Page:The Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome (1st Ed., Plattner, 1904, topographymonume0000plat v8a2).pdf/21



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chief sources of information about the topography and monuments of ancient Rome, besides the monuments of ancient Rome, besides the monuments themselves, may be divided into two classes, the ancient and the medieval. The ancient sources are: Greek and Latin literature, inscriptions, the Capitoline Plan of the city, the Regionary Catalogues, and coins and reliefs. The medieval sources are: the Einsiedeln Itinerary, the Mirabilia Romae, and drawings, sketches, and views.

Literary Evidence. — The references in Latin literature are of primary importance in giving information as to the position and history of buildings and monuments of every kind. Such references are found in more or less abundance in the writings of every Latin author, but there are some of especial value,—the Fasti of Ovid, the Naturalis Historia of Pliny, the De Architectura of Vitruvius, the De Aquis of Frontinus, the De Lingua Latina of Varro, and the histories of Livy and Tacitus. Among Greek authors, the most useful are Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Dio Cassius.

Inscriptions afford much topographical information both by their content and by their position. Besides the ordinary dedicatory and honorary inscriptions which regularly state the