Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/858

Rh 830 R O M E [TOPOGRAPHY AI xxxvi. 24). The end with the careeres was near the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin. 1 Some of its substructures, with remains of very early tufa structures on the Palatine side, still exist below the church of S. Anastasia (see 58 in fig. 17). The obelisk now in the Piazza del Popolo was set on the spiua by Augustus. The Circus Flaminius in the Campus Martius was built by the C. Flaminius Nepos killed at Thrasyinene in 217 B.C. ; remains of the structure were found in the 16th century under the Palazzo Mattei. In the Middle Ages its long open space was used as a rope-walk, hence the name of the church called S. Caterina dei Funari, which occupies ]>art of its site. 2 The circus of Caligula and Nero was at the foot of the Vatican Hill (Pliu., H.X., xxxvi. 15). The modern sacristy of St Peter's stands over part of its site. The obelisk on its spiua remained standing in situ till it was moved by Fontana 3 for Sixtus V. to its present site in the centre of the piazza. Another circus was built by Hadrian near his mausoleum ; remains of it were found in 1743, but nothing is now visible (Atti d. Pont. Accad., 1839). The great stadium, foundations of which exist under most of the houses of the Piazza Navona (Agonalis), and especially below S. Agnese, is probably that built by Domitian and restored by Severus Alexander. It was called from the latter emperor the Stadium Alexandrinum. That it was a stadium and not a circus is shown by the fact that its starting end is at right angles to the sides and not set diagonally, as was always the case with the careeres of a circus ; nor is there any trace of foundations of a spina. The best preserved circus is that built by Maxentius in honour of his deified son Romulus, by the Via Appia, 2 miles outside the walls of Rome. It was attributed to Caracalla till 1825, when an inscription record- ing its true dedication Avas found. 4 The first permanent naumachia was that constnicted by Augustus between the foot of the Janiculan Hill and the Tiber ; traces of it have recently been discovered near the church of S. Crisogono. The naumachia of Domitian was pulled down and the materials used to restore the Circus Maximus (Suet., Dotn., 5) ; its site is not known. eatres. The first stone 5 theatre in Rome was that built by Pompey, 56- 52 B.C.; it contained a temple to Venus Victrix, and in front of it was a great porticus called Hecatostylum from its hundred columns. This is shown on the marble plan. 6 Considerable remains of the foundations exist between the Via de' Chiavari, which follows the line of the scena, and the Via de' Giubbonari and Via del Paradise. Adjoining this was the curia of Pompey, where Csesar was murdered, after which it was burnt and the site decreed to be a "locus sceler- atus. " The colossal statue, popularly supposed to be that of Pompey at the 'feet of which Cfesar died, 7 now in the Palazzo Spada, was found in 1553 near the theatre. This theatre was restored by Augustus ( Hon. Ancyr. ) ; in the reign of Tiberius it was burnt and its rebuilding was completed by Caligula. The scena was again burnt in 80 A.D., and restored by Titus. According to Pliny (H.N., xxxvi. 24), it held 40,000 spectators. In 1864 the colossal gilt bronze statue of Hercules, now in the Vatican, a work of the 3d century, was found near the site of the theatre of Pompey, carefully concealed underground. The theatre of Marcellus is much more perfect ; complete foundations of the cunei exist under the Palazzo Savelli, and part of the external arcade is well preserved. This is built of travertine in two orders, Tuscan and Ionic, with delicate details, very superior to those of the Colosseum, the arcade of which is very similar to this in general design. This theatre was begun by J. Cwsar, and finished by Augustus in 13 B.C., who dedicated it in the name of his nephew Marcellus. 8 It was restored by Vespasian (Suet., Vesp., 19). Livy (xl. 51) mentions an earlier theatre on the same spot, built by M. JEmilius Lepidus in 179 B.C. 1 Part of it is shown on a fragment of the marble plan (see Jordan, For. Ur. Rom.) ; it is represented on a bronze medallion of Gordian III., with an obelisk on the spina and three metse at each end ; in front are groups of gladiators wrestling and boxing (see Grueber, Rom. Med., pi. xli., London, 1874). 2 The 16th-century discoveries recorded by Fulvio and Ligorio are quoted by Xardini, Roma Ant. (ed. Nibby, 1818-20), iii. p. 21. 3 See his Trasportazione delV Obelisco Vat., 1590. 4 Nibby, Circo di Caracalla, 1825; Canina, Rom. Ant., i. p. 447, pi. cxxxvii.; see also Panvinins, He Lwt. Circens., and Bianconi, Deser. dei Circi, 1789. An interesting relief showing a circus race, with the carceres, spina, and galleries for spectators, is illustrated in Ann. Inst., 1870, pi. LM ; and three of the same subject are preserved in the Sala della Biga in the Vatican ; see also the Brescia diptych, Gori (Thesavr. Vet. Dipt., Florence, 1759). 5 A great prejudice existed in republican Rome against the introduction of the Greek custom of haying permanent stone theatres. In 154 B.C., owing to the advice of Scipio Nasica, the Senate demolished a half-finished stone theatre which had been begun by the censor C. Cassius Longinus. Even Pompey had to build a temple to Venus in the upper part of his theatre as a sort of excuse for having seats and steps of stone leading up to it (Tertull., De Spec., 10). Plut., Pomp., 52 ; Dion Cass., xxxix. 38 ; Tac., Ann., xiv. 20. 7 See Fea, Rom. Ant., Ixviii. 57, for an account of its discovery. 8 Suet., Aug., 29. See Man. Ancyr. " Theatrvm . ad . aedem . Apollinis . in . solo, magna . ex . parte . a . [privatis .] empto . feci . qvod . svb . nomine . M . Mar- celli . generi. [me]i . esset." The temple of Apollo here named was one of the most ancient and highly venerated in Rome ; it was dedicated to the Delphic Apollo in 428 B.C. by C. Julius (Liv., iv. 25) ; meetings of the Senate were held in it ; and it contained many fine works of art, an ancient cedar-wood statue of Apollo (Liv., xxvii. 