Palazzo Savorelli ; that of the second cohort is on the Esquiline, near the so-called temple of Minerva Medica ; that of the third was found in 1873 near the baths of Diocletian (see Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom., 1873). The most perfect is that of the 7th cohort near S. Crisogono in Tras- tevere, a handsome house of the 2d century, decorated with mosaic floors, wall-paintings, &c. 7 The excavations made in exposing the ancient church of S. Clemente brought to light interesting remains of many different periods ; drawings are given by Mullooly, St Clement's Basilica, 1869, and De Rossi, Butt. Arch. Crist., 1870, pt. iv. Many remains exist of the Golden House 8 of Nero, which show Golden that this gorgeous palace covered an almost incredibly large space House of of ground, extending from the Palatine, over the Velia and the site of Nero. the temple of Venus and Rome, to the Esquiline, filling the great valley between the Ccelian and the Esquiline where the Colos- seum stands, and reaching far over the Esquiline to the great re- servoir now called the "Sette Sale." No other extravagances or cruelties of Nero appear to have offended the Roman people so much as the erection of this enormous palace, which must have blocked up many important roads and occupied the site of a whole populous quarter. It was no doubt partly to make restitution for this enormous theft of land that Vespasian and Titus destroyed the Golden House and built the Colosseum and public thermae of Titus 9 on part of its site. Under the substructions of the latter building extensive remains of the Golden House still exist ; and at one point, at a lower level still, pavements and foundations remain of one of the numerous houses destroyed by Nero to clear the site. The great bronze colossus of Nero, 120 feet high (Suet., Hfero, 31), which stood in one of the portions of the Golden House, was moved by Vespasian, with head and attributes altered to those of Apollo (Helios), on to the Velia ; and it was moved again by Hadrian, when the temple of Rome was built, on to the base which still exists near the Colosseum. Several coins show this colossus by the side of the Colosseum. Under the Palazzo Doria, the church of S. Maria in Via Lata, and Septa other neighbouring buildings extensive remains exist of a great Julia. portions, with long rows of travertine piers ; this building appears to be represented on fragments of the marble plan with the words SAEPT. . . LIA. This is probably the Septa Julia, begun by Julius Csesar, and completed by Agrippa in 27 B.C., as the voting place for the Comitia Centuriata, divided into compartments, one for each century. The building contained rostra, and was also used for gladiatorial shows. Under the later empire it became a bazaar and resort of slave-dealers. That curiously planned building on the Esquiline, in the new Piazza Vit. Emmanuele, where the so-called trophies of Marius once were placed (see drawing by Du Perac in his Vcstigj}, is one of the numerous castella or reservoirs from which the water of the various aqueducts was distributed in the quarters they were meant to supply. This was built by Severus Alexander at the termination of his Alexandrine aqueduct, opened in 225 (see Lamprid., Hist. Aug.: Scv. Alex., 25). The marble trophies are now set at the top of the Capitoline steps ; their quarry mark shows them to be of the time of Domitian : it consists of the following inscription, now not visible, as it is cut on the under part IMP . DOM. AVG . GERM . PER . CHREZ . LIB . 10 Places of Amusement. The Circus Maximus (see vol. v. p. 791) occupied the Vallis Circuses. Murcife u between the Palatine and the Aventine. Its first rows of seats, which were of wood, were made under Tarquin I. (Liv. , i. 56 ; Dionys., iii. 68).' It was restored in 327 and 174 B.C. (Liv., viiL 20 ; xli. 27). In the reign of Julius Caesar it was rebuilt with (for the first time) lower seats of stone (Plin., H.N., xxxvi. 24), the upper being still of wood (Suet., Csss., 39) ; Dionysius (iii. 68) describes it as it was after this rebuilding. It was further ornamented with marble by Augustus, Claudius, and other emperors. The. wooden part was burnt in the great fire of Nero, and again under Domi- tian, by whom it was restored wholly in stone and marble, and lastly it was restored and enlarged by Coustautine. In its later state it had a marble facade with three external tiers of arches with engaged columns, and (inside) sloping tiers of marble seats, supported on concrete raking vaults (Plin., Pancg., 51). A great part of these vaults existed in the 16th century, and is shown by Du Perac. It held a quarter of a million spectators (Pliu., H.N., 7 See De Rossi, "Vigili,' in Ann. Inst., 1858 ; Visconti, Coorte VII. de' Vi 1867. 8 See Fea, Cam Aiirea, 1832. 9 See Romanis, Ter>ne di Tito, 1822. It should be noted that the paintings said in this and other works to have belonged to the baths of Titus really decorated the Golden House, over which the baths were built. The substruc- tures of Titus's building are absolutely without ornament, and were almost devoid of light. lo See Bruzza, in Ann. Inst., 1870, and Lenormant, Trophies de Marius, Blois, 1842. This once magnificent building, with the marble trophies in their place, is shown with much minuteness on a bronze medallion of Severus Alexander (see Froehner, Medallions de I' Empire, Paris, 1878, p. 169). 11 So called from a prehistoric altar to the Dea Murcia (Venus) ; Varro, L.L.,
 * 154.