Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/859

Rh ARCHEOLOGY.] ROME 831 Cmnm. Arch. Horn., vi., pi. iv. Its remains were removed in the middle of the 16th century, 1 and nothing now is left but half its inscription, preserved in the garden of the Barberini palace, and two of its reliefs in the porch of the Villa Borghese. It is shown on both aurei and denarii of Claudius, with an attic inscribed DE BRITANNIS, and surmounted by a quadriga and trophies. The arch of Marcus Aurelius, also destroyed in the 16th century, spanned the modern Corso farther north, where the Via Lata had become the Via Flaminia.- Many of its fine reliefs are preserved in the Capitoline Museum. The central part of the once triple arch of Gallienus still exists on the Esquiline ; it stands against the ancient Porta Esquilina of the Servian wall. It is built of traver- tine, is simple in design, with coarse details, and has a long in- scription on its attic. The two side arches and pediment over the centre existed in the 16th century, and are shown in the Mantuan oil-painting of Rome, 3 and in several antiquarian works of the 16th century. The inscription records that it was erected in 262 in honour of Gallienus and his wife Salonina by M. Aurelius Victor, prefect of the city. 4 The column of Antoninus Pius was a monolith of red granite, erected after his death by his adopted sons M. Aurelius and L. Verus. One fragment of it is preserved in the Vatican with an interesting quarry inscription, recording that it was cut in the ninth year of Trajan's reign, under the supervision of Dioscurus and the architect Aristides. The rest of its fragments were used by Pius VI. to repair the obelisk of Monte Citorio, set up by Augustus in the Campus Martius as the gnomon of a sun-dial (Plin., H.N., xxxvi. 15). The marble pedestal of the Antonine column is now in the Vatican ; it has reliefs of the apotheosis of Faustina and Antoninus Pius, and processions of soldiers. This and the column of M. Aurelius were both surmounted by colossal portrait statues of gilt bronze. The column of M. Aurelius is very similar in size and design to that of Trajan. Its spiral reliefs represent victories in Germany from 167 to 179, arranged in twenty tiers. Like the column of Trajan, it is exactly 100 Roman feet high, without the pedestal. The pedestal was originally much higher than at present, but is now partly buried ; it is shown by Gamucci, Du Perac, and other 16th-century writers. This column stood in front of a temple to M. Aurelius, and within a great peribolus, forming a forum similar to that of Trajan, though much smaller ; the remains of this temple probably form the elevation now called Monte Citorio. 5 For the catacombs see that article (vol. v. p. 206) ; for obelisks 6 see ARCHITECTUKE (vol. ii. p. 390) and EGYPT (vol. vii. pp. 768, 778). The recent discovery of a cemetery of prehistoric (Etruscan) date is mentioned above, p. 812. Few tombs exist of the Roman period earlier than the 1st century B.C., probably owing to the great extension of the city beyond the Servian limits, which thus obliter- ated the earlier burial places. The tomb of the Cornelian Scipios is the most important of early date which still exists. It is exca- vated in the tufa rock at the side of the Via Appia, outside the Porta Capena. Interments of the Scipio family went on here for about 400 years, additional chambers and passages being excavated from time to time. The peperino sarcophagus of Cornelius Lucius Scipio Barbatus (Liv., x. 12, 13), consul in 298 B.C., is now in the Vatican ; its inscription, in rude Saturnian verse, is perhaps the most important existing specimen of early Latin epigraphy. Many other inscribed slabs were found in the 17th century, covering the "loculi" in which lay the bodies of later members of the family. Those now existing in the tomb are modern copies, with blundered inscriptions. All are given by Mommsen (C.I.L., i. p. 11 sq.). This burial-place of the Scipios is unlike those of other families, owing to the gens Cornelia keeping up the early custom of interment without burning ; thus stone sarcophagi or loculi (rock-cut recesses) were required instead of mere pigeon-holes to hold the cinerary urns. The tomb of Bibulus, a few yards outside the Porta Ratumena, and remains of two recently discovered during the destruction of the Aurelian towers at the Porta Salara, date from about the middle of the 1st century B.C., as does also the curious tomb of the baker Eurysaces outside the Porta Maggiore. In 1863 an interesting tomb of the Sempronia gens was discovered on the Quirinal, below the royal palace, near the site of the Porta Sanqualis. It is of travertine, with a rich entablature and frieze sculptured with the i See Vacea, a p. Fea, Misc., p. 67. - The destruction in 1879 of the Aurelian towers flanking the Porta del Popolo brought to light the fact that this gate is exactly on the site of the ancient Porta Flaminia, and not to one side of it, as was formerly believed on the evidence of a vague passage in Procopius (Bell. Goth., i. 23). Thus it appears probable that the northern part of the Corso follows the line of the Via Flaminia, as the southern portion does that of the Via Lata. 3 Reproduced by De Rossi in his valuable Piante di Roma Anteriori al Sec. XV L, 1879. Archi Trionf., 1832. 6 In 1882 a small Egyptian obelisk of red granite was found buried near the Pantheon ; it now lies in the Piazza del Collegio Romano ; a translation of its hieroglyphs is given in Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom., 1883. At the same time a very curious granite column was discovered of Egypto-Roman work, the lower part adorned with figures in relief. Greek honeysuckle ornament (see Bull. Comm. Arch. Bam., iv.). This also is of the last years of the republic. 7 The mausoleum of Augustus, built 28 B.C., stands in the north Mauso- part of the Campus Martius, between the Tiber and the Via lea. Flamiuia. It is a massive cylindrical structure of concrete, faced with opus reticulatum ; over that it vas lined with marble slabs ; inside were a series of radiating chambers, in plan like a wheel. On the top was a great mound of earth, planted with trees and flowers (Tac., Ann., iii. 9). As late as the 16th century its external form remained unaltered. 