Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/766

 756 CAPITANATA CAPITOL ing, or, in case of crimes considered peculiarly dishonorable, by hanging. CAPITANATA, province of Italy. See FOGGIA. CAPITOL (Lat. Capitolium) and Capitoline Hill (Mons Capitolinui), the temple of Jupiter Op- timus Maximus in ancient Rome, and the hill on which it stood, and which from it. received its name. The latter is an irregular oblong with two more elevated summits, on the southern of which the temple was erected. The hill was wholly consecrated to Jupiter, except a nook which was reserved for the god Terminus, who refused to leave the spot when the other gods left out of deference to Jupiter. At the steeper northern summit was the citadel (Arx), built in the earliest period of Roman history. The first foundations of the Capitol were laid by Tarquinius Prisons, but the edifice was not finished till shortly after the expulsion of the kings. It was destroyed by fire in 83 B. C. ; was rebuilt by Sulla, and dedicated by Q. Ca- tulus in 69 ; and was again burnt in A. I). 69 by the soldiers of Vitellius, and rebuilt by Ves- pasian. In the reign of Titus it was burnt a third time, A. D. 80, but Domitian restored it with great magnificence. It contained three shrines, consecrated respectively to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. The form of the Capitol was nearly a square, being 200 ft. long and 185 ft. broad. In the piazza or portico the people were feasted on triumphal occasions. The victorious generals went up there in pro- cession to oflfer thanks and sacrifice. The Si- bylline books and the most important public documents were deposited there. Other tem- ples were one by one raised on the Capitoline hill. Among these, the temples of Juno Mone- ta, with the mint attached, of Jupiter Fere- The Modern Capitol at Rome. trins, of Mars, of Venus, of Fortune, and of Isis and Serapis were the most considerable. A tibliotheca or library, the tabularium, athe- nseum, and other public buildings were also on the hill. At the S. end was the Tarpeiau rock, down which state criminals were thrown headlong. The top of the Capitoline hill now forms the piazza del Campidoglio, surrounded on three sides by palaces, built or altered from designs by Michel Angelo. On the N. side is the palace of the senator, on the W. the pal- ace of the conservators, and on the E. the mu- seum of the Capitol. The ascent to the piazza is by a broad flight of steps, at the foot of which are two Egyptian lions, and in the angles of the balustrades at the summit are colossal statues of Castor and Pollux standing by their horses. Near by is a collection of marble sculptures formerly supposed to be the trophies of Marius, but now assigned to the age of Domitian, and the ancient milestone which marked the first mile of the Appian way. In the centre of the piazza is a bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, one of the finest ancient works of the kind ; the horse is especially good. There are also the statue of Minerva, commonly called " Rome Triumphant," and colossal figures of the Nile and the Tiber. The palaces contain innumerable objects of great artistic or historical interest. On the first floor of the palace of the senator are several statues ; the second floor is mainly occupied as the offices of the municipality and the police courts ; above is the astronomical observatory, and the tower, which affords the finest view of Rome and its environs. In the palace of the conservators are halls containing busts of emi- nent Italians, the gallery of pictures, and many ancient statues and fragments of sculpture; the famous "Bronze Wolf;" tl>e Fasti Contu- lares, or list of names of the Roman consuls and magistrates to the time of Augustus ; and Michel Angelo's resto- ration of the Duilian column, erected in 260 B. C., with what re- mains of the original in- scription, probably the oldest extant Roman in- scription. In the pic- ture gallery are several paintings by eminent artists, the masterpiece being Guercino's "San- ta Petronilla." There are in all about 230 paintings, but only a few are of superior mer- it. In the palace of the museum is a fine sar- cophagus with bass re- liets representing the story of Achilles; it was exhumed from a tu- mulus which contained the celebrated Portland vase, in which were the ashes of the person to whom the tomb was erected. There are also fragments of the Pianta Capitolina, or ground plan of ancient Rome, engraved upon