37), and the celebrated statues of the slaughter of the Niobids by Praxiteles or Scopas (Plin., H.N., xxxvi. 4), of which many ancient copies exist. One almost complete set is in the Ufflzi at Florence ; one figure of one of the daughters in the Vatican may be an original. It stands partly in the Forum Olitorium, a large extent of the tra- vertine paving of which was exposed in 1875 (Bull. Com. Arch. Mun., iii. 1875). Foundations also of the theatre of Balbus exist under the Palazzo Cenci ; and in the Via di S. Maria in Cacaberis, No. 23, there is a small portion of the external arcade of the pm-'- ticus which belonged to tins theatre ; the lower story has travertine arches with engaged columns, and the upper has brick-faced pilasters. It was built by Cornelius Balbus in 13 B.C. (Suet, Aitg., 29 ; Dion Cass., liv. 25). An interesting account of the temporary theatre of Scaurus, erected in 58 B.C., is given by Pliny (H.N., xxxvi. 2, 24). The same writer mentions an almost incredible building, which consisted of two wooden theatres made to revolve on pivots, so that the two together made an amphitheatre ; this was erected by C. Curio in 50 B.C. The first stone amphitheatre in Rome was that built by Statilius Amj Taurus in the reign of Augustus. Its ruins are supposed to form theal the elevation called Monte Giordano, but none of it is visible. For the Colosseum see AMPHITHEATRE, vol. i. The Amphitheatrum Castrense is in the line of the wall of Aurelian near the Porta Asinaria ; it is built of concrete, faced with neat brickwork, and was decorated with friezes and other ornaments in moulded terra- cotta. Its exterior had two tiers of arches between engaged Corinthian columns, all, even the foliage of the capitals, very neatly executed in terra -cotta. Only one piece with the upper order still exists on the outside of the Aurelian line. This amphi- theatre is mentioned in the regionary catalogues under Regio v. It is supposed to have been erected for the amusement of the troops in the neighbouring camp, hence its name. From the character of the brick-facing the building appears to date from the early part of the 2d century. Arches, Columns, Tombs, and Bridges. The earliest triumphal arches were the two erected by L. Stertinius Arches, (196 B.C.) in the Forum Boarium and in the Circus Maximus, out of spoils gained in Spain. 9 In the later years of the empire there were nearly forty in Rome. The arch of Titus and Vespasian OH the Summa Sacra Via was erected by Domitian to commemorate the conquest of Judsea by Titus in his father's reign. Reliefs inside the arch represent the triumphal procession Titus in a chariot, and on the other side soldiers bearing the golden candlestick, trumpets, and table of prothesis, taken from the Jewish temple. The central part only of this monument is original ; the sides were restored in 1823. 10 Another arch in honour of Titus had previously been built (80 A.D.) in the Circus Maximus ; its inscription is given in the Einsiedeln MS. (Gruter, Inscr., p. 244, No. 6). A plain tra- vertine arch near the supposed palace of Commodus on the Cceliau is inscribed with the names of the consul Publius Corn. Dolabella (10 A.D.) and of the flamen martialis, C. Junius Silanus. In later times Nero's aqueduct was built over it. It may possibly have been an entrance into the Campus Martialis, an enclosure on the Ccelian sacred to Mars, which was used for games when the Campus Martius was flooded. The so-called arch of Drusus by the Porta Appia also carries the specus of an aqueduct, that built by Cara- calla to supply his great thermae. Its coarse details show, how- ever, that it is much later than the time of Drusus (Suet, Claud., 1). It was usual to ornament specially the arch of an aqueduct that happened to cross a road, and this arch was probably built by Caracalla with the rest of his branch of the Aqua Marcia. Ad- joining the church of S. Giorgio in Velabro a rich though coarsely decorated marble gateway with flat lintel still exists, built, as its inscription records, in honour of Severus and his sons by the argeutarii (bankers and silversmiths) and other merchants of the Forum Boarium in 204. It formed an entrance from the Forum Boarium into the Velabrum. The figure of Geta in the reliefs and his name have been erased by Caracalla ; the sculpture is poor both in design and execution 11 (see Bull. Inst., 1867, p. 217, and 1871, p. 233). Close by is a quadruple arch, set at the intersection of two roads, such as was called by the Romans an arch of Janus Quadrifons. Though partly built of earlier fragments, it is of the worst style of work ; it cannot be earlier than the time of Constan- tine, and probably is of still later date. The finest existing arch is that by the Colosseum erected by Constautine. It owes, however, little of its beauty to that artistically degraded period. Not only most of its reliefs but its whole design and :nany of its architectural features were stolen from an earlier arch erected by Trajan as an entrance to his forum (see p. 826 above). The arch of Claudius, built in 43 to commemorate his supposed victories in Britain, stood across the Via Lata (modern Corso) between S. Francesco Saverio and the Palazzo Sciarra. Its exact position is shown in BulJ. Liv., xxxiii. 27, see also xxxvii. 3. 10 This arch is the earliest known example of the so-called Composite order, a modification of Corinthian in which the capitals combine Ionic volutes with Corinthian acanthus leaves ; in other respects it follows the Corinthian tinier. H The second half of the 2d century was a time of extraordinarily rapid decline in art. The relief of Antinous in the Villa Albani and other portraits of him made in the reign of Hadrian (117-138) are among the most beautiful ex- isting specimens of Roman or Grteco-Roman sculpture ; while after the a<rrs- sion of Severus in 193 no sculpture of any real artistic merit seems to have been produced.