8 Only the bare core exists now, with its fine opus reticulatum, best seen in the court of the Palazzo Valdam- briui. The inside is concealed by modern seats, being used now as a circus (Teatro Correa). The sepulchral inscription in honour of Augustus, engraved on two bronze columns at the entrance, is pre- served to us by its copy at Ancyra. It records an almost incredible amount of building : in addition to the long list of buildings men- tioned by name Augustus says, DVO. ET. OCTAGIKTA. TEMPLA DEVM. IN. VRBE. CONSVL. SEXTVM. . . REFECI.9 The first burial in the mausoleum of Augustus was that of Marcellus, 22 B.C., and it continued to be the imperial tomb till the death of Nerva, 98 A. r>., after whose interment there wa,s no more room. It was sacked by Alaric in 409, and in the 12th century was made into a fortress by the Colonna family, and suffered much from constant party struggles. The mausoleum of Hadrian, begun in 135 as a substitute for that built by Augustus, was a large circular building on a square podium ; its walls, of enormous thickness, are of concrete faced with blocks of peperino, the whole being lined with Parian marble and surrounded by a colonnade with rows of statues, a work of the greatest magnificence. The bronze pine-cone, now in the Vatican, was (according to Vacca) found near the mausoleum, and probably surmounted its conical dome. The splendour of the whole is de- scribed by Procopius (B. G., i. 22), who mentions its siege by the Goths, when the defenders hurled the statues on to the heads of the enemy. In the 6th century it was made into a papal castle called S. Angelus inter Nitbes, and all through the Middle Ages it suffered much from constant attacks. The interior chambers are still well preserved, but its outside has been so often wrecked and refaced that little of the original masonry is visible. Several of the grander sepulchral monuments of Rome were built Septil- iu the form of pyramids. One of these still exists, included in the chral Aurelian wall, by the Porta Ostiensis. It is a pyramid of concrete, pyra- 118 feet high, faced with blocks of white marble, and contains a mids. small chamber decorated with painted stucco. An inscription in large letters on the marble facing records that it was built as a tomb for C. Cestius, a praetor, tribune of the people, and septemvir of the epulones (officials who supervised banquets in honour of the gods) an office founded in 196 B.C. (Liv., xxxiii. 42). It was erected, according to Cestius's will, by his executors, in the space of 330 days. It dates from the time of Augustus 10 (see Falconieri, in Nardini, Roma Antica, iv. p. 1, ed. 1818-20). Another similar pyramid, popularly known as the tomb of Romulus, stood between the mausoleum of Hadrian and the basilica of St Peter. It was destroyed in the 15th century during the rebuilding of the long bridge which connects the former building with the Vatican. The earliest bridge was a wooden drawbridge called the Pons Bridges Sublicius from the piles (siiblicte) on which it was built. The river being an important part of the defence of Rome from the Aventine to the Porta Fluminalis (see plan of Servian wall, fig. 8), no permanent bridges were made till the Romans were strong enough not to fear attacks from without. The Pons Sublicius appears to 7 See A. F. Gori, Columb. Libert, et Serv. Lirix, 1727 ; Bianchini, Camera. . . Sepolcrali, 1727; Campana, Sepolcri Roinani, 1840; Fortunati, Scari hingo la Via Latino, 1859 ; Brizio, Pitttire e Sepolcri still' Esyitilino, 1876 ; Secchi, Sepolcro di vna Famiglia Greca, 1843 ; Visconti, Sepolcro di Q. Sulpicio Massimo, 1871 ; Stevenson, Cimitero di Zotico, Via Labicana, 1876. 8 See Du Perac's Vestigj, which shows the garden on the top. 9 The other greatest building period after the reign of Augustus appears to have been that of Severus and his son Caracalla ; the following list of buildings, built or restored between 196 and 211, will give some notion of this : Marcian aqueduct restored and lengthened to the Thennse Severianw in 196 ; pseda- gogium puerorum a capite Africa} in IPS ; temple of Cybele on the Palatine in 200, rebuilt ; Claudian and Anio Novus aqueducts restored in 201 ; theatre of Pompey, Pantheon, thermae of Agrippa, Amphitheatrum Castrense, and prse- torian camp, all restored in 202 ; Septizonium and great palace on the Palatine, and arches in the Forum Magnum and Forum Boaritnn built ; Stadium Pala- tinum, Porticus Octavise, and Forum Pacis restored, all in 203. In various years before 211 : temple of Vespasian, of Fortuna Muliebris, schola scribarum, balnese near the Porta Septimiana, horti of Geta, a porticus with res gesta- Divi Severi, the Antonine aqueduct, and (212-215) the great therm* of Caracalla. The great fire of 191 was one of the causes of these extensive works (see Lanci- ani, Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom., 1882). w Near the tomb of Cestius is that extraordinary mound of potsherds called Monte Testaccio. These are mostly fragments of large amphorse, not piled up at random, but carefully stacked, with apertures at intervals for ventilation. Many theories have been advanced to account for this enormous mass of broken pottery ; but by far the most probable explanation is that the broken earthen- ware of Rome was collected and stored here for use in the making of the stucco called opus signinum (Vitr., viii. 6, 14), with which the specus or channels of aqueducts were lined, and also the concrete in which marble and mosaic pavings were bedded (nucleus). This latter is the opus testaceum of Vitruvius (vii. 1, 5) ; and the universal use of pounded earthenware for floors and aque- ducts must have used up immense quantities of broken pots and bricks (tesfae tunsie). A good account of the potsherds of Monte Testaccio and their stamps is given in Ann. Inst., 1878, p. 118.
 * See Bellori, Vctcres Arms, 1690, showing some now destroyed ; and Fea,